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Mexico is the only nation other than China that owns panda bears. It turns out that the Chinese government gifted some pandas to Mexico and against all odds the bears not only survived but also successfully reproduced.
Since Trump's so stupidly self-destructive, why NOT be cute about it?
Wealth destruction is underway! Time to have fun, ev'erbuddy!
Crid
at March 7, 2018 6:07 AM
Because we already know more about his sexual incontinence than we wanna know.
If you wanna know why the Christian right and many conservatives give 0 fucks about this, it's because
the Dems and Billy Jeff Clinton taught us that it's just sex and nunna business.
I R A Darth Aggie
at March 7, 2018 6:23 AM
I'm not sure what to make of this. Italy has been an economic basket case for as long as I can remember, so I've long been in the habit of generally ignoring news from there. But, as we're seeing in other places in Europe, now the political alignments that have held since the end of WWII are breaking up, and Muslim immigration is working its way up to being the #1 issue.
"Of the 21 female students, 14 expressed a strong dedication to social responsibility. Half of those students eventually switched majors upon realizing they wanted to pursue fields they felt had more to do with helping people." ~ from Darth's link at March 7, 2018 7:49 AM
"...wanted to pursue fields they felt had more to do with helping people."
I'm reading a a book on the history of Polio and am reminded that in those earlier times engineers and scientists were considered to be on the front lines of helping people and society, and regarded as heroes for doing so.
These were the people who cured disease and built the things that made life better. Now, building things and curing diseases are not "helping" people the way that agitating, social work, and "community organizing" are.
Perhaps it's because those are easier fields to get into. Perhaps it's because our "diseases" today consist of things like restless leg syndrome and erectile disfunction, whereas Jonas Salk, Albert Sabine, and Louis Pasteur got to cure deadly diseases that had a direct impact on most people's lives, not just those living with the heartbreak of psoriasis.
Perhaps it's because people like Jonas Salk got publicity, and the lion's share of the collective credit, whereas today's medical breakthroughs are owned by corporations, foundations, and universities. Although, even then, working to cure a disease solely to profit off the cure was considered bad form and looked down upon.
Inventors, scientists, and engineers were celebrities. Writers, artists, political figures, and celebrities flocked to Nikola Tesla's lab to see what was on the slab. Scientists like George Washington Carver were feted by kings and emperors. Industrialists whose companies changed the world were regarded as a social benefit, and not as "robber barons."
In addition, there was an optimism in the '20s and '50s that does not exist today, that life would be better in the long run, that disease could be cured and limits could be overcome.
"...They expect to come into the workforce after years of being unemployed and to be hired over recent college graduates who spent their four years at university padding their resume by getting real-world experience in their desired field and desperately need a job in order to pay off the five or six figures of college debt. But then when their kids are college graduates struggling to find work, they would scream unholy hell if some SAHMoo got a job over their precious children.
"Some comments mentioned that the employer should think of the possibility that the former SAHBreeder is now a widow(er) or divorced and I'm like, that's something you should have thought of before even getting married, let alone having kids. It's not the employer's job to save you from your own lack of foresight and planning. They act like that's so impossible, but my parents fucking did. Whenever I talk with my mom, I'm amazed and pleased at the amount of planning she and my father did before even attempting to conceive. Because of their planning, my sister and I were raised in comfort and security that didn't change when my father suddenly died when I was 13. My mom, in her words, didn't get a Ph.D. to become a SAHM. In fact, she made more money than my dad. So we didn't have to move or drastically change our lifestyle and she was still able to retire on time. So I don't buy the crap breeders nowadays espouse that it's impossible to plan."
lenona
at March 7, 2018 10:14 AM
Lenona, Your nasty, anti child, totalitarian slip is showing.
You had better pull your skirt down before the few on this board who haven't recognized what you are, see it.
Isab
at March 7, 2018 11:07 AM
The future belongs to those who show up.
