Sunday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. FedEx shooter bought 2 rifles after police seized his shotgun

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/us/indianapolis-shooting-victims.html

  2. Sleeping Dog says:

    While we’re talking about shootings

    KENOSHA, Wis. —
    Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting early Sunday morning in Kenosha County.

    The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said the shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. at the Somers House on Sheridan Road near 15th Place in the Village of Somers.

    The Sheriff’s Department said the suspect has not been located at this time and it appears to be a targeted and isolated incident.

    Deputies do not believe there is a threat to the community at this time.

    So far, no arrests have been made and they have released very little information about a potential suspect.

    The victims have not yet been identified.

    The shooting investigation is active and Sheridan Road is closed near the scene.

    The sheriff said he believes the shooting stemmed from an argument after a man was asked to leave the bar.

    He also said he believes the shooter knew the victims.

    No other details have been released.

    Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department at 262-605-5100 or Kenosha County Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333*. (emphasis added)

    * Now if they release no info about the perp, how can the public help?

    That sheriff is awfully sanguine about the shooter.

    3
  3. Sleeping Dog says:

    Just took a quick count from Wikipedia, and if I did so correctly, since April 1, there have been 33 mass shootings in the US. We know that the peoples representatives have been so thoroughly cowed by the gun lobby, but I’m wondering about the Supremes? There are several gun rights cases bubbling up and the conventional wisdom or fear, is that this court will expand gun rights. The nine of them sitting in the privacy of their chambers, discussing law and the constitution, it will be hard to keep the discussion on an abstract, intellectual level, when they are aware of the carnage that is taking place in the community.

    The originalist arguments for restrictions on guns are at least as prevalent as arguments against restrictions.

  4. Teve says:
  5. Kingdaddy says:

    Texas GOP reaches WWF level fakery with new candidate.

    https://youtu.be/1hUQWH7cV9o

    1
  6. CSK says:

    @Teve:
    Well, Putin is a Christian dictator/strongman who hates gays. What could be better?

    I saw a photo taken at one of Trump’s rallies that depicted two fat old guys wearing t-shirts that read: “I’d Rather Be Russian Than A Democrat.”

  7. Jen says:

    World death toll from covid-19 has hit 3 million. With 566,000 of those deaths here in the US, we represent almost 20% of the deaths despite having only ~4% of the global population.

    There is no way to spin this other than a failure.

    5
  8. Teve says:

    @Kingdaddy: i usually find Colbert more annoying than funny but that was good.

  9. Liberal Capitalist says:

    @Sleeping Dog:

    Just took a quick count from Wikipedia, and if I did so correctly, since April 1, there have been 33 mass shootings in the US.

    Mass shootings are up nearly 73% so far in 2021 in what gun violence researchers describe as a contagion effect

  10. CSK says:

    @Jen:
    Some countries may be undercounting their deaths. This article is useful:

    http://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker

    2
  11. A thoughtful piece from the mother of a transgender teen

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d487943e4b0ca604e369316?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

    5
  12. Teve says:

    Idiots: durrr Covid has a 99% survival rate!!!11

    There’s something strange happening with some people who’ve gotten sick with COVID-19: Somewhere between 10 and 30% of people who are infected are stuck with long-lasting effects and complications.

    science friday discussion

    1
  13. Teve says:

    @Doug Mataconis: that was good.

    2
  14. Teve says:

    Today in Dumbass MFers.

    From The Advocate:

    Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, posted a Facebook video last week where he offered three reasons why the public shouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine: “Number one: people are trying to bully you into getting it. Number two: people are trying to use fear to make you get. Number three: they’re trying to guilt you into getting the vaccine.”

    McCormick said he didn’t need the vaccine because he already had COVID-19, though medical experts do not yet know how long antibodies last and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccinations regardless of whether you had COVID-19.

    House Bill 103, filed by McCormick, would allow those who suffer “injury or death resulting” from a required COVID-19 vaccine to sue public or private entities that required that vaccine for entry, employment, admission or service.

