US Politics: Bounties from a Jericho Walk

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ser Reptitious said:

"Extra History" did an interesting 9-minute episode on the 1921 riots that resulted in the complete destruction of Greenwood, OK (a.k.a. "Black Wall Street"). Sad, but very informative for those (such as me) who didn't really know much about it beforehand: 

 

A couple of things about the Greenwood massacre:

As of 1992, my Oklahoma history textbook didn't even contain a reference to Black Wall Street, and nothing much appears to have changed in the interim. Hopefully recent events will change that.

Nearly 100 years after the massacre, archaeologists are only now beginning to excavate suspected mass graves where Black Tulsa residents were murdered and dumped. We've spent nearly a century burying our heads in the sand about what happened there.

 

[GrimTuesday]

Only posting this because of the history we have with The Hill opinion section and because I find the article pretty hilarious. It is written by some "moderate" Republican, who has clearly somehow figured out our game and isn't just rambling incoherently.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/505924-judd-gregg-the-coming-biden-coup

Quote

But the difference is that the socialist/progressive movers who now control the board in the game of Democratic Party politics have no ethical tether.

They are filled with the flames of clarity as to the rightness of their goals. They see all who attempt to dampen those flames as enemies.

Theirs is first and foremost a social justice cause that is justified by their self-proclaimed correctness.

It allows them to move forward without any doubt and with untempered intensity.

They can proclaim sections of cities independent nations. They can proclaim America’s most important past political leaders evil. They can promote lawlessness in the name of the rightness of their cause.

They can essentially march outside the boundaries of the nation’s history and political structure, asserting that what they do is best for all.

They will not tolerate for long not being in total control. They will have their vice president, but not their president. And they are a very impatient people and movement.

Since their goal is power and their purpose pure, why should they wait?

The path to total control is clearly there once they have the vice presidency.

It is the 25th Amendment.

 

[Zorral]

Last night we talked to the owner of the restaurant on the corner of our block, who is making 10% of his usual, and is the only one around here doing it by the book, he says. He threw out two customers on Sunday from Florida – they said they’d arrived Saturday. They are supposed to quarantine for 14 days. Ha! How does NYC enforce that? P’s build out blocks access to the block’s fire hydrant, but, R says, de Blasio has told the inspectors not to inspect. He’s terrified the restaurants are going under. Well, they are, no matter what, particularly because he won’t police them or the quarantine, so the City will go under from the virus spiking. What fucking idiots.

Capitalism. Seeing in action in front of one's eyes 'primitive accumulation' a/k/a'accumulation by dispossession, such as for instance really ramped up in Dixie after the Louisiana Purchase, forcing Native Americans off their own farms and plantations and forcing them across the Mississippi, -- and 'ground rent': the seizure of public property, our sidewalks, streets and parks, by private entities, the restaurant owners, with the mortgage holders squeezing all the land-based revenues to themselves.

It's certainly going on elsewhere with Native American's land and the national parks and other government owned lands, particularly in the west.

But this is how it works in cities.

[Jace, Extat]

6 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

Only posting this because of the history we have with The Hill opinion section and because I find the article pretty hilarious. It is written by some "moderate" Republican, who has clearly somehow figured out our game and isn't just rambling incoherently.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/505924-judd-gregg-the-coming-biden-coup

 

That shit is terrible. It's like his heart isn't even in the argument. If The Hill is looking for someone to put the prose back in prose-essing another human, they have my information. Well, they don't. But that's because I wouldn't associate myself with such a rag. And I only accept payment for my writing in the form of box seats to Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark

[Larry of the Lawn]

35 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That shit is terrible. It's like his heart isn't even in the argument. If The Hill is looking for someone to put the prose back in prose-essing another human, they have my information. Well, they don't. But that's because I wouldn't associate myself with such a rag. And I only accept payment for my writing in the form of box seats to Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark

Yeah mofo didn't even try.  Fucking hell, writing Never Trumper perspective op-eds is probably a good gig for anyone who can string three paragraphs together, say socialist a few times, and mention some random high profile Dems. 

Pretty cool to hear that Warren and Harris have assembled a socialist hit squad and are stoking the flames of revolution while Biden is leading from the basement.  Sounds cool, pretty cool.

[Ormond]

Here's a CNN segment on Mary Trump's book.

I have written in these threads more than once that Trump is so narcissistic that he believes his own lies when he hears himself say them out loud. At around 6:16 there is a quote from Mary Trump's book that starts "The lies may become true in his mind as soon as he utters them...".  It's cool to have my interpretation affirmed by his own niece who is also a psychologist. 

[Fragile Bird]

I just saw on my Facebook feed that Trump has notified Congress the US is withdrawing membership in the WHO.

In the middle of a pandemic.

That will show ‘em!

[Maithanet]

With the usual caveat that demographic trends are not political destiny...this is not good news for Trump.

 

[Gertrude]

I am kind of accidentally watching a live feed of a Trump panel about reopening schools. So far the substance of it seems like educators praising Trump praising Trump, giving a statement, Trump maybe responding briefly depending on how much he can praise himself based on the statement. It's sickening.

I don't know why I am still surprised when people go out of their way to praise Trump in the most elaborate and artificial way. Apparently Trump/Melania/Pence/Mother is the absolute dream team for dealing with this issue and it couldn't be in better hands *barf* 

[Maithanet]

5 minutes ago, Gertrude said:

I am kind of accidentally watching a live feed of a Trump panel about reopening schools. So far the substance of it seems like educators praising Trump praising Trump, giving a statement, Trump maybe responding briefly depending on how much he can praise himself based on the statement. It's sickening.

