USPOL August: Ending with a bang

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USPOL August: Ending with a bang

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Welcome once again to the USPOL thread! As we continue our trek into the second half of the year, we�re finally starting to see some fun creep into our political lives with Trump, Republican debates, budget battles and more!

So cheers, and enjoy everything the thread has to offer, including an extra dose of presidential chat thanks to RSF!

114th Congress Bingo Card

The 114th Congress is off this month (by law!) so there won�t be all that much coming out of Washington for a while (and next month�s OP will be pretty barebones to boot) but there�s still plenty to report on from this month before we take a break!

Small Government! The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act passed the House. Obama, naturally, has threatened to veto the bill. What is the REINS Act, you ask? Well, what do you think about requiring Congressional approval of all major regulations that cost more than $100m (explicitly calling out carbon taxes, of course) and allowing Congress to disapprove any other regulations? Good luck getting any new regulations passed, Obama!
Obamacare: Republicans plan to waste their one opportunity to use reconciliation on repealing Obamacare.
Banking and Finance: Did you know that Dodd-Frank is the reason the recovery is so slow? Let�s repeal it! �Your Republican House Representative
Budget and Appropriations: The budget has slowly ground to a halt as expected, now that everyone wants their own pet project/attack on Obama to be added to the bills and still, somehow, pass. Among the sticking points likely to result in a government shutdown: Republicans refuse to vote for anything that doesn�t defund Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, Democrats have been using the Confederate flag issue to twist the knife in the process as well, but might trade that for a VRA re-authorization. If nothing else, though, the House passed a three-month highway funding bill in reaction to a Senate bill which would have funded the Highway Trust Fund for three years and reauthorized the ExIm Bank, so at least PART of the 2016 budget has passed. Sorta.
Cybersecurity and Telecommunications: The White House has backed down on the first draft of revising the Wassenaar rules to cover security research.
Copyright and Intellectual Property: Various content owners are mobilizing to defeat a new copyright law with orphan works provisions before it�s written.
Gun Control: Hahahaha, yeah right. Now is not the time to talk about gun control. Unless you mean making sure that everyone is armed at all times. We'll just have to let these sorts of things keep happening.
Environment: The EPA lost another court case to try to rein in pollutants. Also, with many states refusing to even consider adhering to upcoming regulations on clean energy, the EPA may be delaying deadlines.
Immigration: Donald Trump has invigorated the anti-immigration wing of the Republican party, causing party leaders headaches. Either way, with a high profile murder committed by an illegal immigrant released by a sanctuary city, even Democrats are planning on making immigrants go back to the shadows.
War on Drugs: In a surprising move, the Senate Appropriations Committee has moved forward with loosening restrictions on offering banking services to legal marijuana businesses.
War on Terror: As Turkey ramps up its efforts against ISIS (or maybe just our Kurdish allies) in an attempt to make a safe space for Syrians, the Feds continue to investigate possible ISIS allies in the US.
The Torture Report and the NSA: Related to the previous items, FBI Director James Comey wants to weaken encryption. Leading technologists and computer scientists as well as former DHS and NSA heads think that�s a bad idea.
Foreign Policy: There�s been a lot of wheeling and dealing this past month, with the US overtly making deals with Iran (pending 60 days for Congress to stamp its feet angrily) and continuing its deal with Cuba, as well as possibly making backdoor deals with Turkey (to get support to oust Assad in exchange for selling out Kurds) and Russia (to get support for the Iran deal in exchange for selling out Ukraine). Also, in a possible attempt to curry Israel�s favor over the Iran deal, the US plans to make Yaakov Kirschen�s dreams come true.
Abortion: With Congress still stuck on passing a 20-week ban, pro-life activists have taken the matter into their own hands, throwing out a number of doctored videos in the vein of James O�Keefe in an attempt to gain support for pulling an ACORN and cutting the nearly 1/3 of PP�s funding which comes from the federal government. It seems to be working, and the group behind the videos is freely handing out special cuts to various state politicians to get them to file lawsuits against PP. Meanwhile, hackers used the opportunity to hack the Planned Parenthood site to leak information and possibly e-mails from the organization before subjecting the site to a DDOS. Whatever the case, beatings will continue until Planned Parenthood is banned.

