Politics Princess' Sweet Sixteen

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

(and there's no way that the issue would be nearly so equally split politically if literally almost the entire adult population had guns)

Well if the 270 million gun owners was real then the NRA would back gun control like they did back in the late 60's and 70's.

[Guard Dog]

Malc was right, I misread it. There are a low ball estimated 270M weapons in the hands of 100M people give or take. 

[Bartimaeus]

"He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day." -Trump on China's Premier (president/prime minister) consolidating power and becoming president for life.

[smjjames]

Quoting myself on another forum: I don't think he realizes how hard it is to make an amendment to the constitution, and it might actually be enough to trigger the various paramilitaries into trying to overthrow Trump because tyranny. /quote

 

After all, Presidents trying to crown themselves monarches for life is the reason why those militias exist.

[HoonDing]

Chaotic Neutral

[injurai]

Is it 2020 yet?

[Bartimaeus]

Chaotic Neutral

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChaoticStupid

 

there should be a "real life" category of examples on tvtropes

Edited March 4, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Maedhros]

"270 Million gun owners"

 

kids and babies own guns too?

 

Well...kind of?

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/toddlers-kill-brady-campaign-video-us-gun-control

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/29/american-toddlers-are-still-shooting-people-on-a-weekly-basis-this-year/?utm_term=.3cb5756b63dd

 

http://www.newsweek.com/guns-kids-third-leading-cause-death-627209

 

I still think the best thing ever on the gun culture in the US was a South park episode, where a "Gun show" was presented as if it was a dog pageant show, with people walking around with their guns in leashes.

[Gfted1]

Italy's voters choose populists, deliver stinging rebuke to Europe.

[smjjames]

Guess what on the Delta airline NRA discount, there were only 13 people even using said discount. 13 out of what, 5 million NRA members? That totally makes business sense to me to discontinue a discount that is barely even being used at all. I suppose it's possible that the discount wasn't well known or there are just better, more attractive, discounts available, but still, I wonder if those Georgia state legislators knew that it was barely being used at all.

[Gfted1]

I would assume they have access to the same data as USA Today. These moves are made to make people have good feels, not as any actual rebuke. The hilarious part is that the GA legislature immediately withdrew a 38M fuel tax credit so now Delta is paying up for teaching those 13 people a lesson.

[Hurlshort]

It has a lot to do with PR. Will more people fly with Delta because they took a stance against the NRA? Will those numbers compensate for possible sales lost? What type of consumer reaction will Georgia be subject to? 

 

I actually trust that Delta's PR machine has a better grasp of the situation than the state of Georgie. 

[Malcador]

I would assume they have access to the same data as USA Today. These moves are made to make people have good feels, not as any actual rebuke. The hilarious part is that the GA legislature immediately withdrew a 38M fuel tax credit so now Delta is paying up for teaching those 13 people a lesson.

And at least we got to see a State legislature act pretty much like a dog.

[Bartimaeus]

I hate those "race to the bottom" type of tax credits (or otherwise taxpayer-supplied funds) given to attract companies to come to your state...so I don't feel too terrible about Delta losing it. However, those credits were given to help convince Delta (a company that was founded in Atlanta) to stay headquartered in Georgia - it will not be terribly surprising if Georgia ends up the eventual loser there with such asinine and punitive action against one of its biggest employers...and so I won't feel too terrible if that comes to pass, either. At least, not until the people actually affected vote their awful politicians out.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Gfted1]

The mental image makes me lol. Delta probably figured they would score some points while impacting the least possible amount of people and then the whole thing blows up in their face like a Wile E. Coyote plan gone wrong. Somewhere, a Delta executive sits in the dark drinking bourbon straight.

[Bartimaeus]

I seriously doubt they would've doubled down on it when being specifically warned that exactly that would happen if that were the case. I understand that they also chased away Amazon from expanding into Atlanta with that little stunt. I hope that in a year from now we hear about Delta moving its headquarters into another state - that'll be a much funnier image. Georgia loses millions of tax dollars and thousands of jobs because their insane legislature thought the 13 people that actually had the discount were worth pissing on the state's 5th largest employer.

[Gfted1]

Jeez, tap the brakes, mad dog. If thousands of strangers losing their jobs brings you pleasure...well...I dunno. But hey, whos political side is "winning" is important.

