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OT: American Politics

CH1 said:
As a maverick candidate outside the establishment, Trump's entire presidency has been an opportunity to cut bi-partisan deals and "drain the swamp". Hasn't done squat. Will continue to mail it in.
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He’s a useless, venal baboon. The only thing he cares about is saving his crime syndicate family from an ignominious end.
 
Can't wait to read this:

DWKbzJDVoAAGl2e.jpg:large
 
In case everyone missed it, the Dems gave Trump his wall, and Trump and the GOP still rejected it.
 
MindzEye said:
Another story about trump cheating on the wife in 06 has come out
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fun.

I'm still trying to sort out in my head what his lawyer was trying to accomplish by saying he paid Stormy out of his own pocket. I think he ****ed himself real good.
 
http://nationalpost.com/news/canada...aws-have-stopped-americas-worst-mass-shooters

Interesting look on how if America had Canadas gun laws how many people wouldn't be dead right now.

Virtually every gun used in an American mass shooting is legally available for purchase in Canada. Despite this, Canada doesn’t come close to suffering the same rate of mass shootings as the United States.

Whenever Americans discuss gun control, it’s only natural that they look to the policies of their much less bullet-riddled northern neighbour. But even Canadian law can only do so much.

Below, an analysis of just what Canadian firearms policies could have done to stop some of America’s worst mass shootings.

First, some basics

Nobody legally buys a gun in Canada without first taking the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. Then, they have to submit an application for a Personal Acquisition License (PAL), where they’re screened by the RCMP for risk factors such as criminal history and mental health. All of the shootings in this list involve what Canada classifies as “restricted firearms”: Handguns and many types of semi-automatic rifles that can only be legally owned for the purposes of target shooting. With very few exceptions, private firearms are not sold as “weapons” in Canada. The only legal reason for owning a firearm in Canada is as a tool to kill animals or as a piece of sporting equipment to shoot paper targets. This is in sharp contrast to the United States, where gun ownership is closely correlated with self-defence.
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Columbine High School massacre (1999)

Victims: 13 killed
Could it have happened in Canada? Likely not.

There were four firearms used in the massacre: An Intratec TEC-DC9 semiautomatic pistol, a Hi-Point 9mm Carbine, Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, and a Savage 311-D 12-gauge shotgun. The semi-automatic pistol is prohibited in Canada, which means it cannot be legally owned except under special conditions. Nevertheless, it’s still possible to buy restricted firearms in Canada that have the same capability as a TEC-DC9, albeit with a smaller magazine. At first glance, gun laws would seem to be a moot point in the Columbine massacre because the shooters obtained their guns illegally from friends. Notably, the man who sold them the TEC-DC9 was later convicted and jailed for selling a handgun to minors. However, before they were given to Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, all four firearms were originally purchased anonymously from unlicensed sellers at Colorado gun shows. These types of sales are not permitted in Canada.
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Virginia Tech massacre (2007)

Victims: 32 killed, excluding perpetrator
Could it have happened in Canada? Likely not.

This shooting involved two handguns; a Walther P22 and a Glock 19. Both guns are available as restricted firearms in Canada, and it wouldn’t be too difficult for a licence-holder to buy sufficient quantities of ammunition. But shooter Seung-Hui Cho showed a clear history of mental illness, including diagnoses of severe anxiety disorder and severe depressive disorder. As a student at Virginia Tech, he often submitted course work that contained explicit references to violence. It is reasonable to assume these would have made him ineligible for a PAL. The Canadian screening process is not airtight, of course. Filing a PAL is much like submitting a tax return: A criminal can simply lie and cross their fingers that nobody notices. Organized crime already knows this, which is why Canada has a documented problem with “straw man” purchases: A criminal successfully obtains a restricted PAL and proceeds to buy up scores of handguns for distribution to criminal networks. Notably, of 402,138 new or renewed PALs granted in 2016, only 336 were rejected due to factors that would have described Cho
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Fort Hood shooting (2009)

Victims: 13 killed
Could it have happened in Canada? Maybe not.

The Fort Hood shooting was perpetrated with a single semi-automatic handgun with a magazine capacity of 30 rounds. Semiautomatic handguns with the same firepower are available in Canada, albeit with magazines containing a maximum of 10 rounds. The shooter, army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, had been investigated by federal authorities for links to terrorism. This would likely be enough for the RCMP to restrict his ability to possess restricted firearms. However, Hasan was in the military, which may have opened up avenues to obtaining firearms illegally. Notably, a 1984 mass shooting attack on Quebec’s National Assembly was conducted with stolen military firearms. Cpl. Denis Lortie, a Canadian Armed Forces supply technician, killed three people using two C-1 machine guns stolen from CFS Carp, site of the so-called Diefenbunker. The military has since reformed their weapons-handling protocols.
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Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (2012)

Victims: 26 at school, excluding shooter
Could it have happened in Canada? Maybe.

