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Shinzo Abe, Japan's former prime minister, shot and hospitalized
Japanese former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot on Friday while campaigning in the city of Nara, a government spokesman said, with public broadcaster NHK saying he appeared to have been shot from behind by a man with a shotgun.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said he did not know Abe's condition. Kyodo news agency and NHK said Abe, 67, appeared to be in a state of cardiac arrest when taken to hospital.
See also: Former Japan PM Abe Unconscious After Shooting; Man in Custody
Live Updates: Shinzo Abe Is Unconscious After Apparently Being Shot
NHK, citing the police, said a suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 42, had been taken into custody. He was a Nara resident, the report said. Images shared on social media showed a man being tackled after the shooting.
Boris Johnson Agrees to Resign as Prime Minister
Boris Johnson said on Thursday that he would step down as Britain's prime minister, after a wholesale rebellion of his cabinet, a wave of government resignations and a devastating loss of party support prompted by his handling of the the latest scandal that has engulfed his leadership.
Mr. Johnson said he would stay on in his post until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, which could take several months. He said he expected the timetable for his departure and the selection of a successor to be decided on Monday by a committee of senior Conservative lawmakers.
"It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader," Mr. Johnson said in remarks outside Downing Street. "The process of choosing that new leader should begin now."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @03:28PM (32 children)
The gun used to kill Abe was a home made POS. Not 3D printed or anything so nice. It has been described as a 'shotgun', but the one image I've seen resembles an over sized blunderbuss more than anything. It's very definitely a POS that I would fear it blowing up in my face, if I were dumb enough to fire it. https://twitter.com/historicfirearm/status/1545335347357286400 [twitter.com] It appears to be two short pieces of 1 inch pipe held together by duct tape, and some sort of pistol grip under the pipes.
Of course, an analysis of the weapon won't be published for people to admire, or to mock.
Just a reminder that anyone who understands how firearms work can easily produce his own from random bits and pieces found in hardware stores everywhere.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday July 08 2022, @03:56PM (26 children)
A simple solution. Restrict all information and knowledge about how firearms work. Problem solved!
This reminds me of the Clinton[1] administration declaring cryptography to be a munition. That way they could take advantage of the draconian power of certain regulations to keep people from knowing how cryptography works. Because OMG! certain bad countries might learn how to do good cryptography and that could be a bad thing. Why could it be a bad thing? We can't tell you why!
They seemed to draw the line at people carrying a printed book, such as Applied Cryptography, in your carrion when you travel.
I guess excellent textbooks was somehow less bad than the bad people obtaining good cryptography over the intarweb tubes.
We need to put a stop to bad countries and bad people in the US having knowledge of how firearms work.
[1]Not Hillary, but Bill. Although the word is that she secretly ran everything.
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by tizan on Friday July 08 2022, @04:08PM (2 children)
However much you put the information out there....there is a big difference between a few making a gun compared to a few millions owning 10 assault rifles..Making a gun from your own metallurgy backyard shop is quite different from the 15 mins to get an AR-15 from a shop !
For e.g: Meth making is well known...how many users make their own ?
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday July 08 2022, @05:01PM (1 child)
I agree that there is a difference between purchasing and homebrewing firearms, but the difficulty in doing the latter should not be overstated. A homemade pipe shotgun is trivially easy to make with only a cordless drill and supplies from a Home Depot or Lowes.
(Score: 2) by tizan on Friday July 08 2022, @11:02PM
Do not underestimate the laziness of gathering materials and doing things :) Luckily for us ....otherwise every disgruntled human would be a terrorist !
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @04:16PM (22 children)
“Beware of him who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master”*…
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday July 08 2022, @05:27PM (21 children)
That is why some parents don't want their kids to get sex education at school.
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @05:35PM (20 children)
It isn't so much sex education these days, but the kind of sex education. Comic books graphically depicting homosexual sex is definitely not what parents want for their kdis.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Friday July 08 2022, @06:23PM (19 children)
The fact that you are frightened to accept that it exists doesn't mean that everyone else is. Are you just thinking of male homosexuality, or does that include lesbianism too?
Do you think children won't get access to the internet too?
Have you heard of gay pride? Some people are not ashamed of their sexuality - and it has got absolutely nothing to do with me how they choose to live their lives. I also know children of homosexual couples, and they are probably the most balanced and tolerant children that I have met. As long as the children are loved by their parents then they are getting a better start in life than many others.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @08:07PM (18 children)
Complete and utter bullshit, and irrelevant to boot.
Have you seen the comic books made available to elementary school children? They are pornographic, and they would be equally pornographic if they depicted the same acts between heterosexual couples. Today's parents are objecting to the smutty shit given to their kids. Not Boomers, mind you, but today's parents. People in their twenties, who were thoroughly indoctrinated in the public school system, but are rejecting gay pornography and grooming in the school system.
