US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3029

On January 16 2021 17:59 Salazarz wrote:


You're pulling the numbers out of context; read the rest of the article, it's a pretty clear and well-explained issue.



Generally speaking, as a university grows in size / number of students, the admin:instructor ratio should shift towards instructors, especially in research universities -- not the other way around. The reason it isn't, is because universities in the US are focusing more and more on superficial bullshit to present themselves as the more attractive option since the superficial bullshit is easy to quantify and put on a shiny prospectus.

I think one of the big but rarely talked about issues here is that universities are essentially seen as this little world in itself, where you can basically disconnect from the rest of the world and only interact with your campus; and thus the more 'stuff' your campus has, the more interesting and eventful your life will be. In reality, there's no reason whatsoever for universities to have a budget for something like sports teams and facilities -- it would be far better if that money was instead allocated to the local government structures and made truly public instead. Like, if students wanted to have a football team, the university could easily work out the scheduling with the said local government to let the students use it as necessary, and then the rest of the people in the area could actually benefit from it as well instead of having this walled off garden only for the chosen. Same goes for basically every on-campus facility except for actual classrooms / laboratories and dormitories; hell, even classrooms could actually be public lecture halls where education facilities have priority booking but are available for use by the local people in the 'off' hours without having to bargain with the university bosses.

On January 17 2021 01:39 Silvanel wrote:
I am not generally a fan of death penalty, but yestarday i watched on Netflix a documentary called Night Stalker (about a serial killer labeled as such by media) and i guess i would not object to executing someone like that. The guy commited multiple murders and rapes, showed absolutely zero remorse was proud of what he did, there was zero doubt about this guilt. Zero chance of resocialization, He was also dengerous while being in prison because he had psycho fans.

On January 17 2021 01:39 Silvanel wrote:
I am not generally a fan of death penalty, but yestarday i watched on Netflix a documentary called Night Stalker (about a serial killer labeled as such by media) and i guess i would not object to executing someone like that. The guy commited multiple murders and rapes, showed absolutely zero remorse was proud of what he did, there was zero doubt about this guilt. Zero chance of resocialization, He was also dengerous while being in prison because he had psycho fans.

University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross led a team of experts in the law and in statistics that estimated the likely number of unjust convictions. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences determined that at least 4% of people on death row were and are likely innocent. Gross has no doubt that some innocent people have been executed.[18][19]

Statistics likely understate the actual problem of wrongful convictions because once an execution has occurred there is often insufficient motivation and finance to keep a case open, and it becomes unlikely at that point that the miscarriage of justice will ever be exposed. For example, in the case of Joseph Roger O'Dell III, executed in Virginia in 1997 for a rape and murder, a prosecuting attorney argued in court in 1998 that if posthumous DNA results exonerated O'Dell, "it would be shouted from the rooftops that ... Virginia executed an innocent man." The state prevailed, and the evidence was destroyed.

On January 17 2021 01:49 WombaT wrote:

Yeah this really isn’t spoken of too much, there’s a huge duplication of services that really doesn’t have to be that way.

Don’t get me wrong colleges should have a duty of care, especially for young people who are shelling out quite a bit of money and should be looked after.

On the other hand both of my local colleges have their own internal mental health and various support services, at a period even preceding the pandemic when accessing general public support in these domains can be quite difficult.

“They should look, absolutely. That should be a consideration,” Manchin responded when asked if the 14th Amendment should be triggered. “He understands that, Ted’s a very bright individual, and I get along fine with Ted. But what he did was totally outside of the realm of our responsibilities or our privileges.”
[...]
"I looked at Josh, and I said, 'Josh, you have a right to do what you’re doing, but think of what’s happening, what you’re seeing on the monitors. Think about, basically, our country,'" he said. "There wasn’t much conversation back and forth on that. He listened to me, and I could tell it was weighing on him, and I was hoping that we were able to maybe change his mind to go up there and stop his objections."

On January 17 2021 01:39 Silvanel wrote:
I am not generally a fan of death penalty, but yestarday i watched on Netflix a documentary called Night Stalker (about a serial killer labeled as such by media) and i guess i would not object to executing someone like that. The guy commited multiple murders and rapes, showed absolutely zero remorse was proud of what he did, there was zero doubt about this guilt. Zero chance of resocialization, He was also dengerous while being in prison because he had psycho fans.

On January 17 2021 02:49 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
I'll do it for you Biff. You can stay pure.

On January 17 2021 02:49 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
I'll do it for you Biff. You can stay pure.

Edit: To expand a bit. Either people deserve to die and should be executed, or they don't. There's no moral high ground to be gained by trying to have it both ways. You can't seriously say Hitler should just be imprisoned for life under harsh circumstances because eventually, he will find a way. Life always does. If the those "deserving of death" are left alive, then they have the potential to become martyrs and develop a cult following. Richard Ramirez was one of those people (Nightstalker). Manson is another. Those that deserve it should have it carried out immediately after all evidence has been found and there's no room for error.

On January 17 2021 03:14 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
You call it retribution. I call it justice. Who is right comes down to your own moral guidance. And if it wasn't the state that did it (as humanely as possible in most regards), then it would be the mobs.

My point is that saying "Hitler deserves to die but I don't want him dead." is an oxymoron. Either you want him dead or you don't. You can't split hairs. I also don't think saying "sdalksjd deserves death, but let's spend taxpayer money keeping him alive for decades because we're not barbarians." is also something that doesn't jive. If they are truly monsters and the evidence says so, execution not only brings a certain level of justice, it also saves money in the long term. Now, I will agree these cases are the minority and most people have nonviolent crimes keeping them in jail for ridiculous amounts of time. But if they are deserving, then give it to them.