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"Stochastic Terrorism" makes no more sense to me than Chomsky's (intentional) nonsense phrase "colorless green ideas sleep furiously". As a math person, can you make any sense of how "stochastic" terrorism differs from the garden variety? Those words don't seem to belong together.
Biden said, "Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.". To me, the abnormality is the obsession with Donald Trump - those truly obsessed and ruining lives based on his spectre and those who are using it as political misdirection. Most of what came after that is straight out of the genocide handbook - putting us at stage 6. It concerns me that to his ilk, the only true Republicans are the ones who agree with democrats. The horrific tone deafness of authoritarian references when he is the worst yet would be funny, were iI not concered that he was speaking to a goodly number of true believers. I too believe we are at an inflection point and we will choose a banana republic or freedom with all its messiness and confusion. But we cannot have both.
"And yet, history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy." Yet he tells us if we do not fall in line we are MAGA Republicans becuase only those evil people disagree with his god like pronouncements.
He did give me one laugh when he said, "And this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool." Standing in Independence Hall uttering that bullshit means he is relying heavily on vapid thinkers who are poorly educated in our history. If the Founders were not rolling over in their graves at the speech they surely were laughing their asses off in heaven.
I completely agree with this, "We’re all called by duty and conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else." but he identified the wrong extremists.
> The Republicans have pendulum-swung into extremism on the abortion issue in many states.
Without defending the Republicans here because they *have* gone to extremes, it's not like "I support abortion up until the moment of birth" is particularly *less* extreme.
It's assholes all the way down. All I've ever wanted is just to be left the fuck alone.
And hopefully I won't have to go full Daxin Freeborn to get it.
"I love seeing Trumpists condemning the political optics of this image. Admittedly, they are terrible. But they are only bad by reference to values that should lead you to totally repudiate Trump himself. For Biden, this is a gaffe; for Trump, it would be a window into his soul."
Beyond that, I note that most of Trumps speeches are outdoor daylight ones (or if indoors generally in large stadiums etc.) with backdrops of flags flapping in the breeze, home made signs and cheering multitudes. Yes they can look a bit culty but they are positive expressions of a love of country and an optimistic view of the future. Biden can't draw thousands of cheering supports in the first place so his minders have to make different venue choices. But I think we can all agree that this one was particularly bad.
Your comments on the political pendulum of Roe V Wade and it's after effects on the coming election I feel is spot on. Most likely we will be dealing with overreach, both from Blue states removing as many barriers and red states putting as many up as they can, for the next few decades before an actual compromise and middle ground is found. The crazies on both sides were given a bloody red meat feast thanks to the way Roe v Wade ended and neither is gonna let go of that particular chew toy anytime soon, especially since they can point to their political opposition and justify their actions based on what they are doing.
As for not voting I do completely understand even though I do not fully agree. Though personally I think this makes even more clear the need for their to always be an option of "None of the Above"
or something to that effect, on every ballot. Perhaps we could start to get some of the politicians to realize just how alienating they are if 25 or 30 percent of the vote was basically "we don't think any of you will represent us properly and don't want any of you to win"
I'm rereading the Gulag Archipelago and one passage that I'd never noticed leapt at me, out of the page, and drove a splinter in my mind. He was describing the idea of the 'cult of personality' as a euphemism meant to soften what can be understood more simply, and accurately as atavism. I have much more I'd like to say about this speech, but I've said it all in my head half a dozen times; with the number of comments on this already, I found them best left there. I thought you might find that interesting and relevant, however.
This is perceptive and thoughtful, although I can't say much more than that, not being American.
I will note that a legal academic at Oxford (& a friend of mine) tweeted this image, using Biden's red/black lighting as a substitute cover for a book by a man who, while an extremely able lawyer, lent his immense legal talent to the Nazis in the 1930s: https://twitter.com/annvyshinsky/status/1565708938175184902?s=21&t=_lVvlC-AJlZ_PLBLDxCe4Q
"Stochastic Terrorism" makes no more sense to me than Chomsky's (intentional) nonsense phrase "colorless green ideas sleep furiously". As a math person, can you make any sense of how "stochastic" terrorism differs from the garden variety? Those words don't seem to belong together.
Biden said, "Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.". To me, the abnormality is the obsession with Donald Trump - those truly obsessed and ruining lives based on his spectre and those who are using it as political misdirection. Most of what came after that is straight out of the genocide handbook - putting us at stage 6. It concerns me that to his ilk, the only true Republicans are the ones who agree with democrats. The horrific tone deafness of authoritarian references when he is the worst yet would be funny, were iI not concered that he was speaking to a goodly number of true believers. I too believe we are at an inflection point and we will choose a banana republic or freedom with all its messiness and confusion. But we cannot have both.
"And yet, history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy." Yet he tells us if we do not fall in line we are MAGA Republicans becuase only those evil people disagree with his god like pronouncements.
He did give me one laugh when he said, "And this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool." Standing in Independence Hall uttering that bullshit means he is relying heavily on vapid thinkers who are poorly educated in our history. If the Founders were not rolling over in their graves at the speech they surely were laughing their asses off in heaven.
I completely agree with this, "We’re all called by duty and conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else." but he identified the wrong extremists.
> The Republicans have pendulum-swung into extremism on the abortion issue in many states.
Without defending the Republicans here because they *have* gone to extremes, it's not like "I support abortion up until the moment of birth" is particularly *less* extreme.
It's assholes all the way down. All I've ever wanted is just to be left the fuck alone.
And hopefully I won't have to go full Daxin Freeborn to get it.
Your "buddy" Sam Harris has a particularly telling tweet on the speech
https://twitter.com/SamHarrisOrg/status/1565825294459498496
"I love seeing Trumpists condemning the political optics of this image. Admittedly, they are terrible. But they are only bad by reference to values that should lead you to totally repudiate Trump himself. For Biden, this is a gaffe; for Trump, it would be a window into his soul."
Beyond that, I note that most of Trumps speeches are outdoor daylight ones (or if indoors generally in large stadiums etc.) with backdrops of flags flapping in the breeze, home made signs and cheering multitudes. Yes they can look a bit culty but they are positive expressions of a love of country and an optimistic view of the future. Biden can't draw thousands of cheering supports in the first place so his minders have to make different venue choices. But I think we can all agree that this one was particularly bad.
PS https://meme.aho.st/tag/biden/ has many images mocking the speech
Your comments on the political pendulum of Roe V Wade and it's after effects on the coming election I feel is spot on. Most likely we will be dealing with overreach, both from Blue states removing as many barriers and red states putting as many up as they can, for the next few decades before an actual compromise and middle ground is found. The crazies on both sides were given a bloody red meat feast thanks to the way Roe v Wade ended and neither is gonna let go of that particular chew toy anytime soon, especially since they can point to their political opposition and justify their actions based on what they are doing.
As for not voting I do completely understand even though I do not fully agree. Though personally I think this makes even more clear the need for their to always be an option of "None of the Above"
or something to that effect, on every ballot. Perhaps we could start to get some of the politicians to realize just how alienating they are if 25 or 30 percent of the vote was basically "we don't think any of you will represent us properly and don't want any of you to win"
Is the red/black lighting supposed to be a nod to the antifa red/black flags?
I'm rereading the Gulag Archipelago and one passage that I'd never noticed leapt at me, out of the page, and drove a splinter in my mind. He was describing the idea of the 'cult of personality' as a euphemism meant to soften what can be understood more simply, and accurately as atavism. I have much more I'd like to say about this speech, but I've said it all in my head half a dozen times; with the number of comments on this already, I found them best left there. I thought you might find that interesting and relevant, however.