#Pittsburgh leftists

[onsomekindofstartrek]

Last night I was too busy, explaining to an intelligent adult leftist that Trump would hardly get someone to shoot him in the ear with a live firearm, to even process the political implications of the assassination attempt.

Seems like half the left all over the facking country just independently jumped to the conclusion that:

You can reliably graze someone from a distance with a firearm — to which, as someone who has won a local target shooting competition before*, I say “haha good fucking luck.” Like legitimately do you think hitting the edge of a target is easier than hitting somewhere in the inside? If so, do you understand… basic concepts?

Trump would be brave enough to have someone fire at him with a live weapon (fat chance)

Someone agreed to this knowing they would most likely be shot dead in the attempt

No one in Trump’s inner circle prevented him from having some kid shoot at his head with a rifle

The Secret Service were either not in on it somehow despite being around Trump all the time, or were in on it and went along with it despite being answerable to the federal government?

And shot the assassin anyway? Or are you claiming that was a fake body?

Like sure, I have no trouble believing that the kid, a registered Republican, wanted to make Trump a martyr. There have been stupider motives in the history of shooting guns at presidents; for fucks’ sake, Reagan was shot by a stalker who wanted to impress Jodie Foster, and Garfield was shot for… charitably, for “reasons.” Actually look up Charles J. Guiteau, that shit is wild.

So if you mean “false flag” in the sense that a Republican shot him for Republican reasons but wanted to make it look like a liberal or leftist had shot him… I guess it’s not conspiratorial or even that unlikely from the facts? The fact that he made a small donation to a progressive group almost makes me feel like he meant people to find that and say he was a liberal, but I’m not sure if the timeline makes sense there, unless he planned this a long way in advance.

But either he acted alone or he acted with conspirators of the type that are fairly normal in this kind of crime. The idea that Trump and some 20-yo from the Pittsburgh area conspired to pull off the trick shot of the millennium is conspiratorial thinking of the highest order and it doesn’t help anyone.

[acertainmoshke]

This is more personal than I usually get on this blog, but it seems to have turned into my main account now so I'm going to say the thing because I need to put it somewhere.

Over the past few months, there has been more than one person in my town using the public comment opportunity at the city council to go on antisemitic rants. Because of this, there is now a proposal to add a specific definition of antisemitism to their toolkit so that they know how and when to shut down this form of hate speech, just as they already know to for others already listed.

There is a vote this week to add it or not.

There are expected to be 100 people there in opposition, I expect both Nazi-leaning and leftists who claim it's a waste of energy to protect Jews like you want to protect everyone else.

100 people is twice the entire membership of the local synagogue.

Our rabbi has been practically begging people to wear kippot, show up looking visibly Jewish, and at least sit there for the meeting.

This seems like the smallest possible activism, but sitting there for up to six hours late into the night on a weekday and listening to how much people hate us sounds exhausting and overstimulating. I'm still going to go.

But I'm so tired and scared and angry. Rabbi sat down with several of us today to talk about what it's like to lose leftist friends who can't tell the difference between supporting Netanyahu's actions and protecting American Jews from growing hatred. So they choose to avoid doing either.

Who remembers Pittsburgh in 2018? I remember that the next week my shul 1,000 miles away started locking their door and charging security fees to pay guards. The place here is smaller. We have a designated guy who stands in the back to watch the locked door, both to let people in and to be a warning system. Just in case.

And I'm just so tired.

[robindaydream]

Going to temple has been hard recently.

I attend a progressive Reform synagogue. Pronouns on nametags are common. A bunch of trans people attend regularly. They're always talking about social justice of one kind or another. And they've even openly criticized Israel in the past. They're definitely not radical leftists, honestly they're pretty mainstream liberals, but this isn't the kind of place where they're eagerly calling for more Palestinian deaths or claiming Israel can do no wrong.

When the Rabbi whom I've admired for over a year has talked about the attack on Israel, she is very clear about what was done and who did it. And she will talk about that at length in a very emotional way. She's clearly grieving and I don't begrudge her that.

