tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post7057455731525762846..comments2024-03-29T05:59:55.834-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Ongoing worries and concerns -- and some good trendsDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88469109924232510332021-11-20T12:10:46.079-08:002021-11-20T12:10:46.079-08:00Der Oger, when I do "onward" it's be...Der Oger, when I do "onward" it's best to take your thoughts to the new posting, since most don't come back down under old posts.<br /><br />I doubt Erdogan feels anyone over here except Kremlin agents like him.<br /><br />Anyway...<br /><br />onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-779837364926511352021-11-20T11:59:31.087-08:002021-11-20T11:59:31.087-08:00Some notes on the OP:
(We can help the poor of oth...Some notes on the OP:<br /><i>(We can help the poor of other nations both with aid and by pulling support from the local oligarchic oppressor classes that our own moguls propped-up, for a century.)</i><br /><br />We are doing the <i> opposite </i> now. Apparently, we are propping up folks like Al Sissi in Egypt and Erdogan in Turkey to block migration ... we are at least indirectly responsible for. Apparently, Lukashenko tried the same ... and now starts to backpedal.<br /><br />In addition, at least here in Germany, we <b>need</b> immigration badly, in order to keep our economy running ... something that constantly is eluded by those right-wing anti-immigration politicians. At current estimation, 400.000 a year (or, 0.5%)<br /><br />@ matthew:<br /><i>This verdict will mean blood in my hometown streets. Portland has been at war with neo-nazis for 40 years. The body count is about to rise dramatically.<br /><br />And this doesn't just serve foreign interests the best. It serves our native racist assholes just fine too. </i><br /><br />Considering the amount of weapons in private hands, and the current situation, I'd assume that the extreme left or Antifa groups have not started armed assaults already.<br />Seeing it with European eyes (were leftist rioting is much more violent and frequent than in the US) one either has to applaud them for their self-restraint and that they concentrate on exposing fascists through undercover operations (which is somewhat mood, since they already control a dangerously high number of positions of power), or "radical leftists" do not exist to the extend I am seeing them over here.<br /><br />@ Alfred Differ<br /><i>It won't work in every state.</i><br />I did not assume it would. Also, I think, "To Rittenhouse" could also mean something else, more in line with <a href="https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/kyle-rittenhouse-breaks-down-on-the-stand-as-he-nachrichtenfoto/1236479580" rel="nofollow">this picture</a>. Here goes your white masculinity.Der Ogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00977602334642769985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87210227463171872762021-11-20T11:32:46.072-08:002021-11-20T11:32:46.072-08:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41339818405057664382021-11-20T10:58:53.727-08:002021-11-20T10:58:53.727-08:00matthew redux:
The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing t...matthew redux:<br /><i><br />The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing the Rittenhouse verdict - openly saying they now have legal permission to kill protestors<br /></i><br /><br />From the same Rittenhouse article I linked above:<br /><br />https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2021/Senate/Maps/Nov20.html#item-2<br /><i><br />...<br />It's not the job of a court to consider the public policy implications of its decisions, but hoo boy does this verdict send an absolutely terrible message. Is there any doubt that right-wingers of various sorts will be showing up to protests armed to the teeth, hoping that they are put into a position where they can claim they were provoked and that they only started firing in self-defense?<br /><br />A reader—and we don't have clear permission to quote them and identify them by their initials, so we'll paraphrase—writes in with the observation that the American legal system has shifted so far in favor of the Second Amendment and of "self-defense" that those Americans who do not wish to carry guns are left in a very difficult position. If a person who is armed—at an uprising, while hiking, when getting coffee at Starbucks—feels "threatened," then in many/most states, they have near-universal cover for whatever they want to do. The feelings of their target(s) don't much matter, assuming those target(s) even live long enough to tell their tale.