I saw that Joe Biden gave a 4th of July speech and found the transcript. I was settling to "live-blog" my reading of the speech — as I did yesterday with the first of Trump's weekend speeches — but — copying the text — I saw that it was just a minute-long bit. Does it do much of anything at all? One thing Biden might do is keep relatively quiet and low-key and reserve the ability to move to any place he wants on that continuum between the icon-worshippers and the iconoclasts.
Here's the entire text of Biden's July 4th speech:
Our country was founded on an idea, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” We’ve never lived up to it. Jefferson himself didn’t. He held slaves, women were excluded, but once proposed it was an idea that couldn’t be constrained.It sounds as though he wants to be right in the center of the continuum.
It survived the ravages of the Civil War, the dogs of Bull Connor, the assassination of Martin Luther King and more than 200 years of systemic racism, and just weeks ago the murder of George Floyd. Through it all, these words have gnawed at our conscience and pulled us towards justice.Now, he's embraced the concept of "systemic racism." It's a given. A truth to be held self-evident.
American history is no fairy tale.That is, the idealized version of the story is propaganda. It doesn't get to exactly what's real. But the "systemic racism" story is also propaganda. As campaign rhetoric, Biden rejects the "fairy tale" version of American history, but he's offering up as the alternative the horror show version of American history. We'll see how far he will lean into that "systemic racism" theme.
It’s been a constant push and pull between two parts of our character, the idea that all men and women, all people are created equal, and the racism that has torn us apart.Oh, how he wants to be smack dab in the middle.*
We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream. We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.How? If it's systemic it's interwoven into everything. Virtually everyone agrees that if it's there, we want it out, but how are you going to do that? The answer is, I think, it doesn't matter. He's just trying to get in the right spot so he can be voted for. And you've got to admit, what he's saying sounds like Obama. Shouldn't that be enough?
We have a chance to live up to the words that have founded this nation. This Independence Day let’s not just celebrate the words, let’s celebrate that promise and commit to work, the work that we must do to fulfill that promise. We remain locked in the battle for the soul of this nation, but believe me, truly, it’s a battle we can and we will win if we act together. Happy Fourth.It's a battle for the soul! And the way he will do this battle is by looking as though he's right in the middle. I do think he's slightly off-center to the left, because he gave very little of his 1 minute of air time to the traditional values of America. He only named one of the 4th of July historical figures, Jefferson, and only to say that he didn't live up to the text he wrote, the text we still ought to venerate, as we try to get closer to its abstract ideal.
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* This is such a great recording:
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184 comments:
That IS an awesome recording. Joe Williams and Count Basie in the 1950s -- it doesn't get much better than that. That music always sounds fresh.
Good parsing, Prof. A. Biden is putting smoke over the battlespace and preserving his freedom to maneuver. His axis of advance remains ambiguous behind a cloud of “tough love” banalities.
If you are going to be in the middle, you need to MUCH more critical of the actions of the left, which Biden has not been.
And any honest assessment of Trump would show that he is actually in the middle. He has been critical of the far right, critical of problems with policing, critical of sentencing disparities. But the media refuse to acknowledge that.
“Vote for me. I avidly avoid proposals and policy suggestions but I say all the right things. Usually. “
- Biden
Herb Kohl was in hiding for 24 years. Kohl rarely if ever took a definitive public position. Worked for him.
All I hear from old delusional Joe is the hate that the left keeps spewing. It isn't going to end well.
After over 40 years in politics, WHY didn't Joe Biden fix that "Systematic RACISM" that the left has been pushing for all his time in DC????
We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.
"You should root out your faults one by one."
We do not know what this metaphor means till we know what advice it is giving...But in any case the real function of the metaphor here, or in ordinary English the point of it, is to suggest a technique for getting rid of faults. You are to take them out, even the roots, one at a time...The only metaphorical word here is "root," and others could be chosen, e.g., Rid your soul of its weeds. There is a theory that if you scythe a bed of nettles for three successive years the roots are exhausted, so you can rid yourself without rooting one by one; on the other hand you could say that the original advice is too superficial rather than too meticulous, and that you ought to dig up two spades deep over the whole garden even if there are no weeds...
Wm. Empson, The Structure of Complex Words, pp337-338, analyzing Father S.J. Brown, The World of Imagery, protecting Christ's use of weeds.
I myself suggest the use of Roundup.
I'd say Trump is fronting structure that is not fragile, and Biden is fronting any old idea that pops up in the feelings of the media moment.
Biden said that if politicians won’t rip the statues down, protesters were right to take the law into their own hands. I can’t find the exact quote, and obviously he used a more obscurantist style of language, that that was his plain meaning.
Democrats: creating problems, and never solutions.
But of course, government never creates solutions. They create nothing.
If systemic racism has been going on for over 200 years, then why didn’t Joe fix it the 8 years he was VP?
Airplanes are nose-heavy. The wings lift up, and the stabilizer at the tail pushes down to counteract the nose-heaviness.
This down adds to the load that the wings have to carry, and makes the airplane less efficient.
Biden proposes getting rid of that nose-heaviness and Trump points out that that nose-heaviness is what makes the airplane stable. Go with Biden and the airplane no longer takes care of itself. System vs feelings.
American history is no fairy tale.
Our Gay Forefathers.
Biden’s just reading what’s put in front of him.
I’ve completely tuned out racism ranting. It’s so boring, abusive and stupid.
Just playing music and enjoying life with the grandkids.
My church client has been doing online services and will continuing doing so until September. OK with me. I’m updating my skills in Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and Audition. When and if the kids return to school in the fall, I’ll be ready to look for some other client work.
Anything to avoid paying attention to racism ranting. I immediately block that crap when I encounter it on social media. With my church client, I simply hit the mute button when the subject arises.
All men created equal, from the context, seems to mean in the in eyes of God. God never had to worry about disparate impact.
Carriers of White European thoughts are not going away any more than The carriers of Chinese Uighur thoughts. The Black Americans are just going to have to put up with it. Communists Re-education Camps will not happen here. Sorry about that. The American Race is all they are ever going to get. And that race tolerates all thoughts because it is not based on Marxist stupidity.
Thanks Ann! The battle lines could not be more clear. On one side we have Biden - a man who spent 36 years in the Senate and 8 years in the White House and never made any change to America's legacy of "systematic racism". On the other side we have a man who sees America as a special nation of opportunity and justice and had made massive strides to return us to that legacy in only 3 years in office.
Does anyone really think giving Biden 4 more years of power will accomplish anything?
Joe Williams!! How good was Joe Williams?
I like to stay smack dab in the middle, myself. Great stuff, Althouse. Appreciate the analysis.
The stinging nettle only
Will still be found to stand:
The numberless, the lonely,
The thronger of the land,
The leaf that hurts the hand.
That thrives, come sun, come showers;
Blow east, blow west, it springs;
It peoples towns, and towers
Above the courts of Kings,
And touch it and it stings.
A.E.Housman
It would be nice to have a list of examples of systemic racism. Here is my beginning:
1) Preferential admissions to universities for blacks and hispanics, higher standards for Asians
2) Preferential hiring of blacks and hispanics
3) Preferential treatment of blacks in the workplace, specifically refusal to hold them accountable to the same standards as other ethnicities
4) Minority-owned business preferences
Other examples?
Someone please explain "systemic racism" to me. I'm too stupid to understand it.
What I get is that certain "systems" disadvantage black people relative to whites and Asians. Like college admission tests, school discipline, criminal justice, etc.
But are these things racially discriminatory, or do they discriminate on the basis of objectively advantageous traits necessary for a properly functioning society? Do we want higher education for those best prepared for it? Do we want schools where discipline is maintained so that students who want to learn can do so? Do we want communities where those who observe the law can live without undue fear of violence or expropriation by those who do not?
What am I missing here?