  15. CSK says:

    @Teve:
    McCormick should have come right out and said: “It’s a great way to own the libtards!”

    4
  16. Gustopher says:

    @Kingdaddy:

    Texas GOP reaches WWF level fakery with new candidate.

    World Wildlife Foundation?

    What has the WWF done now? Are pandas actually not endangered? Are parts of China overrun with them, and they carefully only export depressed mostly sterile pandas so we all think they are rare and hard to breed?

    1
  17. The jury in the Chauvin trial could begin deliberations by Monday afternoon. Based on what I have seen I would be surprised if he was found not guilty although anything is possible.

    The question could come down to what charge he is found guilty on. The most serious charge is 3rd degree murder and based on my reading of the relevant Minnesota statute I think there’s enough evidence to support a conviction on this charge. The jury may think otherwise and convict on a lesser charge like manslaughter.

    Whatever the outcome, cities around the country are bracing for demonstrators, or celebrations, after the verdict.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/us/derek-chauvin-trial-verdict-us-cities/index.html

    1
  18. Teve says:

    A friend of mine reports that the TRUMP 2020 signs in his neighborhood have been replaced with IMPEACH JOE BIDEN signs.

  19. I support the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. While I’m not unsympathetic about the situation women may face if the Taliban return, it’s not our job to protect them.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/14/afghan-women-fear-the-return-of-the-taliban

  20. Thomm says:

    @Doug Mataconis: look at the date that happened. Almost a year ago. No discipline until it got national attention. They even got raises in the interm.

    1
  21. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Teve:

    A house on the edge of town had flown a “Trump 2020” flag until the innauguration.

    Last week, I saw a Trump flag flying again. It took a couple passes to see what it said (the wind was being fickle), but… It’s a Trump 2024 flag with an ironic slogan.

  22. Mu Yixiao says:

    Has anyone else here been watching “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”?

    Friday’s episode (the penultimate) was masterful. They addressed serious issues with American history in a way that wasn’t neither an anvil nor “woke” chastisement. The interaction between Isaiah and Sam–seriously powerful stuff–and the result of that interaction bring out shame, understanding, and–most of all–hope.

    That’s a lot for a “super-hero TV show” to handle, but they did it.

    Next week is the final episode. If you haven’t been watching it, I highly recommend it. Despite the first act of the first episode, “super hero stuff” isn’t the focus of the show.

    3
  23. gVOR08 says:

    @Teve: Saw one yesterday, large, hand lettered, in the back window of a pickup, “Impeach Camel-Ah-Ho”. Couldn’t see the driver. A very tony gentleman, no doubt.

  24. Gustopher says:

    @Mu Yixiao: I haven’t seen it — I started watching the first episode when I clearly wasn’t in the mood for it, so switched to something else. I wanted lighthearted fun right then.

    But I’m curious in general — what shows or movies handle Big Issues far more intelligently than you would expect?

    HBO’s Watchmen was over the top in a few spots, but those turn out to be based on actual US history. (The Tulsa massacre seems less like the America we think we live in than anything else in that show)

    Watership Down (1978) hits every point that The Lion King aims for — responsibility to community, the cycle of life, your life is a small part of the continuing of the culture, freedom,… with a lot more subtlety and no royalty. And animated bunnies.

    American History X looks like it’s going to be a preachy film about righteous black anger, but becomes a film about welcoming and encouraging redemption. May still be preachy.

    Transformers: Animated should be a very stupid show about transforming robots, but instead becomes an exploration about how each of the four main characters deal with the consequences of having hurt people in the past, and how to make amends and try to move on if they can’t. (It’s also a stupid show about transforming robots)

    1
  25. gVOR08 says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    I’m not unsympathetic about the situation women may face if the Taliban return, it’s not our job to protect them.

    Basically, everyone in Afghanistan who isn’t a male Muslim religious fanatic is screwed. But realistically there’s nothing we can do about it As somebody said twenty years ago when this started – Taliban isn’t an organization, it’s a life style. Invading Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban is like invading Georgia to eliminate the rednecks.