But when she addresses the Palestinians deaths, if she does at all, it's fast, vague, an afterthought. Sad things are happening in that region. People are dying, from what we couldn't say. Sometimes with a vague mention of human shields. And it segues into a furious denunciation of Hamas, calling them terrorists and saying they want to eradicate the Jewish people.

And then today was the five year anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh. And she talked about how the shooter claimed Jewish people were seeking white genocide. And then she talked about all the protests around the world accusing Israel of genocide, and said they sounded just like him. I was at home, watching the livestream on youtube. I wanted to cry.

But it's a good progressive synagogue. And at the end of the sermon, just like every week, the Rabbi expresses gratitude that this Shabbat gathering is happening on the lands of the Duwamish people. And like every week she pledges our continuing dedication to learning about our indigenous neighbors and supporting indigenous rights.

I hate it. I don't know what to do.

[beardedmrbean]

Protests broke out at the University of Pittsburgh after Daily Wire host Michael Knowles and journalist Brad Polumbo visited the school to debate transgender ideology, a hot topic on college campuses across the country. 

The anger directed against the topic of discussion, "Should transgenderism be regulated by law?", turned into fear as a "loud explosion was heard and felt in the debate room," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

"The explosion prompted Pitt to send an emergency alert to students about a ‘public safety emergency,’" the newspaper added. 

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH’S LGBTQ TASK FORCE MAKES DEMANDS, INCLUDING TRANS-INCLUSIVE HEALTH CARE, HOUSING

Even after the debate over transgenderism concluded, the protests reportedly continued outside. Some "chanted, yelled, played drums and cowbells and held LGBTQ flags as police urged them to clear off the streets." 

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported that "[o]ne protester set fire to a cardboard cutout with Mr. Knowles’ face on it."

Knowles retweeted a video of students protesting on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus on his official Twitter account and also shared articles and posts about the event, held Tuesday night. 

Polumbo took to Twitter to address the agitators on campus directly. "[T]o the protestors who tried to interrupt and shout down the event, set off fireworks in the street, and reportedly assaulted 4 cops… grow the hell up." 

The protests and possible explosion at the University of Pittsburgh were the latest in a series of controversies at the school that have received national attention. 

The University of Pittsburgh’s LGTBQ task force posted several demands for the university to implement, including expanding housing and health care to transgender students.

"These centers need to not be buried deep in an org chart. LGBTQIA+ staff hired NEED to have some level of autonomy over collaboration, programming, and resource sharing. No more of this BS departmental/division gate keeping," the task force wrote in a post on Instagram.

Athlete Riley Gaines also made headlines after she visited the University of Pittsburgh’s campus back in March. A 12-time All-American swimmer, Gaines called out the chaos at University of Pittsburgh as many activists tried to prevent her appearance at the college.

Gaines — who became a national figure when she objected to trans swimmer Lia Thomas participating in women’s sports — pointed out the double standard that conservative speakers face on leftist college campuses. 

"When Dylan Mulvaney comes to UPitt, he gets paid $26,000 from school funding. When Riley Gaines comes to UPitt, she gets protested, threatened with violence, and attempted to get the event canceled by students, faculty, and lawmakers," Gaines tweeted. "Something tells me Im doing something right," the swimmer told her over 500,000 followers on the platform. 

The University of Pittsburgh directed Fox News Digital to the following statement on its website about the incident: "On the evening of April 18, 2023, an Emergency Notification Service message was sent alerting the campus community to an incident happening outside of O’Hara Student Center. There were several groups gathering, including guests arriving for a speaker event and counter demonstrators in the vicinity. In addition to several devices which produced significant smoke, an incendiary device was thrown in the direction of officers, triggering the message. As the situation evolved, several buildings were temporarily closed and visitors to residence halls restricted as a safety precaution. Throughout this, these details and additional information were regularly posted on emergency.pitt.edu throughout the evening, until such time as an all clear could be issued."

[pennsylvaniacore]

state bird: traffic cone

welcome to the keystone state :) i just collect and hoard stuff that reminds me of home. Politics will be sparse but leftist. Terfs, racists, nazis & the like will be blocked on sight.

