All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Gray Lensman]

President Trump Eyes a New Real-Estate Purchase: Greenland

Trump Is Reportedly Considering Buying Greenland, Which, Sure Why Not At This Point?

Well, it would ensure he is in the history books for something other than how terrible he is.

[Malvolio]

I know it's unintentional, but this actually plays into the prejudices people hold against Russian immigrants. That they're violent and/or connected to organized crime.

I simply meant that they only seem to have this "English only" mentality when the non-English speakers aren't white. You'll never see them make the argument against Russian speaking owners of electronics stores.

[JCAll]

Well, it would ensure he is in the history books for something other than how terrible he is.

He probably just wants to cover up the research showing climate change destroying Greenlands ice sheets, and his small stupid brain just defaults to "Buy it".

[Tami]

White professor investigated for quoting James Baldwin's use of N-word

The Pulitzer-nominated poet Laurie Sheck, a professor at the New School in New York City, is being investigated by the university for using the N-word during a discussion about James Baldwin’s use of the racial slur.

The investigation has been condemned by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Fire), which is calling on the New School to drop the “misguided” case because it “warns faculty and students that good-faith engagement with difficult political, social, and academic questions will result in investigation and possible discipline”.

Sheck, who is white, was teaching a graduate course this spring on “radical questioning” in writing. She assigned students Baldwin’s 1962 essay The Creative Process, in which the black American writer and civil rights activist argued that Americans have “modified or suppressed and lied about all the darker forces in our history” and must commit to “a long look backward whence we came and an unflinching assessment of the record”. During the class, Sheck pointed to the 2016 documentary about Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro, and asked her students to discuss why the title altered Baldwin’s original statement, in which he used the N-word instead of negro during an appearance on a talk show.

In June, months after the class, Sheck says she was called to a meeting where she was questioned about her choice of reading assignments, and how she had prepared students for discussing Baldwin’s essay. She told the university that graduate students on a literature course “should reasonably be expected to be able to discuss painful or offensive language and the various implications of altering the words of an iconic writer”. As the meeting ended, she was given the university’s guidelines for dealing with issues of discrimination and told to familiarise herself with them.

But Sheck told the Guardian that the university is proceeding with an investigation despite its regulations stating that complaints of discrimination must be lodged within 60 days of the incident, which had passed by the time the complaint was made against her.

PEN America has now joined Fire in calling for the investigation to be dropped. “Some words are so heinous that one can never expect to say them without some risk of offence,” said Jonathan Friedman, PEN’s project director for campus free speech. “But this is a case where intent matters. There is a distinction to be made between a racial slur wielded against someone and a quote used for pedagogical purposes in a class on James Baldwin. The New School cannot and must not discipline a professor for speech that is protected by the principle of academic freedom.”

Sheck said that she is prepared to teach her classes when term starts in two weeks, despite not hearing from the university.

“PEN has warned them that to act against me would be to violate academic freedom. If a university can censure a teacher for quoting James Baldwin and raising with graduate students – students who are aspiring writers – the issues involved in changing the words of an iconic American writer, then surely much is threatened and much is at stake, for thousands of people teaching throughout this country,” she said.

[Jack Dracula]

The rural voting bloc has all sorts of reason to turn on Trump. Choosing a candidate with a chance at their votes is essential to winning IMO.

You'll not find one with a D next to their name. They may not love Trump as much because of the trade war, but they're still Republicans. A significant percentage would still vote for him simply to keep a Democrat out of the White House.

[Theleviathan]

You'll not find one with a D next to their name. They may not love Trump as much because of the trade war, but they're still Republicans. A significant percentage would still vote for him simply to keep a Democrat out of the White House.

I disagree. I grew up in the rural Midwest, many of the parties in that region of the country include "Farmer" in their party name.

Is there a percentage you can't reach? Sure, but it's not as great as you might think. The Dems hold many rural midwest districts in the House by running candidates that are palatable to people with more purple sensibilities.

[Theleviathan]

White professor investigated for quoting James Baldwin's use of N-word

For ****'s sake people. Ugh.

[Tendrin]

OH WBE-EEeeeeeee….

A Republican congressional candidate in Georgia has dropped out of the congressional race after calling himself a "white nationalist."
Donnie Bolena, a longshot candidate running to challenge Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., said in a 22-minute long Facebook video that the local Fulton County Republican Party had pressured him to exit the race, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Two days before he posted the video on August 10, Bolena had called himself a "white nationalist," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Bolena doubled down on his remarks in the video and discussed the post he had previously made.

Good on the local GOP For pushing him out, even if its just for saying the quiet parts loud.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Top Jewish Leader Slams Israel’s Ban Of Omar, Tlaib: ‘Democracies Do Not Hide’

The leader of America’s largest Jewish denomination is calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse the ban on the two congresswomen. I'm guessing that won't happen. Meanwhile....

Bernie Sanders To Israel: Ban Our Lawmakers? Then Don’t Take Our Money

Anderson Cooper: Trump Can’t Sic A Foreign Government On U.S. Lawmakers, But He Just Did

Washington Post Torches Donald Trump’s ‘Un-American’ Support Of Israel Lawmaker Ban

Some Conservatives Denounce Israel’s Decision To Ban Reps. Omar And Tlaib

**********

Twitter Users Erupt After Trump Blames Potential Recession On Media

One Twitter user asked the president: “Why is it when the economy is doing well it’s because of you, and when it is tanking, it is because of someone else?” Because that's how Trump rolls. NOTHING that ever goes wrong durinng his watch is ever his fault.

