Second cup of Coffee Talk

thedddd said:

Unfortunately for me gerrymandering has me stuck with the worthless POS.

Click to expand...

Same here. But at least in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, the district maps are being reviewed. Possibly on the verge of being declared unconstitutional and re-drawn.


My house is in one district. 3 miles north is a different district. 6 miles east is another and 1 mile south is another.

Or, if you want to be a bit more specific; one is where the black people live, one is where rich people (like the governor) live, one is a lot of farmers and my district skirts between the top of the black people district and below the rich people on and spreads west to three other predominantly white suburbs and up into rural Ohio northwest of Columbus.

forty_three said:

Same here. But at least in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, the district maps are being reviewed. Possibly on the verge of being declared unconstitutional and re-drawn.


My house is in one district. 3 miles north is a different district. 6 miles east is another and 1 mile south is another.

Or, if you want to be a bit more specific; one is where the black people live, one is where rich people (like the governor) live, one is a lot of farmers and my district skirts between the top of the black people district and below the rich people on and spreads west to three other predominantly white suburbs and up into rural Ohio northwest of Columbus.

Click to expand...

Many of our districts here in NC have been ruled unconstitutional too. Unfortunately, it looks like this year's national elections are going to be allowed to proceed under the gerrymanders while the SCOTUS considers an appeal.

State level districts are already operating under a new set of maps. Those have also been ruled unconstitutional. We're (likely) going to elect based on the modified maps. These are better than the old ones. But still not good.

I think that's how it all shakes down. They've been slapped down so many times that I have a hard time keeping up.

Independent boundary commissions, taking significant input from locals. It's really simple.

That's how we end up with this:



Instead of this:

Bloody Brian Burke said:

Independent boundary commissions, taking significant input from locals. It's really simple.

That's how we end up with this:

Instead of this:

Click to expand...

That 10-3 advantage was on a cumulative popular vote advantage of only 55 to 44. So at worst it should have been 7-6 or 8-5, depending on how you round the partial seat.

thedddd said:

And my Republican Congressman the last time I hit him on this responded back with the blanket that the CDC effort is a biased ban on guns for all.

So I saved that original e-mail response and replied back today asking so what about now? I will keep you posted on what they state.

Click to expand...

Oh to add I used Trumps own words in my response today:
Donald Trump suggests Florida shooter was 'mentally disturbed', just moments after suspect charged over massacre

Good example the old 12th district was gerrymandered to take over the old 4th which basically switched both to R's.
Also I used to be part of the 4th district but after 2012 became part of the 3rd and Mike Kelly.
Who we might add is the guy that accused Obama of running a "shadow government" after he left office. His reason, Obama said he was staying in DC until his daughter graduated.

Current:


Prior:

You know.... every time I see someone post about how the latest mass shooting was a "false flag" conspiracy by the anti-gun lobby, antifa or lizard people I secretly hope that they're next.


I am not proud of that.

forty_three said:

You know.... every time I see someone post about how the latest mass shooting was a "false flag" conspiracy by the anti-gun lobby, antifa or lizard people I secretly hope that they're next.


I am not proud of that.

Click to expand...

There are exceptions:

forty_three said:

You know.... every time I see someone post about how the latest mass shooting was a "false flag" conspiracy by the anti-gun lobby, antifa or lizard people I secretly hope that they're next.


I am not proud of that.

Click to expand...

Also I can't stand the people that state this didn't happen when I was young. Revisionist history drives me nuts with people.

Anyway there is this:
Florida Shooting Survivor Hid In Closet Almost 70 Years After Grandpa Hid From Shooter | HuffPost

Also there is direct correlation when AR rifles became available to the public (1963/64) and the rise in mass shootings. But once again don't let facts get in the way of the great times we had in the past.

thedddd said:

Also I can't stand the people that state this didn't happen when I was young. Revisionist history drives me nuts with people.

Anyway there is this:
Florida Shooting Survivor Hid In Closet Almost 70 Years After Grandpa Hid From Shooter | HuffPost

Also there is direct correlation when AR rifles became available to the public (1963/64) and the rise in mass shootings. But once again don't let facts get in the way of the great times we had in the past.

Click to expand...

I still remember hearing the news of the California McDonald's shooting. Guy walked in and unloaded on a restaurant full of people. I was 13. I remember hearing of another in Oklahoma from a BMX guy I knew who lived near where it happened a few years later. A post office one.

It did happen.

And my dad was a cop in Baltimore County at the time. There was a TON of gun violence back then. I heard about it all the time.

sabresfaninthesouth said:

He's supposed to speak today at 11AM. I'm guessing there will be something along the lines of "now is not the time for politics".

Click to expand...

yup

Im so fucking tired........

thedddd said:

What is sad the Dickey Amendment gets voted and this the usual outcome.

