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Crunchy Frog

Crunchy Frog's Journal
Crunchy Frog's Journal
January 6, 2021

If this isn't an argument for MASSIVE police reform, I don't know what is.

The difference in their behavior between this, and the BLM protests is mind-boggling.

We need Congressional hearings.

November 9, 2020

Arkansas police chief resigns after appearing to call for violence over election

Nov. 8, 2020, 7:09 PM EST

By Tim Stelloh

An Arkansas police chief has resigned after he posted messages on a right-wing social media site that appeared to urge people to assault "Marxist" Democrats over the presidential election, the mayor said.

Elliot said that after he consulted with lawyers about Holland's posts, which appeared on the site Parler, he met with Holland, who resigned effective immediately. The posts were no longer visible Sunday, but NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock published screenshots of some of them.

"When this over and Trump is president for 4 more years," one said, "do not forget what these Marxist bastards have tried to do. When you see one in public get in their face do not give them any peace. Throw water on them at restaurants. Push them off sidewalks. Never let them forget they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arkansas-police-chief-resigns-after-appearing-call-violence-over-election-n1247059

He apparently also actually advocated political killings.

"Hang all these Marxist Democrats now," the message said.


October 23, 2020

It only took only around 3-4 million years, blink of an eye in geological time,

for evolution to turn something with the intelligence of a chimp into something with the intelligence of a human.

As far as birds go, they seem to have evolved different structures in their brains that perform similar functions to the mammalian neocortex.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/newfound-brain-structure-explains-why-some-birds-are-so-smart-and-maybe-even-self-aware

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/crow-intelligence/

I tend towards the view that humanlike intelligence is not as unique as we like to believe. I think there's a tendency among many to want to see ourselves as "speshul", and that this impulse can lead to some harmful and destructive behaviors.

I think there's just a philosophical divide that we're on different sides of, as I prefer to think of ourselves being a part of life on Earth, and our minds existing as part of a continuum with other creatures.

At least as far as bird brain question goes, it looks like the current scientific consensus is on my side.

October 9, 2020

Sen. Mike Lee's tweets against "democracy," explained. VOX

It’s not often that you see a US senator declare that “we’re not a democracy,” let alone to paint that as a good thing. Yet that’s exactly what Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) did in a pair of tweets spanning Wednesday night and Thursday morning, arguing that “democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity [sic] are.” “We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that,” Lee writes.

snip

On the American right, there is a long tradition of arguing that the United States is a “republic, not a democracy,” a distinction its proponents trace back to the founders. It centers not on whether a nation holds competitive elections but the extent to which it puts constraints on majorities from restricting the rights of minorities. Democracies, on this definition, allow for untrammeled majority rule; republics put in place rules that prevent legislators from using their power in tyrannical ways (think the Bill of Rights).

snip

The spin offered by Lee and others on the right, historically speaking, originated as arguments for curbing democracy in the ordinary sense of the word — the ability of majorities to enact popular policies (that conservatives disapproved of). Warning against “the tyranny of the majority” serves as a justification for minority rule.

Quite a lot more in the article.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21507713/mike-lee-democracy-republic-trump-2020

A long article but the upshot is that Republicans want to change our democratic republic into an authoritarian republic.


October 4, 2020

Somebody on 11th Hour last night made a Freudian slip,

When referring to the "cemetery er ceremony" in the Rose Garden. It was really funny 😄.

October 2, 2020

I don't think it's a trick, but I do think it's a gambit.

He's counting on people rallying around him in his moment of crisis, and playing the martyr. And I'm not sure that enough people have the sense not to be sucked in.

Also, who's going to speak Ill of him during his heroic struggle? Who's going to continue to mention his performance in that debate.

I think it's an act of desperation on his part because he would literally rather die than lose.

In any event, I think the timing is good for him and bad for us.

October 2, 2020

I just came back to this news after relaxing with a little YouTube.

Whether he actually has it or not, I think it's some sort of whacko con, and a desperate last ditch effort to get reelected.

I honestly think he'd rather die than be a "loser". If he takes Biden down with him, he'll see it as a double victory, even if it's through a haze of sedation on a ventilator.

Now I need to calm down with some Bacardi.

Profile Information

Name: Debbie Downer
Gender: Female
Home country: A republic if we can keep it.
Member since: Sun Oct 26, 2003, 05:06 AM
Number of posts: 26,579

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