Etiquette



DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Friday, March 8, 2024

News bits: A tale of two brains: How about that SOTU by JB?; Etc.

Salon reports commentary about two old brains by psychologist John Gartner, who contributed to the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President

I had to speak out now because the 2024 election might turn on this issue of who is cognitively capable: Biden or Trump? It's a major issue that will affect some people's votes. Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing.

Old brain, demented brain, Abby Normal brain.

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Reporting by MSM sources generally say that Biden gave a pretty good State of the Union speech last night. It was better than I expected, despite some criticism that the speech was “too political”, whatever that means. The NYT reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson hated the speech and made it crystal clear in real time. He openly let his facial expressions show how repulsed and disgusted he was. I take Johnson’s insulting, childish insolence as a sign that Biden did well in the speech.


One can only wonder what is wrong with Johnson’s brain. Joe’s seemed to be more than adequate by the standards of the day. My professional diagnosis is that Johnson is a self-righteous, theocratic Christian nationalist, and a morally rotted, corrupt one at that.
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The HuffPo reports about what North Carolina TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party, formerly the Republican Party) voters picked as their nominee for governor:
Mark Robinson’s Bizarre Ramble: ‘I Absolutely Want To Go Back To The America Where Women Couldn’t Vote’ -- In a newly unearthed video from 4 years ago, North Carolina’s GOP nominee for governor says America was better then because Republicans “fought for real social change.”


In what is now the usual TTKP KYMS (Keep Your Mouth Shut) tactic in the face of inconvenient questions, Robinson’s campaign and his government office did not respond to requests for comment. 
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Thursday, March 7, 2024

Bring in the “alternates”…

Thinking about alt-facts and alt-truths today.  What exactly are they?

  • Subjective facts, seeking objective status
  • The “other side of the story”
  • Inconvenient facts/truths, dressed up in sheep’s (or wolf's) clothing
  • Merely valid counterpoints
  • The slings and arrows of deflection (aka, Carville’s “look over there at the little birdie”)
  • Other


Q1: How do you see “alt-facts/truths”?


Q2: Do alt-facts/truths have a place in argument?  If yes, how so?  I.e., when should they be “pulled out” (as a useful weapon)?


Discuss.


(by PrimalSoup)



Top official from China's Xinjiang says 'Sinicisation' of Islam 'inevitable'

 


https://www.reuters.com/world/china/top-official-chinas-xinjiang-says-sinicisation-islam-inevitable-2024-03-07/


BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - Xinjiang's top Communist Party official said on Thursday that the "Sinicisation" of Islam in the Muslim-majority region in northwestern China, where Beijing is accused of human rights abuses, is "inevitable".
"Everyone knows that Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicised, this is an inevitable trend," regional party chief Ma Xingrui told reporters at a largely scripted briefing on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in Xinjiang, including denying Uyghurs full religious freedoms. Beijing vigorously denies any abuses.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for the "Sinicisation" of religions including Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, urging followers to pledge loyalty to the Communist Party above all else. About two-thirds of mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed since 2017, according to an Australian think-tank report.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/04/us-anti-semitism-jewish-american-safety/677469/


stacey zolt hara was in her office in downtown San Francisco when a text from her 16-year-old daughter arrived: “I’m scared,” she wrote. Her classmates at Berkeley High School were preparing to leave their desks and file into the halls, part of a planned “walkout” to protest Israel. Like many Jewish students, she didn’t want to participate. It was October 18, 11 days after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

Zolt Hara told her daughter to wait in her classroom. She was trying to project calm. A public-relations executive, Zolt Hara had moved her family from Chicago to Berkeley six years earlier, hoping to find a community that shared her progressive values. Her family had developed a deep sense of belonging there.

But a moral fervor was sweeping over Berkeley High that morning. Around 10:30, the walkout began. Jewish parents traded panicked reports from their children. Zolt Hara heard that kids were chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that suggests the elimination of Israel. Rumors spread about other, less coy phrases shouted in the hallways, carrying intimations of violence. Jewish students were said to be in tears. Parents were texting one another ideas about where in the school their children could hide. Zolt Hara placed a call to the dean of students. By her own admission, she was hysterical. She says the dean hung up on her.

By the early afternoon the walkout was over, but Zolt Hara and other Jewish parents worried that it was a prelude to something worse. They joined Google Groups and WhatsApp chains so they could share information. Zolt Hara organized a petition, pleading with the school district to take anti-Semitism more seriously. It quickly received more than 1,300 signatures.

Questions for Discussion:

1. How can schools effectively address instances of anti-Semitic behavior among students?

2. What steps can communities take to promote understanding and tolerance among different ethnic and religious groups?

3. How should parents and educators navigate discussions about sensitive geopolitical issues in schools to prevent the spread of hate speech?


