America - The Official Thread

[Dotini]

You mean like the Waco siege that didn't happen & didn't result in the deaths of 80 men, women & children?

Well, to be fair, 4 ATF idiots died in the initial attack, along with 6 Branch Davidians. Later, the FBI simply went in with tanks and burned the whole place down, as you depict. In revenge, Timothy McVeigh gave us the Oklahoma City bombing, killing 168. Rough justice, but federal tactics changed as a result.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Meanwhile, in the non-fake news:

US weekly jobless claims drop to lowest level since 1969

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, hitting the lowest level in more than 48 years, pointing to a rapidly tightening labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 210,000 for the week ended Feb. 24, the lowest level since December 1969, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 2,000 fewer applications received than previously reported.

 

[Joey D]

Trump is seemingly wanting to place blame on the video game industry for violence in the US: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...try-in-wake-of-florida-shooting-idUSKCN1GK1DV

Now if pro-gun ownership critics say "don't blame the gun when a shooting occurs" why on Earth should they think it's OK to blame video games? It's not the object that initiates the violence, but rather the person.

I'm almost certain this series of meetings will lead to a clamp down on "violent" video games in the US because apparently parents are unable to be parents monitor what their kids are doing. And funny enough, quoting the Reuters article, Trump himself appears to be one of those parents who can't be bothered to parent:

Trump has made the issue personal by mentioning his concern for his 11-year-old son, Barron. “I look at some of the things he’s watching, and I say, how is that possible?” he said last week.

If he's so concerned about what his son is watching or playing, why doesn't he, you know, do something about it as a dad? Someone is buying Barron those games and allowing him to watching "violent" TV shows and movies.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Trump is seemingly wanting to place blame on the video game industry for violence in the US: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...try-in-wake-of-florida-shooting-idUSKCN1GK1DV

Now if pro-gun ownership critics say "don't blame the gun when a shooting occurs" why on Earth should they think it's OK to blame video games? It's not the object that initiates the violence, but rather the person.

I'm almost certain this series of meetings will lead to a clamp down on "violent" video games in the US because apparently parents are unable to be parents monitor what their kids are doing. And funny enough, quoting the Reuters article, Trump himself appears to be one of those parents who can't be bothered to parent:

If he's so concerned about what his son is watching or playing, why doesn't he, you know, do something about it as a dad? Someone is buying Barron those games and allowing him to watching "violent" TV shows and movies.

If by "clamp down" you mean a series of committees and meetings and discussions and dialogues and focus groups and media grandstanding that ultimately lead to minor changes in the game rating system and a sternly worded PSA or two that everyone will ignore, then I think you're probably right.

 

[TexRex]

Meanwhile, in the non-fake news:

US weekly jobless claims drop to lowest level since 1969

Maybe it's as simple as a typo resulting in a broken link, or maybe you just made it up.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nope...I'm not that petty.

The idea that unemployment reporting would follow the trend it's been on for the last 8 years isn't terribly surprising...

 

[Joey D]

If by "clamp down" you mean a series of committees and meetings and discussions and dialogues and focus groups and media grandstanding that ultimately lead to minor changes in the game rating system and a sternly worded PSA or two that everyone will ignore, then I think you're probably right.

I have no idea what the outcome will be. However, I do think the end result will be more than just a change to the rating system - especially given the list of attendees. It's not exactly the most unbiased group of people: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insert...iolet-video-games-meeting-today/#52423ad22b91

While an outright ban on violent video games would ultimately lose out in court because it violates the First Amendment, I could see negative changes coming that impact the video game industry as a whole.

It also seems like another thing to draw attention away from an actual issue, which is "why is mental healthcare so appalling and how do we keep guns out of the hands of people wanting to go on a killing spree."

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I have no idea what the outcome will be. However, I do think the end result will be more than just a change to the rating system - especially given the list of attendees. It's not exactly the most unbiased group of people: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insert...iolet-video-games-meeting-today/#52423ad22b91

While an outright ban on violent video games would ultimately lose out in court because it violates the First Amendment, I could see negative changes coming that impact the video game industry as a whole.

It also seems like another thing to draw attention away from an actual issue, which is "why is mental healthcare so appalling and how do we keep guns out of the hands of people wanting to go on a killing spree."

Yeah, the lineup is a bit of a joke. Nevermind the literal years of research that show no real connection between violent video games and mass shootings.

From Polygon:

“Banning guns isn’t the answer to preventing violence any more than banning cars would be the answer to preventing people from being killed in car accidents,” Hartzler wrote in an opinion piece in 2013 after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 26 dead. “The cause, not the tool, should be the focus. We must have a meaningful conversation about mental health issues and other possible cultural and societal contributors to violent behavior, such as violence in video games.”

Or the irony of Trump complaining about his child watching TV he doesn't approve of. The man that literally incited violence at his rallies.

Any misdirection at all to avoid talking about gun control.

 

[Rallywagon]

It is all about deflection. I agree with Johnnypenso in that not much is likely to happen. This isnt the video game industry of the early 90s. The video game market is huge and the companies selling them, at least the large studios, are flush with money.
The research that was used back in 2012 after sandy hook was found to be bias and bunk. Further, research, that unfortunately is behind a pay wall, shows that there is at least correlation between playing violent games and decreases in violence.
Just as before, i do t see this going very far.

 

[PeterJB]

Most level-headed gamers wouldn't dream of doing what they do in GTA in real life, it's the ones that already have problems unrelated to exposure to video games that do.

The proposal to arm teachers is an interesting one. In my head it varies between being genius and being crazy the more you think about it. At a glance, especially from a British perspective, it sounds completely nuts, just another classic American idea that the solution to gun violence is more guns. But then you go a bit deeper and it begins to become sensible when you consider that mass shootings almost always takes place in "gun-free zones"; if you unloaded in a shopping mall the entire mall would unload back at you. Regardless of whether the guns are even used it would an obvious deterrent. But then you have to think a bit more practically. You would have to, at great time and expense arm every teacher in every school in the country, have them all go through firearms training, and the usual background checks to make sure it's safe to have them around children, which would probably put a lot of people off wanting to become teachers. You'd have to hope that, like security guard at the school, that when the time comes the teachers can actually respond appropriately and have the composure to deal with the situation, and I don't think it would be long before news stories come out of students getting their hands on one, teachers being mistaken for the shooter in an actual shooting and getting shot by the police of SWAT teams, or even the stress of teaching getting to the teachers and them using the threat of their gun to discipline students.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Maybe it's as simple as a typo resulting in a broken link, or maybe you just made it up.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nope...I'm not that petty.

The idea that unemployment reporting would follow the trend it's been on for the last 8 years isn't terribly surprising...

I believe you're under the mistaken impression that throwing out the petty accusation and following it up by saying you're not petty, doesn't actually make you look petty.

Jobless claims and unemployment rate are two different things measuring two different things. Probably best not to conflate the two.

 

[TexRex]

petty accusation

Yeah, accusing someone of presenting false information due to their inability to provide anything to support it at the time--be it due to a simple mistake or difficulty around their means of originally acquiring the information--is pretty petty...

 

[Rallywagon]

Yeah, accusing someone of presenting false information due to their inability to provide anything to support it at the time--be it due to a simple mistake or difficulty around their means of originally acquiring the information--is pretty petty...

To be fair, you did kinda pull the old "im not saying, im just saying" thing. A simple mistake copying a link isnt really a serious issue. Using no tact in pointing that out, throwing down a sarcastic accusation, then following it up with "but I'm not that petty" kinda makes it all sound a bit, well, petty...

I believe you're under the mistaken impression that throwing out the petty accusation and following it up by saying you're not petty, doesn't actually make you look petty.

Jobless claims and unemployment rate are two different things measuring two different things. Probably best not to conflate the two.

Also, to be fair, both seem to follow the same trend. I believe they have correlation, because they would ultimately have the same causation.

 

[TexRex]

To be fair, you did kinda pull the old "im not saying, im just saying" thing. A simple mistake copying a link isnt really a serious issue. Using no tact in pointing that out, throwing down a sarcastic accusation, then following it up with "but I'm not that petty" kinda makes it all sound a bit, well, petty...

All of this is 100% accurate, and in the absence of a similar situation with the roles reversed, a response from me either would have ignored the link entirely and focused on the presumed quote or would have included a polite alert that the link was broken.

To be fair, I sort of assumed my deliberately petty response would have been disregarded just as other serious responses have been as of late.

