Texas

[fastupslowdown]

It's almost as if the police are equipped to engage only where they have an overwhelming force advantage.

Yes, The Texas police came off as keystone cops, but in fairness Sending in police armed with hand-guns against a crazed kid ready to die armed with a Kalishnikov, countless magazines and a armor protection is at the onset a losing proposition. More proof that the good-guy with a gun is just a fallacy. The Texas concealed carry law is not serving Texas well. Heller vs D.C. has been an unmitigated disaster.

18 year olds are all too often troubled and hunted by demons. They should not have fire-arms. Society has already decided they're too young to marry in at least one state, not old enough to drink or gamble in a Casino. Letting them buy an AK-47 and dozens of magazine clips is just stupidity. We should also expand red flag laws, tighten up background checks and admit guns like an AK-47 have no purpose other than killing humans in mass quantity -Mike G

[Chik]

Yes, The Texas police came off as keystone cops, but in fairness Sending in police armed with hand-guns against a crazed kid ready to die armed with a Kalishnikov, countless magazines and a armor protection is at the onset a losing proposition. More proof that the good-guy with a gun is just a fallacy. The Texas concealed carry law is not serving Texas well. Heller vs D.C. has been an unmitigated disaster.

18 year olds are all too often troubled and hunted by demons. They should not have fire-arms. Society has already decided they're too young to marry in at least one state, not old enough to drink or gamble in a Casino. Letting them buy an AK-47 and dozens of magazine clips is just stupidity. We should also expand red flag laws, tighten up background checks and admit guns like an AK-47 have no purpose other than killing humans in mass quantity -Mike G

Yeah, not old enough to drink but old enough to buy firearms and ammunition. Priorities, innit? Foreigners like me can't even start to understand it despite previously having lived in the US for more than 10 years.

[Peter Polack]

The news coming out today kinda bums me out.

Also don’t really understand how the story goes from “engaged before entering building” to “not engaged, walked through unlocked door.” Kinda….not even close.

And CNN is reporting that the door was propped open by a teacher and left unattended while going to call 911 upon seeing “the crash and gunman”. My god. The timeline coming out is just….beyond words.

"It's the "fog of war". News outlets rushing to publish something/anything to get clicks and eyeballs. Ignore it and wait for the official investigation and report. It may take months, if not years. There's no reason for them to lie; law enforcement will want to learn and improve their tactics from the report.

It's almost as if the police are equipped to engage only where they have an overwhelming force advantage.

Of course! We don't know whether the arriving officers had only handguns; not all patrol officers are provided shoulder weapons in their cars; I work on a lot of police cars so I see what they've got. (As an aside, I'm amazed at the number of cop cars I work on where they've left their shoulder weapon in the mount, loaded, while they walk away and I'm working on the car.)

I've had it, have long had it, with the "thoughts and prayers" crowd, and the "it's a mental health issue, not a gun issue" deniers disingenuous bullshit.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substac...ay-25-2022?s=r

Thoughts and prayers? This song by the Drive-By Truckers says it all.http://<iframe width="560" height="3...reen></iframe>

This is worthwhile for the same reasons: https://www.npr.org/2017/06/18/53192...psed6lZsLlAZj8

[Peter Polack]

Deleted post.

[Too Tall]

Thanks Jorn, appreciate the strength of this thread.

New York Times article snip: Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children.

(moving on) The fact a super majority of Americans insist they will support "sensible" gun legislation has not been in question for many years.

Curiously, the mechanism(s) by which this enormously popular sentiment could enact such legislation is NOT the focus of our super majority. Weird huh?

[Saab2000]

Josh has now mentioned minority rule twice in this thread. This is the key. Due to crafty thinking the group that does not represent the majority makes policy for all. This must change.

[jclay]

Josh has now mentioned minority rule twice in this thread. This is the key. Due to crafty thinking the group that does not represent the majority makes policy for all. This must change.

The the reality of entropy and the Gaussian curve, as both relate to the "effective intellect" of our electorate, is against us.

Effective Intellect = native/organic brain power + formal education + informal education + amount of relevant non-BS articles read + circumspect thought coefficient + consistent, rational engagement in the political process + other terms that I haven't thought of.

Entropy eventually wins.

[Too Tall]

“Oleaginous.” That’s the best (family friendly) adjective for Cruz.

