How did we ever lose to these guys?
Imagine your average Madison alder saying something like this:
“Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway isn’t in her prime.
Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime
is in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s…”
But that is what CNN’s Don Lemon said about Nikki Haley. Don’t wait for the public outrage. It’s kosher, he’s trashing a conservative.
Which points up the lesson an apostate Democrat Ruy Teixiera makes.
Democrats really are no longer the party of the common man and woman. The priorities and values that dominate the party today are instead those of educated, liberal America which only partially overlap — and sometimes not at all — with those of ordinary Americans.
It is hard to miss the continuing influence of current Democratic Party orthodoxy, which views a strong law and order approach as essentially racist and seems way more interested in making it harder to arrest, jail and prosecute criminals. … The burgeoning backlash against ideological curricula in schools, the undermining of academic achievement standards, the introduction of mandatory, politically-approved vocabulary, the absurdities of “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs and the excesses of “gender-affirming care” are uniformly characterized by his party as nothing more than “hateful” bigotry rather than serious concerns. …
How many Democratic politicians, especially national Democrats, are willing to go on record espousing these values:
• Equality of opportunity is a fundamental American principle; equality of outcome is not.
• Racial achievement gaps are bad and we should seek to close them. However, they are not due just to racism and standards of high achievement should be maintained for people of all races.
Precious few!
— The Liberal Patriot
Is ‘she in ‘her’ prime?
Apologize, Justice Karofsky!
The Wisconsin Judicial Commission warned WI Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky, a liberal’s liberal, to remain neutral and quit making sarcastic remarks from the bench. When Tr•mp appealed the WI presidential vote — which is his right to do — Karofsky belittled attorney James Troupis that he wanted the court to overturn the election results “so that your king can stay in power” and said that suggesting the election was marred by fraud was “nothing short of shameful.” Karofsky also implied racism. Trump endorsed Karofsky’s opponent, Daniel Kelly, during their race in spring 2020.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: At least the Head Groundskeeper is in HIS prime!
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
At 76 and following a R lung transplant, L lung removal, and R hip replacement, I’m not in my prime either. This makes me want to vote for her.
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Here’s a question from someone long past HIS prime: You say that racial achievement gaps are”not due just to racism.” So what are they due to? I’d appreciate an elaboration … or is that treading on thin ice?
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“So what are they due to?”
Gosh, couldn’t be absentee/Fer $#!T parenting, cultural and behavioral pathologies, and having VictimHoodie drilled into already_at_risk youths’ heads from an early age, could it…?
The Gotch
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underperforming by certain groups who think education is acting white. Read John McWhorter’s book Losing the Race (the author is a Black liberal)
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boy, did you nail it. Expect the usual troll to call you a r@ci$t.
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I am just summarizing a book on educational disparities written by a Black man. It is a very illuminating book full of statistics. The author, John McWhorter shows that it does not matter how money is pumped into the schools or whether it is a suburban or inner city school. US born blacks always do poorly. Interestingly, Blacks born in Africa or the Carribean who move to the US do as well as White students in the same schools. But, their children born in the US do as bad as other US born Blacks. McWhorter attributes this to US Black culture. Let the progs call me racist. I will refer them to the author and the book. It is well worth reading like his other book, Woke Racism that Blaska has promoted.
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“the author is a Black liberal”
While McWhorter describes himself as a “a cranky liberal Democrat”, he’s no garden variety career despicable Lefty; not by a damned stretch!
More (IMO) Classical Liberal ala Claude-Frédéric Bastiat, the antithesis of the gimmee gimmee Lefty.
He’s also a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank heavy on free markets and individual responsibility.
There are myriad brilliant Black Conservatives like Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Jason Riley, the late Walter E. Williams, Robert Woodson, Sr., etc., etc., etc.
Funniest thing, you rarely, if ever, see them referenced; curious, that…
The Gotch
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never said John was a typical prog. He labels himself as liberal. That is what I go by. I spent some time with him a few years ago when he was on campus, and after talking with him I would describe him as a thinking liberal. I describe myself as a thinking conservative. John drives the progs crazy, which is why he not very welcome in many lib circles. I drive the Trumpistas crazy like Blaska does, which is why we enjoy poking at them….
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What you’re saying is literally the definition of racism. Yes, black people can also believe racist ideas about black people. Believing that one racial group in a country is inferior to other racial groups is racism. Saying it’s their own fault is still racist. It’s not trolling to correctly use the definitions of words. It’s a free country, we’re all allowed to believe what we want to believe. If you believe racist things it’s ok to just be comfortable when people point out that it’s racist.
I’m happy to see more conservatives just being honest with themselves. As Gary pointed out, too many say what they believe the problem isn’t, but are too afraid to come right out and say what they believe the problem is. Steve speaks for many conservatives when he points out that he believes the problem is American Blacks themselves.
To be clear, I disagree. I believe the racial disparities are due to American White racism; primarily that of past generations, but that of current the generation as well. We’re making progress, but it’ll take time for racist ideas to slowly die out and for American Whites to stop being such snowflakes when it comes to American history.
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Nowhere did anyone on this thread say or imply that blacks are inferior to other races. They said and implied that the racial disparities around them in America are largely cultural problems.
The left has bastardized the word “racist” to the point of rendering it meaningless. They are so eager to run an ideological steamroller over anyone and anything that dissents in the least that they find racism in the most absurd of places: statues, rocks, names of schools, cities, sports teams, and diseases, gas stoves, and proper English. Fortunately, some of them are getting truly woke, seeing this madness for what it is, and shunning it.
