Israel analysts: Weak US attack on Iran could spark retaliation against Israel – Middle East ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 23, 2019:

I'm sure they would welcome that--it would be used as a justification for war.

Vince Vance & The Valiants (bomb iran) - YouTube

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 23, 2019:

I look forward to all the MAGAs suddenly becoming CNN fanboys once the military porn starts flowing.

Got to love what is deemed OK and not OK.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 23, 2019:

And what exactly is the image on the left?

How would you respond to someone of high intersectionality who claims to be systematically oppressed...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 22, 2019:

I think everyone would benefit from reading this article rather than debate the aggrieved nonsense in the OP. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination

Bernie Sanders says his Medicare for all plan would absolutely include illegal immigrants.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 22, 2019:

Good for you.

[foxnews.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 21, 2019:

I seem to remember the shoe being on the other foot in Wisconsin under Scott Walker when they busted the unions a few years back. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wisconsin-assembly-deal-vote_n_827530 In fact from your own article: "Oregonian lawmakers aren't the first to flee the state Senate in order to stymie a vote with an insufficient quorum. In 2011, Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin did the same to protest Republican Gov. Scott Walker's bill to limit the bargaining power of public unions for wages and benefits. Walker used state troopers to bring legislators back to the floor, but not before threatening to send out the National Guard."

DON'T DO IT MR.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 20, 2019:

Yeah it was all John Kerry's machinations that forced Trump to dump the Iran deal and make John Bolton the most powerful person in his cabinet.

Iran is begging for a good ole fashioned ass kickin, and Trump is just the guy to deliver.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 20, 2019:

Your evolution on this issue would make John Bolton smile.

LEFTIST HYPOCRISY Defensible or not?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 20, 2019:

Only hypocrisy if you conflate human rights with state liabilities, and internalize government spending and taxation through the prizm of your racial identity.

When media is overwhelmingly biased and openly supports one political party, and tells lies and ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 20, 2019:

Time to bring back the fairness doctrine!

Trump to live Tweet through the first Democratic debates... [americanlookout.com]

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 19, 2019:

I despise the man, but his boundless petulance will never fail to amuse me.

A Tale of two States Illinois & Oklahoma : I thought these two states, made for an ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 19, 2019:

You've got a lot of facts wrong or out of date.

As Trump kicks off his 2020 campaign, he will need to respond to criticism of unfulfilled promises ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 18, 2019:

He will likely energize his base but it won't matter. Unless the Democrats alienate their base as bad as they did in 2016, they will have more than enough people to win just as they did for the 2018 midterms.

As Trump kicks off his 2020 campaign, he will need to respond to criticism of unfulfilled promises ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 18, 2019:

Didn't he kick off his 2020 campaign on January 20, 2017?

Donald Trump: ICE to deport 'millions' of migrants starting next week - UPI.com

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 18, 2019:

This is almost certainly bullshit. If true, it would be one of the largest acts of ethnic cleansing in recent memory, expelling people who have lived here for decades and leading to thousands of deaths.

Statistics are only half of a good intellectual debate with some poor misguided leftists (strong ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 17, 2019:

A principled leftist would challenge the tariffs not because tariffs are inherently bad, but because Trump's justification is incoherent. Trump justifies tariffs not with concerns about labor standards but with his lifelong mantra that "the rest of the world is taking advantage of us," referring to the trade deficit. And he's even willing to overlook that as long as he can put on a show for his supporters for a while and ultimately put his name on a barely renegotiated agreement. Never mind that the trade deficit exists because the dollar is the world's reserve currency. The solution, which is actually a pretty nice privilege, is to run a budget deficit and increase the money supply--and from a leftist perspective, seek treaties on labor standards--not tariffs and inevitable trade wars which are likely to be contractionary.

Does it really matter what the hollyweirdo actors think about politics these days?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 17, 2019:

There's a third way: don't pay attention to what they say if you don't like it!