Other News, featuring the Clinton Corner

Did you know that Hillary may be losing in key battleground states already? As we know, this is obviously indicative of how the general election will go, so I hope it is obvious why you should definitely not vote for Hillary!

In other news�

Donald Trump is everything D&D ever could have ever dreamed. Also John Kasich, Scott Walker, Jim Webb and Jim Gilmore for some reason are busy doing something or other too. Now, normally I�d suggest that you try to take elections chat into the appropriate elections threads, but RSF has them at the moment, and, surprise-surprise, people don�t really want to post there. So I�ll just leave a link to the Hillary vs Sanders Eternal Holy War Quarantine thread instead.
As hinted at last month, Puerto Rico is about to default on some of its debt.
Black lives continue to matter. Maybe.
NASA did something cool for the first time in years, this month.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) only just realized the mistake he made on January 3.
Lots of economic news this month, and little of it particularly good. China's stock market is taking a nosedive despite government intervention. Despite giving in to Germany, Greece continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Wages aren�t really growing. Consumer sentiment is wavering. Who cares? Interest rates are probably going to go up anyway.

Talk to other goons (why would you want to do that?)
Remember that we have an IRC channel at synirc in #poligoon for livesteaming stuff.

Goon Recommendations
Documentaries

Slavery by Another Name
Citizenfour (Laura Poitras's companion pieces My Country, My Country and The Oath are useful for additional context on the impact of the US war on terror in the Middle East)

Talks

Long pieces

The Atlantic
- "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates (systematic mistreatment of African Americans in the economic sphere)
- "The Tragedy of the American Military" by James Fallows (the US: the chickenhawk nation)
- "The Southern Captivity of the GOP" by Christopher Caldwell (still-applicable 1998 article about regionalism in the GOP)

Books

Punishment and Inequality in America by Bruce Western
The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America by Naomi Murakawa
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Matt Taibbi's
- The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap and
- Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow
Rick Perlstein's trilogy on the history of the modern conservative movement:
Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class by Ian Haney L�pez

Twitter feeds

@costareports (Robert Costa, Washington Post, formerly National Review): Conservative-leaning journalist to whom Republican sources often leak backroom stories (Republican retreats, Presidential campaigns, etc.)
@daveweigel (Dave Weigel, Bloomberg Politics, formerly Slate): "Idiosyncratic libertarian" journalist who is second only to Robert Costa in connections/interviews with Republican officials. Contrary to popular belief, not D&D superstar Joementum.
@BruceBartlett (Bruce Bartlett, ex-Reagan/Bush official): "Lifelong conservative who now thinks the GOP panders to fools, whom he calls wankers. My tweets should not always be taken seriously."
The following are semi-random selections from a list offered by Rygar201 and may be good or bad.
- @owillis (Olivier Willis, research fellow, Media Matters)
- @mattyglesias (Matt Yglesias, executive editor, Vox)
- @JuddLegum (Judd Legum, Editor-in-Chief, Think Progress)
- @dick_nixon "37th President of the United States. Messages from the President are unsigned, others from Ronald Ziegler. "
- @EricBoehlert (Eric Boehlert, Media Matters)
- @JamilSmith (Jamil Smith, senior editor, The New Republic)
- @jonathanchait (Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine)
- @nielslesniewski (Neils Lesniewski, Senate coverage, Roll Call)
- @abwhite7 (Abraham White, former comms for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY))
- @DSenFloor (Senate D Floor Watch): "Live floor updates from the Senate Democrats"
- @billmon1 (Billmon)
- @ebruenig (Elizabeth Bruenig, The New Republic)

Related threads
"US Politics" is an incredibly broad topic, as A) the country is freaking huge and B) given our role in international events pretty much everything impacts us. So there are other subthreads
2016 Presidential Primary
2016 US Senate Elections
SCOTUS thread
Right Wing Media

There are also regional subthreads that are usually pretty slow, but sometimes cross-pollinate with this thread when something important is happening.
Pacific Northwest
Illinois
Texas
California
There was a South thread, too, but it's been dead since last July.

