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Gaaark (41)
Gaaark
(email not shown publicly)
Linux user. Tries to keep feeding the brain with stuff. Husband and father of a young lady and a younger son who has autism/is autistic... that nut didn't fall far from this nut-tree, I'll tell ya: he gets it honestly. Now if only he'd sleep..............
I believe that God gave us the science, curiousity and intelligence to one day conclusively prove that God does not exist.
(email not shown publicly)
Linux user. Tries to keep feeding the brain with stuff. Husband and father of a young lady and a younger son who has autism/is autistic... that nut didn't fall far from this nut-tree, I'll tell ya: he gets it honestly. Now if only he'd sleep..............
I believe that God gave us the science, curiousity and intelligence to one day conclusively prove that God does not exist.
The Fine Print: The following are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Tuesday May 24, 22
10:08 PM
Gob bluss Amurica
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/texas-elementary-shooting-1.6464315
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
(1)
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all.
-- Ogden Nash
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @10:25PM (5 children)
...America, home of the...something or other. Lord, have mercy on the people of Texas, because I'm just clean out of mercy (or patience) right now.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:57PM (4 children)
The US has had 57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialized nations combined [cnn.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @04:13PM (1 child)
I just saw that there have been more mass shootings than days in 2022. What the hell is wrong with us?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 26 2022, @01:37PM
Clue: it is a small vocal whining subset of "us" who don't care about anyone else's rights. Or perhaps unaware that rights are supposed to be for everyone.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @01:42AM (1 child)
It figures. Obama's visited 57 states.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 26 2022, @01:38PM
I shutter to imagine how bad it would be had Obama visited even more states.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @10:53PM
include <stdonion> [theonion.com]
Waiting for this Texas installment [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday May 24 2022, @10:55PM (36 children)
Gee, I wonder why other civilized countries don't have regular mass shootings and school shootings?
There must be some reason for that?
I wish we could figure out what it is.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @11:21PM (10 children)
They have mental health services, as opposed to prison for profit systems that drive people crazy.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @12:09AM (4 children)
They have fewer guns. We have to take the guns
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @02:30AM (3 children)
But the guns are how we convince ourselves that we don't live in a police state run by a corporate oligarchy with a prison-industrial system that's effectively an end run around of the 13A.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @07:32PM (1 child)
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @03:04AM
So then could we have armed workers militias defending picket lines from the oligarchy's army if not for the NRA? Can I keep my class conscious, internationalist ammosexual fantasies until we find a congressional road to socialism?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 26 2022, @02:39PM
It's not "effectively" and end run, it's written into the goddamn amendment!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:58AM (4 children)
This is a valid point, that prisons create new violent criminals and harden existing violent criminals. We could create more humane prisons, which do exist in other countries. But we refuse to do so because we're not interested in actually rehabilitating criminals. We could take a forward thinking position and decide that rehabilitating all but the most dangerous criminals (e.g., Ted Bundy, Jerry Sandusky, etc...) is actually profitable by creating productive members of society. Instead, we are more interested in maximizing short term profit by literally making prison a profitable business. There's big money in incarcerating people, regardless of the long term economic loss to society.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 25 2022, @01:53PM (3 children)
We most definitely could create more humane prisons that do not hardon existing violent criminals.
But maybe a deep underlying problem in our society is the extreme wealth divide. That might have something with people turning to crime.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @06:31PM (1 child)
Mass shootings are more of an insane act than crime in an economic sense. The shooters aren't doing it for monetary gain.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @08:07PM
It all ties together with how the US is built upon very puritannical ideals that permeate every aspect of our society. We've been working past them, but the worship of wealth and bullying of the poor due to modern Christianity's subversion by the prosperity gospel is holding us back. Ties into the lack of universal healthcare and other social services that may have helped prevent this kid from going so far off the rails. Trying to ignore these increasingly frequent shootings as just some sick loner will do nothing to prevent more and plays into the independence and responsibility narrative of the prosperity gospel. Of course the end game is the peons are divided and insecure so they are less likely to unite against the owner class, and the owners don't care one bit about suffering peons.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday May 25 2022, @09:40PM
You haven't been acquainted with your new husband Bruno, have you? :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @11:52PM (14 children)
They don't have smug arrogant demeaning condescending egotistical liberals with horrible attitudes that depress the entire society and rest of the world?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @01:10AM (7 children)
This is why our deplorable ammosexuals have to have guns? Because the liberal elites might condescend to them? Because they are less educated, less intelligent, and vote against their own interests? And guns will solve that, by shooting up elementary schools? These are serious psychological issues.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @01:49AM (6 children)
"These are serious psychological issues."
