Race: The Final Frontier

[Mongrel]

This is just local-yokel time. Still odious tho

[Brentai]

That's not... literally the ruling at all.

The reasoning here is that their charges are based on a law that extends the sentence if you use "military" (read: banned) firearms while committing a felony, which doesn't make sense when the government issued that weaponry to the defendants and told them to use it.

None of them are acquitted; their sentences are being reviewed because it's based on shitty rules-lawyering. In theory they are going back to jail for, you know, what would be an outright court martial in the regular armed forces, but of course all bets are off in 2017.

Two things here though:

1. If you really parse the commentary on the ruling, there seems to be a subtext of "It's not really these people's fault for being shitty, unregulated mercenaries; it's our fault for hiring shitty, unregulated mercenaries."

2. Parsing "aimed at gang members who use assault weapons" as "aimed at blacks" isn't even accurately biased. Gang membership is about 4-to-3 Latino-to-Black (and to-1 White) and without running any numbers I'm going to guess blacks don't have as many connections to a southern cartel. Which is to say... just call a purple kettle a kettle, okay?

[Mongrel]

The Root: White teens tried to lynch an 8 year old for being biracial

[Yoji]

And then the police chief implores us to think of those poor boys whose futures might be hurt by this.

I really wish I could say I'm surprised. Shocked, sure. But surprised? Not in a country that responds to dozens dead in an elementary school by sitting with its collective thumb up its collective ass.

[Mongrel]

As many have pointed out, if it were black kids attempting to murder a white kid, they would be tried as adults and the prosecutor would be seeking the death penalty.

Not that I disagree with mercy for children, but that police chief's comments are fucking insane. Maybe those kids can be helped, but a gang lynching isn't "teenage hijinx". As they are, those kids ain't right in the head.

[Grath]

Now it makes more sense that there's a movement for Libertarians to take over New Hampshire: It was already shitty and kinda-Libertarian.

[malikial]

As many have pointed out, if it were black kids attempting to murder a white kid, they would be tried as adults and the prosecutor would be seeking the death penalty.

Not that I disagree with mercy for children, but that police chief's comments are fucking insane. Maybe those kids can be helped, but a gang lynching isn't "teenage hijinx". As they are, those kids ain't right in the head.

Eh, New Hampshire has a death penalty but it is very very strict about how it's sentenced and they only currently have 1 death row inmate and no facility to execute said inmate. They'd deffo be asking for the next best thing though.

[Mongrel]

The other really gross thing about the Police Chief's comment isn't merely that he's expressing concern for the attackers, it's that he's doing so at the expense of mentioning the victim at all.

[Mongrel]

Joe Walsh, looking for clicks (and a punch in the mouth).

[Yoji]

Joe "Deadbeat Dad" Walsh stars in today's episode of Who in the Great Howling Fuck Asked for Your Opinion!?

Seriously, I thought he lost reelection and just passes time on AM talk radio or whatever.

[Mongrel]

Honestly, with stuff like this, I'm not even sure Joe Walsh is a real person:

xD

[Yoji]

omg obama throws like a girl and bush was just awesome

(pushes up glasses, adopts nerd voice)

Actually, when you make people throw with their non-dominant hand, the difference between men and women practically disappears. Furthermore, the technique and accuracy in male and female professionals are identical, the only difference being speed owed to the typically higher muscle mass of male athletes. This all suggests a cultural difference rather than a physi-

George W with perfect form threw a perfect strike

...a "perfect strike" on the ceremonial first pitch? As in, not for points and with nobody at bat?

(grabs bowel disruptor gun from drawer)

Yeah, nevermind. You're just full of shit as usual.

[Mongrel]

A friend of mine was musing today about something he's been thinking about for a little while: That "racist" is becoming "The N word" for whites". Well, paranoid defensive whites anyway.

I mean, it's not a perfect analogy, but it's an interesting angle.

[Brentai]

When I was in middle school some kid was trying to get up in my grill because he thought something I was wearing or doing or something was "gay". I shot back that he was a backwards homophobe and his response was "Of course I am!"

I did the only sensible thing I could think of at that point, which was tell him he was cute. He stopped talking to me pretty quick.

The people who really deserve the racist, sexist, homophobic etc. monikers aren't going to be ashamed to be called out on it, unless there's some material penalty attached to the label. Some people really are Deplorables.

[Mongrel]

It always amazed and amused me how quickly "macho" guys back off in horror when you deliberately flirt with them.

[Brentai]

Well, an unwanted advance is an unwanted advance. It's probably not really that funny outside the fact that men don't deal with that every day and have absolutely no idea how to react.

I'm not (too) proud of that story, which is why I don't tell it that much, but it is one of my personal reminders that oh yeah sometimes humans ARE just plain shitbricks that don't need any defending.

[Mongrel]

Yeah. And in any case I don't exactly think I would get the same reaction today as I did fifteen or twenty years ago.

[Joxam]

One of the craziest things about all this blowup over players kneeling for the Anthem is that players were usually not even on the field when it was played until 2009 when the military started paying them for advertising for recruitment.

John McCain literally passed a bill against this in 2015, of course his take was they should be doing it for free, but the point stands.

[Thad]

If there's a better example of Donald Trump's complete tone-deafness and hubris than picking a fight with the fucking NFL, I haven't seen it.

It's pretty amusing to see all the people swearing they're going to boycott the NFL and its sponsors, too. Yeah. Sure you are.

[Mongrel]

"Whut?! Thars some of them BLACK GUYS in the NFL?! An' the NBA?!?!? Mah gawd! How could ah have been so blind!"