I disagree. Police are not supposed to be our masters, we are not supposed to bow and scrape before them in the hopes we don't get sent to the stocks (or worse). Police are simply supposed to enforce the laws that we, as a society, have decided that we all should follow.

The problem is, we have allowed the police to become more than that through our own lack of care and mismanagement. A policeman should have to undergo more rigorous training and background checks, mental and physical, than any other service we provide to ourselves. Instead we pay them about the same as teachers and we let bullies into the system. We also allow people with significant evidence that they should never have positions of authority due to mental issues to become police. We do not rigorously punish the bad cops, nor prevent them from seeking work elsewhere, leading to the same type of thing that led to catholic molesters being shuffled about to molest again.

As far as police fearing others, can we finally say that the number of police fatalities are far less than the the ones inflicted by police? Yes, we have many guns in the USA, but the few times I recall of a police person being killed by one seem to revolve around them experiencing a retaliation style attack when you would least expect it (and not on a call), or when they are alone and on a remote call location. Yet most of these controversial police shootings of suspects seem to happen when they are in a group of officers with weapons drawn, which I would consider far less of a jumpy situation than being alone on a highway. If I am an officer, with multiple other officers nearby, I have weapons on the suspect (taser or otherwise), why am I more worried than if I am alone with a suspect? It simply doesn't make sense.

Finally, referring back to your resisting comment, have we not seen lately that you can still be shot while doing absolutely no resisting? One man was laying on the ground, hands in the air, while telling a mentally ill patient of his not to do anything that would get him shot, and the man on the ground got shot. Here in Austin we had a mentally ill man running naked in the street and he was shot and killed versus being tasered or taken down. The use of force, and the extremity of it, have not been shown to be merited. So if you can be shot and killed for not resisting, or simply not understanding the commands in the short time you are given to do so, what can we do? Should we carry a pair of handcuffs and a taser so we can pre-apply these items and give the cops less to fear?

I have zero desire to be nit picky about these things. Im not talking about extremes or absolutes. More general guide lines. I was so much healthier when i was plant based. Life time of headaches gone. Daily stomach problems gone. Mental illness issues seemed better (depression). Although i think maybe just my willingness to make positive change could have been the reason for this. I also lost a ridiculous amount of weight as a side benefit and felt much better about myself.

Like i said im sure you can have all these things with meat and a bag of chips and a candy bar occasionally, but i personally can't. I'm very all or nothing. I suck that way.

My general point was that it doesn't matter if they are better off. For example, the degree to which they are better off might not be significant to them and their life. Or they might know even know they would be better off because their life doesn't include unbiased news sources. Or they see the leaked emails as proof that whilst she SAYS things that benefit you, once you vote for her she will do what she likes. Or whatever other worries people might have - only they know and no one in the political sphere seems to care.

The less you have, the less you have to lose, the less involved you are with the system, coupled with access to education and all the rest (especially in America). You are convinced they'd be better off, but they are not and therein lies the problem. Things like the email leak make it a lot harder to convince them of your point of view.

If your house has rot and every time you ask to have it fixed, your landlady holds it together with spit and tape, eventually you've got a shit house that isn't any better than living outside and putting a match to the whole thing is the only way it's going to be rebuilt.

It depends on your perspective on whether the house is already fucked or not, doesn't it? You might live in one of the nice rooms, but someone else further down the ladder is basically living outside.

You only have to look at the way inequality has risen over the past few decades to see how desperate some people are. You can see how someone sleeping in their car, going to a foodbank and coping with mental illness might not see much urgency in choosing between Trump or Hillary.

There was this movie with...Julianne Moore of one of these people.

I find it really sad.

I've known mentally ill people and it not fun and games for them.

zelenoff appears to be a severely mentally ill man.

Of course no one is talking about a full gun ban. However, once you compromise the 2nd Amendment, you place the decision in the hands of our legislature. You know, the super functional branch of our government that never makes mistakes. You also allow them to decide 'what' you need.

I've not been to NZ, but I seriously doubt that the cultural dichotomy that is present in the USA is remotely represented in NZ.

I support abortion rights, I support gay marriage, I would love to be able to trip out to the local head shop and buy some weed, and I don't think heavily restricting guns would solve the issues we are looking at. The last two mass shootings were terrorist related. Prior to that, they have primarily been mental health related. We have one of the worst mental health policies and systems in the world. Medicate first, don't hospitalize, don't provide therapy, and other such bright ideas. Ever since we passed the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963, homelessness and acts of violence by the mentally ill have been on the rise. Inpatient centers have become rare and, like I said, most people get a pill and a swift kick in the ass out the door. I would be willing to bet if we fixed our health care issues in regards to the mentally ill and maybe put a 15 day waiting period on the purchase of ANY gun, we would stop 99% of these mass shootings.

