"Sanctuary Restaurants" - an idea for Louisville?

For you, Carla, I will try to keep this short...

- Mitt Romney couldn't be scary if he tried.

I agree! But do you see the way he was demonized by the left?

- Trump literary assaulted women then bragged about. You simply cannot get around that.

No we do not 'know that'. I affirm that you honestly believe it though.

- You have no idea what I thought or felt re: Bill Clinton's falandering. You just jumped in and assumed. Just like you did with the original poster.

I'm sorry if I assumed too much. Is it fair to assume that you supported Sec. Clinton's election though?

- Re: Women's reproductive rights "Take a deep breath..." says the male who has never has the government tell him what he may or may not do to his own body. Steve, don't even go there. Even someone like you ((OMG! Those last four words alone will result in a dozen paragraphs from you. ) can see that women's rights have been trampled.

<shrugs> Nothing will change except -- maybe -- Federal funding. No one's rights will change.

And at the risk of using too many words (sorry!), I think both sides of the abortion issue are crazy. A fertilized egg is not a human, but a partial birth abortion is murder. <ducks>

Cue the right wing posturing/rationalizing in three...two...

as opposed to left wing posturing/rationalizing. Goose, gander, etc.

Thank you for illustrating the Ames illusion I mentioned earlier.

Thank you for illustrating the Ames illusion I mentioned earlier.

Pot, kettle, etc.

Robin is 100% correct that white backlash is a strand that has been present in the GOP since the 1964 Civil Rights Act kicked off the Southernization of the party, but Trump stoked it this cycle in a way other major GOP figures were clearly repulsed by. During the primaries, Trump’s demonization and scapegoating of immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities was a major source of attacks against him by his GOP opponents like Rubio, Kasich, Rand Paul, and Jeb. McCain and Romney both spoke against it – it’s the primary reason people believe Trump massively underperformed with Utah Mormons as compared to Bush and McCain, because they have a long history of being a despised, persecuted religious community and know a demagogue when they see one. Even Paul Ryan wound up calling Trump “racist,” something Ryan doesn’t typically do to fellow Republicans.

Once Trump won, GOP critics of his xenophobia quieted down, but I think everyone basically on the left and right agrees he’s a populist demagogue who has taken the party down a darker path of ethnic hatred than Kasich or Jeb or Romney or McCain would have, whether Republicans in January 2017 will take responsibility for it or not.

Steve’s fallback argument is that Trump’s hateful xenophobia is okay, because the left allegedly also demonizes some Trump voters as racist, which is a *terrible* slur. First, this is not logical: a principled person would either oppose all demonizing of groups, or not care about either – they wouldn’t pick and choose some to get mad about and some to approve the way Steve does.

Second, the charge of racism is not equivalent because it is a changeable condition via education and exposure to other kinds of people, not a demographic argument. By contrast, the slurs Trump routinely assigns to refugees and immigrants are often inherent, fixed qualities about their religion, their origin, their untrustworthiness, exaggerations about their criminality* or accusations that they committed millions of acts of voter fraud without evidence, etc. If you are born one of Trump’s “snakes,” there is no changing that. If you have parents of Mexican origin, and Trump sees that as a defect, there is no changing that. If you practice Islam, Trump’s putting you on a list for government monitoring unless you convert. If you are a refugee persecuted by ISIS but you have the wrong national origin, Trump will bar you from entering the country. If you are undocumented, he can casually accuse you of voter fraud without any evidence. And Trump gives us a new example of this kind of vile, un-American bigotry every week. Republicans who defend it should be ashamed.

The other way the "both sides do it" claim is not equivalent is the power differential between the right’s total control of government and left’s lack of it, and the asymmetry between the policies of the left towards red communities and Trump’s policies toward the groups he’s demonized. But this is way too much to cover.

*data show immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans. You can see 16 cites on the Wikipedia page from people who study these issues for a living here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrati ... ted_States. Or you can stick your fingers in your ears like Steve and dismiss them with neither reason nor evidence.

[Robin Garr]

^^^^
THIS!

Can we agree now that everything that can possibly be said has been said, and let this thread die? I'm not a big fan of locking threads, but maybe we can all agree to just shut the door?