Snoopy
at March 7, 2018 11:45 AM
Was listening to the radio and they started talking about mass shootings
I am so sick of morons proposing "common sense" gun legislation 'like Australia'
Here are the crime stats from the Australian government itself
I couldnt find anything that published numbers newer than 2012 on the governments site, if anyone can I'd appreciate the link
Homicides: in 1996 the first year of the ban were 354
1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 homicides were HIGHER. In 1999 it spikes to its highest a ten percent increase. Not until 2003 did the homicide rate permanently drop below the pre ban levels
Assaults: in 1996 - 114,156
The number rose and reached an increase of 54% in 2007. As of their last published numbers (2012) assaults have NOT dropped below the pre ban numbers
Sexual assault: in 1996 - 14,542
The number rose and reached an increase of 37% in 2008. As of their last published numbers (2012) sexual assaults have NOT dropped below the pre ban numbers
Robbery: in 1996 - 16,372
Robbery jumped 30% the very next year. Crime rose 62% by 2001, and did not drop to pre ban level until 2008
Kidnappings: in 1996 - 478
Jumped 17% the next year, peaked at a 65% increase by 2008 and as of the release of this report (2012) have not dropped below pre ban numbers
They list three categories for property crime (I have no idea what they mean) in 1996:
UEWI - 402,079 up 10% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2002
MVT - 122,914 up 14% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2002
Other - 521,762 up 34% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2005
The Australian gun ban resulted in crime rates rising in nearly every category for at least five years if not a solid decade, and in some categories the crime rates have not dropped back to where they were before the gun ban
They expect to come into the workforce after years of being unemployed and to be hired over recent college graduates who spent their four years at university padding their resume by getting real-world experience in their desired field and desperately need a job in order to pay off the five or six figures of college debt.
I have questions:
who shows up on time?
who is more likely to be courteous and respectful of others?
who is willing to bust their ass to show their worth?
who is more likely to write an open letter to their boss demanding more pay?
This is the advice I have will continue to give to young people about work:
show up on time
if you know you're going to be late, call your supervisor
do the work you are assigned
do that work as cheerfully as you can
be polite
look busy, even if you're not
find things to do
If the Powers that Be are worth their salt, they'll notice your effort, and you will be rewarded. If not, contemplate your next employment opportunity, since it will come sooner than later, mostly because you'll want to work for people will notice your effort and reward you appropriately.
I R A Darth Aggie
at March 7, 2018 12:45 PM
"...some SAHMoo...."
Um.
Wonder how some of these commenters would feel about their own mother being denied a job based on caustic and dismissive attitudes like the ones being displayed there toward SAHMs re-entering the workforce. Or are they paying for widowed and unemployed Mom out of their own pockets?
As for padding resumes, who doesn't? Do you really think that receptionist Jenny was a "director" of first impressions? Or that Pete really has "advanced" Excel skills because he knows what a pivot table is and may have used one once?
And no, a SAHM is not a "medical director" because she scheduled Little Jimmy's appointments for his disability. But neither is she unemployable. She's older, so probably more reliable than a Millennial in a job that does not promise immediate and un-ending gratification.
She's probably not too tech savvy, so there goes having her reprogram the company servers, like these commenters would have you believe a Millennial social science grad could do on his lunch hour. On the other hand, she won't spend half her day on Facebook or SnapChat and has probably met a deadline or two.
By the way, paragon schnitzophonic, college does not give graduates "real world experience in their desired field." So, cut the holier than thou crap.
And one more thing, paragon schnitzophonic, it happens that it's also "not the employer's job to save you from your own lack of foresight and planning" when you burden yourself with massive student loan debit to get a degree in a low demand major - especially if a SAHM with the desired skills is also applying for the job.
Conan the Grammarian
at March 7, 2018 12:45 PM
I am so sick of morons proposing "common sense" gun legislation 'like Australia'
The question to ask them is this: who's going to go door to door and confiscate firearms? odds are they want to send someone else's child/parent/brother/sister/cousin to do that dirty work.
I R A Darth Aggie
at March 7, 2018 12:48 PM
Ah leaky CIA thinks it can redact leaked memos after the fact.
The CIA argued it had every right to hand out classified info to whoever it saw fit and then turn around and refuse to hand it over when an FOIA requester requested it. It said the classified info it gave to journalists was never published by those journalists, so it was technically not a public release. The judge shot back, stating that the CIA had effectively waived its right to withhold this information by handing it out to journalists in the first place.
For another, despite the country's geographic security today, at one time the US bordered hostile French and Indians on one side, hostile British on another, and hostile Spanish on the third side. Having a population immediately draft-able into a militia (i.e., armed and skilled in the use of those arms) was a necessity. So, the second amendment was not a sop to hunters and gun nuts, but a necessary provision of citizenship, like jury duty.
Our culture is not as homogenous, our history is filled with much a more violent struggle against more advanced aboriginal peoples, and our immigration is much more voluminous and varied than theirs. The US borders two countries, while Australia borders none.
Conan the Grammarian
at March 7, 2018 1:02 PM
SAHM have the same problem any entry level person has. You haven't built up a network of contacts and developed a history of providing value. So you start at the bottom again. Such is life.
"On the other hand, she won't spend half her day on Facebook or SnapChat and has probably met a deadline or two."
Wouldn't bet on it Conan. You just don't know. Many won't but many will. And there is no way to separate the two groups.
