Posts Made By: David Cotterell

I found this anonymously written piece which sums up why bringing up the BLM/Antifa riots as some sort of weird defense of the MAGA rioters is a false equivalency.

"You need to stop with the BLM/MAGAt false equivalence.

Make no mistake, the BLM folks shouldn't have destroyed property--that's wrong. And you'll find precious few defending it; and when they do it's a "Well, it was wrong but I understand why" kind of defense.

BLM: Has a legitimate grievance, whose actual existence is trivially proven. To wit: Whole lotta black people getting shot with very little provocation, and a whole lot of white people getting away with the same thing but not getting shot. In response to their voices not being heard, they burned down a donut shop or two and a police station. In response the government sent out paramilitary/LE folks with no identification to scoop them into vans.

MAGAts: Do not have a legitimate grievance. There is exactly zero evidence of large-scale voter fraud. To date, they have had over 60 cases laughed out of court. Not one of those cases presented evidence other than "I heard something might have happened," "I don't understand Benford's Law," "I watched them count the votes and people were mean to me," "I was confused that so many of the mail in ballots, which Trump said were bad, were for Democrats." After numerous recounts (hand and machine) and audits with signature matching, all we got was even more votes for Biden, plus three dudes in PA who tried to use the identities of dead people to vote...for Trump. The states all certified their results, and according to the Constitution, which MAGAts like to masturbate to (although just the Second Amendment, and not the bit about the regulated militias), that was the end of it. Way more electoral and popular votes for Biden. Recounted, audited, and proved. End of story. But MAGAts' orange god told them they would win, and so they threw a gigantic tantrum and stormed a building which, until now most people assumed was the sort of place that if you stormed it you would be shot, and the cops let them right on in. They went it with an obvious motive to put an end to a constitutionally-prescribed process that ensure orderly transition of government, and given their stash of zip ties, were hell bent on kidnapping folks.  Good jerb, MAGAts.

So BLM broke the law and upset civil order because they were upset at time after time being patted on the head and told their very real grievances aren't important. MAGAts breached the heart of US government and attempted to overthrow it, because they were sad that they lost. This is sedition. BLM is mad that the laws are not being applied fairly to them, MAGAts are mad because laws are being applied fairly.


Dave

Hi, guys!!  What's happening in this thread?

As we stumble forward into 2021, please enjoy and use this handy template to improve the level of discourse here in the Politics Forum.

My post from a couple of weeks ago still stands:

"About antifa people disguising themselves as Trump supporters and leading/influencing the charge into the Capitol building:

Hundreds of the trespassers have and will be arrested.  The internet will work its magic on each and every one of these people.  Their Tweet history, Facebook, Parler, Liker and every other social media trail will be examined with a fine tooth comb.  Neighbours interviewed, employers revealed, parents and relatives questioned.  Everything about them will be found out and posted on the internet. 

If there is an Antifa or equivalent in the arrested group it will come out, the person will be named and shamed.

  All we have to do is sit and wait for the news.  May take a few days or weeks....

Thus far all the folks arrested and/or photographed, like desk boy, lectern guy, chest-hair Chewbacca man and many others have received the above scrutiny and all have been gloriously, unabashedly Trump supporters.

Wanna bet on how many Antifa will be among those caught?

And don't bother with the old "the left media will suppress the information".... If there were even one antifa or equivalent on the list the right-leaning media, specifically Parler, will be screaming bloody murder about it."


Dave

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Rich and Greg see Russell's quote as validation for only their side of the argument.

Therefore missing the point entirely.

Dave

Hmmm.  Lemme try this.  Russell said "If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it."

So, if someone offered me or any other lefty here this idea which some call a fact - that the fiscal policy known as 'trickle down' works and the rich recipients of these tax breaks will pour the money back into higher wages, safer working conditions, better pollution control or what have you - I would immediately scrutinize this and find very little evidence of this being true and I will refuse to believe it. 

And if someone offered you and Greg or any other conservative here this idea which some call a fact - that the fiscal policy known as 'trickle-down' doesn't work and hasn't worked for the middle classes and the poor for nearly 50 years - you would immediately scrutinize this and find very little evidence of this being true and you will refuse to believe it..

