Beyond the cowardly politicians, much of the blame for these massacres must go to Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and the others in their cabal on the S.Ct. for their blatant misrepresentation of the 2d A. All of this has led to our current state where these politicians can then trumpet their "god-given rights" to own AR-15s and put the blame on "God's will."
Then they offer their prayers and sympathy. After yesterday's shooting the state senator said that and this was not the time to discuss politics, and was asked if not now when? Abbott of course aid something must e done about mental health failing to take into account that every other country in the word has proportionately the same number of mentally disturbed people as we do but they don't have the mass shootings, very few shootings actually because they don't have easy access to guns. If the founding fathers could have foreseen the tremendous destructive power of modern weapons and ammunition they would never have condone them in the hands of private citizens. What is it about Republicans that make them the way they are? They must have all been dropped on their heads as babies.
"What is it about Republicans that make them the way they are? They must have all been dropped on their heads as babies."
(1) Keep in mind America's Rs/cons fought seat safety belts and other mandatory safety features as well as comprehensive safety inspections of motor vehicles. They also whine about Federal speed limits as being too low and are proud to exceed them. Translates to the way to reduce motor vehicle deaths and injuries is to drive at faster and faster speeds and to increase the number of unsafe motor vehicles. Their thinking: more is always better.
(2) During COVID Rs/cons preferred drinking bleach and ingesting animal dewormer over the known efficacy of vaccines. Translates into the way to reduce deaths and hospitalizations from COVID is to die from self-medicating and/or refusing vaccines. Their thinking: more is always better.
(3) As a response to 911's loss of circa 3000 people due to less than a few hundred, see another 800,000 plus killed around the globe as well as US Mil deaths. Translates to ~Mission Accomplished.~ Their thinking: more is always better.
(4) Rs/cons position: More and more guns result in much politer people, less crime and less deaths by gunshot(s). Translates to: More guns mean more thoughts and prayers. More is always better.
American Exceptionalism QED. Dontcha know, Mr. Evans?
An excellent analysis of the Republican mind, Shadowcloud. I know you could add many more example that baffle the logical mind. Like a million deaths from Covid, mostly unvaccinated people. Is it stupidity? A low IQ, or sheer stubbornness?
Was your comments [again] which stimulated my thoughts. So, thank you for posting them, Mr. Evans.
Deconstructing the confluences of their illogic, stupidity, and obstinateness is the making for an Excedrin Extra headache. 'Tis the reasoning behind ending the examples right then and there.
Whatever motivates the anti-vaxxers, their deaths are a good thing. The more of them that die, the better for this country. If only the mortality rate were 100 percent!
Ordinarily I would agree with you Judith, and certainly those that hate Democrats and insisted the vaccinations were some kind of nazi type plot to control people brought their deaths on themselves, but a lot of others were brainwashed by all the deliberate misinformation and were otherwise good people, mothers. fathers grandparents, perhaps simple souls that got sucked in to the right wing's fanatical rantings. Many perhaps sole breadwinners of a family leaving a wife and children without any income and perhaps losing their home. So I think compassion is in order to a certain extent rather than wholesale condemnation, don't you think?f
I do see what you mean (not all anti-vaxxers are monsters), but I just don't have any compassion to spare for people whose stupidity, gullibility and/or willful ignorance endangers the lives of others.
Keep in mind. Government only by White Male land owners. Law enforcement only by Constitutional Sheriffs. Of course with descreet
assistance from gods clergy.
Rule by Birch Posse Comitatus.
Note: There are good republicans. I prefer not to identify the current insanity as republicans. They are a political party in of themselves and history should identify them as the political party of KOOKS. With Marjorie Green known as the mouth.
I wonder why the strict constructionists (if that's what they are) do not notice that no one living now has, or uses, or seen a musket. Too inconvenient, I guess. I will hazard a guess to answer your query about what makes Republicans the way thy are. They're fixated on re-election, re-election $, and for some reason are more inclined to be for anything that brings in money.
Yes, that seems to be the sad truth, Margo. It's all about money and power. It hasn't chqanged through the thousands of years of evolving civilization. Even our not so Supreme court justices are not immune. I'm not a bible reader I'm afraid but I have read it and one particular phrase comes to mind, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?"
Masters of War, Bob Dylan, with onscreen lyrics, from the album
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob D. evidently was impressed by the same verse, great minds think alike!
EDIT, That's so discerning and justifiably morally outraged, think I will link to one more Dylan song with some more relaxed and `upbeat vibe'! Also one of his more mysterious, cinematic songs great fun to make up your own interpretation, maybe cast it in your imagination as a film, etc.
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts (Official Audio) from
album Blood on the Tracks.
LOL, another edit, I see that on the comments thread under that song on YouTube. a comment of mine from"2 Years Ago" is the first one up, I can hardly remember writing it, but it looks like "my work," for better or worse!
Yes about his imagistic genius, only I would add a suggestion:
What Dylan's voice has, or had, especially when considered over a period of many decades, say from at least 1962 - 2012, i.e. hey that's FIFTY YEARS! -- what he had, is "His own voice," a vocal expressivity able to create its own tonality, which is very rare, its own "tone center," by being authentic, heartfelt, sounding heartbroken at times, cynical, satirical, pissed off, loving, confused, perplexed, self-assured, conveying resentment at perceived betrayals, and not only by a woman/ women, but by "false friends," even "society at large," and of course, the fair weather ultra-purist folk music fans who howled in disbelief and scorn when Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival; those fans really lacked imagination, a wider view, willingness to trust a great artist or even just a pretty damn good artist to follow their muse, their instincts, their gut...
