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Narrator: Democrats should absolutely do everything in their power to make these four representative of the entire conference.

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I must have missed the part where racist Karen who filed a false police report became a protected class.

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Security Alert – May 15, 2021 by U.S. Embassy in Kabul
The Embassy reminds U.S. citizens that on April 27, 2021, the Department of State ordered the departure from U.S. Embassy Kabul of U.S. government employees whose functions can be performed elsewhere due to increasing violence and threat reports in Kabul. The Travel Advisory for Afghanistan remains Level 4-Do Not Travel due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, armed conflict, and COVID-19. Commercial flight options from Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) remain available and the U.S. Embassy strongly suggests that U.S. citizens make plans to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. Given the security conditions and reduced staffing, the Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited.
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Well, for starters, if we’re going to have to put up with antisemites, we’d rather the ones who don’t try to use Israel as a get-out-of-jail-free card for their own antisemitism. American Jews, whether Democrat or Republican, are Americans. Not some outsider guest living in your precious country.

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Biden Should Stick With Trump’s Agreement To Withdraw From Afghanistan, Veteran And Foreign Policy Expert Says by Kaylee Greenlee
President Joe Biden should adhere to the agreement former President Donald Trump made with the Taliban to completely withdraw American forces from Afghanistan.

Update 15 August 2021 23:03: Daily Caller has updated the machine-readable headline of this article to read: “Biden Should Stick With Agreement To Withdraw From Afghanistan, Veteran And Foreign Policy Expert Says”. I’ve kept the original headline in the appropriate place with the edit noted below.

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I hope and pray that the president, first lady, and everyone in his inner circle who are currently experiencing the Coronavirus also experience a complete and speedy recovery.

But I’m not extending any empathy, or simpathy, and Trump supporters who are currently all broken up and clutching their pearls over the meanness and snark of some on the left, after having spent the last several years either being strategically silent about, or making excuses for, or cheering the president’s rhetoric and conduct towards women, people with disabilities, and damn near every minority in this country can save their outrage. I do not want to hear one word about civility, or empathy, or simpathy, or charity, or even just plain old norms from any of these people.

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Stellar job culture warriors! You’ve jinned up so much performative outrage over the Cuties movie that it’s now on everybody’s radar and, even better, should anyone wish to address any of the claims you’re making or frantically sharing about it, they actually have to watch it. That’s not even touching the civil libertarians who will absolutely get involved if Sen. Ted Cruz gets his way and Netflix is investigated over it, or even if there’s a credible threat of investigation. We have this thing in the US. It’s called the First Amendment. And it makes a whole bunch of things a whole bunch of us don’t like not only legal, but protected. So if you have a problem with the movie, don’t watch it, and don’t let your kids watch it. If you really have a problem with the exploitation of children, including in the pageant circuit, persuade your friends and family who are parents not to allow their children to participate, and do the harder work of assisting organizations that exist to help exploited children instead of virtue signaling about a movie on social media because it’s easier and more satisfying.

915 S Pugh St, State College, PA 16801
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Secretary Pompeo’s Meeting with the Taliban by U.S. Embassy in Kabul
Office of the Spokesperson The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown: Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo met today with Taliban Political Deputy and Head of the Political Office Mullah Beradar and members of the Taliban negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, on the historic occasion of the start of peace negotiations. Secretary Pompeo urged the Taliban to seize this opportunity to forge a political settlement and reach a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire. He welcomed Afghan leadership and ownership of the effort to end 40 years of war and ensure that Afghanistan is not a threat to the United States or its allies.
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People aren’t mad at that letter and the people behind it because they hate free speech. A spooled thread.

People are at best skeptical of and at worst outraged by the free speech argument being made in the Harper’s letter because when the inevitable shit starts, (like harassment, for example), the best the people with tons of followers and clout can do is post the obligatory “of course harassment is bad” tweet and once that’s done it’s really easy to just walk away.

I have yet to see any of the people railing against cancel culture address the trade-off trans and other minorities are expected to put up with so their free speech rights can be safeguarded.

And by address, I mean in something other than an abstract fashion. Because it’s really easy to just post that “of course harassment/bigotry is bad” tweet and then just go on with your day while the mentions of the person you’ve decided to go after to your tons of followers are a complete trashfire.

If we were operating in a world where there wasn’t near instantaneous communication, like blogs for example, and we were dealing with a situation where harassment and other such could be and would be completely deleted by the original author, then I could totally understand a near absolute free speech stance and would even go along with it.

But we aren’t operating in that sphere, and as high minded as this whole free speech argument is, it’s not the people making it who are bearing the brunt of the fall-out.

And it would be nice if there were some serious discussion of the trade-offs and maybe even some attempts at putting forth solutions that ensure that everyone’s free speech is protected while also ensuring that all the bullshit can be properly addressed.

It would also be nice if there were some serious attempts at limiting what gets labeled as cancel culture.

I’d suggest narrowing the scope to people being fired for posts on their personal social media by online mobs. And by personal I don’t mean the one you do all your public relations/promotion of your work ETC. on.

Until there is some serious grappling with everything surrounding all this, including the inevitable pile-ons and other shit that happens to marginalized people online by the influencers championing the canceled, there are a lot of people who have damn good reasons to be skeptical of cultural free speech, if not legal as well.

And the general idea that a price has to be paid for freedom isn’t going to cut it. Neither is “you just hate free speech.”