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Thoughts from the front porch of a curmudgeon

Yes he is.

Part of CRT is requiring racists like you to admit that the “real” Lincoln was a white supremacist who’s separatist views and desire to deport freed blacks overrode all else, including the Emancipation Proclamation, that was a sham that barely freed anyone, and the Civil War in whole, which was about economics - including preservation of the wealth created by slavery. (Apparently Frederick Douglass was just his Uncle Tim.)

At least that’s what the CRT teacher hatred, er, hired by HR told me in our training.

You are a racism denier.
You're a liar.
 
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My thoughts from my porch swing is that this Canadian was right:

"Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power and special privilege.”

T.C. Douglas
I don't think that's how fascism started in Germany. Any idea how Douglas is defining fascism there?
 
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In 1941, life expectancy at birth in the United States was 64.8 (today, 77.8), only 6.8 percent of the population was over 65 (today, 16 percent), penicillin was on the horizon but the Salk polio vaccine was a dozen years distant, and most hospitals spent more on clean linen than medical technologies. Sixty-three percent of households did not have telephones, less than half the U.S. population age 25 and older had a high school diploma (today, 90 percent) and homosexual sex was criminalized in all 48 states. The nation has undergone a moral advancement — consider the casual callousness toward minorities of all sorts eight decades ago — as stunning as its material improvement.​

Yet the United States’ social hypochondria has deepened, and Americans’ pain thresholds have lowered during the nation’s advancement. Perhaps it is progress, of sorts, that status anxieties have displaced material deprivations in fueling the national pastime — no, not baseball: whining. But to be 80 is to have, beginning in the second half of the 20th century, lived through the emergence of today’s therapeutic culture. It saturates a large class of painfully earnest Americans — expensively schooled but negligibly educated — who, when not extravagantly indignant about Lincoln and other supposed national blemishes, are preoccupied with their malleable identities and acute sensitivities.​

Not my words, but George Will‘s on observing his 80th birthday. However I did read this on my front porch.

This deserves a highlight:

.Perhaps it is progress, of sorts, that status anxieties have displaced material deprivations in fueling the national pastime — no, not baseball: whining.

This sentence explains so much about politics, society, entertainment, sports, and life. This is what fuels many threads here. Status anxieties indeed.

life really isn't fair, and for many reasons other than race.

and for every race, not just blacks.

and women have it harder than men.

that said, if you tell someone all day every day that all their problems are someone else's fault, many will believe you, because "why else would this be happening to me".

reality is, even blacks don't treat all other blacks equally.

do blacks as a whole have it tougher than whites? yes, as a whole.

but individuals don't live as a whole grouping.

looks do affect all our lives, both personally and professionally.

everyone's!

take a group of 100 random people of both sexes and all races, and every one of those people's life has been affected by their physical looks.

on the "who's life has been negatively affected more" scale according to looks, not all whites would be better off than all blacks, and all men wouldn't have it better than all women, and all black males wouldn't all be equal on the scale, nor all black females.

that said, race relations are many times better now than 65 yrs ago, and getting better every day.

as for how blacks are treated by cops, while not fair, much of that is based in how fearful of blacks cops are, relative to how fearful of whites.

not near as many gang banging whites as blacks, especially per capita..

Jesse Jackson was once posed the hypothetical of "your walking alone on a dark street late at night..

on one side of the street are 3 white guys walking in your direction, on the other side of the street are 3 black guys walking in your direction, which side of the street do you decide to walk on"?

Jesse reluctantly admitted he might feel safer walking by the 3 white guys.

that said, again, equality under the law, which is what blacks marched for in the 50s and 60s, had a political solution.

what blacks march for now has no political solution, and can't be achieved or even advanced through protest, no matter how much protesting is done.

is that fair, no. but life isn't fair regardless of race, or even within race.

that said, what can be achieved politically is ending the war on drugs, which imo is at the root of much of the discontent blacks feel on how they are treated by the cops.

that said, the media pitting black vs white, citizen vs immigrant, all day every day, isn't about race or nationality.

it's about always keeping the discourse on social issues, and off economic issues.
 
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From what I understand, "food insecurity" is the uncertainty that poverty induces on families who realize their next meal, due to circumstances that often are beyond their control, is not always guaranteed. If there is an illness that means they can't go to work, they ain't getting paid, and something has to be sacrificed.
IIUC
Thus the reason that inner city schools continue their free/reduced meal programs in the summer, when school is out.
Government exists to perform tasks that have a public purpose.

I don't argue that many people are insecure in a number of ways, including where their next meal is coming from . Many live paycheck to paycheck and are worried. The question is what is the public purpose in assuaging insecurity about anything including food?

The government can't ever be big enough to deal with all the various insecurities.
 
Government exists to perform tasks that have a public purpose.

I don't argue that many people are insecure in a number of ways, including where their next meal is coming from . Many live paycheck to paycheck and are worried. The question is what is the public purpose in assuaging insecurity about anything including food?