*****
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Joseph Campbell
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
Joseph Campbell
Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. ---- {Or in the case of Dylan, and others: living in authentic creativity,
rather than regurgitating unoriginal, more or less insincere tripe}
Joseph Campbell
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
Yes, Margo, that is truly the bottom line with Repugnants. They care not about the side effects of their decisions as long as they can raise money to stay in office. Opposing or modifying the 2A in any form would shut off the flow of $$$ and voters, and they will not tolerate that under any circumstances.
Not insane, not sick, not scared, not disaffected, not whatever-the-hell. Those gun-worshipping Republicans are pure EVIL. There really is no more accurate word to describe those people. We should start recognizing this as a fact of the present day-- that we have truly, profoundly EVIL people in positions of power in this country, and many millions who fully support those evil monsters and are every bit as bad as those they worship.
Judith, it certainly takes an evil person that has the power to construct laws that would provide a greater degree of protection against evil people with guns from killing our children and others, but does absolutely nothing about it because they are getting campaign donations from gun lobbies and/or believe they would lose votes in the next election if they make a single move towards gun safety. , Many too are cowards that do even if they believe something should be done do not dare to buck the system and go against their fellow party members for fear of being called RINO's.
A doctor on my Vietnam Advisory Team worked daily at our Province's only hospital for civilians. He showed me x-rays of civilians wounded by AR-15/M-16s. He did many amputations. It was his strong opinion that that rifle should be banned by the Geneva Convention because of the velocity and subsequent damage of its bullets. (BTW: its bullets do not tumble; they shatter/splinter on impact---a horrible hunting rifle.)
When I left Vietnam in March, 1969, I never expected to see American civilians toting them around like golf clubs. When I see these clowns on Prescott AZ streets, I can't tell you how furious it makes me!
Another doctor speaks out: Just read this in Washington Post:
"By N. Kirkpatrick, Atthar Mirza and Manuel Canales
March 27 at 6:06 a.m.
The scenes of chaos and terror are all too familiar in America.
The AR-15 fires bullets at such a high velocity — often in a barrage of 30 or even 100 in rapid succession — that it can eviscerate multiple people in seconds. A single bullet lands with a shock wave intense enough to blow apart a skull and demolish vital organs. The impact is even more acute on the compact body of a small child.
“It literally can pulverize bones, it can shatter your liver and it can provide this blast effect,” said Joseph Sakran, a gunshot survivor who advocates for gun violence prevention and a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
During surgery on people shot with high-velocity rounds, he said, body tissue “literally just crumbled into your hands.”
The carnage is rarely visible to the public. Crime scene photos are considered too gruesome to publish and often kept confidential. News accounts rely on antiseptic descriptions from law enforcement officials and medical examiners who, in some cases, have said remains were so unrecognizable that they could be identified only through DNA samples.
As Sakran put it: “We often sanitize what is happening.”...
The AR-15 is ridiculously easy to shoot and requires no skill or training. It's reliable, too, so you rarely have to worry about jamming. Thousands of manufacturers sell every conceivable part that allows anyone to modify their weapon however they want. Laser sights, hundred-round magazines, flash suppressors, colored stocks and grips... you name it. The only part of the AR that counts a firearm is the lower receiver, too, so by its very nature it defies regulation.
The word "regulated" is in the second amendment, but the focus since Scalia has been on the "right to bear arms." The problem with this is that in the 18th century, "bearing arms" did not mean carrying a weapon. You did not "bear arms" if you tucked a pistol in your belt, nor if you took your fowling piece out to hunt ducks. "Bearing arms" SPECIFICALLY meant "serving in the militia against an enemy."
The entire premise that the founders of the US wanted every citizen to walk around with as much firepower as a British regiment of foot is ridiculous.
That so many Americans now own weapons as "defense" makes more sense psychologically, but in reality it's bullshit.
An untrained civilian carrying a sidearm has very little chance of successfully engaging an active shooter, especially if that shooter (as is likely) has a mil-spec rifle. It's not like gaming or TV at all. Pistols require a lot of training to use properly, not to mention how loud they are. it's a ridiculous fantasy.
And follow the money right to Black Rain, Colt, Ruger, IWI, and Sig-Sauer who continue to rake in ridiculous profits in a wholly unregulated industry where the manufacturers need not comply with any safety standards whatever because they are not liable for anything they make.
And meanwhile, the bodies pile up and the politicians cash in. Do we need an ironic armed rebellion to overthrow the corrupt government?
I vote for a nonviolent full-court trapping press, so to speak --- defense against accepting the carnage as inevitable, refusal to despair, official investigations on every possible level of government and in academia, private foundations, through the religious community that is morally outraged.
And in other tried and true ways: Organizing, campaigning on specific gun law reform issues, donating as best one can, volunteering, and if possible helping with the usual "phone canvass," in the runup to elections.
Highly skilled and astute writers like Lucian can keep doing what they do, and there are always really unusual, creative ideas that emerge out of the grass roots, too.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Every politician who is set to vote on gun issues should first have to look at pictures of what guns do to children’s bodies and then look into the eyes of parents who have lost children to guns while explaining how they plan to vote.
It's a terrible thing to ask, but I wish those poor parents would hand out photos of their little babies wracked bodies to the lying slime NRA politicians. Show everyone. Vote your conscience, people.
My wife just showed me a photo she found from this most recent atrocity (someone on the scene took a picture with their phone and posted it on the internet someplace) and these are beyond horrible.
