Lewis2
2mo ago
The population also smoked a ton, which helped to reduce the obesity rate but which probably didn’t help the flu fatality rate.
Lewis2
2mo ago
Not to worry, the media has Harris’s back when it comes to her debate performances. I heard the following on NPR just the other day:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
When Kamala Harris ran for president five years ago, there was a moment from her first debate that ignited enthusiasm for her campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: And that little girl was me.
KELLY: Harris was attacking her then-opponent, Joe Biden, for his record on busing and working with segregationists. It was a highlight for Harris, one of many she has had in debates over her career.
The bolded struck me as particularly ridiculous. I really wish there had been someone else in the booth to ask “Really? Name two.”
Lewis2
2mo ago
Who’s the formidable third party? The Libertarians and Greens are a joke as always, and Kennedy endorsed Trump.
Lewis2
2mo ago
Sadly, the idea that anyone might consider trade-offs is so ridiculous that it’s played for laughs by comedians.
Lewis2
2mo ago
I thought I had remembered a quote from de Tocqueville explaining that every American was content with his station in life because every American would at some point serve as president, chairman, or other elected official of an association, board, committee, government body, etc. So while he may be just another face in the crowd in one context, he would be a respected leader in another. I can’t find the quote I’m thinking of, but taken together, these two seem to speak to the same phenomenon, albeit more obliquely:
Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but others of a thousand different types- religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute. Americans combine to give fêtes, found seminaries, build churches, distribute books, and send missionaries to the antipodes. Hospitals, prisons, and schools take shape in that way. Finally, if they want to proclaim a truth of propagate some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form an association. In every case, at the head of any new undertaking, where in France you would find the government or in England some territorial magnate, in the United States you are sure to find an association.
And
The federal government does confer power and renown on those who direct it, but only a few can exercise influence there. The high office of President is hardly to be reached until a man is well on in years; as for other high federal offices, there is a large element of chance about attaining to them, and they go only to those who have reached eminence in some other walk of life. No ambitious man would make them the fixed aim of his endeavors. It is in the township, the center of the ordinary business of life, that the desire for esteem, the pursuit of substantial interests, and the taste for power and self-advertisement are concentrated; these passions, so often troublesome elements in society, take on a different character when exercised so close to home and, in a sense, within the family circle.
With much care and skill power has been broken into fragments in the American township, so that the maximum possible number of people have some concern with public affairs. Apart from the voters, who from time to time are called on to act as the government, there are many and various officials who all, within their sphere, represent the powerful body in whose name they act. Thus a vast number of people make a good thing for themselves out of the power of the community and are interested in administration for selfish reasons.
Lewis2
2mo ago
It’s not that remarkable, unless you mean it’s remarkable that any emperor resigned. How many popes have retired in the past 2,000 years? How many monarchs? How many members of the nobility? In a system where the tradition is to remain in power until your death (and especially when that power comes with significant advantages), the only surprising thing is that some people choose to resign.
Lewis2
2mo ago
Just a nit, but many Protestants were not always happy to endorse even a plain cross, let alone a crucifix. An article from 1912 illustrates the point:
On the first Sabbath of April we worshiped in a conservative Presbyterian church. The music was glorious, and the sermon was strong and spiritual. But the various parts of the service and the total effect revealed the growing tendency—we had almost said the absolute surrender—of the modern Protestant churches to the ritualistic principle. It was not the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, that was honored; it was Easter that was celebrated. The cross, which was sternly banished from the churches of the Reformation, occupied a central place on the pulpit, wrought in flowers, it is true, and not in metal or marble; nevertheless, there it was, a religious symbol in a Christian church. . . . One cannot but wonder where it will all end. We rub our eyes and ask whether our spiritual ancestors were mistaken; whether our catechisms were written in prejudice; whether the drift will carry all before it and give to ritualism the wide-spread and complete victory which it has long desired and planned. . . .
Lewis2
2mo ago
It's never going to be "oh, wow, really?" weird to be a mother.
