Thursday Open Thread

Posted on August 3, 2017 by rikyrah

The Axes of American Politics
Seven Ideologies Underpinning Today’s Politics

It is a fact universally acknowledged that every time a member of a political party is criticized by members of their own party, the Internet will get very excited and angry. Don’t they understand that this threatens their own party’s future? some yell, while Don’t they understand that this person is betraying the party? is yelled back — and quickly things escalate and lead to long-simmering grudges which may at first seem odd.

Today, I want to divide up American politics not along the axis of Red and Blue, or of any of the popular variations on that, but to try something a little more extreme: to chop up American politics into a collection of basic ideologies that shape people’s political lives, and then see how ideas like “political party” sit uncomfortably on top of them — as they must, because people’s ideas change much more rapidly than large organizations ever could.

SNIP:

Seven Groups

To begin with, I’m going to draw a diagram of my best guess of how to describe the major political ideas running around in the US today. These groups are far from mutually exclusive, and we’ll end up seeing how their overlaps can be very important. The picture also isn’t drawn to scale; it would be very hard to estimate head counts for any of these, further than to guess that the smallest of these groups probably represents well over ten million people, and the largest well over a hundred million.
I will freely admit that many of the details below may be wrong, and yet I think that understanding them (and critiquing them) can help understand what’s really happening in our country today.

This entry was posted in Culture, Current Events, Economy, Education, Human Rights, Media, News, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

64 Responses to Thursday Open Thread

  1. eliihass says:
    August 3, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    Herman Cain has literally (physically) morphed into Stephen (Django unchained) … it was only a matter of time before words and actions matched up with appearance..

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BXWJxJbgfz5/

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 5:20 pm

    “Sanders Democrats” Don’t Own the Left
    Posted by Melissa McEwan at Thursday, August 03, 2017
    [Content Note: Racism; misogyny; rape culture.]

    It is not yet 9 months since the last presidential election, and already people are talking about the next one. While I understand the desire to think about the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, at this point we don’t need to be talking about candidates for 2020 before we’ve ensured that we’ll still have free and fair elections. Who’s running doesn’t matter if the election itself is corrupted by foreign influence, voter suppression, and voting machine hacking.

    Nonetheless, people are talking about who they want to run against Trump — and one of the people frequently mentioned is California Senator Kamala Harris. Who used to routinely make the lists of “Women We’d Vote for Who Aren’t Hillary Clinton, to Prove We’re Not Misogynists,” but now is suddenly also insufficiently progressive.

    …………………………….

    The optics here are not good — especially given the attacks on Hillary Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, and even Elizabeth Warren just for endorsing Clinton during the last cycle.

    Cooper assures us that racism and misogyny play no role, and that to assert they do is just a cynical attempt by centrists “to win dirty.” But if racism and misogyny play no role, then why is it only men of color and women who come up for this sort of scrutiny?

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      August 3, 2017 at 5:30 pm

      Here is my reply:

      excellent post. thank you.

      Black people are just not against Black people earning money.

      I hear that Deval Patrick works at Bain….and, I shrug.

      Man went to Harvard and Harvard Law School..was a Governor…
      He’s SUPPOSED to get a hook up like that….

      Black people grew up where, more than likely when they went to visit Grandmama’s House, she had three pictures on her wall…

      FDR, JFK and Jesus

      Two White men from WEALTHY backgrounds.
      During the 1960’s, MLK was added to the wall.

      Go to Grandmama’s house today, and there will be a framed picture of Barack and Michelle Obama in with the family photos.

      You think anyone Black gives two shyts that 44 gets 400k per speech?

      Nope.

      Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 4:59 pm

    Procter & Gamble Release an Ad About ‘the Talk,’ and White People Respond With the Wettest, Saltiest, Stupidest White Tears Ever
    Damon Young
    Today 9:00am

    What is “the talk”?

    The talk is literally a talk many black parents have with their children to inform them of the dangers of “existing while black” and the myriad things out there actively trying to kill us.

    You mean like cancer, global warming and hypertension?

    Well, those. And racism. And the police. And America. And Darth Beckys, Darth Susans and Darth Chads. And mysterious casseroles left on tables at company potlucks. And really shitty barbers. And Ray Lewis.

    Ah, I see. Did your parents ever have the talk with you?

    No. They just made me watch Do the Right Thing and read the Farmers’ Almanac. (It had the desired effect.)
    So, the talk might not actually be a singular talk but a series of lessons teaching a young black person how to navigate America?

    I guess you can say that. Think of the talk as a “How to Survive Whiteness” syllabus, with extensive lessons ranging from “racial profiling” to “awkward seasoning.” Sometimes it’s spread over a semester. And sometimes it’s an accelerated weekend course.

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    LOL

    The World’s 10 Greatest Enunciating-Ass Negroes, Ranked
    Damon Young, 8/3/17

    10. Pusha T

    No one has ever made crack speak so crisp. You listen to him say “Arm & Hammer and a Mason jar, that’s my dinner date” and you want to diagram a sentence.

    9. Tika Sumpter

    Perhaps the world’s most underrated enunciator. She’s the Paul Millsap of enunciation.

