1. #45076

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zauriel View Post
    Switzerland has one of the most lax gun laws in the world and mass shooting incidents are rare in Switzerland. They did occur in the country but seldom. That is because the Swiss does have some mentally unstable people.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego...in_Switzerland

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug_massacre

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Menznau_shooting

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zürich...enter_shooting
    Daily Show did a segment about Swiss gun laws some time ago:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjlT4BME2aE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYJ5V2HYy4
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  2. #45077
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    I'd say you're wrong on the percentage of mentally ill/unstable people thing, it's more that Europe has a better social safety net for those with mental illness in general. Since the Reagan era we've pretty much left anyone with mental illness and no money out to rot, even veterans, and they either end up on the street or become the burden of their family. There's nothing inherently more unstable about the people in this country or any other (short of environmental/chemical problems, like lead or heavy metals in water or the like), but in their societies.

    When you take untreated/cared-for mental illness and add things like a disturbingly high number of deadly weapons, tribalism that draws those with mental and emotional issues looking for a place to belong (whether political, religious, racial, etc.) and a purpose, and social media that allows formerly isolated "kooks" to congregate and radicalize each other further and further then you end up with things like the Buffalo shooting or January 6th.

    Those kooks still exist in every other country, but the opportunity and weaponry isn't there to end up in tragedy as it often does here. It'd be comforting to think it was isolated to here, because that would mean the solution to that sort of mental illness would be easier to isolate and fix. Still, part of the solution is clearly lowering the number and availability of deadly firearms. Unfortunately, it's also nearly impossible to achieve. Though I'd have said the same thing about pro-lifers getting abortion off the books, and here we are. So maybe there's hope?

  3. #45078
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malvolio View Post
    I still say we should regulate guns the same way we regulate cars. Each gun has to be registered and inspected for safety on a regular basis. And anyone with a history of criminal violence never gets a gun license.
    this EXACTLY, I always say Guns are only used to KILL something. Cars are used to get the milk. As soon as I use a Gun to get the milk we can talk about easing up on the restrictions that should be in place.

  4. #45079
    Ultimate Member babyblob's Avatar
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    The mental health services in this country are very piss poor indeed unless you have the money to pay for good care. In prison I met with a doctor once a month. for 5 minutes tops. The questions were "Do you want to hurt your self or others?" And "Are you meds working? No? We will look into that. Next."

    I go to an agency with state funding. In the 7 years I have been there they have had their funding cut each year. A few grants here and there gave them some extra funding but funding from the state and county has been cut 7 times. I have been through 6 therapists, and 4 doctors because they cant afford to keep anyone and have a huge turn around. They have cut 3 programs I was a part of because they sadly didnt have anyone to work those programs any more.

    I think they do a pretty good job for the situation they find themselves in. But they are over worked, under staffed and under funded. Covid didnt help matters either.

    I think if the law makers cared to help people in this country with mental heath problems then there are a lot of other issues that would be solved as well.
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    The world's finest Scottish restaurant has decided to pull out of Russia forever. They are going to sell to local buyers and take down all of their golden arches so the Russians can't use them. Wonder if the lack of real Big Macs will subdue the Russians?

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61463876

  6. #45081
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    There is majority support for tougher gun laws, some as high as 80%. The problem is there are very few gun safety one issue voters and far too many one issue gun "rights" voters. The NRA has been notorious in how they have targeted these voters. So many of these voters will vote against a candidate they agree with on everything but passing any restrictions on gun ownership. (The NRA was also good at playing the "take away your gun" card). So we get right wing nutters in Congress in otherwise moderate swing districts who do irreparable harm because they are pro-gun. It's similar to one issue anti-abortion voters.
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  7. #45082

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    North Korea: More than a million Covid cases feared

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61436270

    More than a million people have now been sickened by what Pyongyang is calling a "fever", state media said.

    Some 50 people have died, but it's unclear how many of those suspected cases tested positive for Covid.

    North Korea has only limited testing capacity, so few cases are confirmed.