The government can't ever be big enough to deal with all the various insecurities.
Hungry people tend to be a little less capable of being productive tax paying members of society.

Seriously though, "food insecurity" is generally a term used to describe the situation many children find themselves in when their families, for whatever reason (assign blame how you will...it doesn't matter to the child), are not able to guarantee their will be adequate food on the table. Granted, many times, it's an adult problem, but the kids are the one who feel the consequences.
 
Hungry people tend to be a little less capable of being productive tax paying members of society.

Seriously though, "food insecurity" is generally a term used to describe the situation many children find themselves in when their families, for whatever reason (assign blame how you will...it doesn't matter to the child), are not able to guarantee their will be adequate food on the table. Granted, many times, it's an adult problem, but the kids are the one who feel the consequences.
So sad. And one more exacerbated consequence of lockdowns and school closings
 
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So sad. And one more exacerbated consequence of lockdowns and school closings
Most schools here in Indy continued to provide food for families, even though the kids were not In person at school. I bet most inner city schools provided the same service, but since I don't know, I won't claim they did.
But of course, the government is just wasting money dealing with people's "insecurities". :rolleyes:
 
Most schools here in Indy continued to provide food for families, even though the kids were not In person at school. I bet most inner city schools provided the same service, but since I don't know, I won't claim they did.
But of course, the government is just wasting money dealing with people's "insecurities". :rolleyes:
No but the gov didn’t have a pandemic plan and their overreaching lockdowns caused unnecessary pain to our youth
 
At least the San Francisco school board reversed its earlier decision to rename 44 schools, including those named for Lincoln and Washington, after the heap of scorn that was leveled at them. But it wasn't due to seeing how stupid and misguided they were and are. It was that they didn't want the hassle of dealing with the inevitable "frivolous" lawsuits and such.

Give 'em time.
All 3 San Francisco school board members were recalled last night.
 
Every single neighborhood in San Francisco—The Castro, Haight-Asbury, Pelosi’s Pacific Heights— voted for the recall due to:
-overdoing COVID closures
-Obsession with race
-Eliminating merit schools

These are winning issues for the GOP.
It’s never been more clear that the GOP should ditch Trump and simply become the Common Sense Party; we’d win everything.
 
It’s never been more clear that the GOP should ditch Trump and simply become the Common Sense Party; we’d win everything.
Love it. I can already see that hat: red with bold white letters on the front: COMMON SENSE PARTY and real small cursive on the back: no one wants to date you. Our logo will be a chin with a mask
 
It’s never been more clear that the GOP should ditch Trump and simply become the Common Sense Party; we’d win everything.
Should we all hold our breath waiting for that to happen? Why can’t we have a Pragmatist Party? We could start with the Committee on Common Sense. We can use a “STUDID” stamp. We will need to order a lot of ink pads.
 
Should we all hold our breath waiting for that to happen? Why can’t we have a Pragmatist Party? We could start with the Committee on Common Sense. We can use a “STUDID” stamp. We will need to order a lot of ink pads.
The problem is the common sense candidates will be vanilla and raise pennies. Crazy is winning in a landslide at the moment. The crazier the rep the more money they have
 
Should we all hold our breath waiting for that to happen? Why can’t we have a Pragmatist Party? We could start with the Committee on Common Sense. We can use a “STUDID” stamp. We will need to order a lot of ink pads.
I’m all for a Pragmatist Party. Do you really think that possible from the Democrat side? Look at the way their media dogs are treating Manchin and Sinema.
 
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Oh I don’t think it’s possible from either side right now. Extremism is a problem both sides share right now.
Extremism/wokeism (which most Americans find extreme) is trying to take over one party. The GOP extremists are dunces of the highest order but they have zero power. Cocaine Mitch is as pragmatic as they come now. As is Pelosi - but she’s got a dump truck sized target on her back from within.
 
Extremism/wokeism (which most Americans find extreme) is trying to take over one party. The GOP extremists are dunces of the highest order but they have zero power. Cocaine Mitch is as pragmatic as they come now. As is Pelosi - but she’s got a dump truck sized target on her back from within.
I think Schumer not being in Mitch’s league is and has been a huge problem for the Ds. The Ds will have to learn the lesson that the Rs are learning with Trumpism. Wokeism is a fringe element that doesn’t have widespread appeal. The real issue is that many middle of the road voters have no real voice in who the parties put up in generals because the primary process favors the extreme candidates.
 
I think Schumer not being in Mitch’s league is and has been a huge problem for the Ds. The Ds will have to learn the lesson that the Rs are learning with Trumpism. Wokeism is a fringe element that doesn’t have widespread appeal. The real issue is that many middle of the road voters have no real voice in who the parties put up in generals because the primary process favors the extreme candidates.
I agree. Ranked Choice seems like a far superior system - especially in primaries.
 
