Happy Friday the 13th! Go cast some spells or buy a lotto ticket.
Sign of the times: Yesterday morning, someone reprogrammed a lighted road sign near the Aurora bridge. Typically, it’s the type of sign that would read something like “Right lane closed.” But yesterday, it read: “One less CEO. Many more to go.” It was gone by the time the sun came up.
🚧✨ A striking construction sign in East Queen Anne, Seattle, reads: “One less CEO, Many more to go.” We’re asking local authorities how this could happen. What are your thoughts? @komonews pic.twitter.com/M5fZC24djs
— KOMO PHOTOG OLEN (@olenhogenson) December 12, 2024
Insurers are spooked: Floridian Briana Boston, frustrated after a denied medical claim, allegedly dropped the phrase “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next” on a call with Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also just happens to match the exact words inscribed on the bullets that killed a certain health insurance CEO. Authorities swooped in, charging her with threats of terrorism, though Boston insists she owns no weapons and was just venting about, you know, the usual for-profit healthcare nonsense.
Weather (and space): Still wet, though it looks like we might get some sun on Sunday. If we get a break in the weather, though, don’t forget to look up. Tonight and early Saturday morning, we’ll be in the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower. NASA recommends that we find an area with less light pollution so we can watch the greenish streaks across the sky. There should be about one every minute, so get thee to the woods.
Tis the Season: We have our first anti-trans legislation out of Olympia, just in time for the holidays. Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen previewed two bills this week: one to ban gender-affirming care for kids, and one to keep trans inmates convicted of a sex offenses out of gender-affirming housing. You can read more about it from Vivian here.
The last initiative standing: Remember the four initiatives on November’s ballot that were all paid for by wealthy anti-tax bro Brian Heywood? We voted most of them down (yay!), but I-2066—an electrification ban that they claimed was a repeal of a non-existent gas ban—made it through by a narrow margin (boo). Now, King County, the City of Seattle, and a group of climate activists are suing the State of Washington, saying the initiative is unconstitutional.
Misconduct and scandal at youth facility: At Green Hill School in Chehalis (“school,” of course, being a euphemism for a maximum-security facility for people ages 17 to 25), police are seeking charges against two employees accused of sending “suggestive” selfies and smuggling contraband for inmates with cell phones, adding to a whopping 21 criminal referrals this year (up from just one last year). The facility’s woes include drug overdoses, overcrowding, and a growing list of misconduct allegations, prompting Gov. Inslee to pitch opening a new facility for older youth. Meanwhile, Chehalis Police Chief Randy Kaut says he’s concerned that Green Hill administrators have simply stopped reporting crimes to his department, while the DCYF who runs the facility, insists its “extra resources” for investigations are working—we’re gonna call bullshit on that.
Gentle Giant: Over in Oak Harbor, Jeff Pangburn, a 6-foot-10 “gentle giant” who’s been living in the woods for 15 years, is known as the friendliest face with the biggest feet in town. Recently, when a car crashed near his makeshift home, he tried—and heartbreakingly failed—to save a young driver from a fiery wreck. The community is now rallying to help Jeff trade his forest digs for an RV while he’s out here asking, “Can we fix the crash-prone intersection already?”
Maybe it’s Santa’s surveillance? CNN reports: “[New Jersey] residents have reported seeing drones the size of small cars flying around at night; officials are unsure if they’re seeing anything unusual, or if these are drones at all.” John Kirby, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and White House security said many of the sightings are actually “manned aircraft” and that there is “no evidence at this time” that the mysterious sightings “pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” Sure!
Vaccines, who needs ‘em? RKF’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, is petitioning the government to revoke FDA approval of the Polio vaccine. Siri has been a key player in helping ol’ Bob pick health officials for the incoming Trump administration. In his free time, he’s been waging a war against, well, science. He’s filed a petition to halt the distribution of 13 other vaccines, challenged Covid vax mandates around the country, and deposed some of our most prominent vaccine scientists.
Speaking of RFK: In October, he threatened to fire FDA employees for “aggressive suppression” of products such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, “sunshine” (lol what), and raw milk. Raw milk is especially risky right now. This week two cats in Los Angeles died “from consuming recalled raw milk,” according to Los Angeles TV news station KTLA. Public officials suspect H5 bird flu was present in the milk. RFK is gonna get us all killed, isn’t he.