One thing that impressed me about Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech (as read with your comments, not seen) is its length. Long by my taste, but a real show of stamina. Biden, in contrast, gives us 1 minute and 37 second (and we don't know how many tries that took).
Policing is local. 10's of thousands local police departments. Where is the breakdown of the best and worst? Just the best then. Top 10. Why can't we emulate success? I no longer accept the concept of systemic racism. Not until those that preach it start showing me success. Chicago, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Seattle. Laboratories of racial justice. Democrat policies, Obama policies, Donna Brazile policies, Kamala Harris policies, Cory Booker policies. If Cory Booker as failed, according to Cory Booker, I don't believe there is a systemic race issue. There is a political football.
On this years celebration of independence, words were followed by actions, sacrifice, the loss of life, and wealth. Dedicated men that sacrificed everything. The ultimate cancel. What do I see. Al Sharpton. That is what the race hustlers hold up. What they strive for.
Systemic Racism; yet from the very beginning, we put in our founding document the phrase which would push us to the ideal. Alas, it is progressives that enjoy the multiple classes and make sure to divide them by identifying traits.
Oh, for God's sake, didn't we have a chance during the 8 years of the Obama/Biden administration to "give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream. We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country." I find this line of rhetoric insulting to my intelligence. And, Obama was way more persuasive and mentally competent than Joe Biden is.
The American Constitution and its Inner Contradiction
This book has been written for two reasons. First, to provide patriotic Americans with an overview of the Constitution’s most important provisions as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States. At the same time, I want to demonstrate something unknown to virtually all Americans: that foundational to every political, social, economic, and legal system are ethical principles, and that from our nation’s earliest days to the present there has been an ethical leitmotif running through the Supreme Court’s most important decisions affecting individual rights and limited government. Not all their decisions, but many—and some of the most important ones. Like many other Americans, for years I’ve been deeply concerned about our nation’s future. My fears have been exacerbated in the past several years because of the anti-American, often lawless, recklessly incompetent reign of Barack Obama. Worse, his presidency will continue for another three-and-a-half years. In light of that possibility, consider a recent report in The Weekly Standard of a survey commissioned by the American Revolution Center, which found that nearly 83 percent of Americans failed a simple test of knowledge about the founding of the United States of America. Many of our fellow citizens believe that the founding principles of this nation are passé, that the Declaration of Independence’s ringing endorsement of republican institutions, individual rights, and limited government is outdated, that the Constitution’s creation of a representative republic belongs to a time gone by, and that the Bill of Rights is not a restraint on government but rather a source of newly found, invented “rights.” Along with this woeful ignorance, and largely because of it, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights—rooted in republican institutions, individual rights and limited government—have been under an unprecedented attack by Barack Obama and his far left Democratic Party, aided and abetted by the complicit mainstream media, unions, academia, and entertainment industry. To say nothing of many courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States in more than a few cases. Employing and legitimizing the exercise of statist power, the Supreme Court of the United States has facilitated state legislatures and Congress in their sacrifice of individual rights to the common good, and made a mockery of the Founders’ creation of a limited government. But with a few notable exceptions there is hardly any knowledgeable, explicit and principled defense of our Constitution and Bill of Rights to be found anywhere. Not on radio, television, or in Hollywood. Not in the press. Not at the grassroots. Certainly not in academia. Nor, sadly, emanating from many Republicans, Conservatives, and Libertarians. Most of the media’s pontificating so-called constitutional experts, especially those on national television, usually do more harm than good because they spread disinformation that is neither knowledgeable nor principled. And note, for example, the Republican presidential candidates’ pitiful and embarrassing “debates” in the 2012 election. While many Tea Party activists and other patriots have been valiantly fighting for core constitutional values, many of them are disarmed because they’ve been taught little about American constitutional law. In order to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, everyone fighting for America today needs to know much more about these two documents than most of them know. Those who are committed to fighting for America’s future are obligated to acquire at least a basic understanding of the Constitution’s origins and birth, its written text, the manner in which it has been deliberately violated, and the consequences of how it has been deliberately misinterpreted by its enemies.
Joe emerged from his burrow/basement, took a poll and scurried back down.
He's trying to position himself between Trump and BLM/GND far left politics.
But the far left doesn't seem interested in half measures. How enthusiastic will the far left be for Joe? And the middle ground people see the rioting and destruction with horror.
Where is Joe?
He's in a pickle.
Were is Joe Biden placed himself?
I know he is the candidate...now.
But when are we going to stop giving this lie credence?
1) Biden's not in the middle. He's on the rioters team. He agrees with their ideology and approves of their tactics.
2)We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream. We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.
You ask how? Why by fundamentally changing America of course. Obama, Hillary and Biden have all threatened to do so.
This election won't be about rhetoric it will be about performance. It will be about why the US has so dramatically under-performed in containing this virus. Infections are now well above the first peak and Texans all have to wear masks. It is a pathetic failure, and that failure is on Trump, who is an idiot (as most who have worked with him will attest).
"where he has positioned himself"
But do you think that he is capable of "positioning" "himself," and that, once positioned, he is capable of remembering what his "position" is, and that, if he remembers, he will be committed to holding and maintaining that "position"?
Did he cover the 1994 "Biden" Crime Bill? Was that part of the systemic racism?
Whew. I was expecting you to do something with Stealers Wheel and wasn’t sure how you were going to do that.
Why Jews vote Democrat (episode 146,592,875).
Kansas Newspaper's Post Equates Mask Mandate With Holocaust
The failure of Trump to denounce the Nazis in Charlottesville didn't help, of course.
I don’t understand what Biden is afraid of. He won the primaries because the main line black voters decided they wanted a winner not a cause. His policy/approach is essentially “Not Trump”. So just not be Trump and don’t be an idiot (which may be harder for him) and he should theoretically do well.
Systemically racist is the new litmus test for Dems.
Joe’s people just made it so.
Could you please give an example of an icon "worshipper" because I have never heard of one.
I don't believe you.
If you think Biden ran to champion systemic racism, think again.
He’s not driving this bus.
Also, you know, the thing.
If you believe there's systemic racism in the U.S. despite 8 years of President Obama with Biden by his side, then there's zero hope the pathetic Joe Biden is going to make any difference on that front. Of course, I don't believe there's systemic racism in the U.S., but I'm well aware Democrats would like to move the country in that direction with special treatment for certain groups.
Joe wants to be stuck in the middle with you, but he's merely a clown to the left of me....
I don't see Biden as being in the middle. Looks to me that he is embracing the BLM/AOC Hate America First wing of his party.
Question for Biden: If what you say is true, what exactly did you and Obama do about it in those 8 years you were in the White House. Hard accomplishments only.
Professor Althouse claims that Jo Biden is:
SLIGHTLY LEFT OF CENTER
????
Unrestricted abortions for the 1st 4 trimesters... check
Green New Eel... check
Massive tax increases... check
PERMANENT LOCKDOWNS AND MANDATORY FACIAL COVERINGS... check
Sounds SLIGHTLY LEFT OF CENTER to me!
Biden will do whatever his Chinese bosses tell him to do. Chinese stem cells are being harvested right now to give him ten seconds of lucidity to finish his campaign ads.
On the 4th of July, and in response to Trump's substantial speeches in full public view, Joe Biden quietly gives us one minute of platitudes. You have to go looking to find Joe's "America Is Bad Again" speech which offers little hope and no solutions.
The underlying message is "the riots will continue until Trump is gone".
"“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” We’ve never lived up to it."
The civil rights acts were never passed?
"It survived the ravages of the Civil War, the dogs of Bull Connor, the assassination of Martin Luther King ..."
Oh, okay, the civil rights were never passed.
"...the murder of George Floyd..."
We're going to make progress through the denial of due process. That's the plan
"...these words have gnawed at our conscience..."
Not if you actually believe in them, instead of seeing them as a means to power.
The fact the the less people see of Biden the more they like him is beyond parody now, it's his actual election strategy.
