I do not condone mob violence, burning and destroying civic and law enforcement buildings as an expression of righteous “compensation” for “centuries” of past wrongdoing. Justifying one evil with more evil doesn’t work!
I have not seen any postings from you about 1/6/21…you’re such a hypocrite… the holy water in the church bubbles up when you touch it.
These yahoos tried to overthrow the government. Granted, they are pawns but so are Russian troops sent into battle with little or no prep against a righteous cause. You can't re-educate them. You can only shoot them [Russian troops].
When child molester Gaetz, anti-semite Qanon proponent MTG, Gym "I saw nothing") Jordan, Scott Perry (let's replace the AG to keep DJT in power) are using idiot Kevin McCarthy as if he were Charley McCarthy, we're way beyond reasoning with folks.
And please, the false equivalence is astoundingly disgusting. When victims of everyday racism march against the continuing execution of young black men and there's a small group of troublemakers among them who create damage to property, it's the desperation of the masses - including lots of millennial white kids (to their credit). Also note the alliance of cops and the punk who shot 3 white youths with impunity. Any comparison of the insurrection to BLM is insulting to centuries of dead minorities (including Greeks and Italians in the early 1900s) murdered by white mobs and cops.
The homeless? Really? These blue cities certainly have their share and they're certainly not helped by Meatball Ron spending taxpayer money to bus other states' immigrants up north just for yuks.
Compare any blue state or city, such as the ones you name, and you'll find major efforts to solve these problems. You'll also find thriving metropolises which are productive and largely healthy.
Still glad to see me back on MOL?
Absolutely! we can discuss, consider, and comment and still behave civilly , I hope.
I do not condone mob violence, burning and destroying small business, and civic and law enforcement buildings as an expression of righteous “compensation” for “centuries” of past wrongdoing. Justifying one evil with more evil doesn’t work!
The responses to George Floyd and other murder victims are very current and representative of centuries of treatment.
I'll say this, mtierney. Folks have piled up 37,000 posts in this thread over the years so you're giving "the libs" lots of exercise, if not "owning" them/us.
Explain to them that dems fought to have brakes ON EVERY CAR but Trump fought the regulation.
It wouldn’t be helpful to explain it to them, but maybe it’s helpful here.
“However, even if this safety rule had still been in effect, it would not have applied to the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, because it was not categorized as a high-hazard cargo train.”
“I can tell you right now, because I’m very familiar with that rule, that the rule would have had no impact on this train,” Ms. Homendy [head of the NTSB] said. “Those brakes wouldn’t have been on this one.”
I'll skip over your gravely dishonest characterization of what actually happened during in 2020 and 21, and instead focus on a potential point of agreement in your second point -- the question of homelessness.
One big part of the problem is that, while many of our cities have recovered from their lows of the late 20th C, when white flight and de-investment ravaged them, and are now highly attractive places to live and work, the housing supply has not kept pace. And for that we can blame the property owners in our cities and suburbs including -- yes -- plenty of people who vote for Democrats.
While it's not the full solution, a substantial part of the solution is overcoming these NIMBYs. Too many liberals become downright conservative when the issue of housing comes up, and throw all kinds of phony excuses, such as manipulating environmental regulations, to fight housing and preserve what they'll euphemistically call the "neighborhood character."
No way do I buy that homelessness in the city is largely a result of NIMBY-ism.
It is predominantly about mental health and poverty. Emphasis on the former.
We need to help these people, even if they can’t help themselves.
I disagree. Lack of access to housing is, I'd argue, pretty bad for mental health. If you're already on the brink, losing your housing can certainly push you over the edge. If you're already over the edge, lack of safe, reliable housing is going to make it very difficult to recover.
I'd say that shelter is one of the very basic necessities for mental health, and when our cities and their suburbs do not build housing even as their populations grow, it's nearly axiomatic that housing will become unaffordable for more and more people.
Another thing to keep in mind is that we need to think about this regionally. Yes, we primarily see homelessness in urban centers -- mainly because that's where services and opportunities to scrounge up a bare minimum of food and money are. But access to housing is a regional issue, and suburbs are often very aggressive at running unhoused people out of town.
I disagree. Lack of access to housing is, I'd argue, pretty bad for mental health. If you're already on the brink, losing your housing can certainly push you over the edge. If you're already over the edge, lack of safe, reliable housing is going to make it very difficult to recover.
