One thing the Republicans have that Democrats do not is message discipline. No matter the issue, their explanation is that government regulation is at fault. Their solution is always limiting government, cutting taxes, funding, programs.
Democrats on the other hand have multiple explanations and differing solutions. All over the place. This is bad marketing but good government. Not all problems are the same.
OTOH, both Sanders and Warren have message discipline. It's all corruption, big money buying legislation, the solution is campaign finance reform. It's really simple. This fit-on-a-bumper-sticker program is it. Good messaging, bad governance
The world is complicated. I prefer the honesty of complex ideas.
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We know so much more about Catholic sexual abuse but very little about Baptists. I wonder if that is due to the congregational structure of the protestant churches. There is no massive superstructure of bishops, cardinals, etc. stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm
That means a small Baptist Church in a rural town of 100 people with maybe 25 members has maybe $800 in the bank with no structure above it to sue if there is abuse. No one to cover up but the parishioners - who would to avoid embarrassment
Not that the church my parents attended had a predator priest, but even if they did, there would be no hook for the media who like reporting on multi-million suits - large, organized conspiracies, not isolated incidents
A high-school classmate recently posted a pic of his old basketball team. I only recognized 3 folks but was totally confused because there was a Black player. My town had no Black people. It had to be college. And it was; it's a college basketball team with only one Black player.
The diversity in my town was all down to our teachers who were not Norwegian or Swedish but were instead French, Spanish, German, or Greek. And of course, a few folks who were Ojibwe.
I like to think that even if I stayed I would have been anti-racist. My Mom and Dad were, but you know, they talked about recalling my dad when he refused to authorize "calling up the militia" during a tense time when this guy stole from his grandparents & lied and blamed Ojibwe
So it took me a while but I found the video that convinced Libertarian Conor Friedersdorf whose obsession is liberals caring too much about racism to recognize police impunity is bad. Of course, the man killed is white. Still, this is undeniably except
the jury acquitted the officer. Basically he toyed with Shaver and then shot him when Shaver tried to pull up his pants. He knew he was unarmed. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Interestingly, the Shaver shooting led into this killing that is in some ways similar to George Floyd and Elijah McClain's deaths. Again, no consequences for the officers and the judge threw out the civil suit citing qualified immunity.
One of the always frustrating things is the way white mass murderers can be arrested safely while Black people who encounter police are in mortal peril no matter the circumstance.
Then the media kicks in...
And we get the church-goer, Boy Scout routine for the white man who killed 10 people and the "he's no angel" for the Black youth who jaywalked.
And it just occurred to me that this is about how racialized our concepts of violence are.
The crimes of white people are ascribed to circumstance and judged in the context of their emotional, economic, and other problems.
The crimes of Black people are ascribed to character and judged in the context of stereotypes of Black cultural, parental, and moral deficits.
Here's what I think of the body cam footage. The essential fact is she should still be alive. It complicates the issue only because most white Americans will use the knife to avoid thinking about whether or not a cop would have shot a white girl with a knife in the same situation
Consider another person with a knife. Older, bigger, and someone who had just killed 2 people and critically injured another: Jeremy Christian.
Police had endless patience with Jeremy Christian, talking him down until he surrendered.
I
I don't want the police to be shooting down Christian, Rittenhouse, Roof, and the many other white murderers who are allowed to surrender despite carrying weapons.
I just want the Makiah's and Elijah's and George's to have the same chance to defend themselves in court.