Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 28th February 2018, 10:05 PM

What needs to happen behind the scenes for Trump's madcap idea to arm teachers for it to actually become reality? Is it something the President can do himself or does it need to be rubber stamped by Congress? Can he just keep coming up with crazy ideas that never get approved and just fades from memory until his time in office is finally over?

The idea of tackling shootings in schools by arming teachers is deluded and to suggest it after the recent incident in Florida where a law enforcement officer who was paid and trained to take action but was too scared to track down the shooter shows Trump is a fantasist. The idea of having highly trained, responsive marksmen (Stan: or women) who are primarily teachers is another ludicrous entry to the timeline of the Trump administration. People go in to teaching to teach not carry firearms and this could be an open door to the Tackleberry types and that in turn will probably see a dramatic decline in the quality of candidates going in to the teaching profession. It needs regular training and drills and constant assessements to give the kind of SWAT response Trump is suggesting but there will be none of that for the teachers who just have to do a course and sign a form. What if a teacher is overpowered by someone and the gun is discharged in the melee?

I've seen news reports where a lot of young Americans are saying the answer isn't more guns it's more control but the ones at the top who have the biggest guns and biggest piles of cash will always win. Everything Trump says and does shows he's an industrialist not a politician.

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This.

>Gas is currently the equivalent of 39p per liter, so frack, baby, frack!

And UK prices are around 129p per litre. More than 4 times as much.

I'll probably always remember a saying in a science fiction story I read long ago. Two aliens are talking about Earth. "It's a backwoods planet now, of course, they actually BURNED their hydrocarbons as fuel!"

I wrote a long response to recent posts in this thread a bit ago, but the whole of BCG crashed as I was trying to post it. And now that it's back up I've decided that arguing in this thread is really not the right sort of thing I should be doing on a comedy forum. Saved by the crash.

I'm finding it all rather tedious now.

Quote: Davida @ 28th February 2018, 11:29 PM

I wrote a long response to recent posts in this thread a bit ago, but the whole of BCG crashed as I was trying to post it. And now that it's back up I've decided that arguing in this thread is really not the right sort of thing I should be doing on a comedy forum. Saved by the crash.

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Always a bummer when that happens and you make a good point but if it remains civilised I like the debate. Use Notepad++ which constantly saves every keystroke you make and you can also use it to open and switch between multiple text documents. I started using it for game modding but it has so many uses it's vomit worthy.

Quote: A Horseradish @ 28th February 2018, 6:46 PM

50 miles.

When choosing a place in Texas to live, you couldn't have found one further away from a fracking plant.

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They aren't plants, but just lots of wells connected by pipelines. Check out this aerial view: all of the little squares are well sites. https://goo.gl/maps/1VSUcLgi3Nz

The Eagle Ford Shale (the oil field near-ish to me) is 20,000 square miles, so it's within 50 miles of a lot of places.

Quote: Briosaid @ 28th February 2018, 8:39 PM

I think Da Butt deliberately posts all this shit to bore us so much we won't protest

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I post it because it's factual and some people don't seem to have all the facts at their disposal. Trust me, I couldn't care less if you protest about this or any other topic pertaining to my country. Protest all you'd like.

Quote: Briosaid @ 28th February 2018, 8:39 PM

I wonder how many people here remember the outrage when a British tourist in US approached a house to ask for directions (help with a car breakdown?)And was shot dead on the doorstep? And nothing was done about it.

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More details? I Googled it and the only news item I found was this case from almost 25 years ago. The guys were Scottish, so maybe that's it? Anyway, in this case the men were drunk at 4 A.M., rang the doorbell twice, went around to the backyard (typical burglar behavior), climbed a fence and "pounded furiously" on the back door. Those are not wise actions to take in the middle of the night in an area where there have been recent home invasions. Tragic, but the tourist paid for his actions with his life.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/08/us/homeowner-shoots-tourist-by-mistake-in-texas-police-say.html

Quote: Briosaid @ 28th February 2018, 8:39 PM

Davida, wish you could come here as you're obviously an actual human.

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I think that you'll find that Davida, myself, and every other person on the planet is an actual human being.

Quote: Briosaid @ 28th February 2018, 8:39 PM

The US is one of the last places on earth that I'd visit. Davida, wish you could come here as you're obviously an actual human.

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Aww, we should be friends.

And I'm trying my best to flee this country to yours. It's my non-American dream. I'll make it someday.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 28th February 2018, 10:05 PM

What needs to happen behind the scenes for Trump's madcap idea to arm teachers for it to actually become reality? Is it something the President can do himself or does it need to be rubber stamped by Congress?

