Civil Discourse Now

Where the far left and far right overlap for fun and enlightenment

Mark Small's Blog – April 2022 Archive (19)

If pro sports franchise receives public subsidies, taxpayers shouldn't have to pay to watch its televised games

High % of ppl from all sides agree: pro sports receive too much $ in subsidies. Indy has Colts, Pacers, Indy 11 & The Indy 500. We shouldn’t subsidize billionaires’ hobbies, but that train has sailed (or the ship departed the station). However, taxpayers of any jurisdiction that...1/4

pays public $$$ to subsidize a sport shouldn’t have to pay a 2nd time to watch that specific sport on TV. Example: Colts either be on a regular network or The Colts pay for people to have free…

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Added by Mark Small on April 29, 2022 at 6:00am — No Comments

First time caller, apparently last in (history) class

Caller asked about my views as a candidate as she’d not seen mat’ls from my campaign. I sd I’m GOP, pro-choice, anti-gun, pro environment & don’t believe $ should be dynamic of campaigns. She then said she works in education & is sick of CRT (Critical Race Theory). I asked 1/5

her what pub school mat’ls she’s seen that teach CRT since CRT’s a grad school theory. She said CRT was “implicit,” that children are divided in classrooms, white kids taught to feel guilt over their…

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Added by Mark Small on April 27, 2022 at 7:05pm — No Comments

Legalize all drugs - period.

When we have to guess whether what we do is illegal (e.g., can I light up a cigarette within so many feet of a school?), ours is not a free society. How adults choose to relax, whether with a shot of single malt or a joint, should not be subject to criminal penalties. The default...1/3

position should be that unless something is intrinsically wrong, e.g., outright murder of a human being, that thing should be legal. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson smoked pot: drugs were legal.…

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Added by Mark Small on April 26, 2022 at 8:11pm — 1 Comment

Big military hardware has become obsolete

Aircraft carriers are big & cost lots of money. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should teach several lessons (e.g., the whole good vs evil thing). We should realize that large pieces of military gear are vulnerable & obsolete. Small missiles take out tanks. Several yrs ago China developed...1/3

a thousand-missile anti-capital ship system. U.S. Navy carriers will be among the first targets in any major (i.e., w/Russia or China) conflict we might have. We’ve done a lot to starve…

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Added by Mark Small on April 26, 2022 at 2:51pm — No Comments

MAGA people might be confused

As Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, if trump followers were confused, trump soon called the invasion ‘genius” & “savvy.” (2/23/22). MAGA ppl parroted trump. Then news of Russian war crimes emerged & trump denied he made his prior stmts. (03/30/22) GOP trumpers R in a ...1/4

cult of personality corner. Tucker Carlson talks tanned testicles to divert attention fr his Moscow cheerleading. Even trump sometimes is booed by MAGA, but he’s their 1st out-front leader since D.C.…

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Added by Mark Small on April 24, 2022 at 3:53pm — No Comments

This iteration of GOP has no legit claim to that name

Republican Party of Hamilton County holds “Lincoln Day” dinner tonight w/Sen Mike Braun as keynote speaker. Roots of GOP connect w/resistance 2 slavery & struggles 4 econ justice. This iteration of GOP has no legitimate claim 2 B Republican. Sen Braun, cpl of wks ago... 1/5

sd States have rt to determine whether ppl whose skin varies in concentration of melanin should be allowed to marry. Lovings v Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) held that white or Black (or red or yellow or mixtures…

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Added by Mark Small on April 19, 2022 at 8:22pm — No Comments

I'm a Republican (capital "R") in good standing. Seriously.

Someone asked how I could be a republican (they used the lower-case “r”), yet re-post a meme to the effect that Pres Biden is a decent man. To be clear: the GOP was not founded as, & is not yet, a cult of personality. It started as party of progressive ideas: abolition & economic reforms. 1/4

After the 1964 election, some in the GOP saw opportunity to persuade racists in what, since the Civil War, had been the Democratic Party’s “solid South.” Yet even as late as the 2008…

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Added by Mark Small on April 17, 2022 at 1:06pm — No Comments

Guns: if fed can't sponsor peer-review studies the State should

Two main factors in burglars’ choice of homes to target. 1) Not getting caught. 2) Stuff worth stealing. On first one, burglars generally don’t break into homes when people are home & that’s the only way your ownership of a handgun would work to protect your home. And on...1/4

the 2nd one, handguns R amongst the items most easily fenced. After all, if a burglar grabs a bag of jewels, s/he can’t walk into some place and buys things. The burglar has to find a place to pay for the…

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Added by Mark Small on April 16, 2022 at 8:42am — No Comments

Mr Musk: Why Twitter? A fine social media platform hardly used is available...

Elon Musk wants 2 buy Twitter: “I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. I now realize [Twitter] will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.” Yesterday, in a TED 2022 conference he said: “Having a public platform...1/5

that is maximally trusted & broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.” Because I agree w/this last bit I say Mr Musk should leave Twitter alone. His goal isn’t…

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Added by Mark Small on April 15, 2022 at 4:27pm — No Comments

We should look at advanced nations for examples...