No, we all carry images in our memory we'd like to forget, and this wasn't even personal, just another in an endless series of horrors that builds and builds. There are professionals who see this and worse every day. The true horror is our collective inability to learn from it and put an end to these murder sprees.
The powers that be in Texas wouldn't identify the weapon, but even I, who have only shot skeet, knew it was an AR-15 because a witness said he turned a victim over ... and her face was missing.
An elected nutjob (local or national I didn't get) said we need. more. prayer. These wackjob churchies will be the death of me -- if their gun totin' cronies don't see to it first. And Jesus went to drink gin from the cat dish.
Yes, I noticed that tonight in a snippet of NBC Nightly News with Kate Snow, the cited number so far this year was 199 mass shootings --- but I distinctly remember reading, weeks ago, that approximately 200 days into 2023, the USA had already totaled some 247 mass shootings.
EDIT: Clearly "200 days in" is incorrect, in any case what I noticed was the report stating that there were around 47 more mass shootings than days into the year, so more than one per day.
Even one "mass shooting" is horrible enough, but this is unprecedented in the last 25 years, ok, sure, correlation is not causation but the end of the assault weapons ban seems to be involved here, right?
We are 127 days in on 2023 which has had, you cite, 199 mass shootings. On average, then, we have one mass shooting roughly every 15 hours and 20 minutes. Which means that from the time you write your piece to the time we read it, we can expect there to have been one more mass shooting - maybe two. That sounds a lot like the very definition of an insane society.
Apparently not just for white males, the latest Texas shooter is allegedly Hispanic. Gangsters and mass shooters, come in all shades, the overwhelming similarity is that they are males,
Where white males are arguably vastly more prevalent is in publicizing their fanatical devotion to their (misunderstood, and legally misconstrued by SCOTUS decisions) "Second Amendment freedoms."
Too many of the mass shootings are also people who know each other, "settling scores" with deadly weapons, when decades ago it would have been insults or at most, a nasty fist fight involving any number of people, maybe with knives, blunt instruments, but now?
This is a complex set of interacting problems with many moving parts! But banning the AR-15 military style weapons would make real progress.
No matter...it’s men, MEN shooting and killing innocent children and others! What is it that drives them to hurt or maim? Why are they always angry or have to settle “the score”? Please tell me when a woman has done the same thing. You can’t.
Yeah actually apples and oranges comparisons in criminology are as bogus as any other venue.
That kind of all-encompassing question involves sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, "pop culture" and more --- you need to convene a panel of dedicated experts, not just me!
Violent crimes, including unjustifiable/illegal homicides committed by women, do indeed only amount to a vanishingly small proportion of "mass shootings" as defined by...who exactly? That would be useful to know, as there does not seem to be a consensus definition, but it's not a excuse to avoid the larger question (s).
Leaving that crucial (for scholars, social scientists) definitional issue aside: women "in general," with stark differences related to class and sociologically-defined "race," are systematically encouraged, pressured, berated, coerced, from birth through their entire lives, to never engage in (unjustified, i.e. not in defense of self or others) violence (a very good thing! too bad men are systematically taught almost the exact opposite message, along WITH encouragement to, if possible, intervene in defense of themselves or others --- "good guy with gun" blah blah blah).
The massive problem here looks to be the entire predicate to the argument: "Solve this perceived problem with violence." A message communicated relentlessly to men as advice to follow, to women (in general, anyway) as something to be avoided if at all possible.
So we get, predictably enough, the statistical result in the USA: 100% of the mass shootings at schools have been done by young men, frequently former students of the schools they attack. In Europe, or anywhere else, there isn't the massive gun ownership, we can't forget that!
Note: Adam Lanza/ Sandy Hook school shooting is such an outlier case, it's not really relevant or fair to insist his mother's role was crucial, too misleading, since that's, well, a fringe, outlier situation (buying him firearms as holiday presents, taking him to the firing range, incredible, also incredibly rare, very bizarre parenting!)
Not sure what men are "always angry and have to settle the score," other than the segment I highlighted in another comment (gang members, but not just them by any means) , and we can add the "Proud Boys," to that, although as far as I know they haven't been tied to any mass shootings (yet!), and various domestic terrorists, almost entirely on the far right-wing.
"What is it that drives them to hurt or maim?"
Not sure what sort of answer could possibly be sufficient, the "drivers" are all over the map of human culture and psychology. What's your theory?
I need to at least have some idea why you are lumping men together as some kind of monolithic mass category --- can you really do that without losing too much granular detail, maybe with women as well, or any other category of humans vis-a-vis crimes, or any other activity? People are unique individuals, after all.
Women definitely commit violent crimes, but thankfully, for whatever reason or because of whatever "drivers," not many mass shootings. (About 2% or less).
Anyway, what's your theory as far as "why men are always (or at least, far too frequently and with sometimes catastrophic results) angry and have to settle the score"?
Possibly, as a provisional hypothesis, at least most of it comes down to a poorly integrated ego identity, such that their very identity as being "masculine, " somehow requires "being angry and always having to ( or are at least seeking to) settle the score," whatever "score" means.
Doesn't make much sense to me, but who knows, maybe it makes sense to them!
Actually, I don't think there's any possible all-encompassing "answer" that isn't far too tendentious to be plausible, but maybe I am just mistaken about that?
Thanks for spurring me to think about the issues, though, one of the central delights of this blog is people speaking their mind.
