ewsieg

I have stated that I think Trump can't win the GOP nomination. That said, The Bullwark started out by a small group of Never Trumpers and built their base largely on folks like me (conservative Never Trumpers). I would fully expect a result like that from them. I certainly hope it represents the whole of the GOP now though.

Very possible this has nothing to do with Ukraine, but interesting as we get news that Putin is immobilizing more troops and making more purchases from the likes of NK and Iran. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blast-heard-military-plant-irans-central-city-isfahan-state-media-2023-01-28/

Well, this is where I think you see a big disagreement from the GOP in that they point to rural communities that at one point sustained themselves, until market forces depleted that and now they are without resources and subjected into lower economic status themselves. They are predominantly white, so how is this possible if race is the deciding factor on everything? And in the end, while both sides argue whether it is racism or classism that is the true issue, it seems to be common steps could be taken that would help out both.

And i'm not sure if it's racist or sexist to say this, but I think the main reason for the disparity in race and sex is obedience. Women tend to be more obedient than men. Asians tend to be obedient, thus their minuscule numbers. When every media source and one major political party tells every black man that getting pulled over for 5 over puts you in a 50/50 situation, idk, maybe that has something to do with it. And point taken that real police issues that have occurred over the years, such as planting evidence, roughing up suspects, and other tactics that have been done, in higher numbers in urban areas, eroded credibility too. In no way am I trying to discredit those legitimate facts, just like the statistical facts Lee posted.

My only point with the absolute numbers is that it's happening to all races, which if all color and creed of Police are trained to systematically hunt and kill Black people, they are performing very poorly. Add in the fact that urban areas are policed more, means more interaction is likely. More interaction and it makes sense more bad outcomes can occur. That alone does not mean it's racist to police urban areas more, as often it's the minorities in that area that are calling for more safety. I absolutely agree that we should be looking at policing in an entirely different light. But on the other side, I don't see the benefit of painting everything as racist, which is part of the reason why black man are the most likely to run from cops, vastly increasing the odds of a violent encounter.

So far I haven't seen anyone dispute Lee's point. But if Lee's point is the only number we should use, than it's clear racial profiling is being done by Asians against the rest of us, albeit Black people at a higher rate than myself (white).

I don't dispute that there is some racial profiling going on, but I also think stuff gets lumped into profiling too often as well. Communities also police differently, so what a black person might consider a minor traffic violation (5-10 over, rolling stop, u-turn) that they do all the time in Detroit in front of cops, doesn't mean they won't get pulled over for it in the Grosse Pointes. In a specific example like I note here, more policing for minor traffic violations (not necessarily more tickets) could be a good thing. I wish I could remember where, but I remember an article about a minority area that had a lot of pedestrian deaths at a particular crossing. The community pushed for more enforcement in the area, over a few years there were an obvious decrease in death/injury. But others felt this was a racial crackdown and eventually got the additional enforcement removed, deaths and injuries returned. More consistent policing would be more beneficial, but how do you do that with vast different issues they need to deal with? The correct move, IMO, would be trying to rectify those other areas WHILE keeping heavy policing in place. So often with Detroit you hear folks argue the chicken and the egg, mostly with safety and schools. You can't have good schools if the community isn't safe vs a focus on schools will lead to less safety being needed. IDK, maybe try both at the same time and see if that helps?

Two things can be correct, even if one of them doesn't necessarily fit your narrative. Bomber already said he didn't disagree with that post, what else is there to say?

True, but Bombers point still stands, at least for those folks that are convinced police purposely hunt and kill black people. There are legitimate reasons for that disparity too. And note I’m not saying we should disregard that disparity and shouldn’t work to rectify those causes ( poor areas have more crime, thus more policing for instance).

I can’t speak to what Fox News is saying, but based on Twitter they are defending the cops. If some are going after the cops, maybe they just saw the same videos I saw. The only chance white cops don’t get charged in this is if the victim is white too. In that case no one hears about it. Don’t bring facts into this argument.

For those that don’t like him, ignore the messenger.

I think it's silly to say Biden's plan is working, about as silly as to say his plan isn't working. There are many legitimate concerns out there right now. I see no issue with media pointing this out. I don't think companies are laying off folks just for the fun of it, although I would be open to the idea that reason does come into play. This board loves to point out inflation is down, but it's still very high. We have a lot of legitimate reasons to look forward and expect a recession. The fact that Biden has dodged it so far can only be looked at as a positive IMO, despite what his FED is doing to fix inflation at the cost of shrinking wages and attempting to soften the job market. My reason for some short term optimism does come down Biden's infrastructure bill and his other infrastructure bill everyone refers to as the Inflation Reduction Act. Those are pumping money to every corner of the country and will keep blue collar folks working which should negate any hard crashes. Time will tell.

Just pointing out they should be celebrated for doing the right thing that most people wouldn't do.

