It’s another busy day here at the CatBox. I have a representative of the senior agency that pays about 15% of WWWendy making her annual evaluation this morning. That will tie me up for at least an hour. I probably won’t recover from sproinging for at least a couple more days.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s tool me 2:48 (average 4:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Vox Channel): Why you still don’t understand the Green New Deal
I agree. Use this link for substance. RESIST!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
From Alternet: Despite all of the disproved narratives about the “white working class,” it has been repeatedly and conclusively shown that Donald Trump in fact won the White House because of racism and nativism. But sexism was a key element in Trump’s victory as well. These values, beliefs, and behaviors interact with one another. New research by University of Kansas sociologists David Smith and Eric Hanley demonstrates how a socially combustible mix of racism and sexism, in combination with anger and bullying, put the United States on a path to authoritarianism.
Writing in “The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?”, which appeared in a recent issue of the journal Critical Sociology, Smith and Hanley summarize their new research:
We find that Trump’s supporters voted for him mainly because they share his prejudices, not because they’re financially stressed. It’s true, as exit polls showed, that voters without four-year college degrees were likelier than average to support Trump. But millions of these voters — who are often stereotyped as “the white working class” — opposed Trump because they oppose his prejudices.
The Republican Reich was not hoodwinked or economically motivated. They love Trump, because they share his evil hatred. RESIST!!
From NY Times: Democrats filed into the House chamber on Thursday — depleted and punch drunk — to vote for an overstuffed resolution condemning prejudice — and end, or so they hoped, a week of infighting that vividly illustrated the perils of policing their own speech.
“I hope this puts an end to all of this,” said Representative Robin Kelly, Democrat of Illinois, moments before the measure, which condemned anti-Semitism and virtually every other form of bigotry, passed with unanimous Democratic support.
It almost certainly will not. The measure, which began as a rebuke to Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota and a freshman lawmaker, and ended as a catchall declaration of tolerance that did not mention her by name, seemed to satisfy no one. Ultimately, the wrenching intraparty fight left unanswered a question that transcends partisan politics: In an era of shouting and provocation, how should Congress respond when its members say hateful or hurtful things?
We need to be careful here. Serious discussion in search of solutions may seem hurtful to some, but they are a necessary step toward progress. On the other hand, discussions intended only to hurt members of a group are hate speech. Hurtful need not be hateful, but hateful is wrong. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
22 Responses to “Open Thread – 3/11/2018”
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Vox: Personally, I think it’s good. I’ll have to watch this a couple times, though. Great video for learning, btw…
AN: omg. Excellent piece, w/pass this along. Foreboding and frustrating that he’s even in the WH. RESIST !!!
NYT: I agree that we need to be careful, and keep hate out of it !
Cartoon: Very, very sad.
Hope that WWWendy’s eval went well. We’re in spring mode here, with nice weather. Hope that you get some rest. Take good care, and Thanks, Tom.
This just in: “dt – “Thank you, Tim Apple.” Tim Cook – “Thank you, Donald Collusion.” ~Michael C. ~
Gee, I wonder what that last “C” stands for.
LOL, it’s not.
forgot to add this…
Thank you, Joanne, for the Tribal Camp story, very moving.
6:31 Looks like a sweet little place. Wonder if they serve dawg.
This is a story about conflict between border wall builders and native Americans. I was invited to share it widely, and so are you.
Vox – Yes. Framing has been described as a way to win debates before they even start. We need to take over the framing. One way (not the only way) we need to do that is by making it household knowledge how much the well-being of every one of us depends on policies Republicans dismiss as “Socialism.”
AlterNet – They have always been racist. They are still racists. They will continue to be racist. And, under Obama (through no fault of his), it rose to the level of an obsession. And, as C. S. Lewis once said, “A man with an obsession is a man with very little sales resistance.”
NYT – You have put your finger on why we do not have the hard conversations that we so obviously need to have. Some don’t want to be hurtful. Some do want to be hateful. Everyone is afraid of being accused of hate, regardless whether such an accusation would be accurate or not. “Careful” is almost throwing roses at it. “Tiptoe on eggshells” might be a better description.
Cartoon – Cue Barbara Jordan here (and please note she did NOT mean the one in the cartoon.)
Opposition to the Green New Deal is based on two things: a) ignorance of what it really states, and b) the fact that Democrats have proposed it. All the fighting has nothing to do with its actual content, and everything to do with half-assed paranoid claims that we’ll have to give up our cars and subsist on bunny food. Bullfeathers!!! It’s about weaning us off limited, polluting fossil fuels and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. Who stands the most to lose? Big Oil and Big Coal – so of course they’re getting their footlickers to belch propaganda intended to make the Green New Deal look bad.
