#26 | Posted by jakester

Innocent mistakes result in gun deaths and injuries all the time - is that being irresponsible only if they kill or maim someone or not even then because it was just an innocent lapse? If they forgot to lock their safe that one time and were robbed then their guns were used to kill someone or many? You are arguing a slippery slope.

#24 | Posted by jakester

That is a logical fallacy. I guess I would consider it a Causal Fallacy.

You can be a "responsible" gun owner right up until the point you do something wrong. In fact, I will say there is no such thing as a 100% responsible gun owner. I have yet to meet one anyhow that never takes an irresponsible action while handling a gun and that includes myself. Yes I have erred.

Any time I am around hunters with guns or at the range I can point out something virtually every person there does wrong while in the that area. Many of them realize it and quickly correct but others are just far too casual. "Familiarity breeds contempt" is a saying because it is true. Even the most serious gun owners have lapses and I dare say that those that handle them all the time are among the worst.

It's funny that for a party who claims capitalism is so bad, you are so easily persuaded to become part of the riches that come with using half truths and bad logic.
#2 | Posted by humtake

It is 100% clear you don't understand the first thing about Flood Insurance or how insurance companies try to screw the little guys over when it comes to flood insurance. Why don't you look into it and get back to us.

As a party, democrats don't think capitalism is "bad". Free reign capitalism is bad. Stockholder capitalism is bad. How do we know this? History all the way through this very minute. Why do you think there are so many rules, regulations and laws? Saying capitalism is "bad" to me is like saying freedom is bad. It isn't - but you have to have rules. I mean why do you think there are laws about murder, theft, arson, etc? Because people do bad things. Free reign and Stockholder capitalism encourage bad behavior and indeed reward it. Corporations are merely extensions of people who today are very disproportionately lead by sociopaths.

Need proof? Big tobacco and cancer. Monsanto and glyphosate and cancer. Purdue Pharma and oxycontin. 3M and PFAS. I can do this allllll day.

The intent of the National Flood Insurance Program was to set premiums and have rules for insurance purchase that would help mitigate flood damage risk. The NFIP was expected to minimize taxpayers' costs of disaster recovery by substituting insurance payouts for aid. That hasn't been that effective if you ask me. However it was solvent though 2004 off premiums but has not been since then. I believe Congress has canceled 16 billion of it's debt to the government up until now so it could pay out claims and remain solvent. It still owes the government well over 20 billion. IMHO any payment should be full payment for the property and reclaiming of that land by the government. Then people who want live in those areas will have to go to truly private insurers and not resellers of government insurance. You will get capitalistic pricing on the insurance through private parties and most will not be able to afford it. Damned right higher rates are needed.

#16 | Posted by jakester / #10 | Posted by phesterOBoyle

So because there are so many irresponsible gun owners that injure/murder in a calculated fashion, randomly injure/murder people in acts of insanity, injure/murder people in fits of rage, injure/murder people "accidentally", allow others to injure/murder people through careless actions (theft, easy access, etc), etc whether single individuals, groups of people or themselves - How do you purpose we fix this mess?

Justified Self defense shootings are a drop in the bucket. Suicides and criminal shootings account for virtually all shootings.

So maybe it is up to folks like you to offer a real and effective way we can address these problems other than opening up guns and carry for all which has just exacerbated the problem.

#5 | Posted by chuffy

These mentally deranged cowards always boggle my mind. Why do you want to take so many others out just to off yourself?

#10 | Posted by phesterOBoyle

Are you somehow under the impression that those of us for gun control are not outraged by the Chicago stats or that those stats would not improve if there was real gun control? Both?

In other news, Moderna's Chief thinks we have another year to go before the pandemic is over. Moderna's booster for "Delta" is in clinical trials right now and won't be ready until 2022. In the meantime a booster would be just the original "formula".

#2 | Posted by Whatsleft

Presently the base is some of most hate filled vile acting humans out there. I can't blame them for bailing.

Pretty incredible story. The power of that blast... It does possibly help explain more than a bit of "biblical history" though.

BTW - I think that WaPo characterizes Kent county incorrectly. Yes, they voted for Biden but there are actually a LOT reasonable conservatives there that wanted nothing to do with Trump and many believe in fighting COVID. Unfortunately I have several family members there that statement does not describe.

I heard about this one over the weekend as my sister knows the team over at the Kent County Health Department pretty well and she's been working closely with them for over a year and a half now. Kent county Michigan and the area around is VERY conservative in general - I think they may have finally approved the sale of alcohol on Sunday in the past 3-4 years if that says anything. Despite that Grand Rapids is "Beer City USA" shockingly.

