Politapocalypse (U.S. Politics Megathread)

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Craig Fry

Trad climber
So Cal.
Nov 28, 2015 - 08:55am PT
Ghost, why do you spew your hate on every thread about other posters?

Why?
Why can't posters just post without either you or WTF or the Chief or a gang of other right wingers losers posting how much you hate them, and hate them posting some information that you don't agree with.

Please specify any "hate' that Philo posted.
You guys are just gang piling on philo because he is the latest target for you guys to jump all over with some stupid blame game.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 28, 2015 - 09:03am PT
Chief: Your definition of "fact" is pretty biased. I'm curious though, if the disproportionate killing of black people (armed and unarmed) by police is due to only a few police officers who are not representative of police at large, why is there a pervasive lack of prosecution for wrongful death? How is this not a cultural problem on the part of governmental power structures? And how is that a government who you insist over and over again can only screw things up when it comes to tax and economic policy be defended as unquestionable when it comes to life or death decisions?

There is a big difference between saying "all police are corrupt" and saying "police are part of a pervasive institutional racism that results in a disproportionate number of black deaths." If people of color can't even trust the people who are supposed to protect them, how are they supposed to live normal American lives?

Also, what gives with the "here's one black guy I found who appears to reinforce the opinion that I already have that allows me to ignore the millions of black people who disagree with me?"

The point of my original post was to point out that if the perpetrators of the crimes I linked were Muslim or middle-eastern the term "terrorism" would be thrown about with abandon.
apogee

climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
Nov 28, 2015 - 09:14am PT
What happened to the other politapocalypse thread?
Craig Fry

Trad climber
So Cal.
Nov 28, 2015 - 09:24am PT
The Growing Right-Wing Terror Threat
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/opinion/the-other-terror-threat.html?_r=0


The main terrorist threat in the United States is not from violent Muslim extremists, but from right-wing extremists. Just ask the police.

In a survey we conducted with the Police Executive Research Forum last year of 382 law enforcement agencies, 74 percent reported anti-government extremism as one of the top three terrorist threats in their jurisdiction; 39 percent listed extremism connected with Al Qaeda or like-minded terrorist organizations. And only 3 percent identified the threat from Muslim extremists as severe, compared with 7 percent for anti-government and other forms of extremism.


I guess ric was wrong, us liberals are not miserable, we are happy not to be a right winger on the FBI watch list.



Why not register and track Right Wing Christians? They hate our Government and our President.

Is Trump going to deport the Real Threat to America?
No, it's easier to blame and point fingers at some other minority group for our problems.
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
Nov 28, 2015 - 09:52am PT
The real danger old Fry master is the division you and others constantly peddle. Your not celebrating diversity. Rather, because of your self loathing that you blame on a station in life you feel is imposed on you by others, you seek to bring what you falsely identify as those responsible down to your level of misery. We here, are just old and new climbers, we aren't responsible for your condition any more than any far removed ideology you constantly rail about. Accept sole responsibility for your own life and circumstance and the delusions will fade from view with the renewed focus on your path forward.

Of course, I could be very wrong; you might be a low level paid political hack.
philo

climber
Nov 28, 2015 - 09:54am PT
Tradhog care to illucidate why you feel compelled to attempt to leg hump me every chance you get? Try being an adult and ignoring what you don't like.


Seriously Rick are you 12?
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
Nov 28, 2015 - 10:28am PT
Seriously Philo? What are you 85 with a completely calcified brain? You sew discord like an endlessly repeating broken record of inspirational Hitler speeches.
philo

climber
Nov 28, 2015 - 10:32am PT
Ha ha ha wingnutz away.
Funny words from the resident fascist.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 28, 2015 - 10:55am PT
apogee asked
What happened to the other politapocalypse thread?

It got locked for some reason. I couldn't find that any of the other political threads got locked. I wrote an email asking for an explanation and have gotten no response.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 28, 2015 - 11:26am PT
Rick Sumner posted
The real danger old Fry master is the division you and others constantly peddle. Your not celebrating diversity. Rather, because of your self loathing that you blame on a station in life you feel is imposed on you by others, you seek to bring what you falsely identify as those responsible down to your level of misery. We here, are just old and new climbers, we aren't responsible for your condition any more than any far removed ideology you constantly rail about. Accept sole responsibility for your own life and circumstance and the delusions will fade from view with the renewed focus on your path forward.

