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A public hearing in San Diego on airport flight paths
Commenter Lot draws our attention to the following story out of San Diego, which at first seems pretty ho-hum:
Point Lomans hope to ground FAA’s flight plans
by DAVE SCHWAB
9 days agoA riled crowd of about 1,000 concerned citizens turned out at a special meeting Oct. 4 in Liberty Station to give the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) an earful about proposed flight path changes. / Photo by Mike McCarthy
A formal, technical slideshow presentation by the FAA detailing proposed flight path changes was cut short by crowd hecklers.
Opponents questioned the federal department’s integrity, accusing it outright of being dishonest. They claimed proposed flight changes outlined in a draft environmental document recently released for public review are a fait accompli.
In response, the FAA discontinued the presentation, opening up the rest of the meeting for public comment. The meeting, however, was not apparently being recorded, a fact mentioned repeatedly by attendees who insisted it was a clear sign the FAA wasn’t taking their concerns seriously and had already begun implementing flight changes. Those changes, many fear, will cause more noise and other pollution and declining property values over the Peninsula.
Point Loma, on such a winter’s day
The geographic background is that San Diego’s airport, Lindbergh Field, sticks out into the bay from downtown, making it both highly convenient for travelers and fairly terrifying since planes approaching from the east have to dive down over the hills and skim the highway. The FAA is now proposing letting planes approach from the west, the ocean side, over the spectacular ridge of Point Loma, site of an unbelievable ridgetop military cemetery.
But, Lot points out, what’s interesting is the photo above of the concerned citizens:
The picture is kind of remarkable in that it is a crowd of about 400 people in California with not a single non-white. (A couple darker faces, upon closer inspection, just appear to be whites with tans or perhaps descendants of some of the area’s first-wave Portuguese fishermen settlers)
Here are the demographics of the sole mainstream public high school serving this area:
White 50%
Hispanic 38%
Black 5%
Two or more races 2%
Asian 2%
Filipino 2%
Pacific Islander 1%
American Indian/Alaska Native 1%
About a decade ago, a Mexican intellectual, whose name I’ve forgotten, pointed out that Mexicanizing the American population sounds good to American public officials in part because Mexicans seldom show up to public hearings and complain. Maybe once every century or two in Mexico they come after the important people with torches and pitchforks, but most of the time they have important telenovela watching to do instead of going to public hearings.
Perhaps when the people in this photo die off, this will usher in a post-NIMBY golden age in California when public officials can finally ramrod through whatever the important people will have decided upon.
But maybe not.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Vietnamese
The Mexican intellectual is Jorge Castañeda perhaps? The Transom had an interesting review of one of his books that seems on point with your post:
There ought to be a Haiku in this.
Something about not even Mau Mau’ing the Flak Catchers on that perfect day.
I was teaching math in Tegucigalpa during the first election after the ouster of Mel Zelaya. Out of 25 to 30 professional staff at the school, not one claimed to have voted. In the lead up, when I saw all the campaign posters in the streets, I figured that to a certain extent the election must matter. But on the day of the election, there was almost no one in the streets. Just a few soldiers. No one was voting. I talked politics with lots of people, and didn’t here one person say, “I voted for…” This is weird since there were all sorts of protests and marches in the streets. It may be just gauche or risky in Honduras to mention voting. But mainly, I believe, they (90% plus) don’t involve themselves.
Especially after a military coup.
If the high school was 99% white and the neighborhood voted 80%+ for Obama the FAA wouldn’t have even remotely considered altering flight paths over their skies. The real news is the changes the FAA wouldn’t make.
There exists no neighborhood in the USA that fits that profile.Replies: @Reg Cæsar
Romney's best showing in San Diego as a whole was 81% in Rancho Santa Fe, where the average house costs about $5 million, as plus two exurban areas in El Cajon. His worst showings were
On-campus housing at UC San Diego 12%
North Park (hipsters and Mexicans) 13%
Hillcrest (gays and yuppies) 17%
City Heights (mostly Mexican but rapidly growing hipster population) 17%
South Park (similar to City Heights) 10%
Encanto (once mostly black, now mostly Mexican, but voters still majority black) 8%
SE San Diego (the oldest Mexican neighborhood) 14%
The most Asian neighborhoods around Mira Mesa Blvd were mostly about 50/50 and the working class Filipino areas went about 45% Romney, better than I would have guested before checking.