<br /><br />The implication here is that the only real way for unarmed Americans to be 100% safe, when put into a position where there is a gun, is to leave. Someone walks into Starbucks and they're carrying? You leave. You're at a political rally, and armed Proud Boys show up? You leave. You're on the bus and someone with a sidearm gets on? You get off. That's the only surefire option. Admittedly, it's an easier policy to adhere to in some states than in others.<br /><br />The strategy we're describing here, incidentally, is very nearly the same strategy that Black Americans, particularly in the South, were forced to adhere to for generations whenever placed into a situation in which they might face racist aggression. The legal system was nearly always going to side with the white person, so the Black person had no real option but to extract themselves from the situation. Eventually, their hands forced in part by the Civil Rights Movement, Americans decided that state of affairs was not acceptable. Maybe one day there will be mass pushback against the Second Amendment run amok, too. <br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45089045071352936102021-11-20T10:53:48.480-08:002021-11-20T10:53:48.480-08:00Paradoctor (the real one, not the troll who's ...Paradoctor (the real one, not the troll who's been posting as him) :<br /><i><br />When the judge threw out the open-and-shut illegal weapons charge, the fix was in.<br /></i><br /><br />Believe it or not, that slam-dunk was easily blocked by the law itself.<br /><br />https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2021/Senate/Maps/Nov20.html#item-2<br /><i><br />...<br />The least serious charge, but the one that was the biggest slam dunk, was "minor in possession of a firearm." However, due to the clumsy wording of the relevant Wisconsin law, that charge was dismissed before it ever got to the jury, because... wait for it... the barrel of the gun that Rittenhouse was carrying was long enough so as to exempt him from prosecution. Really. The law can be read as applying only to guns with barrels of 16 inches or less. You can click on the link and read the statute if you want. The law was written in order to allow 17-year-olds to hunt deer with a rifle, not hunt people with a military weapon, but the law simply says "16 inches."<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58042748426781656702021-11-20T10:50:15.408-08:002021-11-20T10:50:15.408-08:00@Don: The overwhelming majority of people, if give...@Don: <i>The overwhelming majority of people, if given the opportunity to do something good, beautiful, useful, would do it for nothing. The rest can be ignored, we ignore the layabout spawn of the predator after.</i> <br /><br />We ignore layabout spawn because we are paid off to do so, and because the easiest way to deal with a rich fool is to arrange for them and their money to be soon parted. That said, American society has a very unhealthy obsession with trying to eliminate <i>every last speck</i> of laziness -- the Puritan work ethic, the dire privation of the frontier (especially when layabouts rush in -- as happened in early Jamestown), and the slave's eternal incentive to shirk the theft of their labor combine into a toxic stew that is sadly one of our most universal traits. Untold amounts of mental illness stem from constructing a society such that nearly everyone fears to some degree for their daily bread. (Yes, even the subsistence farmers, who must find the geld to pay off the landlord, the bank, and the revenooers -- under threat of losing the soil that feeds them.) <br /><br />@Larry: <i>"It's not legal. It just won't be prosecuted... It's just that no one will do anything about them.</i><br /><br />Never say never. The perpetrators of Neshoba County and Birmingham <i>were</i> eventually tried and convicted. The problem is that justice is <i>delayed</i>, and during that delay, is also denied.<br /><br />@TCB:<i>Thomas Pynchon wrote that the soldiers will sometimes side with the people rather than the oligarchs, but the police never do.</i><br />Much of the police's business is enforcing property rights -- ergo, mostly the rights of oligarchs. They are granted privilege accordingly. Just today, the local EBS overrode my phone silencer with a "BLUE ALERT" to assist in a manhunt for an alleged cop-assaulter. That's an abuse of the EBS, which is intended to save citizens' lives, not assist in law enforcement. But it won't get so much as a whisper because cops' lives are considered to be worth more than yours or mine. <br /><br />@OGH:<i>Who does this serve best? Our enemies who want us aflame.