WeirdGoesPro
@WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- Comment on Texans today... 2 days ago:
I don’t think the insulation is what you think it is. Most Texans aren’t MAGA Republicans, even though the non-voters and Republican-at-any-cost people here handed him a victory. This meme is only insinuating the relief that the majority of Texans feel who were tired of living under a red state government.
40.5% of Texans voted early for this election, which is a record breaking number (they are still calculating the total number of votes after yesterday). For comparison, only 41.8% voted in the 2022 midterm election total.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 2 days ago:
Respectfully, stand down, comrade! I’m on your side and not becoming a Kamala brunch enthusiast. I appreciate your opinions on history and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The fight definitely continues, but a little win feels nice. I can go back to my usual full on class warfare in the morning.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 2 days ago:
Don’t get me wrong, I see what you’re saying and I generally agree with your leftist sentiments.
That said, you are incorrect that the Democrats have been totally unsuccessful in improving material conditions for people. I’m with you that it hasn’t nearly been far enough, but they did accomplish significant things for women and black people.
JFK passed the equal pay act. LBJ passed the civil rights act. Clinton passed the violence against women act. These things had an effect that was tangible, even if we need more.
In Texas, my grandmother wasn’t able to have her own bank account without my grandfather signing a permission note until John Connally, a Democrat, passed the Marital Property Act of 1967. My mother never had that problem because a Democrat changed the conditions for women in this country.
Do I want a true left to rise in the United States? Yes. Do I think the Democrats have any hope of fixing capitalism? No. BUT, this victory is sweet, and I’ll be raising a glass to the Democrats today anyway.
- Comment on Is it still there‽ 1 week ago:
said Adam22.
- Comment on Is it still there‽ 1 week ago:
- Comment on What is the big deal that the new WH Press Secretary does have a law license? Isn't this a good thing and shows any Joe Blo can get the job? No offense to Joe Blo's. 3 weeks ago:
Do we really want Jo Blow as the intermediary between the president and the press? Is that considered a positive?
Call me crazy, but I’d much rather see an academic or a respected journalist in that position, considering that their wording is paramount and transparency is currency. I’d like to know that Joe Blow has enough comprehension and integrity to be clearly understood.
I think George W. Bush is a great example of why “I’d have a beer with that person” is a terrible metric for political positions.
- Comment on If the legalization of drugs reduces crime, why can't the same be said about the legalization of guns? 3 weeks ago:
I think it depends a little on what you mean by legalization.
Decriminalization, as far as I’m aware, is all that has been seriously tried for hard drugs. That leaves the illegal industry in tact, and continues all the issues that can come with it. I am 100% behind the legalization of drugs, I just think that the real societal improvement comes with increased healthcare availability for addicts, such as needle exchanges, purity testing, and addiction recovery services.
Fully legalizing hard drugs comes with its own minefield, too. Cigarettes are powerfully addictive, and companies have exploited their legal status to make them ubiquitous. They intentionally market them to children and use product placement to ensure that smoking is seen as “cool”. I can only imagine how things would go if companies like that were in the methamphetamine business.
And to an extent, they are. I am part of the generation that was pumped full of Ritalin to “fix” attention issues in children, and many of those kids have experienced a continuation of the addictive behavior that was introduced to them in a doctors office. The intersection of capitalism and biochemical addiction is a gross industry of exploitation.
I am a recovering heroin addict (17 years clean), so I am no stranger to the problems of addiction, enforcement, and healthcare. I definitely believe that removing the prohibition on drugs is the first place to start if we want to improve the problem. I just also know how fundamentally powerful hard drugs can be, and without an accessible off ramp for addiction as well as available materials to stay safe while you’re addicted, the life problems that come with drug abuse are likely to continue in one form or another.
- Comment on If the legalization of drugs reduces crime, why can't the same be said about the legalization of guns? 3 weeks ago:
Hi fellow Texan!
You are totally right—my example was only based on the part of Texas I live in. The reaction in Austin or Dallas would be different than it is in more rural areas.
I honestly think there are very few reasons people should open carry. I’ve done so when I’ve been mostly in the wilderness and occasionally for a short stop at a business where it’s tolerated on the way, so the context in that moment is different than it would be in the middle of the city.
