4/22/2021

74 Responses to “Democrat Politicians Continue to Demagogue Race and Police Shootings”

1. topics like the girl’s home life, was she a crack baby, parental involvement, any child abuse, what led to thinking stabbing someone was a good idea, the culture around her for 16 years are all off the table

   the only thing of relevance is what the cop did in that instant

   JF (e1156d) — 4/22/2021 @ 8:53 am

   
   

2. This kind of racial demagoguery is why I’m not a Democrat and didn’t vote for Biden. The shooting was racialized almost immediately, by none less than our own White House. It’s condemnable.
   The situation forced the cop into making a split-second decision, and he made the right call. This comes back to complying with police when they arrive instead of lunging at another person with a knife.

   Paul Montagu (26e0d1) — 4/22/2021 @ 8:54 am

   
   

3. Guaranteed that if someone armed with a knife – even a child – attempted to stab Lebron, Booker, Biden, Brown or any of the other demagogues and race hustlers, their security (private or Secret Service) would shoot the attacker.

   And those race hustlers wouldn’t say anything other than “thank you.”

   But that is why they hustle race and demagogue the way they do.

   I have a feeling that they are turning this hustling and demagoguery up a notch because they have a feeling of invulnerability after four years of Trump.

   It’s only going to get worse.

   Hoi Polloi (093fb9) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:02 am

   
   

4. And as the media continues to mislead the public (a very polite way of saying “they are spreading disinformation”), our sentinels in the social media milieu are silent.

   Shouldn’t our Tech Overlords start deplatforming Lebron, Biden, Booker, et. al. for spreading lies?

   Hoi Polloi (093fb9) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:04 am

   
   

5. ‘No opportunity’ to de-escalate: Use-of-force experts say Columbus officer obeyed training in shooting Ma’Khia Bryant
   
   An Ohio criminal-justice professor who studies the fatal use of force by law-enforcement officers didn’t hesitate to render an opinion after watching body-camera video of a Columbus police officer fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon on the city’s Southeast Side.

   “My first impression is that the officer was legally justified in using deadly force,” said Philip Stinson, a Bowling Green State University professor who has compiled nationwide statistics on fatal shootings that have led to criminal charges against officers.

   “It’s a terribly tragic situation, and my heart goes out to the girl and her family and friends,” he told The Dispatch Wednesday. “But from looking at the video, it appears to me that a reasonable police officer would have had a reasonable apprehension of an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death being imposed against an officer or someone else. That’s the legal standard.”
   …….
   James Scanlon, a retired Columbus Division of Police SWAT officer who spent 33 years with the division, has since trained officers, and served as an expert witness at trials in use-of-force cases, agreed with Stinson’s assessment of the video.

   “An officer is justified in using deadly force if his life or the life of someone else is at risk,” Scanlon said Wednesday. “Few would argue that there weren’t at least two lives there that were at serious risk.”

   In this case, Scanlon said, (the officer) wasn’t trying to protect himself, “but to save the life of someone he doesn’t even know. … It’s a shame that no one has recognized that that officer, in all likelihood, saved one or more lives.”
   …….
   Not when there are political points to be scored.

   Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:08 am

   
   

6. Yet the Joe Biden administration, which reliably demagogues every issue with a potential racial angle, rushed to portray this shooting as an example of systematic racism

   If America was sinewed with systematic racism it never would have elected the Obama/Biden ticket– twice. Nor a brain-damaged Irish-Catholic w/a running mate of African American and Asian American heritage.

   President Plagiarist best be reminded that some of America’s close allies are inherenently racist lands- including Japan, South Korea- and ‘the largest democracy’ on the planet: India– the place where all those 7/11 get staffed up from, eh Joe? He’s an idiot.

   But then… ‘You bought him; you own him.’

   “Don’t have a cow, man!” – Bart Simpson [Nancy Cartwright] ‘The Simpsons’ Fox TV

   _____

   LeBron James tweeted out a photo of the cop to his 50 million followers and said “YOU’RE NEXT” with the hashtag #ACCOUNTABILITY. He later deleted the tweet and blamed his critics for it.

   Critics?! LeBron James; he’s a pistol, ain’t he?! If you’re mind-mushed enough to be swayed by someone who is an authority on running back and forth in a tank-top and shorts, bouncing a watermelon-sized rubber ball and tossing it into a peach basket, you’re as big an idiot as President Plagiarist. It’s not like he builds and flies helicopters on Mars.

   DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:22 am

   
   

7. The officer should be given a ticker tape parade. He is a hero. There is no doubt in my mind that he saved the girl in pink from a violent attack that could have killed her.

   I agree.

   And I’d rather be an asshole, than a cannibal. Which is what the trot ruffles are. Cannibals, feasting off that girl for politics, for money, and for attention.

   nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:24 am

   
   

8. Nobody is challenging the misleading statistics set out by Black Lives Matter, and in fact they are endorsing it.

   Nothing good can come from using misleading statistics.

   Here is typical example (in the New York Times)

   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/justice-department-minneapolis-police.html

   Black people, who account for 20 percent of the city’s population, made up more than 60 percent of the victims in city police shootings from late 2009 through May 2019, police data shows.

   Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:26 am

   
   

9. Hey LeBron: a black Capitol Cop shot and killed an unarmed, white woman, Ashli Babbitt.

   How can that be said? Prove it wrong; tweet a demand to have the name and photo of the officer who did the shooting released. Or doesn’t that fit your narrative.

   DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:32 am

   
   

10. Black people, who account for 20 percent of the city’s population, made up more than 60 percent of the victims in city police shootings from late 2009 through May 2019, police data shows.

    What percentage do they make of perpetrators of crimes?

    nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:43 am

    
    

11. It’s unfortunate that so many have decided that the life of the girl wielding the knife was worth more than that of an unarmed girl. The cop was not being threatened at knifepoint – an unarmed girl was. He was not making an effort to protect himself but to protect the unarmed girl from possibly being killed. Had he not intervened and the girl in pink been stabbed and/or killed, how would that have been the more circumspect, racially sensitive decision? Critics really believe that there was a possible scenario (in that split second of time) that would have led to both girls being unharmed. I just don’t see it.

    Dana (fd537d) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:44 am

    
    

12. Deeply disappointed in the lack off leadership on this. A coherent message that shows sympathy for the deceased and her family while continuing to support the need for police reform isn’t that hard to think up.

    “The death of a child is always a tragedy and the officer’s use of force in this situation appears to be justified by the need to defend another. The families of all involved have our sympathy and we have to ask ourselves how this situation developed and what could have been done to prevent it. We commend the city for providing all of the pertinent information quickly so that the public can understand the details.”

    But the Biden white house couldn’t bring themselves to provide that leadership and confined their response to something that’s not technically false like a bunch of stupid cowards.

    There are good reasons to talk about accountability and the police. But the failure to treat this honestly will only harm that work in the long run.

    Time123 (ae9d89) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:44 am

    
    

13. @12. Ever heard of the Peter Principle? Once a senator, always a senator.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:47 am

    
    

14. Hey LeBron, did you know that amidst the darkest days of the Cold War, it was Mickey Mantle’s perspective on nuclear proliferation that made all the difference.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 9:51 am

    
    

15. The shooting was racialized almost immediately

    I would think a racist cop wouldn’t have cared that a black girl was a split second away from being knifed in the heart — especially when he must have been aware of the trouble that would come his way for preventing another black girl from plunging the knife in.

    Now let’s imagine what the narrative would be today if a white cop had not prevented a fatal knife attack on a black girl. In that video I don’t see any reasonable opportunity to de-escalate.

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:01 am

    
    

16. biden’s healing divisiveness is so much way better than that trump guy’s divisive divisiveness

    JF (e1156d) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:04 am

    
    

17. I’m still pretty firmly on team “The LEO shouldn’t in any way be disciplined here, BUT…”

    I’m NOT convinced the girl with the knife was rightfully shot.

    I’m thinking back to the couple in St. Louis with their guns on their porch when protestors were marching by. If a police officer had seen them pointing their guns at the protestors at their house, would the police officer have been right to shoot them? I don’t think anyone would agree they should have been.

    I’ve yet to hear anyone tell me (and I’m open to being convinced) that if the people she was attacking were at HER house and the people she attacked were the people the police were called to handle, and we don’t know what happened just before she came out of the house, and we don’t know if she even registered the presence of the police officer, is she within her rights in a stand-your-ground law state to chase away intruders with a knife and even stab those that she hasn’t chased away? I’m actually asking here, as I asked with no answer yesterday. Please those with more legal knowledge than me let me know.

