Stoke is well over 90% white.
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My experience matches TG’s.
In the US, there is a strong statistical correlation between fierce anti-immigrant/PoC attitudes and lack of exposure to immigrants and PoC, but one can certainly find meaningful numbers of racists in much more diverse environments, with 45 being a decent example himself.
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I agree that racism is a social construct. The question is if these "social constructs" are inherent in the species. Dolphins also have social constructs that are learned by baby dolphins, but we still view the social constructs of dolphins as an inherent feature of their species.
Throughout the history of the human species we have organised ourselves into tribes/nations along race lines. I can't really think of a non-racist country on the planet. If I was to be an external observer of human beings, some kind of celestial David Attenbrough looking down on Earth from my intergalactic BBC documentary spaceship, then I would say that an inherent feature of Earth's Homo sapiens is to be racist.
Maybe I'm becoming too negative. Or maybe I am just being a realist. Maybe acknowledging that our species has severe limitations is the first step in developing ways to construct a society that takes these limitations into account. Like when hiring new people, there are two schools of thought in countering discrimination: (1) Educate the people doing the hiring to be non-discriminatory; (2) Acknowledge that people will discriminate, and construct a hiring system that makes all the CVs appear anonymous, thus erasing all information about ethnic background. I'd go for the second option.Last edited by anton pulisov; 19-01-2018, 13:10.
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So, something I'm trying to get my head round with this CR/Long term spending thing that's potentially going to cause a shutdown this evening.
Is this is the same as passing a proper budget? If so, do the Democrats really want it at all? Because if so, that opens up the opportunity for reconciliation votes.
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What actual damage does it do to Trump if Jared gets locked up? It gives Mueller leverage over Jared if he has anything on Trump - and I've no doubt, given the Kushner family history, that he'd throw Trump under the bus to save himself. But if Jared has nothing on Trump, all that happens is that he gets locked up and Ivanka gets sad. It's not like Jared actually provides any useful function in the Whitehouse.
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The cheek of the Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and the presidency, to blame the Democrats for a shutdown is impressive. Unfortunately Democrats too often cave to their manipulations, but I'm hoping they tie themselves to the mast or stuff their ears with wax this time.
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Is this accurate? The Democrats have to be careful.
Democrats have said they have the votes to block the spending bill from advancing. They may give some freebie votes to Democrats in difficult 2018 races — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), for example, told reporters that he would likely vote for a spending bill — but they have told reporters that there are not enough to start debate on the spending bill.
In this case, if Republicans are unified in trying to keep the government open and Democrats deny them the votes to do it, it would be fair to say that Democrats shut down the government.
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It really is all bullshit. If you are looking at the fourth extension to a budget rather than passing a new one, you are not doing your job. It is not like any of them would try this move on their taxes with the IRS. But because they can't resolve things they have ended up tying to the big budget - something they didn't have to do - they are getting beaten down by their own clusterbomb.
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So. It looks like there's going to be a vote at 10pm this evening (Eastern time). 2 hours before funding runs out. Why on earth has the Senate left it so late to vote? Mitch has left himself no leeway at all. Which gives the Democrats a decent data point to show that it's the Republicans who are irresponsible here.
Meanwhile, a handful of Red State Democrats look like they're going to vote to keep the government open - Heitkamp, Donnelly and Manchin so far. I think that's strategically a good move, as they need all the cover they can get before November. That still only gets the CR to 54 at best, and may actually still be 50 if the Republicans named above vote No. There's no way they have 60 votes to beat a filibuster.
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I actually don't know if I think it's ever a particuarly good idea to hold government spending hostage. So I'm torn on whether this is good practice from the Democrats.
But it's clearly good strategy. And the Democrats have to use what leverage they have to try and save the Dreamers.
It's the Republicans who've chosen to end DACA, for no good reason. They created this mess by unilaterally ending DACA and threatening to send 1 million kids back to countries they've never known. If they weren't hung up on kicking people out of the country, there'd be no risk to this spending bill.
Also, of course, the Republicans remain totally incapable of producing an actual proper long-term funding bill, because they can't even get agreement in the House on what to do.
It should be trivial for the Democrats to pin this idiocy on the idiotic actions of the President and GOP.
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Not sure if this is the right place to put this as in many ways it's the opposite of Trump. But it's little things like this that I loved most about the US. Small community activism. The facilitator of this, Paula Green, is someone I knew when I lived in Vermont just up the valley from Leverett
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Originally posted by antoine polus View PostHahaha Doug Jones voted for the Republican budget.
Alabama may as well have voted the other guy in
If you think this is indistinguishable from Roy Moore you're clearly an idiot.
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