The Political Discussion Thread

[Annoyed]

Errr, what she did is not a disproportionate response. She was physically assaulted, so she returned the favour. She did not pull a knife or gun (which is where the disproportional response (escalation) laws kick in, depending on where you live of course).
Remember Tood, I am talking about the LAW, not peoples views on what the law should or should not be.

If she had pulled a firearm it would have been perfectly justified as far as I'm concerned. You attack someone, you best expect whatever they can do to you 'cause you deserve it.

[Gatefan1976]

If she had pulled a firearm it would have been perfectly justified as far as I'm concerned. You attack someone, you best expect whatever they can do to you 'cause you deserve it.

What a surprise.

[garhkal]

nonsense, they have to be equal (equality is paramount)

like a man :|
so, no charges? I wonder what'd happen to a man if he did same thing to a woman in a similar context. hopefully no charges either (after all equality is paramount)

What FH did would be covered under self defence laws, which are the same no matter the gender.

Don't you mean they SHOULD be seen as the same....

[Gatefan1976]

Don't you mean they SHOULD be seen as the same....

Find me laws that state that they are not.

[SoulReaver]

No, that's the law.
It could have been handled differently, sure, but barring some kind of freak accident, neither act will cause permanent damage. as for it just being a "grab on the butt", that could fall under sexual assault, so is kicking a guy in the nuts.
Sounds reasonable to me.

what
you can kill someone by striking at the throat & likewise by kicking them in the groin - butt grabs have never injured anyone (as far as I know +_+ )
now lets see what happens to a guy who punches a woman in the face (without causing "permanent damage" eh) who did the same thing to him. 10 to 1 he'll be dragged to courts by the local feminist guilds

[Gatefan1976]

what
you can kill someone by striking at the throat & likewise by kicking them in the groin - butt grabs have never injured anyone (as far as I know +_+ )

Do you want a list of stuff that "won't kill you", but does damage anyway?
Or is it just physical harm you care about?

now lets see what happens to a guy who punches a woman in the face (without causing "permanent damage" eh) who did the same thing to him. 10 to 1 he'll be dragged to courts by the local feminist guilds

Don't blame me that the system dictates that a woman simply can't sexually assault a man because they "want it all the time".

[Womble]

So a German comedian wrote a poem insulting Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan. Now he will be prosecuted. In Germany, not in Turkey. On the basis of a 1871 law that prohibited making fun of monarchs (Germany had an Emperor at the time). There's so much wrong with it I'm not even sure where to begin.

And across the ocean, there's this:

Today, the vast majority of Marine Corps aircraft can’t fly. The reasons behind the grounding of these aircraft include the toll of long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the fight against ISIS and budget cuts precluding the purchase of the parts needed to fix an aging fleet, according to dozens of Marines interviewed by Fox News at two air stations in the Carolinas this week.

Out of 276 F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters in the Marine Corps inventory, only about 30% are ready to fly, according to statistics provided by the Corps. Similarly, only 42 of 147 heavy-lift CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters are airworthy.

U.S. military spending has dropped from $691 billion in 2010 to $560 billion in 2015. The cuts came just as the planes were returning from 15 years of war, suffering from overuse and extreme wear and tear. Many highly trained mechanics in the aviation depots left for jobs in the private sector.

...Lack of funds has forced the Marines to go outside the normal supply chain to procure desperately needed parts. Cannibalization, or taking parts from one multi-million dollar aircraft to get other multi-million dollar aicraft airborne, has become the norm.

To get one Hornet flying again, Marines at Beaufort stripped a landing gear door off a mothballed museum jet. The door, found on the flight deck of the World War II-era USS Yorktown, was last manufactured over a decade ago.

“Imagine taking a 1995 Cadillac and trying to make it a Ferrari,” Sgt. Argentry Uebelhoer said days before embarking on his third deployment. “You're trying to make it faster, more efficient, but it's still an old airframe … [and] the aircraft is constantly breaking.”

Maintaining the high-performance Hornets is a challenge with 30,000 fewer Marines, part of a downsizing that has been ongoing since 2010.

“We don't have enough of them to do the added work efficiently. We are making it a lot harder on the young marines who are fixing our aircraft,” said Maj. Michael Malone of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 31.

Sometimes it takes the Marines 18 months to get parts for early model F-18 jets whose production was halted in 2001.

“We are an operational squadron. We are supposed to be flying jets, not building them,” said Lt. Col. Harry Thomas, Commanding Officer of VMFA-312, a Marine Corps F/A-18 squadron based at Beaufort.

The cuts include those made by the Obama administration as well as the sequestration cutbacks agreed to by Congress.

Asked about the Marines’ concerns on Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest put the onus on Congress to right the problem – and said Republicans have blocked spending reforms that would have helped military readiness. He said Republicans “championed” the sequester cuts.

The cuts have not sat well within the military leadership. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Fox News’ Bret Baier in a recent interview that he felt betrayed when told to cut billions from the budget after having already done so.

“I guess I’d have to say I felt double-crossed. After all those years in Washington, I was naïve,” he said.

