All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Mister Mets]

According to that chart black folks only murder and rob more than white folks-who lead in every other stat.

Yet the GOP or Fox News won't talk about that.

Er, there are more white people than African-Americans in the United States, so white people would lead in every crime stat.

Statistically and factually you are obviously wrong, FBI data 2019 (can find more recent data, if needed):
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s...ables/table-43

Cross this with the % of population by race in the US and you get statistical proportion. How would you like to see this in a maths textbook for kids? How would this be even relevant for maths exercises? (Statistics on perceived racial bias are also not relevant for maths exercises)

These are statistics without any context or background. Much needed context or background to the FBI statistics above would be something like “african americans are discriminated, targeted by the police and suffer more economic hardships”. See where I’m trying to get at?

There are definitely ways someone can use word problems to bring up messy statistics absent context. It's wrong regardless of which side does it.

Whenever someone says “woke” doesn’t exist, ridiculous things like these come along:

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/oxfam-biz...using-english/

Oxfam are a charity that tackles global poverty. They have released a guide for their staff that has best practices:
- words like "headquarters", "local" and even "people" have colonial implications and should be avoided
- Staff were warned that "people who become pregnant" was preferable to "expectant mothers", while "parent" is better than "mother" or "father"
- "We recognise that this guide has its origin in English, the language of a colonising nation”
- "However, we recognise that the dominance of English is one of the key issues that must be addressed in order to decolonise our ways of working and shift power."
- “field trip" can "reinforce colonial attitudes"
- Avoid saying that you "stand with" people you support because it could be considered ableist and alienate "people unable to stand"
- even the word "people" should be used cautious, as it "is often misunderstood as only referring to men"

Obviously comedians here in the UK are having a field day:

https://twitter.com/JohnCleese/statu...916892165?s=20

The woke question is a bit messy since it's a term without a clear definition, although that happens often enough with ways to describe political enemies (terms like far-right, MAGA, neoliberal or tea party.

It mainly comes from a sense that the American (or I suppose anglosphere) left has moved further to the left, and that some people in positions of political and cultural power are pushing these kinds of left-wing policies, like insisting everyone learn new nomenclature in order to be taken seriously.

The shift is is easily documented. The left often tries to frame right-wing pushback against this as a sign of white supremacy, although an underappreciated part of the current political moment is that the big change on the left is among white progressives, who are going to have different personality traits than progressives overall.

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/22/182598...ing-trump-2020
https://www.slowboring.com/p/tema-okun

[Mister Mets]

I do wish McConnell I'll. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

It's not good.

I don't think it's denying what President Trump said per say, it's just telling their staff not to feel anxious about his treat of violence.

It's something they have to get ready for, unfortunately.

There are likely to be some terrible threats. For the individual prosecutors and staff, that possibility may have more impact than protests in the street.

I may be eating crow soon. Time and time again that trump would never be convicted let along arrested. But now trump is posting about he soon will be.

The question is if it does happen how will his cult react?

The conviction was always the hard part.

There are some questions with this particular case.

One argument is that Bragg is going for a novel prosecution, trying to demonstrate that Trump covered up a felony that he was never charged for. That's a bit of a stretch.

Ruth Marcus, not a Trump fan, wrote about this for the Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ment-possible/

DA Bragg may very well feel pressure to go after Trump because a failure to prosecute Trump may be in an issue in a primary challenge (It would be bad for Bragg if someone runs against him from the center for crime rates/ quality of life issues, while also peeling off Democratic primary voters who think it'll be easy to convict Trump.)

We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. It could be that Bragg has evidence of something else, or is trying to bait a reaction, so he has something cleaner to prosecute.

I think one of the key differences between progressives and conservatives is the former see the future in the terms of opportunity and the latter see the future in the terms of a threat.
I also think the GOP have made manipulating their base on those terms into an art.

The future is a threat and opportunity. Democrats are worked about overpopulation, Climate Change and other forms of pollution.

[Jack Dracula]

I do wish McConnell ill. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

Glad to know I’m not alone.

[CaptainEurope]

I'm just upset that the GOP in Kentucky changed the rules as soon as a Democratic governor was elected and he won't get to pick a replacement in case Mitch has to step down for health reasons.

[thwhtGuardian]

I do wish McConnell ill. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

I just don't get wishing this particular person ill.

Putin?

Sure...but Mitch McConnel? I may disagree with his politics and I hold him largely responsible for the state of the Republican party but he isn't responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and that's kind of the level you need to be on I think to wish someone ill.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

McCarthy just made it clear that he’s picked Trump over the rule of law

When I read stories like this, it makes me wonder: If Trump never entered the race, never went into politics, would Republicans, right wingers and conservatives have gone to these consistently insane lengths to protect Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham or Rand Paul if any of them were president? Would there have been legions of rabid acolytes who worshipped the ground Bush, Romney, Cruz, Graham or Paul walked on, or risked prison by storming the Capitol on 1/6 after any of those guys lost the 2020 election? Short answer: NO.

With Trump, it always has been, and still is all about his irresistible, and unstoppable cult of personality. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he appealed to scores of bigots by making racism not just acceptable, but fashionable, and that earned him the undying loyalty of his followers by appealing to their misguided sense of white superiority and white grievance, a foul brew that’s still serving Trump well today. None of the other GOPers, no matter how bad they were in their own way would’ve gone to the disgusting lengths Trump had gone, none of them would’ve committed crimes or divided the country like Trump had done, none of them would’ve fomented the unimaginable level of destructive chaos Trump had unleashed.

And Craven Kevin wouldn’t be doing stupid stuff like this for anyone BUT Trump, and everyone knows it, including him.

