Posts made by Spintendo

←Otto Warmbier and Michael Brown→

• Both were young Americans in their 20s

• Both were detained for stealing

• In both North Korea and the State of Missouri the death penalty is not used as punishment for stealing.

• Despite this, both men did end up being killed.

• Punishment by death is inconsistent with the crime of stealing what they stole.

Differences

• Warmbier was white, Brown was black.

• To white people, Otto Warmbier became a symbol of those who suffer under the weight of evil, despotic, dictatorial regimes, as well as an emblem of destroyed innocence that should have never suffered such pain in a situation which was ultimately not his fault.

• To white people, Michael Brown became a symbol of society out of control, of a parisitic class of criminally-minded individuals with no respect for authority and who deserve all the misery of the world as punishment for situations usually of their own fault.

@raphjd:

His race has nothing to do with my opinion on that.  Any piece of filth like him deserves it, regardless of race.

So then, does raphjd equally blame the vandalism carried out by Warmbier as the result of his own poor choices as he did with the black rioters in Ferguson for the vandalism they created? in the end, are Brown and Warmbier equally assesed blame?

Of course not.

In raphjd's constructed world of white privilege, a sentence of death for the white person who steals is absurd, unwarranted, and would never happen. On the other hand, stealing a cigarillo would be a sentence of death for the black person who stole it.

So then we ask "Why" they arent held equally. Raphjd is minimalism personified in the sparse details he offers:

@raphjd:

Michael Brown was a thug.

With this, we're left wondering what special insight that only raphjd has access to that is informing him of Michael Brown's "thugness", a thugness so evil, so vile, that he deserved to be executed for stealing beef jerky…. "Think that's all there is on him?" raphjd asks. To quote Grand Moff Tarkin, "If only saying it made it so." Raphjd's feelings on Michael Brown are obviously much more esoteric than he would like us to think they are. In the absense of reasons we're left with labels. In the above example, the use of a substitute word, "thug." In looking closely at that word, we can sense raphjd's feelings, and indeed, we can sense his yearning to be able to say even more... things once freely uttered in society so long ago… archaic, brutally austere words which demonstrated perfectly how white men back then didn't need to justify the things they said. In those good old days before PC censorship a man could eschew all the long-winded pussy explanations and just respond to pesky questions and comments with:

@raphjd:

[desc=Not an actual quote from raphjd, for illustrative purposes only.]"Because, he's a N****R — that's why."[/desc]

—and instantly the discussion would be over. By saying "he's a thug" raphjd is trying to recreate a powerful 'conversation-closer'. It's not as effective as the N-word, but it's all raphjd has left in a world shrunken by political correctness. And in it, we see the real reasons for Brown's vileness and Warmbier's glowing, do-no-wrong type- sainthood in raphjd's eyes: "Because, one's white and the other's a n****r — that's why."

@raphjd:

Even sending in 100 FBI agents, and 20,000 pages of reports, no wrong doing was found.

They found no wrongdoing only in those reports that were released in your head…. you know, the ones no one else on the planet would have ever read or seen because they're imaginary. The real Department of Justice Report on Policing in Ferguson (which I'll bet good money you've never laid eyes on) found a systemic pattern of government abuse, corruption and injustice, with policing for profit, profiling minorities, and regularly abusing Ferguson residents’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.

Bless your heart though for trying.  :blind:

@jazuko:

apples and oranges

Is it really? Let's ask raphjd.

@raphjd:

Do I care that Michael Brown was gunned down like the dog he was?  FUCK NO.   His race has nothing to do with my opinion on that.   Any piece of filth like him deserves it, regardless of race.

And what, according to raphjd, was the heinous crime for which Michael Brown was gunned down "like the dog that he was"? His crime was shoplifting a cigarillo and beef jerky from a liquor store.

Perhaps If Warmbier had added a cigarillo and beef jerky to the poster he stole?  I think what you meant to say was:

@jazuko:

apples and oranges    posters and cigarillos

@raphjd:

Unless I missed something, not a single conservative said the horrible shit that liberals said about the case.

That's because Warmbier is white. When it's a black person killed, then the favored conservative talking point magically becomes: "That's what you get for not following THE LAW."

