A Political Thread

[McTallshort]

Really? In America even liberals pack heat! Out of interest are they for sport or protection

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Really? In America even liberals pack heat! Out of interest are they for sport or protection

honestly we just have them... i know one was my grandma's pistol she kept in her purse but idk why we have the other ones

 

[McTallshort]

honestly we just have them... i know one was my grandma's pistol she kept in her purse but idk why we have the other ones

Don't you have to apply for licences to hold them etc?

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Don't you have to apply for licences to hold them etc?

they just have to be registered with the state, you only need a license for concealed weapon

background checks aren't required for certain guns as well

 

[McTallshort]

they just have to be registered with the state, you only need a license for concealed weapon

background checks aren't required for certain guns as well

Seriously? It takes roughly 16 weeks to apply for a shotgun certificate in the UK and that involves background checks on criminal records, mental health checks, an interview by the police and an inspected gun cabinet. For a firearms licence you need to justify the need to own a .22 rifle or they will just turn you down flat.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The real problem with guns in the US is the straight ridiculous ease of purchase... everyone goes on about how scary all the preppers and people with "assualt rifles" are.
But it's the fact that any old mentalist (or decidedly non-mental) can get a gun about as easily as they can a box of cornflakes that's the issue.

Putting in even minimal licensing and qualification systems would prevent a significant number of injuries and deaths IMO, without obstructing legitimate ownership and usage.

I say this as a gun nut.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

and there is the gun show loophole where you can just show up and buy a gun, it operates like a blackmarket with exaggerated prices and such

my one friend who bought a gun's reaction to the process was that it was scarily easy,

 

[ratsapprentice]

my one friend who bought a gun's reaction to the process was that it was scarily easy

Exactly, it doesn't need to go from being "scarily easy" (which it does seem to be), to ridiculously difficult.
It just needs to not be scarily easy.

 

[McTallshort]

The real problem with guns in the US is the straight ridiculous ease of purchase... everyone goes on about how scary all the preppers and people with "assualt rifles" are.
But it's the fact that any old mentalist (or decidedly non-mental) can get a gun about as easily as they can a box of cornflakes that's the issue.

Putting in even minimal licensing and qualification systems would prevent a significant number of injuries and deaths IMO, without obstructing legitimate ownership and usage.

I say this as a gun nut.

You a gun nut?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Yiss.

Lubb me some dakka dakka.

 

[McTallshort]

Yeah few and far between in the UK unless your ex mob

 

[McTallshort]

Or serving mob obviously

 

[Peat]

What do you think is going through Corbyns mind? Is he just surrounded by yes men/woman who keep telling him he is a great leader or is just in flat denial?

I know groups like Momentum are pushing things hard in the background but surely everyone must no hes never going to lead Labour back to power and could even split the party.


If the SNP changed its name to something more encompassing to include English and Welsh voters, Labour would cease to exist.

Its his chance of a lifetime to turn Labour into a "hard" left party forever. Guess that's worth gambling on, particularly if he doesn't really have much use for the Labour of Brown & Miliband. I don't think he's blind to the difficulty he's in, but I'm not sure he particularly cares if he loses.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

He got 62% of the vote in the leadership vote, as well. Up 3% from the previous year.
If he's truely a man of the party rather than the leader of the MPs then that gives him a vote of confidence.

 

[j'nuh]

Its his chance of a lifetime to turn Labour into a "hard" left party forever. Guess that's worth gambling on, particularly if he doesn't really have much use for the Labour of Brown & Miliband. I don't think he's blind to the difficulty he's in, but I'm not sure he particularly cares if he loses.

I think he would have to be pretty daft to think that way. An embarrassing election result is more likely to see the blame shifted onto the hard left, and as a result cause overcorrection and perhaps even the freezing out of the hard left in the party. I think it's unlikely Momentum will be banned, but I have read people calling for it.

People used to think Corbyn didn't want to be Prime Minister. I think it's the opposite: he wants to be Prime Minister so much, he's risking Labour's electoral chances so that, should Labour get into power, he'd be at the helm.

He got 62% of the vote in the leadership vote, as well. Up 3% from the previous year.
If he's truely a man of the party rather than the leader of the MPs then that gives him a vote of confidence.

Even as someone who wants Corbyn to go, I'm glad the Labour Party didn't pick Owen Smith last time. Smith's insistence on fighting Brexit and on a second referendum was way too electorally toxic.