    Again, it’s a split second decision and I’m not angry at the officer here, even if it turns out she shouldn’t have been shot. I just think everyone here painting this girl as the villain who had to be put down are also premature in that judgement. To be fair, I think a lot of the quoted statements that Pat highlights are ALSO premature, though they also might turn out to be right.

    nate_w (25619c) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:10 am

    
    

18. The maddening part about this is it muddies the waters, when you cry foul on what is a completely justified (and I would agree, heroic) shooting you shred your credibility when you question un-justified police violence. Now the actual issue is reduced to two sides of “everything cops do is good” and “everything cops do is bad” and nothing gets solved.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:12 am

    
    

19. @17 That’s a fair point, the cop had to make a split second decision to stop the person doing the stabbing or let the other person be stabbed. Even more reason to wait for an investigation before jumping to an conclusion.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:18 am

    
    

20. Time123 @12. I think some other expression other than “we” is better and the last line should read:

    “We commend the city for providing very much pertinent information quickly and would like the state and other agencies to release more as quickly as possible, so that the public can understand the details.”

    I particularly like: “We have to ask ourselves how this situation developed and what could have been done to prevent it.

    Incidentally, I have to say that when the police officer said “Get down” three times, he almost certainly was not speaking to the girl with the knife.

    I think “Get down” was addressed to all the people milling around. Although nobody understood it.

    That’s what someone says when they are about to fire a gun or gunfire is coming.

    But it could have been interpreted as being aimed at the girl Ma’khia Bryant was aiming the knife at, meaning he was telling her how to protect herself (that she should drop like the other girl.)

    And also as an indication that he would NOT fire his gun.

    And as revealing also that he was a poor observer, (she was being cornered)

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:20 am

    
    

21. I gave you answer yesterday, nate_w.

    https://patterico.com/2021/04/21/face-it-big-media-and-social-media-have-combined-to-stoke-a-moral-panic-about-police-shootings-and-race/#comment-2512521

    You don’t get to attack people with a knife as depicted on the video no matter how mean they have been to you earlier.

    Patterico (e349ce) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:23 am

    
    

22. People over-interpret stand your ground. It just means when you are attacked you have no duty to retreat, but can use appropriate force as necessary in your defense.

    Patterico (e349ce) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:23 am

    
    

23. But the failure to treat this honestly will only harm that work in the long run.

    The knee-jerk racialization/politicization makes both sides veer further into starkly opposing positions — either the police are always racist and they should be abolished; or the police are always right (unless they’re trying to stop a MAGA insurrection) and there’s no need to reexamine any practices or apply more accountability.

    I don’t doubt that some police have racist attitudes. I also don’t doubt that some police are too eager to exert power over other people regardless of race.

    It would be helpful if more people knew something about Justine Damond (whose name I had to look up) and Daniel Shaver (had to check to be sure) and Tony Timpa and other unarmed white people who were killed by the police but their stories were never more than a tiny blip in the news, if that. AND if more people knew about the police who have been killed while they were trying to protect other people.

    A more honest look at the whole picture would be in the interest of all the ordinary people who want (and need) the police to protect them, but shouldn’t have to fear the police if they’ve done no wrong, and shouldn’t have to fear summary execution or bodily injury if they are not actually threatening other people.

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:25 am

    
    

24. Manotaur,

    Everyone should “question unjustified police violence.” If you mean I deny it ever happens, you’re wrong. You shred your credibility when you make accusations about me without specifics.

    I think we are in a moral panic because the problem and In particular the racial aspect are exaggerated. I do not deny it happens and I challenge you to prove otherwise. Arguments about how I shred my credibility need to be backed or retracted,

    Patterico (e349ce) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:27 am

    
    

25. nate_w (25619c) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:10 am

    I’m thinking back to the couple in St. Louis with their guns on their porch when protestors were marching by. If a police officer had seen them pointing their guns at the protestors at their house, would the police officer have been right to shoot them? I don’t think anyone would agree they should have been.