He's placing himself on the side of those working so hard to tear down the very fabric of our society. Call it 'systemic racism' if you like, but the goal is not to remove racism. The goal is a total remake of our country and the sequestering of power. For that crowd, racism is clearly a moving target to be used as a club to beat pretty much everyone over the head with it. Everyone can see that. A Black person can be obnoxiously, in-your-face anti-white, anti-hispanic, or anti-semitic and they are somehow immune to being called racist. In the real world, that does not work. A racist is a racist. Skin color does not matter. Racism is the great equalizer. It stinks no matter who is wearing it. Everyone knows this.
Biden has chosen to not only play along with it, but to be the leading part of it. The Democrats, long the face of real racism (KKK, Jim Crow, anti-school choice, etc.) are now the face of Government approved racism. If it was wrong the first time around, how in hell is it right the second time around? It's not. And people know it, even if they are afraid to say it.
In the voting booths, in November, no one will be afraid to say it.
Biden is running against racism and our past.
But the most racist people and institutions in our history have been governments run by democrats.
That continues today.
He is running against the things he has done. He has almost 4 decades in government and don't think his early support of segregationists will not be brought up.
There is systemic racism: In the Demtard party, the media and the universities - all leftwing white people
"Virtually everyone agrees that if it's there,..."
Pretty big "if".
That was a creepy little speech - I wonder if Joe Biden's husband wrote it?
N-word* Public Radio is certainly living up to its new name.
*The internets inform me that the word "Negro" is now "offensive".
Re Biden.
It won't be the first time a politician has lied to us and it won't be the last.
Sadly, it won't be the first time he was believed and it won't be the last.
Are you sure about that basement? I have a hard time believing that Biden has spent the last three months hiding underground.
Great,he is running as the Jimmy Carter of the 21st century.
He doesn’t believe any of it, which is the problem and the yuuge contrast between him and Trump. He’s blathering. After all he vowed to pick a running mate who is female and black. Not the best jets on he can find fur his team. A black woman. Just cause they’re Black and A Woman. How does choosing somebody BY THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN help root out this mythical systemic racism, Joe? EXPLAIN THAT!
Some else said it. He is choosing 1619 over 1776.
Your question is hard to answer, Ann. Biden has not located himself anywhere. He doesn't seem to be playing in the major leagues at all. You have to look for him on the AA minor league roster. I had been hoping he would make it to November, but the jig seems to be up and I can't see him being nominated while political writers keep noting his mental deterioration. What mad strategies will the Democrats attempt, to cover up this epic failure? More riots? More impeachments? Declare war on Freedonia? I would bet, all of the above.
Women were no more excluded in the federal constition than men were.
Neither were included OR excluded. Neither had any right to vote for reps, senators or president. Those were state rights, not federal rights.
Over half of all us woman had full voting rights by the time the 19th a amendment passes.
NJ let women vote in the 1700s though they later retracted it. Wyoming granted full sufferage in 1867.
John Henry
I think that Biden chose poorly here. We are a great country. We should have been celebrating that greatness this week, not moaning about its few failures.
Two things to keep in mind. Biden represents the party of slavery, Jim Crow, the KKK, segregation, and then LBJ’s “War on the Black Family” (his “Great Society” or “War on Poverty”). The ultimate cause of the problems addressed by BLM is fatherless child rearing, and that is a direct consequence of Dem Party policies. The percentage of Blacks in this country raised in intact families in this country has dropped from roughly 3/4 to 1/4 since the Dems implemented their disastrous social policies in the 1960s under LBJ. Without those fathers in boys’ lives, the boys are not properly domesticated and brought into proper male society, where their testosterone driven aggression is directed in productive directions. Instead, they expend it in gangs, violence, drugs, and lawlessness, preying on their local communities. Pretty much every BLM hero was a criminal. And their criminality was invariably a key part of why they died. Both Trayvon Martin and Big Mike Brown had attempted to murder the person who killed them in self defense. Eric Gardner and George Floyd were finally being arrested for long strings of petty crimes, at which times, they resisted being arrested. It is very likely that none of them would have suffered their untimely deaths, if they had been raised in a traditional two parent household, and had been properly socialized to obey the law and become contributing members of society. LBJ and the Democrats took that away from them.
The other thing is that the root cause of the negative philosophy espoused by China Joe Biden is foreign. Originally, it was Soviet money that funded much of the anti war movement, and part of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. We were in a Cold War with them for world dominance, and they spent a lot of money trying to destroy our country from within. AntiFA was founded by Stalin as a counter to Hitler’s Naziism, which in turn was Founded as a socialist alternative to Marxism. It initially was explicitly Marxist. It still is, almost a century later. The difference now is that it is now taking money from Beijing, and not Moscow. Maoist, and no longer Stalinist, Marxism. BLM too IS Marxist. As were the Black Panthers, who were avowed Maoists.
And China Joe Biden helped engineer the Chinese giving his son better than a billion dollars to manage, and profit from. The Chinese have been spending money like crazy to affect our politics, and they bought Biden. The same Chinese who have been working hard to destroy this country from within.
I get pretty tired of people using "war" and "battle" who have never experienced either.
I've come to believe that the assertion of "systemic racism" is a cop-out. The mayor of Chicago says "Covid kills blacks at a much higher rate than whites in Chicago. But it's not my fault, or a consequence of policies I have supported. And it's not the fault of the people of Chicago who elected me. No. It's systemic (or institutionalized) racism." I realize there are white people who say, "It's systemic racism and I'm part of that system. I apologize." But then, what? It seems to me that we've tried fixing the system by this new law and that new law. And we've tried fixing by replacing white mayors and city councils and police chiefs with black mayors and city councils and police chiefs. But the "racist system" still exists. It exists so that white and black people everywhere can say, "I see the racial disparities, but it's not my fault and has nothing to do with my behavior. It's the system."
It's smart positioning, if he can pull it off.
To me Biden would do best if he tried to go traditional, even taking a pro-growth position similar to Trump's on economics. He gets most of his votes just because he's not Trump. I think he loses the most votes by going left. Loud voices are not the majority. Publicly stated position are not even the majority.
If our history is a "fairy tale" as Biden sees it then he has never studied his own countries history. The democrats history of grinding down minorities and the republicans history of attemting to include. "We hold these truths........" Is a goal. We are, as human beings, imperfect. Our institutions are likewise imperfect. But when those words were written the authors knew full well what the words meant. What the creed meant. It reverberates around the world today. The people of Hong Kong know what those words mean. It's too bad the democrats never tried to live up to them. In my lifetime they have never been the inclusive party.
The left love their scripts. It's all hollywood fake-feel good over there.
The Post characterizes it as “A hopeful counterpoint to Trump’s message”. Where is the evidence of this assertion? What planet are theee people living on?
Biden came out squarely against a defendant’s right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. Is he trying to lose the Dindu Nuffin vote?
One thing that I do not understand when I hear leaders of giant corporations, university presidents, the former Vice President, and the current Speaker of the House bemoan systemic racism is: Why have they done nothing up to now to combat it? These are the most powerful people in the United States. What have they been waiting for until acting? Now, I realize that the message that they are trying to convey is that it is all Donald Trump's fault. However, I also have recently learned that systemic racism in America dates back to 1619. What was the story before 2016? Why didn't the Obama-Biden Administration do something? I must be missing something, since Democratic polling must have found that this is winning message.
Beloved Commentator A Reasonable Man is conflating positive tests and infections, which are not at all the same. He must be doing it for a reason. Because he’s a dishonest hack?
An, my last group used to do this one.
I saw Joe Williams at the trop in Las Vegas in 1969. Very thrilling. I was young but actually knew who he was, whereas I did not know the solo pianist who also played, Bill Evans. Rock n roll tended to make ignorant dullards of its fans. One used to move up to better music by adulthood.
Think I like old Count better though. One o'clock Jump, Jumpin at the Woodside. That brass was over the top in the 50s. Maybe because of rock, trying to get the stupid kids' attention.
