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

[Tami]

Texas sun must have cooked their minds, even more of them are spouting 'half-baked' conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories and racist memes: How a dozen Texas GOP county chairs caused turmoil within the party

On Friday morning, Texas’ top Republican officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, had condemned four GOP chairs for proliferating conspiracy theories on Facebook. The posts, from chairs of some of the largest counties in Texas, suggested George Floyd’s death was staged to erode black support for President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a fifth chairperson posted a racist image of a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana.

On Friday afternoon, The Texas Tribune identified similar posts from seven more GOP chairs across the state. Some of these posts suggested people who have been protesting Floyd’s death across the state and the country were being paid by Jewish billionaire George Soros — an oft-used anti-Semitic trope.

GOP county chairs are elected leaders of the Republican Party who help oversee local elections and head up county-level meetings and events. News circulating about the first five chairs’ posts sparked concern — both internal and external — about the Texas GOP.

“This is a disgusting level of ignorance that’s hard to hear from anyone, much less an elected official,” State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said in an email to the Tribune. “I’m glad to see Republican state leaders finally start to push back against this nonsense and look forward to a day when we can actually debate fact-based policy instead of constantly refuting conspiracies.”

[Tami]

Denver police fire pepper balls at man yelling that his pregnant fiancée is in car

The Denver Police Department is investigating an incident from last week that was caught on video and has gone viral showing officers spraying pepper balls at a man who is screaming that he has a pregnant woman in his car.

Videos of the incident, which happened early Saturday morning, shared on Twitter and YouTube shows the man getting out of his stopped car to yell at officers: "You shot up a car with a pregnant woman in it, with f--king tear gas." It's unclear what happened before the driver stopped his car.

But then, as the driver in the video continues to inform the officers that there is a pregnant woman in the passenger seat, they spray a barrage of projectiles at the man and the car. The man is outside of the car on the driver's side, and the passenger's side, where a woman is sitting, is closest to the officers. The man eventually gets back in his car and drives away.

[worstblogever]

I literally had a woman I've worked with at weekend festivals online warn against defunding the police because "it will certainly lead to Sharia Law taking over like has happened in Minnesota", and when we pointed out that theocracy is why Muslim immigrants in Minnesota fled their own countries to get away from, that the First Amendment assures no religious doctrine can be made law exclusively for that purpose, and that a 5% minority isn't going to take over a state ...

She followed by telling folks that "Muslims aren't to be trusted because they're the ones who assassinated JFK".

Like... was there a Osama bin Laden sighting on the Zapruder film, or...? I have no idea where the f*** she was even coming or going with that stuff. I read a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, but I'd never seen Islamophobia on the JFK assassination until 2 days ago. Also, how the f*** do you even get to Islam destroying America from expecting higher standards and less militarization of police? Like, do you think cops are searching mosques...?

I'm trying to not think about it, but it's so stupid I just keep coming back to it to try to figure out how a woman who seems so reasonable in passing could be such a deranged bigot.

[InformationGeek]

Ooooooh WBE!!!

Illinois state Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) posted on Facebook that Colin @Kaepernick7 “should be charged with inciting violence.”

Today, protesters surrounded him at a restaurant and screamed at him, calling him a racist until he went inside. (Vulgar language) https://t.co/lbYyiDF6oo

[PwrdOn]

That's probably more on what I said than what ed2962 said.

I did stupidy wonder why more rioting doesn't take place more often in wealthier areas where the victims potentially have more insurance to cover it (though it clearly happens in both). But I did not in any way mean to imply that it's more okay to riot in richer areas than poorer ones. It's not okay all around, and if my admittedly dumb question came across implying otherwise my bad.

It's just worth pointing out because even though minorities are always accused of trying to pull the race card, in reality white people are FAR more prone to seeing the whole world through a racial lens and implicitly assuming that interracial conflict is simply how things always have been and always will be. After all, it was white people who created the whole system of racial classification in the first place, nobody knew that they were African or Indian or Asian until Europeans told them that they were. And while white people are constantly terrified of the prospect of minorities rising up and subjugating them in turn, not even the most extreme radicals in black nationalist and other movements really call for this, meanwhile the glorification of slavery and fascism is pervasive in white nationalist circles and frequently leaks into mainstream discourse.

[godisawesome]

Texas sun must have cooked their minds, even more of them are spouting 'half-baked' conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories and racist memes: How a dozen Texas GOP county chairs caused turmoil within the party

I’ll be blunt: Texas Republicans are starting to look a bit desperate to me. Now, I don’t think it’s desperation about losing the state to Biden and the Dems in *this* year, but I do think they’re becoming painfully aware of all the studies saying that demographics are shifting against them, and not just in terms of race, but also in terms of generational brackets. And considering their vote share has always made them the power in the party, I think they’re starting to feel the heat of possibly not just losing power in the state eventually, but also nationally.