    5
  26. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Gustopher:

    But I’m curious in general — what shows or movies handle Big Issues far more intelligently than you would expect?

    That’s a difficult question for me to answer–because I generally don’t watch entertainment that “handles Big Issues”. I get enough of that in the real world. I want my entertainment to be… well… entertaining.

    And I’ve found that in the past 5 years or so, “handling Big Issues” has primarily involved dropping anvils.

    Without going up and digging through my digital library, these are the few that I can think of off the top of my head.

    * Ex Machina (Movie): A very intimate and intense look into AI and what it means to be human.
    * The Rookie (TV show): A light-hearted cop show that actually brings in some serious topics. It depicts the police we want, and subtly asks “Why don’t we have them”?
    * The Orville (TV show): It starts off with juvenile humor, but that (from what I’ve heard) was a feint to get Fox to greenlight the show. While it remains a “light-hearted successor to Star Trek”, it deals with some serious topics–including social media, societal pressures, and transgender rights.

    1
  27. Kylopod says:

    @Gustopher:

    But I’m curious in general — what shows or movies handle Big Issues far more intelligently than you would expect?

    Dead Man Walking, given that its director is an outspoken liberal and that it’s an adaptation of the memoirs of an anti-death penalty activist, it’s surprisingly ambivalent and open-ended on the issue.

    2
  28. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Gustopher:

    An addendum:

    One show that has 100% fucked it up is (I’m sorry to say) Doctor Who.

    I was so excited to see Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. And when she appeared looking like this, it was even better. That was a doctor I could respect.

    And then they dressed her like a 6-year-old who worshiped Mork from Ork, and dropped industrial-sized anvils from orbit every episode. Doctor Who has never shied away from controversial topics, but they were always skillful about it. Chibnal’s run has been significantly less subtle than 80’s After School Specials.

    And the ratings have shown just how little the (very progressive) audience likes this approach.

  29. Counties that voted for Trump have most people refusing vaccination

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/17/us/vaccine-hesitancy-politics.html

    1
  30. @Mu Yixiao:

    Looking forward to the next season of Orville on Hulu

    1
  31. DrDaveT says:

    @Gustopher:

    Watership Down (1978) hits every point that The Lion King aims for — responsibility to community, the cycle of life, your life is a small part of the continuing of the culture, freedom,… with a lot more subtlety and no royalty. And animated bunnies.

    And no plagiarism.

  32. Mu Yixiao says:

    “Just four months into 2021, there has already been more of such carnage than in all of last year,” the [Washington Post newspaper’s editorial board] wrote.

    Remind me to never believe the WaPo.

    2020 totals:

    Shootings: 615
    Killed: 521
    Wounded: 2541

    2021 Totals (so far):

    Shootings: 126
    Killed: 148
    Wounded: 485

    Would someone kindly point the WaPo editorial board towards a grade-school math teacher?

  33. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Gustopher:

    Watership Down (1978) hits every point that The Lion King aims for — responsibility to community, the cycle of life, your life is a small part of the continuing of the culture, freedom,… with a lot more subtlety and no royalty. And animated bunnies.

    I’ve never seen The Lion King. And I have no desire to.

    But I’m curious about your views on Watership Down.

    responsibility to community, the cycle of life, your life is a small part of the continuing of the culture, freedom

    Aside from “freedom”, I didn’t see any of the rest in Watership Down–unless you’re saying it opposed those things.

  34. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    Looking forward to the next season of Orville on Hulu

    So say we all.

    1
  35. Mimai says:

    @Gustopher:

    Great question! A few off the top of my head:

    The Wire (tv)
    The Shield (tv)
    Marriage Story (movie)

  36. Teve says:

    @gVOR08:

    “Impeach Camel-Ah-Ho”.

    one of my small daily enjoyments is reporting social media accounts which say such shitty things.