Flights from the east are perilously close to downtown – perhaps the closest to any city in the US. A western approach avoids flying so near the tall buildings of the city. The approach would be more like SFO, LGA, BOS, or FLL.
a clear sign the FAA wasn’t taking their concerns seriously
I’ve noticed an increased arrogance and dismissiveness from federal officials over the years; I suppose from forever, but it seems more pronounced since the Bill Clinton administration. Where bad press and public outrage once seemed to be of concern to federal bureaucrats, they now seem to measure their progress by how much ire they generate.
One little example is the occasional joint federal-local violent crime task force around here that crash the wrong house and shoot an innocent person. The local law enforcement personnel are identified by name in the newspaper, while the federal agents manage to stay anonymous.
There is no bad press for the Gov't policies and public outrage doesn't amount to a fart in the wind .
I lived in a suburb just south of O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s there were huge protests against airport noise and many lawsuits. The area was mainly white then, largely Italian and Polish. Today it is mainly Mexican and you really don’t hear much about noise anymore, even though O’Hare has expanded with new runways at its southern end.
Watch the TV show “Parks and Recreation,” which regularly makes fun of local town meetings just like the one pictured in your post. The ordinary attendees are almost all white and most of them are stooges, but they are all white. Every time it depicts a town meeting, the show pokes fun at democracy, but it really loves local government and the wacky but endearing white populace that enables it.
Yes, usually the case here as well; except when a small loud group of blacks want to force the City Council to rename a central thoroughfare (running entirely through a 100% White area) MLK Blvd. This comes up every 4 or 5 years and the all-White Council continues to vote it down. The black's (& a small group of radical hispanics) new issue has been removing the confederate flag from City-sponsored parades. That hasn't passed either and the issue looks to be going away for now.
Doubt it Steve.
The leaders of NIMBY movements are invariably middle aged, semi retired whites with too much time on their hands, and a passion for engagement and organizing.
Just one one of those bods with a printer and a windows program, is worth 100 non committed ‘fence sitters’, who might or might not be persuaded to come on board.
Anyhow, because of the crucial ratios, and that white busybodies will exist in even the most enriched parts of California for a good while yet, rest assured that organized nimbyism will continue.
I really and I mean this literally don’t give two hoots in hell for those whining about flight paths. Fucking fighter jets and test bed aircraft regularly break the sound barrier above our homes or do long assed maneuvers that go on for hours.
So no, whine all you want about commercial airplanes. I don’t care. I used to work at Boeing Field it was far quieter. Any hour of the day or night we can have drones, figher jets, Stealth jets, oh and helicopters. Those are actually doing something worthwhile usually actually flying someone to the hospital but they come in low and right over our house.
Suck it up.
The officials will still have to deal with the whites, who will form a kind of oligarchic class of civic engagement. I suspect this photo can be considered a milestone in the developing Brazilification of the US.
“In response, the FAA discontinued the presentation, opening up the rest of the meeting for public comment. The meeting, however, was not apparently being recorded, a fact mentioned repeatedly by attendees who insisted it was a clear sign the FAA wasn’t taking their concerns seriously and had already begun implementing flight changes.”
That’s a good observation. People (some people anyway) seem to be wising up to the ways by which the government operates – that they claim to be doing X, but are in no way prepared to actually do what X entails. Just as the TSA is supposedly looking for bombs, but the security areas in airports are in no way set up to deal with an actual bomb (Where are the ballistic curtains, for example? And do TSA goons look like people who would know how to handle a bomb if they found one?)
Reversing the direction of flight ops at Lindbergh doesn’t make any sense.