Joe had his opportunity to fix racism, while working with the first black President and an overwhelming majority in Congress. What he did is what he always does: Nothing.
His preaching about the things that need to be done feels tawdry. We know what he will do.
Well, that's the choice.
Do you really want America to hate itself? Do you really want to hate YOURSELF? Do you want to have to no heroes? To always be obliged to focus on the bad in the lives of the greats of history? To basically have no pride in the country, but to always think it a lousy piece of shit?
Is that what you want?
Because that is the choice that has been put to you.
"Systemic racism" is Joe's way of signaling his heart is with the Left. The flag-waving nod is, you know, for the rubes so he can get elected. The Left accept that. Yeah, pretty much the Obama formula. The borders will vanish, the police will be defunded, and the statues will come down, but only in an unceasing series of "moderate" half-steps.
Should we be made to feel guilty and apologize if we think Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln to be great men? When speaking of their accomplishments, is it now obligatory to add a "but" to those positive achievements?
Because, you know, if we must ALWAYS point out the imperfections and flaws and failings in people, if that now is to be our main focus, then NO ONE will ever measure up. Most particularly the people who are now pointing the finger.
Joe Williams played Clair Huxtable's Dad on several episodes of The Cosby Show.
Blogger Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This election won't be about rhetoric it will be about performance. It will be about why the US has so dramatically under-performed in containing this virus. Infections are now well above the first peak and Texans all have to wear masks. It is a pathetic failure, and that failure is on Trump, who is an idiot (as most who have worked with him will attest).
Yes! Trump created this virus! He spread it by most insidious means. Here in Texas, we are all dead, and I am writing to you from Purgatory! It's great here, but I am hoping for a small bungalow in Hell.
Joe's in a no-win situation. He should be in a move-to-the-middle mode to win over the coveted undecided vote. But his party has lost its f'n mind, and Joe (even if he had a mind) would not be able to court the middle without alienating the woke mob that already views him askance.
It speaks volumes that his popularity is inversely proportional to his exposure. He can't hide in the basement forever.
While the lied-to Maddow-hollywood liar liar left continue to melt down with the never ending Hillary-Lost 2016 butt-hurt party...
this does my heart some good.
I remember the 70s, the time of Jimmy Carter's malaise.
It was a time when people were expected to feel bad about themselves and bad about the country.
People rejected it then. Will they now?
Biden, or whoever is nominated at the convention, will be pressed to support reparations for African-Americans, and I think they won't be able to say no when questioned on it. Indeed, it is even likely the House passes such a bill later this Summer. It will interesting to see if the public comes close to supporting such a proposal.
Just to put an actual number to such a thing- if you gave every African-American $10,000, a trivial sum in my opinion, that would be $400+ billion dollars. Many of the proposals I have seen are calling for $100K+/recipient, which is $4+ trillion dollars. The latter is doable, in a certain sense, but, of course, ignores the fact that you probably can't actually get political support for it unless it applies to everyone.
The only fix for systemic problems
Is to kill everyone with a memory of the system
See South Africa
Last we checked, The city and state that killed Mr. Floyd is all Democratically run, by democratics.
What is the difference between systematic and systemic?
Systematic, means something is well organized or arranged according to a set of plan and or is grouped into systems. Conversely, systemic means something matters to the entire system. This describes something that belongs to, works together with, or can affect the entire body or system as a whole.
----------=============
The project about claiming systemic racism (covert or denial as lip service) is not expressive of desire to eradicate it (as seems to be the response of normies) but to lay ground for making it systematic and overt and methodical (action plan and response of Marxist collectivists).
You blind yourself with your blinkered vision
I don't want Biden to win, but there's got to be a better way to do this. He's keeping it short, obviously recognizing the longer he goes, the more room there is for obvious errors.
The old story was not a "fairy tale": in a world that still had many oppressive regimes, and in Britain one's fate was determined far too much by who one's parents were, the American Revolution showed the possibility of governing in the name of, and for the benefit of, the people. Compromises had to be made with slavery. Was there a way of eliminating slavery at that time? No. Did the founders make a reasonable effort, as Lincoln said, to put slavery on a path of ultimate destruction? Yes, but technology and economics overcame these efforts. Human beings did the best they could in difficult circumstances.
Even if you welcome all the opportunities for women today, and want more of a crackdown on MeToo attitudes (systemic? a culture?), the identification of women with slaves in 1776 is melodramatic nonsense.
That song, "Smack Dab in the Middle," was written by Jesse Stone (AKA Charles Calhoun), who also wrote "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
Here's the Charles Calhoun version of "Smack Dab in the Middle."
The B-side of that single was "[I Don't Know] Why The Car Won't Go."
Here's the Charles Calhoun version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
Is this the way its going to be throughout the whole presidential campaign now? Trump doing the equivalent of The Ed Sullivan show with rousing speeches, flags, crowds,the blue angels & fireworks with Joe Biden doing tiny, inconsequential 2 minute canned speeches as a response?
The other thing that stuck in my craw was the Biden line "Never lived up to the idea we are all created equal" which is the same pissy progressive tone on everything american. Jebus, would it kill them to have one fucking speech where they don't bitch and moan about America's short comings? That was Obama's bag and a favorite go to spot for democrats, where America has fallen down on the job, what's wrong with us, blah, blah, blah. Look in the mirror FUCKHEADS, you are part of the problem too. So stop pretending you are up in some ivory tower looking down on us from Mt.Olympus and describing our many flaws.
Do we want higher education for those best prepared for it?
Not if you are in the California legislature.
Biden was presiding at the High Tech Lynching of a black Supreme Court nominee.
form Quora
Are basements always underground?
No. It depends on the definition of a basement as used by the local building code. We once had to help redesign a 3 story condominium project. Each unit used a similar floor plan and each unit was all on one level. It seems the 3rd story units (& above) required two exits by code, one on the front and one on the rear. But, if we could sink the lowest floor into the ground and call it a basement, the top floor would be called the second floor. Then stairways would only be needed on one side.
The definition at that time required a basement to be at least 4 feet (1.22 m) below grade around 50 percent of the perimeter. We were able to have sliding glass doors at the patios, and set up the bedroom windows such that the sills were about 3′ (.9 m) or so from the floors, and made everything work. It was a sloping site so things worked out well. The lower floors were something we would call a “daylight basement” in the US. Sometimes you can use the legal definition of something to your advantage.
tldr: Basements do not have to be deep to be basements, and do not have to be underground on all sides to meet the definition.
Systemic racism is a myth kept alive by race baiters, Dem/lefty Pols and whiners for political and/or economic gain.
Blacks generally do well at the things they are good at, sports, music and other performing arts. Some blacks do well at things many are not good at, education, medicine, writing (T. Sowell, W.Williams, C. Rice, B. Carson, L. Elder, S. Parker). Some do well at crime and grifting, others not so well.
Where are blacks more successful? Where are there proportionately more wealthy blacks? What predominately white country has elected a black Chief Executive. What country pays greater “reparations” in the form of welfare to blacks? And so on.
Which country is held out as ideal for blacks? Certainly no African country! What country are African Americans seeking to emigrate to?
Systemic racism against blacks is bullshit! Funny how Trump’s endorsement of traditional values and American Greatness is “divisive”, but Addlepated Grifting Joe’s accusation of systemic racism is not.
Biden gave you 1 minute 37 seconds because that is all he is capable of at the moment. Yes, he is trying to get in the middle, but the actual words show he is well to the left and in all but open support for the rioters, the looters, and the defund the police movement.
Biden can't win running a campaign this way- he will be dumped for someone else at the convention, and that someone else will, at least, have the mental capacity to run a full time campaign, though they are likely to be even further left than Biden was when he was still alive.
He must be doing it for a reason. Because he’s a dishonest hack?