</i><br />If this wasn't the original goal of the extremist takeover of the NRA, it certainly was by the time Russia was able to funnel them megabux. It certainly is the goal of the Albionics across the board, who are less and less coy about their desire to openly revive lynching. What I haven't fully grokked is why they have so much support on SCOTUS. Roberts certainly acts as if his own power center is threatened by excessive zealotry; why don't more of them? How does Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society conspiracy play into the game?<br /><br />@matthew: <i>Civil war phase VIII (or whatever phase we are in) just went from cold to hot.</i><br />It's too early to be definitive on this point, but I suspect phase IX began on 1/6.Catfish 'n Codhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07727883524069548484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38608838790815279522021-11-20T10:24:43.229-08:002021-11-20T10:24:43.229-08:00matthew:
The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing the Rit...matthew:<br /><i><br />The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing the Rittenhouse verdict - openly saying they now have legal permission to kill protestors. <br /></i><br /><br />I wonder how it will play out the first time someone shoots an anti-abortion protester in self defense. Or when someone runs through the demonstrators in front of an abortion clinic with their car.<br /><br />I mean, I know that the verdict in such cases won't be consistent with the Rittenhouse precedent, but I'm curious how the argument against such consistency will play out.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31245408550009224582021-11-20T09:16:13.138-08:002021-11-20T09:16:13.138-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Pappenheimernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9008850530120247102021-11-20T08:44:37.444-08:002021-11-20T08:44:37.444-08:00The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing the Rittenhouse v...The local Pr*ud Bo*s are crowing the Rittenhouse verdict - openly saying they now have legal permission to kill protestors. Given the Portland Police's close ties to the PB gang, the PBs are correct. <br /><br />This verdict will mean blood in my hometown streets. Portland has been at war with neo-nazis for 40 years. The body count is about to rise dramatically. <br /><br />And this doesn't just serve foreign interests the best. It serves our native racist assholes just fine too. <br /><br />Civil war phase VIII (or whatever phase we are in) just went from cold to hot. matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73821710509778444762021-11-20T06:57:17.399-08:002021-11-20T06:57:17.399-08:00Interesting tidbit from Bill Maher, Thursday will ...Interesting tidbit from Bill Maher, Thursday will be the 400th anniversary of the first (American) Thanksgiving dinner in 1621.<br /><br />How'd I miss noticing that?Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80748315614784176792021-11-20T06:33:09.373-08:002021-11-20T06:33:09.373-08:00On another forum, Thomas Pynchon wrote that the so...<i> On another forum, Thomas Pynchon wrote that the soldiers will sometimes side with the people rather than the oligarchs, but the police never do</i><br /><br />Do you have a link for that? I'm curious, but my weak search skills can't find it.Robertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18691059645504265452021-11-20T02:36:20.822-08:002021-11-20T02:36:20.822-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Pappenheimernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21189607495230181092021-11-19T22:08:34.577-08:002021-11-19T22:08:34.577-08:00Der Oger,
It won't work in every state.Der Oger,<br /><br />It won't work in every state.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80343279439391531722021-11-19T21:53:45.678-08:002021-11-19T21:53:45.678-08:00Like spewing gasoline across our neighborhoods and...Like spewing gasoline across our neighborhoods and handing out matches. Who does this serve best? Our enemies who want us aflame.<br /><br />https://t.co/iMyRnclZtq?amp=1David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23043822640270087212021-11-19T19:53:19.891-08:002021-11-19T19:53:19.891-08:00Der Oger:
So, "rittenhousing" will beco...Der Oger:<br /><i><br />So, "rittenhousing" will become the describing verb for the act of appearing armed at a protest, provoking a violent reaction, shooting someone in "self defense" and walking away free? I suspect it won't work for "both sides."<br /></i><br /><br />I suspect it will be <b>tested</b> on both sides, though.<br /><br /><i><br />My very own garbage fascist Congressman Madison Cawthorn is already offering Rittenhouse an internship.<br /></i><br /><br />Given the relationship between Republican Congressmen and interns, maybe a version of poetic justice will be done after all.