Politics

First off I will provide the rules for brothels as: 1. They require condoms. 2. They accept any customer. 3. They must prove they are free of STDs regularly. (monthly) 4. Each person has their own prices and list of what they are willing to do. In 2003 Rhode Island, accidentally decriminalized prostitution. The effects of this were “caused both forcible rape offenses and gonorrhea incidence to decline for the overall population. Our synthetic control model finds 824 fewer reported rape offenses (31 percent decrease) and 1,035 fewer cases of female gonorrhea (39 percent decrease) from 2004 to 2009” http://www.nber.org/papers/w20281 This breaks down int…

I was in a Danbury, CT (USA) hospital the day Adam Lanza murdered all those people, kids, adults at Sandy Elementary School, CT December 2012. We were in lock-down. That was a mass-shooting that was, subsequently, not categorized as terrorism. All I know is that, if the man, Stephen Paddock, left a "manifesto", note or some such to be read in the hotel room or wherever, then the authorities know what we have not yet been told. I want to know his "reasons". I demand it, as we all should.

UC Berkeley recently cancelled their Freedom of Speech week which has led to criticism from various groups with some insisting, Milo Yiannopoulos specifically, they will proceed as planned with their events on and or near campus. The decision to cancel by campus officials wasn't a frivolous one in my opinion. When conservative writer Ben Shapiro appeared on campus the school spent about $600,000 on security blowing through its annual “demonstration fund” of $250,000. I don't think UC Berkeley should be forced to financially subsidize new media figures self aggrandizing promotion events. Ben Shapiro has a radio show Milo Yiannopoulos is a published author both have platfor…

Is it not the role of government to provide such services? Why is the onus on employers in the US? I find this bizarre.

The question on October 1 was: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_independence_referendum,_2017 The organization was highly disturbed as Spain's constitutional tribunal declared the referendum unconstitutional. Judges and the Madrid government ordered the police and guardia civil to prevent it take place. Much of the process was undercover and disrupted (some videos on bbc.co.uk). Consequently, the results are not verified independently, only announced by the separatist Catalan government: 5,313,564 registered voters 2,262,424 votes 2,196,709 valid votes 2,020,144 yes 17…

Why is the hearse horse hoarse ? Spoiler It's because of the coffin

This is going to be a fairly long post about what I believe is the solution to health care in America. I’m going to touch on the scientific reasons, the economic reasons, and also discuss the emotion impact. I’m going to try and give goals for each of my positions, as well as explanations on how this position is going to achieve that goal. As a for the record thing I’m not getting anyone to review this before posting it so it likely will have spelling and grammar errors, and may not be as organized as it should be, and while you are welcome to criticize those parts my hope is that you will look past them and discuss the various points and how valid you feel like they are.…

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/10/02/las-vegas-shooting/722191001/ http://www.jiveinthe415.com/2012/12/is-sensible-discussion-of-gun-control.html The argument, "fuck off, I like guns" was never valid as a reason but as excuses go it's right up there with "my dog ate my homework"...

In your opinion, what is Americas biggest problem? I have been asking this question for a couple days. The answers are very diverse. I am curious on what everyone in this community may have to say. I realize the question is broad, but I appreciate any thoughts you may have to offer.

I feel that all democracies would be greatly benefitted by allowing open forums, perhaps online, that would allow the people to influence the way the country is run.

Hard to tell, because about any attack can be considered terrorism these days - and if necessary, the author will be described as "radicalised", within days in case he wasn't even religious before. Anyway, before the car crashed in the crowd in Charlottesville, I got advance warning. This happens from time to time when intelligence services organize a terrorist act, especially the French ones, but never before an action by Daesh or some far-right group. Maybe I'm not the only one who understands it that way, because few days later, a car driver crashed willingly in a crowd in Sept-Sorts in France, and I got advance warning for that too. Just like I got adva…

This is a question that I have not heard answered yet. How likely is it that North Korea, or ANY nation with nukes, could have ALREADY smuggled nuclear bombs into major cities? How difficult would it be for them to put a nuclear bomb on a small fishing boat and sail south? Then at night bring it onto land to a waiting car or truck that can drive the device to the center of Seoul, or Tokyo, or any major city? Then if we totally destroy North Korea, an agent in South Korea, detonates it. All their missile launches could simply be diversions. Or could they sell a nuclear device to a terrorist organization?

No, we really can't do it that way. That's not how it works. Let's say it costs $10,000 for a visit from the fire brigade. You're able to pay that when you need to call them and put out a fire? Or pay a subscription fee, which will be higher than the tax because some can't afford it or will otherwise choose not to pay? This is not something you can forego and all of the sudden buy when you need it; your house is already on fire. And the army? What military services can you have that are paid for directly? Either your country is defending itself or it isn't.