**********

Trump Administration Prosecutes Migrant Workers Arrested In Mississippi ICE Raid

Six of the workers face criminal prosecution under immigration laws that some Democrats want to repeal. So, who's gonna replace all those migrant workers? Homegrown Americans? PUH-leeze!

**********

Trump Suggests Building More Mental Institutions To Curb Gun Violence

“These people are mentally ill,” the president said to a question on guns. “I think we have to start building institutions again.” Whatever you say, Donnie. Anything to take the focus off about how bad guys can easily get ahold of deadly assault weapons.

**********

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown On The GOP Trying To Recall Her: ‘Crazy’

“I won two elections handily,” said the progressive Democrat. “What part of the will of the voters are they ignoring?” Hmm! I'd say ALL of it.

[Tami]

Trump nominates advocate of 'ethnonationalism' for judgeship

Rachel Maddow shares passages from a law journal article by Donald Trump federal court nominee Steven Menashi in which he argues democratic countries work better when everyone in the same ethnicity.

In summery, Menashi wrote a paper for a Law Journal which basically said that Democracies only work if everyone in the country is of a Uniform Racial and Ethic Identity. That multiracial and multicultral countries are a horrible idea and would destroy democracies.

[KOSLOX]

White professor investigated for quoting James Baldwin's use of N-word

Sheck told Inside Higher Education that a white student had objected to her language. According to Sheck, she questioned the student about her objection, who said she had been told by a previous professor that white people should never use the term. At the end of term, the student gave a presentation about racism at the New School.

This is one issue I have with "wokeness" and an area I weirdly agree with some people I would likely loathe in real life. Whether this student is cognizant of it or not, this plays in to the performance aspect of "wokeness" and serves as ammunition for people that pursue socially regressive ideology. Normally, I'd say in some case the performance is warranted because it draw attention to the underlying issues, and allyship inherently requires an element is public display. The problem here is that the person is taking exception to a slur while ignoring the underlying point of the discussion.

They are so caught up in a performative display ("White people can never use that word"), that the reason the word is being discussed and the underlying reason that statement exists is lost. It's basically a display of mindless pageantry.

[Theleviathan]

This is one issue I have with "wokeness" and an area I weirdly agree with some people I would likely loathe in real life. Whether this student is cognizant of it or not, this plays in to the performance aspect of "wokeness" and serves as ammunition for people that pursue socially regressive ideology. Normally, I'd say in some case the performance is warranted because it draw attention to the underlying issues, and allyship inherently requires an element is public display. The problem here is that the person is taking exception to a slur while ignoring the underlying point of the discussion.

They are so caught up in a performative display ("White people can never use that word"), that the reason the word is being discussed and the underlying reason that statement exists is lost. It's basically a display of mindless pageantry.

Well said. I'd only add that it's more damaging than ammunition. It's that, but it's also playing to a caricature that emboldens that caricature. That strengthens your enemy and weakens your allies at the same time.

Right now this is a minor cancer on the left, I'm of the opinion it should be squashed before it becomes more than that.

[Tami]

Overstock C.E.O. Takes Aim at ‘Deep State’ After Romance With Russian Agent

They met at a libertarian conference in Las Vegas in July 2015, where they discussed Milton Friedman, Anton Chekhov and John Locke.

He was the philosophizing founder and chief executive of Overstock.com, a publicly traded e-commerce retailer that sells discount furniture and bedding. She was an ambitious graduate student from Russia.

It was the start of a three-year relationship between the e-commerce executive, Patrick Byrne, and the young woman, Maria Butina, that became romantic at times. She is now serving 18 months in prison after being accused by federal prosecutors of trying to infiltrate powerful political circles in the United States at the direction of the Russian government. She ultimately pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Mr. Byrne’s relationship became widely known on Monday, when his company took the unusual step of issuing a news release that called attention to it. In the release, which was put out in response to a report that Mr. Byrne had been involved in the federal inquiry into the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Byrne said that he had been helping law enforcement agents, whom he referred to as “Men in Black,” with their “Clinton Investigation” and “Russia Investigation.”

In an interview late Wednesday, Mr. Byrne said he wanted to shed light on what he saw as problems in the way top law enforcement officials had handled the government’s case against Ms. Butina.

The release, titled “Overstock.com CEO Comments on Deep State,” sent the company’s shares plummeting more than 30 percent over the next two days, while opening an intriguing new chapter in the tale of Ms. Butina and her connections to influential Americans. Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, confirmed that Ms. Butina and Mr. Byrne had been “romantically involved” and that, according to Mr. Byrne, government officials had instructed him on how to interact with her.

[Malvolio]

This is one issue I have with "wokeness" and an area I weirdly agree with some people I would likely loathe in real life. Whether this student is cognizant of it or not, this plays in to the performance aspect of "wokeness" and serves as ammunition for people that pursue socially regressive ideology. Normally, I'd say in some case the performance is warranted because it draw attention to the underlying issues, and allyship inherently requires an element is public display. The problem here is that the person is taking exception to a slur while ignoring the underlying point of the discussion.

They are so caught up in a performative display ("White people can never use that word"), that the reason the word is being discussed and the underlying reason that statement exists is lost. It's basically a display of mindless pageantry.

QFT. The mentality of the student who objected to the use of the word is the same as those who tried to censor it out of Huckleberry Finn. You can't resolve problems by pretending they never existed.

[SquirrelMan]

DJI attempting the recovery after it failed to gain traction yesterday. Currently up 315.