Senate The US Politics discussion

True. And yet, one is addressed, and the other one never is. Why? Because there's no money in a permanent fix. Same reason why you research and create treatments instead of cures. You'd rather keep the problem alive and offer a temporary solution so you can make a buck out of someone else's misery. Its the American way.

 

I have seen plenty of people from neighborhoods with rampant gang violence complain about the lack of police presence . It's usually white liberals who live in gated communities with private security who say we need less policing .

 

I feel like its ridiculous to have this discussion, but here you are, off the top of my head. I don't keep an exhaustive list of everything the man says. If I find something objectionable I do try to say so.

Quite possibly. But as things actually unfolded, they are known for different things. While I have a personal distaste for Jefferson, I realize other parts of his record are quite widely known and some might revere him for those aspects. That's quite different than men like John C Calhoun or Jefferson Davis, who would scarcely be of modern public note at all except for their agitation on behalf of slavery and its associated ideologies. The generals are in some sense a different story but largely are not. While they all had broader careers than the Civil War alone (indeed, how else would they have attained senior ranks by that time), there are at least dozens who achieve equal rank at any given time in the military. Men like Stonewall Jackson are famous and publicly celebrated specifically for their fighting on behalf of the Confederate cause, not because the Mexican-American War is somehow central to the public imagination and we all regale one another with stories of Chapultepec.

 

Protect turtle ****er statue

 

Wait a moment, are they really shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline ??? This is big !


(source: first news of DN! world headlines)

Spoiler

 

I'm sure that it's just a coincidence that you focus on low income neighborhoods that just happen to be significantly African-American, right? (and by you, I mean Hannity, Carlson, and the other archconservative white nationalist pundits you derive 99% of your politics from)

Or ever, if conservatives have their way. I guess "Defunding" is okay when it's social services and education!
... but large corporations, especially those run by cronies of the president and his allies, need government money right now!

I'm sure many of the racist cops are weeping silently about how many necks are going uncrushed.

 

That’s what the judge ruled.

 

Chuck Grassley to skip RNC due to Coronavirus concerns.

 

Antisemitism is on the rise in Germany. In no way would I consider Germany, in 2020, to be an antisemitic country overall. There are a LOT of antisemitists (one is far too many) but most of the nation is clearly not.+

It is shameful what has happened to far too many blacks in the US. However, when it comes to defunding police, I feel as though we should be asking whether it is due to poor allocation of funds or is it to be punitive toward those protecting our society because of too many bad seeds.

 

Interestingly, there was once again nothing wrong with what Trump intended to do from a legal standpoint. They just literally ignored one of the steps they are legally required to take in implementing their own policies. The extent to which this man is undermined by his own stupidity is both fortuitous and incredible.

 

I forget who did the statistic but it was something like 1 billion people were anti Semitic on the earth today

 

I was a bit off the survey was down by ADL

https://www.adl.org/news/press-rele...-finds-hardcore-anti-semitic-attitudes-remain

 

yes it's all America's fault, if only we could destroy this nation the planet would be a paradise. History was so beautiful and peaceful when America didn't exist. War, slavery, hunger, class disparity wasn't even heard of before the Good old USA came about.

 

He was asked a question. At a press conference. He was answering it.

I

In the first place, these racist symbols did matter to a lot of powerful people. That's why they were perpetuated up until now. In the second, they matter tremendously to the minorities who were harmed by them. Go look again at harpuah's reaction to the news around football team names, or my own with regards to Aunt Jemima, and then come back and tell us all how meaningless it is. In the third and final place, I'll remind you that that these were anti-racism protests. About structural and personal prejudice against minorities in the US. It was never primarily about capitalism, or changing who "rules everything." I'm sorry that you are disappointed your longed for revolution isn't afoot. But authentic support and advocacy should center itself on the actual concerns of those affected by the issue in question, not stuff that you personally like and which kind of overlaps sometimes.

 

I'm reminded of the end of Charlie Wilson's War. After spending BILLIONS on weapons to take out russians and leaving the country devastated, the congressional committee could not be bothered to spend millions on building schools for the kids. In other words, we are fine with aggressive action for arrests and punishment. But when it comes to doing the far more nuanced and hard work of fixing the root problem, we can't be bothered.

These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we ****ed up the end game.

This is a multi-faceted problem, but if we can all agree on one thing, can it please be that shooting the problem doesn't make it go away? The same children that tragically died this weekend would sadly likely have died last year and the only difference would be the more black men might also have been shot by police.

bob: To try and equate calls for police reform as a direct cause for increase in violence ignores the systemic nature of the problem. And no, Doctor Phil is not going to be the solution. But if you believe that every problem is a nail that can be solved with a hammer, then you are missing the value of the other tools. A Social Worker with proper funding can defuse a lot of these situations far better than police. Police are not trained social workers. They do not have degrees or years of clinical training. They are given training designed on one thing: neutralizing a situation while trying to reduce harm to themselves or others. But that means that they do look at every person like a nail to be hammered. And because of both conscious and unconscious racial bias that comes from this type of training and their environment, they are more apt to pull a weapon on men of color than on white men for the same crime/infraction. Police are trained to go into every situation expecting danger. It's a primal fight or flight mode amplified by training and the fight mode is connected ,unconsciously for some, to racial bias. There are far too many instances to name of cops handling white suspects better than black suspects for the same crime. So if you believe that asking police to stop killing men and women of color has led to an increase in violence overall, you are missing the forest for the trees.

