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Further ruminations about the notion of systemic racism:
13 to 27 unarmed black men were killed during confrontations with police in 2019 (around 259 total if including armed), and yet a recent survey indicates liberals think unarmed black men killed by cops is in the thousands due to the crap they’re fed by social media and dishonest news outlets. The perception being peddled is fraudulent and downright dangerous, and the progenitor of all the riots throughout 2020. The statistics do reveal that there is indeed a problem to address regarding black deaths, not just by police but much more so by each other in certain cities. Unfortunately, this is obscured by ideological and political bullshit. Let’s take a look at some genuine statistics regarding the number of people killed by police in the United States from 2013 to 2019, categorized by “race” (again, race is a false concept, but for some reason humans are still obsessed with labeling people as such).
How Informed are Americans about Race and Policing? (CUPES-007) (skeptic.com)
https://www.skeptic.com/research-center/reports/Research-Report-CUPES-007.pdf
• Number of people killed by police by ethnicity U.S. 2019 | Statista
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1124036/number-people-killed-police-ethnicity-us/
Police Shootings and Crime Statistics in The United States (killedbypolice.net)
https://killedbypolice.net/
Do COPS KILL THOUSANDS of BLACKS each Year?? - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfoYhoaw_9s
The Myth of Systemic Police Racism - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-myth-of-systemic-police-racism-11591119883
The demographic percentage of blacks killed by police is indeed higher than other groupings. Why? This should be logical, but it’s because they were engaging in illegal activity, usually armed, that warranted a police response that led to conflict. Not because the perpetrator was black, but because they confronted and threatened police, usually with a firearm, and also happened to be black. It’s not racism. It’s a byproduct of cultural and socioeconomic components that leads to behaviors and activities that put those men in dangerous situations.
Again, there could very well be individual cases where the cop has racist tendencies, but almost all of the highly publicized ones have not been, not once you delve into the truth of those matters with unbiased eyes. Just because a certain racial group has a higher number of deaths doesn’t automatically indicate racism, and evidence suggests it’s mostly other causes (i.e. a higher percentage of blacks commit crimes due to cultural and socioeconomic drivers, therefore a higher percentage have confrontations with police).
The biggest tell is the following statistic: while black men comprise only about 7% of U.S. population, black men commit around 30% of all crime (and 50% of all homicides). I’ll repeat that: 7% of the entire U.S. population commits 30% of all crime, and 50% of all homicides. That’s stunning. This statistic alone explains the higher proportion of incarcerations and deaths during conflicts with police.
Arrests by offense, age, and race (ojjdp.gov)
https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/ucr.asp?table_in=2
Crime in the U.S.: Key questions answered | Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/
FBI — Table 43
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/tables/table-43
FBI — Expanded Homicide Data Table 6
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-6.xls
Race and Ethnicity of Violent Crime Offenders and Arrestees, 2018 (bjs.gov)
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/revcoa18.pdf
Police shootings myth: Unarmed Black Americans don't face an epidemic (usatoday.com)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/03/police-black-killings-homicide-rates-race-injustice-column/3235072001/
FactCheck: do black Americans commit more crime? – Channel 4 News
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-commit-crime
Of course, there may be exceptions to this in some precincts, and that shouldn’t be ignored, but as a whole, there is NOT mass systemic racism.
The P.I. and lawyer I work with on real-world police corruption and false incarcerations where it does in fact exist (power can lead to corruption in weak minds), black, white and otherwise (the stats show it’s not racism) puts me in the thick of it every day. But you, with what is most likely an ivy-league education (I’m speculating, so could be wrong, but this tends to be the case) think you know better? Regardless of your background, you’re caught up in a dangerous mob of groupthink because you don’t actually have to deal with it. You’re forming opinions not on real-world experiences and stats, but on anecdotes, pervasively biased news reporting, and the child-like worldview of an ideological activist.
I can accept some of the over the top action, but the explosion blowing her back up through the hole crossed a line. Also, the men being utterly useless didn't play well. At least a couple of them should have acted like, well you know, men. But, I still kind of liked it for it's gonzo bonkers premise, and Chloe Grace Moretz, with her unusually masculine physical capabilities blended with feminine qualities, was perfect for the role. Clearly though, this flick portrayed a very idealized feminist statement, with the woman doing quite literally everything. It was so in your face that it was a bit off-putting, even for my wife. All in all, I enjoyed it, though.