Your instincts tell you that if you make rich people richer, through tax breaks and other corporate financial perks, they will pour the extra $ back into their businesses while my instincts tell me that if you make rich people richer, through tax breaks and other corporate perks, they will just keep the money or buy more businesses or buy more personal luxury...

The second half of the Russell quote is a mirror of the first and I don't think I need to go into detail about it. 

Our reactions, Conservative or Liberal, to opinions/facts/policies which strike against our respective core beliefs ARE EXACTLY THE SAME.  And we each create our myths accordingly....

What makes me sad is that these core beliefs are so very much further apart than they were half a century ago....

Dave

"People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people is a secondary consideration." ~Bertrand Russell

Again, applies to everyone here.....

Dave

Here are some things.......

1. Executive order to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid
2. Memorandum reversing the Trump administration's "Mexico City Policy" 
3. Executive order elevating climate change as a national security concern
4. Executive order directing the phase-out of private prisons by not renewing contracts from the Department of Justice.
5. Memorandum condemning racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in response to the coronavirus pandemic,
6. Memorandum directing agencies to mitigate racial bias in federal housing policies.
7. Executive order reversing the Trump administration policy to ban transgender people from serving in the military.
8. Executive order committing to investing in American companies and closing loopholes "that allow companies to offshore production and jobs while still qualifying for domestic preferences."
9. Executive order restoring collective bargaining power for federal employees, and directing the Office of Personnel Management to provide recommendations for achieving a $15 minimum wage for federal workers.
10. Executive order promoting assistance from federal agencies to individuals, families and small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
11. Executive order to identify supplies and accelerate the production of supplies needed to respond to the coronavirus pandemic
12. Executive order stating support for reopening schools
13. Executive order calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue guidelines on COVID-19 for workplaces and establish an enforcement program for violations that put workers at risk.
14. Executive order to require mask-wearing on certain modes of transportation and for international travelers to the U.S. to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test before traveling.
15. Executive order encouraging acceleration of the production of treatments for the coronavirus and expansion of access to therapies.
16. Executive order establishing a COVID-19 testing board to increase test supply and bring manufacturing of tests to the U.S.
17. Executive order directing the government to examine and prevent inequities in health care and services for communities of color and other marginalized groups, establishing within Health and Human Services a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
18. Executive order rescinding Trump's 1776 Commission, a panel Trump established as a response to the New York Times' 1619 Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection that focused on America's history with slavery.
19.  Executive order revoking Trump's plan to exclude noncitizens from the census.
20. Executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination in the federal government based on sexual orientation and gender identity
21. Executive order creating a COVID-19 response coordinator who will report directly to the president.
22. Executive order revoking Trump's 2017 Interior Enforcement Executive Order, which broadened the categories of undocumented immigrants subject for removal, restarted the Secure Communities program and supported the federal 287(g) deportation program.
23. Executive order launching a government-wide initiative directing every federal agency to review its state of racial equity and deliver an action plan within 200 days to address any disparities in policies and programs.
24. Executive order extending the pause on student loan payments and nationwide restrictions on evictions and foreclosures.
25. Executive order canceling the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico
26. Proclamation ending construction of Trump's signature wall on the U.S.-Mexican border 
27. Proclamation reversing Trump's ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries.
28. Memorandum to strengthen Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals for certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

I might have missed a couple.. 

Soooooo... Biden has gotten right down to work.....  I'm not sure 'bragging'  about the above list is what is necessary by the libs here...  This is all stuff expected to happen...

Dave

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

I understand that Jolting Joe is going to make sure coal miners and oil drillers get good union dues paying jobs! I can hear Loretta Lynn singing now, "I was born a solar paneling daughter, right here in Butcher Hollow." Aw, pick it Slim!!

For the record, I'm one tree-hugging liberal who thinks pipelines are the least evil of the transportation-of-oil methodologies.

As much as there will be a gradual weaning from oil there will still be oil travelling from field to refinery in both our countries.  The weaning in a practical sense is going to take decades....

In the meantime we don't need any more of this horror....Lac Megantic

Dave