Lifted the rest of the above from FriedChicken. As before post suggestions for adding to the above and I'll edit them in if I see them.

By the by, I don't have a clue what's the deal with my avatar. Some guy got pissy about gay marriage or something when the ruling came out and failed to make a good red text avatar apparently. :iiam:

And remember folks, drink chat goes in D&D chat thread. Drink responsibly. Your liver will thank you.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:00

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 09:11

bradburypancakes: Sep 9, 2014; hmm. hmmmmmmmm

Trump was like Christmas in July. What wonders does August hold for us? My hope is a blood sacrifice at the debate next week.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:13

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

Tuck Frump 2016 :911:

If we can get Palin on the ticket as his VP this will be the most entertaining election in history.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:16

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Bring on the GOP debates. Sound the Gjallartrump.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:23

Bootcha: Nov 13, 2012; Truly, the pinnacle of goaltending; Grimey Drawer

GOP-dor calls for aid! And Trump will answer!

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:35

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

Are there any laws in the US about having the word "gently caress" on a sign or other public display? There's clearly no problem with "fag", so...

Gotta start printing "gently caress Huck" on t-shirts, they'd probably sell well.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 08:47

Defenestration: Aug 10, 2006; "It wasn't my fault that my first unconscious thought turned out to be-"
"Jesus, kid, what?"
"That something smelled delicious!"; Grimey Drawer

I was on vacation this week when the USOC pulled the Boston 2024 bid but I wanted to address this from the previous thread:

ComradeCosmobot posted:

1984 was the first Summer Olympics since 1932 to make a profit. Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Beijing and London also reportedly made profits

The definition of "profit" is highly suspect, and depends on complicated budget trickery. Often when you see claims to "profit" they are counting only the OCOG (operating) budget, not the infrastructure, venue construction, or security budgets.

The IOC claims Sochi made $53m in profit. Sochi, the $50 billion profligate disaster olympics.

Meanwhile, every olympics since 1960 has overrun its initial budget, by an average of 179%.

Quickly
- LA 84 ran a profit because they were the only bidder on the Olympics that year, and were able to tell the IOC to take it or leave it. They were the first Olympics to heavily sell broadcast rights. Now, the IOC owns the rights and gives host cities a ~10-15% cut.

- Atlanta's "profit" is often cited at $10m, which when you count the entire budget, not just the OCOG budget, is a rate of return lower than a savings account. (yes, even with variable interest rates)

- London crowed about how their Olympics came in �377m under budget...after the initial projections had been tripled to �9b

- Mitt came in to run the SLC olympics after the previous board had been discovered to be rampantly corrupt.

I was heavily involved in No Boston Olympics. We did a lot of research, so I can talk about this forever.

Needless to say, we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. It was a real grassroots effort, not just from "ten people on twitter" like Marty Walsh said. Our support was bipartisan too, which you just don't see these days. We had Occupy Boston people and Tea Party people at the same meetings. Don't believe the lazy post-mortems about how the snow in February was responsible, or the ones that say it was the Mayor refusing to sign the taxpayer guarantee (Marty was the biggest Boston 2024 cheerleader since day 1. That press conference was a purely political 'you can't dump me I'm leaving you' move). It was on the ground activism and engagement putting pressure on Boston2024 to release their bid info and answer for their terrible decisions. It was lobbying with city and state level politicians to get them to see behind the veneer of ooo shiny happy Olympics.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 09:07

Nonsense: Jan 26, 2007

I literally don't care if it makes a profit. I don't want the Olympics in any American city. America has too much traffic. Let the rest of the world with their rickshaws and their flying machines, handle that poo poo.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 09:29

Fajita Queen: Jun 21, 2012

The Olympics has literally never generated revenue for the host city, and quite often has put them into significant amounts of debt and/or displaced a lot of businesses and people. They're a loving disaster unless you're competing or watching them on television.

