The Political Thread

could end Racism, etc. Tomorrow if FOLKS would accept that WE ALL are Equal and took the Actions to show such. Over 150 Years and we are still addressing this awful issue--IS THAT BECAUSE IT TAKES TIME???

In the MEANTIME Thousands are Harassed, Threaten, Assaulted, Injured, Killed, kept from being Successful Economically, are Socially push out of the mainstream, living in areas that no humans should live in (see my prior Posts), etc. etc. etc.

YEAH, INGER it takes TIME (BS)--by the way do you think in ANOTHER 150-Years will be enough TIME for the Changes to take place???

FOR I THINK & KNOW THAT THE TIME IS NOW, RIGHT NOW TO STOP THE RACISTS & HATERS = NOW!!!

********************

Sadly, yes. It will take time. The issue is so ingrained and so systemic that it cannot be changed. What are we to do to change it instantaneously? Shall we start shooting people that make disparaging remarks? If so, do we also shoot minorities that make disparaging remarks about minorities? Ok, so we don’t shot anybody. Do we whip, fine, incarcerate?

You cannot not legislate bigotry away. I’ve seen the next generation gird together vs. racial comments. They don’t like it. This next generation doesn’t see people through the same prism that the older generation did. Oh, some of them do, but there will be less and less racism in each generation, and exponentially so. No, it won’t take 150 years. In twenty years most of “our” generation will gone, killing off our attitudes as we give birth to yet another generation that will be forever more forward-thinking.

“Your” way must include massive violence, for there is no other way to make massive change. And even after the violence, there will be more hatred. It will likely reverse progress that has been made. Progress that has taken three generations from what we had in the 1960’s to now.

It’s insanity to think change will not take a passage of time. Yes, we must wait. Just as we waited for America’s slavery to become eliminated. Yes. I know there is a massive amount of slavery today in the USA. I also know that slavery is not restricted to any single race, nor is it restricted to the agricultural trade. Sadly, slavery survives in most countries in the world...

Man, that had turn ACL written all over it. 

--As far as Inger’s statements that= it will take time in our ongoing fight against Racism unless there is MASSIVE VIOLENCE = is just his Spin on it and a Justification as to WHY we do not do more RIGHT NOW (Typical POH Statements…etc.).

THIS IS AMERICA—LIKE WWII, THE MAJORITY of us, could change like Americans did SO QUICKLY DURING WW II and we can make major huge In-Roads into Racism in just a few years, if not sooner—WE MUST—For right now we are heading in the WRONG DIRECTION.

For instance, we could START to make a huge dent in RACISM by Starting/Doing the following RIGHT NOW:

--A.We could pass a Voter Equality Bill that guarantees all Americans the right to vote (Using Various options to do such) and in addition would ban ALL attempts of Voter Suppression (Jim Crow Type laws), etc. PLUS, All Citizens would be register to vote at Birth.

--B. We could immediately START the Purge of Out-Of-Control Police Officers at least 20% if not more--Ones with ongoing Citizens’ Harassment Complaints, Racists, Haters, GOD EGO POWER, Short Tempers, Mental Issues, Boozers, Druggies, White supremacists, etc. etc. etc.




--E. HATE SPEECH & HATE EVENTS (Which ARE SURGING IN OUR COUNTRY—INGER might disagree; but then again, he lives in a different world): We need to STOP the SURGE OF Hate Speech—Best way is thru Anti-Hate Speech Laws & Thru Education (see above). Over 35 Countries have Anti-Hate Speech Laws; we need to IMPROVED our Hate Crime laws. WE could take the best parts of Hate speech Laws from other Countries...etc.

The PROBLEM WE have in America, is we are become very confused with Hate Speech vs Freedom of Speech. This needs to be addressed…for Hate Statements are already leading to Injuries, assaults, beatings, deaths, etc. We would need to address the Social Media Sites in regards to Hate Racist Incitement Statements by their users...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_by_country

Canada
Main article: Hate speech laws in Canada
In Canada, advocating genocide against any "identifiable group" is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code and it carries a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. There is no minimum sentence.[6]

Publicly inciting hatred against any identifiable group is also an offence. It can be prosecuted either as an indictable offence with a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment, or as a summary conviction offence with a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment. There are no minimum sentences in either case.[7] The offence of publicly inciting hatred makes exceptions for cases of statements of truth, and subjects of public debate and religious doctrine. The landmark judicial decision on the constitutionality of this law was R v Keegstra (1990).