    Side note: I’ve Mentioned before the 12 years ago I met a nice, intelligent guy with similar hobbies to mine and when he went into the army he hooked up with the wrong crowd and now he’s a Trumper asshole who made fun of my women friends’ intelligence until I started excluding him from posts. Well yesterday I hung out with my friend Stephanie and at one point she checked her phone and said “Jesus what the fuck is the matter with Larry Michael?” Who is the guy in question. “What’s he doing?” I said, because I never see his social media posts anymore. “He’s saying anybody who supports Biden is just a ‘cuck’ for that mulatto whore Kamala who is really calling the shots.” So it’s gone from Muting to Blocking.

    I hate conservative media, as much as Tybalt hated Hell and Montagues.

    1
  37. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Doug Mataconis: This is my shocked face. 😐

    1
  38. Teve says:

    @Mimai: The Wire changed how I watch TV. Now I will give any show I start watching at least the full first season. 2/3 of the way into the first season of The Wire I very nearly quit the show because nothing much was happening, then the last four episodes blew my doors off. And I learned later that the seasons are written as novels which explains why there was so much introduction and then movement of parts in the middle until everything culminates toward the end.

    Also, The Shield is very good.

  39. Teve says:
  40. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Kingdaddy: 🙂 😀 😛

  41. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Mu Yixiao: Marvel Comics has a long standing pattern related to bucking the conventional wisdom going back to the 60s when the principle villain of the Incredible Hulk, was General Ross.

    1
  42. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Gustopher: You have to give the writers for “Transformers: Animated” credit; it’s hard to do both thoughtful and stupid in the same vehicle.

    1
  43. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Doug Mataconis: Did Hulu pick up The Orville? I hadn’t heard that. I was disappointed that they’ve not done a new season of Runaways, and the last season of that was mediocre.

    1
  44. Teve says:
  45. Jay L Gischer says:

    @Mu Yixiao: I watched it. (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Ep 5). I loved it. I am very impressed with how they leaned into Isaiah’s grievances, and how Sam responds. There is a bunch of supporting material that is also very good. For instance, Sam, trained as a counselor and healer, gives Bucky the advice to stop seeking to tear down the people he put in power and instead go to people he harmed and try and make them feel better. He didn’t emphasize it (much) but it’s gentle advice to make *them* feel better, which will make Bucky feel better. And maybe stop having nightmares.

    I think this is very reasonably read as advice to white people about racism. Try to make some POC feel better. Not absolve you. That’s not their job. Just feel better. Have a slightly better life and day. Apologize. Listen to the grievance, even when they repeat themselves. (They will run out of steam eventually, and that’s the goal, actually – to let them get it “off their chest”.) I wonder if we’ll see Bucky doing this in the last episode.

    I thought they also did some very nice stuff with John Walker, whose problem is that he’s a tool, he has always been a tool, and even when he’s trying not to be a tool, he’s still being a tool, I expect.

    1
  46. Mimai says:

    @Teve:

    Viewquake books are discussed a lot. Viewquake movies/tv not so much. That’s a shame.

    Have you (or others) watched The Leftovers?

  47. Teve says:

    @Mimai: i watched the first season. It didn’t do much for me. Hot cop man talks to strangely noncommunicative women. Maybe I should watch season 2.

  48. Mikey says:

    Watership Down came out when I was 12. I had not read the book.

    Me, finding it when it came to HBO: Neat, it’s a cartoon with bunnies!

    Technically, yes, it is.

  49. Mikey says:

    @Jay L Gischer:

    I thought they also did some very nice stuff with John Walker, whose problem is that he’s a tool, he has always been a tool, and even when he’s trying not to be a tool, he’s still being a tool, I expect.

    What was it Lemar told him? “Power just makes you more of you, doesn’t it?”

    John Walker represents some things about America a lot of us would rather not face, I think. Like the uncomfortable symbolism in this frame (caution, it’s a spoiler).

    1
  50. Mu Yixiao says:

    @Jay L Gischer:

    I think this is very reasonably read as advice to white people about racism. Try to make some POC feel better. Not absolve you. That’s not their job. Just feel better. Have a slightly better life and day. Apologize.