(This being the Internet, I'm pretty sure some of us will have to have the last word. But make it one last post, please?)

I'm not a big fan of locking threads

To paraphrase the President, "Lock it up! Lock it up! Lock it up!"

Iggy, great post and thank you for shutting Steve down. He'll learn eventually when Trump burns earth to the ground.

Your reproductive system will be fine.

Steve, you are an absolute POS. You, Trump, and all your white priviledged male friends (if you have any) are what is wrong with this country. I would suggest you change your username or never post here again.

[Robin Garr]

Get those last words down, folks, before we self-lock by community consensus.

Iggy, great post and thank you for shutting Steve down. He'll learn eventually when Trump burns earth to the ground.

Does having a job and real life demands mean being "shut down"?

Your reproductive system will be fine.

Steve, you are an absolute POS. You, Trump, and all your white priviledged male friends (if you have any) are what is wrong with this country. I would suggest you change your username or never post here again.

Don't worry it will be alright. The sun will come out tomorrow.

By the by, what does POS mean? Point of sale? Posix Operating System? That's all I got.

LOCK 'ER UP! and...

LET'S MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

This dumpster fire should've been locked six pages ago.

[Robin Garr]

This dumpster fire should've been locked six pages ago.

Check out what I wrote on the fifth page, Jeff. I don't like to lock threads, but I'm encouraging everyone to have a last word and then let it be voluntarily. Are you helping?

Robin is 100% correct that white backlash is a strand that has been present in the GOP since the 1964 Civil Rights Act kicked off the Southernization of the party,

What is really 100% true is that the Democrats are stuck in the 60s, and to them, everything, EVERYTHING, must be viewed through the funhouse mirror of an 'ism', like racism. sexism, genderism, etc. Any picks what the next 'ism' will be? The whole Democratic Party enterprise depends on finding that next oppressed class so they can keep the scam going.

This is just repurposed, class warfare dogma, from the Marxism cookbook. Oops, now I committed an 'ism' too!


Democrats just quit pretending to care and dumped the working class, because they are inconvenient for their other 'ism' agendas. Now instead of understanding these people and figuring out how to help them, Democrats treat them as pawns, with no faith, no minds, and no value of their own. They are just empty sewers, polluted by the evil thoughts of republicans and Donald Trump.

This is how Democrats use their other constituencies as well. These groups just aren't woke to that truth yet.

but Trump stoked it this cycle in a way other major GOP figures were clearly repulsed by. During the primaries, Trump’s demonization and scapegoating of immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities was a major source of attacks against him by his GOP opponents like Rubio, Kasich, Rand Paul, and Jeb. McCain and Romney both spoke against it

Wow! Are you saying that a populist movement is opposed by all types of establishment politicians? That's quite the news flash you have there.

– it’s the primary reason people believe Trump massively underperformed with Utah Mormons as compared to Bush and McCain, because they have a long history of being a despised, persecuted religious community and know a demagogue when they see one. Even Paul Ryan wound up calling Trump “racist,” something Ryan doesn’t typically do to fellow Republicans.

After watching what the Democratic machine did to Mitt Romney, I'm surprised you would even bring up Utah and Mormons. Aren't you still worried about their blinding whiteness and magic underwear? Any weapon to hand, right?

Once Trump won, GOP critics of his xenophobia quieted down, but I think everyone basically on the left and right agrees he’s a populist demagogue who has taken the party down a darker path of ethnic hatred than Kasich or Jeb or Romney or McCain would have, whether Republicans in January 2017 will take responsibility for it or not.

If the working class people, start acting like a class in the Marxist sense, then the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Their whole governing philosophy is to divide Americans by class, and piece them together to get 51% of the votes.

Do you remember a book called the "Emerging Democratic Majority"? This has been the Democratic blueprint for power.

The Democrats now view the working class as an obstacle to their goals. So, they ditched them from their coalition as soon as they thought they could, and still reach that 51%. It did not work out for them as they expected.

So, the working class was cut loose. The Democrats didn't want them and didn't help them.The Republicans? Well, the Tea Party was one movement that might've brought them in, but the Republican establishment was, let's just say, unenthused.