Cousin Dave on Italy, what Barone wrote is correct but it is hardly Italian only. But being on the south side of Europe Italy is being harder hit by the refugee issue. Also, years of corruption and high taxation/regulation has lead Italy down the path Lenona advocates. They aren't having any kids. You have towns vanishing because no one had any kids for decades and now the old folks are dying. Italy has a birth rate of 8.6/1000. This is the same birth rate as Japan. So while Italy has a population growth rate of 0.5% Japan has one of -0.2%. The difference is immigration. So the native population of Italy is shrinking and slowly being replaced with immigrants and mainly Muslim ones at that. Given the center left's long history of failing to provide economic opportunity and non-assimilating migration it isn't surprising the center left is dying. And Italy isn't unique. All of souther Europe is in the exact same position.
Unfortunately most of Europe has coalition style of governance. From what I can tell while this sounds good in theory in historic practice it tends to swing from one extreme to another. You may only have 5% of the votes. But if you are the last 5% either side needs to form a government then you have the power to control that government. So minority political groups have outsized power and a small shift in voting habits or demographics can cause huge swings in policy.
Perhaps that is why many in Europe looked positively at rule by bureaucrat which the EU created.
Ben
at March 7, 2018 1:13 PM
"show up on time".
We were just talking about this at work today... we had a contractor who had just upgraded an intern to a full-time hire last fall. One of her first assignments was to support a tightly-scheduled test at a test range. On a range, time is money. The first day, she showed up 45 minutes late. The cost of her tardiness was directly quantifiable in terms of the overtime that had to be paid for range support in order to complete the test events she was responsible for, which ran into the thousands of dollars.
Needless to say, she got chewed out, several times, over the course of the day. I was not there, but co-workers told me that by the end of the day, she was crying. But she got the message. It was probably the first time in her life that being late for something ever had serious consequences. For the rest of the event, she showed up on time every day. Since then she's taken her job more seriously, and she is becoming a valuable employee.
Cousin Dave
at March 7, 2018 1:13 PM
Unfortunately most of Europe has coalition style of governance. From what I can tell while this sounds good in theory in historic practice it tends to swing from one extreme to another.
Perhaps that is why many in Europe looked positively at rule by bureaucrat which the EU created.
Ben at March 7, 2018 1:13 PM
Most European countries are governed by a form of government known as a Parliamentary Democracy.
In it, the party with the most seats in the legislature appoints the prime minister and cabinet. If one party lacks the votes to rule, it must form a coalition government with another party or parties. Usually, the bigger party has to give up one or more cabinet offices to its coalition partner(s).
An executive, president or monarch, usually presides over the country, but not the government and approves (sometimes only figuratively) the proposed government. An effective presidency acts as a counterweight to the sometimes extreme Parliamentary government.
Parliamentary democracy is how Germany ended up with Hitler as chancellor. The Nazis had 37% of the Reichstag in 1932 and represented the largest bloc of votes. No party wanted the Nazis to rule, but the conservative parties could not reach an agreement to form a coalition with the Communists, the second-largest bloc in the Reichstag. The conservative parties figured they could control Hitler and offered him a minor post in the cabinet in exchange for joining them. He said no and held out for the chancellorship. The rest, as they say, is history.
Parliamentary democracy is also why Italy has had 65 governments in the last 73 years. As one party drops out of a coalition, another one must be formed to create a new government.
And it's why France is so difficult to govern, leading Charles de Gaulle to lament, "How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?"
Parliamentary democracy is strong on the concept of "majority rule" and can swing from extreme to extreme as passions ebb and flow. Oftentimes, a minority can find itself shut out by the majority and find itself with little recourse but a violent demonstration of its grievances, such as using tractors to clog Paris traffic in a show of defiance.
Avoiding those extremes and fear of a tyranny of the majority was why the Founding Fathers established a bicameral legislature, one house based with equal representation for each state and one with representation apportioned by population - as well as the Electoral College for the election of the president, instead of a majority vote in Congress.
"Hicks, who portrayed herself as not savvy in matters of technology, told lawmakers that one of the accounts was hacked...."
Crid
at March 7, 2018 3:07 PM
In the past 2 years, Putin has won elections in the United States, Austria, Czechia & now Italy. He's also delivered Brexit & performed well in France & Germany. It's because there are no problems in the west & a large amount of people only vote to make Russia happy.
I suspect that there is a nationwide, if not worldwide epidemic affecting the brain, impeding cognitive ability and memory and producing much of the emotional instability visible in Alzheimer's Syndrome. I don't think this is out of line, considering the advance of Alzheimer's and autism over recent years...
I say this because some companies have decided to end affiliation with the National Rifle Association over the rhetoric surrounding the failure of sworn police officers to protect a high school in Florida.
They and journalists (of increasingly poor skills) call this a "boycott" - despite the fact that the NRA offers these companies no product.
Or do they?
