1) Ugly troll of Hillary Clinton:
2) McConnell says the new Supreme Court justice will be a "political asset." And we thought the judiciary was to be politically neutral.
3) Racist Jared Kushner says blacks "have to want to be successful:"
Amy Coney Barrett, confirmed. Happy Birthday, @HillaryClinton!
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 27, 2020
2) McConnell says the new Supreme Court justice will be a "political asset." And we thought the judiciary was to be politically neutral.
McConnell: Newly confirmed SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett will be a "political asset" for GOP candidates pic.twitter.com/0lKwHsqQsU
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 27, 2020
3) Racist Jared Kushner says blacks "have to want to be successful:"
Jared Kushner on the Black community: "President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than that they want to be successful." pic.twitter.com/SX9vWiAfag
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 26, 2020
David - Kushner was supporting the second of two fundamentally different ways of promoting black achievement:
ReplyDelete-- Give them stuff
-- Motivate them to take advantage of opportunities
There are arguments for and against both of these approaches. People who favor one or the other may be wrong, but they're not racists.
Cheers
David - did you listen to your link regarding McConnell? Both he and the questioner were discussing the political impact of Barrett's confirmation. They were not at all addressing the political impact of her rulings.
ReplyDeleteCheers
David, McConnell said
ReplyDelete"I think this nominee will be a political asset for our candidates around the country."
We both know what he meant.
DiC wrote:
ReplyDelete"Motivate them to take advantage of opportunities"
That's exactly the racist part, thank you -- treating them like puppies who get a treat if they roll over.
It's saying they don't already want to take advantage of opportunities on their own.
David - you're pulling an interpretation of McConnell's comment out of your tuchus. The interview could not be more clear that both are speaking about the political impact of the confirmation.
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole set of policy choices that can be evaluated in terms of promoting black self-reliance. Good policies are:
-- School choice - allows children to switch to more effective schools
-- Enterprise zones - create jobs in the inner city
-- Law enforcement - encourage businesses in the inner city
-- Low corporate income tax - encourage US and foreign companies to establish operations in the US, including the inner city.
-- Criminal justice reform - give a second chance to prisoners
-- Discourage illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants take jobs away from blacks, especially entry level jobs
Then, there are policy choices that discourage black independence
-- Welfare payments that exceed earned income
-- High minimum wage levels -- discourage hiring black youngsters
-- Labor laws that make it difficult to terminate employees - discourage hiring black youngsters.
IMHO some Democrats oppose these laws because they don't want blacks to be self-reliant. They want blacks to be subservient to government handouts, because then they'll keep voting Democratic.
Cheers
Getting interesting.
ReplyDeleteTotal vote in 2016 was 129 million.
For 2020 71 million votes cast so far. 48 million by mail and 23 million in person.
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
David in Cal writes:
ReplyDelete"Kushner was supporting the second of two fundamentally different ways of promoting black achievement:
-- Give them stuff
-- Motivate them to take advantage of opportunities"
Kushner (who was a mediocre student in high school) got his start by his billionaire daddy buying him a spot at Harvard for $2.5 million and then handing him (as a student) $10 million to invest in Somerville real estate. At age 19.
It's supremely ironic that you are nodding along here with Kushner as he lectures black people about how "being given stuff" destroys their work ethic and makes them lazy and unmotivated.
Why is "being given stuff" OK for white kids with billionaire daddys, like Jared Kushner and Donald Trump? Why is it only black people who need to be lectured about the moral perils of getting a handout?
Still too close to call.
ReplyDeletehttp://rabett.blogspot.com
David - Your comment brings race into something that's actually about wealth. Some wealthy parents of any race give their children lots of stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's not useful to try to analyze whether one approach is racist. A better way to think about this is:
Which approach is more effective at actually helping the people we both want to help?
The "give them stuff" approach produced a 50% real unemployment rate for black youths in 2016. We can and should do better.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/jul/13/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-says-real-unemployment-rate-african/
Cheers
Trumps grasp of reality is not getting any better. Here is one of his latest tweets where he suggests that the media is only talking about the worsening coronavirus outbreak to harm him.