You need to add in 'Cover Your Ass' which may be the biggest cause for too much classification. I'm confident there is a decent portion classified at a higher level because a 'well, just in case, i'll cover my ass and mark it as this' too. I had a verbal reprimand once for sending public IP's to a co-worker via email. Their manager was copied and was outraged that I'd send 'sensitive' information via email, even though all public IP information is required to have owner/contact information assigned in a public registry. Additionally In working with federal customers, they seem to be bigger on CYA for day to day work than any commercial customers I've dealt with. Obviously that last part is anecdotal though.

I'm not saying he wasn't in a role where he wouldn't have access, but the initial response from the congress politician Sunday morning talking heads after the Trump raid stressed how they had to go to SCIF's in order to view these materials and the MAGA counter was since Trump was in the white house, obviously stuff could get mixed. That was scoffed at, until the Biden doc issue came up. But that should only cover him for his VP role. Granted, many different levels of classification, no idea what the one traced back to his Senate days was, still, this is a very bad look.

So I saw someone that everyone here would disregard, most of the time that would include me, mention something about Biden's documents and so I went searching. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/justice-department-finds-more-classified-documents-at-joe-bidens-home I get the POTUS and the VPOTUS having some documents mixed in with personal documents, but seems to me that would be a lot harder to do as a senator or rep.

There should be statues of Pence, right next to Biden. They made a tiny little mistake, but did some of the bravest things that no one else here could honestly say they would have the courage to do and notified the right people. Biden/Pence 2024 - The courage to do the right thing, even if yourself or those you hired were incompetent.

Can't speak to Sinema, but Manchin wouldn't have been an issue. But an even more accurate response would be "why would they?" It's a political win for them, especially with the GOP talking cuts to entitlements. Let the GOP take the hit all day and even if the dems compromise and get some entitlement cuts (Biden has a history of wanting to cut them before), they can spin it as they had to do it to avoid jumping off of the cliff and let the GOP take the blame. It's a completely dumb fight that the GOP is bringing on themselves. Democrats should keep giving out the rope.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3827278-democrats-express-alarm-over-biden-classified-docs-im-very-concerned/ How many Atta Boys does this guy need?!?!?!

This is like the Lab Leak theory. Sounds ridiculous at first, but then more info comes out.... So now it looks like Santos loved to dress in drag.

I actually kind of like the trillion dollar coin minting. I immediately assume someone is going to try and steal it as they move it from the mint to the federal reserve, but would it be an Oceans 11 style heist or a Fast and Furious style?

Only argument I'd give with this is something that I feel like you already understand a bit with some of your comments after the quoted portion above. It's that both groups do understand each other, it's just that they don't realize that they do. https://www.historyperceptiongap.us/ When republicans were asked how many democrats would agree with this statement, they said only 45% "George Washington and Abraham Lincoln should be admired for their roles in American History." 92% of democrats agreed with that statement. When democrats were asked how many republicans would agree with this statement, they said only 35% "Americans have a responsibility to learn from our past and fix our mistakes." 93% of republicans agreed with that statement.

Absolutely true and I'll admit that at one point I was one of those people. Even if I didn't agree with them I accepted the 'jab' back at the opposition. Technically I still do that on Twitter, but I don't tweet at all, so I'm doing that to both sides. In real life though, when I'm around left of center folks, I argue many of the same points I mention here, but when I'm around right of center folks, I'm usually pointing out many of the points I see from all of you (literally all of you).

You post a story in which it's clear MOST (not all) on this site read the headline and went full steam ahead on the republicans are crazy narrative. I point out the actual facts of the issue in which I also questioned one assumption that MOST of you had (MAGA crazy started it) and we have a page on how the county is X percent red, the odds are this, blah blah blah. I show 80% of that community is against it (assuming we judge on the basis that people that show up to those meetings are a fair representation of the community) and you play the technicality card by saying you were insulted by being included in the 'all of you'. I'll give Lee the benefit of the doubt when he says he felt unjustly included, but you posted it. Your job on this board is to feed the narrative you want fed back to you. You would not have posted that if in hindsight you knew what is likely a left wing hippie tried to get the same MAGA folks you despise to join him and still couldn't get any support in a solidly red county. Then you accuse me of trashing your (and my old) county because I said I knew left wing hippies that felt mother earth was the only good protection for their selves and their kids when I lived there? I didn't say anything bad about them as they were great co-workers and friends. The joke about Kambucha I still make to them to this day. Funny how you get so butt hurt over me mentioning a few great people from Washtenaw county in which the only point of mentioning them is that it didn't fit the narrative most of you (but apparently not you) were going for. Yet when 45% of the country (and 25% of your county) is referred to as.... - But the GOP, "fucking evil bullying bullshit" - Showing their true colors, it's not about freedom but control. - Deep inside someone's rectum. - Their brains can’t process too many words so things get shortened. - Childhood immunizations, absolutely. Gotta make sure children don’t become enslaved. - Women went without them for millions of years. Just pray on it and god's will prevails. - Getting vaccines is ignoring God. No problem rolling past those comments. I take back my comments about you not reading what I post. It's obvious I'm living rent free inside your head.

Understood. And please note I'm not big on absolutes. Even if I say 'you all' I don't generally mean everyone. I need to get better at correcting that.