Political Roundtable Part XXXII

[Benjammin]

I have never voted for Trump and certainly this time won't either. Keeping Biden may slightly improve the chances of the Democrats retaining the presidency, assuming no major gaffes occur to the extent of the debate. On the flip side, it significantly increases the chances of the Republicans taking the Senate, the Presidency, and increasing their majority in the House. So, choose your poison. Plus, people will be basically voting for Kamala for President anyway so it makes more sense to make her the formal nominee.

[montestewart]

Ok, racist palate cleanser!

What do you all think on the research coming out about the objectively quantifiable amount of neanderthal DNA in populations from different continents?

https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals

Neanderthals evolved in Europe, Homo Sapiens evolved in Africa. Subpopulations from Africa have the least neanderthal dna in them (although not zero), Europeans have about 2% on average, and because of weird migration patterns East Asians have a lot more.

So what do you think guys?! Can neanderthals jump? Does science support racism now? Or, to be precise, if neanderthals had heavier bones and such that made them less athletic, is there a scientific basis to claim that homo sapiens with African ancestry can jump higher, on average, than those of European ancestry????

Now I'm wondering if the Jimmy Castor Bunch song Troglodyte was really about white people.

[pancakes3]

How many people do you know that we’re going to vote for Biden won’t now? Its telling that everyone wants to complain and be resigned but there’s only one person who will do the one thing that can make sure Trump doesn’t win…..volunteer

Yeah- not myself included. One person has a project in the government agency and stands to lose if Trump will lose his job and hasn't said anything about volunteering but is more or less resigned. I have a friend in PA though who said he will do his part and volunteer or the very least try to convince undecided to vote for Biden.

So has anyone said this changed their vote to voting Trump or sitting out? I get the concern, especially if you didn’t watch the whole thing but I’m genuinely curious how many people are like I was going to vote for Biden but because of the debate I’ll let the convicted rapist traitor who’s brain is turning to mush win.

I'm at the point where I'm not giving the DNC a pass for their own incompetence just because Trump is Trump. DNC has learned 0 lessons from Hilary, RBG, Manchin, and pretty much every single opportunity for a lesson for about a decade straight now.

Even back in 2019, when Joe emerged as the candidate based off "electability" people were sounding the alarm bells of how old Joe would be in 2024. Here we are in 2024 and Joe looks old; there's no way around it. it's not MSM spin. In real time, on twitter, group chats, etc. people saw Joe speak and collectively thought "He looks old."

Sorry for sharing a russel brand video but I saw this earlier and it speaks for itself

https://www.instagram.com/russellbrand/reel/C80ILuTyVCL/

Establishment dems continue to fall victim to their hubris, and at the very least, it should be permissible to kvetch about it on a basketball forum. Even if I do hold my nose for Joe in November, it needs to be somehow communicated to the powers that be that we (or at least I, myself) are not happy at all with the job that they're doing.

Jimmy Carter is 18 years older than Joe Biden, but finished his term 43 years ago.

[Pointgod]

I have never voted for Trump and certainly this time won't either. Keeping Biden may slightly improve the chances of the Democrats retaining the presidency, assuming no major gaffes occur to the extent of the debate. On the flip side, it significantly increases the chances of the Republicans taking the Senate, the Presidency, and increasing their majority in the House. So, choose your poison. Plus, people will be basically voting for Kamala for President anyway so it makes more sense to make her the formal nominee.

I think it’s an all or nothing proposition for the House, Senate and Presidency. I can’t see the people that say I’m voting Biden for President but Republicans for House and Senate and vice versa. Negative partisanship is a real thing.

[closg00]

Oh-well, I thought moment was building to dump Joe, instead we are getting spin and doubling-down, the DNC machine is determined to take us all over a cliff.

This is what you sound like

Read on Twitter

Take a breath and get off social media because it’s bad for you. Pundits don’t know ****.

I don't agree, my position is based on reality, not hoping and wishing.