An "identifiable group" is defined for both offences as "any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or mental or physical disability".[8]

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, several statutes criminalize hate speech against several categories of people. The statutes forbid communication that is hateful, threatening, or abusive, and targets a person on account of disability, ethnic or national origin, nationality (including citizenship), race, religion, sexual orientation, or skin colour. The penalties for hate speech include fines, imprisonment, or both.[87][88][89][90][91][92][93][excessive citations] Legislation against Sectarian hate in Scotland, which is aimed principally at football matches,[citation needed] does not criminalise jokes about people's beliefs, nor outlaw "harsh" comment about their religious faith.[94]

Singapore
Singapore has passed numerous laws that prohibit speech that causes disharmony among various religious groups. The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act is an example of such legislation. The Penal Code criminalizes the deliberate promotion by someone of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different racial and religious groups on grounds of race or religion. It also makes it an offence for anyone to deliberately wound the religious or racial feelings of any person.[65]

The United States does not have hate speech laws, since the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that laws criminalizing hate speech violate the guarantee to freedom of speech contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[95] There are several categories of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment, such as speech that calls for imminent violence upon a person or group. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that hate speech that does not fall into one of these categories is constitutionally protected.[96][97][98][99][non-primary source needed]



--03-20-21: PLEASE READ THIS POH RACIST COMMENTS on Jan. 6th AND ALL THE LIES HE STATES, THEN READ THESE FACTS: The White Terrorists attacked Police Officers with Metal posts, Bats, Flag poles, Pepper Spray, Bear Spray, Other Unknown Spray, Fire Extinguishers, Metal Barriers etc. = CONSIDERED BEING ARMED-- leaving many Police seriously injured and ONE dead. –breaking so many LAWS I cannot list them all here…
www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/maddow-blog-already-in-a-ditch-ron-johnson-digs-deeper-with-jan-6-comments/ar-BB1eBAxl

When it comes to Senate Republicans' responses to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, few have been as reckless as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Somehow, however, the Wisconsin Republican keeps managing to make matters worse.

One of the first signs of trouble came in early February, when Johnson tried to redirect blame for the insurrectionist violence away from Donald Trump and onto House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

A week later, the GOP senator falsely argued that armed insurrectionists may not have actually been armed, as part of a clumsy effort to downplay the seriousness of the deadly riot.

In late February, the Wisconsinite went so far as to appear at a Senate hearing, read an item from a right-wing blog, and peddle the ridiculous idea that the pro-Trump forces that launched the attack on the Capitol were secretly made up of "fake Trump protesters."

Late last week, Johnson, already in a hole, grabbed a shovel and dug deeper.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., described the pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 as people who "truly respect law enforcement" and "loved this country" in a radio interview Friday and expressed worry if the mob had been Black Lives Matter protesters or Antifa members.

Even by Ron Johnson standards, the details of this story are ugly.

The senator insisted, for example, that as insurrectionist rioters targeted the Capitol, he was unconcerned because he "knew those were people that loved this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law."

Right off the bat, whether he was referring to his assumptions at the time or his reflections in hindsight, this is utterly bonkers. We are, after all, talking about a group of extremists who attacked the heart of our system of government in the hopes of overturning an American election.

As part of their illegal and deadly assault, these radicals, far from "truly respecting law enforcement," committed brutal acts of violence against police officers, killing one officer and leaving many more badly injured.

For Johnson to praise the violent mob two months after their attack isn't just indefensible, it's bizarre.

But as part of the same interview with Joe Pages on Friday, the senator went on to argue that while he wasn't afraid of the white, right-wing extremists targeting the Capitol in the hopes of overturning an election, he might've felt differently about a different kind of hypothetical mob.

"Now, had the tables been turned -- now Joe, this will get me in trouble -- had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protestors, I might have been a little concerned." AND JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF DOZENS UPON DOZENS –03-20-19: www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/man-idd-as-former-special-forces-soldier-is-charged-with-assaulting-police-during-capitol-riot/ar-BB1eJmS5?li=BBnb7Kz
Man ID’d as former Special Forces soldier is charged with assaulting police during Capitol riot

A man identified by witnesses as a longtime Army Special Forces soldier and current military contractor has been charged with assaulting four police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, including by spearing one in the face with a flagpole.

