All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[wjowski]

People keep bringing up the wet markets but so far there's no evidence of food being a transmission route for the virus.

[PwrdOn]

How is it racist to say "Dont fucking lie or gulag the guy warning you?" Or "Wet markets are a haven for disease, you traced a nasty outbreak back to one in the early 2000s and still haven't sorted that **** out" or "Stop lying to the world, your numbers dropped in Wuhan because you stopped testing"

It would be the same irrelevant of the nation. Hell just the fact that I question why your defending a nation that keeps fucking up makes you immediately start talking about a fucking race war.

For one thing, the doctor you are talking about didn't get sent to a gulag, the police brought him in for questioning and then let him go, and he subsequently contracted the virus and died from it. The fact that everyone over here just assumes that he was murdered for daring to speak up just shows you how easily people can be swayed by silly conspiracy theories if it fits their predefined world view. As for lying about the numbers, I'm sure there are plenty of deaths that haven't been recorded just like there are in every country, but even a CIA investigation into the matter couldn't find any evidence of some massive cover up, and at this point, why the hell does that even matter? Are we keeping score now?

[4saken1]

I'm going to go out and limb and say that you've probably never harassed or called out for anything your country has done, whereas I've lost count of the number of times people have tried to lecture me, an American, about how bad China is. I'm not saying it's impossible for people to have reasoned critiques of the Chinese government without being motivated at all by prejudice, it's just quite rare in my experience. And quite frankly, I can't really blame you, given how the media in Australia is seemingly fixated on portraying the Chinese as this tide of filthy vermin that will soon overrun your precious country and turn it into a giant wet market, but if you can accept that most of the other stuff that those same media outlets say about the economy and the environment and everything else is wrong, maybe most of the stuff they say about China is misleading as well?

Yep. A couple of weeks ago, a coworker (mail carrier) of Asian descent was spit upon by a customer (charges were filed). While I don't know for sure what the customer's political leanings were, if there was a way to find out, I would bet anybody any amount of money that my assumptions are correct. I don't imagine that the places they get their 'information' from ever overtly say anything that condone such actions, either, but the dog whistles are loud as ****! Funny thing is, people who tend to listen to these media outlets have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to how often said outlets have gotten things completely wrong. They simple point to another mainstream outlet that has made errors (hint: they all have), with zero account of comparison of frequency or magnitude to the one that they source (if they source one at all).

[Steel Inquisitor]

no

because first, I never said I agreed with everything, I don’t even particularly know the poster, I’m relatively new here

And second, all i said is that it’s important to distinguish between criticism of the government and the people of China. It’s not terrible to think that’s important.

In fact, you did.

yeah, I’m with @PwrdOn

It’s important to distinguish between criticism of the current government of China and just making lame generalizations about all of China or its people.

Except what PwndOn was doing was criticising people for criticising the Chinese government. It is important to do that, but only when that happens not attempting to discredit someone because they thought the Chinese government failed with Covid.

[PwrdOn]

In fact, you did.

Except what PwndOn was doing was criticising people for criticising the Chinese government. It is important to do that, but only when that happens not attempting to discredit someone because they thought the Chinese government failed with Covid.

What the hell are you talking about? Here's the post I was initially responding to:

I think this is what people may have been referring to when they said the Democrats should go low. And honestly, I have to agree. For too long Democrats have played nice, expecting to be able to negotiate in good faith with Republicans, and it just won’t happen. Obama was pretty centrist, and not much happened in the second term once the Dems lost control of Congress. So if Biden has to attack China to attack Trump then so be it.

And while I lament the inevitable rise in racism and racist attacks, it’s not like Americans are starting from a baseline of zero here. I’m Australian, and despite what you may think we are incredibly racist here too. What China did was awful.

I'm not sure what that reads like to you, but to me it just sounds like he's bragging that China won't be able to get away with what they did because there are plenty of racists all over the Western world that will gladly hold them to account, which is a curious thing to be talking about.

[Tami]

Broad Support for Social Distancing

West Long Branch, NJ – Public officeholder ratings have gone up across the board in the Garden State, but none more so than for the governor, Phil Murphy, who earns widespread praise for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that New Jersey residents have a higher opinion of the state response than they do for the actions of the federal government in general and the president specifically. The vast majority of New Jerseyans approve of the state’s social distancing regulations, including large numbers who support controversial measures such as the closure of state parks. Among more than a dozen different actions and issues covered by the poll, the only area where New Jersey falls short is the rate of COVID-19 testing. However, only 3 in 10 say this gap is due to the state government not doing enough to make more tests available.

Murphy earns a 71% approve and 21% disapprove rating for the overall job he is doing as governor, with 8% having no opinion. Public approval has jumped since September when he earned a split decision from his constituents – 41% approved and 38% disapproved, while 21% had no opinion of their governor. The governor’s job approval number has increased by 21 points among Democrats (from 71% in September to 92% now), by 41 points among independents (from 28% to 69%), and by 29 points among Republicans (from 16% to 45%).

“Not only are Murphy’s approval numbers up, but more New Jerseyans are taking notice than during the first two years of his term. Leadership becomes much more relevant in a crisis and Murphy is getting solid reviews for his response,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

[Jack Dracula]

A LEGAL and better police officer recruiting system.
A better system in assigning officers to certain areas. I don't need a George Zimmerman starter kit in a black neighborhood.
A better system to protect cops who rat out bad cops. See one thing folks forget is cop retaliation is not LIMITED to drive by shootings or whatever. It includes sudden job changes, low evaluations and everyday stuff nobody would NOTICE to suspect retaliation.
A better investigation system of all cop shootings.
A better system to track, follow and HELP former convicts. Before that convict gets out EVERY program that is available to them needs to be to told to them.