I suspect he’s doing it because he’s a simpleton who cannot distinguish between his wishes and reality. But he provides thinking people with a useful view into how many, many similarly brainless Americans process information. There are certainly enough unwise people in this country to jeopardize Trump’s re-election, so it’s worth paying attention to his thoughtless bleating.
Did he cover the 1994 "Biden" Crime Bill? Was that part of the systemic racism?"
Hey, what was wrong with that? Is the GOP going to discredit tough-on-crime measures just to git Biden?
I suppose were going to embrace busing now, too? Just because Biden opposed it at some point?
This gotcha game is risky.
early am ramblings...I remember the first time I learned about what happened to Emmett Til, all those decades ago. It was a moment that still lives and breathes whenever I think about it. Pure rage and anger.
Pure rage and anger at grown men who could hurt a child like that. and for the reason of nothing but racial hatred.
I'm angry when I think about George Floyd too, and I understand the rage.
4 police officers pretty much killed him. 4 police officers pretty much held him down and suffocated him.
I'm enraged at the leftwing liar machine who lie about what happened to Michael Brown. That was not the same. But the left lied about it so they can build their rage machine. The left (Maddow) built a false narrative and spread that lie and it ended up hurting local black communities. White progressive built that lie. White progressives are to blame for the destruction of Ferguson.
I also get sick of the term African-American. I'm not a European-American. Nor am I a Dutch-American or an Irish-American or a German-American or a Swiss-American. I am an American. We live in an imperfect world and an imperfect nation. The left only focus and obsess on America's imperfections. is that fair or just?
The collective left thrive off of building division and victim mongering. They left thrive off of divisions that keep people down, poor, uneducated, and on the government controlled assistance.
The left gain more power as they enslave us. But it feels good I guess. for some.
Not me.
More power for the bureaucracy and the democratics and the deep state.
as an aside:
Irish-Americans were often treated horribly back in the day - worse than most slaves. Slaves were held as property and had more value! White Irish immigrants were the lowest on the pile of human misery in the early days of our budding nation. Yes - we did horrible things to the Natives. Humans do horrible things to each other. That's why certain immigrants were throw-away with certain types of hard labor. but we don't discuss any of that. We must feed the racial strife so Biden and Hillary, Rice and Pelosi and their gross CNN deep state can take over.
Biden believes that two-thirds of the US population was killed in the last couple of years from gun violence and COVID. The job has gotten a lot easier. He should direct all his fundraising efforts at the funeral industry. Surely, that's where the money is now.
For a genius, it took that Savant commenter longer than is reasonable to find the answer.
gilbar: "Professor Althouse claims that Jo Biden is:
SLIGHTLY LEFT OF CENTER
????"
It all depends on where one stands. Bear in mind the professor thinks she's in the center.
When benefit of moderation is to see how many people have the same ideas without the benefit of seeing the comments first.
Many of us here wrote that Biden did nothing to fix the racism problem during his 40 years in DC. He just uses the issue, but never fixes it.
The ravages of the Civil War, the dogs of Bull Connor, the assassination of MLK - all brought to you by Democrats. I guess for Biden its just a happy coincidence that schools (also mostly staffed by Democrats) don't teach history any more.
"Our country was founded on an idea, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” We’ve never lived up to it."
What an awful thing to say. "Never" is an absolute term. This makes it sound like everyone in the country has always been an A-hole.
"I get pretty tired of people using "war" and "battle" who have never experienced either."
PB, serious question, what words would you use or recommend?
Biden’s advantage, no matter what he says, is that he is a swamprat who will feed the spoils system. Union bosses, Deep Staters, Teachers, illegals, blacks, neo-feminists, the mediaswine, LGBTQWERTYs will promote him even if, in his dementia, he threatens to scuttle the Navy and turn the seas over to the ChiComs. He has no accomplishments. He has promoted racism. He is a groper of women. He is an admitted extortionist (Ukraine). His mental acuity, never much to begin with, is obviously and seriously diminished.
Who cares? It’s about graft and preferential treatment. Trump is just unreliable on that score.
ARM alleges that Trump has "dramatically under-performed in containing this virus" and it is "a pathetic failure", and we all wonder "compared to what?". According to this Johns Hopkins chart, the U.S. has the 9th highest per-capita death rate in the world, which is bad, but it also means we're doing better than four of the five large western European democracies: numbers 4, 5, 6, and 8 are the U.K., Spain, Italy, and France. (Belgium and Sweden are 2 and 7, San Marino and Andorra 1 and 3. Germany, the other large w.e.d. is 27: they really are doing a great job.) It does appear that countries with massive numbers of subway-commuters and international travelers are more vulnerable. Of course, if a few Democratic governors and mayors hadn't slaughtered tens of thousands of nursing-home residents by sending infected patients to them, we would be doing a lot better. But that's somehow Trump's fault. There's also the question of how many of these Covid deaths were in fact deaths by other causes of people who happened to be Covid-positive. That's very hard to judge, because other countries may be padding their death rates for financial reasons (Covid cases are much more lucrative) or may be diddling the numbers the other way, counting deaths from Covid as if they were not. But the general pattern is clear: it could be a lot worse.
Better question: what moral courage has Biden shown? None is my answer.
It was one thing when they said, "If we just get rid of Trump, the source and cause of all evil and hatred in the world, everything will be better and we can go back to a good and wonderful world."
That allowed them to make Trump a singular scapegoat, putting everything on him.
But now they have said that it is ALL bad -- the whole nation, the entire history of this country, is shitty and needs to be torn down and thrown into the harbor.
So even if Trump is defeated, we cannot "go back" to "happy days are here again." In their zeal, they have effectively taken away one of the biggest arrows in their arsenal.
Pete Seeger wrote "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy And The Big Fool Says Press On". Country Joe nd The fish made it a big anti Viet Nam war hit, and everybody thought LBJ was the big fool.
Seeger was writing about a platoon in the 1942 Louisiana Maneuvers. The company captain thought the platoon could ford the Big Muddy at a certain point, and ordered them into the river--the water got deeper and deeper--and the men said it couldn't be done. The captain said "press on"--and the captain ultimately drowned as the platoon turned around and got back on dry land.
The lyrics are relevant to Biden and this speech. In the midst of this turmoil and its faux relationship to Black Lives Matter, he's saying "press on" "work with me and we'll root out systemic racism". Well Cap'n Biden, I don't think you have the leadership skills to get us across the Big Muddy. But you've got the Big Fool part down pat--you've worked at it for more than 40 years in the Swamp.
the Washington Post isn't a news source, it's an arm to the mega corporate democratic election machine.
"We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream."
Not 'a chance' at that dream, but a 'full share,' given whether earned with hard work or not.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
Once we did an Ice Show and had Snoopy dancing to Buster Poindexter's version of Smack Dab in the Middle.
This election won't be about rhetoric or performance. It will be about disgust. Those who are disgusted by Trump the obnoxious "idiot" vs those who are disgusted by Biden the demented lifelong swamp dweller.
Beloved Reasonable man seems like he really wants a tyrant. He may get that yet. He'll certainly be voting for their party. You will be made to understand.
What I get is that certain "systems" disadvantage black people relative to whites and Asians. Like college admission tests, school discipline, criminal justice, etc.
Could it be that "systemic racism" is Newspeak for "capitalism"?
Nword Public Radio just had on a guy who explained how freeways keep black people down...
"Our country was founded on an idea, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” We’ve never lived up to it."
"We've"? Ok, Joe- if you say so. Jefferson died a long time ago so I'm not interested in what you think his reasons for choosing not to live up to that founding idea were. You've spent your whole life in government where you presumably had some influence- tell us why *you* haven't.
I'm not sure who Joe Biden was trying to appeal to with that bulletin. I am sure it wasn't me.
The Genius Savant said...
conflating positive tests and infections
The test measures the viral load, which is the infection.
As usual the old reliable guitarist Freddie Green and a young Sonny Payne on drums.
