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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

This Trump press conference is a hot ass bad wig mess as per usual.

He quickly veered off the teleprompter for what's supposed to be a police reform executive order.

Choke holds banned unless the officer feels like his life is in danger? Ok so choke holds whenever they want then

He riffed about some imaginary Aids vaccine and getting dragged on twitter

Obligatory I am the best ever president

I understand the big takeaway from Trump's speech was his having mentioned a cure for AIDS....which, in reality, does not exist.

[AnakinFlair]

In even more international news:

India says 20 soldiers killed in clash along contested border with China

and

North Korea blew up the Inter-Korean Liaison office in alleged retaliation for North Korean defectors sending balloons back over the border that dropped leaflets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/n...south-n1231143

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In even more international news:

India says 20 soldiers killed in clash along contested border with China

and

North Korea blew up the Inter-Korean Liaison office in alleged retaliation for North Korean defectors sending balloons back over the border that dropped leaflets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/n...south-n1231143

Jesus! There sure are a lot of unbalanced nutbags over in Pyongyang.

[BeastieRunner]

I understand the big takeaway from Trump's speech was his having mentioned a cure for AIDS....which, in reality, does not exist.

He legit said he cured AIDs or that AIDs was cured!?

[AnakinFlair]

Jesus! There sure are a lot of unbalanced nutbags over in Pyongyang.

I'm reading rumors that this may be the work of Kim Jong Un's sister, I think. It's sounding like she's the power behind the throne.

[PaulBullion]

He legit said he cured AIDs or that AIDs was cured!?

He said there was a vaccine for AIDS. It's possible somebody told him about PrEP (or maybe he is on it for his pornstar fucking?) and his lack of scientific understanding made him refer to it as a vaccine.

[BeastieRunner]

He said there was a vaccine for AIDS. It's possible somebody told him about PrEP (or maybe he is on it for his pornstar fucking?) and his lack of scientific understanding made him refer to it as a vaccine.

IS it November yet?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm reading rumors that this may be the work of Kim Jong Un's sister, I think. It's sounding like she's the power behind the throne.

I’ve heard she’s even more psychotic than Rocketman.

[Mister Mets]

Riots helped elect Nixon in 1968. Can Trump benefit from fear and loathing too?

This appears to be something that has to be addressed very carefully in progressive circles to avoid upsetting others. A data analyst noted a study by a Princeton professor suggesting that violent protest tactics were correlated with a reduction in the Democratic vote in the close election of 1968. As a result, he had been fired from an analytics firm, and kicked out of a progressive listserv.

Jonathan Chait wrote about it in his piece "The Still-Vital Case for Liberalism in a Radical Age" for New York Magazine

David Shor is a 28-year-old political data analyst and social democrat who worked for President Obama’s reelection campaign. On May 28, Shor tweeted out a short summary of a paper by Princeton professor Omar Wasow. The research compiled by Wasow analyzed public opinion in the 1960s, and found violent and nonviolent protest tactics had contradictory effects. Shor’s synopsis was straightforward:

Post-MLK-assasination race riots reduced Democratic vote share in surrounding counties by 2%, which was enough to tip the 1968 election to Nixon. Non-violent protests *increase* Dem vote, mainly by encouraging warm elite discourse and media coverage.

It is easy to see why a specialist in public opinion whose professional mission is to help elect Democrats while moving the party leftward would take an interest in this research. But in certain quarters of the left — though not among Democratic elected officials — criticizing violent protest tactics is considered improper on the grounds that it distracts from deeper underlying injustice, and shifts the blame from police and other malefactors onto their victims.

One universal fact of political life is that people tend not to enjoy highlighting faults committed by their own side, and often respond to others bringing up behavior they don’t want to defend outright by deflecting blame. Conservatives are united less by a zeal to affirm every one of Donald Trump’s actions than a reluctance to denounce them. Likewise, while few leftists go so far as to explicitly advocate violent or destructive acts, refraining from criticism of violent protests is, among parts of the far left, almost a social norm.

And so, despite its superficially innocuous content, Shor’s tweet generated a sharp response. To take one public example, Ari Trujillo Wesler, the founder of OpenField, a Democratic canvassing app, replied, “This take is tone deaf, removes responsibility for depressed turnout from the 68 Party, and reeks of anti-blackness.” Shor replied politely:

The mechanism for the paper isn’t turnout, it’s violence driving news coverage that makes people vote for Republicans. The author does a great job explaining his research here:

Wesler repeated the accusation of racism (“YOU need to stop using your anxiety and ‘intellect’ as a vehicle for anti-blackness”), and then tagged Dan Wager, the CEO of Civis Analytics, the firm employing Shor,

“Come get your boy.”@danrwagner Come get your boy.— Ari

At least some employees and clients on Civis Analytics complained that Shor’s tweet threatened their safety. The next day, Shor apologized for tweeting Omar’s paper:

While I strongly admire @owasow ‘s work, it’s clear that I have not been, due to both my background and words, an effective messenger of his findings about the power of non-violent protest. I regret starting this conversation and will be much more careful moving forward.

Civis Analytics undertook a review of the episode. A few days later, Shor was fired. Shor told me he has a nondisclosure agreement preventing him from discussing the episode. A spokesperson for Civis Analytics told me over email, “Out of respect for our employees and alumni, Civis does not publicly discuss personnel matters, and we don’t plan to comment further.”

Over the weekend, “Progressphiles,” a progressive data listserv, announced it was kicking Shor out, according to another member of the group. Shor, who did not respond to comment, has been a member of the group but has not posted there in two years. The entire reason for his removal is the controversy over his “racist” tweet:

David Shor, a member of this community, knowingly harassed and bullied another member of this space. In response to a well-deserved call in over a racist tweet, he encouraged harassment that led to death threats instead of choosing to learn and grow from his mistake. We as the Progressphiles Moderators, professionals in this industry, and as people, absolutely condemn this behavior. It is unacceptable to make people on this list and in this community feel unsafe for calling out wrongdoings. We cannot begin to decolonize our minds if we do not create safety for those fighting against white supremacy. It is on all of us to do this work, but especially to show up for those already doing it and make sure they are safe. By not acting, we are perpetuating the racism and sexism we know exists on this list and in our community at large. As such, we have removed David Shor from Progressphiles.

[PaulBullion]

Haha, Google banned The Federalist and Zerohedge from making money using google ads, because they spread racist conspiracy theories.

[H-E-D]

This appears to be something that has to be addressed very carefully in progressive circles to avoid upsetting others. A data analyst noted a study by a Princeton professor suggesting that violent protest tactics were correlated with a reduction in the Democratic vote in the close election of 1968. As a result, he had been fired from an analytics firm, and kicked out of a progressive listserv.

Jonathan Chait wrote about it in his piece "The Still-Vital Case for Liberalism in a Radical Age" for New York Magazine

I mean, when the cops are the ones turning peaceful protests violent, what is there to do?

[BeastieRunner]

We have a contender for photo of the year.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

After listening to Trumps Speech, it suddenly occurred to me. In this day, we need more folks like Ed Rendell in office.

No, we don't.

[Username taken]

According Rasmussen, Biden is leading Trump by 12 points. Which is significant considering Rasmussen is right leaning.

I guess Trump will have to send them a “cease and desist” too..l

[BeastieRunner]

RCP flagged it as "skewed."

LOL.