Random Politics & Religion #00

The chance of this lawsuit winning is ridiculously low. So it is a political move not an actual lawsuit.

Chances of the lawsuit winning may be slim.

Chances of it enacting some sort of legislation regarding the sale of massive ammounts of ammunition or military/police-grade equipment to unqualified individuals, however, may be higher.

Edit: And hey. If "lawsuits as political moves" are bad, then everyone voting Republican better be ready to oust their incumbents in the primaries.

it's going to be a tough fight. the NRA has had it up to their hairline with progressive liberal incrementalism

I'm a former member.

4,000 rounds to a private buyer is pretty excessive.

Not when you consider the armies of zombies marching down on you in the upcoming zombie apocalypse. I'm a terrible shot, it's the damn stick sensitivity...

that's ok, I'll go sign up to balance the universe back out... >.>

The fact that there are people in the world who actually fear for a zombie apocalypse...ugh.

Would it even take ebola becoming airborne to break society down?

Hey, Ebola COULD mutate into something zombie-ish. Realistically though, you wouldn't even need a zombie outbreak. If ebola mutated and became slightly more airborne and society broke down as a result, I'd surely be happy that I had 4000 rounds to see I got through it.

Ever see the movie "Contagion"? Mrs Paltrow's finest. Would it even take ebola becoming airborne to break society down?

Clearly, you don't appreciate the fact Death is in the Air was partly based on Outbreak, which has one of the best performances by Dustin Hoffman (aside from Rainman), and Morgan Freeman.

You do realize that shooting a person affected by an airborne disease, that the disease would become further airborne through aerosolization of the target's blood,.

You do realize that shooting a person affected by an airborne disease, that the disease would become further airborne through aerosolization of the target's blood, increasing the chances of another person getting it (particles in the blood can become aerosolized upon forceful exposure, such as through a gunshot would, up to as much as 150 feet, thrusting the Ebola virus particles at you at an exponentially faster rate, and a radius extending from the impacted area) so 4000 rounds of ammunition, wouldn't help.

Also, Contagion was a HORRIBLE movie. Outbreak was better.

no, it takes less than three days without basic services (electric, gas, water etc.) for a major city to collapse in on itself.

nawlins after katrina is a good/recent example

just throw one of your earthquake causing grenades at it nausi

Or saddle up a dino and RIDE!

The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it plans to keep a key interest rate at a record low for a considerable period because a broad range of U.S. economic measures remain subpar.

The Fed said it intends to keep its benchmark rate near zero as long as inflation remains under control, until it sees consistent gains in wage growth, long-term unemployment and other gauges of the job market.

The central bank retained language signaling its plans to keep short-term rates low "for a considerable time" after it ends its monthly bond purchases after its next meeting in October.

One shouted about God's love as he crossed a frozen river, clutching a Bible. Another swam, drunk and naked. Several U.S. soldiers dashed around land mines.

Time and again, Americans over the years have slipped illegally into poor, deeply suspicious, fervently anti-American North Korea, even as it has become increasingly easy to enter legally as a tourist. It's incomprehensible to many, especially since tens of thousands of desperate North Koreans have crossed in the opposite direction, at great risk.

Sneaking into autocratic, cloistered North Korea has proven a strange and powerful temptation for some Americans.

Sometimes the spur is deep religious conviction. Sometimes it's discontent with America and a belief that things will be different in a country that can seem like its polar opposite. Quite often, analysts say, it's mental or personal problems — or simply a case of a person acting upon a very, very bad idea.

...

Other defector soldiers had problems in their military units or issues with family at home. One was reportedly lured north by a female North Korean agent.

In the decades after the war, some Americans harbored "glamorous notions of North Korea as a socialist paradise," said John Delury, an Asia expert at Yonsei University in Seoul. "But that's just not part of the mix any more. Even in the furthest fringes of American online culture, you don't find that notion."

...

North Korea officially guarantees freedom of religion, but outside analysts and defectors describe the country as militantly anti-religious. The distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean imprisonment or execution, defectors have said.

Socialist?

If you (and, in turn, millions of others) think North Korea is actually socialist then no wonder people hate the idea of socialism so much.

I mean, they don't understand it.

But if they're dumb enough to think that's anything but a dictatorship...

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property

b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

By definition a socialist state is one in which the government owns and controls everything.

A socialist state would be something like Sweden, where people retain private property and can establish discretely private businesses, but where infrastructure and healthcare are public.

Even capitalist states have some control over their economies through regulation or price fixing. You can blur the lines if it makes you feel better, but socialism and a fascist dictatorship have less in common than socialism and capitalism.

You should read up on the history of Sweden prior to 1991. They're not a successful socialist state. They're a socialist state heading towards capitalism over the years. Right now they're in the midst of a blend between the two.

A dictatorship and a fascism regime are synonymous, no need to put the two together. A dictatorship implies fascism and socialism.

Not sure why you think two opposing economic models, capitalism and socialism, have more in common than a necessary economic model for a dictatorship to thrive.

Socialism doesn't necessarily cause a dictatorship, but you need government control over the entire economy before someone can rise to power and take on a dictatorship or single party government.