What's going on in your city/country/region?

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HighlyIrregular II
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by HighlyIrregular II » Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:22 pm

Roe v Wade was overturned so States could make abortion illegal. Scant to no news coverage of the legal arguments on the radio station I listen to. People want their abortion rights or don't and nobody cares about the constitutionality issues.

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Catoptric
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by Catoptric » Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:25 pm

Biden signs landmark gun measure, says ‘lives will be saved’
The House gave final approval Friday, following Senate passage Thursday, and Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2022/06 ... ing%20News
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.

“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, “Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”

The House gave final approval Friday, following Senate passage Thursday, and Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.

Related:House vote on Cornyn compromise wraps up passage of first major gun bill in three decades
“Today we say, ‘More than enough,’” Biden said. “It’s time, when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”

The legislation will toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

The president called it “a historic achievement.”

Most of its $13 billion cost will help bolster mental health programs and aid schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings.

Biden said the compromise hammered out by a bipartisan group of senators from both parties “doesn’t do everything I want” but “it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives.”

“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up, but this is a monumental day,” said the president, who was joined by his wife, Jill, a teacher, for the signing.

After sitting to sign the bill, Biden sat reflectively for a moment, then murmured, “God willing, this is gonna save a lot of lives.”

He also said they will host an event on July 11 for lawmakers and families affected by gun violence. The president spoke of families “who lost their souls to an epidemic of gun violence. They lost their child, their husband, their wife. Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts. But they led the way so other families will not have the experience and the pain and trauma that they had to live through.”

Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday striking down a New York law that restricted peoples’ ability to carry concealed weapons. And Saturday’s ceremony came less than 24 hours after the high court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly five decades.

“Yesterday, I spoke about the Supreme Court’s shocking decision striking down Roe v. Wade,” Biden said. “Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans. I mean so many Americans.”

He noted that the abortion ruling leaves enforcement up to the states, some of which have already moved to ban abortion or will soon do so. Biden said his administration will “focus on how they administer it and whether or not they violate other laws, like deciding to not allow people to cross state lines to get health services.”

Asked by reporters about whether the Supreme Court was broken, Biden said, “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.” He walked away without answering more questions, noting, “I have a helicopter waiting for me to take off.”

While the new gun law does not include tougher restrictions long championed by Democrats, such as a ban on assault-style weapons and background checks for all firearm transactions, it is the most impactful gun violence measure produced by Congress since the enactment of a long-expired assault weapons ban in 1993.

Enough congressional Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the steps after recent rampages in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks but senators emerged with a compromise.

Biden signed the bill just before departing Washington for a summit of the Group of Seven leading economic powers — the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — in Germany. He will travel later to Spain for a NATO meeting.

The Associated Press
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Senseye
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by Senseye » Sat Jun 25, 2022 10:09 pm

Catoptric wrote:
Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:25 pm
“Today we say, ‘More than enough,’” Biden said. “It’s time, when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”

The legislation will toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

The president called it “a historic achievement.”
Biden's really getting desperate these days. I bet the loosening up of concealed carry laws in NY will be more consequential in the opposite direction than this minor toughening up of the gun purchase process.

Historic? Geez, what kind of hyperbole would he use if he actually managed any sort of achievement that was even averagely noteworthy? I doubt that issue will ever come up though.

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jyng1
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by jyng1 » Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:41 am

Rocket Lab just launched a rocket from Mahia to the moon... the little rocket that could.


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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by Yesterday » Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:13 am

The birds are getting chummy. Lot's of loud morning whistling and briefly landing in front of my scooter at max speed. Then just before I can nearly smoosh 'em they make an escape. Darned chummy birds.

Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum

Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum

Chummy birds Chummy birds Chummy birds Chummy birds

We're all chummy birds chummy birds chummy birds

We too invite death but before it hurts we avert

Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum

Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum

Chummy birds Chummy birds Chummy birds Chummy birds

:whistle:
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"Our truest selves exist within the observational incongruencies among general first impressions and further analyses of the finer details."
- from my Ph.D. thesis in psychobabble

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HighlyIrregular II
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by HighlyIrregular II » Fri Jul 01, 2022 8:01 pm

Speaking of birds, I've been seeing an unusual number of dead birds recently (two) and one dead squirrel. There was a bird die off in the news a few years ago. Maybe we're having another one.
HighlyIrregular wrote:
Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:27 pm
They're replacing an 80 year old pedestrian bridge near me... I get to hear the noise
That was 9-1/2 months ago and it's still going on with nothing above ground yet! They built the freaking Empire State Building in just a year!

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HighlyIrregular II
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by HighlyIrregular II » Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:22 pm

I wonder if the dead things were killed by the same parasitic worms that they found in NYC, that prompted an official warning for kids to stop eating dirt for the time being. I noticed yesterday that the grass is dying too.

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HighlyIrregular II
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by HighlyIrregular II » Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:01 pm

I heard on the news about a new information campaign to educate New Yorkers about what to do in case of a nuclear attack. They used the phrase "we got this." How about this one: "I'm outta here!"

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jyng1
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by jyng1 » Tue Jul 12, 2022 8:54 pm

HighlyIrregular II wrote:
Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:01 pm
I heard on the news about a new information campaign to educate New Yorkers about what to do in case of a nuclear attack. They used the phrase "we got this." How about this one: "I'm outta here!"

I imagine the new Russian submarine with a nuclear torpedo the size of a school bus would have New York firmly in it's sights...

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Catoptric
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Re: What's going on in your city/country/region?

Post by Catoptric » Tue Jul 12, 2022 11:37 pm

Shaq sold a mansion elsewhere for half of what he bought it for (down from $22 million for $11 https://www.homesandgardens.com/news/sh ... eal-house ) and bought a $1.25 million home literally down the street from where I went to HS. ( https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/h ... 285215.php )

Here’s where Shaquille O’Neal has appeared in North Texas, his new home
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta ... -new-home/

Since the roads aren't visible, only the entrance
https://goo.gl/maps/VmEi96BnCrB3iq6XA

Specifically satellite view
https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/sh ... vTS52o8jQg

Shaquille O’Neill to Open Chicken Restaurant in North Texas (planning 56 total)
https://darik.news/texas/shaquille-onei ... 50943.html

He already signed a deal to open.

Elsewhere (he apparently had a reality show based on his existing franchise)



He had been seen in New York as well. . .
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