ewen21

This is why they need to focus on policy. They've thrown out healthcare as a basic human right and different variations on a new green deal. That all sounds nice, but they have yet to articulate how these plans will actually work. In doing that, they've alienated a lot of Americans. THIS is what they desperately need to turn their focus to. ....Instead they keep stepping on the same rake and right now Trump is just toying with them. If I'm you I am hoping some new candidate emerges out of the blue because this field is an atrocity. None of these candidates has what it takes

My wife and I actually met Bernie Sanders last Sunday in Burlington, VT. Being an upstate NY guy I've rolled through that town but my wife and I spent several days there kayaking, biking, shopping on Church St Market.... Guess who popped into Uncommon Grounds (a coffee shop) last Sunday morning? My wife spoke to him briefly and I took a picture of them. Bernie is a gracious guy; funny and engaging. He's not my kind of politician but he seems to have his heart in the right place. By the way, he was wearing his Sunday best and he had a young aid with him. They sat down on a bench right on Church St. He is very much the man about town there.

What is your platform, sir? I'm not exactly sure, but Trump is a racist. Vote for me. Right. This is precisely what should be avoided. This makes the democrats a one-trick pony. Combating Trump's "racism" with emotional rhetoric won't win them an election. They need to focus on ideas and how those ideas are supposed to work.

Sorry for the typos and errors. I have bad vision, I'm using my phone and I'm on vacation. I try to clean it up later

I engage in some heated discussions here, but that stuff completely confined to this forum. It doesn't bleed into my world because it can't. Much of me is like Craig whether anyone can believe it. I constantly question myself on the topic of race and have for great long while. Things have shifted over the last ten years or so, however. Unfortunately racism has become a hollow charge in a lot of cases and that's only because people are finding racism in EVERYTHING. The insinuation fronted up by AOC that ICE workers at the border are carying some kind of racist agenda is utterly absurd to me. For starters, a great many of those workers are of Hispanic descent for starters. The other thing is they cannot accomodate the mass of humanity at the border. How is it their fault? The broad charges of racial insensitivity bothers me. Worse still, when charges are made by people of color congress it becomes an impossible discussion and it's a damn shame. Another thing that bothers me is that a person like Craig (who has consciously and thoughtfully) tried his entire adult life to not do anything perceived as even remotely racist can be labeled as such and forced into a defensive posture by any accuser. His response is limited to "what can I do better?" My answer for Craig there would be "nothing" He already is earnestly trying so what more is he supposed to do if it's assumed white people have no idea what racism is? The assumption that whites aren't even aware of their own racism asserts hope is futile. Is there a point where a guy like Craig ever will see the evils that lurk inside of him or does being white doom you to ignorance on the topic of race? I don't believe that and when I see accusations of "racism" thrown around in a cavalier manner I'm going to question it. I understand that stance is appalling to some people reading this and it is why we need to have a conversation. I appreciate Craig's input and I totally feel what he's saying. I just don't think he needs to go into default mode since he's already doing all he can. If anyone here thinks he's capable of racism then I need to hear how that notion was acquired. I do want to have a conversation, but then I haven't set the terms on how it's going to happen here. I appreciate the mods for not silencing me even if most can't agree with me a lot of the time in this forum.

I was born in 1966 so my generation followed yours. One think I learned from your generation was to question authority. That was huge with your generation. I see here you assume a guilty stance when some calls you a racist even though you do everything in your power to not lean that way ever. I've not ever been called one outside of here and I don't have to take it. I can question it because the term RACIST is used quite liberally here. Wherever the accusation is made its automatically supported. I don't understand this. This dogma you've adopted assumes that the claim is 100% valid 100% of the time. You've stopped questioning things and you've compromised your principles. Since when did this become the case anywhere else but on this topic? I can call you a racist for humming "Camptown Races" and you'd just assume that you are if this claim were made by a brown person? I'm sorry. I understand that people can do things that are unwittingly insensitive, but as with anything it can be taken too far. You don't acknowledge that at all?

Asking Craig to actually speak up is further proof that I would like to have a conversation. He's done very little but quote other people, toss out articles and post memes. I wanted to see him actually form a thought because he had not for quite some time. I see that he has responded and good for him. As far as me saying "using the term racist is totally unwarranted" I've never once said that unless we are talking about a singular instance. I would never say that in general, but I would say it in response to a silly claim. And we can take Trump out of the equation when it comes to Ilhan Onar. Her quotes/Tweets/interviews regarding 9-11, Al Qaeda and Isreal are what they are with or without Donald Trump.

I'm interested to hear Craig comment (in his own words) about my post on Ilhan Omar.