If your company employs a SINGLE person of color, African-American or someone who might be considered one, their ancestors were and ARE DEFENDED by the NRA against predation by armed bandits of the KKK and the like...
...WHOSE MEMBERS INCLUDED SWORN POLICE OFFICERS.
You have no idea such employees were considered subhuman.
If you "boycott" the NRA, you are in effect declaring that
• you do not desire the individual right to defend YOURSELF with an effective weapon, actually believing that is "someone else's" job
• you think that YOU are too irresponsible to act with the discipline necessary to govern yourself as a leader of this nation, as the Founders intended
• you do not recognize that the leaders of any nation may be recognized by their access to arms.
• you think that only the police (who are not required to protect you) and the military (whose Commander in Chief is STILL being called "Hitler" by the emotionally infirm) should have guns. You would approve of a police state.
Once again, the NRA (and I'm not a member) is NOT the problem. The above, along with demands that victims' civil rights be abridged after government officials were just proven to be liars w/r/t "protecting" the public, seems to make a good case for the absence of reason in part of the population.
Rights are paid for by the exercise of responsibilities, so I get why people don't want them, but you don't want to give any away.
Radwaste
at March 7, 2018 4:32 PM
Apparently the ludicrous Trump is going to sign the tariffs tomorrow.
Crid
at March 7, 2018 5:32 PM
Thank you, Snoopy. (Assuming you were responding to Isab.) I agree that those who can't make it to work, regularly, should not expect to be hired.
Isab, the reason I posted the link was not because I thought the thread was completely fair, but because I felt that plenty of people here could empathize with it. Wanting a part time job that doesn't call for more REAL skills than you have is one thing. Grossly exaggerating your skills out of a sense of entitlement is something else - and I thought everyone here was opposed to narcissistic entitlement. (Not to mention that while that site is pretty repetitive, it's still anti-sentimental in a way that reminds me of George Carlin.)
Ben, one source says that Italy is one of the most ridiculously overpriced nations (no surprise). So if a culture that traditionally loves big families isn't having them any more, maybe it's because they just can't afford them, as individual couples? Besides, if they really WANTED more children, maybe they'd start a grassroots campaign that would list the benefits they'd be willing to give up - like their paid vacations?
lenona
at March 8, 2018 3:42 PM
I'm not disagreeing with what you just wrote Lenona. But you have long advocated for zero population growth. Well, that is exactly what Italy and many other European nations have done. And here is one of the predictable consequences of that choice.
And you are right about why Europeans aren't having kids. They've promised great benefits to everyone. Jobs for life, lots of vacation, free health care, the list goes on. And to pay for that they've levied huge taxes. So everything is very expensive, a lot of people can't find a job, and there is little hope for a better future. So people decide not to have kids. And due to their parliamentary form of government they flip from 'we love everything and the government will take care of you' to 'kill all the minorities and burn the cities down' in the blink of an eye. There isn't really room for a middle ground. So there really isn't an option to talk about pulling back on benefits.
Parliamentary forms of governance can sound quite nice. But in practice they are quite unstable and extremist.
Ben
at March 8, 2018 6:11 PM
Yes, well, there are plenty of economic reasons for the birth rate's being low in the US too, despite the lack of benefits that Italy has. Even giving birth in a hospital isn't cheap. Neither is living in a relatively safe neighborhood - unless you're willing to live in the boondocks, which aren't always safe anyway.
lenona
at March 14, 2018 10:06 AM
And it's just plain dumb to risk expanding to 10 billion or more, since that will likely be a disaster in every sense of the word - and if there's anything that horrifies people of average intelligence even more than ZPG, it's NEGATIVE population growth. So, once we reach 10 billion, people will likely start settling for greater pollution and much shorter lives rather than NPG. (As if we couldn't learn to create economies built on thrift rather than squandering, just as nations did for centuries before the 20th century. If we did, we'd have far fewer poor elderly people in the future than we do now.)
Compare and contrast.
Crid at March 6, 2018 11:49 PM
Imagine waving a Big Mac in front of Donald Trump...
...Because we already know more about his sexual incontinence than we wanna know.
Crid at March 7, 2018 12:09 AM
We are invited to cry our eyes out.
Crid at March 7, 2018 12:36 AM
So, a couple of months ago I saw and admired this tweet.
And yesterday, during a plunge into the archives, this turned up from eleven years ago.
Tiny planet.
Crid at March 7, 2018 2:17 AM
Here's a bit of useless trivia:
Mexico is the only nation other than China that owns panda bears. It turns out that the Chinese government gifted some pandas to Mexico and against all odds the bears not only survived but also successfully reproduced.
https://twitter.com/MensHumor/status/971221398155874304
Sixclaws at March 7, 2018 5:25 AM
Since Trump's so stupidly self-destructive, why NOT be cute about it?
