Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

I say shut it down. Useless shits don't even enforce the laws. I guarantee you, if you take them off the leash (without the federal government getting its panties in a twist and coming around with lawsuits), the border states will police the border just fine.

Well, not counting california. But they're wide open by choice already.
I'm thinking more of the people who depend on those paychecks working for the government. Whether you think they should have those jobs or not, they do their jobs as they've been prescribed. I can't imagine being laid off for a week because my bosses are having a pissy political argument.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
So since this is the political thread, @GasBandit what do you think about hb910 and sb17 which are both making their way through the house and Senate (in Texas) and have a decent shot at getting passed
I suppose they are a teeny tiny step in the right direction, basically they change the law so that if you have a concealed carry license you don't actually have to conceal your handgun. It seems to me like this is throwing a tiny bone to the open carry / Constitutional Carry crowd, but it's still under bridge payment of the 2nd amendment that needs to be overcome, in my eyes. I suppose at this stage we should be grateful for whatever we can get, but that's no reason to stop striving for true open carry.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I'm thinking more of the people who depend on those paychecks working for the government. Whether you think they should have those jobs or not, they do their jobs as they've been prescribed. I can't imagine being laid off for a week because my bosses are having a pissy political argument.
If I had my druthers, a lot more federal employees would not just be furloughed, but laid off. A whole lot more. The federal government's primary purpose should not be to directly provide jobs, it should be creating an environment where the private sector provides jobs. The federal government desperately needs shrinking, and that's going to mean losing some paper pushers.

Yes, yes, I know the likelihood of that happening.
 
If I had my druthers, a lot more federal employees would not just be furloughed, but laid off. A whole lot more. The federal government's primary purpose should not be to directly provide jobs, it should be creating an environment where the private sector provides jobs. The federal government desperately needs shrinking, and that's going to mean losing some paper pushers.

Yes, yes, I know the likelihood of that happening.
They're not all paper pushers. There's a lot of federal laboratories doing research that the private sector would consider unprofitable. Like keeping their employees safe and/or alive. Thanks to the Blankenships and Murrays of the world, black lung disease has made a comeback. The NIOSH lab here has done a lot of research to guide OSHA towards keeping that in check.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
They're not all paper pushers. There's a lot of federal laboratories doing research that the private sector would consider unprofitable. Like keeping their employees safe and/or alive. Thanks to the Blankenships and Murrays of the world, black lung disease has made a comeback. The NIOSH lab here has done a lot of research to guide OSHA towards keeping that in check.
#NotAllGovernment?

Have no fear, though, there's plenty of fat to be trimmed before we get to arguably useful services.
 
Not if the Congressman fat has anything to say about it.
FTFY

All projects are up for cutting. UNLESS IT'S IN MY DISTRICT!

Won't lie. Senator Byrd's contribution to my family's livelihood was incalculable. Without him, the lab where my mom worked until retirement, and the hospital I go to wouldn't exist. He was the guy who moved the FBI (then) Fingerprint Division to Clarksburg, and nearly moved the entire CIA to WV.
 
FTFY

All projects are up for cutting. UNLESS IT'S IN MY DISTRICT!

Won't lie. Senator Byrd's contribution to my family's livelihood was incalculable. Without him, the lab where my mom worked until retirement, and the hospital I go to wouldn't exist. He was the guy who moved the FBI (then) Fingerprint Division to Clarksburg, and nearly moved the entire CIA to WV.
This is sort of why I can't judge the bloated military industrial complex too harshly. Some counties in Ohio have counted on the jobs the military has created, especially in building vehicles. Every Abrams tank in existence has been built in Ohio and a good portion of the county that factory resides in counts on it to survive.

Things are getting better here in Ohio, but I get why the home counties of gun factories, medical supple manufacturers, and other government goods providers fight so hard. They are often the best blue collar work you can get for hundreds of miles.
 

Dave

Staff member
Nebraska gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional. Our governor, Pete Ricketts - the millionaire son of billionaire Joe Ricketts (who owns the Cubs among other things) - is having an absolute conniption fit and it's glorious to see. He's SUCH a huge douchebag.[DOUBLEPOST=1425320864,1425320600][/DOUBLEPOST]I had posted on Facebook about how much of a douche he is but I erased it. I found out he's on the board of directors for my university.
 
I had posted on Facebook about how much of a douche he is but I erased it. I found out he's on the board of directors for my university.
For someone that conservative, he sure seems to want to make sure his finger is in as many pies as possible.

--Patrick
 
If I had my druthers, a lot more federal employees would not just be furloughed, but laid off. A whole lot more. The federal government's primary purpose should not be to directly provide jobs, it should be creating an environment where the private sector provides jobs. The federal government desperately needs shrinking, and that's going to mean losing some paper pushers.

Yes, yes, I know the likelihood of that happening.
Yes, I know. Not really what I said though.
 
This is a bright and shining example of white privilege. Love it
No it isn't. "anecdotal evidence", possibly, and as such a fallacy if you want to claim he tries to say christian schools are never racist - though that's not Cog is saying. In fact, what he's saying is #notallchristianschools against Dave's implication that all christian school would be indicative of racism.
Of course, someone defending something else but the absolute lowest* on the totem pole against blanket generalization is always wrong and bad in your eyes, so....*sigh*


*technically highest. Many cultures that used totem poles had the most important bits at the bottom instead of vice versa
 
It's always ok to assume the worst about people or ideas you don't like, because they're the bigoted ones, of course.
 
I was assuming a lot, sorry. I don't know anything about you, I don't think, @Cog

I was mainly speaking to the majority of insular (upper) middle class Christian communities in the US that usually send people to private schools. Nothing about race is on the curriculum because no one there has to have the conversation: "if you are in public and are 12 years (thanks Tamir) or older, if you do anything that remotely resembles reaching for any unknown object, you can be killed in 3 seconds with impunity"

also just a little speculation, if the products of private christian schools / universities had just a modicum of education about the history of race in America, it's possible they might say less completely ignorant shit after they graduate and leave their bubble
 
I was assuming a lot, sorry. I don't know anything about you, I don't think, @Cog

I was mainly speaking to the majority of insular (upper) middle class Christian communities in the US that usually send people to private schools. Nothing about race is on the curriculum because no one there has to have the conversation: "if you are in public and are 12 years (thanks Tamir) or older, if you do anything that remotely resembles reaching for any unknown object, you can be killed in 3 seconds with impunity"

also just a little speculation, if the products of private christian schools / universities had just a modicum of education about the history of race in America, it's possible they might say less completely ignorant shit after they graduate and leave their bubble
There are kids in the demographic you're talking about who are not white.
 
they actually have exactly that, they're trained to arrest and harass the poor.
in the "riots" in Ferguson, they knew exactly which parts of town to protect.
I guess I was thinking in terms of pulling people over on the highway, but yeah.

Even when you get down into those neighborhoods, race can depend. We live in an apartment in a financially not-so-great area, but the times immigration has come knocking on our door, unlike some of our neighbors, they've never asked us for proof of citizenship/legal residence.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Surprise, surprise. The republicans buckled like a belt. Like always. Need to change the party's emblem from an elephant to a folding chair.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
...on what the what now?
The whole illegal alien executive order/homeland security funding showdown. They're shrugging and saying "We picked a fight we couldn't win." They just passed the whole "clean" funding bill with no language about the defunding of the executive order. So much for the "power of the purse."
 
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