[Panfoot]

I do wish McConnell ill. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

Agreed, and I have no problem with it, if you dedicate your life to the suffering of others I see no reason to feel guilty over wishing them ill.

[Reverse Happy]

I just don't get wishing this particular person ill.

Putin?

Sure...but Mitch McConnel? I may disagree with his politics and I hold him largely responsible for the state of the Republican party but he isn't responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and that's kind of the level you need to be on I think to wish someone ill.

McConnell is personally responsible for stealing two Supreme Court seats, by refusing to hold a vote on Garland for 11 months until Trump could assume power, then rushing to ram Barrett through in 2 months before Biden could assume power. This makes him personally responsible for every bad thing the current 6-3 Supreme Court has done and will do in the coming decades. He even gloated about confirming Barrett on Hillary's birthday. If he dies, I'll verbally dance on his grave.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

When I read stories like this, it makes me wonder: If Trump never entered the race, never went into politics, would Republicans, right wingers and conservatives have gone to these consistently insane lengths to protect Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham or Rand Paul if any of them were president? Would there have been legions of rabid acolytes who worshipped the ground Bush, Romney, Cruz, Graham or Paul walked on, or risked prison by storming the Capitol on 1/6 after any of those guys lost the 2020 election? Short answer: NO.

With Trump, it always has been, and still is all about his irresistible, and unstoppable cult of personality. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he appealed to scores of bigots by making racism not just acceptable, but fashionable, and that earned him the undying loyalty of his followers by appealing to their misguided sense of white superiority and white grievance, a foul brew that’s still serving Trump well today. None of the other GOPers, no matter how bad they were in their own way would’ve gone to the disgusting lengths Trump had gone, none of them would’ve committed crimes or divided the country like Trump had done, none of them would’ve fomented the unimaginable level of destructive chaos Trump had unleashed.

And Craven Kevin wouldn’t be doing stupid stuff like this for anyone BUT Trump, and everyone knows it, including him.

I wonder if Kevin realizes this "Cult of Personality" helped cause the Republican party to lose the White House , lose the Mid-Terms basically and now its heading into 2024 and its possible we could see it continue.

[Panfoot]

Putin is obviously a very easy to see monster, the difference with McConnell is he's more behind the scenes/indirect. He's not sending men to die on the front lines of his own personal war, but he's spent decades destroying the government and trying to guarantee a worse world for anyone that isn't straight white rich man, and unfortunately he's had a lot of success.

[Jack Dracula]

I just don't get wishing this particular person ill.

Putin?

Sure...but Mitch McConnel? I may disagree with his politics and I hold him largely responsible for the state of the Republican party but he isn't responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and that's kind of the level you need to be on I think to wish someone ill.

McConnells brand of conservatism consistently places party before country and that has been instrumental in putting our country in the partisan predicament it is in now. Being in a position to direct the course of the party and choosing to allow the nationalistic and white supremicist elements to have a voice equivalent to the saner elements in the Senate has gotten us to this point. His reluctance to impeach Trump after Jan 6 allowed the worst of the party to take control of the narrative and further drag the party further to the right.

[Reverse Happy]

The Guardian reports that US Immigration has resumed deporting Russian asylum seekers back to Russia.

The Biden administration has quietly resumed deportations to Russia, an apparent reversal of the position adopted after Russia invaded Ukraine just over a year ago, when such removals were suspended, the Guardian has learned.

Immigration advocates were taken by surprise when a young Russian man, who came to the US fleeing Vladimir Putin’s efforts to mobilize citizens to fight in Ukraine, was abruptly deported at the weekend from the US back to Russia.

He was among several Russian asylum seekers, many of whom have made their way to the US in the last year, who are now terrified the US government will return them to Russia where they could face prison or be sent rapidly to the frontline, where Russia has seen tens of thousands of casualties.
[...]

This feels so awful and dumb.

[shooshoomanjoe]

The Guardian reports that US Immigration has resumed deporting Russian asylum seekers back to Russia.

This feels so awful and dumb.

The hell is Biden thinking.

[thwhtGuardian]

McConnell is personally responsible for stealing two Supreme Court seats, by refusing to hold a vote on Garland for 11 months until Trump could assume power, then rushing to ram Barrett through in 2 months before Biden could assume power. This makes him personally responsible for every bad thing the current 6-3 Supreme Court has done and will do in the coming decades. He even gloated about confirming Barrett on Hillary's birthday. If he dies, I'll verbally dance on his grave.

Putin is obviously a very easy to see monster, the difference with McConnell is he's more behind the scenes/indirect. He's not sending men to die on the front lines of his own personal war, but he's spent decades destroying the government and trying to guarantee a worse world for anyone that isn't straight white rich man, and unfortunately he's had a lot of success.

McConnells brand of conservatism consistently places party before country and that has been instrumental in putting our country in the partisan predicament it is in now. Being in a position to direct the course of the party and choosing to allow the nationalistic and white supremicist elements to have a voice equivalent to the saner elements in the Senate has gotten us to this point. His reluctance to impeach Trump after Jan 6 allowed the worst of the party to take control of the narrative and further drag the party further to the right.

These are political points I disagree with vehemently, but they are reasons to run and finance strong candidates against him not kill him over.

While he's someone I don't like and actively wish he'd lose his job he's several levels under actual human scum worthy of death.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Guardian reports that US Immigration has resumed deporting Russian asylum seekers back to Russia.

This feels so awful and dumb.

While I’m sure this plays well in right wing circles with Putin loving Republicans, this puts the administration in a seriously bad light considering it’s been against Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden, to quote Ricky Ricardo, has got some ‘splainin’ to do, and he’d better do it soon.