This week there was another horrific
school shooting, this time in Florida, with seventeen people killed
and numerous injured. Those killed were sons and daughters, friends
and co-workers. They were going about their lives with no inkling
that they would be cut short at the hands of someone with a gun.
They were in a school, an environment that should have been safe.
Now they are gone, with their families and friends left to continue
on with only memories.
We hear on the news that the FBI was
given a tip about the shooter back in January, but failed to follow
up. Apparently a mistake was made, something they will have to deal
with. But this is not the central issue here. It is the gun and who
possessed it. We cannot use the FBI as a scapegoat or as some kind
of political cover. The second amendment to our Constitution gives
people the right to “bear arms”. However, it does not go into
how we are to determine whether or not someone has the capability,
mental stability or maturity of judgment to handle a gun. We have
been left with a system that seems to base the right to possess a gun
only on whether or not the person is breathing.
The mass shootings garner much of the
news attention, which is understandable, given the trauma to so many
people. But there are other cases out here that are worthy of
notice, not just because of those who are hurt, but because they show
what happens when you put a gun in the hands of someone who may, or
may not, act with good judgment. These are shootings by ordinary
people. People who just stumble into events that morph into
situations that end in tragedy.
The first one occurred in January in
Rochester, Minnesota.
Rochester Teen Shot after Traffic Accident
Rochester Teen Shot after Traffic Accident
No incident is all black or white. There are obviously details that we may not know. But did he deserve to die? Over a traffic
accident? One witness to the incident said there was no pushing or
hitting by the victim. It sounds like a conflict between two
immature people, one of whom may have been on some substance and one of whom had a gun. The whole situation got out of hand and now a
person is dead. As his father said, killed in one of the safest
cities in the world.
The second incident occurred just this
past week. Also as a result of a traffic accident.
Man shot after wielding a knife
Man shot after wielding a knife
In this case the shooter was hailed as a hero. As one of the drivers in the accident said, who on earth thinks that a drive on the way home from work will end in being attacked with a knife after a traffic accident? But even here there is tragedy, both for the victim's family and friends and for the shooter himself, an ordinary person who will have to live with having taken a life.
Both of these incidents involved
handguns. The mass shootings involve semi-automatics. But the
pain for those involved is the same. Someone has died needlessly.
And just to add another wrinkle.
And just to add another wrinkle.
There are these guys:
They throw a whole new curve into the
mix when they start making their own guns. So what is to be done?
103 comments:
These untraceable receivers aren't really a great threat. They require machinist capabilities, something most of the right-wing crazies don't have; and almost none of the weird-ass ‛mass shooter’ types are going to have the discipline to learn this kind of work and to acquire the necessary machine tools.
Truth is, those untraceable receivers are just a paranoid's extravagance. There's no real reason for making those when legit weapons can be had so easily, and when breaking the chain of possession is likewise so easy (the ‛private sale’ a/k/a ‛gunshow’ loophole).
I suppose it is really a moot point if we can't get people in Washington to actually enact laws to restrict the sale of guns or the larger capacity magazines.
It is up to us, the American voter, to elect representatives who will take this issue seriously and not be swayed by those who believe that anyone should have the right to own a gun. As I illustrated in this post, even ordinary people who do not have mental illness or some kind of propensity for violence may run into situations where the temptation to use a gun will end in tragedy for someone.
Stopping someone by using a gun does not have to mean shoot to kill. But inexperience and fear are powerful things.
"Stopping someone by using a gun does not have to mean shoot to kill."
I've been fortunate enough to not have to ever test that theory, but I'd be inclined to go along with the ‛shoot to center of the mass’ theory. (If you're not prepared to accept the killing part, then don't shoot; don't even get the gun out.)
That militia guy's logic was pretty watertight alright -- "why do we need guns?" ... "whah, to stop the gubmint from turkin' ore guns". (Ok, he didn't have that accent -- but he should have).
As long as enough people see "second amendment freedoms" as fundamental to American liberty, the country will be consigned to its fate. The US constitution may be a noble document, but to sanctify every word of a 200+ year old script is tantamount to scriptural fundamentalism. The second amendment is one part that has long since outlived its purpose.
I would say the sort of people attracted to militia involvement are naive idealists on the one hand, and power trippers on the other. The latter are probably people with personal frustrations and failures looking for an ennobling purpose. In that regard I would see them as no different from the sort of people who have been susceptible to Islamic terrorist recruiters. It certainly seems like the same M.O. in some cases -- one day you're a petty criminal with a string of convictions, the next you are a crusading warrior fighting the evil system.
Obviously most people who own weapons are not militia members. But lots of them suffer from the same delusions about personal liberty. The notion that you have to come to certain accommodations to live in a civilised society is alien to them. It is personal autonomy taken to a ludicrous extreme.
There is also a certain tragedy of the commons about it -- nobody wants to hear that in order to not have a country awash with deadly weapons, you have to surrender your own first. But that is indeed the case. Because the real carnage is not caused by random malcontents like the militia guys. It's the gangs and the lowlife felons that thrive in the gun culture. "Guns don't kill people -- bad guys with guns kill people". Nobody seems to stop to think about how you identify the bad guys. In a disarmed society that's easy -- they're the people with guns. That makes the job of policing a whole lot easier.
"I would say the sort of people attracted to militia
involvement are…"
I know of several involved in militia movements (some full-on Holy Second Amendment types, some religious fanatics). Went to school with some of these people, got high with some of them in the years after high school, before they found the militias (back in the day). So far as I could tell there wasn't a single naïve idealist among several bunches of them. Lots of angry people, some paranoid crazies, some few religious fanatics, fairly high concentration of racist bastards and general bigots. Some people on power trips, but those types didn't seem to be more concentrated there than in the world at large.
