Random Politics 2

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Dormouse559
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Dormouse559 » 2021-04-06, 1:48

vijayjohn wrote:My brother pointed out once that he sees people using "slam" in news articles and reports a lot these days.

Politico and other political news sites must have a thesaurus specifically of synonyms for "criticize". You've got "shred" and "blast" and "bash" and "lambaste" and … you get the point :P Sometimes I have to read the headline twice because I get the impression some politicians have gotten into a physical altercation.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Sarabi » 2021-04-06, 11:04

linguoboy wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:My brother pointed out once that he sees people using "slam" in news articles and reports a lot these days.

I feel like some news sites have become more aggregators for online content than anything else. A couple Internet personalities get into a slapfight and some intern turns it into an "article" that's just some quotes from their Twitter feeds or vlogs. And since an increasing number of legislators are just Internet personalities with a side interest in politics, this kind of coverage is begin to appear everywhere.


:lol: :yep: :nope:

Det er dessverre svært sant.

Noe som jeg hater er når jeg er i en språkgruppe på FB og noen vil krangle om politikk på engelsk og ikke på det språket som vi lærer sammen. Jeg synes at politikk er et gyldig tema, men jeg vil ikke krangle med noen på engelsk i en gruppe om det norske språket. Jeg synes det er dumt og lat. Jeg skal ikke høre på deg om du nekter å tenke før du snakker. De skriver på engelsk fordi de vil bare vinne argumentet og vil ikke tenke. Løsningen min er at jeg skapte min egen gruppe for å øve norsk for 3 måneder siden. Jeg kan fortelle dem "les reglene" og slette kommentarene deres om de ikke oversetter dem. Det beste er når de vil krangle mot reglene, fremdeles på engelsk. :roll: Hvis man vil krangle med meg, så kan hun finne meg i en annen gruppe eller bare skrive på norsk!!!
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-04-13, 18:25

The US and Russia battling it out on Taiwanese TV in Chinese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmE7w_leww0
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-04-28, 15:41

San Francisco’s Substance-Abuse Crisis

Block after block, you’ll see thousands of people who are barely alive. Some are alone; others are piled on top of one another, running into traffic, or standing slumped over, unconscious. They’ll be injecting or smoking heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in front of you, unaware or unfazed by your presence. Scabs cover their faces and bodies, limbs are swollen red and blue, often bloody and oozing pus. You’ll notice the garbage, rotting food, discarded drug detritus, and feces surrounding them. A shocking number are mere teenagers, but many are old or have aged well before their time. [...]

Project Roomkey hotels offer no addiction-recovery treatment or mental health care. Nor is there a sobriety requirement. Residents do, however, get plenty of fresh needles, fentanyl foil, and other drug supplies, courtesy of the harm-reduction teams. As Dr. Hali Hammer of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health admitted in an April 2021 New York Times story on the city’s epidemic of drug fatalities, “What we as the public health department are responsible for is preventing death by giving people the resources they need to use safely.” The entire system erodes the desire and willpower to accept detox and rehab. It’s easier and less painful, at least in the short term, to use in a hotel. [...]

Newsom and San Francisco officials are aware that Project Roomkey does nothing to heal homelessness because the absence of a home isn’t the real sickness. The self-described experts will continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities. They won’t admit—at least not publicly—that the problem is almost entirely driven by addiction.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby linguoboy » 2021-04-28, 18:18

Yasna wrote:
The self-described experts will continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities. They won’t admit—at least not publicly—that the problem is almost entirely driven by addiction.

Um, what does the author thinks drives people to addiction in the first place?
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-04-28, 18:43

linguoboy wrote:
Yasna wrote:
The self-described experts will continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities. They won’t admit—at least not publicly—that the problem is almost entirely driven by addiction.

Um, what does the author thinks drives people to addiction in the first place?

Why do some people become addicted to drugs while others don't?

No one factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:

Biology. The genes that people are born with account for about half of a person's risk for addiction. Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may also influence risk for drug use and addiction.

Environment. A person’s environment includes many different influences, from family and friends to economic status and general quality of life. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, early exposure to drugs, stress, and parental guidance can greatly affect a person’s likelihood of drug use and addiction.

Development. Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a person’s life to affect addiction risk. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it will progress to addiction. This is particularly problematic for teens. Because areas in their brains that control decision-making, judgment, and self-control are still developing, teens may be especially prone to risky behaviors, including trying drugs.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby linguoboy » 2021-04-28, 19:54

Yasna wrote:Biology. The genes that people are born with account for about half of a person's risk for addiction.

