Here’s a fun experiment you can try out yourself . . .
Pull up a Google search bar and type “does joe biden have dementia.” Of course you know Google has an autocomplete feature to fill in common searches. Here’s what happened when I started to type “does joe biden have dementia”:
According to Google, the top search starting with “does joe biden have” is “does joe biden have a dog”! Are people making decisions about presidential candidates based on whether or not they have a dog?!
Here’s the result when I type in the whole search phrase:
There’s no autocomplete at all! Apparently I’m the only person in the entire universe to enter the search phrase “does joe biden have dementia.”
Now switch search engines. I switched to DuckDuckGo and started typing the same search phrase. Here’s the result:
With DuckDuckGo, I only have to type three letters to get an autocomplete for “does joe biden have dementia”!
I’m not even sure what the right word is for what Google is doing here. “Dishonest” is not strong enough and I don’t think “sinister” is either. Maybe “corrupt” or “malignant.”
They buried that search. And there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the organization who cares or feels safe in saying “That is some bullshit right there and regardless of political persuasion, I’m not going to be part of it.”
A Judge Asked Harvard to Find Out Why So Many Black People Were In Prison. They Could Only Find 1 Answer: Systemic Racism
The author of the article is someone named Michael Harriot, whose bio describes him as a “world-renowned wypipologist.” (Look it up.)
The section that caught my attention was where the author proposes and rejects other explanations for the number of black people in prison. An excerpt:
“White people make up roughly 74% of the Massachusetts population while accounting for 58.7% of cases in our data,” the study explained. “Meanwhile, Black people make up just 6.5% of the Massachusetts population and account for 17.1% of cases.”
Of course, that could only mean that Black people commit much more crime, right?
Nope.
That’s it. No further explanation. No link to relevant data. Just “Nope.”
I added a comment to the article:
“Of course, that could only mean that Black people commit much more crime, right?
Nope.”
According to the FBI statistics, black citizens commit about half the murders in the United States (https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls).
Maybe Harvard could do a study on why there are so many men in prison. Systemic sexism, probably.
My comment went into moderation, from where it quickly disappeared completely. Throw a fact at these fools and you immediately become persona non grata.
Did you suffer at the end
Would there be no one to remember
Did you banish all the old ghosts
With the terms of surrender
And could you hear me calling out your name
Well I guess that I will never know
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were weeping
And your tears poured down like diamonds
For a love beyond all keeping
And you caught them one by one
In a million silk bandannas that I gave you long ago
Michelangelo
We know that people can maintain an unshakable faith in any proposition, however absurd, when they are sustained by a community of like-minded believers.
—Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
When I was younger (we’re all very well-behaved now 🙂 ), I had several friends and family members who had unpleasant run-ins with police, where they were cuffed or arrested or beaten, the common thread being not that they were black (they were all white), but they were all wise-asses who didn’t respect authority and couldn’t find it within themselves to be compliant to a police officer.
One day my 9th-grade gym teacher told us (again, all white boys) to be excessively polite to police officers — yes sir, no sir — have your day in court if it came to that, but better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
In my experience, the narrative that only black citizens have run-ins with cops and have no agency over whether the encounter escalates is quite wrong.
I say this as background to a conversation I had recently with a local lunatic regarding race . . .
“Are you scared of dying every time you get pulled over?” she asked. “And would you, without reservation, be a black person in America right now?”
“Good question . . . my family would be in for quite a shock. A ‘black person in America’ . . . who would I be? Barack Obama? Lebron James?
“There’s a model for being successful in America, even as a member of a marginalized group.
“On the traffic stop, I’ve heard that cops pull over motorists just because they’re black, so I always wonder why they’re pulling me over. But I’m not scared of dying.”
“So your answer is no, whether you realize it or not. And every black American is scared of dying at a traffic stop. Every. Black. American.”
“Why? People of all races are killed at traffic stops.” I knew that introducing a fact would be the knockout blow. “And do you mind if I ask how many black Americans you talked to before reaching that conclusion?”
“I researched it as part of my PhD studies. I’ve seen Chris Rock on Comedians in Cars . . .”
“You did your PhD studies by watching comedy shows on TV?”
“I’ve read at least 7 books on the subject. I listen, I observe. I’ve read and listened to Donald Glover.”
“Aren’t all the people you’ve mentioned still alive? Maybe this ‘dying at traffic stops” thing is not a rational fear.”
“So if you want to say something stupid like ‘People of all races die at traffic stops’ . . . I’m not going to waste my time on white men who don’t want to learn anything.”
“What is your issue with ‘People of all races die at traffic stops’? It’s an indisputable fact that blows up the whole fake narrative. I’m a scientist. I deal with facts and rationality. You deal with anecdotes, emotion, urban legends, some kind of mind-reading trick that allows you to see inside the head of ‘every black American,’ and you assume that if anyone sees the world differently than you do, it’s because they have something to ‘learn.’
“You want to teach me something? How many Americans die annually at traffic stops, broken down by race?”
“I don’t know that. I’d have to look it up.”
“The number is about 100. It breaks down pretty evenly by race: 30 black, 30 white, 30 Hispanic. Only the black deaths make the news, but even without looking case by case at how many had open warrants, how many had weapons in the car, how many resisted arrest, the probability of being killed at a traffic stop is extremely low. It’s not a rational fear. It’s just something that’s pumped up by hustlers in exchange for money and votes from gullible people like you, and to advance an anti-cop agenda.
