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Pattern Ghost

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Posts posted by Pattern Ghost

  1. Well, WOTC just lost any future business of mine they may have had:

     

    Wizards Of The Coast Raids YouTuber’s House To Take Back Magic: The Gathering Cards

     

    Sending Pinkertons to intimidate someone for accidentally getting product early instead of just giving them a call or sending an email first? Classy.

     

    Edit: Changed "rough up" to "intimidate," misspoke there. Nobody was touched. Just Pinkertons tossing around threats and being general bungholes.

     

  2. Speaking of AI. I found this text to image generator. It has a bunch of different models to choose from. Seems free with an option to upgrade for access to more features, but doesn't limit the number of images you can generate. I haven't played around with complex prompts, and it doesn't do as well with less detailed prompts as MidJourney, but it's decent at some stuff:

     

    Text-to-image AI Image Generator (free / freemium) - Dezgo

  3. 2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    Okay, but here is the thing.  The man and his wife did not know that they were cops.

     

    This isn't relevant. The fact is that the guy aimed his gun at the officer. That's it. At that point, shooting him to prevent getting shot by him was on the table. The police were not illegally on the property. They mistakenly approached the wrong house to respond to a call. They identified themselves as police. While it's quite possible the homeowner didn't hear that or process it as he came down to the door, the fact is that instead of identifying whether they were a threat or not, he chose to engage them by threatening their lives by pointing a gun at them.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    The police department has come out and said that given the circumstances - late at night, people pounding at his door - that the husband was perfectly within his rights to open the door with his gun drawn and ready. 

     

    He was within his rights to arm himself. Body cam footage clearly shows him pointing it at the officers. That's a lethal force threat that puts the police within their rights to shoot defensively. He made a mistake, and probably shouldn't have died for it, but the fact is he should not have opened the door without identifying who was on the other side. That's a bad tactic regardless of who was outside. If someone is outside pounding on your door, at any time of the day or night, the proper response is NOT to yank the door open and point a gun at whoever is out there. That was a bad response to the situation.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    According to police department, the man who was killed didn't do anything wrong, and the only thing wrong that the police did was go to the wrong house. 

     

    I honestly don't care about the statement made by the police, either. They often dumb things down for the press or -- as I suspect in this case -- try not to point the victim of a tragic mistake in a bad light. Just because they're soft selling it doesn't mean that the man did not foolishly open his door in the middle of the night and point it at the person on the other side. The reason I reviewed that video was to see if the gun was actually pointed at the cops or if they shot someone standing there holding a gun at his side. Which he did. Which provoked a legal and ethical response from the responding officers.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    However, those would suggestions for future police raids.

     

    Was this a raid? It certainly wasn't a no-knock warrant. The responding officers knocked loudly and announced themselves as police and were in uniform.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    So, I have some of those amateur opinions that you dislike so much. 

     

    No argument here.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    The husband and wife in the house did not know that it was law enforcement; this represents huge failure on the part of both the officers involved and the police department's policies and procedures.


    They very loudly shouted "this is the police." The failure was on the part of the homeowner, when he yanked open his door and pointed his gun at an unidentified target. Had he exercised the least level of common sense and responsibility that should come with owning a firearm for home defense, he would have had his wife call 911 to report someone pounding on his door, not opened the door, not stood on the other side of the door at all, defended in place, and attempted to identify a threat before pointing a gun at someone. Period. Full stop. The homeowner bears all of the responsibility here. He could have the very least asked who was there before opening the door. The only reason he got shot was for pointing the gun at the police. Jesus, I've had the police knock on my door several times in the middle of the night. I've managed not to get shot any of those times because I identified who was on the other side of the door. (Twice looking for burglary witnesses, once looking for witnesses to a shootout in our apartment parking lot.)

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    When law enforcement shows up they should announce themselves in no uncertain terms.

     

    They did.  Before you point a gun at someone, you need to identify who it is. If the threat is on the outside, you should remain on the inside, regardless of whether you have a right to go outside and look for trouble. These are important things.

     

    2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

    Also, when you are a gun owning home owner or renter,  if you don't feel safe opening your door without your weapon drawn, don't open your door at all.  Talk through the door until you know what is going on.  All three of these tragedies could by a short conversation through a locked door.

     

    OK. So you agree the fault is with the homeowner?

  4. 45 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    PG:  LL's point is, you're jumping to the defense of the police, when that was never the issue. 

     

    I'm not "jumping" to anything. I was merely curious if this was one of those cases where the guy opens the door in the middle of the night holding a gun at his side, and get shot for it. Which would be a very questionable shoot. OR, if this was  case where the guy pointed a gun at a cop on his porch, which is a very clear cut stupid thing to do, and a good shoot. Beau did NOT mention this salient point in his rundown. (exact quote: "the homeowner opens the door and is holding a gun") I clearly stated this in my response to LL, when I said:

     

    1 hour ago, Pattern Ghost said:

    I was merely providing a little information about something I was curious about

     

    Maybe you missed that part?

     

    I don't give two figs about defending anybody. I look. I evaluate. I give my professional opinion. That's it.

     

    45 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    I don't really think we've discussed the impact of broad fearmongering.

     

    I've personally brought it up in the context of police training drilling "your job is to go home alive" into officers, for one thing. That's not exactly the same context as people just shooting people on their porch (or getting shot attempting to do so), but that's a narrow concept. We did discuss at some length the foreign exchange student shot in Texas a while back, but I don't remember if that was before  you joined or not. (And you know what's messed up? I can't get a good date on that incident, due to finding a LOT of articles about foreign exchange students being shot on porches.)

