American Politics Thread V: We're Just Biden Our Time ...

[Drew Durrnil]

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/555301-greene-in-2020-video-said-she-wouldnt-take-down-statue-of-hitler

Greene in 2020 video said she wouldn't take down statue of Hitler

No shit, why would she take down an icon of her personal hero?

...so she was saying that mask wearing was actually a good thing when comparing it to the Holocaust?

[The Black Forrest]

Mass shooting in San Jose Light Rail yards. Eight dead with the gunman. Supposedly he started a house fire. No reasons to why or how the gunman died. Possibly police because there is a station across the street and they went in right away. Bomb dog alerted to explosives as well. Details coming.

So far a coworker of Mrs. Bumi hasn’t been able to contact her brother……

Shit, another mass shooting .

Yup. There have been 15 mass shootings since Friday.

[Caleonia]

Shit, another mass shooting .

Yup. There have been 15 mass shootings since Friday.

15?

[The Black Forrest]

Yup. There have been 15 mass shootings since Friday.

15?

Indeed. News person reported it.

[Zurkerx]

Yup. There have been 15 mass shootings since Friday.

15?

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

[San Lumen]

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/2 ... nor-490955

Former senator Dean Heller will run for governor of Nevada next year. He lost re-election in 2018. Probably the strongest recruit Republicans could get in this lean blue state.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

No shit, why would she take down an icon of her personal hero?

...so she was saying that mask wearing was actually a good thing when comparing it to the Holocaust?

That's what I was thinking. Like thanks for advocating masking MTG but we didn't need to have Hitler advocated too.

[Senkaku]

15?

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Has anyone ever tried to quantify shooters' motives? I ask just because a commonly accepted threshold for whether a country is in a civil war is 25 battle deaths per year, and at the clip we're going at, mass shootings easily take many more lives than that each year in the US-- so if we can attribute at least 25 of those deaths to ideologically-aligned actors of some stripe, that might change how we view the current political conflict in the country. I have a pet theory that we basically already have an atomized insurgency of socially isolated young, mostly white men, not necessarily acting in coordination but with similar digital mobilization patterns, similar motives, and similar behavior and attack patterns, but I don't actually have a data set that could quantify this and prove my assumptions correct or incorrect.

[Kilobugya]

To be fair, he did have to cope with a major pandemic, which while it's not as bad as WW2 or Civil War, it's still more than what most presidents had to face. But his response to the pandemic has been catastrophic, and while he's not responsible of it at start, he has a huge responsibility in how bad it ended up to be.

He is not responsible?

Hrm, I said he's not responsible of it at start, meaning that Trump didn't have anything to do with the virus appearing and entering USA initially. Any president would have had to deal with Covid, and it wouldn't have been easy. Very few countries did it well. But as I said just after he has a huge responsibility in how much USA was affected by it, due to his catastrophic handling of the pandemics.

Well, he did get rid of the pandemic response team created explicitly to.. deal with pandemics, after his predecessor had deemed it wise to be prepared since something like covid was bound to happen sooner or later.

So.. how is he not responsible from the start?

I meant that he's not responsible from the pandemic starting. Even with Biden, or Clinton, or Sanders, or whoever at the head of USA, it would have been hit by the pandemic. But sure, Trump response was catastrophically bad, and yes it started before the pandemic in how he sabotaged USA ability to deal with such kind of emergencies.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Has anyone ever tried to quantify shooters' motives? I ask just because a commonly accepted threshold for whether a country is in a civil war is 25 battle deaths per year, and at the clip we're going at, mass shootings easily take many more lives than that each year in the US-- so if we can attribute at least 25 of those deaths to ideologically-aligned actors of some stripe, that might change how we view the current political conflict in the country. I have a pet theory that we basically already have an atomized insurgency of socially isolated young, mostly white men, not necessarily acting in coordination but with similar digital mobilization patterns, similar motives, and similar behavior and attack patterns, but I don't actually have a data set that could quantify this and prove my assumptions correct or incorrect.

25? I thought it was more like 100.

We definitely lost over 25 people last year in the summer madness.

[Thermodolia]

15?

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Three or more people just need to be shot. They don’t have to die

[San Lumen]

https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-gov ... bdad88dc66

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has announced he will be resigning next month citing “certain personal matters that are becoming public.”

[The Black Forrest]

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Has anyone ever tried to quantify shooters' motives?

