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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
"We're not trying to disenfranchise minorities, we're trying to disenfranchise Democrats" seems rather a clever thing for the Republicans in Texas to say. If it were true, though, it would be a far-from-honest abuse of their democratic position.
I read it last night, and guys, it is devastating and compelling, and if other people read it soon, maybe it should have its own thrad.
I read it was well. Personally, I think Ta-Nehisi Coates makes some very good points. At the very least, the discussion should be had about reparations. The post Reconstruction era policies in the South and the FHA's policies post-war had a terrible impact on the ability of African Americans to accumulate wealth of their own.
The actions of the government at the time sicken and dishearten me. When reading the article, you get the idea that policy makers at the time did everything in their power to lock African Americans out of the prosperity booms that gave rise to the middle class during the Post-War era.
The Jim-Crow era of the South is more obvious. It was hard to read about what happened to Clyde Ross in particular. The government of Mississippi at the time he was growing up essentially robbed his family of their farmstead, stole the horse his mother gave to him, and essentially left them as indentured servants to the bastards who stole their farm. The worst part is that their story was one of many.
Before reading this article, I would've told you reparations for the Jim Crow era as well as slavery was kind of pointless. After reading this article and really thinking about it, I think at the very least the issue of reparations should be addressed. The fact is, that the article makes a very good argument that the wealth this country has created was built upon the suffering of black people from the slavery era until recent times. We need a national conversation about that horrible legacy, regardless of how painful it will be.
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Allan Glenn. 1984-2005 RIP
Under no circumstances should Quentin Tarantino be allowed to befoul Star Trek.
One of the most interesting entries in W. E. B. Du Bois' collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, is the second essay, "Of the Dawn of Freedom", that deals with the history of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction. He also wrote a revisionist history of the period called Black Reconstruction in America, which I highly recommend.
The Souls of Black Folk is old enough to be in the public domain, so it's available through Project Gutenberg as well as LibriVox. I've heard the LibriVox recording and I also recommend it highly.
Before reading this article, I would've told you reparations for the Jim Crow era as well as slavery was kind of pointless. After reading this article and really thinking about it, I think at the very least the issue of reparations should be addressed. The fact is, that the article makes a very good argument that the wealth this country has created was built upon the suffering of black people from the slavery era until recent times. We need a national conversation about that horrible legacy, regardless of how painful it will be.
Yeah, if nothing else, it needs to be acknowledged and talked about. And I can't see any reasonable excuse not to put a big old spotlight on that aspect of our history.
People don't know shit about our own history. Maybe you do some discrete section on slavery and/or Jim Crow in grade school or something, but that's not a fucking "section." It's not a discrete topic. It's a fundamental part of American history at every junction. So let's do like the racists ask and get rid of Black History Month, but let's do it by incorporating black history into 'regular' history where it belongs, at the very least.
It's ugly as hell, but that's all the more reason to acknowledge it and talk about it and consider whether there's anything we can do to mitigate its ongoing effects.
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
A black man was told he could not use the water fountain because it is for whites only. He said, "Put your sign on the wall then, because I am feeling to drink it. What they do when they catch me drinking your water?"
His white supervisor responded, "That's when we hang you."
I'd forgive you for thinking this happened fifty years ago, but no, it was a couple of days ago.
If you need a recap with more snark, Wonkette has you covered.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Saw this on Twitter today and decided I had to find a use for it immediately.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
There are times when I wish he could've made a living as an artist. We might've avoided the Nazis altogether. Then again, it's entirely possible things could've turned out worse without Hitler (just imagine if someone as evil as him, but more militarily competent had taken over).
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Allan Glenn. 1984-2005 RIP
Under no circumstances should Quentin Tarantino be allowed to befoul Star Trek.
The name is Gavin McInnes, and Fox gets credit for continuing to know under which rocks such people can be found.
Quote:
MCINNES: I hate this guy [...] White liberal nerds love this guy so much, he could defecate on them like Martin Bashir's fantasies and they would dance in the streets. All he does is, he's drunk with adulation. And he talks about things like "when I was young in New York I would get racially profiled when I'd go into stores." Back then he looked like he was in The Warriors. He had a huge afro and a cutoff shirt and New York was a war zone. Sorry, you fit the profile
It's almost worth it to watch the video for the guy exposing every redneck racist conservative stereotype in about 30 seconds.
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ta-
DAVE!!!
Last edited by specious_reasons; 06-08-2014 at 05:22 PM.
So a geeky science dude fits the profile... a great argument against profiling.
I think conservatives are scared of him. A smart black guy not afraid to speak his mind?! Where's the faintin salt I feel another episode comin on!
There are times when I wish he could've made a living as an artist. We might've avoided the Nazis altogether. Then again, it's entirely possible things could've turned out worse without Hitler (just imagine if someone as evil as him, but more militarily competent had taken over).
I think if people really wanted to prevent the Nazis they'd go back in time and kill Kaiser Bill when he was a kid. That would probably do more to prevent it than killing Hitler.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
Hatenanny Records was the American neo-Nazi movement founder George Lincoln Rockwell's label.
I know that song, I found it while downloading David Allen Coe songs, he has some racist ones from 18 xrated hits, this one was listed as him. I knew it wasn't him. At the time, I though I abhorred racism in practive, I thought the David Allen Coe racist song was funny (a position which I acknowledge is completely fucked up.).
It was funny to read on discussion threads one some forgotten file sharing website that the song couldn't be david allen coe because he wasnt racist. I would point out that in fact he was, but he didn't make overtly political racist songs. He was content to mix misogyny and racism and lament his significant other or ex significant other having sex with an African American.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children who will make the dangerous trip from Central America over the next year fleeing violence will require care. In Nogales, Arizona, the Department of Homeland Security made available a warehouse to house thousands of children, but according to local media outlets, it has not been without problems. CBS Houston reported that some of the children have complained to the consul of Honduras that the food provided by the shelter is making them sick.
On the June 10 edition of her radio show, Ingraham responded to this news by dismissing the children's plight, saying, "I bet there are a lot of American kids who would like free food before they go to bed at night." She followed her comments with a sound clip from a Taco Bell advertising campaign of the 1990s, in which a chihuahua says repeatedly, "Yo quiero Taco Bell."
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
I know it's not, like, a competition - The Racist Olympics, but this person struck me as particularly terrible.
Quote:
"It's not going to get any better until you get those blacks off the school board," Trube is heard stating on the recording. "She really turned black. She got on the school board with the rest of the blacks and they all just ganged up and that's why the school system has gone to hell."
When Local 2 spoke with Trube following Monday's council meeting, she said she stands by her remarks.
"What is on the tape is nothing more than me stating my honest opinion and I don't back down from that," said Trube. "I never denied what was on the tape."