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maxwell-grant · 3 years ago

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OK, I know this will probably be painful, and I may be a bad mutual for asking but...would you be willing to identify what, in your opinion are the bottom five worst Shadow adaptations, and give a detailed breakdown of why they were so lousy?

Oh christ, okay. I don't think you're gonna get as much of a detailed breakdown for these compared to some of the others, because I take more issue with adaptations that do have good qualities but also big or deep problems to talk about.

For example, I can't include Garth Ennis's Shadow in this list because the comic has a lot of strong points to it, despite a deeply, deeply detestable take on The Shadow's character, where as the rest of the Dynamite run doesn't reach neither the lows or highs of his run. Likewise, Andy Helfer's run has a couple or a couple dozen moments every issue that make me want to tear something to shreds in frustration, but it's also at many points a really good comic with great art and some occasionally very inspired writing. Really, I'd just be repeating myself talking about what I hate in those.

But, fine, let's list some of the others.

I think I'm just gonna have to get the elephant in the room out of the way here, and address that I won't be including Si Spurrier's 2017 Dynamite mini in this list, and I think at least some of you might be angry it's not Number 1 by default. I'm doing this because I intend to one day really revisit it, think about it and it's reception and what it was trying to do, and talk about it on it's own, now that it's been 5 years and everyone has moved on and we can maybe talk about it without kneejerk hatred driving everyone nuts (your mileage may vary on how warranted it was).

I'm also not going to be talking about James Patterson's new novel, because I haven't read it. It seems to be considered a forgettable potboiler by mainstream critics and a resounding failure by everyone who likes the character whether they've read the book or not, and frankly I don't have it in me to learn what the fuzz was about anytime soon, I got my hands way too full as is.

And I won't be including the Batman x Shadow crossovers here, because again, they do have a lot of virtues that put them far ahead of some of the really worst Shadow media, and I've talked enough about how badly I think they mangled The Shadow, which is really the big problem I have with them (well, that and Tim Sale blatantly copying a Michael Kaluta cover, that was really shitty). I don't really hate them anymore, I just get tired and frustrated thinking about parts of them, I said my piece as is. Really, my frustration over this comic is what inspired me to start writing about The Shadow here, so I guess in a way I do owe it at least that much.

5: Archie Comics's Shadow

I think some of you might be wondering why this isn't ranked higher, but to be honest, I don't actually harbor any hatred towards this. I mean, I have to include it, but I find it kinda silly that some people even today actually care about the existence of this comic enough to hate it.

For fans back then? Oh yeah, obviously, but this dropped to such instantaneous backlash that it never really got to live past 6 issues. Really, everything wrong about it can be understood immediately from the covers, and I've actually read the comic in it's entirety to see if there was anything worth taking. I found only a couple of things of note but, no, this really is just a painfully mediocre superhero comic that happens to have a couple of Shadow names in it. If anything, it gets too much credit.

The actual contents of what it is are never going to justify it's reputation, but the existence of it and the disproportionate response to it is the funniest and most enduring legacy it could ever ask for. This whole comic is The Shadow's version of Spongebob's embarassing Christmas photo.

4: David Liss's The Shadow Now

This is another "The Shadow as an immortal in modern times" comic and I think you may have noticed the pattern with those by now. I may revisit this eventually and I do have some moments from it saved for reference, but overall: It sucks, and it doesn't even suck in a way that lets me talk much about it, it's a diet version of Chaykin's Shadow. If Archie's Shadow is a generic mediocre superhero comic wearing The Shadow's name, this is a generic crime story playing beats from movie. The Shadow is an asshole and not even a grandiose or sinister one, he just feels like a sleazy douche in a costume. The art is a 50/50 coin toss between appropriately moody and "Google images with a filter on them", I don't remember anything about the plot other than Khan had a bomb again and he had a daughter, and there were new versions of the agents and the Harry stand-in turned evil and Lamont shacked up with Margo's descendant which, uh, no. I don't really hate this but I really have nothing nice to say about this comic other than Colton Worley's art is nice sometimes. I can't really muster anything else to say here.

3: Invisible Avenger

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZ...

...uuh, wha-

Yeah, I remember nothing about this one other than it's painfully boring and nothing about it, nothing at all, works in the slightest and I drift off to sleep even now trying to give this a rewatch. To be honest pretty much every other Shadow serial not starred by Victor Jory sucks and I don't really have anything to say about them, this one is just the worst of the lot. I dearly wish there was a good Shadow tv series but, if it was going to be like this pilot? Good riddance.

2: Harlan Ellison's The New York Review of Bird

This isn't really a Shadow story as much as it's a Harlan Ellison story that happens to feature The Shadow, but man am I glad that Ellison's "Dragon Shadows" was canned, because holy shit what a goddamn nightmare Harlan Ellison writing The Shadow for real could have been, going purely by the one time he ever touched the character. New York Review of Bird is a purely farcical parody story that wears real, real thin even before "Uncle Kent" shows up, and we get to see in it what is by far the most detestable and irredeemable take on The Shadow ever put on print, and not even in a critique or deconstructive way or anything that could be remotely worth discussing.

I don't hold any particular affection for Harlan Ellison and his writing (despite liking some of it) and I've come to notice the major red flag that is finding someone who looks up to Harlan Ellison in any capacity as a person, and this story in particular really feels like Ellison aggressively trying to channel his jackass tendencies through every line, just him being nasty because he built a personal brand on being nasty. The only reason this isn't Number One is because it's a very short story that saw zero influence or reputation, and thus it only exists as a brief mention in The Shadow wiki, and a brief mention is all it really calls for.

1: Howard Chaykin's Blood & Judgment

I'm guessing most of you already knew this one was in the top spot before I started writing.

I would actually rather not write a big piece on Blood & Judgment, because I think (or at least I hope) it's influence on The Shadow has waned a lot over the years and I would prefer to draw it the least amount of attention possible, but if I HAVE to talk about this, I guess I'd rather just vomit this out of my circuits now instead of giving it it's own post.

I would prefer to use a less unpleasant image on my blog, but if I'm going to talk about this comic, there's no image to better convey it than this drawing of macho asshole Cranston holding a sexualized mannequin at gunpoint. By leaps and bounds, Blood & Judgment is the most misogynistic Shadow story I've ever read. It's ironic that Chaykin justified the rampant misogyny he gave The Shadow with the idea that this is just a man from the 30s would act like, when he admits in the same breath that he never even touched the stories, and he wrote a story more sexist and demeaning to it's female characters than anything, literally anything, written in the Shadow pulps. It's almost impressive even.

I'll paste some segments from Randy Raynaldo's review

In Flagg, he intended to present his own point of view on American society while keeping his work tongue in cheek and acessible. But this vision dimmed, and Flagg had become a vehicle by which Chaykin could play out fetishes and portray gratuitous and stylish violence.

In The Shadow, stripped of the political and social veneer which was supposed to make Flagg unique, Chaykin's sensibilities and excesses become disturbingly apparent. For all of his liberal posturing, Chaykin's work demonstrates zero difference from the same kind of mentality exploited and made popular by similarly violent popular culture icons like Dirty Harry and Death Wish.

More than half a dozen individuals are indiscriminately and violently murdered in the first issue. Although the victims are characters who played major roles in the myth of The Shadow, we feel little sympathy for them, even for those of us who knew these characters at the outset. Who dies is unimportant, it's how they die that is the fascination.

Chaykin uses sexual decadence as a means by which to establish villains, and undercuts this device by making the protagonists as promiscuous as the villains. For all of Chaykin's seemingly liberal leanings, he demonstrates very little sensitivity in his portrayal of women.

Because everything works on rules of three, this comic also follows the pattern with other works mentioned here, as this isn't Howard Chaykin writing The Shadow: it's The Shadow reimagined as a Howard Chaykin character. He looks and acts exactly like Reuben Flagg and the typical macho protagonist of Chaykin's other works, he's a cynical sleaze with an entirely new origin who half-assedly dons a garb to machine gun people, and I already wrote a separate piece on why the machineguns are kind of emblematic of everything wrong with this take.

I understand that Chaykin has, or used to have, a big following of sorts, and I've tried to wrap my head around this for years, but I genuinely still don't get why Shadow fans stomach this comic unless they happen to be Chaykin fans first and foremost, I really don't. Everything, fucking everything Shadow fans hate about modern depictions of the character can be traced right back to this. The parts that stuck and changed the character for the worse, like him being defined as an immortal, bloodthirsty warmonger who got all his skills and powers from a magic city in Tibet, or Lamont Cranston being a coward who fears and hates the Shadow, or his agents being expendable slaves, stuff that has been ingrained into the mythos through this and the Alec Baldwin movie and other comics, to the point that people now think of it as the norm, that it's the baseline of what The Shadow is, and I hate it, I genuinely fucking hate it,

I hate it so much that it's a big part of the reason why I created this blog and why I want so badly to get to write The Shadow, because I plainly couldn't stand not having ways to tell people that this is all wrong, that this is actively shooting down the character's odds for success, and that they are missing out on something really great, because the well has been tainted with garbage that won't go away and everytime I read the words Shambala in a Shadow comic, even an otherwise good or great one, I get just a wee bit cross.

The only semi-redeeming aspects I can think of for this comic is one or two cool moments, like when The Shadow hijacks a concert using his Devil's Whisper or when he tames dogs with a stare. Just breadcrumbs of "not garbage" amidst an ocean of anything but. I hate that talking about why I hate this comic in-length can almost feel like I'm still enticing people to check it out of curiosity, but if you wanna do that, fine, just know this: The worst part of Blood & Judgment, even if you don't care at all about what it did to The Shadow, is that it's boring.

It is a deeply boring comic. If you like Howard Chaykin to begin with, you'll probably like this okay (although even Chaykin fans told me that this is his weakest work and that even he seems to agree). If you don't, I plain don't see what you could get out of this.

The comic itself is just nothing. It's the comic book equivalent of a pre-schooler trying to get a reaction by swearing. It has nothing whatsoever other than half-assed attempts at shock value. The plot isn't there, the ideas are stale, the dialogue is needlessly oblique and comprised entirely of unfinished sentences, interrupted conversations and one-liners without build-up. The characters are all unlikable and uninteresting stooges with no personality, or joyless cartoons. There's no heart or emotion or logic, and it isn't even funny enough to succeed as just an outrageous exercise in 80s excess. There's nothing in here.

I get "why" it was popular enough at the time, a rising star creator penning a modern revival of an old character based on controversy that pissed off the old fans, it's an old story that still gets repeated today. But manufactured controversy is not a replacement for storytelling and it rarely ever exists to benefit the people who actually want to enjoy the stories, it only benefits those for the crude benefit of those who want to sell you something out of the controversy.

I guess they got their money's worth back then.

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Phew, okay, I did it, I finally vomited out a piece on Blood & Judgment and some others, allright, let's put this piece of negativity behind us now.

#replies tag #the shadow #pulp heroes #shadow comics #shadow films #dc comics

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implicatures · 5 years ago

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Why would i vote for Joe Biden when he’s just Trump with a D by his name???

(Lol, it took me so long to write this response that @ofgeography ’s original post has been deleted, but I learned a lot and so could you!)

Here’s what Joe “Basically just Trump” Biden wants to do if he’s elected. It’s on his website, you can read about it!

• END THE MUSLIM TRAVEL BAN

• Stop stealing money from federal programs to fund a border wall

• END FAMILY SEPARATION of migrants at the border

• Create a path to citizenship for more undocumented immigrants

• Increase the number of visas available for survivors of domestic violence

• Expand labor protections for undocumented immigrants

• Spend $50 billion in the first year of his presidency to rebuild and repair crumbling infrastructure like bridges and highways

• Earmark funds to improve infrastructure specifically in marginalized communities

• Invest in research and technology to make electric vehicles more efficient and affordable

• Invest hundreds of billions of dollars in biofuels and other clean energy technology in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050

• Invest in high-speed rail to reduce pollution and commute times

• Encourage energy efficiency and solar infrastructure among businesses and in residences using tax credits and targeted deductions

• Double federal investments in clean drinking water and infrastructure in communities like Flint, MI that have unsafe tap water

• Monitor water systems for lead and other pollutants so we can hold polluters accountable and protect drinking water

• Bring broadband internet access to the more than 20 million Americans that don’t have it

• Invest $100 billion in school infrastructure and technology

• Fund “anchor institutions” like hospitals, universities, and government offices in distressed communities

• Develop low-carbon manufacturing programs across the country that will provide good blue-collar jobs while lowering emissions

• Impose stronger penalties on union interference by corporations and executives

• Prevent corporations from illegally misclassifying employees as independent contractors by significantly increasing the number of labor enforcement investigators

• Protect the collective bargaining rights of all public sector workers

• Ban “right to work” laws that weaken unions

• Support the passage of the Fairness for Farmworkers Act and the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights so that agricultural and domestic workers have more protections and the ability to organize

• Allow independent contractors to organize and bargain collectively

• INCREASE THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE TO $15, including farmworkers who don’t even make the current minimum

• Extend overtime pay to millions of workers

• Eliminate no-compete clauses so workers have the freedom to move to better jobs or negotiate better pay

• Reinstate OSHA requirements that companies report workplace injuries and increase the number of safety inspections at workplaces

• End mandatory arbitration clauses so that employees can sue their employer

• Introduce a constitutional amendment to get private money out of federal elections (that is, overturn Citizens United)

• Further restrict superPACs from coordinating with candidates and parties

• Prohibit dark money groups from anonymously spending millions of dollars on political issues

• Prohibit lobbyists from donating to the people and organizations they lobby

• Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates

• Require that all candidates for federal office release 10 years of tax returns

• Require all elected officials to publicly disclose all meetings they take with lobbyists

• Prohibit all lobbying from foreign governments and their agents

• Guarantee 2 years of free community college for all students

• Invest $50 billion in workforce training, including apprenticeships

• Cut in half the payments on federal student loans, and forgive all loans after 20 years

• Simplify and expand loan forgiveness for public servants

• Crack down on predatory for-profit education programs

• Offer a PUBLIC OPTION for healthcare

• Make sure all Americans from pay no more than 8.5% of their income for health insurance

• Ban all surprise medical bills by preventing providers from charging out-of-market rates when the patient doesn’t have control over what doctors they see or when a doctor is out-of-network at an in-network hospital

• Allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices

• End the abusive over-pricing of prescription drugs

• End TAX BREAKS that pharma companies get on advertisements for their products (I had no idea this was a thing and it is disgusting)

• RESTORE FEDERAL FUNDING FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD

• END THE ‘GLOBAL GAG RULE’ that bars the federal government from supporting any global health programs that contain information on abortion

• Implement nationwide the California policies that halved the maternal mortality rate there

• Double funding for community health centers

• RE-ENTER THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT

• Push for a worldwide ban on fossil fuel subsidies

• Establish equal rights under the law for all LGBTQ+ people

• Protect LGBTQ+ people from employment discrimination

• Reverse the military ban on trans people

• Protect the ability of LGBTQ+ people to adopt and foster children

• Prevent people from claiming religious freedom in order to discriminate against LGBT+ people

• Simplify the process for trans and nonbinary Americans to obtain IDs that match their gender identity

• Guarantee access to appropriate bathrooms, sports activities, and locker rooms for trans students

• Fund programs that reduce LGBTQ+ youth homeless and insecurity

• BAN CONVERSION THERAPY nationwide

• Invest $20 billion in programs to lower incarceration rates

• Eliminate mandatory minimums for non-violent crimes

• Eliminate all mandatory minimums at the federal level

• Make pre-K education available for all children

• Triple federal funding for low-income school districts

• Expand funding for mental health services

• Fund training in de-escalation tactics for police departments, and training for handling interactions with disabled and neurodiverse people

• DECRIMINALIZE THE USE OF CANNABIS and expunge the records of people with cannabis-use convictions

• End incarceration for drug use

• ELIMINATE THE DEATH PENALTY

• END THE CASH BAIL SYSTEM and stop jailing people for being too poor to pay court fees and fines

• End federal private prisons and the use of any privately-owned federal detention facility

• Work towards ensuring housing for all formerly incarcerated people when they rejoin society

• Fully fund educational opportunities and mental health programs in prisons

• Hold gun manufacturers civilly liable for gun violence

• Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

• Create a buy back program for assault weapons and mandate the registration of all remaining assault weapons in the country

• REQUIRE BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR ALL GUN SALES

• Prevent anyone convicted of a hate crime from buying a firearm

• Prevent anyone with an arrest warrant from buying a firearm

• Incentivize states to create gun licensing programs

• Make it a federal crime to buy a weapon for someone who couldn’t pass their own background check

• Invest more than $5 trillion across federal, state, local, and private-sector entities to fight climate change

• Reverse Trump’s regressive tax cuts

These are probably not your dream plans, but they are SO MUCH BETTER than what we have now.

If you can’t find anything on that list that you think is worth voting for, then I genuinely don’t believe you care more about people than you do about ideological purity, and that sucks.

#Joe Biden #Bernie Sanders #Whoever you wish you could vote for instead?#All of them are so much better than Trump it isn't comparable #Biden is running on what would be the most progressive platform of any general election nominee EVER #don't dismiss that just because he isn't Bernie

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c0reyprest0n · 5 years ago

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Christopher Preston

Trigger Warning: Suicide

I lost my father just over two years ago. Losing a parent at a young age, at any age, is not easy. And while I’ve been sad, more than anything I am angry. Not at God, but at him. He killed himself. Gunshot to the head. It feels gruesome to share. Morbid. But I can’t tell you how often I’m in polite society and the thought just rushes through my head again and again, “My father shot himself and I still have the gun. I still have the hat he was wearing when he did, spotted with blood. I have no idea why. I feel like I can’t get rid of it until I make my peace.” Because I shouldn’t say it is precisely why I want to. What happens when we break the unspoken rules? I shouldn’t share because people have absolutely zero idea what to say. I’m met with pity, and that’s the last thing I want. I just want to be heard. Understood.

I want to start a conversation about what kind of forces cause sweet, good people to make decisions they can never take back. I want to talk about suicide being the number one killer of men under 50, which he was. I want to hear other people’s experiences with loss and all the complicated feelings that come along with it. I want to have a real conversation about the complicated complex man who was battling demons he let very few know about. I want to acknowledge that good people can do bad things. I want to explore how much of that runs through my veins, what am I capable of when pushed to the limits of my tolerance? I want to talk about how suicide affects the people who loved the victim. I want to talk about how I feel like an asshole for being mad at a man who was clearly feeling the most pain and fear he had ever felt in his life, a man I knew to be brave and strong in every single situation I ever witnessed him in.

I want to talk about how he chose his own self-pity over the possibility the people he loves could ever forgive him. And speaking of forgiveness, I have no idea how to forgive his girlfriend. She was the one he was in communication with that last day, and I believe to my core that he would still be here to this day if he had been speaking to anyone else. I want to talk about how terrified I am to run into her or her family at the grocery store. What would I even say? Do I have the strength to be kind?

I just want to speak my truth. I’m not really sure if there’s a point to even be made here, but that seems appropriate. Suicide seems pointless from this side of it, especially if the intent is to end pain.

#family father suicide forgiveness

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southeastasianists · 6 years ago

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A year since the guns fell silent, the Islamic City of Marawi is still in ruins. Five months earlier, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had launched a desperate operation to capture the head of a terror group pledged to Islamic State. In retaliation, militants from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups set churches and schools ablaze, raising their black flag above the ashes to declare the city a new caliphate in the global jihad. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were driven from their homes as the pounding of government artillery reduced the city to rubble. Only when the bodies of Isnilon Hapilon and Omarkhayam Maute, the commanders of the insurgent groups, were dragged from where government snipers had laid them out did the fighting end.