<br />Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25183001857030115072021-11-19T18:26:58.333-08:002021-11-19T18:26:58.333-08:00When stand-your-ground laws and debatable self-def...When stand-your-ground laws and debatable self-defense acquittals show a pattern of letting armed men off the hook for taking lives, this creates a powerful game-theory incentive to bring your own gun and make sure you shoot first. We will see a lot more killings like this one, and in both directions.<br /><br />I might add that the police, in Kenosha and Anytown, USA, are absolutely not neutral and impartial. Their legitimacy among the public is based on maintaining the perception that they are, but minorities and political leftists have know this isn't so, for a century and more. (On another forum, Thomas Pynchon wrote that the soldiers will sometimes side with the people rather than the oligarchs, but the police never do). It will be interesting to see how many of the general public become "woke" on this as well.<br /><br />Compare the case of Kyle Rittenhouse to that of Michael Reinoehl, an antifascist activist who shot Aaron Danielson, a Trump marcher, in Portland in August 2020; he claimed in his only interview that was protecting a friend from Danielson and several other alt-right men. Afterward Reinoehl went into hiding, saying he feared he would be killed either by alt-right or police. He was right: as soon as US Marshals and local law enforcement found him about 150 miles north of Portland, they cowboyed him without offering him a chance to surrender.<br /><br />https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/michael-reinoehl-antifa-killing-deputies-wont-be-charged-1230943/<br /><br />P.S. My very own garbage fascist Congressman Madison Cawthorn is already offering Rittenhouse an internship.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36234440742210320222021-11-19T18:17:16.602-08:002021-11-19T18:17:16.602-08:00So, "rittenhousing" will become the desc...So, "rittenhousing" will become the describing verb for the act of appearing armed at a protest, provoking a violent reaction, shooting someone in "self defense" and walking away free? I suspect it won't work for "both sides."Der Ogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00977602334642769985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53419366232363278242021-11-19T17:35:06.937-08:002021-11-19T17:35:06.937-08:00When the judge threw out the open-and-shut illegal...When the judge threw out the open-and-shut illegal weapons charge, the fix was in. Paradoctorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04821968120388981470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37054040735559327402021-11-19T17:17:18.773-08:002021-11-19T17:17:18.773-08:00Robert:
And I see in the news that in America it&...Robert:<br /><i><br />And I see in the news that in America it's perfectly legal for teenagers with assault weapons to travel and kill people, as long as they are white, can cry, and say that they genuinely feared for their life.<br /></i><br /><br />It's not legal. It just won't be prosecuted. The actions of the January 6 insurrectionists and those of many Trump underlings aren't legal either. It's just that no one will do anything about them.<br /><br />Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />To be clear, unarmed men who charge and chase try to beat up an idiot with an assault rifle aren't helping the prosecutors who try to avenge their pretty inevitable passings, ...<br /></i><br /><br />The prosecutor made the profound point that Kyle Rittenhouse was perceived at that moment as an active shooter. Other's actions toward him should be taken in that context.<br /><br />Remember back during one of the innumerable mass shootings--I can hardly distinguish them now--when Republican politicians were saying that the victims should have charged the shooter so that even though some would inevitably be shot dead, eventually some would bring the shooter down? Well, that's what those guys in Wisconsin were doing, so <b>they</b> should be the right-wing heroes here. They would be if Kyle had been black or if he was Kyle Abu Salaam.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79342856488065833842021-11-19T16:54:52.288-08:002021-11-19T16:54:52.288-08:00To be clear, unarmed men who charge and chase try ...To be clear, unarmed men who charge and chase try to beat up an idiot with an assault rifle aren't helping the prosecutors who try to avenge their pretty inevitable passings, no matter that the idiot was ultimately at fault.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61285724524774706102021-11-19T16:50:09.494-08:002021-11-19T16:50:09.494-08:00Doc Brin,