Fabulous band.
I dont care what Joe Biden thinks. I only care about what Joe Biden's husband, Joe Biden, thinks.
And you've got to admit, what he's saying sounds like Obama.
Your memory is short. Here's Obama on the Baltimore riots: criminals and thugs.
The Democrats have been awful on these riots, which are not new. Obama, in my opinion, used the death of Trayvon Martin for cynical partisan purposes. He made a federal crime--and a race crime--out of what was an ordinary crime that happens every day. This is not to rehash the facts of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, who was right and who was wrong, or what race they were.
It's about the tendency of the left to want to nationalize everything, and to make every local event and issue something of national importance. For instance, to say that one racist event is proof that the whole world needs to change is idiotic on its face. It's an emotional appeal to rage. And the Democrats love to do this, especially in election years.
Trayvon Martin's death happened in 2012 (not 2013 as the article says). I remember it because I thought at the time Obama was cynically using race to win an election.
Later Obama was beset by riots. And when Baltimore happened he finally said, "criminals and thugs." That's something I can't image Joe Biden saying. Obama sounds like Trump!
All men created equal, from the context, seems to mean in the in eyes of God.
You can take it literally. All of us were once tiny little babies in our mother's womb. All of us were newborns. All of us have humanity in common. It is what unites us. Not just with other Americans, but foreigners too.
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness...
I do think he's slightly off-center to the left, because he gave very little of his 1 minute of air time to the traditional values of America.
@Althouse, If you imagine that Biden is “slightly off-center to the left” then you are overdue to examine your own position. Not that it matters because Trump is only going to take a few potshots at Pervy Joe while he mostly runs against the Democrat Party and the news media. People are way past fed up and if Pervy Joe had a lick of political sense he’d tell the BLM leaders to cool it or else.
I had the pleasure of seeing Joe Williams at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago back in the mid-70s. Great singer.
I think "systemic" or "systematic" or whatever "racism" is a misnomer. I can assure you that I have no time for people who lack personal responsibility, or who are unwilling to get a job because they would rather drink, do drugs, watch TV, or play video games or who have children without the skills or resources to raise them properly or who break the law or who have refused to take advantage of the many many opportunities to develop skills. White, black, Asian, or Hispanic--I hold all people with those characteristics in contempt. Here's a pro tip--enabling people with those characteristics will make our country worse--not better. You want a plan: stay in school; don't have children out of wedlock; get a job; and don't break the law. It's really not that difficult.
I wish Republicans would take all the race questions off the census.
"We are stopping racism at the source. We refuse to divide the American people into races. Our racial divide is poison. We are the Republican party, the party of Lincoln. We love all our people. No more will we divide people into races on our census."
Some people will argue that "important information" will be lost. Let the other side argue that, and spin themselves into knots telling us how important it is to divide Americans racially.
The symbolic power of refusing to divide Americans into races on the census speaks volumes. It speaks for itself. And this symbolic point outweighs whatever minor and inconsequential information we are giving up. I don't actually give a shit how many white people are in the U.S. Or black people, or brown people, or red people, or yellow people. Shut up about it, for fuck's sake.
“Biden's not in the middle. He's on the rioters team. He agrees with their ideology and approves of their tactics”
Identify with their rhetoric and you’ll be identified with their actions. And you’re crazy if you think that’s popular.
How stupid are Biden’s puppeteers? Do they just unquestioningly accept everything they read in the WaPo?
We are going to vote for Joe Biden. But not because we like Joe Biden, or care about his position(s) right, left or center.
It is because we, like Frank Sinatra*, loathe Trump.
https://twitter.com/nancysinatra/status/1279257978613321728
Here's the dems in a nutshell:
"Sen. Tammy Duckworth on President Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech where he defended Confederate monuments: "His priorities are wrong. What are we going to do to push Russia back? Instead, he had no time for that. He spent all his time talking about dead traitors"
"dead traitors" to the dems/left/LLR-left: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt
All the masks are off.
All of them.
Of course, it's 2020, and Trump could have removed all the race categories from the 2020 census. He failed to do it.
Politicians of both parties love racial division. They love dividing Americans into races, and then gerrymandering districts along racial lines.
I think the Democrat party loves to do this far more than Republicans, frankly. If Trump made overt appeals to the white race, if he said "white lives matter" over and over, he would be derided as a racist.
Republicans insist race is unimportant. Democrats insist racism is everywhere, in every cranny of our existence, and we need to root out the entire system to get rid of it.
So both parties should be quite happy to remove racial division from our census. Yes? And neither one of them does it, or even suggests it. They are hypocrites and they are dishonest. Remove racial division from the census and watch the racists howl.
Biden is an expert chameleon. He learned one script that worked, with modifications, for about 25 years. Then he floundered. Now he is trying an entirely new script and he is a rather aged dog. I do not see how this computes into an actual campaign. Something else is going to happen.
rhhardin, you were on a roll. The 7:10 and 7:14 posts especially, and then A.E. Housman, enjoyed it. I was plagued by stinging nettles last week while hiking. Five minutes of torture, then nothing. Also poison ivy, but he doesn't mention that one.
So Biden's need to change shows the changes in his Party. The point I neglected to spell out. Very far left; forget any central business.
Holding an election in November is not fair. Our candidate spoiled while time ticked on. We need a new election on our own schedule. We need a new candidate to have a fair chance. America is systemically unfair and Trump must be impeached.
The video montage that accompanies Biden's short but heavily edited address (accessible at your transcript link) puts him squarely on the side of the social justice/ BLM movement - well left of smack dab in the middle.
I say "heavily edited" because it looks to me like a series of one-sentence statements patched together to appear to be a continuous speech.
I, for one, was glad that Trump picked Tulsa as the location to re-start his famously successful Trump rallies. It was a great public service.
The occasion sparked many public recapitulations of the famous Tulsa race riots of 1921. Many white people had never even heard of those events. Many now understand the loss of freedom so lamented by Trump supporters, white men, in particular. Alas, white people may never again enjoy such freedom to assert their ethnic solidarity.
Presidential campaigns traditionally kick off on Labor Day. Biden is a middle-of-the-road kind of guy, so I would expect his campaign to start then.
@AA/
I've always preferred the Mills Brothers version of Smack Dab in the Middle, although Basie and Joe Williams is a worthy alt version. (Perhaps it's because my Father loved the Mills Bros version and I was introduced to it by him)
Rory @8:22
We're going to make progress through the denial of due process. That's the plan
This is what ARM advocates.
Rory sums this up in a few small understandable words. progress through the denial of due process
The federal govt fixed the non-problem of rape on University campus' by denying due process. Universities that had colleges of law. Like the University of Wisconsin. Could the Dean of the Wisconsin College of Law, prevent such an erosion, hell, elimination, of an inalienable right of due process? The Deans of Law Colleges across this nation sucked their thumb as their very universities set out to abuse its own students, customers.
Why the riots? What do the aggrieved tell us? "meet our demands, or we will burn the system down!"
The denial of due process. No elections, no debate, no committees, no compromise. no due process
Experts have gotten everything they have wanted for 3 generations, we are left with people believing they are victims. Victims in the most diverse nation on earth. If three generations of Phd's in education running the institutions of higher learning leave us with throngs of riotous, educated victims, its all the proof I need, that racism is not the issue.
Drago said
Here's the dems in a nutshell:
Tammy Duckworth is priceless for Conservatives.
Drago you must have a list of quotes from these political panderers, this weekend. I for one could stand to see it here once a day.
That's Joe Biden "The moderate". No condemnation of statue smashing or Antifa or BLM. No defense of the USA or patriotism. "Systematic Racism" - complete buy-in. Look for Biden to support Reparations if he gets elected.
