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

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#117551: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:37:22 PM

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.
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#117552: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:38:43 PM

And when it does happen every single person in every single branch of the US Government is going to immediately mutiny and fight alongside them against the tyranny.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117553: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:39:17 PM

I do sort of love the idea that these people think they can stop Super Chinese Nazi Zombies with their Glock and $6000 AR-15.

I wish I had that level of self confidence.

Oh really when?
Reflextion from a post-sanity world (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#117555: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:40:04 PM

Yes, people genuinely think their nine millimetre can stand up to a tank. It's really quite funny to watch.

Or that what happened in Iraq proves that they will be victorious. Somehow.

edited 28th Mar '16 12:40:46 PM by Deadbeatloser22

"Yup. That tasted purple."
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#117556: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:41:53 PM

  • 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

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#117557: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:42:56 PM

[up][up][up]I've proposed that semi-seriously before.

Leviticus 19:34
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#117558: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:43:43 PM

Having a gun won't help you when you are caught by surprise, they have assault rifles while you have a pistol, and they have body armor.

edited 28th Mar '16 12:43:52 PM by Bat178

CassidyTheDevil Since: Jan, 2013
#117559: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:44:20 PM

But if fascists took over, I can't imagine the right-wing apocalyptic death cult doing anything to resist it. More likely, they'll cause it.

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#117560: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:45:14 PM

give random drooling lumps the training to form right-wing militias?
Most of the right=wing militia type already do their own training. If you put them through the military, you at least have a shot at undoing some of their brainless wankery.
When you start handing out guns to the unwashed masses
One, could you sound any more ivory-tower Chicken Little? Two, the military doesn't just hand out guns willy-nilly, with no attempt at keeping control. They issue specific weapons, at specific times and places, for specific reasons, and then take them back. And frankly we're far more responsible with more accountability than most of the police departments running around.
I live in Israel, not the States.
Good for you? Aside from Israel's mandatory service, I'm not aware of major differences between their military and the US.note 
I would sooner trust a cop miles away with a gun than my neighbor.
Of course you would. NIMBY at it's most pure form.
You say "democracy," I say "mob rule," "lynchings," and "gang warfare."
... Are you fucking kidding me?
I don't care for military culture in the slightest and I don't want to go dying off in some conflict I might not even believe in.
How many Brazilians are dying in war zones?
when you serve your nation in a military context you do not ever question it.
In Soviet Russia, maybe. We question shit all the time.note 
unless you manufacture a perpetual state of warfare, most conscripts will enter and leave service without ever firing a shot off of a training course.
Lethal basic training, maybe?
Some say "intern", I say "prisoner/slave".
Join the Navy. You can be a janitor for four years and then go home.
consider how many recruits, enlisted or otherwise, drop out because they are unable to handle the regimen of absolute loyalty and obedience required by a professional military.
I can't speak for every branch, but the Navy boot camp dropouts are definitely a minority. We do a pretty good job of weeding out the ones who won't make it before they walk in the door.
Shots fired in the visitors' centre of the Capitol building
Well, crap.

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.

The Secret Service says guns won't be allowed into the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland this summer for the Republican National Convention, despite a petition pushing for it. The agency said Monday it won't allow any firearms past a perimeter and into the convention hall, despite the urging of pro-gun activists who called for Ohio's open-carry laws to extend into the arena.

"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.

The composer and star of "Hamilton," one of Broadway's most popular musicals, is ramping up his call for Congress to provide relief to debt-ridden Puerto Rico. In a New York Times op-ed published Monday, Lin-Manuel Miranda asked that the commonwealth, home to more than 3.5 million people, be afforded the same options as a U.S. city or state.

"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."

Hypothetically, if Puerto Rico decided this year to become a state, could they then go for the bankruptcy options or petition for emergency relief?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#117562: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:54:17 PM

"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.

Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a threat?

"Yup. That tasted purple."
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#117563: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:56:01 PM

[up]

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.

"You know what, when I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you ... and pull you real close ... Hey, I love that too, putting my hands under you," Bentley was recorded saying to a woman, allegedly Mason, on the phone. "I love you. I love to talk to you. I do. ... But baby, lemme tell you what we’re gonna have to do tonight: Start locking the door. ... If we’re gonna do what we did the other day, we’re gonna have to start locking the door.” "It is not a physical relationship making those statements," he said, adding later, "I love many members of my staff. In fact all the members of my staff. Do I love some more than others? Absolutely."

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?"
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#117564: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:58:30 PM

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!"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117565: Mar 28th 2016 at 12:59:05 PM

Me too to be honest.

Oh really when?
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#117567: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:04:02 PM

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

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#117568: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:04:09 PM

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)

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117569: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:04:35 PM

Come on Clinton, that's just weak.

Oh really when?
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#117570: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:05:16 PM

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.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#117571: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:06:47 PM

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!"
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#117572: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:09:41 PM

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.
wehrmacht belongs to the hurricane from the garden of everything Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
belongs to the hurricane
#117573: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:11:19 PM

How many Brazilians are dying in war zones?

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

CassidyTheDevil Since: Jan, 2013
#117574: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:12:54 PM

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.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#117575: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:13:03 PM

[up]

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?"

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