Hochelaga around 1535 (Library and Archives Canada (C-10489))
Despite the myth that Aboriginals lived in happy harmony before the arrival of Europeans, war was central to the way of life of many First Nation cultures. Indeed, war was a persistent reality in all regions though, as Tom Holm has argued, it waxed in intensity, frequency and decisiveness. The causes were complex and often interrelated, springing from both individual and collective motivations and needs. At a personal level, young males often had strong incentives to participate in military operations, as brave exploits were a source of great prestige in most Aboriginal cultures. According to one Jesuit account from the 18th Century, ‘The only way to attract respect and public veneration among the Illinois is, as among the other Savages, to acquire a reputation as a skilful hunter, and particularly as a good warrior … it is what they call being a true man.’ Among west coast societies, the material goods and slaves acquired through raiding were important avenues to build up sufficient wealth to host potlatches and other give-away ceremonies. At a community level, warfare played a multifaceted role, and was waged for different reasons. Some conflicts were waged for economic and political goals, such as gaining access to resources or territory, exacting tribute from another nation or controlling trade routes. Revenge was a consistent motivating factor across North America, a factor that could lead to recurrent cycles of violence, often low intensity, which could last generations. Among the Iroquoian nations in the northeast, ‘mourning wars’ were practiced. Such conflicts involved raiding with the intent to capture prisoners, who were then adopted by bereaved families to replace family members who had died prematurely due to illness or war.
Lucian, I looked closely at your next to the last paragraph and I see that you have avoided the cumbersome "his/her" formulation for describing a shooter. And you are fully justified in doing so. I keep asking why virtually all of the shooters are men (in your description, either angry young men or disaffected older men). We know that women can be outstanding soldiers, security personnel, and law enforcement officers so its not that women are unable to master the use of powerful weapons. Many women in the United States own firearms. We know that women can suffer from many of the same anxieties and mental turbulence as angry young men and disaffected older men. But they almost never engage in these acts of domestic terrorism. I'm so short of answers that I'm almost tempted to dip into genetics for an explanation--and I don't really want to go there. I wonder if we'll ever have an explanation of this disparity.
Expectation. Entitlement. Anger when your expectations of entitlement are not met. Your sincerely held belief is that you are chosen to be on the “top” and that if you are not, you have the privilege and the right to punish those “responsible”.
That’s my perspective as a white, female, retired cop.
Gang bangers protect their turf, and insist on respect, that includes white racist motorcycle gangs, Rolling Crips and Cosa Nostra affiliates, and these guys, from a neighborhood I used to live near when I first moved to Minneapolis from Tempe with then-girlfriend:
And from just days ago, one of the largest single crackdowns on gangs in the Twin Cities since the Prohibition Era, when Dillinger, the Ma Barker/Alvin "Kreepy" Karpis gang, and Baby Face Nelson, among other hoodlums, used to periodically hang out here, with the understanding from both the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Chiefs, that as long as they didn't do crimes locally, they wouldn't be arrested:
Rare RICO indictments filed against 45 accused ...
"4 days ago — 28 members and associates of the Highs and Lows gang, which prosecutors allege operate in north Minneapolis on opposite sides of Broadway Avenue ...
Indictments were unsealed Wednesday against 45 accused street gang members allegedly responsible for a “brutal and unrelenting trail of violence” in Minneapolis, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger announced.
The new charges mark the first time federal prosecutors have brought a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charge against Minneapolis-based street gang members.
The two gangs named in the new indictments —the Highs and Lows in north Minneapolis and the Bloods in south Minneapolis — are accused of being involved with several shootings, murders, racketeering, drug sales and more.
Those charged in the indictments include:
28 members and associates of the Highs and Lows gang, which prosecutors allege operate in north Minneapolis on opposite sides of Broadway Avenue.
17 members of the Bloods gang, which primarily operates in south Minneapolis.
The indictments filed on Wednesday relate to crimes committed dating back to 2016 to present day. It involves 20 shootings and seven murders, according to federal prosecutors.
The rate of gun ownership is high in Canada and several other countries. With rare exceptions, only in this country—and then, mainly in certain regions—are automatic rifle mass murders routine. When a mass murder happens in one of those rare-exception countries, laws get passed immediately to prevent repeats. The laws work. Only in America etc etc: The explanation Ally House offers in her "Expectation. Entitlement. Anger …" comment satisfies me. In Texas, mental disease certainly is a factor, most conspicuously among the state's top office-holders.
I have a cousin who lives in Beaumont. Her son is getting married in Houston and I have been invited to the wedding. I have not seen my cousin for over 50 years. It would be nice to go, however, it’s Texas. I will send a gift.
I would again urge you to get her to unwind after the festivities vieiting you, but I guess you can't be sure what you'll find. I have a lone, dear, cousin on one side, far-right, but it just doesn't matter. Several cousins on the other side are probably equally RW but i'd love to get together anyway. I happen to be the only one of the lot who's overbearing.
There is a dividing line in between the art of simplification and oversimplification.
The statements are for the readers to decide which one it is.
To your wondering: Wimmin are the givers life. Men are the takers of life. The operative words givers- takers because it ain't exclusive to killing. Giving v. taking is the difference in kind between a matriarchal society and a patriarchal society.
"On the website, Hellenicgods.org, is an article revealing all of the many names of Dionysus. A particular entry stands out (highlights mine).
Évios - (Euius; Gr. Εὔιος, ΕΥΙΟΣ) Évios is an epithet of Diónysos referring to the ecstatic howl of joy, εὐαἵ, εὐοἱ, made by the God and those who worshipped him and participated in his orgies.
