Nothing will change until black culture changes. Blame whitey all you want but in my life experience we are all awarded opportunities to succeed and making poor decisions leads to poor results whether that’s willfully living a life of crime or signing JJ.
- Feds91Stammer

I could not agree more. I don't disagree its harder for minorities to get ahead, it is for any part of the population that is poor, but at some point in life your success and failures come down to your own decisions. If we were to give out the $14 trillion in reparations Robert Johnson just called for, how many blacks would set aside emergency funds, max out Roth IRAs, and fund other investments? The Dave Chapelle skit likely is not too far from reality...

DC resident here. Some type of crowd control gas was beyond a shadow of a doubt used on protestors along with rubber bullets. People are just using the word "tear gas" as a catch all term for this type of thing because the average Joe doesn't know the nuances of crowd control equipment. Saying tear gas wasn't used is technically correct, but misses the point. What is unclear, though, is if law enforcement were validly provoked and issued enough warning before macing people. Some say the protesters were completely peaceful. Others say they jumped the gun. Who knows. Its chaos.

If I understand it correctly, what was used is a (frank) ton of pepper spray.
- Victoro311

The protestors have been peaceful from what I’ve seen.

The issue has been opportunists and antifa aka vanilla ISIS coming in and agitating, rioting, and looting.

To be clear I definitely have no issue with protesting or the message. I just have a life experience that makes me feel the message is not reflective of reality.

Sorry, I'm not going to fund someone who thinks rioting is OK. However, I would have liked to donated money to a hero retired police officer named David Dorn. If you don't know who he is, he was killed protecting looters from robbing a pawn shop.

Unfortunately, there are scammers out there who are trying to take advantage of his death.

https://www.ksdk.com/arti...5b-41d7-b34a-10fcfac8ad14
- stevens87

You're part of the problem. The complacency of scum bags like you is far more to blame for rioting than the people smashing windows.

You're right, I assumed because you agreed with Tanner that you were. He's been making excuses for rioting the whole day and calling people names who don't agree with him. My apology, I take it back!
- stevens87

Rioters don't need excuses because their actions are just and righteous. You know who needs an excuse? Racists and their enablers.

DC resident here. Some type of crowd control gas was beyond a shadow of a doubt used on protestors along with rubber bullets. People are just using the word "tear gas" as a catch all term for this type of thing because the average Joe doesn't know the nuances of crowd control equipment. Saying tear gas wasn't used is technically correct, but misses the point. What is unclear, though, is if law enforcement were validly provoked and issued enough warning before macing people. Some say the protesters were completely peaceful. Others say they jumped the gun. Who knows. Its chaos.

If I understand it correctly, what was used is a (frank) ton of pepper spray.
- Victoro311

What is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Trump gassed peaceful, law abiding protesters because for two days people called him "bunker female dog"

Anyone who continues to support him is without conscience, morals or integrity.

The protestors have been peaceful from what I’ve seen.

The issue has been opportunists and antifa aka vanilla ISIS coming in and agitating, rioting, and looting.

To be clear I definitely have no issue with protesting or the message. I just have a life experience that makes me feel the message is not reflective of reality.
- Feds91Stammer

If you actually believe in Antifa you are literally brainwashed by your conservative overlords. Antifa means anti-fascist maybe ask your grandfather what he thinks of them.

You're part of the problem. The complacency of scum bags like you is far more to blame for rioting than the people smashing windows.
- James_Tanner

You are one POS Tanner. You have been insulting people all day who don't agree with you. So you know where you can freakin' go.

If you actually believe in Antifa you are literally brainwashed by your conservative overlords. Antifa means anti-fascist maybe ask your grandfather what he thinks of them.
- James_Tanner

There is nothing more anti-fascist than a group that violently protest to suppress people with opposing viewpoints and argues for a state-run economy...

