Another analysis, by a firearms lawyer, that also reaches the same conclusion https://youtu.be/374TRuxEDck
Hit men aren't what you think
291–300 of 311 posts
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's the classic strategy of being vauge-but-clear with one's orders ("Can you deal with this?" "Your Honor, I didn't tell him to kill anyone!") but, disregarding that, it doesn't seem in the employee's best interest. Where does the assistant's $200k/year come from after that? What if the blackmail attempt is rebuffed and the now-former assistant becomes a target for their former employer's new assistant?
Most personal assistants are not going to go find an hire a contract killer for their 200k a year job.
The whole point of fixers are that you pay them a high price and they have a lot of connections and knowledge and can make things happen, and a reputation of discretion to uphold.
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#293From my understanding, hitmen in general are not what you see in movies or video games. Many of them are just everyday criminals that are willing to take on the job of murdering someone for shockingly low amounts of money. I'm sure there are higher end and higher cost options, but I don't think every hitman out there is going to be as put together as the villain from a Bond or Bourne movie.
Your typical hitman is probably an 18 year old small-time criminal riding a motorcycle in a t-shirt and without shoes. Ride up to the target, shoot in face, ride away. There's no way police could follow a motorcycle in the chaotic traffic of South America where this typically happens.
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's functionally isomorphic to a black box where I make a deposit, every time it denies someone medical treatment I get back monetary reward and I can withdraw my deposit at any time. If we ask ourselves, "Should this black box exist?" I cannot reasonably expect people to say, "Yes." Yet, here we are. I am honestly extremely baffled about what your mental model here is. When UHC doesn't deny a claim, who is paying…
I omitted it because it doesn't change the calculus. If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed.
Look, in any system, there are going to have to be arguments where patients or doctors say some treatment is necessary, and the entity paying for the treatment says it's not.
For example, in Canada, the Ontario government refused to cover a cancer treatment that her doctors said could extend her life by a year or more: https://globalnews.ca/news/927721/milton-mother-devastated-a...
In the UK, two Cystic Fibrosis drugs were rejected for not being cost-effective even though they were clinically effective.
https://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/news/nice-rejects-orkambi
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/nices-trikafta-snub-coul...
You will of course stick to your principles here? The single-payer healthcare systems in Canada and the UK are irredeemable and it's morally repugnant to look at any good they've done for anyone?
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
So why is physical force so important here? If I poison someone, they’re just as dead as if I’d stuck a knife in them.
Poisoning someone is using physical force. Why would you think otherwise?
What if you are poisoning them through knowingly through by dumping toxic chemicals into the air or their water supply? That doesn’t require physical force.
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I really think we need to have a discussion around what we consider acts of violence. Do we? The term "violence" centers around the idea of using physical force. If you mean that certain acts are just as morally contemptible as violence, or equally likely to cause harm, just say that directly. Please don’t dilute the term “violence,” or we’ll have to find another word to describe intentional harm using physical for…
So why is physical force so important here? If I poison someone, they’re just as dead as if I’d stuck a knife in them.
I would categorize that with violent activities. You’re taking action that physically harms someone with an obvious causal chain.
Give me some leeway here, by the way—I am allowing myself to be “socratized”…
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#297What is more interesting is the way people feel about this, obviously many people think the current healthcare situation is insane and malicious. But there is basically zero political will to change this situation. This maybe shows US isn’t really a democracy and more of an oligarchy at this point.
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#298Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How did we enter a world in which the only given fact that must be held true is that "the business profit will grow unceasingly for all time, no matter the consequence" What do you mean enter? This was always the model of capitalistic acquisition. Early industrial revolution was not known for it's blue skies, labor friendly laws and preventing children from working in the mines. The moment you have inflation, which…
>This was always the model of capitalistic acquisition. Early industrial revolution was not known for it's blue skies, labor friendly laws and preventing children from working in the mines. Except for "blue skies", the other things you've listed are the default state of nature. Children worked the moment they were able. Even without a capitalist boss, people worked their asses off during the planting/harvest season u…
> Except for "blue skies", the other things you've listed are the default state of nature. Children worked the moment they were able.
Not sure if bait or that uneducated. But during early days of industrial revolution was well known for exploitative practices like: children dying in mine collapses, children dying of black lungs, losing their limbs in various machinery.
If you can find these all-natural looms, mines, and labor laws in nature, I'd love to see it.
> Even without a capitalist boss, people worked their asses off during the planting/harvest season
So because it was worse before, we shouldn't strive to improve the system?
Re: Hit men aren't what you think
#300What is more interesting is the way people feel about this, obviously many people think the current healthcare situation is insane and malicious. But there is basically zero political will to change this situation. This maybe shows US isn’t really a democracy and more of an oligarchy at this point.
I think this last election has confirmed that.