American Politics: Fiscal Cliffhanger

[-Astoria-]

At least 9 victims reported in shooting at Allen Premium Outlets; Gunman dead (CBS)

It has been every weekend now for a month now.

And sometimes a two-for-one.

[The Orson Empire]

At least 9 victims reported in shooting at Allen Premium Outlets; Gunman dead (CBS)

Another day, another mass shooting caused by ridiculously lax gun ownership laws.

I increasingly feel like insane, far-right Republican policies will end up destroying this country. The Republican Party is practically a death cult at this point.

[Neu California]

Note that the majority support stricter gun control, and as more mass shootings occur, its becoming a bigger and bigger priority amongst voters.

[The Orson Empire]

Note that the majority support stricter gun control, and as more mass shootings occur, its becoming a bigger and bigger priority amongst voters.

Doesn't mean shit when half of the entire political apparatus is controlled by people who worship guns. Until the Republican Party loses power, nothing will change.

[Jellian Federation]

At least 9 victims reported in shooting at Allen Premium Outlets; Gunman dead (CBS)

Another day, another mass shooting caused by ridiculously lax gun ownership laws.

I increasingly feel like insane, far-right Republican policies will end up destroying this country. The Republican Party is practically a death cult at this point.

The thing about death cults is that eventually they run out of cultists.
We need to find a way to help them out of the cult instead of sitting back and saying “natural selection” like some people have been saying, before it’s too late.

I think the movie “don’t look up” is a good example. They will see how they were scammed, but by then it will be too late. They need to be helped now, before.

Fascist Germany rose from a populace that was, in the beginning, largely normal.
It happened to them,
It’s happening to us,

We have the gift of hindsight. We know how this story ends.

The question is what can we do about it?
How do you get people out of a cult?

[The Rio Grande River Basin]

Note that the majority support stricter gun control, and as more mass shootings occur, its becoming a bigger and bigger priority amongst voters.

Doesn't mean shit when half of the entire political apparatus is controlled by people who worship guns. Until the Republican Party loses power, nothing will change.

New party system. REVIVE THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY (again).

[The Orson Empire]

Another day, another mass shooting caused by ridiculously lax gun ownership laws.

I increasingly feel like insane, far-right Republican policies will end up destroying this country. The Republican Party is practically a death cult at this point.

The thing about death cults is that eventually they run out of cultists.
We need to find a way to help them out of the cult instead of sitting back and saying “natural selection” like some people have been saying, before it’s too late.

I think the movie “don’t look up” is a good example. They will see how they were scammed, but by then it will be too late. They need to be helped now, before.

Fascist Germany rose from a populace that was, in the beginning, largely normal.
It happened to them,
It’s happening to us,

We have the gift of hindsight. We know how this story ends.

The question is what can we do about it?
How do you get people out of a cult?

I think it's too late for Republicans at this point. Ever since the 2016 election, the party has gone completely off the deep end. Best hope is to get a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and pass electoral reform laws, forcing Republicans to either moderate their positions to win elections or otherwise fade away.

[Jellian Federation]

The thing about death cults is that eventually they run out of cultists.
We need to find a way to help them out of the cult instead of sitting back and saying “natural selection” like some people have been saying, before it’s too late.

I think the movie “don’t look up” is a good example. They will see how they were scammed, but by then it will be too late. They need to be helped now, before.

Fascist Germany rose from a populace that was, in the beginning, largely normal.
It happened to them,
It’s happening to us,

We have the gift of hindsight. We know how this story ends.

The question is what can we do about it?
How do you get people out of a cult?

I think it's too late for Republicans at this point. Ever since the 2016 election, the party has gone completely off the deep end. Best hope is to get a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and pass electoral reform laws, forcing Republicans to either moderate their positions to win elections or otherwise fade away.

That’s what was happening but the republicans went the state media route.
Just look at Fox News or some of the darker corners of the internet.
They can’t be ignored.
You can’t ignore a growing tumor.

They look at “others” as baby killers and workers of the devil and communists.
Rapists and criminals and looters.

There are shut in elderly people who spend all day on Facebook being force fed lies day in, day out.
People like that think there are microchips in vaccines and that there is a cabal of people that drink the blood of babies.

Do you think someone like that would hesitate to kill “monsters” or “traitors” or “criminals”.

This stuff is engineered to make you angry.
When you are feeling, you are not thinking.
They control you through fear, through hate.
They cultivate it.

If you ignore it, it will only metastasize further.

The solution is more complicated than convincing someone the earth isint flat, because there is an entire economy built around this.
Tv shows, podcasts, websites, merch. It’s ingrained into politics. It’s ingrained into society.