    People are used to seeing (in movies and television at least) people pointing guns at other people and not firing them. They are not used to seeing people chasing other people with a knife in their hand. If she wasn’t moving, yes.

    don’t know what happened just before she came out of the house,

    Twelve minutes had elapsed since the 911 call. he policeman didn’t know how long, but he had to know it was some time, and it would be something if it was just now coming to a head when he arrived. But, you have to admit, possible.

    and we don’t know if she even registered the presence of the police officer,

    All she heard was “Hey, hey” But she knew a crowd was assembling.

    And then the policeman said something that sounded like advice to the other girl as to how to protect herself (drop to the ground just like the other girl just did)

    The officer in this case was a man, who had been on the force a little more than a year I think.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:31 am

    
    

26. Patterico,

    I understand your position and agree with it. The reason I lurk here and occasionally comment is because you provide a much more nuanced view and discussion of these issues. However, the overwhelming narrative being played out is between the two extreme camps with any voices or reason being drowned out.

    Also I just watched the video taken by the neighbor, and with the wider shot it’s obvious the woman being assaulted was just standing outside by the car and was not engaging with the attacker (who came barreling out of the house/backyard chasing the another woman) before the attempted stabbing.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:35 am

    
    

27. I just think everyone here painting this girl as the villain who had to be put down are also premature in that judgement.

    Are most people here actually doing that? Or just noting that the officer could only see that she was right then putting someone else’s life in very imminent danger and he had to make an instantaneous decision about it. It’s highly unlikely he could have known that the person who came charging out, knocking one person over and then swinging a knife toward someone else’s vital organs had (possibly) been the first victim in some way. And at the time the cop had to make a decision, it didn’t matter anyway.

    A lot of people are saying: “Whatever the girl with the knife was doing, she didn’t deserve to be killed.” Well, how about this: “Whatever the girl in pink may have done to the girl in black (which we don’t really know, and may never know for sure), the girl in pink didn’t deserve to be killed for it.”

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:37 am

    
    

28. Wow, Pat, I thought I’d read your answer yesterday, and must have had something come up part way through reading it, because I remember reading the beginning, but don’t at all remember reading certain parts of it. I apologize for not thinking it had been answered. Thanks for redirecting me to where you’d already answered.

    nate_w (25619c) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:38 am

    
    

29. when you are attacked you have no duty to retreat

    And there’s some distance between “don’t retreat” and “come out of the house lunging at people with a knife.”

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:39 am

    
    

30. If there is anything that Trump proved, it’s that the average IQ is 100, and stupid people are easy to fool.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:15 am

    
    

31. The nationwide police strike inches closer.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:18 am

    
    

32. Guaranteed that if someone armed with a knife – even a child – attempted to stab Lebron, Booker, Biden, Brown or any of the other demagogues and race hustlers, their security (private or Secret Service) would shoot the attacker.

    And those race hustlers wouldn’t say anything other than “thank you.”

    Oh, I think that even there, they would call the shooting into question if the “victim” was a minority. They are that kind of assh0les.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:20 am

    
    

33. “My first impression is that the officer was legally justified in using deadly force,” said Philip Stinson, a Bowling Green State University professor who has compiled nationwide statistics on fatal shootings that have led to criminal charges against officers.

    Something not ever said without tenure. Not even privately.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:22 am

    
    

34. Can the police officer sue NBC for libel here? Intentionally hiding facts that defame the officer seems to me to be libel, but IANAL.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:29 am

    
    

35. This kind of racial demagoguery is why I’m not a Democrat and didn’t vote for Biden.

    It was among my reasons. I have more.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:30 am

    
    

36. @12. Ever heard of the Peter Principle? Once a senator, always a senator.

    More like “Once a ward heeler, always a ward heeler.”

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:32 am

    
    

37. People over-interpret stand your ground. It just means when you are attacked you have no duty to retreat

    Some think it means you can chase them down and/or shoot them running away.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:35 am

    
    

38. Even more reason to wait for an investigation before jumping to an conclusion.

    What is there to investigate? The officer walked into the middle of a fight, after being called to intervene. No sooner does he arrive than one person throws another to the ground and starts stomping them and then one girl starts to swing a sizable knife towards another’s gut.

    In the first case he does not use deadly force as the situation does not (yet) call for it. In the second case he needs to, and does, with accuracy.