Speaking of honesty, everyone would be better off if the left was more honest about racial issues. Especially if they would admit that:
1. No amount of white racism can possibly explain how much blacks struggle to compete with others in America.
2. Leftist attitudes and legislative policies toward blacks do more harm than good.
3. The blacks that truly care about making a better life for themselves don’t really want (or need) white people’s help.
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Joe Biden is long past his prime. My daily C-SPAN dose consistently shows him straining to keep his eyes open during speeches he’s delivering.
Yes, long ago, Democrats were the party of working families and blue collar labor. They have since abandoned the former, are in the pocket of the latter, and are now the party of coastal tech drones, big education facists, and social grievance troops.
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Replying to the wrong comment and quite late, but just in case the conversation will continue:
“Nowhere did anyone on this thread say or imply that blacks are inferior to other races. They said and implied that the racial disparities around them in America are largely cultural problems”
That is racism. When you say that one culture is inferior to another it is racism. Saying the disparities are the fault of “their culture” is saying the disparities are because of them themselves.
“ No amount of white racism can possibly explain how much blacks struggle to compete with others in America.”
Actually it can. This is like saying the past has no effect on the present. This is like saying racial discrimination simply vanished because laws were passed.
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Using a blanket term like racism is cartoonish. I cringe every time I see “black and brown people” as if Nigerians and Indians aren’t wildly successful in the US.
Laying the blame on culture is also pretty simple minded. IMHO a culture can thrive under certain circumstances and be decimated under others. This may explain why black culture was really beginning to thrive until the government stepped in to “Help” (post civil rights, the welfare state).
I think a promise of artificial intelligence is the ability to see the adverse consequences of benevolent policies and suggest alternatives. Systems (fiat money is a good example) are likely the enemy but not how we think they are.
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Yeah, racism is really a slice or symptom of a larger issue. It’s the thing that those with power prefer we spend our time bickering about so we don’t get to the heart of the situation.
Really there’s simply a completely rigged system that puts certain people in particular levels of power under a fiction that they have honestly earned their position because they are actually smarter, more skilled, and better than others in reasonable proportion to the disparity in power. Fiat money is one facet that supports this situation.
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“That is racism. When you say that one culture is inferior to another it is racism. Saying the disparities are the fault of “their culture” is saying the disparities are because of them themselves.”
I said “cultural problems”, not necessarily “their cultural problems”. (But even if I did say “their cultural problems”, it wouldn’t matter. The random mass shootings that the national news reports on are disproportionately committed by whites, and they are a result of cultural problems too. But no reasonable person would say that it’s racist to point that out.) Culture is not race-centric, but rather the product of a lot of other environmental factors. And here in America, where instant self-gratification is glorified to a toxic level, it has had a disastrous effect on black culture (although they’re not alone). As others here have pointed out, black culture in America is not the same as black culture elsewhere.
Again, no one said or implied that blacks or their culture is inferior. But you seem to imply that blacks are above criticism for their shortcomings because of racism. And if blacks cannot be criticized for their failures because whites control their outcomes, then it also stands to reason that they cannot be praised for their successes because of the same. Are you honestly going to tell a successful black person that they aren’t responsible for achieving what they have? I would hope they’d be insulted by such a notion, just as I’m insulted by the notion that my success is due to white privilege or some other boogeyman.
“Actually it can. This is like saying the past has no effect on the present. This is like saying racial discrimination simply vanished because laws were passed.”
Once again, I never said that the past has no effect on the present. Stop with the straw men. But white racism cannot possibly explain every last issue. Whites do not hold a gun to the heads of blacks and tell them to:
– Disdain education because doing well in school is “acting white”
– Harass and intimidate other blacks who care to take eduction seriously
– Get pregnant and bear children in their teenage years for the social aspect
– Commit serious crimes for the thrill of it
These are all personal choices that are life-altering in major ways, and if blacks would stop making them in disproportionate numbers, many of the disparities we see would likely disappear in a couple generations. But instead, too many of them continue to make these choices and demand endless handouts, even as they riot, assault and kill police and each other. All this fosters even more racial resentment, and if you think it’s bad now, it will be far worse if non-blacks are forced to pay reparations by Congressional or Executive compulsion.
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You don’t get Equal Rights until you give up Special Rights.
There Is A Class Of Colored People Who Make A Business Of Keeping The Troubles, The Wrongs, And The Hardships Of The Negro Race Before The Public. Booker T. Washington (1911)
In the ensuing ~112 years, have things gotten better, stayed the same, or gotten worse?
The Gotch
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Thanks.
“But you seem to imply that blacks are above criticism for their shortcomings because of racism.”
Please feel free to criticize, and allow others to decide freely what to make of your critique. Everybody of every race exhibits some degree of racist behavior in various situations. It’s not anything to be scared of, and it’s ok to reflect on it and talk about it.
The thing is, when someone is familiar with a group of people and is actually intimately connected to a wide variety of people from the group they are in a better position to respectfully and helpfully offer a critique.
But American Conservatives are full of people who see a news story and decide to jump in and tell “the blacks” what their problem is, having little to no experience knowing black people beyond that one guy from work.
American Conservatives and American Liberals are being corralled by our media into camps where neither is allowed to have more than one truth at a time. Both of these are true: systemic and historic racism impacts current disparities AND individual level decisions impact current disparities.
“The random mass shootings that the national news reports on are disproportionately committed by whites, and they are a result of cultural problems too. But no reasonable person would say that it’s racist to point that out.”
It would be racist for someone unfamiliar with American White culture to point that out. This is part of why Black comedians are able to deftly joke about Whites without being offensive – American Blacks are intimately familiar with American White culture. They have to be. But the converse is rarely true (there are a few White comedians who are able to joke about Black people without being offensive – they are intimately familiar with more than a couple Black people).
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A primetime tic tac toe match between Joe Biden and John Fetterman would be a ratings bonanza.
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how long to you think it would take…..
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forever
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