Don't project nonsense attitudes, opinions, and fears on me, janrinok.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @08:35PM (10 children)
which comicbooks are those? like, specifically? i must not be caught up on all of the talking points. i assume we're not talking about vamperotica or faithless? maybe notti and nice?
i was talking to another parent whose kid goes to school with mine, and their problem with "maus" was that it depicted naked mice. not the fact that they were being killed by the nazis - that they were naked
so i brought my copy with me next time i knew i was going to see them, and had them flip through. apparently, the "naked mice" thing was what they were told was the problem. they didn't know what the rest was about. if you're reading that and "naked mouse" is the disturbing part, you're doing it wrong. that's like saying "i loved schindler's list because there were boobies"
and if naked mice are disturbing, wait until you find out about donald duck
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @10:03PM (9 children)
I had a link which showed the objectionable graphics - and it has been removed. To be specific, the 'cartoon' depicted a boy performing fellatio on an adult man. The image is graphic, you can't mistake what is going on. The text is equally graphic, explaining what you are seeing in the cartoon image. The more liberal media, which defends the books in school libraries, won't post the images on their own websites. CNN, CBS, ABC, all of them, will post commentary, but they won't post the graphics in question.
Sorry if you object to Fox, but you can read here - https://www.foxnews.com/us/fairfax-mom-confronts-school-board-over-graphic-sexual-materials-in-school [foxnews.com]
Imagine that - the books are suitable for inclusion in young children's libraries, but neither the images, nor the text in the books, were suitable to be displayed or to be read aloud at a school board meeting. The objection raised is the very objection that parents are raising, "There are children present!"
Read more here, and follow links if you like - https://www.foxnews.com/media/oregon-school-district-books-contains-pornographic-sex-acts [foxnews.com]
And, one more time, let me reiterate. This crap is used by elementary schools. Prepubescent children are among the target audience. Why in hell is it necessary, or desirable, to teach little kids how to masturbate?
I do believe that 'grooming' is the word that best fits.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @10:37PM (8 children)
that's pretty funny. a blurred out penis. that's what this is about?
but based on what you posted, it was checked out from a high school library, not an elementary school library. and it's not required reading. if a kid CHOOSES to check it out, maybe there's a reason. i'm guessing it's not so they can see a blurred out penis. because they can do a lot "better" on their own phone without the librarian getting all judgmental on their ass
and now you're talking about teaching kids how to masturbate. hilarious. i understand that was a different article (a link within your link, so not completely out of the blue) - but it's a different story. seems like you're moving the goalposts; my question was which comicbook - and you answered (i count graphic novels, like maus, as comicbooks). i looked up the images the whole hub-bub was about, and i'm not sure why it's a big deal that a book is available for highschool students to voluntarily check out from their library...
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @10:44PM (6 children)
The goalposts haven't moved. The schools have no business pushing any of this onto children.
Perhaps you haven't actually read the articles. These are the parents of little children, as well as high school children. This material is reaching first, second, and third grade children, as well as high school juniors and seniors. Elementary school teachers are using this material in class.
When children reach puberty, and begin asking questions, THEN some of this material is appropriate. None of it is appropriate for children 6 to 10 years old.
As for a depiction of a child on his knees, fellating an adult, that should be child pornogrpahy by any standard. Of course, if you have no standards, it wouldn't be objectionable at all?
(Score: 2) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @11:09PM (5 children)
define "child", define "adult"
most states call age of consent it 16; that's high school. some have "romeo and juliet" exceptions going as low as (can't be right... 12 ?!?!). what is the age of the kid/adult in the image? in what state were they complaining? is the depicted child below age of consent in said state? of so, sure - i'll agree with you. if not, then their own state says otherwise
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @11:41PM (2 children)
You will note that I'm not terribly outraged that high school kids might have access to this material. I am outraged that the child groomers are presenting this stuff to small children. I am somewhat outraged that the material might be used in 'sex education' even for high schoolers. 98 out of 100 students are hetero, and they are unlikely to ever be anything but hetero. But, students need to be taught about gay sex? Get real.
I am kinda curious whatever happened to traditional sex education. Has it been subverted? Do they actually teach kids about sperm and eggs, and how easy it is to be impregnated? Do high school grads know where babies come from, or not?
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Saturday July 09 2022, @01:25AM
If everyone is gay then we no longer have a teen pregnancy problem. Sounds like a win for the conservatives to me!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday July 09 2022, @04:14PM
Yes it has been subverted. Certain backward states do not require sex education to be medically accurate.
For the high school children.