What the 'Black-Lives Matter' Movement Doesn't Get: Follow the Law, and You've Nothing To Fear
Arizona Republic/USA Today Editorial
June 16, 2015

Obeying three simple words would have changed the outcome for Ebin Proctor, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, the Gaver family at Walmart and several others. Those three simple words are "Obey Police Commands." It all starts with that. A community asks, how do people think it will turn out if they swear, shout at or lie to the police, resist arrest, fight or physically attack the cops? Behavior such as that seldom ends well.

These are not the Village People dressed up as cops, they are highly trained, well equipped, motivated professionals with the ability to summon help or additional manpower. Ebin Proctor was on probation for assaulting a police office in Chino Valley, a bad decision. Now he is dead because of another bad decision; to fight with a cop and wrestle for his gun. His death was avoidable by obeying police commands. Eric Garner may not have been able to breath, but he shouldn't have been selling cigarettes illegally on the street corner in the first place and most of all, he should have obeyed police requests to cease and desist his resisting of their lawful arrest.

Respect the police. Obey their commands. If they make a mistake, sort it out later.

Jared Kushner Apparently Has 'Gay Voice' and It's a Punchline
by John Becker of The Advocate
June 23 2017

In the age of Trump, there are few people more powerful—or more mysterious—than the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Despite lacking any experience in or qualifications for government service, the 36-year-old real estate heir has been put in charge of an almost comically broad portfolio encompassing everything from negotiating peace in the Middle East to solving America’s opioid crisis to completely overhauling the entire federal bureaucracy. But Kushner has largely remained in the shadows, declining interview requests and shunning social media.

That all changed Monday at an event for the newly-created American Technology Council, where he spoke on camera about his alleged plans to modernize government computer systems and beef up cybersecurity. As soon as you hear Kushner’s light, high tenor voice you'll understand why he stayed silent for so long.

The Internet quickly responded: "Gay as a tree full of chickadees," one Twitter user sneered. "Jared Kushner sounds exactly like I expected him to sound: super fucking gay," tweeted another. "Hearing his voice is a reminder that masculinity is dying. #CorruptAndEffeminate." Late-night comedian Seth Meyers even got in on the action, joking, "Kushner’s title says senior adviser to the president, but his voice says senior at Claremont High School."

Some insulted Kushner’s anatomy ("Dude is a eunuch. Somebody fucked up that circumcision"). Others, his masculinity ("Kushner is an important reminder that you can’t buy puberty") or his sexual prowess ("After hearing Jared Kushner’s voice, I understand why Ivanka was staring at Justin Trudeau with those hungry eyes"). Many commenters questioned Kushner’s sexual orientation ("Why Jared Kushner always seem like he low key looking at your dick from one urinal over?") or his gender identity ("As expected, he sounds as if he’s months into hormone replacement therapy for forthcoming sexual reassignment surgery").

All this shaming of Jared Kushner for having a high-pitched speaking voice reinforces toxic and outdated constructs of masculinity. It’s also completely unnecessary, as there’s plenty else to criticize him for — his lying about meeting with Russians being one good place to start.

@Frederick:

Anchorman Scott Pelley suggested that Republican Congressman Steve Scalise's gunshot wound that left him in critical condition was self inflicted.

I guess the media is only allowed to make these sort of implications so long as the person who was shot is black.

Media: Martin Shooting Was "Self-Inflicted"
by Benjy Sarlin and Aliyah Frumin of MSNBC
July 19, 2013
A number of media personalities have vicariously described Trayvon Martin's death by gunshot as being self-inflicted, in that he invited trouble the night he was shot and killed by dressing like some sort of street criminal. Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera said Martin’s hoodie was "as much responsible" for the teen’s death as Zimmerman was because Rivera believed it was associated with law-breaking young black men. Before Zimmerman's acquittal Rivera said “I was right about the hoodie, wasn’t I?” on Fox and Friends. “I hate to brag, but I got criticized by every pundit in America when I said Trayvon Martin would be alive today but for the fact that he was wearing thug wear. He was wearing the hoodie. Turns out now that we look at George Zimmerman’s interviews with the police; he didn’t profile Trayvon Martin because he was black, he profiled him because he was wearing a hoodie.”

