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Two law enforcement agencies will be returning their Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) [vehicles] to Uncle Sam, with the announcements arriving almost simultaneously.
Davis, Calif., city officials have directed the police department to return a surplus U.S. military armored vehicle to the federal government after residents, citing images seen during protests in Ferguson, Mo., expressed fears of militarization.
The Davis Police Department now has 60 days to get rid of a $689,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicle, which police acquired through a U.S. Defense Department program, and must consider other rescue vehicle options.
[...]
Over in San Jose, CA, it's a completely different story. Rather than having an MRAP pried from law enforcement's clutches by city reps, the San Jose Police Department gave it up voluntarily to protect its relationship with the people it serves.
San Jose police spokeswoman Sgt. Heather Randol told KCBS the decision was made based on concerns for potential damage to the department's image and community relationships.
"We want to keep their trust. We don't want them to feel we are going off on another path with our police department," she said. "We want them to feel comfortable about the tools that we use."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 04 2014, @03:11AM
For a while, federal whistleblower Peter Van Buren couldn't get a job that used his skills and education while his case made its way through the courts.
He took a job at a company he calls "Bullseye".
For those who haven't already had their jobs exported, his account is informative about where the American workplace is headed.
I wish the page was built in a way I could index it down to
Life in the new American minimum-wage economy. [warincontext.org]
That sort of place is the last thing I would expect a "Liberal" town to approve.
-- gewg_
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday September 04 2014, @05:08AM
That's not nearly as bad as what happened to Thomas Drake -- Drake had to work at an Apple Store!
This is sensationalist bullshit. Nobody runs credit checks unless vetting for hot-shit or money-related positions, even store fucking bookkeepers aren't vetted with a credit-check. Everybody has bad credit nowadays anyway. And here where I live, at least, they have to tell you give you a copy of the report if you ask or check the box. And, boo-hoo a drug test, which tests your ability to not be a crackhead, to have the discipline to lay off the pot for a few weeks, or be smart enough to use a clean-test kit (yes, the Detoxify-brand Clean drinks I used do work).
False-positives are pretty damn rare, and if you fail the GC your sample gets the MS as a backup. If you're concerned about false positives, bring your goddamn prescriptions to the testing facility. It's highly likely that painkillers are the only thing that would cause a false pos on a 5-panel, and if you have a prescription like you should, you'll be safe. The marijuana think I can sympathize with, however, nobody does true random drug tests. You have to really fuck up or hurt yourself to get one, like say you hurt your back and want to go out on disability, or topple over 5 racks of merchandise with the forklift. Everybody's afraid of "pissing hot" because they're fucking dope-addicts. I know I was when I worked in stores. High all the fucking time.
Yes, resentment, I get it...but that kind of shit doesn't magically go away once you get a so-called "real" job. He should know that.
I'm sure something's left out here. The guy was probably a fat slob addicted to Mcgarbage, who refused to eat Ramen noodles even though they are super-affordable and can be filling on the cheap. The bastard probably had kids without the discipline, skills, or cash flow to take care of them, and if that's the case, I have no sympathy for the fucker. And about the toilet-cleaning crew, in many ways that job is better because you don't have to deal with talking to asshole customers. I've been there, I have the authority to speak about these things.
Once again -- people who don't have the discipline, skills, or cash flow to have children should not have children. In fact, they should be sterilized and have their offspring euthanized. Employers are sucking veterans' cocks nowadays, so the veteran is likely either an unstable loon who can't hold down a job or is not applying himself. The immigrants can get the hell out, they're only making problems like these possible with their presence. The small-store guy is not applying his skills if he plans to stay in retail for long.
Simple: You kick the illegals the fuck out, or enslave them outright and funnel some of the profit back into the economy. If things are really that bad where they're coming from, then they can work for free as long as they get three hots and a cot.
Well, I'm glad that story had a happy ending, it made the corners of my mouth turn up and now I feel warm and fuzzy inside -- but I have little sympathy for people who are stuck in retail*.
*I actually had a lot of fun working in stores -- the women are dumb and easy (one of my coworkers would go upstairs where there were no cameras and make a "bed" out of packages of toilet paper and paper towels, then fuck on them, and then we would stock the shelves with those come-stained packages to be bought by unwitting rubes. I was the film developer and would show peoples' nudes (hint: we saw all the frames, you can't take one "normal" picture in the front and back and think we don't see every frame) to the entire store, even the manager himself peeked at them. A crackhead swiped thousands from the safe, another manager was arrested for embezzling $10K, we came in drunk, gigglingly high, smoked weed in front of and behind the store, screwed in the bathrooms, used employee discounts for expensive booze, watched crackheads make it all the way to the inside of the cash office and run the servers in a shopping cart right out the door. The pay does suck, but you see some shit there that you don't see anywhere else.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 04 2014, @07:23AM
Well, that may be because you are a dipshit. Not everyone's in retail because they didn't try hard enough. I was in retail, I have a Computer Science degree. I get turned down for all jobs because I have a disability and people - such as yourself - are bigots. Your asterisked comment seems to indicate you are a negligent employee, with no consideration for others at all. Your comments and assumptions throughout are supportive of this.