Thank you for your optimistic observat...Doc Brin, <br /><br />Thank you for your optimistic observations. Decussions about UBI remind me of Buckminister Fullers attempts to calculate what individuals and societies need by way of material wealth. I'd be interested in you opinion.<br /><br />Sincerely, <br /><br />Carroll Clark Carroll Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09498572966611063565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67953390215002235092021-11-19T15:32:15.743-08:002021-11-19T15:32:15.743-08:00As foreseen:
Biden replaces Ron Bloom, USPS board...As foreseen:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/19/usps-biden-bloom-dejoy/" rel="nofollow">Biden replaces Ron Bloom, USPS board chair and key DeJoy ally, on postal board</a><br /><br />Even if deJoy manages to hang on -- I doubt it -- his days of being lightly leashed will end shortly. <br /><br />Catfish 'n Codhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07727883524069548484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71564852353121265552021-11-19T15:03:47.668-08:002021-11-19T15:03:47.668-08:00And I see in the news that in America it's per...And I see in the news that in America it's perfectly legal for teenagers with assault weapons to travel and kill people, as long as they are white, can cry, and say that they genuinely feared for their life.<br /><br />Maybe I'm wrong. If anyone can point out a case where a black boy with an assault rifle cried and got off I'll happily revise my opinion. Robertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41104949161772808732021-11-19T13:57:01.886-08:002021-11-19T13:57:01.886-08:00One thousand hours of work a year should get a per...One thousand hours of work a year should get a person decent food, clothing, transportation, housing and medical care. It should also (this is the 21st century) provide access to the internet, and the means and opportunity to enjoy public lands. "Work" can be somewhat loosely defined. The overwhelming majority of people, if given the opportunity to do something good, beautiful, useful, would do it for nothing. The rest can be ignored, we ignore the layabout spawn of the predator after.Don Gisselbeckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05770961482198971383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21832735124852967432021-11-19T11:51:36.522-08:002021-11-19T11:51:36.522-08:00Dr Brin:
Having never collected unemployment (I g...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />Having never collected unemployment (I guess I could have, once, in 1973) I am forced to defer to the experience of others.<br /></i><br /><br />When I was given just one week notice that my contract would not be renewed, I had to go on unemployment. The timing was awful, as I began my job hunting a week before Donald Trump was elected in 2016. With a six-month contracting position in the middle, I was otherwise on unemployment from Nov 2016 to Feb 2018. In a rare example of <b>good</b> luck, this all happened long before the unemployment system was overwhelmed during the COVID era.<br /><br />I have to say that looking for a job is a full-time job (absent pay and benefits), and a requirement to do something else for 20 hours a week would seem to be a setback.<br /><br /><i><br />I do believe some kind of volunteer work, from tutoring to elder care to picking up litter, will be ncessary for UBI to pass, politically.<br /></i><br /><br />That's a different question. Two different questions, really. Besides the difference between political requirement vs good policy, UBI is not "unemployment", the latter being meant only to sustain you for a limited period of time while you find another job (or get off the pot, as it were). UBI would theoretically last indefinitely, so the time pressure to find a boss who will pay you isn't as great, and it might make some sense to require the recipient to do <b>something</b> beneficial for the society which is paying him.<br /><br />My objection is purely bureaucratic. External requirements for UBI lead to onerous bureaucracies to establish one's eligibility and produce a perverse incentive on the government's side to deny benefits. For the same reason, I'd rather see universal health coverage <b>even if it cost the same as my current insurance does</b>, just to get around the need to prove eligibility and fight denials of service all the time.<br /><br /><i><br />McCarthy had been savaged by the right for being only 99% Trumpian. The speech was a grandstanding that Pelosi allowed because it helped them both.<br /><br />And even if Manchin or Sinema betray us in the Senate, all of those who screamed at Nancy Pelosi from the left for years owe her an apology, now. Better yet, some loyalty.<br /></i><br /><br />Hey, don't look at me. I've been embarrassingly in love with Speaker Pelosi since 2006.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.com