Debate Hall Current Events Thread -- Use this for all discussion on current events!

[FirestormNeos]

*continues to pout about how my conversation is being drowned out by Benghazi discussion.* :C

 

[JayTheUnseen]

*continues to pout about how my conversation is being drowned out by Benghazi discussion.* :C

Sorry, but I'm not really sure how to reply to any of your statements.

 

[FirestormNeos]

Sorry, but I'm not really sure how to reply to any of your statements.

Your username conveys how I feel. Your avi is the facial expression I'm making. Liking this post just for that reason alone.

EDIT: Jay got new avi. Guess that makes this post dated as all get out.

 

[King K. Rool the great]

Gordon dance

 

[kiteinthesky]

Oooh, the Supreme Court just ruled gay marriage legal nationwide :D

https://www.aclu.org/feature/out-freedom

How do you all feel about this?

 

[Claire Diviner]

Oooh, the Supreme Court just ruled gay marriage legal nationwide :D

https://www.aclu.org/feature/out-freedom

How do you all feel about this?

Beat me to it. lol

I wonder if those religious extremists who say they'll burn themselves alive if marriage equality is made legal will keep good on their word.

 

[Soup's On!]

Oooh, the Supreme Court just ruled gay marriage legal nationwide :D

https://www.aclu.org/feature/out-freedom

How do you all feel about this?

Good, and necessary. When the argument against it started to be reduced to "well, let the states decide if they should have the right to marry or not", that was about the point when it was conceded that no, there really wasn't any compelling reason to make gay marriage illegal. I was honestly pessimistically expecting a 5-4 AGAINST.

I'm sure there could be some discussion about what role the courts should have and if this is overstepping it. I just don't have anything to start, or fuel, that fire.

Though it's a huge landmark, there's still a long, long way to go for equality.

 

[Sucumbio]

My wife just became an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church so that she may wed gay and lesbian couples in our area.

 

[FirestormNeos]

Oooh, the Supreme Court just ruled gay marriage legal nationwide :D

https://www.aclu.org/feature/out-freedom

How do you all feel about this?

I ain't even interested in getting married, and I'm hyped.

 

[Sucumbio]

Warning: the following news articles contain video that may be considered graphic. They are real life videos of shootings that have recently occurred in 3 states. Use your discretion if you decide to watch them, they are frankly disturbing. The links themselves are to related news articles which detail the situations and can be viewed without watching the actual videos.



https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/07/07/us/falcon-heights-shooting-minnesota/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/us/baton-rouge-shooting-alton-sterling/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/shots-fired-dallas-amid-protest-recent-police-killings/story?id=40422456


Sad to say it's been a year since anything else seems to have been posted but to break the silence I wish to draw attention these horrifying events. It's nothing new unfortunately. Cops have been killing innocent civilians since their formation. But the fact that technology has caught up to the point that eyewitnesses can capture live video has recently shed some much needed light on the harrowing experiences these people go through.

This epidemic of police brutality is not just a problem, it's a literal war.

The first two articles detail two recent police executions. No due process. Not even probable cause. Just cold blooded murder. And will the cops pulling the triggers see jail time? If it's anything like any of the other hundreds of these happening in the past 20 years, statistically speaking almost definitely not.

The third link is about a protest gone wrong. They were there to protest the two afore mentioned murders and towards the end of the demonstration, two or more snipers in the crowd started picking off cops, killing three wounding several more.

Some would cheer their effort. But no. It's no better. This is war folks. Death is the only result. We need a fundamental change in this country. Cops need to be stripped of fire arms. Use tazers. The people put them in power, the people need to take them out of power. SWAT teams can have guns. But a routine traffic cop? No. If you're so scared to pull over a black driver then wait for backup. Too many trigger happy cops willing to shoot first and scramble to clean the mess afterward.

 

[Blue Ninjakoopa]

First, I want to say that I'm deeply disturbed by police shootings of innocent people or of people not deserving of execution or injury by bullet. We currently have a culture so divided that there are talks of "civil war" if a certain candidate is elected. One side believes that the police are all incarnations of Jesus Christ and can never be wrong, the other believes that all cops are evil and the world is out to get them. Both viewpoints are flawed and those touting them need healing and education.

But I want to talk a bit about this election and racism. Remember in "Paper Mario" toward the end when you briefly played as Peach and had to give focus power to Twink as he fought Kammy? At the beginning, Kammy's attack did 4 damage and Twink's attack did nothing. But the more focus power Twink got, the less damage he took from Kammy and the more damage he dealt. When Peach focuses a fourth time, Twink is powerful enough not to take any damage from Kammy and knock her out with a 4-damage tackle.

This battle is analogous to the race card. Max-power Twink is Donald Trump (lower power levels were previous GOP nominees for president) and Kammy is the American left. In the 70's when segregation was still fresh on everyone's mind, the race card was very powerful. People were serious about undoing the Democratic Party's institutionalized bigotry. If you were politically connected, you could use the race card to bend anyone to your whims. Over the last 4 decades however, the race card has diminished in influence. The word "racist" has been so inflated that it means nothing now, which is why it doesn't affect Donald Trump. 40 years of the race card being used for no reason produced Donald Trump or at least gave him his momentum, and liberals like Bill Maher are losing their minds. Maher recently admitted that he and the rest of the left "cried wolf" with decent, honorable people like John McCain and Mitt Romney. As deplorable as Maher is, he is right, but you reap what you sow.

I fear race relations will only get worse regardless of who becomes president. Donald Trump being a "law and order" candidate just means he'll support the status quo when it comes to America's drug laws and ramp up police enforcement of said laws like a Keynesian. Rutherford Hayes, Herbert Hoover, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan should never have gone through with the "Southern Strategy," and the last two should never have supported the "War on Drugs." The playing field could have been even in terms of who had minority support. Now the balance is out of whack and it's looking like there's nothing the GOP can do to come to amends with blacks. Trump might be the nail in the coffin. I digress, this entire year has been a ******* nightmare, with the politics being the scariest part.

(Also, if you haven't yet, play Paper Mario.)

 

[lady_sky skipper]

Did you guys just hear about Yemen baring the U.S. from doing any more ground missions? I knew Donald Trump's screwing it up would cause more problems. (It doesn't help that he said that he'd gladly kill any terrorist's family members, even if they're innocent. Which makes me a little more suspicious about the death of one little girl in the raid. If it wasn't Trump, I would have thought it was just a horrible result of the botched raid. Now I'm wondering if Trump told them not to worry about the civilians. I really need more info to make a final judgment on my theory though.)

 

[Crooked Crow]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/14/technology/net-neutrality-repeal-explainer/index.html

Thoughts on this? Figured it's important enough.

 

[Sucumbio]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/14/technology/net-neutrality-repeal-explainer/index.html

Thoughts on this? Figured it's important enough.

Actually, I think it'll be okay. For me, that is. Not everyone will be happy with what this decision could lead to. Though it's still very possible this policy change will face law suits, etc. So it's not necessarily even a done deal yet.