I'd say that shelter is one of the very basic necessities for mental health, and when our cities and their suburbs do not build housing even as their populations grow, it's nearly axiomatic that housing will become unaffordable for more and more people.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. Doesn’t happen often.
The reasons why so many people — via our southern border, they number just since last year alone — are vast and encompass economic, religious, survival, war, education, employment, financial and social opportunity. We know the “why.” What is not in place or defined is the “How”.
We have gotten to the point where the United States is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn’t. Without a strong governmental policy backed by rational rules and regulations agreed upon by both political parties, I see nothing but more suffering, chaos and death ahead.
We have to do the right things for the right reason.
Putting homeless folks in $500 per night hotel rooms in NYC is not one.
Are there still vacant office space in buildings around the city? Open public spaces such as convention centers, abandoned retail shopping destinations, etc? Specifically, not our green spaces — we all need those to survive.
“When someone becomes homeless, the instinct is to ask what tragedy befell them. What bad choices did they make with drugs or alcohol? What prevented them from getting a higher-paying job? Why did they have more children than they could afford? Why didn’t they make rent? Identifying personal failures or specific tragedies helps those of us who have homes feel less precarious—if homelessness is about personal failure, it’s easier to dismiss as something that couldn’t happen to us, and harsh treatment is easier to rationalize toward those who experience it.”
You do realize that Ellis island is now a museum and non operational as a port of entry. Millions came without visas on ships from Europe, processed and allowed to set foot on New Jersey soil once they didn’t sneeze or cough….
The majority coming to the southern border are Catholics, but you are not interested in that. You are more obsessed with how Biden is dealing with the problem. Have you been to church lately? How many European Americans go to mass? You really need to stop watching and listening to the republicans and their toxicity.
The Covid-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory leak, according to a classified intelligence report from the U.S. Energy Department.
The report, which was included in an update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office, was recently provided to the White House and other lawmakers. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the updated assessment from the Energy Department is the result of new intelligence.
The Energy Department, which oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, made its judgment with “low confidence,” the Wall Street Journal reported. The assessment marks a change from 2021, when the department was undecided on how the virus originated.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan responded to the report on Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.
“Here’s what I can tell you. President Biden has directed, repeatedly, every element of our intelligence community to put effort and resources behind getting to the bottom of this question,” Sullivan said. “If we gain any further insight or information, we will share it with Congress, and we will share it with the American people. But right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question.”
A declassified intelligence report released in November 2021 previously revealed that the FBI concluded with “moderate confidence” that the pandemic began with a “laboratory accident” following a 90-day review ordered by President Biden.
The FBI still holds this view, according to the report, while four other agencies and the National Intelligence Council assess with “low confidence” the pandemic was likely caused by natural transmission from an infected animal. Two other agencies, including the CIA, are undecided.
Several virology labs are located in Wuhan, where the pandemic began, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where bat coronaviruses were studied.
U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that while the Energy Department and FBI agree that an unintended lab leak was likely the cause of the pandemic, both agencies made their assessment for different reasons.
While many officials once dismissed the lab-leak theory, instead claiming an outbreak at a seafood market in Wuhan, China, was the source of the virus, some scientists and officials now believe the outbreak was just an example of community spread and not where Covid-19 originated, according to the report.
A team of experts from ten countries released a report on behalf of the WHO in March 2021 saying the virus was likely spread from an animal to humans, calling a theory that the virus was released in a lab accident “extremely unlikely.” The researchers said they would not recommend further investigation.
However, Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO food safety and animal diseases expert who led the organization’s investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus, said in a Danish documentary months later that that Chinese colleagues influenced the presentation of the team’s findings.
“In the beginning, they didn’t want anything about the lab [in the report], because it was impossible, so there was no need to waste time on that,” Ben Embarek said. “We insisted on including it, because it was part of the whole issue about where the virus originated.”
The Wall Street Journal report comes one month after House Republicans formed a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to investigate the origins of Covid-19 and other aspects of the pandemic.
What does the fact that different U.S. agencies came to different conclusions, all but one of them (the FBI) with low confidence, tell you? Do you feel any closer than you did before to knowing what the source really was?
The reporting I'm seeing at first blush looks reasonable / responsible to me. Sure, it's low confidence but it's still a material change in an official assessment of pretty much the biggest thing that happened in the world over the past 3 years. So it's a big story.
