A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 18 hours ago, DMC said: No, it does not. Mandatory minimums are racist, and do not have any bearing on Manafort's sentencing. There is no "broader picture" in terms of Manafort's sentencing. The judge happened to be an arch-conservative that was appointed when I was two years old and has a reputation for being a jackass as it is. That's all. But they do set a sentence floor, that even that jackass judge wouldn't have gotten around. 18 hours ago, Gertrude said: I had a similar conversation with my dad a few years before we had names to put with candidates. What would be first - a black president or a woman? He thought a woman, I was sure it would be a black man over any woman. Then the 08 primaries came into focus and we realized we might get an answer to our question. Tough to say for certain I think. As Obama had qualities Clinton lacked (namely charismas/likability) and had way less baggage than her (Bill, over a decade in politics and being the target of slander campaigns of the right wing media). So in that sense Obama had a headstart over that particular woman. Personally I think the black President had a better feel good narrative to it, than first woman President. Slavery is arguably simply more present in the cultural memory of the average American, than more abstract things like the glass ceiling or gender pay gap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoodedCrow Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 I have a question for the group. I have a stereotype of Jewish people as being highly literate, conscientious and humour appreciating. Any Native English speaker who learns Hebrew impresses me. Any group that can withstand the onslaught of Santa and the Easter bunny and assumed Christianity is amazing, too. I am plenty disturbed by the apartheid of Palestinians. If I had my ignorant way, I would invite all Israelis to come to the US or Canada, and bring all the precious buildings and loads of soil, as they wish. There could be a fleet of ships all called The Ark (something else) There would be impressive strong people, who don’t appreciate neo nazis. There would be a change in Middle East circumstances, and less defensive expenses. Oi Vey, is this wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: But they do set a sentence floor, that even that jackass judge wouldn't have gotten around. Of course they set a sentence floor. My point is I disagree with a sentence floor on principle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 I'm against ceilings and floors. And walls. Roofs, I can take them or leave them. Which is rough, being in the construction business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 7 hours ago, HoodedCrow said: If I had my ignorant way, I would invite all Israelis to come to the US or Canada, and bring all the precious buildings and loads of soil, as they wish. This is essentially what happened during WWII - it's just another part of the population was into the zionist movement. 7 hours ago, HoodedCrow said: There could be a fleet of ships all called The Ark (something else) There would be impressive strong people, who don’t appreciate neo nazis. There would be a change in Middle East circumstances, and less defensive expenses. Oi Vey, is this wrong? Careful. Even tongue-in-cheek humor is labeled as anti-semitic by people with sticks up their asses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varysblackfyre321 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/40093479/bernie-sanders-releases-statement-on-wabtec-ue-agreement Good on Sanders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varysblackfyre321 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Also Warren pledges to break up big industries: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/3/8/18256032/elizabeth-warren-antitrust-google-amazon-facebook-break-up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 7 hours ago, HoodedCrow said: I have a question for the group. I have a stereotype of Jewish people as being highly literate, conscientious and humour appreciating. Any Native English speaker who learns Hebrew impresses me. Any group that can withstand the onslaught of Santa and the Easter bunny and assumed Christianity is amazing, too. I am plenty disturbed by the apartheid of Palestinians. If I had my ignorant way, I would invite all Israelis to come to the US or Canada, and bring all the precious buildings and loads of soil, as they wish. There could be a fleet of ships all called The Ark (something else) There would be impressive strong people, who don’t appreciate neo nazis. There would be a change in Middle East circumstances, and less defensive expenses. Oi Vey, is this wrong? Even if you could move all of the historically important buildings and boat loads of soil. The geographic place is spiritually and historically important to the Jewish people. It's the place Moses lead them when they escaped Egypt. You can't transplant that to anywhere else, no matter how manifest people think the US's destiny is. The Jewish people deserve to live in their ancestral homeland. They also have to figure out a way to share, but they need to also be assured of safety as well. The Jewish people of Israel are bound and determined to never again be victims, and in bringing that never again determination into reality they have become an oppressor. Some of them and their allies think by necessity. Many people say they've gone too far. It's not by way of excuse, just an observation of the way nature works. Israel is in a perpetual state of fear, and flight is not an option. So fight it is. The key therefore is to eliminate the fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueMetis Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said: Even if you could move all of the historically important buildings and boat loads of soil. The geographic place is spiritually and historically important to the Jewish people. It's the place Moses lead them when they escaped Egypt. You can't transplant that to anywhere else, no matter how manifest people think the US's destiny is. The Jewish people deserve to live in their ancestral homeland. They also have to figure out a way to share, but they need to also be assured of safety as well. The Jewish people of Israel are bound and determined to never again be victims, and in bringing that never again determination into reality they have become an oppressor. Some of them and their allies think by necessity. Many people say they've gone too far. It's not by way of excuse, just an observation of the way nature works. Israel is in a perpetual state of fear, and flight is not an option. So fight it is. The key therefore is to eliminate the fear. It it really your homeland if you came from somewhere else (and had to wipe out a whole bunch of other people to get it to boot)? I suppose in this case it's actually in their interest that Moses didn't exist and the Exodus never happened. The issue has not a damn thing to do with their imaginary origin story, just the cold hard fact that they're there now, and don't want to move. The boat on not fucking things up has sailed and now we need to work on unfucking things. And a good start would not be indulging their bullshit entitlement to the land. "deserve to live in their ancestral homeland" is a cute little sentiment, seems not to apply to any of thousands of other groups with much stronger claims to a given piece of land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 1 hour ago, TrueMetis said: It it really your homeland if you came from somewhere else (and had to wipe out a whole bunch of other people to get it to boot)? A question that could be fairly asked of scores of modern countries, including the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 4 hours ago, mormont said: A question that could be fairly asked of scores of modern countries, including the US. I think the answer for TrueMetis is in his name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 22 hours ago, HoodedCrow said: If I had my ignorant way, I would invite all Israelis to come to the US or Canada They wouldn't take your offer. When I was in college, one of my classes was taught by a professor visiting from Israel and several students were also from there. I spoke to them quite a bit and I learned that most Israeli creative work is backed up in the libraries of major American universities. The US is by far their best bet outside of Israel (there are roughly as many Jews here as there), but they didn't want to make it their only bet then and it's a far worse proposition now. Keep in mind that Jews have the interesting distinction of being disliked by the more extreme elements of both the left and the right. On the right, there are the fascist wannabes who claim that they're not antisemitic, they just don't like people like George Soros... but it's not terribly convincing. On the left, there are the Muslims and their allies who claim that they're not antisemitic, they're just anti-Zionist... but again, it's not terribly convincing. The US nominally guarantees freedom from religious persecution and as long as our current system is mostly intact, antisemitism will be limited to vandalism of synagogues, cemeteries and the like. However, if the system breaks down, there's a pretty good chance of it flaring up regardless of which side wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoodedCrow Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Thanks for your replies! Gee, and I thought I had a answer for middle Eastern peace! A fair few of my ancestors were Vikings via northern England/Scotland, but though I’m fond of those countries, I don’t want to live there. And ahem, the religion I was raised in has a lot of ties to Nazareth and Jerusalem, but it doesnt entitle me to land. I guess according to the Mormons they already came here in a wooden submarine with pluggable airholes, if I understand correctly, thousands of years ago. I guess my bestie, my adopted nephews, my business partner, my sweetie, my favorite philosophers, comedians, judges, singers, artists, scientists, lawyers, and writers all are Jewish or part Jewish, and they are not Israeli, so it’s hard for me to get it. The first person who ever made sense of religion to me was a rabbi. Jews believe there will be a new messiah, right? What is wrong with someone inspired divinely to lead Jews to a new promised land, (Chuck Schumer, lol), since North Am wasn’t available at the time of Moses. Here there is milk and honey, all you want, unless roundup kills off all our bees. I could imagine a stunning New Zion, and New Jerusalem, or more, in some places where they would not be under siege. They could have water, and lots of arable farmland, in most Canadian provinces, where there is lots of space. In the US, Kansas could really use an economic boost now that GOP policies have devastated their economy! Detroit needs help. There’s lots of space in upstate New York, or some less populated red states. They could bring us all sorts of tech to deal with the creation of arable land and green energy. I would welcome them all, and I’m sure they would enjoy lots of fellow Jews here. In Canada, they could help us stave off American invasion. Lots of support from Montreal, btw. Oh well. What can you say, I’m an INFP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Rep. Ocasio-Cortez