Yeah, i dont trust a single fuck with a badge or a gun or both and a uniform. That wasnt always so. At one time i was a pretty lame introverted nerd with the world as my oyster. Listening to Rage Against the Machine made me concerned, because it was too extreme. And then the iron fist of law enforcement thought theyd fuck with me and make me suffer for what was not my burden. And then it just gets worse and worse, a downward spiral of constant legal battles, jail time, mental illness, etc. etc. etc. Its all the same to me, govt, law enforcement, human resource representatives, executives, redcoats. Oppression creates terrorism. Always.

During the Philippine-American war, the events which lead up to our own soldiers commiting acts of genocide started with our disregard of the indigenous people, oppression, and penchant for disrespecting local men and harassing their women; as well, our ignorant and well documented philosophies of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism. The family of the abused rise up and attack their oppressors. Terrorism will always be so as long as the mighty refuse to respect all ways of life and seek instead to instill their systems of government and create puppet governments whoch fail, destablizing entire regions.

Because now the game is bigger. You dont simply destablize a region: when you oppress people, you destabilize an entire zeitgeist, affecting far more people than ever before. People in America rise up to join forces that provide promises of liberty that America no longer offers. Even if those terror groups themselves lie, the broken people see it as a hope. The oppressed will crawl out of the woodwork and kill. There is no precise pattern when frank castles of the world do their deeds. Its just like the 4000 deaths per year from semitrucks, the trucking industry says 70% (debatable, likely a lower number) of accidents are caused by noncommercial vehicles. Impatient people weaving in and out of traffic and cutting off truck drivers oppresses them and sometimes even they to rise up and do terror.

So simple answer: Love, peace, and good will are what the government should promote. Of course, that would simply open them to being taken advantage of... so, we are fucked, always and forever. But maybe even if we cant promote true peace, perhaps we can at least avoid creating the terrorists we fear.

I'm not sure we should be sympathetic to convicted pedophiles, even if it is a brain disorder.

There was a scene in Nymphomaniac where the main character forces someone to admit they were a pedophile. When she's telling this to someone else later, her listener says something along the lines of "I hope you made him pay for being a pedophile."

She disagrees. When asked why, she says, "If someone is sexually attracted to children, and knows they're sexually attracted to children, but doesn't act on it because they know it's wrong and keeps it hidden, he deserves a medal."

At the end of the day, the convicted pedophile acted on his sexual desires, and forced themselves on a child. If the crossed-wire theory is true, this is akin to a man being sexually attracted to a woman who isn't interested, but forces himself on her anyway.

The problem of seeing it as a mental illness is that we're in danger of letting slide the fact that this person decided his desires were more important than the health and safety of another person. That's where the crime lies.

And you know what else is similar? Both NZ and Canada have strong socialist policies with both extensive welfare and medical programs that serve as safety nets for the poor, mentally ill, etc.

Also, one thing both countries DON'T have, as far as a I know, is a huge black/gray market of illegal firearms that are cheaply available. One of the biggest problems in the U.S. is that even if tougher gun laws are enacted, the horse is out of the barn already--there are millions of unregistered firearms that are floating around in the U.S., changing hands at gun shows or simply on street corners and there is little anyone can do about it.

@RedSky

here is what i don't get.
how is it the governments business what i ingest in my own body for whatever reason?

may be it is for the relief of pain.
may be it is to alleviate stress or mental anguish,and even,in some cases,mental illnesses.
or maybe i just want to get high.

i realize you have already addressed the hypocrisy and horrible execution of,what basically comes down to a social issue,but how is this the governments business?

the science is in and weed has been proven to be fairly harmless,even in abusive situations.

the biggest problem america faces today,which includes booze and smokes,is prescription pain medication.which is basically heroin addiction,but since pain pills do not hold the stigma of heroin,it is not been addressed in any substantive way.oh..this country is arresting people in droves for selling and carrying but almost nary a PEEP in the form of education.

so why is government stepping into my business?
something i engage in at home,bother nobody and keep to myself.yet i am still deemed a criminal.yet my crime is a victimless crime.

if i drive my car,or operate heavy machinery while high,that is a different story and the law should be applied exactly as it is with booze for the exact same reasons.

the state should get out of my house and stop telling me which intoxicants are "state approved",because,quite frankly..i dont give it a shit.

this archaic and destructive social policy needs to go the way of the do-do.it serves no purpose any longer,and the massive propaganda campaign that was initiated by henry anslinger at the behest of big textile in the fucking 40's should not be given even the remotest credibility by todays standards.

people like their hooch.no matter what form it takes and the government has zero business dictating which "hooch" we choose.

virtual rubber-necking at its finest.

wait..he was jogging?
where the fuck are his shoes?

mental illness in america.

Well, it is real NYC subway..and we do have a lot of mentally ill homeless people like this...

What is 'Pizzamas' and what cult do I need to join to celebrate?

Also, it's always good to talk about mental illness. Stigma sucks.