Wealth destruction is underway! Time to have fun, ev'erbuddy!
Crid at March 7, 2018 6:07 AM
Because we already know more about his sexual incontinence than we wanna know.
If you wanna know why the Christian right and many conservatives give 0 fucks about this, it's because
the Dems and Billy Jeff Clinton taught us that it's just sex and nunna business.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 6:23 AM
I'm not sure what to make of this. Italy has been an economic basket case for as long as I can remember, so I've long been in the habit of generally ignoring news from there. But, as we're seeing in other places in Europe, now the political alignments that have held since the end of WWII are breaking up, and Muslim immigration is working its way up to being the #1 issue.
Cousin Dave at March 7, 2018 6:54 AM
> If you wanna know why the....
I ask my own questions.
Crid at March 7, 2018 7:21 AM
He's such a Russian stooge...wait, what?
http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/trump-touts-paper-bulwark-russian-election-meddling
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 7:39 AM
Interesting, but your sample size is weak.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/study-women-now-leaving-stem-fields-pursue-social-justice-degrees/
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 7:49 AM
I'm glad they have their priorities straight in the Baltimore school district.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/42647/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/us/baltimore-schools-winter-heating.html
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 8:03 AM
"...wanted to pursue fields they felt had more to do with helping people."
I'm reading a a book on the history of Polio and am reminded that in those earlier times engineers and scientists were considered to be on the front lines of helping people and society, and regarded as heroes for doing so.
These were the people who cured disease and built the things that made life better. Now, building things and curing diseases are not "helping" people the way that agitating, social work, and "community organizing" are.
Perhaps it's because those are easier fields to get into. Perhaps it's because our "diseases" today consist of things like restless leg syndrome and erectile disfunction, whereas Jonas Salk, Albert Sabine, and Louis Pasteur got to cure deadly diseases that had a direct impact on most people's lives, not just those living with the heartbreak of psoriasis.
Perhaps it's because people like Jonas Salk got publicity, and the lion's share of the collective credit, whereas today's medical breakthroughs are owned by corporations, foundations, and universities. Although, even then, working to cure a disease solely to profit off the cure was considered bad form and looked down upon.
Inventors, scientists, and engineers were celebrities. Writers, artists, political figures, and celebrities flocked to Nikola Tesla's lab to see what was on the slab. Scientists like George Washington Carver were feted by kings and emperors. Industrialists whose companies changed the world were regarded as a social benefit, and not as "robber barons."
In addition, there was an optimism in the '20s and '50s that does not exist today, that life would be better in the long run, that disease could be cured and limits could be overcome.
Conan the Grammarian at March 7, 2018 8:18 AM
Ever heard of Diet Madison Avenue?
https://twitter.com/adland/status/971127814484144128
Sixclaws at March 7, 2018 9:26 AM
Kill all White People -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/05/kill-all-white-people-accused-killer-who-targeted-white-victims-now-charged-in-six-deaths/
Snoopy at March 7, 2018 9:56 AM
Utah: Muslim student leaves explosive backpack at high school, posts Islamic State propaganda
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/03/utah-muslim-student-leaves-explosive-backpack-at-high-school-posts-islamic-state-propaganda
Snoopy at March 7, 2018 10:02 AM
I'm sure some will enjoy this - it's about SAHMs who try to pad their resumes when they try to find paid work again:
http://www.refugees.bratfree.com/read.php?2,422240
From paragon schnitzophonic:
"...They expect to come into the workforce after years of being unemployed and to be hired over recent college graduates who spent their four years at university padding their resume by getting real-world experience in their desired field and desperately need a job in order to pay off the five or six figures of college debt. But then when their kids are college graduates struggling to find work, they would scream unholy hell if some SAHMoo got a job over their precious children.
"Some comments mentioned that the employer should think of the possibility that the former SAHBreeder is now a widow(er) or divorced and I'm like, that's something you should have thought of before even getting married, let alone having kids. It's not the employer's job to save you from your own lack of foresight and planning. They act like that's so impossible, but my parents fucking did. Whenever I talk with my mom, I'm amazed and pleased at the amount of planning she and my father did before even attempting to conceive. Because of their planning, my sister and I were raised in comfort and security that didn't change when my father suddenly died when I was 13. My mom, in her words, didn't get a Ph.D. to become a SAHM. In fact, she made more money than my dad. So we didn't have to move or drastically change our lifestyle and she was still able to retire on time. So I don't buy the crap breeders nowadays espouse that it's impossible to plan."
lenona at March 7, 2018 10:14 AM
Lenona, Your nasty, anti child, totalitarian slip is showing.
