President Trump & the USA

[leicsmac]

Also, in other vaguely related news:

 

Livestreamer looks to raise $300 for trans rights in the US. Instead, he gets over $250k (and counting) and various celebs and politicians popping in to ask him how to beat Donkey Kong 64.

 

Faith in humanity, if not restored, at least a little bolstered.

[Carl the Llama]

7 hours ago, leicsmac said:

A pertinent quote regarding the above:

 

"Anyone who knew the popular white boys in high school recognized it: the confident gaze, the eyes twinkling with menace, the smirk. The face of a boy who is not as smart as he thinks he is, but is exactly as powerful. The face that sneers, “What? I’m just standing here,” if you flinch or cry or lash out. The face knows that no matter how you react, it wins."

At what point do we accept that the children described above exist in all schools and you don't have to be a person of colour to be able to relate to the idea of being treated like a second class citizen by the cool kids?  At what point do we accept that it's no less racist to take a deplorable situation like this and use it to smear all white people as though we must all think the same way as that kid because we have the same skin colour?

[leicsmac]

51 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

At what point do we accept that the children described above exist in all schools and you don't have to be a person of colour to be able to relate to the idea of being treated like a second class citizen by the cool kids?  At what point do we accept that it's no less racist to take a deplorable situation like this and use it to smear all white people as though we must all think the same way as that kid because we have the same skin colour?

Would it be more amenable to simply say "popular boys", then? Not really sure the writer was going for the generalisation/smear you describe, though.

 

I think a small but important difference is that those popular white boys tend to *retain* that power and popularity into adulthood at a larger rate than their popular peers of other demographics. Hence the smirk.

 

[Carl the Llama]

19 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Would it be more amenable to simply say "popular boys", then? Not really sure the writer was going for the generalisation/smear you describe, though.

 

I think a small but important difference is that those popular white boys tend to *retain* that power and popularity into adulthood at a larger rate than their popular peers of other demographics. Hence the smirk.

 

Do they do so disproportionately to the demographical make up of society, though?  I'm genuinely asking because I don't have any figures but you would expect a predominantly white country's successful people to be predominantly white.

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, Carl the Llama said:

Do they do so disproportionately to the demographical make up of society, though?  I'm genuinely asking because I don't have any figures but you would expect a predominantly white country's successful people to be predominantly white.

I think I actually had a chat with Prussian about this a while back, and thought that (and I quote) "the current demographics of positions of power in the OECD countries (including the US) versus the actual demographic figures are perhaps a standard deviation or two higher than could be explained by the foibles and normal variances of meritocracy and that explanation might have a certain amount to do with nepotism, but that's me."

 

To this end, I've done a little bit of digging and it seems as far as the current US Congress goes, the Senate numbers 91 white, 9 non-white (75 men, 25 women) and the House numbers 317 white, 118 non-white (333 men, 102 women). In addition, the Fortune 500 companies count among them only 24 women CEO's and less than ten nonwhite CEO's.

 

As the current US census data puts white folks (excluding white Latinos) at 63.1% of the population, it seems that while the House of Reps is a reasonable representation of race across the board, the Senate and Fortune 500 boardrooms certainly are not.

 

However, there are two reasonable counterarguments to this: firstly, pretty much every member of the House, Senate and F500 boardroom is much much richer than the average American so there's perhaps an even bigger dividing line there, and secondly you could make the same argument I'm doing now to suggest other places of influence (leading sport teams for instance) should have similar demographic figures when in fact they often have a much bigger nonwhite representation.

 

Having looked at it all, I'm of the opinion that we've come a long way from massively institutionalised discrimination, lynchings and smallpox blankets, but I would posit that the sentence I quoted above is at least mostly true for a lot of key political positions.

[Innovindil]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46943364

 

What a ****ing shitshow. So what's the truth? Seems a bit more complicated than first portrayed, eh? 

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46943364

 

What a ****ing shitshow. So what's the truth? Seems a bit more complicated than first portrayed, eh? 

Well, now that does make things messy.

 

So, the "Hebrew Israelites" (whatever the hell that means) started mouthing off at the students who then responded in kind - though it might be the other way round - and the Native American guy tried to calm things down and then they started on him too, including blocking his path (though that's being denied)?