If you actually believe in Antifa you are literally brainwashed by your conservative overlords. Antifa means anti-fascist maybe ask your grandfather what he thinks of them.
- James_Tanner

Gotcha. So if I start a contract killing organization called Good Guys LLC that means that we would be good guys no matter what. Sick logic. Keep hurling your insults beta boy.

Rioters don't need excuses because their actions are just and righteous. You know who needs an excuse? Racists and their enablers.
- James_Tanner

Do we have a hero chart or maybe a pie graph to show advanced metrics on how just their actions are vs racists and enablers?

And thank you to Feds for getting in that dig at JJ. Tanner actually forgot that for a whole article.

Do we have a hero chart or maybe a pie graph to show advanced metrics on how just their actions are vs racists and enablers?

And thank you to Feds for getting in that dig at JJ. Tanner actually forgot that for a whole article.
- 10inchTerror

Race adjusted relative virtue signaling per 60 or RARVS60

I have largely remained silent on the subject on social media. i havent posted on Facebook for several years, not politics related, but just dont want to be one of those people on Facebook posting stupid stuff.

There is no question there are laws in place that harm African Americans in poorer neighborhoods. Poor people as a whole are at a disadvantage in our justice system where they cannot afford to pay fines and cannot afford attorneys if they get in trouble. there are too many stupid laws in the books and this harms the police officers on the beat and the neighborhoods. I dont care if a guy is smoking weed on his front porch. but the system requires two cops on the beat to approach the guy, arrest him in front of the neighborhood, take him away to jail, and then the rest of his house gets searched. meanwhile, kids I went to high school with smoked weed in public parks and no one did a thing about it. The cops become the bad guys in the neighborhood, people dont trust them and dont help them when legitimate crimes happen. It leads to a poor neighborhood being unsafe. no businesses come, no economic development happens, and the community suffers. this doesnt even start to talk about the poor school standards the public city schools have. it's a joke.

the big problem is that this will force people on the left to see things they usually defend: lack of school choice and public sector unions. Many on the left do not want school choice because teacher unions hate them. School choice can help kids in bad schools get out and go to good schools and get an education and graduate. i dont always think people understand the difference in life when you graduate high school versus not graduating high school.

The other thing is unions in the public sector. The police and teacher unions are probably some of the strongest in the United States. It is hard to fire underperformers and reward strong performers. Accountability is often lacking and the unions rival the power that Police Chiefs and Superintendents have. This makes it incredibely hard to run a police force or school district and actually hold the public sector employees accountable.

In this relationship, no one is perfect, all sides need to face some hard realities. i think there is plenty of things we can change about the police that improves trust, makes interactions safer for the officers and communities, and leads to a decrease in crimes/jailings and a rise in economic and education opportunities.

people are scared with this Corona thing. People lost their jobs, schooling, etc. This country has been a tinderbox for years in the making. The video was disturbing to no end, no one should have their life end because 3 police officers were on top of you with one having his knee pressed down on your neck.

I hope people relax. I understand the anger, frustration, and wanting to "rise against the system". Violence wont work here. Violence will only lead to increased security measures, more crackdowns, and eventual increases to police budget. I worry that other groups will look to take advantage of the chaos and commit violent acts against people or continue destroying property/looting. I've been encouraged with the protests in Pittsburgh. Other than the dumpster fire last Saturday night and a brief encounter Monday night, things have been relatively calm here. I'm hoping it stays that way. My understanding of protests/mobs in the USA is that they start to slowdown in smaller cities while the main cities stay hot for longer periods. Hoping we can eventually get to the talking stage where we figure some things out.

sorry for the long post.

If you actually believe in Antifa you are literally brainwashed by your conservative overlords. Antifa means anti-fascist maybe ask your grandfather what he thinks of them.
- James_Tanner

I'm not taking a side here... but calling yourself "anti-fascist" doesnt make you automatically anti-fascist. I could call myself Matt Damon... it doesnt mean I'm cashing his checks.

They have literally bragged on Twitter about their actions. No doubt some far-right groups are trying to pose as Antifa, but Antifa isnt innocent in all of this.

I have largely remained silent on the subject on social media. i havent posted on Facebook for several years, not politics related, but just dont want to be one of those people on Facebook posting stupid stuff.

There is no question there are laws in place that harm African Americans in poorer neighborhoods. Poor people as a whole are at a disadvantage in our justice system where they cannot afford to pay fines and cannot afford attorneys if they get in trouble. there are too many stupid laws in the books and this harms the police officers on the beat and the neighborhoods. I dont care if a guy is smoking weed on his front porch. but the system requires two cops on the beat to approach the guy, arrest him in front of the neighborhood, take him away to jail, and then the rest of his house gets searched. meanwhile, kids I went to high school with smoked weed in public parks and no one did a thing about it. The cops become the bad guys in the neighborhood, people dont trust them and dont help them when legitimate crimes happen. It leads to a poor neighborhood being unsafe. no businesses come, no economic development happens, and the community suffers. this doesnt even start to talk about the poor school standards the public city schools have. it's a joke.

the big problem is that this will force people on the left to see things they usually defend: lack of school choice and public sector unions. Many on the left do not want school choice because teacher unions hate them. School choice can help kids in bad schools get out and go to good schools and get an education and graduate. i dont always think people understand the difference in life when you graduate high school versus not graduating high school.

The other thing is unions in the public sector. The police and teacher unions are probably some of the strongest in the United States. It is hard to fire underperformers and reward strong performers. Accountability is often lacking and the unions rival the power that Police Chiefs and Superintendents have. This makes it incredibely hard to run a police force or school district and actually hold the public sector employees accountable.

In this relationship, no one is perfect, all sides need to face some hard realities. i think there is plenty of things we can change about the police that improves trust, makes interactions safer for the officers and communities, and leads to a decrease in crimes/jailings and a rise in economic and education opportunities.

people are scared with this Corona thing. People lost their jobs, schooling, etc. This country has been a tinderbox for years in the making. The video was disturbing to no end, no one should have their life end because 3 police officers were on top of you with one having his knee pressed down on your neck.

I hope people relax. I understand the anger, frustration, and wanting to "rise against the system". Violence wont work here. Violence will only lead to increased security measures, more crackdowns, and eventual increases to police budget. I worry that other groups will look to take advantage of the chaos and commit violent acts against people or continue destroying property/looting. I've been encouraged with the protests in Pittsburgh. Other than the dumpster fire last Saturday night and a brief encounter Monday night, things have been relatively calm here. I'm hoping it stays that way. My understanding of protests/mobs in the USA is that they start to slowdown in smaller cities while the main cities stay hot for longer periods. Hoping we can eventually get to the talking stage where we figure some things out.

sorry for the long post.
- SuperHenderson13

Excellent post SH13! Tanner will hate it and will start be calling you names.

Agree with everything in the piece. Can’t argue with Ryan on this one. All I can think to do is if I see racism happening to do something about it. Not pull out my cell phone, actually do something. Social media posts don’t really do anything.

If you actually believe in Antifa you are literally brainwashed by your conservative overlords. Antifa means anti-fascist maybe ask your grandfather what he thinks of them.
- James_Tanner

I'm gonna quote a fella who happens to be black. You tell me who it is.