    8. Phylicia Rashad

    I heard her speak on a panel at the August Wilson Center for African American culture once, and every word she spoke sounded like money. Like, she’d say “May I have a pretzel, please?” and I’d hear “there’s 50 years of training and 30 million dollars behind this vowel sound.”

    7. Mike Colter

    Enunciates on screen like someone who thinks they’re doing a voiceover and hasn’t yet realized we can see him too.

    6. Michelle Obama

    When they go low, we pronounce every damn letter in “high.”

    5. Viola Davis

    Has perfected the enunciation of shame. She can enunciate a word and make you reevaluate your life and question your entire reason for living. When she enunciates, niggas find God.

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 4:14 pm

    I Understand Why The DETROIT Movie Was Made, But I Can’t Recommend That You See It
    Dustin Seibert, 7/28/17

    Despite living away from my native Detroit for nearly a decade and a half, I stay connected to the city through frequent visits to my immediate family and through friends on social media. As of late, I’ve heard quite a few mixed-to-negative feelings about the upcoming DETROIT film from native Detroiters, so my first goal when touching down at Detroit Metro Airport on a paid press junket for the film was to figure out why so many people are taking umbrage.

    The very first person I asked was the Lyft driver – a brother just a few years older than me – who took me from the airport to my hotel. He was concerned that DETROIT – a film centered around the racially motivated five-day rebellion in July 1967 that resulted in more than 40 deaths and thousands of destroyed buildings – might disrupt relations between native black folks and the city’s “new” white people, who are ostensibly at the helm of the city’s “revival” that people have been waiting for since I was pushing a big wheel.

    On the driver’s behalf, I asked DETROIT screenwriter Mark Boal during a press conference with the cast and creators of the film if he and director Kathryn Bigelow had given thought to how such an inherently incendiary film would be received by an increasingly gentrifying Detroit. He admitted that he doesn’t know much about the Detroit of 2017, reinforcing that the story itself needed to be told. “A lot of people from [Detroit] don’t know the story even if they grew up here,” he said. “If that’s true in Detroit, it’s certainly true elsewhere.”

    As I wait with bated breath for the movie’s Aug. 4 wide release so everyone can see and discuss it, I’ve zero doubt that DETROIT will anger many – especially black folks – for what will likely be several different reasons. In the film, the ’67 rebellion serves as a backdrop for the so-called Algiers Motel incident, where three black boys were killed, and seven black males and two white women were brutalized in one night by white officers from the Detroit and Michigan State police departments, as well as the Michigan Army National Guard.

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    HERE’S THE THING..

    Get the muthaphuckin’ votes to vote her OUT.

    Until then….

    You’re just whining bytch azzes that need to sit down and STFU.

    …………………………

    Democrats Begin to See Pelosi as a 2018 Problem
    August 3, 2017 at 2:56 pm EDT

    McClatchy: “In a survey of 20 Democratic House candidates, only one – a former Senate staffer from Orange County, California – would state support for the congresswoman staying on as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Of the rest, 18 declined to say if Pelosi should keep her job, while one, a political newcomer from a culturally conservative Ohio district, said he would vote for someone other than Pelosi.”

    “Their refusal is a remarkable development for an already embattled minority leader. But even more significant are the implications that their refusal carries for next year’s midterm elections.”

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article165213507.html

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      August 3, 2017 at 3:42 pm

      Nancy SMASH ain’t going nowhere. Dems are COWARDS

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        August 3, 2017 at 9:03 pm

        Dems always find ways to shoot themselves in the foot….always messing things up and completely blowing it…

        I have issues with so many of these high-profile Dems …only compounded by my fury at their disrespect and mistreatment of my historic first black FLOTUS …

        But, Nancy Pelosi is the least of the Democratic party’s problems at this time… Dems need to stop running around like headless chickens…seriously need to quit taking their cues from right-wing folks and their targeted, devious, agenda-driven talking points..

        For politicians, most of them sure do suck…How is it that they still haven’t figured out how to do the most basic of political things…passing the baton while keeping the peace and keeping the old brigade still feeling valued, respected and still very much part of the team…

        There are infinitely more sensible ways of deftly navigating the tricky mission of gently easing out longterm folks and easing in the next crop of leadership if that is what is indeed needed….without creating discord, permanent divisions and irreversible bad blood …and permanently alienating folks with pertinent institutional knowledge…folks who in many ways still bring relevant and indispensable skills and insight and can and need to be able to still contribute long after they relinquish their formal titles…help mentor, advice, strategize, shape and guide..

        Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    Thread…..

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA

    https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/892756297464107008

    Reply
  18. Ametia says:
    August 3, 2017 at 3:25 pm

    BREAKING NEWS: Special Counsel Robert Mueller impanels grand jury in Russia investigation

    Posted on August 3, 2017 by Ametia
    https://3chicspolitico.com/2017/08/03/breaking-news-special-counsel-robert-mueller-impanels-grand-jury-in-russia-investigation/

    Reply
  20. Ametia says:
    August 3, 2017 at 2:49 pm

    RUSSIA HAS TRUMP’S BALLS IN A VICE GRIP

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 3, 2017 at 9:21 pm

      Tragic how the lure and allure of corrupt wealth and power can negatively alter the ways and character of a previously half way decent and once promising fella like Medvedev..