Televangelist Pat Robertson said that Zimmerman was right to tail the “fully-formed young African-American male” the night he was killed because other criminals had been seen “wearing these hoods.” These sentiments have been offered in print as well, most recently in the Washington Post, courtesy of Richard Cohen. In entertainment media, musician and National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent declared in a column for conservative website Rare.us that Martin was a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe” who was responsible for his own “bad decisions.”

Mariahary Caray

PARTS
Pieces

@gaypraha2:

Center ( president ) : 32.32%
Right :21.56%
far right: 13.20%
Left : 9.51%
far left: 13.74%

This adds up to only 90.33%. You and I both left out 9.67% from our figures. Irregardless of that, I'd say just over 1/3 is still pretty impressive for REM, so new as they were to the French political landscape.

@gaypraha2:

So counting sieges and saying " the far right retreat in France" is just not understanding at all how it works.

M. Macron's election victory can be interpreted as repudiation of the populist rhetoric that Mme. Le Pen and her father's party were infamous for. More like tristesse d'un insuccès than anything else.

The final vote count in the National Assembly fell as predicted:

FN-EXD         Far-Right:  9 seats
LR-UDI-DVD  Right:    136 seats
REM-MoDem  Centre:  350 seats
PS-DVG-PRG  Left:       50 seats
PCI-LFI          Far-Left: 27 seats

The destroyer was hit on the starboard side, meaning the container ship had the right of way, with the destroyer required to yield to it, rather than speed up.

@Frederick:

There is a massive difference between being the one that is hit.. and being the one that did the hitting. The front (bow) of the merchant ship is damaged, while the side (starboard / right side) of the Navy Destroyer is damaged.

Videos of cars dashing across train tracks at the last minute only to get hit by a train help to explain this accident perfectly. They're usually the result of one party believing they can cross the path of another party quickly enough to get out of the way. The destroyer dashed in front of the merchant ship, believing that they could get out of the way in time: "I'm smaller, I'm faster!" only to be proved wrong.

T-Bone type accidents like this are very common in shipping, and are seen all the time in intersections with red-light runners.

@raphjd:

A person known to have severe mental illnesses, was labelled as simply a conservative because he killed a liberal MP.  The liberal media complete refused to mention his mental illnesses.

Mentally ill’ or ‘terrorist’? Jo Cox assassination exposes media bias
From RT
June 20, 2016

The language used by the media and government officials to describe the alleged assassin of British MP Jo Cox has been criticized for highlighting his “mental illness” and not referring to him as a “terrorist.” Thomas Mair, 52, has links to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups and reportedly shouted “Britain First” while he stabbed, shot and reportedly dragged Cox down the street by her hair. The Sun referred to Mair by his name or used adjectives like ‘white supremacist’, ‘terrorist’, or even ‘mentally-ill loner’. These characterizations did not go far enough for some on Twitter, who asked whether there was a double standard held by the media:

• "The singularly sensitive way that the media treats violent white men is beyond cliché at this point."
          Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) June 17, 2016 pic.twitter.com/fixp8lO5eo

• "Why hasn't MP Jo Cox's killer been branded as the terrorist that he is…Family Guy has the answer (as always)!"
          James Johnson (@James___Johnson)  June 18, 2016 pic.twitter.com/emeY2E5jWH

• "Freedom fighter, terrorist, lunatic? And what if he would have been a muslim?"
          Tammo ter Hark (@TammoterHark) June 18, 2016

• "Seems the Daily Mail are a lot kinder to decent white British terrorists"
          JulietteAdAstra (@JulietteAdAstra) June 18, 2016 #ThomasMairpic.twitter.com/GSRdXupoga

Projections for the National Assembly makeup, post-round 2. Notice on both charts the difference in size between left-oriented vs right-oriented, if the ruling coalition were subtracted.

COALITIONS
Left/Right: REM-MoDem Ruling coalition (colored blue in the 1st chart)
Right:       LR-UDI-DVD
Far-Right: FN-EXD
Left:        PS-DVG-RDG-EELV
Far-Left:  PCI-LFI

COALITIONS
Left/Right: REM-MoDem Ruling coalition
Right:       LR-UDI-DVD
Far-Right: FN-EXD
Left:        PRG-EELV-DVG
Far-Left:  FI-PCF

Le Pen Loses Luster, Signaling Far Right’s Retreat in France, and Maybe Beyond
By Adam Nossiter of The New York Times
June 16, 2017

SOISSONS, France — Just this spring, Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign drew vast crowds who enthusiastically embraced her National Front’s nationalist, anti-immigrant vision of France. This week in Soissons however, Ms. Le Pen was greeted by only a few dozen somber National Front activists in a drab meeting hall. Even hecklers didn’t bother: Just a handful of weak-voiced protesters quickly dispersed. Ms. Le Pen’s party, crushed by Emmanuel Macron’s 66% in the presidential runoff in May, fared dismally in last Sunday’s legislative elections. It is a head-spinning turnabout that reflects, at least for now, the fizzling of Ms. Le Pen’s fortunes in France.