We now see that neither party made a home for the working class. Hence Trump.

Steve’s fallback argument is that Trump’s hateful xenophobia is okay, because the left allegedly also demonizes some Trump voters as racist, which is a *terrible* slur. First, this is not logical: a principled person would either oppose all demonizing of groups, or not care about either – they wouldn’t pick and choose some to get mad about and some to approve the way Steve does.

Do I really have to say that racism is always bad? Racism is always bad. Feel better?

Seems like you don't understand what xenophobia means. What does terrorism or illegal immigration have to do with xenophobia? Are we xenophobic to bar terrorists from entry? Are we xenophobic to expect our immigration laws to be respected?

Wow! You really are trying to rationalize accusations of racism.

Do you think false accusations of racism are okay? Is it ever okay to demonize legitimate political differences as racism?

Sorry if 'racism' is starting to look like a Democratic Party scam. But it doesn't help your case when Democrats try to redefine what 'racism' means just to further their political ends.

Second, the charge of racism is not equivalent because it is a changeable condition via education and exposure to other kinds of people, not a demographic argument.

No. It's not okay for Democrats to go around throwing out charges of racism like a tourette's afflicted grinder monkey.

By contrast, the slurs Trump routinely assigns to refugees and immigrants are often inherent, fixed qualities about their religion, their origin, their untrustworthiness,

1. Terrorism is not a religion and is a personal choice.
2. More terrorists come from countries have\ing a huge terrorism problem.
3. Social security numbers theft, identity theft, and claiming fraudulent government benefits are all problems made worse by illegal immigration. Seems like 'untrustworthy' activities to me.

exaggerations about their criminality*

Are these the same sort of scientists that said butter and eggs were bad for us? Or the sort that said we should eat all the carbs that we wanted?

There are a bizillion sociological studies. Professors live under a oppressive publish or perish imperative. 98% of sociologists are leftist. This is a recipe for junk science. And if you hadn't noticed, there is a reproducibility crisis running through the academy.

And on top of that, we know that inconvenient data is suppressed. Do you think the data is properly catalogued for a crime committed by an illegal alien in a sanctuary city? Social science kneels to its political masters.

or accusations that they committed millions of acts of voter fraud without evidence, etc.

The Democrats keep saying the Russians hacked the election. Trump keeps saying that there were millions of fraudulent votes. How about we investigate all of it? And then work to harden our electoral process to resist any threats? Deal?

If you are born one of Trump’s “snakes,” there is no changing that. If you have parents of Mexican origin, and Trump sees that as a defect, there is no changing that. If you practice Islam, Trump’s putting you on a list for government monitoring unless you convert.

1. wrong.
2. wrong.
3. wrong.
3 strikes and you're out.

If you are a refugee persecuted by ISIS but you have the wrong national origin, Trump will bar you from entering the country.

Refugees have no right to enter the country. We are allowed to set up any restrictions that we wish. This is not racism. It is prudent to ensure proper vetting of refugees for terrorist ties. Some countries have a huge terrorist problem. Why do you not wish to block terrorists from entering the country?

If you are undocumented, he can casually accuse you of voter fraud without any evidence. And Trump gives us a new example of this kind of vile, un-American bigotry every week. Republicans who defend it should be ashamed.

Do we have a deal about the comprehensive review of voting vulnerabilities or not? If not, then just get some thicker skin.

The other way the "both sides do it" claim is not equivalent is the power differential between the right’s total control of government and left’s lack of it, and the asymmetry between the policies of the left towards red communities and Trump’s policies toward the groups he’s demonized. But this is way too much to cover.

And here it is. This is where the definition of racism is changed to benefit leftist priorities. Translated it means: "Shut up. Racism!"

At the risk of being racist, where were you during the Clinton years and the Obama years? The left's lack of government control? Not to mention the bureaucracy, every university, and virtually all media. Yeah. The left is powerless.

*data show immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans. You can see 16 cites on the Wikipedia page from people who study these issues for a living here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrati ... ted_States. Or you can stick your fingers in your ears like Steve and dismiss them with neither reason nor evidence.

Sociology is a scam. There. I hope I have lived up to your expectations.