And I thought the exact same thing, with it being a blend of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (The Twilight Zone) and The Mission (Amazing Stories), but I'd also throw the Heavy Metal B-17 segment in there as well. In fact, apparently an earlier concept for B-17 had the plane being terrorized by monstrous versions of the legendary plane-sabotaging gremlins instead of undead zombies.
Have to agree about the score also. It was quite striking at times.
I can accept some of the over the top action, but the explosion blowing her back up through the hole crossed a line. Also, the men being utterly useless didn't play well. At least a couple of them should have acted like, well you know, men. But, I still kind of liked it for it's gonzo bonkers premise, and Chloe Grace Moretz, with her unusually masculine physical capabilities blended with feminine qualities, was perfect for the role. Clearly though, this flick portrayed a very idealized feminist statement, with the woman doing quite literally everything. It was so in your face that it was a bit off-putting, even for my wife. All in all, I enjoyed it, though.
I can accept some of the over the top action, but the explosion blowing her back up through the hole crossed a line. Also, the men being utterly useless didn't play well. At least a couple of them should have acted like, well you know, men. But, I still kind of liked it for it's gonzo bonkers premise, and Chloe Grace Moretz, with her unusually masculine physical capabilities blended with feminine qualities, was perfect for the role. Clearly though, this flick portrayed a very idealized feminist statement, with the woman doing quite literally everything. It was so in your face that it was a bit off-putting, even for my wife. All in all, I enjoyed it, though.
LOL. Can't believe these other posters are falling for this. You're not even trying to be subtle. Cracks me up. As a side note, hopefully your college professor didn't touch you in naughty places.
I clearly didn’t deny racism. I denied that it’s pervasive or systemic. And, I claim that much of what’s dubbed “racism” actually isn’t, i.e. it’s either a false, ideologically driven biased perception, or it’s fraudulent. But it does exist. White supremacist groups, just like all extremist groups (e.g. the vile Proud Boys, QAnon, Antifa, and what BLM has turned into) must be stamped out. They’re some good, well-intentioned misguided members in these organizations (well, maybe not the Proud Boys or QAnon), but the organizations themselves are pure corruption and only serve to perpetuate division, stereotypes, and racial animus.
“removal of voting sites within black communities to dissuade voting by causing hours long lines and travel difficulties while leaving the voting places in white communities alone allowing shorter lines and easier commutes.”
Many voting sites were closed, but it being racially motivated is a false narrative driven by ideology, and completely ignores real-world statistics. For example, in my township alone, which is a mix of about 83% white, 7% black, we went from 6 voting locations to 3, which did indeed greatly increase wait times. Which ones were closed had nothing to do with race. Are there places where it could have been? I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it, but the evidence suggests otherwise (unless counting biased journalism that ignores actual statistics). The voting locations closing didn’t just make it harder for minorities, but for everyone. But it did little to deter voting, as evidence by the record-breaking voter turnout.
It broke records in a way that’s suspicious, but that’s another topic.
Voter Demographics | Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/voter-demography/
Black voters most likely to say November 2020 election was run very well | Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/12/black-voters-were-most-likely-to-say-november-election-was-run-very-well/
Voter Turnout Demographics - United States Elections Project (electproject.org)
http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics
Once again, actual statistics shatter the false narrative.
“black men receive longer prison sentences than whites for the same crime.”
There’s truth to this, but it’s not racially motivated (in most cases—I have no doubt there’s some racist judges out there, especially down South). The situation is very complex, with a lot of dynamics involved. I know it’s simpler, and therefore easier, to just shout “racism”, but that’s ultimately a very small factor to a much more complex problem, and it obfuscates the true nature of the issue, imposing upon it a major disservice. The majority of those longer sentences were given to repeat offenders, but that aspect is conveniently left out of the statistics. They’re not being given longer sentences because they’re black. They’re being given longer sentences for other reasons, and they happen to also be black.
I work with the KC Freedom Project (headed by a local lawyer and P.I. who happen to be black) as a videographer. Their focus is combating police corruption and overturning wrongful convictions. They deal with this daily, and do great work fighting corruption and wrongdoing by authorities. It is by and large NOT racially related. It just happens to hit black communities harder due to cultural and socioeconomic factors that lead to a higher percentage of blacks being affected. There is a systematic aspect, but it’s decidedly not racism. There is, however, some police precincts fraught with corruption, and a certain portion of the KCPD is one of them (St. Louis also has problems). And not just the police, but District Attorneys and politicians. Oddly, they’re almost entirely Democrat.
