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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#102552: Oct 2nd 2015 at 3:33:21 PM

What's the point of resigning now? Not enough time for a successor to do anything.

MeetTheNewBoss I'm Ruthless. from The Same As The Old Boss Since: May, 2015 Relationship Status: Love is for the living, Sal
I'm Ruthless.
#102553: Oct 2nd 2015 at 3:43:23 PM

Reasons that probably only concerns the person in question.

What I mean is that you aren't giving me a good reason, Fighteer. All I see is someone that thinks people must be arrested for owning guns.

edited 2nd Oct '15 3:45:02 PM by MeetTheNewBoss

You claim that God is opressing us, but I see you opressing others without needing a God.
RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#102555: Oct 2nd 2015 at 4:22:48 PM

I don't like when people treat mass shootings as a reason for comprehensive reform of gun laws. If you look at the national murder rate, mass shootings account for a pretty miniscule fraction of people killed; they just get all the media attention.

Also, given that someone was able to use a 3D printer to make a gun (albeit of a single-shot variety), in ten or fifteen years, regulating access to guns may be flat out impossible.

Aprilla Since: Aug, 2010
#102556: Oct 2nd 2015 at 4:27:44 PM

Some of these things have already been noted, but I want to repeat them for the sake of emphasis.

EDIT: [up]Agreed with the first paragraph.

1.) Most gun-related acts of violence involve domestic violence, negligent discharges and suicides, not killing sprees.

2.) A lot of spree shootings typically involve ideas, beliefs and attitudes such as racism, xenophobia, misogyny, religious zealotry, anti-theism and even classism in some cases. These issues are related to ideological background radiation that continues to contaminate social progress. These issues can be combated and mitigated through social justice initiatives. You know, that so-called social justice warrior drivel that people love to mock and dismiss? I posted that previous article for a reason.

3.) Bigotry is not a mental illness. Being an asshole does not mean you are in need of psychiatric care. Attributing asshole behaviors to mental illness ignores the fact that these behaviors and ideologies are normalized in public and personal discourse. This is illustrated daily by an ad nausea fixation on a certain presidential hopeful who shall, for the sake of my own sanity, remain unnamed.

4.) Bans on military-style weapons furniture for otherwise plain-Jane semi-auto weapons don't work. Deal with it.

5.) We have a problem both with firearms and the people who feel the need to express their beliefs with them. Deal with it.

6.) Our current system is not working.

7.) We already have federal agencies that deal with firearms sales and illegal distribution, purchases and use of those firearms. They're called the ATF and the FBI. Oh wait. The ATF is repeatedly gutted in terms of manpower and funding, and analysts in the FBI have repeatedly said that they're not even all that comfortable with their own crime reporting data and gun stats.

8.) People of color in the US, particularly blacks, tend to not fare well with gun control laws. However, this link is from Vice, so take it with a grain of salt. Vice has this whole "we're Switzerland" approach to political journalism, but that's kind of a load of crap.

9.) "Well regulated militia" probably doesn't mean what a lot of people think it means.

10.) People in the gun community have a horrendous inability to demonstrate self-restraint and critical thinking in gun control debates.

11.) Gun control advocates often know dick about actual firearms technology, and some of you just need to get a knowledgeable friend and spend a day at the range, even if you ultimately stand by your beliefs.

12.) Many gun owners suck balls at gun safety whether they want to admit it or not.

13.) If you want to have a nuanced, intelligent discussion about gun ownership in the US, you're going to have to do better than "because the Constitution says so" because that shit ain't working.

14.) Stop talking about gun owners like we're all Yosemite Sam. It's getting old.

15.) Stop talking like gun control advocates are limp-wristed dandies who can't grasp the concept of legitimate self-defense.

16.) Many people have a poor grasp of self-defense and violence in general.

edited 2nd Oct '15 4:32:26 PM by Aprilla

JackOLantern1337 Shameful Display from The Most Miserable Province in the Russian Empir Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Shameful Display
#102557: Oct 2nd 2015 at 4:31:36 PM

[up][up] Then we ban 3D printers for anyone except large corporations. It would help cut down on the entrepreneurial individualistic streak of the American people and bring them in line with the values of the rest of the world.

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
ILoveDogs Since: May, 2010
#102558: Oct 2nd 2015 at 4:47:14 PM

Surely limiting access of a wonderful new technology to the rich and powerful is the American Way, though?

JackOLantern1337 Shameful Display from The Most Miserable Province in the Russian Empir Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Shameful Display
#102559: Oct 2nd 2015 at 4:50:53 PM

[up] Hey normal people got cars, and now the US has no public transportation system to speak of.tongue

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#102560: Oct 2nd 2015 at 5:42:49 PM

[up][up][up]That comment seems unnecessarily bratty. No one actually wants to curtail our "individualist streak".

