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Report: US Ranks 5th in Global Executions

Nope. No more than I would expect a French police officer to determine whether or not I spoke French if I were to be arrested in Paris. If you are coming to this country, or even moreso if you live here, and you don't speak the language, YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!!!!

You might, might have a point if English was designated the official language and everyone was required by law to speak it, but neither is true. Furthermore, one of the things we as a nation pride ourselves on is how people come here from other parts of the world to start a new life for themselves -- it stands to reason, barring the aforementioned legal requirements, that some portion of those people aren't going to speak English (or at least speak it well).

Even if this country didn't proudly describe itself as a nation of immigrants and even if fluency in English was required by law, making sure someone understands what you are telling them is a basic (almost atomic) component of communication. There are plenty of circumstances under which someone would simply be too stunned or shocky or otherwise medically incapable of understanding what they're being told, and folks in those situations have Constitutional rights, too.
 
You might, might have a point if English was designated the official language and everyone was required by law to speak it, but neither is true. Furthermore, one of the things we as a nation pride ourselves on is how people come here from other parts of the world to start a new life for themselves -- it stands to reason, barring the aforementioned legal requirements, that some portion of those people aren't going to speak English (or at least speak it well).

I pride myself on the fact that when my relatives came here from Europe they already spoke English. I would not even consider visiting a country, nevermind moving there if I was not fluent in the primary language of the country. It's utterly disrespectful so far as I am concerned.

Even if this country didn't proudly describe itself as a nation of immigrants and even if fluency in English was required by law, making sure someone understands what you are telling them is a basic (almost atomic) component of communication. There are plenty of circumstances under which someone would simply be too stunned or shocky or otherwise medically incapable of understanding what they're being told, and folks in those situations have Constitutional rights, too.

Don't get yourself in trouble, and there won't be any trouble, now will there? I have no compassion or sympathy for criminals, whether accidental or intentional. I never have and never will.
 
I pride myself on the fact that when my relatives came here from Europe they already spoke English. I would not even consider visiting a country, nevermind moving there if I was not fluent in the primary language of the country. It's utterly disrespectful so far as I am concerned.

There are many circumstances under which someone might come to America without a working knowledge of English -- to escape tyranny or economic destitution in the hopes of making a better life for themselves being only two of the chief examples. Americans, in general, are fairly forgiving of visitors and immigrants who have difficulty with the language -- if they make the effort, we do our best to help them. That's one of the things I like about this country.

Regardless, we aren't talking about respect or manners or taste or anything like that. We're talking about legal matters. English is not the official language, we are not legally required to be fluent in English, and simple common sense dictates that when you are issuing a warning required by the Supreme Court you should make a good faith effort to ensure that your intended audience is able to understand you.

Don't get yourself in trouble, and there won't be any trouble, now will there? I have no compassion or sympathy for criminals, whether accidental or intentional. I never have and never will.

There are literally so many criminal statutes and regulations with criminal penalties that even the government can't tell us how many there are. Furthermore, when it comes to regulations the people who write the regulations (bureaucrats) are not the people responsible for enforcing them (prosecutors). As such, the people who write the regulations (who should, common sense dictates, be the most familiar with them) have no power to give any concrete guidance on how we can actually obey them.

Add to that the fact that prosecutors have in the past couple of decades taken to interpreting the body of law and regulation as creatively as possible so as to apply those laws and regulations as widely as possible -- far beyond the original intent -- so as to maximize the number of convictions, and you have a system where nobody knows the full body of the law, the people who write it can't be asked for advice on how to obey it, and those who enforce it are more interested in sheer numbers than they are in actual justice.

"Don't get yourself in trouble" is not only inadequate advice, it completely ignores the realities of our criminal justice system.
 
There are many circumstances under which someone might come to America without a working knowledge of English -- to escape tyranny or economic destitution in the hopes of making a better life for themselves being only two of the chief examples. Americans, in general, are fairly forgiving of visitors and immigrants who have difficulty with the language -- if they make the effort, we do our best to help them. That's one of the things I like about this country.

In those situations (which should be very few), the FIRST thing they need to be doing is learning ENGLISH. Apparently a large number of you folks don't have enough to do, if you've got all sorts of time and energy to help these people.

Regardless, we aren't talking about respect or manners or taste or anything like that. We're talking about legal matters. English is not the official language, we are not legally required to be fluent in English, and simple common sense dictates that when you are issuing a warning required by the Supreme Court you should make a good faith effort to ensure that your intended audience is able to understand you.

English should not only be the OFFICIAL language of the USA, it should be the ONLY language allowed here in this nation, both in a spoken and a written form. You also need to remember that I am not a proponent of requiring the Miranda Warning to begin with. Especially since I am not in favor of several of those provisions to begin with. Nor am I in favor of applying ANY Constitutional protections to anyone who is not a US Citizen.

"Don't get yourself in trouble" is not only inadequate advice, it completely ignores the realities of our criminal justice system.

I tend to disagree; but then again we have a fundamental diasgreement on how society and individual's lives should be oriented so that's really not worth getting into.
 
Or perhaps it culls the herd and creates needed prison space for that endless stream of n'er do wells that we produce in countless thousands by the day.

If only we didn't produce thousands because of petty crimes like marijuana possession. Ah what a small government conservative you are.
 
Little Belgium has three official languages, Dutch, French and German. The US, with its much larger population, could easily have more than one. I'd like to suggest we start with the two obvious ones, as they are the most widely spoken: English and Spanish. Perhaps someone would like to add to that list.
 
In those situations (which should be very few), the FIRST thing they need to be doing is learning ENGLISH. Apparently a large number of you folks don't have enough to do, if you've got all sorts of time and energy to help these people.

