Politics What is happening????

I think that the merger is the retirement plan for a lot of the upper level management types and the owners of private companies. It might be hard for them to sell their equity in the company.

Honestly, I would like to see a media company/website get setup that is targeted at the 0.01% and explains what other people do to game the system. It would be eye opening for the working-class people to see the scale of the resources to help them get ahead and come up with plans on how to do it.

 

Mate
...
You're on a forum. A place where people discuss things.
And you're being rude.

Get off your higher horse, because :
One - people are allowed to be emotional and to worry it think about others
Two - These aren't trivial issues
Three - this is a supportive and friendly community here, don't ruin it for yourself, but being rude to others
Four - this is a discussion thread.

 

I can't profess to know everything about politics in the US as I'm a Brit. But stuff like that is happening here too.
Bits of publicly owned resources being chopped up and sold for private companies to manage (read - ruin. Also these companies are owned by usually friends or relatives of someone in parliament).

The west especially is getting incredibly capitalist, and it's going to end up killing people (in many ways it already has) because of the decreased emotion and empathy for citizens in policy making. (For example, older people dying during colder seasons increased due to not having enough money for the heating - these people already paid a lifetimes taxes, we can make sure they life comfortably till the end)

I think we'll end up on a horrible system where we'll be paying for the air that we breathe and the water we need at horrible prices. At the end of the day, politicians might enter their career thinking they want to change the world and fix things, but I really think they change very quickly. And think about their own pockets.

 

Didn't read the date of above posts, my bad.

Considering that this thread was started quite a few years ago and this capitalism and practically corporation mediated law is increasing, how far do you think this could possibly go?

(also, think about how many global companies avoid paying tax, meanwhile if a regular person is behind or can't afford tax or otherwise doesn't pay their taxes, they get penalised massively).

 

The FBI issues a warning that conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorist threat.
They believe that there is a risk in the future of promoters of conspiracy theories reaching so many people and in such volume that the risk of stochastic terrorism becomes a major risk.
I'm sure most of you remember the guy who charged into the pizza parlor to save kids from the PizzaGate conspiracy.

Exclusive: FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat

 

Well there was yet another mass shooting, this time only a few miles from my house. And while I don't frequent the bar that it happened at, I regularly go to others in the area.

 

A week earlier, FBI Director Wray testified that most incidents of domestic terrorism this fiscal year were associated with white nationalists/white supremacists.

FBI's Wray says most domestic terrorism arrests this year involve white supremacy

 

We did see a recognition and acknowledgement from one Republican in Texas that the mass shooting in El Paso was an act of "white" terrorism and not the first such act this year.

Bu no such acknowledgement from the governor of Texas, the lieutenant governor of Texas, either US senator from Texas or the President of the United States.

From George P. Bush, Texas General Land Office Commissioner (and son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush)


View: https://twitter.com/georgepbush/status/1157832430067310592

 

This paints a very dark picture.

While I dont hold Trump responsible for the violent actions of white nationalists, I do hold him responsible for creating an environment in which white nationalism has been able to flourish.

As president, he has the biggest bully pulpit in the world and could speak out forcefully against this movement. Instead, most notably at his rallies (and tweets), he feeds his base with the kind of rhetoric that stirs up more hate, more intolerance and more division.

And it is likely to get worse leading up to the election in 2020

The era of white nationalism

White nationalism — a racist extremism that was confined to the ugly fringes for most of our lives — is a growing major danger in America:

The big picture: Racial resentment and anxiety have been a central appeal for Donald Trump and his rhetoric among the working-class, forgotten Americans who put him over the top, and who are at the core of his re-election strategy.