I'd be more concerned about the printing guns thing if they ever made a design out of something more durable than plastic. I don't doubt that it's possible, and I sincerely wish that laws could catch up with technology a lot fast. (While acknowledging that a lot of things don't have laws because most people would assume that something is too stupid or extreme for anyone to do, or just plain not being able to predict a particular event.)

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#102561: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:32:39 PM

The other day, Obama challenged the media to do its own comparison of firearm deaths in the U.S. to terror deaths. Here are some results.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 153,144 people were killed by homicide in which firearms were used between 2001 and 2013, the last year that data are available (that number excludes deaths by “legal intervention”).

The Global Terrorism Database – which uses a criteria to determine terrorist attacks but also includes acts of violence that are more ambiguous in goal – estimates that 3,046 people in the U.S. died in terrorist or possible terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2014.

The top number doesn’t even include suicides and legal police killings (which boost the number to 394,912). Still, just counting homicides alone, 11,780 Americans were killed by guns a year on average, in that time period, while 219 on average were per year killed by terrorism – although of course the 9/11 attacks are the bulk of the deaths.

This chart is the money shot. Terrorism deaths are only on it as a matter of courtesy.

So, as Obama said, let's spend as much money as we spend fighting terrorism on fighting gun violence. We don't even have to come to conclusions as to how — have Congress authorize the release of funds to study the issue.

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:33:16 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Artificius from about a foot and a half away from a monitor. Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Norwegian Wood
#102562: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:33:31 PM

[up]x5 3D printers themselves can't be restricted or effectively banned so long as there is an Internet community which remembers them. This is a fairly low-key version of one, but have you heard of Reprap? The whole thing is community driven and improved upon, the idea is to produce a 3D printer which can reproduce itself (or at least, its own parts). Aside from the stepper motors, I can't imagine anything involved in the project being completely impossible to fabricate at home, and the techniques for working with materials other than ABS plastic are probably not easily restricted either.

[down]True, I just disagree with the possibility that any possible ban could be a complete deterrent to a sufficiently determined individual.

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:37:44 PM by Artificius

"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#102563: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:35:42 PM

Forget banning 3D printers. You might as well ban lead, or saltpeter. We could, however, impose strict penalties for anyone found to be manufacturing a firearm on one. Simple.

Responding to an earlier question, yes, a total gun ban would involve the criminal arrest of anyone found to be in possession of one, but only after a suitable amnesty period where people could voluntarily turn in their weapons, possibly for some kind of monetary reward. Use the carrot first, and the stick only for the holdouts.

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:37:15 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#102564: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:43:37 PM

After recovering "hateful documents" from the computer of the man who committed the recent Oregon shooting, it seems that in addition to being a fan of Nazis and the IRA, he was also an avowed Antitheist. Some of the survivors are stating that before he began shooting he ordered the religious students to stand up and identify themselves, and that he then fired on them before he turned on the rest. However, at this time the authorities will neither confirm or deny the statements. New York Times link

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#102565: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:45:01 PM

Sounds like someone overdosed on the red pills.

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:45:08 PM by LeGarcon

Oh really when?
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
LinkToTheFuture A real bad hombre from somewhere completely different Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
A real bad hombre
#102567: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:50:09 PM

[up][up] All he needs to do is reveal that he was an MRA and he has officially taken the entire bottle of redpills.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#102568: Oct 2nd 2015 at 6:58:30 PM

Amusingly enough, early indications pointed to him being from /r9k/ rather than /pol/.note 

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:58:46 PM by Eschaton

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#102569: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:03:57 PM

Why am I not surprised this dude was a redpiller. Do we know if he was after anyone in particular?

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#102570: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:08:10 PM

@Fighteer

Letting poor people ... have access to lethal weapons doesn't help things.

Emphasis mine. Fighteer, what the hell? What did you mean by that remark? That the poor, in particular, should be restricted from gun ownership?

edited 2nd Oct '15 7:08:44 PM by Ramidel

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#102571: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:09:51 PM

Poor person here, yeah it would really help if we could get guns off the streets.

Oh really when?
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#102572: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:11:48 PM

I think Fighteer is referring to the fact that poor people have more of a reason to rob someone. Giving them access to guns would significantly increase the risk of fatalities during these altercations.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#102573: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:14:07 PM

It is possible that I misspoke. The circumstances of poverty — desperation and lack of opportunity — do lend themselves to crime as an outlet, and I have to wonder at the motives of someone in poverty who spends money to buy a firearm. Having some kind of legal income test to buy a gun, however, is obviously ridiculous.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#102574: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:16:11 PM

Motives are usually desperation. I'll admit to carrying a gun at the lower parts of my life.

The problem of course is that a gun only escalates the situation and leads to your death instead of your missing wallet.

Oh really when?
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#102575: Oct 2nd 2015 at 7:23:49 PM

Yeah, no. The vast majority of poor people are not armed robbers, whether or not they own guns, and again - the greater danger of firearm ownership is either negligent discharge or suicide, which occur across economic strata. I don't think that that particular argument is a cogent one.


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