[RedSpawn]

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 13:37, said:

Hrothgar, I have black friends that refer to other blacks as niggers. Does that make them racist?

This is a false analogy (and perhaps a bandwagon fallacy as well).

If very misguided African-Americans refer to themselves as an epithet because either they don't know better or are attempting to reappropriate a racial term that has been used to denigrate and devalue who they are, that's their choice.

However, their own misguided use of the n-word does not give either permission or creative license for other Americans to use it. The historical context of the n-word in the United States from 1776 to Present clearly shows that it was used to marginalize, ostracize, oppress and denigrate African-Americans. It was culturally acceptable to view African Americans as less than, as property (and not people), or at best as Americans worthy of 2nd class citizenship.

When you devalue people with epithets, you don't prove their ignorance, you reveal your own.

If you use the "n-word" to describe African-Americans, you are using the power of words to put this ethnic group in their "subjugated" place which by definition is racist.

[hrothgar]

 RedSpawn, on 2018-June-15, 08:00, said:

This is a false analogy (and perhaps a bandwagon fallacy as well).

If very misguided African-Americans refer to themselves as an epithet because either they don't know better or are attempting to reappropriate a racial term that has been used to denigrate and devalue who they are, that's their choice.

However, their own misguided use of the n-word does not give either permission or creative license for other Americans to use it. The historical context of the n-word in the United States from 1776 to Present clearly shows that it was used to marginalize, ostracize, oppress and denigrate African-Americans. It was culturally acceptable to view African Americans as less than, as property (and not people), or at best as Americans worthy of 2nd class citizenship.

When you devalue people with epithets, you don't prove their ignorance, you reveal your own.

If you use the "n-word" to describe African-Americans, you are using the power of words to put this ethnic group in their "subjugated" place which by definition is racist.

https://www.youtube....h?v=BwMbuHpecwc

[Winstonm]

 y66, on 2018-June-15, 07:58, said:

From The Big Scary Question Hanging Over the Trump-Kim Meeting by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher at NYT:


At some point, that black-and-white reality will reimpose itself? Reimpose reality on Trump? Biggest LOL ever.

Well, Dennison could fire Kim Jung-un and then tell the Russian Ambassador that "I fired Un. He was a real nut job. It relieved a great deal of pressure on me."

[barmar]

 RedSpawn, on 2018-June-15, 08:00, said:

If you use the "n-word" to describe African-Americans, you are using the power of words to put this ethnic group in their "subjugated" place which by definition is racist.

And anyone who doesn't know this these days has been living under a rock for the past 50 years. It's well known that it's OK for black people to use the N-word among themselves, but taboo for anyone else.

[kenberg]

 PassedOut, on 2018-June-15, 06:23, said:

Slavery, Hitler, Sessions, and Romans 13


And here we are again. Sad.

I mentioned somewhere that I recently went to the 80th birthday party of a childhood friend but I did not include that he became a Methodist minister. I would stake my life on asserting he would be appalled at such usage of the Bible. He and I, and others, went through some thinking and re-thinking of religion during our adolescence. We came to conclusions that were in some ways different, in some ways, more essential ways, not so different. If he were to quote the Bible here he might choose:

Quote

Matthew 25:40-45 King James Version (KJV)
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

See https://www.biblegat...version=NIV;KJV

If Sessions wants to look to the Bible, he had better be prepared for what he will find there.

[Winstonm]

Dennison's first campaign manager is party to the criminal referral for illegal campaign contributions made by the New York AG, while another of his campaign manager's has just been sent to jail for witness tampering prior to trial, and meanwhile Dennison wants "his people" to act like North Koreans and show him more respect, which is fine as long as only "his people" do so and Americans are not expected to follow suit.

[Winstonm]

Quote

Hours after President Trump appeared to tank the emerging House immigration compromise by saying he wouldn’t sign it, the White House sought to clean up the mess, releasing a statement that the president actually did in fact support the plan. Just for good measure, they said he also supports the more conservative bill that is expected to get a vote in the House next week as well.

“Yes, we fully support both the Goodlatte bill and the leadership bill. The President misunderstood the question this morning on Fox News,” an anonymous White House official told the Hill. “He was commenting on the discharge petition/dreamers bill — not the new package. He would 100 percent sign either Goodlatte or the other bill.”

In fact, we support all bills: marry me, bill; won't you come home, Bill Bailey; Billy, don't be a hero; Ode to Billy Joe.

[Winstonm]

Quote

“While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety,” Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. ”Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral.”

“Disgraceful,” the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late and influential Rev. Billy Graham and a supporter of President Donald Trump, said in a Tuesday interview. “It’s terrible to see families ripped apart, and I don’t support that one bit.”

Even Sessions’ own church, the United Methodist Church, is rejecting what he is doing.

“Tearing children away from parents who have made a dangerous journey to provide a safe and sufficient life for them is unnecessarily cruel and detrimental to the well-being of parents and children,” reads a statement signed by Bishop Kenneth Carter, president of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church.

It will be interesting to see if Dennison has the guts to make his usual double down threats when it is not his own base who is criticizing him. My bet is he will waffle and blame the Democrats, Obama, and Hillary.

[Winstonm]

Manafort was sent to jail? What can I say?

[PassedOut]

 Winstonm, on 2018-June-15, 21:45, said:

It will be interesting to see if Dennison has the guts to make his usual double down threats when it is not his own base who is criticizing him. My bet is he will waffle and blame the Democrats, Obama, and Hillary.

Trump Has a Few Things He’d Like to Get Off His Chest

Quote

Likewise, he faulted Democrats in Congress for the federal authorities’ separating children from parents trying to cross the border from Mexico under a “zero tolerance” policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“I hate the children being taken away,” he said. “The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.”