Says the cauldron to the pot.
Cross-connected neurons as usual. You can't seem to separate issues, and constantly conflate cause and effect, and causation with correlation and coincidence.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:41AM (5 children)
You literally said "they have guns because people with different political leanings hurt their feeeeeeeelings." Do you understand that? Re-read what you wrote up there in that first post.
I don't know about you, but I believe the kind of person who would shoot someone for being snarky or condescending to them is *precisely* the kind of person who is too fucking unstable to be trusted with firearms.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 25 2022, @01:56PM (3 children)
Precisely.
This is EXACTLY the kind of person who should not ever be allowed to possess a firearm.
Mature stable citizens in a civilized society do not act that way.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 25 2022, @07:28PM (1 child)
What about this:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/us/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-salvador-ramos/index.html [cnn.com]
Sure, just because someone made fun of you and called you "school shooter", doesn't meant you need to prove them right. Though, at the same time, you gotta wonder. What was wrong with those kids?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @12:31AM
The society around taught them the "freedom of speech" lesson but skipped over the "respect" and "compassion" ones. Because 'murica, fuck, yeah.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @07:44PM
This is EXACTLY the kind of person who doesn't give a shit about firearm laws.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @04:43AM
You are so fucked up I don't know where to begin. You used the word "literally" but then put in quotes your own words, not even close to mine, nor what I wrote. Short-circuited brain at best you are.
I absolutely agree with your second paragraph. But of course you won't believe that and will have some kind of moronic retort.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:53AM (5 children)
It's not liberals who are blocking any sort of gun control in the US. It's 100% on the Republican Party. If you go back 30 years, the Republican Party was taking a hard right turn, but was still reasonable enough to consider action on serious issues like gun control and environmental protection. Today's Republican Party is so extreme that any action on these issues is a non-starter. Blaming this on liberals is incredibly dishonest.
The political motivations of any mass shooter are irrelevant, regardless of whatever ideology they claim to support if they leave a sick manifesto. This is about the people in Congress who actually have the power to pass gun control but refuse to do so. The issue is that literally zero Republicans in Congress are willing to do anything to prevent mass shootings. These mass shootings aren't the price we pay for liberty. They occur because half of the members of Congress are batshit crazy extremists. The pretend to be concerned about freedom and following the Constitution while giving tacit approval to a coup attempt by Donald Trump. Republicans aren't opposing gun control because they care about freedom, but because they're busy pushing their increasingly extremist agenda.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday May 25 2022, @11:10AM (2 children)
No they weren't. Prohibition era gun controls were prompted by the guns industry (look up the history of the shotgun). Nixon era gun controls were a response to Black Panther calls for black men to bear Arms and defend themselves. 80s-90s gun regulations were a response to Chinese/Mexican imports and targeted specific patents and design features that employ plate-bending as opposed to CNC milling and the low-tier firearm markets that were dominated by cheap imports where the big gun lobbies didn't want to compete. The whole plastic recycling con was a theater production orchestrated by big oil casting the Democrats as the "environmentalists" calling for a recycling program and the Republican corporatists fighting it. All the while, the real scientists and environmentalists were against the recycling program after research concluded it can't handle even 5-10% of plastic waste and were calling for a near-full ban and a return to ceramics and wood. The different wildlife reserves ventures going back to the original Gilded Era Roosevelt laws were all prompted by mining companies and real-estate tycoons trying to prevent the California gold rush devaluations from repeating. The oceanic protections originate from the fishing industry fighting South-American, Japanese and Chinese imports...
Basically, both the Republicans and Democrats sellout to the highest bidder. It's just that we're living in a more affluent period where urbanites are more numerous and tolerant to corruption and waste since they're more exposed to city politics so the other issues where Republicans happened to play a more active role as the "bad guys" catch more attention. But, practically speaking, it's probably all mostly the same as it was all the way back to the Federalists vs. the anti-Federalists.
Either way, the Republicans haven't changed. It's society that changed.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 25 2022, @04:01PM (1 child)
Right....cause a the type of highschool douche that's gonna shoot up a school totally wouldn't pick a weapon just cause it looks scary!