- Lexicon entry: Εὔιος (Εὔἱος EM391.15, cf. Lat. Euhius), ὁ, name of Bacchus, from the cry εὐαἵ, εὐοἱ, in lyr. passages; Εὔιος, = Βάκχος. II. εὔιος, ον, as Adj., Bacchic. (L&S p. 717, left column, edited for simplicity.)- "Cornutus, the tutor of the Roman poet Persius (ed. 34-62 BCE), tells us that the wine treaders invoked the God by various names, such as 'Bakchos' and 'Euios.' [Cornutus, Theologiae graecae compendium XXIX.] Reference to these scenes was made at the Second Council of Constantinople, the Trullianum, in the year 691 A.D. Until that date the wine treaders still cried out 'Dionysos,' but this was now forbidden. [μἡ τὸ τοῦ βδελυκτοῦ Διονύσου ὄνομα τοὑς τὴν σταϕυλὴν ἐκθλίβοντας ἐν τοῖς ληνοῖς ἐπιβοᾶν, cited by P. Koukoules, Βυζαντινῶν βίος καὶ πολιτισμός , p. 293.]" (Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life by Carl Kerényi, 1976, Princeton Univ. Press. p. 67)
- (ed. Évios is a) name of Dionysos, implying, Well done, my son! words ascribed to Zeus, when he saw Bacchus returning victoriously from combating the Giants. Evoe, or Evan, was the exclamation with which the Bacchanals invoked their God during the celebration of his orgies. (CM*p.181)"
Evohe! is also the name of one of the plays performed at the National Student Drama Festival of the British Isles in early January, 1972 --- Macalester College Drama Choros was only US group invited, that was about fifty of us, 13 days in the U.K., four in London, nine in Bradford, Yorkshire, site of the festival.
As usual you return with strings of Mikimoto pearls after discarding the useless oysters and shells. Glad you included the reference to Macalester. Explains much.
another way some experienced Canned Heat at Woodstock,
Goin' Up the Country...dig those crazy hippies and the nuns, too!
Maybe part of the Dorothy Day contingent, who knows, Sisters of the Carondelet affiliated with St. Catherine U. donated $40 when I canvassed them for COACT in the
early 1980s in Mac-Groveland, they were immediately tuned in to the economic/class struggle issues we were focusing on, straight out of Matthew 5-6-7, after all!
I think I'm going to write a column about this, but I think you'd be better at writing it, Lucien-to my mind, we are in an undeclared war in this country.
The targets: anyone who is a human being
The enemies (because there are more than one in this case):
The Republican Party
The NRA
The right wing 2nd Amendment fanatics
The suspects:
Gun dealers
Gun manufacturers
Alienated, aggrieved young men
Weapon of choice:
AR 15 with multiple reloads.
The real truth is that this IS an undeclared war, and until we (the survivors) take up the fight, we're never going to win.
What does it take to win?
A lot more pissed off people who have lost loved ones to actually get up off their fat asses and do something more than whine about it.
Like us.
Our mission should be to:
Replace those Representatives (like MTG) and Senators like Ted Cruz, Governors like Greg Abbot and Ron Desantis, repeal the 2nd Amendment, enact legislation to ban assault weapons, and put out of business the NRA , gun dealers and gun manufacturers.
Sounds like a lot of work.
It is. But with the 200th mass shooting of this year so far coming up in either hours or days, what do we have to lose?
I would add to your enemies list right-wing TV and radio “news,” right-wing podcasts, websites, social media and message boards; also organized wing-nut groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and of course MAGAts.
They can the “Thoughts and Prayers” and forcefully put them where the sun doesn’t shine. This is absolute lunacy. It’s a complete lack of understanding our history and the reason for the 2nd Amendment. It is lunacy.
As Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock(himself a pastor) said recently about “Thoughts and Prayers”- “it is a contradiction to say you are thinking and praying and then do nothing. It makes a mockery of prayer and trivializes faith. We pray by taking action”
Yesterday was an intense experience after I learned about the shooting. I feel distraught after all of them; this one happened closer. I lived in Allen, TX, several years ago. My sister, two nieces, and their families live there now. I used to go just north of the mall to see a specialist doctor every month. This was as recent as February of this year. After my father passed away, I moved out of state to take over my family home. I sent a text to my sister and both nieces yesterday. They were all safe and waiting to hear from others. One niece told me she knew several teenagers that worked at the mall, but they were all off yesterday. To put it mildly, I felt sick waiting to hear from them. I still feel sick over it. Those politicians at the mic yesterday are well-known to me. I lived in the same county - Collin County. Jeff Leach, the bearded one, is a State representative. He was one of the sponsors of one of the gun laws that led to even more madness. I believe the open carry, or perhaps another one after, removed the need for licensing.
Heck, maybe all of them. The County Judge, Chris Hill, is another piece of work. I remember his posts during the pandemic. There was one; I wish I saved it, where he wrote up some nonsense about businesses being allowed to stay open. It was a perfect example of trying to have it both ways. The only one I need to learn about is the Mayor. Allen, TX, is a lovely suburb, and anyone living there felt it was a very safe community for all, no longer as that dream or fantasy is dead.
On a side note, LKTIV, the Allen Premium Mall, is in the Allen city limits. I saw the same mentioned in other reports, and most people are reasonably accustomed to outlet malls being slightly outside the town or city. Thank you for your writing about this issue. I am thankful.
We know the “how” of these mass shootings, assault style rifles. The “who” seems to be mostly white males, usually on the young side. But what about the “why?” I think this is important, because in the absence of AR-15s there are still plenty of firearms that can do a lot of damage. And many of them have been available for decades, when there were no, or almost no, mass shootings. And, it seems there has been an increase in these shootings since 2016, when we elected a certain motherfucker president.