• The appeal to alienated young men, combined with the country's gun culture, creates a leading incubator of the mass shootings now plaguing the country.
• In the past 18 months, white-extremist active shooters in the U.S. have been responsible for 65 deaths in seven episodes. (N.Y. Times)
• Both parties are calling out the ideology after the El Paso massacre by an Anglo who complained online of a "Hispanic invasion": George P. Bush, a Hispanic Republican who is Texas land commissioner and the grandson and nephew of former presidents, warned this weekend of "white terrorism here in the U.S."
• The FBI says homegrown violent extremists are now a top concern — "a persistent, pervasive threat," Director Christopher Wray called it in April.
• Two weeks ago, Wray said the bureau had made 100 arrests for domestic terrorism in the past nine months, with many tied to white supremacy.

The data: "Right-wing extremists killed more people in 2018 than in any year since 1995, the year of Timothy McVeigh’s bomb attack on the Oklahoma City federal building, according to the Anti-Defamation League," per the N.Y. Times.

• The reality: 2019 is worse.

We're seeing all this unfold before our eyes on social media.

• "The Great Replacement," a white-nationalist conspiracy theory cited by the El Paso suspect, has gone viral on fringe platforms.
• The suspect's online manifesto spread widely, despite efforts to contain it: An analysis by the social-media intelligence firm Storyful found the manifesto was shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter.

Storyful found that white nationalists drove a substantial amount of online conversation during last week's Democratic debate.

• Sen. Kamala Harris has been the target of right-wing nationalist conversation online, largely due to her background and race.

Russian bots have long been fueling the white nationalist movement in the U.S.:

• Foreign actors have used race to sow divisions in the wake of mass shootings and debates around race, including Charlottesville and NFL kneeling.

Despite all the flashing warning signs, the FBI has been criticized for being slow to focus enough resources on the danger.

• FBI officials recently told Congress they were conducting "about 850 domestic terrorism investigations — a decrease from a year earlier, when there were roughly 1,000," the WashPost reports.

Why domestic terrorism is hard to stop, via the N.Y. Times:

• Compared to broad powers to disrupt foreign terrorist plots, "domestically, federal officials have far fewer options. A federal statute defines domestic terrorism but carries no penalties. The First Amendment ... makes stopping terrorist acts committed by Americans before they happen more challenging."

And mainstream conservatives have been slow to confront the reality:

• The Department of Homeland Security warned in 2009 that the greatest threat to domestic security was far-right extremism, not foreign terrorists.
• The Obama administration was ripped by Rush Limbaugh and others on the right who felt victimized.

Between the lines: White nationalism is the subtext and text text of the 2020 presidential race — as the reality of a shrinking white population sets in, and big states, including Texas, turn increasingly diverse — and blue.

 

The media and politicians don't want to talk about the real issue. Part of this is due to the 80's conservative movement defining what success looks like and forcing people to try and achieve that. Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, Mega churches, and selling cosmetics, plastic surgery, and fashion to women to be trophies. There are similar religious and gun groups who also wanted more power and influence too selling people on what it means to be a real American.

And they aren't talking about the sex issue among teenagers and young adults either. These shooters aren't in the hookup culture, all of the girls who they grew up with have the ability to travel and seek out other guys far away. And at least for the Dayton shooter, having his sister hooking up with a black guy while he wasn't getting any set him off.
Suspected White Supremacist Shooter In Dayton Was Reportedly Angry His Sister Was Dating A Black Man

But, the media isn't helping things with pushing this narrative that the white population is in decline or shrinking. This administration proved that if you scare enough of them, they come out to vote at very high levels. It is going to be 2050 before there is even a chance that the voting majority won't be white. And it is even longer if you go state by state to determine when 67 senate seats will be held by states with less than 49% white population levels.

 

View: https://twitter.com/lisastark351/status/1171352140205498369?s=19

 

In addition to the universal background check bill ( H.R.8 - Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019) that passed the House earlier this year (and that has 90% percent public approval), three additional bills will be voted on in the coming days.

House Judiciary Committee sends gun control bills to the floor

All three bills offer common sense solutions that may stop some gun violence and all have widespread public approval.

* H.R. 1236, the "Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019": This bill would provide grants to help state, tribal and local efforts to remove firearms from individuals determined to be a danger to themselves or others. Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws are more commonly known as "red flag" laws.

