Nashville school shooting

[MU82]

Messaging please, Pak.

It's not gun control legislation that we want, it's gun safety legislation.

[MU82]

When Jockey, Mike and others are standing on soapboxes screaming at the top of their lungs that all Republicans are evil, hate children and must be destroyed at all costs is that considered political or simply the  official position of Scoop?

IBTL

I can't speak for others, Tony,  but I certainly never said what you're implying here. For example, I consider you and dg to be very reasonable Republicans, and I've said so right in this thread.

Politicians who refuse to even consider anything sensible while offering prayer as a solution ... they're a big part of the problem. And then to use this shooting to double-down on their hatred of trans people is disgusting.

[lawdog77]

I'd be curious to see the unicorn Republican who made gun control number 1 to 100 on his or her platform.

Brian Fitzpatrick-Pa

[Lennys Tap]

Have you tried the new message board?

So you're saying considering all Republicans evil people who hate children and want them to die IS the official position of Scoop and anyone who disagrees should go elsewhere. Thanks for the confirmation - I was unaware you were in charge of things here.  Thanks for the heads up!

[4everwarriors]

Lenny Man, this comes from the same cat who thinks the University of North Texas is in Tulsa. So there's that, hey?

[Jockey]

So you're saying considering all Republicans evil people who hate children and want them to die IS the official position of Scoop and anyone who disagrees should go elsewhere. Thanks for the confirmation - I was unaware you were in charge of things here.  Thanks for the heads up!

Feeling persecuted, much?

Could you show me where I ever said that?

[Lennys Tap]

Feeling persecuted, much?

Could you show me where I ever said that?

1.Not at all

2. "Kids are a necessary sacrifice at the altar of the Republican Party" Your quote, this thread, page 6.

[Hards Alumni]

There are three components to any political position:

1) Do you want it? Yes or no?
2) How badly do you want it? (1= yeah it would be nice; 10 = I'll actively push for it and devote my time to it).
3) How is the question written?

Let's use Medicare negotiation of drug prices as an example.

Sure, I'd like to pay less for my pharmaceuticals. Who wouldn't? That has about 90 percent approval.

But, how badly do you want it? Well, it depends on who is insuring you and what your out of pocket costs are. If your out-of-pocket is minimal, then concern probably drops compared to not having a prescription plan or having a weak one.

How the question is written is critical. And, so is the scope of an issue. For example, with Medicare control of drug prices, if you compare today to say 40 years ago, the amount of therapeutics, new drugs and new treatments for diseases brought about by America's pharmaceutical companies is enormous. If you take the profit and return motive away from the pharmaceutical industry, guess what -- capital will flow to other businesses with a higher return and the number of new treatments to treat diseases like Alzheimer's will decrease.

I don't really want to get into an ancillary/hijacked argument about Medicare. My point is that no question, including gun control, is simple. You can boil the question down to a simple issue but the fact that we don't have legislation covering some of the issues you outline, including gun control, suggests the matters are not nearly as simple as you make them out to be.

Money helps but in many districts across the country, gun control and assault rifles are less an issue than say, economic growth, infrastructure, environmental regulation, foreign affairs, the Supreme Court etc.

I appreciate your response, but it is an asinine one.

How important an issue is is irrelevant.  Politicians can walk and chew gum at the same time.  They stay away from the issues I've brought up because they are paid to.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Dat's 'cuz wee no ball, aina?

sending you thoughts and prayers, thought you were a playa

[Uncle Rico]

Lenny Man, this comes from the same cat who thinks the University of North Texas is in Tulsa. So there's that, hey?

Whoosh

[Uncle Rico]

So you're saying considering all Republicans evil people who hate children and want them to die IS the official position of Scoop and anyone who disagrees should go elsewhere. Thanks for the confirmation - I was unaware you were in charge of things here.  Thanks for the heads up!

What I said was, try the new message board.  I'm not in charge of anything.  If I were, this thread would have been locked when it got posted

[withoutbias]

Hey look!  It's conservatives claiming to be victims once again!  Will people please start thinking of rich white males for once!  They just can't catch a break!

[Hards Alumni]

"It's a mental health problem"

"Okay so pass a law that says people with mental health problems can't purchase guns"

"No"

[tower912]

That would be discriminatory.  Equal protection clause guarantees access to high powered military style weapons regardless of mental health status.   The vast majority will not become mass murderers.  And the possession of a high powered firearm can be therapeutic.