    Now, maybe the police department wants to see if this was within policy, but the way the officer responded quickly to an emergent situation without second-guessing says that it was exactly as he was trained. If there is any question it is that he might have shot her fewer times.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:42 am

    
    

39. @30

    The average IQ is 100 by design, if all people get vastly smarter or vastly stupider the average will remain 100. If your IQ is 100 it means that 50% of people scored higher, and 50% of people scored lower, but even you got 3 of 10 questions right or 8 of 10 questions right, if 50% of people got less than that your IQ is 100.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 11:48 am

    
    

40. The average IQ is 100 by design, if all people get vastly smarter or vastly stupider the average will remain 100.

    So you’re saying it’s not really true that “everyone can excel”?

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:15 pm

    
    

41. That’s a weird takeaway. I’m saying that even if we were all super-geniuses the average among us would still be 100, it’s a relative scale not absolute. Therefore saying that the average IQ is 100 tells us nothing about people’s actual intelligence, it’s always 100.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:20 pm

    
    

42. Sigh. I voted a straight Dem ticket in 2020. I think I may vote Libertarian or Green next time. I just can’t justify keeping any of these people in power.

    JRH (52aed3) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:22 pm

    
    

43. …if all people get vastly smarter or vastly stupider the average will remain 100.

    Except that they don’t really. They may get more information, or better aids to their decision-making (although from looking at the Internet there’s a lot of crap to pick among), but they won’t get “smarter” in any meaningful timeframe.

    It is no mistake that Trump’s speeches evaluate to 5th grade reading. He knew what he was doing and who he was aiming at.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:23 pm

    
    

44. Even more reason to wait for an investigation before jumping to an conclusion.

    What do you think needs to be investigated, and what would such an investigation look like? The video is there for anyone to watch. It very clearly shows what happened. No other videos have been released that present any other information. Witnesses have said that the police officer did what he needed to do. The officer’s actions line up with police practices and protocols in such a situation. No one is cheering on the fact that a girl was killed. In fact, I think most people are horrified that a girl was killed in order to save the life of another girl. It’s just an awful tragedy. But the situation was clearly such that an immediate response was required to save a girl’s life. Sometimes life presents either/or situations, and decisions need to be made on a dime. But it wasn’t an impulsive emotional reaction. It was the result of an immediate assessment of the situation followed by specific training.

    Dana (fd537d) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:25 pm

    
    

45. There is plenty of evidence that average intelligence is declining, and has been for some time.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:25 pm

    
    

46. Moral of the story: Don’t try to kill someone while a cop is watching.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:27 pm

    
    

47. I just think everyone here painting this girl as the villain who had to be put down are also premature in that judgement.

    Your inflammatory choice of words aside, I don’t think that people here are painting the knife-wielding young woman as the “villain”. Her own actions established that.

    Dana (fd537d) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:28 pm

    
    

48. UPDATE: As the evidence that this girl was justifiably killed adds up, the demagoguery multiples.

    “I’m gonna stab the fuck out of you”:

    In new video, Makhia Bryant can be heard screaming “I’m gonna stab the fuck out of you, bitch,” while lunging at two unarmed people who were posing no imminent physical threat to her

    pic.twitter.com/iIrn1RlbBR

    — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 22, 2021

    Meanwhile, Rashida “no more policing” Tlaib weighs in:

    Ma'Khia's TikTok videos show her childhood and joy. Her smile at the end of the videos just breaks me a little more. It's been maddening to see so many people strip away the fact that a child was killed. We cannot be a society that justifies the killing of a child.

    — Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 22, 2021

    Patterico (e349ce) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:34 pm

    
    

49. I just think everyone here painting this girl as the villain who had to be put down are also premature in that judgement.

    nate_w:

    The point I have been trying to make to you is that whether she was a “villain” or not, and whether she was the “initial aggressor” or not, are irrelevant to the propriety of the shooting. The evidence is piling up that this was clearly justified.

    Patterico (e349ce) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:36 pm

    
    

50. @17 That’s a fair point, the cop had to make a split second decision to stop the person doing the stabbing or let the other person be stabbed. Even more reason to wait for an investigation before jumping to an conclusion.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 10:18 am

    I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not dumb. I can look at a set of facts and conclude I probably know the pertinent details, make a conclusion, and leave room in my head to change my opinion if new facts , or a new understanding of the facts develop.