Marcus would make a good candidate. He's angry, and racist, but mostly angry I think.
[Lynnette]: Stopping someone by using a gun does not have to mean shoot to kill.
[Lee C\]: I've been fortunate enough to not have to ever test that theory, but I'd be inclined to go along with the ‛shoot to center of the mass’ theory.
Yes, that is standard law enforcement (in the US) theory, I believe. It is probably more true than not, but one would like to think that if the target is close enough a shot to immobilize would work. But then if the target were that close it is very possible you could be over powered and lose the gun.
*sigh*
There is also the possibility that if someone is high on some kind of substance, such as meth, a shot to merely immobilize wouldn't work. And how is one supposed to know if the person is acting crazy?
Post Script: Studies have shown that reactionary types (most of whom like to call themselves ‛conservatives’) tend to be more fearful than non-reactionary types. They have heightened fear responses to the unknown and heightened aversion responses to things like pictures of spiders, pictures of people of different skin colors, and such as that. A lot of these people are just afraid. The guns make them less afraid; they come to love the guns for that.
The US constitution may be a noble document, but to sanctify every word of a 200+ year old script is tantamount to scriptural fundamentalism. The second amendment is one part that has long since outlived its purpose.
There have been moments where the constitution has been amended. As a society matures and mores change it makes sense to adjust to that. In the case of the second amendment there is no need to bear arms, except for hunting purposes. If ever we got into a situation, such as a civil war, God forbid, the second amendment would be irrelevant anyway.
A lot of these people are just afraid. The guns make them less afraid; they come to love the guns for that.
I know people who have bought guns for protection, both women. One lives out in the country and is often alone, as her husband is gone a lot. The other experienced domestic violence in the past. It's hard to fault them when it is safety they seek. But they are less likely to get into situations that could entail actually using them.
I also know people who hunt and have guns for that. They have no desire whatsoever to hunt people, however.
I can understand both of these scenarios. And both of these types of guns do not lend themselves to rapid fire.
"I also know people who hunt and have guns for that."
I was raised in a hunting culture. Given a rifle early; taught to use it. I never learned to enjoy making the kill. Learned to enjoy the venison though, enjoyed it enough to go ahead and make the kill.
Somebody's gotta do it.
More details are coming out about the Russian deaths in that US air strike in Syria. It appears that our Russian troll factory friend was caught trying to do a snatch and grab on an oil field and ran up against more than he bargained for, unlike in Ukraine.
Somebody's gotta do it.
Considering the damage done to my garden last year, I'd say so.
What, somebody shot up your garden??? :-O
... oh, you mean deer! :) :) :)
Been browsing some articles about these militias. The number of them seems to be increasing exponentially. Although I'd consider them rightwing crazies, a lot of them seem to be neither racist nor "crazy" in the conventional sense. But they have fantastical conspiratorial notions -- these guys for instance are prepared to shoot, stab or hang anyone who forces them to buy healthcare! I have to admit I dislike when the medical insurance bill arrives in the post, but that seems a bit excessive.
Seems a lot of the groups are faith-based... unfortunately the sort of wacky protestant millenarianist kind of faith that the US has perfected. They also have some pretty strange ideas about democracy -- basically that you get to opt out of it as soon as Obama or any other socialist bogeyman expects you to sign up for healthcare.
... but then some of your leftwingers have turned out to have conspiratorial mindsets and anti-democratic tendencies of their own.
Couple of guys whom I do not recognize, writing in ForeignPolicy, claim that Erdoğan is now harboring Da‘esh and al-Qaeda fighters in Turkey.
TrumpTweets: Shorthands is having himself a Sunday morning twitterburst over the Russian/Collusion investigation.
... oh, you mean deer! :) :) :)
Bah, humbug! Pesky things. And I'm not even going to get into all of the turkeys we've got flapping around...
It looks like that article is about 8 years old, Petes. I don't know what the numbers are like now, but I do believe that we have seen an increase in the more extremist elements acting out.
‘We do simulation but we don’t condone anything that is illegal,’ he tells me. ‘If someone is to show up at one of our exercises with an illegal weapon they’ll be turned away.’
Well, I would take that with a grain of salt. Forming a militia with an intent to become above US law is not exactly what I would call law abiding.
But these are the guys I would say may make up the core of Trump supporters.
I would like to ask my cousin who lives in this area if she has heard of this militia.
Shorthands is having himself a Sunday morning twitterburst over the Russian/Collusion investigation.
Other people have noticed this as well. One proposed the theory that Trump is getting a little more worried, if that is possible, about the Mueller investigation because he does have something to hide and thinks Mueller will eventually track it down.
He likened it to Nixon's behavior toward the end of his Presidency. (I will not get my hopes up, though, on that.)
"…because he does have something to hide and thinks
Mueller will eventually track it down."
I think Mueller's already tracked it down and is now gathering all the evidence he can find. He's gonna havta have an airtight case in order to convince the dedicated Trumpkins. (At which point they'll decide that they don't really care--they supported Trump before; still do--turns out it doesn't really change anything for them if Putin supports him too).
As long as the dedicated Trumpkins believe thus the Republican Congress will never convict, no matter what the evidence. (Which is why I think Mueller will eventually go for an indictment by the grand jury.)
"…wacky protestant millenarianist kind of faith…"
There are Catholic militia as well. OrdoMilitarius
How white nationalists fooled the media about Florida shooter
ABC, AP and others ran with false information on shooter’s ties to extremist groups.