This is a very well articulated example of the kind of defensive response to the idea that we have system that plays a very strong role in how people fare. Many people have a tough time separating systemic problems from individual responsibility (i.e. police as a whole treat black people very differently than non-whites so all police are racist or economic inequality is reinforced by public policy so it's the government's fault that I'm poor). Both things can in fact be true. People can be personally responsible for their own situation AND have the deck stacked horribly against them by a system rigged to do so. It's a classic white guilt sort of defense. It's a lot more comfortable to blame people for their situations than to have to accept some level of responsibility that we are all complicit in it.
HermitMaster

Social climber
my abode
Nov 28, 2015 - 11:26am PT

If police shooting video had been released sooner, would Emanuel be mayor?

Kass: If Laquan were out, even a hug from the president wouldn't have saved Rahm

Would Mayor Rahm Emanuel have been re-elected if voters had seen the video of Laquan McDonald's execution?

No.

Rahm would have lost the election. Why? Because he would have lost Chicago's black vote.

Without the black vote, Rahm Emanuel would not be the 9.5-fingered boss of Bartertown.

Black political figures would have been uneasy standing with Rahm. They would have run away. They couldn't stand with him.

Not if that video came out during the election campaign, the video showing white cop Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald, hitting him with two rounds, and then, with McDonald on the ground, hitting him with 14 more shots.

Emanuel could have even sat in President Barack Obama's lap for a photo — both of them wearing matching Dr. Denton pajamas (the kind with the feet) and sipping identical cups of cocoa.
Warning, graphic content: Laquan McDonald shooting dash-cam video

Warning graphic content: Chicago officials released the police dash-cam video of the October 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, 17, by a Chicago police officer. Warning: This video contains graphic images. The Chicago Tribune edited this version only for length.

And that still wouldn't have saved him.

So Emanuel buried the video. And black politicians and clergy got busy getting out the vote for Rahm. He won the April 7 runoff election, and only then did he have the aldermen vote to pay a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family.

If the video had been out, if Chicago had watched it before going to the polls, Emanuel would have lost the black vote. You'd have to be a meat puppet to think otherwise. And you're not a meat puppet, are you?

But just to make sure of my theory, I called the one guy who'd know: Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, the mayor's opponent in the 2015 election.

"Yes," Garcia told me over the phone. "That video would definitely have changed the political environment.

"The rug would have been pulled out from under many political leaders' feet. Things would have been different," he said.
Emanuel holds others accountable on police shooting video, not himself
Emanuel holds others accountable on police shooting video, not himself

"And now, with the video out and people seeing it, everywhere I go people ask me about it. Everywhere I go people tell me it would have been a game changer. If people had seen it, they would have said, this city is so corrupt, it's time for a change."

But they didn't see it, until it was too late.

"There's just some basic Chicago arithmetic in there. He wouldn't have received as much votes from the African-American community," Garcia said. "It isn't rocket science. It's arithmetic. And so yes, this tragic video would have had a profound impact."

Which is why Rahm didn't want it to be seen, why he had to do everything to keep it under wraps. And he did do everything to keep it under wraps, until the other day.

"And that's the Chicago Way," Garcia said.

Yes it is.

You can see the truth of it by watching the other politicians scrambling for cover in the wake of the Laquan McDonald video release.

They don't like questions about how they helped Rahm win. That puts the jacket on them. And they don't want to wear the jacket.

So they're stitching one up for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who charged Van Dyke with murder the other day.

They want Alvarez to wear the jacket for it all.

Rahm seems to be throwing her under his bus, but he doesn't want his fingerprints on her. So his ally, David Axelrod, threw her under.

Axelrod is a Rahm pal, but for years he was also the mouthpiece for former Mayor Richard Daley, and was the top political and media strategist for Obama. It's a Chicago thing.

"Why did it take a year to indict a CPD officer who shot a kid 16 times?" Axelrod tweeted Tuesday night. "Would it have happened today if judge hadn't ordered video release?"

That puts it on Alvarez. Does she deserve it?

I don't think so. To me, she's not the issue.

The video threatened Rahm Emanuel and his pursuit of power. Alvarez told reporters she'd been waiting for the feds to issue a joint announcement with her office. That didn't happen.

Funny how things work out.

Axelrod's tweet legitimizes a self-preservation tactic Chicago politicians have been pursuing for the last day or so: They know people are angry over what happened to 17-year-old McDonald. They want to be safe from that anger. So they're directing the mob to go against Alvarez.

