Wow, pal, what is going here? There is so much wrong with this post, I (almost) do not know where to begin. Is this irony? Is this nuts? Have you been drinking heavily? Please tell me that this is not real. 1. The China attack involved 10 men wielding knives. The Las Vegas shooting was 1 guy with a whole mess o' guns. 2. The Nice attack was just a horrible, isolated incident. Oh, and by the way, the perpetrator was SHOT and KILLED by police. There is no common thread, so to say the "common thread" was that no one was shooting back is just idiotic (and untrue). By the way, there have been 1,624 mass shootings in 1,870 days (as of February 15, 2018,going back to Jan. 1, 2013) in the US. This is all AFTER the Sandy Hook, Newtown, Connecticut shooting. 3. "It doesn't help that CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC are all left leaning and the only right network is FOX." That is bullshit. None of those networks are "left leaning". The main media (except, MSNBC) in America are all center to center-right. If one actually looks at their news coverage, there is almost no coverage of liberal/progressive causes. No comments about universal health care, no calling out of the bullcrap right wing talking points ("Social Security is going broke" "tax cuts are great" "right to work" etc.). To call the networks you cite as "left leaning" is right wing propaganda and simply untrue. By the FOX is not even "right wing" anymore; it has basically become Republican propaganda. 4. I watched that entire "Pizzagate" video and it is complete and total bullshit. The "symbol" on the pizza place is not a pedophile symbol. The Sex Stains are a band that played there once and are NOT pedophiles (a 10 second search confirms it). A couple of emails about Dennis Hastert? Well, he was Speaker of the House when Podesta was in the White House, so it is pretty understandable there would be emails referencing him. I imagine I could find thousands and thousands of comment by Republicans saying unbelievably positive things about Hastert. Does that make all of them pedophiles? (probably not ALL of them) Hell, the video producers even say that the entire story about a pedophile ring is horse shit, but that there are some "strange" coincidences. 5. Putin is not THE reason Trump sleazed his way into the White House, but Russian interference in the election is one of the reasons Trump managed to become president, despite losing the election by over 2,000,000 votes. 6. "Have a society that kotows to women for the past 50 years creating every single type of support system possible for them while completely ignoring young men and it's not a shock this happens." That may be the single stupidest thing that I have ever read...and I am over 50 years. Society does not "kowtow" to women. Shit, women still do not have equal pay for chrissakes. Women are still lagging far behind in elected office (You know, like President, where she "wins" by over 2,000,000 and STILL loses). Women are 50.2% of the population, but 22% of the Senate (and that is waaay higher than just 25 years ago). 1992 was the first time there were THREE women in the Senate at the same time. There have been 39 women governors in the entire history the nation. 91% of rape and sexual assault victims are women. One in five women will be raped at some point in their lives (1 in 71 men). 94% of "murder-suicide" victims are women. Over half of the women murdered in the United States are murdered by their intimate partner (or ex-partner). The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500% Yeah, we "kowtow" to women waaaaaaaaay too much. 7. "Disposable male syndrome is real" This is the stand you want to make? Okay, I agree, but talk to any African American male your age on the south and west side of Chicago and ask them about white suburban males feeling "disposable" when the guys on the south side are being locked up, beaten, killed, having their schools destroyed, families destroyed and societies destroyed. "Men's Rights Activists" are not "icky," they are largely misogynistic hate groups. Other than this, I guess you are right. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/oct/02/america-mass-shootings-gun-violence https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default...packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf https://ncadv.org/statistics https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/07/homicides-women/534306/ Again, please tell that your post was not serious. Please.
What's it like out there on Pluto? I see the Cole Hall memorial almost everyday. Screw you and your idiocy.
...and people wonder why I am for the repeal of anti-dueling laws, so that I can open carry. A rapier.
His harp was carved and cunning, His sword prompt and sharp, And he was gay when he held the sword, Sad when he held the harp. For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad. For more info, come to Phyllis's Musical Inn, 1800 W Division St, Chicago 9:00pm tonight. The Wild Oscars will take the stage from 9:00ish, until their parole officers show up. BYOB (Bring yer' own blade). Beer, on the other hand, is likely be in abundance...so I've heard tell. But they'll see yer' money FIRST!