More lawsuits for Diddy: On Thursday, three men filed complaints alleging that Diddy “‘personally offered’ them alcoholic drinks which made them unconscious, before they say he raped them,” reports the BBC. Diddy’s lawyers said the suits are “full of lies.” More than 30 civil cases have been filed against Diddy, and Thomas Giuffra, the lawyer who filed yesterday’s complaints, says “more than 60 people have reached out to his office with claims.” Another lawyer representing some of Diddy’s alleged victims says the potential number of cases “is probably in the 300 range.”
Cruelty Can’t Wait: Republicans have already announced plans to take a big slice out of social safety-net programs, targeting Medicaid, food stamps, and cash assistance, which disproportionately support women and children. Their pitch? Cutting these programs promotes “family values” and “self-sufficiency”—because nothing says empowerment like fewer groceries and unaffordable healthcare. Advocates argue these cuts will trap women in poverty, dangerous situations, and worse, while research shows work requirements and forced “family values” do little to solve systemic issues. Meanwhile, states will be left holding the bag, and spoiler alert: it’s empty.
Daniel Penny’s first public appearance: Proving yet again that he claims G.O.A.T status amongst assholes, J.D. Vance is bringing Daniel Penny, freshly acquitted for the killing of Jordan Neely on a NYC subway, as his VIP guest to the Army-Navy game, joining President-elect Trump and other members of his soon-to-be cabinet. Vance celebrated Penny for his “backbone.”
A treat for your morning: I heard Aldous Harding for the first time on a live KEXP performance that’s also 100% worth your time. I’ve never seen someone who can be so perfectly unsettling and so charming at the same time. Every six months, I remember this video exists and I watch it on repeat.
The unknown drones are obviously owned and operated by the US government, testing them in urban environments that don’t exist at the US government’s drone test and evaluation center at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Of course the local officials don’t know anything. They have no need to know.
“A striking construction sign in East Queen Anne, Seattle, reads: ‘One less CEO, Many more to go.’ We’re asking local authorities how this could happen. What are your thoughts?”
perhaps
the American
People are in fact
sick And tired of being
Denied the fucking Healthcare
they’ve been fucking PAYING FOR
ever since Insurance megacorps’ve
been prioritizing Profiteering over the
the Lives of their Clientele. Why is this Hard?
@2: But you said the other day something like: “But deserve to die: Naah”
@1: That makes the most sense I’ve heard so far.
@dewey
the query was ‘why.’
my reply was Not
an Endorsement
tho Hero Luigi
(was that his
name?) Did
Wake tf up
America.
one Ins.
Megacorps
even went so Far
as to RECONSIDER THEIR
PLAN TO LIMIT ANESTHESIA
TO PATIENTS DURING OPERATIONS
so
yeah.
Those roadside reader boards are often easily accessed to still having the default password left on them.
RSF’s 2024 Round-up: journalism suffers exorbitant human cost due to conflicts and repressive regimes
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 Round-up reveals an alarming intensification of attacks on journalists — especially in conflict zones, where over half of the news professionals who lost their lives this year perished. Gaza stands out as the most dangerous region in the world, with the highest number of journalists murdered in connection with their work in the last five years. Since October 2023, over 145 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, including at least 35 whose deaths were linked to their journalism. What’s more, 550 journalists are currently imprisoned worldwide, a 7% increase from last year. This violence — often perpetrated by governments and armed groups with total impunity — needs an immediate response. RSF calls for urgent action to protect journalists and journalism.
A third of the journalists killed in 2024 were slain by the Israeli armed forces
A record 54 journalists killed, including 31 in conflict zones Around the world, the number of journalists killed for covering conflict zones — in Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, and the region affected by the war in Gaza — has reached a five-year high (57.4%).
Gaza: the world’s most dangerous region for journalists In 2024, the Gaza Strip accounted for nearly 30% of journalists killed on the job, according to RSF’s latest information. They were killed by the Israeli army.
Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years. More than 145 journalists have been killed in Palestine since October 2023, including at least 35 targeted in the line of duty, according to our latest information.
The number of journalists behind bars increased
The rise in the number of detained journalists this year (+7.2%) is in large part due to new journalists in custody in Russia (+8) and Israel (+17).
Israel became the world’s third-largest prison for journalists
Israel is, by far, the country that has locked up the most journalists since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, and is now the world’s third-biggest prison for journalists.
Locked-up journalists are concentrated in four countries
The world’s four largest prisons — China (124, including 11 in Hong Kong), Myanmar (61), Israel (41) and Belarus (40) — hold almost half of the world’s detained journalists.
https://rsf.org/en/rsf-s-2024-round-journalism-suffers-exorbitant-human-cost-due-conflicts-and-repressive-regimes
Looking forward to TS editorial about how undemocratic it is to attempt to overturn the initiative that was approved by the voters. Seems very similar to the arguments they used regarding the recall election. On a personal note, it really is pointless to vote in this state sometimes. If the legislature wants something the Supreme Court almost assuredly find a way to make it happen (Cap Gains tax for example) so I have no doubt this will get overturned and we’ll see a de facto ban on natural gas (cranking up costs and making it impossible to install in new construction) and next time we have a massive wind storm everyone can eat cake.
“Authorities swooped in, charging her with threats of terrorism, though Boston insists she owns no weapons and was just venting about, you know, the usual for-profit healthcare nonsense.”
Good luck to the Prosecution in proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that is was more than just “venting,” and protected political commentary.
@7 Initiatives are deemed unconstitutional all the time, dummy.
They are going after polio because their argument is defeated by Jonas Salk. Dinosaurs roaming the earth trying to drag us down to the land before time.
“freshly acquitted for the killing of Jordan Neely”
More precisely, a jury applied democratically created NY law to find that Penny lawfully used deadly force in defense of others threatened with serious physical injury.
@Barth,
Penny didn’t even use a gun. Feel better about Neely’s tragic, lawful homicide, as democratically authorized via NY self-defense laws, because a gun wasn’t the mechanism used to defend others?
@11
I’d bet you have never trained submission grappling, or any kind of martial arts in your life. The same goes for that jury, and whatever experts appeared before the court clearly failed. Neely was DONE after less than 30 seconds in that chokehold. Penny killed him intentionally, knowingly, and unnecessarily, by continuing to choke an unconscious man for minutes.
11, There are countless ways people can kill each other but guns make it much easier to kill without special training or even the intent. They are a unique threat to public safety and we are all worse off for living in a society where they are abundant and accessible to all.
I understand that you think guns are great and I am completely at peace disagreeing with you. No amount of tedious arguments with a depraved gun nut who spends an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about killing people with impunity is going to change my mind. On the contrary, you keep reminding me why they are so toxic.
@12, Under NY self-defense laws, you can use lethal force if you, or anyone in your presence, is faced with imminent threat of serious physical injury.
Neely was yelling he was going to kill people and lunging at them. People on the train testified that they believed they were at risk of serious physical injury or death. The jury bought the argument that Penny believed those people were at imminent risk of serious physical injury or death.
“Several subway riders testified they were terrified Neely was going to attack and they were relieved when Penny put him in a chokehold and kept him there.
‘Restraining him for the moment was a relief, but if he would have gotten up, he would have done what he would have done,’ subway rider Caedryn Schrunk said.” CNN quoting trial testimony
The heart of the Prosecution’s case was that Penny continued to apply lethal force after the perceived threat from Neely ended. CNN reports, “Prosecutors have said Penny acted recklessly by restraining Neely in a chokehold for so long.” Emphasis: “for so long.”
CNN again tells us what physical evidence introduced at trial showed, “Gonzalez could be heard in video footage of the incident saying Penny wasn’t “squeezing” Neely’s neck in the 51 seconds before he released the chokehold.”
So Penny applied lethal force and then released it once the threat ended. As you indicate, at that point is was already too late, but that is irrelevant if NY Law permitted deadly force against Neely in the first place. By focusing on the duration of the application of force, not the force itself, the Prosecution conceded that the initial deadly force was justified under NY Law.
On Day 1 of deliberations, the jury specifically asked for a read back of the instructions the judge gave about justifiable use of deadly force under NY Law. – https://www.yahoo.com/news/questions-jury-asked-acquitting-daniel-184702239.html
Critically, on Day 4, the jury asked the judge for a definition of “reasonable person” which is a term in NY Law (and most state’s self-defense laws).
The Judge Wiley is reported to have responded as follows:
“‘Ultimately what a reasonable person is up to you to decide,’ Wiley told the jury in response to their note, referring them to a two-part test in jury instruction.
‘Would a reasonable person have had the same honestly held belief as the defendant given the circumstances and what the defendant knew at that time?’ Wiley asked, referring to the second part of the test.” – https://www.yahoo.com/news/questions-jury-asked-acquitting-daniel-184702239.html
Early on Day 5 the Jury announced their verdict after getting their final question to the Judge answered very late in the day on Day 4.
So its clear the jury believed deadly force was justified initially. Even the Prosecution conceded that by basing their charge on the length of time the deadly force was applied, not the force itself.
So the fact that it was already too late for Neely when the hold was relaxed, was moot as a legal matter.
It all came down to the jury finding that Penny had a reasonably held belief that Neely was a threat of serious physical injury to others. Having such a reasonably held belief, Penny was allowed to use deadly force under NY self-defense law (and in all states), so the jury acquitted.
If we don’t like the jury’s finding, then we need to change self-defense laws. That is the civic issue and debate that comes from this trial.
@9: You missed @7’s point. The Stranger will advocate for a court to find this initiative unconstitutional, simply because they don’t like the policy it would implement. Conversely, the Stranger loudly and repeatedly claimed the 2019 election of CM Sawant had rendered her ineligible for a recall election in 2021, even though the Washington State Supreme Court had already ruled — unanimously — that the recall election was completely constitutional.
@12, I also agree with Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul of NY. The mental health system killed Neely because it is too difficult to treat someone’s mental illness against their will.
https://gothamist.com/news/after-defending-penny-mayor-adams-reserves-judgement-on-not-guilty-verdict
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/12/jordan-neely-new-york-social-services-support-mental-health
WTF was he doing on a subway having a dissociative mental health episode where he was indicating he was going to hurt people so he could go to Rikers Island Jail so he could be warm and fed?
Absent that behavior by Neely on a public subway, nobody would have reasonably apprehended a design by Neely to do them imminent great personal injury.
Grandpa Joe lobotomized the wrong Kennedy.
I’ll be so happy when the Baby Boomers finally relinquish power (and before anyone gets all prickly, I was born in 1965 to “greatest generation” parents, so I’m a boomer myself. And when I retire – if they still allow us to do that – I’m done. I’ll do some traveling and volunteering but don’t ask my opinion on anything, and don’t ask me to manage anything. Pass the torch will be passed.
@9 as @15 noted my point flew right over your head. Regardless of how the court rules on the technical merits of the initiative the voters have spoken and have stated they want natural gas to remain as part of our energy grid. Do you think the legislature will honor that intention if the initiative is overturned? I don’t think so because time and again they have displayed the hubris that they know better than us peasants. Never the mind that the energy grid can not currently support the demand for electricity, that we don’t have a replacement for natural gas or that when we have massive power outages like we did a couple weeks ago it will create more harm for people. Much better to reduce the impact we have on the environment .00000000001%.
@17: “And when I retire – if they still allow us to do that”
They will. Your generation had it cushier than any other, before or since. 😃
@18 I don’t give a shit what the intentions of the peasants are, initiatives have to be Constitutional. Otherwise Tim Eyman would legally be a horse’s ass.
@17 Things have gotten so weird that as far as RFK Jr. is concerned Mitch McTurtle, a polio survivor, may turn out to be our best ally. Never thought I’d ever say that.
Not if the Republicans get their way, Thumpus Dear. They want to bump it up to seventy, starting in 2026.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/raising-the-retirement-age-for-social-security-would-cut-benefits-by-thousands-of-dollars-each-year/#:~:text=He%20stated%20that%20the%20FRA,those%20turning%2062%20in%202033.
@20 I get it. You, like the legislature, will be happy to have the court find some technical flaw and overturn it so you can impose your agenda on the rest of us because you know best. If (and probably when) it gets tossed it won’t be because its actually unconstitutional to ensure we have a right to choose the energy that is best for our needs it will be because of some subjective opinion that it addresses more than one subject or some other arcane rule. You’ll be fine with them shitting all over us yet again because you agree philosophically with their aims.
@20: As no one here has argued that initiatives don’t have to be constitutional, I don’t know if you’re intentionally bashing a straw man, just don’t understand obvious matters which have already been explained to you, simply like being obstreperously argumentative, some combination of those three, or something else.
@7’s point was the Stranger’s bald hypocrisy on the topic of whether citizen actions should be subjected to constitutional tests. The Stranger wants what it wants, and if it gets something other than what it wants, it claims what it got was unconstitutional.
@15’s point was that even if the initiative gets overturned on constitutional grounds, it expressed a policy preference, and the commenter does not expect the legislature to respect this expression by the voters.