Concealed can be done comfortably pretty easily, and is much safer for many reasons. If you choose to carry, safety, legality, and context are of paramount importance.
- Comment on If the legalization of drugs reduces crime, why can't the same be said about the legalization of guns? 3 weeks ago:
That isn’t totally true, it’s just that we responsible guys with a gun keep it out of view and properly secured so that others are never aware of it. Ideally, nobody should know you’re carrying except for you.
The recent Twin Falls, Idaho shooting is a pretty good example of a “good guy with a gun” who stopped a “bad guy with a gun”.
It happens, it’s just rare.
- Comment on If the legalization of drugs reduces crime, why can't the same be said about the legalization of guns? 3 weeks ago:
I feel like this question is based on a lack of understanding of what people mean when they say legalizing drugs reduces crime.
Legalizing drugs reduces the crime of drug possession simply because it is not a crime anymore. In exactly the same way, legalizing carrying a gun without a license reduces the crimes associated with carrying. That said, it does not necessarily reduce crime overall, especially without an increase in support for rehab and addiction services.
Portland, Oregon reduced the severity of possession crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor for schedule 1 and 2 drugs, and the result was a decrease in felonies, but an increase in misdemeanors proportional to the felony decrease, suggesting that overall arrests remained the same. While there was not a significant increase in crime overall, the growing popularity of fentanyl during that time did lead to an increase in deaths, and public opinion seemed to indicate that there was a change in the perception of public safety during that time even though the crime rate remained mostly stable. In my opinion, I think it probably had to do with an increase in the visible public consumption of drugs and the unpleasant realities that can come with that.
pdx.edu/…/psu-researchers-release-final-report-la…
A primary difference between drugs and guns is that drugs more often lead to the death or injury of the user while guns are more likely than drugs to lead to the death or injury of someone else. Furthermore, a gun enables the commission of a crime in that you can’t rob a liquor store with a joint, but you definitely can with a firearm.
That said, I live in an extremely gun friendly area and have carried both openly and concealed, yet the perception of “how safe is my neighborhood” seems to be swayed much more by the growing homeless/drug using population than the sight of a person with a gun on their hip does. I have never seen someone avert their gaze and pick up their pace for an open carrying person around here, but I see it all the time when they encounter a drug using homeless person. I know that is mostly anecdotal, but when paired with the data from Portland, I think it can be safely suggested that the perception of public safety has more to do with sights that make people uncomfortable over actual statistical crime data.
It is very possible to live in a place that is statistically safer, yet feels more dangerous, entirely due to the discomfort caused by witnessing human suffering, which is less of a factor when witnessing someone carrying a gun. Furthermore, decriminalizing drugs in one particular area can lead to an increase in drug users inhabiting that area, thus reducing the perception of public safety regardless of crime statistics.
Legalization of carrying a gun primarily leads to an increase in concealed carry, thus hiding the increased presence of guns from public view, and therefore leaving the perception of public safety unaltered. Concealed carry is more popular than open carry because it increases the tactical effectiveness of the firearm by not making you an obvious target of a criminal, so it is the preferred choice for most gun carriers, both legal and illegal. Contrastingly, it seems pretty hard to hide the fact that you’re totally zooted on fentanyl or methamphetamine.
Overall, I’d say that simple decriminalization does not have a significant effect on crime. Most drug users are not homeless or violent criminals, so they simply fly under the radar just like a concealed firearm carrier does. However, an increase in public intoxication or public discharge of a firearm does decrease the public perception of safety, regardless of actual statistical consequences, and politicians create a narrative based on that public opinion rather than using the true data about public harm.
- Comment on If You Do 40 In A 60 Zone Then Goodbye Bradley 3 weeks ago:
Sayonara, Bradley.
- Comment on Anon joins girl's night 3 weeks ago:
- Comment on I despise laundry. How can I make my life contain less of it? 3 weeks ago:
How do you deal with body soil on furniture?
- Comment on abyss 4 weeks ago:
Abyss = for staring into void = for screaming into. Therefore, abyss = for screaming into. Abyss + for screaming into = staring into void x 2. Screaming into abyss > staring into void.
