1. #38851
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by babyblob View Post
    Of course. But they forget those details when they talk about how non racist America and Fox News is.

    What is really amazing is when someone says

    "How can we be a racist country. Didnt 1 of those people get voted president?" And they just dont understand what they just said. Like their mind cant hear the words.
    Considering Trump started his Presidential run with a racist tirade against immigrants, and than ran one of the most openly racist Administrations in modern history, it is hard to argue we are not racists.

    And of course we now have the GOP passing "Stop Black People From Voting" laws all over.
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  2. #38852
    I am invenitable Jack Dracula's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    Remember Roberts voided the Voting Rights Act because our country was no longer racist and we didn't have Voter suppression problems anymore. Another nail in the coffin of American Democracy.
    Another important move in the slow-motion coup the Republicans have been enacting.
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  3. #38853
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by babyblob View Post
    Of course. But they forget those details when they talk about how non racist America and Fox News is.

    What is really amazing is when someone says

    "How can we be a racist country. Didnt 1 of those people get voted president?" And they just dont understand what they just said. Like their mind cant hear the words.
    I doubt if there’s a non racist country in the world. Look at any country I know of and there is some ethnic (and gender bias), some groups get more favourable treatment.

    I’d go further, and say there are problems even at company level, let alone country level. Even the most progressive companies show an over-representation of some ethnic groups at senior management level and under-representation of other groups.

    (For a fair few years I worked at a large progressive company, where I rarely came across overt prejudice…but looking at racial profiles of who worked at each level was very revealing…some ethnic groups were under-represented at every level, and the imbalance grew more at the top levels.)
    Last edited by JackDaw; 01-15-2022 at 10:43 AM.

  4. #38854
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    I doubt if there’s a non racist country in the world. Look at any country I know of and there is some ethnic (and gender bias), some groups get more favourable treatment.

    I’d go further, and say there are problems even at company level, let alone country level. Even the most progressive companies show an over-representation of some ethnic groups at senior management level and under-representation of other groups.

    (For a fair few years I worked at a large progressive company, where I rarely came across overt prejudice…but looking at racial profiles of who worked at each level was very revealing…some ethnic groups were under-represented at every level, and the imbalance grew more at the top levels.)
    It's a good point. It would be difficult to support the claim that racism in the United States today or even our immigration policy is the worst in the world. Some elements of it - especially in criminal justice and prisons - are probably contenders though, but, again, that's really only prominent for lower class and poor people in the country. Being poor in America is practically, and often actually, a criminal offense much moreso than even countries where poverty is far more widespread.

    However, the problems of racism, discrimination and actual oppression of people in working and lower income brackets is made more egregious because the USA as a nation is so wealthy and powerful. In other words, though other nations may have these problems far worse, the United States really has no reason - no underlying pressures - to have these problems to any significant extent. We have all the advantages any nation could want.

    For example, some have worried that China will someday soon have the largest economy in the world (they said that about Japan, too, in the 80's) but China also has one and a half billion people. America has the largest economy in the world and a third of the population of the nation in second place. It's insanely wealthy and powerful so even if we don't have social problems as bad as China or India, there is no excuse that they are so bad.

  5. #38855
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnathan View Post

    However, the problems of racism, discrimination and actual oppression of people in working and lower income brackets is made more egregious because the USA as a nation is so wealthy and powerful. In other words, though other nations may have these problems far worse, the United States really has no reason - no underlying pressures - to have these problems to any significant extent. We have all the advantages any nation could want.

    For example, some have worried that China will someday soon have the largest economy in the world (they said that about Japan, too, in the 80's) but China also has one and a half billion people. America has the largest economy in the world and a third of the population of the nation in second place. It's insanely wealthy and powerful so even if we don't have social problems as bad as China or India, there is no excuse that they are so bad.

    Yes, I agree.

    Nothing is ever going to be absolutely perfect…but things could realistically be much better….and wealthy countries perhaps ought to be able to improve things more quickly.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    Yes, I agree.

    Nothing is ever going to be absolutely perfect…but things could realistically be much better….and wealthy countries perhaps ought to be able to improve things more quickly.
    That's my perspective as well, and I think people could go about it a little less heated. We're not doing all that badly so let's work together, right?