* H.R. 1186, the "Keep Americans Safe Act": This bill would regulate large capacity ammunition feeding devices, such as a magazine or belt, making it illegal to import, sell, manufacture or possess such devices.

* H.R. 2708, the "Disarm Hate Act": This bill would prevent a person convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime from obtaining a firearm.​

Only to be opposed by Republicans, on behalf of the NRA, who prefer to ignorantly blame gun violence on mental health issues, video games and lack of prayer in schools and continue to offer nothing in the way of solutions to gun violence but "hope and prayers" for victims and their families.

 

I wonder why nobody talks about just increasing the age limit for males to buy guys. If they want to own them at 18, join the military or police force. It might not solve all of the problems, but it would prevent quite a few mass shootings.

 

Good point.

In fact, Florida after the school shooting in Parkland, and with a Republican controlled legislature and Republican governor, enacted a new law last year raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 (the Parkland shooter was 19 when he purchased his semi-automatic weapon).

What are the requirements to purchase a firearm in Florida?
* Must be 21 years of age. Rifles and shotguns may be purchased by a person who is at least 18 when that person is a law enforcement officer or correctional officer as defined in F.S. 943.10 or service member as defined in F.S. 250.01.
FDLE - FAQs2

***

In 2018, after a 19-year-old carried out a mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the state enacted a law prohibiting minors under age 21 from purchasing firearms. The law also prohibits licensed dealers from making or facilitating the sale or transfer of a firearm to a person under 21 years of age. However, Florida law does not prohibit minors between ages 18 and 21 from possessing firearms. In addition, the minimum age prohibitions for firearm purchases do not apply to the purchase of a rifle or shotgun by a law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or servicemember.
https://lawcenter.giffords.org/minimum-age-to-purchase-or-possess- firearms-in-florida/
​

I give a lot of the credit for the Florida law to the student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who went around the state and confronted state legislators and would not back down.

Those students went national with March For Our Lives and are now actively promoting federal legislation.

What is crazy, IMO, is current federal law that allows an 18 year old to buy a "long gun" (rifle/shot gun, including an AR-15 ) from a licensed dealer but the minimum age to buy a handgun is 21.



Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs):

Handguns: Under federal law, unlicensed person may not sell, deliver or otherwise transfer a handgun or handgun ammunition to any person the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under the age of 21.

Long Guns: Under federal law, unlicensed person may not sell, deliver or otherwise transfer a long gun or long gun ammunition to any person the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under the age of 18.
Minimum Age for Gun Sales and Transfers* | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
​

Raise it to 21 for all sales and transfers of firearms with the exception of transfers within immediate family.

Just do something to address the fact that gun violence is national public health and public safety program.

 

145 business leaders implore Senate to act on gun violence, saying doing nothing is ‘simply unacceptable’
Specifically, Thursday’s letter urged the Senate to pass a bill requiring background checks on all gun sales plus a strong red-flag law that would allow courts to issue lifesaving extreme-risk protection orders.

 

If you were to walk down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC this week between the White House and the US Capitol, you will see US flags with 51 stars. It is in recognition of the fact that, for the first time in more than 25 years, the U.S. House of Representatives will be holding a hearing this week on a bill to give statehood to Washington, DC.

The local Fox News affiliate has described the 51 star flag as "disrespectful."

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington DC's non-voting delegate in the House has introduced the bill , H.R.51 - Washington, D.C. Admission Act, every term since she was first elected to Congress in 1991. (She has reserved bill number HR 51 each term in recognition of DC as the 51st state). This year, the bill has 219 co-sponsors.

I plan on attending the hearing in the House Oversight Committee on Thursday morning. just because it is so historic.

More: Here’s Why A Bunch Of 51-Star American Flags Are Lining Pennsylvania Avenue

The chance of passage........ZERO.

(this could have been posted in Pointless Announcements).