What will happen to our culture over the next decade? Let's see some predictions.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 16, 2019:

-Extreme inequality, the internet, and repression of poor, immigrant, and minority communities will continue to overwhelm organic cultural movements with professional class consumerism -Young people will continue to live historically ascetic yet tolerant lifestyles -Cultural aggrievement will peak as the baby boomers begin to pass on -We'll be stuck with a historically reactionary judicial system for generations, barring reform

Do you think it's bad if one is not patriotic?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 14, 2019:

No. It's healthy. #itsoktobeunpatriotic

What happened with KristinaDavis?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 13, 2019:

That appears to be Gerri's alternate account. She's claiming to have been hacked and had her main account suspended in some sense.

What am I supposed to worry about today, mass media do tell?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 13, 2019:

The same things we worry about every day, Ed: Muslims, Central American migrants, Iran, trans people, feminists, academics, "wilding" black youths, the "NWO," and the political left.

Is science-denialism the same on the Left as it is on the Right?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 12, 2019:

Science is not immune from the biases of its practitioners. At one time eugenics was at the forefront of scientific research (and it seems to be making a comeback in some corners of the scientific world). But with replication, debate, consensus-building, and examination of historical and social context, it is our best tool for figuring out how the universe works. Those factors mean the difference between science denialism and scientism.

Well holy crap...thoughts? [foxnews.com]

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 11, 2019:

Cruel and unusual.

The problem with statistics is selective data use and methodology.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 11, 2019:

Yes, but the statistically literate can validate statistics.

Screw Canada, screw pride month and the LGBT CAN ALL GO FCK THEMSELVES.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 11, 2019:

What did the gays do to you?

CHINATOWN AND THE LEFT Marx thought Darwin was just sticking his Victorian dog-eat-dog economic...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 11, 2019:

While immigrants may need the support of people like them when they move to the US, for example, studies show that they generally integrate by the second generation. And I think the frameworks described here (https://niskanencenter.org/blog/tale-two-moralities-part-one-regional-inequality-moral-polarization/ ) add some nuance to the cultural and economic factors at play in the behavior you mentioned.

If the "Left" labels anyone who's right-of-"Left" a member of the "far right", what could do wrong?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 11, 2019:

I've actually made an attempt to plot the dominant political ideologies on a 2 dimensional chart. I think a lot of our trouble communicating about the political spectrum stems from differences in how we would flatten such a chart onto a 1 dimensional line, because different lines have different centers. For example, in recent decades, US politics has generally been confined to a line between left liberalism and right liberalism whereas European politics has generally been confined to a line between social democracy and what in the US would be the neoliberal center. With the advent of Trump and Bernie, the American political spectrum is expanding in both directions. If you were to ask a rightist, they'd probably say that today's line runs between Stalinism and right libertarianism but should be confined between Trumpism and anarcho-capitalism. A leftist on the other hand would acknowledge that most politics occurs between left liberalism and Trumpism, but that they are trying to expand its leftmost point to social democracy and maybe someday democratic socialism. So where would you draw the line?

If the "Left" labels anyone who's right-of-"Left" a member of the "far right", what could do wrong?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 10, 2019:

Who are we talking about here?

I think I have a solution for abortion in the case of rape or incest.

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 6, 2019:

And they say political compromise is dead!

I wonder if the social justice left realizes that the power class in the west is the very ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 5, 2019:

I'll take the class politics of the professional class 1% any day over the culture war of the aristocratic 0.01%. But I'd still much prefer a left politics of the 99% working class.

Anyone want to wager how long it takes for YouTube to cave to the woke scolds at Vox?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 5, 2019:

Steven Crowder is so edgy! Love his "I'm not gay" shirts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9EAYxeoaU8

On the topic of Free Speech, shouting "FIRE!" in a crowded theater?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 5, 2019:

It's worth noting that the legal decision that popularized the phrase in question was not concerned with "shouting fire in a crowded theater," but rather claimed that a socialist distributing flyers against US involvement in WWI was as dangerous as "shouting fire in a crowded theater," which surely wouldn't be protected by the 1st Amendment, therefore it could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_v._United_States

New Zealand is falling, thanks to their Islamawhore

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 3, 2019:

Yeesh.