You had better pull your skirt down before the few on this board who haven't recognized what you are, see it.
Isab at March 7, 2018 11:07 AM
The future belongs to those who show up.
Snoopy at March 7, 2018 11:45 AM
Was listening to the radio and they started talking about mass shootings
I am so sick of morons proposing "common sense" gun legislation 'like Australia'
Here are the crime stats from the Australian government itself
I couldnt find anything that published numbers newer than 2012 on the governments site, if anyone can I'd appreciate the link
https://aic.gov.au/publications/facts/2013/chapter-1-recorded-crime
Homicides: in 1996 the first year of the ban were 354
1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 homicides were HIGHER. In 1999 it spikes to its highest a ten percent increase. Not until 2003 did the homicide rate permanently drop below the pre ban levels
Assaults: in 1996 - 114,156
The number rose and reached an increase of 54% in 2007. As of their last published numbers (2012) assaults have NOT dropped below the pre ban numbers
Sexual assault: in 1996 - 14,542
The number rose and reached an increase of 37% in 2008. As of their last published numbers (2012) sexual assaults have NOT dropped below the pre ban numbers
Robbery: in 1996 - 16,372
Robbery jumped 30% the very next year. Crime rose 62% by 2001, and did not drop to pre ban level until 2008
Kidnappings: in 1996 - 478
Jumped 17% the next year, peaked at a 65% increase by 2008 and as of the release of this report (2012) have not dropped below pre ban numbers
They list three categories for property crime (I have no idea what they mean) in 1996:
UEWI - 402,079 up 10% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2002
MVT - 122,914 up 14% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2002
Other - 521,762 up 34% by 2001 fell below pre ban level by 2005
The Australian gun ban resulted in crime rates rising in nearly every category for at least five years if not a solid decade, and in some categories the crime rates have not dropped back to where they were before the gun ban
lujlp at March 7, 2018 12:08 PM
They expect to come into the workforce after years of being unemployed and to be hired over recent college graduates who spent their four years at university padding their resume by getting real-world experience in their desired field and desperately need a job in order to pay off the five or six figures of college debt.
I have questions:
who shows up on time?
who is more likely to be courteous and respectful of others?
who is willing to bust their ass to show their worth?
who is more likely to write an open letter to their boss demanding more pay?
This is the advice I have will continue to give to young people about work:
show up on time
if you know you're going to be late, call your supervisor
do the work you are assigned
do that work as cheerfully as you can
be polite
look busy, even if you're not
find things to do
If the Powers that Be are worth their salt, they'll notice your effort, and you will be rewarded. If not, contemplate your next employment opportunity, since it will come sooner than later, mostly because you'll want to work for people will notice your effort and reward you appropriately.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 12:45 PM
Um.
Wonder how some of these commenters would feel about their own mother being denied a job based on caustic and dismissive attitudes like the ones being displayed there toward SAHMs re-entering the workforce. Or are they paying for widowed and unemployed Mom out of their own pockets?
As for padding resumes, who doesn't? Do you really think that receptionist Jenny was a "director" of first impressions? Or that Pete really has "advanced" Excel skills because he knows what a pivot table is and may have used one once?
And no, a SAHM is not a "medical director" because she scheduled Little Jimmy's appointments for his disability. But neither is she unemployable. She's older, so probably more reliable than a Millennial in a job that does not promise immediate and un-ending gratification.
She's probably not too tech savvy, so there goes having her reprogram the company servers, like these commenters would have you believe a Millennial social science grad could do on his lunch hour. On the other hand, she won't spend half her day on Facebook or SnapChat and has probably met a deadline or two.
By the way, paragon schnitzophonic, college does not give graduates "real world experience in their desired field." So, cut the holier than thou crap.
And one more thing, paragon schnitzophonic, it happens that it's also "not the employer's job to save you from your own lack of foresight and planning" when you burden yourself with massive student loan debit to get a degree in a low demand major - especially if a SAHM with the desired skills is also applying for the job.
Conan the Grammarian at March 7, 2018 12:45 PM
I am so sick of morons proposing "common sense" gun legislation 'like Australia'
The question to ask them is this: who's going to go door to door and confiscate firearms? odds are they want to send someone else's child/parent/brother/sister/cousin to do that dirty work.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 12:48 PM
Ah leaky CIA thinks it can redact leaked memos after the fact.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180218/08304939261/cia-still-arguing-official-leaks-to-journalists-shouldnt-be-subject-to-foia-requests.shtml
I R A Darth Aggie at March 7, 2018 12:58 PM
The US is not Australia.
For one thing, our army never lost a war to a flock of flightless birds.
