What is up with America?

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294345#Comment_119294345

Again, I'm not seeing you provide any evidence to prove you simply aren't, "concerned about all the shootings until you can score a point off one." So it must be a funny old game to you yes, this point scoring thing. Because I don't often see you mention Chicago, unless it's to score such points. For example, missed all your posts this past weekend about all the murders in Chicago.

Bit like when a black guy runs over a load of white people and its dismissed as a police chase

Yeah don't let facts get in the way of trying to pretend it was a planned act of terror. There's a thread for that - you must have disappeared, because I was still happy to argue the point if you were.

Like I said, politicians telling the victims just hours later, to "let's move on and celebrate America" isn't normal, shouldn't be normal, even if you'd like to argue shootings are normal. You can agree on that surely? I'll take you blithely ignoring this point as concurrence.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294369#Comment_119294369

It really is fun to see you try to stick to your playbook not matter what. "but what about you" deflections don't really work here.

I'm not the fella who got up on my soapbox about about 6 people being shot dead in a neck of the woods where mulitiple gun deaths every weekend are the norm. Entirely reasonable to question why you're so animated about this shooting and not the previous few hundred.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294356#Comment_119294356

Are you old enough to remember the time before social media giants managed to tie peoples real identity to their online persona? It was a much more relaxed time when people posted anonymously and didnt invest in their online presence as if it was their actual identity and social status

But yeah, poison is the cure 😂

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294498#Comment_119294498

Entirely reasonable to question why you're so animated about this shooting and not the previous few hundred.

I told you precisely why at least twice now: a politician took to social media hours after this mass shooting at a parade for Independence Day no less in a state he wanted to be the governor of and said "let's move on and celebrate freedom." All because he feared the possibility of political association to the shooter. I'm entirely confident this was the whole thrust of the post you decided to take gumption with, by trying to play the kettle calling the pot black for not talking about Chicago this past weekend.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119264506#Comment_119264506

Exactly.

This side of the pond has always viewed America and "Americans" as batshit crazy loons. "Only in America" would have been a regular saying when I was growing up and would be uttered at some of the extreme nonsense that came out of that country. And in addition, their war mongering has always been a topic of concern amongst people who'd label themselves both "left" and "right".

I've been there numerous times and like most Americans themselves, I have a love/hate relationship with it. It can be a great place to visit and even to stay a while. But stay too long and the sheen begins to wear off real quick, even in relatively sensible places like New York.

The west has certainly been aping the worst of its neo-liberal/libertarian (so called) values, that's for sure, and we will end up ruing the day we went down that particular road.

Many already are.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294537#Comment_119294537

Used to be my dream to move there.

Got a message on LinkedIn asking me if I'd be interested in applying for a research position at a hospital in Tennessee. Looked at the terms and it was heavily implied I'd be doing 6-day weeks as well as getting 10 days AL a year. No way. If I were in my early twenties, I'd have given it a go but now I just think I'd be trading down if I moved over there.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294559#Comment_119294559

TN is one of those "Beautiful but political shithole" states anyway.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294578#Comment_119294578

That it was in the south was a warning. Shame but I needs my AL for travelling. It was Nashville so seeing the home of Rock n Roll could have been cool but I can always visit for a few days.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294559#Comment_119294559

Had it in my head to move over permanently in my twenties as well. Happy I never pulled the trigger on that.

These days you couldn't pay me to live there.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294595#Comment_119294595

I've been there for a fraternal convention once, so we got to doing a pub crawl there in Nash'. It's a lively city, especially in the summer. Lots of music and fare. The city proper isn't very beautiful itself though, but you can find liquor, conveniences, bars & strip clubs, and much more importantly, White Castle burgers, all within a 1 mile radius. I also spent a lot of time listening to the local police scanners. Lively lively town. I think I'll get some of the same appalachian beauty up in Vermont, we've put a pin in Burlington. The whole bible belt feels like a lost cause now, we're outta here.

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294625#Comment_119294625

I'm in Portland Maine, not far from Burlington, been a few times. I found it very nice but I couldn't shake the feeling that's I'd be bored there. Just loads of white people eating ice cream and going on walks. Saying that Portland isn't much different but it has a bit of a coastal vibe and great restaurants for it's size. If you want to escape climate change, vermont is the ideal spot too.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119264437#Comment_119264437

You don't know much about American history if you are coming out with that.

America was built on racism, or at least a big chunk of it was.

First it was English screwing native Indian population, then white screwing black slaves and indians, then you had white screwing white depending on if you were a WASP or a Mick, Polak, Hebe, Dago, never mind if you were black or a chink.

They had the race laws until the 1960s in a huge chunk of the country that were more suitable to South African regime.

The first Catholic president did not appear until 1961 and there has only be two since then.

The racism never really went away and some have recently chosen to channel racism as a way to get power and it is from both sides.

The place has always been built on this American dream shytology and they have always had the extreme rich and the poor.