Look for Biden to double down on defunding the police. Of course, Biden already stated he will give Amnesty to all illegals, destroy all barriers to foreigners voting in our elections, support unlimited legal immigration, and get rid of all ceilings on H-1 Visa. All these will drive down working American's wages and if that isn't enough, "Moderate Joe" supports outsourcing US Jobs and getting rid of all tariffs. And he will tear down any border wall. He's the "I Hate American Workers" candidate.
St Croix said
Your memory is short. Here's Obama on the Baltimore riots: criminals and thugs.
President Trump should incorporate Obama's words into one of his national addresses. At the end he would off course give the attribution the words are due.
Joe Biden has bought into every extreme position enunciated in the Democrat Debates. He's only "slightly left of center" if you also believe Bernie Sanders is "slightly left of center". There's not much difference between them, at this point.
BTW, Biden doesn't have to campaign or get out of the basement. The MSM is campaigning against Trump and dishing out DNC talking points 24/7/365.
A certain banned commenter has a mouse in Xis pocket.
LLR-lefty Chuck: "We are going to vote for Joe Biden."
Leftist declares he will vote for the moron dem candidate.
Quite the shocker.
Anybody claiming the US is a "systemically racist Nation" is either uneducated,miseducated or a lying dog faced "democrat"!
The best way to assess the state of the race is to always watch what the dems are actually doing, not what their little minions like FakeCon LLR-lefty Chuck regurgitating online.
1. The NYT just today is downplaying the riots, calling them "isolated incidents" (gee, whatever happened to that massive movement of people demanding liberation and change? Gone with the Wind it is.....)
2. Biden's campaign, after Slow Joe was given his pudding and put to bed, put out a statement that Gropey Joe did not approve of tearing down Columbus and non-confederate statues
3. The media refuses to accurately quote a single line from the Mt Rushmore speech
4. There is a desperate push by the dems/Left/LLR-left to attempt to "reset" the discussion on monuments by reverting to "its only Confederate statues coming down!" (you would not believe some of the discussions online that are occurring right now where the lefties like LLR-lefty Chuck are swearing up and down that ONLY confederate statues are being torn down!)
These indicators just from today tell you everything you need to know about the state of the race and what the dem/left/LLR-left are clearly seeing in their polls.
iowan2: "Drago you must have a list of quotes from these political panderers, this weekend. I for one could stand to see it here once a day."
We have them coming out of our ears.
I usually try to use those quotes from the most idiotic far left morons that LLR-lefty Chuck particularly adores and has defended most passionately for years and years (thats quite a long list all by itself).
Joe Biden may or may not become President, but he will always be the King of Weasels. -willie
We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream. We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.
Maybe somebody could tell me just what the fuck this guy was doing during the eight years of the Obama Administration.
If there is currently "systemic racism" which is working against AA's, the roots of said "systemic racism" clearly lie primarily within one long-established, historically and undeniably racist American institution: The Democratic Party.
I agree. Rip it out.
The masks are on in Texas.
“I'm angry when I think about George Floyd too, and I understand the rage.
4 police officers pretty much killed him. 4 police officers pretty much held him down and suffocated him.”
No. Floyd wasn’t suffocated. There was no evidence or indicia in his autopsy of suffocation, and not even a bruise behind his neck where the knee had been placed. As I understand it, for whatever reason, his heart stopped. Here are some of the likely contributing factors:
- A history of heart arrhythmia.
- Recent fentanyl ingestion at roughly half the typical fatal level. Fentanyl apparently suppresses the will to breath. Moreover, he had other underlying conditions that might have pushed his dosage towards the fatal level for him. (He also had elevated levels of THC).
- Significant sickling of red blood cells (likely caused by Sickle Cell Disease), which significantly adversely affects O2 transportation. Sickling can be triggered (In those with the disorder) by stress or low O2 levels, in the latter case compounding an already bad situation.
- COVID-19, which often adversely affects lungs (and thus capacity to move O2 to the blood). His lungs apparently were pink in the center, and gray on the outside, suggesting reduced lung capacity.
- Obesity and Type II Diabetes.
Lack of O2 can, and ultimately will, cause the heart to stop. Did that with my partner. Luckily she was in the ICU, and survived.
Could the knee to the neck have caused his death? Possibly, through a combination of stress and reduced O2 capacity triggering sickling, making O2 transport to his heart even more compromised. But was that reasonably foreseeable? Maybe not.
A real MD is encouraged to jump in here and correct whatever needs correction.
"Our country was founded on an idea, 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.' We’ve never lived up to it."
And you know what, Mr Biden? Neither we, nor anyone else, has ever perfectly lived to any ideal. Because, Mr Biden, we are not a species of perfect saints.
Ideals are aspirational; no rational person expects perfection. Yet less-than-rational, overwrought person then jumps from "you failed to live up to your own ideals" to "and therefore you and all your works must be destroyed as though they had never existed!"
Would you declare that baseball should never again be played because an umpire made a bad call? Or even after the 1919 World Series was fixed? If a police officer misbehaves somewhere, shall we then disband all police forces? If a hospital nurse deliberately kills old people (before being caught and tried for murder), shall we then close all the hospitals? If a museum displays an offensive work, shall we then burn it down? And libraries also?
If you could destroy all that was not perfect, what do you think would have left?
The answer is, I think, it doesn't matter. He's just trying to get in the right spot so he can be voted for. And you've got to admit, what he's saying sounds like Obama. Shouldn't that be enough?
What a lot of shit you will have to eat, Ann, when in the end you vote for Biden. As you will, unless in fact he is replaced, and then you can vote for Harris or whoever in good conscience.
Don't you know anything you haven't been told, or read? You are, literally, a prisoner of words.
Joe Biden has demntia. Talking about where he is positioned, what his policies are, where his campaign will go, is whistling past the graveyard of his present condition.
Blogger Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This election won't be about rhetoric it will be about performance.
When the skin comes off, ATM, that's a hint that you should stop.
Beijing Boy: "The masks are on in Texas."
Or not......
All across Texas you are seeing this:
"We can’t and won’t enforce Abbott’s mask order, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says"
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/montgomery-sheriff-coronavirus-abbott-mask-order-15386254.php
Having about a handful of siblings and their progeny living across the state of Texas, masks are definitely quite optional.
Jim at: "Maybe somebody could tell me just what the fuck this guy was doing during the eight years of the Obama Administration."
The entire Biden clan was cashing in.
Bigly.
Bruce H-
There are conflicting reports.
Two autopsies both find George Floyd died by homicide, but differ on some key details
Two autopsies both find George Floyd died by homicide, but differ on some key details
By Erin Donaghue
June 4, 2020 / 10:15 AM / CBS News
George Floyd, the Minnesota man who died after an officer arresting him pressed his knee onto his neck, died by homicide, according to the results of two autopsies released on Monday — one by the county medical examiner and the other by independent pathologists commissioned by Floyd's family. But the two autopsy reports differed on exactly how the man died.
Dr. Allecia Wilson, one of the pathologists who conducted the independent autopsy, said Monday afternoon that Floyd died as a result of mechanical asphyxiation.
But the report released later Monday by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office said Floyd died of "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression." The manner of death was ruled homicide, but the office noted that "is not a legal determination of culpability or intent."
A preliminary autopsy report cited earlier by prosecutors said the county medical examiner's review "revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation."
"We have a chance now to give the marginalized, the demonized, the isolated, the oppressed a full share of the American dream. We have a chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country."
"How?" one might wonder. "By more statism," I'm guessing. And that always worksout well. If there's one thing modern history teaches us, it's that you can't go wrong increasing the pwoer of the State, right?
Of course, it's 2020, and Trump could have removed all the race categories from the 2020 census. He failed to do it.
Come on. He couldn't even get the citizenship question on there. That he could have done something that major is a fantasy.
Purists won't like it, but I can't stop lovin' this Basie. Play it loud!
Saint Croix said...
Of course, it's 2020, and Trump could have removed all the race categories from the 2020 census. He failed to do it.