Still too early as there are many things going on. Checking for bombs and a home was set on fire.

I ask just because a commonly accepted threshold for whether a country is in a civil war is 25 battle deaths per year, and at the clip we're going at, mass shootings easily take many more lives than that each year in the US-- so if we can attribute at least 25 of those deaths to ideologically-aligned actors of some stripe, that might change how we view the current political conflict in the country. I have a pet theory that we basically already have an atomized insurgency of socially isolated young, mostly white men, not necessarily acting in coordination but with similar digital mobilization patterns, similar motives, and similar behavior and attack patterns, but I don't actually have a data set that could quantify this and prove my assumptions correct or incorrect.

So far this year we have had 200ish shootings with 15000 dead.

As to the theory?….hmm….not sure. This guy sounds like a disgruntled worker with mental issues. At this point it’s all speculation so talk of qanon, trumpist, etc……it’s just guessing.

[Salandriagado]

Oh, yes please. A 2024 where Trump can't run would be very good for sanity levels across the world I think.

Please note that this will not bar Trump from office. It’s actually perfectly legal for prisoners to run for office

It will, however, dramatically reduce the amount of his verbal diarrhoea that the rest of us get bombarded with.

[The Reformed American Republic]

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush- ... 44058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

[Galloism]

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Has anyone ever tried to quantify shooters' motives? I ask just because a commonly accepted threshold for whether a country is in a civil war is 25 battle deaths per year, and at the clip we're going at, mass shootings easily take many more lives than that each year in the US-- so if we can attribute at least 25 of those deaths to ideologically-aligned actors of some stripe, that might change how we view the current political conflict in the country. I have a pet theory that we basically already have an atomized insurgency of socially isolated young, mostly white men, not necessarily acting in coordination but with similar digital mobilization patterns, similar motives, and similar behavior and attack patterns, but I don't actually have a data set that could quantify this and prove my assumptions correct or incorrect.

So, just so you know, the vast majority of mass shootings are associated with gang activity, not random nutballs.

[Zurkerx]

Yeah, so a Mass Shooting is defined by law as three or more people (I forget if it's causalities or deaths). Thus, if three people are hurt/killed by a gun, it's considered a mass shooting. Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

The ones you hear about though are the massive ones like the San Jose.

Three or more people just need to be shot. They don’t have to die

Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you for clarifying that statement for me.

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush-strike-infrastructure-143244058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

Well, most have realized it, even Biden to some extent: it's just Manchin is their 50th vote and a thorny one too. As for the healthcare, Manchin and other moderate Democrats seem to be in the way too. Keep in mind, Biden would certainly push for a Public Option. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the Congress to do it as it would require amending or abolishing the filibuster. The man's hands are tied though he should push ahead regardless I feel.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Three or more people just need to be shot. They don’t have to die

Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you for clarifying that statement for me.

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush-strike-infrastructure-143244058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

Well, most have realized it, even Biden to some extent: it's just Manchin is their 50th vote and a thorny one too. As for the healthcare, Manchin and other moderate Democrats seem to be in the way too. Keep in mind, Biden would certainly push for a Public Option. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the Congress to do it as it would require amending or abolishing the filibuster. The man's hands are tied though he should push ahead regardless I feel.

He doesn't actually believe in a public option so he will never fight for it. Biden is a useless "moderate" just like Manchin. Why even vote at this point? If all they have is that they're not Trump, I will not vote next election.

[Kowani]

The McPolice have arrived

Crime and neighborhood watch app Citizen has ambitions to deploy private security workers to the scene of disturbances at the request of app users, according to leaked internal Citizen documents and Citizen sources.

The plans mark a dramatic expansion of Citizen's purview. It is currently an app where users report "incidents" in their neighborhoods and, based on those reports and police scanner transcriptions, the app sends "real-time safety alerts" to users about crime and other incidents happening near where a user is located. It is essentially a mapping app that allows users to both report and learn about crime (or what users of the app perceive to be crime) in their neighborhood. The introduction of in-person, private security forces drastically alters the service, and potential impact, that Citizen may offer in the future, and provides more context as to why a Citizen-branded vehicle has been spotted driving around Los Angeles. The news comes after Citizen offered a $30,000 bounty against a person it falsely accused of starting a wildfire. "The broad master plan was to create a privatized secondary emergency response network," one former Citizen employee told Motherboard. Motherboard granted multiple sources anonymity to protect them from retaliation from the company.

