NationStates

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:

Esalia wrote:

This is an incredibly weak connection to say that any reasonable person can see the racism.

Like, the best you have is "bunga bunga was used against an Italian, Cuomo's an Italian American, therefore racist". Instead of, y'know, being a joke about just how many people have accused Cuomo of being sexually inappropriate.

I suppose calling American politicians with English ancestry twats is racist now? It's now racist to recycle insults or deriding jokes if the people it's used against share an ethnicity?

If you can't see it, don't take it badly. Your society is probably rife with racist assumptions and references, barely even noticed when they're instrumental to a joke.

Aussies are notoriously racist, but for most of us it's just friendly making-fun of people's peculiarities. Those of us who aren't consciously racist though, are acutely aware of racism where it's not friendly at all, but divisive. That joke about bunga bunga parties, would get you a reprimand in the public service, even if you said it on a break. Most bosses in the private sector would give you the benefit of the doubt, but they would bring it up later. They'd probably point out that you have no way of knowing if your co-workers have Italian ancestry or not. This is an essential aspect of multi-culturalism is that no-one has to announce their ancestry to have that respected.

Without that, you get ... Cuban Americans. So determined to fit in by being anti-Castro that they set themselves apart for generations. It's no good eh.

If you can't see that it's racist to compare Cuomo with Berlusconi (who was bad in other ways besides his sexual life) rather than Trump or Roy Moore, I can't help you with that. Living among racists may well make you racism-blind, and I can't help you with that. Just ask yourself, was the joke funny beyond "bunga bunga" being a comical sound?

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:

Vassenor wrote:I guess Virginia Woolf was being racist against Italians then back in the day then.

I expect. So what?

Vassenor wrote:

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:
I expect. So what?

You really dont know where the term came from, do you?

Esalia wrote:

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:
If you can't see it, don't take it badly. Your society is probably rife with racist assumptions and references, barely even noticed when they're instrumental to a joke.

Aussies are notoriously racist, but for most of us it's just friendly making-fun of people's peculiarities. Those of us who aren't consciously racist though, are acutely aware of racism where it's not friendly at all, but divisive. That joke about bunga bunga parties, would get you a reprimand in the public service, even if you said it on a break. Most bosses in the private sector would give you the benefit of the doubt, but they would bring it up later. They'd probably point out that you have no way of knowing if your co-workers have Italian ancestry or not. This is an essential aspect of multi-culturalism is that no-one has to announce their ancestry to have that respected.

Without that, you get ... Cuban Americans. So determined to fit in by being anti-Castro that they set themselves apart for generations. It's no good eh.

If you can't see that it's racist to compare Cuomo with Berlusconi (who was bad in other ways besides his sexual life) rather than Trump or Roy Moore, I can't help you with that. Living among racists may well make you racism-blind, and I can't help you with that. Just ask yourself, was the joke funny beyond "bunga bunga" being a comical sound?

If you can't come up with a defence for your incredibly fragile logic behind "bunga bunga" being racist when used against Cuomo without implying that I live in a heavily racist area, I suggest you don't bother, because that just clearly underlines to me how far you're reaching.

Immortan Khan wrote:Now wondering if Cuomo had his own bunga bunga parties.

Esalia wrote:

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:
If you can't see it, don't take it badly. Your society is probably rife with racist assumptions and references, barely even noticed when they're instrumental to a joke.

Aussies are notoriously racist, but for most of us it's just friendly making-fun of people's peculiarities. Those of us who aren't consciously racist though, are acutely aware of racism where it's not friendly at all, but divisive. That joke about bunga bunga parties, would get you a reprimand in the public service, even if you said it on a break. Most bosses in the private sector would give you the benefit of the doubt, but they would bring it up later. They'd probably point out that you have no way of knowing if your co-workers have Italian ancestry or not. This is an essential aspect of multi-culturalism is that no-one has to announce their ancestry to have that respected.

Without that, you get ... Cuban Americans. So determined to fit in by being anti-Castro that they set themselves apart for generations. It's no good eh.

If you can't see that it's racist to compare Cuomo with Berlusconi (who was bad in other ways besides his sexual life) rather than Trump or Roy Moore, I can't help you with that. Living among racists may well make you racism-blind, and I can't help you with that. Just ask yourself, was the joke funny beyond "bunga bunga" being a comical sound?

If you can't come up with a defence for your incredibly fragile logic behind "bunga bunga" being racist when used against Cuomo without implying that I live in a heavily racist area, I suggest you don't bother, because that just clearly underlines to me how far you're reaching.

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:

Esalia wrote:
If you can't come up with a defence for your incredibly fragile logic behind "bunga bunga" being racist when used against Cuomo without implying that I live in a heavily racist area, I suggest you don't bother, because that just clearly underlines to me how far you're reaching.

If you don't want to see it, I can't make you see it. But to progress the conversation beyond Me Being Wrong perhaps you'd like to answer the question? Is this:

Immortan Khan wrote:Now wondering if Cuomo had his own bunga bunga parties.

