When tragedies like this occur, we no longer stop and mourn the wounded and help the survivors. Rather we see politicians of all stripes jump atop the pile of bodies to shout out their agendas: yesterday we had the utterly wretched Louie Gohmert from Texas say with a straight face that this all happened because we don't pray enough, and by that he meant a Southern Baptist or Pentacostal God. And from New York we had Mike Bloomberg, America's favorite plutocratic, paternalistic douchebag lecture us on guns. He may have even biatched and moaned about the soda sizes sold at the concession stands. Popcorn was probably too salty too.

Tragedy has become a time to advance agendas and spout nonsense rather than stop and ask how we can prevent such things from occurring. And that's truly sad

RoxtarRyan: If God truly blessed this country, we wouldn't be losing thousands overseas in third world countries, wouldn't have a federal government that is less functional than those beads people use for door "curtains", wouldn't be such an economic failure, wouldn't have homeless dying in the streets, wouldn't have people people losing their homes because of medical bills, and we sure as hell wouldn't have people shooting up others for some unknown farked up reason.

The problem with your premise is that God is imaginary and does not exist. A thing that does not exist cannot sway, alter, or change physical conditions. The universe and nature are indifferent. Accept that, prepare yourself accordingly, and your life will be much easier to endure. The lack of God has nothing to do with any of those things you listed. It's all about humans acting with free will. Many humans are nice. Some humans are murdering, greedy naked apes.

Gyrfalcon: Congress may tax and spend for the general welfare under the Constitution; states cannot similarly merely raise taxes to fund public welfare.

What kind of farked up place do you live in where the state government cannot tax its citizens? Is this a joke?

cretinbob: there their theyre: Ugh I actually agree with turtle and boner. States and cities need to raise their taxes to cover their own local services and not depend on the rest of us.

Yeah, it doesn't really work well that way.
See Detroit for instance. Small towns all across America fare worse because the tax base is so small. You are extremely naive.

And I'm sure you always complain about red states sucking at the test of the government with that stupid tax chart.

A Dark Evil Omen: You also didn't address the alternative point of devolving everything to county and municipal level; why not? Why is the state level so magically delicious?

I would actually prefer the local governments handle their own police and abulances based upon their own needs. The only reason for throwing states out there at all was because they provide a middle ground - large enough to create a resource pool that all can draw from in time of need, but small enough to actually be responsive to the citizenry at the polls.

Shaggy_C: rewind2846: Tell y'all what... let's have every state pay for itself, and keep the federal government out of the loop altogether. Some of us would REALLY like that,

Sure, and we'll get rid of those gigantic national parks and military bases and allow our state industry to actually thrive in those places. Get off your high horse - you're essentially paying money to keep the red states poor by keeping huge swaths of our land under the ownership of uncle sam. You say Yellowstone I say drill baby drill.

and those are subsidy payments from the federal government to old folks (who payed their whole lives into ss) and poor women and kids, not states for general operating expenses.

If the Federal government would take less of people's money, there would be more for state and local to take. You know, to hire first responders. Since they are the ones that actually do that.

MurphyMurphy: there their theyre: cretinbob: there their theyre: Ugh I actually agree with turtle and boner. States and cities need to raise their taxes to cover their own local services and not depend on the rest of us.

Yeah, it doesn't really work well that way.
See Detroit for instance. Small towns all across America fare worse because the tax base is so small. You are extremely naive.

And I'm sure you always complain about red states sucking at the test of the government with that stupid tax chart.

whoa whoa whoa, I was told this thread was pg-13 not xxx

That's what I get for typing on a phone.

But anyways...

If city A knows city B will pay for their shortfall why wouldn't city A just massively underfund everything to keep their citizens' tax rates low?

Thank God for first responders? Sorry ass, but God doesn't have anything to do with first responders. They're all either paid for by taxes or volunteers (which are again, mainly funded and paid for by tax payers).

You pray for God. I'll call 911. Let's see who survives.

Mrbogey: Gyrfalcon: Also, while some states probably COULD tax their residents sufficiently to afford basic services, some cannot. You want to penalize Wyoming or North Dakota in terms of public services merely because their tax base is inadequate?