--03-20-21 SAD, VERY SAD & YET THERE ARE STILL SO MANY NOT WEARING MASKS—SD/ ETC. IF KARMA IS TRUE/REAL = THOSE FOLKS SHOULD GET IT… https://us.yahoo.com/news/texas-roadhouse-ceo-died-suicide-215500079.html
Texas Roadhouse CEO died by suicide amid ‘unbearable’ post-COVID symptoms, family says

The family of Texas Roadhouse CEO Kent Taylor says he died by suicide while experiencing “unbearable” symptoms related to COVID-19, media outlets report.

Texas Roadhouse announced the death of Taylor, who founded the Kentucky-based restaurant chain in 1993, on Thursday.

Taylor’s family said he killed himself after experiencing ongoing symptoms, including “severe tinnitus” after he was infected with COVID-19, WLKY reported.

Tinnitus is often described as ringing in the ear and usually caused by underlying conditions, including age-related hearing loss, according to Mayo Clinic. A study published in November found COVID-19 worsened the condition.

“Kent battled and fought hard like the former track champion that he was, but the suffering that greatly intensified in recent days became unbearable,” Taylor’s family said in a statement to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Taylor will be remembered for giving away his entire compensation package to support frontline employees, the company said


--03-20-21 INGER YOU SHOULD READ--POH--YOUR TYPE???: us.cnn.com/2021/03/19/opinions/xenophobia-republicans-anti-asian-american-crimes-ghitis/index.html
The GOP's xenophobia is fueling toxic culture of hate.

--03-20-21 IT NEVER EVER ENDS, WITH OUR OUT-OF-CONTROL POLICE OF WHICH SO MANY ARE RACISTS & NOT PROPERLY TRAINED, INTERVIEWED, ETC. www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-city-after-city-police-completely-mishandled-black-lives-matter-protests/ar-BB1eN3vv?li=BBnb7Kz
In City After City, Police Completely Mishandled Black Lives Matter Protests

For many long weeks last summer, protesters in American cities faced off against their own police forces in what proved to be, for major law enforcement agencies across the country, a startling display of violence and disarray.

…In city after city, the reports are a damning indictment of police forces that were poorly trained, heavily militarized and stunningly unprepared for the possibility that large numbers of people would surge into the streets, moved by the graphic images of Mr. Floyd’s death under a police officer’s knee.

The mistakes transcended geography, staffing levels and financial resources. From midsize departments like the one in Indianapolis to big-city forces like New York City’s, from top commanders to officers on the beat, police officers nationwide were unprepared to calm the summer’s unrest, and their approaches consistently did the opposite.

In many ways, the problems highlighted in the reports are fundamental to modern American policing, a demonstration of the aggressive tactics that had infuriated many of the protesters to begin with.

The New York Times reviewed reports by outside investigators, watchdogs and consultants analyzing the police response to protests in nine major cities, including four of the nation’s largest. The Times also reviewed after-action examinations by police departments in five other major cities.

Reports in some cities, such as Oakland and Seattle, are not yet completed. In Minneapolis, the city that sparked a national reckoning over policing, the City Council only agreed last month to hire a risk-management company to analyze the city’s response to the protests, despite months of pressure.

Almost uniformly, the reports said departments need more training in how to handle large protests. They also offered a range of recommendations to improve outcomes in the future:

Departments need to better work with community organizers, including enlisting activists to participate in trainings or consulting with civil rights attorneys on protest-management policies.

Leaders need to develop more restrictive guidelines and better supervision of crowd control munitions, such as tear gas. Officers need more training to manage their emotions and aggressions as part of de-escalation strategies.

--03-20-21: us.cnn.com/2021/03/20/politics/what-is-a-filibuster/index.html
What's a filibuster? Democrats may finally ax a relic of our racist past.

MORE RACIST/HATE EVENTS:
--03-20-21: www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona-republicans-push-new-laws-to-limit-mail-voting/ar-BB1eMjX1?li=BBnb7Kz
Arizona Republicans push new laws to limit mail voting

Arizona Republicans are proposing drastic changes to its mail voting systems, a move that echoes the flurry of election restrictions advanced in GOP-controlled legislatures in a number of states after former President Donald Trump's election loss.

