Imagine sincerely arguing that the United States needs to lead the world

— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) September 30, 2020

This US presidential debate is making me feel much worse than I expected

— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) September 30, 2020

"Just finished a book (The Jakarta Method), after covering SE Asia for @washingtonpost. Before that, @latimes in Brazil and @FT in London but I'm from California"

"This US presidential debate is making me feel much worse than I expected"  

This never gets old.

"Why don’t single-issue anti-abortion voters oppose this Trump Supreme Court nomination?"

repeats Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

"In 2016, Democrats made the mistake of focusing on Trump's rude, crude and vulgar mouth (on display, I gather at last night's "debate" [sic], which apparently some sentient people actually watched!).  Alas, Democrats may be doing it again." 

"Mr. Trump was the first modern presidential candidate to respect this culture of honor–" 

"HF: You define democracy as a 'system in which parties lose elections.' Why is this such a crucial defining feature?"

repeats "College-educated Americans speak about the economic problems of the working class in terms of trends that can be seen in tables and graphs."

repeats "My students were all obsessed with sex. Not the idea of sex, or the meaning of sex, but sex!"

The liberal elite doesn't understand the working class for the same reason that it didn't understood blacks, women, gays, Jews, Palestinians–colonial subjects, on down the list. And when all the others are accepted, the working class will still be the working class. 

repeats. recently. I forget too much.

"I'm from Austria, motherfucker!. I'm from Graz! Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown!"
"No wonder you sound like a Guinea."
"Yeah! We're right on the fuckin' border"
---
"Edenbaum"
"A good Irish name."
"Nazi"
...
"You're alright for a Jew!"
---
"What's the difference between a nigger and a pizza?"
"There's a black man in the room!"
"I don't care! What's the difference between a nigger and a fucking pizza?
"I don't know."
"A pizza can feed a family of four!"
[The black man looks at the ground shakes his head slowly and laughs]
---
"How many languages do you speak?"
"I can say "pussy" in 12 languages!"

Those stories are old. I wasn't working construction for years but I was back until recently. For most of 2019 and into 20 I was working on a Polish crew. One Honduran laborer and one Puerto Rican. The Puerto Rican was married to a Polish woman with family in Interpol. I've never heard the word schmatte so many times in my life. And Shiksa is Polish for annoying girl. Not slut, not bad, just annoying. I have more stories, good and bad. I can have respect for asshole anti-Semites who've worked their entire lives like dogs. I'm still an asshole collegeboy. I could've been something else and I'm not. I had the advantages they never had.  I still do. Yes and no.