Yes yes tell me more about how banning the exact type of weapons these fucknuts want is such a terrible idea!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @10:59PM
Because they'd pick the next-scariest weapon. And so on, and so on, and so on.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:07PM (1 child)
Exactly. The tree of liberty is supposed to be refreshed with the blood of patriots, not of the innocent.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @07:14AM
Well, shoot them anyway and let God sort out the "would have been patriots, were they to be still alive" among them and use their blood.
I mean, there is bound to be a non-zero percentage of "patriots", one only needs to shoot enough of those kids to keep the liberty tree alive (and the NRA corporate sponsors happy, but that's secondary, right? Keep your eyes peeled on that liberty tree, don't mind the man behind the curtain).
So far, 27 school shootings and 140 deaths in less than the 2022 first half of the year [insider.com] and I have the feeling some won't see those numbers as enough.
(Score: 3, Informative) by unauthorized on Wednesday May 25 2022, @12:22AM (3 children)
They do [ssrn.com], through I suppose it depends on your criteria for a civilized country.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @04:22PM (2 children)
Note that the link is to a December 2018 paper by John Lott. I also noticed that the paper has so far received only 1 citation. Methinks that Lott's colleagues don't think all that much of his paper. Just sayin'.
(Score: 2) by unauthorized on Wednesday May 25 2022, @06:45PM
Fair point on the author actually, mod parent up. I admit I didn't bother looking up the author and unfortunately this was the only study on the subject I could find, but here is a Pew article [pewresearch.org] which touches on the subject:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @10:47PM
Most colleagues and people in the field don't think that much of John Lott, regardless of which side of the issue they are on. His early stuff isn't completely terrible, especially given the time they were made, but rather than fix the issues with them he just doubled and tripled down.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:21PM (3 children)
Someone killed someone with a knife once. Clearly that is the EXACT SAME as killing 61 people in about 5 minutes in Las Vegas!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @11:02PM (2 children)
It depends on how gratifying it is for the person doing it. Posting nonsense here like you do, wouldn't be any less gratifying for you, if you weren't such an ignorant shithead.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @08:30PM (1 child)
Okay, I deserved that Flamebait, I was wrong. He's not ignorant, he's simply completely misinformed, and reciting that misinformation is what makes him feel gratified. Now, mod this one up, Informative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @10:29PM
Sorry, cannot. it is disinformation. DeathMonkey is usually correct. You, on the other hand, are a rightwing nutjob, and potential mass-shooter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:38PM
The reason is your being a really stupid and shameless liar. As always.
Unless you admit in writing that you consider Israel uncivilized? Go for it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @05:14PM
Government, media, education system promote anti-Americanism, CRT, racial division, group-think, class-hatred. All it takes is a few sub-par loners to fall for that left-wing shit, and you can have all the mass-shootings you want, every day of the week. Take away the guns, and they will go back to using knives, pressure cookers, and destroying our infrastructure. Keep working on it, and nobody will ever want to go back to work or school again.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @03:43AM (2 children)
I already posted this in DannyB's journal, but it's also relevant here. I know I'm repeating myself, but cross-posting something that's on-topic in two journals shouldn't be modded spam. Before you accuse me of just trying to insert partisanship where it doesn't belong, please hear me out and consider a bit of a history lesson. It doesn't have to be this way, and it wasn't always this way. Many of us do want reasonable gun control in the US, and to enact laws that will prevent future mass shootings. But today's Republican Party absolutely refuses to consider any sort of gun control. It's 100% on the Republican Party, which unfortunately has enough power to prevent any sort of gun control from becoming law in the US. The rest of us are along for the ride.
There was a time when there was actually bipartisan support for gun laws, even stricter laws than we have today.
The Brady Bill established background checks and a waiting period. It was passed 238-187 in the House [house.gov] and 63-36 in the Senate [senate.gov]. If you take a look at the breakdown by party, you'll see that while the majority of Republicans opposed the bill, a significant number voted for it.
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was part of a larger piece of legislation called the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 [congress.gov]. If you look at the history of voting on the bill, you'll see that the final version of the bill also passed with a fair amount of support from within both parties.
These laws were enacted at a time when we had a functioning legislative system in the US, and we could actually debate how to properly address gun violence. These bills weren't passed for no reason, but because of mass shootings that had occurred within the prior few years. In the early 1990s, Republicans would actually work with Democrats to craft sensible gun control laws. That no longer happens.