Erie to Philly, Washington to Scranton, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, all three of our Frogtowns, all 124 of our state parks, every town I haven't seen yet, and every other inch besides. Yes, even Breezewood.

Submissions are open!

[nyas8888]

I realize its been a little bit since ive last shared anything about my living situation.

For a bit we were staying with my partners dad and sibling but we had to leave abruptly after said sibling physically attacked us. We were staying at hotels after this but after about a month of that we decided to go back to living in the car until we can save up for a small place. Its not ideal but it's something we're very experienced in and we know how to take care of ourselves - portable stove, gym membership for bathing, etc. And even still living with partners dad even temporarily helped us find work so our finances have considerably been better before and since the switch- we both have higher incomes, have Healthcare and free prescriptions, and for the first time we actually make and save enough money that all our tires+glass could explode and we'd have enough sitting around to pay for repairs with some leftover (we technically have enough for an apartment but need to build better credit for a couple more months since we prob won't get approved anywhere ATM with our current scores). For this reason I won't be posting any means of donating money (unless someone personally asks ig) since there are other people in worse situations than us right now whose posts could benefit more from the public sphere. The PNW is full of camping spots so there's always somewhere to sleep, we don't have to feel so bad about buying hot food, finally got a cheap PO box for mail, storage unit, and we know by the end of the year we should certainly have more than enough built up to live somewhere with an address again.

I just wanted to thank anyone again who ever sent money when we were regularly in the negatives and starving on a day to day basis. I've seen a lot of performative attitude from leftists in regards to homelessness. When I went to a furry convention in Pittsburgh, we were the only two to stop and acknowledge someone on the street while everyone else hurried on by cus, eeek, a poor person, I guess. Here I see plenty of well-dressed people and groups with flag merch and dyed hair not even turn to look the way of someone in need. My ex and his roommate in PA one summer were outside a storefront in the sun and neither of them acknowledged an elderly woman begging for water; when I asked why, they sort of shrugged, had a nonresponse and kept walking. But I appreciate and love everyone who was authentic and didn't automatically see me as non-human for my living situation when it happened/is happening to me. I also realize I havent really posted much on here from a personal perspective in a few years, maybe I will get back into just posting some random pictures of places I went or food I ate or animals I petted.

[sinterhinde]

Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, 1956

The most important work by one of America’s greatest twentieth-century philosophers, Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind is both the epitome of Wilfrid Sellars’ entire philosophical system and a key document in the history of philosophy. First published in essay form in 1956, it helped bring about a sea change in analytic philosophy. It broke the link, which had bound Russell and Ayer to Locke and Hume—the doctrine of “knowledge by acquaintance.” Sellars’s attack on the Myth of the Given in Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind was a decisive move in turning analytic philosophy away from the foundationalist motives of the logical empiricists and raised doubts about the very idea of “epistemology.”

With an introduction by Richard Rorty to situate the work within the history of recent philosophy, and with a study guide by Robert Brandom, this publication of Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind makes a difficult but indisputably significant figure in the development of analytic philosophy clear and comprehensible to anyone who would understand that philosophy or its history. (Harvard University Press)

Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989) graduated from the University of Michigan in 1933. He taught at Iowa, Minnesota, and Yale, and was University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh from 1963 until his death. His works include Science and Metaphysics (1968) and Science, Perception, and Reality (1963).

Richard Rorty (1931–2007) authored several landmark books and essay collections, including Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature; Consequences of Pragmatism; Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity; and Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America. He taught at Wellesley College, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Stanford University.

Robert B. Brandom is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy. He delivered the John Locke Lectures at the University of Oxford and the Woodbridge Lectures at Columbia University. Brandom is the author of many books, including Making It Explicit, Reason in Philosophy, and From Empiricism to Expressivism. (Harvard University Press)

I'm attaching a link to b u y the text. Note: attached text is not Rorty and Brandom's 1997 edition.

http://www.ditext.com/sellars/epm.html

[zoe248]

Why I am an Ideas Gal

Kay so I have this pitch for a video game rpg; it's set in the Post Post-Apocalyptic Post Communist revolution Pittsburgh. You play a commissar tasked with upholding the ideological thought of whatever leftist thought or decide to go your own path (though instant fail state if you try reinstituting capitalist/neoliberal ideology) In my head feels and plays very much like Disco Elysium or an old Fallout game.

