Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I don't play guessing games the way you do, as the facts are that nobody can possibly know even you, Oh Great Oracle.

Isn't Russ the oracle?  I'm the one.

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

Wait a minute. I though Lacey was Forrest. 

Definitely.  I'm not sure Rich has seen the movie, or properly appreciated it though.  Forrest Gump, in spite of his relatively low IQ was an achiever, a success story and a totally noble character.  Never made much sense as a pejorative nick name. 

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

So here is the question for you MEATHEAD.

Can you tell me that Dumbass?

What absolute Bullshit that is.  

Did that probability escape you?  

But for morons out there like you (obviously you are IMO)

I always wondered just HOW stupid you really are and this moment proved it to me in spades.

This clown is using figures of the KNOWN infected rate, rather than the LIKELY infected rate of individuals by Corona virus OR do you think we just HAPPENED to find all the people in the USA who had the virus or who currently have the virus and tested them?  

Any 1st Grade math student understands that fact but apparently it escapes you

you are without a doubt the Dumbest human being I've ever dealt on any forum in my life, be it political or otherwise.

Do you have any other stupidity to post?  If so, it can't possibly top this one.  

I recall Russ's post from several weeks ago.  He asked why any adult would voluntarily engage with such a rude and unreasonably nasty person.  That is a very good question.  One I'll be thinking about for sure.

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

David, what is your point? In the Floyd matter, the policemen responsible for his death have been arrested. The Breonna Taylor matter is under investigation. 

Hi Darian:

I'm curious what your point was.  Why does it matter whether George Floyd had a dicey background?

Jim

p.s.  I'm not gonna watch the 18 m video, but I'll take your word for it that it shows Floyd had a criminal past.  

Jim

p.p.s.  I don't believe the protests are "exalting" Floyd.  I see the protests as being much more generally motivated by the treatment of blacks in America and particularly the treatment of blacks by the police in America.  Also, I am sure I disagree with many of the protesters and all of the looters on many issues, including the quality of 99.99% of the American police forces.  But the peaceful protesters certainly believe in a cause that is bigger than this one crime by one bad cop.  Thus, I don't see how Floyd's background has any relevance:  His background absolutely does not justify his murder, and the protests are much much much bigger than merely being protests against his murder.

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Jim, where do you get the idea that blacks are treated badly in America? 

Hi Darian:

My point is that the non-violent protesters believe strongly that blacks are treated badly in America.  This belief motivates their protests, not any sort of adulation of Floyd.

I can see the protester's point, even if I do not completely agree.  It seems that some folks in the political arena have trouble acknowledging that those who are on the "other side" have sincerely held and often nobly motivated beliefs too.   

Jim

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

Care to comment on the tweet, Dick? Or, did you just come on here to belittle me?

Richard's participation here has fairly recently declined from "hard-core conservative and occasional name-caller" to "100% name calling, belittling and foul language troll"  I don't understand this unwelcome transformation at all.

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Well then James, you should be overjoyed and eagerly anticipating a Biden victory in November.

BTW, do you think blacks are an oppressed minority in America; I'm taking a poll?

Hi Darian: 

I think that blacks are still oppressed, but that systemic racism in the US has declined steadily too.  I am sad that the huge progress toward equality made in my lifetime is ignored in much of the discussion.  I think that the black community is responsible for many of their own problems as well.  I do not appreciate the re-definition of "racist" to include all whites.  Still, I believe blacks when they say that they are treated differently merely because of the color of their skin.   I am trying to understand the inherent bias underlying American life all the way down to the bias underlying a post like this one of mine.  It is not easy.

In other words, I think that black authors Thomas Sowell and Ta-Nehisi Coates can both make some good points.  Race relations is a complicated topic.  No one wants to discuss complicated topics in US today.  It is tribalism 100% of the time in 2020 political discourse.  We see it here.

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

As usual, the devil is in the details. The world is not a place that is full of binary and straightforward yes or no answers. 

Hi James:

Good post.  I'm glad these posts are date-stamped!  We seem to be on the same page, right down to the millisecond.  

Jim  

Originally Posted by James Lacey

You probably should, since Trump's support is eroding across almost all demographic categories right now. The COVID-19 pandemic, the widespread demonstrations since George Floyd's death, and an economic downturn that started in February according to new financial data have laid-bare Trump's utter incompetence, his lack of political understanding, and his I'm a victim mentality. No one can predict what the national political ecosystem will look like in five months, any more than anyone could have predicted what has unfolded in the last five months. This much is for sure, though; Trump does not have the political instincts or the character to react to national crises in a way that benefits him politically. He has managed to alienate and turn-off voters in almost every demographic in the last five months. The only one he still holds steady in is white voters without a college degree.

Hi James:

I am starting to think that Trump is toast in November.  Obviously 5 months is a lot of time and Biden needs to present himself plausibly between now and then. 

Still, I'm thinking about D Veeps and Kamala Harris might be my first choice.  Her background appeals to me as a moderate Republican.  As I just mentioned, I am grappling with race issues (like anyone else who thinks about current events much).  Even so, I find calls to defund the police to be extremely, fatally, and tragically short-sighted.  A movement to defund the police is the sort of issue, if embraced by Biden, that would lock down my vote for Trump again.

In this environment does K. Harris have a chance on the left?  I hope she does, but I kind of doubt it.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

"Since Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer, more than a dozen states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah have recorded spikes in hospitalizations, according to data from CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project. Infections are rising in 18 states, according to CNN data. The virus is steady in nine states and down in 21. Two states, Michigan and Massachusetts, are not included in the count for temporary technical reasons to do with how they are processing data.
Aggressive openers Texas and Florida have both seen recent increases in infections. Arizona just told its hospitals to activate emergency plans amid an increase of cases."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-economy-politics-election-2020/index.html

Hi Rod:

I think CNN is scare-mongering for political gain here.  We all expected an increase when the lock downs ended.  If you scroll through the Johns Hopkins and Worldometer data you will see that the increases are quite manageable.  In many cases the expected increases have not materialized.  

California has a "scary" looking trend in the raw infection graph for example, reproduced below.  But California is still at a manageable 123 deaths per million.  Compare that to NY at 1577 deaths per million or NJ at 1404.  I would like to see what is happening with California's rate of positive tests too. I may look for that later.  The rate of positive tests is a good control to determine whether the actual infection rate is increasing, or whether the apparent infection rate is going up because of more testing.  Trump may well lose the election (to the eternal joy of the CNN staff), but I don't think that any small and predictable Covid 19 spikes in June or July will be the cause.*

Jim

* A big-time resurgence in September-October could be the nail in Trump's coffin (metaphorically).  Look for CNN to start touting the fall Covid 19 resurgence in about August.

J