The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
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User ID: 174
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
15hr ago
Is there any precedent for SWAT raids on generally-law-abiding gun owners?
The Biden raids of "kitchen-table" gun dealers -- note that the Trump Administration is still defending his "engaged in the business rule".
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
15hr ago
President AOC (or Newsom)'s ATF will have fully automatic weapons, not to mention incendiary grenades. If they say "Mr. and Mrs. Gunowner, turn them all in" and then kill a few members, or an entire compound, of some unpopular group to punctuate their point, they'll get most of it back, and the rest will end up buried until they rust to uselessness.
Even Texas and Florida are not going to put their own police in the way of the ATF.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
I believe most US jurisdictions switched to the "standard drop" (intended to be quick, though it didn't prove reliable) and then the "long drop" shortly after they came available.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Not even in the slightest. If you convert away from Judaism, you are no longer a Jew and if you are a woman your future children aren't automatically Jewish either. Also Judaism is a religion and not a nationality; while Israel has the law of return, it only says Jews can become Israeli citizens, not that they ARE Israeli citizens.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Palestinians are special. They're internationally considered Palestinians even if they acquire another citizenship, and so are their descendants. Once a Palestinian, forever the line is so attainted.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
I once fired a suppressed MP-5; the loudest sound was the brass hitting the floor.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
As ArjinFerman points out, the bullies don't need to think about it; they're operating according to their nature. Society is hierarchical, and no one wants to be in the lower levels, but someone has to be for it to work. Bullying is one way human nature accomplishes that.
This is why authority is so upset when someone strikes back against bullies outside the rules of the playground; it is disruptive.
(The bullies are not the top either, but they're higher than their victims!)
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
It makes some sense that Slytherin is structurally chuddish
Despite in-story protestations otherwise, the Houses are basically Good, Evil, Nerds, and Plodders. With a few exceptions.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
It's dumb that drugs have to be FDA approved for executions, but it's easiest to sidestep the matter. Even if Mexican rope-makers, German gun and ammunition manufacturers, and Japanese steelmakers refused to allow their products to be used in executions, there's enough American capacity for the few executions we do. Just hang, behead, or shoot; it works.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
Alito retires next term, with a Democratic Senate. Thomas won't live forever. The next President will likely be a Democrat. A leftist court won't pussyfoot around being anti-RKBA the way the current court pretends to be pro-RKBA, so it'll all be gone in one decision.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
1d ago
All this goes away between Thomas and Alito retiring or dying and the next Democratic adminstration eliminating the kinder-and-gentler ATF. Whether they'll go door-to-door collecting suppressors bought on 4473 or not, I don't know.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
The 1947 code specifies 8 rifles, from 1 to 3 blanks. I don't know if they've changed that.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
Yes, that's the purpose of bullying: to socialize the bullied into their lesser role.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
The wiki article claims that to be pure-blooded, no parents nor grandparent can be Muggle, Squib, or Muggle-born. The last term indicates two Muggle parents, not just one. (and note that "Squib" means this isn't just about blood). Harry, thus, with a muggle-born mother, is not pure-blood, nor will his children be regardless of mother.
As for Draco attempting to befriend him... Harry Potter's a legend, "The Boy Who Lived". Malfoy is, quite reasonably for a Slytherin, attempting to enlist him on his side. Overlooking his parentage is just realpolitik.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
You evidently don't recall the Dr. Gillespie killings.
You reference a scene from Blazing Saddles; I stand by "absurd".
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
The man's in a wheelchair because he was shot while committing mass murder; this does not make him deserving of sympathy. If a John Wayne character had been there, Hasan would have been shot dead on the spot; alas, none was.
I don't think any John Wayne character was an executioner at all. And executions in westerns are typically hangings (though firing squads aren't unknown), and hanging a paraplegic would present a challenge to do properly -- although it has been done.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
The main reason public execution was curtailed was not that the public was against it, but that the elite were put off that the public was so enthusiastic about it.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
you would make a better Voldemort and he would win
No. Right wingers have been cast as evil for so long they accept it, but a really blood-and-soil right wing Harry Potter would make the right-winger the good guy. Getting further from canon: a pureblood Harry, for instance, with Voldemort being the champion of the odds and sods. Of course not everyone on the good side would be a pureblood, but the lessers would know their place and would admire Harry for his purity.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
Nitrogen has been botched also. There isn't any method of execution that can't be botched, though lethal injection seems to be the worst. There isn't enough data on firing squads in the modern era, but I'd expect them to be as reliable as hanging if not more so, even if you count needing a coup-de-grace as a botch.
Hanging probably isn't practical for Nidal Hasan, him being in a wheelchair. It would be possible, but absurd.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
Trump, of course, is the definition of bad taste. But I don't think even Hegseth will do anything like that.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
I think the most coherent reason is that MAGA wants a spectacle.
But then why go for something as tame as a firing squad? Where is the suspense, the thrill? The obvious baseline for RETVRN-leaning MAGAs should be pagan Rome, they knew how to put on a show. Wild animals, fighting, messy deaths. Crucifixions are right out though, not only because they would offend the Christian right, but also because two hours in viewers will get bored and start scrolling TokTok.
The reasoning in the second paragraph should cast doubt on the first. It's not going to be a spectacle. It's going to be a video of a guy in a wheelchair, restrained, hooded, and with a target placed on his heart, who is then shot to death by several people. It will be brutal, but it won't be a spectacle. And I think Hegseth knows this.
I don't know why he wants it publicly streamed. But I think it's a good thing. Whether you're for or against the death penalty, you should be able to see what it is.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2d ago
Yes, HP is left wing and yes Voldemort was Nazi-inspired; of course he was, that's the modern incarnation of evil. But Harry himself wasn't particularly lefty, he was mostly interested in solving his personal problem with Voldemort. The left-wing paragon role was left to Hermione. How to do a right-wing version of the story would depend on what "right wing" you want. An American 'gun nut' right wing wouldn't actually be so far from canon, except for the major changes that you'd have to have Dumbledore be an outsider, and throw Hermione out on her ear. Traditional European blood-and-soil would be difficult to do without replacing half-blood Harry, of course; perhaps Neville Longbottom could be the hero.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
RW Potter fanfic is like Voldemort winning.
No, Voldemort was a degenerate obsessed with his own personal immortality; he was just using the mudblood stuff to get support (though when he was just half-blood Tom Riddle he believed it)
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
3d ago
Yeah, I don't think anyone's making a real story here. Although if you're a Death Eater trying to foil (or turn!) Harry Potter, a cutie Slytherin honeytrap would have been a better way to go than anything the canon Slytherins came up with.
Also John Lawmaster 1991, on a tip that he had an illegally-converted machine gun. Fortunately Lawmaster wasn't home. ATF trashed the place, left the guns unsecured, and left a note "Nothing found- ATF". Probably the note is what gives the story staying power.
There's the 1994 Pennsylvania Lamplugh raid where ATF agents are alleged to have stomped a kitten to death.
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