Something for you HRC fans....

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 2, 2019:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-threw-a-tantrum-with-matt-lauer/

How do you respond to someone that is against Trump because he will not start a world war?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 2, 2019:

Tell them Bolton is doing his best to spark one in Iran?

Antifaaaaa

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 1, 2019:

Super soldier?

Any comments about this meme?

WilyRickWiles comments on Jun 1, 2019:

Or perhaps we live in a society where culture warriors lecture us on freedom.

Nordstroms, a US retailer, happily sells "The future is female" T-shirts [shop.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 31, 2019:

It strikes me as an empty, corporate feminist slogan. It doesn't hurt me and I'm not going to lower myself to read pedantic meanings into it or equate it to intentionally inflammatory misogynistic slogans. If I encountered a woman wearing the shirt, I'd assume that they were a well-meaning feminist without much of a class consciousness.

I wonder how many walls we could've built with the tax payers money, if we didn't spend it on all on...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 30, 2019:

Manafort and others' asset forfeitures mostly offset the expense of the Mueller investigation.

Hillary is waiting in the wings .

WilyRickWiles comments on May 30, 2019:

I predict that not even her death will stop Republicans from campaigning against Hillary Clinton.

MMT Pioneer Talks MMT, Trump's tariffs, Medicare for All, and Green New Deal.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 29, 2019:

Relevant conversation: https://idw.community/discussion/31335/modern-monetary-theory-explained-vox

Who decides what words are words?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 28, 2019:

Sort of related: I present to you the Library of Babel. https://libraryofbabel.info It contains every page of every book that has ever been written or will be written!

"I'm a far-left Christian activist - like Jesus Christ.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 28, 2019:

Left politics aren't inherently athiestic or Marxist for that matter. It's easy to forget that after decades of Cold War propaganda and McCarthyism that have conflated the two. My grandfather was part of a secret Catholic cell as a young person. They sought to ferret out leftists in society because the Soviet Union and China followed an athiestic leftist doctrine and therefore all leftists must be atheists who want to undermine the traditional family. In his final years he like many conservatives had extended that logic to the entire center-left and the Democratic Party. Such nativist-tinged logic has been used for centuries against liberatory politics, starting with classical liberalism and capitalism. At least the criticism has some merit against capitalism, whose creation of markets is a secularizing force. Leftists, by contrast, are motivated in part by the desire to have a more organic culture, which of course includes the freedom to practice whatever religion you please. There are many threads of leftist thought that are compatible with religion. Christianity has influenced socialists and social democrats in America and in Europe. Jane Addams' social work, for example, was motivated by her faith. During WWI, the conservative Wisconsin Synod Lutherans allied with the anti-war Socialist Party which held the mayorship of Milwaukee among other offices. MLK Jr. actually talked favorably about leftism, e.g. a brand of democratic socialism, and criticised the parts of Marx's thinking that were atheistic. Rev. Barber is great, by the way, and probably the closest thing to MLK Jr. we have today. In the media, Elizabeth Bruenig is taking about leftism as a Christian. And even Karen Swallow Prior at Liberty University has some interesting perspectives.

So I wonder how many more times I will have to change my profile?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 28, 2019:

I doubt globalists are to blame. Twice after joining I remember setting my company to "Open Society Foundations." The first time it was mysteriously reset to my job title and the second time it was blanked out.

Socialism is just for the poor shmucks like you and me

WilyRickWiles comments on May 24, 2019:

Because it's the socialists imposing austerity on the world.

Would anyone be interested in explanation into the "deep under belly" (as I have named it) of ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 24, 2019:

Is that kind of like a "deep state?"

