Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
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GasBandit
Staff member
Posting this here because I don't want to bump the Zoey Quinn thread any more.
Female Gamers react to latest Feminist Frequency video
Female Gamers react to latest Feminist Frequency video
I don't know how you handle it in England, but that second one would be blatantly unconstitutional in the US.
Maybe, but even if you don't like indeterminate prison sentences, don't just let him out. Give him a fixed sentence instead. The fact that he got an indeterminate one means the Judge would have given him a MINIMUM sentence of 10 years if he was serving a fixed sentence. So to let him out after just 3 when even his own lawyers admit he is pretty much guaranteed to re-offend? How is that justifiable?
Also, this was in Wales. England =/= the UK. Although England & Wales do have an identical Justice System. Scotland & NI? Not so much.
Benefit number 26: I don't get the outrage.
GasBandit
Staff member
Over the last 2 years, every political alignment other than "liberal democrat" has increased its support for gun ownership rights.
http://www.people-press.org/2014/12/10/growing-public-support-for-gun-rights/
http://www.people-press.org/2014/12/10/growing-public-support-for-gun-rights/
This isn't surprising in the slightest. Democrats are the ones most likely to be in power in large cities where gun violence is an issue (and to live in it and it's surrounding areas). It's not at all surprising that the people most affected by gun violence are also the ones with the harshest anti-gun legislation. Mind you, this isn't a statement of right or wrong.
I feel like I'm in Bizarro World. The local paper, which is just short of Tea Party (owned by perrenial Senate candidate John Raese and family), is not only question the lack of indictment in the Garner case, but is calling out the state AG for joining in the immigration lawsuit. Paper says he's not doing it for anyone but himself.
And then one of the semi-official twitter feeds of the state's Democrats more or less gives outgoing 19-term Congressman Nick Rahall the finger re: his vote on the"cromnibus" bill.
WTF, man? People using their brains? What is this place coming to?
And then one of the semi-official twitter feeds of the state's Democrats more or less gives outgoing 19-term Congressman Nick Rahall the finger re: his vote on the"cromnibus" bill.
WTF, man? People using their brains? What is this place coming to?
The media and the state's campaign of fear and the justice system emphatically stating "you can shoot anyone for any reason if you're skurred" are working perfectly.
Yeah, but it's also likely most of the hostages would be dead. We don't exactly have a good track record of dealing with sieges (see: Ruby Ridge, Waco).
GasBandit
Staff member
NYFD is dropping its physical test requirements because not enough women are passing them, apparently.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/11/fdny-drops-physical-test-requirement-amid-low-female-hiring-rate/
Because I'm sure it'll be a comfort to everyone that they're being more inclusive when the 110 pound firefighter and the person he or she (they dropped it across the board, not just for women) is trying to carry down 4 flights of stairs die in the blaze.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/11/fdny-drops-physical-test-requirement-amid-low-female-hiring-rate/
Because I'm sure it'll be a comfort to everyone that they're being more inclusive when the 110 pound firefighter and the person he or she (they dropped it across the board, not just for women) is trying to carry down 4 flights of stairs die in the blaze.
the logic seems unsound for the reason you stated. I am all for equal hiring but you need to be physically capable of performing your job.
GasBandit
Staff member
Logic has nothing to do with the decision, unless the logic is "diversity trumps human lives."
Going by a variety of news sources on that one, it seems like the only physical test being dropped as a requirement is the FST, which is a more strenuous version of the CPAT, which NY firefighters need to pass anyways. While they've had the FST for years as a grading system, it has only been a requirement for graduation for the last two years, and the passing requirements change every year because each new class gets the previous class' median time as the passing time to beat. So in effect, they're returning what was a secondary physical course back to what it was instead of a passing requirement.
I'm no firefighter, so more input on this one would be helpful, but this seems to come down to whether the CPAT is an insufficient physical test for the job. It's used across the country as a passing requirement for firefighters, so clearly there is some level of belief in its sufficiency. However, the local firefighter associations think that the CPAT is too lenient of a minimum standard, so that's the real question that needs answering.
It is also worth pointing out that NY firefighters never need to re-qualify for either the CPAT or FST once graduated. They only have to do a (relatively) minimal stair climb with a weighted vest once a year, which is much less than either one. So the whole "you're letting in people who can't physically do the job!" argument is somewhat diluted when that physical requirement (whose cut-off changes every year) goes away entirely once they're in the job.
I'm no firefighter, so more input on this one would be helpful, but this seems to come down to whether the CPAT is an insufficient physical test for the job. It's used across the country as a passing requirement for firefighters, so clearly there is some level of belief in its sufficiency. However, the local firefighter associations think that the CPAT is too lenient of a minimum standard, so that's the real question that needs answering.
It is also worth pointing out that NY firefighters never need to re-qualify for either the CPAT or FST once graduated. They only have to do a (relatively) minimal stair climb with a weighted vest once a year, which is much less than either one. So the whole "you're letting in people who can't physically do the job!" argument is somewhat diluted when that physical requirement (whose cut-off changes every year) goes away entirely once they're in the job.
GasBandit
Staff member
That seems like it should be a problem too, and this is a further step in the wrong direction. I mean, even cops have fitness standards they have to meet every year, don't they?
You can generally tell by the number of 300 lb cops if the department has standards.