There is a single runway, 9/27. Most takeoffs are to the west (27), because that’s the direction of the prevailing winds, except when Santa Anas come in from the desert.
Taking off to the east (9) is problematic. Because of the hill Steve mentioned, planes must climb at roughly double the rate of westbound takeoffs. Aircraft weight would also have to be restricted in some instances, which could, in theory, mean some destinations might not be within non-stop distance of San Diego due to the planes carrying less fuel. Taking off with the wind behind you isn’t ideal either.
I wonder if the FAA has sought input from the airlines and/or pilots’ association.
I've only flown into San Diego once, maybe 20 years back. (My best friend lives up north near the Carmel Valley, but the few times i've been down, the flights in and out of various LA area airports end up being cheaper.) Had a nice view of downtown coming in. But that's all reasonable as--one assumes--the wind prevails from the West.
I looked it up and it's exactly as one expects--actually even more so:
http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/san_diego_airport
~~~
If this is really "unsafe" then then they could close Lindberg--grab the redevelopment money--and operate out of Miramar, which has no geographic barriers to the east, has two runways and is closer to where the flying classes live. Geez i wonder why they don't do that ;-)
I bet my mom is in that picture somewhere.
You don’t need an alarm clock on Point Loma. The planes start coming over the house at exactly 6:00am.
Lot appears to be blind. There is an obviously black woman in red a little to the right of center, and in her row on the far left are two Oriental looking women. I highly doubt Lot would consider them white, nor would most Americans.
I mean yes the crowd is overwhelmingly of overwhelmingly Caucasian origin, but when you say “not a single non-white” then you’ll look pretty dumb when more than “a single” “non-white” is found without much effort.
Whoopsie.
Anyway, would you concede this is a crowd that is more than 99% white in a state that is less than half white?Replies: @ben tillman
I scanned left per your instructions. The black haired woman immediately right\above the bright white haired guy vertically mid-frame and three people in from the left ... yes, if i had to guess, i'd guess Asian. But she's wearing glasses. The other black hair woman behind her--i assume that's your other Asian--quite possible but indeterminate.
Actually, you're missing one quite plausible possibility, the old guy immediately behind the standing speaker is quite plausibly a Japanese-American. I'd say 60% chance East Asian. But again indeterminate.
The notable thing is that in this huge group picture, of the 40 or so folks you can lock down with 95% confidence, they're all white. While you can't lock down any as positively non-whites. And just scanning out over the crowd you can tell it's pretty much all white.Replies: @Anonymous
Talk show host Michael Savage is coming out with a new book next week, Government Zero. He’s been talking about it and he makes the point that diversity means the end of democracy, a no-party system with an increasingly autocratic rule.
From Harold Meyerson’s recent article about the Bronx:
http://prospect.org/article/how-bronx-came-back-didnt-bring-everyone-along
Its very frustrating for young Latino politicians in NYC. They want to amass political power using the Latino population as their base. However their base won't come out to vote while the old Black and White residents do. Young White gentrifiers also seem to prefer to vote for black incumbents over Latino challengers.Replies: @Ivy, @Reg Cæsar
Tom Friedman wrote a column awhile back that extolled the advantages of one-part autocracy. It’s easy to believe that this is what Progressives dream of.
From Tom Friedman, NYT, 9/8/2009:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html
Looks just like the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. But I guess not. They’re in Fort Rosecrans, which is equally beautiful.
Here’s my grandfather’s obit when he passed. WWII naval hero.
http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20030831-9999_1m31schade.html
It may be just gauche or risky in Honduras to mention voting.
Especially after a military coup.
So no, whine all you want about commercial airplanes. I don't care. I used to work at Boeing Field it was far quieter. Any hour of the day or night we can have drones, figher jets, Stealth jets, oh and helicopters. Those are actually doing something worthwhile usually actually flying someone to the hospital but they come in low and right over our house.
Suck it up.Replies: @Anonymous
There’s a term for this, but I can’t remember what it is or find it on the Internet. Does anyone else know what it is?