[anthr--apology]

As the climate crisis continues to devastate the world, predominantly white men on the far-right have embraced eco-fascism. As an ideology, eco-fascism promotes “authoritarian, hierarchical, and racist analyses and solutions to environmental problems.” Eco-fascists often blame environmental problems on “overpopulation, immigration, and over-industrialization,” advocating violence towards refugees, people of color, and other marginalized populations as an environmental solution. It has recently been gaining popularity in today’s far- and alt-right movements–and, more alarmingly, even in some leftist spaces–fomenting racial paranoia about who will have the resources needed to survive the climate crisis.

Eco-fascism dovetails neatly with the Great Replacement Theory, a Nazi-inspired conspiracy theory claiming that “white people are being stripped of their power through the demographic rise of communities of color, driven by immigration.” For example, the man who murdered 11 Jewish people in Pittsburgh chose to target the Tree of Life Synagogue because of their work with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and wrote that HIAS was “working to ‘bring invaders in that kill our people.’” The Great Replacement Theory has its roots in a related white supremacist conspiracy theory of “white genocide” which capitalizes on white people’s fears of becoming a minority population in a country built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the enslavement of African peoples.

A core tenet of any kind of fascism is the belief that hierarchies are morally correct and some peoples deserve rights while the rest of us should be prevented from acquiring them. That kind of belief both contributes to and stems from the idea that humans are superior to the “rest” of nature, hence why extractivism is such an important part of fascism, and why Indigenous peoples who steward the environment based on relations of kin and care present such a threat to fascism.

Although many people might assume eco-fascism only lives in the far-right fringes of the internet, it has become alarmingly mainstream in the past few years: Tucker Carlson, who had 2021’s most-watched cable news show, has mentioned the Great Replacement Theory on more than 400 of his shows, as have Lauren Ingram and Jeanine Pirro, and many prominent right-wing radio shows and podcasts. An increasing number of right-wing politicians who hold local, state, and federal office have also parroted Great Replacement talking points and/or avoided opportunities to condemn it. There is no telling how many people have been radicalized by this rhetoric just in the last few years.  

[sunshinecoastqldnews]