Funny? Is it a joke at all? Is it an attempted joke but not funny? Is the phrase "bunga bunga" the only funny thing about it?

Cannot think of a name wrote:

Esalia wrote:If you can't come up with a defence for your incredibly fragile logic behind "bunga bunga" being racist when used against Cuomo without implying that I live in a heavily racist area, I suggest you don't bother, because that just clearly underlines to me how far you're reaching.

He's doing a bit.

Vassenor wrote:

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:
If you don't want to see it, I can't make you see it. But to progress the conversation beyond Me Being Wrong perhaps you'd like to answer the question? Is this:



Funny? Is it a joke at all? Is it an attempted joke but not funny? Is the phrase "bunga bunga" the only funny thing about it?

Or we're just likening Cuomo's sexual misconduct to Berlusconi's because he's the archetype for pervert in office.

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:

Vassenor wrote:
Or we're just likening Cuomo's sexual misconduct to Berlusconi's because he's the archetype for pervert in office.

That's not even self-justification. It's justification of something another poster said and you are vainly claiming as yours.

You never actually claim anything, do you? That would be too much like Smart Girl and would scare away Boys. Well sorry, but I have no time for Smart Girls who play dumb because they think Boys like that.

Last chance. Comment on the "joke"

San Lumen wrote:https://www.koat.com/article/roxys-law-heads-to-governors-desk/35881093

Roxy’s law heads to New Mexico governor’s desk. The bill enacts the Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, making it unlawful to use a trap, snare or wildlife poison on public land. Violations of the Act will result in misdemeanor penalties. The bill does not affect private landowners or apply to the Indian nation, tribal or Pueblo lands.

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:

Vassenor wrote:
So what link are they trying to make?

If I actually cared that much, I would search NSG for all references to "bunga bunga parties" and other cross-case references like "the Lolita express" or "locker-room talk".

But I can't be bothered. It's been ages since I heard an American compare another American to Berlusconi (who btw was accused of sex with under-age girls, not just harassing office staff) and I laugh at the suggestion that the Italian connection is just a coincidence. I don't have to prove it, just point it out, for any reasonable person to see the racism there.

The nicest thing I can say is that Immortan Khan saw the joke get a good reaction elsewhere, and didn't realize it was racist. I'd like to hear it from IK themselves though.

Nakena wrote:

A-Series-Of-Tubes wrote:
If I actually cared that much, I would search NSG for all references to "bunga bunga parties" and other cross-case references like "the Lolita express" or "locker-room talk".

But I can't be bothered. It's been ages since I heard an American compare another American to Berlusconi (who btw was accused of sex with under-age girls, not just harassing office staff) and I laugh at the suggestion that the Italian connection is just a coincidence. I don't have to prove it, just point it out, for any reasonable person to see the racism there.

The nicest thing I can say is that Immortan Khan saw the joke get a good reaction elsewhere, and didn't realize it was racist. I'd like to hear it from IK themselves though.

Most people here are likely unfamiliar with Berlusconi. He was in many ways a predecessor and blueprint for Trump.

The Biden administration has awarded an $86 million contract for hotel rooms near the border to hold around 1,200 migrant family members who cross the U.S.-Mexico border, DHS officials confirmed to Axios.

The contract through Endeavors, a Texas-based nonprofit, is for six months but could be extended and expanded. The hotels will be near border areas, including in Arizona and Texas. The number of migrant family members caught crossing the southwest border more than doubled between January and February — rising from 7,000 to nearly 19,000, according to the most recently released agency data.

Border officials continue to use a Trump-era order to quickly return many families to Mexico. But Mexico has limited capacity to take in migrant families and won't accept some with young children, according to administration officials.
42% of families were expelled to Mexico last month — down from 64% in January and 91% in October, according to the data. More than 13,000 family members who crossed the U.S. border illegally have been allowed into the country since the start of January, many released into border communities.
The Biden administration does not use the order to expel unaccompanied children, as the previous administration did.
The Biden administration has been pressuring the Mexican government to increase its own immigration enforcement, to help slow the number of Central Americans making their way through the country to the U.S.-Mexico border.

A An employee advocacy group is accusing the Biden administration of failing to follow through on its promise to reverse a Trump-era initiative aimed at making it easier to fire federal workers, instead using the nullified policy to dismiss a whistleblower.

Walter Loewen, a planning and environmental coordinator at the Bureau of Land Management, is facing a proposed removal after the agency said he performed inadequately. The dismissal, which is pending a final signoff from BLM management, follows Loewen raising concerns about a large and controversial oil and gas project on 1.5 million acres of federal land in Wyoming. Loewen and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the group representing him, said that timing is not a coincidence. Then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt gave the project final approval just weeks before President Biden took office.

