Bristol Bears Today

Every other Country do not have the second (or?) amendment. America is the most weaponized Country in Western civilisation. That is tens of millions of interactions (public - Police) annually with guns the UK does not have.

 

The right to bear arms and the ongoing, mighty and far reaching influence of the NRA also has a lot to answer for. How anyone is just allowed to buy a machine gun or military assault rifle is frankly bewildering to us who don't really have a serious gun issue. Just knives at the moment !
It's a country that I personally have visited on many occasions and that I enjoy being in, but it has very complex and long standing social issues that just cant be addressed and may never actually be resolved as a lot of people don't want them to be, including those who are considered the oppressed/repressed/under privileged.
I worked in Wilmington, Delaware from 2000 - 2001 and have many friends still there and I've been back many times for holidays. It's a smallish US city just south of Philadelphia with some really nice houses, shops, bars, restaurants, good amount of colonial history etc, but it's the 15th worse place in the US for murder.
During our second business stay, mistakenly a colleague and I walked into the 'hood' as most locals call it and we were told by hotel staff and US workmates alike that we were very lucky to have walked through it unchallenged or possibly worse.
The place was a mess and I can still picture it now. Sidewalks that didn't exist, ripped up roads, overgrown and unkempt gardens, scruffy houses, cars up on breeze bricks and plenty of residents just sitting on their porches smoking eyeing us up as we walked through looking straight ahead. This area is just one or two blocks away from smart shops and the centre of town, but in all of the depravation were also plenty of smart BMW's, Cadillacs, Lincolns and Mercedes. Taxis and buses do not go there either.
Over the years the city have tried to redevelop the 'hood' and offer the people living there alternative accommodation in new developments. Most have fallen on deaf ears and have been refused as the people who live there actually like it and don't want to change. It's the same in Philadelphia itself, and Baltimore and Washington which again are all places I know well.
So when there is that sort of depravation we look on and say how appalling it is with under educated people who will frankly never be well paid, and that's if they even get a job and who have kids who turn out the same as their parents.
But the point I'm trying to make here is that a good proportion of them don't want to change, and so it goes on generation after generation.
And with this social position comes the crime, drugs, guns, prostitution, murder and all the rest.

 

Right, we're at least agreed here then. Social inequality and racism are not exactly exclusive in this case though. So in essence, the whole 'defund the police' rhetoric you presumably would support then? Or at least, rather than literally defunding the police, supporting the notion that America should start actually funding welfare systems, stop throwing people in jail for absolutely everything (which in many cases can throw them into your circle of disadvantage I might add), and adopt a policing system closer to other western countries, rather than pure aggression and violence.

My fault, badly worded. I didn't mean supporting BLM's actions, but I meant at least support what they are arguing and fighting for. Which we have already discussed.

 

NO I used your figures of 790 as a few to indicate that why over 3 tears+ have only 2 or 3 been "against the grain?" in a population of 250,000,000 could be regarded as a few [ a few needless to many in any account] should you base 790 on a population 100,000,000 it is a far more serious situation. What needs to come into the calculation is all the mitigating factors... crime rates, etc … your intimation is 790 shot is tons my intimation is fewer than tons [ hence few ]

I think you will find he was reaching into car thus how the shots were spread in the body? ...only seen the video once ...so prepared to stand corrected

 

That's a brilliant post and exactly how I'd picture it, particularly in certain areas at least. Even the drugs they use over there are nothing like what people use over here, massively more addictive and they will do anything to get hold of them.

Sorry to sound a bit like Corbyn here and it might be all fantasy, but in my mind the only solution is support. Offer them the help if they want it, give them the welfare they need, and over time some may adopt it and take it on. But what US government would ever offer that when they can't even offer a proper health service?

 

Certainly can't disagree on that Rob!

 

So in essence, the whole 'defund the police' rhetoric you presumably would support then? No. Reasoning has already been posted.

BLM urging people to engage in the electoral process I support, much of what I read I wholly would never support. I have already made a point about the meeting of extremes of both left and right. BLM and Israel and its free Palestine views, looking at Palestine as Comrades and Jews as the enemy (another one) .. No humanity works both ways.

The selective rage and race baiting loses me. The “White supremacist” narratives are ridiculous. Call me a white “White supremacist ” I will treat your views with indifference/disdain/mirth = I would not trust BLM on anything.

 

Thanks Rob and agreed it's a sad and vicious circle that may never be broken even with overwhelming support. And it's the same in countries like India which I've also been lucky enough to visit. There, if you are born into poverty, you will live in poverty, and you will die in poverty with little or no government assistance.
But back to the US briefly, Baltimore, from Wilmington Delaware where we stay, is just an hour down interstate I-95 crossing the mighty and beautiful Susquehanna River on the way.
The city, especially around the historic harbour and National Aquarium area is absolutely lovely on a nice day, with the American Football and Baseball stadiums very nearby, nice hotels, expensive restaurants and bars, and plenty of tourists from all over the world. There is usually street theatre going on or a band playing, ice creams being eaten and people just generally having a great time.
But oh my God, go a couple of streets back from there and it's literally like going into another world, and one that you wouldn't ever want to venture into during the day or especially at night.
Unfortunately Baltimore now ranks at Number 5 in the top 30 cities for murder in the US with a rate of 10.3 times the national average.

East St Louis, Illinois tops the list at No. 1 with a murder rate of 17.5 times the national average, and this translates, shockingly, at just under one person being murdered for every 1,000 residents !
St Louis Missouri (the same city) but on opposite sides of the Mississippi river is second on the list.
Here is a link and the breakdown of the crimes.

www.neighborhoodscout.com/blog/highest-murder-rate-cities

 

Never been to the States, but that sounds horrific. And that is what has to be policed - no wonder they don't take chances and sometimes get it wrong in a big, big way.

 

I've not been in the United States since Easter 2018 and given the current conditions and travel restrictions, I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back again and see my friends.
Obviously the link I've supplied is subjective and can be viewed any number of ways.
Quite surprising that New York, LA and Chicago don't appear on the list.

 

Ha the BBC can organise a choir after all. So it was not down to the corona virus!!!

 

Possibly because New York, Chicago and LA have a large population so the chances per 1000 is very low.

 

the nutter who shot dead a trump supporter was killed last night by police trying to arrest him !!!

 

I've only been to the US once but I did find it to be exactly as the stereotypes would suggest. The further in you go from the coast the more and more pro-Trump they are.

 

The murder and stabbings in Birmingham after the murder and stabbings in Reading. Clear hatred involved. Race???. virtue signallers holding fire until they know demographics of victims. And??? Taking the knee for these victims??

 

the diners food and tables and chairs were systematically racist and silently violent so had to be peacefully cancelled.

 

This clip is from 2014 but boy does it hit the nail on the head. The police chief is absolutely spot on in everything that he says.

Some people need to take a step back and actually realise the reality of what is happening and will continue to happen if the whole picture is not on the table for discussion.

 

there is a funny hat that woman is wearing …….