Planet America

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Meadmaker
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Re: Planet America

Post by Meadmaker »

Admin wrote: Mon May 20, 2024 7:18 pm The worldwide labour shortage in the service industry isn't new, though, so don't expect an improvement any time soon.
As long as everyone is working, then it's not such a bad thing. The fact that people don't want to work for a pittance serving me food is my problem, not theirs.....assuming that they're working somewhere else. I just find it odd, and a bit hard to believe, that there has been such a large demographic shift that there are no people willing to serve food at Red Robin.

I don't know what they are doing instead. There are lots of employers complaining they can't find people. The unemployment rate in the US is low. So...where are they working?
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Re: Planet America

Post by Admin »

It's the same pretty much everywhere and the only answer is they're working in other dead-end jobs.

We need a proper recessionary period to weed out the numbers of service industry companies and get back to something resembling normality.
stanky
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Re: Planet America

Post by stanky »

normality has left the arena.

in the U.S., 1 in 6 people are over 65.
in 1920, it was less than 1 in 20.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/ ... -grew.html

to me, this implies a relative shortage of young folk, of the sort that might work as a server.
also, the employment #'s here is pretty sketchy; how its derived. Some estimates are 20% unemployment...if we count people not looking for work.

the capitalism that brought us all these wonders and wealth has relied on continual economic growth...and now, we smacked up against the limits of that system...and unfortunately, we can't think of a new model. it's sacrilegious to even speak of this.
Meadmaker
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Re: Planet America

Post by Meadmaker »

stanky wrote: Tue May 21, 2024 11:44 pm to me, this implies a relative shortage of young folk, of the sort that might work as a server.
It might be as simple as that. The pandemic lockdowns forced it into a sudden shift instead of a more natural gradual shift. But maybe there are just fewer people available to fill bad jobs.

That's not a bad thing.
also, the employment #'s here is pretty sketchy; how its derived. Some estimates are 20% unemployment...if we count people not looking for work.
But that part has been true forever. All my life, in stories about recessions or weak economies, the newscasters point that out, and every time they do so they act like this is a new phenomenon, specific to this particular economy. "It's even worse than it looks." is just newsspeak. (pun intended)

However, no matter what the unemployment rate is, the real unemployment rate is higher. Nevertheless, when the unemployment rate is lower than average, it still means that more people are working than average.
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President Bush
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Re: Planet America

Post by President Bush »

MAGA Stands for ‘Make America Germany Around 1938'
-Stephen Colbert
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President Bush
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Re: Planet America

Post by President Bush »

May 23rd 2024

An american military veteran was killed in the street, presumed to pose a threat when he was exercising his right to carry a gun in public. You might expect America’s gun-rights advocates to demand justice for the dead man.

But here’s a bit of important context: when he was killed, that man, Garrett Foster, was marching in a Black Lives Matter (blm) protest in Austin, Texas, in July 2020. The person who shot him, Daniel Perry, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder. On May 16th Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Mr Perry, saying he acted in line with Texas’s “stand your ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force if they feel threatened.

More context is coming in a moment. To jump to the bottom line: whether or not you believe Mr Perry to be innocent, one lesson of this case, a bitter one, is that to be confident of getting justice under the law in Texas you must have political power. That is not just what Foster’s family has concluded. It is what the governor himself implied in voiding the conviction. He said Mr Perry was the victim of a district attorney who demonstrated “unethical and biased misuse of his office” in undertaking the prosecution.

In his proclamation justifying the pardon, Mr Abbott, a Republican, noted that Mr Perry was driving “on a public road” when he “encountered a group of protesters obstructing traffic” who pounded and kicked his car. He did not mention that witnesses testified under oath that Mr Perry accelerated into the protesters after running a red light. Mr Abbott said that Foster approached within 18 inches and “brandished a Kalashnikov-style rifle in the low-ready firing position”. He did not mention that Foster was acting legally, under Texas’s “permitless carry” law; or that Mr Perry initially said he “believed” Foster would aim at him, not that he did so; or that witnesses testified that Foster, who was 28 and accompanying his girlfriend, a quadruple amputee, kept his gun, a semi-automatic rifle, pointed down, not at Mr Perry, who drew a handgun and fired five times. According to the lead prosecutor, Foster’s gun was recovered with the safety catch on and no bullet in the chamber. Foster was white, as is Mr Perry.

The governor did not mention that in the weeks before the killing, as Mr Perry posted racist complaints on social media about blm (“like a bunch of monkeys flinging shit at a zoo”), he mused about killing rioters or looters. “I wonder if they will let my cut the ears off of people who’s decided to commit suicide by me,” he wrote, with the errata of the casual poster. He debated with a friend when such a shooting might be justified. “I will also repeatedly say I am in fear of my life,” he wrote, explaining how he would defend himself in such a case, as he later did.

In his proclamation, the governor noted that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended the pardon. Mr Abbott did not mention that the board acted unusually fast—not waiting for the appeals process—or that he had appointed all its members. He did not mention that he pledged to pardon Mr Perry the day after he was convicted, after Tucker Carlson, then a Fox News host, accused the governor of disregarding the right of self-defence.

