Political Discussion

RenegadeMonster said:
CNN.com just had a story for subscribers, (paywalled, but you can read it in Safari's reader mode) about school bus stop arm Cameras.

Basically, the opinion piece was against them. That they serve no actual safety purpose and are operated by for profit companies that are only interested in generating ticket revenue. The majority of violations while technically are violations, pose no safety risks to children. Often the result of just bad timing / luck when a car was beside a school bus on a multi lane road when the arm deployed, or the yellow sequence was too short to fully stop soon enough for on coming traffic.

Just like red light cameras, there is big money to be made off these citations. And most of it goes to the private companies who install the cameras, and not the city or school district. Pretty much anything that is fully automated and has zero tolerance should not be allowed according to this piece.

That all does sound bad, but I'm at a loss for what a better solution would be. It's been in the local news here, and lots of video footages about cars not stopping for school busses in Salem. Once such video showed a student having to cross the road to get to the school bus, and wait as not one, not two, but 5 cars passed the school bus when the stop arm was out. They were oncoming traffic to the school bus who just simply did not stop.

Just last week there was video footage from another town in Massachusetts where a car passed a stopped school bus by driving through a driveway on the right side of the bus, as a child was running towards the bus from the house and was narrowly missed. The driver was later tracked down and arrested. The driveway, was one of those semi circles where you can drive in, park parallel to the house and then drive out the other end. The bus was stopped in the middle of the semi circle and somehow the driver thought it would be okay to use the driveway t o pass the stoped bus.

There has been talk about the need to install stop arm cameras on school buses in Salem. Something they are working with the state to do. I don't think the State currently allows them for fines / citations.
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Wait for the story about the kid that gets hit by a car that doesn't stop for the school bus, because "most of the time there's no safety issue".
 
Turbo said:
Wait for the story about the kid that gets hit by a car that doesn't stop for the school bus, because "most of the time there's no safety issue".
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They did have a story about someone was hit. And they also said only 37 children have been killed in the last decade by cars not stopping for school buses, something that statistically is really rare occurrence.

But besides that, I think their main point was these cameras don't do anything to protect children. A camera is not going to stop a car from running past a stopped school bus. Their main purpose is to generate revenue and that we should look to other methods to educate drivers and protect children.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
They did have a story about someone was hit. And they also said only 37 children have been killed in the last decade by cars not stopping for school buses, something that statistically is really rare occurrence.

But besides that, I think their main point was these cameras don't do anything to protect children. A camera is not going to stop a car from running past a stopped school bus. Their main purpose is to generate revenue and that we should look to other methods to educate drivers and protect children.
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It's meant to be a deterrence, isn't it? With hefty fines... Yeah, that generates revenues, but the idea is to make it hurt for those that don't follow the rules, just like with any other fine. Shouldn't we err on the side of caution with very young kids, like those taking school buses? Why are drivers so in a hurry anyway, that they can't wait about 30 seconds? The reason that there are not a lot of events, may actually be because of the safety measures employed by school buses.

I mean sure, buses could deploy a large heavy steel bar with spikes at window level into the other lane. That would work better.

I don't mean to be overly argumentative about this, but I don't buy the argument. It's basically the same anti-traffic camera stuff we see everywhere. In the case of school buses, if a big issue is with timing (like some tickets are given just as the bus deploys the stop and there's no chance to stop), that can be easily fixed with common sense.
 
What a nice bunch of cowards

Republican senators shrug off or plead ignorance of January 6 pardons – report​

CNN went around the Capitol today, asking Republican senators for their thoughts on Donald Trump’s pardons to just about everyone facing or convicted of criminal charges over the January 6 insurrection.

Those who spoke to the network did not have any particularly strong words of opposition to the president’s decision, even though all were in the Capitol when Trump’s supporters attacked.

Here’s John Thune, the Senate majority leader:

“We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward,” he said, while contending the 1,000-plus pardons were not blanket pardons.

“I think they were case by case.” Biden “opened the door” to pardons, Thune argued, saying that the former president engaged in the “most massive use of the pardon power that we’ve seen in history”.
Susan Collins of Maine said she did not know much about the widely reported development:

“I don’t know whether there were pardons given to individuals who assaulted police officers,” she said, “or whether there were pardons given to people who damaged property, who rummaged through desks, who broke windows in the Capitol. I disagree with those pardons if they were given.”
Tommy Tuberville of Alabama managed to be simultaneously enthusiastic and disappointed:

Senator Tommy Tuberville said he was “100%” for “everyone” of the pardons, adding of the rioters in prison that “they’ve been there long enough.”

Pressed by reporters that some of those who were pardoned assaulted police officers, “No, that’s not acceptable. But I didn’t see it,” Tuberville said.

Asked him if he doesn’t believe police officers were beaten, Tuberville said, “I don’t know whether I don’t believe, because I didn’t see it. Now, if I see it, I would believe it, but I didn’t see that video.”
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www.theguardian.com

Trump border czar says raids targeting undocumented immigrants to begin today – live

Former Ice official says today’s expected raids likely to target undocumented immigrants who have interacted with the US criminal justice system
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 

CNN —
A lawsuit filed by over a dozen Democratic state attorneys general Tuesday is challenging President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, a major constitutional challenge to one of the White House’s signature policies.

The lawsuit alleges that a Trump executive order signed Monday violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which gives a constitutional right of citizenship to all children born in the United States.

“Despite a President’s broad powers to set immigration policy, however, the Citizenship Stripping Order falls far outside the legal bounds of the President’s authority,” the lawsuit says.

This story is breaking and will be updated.
 
So, not only did Trump remove all restrictions and protections for off shore drilling and drilling in general in protected areas via EO yesterday, but he also issued a EO that bans Temporarily Withdrawals all off shore areas leased for Wind power and had ordered the Federal Government to review it's practice for permitting wind projects.

So, not only are we bringing fossil fuels back, we are blocking green energy...
 
RenegadeMonster said:
So, not only did Trump remove all restrictions and protections for off shore drilling and drilling in general in protected areas via EO yesterday, but he also issued a EO that bans Temporarily Withdrawals all off shore areas leased for Wind power and had ordered the Federal Government to review it's practice for permitting wind projects.

So, not only are we bringing fossil fuels back, we are blocking green energy...
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He's always hated windmills. Probably because of his hairpiece
 
All that support this man and his administration can eat shit. Why would he show up to an episcopal church to begin with is my question? He'd should have gone Mark Driscoll or Greg Locke's church.

news.sky.com

Bishop pleads with Trump over LGBT children

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde pleads to President Donald Trump to have 'mercy upon the US people' as he begins his second term in office.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
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Twentytwo said:
All that support this man and his administration can eat shit. Why would he show up to an episcopal church to begin with is my question? He'd should have gone Mark Driscoll or Greg Locke's church.

news.sky.com

Bishop pleads with Trump over LGBT children

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde pleads to President Donald Trump to have 'mercy upon the US people' as he begins his second term in office.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
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You beat me to it!
 
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