wv wrote:

I was thinking about Cigarettes. Cigs kill what, half a million Americans. But the Gov can make laws about ‘where’ you can smoke.

I guess the mask-thing is a bit like that. You are free to not-wear-a-mask in your home, etc, but when it will affect others, its different.

Obviously, the folks that have a deep distrust of the system, are worried that this is a slippery slope, and the Gov is coming to get their guns and blah blah.
So much fear. If we’d actually ‘had’ a more honest Gov all these years, people might not be so distrustful nowadays. Ah well.

w
v

This needs some examination. I don’t know what else to conclude other than that the deliberate framing of masks as a civil rights issue is…you know…mass murder.

I fully understand that there is legitimate concern and debate about the economic consequences of a “duck and cover” policy, and I understand that finding a balance between the health concern and the economic concern is difficult.

But this administration isn’t just encouraging people to “go back to work” and keep the economy ticking. It is deliberately not promoting simple safety precautions, and refusing to do anything to limit the spread of the disease.

We have:

1. A president and vice-president who refuse to wear masks.
2. The framing of masks as a civil rights issue (which is ridiculous, imo)
3. A refusal to continue financing tests
4. No effort to do any contact tracing
5. Not only a neglect to gather data, but an active effort to distort data – and this one is pretty big because it would be pretty easy to require daily data input of positive/negative tests, demographic information, and severity/symptoms information that could be instantly pooled.
6. They suppressed the CDC guidelines for re-opening
7. They have muzzled Fauci and other health experts

So…not only are they remiss on encouraging basic precautions to slow the spread of the virus while telling people to go back to work…they are suppressing efforts to fight the disease.

wv wrote:

Cool.

I prettymuch disagree with most of that. And i submit, the evidence is not just Bernie vs Biden. Thats just one example among hundreds. For starters there’s Bernie vs 99 Senators. These radical-progressive-anarchist-antifa-lead uprisers voted over and over and over for Corporate-Dem-Senators and Corporate-Rep-Senators.
Over and over and over. Its not just about Trump or voting for people that might beat Trump, etc.

If this country really had a large segment of progressive, informed, critical thinkers there would be evidence in the Senate. There aint.

Wanna look at the House of Rep? Whats ‘that’ look like. A smattering of progressives here and there.

So, no, I aint buying it. I think the bewildered herd will be baffled and confused and entertained and self-absorbed again, in a few weeks. And the very small number of committed critical-thinkers will be bashing on, relentlessly, as per usual.

w
v

But this is kind of tricky because people don’t vote for candidates who represent their policy opinions. (And there aren’t many progressives to vote for, and where they do appear on the ballot, the big money machine backs their opponent).

There is a disconnect between the things people want the government to do, and the people for whom they vote. People, as you well know, vote on slogans or whatever. They vote on gut feelings. Or name recognition.

People, by an overwhelming majority, want universal health care. And better pay. And a clean environment. And so on. Why they don’t vote for candidates who will work for those policies is a separate, baffling question. But we have a general idea of why.

So we have all those MAGAs who hate the government because they’ve been screwed, and they vote for a guy who is going to screw them even more, and they love him. There is a disconnect.

But the dissatisfaction is real. Even if people aren’t clear on the “underlying systemic-problem.”

What people need is a more convincing version of Bernie Sanders to lead the way. We need someone bold. Someone who could tell those crowds of people to go on strike. They would do it. And they would win. We’re “this” close to forcing real concessions out of the owners. I think this IS different. But I also think it won’t go anywhere unless somebody harnesses it. And right now, the only person who can is Sanders, and he long ago decided he wouldn’t.

This argument that removing statues is erasing history is flat out irritating.

Nobody learns history by looking at a statue.

If they did, nobody would remember the Third Reich because you can’t find a statue of Heydrich or Hitler anywhere.

It’s about “reverence.” A statue is a statement of societal reverence. That’s what it’s about.

Not only are they doing it on film, a lot of people in this country seem perfectly okay with it, even delight in it.

I think it’s questionable what would happen if Trump just declared martial law. Was it here, or on FB where I saw the special letter he sent out selling camo MAGA hats “exclusively” for members of the Trump army to wear to identify themselves? He is going “there.”