I love referring this:

Click to expand...

My favourite go to is always this:


Sad I've had to post it so many times...

thedddd said:

Also I can't stand the people that state this didn't happen when I was young. Revisionist history drives me nuts with people.

Anyway there is this:
Florida Shooting Survivor Hid In Closet Almost 70 Years After Grandpa Hid From Shooter | HuffPost

Also there is direct correlation when AR rifles became available to the public (1963/64) and the rise in mass shootings. But once again don't let facts get in the way of the great times we had in the past.

Click to expand...

It didn't happen every 4 months.

Bloody Brian Burke said:

Independent boundary commissions, taking significant input from locals. It's really simple.

That's how we end up with this:

Instead of this:

Click to expand...

Just let a computer do it.

Programmers have presented several models that work quite well. It reduces politically squabbling over an issue that could be entirely automated.

That would work in a number of other areas too - such as minimum wage increase calculations.

elocomotive said:

Just let a computer do it.

Programmers have presented several models that work quite well. It reduces politically squabbling over an issue that could be entirely automated.

That would work in a number of other areas too - such as minimum wage increase calculations.

Click to expand...

Won't Russia just hack it?

Bloody Brian Burke said:

It didn't happen every 4 months.

Click to expand...

That is the sad state of affairs.
Really there is relativity to today. Folks are not looking at what was done in the past that paints a totally different picture.
Analysis | More than 50 years of U.S. mass shootings: The victims, sites, killers and weapons - check the timeline in the middle going back to the 60's. Yes they become more prevalent but they existed in frequent manner.

List of massacres in the United States - Wikipedia - this is telling on mass killings that occurred in the past.
That is my point when folks bring that up it is almost like bragging and not actually caring about the problem at hand and remembering the past for what it was.

thedddd said:

That is the sad state of affairs.
Really there is relativity to today. Folks are not looking at what was done in the past that paints a totally different picture.
Analysis | More than 50 years of U.S. mass shootings: The victims, sites, killers and weapons - check the timeline in the middle going back to the 60's. Yes they become more prevalent but they existed in frequent manner.

List of massacres in the United States - Wikipedia - this is telling on mass killings that occurred in the past.
That is my point when folks bring that up it is almost like bragging and not actually caring about the problem at hand and remembering the past for what it was.

Click to expand...

The first sharp increase occurred when access to tools of this sort of thing became readily available. The second was around when public internet access started to really spread. It's been ramping up since then as access to media and information has ramped up.

My suspicion is that there are increasingly more copycats as people are increasingly aware of people to copycat. And the toxic internet environment both generates the abuses which drive people to drastic, horrible actions, and the echo chambers in which people can find actual support for their plans. Of course they're becoming more common--it's easier to get egged on to do it now.

But the latter cause does not excuse inaction on the former. We can absolutely do something about this, and it's unacceptable that we haven't. The internet is really freaking hard to truly regulate; there are obvious courses of action on guns. Just take them.

I've also seen on Facebook folks suggesting three things that make little sense to me:

1. Arming Teachers

Who the hell is going to pay for the guns? Guns are expensive. And who's going to pay for the safe handling and marksmanship training necessary to implement such a program? We don't even pay for teachers to have paper and pencils necessary to their trade. And to force this responsibility on teachers, who may no have or want to have the mentality necessary to pull the trigger on another human, even if that human is a monster and an immediate threat, is asking an awful lot.

2. Putting Armed Veterans in Schools

Because that's what school kids need to see, clearly. I'm sure they'll feel very safe. And this assumes the veterans are also properly vetted for the potential of PTSD or other issues caused by their experiences which could make them threats rather than protectors. There are schools with armed security in this country, and metal detectors, and whatever other precautions, and from what I've read, the students feel less safe there rather than more.

3. Disciplining Kids

There's some meme going around that these shootings increased when kids stopped being disciplined. I'm pretty sure this implicitly means they're not being hit. Because I'm sure bringing back hitting kids as a regular form of punishment will reduce their propensity for violence, he said sarcastically.

Sure, there are more accommodations made for kids' misbehavior than should be, but that's both a vague yet blanketing statement and completely void of actual, quantifiable supporting evidence. So, you know, it bothers me.

Okay, I'm done.

Oh, and on the "now's not the time to talk about it" thing. Bull. In an actual functioning society, we have hard conversations after hard times. The best time to talk about something is when it hurts. Stop being a coward and talk about it.

Because I'll bet every loved one of every victim wishes we'd have already talked about it.

13 Russian nationals charged in Mueller investigation

Interesting to see how this all goes but good news on the chips are falling.
Seriously as much as people want to make this US political crap if the findings are that no US parties were behind this that will be positive step forward.