 

And who doubled down what? Delta thought they could score some cheap feels and they done f-ed up. Georgia legislature probably didn't know the number of users was only 13, Delta did, and tried to turn it into a PC coup.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Jeez, tap the brakes, mad dog. If thousands of strangers losing their jobs brings you pleasure...well...I dunno.

 

In all fairness, it's not like thousands of different strangers in another state wouldn't get those jobs...

[Gfted1]

That's true. And a lot of the careers personnel would probably just move to the new state. But this is all mental gymnastics imo. Nobody is going to incur a couple hundred million in costs to move a headquarters just to "recoup" 38M. That credit will quietly be slipped into next years budget and nobody will be the wiser.

[Amentep]

I hate those "race to the bottom" type of tax credits (or otherwise taxpayer-supplied funds) given to attract companies to come to your state...so I don't feel too terrible about Delta losing it. However, those credits were given to help convince Delta (a company that was founded in Atlanta) to stay headquartered in Georgia - it will not be terribly surprising if Georgia ends up the eventual loser there with such asinine and punitive action against one of its biggest employers...and so I won't feel too terrible if that comes to pass, either. At least, not until the people actually affected vote their awful politicians out.

 

Delta was founded in Lousiana in the 1920s.  They moved to Atlanta in the 1940s.

[Malcador]

The mental image makes me lol. Delta probably figured they would score some points while impacting the least possible amount of people and then the whole thing blows up in their face like a Wile E. Coyote plan gone wrong. Somewhere, a Delta executive sits in the dark drinking bourbon straight.

Probably why you're on the outside, I guess. But really they should just up and leave Atlanta, might as well complete the overreaction circle and Hartsfield isn't that great an airport. Wonder if the people in Georgia would wonder why their state decided this was something worth leaning on a private company for....but then again it is the South. Edited March 6, 2018 by Malcador

[Bartimaeus]

 

I hate those "race to the bottom" type of tax credits (or otherwise taxpayer-supplied funds) given to attract companies to come to your state...so I don't feel too terrible about Delta losing it. However, those credits were given to help convince Delta (a company that was founded in Atlanta) to stay headquartered in Georgia - it will not be terribly surprising if Georgia ends up the eventual loser there with such asinine and punitive action against one of its biggest employers...and so I won't feel too terrible if that comes to pass, either. At least, not until the people actually affected vote their awful politicians out.

 

Delta was founded in Lousiana in the 1920s.  They moved to Atlanta in the 1940s.

 

Yeah, I actually specifically looked it up...and I meant to flip those two around - founded in Georgia, headquartered in Atlanta. @Gfted: companies move headquarters for tax purposes more frequently than one might think. Given that Delta dared them to do it (and those tax credits were previously given specifically to convince Delta to stay), I really wouldn't be terribly surprised if it happened. Edited March 6, 2018 by Bartimaeus

[Elerond]

 

The mental image makes me lol. Delta probably figured they would score some points while impacting the least possible amount of people and then the whole thing blows up in their face like a Wile E. Coyote plan gone wrong. Somewhere, a Delta executive sits in the dark drinking bourbon straight.

Probably why you're on the outside, I guess. But really they should just up and leave Atlanta, might as well complete the overreaction circle and Hartsfield isn't that great an airport. Wonder if the people in Georgia would wonder why their state decided this was something worth leaning on a private company for....but then again it is the South.

 

 

Georgia was already in it way to remove said fuel tax credit, so this is case where Delta took easy PR points by removing discount that nobody really used and Georgia's legislature tried score PR points by supporting NRA by promising action that they already decided to do, which may backfire against them as now other states' legislatures have opportunity to score cheap PR points by promising relatively cheap tax initiative for Delta and massive PR victory if Delta actually decides to move.

[ShadySands]

Kellyanne Conway Violated Federal Ethics Rules, Watchdog Agency Says

 

A federal ethics agency has ruled that one of President Trump's closest White House aides twice broke the law separating government from politics.

 

Kellyanne Conway, who was Trump's campaign manager in 2016, advocated for Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's recent Senate election during live television interviews broadcast from the White House lawn.

 

The Office of Special Counsel found Conway violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from using their office for partisan politics.

[Bartimaeus]

Shaub, who has since left the government and now works for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said Tuesday that Trump needs to act on the OSC report about Conway. "The White House cannot continue to have one standard for the federal workforce generally and a lower standard for appointees who are close to this President."

 

Ah, yes, that seems like Trump's general MO. Accountability, as it were.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Bartimaeus