Thoughtful Analysis on the Current Unrest: The Social Contract is Broken

In the 18 minute video shown below, Trevor Noah explains how the racial situation between the police and blacks in America can be seen. In essence, Noah argues that the contract that black Americans live by is being violated each time the police abuse their power. His arguments may or may not be persuasive to everyone, but at least the facts and logic he relies on is clear. And, it helps personal understanding to see complicated issues from multiple points of view. This is an interesting point of view.

TrevNo starts his comments by raising the encounter between Amy Cooper, a white woman, in a city park with her unleashed dog. Christian Cooper, a black man, asked her to leash her dog. That was the rule in the park. Amy called the cops and falsely told them there was a black man threatening her and her dog. Later, she apologized. She lost both her dog and her job over the incident. The incident is shown on this 1 minute 40 second cell phone video. Noah discusses the relevance of this incident at the beginning of his video segment.

White Privilege / Race Baiting

HOW IRONIC

There are those who believe that White Privilege is not a "thing", a phony term that means nothing, but to injure white people.

Often though the same people who argue thus will themselves use the term Race Baiting, which they consider a real term, as opposed to a phony term. 

YET - who uses the term Race Baiting?

A couple of perspectives:

If you're confused about what race-baiting is, here's a bit of context

https://splinternews.com/if-youre-confused-about-what-race-baiting-is-heres-a-b-1793848630

NOTE:

Right-wing outlets like the Drudge Report, Fox News and the National Review use the term “race-baiting” frequently and liberally. Drudge conveniently catalogs its use of the term for its readers.

WHERE DOES RACE-BAITING COME FROM?

In the 2010s, conservative politicians and political commentators began appropriating the term race-baiting to refer to minority activists who they believed were provoking racial hatred against white people

https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/race-baiting/

SO, THIS PICTURE BELOW - is it an example of White Privilege or an example of Race Baiting?

An Opinion from a Black Person

The info sources I sometimes rely on include content from comedians. Just because they are comedians does not mean they are wrong. This 5 minute video is one of the very best pleas I have ever heard from a black person, Amber Ruffin, to try to explain the black experience with police in America.

If she is a liar, she has me completely fooled. Completely. If she doesn't have me fooled, then WTF?




So, the question here is simple: Is Amber a liar?

Channel Note: Germaine II Rises from the Grimpen Mire

 

I set up a 2nd Disqus account to see if I can transition from Germaine to Germaine II. My first account was hacked and I lost all of my upvotes, about 22,000 at the time. On the Disqus platform, loss of upvotes means loss of reputation. In turn, that means loss of ability to comment on other sites unless a moderator adds the damaged user as a trusted user. Since most Mods on most sites won't whitelist me, that makes the entire Disqus platform basically useless outside of my own blog.

From what I can tell, this problem is at least 5 years old and apparently caused by hackers who don't like whoever they attack. I think I was attacked and lost my upvotes about 6 months ago. People including me have complained repeatedly to Disqus, asking for this problem to be fixed, e.g., here and here. Disqus refuses to say when the problem will be fixed, so this crippling defect is probably permanent.

What If Trump Wins?

The Washington Monthly explores the policy consequences of a second Trump term.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2020/what-if-trump-wins/

For many people, the prospect of what might happen if Donald Trump wins a second term is too awful to contemplate. But, as we are witnessing with the coronavirus, not contemplating scenarios that have at least some chance of happening is a grave mistake. Indeed, it’s a mistake that helped elect Trump in the first place.

Ideally, the press corps would be hard at work exploring this question. Alas, it is not. In the thousands of presidential campaign stories that have been published this year, you will be hard pressed to find much reporting or informed speculation about what policies Trump might pursue if he’s reelected, or what the consequences might be if he were successful in enacting them. That’s not because such things aren’t knowable in advance. If that were the problem, political reporters wouldn’t have spent the last six months gaming out which candidates were, say, likely to win which primaries. The real reason campaign journalists don’t do this kind of work is that it’s not what they’re trained to do—and, perhaps, it’s not what most people want to read. 