While I am skeptical of most things police/LE, I don't see that anywhere yet. I have had whips (yes I thought Indiana Jones was cool as a kid...) I see long reins in the photos (like the one here). Assuredly they can be used to whack someone like with a whip though they are not all that "long". None of the pictures I have seen have shown anyone doing this though. Nor have I seen any photos of anyone with "whip" marks.

While I certainly don't put it by "officers" to do such things - show me the evidence. I find it hard to believe they would do it while under the microscope they are at this location and not get caught. Not to mention that pictures showing the marks aren't being published everywhere.

Regardless the optics are terrible. I think this is an over reaction and media mis-characterization. I will await confirmation either way. Horses are just another LE tool. Helpful with large crowds for sure.

From the article and more disturbing is the plans they had for altering the coronaviruses for greater human susceptibility and merging more deadly version with more infectious versions. All this was purposed in DARPA grant requests that were denied.

I don't want to sound like I am over reacting but that honestly on the surface that sounds like germ warfare. Requesting to be funded by the US's Defense Department DARPA in China... I mean...

Who on earth thought any of these were a "good" idea to do in the first place outside of germ warfare? I mean to me they sound unimaginably stupid to even purpose - "playing god". Perhaps someone more familiar might enlighten me as to why these proposals MIGHT be a good idea. It reminds me of some of the things the Soviets had stored away in their germ warfare labs at the end of the end of the "cold war". Not even human targeted - targeted pathogens for destroying entire crops for example.

#5 | Posted by DarkVader

Phone locking is for people doing payment plans in order to make sure you pay it off. They "lost" $200 million on this scheme because phones were unlocked and then removed from the ATT plans and moved to other carriers... Honestly I wonder how many of these were stolen.

#1 | Posted by Tor

On the bright side, I had read a few weeks ago it is more effective against Delta than Pfizer it seems. But it is also very good news a booster gives such good protection - pending approval of course.

A coworker got it because it was the first one available to him and he wanted to do what he could to avoid serious illness. He is looking forward to a booster being available.

This will throw Team Q for loops... lol

But seriously while I like the idea, as always I am concerned about the privacy. As already posted here this week data privacy because of poor anonymization is a big deal. Too much data on us out there.

#1 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY

One thing about 80s unions - I am focused on the Automotive ones - they took things WAY too far (and still do in Automotive). Worthless employees who would sneak off just to leave or go get drunk or whatever were protected. Quality of American cars at that time was maybe the low point too. There have been improvements but the things people can get away with are still atrocious. Asking someone to do a job they are trained and certified for that they don't want to do will land you in front of the committee.

I am still pro-union. It's just that there needs to be balance. I have talked about it here before how my grandfather was an original sit down striker as a young man (with a family) and how his son (my uncle) was the epitome of the awful union worker of the 70s and 80s.

That said - what Reagan did to air traffic controllers was wrong. I am also against what the controllers did as well but I also wasn't in tune with why they felt the need at the time. Note: Having traveled more than a little in Europe when segments of the transportation system go on strike, all too often chaos ensues.

I have said it before, I was impressed with Portugal's healthcare when there. It is widely available. It is cheap or free. The staff overall seems very good. And look at that as a people they hit 80% vaccination...

Yes this is some scary stuff. I might add that if you connect enough sources of data together you can rebuild a whole lot of information. It is all out there and it is really cheap.

Note: Sounds like someone had it out for the priest in the article...

#3 | Posted by REDIAL

To be fair, this isn't the first time this rocket flew humans to space. It's not REALLY a first at all...

Musk just likes his ego stroked and the question was setup to do that. What is it he has again Assbergers? Regardless I think you get the point. He's a genuine brilliant idiot.

Well, the pandemic is not over...

Besides that - I received two good wage hikes during the pandemic so far and I feel like I am sliding backwards. Note: I do make a descent wage.

Short read and totally worth it. Makes me wonder more about AT&T and how this guy managed to perpetrate the ongoing scheme for so long.

Also - insider threat - IT's worst nightmare. Seems like jail time is owed to multiple people here.

More from the article...

Hart said Waterloo could have been a hotbed of racial unrest after George Floyd's death given its history, but Fitzgerald helped ease tensions the day before he was sworn on June 1, 2020, in by meeting with protesters for hours to hear their concerns.

"It was a resetting of the clock moment," Fitzgerald said.

Numerous changes soon followed: banning chokeholds, outlawing racial profiling, requiring officers to intervene if they see excessive force, and investigating all complaints of misconduct.

#12 | Posted by GalaxiePete

Just to add - that "dragon" icon sure does resemble the kkk one.

#9 | Posted by boaz

Only his 4th time as the first black police chief in a community. I'm sure he's no expert on what that is like and means at this point and that you know and understand how it typically goes much better. Note - he is saying this is the EXCEPTION and his opinion is it is about race.