[pancakes3]

SCOTUS grants Trump partial immunity from criminal acts for acts relating to his "core duties" seems bad.

[montestewart]

SCOTUS grants Trump partial immunity from criminal acts for acts relating to his "core duties" seems bad.

Yes. Watch Trump’s core duty of selling Alaska back to Russia. How is a criminal act and a core duty the same thing? Anyway, not a surprise, and watch the right split hairs to explain how all the things they’re going after Biden for were not part of his core duties.

[pancakes3]

a historical analogue where a member of the executive was not afforded immunity - Aaron Burr was indicted for murdering Alexander Hamilton while a sitting VP.

[closg00]

SCOTUS grants Trump partial immunity from criminal acts for acts relating to his "core duties" seems bad.

A bad faith ruling that they would have not made as-broadly if it had been a Dem President, the Republican SC sees this as an opportunity to accelerate to the Christo-Fascist America that they want when Trump wins.

[doclinkin]

Ok, racist palate cleanser!

What do you all think on the research coming out about the objectively quantifiable amount of neanderthal DNA in populations from different continents?

https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals

Neanderthals evolved in Europe, Homo Sapiens evolved in Africa. Subpopulations from Africa have the least neanderthal dna in them (although not zero), Europeans have about 2% on average, and because of weird migration patterns East Asians have a lot more.

So what do you think guys?! Can neanderthals jump? Does science support racism now? Or, to be precise, if neanderthals had heavier bones and such that made them less athletic, is there a scientific basis to claim that homo sapiens with African ancestry can jump higher, on average, than those of European ancestry????

Pshaw. Bullfeathers. My Neanderthal ancestors were mighty in their athleticism:

Watch on YouTube

The advantage that Sapiens had over Neanderthalis was not in athletic ability but in language. The arrangement of the throat position in our nearest cousins suggested they lacked the ability to form the same variety of sounds that modern humans could. This combined with the low ceiling of their cerebral cortex (forebrain containing the conceptual intelligence and language centers) suggests that they were less likely to chatter about their thoughts and feelings on internet message boards.

HOWEVER they had a larger and deeper vault to contain the rear brain. The housing of their cerebellum was significantly deeper than our own, even proportionate to their more massive body size. This is the section of the brain governing movement, coordination, etc.

My theory, because you know i have one, is that they were essentially living in 'the zone' where athletes simply act without thinking, doing things by instinct, reacting in the moment without having to think about it. Or argue and fuss and negotiate etc. Now still, these were a people who had art and technology, and yes speech given that they had a hyoid bone. My sense is they taught by demonstration and practice. And probably had remarkable visual memory. See me do this thing, then do it yourself.

We know they cared for their elders and were compassionate in caring for each other since burial sites have been found where skeletons showed individuals with debilitating injuries who would not have lived to their advanced age without help. They clearly coordinated with each other since we have cave paintings of mass hunts that demonstrate some of their tactics, and because they hunted the ice age megafauna that could only be brought down with coordinated pack hunting.

If you want to talk about cro magnon vs neanderthal wars and how it relates to sports: There are some who argue that sapiens won the literal arms race in that the Neanderthal shoulder socket is not built for efficiently throwing with an overhand motion. They were yoked up with a knot of bone on the back of their head that back muscles could attach to so they could drag massive carcasses etc. But though they built spears and axes, some theorize that they couldn't fling them far or accurately. And maybe given their massive schnozzes they did not have the same accuracy in binocular vision.

I personally think that is scientific doofusery, since they made spears of different sizes, massive mastondon stickers as well as slim javelins. And anyone who has seen women in olympic hammer throw or or seen Randy Johnson uncork a 100+ mph side arm throw will understand that a hominid who had greater muscle mass, lung capacity, and better physical coordination can blast that projectile as far as fast or faster. And thus will be a dangerous opponent. Or frankly an attractive mate. Because yeah, the DNA shows that we got freaky with each other, neanders and sapiens, on both the male and female side of the equation.

