The Price Democracy Exacts
for Ignorance
Posted By: Garnet, 5/3/2021 6:11:14 AM
In an 1816 letter to his friend Charles Yancey, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information.” Jefferson was making the case for taxpayer-funded public schools. He believed an educated electorate with access to a free press would be proof against the government’s inclination to encroach upon our liberties. One wonders if he would take such a sanguine view after witnessing what passes for education and news reporting today.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Garnet"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
Garnet"
The Price Democracy Exacts
for Ignorance 4 replies
for Ignorance 4 replies
In an 1816 letter to his friend Charles Yancey, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information.” Jefferson was making the case for taxpayer-funded public schools. He believed an educated electorate with access to a free press would be proof against the government’s inclination to encroach upon our liberties. One wonders if he would take such a sanguine view after witnessing what passes for education and news reporting today.
As President Joe Biden approaches 100 days in office, his job approval ratings hover just above 50%, placing him behind almost all of his recent predecessors at the milestone traditionally marking the end of the beginning of U.S. presidential administrations.
"The fact he's only in the low 50s right now is a really bad sign for Joe Biden," says pollster John McLaughlin.
Three months into the job and preparing to make his first address to a joint session of Congress, Biden is polling lower than any modern U.S. president at the same stage, except Gerald Ford and Donald Trump. Ford's early numbers were weighed down by his pardon
One is a low-key former astronaut who preaches moderation and collaboration. The other is a progressive pastor willing to kill the filibuster to pass a landmark voting rights bill.
Mark Kelly and Raphael Warnock don’t have much in common and approach their first jobs in politics from dramatically different perspectives. But together the two Democratic senators are the bellwethers for the durability of Chuck Schumer’s majority — and much of President Joe Biden's agenda.That's because while most Republicans are buoyed by the thought of a national anti-Biden wave next fall, Democrats are pouring money into the economy and betting that vaccinations allow American life to recover
President Biden will address a joint session of Congress Wednesday night and give Americans an update on the state of the union as he approaches his 100th day in office.
He will tout the $1.9 trillion COVID bill he signed – of which only 9% goes to actual COVID relief. He will also trumpet his $2 trillion infrastructure plan that would do very little to improve America’s infrastructure. And it’s been reported that he’ll propose an "American Families Plan" that is likely to cost over a trillion dollars, as well as a huge tax increase that would take more out of the pockets of hardworking Americans
Shh — The Media Doesn’t Seem
To Want You To Know COVID-19
Cases Are Plummeting Nationally 12 replies
To Want You To Know COVID-19
Cases Are Plummeting Nationally 12 replies
Exactly four weeks ago, CDC director Rochelle Walensky and President Joe Biden said they felt a sense of “impending doom” about a forthcoming wave of COVID-19 cases.
When Walensky made that statement on March 29, the national 7-day average in new COVID-19 cases was 62,515 and modestly rising. Today, it’s 54,405 and falling. Biden and his CDC director feared the worst and appear to be incorrect about a second wave.
Case numbers trended upward in late March and early April, but the 7-day average has now declined for 12 of the last 13 days and is back to mid-March levels.
Portland’s Pusillanimous Mayor
9 replies
In August 2020, then-President Donald Trump offered to assist the Democratic mayor of Portland, Oregon, in putting down the nightly riots that had ravaged his city for more than 90 days. Given this choice between ending the systematic violence and arson that was wreaking havoc throughout his city and publicly signaling his virtue, Mayor Ted Wheeler chose the latter. While the residents of Portland hid in their homes to avoid the violence, he responded to Trump’s offer with a sanctimonious letter that included this delusional passage: “No thanks. We don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery.” A week later, Portland police declared a riot and arrested 59 people.
Gretchen Whitmer’s Crumbling Kingdom
15 replies
Last Christmas, Governor Gretchen Whitmer released one of the wildest, most mind-warping videos I’ve ever seen. It begins with her shouting, “Thank you for joining us!!” over a Zoom call, before introducing none other than Santa Claus. Several scripted and possibly terrified children then prompt Santa to talk about how he wears a mask at the North Pole and uses hand sanitizer before eating cookies, all while Whitmer hovers imperiously in the corner like some yuletide Big Brother. The video ends with her gently informing the tykes that this year they won’t be able to visit their grandparents for the holidays.