 

And this is all supposed to make any kind of sense whatsoever?

 

Isn't polarisation wonderful.

[Innovindil]

Just now, leicsmac said:

Well, now that does make things messy.

 

So, the "Hebrew Israelites" (whatever the hell that means) started mouthing off at the students who then responded in kind - though it might be the other way round - and the Native American guy tried to calm things down and then they started on him too, including blocking his path (though that's being denied)?

 

And this is all supposed to make any kind of sense whatsoever?

 

Isn't polarisation wonderful.

You missed out the part where the "Hebrew israelites" were abusing the native Americans too. 

 

Meanwhile, a group of black men, who called themselves Hebrew Israelites, were at the scene. Video footage shows them shouting insults at many people, including Native Americans, as well as the schoolboys.

 

Not quite sure how walking upto a child and banging a drum in their face is supposed to calm things down, but admittedly I know very little about native American culture. 

 

Sounds like 3 groups of cvnts got together, and unsurprisingly, cvntish behaviour ensued to me. 

[leicsmac]

16 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

You missed out the part where the "Hebrew israelites" were abusing the native Americans too. 

 

Meanwhile, a group of black men, who called themselves Hebrew Israelites, were at the scene. Video footage shows them shouting insults at many people, including Native Americans, as well as the schoolboys.

 

Not quite sure how walking upto a child and banging a drum in their face is supposed to calm things down, but admittedly I know very little about native American culture. 

 

Sounds like 3 groups of cvnts got together, and unsurprisingly, cvntish behaviour ensued to me. 

Ah yes, that too. What a mess.

 

I know I bang on about identity and its importance a lot, but that's because other people seem to care about it so much and as a result it becomes important and shapes policy (especially in the US), personally I honestly couldn't care less - we're all sodding human. This just seems to be another stupid episode of it all.

Edited 21 January 2019 by leicsmac

[leicsmac]

And in other news, Kamala Harris officially throws her hat into the ring:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46947839

 

 

[leicsmac]

On 21/01/2019 at 11:01, leicsmac said:

Also, in other vaguely related news:

 

Livestreamer looks to raise $300 for trans rights in the US. Instead, he gets over $250k (and counting) and various celebs and politicians popping in to ask him how to beat Donkey Kong 64.

 

Faith in humanity, if not restored, at least a little bolstered.

Love the way the streamer pretty much loses all composure.

 

Edit: and it looks like he was raising money for a charity in the UK, not the US.

Edited 23 January 2019 by leicsmac

[les-tah]

If you like your conspiracy's read this

 

 

 

[Detroit Blues]

On 21/01/2019 at 09:00, leicsmac said:

Well, now that does make things messy.

 

So, the "Hebrew Israelites" (whatever the hell that means) started mouthing off at the students who then responded in kind - though it might be the other way round - and the Native American guy tried to calm things down and then they started on him too, including blocking his path (though that's being denied)?

  

And this is all supposed to make any kind of sense whatsoever?

 

Isn't polarisation wonderful.

Funny video about the Black Hebrew Israelites from way back in the day:

 

 

[leicsmac]

9 minutes ago, Detroit Blues said:

Funny video about the Black Hebrew Israelites from way back in the day:

 

 

Damn, region-locked.

 

Also:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46965841

 

Can we say that InfoWars is in fact a right-wing terrorist training website now, given the amount of incitement they get up to?

[leicsmac]

Headline from the Washington Examiner: "No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this isn't World War II", referring to the Green New Deal as a fund for fighting a war.

 

And you know what, they're absolutely right!

 

Because this time, we're not up against a merely genocidal, ideological enemy. Instead, we're fighting an enemy that simply has no interest in supremacy or any other kind of ideology - it cannot be reasoned with, negotiated with or paid off. It has no wants or desires, but it intends our extinction simply because of what it is and because that's what it's always done. And this war is practically unwinnable - all we can do is defend ourselves against it as best we may, for as long as we can.

 

Were the Nazis  - as inhumanly dreadful as they were - really more threatening than that?

It baffles me that there are some humans that consider the biggest wide scale long or even short-term danger around to be other humans.