    Time123 (daab2f) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:38 pm

    
    

51. So, according to Rashida T’laib, she has decided that the life of the knife-wielding teen who already attacked one individual and was threatening to kill others is more important than the unarmed teen who was clearly her next target?

    Dana (fd537d) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:44 pm

    
    

52. 45. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:25 pm

    There is plenty of evidence that average intelligence is declining, and has been for some time.

    No, it’s increasing, or what’s measured by IQ tests (something like literacy) is.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

    he Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century.[1] When intelligence quotient (IQ) tests are initially standardized using a sample of test-takers, by convention the average of the test results is set to 100 and their standard deviation is set to 15 or 16 IQ points. When IQ tests are revised, they are again standardized using a new sample of test-takers, usually born more recently than the first. Again, the average result is set to 100. However, when the new test subjects take the older tests, in almost every case their average scores are significantly above 100.

    Test score increases have been continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to the present. For example, a study published in the year 2009 found that British children’s average scores on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices test rose by 14 IQ points from 1942 to 2008.[2] Similar gains have been observed in many other countries in which IQ testing has long been widely used, including other Western European countries, Japan, and South Korea.[1]

    What’s getting stupider is the quality of public discussion – or maybe stupid things are gaining more authority.

    This is probably a natural tendency of any system that relies on credentials and limits disssent. Education degrades with time, and also false things tend to become standard and received.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:50 pm

    
    

53. It’s the politicians (and the press maybe) who are saying stupider things.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:53 pm

    
    

54. So, according to Rashida T’laib, she has decided that the life of the knife-wielding teen who already attacked one individual and was threatening to kill others is more important than the unarmed teen who was clearly her next target?

    Dana (fd537d) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:44 pm

    I think it’s a mistake to attribute some meaning to her words. I think it’s more accurate to view this statement as marketing designed to create a feeling or impression in the audience.

    Try putting “It would be politically advantageous for me if you believed…” in front of her statement.

    Time123 (daab2f) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:54 pm

    
    

55. That’s a weird takeaway.

    It’s actually a joke. I was pointing to the weirdness of the illogical nostrum that “every student can excel.”

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 12:55 pm

    
    

56. It is no mistake that Trump’s speeches evaluate to 5th grade reading. He knew what he was doing and who he was aiming at.

    Or, that his speechwriters knew the audience. I don’t assume that Trump has the capacity to write a speech at a higher level. He wants people to think he’s a genius — not that he’s roughly at the level of his dumbest voters.

    Radegunda (aea52f) — 4/22/2021 @ 1:00 pm

    
    

57. There’s a good line in the Pixar movie about this, the chef’s line that “Anyone can cook” which doesn’t mean “Everyone can cook”

    by the same token, “Anyone can excel, but not everyone will Excel”. It’s good to tell kids they can excel, not all of them will but it’s good for them to know that they can.

    Another Movie “Monsters Inc. 2” has the also important message that sometimes you can’t do exactly what you want to do, but you can still find something that makes you happy.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 1:04 pm

    
    

58. I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not dumb. I can look at a set of facts and conclude I probably know the pertinent details, make a conclusion, and leave room in my head to change my opinion if new facts , or a new understanding of the facts develop.

    Sure, I’m of the opinion that this was a justified shooting and that’s what the investigation will say. But it’s worth investigating all the same, and I spoke (wrote) poorly, instead of “jumping to conclusions” maybe just not broadcasting all you opinions to the world as absolute truth until there’s some time to gather all the facts(this is aimed mostly at politicians and the media, not anyone here) There likely won’t be any mitigating circumstances, but it’s worth taking statements, collecting evidence, and putting together a full picture of what happened.

    Manotaur (0c90cd) — 4/22/2021 @ 1:14 pm

    
    

59. I think it’s a mistake to attribute some meaning to her words. I think it’s more accurate to view this statement as marketing designed to create a feeling or impression in the audience.

    Try putting “It would be politically advantageous for me if you believed…” in front of her statement.

    Perhaps. But she said it publicly and I’m willing to take her at face value. She said what she meant and I’m willing to give credit for it. As abysmal as it is.

