u.s. politics: sundowning on the american empire

[DMC]

10 minutes ago, Bonnot OG said:

the media is worthless 

Yeah that clip is fucking nauseating.  It's like petting your dog and telling him "good boy" after all he does is shit on the carpet but refrains from eating it.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

It’s nice to see the president tying gun control with immigration. What better way to reward the shooter for what he did.

Also, video games are bad, apparently. I killed a lot of people in RDR2 this weekend. I guess that makes me a potential murderer now……

Someone upthread mentioned that this is what happens with gun control--it typically disadvantages minorities. Lo and behold, Trump keeps that tradition alive.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That's the real fucking tragedy. I mean the Jack/Rose plot is serviceable for its time as far as romance stories go, but the real draw of that movie is the last twenty minutes.

Rose killed Jack!

Also, the real highlight is when the guy falls and hits the propeller.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

If I missed it, my apologies, but Trump is ready to crack down on video games which caused this hateful violence.

Just to iterate, I've reviewed the literature this summer as this topic crosses over into my research, and the literature (outside of the baffling APA stance) is that there is just no link between gaming and violent behavior. I've read analyses that even look at things like aggressive personalities seeking out gaming (smaller studies tho), and even then, the any link is so small, it's hard to even say that violent media attracts these behavior types.

[Jace, Extat]

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Rose killed Jack!

Also, the real highlight is when the guy falls and hits the propeller.

Oh man, when he pinwheels off!!

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

 

What bloody planet do you live on? What part of ‘gun violence’ is missing in a suicide by gun? Is the gun missing? Is the violence missing?

You people really do live on some other planet from the rest of the world.

He believes in the right for anyone to end their life however they choose, and restricting their right to end their life is a violation of their freedom. 

He believes that if someone is suicidal that they will find a way to end their life, so that it is a gun doesn't matter. 

He believes that suicidal ideation is rational and something that will always exist in a person, and not something emotional or something that can be helped.

All of this is a considerable amount of bullshit, mind you. It isn't backed up by study, by common sense, by decency, by any metric at all. But it is what he has consistently believed - that it is a Good Thing that people kill themselves via gun, and that this is a feature. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Since we're currently stuck with over 40 percent of the world's guns it would be nice if we could find ways to delink these insecurities among men that feel they need guns to feel safe. It seems like these people are suffering in confidence without a big firearm to face their fears of the world. How do we make these men less scared?

It's like the school "sissies" are growing up and shooting everyone, wasn't there an element of that with Bernard Getz?

Anyways as has been noted we now have 40 percent of the world's guns floating around. Things like bullying, how we interact with one another, insecurities and toxic masculinity, all take on huge outsize dilemmas that keep growing worse in our overarmed, terrified, young white males. I wish they could muster the confidence to stop being so afraid.

[Bonnot OG]

23 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Since we're currently stuck with over 40 percent of the world's guns it would be nice if we could find ways to delink these insecurities among men that feel they need guns to feel safe. It seems like these people are suffering in confidence without a big firearm to face their fears of the world. How do we make these men less scared?

It's like the school "sissies" are growing up and shooting everyone, wasn't there an element of that with Bernard Getz?

Anyways as has been noted we now have 40 percent of the world's guns floating around. Things like bullying, how we interact with one another, insecurities and toxic masculinity, all take on huge outsize dilemmas that keep growing worse in our overarmed, terrified, young white males. I wish they could muster the confidence to stop being so afraid.

Toxic masculinity and racism are a gigantic factor.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

40 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Oh man, when he pinwheels off!!

A death unfitting of a moneyless pleb.  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

And oh shit, the Dow is down 750 points.

And climbing. Looks like we’re in for a rough week.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

34 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Since we're currently stuck with over 40 percent of the world's guns it would be nice if we could find ways to delink these insecurities among men that feel they need guns to feel safe. It seems like these people are suffering in confidence without a big firearm to face their fears of the world. How do we make these men less scared?

It's like the school "sissies" are growing up and shooting everyone, wasn't there an element of that with Bernard Getz?

Anyways as has been noted we now have 40 percent of the world's guns floating around. Things like bullying, how we interact with one another, insecurities and toxic masculinity, all take on huge outsize dilemmas that keep growing worse in our overarmed, terrified, young white males. I wish they could muster the confidence to stop being so afraid.

It’s so odd, I’ve never owned a firearm or felt the need to carry one with me to feel safe.  And it’s not that I dislike them.  I’ve gone to ranges and rented weapons it’s fun to shoot, just don’t need one with me.

[Trebla]

Given the state of the world, I needed a laugh like this.

(in case you missed it, he called Dayton Toledo in his speech today white reading from a Teleprompter)

[Fragile Bird]

Trump has added tariffs against Chinese goods, to kick in on Sept. 1.

Oh, look! The Chinese retaliated, they’ve devalued the yuan! And after US negotiators warned them not to do it!

Boy, I’m glad I did’t buy all my Euros and pounds for Worldcon and Eurocon! Currency war about to start!

[Bonnot OG]

i think Beto is a pud, but him going off like this is awesome.

[DireWolfSpirit]

24 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

It’s so odd, I’ve never owned a firearm or felt the need to carry one with me to feel safe.  And it’s not that I dislike them.  I’ve gone to ranges and rented weapons it’s fun to shoot, just don’t need one with me.

Yep that's where I'm at too.

I'm wondering how to lessen the demand for this overpriced product?

[Maithanet]

The US-China trade war is escalating, and based on what I'm reading, China's move of devaluing the yuan hurts lots of countries, but probably China and the US most of all.  Several times the Chinese govt seems to have been caught flatfooted by the Trump administration's anti-China policies.  I can't help but wonder if we're going to have the Chinese meddling in the 2020 election just as heavily as the Russians surely will.  Such an action to hurt Republicans might be the only thing that would get McConnell to allow election security measures to pass. 

It is really pathetic that this is how far we've fallen. 

[Jace, Extat]

Just now, Maithanet said:

The US-China trade war is escalating, and based on what I'm reading, China's move of devaluing the yuan hurts lots of countries, but probably China and the US most of all.  Several times the Chinese govt seems to have been caught flatfooted by the Trump administration's anti-China policies.  I can't help but wonder if we're going to have the Chinese meddling in the 2020 election just as heavily as the Russians surely will.  Such an action to hurt Republicans might be the only thing that would get McConnell to allow election security measures to pass. 

It is really pathetic that this is how far we've fallen. 

Oooh! The Chinese going Dem!?! I'm all for It, we'll win!

[TrueMetis]

9 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

These types of left-wingers are good reminder old school bigotry could permeate anywhere. A person could be a racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic bigot, and still hate capitalism-especially if they see that as a system that truly helps groups that they don’t like. For example many would see it as bad when “respecting” the free-market bars government not to clamp down on media that depicts gay people...as people. What about their cultural values that says its ok to ridicule, beat, imprison and even kill gay people? How are most people supposed to know, it’s ok to treat gays poorly for being gay, if films, and tv shows are allowed to present them as not to be the caricature bigots have made gays out to be? 

 Bernie’s and quite frankly many of his supporters insistence on making economic concerns the driving force behind the  racism/xenophobia that infects this country is  dangerous because it allows these types of bigots a mask to hide their prejudices behind.

The USSR engaged in several pogroms against Jews. Pretty sure they weren't all that fond of capitalism.

Funnily enough (not actually), many of those who fled Russia settled in Germany trying to escape that persecution. The Nazi's then used that to stoke antisemitism. Oh it wasn't all Jews, just those foreign refugees. They're the bad ones, they're causing crime, and taking native German's jobs. And mostly, they aren't integrating into German culture.

Didn't take very long for it to go from just the refugee's are the problem to all Jews are the problem.

4 hours ago, Fez said:

Well, no. Because suicide is a mental health issue. Full stop. And can be addressed with mental health solutions.

Also, fine, even if you count the suicides; the gun violence rate decreased from 15.2 in 1993 to 10.5 in 2014. A decline. Which is exactly what I said.

ETA: It's also worth noting that the overall US suicide rate has been on the rise since 1996. The gun suicide rate is not on the rise. In fact, while I said it's steady, it's actually slightly declined, from 7.3 in 1993 to 6.7 in 2014. Guns aren't driving the increase in suicide rates.

It can also be addressed, at least in part, by not giving easy access to guns, because suicide is also an impulse issue, and if people don't have access to a fast and reliable way of killing themselves they aren't as likely to kill themselves. I know people who are still alive because they didn't have guns.

Better mental health would be great, it's not going to stop a guy who has yet to be diagnosed though.

34 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

The US-China trade war is escalating, and based on what I'm reading, China's move of devaluing the yuan hurts lots of countries, but probably China and the US most of all.  Several times the Chinese govt seems to have been caught flatfooted by the Trump administration's anti-China policies.  I can't help but wonder if we're going to have the Chinese meddling in the 2020 election just as heavily as the Russians surely will.  Such an action to hurt Republicans might be the only thing that would get McConnell to allow election security measures to pass. 

It is really pathetic that this is how far we've fallen. 

Sounds like a pitch for a bad movie. Chinese hackers vs Russian hacker in the battle for the fate of the US. And you're not sure who to root for.

(China I'd be rooting for China)

[Maithanet]

1 minute ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Oooh! The Chinese going Dem!?! I'm all for It, we'll win!

I don't like election interference in any form.  But it doesn't seem hard to believe that the Chinese would be ramping up an anti-Trump operation for 2020.  They value stability and long term thinking, and the Trump administration is anathema to either one. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

It's gotta be frustrating as hell making any kind of agreement with the US.  Because you know that any clown can get elected and nullify anything you've agreed on.