    I think this is one of the biggest issues I have with “white guilt”. My grandparents came to America around 1920. They were serfs in Croatia. My father (and his siblings) grew up in a ghetto in Chicago in the 20’s and 30’s.

    What, exactly, do I need to apologize for?

    I know that horrible things happened. I admit that they were horrible things. But neither I, nor my ancestors, were involved in or responsible for them.

    Am I supposed to bear the guilt of everything that was done simply because of the color of my skin?

    3
  51. Jay L Gischer says:

    @Teve:

    “What’s he doing?” I said, because I never see his social media posts anymore. “He’s saying anybody who supports Biden is just a ‘cuck’ for that mulatto whore Kamala who is really calling the shots.”

    This is the product of social media which is a Skinner Box, training people to do the things that create more “engagement”, regardless of how hostile and over-the-top it might be. He gets more “likes” and reshares for saying crap like that, which is the “reward” for the behavior. I personally think this is a much bigger problem than Fox News, which is a “cold” medium, with little to no interaction or reward system.

    1
  52. DrDaveT says:

    @Mikey:

    Watership Down came out when I was 12. I had not read the book.

    My 8th grade English teacher gave it to me to get me out of her hair. It’s still one of my favorites. When I turned 50, I went back and re-read it for the first time in decades, with considerable trepidation about how my adult self would view it. I needn’t have worried.

    2
  53. @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    Yea The Orville was not renewed by Fox nut it was saved by Hulu

  54. Mikey says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    Am I supposed to bear the guilt of everything that was done simply because of the color of my skin?

    A black man does.

    8
  55. Mimai says:

    @Teve:

    I can’t say I recommend the series, but I don’t discommend it either. It’s a challenging series. I like the themes: belief, loss, redemption, meaning, etc. And I generally like ambiguity in my reading/watching. But I think that some of the (important) symbolism was lost on me. I also felt like the writers/directors/producers were trying too hard at times. Definitely a case of YMMV.

  56. Jay L Gischer says:

    @Mu Yixiao: I can’t answer for you. If you grew up white in America, you absorbed some of the attitudes, even if you tried not to. For instance, when we looked at the Dr. Seuss images, they looked horrible to me…now. When I saw those as a kid, they seemed fine. And funny. Is that harm? Maybe not. But that’s an attitude that could plausibly lead to harm.

    And I undoubtedly benefited from all the racist institutions. Even as a lower-income family. “At least we aren’t black(or a worse word)” was a very real thing in a lot of places.

    You’re right, though. None of this was from my own choice. Though I have probably said some dumb, questionable things, just out of ignorance or carelessness. They may have done harm. I don’t know. I don’t feel a lot of guilt or shame about it, I just feel I should hold open that possibility, and keep any self-righteousness in check.

    English is a bit impoverished in this way. Sometimes “I’m sorry” means “That really sucks, even though I didn’t do it”. Sometimes it just means sitting still to listen to the complaint, even though it isn’t on you. Which it probably isn’t. It can be hard to sit still for that.

    The thing that I think *doesn’t* help is assaulting other white people after scrutinizing their behavior for missteps and campaigning to shun or drive them off some platform. One reason for that is that you are still making it all about white people, and we are kind of seeking something other than that.

    There is a crucial difference, in my mind, between, “you did a bad thing” and “you are a bad person”.

    2
  57. Moosebreath says:

    @DrDaveT:

    I re-read Watership Down about every 5 years. It’s one of my all-time favorite books.

    2
  58. Pete S says:

    @Doug Mataconis:
    Our current case counts seem to be higher than the US per capita, but deaths are still lower. Of course deaths are a lagging indicator. But our hospitals are swamped and we are under a renewed stay at home order in Ontario. Our 7 day rolling average of cases is higher than any single day count prior to a week ago.

    Our vaccinations have been lagging. The target seems to be to have everyone with a first shot by mid June, with second shots starting after fiesta are done. Looks like another long summer.

