America

[TxRover]

2 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Cool story.

The mass shootings happen all over though

 

Absolutely, but if you look a bit more closely…the targets are often urban/suburban. For instance, few mass shootings in the majority of the Midwest and rural areas, perhaps because of the limited pickings, or maybe for another reason. See how several shooters have traveled to get to their preferred targets:

Buffalo: Shooter traveled 200+ miles from a small town to shoot up a business patronized by African Americans he believed were trying to replace White Americans.

El Paso: Shooter travelled 600+ miles from a White suburb of Dallas to El Paso to kill immigrants he believed were trying to replace White Americans.

Orlando: Shooter travelled 100+ miles from a suburban community to Orlando to find a large, gay nightclub. Shooter was categorized as a terrorist.

School shootings, on the other hand, tend to be local persons shooting up a school they know…but they seldom happen in rural area, and rather in suburban areas. So why are these suburban areas creating these shooters who either travel or target soft targets in their area? That’s the American problem. American society has ossified to the extent that there is less class mobility in the U.S. than the U.K. these days. The 15-25 White suburban male demographic is the primary reservoir of mass shooters, and until people start taking their comments seriously, reporting them, and having them investigated, will continue to exact a toll on the U.S.

Perhaps there is less despair in the rural communities, and the urban communities seem to be destroying within themselves in a manner that defuses these explosions. The hypocrisy of people blaming the violence on “them”, when their kids are the ones they should be afraid of, is not lost on many people.

[SlipperyP]

Story of America.

Turned up at Louisiana bus station, had a campsite booked already. Just had to get there.

Got out the bus, a few taxi guys asking where I'm going...went to the side of the bus, got my tent and gear (gas tank, and a few pots).

They all walked away, thinking (he got no money). Stood for about 20minutes (while all the taxi drivers watching).

Then, BANG. This guy walked up and asked where you going? I gave him the place.  His face was like. WTF

I said lets get this done. We drove for about 5mins.  

IT WAS THE SHITEHOLE OF AMERICA (it was a campsite that folk from the Hurricane Katrina were housed, 4 years before)

Got set up (with all eyes on me), then asked next door (tent) where I can buy some food to cook?

His answer 'You're going nowhere friend, you eat with me and my family tonight' 

[hk blues]

9 hours ago, TxRover said:

Absolutely, but if you look a bit more closely…the targets are often urban/suburban. For instance, few mass shootings in the majority of the Midwest and rural areas, perhaps because of the limited pickings, or maybe for another reason. See how several shooters have traveled to get to their preferred targets:

Buffalo: Shooter traveled 200+ miles from a small town to shoot up a business patronized by African Americans he believed were trying to replace White Americans.

El Paso: Shooter travelled 600+ miles from a White suburb of Dallas to El Paso to kill immigrants he believed were trying to replace White Americans.

Orlando: Shooter travelled 100+ miles from a suburban community to Orlando to find a large, gay nightclub. Shooter was categorized as a terrorist.

School shootings, on the other hand, tend to be local persons shooting up a school they know…but they seldom happen in rural area, and rather in suburban areas. So why are these suburban areas creating these shooters who either travel or target soft targets in their area? That’s the American problem. American society has ossified to the extent that there is less class mobility in the U.S. than the U.K. these days. The 15-25 White suburban male demographic is the primary reservoir of mass shooters, and until people start taking their comments seriously, reporting them, and having them investigated, will continue to exact a toll on the U.S.

Perhaps there is less despair in the rural communities, and the urban communities seem to be destroying within themselves in a manner that defuses these explosions. The hypocrisy of people blaming the violence on “them”, when their kids are the ones they should be afraid of, is not lost on many people.

Only 14% of the population live in rural areas though

[Florentine_Pogen]

WTF is happening over there ?

1. "Let's allow kids to have guns..."

2. "Let's get kids into sweatshops...." (sic)

Republicans are utter cvnts.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/us-child-labor-laws-violations

"As child labor law violations have been on the rise in the US, some state legislators are pushing for changes at state and federal levels to roll back protections in what some see as a threat to return child labor to the country.

The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers."

Edited February 11, 2023 by Florentine_Pogen

[Jacksgranda]

36 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

WTF is happening over there ?

1. "Let's allow kids to have guns..."

2. "Let's get kids into sweatshops...." (sic)

Republicans are utter cvnts.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/us-child-labor-laws-violations

"As child labor law violations have been on the rise in the US, some state legislators are pushing for changes at state and federal levels to roll back protections in what some see as a threat to return child labor to the country.