The news doesn't help the case of those who dismissed the lab leak theory as just another wackadoo right wing conspiracy theory. So anyone in that camp would be inclined to pooh-pooh this.
The reporting I'm seeing at first blush looks reasonable / responsible to me. Sure, it's low confidence but it's still a material change in an official assessment of pretty much the biggest thing that happened in the world over the past 3 years. So it's a big story.
The news doesn't help the case of those who dismissed the lab leak theory as just another wackadoo right wing conspiracy theory. So anyone in that camp would be inclined to pooh-pooh this.
It was a "wackadoo right wing conspiracy theory" because there was no evidence for it. The fact that there might be evidence for it today (of course, we don't know what that evidence is) doesn't justify what people were saying two years ago.
And the evidence for the generally accepted theory that Covid originated from a bat in a wet market was compelling?
Heres a pretty decent snapshot of the evidence on both sides as of May 2021. To me it doesn’t look anywhere near conclusive enough to accept the bat theory and dismiss the lab leak theory.
I think the only thing wrong with the lab leak theory was that it was embraced by the right. Which in itself automatically made that theory a radioactive pile of dung for the left, rationality aside.
BIG NUMBER 2. That’s how many intelligence agencies, the Department of Energy and the FBI, have determined that Covid-19 was leaked from a lab, according to the Journal. The FBI came to its conclusion in 2021 with “moderate confidence.” Four agencies have reportedly determined with “low confidence” the virus was transmitted naturally through animals. The CIA and one other unnamed agency remain undecided between the two origin theories.
I’ll admit I haven’t caught up with the last 30-odd comments, sorry. But this news item made me laugh! Someone at Guardian Australia might be reading MOL!!!
And the evidence for the generally accepted theory that Covid originated from a bat in a wet market was compelling?
Heres a pretty decent snapshot of the evidence on both sides as of May 2021. To me it doesn’t look anywhere near conclusive enough to accept the bat theory and dismiss the lab leak theory.
I think the only thing wrong with the lab leak theory was that it was embraced by the right. Which in itself automatically made that theory a radioactive pile of dung for the left, rationality aside.
Do you see me arguing for one side or the other?
Having said that, the evidence for a leak is extremely weak. That's why the DOE's (again, why the DOE?) determination is of low confidence and why it's still a minority opinion among the agencies.
People who were espousing a lab leak two years ago were overwhelmingly doing it to attack China, not because they had evidence for it. That's what was wrong with their "theories". The fact that they were overwhelmingly right-wing should give you pause, but of course it won't.
And, just for the helluva it, here's an example of the WSJ reporter's earlier work:
Also, exactly what expertise does the Department of Energy have in tracing viruses?
Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was. But many of the Energy Department’s insights come from the network of national laboratories it oversees, rather than more traditional forms of intelligence like spy networks or communications intercepts.
Also, exactly what expertise does the Department of Energy have in tracing viruses?
Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was. But many of the Energy Department’s insights come from the network of national laboratories it oversees, rather than more traditional forms of intelligence like spy networks or communications intercepts.
That doesn't really help. They have insights from U.S. labs (what type of labs?) which allow them to determine (with a low level of confidence) what happened at the bio-lab in Wuhan?
Typical Times claptrap. Words that fill space and tell us nothing.
That doesn't really help. They have insights from U.S. labs (what type of labs?) which allow them to determine (with a low level of confidence) what happened at the bio-lab in Wuhan?
That doesn't really help. They have insights from U.S. labs (what type of labs?) which allow them to determine (with a low level of confidence) what happened at the bio-lab in Wuhan?
CNN covered the story today, as did the WSJ and here is the NYP…
“The Wall Street Journal reports that the Energy Department has concluded that the COVID pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak.
“The conclusion is reportedly based on a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress. Many will be exploring why the scientific evidence of a lab leak was so slow to emerge from intelligence agencies.
“However, for my part, the most alarming aspect was the censorship, not the science.
“There will continue to be a debate over the origins of COVID-19, but now there will be an actual debate.
“For years, the media and government allied to treat anyone raising a lab theory as one of three possibilities: conspiracy theorist or racists or racist conspiracy theorists”
I have not seen any postings from you about 1/6/21…you’re such a hypocrite… the holy water in the church bubbles up when you touch it.