[…]
Less than one week after Loewen elevated to management concerns that the project would negatively impact several species of birds, including a sensitive species, he was removed from it and all specific NEPA projects. Instead, Loewen was assigned primarily what he called “busywork,” such as rewriting guidance that management knew would soon be moot because headquarters was in the process of writing new policies. normal duties, Loewen’s supervisor, who assumed that role shortly before his change in work, issued a “notice of opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance” that gave him 30 days to improve. The notice was given under a provision of an executive order President Trump issued in 2018 that attempted to ease and hasten the process by which agencies could fire federal workers. The supervisor took issue with the quality of the work on the tasks she assigned to Loewen in that period, though she did not propose his removal until last month. BLM followed through on the process despite Biden's action repealing Trump’s order on his third day in office and instructing agencies to revoke changes to their policies made under its authority.

Loewen said the series of events began in what appeared to be retaliation against him for blowing the whistle on potential negative impacts of the oil and gas project. The Trump administration prioritized opening up federal lands for such development. BLM declined to comment on the specifics of Loewen’s case or to answer about whether it was still using the nullified removal process created by Trump’s order.

Further complicating the agency’s action, the official making a final determination on Loewen’s firing is Duane Spencer, the acting associate state director in Wyoming who gave initial approval for the Converse County project over Loewen’s objections. PEER said that creates a conflict of interest and someone else should serve as the deciding official. The project has faced pushback for its potential pollution and other environmental impacts, in addition to its impact on species in the area.

In its reply to the proposed removal, PEER faulted BLM for failing to give Loewen a performance improvement plan. Such an approach would have been typical prior to Trump’s order, it argued, and would have given Loewen more time to demonstrate improvement. PEER included a declaration from a BLM biologist, who backed up Loewen’s side of events and said he always knew his colleague to be a dedicated and hard worker. It also criticized BLM for failing to adhere to Biden administration policy. Biden’s order took effect immediately, though the Office of Personnel Management only issued implementation guidance, which largely focused on the collective bargaining side of things, earlier this month.

“Maintaining this [notice of proposed removal] based on an agency action that President Biden had ordered suspended before the date of the NPR is a violation of the president’s directive,” wrote Peter Jenkins, the PEER attorney representing Loewen. He accused BLM of holding Loewen to an impossible, “nit-picking” standard that if applied to everyone at Interior would leave it without NEPA practitioners. “Federal employees are not judged based on pedantic requirements placed on superfluous work, but on their performance of duties in their [position description].”

The Black Forrest wrote:I was not a fan of President Bush. Only referred to him as a sock puppet and the shrub. He like other Presidents basically played J.D. Salinger and only appeared from time to time to promote something.

He actually gave an interview and was asked about the attack on the capitol. For all the jokes of his speaking ability and making up new words; it was rather clear and direct.

"I was sick to my stomach...to see our nation's Capitol being stormed by hostile forces."


https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/politics ... index.html

Umeria wrote:

The Black Forrest wrote:I was not a fan of President Bush. Only referred to him as a sock puppet and the shrub. He like other Presidents basically played J.D. Salinger and only appeared from time to time to promote something.

He actually gave an interview and was asked about the attack on the capitol. For all the jokes of his speaking ability and making up new words; it was rather clear and direct.

"I was sick to my stomach...to see our nation's Capitol being stormed by hostile forces."


https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/politics ... index.html

So does he regret sending hostile forces into Iraq's capitol?

Umeria wrote:

The Black Forrest wrote:I was not a fan of President Bush. Only referred to him as a sock puppet and the shrub. He like other Presidents basically played J.D. Salinger and only appeared from time to time to promote something.

He actually gave an interview and was asked about the attack on the capitol. For all the jokes of his speaking ability and making up new words; it was rather clear and direct.

"I was sick to my stomach...to see our nation's Capitol being stormed by hostile forces."


https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/politics ... index.html

So does he regret sending hostile forces into Iraq's capitol?

Bienenhalde wrote:

Umeria wrote:So does he regret sending hostile forces into Iraq's capitol?

That is absolutely a horrible and totally misleading analogy. Bush did not initiate a coup to try to disrupt the workings of a constitutional democracy. Saddam was an autocratic and tyrannical dictator who commited genocidal massacres of Kurds in nothern Iraq. Iraq under Saddam did not have free elections or rule of law. Bush invaded Iraq to defeat a dictatorship, not to establish one.

Kannap wrote:I'm hopeful that Congress abolishes the time changes this year and we stick with Summer time year-round like our European friends.

The EU is springing forward one last time this Spring before never looking back. 15 U.S. States have passed legislation to switch to DST/Summer time permanently in the past three years, pending Congress changing federal law to give states authority to do - or doing it themselves (current federal law says states can't have DST year-round). Another 27 states are currently considering DST-related legislation, most of which seeks to make Summer time/DST permanent year-round (DST-related legislation has been proposed in 28 states this year, but it failed in Virginia).

What are the odds Congress finally decides we can stop wasting our lives with remembering to spring forward or fall back?