By SHAWN MUSGRAVE 02/16/2018 03:13 PM EST Updated 02/16/2018 06:27 PM EST
Following misrepresentations by a white nationalist leader and coordinated efforts by internet trolls, numerous researchers and media outlets spread a seemingly false claim that the man charged with killing more than a dozen people at a Florida high school belonged to an extremist group.
Law enforcement agencies say they have no evidence so far to support this claim, and the rumor appears to have been perpetrated by white nationalist trolls themselves.
-- politico.com
How sick do you have to be to think that associating yourself with shooting schoolkids is good publicity? I guess they are attention-seeking shitbags aiming for notoriety. :-/
In other news, the Andromeda Galaxy has been unexpectedly downsized and is now "only" the same size as the Milky Way. What's a mere 400 billion solar masses between close friends, huh?
As long as the dedicated Trumpkins believe thus the Republican Congress will never convict, no matter what the evidence.
Which makes the 2018 mid-term election even more interesting.
What's a mere 400 billion solar masses between close friends, huh?
lol! Someone really messed up that original calculation. One of those, was my face red moments...
You gotta wonder if Trump ever thinks about anyone else besides himself?
One students response to Trump's tweet:
"Oh my god. 17 OF MY CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS ARE GONE AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO MAKE THIS ABOUT RUSSIA???!! HAVE A DAMN HEART. You can keep all of your fake and meaningless 'thoughts and prayers'."
Well, Trump wanted to reach out to the American public, and I guess he has.
"…2018 mid-term election…"
Might get enough Democrats in the House to charge an impeachment. (Only need 50% + 1 to approve the charges.) However, a conviction and removal from office requires a ⅔ majority in the Senate. The Democrats will never get that kind of majority in the Senate, not in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Trying to impeach Trump and failing to do so may be worse than not trying at all. He will argue to his dedicated Trumpkins that this proves he wasn't guilty in the first place, and they will pretend to believe it. That makes whatever comes after even more partisan.
Trump will supposedly hold his very own listening session with somebody ("high school students and teachers) on Wednesday. NewYorkPost
So far as I can tell this will not include the students or teachers from Stoneman Douglas High School, but will instead utilize students and teachers from dedicated Trumpkin backgrounds, specially selected by the Trump administration for their photogenic value to the Trump administration.
(My guess is they catch hell for this idea and abandon the whole enterprise before Wednesday comes around.)
Article in the WeeklyStandard says that Trumpkins believe whatever Trump believes, and shift their beliefs when he shifts his. (Fairly long article by Weekly Standard standards, fairly dense too. You'll wanna allocate some time to this one, or maybe skip it instead.)
The Turks are going to host a meeting in Istanbul between themselves, the Russians, and the Iranians to discuss how the three of them can best coöperate to thwart United States' initiatives in Syria. Al-Monitor
"The biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy
today is in the Oval Office."
Thomas Friedman in The New York Times
This only worth notice because it's Friedman, who's not generally given to such sweeping pronouncements. (If it were coming from Paul Krugman it'd not be worth the notice--he's an excellent economist, but he too often strays into liberal politics where he's no more qualified to pronounce than anyone else.)
Ever since I crowed about our balmy Christmas it's been mostly cold :(
Now, just when I thought Spring was about to spring, it seems we've got a cold bomb coming down from Siberia.
To early to tell but our weather nerds here are also watching a low pressure in the Bay of Biscay which could interact with the cold to produce lots of snow. I don't expect eastern US-style Snowmageddon, but it doesn't take much to bring things here to a standstill. Still the better part of a week away if it happens.
Brrrr.
Trying to impeach Trump and failing to do so may be worse than not trying at all.
Possibly so. Perhaps it would be better to hope for a limiting of his power by electing to Congress more people who would oppose him, be they Democrats or Independents. But if Mueller does have real evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of Trump the need to remove him becomes more imperative.
"The biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy
today is in the Oval Office."
Thomas Friedman in The New York Times
This only worth notice because it's Friedman, who's not generally given to such sweeping pronouncements.
I think as the Trump administration wears on people are just getting weary of all of the drama and obvious self serving obnoxious behavior on the part of Trump.
But Friedman's fear about the danger posed by Trump is shared by others. David Frum, who served in the George W. Bush administration, has a book out that basically says the same thing, Trumpocracy.
Friedman and Frum are just saying what so many of us out here believe. Trump has done nothing to enhance or uphold the office of President. He is not doing the job for which he was elected.
Ever since I crowed about our balmy Christmas it's been mostly cold :(
Bwahahaha! The weather Gods are having some fun at your expense.
We just had some snizzle here today. Fortunately I don't have far to drive and my snowblower started just fine.
Still the better part of a week away if it happens.
Oh well, then I wouldn't worry too much. A lot can happen in a week. It could be a fizzle...or not...
[Lynnette]: "But if Mueller does have real evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of Trump..."
Don't worry. He doesn't :)
The story won't go away though, just like the foreign-born Muslim Obama one never did. These things are designed to cast doubt and delegitimise, that's their purpose.
[Lynnette]: "A lot can happen in a week. It could be a fizzle...or not..."
If I understand it right, the conditions for this one are pretty much baked in already. It's a high pressure system three times the width of the US that is oozing westward to block the Atlantic regime. Caused, apparently, by an SST -- sudden stratospheric warming over the Arctic which disrupts the polar vortex and reverses the normal west to east flow over high latitudes. For us in Oirland, though, there's always a question of whether it makes it this far as we are always right on the very boundary of Atlantic influence. The weather forecasters have started to push out some gently warnings, so they're taking it seriously. More excitable people are talking about a repeat of 1963, or even 1947 ... two of the coldest winters in these parts in several centuries. Hardly likely when it's already nearly March :)
"He doesn't"
It would appear that you are unfamiliar with the elements of the criminal offense known as ‘obstruction of justice’.