But the war still hangs heavy over Marawi City. Drieza Lininding, chairman of the Moro Consensus Group civil society organisation, said that tens of thousands of refugees from the fighting continued to languish in makeshift shelters, unable to return to the homes that they’d left behind.

“We still have more than 2,000 families – that’s more than 50,000 individual persons – who are still displaced,” he said. “Most of them are scattered around the Philippines.”

The capital of Lanao del Sur, a province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Marawi City has long been an enclave of the Philippines’ Muslim Moro community. For decades, much of the southern island of Mindanao has struggled for independence from the Philippines’ predominantly Catholic central government in Manila – an insurgency that has seen tens of thousands of lives lost as different separatist groups splinter and unite and fracture once more as the nation lurches towards an uneasy peace.

With the rise of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, violent Islamist splinter factions that have publicly pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the more moderate Moro Islamic Liberation Front has pursued a united front with President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, fighting side by side with the nation’s military on the streets of Mindanao. Next year, the group hopes to ride the ensuing wave of goodwill to self-rule in January through a nationwide vote on the creation of an independent Bangsamoro state. But for those who watched the Philippine military reduce the nation’s largest Muslim city to a burned-out husk in its fight against extremism, the prospect of peace is looking distant indeed.

Rooted as they are in centuries of Christian settlement in the predominantly Muslim region, these fears have hardly been helped by what critics see as a heavy-handed approach of the AFP that sees every Muslim in Mindanao as a potential soldier in an armed insurgency that has raged for decades. The Moro Consensus Group’s Lininding cited the government’s plan to build a 10ha military base at the site of the siege’s bloodiest battles as a sign that Duterte’s legions had not come as liberators, but as conquerors.

“It’s an invasion,” he said. “Some people are now calling Marawi City occupied. Because for more than a year now, they’ve built this prison – we cannot even visit our home, we were only allowed a few hours by the government to salvage whatever was left of our homes. It’s very sad for us. And the government is declaring this victory – what victory? From who?”

Joseph Franco, a research fellow specialising in counterinsurgency at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that resentment towards the military is growing: “Some community leaders are becoming more receptive to the idea that Marawi was a plot to destroy Islam. It is very conspiracy theory-ish but it is not a good sign if some known community leaders are starting to air this out.”

Many of those who have yet to return to the broken spires of Marawi feel alienated from an achingly slow reconstruction process that has seen the Duterte administration reach out to a consortium of Chinese companies that have pledged to help the local business community transform the gutted city into a thriving modern metropolis. For a people who pride themselves on having fought off the imperial ambitions of the Spanish, Americans and Japanese, the prospect of turning over the rebuilding of their homes to an apparently unaccountable foreign power hits a historically raw nerve.

Zachary Abuza, a professor at Washington, DC’s National War College, said that the government’s abortive approach to rebuilding the shattered city had planted the seeds for a resurgence in the kind of armed terror that brought the nation to its knees little more than a year ago.

“The next Marawi will be Marawi,” he told Southeast Asia Globe. “The residents and IDPs [internally displaced persons] remain seething with the government’s mishandling of reconstruction. This will not end well for the government. The appropriation of land for a large military base to provide security will only fuel resentment and insecurity. It is hard to imagine the government’s handling of this being much worse.”

Abuza was also scathing in his assessment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ unchecked devastation of the city, unleashing the full might of its artillery on both militant and moderate alike.

“My takeaway about the AFP is that they remain poorly trained and led,” he said. “They continue to use artillery as a counterterrorism tactic, which is why Marawi looked like Raqqa. They do this in central Mindanao all the time, knowing all too well that it will lead to civilian casualties. And they engaged in some looting in Marawi, which doesn’t help their public image.”

But for many of those who still rankle at the military’s excesses, the ongoing imposition of martial law across the entire Mindanao region makes any criticism of military rule untenable. Speaking to local media, University of the Philippines former law dean Pacifico Agabin said that Duterte’s decision to declare martial law gave the armed forces almost unlimited power over the people of Marawi.

“If the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, you cannot hold public meetings and speak against the government. Complete silence,” he said. “You cannot travel to the area where there’s fighting. Freedom of movement can also be suspended in places which the military determines [as unsafe].”

Lininding argued that the military were using the cover of martial law to suppress the rights of the local people.

“Why is martial law still in place? The fighting was settled almost a year ago,” he said. “Who are the enemies? Are we the enemies? We know that they want to suppress us, to instil fear among the people so we will turn a blind eye to whatever they’re doing. Because of the martial law, we can do so little. We cannot protest, we can only do so much on social media.”

Nor is it even clear how many innocent lives were lost during the street fighting, with initial reports of fewer than 300 Maute fighters slain rising to almost 1,000 when the fighting ended. With no reliable investigation into the number of dead, Lininding said, it was impossible to say just how many of the so-called terrorists killed in the assault had actually been members of Islamist groups.

“Until now, there is no clear data on how many civilians were killed at ground zero,” he said. “This is also a concern – some people are afraid to come forward and say, ‘My relative was lost in ground zero’ because the military might accuse their family or their loved ones of being Isis sympathisers or Isis members. We are being persecuted – and we can do so little.”

Perhaps most worrying is the perverse financial incentive that the outright war against Islamist terror – or Muslim independence – in Mindanao has created for the nation’s armed forces. Although the US has long supported the government’s counterterror operations in the Philippines’ restive south, the spectacle of a Philippine city under siege by Isis-linked militants has drawn increased financing for counterterror operations from as far afield as Singapore, Japan and Australia. Abuza said this surge in funding had created a moral hazard for a military already bloated by billions of dollars siphoned from international donors over the years – much of which was used mainly for personnel costs.

“They have no incentive to end the conflicts,” he said. “They are gravy trains. We need to ask very hard questions about corruption within the AFP. Where the hell did the Mautes and the Abu Sayyaf group get enough guns and ammunition for a five-month siege?”

It is a question the Duterte administration cannot afford to ignore. Pointing to a series of recent skirmishes between the military and remnants of the Maute group, Abuza said he believed the war for Mawari was far from over.

“Marawi has once again put the Philippines at the centre of counterterrorism in Southeast Asia. It is the only place that militants can actually hold territory,” he said, adding that it was not yet clear whether the Middle East-based Islamic State was prepared to declare a formal caliphate-linked territory within Southeast Asia. “But it is clear that the militants in the region want it declared. To that end, foreign fighters will continue to make their way into the southern Philippines.”

#Southeast Asia #Philippines #Marawi #Religious Extremism

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gaia-prime · 2 years ago

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“responsible gun owner” is such an oxy fucking moron because responsible people are able to make evidence informed decisions that don’t endanger the lives and safety of themselves and their children and their communities.

#i refuse to negotiate with pro gun people #like the appropriate number of guns in a society is zero #they are insane when otherwise smart people try to justify gun ownership despite all the evidence to the contrary they sound insane

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thecoroutfitters · 5 years ago

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Furthermore “since 96, voters throughout 14 states have adopted endeavours exempting affected individuals who use medical marijuana underneath physician’s administration from condition criminal penalties” (Mikos). New york city: Prometheus Training books, 1998 The fact bud doesn’t immediately cause passing away and as well doesn’t lead to additional detrimental conditions simply proves the reason why it has to be appropriate. Pierson finishes which marijuana hurts in many ways, such as human brain hurt, trouble for reproductive :, as well as decline from the immune system. Sufferers have even mentioned that they take advantage of the using cannabis concerning professional medical circumstances, so why don’t you allow them to work with it? Oppositions am certain just as if medical marijuana is usually addictive and if legalized might create more usage involving non-prescribed users.

All good stuff end.

With only some sort of health professionals be aware the particular club’s 10,A thousand participants might acquire cooking pot and rest even though playing songs, nothing at all dangerous by any means! And of course the San Francisco law enforcement officials office ultimately closed your team lower. In our midst will be a huge number of those who are enduring everyday, when they could possibly be experiencing inexpensive getting rid of a huge volume of ache and also weak spot which happens to be attributed to illnesses via cancer malignancy, Aids, MS, and glaucoma. “Taxes, includes, cooking pot with ballots”.State Government Reports. With your medical doctors be aware your club’s 12,000 associates could possibly purchase weed after which unwind while playing music, nothing at all harmful by any means! And naturally the San Francisco law enforcement section gradually closed this team decrease. Immediately after cigarette smoking as well as heroine will come benzoylmethylecgonine, then alcohol. Because on the current concentrate on weed legalization, so many people are in hindsight to be able to the reason why cannabis was criminalized in the first place. Just one doesn’t should excuse your cigarette smoking involving weed so that you can prefer it’s legalization.

All good items end.

New York: Praeger, 1991 Nonetheless, there are actually not many details that will look into the newest assert. 2) The outward symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders is usually lessened or maybe removed with the assistance of marijuana likewise. Drug addiction is a huge situation the us govenment refers to around the world, each and every customs carries a traditions associated with taking drug elements. Despite the fact that supplemental reports within this subject matter continue to be required, it may be seen that medical cannabis generally is a healthier substitute for conventional opioid painkillers. We will want to look with the methods that felony corporations utilize hire essay writer to get electrical power. The particular tax payers be forced to pay for every single individual who is shipped to be able to prison pertaining to obtaining pot certainly nothing additional.

Advantages and cons of marijuana

However, the particular medicine doesn’t have when damaging final results after apply in comparison with additional unsafe medication such Dennis Peron, he whom launched task Two hundred and fifteen furthermore started your marijuana potential buyers pub inside San francisco bay area. Folks who declare, “A wine glass involving beer from a extensive day will keep me personally laid back and prepared for day of work” appears usual. Keeping that outlawed, most of us placed electrical power into your palms involving scammers and carry levy revenue from the arms of government and also residents.

All nutrients ended.