--03-20-21: us.cnn.com/2021/03/20/opinions/asian-american-racism-violence-wellness/index.html
Being Asian American means living in a country that treats you as a perpetual foreigner. That has to change.

--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/news/13-old-boy-attacked-teens-171740945.html
13-Year-Old Boy Attacked by Teens, Told to ‘Go Back to Your Country’ in Queens

--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/news/police-captain-said-atlanta-shooter-163214653.html
Police Captain Who Said Atlanta Shooter ‘Had a Bad Day’ Posted Anti-Asian Shirts on Facebook.
The shirt appears to be based on the Corona beer label. It says “COVID 19,” along with a subtitle that reads “Imported virus from CHY-NA.” “Love my shirt,” Baker wrote. “Get yours while they last.”.

--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/sports/ohio-state-forward-to-fans-who-threatened-him-im-human-155940310.html
Ohio State forward to fans who threatened him: 'I'm human'

Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell posted screenshots on Friday night of threatening messages that he received following the Buckeyes’ stunning first-round NCAA men's tournament loss to Oral Roberts earlier that day.

One fan called Liddell vulgar names and racial slurs and wrote that he intended to find Liddell and physically attack him. Another called Liddell a “f— disgrace” and warned, “Don’t ever show your face at Ohio State. We hate you. I hope you die I really do.”

A flabbergasted Liddell responded to the fans by writing, “Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I’m human.” The 20-year-old added that he just wanted to know why someone would send messages so hateful.

“I’ve never done anything to anyone in my life to be approached like this,” he said.

--03-20-21 JUST AWFUL: us.yahoo.com/news/sham-candidate-helped-flip-florida-141301334.html
How a Sham Candidate Helped Flip a Florida Election

MIAMI — The recruitment of the sham candidate began with a Facebook message at around 4 a.m. on May 15, 2020. “Call me,” a Florida legislator turned lobbyist wrote to an old friend. “I have a question for you.”

Later that day, former state Sen. Frank Artiles, a Republican, asked Alexis Pedro Rodriguez by phone whether he still owned a home in the suburban Miami village of Palmetto Bay. Because in that case, Artiles wanted something else: to put his friend’s property and last name to use in the upcoming election.

The incumbent Democrat, state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, was on the ballot. And Artiles, a crafty political operator with a dubious reputation, had a plan: to plant his friend as a candidate and siphon off votes that could defeat José Rodríguez.

BRAVO TIME:
--03-20-21: www.huffpost.com/entry/don-lemon-republicans-question-coup_n_6055c5f0c5b6d6c2a2a7312f
Exasperated Don Lemon Has A Damning Question For Republicans.

The GOP and its base “are still under the spell of a disgraced, twice-impeached, one-term president,” lamented the CNN anchor.

Don Lemon on Friday demanded to know, “What is wrong with the right?”

The “CNN Tonight” anchor questioned why Republicans would spend their week railing against so-called “cancel culture” as the country reeled from the “brutal” killing of eight people at massage parlors in the Atlanta area. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.

Lemon also hammered the 14 House Republicans who this week voted against a measure condemning the military coup in Myanmar, highlighting that the Burmese army alleged mass voter fraud — a claim not unlike former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

The GOP and its base “are still under the spell of a disgraced, twice-impeached, one-term president,” suggested Lemon. “This is about truth, or maybe I should say this is about a lie. Because if people were acting on the truth, then there would be no need for an insurrection.”

“While America is reckoning with the hate that he left us with, that is what is going on,” he said.

--03-20-21 BRAVO—MAKE THIS HAPPEN: www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/its-not-a-local-issue-anymore-dc-statehood-moves-from-political-fringe-to-the-center-of-the-national-democratic-agenda/ar-BB1eN3GD?li=BBnb7Kz
‘It’s not a local issue anymore’: D.C. statehood moves from political fringe to the center of the national Democratic agenda.