Not derail things BUT yeah that was good.

[Too Tall]

I've had it, have long had it, with the "thoughts and prayers" crowd, and the "it's a mental health issue, not a gun issue" deniers disingenuous bullshit.

Wanna stop the slaughter? Letters to your senators won't work; not on the GOP side. So, defeat every damn GOP candidate who's running, get dems and progressives elected, especially folks like Bernie, AOC and Stacey Abrams and then make enough noise to get semi-auto rifles and handguns banned. Make the penalties for violation harsh enough to work, and understand that getting semi-autos out of our population will take decades; consider it lifetime of effort, thanks to a senate that allowed the assault weapon ban to quietly expire.

Promiscuous attitudes towards firearms are so inculcated in our culture that well meaning folks, folks who know that we have an enormous problem that can't be solved any other way can’t quite bring themselves to say “semi-autos have no place in civil society”. Our culture is like a drug addicted person who knows what has to happen but can't quite make it happen. Pathetic.

As a related aside under the heading of "know your opposition", this recent missive from Heather Cox Richardson is well worth reading; it won’t be news to some of you; it shouldn’t be to anybody: https://heathercoxrichardson.substac...ay-25-2022?s=r

This is worthwhile for the same reasons: https://www.npr.org/2017/06/18/53192...psed6lZsLlAZj8

No offense...it's the Senate stupid. Gain control of an ability to legislate dot period. We can prognosticate later.

[jclay]

No offense...it's the Senate stupid. Gain control of an ability to legislate dot period. We can prognosticate later.

No offense taken; no reason. Yours is a comment about the immediate tactical. Mine included the strategic. We'd better take care of both, across the spectrum from pedestrian local elections to President. The types of folks discussed in the articles I linked have been masterfully working their plans for more than 50 years; these are smart, determined people and their messages have a simple frontier logic that appeals to many, particularly as we move farther into our slow global economic/power decline (read capable global competitors, offshoring, job loss and concomitant economic & status loss of individuals and certain demographics); never mind the global existential problems that are going to eat humanity's lunch and cause incalculable conflict, suffering and environmental/animal-world damage. The GOP folks have de-cloaked and we're seeing & living a preview of the results bc they think they have the horsepower to prevail; and they might be right. If those who oppose what those guys want don't start voting for progressive democrats at every opportunity, regardless of anything else, we're doomed to an ugly future.

And no, my comment some few weeks ago wasn't rhetorical; if Trump, his cabal and the Jan 6 insurrectionists aren't vigorously prosecuted, rendered ineligible for public office and start serving serious time then that tells me that this country doesn't have the political starch to do what's needed; and that's not a surprise.

And re Mathews DeSantis comment: Nothing will change his mind. Nothing. If FL constitutional open carry makes it to his desk, and I think that's highly likely given our roster of state GOP members, he will sign it. He's every bit as dangerous as Trump....and I can smell him from our house when the westerlies blow.

Cheers.

[TTX1]

[TTX1]

Any links to stories or coverage of NRA or GOP types taking urgent action to implement the sort of legislation they advocate re: mental care, hardened school entrances, etc?

Any action of substance?

[jclay]

Any links to stories or coverage of NRA or GOP types taking urgent action to implement the sort of legislation they advocate re: mental care, hardened school entrances, etc?

Any action of substance?

Re Q1: Certainly they’re master batting about it and I think I read that Rick Scott (the Medicare fraudster, then guv, now senator of FL) proposed something.

Re Q2 (a very different question): On the part of the GOP? That’s dividing (no pun intended) by zero. Pro tip: Don’t hold your breath. Re Dems/progressives? Ain’t got the horsepower to get to the first turn.

[Matthew Strongin]

And re Mathews DeSantis comment: Nothing will change his mind. Nothing. If FL constitutional open carry makes it to his desk, and I think that's highly likely given our roster of state GOP members, he will sign it. He's every bit as dangerous as Trump....and I can smell him from our house when the westerlies blow.