ReplyDeleteCovid, Covid, Covid is the unified chant of the Fake News Lamestream Media. They will talk about nothing else until November 4th., when the Election will be (hopefully!) over. Then the talk will be how low the death rate is, plenty of hospital rooms, & many tests of young people.
I'm sure the frontline hospital staff and bereaved families will take comfort from him suggesting it's all fake news. His conduct and misinformation during this pandemic has almost certainly cost thousands of lives.
Trump is so pathetic. In El Paso they're setting up field hospitals in tents and their Convention Center. Utah hospitals are discussing plans to ratio ICU care.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/25/coronavirus-cases-hospitalizations-surge/
Trump is a sociopathic monster. Literally. He - does - not - care.
J.D. - Trump made a prediction of media behavior. He was not talking about the disease itself. His theory is that a biased media is now giving undue attention to covid in order to help Biden win the election. In a month or two we'll find out if his prediction turns out to be accurate.
ReplyDeletecheers
Trump is a whining baby. He has plenty of (right-wing) media on his side. Trump is going to lose, not because of media bias, but because he is a terrible person and has created nothing but destruction, and everyone now knows it.
ReplyDeleteHow much attention should the media give to a pandemic that has killed > 250,000 Americans and is now infecting 1 in 4400 Americans EVERY DAY?
David in Cal is *still* perfectly happy to see Jared Kushner -- who was given millions in handouts by his daddy -- lecturing black people about the need to work hard and not ask others for help.
ReplyDeleteThat's American conservatism in a nutshell. White people deserve everything they're given and black people deserve nothing.
David - How much attention should be paid to the pandemic? Not much. Based on Biden's public statements, he would have handled it worse than Trump did, but I don't consider that a major factor in voting for Trump. :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Trump didn't create the pandemic. He said a lot of ignorant things, but his actions were as good as or better than Biden's would have been.
Cheers
Not much attention to the worst pandemic in a century? Sure David.
ReplyDeleteTrump didn't create the pandemic. But he said it was an attack worse than Pearl Harbor. He said the pandemic made him a "wartime president." If so the Japanese would have already overrun America and we'd all be lining up at gunpoint, being marched into prison stockades.
I suspect Biden would have listened to scientists, and followed their advice. I think he would have cared. He wouldn't have called scientists "idiots." He would have kept saying we're rounding the curve when we weren't. This puts him light years ahead of Trump.
ReplyDeleteBiden tweet 10/25/19: "We are not prepared for a pandemic."
https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1187829299207954437?lang=en
DiC: I don't know how anyone could read that tweet, or the vast majority of Trump's tweets and attempt to defend them. Or for that matter defend 99% of his behaviour.
ReplyDeleteHe gets a bad press on his handling of the pandemic because it's been a train wreck. In February he said it was a Democrat hoax. Now he tries to say he is the only one who took it seriously. This is from an article about one of his deranged tweets a couple of days ago,
Tired from working long shifts during the pandemic? Feeling overwhelmed by seeing suffering and death from Covid-19? Worried about catching the Covid-19 coronavirus yourself in the clinics and hospitals that you are working in and then potentially bringing the virus back to your families? Frustrated by the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) like N95 face masks? Hungry because you’ve had to skip meals to care for patients? Well, doctors, don’t despair, here’s something that may turn your frown upside down. And in this case, upside down means 360 degrees around.
President Donald Trump is now suggesting that you (if you are a doctor) may be helping inflate the Covid-19 death count in order to, drum roll please, make more money. Isn’t that what you wanted hear during this particularly tough time?
Nothing is ever his fault. Doctors are pretending people are dying of covid-19 for monetary gain, or the "lamestream media" are making it up or its because they are testing too much. He lives in a fantasy world where everyone but him is on the make or incompetent.
Have you ever considered that the reason he gets a bad press is because he's a pathological liar who would rather gaslight people to try and convince them he's doing a perfect job rather than actually attempt to act like a rational person?