- Comment on what would one win...? 5 weeks ago:
The bull in the top left corner, obviously.
- Comment on Despair.jpeg 5 weeks ago:
One day, she’ll come back to we.
- Comment on Despair.jpeg 5 weeks ago:
She was either the love of my life, or a deceptive catfish trying to get half the Fediverse to join some discord. I’ll never forget that beautiful dab rig and depressed, yet available, stare in the five or so photos we all received. What a woman.
- Comment on Despair.jpeg 5 weeks ago:
Excuse me, but I think I speak for all of us when I say don’t talk about Nicole, the Fediverse chick from Poland/Toronto (F/29), that way! Half of us are betrothed to that woman. /s
- Comment on [deleted] 5 weeks ago:
These things do happen. I read an article less than a year ago about a lady who pretended to be a nurse and worked in a hospital for quite a while. She was only discovered when she was going to be promoted and they realized she wasn’t certified.
The CIA and international criminals use identify brokers to disappear. There are organized criminal groups that will create a fake identity and cultivate it to adulthood—opening bank accounts, renting apartments, and taking on fake jobs to produce a fully functional blank identity with a history that can be verified. Then, they sell that identity to the highest bidder.
The only reason they can’t be pirated is that they are difficult to produce and often case specific. Nobody is going to do all that work for free, and it requires you to either be willing to take the risk yourself, or to have the money and connections for an experienced criminal to do years of work for you.
Piracy is piracy because copies can be reused indefinitely without significant further cost to the person sharing it. If uploading Shrek took 18 years of work and cost 100k+ for a single use, it wouldn’t be widely available either.
- Comment on Is there a place online where I can buy a US 50 cent piece for like a buck or two dollars? Trying to learn the coin rolling thing across the knuckles. 1 month ago:
Have you tried a foreign money exchange? I exchange dollars for pesos a lot and they regularly have $2 bills and 50 cent pieces because they are considered a good luck gift in Mexico.
Apparently giving them to a little person is considered extra good luck there—no clue why. Apologies if I got something culturally incorrect, I’m just repeating what the dude at the counter told me once, and I’ve heard Wee Man talk about the phenomenon of getting loads of random money and head pats when he was shooting footage in Mexico.
- Comment on What would happen if the next President, said I want that ballroom destroyed and the White House put back like it was, and I want to use all Union members? And done in Six months? 1 month ago:
It’s not about resources, it’s about the resistance from the opposition. I think if they try to do everything at once, they’ll find a war on all sides from the republicans, but if they can focus their energy, they might stand a chance of getting something done.
- Comment on Your wife begging you to get a job but you have to explain to her that Nietzsche said whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself is a slave 1 month ago:
The S is for sleepy, I presume. /s
- Comment on What would happen if the next President, said I want that ballroom destroyed and the White House put back like it was, and I want to use all Union members? And done in Six months? 1 month ago:
Maybe they could do it or maybe they couldn’t, but the infighting about it would be insane. You’d have representatives talking about how it’s a waste of taxpayer money, others would say it is healing, if a republican president got elected next, they might just build it again.
Instead of the first person in office just deleting these 4 years physically, I’d much rather see them spend their energy to address reforms that would keep another bad actor like Trump from getting elected again.
Then, once we’ve closed the loopholes, money faucets, and propaganda machines, another well reasoned president down the line can work on the demolition project.
- Comment on Your wife begging you to get a job but you have to explain to her that Nietzsche said whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself is a slave 1 month ago:
I don’t think the sleeping time counts like you think it counts.
- Comment on Is it okay for a teenager to suck their thumb in public? 1 month ago:
Only during sex. /s
- Comment on me irl 1 month ago:
Classic SatansMaggotyCumFart.
- Comment on Green energy 1 month ago:
- Comment on sell me your company with five words 1 month ago:
We don’t pay any attention.
- Comment on Interesting problem 1 month ago:
I have heard before that they try to rehome those dogs with cops and former cops so that they can’t be used by drug smugglers to perfect their packing methods. No idea how true that is, but I doubt the veracity of this story.
- Comment on my year 1 month ago:
Yep. Taking long breaks and using vitamins is absolutely essential. It’s crazy that more people don’t know that in the culture.
