US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2180

On August 09 2015 10:11 cLutZ wrote:


There were a lot of people debating "PC" earlier. The Black Lives Matter movement is a perfect example of why PC has nothing to do with respect or being an asshole. Those people are clearly assholes and/or not showing respect, but calling them on it is not PC, but what they are doing is PC. Moreover, if you point to stats/etc that don't back up their and/or contradict their movement, that is also not PC. That its a one way street is a hallmark of PC-ness.

I'd contrast that with something like "Gamergate" (which I don't know much about substantively), where media basically wholeheartedly accepted the narrative of one side, and probably due to ignorance of the internet, basically smeared the whole movement due to a few Twitter threats and a doxxing. Things that happen to people like Thorin, Liquid112, etc all the time, and they take steps to avoid it (which these victims did not, and possibly intentionally did not).

On August 09 2015 09:34 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
So they disrupt the one candidate who marched with MLK, protested segregated housing?

Donald Trump's campaign said Saturday it has fired top political adviser Roger Stone -- who promptly denied being let go and insisted he had quit.

Stone's disassociation from the Trump operation highlights the campaign's seeming lack of veteran political advisers, even as the 2016 season is ramping up in earnest. And the dispute opens a window into two different factions of the campaign: one side that wants to maintain Trump's high visibility by capitalizing on his public feuds and bombastic rhetoric, and another that wants to pull the candidate toward more disciplined political strategy.

"Mr. Trump fired Roger Stone last night. We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again," a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

Stone, however, told CNN that he "categorically denies" being fired, and provided what he said was his resignation letter.

"Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message. With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign," the letter to Trump says.

Stone added: "I care about you as a friend and wish you well. Be assured I will continue to be vocal and active in the national debate to ensure our nation does not again turn to the failed and distrusted Bush/Clinton families."

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A yellow sludge spilling from a shuttered gold mine into a southwestern Colorado river has reached northern New Mexico, a state official said Saturday.

The plume arrived in the city of Aztec on Friday night and Farmington on Saturday morning, San Juan County Emergency Management Director Don Cooper said.

Officials in both cities shut down the river's access to water treatment plants and say the communities have a 90-day supply of water and other water sources to draw from.

"There's not a lot we can do. We can keep people away (from the river) and keep testing," Cooper said. "We still don't know how bad it is."

About 1 million gallons of wastewater from Colorado's Gold King Mine began spilling into the Animas River on Wednesday when a cleanup crew supervised by the Environmental Protection Agency accidentally breached a debris dam that had formed inside the mine.

The mine has been inactive since 1923.

No health hazard has been detected, but tests were being analyzed. Federal officials say the spill contains heavy metals including lead and arsenic.

The EPA planned to release additional information Saturday afternoon.

In addition to New Mexico, wastewater from the mine was also inching toward Utah.

On August 09 2015 09:34 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
So they disrupt the one candidate who marched with MLK, protested segregated housing?

On August 09 2015 12:49 darthfoley wrote:


While I agree that Bernie has long been on the right side of the civil rights fight, this argument is kinda trivial and I am starting to see why black people get frustrated when they hear that response.

You’re White and Marched With Dr. King: So What?

I think this is well worth a read, and even if you don't particularly agree with the conclusions it draws, I think it gives a much more accurate perspective of some of the BLM people-- and the frustration with the 1960's argument... it isn't the 1960s anymore.

I do think that Bernie needs to seriously talk about racial injustice as an issue separate to economic equality. Sandra Bland was college educated, Christian Taylor (killed yesterday) was a college football player. It's a lot more systematic than just not being paid enough, or not getting to college-- though that's definitely part of it.

On August 09 2015 09:26 Eskendereya wrote:


Poor Bernie Sanders.

On August 09 2015 13:38 Shiragaku wrote:
As annoying as these protesters may be to some people, I am pretty irked when I hear Bernie supporters speaking to these issues and protesters as if they should bow down to Bernie for seemingly being on their side. The memories of the Paul fanboys lecturing racial minorities of how they should bow down to the great Paul because he also opposed excessive use of power.

On August 09 2015 13:38 Shiragaku wrote:
As annoying as these protesters may be to some people, I am pretty irked when I hear Bernie supporters speaking to these issues and protesters as if they should bow down to Bernie for seemingly being on their side. The memories of the Paul fanboys lecturing racial minorities of how they should bow down to the great Paul because he also opposed excessive use of power. This kind of condescension is very similar to the sudden shift in attitude when the civil rights movement went from focusing on the barbaric South to the problems in the North which is where the real controversy started
I know some people here went "WTF, this guy marched with MLK and fought against segregation" but so did Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (to a small extent)

On August 09 2015 13:51 Deathstar wrote:
Why is Bernie being targetted by BLM? These "protestors" should go after Hillary who's probably going to be the nominee and can implement change. Why Bernie?

On August 09 2015 14:21 Yoav wrote:


Because they're not BLM.

Seriously... famously unethical person in race against famously stand-up, even naive, guy, and all of a sudden protesters out of nowhere keeps disrupting his speeches saying he's a racist, despite his better racial record than anyone else in the race. I mean, yeah, maybe people in the movement are that stupid. But I doubt it.

On August 09 2015 14:38 WolfintheSheep wrote:

Ah, the classic "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

I don't know why people hold "protest" groups in such high regard, no matter what their cause is. Once they get large enough, there will be plenty of idiots under the banner.

And the longer they've existed for, the more their MOs will generally devolve into just being loud and disruptive. Partly because most have goals that will never be met in short time spans and they get collectively angrier about that, and partly because being loud and disruptive gets you a lot more attention than reaching out to the people who can assist your cause does.