Apparently their tax base was adequate enough to form a state. Their tax base is adequate enough for the feds to tax them still. Almost every state in the union had an "adequate" tax base before income taxes were even started. Why don't they now? It seems to me it's more of a jealous spouse argument at this point ("Do you know how much I do for you, you ingrate?").

American Samoa has an adequate tax base for basic services.
north dakota sure as f*ck does as well.

ox45tallboy: Well, it's been more than 24 hours, I guess we can start politicizing a tragedy now....

You mean like the NRA saying "If only there'd been a few armed civilians this ALL could have been prevented!!" not 12 hours after deleting their "GOOD MORNING, SHOOTERS! HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT??" tweet?

/because you know how good civilians are at hitting a heavily armored target through tear gas while being fired upon.

HotIgneous Intruder: RoxtarRyan: If God truly blessed this country, we wouldn't be losing thousands overseas in third world countries, wouldn't have a federal government that is less functional than those beads people use for door "curtains", wouldn't be such an economic failure, wouldn't have homeless dying in the streets, wouldn't have people people losing their homes because of medical bills, and we sure as hell wouldn't have people shooting up others for some unknown farked up reason.

The problem with your premise is that God is imaginary and does not exist. A thing that does not exist cannot sway, alter, or change physical conditions. The universe and nature are indifferent. Accept that, prepare yourself accordingly, and your life will be much easier to endure. The lack of God has nothing to do with any of those things you listed. It's all about humans acting with free will. Many humans are nice. Some humans are murdering, greedy naked apes.

Well, let's get the Republicans some credit: God does exist for them. Unfortunately for us, God is often used for a few things:

1) To excuse bigotry.

2) To excuse violence.

3) To excuse not paying your taxes

4) To excuse nearly anything that a Republican does.

5) To dogwhistle an 'Us' towards a convenient 'Them' that will always be found given the circumstances.

Gyrfalcon: Another person who doesn't comprehend that part of the reason the federal government has to help pay for these things is because states cannot tax and spend like Congress.

in some way they have a wider base than the federal government (property taxes are available) , in some ways it is narrower (no ability to raise tarrifs). but I've never heard anyone claim that states can't tax and spend money on the general welfare.
what specifically what are you talking about? what would you consider raising taxes to build roads, libraries, universities, and funding fire, public education, and police to be if it is not promoting the general welfare?

bigbadideasinaction: Nickster79: Mental gymnastics by GOPers to rationalize their position commencing in 3...2...1...

Less funding = more efficient services. Hell, if their funding had been zero dollars they'd have been so efficient they would have been there instantly!

So their goal is to divide by zero?

relcec: Gyrfalcon: Another person who doesn't comprehend that part of the reason the federal government has to help pay for these things is because states cannot tax and spend like Congress.

in some way they have a wider base than the federal government (property taxes are available) , in some ways it is narrower (no ability to raise tarrifs). but I've never heard anyone claim that states can't tax and spend money on the general welfare.
what specifically what are you talking about? what would you consider raising taxes to build roads, libraries, universities, and funding fire, public education, and police to be if it is not promoting the general welfare?


Is it just a coincidence you have the same posting style as skullkrusher with the first letter in a new paragraph being lower case? Only a few known trolls do this. I'm sure it is just a strange coincidence...

Gyrfalcon: Mrbogey: Gyrfalcon: Also, while some states probably COULD tax their residents sufficiently to afford basic services, some cannot. You want to penalize Wyoming or North Dakota in terms of public services merely because their tax base is inadequate?

Apparently their tax base was adequate enough to form a state. Their tax base is adequate enough for the feds to tax them still. Almost every state in the union had an "adequate" tax base before income taxes were even started. Why don't they now? It seems to me it's more of a jealous spouse argument at this point ("Do you know how much I do for you, you ingrate?").

So you would be okay with your state abandoning federal revenue, disassociating itself from the benefits and detriments of the federal government, and then raising your state taxes accordingly to provide the services that they currently use federal monies for?

