S12E06: Tasers

[Lantern7]

Well, that was fun. Well, not really “fun,” but it felt like a topic that’s been on the shelf for years that is still relevant to bring up. And they ended with an “avatar” of John dancing and showing ass, while the real John made the “make it rain in da club” gesture. If they’re not not going to end on a sketch, that’s a good way to do it.

The episode tapings have waivers? I used to attend talk shows for story material. I vaguely remember the legal stuff being on the ticket. Now audience members have to sign a form? Actually, for this show, I shouldn’t be shocked. (#rimshot)

Nice restraint in not showing the “Don’t tase me, bro!” clip.

In other news, life is still depressing, the Trump administration continues to suck, and not even Paddington is safe.

Edited Monday at 06:01 AM by Lantern7

[Annber03]

When talking about Axon, I noticed one of the images on screen referred to the whole financial element as "Musk-inspired". Which just says it all right there, really. 

But yeah, the guy sounds like a tool. Anyone who profits off of items that cause this kind of suffering to people falls under that description. The "excited delirium" thing, and the backstory behind how that phrase came to be and the fact that it was used for women who didn't even die from it besides, is just...grotesque. 

The staffers getting tased, and bringing their own family members to participate in said tazing rituals...that's just....beyond disturbing. What the actual fuck? As was the attitude towards the idea of tazing children and teenagers. So, this country doesn't seem to care about protecting children from getting shot at school, people see nothing wrong with tasing them, or taking away their access to free lunches or healthcare...how the fuck does a country get to this point, where even children's safety is no longer a concern? What is wrong with people? I don't understand how anyone thinks this sort of thing is even remotely acceptable or okay. 

And yeah, if an adult can't figure out a way to handle dealing with a troubled child or teenager without needing to tase them, then they really shouldn't be allowed to be on any kind of police force. Or be a parent, for that matter. 

As for the other topics, everyone involved in that horrific security breach should be throwo nut of office. Now. No questions asked, no ddebate, no vote, no nothing. Someone really needs to just come in and kick them all out and ensure theyre never allowed back anywhere near the property. And then they all need to be criminally charged and sent to prison. 

That poor Paddington statue. I loved the reactions from the audience during that whole segment. 

[peeayebee]

9 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Nice restraint in not showing the “Don’t tase me, bro!” clip.

Yeah, I was expecting that. Good choice not to use it.

 

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

When talking about Axon, I noticed one of the images on screen referred to the whole financial element as "Musk-inspired". Which just says it all right there, really. 

Where was that?

Everything about the taser story was upsetting. Replacing the gunpowder with nitrogen so it wouldn't fall under gun regulations, using 'excited delirium' as an excuse for a death, threatening coroners with lawsuits if they blamed tasers for deaths... I hope I'm getting all those points correct; honestly, my mind started to wander at points, so I may have misstated some of what John said. It's just all so horrible.

I did love the emojis John listed. "Go > fuck > yourselves > ass > holes > love > America"

As far as ICE and SignalGate goes, it's just another day for this administration. And Tom Homan completely ignoring the question about due process made me want to punch him in the face. It's so transparent. They just don't care if anyone notices. It's all, "So what are you going to do about it, huh?"

Poor Paddington. He didn't deserve that. 

[DoctorAtomic]

The real question with the Signal debacle is how often it's used and for what else? I don't like blaming the media, but the administration is playing them like a fiddle. How much time was spent on 'what war plans are' than 'why aren't you using a scif?' Gabbard said in testimony on this to Congress that 'sometimes you can't get to a scif.' It's your job. There's locations all over the place that are scif ready. From what I've followed it doesn't seem that there was classified materials. This time. And I don't think anyone should be fired over it either, and we know that's not going to happen anyway. Just say, 'our policy is to not use SMS for any planning except when we're getting to the scif to talk about everything else.' Easy fix. 

The problem is that and the completely predictable trampling over due process isn't really affecting people at large directly. Yes, it's very true that if this is happening now, it could happen to anyone, but the voting public is just stupid and doesn't care. To be fair, there's some people that are all shocked, *shocked* I tell you 'that all this is happening.' And we still have the town halls somewhat. Our federal delegation said they're not holding any town halls. And if I'm being fair, I think my representative would have. I think this was a collective decision. I don't agree with him for the most part, but he's not an idiot, and he's not a shrinking violet either. He doesn't really *need* the party per se (he called Gaetz a jackass publicly for AG), and I think he'd be down for some back and forth

I do think all this bungling is going to blow up in their faces for 2026, but that message needs to be hammered out there. 

On this topic of tasers, I did get the impression that the guy was sincere when he started the company. They reported that he didn't actually know guys from his high school, but I didn't know some of the upper classmen when I was in 7th, 8th grade. I still would be sad if one of them got shot. 

But, you know, regulations stifle growth, right? Sometimes people die, but we can't let that get in the way of profit. 

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

From what I've followed it doesn't seem that there was classified materials.

Hegseth, as Sec of Defense, can apparently say something is not classified, but when and how an attack will take place IS classified.

But, yes, the other issues are that they are deliberately using an app that will delete their messages within a certain timeframe. And these communications are part of the Presidential Records Act. As I understand it, one of the things in Project 2025 was discussion on how having things in official records would be subject to FOIA requests. Also, it's just not secure, as we all know.

[DoctorAtomic]

I forgot about the records act too. Also important, and iirc PBS did cover it. 

My main point was that they're keeping themselves in the news on this by just stomping around either throwing the Goldberg under the bus, or yelling about how the mission was so successful everyone should be jumping up and down, which, not exactly. 

This shooting in the foot is just going to continue and it's eventually going to hit people in their own lives. I want to see what happens then. 

[Annber03]

10 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Where was that?

Oh, I'd have to rewatch to get the exact moment, but it was relatively early into the Axon segment. The headline was basically compairing this guy's running of Axon to Musk's success (such as it is) with Tesla, or something to that effect. 

[catsitter]

To be fair to Rizzoli & Isles (one of the cop shows that they showed clips from), it was a comedy-drama and certainly not supposed to be realistic regarding police procedure in any way. (Also Jane had used a taser before, just typical lack of continuity on that show. And the guy she tased was about to jump off the roof.)

[peeayebee]

Testicle Festival is fun to say.

[Affogato]

I thought of Veronica Mars. I mean they clearly didn’t want to support a teenager carrying a gun and didn’t want to have her be a small blond superfighter, similar to Buffy. But the show ends up being an ad for tasers/stunguns being effective and zipless weapons. 

[iMonrey]

On 3/30/2025 at 11:11 PM, Lantern7 said:

The episode tapings have waivers? I used to attend talk shows for story material. I vaguely remember the legal stuff being on the ticket. Now audience members have to sign a form? Actually, for this show, I shouldn’t be shocked. (#rimshot)

I think that was just a joke in service of the "splash zone" part.

So the people who make tasers are shady for sure, but the main take away here is that cops can be trigger-happy. And in an era where we know so much about police brutality I'd just as soon they be whipping out tasers than guns. I mean if I'm going to be shot by a cop I'd rather it be by a taser.