You forgot to append "At least, as far as I know," because that's all you're arguing with.
I have good credit, but that's as irrelevant as your statement.
Even cameramen are given drug tests today. What the hell does it matter if a cameraman is high? He's not driving, he's simply standing still framing a shot.
So? No, really, so what?
But the treatment does improve. Most of the places I've worked, the senior managers won't even look you in the eye because you're not worth it, you're just a minimum wage employee so fuck you and fuck your rights. This is normal, this is par for the course.
Ah yes, the good old strawman. Guaranteed to be pulled out to make an asshole look more reasonable.
The truth is, you have no idea what was going on. None. Stop trying to make shit up to make yourself feel better. This "Just World" bullshit is a fantasy made up so people such as yourself can feel superior for working harder than the less successful, who clearly didn't work as hard. Hard work doesn't get you very far without a lot of luck.
But this is only because you've made stuff up to reinforce your prejudiced opinion of someone you've never met. You are a delusional fool.
See how that works? I just made something up about you!
Oh, so you're an authority on shit now? You write as if nobody else has ever worked one of those jobs. Those jobs also pay next-to-nothing and have as few hours as they can get away with.
Who are you to tell people who to live their lives? You can't even formulate an argument without falling back on opinion and fiction to justify your position.
It's interesting that you think only the wealthy should have children, and the poor should all be sterilized while their children are killed.
And there you are again, making up shit just to support an extreme opinion.
Damned foreigners, stealing all our jobs and driving wages down.
I honestly can't tell if you're trolling, if you really believe this shit, or if you're trying to use irony and opposition to make a point. I'm hoping it's the latter, but that's mostly irrelevant.
(Score: 4, Informative) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 04 2014, @08:55AM
You are a contemptible excuse for a human being.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Thursday September 04 2014, @02:31PM
How do you propose we do this and with what money? Do we have law enforcement stop everyone who remotely looks Mexican and ask "papers please"? This is the fallacy of the right standing idiots who sit around screaming throw out all the illegals without ever thinking about how much money it will cost. To put it better, we have better things to spend our money on than chasing illegals. This is why it is far better to turn them into tax paying citizens and get it over with. We actually gain from that scenario. But nope. Can't let those mooching wetbacks stay here. It's all about racism and keeping the mud people out (good luck with that).
If by enslave you mean turn them into tax paying citizens, then yes. It's a win as taxes and wages put profit back into the economy. Because lets face it, taxation is monetary enslavement. If you don't pay you go to jail which for all intents and purposes is torture. If not then your ability to troll is lacking in effort.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday September 04 2014, @03:44PM
Not once did I mention "Wetbacks" or "Mud People," and of course you're spouting that tired ol' accusation of racism you're attributing to me and using to wrongly censure and discredit anybody who disagrees with you. I said, "immigrants," dumbass. Caucasians can also be immigrants. And it's simple, really -- people who are not naturalized citizens should be thrown the fuck out. We have plenty of law-enforcement infrastructure we can use to determine immigration status in non-invasive ways like auditing employer records and mandatory citizenship as a condition of employment.
I replied to a person who said that minimum wage and reduced hours is "the new normal," so flooding the market with even more labor is going to correct, and not exacerbate, the situation? For every immigrant who does add value there are 20 who have more kids they can support, placing an extreme burden on the school and healthcare systems, and many don't bother to learn English or otherwise adopt our culture and standard of living, so it's just a race to the bottom. Modern immigration into America is about corporate profit at the expense of standards of living, and that statement immediately shows that the Left gives as little of a shit of the American people (and maybe even less) as the Right does.
Gewg's pet issue of raising the minimum wage is only half-right in that it provides the illusion of raising standards of living when it's really just about squeezing more and more people into the underclass, eliminating the middle-class. Wages must be raised across both the lower and middle-classes, not just the very bottom.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Thursday September 04 2014, @08:09PM
I will admit that I flew off the handle. I apologize. If you thought I was directly calling you racist, that was not the point I was trying to make. But lets be honest with ourselves: The vast majority of the illegal population are from Mexico, Central and South America. A 1996 study[https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/illegal.pdf [dhs.gov]] of illegal immigration reveals that Canada was number 4 in illegals at 120,000 illegals vs 2,700,000 from Mexico, 335,000 from El Salvador and 165,000 from Guatemala. Yet I have not heard of angry mobs banging and shouting at busses of Canadians, militias patrolling the Canadian-american borders or building a fence across it. Plus you never hear anything about all those damn Canadians stealing American jobs. Another group that is guaranteed to be white are the 70,000 Polish illegals. Yet We arent screaming to deport them. Fast forward to 2011 and the numbers are greater: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_ill_pe_2011.pdf [dhs.gov]. The minute you hear someone complain of illegals and really start to talk to them is when the nasty shit comes out, and it is always directed at "brown people" from south of the border. And some of the people I have spoken to aren't afraid to straight up use terms like mud people, wetbacks and worse. Some were hispanic themselves, Puertorican in fact. But hey they aren't racist. At least that is what they claim. Believe me, racism is a large part of the immigration issues at hand. To flat out write it off as a major factor in the politics of immigration reform is absurd and a misleading.