Nyc: Lindesmith Center, The mid nineties. All these voters additionally discover how if perhaps legalizing medicinal marijuana happened, it would be only accessible for sick people and never with regard to family utilize. At the moment, north america has to significance every one of it has the hemp coming from nations including Nova scotia along with Asia, who have virtually no laws suspending the bucks plant. The important explanation ended up being very simple, powerful, American organization. Additionally, furthermore enforcement have got to charge they will but also plants spend on each one event.

Fight Versus Marijuana

We have seen research about the benefits connected with medicinal marijuana within individuals using epilepsy. physicians with 14 unique special areas of practice authorized using cannabis around remedial functions. People also need to pay money for just involving lawsuit leading up to the “offender’s” time in jail. a policy in less than a decade. For the most pieces the outward symptoms associated with bud are certainly minor and are an easy task to contend with.

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Netherlands could not just help to make prostitution one of the more successful, legit sectors in the nation, but will also granted the actual sales regarding marijuana around 1976. Unfortunately, much like contemporary times, inside 1930’s these migrants weren’t met with by using open biceps. The very first saved by using bud when drugs was a student in Cina. All these issues will be elements the us government thinks about each day.

All great things come to an end.

Additionally, a lot of things, just like the Heath/Tulane Analysis, could have some different versions, even so uncovered boat loads of information and facts so i aimed to compile the internet I actually was feeling has been most reliable. The public has gotten the idea into their mind which legalizing marijuana matches condoning the idea, which it isn’t. Marijuana is by far probably the most commonly used banned pharmaceutical. Aside by supporting us lower your expenses, a number of express that legalisation of pot can make an well over 7 enormous amounts! This legalisation isn’t only estimated to begin this, and can basically make a taxed marketplace and prepare thousands new reliable work roles.

Fight Versus Marijuana

Challenging cannabis would certainly essentially be the exact same concept when the way the government fees smoking nowadays. There are wide ranging disputes against the legalization regarding marijuana; several of which I have witout a doubt dealt with. Upon further analysis on the review, it turned out revealed that Generate. In accessory for being a rather ordinary medicine, marijuana is additionally extremely valuable medicinally. The health and ease people ought to be the big issue on the government. Many of the substance lords which supply bud also are owning guns how they utilize to shield this that powers rifle abuse as well as endorses pitch wars. Marijuana is an extremely notable and contentious concern with society today.

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leftpress · 8 years ago

Text

Cameras Everywhere, Safety Nowhere : Why Police Body Cameras Won't Make Us Safer

| CrimethInc. | March 16th 2017

We know that police violence is a real problem in the US, and it makes sense that people are strategizing ways to protect themselves and their loved ones from being assaulted or murdered by the police. Many who are concerned about this issue have begun advocating for police to wear video cameras on their uniforms. The idea is that cameras will prevent police violence, or at least hold officers accountable after the fact. Groups like Campaign Zero (a reformist Black Lives Matter offshoot) and the American Civil Liberties Union are advocating this measure, and even police departments themselves, after initial resistance, have signed on. But the idea that more cameras translates to better accountability (however we define this) relies on a faulty premise. Police get away with murder not because we don’t see it, but because they’re part of a larger system that tells them it’s r...

easonable to kill people. From lawmakers, judges, and prosecutors to juries, citizens, and the media, every level of society uncritically supports and transmits the police point of view. In this atmosphere, police can murder with no fear of repercussions.

Advocates of police-worn body cameras, as well as advocates of bystanders filming the police, constantly claim that cameras act as equalizers between police and people, that they are tools for accountability. But there is very little evidence to support this. Many assume visibility will bring accountability—but what does accountability even look like when it comes to police violence? If charges are all that police reformers would demand, where do they go when those charges end in verdicts of innocence or mistrial, as they almost inevitably do? Do they just go home and revel in the process of the justice system? Or are there other options situated outside official channels? The reality is that we don’t have a visibility problem but a political problem. The only “accountability” we see seems to be in occasional monetary settlements (paid by taxpayers). These settlements don’t hold officers accountable, or prevent future assaults and murders.

Though initially hesitant to adopt body cameras, police departments and officers quickly changed their tune as they realized that cameras benefit them far more than they benefit the general public under surveillance. We now have 4000 police departments in the US that employ body cameras, including the two largest, Chicago PD and NYPD, no strangers to inflicting violence on people and getting away with it. The largest marketer of officer-worn body cams, the leader in a $1 billion per year industry, is Taser Inc. After creating their namesake product, which was used to kill at least 500 people between 2001 and 2012, Taser started adding cameras to their stun guns in 2006, and introduced the body-worn camera in 2008. Since this introduction, their stock value has risen ten times higher. This was in no small part helped by grants from Obama’s Justice Department, which spent $19.3 million to purchase 50,000 body cameras for law enforcement agencies. Taser has since introduced a cloud storage service marketed to police forces (yes, a privately owned evidence storage service), proposed manufacturing drones with stun guns (and of course, cameras) attached to them, and recently bought the company Dextro, which has developed software to identify and index faces and specific objects.

“Visibility is a Trap” – Michel Foucault

The other night I was standing on a subway platform and looked up at the digital sign that announces when the next train is coming. But at that moment the sign was delivering a different message: “Surveillance cameras are no guarantee against criminal activity.” It fascinated me that the very institution installing surveillance cameras would admit this, while so many people on the receiving end of that surveillance are blind to this idea as they advocate for police body cameras.

Far too many believe that people “behave” while others are watching. What rarely gets discussed is that there is no way to “behave” that will seem appropriate to everyone. If police believe, as has been shown that their actions are justified, and that their superiors, the legal system, and the population as a whole approve of their actions, no matter how deplorable a few of us find them, they will continue to “behave” the way they have since their inception, despite (and potentially because of) the cameras watching.

Police don’t fear legal or extralegal repercussions because they don’t have to.

There are several reasons police that kill so rarely get charged with murder. First, laws and court decisions require an incredibly high burden of proof that an officer acted without “reasonableness.” Washington State has the highest barriers to bringing charges against police. Because of the wording of laws concerning police use of deadly force, only one Washington cop was charged with killing someone during the years 2005 through 2014, despite police having killed 213 people. That one officer was found innocent, despite having shot a man in the back. Beyond legal mandates for proof, police are the ones who investigate officers that kill. A notoriously self-protective bunch, they even have a nickname for their code to stick up for each other at all costs. Prosecutors come next. They depend on the police on a day-to-day basis to be able to, well, prosecute. They have a heap of motivation to keep the police officers they work with happy. Below this we have judges and juries who, the great majority of the time, believe police officers over those who would speak against them. Finally we have the media, who more often than not parrot official police opinions without question, and the consumers of this media that make up the juries. Juries are also often comprised of those who can afford to take time off work, while those killed by police are most often from lower economic classes, hardly “peers” to those serving on the juries.

So far as I can find, in the nine years that police body cameras have been in use, there is only one case of police facing charges after they murdered someone while wearing cameras. On March 16, 2014 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, James Boyd was camping in a city park when a citizen called police to report him. Eventually nineteen officers responded to the call, including two with dogs and a sniper. Boyd was known to have schizophrenia and was carrying two knives for protection. After a three-hour standoff, two of the officers, Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, shot Boyd a total of six times. On October 11, 2016, the officers’ trial was declared a mistrial, as the jury was deadlocked with nine believing them to be innocent and three finding them guilty. Officer Sandy’s and Perez’ body cams did not prevent them from shooting Boyd, nor did the video they captured help hold them accountable for his death. The prosecutor claimed that video “cannot lie,” yet nine jurors saw the video of a man in mental distress, surrounded by nineteen cops, get shot six times and decided those cops acted reasonably. Video might not lie, but it isn’t necessarily neutral. It shows a point of view, and is subject to interpretation. As of this writing, Keith Sandy has retired, and Dominique Perez is set to get his job back. As so often happens in these cases, charges against the cops resulted not in any accountability for the officers, or even the department, but in a $5 million settlement paid by the taxpayers of the city of Albuquerque to the family of James Boyd.

While the prevalence of videos documenting murders by police has certainly risen with the popularity of video-equipped cellphones, we have yet to see a rise in “accountability.” More cops aren’t being charged with murder, more cops aren’t being convicted of murder, and numbers of murders by police aren’t going down. Eric Garner’s murder at the hands of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo was documented by a bystander, but this video didn’t save Garner’s life or lead to any accountability for Pantaleo (though he was later docked two vacation days for an illegal stop-and-frisk that occurred two years before he killed Garner).

“The Whole World Is Watching!” is a phrase countless crowds on the receiving end of police violence have chanted. Leaving aside the hyperbole, we have to ask ourselves: So what? Journalist and activist Don Rose claimed to have coined this phrase when he said, “…tell them the whole world is watching and they’ll never get away with it again.”

But history shows otherwise. Protesters being attacked by police most famously delivered the chant outside of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. Despite Rose’s claim, Chicago’s mayor at the time claimed he received 135,000 letters of support. Not a single officer was punished for the violence. Even when almost the whole world is watching, as in famous cases like the Rodney King assault, that is still no guarantee the cops responsible will be punished (a jury acquitted the officers who assaulted King). From the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle to Occupy Wall Street, no matter how many times protesters beat this dead horse of a chant, police have continued to bring down blows on their heads, with no substantial repercussions and no end to the violence.

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The whole world may be watching, but do they care?

Advocates of police body cams often tout a study of the Rialto Police Department, which began using body cams (on some officers) in 2012. The study showed a large drop in complaints against the police force. Far too many media outlets and advocacy groups have touted this drop in complaints as a positive result, attributing it solely to the use of body cams. What few acknowledge is that the study author, Tony Farrar, had a conflict of interest as Rialto’s chief of police. Farrar had been brought in to save a failing police department whose use of force was excessive enough to threaten their very disbanding—he had strong motivation to decrease his officers’ use of force, with or without body cameras. Another angle media ignored is that a drop in complaints doesn’t imply a drop in reasons to complain. Just like body cameras themselves, a drop in complaints will always benefit the police, but won’t necessarily benefit the rest of us. People may still have valid reasons to complain, but fear of possible repercussions restrains them. This fear may be magnified as body cameras represent yet another form of surveillance. In this case, body cameras increase an atmosphere of intimidation, being far more likely to pacify the general population than it is to pacify the armed killers wearing them. Whatever a body camera records, its perspective always supports the logic of the state and its foot soldiers.