After earning my MBA at the University of FL in ’00, I was California Dreamin’ and had a series of three excellent job interviews at Intel in San Diego, but ultimately was not extended a job offer. I sometimes wonder what could have been.
The ordinary attendees are almost all white and most of them are stooges, but they are all white.
Yes, usually the case here as well; except when a small loud group of blacks want to force the City Council to rename a central thoroughfare (running entirely through a 100% White area) MLK Blvd. This comes up every 4 or 5 years and the all-White Council continues to vote it down. The black’s (& a small group of radical hispanics) new issue has been removing the confederate flag from City-sponsored parades. That hasn’t passed either and the issue looks to be going away for now.
You describe the situation perfectly….which is why Lindbergh is my favorite airport on the west coast….both from a flying and observing standpoint.
No one in the crowd looks younger than 50. Perhaps the disproportionately white crowd is also reflects the fact that old people are more likely to be civic-minded than young people. I have a feeling that the vast majority of citizens over age 50 in Point Lomans are white.
In NYC local meetings I often see old Black and Asian women in meetings. In fact even in gentrifying neighborhoods or majority-Hispanic neighborhoods the meetings are dominated by old Black women. Meetings in rich neighborhoods are dominated by old White women.
They all complain about the same things: noisy bars, erratic trash collection, and potholes.
OT:
On November 18, Bruce Springsteen, Pharell and many others will perform at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA, as part of an A&E-sponsored television concert event for race equality in America.
The event, called Shining A Light: A Concert For Progress On Race In America, will also feature Miguel, Jamie Foxx, Sting, Zac Brown Band, John Legend, Eric Church, Rhiannon Giddens, Pink, Ed Sheeran, Sia, Tori Kelly and Jill Scott.
The event will be aired on televised and radio two nights later, November 20, via A&E’s networks and select iHeartRadio stations. More information is available here.
http://prospect.org/article/how-bronx-came-back-didnt-bring-everyone-alongReplies: @Jimi, @Anon
Latino engagement is very low. This is why black politician Charlie Rangel has been able to defeat Latino challenger Espaillat twice even though his district is 55% Latino and 25% black. Its also why Jewish politician Sheldon Silver was able to be reelected for decades after Latinos outnumbered Jews in his Lower East Side district.
Its very frustrating for young Latino politicians in NYC. They want to amass political power using the Latino population as their base. However their base won’t come out to vote while the old Black and White residents do. Young White gentrifiers also seem to prefer to vote for black incumbents over Latino challengers.
OC is a funny place, with a distant and fading echo of the John Birch Society Republicans, apolitical consumers, 50% Asian student body at UC Irvine, tech-heavy Irvine Spectrum, and heavily Latino county seat Santa Ana, among others.
There are no identifiable East Asian women on the left. The woman in red is dark complected, but she also appears to have straight-ish hair and bangs. There is the possibility she is Hispanic, but she could also just be a white woman who is active in the sun. Or just a white woman with Melungeon background.
(Mostly) it’s only the white debils who care about the public space
(for I assume some evolutionary reason).
All they have to do is say “wheres the diversity” implying that said group of whites is inherently evil. It is almost certainly what they are thinking.
I missed the one black lady, but I still don’t see any Asians. Did you find Waldo in there too?
Anyway, would you concede this is a crowd that is more than 99% white in a state that is less than half white?
This is the paper you’re referring to.
It’s by Fredo Arias-King, a political insider who was Vincente Fox’s presidential aide.
http://cis.org/Usurpation-Elites-People%27sWill
Steve Sailer has often spoken of a high-low coalition against the middle. He’s also called immigrants the reseve army of the elite. This paper seems to confirm his theories.
Similar with the EU imo. There was a bunch of nation states with lots of built in checks and balances against abuse of power and a pack of sociopaths who want to be able to abuse power decided they didn't want those restraints. So they built a transnational layer without restraints over the top of the nations and then gradually shifted all the power to it.