“Yet another example are school books which omit history and accomplishments of black people which leads people to assume they have none which perpetuates white supremacy and racism”
Huh? Even when I was in school in the 70’s and 80’s there were a large number of references to black history in textbooks. There’s just as much “white” history, or ancient history that’s misrepresented as well. The educational system is a mess, run by unions interested only in power. Of course, by its very nature, there will be fewer minority references in history books simply because they are… wait for it…. a minority, i.e. fewer of them! But the content averages out to about the same as the demographics of the population, which is what’s fair. Plus, there are courses entirely dedicated to minority ethnicity and cultural studies.
Within the past couple of years, there are now “woke” classes dedicated entirely to the false premise of white people being inherently racist, and new absurd teachings such as critical race theory that simply aren’t true (there are indeed some kernel factors here, but it’s gone way overboard into the realm of being ludicrous and dangerous, marginalizing large groups of people, including blacks).
You realize your making claims about me that aren't remotely supported by anything I've stated, right? In other words, your deriving assumptions, and assuming I'm right-wing simply because I disagree with you. You are very, very wrong.
I completely agree there was never some utopian state of things. It's a work in progress. And there absolutely was pervasive racism in the past. But in today's world that is mostly a false perception driven by non-thinking believers and charlatans striving to sew division and belittle perceived opposition (yes, it exists, but it is decidedly not systemic, by the very definition of the word, i.e. there aren't cops running around gunning down black people, nor was the George Floyd situation race-related).
Nice work with the Saul Alinsky shtick.
Saying everything is racist is what's racist, because it's interjecting race-related problems where there would otherwise be none. More crucially, it overshadows actual racism that exists and completely nullifies attempts to stamp real racism out. So, shame on you for allowing real racism to continue by diminishing the word with overuse.
"Collusion" is not a right-wing creation. Are you delusional? CNN, MSNBC, etc. used it incessantly. It's their word. Nice attempt to rewrite history.
Regarding the Mueller Report, these are his findings:
********************
Mr. Steele: Mr. Trump and his team set up a hacking operation in the U.S. Mr. Trump funded hacking teams overseas along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Mueller: Not true. The Mueller investigation found no such illegal activities.
********************
Mr. Steele: Mr. Trump knew of and supported WikiLeaks’ alliance with Moscow, which fed stolen Democratic Party emails to the anti-secrecy group. It released them in huge batches during the campaign.
Mr. Mueller: Weeks before the election, evidence pointed to the Kremlin as the hacker. There is no evidence that Mr. Trump supported the illegal activity.
Yeah i don't know that there was enough to flip the election, nor do i care. I'm glad Trump's out of office, BTW. But the level of fraud was much greater than previous elections. Yes, some of that always occurs, but not nearly to that extent. Just watch the hearings (although you need about 20 hours to do so). The level of fraud was appalling.
WTF are you talking about? "Obvious racism"? Based on your irrational comments, if you want to see a racist go look in the mirror. No one wants to throw any legitimate votes out, black or otherwise.
To the contrary, all citizens regardless of genetic history or practiced culture and ethnicity are equal under the law in every way (side note: no one is truly "black", "white", or otherwise--genetically speaking everyone is some percentage of a large number of ancestries).
But I forgot, you don't want to see the world with a scientific mindset. For you everything is about "race" (there is quite literally only one overarching race, by the way, or "species", scientifically speaking). Guess what, the average person doesn't think that way. They see all people equally.
Only the growing number of extremist modern day progressives segregate people by race (treating blacks and Hispanics as if they're incapable of taking care of themselves, holding them down with socially engineered oppression), and REAL small pockets of white supremacist scum who have no idea that many of them most likely share genetics with the very ones they throw hate toward.
The George Floyd death was not racist, BTW. It was a heinous act by a police officer who had a history with Floyd, but nothing to do with race whatsoever.
The Mueller Report does not conclude Trump-Russia collusion, FYI. It did suggest a high probability that Russia attempted, largely ineffectually, to interfere (just like they had for decades). Perhaps it's you who should read it, this time without bias.
And you realize the Steele dossier was debunked, right? By the very man who's report you're citing.
