You're absolutely correct, prohibition is what is actually causing all of the overdose deaths. If we had a legal and regulated system of drugs then the supply would be high quality and consistent and people would know exactly what they were getting
That is true today, but Linux didn’t have that much of a lead. People chose to develop for Linux instead when the future was in doubt, and that was largely due to the pragmatism of Linus.
All law enforcement agencies have the same amount of zero oversight that the FBI has, but local police departments also get to terrorize their local communities with military hardware on top of constant monitoring with stuff like Palantir
Living in NYC as a poor immigrant teen 1990s through upper-middle-class (or whatever) adult through 2021, I did not feel "terrorized" by the NYPD.
Now I live in a small town not far from NYC and the police are literally part of the community, it's a few dozen folks that most people in town know on first name basis. No terrorizing.
To be clear, as someone who grew up in the USSR, I am certainly in sync with the idea that police can be oppressive, it just does not resonate at all with what I see in my now 3 decades in the US.
There are just many privileged people here that are so insulated from reality they confuse their insane social media political talking points with actual reality.
The counter argument is always some straw man pulled from news headlines.
No, but I agree with them. I live in the hood and am white and live an easy life compared to those who are not. Get some perspective.
EDIT: and my whole family is from BK, what was once filled with immigrants is now filled with the rich and privileged in most parts. All I am saying is that if you wanna use anecdotes so can I. Brown people in this country are systemically treated like trash. I see it every day. I don’t fear my life but I sure would if I was a 16 year old black kid in my city (Philadelphia).
I come from the old country that has ( maybe had? ) fairly homogeneous population. We still had locations you did not go to after dark, pathology that rivaled some of the ghetto stories and police that could abuse you if they so chose ( communism - cops could really do whatever ). I posit that the issue is poverty and people. We just kinda suck as a species. I am saying it is not the skin color. I am saying it is generations of living in ways that make integration into society somewhat hard.
<< Get some perspective.
I believe parent is correct. Immigrants from Africa are able to prosper in US, because they are not bound by culture infused in them by the 'street'. The fact is he made it out despite being the 'wrong' color.
Per capita, they go to prison at a rate far higher than any other group of immigrants in the US. Even more surprisingly, they go to prison in higher absolute numbers than any immigrant group other than hispanics. There aren't even close to as many African immigrants as there are hispanics, and yet the Africans still go to prison at a rate far higher. Literally, no other group of immigrants does worse than Africans in this regard.
Economically, the majority of African immigrants occupy the lower working classes. Even when controlling for generation, (ie - only comparing second generation immigrants), hispanics do better at the mean.
Perhaps you meant to say that African immigrants do slightly better than Black Americans at the mean? Because other than Black Americans and Native Americans, African immigrants do better than literally no one else in society. Immigrant or non-immigrant. I certainly wouldn't call doing far worse than Hispanic immigrants "prospering".
Mind you, there could definitely be other reasons for this. It's not that we should jump right to, "Well, it must be racism!" We need more info to make such a determination. But the demography based socioeconomic facts illustrate that the group you claimed to be "prospering", is clearly not "prospering". They don't even manage to get to "matching" the success of other immigrant groups. Note: I was extremely kind to them, and left Asians out of the comparison.
Could you provide me with the data source for that? I might be wrong on this and I am more than willing to acknowledge that as my source in this case is more anecdotal than anything else, but I am curious as to what allowed you to draw that conclusion.
I don't need to have in order to believe the blatant evidence, I'm only saying that generalizing your own personal experience to say that my claim is wrong is wrong itself. Police abuse is very well documented
This one actually goes beyond even empathy. I mean, empathy wouldn't help. xyzelement sounded literally insane in that comment. Like the Iraqi information minister telling the press of the imminent defeat of the Americans with American tanks rolling through the streets behind him.
Guys, if you want to debate, feel free. But try never to get into a rhetorical situation where you're fighting a rear guard action against the facts. People just look at each other while you're talking and say, "Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot." Never lose the audience that badly.
xyzelement's comment is an example of that dynamic.
> which is why crime is rising catastrophically and people are fleeing to states like Texas.
California violent crime rate : 25.2 / 100k
Texas violent crime rate : 24.8 / 100k
California property crime : 35.4 / 100k
Texas property crime. : 38.0 / 100k
Yep, trully a disproportionate crime rate that warrants narratives about "people fleeing", which btw is not happening, demographic movements have been pretty steady. Largest moves have been a few real state companies and some dudes with podcasts.
> at some point y'all have to look at SF and say "huh, maybe we weren't right about everything"
Is SF somehow not part of the american police state? Like what part of California is suddenly this leftist utopia and warrants careful consideration before american follows suit into hell?
Cali is notorious for NIMBYism, where police are called by rich white liberals to keep minorities, homeless etc away. Police action is as violent and as class aware as anywhere else in the US.
The SF police budget is 780 million yearly, that would put them above 60 countries on earth by gdp. The entire country of micronesia, with 500k people could work for 2 whole years and not be able to pay 1 year of the SF police budget.
Pretending that the exodus isn't happening isn't going to change the fact that SF is a failing city. Seattle, Philly, and NYC have just voted in pro-cop mayors who are running on a "fund the police" platform. Most of that vote comes from minorities, particularly Black people (in the case of Eric Adams and Cherelle Parker)
Please, please, please try to address your problems today, before things get worse. Last time I was in Seattle people were shocked that I'd never seen someone shit on the street in Detroit.
> Californians and New Yorkers and Minnesotans are moving to red states in droves.
Literally the same numbers as before the time frame. See how the number to Texas is a digit and not a percentage, because there has been no change.
Also the California population change is ridiculous, the biggest drop in people was out of state students/workers not coming in during 2020 and 2021.
The drop is entirely based on pandemic restrictions, by 2022 you can see the population line back to normal.
> That's why there are fearmongering billboards going up in SF
a yes a political stunt by a media company from Chicago, really a real problem and def something noteworthy.
Holy jesus media literacy is down the drain in this country.
> Pretending that the exodus isn't happening isn't going to change the fact that SF is a failing city.
Exodus, fleeing, failing city. Repeating phrases from a conservative focus group is not gonna make a city that makes 600 billion a year seem a bad place.
> Seattle, Philly, and NYC have just voted in pro-cop mayors who are running on a "fund the police" platform. Most of that vote comes from minorities, particularly Black people (in the case of Eric Adams and Cherelle Parker)
Irrelevant. and oddly seems racist
> try to address your problems today
defund the police, pay for social services, free mental and social healthcare and less people in jail in the land of the free.