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Racial categories have been part of the census for decades. It's how the government determines the composition of the country. How it measures the economic status of the races, etc. You know, for the Equal Opportunity crowd.
Now, why the FUCK do you think that Trump "failed" to do something, just because YOU think he should have done it?
What would removing all the racial categories have accomplished?
Do you think Big City Democrat mayors would have welcomed such an act, given that a lot of federal money paid out based on "diversity" and "equality" would suddenly disappear?
Where is the logic in that?
ARM starches his shorts over Texans wearing masks.
Meanwhile, the nation-wide covid death toll fell yesterday to 254, a number that hasn't been seen since March 24.
I encourage the idiots in Texas not to wear their masks. Makes it even less likely that Trump gets reelected. It's his idiot supporters who are killing his reelection prospects. Three cheers for idiots.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This election won't be about rhetoric it will be about performance. It will be about why the US has so dramatically under-performed in containing this virus. Infections are now well above the first peak and Texans all have to wear masks. It is a pathetic failure, and that failure is on Trump, who is an idiot (as most who have worked with him will attest).
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254 covid deaths yesterday...nationwide.....a low not seen since March 24.
SAFO.
Dad used to say something like “You know what’s in the middle of the road? A yellow stripe”.
wild chicken said...
Did he cover the 1994 "Biden" Crime Bill? Was that part of the systemic racism?"
Hey, what was wrong with that? Is the GOP going to discredit tough-on-crime measures just to git Biden?
I suppose were going to embrace busing now, too? Just because Biden opposed it at some point?
This gotcha game is risky.
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The point was.....Biden was tough on crime, ERGO he was tough on black crime....crime he now wishes to excuse. It's the criminal law that's racist, doncha see...
A real MD is encouraged to jump in here and correct whatever needs correction.
Actually, what we really need are those body cam videos that are still being concealed by Keith X Ellison, Black Muslim prosecutor/ AG.
I wonder what they show? Just like newspaper stories that omit the race of the perp, this suggests that the videos are important. I watch the Murder Channel (Discovery ID) and my favorite show is on Wednesday night. It is a series of surveillance videos and body cam videos that shows how they are used to solve crimes.
I suspect that Keith X Ellison knows that the body cam videos from those cops show. I can only hope that they don't go the way of Epstein's stuff from his mansion.
But the two autopsy reports differed on exactly how the man died.
I have a chapter in my book about how medical examiners lie. And why.
Blogger wholelottasplainin' said...
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...254 covid deaths yesterday...nationwide.....a low not seen since March 24. 7/5/20, 2:15 PM
"wholelottaspainin" maybe this helps?
Yale: 28% of US Covid-19 Deaths Being Misdiagnosed
Eric Worrall / 14 hours ago
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/07/04/yale-28-of-us-covid-19-deaths-being-misdiagnosed/
"It survived the ravages of the Civil War, the dogs of Bull Connor, the assassination of Martin Luther King and more than 200 years of systemic racism,"
and 2 terms of the 1st Black president.
Trump campaign should a field day juxtaposing Biden's legacy with his current tack. Bring back some of Kamala Harris skewering him.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
I encourage the idiots in Texas not to wear their masks. Makes it even less likely that Trump gets reelected. It's his idiot supporters who are killing his reelection prospects. Three cheers for idiots.
*************
Once again, ARM wishes death on those he disagrees with.
Classy.
Beijing Boy: "I encourage the idiots in Texas not to wear their masks. Makes it even less likely that Trump gets reelected. It's his idiot supporters who are killing his reelection prospects."
LOLOLOLOLOL
Dr Weevil said...
It does appear that countries with massive numbers of subway-commuters and international travelers are more vulnerable. Of course, if a few Democratic governors and mayors hadn't slaughtered tens of thousands of nursing-home residents by sending infected patients to them, we would be doing a lot better. But that's somehow Trump's fault.
Also I'm not aware that any other country has banned or discouraged the use of hydroxychloroquine regimens, which could have halved US deaths, as shown in the recently reported, gold-standard, peer-reviewed Henry Ford study.
But that's on PDT too, I guess, because if he's for apple pie and babies and oxygen, the D Machine has gotta be against.
@BleachBit - I discount the “independent” autopsy because it’s purpose, most likely, is to allow Benjamin Crump to sue the city/county for wrongful death. If not him, then still someone is paying for it, and their motives need examination. They probably won’t outright lie. Maybe. But between that and telling the absolute truth can be fairly large. Keep in mind that Crump likely knew, or at least should have known, that the prosecution in the George Zimmerman case appears to have deliberately put the wrong woman on the stand as Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend. The actual GF apparently refused to testify, and her cousin testified instead. Crump didn’t care - even though Zimmerman was obviously innocent, he still got a significant settlement from the HOA for Martin’s family.
“ I have a chapter in my book about how medical examiners lie. And why.”
War Stories? Not there yet in that book. Just got into private practice. Do you remember which chapter it was in?
By the time he dies his sister Souljah moment, it will be too late.
Do you remember which chapter it was in?
I think there is a chapter about screwups. Not the ones about me screwing up. That's half the book.
Trump is your last hope for avoiding civil war
Because if Biden wins, then it means the tactics used by the Left-- violence, terrorism, intimidation, has worked.
And what works will be copied by the other side to regain power. It won't succeed though because the media is not on the side of the far right.
But that fact won't stop the civil war.
Hillary Clinton sustained two defeats in 2016. The obvious one was losing the presidency to Donald Trump. But more consequentially she lost the Democratic Party to its radical wing. President Joe is its titular head only, simply prisoner in a tower.
“ I think there is a chapter about screwups. Not the ones about me screwing up. That's half the book”
To be charitable, I am almost halfway through the book, and there were some screwups, but few by you. You actually seem to be more the hero than the villain, at least so far. If you ever get back up here, and aren’t social distancing, or at least overly much, I do have some screwups that involved my partner to relate.
Overall, she likes docs more than most, but they have to treat her with respect. We ended up at an eye mill in Missoula recently, and she took an immediate dislike to the young punk Ophthalmologist she ended up with. And, no doubt, the feelings were reciprocated. Then, we went to a guy who did the cataracts in both eyes for the 85 year old mother of a good friend in Spokane. He has 30 of experience (versus <10 for the guy in Missoula). Immediate rapport. The first guy told her to get the swelling down and come back in a month to see if they could schedule surgery. The second one told her how to do it, prescribed medications, and a regime, and scheduled surgery for maybe 3 weeks from now.
Saint Croix said...
Of course, it's 2020, and Trump could have removed all the race categories from the 2020 census. He failed to do it.
Maybe you're too young to remember the controversy over the 2020 Census.
The basic premise of Systemic Racism is that any difference in outcomes between racial groups is proof of systemic racism. No overt racism has to exist. This same logic has been used by some people to claim that Math is Racist, and STEM education supports White Male Supremacy. They never apply this logic to professional sports.
BTW, Trump did denounce the Neo-Nazis at Charlottesville. You have to read or listen to the whole thing. The continued parroting of the falsehood that he didn't is a disgrace.
So, Professor, it seems the ad writes itself. Open with blurb from the 4th of July speech. Then Trump points out that Biden has had almost 50 years to work on fixing systemic racism, which is the new global warming/climate change form of rhetoric. Big words, little action. Then you cut to a clip of the debate when Kamala Harris said Joe Biden was against busing and integration, basically calling him a racist. Slow-mo image of a mike drop. Boom.
@BleachBit - I discount the “independent” autopsy
Let me clarify just a little. An “independent” autopsy is the furthest thing from independent. It is only independent from the autopsy by the state. Invariably the slant on an “independent” autopsy depends on who is paying for it. The pathologists performing them are nothing more than hired guns with medical degrees. Dr K talks about insurance company contracted expert witnesses in his book. Nothing different here. So, color me cynical when the “independent” autopsy found death by strangulation, when the official one did not. Before we can take it seriously, we need to know who paid for it.
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