Far too many people assume that video footage is itself neutral. They think anyone who watches a video of police killing someone can only react with outrage, or at least a clear sense of injustice. But one has only to spend a few minutes reading comments on news articles with embedded videos of police killings to see that a substantial number of people react with thoughts such as “the cop was in danger,” “s/he shouldn’t have run from the police,” etc.1 People’s existing thoughts and opinions, and not least their politics, color how they interpret video footage. We have no reason to believe that police oversight boards, prosecutors, judges, or juries will look at these videos and see the same thing that victims and critics of the police see. It is dangerously naïve to assume that accountability will follow a “reform” such as body cameras, when all the evidence says otherwise. The point of view of the police is nearly always privileged over those who would criticize them in the eyes of judges, juries, and the rest of the public. Because police body cams quite literally show the point of view of the police (an aspect that Taser specifically mentions in their marketing materials), these videos offer a perspective in which it is easy for viewers to place themselves in the officers’ shoes, and sympathize with the positions and actions taken by the cop wearing the camera.

Every camera attached to a cop is another machine to pacify us.

As a child of 1980s television, I learned from G. I. Joe that knowing is half the battle. But one thing far too many miss is that knowing is ONLY half the battle—the other half is action. We can depend on technologies to save us no more than we can depend on the court system, a court system that is part and parcel of the system of policing.

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Anywhere you travel these days you can see signs that read, “if you see something, say something.” Many would-be police reformists (such as The Cato Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project) have extended this to: “if you see something, film something.” But this injunction relies on the idea that merely bearing witness is enough—that in documenting an atrocity you have fulfilled your moral obligation. It presumes that after you’ve filmed the incident, the wheels of the system will turn and eventually justice will prevail … which we’ve seen is mere wishful thinking. What if, instead, we say “if you see something, DO something?” What if every time a police officer intends to harm someone, they have to fear that a bystander will not merely bear witness, but attempt to stop them BEFORE they can act—before they can traumatize or kill someone? What would it take to make this reality?

Those who advocate for police body cameras want to believe in accountability through official channels, and hope that visibility will protect us from the very real threat the increasingly militarized police present. Sadly, these tools haven’t worked, and are contributing to more broad forms of surveillance that affect all of us. We don’t need more thorough information about what the police are doing. We need to stop them from doing what they do. We’re not looking for transparency, or accountability. We’re looking for a world without police. We want to go beyond the demands for accountability, to build a world that not only doesn’t need police but is inhospitable to those who would police us.

Further Reading

Ben Brucato:

The New Transparency: Police Violence in the Context of Ubiquitous Surveillance

Policing Made Visible: Mobile Technologies and the Importance of Point of View

Standing By Police Violence: On the Constitution of the Ideal Citizen as Sousveiller

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thesoujishow · 4 years ago

Conversation

S01E02 - Raimei Tsubusu

[vaporwave lo-fi song]

Souji: Testing? Hello?

Raimei: WUUUUSSSSHHGFGSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS...SSHAAAAAAAA....

Souji: Ok. There we go.

[INTRO - glitchy transition music]

Souji: Hello, and welcome to the Souji Show. I'm Souji and this is a show where I talk about anything I want. 'Cause this is my show, and not yours.

Souji: This episode is sponsored by WcDonalds! WcDonald’s wants to remind you that the most important meal of the day is breakfast. [ominously] So why would you let a morning go by without staring deeply into the mirror until you no longer recognize the face staring back at you – mimicking your every gesture, mocking your every movement?

Souji: [confused + ominous] How else will you get the energy you need for a full day’s work or recreation if you aren’t silently screaming into the visage of a person who gives you such uneasy spirit, such unshakable terror, a queasy feeling every time you make the connection between what that thing is and what you are becoming? What you have become? Where does the void end? Where do you end? When do you end? What time is it now? You’ve been crying, but for how long?

Souji: [cheerful] WcDonald’s! I’m lovin’ it.

[MAIN - glitchy transition music]

Souji: For this very special episode, we have an extra special guest. You may know her as the Violet Vendetta or the captain of the baseball clan. Everyone, give it up for Raimei Tsubusu! You look fantastic today, can you tell our listeners what you're wearing?

Raimei: My sincere apologies for the white noise that was the sound of a closing inter-dimensional portal.

Raimei: It's good to be here. And a great sacrifice on your part, Souji. Not a lot of men would have the guts to expose themselves to this level of danger. As for my attire, these are unique garbs crafted by the Lunarian Moon People, forged in the pits of the thirty-second moon crater. They have plus fifty resilience to all forms of stabbing, cutting and elemental weapons, and the shirt comes with the added benefit of granting me the unique ability: Instantaneous Gangstah Charm. With this ability, I can instantaneously cast any Gokudō spell written within the Book of Yamaguchi.

Souji: Gokudō, that's a synonym for the yakuza, right?

Raimei: Yes, it is. It means the Extreme Path, the hidden school of mysticism I and others subscribe to—one of the five routes to enlightenment, alongside the Mafioso talent tree, and Mexican Cartel Member.

Raimei: In terms of appearance, I had the most excellent designers from Gucci collaborate with the moon people to compress it all down into a pair of pearl white trousers, a tuxedo jacket, white dress shirt, and leather shoes. The Gucci Glasses of Information allow me to see in infra-red and night vision, and I've also got a watch made of platinum that tells me the timezones of all the countries on the world, the moon people's time cycle, and of course, it also dual functions as a holographic mind reader.

Raimei: Some people believe Prada is better. They are wrong.

Souji: I'm more of a thrift store kinda guy, but to each their own. I'll have to get some tips from the Lunarian Moon People on how they make clothes. Most of my clothes are custom made for my Quirk to work on them so I like to sew them myself. Does your inter-dimensional portal go to the moon as well?

Raimei: I lived in this dimension for almost three hundred years before I finally managed to make my first slip into the dream-zone, and that was nearly one hundred years ago. It isn't precisely possible to take a direct, inter-dimensional portal to the moon itself. But it is possible to reach the mirror version of it in the ninth dimension. In that dimension, the moon's where the earth is. So that solves a lot of things. Has to do with the Lunarian's Mystic Mirror view. As you probably already know, portals like these are dependent on reflections. So their mirrors make that impossible by reflecting everything back onto the earth. That's why the moon looks white. It's actually a verdant landscape, filled with grass and trees and everything. But it seems like a rock because we're just looking at a dull reflection of our own planet.

Souji: That's a very unique way to look at the moon. Shoutout to the huge unknown object that smacked the shit out of the Earth billions of years ago and gave us the moon. The sun is cool but that was the real MVP.

Souji: I gotta say, you do look very gangstah. Not to mention a holographic mind reader? Quick, what am I thinking of right now? [laugh]

Raimei: I'm... not sure if that would be appropriate for me to say. Last time I mind read a guy... didn't end well. Besides, this holographic watch would also immediately turn it into a visualization, which can be very embarrassing. So I'll spare you that. But maybe I'll show you a glimpse of my power at the end of this podcast. Sounds good?

Souji: Sounds good. Guess the listeners will just have to stay tuned and find out. Tell me Raimei, how does a multi-dimensional creature end up in Kyoranki Academy? What motivates you to become a hero?

Raimei: That's a good one. There are several reasons. I've lived for about four hundred years in total, so technically speaking, there's no reason for me to go to school. But you might've noticed that there's an expansive underground movement hidden beneath the shadows... the recent events were just one example of that. The CIA, FBI, Interpol, Europol, they're all part of it in some way, preparing for the inevitable Todeskrieg Event. All the major crime groups are getting ready for that, so we are too.

Raimei: On a different level, related to my current incarnation, I'm not unfamiliar with thrift stores either. My dad works long hours... so I want to find a way to help him. I don't know, it's not really black or white. But why Kyoranki Academy? It's one of the best schools in the country. A lot of my middle school friends didn't even get to go to high school. So I consider myself very privileged. I think that alone is motivation enough to be here.

Souji: I get what you mean about helping your family. I think that's a noble cause, Raimei. I grew up poor and mum and dad were mostly out making ends meet. The money's still my number one motivator but it makes me happy knowing that I'll make the city a little bit better for everyone living in it.

Souji: I'm excited that we finally get to go on missions. It makes you think how much far we’ve come. It’s been a crazy year and now we’re actually doing our part to be heroes. I don’t know about you but I’m excited to take down my first villain.

Raimei: I'm concerned people are going to be misinterpreting their roles in this entire thing. Based on what you said earlier, you're from a poor neighbourhood as well, right? So you know what it's like on the streets. What I'm just concerned by is that a lot of the people in our class, like, ... I watch them. I see that the majority don't have that. They don't have any street smarts, they don't know what it's like to be in that situation, to be poor... to be under the influence of junkies across the street. Yea, we've been trained, but I'm unconvinced that we've been prepared to deal with those situations.

Raimei: I think we can take down villains, sure. And there might even be a few out there we could stop. But I'm not excited about running into one; nothing is exciting about meeting someone that potentially wants to kill you. And I'm not sure we're helping the city by pushing our authority down people's throats, especially by a bunch of teenagers that have been told this is their big shot at heroism. Your local twelve-year-old marijuana seller doesn't need juvie, they need role models; good, role models that can inspire them—structural improvements to their lives, like decent food.

Raimei: You know how crazy it is that I can buy five fast-food hamburgers for the price of one piece of supermarket vegetable? If people wanna help the neighbourhood; go help out at a shelter—a soup kitchen. Hand out food; give your homeless newspaper salesman some cash to get him through the day. Japanese society is harsh, man. The second you fall out of the boat, your chances are pretty much zero. Everyone despises you. Your family ousts you. It's not fun. I know it, I've seen it in friends; how they're getting torn apart just because they're like, half-Chinese or something.

