Lol...JPW #106, you took the words out of my mouth. Miranda likes to come across as intelligent, but then you read the substance of their posts, and much of it is partisan word salad and unsubstantiated opinion...

#111 | POSTED BY EARTHMUSE AT 2022-09-29 03:18 PM | FLAG:
(CHOOSE)
PARTISAN WORD SALAD? Where? This should be a relatively non partisan topic, my post was non partisan, so WTF you talking about? You are just another dude being a dick just to be a dick. So desperate to create an opponent because YOU aren't allowed to express YOUR unsubstantiated opinions at home? Poor pitiful you.

I based on reading her posts, I believe Miranda was raised with extremely conservative beliefs and has never taken the time to examine what she's been taught.

#112 | POSTED BY CLOWNSHACK AT 2022-09-29 03:29 PM | FLAG:
(CHOOSE)
LOL Now YOU are just being a dick to be a dick. Why else would you even bother to speculate about my upbringing. Its downright comical for me to read that because you have no idea how totally wrong you are about me. Obviously you have paid no attention to my posts. May as well keep it that way.

Sorry, I'm a scientist who spent a lot of time in academia. I've followed closely anti-science movements like anti-vaxx, climate change denial, HIV denial, evolution denial ...
They all use that laughable line.
Seriously, do you have any idea what academic salaries are like? Or the fact that you don't get a grant then simply pay yourself what you want? Or that grants aren't for that much (in the big picture) and you're expected to produce A LOT in order to get it renewed? Or that study sections are anything but buddies yucking it up handing out the government bennies to each other?
Science hasn't changed much (for better or for worse). Society did.

#114 | POSTED BY JPW AT 2022-09-29 03:35 PM | REPLY

JPW, you put alot into what you think I meant that I didn't say at all. I pay attention when you post because I can see you know your subject matter. I have a great deal of respect for scientists and academia, and know that most of you work very hard and adhere to scientific methodology and truth seeking. Unfortunately there is a small minority of your peers who sell their souls, and use their skills to advance pharmaceutical profits, political doctrines, or media talking points for click bait. I'm sure you've seen the poorly done studies, manipulated statistical analysis and misleading "experts" on TV and the internet. These people (who come from BOTH sides of the political spectrum) should infuriate you as much as they infuriate me.

Unfortunately these people make it difficult for the layman to discern truth. The result is a generalized lack of trust in what people USED to see as reliable sources. THAT is what I was talking about. Once upon a time, people knew if Walter Cronkite said it, it was probably true. They respected people with titles like Doctor or Professor. But so many of those people have pimped themselves out and aligned themselves with profit or causes, nobody trusts those titles anymore. That really SUCKS for people like you and leaves a void for the disinformation specialists to walk right into.

JPW if you are going to be a dick to me at least explain your point. Unless your point is just to be a dick.

Hurricane coverage is a good example. TV news, particularly local news, deliberately skews facts, stretches and distorts maps and employs other techniques to exaggerate the impact of the storm. The point isn't to reliably inform the viewer, it is to keep them scared and tuned in. The problem is it creates a "cry wolf" environment, where they stop paying attention because the scary predictions never come to fruition ... ..until they do. I've seen this reaction in friends family and the general public through my work. This type of coverage in the years preceeding Katrina probably caused a great number of deaths.

I onky pay attention to noaa.gov for Hurricane coverage. I have learned to read and use all the resources available there, and when I do catch the news, I'm just flabbergasted by the deliberate inaccuracies in the coverage.

I'm not talking about general internet misinformation. I'm talking about the "reliable sources" that society needs to be able to place their trust in, like scientists, academics, and network news anchors. There was a time, before society fell apart, when most folks ini those lines of work had scruples and integrity, and believed that truth was more important than politics. Now so many of them have sold out, heavily biased and are using their platforms to advance a political agenda ... ... .or just to maximize clicks for financial gain.we as a society have lost our "reliable sources"

As to Climate change, I agree with many of you that man made climate change is real and significant. The problem I have is that climate change data and research has been manipulated, extrapolated and exaggerated, so much, and often for political purposes. The result is that NOBODY trusts what they read anymore, instead most people choose to believe what they want to hear.

If we had a little more truth and a lot less politics in reporting of important subjects, maybe we could solve some of our problems instead of using them to further divide us into opposing camps.

"I dont always enjoy climate change, but when I do, it's because climate change is punishing a state full of climate change deniers.

I don't always support withholding federal aid, but when I do, it's because a state that wants to bring down the federal government suddenly needs help with a problem they helped cause.

#12 | POSTED BY SPEAKSOFTLY AT 2022-09-28 01:15 PM | REPLY"

SpeakSoftly proving again that he/she is a horrible human being, to wish harm on 22 million people because roughly 25% of them are Republicans. What a nasty POS you are.

Meanwhile,
"Let's put politics aside and do all we can for our fellow citizens
Both in Florida an puerto rico

#34 | POSTED BY TRUTHHURTS AT 2022-09-28 02:16 PM | REPLY"

Thanks, that post just earned your removal from my "do not reply" list. Looking forward to respectful discussion with you in the future if you are so inclined.

Perhaps this is overly simplistic,but it seems we could solve the majority oft he illegal immigration problems by appointing a few thousand immigration judgesto streamline the LEGAL immigration process. Why does it take 4 years for an asylum case to be adjudicated?

Certainly many people in the country are anti immigrant, but many more are supportive of reasonable structured, legal immigration,, and only opposed only to illegal immigration, because of the chaos and lawlessness that goes with it.

So what exactly IS Drag Queen story time about? Let's look behind the curtain.

Case in point. The subject of this article is Stormie Daie., aka Raafe Purnsley. Stormie and her partner Naomi Dix formed the " House of Coxx",

"Stormie Daie, a queen who uses her platform to promote racial justice, sex positivity, LGBTQ equality and more."

I"m fine with that.

"Purnsley often weaves into their performances conversations about consent, HIV/AIDS, racial inequity, Durham's rapid gentrification, and gender and sexuality."

I"m fine with that too.

"This summer, they read picture books about gender and sexuality at a kid-friendly drag storytelling event in Chapel Hill. "

Not fine with that, and many parents are not. It's about teaching small children about gender and sexuality, and I don't think that's the right time,place, person or method to do that. if she wants to do that at private events on private property ... none of my business. If she want to use a public facility, particularly a place like a park or the main room of a library where children may be present for other reasons and stumble upon it becomes our business.

I worked four 10 hour days for a while and really liked it. The extra two hours a day provided bigger blocks of time to focus on complex projects. Having a weekday off made errands, shopping and medical appointments so much easier to manage, so I could save leave for vacations. The only down side is sometimes you need something from a particular person who is on their day off and you have to wait until they get back. Other than that it was a perfect schedule, at leaast for me..

.

Swing voters are not afraid of Black Ariel. Neither are Republicans. Only Speak Softly seems to have a problem with Black Ariel.

A screenwriter friend told me there are only some thing like 30 core story types in the whole world and that every movie is some version or combination of those 30. I was skeptical until he proved to me that Lion King = Hamlet.

I recall one of the 30 was "Fish out of Water", and here we have Little Mermaid

I haven't seen the trailer, but I'll bet little white gals are also excited about the movie. It's good for them too, to have some diverse heros to admire. If little white girls want to be Black Ariel for Halloween and little Black girls want to be Princess Elsa from Frozen we should let them do that too.

Replacement theory? seriously? We promise we won't take ALL your cartoons.

I do apologize for going off topic with the politics of flower children. That was a group I didn't like much for reasons I won't get into, and I believe I insulted BOTH sides in my post ... .moving on ...

Cursive was a time saver "back in the day" I could write a letter in cursive in about half the time as non-cursive. It seemed that boys always had a harder time with cursive.

The "flower children" of the 60's boomers are an interesting group. Most of them I have known personally have turned Republican. One explained it this way, "We were the revolutionary free thinkers, free lovers. Those values and drive helped us create art, create businesses and build wealth. Now we are retired and desperately want to keep the government from taking our money" The flower children I knew that are NOT particularly successful are still very liberal, and hopeful that government programs will expand to take care of their needs.

"This is something I noticed about a month ago but it does seem the current trend is to lump us X'ers in with Boomers. I'm just curious where it's coming from."

They are getting old, that's where it is coming from, and as you get older your priorities and sometimes values change. Early Xers are grandparents now.

Some characteristics of a "generation" are tied to the influences in their formative years, (wars, recessions, etc)
But most characteristics are more about the phase of life they are currently in. It makes more sense to stratify by that ... .for example, children, young single adults, young married adults, families with children, empty nesters, grandparents, elderly.

We all make generational comparisons and get frustrated with other age groups. When boomers criticize younger generations, we raised them, so their weaknesses are mostly our fault.

Also easy to blame the schools ... but we run them. My kids did not learn cursive OR grammar. The schools thought analyzing literature for content was more important. They were required to take calculus but never taught anything about basic consumer finance or interest rates. They dove deep into ancient world history but very little about the 20th century.

Cursive is unimportant. There will always be experts who can read it for those who can't.

"However, when they rewrite the origin story for long established shows like Doctor Who and tried to claim something was always there that obviously wasn't? That's gaslighting and historical revisionism. F*** that."

#13 | POSTED BY SENTINEL AT 2022-09-17 10:15 PM | FLAG:

No, sentinel. It is not gaslighting and it is not revisionist history ... .because Dr. Who isn't real. Dr. Who is a fictional character that a company OWNS and if they want to change up his backstory and help gay kids realize they can be cool too, awesome. How's it hurting you?

The only mermaid story I ever heard was the Little Mermaid, so naturally I thought all mermaids were white. All princesses were white for that matter, but we dressed up like them anyway. Same with the cool kids on the Partridge Family and Brady Bunch. All white. The only Black folk I saw on TV were Basketball players, Soul Train Dancers and Sanford and Son. This reinforced the belief that i could never aspire to be a princess or a singer like Lori Partridge, but I could be a dancer, basketball player or car mechanics ... .or a maid. Lots of Black maids on TV. It's hard to say how that limited my childhood goals and aspirations.

I recently came across an old family photo taken at a baby shower. The mom to be Is surrounded with gifts, baby products in manufacturers packaging adorned with photos of smiling white babies. I remember My little cousin asked, "Is she gonna have a white baby, cuz she only got white baby diaoers." We laughed uproariously, but it really hit home for me that day that the companies making these products didn't care about brown babies. I went to another baby shower recently and noticed the change in imagery that has taken place over the decades. That took too long.

I am delighted with Disney's fairly recent efforts to integrate beloved fairy tales. I don't care if they recast every single beloved character ... ..every child of color deserves a chance to see a variety of heroes who look like them. Every white child already has this, and Can benefit from the opportunity to see heroism in someone who does NOT look like them.

That's not "woke ----", it's reality, and it doesn't hurt anyone to be inclusive. If you don't like the new reboots, just watch your old VHS tapes over and over again.

Speak Softly, What you are communicating to Black and brown children is "Go :create your own heroes, write your own stories, you can't be part of the stories that have been woven into America for generations" GFY

I'm concerned that they can't read/don't look at maps. Many are entirely too dependent on GPS. They have no concept of North, South, East West or where places are in relation to one another.

I live in a remote area on the water. Often we get delivery folks who ask directions to a nearby town. You can see it from my house but it takes an hour to get there. No bridge. That just baffles them.

I'm concerned that they can't read/don't look at maps. Many are entirely too dependent on GPS. They have no concept of North, South, East West or where places are in relation to one another.

I live in a remote area on the water. Often we get delivery folks who ask directions to a nearby town. You can see it from my house but it takes an hour to get there. No bridge. That just baffles them.

"And WTF is wrong with fund raising? If the numbers were down would it be just as nefarious to you? Do you think they shouldn't raise money to do this work? Do you have the same condemnation for every NGO, every charity, every politician? What a strange aspersion you're attempting."

#16 | Posted by YAV at 2022-09-17 08:55 AM | Reply | Flag:

What a strange aspersion YOU are attempting because I didn't say ANY of those things. I agree, ADL does provide value. There is nothing wrong with fundraising. Its not nefarious. I haven't condemned anybody or anything. Can we get back on topic please and stop assigning positions to me? You are coming across as paranoid and desperate for an opponent.

I'm a triple minority and I support the work the ADL is doing. I'm not opposed to the articles I linked, and their attempt to personalize it with a "right in your backyard" campaign for each state is pretty smart. What I have a problem with is those who cherry pick one state (as the OP did) and use the article to flame that one state and ALL the people in it. Extremism is on the rise nationwide. as the linked articles prove. It is not concentrated in red states, blue states or purple states. Its something we ALL should be concerned about and seek solutions, rather than falling in lock step to allow them to divide us further.

The barrage of red state/blue state rhetoric designed to turn the states against one another is disturbing. That is straight out of the Russian playbook to destroy America by dividing us into opposing factions, first politically and then geographically with the ultimate goal of a civil war. We had a Russian defector as a houseguest in the 70's She warned us this was their long term plan and I'm watching it happen before my eyes.

As far as I know I am the only Jew who posts here so I feel a duty to response to this ridiculous headline. I've never once experienced antisemitism living here. So I looked to the source material quoted in the article. Indeed we are up to 191 incidents of antisemitism reported in a year. In a state with a population of 22,000,000 people.Hardly a "hotbed" of hate. Considering most reports of antisemitism are little more than graffiti or rude remarks, I'm not to worried about it

Furthermore, if you explore the source material further, you will find that compared to other states Florida doesn't stand out at all. Here is NY, with a 385% increase