Thoughts. Prayers. Platitudes! Empty ones at that. Something has to be done. As I have said before “vote the fekkers OUT.” I am in the blue northeast, but those of you in free-wheeling, gun-toting states need to get the Guns Over People party out...of...office!
Beyond the cowardly politicians, much of the blame for these massacres must go to Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and the others in their cabal on the S.Ct. for their blatant misrepresentation of the 2d A. All of this has led to our current state where these politicians can then trumpet their "god-given rights" to own AR-15s and put the blame on "God's will."
Then they offer their prayers and sympathy. After yesterday's shooting the state senator said that and this was not the time to discuss politics, and was asked if not now when? Abbott of course aid something must e done about mental health failing to take into account that every other country in the word has proportionately the same number of mentally disturbed people as we do but they don't have the mass shootings, very few shootings actually because they don't have easy access to guns. If the founding fathers could have foreseen the tremendous destructive power of modern weapons and ammunition they would never have condone them in the hands of private citizens. What is it about Republicans that make them the way they are? They must have all been dropped on their heads as babies.
"What is it about Republicans that make them the way they are? They must have all been dropped on their heads as babies."
(1) Keep in mind America's Rs/cons fought seat safety belts and other mandatory safety features as well as comprehensive safety inspections of motor vehicles. They also whine about Federal speed limits as being too low and are proud to exceed them. Translates to the way to reduce motor vehicle deaths and injuries is to drive at faster and faster speeds and to increase the number of unsafe motor vehicles. Their thinking: more is always better.
(2) During COVID Rs/cons preferred drinking bleach and ingesting animal dewormer over the known efficacy of vaccines. Translates into the way to reduce deaths and hospitalizations from COVID is to die from self-medicating and/or refusing vaccines. Their thinking: more is always better.
(3) As a response to 911's loss of circa 3000 people due to less than a few hundred, see another 800,000 plus killed around the globe as well as US Mil deaths. Translates to ~Mission Accomplished.~ Their thinking: more is always better.
(4) Rs/cons position: More and more guns result in much politer people, less crime and less deaths by gunshot(s). Translates to: More guns mean more thoughts and prayers. More is always better.
American Exceptionalism QED. Dontcha know, Mr. Evans?
An excellent analysis of the Republican mind, Shadowcloud. I know you could add many more example that baffle the logical mind. Like a million deaths from Covid, mostly unvaccinated people. Is it stupidity? A low IQ, or sheer stubbornness?
Was your comments [again] which stimulated my thoughts. So, thank you for posting them, Mr. Evans.
Deconstructing the confluences of their illogic, stupidity, and obstinateness is the making for an Excedrin Extra headache. 'Tis the reasoning behind ending the examples right then and there.
Thank you for your kind comments, Shadowcloud. Loved the last part re deconstruction :)
Respect.
Whatever motivates the anti-vaxxers, their deaths are a good thing. The more of them that die, the better for this country. If only the mortality rate were 100 percent!
Ordinarily I would agree with you Judith, and certainly those that hate Democrats and insisted the vaccinations were some kind of nazi type plot to control people brought their deaths on themselves, but a lot of others were brainwashed by all the deliberate misinformation and were otherwise good people, mothers. fathers grandparents, perhaps simple souls that got sucked in to the right wing's fanatical rantings. Many perhaps sole breadwinners of a family leaving a wife and children without any income and perhaps losing their home. So I think compassion is in order to a certain extent rather than wholesale condemnation, don't you think?f
I do see what you mean (not all anti-vaxxers are monsters), but I just don't have any compassion to spare for people whose stupidity, gullibility and/or willful ignorance endangers the lives of others.
U GOT THAT RIGHT.
Keep in mind. Government only by White Male land owners. Law enforcement only by Constitutional Sheriffs. Of course with descreet
assistance from gods clergy.
Rule by Birch Posse Comitatus.
Note: There are good republicans. I prefer not to identify the current insanity as republicans. They are a political party in of themselves and history should identify them as the political party of KOOKS. With Marjorie Green known as the mouth.
But not the Voice.
I wonder why the strict constructionists (if that's what they are) do not notice that no one living now has, or uses, or seen a musket. Too inconvenient, I guess. I will hazard a guess to answer your query about what makes Republicans the way thy are. They're fixated on re-election, re-election $, and for some reason are more inclined to be for anything that brings in money.
Yes, that seems to be the sad truth, Margo. It's all about money and power. It hasn't chqanged through the thousands of years of evolving civilization. Even our not so Supreme court justices are not immune. I'm not a bible reader I'm afraid but I have read it and one particular phrase comes to mind, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEmI_FT4YHU
Masters of War, Bob Dylan, with onscreen lyrics, from the album
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob D. evidently was impressed by the same verse, great minds think alike!
EDIT, That's so discerning and justifiably morally outraged, think I will link to one more Dylan song with some more relaxed and `upbeat vibe'! Also one of his more mysterious, cinematic songs great fun to make up your own interpretation, maybe cast it in your imagination as a film, etc.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=agdoeRpTfHg
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts (Official Audio) from
album Blood on the Tracks.
LOL, another edit, I see that on the comments thread under that song on YouTube. a comment of mine from"2 Years Ago" is the first one up, I can hardly remember writing it, but it looks like "my work," for better or worse!
Dylan paints vivid, vibrant visuals like no other ever has. More than makes up for his lack of a singing voice. Am grateful you offered up both.