Raimei: I hope our peers just remember that when they're going out. If you're going in there guns blazing, you're just going to hurt more people than you'll save.

Souji: I get what you mean. I grew up in the middle of downtown Osaka, nothing but skyscrapers. Our high rise apartment was small, but it kept us safe from the streets. The news spoke of heroes that roamed the streets, shutting down crime wherever they went. People spoke of bright, shining icons in colourful suits, flashing cheesy grins at the camera. But only a few came to ours.

Souji: Growing up in the poor meant that at a young age, I was very cognizant of how the money would and could limit me and my life as I attempted to get to the place where I am supposed to be. Most people our age will never know about ketchup sandwiches, adding water to milk or to an empty shampoo bottle to get more shampoo. Hand-me-downs clothes, books, toys. Having a ‘candle day’ because the lights don’t work. [chuckle]

Souji: When I say to people I know downtown Osaka like it's the back of my hand, I really do mean it. I know which places to avoid during certain times of the day. You had to be street smart to survive, those are the rules of the game.

Raimei: Mhm, mhm. That's what I'm saying. I'm from the outskirts of Airin-chiku, so it's pretty much the same issue.

Souji: It's easy to get caught up in the title. A hero. Believe me, I'll admit that fame is enticing but at the end of the day, we're here to protect the whole city. Trust is a fragile thing. I think most of us in Kyoranki know that because of what happened. Villains and heroes are two sides of the same coin. We're both them in nature. Both are corrupted by the noble illusion of spreading ideas and helping others who on the 'good' side defined by them respectively. It's always been the human struggle in defining 'help' more importantly 'the others'. I don't know if I'm making sense but that's how I feel. [chuckle]

Raimei: And there's a couple of areas in between that too, mind. Not everyone's a bad guy, and not everyone's a good guy like the heroes that just pander for attention or the bad guys that are in it to support their families financially.

Souji: This Todeskrieg Event sounds interesting, what's going to happen?

Raimei: The Egyptian Pyramids. The moon landings. Global warming. Why did they happen? Did they happen? Or were these just small glimpses out of a much larger conspiracy? Why dedicate millions, tens of millions of dollars only to put a guy on the moon?

Raimei: The various gangs around the world know the answer. At least, the established ones. It's all a part of this cybernetic A.I that has kept us trapped in a virtual reality dimension, Souji. You think all of this is real, but like, do we have any proof? How can we reliably say that this isn't just...computer generated?

Souji: I'm a big arcade, video game fan so this is right up my alley. I had the same hunch as you, Raimei. The truth is that there’s much we simply don’t understand about our reality, and I think it’s more likely than not that we are in some kind of a simulated universe. Now, it’s a much more sophisticated video game than the games we produce, just like today World of Warcraft and Fortnite is way more sophisticated than Pac-Man or Space Invaders. If we develop the ability to produce even one simulated reality, we will almost certainly produce more than one.

Raimei: That's what confuses people. They think I'm going on about some sort of magical thing. But magic and science are one and the same, magic's just another way of trying to add rationality to it. And that's part of the Todeskrieg event. It's French for "Totem Pole Disaster"... it's written about in various religions. Some call it the Apocalypse, others Ragnarok ... basically the end of the world. When the simulation will be using too much data for the computer to handle.

Souji: Maybe we're just figment of imaginations and our creators are just forcing their every whim to us for fun. They're our writers, and we are their characters. Maybe they're just a bunch of roleplayers in a Discord server together? Do you hear that creator? I'm The Glitch now, a bug in your system. A disruption to the simulation.

Raimei: Based on archaeological data, humans, in our current shape and form... have existed for about two-hundred thousand years. Now, of course, imagine you're a person living in those sorts of environments. Yes, you'll be stuck most of the day, collecting food and whatever. But do you think those people were dumber than us? Of course not! They might've not had the schooling, but they had the same type of brain.

Raimei: Now, imagine that sort of situation. Okay, so, the first generation of Humans... they got it hard. The second one does as well. The third generation, well, it's a bit easier. And the fourth one... we're talking about everything within the span of a hundred years, considering people lived shorter lives.

Raimei: Now multiply that by a hundred. One hundred thousand years and they're trying to convince us that people only invented farming techniques twelve thousand years ago? It doesn't make sense. You can't convince me, people, before that time didn't... invent something. Didn't create something. Didn't create a civilization. Imagine, with our technology, with our A.I systems, our virtual reality capacities... I mean, if you're into gaming, look at the last fifty years.

Raimei: Now multiply that by four. Imagine just how bizarre that technology would be. Already, we've got games that are borderline lifelike. So how can we know that this isn't just.. some giant simulation? We can't. And we have to look at the empirical, most logical type of data. There's more evidence to suggest all of this is just a program than there is evidence to the contrary. But scientists aren't willing to recognize that.

Souji: I know! I can't believe no one is talking about this. Paranormal events like hauntings or alien encounters can be glitches in the simulation. Stuff like the Mandela Effect is supposedly proof that whoever is in charge of our simulation is changing the past. And don't get me started on Quirks! Superpowers born from radiation. You’re not going to get proof that we’re not in a simulation, because any evidence that we get could be simulated. If I were a character in a computer game, I would also discover eventually that the rules of our universe seem completely rigid and mathematical.

Souji: We’ve spent billions sending probes through outer space and should probably have found evidence of extraterrestrials by now, right? Not so fast: Aliens would likely be far more technologically advanced than we are, the thinking goes, so the fact that we haven’t located them suggests we live in a simulation they’ve figured out how to escape from. Or maybe the computer we’re in only has enough RAM to simulate one planetary civilization at a time?

Raimei: That's what we've been preparing for. The drug trade, the crime cartels, it all has to do with that.

[ASK SOUJI - glitchy transition music]

Souji: Now, let's shine the spotlight back towards the main focus of his podcast... me! Now, Raimei, it's your turn to ask me questions. C'mon, don't be shy, ask anything you'd like.

Raimei: are you sure you want to give me that sort of power? Because if I get to ask anything I like... First up, what's the deal with you and Ken? I don't want to pry into your love life, but you two looked very cosy in that meeting room.

Souji: Me and Ken? Love life? Oh, umm. I mean, umm. No, we aren't. You know. Together like that. [stammering]

Souji: We're just rivals! Yes, rivals. We started talking over the summer and we got closer during the campfire trip. Bunk buddies. Yeah, that. No love life here.

Raimei: Uh-huh. ... Bunk buddies. Well, if that's the official answer...

Souji: ...yes! Bunk buddies. That's the official answer.

Raimei: And I guess, another question is... why did you start this podcast? I'm not exactly famous or especially well-liked around the school, so I'm wondering why you're inviting someone like me to do this sort of thing.

Souji: I started this podcast because of Starlight. He's my favourite hero as you can probably tell. I always watched his talk show growing up, and it was what inspired me to enrol in Kyoranki in the first place. So this podcast is me passing it forward. I want to inspire other kids just like what Starlight did to me. One interview at the time.

Raimei: That's good. That you got a role model to follow, I mean... that you know what you want to do, and who ya wish to emulate. It's the same thing with the guys I mentioned earlier. ... Don't have plushies of them though, unfortunately.

Souji: You say the weirdest stuff in our group chat and I like it! You're interesting, zany and fun. You have a unique point of view, and having you in my show is an honour in it of itself.

Raimei: And I appreciate that about inviting me on your show I mean. Glad I could mention those frustrations I've been holding up. Don't have to go out of your way for me though, I'm okay with sticking to my own little bubble. That's just the life of a made-man. Forever in the shadows.

[Qs from the GC - glitchy transition music]

Souji: Let's move on to our audience questions! These were submitted by our classmates in our group chat. Ready?

Raimei: Yea, audience questions. I'm honestly surprised anyone finds me interesting enough to ask questions, but okay, let's go

Souji: Chia wants to know who are the special people in your life? What's something you're proud of and embarrassed by?

Raimei: Special people, huh? Well, I've got my dad. My mom ran out on us when I was little, so it has always been us versus the world. I've been going to a gym now for about... five years? And the people there are my role models, I guess. They inspired me to get into sports, like boxing. One in particular... the guy's a genuine sumo wrestler. But of the old generation? But yea, those guys have made a significant impact on me.

Souji: Haruto asks, why is your skin purple? Likewise, Ao inquires, do you know the girl who turned into a blueberry in Wonka's factory?

Raimei: As for my skin colour, ... I guess I've gotten a bit desensitized to questions like that. It's a skin mutation on my mother's side, supposedly to do with Quirks. I don't know, I always find it a bit weird to talk about. That nickname they gave me too, it's like calling someone with a darker skin pigmentation the "Black Vendetta". I mean, not that I mind. Asking about the pigmentation's no problem because it's odd. I'm just saying, it feels a bit shitty to compare me with some fucking Willy Wonka scene when like six months ago a kid got bullied out of school because people kept comparing him to a video game character; so, uh, Ao, you're cool. No hard feelings. I'm just going to subtly compare you to a fucking Star Wars Droid if you try that shit again.

Souji: Ken wants to know what you think of the recent baseball team tryout. And to that I say: we have a baseball team? Can I also try out just to beat that monkey boy?

Raimei: Yea, we got a baseball team! I mean, we got teams for nearly every popular sport, right? It's a prestigious school, after all. But we're doing our best to try for the nationals. And you're welcome to join up if you want, we can definitely use a few more clan members. As for our most recent try-out... that all depends on whether he joins up or not.

Souji: Kotoe inquires, do you play the bass?

Raimei: I don't play the bass or any other instrument.

Souji: And finally, Fumi wants to know your favourite genre of book.

Raimei: My favourite genre of books is crime novels.

[ENDING - glitchy transition music]

Souji: Well, we're nearing the end of our show, Raimei, is there anything you'd like to remind our audience, maybe plug whenever they can find you online? Maybe some tips on how to prepare for the Todeskrieg Event?