They still feed the American dream mullarkey to keep the average joes/annes and the poor from copping on to the fact the deck is rigged.

Yeah there are still the few rags to riches story, but they are getting fewer and fewer now when there is no land to be stolen, no resources to be plundered from the natives, no underclasses to screw.

America has been somewhat successful in getting all the various diverse groups, races, religions to co-exist somewhat for so long, but the strain is showing.

Getting everyone falling into line clasping the flag, really believing the national anthem, chanting USA, USA has worked to a degree and it has definitely been easier for some that can blend in more easily due to race, but the cracks are really showing.

And it isn't just the obvious black, white, yellow lines, but religion and location as well.

Places like New York, California are so far removed from some places in some other states it might as well be a totally different country.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294657#Comment_119294657

Boredom might be welcoming. I am done with all the division down here, the south is lost and all the theocrats are rolling up their sleeves from the governors to the district reps saying 'we're just getting started' after SCOTUS ripped the mask off. And the national dems are MIA: Jeff Duncan is running unopposed, he's Marjorie Taylor Greene's mentor. And I sure as hell wouldn't feel safe running as an independent (and frankly Americans deserve lawmakers with law degrees), I've already been issued multiple death and violence threats over the years just for dissenting on Duncan's social media. Not that anyone should have to even run opposed to him: this will be his 7th term in office and he once pledged to support a 3-term limit. It's a joke. There aren't even moderate Republicans in the area to primary him. These hills are chock full of Good Old Boys.

Holidayed one september dozens of moons ago in Moody Beach. Ongunquit was such a peaceful little town, I could have died there with a cup of cider in hand.

jmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119264514#Comment_119264514

They invented the shyte.

They invented the "spell it out to the thickos" user instructions all because some idiot might sue because they were so thick they hurt themselves or someone else.

They have invented all this gender crapology, all this inclusivity crapology and yet they are still very exclusive, very much the ones who should be guilty for the cr** they have perpetrated on others both at home and overseas.

Worse still idiots here are buying into their shyte with cr** like about white privilege and white guilt.

Fook off with that shyte.

My family didn't come from a line of slave owners, weren't members of the KKK, didn't make our fortune from the human misery of someone else who happened to be of a different skin colour.

So fook right off with that American shyte.

A European golfer remarked a few years ago how his American tour American colleagues tended to only have friends that were the same social group, social class, country club membership class whereas his fellow European players tended to be mates with a wider social and professional class of people.

He got a lot of stick for calling out the truth.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119275491#Comment_119275491

Ahhh FFS talk about hyperbole.

It this modern absolute shyte that everything nowadays is equivalent to Nazi Germany.

Read a fooking history book FFS and if you can't be bothered reading a book you can even watch documentaries on TV or on youtube and maybe learn what nazism was all about before you come out with the usual trite shyte.

When the Americans start closing up shops or confiscating the shops of certain races or religions, when they start euthanizing people who happen to be different then come back to us.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119275491#Comment_119275491

Nobody else gets killed of course

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294805#Comment_119294805

When the Americans start closing up shops or confiscating the shops of certain races or religions, when they start euthanizing people who happen to be different then come back to us.

You do know we've done ALL of that before right?

Overheal

BTW @Dyr , Lori Lightfoot is not helping I think we'd agree.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/lori-lightfoot-decries-toxicity-in-our-public-discourse-one-week-after-saying-fck-clarence-thomas/

NSAman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119295398#Comment_119295398

Lori is the worst mayor Chicago has ever had. The police hate her, the city officials hate her, the firemen hate her, rude, entitled black lesbian..... amazing what electing the minority candidate does to a city.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119295785#Comment_119295785

What does her being black or lesbian have to do with being a **** person?

Being a **** person isn't owned by black lesbians.

...

This was a shooting Red Flag laws could prevent, in case anyone was interested.

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1544423352898670592?s=20&t=JLwB7BsDt8M43cdrnYbmNw

whippet

I've been travelling around the US for the last month ... down the west coast and a bit around the east coast.

to me it is a broken society .. everything is political and to make it worse there is only two political views - Rep or Dem and it is almost inconceivable to have a view in between.

San Fran has become a total cesspit ... and everyone is blaming the super liberals ... the whole city smells of weed and it is filthy. I'd never go back as it has nothing to offer.

you can't go in to a bar anywhere without someone mentioning politics and not in a conversational way .. more about announcing their own affiliation / bias

the fact that Fox News is even on the air is scary ... I watched a bit of Tucker Carlson and Hannaty one evening and it's like a parody of what we think biased media is, while CNN needs to be overtly liberal to even try strike a balance.

this morning on the news the three main headlines were about multiple/mass shootings from the day before ... it's almost as if as a society they are numbed to submission.

walking around NYC and the unmarked vans full of SWAT / Anti-terror personnel armed to the teeth are everywhere .. it's a society living on the edge and suspicious of everyone.

it's been 5 years since I was last in NYC and like San Fran it has become even dirtier and intimidating than before.

ive been a regular visitor over the last 25 years ... and I'll be in no rush to go back

NSAman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296036#Comment_119296036

It’s the identity politics coming to the fore again. Nothing wrong with being black or a lesbian..nothing at all… but add in political ambition and it brings the candidate to the top of the pile… especially in Chicago.