It's basically a slow motion coup.
It also illustrates the other problem i.e. there's one set of sociopaths, mostly from the left, who want a bureaucratic oligarchy (1984) and another set of sociopaths, mostly from the right, who want a corporate oligarchy (Blade Runner) and the two sets are colluding against the middle - hence why it has proved so difficult to stop - whoever you vote for the process advances, the only difference is which dystopia we end up in.
It's by Fredo Arias-King, a political insider who was Vincente Fox's presidential aide.
http://cis.org/Usurpation-Elites-People%27sWillSteve Sailer has often spoken of a high-low coalition against the middle. He's also called immigrants the reseve army of the elite. This paper seems to confirm his theories.Replies: @anon
Good read.
Similar with the EU imo. There was a bunch of nation states with lots of built in checks and balances against abuse of power and a pack of sociopaths who want to be able to abuse power decided they didn’t want those restraints. So they built a transnational layer without restraints over the top of the nations and then gradually shifted all the power to it.
It’s basically a slow motion coup.
It also illustrates the other problem i.e. there’s one set of sociopaths, mostly from the left, who want a bureaucratic oligarchy (1984) and another set of sociopaths, mostly from the right, who want a corporate oligarchy (Blade Runner) and the two sets are colluding against the middle – hence why it has proved so difficult to stop – whoever you vote for the process advances, the only difference is which dystopia we end up in.
“If the high school was 99% white and the neighborhood voted 80%+ for Obama…”
There exists no neighborhood in the USA that fits that profile.
Romney got about 57% of the vote in Point Loma if you exclude Ocean Beach, which voted about 70% Obama. Ocean Beach is geographically part of Point Loma and in its school district, but usually considered a separate neighborhood. In two parts of Point Loma Romney got 62% of the vote, his best showing in central San Diego, or any any coastal area in the whole county, even better than La Jolla, where he seems to spend the largest portion of the year and where his most fertile son Craig also lives, and even slightly better than Carlsbad, a traditionally conservative town that is home to half of America’s golf club industry.
Romney’s best showing in San Diego as a whole was 81% in Rancho Santa Fe, where the average house costs about $5 million, as plus two exurban areas in El Cajon. His worst showings were
On-campus housing at UC San Diego 12%
North Park (hipsters and Mexicans) 13%
Hillcrest (gays and yuppies) 17%
City Heights (mostly Mexican but rapidly growing hipster population) 17%
South Park (similar to City Heights) 10%
Encanto (once mostly black, now mostly Mexican, but voters still majority black) 8%
SE San Diego (the oldest Mexican neighborhood) 14%
The most Asian neighborhoods around Mira Mesa Blvd were mostly about 50/50 and the working class Filipino areas went about 45% Romney, better than I would have guested before checking.
Wow. Just wow. I’m not a pilot, but in what world does it make sense to take off into the hills and buildings of San Diego rather than out into the ocean? Prevailing wind patterns?
Phoenix Sky Harbor airport is going through the same thing. The FAA snuck through changes to the flight patterns without any notification or public input. The local government seemed clueless to the whole process. The protestors are almost old white people.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/sound-and-fury-frustrated-phoenix-residents-are-roaring-ever-since-the-faa-changed-sky-harbor-flight-paths-6654056
A family I knew well in Winnetka had moved from Evanston, where they were both professors at Northwestern, and liberal politically…One of the reasons, they told me, was that when they went to parent conferences and other parental events in the local grammar school, absolutely no black or hispanic parents would show up. They were disturbed by the complete lack of interest shown by minority parents, and the appearance of segregation at parental events. The school was about 40% minority in fact.
Parent teacher conferences, PTAs etc. aren't things many of them get worked up for. If the good is a good athelete they may find time for the coach.
http://prospect.org/article/how-bronx-came-back-didnt-bring-everyone-alongReplies: @Jimi, @Anon
Those 6,000 voters in that Bronx district are almost certainly the ones with the higher IQs. The rest of the district probably totals people blow 100 points. The problem is, the lower your IQ, the harder it is to vote. People below the average have a terrible time just trying to read and understand the language of the ballot initiatives.
