He says they can’t afford to pay for it, and states should cover it, and states might have to raise their taxes, but then the federal government could lower taxes to offset that. Which obviously makes no fucking sense at all. What a moron.

It being about rap and racism are what the entire article and headline here address. Do I need to quote it for you? “Prosecutors used hip-hop lyrics to help sentence a man to death: ‘This only happens to rap music’”. So I am addressing what appears to be the entire topic? I agree, the way the court system works should be the focus, not that the dude is black. But it’s not.

It seems like a better point than a lot of people made

Not at all. What I said is that not enough information is provided for me to decide if I agree with the claim that it’s racism related to rap or not. At the same time as apparently the prosecution once people believe that this is a bad dangerous guy, it seems like the author of the article wants me to believe that it’s all because he’s black and his poetry is considered rap for some reason. Like say I was a white guy with long hair and a bunch of piercings and tattoos and I wrote a bunch of death metal lyrics about massacring people. Am I to believe that the jury would not have considered me dangerous? Maybe they’re racist, and they wouldn’t have. I don’t know. Or what if I was a white guy who wrote a bunch of rap about how much I love to kill people or whatever. I can’t really say. Do I trust the Texas justice system or people who live there? No, of course not.

I made a comment and people replied to it. How is that “steering the conversation“? And all I was doing is referring to exactly what the post and article say. Not sure what your point is.

I believe he already thinks that, something like “we don’t need them“. What I have asked him is who he thinks would benefit from the US leaving NATO. The US? No. Europe? No. Russia, China? Yes. Iran? Yes. So why would we be doing that?

Sure, of course the criminal justice system in Texas is horrendous, and many people there are totally racist. Does that prove the claims in this article? No.

Definitely could’ve reflected on him if he had been writing poetry for 10 years about how he hates kids and thinks they’re useless and he wants them to die

When did Eric Clapton, Bob Marley or Johnny Cash come up on attempted murder? Or assault? I would think that if they did, and the local authorities wanted to win a case or didn’t like them for some reason, yeah, they’d do or say whatever to make them look bad.

OK, then let’s make the debate about whether the death penalty is legitimate or not, and not some “omg rap” bullshit.

Now, are your linguistics prescriptive or descriptive?

Yes, my #1 authority on what constitutes rap or poetry is The Guardian.

I could rap Emily Bronson. Seems like the media wants it to be “omg black and he’s a rapper and rap lyrics”. Sure, Texas fucking blows but if you’re already in prison for murdering someone, good luck.

Were either of them ever accused of murdering someone? No, so what court case would that have have been evidence for?

Was Cash ever brought up on charges of murder?

I have experienced enough journalism to know to not blindly believe what an article says. “Embarrassing” indeed.

My conservative neighbor said last week “when did he say he wanted us to leave NATO? He just wants them to pay their fair share!!”

The article initially describes it as “spoken word poetry”. I guess the thing is I’d have to see what he wrote and hear their alleged racist tropes to make a determination for myself, not just go with what the journalist alleges.

Yes, I read that about three times. What is it exactly that makes his writings “rap lyrics“?

It wouldn’t be the first time a defendant’s writings were used against them. What is the indication that it was about them being ‘rap’? They were apparently in the form of free style poetry, not recorded or otherwise set to music.