    Dana (aaee38) — 4/22/2021 @ 1:55 pm

    
    

60. Police bullets are a cheeper way to deal with social problems like mental illness. In Scottsdale az a police officer has shot and killed 6 different mentally ill people.

    asset (b40c7c) — 4/22/2021 @ 1:59 pm

    
    

61. OT- Shell premium today, $5.10/gal; Regular- $4.89/gal.

    Assessment stands: Joe, you blow; America, you suck.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 2:18 pm

    
    

62. @61 I paid 2.68 for regular gas today.

    asset (b40c7c) — 4/22/2021 @ 2:21 pm

    
    

63. The nationwide police strike inches closer.

    At minimum in Democrat run cities…start with Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore.

    Horatio (151d7d) — 4/22/2021 @ 2:46 pm

    
    

64. OT- Memo to Dubya:

    George, your paintings genuinely suck.

    Churchill you ain’t.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 2:50 pm

    
    

65. If there really is ‘systemic racism’ in America the Columbus cop would have waited until the black girl stabbed the other black girl to death— and then shot her. A two-fer– that way there’d have been two dead black girls instead of just one. This crap is just that: crap.

    It was a justified shoot; he saved a life– perhaps others, too.

    I’m getting older and more irritable about this sh!t and perpetual bitching by blacks and assorted minorities. We’ve got black doctors, surgeons, lawyers, pilots and astronauts, a black Defense Secretary, elected a black POTUS– twice; stuck with a vacuous black/Asian VP; we have black department heads and diplomats, black movie stars, barbers and musicians; black sports stars, black bus drivers, black teachers and preachers; black congressmen and congresswomen; black mayors, senators, professors, authors–and black bank robbers, black murders, black drug dealers and drug users– and frigging black ‘Cats Paw’ heels on our shoes.

    ‘You’ve come along way, baby,’- since 1965. So stop bitching, cease burning down your neighborhoods, put your knives and guns away, do something productive with your lives and contribute to society. Keep poking a tolerant polar bear with a sharp stick long enough and it will swops ends on you.

    “Gentlemen, from this moment, any soldier without leggings, without a helmet, without a tie, any man with unshined shoes or a soiled uniform… is going to be skinned.” – G.S. Patton [George C. Scott] ‘Patton’ 1970

    DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/22/2021 @ 3:37 pm

    
    

66. The nationwide police strike inches closer.

    At minimum in Democrat run cities…start with Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore.

    As soon as Trump is sworn in as President on March 4. March 4, 2021.

    nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 4:29 pm

    
    

67. Normal Americans would see the Democrat dog vomit more clearly, and sooner, if they were still not having to dodge Trump and his dog droppings.

    nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 4:52 pm

    
    

68. Rashida T’laib thinks Hamas is great and supports any Arab violence against Israel. Are we really surprised about what she thinks about this matter?

    Hoi Polloi (b28058) — 4/22/2021 @ 5:33 pm

    
    

69. @58 Manutar, now that i understand what you meant I think we agree.

    Time123 (f5cf77) — 4/22/2021 @ 7:07 pm

    
    

70. If there really is ‘systemic racism’ in America the Columbus cop would have waited until the black girl stabbed the other black girl to death— and then shot her. A two-fer– that way there’d have been two dead black girls instead of just one. This crap is just that: crap.

    That’s not even close to systemic racism.

    Time123 (f5cf77) — 4/22/2021 @ 7:08 pm

    
    

71. The systematic racism scam isn’t any more helpful than the MAGA scam is.

    nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 7:26 pm

    
    

72. Yeah, yeah, systemic not systematic, let’s stick to the jargon.

    nk (1d9030) — 4/22/2021 @ 7:28 pm

    
    

73. OT- Shell premium today, $5.10/gal; Regular- $4.89/gal.

    Assessment stands: Joe, you blow; America, you suck.

    Actually, it’s California that’s doing all the sucking. With its closed gasoline market due to non-tariff barriers (special fuel rules) the refiners get to charge ridiculous prices. So, the Greens win by pricing driving out of the reach of many workers, and the refiners win by pocketing a dollar or two extra per gallon.

    A Faustian deal between the Greens and the refiners. Not clear which is the Satan here.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/23/2021 @ 8:20 am

    
    

74. Gasoline here in ABQ is under $3/gallon for regular, and we call that “high.” Usually it’s under $2.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/23/2021 @ 8:21 am