Interesting take.

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Roger Lancaster from Facebook:

“Look, this is not complicated. Republicans have scored narrow victories over Democrats in a string of strongly Republican districts since the presidential election. It hasn’t especially mattered whether the Democrats nominated leftists or moderates. It’s the districts, stupid.
But also this: Ossoff lost in the kind of educated, affluent suburban district that the moderate Democrats want to win — and by a slightly wider margin than Hilary Clinton. The leftists, on the other hand, have closed far, far wider presidential election gaps to achieve similar close results in downstream, lower-income, less educated districts.
This tells us who has the stronger strategy.
If Democrats run homegrown economic progressives across the board, they can increase the Democratic share of the vote by 10-15 percent. They won’t win them all. But they will win back the House and Senate.
If Democrats target affluent suburban districts with more moderate candidates, they won’t get squat.”

I dunno zn. I could be wrong, but i get the impression that you dont think Obama/Clinton/CIA are as bad as I think they are.

I know Putin is every bit as bad as I think he is.

In terms of the americans, it is a lot more complicated and to me never reduces to simplifying slogans. I felt the same way whenever anyone said “Iraq is all about oil.” No actually it wasn’t…and to me, personally, simplifying things is not leftist. Being open to knowing the complexities is leftist.

With the americans you have to leave the neat packages that come with conspiracy theory for something more along the lines of ideological theory.

Otherwise I just hear slogans and tune out.

The first time you asked that question (do I think they are as bad?) I had the same answer. I personally have trouble with anything that skips the complexities and goes straight to slogans. That’s really really true of how I look at things. Always has been, always will be. So no, no american president you named has as much blood and authoritarian oppression on his hands as Putin. Saying that is just NOT the same as exonerating the americans. Especially since it;s not either/or. It’s entirely possible to condemn both for what they actually are (ie. condemn them in comparison to real democracy and real economic justice).

Remember I was also saying Trump is far far worse than people were assuming he would be. That was back in the days when some were saying well Hillary and Trump were not that different. You don’t have to be blinded by Hillary to see that simply was not true.

wv wrote:

Btw, i think Putin understands this very well. From listening to him, i get the impression he looks at all nations as Gangster-states. Especially the US.

Yeah it;s part of his schtick internally to say see democracy doesn’t work anywhere, so why bother. This makes him the worse enemy of internal democratic opposition because he has already excused himself for suppressing it. There won;t be a Russian Bernie.

wv wrote:

But then Putin hasnt dropped 26,000 bombs on innocent people, either. So they are both Gangsters in my eyes. But different kinds.

I don’t know how many bombs he dropped on Chechnya or Syria. But…yeah he has blood on his hands. I do know that Russian air bombardment was crucial to the 2nd Chechnyan war and is also crucial to the Russian Syria campaign.

wv wrote:

As far as the “but we all know this stuff” — Well, but we are disagreeing. So how do you account for the disagreement?

My point on that is simply that the “but we’re bad too” argument might work with a rightie, who might be unaware of the problems built into american foreign policy. But as a rule leftists already know that stuff, so when leftists condemn Putin–as they should IMO–reminding them of american abuses is kind of redundant. The left is not hypocritical on this stuff. When it comes to that, I go along with one of the anti-Putin leftists I posted (linked earlier):

We should express our solidarity with Russia’s embattled democrats and leftists. We don’t have to choose between critiquing our own foreign policy and opposing unjust foreign governments. In a sense, critics of western foreign policy have more of a responsibility to speak out. While supporters of, for example, the Iraq calamity can be more easily batted away by Putin apologists, nobody can accuse people like me of hypocritically failing to critique western foreign policy. Russia is ruled by a human rights abusing, expansionist, oligarchic regime. The Russian people – and their neighbours – deserve better. And the western left is surely duty-bound to speak out.

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wv wrote:

You say Obama would not ‘engage in openly criminal activity’. To me that is a meaningless statement because the laws themselves can be ‘criminal’.

As I see it you;re giving purist leftist lectures to leftists. But…we know all this stuff. My main point is that, as one who of course in fact does know all that stuff, you are nevertheless erasing valid distinctions. The end result of that is that you actually end up going soft on a right-wing authoritarian oligarch in the name of ….what? At a very minimum according to your own logic you ought to be just as hard on Putin but end up acting like he is defensible. Clinton when he was president tried defending Putin. I didn’t buy it then, either.

Gangster means engaging in and supporting openly criminal activity. Obama never did that. Putin relies on it.

A president engaging in a war that may or may not be questionable is not that. It’s a different thing. Obama was never going to have any of us murdered for speaking out against him, either.

In terms of engaging in bloody wars, Putin did THAT too. Far more than Obama. Or Clinton. The body count is higher AND he got territorial gains out of it.

There is no comparison. Acting like there is, to me, just means erasing a lot of important distinctions for no real gain.

Rams rookie receivers could push second-year pros for playing time

Gary Klein

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-receivers-20170619-story.html

It was not an over-the-top celebration, just a small exclamation point to a touchdown catch during offseason workouts.

Rams receiver Pharoh Cooper spun the ball like a top on the end zone turf. Then, with teammates hooting and hollering, he stepped back to admire his work.