Seriously, I want to know if that's your answer. Bearing in mind that your state must now pay for all interstate repair, manage its own air transportation and interstate shipping, provide all social security and other federally-funded state programs, etc. The state will now have to bear those costs--and that means you'll have to pay more state taxes. But that's good with you?

there it is. we all knew it was coming.

you aren't for all subsidies I'm for, so I'm going to ignore the fact that my scenario is utterly impossible, and pretend you see no value in having a participatory federal government at all and then post this picture of a 6-year-old working a power loom in 1879.



/good luck on the bar ;

Does the city not pay for its own first respoders

roddack: Does the city not pay for its own first respoders

let me take this one ,intelligent comment below:

sir, you must be some sort of damned anarchist/libertarian that would feel more comfortable moving to Somalia.
you are bad and you should feel bad.

I think Obama just found a new Add for the citizens of Colorado.

The massacre was God's plan.

Let's go dancing on the backs of the bruised. The idiots that put this out need to at least wait till the blood has dried on the floor and the funerals are over.

Sick...............

Empty Matchbook: ox45tallboy: Well, it's been more than 24 hours, I guess we can start politicizing a tragedy now....

You mean like the NRA saying "If only there'd been a few armed civilians this ALL could have been prevented!!" not 12 hours after deleting their "GOOD MORNING, SHOOTERS! HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT??" tweet?

/because you know how good civilians are at hitting a heavily armored target through tear gas while being fired upon.

I can never understand how people think that a situation like that would have been any better if more people were armed.

First, every theatre I've been to, and pretty much every private business I see around town, has a "no firearms or weapons of any kind" sign posted on every entrance, so even if everyone carried there should have been no guns inside that theatre.

Secondly, most people that carry have very little training and their reactions would be nothing like the masturbatory shiat the NRA likes to pretend would happen. These aren't special forces people here; a lot of them are people that took a course that was 40% as long as a hunter's safety course and filled out a form, and have no other training or experience. I'd imagine probably none of them have training dealing with coming under fire and being tear-gassed in a dark room full of innocents.

Third, they pretend that none of those bullets fired by people, from guns they were supposed to leave in the car, at a moving target, in the dark, while being tear-gassed, after they were startled and reacted with barely any time to get a handle on what was actually happening, and suddenly there was gunfire coming from all over because there were so many patriots in the room that they probably wouldn't even know who was a threat or how many people were involved in the attack, that somehow nobody else would be hit in this scenario.

Fourth, they seem to think that after the shooter is finally down that everyone would know that the threat was gone, even though they have no idea if that other guy near that other entrance that has a gun out is an attacker as well. Yeah, everyone will just know that the threat is gone and it won't turn into a 30 second gun battle between a bunch of dipshiats that have no farking idea that they are shooting at one of their fellow patriotic Murikans, and nobody else will be hit during that exchange. This isn't a SWAT team that has trained together, all know each other, know exactly where the other people on their team are located, have signals that are rehearsed to no end, and everyone is dressed completely different than the target. This is random people that have little training, don't know each other, and haven't had time to think anything through.

We must spend more money on stuff!

Ok, now what?

there their theyre: Ugh I actually agree with turtle and boner. States and cities need to raise their taxes to cover their own local services and not depend on the rest of us.

So a tornado wipes out a rural community, or a flood inundates an entire town, or a hurricane devastates an entire coastline, and these areas should simply have enough first responders to handle the disaster on their own? I'm glad I don't live in your world.

Thank god for those union thugs that apprehended the shooter.

Bendal: So a tornado wipes out a rural community, or a flood inundates an entire town, or a hurricane devastates an entire coastline, and these areas should simply have enough first responders to handle the disaster on their own? I'm glad I don't live in your world.

A tornado/hurricane/etc, that's a non-normal circumstance where resources can and should be added by the federal govt yes. The federal government that pays for the cop who gives me a ticket for six mph over on a normal day, not so much. States and municipalities should pay for normal operations themselves and make the tough decisions regarding resources and taxation.


Apples/Oranges.

Death_Poot: Bendal: So a tornado wipes out a rural community, or a flood inundates an entire town, or a hurricane devastates an entire coastline, and these areas should simply have enough first responders to handle the disaster on their own? I'm glad I don't live in your world.

A tornado/hurricane/etc, that's a non-normal circumstance where resources can and should be added by the federal govt yes. The federal government that pays for the cop who gives me a ticket for six mph over on a normal day, not so much. States and municipalities should pay for normal operations themselves and make the tough decisions regarding resources and taxation.