Election fraud? Florida won’t pledge to look for voters registered in multiple states

WilyRickWiles comments on May 23, 2019:

I don't know about you, but I have a common combination of first and last name. The Crosscheck program would flag me because my name would appear on the rolls in every state. That's really dumb and only makes sense to you're trying to suppress the vote.

Who would you like to see run for PRESIDENT after Trumps next term?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 23, 2019:

Word on the street is Tom Cotton is the next Republican in line.

I think we should strip the Constitution down to it's bare form as the founding fathers wrote it.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 21, 2019:

Why is that? Not a fan of equal protection under the 14th Amendment? Or maybe you want there to be less democracy? Surely you don't want to bring slavery back! Perhaps this is about taxation.

'Few realize that communism is taking on new forms and guises in its attempt to control the world.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 20, 2019:

I think this Falun Gong-associated newspaper has confused communism with capitalism.

Is there anyway to stop big tech firms from influencing elections?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 18, 2019:

I'm far more worried about the use of their centralized platforms to manipulate elections in favor of the far right than I am worried about far right candidates being deplatformed. At the end of the day, both problems have the same solution: break up and decentralize Facebook and similar platforms.

I have never understood the logic of liberals who admit crony capitalism is a problem and yet ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 18, 2019:

Well here's an example. IRS enforcement against wealthy tax-dodgers pays for itself, but at the moment their funding has been cut so much that they can't afford to do it. Instead, they end up having to focus on poor and middle-class people who make simple and obvious mistakes. Funding the IRS more would bring more owed revenue to the government and would prevent the power of crony capitalists from compounding. Notice also that most domestic agencies are now led by lobbyists from the industries they are meant to regulate--this has happened as their budgets have shrunk.

Thoughts on “Disadvantage Scores” in college admissions.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 17, 2019:

I'm not against it. Tests are not infallible and universities have successfully experimented with different means of measuring aptitude, e.g., going "testless" and focusing on essays. Moreover, my understanding is that most affirmative action gives a chance to **deserving** people who wouldn't otherwise get a chance due to systemic discrimination. Their outcomes in college would be a good measure of this. That being said, I think a better solution would be to improve and increase access to public early, primary, secondary, and higher education. Today, the disadvantaged students who do go on to success in college are often identified and prepared from an early age. Putting band-aid solutions on elite institutions only serves to create a more equal elite. Public institutions should work to create a more educated and equal society. To do that, we need to tax the wealthy more; expand public educational institutions and fund them more; and stop relying on philanthropy.

is anyone having problems trying to reply to comments within posts?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 16, 2019:

You might want to try doing a force-refresh to bypass your browser cache: CTRL-SHIFT-R. They're probably making changes to some of the JavaScript source code that makes the site run in your browser--and those get cached by your browser and generally don't get refreshed after changes if the webmaster doesn't rename them.

The Left-leaning media like to create and champion underdog stories where an identity-based victim ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 15, 2019:

Intersectionality, of the sort practised by the Women's March organizers, is supposed to be the antidote for those contradictions. Without a class analysis, identity politics doesn't make the world a better place. It is hollow, arbitrary, and only serves to form a slightly more diverse elite.

Can assholes help move a conversation forward?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 15, 2019:

It would be interesting to hear from @BooRadley on this topic. She banned me from her "News From All Views" group for allegedly being a troll. From my perspective, I was just trying to hold her to a higher standard of argumentation. An outside observer might even have suspected her for the troll, as she kept dragging out the debate across multiple posts, and peppering me with profanity. Moreover, it's a bit hypocritical because she's constantly complaining in her posts about being censored on other social media platforms.

What is the price of free speech?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 15, 2019:

I'll let you know when I find out. I might have to bribe @BooRadley with IDW coins so that I can speak in her popular News group again!