God knows Chiraq was run into the ground by the Irish mafia for years, that has now changed.

i hate politics especially in the States, friends have worked with her in the past and before I ever heard of her were dissing her for her behaviour…says it all really. She has destroyed Chicago.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296219#Comment_119296219

Then you would just need to say, 'this person destroyed Chicago' I don't know why you'd need to be the one bringing the identity politics to the fore at all.

NSAman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296242#Comment_119296242

Why ignore the obvious? The woman was not qualified or of the proper behaviour to represent Chicago on a local and international level. Why was she chosen by the party? Think it’s obvious! There are MANY other candidates who would have been far superior.

and don’t get me started on Pritzker…the man is a disaster! Money CAN buy you votes…but doesn’t stop you being useless!

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296394#Comment_119296394

Well if it’s “the obvious” I’m a bit confused why you’d bemoan identity politics then if you’re so fluent with identity politics being “the obvious”

NSAman

Pperhaps it’s because I have many friends in Chicago who live in those circles. Personally, I moved out, due to the crime, the crazy taxes of crook county and the sheer disaster that is Chicago. When a business partner gets shot for $10, the mayor states no one should be chased by police and there is a revolving door policy with criminals… yet she wants her house patrolled 24/7? Hypocrisy much?

Chicago is fecked. As is illinois. No amount of $50 checks to those earning less than 200k a year or tax holidays on groceries will make people stay.

when your friends (die hard dems) are openly criticising the party you know it’s wrong!

needless to say, Chicago and illinois like many large American cities/states are loosing people hand over fist.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296101#Comment_119296101

Stop going to SFO and NYC. There are plenty other big cities, most of which are far less likely to turn you off as a tourist. Boston, New Orleans, San Antonio...

riclad

America is being taken over by extreme Conservative republicans, it seems every 3 days there's a mass shooting. They need to ban assault rifles, bring in proper red flag laws, make it so you can only buy a gun if over 21. Meanwhile the supreme Court is taken over by religious weirdos, they will probably make it that only married people can buy contraceptives, and maybe outlaw gay marriage in red states. The separation of church state will be gone. Religious schools can demand to be funded by the government the next step is to attack public schools where everyone is equal and no public prayer is allowed red states will be like Ireland in the 80s , the church will have the power to discriminate against minoritys and the local governments can ban abortion maybe even ban iuds and other forms of contraception

There's no good reason why people need to buy military style rifles people are moving. To Texas and some red states because taxs are low.

NYC has a giant budget for police funding

Meanwhile some states are running out of water as the weather is becoming hotter with more fires

Meanwhile the democratic party is disorganised and turning off voters by its obsession with crt race theory its sad to see America becoming a state controlled by religious extremists who wish to go back to the 50s, and attacking the rights of minoritys women and non Christians like Jews it's becoming hard for ordinary working people to buy a house as prices rise go to sanfran Los Angeles there's 1000s of people living in tents

It may be OK if you are a middle class white person in a high salary

Young women. Are avoiding going to red states for college as abortion. Becomes illegal

It's becoming a very divided society with extreme Politicans getting elected who wish to take away people's rights

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296101#Comment_119296101

Was in San Francisco about 10 years ago. I saw nothing "liberal" about it TBH. Walking down Market Street, the place screamed out the worst of American capitalism. You had guys waltzing around in 20 grand suits and old ladies dipping in bins for last nights pizza. The homeless are, literally, on every street corner and a lot of them are riddled with mental issues. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if a large number of them ended up there because they were bankrupted due to medical bills.

I'll never go back to San Francisco. Horrible bloody place.

As for their "news", that's just selling a product to a particular audience these days. There was a time, I'm sure, when American TV news actually reported events. That time has long since passed and now it's more about feeding and retaining a type of viewer because there's money in telling them what they want to hear. But, you're right about the likes of Fox News. That type of shite exists to feed cunts in the peanut gallery. The absolute worst of society who'll row in behind the likes of Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro or Bill O'Reilly. Abhorrent fuckers. But Fox aren't alone, there's other channels of this type, like Newsmax. They basically exist to disseminate propaganda.

Last time I was in America was 2016 and, like yourself, I'm not in any hurry to head back over.

lawred2

Why do liberalism and socialism get conflated all the time?

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296036#Comment_119296036

This was a shooting Red Flag laws could prevent, in case anyone was interested.

I doubt red flag laws would have prevented it. Red flag laws might stop a 'spur of the moment' shooting but this guy planned his attack. If he was intent on doing harm, he'd get a gun from somewhere.

That said, I'm still in favour of red flag laws.