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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
And me, I'm just wondering if I shouldn't have a gun to protect myself from all the gun-waving crazies out there.
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.- maneuvers to slip in under developing current events*
Important point on the "countries with mandatory military service" thing: Most of the one on that list are rather small countries. Some of them, like South Korea and Israel, have unfriendly neighbors. Those countries arguably need mandatory service; relying on a volunteer force would leave them heavily undermanned.
To the people freaking out about the dangers of training more people to use guns: A huge part of being trained properly to use guns is all about not doing stupid shit with guns. (I would not object to mandatory safety training being tied to gun licensing laws, for that matter.)
The US does have a history of turning to arms when diplomacy failed...it was called the American Revolution and "citizen soldiers" were most of what we had. The closest thing we have to those militias today is actually the National Guard, who are mostly called on to deal with violent civil unrest and (more often) natural disaster relief. Any theoretical (but unlikely) American mandatory service would include the Guard and likely the Coast Guard as an option, and probably some other civil service option. There's also Civil Air Patrol which could be folded into it, they're most often involved in survey and search-and-rescue operations.
edited 28th Mar '16 12:45:19 PM by Elle
To keep things on a militant topic, the Secret Service said no guns at the GOP convention
, no matter how many people sign the petition.
"Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event," a Secret Service spokesman said in a statement.
The agency cited federal law authorizing them to prevent firearms from entering sites that protectees are visiting. "Only authorized law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with the Secret Service for a particular event may carry a firearm inside of the protected site," the Secret Service said.
The petition, which went online a week ago, had garnered almost 45,000 signatures by Monday afternoon. It pressed remaining GOP candidates and the Republican National Committee to demand firearms be permitted into the arena.
"In order to ensure the safety of your supporters, delegates and all attendees at the convention in July, you must call upon the RNC to rectify this affront to our Second Amendment freedoms and insist upon a suspension of the Quicken Loans Arena's unconstitutional 'gun-free zone' loophole," the petition reads.
And in news from further away, Broadway composers want help for Puerto Rico
.
"If Puerto Rico were an American city, it could declare bankruptcy, as Detroit did in 2013," Miranda wrote. "If it were a state, the federal government would surely have already declared emergency measures to help the most vulnerable. But since it is a territory of the United States, there is no system in place to handle the financial and humanitarian crisis that is happening right now."
Both Democrats and Republicans, from House Speaker Paul Ryan to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have expressed support for action that would offer the island, where Miranda's parents were born, a lifeline. But with more than $70 billion in debt obligations and economic misery mounting, the process appears stalled.
In his Times piece, Miranda quotes from the real Alexander Hamilton's famous plea, delivered in a letter from his home in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands amid hurricane devastation nearly 250 years ago, when he asked, "O ye, who revel in affluence, see the afflictions of humanity and bestow your superfluity to ease them."
Earlier this month, the playwright went to Washington to stand with Senate Democrats pushing a bill that would allow the commonwealth to declare bankruptcy. "What we need is the ability to restructure and get Puerto Rico out of the hole it's in," said Miranda, joining Warren and N.Y. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand at a news conference. "So I'm urging Congress. If Hamilton tickets will help, I'm happy to do that too."
Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a threat?
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Not entirely - whoever wrote that petition used some epic-level Troll wordplay, turning the Republican reaction to various shootings ("We need more people armed!") against the party itself.
Also, couple State-level stories to relate.
One is that Governor Bevin of Kentucky is pushing through budget cuts for the State's judiciary that's estimated to lead to 600 jobs being cut
(and make sure they don't try to undercut him with other budget cuts, like they attempted with the Education cuts a while back).
The other is a master-class in spinsmanship not seen since Clinton
, with Governor Bentley of Alabama saying that he'd sent sexually explicit messages to a woman, but never actually had sex with her.
Seriously - he either overestimates his ability to spin the story, or thinks his constituents are dumber than a box of rocks.
edited 28th Mar '16 12:57:36 PM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"A vindictive part of me really hopes that armed Second Amendment nuts storm the Republican convention.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It'd be half-sad, half-ouch-my-ribs funny.
On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.I'm pretty sure even open-carry laws have provisions that let the owners of private property set their own rules and the Constitution has no jurisdiction there. (But tell that to some of these people...)
If I were the arena owners I'd be looking at the mood and acts of the crowds in the past few weeks and going "nope!"
edited 28th Mar '16 1:05:23 PM by Elle
Clinton aide: Sanders needs to change 'tone' if he wants NY debate
(i.e. the Clinton Camp is refusing a debate in New York ahead of that state's Primary unless Sanders stops pointing out all of Clinton's flaws)
That certainly would be some delicious schadenfreude and potentially hasten the GOP's self-destruction.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I do not want the Republican Party to end in a fusillade of rifle fire from gun nuts. That would be far too tragic for schadenfreude. It is not, however, a completely implausible outcome.
Edit: Governor Bentley's little sex scandal was covered in Friday's news shows. It's ... salacious would be putting it mildly.
edited 28th Mar '16 1:10:02 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Oh, neither do I. A mass shooting would be tragic and should never be wished upon anyone.
I just want the gun nuts to storm the convention in protest to being told not to bring their guns, and for the GOP to be forced to acknowledge yet another monster of their own making that has now turned on them. Right now, they're basically drowning in all the worst parts of their party turning extremist and breaking free of their leashes.
edited 28th Mar '16 1:10:56 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Not many as far as I know. You would have a valid point there of course,in the sense that I probably wouldn't be at risk of dying or anything, I'm just saying I'm not huge on the idea of soldiering in general even if I understand that having a military is necessary and important for a country.
edited 28th Mar '16 1:14:19 PM by wehrmacht
I dunno, that would have way bigger consequences than simply ending the Republican Party as we know it (although would be big if it happened) or being a public tragedy. Wouldn't it?
It could lead to people realizing that violence isn't the answer and coming together in peace and harmony, or it could set a precedent for more craziness.
Of course, the weirdest aspect with that concept is that, 20 years ago, it could have caused a full-blown insurrection to have the leaders of a political party wiped out. Now though, after mass shooting after mass shooting for every reason under the sun? I'd half-expect people to just sigh in frustration rather than get truly mad about it.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"

The narrative I often hear from a Republican in my office is that eventually the system is going to break down, there's going to be another Civil War, "and we have all the guns."
This is a popular internal narrative for pro-gun folks: you're going to be grateful when me and my guns save you from the British Empire, zombies, Super-Nazis, China, etc.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.