    North Koreans are likely to be especially vulnerable to the virus due to lack of vaccinations and a poor healthcare system. A nationwide lockdown is in place in the reclusive country.
    The international community offered to supply North Korea with millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made jabs last year, but Pyongyang claimed it had controlled Covid by sealing its borders early in January 2020.
    Slava Ukraini!
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  8. #45083
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Catlady in training View Post
    North Korea: More than a million Covid cases feared

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61436270
    Sealed their borders huh? Obvioulsy Kim never saw any Zombie Apocalypse movies.
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  9. #45084

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    Sealed their borders huh? Obvioulsy Kim never saw any Zombie Apocalypse movies.
    Or read the World War Z book's version of Korea's fate when they sequester the entire population away from the rest after the outbreak.
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  10. #45085

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    On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”published profiles about Daryl Metcalfe, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 1998 who has, in his ten terms in office, supplied the state legislature with more controversy that perhaps any other member. Back in 2008, he refused to vote for a simple resolution to wish a convention of Muslims that would be visiting the state well, because "Muslims do not recognize Jesus as God," earning him a rebuke from many lawmakers (including Jewish ones who realize the same logic can apply to them).

    Metcalfe also opposed recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness month because "it had a homosexual agenda", has called military veterans who believe in climate change "traitors", and claims using the 14th Amendment to guarantee birthright citizenship causes people to make "anchor babies" for an "illegal alien invasion", claimed that refugee children from South America in the United States should be immediately deported because they "carry diseases", referred to President Obama's immigration policies as "treasonous", and supports immigration measures as strict as Arizona's SB 1070. (Even though Pennsylvania is pretty damned far away from Mexico, you know?)

    It should come as little surprise, then, that he has been photographed with, and is a big proponent of the anti-immigrant, anti-government militia group known as the OathKeepers. Metcalfe has been a guest on Alex Jones' InfoWars program where they discussed Israeli agents having infiltrated the Department of Homeland Security and how President Obama was supposedly enacting policies of Cold War communist nations, as well. Big surprise, he's also a Birther, having sponsored legislation to investigate presidential candidates' birth certificates, as well as bills to ban same sex marriage, create stricter Voter ID laws to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in his state In 2016, and then still insisted that there were “thousands” of cases of voter fraud being perpetrated by people who were not American citizens in the 2016 elections, without any evidence. Metcalfe not only drew widespread criticism for not just sponsoring a bill that would be easily ruled constitutional if passed to make English the official language of the state, but he called Robert Vandevoort, a known White Nationalist leader, to serve as a witness to testify in the bill’s supposed benefits and Metcalfe felt that was okay because he was “just a White Nationalist” and not a White Supremacist.
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  11. #45086

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    Metcalfe has become even more combative in recent years with Pennsylvania Democrats, who have staged walk-outs due to his insane ramblings calling for the impeachment of the state attorney general for not aggressively enforcing Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act, blocked an LGBT anti-discrimination bill from advancing out of committee back on June 15th, 2016 because he spread the lie that transgendered people are attacking women in restrooms, and once ordered an openly gay legislator silenced during a debate about that bill because he "violates God's law".

    And wow, has Daryl Metcalfe reacted poorly to the news that the gerrymander that Republicans had going for them in Pennsylvania was overturned by judges. Over the past six months, his partisan d***ishness has gone into overdrive, starting back in December of 2017, when he was in a meeting discussing land use, and when Democratic Rep. Matt Bradford gently brushed up against Metcalfe’s forearm, he kicked his homophobia into overdrive:
    Two months later, while most of the country was compelled by the survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida calling for gun control. Daryl Metcalfe was in no way moved, instead going on social media to make several posts implying that the kids were actors by referring to them as, in quotes, “students”.

    But really, Metcalfe’s main instability comes from his raging homophobia. Because again, a few days after a heated exchange with Democratic legislator Leslie Acosta, who claimed he was threatened by Metcalfe, Metcalfe went on Facebook and published a 18he attacked a Democratic legislator on social media, calling Acosta a liar, but deciding to add that Democratic legislator Bryan Sims was a “lying homosexual”.

    Even in a Blue Wave year like 2018, Metcalfe’s district is partisan enough to see him re-elected with 58% of the vote. That victory was also not without Metcalfe exhibiting homophobia, as he sent out mailers grousing about his opponent, Daniel Smith Jr., of being in league with“liberal gay activist groups,”and posting an image of Smith with his husband, but referring to him as “the man he calls his ‘husband’”, in quotation marks, arguing that it is because he doesn’t believe marriage exists between any couple that isn’t a man and a woman (Tough s*** Daryl, the Supreme Court says different).

