Here are some instagram pictures from Reykjavik police, Iceland. Some years they get a murder on Iceland, but 2015r seems to have been one of the less hardcore years:
I just saw on the news that Obama wants to tighten the gun laws. This topic is controversial, in general and in AJB (Hi,Loeffenholz :007) ), but chose to mention it anyway. The correspondent of the TV channel mentioned that 90% of the population in the US want tighter gun laws. I have no other sources right now and I know this doesn't mean that 90% agree with Obama's proposal, but it is food for thought. One can of cource argue that this is a constitutional matter and not a popularity contest.
But even constitutions aren't set in stone, they must be there for very good reasons. Until the 1850's Norway's constitution banned jews from entering the country, but thankfully the constitution was changed. The US has also changed parts of it's constitution, e.g. slaves. I also doubt very much the founding fathers intended the very liberal (correct use of the word) gun Laws we see in part of the US. No matter what, we all hope the US will in the future be spared the many gun massacres we have seen in the past.
Good points, Chrisisal I bet Obama didn't think about that, but I'm confident Trump has!
Amazingly, many leading Republicans not only knew Obama's plan would be a bad one before they were informed about what it contained, they also knew it was illegal:
Funny those treasonous a-holes in the Republican party (& a bunch of Dems too) want to see Obama's attempt at tighter background checks as illegal after shutting down the government like the crybabies they are & costing 2 billion in loss during it.
I've had an interesting discussion with my US friends who came to Hamburg last week:
I was surprised that they are planning to buy a house in Germany and spend at least half of the year here. When I've met him for the first time 20 years ago, he was basically looking down on everything which happened in Europe. And I must add that a larger part of his jewish family has been murdered in Auschwitz.
I was very afraid as a german meeting his father who was arond 75 at that time but he could not have been nicer and more funny to me. It was an amazing experience how warm they welcomed me!
Our main topic was the prospect for the presidential elections this year.
We agreed both that Trump will run independently if he's not chosen for candidate.
If that hapoens, this will split the republican potential in half and will put the chances for the conservatives to almost zero.
My friends also strongly believe that the demographic factor will prevent a republican winner for now and the future. There are too many Latinos and African american voters out there.
I am still concerned because last year (Ebola) was a perfect example how such can be blown out of proportions - put an entire population into a virtual panic and have them vote for those who blame the other candidate for that.
The day after the elections NOBODY was concerned about Ebola anymore - mission completed.
I am afraid that similar thing may happen for this Year.
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I am still concerned because last year (Ebola) was a perfect example how such can be blown out of proportions - put an entire population into a virtual panic and have them vote for those who blame the other candidate for that.
The day after the elections NOBODY was concerned about Ebola anymore - mission completed.
I am afraid that similar thing may happen for this Year.
This year they'll probably use a phony terror attack alert to scare folks in the hopes they vote for a hawk Rebublican. 8-)
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
You gents can slag America, law-abiding gun owners, conservatives and Republicans all you like, but kindly refrain from calling me by name whilst you engage in your playground mud-slinging and bullying about.
Thank you.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Loeffs, you are far too educated and smart to live a life "As long as it's the law, I am living it and don't doubt it"
I'll say this coming from a country with a long history of having done things the wrong way and having had very wrong laws:
The second amendmend is from 1791, a time when slavery was still along the law in large parts of the US.
So people who had slaves could have had the position: "It's along the law so it's ok to do it"
Law is always an evolving process - and modifying the law along the reality and people's morals and ideals is common and good.
So the question with gun ownership is not, if it's lawful or not. The question is if it's right or wrong.
Again: Nobody is anti-American or bullying a country or it's citizens here.
Interesting that people that support pretty aggressive politics very easily become very defensive when being criticized.
Gun owners are no victims. The gun lobby is a very aggressive and powerful group and it's shameful that part of their campaining is building the myth of being the victims here X-(
The victims are the law-abiding people who get shot. And these are too many!
Some people from this discussion on AJB that criticize gun ownership in the US are american citizens.
It's sad that the political climate is so polarized that every difference in opinions ends into accusations like "if you criticize point x, you are anti-American" - or - even worse - "pro terrorist".
Got to think of it - there is a parallel in Germany (but imo firearms are more dangerous than fast cars).
In Germany, we don't have speedlimits on the Autobahn. When you are here, you see a lot of crazyness by irresponsible driving and irresponsible fast driving in particular.
