Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 5:59:08 AM

1

vxbush 4/20/2021 6:07:44 AM

2

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 6:23:21 AM

3

Reply to vxbush in 2:

From a quick look, I'm not sure it's so very different from US Treasury sanctions related to Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, etc.  But I'd have to read it more closely to know for sure.  I'll try to take a look later. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 6:32:35 AM

4

Reply to Occasional Reader in 3:

See here, for instance. 

vxbush 4/20/2021 6:34:04 AM

5

In #3 Occasional Reader said: From a quick look, I'm not sure it's so very different from US Treasury sanctions related to Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, etc.  But I'd have to read it more closely to know for sure.  I'll try to take a look later. 

The author compares it to the language Bush 43 used during the War on Terror and how the language was very specific to only target certain activities and only the people who were directly involved in those actions. The language in this new order seems to simply need the Treasury secretary to declare the someone was aligned with Russia, and then he can implement all the policies against that person and anyone related to that person or anyone who supports that person in any capacity. 

vxbush 4/20/2021 6:35:04 AM

6

And.... it's snowing in Central Illinois. Climate emergency, you know. 

(While I have very clear memories of my grandmother telling me about the year it snowed in southern Indiana in June during one year in the 1930's.)

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 6:39:25 AM

7

In #5 vxbush said: The language in this new order seems to simply need the Treasury secretary to declare the someone was aligned with Russia, and then he can implement all the policies against that person and anyone related to that person or anyone who supports that person in any capacity. 

So if Trump tries to run again, they will claim Russian collusion and seize assets of all his supporters.

vxbush 4/20/2021 6:42:27 AM

8

In #7 Kosh's Shadow said: So if Trump tries to run again, they will claim Russian collusion and seize assets of all his supporters.

If the author is correct, yes, that could be one interpretation of the rules. And given the amount of Russia collusion insanity that was released during his time in office, Biden would have more than enough evidence to support such a link. In fact, it may be part of the reason why they created the rule. Trump has been making a lot of noise and there is some evidence behind the scenes that he is trying to stay relevant. This EO may simply be a way for them to target him and take him out. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 6:44:53 AM

9

In #5 vxbush said: The author compares it to the language Bush 43 used during the War on Terror and how the language was very specific to only target certain activities and only the people who were directly involved in those actions

Yes, but the country-related sanctions, generally, are a lot trickier (and even more so, the subcategory of "Specially-Designated Nationals'); and they're not something that Gropey Joe just now invented.  Again, I'd have to do a close read to see if this differs in kind from the preceding ones. 

doppelganglander 4/20/2021 6:52:01 AM

10

Reply to vxbush in 6:
My parents lived in Northwestern Ohio for a short time in the early '50s. My mother swore it snowed in August.

lucius septimius 4/20/2021 6:53:25 AM

11

Reply to doppelganglander in 10:

I saw snow in Traverse City, MI in August.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 6:56:00 AM

12

And Happy 4/20 Day, doods... 

(Heroes of 4/20 Day include Richard Bong, and Eugene Stoner) 

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 7:02:07 AM

13

Reply to doppelganglander in 10:

To follow up on your "On the Town" number from last night:

Find Me a Primitive Man

vxbush 4/20/2021 7:05:49 AM

14

In #9 Occasional Reader said: Yes, but the country-related sanctions, generally, are a lot trickier (and even more so, the subcategory of "Specially-Designated Nationals'); and they're not something that Gropey Joe just now invented.  Again, I'd have to do a close read to see if this differs in kind from the preceding ones. 

I would appreciate it if you could do a close read, as I'm not seeing any specific language targeting another country. 

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 7:08:06 AM

15

vxbush 4/20/2021 7:19:21 AM

16

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 15:

Did everyone here about the survey done asking liberals how many black people have been killed by the police in 2019? Hat tip from Ace: 

A nationally commissioned survey asked respondents for an estimation of how many unarmed black men were killed by the police in 2019. Forty-four percent of liberals said it was 1000 or more. In reality, the number was actually no more than 27. 

