# Do we have a thread for SlackerInc yet? Maybe we should **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 2, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461 "2018-12-02T20:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/421 "2019-09-30T19:47:12Z")
It can’t “sink in” because it’s nonsense. Remember all that stuff Paul Ryan was into as Speaker? Cutting Social Security and Medicare, cutting taxes for the rich, etc.? He (like Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson) actually openly touted Ayn Rand’s extreme selfishness as his central organizing philosophy. I was, and am, strongly against all that shit. OTOH when Pelosi was Speaker, we got the expansion of Medicaid and food stamps, an increase in taxes on the rich (although not as much as I’d ideally like), the CFPB, etc. Or we can look at Supreme Court rulings. When the court splits along ideological lines (some rulings actually scramble things into weird coalitions and I’m not talking about those) I am virtually always with RBG and Sotomayor. You can’t just redefine “far right” to suit your own fits of pique. Words have meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/422 "2019-09-30T20:01:10Z")
I forget, is it the Republicans or Democrats that are against allowing Muslims into the country? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/423 "2019-09-30T20:05:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > {…}Remember all that stuff Paul Ryan was into as Speaker? Cutting Social Security and Medicare, cutting taxes for the rich, etc.? He (like Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson) actually openly touted Ayn Rand’s extreme selfishness as his central organizing philosophy. I was, and am, strongly against all that shit. {…} Good for you! If those were the only things that defined what a ‘Republican’ is you’d have a point . . . but they don’t, so neither do you. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/424 "2019-09-30T22:33:16Z")
Ahem. [https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/05/trump-travel-ban-poll-voters-240215](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/05/trump-travel-ban-poll-voters-240215) > [@](#): > > A clear majority of voters support President Donald Trump’s travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.[…] > > Asked whether they support or oppose the State Department’s “new guidelines which say visa applicants from six predominately Muslim countries must prove a close family relationship with a U.S. resident in order to enter the country,” 60 percent of respondents said they support the guidelines, and only 28 percent oppose them.[…] > > Eighty-four percent of GOP respondents support the ban, while 9 percent oppose it. But the policy is also popular among independent respondents: 56 percent support it, compared with 30 percent who oppose it. Democrats tilt slightly against the ban, with 41 percent supporting it, and 46 percent in opposition. So I guess the “far right” includes a majority of independents, nearly half of Democrats, and all but 28% of the country? :dubious: Get out of your bubble and take stock of the reality of the actual coalition you belong to. You can’t win elections without lots of people like me, so get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/425 "2019-09-30T22:44:36Z")
That’s a travel ban from 6 countries. Not screening out people who are explicitly of the Muslim religion. It would also ban non-Muslims from those countries while allowing Muslims from other countries. The ban was definitely questionable, especially given Trump’s past declarations about opposing Muslim immigrants which means the motivation for the ban is suspicious. But explicitly banning people from entering the country because of their religion is blatant unconstitutional and unethical bigotry. I doubt that would have nearly as much support. Do you have a link to a poll showing people actually support banning all Muslims? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/426 "2019-09-30T22:47:58Z")
> [@](#): > > {…} Get out of your bubble and take stock of the reality of the actual coalition you belong to. You can’t win elections without lots of people like me, so get over it. Sounds better in the original German. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/427 "2019-09-30T23:00:23Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Get out of your bubble and take stock of the reality of the actual coalition you belong to. You can’t win elections without lots of people like me, so get over it. Wait – you can’t win elections without appealing to racist bigots like yourself? I doubt that’s true, but if it is, it’s a tragic state of affairs that we should all be working hard to change, instead of crowing about it as you seem to be doing. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/428 "2019-09-30T23:22:57Z")
You can nitpick about details, but I’m sure if I went back and looked at threads from that time, posters here were overwhelmingly against the same ban that was so popular with the public at large. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/429 "2019-10-01T00:30:28Z")