I don't disagree at all that physical standards are necessary, I'm just saying that this isn't necessarily the "diversity run amuck!" bellwether that a bunch of the conservative blogs are touting the last couple days. Most of the stories I've seen that take this angle have no clue that the CPAT exists, let alone the differences between it and the FST.
If the CPAT is insufficient, that definitely needs to be changed, but the FST is clearly not a particularly good test if a particularly strong class one year can set a new passing grade requirement that would have invalidated the passing grades of the previous year's class had the order been reversed. That's not a good way to set a minimum requirement. That this requirement need never be met again only compounds the silliness of using it as a requirement at all. In fact, it can't be used as a requirement again, because each class year would become rapidly less and less able to meet the requirement!
GasBandit
Staff member
Brad and Dallas Woodhouse are brothers, but one is liberal and one is conservative.
This makes for some great TV (at least in terms of CSPAN programming). But what makes this clip even better is that their mother calls in to yell at them for fighting.
“Oh god, it’s mom,” said Dallas as the realization set in.
In the unplanned call, Joy begged her sons for some brotherly bipartisanship.
“I’m hoping you’ll have some of this out of your system when you come here for Christmas. I would really like a peaceful Christmas,” she said.
GasBandit
Staff member
The shit has hit the fan. The Ruble is in freefall because the price of oil is plummeting, and oil's pretty much the only game in town for Russia. Gazprom's getting wiped out, have fired 25% of their workforce. Their national bank has raised the interest rate to 17%. Ouch.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...-on-surprise-rate-increase-to-17-percent.html
Saudia Arabia got something under its skin and has started dumping its oil on the marketplace, driving the price of oil down, when usually it goes up during the winter. Oil now sits at $55/barrel, and the scuttlebutt is they're trying to get it to $40/barrel.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102226111#.[DOUBLEPOST=1418778258,1418778127][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, 15,000 "Pinstriped Nazis" took to the streets in Germany in a massive anti-immigration demonstration.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/15/dresden-police-pegida-germany-far-right[DOUBLEPOST=1418778388][/DOUBLEPOST]Also the Pakistani Taliban launched an attack on a school and massacred 140 children.
http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-taliban-attack-military-school-kill-2-072153239.html
So the world's pretty much gone batshit this week.
It's worth mentioning that OPEC kind of fucked over Venezuela on the oil price drop too. They rely on oil exports for most of their income, so this current drop is fucking them over almost as badly as Russia.
And here I thought OPEC was just doing us a favor by trying to put all the frackers out of business.
Really, what I think is going on is that they see the writing on the wall about oil and are trying to wring all the money they can out of oil before it gets replaced with renewables over the next 10 years.
Now is probably NOT the best time to buy any property in Dubai.
--Patrick
Really, what I think is going on is that they see the writing on the wall about oil and are trying to wring all the money they can out of oil before it gets replaced with renewables over the next 10 years.
Now is probably NOT the best time to buy any property in Dubai.
--Patrick
Why not? They have enough cash to abandon the country whenever they want... and they will. En-mass.
Yes, exactly. Leaving behind all that infrastructure and real estate to rot until it is reclaimed by the Gulf since it will be too expensive to maintain for whomever comes afterwards.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Showing he learned nothing from the Beau Bergdahl affair, Obama has climbed into bed with murderous tyrants and has painted a target on every american abroad.
*cough*IranContra*cough*
The anti-Castro lobby wants the US to have nothing to do with Cuba, ever. The GOP, when it's not opposing for the sake of opposing, is mind-bogglingly hypocritical. In bed with murderous tyrants? Do I need to make a list? Pinochet, Samoza, Stroessner just off the top of my head. The stereotypical right-wing South American dictator is a product of the Cold War. If they were our murderous tyrant, it meant they weren't the Soviets' murderous tyrant.
Not to mention Batista was a mob-friendly murderous tyrant in his own right before Castro.
The anti-Castro lobby wants the US to have nothing to do with Cuba, ever. The GOP, when it's not opposing for the sake of opposing, is mind-bogglingly hypocritical. In bed with murderous tyrants? Do I need to make a list? Pinochet, Samoza, Stroessner just off the top of my head. The stereotypical right-wing South American dictator is a product of the Cold War. If they were our murderous tyrant, it meant they weren't the Soviets' murderous tyrant.
Not to mention Batista was a mob-friendly murderous tyrant in his own right before Castro.
My first thought when I read 'climbed into bed with murderous tyrants' was: how is this news for the US*?!
Wikipedia lists 5 active embargoes by the US, and I'd wager that there are governments in the world that are more tyrannical and murderous than Cuba and are not embargoed (ahem, China?!). The embargo was unfair in some sense, I'd say. Also, 'three convicted criminals' makes it sound like they are murderers or something. AFAIK they were in prison for spionage. More or less like Gross
.
If the point is that he's bad at negotiating eh, I can't argue that, I have no idea.
*To be fair, the US or any country in the world
Wikipedia lists 5 active embargoes by the US, and I'd wager that there are governments in the world that are more tyrannical and murderous than Cuba and are not embargoed (ahem, China?!). The embargo was unfair in some sense, I'd say. Also, 'three convicted criminals' makes it sound like they are murderers or something. AFAIK they were in prison for spionage. More or less like Gross
. If the point is that he's bad at negotiating eh, I can't argue that, I have no idea.
*To be fair, the US or any country in the world