Before you accuse me of making this too partisan of an issue, I'd like to point out that a House bill was introduced in 2021, H.B. 1808 [congress.gov], which never made it out of committee. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate, S.B. 736 [congress.gov]. It also didn't make it out of committee. However, in both cases, the only cosponsors of the bills were Democrats, so there was zero Republican support. Republicans compromised to pass gun control laws in the early 1990s, but they won't even consider any such legislation in the present day.
Republicans in the early 1990s were taking a hard turn to the right, for sure, but they were still reasonable enough to consider action on issues like gun control. Present day Republicans refuse to do anything. The reason we don't have gun control is 100% the Republican Party.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @05:17PM
Score: -1, Redundant
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @10:23PM
Background checks have the same energy as a No Fly List. Fuck you!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 25 2022, @07:02PM (14 children)
I'm rather appalled at the general responses and posts that have been posted in this thread. It's not terribly surprising, considering the sarcasm used in the initial message.
The shooter in this case was an 18 year old kid (barely an adult), who shot his grandmother, before going to what was likely his previous elementary school. He targeted children. He didn't go to a police station, he didn't start shooting at random in his neighborhood. He went to the school and just started shooting. The person obviously had some serious issues. We've been a gun toting society since the founding. The problem isn't the freedom to bear arms. The problem is the society. The problem is the sarcasm that's, oh, just kidding. The problem is the lack of empathy for your fellow citizens or neighbors (which we all are in this age of globalization). This is an age of outrage and hate. Not just racism, not just sexism, but of differing opinions.
My wife pointed out that he had the brains to go someplace that was likely not to have people that could quickly end his shooting spree. Which is pretty messed up when you think about it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 25 2022, @07:43PM (3 children)
From reading more about the shooting. It sounds like the police were chasing him and he crashed near the school. Was he headed there or did he just lose control of his vehicle near there. Then, went on a rampage, before the cops could get him? I'm not impressed with the law enforcement that allowed him to enter the school. Could be, they just had no possible way to keep him from entering, but I would have expected more.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday May 25 2022, @09:50PM (1 child)
At the local schools (and where my wife works), they lock the doors and only admit people who need to be there: maybe the U.S. should look at this?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 26 2022, @01:39PM
Some schools do that, but not all. It's not mandated and the school that this happened at wasn't large.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @07:47PM
And when he got to the elementary school, the police stood back and they let him shoot for 40-minutes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @07:52PM (3 children)
Forgive me, but my empathy for Salvador Ramos rapidly wanes when he starts shooting at little kids while they are in their school!
Unfortunately, yes, it is. It must have taken a lot of hate for Ramos to gun down an entire 4th grade classroom. It was outrageous. No question about it.
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @08:11PM
Agreed, I'm pretty tired of "they did something horrible that most people would not do" being treated as smart. I know it is just a figure of speech, but it is a wider trend.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @07:19AM (1 child)
I see. Were they to be some other place but their school, they'd be fair game, open season all year 'round, yes?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @05:53PM
The point is that the kids were where they were supposed to be. Ramos, on the other hand, was not supposed to be there. Is this really so hard to comprehend? Or are you one of those folks at the extreme end of the autistic spectrum?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @09:51PM (4 children)
The american society considers the abstract "freedom to bear arms" more important that the concrete lives of children. No other country has this problem.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @10:12PM (3 children)
Those are shithole slave countries where revolution is impossible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25 2022, @10:16PM
Hi apk, you loving your british nanny state?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @02:25AM
That's a terrible thing to say about China! Especially with all those 50¢ checks supporting so many posters here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @05:56PM
Yeah!!! Can't you just smell the freedumb in the air? Or are the entire lot of you a bunch of commies?
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @02:54AM
18 to 21 is when schizophrenia usually sets in. The most common drugs currently prescribed for that condition are known to cause an otherwise rare type of psychotic break as a withdrawal symptom, which if left untreated often ends in either suicide or murder-suicide. Careful planning, usually over a period of several weeks, is actually typical of this type of psychotic episode even though the person isn't otherwise rational. The condition is entirely curable and there are obvious warning signs if you know what to look for. Schizophrenics are over-represented because they are both the most likely to be prescribed the problem medications and the least able to get help when there is a problem. As I said in the other thread, if the people taking these medications were subject to mandatory supervision, even a weekly phone call, with followup for missed appointments, then these tragedies would be averted.