There is a single runway, 9/27. Most takeoffs are to the west (27), because that's the direction of the prevailing winds, except when Santa Anas come in from the desert.
Taking off to the east (9) is problematic. Because of the hill Steve mentioned, planes must climb at roughly double the rate of westbound takeoffs. Aircraft weight would also have to be restricted in some instances, which could, in theory, mean some destinations might not be within non-stop distance of San Diego due to the planes carrying less fuel. Taking off with the wind behind you isn't ideal either.
I wonder if the FAA has sought input from the airlines and/or pilots' association.Replies: @AnotherDad
Spot on Mr. Friday. Confused why they’d be pushing this.
I’ve only flown into San Diego once, maybe 20 years back. (My best friend lives up north near the Carmel Valley, but the few times i’ve been down, the flights in and out of various LA area airports end up being cheaper.) Had a nice view of downtown coming in. But that’s all reasonable as–one assumes–the wind prevails from the West.
I looked it up and it’s exactly as one expects–actually even more so:
http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/san_diego_airport
~~~
If this is really “unsafe” then then they could close Lindberg–grab the redevelopment money–and operate out of Miramar, which has no geographic barriers to the east, has two runways and is closer to where the flying classes live. Geez i wonder why they don’t do that 😉
No sale. The red shirted woman–if in fact a woman–stands out. But she’s not “obviously black” to me. Absent context, i’d guess Mexican. But could be Filipino? Or even Mediterranean in background and out in the SoCal sun. Just too indistinct to pick up features that make her “obviously black”. (In fact, i’d be a bit surprised if she’s really a black.)
I scanned left per your instructions. The black haired woman immediately right\above the bright white haired guy vertically mid-frame and three people in from the left … yes, if i had to guess, i’d guess Asian. But she’s wearing glasses. The other black hair woman behind her–i assume that’s your other Asian–quite possible but indeterminate.
Actually, you’re missing one quite plausible possibility, the old guy immediately behind the standing speaker is quite plausibly a Japanese-American. I’d say 60% chance East Asian. But again indeterminate.
The notable thing is that in this huge group picture, of the 40 or so folks you can lock down with 95% confidence, they’re all white. While you can’t lock down any as positively non-whites. And just scanning out over the crowd you can tell it’s pretty much all white.
Although there is growing home school movement among blacks, blacks generally view educating their kids as the schools’ problem. So once their kids arrive at school their job is done. This attitude permeates all classes of Black Americans as John Ogbu discovered.
Parent teacher conferences, PTAs etc. aren’t things many of them get worked up for. If the good is a good athelete they may find time for the coach.
Here's my grandfather's obit when he passed. WWII naval hero.
http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20030831-9999_1m31schade.htmlReplies: @Steve Sailer, @Alice
It is Fort Rosecrans.
I scanned left per your instructions. The black haired woman immediately right\above the bright white haired guy vertically mid-frame and three people in from the left ... yes, if i had to guess, i'd guess Asian. But she's wearing glasses. The other black hair woman behind her--i assume that's your other Asian--quite possible but indeterminate.
Actually, you're missing one quite plausible possibility, the old guy immediately behind the standing speaker is quite plausibly a Japanese-American. I'd say 60% chance East Asian. But again indeterminate.
The notable thing is that in this huge group picture, of the 40 or so folks you can lock down with 95% confidence, they're all white. While you can't lock down any as positively non-whites. And just scanning out over the crowd you can tell it's pretty much all white.Replies: @Anonymous
No sale. That guy behind the speaker has really thick eyebrows. Too thick for an East Asian.
I've noticed an increased arrogance and dismissiveness from federal officials over the years; I suppose from forever, but it seems more pronounced since the Bill Clinton administration. Where bad press and public outrage once seemed to be of concern to federal bureaucrats, they now seem to measure their progress by how much ire they generate.