For another, despite the country's geographic security today, at one time the US bordered hostile French and Indians on one side, hostile British on another, and hostile Spanish on the third side. Having a population immediately draft-able into a militia (i.e., armed and skilled in the use of those arms) was a necessity. So, the second amendment was not a sop to hunters and gun nuts, but a necessary provision of citizenship, like jury duty.
Our culture is not as homogenous, our history is filled with much a more violent struggle against more advanced aboriginal peoples, and our immigration is much more voluminous and varied than theirs. The US borders two countries, while Australia borders none.
Conan the Grammarian at March 7, 2018 1:02 PM
SAHM have the same problem any entry level person has. You haven't built up a network of contacts and developed a history of providing value. So you start at the bottom again. Such is life.
"On the other hand, she won't spend half her day on Facebook or SnapChat and has probably met a deadline or two."
Wouldn't bet on it Conan. You just don't know. Many won't but many will. And there is no way to separate the two groups.
Cousin Dave on Italy, what Barone wrote is correct but it is hardly Italian only. But being on the south side of Europe Italy is being harder hit by the refugee issue. Also, years of corruption and high taxation/regulation has lead Italy down the path Lenona advocates. They aren't having any kids. You have towns vanishing because no one had any kids for decades and now the old folks are dying. Italy has a birth rate of 8.6/1000. This is the same birth rate as Japan. So while Italy has a population growth rate of 0.5% Japan has one of -0.2%. The difference is immigration. So the native population of Italy is shrinking and slowly being replaced with immigrants and mainly Muslim ones at that. Given the center left's long history of failing to provide economic opportunity and non-assimilating migration it isn't surprising the center left is dying. And Italy isn't unique. All of souther Europe is in the exact same position.
Unfortunately most of Europe has coalition style of governance. From what I can tell while this sounds good in theory in historic practice it tends to swing from one extreme to another. You may only have 5% of the votes. But if you are the last 5% either side needs to form a government then you have the power to control that government. So minority political groups have outsized power and a small shift in voting habits or demographics can cause huge swings in policy.
Perhaps that is why many in Europe looked positively at rule by bureaucrat which the EU created.
Ben at March 7, 2018 1:13 PM
"show up on time".
We were just talking about this at work today... we had a contractor who had just upgraded an intern to a full-time hire last fall. One of her first assignments was to support a tightly-scheduled test at a test range. On a range, time is money. The first day, she showed up 45 minutes late. The cost of her tardiness was directly quantifiable in terms of the overtime that had to be paid for range support in order to complete the test events she was responsible for, which ran into the thousands of dollars.
Needless to say, she got chewed out, several times, over the course of the day. I was not there, but co-workers told me that by the end of the day, she was crying. But she got the message. It was probably the first time in her life that being late for something ever had serious consequences. For the rest of the event, she showed up on time every day. Since then she's taken her job more seriously, and she is becoming a valuable employee.
Cousin Dave at March 7, 2018 1:13 PM
Most European countries are governed by a form of government known as a Parliamentary Democracy.
In it, the party with the most seats in the legislature appoints the prime minister and cabinet. If one party lacks the votes to rule, it must form a coalition government with another party or parties. Usually, the bigger party has to give up one or more cabinet offices to its coalition partner(s).
An executive, president or monarch, usually presides over the country, but not the government and approves (sometimes only figuratively) the proposed government. An effective presidency acts as a counterweight to the sometimes extreme Parliamentary government.
Parliamentary democracy is how Germany ended up with Hitler as chancellor. The Nazis had 37% of the Reichstag in 1932 and represented the largest bloc of votes. No party wanted the Nazis to rule, but the conservative parties could not reach an agreement to form a coalition with the Communists, the second-largest bloc in the Reichstag. The conservative parties figured they could control Hitler and offered him a minor post in the cabinet in exchange for joining them. He said no and held out for the chancellorship. The rest, as they say, is history.
Parliamentary democracy is also why Italy has had 65 governments in the last 73 years. As one party drops out of a coalition, another one must be formed to create a new government.
And it's why France is so difficult to govern, leading Charles de Gaulle to lament, "How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?"
Parliamentary democracy is strong on the concept of "majority rule" and can swing from extreme to extreme as passions ebb and flow. Oftentimes, a minority can find itself shut out by the majority and find itself with little recourse but a violent demonstration of its grievances, such as using tractors to clog Paris traffic in a show of defiance.
Avoiding those extremes and fear of a tyranny of the majority was why the Founding Fathers established a bicameral legislature, one house based with equal representation for each state and one with representation apportioned by population - as well as the Electoral College for the election of the president, instead of a majority vote in Congress.
Conan the Grammarian at March 7, 2018 1:46 PM
Because Hillary's reckless emails, right???