That is the million dollar question.
How do you somebody out of that?

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

At least 9 victims reported in shooting at Allen Premium Outlets; Gunman dead (CBS)

Another day, another mass shooting caused by ridiculously lax gun ownership laws.

Gun laws are unironically not the core of the problem.

The core of the problem is that American society is collapsing.

[The Orson Empire]

I think it's too late for Republicans at this point. Ever since the 2016 election, the party has gone completely off the deep end. Best hope is to get a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and pass electoral reform laws, forcing Republicans to either moderate their positions to win elections or otherwise fade away.

That’s what was happening but the republicans went the state media route.
Just look at Fox News or some of the darker corners of the internet.
They can’t be ignored.
You can’t ignore a growing tumor.

The solution needs to end with some kind of cooperation, where they understand why the path they were heading in was wrong.

You can't cooperate with fascists. The Nazis weren't defeated with kind words after all.

[Washington Resistance Army]

Another day, another mass shooting caused by ridiculously lax gun ownership laws.

Gun laws are unironically not the core of the problem.

The core of the problem is that American society is collapsing.

Bingo. If it was simply a result of gun laws being lax we would have thousands of mass shootings in the 1920s when virtually no gun laws existed outside of a few state restrictions on concealed carry, but instead we only had one or two and they were both related to Prohibition gangs killing each other.

What changed since then is that society fucking fell apart entirely.

[Jellian Federation]

That’s what was happening but the republicans went the state media route.
Just look at Fox News or some of the darker corners of the internet.
They can’t be ignored.
You can’t ignore a growing tumor.

The solution needs to end with some kind of cooperation, where they understand why the path they were heading in was wrong.

You can't cooperate with fascists. The Nazis weren't defeated with kind words after all.

We’re getting there, but we’re not here yet.
There is still time,
There is still hope.

There has to be.
Hope is a self fulfilling prophecy.

[The Orson Empire]

Gun laws are unironically not the core of the problem.

The core of the problem is that American society is collapsing.

Bingo. If it was simply a result of gun laws being lax we would have thousands of mass shootings in the 1920s when virtually no gun laws existed outside of a few state restrictions on concealed carry, but instead we only had one or two and they were both related to Prohibition gangs killing each other.

What changed since then is that society fucking fell apart entirely.

The US has more gun violence than any other first-world peer nation. You have to look towards war-torn developing countries to find similar statistics.

The evidence is damning. Guns are the problem, not "society falling apart" or any other bullshit right-wing talking point.

[Jellian Federation]

Bingo. If it was simply a result of gun laws being lax we would have thousands of mass shootings in the 1920s when virtually no gun laws existed outside of a few state restrictions on concealed carry, but instead we only had one or two and they were both related to Prohibition gangs killing each other.

What changed since then is that society fucking fell apart entirely.

The US has more gun violence than any other first-world peer nation. You have to look towards war-torn developing countries to find similar statistics.

The evidence is damning. Guns are the problem, not "society falling apart" or any other bullshit right-wing talking point.

Both are true.
Guns are everywhere, society has some big problems.

You need a broken person with a gun.
Take away the broken or the gun and the recipe isn’t complete.

Gun rights people pretend that if you take away the broken all will be well.
And I suppose In theory that could be true.

(not to mention if you took away all the broken there would be almost no need for guns)

But you can never take away all the broken.

You can only take away some of the broken, because of human nature,
And you can only take away some of the gun, because of the 2nd amendment.

You need to try it from both angles to really get results.

[Washington Resistance Army]

Bingo. If it was simply a result of gun laws being lax we would have thousands of mass shootings in the 1920s when virtually no gun laws existed outside of a few state restrictions on concealed carry, but instead we only had one or two and they were both related to Prohibition gangs killing each other.

What changed since then is that society fucking fell apart entirely.

The US has more gun violence than any other first-world peer nation. You have to look towards war-torn developing countries to find similar statistics.

The evidence is damning. Guns are the problem, not "society falling apart" or any other bullshit right-wing talking point.

That's not really a right-wing talking point, more and more people from across the spectrum are starting to pick up on it, particularly on the left in my anecdotal experience. The past year or so really opened my eyes to it personally. Late-stage capitalism and all that.

[Haganham]

Bingo. If it was simply a result of gun laws being lax we would have thousands of mass shootings in the 1920s when virtually no gun laws existed outside of a few state restrictions on concealed carry, but instead we only had one or two and they were both related to Prohibition gangs killing each other.

What changed since then is that society fucking fell apart entirely.