"The white liberal is the worst enemy to America, and the worst enemy to the black man. Let me explain what I mean by the white liberal. In America there is no such thing as Democrat or Republican anymore. In America you have liberals and conservatives. The only people living in the past who think in terms of I’m a Democrat or Republican, is the American Negro. He’s the one that runs around bragging about party affiliation. He’s the one that sticks to the Democrat or sticks to the Republican. But white people are divided into two groups, liberals and conservative. The Democrats who are conservative, vote with the Republicans who are conservative. The Democrats who are liberal vote with the Republicans that are liberal. The white liberal aren’t white people who are for independence, who are moral and ethical in their thinking. They are just a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. The same as the white conservative is a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. They are fighting each other for power and prestige, and the one that is the football in the game is the Negro, 20 million black people. A political football, a political pawn, an economic football, and economic pawn. A social football, a social pawn. The liberal elements of whites are those who have perfected the art of selling themselves to the Negro as a friend of the Negro. Getting sympathy of the Negro, getting the allegiance of the Negro, and getting the mind of the Negro. Then the Negro sides with the white liberal, and the white liberal use the Negro against the white conservative. So that anything that the Negro does is never for his own good, never for his own advancement, never for his own progress, he’s only a pawn in the hands of the white liberal. The worst enemy that the Negro have is this white man that runs around here drooling at the mouth professing to love Negros, and calling himself a liberal, and it is following these white liberals that has perpetuated problems that Negros have. If the Negro wasn’t taken, tricked, or deceived by the white liberal then Negros would get together and solve our own problems."


Eat your heart out pal. Stick to Hockey.

Agree with everything in the piece. Can’t argue with Ryan on this one. All I can think to do is if I see racism happening to do something about it. Not pull out my cell phone, actually do something. Social media posts don’t really do anything.
- Grinder47

- MattStrat

It's crazy. What else can we really do about racism? How do we fix it? nobody has the answer.

Agree with everything in the piece. Can’t argue with Ryan on this one. All I can think to do is if I see racism happening to do something about it. Not pull out my cell phone, actually do something. Social media posts don’t really do anything.
- Grinder47

They can have an adverse affect too. I'm assuming you're not a social media guy so probably wouldn't know, but a bunch of white people decided to do something called "Black Out Tuesday" two days ago where they posted a plain black picture on their Instagram with the BLM hashtag. Well, turns out that protesters were actually using the BLM hashtag to organize and find information on what was going on in the protests/if and where things were getting out of hand, so on Tuesday, all the protesters searching #BLM just got met with a bunch of black squares and couldn't find anything useful. Just a bunch of keyboard heroes coopting a movement to make themselves feel good inadvertently (frank)ing with the people actually trying to do stuff.

This is why I get pissed at the white people who are doing all the "direct action" stuff. I think it's cool if you want to march alongside your African American brothers and sisters in the peaceful protests, but a white guy isn't gonna be the one that gets shot at for throwing a brick through a window. You're just escalating the violence and putting the people who will get singled out by the police (the people who this movement belongs to) in more danger.

Politicians and the news are phonies. Can’t believe a thing you see right now.
- Feds91Stammer

I think dismissing everything the media says, or one branch/outlet of the media says, is dangerous.

I think totally believing everything the media says, or one branch/outlet of the media says, is dangerous.

I considered myself pretty centered politically. I read as much left and right news, both domestically and internationally, as I can and specifically do it for major events and topics, such as these riots. If you do this its very easy to see that a major factor in the division of our populations, yes here in Canada too, is the media....but all the medias are telling some truths....all the medias are telling some lies...

And yeah, politicians can eat a d!ck, more so the high up ones, where their souls have long been sacrificed for the parties.

Who is this James Tanner guy? Bud you follow hockey??? Stick to ballet or tap dancing? Holy I didn't know hardcore left wing SJW's followed hockey? Thought they grew beards, wore skinny jeans and discussed climate change over lattes at Starbucks? Grow a pair you weiner.

I read it like it was Downie the whole time.
- Victoro311

Looked it up later and yeah, it was all Downie... just a bit of odd wording when he dropped the name.

It's crazy. What else can we really do about racism? How do we fix it? nobody has the answer.
- nateca44

Like I said in my first response to Feds, there's a lot of policy stuff that's even mainstream that can be put in place to help. Racism will never truly end because some people are just terrible, but racism will become a lot more mild if the black community isn't stuck in the circle of poverty anymore and perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions of the kind that Feds has already outlined.