A sign of things to come this season?

“Potentially,” Cooper said, laughing. “In a game-time situation it will probably be a little different.

“Especially for the first time. I’ll probably keep the ball and be a little hyped up.”

Cooper, a fourth-round draft pick in 2016, has not scored an NFL touchdown. Nor have Mike Thomas, a sixth-round pick last year, and Nelson Spruce, an undrafted free agent who scored in a preseason game before he was sidelined because of injuries.

The second-year pros could play larger roles in new coach Sean McVay’s pass-oriented offense, or find themselves playing behind rookies.

The Rams in April selected Cooper Kupp of Eastern Washington in the third round and Josh Reynolds of Texas A&M in the fourth.

Some NFL observers read that as a commentary on the sorry state of the Rams’ receiving corps.

After the Rams ranked next to last in the NFL in passing offense last season, 1,000-yard receiver Kenny Britt and Brian Quick left as free agents, without resistance from the Rams.

Sean McVay excited after first visit to Coliseum as Rams coach
Tavon Austin, who signed a four-year, $42-million extension last year, is back for his fifth season. Free agent Robert Woods received a five-year $34-million contract.

Neither Cooper nor Thomas said they took it as a slight when the Rams’ drafted two receivers.

“I know the NFL is a business. … Them drafting more receivers is just going to make me work harder,” Cooper said.

Said Thomas: “Of course it’s motivation. But at the end of the day it’s friendly competition. We’re helping each other get better.”

The 5-foot-11, 207-pound Cooper was a multipurpose standout at South Carolina but never really got a chance to get started last season.

His spectacular, leaping catch in a preseason game at Denver came with a cost: A shoulder injury that sidelined him for weeks.

Cooper played limited snaps when he returned, catching 14 passes for 106 yards.

“Fans want to see people make plays,” he said. “They haven’t seen me yet.”

Cooper worked in the slot and also lined up wide during offseason workouts, which concluded with a minicamp last week. He made several impressive plays on both short and longer routes.

“He can find a hole in the defense and is smart,” quarterback Jared Goff said.

Rams’ Jared Goff, Todd Gurley react to trade that sent Greg Robinson to Lions
Cooper also returns kickoffs and punts, and will compete for starting roles at both spots during training camp.

Thomas, 6-1 and 195 pounds, played on special teams and caught only three passes last season.

His most noteworthy play was not a highlight: He outran coverage in a Thursday night game at Seattle but dropped a long pass from Goff.

“You can’t really define a player off his mistakes,” said Thomas, who played in college at Southern Mississippi. “You’ve just got to define him off how he comes back from those mistakes. And I feel like I came back pretty well, I didn’t let that get to me.”

Thomas impressed during offseason workouts. He avoided drops and made several difficult catches.

“It’s all about relaxing,” he said, adding, “Last year, I was a little hesitant. … In Year 2, you got to step up.”

Thomas has done that, Goff said.

“He’s kind of found a role for himself,” Goff said. “He’s one of our faster receivers and can stretch the defense.

“I think he enjoys that role and understands that he’s going to be an over-the-top guy. It’s just a perfect role for him.”

During training camp last year, Spruce showed the skills that helped him leave Colorado as the Pac-12 Conference’s all-time leader in receptions.

Rams’ Tavon Austin continues his steady progress from wrist surgery
He caught a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Sean Mannion in the first preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys before suffering a knee injury. That setback, followed by another injury on the eve of a possible return, kept him sidelined throughout the season.

The 6-2, 210-pound Spruce appears physically sound again and made several notable plays during OTAs and minicamps.

“You see a natural football player,” McVay said. “He’s got a good feel for the game. I think he’s got good aggressive hands.”

The second-year pros, while competing to increase their own playing time, have aided the rookies in their transition from college to the NFL, Reynolds said.

“If I’m struggling on a play or alignment, they’ll get me corrected,” he said. “It’s not like a, ‘Oh, you’re-doing-this-wrong’ type of thing.

“They’re helpful.”

being a mod, and all the power that comms with it, has had no effeck on my brane.

I understand you think all that. But with due respect zn, all i see you doing is repeating the CIA line about Putin.

There’s not just 2 lines on Putin…the Russian propaganda one, and the CIA one. In fact I wouldn;t know what the CIA line on Putin is. For all I know they like him or are jealous.

One of the things I read, for example, is the critique of Putin offered by Russian leftists.

There’s an entire body of info and ideas out there that isn;t simply from the pro-american official version or from Putin’s own propaganda machine. It’s not a simple dichotomy.

Have you ever tried to tell a pro-Israeli american that in fact Israel is problematic and that saying so is not simply repeating the anti-Israeli Iranian view? One of the things I say is that there is an internal Israeli left critique of current Israeli politics.

When issues are this big, it;s not personal. Pro-Israeli americans, though, can try to make it emotional and personal and do get offended. Either way pro-Israeli americans don’t make a case by quoting Netanyahu.

And besides, every time someone tells leftists that the West has its own anti-democratic issues and forces, it’s no argument. We know. That kind of line may work with righties who don;’t know, but, it doesn’t work with lefties who do know.
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