[Interesting news](https://news.yahoo.com/hero-taxi-driver-saves-pregnant-woman-sex-trafficker-brothel-130218476.html). ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/430 "2019-10-01T00:46:12Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > You can nitpick about details, but I’m sure if I went back and looked at threads from that time, posters here were overwhelmingly against the same ban that was so popular with the public at large. The “ban that was so popular with the public at large” has the degree of support that it does because racists like you have poisoned the American public’s perception of immigrants in general and Muslims in particular. Most western countries welcome immigrants and refugees from Muslim countries. In recent years Canada has resettled tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, for instance, most of them hardworking families with young children, and so have dozens of other countries. The US has absolutely failed in its responsibilities in that regard. But the worst thing I’m seeing these days is that Islamophobia promulgated by Trump and his fellow racists like yourself has empowered border officials to unprecedented levels of hostility against anyone who even looks like they might be Muslim. Such individuals have been increasingly denied entry and sometimes outright banned from the US even when they have Canadian passports which are pretty much an automatic entry guarantee for everyone else. To wit: **Immigration lawyers report Canadian Muslims being denied entry to U.S.** _‘In all my years, I have never seen such a Kafkaesque scenario,’ lawyer says_ Those denied entry include a prominent Guyana-born Toronto imam who serves as a chaplain with the Peel Regional Police and an Iraqi Turkmen community leader who has family members fighting ISIS in the Middle East. The two men — who were denied entry at different border crossings and were not travelling together — are among at least six Canadian Muslim men who have been denied entry at the U.S. border over the last two weeks. The men and their families, all of whom are Canadian citizens, were given little in the way of explanation by border officials for the decision to deem them inadmissible. Neither Guyana nor Iraq are among the seven Muslim-majority countries subject to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order, which essentially blocks refugees and visitors from those countries from entering the U.S. Both men were told to apply for visas at the U.S. consulate in Toronto before returning to the border to seek entry — an unusual process for people who hold Canadian passports. > **[Immigration lawyers report Canadian Muslims being denied entry to U.S. | CBC...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-canadian-muslims-us-border-crossing-1.5264218)** > > A number of Canadian Muslims have been turned away at the Canada-U.S. border in recent weeks, immigration lawyers say. Or this: [Canadian woman turned away from U.S. border after questions about religion, Trump](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canadian-woman-turned-away-from-u-s-border-after-questions-about-religion-trump-1.3972019) Or this: [Canadian woman en route to Vermont spa denied entry to U.S., told she needs immigrant visa](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canadian-denied-entry-us-immigrant-visa-1.4011202) And there’s lots more. In the latter case the woman wasn’t even Muslim, but by golly she was brown and foreign-looking. This is what Trumpian racists like you have accomplished and what you’re enabling by claiming that Trump’s “Muslim ban” is a fine thing and very popular, and that’s what politicians must support in order to get elected. You’re a disgusting, ignorant, and shameless racist. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/431 "2019-10-01T00:50:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [Interesting news](https://news.yahoo.com/hero-taxi-driver-saves-pregnant-woman-sex-trafficker-brothel-130218476.html). And if I ever have someone (pregnant or not) burst into tears and report being held against their will, I will do the same. Got any stories about taxi drivers refusing to drive someone who doesn’t appear distressed, just because he picked them up from a legal, licensed “gentleman’s club”? Yeah, that’s what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/432 "2019-10-01T00:54:33Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Neither Guyana nor Iraq are among the seven Muslim-majority countries subject to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order, which essentially blocks refugees and visitors from those countries from entering the U.S. From [the Wiki on Guyana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana#Religion): > [@](#): > > According to a 2002 nationwide census on religious affiliation, 57.4% of the population was Christian, 28.4% was Hindu, 7.2% was Muslim, 1.9% adhered to other religions, while 2.3% of the population did not profess any. Guyana is not only not a Muslim-majority country; it’s a Christian-majority country. It’s also in South America. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/433 "2019-10-01T00:58:33Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The “ban that was so popular with the public at large” has the degree of support that it does because racists like you have poisoned the American public’s perception of immigrants in general and Muslims in particular. I’m pro-“immigrants in general”, and staunchly opposed to 99.999% of the shit Trump does. But you would rather peacock about in your holier-than-thou purity, and denounce the “poisoned” mainstream, than accept being in a winning coalition with people who agree with you about most of the important stuff. Great strategy! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/434 "2019-10-01T01:11:30Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > But you would rather peacock about in your holier-than-thou purity, and denounce the “poisoned” mainstream, than accept being in a winning coalition with people who agree with you about most of the important stuff. Great strategy! There’s no reason you can’t be in a political coalition with somebody and still be honest about the stupid shit that they believe and do. You, for instance, seem plenty willing to criticize the people **you’re** in a coalition with for the things **you** don’t like about **them**. You’re just super touchy about other people criticizing **you** in return, so you’re always whining that you’re gonna take your coalition and go home. Anyway, it seems likely that the number of people who’ll be attracted to the coalition if we denounce Islamophobia and racism is greater than the number of Islamophobic racists who’ll flounce off in a huff about it, so denouncing Islamophobia and racism is the right thing to do in terms both of principle and of strategy. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/435 "2019-10-01T01:40:11Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m pro-“immigrants in general”, and staunchly opposed to 99.999% of the shit Trump does. But you would rather peacock about in your holier-than-thou purity, and denounce the “poisoned” mainstream, than accept being in a winning coalition with people who agree with you about most of the important stuff. Great strategy! Blatant racism is not a small thing or a minor matter. I gave you those examples to show how racist attitudes grow and fester with time, something that history has shown us again and again, causing great harm to innocent people. In this case, Trump’s belligerent anti-immigrant racism empowered border officials to unparalleled hostility against brown people within months of his inauguration. And you think we, as liberals, should support it in order to get elected. I have news for you. Abandoning basic principles in the pursuit of power or self-enrichment is a large part of what makes one a Trump-style Republican, which is what you appear to be despite disclaiming it. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/436 "2019-10-01T01:45:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m pro-“immigrants in general”, …but you aren’t pro-Muslim immigration correct? Christians yes, Muslims no. You can’t call yourself “pro-“immigrants in general” when you hold a position that is fundamentally anti-immigrant. Stop pretending you are one of the good guys. You are not. Say it with me: “SlackerInc is an Islamophobe.” Admit it. Be proud of who you are. > [@](#): > > But you would rather peacock about in your holier-than-thou purity, and denounce the “poisoned” mainstream, than accept being in a winning coalition with people who agree with you about most of the important stuff. Great strategy! I would have thought that welcoming Muslim immigration to be a rather red-line issue. I can’t think of a single justification for holding that position. Its arbitrary, cruel, heartless, it doesn’t make you any safer. Nobody is under any obligation to embrace what is essentially a cornerstone of white supremacist policy. It isn’t us who have to bargain; its **you**. You are on Trump’s side. If you don’t want to be on Trump’s side then you have to compromise your values, not us. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/437 "2019-10-01T02:17:02Z")
And yet “welcoming Muslim immigration” is not a majority position (tolerating it might be), while lots of other Democratic priorities enjoy broad support among the American population. Huh, how ‘bout that. (ETA: I also don’t welcome _conversion_ to Islam by people who have been here since 1619, or by Native Americans for that matter. Immigration status has nothing to do with it.) > [@wolfpup](#): > > Abandoning basic principles in the pursuit of power or self-enrichment is a large part of what makes one a Trump-style Republican, which is what you appear to be despite disclaiming it. In your weird Orwellian language, someone can be a ”Trump-style Republican“ despite always voting (and donating, and volunteering) Democratic and vociferously opposing Trump. Up is down, night is day. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/438 "2019-10-01T02:28:56Z")
Who else is old enough to remember this song, [DEL][COLOR=“Black”]SlackerInc’s[/DEL][/COLOR] Phil Ochs’ - _[Love Me I’m A Liberal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nFvhhCulaw)_? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/439 "2019-10-01T02:31:28Z")
Thanks to my Marxist, folk-music-loving parents, I certainly do even though it came out long before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461/440 "2019-10-01T02:36:44Z")
BTW, BB: I do compromise my principles by continuing to support Democratic candidates despite their stupid “Islamophobia” talk. So yes, I am the one compromising. But I still retain the right to say I think it’s stupid, that it is counterproductive to modern liberal Western principles, and that it also makes it harder for us to appeal to the middle of the electorate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-a-thread-for-slackerinc-yet-maybe-we-should/825461.md?page=23)