I did see somebody (Joint Chief of Staffs?) say the other day that the military would not obey unlawful orders. So that may be a good thing.

I listened to this a couple of days ago while doing yardwork. I need more podcasts to listen to. I just listened to 1619 last week. All six episodes combined are probably shorter than one Rogan. I also re-listened to the Graham Hancock Rogan podcast which is very interesting. They should use that underground digital imaging thingie in the Amazon that you mentioned in the Italy post.

I need more podcasts. Give me recommendations.

Looks like Portland, Maine is out of control.

Police are at this journalist’s house right now in Portland, Maine threatening to arrest him for tweeting about cops. Not good. pic.twitter.com/uKxeuQvsyP

— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) June 9, 2020

wv wrote:

Zooey wrote:

Democrats doing their bit to make the country better.

====================

Man o Man. They must have crunched the algebra before they all did that.
They are really counting on Black Voters now.

w
v

Yeah…seems like a bad way to get it, though.

This has to be a candidate for the Transparently Ridiculous Political Stunts Hall of Fame.

It’s early June, and Biden will step on his tongue at some point in a debate, but who knows.

It’s just hard to see a president surviving a pandemic, a major recession, and riots in the streets, all in an election year. Plus all the exhausting nonsense, the noise he generates. I think it is likely that people just want a change of scenery.

But…5 months to go.

Democrats doing their bit to make the country better.

Are these motherfuckers really wearing kente cloth https://t.co/O5QD7L0Kqx

— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) June 8, 2020

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29275324/why-matters-roger-goodell-say-colin-kaepernick-name

Why it matters that Roger Goodell didn’t say Colin Kaepernick’s name

The killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers has created a surprising flashpoint, an acknowledgement by previously disbelieving white people of the violence historically inflicted upon African Americans and a sudden, jarring suggestion that America is ready to deal directly with the terrible truths that violence has entailed: Police treat black citizens harshly with devastating consequences. Prosecutors are reluctant to charge police. Juries are even more reluctant to convict them. In the rare case of a conviction, judges are unwilling to punish them with firm prison sentences — if any jail time at all. Corporations across the country, including now the NFL, have pledged solidarity with their black citizens, seeking to reflect harmony by using the term “Black Lives Matter.” Since the inception of the term, law enforcement agencies have co-opted it with their own “Blue Lives Matter” while attempting to link the original with domestic terrorism — a characterization that those same corporations using the term now did little to refute then.

Included prominently in the nationwide protests is the gesture of taking a knee toward the American flag. It’s a distress signal indicating that the country has not lived up to the democratic ideals it spreads across the globe — ideals it tells soldiers that their uniforms and flag represent, ideals Americans believe separate them from countries that jail, kill and otherwise silence their citizens. It is Colin Kaepernick’s symbol, and it is used everywhere — by children and high school students who reference him as their inspiration, and now by police and politicians to quell public anger directed at them to suggest finally, after so much time, a willingness to listen.

It is also the symbol NFL owners used as justification to destroy Kaepernick’s NFL career. In 2017, it was the NFL that sent the message nationwide that kneeling was illegitimate, and by extension, criticism of police. Three years later, the NFL carries the greatest burden of any sports league to rectify the damage it now admits it has done.

After the sloganeering and statements, the NFL serves as a microcosm of the corrections Americans are now expecting. Kaepernick is not vindicated because he is still being punished. Nor did he reveal something black people did not know. He was punished for supporting them.

The league must answer the question of today’s moment: Is this a reckoning, or is it a dance? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell released a recorded statement Friday night attempting to reconcile with players in response to a video players released Thursday night featuring Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes and several others demanding acknowledgement on the part of the NFL that their protests be taken seriously. But like other corporations across the country that have decried violence, racism and intolerance while barely mentioning police, Goodell offered condolences to the families affected by police brutality without acknowledging the reason people are in the streets in the first place: They want it to end.

At issue is whether Americans will undertake the journey of truth, a journey for which they have typically lacked the stamina and willpower to complete. From sports to Hollywood to politics — but predictably not from police unions — the corporate statements to engage have written a large and prominent contract with the public. But the omissions have not gone unnoticed, undermining the legitimacy of the sentiments that have captured the country. If the term “police brutality” is so incendiary that it cannot be said, how can anyone be taken seriously when they say they want to fight it?