Several politicians tried to limit speeds here but the powerful car lobby here (main argument: Unlimited speed is a unique selling point because our cars are designed for those speeds because we need that here and this is also attractive for the export. So if you start a speed limit here, it will ruin the german car industy and will cost a lot of jobs). I presume that there are similar arguments from the US Gun lobby.
I'll admit: Fast driving is exciting and fun. Fortunately my days are gone when I did it but I still understand the appeal.
Now, let's put arguments in terms of unlimited speed and unrestricted gun ownership in comparison gun arguments are in bold
Legal, law abiding people are allowed to own fast and dangerous cars because it's along the law Legal, law abiding people are allowed to own dangerous firearms because it's along the law
Yes, fast cars in the wrong hands can be very dangerous Yes, firearms in the wrong hands can be very dangerous
We've had some terrible accidents where people did abuse fast cars and killed people We've had MANY terrible accidents where people did abuse firearms and killed people
The consequences from these incidents should be more fast and dangerous cars! (now that would be ridiculous!) The consequences from these incidents should be more dangerous firearms! (....)
Many kids have been killed by fast cars, so we must teach and let them handle as soon as possible dangerous cars (now that would be ridiculous! Many kids have been killed by dangerous firearms so we much teach and let them handle as soon as possible dangerous firearms (...)
Many of these incidents happened in restricted areas such as schools, colleges, public areas (speedlimit), so the answer is to have less of these restricted areas (now that would be ridiculous!) Many of these incidents happened in restricted areas such as schools, colleges, public areas (gun-free zones), so the answer is to have less of these restricted areas (...)
If we restrict the speed everywhere, people will still break the law and violate the limit If we restrict firearm ownership everywhere, people will still break the law and violate the limit
If we limit the ownership of fast cars for normal people, people will still get them from Russia, Albania etc. If we limit the ownership of firearms for normal people, people will still get them from Mexico etc.
you could stretch the argument further:
I would immediately support, that law enforcement will still get the fastest possible cars to be able to keep up with the people who don't obey to the speed limit!
I would immediately support the idea, that law enforcement will still get the strongest of all possible firearms to be able to keep up with the people who don't obey to the gun restriction!
Bottom line:
Everybody knows that the speed should be limited to 130 km/h but the lobby is too strong to make it happen yet. But it would be the right thing to do and trying to change the law is NOT evil. And there are many people here, who see the limitation of speed as a restriction of their civil rights - no matter that in most of all other countries this works well.
Bottom line: Everybody knows that gun ownership must be restricted but the lobby is too strong to make it happen yet. But it would be the right thing to do and trying to change the law is NOT evil. And there are many people here, who see the limitationof gun ownership as a restriction of their civil rights - no matter that in most of all other countries this works well.
President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I think Angela Merkel has finally come up against a real
"Rambo" of a politician in Dave Cameron, I expect photos being
Released with Dave bare chested on horseback, shooting bears,
but no pictures of him with a pig the world can
Sense a power change coming. Europe will rock for years
After Dave gives his speech .... ( From laughter probably ) )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
You gents can slag America, law-abiding gun owners, conservatives and Republicans all you like, but kindly refrain from calling me by name whilst you engage in your playground mud-slinging and bullying about.
Thank you.
I didn't slag America. In fact I mentioned that 90% of Americans and I more or less agree. I also praised the president of the USA. How is that slagging the US? I did slag a minority that seems to be so against the changes the large majority want, they call it bad politics and illegal even before they know what it is. I haven't slaged law-abiding gun-owners. Conservatives I don't mind much. By that I mean the traditional core of the Rupublican party, such as Jeb Bush, his father and John McCain. It's the Tea Party/neo-con gang I really dislike.
I mentioned your name in an atempt of good houmor, and I'm sorry you see my post as playground mud-slinging and bullying
On a totally different subject, how about a few points about all the great things
America has done, created and fought ?
Fleming was a big fan of America, many say he wrote in an almost American
style, which may have helped the success of the books in the US.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I think you all know me well enough to know there is a number of reasons why the Swedes have border controls now :v
I think it's a great idea to write more about what we like about America, because we (I) have clearly not comunicated well enough that the critical posts come out of love. The reason why we don't post about all the murders and gun violence in Russia and other places is because America is closer to our hearts. One think I love about America is the many top-notch TV-series from there: The Americans, Big Bang Theory, True Detective etc.
I think the western is one of the biggest cultural exports from America.
The form is almost perfect for story telling, usually a man standing alone
against the odds. ( Was LTK, the first Bond western) almost a modern
form of fairy tale. It was odd for me watching Cowboys v Aliens , as I found
myself wishing it had been a straight western.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I think the western is one of the biggest cultural exports from America.