The risk of contracting COVID-19 indoors is the same when socially distanced 6 feet apart and 60 feet apart, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America earlier this month, argues that there isn’t much benefit to distancing 6 feet apart.
Ideas about coronavirus transmission have changed since the beginning of the pandemic. At the start of the global outbreak, scientists and medical professional believed that hand-washing after touching surfaces was the leading cause of transmission. Experts now say the virus is transmitted through droplets released when people talk, sneeze and cough.
Why Chauvin Verdict
Disappointed Democrats 15 replies
Disappointed Democrats 15 replies
Tuesday afternoon the Democrats and the Left at large got exactly what they said they wanted from the trial of Derek Chauvin. The jury found him guilty of all three counts — second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter — with which he had been charged in the death of George Floyd. Yet prominent Democrats who commented on the verdict seemed slightly bewildered and disappointed. Their collective response was captured in this statement from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison: “I would not call today’s verdict justice, because justice implies restoration.” This is an odd assertion coming from the man who orchestrated Chauvin’s prosecution and secured an unequivocal conviction.
Where life is normal
7 replies
Left-wing magazine Slate took the stunning and brave step Saturday of publishing an article outlining the case for no longer wearing masks outside.
‘As we’ve come to know more about the virus, as vaccinations are ramping up, and as we’re trying to figure out how to live with some level of COVID in a sustainable way, masking up outside when you’re at most briefly crossing paths with people is starting to feel barely understandable,’ the author reasoned.
Mask enthusiasts melted down in response, insisting that Slate‘s article was ‘irresponsible‘, ‘going to get people killed‘ and ‘misleading‘. Others celebrated the article as ‘a good sign of progress‘. A Harvard infectious disease specialist asserted,
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff may have been a source for media reports last year that hyped intelligence about how the Russian government had offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill U.S. troops, according to a Republican lawmaker.
Sen. Tom Cotton told Lisa Boothe on her podcast, The Truth with Lisa Boothe, that the leaks were "probably as likely" to have come from Democrats in Congress as the U.S. intelligence community and specifically name-dropped Schiff, a California Democrat.
The Arkansas Republican was reacting to the White House saying last week the U.S. intelligence community had only “low to moderate confidence” in intelligence
Clint Eastwood, We Need You
11 replies
Our streets are now so unsafe that it might be helpful to rewatch Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films. They can remind us of an earlier period in the 1960s and 1970s when crime was widespread, liberal judges were putting criminals back on the streets and the entire justice system was anti-cop and pro-criminal.In the middle of a wave of violence that left everyday Americans feeling both threatened and vulnerable, along came a series of movies that captured the desire for law and order.The first and most famous of these was 1971's Dirty Harry, starring Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan of San Francisco.
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Former President George W. Bush suggested the Republican Party needed to reach out to a more diverse coalition of voters if it wanted to come back into power. 'If you Republican Party stands for exclusivity—you know, it used to be country clubs, now evidently it's white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism—then it's not going to win anything,' Bush said in an interview with The Dispatch podcast last week.(Snip) 'My whole point on all this immigration debate and stuff is, I think if we valued life as precious and every life matters, that we’re all God’s children, that all of a sudden the tone
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates—who is worth an estimated $130 billion — and his wife, Melinda, are getting a divorce after 27 years of marriage, the couple announced Monday in a joint statement. “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” a statement from the billionaire philanthropist couple, tweeted from both of their personal Twitter accounts at 4:30 p.m. EST, reads.
“Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people
Washington The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the government's ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over surveillance of US citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security is limited in how it can monitor citizens online without justification and is banned from activities like assuming false identities to gain access to private messaging apps used by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. Instead, federal authorities can only browse through unprotected information
New York–A Brooklyn woman is facing charges after allegedly attacking an attendant during a flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport from Miami. According to authorities, it happened Sunday midway through the flight. Officials said Chenasia Campbell, a passenger, went to the crew area of the plane and yelled at a flight attendant for not picking up her garbage. When another flight attendant tried to separate the two, Campbell allegedly began pummeling her and pulling her hair. Campbell then went back to the passenger area, but returned to the crew area after getting into an argument with another passenger, authorities said. Officials say Campbell was yelling
When will the United States reach herd immunity to COVID-19? Experts now say it might not — but that doesn't mean the virus has to remain a "society disrupter." That's according to a new report in The New York Times, which says there is now a "widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts" that in the U.S., the "herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever." (Snip) These experts think that COVID-19 may continue circulating in the United States for years, the Times reports, but that vaccines can help turn it
'Squad' Rep. Cori Bush Calls America 'Racist
AF' After She Backs Defunding St. Louis Police 36 replies
AF' After She Backs Defunding St. Louis Police 36 replies
Democratic Missouri Representative Cori Bush, a member of the progressive "Squad," on Sunday called America "racist AF," after she backed defunding the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. "Our communities wouldn't have needed to spark a national movement to save Black lives if America weren't racist AF," Bush tweeted Sunday afternoon. The congresswoman's remarks come two days after she praised a "historic" vote to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. (Snip) St. Louis is ranked by Neighborhood Scout as one of the country's most dangerous cities. Between 2009 and 2019, at least 179 people were killed by local police or
The Environmental Protection Agency is set to issue wide-reaching regulations on Monday to curb the use and production of greenhouse gases from the refrigeration and air conditioning industries. The new regulations will target the production and importation of hydrofluorocarbons—commonly known as HFCs. The chemical compound was first developed in the 1980s to replace more harmful greenhouse gasses that depleted the earth’s ozone layer. EPA Administrator Michael Regan will propose that U.S. will curb HFCs emissions 85% by 2035. “With this proposal, EPA is taking another significant step under President Biden’s ambitious agenda to address the climate crisis,” Mr. Regan said. “The phasedown of HFCs
Failed Texas Democrat Candidate Sounds Alarm:
2022 ‘Could Be Major Setback’ for Democrats 34 replies
2022 ‘Could Be Major Setback’ for Democrats 34 replies
Failed special election Democrat candidate Jana Lynne Sanchez has sounded the alarm that 2022 “could be a major setback” for Democrats if they lose their slim majority in the House of Representatives.
Sanchez, after not receiving enough votes last Saturday to make the special election runoff, has a very strong message for the Democrats.
Sanchez lost by fewer than 400 votes to come in third place. Republican candidates did extremely well, edging out the rest of the field. Sanchez said the Republicans received an overwhelming majority (62 percent) of the total voters.
Sanchez continued to say, “all the things I thought would have motivated Democrats” to come and vote failed.
Television's "science guy” Bill Nye ripped Americans who are refusing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying "it's not fair” to put other people at risk. Appearing Sunday on MSNBC, Mr. Nye, who hosts the podcast "Science Rules! with Bill Nye,” was asked by anchor Mehdi Hasan how "irresponsible” and "deadly” he finds the "anti-vax message” pushed by conservatives like Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson.(Snip)"Now, I've noticed that people don't like to use the word 'mutate,' because that's associated with evolution, the facts of life, we'll use the word 'variant.' Fine. It will vary in that person and then that could infect me,
Bill and Melinda Gates have had a decades-long agreement that the Microsoft boss could vacation for a long weekend at the beach every year with his venture capitalist ex-girlfriend. The odd arrangement raises eyebrows now that one of the richest couples in the world are going their separate ways after 27 years together and building a $130billion fortune. Bill, 65, and venture capitalist Ann Winblad, 70, dated in the 80s but broke up in 1987, the same year he met future wife Melinda. Ann was reportedly more ready for marriage than Bill as he worked day and night to build his billion-dollar Microsoft empire.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter at their home in Plains, Georgia, on Thursday, Biden’s 100th day in office. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library released a photo of the visit, and presidential historian Michael Bechloss posted it on social media Monday night.
The photo saw both Bidens appearing to loom large over the Carters who were pictured on sitting on two living room chairs.
All four were pictured without face masks – despite Joe Biden insisting that he wears a mask while outdoors even though he has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Charlie Crist, the state’s former Republican governor turned Democratic congressman, is expected to announce next week that he’s making a second run for governor as a Democrat.
Crist said in a recent television interview that he is considering running for governor and tweeted Saturday that he will make a “major announcement” on May 4 in his home town of St. Petersburg.
Crist won the governor’s mansion as a Republican in 2006 after many years in GOP politics. He decided not to seek a second term, instead running in 2010 for a U.S. Senate seat, which he lost to Sen. Marco Rubio.
In 2014 Crist tried to mount a comeback as a Democrat,