Posts filed under “Current Affairs”
Interesting war of words between Texas governor Rick Perry and SacBee’s cartoonist Jack Ohman. Perry is demanding the cartonist be fired for his insensitivity to the deaths at the fertilizer plant.
Ohman responded: “When you have a politician traveling across the country selling a state with low regulatory capacity, that politician also has to be accountable for what happens when that lack of regulation proves to be fatal.”
Source: SacBee’s Jack Ohman won’t apologize for Texas explosion cartoon (Poynter)
Category: Current Affairs, Humor, Regulation
There is nothing to say while we are all transfixed by the live real time manhunt playing out before our eyes. Back soon . . .
Category: Current Affairs
There is nothing to say while we are all transfixed by the live real time manhunt playing out before our eyes. Back soon . . .
Category: Current Affairs
Source: ProPublica • 31 Senate Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States (Think Progress) • 37 Congressional Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States (Think Progress)
Category: Current Affairs, Digital Media
Source: Google As you can see from above, this years flu is a big problem . . .
Category: Current Affairs, Web/Tech
I have been having fun mocking friends and family on both sides of the political aisle. GOP colleagues who keep telling me BHO is a Socialist, while Dems think he is the next JFK. I enjoy disabusing them of their political biases by explaining to them Barack Obama’s actual politics. Politically, he is a modern…Read More
Category: Current Affairs, Philosophy, Politics
This map displays the casualties and fatalities in school shootings in the US from 1997-2012. It is based on data drawn from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. This is not a great chart — the size of the circles creates a perceptual problem (each school shooting doesnt cover a 200 square…Read More
Category: Current Affairs, Digital Media
The latest gun news has started a dialogue on the subject, and hopefully it will have a healthy resolution.
I have been having discussions with numerous friends, including a large number of (lawful) gun owners. My view is that having a firearm in your home is both a right and a privilege. Personally, I would treat all guns like cars and all owners like drivers — we should register every gun like an automobile, and license and insure each owner like we do drivers.
There are other issues worth discussing — what to do about all of the illegal guns in the US, how to deal with automatic weapons with high bullet count clips. There is also an issue with how poorly we seem to be coping with mental health problems in America.
That seems to be is a rational place to begin the conversation.
But a few things perplex me about this: Why are gun-related death rates in the US so much higher than in similar countries — i.e., economically successful democracies?
When we look at fire-arm related deaths per capita, the US is far ahead of other, similar nations. The United States has 10.2 gun deaths per 100,000 people. That is about 8X the death rate of comparable countries (list after the jump) — and please do not compare the USA to El Salvador, Swaziland or Mexico. We rank 9th overall, and are the 1st modern or weatern nation on the list.
I know the USA is culturally different, and a much younger nation versus most of Europe or Japan.
Still, the difference is perplexing . . .
Category: Current Affairs
@TBPInvictus here: I’ve got no charts, graphs, tables or economic analysis to offer with this post, so please forgive me and move along if that’s what you were looking for. I’ve been simmering as I absorbed some of the commentary proffered by the right on the recent Newtown shooting. The self-exoneration speech by the NRA’s…Read More
Category: Current Affairs, Politics
