Pacino

Canada used to have a problem with gun owners selling their handguns on the black market. We are talking about Canadians with a valid PAL licence.

They purchased guns. Sold them. Profit. Easy as pie.

Winnipegger bought guns legally, sold them to gangs

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/theodore-mantas-firearms-trafficking-1.4357623

A 22-year-old Airdrie man is accused of buying guns and selling them to criminals.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/airdrie-alert-straw-purchasing-firearms-brady-fisher-1.5569889

Philip Edward Sarrasin, 26, is accused of running a straw purchasing scheme, where he legally bought multiple handguns which later turned up for sale on the criminal market.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/gun-firearm-glock-straw-purchasing-trafficking-weapons-alert-1.4924037

Straw buyers were involved in two recent busts in northern Alberta that took illegal guns off the streets. The man, who was arrested on May 9, bought five handguns between November and December last year and resold them.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alert-guns-investigations-weapons-drugs-straw-buyers-1.5145282

An Edmonton man who pleaded guilty received an eight-year prison sentence Thursday for his role in an illegal weapons trafficking scheme.

Shipowich had a restricted firearm licence when he purchased 40 restricted firearms between June and September 2016.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-man-gets-8-years-in-prison-for-role-in-weapons-trafficking-scheme-1.4676590

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The good news? That problem is now over. It's not happening anymore. The price of handguns on the black market has increased, which is a good sign.

The bad news? Most guns are now only coming from the United States. And the United States doesn't want to address the problem.

The United States has the worst constitution in the Western World.

The US Senate gives a handful of empty states (Idaho, Wyoming) have tremendous political power.

The French Senate is designed to represent all regions, regardless of population size. If there are 50 people living in Champagne, these 50 people will get a Senator. But the French Senate can't stop bills supported by the French Representatives. It can slow them down. It can amend them or improve them. But it can't kill them.

The same way, the Canadian Senate is designed to represent all regions of Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But the Canadian Senate can not kill bills supported by the Canadian House of Representatives.

The US Senate makes the United States unique. It gives veto power to rural empty areas. It's basically impossible to pass immensely popular legislation like abortion rights. Canada can pass it. The US can't.

Furthermore, the US President is indirectly elected through an electoral college. This means a lot of votes become totally useless. If you vote for a Republican and you live in California, your vote is meaningless. If you live in Alabama and vote for a Democrat, your vote is meaningless. It's a recipe for disenfranchisement.

This also means that all political campaign disproportionately focus on a handful of regions. Most countries that had an electoral college decided to abandon it. The United States almost abandoned the electoral college in the 70s but it failed by two votes.

The US constitution was very progressive centuries ago. But it failed to evolved. Now, it's badly falling behind most democratic countries.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/17/us/american-democracy-threats.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/american-constitution-norway/675199/

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-united-states-unamendable-constitution

Most countries protect the political rights of the minority without preventing the majority from governing. Having regular budget shutdowns is not normal.

Americans fail to see it because they many of them worship their constitution. Keep in mind this is the country where over 100 million people think Donald Trump is an honest man.

To be clear, not all parts of the US Constitutions are wrong. Since 1947, the US prevents the President from exercising more than 2 terms. That's a great thing.

New Zealand is in real trouble. They face the worst housing crisis in the Western World.

Basically, they don't build anything at all.

They had a decent woman that tried to turn things around. But Jacynda Aerdern told them to limit travel and wear masks during a global pandemic. She saved countless lives. But conspiracy theorists freaked out and called her evil.

Now they have a government of right-wing clowns.

Daily reminder that The Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

This is the same guy that attempted to blackmail John Major:

https://www.channel4.com/news/major-denies-sun-editor-abused-him-after-black-wednesday

This is the same guy that hired thugs to go after Gordon Brown:

https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58767_Page2.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gordon-brown-murdoch-paper-employed-criminals/

This is the same guy that created this headline a few days before the Brexit referendum:

I'm a very simple man. I see a media owned by Rupert Murdoch.

I downvote immediately.

For those of you who don't pay attention to history, The Times should have never been purchased by Rupert Murdoch. It was against UK law because he already owned News of the world and The Sun.

But Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made a secret deal with Murdoch, behind the back of her own government. She allowed him to purchase The Times. In exchange, he promised to support her.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/28/how-margaret-thatcher-and-rupert-murdoch-made-secret-deal

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/mar/17/rupert-murdoch-margaret-thatcher