News bits: Channel note; DJT’s new threat to democracy; Regarding the TTKP

Channel note
For the last two days, Disqus comments have been going into spam and not my in-box. There were 99 in there this morning. I will be a bit later than usual in responding. I am not ignoring anyone, but just have a strange problem going on.
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The New Republic and others are reporting that DJT has made a huge threat that if the USSC does not grant him immunity, he will be open to blackmail and extortion. I do not see it that way at all. He would feel justified to take bribes just as he always has felt justified in breaking any law he believed he could get away with breaking. 

TNR writesTrump Admits He Could Be Very Easily Blackmailed, Actually -- Donald Trump has a new argument for why he deserves presidential immunity—and it’s mind-boggling.  On Monday, the GOP front-runner tried to argue that his preordained innocence is an issue of national security by admitting that he’s actually very susceptible to blackmail. “Without Presidential Immunity, a President will not be able to properly function, or make decisions, in the best interest of the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Folks, it cannot get much clearer than this. Not only is he a lying, fornicating traitor, he is a self-serving, corrupt as hell, kleptocratic dictator. 
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After yesterday’s voting results, the NYT editorial board commented about the completeness of the take over of the GOP and its transformation into what I call the TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party): Trump’s Conquest of the Republican Party Matters to Every American -- The party has become a vessel for the fulfillment of Mr. Trump’s ambitions, and he will almost certainly be its standard-bearer for a third time. This is a tragedy for the Republican Party and for the country it purports to serve. .... The Republican Party is forsaking all of those responsibilities and instead has become an organization whose goal is the election of one person at the expense of anything else, including integrity, principle, policy and patriotism. .... when an entire political party, particularly one of the two main parties in a country as powerful as the United States, turns into an instrument of that person and his most dangerous ideas, the damage affects everyone.

Well, it is nice to see a little wokeness going on in the MSM. Good for the editorial board. Just hope it is not too little or too late. Good job editorial board.

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The WaPo reports that Haley will announce she is dropping out of the TTKP race for president.

The Hill reports that Democrats ready to hit panic button in Trump-Biden race. That is nice. The party has gone a bit more woke! Attaboy Dems. 

Salon comments on what is now DJT’s mental deterioration and its irrelevance to his supporters:
Trump is degenerating before our eyes — MAGA voters don't notice or don't care

GOP base is now so consumed by incoherent QAnon babble that Trump’s obvious deterioration doesn’t even register

Lately, watching him speak has the feel of getting cornered by the weird creep at the nursing home.

After a few semi-coherent, if gross, remarks about how he was “honored” by the USSC ruling, Trump launched straight into a stream of paranoid jabber more appropriate for someone having a psychiatric episode on a city bus than for a major presidential candidate.

His appearance got stranger after most networks had muted him. A bit later, he complained that it takes him 10 minutes to wash his hair, which he somehow blamed on Democrats instead of on the full bottle of hairspray he uses on his remaining locks every morning.
Incoherent blithering

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Is the U.S. a Democracy or a Republic?

 ONGOING DEBATE.

Does it depend on who you ask? Or is there a formal declaration?

The United States is a representative democracy.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/lesson-plans/Government_and_You_handouts.pdf

Well, that could be one definition. Still, the question lingers.

The Constitution establishes a federal democratic republic form of government.

https://clyburn.house.gov/fun-youth/us-government

Hmm, more opinions abound:

Long story short, the United States is both a democracy and a republic. Anybody who insists that we are one, not the other — to quote something I saw on Reddit — is like a child saying the ball isn't green, it's round. Those words are not mutually exclusive. You can say we're a democratic republic. You can say we're a constitutional representative democracy.

https://www.nhpr.org/all-things-considered/2023-10-31/civics-101-refresher-course-usa-democracy-or-republic

SO, if you are wondering if I have a point, I do. Lately some have argued that the U.S. is NOT a democracy. Why would some argue that, I wondered. Then I came across a 2 year old argument that makes perfect sense to me:

Despite the lack of evidence, and the judgments of election officials from both parties and judges appointed by presidents from both parties, election denialism has become not only a thing, but a movement. And when critics call this an attack on democracy, some election deniers respond by saying the U.S. is not a democracy, it is a republic.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/10/1122089076/is-america-a-democracy-or-a-republic-yes-it-is

This folks is NOT a fairy tale, consider:


Today’s Republicans really hate Democrats — and democracy

1) Trump’s supporters have embraced anti-democratic ideas

A chart showing overwhelming support among MAGA supporters for election fraud theories and a third term for Trump.

This chart shows results from a two-part survey, conducted in late 2020 and early 2021, of hardcore Trump supporters. The political scientists behind the survey, Rachel Blum and Christian Parker, identified so-called “MAGA voters” by their activity on pro-Trump Facebook pages. Their subjects are engaged and committed Republican partisans, disproportionately likely to influence conflicts within the party like primary elections.

These voters, according to Blum and Parker, are hostile to bedrock democratic principles.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts

Now before I get too longwinded, how would YOU define the U.S.?

Which of the many definitions do YOU believe best fits U.S. governance?