“The function of that police action, those interventions in Central America and the Middle East, is system sustaining. It is to maintain that overall system. You don’t look at the particular cost. I can demonstrate to you that in every single bank robbery, the cost of the police was more than the actual money that the robbers took from the bank. Does that mean there’s no economic interest involved? They’re not protecting the banks? No! Of course it’s economic; of course they’re defending the banks. If they didn’t stop that bank robbery, regardless of the cost, it could jeopardize the entire banking system. There are people who believe that the function of the police is to fight crime. That’s not true; the function of the police is social control and protection of property.”

Michael Parenti

Elon is busy turning X back into an echo chamber, except the pendulum has swung to the other side. It’s a shame people find such solace in echo chambers – intellectualism does not progress if you only speak with people you agree with. Indeed, it narrows conversation and thought so much it just turns into a circle jerk.

Guess what? The real world is nasty and dirty and you are never going to agree with everyone. A preschool isn’t as safe a space as what Elon wants to (re)create.

You think that’s bad? Every April I have to hand the country I live in a bunch of papers with numbers on them just to exist. If I don’t, they send men with guns. How crazy is that?

USAs integrity

Wait, we had integrity left? With who?

You don’t get to attack someone and then just say oopsie daisy.

… and he didn’t. He had to go to court to defend his actions.

I’m honest enough to say I’m not going to change the world. If you are, more power to you. I’m looking at the history of greed in our country and projecting forward. It may not be a happy projection, but it is one.

Also (and yes I know it’s a long shot but still), the jury could simply refuse to indict him because they hate the victim far more than the crime.

This’ll be on the prosecution to try to impanel people that will follow the law instead of their hearts. The target aside, I think most people will rule harshly on murder, especially someone shot in the back.

Hoo boy. There was plenty of video footage of the accused. He had the motive. When he was caught, he still had evidence on him. He had the means, the motive and the opportunity. By all means, he should be afforded a full and fair trial. However, if his lawyer is able to get the case thrown out or dismissed somehow, it’ll be a legal miracle. I honestly have no clue what his defense will be. So far it seems to be “the cops planted the evidence” which I do not think will buy him the sympathy of a jury.

I believe that CEO was a fucking scumbag, but I’d also be inclined to pass a guilty verdict (assuming his defense attorney fails to change my mind). As much as I hate what that health insurance company did, I also would hate to live in a country where vigilante justice is meted out. I would have preferred the shooter pursue health care reform in a more democratic way, as I believe that is the civilized way to enact change. I can simultaneously sympathize with the shooter and condemn him.

100% and it’s a sad fact this country (and others) contain people for which that is a very easy choice.

Apologies, this was from separate coverage:

reference: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/daniel-penny-acquitted-in-nyc-subway-chokehold-case-over-jordan-neelys-death

This was something I got wrong when I was younger. I didn’t understand that there were sociopaths around. I’d have seen making laws to prevent, say, “exploiting people with cancer” wouldn’t be needed. Now that I’m a bit older and wiser, I realize we need laws like that more than ever, because if such an opportunity exists in the USA (and it does) there will be a long line of people that take those jobs and sleep very well. They have little/no conscience. As long as they get theirs, fuck 'em.

There’s a quote from the Roman days: “A civilization becomes great when men plant trees of which the shade they will never sit under”. Meanwhile in present-day America I have heard this: “Who cares about global warming? I’ll be dead!” Shameful.

I’m not unhappy with the outcome but using a pistol is not my favorite remedy. I WISH our legal system was more closely aligned with moral guidelines like: “profiting off sick people shouldn’t be allowed” or “increasing value for the shareholders is not more important than cancer treatment”, yet here we are.

Although I’d prefer a legal solution (like revising our laws), I’m not going to be holding my breath. I also reject the claim that this shooter is the first of many, as I don’t see this becoming a huge pattern. If I was an unethical health insurance CEO, I’d be sleeping fine now.

(edit: forgot the ‘not’ in the cancer treatment quote)

Look, I have SIX perfectly fine dildos, all in their individual velvet pouches. My grandma even gives me a knowing wink when she sees them on my nightstand (she’s very with-it, my grandma). But the minute I walk into Walmart and snag NUMBER SEVEN - BAM! 💥 The world implodes. Little Timmy starts twerking in the cereal aisle, the self-checkout beeps incessantly with unholy vibrations, and a rogue bag of gummy worms spontaneously transforms into a life-size silicone replica of the Lone Star State… it’s CHAOS, I tell ya! This clearly-reasonable six-dildo limit is PROTECTING our precious Texas innocence. Seven just unleashes the primal urges, and nobody wants that, especially not while picking out a new can of Copenhagen. 🤠

#SixIsTheMagicNumber #TexasStrong #ProtectTheInnocence (and the Gummy Worms)

I don’t like him, but I don’t blame him. The insurance company dangled out a high-paying job doing something he found morally acceptable, and he took the job. What’s the logical issue there?

I don’t know why you think people cannot be blamed for the role they choose to have in society. That’s very weird. And if that’s not the point you’re trying to make I’m not sure what it is.

Our society specifically allows (and maybe even facilitates) public health insurance companies that can deny terminally ill people the care they need. If someone chooses to step into that job, I can’t blame them from a legal standpoint. I can blame them from a moral one, but the laws of morality do not guide our country, sadly.

About six years later, he boarded a subway under Manhattan on May 1, 2023, hurled his jacket onto the floor, and declared that he was hungry and thirsty and didn’t care if he died or went to jail, witnesses said. Some told 911 operators that he tried to attack people or indicated he’d harm riders, and several testified that they were nervous or outright feared for their lives.

He wasn’t just upset… he was threatening people.

What change was accomplished by OccupyWallstreet?

They were angry about economic inequality – it’s worse today than in 2011.

They wanted an end to corporate personhood – still totally cookin’ in 2024 with no end in sight

More regulation of the financial sector – we are more deregulated than ever today

I had to admire their aims, but as a movement it was profoundly ineffective…

Sorry, insider trading aside, I meant you cannot blame him for performing his function as CEO. His job is to coordinate more revenue from denying people medical treatments. You cannot blame him for performing that function would be my reasoning. The insider trading is orthogonal to the problems with the medical industry, although one could make an argument that if you offer a job that only sociopaths will take, they are likely to do other sociopathic behaviors while they are in charge, which is a danger to society as a whole.

Since our courts care about case law and not about moral frameworks, I think you’ll see that defense being used quite successfully.

OK, so when a new government comes in and sweeps away our current federal laws, then CEOs heads will roll. Since that’s not likely to happen, I don’t see how that’s relevant here.