One little example is the occasional joint federal-local violent crime task force around here that crash the wrong house and shoot an innocent person. The local law enforcement personnel are identified by name in the newspaper, while the federal agents manage to stay anonymous.Replies: @donut, @cwhatfuture
” bad press and public outrage ”
There is no bad press for the Gov’t policies and public outrage doesn’t amount to a fart in the wind .
Just look at California in general, and its three most prominent statewide elected offices: Brown, Boxer, Feinstein. All white (or “white”), the three of them combined are old enough to extend back to the 8th day of creation. Yet, their state is so “young” and “vibrant” and “diverse.”
Here's my grandfather's obit when he passed. WWII naval hero.
http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20030831-9999_1m31schade.htmlReplies: @Steve Sailer, @Alice
No, that is Fort Rosecrans. That is exactly the location. A wonderful place.
There is also a little-noticed undercurrent in Mexican society represented by Carlos Castañeda (remember him from those hallucinatory 1970s Yaqui Way of Knowledge books?). Americans tend to overestimate the similarities and affinities of their southern neighbors, much as they do with others in more distant lands.
Its very frustrating for young Latino politicians in NYC. They want to amass political power using the Latino population as their base. However their base won't come out to vote while the old Black and White residents do. Young White gentrifiers also seem to prefer to vote for black incumbents over Latino challengers.Replies: @Ivy, @Reg Cæsar
A SoCal variation on the Latino civic engagement was felt in an Orange County Supervisor election (sadly, to the detriment of a capable Latino). Asians turned out to vote more readily than Latinos did, and they won, although amidst rumblings of vote-by-mail irregularities.
OC is a funny place, with a distant and fading echo of the John Birch Society Republicans, apolitical consumers, 50% Asian student body at UC Irvine, tech-heavy Irvine Spectrum, and heavily Latino county seat Santa Ana, among others.
Anyway, would you concede this is a crowd that is more than 99% white in a state that is less than half white?Replies: @ben tillman
No, you didn’t. She’s not Black.
I've noticed an increased arrogance and dismissiveness from federal officials over the years; I suppose from forever, but it seems more pronounced since the Bill Clinton administration. Where bad press and public outrage once seemed to be of concern to federal bureaucrats, they now seem to measure their progress by how much ire they generate.
One little example is the occasional joint federal-local violent crime task force around here that crash the wrong house and shoot an innocent person. The local law enforcement personnel are identified by name in the newspaper, while the federal agents manage to stay anonymous.Replies: @donut, @cwhatfuture
What do you expect? After 9/11 which was a massive failure on the part of the federal government, not one person from the FAA, the CIA, the NSA, the DoD, the INS was fired, reprimanded or forced to resign, as far as I know. Instead they were all given massively increased budgets. Exactly why would a federal official care anything about the population? They have nothing to fear from the population. They are an apparat and are untouchable. And yes a docile, stupid, population in their “care” suits them just fine. Read about the EEOC going after companies for using criminal background checks in employment to protect themselves (this is now being asserted as a racially discriminatory practice). The courts have eviscerated the EEOC for using unreliable experts and statistics and the result? Nothing.
Oh, and don't forget the entire US Military.
Instead they were all given massively increased budgets.
And GWB invented the TSA jobs program for surly blacks and retired overweight NYPD cops and the rest of that huge DHS bureaucracy!
Only the Middle Class participates in civic life. The rich take care of their interests in other ways and the poor want their interests be taken care of by others (and they have other things to worry about besides for flight paths). The problem is that our country is running out of a Middle Class. And when it goes, our own federal bureaucratic class will decide all. They are already deciding most.
finally ramrod through whatever the important people will have decided upon.
Washington Post – The NRA will fail – it’s inevitable:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/19/the-nra-will-fall-its-inevitable/?tid=sm_fb
He is correct, of course. There are consequences to allowing your country to be occupied. The First and Second Amendments are toast.
And Winkler says in this piece, I've been saying for years in the comments here. Is that evidence he's been reading those comments? Or just coming 'round to common sense?
