rudi49jr

Maybe he is Darth Vader’s long lost son. The force is strong in him, that’s for sure.

The National Rifle Association is out with a new ad featuring new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. In the ad, Johnson says he will block any attempts to impose universal background checks or waiting periods before someone can purchase a firearm. https://www.meidastouch.com/news/speaker-johnson-will-oppose-gun-background-checks-or-waiting-periods

We all know whose puppet Shretta is….

Just MAGA speak. Trump is a saint and totally innocent, and those liberal commie radical left Dems are the devil incarnate. Especially Hunter Biden, more than anything else they want to see him hang.

Please explain to me how I am (and people like me are) harming transgender children. I would really like to know. And you seem to think that transgenderism or homosexuality is something that can be promoted. That children can suddenly become gay or transgender or whatever because someone is promoting it? Seriously?

You seem to harbor a deep hatred for ‘the left’, whatever that may mean to you. Like so many MAGA cult members, who call everyone they disagree with a communist, a socialist or a fascist, and sometimes even all three things at the same time. Which I don’t think is possible, but who am I? FYI: there are hardly any ‘commies’ in the US, and certainly not in the government or law enforcement. If you think there are, maybe you should look up what a ‘commie’ really is. And I can tell you exactly why ‘all the commies’ (your words) have a hard-on for Trump: because he’s been breaking the law for decades. If any ‘ordinary’ person had done what Trump has done, they would have gone to jail. For some reason, Trump has (so far) gotten away with it. But many people (not just commies) have a hard-on for Trump most of all because he incited an insurrection and, with his cronies who are also on trial now (and flipping on Trump one by one), tried very hard to overthrow the result of a legitimate election, just because his ego couldn’t handle the fact that he lost. And not by a little bit. He’s been whining about it ever since. In fact he already started whining about it months before the 2020 election, claiming that there was no way he could lose, and that the elections were rigged if he did lose.

Wow, and you accuse me of being disingenuous. You had to take a swipe at Hunter Biden, didn’t you? Couldn’t resist yourself, could you? I’m sure he’s the only spoilt rich kid who ever lied on a gun application. I really wonder why all MAGA folk have such a hard on for Hunter Biden, though. Don’t you think the country is facing far more pressing matters? And you couldn’t even get the comparison right between the age transgender kids can start their treatment and the legal age to own a gun. First of all, the age a transgender child can start their treatment is 14, not 13. And it’s the start of the treatment, the actual operation is still quite a while down the road, often years. And it’s not as if a child wakes up one day and decides to be a boy instead of a girl, or the other way around, and the next day treatment is started, and one week later they have the operation. This is a lengthy process, and the child gets counseling and psychological evaluations. Also, this is someone deciding over their own body, their own life, they don’t harm anyone, except maybe themselves sometimes. But when you own a gun, you can harm and/or kill (many) others. So your analogy is completely wrong. And by the way, do you really care about those transgender children? Or is it just another stick to beat ‘the left’ with for you?

I agree that this guy should have had his guns taken away from him, because of his mental health issues that were known to law enforcement. But what does that have to with your first comment about liberal saps in government?

There are plenty of polls that show most Americans want stricter gun laws. This one: 71% of Americans want stricter gun laws, including about half of Republicans, the vast majority of Democrats and a majority in those in gun-owning households: https://apnews.com/article/gun-violence-covid-health-chicago-c912ecc5619e925c5ea7447d36808715 This one (see points 7 and 8): 61% say it’s too easy to legally obtain a gun, and 58% favor stricter gun laws: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/

I think your math leaves a little something to be desired. This year there have been 565 mass shootings in the USA. There is no widely accepted definition of a mass shooting, but here’s a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023 Some 650 deaths of mass shootings this year. With over two months to go. Here’s the list for 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022 Some 762 deaths from mass shootings. Slightly more than the less than 60 you claim. Over 14 deaths a week. Slightly more than the 1 a week you claim. Plus almost 3,000 wounded in mass shootings in 2022. I find your casual attitude towards mass shootings quite appalling, to be honest, downplaying the number of victims, and comparing dying in a mass shooting to dying in an accident at home.

Okay, then you tell me why lawmakers are blind to what the (vast) majority of the American people want: stricter gun laws.