Better training. Some of the companies hired to train police focus on teaching officers to shoot first and ask questions later.

[InformationGeek]

Here's Brian Kemp trying to defend his decision to reopen Georgia with gyms and tattoo parlors.

Governor Kemp is asked how can asymptomatic people be screened at the gym and his first response is literally “the same could be happening at the grocery stores and other places that’s why, the fitness owners, I have great confidence in them spreading people out”

[sammy_hansen]

What the hell are you talking about? Here's the post I was initially responding to:



I'm not sure what that reads like to you, but to me it just sounds like he's bragging that China won't be able to get away with what they did because there are plenty of racists all over the Western world that will gladly hold them to account, which is a curious thing to be talking about.

My point is that when Biden criticises the country of China it will unfortunately draw out the deplorables on both sides of the political aisle. Obama would be unlikely to do that. Jed Bartlet and Matt Santos definitely wouldn’t do that, but they’re fictional, and would in reality get whomped. Now, Biden can be less pure because the alternative is far, far worse. You don’t have to be racist to hold an authoritarian regime to account, as I’ve repeatedly tried to demonstrate.

P.S. I’m sorry that you’ve had to cop racism and discrimination your entire life. I can’t imagine what that’s like and I’ve no doubt you’re coming from a different perspective on this than me.

[godisawesome]

Broad Support for Social Distancing

It’s interesting how that shows how much larger the polling bump a “conventional” office holder would receive compared to what Trump received, and how unique his sudden drop afterwards is. He received less of a bump and lost it quicker than he should have.

It’s pretty much the text book case where he’s have been better off just having the experts make decisions, and stay out of the spotlight.

[Tendrin]

Oh wbe-eeeee....

But Washington state Reps. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver, and Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, believe the worst effects of the pandemic have passed and it’s time to plan for some industries to get back to work.

[PwrdOn]

My point is that when Biden criticises the country of China it will unfortunately draw out the deplorables on both sides of the political aisle. Obama would be unlikely to do that. Jed Bartlet and Matt Santos definitely wouldn’t do that, but they’re fictional, and would in reality get whomped. Now, Biden can be less pure because the alternative is far, far worse. You don’t have to be racist to hold an authoritarian regime to account, as I’ve repeatedly tried to demonstrate.

P.S. I’m sorry that you’ve had to cop racism and discrimination your entire life. I can’t imagine what that’s like and I’ve no doubt you’re coming from a different perspective on this than me.

Look, far be it for me to try and play the victim here. Racism against Asians is pretty widespread but it isn't anywhere near as vitriolic or impactful as what many other groups of people face, and all things considered I can say that I've had it pretty easy. But having witnessed in real time what Muslims, who hadn't been especially discriminated against up until that point, had to deal with in the aftermath of 9/11, when even decent, open-minded folks turned into raging nationalistic monsters when they were told that it was okay to hate a specific group of people because their ideas were bad, it would definitely be quite irresponsible to not push back against this sort of thing happening now.

There are a lot of fair criticisms you can level at the China, the way that they condone racism against black people and other non-white foreigners is absolutely revolting, and the way that they've forsaken their supposed socialist roots in favor of big business makes the entire system seem like quite a farce. Their internet censorship is totally counterproductive and deprives their people of a voice in a lot of these social media spaces where racist attitudes are most commonly expressed, and their schizophrenic attitude over whether traditional Chinese culture is a national heritage worth preserving or a relic of a backwards past has created a modern culture that somehow has all of the stifling inertia of traditionalism along with the soulless materialism of modernity without any of the positives of either. But the thing is, I seriously doubt that most Westerners are interested in talking about any of that stuff, their ideas about China basically begin and end with the horror stories they read in the news about organ harvesting or Uighur camps or any of the other sensationalist stuff that has little grounding in fact but makes for pretty good copy. For example, the story that the coronavirus was engineered in some bio-weapons lab never had any evidence to support it, yet continues to be plastered across the front page with stories that are "just asking questions," keeping the conspiracy alive in the minds of the public.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Broad Support for Social Distancing

I’m sure you must be happy that Phil Murphy is your governor. I can’t imagine what things would be like if Chris Christie were still in charge. I’m sure it wouldn’t be good.

[Maine Starfish]

Indeed, similarly I’m really glad we, here in Maine, no longer have Paul Lepage as governor. He would have been awful during this.

[Tendrin]

Peter D’Abrosca, a far-right blogger who had planned on running for Congress in North Carolina’s 7th District on a position of ceasing all immigration into the United States for 10 years, can thank his own negligence for the fact that he will not be a candidate in his district’s 2020 Republican primary.

In December, the North Carolina State Board of Elections canceled D’Abrosca’s notice of candidacy in accordance with a state election law that requires people running in a political party’s primary election to have been registered with the party for at least 90 days before filing their candidacy. D’Abrosca had only been registered as a Republican for eight days before he attempted to file. On Tuesday, the board rejected his appeal.

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/...-incompetence/

Hadn't heard of this guy, or had forgotten. He got epically dunked on by AOC on twitter earlier while trying to declare she 'grew up rich'.