And where is the NRA on immigration? They should've added their two cents ages ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Bell_scandal
Right — a town in south L.A. County full of illegal immigrants got taken to the cleaners by its top government officials.
After 9/11 which was a massive failure on the part of the federal government, not one person from the FAA, the CIA, the NSA, the DoD, the INS was fired, reprimanded or forced to resign, as far as I know.
Oh, and don’t forget the entire US Military.
Instead they were all given massively increased budgets.
And GWB invented the TSA jobs program for surly blacks and retired overweight NYPD cops and the rest of that huge DHS bureaucracy!
Even rich people enjoy going to public events and spaces, such as carnivals, festivals, libraries, public parks, etc., and it’s nice to be able to share this space with other nice people, who are well-behaved and seem to have similar values. I would think that we would not want to lose that generally nice public atmosphere. In fact, even driving on the roads can become less nice when you’re sharing them with people who have a different set of norms and values.
It’s insights like this is why Steve’s blog and Unz.com should be required reading in civics classes and should be referred to at dinner tables.
Steve and Ron are both national treasures. They are truly serving the nation. People should be thanking them for their service.
There exists no neighborhood in the USA that fits that profile.Replies: @Reg Cæsar
Then please tell us the highest Obama vote among 99%-white neighborhoods, and the whitest neighborhood that gave Barry 80% of its vote. Enquiring minds want to know.
I don't know how many wild elephants exist in the world, but I know there are none in the forests of Maine. That seems to answer your question.
Not many young white people.
Its very frustrating for young Latino politicians in NYC. They want to amass political power using the Latino population as their base. However their base won't come out to vote while the old Black and White residents do. Young White gentrifiers also seem to prefer to vote for black incumbents over Latino challengers.Replies: @Ivy, @Reg Cæsar
Rangel is as much Puerto Rican as he is black. He’s hardly alien to Harlem’s “Latinos”.
Washington Post - The NRA will fail - it's inevitable:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/19/the-nra-will-fall-its-inevitable/?tid=sm_fb
He is correct, of course. There are consequences to allowing your country to be occupied. The First and Second Amendments are toast.Replies: @Reg Cæsar
That article is by Adam Winkler. I just finished his book on the Heller decision, and highly recommend it. As well as Craig R Whitney’s. Whatever their personal prejudices (Winkler is a law professor in California, Whitney a retired NYT reporter– and a relative of gunsmith Eli), both books are fair, balanced and highly informative. And respectful.
And Winkler says in this piece, I’ve been saying for years in the comments here. Is that evidence he’s been reading those comments? Or just coming ’round to common sense?
And where is the NRA on immigration? They should’ve added their two cents ages ago.
The book that should be read about this phenomenon is ” The Moral Basis of a Backward Society” by Edward Banfield. Once all is family and clan, then no one bothers about the “public” good, including the government bureaucracy, and so government becomes more and more corrupt and as protection, all the more so, people turn to family and clan. Most of our immigrants come from such societies now.
“Then please tell us the highest Obama vote among 99%-white neighborhoods, and the whitest neighborhood that gave Barry 80% of its vote. Enquiring minds want to know.”
I don’t know how many wild elephants exist in the world, but I know there are none in the forests of Maine. That seems to answer your question.
You got that right, and the mouse in my pocket seconds the motion.
There are very few 99% white neighborhoods anymore. You’d only find them in small towns in the midwest, new england, the hill-billy belts, and the more exclusive suburbs of depressed cities that attract no immigrants.
Probably small towns dominated by left-wing liberal arts colleges.
Indeed. Northampton, MA, home to Smith College and many lesbians, gave Obama 83.01% of the vote in 2012. It also gave the Green Party candidate 505 votes, more than any other locality that wasn’t Boston (35 times the population of Northampton), Somerville (7 times) or Cambridge (10 times).
But Northampton finished in second place; Cambridge itself is the winner. It gave Obama 87.70%. I guess Mitt didn’t fight fiercely!