[dgies9156]

I appreciate your response, but it is an asinine one.

How important an issue is is irrelevant.  Politicians can walk and chew gum at the same time.  They stay away from the issues I've brought up because they are paid to.

Brother Hards:

Not at all. Politicians reflect the will of the people they represent. Period. They have to if they want to get reelected. I get that there is party branding and orthodoxy but at days end, the job of a politician -- especially a legislator -- is to represent constituents.

For example, back in the early 1990s, Illinois was represented by one Alan J. Dixon. He was from the downstate and one of the most powerful vote-getters the state ever saw. He was secretary of state and later U.S. Senator.

When the Clarence Thomas matter came up for consideration in the U.S. Senate, Dixon had to choose between his middle of the road constituency in the Downstate, who slightly favored confirming Justice Thomas, and his liberal Chicago constituency, who wanted Clarence Thomas jammed in a Coke can and sent down the river. Senator Dixon voted to confirm Justice Thomas and faced a vicious challenge from Carol Mosley Braun. Ms. Braun, a political nobody at that point, became a U.S. Senator largely because Senator Dixon failed to measure the views of his constituency.

Senator Al Gore Sr., faced the same problem when he lost to Bill Brock in Tennessee in 1970. Heck, Val Demings lost to Little Marco, R-Cuba, down here last time for the same reason. She was a good candidate but failed to grasp the critical issue to Floridians.

[Jockey]

Whoosh

The sound a joke makes as it passes over an inert cranium.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

The sound a joke makes as it passes over an inert cranium.

Another innocent victim of the jab

[Hards Alumni]

Brother Hards:

Not at all. Politicians reflect the will of the people they represent. Period. They have to if they want to get reelected. I get that there is party branding and orthodoxy but at days end, the job of a politician -- especially a legislator -- is to represent constituents.

For example, back in the early 1990s, Illinois was represented by one Alan J. Dixon. He was from the downstate and one of the most powerful vote-getters the state ever saw. He was secretary of state and later U.S. Senator.

When the Clarence Thomas matter came up for consideration in the U.S. Senate, Dixon had to choose between his middle of the road constituency in the Downstate, who slightly favored confirming Justice Thomas, and his liberal Chicago constituency, who wanted Clarence Thomas jammed in a Coke can and sent down the river. Senator Dixon voted to confirm Justice Thomas and faced a vicious challenge from Carol Mosley Braun. Ms. Braun, a political nobody at that point, became a U.S. Senator largely because Senator Dixon failed to measure the views of his constituency.

Senator Al Gore Sr., faced the same problem when he lost to Bill Brock in Tennessee in 1970. Heck, Val Demings lost to Little Marco, R-Cuba, down here last time for the same reason. She was a good candidate but failed to grasp the critical issue to Floridians.

No.  You're living in fantasyland.  I vote for the least worst of two candidates, and I don't expect the one I vote for to actually represent me in a meaningful way.  They don't share my views on most topics.  I vote only because I know that the other candidate is objectively worse.  And I know I'm not alone.

I can go into why the American electoral system is broken and our general political system is broken and basically unfixable... but no one wants to read my dissertation about that.

[Mucubfan]

1.Not at all

2. "Kids are a necessary sacrifice at the altar of the Republican Party" Your quote, this thread, page 6.

Instead of crying about being persecuted (you are not being), maybe actually refute the notion that kids are being hurt by policies that advocate for unfettered access to guns. For instance, peer countries have a 28 day waiting period for firearms and multiple recent mass shootings were perpetrated against children within 48 hours of purchasing assault rifles. Republicans actively campaign against:
1. Expanded background checks
2. Waiting periods
3. Bans on assault rifles

All of which are democrat backed policies put in place in other peer countries with much much much lower incidence of firearm related fatalities in school age children.

So, yes, the previous statement remains true even if it hurts your feelings.

[Jockey]

I can go into why the American electoral system is broken and our general political system is broken and basically unfixable... but no one wants to read my dissertation about that.

Ranked Choice voting would get rid of most elected extremists.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Trump indicted.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Good try.

[tower912]

Mandalay bay shooter killed all those people because he felt mistreated by casinos.

[4everwarriors]

Mental health issues are a bitch, hey?

[Pakuni]

Mental health issues are a bitch, hey?

Sad that they exist primarily in the U.S.