@22: wow hard life, Boomer! 😆
@23 As a matter of fact the people who actually know best, the climate scientists, say that we should be phasing out the use of natural gas (methane) as soon as possible because it is worse for climate than burning coal when one accounts for a) leaks at all stages of the extraction/transport process and b) its atmospheric warming potential that is 80 times worse than that of CO2 over decadal time scale. The atmospheric methane budget has gone through the roof in recent decades, which represents a singular danger to the well being of those still around at mid century. Can you please think of your progeny if you are too old to care about your own future because you don’t have much of one?
But let me reassure you, the Washington state law does not ban natural gas. It merely incentivizes alternative energy that is cleaner and cheaper than fossil fuels like methane with the distant goal of phasing it out. You’ll likely be long gone by the time NG is phased out, which I guarantee to you will happen, hopefully before it is too late to prevent the worst outcomes of global warming
@23 I don’t give a fuck how the court rules. It was the least significant of the four state initiatives on the 2024 ballot. The other three passed easily. Must suck for you.
@24 You use big words so must be smart. You win.
@13, Guns are efficient. That is kind of the point in a self-defense situation.
The whole goal of self-defense is to disable your attacker as far away from you as possible, as quickly as possible, before they injure, further injure, or kill you.
E.g. Lake City. A single person being attacked, was able to disable the attackers who outnumbered him quickly enough that he was not to disabled to run to safety. The longer that beat-down goes on, the higher the probability that he suffers a traumatic brain injury, or an injury so disabling the can no longer flee.
Of course you would seem to prefer that people in such a situation get victimized twice. Once by their attackers, and a second time by a society that would prohibit them from the full-range of self-defense in order to save speculative harm to a bystander, or just neighbors who might be traumatized just hearing the sound of gunfire.
So Doug … at @20 you “don’t give a shit what the intentions of the peasants are” and @27 you also “don’t give a fuck how the court rules,” is that right? lol!
@26 its bullshit Bob and stop trying to gaslight us. HB 1589 will absolutely jack rates for natural gas to “encourage” people to transition whether they can afford it or not. I know you don’t believe me from our previous thread on this topic but I have a statement saying it will cost in excess of $20k to electrify my house. That doesn’t even begin to take into account that we don’t have enough energy to meet demand and nothing in line to replace the 30% of our grid coming from gas so electricity rates will spike as well as we sit in rolling blackouts freezing or swearing our asses off. And for what? A negligible almost imperceptible change in emissions. I’m glad you’ll have your moral cloak of righteousness to keep you warm at night when the powers out.
@29 Yep. Why is that confusing?
Thumpus dear, I have been paying into Social Security since I was twelve. I am entitled to that entitlement 🙂
But I’m concerned that young people are naive: Dear departed Papa Vel-DuRay served in WWII, came back to Iowa, got a JD degree from Creighton (the trashy Jesuit school) on the GI bill, and took a job at an Insurance company in 1950. Every decade or so, they would be called into a meeting where they were told that Social Security was a scam, and that they should have outside investments.
Papa Vel-DuRay retired in 1987, and died in 2005. Mother Vel-DuRay died in 2015. Social Security paid out for each of them until they took their last breaths.
Reject the propaganda, and fight for our entitlements.
@32
Thank you!
and have a great weekend!
@32: I’m not opposed to entitlements. I am opposed to Boomers moaning about how tough they have it. 😘
@31: It’s confusing because it’s dumb? 😂😂😂
You’re dumb.
@29: The better part is his righteous declaration, “initiatives have to be Constitutional,” and then his sneering, “I don’t give a fuck how the court rules,” on the constitutionality of the initiative. (Belligerence is its own reward, I guess.)
@27: So, then, its OK to use big words, such as “initiative” and “Constitutional,” just so long as you clearly have no idea what they mean!
@34: I don’t hear any moaning. But I do hear your impertinence.
@38
Hell
I’d recognize
that condescension
Anywhere. welcome ‘back’
deweyrainy. it’s Almost like
you was never Gone.
no Pouting!
@39: Boomer bashing isn’t condescending?
