There really is no “center” any longer. There used to be a center. In fact, I well remember a time when Democrats were patriots who loved our country. Harry Truman, a staunch Democrat, was the greatest President in the last century. He put America first. Period.
That President Kennedy was a Democrat in his time cannot be challenged. He fought for his country at great personal expense. He lowered taxes. He set our sights on the moon, and so much more. Today President Kennedy would not be welcome in the Democrat party.
If you take another civil war off the table, the only remaining option is to defeat today’s woeful, America hating, Democrats at the polls. If that does not happen the country will be lost.
One final thing: it’s not today’s Democrats alone. They have plenty of comrades on the Republican side, globalist elites all. They do not put America first. If that swamp cabal wins, Americans who cherish freedom and liberty are toast.
Resignation at NYT tells of the internal culture of ideological suppression. This should come as no surprise for those who still bother to read their articles.
Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.
the “new McCarthyism” that has taken root at the paper of record… Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, the editor will get fired or reassigned, and you’ll be hung out to dry.
As a leftist on this thread, here are my thoughts.
First of all, labeling leftists and Democrats as “people who hate our country and our traditions, institutions, culture and freedoms” (per your quote) and “swamp cabal” (per shinobi) and labeling ultra-conservatives and Republicans as “Americans who cherish freedom and liberty” or “the good guys” (again per shinobi) is not only divisive and stupid, it’s also patently false. It’s a false narrative. It’s immature.
I’m gonna go ahead and speak for all leftists and Democrats, because, well it’s a stupid question and who’s gonna object? We do not hate this country, its freedoms, liberties, or most of its traditions and institutions. We f*cking love it. But obviously there are exceptions, like the institution of slavery, the traditions of the Confederancy, and statistically proven institutionalized racism. We only want to make this country better, as people have always wanted throughout all history and in all countries. We want this country to be more fair to all its citizens, and to the foreigners who aspire to come here, work hard, and become citizens (I’m obviously not an outright proponent of illegal immigration or open borders, but not everything is black or white, no pun intended – there are always nuances).
I believe there’s always a middle ground, a compromise. Heck, shinobi and I can probably compromise on many issues, we’ve already done it above. If you don’t believe compromises can be achieved, that’s a big problem, but it’s your personal problem.
And to answer your questions, no, the entire USA is not evil or racist and it does not need to be fundamentally transformed. But there are plenty of evil and racist people living here. And they’ve been getting louder. The president emboldens them with his “good people on both siides” and “Confederate flag is a freedom of speech issue”. Dumbass. Freedom of speech prevents the government from censoring citizens, it does not prevent other citizens from calling those displays what they are.
I agree with much of what you said, although there’s clearly a lot of intolerance for free speech going on out there right now as I have tried to highlight from time to time. That isn’t against the law on a personal level, but when companies fire people for any perceived minor public offense unrelated to their work it’s hard to have civil discourse and policy debates that are important for democracy. however
Proof requires evidence, as opposed to correlation (vs causation and all that). Are the NBA and NFL statistically provably racist institutions? (3/4 black players, ~0% Hispanic and Asian). Are our justice system and our college education system statistically provably sexist institutions? (90-95% men and 56% women respectively). If I said institutionalized racism was a myth or a conspiracy theory, what proof could you offer besides disparate outcomes that could be caused by any number of other things.
First and foremost is Tuberville’s decisive victory in Alabama. Decisive as it was, the mainstream media had been trumpeting Sessions’ nonexistent chances for weeks; just goes to show you. I was taken in and I’m pissed at myself for once again believing their lies and spin.
It’s funny, Sessions not that long ago was a really great Senator, one of my favorites. But his stint as AG was a catastrophe. Sessions to this day says he did the right thing by recusing himself. Whether or not that is true, Sessions needed to resign and allow Trump to correct his mistake. Instead he selfishly held on and put Trump, and the country, through that ridiculous Mueller probe.
I am delighted the Republicans in Alabama have finally put Sessions out of his political misery. Tuberville will be a great Senator and will easily defeat Jones, who is scarcely more than a nuisance and is wildly out of step with mainstream Alabama thinking.
Trump also had one or two other victories yesterday over in Texas. I am not on top of those details. But any Trump victory is a good thing and the overcoming of Sessions is very, very sweet.
I support legal immigration, and I support President Trump’s efforts to increase the number of legal immigrants. Under Trump legal immigration is at an all time high. This is good because legal immigrants are a wonderful benefit for our country.
We are a nation of (legal) immigrants. The millions who entered years ago through Ellis Island, for example, did so legally. And not all who applied were accepted. Some were sent back!
It is difficult for foreigners to become American citizens legally. But there is very good reason for the high hurdle. Those who make it over become some of our very best citizens!
Illegal immigration is entirely different. It is supported by despicable scum in both political parties, in each instance for selfish reasons having nothing to do with what is best for our country. There are people entering illegally who would have no chance whatsoever of being here legally. I am glad President Trump is doing what he can to end illegal immigration. And I fear how that approach will change if Biden is elected.
Joe Biden, clearly a man on a mission, is traveling far and wide in northern Delaware to hammer home his vision for America. Heck, there have been times Biden has ventured across the Delaware state line and actually campaigned in nearby Pennsylvania! Good Lord, what next!!
