Friday, July 31, 2020

Professional Left Podcast #557

"I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that we have an obligation to condemn speech that is racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, or hateful."
-- John Lewis, American hero




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11 comments:

VonWenk said...

Who's Johnny Ernst? I've heard of Jodi Ernst, but I swear it sounded like Blue Gal was saying "Johnny."

One thing that disturbed me this week was the reaction of commenters on, I believe, Raw Story to an article on Louis Goehmert forcing his staff to come to work without masks. The gist of the comments were "F**k them. If you work for evil, you're evil." It left me with a feeling of the commenters (and their up-voters) of not being good people. I'll their votes, but I doubt I want to be associated with them otherwise.

VonWenk said...

I'll take their votes, I meant to say.

Robt said...

Extremely wealthy paid speech vs average citizen on a soap box speaking.

An inequality that cannot confront any dangerous or harmful speech that is well funded.

5 SCOTUS judges from the right of the court decided to favor in law their political power of wealth on the right.

They tried their best to write flowery assent to make it appear it was a legal decision.

VonWenk said...

I'm more concerned about the grassroots Democrats/liberals who've greeted the Lincoln Project as liberators (as represented in the comment sections of liberal blogs) than the cable networks—"Get on it, Liberty Project."; "The Liberty Project had an ad that…"—assuming they're just gullible rubes and not shills like Jimmy Cagney writing letters about himself in The Lady Killer.

dinthebeast said...

I think (hope) that the sort of grim determination I've been witnessing, sort of like in 2012 when the voter suppression measures pissed everyone off badly enough that they camped out in those lines for hours to cast their ballots and folks brought them water and pizza for their effort, is rising more or less steadily and will endure the inevitable poll swings and horserace coverage we are certain to be plagued with in the next ninety or so days.

I vote by mail, and if the USPS is still being gratuitously buggered in October, I plan on taking our ballots to one of the drop boxes in Oakhurst to make damn sure they get counted.
Fergus will get stomped in California either way, but since moving up to these hills I have a goddamn Republican congressman to vote against, and you can bet your bottom dollar I (we) will do just that.

Speaking of the post office, our mailbox is a ways up the road, in a long line of mailboxes that everyone who lives here goes to to collect their mail. On the far left side, there is one large mailbox where any packages that won't fit in the regular mailboxes are left, accompanied by a notice in your regular box that you have a package.
Briana ordered some graph paper from Amazon and it got sent back undeliverable, so we reordered it, and again it got sent back, so we went to the post office in Oakhurst to ask them what was up. They recognized Zsuzs' last name and said they didn't know why our packages weren't getting through, but suspected it was because they were addressed to a different name than they usually deliver to that box. She then gave us a phone number and a route number and said to call before 9AM and talk to the carrier about it.
I did that, and the carrier also recognized Zsuzs' last name and said she would add my name to the regular delivery list there and there should be no more problems.
Every person I talked to about this was a woman, and every person I talked to was good at their job and handled the issue in a straightforward logical fashion, and now we can order the cat harness that we hope to be able to let Littlebeast outside with, so as to curb his murderous tendencies.

I find it somewhat discouraging that television still has the sort of sway over public opinion that it still supposedly does, but on the other hand I find it somewhat comforting that there is at least some semblance of commonality in information distribution.
The lies and insanity are really out of control. No you fucks, Herman Cain didn't die of cancer, he finished treatment for that in 2007. Hydroxychloroquine doesn't help covid and it can kill you. Louie Gohmert is a moron and the people in the first district in Texas ought to be ashamed of themselves. Shit, that was a Democratic district before Tom the fuck DeLay had his way with it, and now they've sent Louie to DC every two years since what? 2005? And with nothing smaller than 68%.

Thank you, father, for moving from Ardmore, Oklahoma to California the year before I was born.

And thank you again for the podcast. Ever since they discovered covid in the wastewater from these hills, we've been even more careful than we were, although we still pet the neighbor's dog even though that one dog has died from covid now.

I liked the song. Check out Roy Zimmerman and Rocky Mountain Mike and Founders Sing for more uplifting content. We need stuff like that, because Fergus or no Fergus, this is still our lives, damn it.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Hal Rager said...

oy Zimmerman is a treasure.

Robt said...

For me, I find it more discouraging that there are still approx 40% of American voters who tell pollsters they are still in support of the Donald. No matter who it harms and that doesn't seem to include themselves.

It is like some feel they were born republican like a skin color they are stuck with.

Hal Rager said...

'Roy' Zimmerman. Oops.

Caroline said...

I’ve never heard so much hate. First 12 min of just negative comments about Rep party and POTUS. No facts. I tried hard to stay and listen but compared to what I believe and listen to ...I’m insulted. Perhaps it’s these two podcasters that need to get off their asses and go talk to some Republicans. I work for $2 above min wage. I rent I’m a catholic. I have not one racist bone in my body. I am not in Facebook. I do not watch tv. I read. I pay attention and now I’m positive I did the right thing by walking away. This is sad.

Robt said...

Such a coincidence that my town had its own right wing loud mouth racist voice of a Diner owner go MAGA proud and he too is the recipient of voices of disgust.

IS this some secret cult or political disease as with the Cake Bakers who are so special and lost their cake baking business for lost customers so they became Diner owners?

What business might they reinvest themselves into next"

how about Septic Tank drainers? Perfect individualist freedom business for them.

Robt said...

Let us not be so judgmental. As Peggy Noonan would say, although it can be concerning and there are dreadful things in this world worth avoiding. Like a pandemic.
Unlike improving our health care insurance e coverage and access which Sen. Grassley remarked it will kill grandma.
These things cannot be avoided. Sen Grassley did not know my Grandparent and both my parents died prior to The Grandma killing ObamaCare. And all the inhumane and nasty Greed perpetrated our space of respect and sense of decency from specific political believers who put their politics over their religion when convenient. Cannot just fester or invade our morality or as history tells us and is easily displayed. Hitler's Germany was lulled into place with little to no resisting criticism. Out of fear? laziness? Feeling hurt?

listening once is hardly enough to judge but it is up to up. Suggest you come on back and tune in to hear another aspect of the pro left you have not given an chance.
This may be a poor analogy, But everything discussed at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are not pleasant and fluffy. They always say keep coming back. It is proven that returning and returning leads to sobriety for most that do.
- No, as a poor analogy I am not insinuating you are anything as an alcoholic.
Like the Motel advertisement, We'll keep the light on for you.

Please, there is no reason to insult or disparage anyone on your way out. Not even for a Catholic.