I live close enough to Boston that I would legitimately consider moving across the country if the Olympics had actually been accepted there because that would mean a straight decade of ludicrous traffic caused by tons of construction. Not in my loving backyard, the Big Dig was bad enough and I-93 construction ain't much better.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 09:51

Harik: Sep 9, 2001; From the hard streets of Moscow
First dog to touch the stars; Plaster Town Cop

Nonsense posted:

I literally don't care if it makes a profit. I don't want the Olympics in any American city. America has too much traffic. Let the rest of the world with their rickshaws and their flying machines, handle that poo poo.

On the plus side, being in Bejing may make china actually stick to it's pollution goals for the next 8 years. I got lucky the one time I went to Guangzhou and it was pretty clear; lately the visibility is measured in blocks.

In direct economic impact to the US - if they haven't met their goals they'll shut down the country for a month beforehand, just like last time.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 10:01

Sulphagnist: Oct 10, 2006; WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

The Shortest Path posted:

The Olympics has literally never generated revenue for the host city, and quite often has put them into significant amounts of debt and/or displaced a lot of businesses and people. They're a loving disaster unless you're competing or watching them on television.

Or in on the racket, be it via the organizing committee, the host city political class or the construction business. As a bonus you get to demolish some projects/slums and pave them over or turn them into luxury condos.

I mean if it was a financial disaster for everyone no one would hold them. FIFA's only blunder was being too blatant about the World Cup. Qatar? Really? Russia and China you can clearly get away with.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 11:07

Alec Bald Snatch: Sep 12, 2012; by exmarx

The Shortest Path posted:

Are there any laws in the US about having the word "gently caress" on a sign or other public display? There's clearly no problem with "fag", so...

Gotta start printing "gently caress Huck" on t-shirts, they'd probably sell well.

Not really.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 11:34

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/kentucky-drone-shooting/

quote:

Where should we draw the line between the advancement of technology and the protection of personal privacy? For one Kentucky man, his property line is where he gets to make the call, and he made that point of view perfectly clear when he pointed his shotgun at a drone hovering in his backyard and pulled the trigger.

"It was just right there. It was hovering. I would never have shot it if it was flying," William Merideth said in an interview with Ars Technica. "When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work."

Merideth claims that the drone was first spotted hovering over his neighbor's house�a claim his neighbor confirms�and he had no intentions of taking any actions against it until it entered onto his own property. Merideth's 16-year-old daughter was laying out by their pool at the time, and when the drone pilot decided to stop his vehicle and get an electronic eyeful, he decided enough was enough.

The homeowner fetched his shotgun and pumped three helpings of birdshot into the $1,800 drone, taking it out of the air in short order. Shortly thereafter, the drone pilot and three of his friends arrived at Merideth's property.

"If you cross that sidewalk onto my property, there's going to be another shooting," Merideth says he told the men.

The police eventually arrived and Merideth was charged with first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree wanton endangerment, both related to his discharge of the firearm. The 47-year-old Merideth is confident that the charges will be reduced or thrown out entirely once his trial date arrives.

Is this a legitimate use of weapons? Should Merideth have passively allowed his privacy to be violated because it's Wrong to defend himself and his family? As drones become more ubiquitous I think we'll see more and more incidents like this.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:00

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

RIP Roddy Piper, star of the most D&D movie.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:11

bradburypancakes: Sep 9, 2014; hmm. hmmmmmmmm

Brannock posted:

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/kentucky-drone-shooting/

So many drone operators are bad and dumb. They have this brand new toy and think it gives them carte blanche to fly it anywhere they please - even if that means preventing firefighting helicopters from getting where they need to go, or buzzing in the background of the field show I was at last night. poo poo needs to get regulated quick.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:24

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

Pope Guilty posted:

RIP Roddy Piper, star of the most D&D movie.