And last week, the Army’s top officer, Gen. Mark Milley, said cuts could mean more American troops could lose their lives.p

[Annoyed]

And across the ocean, there's this:

Today, the vast majority of Marine Corps aircraft can’t fly. The reasons behind the grounding of these aircraft include the toll of long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the fight against ISIS and budget cuts precluding the purchase of the parts needed to fix an aging fleet, according to dozens of Marines interviewed by Fox News at two air stations in the Carolinas this week.

Out of 276 F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters in the Marine Corps inventory, only about 30% are ready to fly, according to statistics provided by the Corps. Similarly, only 42 of 147 heavy-lift CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters are airworthy.

U.S. military spending has dropped from $691 billion in 2010 to $560 billion in 2015. The cuts came just as the planes were returning from 15 years of war, suffering from overuse and extreme wear and tear. Many highly trained mechanics in the aviation depots left for jobs in the private sector.

...Lack of funds has forced the Marines to go outside the normal supply chain to procure desperately needed parts. Cannibalization, or taking parts from one multi-million dollar aircraft to get other multi-million dollar aicraft airborne, has become the norm.

To get one Hornet flying again, Marines at Beaufort stripped a landing gear door off a mothballed museum jet. The door, found on the flight deck of the World War II-era USS Yorktown, was last manufactured over a decade ago.

“Imagine taking a 1995 Cadillac and trying to make it a Ferrari,” Sgt. Argentry Uebelhoer said days before embarking on his third deployment. “You're trying to make it faster, more efficient, but it's still an old airframe … [and] the aircraft is constantly breaking.”

Maintaining the high-performance Hornets is a challenge with 30,000 fewer Marines, part of a downsizing that has been ongoing since 2010.

“We don't have enough of them to do the added work efficiently. We are making it a lot harder on the young marines who are fixing our aircraft,” said Maj. Michael Malone of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 31.

Sometimes it takes the Marines 18 months to get parts for early model F-18 jets whose production was halted in 2001.

“We are an operational squadron. We are supposed to be flying jets, not building them,” said Lt. Col. Harry Thomas, Commanding Officer of VMFA-312, a Marine Corps F/A-18 squadron based at Beaufort.

The cuts include those made by the Obama administration as well as the sequestration cutbacks agreed to by Congress.

Asked about the Marines’ concerns on Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest put the onus on Congress to right the problem – and said Republicans have blocked spending reforms that would have helped military readiness. He said Republicans “championed” the sequester cuts.

The cuts have not sat well within the military leadership. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Fox News’ Bret Baier in a recent interview that he felt betrayed when told to cut billions from the budget after having already done so.

“I guess I’d have to say I felt double-crossed. After all those years in Washington, I was naïve,” he said.

And last week, the Army’s top officer, Gen. Mark Milley, said cuts could mean more American troops could lose their lives.p

This is why you don't let Democrats run the country.

[Falcon Horus]

Bruce, or Ringo Starr??

Ringo Starr

so, no charges? I wonder what'd happen to a man if he did same thing to a woman in a similar context. hopefully no charges either (after all equality is paramount)

It was at party where he had been butt-grabbing several other women before he passed by me. I ignored him the first time but the second time I turned round, as we stood rather close to the side of the tent he ended up with his back against it, my elbow pushed against his throat and like I said, a kneejerk in his manly parts. It was all the warning he needed as the rest of the evening was spend in peace from his butt-grabbing and groping. He wasn't seen again. I also have him a fair verbal warning... His 18-19 year old self seemed to take the hint loud and clear.

[Annoyed]

Boiled down to the essentials: The best defense is a strong offense.
Most bullies (of any sort) behave that way in order to shore up their low self-esteem levels. Once they realize the target might fight back, they back off.
That's a lesson I learned in the early 60's, in grade school.

[pookey]

Good on ya FH

[Ian-S]

Boiled down to the essentials: The best defense is a strong offense.
Most bullies (of any sort) behave that way in order to shore up their low self-esteem levels. Once they realize the target might fight back, they back off.
That's a lesson I learned in the early 60's, in grade school.

Funny I got absolutely castrated on another forum for essentially saying the same thing.

Besides, I wish whenever I went on the tube that good looking lady next to me would give me a butt-grab

[SoulReaver]

Do you want a list of stuff that "won't kill you", but does damage anyway?
Or is it just physical harm you care about?

depends where you place the goalpost

Don't blame me that the system dictates that a woman simply can't sexually assault a man because they "want it all the time".

does it?

It was at party where he had been butt-grabbing several other women before he passed by me. I ignored him the first time but the second time I turned round, as we stood rather close to the side of the tent he ended up with his back against it, my elbow pushed against his throat and like I said, a kneejerk in his manly parts. It was all the warning he needed as the rest of the evening was spend in peace from his butt-grabbing and groping. He wasn't seen again. I also have him a fair verbal warning... His 18-19 year old self seemed to take the hint loud and clear.

typical women always resorting to violence ( )

you should've just grabbed him back - lex talionis, eye for eye, tit for tit tat

Boiled down to the essentials: The best defense is a strong offense.

too bad amricans don't enjoy that right huh?

[SoulReaver]

I wish whenever I went on the tube that good looking lady next to me would give me a butt-grab

tbh I'm not sure I'd take well to it (even if she were to my liking)

[Falcon Horus]

I find it inappropriate, disrespectful behavior.