A war on illegal immigrants will be no more effective than the war on drugs. We can't seem to stop them, they just keep pouring in and they are happily paid next to nothing by American employers. How many more "war on something's" do we need before we have to stop, think and realize it is a losing battle that was never worth it. Auditing records and mandating citizenship for employment will never work. All of that can be easily faked by both employers and employees. More bureaucracy, money spent and red tape that will further snarl businesses with a burden they don't want. Besides, how many small businesses are out there with illegals? Every landscaper and resturant I see in NYC is staffed by people who are obviously Mexican, central or south american. Will the government be able to audit the thousands of businesses in NYC alone? The nation? Doubtful.
And also consider that there are lobbying groups that support the illegal immigrants. You think everyone is going to quietly sit by and watch millions of people get tossed out for no other reason then some papers?You think they are going to go quietly? And lets not even talk about the untold number of anchor babies who are citizens. Do we toss them out along with their illegal parents? Their numbers are great and they are becoming more than just illegal immigrants, they are a large part of the economic machine and have the power to severely disrupt it. Like I said before, trying to root out and deport them is best described as a war. Food for thought: who is going to drag MILLIONS of people out of the woodwork and pay for their trip home? The Mexicans are easy we just push them across a line we drew in the dirt some time ago. But who buys the plane or boat tickets for the Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, Hondurans, Chinese Filipinos and numerous others? Just picture the logistics of moving over 11.5+ million people back their their countries of origin. And do you think millions of people who are happily making a better future won't fight back? You think it won't become a hot war involving violence? It will bring no good to this nation, divide it even further and push the whole fucking thing right off the cliff. Anyone who spouts "throw them out" and then says that it's easy did not, ever, for one microsecond, think it through. We are well past the point of throw them out. The only smart thing to do is give them what they want, a hearty welcome gift of citizenship and let them return the favor by paying taxes. win-win.
I am sure the same was said about the Irish, Italians, Germans and other non-wasp Europeans over 100 years ago. Remember "no Irish need apply"? At least they were openly racist and actively trying to prevent their employment. Contrasted with todays American businessmen who are more than happy to pay illegal immigrants next to nothing for long hours and shit pay for grueling work. Meanwhile they vote, donate and lobby the morons in office who are screaming about the illegal problem. Pot meet kettle doesn't even apply here.
I agree. But lets define the two first. Wikipedia lists middle class as the class that exists between the working class and the upper class. The Working class is defined as:
The working class (also labouring class, proletariat, or laboring class) is the class of people employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial work. Working-class jobs include blue-collar jobs, but also include large amounts of white-collar and service work.
The middle class is roughly defined as:
The modern usage of the term "middle class", however, dates to the 1913 UK Registrar-General's report, in which the statistician T.H.C. Stevenson identified the middle class as that falling between the upper class and the working class.[citation needed] Included as belonging to the middle class are professionals, managers, and senior civil servants.
So here is where the line begins to blur. Many professional jobs can pay less or more than what people in supposed working class jobs are paid. How many STEM jobs are paying college grads 100k+? Yet I know a kid who is 24, high school degree education and a don't give a rats ass attitude making 100k/yr in the bridge painters union, a working class job. The problem is the middle class was redefined at some point and people who are just making enough to live with a little extra consider themselves middle class. Here is a test, go ask someone you know to be working class and ask ask them if they consider themselves middle class or working class. Chances are you will hear middle class. Middle class would be business owners, high paid professionals like doctors, lawyers and managers.
But before I get sidetracked, an eight-something dollar minimum wage, or as you called it: the bottom, is a large part of the problem. We have people who are willing to work hard. We have a vast pool of workers willing to do shitty work. But because it is shitty work, employers think less of the people who do it and therefore feel justified in paying them next to nothing for it. It must feel real good to work 8+ hours a day flipping burgers, dealing with irate customers and playing robot on the assembly line for 8 bucks an hour. How do you pay rent, buy food and pay bills on 18k/yr? HOW? No wonder the shit is hitting the fan. To add to this the people looking for these jobs are always passed on for illegals who can be paid even less. So not only are they insulted by an 18k/yr wage but no one wants to hire them unless it's a big shitty chain like Taco Bell or Walmart because ICE has them under a microscope. But johnny's pizzeria or carls landscaping can sail right under the radar. There is your fuel on the fire for an upheaval. Some of the biggest businesses in the US pay the least amount of money to their workers: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-companies-with-the-most-low-wage-workers-2013-2 [businessinsider.com]. Minimum wage is a huge problem. It creates a class even below working, poverty. At least working class people can make 40-50k/yr. These people can't even afford a pot to piss in.
