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

[Jack Dracula]

Really didn't think it was anything to get too worked up about -- it's something that happens all the time but usually doesn't get caught on text.

Might be more to it -- not saying it's legit, just saw it posted elsewhere.

Losing out on a job at Subway isn't that serious, regardless, but there's plenty of data that shows the same thing happens with loans, housing and higher-level employment as well. I understand wanting to see all of the facts first, but it's not like this text is telling us anything we don't already know.

-----
"Hiring Discrimination Against Black Americans Hasn't Declined In 25 Years"

"When I recently wrote of a study that showed Black and Latino median wealth could hit zero by the middle of this century, some people contacted me through social media and insisted it was the fault of those whose wealth was on the decline. All you need do is work hard enough — improve yourself through education, insist on finding opportunities — and things will get better, these people said.

It is true that you have to work for what you want. Ultimately, you can't depend on the kindness of strangers, to deploy a twist on the Tennessee Williams line. If discrimination becomes the rationale for not trying, you have to blame yourself as well.

However, people badly misuse this concept and assume that no one gets the short end of the stick and that you can't work hard and still not get ahead. It's a way of absolving themselves and social systems from blame. They want to convince themselves that all they have came only from their own efforts in a perfectly competitive system and nothing else.

The truth, based on lots of data over years, is that if you're Black or Latino in the U.S., you get far from an equal shake. Your efforts have to be longer, stronger, and chances are you still will be treated worse. The deck gets stacked against you even as you try mightily and then people throw the results in your face.

The most recent evidence of this is a recent meta-study, which means a review of multiple studies, by researchers at Northwestern, in Chicago; Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Institute of Social Research in Oslo, Norway. Hiring discrimination against Blacks hasn't changed in the last 25 years. Latinos have seen only a moderate drop in discrimination against them."

https://hbr.org/2017/10/hiring-discr...ed-in-25-years

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikshe...e-in-25-years/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-bla...ars-1507039200

----
"Subway manager fired after denying black teen a job"

"In just a day, remarks made about high school student Katelyn Simmons in a text written by a Subway manager had taken social media by storm.

It was shared 18,000 times and got over 8000 likes and 900 comments.

"Most of the people who took it and ran with it first are members of this community who know our family and what this community stands for," said Katelyn's mother Timika Simmons.

Here's what it said:

When the manager asked that employee in a text," How she look?"

He replied," Black girl long dark hair shortish."

Then the manager texts," Oh no thanks I don't want those people in our store lol."

"I was like, appalled and disturbed," Katelyn Simmons said. "It's the 21st century and there's still people so bold and open about it like that."

In a response, Subway said, "the manager of this location was immediately terminated for her actions. The franchise owner has reached out to the young woman who applied for the position to apologize and encourage her to consider re-applying."

But Tamika Simmons says that didn't happen and the franchise owner voiced her concerns of violence due to the fired managers text.

"She just assumed again because we were African American that there was going to be some type of violent response to that," she said.

"There was no apology there was no we support you guys we want yo to consider being on our team there was none of that," the teenager said.

In the statement Subway also said," the former managers actions do not reflect the openness and values shown by Subway franchise owners. The Subway brand is inclusive and welcomes all individuals to be part of the Subway restaurant teams."

http://www.fox26houston.com/home/sub...ack-teen-a-job

I'm aware that a racial bias exists regarding employment opportunities and have seen it first-hand at places I've been previously employed.
Thank you for posting the follow-up information.

[aja_christopher]

I'm aware that a racial bias exists regarding employment opportunities and have seen it first-hand at places I've been previously employed.
Thank you for posting the follow-up information.

No problem -- I understand wanting to get all available relevant information before coming to a conclusion.

[Tendrin]

A Texas Republican has said women who have abortions should “absolutely” be punished and deserve to go to prison for having their pregnancy terminated.
Representative Ron Wright, who was elected in 2018, responds to questions about whether or not women who induce their own abortions should be punished with jail in a video released by abortion access advocacy group Reproaction.
The politician says: “Of course, because they just killed a baby”.
When the interviewer asks if he is concerned women could be sent to prison for having abortions, he says: “As far as I’m concerned, they committed murder”.

It's about controlling and punishing women. (also, OH WBE-EEEeeee, etc etc. :P)

[Tendrin]

...wow...

Maine legislators recently approved a new state ballad, a task one would expect to be simple and drama-free.
Alas, in the year 2019, it’s not so easy. Some Republican state lawmakers in the northeastern state were concerned that the ballad chosen cast too negative of a light on the Confederacy, according to a new report from the Maine Beacon.

The song, titled “The Ballad of the 20th Maine,” tells the story of a Maine infantry regiment that fought in the Civil War, and unsurprisingly, has a pro-Union message. Two Republicans found this inappropriate.
“I find it a little bit, we are united states, we are not Union, we are united states. And I find it just a little bit – I won’t say offensive but that’s what I mean – to say that we’re any better than the South was,” Republican state Rep. Frances Head said last month while discussing the song, per the Maine Beacon.

*facepalm*

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/m...ns-confederate

[worstblogever]

Speaking of anti-choice fanatics... I've covered Georgia State Senator Renee Untermann before... she's the sponsor of Georgia's own fetal heartbeat bill at the moment, and is trying to parlay her extremism into a run for actual Congress in 2020. This would be the same Renee Untermann who unilaterally blocked legislation that would have assured collected samples from rape kits would be tested, for no reason, and then lied and claimed no backlog existed.