JCM 4/20/2021 7:46:36 AM

17

Washington vs. Texas: Which state is responding to COVID-19 better?

Despite imposing strict mandates about face coverings in Washington, the state's seven-day COVID-19 case count average is significantly higher than Texas, which rescinded its mask mandate last month.

Then they spend the rest of the article trying to peddle how it's "complicated".

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 8:20:19 AM

18

Reply to vxbush in 16:

Our Re-Education Camp doesn't quite get into such factual material; it's more about ratting people out if they do something that doesn't conform to the new non-standards, and being "sensitive to feelings."

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 8:26:48 AM

19

And so I just had the pleasure (not) of witnessing yet another example of "why African-American cultural norms mayyyyybe have something to do with the frequency of their interactions with police."   A black guy in a Mercedes (so I'm guessing, not too oppressed) gets in an argument with a white guy in a Toyota over... some minor parking bullshit.  Black guy escalates, and escalates, and keeps escalating... threats, "motherfucker" this and "motherfucker" that.  White guy eventually walks away... and black guy follows him, and starts shouting "you called me a nigger!" (Which I'm anout 99% certain did not happen.)  Finally the black guy starts to disengage.... and Random Lib Chick thinks this is the perfect time to walk up to him and start... apologizing, or something.  "Everything's okay, SORRY, nobody here called you anything!"   Which, of course, ramps the black guy back up,  " HE CALLED ME A NIGGER, YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU WHAT A NIGGER CAN DO?".  Finally, Lib Chick realizes she's made a mistake, backs away.   Black guy snarls a few more curses, returns to his car.

All this time I'm sitting with my hand in my vest pocket, going over the rules for use of force, in my head.

I'm so sick of this shit.  

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 8:31:33 AM

20

In #16 vxbush said: the number was actually no more than 27. 

I've seen that figure variously reported as "9", "19", and now "27".   (And the article notes that WaPo puts it at 13.)  

In any event, it's clearly a very low number, absolutely dwarfed by the number of black people killed in this country by other black people.

And the cultural norms displayed by the Mercedes-Driving Man in my prevoius post have a lot to do with that. 

vxbush 4/20/2021 9:10:51 AM

21

In #20 Occasional Reader said: And the cultural norms displayed by the Mercedes-Driving Man in my prevoius post have a lot to do with that. 

Speaking of "cultural norms", there's an economics professor who makes this point in this City Journal article that I've been holding on to. Key graph: 

Alice in Dairyland 4/20/2021 9:11:20 AM

22

In #19 Occasional Reader said: and Random Lib Chick thinks this is the perfect time to walk up to him and start...

My number one social rule is "never make eye contact with people you don't know" (and half the people you do) and certainly never show up to a party you weren't invited to!  Actually it's not just eye contact, it's looking directly at strangers period.  Definitely should keep an eye on your surroundings, but don't get caught "watching" someone.  Sometimes they're just looking for someone to go off on.  

vxbush 4/20/2021 9:13:05 AM

23

Reply to vxbush in 21:

"Still, I am not a big fan of the structural racism narrative. I think it is imprecise; I think that those who invoke structural racism are begging the question. I want to know exactly what structures, what dynamic processes, they mean, and I want to know exactly how race figures into that story. Often the people using this kind of language do not tell me this. History, I would argue, is complicated. So, racial disparities must have multiple, interwoven, interacting causes that range from culture, politics, and economic incentives to historical accident, environmental factors and, yes, the nefarious doings of individuals who may be racists, as well as systems of law and policy that are disadvantaging to some racial groups without having so been intended. So, I am often left wanting to know just what they are talking about when they say, “structural racism.” Often, use of the term seems to be expressing a disposition while calling me to solidarity, asking for my fealty, for my affirmation of a system of belief. It is only one among many plausible narratives."

