US Politics: Borrow And Spend Conservatism Marches On

[Jace, Extat]

This poor HJ looking kid put on his little uniform

[karaddin]

41 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

Norton lasted 0.026 Scaramuccis (aka "moochspans") and while the NYT is a fucking pile of shit, let us also not forget that yesterday WaPo announced it was hiring human carbuncle Megan McArdle, a person who has made their professional mission to be as wrong as possible about anything and everything. McArdle thinks that if those six-year-old kids at Sandy Hook had just, you know, bum-rushed Adam Lanza, they'd be alive today and it's their fault that they're dead because they were weak-ass chumps. Fuck them all: Fuck McArdle and Norton and the opinion sections of both NYT and WaPo, and I hope that a fire engulfs them all.

I was impressed that someone managed to get under 0.1 Scaramuccis, I didn't actually think that barrier would fall so soon. I didn't see the details on McArdle (and know nothing about her) so it didn't make as much impression on me as Norton. Yesterday just seemed to be them trying to one up each other with awful starting with WaPo, then NYT culminating in the politico pining for indentured servants. You can get one for your kids too!

[Darth Richard II]

"If you see something, say something," Israel said at a news conference earlier today. "If anybody has any indicator that someone's going through a behavioral change, on social media if there are disturbing photos, perhaps bombs or firearms or just videos or pictures that are just not right, please make sure law enforcement knows about it."

Well, that's some bullshit right there. Everything I've read has indicated people did see something and did say something...and no one did shit.

[The Anti-Targ]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

 

The idea of requiring that gun shot wounds be reported is so that shootings can be investigated, and also so shootings can be counted.

If you don't report gunshot wounds, you further blur the picture of the role of guns in society. That to me would be playing right into the hands of the NRA, who have used all kinds of methods to blur that picture. Why can't the CDC investigate why people shoot other people? Because lawmakers have forbidden them from doing so.

All those fuckers receivers hundreds of thousands if not millions from the NRA in political donations. Marco Rubio tweeted his sympathy for the victims of this shooting and someone responded with this is the guy who has taken $3 M (and change) from the NRA.

Some people who are shot may be illegal immigrants who would be reported to ICE, but my God if that happens so be it. First of all they are likely to be a very small minority of shooting victims, and secondly having the numbers on gun violence way outweighs their issue.

Surely reporting can be anonymised unless the wounded person (or their legal guardian in the case of a minor) wants to report a crime. If the mandatory reporting comes from hospitals and ERs (which is really the only place mandatory reporting can come from,m or the vast majority of it at least) then basic data that does not identify wounded person but that provides meaningful statistical information can be collected without turning the wounded person into a victim of enforcement authority abuse.

[DanteGabriel]

1 hour ago, WinterFox said:

Hugs man.

If it helps at all maybe this could help in the midterms? It won't, but perhaps the belief that it will gives you some comfort. 

It won't help in midterms. Nor will the next hundred or so mass shootings that will inevitably occur before then.

When I was in high school, we used to talk shit about the overprivileged kids at the private school down the road. "They can justify anything and deal with nothing," huffed one of my friends. That's America. That's us as a nation.

[karaddin]

19 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Surely reporting can be anonymised unless the wounded person (or their legal guardian in the case of a minor) wants to report a crime. If the mandatory reporting comes from hospitals and ERs (which is really the only place mandatory reporting can come from,m or the vast majority of it at least) then basic data that does not identify wounded person but that provides meaningful statistical information can be collected without turning the wounded person into a victim of enforcement authority abuse.

Yeah, exactly this. I'm not sure why my post got responded to by listing off the importance of the statistical information when that was precisely what I was making allowances for.

But the idea that people getting deported by ICE after a mandatory reporting of a shooting is just tough luck that they can suck up? That's an awfully fucking callous view.