The Republican Party... truly elevating its best.

[Tami]

Trump hits Comcast, MSNBC over 'hatred,' 'fake news'

Was wondering when he was going to do this, so predicable

President Trump went after Comcast and various news networks late Saturday, accusing the media companies of reporting "lies" and claiming Comcast of showing "hatred."

"Watched MSNBC this morning just to see what the opposition was saying about events of the past week," Trump tweeted.

"Such lies, almost everything they were saying was the opposite of the truth" he wrote. "Fake News! No wonder their ratings, along with CNN, are WAY DOWN. The hatred Comcast has is amazing!"

[Tendrin]

Speaking of anti-choice fanatics... I've covered Georgia State Senator Renee Untermann before... she's the sponsor of Georgia's own fetal heartbeat bill at the moment, and is trying to parlay her extremism into a run for actual Congress in 2020. This would be the same Renee Untermann who unilaterally blocked legislation that would have assured collected samples from rape kits would be tested, for no reason, and then lied and claimed no backlog existed.

The Republican Party... truly elevating its best.

/o Everything is awful....

[Iron Maiden]

Trump hits Comcast, MSNBC over 'hatred,' 'fake news'

Was wondering when he was going to do this, so predicable

Trump is so ignorant. Him blaming Comcast is like blaming the mailman for bringing you bad mail or something. They are mostly just the delivery system. Why not blame Verizon or Direct TV too for producing fake news too?

[PwrdOn]

Ted Cruz came to the defense of Steven Crowler on YouTube, saying the video platform was unfairly targeting him and conservatives.

Just a reminder, this is the person Cruz came to the defense of.

These conservative "comedians" are just so sad, there's barely an attempt at an actual joke here. I suppose this is what happens inside the right wing bubble though, if you don't have to try very hard to get laughs (or dollars), you simply won't.

[Tendrin]

You don't have to be funny if you're just hating the same people your audience wants you to. The cruelty is the point.

[Kusanagi]

How the **** is this **** legal?!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-abortion-bans

So to sum up, in a state with approaching 10 million people, with a democratic governor, in which in the last election voters voted overwhelming democrat. If conservatives can get 34,000 people to sign on to a petition (approximately 4% of an electorate) they can get a veto proof ban on abortions after 6 weeks, despite our state being 54% pro choice?!

The system is fucked! And Republicans, and those that support them don't give a **** about democracy!

[Robotman]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019...texas-poll/amp

Wow a Quinnipiac poll shows Biden leading Trump in Texas.

[Tendrin]

Yeah. I think a lot of people who understandably don't like Biden due to his traditional democratic centrism are underestimating just how well liked Biden generally is.

Do I want him as president? No. But I wouldn't mind him as president, especially if we can get a democratic senate and crush Trump.

[PwrdOn]

Yeah. I think a lot of people who understandably don't like Biden due to his traditional democratic centrism are underestimating just how well liked Biden generally is.

Do I want him as president? No. But I wouldn't mind him as president, especially if we can get a democratic senate and crush Trump.

It's not that people are such ideological purists that they reject the idea of Biden as president out of principle, it's just that the Democrats have been trying to move right to appeal to swing voters for the last decade and have repeatedly gotten trounced even when the odds looked heavily stacked in their favor. The Republicans aren't winning because America actually likes conservative policies, they're winning because of their slow motion takeover of local government, gerrymandering, and packing the courts, and trying to appease them by nominating moderates won't do anything to counter that.

Personally, Biden just feels like a dinosaur since his aw shucks, Uncle Joe demeanor seems to fit more in the 80s or 90s, and voters want someone with more substance to take the lead. Now the problem is that the issues candidates like Warren or Sanders don't have the personal charisma that Biden does, but then again to a lot of younger and minority voters they're all just a bunch of old white farts whom only other old white farts can relate to anyway. This whole 2020 field just has me depressed. #AOC2028

[Tendrin]

It's not that people are such ideological purists that they reject the idea of Biden as president out of principle, it's just that the Democrats have been trying to move right to appeal to swing voters for the last decade and have repeatedly gotten trounced even when the odds looked heavily stacked in their favor. The Republicans aren't winning because America actually likes conservative policies, they're winning because of their slow motion takeover of local government, gerrymandering, and packing the courts, and trying to appease them by nominating moderates won't do anything to counter that.

Personally, Biden just feels like a dinosaur since his aw shucks, Uncle Joe demeanor seems to fit more in the 80s or 90s, and voters want someone with more substance to take the lead. Now the problem is that the issues candidates like Warren or Sanders don't have the personal charisma that Biden does, but then again to a lot of younger and minority voters they're all just a bunch of old white farts whom only other old white farts can relate to anyway. This whole 2020 field just has me depressed. #AOC2028

We keep talking about what voters want when it's not in evidence that voters /don't/ want Biden, given his commandng lead in the primaries and his early lead on Trump in the polls that test these things. We're a microsm and Biden is up 50 or 60 points in South Carolina primary. We can't say that it's 'just' name recognition. I'm not in disagreement about Dems occupying rightwards spaces abandoned by an ever more extreme Republican party and Biden is hardly my ideal candidate, that space is reserved for Warren of the people running, but he appeals to a wide swath of voters as polling sits right now. I mean, ****, Quinnipac has him beating Trump in Texas. /Texas/.

I don't think Biden is the right man for the monumental challenges the human race is going to face going forward but the answer is to stop thinking of the presidency so much and focus more on taking back local governments and congressional power.