TenuredVulture wrote:I do understand that a gas tack is about as regressive as they come, outside of urban areas. On the other hand, in real dollars, it's probably much lower than it's been in quite awhile, since it's typically assessed per gallon, not as a percentage of the price of gallon.

pacino wrote:police in NY largelly not policing, for the second week in a row

this may backfire, as people many of hte interactions that were unnecessary to deal with crime are also being being swept up in this non-policing effort. people may start to like it and if felony crimes stay low, wonder what the hell was the point of broken windows.

I find it hard to believe that there were no traffic violations in the city of New York.

Soren wrote:

pacino wrote:

Soren wrote:So, can someone explain the benefits/realities of what the TPP would like? #$!&@ like this is not encouraging:

According to these leaked documents, the TPP would empower corporations to directly challenge laws and regulations set by foreign nations before an international tribunal. The tribunal would be given the authority to not only overrule that nation's legal standards but also impose economic penalties on it. Under World Trade Organization treaties, corporations must convince a sovereign nation to bring trade cases before an international court. Chomsky said the deal is an escalation of neoliberal political goals previously advanced by the WTO and the North American Free Trade Agreement

i dont think we know, which is the problem. the discussions haven't been public.

I meant to ask what the argument for an international tribunal where corporations can sue to overturn national laws is.

Werthless wrote:

pacino wrote:police in NY largelly not policing, for the second week in a row

this may backfire, as people many of hte interactions that were unnecessary to deal with crime are also being being swept up in this non-policing effort. people may start to like it and if felony crimes stay low, wonder what the hell was the point of broken windows.

I find it hard to believe that there were no traffic violations in the city of New York.

I don't understand your posts about this. This is really great news if you dislike aggressive police tactics or think that police have too much political power. One of a couple things will happen:

1. Violent crime will increase and police will be roundly criticized for their reckless behavior.
2. Violent crime will not increase, and liberals will gain justification for layoffs and further scaling back of aggressive enforcement in high-crime neighborhoods.

I'm guessing we'll see number 2. This should be exciting times for people who want police reform; the NYPD is opening itself up to political failure.

Werthless wrote: One of a couple things will happen:

1. Violent crime will increase and police will be roundly criticized for their reckless behavior.
2. Violent crime will not increase, and liberals will gain justification for layoffs and further scaling back of aggressive enforcement in high-crime neighborhoods.

I'm guessing we'll see number 2.

France's Muslim leadership sharply condemned the shooting as a "barbaric" attack and an assault on press freedom and democracy.

"This extremely grave barbaric action is also an attack against democracy and the freedom of the press," the French Muslim Council (CFCM) said in a statement.

The body represents France's Muslim community, which is Europe's biggest and estimated to number between 3.5 million and five million people.

20.59 Police and anti-terror magistrates reportedly identified the three assailants, two of whom are brothers, reports The Telegraph's Henry Samuel.
The two brothers, born in Paris’ 10th arrondissement are French nationals called Saïd and Cherif Kouachi, aged 34 and 32.
Cherif was reportedly part of an Iraqi jihadi network dismantled in the nearby 19th arrondissement of Paris. He was sentenced to three years in prison with 18 months suspended in relation to terror charges in May 2008.
The two brothers are Franco-Algerians who came back from Syria this summer.
Hamyd Mourad, 18, is of no fixed abode. Last year, he reportedly was enrolled in a lycée in Charleville-Mezières around 50 miles from the Champagne capital of Reims, northeastern France. Police were reportedly hunting for him in Reims last night. The nationality of the youngest is unknown.
Their identity cards were circulating widely on Twitter.

And similarly, in a cultural and political vacuum, it would be okay to think that some of images (anti-Islamic and otherwise) that Charlie Hebdo regularly published, chosen entirely for their shock value, contributed little enough to public discussion that the world would not suffer from their absence.

But we are not in a vacuum. We are in a situation where my third point applies, because the kind of blasphemy that Charlie Hebdo engaged in had deadly consequences, as everyone knew it could … and that kind of blasphemy is precisely the kind that needs to be defended, because it’s the kind that clearly serves a free society’s greater good. If a large enough group of someones is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization, and when that scenario obtains it isn’t really a liberal civilization any more. Again, liberalism doesn’t depend on everyone offending everyone else all the time, and it’s okay to prefer a society where offense and outrage for its own sake is limited rather than pervasive. But when offenses are policed by murder, that’s when we need more of them, not less, because the murderers cannot be allowed for a single moment to think that their strategy can succeed.

drsmooth wrote:

Werthless wrote: One of a couple things will happen:

1. Violent crime will increase and police will be roundly criticized for their reckless behavior.
2. Violent crime will not increase, and liberals will gain justification for layoffs and further scaling back of aggressive enforcement in high-crime neighborhoods.

I'm guessing we'll see number 2.

if by "aggressive enforcement in high-crime neighborhoods" you mean fewer gun deaths of unarmed citizenry at the hands of law enforcement officials, well yeah, I'll vote for that

jerseyhoya wrote:

And similarly, in a cultural and political vacuum, it would be okay to think that some of images (anti-Islamic and otherwise) that Charlie Hebdo regularly published, chosen entirely for their shock value, contributed little enough to public discussion that the world would not suffer from their absence.

But we are not in a vacuum. We are in a situation where my third point applies, because the kind of blasphemy that Charlie Hebdo engaged in had deadly consequences, as everyone knew it could … and that kind of blasphemy is precisely the kind that needs to be defended, because it’s the kind that clearly serves a free society’s greater good. If a large enough group of someones is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization, and when that scenario obtains it isn’t really a liberal civilization any more. Again, liberalism doesn’t depend on everyone offending everyone else all the time, and it’s okay to prefer a society where offense and outrage for its own sake is limited rather than pervasive. But when offenses are policed by murder, that’s when we need more of them, not less, because the murderers cannot be allowed for a single moment to think that their strategy can succeed.

The Blasphemy We Need

01.25 AFP and French broadcaster, iTele are both reporting that the youngest of the suspects, Hamyd Mourad, has surrendered to the police at Charleville-Mezieres, 53 miles north east of Reims.

23.45 Increasing confusion over what is happening in Reims, with police seen leaving the apartment block. iTele, a French news station, says that police were not carrying out a full scale assault on the building, but searching the scene for DNA samples. NBC, in America, however citing "two senior US counter terrorism officials" says two suspects have been arrested and a third killed.

23.10 Unconfirmed reports that two suspects have been arrested and a third killed Other French media say operation is imminent with French police surrounding a block of flats, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers