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Comment Re:"Anonymous" Cowards (Score 1) 152

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Comment Re: Yep here we go again (Score 1) 443

The USA's non-gun murder rate is also substantially higher than those same "developed" nations. Meaning: even if we could magically erase the guns and the crimes that went with them, the USA is still more bloody... and that's before you account for our lack of magic

Maybe the relevant factor in "gun violence" is the violence, not the gun?

Comment Re:Yep here we go again (Score 1) 443

Too lazy to find link, but in the CDC-commissioned report "Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence" (after Newtown) examined several studies on defensive gun use. They concluded that defensive gun use seems to occur *at least* as often as criminal use, if not more often. Even the low-end estimates from the antigun crowd had over 100k defensive gun uses per year...

Defensive gun use only seems rare if you try to pull statistics of perpetrators killed by their victims. But as you might imagine, a lost of defensive gun uses don't even require the gun to be fired to end an attack...

Comment Re: Yep here we go again (Score 1) 443

Question: why would you expect a ban on ammunition (or ammo components) to be any more effective than a ban on drugs? Drug cartels already have an importation and distribution network in place, would it be hard for them to add a new product?

It's not about eliminating the threat, it's reducing the damage that can be done so that at least a pair of demented 12 year olds can't pull off a mass casualty incident, whilst still allowing lawful owners their guns.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. After all, the worst school attack in US history wasn't a shooting, it was a bombing. The worst night club attack in US history wasn't a shooting, it was arson. The worst terrorist attack is US history wasn't a shooting, it was a hijacking. Why assume a knife, when rental trucks have proven so popular lately?

Comment Re: Yep here we go again (Score 1) 443

Indeed: the UK has less violent crime. For example, the USA's non-gun murder rate exceeds the UK's total murder rate. Which means even if you could wave a magic wand and remove all guns in the USA, and somehow magically prevented those criminals from switching weapons, the USA would still have more murder. Same with most other "developed" countries. And that's with the use of *magic*...

Of course, most historical sources seem to agree: the UK was drastically less violent than the USA even before they instituted gun control. It makes one wonder: if the UK was always less violent than the USA, with or without gun control, what do we hope to achieve with such comparisons?

When you add this to the other fact you pointed out (countries with high gun ownership rates without the same gun crime rates), I have to ask: why do you think guns are a relevant factor at all?

If you focus on the gun part of "gun violence", won't you be left with violence?

Comment Re:Yep here we go again (Score 1) 443

Ok, putting aside the fact that gun crime is significantly less in countries that have had gun control enacted within living memory, and taking the premise that gun control only affects legally held guns, I ask you this:

Ok, putting aside the fact the USA's non-gun murder rate exceeds the total murder rate of those same countries, and obviously Americans are simply more violent regardless of means...

Whats your solution?

Its obvious America needs one, even if most Americans seem to think there isnt a problem, so what do you suggest? More guns? Free bullet proof vests for all?

Or just accept the fact that America is basically still the wild west, with all the association with random killings that comes along with that?

My solution would be to stop treating "gun violence" like a separate and unique phenomenon. It's just violence that happened to include a gun. If you focus on the gun, you're guaranteed to be left with violence. If you focus on solving violence, however, you won't really need to worry about the guns...

But I'm not sure the problem is as "obvious" as you think though. From the early 90s for over 2 decades, violent crime including gun crime declined... despite gun sales soaring, carry permits becoming shall-issue, and assault weapon bans expiring. We reached a level of safety not seen since the '60s, while simultaneously loosening many gun laws. Why should such a long-term downward trend be treated like a spiraling epidemic?

Comment Re:Responsibility (Score 1) 157

Responsibility and accountability as you've described are also general concepts, not a tangible action. In order to make sure actions "not for the public good" have consequences, we'd have to agree on what "for the public good" means. At which point, we have the same problem with "freedom": what some believe is for the common good others believe is to the public detriment. What others would feel is an adequate consequence, others will feel is inadequate or overkill.

The concept of American Freedom was never anarchy, or doing whatever you want. It was about having intrinsic rights, and a government who's job it was to protect those rights. Sometimes the concept of American freedom involves NOT passing rules and laws that could benefit us, in order to give us the freedom to find our own way...

After all: if someone didn't have the freedom to decide a course of action, how could you reasonably hold them responsible or accountable for it?

Comment Re:I agree (Score 1) 117

If it was unpaid time off, I doubt many would complain. If they were just using their regular PTO and FMLA, I doubt many would complain either...

But some companies give out paid maternity/paternity leave as a perk, which is what I think the original complaint was aimed at. Which effectively means, those who choose to have a child get more PTO time than those who do not. In other words: pay discrimination based on parental status...

Comment Re:Facebook should flag it but it cant be forced t (Score 1) 151

Until such time as the internet is freely and readily accessible to all, Facebook or any other entity which operates on it for profit are not a "public square."

Until such time as college is freely and readily accessible to all, the University Quad will no longer be known as a public square...
Until such time as admission and parking is no longer charged, the county fairgrounds will no longer be known as a public square...
Until such time as transportation is freely and readily accessible to all, the literal public square will no longer be known as a public square....

The reality is, there are lots of "public squares" that happen to be run by publicly traded corporations. Or require an expense to utilize them. Privately owned public spaces commonly include plazas, arcades, small parks, and atriums. Many cities worldwide, including Auckland, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, and Toronto, have privately owned public spaces.

To say that the Facebook Platform (which is NOT a publicly traded corporation, it's the product of one) cannot be considered a "public square" simply because it is owned (or requires an expense) seems ridiculous given the public squares that already fit that description. Full stop.

Comment Re:Lawful whistleblowing? (Score 1) 151

Trade secrets are intellectual property that is not generally known to the public, confers economic benefit on its holder because the information is not publicly known, and where the holder makes reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.

The pages of "internal research" this person copied were Facebook's intellectual property, not simply "choices that they made". Judging from the complaint, it seems to have conferred an economic benefit. And Facebook has attempted to maintain its secrecy. This would appear to be a trade secret. To say otherwise would be a bit like saying I didn't steal a trade secret by stealing the KFC original recipe, because that's just some choices a Kentucky Colonel made...

Further, by the whistleblower's own admission, much of what Facebook was doing wasn't illegal. Certainly not the internal research that was copied. The only thing anyone is suggesting might be illegal is lying to investors, and the only evidence of that is "they lied to the public, so they must have.... right?"

Comment Re:Need to start holding police accountable (Score 1) 141

Police will claim that they respond based on "possibilities" not "probabilities," but that's BS. They are supposed to know their communities.

How are they supposed to "know" their communities to this extent while respecting things like the 4th Amendment and privacy? Especially when we demand the cops remove their surveillance systems (rightfully) citing privacy concerns?

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