This is a blog to discuss philosophy, chess, politics, C. S. Lewis, or whatever it is that I'm in the mood to discuss.
Tuesday, July 02, 2019
Kamala Harris fires a blank
I fail to understand Harris's gains based on the debate. She fired a blank at Biden, and made it look like she hit him.I guess she hit him with a soundbite. It is one thing to say "That little girl was me, it sure helped me." It is another to argue for busing as public policy mandated by the Department of Education. That kind of federal control of schools is going to freak out the entire middle and help Trump. Biden doesn't have to deny that it could help in some instances. But busing as public policy has been abandoned in the public arena, and unless you can argue that it ought to be brought back, this is going to hurt her in the overall primary fight and certainly in the general election, especially among swing voters in states like, well, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
All of the candidates acted like nutjobs pandering to the most nutjobbish of nutjobs on the fringe left.
ReplyDeleteI saw an image of the moment where all the candidates raised their hands in support of free healthcare for illegal immigrants, and the caption was "Who wants to lose the election?" They better keep their debates to a minimum, because Republicans are having a field day making campaign ads from their answers.
Denying medical care to undocumented immigrants is just plain stupid simply from the position of naked self interest. It is not good for society to have unhealthy (and especially sick) persons in its midst. Look no further than the recent measles outbreaks due to unvaccinated children. It is to everyone's benefit for everyone to be healthy, and even the most Ayn Randian selfish individual ought to be able to see the benefits to himself from everyone being immunized and not be a carrier of disease.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's be real here. No one is going to allow an "illegal" to die untended on the sidewalk after he's been hit by a car, or been the victim of some other sort of accident.
So why are we even arguing about this? We ought to move the discussion along to "What is the most effective way of providing this care?" and "How should we pay for it?"
"What is the most effective way of providing this care?" and "How should we pay for it?"
ReplyDelete"How do we prevent illegal immigration?" is a better question. Promising to throw money at people who break our laws is...an interesting moral position, I suppose, but will only encourage more of the same.
""How do we prevent illegal immigration?" is a better question."
ReplyDeleteWe don't. It is impossible to do so. Your politics may demand that you say such things, but it's like insisting we travel faster than light. Can't be done.
Better to accept the FACT that immigration, regardless of "legality", is not only going to continue, but will shortly (mainly due to climate change, which most conservatives still deny is happening) explode to levels unimaginable today. Never forget, upwards of 150,000,000 people will be displaced by climate change before our children reach retirement age. These people are not going to just sit by and die, thank you. They're going to head north - into Europe, into North America. This is as certain as the Sun's rising tomorrow. So if you're concerned about today's "caravans" of a few thousand persons, just wait until they are a million strong, or more.
So the real (and responsible) question is, "How are we going to manage this?"
If 150,000,000 attempt to migrate, the answer is the same as yours: we don't.
ReplyDeleteI've yet to hear a realistic solution to climate change, but assuming there was one, the solution would involve lifting up the standard of living in other countries (far more easily said than done), which ironically would reduce illegal immigration.
Yes, we can't fully prevent it, but we don't have to actively encourage it like every single Democratic candidate is irresponsibly doing.
How do we prevent illegal immigration?" is a better question.
ReplyDeleteOne way is to elect Democrats. They'll make the US worse than where the immigrants are coming from. 😱 😱 😱
They must see Trump as some sort of savior to be coming in such high numbers. 😎
.I guess she hit him with a soundbite. It is one thing to say "That little girl was me, it sure helped me."
ReplyDeleteActually her quote was:
"There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me."
Except that little girl was not her.
But it seems from the coverage that Kamala is the chosen candidate so don't expect fact checks from the msm.
We had kids bussed to our schools when I was a kid. From the perspective of the white kids, or at least me, skin color just ended up being an irrelevant physical attribute, like hair color. Maybe I was that way before though, I don't know. At any rate, that would be considered racist today since it amounts to being color blind.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Climate change and the efforts to move to "renewables".
ReplyDeleteGermany is giving up on solar and wind.
The gist of the article is that the German people wanted to feel good about themselves rather than rationally assessing the costs. It was Heidegger that made certain segments think that technological progress was a bad thing and we should return to more natural (medival?) ways. It implies Heidegger started the evironmentalist movement. Not sure it's right.
