Las Vegas Shooting. 59 dead. Over 515 Injured.

probably the more reporting/focus there is on massacres/mass shootings the average dumb American thinks that having a gun will keep them safe?

Like I say, I don't think anything will change unless states begin to secede. I could see that being a prospect within 50 years due to the polarisation of voters. The difference between both sides is so vast, culturally they feel more at odds than other separatist movements like Catalonia or Scotland.

captain red dog wrote:Like I say, I don't think anything will change unless states begin to secede. I could see that being a prospect within 50 years due to the polarisation of voters. The difference between both sides is so vast, culturally they feel more at odds than other separatist movements like Catalonia or Scotland.

If there had been no slavery then the best thing that could have happened would have been for the CSA to have won the civil war. Although without slavery there wouldn’t have been a civil war in the first place.

I don’t see any states seceding in the next few decades at least. Despite their differences, they are all still united in “USA USA USA” chants and general flag waving.

Moggy wrote:

captain red dog wrote:Like I say, I don't think anything will change unless states begin to secede. I could see that being a prospect within 50 years due to the polarisation of voters. The difference between both sides is so vast, culturally they feel more at odds than other separatist movements like Catalonia or Scotland.

If there had been no slavery then the best thing that could have happened would have been for the CSA to have won the civil war. Although without slavery there wouldn’t have been a civil war in the first place.

I don’t see any states seceding in the next few decades at least. Despite their differences, they are all still united in “USA USA USA” chants and general flag waving.

I think as time rolls on you are seeing a significant shift in some quarters. Take the flag protest, a decade or so ago there would have been no question that it would have been widely denounced as unpatriotic, but it seems people have generally got behind it. Only Trump seems bothered by it.

I think California already has a fringe separatist movement. If Trump wins re-election, I can see those ideas gaining traction.

captain red dog wrote:
I think California already has a fringe separatist movement. If Trump wins re-election, I can see those ideas gaining traction.

The California secession movement is being promoted by right-wingers who want to take a consistently democratic state out of the union. Ie Nigel Farage and his Russian paymasters.

I guess the most important thing is that if there is a split that both sides choose wicked cool names for their side, like the Alliance and the Slicers or the Continuum and the Federationalistas.

captain red dog wrote:I think as time rolls on you are seeing a significant shift in some quarters. Take the flag protest, a decade or so ago there would have been no question that it would have been widely denounced as unpatriotic, but it seems people have generally got behind it. Only Trump seems bothered by it.

What flag protest are we talking about? The Confederate flag/statues? The rest of your post doesn’t really flow if that is what you meant.

If you mean the NFL players, then it is not really a flag protest and Trump is far from the only one bothered about it. All the usual right wingers are outraged by it.

I don’t think there would have been a difference in the reaction to the protest if it had happened 10 years or even 20 years ago. Nobody is protesting the flag, the anthem or even the USA itself, it’s a protest about unarmed black people getting murdered by police. 10 or 20 years ago the same people would have supported it and the same people would have been against it.

I think California already has a fringe separatist movement. If Trump wins re-election, I can see those ideas gaining traction.

Traction maybe, but nowhere near enough support for any state to secede in the near future. I'd expect Cornish independence from the UK before California leaves the USA.

Moggy wrote:Traction maybe, but nowhere near enough support for any state to secede in the near future. I'd expect Cornish independence from the UK before California leaves the USA.

Never shall the Empire bow to the demands of those disgusting Cornish separatists. They shall feel the swift left hook of Britannia should they ever utter such traitorous bile!

Memento Mori wrote:

captain red dog wrote:
I think California already has a fringe separatist movement. If Trump wins re-election, I can see those ideas gaining traction.

The California secession movement is being promoted by right-wingers who want to take a consistently democratic state out of the union. Ie Nigel Farage and his Russian paymasters.

They attend the Kremlin-funded world separatist meetings too, which helps promote Putin's agenda of division around the world.

Milo Yianoppolus (yes I know) has reported they are sticking airport style metal detectors on the hotels on the strip. Amazingly people are complaining that they will have their rights infringed if they can't carry their guns into hotels. It's become such a joke of a country that they will literally create a demon out of hotels before they realise their 300m guns might be a bit of an issue.