 

[Rallywagon]

Do you wanna be one of them though Tex?

 

[ryzno]

Do you wanna be one of them though Tex?

I'll say he has become a lot more "vocal" in this section...

 

[TexRex]

I'll say he has become a lot more "vocal" in this section...

Nope. He's the same bitter, belligerent blowhard he's always been.

 

[Johnnypenso]

To be fair, you did kinda pull the old "im not saying, im just saying" thing. A simple mistake copying a link isnt really a serious issue. Using no tact in pointing that out, throwing down a sarcastic accusation, then following it up with "but I'm not that petty" kinda makes it all sound a bit, well, petty...

Also, to be fair, both seem to follow the same trend. I believe they have correlation, because they would ultimately have the same causation.

The markets follow the jobless claims much more closely because they are a leading indicator of the current trends in the economy. It measures the here and the now whereas the overall rate of unemployment is much more of a long term indicator.

 

[Johnnypenso]

In more non-fake news, Trump taking another step or perhaps a giant leap towards that Nobel Peace Prize:

Trump accepts offer to meet Kim Jong Un (<<< link verified)

President Donald Trump has agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House announced, setting the scene for an unprecedented encounter between two nations that only recently threatened to wipe each other out.

The talks would be the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader and will take place by May, according to South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who delivered the invitation to Trump after a visit by his delegation to Pyongyang earlier this week. Chung said Kim had offered to put Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program on the table.

Trump's decision, after a year in which the two have repeatedly traded insults, is a remarkable breakthrough. It brings the North Korean regime close to its long-desired aim of recognition on the international stage, and offers Trump the tantalizing prospect of a historic diplomatic victory. But the consequences of such a high-stakes gamble remain hard to predict.
The South Korean delegation, which landed in Washington, D.C. for a debriefing Thursday on the North-South talks, was careful to praise Trump's influence over the developments. Chung said the US President's "leadership" and his administration's pressure on the North Korean regime had "brought us to this juncture."

South Korea's President Moon described the announcement as "historic" and thanked both leaders for seeking a diplomatic solution to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"This is an almost miraculous event; my administration will prepare toward the May meeting with utmost diligence," he said in remarks read out in Seoul by a Blue House spokesman.

With POSK Moon calling it miraculous, perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize is only the first step. A visit to the Pope might be in order if this succeeds

 

[Dennisch]

If Bombing Barack gets one, Trump should get one too, if he has any form of success in talking with NK.

 

[Joey D]

They'd be channeling their inner Oprah. "You get a Peace Prize, you get a Peace Prize, everyone gets a Peace Prize!"

But ya, Trump is about as deserving as Obama, which is to say not at all.

North Korea needs foreign aid and it's using its only bargaining chip to get it. A few years down the line, they'll start it all over again in hope of getting more aid. This will continue until someone calls them on it and they attempt to launch a nuclear missile which splashes in the Pacific and gives a bunch of fish a really bad day.

The only way North Korea will ever become more than just a small dictator nation is if the government is overthrown and replaced with people who aren't completely insane. But considering the population is mostly starving and brainwashed, I don't see that happening.

 

[Johnnypenso]

They'd be channeling their inner Oprah. "You get a Peace Prize, you get a Peace Prize, everyone gets a Peace Prize!"

But ya, Trump is about as deserving as Obama, which is to say not at all.

North Korea needs foreign aid and it's using its only bargaining chip to get it. A few years down the line, they'll start it all over again in hope of getting more aid. This will continue until someone calls them on it and they attempt to launch a nuclear missile which splashes in the Pacific and gives a bunch of fish a really bad day.

The only way North Korea will ever become more than just a small dictator nation is if the government is overthrown and replaced with people who aren't completely insane. But considering the population is mostly starving and brainwashed, I don't see that happening.

As I've said before, Trump could walk on water and still wouldn't get any credit

 

[TexRex]

As I've said before, Trump could walk on water and still wouldn't get any credit

Of course it's much more likely he'd merely claimed to have done it:

"I walked on water. It was great. Important people sent me letters saying how great it was. By the way, how great is the word 'great?' Pretty sure I made it up. Other people may have used it before, I don't know, but it's definitely great when I use it."