Not to be a mother, no, but in many circles, it already is to be a mother of more than two or at most three children. Several friends of mine have expressed frustration at the extremely negative reaction they received—even from family members!—when they announced they were expecting child four or five. Most of these friends also have stories of being scolded by strangers at Costco for being so stupid or selfish to have so many kids. I’m not so fortunate as to have so many kids myself, but I’ve repeatedly witnessed a bizarre resentment from even generally pro-natal folks when discussing these families.
When society looks so completely askance at anyone who has more than two kids, is it any wonder that we can’t keep the birth rate above replacement?
Lewis2
2mo ago
Make a "slow car lane" and force her to drive exclusively in that lane so that the rest of us can drive as fast as we want!
We sort of already have this. Many states reserve the far left lane for passing only, and cops will absolutely pull you over and ticket you for driving too slowly in it. Speeders get a pass; those following the speed limit get a fine.
Lewis2
2mo ago
The former; the soil within the internationally recognized borders of Russia.
Lewis2
2mo ago
The restrictions forbid using US-provided missiles against Russian forces on Russian soil, not on Russian-held territory. This seems to me like a sensible precaution aimed at minimizing the risk that Russia claims this as a NATO attack against Russia and retaliates with nuclear weapons.
To me, this AP article takes the cake.
Headline: A far-right German party’s win has some fearing for the future. Others worry of a return to the past.
Synopsis: A lesbian couple in Berlin is worried about the rise of the AfD.
They’re concerned that a gay couple and their child might not be safe in the future if parties like Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gain more power in the formerly communist and less prosperous eastern states.
Germany’s domestic intelligence has deemed both the Saxon and Thuringian branches of the AfD to be “proven right-wing extremist” groups. The leader in Thuringia has even been convicted of using Nazi slogans. Even more ominous, this election was held on the 85th anniversary of the invasion of Poland, which makes the AfD’s win somehow even more damning. One young father is trying to figure out how to explain it to his three- and six-year-old kids:
“We don’t talk much about politics so far. He’s more into ‘Paw Patrol,’” Meister said. “It’s hard to explain. How is it that people are so proud to vote for a party that is so bad for everyone?”
Now we get to the good stuff:
Older Germans who lived through the Nazi reign of terror are frightened. Many believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.
But Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, cautioned against labeling AfD’s successes as an aberration.
“Nobody should now speak of ‘protest’ or look for other excuses,” Knobloch said in a statement. “The numerous voters made their decision consciously, many wanted to make the extremists on the fringes responsible.”
Knobloch was 6 years old when she saw the synagogues of Munich burning and watched helplessly as two Nazi officers marched away a beloved friend of her father on Nov. 9, 1938, or Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.
Gudrun Pfeifer and Ursula Klute, two retirees from the northwestern city of Osnabrueck who are visiting Berlin this week, said Sunday’s vote also brought back grim memories from their early childhood days during and after World War II.
“I know what this can all lead to,” Pfeifer, 83, said Monday as her voice broke, recalling how her family was separated during the last months of the war and beyond. She was stranded in Berlin for more than a year.
“The city was in ruins, we were all starving. I was very ill — my sister thought I was going to die,” Pfeifer added.
Unfortunately, young people are ever so slightly more likely to vote for the AfD than the population overall, which obviously spells disaster for the future. The article closes with this ominous warning:
Klute, 78, also said she was distressed by AfD’s successes among the younger population.
“People always forget the lessons from history,” she said.
The only thing this article is missing (other than, you know, any discussion of the AfD’s actual policy proposals) is a paragraph noting that Saxony and Thuringia were among the earliest states to support the Nazi party electorally back in 1928. Perhaps the authors were simply unaware, or perhaps they ran out of room with their other guilt-by-association quotations.
Western elites are pro-Russian? In what world?
I’d make a more substantive comment, but frankly, this assertion seems so obviously false that I’m not sure the rest of your analysis is worth engaging with.
Edit: Reading the quote from that article in context, I think you completely misunderstood what he meant with regard to Russia. He was contrasting the positive response to his pro-Ukrainian activities with the mixed-to-negative response to his pro-Israeli activities.
