Something applied equally to all is not automatically racist, even if there are disparate outcomes. The additional racist behavior of employers in the past was a non systemic issue, but thankfully it's been rooted out by changes to the law. People deserve to be compensated based on merit, regardless of race or gender. That said, this article is more of an opinion piece than an objective history lesson.

If anyone is of the opinion that there is no systemic racism in America, they're either blind, stupid, or racist too.

Funny thing, not all left-leaning people believe the same things. It's not a fucking religion. It's a rough group of people whose ideals are similar in nature. In reality, I'm just left of center, but somehow I get clumped in with the extreme-left anyway. This is why I don't respect anyone throwing around left and right like it's some kind of argument. It's completely ignorant. If you can't even understand THAT then there's no hope you'll be able to have an intelligent discussion about actual issues.

People that are calling for police to be defunded are either stupid or being intentionally extreme in their communication without actually believing it. Albeit, with police forces buying surplus military equipment it could certainly be argued that those departments are over funded and should probably have cuts. We really just need to police the police better. The American people need to demand the supreme court rethink the police immunity laws, and probably should consider investigating how things got so wrong in the first place (corruption of the supreme court seems like a critical failing).

We won't achieve perfect equality in terms of every single human being being exactly the same in every way, of course. However, if all people are truly free of discrimination, and given the same opportunities (meaning we assist those in poverty to help them get out), then on average all demographics should be fairing equally well or damn close to it. There should not be a people that is rife with violence and crime. If that ever happens we should try to solve it for the good of all of us. The money being wasted on law enforcement is probably more than enough to eliminate the poverty if people would just show some compassion!

You can't solve problems by just throwing money at them. Money is corrupt. The money will most likely not be allocated appropriately. We need to go further to ensure that the money goes where it is most needed.

Unions are not the problem. Unions are good for the people. Teachers need unions to get a fair shake. I don't know whether or not police do, but I suspect that they do. And sure, unions can be abused, but that's not reason enough to remove them. Certainly if police unions are currently using their weight to protect police from facing consequences that needs to be "reformed", but I don't think that means getting rid of the unions altogether.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/what-does-defund-police-really-mean/612904/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defund_the_police

Defund means to remove or block funding. Without funding police cannot operate. The phrase literally means to eliminate publicly funded police. As I said, there may be some people that are using it tongue-in-cheek to be Devil's advocates or something, or perhaps they meant cut funding and don't realize that "defund" is more absolute than that. We cannot be certain that every single sign maker intends the same message. There is no hive mind from which to share such a notion. They should choose language more carefully. Words matter, especially in politics.

While it's likely that few people are actually calling for the police to be disbanded, it's likely that some people are certainly saying that, and they can be forgiven for saying it too. They're justified in saying it. The police do more harm than good for them.

However, the rest of us believe that police services are necessary for a relatively peaceful life. While I would tend to agree that most crime is the result of social insecurity, and we can resolve much of it by helping people down on their luck get back up, there also exists people that choose to hurt other people without any justification and we need ways to try to limit the harm they can do. Police are meant to do that.

In Ontario, a big problem is that the courts are releasing everyone with a slap on the wrist, or giving repeat offenders bail. Inevitably, the same names appear over and over again on local news reports of people arrested for B&E/theft. They're stealing due to opioid addictions they can't support. It's inevitable they'll steal again until they receive enough help and choose to change their way of life. Or we just give them free opioids so they don't need to steal to acquire the funds for themselves. The good news is that police are getting fed up with it and finally speaking out to the courts. Hopefully they reach a constructive solution that benefits us all...

That's primarily because of poverty. Desperate people will do whatever they can to get by.

It doesn't help that the American culture is very much materialistic though. You care more about having things than how you got things, which makes crime inevitable. That's also why there is so much corruption at the top. The system doesn't take wealth away from people that don't deserve it. It takes a lifetime and luck to work your way to the top, but it only takes a few years of getting away with major crimes.

America boasts this fiction that if you work hard you'll succeed, but in reality you need to be really lucky. Lack of a conscience helps too. The story of America is nothing to brag about.

The antifa movement advocates using any means possible to get their way, including violence, See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States)

Trump is probably looking at their means and not the motive. His tirade versus the antifa movement is just another example of his half-truths.

raynebc, I strive to have even some small sense of clarity when it comes to why you still support Trump.

• 1) Children in cages

• 2) Destruction of Indian burial grounds for a pointless billion dollar border wall that doesn't work

• 3) Countless rollbacks of laws designed to keep us safe from pollution and protect our environment

• 4) Selling the offices of our land to the highest campaign contributors.

• 5) Threatening to use the military against peaceful protests.

• 6) Militant police using violent force against non violent protesters.

• 7) Egregious inflammation of race tensions

• 8) The worst economy ever

• 9) Over 100,000 dead from Covid 19 and the Trump administrations complete failure to act.

• 10) Why do I need to go on?

Edgar,

4) Selling the offices of our land to the highest campaign contributors. Nothing new, GHW Bush sold FEMA to a man who bred horses. Remember what happened after hurricane Katrina?

8) The worst economy ever. In all fairness, Covid-19 had a lot to do with it. However, Trump was not prepared and has tried to push the country back to normal before the pandemic eased. Covered in your point 10.

And we both forgot to mention:

11) By ending the war on coal, he supports a source of energy which has only 25% of the US or world energy market, is the most expensive and has not declined in price due to the Covid-19 crisis or seasonal use.

I am not a Trump supporter. I believe he has given half truths and does not access the situation properly.

Wow, I was surprised because even I thought the wording around sex was reasonably debatable. I figured Gorsuch would be in favor due to him being a literalist, so I assumed a 5-4 in favor of protections.

You people assume too much.

Edgar You really don't care why I support Trump. Based on past discussions, I have no expectation that you would honestly consider any reasons I present and besides that, your list is generally just lies and things you didn't blame other politicians for (even Obama). It's not worth my time bickering with a petty leftist. And no, the meaning of the word "sex" in terms of it being a descriptor of people is not debatable. You're thinking of the corrupted term "gender."

Your ideas and arguments are indeed without merit from my standpoint, and they are consistent with far-left US politics as a general rule. I do not believe you care about conservative policy goals. Trump generally supports those goals, and has delivered in many ways, so of course I'll vote for him versus very left of center candidates. The DNC has brainwashed so many people to live in victimhood for so long they don't know anything else, and that's truly sad.

Fun fact: Women (AND GIRLS) crossing the border have to take birth control because... it's implied they're going to be raped by the smugglers.

And Democrats don't care. Because talking about women being raped would mean they have to 1) accept that some people in Mexico are scumbags. and 2) That illegal immigration is dangerous and increasing illegal immigration only increases the amount of rapes.

If Democrats were as "good" as you think, they'd push for fixing legal immigration and opening it up so all these people can come in legally instead of be murdered, and raped; and when they get here, turn into a below minimum wage slave class... where they're still raped.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-in-the-fields/

Where are the protests? Where are the riots? Where is the support from liberals? Simple. No talking head at CNN, MSNBC, et al told you to care so you simply don't.