US Republicans pull $1bn from BlackRock over ESG investing considerations

BlackRock has misplaced greater than $1bn in asset administration enterprise in US Republican states upset with the corporate’s inexperienced investing insurance policies, withdrawals which have grow to be a political drawback however to this point haven’t dented the corporate’s revenues. In an interview with the Monetary Instances, South Carolina state treasurer Curtis Loftis mentioned he would pull $200mn from BlackRock by the tip of the 12 months. Louisiana treasurer John Schroder mentioned final week he’s withdrawing $794mn from BlackRock. Utah’s treasurer Marlo Oaks mentioned he liquidated $100mn in BlackRock funds, and Arkansas reportedly pulled $125mn this 12 months. As the worldwide sustainable investing phenomenon surged — it has elevated by $1tn since 2020 — BlackRock jumped into the motion. The corporate manages 5 of the highest 20 US sustainable funds by property, which is greater than another funding supervisor, in line with Morningstar. Past its fund choices, chief government Larry Fink has pushed firms to chop their carbon emissions and threatened to drop laggards from actively managed funds — insurance policies which have put a goal on BlackRock in Republican states. Loftis mentioned he beforehand rejected BlackRock as a supervisor for a $41bn fund his workplace oversaw due to considerations about its environmental, social and governance (ESG) insurance policies. As a substitute, he mentioned he picked Federated Hermes to handle the fund. Pittsburgh-based Federated Hermes additionally gives ESG funds and broadly promotes its management on this house, particularly for the reason that acquisition of London-based Hermes in 2018. However Federated has been a prime donor to the State Monetary Officers Basis, an organisation of Republican treasurers together with Loftis. After stress from overseas pension funds, Federated Hermes withdrew its SFOF sponsorship, the FT has beforehand reported. Now, the SFOF doesn’t listing any company sponsors on its web site. Earlier this 12 months, Invesco and Constancy had been additionally listed as SFOF sponsors. Loftis mentioned Fink was “a really sensible man” and that he admired him. However he accused the folks pushing sustainable investing of hypocrisy. “A lot of it doesn’t assist the folks it’s supposed to assist,” Loftis mentioned. “That’s the reason I’ve actually gotten my again up.” “Poor folks, historic minorities, are having cash and providers diverted from them for these globalist, leftist concepts,” he mentioned. Really helpful BlackRock declined to remark, however pointed to a letter the corporate despatched in August to state attorneys-general to defend its ESG insurance policies. The Republicans’ race to chop ties with BlackRock had not affected its underlying enterprise, mentioned Greggory Warren, an analyst at Morningstar. The BlackRock funds the Republicans had dropped had been usually cash-like merchandise with small charges, he mentioned. The Republicans’ ESG backlash was “political posturing” forward of elections in November, he added. US state treasurers usually oversee money administration, bond offers and sure features of a state’s retirement funds. Although BlackRock has grow to be the Republican treasurers’ favorite punchbag, different monetary firms have been hit as properly. In West Virginia, the treasurer’s workplace will switch banking providers out of JPMorgan Chase by the tip of November, in line with a spokesman. West Virginia earlier this 12 months banished JPMorgan, BlackRock and three different banks for allegedly hurting power firms, the state treasurer mentioned. In Utah, Oaks mentioned his fiduciary obligation prompted him to drop BlackRock. The corporate had pursued a “twin mandate” by assembly with firms about local weather change considerations, he mentioned. “We have to be certain that the cash just isn’t getting used to drive a separate agenda completely different from our fiduciary obligation,” he added. Originally published at Sunshine Coast QLD News

[mrpatrouiousachatz1993]

Why do I feel that some white so called leftists in the United States are the biggest fools? I know I am a White trans man and my politics lean more further to the left. But some of White Leftists in the US are absolutely rediclous and make true leftists looks bad and be little you if you disagree with them and point out a flaw with them or with an article they posted on social media.

Perfect example a white trans woman who was suppose to be my friend on Facebook posted the Pink News Article about Lush UK donating to anti trans organizations. Where the title was misleading and made it look like that Lush as an entire global company made the donation, when in reality Lush is one of those companies where each branch has a separate owner, with separate entities, with separate assets, with separate banks, separate prices, and the products aren’t even all the same. I pointed this out about how Lush North America donated to trans rights organizations and has even made products dedicated to trans folks for TDOR and TDOV.

For Christ sake in Pittsburgh Lush even participated in an event for People’s Pride hosted and organized by SisTers Pittsburgh which is a black and trans led non profit organization in Pittsburgh. I even shared another PinkNews Article about how Lush North America and Lush UK are separate, and the woman deleted my comments. I thought she deleted the post and read the article and realized she judged too quickly.

So than I shared posts from Lush North America espiecally from Lush Canada’s TDOR posts, and that same woman legit said I bought into the “Capitalist Kool Aid” and said Chick Fil A would make the same statement. Like really you are going to compare them to Chick Fil A. Than she makes another comment saying not to go on her posts and tell her that her “views are wrong.” When in reality I never said her views are wrong. I said that each Lush branch is separately owned and when it comes to their charity pots donations they run independently as that Nation’s Lush Branch and that Branch alone, and posted an article from the same fucking news sources the original article is from.

