Politics And Current Events

[Willie Kool]

Sources: US Rep. Costello to drop out of PA-6 race before May primary

Some had speculated that Costello would drop out after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the GOP challenge to the state’s new congressional districts. Many observers say the new Sixth District, in the highly competitive Philadelphia suburbs, is even more favorable for Democratic candidates – last month, Costello called for the impeachment of the state Supreme Court Justices involved in that decision. A bruising Republican loss in this month’s PA-18 special election also sent shockwaves across the national GOP landscape and is generally seen as an ill omen for upcoming midterms across the country.

If true, Costello’s decision not to run would put suburban Republicans in a tight spot. Despite his apparent vulnerability, local party leadership are short on alternative candidates with strong name recognition.

http://www.cityandstatepa.com/content/s ... ay-primary

[dodint]

"To get this thread back to more normal times . . . [MORE TRUMP NONSENSE].

Yeah, can't figure out why this thread is mostly unreadable.

[shmenguin]

Clever sign that kid’s parents made for him.

I love how proud the mom is standing there

Bad comedy is the 2nd worst part of any protest. Potentially being run over by a car is still the worst.

[Guinness]

It's a cute and humorous slogan, honestly. And of course there is a broader message behind it - "do 'something' (restrict firearm ownership, i.e.) about gun violence, because I'm a child and whether someone is going to barge into my classroom and attempt to murder me should be so far down on my list of concerns that zombies would be ahead of it"... Noted. Fair. Not an unreasonable position for a kid to take given certain realities of today's world (that leaves relevant facts off the table, of course, but we'll move forward for the sake of argument, respectful of the fact that the current climate - for numerous reasons NOT LEAST OF WHICH is agenda-driven elements within society which encourage amped up reactions- DRIVES such position) that result in what are frankly emotionally and uninformed views.

Emotional and uniformed. There's not a ton of evidence to the contrary. Emotion and lack of information should NOT "move the needle", as the phrase is used around here.

Access to firearms is clearly not the tipping point between mass murderers and innocent school children. Mass Murderers. Say that to yourself. Try to imagine for a second what it takes to kill one person, let alone multiple people. I can't get past the first trigger pull, myself, and I'm an avid firearm owner (and from what I see in the major media I'm apparently like moments away from a killing spree, as such, since the guns are merely within hand's reach). I hate the idea of killing someone who is actually threatening to me. I can't - literally - imagine what is going on inside the minds of these kids who make the leap between 10th grader and Mass Murderer, but there is nothing on the landscape of the current dialogue which compels me to believe that it is ready-access to firearms which flips the switch. That, to me, is a band-aid on a arterial bleed type of solution.

For the record, as you folks here well know, I wouldn't back firearm restrictions even if there were incontrovertible evidence that the current accessibly standards actually make school shootings more likely... there isn't, of course, and even if there were, that wouldn't answer the question of what actually causes these kids to pull the trigger, which is OF COURSE the FAR MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION. But I'm more than willing to put that out there. The fact of the matter is, the gun is NOT the problem - the person pulling the trigger is. And until it is figured out just how kids who should be trying to figure out how to nail the girl of his dreams behind the bleachers somehow becomes a Mass Murderer, no amount of restrictions on firearms, knives, propane tanks, SUV's, etc., is gonna make a lick of difference, and even if it did, that doesn't negate other, decent people from owning them.

But there isn't a ton of subtlety or nuance in this debate or any other these days. Which is kind of ironic, actually.

[tifosi77]

Is he blackmail-able though? I think he's pretty much bulletproof to his base. Unless than have proof of him boning underage girls, I think his supporters would stand behind him even if it came out that he had 1000 affairs on Melania and eats Ivanka's bowel movements. And I actually have some doubt that they'd turn on him over underage girls, unless than were 15 or younger and not "hot" looking teens.

A year ago, I'd have said no. Because that indicates a capacity for shame, and I did not think that existed with Trump. But the very fact that these hush payments happened shows otherwise, especially in light of the fact that they were initiated by the Trump side of the transaction. He clearly had a reason he wanted to keep these liasons hidden. I don't think it's a political calculus at all, I think it's much more narrow than that..... like pre-nup narrow.

[Willie Kool]

He clearly had a reason he wanted to keep these liasons hidden. I don't think it's a political calculus at all, I think it's much more narrow than that..... like pre-nup narrow.

Never even considered that. It would be pretty awesome if he was found to be in violation of the pre-nup, and Melania decided to walk with half of everything.

[grunthy]

Is he blackmail-able though? I think he's pretty much bulletproof to his base. Unless than have proof of him boning underage girls, I think his supporters would stand behind him even if it came out that he had 1000 affairs on Melania and eats Ivanka's bowel movements. And I actually have some doubt that they'd turn on him over underage girls, unless than were 15 or younger and not "hot" looking teens.

A year ago, I'd have said no. Because that indicates a capacity for shame, and I did not think that existed with Trump. But the very fact that these hush payments happened shows otherwise, especially in light of the fact that they were initiated by the Trump side of the transaction. He clearly had a reason he wanted to keep these liasons hidden. I don't think it's a political calculus at all, I think it's much more narrow than that..... like pre-nup narrow.

I feel it is very doubtful that a guy that previously cheated on two wives would sign a pre-nup that would hurt himself if he cheated again.

[shmenguin]

Is he blackmail-able though? I think he's pretty much bulletproof to his base. Unless than have proof of him boning underage girls, I think his supporters would stand behind him even if it came out that he had 1000 affairs on Melania and eats Ivanka's bowel movements. And I actually have some doubt that they'd turn on him over underage girls, unless than were 15 or younger and not "hot" looking teens.