--03-20-21 BRAVO FOR THE TRUTH – FOR POH TYPES LIE SO MUCH: us.yahoo.com/huffpost/doug-ducey-border-drug-arrests-arizona-republic-131853642.html

Arizona Newspaper Slaps Down Gov. Ducey's Lies About Border Drug Busts

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s claims about a special state strike force’s “border” drug busts were crushed by a report in the Arizona Republic on Friday. The state’s largest newspaper revealed that the arrests didn’t happen anywhere near the border and appeared to actually have been conducted by state troopers patrolling the highways.

Before his trip to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, the Republican governor’s office issued a press release highlighting three arrests over the past year by his “Border Strike Force.” The unit fights “criminal activity along the border,” the statement noted.

In one arrest, a Tucson resident was stopped about 60 miles from the border; another arrest was in Phoenix, 363 miles north of the border. The third was in Littlefield, which is located the entire length of Arizona north of Mexico (570 miles from Nogales) and close to the state border with Utah.

The Border Strike force, which Ducey launched in 2015, was not credited with any of the three drug arrests he touted when they were initially announced, the Republic noted.

--03-20-21 BRAVO: us.yahoo.com/finance/news/biden-just-canceled-1-billion-234400473.html
Biden's Education Secretary just canceled $1 billion of student-loan debt for about 72,000 defrauded borrowers.

--03-20-21 INGER = NO VOTER FRAUD--BRAVO—WAS THERE ANY DOUBT???: us.yahoo.com/news/postal-finds-no-evidence-project-222046856.html
Postal Service finds 'no evidence' of Project Veritas' claim that mail workers tampered with ballots in the 2020 election

The Postal Service released a report into claims that employees tampered with Pennsylvania ballots.

They found "no evidence" for the accusations, first brought by Project Veritas.

Investigators reviewed the ballots and found no indications of tampering.


--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/news/man-killed-2-supermarket-pleads-215926748.html
Man who killed 2 at supermarket pleads guilty to hate crimes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man serving a life sentence in prison for fatally shooting two shoppers at a grocery store has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday that the October 2018 shootings at a Kroger supermarket in Louisville were racially motivated. Gregory A. Bush, 53, pleaded guilty to the hate crime charges Thursday in Louisville.

In December, Bush pleaded guilty but mentally ill in state court to two counts of murder. He was sentenced to two life terms in prison with no chance for parole.

Bush shot 69-year-old Maurice Stallard inside the store, then walked outside and shot 67-year-old Vickie Jones. Both victims were Black, and Bush is white. Bush encountered a man in the store who drew a gun on him and Bush told him, “whites don’t shoot whites,” prosecutors said.

“The senseless murder of two of our citizens because of their race has no place in our community. Hate cannot, and will not, win,” FBI Louisville Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney.


--03-20-21 JUST STUPID BE STUPID: https://us.yahoo.com/news/one-lucky-borrower-got-17-ppp-loans-how-the-trump-administration-lost-millions-in-an-effort-to-shore-up-small-businesses-140929722.html
One lucky borrower got 17 PPP loans: How the Trump administration lost millions in an effort to shore up small businesses

WASHINGTON — Computer errors caused the government to hand out duplicate loans to thousands of borrowers under the Trump administration’s program to rescue businesses from the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the Paycheck Protection Program has been subject to fraud, the revelations contained in a new report by the inspector general of the Small Business Administration speak instead to a faulty — and costly — implementation.

Aging federal technology may have hampered the SBA’s inability to track and cross-reference loans. Two years ago, the Government Accountability Office found that information systems across the federal government were badly outdated. Some computer hardware at the SBA was a decade old, that investigation found.

A series of malfunctions took place in the spring and summer of 2020, resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars being handed out inadvertently as duplicate loans. In all, SBA Inspector General Mike Ware found, banks authorized to issue PPP loans “made more than one PPP disbursement to 4,260 borrowers, which totaled about $692 million and involved 8,731 PPP loans.

--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/huffpost/jennifer-heinl-fbi-task-force-husband-capitol-riot-234709431.html
Wife Of Pittsburgh FBI Task Force Member Charged In Capitol Riot

A Pennsylvania woman married to a member of an FBI task force has been charged in the Capitol riot.

Jennifer Heinl, 55, of Ross Township was arrested Thursday and charged with several federal crimes, including violent entry and disorderly conduct.

Her husband, Michael Heinl, is a detective in the Shaler Police Department and part of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Pittsburgh.