Take a deep breath, purge your bias and belief, and think critically and clearly. You'll be a much happier person in general, no longer beholden to your mental slave masters.
https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2019/03/mueller-concludes-investigation/
https://apnews.com/article/7b7d698b9a660997f5e755d92b775d98
Trump's a pompous ass with the grammar of a fifth grader, but he, nor any of his family, engaged in anything illegal with Russia (according to Mueller). I for one am glad he's out of the office, but from what I'm seeing so far, what we have now is much worse. There's a paradigm shift occurring, and the future of the country is on a pivot point that could lead to widespread improvement or a massive downfall.
And people with locked-in mindsets like you (regardless of left, right, or otherwise) are directly responsible for the problem. It'll only get better when you decide to be a better human being.
Sounds like I might need to start watching Fox News more often. But my impression is that many of the commentators on that channel are steeped in belief and ideology. No? If not, then I may have misjudged it and will check it out more closely when I get a chance.
But your statement possibly indicates that you don't actually watch it, and in fact don't receive your news from a diverse array of sources. Just sayin' Unless my impression of it is wrong, which it could be since the main thing I tend to catch from time to time is a show called The Five because it comes on at the end of my work day when things are sometimes quiet (that show is most definitely NOT a news show, but I find it amusing with a variety of viewpoints), then I sometimes flip between Wolf Blitzer and Brett Baier. When I've checked out some of the non-news shows on Fox I find them grating, and most of the commentators blowhards.
But if my logic and common sense, as you claim, is in line with what they're saying (I have doubts), then I may need to revise my opinion of it (things do tend to change over time, after all, so it's possible the channel as a whole has become more even-keeled, and less ideological in nature--guess I'll find out when I get a chance).
But this:
"The only way back is to doggedly seek the truth. Not fiction and false narratives. To hold off forming conclusions until the evidence is there (and even then being skeptical, i.e. never conclude to 100% yay or nay)."
This is the mentality of a true scientist. Pervasively skeptical about all things. Never believing, never denying, anything to 100% degree. Everything is about probability, and rarely is anything answered. An open mind is persistently and actively maintained. Humans have evolved an emotional need for closure, but that doesn't reflect reality. As a result it's human nature to fill in the blanks with falsehoods that confirm existing biases.
That's not how a true scientist thinks. That's how a believer thinks. And believers rarely know they're wrong until something dramatic or traumatic pulls their heads out of their asses. Anyone subscribing to a single worldview, locked into an ideology, following along with a crowd, is taking the easy route. This is the basis of any religion or cult (e.g. die-hard Trump followers that hang on his every word, modern day leftists caught in a feedback loop of snowballing confirmation bias, no matter how ludicrous and far from reality the concept is). It's lazy. Such followers feel secured because they've falsely assured themselves of conclusions where there aren't truly any.
For such people (most people), it's about feeling good about themselves instead of confronting truth.
Can only agree with everything you say there. If the riot hadn't happened the officer would still be alive, no doubt. And the people responsible are being swiftly located and prosecuted, as they should be.
But trying to blame it on Trump while ignoring the plethora of much more incendiary remarks from democrats over the past year (and more) that contributed to months of much more calamitous and destructive rioting, vandalism and murder is a fool's errand that will only lead to failure.
Absolutely all citizens of all persuasions and worldviews need to stop believing and start thinking. Only watch the ideologically-saturated media outlets with a grain of salt, and pick out the verifiable facts, puzzling together real-world conclusions. Stop buying into their bullshit. Don't watch commentator shows, only news.
This divisive, pervasively leftist (although the right has their segments also), propaganda that throws false accusations at the drop of a hat (e.g. provably false Russia-Trump collusion for four years) while covering up obvious wrongdoings by those they share a perspective with or have a vested interest in (e.g. Hunter Biden, attacks on federal buildings, entire city blocks taken over, etc.) has got to stop. It's destroying the country.
The only way back is to doggedly seek the truth. Not fiction and false narratives. To hold off forming conclusions until the evidence is there (and even then being skeptical, i.e. never conclude to 100% yay or nay).
And for fuck's sake, shed all forms of belief. Belief is the bane of reason.