Funny enough some of these Pittsburgh leftists who are primarily white no matter if they are cis, trans, or non binary, gay, straight, bi, pan, queer, or ace, they will fucking shame you for “buying into Capitalist Kool Aid” but yet they themselves shop at Walmart which has been known to get their products from sweat shops, and is anti labor union, they will shop on Amazon or have Amazon wishlists, even though Amazon has a history of treating their warehouse workers like shit (and I will confirm this because I use to work in an Amazon warehouse), they will go buy big corporate makeup brands, they will go to corporate run Pride and March oh excited carrying the giant flags, they will eat at McDonalds even though McDonalds in the US is in trouble for covering up sexual harassment in the work place.

I am pretty sure there will be some of those leftists who will come on here and call me a capitalist pig, call me a fake progressive and blah blah blah. And I am sure that there will be some far left extremeists who will think I am being a trans misogynist all because I had a disagreement with someone who happened to be a trans woman. And people wonder why there are Democrats and Republicans who hate leftist. It is because you got “leftists” use the fucking internet as their platform and will go after you if you don’t boycott a company, if you didn’t vote 3rd party in the presidential elections, if you fact check them, if you don’t agree with them they consider it as you telling them that their views are wrong, and blah blah blah. I mean really. Even President Obama probally one of the most modern progressive presidents we ever had has said that cancel culture and call out culture is NOT activism.

[starlightomatic]

the whole “jews aren’t doing enough to support the movement and be allies to other marginalized groups” narrative is especially shitty in light of the fact that eleven jews were murdered in retribution for supporting immigrants

[unclesamsmisguidedclub]

Google Ads Blocks GOP Candidate Marsha Blackburn Video

Google Ads Blocks GOP Candidate Marsha Blackburn Video

Is blocking truth censorship? Google Ads blocked Tennessee GOP candidate Marsha Blackburn from releasing a campaign ad for Google search users because the “content didn’t meet Google standards.” The 30 second ad titled “Stop the Mob” showed protesters screaming during a moment of silence for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and a protester kicking a cameraman. She also had a 15…

[gettothestabbing]

Anti-Semitic shootings aren’t new, and anti-Jewish hate crimes have long dominated religious bias in this country. This ancient hatred comes from both fringes and runs through presidents of both parties and occurs in nations across the world. Yet what was the most vital lesson partisans could derive from the massacre of elderly Jews attending a bris in Pittsburgh? Stop saying mean things about billionaire progressive sugar daddy George Soros. As a Hungarian Jew who is a descendant of Holocaust survivors and victims, I am wholly comfortable attacking Soros, who is both a hard-left activist and a funder of the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. Now, there are surely anti-Semites out there peddling conspiracy theories about Soros, just as there are people peddling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Sheldon Adelson and other wealthy Jews who involve themselves in politics. It’s often overdone, and often by Republicans. But if you’re not upset about the vile accusations that are incessantly thrown at someone like Benjamin Netanyahu, while you think calling out Soros is de facto anti-Semitism, your main concern is liberalism, not the Jewish people. If you think Trump should bring down the temperature, you have a point. If you think Trump should turn down the temperature but you fail to mention that a progressive yelling about “health care” tried to assassinate the entire GOP leadership on a baseball field, you don’t really care about the temperature. If you fail to mention that Democrats have been accusing Republicans of wanting to the kill the poor and young, of trying to destroy the planet, of being “terrorists” after every school shooting, you don’t care about the temperature.  If you rationalize mob behavior every time you don’t get your way in the electoral process, you don’t care about the temperature. And if your first instinct is to play politics with tragedy for partisan gain, you are part of the problem.

David Harsanyi,  The Left’s Response To The Mass Shooting Of Jews Is An Act Of Bad Faith

[maamlet]

@rainbowkittyblossomwings she really is SO good

[liberty1776]

had wonderful dimnner date yesterday with my best friend. We ate at the Hyehold resteraunt in Moon township near Pittsburgh Pa. We had a great time. It was also very nostalgic for me, It was at this restauraunt that I proposed to my wife Joanne in 1979. She and I were together till she died in 2007. It was fun and romantict to eat there again with my current best friend. I had elk meat for first time and we shared white chocolate ice cream for disert.

She is a young leftist and I am an old right libertarian, but we listen to each other and respect each others views. If the whole country would be like us, most of Americas problems could be solved.