  59. Jax says:

    @Pete S: My favorite band is from Canada and I have re-scheduled concert tickets for October, I keep looking at those headlines with dread. They’re not gonna go on tour without being vaccinated, I’d guess.

  60. Mimai says:

    @Jax:

    You can’t just dangle a massive teaser like that (“my favorite band”) and not complete the circle. Ok, you can, but it would be very impolite. Pray tell, who are they?

    1
  61. Jax says:

    @Mimai: Oh, I am soooo happy to share!!! 😉

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FzVhw8_bY

    We went to a meet and greet +concert in December 2019, and it was AMAZING!!! So then I bought tickets to see them play at the Caverns in Tennessee, but….COVID.

    Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is also playing. They are some great people.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7RopOgsh5c

  62. Pete S says:

    @Jax: If i am reading right the vaccinations should be done mid-September or so, but this is just projection as the only targets that are being presented are for first shots. The bigger issue may be rehearsals before a tour if they are based in Ontario. Rehearsals were going on a while back but i think have been stopped now.

  63. Gustopher says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    But I’m curious about your views on Watership Down.

    responsibility to community, the cycle of life, your life is a small part of the continuing of the culture, freedom

    Aside from “freedom”, I didn’t see any of the rest in Watership Down–unless you’re saying it opposed those things.

    It’s all about a small group of bunnies — mostly not very special bunnies — leaving the warren that was endangered, to set up a new, roughly identical warren (10% more freedom) to effectively continue the warren. They sacrifice everything, face brutality, and in the end the happy ending is that the new warren is stable, and then Hazel can die and be collected by the black rabbit of death, with the certainty the the warren will continue.

    There are stories of the Prince with a thousand enemies, and how if they catch him they will kill him. The life of the individual bunny means so much less than bunnydom in general. Even a bunny like Hazel who rises above the average bunny and does amazing things.

    It’s been a long time since I’ve watched it, or read the book, so I might be misremembering, but I cannot imagine not thinking of it this way. Hazel, Bigwig, and Fiver are all giving everything they have to the community — nothing for personal glory or power.

    2
  64. Mimai says:

    You have no idea how much this resonates. I’m gutted to hear that your concert in the caverns got cancelled. That place is magic. These types of bands are always so much fun in concert. I’ve seen OCMS several times and solo Gill Landry several times too….”walked” away blissful and exhausted every single time.

    ps, I am very VERY familiar with the Rev.

    1
  65. Jax says:

    @Pete S: They’re based in Saskatchewan.

  66. Jax says:

    @Mimai: Their “Live at the Boston House of Blues” concert is my go-to for cleaning and road-tripping. Travelin Man, Bastard Son, and Heaven in a Wheelbarrow….Scott’s vocals are freakin amazing.

    I didn’t know anything about the Rev until Youtube suggested them for me. Breezy is my idol. Hell Naw is probably my favorite song so far, I actually say that shit in my head when I meet dramatic people. 😛 They’ve been doing livestreams throughout all of COVID, it’s been a good pick me up for down times.

  67. Jax says:

    @Mimai: OCMS is playing in Deadwood, South Dakota, this summer!

  68. Mimai says:

    @Jax:

    Hell, Breezy is my idol too!

    Would love to see OCMS in Deadwood. A perfect combo.

    A good friend of mine had Justin Townes Earle play at her wedding several years ago. I also saw him at an outdoor concert in Seattle a while ago. Gillian Welch and others were on the docket too. Incredible. Was so sad when he died.

    1
  69. Jax says:

    @Mimai: It’s so sad that so many of the best musicians die so young.

    I’ve been “following”, per se, a group called Slim Cessna’s Auto Club since the 90’s, when I lived in downtown Denver and they were playing dive bars. They were my first introduction to “alt-country” and bluegrass. They put on the best live shows! Slim’s son Snake is also a musician and he sounds JUST like his dad. He’s still finding his way as far as what he wants to play.