[Xray the Enforcer]

52 minutes ago, karaddin said:

I was impressed that someone managed to get under 0.1 Scaramuccis, I didn't actually think that barrier would fall so soon. I didn't see the details on McArdle (and know nothing about her) so it didn't make as much impression on me as Norton. Yesterday just seemed to be them trying to one up each other with awful starting with WaPo, then NYT culminating in the politico pining for indentured servants. You can get one for your kids too!

Megan McArdle is an absolute shitpile of a human -- in many ways far worse than Norton. In addition to blaming toddlers for getting themselves murdered, McArdle has choice words for the 71 poor motherfuckers who died in the Grenfell Tower fire -- basically that, well, they were going to die someday anyway, so why spend the tax money to make sure that most of them don't die in terror and agony because the council was too fucking cheap to pay for proper cladding and fire sprinklers. https://splinternews.com/megan-mcardle-is-taking-her-ill-informed-technocratic-n-1822969895

[The Anti-Targ]

Social Darwinism right? If you are not "fit" enough to survive in society under your own steam then society is better off not trying to keep you around. Your death being the only positive contribution you can make to society. It's ironic that a lot of these people think Darwin was controlled by Satan and that the Universe is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old. And they don't want to let women pre-empt death by social rejection and deprivation by having abortions.

[all swedes are racist]

holy fuck, if you want to throw your phone through a wall or just become extremely enraged, check out the nra’s instagram right now

[Darth Richard II]

10 minutes ago, unpaid comintern said:

holy fuck, if you want to throw your phone through a wall or just become extremely enraged, check out the nra’s instagram right now

Haha, I know better then to even look at this stuff this late at night.

[Fragile Bird]

2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Surely reporting can be anonymised unless the wounded person (or their legal guardian in the case of a minor) wants to report a crime. If the mandatory reporting comes from hospitals and ERs (which is really the only place mandatory reporting can come from,m or the vast majority of it at least) then basic data that does not identify wounded person but that provides meaningful statistical information can be collected without turning the wounded person into a victim of enforcement authority abuse.

 

1 hour ago, karaddin said:

Yeah, exactly this. I'm not sure why my post got responded to by listing off the importance of the statistical information when that was precisely what I was making allowances for.

But the idea that people getting deported by ICE after a mandatory reporting of a shooting is just tough luck that they can suck up? That's an awfully fucking callous view.

What good is anonymous reporting? How do the police investigate an anonymous report of a gunshot wound? Is that what you do in Australia and New Zealand? People get shot and the doctor tells the police, I just treated a shooting victim but I won't tell you who it was? 

Not every place in the US looks into the citizenship status of a victim of crime ie sanctuary cities (and states) don't. But you're saying it's ok to shoot an undocumented immigrant because you know it won't be reported. Oh no, that's not what we're saying, but yes, that is effectively what it amounts to.

And yes, if you are an undocumented immigrant and you get shot, well tough break if you live in a place where police will report you to ICE.

eta: In any event, you might get your wish. History has shown that the impact of mass shootings on the US is that gun regulation gets loosened with every shooting. The ability to carry weapons openly is expanding, the ability to carry guns in more places is expanding. The day the US says Americans can carry guns on planes is the last day I ever fly on a US plane.

I'm sure the NRA would be happy with anonymous reporting. Once that is granted, you'll see doctors refusing to report gunshot wounds to the police, they'll tell the patient to go report it themselves. 

[Darth Richard II]

42 minutes ago, Triskele said:

If you dislike McArdle then I think that you might enjoy this column. 

ETA:  I mean really enjoy it.  

Ok, I'm not a violent person in real life, honest. But I hope that women gets eaten alive by angry she bears.

[OldGimletEye]

On 2/14/2018 at 11:54 PM, Triskele said:

If you dislike McArdle then I think that you might enjoy this column. 

Her high libertarianess has been getting on my nerves for years.

Guess she has been getting on others people's nerves too.

Anyone that refers to themselves as John or Jane Galt is likely to be a fuckin' moron.

[The Anti-Targ]

6 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

 

What good is anonymous reporting? How do the police investigate an anonymous report of a gunshot wound? Is that what you do in Australia and New Zealand? People get shot and the doctor tells the police, I just treated a shooting victim but I won't tell you who it was? 

Not every place in the US looks into the citizenship status of a victim of crime ie sanctuary cities (and states) don't. But you're saying it's ok to shoot an undocumented immigrant because you know it won't be reported. Oh no, that's not what we're saying, but yes, that is effectively what it amounts to.

And yes, if you are an undocumented immigrant and you get shot, well tough break if you live in a place where police will report you to ICE.

eta: In any event, you might get your wish. History has shown that the impact of mass shootings on the US is that gun regulation gets loosened with every shooting. The ability to carry weapons openly is expanding, the ability to carry guns in more places is expanding. The day the US says Americans can carry guns on planes is the last day I ever fly on a US plane.

I'm sure the NRA would be happy with anonymous reporting. Once that is granted, you'll see doctors refusing to report gunshot wounds to the police, they'll tell the patient to go report it themselves. 

Shootings in New Zealand are still infrequent enough that every shooting ends up on the national news.

[OldGimletEye]

Interesting reading about US and guns.

https://www.vox.com/2015/10/3/9444417/gun-violence-united-states-america

Quote

No other developed country in the world has anywhere near the same rate of gun violence as America. The US has nearly six times the gun homicide rate as Canada, more than seven times as Sweden, and nearly 16 times as Germany, according to UN data compiled by the Guardian. (These gun deaths are a big reason America has a much higher overall homicide rate, which includes non-gun deaths, than other developed nations.)

 

Kevin Drum says: Wall Street Crowd and conservative sorts of people, would you get a fuckin' grip?

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/inflation-rises-0-02-in-january-wall-street-panics/

Quote

My goal in life isn’t to deny forever that inflation is low and under control. But every time I try to get out, the Wall Street Journal pulls me back in:

A closely watched gauge of U.S. consumer prices offered fresh evidence that a long run of very low inflation is ending….A month-over-month measure of what households pay for everything except gasoline and food rose a seasonally adjusted 0.349% in January—the strongest one-month increase since March 2005….Though it signals a strengthening economy, price pressures are getting investors nervous.

They are literally pointing at one month’s worth of data to claim that inflation is coming to get us. Here’s the more normal annual inflation rate:

 

[Xray the Enforcer]

7 hours ago, Triskele said:

If you dislike McArdle then I think that you might enjoy this column. 

ETA:  I mean really enjoy it.  

that was a really satisfying hate read.

[Jace, Extat]

Oh shit. These kids straight talkin' some mad shit about gun control on the news.

[KiDisaster]

Got halfway through writing yet another letter to that massive piece of shit Marco Rubio last night before remembering how pointless it is because he's bought and paid for with NRA blood money and if dead kids haven't swayed him nothing I can say will. It was a rough night for me. I've grown pretty numb to these shootings but it hits a lot harder when it's so close to home. 

So far I haven't heard of anyone I know being directly effected, that's about the only solace I have. 

Fuck these child murder supporting gun nuts. Fuck this goddamn country. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 hours ago, dmc515 said:

Studies have demonstrated a hs graduate's political knowledge in the sixties is equivalent to a Bachelor's degree's today.  That's pretty easy to track and one can extrapolate to behavior from there.  As for generational differences in education, you can control by age; in fact, both age and education are controls in the vast majority of political behavior studies.

That says a lot about the state of our educational system.

Anyways, I don’t recall people doing that in the labs I worked in. It seemed like they were just capturing the raw data.  

[aceluby]

Getting real sick of people saying we need to arm and train teachers to kill shooters.  Somehow these people think teachers don't do shit besides brainwash children to be liberals and should switch professions if they want to make more than $35k a year; but also think they need to be trained to be Rambo when horrible shit happens.

ETA: Not here, just in general.