TrumpTweets: Shorthands is doing his damnedest to get a rise out of the Democrats by attacking Obama over the Obama administration's failure to take more aggressive action against Russian election meddling. Attacks on Hillary aren't having the effect he desires (changing the subject from the investigation to how outrageous can Trump be). So, he's looking for another button to push.
Don't worry. He doesn't :)
Oh no, you have that backwards. It would be if he doesn't that I would worry.
These things are designed to cast doubt and delegitimise, that's their purpose.
Somehow I don't think Mueller is that kind of guy. He is quite serious.
The weather forecasters have started to push out some gently warnings, so they're taking it seriously.
From what you described that probably isn't a bad idea.
We seem to be stuck in an odd freezing and thawing pattern. Every time we get a snowstorm we then get a thaw followed by a refreezing. Makes for some unpleasant icing conditions. A more usual pattern is for it to get cold and then stay cold until March, when we would then get that thawing and freezing situation.
Shorthands is doing his damnedest to get a rise out of the Democrats by attacking Obama over the Obama administration's failure to take more aggressive action against Russian election meddling.
That's way old. It didn't work before and it won't work now. He might be better served if he took notice of all of those kids scattered around the White House protesting against guns.
The NewYorkTimes reports on an apparent rift developing between Chief of Staff Kelly and Son-in-Law Kushner over Kushner's failure to clear routine security checks and get a permanent security clearance. May be trouble brewing in Mar-a-Lago.
[Lynnette]: "Somehow I don't think Mueller is that kind of guy."
Oh no, I'm not suggesting that. But Mueller hasn't accused Trump of anything. I'm saying that anti-Trumpers everywhere will internalise the idea that Trump has been accused, even though he has not. Just like the rightwingers internalised all those mad ideas about Obama.
Speaking of conspiratorial rightwingers, I see the Glenn Hannibaugh machine has taken to attacking the Florida students calling for gun control. The students either don't know what they're talking about or are actively in league with the FBI to damage Trump! Disgraceful behaviour from the wingnuts.
Lee:
"I know of several involved in militia movements (some full-on Holy Second Amendment types, some religious fanatics). [...] Lots of angry people, some paranoid crazies, some few religious fanatics, fairly high concentration of racist bastards and general bigots. Some people on power trips, but those types didn't seem to be more concentrated there than in the world at large."
Out of curiosity, how common are those among shooters and/or mass shooters? My limited view is that at least mass shooters tend to be more of the loner variety. The weird kid in school sort.
Lee:
"Marcus would make a good candidate. He's angry, and racist, but mostly angry I think."
No, I'm not into LARP:ing. I am angry and I do want change, but running around in the forest with an AR15 with a bunch of yahoos wouldn't be for me even if we did have militias, which we don't.
It's actually fairly easy to get a weapon with the same capacity as an AR15 here, although the magazine size is legally limited to 7 bullets. Of course bigger could probably be bought online I guess, at the risk of getting caught doing that and losing the license and the gun.
A hunters license and not too much dirt on your criminal record is all it takes, and there are courses where you can get a hunters license over a few weekends. Or you could join a sports shooting club.
Lee:
"These untraceable receivers aren't really a great threat. They require machinist capabilities, something most of the right-wing crazies don't have; and almost none of the weird-ass ‛mass shooter’ types are going to have the discipline to learn this kind of work and to acquire the necessary machine tools."
Probably correct. I think also bump-stocks are sort of a straw-man. It takes a very specific type of scenario where a bump-stock is even useful when it comes to killing lots of people. The Vegas shooting was one such scenario sure, but the only one I can even think of.
Elevated site, stacks of magazines, plenty of time to reload in peace and a large crowd to fire into from afar. In that specific case it's not about aim but about how many bullets you can shoot in a general direction over a certain period of time, and there a bump-stock is useful. In most other cases it's likely to be counter productive.
But I do think bump-stocks will be made into a convenient scapegoat that can be sacrificed at some point. They are cheap and the gun companies do not make very much money off of them and they are not useful in most imaginable combat situations. They serve little purpose even for gun nuts other than maybe for fun at the range. A perfect sacrificial lamb to show that "something is being done".
"…how common are those among shooters and/or mass shooters?"
To my knowledge, none of our school shooter types have been militia members. Dylann Roof (church shooter, but not a relevant difference) was a remote stringer of sorts; he had shown some interest in some organized craziness of the ‘Daily Stormer’ variety, but I don't know of any affiliation with an actual militia even with Roof.
"The Vegas shooting was one such scenario sure, but
the only one I can even think of."
Now that it's been thought of, it can be replayed again and again and again. We got a lot of tall buildings to shoot out of.
Yes of course it could. But that takes more or less a terrorism motive. Most mass-shootings have, as far as I can tell, a more "local" motive. As in the killer strikes at the workplace, his school or some such. He aims to kill certain people, not just random people.
I bet if you asked a professional soldier going into battle, if he for some reason couldn't get a regular full-auto assault rifle, if he would prefer an AR15 with or without a bump-stock he would choose one without. A spray-and-pray Taliban would like one, but a professional soldier would not.
That said I'm not defending bump-stocks. I can't see any reason at all for them to be useful other than for maybe fun at the shooting range and in mass shootings into a dense crowd like in Vegas. So of course they should be banned from the open market.