Raimei: I had an excellent time Souji. Thanks for inviting me. As for preparations, the people can make for the Todeskrieg Event, consider this a bit of an unofficial announcement; we are in fact a highly secretive group. But we, that being me and a few other highly skilled individuals steeped knee-deep in the criminal underground, decided to create a sparring group a few months ago. A fighting ring, as it were.

Raimei: There's no real focus on anything other than fighting a lot, gaining that sort of experience. I don't really bother with rankings or who's best or whatever either, I mean, my choice to just not participate in that tournament should prove of that. So there's no ego thing going on. Whether ya win or lose, it's all good. It's like a clan...But our meetings are sorta irregular, so you can still be part of another, like how I'm still in the baseball clan.

Raimei: As for the best way to contact me, all the usual underground channels work.

Souji: You've been pretty cool to talk to, so before you leave, I have a special surprise just for you. But don't forget, you promised to show me a glimpse of your power.

Raimei: And I did promise to show you a sample of my hidden, mystical power, didn't I? Alright- I'll try and make sure to contain it so that we don't blow up this entire office.

[sounds of moving chairs]

[sound of an 80s disco beat from silly cartoons transformation scenes]

Raimei: Ultra-Mobster, transformation! Percentage; three hundred!

Raimei: Yamaguchi-Gumi spell; Fifty-Five! Gokudō code, page three. Entering heat mode. Specialized skill; DISROBE.

[sounds of thunder]

Raimei: Looks like I got a new favourite shirt. Thanks, Glitch.

Souji: What a way to end the show! [applause]

Souji: Well listeners, if the world does turn out to be just a simulation, remember to make the most of it. Make a point of seeing some good in every day. Drop your resentments. We all have them. Make every day count. The end of the world is coming but until then, to keep up with the show follow me @thesoujishow, and to support my small clothing business, follow @glitchgear on all social media platforms. Once again, this has been Raimei Tsubusu and Souji Yoshihiro, and you’ve been listening to the Souji Show! A show where I talk about anything I want. 'Cause this is my show, and not yours. Until next time. Insert catchphrase here.

[vaporwave lo-fi song]

[EXTRAS - glitchy transition music]

Souji: If you listen to this podcast, chances are you go to Kyoranki Academy. Kido Kotoe is looking for a bass player for her band. So if any of you are interested, please contact her at [Kotoe's school email].

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morningusa · 4 years ago

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Driving vehicles into protesters demanding justice for George Floyd earned the backing of the mayor, but of few others * George Floyd killing – latest US updates * See all our George Floyd coverageIt doesn’t take long to blow up a reputation. In the case of the New York police department, an institution with an already troubled history, the clip lasted all of 27 seconds.It showed an NYPD vehicle in Brooklyn lined up against a metal barricade behind which protesters were chanting during Saturday’s demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd. Projectiles were thrown on to the roof of the car, then suddenly a second police SUV drew up alongside and instead of stopping continued to plough straight into the crowd.Seconds later the first vehicle lurched forward, knocking the barrier over and with it propelling several protesters to the ground amid a harrowing chorus of shrieking.A 27-second video, now viewed more than 30m times, had quickly shredded years of effort to repair the deeply tarnished image of the NYPD. New York’s “finest” were firmly cast in a role normally reserved for the security corps of petty dictators.The shocking video was compounded hours later when the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, spoke about the incident. A politician who won election in 2013 largely on a promise to reform the NYPD and scrap its racially discriminatory stop-and-frisk policy, astounded even his closest supporters when he defended the police.De Blasio said: “I do believe the NYPD has acted appropriately.”Social media lit up. Was it appropriate to drive those two SUVs into the crowd? Was it appropriate for an NYPD officer forcibly to remove the coronavirus mask of a black protester whose arms were raised in the air, then pepper-spray his face?Was it appropriate for another officer to tell a protester to get off the street, then physically shove her several feet towards the curb where she landed on her head? Or that the police officers involved in the pepper spray incident had covered their badge numbers, presumably to avoid having to answer for their actions. Or to beat a nurse walking home from a shift at a hospital?The clashes between New York’s police and its protesters have reverberated around the city. The largest police force in the US, with its $5.6bn annual budget and 36,000 uniformed officers under the leadership of one of the most progressive mayors in the country, has responded to demonstrations about police brutality with more police brutality.The Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the city council, which makes up more than half of the legislative body, was swift and devastating in its criticism. In a statement, it said that the NYPD had acted “with aggression towards New Yorkers who vigorously and vociferously but nonetheless peacefully advocated for justice”.Adrienne Adams, co-chair of the caucus, told the Guardian the NYPD had tried to suppress legitimate anger felt by African American and other minority communities following years of police abuse. “We cannot allow people who have kept people of color down for decades to say now that we don’t have the right to display our outrage,” she said.Though that sentiment applies nationwide, Adams believes New York stands out as having a “horrible history of police brutality”. It was the NYPD that set the tone, she said, when Daniel Pantaleo, the officer implicated in the 2014 death by chokehold of Eric Garner in Staten Island, avoided prosecution.“When nothing happened to the police officers who were responsible for the death of Eric Garner, New York set the blueprint for what happened to George Floyd,” she said. “There’s no penalty, no consequence, so it’s OK.”Adams’s framing of the Garner killing could equally be applied to a long string of notorious episodes of police misconduct that preceded it. In 1997, Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was handcuffed by an NYPD officer and sexually assaulted with a broken broomstick.Two years later, Amadou Diallo was shot near his home in a hail of 41 bullets after officers mistook his wallet for a gun. In an echo of that event, an unarmed Sean Bell was shot 50 times in Queens on the morning of his wedding in 2006 – it took six years for the NYPD detective who opened the fusillade to be chucked off the force while nobody has ever been convicted of any crime.In the policing of protest, the NYPD also has a contentious track record. In 2004 it rounded up more than 1,800 peaceful protesters rallying outside the Republican National Convention during the re-election bid of George W Bush and herded them into overcrowded pens on Pier 57 in Manhattan. In 2011 it was similarly criticized for heavy-handed tactics during the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.Cutting across all this, the force has consistently targeted its efforts on neighborhoods of the city with majority black or Latino populations, straying at times into overt racial profiling. Though stop and frisk has been reined back in recent years, the NYPD continues to heavily and disproportionately police those communities despite a historically low homicide rate.Despite this long legacy of overreach, the force continues to be systemically resistant to public oversight. Under Section 50-A of New York state law, the disciplinary files of police officers are largely held in secret, making the task of holding them accountable almost impossible.Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney at the Cop Accountability Project (CAP) within the Legal Aid Society, told the Guardian that there were currently more than 200 police officers still being employed by the NYPD on full pay who should have been considered for termination following reports of misconduct.Data collected by CAP shows that where cases of misconduct arise they often involve escalation of low-level encounters into aggressive confrontations – something officers are supposed to be trained not to do. The project is currently litigating the case of Tomas Medina who was put in a chokehold and Tasered in 2018 after police were called to a complaint about loud music being played.Eric Garner’s fatal arrest was triggered by him allegedly selling single cigarettes.Although the use of chokeholds has been banned in New York, the project has found that between 2015 and 2018 the city settled 30 lawsuits involving NYPD use of the potentially lethal maneuver.Wong believes such endemic deployment of excessive force has spilled over into the NYPD’s handling of the George Floyd protests. She was present at a peaceful protest in Brooklyn that suddenly turned volatile not because of the behavior of protesters but by a sudden change of tack on the part of the police.“In a split second, the NYPD snapped and engaged in over-aggressive enforcement. They escalated it from 0 to 10 out of nowhere, arresting people and wielding their batons.”If there has been unrestrained use of batons in the city, it would be with the full approval of Ed Mullins, the provocative president of one of the main police unions, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA). He wrote to members urging “each and every one of you to report for duty with your helmet and baton and do not hesitate to utilize that equipment in securing your personal safety”.The sister Police Benevolent Association of New York City has also spoken to its members in inflammatory terms about them being “under attack by violent, organized terrorists while New York City council and other politicians sit at home demanding we ‘de-escalate’”.There is no denying that the NYPD faces difficult challenges in the policing of mass protests, especially late at night when violent outbreaks have erupted as they did on Monday in Manhattan and the Bronx. Fires were started in the street and stores looted.For Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer and prosecutor in Brooklyn and Queens who is now a professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Monday night’s spectacle of looting along Fifth Avenue amounted to a collapse of policing in the city.“This weekend, the job of police officer in New York became officially impossible when the police abolitionists won. They have created a model of zero tolerance towards force being used and any injuries being inflicted, and that’s absurd.”O’Donnell said the same pattern is repeating itself across America. “In city after city, the police were abolished this weekend. They stood back and watched as damage was inflicted that was irreversible.”

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

#News #Blogger

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beautytipsfor · 4 years ago

Text

New York police take seconds to restore reputation for brutality

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2U8C40t via Beauty Tips

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2MwpVOt

#Blogger

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ar15parts-blog1 · 7 years ago

Text

Battlefield 3 Assault Class Guide

Stg44 was the primary assault rifle developed in Germany during World Conflict II. The battlefield has never been the same since this highly acknowledged assault rifle marched its method into the war zone. Known for speed and for highly effective weaponry, the assault rifle certainly improved rifle energy.

Germany might have begun the assault rifle notoriety however two different guns gathered the fame and glory. Russia produced an assault rifle which continues to be to this day talked about like it is some type of king of the assault rifles. The Russian AK forty seven gained various nods of approval and received on the spot respect in the battlefields of America in addition to different international locations. Fight was as soon as once more changed.

Eugene Stoner put another assault rifle on the map with the American Colt M16. This assault rifle had the boys of the American Military excited to use such a strong assault rifle. The American Colt M16 and the Russian AK47 are frequent names heard throughout major tv productions and main motion pictures on the massive screens when productions are about warfare and themes surrounding warfare or violence.