The media is lying to you about Trump’s China tariffs The hysteria must have a political agenda...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 15, 2019:

You're right that it doesn't seem to be hurting consumers, but it is damaging the market for soybeans, and is requiring bailouts to avoid hurting farmers. Not to mention that the tariffs are an unnecessary and potentially dangerous market distortion. As long as the US dollar is the world's reserve currency, which comes with a number of privileges we would like to keep, we will run a trade deficit. Better to use the power of that currency to generate employment, education, and social good rather than undermine it with tariffs. But that would go against the only political issue that Trump has consistently cared about over the years: the notion that the whole world is taking advantage of us.

Because I get told at least once a week I MUST be a socialist if I am a Christian or I am a fake ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 15, 2019:

https://youtu.be/SZ2L-R8NgrA

This is interesting

WilyRickWiles comments on May 13, 2019:

States could allow non-citizens to vote before that law was passed.

Would you say that the IDW is for "social justice" but not for the warrior part of "social justice ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 13, 2019:

A proposed corollary: is the IDW for cultural warfare and what does culture warrior mean to you?

Trump is the king of trolling.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 13, 2019:

This man must have been a stand-up comedian in a previous life!

Would you say that the IDW is for "social justice" but not for the warrior part of "social justice ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 13, 2019:

Judging from the comments, there aren't many IDW-identifying individuals who support social justice. Of those who do, I'd love to see what they think it means and not just what they think it doesn't mean.

A thought on the transgender debate.

WilyRickWiles comments on May 11, 2019:

Regardless of the justifications people use, and outside of legal debates, I think it comes down to culture. Where do you get the right to tell transgender people how to live and present themselves to the world?

Canada’s largest trading partner is of course the United States , if you have basic understanding ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 11, 2019:

Let's see, Trump had Canada arrest a Chinese executive for allegedly doing business with Iran in violation of US sanctions following its unilateral abandonment of the Iran deal. China arrested some Canadians in retaliation and you expect Canada to flatter Donny's ego about the economy to help secure their release?

So true so true

WilyRickWiles comments on May 9, 2019:

Because Republicans watered down the post-Watergate reforms during the Bush administration?

Has anyone noticed a pause in the "Identity Politics" rhetoric in the news lately?

WilyRickWiles comments on May 9, 2019:

What's the point of asking people to speculate about something like this? How about some data?

I’ve been studying postmodernism more in-depth since hearing more about it from many of ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 6, 2019:

Welcome to the cult!

Why are only right-leaning people being called "Conspiracy Theorists" as they're being banned from ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 6, 2019:

To put my previous comments in a nutshell: nativists have been scapegoating minorities and ascribing wide-ranging and malicious conspiracies to Jews, liberals, leftists, academics, the media, and freemasons for centuries. That garbage is out of bounds.

Why are only right-leaning people being called "Conspiracy Theorists" as they're being banned from ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 6, 2019:

It's less that they're "conspiracy theorists" and more that they're "far right conspiracy theorists." The qualifier "far right" typically suggests an authoritarian and nationalist bent. Such speech has a tendency to incite violence against minorities. We're historically sensitive, for example, to conspiracy theories that blame Jews for promoting immigration and secularism, and that dehumanize minorities and non-conformists. I'm sure there are genuine leftist and liberal conspiracy theories, but I would argue that the ones you mention, which would likely be communicated in a more nuanced way by proponents, should not be equated with those of the far right. Firstly, they are more grounded in facts than say the idea that reptoids are conspiring to rule the world. Secondly, they are part of a liberatory political agenda rather than one of majoritarian domination, and thus are morally superior.

Crickets from the left on social media censorship

WilyRickWiles comments on May 5, 2019:

Oh hey there. Here's the thing. Facebook isn't obligated to give a platform to anyone, let alone Nazis and the like. Complicating that is the fact that Facebook has a monopoly that gives it centralized, government-like power. It's nearly impossible for would-be competitors to overcome its network effect in order to provide said Nazis an alternative. My proposal would be for the government to decentralize Facebook, e.g., mandating the creation of an open protocol that could be used by any number of competitors. Surely such a free market would provide them a platform, even if they had to create it themselves.