My point was rather that bump-stocks can be used as a convenient scapegoat in a situation like this. Politicians can ban them to prove they "take this serious". And while they will still bellyache for the hell of it most gun-lovers (and likely the NRA) will be ready to sacrifice them because they do not have much monetary value to the weapons industry and they are also pretty useless for gun-nuts in most scenarios. So something is "done" while very little is actually done.
But Mueller hasn't accused Trump of anything.
No, he has not, and he will not unless there is valid evidence.
I'm saying that anti-Trumpers everywhere will internalise the idea that Trump has been accused, even though he has not.
There are certainly those who may latch onto this as a done deal, even though it is not. For those people it's called wishful thinking.
But the fear of what people might think is no reason to stop a legitimate investigation.
So I've been discussing with people at work the gun issue. One person has made the argument that her father has a huge collection of guns that are kept under lock and key in a gun safe, thus making them safe from possible theft. I made the counter argument that locks can be broken and guns stolen. She said that it would take a lot to break the lock and anyway the thief would end up dead before that could happen because of her father's concealed gun which he has with him. Her father is ex military.
I did make the point that her father was not always home, but she kind of walked away at that point.
She is from the south and that is where her father lives (not Florida).
A quality gun safe, properly installed, will deter most thieves. It's not that they can't be penetrated; they certainly can, but rather that it takes too long. The thieves usually move along to search for easier targets.
My limited view is that at least mass shooters tend to be more of the loner variety. The weird kid in school sort.
Yes, which is why some of our elected officials look at the mental health issue as being the place to start with limiting these attacks. Unfortunately, some people do not have the monetary wherewithal for counseling. So we would need proper funding of some kind to help with this. If our current administration is successful in cutting health care and other safety nets I would think that would be in question.
Limiting access to, at least, the semi-automatic weapons or the number of rounds that can be fired would seem like a logical additional step.
Oh, that was so weird, the power just went out...
It's not that they can't be penetrated; they certainly can, but rather that it takes too long.
No, they would have to be directly targeting the home if they knew there were a lot of guns and the owner wasn't going to be home for an extended time, such as a vacation.
As far as I know you have to own a certain amount of land here in order to own a gun. As in, if you own a farm you can own a shotgun (nothing else, not even a handgun and certainly not an assault rifle). It is subject to annual inspection and licensing and you have to demonstrate that you have somewhere secure to put it.
Outside of that gun use is limited to shooting clubs and you can't personally possess a gun outside the confines of the club. What's more, outside of clay pigeon shooting with a shotgun at a regulated site, you can't just walk up to a club and start shooting. Day membership is illegal. You have to go through checks and get authorised, and even then the range of weapons is highly restricted, and weapons must be either owned by or stored at the club.
Even our regular police aren't armed.
And by the way, it's not because it's a laid back pacifist country. It has a much more recent independence and civil war history than the USA. Taking guns out of society was a conscious effort over the first decades of the State's existence.
Cold air is still barrelling our direction. The setup with the jet stream is pretty weird looking (see the latter half of this vid). Marcus you're going to be seeing some of this too.
The Met office produces predictions for upper air temperatures, the so-called 850 HPa charts, 850 hectoPascals being the pressure at about 1.5 km / 5,000 feet where there is little influence from local conditions on the ground. The current charts are awesome, showing temps in the minus twenties. We are looking at daytime highs around freezing at ground level (which may sound balmy in Minnesota but is very rare here, especially for extended periods which this is looking like).
Frac sand is gold dust again.
Why the NRA should be afraid
They're the most formidable foes the NRA will face -- and it's because they're so young.
I could say the same for some politicians. They may not vote now, but they will shortly.
Cold air is still barrelling our direction.
Weeelll, welcome to my world. :)
We are on tap for more snow come Thursday night into Friday. I was kind of hoping for at least a small break before I had to shovel again.
"…but they will shortly."
Yeah, I think the Republicans are also gonna find their economic model to be rejected by the next generation pretty much across the board. (And properly so; it's built on fantasies.)
I honestly think that's why the Republican politicians are so impervious to better ideas; they have no real hope of seeing their party survive, so they're getting ready to abandon the ship as it were, after they've cashed in as best they can.
[Lynnette]: "I was kind of hoping for at least a small break before I had to shovel again."
Was just thinking when I saw people talking about getting supplies in advance of our coming cold, I don't even know anybody with a snow shovel, let alone a snow blower, or winter tyres or chains. Even a windscreen scraper for frost is a rarity.
Anyway, here's some potentially good news... a new study in Nature rules out high estimates of Earth's sensitivity to CO2 levels. The lead author of two of the IPCC reports is taking it seriously.
... oh, yeah, meant to quote someone from one of our online forums saying we could get lots of snow "because we're on the same latitude as Boston" ;-)
Don't know what they're teaching in geography class these days. Boston is on the same latitude as Barcelona, which is a two and a half hour flight directly south of here. We're on the same latitude as Polar Bear Provincial Park on the shores of Hudson Bay :) :) :)
Lynnette -- fell across this while listening to some music on youtube. What an awesome guy! Thought I recognised an accent from your neck of the woods. Sure enough (and sadly) there's a link to a Star Tribune obituary in one the comments.
Lynnette: "Yes, which is why some of our elected officials look at the mental health issue as being the place to start with limiting these attacks. Unfortunately, some people do not have the monetary wherewithal for counseling. So we would need proper funding of some kind to help with this. If our current administration is successful in cutting health care and other safety nets I would think that would be in question."
Well, that'd be a question of curing people who are insane/sick enough to do a mass-shooting. And I am not at all convinced many of them realise they are sick in the head and would go for treatment even if it was free and available. You can't expect them to get treatment, you have to try and keep them from getting guns.