    I hate top 40 country. Needs better/more banjo! 😉

  70. Jax says:

    @Mimai: Update on the cow who was sucking herself….I farmed her baby out to a fresh jersey milk cow who had just calved. His legs are straightening out and he was bucking and running today, they sent me a video.

    Boss Man (my Dad) caught her sucking herself this morning and I thought he was gonna come undone. Like, chase her down with the tractor and grab her with the grapple, come undone. He didn’t believe me.

  71. Mimai says:

    Denver sound! I bet those guys are great live in such an intimate setting. Oddly, the shitty acoustics probably add to the experience as opposed to the typical.

    Two of my scheduled shows that I’m most pissed got COVIDed are Tyler Childers and Billy Strings. First world problems no doubt….but they’re my first world problems dammit!

    Banjo – yes, please. And fiddle too.

    1
  72. Pete S says:

    @Jax:
    I found they are from Regina. Even practices are not allowed in the Regina area. Hopefully they get to tour.

    The Caverns looks like an interesting venue, seems like a different place to see a show

    1
  73. Mimai says:

    @Jax:

    I’m legit laughing out loud as I read that….imagining other people reading it without any context. Ha! And then with your pops going apeshit on the self-sucking beast…. well that’s downright poetic.

    Glad to hear the calf is doing well…. nothing like some jersey milk fat to get things all caught up.

    1
  74. Jax says:

    @Mimai: Boss Man is 72 years old and he’s never seen a cow….that limber. 😛

    Denver was awesome in the 90’s. So many bands, so much to do! I’ve been back a couple of times since I moved, and it’s grown sooooo much. It’s still a “destination”, just not….my preferred destination.

  75. Jax says:

    @Pete S: Oh, I was so down when it got advertised….my favorite band….IN A CAVE?! Hell yes!!! I see they’ve re-scheduled most of the overseas date until 2022.

  76. Gustopher says:

    @Mu Yixiao:

    What, exactly, do I need to apologize for?

    Taking every advantage in a society that was stacked way more against them than you and your kind?

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  77. Gustopher says:

    @Mimai:

    Have you (or others) watched The Leftovers?

    That show is just depression porn.

    I had to take a break watching it to cheer myself up with Bojack Horseman, which is also depression porn, but about a cartoon horse, so it is less disturbing and more realistic.

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  78. Mimai says:
  79. Mimai says:

    @Gustopher:

    Ha! Fair enough. I’d probably append the “psychotic subtype” to your diagnosis of the series.

  80. Jax says:

    @Mimai: Hey, he looks familiar….. 😛

    Cough cough….anyways, back to my staid adult ways.

    Speakin of Wyoming…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxKsK90L14

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  81. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Jax: If it helps any, your link said they’d be in Spokane and Missoula in August. That would be possible because vaccination is going well in Washington now.

  82. Jax says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: I have tickets to the Missoula show, ALSO re-scheduled from last year. Still don’t have a road-trip partner for that one, the previous one flaked out. 😉 AND they’re going to be in Salt Lake again, at the same venue, and some folks I met at the last one are gonna be there for that. It feels pretty wild to go to that many concerts, though. I’m not sure how much “fun” I can handle during COVID!!

  83. Monala says:

    @Mu Yixiao: it’s not guilt, it’s recognition. My family was enslaved in this country at least as far back as the early 1800s. My grandfather fought in WWI, my dad in WWII. Yet after well over a century of my ancestors enduring slavery, hard work, and service to this country, they could not vote, and were denied access to benefits that white soldiers received, such as GI Bill funded education and government backed home loans. Your family, arriving more than a century after mine, without experiencing the suffering and sacrifice my family endured? Guess what, they had access to all those things—voting rights, military benefits, the ability to live where they chose (income-dependent of course). If you can’t recognize the injustice of that, you’re willfully blind. And I know you don’t recognize the injustice of it—otherwise you wouldn’t say your family had nothing to do with it.