      I remember how he and his wife seemed to earnestly like and connect with the Obamas…

      Now he’s reduced to taunting and spinning on Vlad’s behalf…just to stay in favor and remain in the manufactured power scheme and shuffle…And most importantly, keep his new-found wealth…grand country homes, vineyards in the South of France et al..and all on a skivvy government salary…

      Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    Thirty years after becoming rap’s first sex symbol, LL Cool J will be the first hip-hop artist to receive Kennedy Center Honors in its 40-year history.

    The rapper-turned-actor born James Todd Smith will be inducted with a prestigious 2017 class — including pop stars Gloria Estefan, Lionel Richie, television icon Norman Lear and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade – on Sunday, Dec. 3 at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 3, 2017 at 9:30 pm

      Can’t believe Norman Lear is ok getting his Kennedy center awards with the buffoon pretend thing…

      I’d be curious to see how Mr Lear handles this..

      The others I’m hardly surprised about…they are run of the mill fickle folks who will do just about anything for fake-glory …with just about any ‘president’ in place…impostor, treasonous etc…

      But Mr Lear …I’m surprised he accepted this award this go-around under this treasonous impostor…

      Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    as was reminded on another blog..

    BLACK PEOPLE – YOU CANNOT DO THIS….

    Couples Are Having Open Marijuana Bars At Their Weddings And People Are Into It

    High on love.
    Posted on August 2, 2017, at 7:51 p.m.

    Serving weed at weddings is a thing now and I’m getting high just thinking about it.

    Earlier this week, Bloomberg tweeted an article talking about how weed weddings are becoming very popular.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristatorres/couples-are-having-open-marijuana-bars-at-their-weddings?bftw&utm_term=.weX70mlrAG#.pdV5OB8er9

    Reply
  30. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 3, 2017 at 11:37 am

    The “Buy Black Movement” convention will be in Atlanta, GA on August 25 through August 27.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGRnmkBVwAAcHvY.jpg

    Excerpt from this page link: https://www.buyblackmovement.com/Events/Details/index.cfm?Event_ID=24774
    Excerpt:

    The Buy Black Movement is changing the world! Over 61,000 Black people have joined from 149 countries around the world. We have sold over 98,000 Black-made products and services to Black consumers so far, recycling millions of dollars back into the Black community, making this the fastest growing and most successful movement of our type in the world today. Experience the MAGIC of TAG TEAM Marketing and our Buy Black Movement in person,… and you will never be the same! …

    Learn all about the Buy Black Movement and it’s many amazing programs and opportunities. Hear powerful presentations from powerful Buy Black Movement leaders from around the world. Be the first to hear all of the incredible news, tremendous announcements, and exciting future plans! …

    Shop for top-quality, Black-made products and services at the convention. Meet many of the amazing Suppliers (Black business owners) in our Black Business Network program who will be in attending and vending during the weekend. Be the first to see many of the new products they will be launcing at the convention.

    Here is the movement’s home page:
    https://www.buyblackmovement.com/Home/

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      August 3, 2017 at 11:41 am

      Excerpt from article linked in above tweet:

      Roger Chenault, of Millersville, was arrested last week on charges of ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats, simple assault and reckless driving, reported Lancaster Online…

      He’s scheduled to appear in court next week.

      Reply
  37. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 3, 2017 at 9:29 am

    Video Miriam Makeba – Khawuleza 1966

    Published on Sep 3, 2006
    South African singer and political activist Miriam Makeba sings Khawuleza on a Swedish TV show from 1966/67. This song features on the album AN EVENING WITH BELAFONTE/MAKEBA, which won them both a Grammy Award in 1966. Miriam Makeba sadly passed away in November 2008.

    https://youtu.be/V74f9eIi9c0&rel=0

    Video Miriam Makeba – “Pata Pata”

    Reply
  38. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 3, 2017 at 9:17 am

    I love this beautiful painting by contemporary artist Jerome T. White:

    http://luvthatart.com/images/Kissed%20by%20a%20painted%20lady-full.jpg

    Reply
  39. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 3, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Important article:

    Ala. legislators won’t compensate innocent man for 30 years on death row. Instead, they want to speed up executions.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/08/02/ala-legislators-wont-compensate-innocent-man-for-30-years-on-death-row-instead-they-want-to-speed-up-executions/?utm_term=.678941c1b73f
    Excerpt:

    Reply
  40. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 3, 2017 at 8:59 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Jesse Owens won the first of his four Olympic gold medals by winning the 100 meters on this day, August 3, in 1936.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Jesse_Owens3.jpg

    Here is the video of Jesse Owens winning the 100m gold medal:
    https://youtu.be/PRkeahelZHM&rel=0

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    August 3, 2017 at 7:38 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄 😄

    Reply
  42. Ametia says:
    August 3, 2017 at 7:38 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Reply

Leave a Reply