The more prudent approach IMO would be to have guns sold only to people who had obtained a "gun permit", a licence. And to do the mental screening there and at the would be gun byers' expence. Kinda like how Pete describes the situation in Ireland but obviously with less restrictions in your case.
And also to make gun ownership laws that stipulate that you just can't leave your guns around but have to keep them in a safe place, a gun locker. Or you lose your license.
That'd probably be a good start. IMO, that is.
Kinda freaky this. I am at home right now and was checking out that harmonica vid Pete recommended to Lynnette. On the right side at Youtube were recommended vids for me and half of them were basically along the lines of what I watched at my iPad when I was on holiday just recently.
The link from my holiday iPad used in Thailand to "them" knowing I am the same user, not even logging in, on my home PC here in Malmö... How?
OK so I guess I also have used my iPad to check my work-mail which is Gmail, and I have done so at this PC too. That's the only link between the two I can imagine. Or do they geo-track my devices somehow?
I mean it's convenient and all, but it still feels a bit 1984 if you know what I mean.
On a somewhat unrelated matter, but related to mass shootings, I want to get in here and state a prediction. We will, in Europe, in the near future (within 10 years or so) begin to see white on immigrants terror attacks, as well as more terror attacks against indegonous Europeans by recent or 2:d gen immigrants (where attepts are already numerous but our secret police have actually done a geat job at stopping most of em).
Lee thinks that I am an angry man, and I am. But I am still (I think so at least) kinda level headed and I am not a violent man and I do have lots to lose, both monetary and socially speaking. So I would never go on a shooting spree or some such.
But the anger I am feeling is felt by MANY, and among those many there are bound to be quite a few who are apt to boil over and take violent action.
I see it coming. It's regrettable but probably unavoidable at this stage. When the first mosque shooting comes, remember I said this.
Also journalists might get hit hard. Lots of people really do HATE them at this point in time.
We had two recent and very similar crimes in Sweden. Both involved a man about 30 and a woman just over 20. In both cases the man killed the woman because she wanted to end the relationship. In one case with a hammer, in the other with a knife.
In the first case the man was a Swede, white and with a swedish name. His picture has been on the cover of basically EVERY newspaper in the country, along with his name and a several page story about the crime. Millions have seen that.
In the second case you had a blond swedish girl stabbed by her African ex boyfriend. Total media blackout followed. The perp has not been shown or named in ANY newspaper. Only "alternative news", often labeled Fake News by the establishment, on the Internet covered that one.
Now the second story didn't reach Millions bc the MSM blackout, but it reached hundreds of thousands. And those people are asking themselves WHY it is that this discrepancy in reporting exists. And some, most are mighty, mighty angry about it.
Rick Gates, Trump campaign aide and long-time assistant to Paul Manafort, is going to have his second closed, sealed-record hearing before the D.C. federal court tomorrow. Speculation is he's coöperating with Mueller and he's got something to say that Mueller doesn't want Trump to know Mueller knows.
Yeah, I think the Republicans are also gonna find their economic model to be rejected by the next generation pretty much across the board.
It may take awhile. The tax reform act may have fooled enough people into thinking it was a positive step for them.
Regarding that, I was going to mention, but forgot, that Fareed Zakaria interviewed Bill Gates on his program on Sunday. One of the questions was what Gates thought about the tax reform law that was passed. While Gates was very careful during the interview he was quite blunt with his answer, saying that it was a regressive tax law that benefited the wealthy, like him, rather than the middle class or lower income Americans. He felt that people at his income level should pay more in taxes. A sentiment that, I believe, Warren Buffet shares.
I honestly think that's why the Republican politicians are so impervious to better ideas; they have no real hope of seeing their party survive, so they're getting ready to abandon the ship as it were, after they've cashed in as best they can.
The problem with that is that, unless they leave the country, they will have to live with the consequences of their actions.
Speculation is he's coöperating with Mueller and he's got something to say that Mueller doesn't want Trump to know Mueller knows.
Sometimes the chickens do come home to roost.
I don't even know anybody with a snow shovel, let alone a snow blower, or winter tyres or chains.
Oh dear, then you may have problems. Perhaps some shopping might be in order.
We are set to get between 3 and 6 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow morning. I was just trying to pull a little off of the roof above the front door this morning. It tends to drift up there for some reason. Annoying, as I don't want it falling on anyone (a rather rude awakening for someone) or melting and refreezing on the front steps.
I'll have to check out the links tonight...
"The tax reform act may have fooled enough people into
thinking it was a positive step for them."
There's no doubt but that he's picked up points from passage of the tax cuts. However, recent polling suggests it's mostly a matter of getting better reviews from economically ‛conservative’ Republicans, those ‛establishment’ Republicans who'd given up on him and who didn't think he'd be able to put through the tax cuts (which he wasn't able to do--that was all McConnell and Ryan). So…. He doesn't seem to have picked up any support from independents, but is mostly just getting better reviews from folks who were gonna vote for him next time anyway--they're just happier about it now.
Word is that the Pentagon is trying to find some job for White House advisor H.R. McMaster (NSA) that they can make look like a promotion, something that would call for him to get a fourth star as he exits the White House. Other rumors are that Trump is considering ways to block that move and force McMaster to retire instead.
Post Script for our foreign readers: McMaster is still a three-star general. He got a special dispensation to serve in the Trump White House as Trump's National Security Advisor.