     

    Beau's overall point isn't some great insight. It's obvious. Sorry if that offends fans of Beau. I don't have anything against him in particular, but I don't find him particularly insightful.

     

    45 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    If that's driving your reaction here

     

    My reactions aren't "driven" by squat, least of all media coverage. Who do you think I am? I will tell you my reaction: Go find a clean video without any media input. Watch it with the sound off. Look to see if the guy has a gun pointed at the police or not. Jesus. People act like thinking for oneself is something difficult. What's with these assumptions about my motives today? Especially directly after I very clearly stated why I said what I did?

     

    45 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    But they STILL take that tone.  That's grossly irresponsible, IMO.

     

    Well, that sort of thing is why I don't look at amateur opinions about these things from the media. Agree with you on that, too.

  5.  

    ETA: Also, LL, if my initial statement about Beau stating the obvious was offensive to you, I want you to know that I wasn't calling you out or making a personal attack there. It was an offhand statement, and more driven by the fact that I sometimes find Beau annoying. I always considered you, if not a friend, at least a congenial acquaintance on the forum.

  6. 47 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

    Ambiguity about the police's action has nothing to do with the point he was making

     

    I never said it did, though I see where you may have read it that way. I was merely providing a little information about something I was curious about, so as to save anyone else who was also curious about that same thing the trouble of watching a man get killed.

     

    47 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

    Beau's point has been alluded to on this thread, but never illustrated with such graphic examples.

     

    Also, the point about fear mongering being a bad thing and creating bad outcomes has been directly linked to shootings in this thread, by me. (And other posters. I can certainly recall many examples of times when I've said the same thing without having to dig through the thread, though.) And in other threads in the past where I commented on fear being the driving factor behind a lot of bad police shootings. While I don't expect any pats on the back for that, it does support my assertion that Beau -- at least in this case -- hasn't said anything that hasn't been said before, in many ways and in many contexts. Right here. In this thread.

  7. 6 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

    I would urge you to stay for the point at the end.

     

    I agree with the point, but it's hardly a revelation. The same thing has been said repeatedly in this thread.

     

    Also, in that final case of the police shooting, I looked up the video. Generally, it's not a good idea to be anywhere near a gun in the presence of police, but this wasn't jumpy police. The guy didn't just answer the door with a gun in hand. He opened it and pointed it directly at the police. No ambiguity on that one.

  8. They need to remove her from the  Homeland Security Committee immediately. Preferably from office, but that attitude isn't appropriate to sitting on that committee or anything intelligence or security related. ETA: I've seen people actually lose top secret clearances for way less than the views expressed in the article below.

     

    https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/marjorie-taylor-greene-defends-national-052635902.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACpacYumG7-4ot4_37AdHQMcQ4ooc_GvPSDvMoQWEDSKr9kHbrKzT1wlHQE7YJkYsMw_7D8CCubyY9o9JaLwZyauW4Lvpiz7NF4ekzXDCTA-dKmuFuRdx8z2CNQ6v8nzBarva4yGWgdX4PGbeFzifYqqPXaLvPB2X6ruABHGE3eU

  9. 2 hours ago, death tribble said:

    More fighters P47 Thunderbolt vs P51 Mustang

     

    As iconic as the P51 is, the P47 seems a lot more durable, so I'd give it to the P47.

     

    Battle of the Pollys:

     

    Pollyanna (original movie) vs. Sweet Polly Purebred (Underdog's love interest)

  10. 14 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    The issue is that Abbott appears to be trying to gut the limitations of when it's a viable defense...

     

    I agree. Stand your ground is often misapplied. Abbot is a clown. None of that is what I was talking about. I was merely critiquing the logic of a specific portion of an essay. I'm a pedantic sort of person sometimes, and I like to analyse these sorts of details. 

  11. 2 hours ago, Cygnia said:
    Today's cartoon (it's not posted yet) is probably going to earn me another 30-day suspension and maybe even have my FB account deleted. I could choose to not post it here, but I'm going to make a point by posting it here.
    So if you don't see me around for the next 30 days or so, check me out at claytoonz.com or at Twitter and Instagram (unless they get me there too).

     

    Read that guy's post. While I agree with him on the racism, he's wrong on the stand your ground aspects. Stand your ground laws were not misapplied in either case. Just because the governor is squawking about stand your ground laws in this case, or because the press was in Zimmerman doesn't mean the laws were really relevant. Here's the crux of both cases: Self defense does not apply if you provoke the conflict that leads to the killing.

     

    This was correctly applied in both cases, according to the evidence at hand. In the Texas case, given the evidence of intent and the fact that the moron was driving through a crowd, it was very clear the killer was seeking to provoke a confrontation. It doesn't matter if the victim did point his weapon at the shooter. The killer provoked the confrontation. In the Zimmerman case, simply following his victim was not illegal. Zimmerman was attacked, regardless of the size disparity, with physical evidence that supported that part of Zimmerman's story (being on his back with the victim on top of him, smashing his head into the ground. (And the weight advantage is a non-starter when the smaller guy is fit. Martin was the same size I was when I was in the Army, and I could have easily overwhelmed Zimmerman when I was that age.) The missing piece in the Zimmerman case was a witness to Zimmerman provoking the confrontation. I firmly believe he provoked the confrontation and should have been severely punished, but the law was not misapplied, nor was it "wrong." The system sometimes lets human filth loose because there are strict standards of proof. That's working as intended, no matter how distasteful the results often are.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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