How is the term "mass shooting" being defined in that statistic? Some organizations will not include an incident such as one which happened last year in the City when 9 people were shot but nobody died. There was also at least one, and maybe two, incidents where 7 people were shot and nobody died. So far, there has been one incident this year where 4 were shot, and nobody died. It bugs me that depending on who is making the definition, none of those would be counted. I believe that there are a lot more "mass shootings" than what is being reported in the statistics.
Tom! I've missed you more than anyone since I reverted to lurking status. I may be a little nuts, but I like to dig. Differing politics aside and before the toxic nature of this thread kicks in I'll always respect you and your opinions and look forward to having a drink with you again at some point. I'm buying. 1. "Starting in 2013, federal statutes defined "mass killing" as three or more people killed, regardless of weapons." Yes the China killings were performed by 10 men and when averaged out that equals slightly less than 3 killings and 13 injured per attacker. Depending on the nature of the injuries in a hypothetical scenario some of those injuries could result in fatalities which could elevate the actions of any of those individuals to what we would refer to as a mass killing on an individual basis. The Vegas attack was a whole bunch of guns. No argument there. Although I personally would expect better protection from law enforcement and private security in what is essentially the most surveilled place in the United States. 2. The Nice attack while horrible was not such an isolated incident. Las Ramblas, Barcelona, 17 August 2017 A hired van drove down Barcelona's Las Ramblas district on a sunny afternoon, killing 13 people and injuring 50 more. London Bridge, London, 3 June 2017 A rented van was driven into pedestrians in the London Bridge area. The three attackers then got out of the van and began stabbing people, before being shot by police. A further 8 people died and 48 people were injured, 21 critically. Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, 19 December 2016 A stolen lorry was driven into pedestrians at a Christmas market in Berlin. The attacker had shot the driver of the lorry in order to take it, and then killed 11 pedestrians. There were 56 non-fatal injuries. There's more but you get the idea. I never said they did not shoot back but that they did not shoot back "fast enough". Which is admittedly difficult in these particular examples against a moving vehicle however I believe having armed citizens in this instance may have saved some lives and certainly would've helped to protect some kids in some of the school shootings. The real point of these comparisons is that you can try to minimize casualties by banning whatever you want but if someone wants to kill a lot of people they will find the most effective way available to them to carry out their goals and in my eyes the most effective way to protect yourself and those you care about is with a gun. 3. I'll agree to disagree on this particular point but stuff like this makes me think. My personal favorite is "A source familiar with ....'s thinking" A PERSON FAMILIAR WITH THEIR THINKING? If someone tried to tell me something with certainty and they explain that by saying they're familiar with someone's thinking I'd think they're full of shit. 4. I appreciate you watching the video. If you didn't see anything there that's fine. As for me personally if my friend left his email open and I saw this message and then switched tabs and saw he had his friends Instagram open to this image and then went to his house and saw paintings like this I think I would rethink aspects of our relationship. 5. I don't necessarily think Russian "Hacking" "Tampering" or "Meddling" had any measurable impact on the election unless the Russians deleted Hillary Clinton's itinerary that included all of her stops to the Midwest that she never made. But there is an FBI investigation going on so I'll just wait for the results of that like the rest of you. 6. My least popular bullet point. My 50 year timeline was probably posted in haste after reading the article that Jiggly posted which mentioned a similar timeline. And please don't make that women only make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes argument. That's an average of the entire workforce across all jobs including higher paying more dangerous jobs that women tend to shy away from. Men also on average work longer hours and take less time off than women. If that statistic was truly the case companies would only hire women to save massive amounts of payroll. I'm not going to argue any statistics about abuse or violence because that's not really my point and I'm sure your numbers are correct. My point was women by and large have an incredibly vast support network fostered through peers and social services over many years that men simply do not have and men without any sort of support system are much more likely to lash out in the worst of ways. I used the term "kowtow" because despite all of the "progress" women have made (Progress is in parentheses because it's not entirely certain if these societal changes even show a net benefit to a woman's happiness https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/18/womens-rights-happiness-wellbeing-gender-gap as well as the fact that the vast majority of feminist countries have a less than replacement birth rate among their indigenous population which isn't a good sign of a healthy society) there seems to be a startling lack of agency that shows no signs of being addressed by men or women. 7. Let's not talk about race now, that's a whole other can of worms and I'm tired of typing. Still cold, still a planet. #CelestialDwarfFakeNews Thanks, it's good to be back.