So my point here is this: minimum wage must be increased. The 8 something an hour is unlivable. Even 10 an hour is nothing. From experience you need to be making $15+ an hour to not struggle. And if you live in NY you better make 20+. That or you sacrifice your privacy and rent room in a shared apartment to cut down of rent (like my friend did). The low end help at my work (75%of the workers) are paid 10-12 an hour. Most of them are young guys who are still living with parents, fresh out of high school or in college. The older people (30+) who take these jobs are either working another job or share the burden with a spouse. One single 53yo guy, I feel so bad for him, makes 12 bucks an hour here 5 days/8hrs week. On top of that he delivers newspapers 7 days a week between 1 and 6AM. He has almost no life save for taking care of stray cats, movies and the rare trip to the bar and lives in a trailer park. Another kid was struggling working two full time jobs, no days off, mother didn't give a shit if he was alive or dead and father remarried with a new family. So he asks our boss, a distant relative of his, if he could get a dollar raise from 12 to 13 an hour so he could cut his hours on the second job and get sunday off. Bosses reply: "12 dollars is damn good money. You have not proven that you deserve more." Oh but mr boss man has 3/4 million in his retirement fund, tons more in the bank and takes weeks off to entertain his new fuck of the week with his hard earned money that he shows up 5-6 hours a day for. Seriously we open 6:30 and he strolls in 9am and leaves between 2 and 4pm. Oh, and his father built the business, he was a software developer prior to his inheritance. This is the problem with this county, selfish entitled assholes who think they are better than everyone else. Let them walk a mile in their low wage employees shoes for a year and come back and tell me 8 bucks an hour, or even 12 an hour is "good money".
Nothing is as easy as you think it is.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 04 2014, @05:09PM
screaming throw out all the illegals without ever thinking about how much money it will cost. To put it better, we have better things to spend our money on than chasing illegals.
So basically, you're saying instead of bailing out the water accumulating in our boat, we should be tuning the engine to go faster. Hmm.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Thursday September 04 2014, @05:49PM
Your analogy is apples to oranges. Unlike unwanted water or bilge in a boat, illegal immigrants can be converted to tax paying citizens. The economic engine is not tuned but fueled by this.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 04 2014, @06:41PM
Technically there's plenty of useful things you *could* be doing with the water, but the fact remains that it's filling up your boat, which is undesirable.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @01:24PM
Where your boat is steered is going to affect your future a lot more. A lot of jobs the illegals are taking will be gone in the future anyway. Just look at plans for robot cars, burger making robots; the existing warehouse robots, automated factories, etc. Foxconn is aiming to replace more and more chinese workers with robots. Chinese workers took a lot of manufacturing jobs from the "expensive world" workers. So imagine those chinese workers as "robots" and ask yourself did as many new jobs really appear in practice for those jobs they took away? No? Then don't believe the idiots who say that robots will take away jobs but there will still be jobs for everyone (as long as they retrained, reskilled, worked smarter and harder).
Where does all that improved productiveness go? Into making the 0.1% even richer? After a while they won't need most of us. They'd own the farms, the mines, the fishing fleet - they just need armies, a bunch of engineers, doctors and some servants. Why would they keep us around? We wouldn't have the money to buy the stuff they make.
At least the more socialist countries have an "upgrade path" - they already provide for those who don't/can't work. They need to add one more thing - regulate reproductive rights or at least have laws with that contingency in case it becomes unsustainable in the long term (I'm aware that population growth is down in many of those countries, but some people are still having more children than they can support, so if you keep breeding/"selecting" for such people, after a number of generations you will have a problem).
[1] I suspect most of them don't actually look far where the boat should be going. Many actually appear to be trying to give the voters AND the corporations what they want most, or at least appear[2] to be doing so ;). In many cases what the voters want most does not conflict with what the corporations want. How many corporations care about preventing/allowing same-sex marriage after all? How many voters care about copyright and patent laws? How many corporations care about the legalization of marijuana? So after a while when enough voters wanted legalization of marijuana bang you bunch got it. Same goes for other hot button stuff e.g. gun laws. You could say it's manipulative but "hot button" topics are by definition what matters most to the voters right?
[2] when the voters say they don't want to be spied on, they cut the budget for "searching" (not for collecting and storing the data ;) ). Go figure how much search actually costs...