Land of the Free: 5% of World’s population but 25% of prison inmates. Free market works: #37 in health care & #1 in price & NEARLY ALL the 36 ahead of us have some form of “socialized medicine.” Land of opportunity: gap between richest & poorest growing > other nations...1/3

And no advanced county mires its non-rich youth in debt for seeking higher education. We have the largest military yet are most insecure. Advanced countries have solar & wind but we still burn…

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Added by Mark Small on April 14, 2022 at 8:22pm — No Comments

Why people should vote in the primary election May 3

Ppl don’t get excited about primary elections. Indiana’s is May 3. Early voting has begun in Indy at City-County Bldg. Other sites will open April 23. You might believe you’re registered to vote, but this iteration of the GOP doesn’t like “adverse” voters. We need to test the system...1/4

(1) Voter rolls get purged. Your registration might have crossed the wrong GOP algorithm. It’s better to be turned away at the primary than to be turned away in November. (2) You can check…

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Added by Mark Small on April 14, 2022 at 6:52am — 1 Comment

We need to teach kids to question authority, not simply to follow

Last evening on “Civil Discourse Now,” an individual posted comments & reflected her/his view that lax school discipline causes crime, & kids should be taught job skills & not critical thinking. Her/his comments reflect amorality that poses as a superior morality. The capacity...1/5

to question is an important quality to be taught in schools in a free society. To teach only job skills in schools (1) itself teaches a form of morality: obey those in authority & do not…

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Added by Mark Small on April 13, 2022 at 7:33am — No Comments

CDN tonight at 7: Shyra Maguire discusses our prison system

“Show me a prison/Show me a jail/Show me a prison man whose face is growing pale...there but for fortune/go you or I.” Our nation stills lacks empathy Phil Ochs expressed in this 1960s song & regressed. Judges & prosecutors don’t win elections on promises of protecting rights... 1/4

of the accused. “Hanging judges” win elections in the “land of the free” w/25% of the World’s prison. If prisons are meant to reform ppl & deter crime, our system is a failure. IN’s recidivism…

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Added by Mark Small on April 12, 2022 at 8:28am — No Comments

Russia's atrocities in Ukraine are redolent of U.S. in Vietnam

U.S. approached greatness. Russia’s invasion of/atrocities in Ukraine sounded like the latter days in Vietnam & U.S. soldiers, bitter & cynical, committing war crimes similar to what we hear of Russia. The difference? We stopped the war in Vietnam. Russia carries on. MAGA ppl... 1/4

seem embittered by the notion the U.S. hasn’t bullied the World. When we dug in our heels & said “no” to Vietnam, we (enough to stop the fiasco) had self-awareness & said no more war. That…

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Added by Mark Small on April 10, 2022 at 8:14pm — 1 Comment

We need to legalize all drugs

Amongst ways that Indiana can save (LOTS OF) money, expand liberty and reverse the wrongs done to hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers is to legalize all drugs. Stores would be licensed, the items there taxed, and a big money-maker for organized crime would be gone. 1/6

Marijuana, for medical & rec’l use, now is legal in many States. Indiana, as usual, lags. Harms result from pot being illegal, not from use of the plant. 1: There are no cases of fatal cannabis poisoning in the human…

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Added by Mark Small on April 9, 2022 at 7:34am — No Comments

Flip the bird at those in power: early voting info for Indiana's May 3 primary

Every election, even a primary, is important. This iteration of the GOP seems to want to limit the ability to vote. That makes Indiana’s primary election a chance to flip the bird at those who seek to bastardize the Hoosier election system. When & where to vote? 1/4

Website vote.indy.gov/early-voting/ gives early voting info in Marion County: Indy, Speedway, Beech Grove & Lawrence). Website says ppl can vote at City-County Building, April 5 to May 2. Times vary. April 23-May 1…

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Added by Mark Small on April 8, 2022 at 3:33pm — No Comments

Flashbacks on the hospital, sweat pants & a shower bench

I won’t own a pair of sweat pants. By the 2nd day in hospital in 1994 I was paralyzed, waist down. Sweat pants beat a gown but, along w/other things, remind me of 1994 & mis-diagnosis of MS. I undergo knee surgery soon. Another reminder is a shower bench, like I bought yesterday... 1/3

& consists of metal frame, suction cups on the feet & a seat of thick plastic. In ‘94 the bench was necessary because standing was a challenge. Once I didn’t need it, I donated it to…

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Added by Mark Small on April 7, 2022 at 6:46pm — No Comments

Tennessee child brides & Matt Gaetz: this iteration of the GOP is sick

Indiana has no crime of “statutory rape.” Instead: A person who, w/a child under 14 yrs of age, knowingly/intentionally performs or submits to sex’l intercourse/other sex’l misconduct commits child molesting, a Level 3 felony. I.C.§ 35-42-4-3. Compared to TN, IN protects kids. 1/3

We can’t belabor this matter. Leaders of this iteration of the GOP project their own perversions to blame others (see: Pizzagate) yet rip away statutes that protect women, kids & everybody but white male…

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Added by Mark Small on April 6, 2022 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Websites for voter info for Indiana voters

Media are silent about waves of violent crime at polling sites in the 2020 elections. A candidate for Michigan state Senate said ppl should “Show up armed” on election day to stop a recurrence of 2020. (Detroit Free Press, 1/31/22.) What happened in 2022? The GOP lost. 1/6

No credible evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, in Indiana or anywhere, exists. If fraud occurred, people at polling sites w/guns wearing MAGA caps are meant only to intimidate voters likely to vote…

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Added by Mark Small on April 2, 2022 at 9:22am — No Comments

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