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UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

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Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#371

Post by throwaway48476 »

nameless912 wrote: post #252
toomuchtodo wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the comment that has been in my head since the news broke, and I feel like we are only at the beginning, like the pause before the first drop of a rollercoaster with the forward looking macro (political and economic tension, broadly speaking). Laws and rules only matter so long as we're all willing to believe they do.

I don't know how to write this comment in a way that won't land me in a CIA black site so I'll just start with a disclaimer that this post in no way celebrates or condones any violence, but I wouldn't be surprised if political assassination attempts go up 10-fold in the next 10 years. We already saw two different assassination attempts against Trump during the lead up to the election. You can read my older comments t…

Federal judges are the only people in this country that privacy laws apply to.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#372

Post by vundercind »

echoangle wrote: post #350
vundercind wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the Secret Service doesn't have a great track record for preventing attempts. Their presence puts some stress on the perpetrators, which does help, and they are good at preventing quick wide-open follow-ups to a miss or partial success, but they're bad at preventing the first shot or two. And I don't think it's because they're exceptionally bad at what they do, but because if someone really wants to take a shot,…

And the secret service has the luxury of being able to shut down whole blocks/towns when they think they need to, that’s not something a random bodyguard of a CEO can do every time the CEO drives around.

Right, there are lots of them and they have more resources and options than a CEO's bodyguards, and still aren't (and again, I don't think this is, at least in general if not in every specific case, exactly their fault) super effective at preventing people from taking a shot, if they really want to and if their plot isn't discovered beforehand.

They do discourage "casual" attempts pretty well, and raising the difficulty constrains and pressures even the dedicated who succeed at striking (if not at achieving their ends) in ways that surely matter, but I think most of that has more to do with the shutting-down-whole-blocks and cordoning-off-entire-areas stuff. The strictly body-guard activity they do mostly just prevents sustained attempts—which isn't nothing, but CEOs aren't gonna keep those first couple bullets at bay with bodyguards. Broader behavior modification? Now that might work.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#373

Post by throwaway48476 »

echoangle wrote: post #350
vundercind wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the Secret Service doesn't have a great track record for preventing attempts. Their presence puts some stress on the perpetrators, which does help, and they are good at preventing quick wide-open follow-ups to a miss or partial success, but they're bad at preventing the first shot or two. And I don't think it's because they're exceptionally bad at what they do, but because if someone really wants to take a shot,…

And the secret service has the luxury of being able to shut down whole blocks/towns when they think they need to, that’s not something a random bodyguard of a CEO can do every time the CEO drives around.

Indeed. For president's the SS has hundreds of agents and local law enforcement and they position security in the whole area. The pelosi home wacko got through because the one or two SS didn't even notice.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#374

Post by throwaway48476 »

mikeyouse wrote: post #179
HDThoreaun wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supreme court got rid of may issue gun licenses. All gun permits in the US are now shall issue.

Yep - most of people's impressions of NYC's gun laws/rights are really outdated..

It was a year or two ago.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#375

Post by s1artibartfast »

kerkeslager wrote: post #343
s1artibartfast wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont want state funded single player Medicaid for all, and would vote against it. I think my united healthcare plan is better (somewhat ironically). Instead, I think medicaid should be offered, at cost, as a non-profit public option to all ages. This was discussed briefly during the Obama healthcare debates, but broadly rejected by left who wanted to eliminate private options. We got compulsory private healthcare i…

> This was discussed briefly during the Obama healthcare debates, but broadly rejected by left who wanted to eliminate private options. As someone who voluteered in this field during that time, this is just a repetition of right wing propaganda. There was no serious movement to eliminate private options. Every country with a single-payer system that I'm aware of has private options as well, they just aren't popular b…

Single payer literally meant that all citizens are subscribed to the same government operated health insurance.

If the entire "single payer" program was completely optional and offered at cost, they totally missed the messaging on that one, because I was paying attention and that wasnt my take away.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#376

Post by rich_sasha »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #153

[flagged]

> The tone has shifted in a way that people who would have never be considered violent, are out buying weapons.