Anyway, yesterday Biden traveled all the way to Wilmington, that’s in northern Delaware folks, to give a campaign speech. He explained how he was planning to waste . . er . . I mean spend two TRILLION dollars in a bold attempt to fight “climate change”.
Clearly this is an initiative only Biden could offer. Biden, unlike Trump, has the kind of kissy kissy connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which would allow him to borrow that kind of scratch. After all, those CCP muckety mucks know a kindred spirit and fellow traveller when they encounter one.
There is no question in my mind that Trump will not carry northern Delaware or SEPA, so much has Biden done to lock up both those regions. It is a large country, though. Perhaps the good guys will be able to overcome, with votes from elsewhere, Biden’s clear electoral advantage in regions nearby to his home.
Just remember this: In northern Delaware, Biden is KING!
I have a very personal view on legal vs. illegal immigration being a legal immigrant myself.
But the truth is, legal immigration has become much more difficult lately. Personally, if it were today instead of 25 years ago, I would not have been able to immigrate to the US - maybe that would have been a relief for people bearing with my posts here LOL.
For the record, I’m against illegal immigration. Part of it is based on personal bias. I had to jump through tons of costly hoops, prove myself a valuable prospect, why the heck should we allow just anyone to simply cross the border and squat here freely?
That being said, you have to provide a solid system for legal immigration. And that has not improved in the last few years, and some parts have recently gotten worse, especially the H1B situation and the green card wait times. Processing times when up almost 50% since 2016. Wait times have more than doubled since I applied and was granted a green card. That’s just not great when you bring in highly-skilled people who are designed to help the growth of the country.
The lottery is and always has been an absurd joke and a total waste of money. It has to be entirely replaced by a non-random system that can be more flexible on deciding who gets in based on needs of the US. And that would allow us to fit a bit more than the token 50k applicants per year. For an example on how to do this, check our neighbors up north for a system that makes much more sense.
So overall, while I don’t mind at all efforts to curb illegal immigration, I don’t see much positive change in the last few years in terms of improving legal immigration. It’s a worse crap-shoot than it used to be and really hurts curb illegal immigration if doing things illegally appears more like the only viable way to come to the US regardless of merit and potential contribution to the country.
Gosh, the good news just keeps on keepin’ on! And I did not see this coming. I simply MUST stop listening to the mainstream media’s evening (bad) news broadcasts. They purposefully leave out anything even remotely favorable for Trump. Anyway:
Trump’s approval number in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll has jumped to 48%! That is as high a number as I recall seeing for quite a while. His approval was down at 43% not so long ago
If Trump can hang onto 48% approval, or better, he is almost a sure winner in November. Remember, these are all likely voters being polled here. And those are the only ones worth polling if you want to predict a winner. People who do not bother to vote are just drones; they may scream and yell but they do not matter at all.
Could you provide a source with numbers that illustrates “institutionalized racism”?
I think there are examples of institutionalized racism but not what you think they are. I will look up the court documents in the Asian students vs. Harvard lawsuit that prove the university has racist admission policies. I will provide a link to them when I have time.
The president emboldens them with his “good people on both siides”
This is the Charlottesville lie. If you have an open mind look at this video and tell us what is wrong with it: The Charlotteville lie
I should have clarified that I was mostly referring to the justice system. More police presence, inspired by higher crime rates, leads to more harassment and more arrests, which lead to higher crime rates, continuing the cycle. The evidence for racism in the judicial system, especially in the South (ahem, Alabama), is well documented.
There’s implicit racism in employment (the evidence being that in states that prohibited employers from asking about criminal history before offering a job, unemployment increased among people who were perceived as likely to have a criminal history).
One could probably argue that the NFL commissioner’s and owners’ early actions on kneeling and their treatment of Kaepernick was racist, or at the very least racially insensitive, even if there’s no racism in the hiring process or treatment of other players.
Like I said, there are nuances. DACA is a very specific nuance – people brought into this country illegally as children. It’s incomprehensible to me why anyone would think that it’s OK to force them to go back to their country of origin, especially if they grew up here and have not broken any laws.
Trump has endeavored to play smart on the dreamers but he has been thwarted at every turn by the courts, including most recently by RINO Roberts. Strangely, I believe you and Trump are in accord on the dreamers . . mostly. Feeling uncomfortable yet?
The probable difference between you guys on the topic is that, presumably unlike yourself, Trump seeks to elicit from the Democrats something in return for giving the dreamers a pass. In particular, he wants funding for a more secure Mexican border. You know, the very same measure the Democrats supported vigorously PRIOR to Trump’s becoming POTUS.
Trump is fighting in the courts not to send the dreamers home, but for the RIGHT to do so, in order to be able to use that right as a cudgel.
I think it is a good strategy, and I support the trade: they get the dreamers, we get our border vastly strengthened. Now if the courts would just tend their own knitting and get the hell out of the way, maybe we could do some horse trading which would bring about legislation beneficial for all.
You mean other than the fact that PragerU is a conservative propaganda machine? They omit the fact that the Unite the Right rally itself was organized by and for white supremacist and neo-nazis. There weren’t any fine people on that side.
