I mean the US doesn't have paramilitaries. We have literally millions of people in the National Guard. I do agree that ATF FBI etc might count, but then you'd have to include China's massive internal security army, which is bigger than the PLA (and for which the CCP used the Falun Gong - as annoying as those fuckers and their Epoch Times shit is these days - as a complete scapegoat to justify building a millions-strong internal army).

we have militias, which are, uh...much different. I'm sure they would love to be paramilitaries, but they're not.

now cops on the other hand, I would say the distinction is they see themselves as paramilitaries and the military by and large does not see them that way. this may be changing as cops become more and more synonymous with one political party (hey, kind of like China!)

Correlation <> Causation

Presidents have very little to do with the success of a country. That lies in congress, the senate, business, pandemics, etc, etc, etc.

Though he did suck in every way, and did massive damage, it wasn't just him.

I mean, they probably do it but not directly.

Gun access increases rates of suicide. I don’t know why you would think excluding suicides is some major statement

? No, it's a sincere question. Even if I was a nobel prize winning chemist, I'd still want to know what the graph was of...

How did this model get generated? Is there any longer ones?

Ya doesn’t Beyoncé not even write her own songs?

>Plumes of WHAT?

oh i thought you were asking sincere questions, but i can see from reading the other responses the questions are just a setup to flex your domain specifc knowledge in this area

"They have more civilian guns than civilians -- why bother?"

Now check Congress and where they stand collectively on their investment portfolios over this same time period.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889718506429

HCl 27,000 ppm; CO2 58,100 ppm; CO 9500 ppm; phosgene 40 ppm

2,400x less phosgene in ppm than the other stuff created (it's a a similar molar mass to CO2 too for example)... not a big deal. Even if every single train car was full of 100% phosgene, it wouldn't really be at particularly dangerous levels spread out over 100s of cubic miles of air.

Let alone a handful of cars of vinyl chloride burned down and becoming only 1 out of 2500 parts phosgene in the combustion products, and THEN spread out of 100s of cubic miles.

I would definitely understand evacuating the town temporarily but not worried about phosgene poisoning in the slightest if I'm 100 miles away. Even if the plume is pretty directional and comes right at me

What’s going on in the state with the 7th lowest ownership rate and the 4th highest homicide rate?

I did not know that. Still does not mean all school districts are created equally though. There are definitely some where the students are not offered the same quality of education

Because most school districts receive similar funding in the US.

>if something else, what?

the MSDS for vinyl chloride warns that burning it "produces toxic and corrosive fumes of hydrogen chloride and phosgene" the latter of which seems more concerning from a toxicity standpoint than anything else already mentioned.

I don't like this SCOTUS and can definitely accept that we have race based inequality in our country. However, I will say I won't be sad to see affirmative action practices struck down. I think its an inadequate way to address systemic inequalities.

sorry to burst your bubble but this data is dated 2019

The global consumption of single-use plastics has increased by up to 300% since the pandemic, according to a 2021 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report

An estimated 1.6 billion disposable masks wound up in the ocean in 2020 alone, creating a vast pile of floating plastic waste and threatening marine life across the planet.

Researchers from Visual Capitalist found that 3 per cent of the 52 billion disposable single-use masks produced to curb the Covid-19 pandemic found their way into the sea.

The throwaway masks sent 5500 metric tonnes of plastic into the oceans, which will take up to 450 years to biodegrade, the group said.

in 2021 University of Southern Denmark reported:
Recent studies estimate that we use an astounding 129 billion face masks globally every month -- that is 3 million a minute. Most of them are disposable face masks made from plastic microfibers.

Trend line is obviously going up, not sure why excluded from this chart is this is a response to the other one with also a trend line going up

That dog groomer is now an elected Texas representative working to flush the state down the toilet.

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Watch The Wire

Expected the United States to be #1 but pleasantly surprised to see we only got Bronze.

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I fear that the harms caused by his administration will continue to be felt long after his death. We are still suffering the effects of Reagan's tenure.

I suppose the blank spot on the bottom of beer represents “Other”?