Yes about his imagistic genius, only I would add a suggestion:
What Dylan's voice has, or had, especially when considered over a period of many decades, say from at least 1962 - 2012, i.e. hey that's FIFTY YEARS! -- what he had, is "His own voice," a vocal expressivity able to create its own tonality, which is very rare, its own "tone center," by being authentic, heartfelt, sounding heartbroken at times, cynical, satirical, pissed off, loving, confused, perplexed, self-assured, conveying resentment at perceived betrayals, and not only by a woman/ women, but by "false friends," even "society at large," and of course, the fair weather ultra-purist folk music fans who howled in disbelief and scorn when Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival; those fans really lacked imagination, a wider view, willingness to trust a great artist or even just a pretty damn good artist to follow their muse, their instincts, their gut...
*****
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Joseph Campbell
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
Joseph Campbell
Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. ---- {Or in the case of Dylan, and others: living in authentic creativity,
rather than regurgitating unoriginal, more or less insincere tripe}
Joseph Campbell
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
Also "Reculer, pour mieux sauter!"
Yes, Margo, that is truly the bottom line with Repugnants. They care not about the side effects of their decisions as long as they can raise money to stay in office. Opposing or modifying the 2A in any form would shut off the flow of $$$ and voters, and they will not tolerate that under any circumstances.
Not insane, not sick, not scared, not disaffected, not whatever-the-hell. Those gun-worshipping Republicans are pure EVIL. There really is no more accurate word to describe those people. We should start recognizing this as a fact of the present day-- that we have truly, profoundly EVIL people in positions of power in this country, and many millions who fully support those evil monsters and are every bit as bad as those they worship.
Judith, it certainly takes an evil person that has the power to construct laws that would provide a greater degree of protection against evil people with guns from killing our children and others, but does absolutely nothing about it because they are getting campaign donations from gun lobbies and/or believe they would lose votes in the next election if they make a single move towards gun safety. , Many too are cowards that do even if they believe something should be done do not dare to buck the system and go against their fellow party members for fear of being called RINO's.
SCOTUS...branch office of the Federalist Society.
A doctor on my Vietnam Advisory Team worked daily at our Province's only hospital for civilians. He showed me x-rays of civilians wounded by AR-15/M-16s. He did many amputations. It was his strong opinion that that rifle should be banned by the Geneva Convention because of the velocity and subsequent damage of its bullets. (BTW: its bullets do not tumble; they shatter/splinter on impact---a horrible hunting rifle.)
When I left Vietnam in March, 1969, I never expected to see American civilians toting them around like golf clubs. When I see these clowns on Prescott AZ streets, I can't tell you how furious it makes me!
Another doctor speaks out: Just read this in Washington Post:
"By N. Kirkpatrick, Atthar Mirza and Manuel Canales
March 27 at 6:06 a.m.
The scenes of chaos and terror are all too familiar in America.
The AR-15 fires bullets at such a high velocity — often in a barrage of 30 or even 100 in rapid succession — that it can eviscerate multiple people in seconds. A single bullet lands with a shock wave intense enough to blow apart a skull and demolish vital organs. The impact is even more acute on the compact body of a small child.
“It literally can pulverize bones, it can shatter your liver and it can provide this blast effect,” said Joseph Sakran, a gunshot survivor who advocates for gun violence prevention and a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
During surgery on people shot with high-velocity rounds, he said, body tissue “literally just crumbled into your hands.”
The carnage is rarely visible to the public. Crime scene photos are considered too gruesome to publish and often kept confidential. News accounts rely on antiseptic descriptions from law enforcement officials and medical examiners who, in some cases, have said remains were so unrecognizable that they could be identified only through DNA samples.
As Sakran put it: “We often sanitize what is happening.”...
Stay safe up there (Prescott).
The AR-15 is ridiculously easy to shoot and requires no skill or training. It's reliable, too, so you rarely have to worry about jamming. Thousands of manufacturers sell every conceivable part that allows anyone to modify their weapon however they want. Laser sights, hundred-round magazines, flash suppressors, colored stocks and grips... you name it. The only part of the AR that counts a firearm is the lower receiver, too, so by its very nature it defies regulation.
The word "regulated" is in the second amendment, but the focus since Scalia has been on the "right to bear arms." The problem with this is that in the 18th century, "bearing arms" did not mean carrying a weapon. You did not "bear arms" if you tucked a pistol in your belt, nor if you took your fowling piece out to hunt ducks. "Bearing arms" SPECIFICALLY meant "serving in the militia against an enemy."
The entire premise that the founders of the US wanted every citizen to walk around with as much firepower as a British regiment of foot is ridiculous.
That so many Americans now own weapons as "defense" makes more sense psychologically, but in reality it's bullshit.
An untrained civilian carrying a sidearm has very little chance of successfully engaging an active shooter, especially if that shooter (as is likely) has a mil-spec rifle. It's not like gaming or TV at all. Pistols require a lot of training to use properly, not to mention how loud they are. it's a ridiculous fantasy.
And follow the money right to Black Rain, Colt, Ruger, IWI, and Sig-Sauer who continue to rake in ridiculous profits in a wholly unregulated industry where the manufacturers need not comply with any safety standards whatever because they are not liable for anything they make.
And meanwhile, the bodies pile up and the politicians cash in. Do we need an ironic armed rebellion to overthrow the corrupt government?
I vote for a nonviolent full-court trapping press, so to speak --- defense against accepting the carnage as inevitable, refusal to despair, official investigations on every possible level of government and in academia, private foundations, through the religious community that is morally outraged.
And in other tried and true ways: Organizing, campaigning on specific gun law reform issues, donating as best one can, volunteering, and if possible helping with the usual "phone canvass," in the runup to elections.