The CNN townhall on gun control is up on youtube both in full and in multiple parts. Have been dipping in and out. It pretty much sums up the divide between the gun lobby and the gun control advocates. The former want to invent ever more labyrinthine ways of predicting whose gonna be a nutjob and denying them access to weapons, the latter are asking (very sensibly in my opinion) why ordinary people need weapons at all. The stock answer is that people need weapons to defend themselves, but (imho) that can only lead to an arms race. The logical consequence is Trump's asinine suggestion that teachers should double up as armed security guards.
What an awesome guy!
Yes! That was some great harmonica. He was fortunate to be able to enjoy the beauty of his music over such a long and eventful life.
Yup, he sounded very Minnesotan. lol!
Marcus, if you've logged into gmail, Google has associated your device with a Google account. It also aggregates your browsing, Google search,and youtube history among other things. Yes, it's scary ... even scarier than tripadvisor inviting you to write reviews of restaurants it knows you've been in from the GPS on your phone. But it's also kind of unavoidable. If you log into anything online you are giving away your data. One option is to never use anything owned by Google and a bunch of other tech companies. That's pretty much impossible. The next best thing is to never associate any personal information with those accounts. But even an e-mail address is personal information, and can be used to search the web to aggregate data. I reckon the trick is to minimise your web footprint. You could find out some stuff about me from what I've posted (and the folks here know my surname from my email for instance).
[Marcus]: "I want to get in here and state a prediction. We will, in Europe, in the near future (within 10 years or so) begin to see white on immigrants terror attacks"
Whatcha mean "will"? What about the guy who drove a car into a crowd of Muslims coming out of a mosque in London. He definitely intended it as a terror attack. He killed one person, and he'd be dead himself if the imam hadn't pulled people off him.
I'm sure there are other examples.
[Me]: "I don't even know anybody with a snow shovel, let alone a snow blower, or winter tyres or chains."
[Lynnette]: "Oh dear, then you may have problems. Perhaps some shopping might be in order."
Well I've never seen the point in shovelling snow -- it's gonna melt sometime anyway and, here at least, "sometime" is probably pretty soon. The trick is to just not venture outside for a few days ... which I guess is why the country gets shut down by a few flurries of snow. But think of all the savings on snow shovels and tyres :) :) :)
At least we salt and grit the roads nowadays, which we usen't to. But I've still never seen a snow plough. I don't know if we have any. I suppose it's possible they have one at the airport ;-)
And I am not at all convinced many of them realise they are sick in the head and would go for treatment even if it was free and available. You can't expect them to get treatment, you have to try and keep them from getting guns.
I tend to agree with you on this. While I think better health care for the mentally ill is a good idea, it will not completely solve the mass shooting issue. There simply needs to be more gun control. The idea that the ability to collect guns is more important than human life is ridiculous. Those who wrote the second amendment were living in another time. There were no semi-automatic weapons then.
I've been avoiding putting up this link because it seemed just so obvious, but… The subject keeps coming back up here, so…
Title: The Mental Health System Can’t Stop Mass Shooters by Amy Barnhorst, writing in The New York Times
Well I've never seen the point in shovelling snow...
Kinda depends on how much you get. Here if we did that our driveways would eventually become a sheet of ice by mid-winter. I hate that stuff.
Sometimes we will do that late in March when you know it's going to be going away soon. Unless, of course, you get a foot and you need to get out the next day. :)
It's snowing here now.
I think I'd hate snow beyond an infrequent novelty flurry :)
"I've been avoiding putting up this link because it seemed just so obvious"
Obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together, which apparently doesn't include Trump or Dana Loesch, the NRA spokesperson at CNN's Town Hall meeting. Another telling development is that there was an armed "school resource deputy" (whatever that means, but I believe it was a public official tasked with protecting the school) at the Florida shooting. He loitered outside for four out of the six minutes that the shooting was going on, and never went inside. He was suspended from his job but has now resigned.
So an armed enforcement officer won't take on a teenage school shooter, but Trump wants teachers to shoulder that burden. Nuts! Fox News website's report on the armed deputy is sandwiched between two reports on teachers who have armed themselves. Just because you can dig up some teachers prepared to do it doesn't make it a sensible solution. The BBC's reports that Trump wants 20% of teachers to be armed, and notes that that would be over 700,000 of them -- nearly the size of the Russian army!
It pains me to say it, because I tend to have more sympathy with the rightwingers than the leftwingers on many subjects, but this is a massive blindspot on their part. They are arguing from the point of view of defence of constitutional freedoms, but this one doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The "right to bear arms" has clearly been divorced from its original context and has become a rallying cry for wingnuts like Dana Loesch, and people who don't want to upset them, like Trump.
Hannity tries to smooth things over by debriefing Dana Loesch after the CNN Town Hall. It's stomach churning. While any threats that were made to her are to be deplored, she sprang right out of the traps alleging the Florida students were being "forced to grieve by the media". This is pure rightwing bullshit.
Pete: "Whatcha mean "will"? What about the guy who drove a car into a crowd of Muslims coming out of a mosque in London. He definitely intended it as a terror attack."
Forgot 'bout him. OK there has been an attempt. My point still stands, these kind of things will only increase.
NYT: Rick Gates, former Manafort aide, former deputy campaign chairman for Trump, is expected to plead guilty to whatever Mueller wants him to plead to, by this afternoon. Petes' bravdo aside, Mueller may very well be closing in on charges against Trump himself.
Pete: "One option is to never use anything owned by Google and a bunch of other tech companies. That's pretty much impossible. The next best thing is to never associate any personal information with those accounts. But even an e-mail address is personal information, and can be used to search the web to aggregate data. I reckon the trick is to minimise your web footprint. You could find out some stuff about me from what I've posted (and the folks here know my surname from my email for instance)."
My option is to say it's freaky but f-ck it anyway. I am not PC online, as you know, but I do not commit any crimes either. I don't like this kind of tracking of users, it could become dangerous under a different regime, as it is for the Chinese already. But it's a nuisance I am for the moment ready to, and forced to, live with in order to use the Internet the way I like to.
And it wasn't exactly news to me that we are mapped and mined for personal data, I just thought this case felt freaky. But then I had forgotten that Google actually owns Youtube.
Pete: "So an armed enforcement officer won't take on a teenage school shooter, but Trump wants teachers to shoulder that burden. Nuts! Fox News website's report on the armed deputy is sandwiched between two reports on teachers who have armed themselves. Just because you can dig up some teachers prepared to do it doesn't make it a sensible solution. The BBC's reports that Trump wants 20% of teachers to be armed, and notes that that would be over 700,000 of them -- nearly the size of the Russian army!"
Nuts indeed. Also you can't expect any armed teachers to carry more than maybe a handgun. And a handgun against an assault rifle is not great odds, unless the teacher in question managed to be just at the right place at the right time to shoot the shooter from close range. And we're talking minutes anyway, so the shooter might well do lots of damage before the armed teacher even realize what's going on.
I too am, again as you know, kinda right-leaning on most issues but I too think the gun situation in the US is just insane.
I'd start with gun-permits, licences, to even be allowed to own a firearm.
Also maybe restricting some of the more military style weapons. But on the other hand focusing on the style of the weapon, or magazine size or bump-stocks, is a bit like just trying to lessen effects, not stop mass shootings. After all, in the Virginia Tech case the shooter had two normal hand guns, a Glock and another similar pistol. And he killed more people than in the Florida case where an AR15 was used.
I think I'd hate snow beyond an infrequent novelty flurry :)
It looks like we got between 4 and 5 inches last night.
We are set to perhaps get another 2 Saturday afternoon and then a heavier band of snow is coming Saturday evening with a possible 6 inches.
I'll have to get some more gas for my snow blower tomorrow I'm thinking.
Lynnette: "I'll have to get some more gas for my snow blower tomorrow I'm thinking."
What 'bout that Global Warming then? Gas? You're not gonna pull your straw to that proverbial anthill?
Shovel, whydontcha?! It's good exercise anyway and most of ya'll Yanks are fatty fat fats anywho.
Go shovel, for Christs sake!
Hi I am Lynnette! I use way more gasoline than the average person on earth does in a year bcaze I needz snow blower. I also shill for multiculti while I live in an all white neigborhood. I'm Lynnette, I love evlythang. I loves Wakanda, and Wakanda is true. I am Lynnette, I am a GOOD person!
(You know she's been smuggling snow blowers into Wakanda don't you?)
Word is going around that there were as many as four (4) Broward County Deputies who arrived and took up positions around the Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Fl., but did not enter. Wasn't merely the one deputy--four of them.
[Lynnette]: "It looks like we got between 4 and 5 inches last night. We are set to perhaps get another 2 Saturday afternoon and then a heavier band of snow is coming Saturday evening with a possible 6 inches."
LOL. Predictions of the mere possibility of snow for the British Isles have the population trembling in fear a week in advance. People are loading up with emergency shopping in case of a few snow flurries. I know I joke about your weather but it really is a different world! I do wonder about your original settlers in the north east and upper midwest. I reckon they must have arrived in the summer and not realised their mistake until after they'd committed themselves :)
[Marcus]: "What 'bout that Global Warming then?"
Yeah, snowblowers is wot done it. You do like yer Friday night benders don't you? Although it looks like you were sober at 18:27 CET and ossified by 20:13 CET. That bargain crate of Mekhong whiskey and Scorpion vodka y'all brought home from Thailand must be seriously dented already. Or else ya can't hold yer liquor and should stick to the Danish booze cruise for lighter beer ;)
Trump logic: "He trained his whole life but when it came time to do something he didn't have the courage"... referring to the cop who didn't tackle the Florida school shooter. Yet people who trained for four years to teach maths or geography oughta be defending against armed nutjobs. I think the orange alien atop his head must've tightened its grip during that one.
Trump is going to have his military parade on Veterans Day. TheHill There for awhile it was beginnin’ to look like the Pentagon was gonna drag their feet on that one until he forgot about it. But he showed them. He didn't forget.
LOl!
Now they are saying snow starting 3 to 4 tonight with a possible 5 to 7 inches in my area.
Gotta stock up that thimble full of gas I use in my hot snowblower to contribute to climate change and get my other errands done before the darkness sets in...
Later...
Pete: "Yeah, snowblowers is wot done it."
Just teasing a bit. Fur Lulz.
Pete: "You do like yer Friday night benders don't you?"
I do actually, and I deserved one last night. Landed a great contract for the firm this week and am most likely set up for a nice bonus. :)
Pete: "Although it looks like you were sober at 18:27 CET and ossified by 20:13 CET."
Not quite ossified (had to look that one up, although the context kinda gave it away), but fairly buzzed I guess.
Pete: "That bargain crate of Mekhong whiskey"
No way. Mekhong whiskey? I'd just as soon drink the gasoline from Lynnette's snow blower!
Pete: "Or else ya can't hold yer liquor and should stick to the Danish booze cruise for lighter beer ;)"
Red wine in winter, with the occasional Belgian Ale thrown in, and swedish beer in summertime - that's more my palet. Wether or not I can "hold it" depends, sometimes I do not want to and when I want to I can.
From my measurements we had 6 1/2 inches on the flat. My snowblower actually ran out of gas, so it's lucky I had stocked up. ;)
You CO2 emmitting wench you...
Post a Comment