Shooter Adam Lanza had an established history of mental illness, in addition to a diagnosis for Asperger’s syndrome. This, coupled with Lanza’s extreme withdrawal from society, makes it extremely unlikely he would even decide to undergo the PAL screening process. However, the shooting was perpetrated entirely with firearms taken from the collection of his mother, an avid firearms enthusiast. The two guns used in the massacre, the Bushmaster XM-15 and a .22-caliber Savage Mark II rifle, are sold in Canada and would not be out of place in any respectable gun collection. However, if she were in Canada, Lanza’s mother would have been required to store her firearms in such a way that they were inaccessible to her son, whose age at death was 20. This isn’t the case in Connecticut, where there is nothing inherently illegal in storing loaded firearms within easy reach of an unlicensed co-habitant. Lanza also would have had a much lower rate of fire if he had been in Canada. The Bushmaster used by Lanza was equipped with 30-round magazines. In Canada, where semi-automatic rifle magazines are limited to five rounds, Lanza would have needed to reload six times as often during the massacre.
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Aurora, Colorado theatre shooting (2012)


Victims: 12
Could it have happened in Canada? Likely not.

The three guns used to attack cinema-goers at a screening of The Dark Knight were a Smith & Wesson variant of an AR-15, a Remington 12-gauge 870 shotgun and a 40-caliber Glock handgun. All of these firearms are available for legal purchase in Canada. Shooter James Holmes had no criminal record but he was extremely withdrawn, anxious and told his psychiatrist that he had a preoccupation with killing others. It’s unlikely he would qualify to pass the PAL screening process, or even tried. One hard-to-quantify effect of Canadian firearms screening is how many unstable individuals simply never bother to apply. The application form asks applicants to specify their conjugal status, for instance, and implies that police will be calling up exes. “Anyone with an angry ex isn’t going to get a (possession licence) for example,”one firearms instructor told the National Post. Canada has anonymous hotlines by which friends or neighbours can call a Canadian’s firearms licence into question. Canadian Firearms Safety Course instructors are also told by RCMP to report any students in their classes who seem suspicious. A bit Orwellian, perhaps, but it’s one of several ways in which Canada is able collar the kinds of would-be mass murderers with clean criminal records that U.S. law finds so hard to stop.
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Orlando nightclub shooting (2016)

Victims: 49 killed
Could it have happened in Canada? Maybe not.

The Sig Sauer .223 and Glock 17 used in the shooting are available in Canada, albeit with reduced magazine capacities. Shooter Omar Mateen also held a Florida Statewide Class G Firearms License for his work as a security guard, which requires attending a safety course. However, Mateen had previously been investigated for connections to terrorism, which in Canada should have sunk his PAL application. It’s also worth noting that Mateen only became a gun owner a week before the attack. In Canada, becoming a gun owner takes between two and eight months — far too long for an impatient ISIS-inspired mass murderer. Of course it’s always possible that if a shooter is planning an illegal act, they can simply obtain an illegal firearm. But it’s worth contrasting the Orlando shooting with Canada’s own worst example of a lone wolf Islamist shooting attack. When Michael Zehaf-Bibeau decided to storm parliament, the best illegal gun he could obtain was a lever-action Winchester that reloads about as slow as a revolver. This made it dramatically easier for law enforcement to shoot and kill Bibeau soon after he was inside parliament’s Centre Block.
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Las Vegas shooting (2017)

Victims: 58 killed, excluding shooter
Could it have happened in Canada? Probably.

Canadian gun laws may have proved particularly powerless to stop the United States’ deadliest mass shooting. Perpetrator Stephen Paddock had no criminal record, no history of mental illness and investigators have still not found a single scrap of evidence that he was contemplating or planning a mass shooting. In the 12 months before the massacre, Paddock legally purchased 55 firearms as well as a variety of bump stocks, an accessory that speeds up the firing rate of a semiautomatic rifle. Throughout, he took calculated steps to evade suspicion and complicate any subsequent investigation of the crime. For a criminal as dedicated to mass murder as Paddock, it’s reasonable to assume that Canadian screening would have provided an obstacle, but not a barrier. The only real difference in Canada would be that Paddock’s arsenal would have had a much lower rate of fire: No bump stocks and much smaller magazines. For an experienced shooter, however, these technical limitations can ultimately make very little difference.
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Sutherland Springs church shooting (2017)

Victims: 26 killed, excluding shooter
Could it have happened in Canada? No.