We live under such well-crafted illusions; the biggest is perhaps the one that is known as the ...

WilyRickWiles comments on May 5, 2019:

Is it a coincidence that goldbuggery is popular on the far right when the far right is funded by a handful of billionaires whose wealth comes from energy and mining? Do "the People" really benefit from expensive commodities at all, let alone more than they do from modern money?

Wow, go Trump.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 30, 2019:

This is really dumb.

Dave Rubin's Battle of Ideas: I - YouTube

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Part III (the best one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2LOvoDCPS8

Dave Rubin's Battle of Ideas: I - YouTube

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3h9YyzqBxs

Yep.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Agreed, I'm most concerned about Sinclair, which is the subject of this video. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

Press will call him a trump supporter

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Seems unlikely. His manifesto was pretty clear that while aligned with Trump on some matters, he thought Trump was compromised by Jews. It would be rather easy, however, to support a narrative focused on on the "cultural Marxism" tropes that inspired him and many other right-wing terrorists, and have been pushed by Trump, the IDW, and others on the right.

The shooter in the Poway synagogue shooting was NOT A FAN of President Trump The suspect in the ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

True, but the common denominator is the "cultural Marxism" tropes that Trump and the right push and that motivated the shooter and other right wing terrorists.

How long before the Legacy and Narratvie Press conclude that the Synagogue shooter is an avid Trump ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 29, 2019:

Seems unlikely. His manifesto was pretty clear that while aligned with Trump on some matters, he thought Trump was compromised by Jews. It would be rather easy, however, to support a narrative focused on the "cultural Marxism" tropes that inspired him and many other right-wing terrorists, and have been pushed by Trump, the IDW, and others on the right.

Was MLK Jr. an SJW?

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 28, 2019:

And here's the audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m1PRN9VCfw

Was MLK Jr. an SJW?

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 28, 2019:

The speech was truncated in the OP, here's the rest: ads in the Negro newspaper in that city. This is the power of Operation Breadbasket. [applause] Now, for fear that you may feel that it’s limited to Chicago and Cleveland, let me say to you that we've gotten even more than that. In Atlanta, Georgia, Breadbasket has been equally successful in the South. Here the emphasis has been divided between governmental employment and private industry. And while I do not have time to go into the details, I want to commend the men who have been working with it here: the Reverend Bennett, the Reverend Joe Boone, the Reverend J. C. Ward, Reverend Dorsey, Reverend Greer, and I could go on down the line, and they have stood up along with all of the other ministers. But here is the story that's not printed in the newspapers in Atlanta: as a result of Operation Breadbasket, over the last three years, we have added about twenty-five million dollars of new income to the Negro community every year. [applause] Now as you know, Operation Breadbasket has now gone national in the sense that we had a national conference in Chicago and agreed to launch a nationwide program, which you will hear more about. Finally, SCLC has entered the field of housing. Under the leadership of attorney James Robinson, we have already contracted to build 152 units of low-income housing with apartments for the elderly on a choice downtown Atlanta site under the sponsorship of Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the first project [applause], **this is the first project of a proposed southwide Housing Development Corporation which we hope to develop in conjunction with SCLC, and through this corporation we hope to build housing from Mississippi to North Carolina using Negro workmen, Negro architects, Negro attorneys, and Negro financial institutions throughout.** And it is our feeling that in the next two or three years, we can build right here in the South forty million dollars worth of new housing for Negroes, and with millions and millions of dollars in income coming to the Negro community. [applause] Now there are many other things that I could tell you, but time is passing. This, in short, is an account of SCLC's work over the last year. It is a record of which we can all be proud. With all the struggle and all the achievements, we must face the fact, however, that **the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society.** He is still at the bottom, despite the few who have penetrated to slightly higher levels. Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. There is often no bottom at which to start, and when there is there's almost no room at the top. In consequence, Negroes are still impoverished aliens in an ...