The US has more gun violence than any other first-world peer nation. You have to look towards war-torn developing countries to find similar statistics.

The evidence is damning. Guns are the problem, not "society falling apart" or any other bullshit right-wing talking point.

The United state is not a first world nation. We don't even have public healthcare.

[The Orson Empire]

The US has more gun violence than any other first-world peer nation. You have to look towards war-torn developing countries to find similar statistics.

The evidence is damning. Guns are the problem, not "society falling apart" or any other bullshit right-wing talking point.

That's not really a right-wing talking point, more and more people from across the spectrum are starting to pick up on it, particularly on the left in my anecdotal experience. The past year or so really opened my eyes to it personally. Late-stage capitalism and all that.

This doesn't change the fact that a mentally ill person with a gun is capable of killing far more people than with a knife or other melee weapon. If these mass shooters had never been able to purchase guns in the first place, hundreds of lives would be saved.

[Kerwa]

That's not really a right-wing talking point, more and more people from across the spectrum are starting to pick up on it, particularly on the left in my anecdotal experience. The past year or so really opened my eyes to it personally. Late-stage capitalism and all that.

This doesn't change the fact that a mentally ill person with a gun is capable of killing far more people than with a knife or other melee weapon. If these mass shooters had never been able to purchase guns in the first place, hundreds of lives would be saved.

You don’t even support enforcing the existing laws. You don’t get to call for more.

[American Legionaries]

That's not really a right-wing talking point, more and more people from across the spectrum are starting to pick up on it, particularly on the left in my anecdotal experience. The past year or so really opened my eyes to it personally. Late-stage capitalism and all that.

This doesn't change the fact that a mentally ill person with a gun is capable of killing far more people than with a knife or other melee weapon.

Probably, but why would they use a knife and not, perhaps a bomb, or arson, or a car?

If these mass shooters had never been able to purchase guns in the first place, hundreds of lives would be saved.

If you have a way to do this without millions of innocent people getting caught in the net, feel free to share with the class.

[Jellian Federation]

-snipped-

If you have a way to do this without millions of innocent people getting caught in the net, feel free to share with the class.

Red flags?

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Probably, but why would they use a knife and not, perhaps a bomb, or arson, or a car?

And here's probably where I should remind people that mass stabbings and acid attacks are a thing in other famously broken societies... like PRC...

[American Legionaries]

Probably, but why would they use a knife and not, perhaps a bomb, or arson, or a car?

And here's probably where I should remind people that mass stabbings and acid attacks are a thing in other famously broken societies... like PRC...

Guns really aren't the magical weapon people think they are. I own a lot of guns, and I spend a lot of my time operating those guns. And yet despite that the deadliest tool of homicide I own sits in my driveway with a Ford badge on the front of it.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

-snipped-

If you have a way to do this without millions of innocent people getting caught in the net, feel free to share with the class.

Red flags?

Less effective than actually making an effort towards stitching society back together, starting with GOP abandoning the war against people GOP deems subhumans, followed by a shitload of other things like universal healthcare with no profiteering at the point of use, widespread public re-education, universal tertiary education, matching wage development to inflation...
Which are... massive, massive pipedreams.

[Washington Resistance Army]

Red flags?

Less effective than actually making an effort towards stitching society back together, starting with GOP abandoning the war against people GOP deems subhumans, followed by a shitload of other things like universal healthcare with no profiteering at the point of use, widespread public re-education, universal tertiary education, matching wage development to inflation...
Which are... massive, massive pipedreams.

The wage and inflation bit is especially hilarious to me nowadays. Some folks are still whining about $15 an hour being bad for the economy and I'm just over here looking at inflation and thinking $15 is not nearly enough to survive on.

[The Orson Empire]

This doesn't change the fact that a mentally ill person with a gun is capable of killing far more people than with a knife or other melee weapon. If these mass shooters had never been able to purchase guns in the first place, hundreds of lives would be saved.

You don’t even support enforcing the existing laws. You don’t get to call for more.

...where did I ever say that at?

This doesn't change the fact that a mentally ill person with a gun is capable of killing far more people than with a knife or other melee weapon.

Probably, but why would they use a knife and not, perhaps a bomb, or arson, or a car?

If these mass shooters had never been able to purchase guns in the first place, hundreds of lives would be saved.

If you have a way to do this without millions of innocent people getting caught in the net, feel free to share with the class.

A knife or gun is far easier to obtain than a bomb.

I support red flag laws, assault weapon bans, mandatory background checks, and mandatory waiting periods, though I'm edging closer and closer to wanting a repeal of the Second Amendment.