Heinl did not support his wife’s actions and is a “valued member” of his department, Police Chief Sean Frank told WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. Heinl filed divorce papers a month after the riot.

Heinl pleaded with his wife not to travel to Washington for the rally, Frank told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “His wife was a part of that situation,” Frank said. “He didn’t condone it.”

--03-20-21: us.cnn.com/2021/03/20/us/michigan-pizzeria-owner-arrest-covid-19-violations/index.html
Attorney general: Michigan pizzeria owner continuously violated Covid-19 measures

(CNN)A Michigan pizzeria owner was taken into custody early Friday morning after she "continued to willfully violate the state's food laws, public health orders and a court-ordered Temporary Restraining Order" related to Covid-19 measures, according to the state's attorney general.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development suspended her food establishment license on January 20, 2021 but the restaurant continued too operate, according to the release.

An administrative law judge upheld the suspension in February, saying Pavlos-Hackney "knowingly has not complied with both local and state health department requirements that were established to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to employees, customers, and the community."

--03-20-21: us.yahoo.com/huffpost/asian-women-racism-shooting-atlanta-130000702.html
I'm An Asian American Woman. The Sexualized Racism I Face Is Terrifying.

When the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic and I found myself in lockdown, I decided to keep a journal to chronicle my experience. I abandoned it after a few weeks, as pandemic fatigue set in, but not before writing about the fear that gripped me in those early days.

“I’m scared to leave my house, not just because there is a virus out there that no one can control but because my face is not safe in this pandemic,” reads my entry from March 22, 2020.

“I am scared to go outside because I have seen my friends and relatives blamed for this sickness, because I have been told to go back to China even when the world wasn’t choking. We cannot tame this virus but we also cannot tame the racism that has accompanied it.”

The rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans was already starting, but it was getting very little mainstream attention. Sometimes I wondered if I was overreacting. What were the odds of me being the target of a hate crime, anyway?

Okay, its been become obvious that politics can't be discussed in a civil manner. I'm going to be shutting this thread down. This is a Yankees baseball forum after all. Let's keep Politics/Religion out of the board from now on. I will be shutting down the Coronavirus thread too which is mostly political. It was nice though to hear of posters receiving their shots and keeping safe.

Yeah. Maybe that’s the case. After recent bouts with depression, I need a positive focus.

Dome, I'm sorry. I enjoy your presence here and know you as a kind and generous soul. But all the political/Corona links just take away from the main focus of the board. I come here to escape the sorry state of affairs the world is in. I don't want to see a million links about political strife and how many people died today of the virus. I can turn on the news for that. I originally thought keeping the Politics thread in one thread would allow us to focus on baseball in others. But we'll already lost enough posters to the thread and had enough acrimony. Let's move forward talking about Yankees baseball and other lighthearted topics. I'll keep this thread open for a little while for anyone's replies/thoughts on the matter. 

Agreement shouldn’t matter.  Discussion should be richer and more enlightened than shallow validation or echo chambers. Problems arise when opinions are dismissed by categorization of the individual expressing them.  It reduces people to objects, easily discarded. Chuck grew tired of Joe’s leftists and liars implications and accusations, and I don’t blame him.  The other extreme of hatred/racism allusions are just as frustrating.  This is what I tried to highlight in my post a couple days ago:

“There is a current cultural perseveration on identity and group allegiance that is breeding contempt and divisiveness, one person at a time. I suspect most people (irrespective of race) prefer to be defined individually by who they are, not by the immutable characteristics of their birth, and believe in the reciprocity of that value.“

Kaybli was correct, in my estimation, of preserving this thread to ensure other baseball and sports related threads remained true to those topics.  If one wished to make a comment, ask a question, or start a discussion on a political subject, there was a spot for it - easily accessed, easily avoided.

Personally, I enjoy people who are fervent in their beliefs and stances, but not at the expense of other voices, especially those needing to think out loud and question to find their own.  I don’t have all the answers, but there is a reason freedom of speech is the first amendment in the bill of rights, and that right belongs to others as well as ourselves and includes the right to hear and to listen to views in opposition and de novo or foreign to our ear.  However, we should be able to agree to rules of conversational conduct.  Ad hominem remarks and negative implications and accusations can be avoided and rightfully and fairly moderated and excised within platforms like this one.