“I read a while back that about 50 people a year are struck by lightning. Are you scared of being struck by lightning? I’m not. It’s too rare. But it’s almost twice as common as a black motorist being killed at a traffic stop.”
“I can also tell you that about 100 black Americans a year die in swimming pool accidents. Can you peer into the minds of ‘every black American’ and tell me if they live in fear of swimming pools? 100 is still a very small number but it’s a far more common cause of death than traffic stops.
“Maybe we can defund the police and invest in swimming lessons.”
Joe Biden has emerged from his basement to blame President Trump for riots carried out by people who hate President Trump.
Bear in mind that these are liberal groups, rioting in liberal cities, with liberal mayors, and liberal city councils, promoting radical liberal causes, and supported by liberal money.
Amidst sinking poll numbers, Joe, the media and others on the left have pivoted from months of “Violence? What violence?” to “Rioting is terrible but it’s all Trump’s fault.”
The RNC 2020 speaker who’s made the biggest impact on me thus far is Maximo Alvarez, a Florida businessman whose family fled Cuba when he was 13 years old. Here’s an excerpt:
I heard the promises of Fidel Castro. And I can never forget all those who grew up around me, who looked like me, who could have been me, who suffered and starved and died because they believed those empty promises. . . .
Those false promises — spread the wealth, free education, free healthcare, defund the police, trust a socialist state more than your family and community — they don’t sound radical to my ears. They sound familiar. . . .
But the country I was born in is gone – destroyed.
I may be Cuban born, but I am 100-percent American. This is the greatest country in the world. I said this before. If I gave away everything I have today, it would not equal 1 percent of what I was given when I came to this great country of ours: The gift of Freedom.
Many Americans now seem quite glib and sanguine about socialism, free this, free that, sharing all the good things of the land, etc. — but when you talk to someone who’s actually lived in a socialist country, they tell you that they couldn’t wait to get out.
Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and former resident of the Soviet Union, contributed the following tweet to a discussion of socialism several years ago:
Sorry, but I'm from a place where everything was "shared equally" and it wasn't as nice as some of you seem to think it would be.
[And That’s the Truth is a feature by our guest blogger, Sojourner Truth– PE]
I seen the Jacob Blake video from two or three different angles. From what I can tell, a neighbor called police, told them Blake shouldn’t be there, he took someone’s keys and wouldn’t give em back.
One officer showed up, called for another officer, they called for more officers. They tried to arrest Blake, he wasn’t gonna have it. [Editor’s Note: Mr. Blake had an active arrest warrant related to charges of third-degree sexual assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct, in connection with domestic abuse.]
They tasered him, tried to physically subdue him, he gets up, walks around his car, opens the driver-side door and leans inside.
What’s he got inside the car? I don’t know but I don’t aim to find out by having him pick it up and kill me with it.
I got another video for you. It’s pretty similar. Guy resisting arrest, gets tasered, physically subdued . . . the cops can’t get him into a position to get cuffs on him. Then they let him walk around his car, lean in the driver side, he pulls out a gun and starts shooting, then drives off.
— Trina ????????#KAG #BackTheBlue (@trinareyes) June 17, 2020
And that’s why I ain’t lettin Blake get into that car. I’m sorry but I don’t care how many people take a knee, if one of us is gotta be killed then I prefer that it be him. His kids was in that car! What was his plan? Get in the car and speed off? That ain’t a good plan! He’s a danger to hisself, to those kids and everyone in the community.
I’ve heard black parents say they teach their boys to fear the cops. If they asked me, I’d say teach em not to abuse women, not to sexually assault women, not to resist arrest, have your day in court. Teach em it’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
On this date, Aug. 24, in the year 79 A.D., an estimated 20,000 people died when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash.
Surprising! Normally as a Democrat you really have to go off the rails to motivate a media organization to fact-check you.
“Trump used facilities that were built during the Obama-Biden administration to house children at the border. They are chain-link enclosures inside border facilities where migrants were temporarily housed, separated by sex and age,” AP fact-checkers said.
It noted that photos of children in housing centers that were circulated by Democratic officials online to criticize Trump were actually taken in 2014.
These pictures actually “depicted some of the thousands of unaccompanied children held by President Barack Obama,” AP said.
The “ripping migrant children from their parents and throwing them into cages” distortion was the most urgent issue in the world right up till the day everyone forgot about it, so why the AP is fact-checking it at this late date I do not know, but better late than never I guess . . .
An ad comes on the radio for a lawyer offering to sue the Boy Scouts on behalf of anyone molested by a scout leader . . .
“I was in the scouts. I wasn’t molested though. Or maybe I was molested so traumatically that I’ve blocked it out of my mind. What was that guy’s number again?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I like to ‘Be Prepared’ for financial opportunities.”
I have a sense that Joe Biden is already dead and the Dems are trying to pull off a Weekend at Bernie’s scenario . . . just keep moving him around from place to place and propping him up . . .
Portland mayor says protesters are ‘attempting to commit murder’ and helping Trump’s reelection campaign — Los Angeles Times
I’m not sure how those two things go together but look, Mr. Mayor (is this the “Summer of Love” mayor or is that in Seattle?), you’re not going out on a limb by taking a stand against murder. Pretty much everyone is opposed to murder.
But if you’d enforced at some point over the last couple months the laws against lesser offenses like assault, theft and destruction of property, the state of affairs in your city wouldn’t have deteriorated to this point.
You now look like a fool saying “Someone should do something about this!” Like who, the mayor?
What percentage of Americans get more pleasure from calling someone a racist than from having an orgasm? I’ll estimate 35 but I feel like that may be low . . .