28 yeah that’s the same reason criminals, abusers, and tough guys who fantasize about vigilante justice all day love guns, and those are the people who make everyone less safe, especially themselves and their families, but unfortunately the rest of us have to suffer for it, too
We would all be much safer in a country with stricter gun laws and fewer guns and no amount of your typing the same bullshit over and over again will change that fact or anyone’s opinion about it
@30 In the dozen or so interactions we have had on the topic of climate you have yet to acknowledge that the threat of human induced global warming is a major challenge that demands the phasing out of fossil fuels so I think it’s obvious who is doing the gaslighting here. You seem perfectly happy to let our children deal with the incredible mess we are leaving behind even though the longer we wait, the more difficult and the more costly it will be to effectively address the problem. Spelling doom about speculative rate hikes and the lack of energy infrastructure that we haven’t yet built (duh!) largely because people like you have been dragging their feet for several decades is indeed not very convincing or trustworthy.
As for the cost associated with transitioning one’s house to all electric, first nobody is forced to do it since NG will still be available for all those who are already using it and second the cost you cited last time to go from gas to all electric are obviously not applicable to the average house since they implied a structure several hundred feet away from the street combined with wiring in serious need of updating. While the bill that is being repealed mandated modern energy efficiency standards for new buildings, it also incentivized transitioning for those who couldn’t afford it. The longer we wait, the more costly it will be to do away with fossil fuels, which is not a matter of whether we have ti do it but when to do it, and now is clearly our best option.
@ed. ~ speaking
of unsetling/charming af:
trade ya ~ a treat for your (Sat.) morning:
the Dead South’s ‘In
Hell I’ll Be In Good
Company’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FzVhw8_bY
almost half a BILLION views?
oh, Lord.
@40
a most
Curious
rebuttal.
@37 I entirely fail to see a problem with someone leaving it to the court to decide whether the initiative is constitutional, like most individuals with a modicum of modesty would do as in “I don’t care which way it will go as long as the court decides”. In typical fashion however, you are so blinded by the senseless partisan bickering you are addicted to that such a sensible scenario doesn’t even register with your overinflated ego.
@42 I absolutely acknowledge the inherent danger of climate change and impacts to future generations. Where we differ is how to solve it. First and foremost we can not have the solution be worse than the problem. Energy restrictions without suitable alternatives will lead to massive spikes in price to the remaining alternatives. This will have a horrific impact on everything we do especially among low income communities. Restrictions of the magnitude you discuss will kill thousamds of people. I think we need to focus our efforts on developing new technologies to capture carbon and produce clean energy. You are talking about something that may happen in 50 years as a sure thing while I am talking about the reality of now.
Beyond that I want to see effective programs. The CCA is a slush fund money grab for politicians as it’s currently constructed. The state has already admitted they can’t even measure the level of carbon in the environment today. So how can they possibly know whether any of their programs are effective? There might be a few good programs like electrifying the bus fleet, but many of the programs have very nebulous goals with no measurements. I think much like the homeless crisis. We will look back on the CCA in 10 years and see massive amount of government spending with very little progress to show for it. In the interim Washington has the third highest gas prices in the country and the fourth highest grocery prices.
@41, You are quite correct about criminals abusers, and fantasizers.
That is exactly why self-defense laws, and self-defense weapons need to exist for the rest of us.
No matter how we try and regulate what weapons aggresors have access to, they will find the means to attack, maime, and kill.
The protective value of a restraining order for the abused is limited to however much the paper its printed on can slow a bullet when used as a shield.
Fentanyl is illegal. By your reasoning we should outlaw people carrying narcan, because if people follow the laws, narcan should never be needed.
BTW, we will have as much luck stopping gun proliferation as we do Fentanyl proliferation. So people need access to guns and narcan for protection of life from people who make poor, or even malevolent, decisions.
@45 Climate change is already killing 1000’s every year through heat waves, flooding, tropical cyclones, forest fires and smoke inhalation. Climate change is already raising the cost of food (agriculture needs a stable climate) and displacing millions of people and it’s just a foretaste of much much worse to come all the way up to civilization collapse as documented extensively by many scientific reports that make it clear there is no more time to waste in transitioning away from fossil fuels. It is already too late to limit warming to 1.5 deg Celsius, so let’s make sure to prevent runaway consequences like melting of the permafrost (a carbon bomb), shut down of the oceanic circulation, disappearing ecosystems through droughts, icesheet and glacier collapse, etc … all of which will cost many lives
In comparison, the impacts of transitioning that you claim will kill people are mostly speculative. It doesn’t mean it’ll be easy and painless to decarbonize the economy but it will get more difficult and more painful to do it tomorrow rather than today.