Moggy, I indeed meant the NFL protests. It wasn't so long ago that would have been considered career ending for a sportsman to do that.

captain red dog wrote:Milo Yianoppolus (yes I know) has reported they are sticking airport style metal detectors on the hotels on the strip. Amazingly people are complaining that they will have their rights infringed if they can't carry their guns into hotels. It's become such a joke of a country that they will literally create a demon out of hotels before they realise their 300m guns might be a bit of an issue.

Moggy, I indeed meant the NFL protests. It wasn't so long ago that would have been considered career ending for a sportsman to do that.

Last season, in fact.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

captain red dog wrote:Milo Yianoppolus (yes I know) has reported they are sticking airport style metal detectors on the hotels on the strip. Amazingly people are complaining that they will have their rights infringed if they can't carry their guns into hotels. It's become such a joke of a country that they will literally create a demon out of hotels before they realise their 300m guns might be a bit of an issue.

Moggy, I indeed meant the NFL protests. It wasn't so long ago that would have been considered career ending for a sportsman to do that.

Last season, in fact.

He wasn't dropped for the flag protest but because he was off form. 49ers have been happily continuing the protest in his absence.

It's not a flag protest.

Knoyleo wrote:It's not a flag protest.

Sorry national anthem protest. Can't say I'm that interested in it to be honest as I don't see it as remotely controversial. I can't remember the last time I stood for a national anthem.

captain red dog wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:It's not a flag protest.

Sorry national anthem protest. Can't say I'm that interested in it to be honest as I don't see it as remotely controversial. I can't remember the last time I stood for a national anthem.

Swing and a miss. That's not what they're protesting either.

Although I'm impressed that Trump's loud-mouthed idiocy seems to have convinced most people that it is.

It's a protest against black deaths at the hands of America's Police.

captain red dog wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:It's not a flag protest.

Sorry national anthem protest. Can't say I'm that interested in it to be honest as I don't see it as remotely controversial. I can't remember the last time I stood for a national anthem.

It’s not a national anthem protest.

I follow golfer Ian Poulter on Instagram who has put an image of a kinder egg and an assault rifle with an legal/illegal caption. Some of the responses have been nothing short of horrifying, things about abortion killing more American lives than guns, gun control not the answer because it's illegal to kill people and that didn't stop him, the second ammendment is to protect people from the tyranny of the government, etc.

While a large swath of America is predominantly made up of uneducated, religious zealots whose mentality has more in common with the founding fathers and ironically the extremists that they want to protect themselves from, there is no hope.

strawberry floating backwards country.

captain red dog wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:

captain red dog wrote:Milo Yianoppolus (yes I know) has reported they are sticking airport style metal detectors on the hotels on the strip. Amazingly people are complaining that they will have their rights infringed if they can't carry their guns into hotels. It's become such a joke of a country that they will literally create a demon out of hotels before they realise their 300m guns might be a bit of an issue.

Moggy, I indeed meant the NFL protests. It wasn't so long ago that would have been considered career ending for a sportsman to do that.

Last season, in fact.

He wasn't dropped for the flag protest but because he was off form. 49ers have been happily continuing the protest in his absence.

Not until this season really. Also the fact that he can't get into any other teams is pretty significant, given that form or not he's led the 49'ers to a Super Bowl within the last few years.

Knoyleo wrote:

captain red dog wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:It's not a flag protest.

Sorry national anthem protest. Can't say I'm that interested in it to be honest as I don't see it as remotely controversial. I can't remember the last time I stood for a national anthem.

Swing and a miss. That's not what they're protesting either.

Although I'm impressed that Trump's loud-mouthed idiocy seems to have convinced most people that it is.

It's a protest against black deaths at the hands of America's Police.

It sort of is a flag / national anthem protest though, isn't it? I mean, sure, he's not protesting about the existence of flags (down with this sort of thing) but he chose to use the national anthem to make his point about black deaths at the hands of America's police and when asked to explain he said 'I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color'. I guess it's good to make sure people know why he is protesting but personally I don't have much problem with people calling it a flag protest as a kind of shorthand.