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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

#431

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.

Same here. With as many guns and victims of corporate greed that we have, I'm actually pretty shocked that we don't see this happening as routinely as, say, school shootings. I wonder if we'd see slightly more ethical behavior from corporations if their C-level staff and board members had to routinely practice lock-down drills because they were getting offed once a week.

See "cyberpunk", Gibson et al.

The rich will isolate themselves further behind even more surveillance technology, more physical barriers, and, because that is never enough, inordinate amounts of paid thugs.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#432

Just saw video of the shooting on X, the guy was cool as a cucumber. Racking a new round after every shot. Not a hint of desperation, fear or anxiety. He didn't even run off after shooting. https://x.com/Tr00peRR/status/1864376034465890417

Why did he reload every shot? Is it self made pistol? My best guess that insurance haven't paid his enough to buy glock17

Or it could just be a single action pistol, as noted in the article. They’re not common but there are a handful of them that are relatively easy to obtain. Competitive shooters use them and it seems that Seals are sometimes issued single action pistols too.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Okay, let's call it "Zionists terrorism against the British Empire". In fact, we can even top with: "And against the indigineous population of Palestine, of course." Are you now ready to agree that, since the mid-1960s, some Palestinian resistance groups have also engaged in terrorism? More to the point: why tailor your own language based on what the other side supposedly thinks or says? Instead of just getting to th…

If we are to be intellectually honest, then my position is:

1. Zionism is a colonial settler project created by British Empire, lord Balfour created it to create a buffer zone between Suez Canal and Ottoman Empire to protect British trade route to India.

2. After ww2 when British lost all their colonies, US picked it up as its own colonial entity and uses it as a military base to exert pressure in the region on oil rich countries

3. Zionists have no claim to the land of Palestine because “biblical claim from 2000 years ago” is a ridiculous pretext for British-US empire to keep a colony in the middle east.

4. People of Israel are being used to project power and fight imperial wars to control the middle east, at the great expense of the jewish people and especially global diaspora and long-term prospects and reputation of Judaism

5. Because it is colonial settler project, it is accompanied by all sorts of crimes against humanity, like: ethnic cleansing, displacement, genocide, war at the great expense of the native population that lived in peace in the holy land, before Zionists from Europe showed up in late 19-early 20th century

6. Because we live in 21st century, I dont agree with colonial settlement projects and crimes against humanity, recognized by UN and other international organizations and the best course of action is to implement UN agreed decision to resolve a conflict

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. With as many guns and victims of corporate greed that we have, I'm actually pretty shocked that we don't see this happening as routinely as, say, school shootings. I wonder if we'd see slightly more ethical behavior from corporations if their C-level staff and board members had to routinely practice lock-down drills because they were getting offed once a week.

Doubt it. They will just never leave their island compounds and other fortresses. There have been many news stories lately of these guys building up compounds and bunkers. Many of them off-shore and entirely unreachable by the general public. Many of these CEO types never interact with the general public without many armed men around them. I would not expect them to act any more ethical than they currently are.

That won't hold people back.

We've all been watching how effective drones have been in the Ukraine war and there's nothing stopping a motivated individual with nothing to lose from droning a corrupt elected official, a cop who brutalizes innocents or an oligarch.

It's just a matter of time before this happens.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, let's call it "Zionists terrorism against the British Empire". In fact, we can even top with: "And against the indigineous population of Palestine, of course." Are you now ready to agree that, since the mid-1960s, some Palestinian resistance groups have also engaged in terrorism? More to the point: why tailor your own language based on what the other side supposedly thinks or says? Instead of just getting to th…

If we are to be intellectually honest, then my position is: 1. Zionism is a colonial settler project created by British Empire, lord Balfour created it to create a buffer zone between Suez Canal and Ottoman Empire to protect British trade route to India. 2. After ww2 when British lost all their colonies, US picked it up as its own colonial entity and uses it as a military base to exert pressure in the region on oil r…

"Since the mid-1960s, some Palestinian resistance groups have also engaged in terrorism" -- yes or no?

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shrug I'm not an accelerationist, I do not want to live in any more historically significant times than I already have. That said, our systems continue to fail us at basically every turn so when I see stuff like this, I'm not surprised either. If you put people in a situation where they feel they have nothing to lose, you shouldn't be surprised when they start acting that way too. People demand justice, whether they'…

>People demand justice, whether they're right to is a secondary concern, as is the methodologies they choose to seek it. Some become activists. Some become politicians. Some pick up guns. That is a true, but We should discourage and condemn them picking up guns. There is a feedback loop at play

This country was founded by people picking up guns.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#437
post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this seems to indicate this was a hired professional and not someone merely angry at their health insurance benefits.

'hired professionals' are always FBI agents. This guy didn't even do a test firing.

What does this mean? How do you know he didn't test before?

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are to be intellectually honest, then my position is: 1. Zionism is a colonial settler project created by British Empire, lord Balfour created it to create a buffer zone between Suez Canal and Ottoman Empire to protect British trade route to India. 2. After ww2 when British lost all their colonies, US picked it up as its own colonial entity and uses it as a military base to exert pressure in the region on oil r…

"Since the mid-1960s, some Palestinian resistance groups have also engaged in terrorism" -- yes or no?

Since Palestine is considered occupied territory and is a member of UN, then in this situation Protocol I of Geneva Convention applies, that justifies military means to resist occupation and self-defense

Palestinians are resisting occupation and apartheid state - is my position and is a position of an overwhelming majority of UN members (who dont have strong Jewish lobby)

Why do I obsess about terminology? Because “palestinian terrorism” and “islamic terrorism” ingeneral is being used as dog whistle to spread Islamophobia and justify foreign invasion into Muslim countries by the imperial forces to steal resources like gold and oil (Iraq war, oil in exchange for food and etc)

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_I

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I know you are half-joking, but it shows how worrying things are related to public discourse where you need such a disclaimer at the start of your argument. The scenario you describe is rather frightening. Let's hope the "CEO class" (for lack of a better term) and the general public will allow reason and ethics to win out. One thing that is for certain, there should be better legal limits to what companies can get aw…

>Let's hope the "CEO class"... will allow reason and ethics to win out.

They won't. They're making billions out of others suffering.

>general public will allow reason and ethics to win out

"Ethics". It's a trolley problem... if a person through their actions enables many people to die, is it wrong to kill them?

To paraphrase Chris Rock... I ain't saying he should have killed him... But I understand.

Re: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Manhattan

#440

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.

>Laws and rules only matter so long as we're all willing to believe they do. And everyone has seen it thrown in our faces for a year or so now what the blatant two-tiered system looks like. On a longer time scale if you want to count the lack of consequences for those behind an attempted coup in 2021 and a recession that harmed millions of lives in 2008. If the government won't hold people accountable, and people are…

When the government doesn't represent people any more, it's natural for people to represent themselves.

And who feels represented by their government these days?

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