Yes, Hell Comes To Frogtown has a lot to say about the feeling of emasculation of the white male in the presence of increasing female empowerment. Also, frogs.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:25

Luigi Thirty: Apr 30, 2006; Emergency confection port.

Brannock posted:

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/kentucky-drone-shooting/

Is this a legitimate use of weapons? Should Merideth have passively allowed his privacy to be violated because it's Wrong to defend himself and his family? As drones become more ubiquitous I think we'll see more and more incidents like this.

Some idiot nearly crashed their drone into a jet at JFK yesterday so I hope someone figures out something to do with them.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:26

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Brannock posted:

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/kentucky-drone-shooting/

Is this a legitimate use of weapons? Should Merideth have passively allowed his privacy to be violated because it's Wrong to defend himself and his family? As drones become more ubiquitous I think we'll see more and more incidents like this.

Interesting quirk to the story: the guy selected the birdshot instead of a .22 rifle so he wouldn't endanger anyone who might happen to be where it fell.

Imo assuming the description of it hovering right over his property (as opposed to say 500ft up) is correct then peeping tom deserved to have his $1.8k toy blown out of the sky

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:27

LeeMajors: Jan 20, 2005; I've gotta stop fantasizing about Lee Majors...
Ah, one more!

Gizmodo had an article on it, and drones are legally considered to be aircraft--so he might be in a heap of trouble for shooting it down per FAA regs.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:34

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

LeeMajors posted:

Gizmodo had an article on it, and drones are legally considered to be aircraft--so he might be in a heap of trouble for shooting it down per FAA regs.

That would be absolutely idiotic and I'd be sad if he got hit for defending his daughter before they change the laws.

One thing I'd like see is a prohibition on using drones for advertising. God knows we already have enough marketing garbage shoved into every aspect of our societal spaces.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:48

CommieGIR: Aug 22, 2006; The blue glow is a feature, not a bug; Pillbug

Brannock posted:

That would be absolutely idiotic and I'd be sad if he got hit for defending his daughter before they change the laws.

One thing I'd like see is a prohibition on using drones for advertising. God knows we already have enough marketing garbage shoved into every aspect of our societal spaces.

The guy released the flight data log for the drone. It was at 250 feet altitude the whole time, neighbor is likely not only a lying sack of poo poo, but opened fire at a legally flying craft at legal altitude.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ontent=20150801

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:50

LorneReams: Jun 27, 2003; I'm bizarre

CommieGIR posted:

The guy released the flight data log for the drone. It was at 250 feet altitude the whole time, neighbor is likely not only a lying sack of poo poo, but opened fire at a legally flying craft at legal altitude.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ontent=20150801

Probably why he was arrested.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:52

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

The Shortest Path posted:

Tuck Frump 2016

If we can get Palin on the ticket as his VP this will be the most entertaining election in history.

Not sure if the American populace has the cognitive ability to realize these two are complete morons who shouldn't be allowed to campaign for a new ice cream flavor, much less President and veep.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 14:54

Raenir Salazar: Nov 5, 2010; "According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever; College Slice

I have a hard time being sympathetic to the drone operator for hanging out in someone's backyard and possibly peeking.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:02

CommieGIR: Aug 22, 2006; The blue glow is a feature, not a bug; Pillbug

Raenir Salazar posted:

I have a hard time being sympathetic to the drone operator for hanging out in someone's backyard and possibly peeking.

I guess we should legalize shooting down Cessnas then.

250 feet is well above the legal limit for drone airspace, and does not mesh with the story the neighbor is claiming. Either you pretend that he was okay with him shooting down a legally flying aircraft within its legal airspace backed by flight records, or you buy the crazy neighbors story who was likely just itching to shoot something out of the air.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:05

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

CommieGIR posted:

I guess we should legalize shooting down Cessnas then.