What about the other half?

Yasna wrote:Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may also influence risk for drug use and addiction.

Environment. A person’s environment includes many different influences, from family and friends to economic status and general quality of life.

Oh, how interesting. Perhaps those " self-described experts [who] continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities" are onto something after all!
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-04-28, 20:44

linguoboy wrote:Oh, how interesting. Perhaps those " self-described experts [who] continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities" are onto something after all!

And how exactly is making progress on the issues of income inequality, affordable housing, and class and racial disparities going to help the thousands of people already wallowing in addiction? Not to mention a big part of the problem is addicts coming to SF from places with lower income inequality, more affordable housing, and smaller class disparities because of the incentives created by SF.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby linguoboy » 2021-04-28, 21:55

Yasna wrote:
linguoboy wrote:Oh, how interesting. Perhaps those " self-described experts [who] continue to blame income inequality, lack of affordable housing, or class and racial disparities" are onto something after all!

And how exactly is making progress on the issues of income inequality, affordable housing, and class and racial disparities going to help the thousands of people already wallowing in addiction?

Seems to me if your goal is to not have so many addicts, one of your priorities should be to stop creating new ones.

Have I somehow misunderstood your goal?

(There also seems to be an implicit either-or fallacy here, as if we can't both provide harm reduction and treatment for those already addicted AND also tackle some of the root causes of addiction--especially given that those root causes exacerbate or create a lot more social ills than just substance dependency.)

Yasna wrote:Not to mention a big part of the problem is addicts coming to SF from places with lower income inequality, more affordable housing, and smaller class disparities because of the incentives created by SF.

[citation needed]
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-04-29, 2:19

linguoboy wrote:Seems to me if your goal is to not have so many addicts, one of your priorities should be to stop creating new ones.

Have I somehow misunderstood your goal?

(There also seems to be an implicit either-or fallacy here, as if we can't both provide harm reduction and treatment for those already addicted AND also tackle some of the root causes of addiction--especially given that those root causes exacerbate or create a lot more social ills than just substance dependency.)

When a building is on fire, is your priority to go around the city improving fire prevention measures, or is it to put out the damn fire? SF has a four alarm fire, which is what the article is about. Tackling the root causes (the ones that are even amenable to state intervention) of addiction is a long-term project that has little to do with ending the current crisis.

Yasna wrote:Not to mention a big part of the problem is addicts coming to SF from places with lower income inequality, more affordable housing, and smaller class disparities because of the incentives created by SF.

[citation needed]

Citation for what? That drug addicts move to places with easy access to cheap, potent narcotics? Or that they come from places as I described? SF has about the worst income inequality, least affordable housing, and biggest class disparities in the country, so it stands to reason that a move to SF is a step down by those metrics.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-05-01, 20:29

Ein Buch muß die Axt sein für das gefrorene Meer in uns. - Kafka

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Aurinĭa » 2021-05-01, 20:55

Yasna wrote:When a building is on fire, is your priority to go around the city improving fire prevention measures, or is it to put out the damn fire? SF has a four alarm fire, which is what the article is about. Tackling the root causes (the ones that are even amenable to state intervention) of addiction is a long-term project that has little to do with ending the current crisis.

I don't know about the US, but here, fire prevention measures form an important part of the fire service's work, yes. As is making sure a fire doesn't spread to other buildings when a building is on fire. And if a fire is so bad it can't easily be put out, sometimes the best course of action is watering the neighbouring buildings so they don't catch fire.
I can't think of an equivalent saying in English, but in Dutch we say "dweilen met de kraan open" (mopping up with the tap running) which describes exactly that; dealing with the symptoms without tackling the causes means you'll never be finished.

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby vijayjohn » 2021-05-08, 21:58

Apparently, a lot of high-caste people in India think they can't get COVID from other high-caste people, only from lower-caste people!

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby linguoboy » 2021-05-08, 22:52

vijayjohn wrote:Apparently, a lot of high-caste people in India think they can't get COVID from other high-caste people, only from lower-caste people!

Is this something they also believe about other diseases?
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-05-10, 17:31

Looks like Germany is doing better than the US in the struggle against wokeness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QS4Fsrm5Sw
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby vijayjohn » 2021-05-12, 18:31

Are you implying that Germany is regressing into Nazism
linguoboy wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:Apparently, a lot of high-caste people in India think they can't get COVID from other high-caste people, only from lower-caste people!