    Another major element of all this, of course, is that all this wealth that is concentrated in so few people is also the result of centuries of colonial exploitation, actual slave labor, extremely unfair and dangerous labor practices, the displacement, deaths and cultural destruction of generations of indigenous people and continued discriminatory practices institutionally and ingrained culturally.

    So, even though none of us living experienced or remember most of that history, it does leave a large materially karmic debt for those lucky enough to be born in a Western nation that prospered in this way. I'm not even suggesting that wealthy people or groups should be punished or taxed out of their wealth, but really that it simply makes no moral sense for poor and disenfranchised people's lives to be so difficult where even what little they have can be legally robbed by much more economically powerful interests in tandem with indifferent government.

    We'll never lift everyone out of poverty, so it makes more sense to alleviate the problems with being poor.

  7. #38857
    Astonishing Member Timothy Hunter's Avatar
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    Do we know anything about the perpetrator of the Texas synagogue hostage situation?

  8. #38858
    Braddock Isle JB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Timothy Hunter View Post
    Do we know anything about the perpetrator of the Texas synagogue hostage situation?
    Not much yet. The service was live-streaming and you could hear the gunman yelling but it has since been disconnected. I haven't seen any other details.

    Colleyville synagogue held hostage during livestreamed service; police negotiating with man
    https://www.star-telegram.com/news/l...257360862.html

    Authorities northeast of Fort Worth were negotiating with a man Saturday who apparently took people hostage at a Colleyville synagogue during services.

    The FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety are at the scene, CNN reported, quoting a Colleyville police sergeant who said no injuries have been reported.

    The service was being livestreamed on Facebook, and the live recording, which was taken down shortly before 2 p.m., captured muffled audio of what sounded like negotiations with police.

    Colleyville police said they are conducting SWAT operations in the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Road, the location of Congregation Beth Israel. FBI special agents from the Dallas field office are also at the synagogue, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

    All residents in the immediate area were evacuated, and people are asked to avoid the area.
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  9. #38859
    Braddock Isle JB's Avatar
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    Update on hostage situation.

    Armed man holding hostages at Colleyville, Texas, synagogue demands release of convicted terrorist sister
    https://nypost.com/2022/01/15/rabbi-...xas-synagogue/

    An armed man holding a rabbi and congregants hostage at a Texas synagogue is demanding that US authorities release his convicted terrorist sister, according to reports.

    Muhammad Siddiqui is the brother of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted in Manhattan federal court in 2010 of trying to kill US authorities in Afghanistan. She is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in nearby Fort-Worth, according to public records.
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  10. #38860
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    Asian woman pushed to her death in front of oncoming train in NYC

    An Asian woman was pushed to her death in front of an oncoming train in New York City on Saturday morning.
    New York City police told NBC News that the incident occurred at around 9:30 a.m. in a Times Square subway station near 42nd Street and Broadway.

    Authorities have taken a person of interest into custody as they continue to investigate the incident.

    The woman was shoved onto the tracks and struck by a southbound R train, a police spokesperson said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Investigators have not yet determined whether the attack was random or intentional.
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  11. #38861
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    Remember Roberts voided the Voting Rights Act because our country was no longer racist and we didn't have Voter suppression problems anymore. Another nail in the coffin of American Democracy.
    The argument about the voting rights act isn't that racism has disappeared but that we shouldn't use generations old determinations about which places are especially racist.
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  12. #38862
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    Reauthorized In 2006. Signed by Bush.
    https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archi...0060727-1.html
    How far your Party has fallen.
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  13. #38863
    Ultimate Member Gray Lensman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    Reauthorized In 2006. Signed by Bush.
    https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archi...0060727-1.html
    How far your Party has fallen.
    One thing you can't accuse Dubya of is racism - the results of his policies might not have been equitable, but there wasn't any animus behind them at least.

    There are other....many other things we can lay at his feet, of course, but white resentment isn't among them.
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  14. #38864
    Braddock Isle JB's Avatar
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    Incredibly sad and NYC is seeing rising violent crime. It reminds me of the 80's.
    "Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
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  15. #38865
    Ultimate Member babyblob's Avatar
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    When it comes to Bush Jr I always thought he was a bad President but Dubya as a person would be fun to just hang with for an afternoon and watch Baseball and bad movies with.
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