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Off Topic Politics Thread

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by ChilcoSaint, Feb 23, 2016.

  1. ----HistoryRepeating----

    ----HistoryRepeating---- Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely nothing like the Tony Martin case. And a bit ridiculous to insinuate it is.
     
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  2. San Tejón

    San Tejón Well-Known Member

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    I hope the people responsible for the IT, aren’t the same ones responsible for the track and trace.
    I know we have said that we are willing to waive rules for an interim period, to keep traffic flowing into the country, I hope the EU refuse to do the same.
    I want this ridiculous Brexit, and those who drove it, exposed for the disaster it promises to be.
     
    #26122
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  3. Osvaldorama

    Osvaldorama Well-Known Member

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    Ah, my apologies, i was listening to a podcast earlier and they must have either been lying or got the figures wrong.

    Regardless, in my opinion those figures show a systemic problem of police brutality... I have no doubt racism is a huge issue, but I think its very important to note that it isn't solely a white v black issue. This is a real melting pot of multiple problems for America, and the black lives matter movement has to be extremely careful not to exacerbate the problem.

    Things like the autonomous zone in Seattle will just lead to more people voting for Trump again IMO.
     
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    Last edited: Jun 30, 2020
  4. San Tejón

    San Tejón Well-Known Member

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    Johnson has upset Theresa May.

     
    #26124
  5. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    Systemic police brutality yes, but if you drill down into thisle statistics you see that while black people constitute around 15% of the population of the US, they suffer about a third of the police homicides. Certainly shouts “institutional racism” VERY loudly. That’s exactly why BLM is gathering huge support in the US and here as well. I absolutely agree that fear of enraged protesters is counterproductive but the vast majority of the BLM movement is peaceful.
     
    #26125
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  6. Osvaldorama

    Osvaldorama Well-Known Member

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    Agreed..

    Add into that:
    -huge unpayable student loan debt
    -soaring healthcare costs
    -guns
    -staggering national debt
    -president and media seeking to divide instead of unite

    And its no wonder America has erupted in protests.

    But I can't help feeling that defunding the police, and treating them all as guilty before innocent is a recipe for disaster. If they start forcing genuinely good cops out the door, that is also a huge problem.
     
    #26126
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  7. Archers Road

    Archers Road Urban Spaceman

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    Yeah, from what I understand, the problems with policing in the States aren’t confined to race - it doesn’t matter what colour you are, an encounter with the police can end horribly if they take a bad turn. Probably is worse if you’re black though.
     
    #26127
  8. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    You’re twice as likely to die if you’re black.

    Edit: make that nearly 3 times more likely to diets the hands of the police.
     
    #26128
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2020
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  9. AberdeenSaint

    AberdeenSaint Well-Known Member

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    Not suggesting it was, and not insinuating anything - merely stating it reminded me of that case. Read what I wrote again.
     
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  10. Osvaldorama

    Osvaldorama Well-Known Member

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    I think that some of the more extreme left wingers do forget just how good modern society ACTUALLY is.

    By almost every metric we live in the safest, fairest society in human history. Go back even 100 years, and people were being executed just for being gay, etc.

    Obviously there is always room for improvement, and I will never be able to understand how it feels to be an ethnic minority in England.
    But in general things have been going in the right direction for a long time now. It's something I think about a lot when I see people smashing cities up.

    In some ways it's a miracle that we have a functioning society at all. For almost all of human history we have murdered and tortured each other in the name of one 'tribe' or another.
     
    #26130

  11. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    I entirely agree that if you had to pick a period of history to live in, now is the time you are statistically least likely to die from war, famine, disease, or be eaten by predators. We have creature comforts that were science fiction only a few decades ago. In absolute terms, ethnic minorities in this country and in the USA are far better off than they were before the Race Relations Act, or the abolition of the Jim Crow Laws, both of which happened in 1965.

    The main driver for change nowadays though, isn’t just the general improvement across the board, it’s inequality. There are still far too many children going hungry, still far too much being spent on weapons of war rather than building homes or tackling climate change. And racism is still institutional, even now.
     