Reform the DOJ: Get rid of qualified immunity (probably already happening). Well intentioned policy that has been abused beyond redemption and needs to go. Come down harder on breaches of basic Constitutional rights like illegal search and seizure and all other warrant-related infractions. These are concrete policy changes, but obviously the cultural stuff within the police force that needs to change is a lot harder to deal with since its more abstract. One potential thing is looking into breaking police unions. Unions in general are a relic of the industrial revolution and Dems need to stop protecting all of them for the sake of it. Some still do good things I guess, but some like the police unions all around suck.

End the war on drugs. Black people are disproportionately singled out for drug-related crimes. Taking a softer stance on drugs and legalizing those that we know not to be harmful like marijuana will reduce the priors within the black community and remove a substantial inhibiter for finding gainful employment. It will also have the added benefit of removing a major outlet for criminal activity and violence.

Reform the approach to education in a couple of ways. 1) Make funding for public school equitable. The system right now blatantly diverts funding from poor/black school districts to fund more well to do districts with the logic that the kids in the poor district are lost causes any ways so may as well give a bit more help to the kids that are actually succeeding. You can't ask people to pay taxes and then not give them the benefits that they're supposedly buying into. 2) Shift state-level public education's focus from the traditional college to trade schools. When you're poor its super tough to justify going to school to study some vague subject, to get some vague degree, to explore some vague career prospects that you've never even heard of. I'm not saying get rid of the primere state research universities, but definitely restructure the funding model that provides for the existence of dozens/hundreds of small time state schools and instead put that money towards community colleges/trade schools and make sure tuition is affordable. It still costs like $5K a year to go to community college which is very out of reach for people stuck in poverty. 3) Reduce overall tuition by scaling back the amount of student loans the federal government signs off on. Colleges and universities have incentive to keep hiking tuition every year when they know the government is just going send out more money to reach the price.

This isn't a comprehensive list by any means, but I do believe there are some achievable policy goals in here that would help A LOT. I'm bullish that Qualified Immunity is about to get struck down by SCOTUS in the near future. The legalization of marijuana is becoming more main stream and the Republican Party as a whole isn't as militant about the war on drugs as once used to be. In 2019 we just saw a good first step in bipartisan criminal justice reform (literally called the First Step Act) spearheaded by Sen. Tim Scott that provides for more oversight over weapon discharge in the field of duty for officers. The Republican Party has been talking about trade schools for a long while now, and education reform in general is usually bipartisan. It's just that its never really a hot button issue so not much gets done. More work to be done, but there are cogs in motion right now that don't require the radical change and large scale government programs that some people call for.

TL:DNR: Make it easier to become not poor, and racism will get better.

EDIT: And I almost forgot about occupational licensing. The amount of jobs that you need a government license for in a lot of states is truly boggling. Did you know that in some states you need government accreditation to be a florist or barber? These are unskilled jobs that uneducated people should be able step right into, but are for some reason set up like a medieval guild with artificial barriers to entry.

Like I said in my first response to Feds, there's a lot of policy stuff that's even mainstream that can be put in place to help. Racism will never truly end because some people are just terrible, but racism will become a lot more mild if the black community isn't stuck in the circle of poverty anymore and perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions of the kind that Feds has already outlined.

Reform the DOJ: Get rid of qualified immunity (probably already happening). Well intentioned policy that has been abused beyond redemption and needs to go. Come down harder on breaches of basic Constitutional rights like illegal search and seizure and all other warrant-related infractions. These are concrete policy changes, but obviously the cultural stuff within the police force that needs to change is a lot harder to deal with since its more abstract. One potential thing is looking into breaking police unions. Unions in general are a relic of the industrial revolution and Dems need to stop protecting all of them for the sake of it. Some still do good things I guess, but some like the police unions all around suck.

End the war on drugs. Black people are disproportionately singled out for drug-related crimes. Taking a softer stance on drugs and legalizing those that we know not to be harmful like marijuana will reduce the priors within the black community and remove a substantial inhibiter for finding gainful employment. It will also have the added benefit of removing a major outlet for criminal activity and violence.