Shooter Devin Kelley was found guilty of domestic assault in a 2012 U.S. Air Force court martial. In Canada, this type of conviction would immediately strip him of any ability to purchase and own firearms. Indeed, it should have done so in the United States, but the military neglected to pass details of his conviction to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Investigation Services Division, where it should have turned up in a background check. A weakness of U.S. gun laws is that they’re overseen by a patchwork of law enforcement agencies. In Canada, all gun owners are uniformly monitored by the RCMP. And as most Canadian gun owners would agree, the Mounties require very few excuses to suspend a firearms licence. Uniformed police themselves are routinely written up for minor firearms charges, and one firearms instructor contacted by the Post told of a student who had his licence suspended simply for being at a party where an assault had occurred.
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Victims: 17
Could it have happened in Canada? Maybe not.

Shooter Nikolas Cruz did not have a criminal record at the time he purchased his firearms. However, Cruz has such a lengthy history of threatening behaviour that nobody who knew him has been particularly surprised at the events of this week. Cruz’s social media posts were particularly explicit about his wishes to become a school shooter and the FBI had been alerted to his behaviour. In Florida, even if authorities were aware of Cruz’s risk factors, none of it would have been a barrier to him acquiring a firearm. But in Canada, if PAL screeners find out, it’s plenty evidence to deny an application. Another factor in Canada is that law enforcement requires much less evidence to place citizens under a peace bond that can deny their access to weapons. In the U.S., this generally requires a conviction, which isn’t any help when so many mass shooters (including everyone on this list) do not have prior criminal records. There’s still no guarantee that Canada could have stopped a devoted school shooter such as Cruz, of course, but many more things would have needed to go wrong for it to happen.
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TL;DR

Columbine, prevented.

Virginia Tech, prevented.

Fort Hood, maybe

Sandy Hook, maybe

Aurora, Colorado theatre shooting, prevented

Orlando nightclub shooting, prevented

Las Vegas shooting, not prevented

Sutherland Springs church shooting, prevented

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prevented.

Fix your shit America.
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

Some Patrick Brown updates:

The PC party has released an audio recording of Patrick Brown agreeing to step down, I suppose in an attempt to tamp down any efforts by Brown to claim he hasn't resigned.

He has also been booted out of the PC caucus.
 
Josh Lederman @joshledermanAP
26s
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel's office charges 13 Russian nationals, 3 Russian entities with interfering in US political process

Reuters Top News @Reuters
1m
MORE: Defendants posed as Americans and created false online personas and social media pages; some defendants traveled to U.S., used some U.S.-based computer infrastructure to hide Russian origin of activities - indictment

Manu Raju @mkraju
INDICTMENT NEWS: Russians posted "derogatory information about a number of candidates" and by mid-2016, they SUPPORTED Trump and disparaged Clinton. They bought ads and COMMUNICATED with "unwitting" people tied to Trump campaign and others to COORDINATE political activities

Daniel Dale @ddale8
2m
The prosecutors allege the Russians were advised by "a real US person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization" to "focus their activities on 'purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida.'"
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

turning into way too much of a sideshow, they had to cut bait.

at this point though, I cannot imagine he will go away quietly.
 
zeke said:
Josh Lederman @joshledermanAP
26s
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel's office charges 13 Russian nationals, 3 Russian entities with interfering in US political process

Reuters Top News @Reuters
1m
MORE: Defendants posed as Americans and created false online personas and social media pages; some defendants traveled to U.S., used some U.S.-based computer infrastructure to hide Russian origin of activities - indictment

Manu Raju @mkraju
INDICTMENT NEWS: Russians posted "derogatory information about a number of candidates" and by mid-2016, they SUPPORTED Trump and disparaged Clinton. They bought ads and COMMUNICATED with "unwitting" people tied to Trump campaign and others to COORDINATE political activities

Daniel Dale @ddale8
2m
The prosecutors allege the Russians were advised by "a real US person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization" to "focus their activities on 'purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida.'"
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Fake news
 
zeke said:
Josh Lederman @joshledermanAP
26s
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel's office charges 13 Russian nationals, 3 Russian entities with interfering in US political process

Reuters Top News @Reuters
1m
MORE: Defendants posed as Americans and created false online personas and social media pages; some defendants traveled to U.S., used some U.S.-based computer infrastructure to hide Russian origin of activities - indictment

Manu Raju @mkraju
INDICTMENT NEWS: Russians posted "derogatory information about a number of candidates" and by mid-2016, they SUPPORTED Trump and disparaged Clinton. They bought ads and COMMUNICATED with "unwitting" people tied to Trump campaign and others to COORDINATE political activities

Daniel Dale @ddale8
2m
The prosecutors allege the Russians were advised by "a real US person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization" to "focus their activities on 'purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida.'"
Click to expand...


There's the out for collusion/conspiracy.
 
Bradley P. Moss @BradMossEsq
8m
The Russians will never allow for the extradition of their people listed in this indictment. This is a public statement by Mueller that this isn’t a witch hunt and that there was Russian interference.
 
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