There are 20 million (or more) AR15’s in circulation in the USA. In the majority of mass shootings, the AR15 is the gun that is used. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-20-million-ar-15-style-rifles-in-circulation-2022-5?international=true&r=US&IR=T Still think I’m talking cr*p?

What might it be then? Please enlighten us.

Followed by “we’re not going to fix this”. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/28/tim-burchett-republican-nashville-shooting There is a pretty substantial majority in the US who are in favor of (much) stricter gun laws, but these gutless cowards are not going to do anything because they’re in the NRA’s pockets and/or they’re afraid to antagonize part of their gun-nut base and lose votes. Despicable.

As a percentage, fewer households in the US own guns than they did in 1990. Then explain to us simple souls how it's possible that there have been over 500 mass shootings in the US this year alone, while there are hardly any in other countries (with much stricter gun laws). Like you side: yeah, it’s got to be the guns.

You already should know I'm pro firearms. Do you think civilians should be allowed to own assault rifles like an AR15? Because I think it’s completely nuts that millions of people in the US apparently (most of them legally) own some kind of assault rifle like that.

Surgeons call these people (or motorbike riders in general) ‘organ donors’. This guy will end up in the morgue soon enough, if he continues to ride his bike like an idiot.

I have yet to see a post from you, in any thread, that is not a deflection. As several posters before me have already pointed out: over 500 mass shootings this year in the US, with more than two months to go. Want to bet we’re going to get to (at least) 600? Fall and winter are always good seasons to get a nice depression and go on a shooting spree. And yet surprisingly few mass shootings (almost non existent) in countries with much stricter gun laws. I wonder if you can connect the dots…

Well, for a long time Trump ordered Cohen to lie for him. Trump, on the other hand, has been a pathological liar all his life, lying comes as natural to him as breathing. Slight difference….

Bullheaded ignorance and stupidity is what gets me. On the one hand, all these MAGA idiots claim to love their country so much, they love democracy and just want to uphold the constitution. But on the other hand, they storm the Capitol to overthrow the result of a legitimate election, and worship a fascist, racist two-bit conman who doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself, and wants to abolish democracy and become a dictator like his buddies Putin and Kim. Those two things clearly don’t match, but apparently that’s not a problem at all for the MAGA cult members. Go figure.

How is this news? I’m pretty sure most family members of most ministers and MP’s have (many) shady deals going on, like extorting companies for kickbacks. How else would they be able to afford their luxury lifestyle?

Somehow I don’t really buy these crocodile tears. You also see that with a lot of those Jan. 6 Capitol stormers, that suddenly they are overcome with remorse. Looks to me like they are much more sorry that they got caught, than sorry that they did what they did. Or maybe that’s just me being cynical…..

Maybe you should try sticking to facts instead of rehashing debunked Republican talking points. There hasn’t been one (not one) Republican president in the last 40-50 years who has been fiscally responsible, even though Republicans keep screaming at the top of their lungs that they’re the only ones who can save the nation from the big spender Dems. Ronald Reagan vowed to limit the size of the government, but doubled the national deficit. Bush senior then increased the deficit by another 50%. Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus. Bush junior managed to go from a $236 billion surplus to a $458 billion deficit. Quite an accomplishment. Because of the global financial crisis, the deficit at first skyrocketed under Obama, but was then brought back to $440 billion. Under Trump, the deficit hit more than $1 trillion. You still want to maintain that Republicans are fiscally responsible? All they ever do is cut taxes for the rich, cut welfare programs and (hugely) increase the Defense budget. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/030515/which-united-states-presidents-have-run-largest-budget-deficits.asp#:~:text=Donald Trump%2C Barack Obama%2C and,budget deficits in U.S. history.

That’s because most Thai governments have absolutely no comprehensive views or plans on how to develop the country. It’s all ad hoc decisions, often poorly thought through. Then there is the enormous corruption, which goes all the way to the top and is crippling every effort to actually do something worthwhile. And last but not least: I often get the impression that none of the bigwigs give a damn about anything other than lining their own pockets. The same problems keep coming back every year: floods, droughts, smog in the north and in the BKK metropolitan area, and so on and so forth, and no one in power seems to have any interest at all in actually dealing with those problems. It’s all talk and forming committees and ‘closely monitoring the situation’, but in the end, nothing actually gets done.

“leads to a national crackdown on all illegal activity and corruption” Yeah, right. No one is going to slaughter the goose that lays the golden eggs. Ain’t never going to happen.