As for "In a month or two we'll find out", November 4th is next week and unless there's a miracle hospital admissions will still be at crisis point in a number of hospitals, people will still be dying, medical staff will still be going thru hell and part of that will be down to Trump and his indifensible behavior.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/10/27/trump-claims-doctors-overcounting-covid-19-coronavirus-deaths-to-make-more-money/#210fd1636cb9
It's not just Jared Kushner who benefits from being born into a wealthy family. We're in the midst of "the great wealth transfer" as baby boomers die off.
ReplyDeleteOnly about 3% of the 36-68 trillion dollar transfer will pass down through black families, even though they make up 13% of the population.
The disparity is a direct result of the systemic racism that has continued long after slavery was abolished. The rich stay rich, everyone else is just not motivated enough.
Folk like DiC remain willfully blind to their privilege while suggesting those other folk just need to be more motivated.
David - How much attention should be paid to the pandemic? Not much. Based on Biden's public statements, he would have handled it worse than Trump did, but I don't consider that a major factor in voting for Trump. :)
ReplyDeleteNo wonder you you are a devoted Trump fan. You like to gaslight as well. Biden tweeted last year that Trump wasn't prepared for a pandemic. He has also set a good example.
Compare that to Trump. Apart from his appalling statements and incompetence he's been probably the countries leading superspreader. How many people do you think have contracted covid after attending his rallies without wearing masks and not socially distanced? How many others have they spread it to? How many people have thought it OK not to take preventative measures because they see the President not bothering? Even after Herman Cain died after attending one of his rallies he didn't see sense. How does that compare with Biden's behaviour? Let's see you try and defend that. You normally just change the subject.
David - Trump DID listen to the scientists. He followed every recommendation made by Dr. Fauci.
ReplyDeleteNo, David, Trump did not follow every recommendation by Fauci. By July he had pushed him aside, reportedly, I read once, because he was jealous Fauci was getting so much television time. Recently he called him an "idiot."
ReplyDeleteHere you go:
"Fauci is sidelined by the White House as he steps up blunt talk on pandemic -- Trump hasn’t consulted with the scientist since early June, telling Hannity ‘he’s ‘a nice man but he’s made a lot of mistakes.’"
WaPo 6/11/20
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/11/fauci-trump-coronavirus/
JD, just imagine if Trump loses. This article speculates that he may stop caring about the pandemic even less than he already does, and spend all his time tweeting and playing golf:
ReplyDelete"‘I’m Absolutely Expecting Him to Do Something Weird’: How Trump Could End His Presidency,"
Politico 10/28/20
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/28/trump-wild-transition-433025
DiC: Do you think he was following Fauchi's advice when he was telling people to take hydroxychloroquine, saying "what have you got to lose"?. If so why wouldn't he let Fauchi give an opinion to the press when asked? Anyway Trump sidelined Fauchi months ago. This is the same Fauchi who you recommended at the start of the pandemic but now has to have a security guard because of the way he was demonized by conservative media. He's now got a radiologist advising him rather than the world's foremost virologist because he tells him what he wants to hear.
ReplyDeleteDavid in Cal said...
ReplyDeleteDavid - Your comment brings race into something that's actually about wealth. Some wealthy parents of any race give their children lots of stuff.
It's not useful to try to analyze whether one approach is racist. A better way to think about this is:
It is useful to call out racism.
Kushner's comment was racist, and frankly, I think yours was too. Both imply that blacks are inherently less motivated than...whites, hence less successful, and they need to be...trained or rewarded to be more motivated. It's ugly.
D.A.,
ReplyDeletethat he may stop caring about the pandemic even less than he already does, and spend all his time tweeting and playing golf:
Would anyone notice a difference? I know what you mean but my main worry is what happens if he doesn't accept defeat. He didn't even accept the result last time when he won. He claimed his victory would have been bigger if not for voter fraud.