The National Front’s retreat also adds to the impression that far-right populism is losing its appeal more broadly. That retrenchment has been aided by the steady sagging of the Trump administration under an air of scandal, and the belated British realization that pulling out of the European Union may not be as fast, easy and excellent as voters were led to believe. Ms. Le Pen once dreamed of leading the principal opposition party to Mr. Macron and of marshaling a hundred or more parliamentary deputies to push the Front’s harsh nationalist agenda. Now she could well end up as the party’s only member of the National Assembly.

It is a lonely place to be, and it left the once-buoyant Ms. Le Pen, still looking exhausted from the sleepless presidential campaign, defensive and denouncing a “gigantic scandal for democracy” to reporters in Soissons this week. But if the champion of France’s populist far right is now contemplating years of political marginalization, she has largely herself to blame, in the eyes of analysts as well as many in her own party. They say she is paying a bitter price for an incoherent message badly delivered.

Now her party faces a new round of painful existential questioning over what it can do to revive itself. Support for the far right has close to evaporated, at least at the polls: From an already disappointing 34% in the May 7 presidential vote, it dropped to barely over 13% in last Sunday’s first-round parliamentary elections. The National Front has been blasted into insignificance with only 120 Front candidates making it to the second round of voting for the 577-seat chamber.

@beast775:

Once signed, the next step in the ratification process is to send the treaty to the US Senate

The Paris Agreement's authority derives from the [desc=United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]UNFCCC[/desc] treaty which the Senate ratified 25 years ago.

@mhorndisk:

Time to celebrate!!!

You're a little early to the party. The withdrawal from the Agreement doesn't take effect until November, 2020.

U.S. Quietly Lifts Limit on Number of Refugees Allowed In
By Gardiner Harris of The New York Times
MAY 26, 2017

WASHINGTON — Despite repeated efforts by President Trump to curtail refugee resettlements, the State Department this week quietly lifted the department’s restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.

The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to well over 1,500 people per week by next month, according to refugee advocates. Tens of thousands of refugees are waiting to come to the United States. The State Department’s decision was conveyed in an email on Thursday to the private agencies in countries around the world that help refugees manage the nearly two-year application process needed to enter the United States.

In her email, Jennifer L. Smith, a department official, wrote that the refugee groups could begin bringing people to the United States “unconstrained by the weekly quotas that were in place.” President Trump has sought to lower the ceiling on the number of refugees annually allowed in the country to 50,000 from 110,000. Mr. Trump’s executive orders on immigration, the first of which he issued on Jan. 27, also sought to suspend all refugee admissions for at least four months. Federal judges stayed those orders.

Refugee groups now predict that entries into the United States could increase so rapidly that the total number of refugees admitted by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, could exceed 70,000. That is well below the 84,994 refugees admitted in fiscal year 2016, but not by nearly as much as many advocates had feared. Refugee advocates were delighted by the State Department’s decision. “This is long overdue, but we’re very happy,” said Mark Hetfield, president and chief executive of HIAS, an immigrant aid society.

05/25/1979: The classic Gothic horror film genre leaves its Earth-bound environs for a neighboring solar system.

@raphjd:

Doctors urged to use gender neutral ‘pregnant people’ instead of ‘mothers’

Let's not forget that SJWs claim that …. things like this don't actually happen in real life.

Sorry to disappoint you Henny Penny—but the sky is not falling.  :cheerup:

This suggestion came about when a pregnant patient born anatomically female but who identifies as male did not wish to be called "mother" several times during his visit with clinicians. An advisory notice was circulated, gently reminding clinicians that these rare instances can occur, and suggested not using labels like mother when interacting with them.

Black Marble
Woods

Black Marble
Frisk