All while simultaneously translating for deaf people who only know the ASL gestures for 9 and L:

"9, L, 9, 9, L, 9, L, 9, L, L, L, 9, L, 9, 9, L, 9, L, L, 9, 9, L."

Broadcast on Fox News and praised by Alex Jones, of course.

 

[Rallywagon]

As I've said before, Trump could walk on water and still wouldn't get any credit

Thats because we all know he would be walking on a platform made by unpaid dutch contractors. I'll give him credit when it's done. But I am also skeptical. DPRK has run this line time and again. This may be Un's first rodeo, but not his "cabinets."
I also agree with Joey. We are just going to continue going in circles until a new gov is installed. I dont believe the people are as brainwashed as he, but they definitely are cowed to the point of being ineffectual. Which i feel means nothing will change until NK does something to actually start a war.
It does make me wonder. Despite the "tattle tale on your neighbor" mentality that is nurtured, i wonder if there might be some sort of underground resistance group.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Thats because we all know he would be walking on a platform made by unpaid dutch contractors. I'll give him credit when it's done. But I am also skeptical. DPRK has run this line time and again. This may be Un's first rodeo, but not his "cabinets."
I also agree with Joey. We are just going to continue going in circles until a new gov is installed. I dont believe the people are as brainwashed as he, but they definitely are cowed to the point of being ineffectual. Which i feel means nothing will change until NK does something to actually start a war.
It does make me wonder. Despite the "tattle tale on your neighbor" mentality that is nurtured, i wonder if there might be some sort of underground resistance group.

Of course, no credit should be given until something concrete actually happens, and, to be clear, something concrete to me means U.N. inspectors overseeing the dismantling of the NK nuclear arsenal. Anything short of that is bollocks. I expect Trump will simply open up Fort Knox and buy himself a victory here but I think he'll use the Twitterz to shame the international community into fronting much of the money. Will it ultimately be successful or is Kim just buying time or making himself look reasonable to gain sympathy in the international community with no real intent to negotiate in good faith? Time will tell...

 

[Imari]

As I've said before, Trump could walk on water and still wouldn't get any credit

Pfft, he's organised a meeting with Kim and also got NK the closest it's ever been to shooting nukes at the US.

It all evens out if you ask me, doing one good thing (that is probably more like exceptionally hard work from US diplomats and South Korea rather than anything he himself did) doesn't suddenly erase his warmongering from the last year.

Obama essentially won the Nobel for not being GW Bush, which was bollocks. Trump should no more win a Nobel for peace with NK, because if it happens it's almost certainly more the fact that he happened to be sitting in the chair at the time rather than any specific contribution of his. I await him actually doing something constructive instead of simply happening to hold office when the North Koreans wanted to negotiate with the US.

 

[PeterJB]

Half the time recognition as a statesman comes not from what you'd done as leader, but when you were leader. Every world leader secretly dreams of getting caught up in a war they know they can win, or succeeding someone who was worse than themselves, no matter how bad they are.

 

[Biggles]

If Bombing Barack gets one, Trump should get one too, if he has any form of success in talking with NK.

You do realize that if Trump were to get a Nobel for making some kind of progress with Kim Jong Un, then "Little Rocket Man" would also be up for a Peace Prize?

I feel that Obama's Peace Prize was, in a way, awarded to the American people for the symbolic significance of electing an African American as President.

 

[TexRex]

I feel that Obama's Peace Prize was, in a way, awarded to the American people for the symbolic significance of electing an African American as President.

"Good job being less racist."

 

[Dennisch]

You do realize that if Trump were to get a Nobel for making some kind of progress with Kim Jong Un, then "Little Rocket Man" would also be up for a Peace Prize?

No, not really. He would still be a murderous dictator. Trump would be the guy who stopped the nuke development, for a couple of years. Probably.

I feel that Obama's Peace Prize was, in a way, awarded to the American people for the symbolic significance of electing an African American as President.

What @TexRex said.

 

[Dotini]

You do realize that if Trump were to get a Nobel for making some kind of progress with Kim Jong Un, then "Little Rocket Man" would also be up for a Peace Prize?

I feel that Obama's Peace Prize was, in a way, awarded to the American people for the symbolic significance of electing an African American as President.

Both True, both mischievous distortions of language. More, please.