The problem is that if we want to sustain our lifestyles (and actually our lives) with windmills and solar farms, it's just not techologically possible. The solar farms would occupy all the land and the windmills would become giant Cuisinarts of Death for all flying creatures:
"The new wind farm in Kenya, inspired and financed by Germany and other well-meaning Western nations, is located on a major flight path of migratory birds. Scientists say it will kill hundreds of endangered eagles.
“It’s one of the three worst sites for a wind farm that I’ve seen in Africa in terms of its potential to kill threatened birds,” a biologist explained.
In response, the wind farm’s developers have done what Europeans have long done in Africa, which is to hire the organizations, which ostensibly represent the doomed eagles and communities, to collaborate rather than fight the project."
bmiller said...
ReplyDeleteBut it seems from the coverage that Kamala is the chosen candidate so don't expect fact checks from the msm.
It was checked, and Harris is not wrong. She was bussed in grade school, because the elementary schools were effectively segregated. There was only one high school, which was integrated by default, and where the yearbook comes from.
Still, if you trust Gateway Pundit to do your fact checking, you deserve to look stupid.
Linked article was correct:
ReplyDelete"SHE LIED: Kamala Harris Says She Was in Second Integrated Class in Berkeley — But Yearbook Pictures Prove She’s Lying"
Leftist Sacramento Bee agrees.
But I don't expect honesty from everyone here.
bmiller,
ReplyDeleteFrom the very article you linked to:
Fact check: Was Kamala Harris really one of the first to integrate Berkeley schools?
...
While it’s true she was among the second class of students at Thousand Oaks Elementary School to participate in a fully integrated busing program, she was far from the first black child to attend the school.
Since Harris never claimed to be one of the first black children at the school, what do yo think she actually claimed that was a lie?
Seriously, how desperate are you to portray her as a liar?
Harris is a politician so it's not a surprise she lies.
ReplyDeleteShe was not "part of the second class to integrate her public schools" since there were already blacks attending before she was born. She is part of the elite and always was. This was her way of implying that Joe is a racist while, at the same time, portraying herself as a poor person.
Now I don't care for her or Joe's politics and they've both made stuff up for political expediency but I like to watch how the msm won't allow criticism of her. Looks to me that the press is doing what they can to make her the nominee.
bmiller said...
ReplyDeleteShe was not "part of the second class to integrate her public schools" since there were already blacks attending before she was born.
It's true that there was busing to further integrate the schools (unless you claim there was another reason for the busing), and it's true Harris was a part of the second year to be bused. I'm still waiting to hear what you think the actual lie is.
Harris has lied about plenty of other things, but this one does appear to be an uncharitable nitpicking of her words. At worst it would be an exaggeration, but I wouldn't even go that far.
ReplyDeleteLegion,
ReplyDeletebut this one does appear to be an uncharitable nitpicking of her words. At worst it would be an exaggeration, but I wouldn't even go that far.
It's apparent that saying she was in "the second class to integrate at Berkeley public schools" is a phrase she intentionally uses.
From a tweet last year:
"Two decades after Brown v. Board, I was only the second class to integrate at Berkeley public schools. Without that decision, I likely would not have become a lawyer and eventually be elected a Senator from California."
So it's not like she misspoke or anything. She intentionally left out "fully" from "fully integrated" and implied that all Berkeley public schools were segragated (none of them were).
Now I know none of us expect politicians to tell us the truth, but if someone on this forum tried something like that I would certainly challenge them. If someone not following "the narrative" tried a similar "shading of the truth" there would be msm headlines pointing it out. My point is that the msm is biased and will not challenge her. That's why I assume they've picked her as the nominee. Could be wrong.
Yes, there is a difference, but she was still an early beneficiary of a new official policy. Among the other things she has lied about, this one wouldn't be worth my concern, personally.
ReplyDeleteI'd be concerned if she was actually serious about bringing back bussing, but fortunately she's not.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article to illustrate my main point about the bias.
ReplyDeleteDid Biden lie when he stated:
"I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education."
He's rated "Mostly False" while Harris is rated "Mostly True".
IHMO if you're gonna let Harris off, you have to let Biden off also and vice versa.
"I have become convinced that busing is a bankrupt concept that, in fact, does not bear any of the fruit for which it was designed," Biden said. "If anything, it obfuscates the real issue today which is whether or not there is equal opportunity within the educational field for all people within the United States."
ReplyDeleteI don't see in that any hint of a position of supporting local busing but not federal busing.
Still waiting to hear what Harris said that was false.