No the advantage of human beings seems to be chiefly this: tactics, technology, advance planning, and the ability to lie. In this our bigger cousins were thoroughly outgunned. The forebrain we have that causes us so much stress, enables us to conceive and innovate ideas quicker, pre-worry scenarios, and die a thousand deaths before we ever encounter them. And deceive, even ourselves. It lets us write fiction to water-test concepts. And to understand the salary cap so we can outscheme our opponents. But a bonobo chimpanzee can jump about twice the height that a human can, and is strong enough to rip your face off jim. We beat them not by being able to jump higher, but to invent pockets and sweat through our pores, so we can walk an animal to death, track it to where it lies down to rest, and then throw things at it from a distance, since nothing is adapted to understand missile weapons.

[pancakes3]

Doc, that's way too many characters to devote to advancing a cogent argument for what has historically been something that doesn't deserve defending. Good, compelling, and funny writeup though.

Unfortunately, in the context of the political roundtable, the issue of neanderthall-human interbreeding (dating back to the 1800s when missing links were discovered both in the form of bones and cave drawings) was mainly used as bad race science (is there good race science?) to denigrate people of color. The use of "neanderthal" as a dirty word coincided with the idea that europeans are more pure humans, and darker hued peoples were more apelike in their genetics (knuckledraggers). The facile nature of this argument conveniently flipped with the advent of genetic sequencing, where the virtues of neaderthals (physical benefits like those Doc detailed) came to light and became publicized.

[Pointgod]

Read on Twitter

[doclinkin]

Doc, that's way too many characters to devote to advancing a cogent argument for what has historically been something that doesn't deserve defending.

I'm defending an actual race though! Not meaningless morphological differences within the species. My DNA testing says I have more Neanderthal in my ancestry than 51% of people they have tested so far. I'm team Caveman all the way. If my Neander cousins had to field a team of basketball players I have no doubt they would, um, wander off to gather hotdogs or flirt with cheerleaders in sign language, gifts, and feats of strength.

[closg00]

Read on Twitter

This could be the worst SC decision in U.S. History,
Trump can now be the unchecked Dictator he has fantasized becoming.

[dobrojim]

Supreme Corruption. It *is* the worst decision since Dred Scott, or ever (?). It's hard to decide.
Maybe Biden needs to take advantage and do some official acts to save what's left of the country.

[Benjammin]

To use a term from Democratic operatives---There seem to be a lot of "bed-wetters" when it comes to this SC decision on presidential immunity.

[Fairview4Life]

To use a term from Democratic operatives---There seem to be a lot of "bed-wetters" when it comes to this SC decision on presidential immunity.

Goons to Alito/Thomas/Roberts: "The beatings will continue until your opinions improve." It's not illegal if the president does it, as an apparently wise man once said.

[AFM]

Yall have neantherdal DNA because Americans were banging monkeys or whatever. I have divinely inspired Persian DNA from the Zoroastrian sun god. Floated down on my magic carpet from agartha. We are not the same

[FAH1223]

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[doclinkin]

Yall have neantherdal DNA because Americans were banging monkeys or whatever. I have divinely inspired Persian DNA from the Zoroastrian sun god. Floated down on my magic carpet from agartha. We are not the same

SCIENCE!

An open question in the history of human migration is the identity of the earliest Eurasian populations that have left contemporary descendants. The Arabian Peninsula was the initial site of the out-of-Africa migrations that occurred between 125,000 and 60,000 yr ago, leading to the hypothesis that the first Eurasian populations were established on the Peninsula and that contemporary indigenous Arabs are direct descendants of these ancient peoples. To assess this hypothesis, we sequenced the entire genomes of 104 unrelated natives of the Arabian Peninsula at high coverage, including 56 of indigenous Arab ancestry. The indigenous Arab genomes defined a cluster distinct from other ancestral groups, and these genomes showed clear hallmarks of an ancient out-of-Africa bottleneck. Similar to other Middle Eastern populations, the indigenous Arabs had higher levels of Neanderthal admixture compared to Africans