I would like 1 report, 1 study, that is trustworthy, regarding illegal immigration and whether they ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 28, 2019:

Here you go (for less crimes): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377938.2016.1261057 Also worth looking at: 1. This summary of the above study: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/30/the-myth-of-the-criminal-immigrant 2. This summary by the authors of the above study: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/immigrants-do-not-increase-crime-research-shows/ 3. A summary of some more studies: https://econofact.org/are-immigrants-more-likely-to-commit-crimes 4. An older summary of a study: https://www.newsweek.com/how-immigrants-actually-reduce-crime-72555

Is the return of the Joker theme a sign of regression?

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 28, 2019:

These are random events with no shared meaning.

This guy has got it right!! [twitter.com]

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 28, 2019:

So you blame a Muslim American who dissents on our foreign policy with Israel for an NWO and cultural Marxism conspiracy theorist who tried to burn down an Islamic center and shot up a synagogue? Maybe it's time to look in the mirror.

1 Dead, Suspect Detained Following Synagogue Shooting in Poway - NBC 7 San Diego

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 27, 2019:

He also claimed responsibility for setting fire to a mosque last month, inspired by the New Zealand attacks: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/islamic-center-escondido-mosque-epd-efd-sdso-reported-arson-unit-507585851.html

A Feminist Take on 40 Week Abortions - YouTube

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 27, 2019:

Do you really think people are getting elective late term abortions?

Conservatism is...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 26, 2019:

Conservatism is rooted in a desire to restore or maintain elements of the old feudal regime.

Joe Biden's Running on a Popular Lie about Trump It's a lie that the left believes ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 26, 2019:

Watch the whole video and decide for yourself: https://youtu.be/QGKbFA7HW-U?t=329

We had a training today in our school.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 26, 2019:

I would argue that racism is a multi-part problem, to which everyone is susceptible to some degree: 1. Cognitive: Our beliefs on race, 2. Unconscious: How society conditions us to respond to race, especially outside our network, 3. Class: Our willingness to correct inequities across class divisions through public means, and 4. Systemic: How the above lead to institutional inequities. #2 and #4 are really what they're concerned about with these trainings. Through introspection, I've found that despite my anti-racist beliefs, the patterns that I see in local news coverage, for example, have led me at times to feel uncomfortable when I encounter a non-white person walking down the street. It's completely irrational and if you're not aware of it, it's the sort of thing that could lead to racially adverse decisions that add up across the decision-makers of an institution. If you're blameless, go ahead and tune it out, but I think there are plenty of people who could benefit. And if at least one person benefits, is such training really as harmful as you make it out to be? Does it really constitute a "punishment?" Aren't all of your criticisms reasons to provide more funding to public schools?

Looking for edification: is there anyone here who identifies as being post modernist and or secular ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 26, 2019:

I'm not a post-modernist. While that philosophy was important to the new left of the '60s, most of today's leftists have disowned it. As I understand it, it is fundamentally a moral relativist philosophy. Note, however that my universal philosophy comes from the Enlightenment, not the Bible. Conservatives tend to conflate post-modernism with anything that isn't "traditional values" or the Ten Commandments, which leads to cultural Marxist conspiracy theories (e.g., they're athiests and nonconformists and trannies and communists and feminists and free thinkers and they're undermining the traditional family!) Meanwhile, post-modernism pervaded popular culture and has come to influence the beliefs of conservatives, many of whom have new age attitudes today. I suppose I am a secular humanist, in that I am an atheist and strong supporter of separation of church and state whose civic commitment was formed by belonging to a conservative Lutheran church as a child and being the son of a someone with a rather Northern WASPy pedigree and then learning more about Enlightenment philosophy as an adult.

Well we've all met the Socialist Bernie Millionaire, lets listen to the Capitalist Bernie ...

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 25, 2019:

One of the top backers of the conservative movement.