We think our readers are different. So we gathered a distinguished group of area experts and beat reporters. We told them to imagine that, come November of 2020, Trump wins the Electoral College and the balance of power in Congress remains unchanged; Republicans hold the Senate and Democrats hold the House. Then, we asked them to think through the hitherto unthinkable: What will Trump aim to do, and what could he realistically get away with, if given another four years in power? —The Editors

Can The Liberal World Order Survive Another Four Years of Trump?

by Wesley K. Clark

Probably not. Here’s why.

What Would a Second Trump Term Do to the Federal Bureaucracy?

by Francis Fukuyama

An EPA stocked with climate change deniers. A Surgeon general sympathetic to anti-vaxxers. It could get grim.

How Trump Could Take Away Obamacare With a Second Term

by Julie Rovner

After packing the courts, the president’s use of executive authority will be more effective.

How Trump Would Gut the Social Safety Net With a Second Term

by Ryan LaRochelle and Luisa S. Deprez

There’s a backdoor tactic the administration would use to weaken programs that help the poor.

How Trump Could Dismantle Workers’ Rights with Another Four Years

by Rachel Cohen

In just his first term, he’s been a fairly effective union buster.

Trump’s Second Term Immigration Agenda

by Gaby Del Valle

Will anyone be allowed into America?

Can Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Survive a Second Trump Term?

by David Cole

It’s a proposition better left untested.

Why a Second Trump Term Will Not Be a Horror Movie

by Paul Glastris

Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. But if it does, we won’t be helpless.

The President's Awesome Track Record of Lies and Deceit

Disinformation: false information that is intended to mislead or deceive, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media

The Washington Post fact checkers report that as of May 29, the president had made 19,127 false or misleading statements in public. WaPo writes: "As of May 29, his 1,226th day in office, Trump had made 19,127 false or misleading claims, according to the Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement he has uttered. That’s almost 16 claims a day over the course of his presidency. So far this year, he’s averaging just over 22 claims a day, similar to the pace he set in 2019."

At that rate, the president will be close to 25,000 false and misleading statements by the end of his first term.

In his love of the lie, the president has actually created a new category of lie that crosses into the realm of actual disinformation. The WaPo fact checkers call it the Bottomless Pinocchio. This 2½ minute video explains this ground-breaking rhetorical tactic (at least in modern times in America) and how it shows the president's utter contempt for inconvenient truth and people's intelligence.[1]





Footnote:
1. On the same day, the WaPo published an opinion piece about an attack lie that the president launched against the mayor of D.C. regarding handling of unrest in D.C. The president falsely claimed in another of his toxic Tweets that D.C. mayor Muriel E. Bowser refused to provide help to the Secret Service. WaPo writes of the Tweets:

"Praising the U.S. Secret Service for their handling of protests at the White House, Trump tweeted that Bowser “wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved,” quoted an unnamed person as saying it’s “Not their job,” and ended the tweet with a sarcastic “Nice!”  

Whether Trump’s unnamed person exists is unknown. What is clear, however, is that Trump’s accusation against Bowser and the police force was indisputably false. In fact, Trump’s lie was exposed the moment it left his mouth. 

Led by D.C. police Chief Peter Newsham, and with Bowser’s knowledge and consent, the city’s police had already joined with the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement authorities to deal with White House and public demonstrations — as have D.C. mayors and police chiefs in the past.  

In a news conference with Bowser, Newsham said he provided Secret Service officers with equipment they did not have, including riot helmets. “Wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved” Trump declared. The Secret Service issued a statement that said, “The Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police were on the scene.” 

Why would Trump tell such a baldfaced lie?"

Presumably, the president would tell such a baldfaced lie because he believes the public is stupid. The president is so lazy and contemptuous of the public's intelligence that he does not even bother to Tweet lies that are harder to disprove or shrouded in secrecy. If that isn't evidence of the president's total contempt for the people's intelligence, then what is? How stupid does he believe we really are? Apparently, very very stupid.