Yeah, there are some state legislators that give me the chills. We really know how to elect them in this godforsaken state. The last thing we need is more idiot hotheads walking around armed without any training or testing to validate that they're fit to carry. I can't remember the last time the deviants in charge of government at any level in Florida came up on the reasonable side of an issue. The pandemic has only made things worse as we've had an influx of degenerates who moved to Florida because, as they often tell my wife and brother in law when they come shopping for a new watch connection, "you can do whatever you want here." And since most politicians only pander to extremists that vote in primaries, things won't get better. Sorry for the negativity and the following run on sentence, but as a parent of a young child who is exhausted with resurgence of gun violence now that people are allowed out of their houses again and having trouble processing what just happened in Uvalde, and as someone who is watching my home state deteriorate while eliminating civil rights and pushing legislation that will mean I now have to be hyper cautious when I leave my house because people here use whatever they have as weapons when they're inconvenienced* so we should just let them carry actual weapons, I'm fucking over it.

*In recent months I have seen people use cars to push other cars out of the way or nudge cyclists off the road because they're in a hurry. These are the people who live in this city. We already have too much gun violence. We lost a member of our cycling community last year after someone shot him for talking shit on a ride. This is a city full of hot head macho assholes who think that putting people down is how you rise yourself up. Making it easy for these people to carry concealed firearms is a terrifying prospect to anyone who values their safety and liberty. And everything I'm describing about Miami, FL applies all over this country. Clearly the 2nd amendment is the one that stands above all the others. I can't think of any other reason why preservation and "expansion" of the second amendment trumps our right to safety, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Again, apologies for the rant.

[Matthew Strongin]

This is so completely obvious, of course all their rhetoric about good guys with guns is hogwash when it comes to keeping themselves safe. Even still, it fills me with rage and sadness to see it in print all the same.

[fastupslowdown]

Anyone a fan of Watergate and watching Gaslit? The reason I'm bringing this up , I'm watching some old interviews with John Dean discussing Nixon's lasting impact. Nixon was very good at discovering Wedge issues something Trump and the GOP have clearly built upon. Guns, abortion, Transgenders, CRT, its all examples of Wedge issues used to distract base, only its killing people -Mike G

[jclay]

Anyone a fan of Watergate and watching Gaslit? The reason I'm bringing this up , I'm watching some old interviews with John Dean discussing Nixon's lasting impact. Nixon was very good at discovering Wedge issues something Trump and the GOP have clearly built upon. Guns, abortion, Transgenders, CRT, its all examples of Wedge issues used to distract base, only its killing people -Mike G

I remember Nixon. He was a fairly ruthless ass-hat who broke some china but,...bad news but not beyond some control or...some modest, minimal degree of scruples. I'm sure there are better descriptions but I think Newt Gingrich is the guy that deserves credit for fully groking and then brilliantly, without ANY reservation, building the machinery and strategies for fully employing the power of total focus on cultural wedge issues, distilling them to their simplest and most potent form, constantly hammering on them in the public space and throwing gasoline on every cultural issue possible, and obstructing Democratic administrations at every turn no matter what was being proposed.

Newt didn't invent the stuff but he's one in a historically long line of unhinged, totally determined folks, who fully recognized, subscribed to, employed and scaled up that method of dominating an opposing political organization. Sadly he's still alive.

[beeatnik]

What's wrong with this guy? Not rhetorical.
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/stat...55038246428672

As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer. His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.

CLM? (Chicano Lives Matter)

[72gmc]

He goes on for two more posts to relate this statement to the larger topics of activism and policing. I read it as his perspective on opportunities for positive change, and his call to not give up hope that Americans can make this country better.

[beeatnik]

Ya, that’s worse. And doesn’t he realize the Democrats are losing Latino (Mexican-Americans) voters in Texas.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BarackOba...55040414867457

“In the aftermath of his murder, a new generation of activists rose up to channel their anguish into organized action, launching a movement to raise awareness of systemic racism and the need for criminal justice and police reform.”

Systemic racism, but only if you’re the right “race.” Maybe I’m not giving him enough credit. Having lived in LA and attended Occidental he’s aware of how disenfranchised Latinx (Chicanos and Mexican immigrants) are in the West and Southwest.

Working age Latinx died at 10x the rate of whites and Asians (2x the rate of Blacks) during the worst of the Pandemic, but ya…


https://salud-america.org/data-latin...edia-coverage/

Stop Latino Hate? Well, maybe if the next Pandemic begin in Mexico. Hi, swine flu!