Edited 23 January 2019 by leicsmac

[Detroit Blues]

25 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Headline from the Washington Examiner: "No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this isn't World War II", referring to the Green New Deal as a fund for fighting a war.

 

And you know what, they're absolutely right!

 

Because this time, we're not up against a merely genocidal, ideological enemy. Instead, we're fighting an enemy that simply has no interest in supremacy or any other kind of ideology - it cannot be reasoned with, negotiated with or paid off. It has no wants or desires, but it intends our extinction simply because of what it is and because that's what it's always done. And this war is practically unwinnable - all we can do is defend ourselves against it as best we may, for as long as we can.

  

 Were the Nazis really more threatening than that?

It baffles me that there are some humans that consider the biggest wide scale long or even short-term danger around to be other humans.

 

Let's be honest, it took Pearl Harbor to force America into action. We saw what Hitler was doing to Europe, and what Japan was doing to China, and yet it took a swift and devastating attack before we decided to join the war.

 

If history is any lesson, humanity will wait until it's too late to try and stop the change in climate. Too many powerful people and nations have too much to lose by altering the status quo.

[MC Prussian]

On 21/01/2019 at 13:39, leicsmac said:

I think I actually had a chat with Prussian about this a while back, and thought that (and I quote) "the current demographics of positions of power in the OECD countries (including the US) versus the actual demographic figures are perhaps a standard deviation or two higher than could be explained by the foibles and normal variances of meritocracy and that explanation might have a certain amount to do with nepotism, but that's me."

 

To this end, I've done a little bit of digging and it seems as far as the current US Congress goes, the Senate numbers 91 white, 9 non-white (75 men, 25 women) and the House numbers 317 white, 118 non-white (333 men, 102 women). In addition, the Fortune 500 companies count among them only 24 women CEO's and less than ten nonwhite CEO's.

 

As the current US census data puts white folks (excluding white Latinos) at 63.1% of the population, it seems that while the House of Reps is a reasonable representation of race across the board, the Senate and Fortune 500 boardrooms certainly are not.

 

However, there are two reasonable counterarguments to this: firstly, pretty much every member of the House, Senate and F500 boardroom is much much richer than the average American so there's perhaps an even bigger dividing line there, and secondly you could make the same argument I'm doing now to suggest other places of influence (leading sport teams for instance) should have similar demographic figures when in fact they often have a much bigger nonwhite representation.

 

Having looked at it all, I'm of the opinion that we've come a long way from massively institutionalised discrimination, lynchings and smallpox blankets, but I would posit that the sentence I quoted above is at least mostly true for a lot of key political positions.

The general notion that I contest is that the current amount of white men in Congress and Senate is a result of patriarchy or a white monocracy - to me, it's rather a sign of white men being more ambitious to climb up the political ladder.

I'm sure that if ethnic minorities and/or women put the same effort into their career, I doubt it'd take them too long to make an appearance and change the overall composition of the two branches (or any political body, for that matter).

 

Again, you don't change the political landscape in your legislative and executive branch in the long run and for the better by simply promoting women and ethnic minorities for the sake of it or by adapting the same mix that you'd find in the general population. I want competent politicians, politicians by choice, not politicians installed by SJW means. If these competent politicians happen to be black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Black or female - fantastic.

 

On a sidenote: As for sports team and being overwhelmingly represented by white men (I hope I understood this correctly) - most NFL players are black, same goes for the NBA. Ice hockey and baseball have remained predominantly white. In the end, I think it also boils down to personal choice and - given the US' relative short history compared to Europe - sports culture.

Edited 23 January 2019 by MC Prussian

[MC Prussian]

On 20/01/2019 at 11:32, Bellend Sebastian said:

Someone's clearly not read 'So you've been publicly shamed' by Jon Ronson

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46935701

 

On 20/01/2019 at 11:40, leicsmac said:

Or possibly, any history at all, considering who exactly they were chanting "build that wall" at.

 

On 20/01/2019 at 12:16, lifted*fox said:

 

disgusting behaviour - the interview with Nathan afterwards where he was in tears is heartbreaking. 