The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers."

It'll happen here, too.

[TxRover]

5 hours ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

WTF is happening over there ?

You answered it yourself…

5 hours ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Republicans are utter cvnts.

This is what is happening.

The debt ceiling, which until Obama, was generally a senseless procedural vote to raise it, has become a weapon to try to pressure Democrats. The Republicans, who had no problem raising, or temporarily removing, the debt limit when Trump was in office, are now demanding to limit spending in order to allow a vote to avoid debt default. After raising the national debt by 40% under Trump, they have found the budgetary Jesus again, and will spin the wheel of risk.

To cut the debt, the favorites are entitlement programs, the safety net in society, which is already so shredded as to be near useless. The R’s simply want the poor to die quietly rather than being seen. Then they can hire cheap labor on temporary visas, so that they have to go home after being used for a little while (see The Trump Organization).

The R’s worship cash and power, you either have it or are disposable.

[blackislekillie]

52 minutes ago, TxRover said:

You answered it yourself…

This is what is happening.

The debt ceiling, which until Obama, was generally a senseless procedural vote to raise it, has become a weapon to try to pressure Democrats. The Republicans, who had no problem raising, or temporarily removing, the debt limit when Trump was in office, are now demanding to limit spending in order to allow a vote to avoid debt default. After raising the national debt by 40% under Trump, they have found the budgetary Jesus again, and will spin the wheel of risk.

To cut the debt, the favorites are entitlement programs, the safety net in society, which is already so shredded as to be near useless. The R’s simply want the poor to die quietly rather than being seen. Then they can hire cheap labor on temporary visas, so that they have to go home after being used for a little while (see The Trump Organization).

The R’s worship cash and power, you either have it or are disposable.

Tory blueprint for the future. Jesus fucking wept. The c***s will be fucking creaming themselves.

[TxRover]

46 minutes ago, blackislekillie said:

Tory blueprint for the future. Jesus fucking wept. The c***s will be fucking creaming themselves.

Correct. It’s somewhat amusing that the Republican’s in the U.S. idolized Thatcher and built up Reagan in her blueprint, but then they have pushed further and further forward, barely slowed by Clinton and Obama, with gerrymandering (to allow them to get 60+% of legislative seats with as little as 45% of the popular vote), a focus on packing all levels of the courts with believers, a constant drumbeat of a need to limit debt when out of power, and using debt to reward friends and businesses when in power. The UK is sliding down that same path, having started first in the 70’s, but also having fallen behind in the 90’s and 00’s.

While the UK’s social safety net was in place longer and stronger than the U.S.’s back then, and still is, there was/is slightly less demonization of the poor in the UK than the U.S. I suspect BREXIT was the turning point for that difference, with the demonization of “others” now in full force in the UK. Welfare in the U.S. is now a cruel joke, and supplemental food programs are being steadily dismantled, justified by the fact the poor often have to buy highly processed foods. Ignoring that they shop at small convenience stores because of poor mass transit and no supermarkets in their neightbourhoods (food deserts).

It’s absolutely criminal that in America, of all places, 1 in 8 kids worry about their next meal. There is finally a small hope that kids at school will be fed for free, rather than being shamed if they don’t have money for lunch by having their food tray confiscated and dumped in front of them and then being given a small, cheap cheese sandwich instead. Another plus on COVID was a number of school districts started offering lunches to be picked up and taken home by their student while the schools were closed. Pickup a weeks worth of lunches at a time, and they would even expand to a set of lunches for any car with a kid, more of there was more than one kid. Some have stopped this, but the best districts have kept this program during term breaks now.

[vikingTON]

Quote

It’s absolutely criminal that in America, of all places, 1 in 8 kids worry about their next meal.

Erm of course that's in America "of all places", because America is the spawning ground of free market capitalism and rugged individualism. 

There is no irony or contradiction involved. It is the logical outcome of that society.

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

Erm of course that's in America "of all places", because America is the spawning ground of free market capitalism and rugged individualism. 

There is no irony or contradiction involved. It is the logical outcome of that society.

That’s actually bulls**t, but you already knew that. The social safety net in America was actually pretty socialist until Reagan started tearing it down with race baiting about welfare queens. FDR and LBJ’s New Deal and Great Society had established a pretty decent fallback for those getting tossed aside by the capitalists and all…