"It's been something discussed for a while but I personally never expected it to make it this far," another Citizen source told Motherboard. In short, the product, described as "security response" in internal emails, would have Citizen send a car with private security forces to an app user, according to the former employee. A private security company working with Citizen would provide the response staff, the former employee added. A second Citizen source confirmed this description of the service.

Citizen has been actively testing the program, with what the company describes as quick response times and instant communication between Citizen and security partners, according to the emails.

One of those companies, according to the emails, is well-known private security contractor Securitas. The email about the tests says that Securitas average response times have improved to around 20 minutes. In one case, a guard showed up in 10 minutes to escort a Citizen employee to get coffee in Los Angeles. One of the former employees also said Securitas was involved. The email added that the user and agent experience needed to be improved, and that Citizen was reviewing the results with Securitas to make those improvements.

The email also names LAPS, or Los Angeles Professional Security. On Friday, Motherboard reported that Los Angeles Professional Security is linked to a Citizen-branded vehicle driving around Los Angeles. A Citizen spokesperson told Motherboard that the vehicle is part of a pilot program but declined to say exactly what that program consisted of. On its website, Los Angeles Professional Security describes itself as a "subscription law enforcement service." The internal Citizen email says the company is "an additional response partner." A Citizen spokesperson told Motherboard that "LAPS offers a personal rapid response service that we are testing internally with employees as a small test. For example, if someone would like an escort to walk them home late at night, they can request this service. We have spoken with various partners in designing this pilot project." The spokesperson did not address other questions from Motherboard about the content of the leaked emails.

One of the emails says that Citizen has pitched the security response service to the Los Angeles Police Department at a high level. The email claims the LAPD said the solution could be a game changer. The email adds that the LAPD has been overrun with property crime, and the agency has effectively thrown its hands up because they don't have enough officers on the street to respond to these sorts of calls. The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Currently, Citizen offers a subscription product called "Protect," which costs $19.99 per month. Protect sends a user's location to a Citizen employee when it's turned on, can stream video to a "Protect agent" when activated using a safeword, and is pitched to users as a "digital bodyguard." Protect also advertises "Instant emergency response to your exact location," and says "Live monitoring means you never have to walk alone." It is not clear if the private security response would be tied to Protect or another service.

Securitas did not respond to a request for comment. Los Angeles Professional Security acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Has anyone ever tried to quantify shooters' motives? I ask just because a commonly accepted threshold for whether a country is in a civil war is 25 battle deaths per year, and at the clip we're going at, mass shootings easily take many more lives than that each year in the US-- so if we can attribute at least 25 of those deaths to ideologically-aligned actors of some stripe, that might change how we view the current political conflict in the country. I have a pet theory that we basically already have an atomized insurgency of socially isolated young, mostly white men, not necessarily acting in coordination but with similar digital mobilization patterns, similar motives, and similar behavior and attack patterns, but I don't actually have a data set that could quantify this and prove my assumptions correct or incorrect.

So, just so you know, the vast majority of mass shootings are associated with gang activity, not random nutballs.

Idk. I feel like the vast majority are individual grudges and neither gangsters nor terrorists nor wingnuts.

A mass shooting in Detroit is when someone steps on a person's air jordans.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush-strike-infrastructure-143244058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

"Folks, it's time to come together and heal."

Me not wanting to come together with maniacs:

[Galloism]

So, just so you know, the vast majority of mass shootings are associated with gang activity, not random nutballs.

Idk. I feel like the vast majority are individual grudges and neither gangsters nor terrorists nor wingnuts.

A mass shooting in Detroit is when someone steps on a person's air jordans.

It's really not a matter of opinion. It's a matter of stone cold facts and statistics. A majority of those incidents classified as a mass shooting - where 3 or 4 (depending on your criteria) or more people are shot - are gang related. A significant minority are domestic violence related.

Everything left makes up a relatively small minority of what's left.

[North Washington Republic]

Okay, that's what I thought. Thank you for clarifying that statement for me.



Well, most have realized it, even Biden to some extent: it's just Manchin is their 50th vote and a thorny one too. As for the healthcare, Manchin and other moderate Democrats seem to be in the way too. Keep in mind, Biden would certainly push for a Public Option. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the Congress to do it as it would require amending or abolishing the filibuster. The man's hands are tied though he should push ahead regardless I feel.

He doesn't actually believe in a public option so he will never fight for it. Biden is a useless "moderate" just like Manchin. Why even vote at this point? If all they have is that they're not Trump, I will not vote next election.

Biden does believe in a public opinion. He just doesn’t have the votes to get it passed.

The McPolice have arrived

Crime and neighborhood watch app Citizen has ambitions to deploy private security workers to the scene of disturbances at the request of app users, according to leaked internal Citizen documents and Citizen sources.

The plans mark a dramatic expansion of Citizen's purview. It is currently an app where users report "incidents" in their neighborhoods and, based on those reports and police scanner transcriptions, the app sends "real-time safety alerts" to users about crime and other incidents happening near where a user is located. It is essentially a mapping app that allows users to both report and learn about crime (or what users of the app perceive to be crime) in their neighborhood. The introduction of in-person, private security forces drastically alters the service, and potential impact, that Citizen may offer in the future, and provides more context as to why a Citizen-branded vehicle has been spotted driving around Los Angeles. The news comes after Citizen offered a $30,000 bounty against a person it falsely accused of starting a wildfire. "The broad master plan was to create a privatized secondary emergency response network," one former Citizen employee told Motherboard. Motherboard granted multiple sources anonymity to protect them from retaliation from the company.

"It's been something discussed for a while but I personally never expected it to make it this far," another Citizen source told Motherboard. In short, the product, described as "security response" in internal emails, would have Citizen send a car with private security forces to an app user, according to the former employee. A private security company working with Citizen would provide the response staff, the former employee added. A second Citizen source confirmed this description of the service.

Citizen has been actively testing the program, with what the company describes as quick response times and instant communication between Citizen and security partners, according to the emails.

One of those companies, according to the emails, is well-known private security contractor Securitas. The email about the tests says that Securitas average response times have improved to around 20 minutes. In one case, a guard showed up in 10 minutes to escort a Citizen employee to get coffee in Los Angeles. One of the former employees also said Securitas was involved. The email added that the user and agent experience needed to be improved, and that Citizen was reviewing the results with Securitas to make those improvements.

The email also names LAPS, or Los Angeles Professional Security. On Friday, Motherboard reported that Los Angeles Professional Security is linked to a Citizen-branded vehicle driving around Los Angeles. A Citizen spokesperson told Motherboard that the vehicle is part of a pilot program but declined to say exactly what that program consisted of. On its website, Los Angeles Professional Security describes itself as a "subscription law enforcement service." The internal Citizen email says the company is "an additional response partner." A Citizen spokesperson told Motherboard that "LAPS offers a personal rapid response service that we are testing internally with employees as a small test. For example, if someone would like an escort to walk them home late at night, they can request this service. We have spoken with various partners in designing this pilot project." The spokesperson did not address other questions from Motherboard about the content of the leaked emails.

One of the emails says that Citizen has pitched the security response service to the Los Angeles Police Department at a high level. The email claims the LAPD said the solution could be a game changer. The email adds that the LAPD has been overrun with property crime, and the agency has effectively thrown its hands up because they don't have enough officers on the street to respond to these sorts of calls. The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Currently, Citizen offers a subscription product called "Protect," which costs $19.99 per month. Protect sends a user's location to a Citizen employee when it's turned on, can stream video to a "Protect agent" when activated using a safeword, and is pitched to users as a "digital bodyguard." Protect also advertises "Instant emergency response to your exact location," and says "Live monitoring means you never have to walk alone." It is not clear if the private security response would be tied to Protect or another service.

Securitas did not respond to a request for comment. Los Angeles Professional Security acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.

This is what happens when you don’t have adequate police presence. We have private police for hire, a libertarian wet dream.

Congratulations to the “defund the police” crowd, they just played themselves.

[The Reformed American Republic]

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush-strike-infrastructure-143244058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

"Folks, it's time to come together and heal."

Me not wanting to come together with maniacs:

There's nothing to heal. The country is done for.

[North Washington Republic]

https://news.yahoo.com/manchin-no-rush-strike-infrastructure-143244058.html

Democrats cannot seem to realize that the Republicans will never work with them. Competency is lacking amongst Democratic politicians.

Can't get public option either: https://www.newsweek.com/after-joe-bide ... es-1592216

Completely useless party.

"Folks, it's time to come together and heal."

Me not wanting to come together with maniacs:

The Democrats have a single seat cushion in the House and the Senate is 50-50. A generous public opinion is not really a reality at this point.