Just discovered the TV series Earth 2

I wasn't aware of its existence when it aired. Anyone care to recommend an obscure TV series you enjoyed that I might have missed?

What Constitutional Amendment Would You Like to See Passed?

None is a valid answer.

For me, there are several, but I'll limit myself to the one I consider to be the most important at this time in our history. I'd like to see term limits for members of Congress. 2 full terms for a senator, 6 full terms for a representative. This forces turnover every 12 years.

A problem with the "It's not the guns, it's the culture" line of reasoning.

I thought about this after I read an Allen West response to the shooting in Duncan, OK. I won't bother with the link, because there's nothing in there that would surprise anyone. One of the usual lines in these discussions from 2nd Amendment absolutists jumped out at me, "The issue is not about proliferation of guns in America. This is about a failing black community and the fact that its young men are desensitized to violence because a gangsta culture promotes it."

I agree that culture is part of the problem. However, this then begs the question "What part of the culture are you in favor of changing?"

Too often, those people who put all the blame on culture are those same people opposed to improving the culture. You can't have your cake and eat it too on this one. Some ways of changing the culture, seem to be those exact same things conservatives are in strong opposition to.

Just a few examples:

1) Improving Education

One way to influence culture is by giving people early a quality education. Failing schools, overcrowded classrooms, low pay for teachers, lack of safety on school grounds, etc., all contribute to lack of a counter-narrative for those people in inner cities. Yet it is primarily the Republican Party that has been opposed to any meaningful government economic assistance to address a growing problem.

2) The Social Safety Net

Conservatives love to point to countries with lax gun laws that don't have the murder rates the US does. Guess what Canada and Switzerland also have? A decent safety net. Poverty is one of the contributors to crime. Not the only one, of course. As much as some members of the GOP lately love to say things like we should address mental health, those same people are so often opposed to funding it. How in the world is someone in poverty supposed to afford therapy? How are the parents? Beyond mental health, poverty itself is a contributing factor.

3) The War on Drugs

Many shootings come along as a by-product of money to be made from the drug culture. Take away the money at stake, much of the incentive to go into the drug trade goes away. As a result, so does much of the violent crime.



I listed those three, but I could go on. Perhaps others would care to. Some would call me to the right of Scalia on my interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, so I'm not making a post to paint anyone who defends 2nd Amendment rights with a broad brush. To reiterate my point, if the culture is the problem, what meaningful steps to change that WOULD you support?

"blackcoon44," WTF?!

I really spent a lot of time clicking on links to satisfy myself that this wasn't some sort of internet prank. Shades of Captain Sum Ting Wong were echoing in my brain. So I'm 99 percent satisfied that this is legit, so let me say in advance, if this is indeed a massively successful trolling, you got me.

Assuming that it isn't, here's the link to the Facebook page of one of the suspects from Duncan OK, allegedly involved in the shooting of the Australian baseball player.

https://www.facebook.com/blackcoon44

So I've been to the page, and judging from the comments people are posting, it certainly seems others think it is legit as well. Proceeding on the assumption that is accurate ... WTF is WRONG with this person?!!

To set up your FB page with the name "blackcoon44," my first thought was this would be exactly the kind of name created for a fake profile if the KKK had purchased The Onion.

Not lost on me, is that 44, is also the number of the current president. Now this may be a coincidence, or numbers 1 through 43 were already taken, I don't know. But regardless, there are going to be those salivating to use this from this point forward to take a swat at the current White House occupant.

I suspect tomorrow, there will be a huge temptation for the media to reference this on air, "in the interest of covering the news, you know." Or "a discussion on race." Nancy Grace, who never met a racial slur she didn't love to quote if she could justify context, probably had an orgasm and wet her pants at the same time when she saw this. I put the over under on how many times she says this on air somewhere around 50.

I can't think of any rational reason for picking such a name, when the potential for lingering harm is so great. This is even if you don't follow that up with murder. Especially murder of a baseball player. The only thing missing from this narrative was if he had been holding a piece of apple pie.

If there is some rapper or something this name was "homage," to, I wouldn't be aware of it. In fact, I'm hoping something like that is the case. Because otherwise, this is a train into Crazytown I can't wrap my brain around.

More Photos and Info on Oklahoma Shooting Suspects

There's some confusion about the identities of the suspects, I believe the most current info is here:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/three-teens-charged-over-murder-of-melbourne-baseball-player-chris-lane/story-fni0fiyv-1226700172461

The second link is allegedly the Facebook page of one of the suspects.

https://www.facebook.com/blackcoon44

Since this is early in the story, as always, information is likely to change. I can't vouch for the reliability of the source in either the short or long term.

SOMEONE sure thinks Snowden still has important information

Or at least, that is how I read the actions of the last few months. I don't feel stopping Miranda was done solely for punitive reasons, or the desire to check the Bolivian plane either. This is just conjecture, but the actions seem to me to be indicative of wanting to know exactly what Snowden uncovered and/or copied.

Greenwald has hinted that more is coming, and so far, more has come. The slow release of information is like a game of chicken, the government doesn't know what Snowden has or doesn't have. It is that uncertainty that is driving this. I suspect if the government knew precisely what information Snowden relayed, the imperative to apprehend him at the risk of stepping on toes diplomatically would subside.

The government would just quietly wait until he slipped up, after complacency had set in. This awkward manhunt/kicking over barrels is indicative of genuine concern. Now I expect government officials to admit to only what has been revealed and nothing more. It is akin to the cop saying, "Do you know why I pulled you over?," hoping for an admission of something the cop had no prior suspicion of. Since the government is usually the one asking that question, it knows better than anyone else the answer is, "I have no idea."

Why would anyone be opposed to de-extinction?

I've had discussions with several people, many of whom consider the fact that some species are endangered a tragedy. Some of these same people however, are opposed to bringing back extinct species through cloning. I'm curious why there is opposition to this idea. On the contrary, I almost consider it a moral imperative to return species to the Earth that humanity was responsible for eliminating.

Edited to include a link to such a project, that addresses many of the points raised in this thread.

How Long Until "It was only a few bad apples" gets trotted out?

The story so far ...

No one is collecting data on Americans.

Data is being collected on Americans, but there are safe-guards in place and there have been no violations.

There have been violations, but they were accidental.

I suspect it's only a matter of time until we find that someone has been targeted, and then hear something like ...

"This was done without knowledge or authorization by a rogue element."

Any thoughts on the Over/Under?

Subtle Racism in The Avengers

Bill to define "journalist"