Legal! LEGAL!!!

Is there an actual good reason drones should be considered actual aircraft?

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:07

Stretch Marx: Apr 29, 2008; I'm ok with this.

Brannock posted:

Legal! LEGAL!!!

Is there an actual good reason drones should be considered actual aircraft?

You mean besides the obvious?

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:12

CommieGIR: Aug 22, 2006; The blue glow is a feature, not a bug; Pillbug

Brannock posted:

Legal! LEGAL!!!

Is there an actual good reason drones should be considered actual aircraft?

Well if you want the FAA to regulate it....

...Yes?

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:12

bird food bathtub: Aug 9, 2003; College Slice

Brannock posted:

Legal! LEGAL!!!

Is there an actual good reason drones should be considered actual aircraft?

Like it or not those are the laws and it is a legal matter. There's definitely a conversation to be had about updating the laws or some laws being for sale to the highest bidder through the "democratic" process, but for this case he had his drone in the legal air space.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:15

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

Up to twenty years in federal prison for shooting down a toy helicopter and people are going "Well that's the law so we should be okay with it". Embarrassing.

I hope you remember this a decade from now when drones polluting our airspace and shoving even more advertising and surveillance into our lives is just more background noise that people are crazy nutters for disliking.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:24

Obdicut: May 15, 2012; "What election?"

Brannock posted:

Legal! LEGAL!!!

Is there an actual good reason drones should be considered actual aircraft?

They fly through the air, and are craft.

The actual problem here is that flying the drone over private property for the purpose of taking pictures may be a civil trespass. You can't respond to a civil trespass by destroying the equipment, though. If someone sets up a camera on your property to film you, you can sue the hell out of them, but you can't just destroy the property. Simplistically, people think they have a right to destroy anything on their property but tort law really frowns on that sort of vigilantism.

We need some new laws to penalize the use of drones over private property--their nature of low-flyingness makes them a hazard, beyond the privacy concerns.

Brannock posted:

Up to twenty years in federal prison for shooting down a toy helicopter and people are going "Well that's the law so we should be okay with it". Embarrassing.

I hope you remember this a decade from now when drones polluting our airspace and shoving even more advertising and surveillance into our lives is just more background noise that people are crazy nutters for disliking.

He's not going to get 20 years for it, calm down. The appropriate thing to do is to call for laws regulating drones, not to say that people should just shoot them down on their own.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:25

Godlessdonut: Sep 13, 2005

CommieGIR posted:

The guy released the flight data log for the drone. It was at 250 feet altitude the whole time, neighbor is likely not only a lying sack of poo poo, but opened fire at a legally flying craft at legal altitude.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ontent=20150801

Flight logs that can be doctored, and 250 feet sounds pretty far for birdshot. So really this proves nothing.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:32

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

El Disco posted:

Flight logs that can be doctored, and 250 feet sounds pretty far for birdshot. So really this proves nothing.

Is this a joke post, or did you not take 3 seconds to check Google for birdshot ranges first? Because I'm seeing anywhere from 100-250 yards depending on type, and 250 feet is sub-90 yards.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:38

Grapplejack: Nov 27, 2007

Also he shot a loving gun off in the middle of a suburb, he should have been brought in for that alone.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:40

Modus Pwnens: Dec 29, 2004

Obdicut posted:

You can't respond to a civil trespass by destroying the equipment, though.

It's remote operated and hundreds of feet in the air. What other responses were available to him?

Eta: not being snarky, I find this legitimately an interesting conversation.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:40

Young Freud: Nov 26, 2006

Mo_Steel posted:

Is this a joke post, or did you not take 3 seconds to check Google for birdshot ranges first? Because I'm seeing anywhere from 100-250 yards depending on type, and 250 feet is sub-90 yards.

And it doesn't take much to knock out a drone. The rotors are meant to bend then break off in case of collision, so a birdshot pellet hitting one is going to tear it up.

