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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Gotta beat the high score.
We did have a spree killer shooting up an elementary school
which may or may not be inspired by US spree killers.
There is one guy dead in Arizona after an armed confrontation.
HAPPY LEIF ERIKSON DAY EVERYONE!
The artist formally known as Deviant BraeburnSo who else is stoked for Tuesday night? http://tinyurl.com/pce9p4g
Edit: Fixed it to be tiny.
edited 9th Oct '15 5:05:26 PM by Artificius
"I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once."edited 9th Oct '15 7:16:11 PM by AngelicBraeburn
The artist formally known as Deviant BraeburnI just checked my former favorite conspiracy site to see what they're making of the things going on in the world today.
It's a site that used to be uber-left during the Bush administration, and is now uber-right, and they posted this
◊.
I think the picture says all that needs to be said. Suffice to say, I'm glad I'm out of that phase.
Something I've observed about politics is that, which party is pro-establishment or anti-establishment keeps changing hands. One decade you have anarcho-communists declaring the left as anti-establishment, the other you have anarcho-capitalists declaring the right as anti-establishment.
Leviticus 19:34It's interesting how civil the Democratic campaign has been so far. Sanders and Clinton are both content to present their ideas and visions, avoid mudslinging, and treat each other as Worthy Opponents. I wonder how long that'll last.
It's probably deliberate on both their parts so as to look like the sane adults in the room. With the mess that the Republican primary has turned into, they can use this time to contrast their own behavior later on when one of them is facing off with the Republican candidate.
Plus, trying to out-mudsling the mudslingers is a fight you lose just by entering.
I'm pretty much anti-gun ownership, but since my country is also fucked up with regards to this matter - I'm just too tired to add to the debate about it.
Plants are aliens, and fungi are nanomachines.i've always found america's obsession with gun ownership both disturbing and fascinating myself.
i don't necessarily have a problem with people owning firearms, but it should be a privilege, not a right. a privilege that you earn by proving VERY THOROUGHLY that you deserve it, with rigorous psychological exams, training programs, etc.
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In America, the term "establishment Republican" doesn't quite fit that - it mostly means "not affiliated with the Tea Party," and has connotations of being affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, big business, and tax cuts for the rich without associated spending cuts. Most of us in this thread like them a fair bit better than the Tea Party Republicans.
My problem with that is that any privilege that can be distributed unequally will be. In America, your suggestion would essentially mean that gun ownership would be even more overwhelmingly white than it is now, and I'm not comfortable with such a change. (Then again, historically, the best way to get gun control passed has been for black people to start buying large quantities of guns.)
edited 10th Oct '15 3:10:27 AM by Ramidel
those are valid concerns. all the same, i very strongly feel that owning firearms is a huge responsibility, one which you need to prove that you are ready to take up. it's a matter of principle for me.
i do not necessarily think that letting just anyone have access to a firearm is a good idea. i will freely admit that i'm not supremely informed on the requirements for gun ownership in individual states, if some of them already have such measures props to them.
edited 10th Oct '15 3:22:11 AM by wehrmacht
Texas universities are trying to properly handle the state's campus carry law
in the wake of multiple school shootings.
Mc Raven is responsible for implementing Senate Bill 11. The Republican-run Legislature passed the bill to make Texas the eighth U.S. state to allow concealed handguns to be carried into classrooms, dormitories and other buildings at public and private universities, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Texas joins Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin and Oregon — which suffered a mass shooting last week at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.
The bill many know as the "campus carry" law is scheduled to go into effect August 1, the 50-year anniversary of the UT Tower sniper shooting, one of the first mass murders on a college campus in America. "We are going to follow the law, and we are going to have to figure out the best way to do that to maintain the appropriate campus life, to keep our faculty and our staff and visitors as safe as possible," Mc Raven told CNN.
Groups known as "working committees" at each Texas college are researching ideas on how the laws should be implemented, and will report their findings later this year to the Chancellor's office. Mc Raven said the law creates an "environment of unknown." "I have been shot at before. And so I know what and how people react when they are being shot at. So if you aren't trained in that environment you probably aren't going to react the way people think you will react naturally. And consequently having another armed individual in the middle of an active shooter profile, in some cases could create more confusion than helping to resolve the problem."
"I don't think UT will suddenly become the 'Wild West' with open carry and guns flying," said Allison Peregory, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas. Peregory, a pre-law junior at UT Austin, also works with the national organization Students for Concealed Carry on the UT campus. She describes the Austin campus as liberal overall, with a large "anti-carry" contingent made up of both students and professors.
She plans to get her concealed handgun license as soon as she is eligible and hopes to carry a concealed weapon to class when the law goes into effect next August. She said she will feel safer going to class with a gun, and that carrying guns on campus is nothing new. "UT has had concealed carry just on campus for the past 20 years. It's not a foreign concept. Campus carry is not this new radical thought process." What is new about the current law is that it not only allows guns on campus, but inside campus buildings as well. "A lot of students don't really understand that this bill permits only CHL (concealed handgun licensing) holders to have a concealed weapon. They don't understand how few people that actually means on campus carrying a concealed weapon."
According to the University of Texas at Austin, since the law says you have to be 21 before applying for a concealed carry license, fewer than 1% of students will qualify for a license to carry a concealed weapon in classrooms or academic buildings. The law also does not allow open carry on campus, she said.
Over 280 professors and counting have signed a petition calling the new legislation a "direct assault on our free speech rights." The possibility of guns in the classroom is going to "interfere with students' free speech in the classroom," a place already often tense when certain issues are raised, said Ellen Spiro, professor at UT's Department of Radio-TV-Film and co-founder of the newly formed Gun Free UT.
"There is a movement brewing. I think people are ready to stand up to the gun lobby that is forcing this and going too far to force their guns in our classrooms and dormitories." Some in the group have said they are prepared to engage in civil disobedience to make their point about guns, Spiro said. "People don't want to voice controversial views if somebody is packing a gun next to them who disagrees," she said.
Mc Raven echoed those concerns. "You will stymie discussion — heated discussion in areas — in the classroom." Mc Raven also expressed concern "about any faculty and student engagement in office hours where the faculty member is having to tell the student they didn't make the grade they wanted."
Earier this week, Economics Professor Emeritus Daniel Hamermesh withdrew from UT out of "self protection." "With a huge group of students, my perception is that the risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom and start shooting at me has been substantially enhanced by the concealed-carry law," Hamermesh wrote in his resignation letter to University of Texas at Austin President Gregory Fenves.
UT had 2,557 faculty members as of 2014, and according to the university there are currently 11,596 staff employees, and 11,092 student employees. Many Republican lawmakers believe that more legislation like this is necessary for campus safety, especially at such large institutions. Texas state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, a Republican from Bedford, wrote on his Facebook page that it's "time to double down on our efforts to restore Second Amendment rights and get rid of gun free zones everywhere."
The Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, a nonprofit organization representing 38 campuses in the state, said no decisions had been made about the new law among its members. "We were given discretion at private campuses if we wanted to opt out. Everyone is doing their diligence exercise of consulting with the students, faculty, and staff as required by law and then making a decision," said ICUT President Ray Martinez.
CNN contacted 23 of 36 private four-year colleges and universities that are listed in Texas, and all said they currently ban guns on campus, but are reviewing their policies. Opting out is not an option for Mc Raven, who believes that regardless of whether the law exists, mass shootings on campuses are now an "unfortunate fact of the environment."
And back in the mainstream political sphere, Ted Cruz shows amazing levels of optimism
, apparently ignoring all the virulently anti-Hispanic rhetoric from Trump supporters. Or forgetting that he is, in fact, Hispanic.
Cruz, a generally cautious candidate and public speaker, has made no bones about courting the supporters of Trump, who has won over many fans of the conservative right. He has repeatedly needled his opponents for hitting Trump — wisdom he again shared in the interview Thursday — but Cruz has treated Trump as a serious, viable candidate. And he has long maintained that Trump's rise would benefit the Cruz campaign, saying that Trump has encouraged voters to use a certain set of criteria to evaluate candidates that is favorable to Cruz.