[aja_christopher]

[Tami]

Some white people are pouring out their hearts — and sending money — to their black acquaintances

Parker Gillian laughed the first time a white co-worker sent her money unprompted. It was all she could do.

Since protests erupted last week over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Gillian had been hearing from white acquaintances who wanted to check in on her well-being. There was a straightforward logic to it: She is a young black woman in Chicago, and there is a civil rights movement playing out nationwide, on streets and on screens, with black people at its center.

But some of the people who reached out were not especially close to her. And even those who were actually friends seemed to subtly ask for her guidance about how they, Good White Allies, should handle the moment. The wave of good intentions started to feel like a riptide.

Then on Monday night the direct message popped up on her Instagram account.

“What’s your Cash App?” wrote a co-worker, referring to the mobile payment application.

Gillian, 24, sent over her username, confused. “U my sugar daddy?” she wrote back as a joke.

Soon, $20 landed in her account.

With it came pangs of humiliation.

“I felt like a charity case,” said Gillian, a recent college graduate working in marketing, who said she had never expressed any financial need. “I know that she didn’t mean it in the way I took it. But I couldn’t help but take it that way. I think she was just trying to do something that made her feel good. I don’t think it had anything to do with me.”

“It is so exhausting being everybody’s one black friend right now,” tweeted comedian Sarah Cooper.

Monique Melton, who conducts workshops on “anti-racism,” said even innocuous-seeming gestures are loaded with a history and a power dynamic some white acquaintances may not understand. Sending money without any communication beforehand is a particularly egregious faux pas, but so is assuming familiarity with a person with whom you are not actually friends.

“During times like these, it is very uncomfortable to hear from people I haven’t heard from in a very long time. Because it’s like, okay, now you’re noticing I’m black? I have been black our whole friendship,” said Melton, who shares advice on race issues to her 230,000 Instagram followers.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I literally had a woman I've worked with at weekend festivals online warn against defunding the police because "it will certainly lead to Sharia Law taking over like has happened in Minnesota", and when we pointed out that theocracy is why Muslim immigrants in Minnesota fled their own countries to get away from, that the First Amendment assures no religious doctrine can be made law exclusively for that purpose, and that a 5% minority isn't going to take over a state ...

She followed by telling folks that "Muslims aren't to be trusted because they're the ones who assassinated JFK".

Like... was there a Osama bin Laden sighting on the Zapruder film, or...? I have no idea where the f*** she was even coming or going with that stuff. I read a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, but I'd never seen Islamophobia on the JFK assassination until 2 days ago. Also, how the f*** do you even get to Islam destroying America from expecting higher standards and less militarization of police? Like, do you think cops are searching mosques...?

I'm trying to not think about it, but it's so stupid I just keep coming back to it to try to figure out how a woman who seems so reasonable in passing could be such a deranged bigot.

She's probably talking about Sirhan Sirhan who killed a Kennedy.

[Maine Starfish]

I’ll be blunt: Texas Republicans are starting to look a bit desperate to me. Now, I don’t think it’s desperation about losing the state to Biden and the Dems in *this* year, but I do think they’re becoming painfully aware of all the studies saying that demographics are shifting against them, and not just in terms of race, but also in terms of generational brackets. And considering their vote share has always made them the power in the party, I think they’re starting to feel the heat of possibly not just losing power in the state eventually, but also nationally.

I think Texas is still a long shot for Democrats to flip, maybe in another couple elections, 5-10 years

But It’ll be interesting to see for sure.

[Malvolio]

I literally had a woman I've worked with at weekend festivals online warn against defunding the police because "it will certainly lead to Sharia Law taking over like has happened in Minnesota", and when we pointed out that theocracy is why Muslim immigrants in Minnesota fled their own countries to get away from, that the First Amendment assures no religious doctrine can be made law exclusively for that purpose, and that a 5% minority isn't going to take over a state ...

She followed by telling folks that "Muslims aren't to be trusted because they're the ones who assassinated JFK".

Like... was there a Osama bin Laden sighting on the Zapruder film, or...? I have no idea where the f*** she was even coming or going with that stuff. I read a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, but I'd never seen Islamophobia on the JFK assassination until 2 days ago. Also, how the f*** do you even get to Islam destroying America from expecting higher standards and less militarization of police? Like, do you think cops are searching mosques...?

I'm trying to not think about it, but it's so stupid I just keep coming back to it to try to figure out how a woman who seems so reasonable in passing could be such a deranged bigot.

She possibly believes that Keith Ellison being the State Attorney General in Minnesota means that Sharia Law has taken over. SMH.

[The no face guy]

I literally had a woman I've worked with at weekend festivals online warn against defunding the police because "it will certainly lead to Sharia Law taking over like has happened in Minnesota", and when we pointed out that theocracy is why Muslim immigrants in Minnesota fled their own countries to get away from, that the First Amendment assures no religious doctrine can be made law exclusively for that purpose, and that a 5% minority isn't going to take over a state ...

She followed by telling folks that "Muslims aren't to be trusted because they're the ones who assassinated JFK".