 

round up these kids and stick them in a fvcking incinerator. the world is truly fvcked if this is the future generations coming through. 

 

the guy is a vietnam vet ffs 

 

 

 

You see, it's easier to accept the general media's initial narrative and drawing your conclusions from a tiny excerpt of said happening than to do a little bit of research as to what actually happened that day. Or at least to wait for more news to emerge. All this outrage culture...

 

I don't blame you, I blame CNN, MSNBC, et al.

This is another case that acts as a reason why people lose interest and faith in the established news outlets (in the US in particular, but also over here in Europe).

Edited 23 January 2019 by MC Prussian

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

 

 

 

 

You see, it's easier to accept the general media's initial narrative and drawing your conclusions from a tiny excerpt of said happening than to do a little bit of research as to what actually happened that day. Or at least to wait for more news to emerge. All this outrage culture...

 

I don't blame you, I blame CNN, MSNBC, et al.

This is another case that acts as a reason why people lose interest and faith in the established news outlets (in the US in particular, but also over here in Europe).

Haven't you done exactly that except for waiting for the counter narrative, which you seem to prefer? I'm sure there will be some explanation and context for the videos of our fresh faced heroes shouting weird rape insults at women on their big day out that have emerged since the videos that you posted.

 

I'll be honest, I expected better from students from a fee paying all boys Catholic School on an anti-abortion march

[MC Prussian]

14 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Haven't you done exactly that except for waiting for the counter narrative, which you seem to prefer? I'm sure there will be some explanation and context for the videos of our fresh faced heroes shouting weird rape insults at women on their big day out that have emerged since the videos that you posted.

 

I'll be honest, I expected better from students from a fee paying all boys Catholic School on an anti-abortion march

Oh, I'm not contesting the school boys weren't at fault to a certain extent here, teenagers being teenagers. I just find it somewhat showing that many liberals and popular names in the US jumped on the one-narrative bandwagon so quickly, condemning them boys solely, without knowing the full truth behind the encounter.

 

And with all sympathies for Native Americans, it appears to me as if Nathan Phillips lied about the happening, portraying himself as a victim - when in fact, he intentionally approached the kids himself.

 

Meanwhile, the Black Hebrew Israelites seem to get away scot-free. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center, a distinct left-leaning organization, has them down as a potential and growing threat as early as 2008:

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/racist-black-hebrew-israelites-becoming-more-militant

 

Edited 23 January 2019 by MC Prussian

[leicsmac]

6 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

The general notion that I contest is that the current amount of white men in Congress and Senate is a result of patriarchy or a white monocracy - to me, it's rather a sign of white men being more ambitious to climb up the political ladder.

I'm sure that if ethnic minorities and/or women put the same effort into their career, I doubt it'd take them too long to make an appearance and change the overall composition of the two branches (or any political body, for that matter).

 

Again, you don't change the political landscape in your legislative and executive branch in the long run and for the better by simply promoting women and ethnic minorities for the sake of it or by adapting the same mix that you'd find in the general population. I want competent politicians, politicians by choice, not politicians installed by SJW means. If these competent politicians happen to be black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Black or female - fantastic.

 

On a sidenote: As for sports team and being overwhelmingly represented by white men (I hope I understood this correctly) - most NFL players are black, same goes for the NBA. Ice hockey and baseball have remained predominantly white. In the end, I think it also boils down to personal choice and - given the US' relative short history compared to Europe - sports culture.

Nah, I meant them being predominantly black (in the case of NFL and NBA team) in the same way that the other entities are predominantly white so that could be a counterargument to what I had said.

 

The ambition argument is a compelling one, though you do wonder how much of that is due to nature and how much to societal nurture, too - when you have more advantages in life it's easier to take risks and go for such ambition, after all.

[Jattdogg]

I said the teens should be ashamed of their actions and i will hold my hand up and say i may have rushed judgement based off of the initial videos that were circulating.  Seems like it was more complicated then previous thought with several misunderstandings on  both sides. Will have to see if any other videos come out to see if the black hebrew folk were the instigators etc. If they were shouting the things mentioned then shame on them. Pathetic if that holds true.

 

 

[leicsmac]

Further to the incident in DC, read a social media post today that seems to have done their homework.