You say that you want to act now but none of the solutions you mention like carbon capture and developing new technologies are ready now (as the word ‘developing’ implies). So which is it? Especially since we already have technologies that are ready for big time now like solar and wind and geothermal and storage and they are already cheaper than fossil fuels in many instances. Banning greater energy efficiency mandates in buildings like in the 2066 initiative you promoted is directly opposite what needs to be done so allow me to doubt your claim that you want to act now.
Building better energy transition programs with greater transparency and accountability is perfectly commendable but it is not inconsistent with phasing out natural gas. In fact, initiative 2066 doesn’t promote greater tranparency, it simply bans transitioning away from leaking methane to the atmosphere. Making sure the poor do bot bear the cost of transitioning is also necessary so why do you consistently oppose progressive taxation?
46 your reasoning is terrible and completely unconvincing to anyone who doesn’t already feel the same as you
Your opinion is based on your emotions — guns make you feel safe, I get it — but I am basing my beliefs on statistics. Having a gun in the home triples your risk of death by homicide and living in a state with less restrictive gun laws increases your risk of death or injury by firearm. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell people why you love guns so much. You’re entitled to your feelings but facts are facts. Your feelings about guns and safety are contrary to reality.
I am fully aware that nothing will change and we will continue on the same death spiral with guns as we will with health care, housing, homelessness, and the environment. But I’m not changing my opinions based on my resignation to living in a shithole country full of idiots with toxic values and I don’t need to carry on about this endlessly day in day out with said idiots.
@44: If you want to read, “I don’t give a fuck how the court rules,” as exactly equivalent to, “I don’t care which way it will go as long as the court decides,” you’re free to do that. Your suggestion the commenter in question has behaved in this thread with “a modicum of modesty,” suggests your interpretation of his words should not be considered authoritative.
Speaking of which…
@47: “It is already too late to limit warming to 1.5 deg Celsius, so let’s make sure to prevent runaway consequences like melting of the permafrost (a carbon bomb), shut down of the oceanic circulation, disappearing ecosystems through droughts, icesheet and glacier collapse, etc … all of which will cost many lives
“In comparison, the impacts of transitioning that you claim will kill people are mostly speculative.”
Now, THAT last word was absolutely priceless! Do tell us, which infallible god inscribed the tablets from which you copied the preceding paragraph?
Man…2024 has been such a great year for kicking the asses of Iranian-backed terrorism. 😄 Almost could not have gone better. 💥😃💥😃💥🥳
In Lebanon, Hizbollah beat a humiliating retreat north of the Litani and lost some of their biggest names, including Nabil Kaouk, Salim Ayyash, Hashim Safi-ad-Din, Ibrahim Akil, Fouad Shakur, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Hassan Nasrallah. These are men with decades-long careers in international terrorism, whose victims include Americans, Europeans, Israelis, and most of all their fellow Arabs! 🔥
In Syria, the 61-year reign of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party ended with the ignominious flight of President al-Assad to Moscow. In a delicious irony, the coup de grace was delivered to this terrorist-sponsoring state not by any of its many international victims but by homegrown salafist terrorists. Enjoy your new head-chopping overlords, ha ha! 🔥
In Iran, the maraji have been sent reeling by the air strikes of October, which completely disabled Iran’s S-300-based long-range air defense system. Iran has no functioning air force, so the loss of the S-300s means the next strike package will just walk right in the front door and start riding on fools. The maraji have wisely decided to quit shooting while they still can, ha ha! 🔥
In Gaza, Hamas has gotten its ass kicked so hard that some people are calling it genocide! Nearly two-thirds of its members are dead, and its rocketry has declined from hundreds of shots per day to half a dozen shots per week. Israeli troops roam the length and breadth of Hamas’s territory, while Hamas’s civilian supporters have been reduced to begging the Israelis for food and water. Giant names in terror have been X’ed, including Ismail Haniyah, Muhammad Dayf, Marwan Issah, Saleh al-Arouri, Khalid Mish’al, and of course Yahya Sinwar. At one-third strength, Hamas has just enough power remaining to hide a few dozen hostages in tunnels, but it will be a decade or more before “the grass” regrows long enough for Hamas to threaten anyone other than their own fellow Gazawiyn! 🔥
There are still plenty of Axis of Resistance troublemakers in Iraq and Yemen who haven’t been touched this year. But every dog has his day, so we’ll see what the coming year holds for these holdouts. 💥💥💥 Happy 2025, everyone! 😁