i know i'm right-wing enough to be put on at least one block list, but what the hell is going on with the conspiracy theories in this thread now?
"Russia, Russia, RUSSIA!" is a conspiracy theory. "Bernie woulda won!" is a conspiracy theory. "Pay-for-play! UraniumOne/Haiti/Clinton Foundation/Seth Rich" is a conspiracy theory. "PizzaGate" is a conspiracy theory. Choosing a side is also choosing an enemy and which theory is to be promoted, and which is to be debunked. PS: Bernie woulda won.
Cheers. We may disagree on some stuff, but we can still meet up for a beer or three at a game (or elsewhere)!
It has become crystal clear to me that increased funding for both in- and outpatient mental health care, as well as making it less difficult to commit someone to an institution, is a national security issue.
I completely agree with this position. Mental health is not "the problem" with the gun problem in this nation, it certainly is a contributing factor. I am not sure about this one. However, I am in the midst of studying this issue at the moment. I am a member of a panel set up by the Mental Health court in Cook County and the Chicago Bar Foundation looking into providing pro bono assistance to the families of people with severe mental health issues and the options that may be available. "Committal" is one option, but usually is not the best option. There may be less restrictive means of offering help. By the way there is an "easy" way to have someone committed, but it takes the agreement of the individual living with the mental health issue while that person has capacity. It is called a "Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration."
Are you talking Trump here? Sure, he is unhinged and definitely a threat to national security, but commitment?
In the Guardian piece in my link, "Data from the Gun Violence Archive reveals there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident, not including the shooter" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/oct/02/america-mass-shootings-gun-violence By the way, the Guardian has been working on this project (tracking mass shootings) and tracking police shootings for years. They are doing some pretty great work there.
I was a bit too dismissive about this statement, so I wanted to clarify a bit. This is a phenomenon and is real. There is a real angst out there. I think the rise of White Nationalism in the US is symptom. The heroin epidemic in "suburbia" is a symptom. School violence may be a symptom. The vast majority of mass shootings are commitment by white men, perhaps this "disposable male syndrome" is a symptom. However, the marginalization of women, people of color, immigrants, the elderly, people with disabilities are a HELL of a lot more serious, systemic now and long term in history. Yet, they do not go on shooting rampages at Walmart or McDonalds or schools. Well, there are "gang-related" shootings in the cities, which is absolutely a symptom of disposable make syndrome in certain Hispanic and African American neighborhoods, for the reasons I explained previously.
That's the definition that I prefer to use. I see different stats for "mass shootings," but rarely see a definition of the term cited. According to this website, there were 33 mass shootings in the City alone last year.
Like her or absolutely hate her, NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch is right. Like so many other social ills, the media and many white Americans seem to care about gun violence only when the victims are white kids from the suburbs. When it seemingly becomes an epidemic, then the problem must be addressed and a solution found immediately. Until then... lip service. We have a national epidemic with respect to violence in general and gun violence in particular. We've had this problem for decades now. I disagree with many on how to address it, but at least we are talking about how to address it, and if we will be honest, then let's admit why.
Yes, and Dana Loesch does not even give a shit about gun violence WHEN the victims are white, since guns are more important than people and are a (dubious) Constitutional Right. So, she can just STFU and go away. I agree with this, of course. Guns a health concern, like cigarettes and cars and fried food. We seem to attempt to make the latter three safer and/or discourage their use and consumption. The CDC is prohibited from looking at guns from a health perspective. Why? Dana Loesch, Wayne LaPierre and that band of assholes, including every member of Congress taking their money and, worse, their direction.