I don't care if she's the CEO of Amazon or stocks shelves at Target. She's the one who said "some people did something" on 9-11, she made those bizarre comments on that video about Al Qaeda and it isn't limited to just that. She half-heatedly defends Al Qaeda and talks junk about Israel. This "taken out of context" stuff doesn't wash. She's on record When it comes to 9-11 I am the wrong guy to talk to. I was teaching in a NY public school abut 75 miles from Ground Zero when it happened. I personally know (knew) people who lost loved ones. i don't want to hear her or anyone else brush off what happened and act like people who were affected by it are intolerant because they don't like Al Qaeda. If she keeps talking she might help Trump take New York

Not trying to be melodramatic. I've actually made this mistake a lot

2001. Forgive me for confusing it with the year my dad passed away. It's a thing for me. Maybe I'm not over it yet.

She didn't take college courses AT ALL until she was in her mid 20s? That is minutiae in this discussion. Who really cares? Although this bit of information makes me wonder even more about her academic background. She graduated high school in 2000 and it took her 11 years to earn a batchelors degree. Not impressive. As far as "context" goes I got all I need. Her explanation is nonsense to me. I need to go no further than the fact that she can't conceptualize her professor saying Al Qaeda the way he did as compared to how he says The Army. She also chuckled and smiled quite bit while talking about it.

In the first ten seconds she was laughing about how her professor REACTED when he mention Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. She did it again almost a minute in and stated that the words England, America and the Army didn't get the same treatment. As far as her explanation for this goes it's irrelevant. As far as when this occurred I was not talking about the interview. Clearly that wasn't going to happen when she was a college student. I was (and she was) talking about when she was in college. She was 19 for the first semester of 2000 and that is when 9-11 happened. You have a habit of completely misunderstanding what's being said and then reinventing it. Please stop that or maybe instead ask for clarification.

I never said she diminished the military in any way, but her comments on the professor talking about Al Qaeda were made when she was in college. She was born in 1982 which means she wondered this close to the time 9/11 occurred. To wonder why Al Qaeda and the US Military illicited different feelings is shamefully ignorant. Maybe you don't feel that way but a rather large majority of Americans felt the same way about Al Qaeda as her professor. So nothing is misconstrued about what she said:

Thanks for your response. Much the same as you I seek opposing views to challenge my positions. On Ilhan Omar and AOC there isn't anything that could reverse my opinion at this point. Being that criticisms here are openly given in great volume I feel obliged to do the same. When I do I'm always reminded that I'm not wanted and I'm OK with that

It was a stand alone statement. It was simpy my stance on the Democratic Party as it is today. A number of posters gave their own interpretation of the Republican Party and I figured the door was open for me since no one felt the need to measure tone there. I don't see where the tone of my post was any more severe or accusatory as the some of the ones I saw. The bar had been set. I think AOC and Omar are borderline psychotic and if they both left congress today I'd love it. Omar is the one who couldn't understand why the US Army and Al Quiada are viewed differently by the American public. AOC is a freshman who is now going after her own party leader Nancy Pelosi. This business about "The Squad" is a joke. Is there no room for anyone to rip these jackasses? It's just a one way street, I suppose. Had I trashed the Republicans with even stronger words I never would have been called out. I don't know your story and you don't know mine (unless you've been lurking for the last four months). If you don't like my tone, but agree with what I'm saying in your heart of hearts, what are we actually talking about here? If you think these two freshman congresswomen are exceptional and worthy of praise then go on and give me your analysis. I'll read it I'm on vacation right now and quite frankly I'm not as motivated to carry on with you guys like I was starting in March all the way into early June. I'm having too much fun right now to roll in the mud here. I'll be back in September. Wait for it

No, you are wrong. I wouldn't mind if Omar took a hike though.

I've grown to distrust Washington democrats because they are all about their rhetoric. They have become a party that fronts up "race and gender inequalities" and it's nothing but patronizing baloney. They won't solve those issues in a million years. Any bankrupt ghettoized city in the US was been run by democrats forever. I find it refreshing when I see black conservatives dismantling democratic BS talking points. They've been used by the democrats since the 60s and it's good to see a lot of them leaving the democratic plantation. My support of Trump has as much to do with (if not more), my disdain for what I'm seeing from the democrats. Most specifically that coterie of loudmouths known as "the squad"

That comment was allowed to go unchecked.

You sound upset

Don't be ridiculous. Make great catches but learn how to not knock yourself silly. Is that out of the question? It looked to me that on this particular play the ball was at least two feet off the ground when he got to it. A lot of great outfielders I've seen probably would have caught at their knees without diving if they closed in on a ball like that. I heard an oldtimer (forget who he was) say the he never saw Joe DiMaggio dive once. That's a little much, but if you want to encourage reckless play (and he is needlessly reckless at times) then expect him to have a short career. We were up three runs with two outs and nobody on so perhaps he can measure the game and pick and choose when he does something like that Quite frankly, I would much rather him be a better hitter and strive to use his athleticism to make plays without violently throwing his body around. The true greats in the outfield were a lot more graceful. He sometimes looks like he's trying to make plays look more extreme.

Buxton with an outfield accident AGAIN No one should want him to keep on playing this way.

You're post about this being a little much is entirely reasonable.

You're guessing I didn't. That's your downfall. My return did not give me nothing but the same story. Try harder

Google "Antifa Violence" under NEWS then narrow the search to "last year" Hit return. Read. It's that simple really