Stupid World

[TheDemonLord]

So no proof of these so called economic migrants then. Yet another right wing beat off, i mean beat up.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...boat-crossings

I find that the last section is the interesting bit...

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is clear and published evidence that since January 2018, 76% of arrivals have been adult males and the vast majority would have travelled through safe countries to the UK. Individuals should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. An unacceptable number of people are risking their lives by making dangerous crossings, often economically motivated … Our priority is to stop this illegal trade.”

Curiously enough - that tallies with the Swedish research.

[TheDemonLord]

Yes they can use vehicles or explosives but the ready availability of firearms makes it so much easier and requires far less effort than making a bomb and is far less risky than having to get up close with a bladed weapon

Easier, perhaps.

But not impossible. And that's the point I'm making. The type of person that does this generally doesn't wake up one morning and decide to do it. It's the culmination of a long series of events to the point they decide to do it.

Plenty of time if they didn't have a Gun to find alternate means.

What larger issues ? most countries cope just fine without the prevalence of firearms the USA has and surprising as it is have less mass/school shootings

Well - there's many ways you could argue this.

Has England been better off since Hungerford and Dunblaine? Given the rise of knife crime and other issues, you could argue not.
You could look at countries that have a strong heritage of Firearm ownership and the maintaining of Civil liberties - the Nordic Countries and Switzerland didn't have the immoral and lengthy lockdowns like we saw in other places.
One look at the Ukraine right now would suggest that having a well armed populace is very good for stalling an initial attack whilst you wait for the professional army to mobilize.

Let me put it this way:

In most other countries, mass shootings even in well armed countries that retained Semi-Autos after an event are rare. So too are the circumstances where having a well-armed populace is a demonstrably good thing is also rare.

Whether you agree or not is your call - but I think there is a case to be made for at least the correlation between restrictive gun laws and an overall reduction in freedom, in some instances it may even extend to a causation.

[mashman]

Something went very wrong... or very right depending on perspective

"In the 21st century a 15-hour work week will suffice, as we turn instead to how to use freedom from pressing economic cares." - John Maynard Keynes 1930

Cafe that hires 11-year-olds sparks criticism amid push for minimum age for Australian workers... I've seen the same thing reported in the U.S. Oh how full circle of it all, but with women and kids involved this time lolololololol.

[onearmedbandit]

Next thing you know they’ll make open fires legal again so we can get chimneys back and send them down to clean them. Won’t someone think of the children. And minimum chimney diameters.

[pete376403]

Let me put it this way:

In most other countries, mass shootings even in well armed countries that retained Semi-Autos after an event are rare. So too are the circumstances where having a well-armed populace is a demonstrably good thing is also rare.

Except of course the country whose constitution you hold up as a shining example how a persons freedom to own weapons totally outweighs many other persons right to life

[TheDemonLord]

Except of course the country whose constitution you hold up as a shining example how a persons freedom to own weapons totally outweighs many other persons right to life

You have a right to defend yourself though. That's the key bit you are missing.

If you are worried about someone infringing your 'right to life' - you have the means by which to take steps to defend yourself.

But let's take this comment seriously for a moment:

The claim, fundamentally, is that 'More Guns means More shootings' and 'These evil guns mean more shootings' - America is indeed an outlier - but I don't think it is the exception that proves the rule you are making it out to be.

If that were true - then other well armed nations would experience mass shootings at a rate that is on-par with America. They don't. Switzerland, Norway, Sweden all (for example) have relatively low gun crime, yet have high rates of Gun Ownership and laws that are more permissive than some states in America.

To simply point at guns and the constitution as being the problem is both dishonest and lazy.

So why the difference? Well - first and foremost, I think that unlike the US, those countries I mentioned have an extremely strong national identity. They also IIRC have national service - everyone in the country has a shared experience to which they can relate to anyone else. This gives you high levels of social cohesion (which is ironic, given the Nordic peoples are notorious for not being 'social').

Then you've got fatherlessness - Finland has a very low rate of fatherlessness - 5%. The numbers for Sweden are more interesting - as some data from the EU has a note that it's not accurate. Norway is similar to Finland - numbers look around 5%. Switzerland is around 6%. Given the similarities between the Nordic countries - a presumption that the real number is in-line with Finland and Norway isn't unreasonable.

America, conversely has a rate at around 25%. Why do I say this? Well - Angry Young Men who have never had a positive male influence in their lives - who are desperate for status and fame (or infamy).

Do you think that factor is likely to have far more impact on general levels of violent crime (which includes gun crime)?

[sugilite:Me]

How about some good ole USA federal sanctioned corruption, fraud and theft!
No wonder neither side of the political divide questions defense budget.
Talk about snouts in the trough!

The Pentagon has failed 5 audits in a row. A literal army of 1600 Auditors looking to balance and account for worth 3.7 trillion in liabilities and 3.5 Trillion in assets could not account for 61% of the assets. 61% equates to around 2.1 trillion dollars in "misplaced assets"!!!

[R650R]

How about some good ole USA federal sanctioned corruption, fraud and theft!
No wonder neither side of the political divide questions defense budget.
Talk about snouts in the trough!