I think that's what happens when people feel a peaceful discussion is going nowhere. The frustration only increases while available non-violent solutions appear to shrink. The Black Panthers, Palestinian terrorism... There's nothing good about it, but I find it entirely unsurprising.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#377

Post by Dylan16807 »

auntienomen wrote: post #130
oceanplexian wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the interest of brevity, they're not called silencers, they're called suppressors since they don't "silence" anything like in a Hollywood movie. Typically a suppressor will reduce the sound signature of a gunshot from something like 140dBA to 110dBA. Still enough to cause hearing damage and be heard a quarter mile away.

They're called suppressors among gun nerds. But silencer is the standard term in American English. If you have complaints about how language has evolved, you may contact Richard Stallman and ask him for advice.

It's less about complaining, more about explaining that it's still very loud.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#378

Post by s1artibartfast »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #302
s1artibartfast wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was talking about the power to enact healthcare policy change. I have the power to kick a dog, but that is tangential to the objective of interest. My point is that healthcare reform is obstructed by the fact that everyday American citizens want very different things and cant agree.

You're assuming his objective was to change healthcare policy, I doubt it was. I think the objective was good old fashioned revenge. Like this is pure speculation right? But I have a strong feeling that, should the person be caught, we'll learn that they have or had a family member or even themselves insured with UHC who has suffered some harm, and that person felt UHC was responsible. Whether they were correct or no…

I was responding to

>But sometimes it's the only way to enact change.

>In my ideal world, accountability would be these rich bastards getting hauled into congress and charged for the abuses their companies inflict on American citizens.

My point is that these rich bastards are playing by the rules the American citizens set up. American citizens have the power to change those rules if they want, but cant agree on anything they think is better. People like to imagine a grand corporate conspiracy while ignoring half the population that want the opposite thing.

In my mind, it is the same type of vigilantism that justifies shooting up a school, LGBT club, or killing women who wont date you.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#379

Post by mikeyouse »

Clubber wrote: post #354
mikeyouse wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that these are legal sales between law-abiding adults, the ATF doesn't care at all. There's the perennial "they're taking all our guns!" discourse that serves to misinform everyone, and then there are basic facts that mostly pierce all the nonsense. https://trac.syr.edu/reports/733/include/figure1.png "Rogue rampage" indeed.. almost 10% higher than pre-covid Trump convictions and about the same level as w…

The ATF changed the rules on private sales. If you make a penny on the private sale, you need an FFL. https://www.gunowners.org/new-atf-rule-you-can-go-to-jail-fo... https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12679 https://myjrpaper.com/node/7745 They killed this guy over it. https://saf.org/atf-swat-raid-that-killed-arkansas-man-raise... All this was legal a few years ago. ATF decided to change the rules. Also…

I'm sorry you buy into all the misleading nonsense from the prepper gun lobby..

They did widen the definition of dealers, but it's still "a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms."

So casually selling guns to friends and family is fine and doesn't require a license or a background check unless your state requires it.

> They killed this guy over it. https://saf.org/atf-swat-raid-that-killed-arkansas-man-raise...

He had bought over 150 guns in the past 3 years, signed forms for each of them that he was buying them for his own use, and then immediately turned around and sold them, several to undercover Feds. He'd post up at gun shows with a table full of guns and then sell them for cash without paperwork. 6 of the guns he sold were found at crime scenes.. the result of the raid was unfortunate but the dude was exactly who should be targeted by laws like this.

Seriously, read the search affidavit if you think it was somehow inappropriate to target him: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vjer4Tr0SJhe6ZzkUDgkjaho4PH...

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#380

Post by throwaway48476 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #153

[flagged]

Miltia groups, and any such group as you are describing would be or are completely infiltrated. Al Qaeda was less of an organization and more of a brand name that was taken up by different groups who had no affiliation with eachother but did so to increase the amount of donations and resources they received from the community.
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