Reform the approach to education in a couple of ways. 1) Make funding for public school equitable. The system right now blatantly diverts funding from poor/black school districts to fund more well to do districts with the logic that the kids in the poor district are lost causes any ways so may as well give a bit more help to the kids that are actually succeeding. You can't ask people to pay taxes and then not give them the benefits that they're supposedly buying into. 2) Shift state-level public education's focus from the traditional college to trade schools. When you're poor its super tough to justify going to school to study some vague subject, to get some vague degree, to explore some vague career prospects that you've never even heard of. I'm not saying get rid of the primere state research universities, but definitely restructure the funding model that provides for the existence of dozens/hundreds of small time state schools and instead put that money towards community colleges/trade schools and make sure tuition is affordable. It still costs like $5K a year to go to community college which is very out of reach for people stuck in poverty. 3) Reduce overall tuition by scaling back the amount of student loans the federal government signs off on. Colleges and universities have incentive to keep hiking tuition every year when they know the government is just going send out more money to reach the price.

This isn't a comprehensive list by any means, but I do believe there are some achievable policy goals in here that would help A LOT. I'm bullish that Qualified Immunity is about to get struck down by SCOTUS in the near future. The legalization of marijuana is becoming more main stream and the Republican Party as a whole isn't as militant about the war on drugs as once used to be. In 2019 we just saw a good first step in bipartisan criminal justice reform (literally called the First Step Act) spearheaded by Sen. Tim Scott that provides for more oversight over weapon discharge in the field of duty for officers. The Republican Party has been talking about trade schools for a long while now, and education reform in general is usually bipartisan. It's just that its never really a hot button issue so not much gets done. More work to be done, but there are cogs in motion right now that don't require the radical change and large scale government programs that some people call for.

TL:DNR: Make it easier to become not poor, and racism will get better.
- Victoro311

See, this is a great repsonse. Did you see the response from athletes all over from Drew Brees response to kneeling for the flag? He was asked about kneeling for the flag and not racial injustice. Why don't any of those athletes have an answer like this? Why stop after it was forgotten about when Kapernick did it?

I'm gonna quote a fella who happens to be black. You tell me who it is.

"The white liberal is the worst enemy to America, and the worst enemy to the black man. Let me explain what I mean by the white liberal. In America there is no such thing as Democrat or Republican anymore. In America you have liberals and conservatives. The only people living in the past who think in terms of I’m a Democrat or Republican, is the American Negro. He’s the one that runs around bragging about party affiliation. He’s the one that sticks to the Democrat or sticks to the Republican. But white people are divided into two groups, liberals and conservative. The Democrats who are conservative, vote with the Republicans who are conservative. The Democrats who are liberal vote with the Republicans that are liberal. The white liberal aren’t white people who are for independence, who are moral and ethical in their thinking. They are just a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. The same as the white conservative is a faction of white people that are jockeying for power. They are fighting each other for power and prestige, and the one that is the football in the game is the Negro, 20 million black people. A political football, a political pawn, an economic football, and economic pawn. A social football, a social pawn. The liberal elements of whites are those who have perfected the art of selling themselves to the Negro as a friend of the Negro. Getting sympathy of the Negro, getting the allegiance of the Negro, and getting the mind of the Negro. Then the Negro sides with the white liberal, and the white liberal use the Negro against the white conservative. So that anything that the Negro does is never for his own good, never for his own advancement, never for his own progress, he’s only a pawn in the hands of the white liberal. The worst enemy that the Negro have is this white man that runs around here drooling at the mouth professing to love Negros, and calling himself a liberal, and it is following these white liberals that has perpetuated problems that Negros have. If the Negro wasn’t taken, tricked, or deceived by the white liberal then Negros would get together and solve our own problems."


Eat your heart out pal. Stick to Hockey.
- nateca44

Shouldn't he write about something he's not ignorant of?