I think Schumer not being in Mitch’s league is and has been a huge problem for the Ds. The Ds will have to learn the lesson that the Rs are learning with Trumpism. Wokeism is a fringe element that doesn’t have widespread appeal. The real issue is that many middle of the road voters have no real voice in who the parties put up in generals because the primary process favors the extreme candidates.
I hate woke shit and far left policies. I think this year we saw clearly that they do not work. That being said I question how much of a "fringe" element it is - I think it's larger than you give credit. And while I hate them; they walk the walk in the sense that they do have policies and initiatives that they put forth. Bernie was always just a gadfly. The Squad and the caucus are far more than that imo. They really should be their own party. They deserve to be their own party imo
 
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I hate woke shit and far left policies. I think this year we saw clearly that they do not work. That being said I question how much of a "fringe" element it is - I think it's larger than you give credit. And while I hate them; they walk the walk in the sense that they do have policies and initiatives that they put forth. Bernie was always just a gadfly. The Squad and the caucus are far more than that imo. They really should be their own party. They deserve to be their own party imo
Maybe, but 81 million people voted to continue blowing up norms and institutions. That might not be a policy per se but I think it’s every bit as dangerous.
 
Maybe, but 81 million people voted to continue blowing up norms and institutions. That might not be a policy per se but I think it’s every bit as dangerous.
The Trump issue will work itself out in time. The far left imo deserve to see just how much support they really have. Again I don't like their policies but there is nothing inherently wrong with what they advocate, obviously
 
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Maybe, but 81 million people voted to continue blowing up norms and institutions. That might not be a policy per se but I think it’s every bit as dangerous.
Just stop it. Trump‘s public policy positions were about mainstream as they come. Certainly more mainstream that what the Biden/Harris/Pelosi/Schumer brain trust has given us. You are overwhelmed with by his personality and acting on 100% pearl-clutching emotion.
 
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That’s not true. They voted for middle of the road Joe Biden. He didn’t run on wokeism.
Sure he did. ”If you don’t vote for me you ain’t black.” His PR campaign though was plain vanilla normalcy which anybody who was paying attention could see was a crock.
 
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Sure he did. ”If you don’t vote for me you ain’t black.” His PR campaign though was plain vanilla normalcy which anybody who was paying attention could see was a crock.
I think you're right. We missed the signs - USWNT; Harris; if you don't vote for me you ain't black, etc.
 
Sure he did. ”If you don’t vote for me you ain’t black.” His PR campaign though was plain vanilla normalcy which anybody who was paying attention could see was a crock.
That’s senility, arrogance, racism and taking people for granted. It’s not wokeism. Wokeism would’ve never even mentioned the word “black.”
 
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And while I hate them; they walk the walk in the sense that they do have policies and initiatives that they put forth. Bernie was always just a gadfly. The Squad and the caucus are far more than that imo. They really should be their own party. They deserve to be their own party imo

So, is it possible to separate "wokeism" from the progressive policies like MFA, free college, etc etc. I'd like to do that.


I do think it's possible and would benefit the Dems tremendously
 
So, is it possible to separate "wokeism" from the progressive policies like MFA, free college, etc etc. I'd like to do that.


I do think it's possible and would benefit the Dems tremendously
Yes, it is.
 
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I absolutely think it's possible. But not with the Squad etc. Identity politics is too integral to everything they do.
To me "Trumpism" and "Wokeism" are just kissing cousins and result of quick hit, junk, twitter/social media, "journalism".

Anybody who talks about these topics for more than 5 minutes in a rational way realizes they have serious problems and overwhelming cognitive dissonance.
 
To me "Trumpism" and "Wokeism" are just kissing cousins and result of quick hit, junk, twitter/social media, "journalism".

Anybody who talks about these topics for more than 5 minutes in a rational way realizes they have serious problems and overwhelming cognitive dissonance.
Wokeism to the extent it is anti racism and equity as discussed by the woman in the tweet above is way deeper than something picked up on Twitter, drive-by journalism, etc.

It’s foundations come from (bad, absurd, and illogical) academia which is how it has penetrated so deeply. True CRT which was a laughing stock of thinking, respectable academics in law schools and philosophy departments in the 80s and 90s, migrated into other schools like education and sociology (much like Derrida and the postmodernists found a foothold in English Depts in the 70s onward).
 
Wokeism to the extent it is anti racism and equity as discussed by the woman in the tweet above is way deeper than something picked up on Twitter, drive-by journalism, etc.

It’s foundations come from (bad, absurd, and illogical) academia which is how it has penetrated so deeply. True CRT which was a laughing stock of thinking, respectable academics in law schools and philosophy departments in the 80s and 90s, migrated into other schools like education and sociology (much like Derrida and the postmodernists found a foothold in English Depts in the 70s onward).
Yeah, at least Trumpism isn't a philosophical theory......yet.
 
It’s never been more clear that the GOP should ditch Trump and simply become the Common Sense Party; we’d win everything.

Part of the problem is that the GOP, like the Dems, has never had a majority of its reps with common sense.
 
Part of the problem is that the GOP, like the Dems, has never had a majority of its reps with common sense.
The GOP has historically disenfranchised moderates because of their religious orthodoxy. As that is fading they should be able to attract more moderates from the Democrats.
 
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