 

"I've now watched about 4 hours of unedited video from the January 18th Kentucky Catholic High School Students - Native American Veteran Incident. I know that you probably don't have four hours to devote to this (who does?), so, if you don't.......

I've watched every video that I could find, including some that lead up to the incident more than an hour and some that occur after the incident, for another half hour. At first, I was pissed. I posted things without thinking. I deleted them. I tried to check facts before sharing things. I shared things. I deleted some of those quickly because I couldn't corroborate things about them later. I started to watch videos from 2015 and 2018 about Covington Catholic High School (CCHS). Those videos made me even angrier. I ended up researching everything I could find about all of this. I became fascinated with angles and perspective and commentary.... so I kept watching. I spent my lunch hour today watching more, and focusing on the versions of the events from the people that were actually there. Disputing those versions, from both sides................and here's what I saw.

 

Phase 1:
On Friday, January 18, 2019, around 5pm EST, around 50-60 teenage male students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky were in town for the March for Life, which their high school attends in most years. Covington Catholic High School is a private, all male Roman Catholic Kentucky high school and at least 95% white. It costs $7,950 per year to go there. After participating in the March for Life, the students were allowed to sightsee that afternoon. Over half of the teens were wearing red or white MAGA (Make American Great Again) hats, or Trump shirts or sweatshirts or scarfs, or a combination thereof. Most of these young men were 16-18 years old. The students were standing around the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, waiting on their bus or buses, with no chaperone or adult or parent in sight, when they encountered four very vocal and verbally-confrontational African-American Protestors, calling themselves the "House of Israel D.C." (also sometimes referred to as Black Hebrew Israelites). "The Israelites" "lecture" and then verbally accost pretty much anybody who will pay attention to them, including several members of the Indigenous Peoples March immediately prior to this incident. "The Israelites" were not happy to wander upon a group of 50 white teenagers in MAGA hats and shirts. They made this displeasure known. They verbally taunted and jeered at the students. The students yelled back, which is fine. Free exchange of ideas. In exercising their First Amendment rights, the Israelites were incredibly verbally offensive and they knew it. They tried to get a rise out of the CCHS students. They accosted the one young African-American CCHS student in the group. They called him the N word. They disparaged homosexuals. They get called "crackers" and "future school children" and "faggots" and "young klansman", etc. If the CCHS young men didn't know that a group of 50 white males wearing MAGA gear would draw the ire of the "Black Hebrew Israelites", well, they do now. We're not in Kentucky anymore, Toto. When you go forth and Trumpet, you have to be ready for discussion. Now these Covington kids know how to assemble and make noise. Their cheer blocks at their basketball games are pretty well known on the internet and youtube videos for the good (impressive student section physical and verbal chant displays) and the bad (having "blackouts" where all of the student block wears black (even though their colors are decidedly royal blue - including wearing blackface against opposing teams with African-American players), so, at some point, they get tired of "The Israelites" and their free speech, and start up their high school basketball student section chants in an effort to drown the Israelites out. Nothing wrong with that. Stand up for what you believe in, drown out the competition. Fine. They did not, however, as "Red Hat Nick" (we all know his full name by now, but I don't think we need to spread it anymore because he's a minor), start chanting because they "were bored". Their organized chants, which were absolutely high school student block normal bullshit, started to get the attention of others on the steps. End Phase 1.

 

Phase 2:
Friday January 18th just also just happens to be the date for the "National Indigenous Peoples March" in Washington DC. On the Facebook site for the event, it is described as follows: "On January 18, 2019, we are uniting the Indigenous peoples across the World to stand together to bring awareness to the injustices affecting Indigenous men, women and children. Indigenous people from North, Central and South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean are a target of genocide. Currently, many Indigenous people are victims of voter suppression, divided families by walls and borders, an environmental holocaust, sex and human trafficking, and police/military brutality with little or no resources and awareness of this injustice. We Must Unite and Help!!" So, 50 white kids in MAGA hats chanting (including one student who whips his shirt off, flexing, to pump up the crowd) organized (albeit harmless high school) chants at 4 African-American protestors on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial gets the attention of Native American Activist and Veteran, Nathan Phillips. Mr. Phillips, 64, an elder of the Omaha Tribe, was a former Marine. When he saw a group of 50-60 young white males in organized chants confronting the 4 Israelites, he felt he needed to intervene. You can see Mr. Phillips on the 1 hour and forty-six minute (1:46) Banyamyan video, slowly, peacefully, banging a tribal drum, followed by a very small group, intentionally walk himself himself between the CCHS throng and the 4 Israelites. This is best seen around 1:12 on the Banyamyan video (you can see it on youtube). Even one of the outrageous Israelites know what Mr. Phillips is trying to do by putting himself between them when one of them says "He came to the rescue" and "He calmed all these spirits down". Mr. Phillips thought he was defusing the situation between what appeared to be an organized loud chanting organized group of Trump Youth and "4 old black guys". He was not aware that the CCHS students and the 4 Israelites had been trading barbs and verbal jabs for (mostly at the hands of the Israelites to be fair) for over an hour prior. He was probably mistaken if he thought he was coming to the aid of "4 old black guys" as he has said in subsequent interviews (none of the Israelites looked to be older than 45), but what he saw was a throng of 50-60 whites chanting into the face (ironically they were doing the Seven Nation Army chant), ripping off their shirts and confronting "4 old black guys". Regardless, Mr. Phillips tries to get between the 2 groups.

 

Phase 3:
So Mr. Phillips and a few of his fellow activits and marchers from the Indigenous Peoples March, which had taken place earlier that day, were now between the CCHS students and the 4 Israelites. And that's when things turn ugly. Several witnesses, including Mr. Phillips, report that some of the students started chanting "Build The Wall" or "Build That Wall". Other witnesses reported hearing "Go Back to the Reservation". I can't hear either of those things on any of these videos, but I was not standing right next to these students like some of these witnesses. I also can't see most of their mouths moving on these videos. But what I did see is this: Several CCHS students can be seen openly mocking the tribal display. One CCHS student starts flat out krumping to Mr. Phillips tribal drum beat. Several students start doing the Tomahawk Chop arm motion and accompany "ohhhh" chant, which is probably not even okay at a Brave, Chief or Seminole game. Many students laugh. Mock. Ridicule. They do half-ass exaggerated Native American tribal dances. At one point, a kid wearing an Owensboro Catholic sweatshirt responds to the Native Americans by saying "land gets stolen. That's how it works. It's the way of the world.". "At one point, even one of the Israelites says "Look at that. Serious Mockery", which is one of the few intelligent things that can be heard from the Israelites during the entire 106 minute video.

Phase 4:

Mr. Phillips DID NOT walk up to the CCHS students and start banging his tribal drum in their faces. When he first approached, no students were within a few feet. He was chanting and trying to quell a dispute. He did not zero in on Red Hat Nick. Red Hat Nick wasn't in the first few rows of students at first. He did not whip out a drum and start banging it inches from Red Hat Nick's face (despite that appearance from edited videos being floated around today). After a few minutes, when others move out of the way with the flow of the crowd, to allow the Native Americans freedom of movement, Red Hat Nick, a CCHS Junior, makes his stand. He's now at the front of the crowd, directly in front of Mr. Phillips. It is at this instant that Red Hat Nick has chosen to appoint himself to be the face of CCHS in, what, up to that point, had not been a confrontation. Red Hat Nick turns this into a confrontation. 100%. Invites Mr. Phillips to a staring contest. It's incredibly clear on the unedited video. Red Hat Nick, now directly in front of Mr. Phillips, now decides that “YOU SHALL NOT PASS.” He will not move. He smirks. He smiles. He laughs. He loves it. He’s cocksure they are winning. And the, in a most disturbing sight, for several seconds, he scowls. Tight-lipped. You don't see many pictures or video of the scowl, but it's the most haunting image of all from the videos. The scowl is much worse than the smirk. He has chosen to do this on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in our nation’s Capitol, to a USMC veteran Omaha Tribe Elder engaged in a peaceful demonstration. RHN surely did not know all of those details, but he obviously recognized that he was staring down an elderly man. And when Red Hat Nick puts himself on point, his CCHS group reacts. They cheer. They whoop. They holler. They love that Red Hat Nick is winning. At that point, the CCHS group starts to encircle Mr. Phillips and the Native Americans. Gradually. Probably not intentionally. But it’s very noticeable. It’s constricting. And RHN still ain’t moving. They get out their cameras to catch this on video. The two biggest idiots in the entire video (White Hat 1, White Hat 2), to RHN's left, are loving it, losing it, gyrating, mugging it up, recording it, and White Hat 1 makes the face that Tommy makes in Karate Kid when he sceams "put him in a body bag, Johnny!". It's the ugliest part of the whole video. They are proud of their boy. He is clearly the CCHS hero in our nation's capitol. The circle starts to get a little tighter. Eventually, Red Hat Nick gets bored with the stare-off and walks away, to a bus to, back to CCHS where he won't be bothered by anybody with a skin color north of 'peach'.

 

So.

1. Do I think Red Hat Nick deserves a punch in the face?
No. We can't be punching high school juniors.

2. Do I think Red Hat Nick deserves a smack in the face?
..........probably not. It would still probably get you arrested.

3. Do I think any of these students should be expelled?
No.

4. Do I think any of the students did anything illegal?
Absolutely not. And if you want to lean into it on a free speech angle, they have every right to ridicule a tribal elder to his face......but it doesn't mean it's right. Doesn't mean that you should do it. Doesn't mean that there won't be consequences from your school or parents or employer or peers. I understand that none of these teens knew Mr. Phillips was a USMC veteran, but it was pretty damn clear, even to the D- students, that he was an older gentleman and a representative of a Native American tribe in a peaceful display on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

5. Do I think some of the CCHS students should be disciplined?
Yes. Some of them. Red Hat Nick. White Hat Dipshit 1 and 2. Anybody seen doing the Tomahawk Chop. Anybody trying to do the Dougie or the Running Man to tribal drums on Indigenous Peoples March day on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Take away something that means something to some of these young men. Make it hurt. If they play sports, suspend them for the rest of their season. Make them all do presentations and speeches on diversity and the important contributions of Native Americans to American society (in addition to in our country.). The school can require them to perform community service (not as a criminal punishment, but as an administrative punishment), and they could get creative with that. Do I think their parents should further discipline them if it's clear from the video that their children were acting a fool. Absolutely.

6. Is it a damn miracle that in all of this, nobody pushed anybody, nobody threw a punch? That no fists even came out?
Absolutely. I think it's a testament to free speech. That part of it makes me smile. Every time.

7. Would I have wanted all of my teenage idiocy recorded, put on CNN and spread around the world? Hell. No. Are these not children (albeit high school teens a year away from adult)? Yes. Do children make mistakes? Yes. Do young adults make mistakes? Yes. I did a multitude of ridiculous things in my youth. I was punished for..... a sizeable portion of them. But here's the thing. These are teenagers in 2019. They know how this works. They saw the phones. Dozens of phones. They knew they were being recorded. They know how social media works..........and in the face of all of that, they still chose to act like disrespectful fools on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Anyway. There ya go.
Sometimes it helps to get things off your chest.

 

At the end of the day, it'd be real cool if we didn't try to destroy each other on a weekly basis. Last I checked, our eagle's got a left wing and a right wing full of brown, black and white feathers, and I'm pretty sure it'll need every damn one of them to fly.

 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr"

[ozleicester]

4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Further to the incident in DC, read a social media post today that seems to have done their homework.

 

"I've now watched about 4 hours of unedited video from the January 18th Kentucky Catholic High School Students - Native American Veteran Incident. I know that you probably don't have four h

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr"

In just four days, teenager Nick Sandmann and his fellow students at Covington Catholic high school have gone from social media pariahs to conservative heroes....

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/23/how-conservative-media-transformed-the-covington-catholic-students-from-pariahs-to-heroes?CMP=fb_gu&fbclid=IwAR0u0bm-hWpZxczDrOFiyNCs_DkIfdgQS6Cz7ltIYFEjOe_Bi2QBF44BM2k

[Bellend Sebastian]

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that they really have made America great again

Edited 24 January 2019 by Bellend Sebastian