American Politics IV: 1400 Reasons Why(A Stimulus Serial)

[Kowani]

After storming the Capitol, Baked Alaska wants his bail relaxed and his ankle monitor removed because...he made a music video called "We Love Our Cops" a few years ago

[The Reformed American Republic]

Oakland to give $500 per month to residents living in poverty (whites need not apply).

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

[Rusozak]

After storming the Capitol, Baked Alaska wants his bail relaxed and his ankle monitor removed because...he made a music video called "We Love Our Cops" a few years ago

Loves cops so much he joined a mob that killed one and shouted racial slurs at another.

[Kilobugya]

Loves cops so much he joined a mob that killed one and shouted racial slurs at another.

It's pretty clear at this point that the "blue lives matter" stuff is just a way to say "black lives don't matter" without actually saying it.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Loves cops so much he joined a mob that killed one and shouted racial slurs at another.

It's pretty clear at this point that the "blue lives matter" stuff is just a way to say "black lives don't matter" without actually saying it.

That and partisan attacks. Culture war stuff. Like any political group, they like police when they're on their side, and oppose them when police are on the opposite side.

[Kannap]

Oakland to give $500 per month to residents living in poverty (whites need not apply).

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

Sounds more like liberal identity politics than leftism tbh. Leftists, at least all the ones I know and interact with, seek to uplift everybody from poverty and emphasis class divide far more than racial or national identity divides. As a poor white person, I have far more in common with a poor person of color or a poor Iraqi citizen than I do with somebody like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

[Senkaku]

Oakland to give $500 per month to residents living in poverty (whites need not apply).

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win? That’s the reason for those two things?

[Washington Resistance Army]

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win? That’s the reason for those two things?

Stuff like that does absolutley help the Trump MAGA crowd, yes. They latch onto anything like this and use it as proof that Dems don't care about poor or working class whites and it's not an ineffective message at least.

[The Reformed American Republic]

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

Sounds more like liberal identity politics than leftism tbh. Leftists, at least all the ones I know and interact with, seek to uplift everybody from poverty and emphasis class divide far more than racial or national identity divides. As a poor white person, I have far more in common with a poor person of color or a poor Iraqi citizen than I do with somebody like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

Not all leftists are like the ones you know. Case in point.

[Kilobugya]

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win?

He has a point that the "PR perspective" of such kind of initiative is easily exploited by Trumpists to lure white working class people into voting against their own interests. But I definitely disagree with the other part of his statement about "not being a leftist".

[Kilobugya]

Not all leftists are like the ones you know. Case in point.

"Leftists" in general are universalist who want to lift everyone out of poverty, regardless of their skin color. There are divisions within the left about some specific initiatives like that one, but they are mostly about prioritizing things, not about the ultimate goals. And you can perfectly well be a leftist and yet criticize that initiative, be it from a PR point of view or from an ethical one.

[Senkaku]

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win?

He has a point that the "PR perspective" of such kind of initiative is easily exploited by Trumpists to lure white working class people into voting against their own interests. But I definitely disagree with the other part of his statement about "not being a leftist".

That speaks to the incredibly disordered and dysfunctional way that the right-wing media ecosystem operates and the lack of actually relevant information it transmits to its consumers, not to the city of Oakland’s trial UBI program actually being a national crisis that affects tens of millions of people and which should be front-of-mind for voters across the country when considering their political choices.

Sounds more like liberal identity politics than leftism tbh. Leftists, at least all the ones I know and interact with, seek to uplift everybody from poverty and emphasis class divide far more than racial or national identity divides. As a poor white person, I have far more in common with a poor person of color or a poor Iraqi citizen than I do with somebody like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

Not all leftists are like the ones you know. Case in point.

I don’t think you have any sense of what “leftism” even means, besides some vague associations with things you don’t like about the Democratic Party.

[The Reformed American Republic]

He has a point that the "PR perspective" of such kind of initiative is easily exploited by Trumpists to lure white working class people into voting against their own interests. But I definitely disagree with the other part of his statement about "not being a leftist".

That speaks to the incredibly disordered and dysfunctional way that the right-wing media ecosystem operates and the lack of actually relevant information it transmits to its consumers, not to the city of Oakland’s trial UBI program actually being a national crisis that affects tens of millions of people and which should be front-of-mind for voters across the country when considering their political choices.

Not all leftists are like the ones you know. Case in point.

I don’t think you have any sense of what “leftism” even means, besides some vague associations with things you don’t like about the Democratic Party.

I don't think you know anything about me.

[Gravlen]

Baltimore will no longer prosecute drug possession, prostitution, or or various other low-level crimes

A year ago, as the coronavirus began to spread across Maryland, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby stopped prosecuting drug possession, prostitution, minor traffic violations and other low-level offenses, a move aimed at curbing Covid-19's spread behind bars.

That shift — repeated by prosecutors in many other cities — didn’t just reduce jail populations. In Baltimore, nearly all categories of crime have since declined, confirming to Mosby what she and criminal justice experts have argued for years: Crackdowns on quality-of-life crimes are not necessary for stopping more serious crime.