The Pentagon has failed 5 audits in a row. A literal army of 1600 Auditors looking to balance and account for worth 3.7 trillion in liabilities and 3.5 Trillion in assets could not account for 61% of the assets. 61% equates to around 2.1 trillion dollars in "misplaced assets]

That my friend is the hidden cost of the CIA black budget meddling in foreign countries....

Does that include the two trillion missing that Rumsfeld announced the day before 911????

[TheDemonLord]

How about some good ole USA federal sanctioned corruption, fraud and theft!
No wonder neither side of the political divide questions defense budget.
Talk about snouts in the trough!

The Pentagon has failed 5 audits in a row. A literal army of 1600 Auditors looking to balance and account for worth 3.7 trillion in liabilities and 3.5 Trillion in assets could not account for 61% of the assets. 61% equates to around 2.1 trillion dollars in "misplaced assets"!!!

I seem to recall some tens of Billions worth of equipment left somewhere... Can't think where...

That said, this is nothing new - from 1998: https://www.govexec.com/federal-news...0-hammer/5271/ which in turn references a book/article from 1986:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...804-story.html

I mean - imagine you've got young, testosterone fueled males - already we've got a target demographic who are not generally known for taking perfect care of something they don't own...

it would be interesting though to see where the biggest discrepencies are. I suspect that the biggest differences are shall we say 'matters of opinion over value and allegiance'

[sugilite:Me]

Haha, 100 percent expected this post lol. We wont mention about Trump releasing 5000 taliban prisoners though eh

Anyways, plenty of billions would be left over for those corrupt snouts to pillage even after leaving shit tons in Afghanistan and non caring youth wasting equipment.

[TheDemonLord]

Haha, 100 percent expected this post lol. We wont mention about Trump releasing 5000 taliban prisoners though eh

Did they take billions of dollars worth of gear with them :P

Anyways, plenty of billions would be left over for those corrupt snouts to pillage even after leaving shit tons in Afghanistan and non caring youth wasting equipment.

I mostly agree - if you read/watch the history of Military Procurement, it truly is fascinating. For example - I was recently watching something I believe about the Future Force Warrior project - which cost (depending on the source you look at) anywhere from half a Billion to several billion.

This project is largely regarded as a colossal failure and massive waste of money. However it was brought up that many of the concepts that it was pioneering back in the mid 2000s have now been miniaturized and ruggedized to the point where some of the ideas could be implemented at now a fraction of the cost.

Apparently this happens quite regularly - there will be some ten year project that is ahead of it's time and effectively a technology demonstration that is impractical and never going to be adopted - then 10/15 years later, technology catches up and some of the ideas are put into practice.

And yes - Consultants are blood sucking leeches.

I'd still be interested to know which areas had the biggest waste though - my suspicion is that a significant proportion of it is for things that are 'necessary but unpalatable'

[R650R]

Pay peanuts get monkeys... A 21 year old junior officer at pentagon arrested by FBI for leaking the Ukraine intelligence docs onto social media. Biden’s trying to dismiss the info though that western intel has known for a long time it’s been a bloodbath with a 7-1 kill ratio in Russians favour while continuing the lie via media that “we” will win and Russia will go home....
All the military power and intel ability destroyed at a keystroke via a slack education system and poor moral values. And lives of intel assetts put at risk by a young man too stupid to blot out a few bits of info to cover even his own identity.

[pritch]

Pay peanuts get monkeys... A 21 year old junior officer at pentagon arrested by FBI for leaking the Ukraine intelligence docs onto social media.

A junior officer in the Pentagon? He had recently been classified Airman 1st Class in the Massachusetts Air Guard which is a long long way from being an officer in the Pentagon - or anywhere else. That he even had access to such material should be causing a major rethink. Like why did the Massachusetts Air Guard even have it?

[husaberg]

Pay peanuts get monkeys... A 21 year old junior officer at pentagon arrested by FBI for leaking the Ukraine intelligence docs onto social media. Biden’s trying to dismiss the info though that western intel has known for a long time it’s been a bloodbath with a 7-1 kill ratio in Russians favour while continuing the lie via media that “we” will win and Russia will go home....
All the military power and intel ability destroyed at a keystroke via a slack education system and poor moral values. And lives of intel assetts put at risk by a young man too stupid to blot out a few bits of info to cover even his own identity.

You seem to be obvious to the fact he was hired under trumps regime plus in the national guard ffs.....

one document from early February expresses misgivings about Ukraine's chances of success in its forthcoming counteroffensive, saying that problems with generating and sustaining sufficient forces could result in "modest territorial gains".

Casualty figures are also listed. One slide refers to as many as 223,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded, and as many as 131,000 Ukrainians.

i cant see a 7-1 kill ratio.

[mashman]

Next thing you know they’ll make open fires legal again so we can get chimneys back and send them down to clean them. Won’t someone think of the children. And minimum chimney diameters.

Could be worse...

Your iPhone Was Built With Child Labor

"Rarely in history has the practice of preying on the weak been so severe, generated such profit, and touched the lives of so many."