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(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday July 09 2022, @01:47AM (1 child)
Strictly speaking, the term "pedophilia" requires one to be prepubescent. Not that people seem to pay much attention to that. "OMG that person was under 18, he's a pedophile"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @03:03AM
alrighty, then. are you saying you're ok with hebophelia? not judging... (i was 18 when my girlfriend was 15-16), but that sometimes doesn't go down well with people - unless the girl is 10 or older, at which point she "chose" to become pregnant, and should carry that wonderful life until birth. at which point society can, and will, choose to abandon it and let it starve
(Score: 2) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @10:56PM
found images where it's not blurred out. still don't see the big deal for high school students to choose to check it out
the 2nd link had some books that were "found" in elementary schools. they include boys wearing dresses and lipstick (oh no!) and discussions about the birthing process (you're going to be a big sister! type thing, but with more detail). are there some things that some people might be offended by? probably. so pay attention to what your kid is reading, and guide them. like a parent
but remember; the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. there's no more sure-fire way to get them interested in reading something than telling them they can't. (no, you're not old enough to read lord of the rings; there's too many proper nouns for you to remember. and 4 weeks later it's their favorite series. bastards)
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 08 2022, @08:58PM (3 children)
(and there's a joke somewhere in there about "you know you're in the south when people in their 20s are parents". up here near the territory of quebec, they're waiting until their mid 30s to have kids)
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @10:05PM (2 children)
Yes, there is a joke in there. And, your thirty-something parents are the butt of the joke.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @10:21PM (1 child)
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2022, @02:03AM
Actually you're both partly right. You should be able to afford to look after your kids. But you should also have your kids in your twenties. If you wait until after you're thirty, you're going to be past fifty by the time they are grown. And that's not fair to the kids.
A fifty-something dad is going to have far less energy than at forty, mom is going to be hitting menopause, and both parents will be much more disconnected from the society their kids are growing up in.
I think there was a step change, where grandparents said "fuck you" to the next generation, sold the family home, bought a condo in Florida, and took their RVs on the roads. Before that, grandparents in their fifties would help out parents in their twenties. Three generations in the one house was common. Now, both parents work, childcare sucks up half of one wage, even if the grandparents were there they are too old to help and, "everything is fucked".
(Score: 2) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @10:18PM (2 children)
also, what, exactly, does "comic books made available to elementary school children" mean? that's a really broad statement. are you suggesting schools are requiring kids to read this stuff? are they in the school library? or are they buying them somewhere or checking them out at the town library (we have an awesome library, but alas, no comicbook section)? or are they looking at stuff at their friends' house? i couldn't find any articles of feigned outrage by "concerned parents" about this topic in my quick searches...
not sure about you, but when i was in elementary school (mid to late 80s), they said some pretty nasty things about "mad magazine" and "vampirelle". i remember a buddy having "fritz the cat" (?) confiscated back then (i think it was fritz - but it was definitely something crumb'y). but we were all going over to one kids' house because he knew where his dad's playboy stash was. then we found out about penthouse and hustler... that was 3rd or 4th grade (i went to a different school in 5th, so i missed out on some of the REALLY dirty stuff). whatever it is they're looking at, it can't hold a candle to what us latchkey kids were looking at when we were their age. of course, the schools weren't requiring us to read that. as i'm sure is the case with whatever comicbooks you're talking about
this kind of reminds me of the whole dr. manhattan fiasco from back when the watchmen movie came out. they were concerned about a blue wang - but didn't seem to mind that three of the central themes were (spoiler alert!) murder, rape, and terrorism/mass-murder. i found it funny that many of the ones complaining the loudest claimed to have a "favorite book" (which they've never read, obviously) with direct descriptions of war, genocide, menstruation (the shameful act that requires providing food to their leaders as a form of socialism/punishment), rape, prostitution, murder (kill nearly everyone in the world), baby-murder (kill ALL the babies), homosexuality, and - there's not even a word of that i know for this one - "pimping out of ones daughters to the randy men in town so the stranger doesn't get forcefully ass-buggered by them"
hang on - do you even have kids? if so, you'd probably be shocked to find out what they were looking at in elementary school
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @10:48PM (1 child)
I have raised 5 boys. No, I'm not shocked at anything that kids might do. The problem here, is not what the kids might do, but the indoctrination being pushed on them by the schools.
(Score: 2) by rcamera on Friday July 08 2022, @10:59PM
yeah - sorry about that. cross-posted
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(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @04:14PM (4 children)
another image https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-gun-used-kill-japanese-pm-shinzo-abe-home-made-2022-7?IR=T [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday July 08 2022, @05:04PM (3 children)
I'd like to understand the firing system. From the second picture it looks like there are some wires leading up to the breech plugs? Maybe that's just rubber bands or springs I'm seeing.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 08 2022, @05:32PM (1 child)
I can't get a better view, but, yes, there are electrical wires involved. Commentary has stated that it was electrically ignited. I know that naval guns have a small tube of electrically ignited powder running the length of the shell, which ignites the much larger charge of more traditional "gun powder". I don't know how he accomplished that here, but it seems he may have produced his own powder along with the gun. Probably incorporated some kind of conductive metal into the mix.
sarcasm - maybe he bought some cheapo Chinese lithium batteries to help things along? /sarcasm
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2022, @02:13AM
Its not hard to pull some nichrome wire out of a heater or toaster and use it to set off gunpowder.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXKaZeHWAAA8mD3?format=jpg [twimg.com]
Another one he built. 9 barrels. It seems to have a mobile phone built into it, Internet of Guns?
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 10 2022, @11:57AM
https://youtu.be/bdqufrO30mE [youtu.be]
Short video (2:40) has a collection of images of the homemade gun, and a simplistic explanation of it's operation. The author speculates that the gun used black powder propellant, and also speculates that maybe fishing weights were used for the projectile. The first images I saw were misleading, making the weapon appear larger than it really is. In every image, it is positively ugly!