"And I think the reason is what I was just saying, that if you look to the records of all the Republican candidates, there's a big difference between my record and that of everyone else if you ask, who has stood up to Washington?" Cruz told Cosby. "I think his involvement has been tremendously helpful to my campaign, because it's framed the central question of this primary." But the question has always been to what lengths Cruz would go to avoid angering Trump, who has elbowed his rivals who threw the first blow. Cruz, who has made a reputation in Washington for battling his own party, has been the sole Republican not to do that.
Yet there has always been signs that the relationship was more short-term alliance than a long-term political friendship. Cruz invited Trump to appear at an unusual two-candidate rally against the Iran deal largely, Cruz said, because of Trump's ability to get the media to cover it. And a top Cruz adviser once suggested that supporters of Trump at a rally were there to be "part of a show." Trump, for his part, has said he would be open to hitting the Texas freshman should he climb too closely to Trump in the polls.
Short form - most states have some kind of requirement (at least getting a license) for concealed carry/handguns, but only a few make it "may-issue," which generally means "don't issue unless the person has connections."
Rifles (non-automatic) and shotguns are pretty much unrestricted everywhere unless someone's got the bright idea to ban guns based on "military-style" accessories. Note that in rural Alaska, the people of the villages hunt as a simple matter of putting food on the table, so up here, the idea of a may-issue license like you want would get you laughed at. I hear it's similar in Vermont, which is why Bernie Sanders really hates having to put up with advocates of strict gun control getting mad that he's not on their side. He's very much someone who knows hunters and, unless you ask the NRA, is fairly pro-gun.
Fair enough, I thought the two paragraphs were connected. Also it gave me the humorous mental image of a dude skulking through the Alaskan forest in full MIB kit, one hand inside his suit jacket, waiting for the right moment to draw on an unsuspecting Bambi.
So, that protest organizer in Roseburg, OR? Apparently he's a convicted felon
with DUI and assault charges under his belt - for punching out his own mom. Classy. Bold emphasis mine, italics from the link.
The organizer of the event titled “Defend Roseburg, Deny Barack Obama,” Casey Runyan, won the Republican primary for House District 9 in Southern Oregon in July of 2014, but he was rejected by GOP leadership when he asked for support.
“The reason I am not getting any support from the Republican leadership is because of a crime that occurred,” Runyan admitted at the time.
In December 2004, Runyan was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and felony assault in which he later pleaded guilty and served eight months in county jail.
The Statesman Journal reported:
According to the incident report from the Ogemaw County Sheriff’s Office, Runyan returned to his mother’s house from a bar on the evening of Dec. 19, 2004 and woke her boyfriend, Walter Gembarowski, by punching him in the face and shouting obscenities.
“Walter woke up but was unable to do much to protect himself because the blankets restricted his movements,” according to the report. “Walter stated he could not see much due to blood getting in his eyes.”
Runyan’s mother told deputies that her son hit her in the mouth when she tried to break up the fight.
Runyan left the house, but he soon returned and punched through his mother’s bedroom window, grabbed the phone line and ripped it out while she spoke with a 911 dispatcher.
Runyan claimed the rally was to protest the President for ‘politicizing’ the shooting deaths of of nine people at Umpqua Community College, but the organizer had a political agenda of his own.
Runyan promised thousands would gather, but according to reports, he did not accomplish his goal.
Runyan’s Facebook page ‘like’s includes ‘Ban Sharia Law,’ ‘3%ers Oregon,’We are Darren Wilson,’ ‘Tea Party Extremists’ and a host of extreme gun rights groups.
The group’s Facebook page no longer appears to be up. We wonder why. Certainly they have some patriotic stories to share about how rude, shallow, narcissistic and nasty they were to the President of the United States, while they slapped the victims’ families in the face during their time of grief.

Mass killers often learn from what previous mass killers have done
, according to this article.
You know, back when I was going through my conspiracy nut anti-government phase, I used to see all these sites that claimed that school shootings and the like were somehow "sparked" by the government, created to try to pass gun control laws.
I'm willing to bet that the wacko sites are saying that now.
But I for one am wondering why the US seems to be the only country with this problem. I'm ready for some damn gun control myself.