I don't know why I am still surprised when people go out of their way to praise Trump in the most elaborate and artificial way. Apparently Trump/Melania/Pence/Mother is the absolute dream team for dealing with this issue and it couldn't be in better hands *barf* 

I actually wonder if anyone has risked their job by just trying to straight satirize their praise of Trump.  Praise that is so utterly fawning that even Trump could tell he was being mocked.  

[Jace, Extat]

4 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I actually wonder if anyone has risked their job by just trying to straight satirize their praise of Trump.  Praise that is so utterly fawning that even Trump could tell he was being mocked.  

Much more better, I think, would be to praise him so successfully for so long that no meetings ever take place. Particularly when cameras are present. I'd just try to filibuster, see if I can keep it going long enough that the orange bastard dies of dehydration.

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Much more better, I think, would be to praise him so successfully for so long that no meetings ever take place. Particularly when cameras are present. I'd just try to filibuster, see if I can keep it going long enough that the orange bastard dies of dehydration.

That would be an interesting experiment: whether it's possible to bore Trump through nothing more than the duration of flattery.

[Larry of the Lawn]

7 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

That would be an interesting experiment: whether it's possible to bore Trump through nothing more than the duration of flattery.

I doubt it he still seems to dig Hannity

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That shit is terrible. It's like his heart isn't even in the argument. If The Hill is looking for someone to put the prose back in prose-essing another human, they have my information. Well, they don't. But that's because I wouldn't associate myself with such a rag. And I only accept payment for my writing in the form of box seats to Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark

I thought it was because you were just stuck on roue fangirl spin off CSI: New Orleans. 

[S John]

I’m watching Pence on Fox News trying to spin the administrations Coronavirus response into something to be envied.  Talking about how we are heading in the right direction even though ‘the media’ likes to focus on rising case numbers.  Really, Mike?  We are supposed to ignore the horrifying numbers coming out every day and rest assured that the administration is doing an amazing job based on what? He’s still touting shutting down those Wuhan flights in January as though that was just about all we could do to combat this thing getting out of control.  I know I’m not the target demographic of Fox News but I feel in my gut that enough people just aren’t believing the administration anymore. You could tell even Brett Baier wasn’t buying it.

I watched Fox News yesterday as well and they had a panel on where 2 of the 3 guests were dragging Trump and his re-election strategy of doubling down on divisiveness.  Even the chick that was supposed to be carrying Trumps water had little choice but to concede a few points.  

Granted I’ve been catching Brett Baier and not Hannity or Carlson, but kind of interesting seeing open criticism of the dear leader on prime time Fox News.

[Guest]

This is both bizarre and unsurprising:

Trump, apparently literally, views the death toll from COVID-19 as a business transaction, so as long as he comes in "under budget" (read: below the estimate of 2.5 million deaths) as being to the good.

Quote

President Trump said the US is “not closing, we’ll never close,” as he once again pushed the country to fully reopen on Tuesday.

“We’re at 130,” Trump said at an event on reopening schools, referring to the more than 130,000 Americans who have now died from the virus. “I think we could have been 2 and a half or 3 million people,” he said. 

“We’ve saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives,” the President said.

So he will keep pushing things to open, and as long as the death toll comes in under budget it's a win for him.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, Ormond said:

Here's a CNN segment on Mary Trump's book.

I have written in these threads more than once that Trump is so narcissistic that he believes his own lies when he hears himself say them out loud. At around 6:16 there is a quote from Mary Trump's book that starts "The lies may become true in his mind as soon as he utters them...".  It's cool to have my interpretation affirmed by his own niece who is also a psychologist. 

A very respected one too, from my understanding.

My favorite claim is that he cheated on the SAT. Anyone who has been to college knows it requires a lot of reading. Trump doesn't read, and transferred into one of the most elite schools in the country. My money is daddy wrote a check to get him in and then he just bribed people and cheated or bullied others. No way he earned his degree on his own merit.

One other thing. Trump always likes to claim he's so smart. Setting aside the narcissism, a lot of people in his family are highly regarded intellects, and he probably just assumes he is too. Just like when he's in a room with a lot of smart people means of course he's smart too. 

[DanteGabriel]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

A very respected one too, from my understanding.

My favorite claim is that he cheated on the SAT. Anyone who has been to college knows it requires a lot of reading. Trump doesn't read, and transferred into one of the most elite schools in the country. My money is daddy wrote a check to get him in and then he just bribed people and cheated or bullied others. No way he earned his degree on his own merit.

One other thing. Trump always likes to claim he's so smart. Setting aside the narcissism, a lot of people in his family are highly regarded intellects, and he probably just assumes he is too. Just like when he's in a room with a lot of smart people means of course he's smart too. 

How many Trumps are actually smart, versus just white people with access to the best resources? Certainly Donald's branch is a bunch of idiots, though Ivanka at least is capable of calculation and dissembling.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Maithanet said:

I actually wonder if anyone has risked their job by just trying to straight satirize their praise of Trump.  Praise that is so utterly fawning that even Trump could tell he was being mocked.  

Negative. You don't see them anymore, but they used to always broadcasts meetings were everyone went around in a circle and praised him in the most over the top way possible.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

5 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

How many Trumps are actually smart, versus just white people with access to the best resources? Certainly Donald's branch is a bunch of idiots, though Ivanka at least is capable of calculation and dissembling.

That's a fair point, but I've just heard stories of a lot in people in his family being respected names in their fields.

And Tiffany is clearly the smartest of the adult children, because she knows to stay the fuck away from them. She usually looks miserable during the rare times she does photo op things.