A year ago, I'd have said no. Because that indicates a capacity for shame, and I did not think that existed with Trump. But the very fact that these hush payments happened shows otherwise, especially in light of the fact that they were initiated by the Trump side of the transaction. He clearly had a reason he wanted to keep these liasons hidden. I don't think it's a political calculus at all, I think it's much more narrow than that..... like pre-nup narrow.

Or it’s just SOP for people in his profile.

[tifosi77]

BTW, in this case it wasn’t a legal ccw because he was under the influence of drugs.

Point of clarification: Was this incident also on school grounds?

[tifosi77]

Or it’s just SOP for people in his profile.

I feel it is very doubtful that a guy that previously cheated on two wives would sign a pre-nup that would hurt himself if he cheated again.

If it was SOP, the deals would've been done contemporaneously with the affairs. As it was, they put of buttoning up these NDAs for a decade, until the waning days of the campaign. It is well known Melania wanted nothing to do with this politics garbage. I can see that creating a material change in circumstances that can impact a pre-nup.

[Willie Kool]

BTW, in this case it wasn’t a legal ccw because he was under the influence of drugs.

Point of clarification: Was this incident also on school grounds?

No, not a school.

https://proehlificpark.com

[AuthorTony]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/201 ... s-sotu.cnn
Santorum knocks marches: Kids should learn CPR

[count2infinity]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/201 ... s-sotu.cnn
Santorum knocks marches: Kids should learn CPR

Had to watch the video because I thought “there’s no way that he actually meant that kids should prepare themselves to save their friend’s lives if some sh*t goes down rather than complain about kids getting shot.” Nope. That’s exact what he meant.

[Guinness]

I'm gonna go ahead and prepay my anti-Santorum bona fides, because we all know how things work around here... I'm the Ron Paul guy ITT, and the war of words between those two, and more broadly between Ron's supporters and... whatever you would call people who support Rick Santorum.... I don't know... let's call them d-bags for convenience... so whatever happens after I say this please don't call me a Santorum apologist.

Anyway... What exactly is wrong with ANYONE learning CPR? I know CPR. I hope to hell I never have to use it, but I know it, just in case there is a chance I can help someone in need in the unlikely event that I encounter someone in cardiac arrest. Which, as I think of it, is similar to the reason that I own firearms - as a measure of self-defense in the unlikely event that I may need to do so...

I'm sure it would have played much better with the boo-boo set if Santorum would have said, "God bless these kids and they shouldn't ever experience trauma ever again", but that's not actually reality. Knowing CPR is a good thing for anyone to know.

[tifosi77]

Learn CPR? Good, all for it.

Learn CPR as a policy response to school shootings? You are not a serious person, stop talking.

[Gaucho]

Thanks.

[grunthy]

"They took action to ask someone to pass a law," Santorum said. "They didn't take action to say, 'How do I, as an individual, deal with this problem? How am I going to do something about stopping bullying within my own community? What am I going to do to actually help respond to a shooter?'... Those are the kind of things where you can take it internally, and say, 'Here's how I'm going to deal with this. Here's how I'm going to help the situation,' instead of going and protesting and saying, 'Oh, someone else needs to pass a law to protect me.'"

I mean Santorum is an idiot, let’s not kid ourselves. I think he was going for the help your own community dialogue, but it came out like an idiot.

[Gaucho]

Yes.

[count2infinity]

There's nothing wrong with kids learning CPR... it's not an either/or situation.

It'd be like saying the people in Austin should learn electronics so they can diffuse bombs instead of complaining about sh*t blowing up. If they want to learn electronics, go for it. That's awesome. It's not an answer for a serial bomber, though.

[AuthorTony]

Learn CPR? Good, all for it.

Learn CPR as a policy response to school shootings? You are not a serious person, stop talking.

This. I was taught CPR in junior high. I think all students should know it.

But knowing CPR has nothing to do with preventing school shootings. And, CPR isn't going to save many lives in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

[grunthy]

Learn CPR? Good, all for it.

Learn CPR as a policy response to school shootings? You are not a serious person, stop talking.

This. I was taught CPR in junior high. I think all students should know it.

But knowing CPR has nothing to do with preventing school shootings. And, CPR isn't going to save many lives in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

He didn’t just say learn CPR, he also mentioned bullying and community engagement.

[tifosi77]

But knowing CPR has nothing to do with preventing school shootings. And, CPR isn't going to save many lives in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

This is the fundamental disconnect. The only thing Republicans seem capable of discussing with regard to gun violence is responses after the fact, not prevention.

[Guinness]

Learn CPR? Good, all for it.

Learn CPR as a policy response to school shootings? You are not a serious person, stop talking.

Learn CPR and also don't suck at life? What exactly is the policy prescription here? Are we gonna pretend that prohibition is all of a sudden going to start preventing bad actors from getting their hands on banned goods?

[Guinness]

But knowing CPR has nothing to do with preventing school shootings. And, CPR isn't going to save many lives in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

This is the fundamental disconnect. The only thing Republicans seem capable of discussing with regard to gun violence is responses after the fact, not prevention.

And of course the only thing Democrats seem capable of is discussing restrictions on otherwise law-abiding citizens rights.

At least there is a practical application for CPR.

[grunthy]

But knowing CPR has nothing to do with preventing school shootings. And, CPR isn't going to save many lives in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

This is the fundamental disconnect. The only thing Republicans seem capable of discussing with regard to gun violence is responses after the fact, not prevention.

What do democrats propose that would prevent these?

Also, are you saying community engagement and stopping bullying wouldn’t help prevent these?