Senate The US Politics discussion

Because racism is commonly believed to be the acts of single individuals, and also to be something only terrible people are. White people recoil from the charge of being racist, in large part because they (we) are so convinced that we aren't, and because we know the implications the term carries.

 

I think it's certainly true that women face discrimination. So do African-American candidates. But I think this particular talking point is quite overblown. Kamala Harris beat a two term incumbent to become DA, had a lock on Boxer's Senate seat almost as soon as she announced, and outdid her two next nearest opponents combined when she first ran for statewide office in a primary. Elizabeth Warren won by a healthy, respectable margin after holding a small but decent lead throughout the last part of the campaign. She was only ever criticized--rightly--by Native American tribes about the specific issue of how she was using DNA testing, because the way she did it created confusion on an issue where there has already been a lot of deep wrong. They never condemned her overall performance nor was there any reason to.

I remember when Slate and the rest of Hillary Clinton cheering crowd made up this dumb hypothesis. What they actually meant is that people didn't like it when Hillary Clinton ran for office. Probably because she was terrible at doing so. But it's sort of a sad commentary on American life that female politicians can be so rare that one single individual's experience can be blown up to be somehow representative of half the human race. Instead of, you know, just one clunky, uncharismatic, sort of person.

 

Holy cow. The Democrats knew this story was coming and basically got Trump's pick to sign the warrant

 

Am I reading this right? Are you calling me an upper middle class white liberal?

 

If it were limited to Hillary, I would agree with you. But we literally just saw a repeat in the attempts to oust Nancy Pelosi and then watched the media coverage switch from vilifying her as out of touch and too old and too corrupt to being the second coming of General Washington in war time against Trump’s King George.

There is something there. And I would argue your examples are state level- we are talking national in this case. Sexism is still alive and well in some parts of the country. Whether it is subconscious or not, whenever a woman tries to get ahead, it is met with indignation by those who feel she doesn’t deserve it. The recent movie and the CNN documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg show it as well. The only time RBG was given a promotion that was not challenged it seems was her confirmation to the Supreme Court. Until then, it was always a fight. And yes, you can point to the times if you want. But that’s not all of it. Look at how metoo has been handled and regarded as another example. Look at Dr. Ford daring to testify against Kavanaugh and deprive him of his “right” to be on the Supreme Court. All of that ties into this idea that some people truly feel it is not ok for women to advance in position. Now, this doesn’t mean some women aren’t qualified- Sarah Palin is an example of the other side of this coin. But we should pay close attention to how the women in the race for 2020 are covered vs. the men. Look for more flattering coverage of Beto and Bernie while they drudge up past misdeeds of Elizabeth and Kamala more often. There is something to this or we wouldn’t be able to so easily apply it to women not named Hillary Clinton. For Bernie, Beto, and Joe it is expected they will run. But for the four women running, I expect an onslaught of coverage as the media goes for the ratings and Fox News feeds its’ hate machine.

 

It's been a little less than a year since Cohen acknowledged paying $130,000 of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels at Trump's direction. The Trump brand really has some resilience, gotta admit. It's pelted constantly with contraindicative facts. And yet it endures. Into this brand Trump apparently poured all his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life, but there seems to be no fiery chasm that we can cast it into.

 

Pelosi’s delegation had planned to fly commercial but Trump leaked that as well, raising the threat assessment and security concerns so the trip has been indefinitely cancelled.

 

https://qz.com/624346/america-loves...as-long-as-theyre-not-asking-for-a-promotion/

Also, Native peoples really, really did not like Warren's DNA stunt.

 

What do betting markets say today about a Trump Jr indictment I wonder.

 

That's not the only trip affected. Trump's delegation to Davos has also had their trip cancelled. He was originally supposed to go but cancelled out due to the shutdown. Mneuchin and some others (Ivanka and Jared included) were supposed to go but now the whole trip is off.

 

When he leaked that, I assume he pretended to be a woman who mainly spoke about how sexy the President is?

 

Pay close attention to the line in the middle where Trump tells Jared that if they'd 'known each other back then, I (Trump) could have helped you here'.

In front of a former federal prosecutor who knows all the facts about the case, no less. Awesome.

 

Chris Christie, always standing up for professional ethics and not giving in to personal vendettas and so on.

 

There's some deeper implications to it to snuggle up alongside that. The trip involved a stop in Brussels to meet with some of the NATO brass that would have probably involved trying to address concerns that have arisen over the past few days with some of the news stories regarding Trump's attitudes towards the alliance. He nixed that as well.

 

No, as I don't know you. I'm giving the opposite bigoted-sounding attitude to white trash, which is largely about calling poor uneducated people trash to me. Though I mean it is white poor uneducated, but that implies kind of that white people are "better than" except for those trash ones or something (the poor ones who aren't educated enough for upper middle class and elite white liberals).

 

No he doesn't. Fuming toddlers don't have that level of self-awareness.

 

Beto's excellent adventure drips with white male privilege

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/politics/beto-orourke-funk-drive-2020/index.html

 

It is funny how Bannon was correct that firing Comey was massive mistake. It not only made Trump and his cronies look very guilty, but Comey was less competent then Mueller and more importantly had less credibility.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-...federal-workers-unemployment-benefits-despite

Friend of mine just sent the above link. If you're in California and are working without pay during the shutdown it looks like you might be eligible for unemployment benefits. Let's hope other states follow suit.

 

I was told it's everywhere, with the caveat that it has to be paid back once the employee is given their back pay.

 

Article mentioned that all states will allow furloughed employees not working to collect unemployment. According to the article the US Labor Dept said employees working without pay aren't eligible. So CA are sticking the finger up to that.

 

As they should.

California is just awesome as hell in that regard at the moment. I wish more states had their guts.