The form is almost perfect for story telling, usually a man standing alone
against the odds. ( Was LTK, the first Bond western) almost a modern
form of fairy tale. It was odd for me watching Cowboys v Aliens , as I found
myself wishing it had been a straight western.
European cinema does deep introspective films like those of
igmar Bergman , while America gave us the film noir thrillers
With The big sleep and Double Indemnity.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
You gents can slag America, law-abiding gun owners, conservatives and Republicans all you like, but kindly refrain from calling me by name whilst you engage in your playground mud-slinging and bullying about.
Thank you.
Oh my. This is why he left?
I don't slag my country, just the idiots IN it. There are idiot Republicans, idiot Democrats, idiot gun owners, etc... the number of idiots (or truly evil peeps) in my country is actually very low, less than 30% of the population I think.
Most are corporate types & politicians... and deluded voters...
8-)
Has he really left? In that case it would be really sad, especially because he misinterpereted my post and I did hope he would reconsider after thinking it over. But I susect he felt alone and under attack when the topic of guns came up here. It was never my intention to attack him personally, but I do understand it if he felt alone in his views here in AJB.
Comments
Flat- Joke Challenge. The guy behind the camera reads really bad jokes:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h8SeB3Wjya0
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
But even constitutions aren't set in stone, they must be there for very good reasons. Until the 1850's Norway's constitution banned jews from entering the country, but thankfully the constitution was changed. The US has also changed parts of it's constitution, e.g. slaves. I also doubt very much the founding fathers intended the very liberal (correct use of the word) gun Laws we see in part of the US. No matter what, we all hope the US will in the future be spared the many gun massacres we have seen in the past.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Amazingly, many leading Republicans not only knew Obama's plan would be a bad one before they were informed about what it contained, they also knew it was illegal:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/05/what-obama-said-on-gun-control-doesnt-matter-republicans-oppose-it
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
That should be enough reason for everyone to reconsider their position.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I was surprised that they are planning to buy a house in Germany and spend at least half of the year here. When I've met him for the first time 20 years ago, he was basically looking down on everything which happened in Europe. And I must add that a larger part of his jewish family has been murdered in Auschwitz.
I was very afraid as a german meeting his father who was arond 75 at that time but he could not have been nicer and more funny to me. It was an amazing experience how warm they welcomed me!
Our main topic was the prospect for the presidential elections this year.
We agreed both that Trump will run independently if he's not chosen for candidate.
If that hapoens, this will split the republican potential in half and will put the chances for the conservatives to almost zero.
My friends also strongly believe that the demographic factor will prevent a republican winner for now and the future. There are too many Latinos and African american voters out there.
I am still concerned because last year (Ebola) was a perfect example how such can be blown out of proportions - put an entire population into a virtual panic and have them vote for those who blame the other candidate for that.
The day after the elections NOBODY was concerned about Ebola anymore - mission completed.
I am afraid that similar thing may happen for this Year.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Thank you.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
actually nobody slags America here.
We criticize certain aspects of US politics like we do with Germany, the UK and - in particular France!
Loeffs, you are far too educated and smart to live a life "As long as it's the law, I am living it and don't doubt it"
I'll say this coming from a country with a long history of having done things the wrong way and having had very wrong laws:
The second amendmend is from 1791, a time when slavery was still along the law in large parts of the US.
So people who had slaves could have had the position: "It's along the law so it's ok to do it"
Law is always an evolving process - and modifying the law along the reality and people's morals and ideals is common and good.
So the question with gun ownership is not, if it's lawful or not. The question is if it's right or wrong.
Again: Nobody is anti-American or bullying a country or it's citizens here.
Interesting that people that support pretty aggressive politics very easily become very defensive when being criticized.
Gun owners are no victims. The gun lobby is a very aggressive and powerful group and it's shameful that part of their campaining is building the myth of being the victims here X-(
The victims are the law-abiding people who get shot. And these are too many!
Some people from this discussion on AJB that criticize gun ownership in the US are american citizens.
It's sad that the political climate is so polarized that every difference in opinions ends into accusations like "if you criticize point x, you are anti-American" - or - even worse - "pro terrorist".
{[]
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
In Germany, we don't have speedlimits on the Autobahn. When you are here, you see a lot of crazyness by irresponsible driving and irresponsible fast driving in particular.
Several politicians tried to limit speeds here but the powerful car lobby here (main argument: Unlimited speed is a unique selling point because our cars are designed for those speeds because we need that here and this is also attractive for the export. So if you start a speed limit here, it will ruin the german car industy and will cost a lot of jobs). I presume that there are similar arguments from the US Gun lobby.