[snip]

I am offering instead, as a counterpoint to the bias narrative, what I am calling the development narrative, which stresses that patterns of behavior within the disadvantaged population need to be looked at. I speak now about African-Americans, about 35 million or 40 million people in the United States. This, of course, is a variegated, differentiated, and heterogeneous population. One size does not fit all. Nevertheless, I am willing to ask: are there patterns of behavior observable in certain communities of color that have the consequence of inhibiting the development of human potential?

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 9:25:22 AM

24

In #23 vxbush said: Nevertheless, I am willing to ask: are there patterns of behavior observable in certain communities of color that have the consequence of inhibiting the development of human potential?

And the homicide stats speak for themselves on that point. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 9:31:19 AM

25

In #22 Alice in Dairyland said: Sometimes they're just looking for someone to go off on.  

This guy definitely was.  He started cursing at one bystander just for looking at him.

I took the posture of, minding my own business, but ready to intervene if and only if he actually became violent. 

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 9:56:11 AM

26

In #23 vxbush said: I am willing to ask: are there patterns of behavior observable in certain communities of color that have the consequence of inhibiting the development of human potential?

When I was in high school in the early 1970's, a black kid said how the Black Panthers were telling everyone that studying and working were "acting white" and thus bad. 

50 years of this has brought this result.

More recent articles show how in a lot of the Black community, basketball is the only accepted reason for gangs to leave someone alone.

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 9:57:12 AM

27

Reply to vxbush in 21: Reply to vxbush in 23:

Loury's not bad, but he's got a long way to go before he begins to approach Thomas Sowell, either in writing clarity or moral clarity. 

Loury's got far too much wordy jargon---his points get buried in it---and he totally loses his way when he lapses into babbling about "reparations" on the basis of cost and logistics instead of making the point that "reparations," if made, should only go to those who actually suffered the injuries being "repaired for."  The Japanese who received reparations for having been interned had actually been interned; there is nobody alive who was enslaved, so reparations "for slavery" are absurd on their face.  Logistics and costs are not the point.

I hope Loury pulls his act together; Sowell is aging, and we will, alas, need someone to fill his shoes in the not too distant future.  Even with several sets of insoles, Loury's not anywhere near there yet.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 10:04:19 AM

28

In #21 vxbush said: Speaking of "cultural norms", there's an economics professor who makes this point in this City Journal article

"Let me be provocative right at the start. George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by police officer Derek Chauvin.

Except that we don't actually know that, Glenn.

Being "provocative" is one thing; making questionable assertions of fact right off the bat is something else. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 10:05:55 AM

29

In #27 buzzsawmonkey said: we will, alas, need someone to fill his shoes in the not too distant future

In terms of "black American ntellectuals who are at least sometimes conservative-leaning, and are not wholly on board with the race-arsonists",  John McWhorter is pretty good, too; though again, not quite of Sowell's stature, IMHO.

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 10:11:18 AM

30

Reply to Occasional Reader in 29:

Shelby Steele's not bad, either.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 10:11:56 AM

31

Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:

And Kosh, thank you for not including on this site the now-nearly-ubiquitous feature on the internet of automatically censorting certain words.  I continue to be astonished at the lengths to which our culture (or what's left of it) is applying this sort of... voodoo thinking, to certain words. 

By the way, a coda to my story; after the black guy got back in his car, a portly middle-aged black woman who had not previously been part of any of this (as far as I can tell), came out of the Starbucks (which was the setting of our little vignette) and approached the driver's side of the Mercedes.  Now, I couldn't quite hear what was going on, but from her body language and what words and tone I could make out, it sounded like she was upbraiding the man for his behavior.  If so; good for her (even if not necessarily a judicious move, from the viewpoint of personal safety.)

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 10:15:48 AM

32

In #27 buzzsawmonkey said: and he totally loses his way when he lapses into babbling about "reparations" on the basis of cost and logistics

See, also, the "conservatives" who respond to Prog idiocy such as "free college for everyone!" merely by snarkily asking "how will you pay for it?"/

THAT'S NOT THE POINT. 

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 10:17:47 AM

33

Reply to Occasional Reader in 32:

Well, we DO need "free four-year college tuition."

How else will high-school graduates finally learn to read at an 8th-grade level?