    Metcalfe has flexed his lizard brain in the Pennsylvania state legislature some more, going beyond climate change denial in March 2019 and not just hosting a climate change skeptic to give testimony, but during the hearing, claiming that reducing carbon dioxide emissions would “kill his vegetables”.
    Now, you might wonder to yourself what sorts of behavior you might expect from Metcalfe during the COVID-19 outbreak, and it might not surprise you to learn he threw a tantrum that truck rest stops were closed by Governor Tom Wolf’s orders. There’s a viral outbreak and his first thought was, “WHERE WILL THE TRUCKERS POOP, YOU GUYS!”

    We cannot reiterate enough, Daryl Metcalfe has been in office now for OVER TWO DECADES, and has been bugs*** insane the entire time. In 2020, he faced both a GOP Primary opponent in Scott Timko (and true to his s***heel form, Metcalfe resorted to name-calling and referring to Timko as a “clown”), and in the general election, with match up with Democrat Dan Smith, who did better against Metcalfe in 2018 than any Democrat has since he took office. And he still survived re-election again, even though he was under investigation for misuse of taxpayer funds to the tune of $21,000 over the past three years for a “satellite office” no one ever uses that runs out of a tea kitchen’s basement.

    Perhaps predictably, Daryl Metcalfe is currently spreading as much misinformation as he can about Covid-19 vaccines, probably because he believes increasing the death count would be yet another example of “owning the libs”, and he was one of the Pennsylvania state legislators who took the lead on Donald Trump’s lie that the election was somehow “stolen” from him even though it was lost by over seven million votes.

    We’re absolutely thrilled to report that in 2022, Daryl Metcalfe will not be running for re-election, and is retiring. We will close out this profile by wishing him our most enthusiastic “GOOD RIDDANCE, F*** OFF, AND KEEP F***ING OFF UNTIL YOU REACH THE OCEAN, THEN KEEP F***ING OFF UNTIL YOU REACH THE DEEPEST PART OF IT” salutes at this time.

    He was one of the worst people we’ve ever profiled, and that is truly saying something.
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  12. #45087

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    Quote Originally Posted by achilles View Post
    The world's finest Scottish restaurant has decided to pull out of Russia forever. They are going to sell to local buyers and take down all of their golden arches so the Russians can't use them. Wonder if the lack of real Big Macs will subdue the Russians?

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61463876
    Nah, they will make their own fast food, bigger and better than any western capitalist garbage. They were doing the US a favor by allowing McDonalds to operate in their country.
    I mean, they are reviving one of their greatest hits already.

    Russia to take over Renault’s Moscow factory to revive Soviet-era car
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-moskvitch-car

    For Russians who have joked about the country’s return to Soviet isolation, the revival of the Moskvitch was the perfect punchline. “Russia has invented a time machine,” wrote one. “It can move the whole country through time, but only back into the Soviet Union.”

    The satirical website Panorama predicted the revival of the Moskvitch a month ago when it wrote a fake headline that the Renault factory had “assembled its first Moskvitch in 20 years”.

    “Panorama does not make predictions, we report exclusively on real news from the future,” it wrote on Monday after the deal was announced.
    Slava Ukraini!
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  13. #45088

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    Another strategic achievement:

    Sweden follows Finland in confirming it will apply to join Nato
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...to-ukraine-war

    The Swedish government has confirmed it intends to apply for membership of Nato, joining neighbouring Finland in a dramatic decision that marks one of the biggest strategic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to date.

    “There is a broad majority in Sweden’s parliament for Sweden to join Nato,” the prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, said on Monday. “This is the best thing for Sweden’s security. We will inform Nato that we want to become a member of the alliance.”
    Slava Ukraini!
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  14. #45089
    Mighty Member 4saken1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zauriel View Post
    Switzerland has one of the most lax gun laws in the world and mass shooting incidents are rare in Switzerland. They did occur in the country but seldom. That is because the Swiss does have some mentally unstable people.
    There are several factors which affect murder rates other than gun laws that are likely reasons for this. Population density and guns per capita (Switzerland is high compared to most countries but only about a quarter the rate of the U.S) probably being the most relevant in this case.
    Last edited by 4saken1; 05-16-2022 at 07:24 AM.
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  15. #45090
    Ultimate Member Gray Lensman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 4saken1 View Post
    There are several factors which affect murder rates other than gun laws that are likely reasons for this. Population density and guns per capita (Switzerland is high compared to most countries but only about a quarter the rate of the U.S) probably being the most relevant in this case.
    Switzerland also restricts WHO can own guns and what kind. Basic bolt action and single shot per barrel weapons are fairly easy to obtain, but permits are required for nearly anything past that, and the gun culture is linked to either hunting or military service - as reservists used to keep the issues weapons in their homes.
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