Mr Abbott accused the district attorney, José Garza of Travis County, of directing an investigator to “withhold exculpatory evidence” from the grand jury that indicted Mr Perry. The governor did not mention that the judge in the case concluded that this accusation did not merit pursuing. But, then, like district attorneys, judges in Texas are elected, and Travis County includes the liberal city of Austin. The judge is a Democrat. Mark Jones, a professor at Rice University, says Mr Perry’s conviction was “in the most liberal county, overseen by a liberal Democratic judge, and overseen by the most progressive prosecutor in the state. Put all those things together, and that’s like waving a red flag in front of Republicans.”

Mr Abbott issued his pardon at a politically opportune moment, just before early voting began in Republican-primary run-offs in which he is pushing candidates who will support his legislative priorities. For their part, Democrats, who have not won statewide since 1994, have little political reason to make a fuss about the pardon. “​​The crossover voter is not necessarily wild about blm protesters,” Mr Jones says.

All the more reason the rule of law, and perceptions of justice, should stand apart from politics. Mr Perry was convicted by a jury of his peers, the bedrock unit of the American legal system. The jury weighed all this context, including Mr Perry’s claims. That also went unmentioned in Mr Abbott’s proclamation. But maybe Texans believe a Travis County jury cannot be fair, just as Donald Trump has insisted a New York jury considering his criminal case cannot be fair to him. Politics, and assumptions about politics, are seeping into every American institution, and so is cynicism about what chance ideals of fairness have against the realities of power.

“Isn’t worth it, bro”

Reading through the lengthy court record of Mr Perry’s toxic, sad social-media posts, one wonders, pointlessly, what might have happened if he and Foster had had a conversation. Both were military men: Mr Perry, then 33, was serving as an army sergeant at Fort Hood and driving for Uber that night in Austin to make ends meet. Foster was a libertarian, and Mr Perry also claimed to prize freedom. Mr Perry insisted he supported peaceful protest. He seemed, as a Jew, to feel particularly vulnerable to violence.

But probably a talk with Foster would have gone nowhere. Mr Perry’s family and friends pleaded with him on Facebook that summer to show more empathy, without much effect, or just to set politics aside. “Isn’t worth it, bro,” one friend counselled, urging him: “Go to a mountain to a river enjoy the rest of our life.”

At least in that moment, Mr Perry seemed to understand. “American politics are horrible,” he replied.

https://www.economist.com/united-states ... w-in-texas
Meadmaker
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Re: Planet America

Post by Meadmaker »

President Bush wrote: Thu May 23, 2024 10:56 pm
May 23rd 2024

An american military veteran was killed in the street, presumed to pose a threat when he was exercising his right to carry a gun in public. You might expect America’s gun-rights advocates to demand justice for the dead man.
.....


At least in that moment, Mr Perry seemed to understand. “American politics are horrible,” he replied.

https://www.economist.com/united-states ... w-in-texas
The Catholics are a little nutty, but they've been thinking about sin for 2000 years. They've figured some things out.


Trust me, it will make sense in a minute.


Anyway, Catholics have a thing they call "near occasions of sin". A near occasion of sin is a siutation or activity that is not inherently sinful, but which is very likely to lead to sin. People who wish to avoid sin and walk the path or righteousness should avoid near occasions of sin, for they create temptation which leads to actual sin. Moreover, going a little bit deeper, they talk about how those near occasions of sin don't just put you in a situation where sin can occur, but they create temptation which corrupts the mind and predisposes it to sin.

Carrying a gun is a near occasion of sin. It not only makes the sin of murder more accessible, it predisposes the mind toward murder. People who carry guns habitually fantasize about using those guns. I can't recall a better illustration of it than this case. Perry obviously imagined himself shooting people, and so, when an occasion presented itself, he went into the mode that he imagined so many times.

That's why we shouldn't allow people to wander about habitually carrying a gun. It's a near occasion of sin. It predisposes the mind to murder, and creates a situation where it is possible.


I was very surprised at the pardon. The theory has to be that a reasonable person would feel like his life was in danger in the presence of an armed individual. So far so good....except, they were both armed. Both had reason to fear. Obviously, Foster had reason to fear. He's dead. So, why pardon the guy who shot him? I just can't wrap my head around it.
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Re: Planet America

Post by Admin »

Meadmaker wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 2:21 amI just can't wrap my head around it.
Eh? Texas... nigger-lover protesting with niggers gets shot by a white bloke... it's a miracle he was ever found guilty, the pardon is obvious.
Meadmaker
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Re: Planet America

Post by Meadmaker »

Admin wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 3:30 am
Meadmaker wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 2:21 amI just can't wrap my head around it.
Eh? Texas... nigger-lover protesting with niggers gets shot by a white bloke... it's a miracle he was ever found guilty, the pardon is obvious.
Yeah....I was probably trying to read too much logic into it.
Meadmaker
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Re: Planet America

Post by Meadmaker »

Meanwhile, if you really want to find an All-American hobby, look at lawsuits.

Families of children killed in the Uvalde, Texas, massacre are suing, Facebook (i.e. Meta), the company that manufactures the AR 15, and the makers of "Call of Duty".


I don't see a courtroom victory in their future.


But I can't say I feel sorry for any of the plaintiffs, especially the manufacturer. It will be a nuissance to the defendants, but no more than that, and it's a small price to pay for what they do.
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