The National Mall tonight an hour ago. Trump's speech there was sparsely attended.

He's lost his support. Thankfully most of the country has seen thru his vitriol and lies.

My frustration is that republicans are punting the black vote, when they could actually offer proposals that would resonate with blacks if only they would. Not to all of them, republicans are never going to appeal to the welfare queens, nor IMO should they. But there are plenty of blacks--and and browns and poor white people--locked into the welfare plantation by the "poverty trap" aspects of our welfare system. For a family of three or four, from about $15,000 earned income (poverty) to $55,000 (middle class), for every additional dollar they earn, they lose a dollar to taxes and lost benefits. That is a terrible disincentive to improve one's lot, and most poor blacks are very well aware.

Another thing that would appeal would be ways to get inner-city kids out of failed and failing inner-city schools. The best way is obviously vouchers.

Another area would be to take steps to reduce the number of black children in fatherless homes. The way the current welfare system works, mommy is better off financially if daddy runs away than if he stays.

Another area would be enterprise zones to attract business investment to inner-city areas.

Democrats are not going to advance any of these proposals. "Keep 'em dumb, keep 'em poor, keep 'em dependent on handouts, and you'll keep 'em voting democrat," doesn't allow for such things.

(07-04-2020 07:07 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

The National Mall tonight an hour ago. Trump's speech there was sparsely attended.

He's lost his support. Thankfully most of the country has seen thru his vitriol and lies.

Yep. The progressive vitriol over the last three and half years is next yo fing zero. Got it.

The inability of the left to self-acknowledge any part or responsibility is just absolutely fing astounding.

Kanye West announced tonight he's running for President. I guess these folks who don't like Trump but can't stand the Democrats can vote for him. Of course he probably can't get on the ballot in Texas because it's too late, but maybe you can write him in somehow.

The population in modern times has always welcomed the Socialist/communist/fascist authoritarian. The Russians welcomed Lenin. The Germans welcomed Hitler. The Italians welcomed Mussolini. Cuba welcomed Castro. China welcomed Mao. The Iranians welcomed the Ayatollah. North Korea welcomed the first Kim.

In the joy exhibited by some for the replacement of Trump by somebody, anybody, including a President to selected later, I see the same trend.

(07-05-2020 07:49 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The population in modern times has always welcomed the Socialist/communist/fascist authoritarian. The Russians welcomed Lenin. The Germans welcomed Hitler. The Italians welcomed Mussolini. Cuba welcomed Castro. China welcomed Mao. The Iranians welcomed the Ayatollah. North Korea welcomed the first Kim.
In the joy exhibited by some for the replacement of Trump by somebody, anybody, including a President to selected later, I see the same trend.

I just hope they leave either 1) a country worth living in, or 2) time for those who don't want to live in it to get out.

Stumbled across this Twitter thread from Tom Nichols today, a very vocal Never a Trump Republican, and found a few nuggets that I thought were interesting.

https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/...45665?s=21

Quote: I mean, I have blistered everyone from Obama to Hillary Clinton, and across the seas to Putin and Assad. For years, I was an outspoken conservative. But I never encountered McCarthyist thuggery like the kind I've gotten from the Cult of Trump. So spare me the hand-wringing.

"Oh noes, the college kids are gonna take over the country!" is one of those cyclical things that conservatives worry about - usually as an indication of how little faith conservatives have in their own ideas and how much they fear their own personal weaknesses.

You want me to worry about college Marxists? Yeah, I'll get right on that as soon as we dislodge the febrile anti-constitutionalists of the GOP.
I have plenty of concerns about the left. But right now, I'd like to deal with the obvious and demonstrated threat from the right.

(07-05-2020 09:51 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 07:49 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The population in modern times has always welcomed the Socialist/communist/fascist authoritarian. The Russians welcomed Lenin. The Germans welcomed Hitler. The Italians welcomed Mussolini. Cuba welcomed Castro. China welcomed Mao. The Iranians welcomed the Ayatollah. North Korea welcomed the first Kim.
In the joy exhibited by some for the replacement of Trump by somebody, anybody, including a President to selected later, I see the same trend.

I just hope they leave either 1) a country worth living in, or 2) time for those who don't want to live in it to get out.

The bolded would suffice. :)
Alas, no one ever follows through on that threat!

When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

(07-05-2020 03:46 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Stumbled across this Twitter thread from Tom Nichols today, a very vocal Never a Trump Republican, and found a few nuggets that I thought were interesting.

https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/...45665?s=21

Quote: I mean, I have blistered everyone from Obama to Hillary Clinton, and across the seas to Putin and Assad. For years, I was an outspoken conservative. But I never encountered McCarthyist thuggery like the kind I've gotten from the Cult of Trump. So spare me the hand-wringing.

"Oh noes, the college kids are gonna take over the country!" is one of those cyclical things that conservatives worry about - usually as an indication of how little faith conservatives have in their own ideas and how much they fear their own personal weaknesses.

You want me to worry about college Marxists? Yeah, I'll get right on that as soon as we dislodge the febrile anti-constitutionalists of the GOP.
I have plenty of concerns about the left. But right now, I'd like to deal with the obvious and demonstrated threat from the right.

I hope he would be treated with at least the same respect that the left has routinely accorded to Joe Lieberman, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas...

(07-02-2020 03:06 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 01:46 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  I'd point out that Big did the exact same thing, when he noted that comparing Biden in Ukraine to Trump, that he feels Trump has profited from his election, so he's okay with it.

That is not remotely what I said. I'm not OK with it in the way the Trump family has obviously done it (Trump staying at Trump properties and forcing other government employees like Secret Service to stay at his properties is the easiest example). I'm not OK with it in the way that OO asked in his hypothetical (and I said as much). What I said was that even if Trump and Biden were equally bad in that way (and for the record, I do not think they are), that issue would merely cancel out in my mind but I would still have other reasons to vote for Biden.

No, no... Big.... YOU don't get to make distinctions if I don't. You guys have all denied us any nuance to our positions... so you as well are denied.

You said that you would vote for Biden even if he used his political position for personal gain... you are thus (by the rules YOU guys have put in place) 'indistinguishable' from those who are okay with it, thus YOU are okay with it.

Can you see why someone might get upset at people doing that to them, repeatedly?

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Did you happen to read the Twitter thread?

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Here's one

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Here's one

"There is a sense of a new orthodoxy that does not allow for dissenting voices as campaigns are launched to fire faculty who are denounced as insensitive or even racist for such criticism. "

(07-05-2020 07:07 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Did you happen to read the Twitter thread?

I did. He revels on mentioning the anti-Constitution aspect, but fails to mention any iota in its backing. I would have assumed that you would have noted that issue between a broad claim and failing to denote any support for it.

Thus I called on you for your insight, since you were so ready and on-the-ball about noting the piece and its relevance

I am sorry that Tom has been attacked thusly by Trumpists. All in all, I find the tweet of one singular and very explicit anti-Trumper that the 'Trump camp is far worse in their attacks in a McCarthy-esque' manner somewhat unpersuasive.

The record is replete with a literal **** ton of proto-brownshirt leftists on their seek and destroy missions based on political expression. I dont find that same record from the Trumpists replete to that level either in scope or ferocity.

I mean, you are the king of 'objective facts' and that difference noted above should have been obvious to you, even in light of the sheer wildness and wackiness that you would post the lesson of 'proof by Twitter example' that it seemingly is calling for.

(07-05-2020 07:56 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 07:07 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Did you happen to read the Twitter thread?

I did. He revels on mentioning the anti-Constitution aspect, but fails to mention any iota in its backing. I would have assumed that you would have noted that issue between a broad claim and failing to denote any support for it.

Thus I called on you for your insight, since you were so ready and on-the-ball about noting the piece and its relevance

I am sorry that Tom has been attacked thusly by Trumpists. All in all, I find the tweet of one singular and very explicit anti-Trumper that the 'Trump camp is far worse in their attacks in a McCarthy-esque' manner somewhat unpersuasive.

The record is replete with a literal **** ton of proto-brownshirt leftists on their seek and destroy missions based on political expression. I dont find that same record from the Trumpists replete to that level either in scope or ferocity.

I mean, you are the king of 'objective facts' and that difference noted above should have been obvious to you, even in light of the sheer wildness and wackiness that you would post the lesson of 'proof by Twitter example' that it seemingly is calling for.

If one guy is all you need to prove a movement, I am sure we can find one who think the country is being run by aliens out of Area 51.

(07-05-2020 08:16 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 07:56 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 07:07 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Did you happen to read the Twitter thread?

I did. He revels on mentioning the anti-Constitution aspect, but fails to mention any iota in its backing. I would have assumed that you would have noted that issue between a broad claim and failing to denote any support for it.

Thus I called on you for your insight, since you were so ready and on-the-ball about noting the piece and its relevance

I am sorry that Tom has been attacked thusly by Trumpists. All in all, I find the tweet of one singular and very explicit anti-Trumper that the 'Trump camp is far worse in their attacks in a McCarthy-esque' manner somewhat unpersuasive.

The record is replete with a literal **** ton of proto-brownshirt leftists on their seek and destroy missions based on political expression. I dont find that same record from the Trumpists replete to that level either in scope or ferocity.

I mean, you are the king of 'objective facts' and that difference noted above should have been obvious to you, even in light of the sheer wildness and wackiness that you would post the lesson of 'proof by Twitter example' that it seemingly is calling for.

If one guy is all you need to prove a movement, I am sure we can find one who think the country is being run by aliens out of Area 51.

Actually, I already know him. A client. I always make sure that retainer is always full, mind you.

(07-05-2020 09:51 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I just hope they leave either 1) a country worth living in, or 2) time for those who don't want to live in it to get out.

I think #2 will be dependent on whether politicians/policy makers in the US can get their sh*t together on COVID in the next six months - that and if everyone in the US can actually start to give a damn about their country/fellow citizens and wear a mask. For now, no one in the US is going to be allowed to travel to any relatively desirable country for a good while.

(07-05-2020 09:07 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 09:51 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I just hope they leave either 1) a country worth living in, or 2) time for those who don't want to live in it to get out.

I think #2 will be dependent on whether politicians/policy makers in the US can get their sh*t together on COVID in the next six months - that and if everyone in the US can actually start to give a damn about their country/fellow citizens and wear a mask. For now, no one in the US is going to be allowed to travel to any relatively desirable country for a good while.

there is a difference between "traveling to" and "moving to".

(07-05-2020 07:56 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 07:07 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(07-05-2020 06:13 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  When you start chipring on McCarthyism from the right when you dont mention the cancel culture of the leftist version of McCarthyism, you kind of lost the case right there.

As for anti-Constitutionalists, well, perhaps you should chime in on that since you proffered that miasma of thought there. And lets have a discussion on the scope of anti-Constitutionalism from the left and right.

And back to the first point, lets have a solid discussion on the scope and effect of 'McCarthyist activity' from the left and the right, and let's decide which one has more activity, and which one is far more prevalent and effective.

Which shitbird firing of a professor do you want me to start out with?

Did you happen to read the Twitter thread?

I did. He revels on mentioning the anti-Constitution aspect, but fails to mention any iota in its backing. I would have assumed that you would have noted that issue between a broad claim and failing to denote any support for it.

Thus I called on you for your insight, since you were so ready and on-the-ball about noting the piece and its relevance

I am sorry that Tom has been attacked thusly by Trumpists. All in all, I find the tweet of one singular and very explicit anti-Trumper that the 'Trump camp is far worse in their attacks in a McCarthy-esque' manner somewhat unpersuasive.

The record is replete with a literal **** ton of proto-brownshirt leftists on their seek and destroy missions based on political expression. I dont find that same record from the Trumpists replete to that level either in scope or ferocity.

I mean, you are the king of 'objective facts' and that difference noted above should have been obvious to you, even in light of the sheer wildness and wackiness that you would post the lesson of 'proof by Twitter example' that it seemingly is calling for.

I asked if you actually read the thread because in the very first Tweet he explicitly talked about cancel culture, and multiple times implicitly did, yet you originally said he did not.

What I found most interesting in the tweet thread was something I’ve been thinking about recently - that the cancel culture of the left, which does exist, doesn’t actually exist to the extent that the right thinks it does. That the influence of Twitter and social media amplifies it in such a way that it has been turned into a bogey man that far outweighs its actual weight. And that, in the grand scheme of politics, the vocal part of the left that does push cancel culture, hasn’t actually made it mainstream.