Is this something they also believe about other diseases?

I had no idea, so I asked my dad, and he said, "Probably!" (all in Malayalam)

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-06-01, 21:49

It’s Getting Bad for the Jews

Secular and religious Jews are formed to be sensitive to these upsurges in hostility and violence because their history as a people in exile tells them that these spasms of violence do not just subside. They tend to grow and grow until Jews are finally forced to emigrate. Jewish life is dying out in Paris precisely because of a growing pattern of street harassment and assaults that are punctuated by terrorist attacks aimed at killing masses of Jews at synagogues and kosher supermarkets. Parisian Jews are leaving for Israel. There was a time they might have left for New York. I expect that for many Jews, the realization that New York could go the way of Paris would be the bitterest pill to swallow. [...]

In the United States, the most active, passionate, young, and growing part of the American Left is determined to read American history — even global history — entirely through the lens of white supremacy. In many ways this ideology is just a form of Marxism in which “capital” and “capitalism” have been cut-and-replaced with “whites” and “whiteness.” In an ideological system so anxious to categorize people as either perpetrators or victims, Jewish success and happiness in America will inevitably cause leftists to categorize Jews as oppressors. Jews will have “become white” or, worse, their success and assimilation into America and appreciation for its political constitutions and social life will be interpreted as an unforgivable betrayal of their true status as victims who must be working to overthrow the system.
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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby vijayjohn » 2021-06-12, 1:34

That last paragraph is bizarre for a few reasons: 1. Jews already are persecuted by both the left and the right - they have been for years; 2. being a perpetrator and being a victim are not mutually exclusive; 3. it's not Marxism, it's just history; and 4. what is with these constant attempts to generalize over entire ethnic groups regarding whether they've assimilated into mainstream American culture or not? Some people in a given ethnic group have, and some haven't. That is just normal variation.

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby DissidentRage » 2021-06-21, 0:52


It's funny when a fascist rag like National Review cares about the plight of Jewish people when this is more their usual tone:
Image

Since you're busy reading NR, have you found anything new on Breitbart? Maybe link us a Stormfront article while you're at it?

I'm sure it's just a coincidence they're concerned about the safety of Jewish people around the time apartheid Israel is attacking Palestinians. I'm sure they're not trying to smear critics as anti-semitic.

Secular and religious Jews are formed to be sensitive to these upsurges in hostility and violence because their history as a people in exile tells them that these spasms of violence do not just subside. They tend to grow and grow until Jews are finally forced to emigrate. Jewish life is dying out in Paris precisely because of a growing pattern of street harassment and assaults that are punctuated by terrorist attacks aimed at killing masses of Jews at synagogues and kosher supermarkets. Parisian Jews are leaving for Israel. There was a time they might have left for New York. I expect that for many Jews, the realization that New York could go the way of Paris would be the bitterest pill to swallow. [...]

Yeah, who exactly is perpetrating anti-semitic violence? Oh, it's right-wingers? Imagine my shark.

In the United States, the most active, passionate, young, and growing part of the American Left is determined to read American history — even global history — entirely through the lens of white supremacy.

"Acknowledging racism is the real racism" is some brain genius goalpost-shifting. Even so, this point is wrong. Racism was developed as a tool by the business class during the antebellum period to sow division between the peasant and slave classes. Racism is a problem but is not the prime mover of tensions in the US.

In many ways this ideology is just a form of Marxism in which “capital” and “capitalism” have been cut-and-replaced with “whites” and “whiteness.”

That's not a form of Marxism because it doesn't address class antagonism. Anti-communists posting their Ls again by not knowing what the fuck Marxists actually believe.

In an ideological system so anxious to categorize people as either perpetrators or victims[...]

Oh look, a naked appeal to rugged individualism. No, don't think of your external conditions!

[...]Jewish success and happiness in America will inevitably cause leftists to categorize Jews as oppressors. Jews will have “become white” or, worse, their success and assimilation into America and appreciation for its political constitutions and social life will be interpreted as an unforgivable betrayal of their true status as victims who must be working to overthrow the system.

Oh my god this is hysterically stupid.
actually I support Rojava

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Re: Random Politics 2

Postby Yasna » 2021-06-21, 3:58

DissidentRage wrote:Since you're busy reading NR, have you found anything new on Breitbart? Maybe link us a Stormfront article while you're at it?

Every news source to the right of center is totally Nazi media. By the way, you're a Stalinist, right?
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