Lewis2
2mo ago
That was in Saxony, where they went from 41 seats out of 120 to just 40. They have 32 out of 88 seats in Thuringia.
Lewis2
2mo ago
As long as the cordon sanitaire around the AfD survives, mightn’t results like this just further strengthen the position of leftist culture warriors? If the CDU won’t form a government with the AfD, they’ll have to keep making more and more concessions to the Left, the Greens, the SPD, and now the BSW. My impression of the CDU is that they’re so weak, they’ll concede practically anything if it allows them to form a government that excludes the AfD. If I’m right about that, it seems like the only way for further AfD victories to mean anything is for the AfD to get an actual majority, which is virtually impossible in Germany’s parliamentary system. (Though the AfD can definitely influence some things if they control over a third of the seats, as is now the case in Thuringia.) Is there something I’m missing?
Lewis2
2mo ago
Yes, I know. Traditional upper class accents across the country used to have an initial aspiration in words that began with “wh.” Lots of accents did, as a matter of fact, though it’s largely disappeared nowadays outside of parts of the South, Midwest, and New England. I’ve just always assumed that most people think of the Transatlantic accent when they think of that aspirated “wh” sound.
Lewis2
2mo ago
I’m not convinced that @hydroacetylene and @sarker are right about the intended connotations. The various upper class New England accents (most notably the Transatlantic accent, but other accents as well) have also traditionally distinguished between “w” and “wh.” I’d always assumed that “huwhite” was meant to mock the (outdated) stereotype of an old-fashioned, conservative, racist, elitist, country club snob, not a poor, dumb hick.
To be fair, the white racist in question could be southern too, but either way, he’s elite.
Lewis2
2mo ago
Monks and nuns would make an even greater example. Even today, it’s not at all uncommon to come across brothers who adopted female saints’ names and sisters who adopted male saints’ names. There’s definitely a case to be made that “Father Mary Patrick” and “Sister Boniface” are at least a little gender-bendery.
Lewis2
3mo ago
Also make sure you don’t use the default Word settings if you’re faking something supposedly written on a typewriter.
Lewis2
3mo ago
That’s it precisely. Regular vehicle checks seem freedom-impinging, which is bad enough on its own. To make matters worse, they also seem unnecessary, which therefore also makes them degrading.
Lewis2
3mo ago
I’m not arguing; I’m just conveying my impression from a state with fewer restrictions and more freedom.
It’s starting to feel like talking about freedom of speech with Europeans. You make the merest mention that you appreciate America’s freedom of speech, and they start tripping over themselves to tell you why their much more restrictive version is actually better and more socially responsible. I get that the states that require vehicle inspections have their reasons. I just find the requirements bizarre, intrusive, and off-putting. No amount of argument is going to change my mind, as mine is an instinctive and emotional response, not a carefully-thought through rational one.
Lewis2
3mo ago
Oh, I get the argument for it, but I have a similar instinctual response as I would toward a law requiring annual housing inspections or mandating preemptive parenting classes before couples are allowed to have children. It just seems weirdly invasive.
Lewis2
3mo ago
About ten years ago, some friends and I visited a restaurant in a Chicago suburb, right on the edge between an extremely rich neighborhood and a fairly poor one. When we arrived around 8:00, the staff and customers were all white, and the background music was pop. When we left a little after 9:00, the staff and all the other customers were black, and the background music was hip hop. On our way out, one of the employees warned us not to linger in the parking lot. Apparently that’s how this restaurant operates: well-off whites during the day, poor and more frequently criminal blacks at night. It was the first time I’d ever witnessed such a clear division in the same physical location.
I’m not sure Boomers were all that much more opposed to anti-vaxxers than any other demographic. According to Pew, 22% of Republicans aged 65+ never got the vaccine, and presumably many who got it didn’t care if younger people didn’t (anecdotally, I know this to be true among some of my family and friends, but I unfortunately can’t find good statistics on the subject nationwide). As of February of this year, only 24% of Republicans aged 65+ were up to date on their booster shots, which is a smaller percentage than Democrats in every age category. Both the earlier numbers and the current numbers are quite a bit above the lizardman constant.
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