Freya, those half-assed claims are just the kinds of things that the imbecile sheep tend to eat up!| flag as inappropriate
No! Not inappropriate…that just got copied due to my inattention.
I think we can agree that Rep. Omar’s “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby” was an unfortunate choice of words.
That said, I’m glad that AOC and others worked to expand it to a more inclusive language rather than just anti-Muslim.
But what I hate is the media has framed it as “Democrats in disarray” … again! Rather than “Democrats bravely initiated a much needed conversation.”
Where was all the media outrage WRT Rep. Steve “Cantaloupe-for-Brains” King’s endless hate-mongering?
Of for that matter, Twitler himself? Why do THEY get a pass from the “liberal” media?
Addendum –
Came across this … good company w/ Seth Abramson:
Because the liberal media isn’t.
This gets it right.
I do realize AlterNet is not exactly MSM.
VOX: The Green New Deal is not a bill it’s a blueprint for ways to stop climate change from which bills could be made.
Alternet: Great article. Most of us thinking people new this was the case for why people voted for the tangerine monster.
NYT: I agree TomCat. We need to have serious discussions to solve problems. I think Rep. Omar had a valid point but she worded it very poorly. She might want to get help on her wording before she speaks out next time.
Thank you TomCat. I hope WWWendy’s evaluation went well.
Voc: I bookmarked the page so I can read more into it and get a better understanding of it.
AN: We do know that he was illegally voted into office. Agree with Joanne that there is a lot of racism. That’s all he speaks of. TC, you hit it on the nose when you mentioned they love tRump all because they share his evil hatred.
NYT: Very touchy situations where we do need to be careful of what and how we address this. I agree with you TC and others that hatred does need to be kept out of it.
Vox: I like what I have heard about the Green New Deal! If the Dems can’t show that it is needed, despite whatever the Gopiggies claim, then we have REALLY got a problem.
Alternet: Yes, it has always been about bigotry, and racism! I think greed was operating, as well.
NYT: The Dems can be their own worst enemy. How sad is it that we need to have legislation passed trying to do away with bigotry and other such forms of hate in this country.
‘Toon: And, if we ever let the Gopiggies have a new Constitutional Convention expect them to splice much of that constitution into ours.
Thank you for the article
I also agree. We’d never get it through the Republican Senate. If we could, we’d get Resident Pence. He’s just Trump in sneakier package. 🤮
2:31 At 38 C, 100 F, I was in desperate need of a cool picture 😁
Vox: Excellent, spot on. Republicans are allowed to weaponise every issue by turning it from one that goes far beyond politics into survival of all of this planet into one of black-or-white political partisanship. Any one with any sense, not just Democrats, should bring the conversation back to content of the New Green Deal as soon as Republicans make it about the elections again. Refuse to play along with Republican nihilism, explain what the Green New Deal entails, show people what it means for our survival beyond the 2020 elections. RESIST in every debate and interview!
Alternet: So ‘the white working class voted for Drumpf because they were financially stressed’ was just an excuse, a cover-up of the real reason: they are angry and share his racist and sexist prejudices. That’s sad, as Drumpf would say, because it says a lot of the mentality of a large portion of the population.
America, we have a problem.
NYT: The tightrope between freedom of speech and hate speech is too difficult to walk for many who lean right.
Cool picture indeed! You’re going so fast that you need to cool down and this is just the spot!
I had the same thought. What a speed demon! (Congrats, Lona.)
Puzzle — 4:46 I heard the restaurant does not allow Puddy Tats, but it does not matter because speedy Lona beat you to it!
Vox — I like the looks of the Green New Deal and the potential gains for the US and the world. Of course Republicans don’t like it because Democrats are pushing it. I doubt Republicans have even looked at the content, Trump certainly has not (he needs pictures!). With the recent abysmal job numbers (20K versus 180K expectation), GND could actually change that and help Trump look good. (Did I really say that? ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!) Coal is not coming back and many of the miners know that, yet Trump is still pushing that. It is time to take the politics out of the equation and work on solutions.
AlterNet — Hatred. The bane of human existence. There is no place for it in today’s world unless of course you’re a Republican going backwards in time.
NY Times — “Serious discussion in search of solutions may seem hurtful to some, but they are a necessary step toward progress. On the other hand, discussions intended only to hurt members of a group are hate speech. Hurtful need not be hateful, but hateful is wrong.” — AMEN!!! Louie Goh-merde, pissant that he is, was almost apoplectic at one point discussing this matter. It is interesting that some Republicans, like Trump, have shown themselves to be anti Semitic as well as flat out racist and bigoted. It’s about what suits their purpose at the time. Republicans called out Ilhan Omar but they do much worse daily with impunity.
Cartoon — And Republicans are still following that constitution!
Thanks and Hugs to all.