Not really. It's called "being helpful and polite." That's how I was raised.

English should not only be the OFFICIAL language of the USA, it should be the ONLY language allowed here in this nation, both in a spoken and a written form.

Okay, except -- it's not.

You also need to remember that I am not a proponent of requiring the Miranda Warning to begin with. Especially since I am not in favor of several of those provisions to begin with. Nor am I in favor of applying ANY Constitutional protections to anyone who is not a US Citizen.

Okay, except -- that's the law.

I tend to disagree; but then again we have a fundamental diasgreement on how society and individual's lives should be oriented so that's really not worth getting into.

How can you possibly disagree with the facts? This response genuinely confuses me.
 
Little Belgium has three official languages, Dutch, French and German. The US, with its much larger population, could easily have more than one. I'd like to suggest we start with the two obvious ones, as they are the most widely spoken: English and Spanish. Perhaps someone would like to add to that list.

Why would we need more than one language here in the United States? What Belgium does is of no consequence or importance in this discussion.
 
Not really. It's called "being helpful and polite." That's how I was raised.

It's a waste of time and energy. Nothing is gained by it, and in most situations (like this one), things are lost.

Okay, except -- it's not.

Which is something that I believe needs to be remedied, and soon. If we could bring back some of the Indians from the 18th and 19th centuries they'd be laughing their asses off.... we're doing the same things now that they did back then. You know, the things that eventually allowed us to almost totally wipe them off the map. The difference is we're doing these things to ourselves.

Okay, except -- that's the law.

It needs to be changed.

How can you possibly disagree with the facts? This response genuinely confuses me.

Realize that we have totally different views on what the "Justice" System should be. You say "Don't Get Yourself in Trouble" doesn't work, but it's worked very well for me over the last almost 38 years. I've got two parking tickets on my record. That's IT. Never even been detained by a LEO, nevermind arrested.
 
Why would we need more than one language here in the United States? What Belgium does is of no consequence or importance in this discussion.

Because we're a cosmopolitan and sophisticated nation, and because we have so many mutual ties with other nations around the world. Perhaps French would be a good third language for us, or maybe Mandarin.
 
Because we're a cosmopolitan and sophisticated nation, and because we have so many mutual ties with other nations around the world. Perhaps French would be a good third language for us, or maybe Mandarin.

Remembering that I'm an ISOLATIONIST, Dittohead? I do not believe those ties with other nations are a good thing. Definitely not on the level that they exist today.
 
Remembering that I'm an ISOLATIONIST, Dittohead? I do not believe those ties with other nations are a good thing. Definitely not on the level that they exist today.

So NATO and UN are out then?
 
U.S. joins the top execution club. I would rank U.S. 1st because of it's mistaken convictions.

Totaly unacceptable! We should be 1st in everything we apply ourselves to!
 
Remembering that I'm an ISOLATIONIST, Dittohead? I do not believe those ties with other nations are a good thing. Definitely not on the level that they exist today.

Oh, I didn't know that.

I'll add "isolationist" to the long list of issues on which you're on the wrong side.
 
Oh, I didn't know that. I'll add "isolationist" to the long list of issues on which you're on the wrong side.

It's been discussed at length over time so I'm a bit surprised you had missed it. As for your list... Go right ahead. The next moment I care about your opinion on anything will be the first.
 
Yes; and all US military facilities overseas are closed as well.

And this is ignoring all the sudden and massive catostrophics downfalls America will endure after withdrawing from the World Market?
 
And this is ignoring all the sudden and massive catostrophics downfalls America will endure after withdrawing from the World Market?

No. This is EMBRACING the sudden and massive catastrophic downfalls that America would endure as what is necessary to bring this country back in line with what it was always intended to be so far as I'm concerned.
 
U.S. joins the top execution club. I would rank U.S. 1st because of it's mistaken convictions.

Do you think the USA being the 3rd most populated country in the world might factor into this just a little bit?
 
No. This is EMBRACING the sudden and massive catastrophic downfalls that America would endure as what is necessary to bring this country back in line with what it was always intended to be so far as I'm concerned.

It wouldn't bring America back in line. Unless your 'line' is rubble and ruin, paved with the blood of innocence. Then nothing, not even an act of God, could bring America back to the way its intended. Ya know, with the concept of liberty and freedom.

Sorry Tigger; I couldn't let that happen.
 
It wouldn't bring America back in line. Unless your 'line' is rubble and ruin, paved with the blood of innocence. Then nothing, not even an act of God, could bring America back to the way its intended. Ya know, with the concept of liberty and freedom.

Sorry Tigger; I couldn't let that happen.

"In Line" is back to the way this country was before things started to get out of hand about 150 years ago. Rubble, ruin, and blood in the streets will likely be necessary to return this nation to its proper state of being. Liberty and Freedom have much less to do with what this nation was founded on than people like to think.

If/when it comes to that I hope yours is a quick and painless end.
 
"In Line" is back to the way this country was before things started to get out of hand about 150 years ago. Rubble, ruin, and blood in the streets will likely be necessary to return this nation to its proper state of being. Liberty and Freedom have much less to do with what this nation was founded on than people like to think.

If/when it comes to that I hope yours is a quick and painless end.

Pray tell Tigger. What exactly was this country founded on?

And depends on what terms of execution your said government enforces on assassins.
 
Pray tell Tigger. What exactly was this country founded on?

A simple set of morals and values that included the ideal that only those people who truly had the capability to be informed and educated on the topics of the day (at that time white, land-owning males) should have a say in things and reap the benefits of society. Now in today's world that group would be expanded somewhat. It still should not include women, those who do not speak English, the unemployed, or anyone taking Government money, and brand new immigrants but it would be a broader spectrum than what it was 200+ years ago.
 
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