    #26131
  12. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    They. Were. Not. On. Their. Property.
     
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  13. ----HistoryRepeating----

    ----HistoryRepeating---- Well-Known Member

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    Its a gated community. They are allowed to hang out on their lawn with their registered guns, as per the second amendment. They have no case to answer and no charges will be brought.
     
    #26133
  14. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    This isn't true. You cannot aim weapons at people even if you are on your property unless they have presented a threat to you. That is a crime, called brandishing. The 2nd Amendment does not protect your right to threaten people who are not on your property from the comfort of your patio.
     
    #26134
  15. ----HistoryRepeating----

    ----HistoryRepeating---- Well-Known Member

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    Well, I reckon they felt threatened by the 'peaceful' protest, so were totally justified in standing their ground.
     
    #26135
  16. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    Again, not how it works. You cannot "stand your ground" if you are the aggressor in a situation. Someone has to take an aggressive action against you for it to be an affirmative defense. "I find crowds of black people on the sidewalk scary" is not an affirmative defense.
     
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  17. Osvaldorama

    Osvaldorama Well-Known Member

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    Yep fully agree. We must all strive to make society more equal in terms of opportunity where we can.

    But I do find it interesting to watch people on twitter who claim to be liberal, twisting views and cancelling people with different opinions.

    For example, Terry Crews tweeted 'we must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn't turn into #blacklivesbetter' - and is now getting an absolute barrage of abuse from the BLM twittersphere.

    To me, those that are abusing him for this sentiment are as racist/narrowminded as the people they are so angry about. There is a lot of hypocrisy out there at the moment.
     
    #26137
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  18. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    You're also far more likely to have police encounters in the first place, and those encounters are far more likely to end with the use of force.

    The other case that is getting a lot of attention right now is the death of Elijah McClain. He was a small, skinny black 23 year old massage therapist who was walking home from a store. Someone called the police because he was wearing a ski mask (it was cold) and moving oddly (he was listening to music and dancing). The 911 caller explicitly stated that they didn't believe that he was armed or a threat to anyone or himself (then why did they call the police!?).

    The police arrived and tackled him because he didn't immediately answer them (again, listening to music), pinned him to the ground, and while he cried and tried to explain himself, he began vomiting. They applied a chokehold because he wasn't complying, what with the vomiting and being unable to breathe. They called a paramedic to shoot him full of ketamine; he went into cardiac arrest, was rendered braindead, and was pulled off life support a few days later.

    So, a few bad apples, right? Well, the prosecutor decided that they had done nothing wrong; it wasn't entirely clear what in that sequence of events killed him, even though nothing in that sequence of events needed to happen, so no charges were brought. But the police have made it abundantly clear that they're totally cool with having killed McClain. A couple days ago, a violin concert was held in McClain's honour (he liked to play the violin); this is what happened:




    There was nothing even remotely threatening about that crowd. They were sitting in a park listening to people play the violin! Rather, the crowd was doing something the police didn't like: memorializing a kid that they killed. So they moved in with riot cops, batons in hand, and then began pepper-spraying people.

    And later, to make it worse: several officers went to the memorial at the place where McClain was killed, and reenacted the chokehold that killed him, took photos, and sent them to all of their cop buddies.




    The full saying is "a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch". The bunch is a rotten slurry, I'm afraid.
     
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    Last edited: Jun 30, 2020
  19. ----HistoryRepeating----

    ----HistoryRepeating---- Well-Known Member

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    Again, not how it works.
    ------------------------------

    Okay, let me ally mcbeal it up a bit. Although the guns were brandished, there was no aiming with the line of sight, so a code 417 violation was not committed.
    Case withdrawn.....................next
     
    #26139
  20. Osvaldorama

    Osvaldorama Well-Known Member

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    I saw a video today of protestors blocking a car from driving down the road, and then shooting into it.

    Whether you want to admit it or not, their expensive house could easily have been a target.

    You must live in a very safe area, and have never experienced any crime for you to be so trusting of others <laugh>
     
    #26140

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