US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3471

Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to allow guns at the Republican National Convention — all in the name of safety.

The Change.org petition, which had more than 26,000 supporters as of Saturday evening, claims that the arena’s weapon ban makes those who attend the RNC in July “sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers and criminals.”

It’s addressed to Republican candidates like Donald Trump, who’s quoted as promising to eliminate gun-free zones in schools should he be elected.

“Cleveland, Ohio is consistently ranked as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America,” the petition states. “By forcing attendees to leave their firearms at home, the RNC and Quicken Loans Arena are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside of the convention site.”

The argument that gun-free zones are dangerous is thrown around loosely in political circles. It’s often legitimized by misguided anecdotes.

On March 27 2016 11:08 Souma wrote:

Nope, sorry, not a good enough answer. Give me something that's doesn't in the end equate to, "control for people who think they know better but are still as dumb and fallible as everyone else and just want what's theirs."


Don't think you realize this but our democracy is already broken and not very existent, and not for the reasons you think it is.

On March 27 2016 11:03 GreenHorizons wrote:


Said it at least three times now. Yes, neither of them is likely to clinch with pledged delegates unless Bernie got big upsets NY and CA, or if Hillary had won WA by a decent margin.

On March 27 2016 10:14 ticklishmusic wrote:
Sanders doesn't get superdelegates because he's done nothing for them on the individual level or the party level and they don't owe him diddly squat.

On March 27 2016 11:25 m4ini wrote:


Just briefly, trying to understand, regardless of who's up for election etc:

what you're saying is, that a democratic candidate can be chosen by judging how many asses he crawled in and out of? Or do i misunderstand that "because x done nothing for them on an individual level" - or the other way around, "because x did xx people a big favor"?

On March 27 2016 11:26 wei2coolman wrote:

Generally we're talking about political favors. Like help gather votes for certain things, etc etc.

On March 27 2016 11:27 m4ini wrote:


Well yeah, i assumed we're not talking mowing the lawn, or "friends with interest".

edit: what i meant though, is that a candidate could get an edge over the "better" candidate (regardless of current election) by handing out "political favors"? Or is there some different measure preventing that?

On March 27 2016 11:31 wei2coolman wrote:

Yes, unless the favor pushes past in criminal territory (bribes, corruption, etc.).

The state of California has blood test results showing high levels of lead in children living near the closed Exide battery plant in Vernon but is not using the information to direct its massive cleanup of lead-contaminated homes and yards.

Health experts say the test results should be used to help pinpoint neighborhoods most in need of swift cleanup because children there have been exposed to more of the poisonous metal. Lead, which spewed for decades from the Exide Technologies recycling facility, is especially dangerous to young children, putting them at risk of lifelong developmental and behavioral problems.

Blood-testing data have guided government responses to lead contamination elsewhere. In Flint, Mich., the state is using maps of children's blood lead levels to target neighborhoods hardest hit by the city's lead-contaminated drinking water.

But in California, officials have been unable to launch a similar effort. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control said it has tried unsuccessfully for more than two years to obtain blood lead levels from state and county health agencies, which keep the records.

In September, 13 months after the cleanup began, it formally requested census tract-level data but still hasn't received it from state health officials. So the department is relying on soil tests, wind patterns and proximity to the plant to guide its cleanup of thousands of homes.

The state Department of Public Health has yet to provide the information, according to toxics regulators. The health agency said it is prohibited by medical privacy law from releasing data showing individual test results but is finalizing an extensive analysis of whether people in census tracts near the Exide plant have increased blood lead levels.

The toxic substances department said it knows of only two children — a baby and a toddler — who have had high levels of lead in their blood across the contaminated southeast Los Angeles County communities of Bell, Boyle Heights, Commerce, East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Maywood and Vernon. Officials learned of the children because their families told the department about their blood test results.

To gauge the extent of the problem, The Times obtained and analyzed blood test records from the Los Angles County Department of Public Health. The analysis found that 547 people under the age of 21 living in the Exide cleanup area tracts had high levels of lead in their blood from 2010 to 2014.

On March 27 2016 11:27 m4ini wrote:


Well yeah, i assumed we're not talking mowing the lawn, or "friends with benefits".

edit: what i meant though, is that a candidate could get an edge over the "better" candidate (regardless of current election) by handing out "political favors"? Or is there some different measure preventing that?

edit2: benefits, not interests -,-

On March 27 2016 11:40 oneofthem wrote:
this sandernista phenomenon isnt going away. we need obama to do some campaigning

On March 27 2016 11:58 oneofthem wrote:
no it is just hillarious nameplay

On March 27 2016 12:06 giftdgecko wrote:

It's also the type of thing that drive party members away from the other candidate. Attack the candidate if you must, but this idea of "sandernistas" and ignorant millennials has already driven many to say they won't vote for Hillary if she wins