Why is there so much gun violence in El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras when guns are really hard to get? And most people do not have guns and there is no gun culture like the US. Where are the street gangs and criminals getting there guns from? Is most of the guns being smuggled in from the US there by arms dealers? Countries like El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras are not like the US, where it is very easy to buy gun legally. Most people don't have guns and it is very hard to get gun legally. Yet some how gangs and criminals are getting guns so where are they getting guns from arms dealers being smuggled in from the US or Russia? Well s…

A boy in my class was supposedly raped. However, while he's my friend nobody will believe he was raped. No one. Not his parents, not his teachers, not his friends. His parents just don't care. They think he got laid and then regretted it. Teachers pretty much think the same thing. His friends say he can't be raped because he's a guy. Also, since it was the "school slut"(don't crucify me. That's what they say) that he had sex with they say he took advantage of her. And all three of them say he enjoyed it. He's not the strongest kid. Rather scrawny. But he's smart and honest. I've worked on stuff with him a lot and I be…

Some Western countries praise multiculturalism and diversity (at least officially). But when all ethnicities and nation will intermix there will be no diversity anymore. Is it good?

Intent is very important when it comes to prosecuting someone, but should that be enough to overcome giving advice that costs someone their lives? Day after day I see people posting articles against vaccination, or promoting cures for cancer that either do nothing or makes things worse. For this I’m going to assume these individuals believe they are giving good advice, and their intent is to help the individual they are giving the advice too. For years, I’ve used this example. If I have a fly on my chest and your intent is to help me and kill the fly, but instead you kill me. This is an exaggeration, but the concept is still the same. Should good intent supersede har…

It is interesting that there are still the ultra right and communists. In almost every country there is ultra right. United States, Israel, Europe, etc. The ultra right is as dangerous as the Muslim terrorists because they are radical. Two experiences that did not work: ultra right and communists.

I recently watched the BBCs recent version of Richard III. The Earl of Warwick and Lady Margaret were played by actors from ethnic minority communities. I briefly considered this a bit strange since they are playing historical figures who were white. However, i believe history belongs to everyone, and hopefully the inclusion of ethnic minority groups in such plays will help everyone feel like it is their history (for instance i love Chinese history and i consider it my history as much as any European history). I also vaguely remember J.K. Rowling blasting someone for complaining when one of her characters, portrayed as white in the Harry Potter books, was played by s…

Every country in the world that we (USA) would generally consider first world are socialist in key markets if not outright. As I look around the world I struggle to identify any countries that succeed or have succeeded in the past using the limited government capitalism first models Conservatives here in the states advocate for. No country with a standard of living equal to or superior than the United States have lower taxation, less industrial regulation, or free market only solutions for healthcare, education, retirement, unemployment, housing, and etc. What are the legitimate examples of the successful use of Conservative policies?

Anyone? Anywhere? Is this a little odd? PNAS-2017-Marsh-1705853114.pdf

In antiquity, the known world was globalized. The entire Mediterranean region, all civilizations (Cities-State) marketed. Globalization creates interdependence between countries, generates employment and helps nations in their development. This is important because it unites the nations and avoids wars. The only problem of globalization is the widening of the gap between rich and poor. Who should resolve this are the governments, raising the tax only on the rich, France is an example. Globalization or nationalism? It must reconcile the two. Globalization is without a return. The two can walk together.

I would like to address the issue of left(ish) and science-based privilege on this board. The science part is quite trivial. Due to the fact that most members are interested in science, certain basic aspects (evolution, GR, climate change) are con-controversially accepted as fact. Not everyone has the expertise to fully understand the concepts, but at minimum one accepts them as trivially true and gets suspicious when someone addresses these or similar topics in an adversarial manner. In the best case scenario, ignorance is countered by knowledge and hopefully leads to education, willful ignorance almost always leads to argument. Still, it is easy to suspect untoward moti…

Does anyone know details about the life of 20-year-old fan of Hitler, Jim Fields, who crashed his car into a group of protesters of a racist rally? In the interview with his mother, see below, Samantha Bloom seemed to have no clue of her "son's" political following. She thought Jim went to a "Albright" rally, related to Trump. She must be his step mom because of a different last name. Maybe she knew little about the boy's upbringing. Jim had his own apartment by age 20. What about his father, Jim senior? What did his father have to do with his son's racism? Was his father a "repugnant" kind of guy? Or was the father simply always absent and the boy "raised himse…

What's the probability? What will it take to impeach Trump considering the GOP has control of senate and house and supreme court? Will it take a change in 2 years when there is an election and the Dems have a chance to take control of the house and/or senate? Or could Trump become so obnoxious that even his party turns against him in less than 2 years? It seems like Trump wants to take his office to the unknown in unpopularity. He has such opposition already, what can happen in the next 2 years? I shudder to think.