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The federal government can't enact such legislation. It would come down to individual states, counties, and school districts. It would only be enacted if voters chose to do so. Here in Texas, it's fairly popular with voters and some schools already have armed staff.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 28th February 2018, 10:05 PM

The idea of tackling shootings in schools by arming teachers is deluded and to suggest it after the recent incident in Florida where a law enforcement officer who was paid and trained to take action but was too scared to track down the shooter shows Trump is a fantasist.

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The Florida officer blew it and is not at all representative of the typical American cop. That said, I guarantee you that he would have fired upon the shooter had he been confronted by him. That's the same thing any reasonable person would do. As I've said, the instinct for survival is primal and very strong.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 28th February 2018, 10:05 PM

I've seen news reports where a lot of young Americans are saying the answer isn't more guns it's more control but the ones at the top who have the biggest guns and biggest piles of cash will always win.

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No, the American voter will always win. American voters have shown time after time that they will strongly defend their Second Amendment rights.

Quote: billwill @ 28th February 2018, 11:27 PM

>Gas is currently the equivalent of 39p per liter, so frack, baby, frack!

And UK prices are around 129p per litre. More than 4 times as much.

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Check your math, Bill.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 28th February 2018, 11:40 PM

Always a bummer when that happens and you make a good point but if it remains civilised I like the debate. Use Notepad++ which constantly saves every keystroke you make and you can also use it to open and switch between multiple text documents.

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<Thumbs_Up_Emoji x2>

There's no chance of the second ever being repealed.
Unlike the 18th.
It's baffling to me that they thought it was a good idea and that they would get away with it.
You make your own DB,is that a family tradition

Quote: Bill Poster @ 1st March 2018, 3:09 AM

There's no chance of the second ever being repealed.
Unlike the 18th.
It's baffling to me that they thought it was a good idea and that they would get away with it.
You make your own DB,is that a family tradition

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I don't think there were any bootleggers in my family tree, but I have a certificate that my grandfather was awarded for joining a repeal organization. It cost the princely sum of $1 to join.

I just poured a pint of my latest brew. It's a nice, light 4.6% bitter brewed with all English ingredients: Maris Otter barley, a touch of British crystal malt, Fuggle hops, and Whitbread's yeast. I could throw back a lot of them, but I'll call it quits at 2. I don't usually drink alone. For me, it's very much a social thing.

You can't really see it in the photo, but it's a pint glass from The Ronald Reagan pub. During his presidency he visited his ancestral home in Ireland and someone renamed a pub in his honor; he was photographed having a pint there. It closed many years later and the Reagan Presidential Library in southern California purchased the entire contents and moved it to the library/museum. I was so excited to see a pub and Guinness signs when I visited the library about 12 years ago, but all they sold were snacks and soft drinks. Not a beer in sight.

It's a cool museum. They have Reagan's Air Force One aircraft on site and you can walk through it.

It looks good from here.
4.6 is about my range.
The same as my choice of local beers,Melbourne Bitter.
It's what us Brits would call a lager not an ale but it hits the spot.

Quote: Bill Poster @ 1st March 2018, 3:57 AM

Melbourne Bitter.
It's what us Brits would call a lager not an ale but it hits the spot.

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Kind of cheeky giving it a name that would suggest an ale.

There aren't a lot of Australian beers available to me. I think Cooper's Sparkling is the only one I enjoyed enough to buy more than once.

Quote: DaButt @ 1st March 2018, 12:55 AM

More details? I Googled it and the only news item I found was this case from almost 25 years ago. The guys were Scottish, so maybe that's it? Anyway, in this case the men were drunk at 4 A.M., rang the doorbell twice, went around to the backyard (typical burglar behavior), climbed a fence and "pounded furiously" on the back door. Those are not wise actions to take in the middle of the night in an area where there have been recent home invasions. Tragic, but the tourist paid for his actions with his life.

.

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Maybe you should realise not everything appears on Google. I've never heard of the case you mention, and the one I'm referring to certainly wasn't 25 years ago - maybe 5, but I'm relying on memory so can't be exact. I'm also pretty sure the man was English.

Quote: Briosaid @ 1st March 2018, 12:01 PM

Maybe you should realise not everything appears on Google. I've never heard of the case you mention, and the one I'm referring to certainly wasn't 25 years ago - maybe 5, but I'm relying on memory so can't be exact. I'm also pretty sure the man was English.

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Never underestimate the reach of Google. If it was in the news, it's on Google.

I tried all sorts of searches, but couldn't come up with anything. There were several stories about people who were shot after knocking on a door, but they all seem to have involved late-night hours, belligerent behavior, alcohol, breaking glass/doors, etc.