 

Can I just say that no one is demonizing the police for "preventing crimes?" That's the thing everyone wishes they would do. They should not be "afraid to try to prevent crimes." That is what they should be spending their day doing. If they spent all day every day preventing crimes, everything would be great and everyone would love them. What they need to be afraid to do is commit crimes. Stop committing crimes; start preventing them; result: the police have ZERO to worry about. If a police officer is really struggling to grasp this incredibly simple concept, that they are supposed to prevent crimes and not commit them, then, no, that person shouldn't be a police officer. It's a very simple proposition and the fact that so many officers throughout the country still seem unable to grasp this and adjust their behavior accordingly after weeks and weeks of protests is not a good look. So, cops, stop with the persecution complex; stop pretending you don't know what the problem is; stop committing crimes; start preventing everyone, including your fellow officers, from committing them instead of standing by with your ******* hands in your pockets. PROBLEM SOLVED.

 

I love how cops can't do their job unless there is 100% absolute acceptance and obedience from society. Any criticism, any effing criticism, and they are instantly "demoralized" to the point that they refuse to do the job they are doing poorly. What a crock.

And once again, the saying is 'a few bad apples spoils the bunch'. It's not ' ah well, its just a few bad apples, the rest seem fine to me"

It's not a few bad apples. It's a bad system. The bunch has been spoiled, where even the good cops are enforcing a bad system, that is unless they are driven out by bad apples.

 

they would, several rejected using black freedmen in the army, and more rejected offering freedom for service. Washington also demanded that the British hand over the "stolen property" of freedmen who had joined the Redcoats.

The book "Liberty's Exiles" is a good history of this I hear.

The confederates actually connected themselves to the war of independence, and the Union sorta accepted the truth of that, with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address kinda making that clear

and more overtly shown in this incident, see Lee's wife was actually related to Washington, she was his step-great-grandaughter which was of course something southern aristocracy valued immensely as did some in the North, her father speaking at his anniversary eulogy and all kinds of stuff. Well the "white house" in Virginia, the place where Washington courted Martha was one of many plantations decedents of Martha owned, notably Mary Lee. She had stayed behind due to arthritis and was allowed passed by McClellan. However which initially her letter not to trash the place was heeded, a very pretentious "I want to speak to your manager" but later the Union troops burned the place when falling back.

Then there is John Brown intentionally going after Lewis Washington (who had inherited his ancestor's relics) during Harper's Ferry, freeing his slaves, and stealing a sword George was given by Fredrick the Great as well as pistols from Lafayette. The sword on his hip would actually deflect a killing blow. More importantly Lewis like Lee would side with the Confederacy. Point is the descendants of the founders mostly sided with the CSA, particularly cause they all (and this is important) inherited a fortune of slaves from the founders.

Most of them would perhaps not have broken the Union, but no doubt would have never let slavery be allowed to be an issue of that scale. a gag rule in 1836 barred mention of slavery in congress

They dont have to have been equal to the confederacy to be compared to them, they sought to preserve a social order with themselves at top, they butchered Natives left and right, and opposed freeing slaves. You dont get credit for vaguely saying things that would later be reworked to support liberty for the people YOU OWNED.

 

Those seem to be two separate arguments. No one is saying they are good people or that they should "get credit" for anything. We're saying their legacy is not as unambiguously bad as the Confederacy's actual leading figures.

 

The protesters were not calling for Aunt Jemima to be rebranded. Yes, it's nice that Quaker is coming around to doing something most U.S. companies did 50 years ago and getting rid of a African-American caricature, but it ultimately has little to do with defunding or abolishing the police-- the specific, widely expressed demands of protesters. Changing a mascot is a lot easier for wealthy interests to stomach than taking power away from the armed enforcers of inequality. It's also strange to assert that it's not "primarily about capitalism" when focusing on billion-dollar companies and sports franchises that profited off perpetuating hateful slurs and stereotypes.

 

It's especially disturbing when you compare the complaints these officers and unions are giving compared to just about any other career.

If a Teacher did this, they would be fired and arrested.
If a Nurse did this, they would be fired and arrested.

It's become very clear that some police officers do in fact feel they are above the law and warrant special treatment. That is wrong.That is what needs to change and that is why there are calls for police reform.

 

The protesters were calling for greater recognition of structural racism and ongoing racial inequality in the United States. Using demeaning racial caricatures and slurs fits entirely within that rubric. Bemoaning the fact that we are not "destroying stuff that matters to the rich" does not. I'm fine if the thing that brings you to the issue is the economic angle. It's one of many facets that requires advocacy and reform. But it should not the sole focus, and people should certainly not be berated for attempting to change demonstrable instance of normalized racism rather than agitate generally about socio-economics in ways that loses the entire racial context of the protests.