Goodell’s statement also did not mention the name “Kaepernick,” the surest sign yet that the NFL is unserious about the actual work that needs to be done to make this right. Goodell apologized for the NFL not listening to players, and even this basic, ostensibly conciliatory statement is false. The NFL did listen to players. It listened to Malcolm Jenkins. It listened to Anquan Boldin. It listened to white players, such as Drew Brees and its white ex-players-turned-broadcasters, such as Boomer Esiason, who were offended by Kaepernick’s position. It listened to its white fans. The NFL did a lot of listening — and concluded the course of action was to punish black people — which they have not undone. Even when trying to reach the truth, Goodell still could not tell it.

Confronting the truth about racism and its effects is when America is not at its aspirational best, but its defiant, denying worst; it fails looking in the mirror at its true self in ways in which Germany and South Africa have succeeded. America has not yet proved it is willing to put in the hard work. Goodell’s statement might have helped the NFL win the short-term battle to mollify its young stars of tomorrow, but it will lose in the long term because it is not Watson or Mahomes or Odell Beckham Jr. who require the apology. It is Colin Kaepernick.

The NFL heard a warning that America was fraying, and in response constructed an entire machine to undermine Kaepernick — and became an active partner in dividing the nation. Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula conceived of the organization that would become the Players Coalition, led by Jenkins and Boldin, when he felt the league needed a player-run, black-player-headed organization to address injustice issues to neutralize Kaepernick’s influence. Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross amplified it. Goodell and the NFL increased restrictions and penalties on kneeling demonstrations. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones threatened the employment of any player who knelt. And, of course, all 32 teams followed suit.

Part of that machine was Jay-Z at a roundtable with Goodell last year, saying of Kaepernick, “This wasn’t about him having a job. That became part of the discussion.” People at the table nodded obediently at this latest celebrity-class erasure tactic, insulting in its ridiculousness. It was absolutely about Kaepernick having a job. He didn’t have a job because he was being punished by the NFL, not because he threw a wobbly spiral, but precisely because he advocated for black people. While Jay-Z told people to move on, Kaepernick’s unemployment was an obvious part of the injustice. The NFL was the country’s primary apparatus to demonize the kneeling gesture, and indirectly condone the very issue of police brutality it now says has no place.

It is the NFL’s black fans who also require an apology from Goodell, because in punishing Kaepernick for drawing attention to the senseless killing of black citizens, the NFL chose killer cops over loyal fans, sending the message to them, as well as the players, that their concerns were unimportant compared to white fans who objected to kneeling. Black fans did not matter to the NFL. Now, Goodell could not mention Kaepernick by name but expects the public to believe that the NFL does.

Tabula rasa is the Latin phrase for “clean slate,” and at present, the image of thousands of Americans around the country kneeling in silent, somber protest to an issue contributing to the polarization of the nation is a powerful one — one that the NFL cannot legitimately embrace without wiping the slate clean with Kaepernick. There is no third way. It is not possible to have reconciliation without truth, and the only way to reach the truth is by doing the hard work, the thankless work, the painful work of absorbing it, swallowing one’s pride, admitting mistakes.

The NFL today is in real time America of the 1970s, when the country had to admit that it was wrong in its attempt to destroy Muhammad Ali. Finally, it did, and the world did not collapse, but it healed, as most wounds do with the proper treatment. A $15 billion industry that dominates the imagination of the public should have the strength to accommodate differing opinions, whether they belong to Kaepernick or Brees. But the only opinions that received league-wide punishment were Kaepernick’s. If the league, both Goodell and to another extent Brees, expect the public to believe their statements, the next step toward real truth is opening the door to signing Kaepernick — a move that has been closed for nearly four years. If it remains closed, this flashpoint will be remembered as the moment the NFL admitted it handed out a life sentence, admitted it was wrong — and still did nothing about it.

I can’t listen to Godell on this. I’m sorry. I’m close-minded, and there is nothing he can say that won’t come across to me as this: “Hey! The tide has turned, and it looks like it’s safe for us to take the moral stand we refused to take a few years ago. So sorry. And sorry for the careers we destroyed. Let’s play ball!”