Apparently you missed all the legislature hearings that presented mountains of undeniable proof of massive voter fraud. Although I don't blame you, really. Liberal news media wouldn't touch it. Here's some highlights:
1) thousands of supposed mail-in ballots that weren't folded (i.e. were never put in an envelope)
2) thousands of mail-in envelops missing critical information that previously would have disqualified them
3) democrat counters filling in blank ballots
4) thousands of ballots obviously printed, with identical markings
5) thousands of ballots photocopied (with clear copy flaws, yet identical images)
6) dominion voting machines tallying results in decimals for some reason (e.g. for 5 votes, 4.6 would be for Biden, .4 for Trump), which indicates a percentage-based vote-shifting algorithm was used instead of simple additive processing (e.g. original votes were 3 Trump, 2 Biden)
7) the only county where dominion machines were allowed to be fully audited found that 30% of the votes were shifted from Trump to Biden
8) non-democrat poll-watchers in key battleground states were harassed and prevented from actually observing
9) unusual addresses on thousands of ballots (e.g. an entire apartment complex voted for Biden, thousands of out-of-state people somehow voting in different states after moving, etc.)
10) dead people voting (this was a pretty small number compared to the rest of it)
11) many people coming in to vote, only to be told they'd somehow already voted by mail despite not having done so
12) statistically impossible massive "hockey-stick" jumps in Biden votes in the wee hours of the morning after vote counting unprecedently (meaning its never happened in an election before) shut down for 4 to 6 hours in all key battleground states (one of them supposedly due to a water-main break that turned out to be a false report), and all non-democratic observers were told to go home and come back in the morning, while there's security video of illegal vote counting continuing solely by democratic counters, with no third-party observers.
And the list goes on. I didn't want to think it possible, so I watched all the hearings at the various places where they were being streamed (on X1.5 mode to get through them more quickly), and was stunned at the overwhelming evidence. And yet due to political pressure and an unwillingness to consider the possibility, this was all just ignored, and the votes certified anyway.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/02/14/the-new-york-times-retracts-the-sicknick-story
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/brian-sicknick-police-capitol-dies.html?referringSource=articleShare
"UPDATE: New information has emerged regarding the death of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police."
Yes there are moments in The Village that are absolutely superb. Signs has some great moments in the score, but Howard knocked it out of the part with The Village (I also like his work on Unbreakable). Of the three Unbreakable is actually my favorite, movie, and I like the main them music, but as soundtracks Signs and The Village are quite good.
Actually, in 2020 only about 42% of households in the U.S. own a gun (legally). While I'd agree it's more likely that a farmer or someone in a rural area would own a registered firearm, it's far from a guarantee.
BOOM!
Since it flew over your head, that's exactly what I just said.
I guess if a monkey randomly types characters on a keyboard they almost form cogent sentences. Good monkey. Now go get a treat.
Are you a troll? Because that was clearly as fake as it gets. Wow. Wise up. Unless you're just a troll, then nice job with the agitative posts. He in fact passed the cognitive test. Just research the official results. Yes, he's old and stumbled a bit, but that has nothing to do with cognition, instead the normal level of motor skill of an old man.
By the way, citing the New York Times is akin to referencing Dr. Seuss. It has no merit and is largely fiction.
The officer's death may not have happened exactly the way it was reported. The narrative of being beaten by a fire extinguisher may not hold water after the autopsy (although judgement should be held until the autopsy is complete). But the coroner just revealed that the officer had no visible head injuries whatsoever. That doesn't mean that the rioters wouldn't still be culpable, because they created the situation that lead to the cop's death (possibly due to the stress of the situation, which I would say the rioters were indeed responsible for, and it's possible that he had a head injury that just didn't have external bruising, edema or gashes).
More importantly, the hearing today proved that they were NOT "Trump's rioters". Trump had absolutely nothing to do with the rioting. They were independent extremist right-wingers who'd planned this for months, and a couple of them were Antifa and BLM taking advantage of the situation.
As a side note, only 1 -- literally only 1 -- of the 4 other deaths had anything to do with the rioting at all (the unarmed woman who was shot by an overzealous and probably quite anxious security guard). The other three were just peaceful bystanders who happened to die of random, unrelated and natural causes in the general area.
But you keep watching and believing the bullshit fed to you by uber-biased liberal news media outlets, living in your fantasyland with the big bad orange man who... what? Let's see... improved the U.S. economically to the extent that pre-COVID the country was at it's lowest unemployment and highest median wage earnings in history (with massive improvements of jobs and wages in minority communities). See where that gets you in the long run.