I guess the only thing we have to fear is not just fear itself but the fearful themselves who are driving the madness in this country because of their fear of what is essentially a ghost (terrorism). So much for JFK's America. Today's America is filled with fearful cowards, just like the people in charge the past fifteen or so years always wanted.
You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
131–140 of 197 posts
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is possible terrorists could gain access to nukes. You don't know this for sure.
Yes, anyone could know this to a high certainty. It is incredibly difficult to handle and move nuclear materials undetected. It is in fact impossible for non-state actors to deliver nuclear bombs. This is why every discussion of "nuclear terrorism" also includes "dirty bombs" because otherwise there would be no such topic as "nuclear terrorism."
It may be extremely unlikely, to the point of being negligible, that terrorists could develop, construct and deliver a nuclear device independently. However it may be possible for them to steal one. They'd find it hard to deliver it to a target, but if the theft went undetected (bear in mind that when the USSR disolved there was no definitive inventory of all their nuclear devices and there are still discrepancies in the records) it's certainly not impossible.
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So should you be scared of going to the hospital? Ludicrous. Hospitals are where the sick and dying go for treatment. Police are there to Protect and Serve. Terrorists try to kill you. Why do the former do more damage than the latter? I agree that the headline is sensationalist, but if you don't think we've got a real police problem, your head is in the sand. Fortunately, the solution isn't that difficult (body cam…
It's important to remember that there is a downside to bodycams. #1) It turns all cops into walking surveillance machines. #2) We don't know yet how much violence it deters, or whether it makes the police more likely to be prosecuted when they commit illegal acts. Initial studies seem promising that it is helpful in some ways, but we don't know how helpful yet. Personally, I think disarming the police would have a lo…
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Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#134The problem is the people are going to look at this the wrong way. Its not that you should be scared of police; its that you shouldn't be scared of terrorists.
This is exactly it. 9/11 was an extraordinary terrorist event: it killed more people than the previous decade of terrorist attacks worldwide. An attack on the scale of 9/11 is simply impossible in the current security climate. And "ordinary" terrorist attacks are simply too isolated to ever be a realistic threat to any one person. Even in Israel, where terror attacks are commonplace, the number of civilian deaths is…
>9/11 was an extraordinary terrorist event: it killed more people than the previous decade of terrorist attacks worldwide
Obviously you mean their "terrorist" attacks on us. Clearly, more people have been killed by either sides "terrorist" attacks. When we drop bombs on 3rd world villages, or fund armies to do it for us, those villages consider it a "terrorist" attack, regardless of whether "we" refer to it differently in the press - protection of interests, operation freedom, operation democracy spreading.
Please don't be so closed minded that only "they" are terrorists and "we" are the good guys, everytime without fail. The use terror tactics has been a part and parcel of our militaries since the time the military was created.
We are all as bad as each other
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does Germany have an equivalent to South Chicago or North St. Louis? Because we've got one of those in just about every major U.S. city. It seems relevant.
Maybe the question you should ask yourselves, is why you have those. Why are inequalities so high in your country ?
Obviously! I'm only pointing out that the police are operating in this environment, as it exists today, too.
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#136The problem is the people are going to look at this the wrong way. Its not that you should be scared of police; its that you shouldn't be scared of terrorists.
“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” — George Orwell Billions of dollars of yearly agency budgets are justified with terrorist scare narratives. Saying that we shouldn't be scared of terrorists is a good beginning. I just wonder if anybody will listen.
the narrative will change back to the red scare shortly as Russia grows. Then the "terrorists" will be our friends. Our war against the terrorists will be forgotten and so on and so on....
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#137I like numbers, but this one might work better if they put some context: "You're 50% more likely to be killed by lightning than by a terrorist." or "You're six times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a bumblebee." Or the somber "You're 150 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than a terrorist." (The War on Vehicles should apparently be funded to the tune of $150T a year, if I understan…
If something on the order of the 9/11 attacks happened every other day, we'd still lose more Americans to heart disease.
I can't see the war on heart disease winning an election though.
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#138The problem is the people are going to look at this the wrong way. Its not that you should be scared of police; its that you shouldn't be scared of terrorists.
Correct - More people die in hospitals then anywhere else. So should you be scared of going to the hospital?
"Hospital Errors are the Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S." Add strains of super-bacteria that thrive there and I'd say that's a yes.
http://www.hospitalsafetyscore.org/newsroom/display/hospital...
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does Germany have an equivalent to South Chicago or North St. Louis? Because we've got one of those in just about every major U.S. city. It seems relevant.
Maybe the question you should ask yourselves, is why you have those. Why are inequalities so high in your country ?
Compare the US to the EU, not any of the countries within it.
Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
#140Your source does not support your claim. The only thing worse than people who spew lies are people who do so with footnotes that imply that you're not lying. American police officers are out of control. That's not a "meme" that's being "promoted" it's an actual fact that some authoritarian assholes (read: you) are attempting to discredit and hide. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Criminals are out of control. Don't fight with a cop, don't resist arrest, you don't get shot. Pretty simple solution. Perhaps, to be fair, we ought to discuss violence committed by illegal aliens. We don't have that discussion on HN. Perhaps our outrage ought to be directed at the criminals and misfits that seem to think running from cops, fighting with cops or insulting cops is somehow smart. I know far more victim…
> Don't fight with a cop, don't resist arrest, you don't get shot. . Pretty simple solution.
Well, except for all those people who neither fought with cops nor resisted arrest and still got shot.
> I know far more victims of crime than I do victims of police brutality.
Since police brutality is crime, its impossible for the reverse to be true. But really, all that tells us (even assuming the characterization is accurate) is something about who you know, not what the relevant incidence of those things is in society.
> You're more likely to be shot by a gangbanger than a cop, thus shouldn't we be complaining about that?
I'm not sure law enforcement failing to do their job and thereby endangering innocents is a different problem than law enforcement failing to do their job and thereby endangering innocents.