Should we allow states to let non citizens the right to vote in our elections.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 24, 2019:

I think we should go back to the original definition of citizenship in the Constitution, minus forms of discrimination that were abolished in subsequent amendments. That is, the original granting of citizenship to any free white man who had lived here for two years should be extended to women and non-whites. Even when the Constitution was written, all free persons and 3/5 of other persons (slaves) were included in the Census in keeping with Article One of the Constitution. And there weren't immigration laws until the Chinese Exclusion Act and other similarly racist legislation in the late 1800s, ironically just as the Statue of Liberty was being dedicated. Here's what the Declaration of Independence says on the matter: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Here's what the 14th Amendment says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed." Non-citizens weren't barred from voting in federal elections until the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. I think the fact that a right to vote is not made explicit in the Bill of Rights has made it easier to infringe. So too perhaps has the use of the word "citizens" rather than "persons" in parts of the aforementioned 14th Amendment and the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th.

Thoughts on the Chicago Symphony strike

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 24, 2019:

I support it. Fight the bosses, not fellow workers.

Libertarian Party

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 24, 2019:

Sam Seder, currently in first place in national polling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Libertarian_Party_presidential_primaries#National_polling

Does anyone have an opinion on having the 2020 Census ask the question plain and simple.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 24, 2019:

How is it what our country was based on when there weren't immigration laws until the Chinese Exclusion Act and other similarly racist legislation in the late 1800s, ironically just as the Statue of Liberty was being dedicated? Unless you mean that our country is based on citizenship for any free white man who has lived here for two years. But even then, all free persons and 3/5 of other persons (i.e., slaves) were included in the Census in keeping with Article One of the Constitution. Here's what the Declaration of Independence says on the matter: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that **all men are created equal**, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Here's what the 14th Amendment says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive **any person** of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to **any person** within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the **whole number of persons** in each State, excluding Indians not taxed." As for voting, non-citizens weren't barred from voting in federal elections until the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. I think the fact that a right to vote is not made explicit in the Bill of Rights has made it easier to infringe. So too perhaps has the use of the word "citizens" in the aforementioned 14th Amendment, and the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th. I do not support the question. It is a nativist scare tactic designed to produce an undercount, plain and simple.

Is IDW as Islamophobic as the top posts suggest?

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 23, 2019:

IDW figures do make sweeping generalizations about the global Muslim community, albeit in a style more civil than demonstrated in this community. They and the new atheists like Sam Harris who they are affiliated with disproportionately focus on Muslims compared to other issues and groups of people. I would call it an obsession. One likely driven by the geopolitical agenda of their backers. And it attracts a certain element.

Social Media Influencer

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 23, 2019:

I would say that they are an online celebrity who does freelance PR, e.g. on Twitter or Facebook.

Classical Liberalism is what got us here. Can it still get us out?

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 23, 2019:

Some say more republicanism is the solution: https://newrepublic.com/article/146899/liberalism-liberalism . Others argue for the universal solidarity and increased democracy found in socialism. And of course there are those who retreat to nativism. Not to mention those who think less democracy and more rule by capitalist experts is the answer. I imagine that any new philosophical insights will come from the area of network science--e.g., the sort that eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar is putting his money into (see the Santa Fe Institute).

The police.

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 23, 2019:

In Chicago, I believe that the culture of the police and their union is fundamentally corrupt. My views have been shaped by the work of a journalism group called The Invisible Institute: Citizens Police Data Project https://cpdp.co/ The Code of Silence series on The Intercept https://theintercept.com/series/code-of-silence/ The Chicago Police Files series on The Intecept (particularly part 7 on the current chief of police) https://theintercept.com/series/the-chicago-police-files/

Lady Liberty

WilyRickWiles comments on Apr 23, 2019:

https://www.truthorfiction.com/there-is-room-in-america-and-brotherhood-for-all-statue-of-liberty-dedication-speech/