On Friday, Mosby announced that she was making her pandemic experiment permanent, saying Baltimore — for decades notorious for runaway violence and rough policing — had become a case study in criminal justice reform. In the 12 months since she ordered scaled-back enforcement, violent crime is down 20 percent and property crime has declined 36 percent, she said. Homicides inched down, though Baltimore still has one of the highest homicide rates among cities nationwide. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found sharp reductions in calls to police complaining about drugs and prostitution, she said.

“Clearly, the data suggest there is no public safety value in prosecuting low-level offenses,” Mosby said at a news conference.[...] She said the Baltimore Police Department will be a partner in this shift away from low-level prosecutions, in which officers and prosecutors will focus on violent crime and drug trafficking as courts begin holding criminal trials again.

“Our understanding is that the police are going to follow what they’ve been doing for the past year, which is not arresting people based on the offenses I mentioned,” Mosby said.

At the same time, law enforcement will work with a local nonprofit, Baltimore Crisis Response Inc., to provide services to people suffering from mental illness, homelessness and drug addiction.

Was that season two or three of The Wire?

Season three.

It goes:

- Intro to selling drugs in Baltimore, and what policing isn't.
- Fun times down at the docks: A murder mystery
- Hamsterdamned
- School's out, politics and sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
- Frontpage news: Omar's dead!

[Gravlen]

And that's why I'm not a leftist; this is also why Trump and people like him win.

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win? That’s the reason for those two things?

Some people would rather nobody got financial assistence than see somebody get it as a start.

[Kazumazu]

1 - How do you explain my Cuban and American Friends at the rally who heard the same speech and did not storm the Capitol Building, cause damage, kill persons or commit any acts of violence?

2 - How do you explain most Republican Trump supporters who heard the same speech did not storm the Capitol Building, cause damage, kill persons or commit any acts of violence?

I say the persons who stormed the Capitol Building, caused damage, kill persons and committed any acts of violence, made a personal decision to do so, they are responsible for their own actions. If I did the same I would be responsible for my own actions. If you did the same you would be responsible for your own actions. If any of us did the same we would be responsible for our own actions.

Not al leftist protestors in Democrat run cities with Democrat mayors protested violently. They made a personal decision to not do so, many protested peacefully.

But many others protestors tore down statues and monuments, burned buildings and businesses at times owned by ethnic minorities, looted stores, throwed projectiles at cops, and killed innocent cops and persons.

3 - I have condemned right wing violence and left wing violence, have you?

I usually aske this question and they don't answer the question.

GMS.

Your nonsense is irrelevant. If even a single rioter breached the Capitol on the 6th that is on Trump.

The words "fight like hell" - easy as to be taken out of context as those are - don't really hold water for this one. That'd be like me or anyone else blaming the cop killings back in 2016 on Obama - saying he incited them - with his skirting the ledge approach on condemning police shootings. What happened on the 6th of January was disgraceful and those involved should face full prosecution, but the "Trump crossed the Rubicon" angle is getting tired and doesn't stand stable as a pillar.

To me the COVID pandemic was his biggest oof, not a capitol breach by hoodlums and dissidents in Trump's name.

Also, unsure if this has been shared but Parler says they tried to warn the FBI pre-emptively to the capitol storming.

[Solarampa]

I wonder what is going to happen with the filibuster. Like here is my problem, both sides have used it many times and now with the Democrats wanting to ban it I still want to keep it. I mean yeah it was used in the Jim Crow Era, but we were still able to get the Civil Rights Act passed along with more beneficial laws. Some of the Democrats are hypocritical such as Barack Obama who called it.” A part of the Jim Crow Era,” but in his Senate term he used it to try and stop the nomination of a Supreme Court judge. Still I do feel somewhat conflicted about it. Maybe we should put more regulations on it, though I am not the most experienced with politics.

[Senkaku]

That speaks to the incredibly disordered and dysfunctional way that the right-wing media ecosystem operates and the lack of actually relevant information it transmits to its consumers, not to the city of Oakland’s trial UBI program actually being a national crisis that affects tens of millions of people and which should be front-of-mind for voters across the country when considering their political choices.


I don’t think you have any sense of what “leftism” even means, besides some vague associations with things you don’t like about the Democratic Party.

I don't think you know anything about me.

Just what I read in your posts, immortalized forever and publicly accessible on the Internet?

The city of Oakland giving some people $500 a month in a trial UBI program that could’ve been thought through better from a PR perspective is why you’re not a leftist and why Trump and people like him win? That’s the reason for those two things?

Stuff like that does absolutley help the Trump MAGA crowd, yes. They latch onto anything like this and use it as proof that Dems don't care about poor or working class whites and it's not an ineffective message at least.