Crid at March 7, 2018 3:07 PM
In the past 2 years, Putin has won elections in the United States, Austria, Czechia & now Italy. He's also delivered Brexit & performed well in France & Germany. It's because there are no problems in the west & a large amount of people only vote to make Russia happy.
https://twitter.com/27khv/status/970769249705844738
Snoopy at March 7, 2018 4:26 PM
I suspect that there is a nationwide, if not worldwide epidemic affecting the brain, impeding cognitive ability and memory and producing much of the emotional instability visible in Alzheimer's Syndrome. I don't think this is out of line, considering the advance of Alzheimer's and autism over recent years...
I say this because some companies have decided to end affiliation with the National Rifle Association over the rhetoric surrounding the failure of sworn police officers to protect a high school in Florida.
They and journalists (of increasingly poor skills) call this a "boycott" - despite the fact that the NRA offers these companies no product.
Or do they?
If your company employs a SINGLE person of color, African-American or someone who might be considered one, their ancestors were and ARE DEFENDED by the NRA against predation by armed bandits of the KKK and the like...
...WHOSE MEMBERS INCLUDED SWORN POLICE OFFICERS.
You have no idea such employees were considered subhuman.
If you "boycott" the NRA, you are in effect declaring that
• you do not desire the individual right to defend YOURSELF with an effective weapon, actually believing that is "someone else's" job
• you think that YOU are too irresponsible to act with the discipline necessary to govern yourself as a leader of this nation, as the Founders intended
• you do not recognize that the leaders of any nation may be recognized by their access to arms.
• you think that only the police (who are not required to protect you) and the military (whose Commander in Chief is STILL being called "Hitler" by the emotionally infirm) should have guns. You would approve of a police state.
Once again, the NRA (and I'm not a member) is NOT the problem. The above, along with demands that victims' civil rights be abridged after government officials were just proven to be liars w/r/t "protecting" the public, seems to make a good case for the absence of reason in part of the population.
Rights are paid for by the exercise of responsibilities, so I get why people don't want them, but you don't want to give any away.
Radwaste at March 7, 2018 4:32 PM
Apparently the ludicrous Trump is going to sign the tariffs tomorrow.
Crid at March 7, 2018 5:32 PM
Thank you, Snoopy. (Assuming you were responding to Isab.) I agree that those who can't make it to work, regularly, should not expect to be hired.
Isab, the reason I posted the link was not because I thought the thread was completely fair, but because I felt that plenty of people here could empathize with it. Wanting a part time job that doesn't call for more REAL skills than you have is one thing. Grossly exaggerating your skills out of a sense of entitlement is something else - and I thought everyone here was opposed to narcissistic entitlement. (Not to mention that while that site is pretty repetitive, it's still anti-sentimental in a way that reminds me of George Carlin.)
Ben, one source says that Italy is one of the most ridiculously overpriced nations (no surprise). So if a culture that traditionally loves big families isn't having them any more, maybe it's because they just can't afford them, as individual couples? Besides, if they really WANTED more children, maybe they'd start a grassroots campaign that would list the benefits they'd be willing to give up - like their paid vacations?
lenona at March 8, 2018 3:42 PM
I'm not disagreeing with what you just wrote Lenona. But you have long advocated for zero population growth. Well, that is exactly what Italy and many other European nations have done. And here is one of the predictable consequences of that choice.
And you are right about why Europeans aren't having kids. They've promised great benefits to everyone. Jobs for life, lots of vacation, free health care, the list goes on. And to pay for that they've levied huge taxes. So everything is very expensive, a lot of people can't find a job, and there is little hope for a better future. So people decide not to have kids. And due to their parliamentary form of government they flip from 'we love everything and the government will take care of you' to 'kill all the minorities and burn the cities down' in the blink of an eye. There isn't really room for a middle ground. So there really isn't an option to talk about pulling back on benefits.
Parliamentary forms of governance can sound quite nice. But in practice they are quite unstable and extremist.
Ben at March 8, 2018 6:11 PM
Yes, well, there are plenty of economic reasons for the birth rate's being low in the US too, despite the lack of benefits that Italy has. Even giving birth in a hospital isn't cheap. Neither is living in a relatively safe neighborhood - unless you're willing to live in the boondocks, which aren't always safe anyway.
lenona at March 14, 2018 10:06 AM
And it's just plain dumb to risk expanding to 10 billion or more, since that will likely be a disaster in every sense of the word - and if there's anything that horrifies people of average intelligence even more than ZPG, it's NEGATIVE population growth. So, once we reach 10 billion, people will likely start settling for greater pollution and much shorter lives rather than NPG. (As if we couldn't learn to create economies built on thrift rather than squandering, just as nations did for centuries before the 20th century. If we did, we'd have far fewer poor elderly people in the future than we do now.)
lenona at March 14, 2018 10:12 AM
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