I'm not sure about the flight tracking data. There was discussion of it in the NPR comments, if it has it's own video feed, then the telemetry data would probably be baked into the metadata of the video like timestamps and backed-up on the operator's end.

Modus Pwnens posted:

It's remote operated and hundreds of feet in the air. What other responses were available to him?

Eta: not being snarky, I find this legitimately an interesting conversation.

I'm sure that using a laser against a drone would be a completely appropriate response, although I'm not sure if that would fall under the same FAA restrictions as using it against manned aircraft.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:43

mandatory lesbian: Dec 18, 2012

Obdicut posted:

The actual problem here is that flying the drone over private property for the purpose of taking pictures may be a civil trespass.

I am hella uncomfortable that that's considered a "may" and not a "is"

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:44

Defenestration: Aug 10, 2006; "It wasn't my fault that my first unconscious thought turned out to be-"
"Jesus, kid, what?"
"That something smelled delicious!"; Grimey Drawer

Nonsense posted:

I literally don't care if it makes a profit. I don't want the Olympics in any American city.

Well, that too. But the problem is you can't convince Americans to act on anything unless they think it's someone reaching into their back pocket for their wallet
Bring up all the other horrible stuff that comes with the Olympics and boosters would say "but this is AMERICA. That won't happen HERE." I was at a community meeting where someone asked about what Boston 2024 would do to prevent human trafficking around the games. They got booed and Boston 2024 said "that's not our problem. Human trafficking happens in China, not in Boston."

Harik posted:

On the plus side, being in Bejing may make china actually stick to it's pollution goals for the next 8 years. I got lucky the one time I went to Guangzhou and it was pretty clear; lately the visibility is measured in blocks.

In direct economic impact to the US - if they haven't met their goals they'll shut down the country for a month beforehand, just like last time.

I super doubt that it will be any different than last time. See: Rio's waterways a year out being described as "raw sewage." They'll sweep it all under the bed for the IOC inspectors. As long as their TV show goes off well, the IOC couldn't care less about civic goals and whether they're met.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:44

Mo_Steel: Mar 7, 2008; Let's Clock Into The Sunset Together; Fun Shoe

Modus Pwnens posted:

It's remote operated and hundreds of feet in the air. What other responses were available to him?

Eta: not being snarky, I find this legitimately an interesting conversation.

Would this apply if he put a camera up on top of a pole? Because firing a shotgun at someone elses property with the capacity to accidentally injure other people or destroy other property as a result is the sort of thing that I think ought to only be allowed in situations of immediate harm.

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:46

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 09:11

Obdicut: May 15, 2012; "What election?"

Mo_Steel posted:

Is this a joke post, or did you not take 3 seconds to check Google for birdshot ranges first? Because I'm seeing anywhere from 100-250 yards depending on type, and 250 feet is sub-90 yards.

.22 birdshot effective range is about 120 feet, but that doesn't mean you can't hit stuff beyond that, just that there's a fall-off in power. It depends on a lot of other variables in the shotgun like the choke and the shot being used.

mandatory lesbian posted:

I am hella uncomfortable that that's considered a "may" and not a "is"

Depends on state laws. It's not a federal thing, it's a state-by-state thing.

Do you also think that taking pictures onto someone else's property from a nearby height is a problem? like, if you are up on a hillside and take a picture down at a house below you should that be a civil violation?

Modus Pwnens posted:

It's remote operated and hundreds of feet in the air. What other responses were available to him?

Eta: not being snarky, I find this legitimately an interesting conversation.

Calling the cops, taking pictures of it. The worst case scenario of it falling out of the sky after being shot is that it hits someone. There's also another irony here: if he was actually shooting it at the height he was saying he was, that's a really unsafe discharge--he was firing at a flat parabolic arc. If he was firing it at the height the drone guy says it was then it's a harmless (other than for the drone) discharge.

Obdicut fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Aug 1, 2015

# ? Aug 1, 2015 15:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USPOL August: Ending with a bang

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