made some comments on capitalism in a recent interview: Quote “Capitalism is an ideology of capital — the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximise profit,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said during a question and answer session with Bloomberg News. She continued: ”To me, capitalism is irredeemable.” ... “Just as there’s all this fear mongering that government is going to take over every corporation and government is going to take over every business or every form of production, we should be scared right now because corporations have taken over our government,” she said. ... “It’s just as much a transformation about bringing democracy to the workplace so that we have a say and that we don’t check all of our rights at the door every time we cross the threshold into our workplace,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, as workers and as people in society, we’re the ones creating wealth.” There's nothing particularly new in terms of the ideas themselves -- they've been in use for over a century and a half -- but it's still interesting to hear an American politicians speak them. I'm curious how this will be received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoodedCrow Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I have been the recipient of a certain religions deflecting tactics before. One of them is to tick you off and then whine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnot OG Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 White supremacist Tucker Carlson makes numerous misogynistic and perverted comments, like defending Warren Jeffs, the cult leader who groomed and married off underage girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 20 hours ago, TrueMetis said: It it really your homeland if you came from somewhere else (and had to wipe out a whole bunch of other people to get it to boot)? I suppose in this case it's actually in their interest that Moses didn't exist and the Exodus never happened. The issue has not a damn thing to do with their imaginary origin story, just the cold hard fact that they're there now, and don't want to move. The boat on not fucking things up has sailed and now we need to work on unfucking things. And a good start would not be indulging their bullshit entitlement to the land. "deserve to live in their ancestral homeland" is a cute little sentiment, seems not to apply to any of thousands of other groups with much stronger claims to a given piece of land. Real or imaginary origin story. The fact of the matter is that Israel is their ancestral home. And it was given back to them permanently and irreversibly to assuage the West's guilt over the Holocaust. And if you can suggest a better place to set up a homeland for the Jewish people that has the same historical importance to them I'd like to hear it. The principle of giving them their safe space, in a place they identify with was a sound one. The execution was both problematic and badly managed. The action of Israel to lash out in fear (real or imagined) for its existence and take more land that the UN has mandated for them is a different problem and the one that needs to be addressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gertrude Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Tonight at dinner: dad: Did you know Warren wants to break up the tech giants? me: Of course dad: That's political suicide! That's donor money! me: You don't know anything about her, her policies or her motivations, do you? dad: I can't believe I actually agree with her on this one. me: Let me tell you about some other things she ... dad: But she lied about her heritage. It reflects poorly on her character. me: *bangs head onto table* Since I thought it would be poor form to scream, cry and slam the door behind me at my mother's birthday dinner, I quickly changed the subject. Love my dad, but god-damn. FOX has completely wormed it's way through his brain. The sad thing is that he knows Trump is a shady, classless worm, but he's got an R after his name, so it's all ok for the sake of the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varysblackfyre321 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 30 minutes ago, Gertrude said: Tonight at dinner: dad: Did you know Warren wants to break up the tech giants? me: Of course dad: That's political suicide! That's donor money! me: You don't know anything about her, her policies or her motivations, do you? dad: I can't believe I actually agree with her on this one. me: Let me tell you about some other things she ... dad: But she lied about her heritage. It reflects poorly on her character. me: *bangs head onto table* Since I thought it would be poor form to scream, cry and slam the door behind me at my mother's birthday dinner, I quickly changed the subject. Love my dad, but god-damn. FOX has completely wormed it's way through his brain. The sad thing is that he knows Trump is a shady, classless worm, but he's got an R after his name, so it's all ok for the sake of the country. Honestly, I still can’t fanthom what was ever the big deal. This whole thing didn’t really hurt anyone, was decades ago, before Warren’s political career, and probably rests on her simply believing her family’s prideful talk of her having Native American anchestry. The DNA was a bad move, but honestly, it still seems like a nothing issue to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gertrude Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 It IS a nothing issue, but Trump called her Pocahontas and lo, the republicans fell in line. All praise Trump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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