Assault rifles cowl the world over when combat is on the minds of the army. These rifles enable soldiers to hit a goal long vary and hit with extra penetration. Whereas the battle rifles have been helpful in their day and age, there may be merely no comparability between the assault rifles and the battle rifles. Most troopers would never even think about a battle rifle when the assault rifles are way more superior and much more person-pleasant for soldiers in fight.

Proudly, since 1967, the army of the United States has used the creation of Eugene Stower as its number one assault rifle. This gun has additionally been essentially the most industrially produced weapon in the class of assault rifles. That in itself puts Stower?s assault rifle in a class of its personal. The production of this rifle really stems from different developments as early as 1957 yet the recognition and implementing of the gun in combat didn?t really start till 1967.

Assault rifles will proceed to march into battle and finally, one thing stronger within the class of rifles could certainly replace the AK-47 and the M16. However, militaries will at all times bear in mind the pleasure their soldiers had after they marched into battle with the best of the most effective and people weapons had been the AK47 and the M16 guns.

Some individuals ask why the typical citizen needs a rifle that may carry over a hundred round clips and shoot one thousand rounds a minute, and people kinds of people ought to learn this text rigorously because there isn't something about that that is truly appropriate. It is a critical situation so should you're probably not informed you'll be able to't actually contribute in a positive method. In case you think the average citizen can go to a gun retailer and buy a weapon than can do what I just described, and should you assume that that is what the currently proposed assault weapons ban is about, then you definately're simply not knowledgeable.

FDR banned the non-public possession of assault rifles practically eighty years in the past and they're nonetheless illegal at the moment, this truth ought to be known to everybody. What the general public has out there to them immediately should not machine guns and even actual assault rifles, they are semi-automated rifles which have adopted most of the beauty features of actual assault rifles. The cosmetic features that our rifles right this moment have adopted make the weapon extra ergonomic and extra snug to make use of and so they make it more convenient to function.

Lots of the options truly make the weapon safer to own, however what none of them do is make the weapon extra lethal.

Before I get into specifics, I wish to point out that studies show that when "assault weapons" had been banned in 1994 it had ZERO effect on crime! Not solely that, when the ban expired in 2003 and people might legally own these weapons again crime when DOWN, not up. The truth is, violent crime has gone down 50% in the last 20 years resulting on this being essentially the most peaceful time in human historical past.

That's proper. Human beings on this planet have never been safer than they are right now. Some might say, "What about mass shootings? We've got been listening to a lot about these these days." Mass killings are a result of mentally unstable individuals present on this planet and it's unlucky but they are going to all the time happen. Nevertheless, those too are at an all-time low. Mass killings in America peaked in 1929 and with one exception they have been decreasing ever since.

Economist John Lott is extensively thought to be the foremost skilled as regards to violent crime and firearms. Years in the past after he began his study of the subject he authored a ebook referred to as "More Guns, Much less Crime" and this e-book, now in its third version, is probably the most precise and concerned study of violent crime and firearm use in the world. This e book does not include any opinions but moderately contains actual knowledge and statistics that present one thing: when gun possession goes up violent crime goes down.

The FBI, which has studied this since its creation, has been telling us the identical thing. The ONLY thing violent criminals worry is getting injured or killed, and if they know that residents in an space are prone to be armed they may stay away from that area. Largely on account of the work of John Lott the majority of US states passed laws permitting non-public residents to acquire a license to hold firearms concealed upon their particular person and the outcome shocked many.

When the bill was purposed many shouted from the rooftops that permitting people to walk around with weapons would consequence within the streets turning into bloodbaths, violent crime would skyrocket, and society would flip right into a version of the film "The Highway Warrior." What occurred was exactly the other; violent crime charges dropped, gun violence dropped, and communities grew to become safer.

With reference to concealed carry, referred to as "proper-to-carry," John Lott mentioned, "All the outcomes point out that violent crime falls after right-to-carry laws are handed... There is a massive, statistically significant drop in homicide charges across all specifications. The before-and-after common comparability implies that proper-to-carry legal guidelines cut back murder by roughly 20 p.c. In all circumstances, proper-to-carry legal guidelines cause the tendencies in homicide, rape, and robbery rates to fall.

So, how did this entire witch-hunt start? Those uneducated about firearms noticed within the 1980's that authorized and publicly available rifles had been beginning to appear to be military type rifles (adopting beauty features) and the error was made that their native gun store was promoting absolutely-automatic assault weapons. Unfortunately, a large group of People who have greater than likely never dealt with a firearm not to mention fired one and have obtained all of their firearms training from TV shows and movies did not perceive the difference and decided that modern semi-computerized rifles look too scary they usually must be made illegal.

I am not going to make an argument that we'd like assault rifles as a result of that is a moot point, assault rifles have been unlawful for nearly eighty years, but I'm going to make an argument for why we need fashionable semi-automatic rifles.

My first argument is the very simplistic: why would not we need modern semi-automatic rifles? The only difference to the common person between a semi-automated rifle and a bolt action rifle is you may carry just a few more rounds and you can hearth faster. That's it. It is not some godless killing machine... it's just a rifle. What I've found is that most individuals don't perceive what an assault rifle is and they are confused about its capabilities.

The truth is that for those who go to the gun store and by a.223 caliber rifle is may have a cool sounding identify like a "Bushmaster AR15" and it could look like the military M4 assault rifle however it isn't. Most states have legal guidelines that limit journal (what ar15 for sale individuals incorrectly name a "clip") capacity to 10 rounds or much less (you will get greater capacity however relying in your state it might not be legal) whereas the M4 assault rifle can carry 20 rounds to over one hundred rounds relying on how it is fed.

The M4 can shoot in bursts (it will fire three to five rounds each time you pull the trigger) and it can often fireplace on fully-automatic (it would maintain firing as long as the set off is depressed and there are rounds in the magazine). The.223 you purchased at your local gun store can legally maintain about 10 rounds and may solely fireplace as soon as each time you pull the set off, as a result of it is a rifle... that's all it's, it's not a machine gun.

Authorities compiled statistics present that semi-computerized rifles, while scary trying, are utilized in less than 1% off all crime in the US. So, what are we getting bent out of shape about? Even in the event you just have a look at mass shootings like what occurred at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook you will see that semi-computerized rifles are hardly ever used. Most mass shootings are accomplished with handguns and shotguns.

The straightforward reality is that semi-computerized rifles are not very attractive for the prison component. Why? First, why get a semi-computerized rifle when you will get an precise assault rifle? Criminals don't' get their weapons legally they usually can get their fingers on precise absolutely-computerized assault rifles and submachine guns so why would they trouble will semi-automated weapons?

Second, they're dearer. Most criminals both get their firearms by stealing them or they buy them from other criminals for terribly low prices; for example, a legal may promote you a revolver for $100, a semi-automated handgun for $250, a shotgun for $one hundred fifty, after which a semi-automatic rifle for $800. Most criminals will keep on with the handguns and shotguns day-after-day of the week and statistics show it.

Third, they're sophisticated to make use of. Most firearm experts would take into account the typical police officer barely proficient with their weapon so how skilled do you think the typical prison is? Most criminals fireplace their weapons not often if ever, they as an alternative use them to intimidate their victims. Criminals are sometimes nice at violence however have little to no training.

The most typical firearm utilized by criminals is a revolver (Smith & Wesson.38 to be actual) and that's because they're low cost, easy to use, and easy to function. In a semi-automated weapon there are different levers and such to control and if your gun jams you must cease and manually clear it, however in a revolver you simply put your rounds in and maintain pulling the set off and that's all there may be to it. Criminals do not prepare and most of them do not know to correctly shoot a gun so a semi-computerized rifle is the very last thing they would need.

Fourth, they are laborious to hide. If you are going to rob somebody on the street or maintain up a liquor retailer you're not going to be strolling round with a rifle for everybody to see. Criminals not often use any sort of rifle.

So, why should the public have access to semi-automatic rifles that occur to have a beauty appearance much like army situation assault weapons, apart from the fact that there is not actually a superb motive to take them away? Individuals want them for their own protection. It is as simple as that.

It's estimated that every year 2.forty five million crimes are stopped by non-public residents who own guns. Statistics also show that at any time when there's a spike in weapons gross sales there is virtually all the time a pointy decline in gun related crime. We've seen time and again that a properly-armed public equals decrease crime and safer streets.

We have seen, time and again, what occurs when the general public is denied entry to firearms, simply have a look at what occurred in Australia; the Australian authorities needed to make residence invasions illegal as a result of when people had weapons they by no means occurred however as soon as the general public was disarmed they occurred in epidemic proportions and prosecutors did not know learn how to charge the perpetrators.

Why can we particularly want a trendy semi-automatic rifle for private defense? A small portion is precept as a result of there is no logic in taking away weapons that just look scary; however, the main argument is because they're a greater more practical weapon than a handgun. I can defend my family better with a semi-automatic rifle than I can with a handgun. It is a higher weapon and it is so simple as that.

My household is solely safer with a semi-automatic rifle in the home then they are with out one. Hopefully nothing bad ever occurs to my family and hopefully I'll never have to pull a gun, not to mention a set off, with the intent of taking a life but when I have to I want to have the best weapon attainable.

I have a.38 revolver in my bedroom however in all honesty I wouldn't go to that weapon if someone was trying to interrupt into dwelling or harm my family as a result of that gun isn't a really effective self-defense weapon. It is underpowered and never very correct. If you shoot a felony that is out to harm you or your family you wish to shoot them and cease them immediately and there have been criminals shot numerous instances with a.38 and not even realized they had been shot. A shotgun would be higher however I wouldn't have the control and accuracy I'd have if I acquired out a semi-automatic rifle.

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teachanarchy · 8 years ago

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“Visibility is a Trap” – Michel Foucault

Police don’t fear legal or extralegal repercussions because they don’t have to.

The whole world may be watching, but do they care?

Every camera attached to a cop is another machine to pacify us.

#surveillance #government #social control #police #politics

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