Apples/Oranges.

So you're saying that every town with a theater should fund their own police and EMS force sufficient to deal with the scenario that took place in Aurora Thursday night, with no need for Federal assistance?

Brick-House: [welcometobanterville.files.wordpress.com image 383x550]

So..... you got nuthin' but you had to show up and threadshiat?

Mrtraveler01: soy_bomb: Thank God for the bloggers who see a tragedy and can think nothing more than their personal political beliefs.

I agree:

[lh3.googleusercontent.com image 342x400]

Who cares that 13 people died and 70+ others were wounded, it's a much bigger story that some Tea Partier got mistaken for the shooter!

yeah that only happens to conservatives

"colorado killer democrat"
About 10,700,000 results

red5ish: It makes no sense to cut funding for 'first responders' - police in particular - when your ideology is going to put people out of work, throw people into the streets, cause people to starve, but encourages them to own guns. Clearly they have not thought their cunning little plan all the way through. When the unemployed, homeless, starving and very well armed people get out of hand, and there are examples of this happening throughout history, then you really want to have a well funded fully manned police force or there will be repercussions.

but less jobs and worse economy is good for them politically right now. they can blame Obama.

Don't Troll Me Bro!: Brick-House: [welcometobanterville.files.wordpress.com image 383x550]

So..... you got nuthin' but you had to show up and threadshiat?

Nope, just wish these things weren't politicized, that's all.

Don't Troll Me Bro!: Brick-House: [welcometobanterville.files.wordpress.com image 383x550]

So..... you got nuthin' but you had to show up and threadshiat?

It's a troll account dude. That's what it does.

Hobodeluxe: Mrtraveler01: soy_bomb: Thank God for the bloggers who see a tragedy and can think nothing more than their personal political beliefs.

I agree:

[lh3.googleusercontent.com image 342x400]

Who cares that 13 people died and 70+ others were wounded, it's a much bigger story that some Tea Partier got mistaken for the shooter!

yeah that only happens to conservatives

"colorado killer democrat"
About 10,700,000 results

Hey, don't try to diminish the signifcance of this. Those Tea Partiers are scarred for life now after accidentally being linked to the shooter.

Don't you have any sympathy for them?!?!?!?

/sarcasm
//wishes he could punch Tucker Carlson in the balls for posting that POS as the main story

Oompa Loompa Loompity Doo
Cognitive Dissonance is American, Too
Oompa Loompa Loompa Da Dee
If You're retarded you'll listen to me.


What do you get with a dozen shot dead.
An NRA rally and a Freeper op-ed,
Why do you think we'd have dignity
That sounds like librul Talk to me (Thinking for myself is hard)

Oompa Loompa Loompity Dar
If you're white and rich you will go far.
You will get a congress seat too.
Like the Oompa Loompa Doompa Dompity Do

Shaggy_C: You say Yellowstone I say drill baby drill.

You should REALLY get your sarcasm meter re-calibrated.

ox45tallboy: Weaver95: ox45tallboy: Well, it's been more than 24 hours, I guess we can start politicizing a tragedy now....

Michelle Malkin had something up online about this shooting before I'd even gotten out of bed that day.

I still say the clothing company on Twitter I linked to above was the worst - so far.

I dunno. Like the NRA post (which they took down fairly quickly), I really think that it was ignorance, rather than hardcore stupidity, like Louis Gohmert wondering why no one else in the theater was armed.

Blaming the victims of a massacre is much worse that a poorly timed post.

red5ish: It makes no sense to cut funding for 'first responders' - police in particular - when your ideology is going to put people out of work, throw people into the streets, cause people to starve, but encourages them to own guns. Clearly they have not thought their cunning little plan all the way through. When the unemployed, homeless, starving and very well armed people get out of hand, and there are examples of this happening throughout history, then you really want to have a well funded fully manned police force or there will be repercussions.

Hey we did just fine back when John Wayne was out winning the West. No first responders. Police = whoever (whomever?) keeps shiat under control. Gunfighters followed the damn rules.

/and ain't no one was gonna pry John's gun out of his hand unless it be cold, dead