That's not "the reason they win," though. The reason things like this help them campaign is because they've built an incredibly sophisticated propaganda machine that can take stories like this, and make them national news and major political issues for millions of people living thousands of miles away from Oakland whose lives will be affected in exactly zero ways by this program. It's like if some leftist rags managed to start riots in New York by reporting that a town in Kansas had pitched in some municipal money to help repair a historic Baptist church facade. There's a national media ecosystem that thrives off continuing to ramp up this symbolic meta-conflict over aspects of "the culture," while sidelining actual national-level policy issues that voters desperately need to be informed about so they can understand what's actually happening in their own country. RAR's initial post here is a perfect example of someone who has swallowed this bullshit hook, line, and sinker, and actually believes it to be a realistic portrayal of the nation's political issues.

[The Reformed American Republic]

You probably only read a small percentage of my posts and think you understand how I tick. Either that, or you see what you want to see.

[Kilobugya]

I wonder what is going to happen with the filibuster.

The more likely outcome I see is making it much harder/painful to use, so the minority party will be able to block all proceedings for a few week if they are ready to stand and speak for long one after the other (and pay the associated political price) but won't be able to completely block an important legislation.

Like here is my problem, both sides have used it many times and now with the Democrats wanting to ban it I still want to keep it.

The filibuster could make sense if both parties were reasonable in trying to get compromises. But that's no longer the case. And giving 40 Senators the power to bring the whole government to a grind, blocking laws that are favored by a large majority of voters, a majority of the House, a majority of the Senate and the President is just unacceptable. Especially when the Senate is so unrepresentative, with the 20 least populated States (so, 40 Senators) elected by 10% of the total population. In practice it's never the 40 Senators from the 20 least populated states against all the rest, but it's often close enough, with Senators representing 30% of the population able to block the will of those elected by 70%.

[Senkaku]

You probably only read a small percentage of my posts and think you understand how I tick. Either that, or you see what you want to see.

Yes, as much as I wish I could read the totality of your mind over wifi, unfortunately I do have to rely on the same methods as all other humans who've ever lived to try to gain insight into other people's beliefs.

[Kannap]

I wonder what is going to happen with the filibuster. Like here is my problem, both sides have used it many times and now with the Democrats wanting to ban it I still want to keep it. I mean yeah it was used in the Jim Crow Era, but we were still able to get the Civil Rights Act passed along with more beneficial laws. Some of the Democrats are hypocritical such as Barack Obama who called it.” A part of the Jim Crow Era,” but in his Senate term he used it to try and stop the nomination of a Supreme Court judge. Still I do feel somewhat conflicted about it. Maybe we should put more regulations on it, though I am not the most experienced with politics.

Last I heard, Democrats just want to return it to a talking filibuster. Wanna filibuster? Then you gotta stand there and talk the whole time.

I, on the other hand, think the thing should be abolished entirely.

[Kowani]

China sanctions the US and Canada after they were themselves sanctioned over treatment of Uyghur Muslims (the UK and EU, who also filed sanctions against China at the same time, were hit earlier)

Those sanctioned in the U.S. include Gayle Manchin, the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and Tony Perkins, the vice chair of USCIRF.

Gayle Manchin, who was just appointed as co-chair of Appalachian Regional Commission this week, is the wife of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
China also sanctioned Canadian member of parliament Michael Chong and the Subcommittee on International Human Rights in Canada's House of Commons.

The individuals are banned from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, the ministry said, and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with the three individuals or having any exchanges with the subcommittee.Yes

[Kilobugya]

China sanctions the US and Canada after they were themselves sanctioned over treatment of Uyghur Muslims (the UK and EU, who also filed sanctions against China at the same time, were hit earlier)

What China does to the Uyghur is horrible. But the way US/EU/Canada commit their own share of crimes, turn a blind eye to crimes committed by "allies", and then strike geopolitical rivals with sanctions feels so hypocritical that it makes it very easy for China (or Russia or ...) to just blame shrug off and put their own sanctions, leading to everyone being hurt and no problem being fixed.

But then I don't know what "we" could do to help the Uyghur, apart from being more honest and reliable in defending and respecting human rights all around; so we would be taken more seriously, but that's unrealistic to ask for with our current governments.

[Shrillland]

China sanctions the US and Canada after they were themselves sanctioned over treatment of Uyghur Muslims (the UK and EU, who also filed sanctions against China at the same time, were hit earlier)

What China does to the Uyghur is horrible. But the way US/EU/Canada commit their own share of crimes, turn a blind eye to crimes committed by "allies", and then strike geopolitical rivals with sanctions feels so hypocritical that it makes it very easy for China (or Russia or ...) to just blame shrug off and put their own sanctions, leading to everyone being hurt and no problem being fixed.

But then I don't know what "we" could do to help the Uyghur, apart from being more honest and reliable in defending and respecting human rights all around; so we would be taken more seriously, but that's unrealistic to ask for with our current governments.

Whataboutism in cases like this doesn't really help anyone, I'm afraid, no matter how true it is. Let's just do what we can to put pressure on them and get the rest of the world to do so. We'll do what we can to keep our governments honest, but it is a very steep hill indeed. War crimes are invented by winners as a justification for killing the losers.