This was why I opposed the last leadership election. It was too early, there was no coordination on how to replace Corbyn, and all of the heavyweights feared their careers by challenging him, so stayed on the sidelines. The way it all started was petty, too. Rather than an attempt at rebuilding the Labour Party as a political force, it appeared as a personal attack on Corbyn.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

And yet, he's not the worst leader in the world...

Don't get me started on our President. Who can't even count!!

saying that trump isn't as bad as the guy who engineered the dismissal of nelson mandela's hand chosen successor doesn't make me feel good

 

[Peat]

I think he would have to be pretty daft to think that way. An embarrassing election result is more likely to see the blame shifted onto the hard left, and as a result cause overcorrection and perhaps even the freezing out of the hard left in the party. I think it's unlikely Momentum will be banned, but I have read people calling for it.

People used to think Corbyn didn't want to be Prime Minister. I think it's the opposite: he wants to be Prime Minister so much, he's risking Labour's electoral chances so that, should Labour get into power, he'd be at the helm.

Fair point, but how many results by now end up with Labour's hard left not getting frozen out anyway other than total victory for Corbyn?

Even as someone who wants Corbyn to go, I'm glad the Labour Party didn't pick Owen Smith last time. Smith's insistence on fighting Brexit and on a second referendum was way too electorally toxic.

This was why I opposed the last leadership election. It was too early, there was no coordination on how to replace Corbyn, and all of the heavyweights feared their careers by challenging him, so stayed on the sidelines. The way it all started was petty, too. Rather than an attempt at rebuilding the Labour Party as a political force, it appeared as a personal attack on Corbyn.

Half-agree, half-don't. Does damage Labour but at the same time, chasing after voters gone to UKIP who aren't coming back while losing voters to the Lib Dems is damage as well.

Definitely agree the last leadership election was a pile of arse though.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Corbyn smashed ~Owen Smith.
It wasn't even close.
Now the Blairites are hand wringing and looking at piecemeal small ways in which to try to roadblock Corbyn or to be 'difficult'.
If you can't change the leader then you have two choices. Be divisive and drive your party into the annals of history because you will not get elected... or pull together as a team (even if only on the surface) win back public support and bide your time for a sneaky meeting at the pantheon.
It's not Corbyn who is destroying the Labour Party, it's the Blairites.
There is plenty of disharmony in the publics view of politicians.
More than half the country are fed up with Tory austerity and Tory cuts to the NHS services and education and pretty much everything since Osborne started his policy of cutting and not replacing.
There is a hotbed of growth and support for about... but... the infighting is neutering them and leaving them defenceless.
I don't know if Corbyn is electable, but he would be a lot further up the polls if the Blairites could rein in their machiavellian egocentric pursuits in favour of a united front.
It seems the Blairites would rather have no chance at the next election than stand with Corbyn and get into power.
The country is better off without labour while the Blairites continue their nonsense.

 

[Which Tyler]

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/paul-ryan-flubs-the-basic-idea-behind-insurance

Take today, for example, when the GOP House Speaker did a little presentation on Capitol Hill for reporters in defense of his controversial American Health Care Act, which some have begun calling "Trumpcare." At one point during the slideshow – complete with Ryan's sleeves rolled up – the Wisconsin Republican tried to explain what he sees as the Affordable Care Act's fatal flaw:

"The fatal conceit of Obamacare is that we're just gonna make everybody buy our health insurance at the federal-government level, young and healthy people are going to go into the market and pay for the older, sicker people. So, the young healthy person is going to be made to buy health care, and they're going to pay for the person, you know, gets breast cancer in her 40s or who gets heart disease in his 50s. […]

"The whole idea of Obamacare is … the people who are healthy pay for the people who are sick. It's not working, and that's why it's in a death spiral."

As opposed to any other form of insurance, of course; I mean, only people who crash their cars pay for car insurance; and only those whose homes burn down pay for fire insurance... erm...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...ts-actually-brilliant/?utm_term=.eb1ba9d1f7cf

But fear not: If the GOP repeal drive does fail in Congress, Trump has a secret, backup plan to kill the Affordable Care Act. And it's actually a pretty good plan, if you view it from the point of view of Trump and many Republicans.

In an Oval Office meeting featuring several leaders of conservative groups already lining up against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan in the event the GOP effort fails: Allow Obamcare to fail and let Democrats take the blame, sources at the gathering told CNN.

Good to see that he's looking out for the little guy.

https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/839994036417093633/photo/1

 

[McTallshort]

Given up on America now. Its makes about as much sense as Russia.