It is a lot easier to turn $1 million into $2 million dollars than it is to turn $1 into $2.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the basic reason why whites are richer is not because they are more intelligent or capable but because it is easier for them to gain access to capital.
EM: Interesting observation.
ReplyDeleteDavid - American blacks are not inherently less motivated. They're less motivated (on average) because of Democratic policies. Nigerian immigrants do as well as whites. Blacks raised in the US lag behind.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the success of the Nigerian immigrants shows that racism isn't the problem.
Cheers
David "This article speculates that he may stop caring about the pandemic even less than he already does, and spend all his time tweeting and playing golf"
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the optimistic version. In the pessimistc one he deliberately burns USA to the ground as revenge for not reelecting him.
DiC: Nigerian immigrants do as well as whites. Blacks raised in the US lag behind. The success of the Nigerian immigrants shows that racism isn't the problem.
ReplyDelete59% of foreign-born blacks from Nigeria come to the USA with a bachelor’s or advanced degree, or come on a student visa to obtain a bachelor’s or advanced degree. This is a self selecting group of upwardly mobile people.
The fact that Nigerians have better opportunities than those born in American is the clearest example that systemic racism is exactly the problem. Nobody is looking for a handout like Kushner got. People just want a level playing field.
Kushner inherited his wealth from his dad. His father also inherited his wealth. His grandfather was able to obtain wealth by starting a business fueled by the GI bill. A racially discriminatory bill that increased racial wealth disparities.
ReplyDeleteKushner is the benefactor of affirmative action for whites, but imagines that he and hisi kind are just more motivated.
Layzej - People already have a level playing field. Activists are looking for a playing field tilted toward blacks. Some examples:
ReplyDelete-- Colleges accept black applicants with far less qualifications than whites or Asians
-- Affirmative action in hiring means that blacks get preference. E.g, I was once ordered to hire a black person for an actuarial opening.
-- Actuarial societies actively recruit blacks into the actuarial profession.
-- The State of California is investigating giving money to blacks based on a theory of slavery reparations.
-- A friend who is an eminent Professor at Northwestern U told me that any accusation by a black of something offensive at his university is always upheld regardless of the facts.
The biggest area of potential advancement is to educate people in the inner cities so that they're capable of taking advantage of all the opportunities. That's why school choice can be so helpful. It gives inner city children a way to escape failing schools.
Cheers
P.S. Please don't misread my comment to mean I'm opposed to these things. I am simply describing reality.
David in Cal said...
ReplyDeleteDavid - you're pulling an interpretation of McConnell's comment out of your tuchus.
David, I've thought more about your interpretation of McConnell's comment about Barrett as a "political asset" for campaigners and I think you're right in what he meant. (Mostly. Of course, he and they and the rest of the world are assuming she votes conservative, so in that sense she's an asset.)
PS: Nice word choice of "tuchus." :-}
DiC: People already have a level playing field. ... I am simply describing reality.
ReplyDeleteThat is clearly not true. Wealth in the USA is concentrated among white folks and in white neighborhoods. This concentration of wealth is the direct result of racist laws. It is foolish to think that this doesn't have an impact. It's foolish to think that Kushner's current circumstances are not a result of his grandfather benefiting from those racist laws.
Kushner is not "just more motivated". He's been handed a royal flush, and some of those cards were taken right from the hands of those he's now calling lazy.
Layzej - your excuses may have some validity, but they ignore real cultural factors. One is the idea that doing well in school is discouraged because it's "acting white". My cousin's half-black son David had to cope with this in school. Fortunately, David is big, strong guy who could calmly deal with disapproving classmates. His younger sister was not so fortunate. This was a real problem for her.
ReplyDeleteDavid Appell might say that criticizing black American culture is automatically racist. All cultures are equally valid, according to many liberals. I disagree with that POV.
Cheers
Not excuses. I am simply describing reality. If you ignore reality, you will remain ignorant.
ReplyDeleteI never wrote that criticizing black culture is automatically racist. Please support your claim with a link or withdraw it.
ReplyDelete