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Bat Guano

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Everything posted by Bat Guano

  1. Was talking to a Brit a few years ago who seemed proud of the fact that worldwide, more people drive on the left than the right. He said it was 55-45. Don't know if that's true or not. Lots of people in China and India, though.
  2. So wait, now Avenatti's hinting that Trump paid for an abortion and Broidy stepped up to take the fall for it? Is this new or have I missed it earlier?
  3. Something along these lines?
  4. Misleading thread title. Bitchy lawyer and Port Authority Commissioner, tries unsuccessfully to use her influence to intimidate cops who found drugs on her daughter or whatever. How does this equal corruption?
  5. Yeah, I gambled and put some plants out in the middle of February. Had to cover them several times, but it paid off in early 'maters. Some full size ones coming along nicely; still green, but it shouldn't be too long now.
  6. Ha. Joke's on you. Inverter already took a shit, and I had to replace it about 6 months ago. Wait, what? So... I may still be in the black, or maybe not; that was a couple thousand in unexpected expense, and I haven't crunched the numbers. I still get warm fuzzy feels from figuring out by how many tons of carbon I'm reducing my footprint, though.
  7. Yeah, expand on that, Gil. Why is it a PITA? I've got a system that's 11 years old, has already paid for itself and all of its production now is gravy, for me. I'm counting on it adding at least a few thousand in added value to my house if I decide to sell; should I not be?
  8. [humblebrag]Ate my first ripe tomato of the season. Only a cherry, but still. Delicious.[/humblebrag]
  9. Only $78 for 3 Extreme Survival Warfare Bottles? 3 of them? Holy shit, sounds like a steal to me. I'ma get right on that deal.
  10. Let me know the next time a mustached fatty gets arrested for sitting in a Starbucks.
  11. Is this your way of admitting you benefit from white privilege? Kudos. You might want to learn how to express yourself more directly, though.
  12. You (or someone) brought up the example of biglaw hiring. This seems to be debatable; if black candidates manage to achieve a good enough GPA from a good enough school they are pretty capable individuals and will have a bright future regardless of any ‘privilege’ afforded them by a few law firms; at that point we’re quibbling over which firm will make them the best offer. But for the sake of argument let’s assume it’s true, and top black law school graduates get a tangible, significant benefit from their skin color. Great for them. Anything else? What other ‘privileges’ are you referring to? Yes, being born into the richest country in the history of the world is a privilege. And yes, if people follow your formula in general they will not lack for necessities; not a guarantee, but in general true. So what? Does that ameliorate racial discrimination? If you apply that standard to your own life – work hard, play by the rules, all the rest – don’t you expect more than just ‘never lack for necessities?’ I’m sure you’re aiming for something a bit more than necessities; you’ve undoubtedly surrounded yourself with material luxury and wealth, prestige, and freedom from financial worry for the rest of your days. Would you really be satisfied if you were working hard 40 hours a week or more and it bought you a 600 square foot house, enough food to keep from starving, enough clothes to get you through your work week, and medical care? The necessities. Is that what you want from life? I doubt it. Why is that enough for other people in the richest country in the history of the world? Edit: Another question: To bring this back to the original topic, we have no indication that the two guys in the Starbucks didn’t follow your prescription to the letter, and they were arrested anyway. I think we can safely assume that Johnny Sack would not be arrested in a similar situation, but again for the sake of argument let’s assume some kind of equality and fantasize that you were arrested for sitting at a Starbucks. Would an arrest on your record dissuade a law firm from hiring you? Suppose it happened a couple of times; now you're a repeat offender. Maybe you don’t get that cushy job at Biglaw and your lifetime earnings are cut by half, or more. Are we copacetic? Still happy with your lot in life?
  13. This thread began with a specific incident that illustrates how blacks in this country face continuing discrimination that has real consequences for their lives. The argument since then seems to boil down to a discussion of whether blacks are afforded other advantages, with the implication that these supposed advantages offset the disadvantages caused by racial discrimination. White privilege is another way of saying discrimination against minorities, and blacks face the worst of it in this country. I don’t think that’s a controversial statement, although Native Americans may disagree, and they may have a point. Discrimination rears its head in cases like the Starbucks incident and in more significant cases, like differences in hiring rates and unequal enforcement of laws and sentencing. ‘Driving while black’ is a thing; ‘driving while white’ isn’t. Sentencing disparities based on race are well documented, and have large and long-lasting effects on peoples’ lives. I knew an old fella that owned a business in Austin and hired hundreds of people over the more than 30 years he ran it, not one of them black even though there were plenty of blacks qualified for those jobs. Maybe you can say those two guys in the Starbucks got lucky because they are still alive; that’s probably an exaggeration, but it’s not a huge one. We’ve seen plenty of Bernard incidents where similar situations ended up being escalated to the point where someone got shot. Real estate redlining is an actual problem. The list goes on. The point is, policy solutions may help, but they won’t solve the problem (and of course there will be those that argue against any policy solutions anyway; affirmative action is all but dead because reverse racism is a handy buzzword). The only thing that will really solve the problem completely is cultural change, so that people don’t learn racial prejudice in the first place. The first step toward that, it seems to me, is for people to at least acknowledge that discrimination exists. And that means that privilege exists. I’m white, and it is clear to me that I’ve had lots of advantages because of my skin color. I’m not proud of it, nor am I ashamed of it; it’s just a fact. I really don’t see what’s so hard about acknowledging that fact when it’s staring you in the face: if you’re white in the US, you have a number of advantages over minorities right out of the gate. Can anyone explain to me why that’s so hard to admit? Chrispy? Spanky? Johnny? Anyone?
  14. I did it once, because I'm not afraid to try new things. But I'll never do it again.
  15. There are more in the Times story, if you're looking for them.
  16. Why not? It's fucking delicious and Din Ho is in Austin. Seems legit.
  17. Good post. This is an important point that lots of people overlook. To flesh out the argument: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
  18. Nipples. Serious bidness. Is Your Body Appropriate to Wear to School? It started with a sunburn. Lizzy Martinez, 17, a junior at Braden River High School in Bradenton, Fla., had been swimming and tanning all weekend at a water park in Orlando. But when Monday morning came and she had to get dressed for school, Lizzy’s bra felt painfully constricting on her burned skin. So she ditched the bra and purposely chose to wear something dark and loose — a long sleeve, oversize, crew neck gray T-shirt — so she wouldn’t draw attention to her chest. But around 10 a.m., about 15 minutes into her veterinary assistance class, Lizzy was called out of the classroom for a meeting with two school officials, Dean Violeta Velazquez and Principal Sharon Scarbrough. They asked her why she wasn’t wearing a bra. She said she told her school administrators about the sunburn. They insisted that she was violating the school dress code. (The 2017-2018 Code of Student Conduct does not say bras must be worn by female students.) They told her to put on an undershirt because boys were “looking and laughing” at her, a detail she later challenged. “No one said a thing to me until I got to the dean’s office,” Lizzy said. Lizzy was given four adhesive bandages from the school clinic. “They had me ‘X’ out my nipples,” she said. And because rules:
  19. I agree. At the time the discussion was veering off into the conclusion that the cops didn't really do anything that bad, and it was mostly the Starbucks' manager's fault for calling them. So my point was that the cops actually prevented a reasonable solution presented by gray vest guy - all of them leave, and there's no problem. But once the cops had decided to arrest the black guys, they wouldn't listen to any alternative solutions. They escalated the situation needlessly, because they felt their authority was being questioned, and as we know that's the one thing cops can't abide.
  20. That's exactly what they did, from my watching of the longer video. Hard to hear what people are saying on it, but I'm pretty sure when gray vest guy shows up while cops are getting ready to arrest the black guys, gray vest guy says, OK, let them go and we'll just go somewhere else. Cop says, no, they already had their chance to do that and they didn't do it. Or something like that. Then the crowd of cops slaps the cuffs on them. Respect my authoritah!
  21. Ahem.
  22. This Cohen guy isn't a real lawyer, is he? I mean, he's just a dumb guy who pretends to be a lawyer for other dumb guys who don't know any better, right?
  23. Damn fake news USA Today. Can't get anything right. They didn't even mention the mixtape I sent him.
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