While both houses of Congress are run by Republicans, Mr. Trump said they could not act because it would require Democratic votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Democrats, however, said they would hardly filibuster legislation barring the separation of families at the border because they have already introduced such a bill with more than 30 Democratic sponsors.

[kenberg]

 Winstonm, on 2018-June-16, 09:05, said:

Manafort was sent to jail? What can I say?

It's dangerous to link to songs from my adolescence, I just can't keep myself from commenting. I went to the Wikipedia to see the entry on "Ain't That a Shame". Apparently Pat Boone made a cover version (blissfully forgotten) and wanted to change the title to "Isn't That a Shame". We were very proper back then. PBS, as part of its begathon, showed Peter, Paul and Mary singing "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face" . They changed "The first time ever I lay with you" to "The first time ever I held you near". Becky is a PP&M fan, me not so much. They came to the University of Minnesota in the early 60's, after which the Minnesota Daily had a cartoon showing two guys in suits and a woman in an elegant gown singing "When those cotton balls get rotten you can't pick very much cotton...".

Times change.

As Alexandra Petri says concerning Trump:

"To those who say he has lowered the level of our discourse, I say, **** off, ********. "

Anyway, Paul Manafort is where he belongs. Trump says he, Manafort, is being treated unfairly. Maybe the next time the National Anthem is played Trump will refuse to stand as a protest against this unfair treatment.

[barmar]

 Winstonm, on 2018-June-15, 15:28, said:

In fact, we support all bills: marry me, bill; won't you come home, Bill Bailey; Billy, don't be a hero; Ode to Billy Joe.

I'm pretty sure I know a Bill he wouldn't support. His last name begins with C.

[barmar]

 kenberg, on 2018-June-15, 09:29, said:

If Sessions wants to look to the Bible, he had better be prepared for what he will find there.

The basic problem with quoting the Bible is that you can find something in there to support practically any position.

Stephen Colbert pointed out that the verse Sessions quoted is just a few lines before the more well known Golden Rule.

The other problem with people who claim that we should follow the Bible's pronouncements is that everyone cherry-picks. For example, some other late night host mentioned that Sessions probably doesn't obey the part of the Bible that says not to eat shellfish (or all the other clauses that are the basis of Jewish rules of Kashrut).

And, of course, it's possible to find contradictions in the Bible.

[Winstonm]

 barmar, on 2018-June-17, 09:23, said:

I'm pretty sure I know a Bill he wouldn't support. His last name begins with C.

Can you whistle a little of that?

[Winstonm]

 barmar, on 2018-June-17, 09:29, said:

The basic problem with quoting the Bible is that you can find something in there to support practically any position.

Stephen Colbert pointed out that the verse Sessions quoted is just a few lines before the more well known Golden Rule.

The other problem with people who claim that we should follow the Bible's pronouncements is that everyone cherry-picks. For example, some other late night host mentioned that Sessions probably doesn't obey the part of the Bible that says not to eat shellfish (or all the other clauses that are the basis of Jewish rules of Kashrut).

And, of course, it's possible to find contradictions in the Bible.

There are no contradictions.

"When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." - Humpty Dumpty, and every evangelical preacher who ever lived.

[Al_U_Card]

Fire when you are ready, Griswold...

[johnu]

 johnu, on 2018-June-13, 11:52, said:

Could Dennison have misstated facts about North Korea summit?

https://www.msn.com/...zodr?li=BBnbcA1

In defense of Comrade Dennison, for every fact, there are a million alternative facts, so it's at least a million to 1 against getting the correct fact. It's actually incredible that he gets things right as often as he does with those kind of odds. Well done Comrade Dennsion.

Dennison claims crime in Germany is way up.

https://www.msn.com/...OrVg?li=BBnb4R7

German crime statistics disagree with Dennison. Another unlucky guess by Dennison. This one could have gone either way. I predict Dennison will get the next one right.

Since I want Dennison to succeed, let me suggest that he claim that illegal border crossings in Iceland are way up (due to immigration officers watching the World Cup 99.6% of TV views watch Iceland in World Cup . Ban the World Cup

[Winstonm]

At least the Senate is displaying a modicum of backbone:

Axios reports:

Quote

The Senate voted Monday night to reinstate the U.S. ban on Chinese telecom giant ZTE, which has violated American sanctions and was labeled as a national security threat by the Pentagon.

Why it matters: The Senate's rejection is a strong rebuke, by lawmakers from both parties, of the Trump administration's decision to resurrect ZTE.


Joint Statement, from Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Marco Rubio (R-FL):

“We’re heartened that both parties made it clear that protecting American jobs and national security must come first when making deals with countries like China, which has a history of having little regard for either. It is vital that our colleagues in the House keep this bipartisan provision in the bill as it heads towards a conference.”

[Winstonm]

Another day, another Dennison staffer dejected and demoralized:

The Daily Beast reports that:

Quote

President Trump’s chief of staff has reportedly become so demoralized amid mounting White House scandals that he no longer cares if the president gets impeached. Sources cited by Politico on Monday say John Kelly told a confidant he is giving up on trying to rein Trump in and will let the president do what he wants even if that results in impeachment because, as Politico paraphrased it, “at least this chapter of American history would come to a close.” Reports have swirled in recent weeks about Kelly planning to step down amid ongoing friction with Trump, and he is now said to have begun working out frequently in the middle of the working day, a sign some officials see as proof he has mostly checked out from Trump’s White House.

[Winstonm]

Quote

Trump loses temper over border wall funding
The president complained in a private meeting that Senate Republicans won’t fully fund his wall — and threatened a shutdown in September

It's time to put this petulant child into a timeout, a permanent timeout, far away from grown ups, in a nice place with padded walls and people speaking in hushed voice, with white shoes and clothes everywhere....