On Wednesday, I headed over to my old haunts at City Hall to see the circus in action. The City Council's Black Caucus had called a news conference, and there, in one rambling, cloudy speech after another, they made it clear they weren't responsible for a thing and that there needed to be changes.

Not their jobs. And not Rahm's. Instead, they saved their outrage for police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Alvarez. Then they rambled some more.

But even in cloudy waters you might still see a slippery bullhead, if you can spot the fins or the chin whiskers. And so I reached down, got my hand wet and asked:

Would Emanuel have won the African-American vote if that video had been seen before the election?

Most just looked at me as if I were a space alien saying "I come in peace" in some frightening alien tongue of clicks and whistles that they couldn't understand.

Later, I cornered one of the aldermen and asked again.

"No," said the alderman, meaning no, Rahm would not have won the election. "But you already knew that. Why are you asking us?"

jskass@tribpub.com

Twitter @John_Kass
philo

climber
Nov 28, 2015 - 11:35am PT
Great posts HDDJ, you are on a roll.
Ken M

Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
Nov 28, 2015 - 11:47am PT
Several GOP presidential contenders have advocated treating the nation’s growing heroin epidemic as a health crisis, not a criminal one. But most stop short of advocating the same approach to other drug laws, notably those involving marijuana and crack cocaine, which disproportionately affect African Americans.

Such views highlight the resonance and reach of the opiate epidemic — but also a persistent racial and geographic divide in American politics. The heroin epidemic has overwhelmingly hit whites. It has also skyrocketed to the top of voters’ lists of political priorities in the same bands of America — rural states, the suburbs and notably the early voting state of New Hampshire — that track directly with where Republicans must perform well to win back the White House next year.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 28, 2015 - 12:56pm PT
That's right, Ken. It's a great example of how public policy gets shaped when things are happening to "us" and not "them." It's also the right thing to do.
Craig Fry

Trad climber
So Cal.
Nov 28, 2015 - 03:36pm PT
We have division alright

One side tries to consider all angles, science, facts, other peoples feelings, injustice and how to make things better for all.

The other side uses lies, misinformation and propaganda to demonize the other side because they don't have anything to offer.

They lie about climate change, evolution, politics, the liberal progressive cause, and everything else in the way of their greed and quest for power.

They have highly paid shills that lie 24/7 about how bad the liberals are.
They project their worst qualities on their enemy.
They cheat and steal elections.

Everything bad about this country is a result of their policies,
all the debt, all the deregulation, crumbling infrastructure, bad schools, homeless vets, high suicide rates, offshored labor
Not a single policy they have is good for the general population, it's all aimed at making the rich richer and the poor poorer, be able to pollute more, cheat more, screw someone more.

Their deception knows no bounds, the right wing have created a deeply divided country based on lies. Then they blame the liberals for the division.

History has shown us how easily the populace can be divided by lies, there are personalities that would rather believe lies so they can justify their hate. It is a typical right wing response, blame the others, divide and conquer.
philo

climber
Nov 28, 2015 - 03:39pm PT
Well said Craig
clinker

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
Nov 28, 2015 - 03:44pm PT
In politics stupidity is not a handicap. -- Napoleon Bonaparte

Cheers to reaching new heights.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Nov 28, 2015 - 03:48pm PT
This incorporates politics and Boobs [Click to View YouTube Video]with classic country and old rock n' roll
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
Nov 28, 2015 - 04:44pm PT
Bravo Craig. But for a few names you have the left wingers down to T in your little rant above.

Let's get specific though: Obama, "there is no red America there is no blue America there is only the United states of america", " what is not patriotic is running up the debt like Bush did", " if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor", " the average premium will decrease by $2500", " climate change is the number 1 existential threat to mankind not the contained JV team of ISIL". Hillary: " I dodged sniper fire on the tarmac in Bosnia", "Benghazi was the result of an offensive video", " none of the emails were classified".

And these stellar truth tellers are the "leaders "you idiots elevate to a platform to worship. Pathetic. Get out of L.A. with your family before all your brain cells are destroyed.
philo

climber
Nov 28, 2015 - 04:47pm PT
Rick why do you hate America?

Who are these worshipers of which you speak?
Have you conveniently forgotten the state of near implosion that Geoge W Bush left this country in?
Have you forgotten how any dissent against the Bush neocon party line and agenda would get people lablled as traitors or worse?

Do you suffer from cognitive dissonance, Obama Derangement Syndrome (O.D.S.) or both?

Again Rick I ask why do you hate America?
Messages 21 - 40 of total 2595 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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