I'll admit: Fast driving is exciting and fun. Fortunately my days are gone when I did it but I still understand the appeal.
Now, let's put arguments in terms of unlimited speed and unrestricted gun ownership in comparison gun arguments are in bold
Legal, law abiding people are allowed to own fast and dangerous cars because it's along the law
Legal, law abiding people are allowed to own dangerous firearms because it's along the law
Yes, fast cars in the wrong hands can be very dangerous
Yes, firearms in the wrong hands can be very dangerous
We've had some terrible accidents where people did abuse fast cars and killed people
We've had MANY terrible accidents where people did abuse firearms and killed people
The consequences from these incidents should be more fast and dangerous cars! (now that would be ridiculous!)
The consequences from these incidents should be more dangerous firearms! (....)
Many kids have been killed by fast cars, so we must teach and let them handle as soon as possible dangerous cars (now that would be ridiculous!
Many kids have been killed by dangerous firearms so we much teach and let them handle as soon as possible dangerous firearms (...)
Many of these incidents happened in restricted areas such as schools, colleges, public areas (speedlimit), so the answer is to have less of these restricted areas (now that would be ridiculous!)
Many of these incidents happened in restricted areas such as schools, colleges, public areas (gun-free zones), so the answer is to have less of these restricted areas (...)
If we restrict the speed everywhere, people will still break the law and violate the limit
If we restrict firearm ownership everywhere, people will still break the law and violate the limit
If we limit the ownership of fast cars for normal people, people will still get them from Russia, Albania etc.
If we limit the ownership of firearms for normal people, people will still get them from Mexico etc.
you could stretch the argument further:
I would immediately support, that law enforcement will still get the fastest possible cars to be able to keep up with the people who don't obey to the speed limit!
I would immediately support the idea, that law enforcement will still get the strongest of all possible firearms to be able to keep up with the people who don't obey to the gun restriction!
Bottom line:
Everybody knows that the speed should be limited to 130 km/h but the lobby is too strong to make it happen yet. But it would be the right thing to do and trying to change the law is NOT evil. And there are many people here, who see the limitation of speed as a restriction of their civil rights - no matter that in most of all other countries this works well.
Bottom line:
Everybody knows that gun ownership must be restricted but the lobby is too strong to make it happen yet. But it would be the right thing to do and trying to change the law is NOT evil. And there are many people here, who see the limitationof gun ownership as a restriction of their civil rights - no matter that in most of all other countries this works well.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
That's must be why everyone is trying to get into the paradise,
The utopia that his the UK !
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
"Rambo" of a politician in Dave Cameron, I expect photos being
Released with Dave bare chested on horseback, shooting bears,
but no pictures of him with a pig
Sense a power change coming. Europe will rock for years
After Dave gives his speech .... ( From laughter probably )
I didn't slag America. In fact I mentioned that 90% of Americans and I more or less agree. I also praised the president of the USA. How is that slagging the US? I did slag a minority that seems to be so against the changes the large majority want, they call it bad politics and illegal even before they know what it is. I haven't slaged law-abiding gun-owners. Conservatives I don't mind much. By that I mean the traditional core of the Rupublican party, such as Jeb Bush, his father and John McCain. It's the Tea Party/neo-con gang I really dislike.
I mentioned your name in an atempt of good houmor, and I'm sorry you see my post as playground mud-slinging and bullying
America has done, created and fought ?
Fleming was a big fan of America, many say he wrote in an almost American
style, which may have helped the success of the books in the US.
What the hell is Number24 up to annoying his neighbours
I think it's a great idea to write more about what we like about America, because we (I) have clearly not comunicated well enough that the critical posts come out of love. The reason why we don't post about all the murders and gun violence in Russia and other places is because America is closer to our hearts. One think I love about America is the many top-notch TV-series from there: The Americans, Big Bang Theory, True Detective etc.
The form is almost perfect for story telling, usually a man standing alone
against the odds. ( Was LTK, the first Bond western) almost a modern
form of fairy tale. It was odd for me watching Cowboys v Aliens , as I found
myself wishing it had been a straight western.
+1
igmar Bergman , while America gave us the film noir thrillers
With The big sleep and Double Indemnity.
I don't slag my country, just the idiots IN it. There are idiot Republicans, idiot Democrats, idiot gun owners, etc... the number of idiots (or truly evil peeps) in my country is actually very low, less than 30% of the population I think.
Most are corporate types & politicians... and deluded voters...
8-)
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS