A place for progressive atheists.

from a friend on another thread.

I'm Not The Radical Left, I'm The Humane Middle

September 26, 2019 / John Pavlovitz

Apparently, I've been radicalized and I wasn't aware.

Certain people call me the "radical Left" all the time.

I never considered myself radical before.
I just thought I was normal, ordinary, usual.
I thought equity was important to everyone.
I imagined America was filled with people who took that Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness stuff seriously—for all people.
I thought the Golden Rule was actually mainstream.

Recently I took an inventory of my positions, screening for the extremism:

I believe in full LGBTQ rights.
I believe we should protect the planet.
I believe everyone deserves healthcare.
I believe all religions are equally valid.
I believe the world is bigger than America.
I believe to be "pro-life," means to treasure all of it.
I believe whiteness isn't superior and it is not the baseline of humanity.
I believe we are all one interdependent community.
I believe people and places are made better by diversity.
I believe people shouldn't be forced to abide by anyone else's religion.
I believe non-American human beings have as much value as American ones.
I believe generosity is greater than greed, compassion better than contempt, and kindness superior to derision.
I believe there is enough in this world for everyone: enough food, enough money, enough room, enough care—if we unleash our creativity and unclench our fists.

I'm not sure how these ideas became radical, though it seems to have happened in the last few years.
I grew up being taught they were just part of being a decent human being.
I grew up believing that loving my neighbor as myself, meant that I actually worked for their welfare as much as my own.
I was taught that caring for the least in the world, was the measure of my devotion to God.
I thought that inalienable rights of other people were supposed to be a priority as a decent participant in the world.

I don't think I'm alone.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that most people reside here in this place alongside me: the desire for compassion and diversity and equality and justice; that these things aren't fringe ideologies or extremist positions—but simply the best way to be human.

I think most people want more humanity, not less.

I think the vast middle is exhausted by the cruelty of these days.

That these aspirations seem radical to some people, is probably an alarm that they've moved so far into the extremes of their fortified ideological bunkers and been so poisoned by the propaganda, that normal now seems excessive, that equality now seems oppressive, that goodness feels reckless.

Maybe the problem is, these people are so filled with fear for those who are different, so conditioned to be at war with the world, so indoctrinated into a white nationalistic religion of malice—that they've lost sight of what being a human being looks like anymore.

I am pretty sure that I don't represent the "radical Left," but the vast, disparate, compassionate, humane Middle; people who are not threatened by someone else's presence, who do not see another person's gain as their loss, who don't worship a Caucasian, American god.

I suppose humanity feels radical to inhumane people.

In that case, I'll gladly be here in my extremism.

I used to be an ardent NPR listener, but I haven't been able to tune in for the last 2 years. Just hearing that obscene fraud's voice sends me into triggers. Thank goodness for John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, and the rest of John Stewart's proteges for giving us a lens of humor to deal with the reprehensible state of our union.

This Last Week Tonight episode is relevant to our membership, especially if any of us have had to prioritize which medical condition we can afford to get help for first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z2XRg3dy9k

Just an FYI. Bernie Sanders visited Tacoma yesterday evening and 17,000 people went to hear him.

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it.

Whitney Griswold

Here is an article about Stop and Frisk. Bloomberg was wrong but in the author's opinion not a racist. It's how I read him, too.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/opinion/bloombe...

I thought Elizabeth did very well tonight

Your worth is not measured by what you do. Nor can you calculate the degree of your worthiness by what you possess. Your worth is a function of your being. Your being is colorless, genderless, and believe it or not, ageless. Your being is worthy of honor, admiration, and respect. It is a vessel of love and light. It is a beacon of inspiration. - Iyanla Vanzant

Always look forward to the week-ends. Most times there are more repeats of the weeks issues and it is a chance to take a break. Good time to get re-inspired for the up-coming week. Sure need up-lifting ideas because the current government can be a downer on almost any day.

Seems to make things clearer for me.

Heather Cox Richardson

February 24, 2020 (Monday)

The major news today, both at home and abroad, is the spread, containment, and management of coronavirus. I am going to write about its political implications. I am neither a doctor nor an epidemiologist, and cannot weigh in on anything other than what this moment looks like to a political historian.

And, while that sounds like a strange lens through which to see this new disease, the virus is actually quite important for American politics.

By now, everyone knows the key elements of the coronavirus story: a pneumonia outbreak appeared in December in Wuhan, China, and scientists traced it to a new strain of coronavirus. After the disease claimed a number of lives, China issued the largest quarantine in history, keeping about 45 million people home from work and public spaces. Epidemiologists were impressively fast off the mark, isolating the new virus and beginning to develop models for how it spreads and vaccinations for how to stop it.

But it has moved quickly. As of 9:30 tonight, there have been slightly over 80,000 confirmed cases around the world and 2,699 confirmed deaths. (Let me reiterate: these are the existing numbers, but there are many reasons why they are not in any way definitive as a measure of health or of the epidemic. I'm just giving a sense of the scope of the crisis here for a political read on it.)

Last weekend, as I wrote here, the World Health Organization suggested that the window for containing the coronavirus was closing, but many scientists think the window has already closed.

And yet, the U.S. seems to be unprepared. In May 2018, under then-National Security Advisor John Bolton, the administration got rid of the official in charge of overseeing a U.S. response to a pandemic and disbanded the global health security team. Today Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli went on Twitter to ask people if they, too, were having trouble accessing the coronavirus map maintained by Johns Hopkins University. "Has the Johns Hopkins map of the coronavirus stopped working for other people, or just me?" Cuccinelli tweeted. "I just tried again, and it looks like Johns Hopkins put the information behind a membership wall of some kind. Seems like bad timing to stop helping the world with this (previously) useful resource. Here's hoping it goes back up soon."

Newspaper columnist Max Burbank shared the popular outrage: "Thanks for inspiring confidence. Shouldn't YOU GUYS have a map of this? Shouldn't the CDC? You know who they are, right? Isn't there anyone in charge of response to this? Or did someone colossally stupid eliminate that position?" American historian L. D. Burnett tweeted: "there is literally an ENTIRE FEDERAL AGENCY working for you that you could ask to provide you and all Americans with the latest information on the Coronavirus." Health policy professor Howard Forman begged: "PLEASE can someone tell me that this is a parody account and that our Executive branch has a CLUE of what is going on? PLEASE!?" Forman then helpfully included links to useful resources for his followers.

The administration has been uncharacteristically quiet about the crisis, and seems unable to figure out how to handle it. I wrote before about its decision to return 14 infected people from the cruise ship the Diamond Princess to America in the same plane as uninfected people despite the protests of CDC officials, and now officials find themselves unable to find a place to house those people still in quarantine because of the flight. The infected travelers have brought the official count of U.S. cases to over 50, but experts think the number might be higher because we are not testing for it.

In 2014, when 2 health care workers infected with the Ebola virus were brought back to America for treatment, Trump had plenty to say. He tweeted: "Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days — now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!" The next day he continued: "The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back…. People that go to far away places to help out are great — but must suffer the consequences!" He called for strict flight bans and quarantines and called it "morally unfair" when President Barack Obama sent troops to help contain the outbreak.

This time, though, Trump has been largely silent about the crisis except to say it is under control. On February 16, the Washington Post reported that Trump was worried by a 600 point stock market drop on January 31 after major airlines suspended flights to China. Afraid that strong action against the virus would worry people and thus hurt the economy, he focused on calming the markets by staying quiet, since he sees a strong economy as his primary strength going into the election. "The biggest current threat to the president's reelection is this thing getting out of control and creating a health and economic impact," according to Chris Meekins, a former Trump administration emergency-preparedness official.

Today, the administration's silence changed. It requested $2.5 billion in emergency funding for the crisis (significantly less than the $6 billion Obama asked for to combat Ebola), and Trump, who is on a trip to India, weighed in. "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"

Trump appears to have been pressured into acknowledging the crisis by its growing impact on the economy. The Chinese quarantine has slowed or stopped production there, emptying the pipeline of supplies flowing to American manufacturing and merchants, and this weekend's news that the virus is spreading outside Asia sparked economic fears. The U.S. stock market dropped 1000 points today, a drop of 3.5%, its worst in two years. Airline stocks led the slide. And now, tonight, which is Tuesday morning in Japan, Tokyo stocks opened down about 1000 points on coronavirus fears. (The market was closed on Monday.)

As I say, I am 100% not going to weigh in on this as a medical issue—I am neither a doctor nor an epidemiologist—but as a political historian I will note two things. First, Trump's instincts are right: this health crisis will definitely slow down the economy and could trigger a recession, and that would indeed cripple his reelection campaign.

Second, our public safety should matter more to a president than his reelection campaign.

FiveThirtyEight is a site run by the pollster, Nate Silver. Here are polls pitting each Democratic candidate against Trump. The polls vary quite a bit by pollster and date.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/?ex_cid...

I could go for Warren, or Bloomberg. Combination of the two would be fine.

I think we need Klobuchar in their somewhere too.

Klobuchar would make a great President or VP. She has a safe seat in the Senate so it won't hurt the numbers to remove her to the administration. She would be great in almost any cabinet post.

What you said!! Santa Barbarian. My *fantasy debate moment* is Elizabeth, like a NICE Tracey Flick, chiding "You don't scare me... you're just a fake tan fraud". I'm still chuckling, and you can almost see that.

As deteriorated as Trump is, does anyone actually think he will participate in a debate? No matter who the nominee is for the Democrats, Trump will never debate.