Like... was there a Osama bin Laden sighting on the Zapruder film, or...? I have no idea where the f*** she was even coming or going with that stuff. I read a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, but I'd never seen Islamophobia on the JFK assassination until 2 days ago. Also, how the f*** do you even get to Islam destroying America from expecting higher standards and less militarization of police? Like, do you think cops are searching mosques...?

I'm trying to not think about it, but it's so stupid I just keep coming back to it to try to figure out how a woman who seems so reasonable in passing could be such a deranged bigot.

You cannot reason with those people. You may be the world's greatest superpower, but your country seems to be lacking in post secondary education. One of the benefits of attending University is that it trains you to identify truthfull verifiable sources of information, from paranoid junk, conspiracy theories and propaganda. (despite the fact that subjectivity is getting pushed in some departments now)

Everyone I have ever met who believed that Obama was an evil Muslim terrorist, COVID 19 is a hoax, Pizzagate, 911 was an inside job, Bill Gates has a secret plot to get you vaccinated, are all people who were never trained to verify truthful facts, they start reading internet web sights that utilize a lot of circumstantial evidence to make their claims believable ,and they get sucked in, and turned into weird ideological political zombies like the woman you describe above. Which is a shame, because she's basically going through life deluded.

And that my friends, is why University tuition should be made accessible to all.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I literally had a woman I've worked with at weekend festivals online warn against defunding the police because "it will certainly lead to Sharia Law taking over like has happened in Minnesota", and when we pointed out that theocracy is why Muslim immigrants in Minnesota fled their own countries to get away from, that the First Amendment assures no religious doctrine can be made law exclusively for that purpose, and that a 5% minority isn't going to take over a state ...

She followed by telling folks that "Muslims aren't to be trusted because they're the ones who assassinated JFK".

Like... was there a Osama bin Laden sighting on the Zapruder film, or...? I have no idea where the f*** she was even coming or going with that stuff. I read a lot of nutty conspiracy theories, but I'd never seen Islamophobia on the JFK assassination until 2 days ago. Also, how the f*** do you even get to Islam destroying America from expecting higher standards and less militarization of police? Like, do you think cops are searching mosques...?

I'm trying to not think about it, but it's so stupid I just keep coming back to it to try to figure out how a woman who seems so reasonable in passing could be such a deranged bigot.

Would it be too much to assume that nutbag is a daily viewer of Faux News?

[aja_christopher]

You cannot reason with those people. You may be the world's greatest superpower, but your country seems to be lacking in post secondary education. One of the benefits of attending University is that it trains you to identify truthfull verifiable sources of information, from paranoid junk, conspiracy theories and propaganda. (despite the fact that subjectivity is getting pushed in some departments now)

Everyone I have ever met who believed that Obama was an evil Muslim terrorist, COVID 19 is a hoax, Pizzagate, 911 was an inside job, Bill Gates has a secret plot to get you vaccinated, are all people who were never trained to verify truthful facts, they start reading internet web sights that utilize a lot of circumstantial evidence to make their claims believable ,and they get sucked in, and turned into weird ideological political zombies like the woman you describe above. Which is a shame, because she's basically going through life deluded.

And that my friends, is why University tuition should be made accessible to all.

Schools need more funding in general.

I benefitted from taking advanced classes from first grade forward -- the vast majority of those classes were anywhere from 3-10 students with an average of six to eight per class. My favorite was an advanced math class in seventh grade that was only three students -- I won more awards in science, literature and math contests (academic decathlons) under that one teacher than almost all the others because he was able to counsel me directly and encourage me to do more than just coast through school on my gifts alone.

The largest classes were always the ones I benefitted from the least.

The same happened in college -- the larger the classes, the less informative they usually were.

Then the same happened when I would teach -- the larger the classes, the less attention I could give to the students who needed it.

More funding could easily go towards hiring more teachers and reducing class sizes which would help both teachers and students in every district. It makes absolutely no sense that anyone would try to argue that schools don't need more funding -- especially districts where the tax base doesn't cover more than the bare necessities. It's Republicans who argue that schools don't need more funding -- they like their constituents uneducated so they can take advantage of their ignorance.



Unfortunately the rest of us have to suffer the consequence of their decisions.

[skyvolt2000]

I’ll be blunt: Texas Republicans are starting to look a bit desperate to me. Now, I don’t think it’s desperation about losing the state to Biden and the Dems in *this* year, but I do think they’re becoming painfully aware of all the studies saying that demographics are shifting against them, and not just in terms of race, but also in terms of generational brackets. And considering their vote share has always made them the power in the party, I think they’re starting to feel the heat of possibly not just losing power in the state eventually, but also nationally.

I don't know I would keep an eye on Texas Land Comissioner George Prescott Bush. If starts smelling himself-we could see a third generation Bush family memeber in the White House.

He has won his elections rather easily and he's on the educaton board of Uplift Charter schools. And the only member of his fmily who support a certain person in the White House right now.