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 10:46:50 AM

34

In #33 buzzsawmonkey said: Well, we DO need "free four-year college tuition." How else will high-school graduates finally learn to read at an 8th-grade level?

By going to grad school, which they'll need when the government has education unions run the colleges, since they're paying for it,

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 10:53:08 AM

35

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 12:14:47 PM

36

In #35 buzzsawmonkey said: Bend Down, Sister

Wayyy dowwwn in Egypt land... 

buzzsawmonkey 4/20/2021 12:18:06 PM

37

In #36 Occasional Reader said: Wayyy dowwwn in Egypt land... 

Not quiiiiite....

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 12:40:17 PM

38

Verdict reached in Chauvin trial, expected to be read within the next 20 minutes.

Lock and load... 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 12:46:50 PM

39

In #38 Occasional Reader said: within the next 20 minutes.

Now I'm seeing 4:30 pm ET.

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 12:51:52 PM

40

In #39 Occasional Reader said: In #38 Occasional Reader said: within the next 20 minutes. Now I'm seeing 4:30 pm ET.

Takes a while to get Molotov cocktails mixed. Wouldn't want the peaceful rioters to not be ready/

vxbush 4/20/2021 12:53:31 PM

41

In #40 Kosh's Shadow said: Takes a while to get Molotov cocktails mixed. Wouldn't want the peaceful rioters to not be ready/

There's a part of me that wouldn't put it past these people. Or they need to give the media time to put up their "Breaking News" segments to interrupt everything. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 1:04:00 PM

42

And I'm thinking this quick a verdict does not bode well for Chauvin.   But that's speculation, of course.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 1:06:10 PM

43

doppelganglander 4/20/2021 1:30:55 PM

44

Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:
This is what happens when black so-called leaders have spent 50+ years telling their community that white people (not even people, but the abstract "whiteness") are the cause of all their difficulties and they should be angry at all times about everything. Some people are going to believe they have carte blanche (no pun intended) to behave like assholes. And guilty white liberals like that dumb girl make excuses for them.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 2:07:39 PM

45

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 2:09:54 PM

46

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 2:11:05 PM

47

In #46 Kosh's Shadow said: Found guilty of 2nd degree unintentional murder

Riots will proceed, since it was supposed to be guilty of first degree lynching on basis of race, based on various media accounts

vxbush 4/20/2021 2:11:57 PM

48

In #46 Kosh's Shadow said: Found guilty of 2nd degree unintentional murder

So--time to riot, then. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 2:14:50 PM

49

Local Fox News is interviewing a black woman at the abominably-named "Black Lives Matter Plaza", she is saying "oh, I feel my little sons will be so much safer now".

Because as black boys living in DC, her sons are most at risk of homicide from.... police.  Or so she believes. 

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 2:15:59 PM

50

In #49 Occasional Reader said: Local Fox News

And by the way, DC local Fox News is just as leftist as CNN.

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 2:23:51 PM

51

JCM 4/20/2021 2:25:00 PM

52

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 46:

So many grounds for appeal.

Including jury tampering....

lucius septimius 4/20/2021 2:38:57 PM

53

Occasional Reader 4/20/2021 2:43:27 PM

54

In #53 lucius septimius said: Chauvin will be dead, killed by an inmate, before any appeal can go forward.

i think even Minnesota "justice" would find it too obvious and embarassing to toss him in wtih the general population like that.

But let's just get the slogan ready anwyay:  Chauvin didn't kill himself. 

JCM 4/20/2021 2:51:37 PM

55

Reply to lucius septimius in 53:

He'll be in isolation for his own protection.

Of course he could be released pending appeal.

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 3:33:16 PM

56

In #55 JCM said: Of course he could be released pending appeal.

He'd need an armed guard

Kosh's Shadow 4/20/2021 3:49:40 PM

57

For those who remember 60's-70's slang, Chauvin has a name that would be symbolic in a novel.

Remember, police were called "pigs", and the favorite feminist critical term was "male chauvinist pig"