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  84. Monala says:

    @Mu Yixiao: to clarify, I’m not saying your family is to blame for racial injustice, but they certainly benefitted from it, simply by being white.

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  85. Gustopher says:

    @Monala:

    If you can’t recognize the injustice of that, you’re willfully blind. And I know you don’t recognize the injustice of it—otherwise you wouldn’t say your family had nothing to do with it.

    Our libertarian-leaning friend has stated that his family descends from Croats who immigrated in the 1920s and lived in a slum in Chicago. It’s worth noting that Croats and other Slavs were not considered White (TM) at that time, and were the undesirable immigrants. Plus, they were likely Catholics. They also faced oppression — minor-to-medium oppression, nothing like what Black folks faced.

    Slavs became White (TM) probably around the 60s, with Catholics gaining acceptance around the same time (Kennedy being Catholic was a serious hurdle, remember).

    So, to what extent can someone who is being oppressed, but oppressed less, be said to be benefitting from not being the more oppressed group? I think that’s a pretty hard case to make. If they were just struggling to do better themselves and gain acceptance… that’s different from standing by and doing nothing.

    Unless Yixiao’s grandfather quickly joined in with the unions and worked to keep black folks out (a sad bit of labor history) or something similar, I’d say that Yixiao himself has likely benefited more from not being Black than his grandfather did — he’s certainly benefited more from being White (TM) than his grandfather, assuming no interracial marriages between then and now. It’s a whole lot easier to get a job when you’re white, just for starters, even if the discrimination is more subtle than “No Irish Need Apply”.

    And he has found a political philosophy that tends to sidestep questions of racial injustice and structural racism by assuming that the government is the primary power source that needs to be restrained. So… yeah.

    —-

    I do think that groups that have just gained acceptance have a responsibility to try to pull up other groups where they can, beyond just not using their newfound acceptance as an opportunity to hold down the more hated groups too, to get in the good graces of the bigots.

    For the longest time, the LGBTetc community kept the T out of it as much as possible, until we got basic-ish acceptance. Truthfully, they forgot about the B too more often than not, but everyone forgets about bisexuals — we’re the GenX of LGBTetc.

    Once same sex marriage became the law of the land, and few employers were willing to openly discriminate against the LGB, however, we had an obligation to start marching arm-in-arm with the rest of the queer folks, and insisting on their rights too, donating and organizing on their behalf, even when we don’t quite understand them. And we’ve been pretty good at that, except for Andrew Sullivan.

    Partly it’s a moral obligation, and partly it’s just practical — once the bigots push transfolks back into the closet, they’re coming after us and we know it.

    (And the kids with their microlabels and their precious search for the perfect definition — aromantic pansexual gender-fluid demiboy, etc — I just roll my eyes, but I guess we have to defend their rights too, even if they think we are old and are offended that we cannot distinguish between non-binary and agender… sigh. Kids these days.)

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  86. Monala says:

    Slavs “weren’t considered white” until the ‘69s? Really? So they couldn’t vote until the Civil Rights Act? They were being regularly lynched? They had to join “Slav-only” military units, and couldn’t access the GI bill or FHA loans?

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  87. Monala says:

    @Gustopher: I’m not saying they didn’t face hostility or discrimination as Eastern European immigrants and Catholics. But there were still some very basic rights they had access to immediately or upon citizenship that my ancestors were still being denied.

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  88. Kylopod says:

    @Monala:

    So they couldn’t vote until the Civil Rights Act? They were being regularly lynched? They had to join “Slav-only” military units, and couldn’t access the GI bill or FHA loans?

    Your rhetorical questions would imply that Asian-Americans were considered white. White != Non-Black.

    I do agree, though, that it’s a stretch to say Slavs weren’t regarded as white before the 1960s.

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  89. Kylopod says:

    “Tartars, Finns, Hungarians, Jews, Turks, Syrians, Persians, Hindus, Mexicans, Zulus, Hottentots [and] Kafirs.” — early-20th-c. immigration reformer listing examples of “non-Caucasians.”