Highly skilled and astute writers like Lucian can keep doing what they do, and there are always really unusual, creative ideas that emerge out of the grass roots, too.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
--- Mahatma Gandhi
Every politician who is set to vote on gun issues should first have to look at pictures of what guns do to children’s bodies and then look into the eyes of parents who have lost children to guns while explaining how they plan to vote.
It's a terrible thing to ask, but I wish those poor parents would hand out photos of their little babies wracked bodies to the lying slime NRA politicians. Show everyone. Vote your conscience, people.
My wife just showed me a photo she found from this most recent atrocity (someone on the scene took a picture with their phone and posted it on the internet someplace) and these are beyond horrible.
Wow. You will always carry that in your mind. I'm so sorry.
No, we all carry images in our memory we'd like to forget, and this wasn't even personal, just another in an endless series of horrors that builds and builds. There are professionals who see this and worse every day. The true horror is our collective inability to learn from it and put an end to these murder sprees.
Every. Single. One.
Well, 1/3 of eligible voters don’t bother to vote. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
In the world is for enough good people to do nothing.”
Attributed to the Conservative philosopher and politician, Edmund Burke.
The Tea Party - Freedom Caucus Trump cultists would quickly decide Burke is a troublesome radical and possibly a commie!
The powers that be in Texas wouldn't identify the weapon, but even I, who have only shot skeet, knew it was an AR-15 because a witness said he turned a victim over ... and her face was missing.
An elected nutjob (local or national I didn't get) said we need. more. prayer. These wackjob churchies will be the death of me -- if their gun totin' cronies don't see to it first. And Jesus went to drink gin from the cat dish.
It was indeed, an AR-15.
But, as far as how many people dead constitute a 'mass shooting' there seems to be a disagreement between various groups that track such things.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/mass-shootings-2023.html
But I think it's any shooting that results in more than 2 people being dead. (but of course I'm a purist but that's my problem).
I'm with you about two. And I just read that the shooter was wearing "bulletproof" garments. So much for that, because he was killed by gunfire.
Yes, I noticed that tonight in a snippet of NBC Nightly News with Kate Snow, the cited number so far this year was 199 mass shootings --- but I distinctly remember reading, weeks ago, that approximately 200 days into 2023, the USA had already totaled some 247 mass shootings.
EDIT: Clearly "200 days in" is incorrect, in any case what I noticed was the report stating that there were around 47 more mass shootings than days into the year, so more than one per day.
Even one "mass shooting" is horrible enough, but this is unprecedented in the last 25 years, ok, sure, correlation is not causation but the end of the assault weapons ban seems to be involved here, right?
We are 127 days in on 2023 which has had, you cite, 199 mass shootings. On average, then, we have one mass shooting roughly every 15 hours and 20 minutes. Which means that from the time you write your piece to the time we read it, we can expect there to have been one more mass shooting - maybe two. That sounds a lot like the very definition of an insane society.
But remember, the wingnut contingent, led by the rabid gun nuts, skew the statistics and heighten the directly or indirectly experienced "real world."
It's godawful and unhinged, even taking their malignant, disproportionate influence into account.
Are AR-15's penis extenders for lost white males?
Reminds me of the film, "Easy Rider"
Yes.
Apparently not just for white males, the latest Texas shooter is allegedly Hispanic. Gangsters and mass shooters, come in all shades, the overwhelming similarity is that they are males,
Where white males are arguably vastly more prevalent is in publicizing their fanatical devotion to their (misunderstood, and legally misconstrued by SCOTUS decisions) "Second Amendment freedoms."
Too many of the mass shootings are also people who know each other, "settling scores" with deadly weapons, when decades ago it would have been insults or at most, a nasty fist fight involving any number of people, maybe with knives, blunt instruments, but now?
This is a complex set of interacting problems with many moving parts! But banning the AR-15 military style weapons would make real progress.
No matter...it’s men, MEN shooting and killing innocent children and others! What is it that drives them to hurt or maim? Why are they always angry or have to settle “the score”? Please tell me when a woman has done the same thing. You can’t.
Yeah actually apples and oranges comparisons in criminology are as bogus as any other venue.
That kind of all-encompassing question involves sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, "pop culture" and more --- you need to convene a panel of dedicated experts, not just me!
Violent crimes, including unjustifiable/illegal homicides committed by women, do indeed only amount to a vanishingly small proportion of "mass shootings" as defined by...who exactly? That would be useful to know, as there does not seem to be a consensus definition, but it's not a excuse to avoid the larger question (s).
Leaving that crucial (for scholars, social scientists) definitional issue aside: women "in general," with stark differences related to class and sociologically-defined "race," are systematically encouraged, pressured, berated, coerced, from birth through their entire lives, to never engage in (unjustified, i.e. not in defense of self or others) violence (a very good thing! too bad men are systematically taught almost the exact opposite message, along WITH encouragement to, if possible, intervene in defense of themselves or others --- "good guy with gun" blah blah blah).
The massive problem here looks to be the entire predicate to the argument: "Solve this perceived problem with violence." A message communicated relentlessly to men as advice to follow, to women (in general, anyway) as something to be avoided if at all possible.
So we get, predictably enough, the statistical result in the USA: 100% of the mass shootings at schools have been done by young men, frequently former students of the schools they attack. In Europe, or anywhere else, there isn't the massive gun ownership, we can't forget that!
Note: Adam Lanza/ Sandy Hook school shooting is such an outlier case, it's not really relevant or fair to insist his mother's role was crucial, too misleading, since that's, well, a fringe, outlier situation (buying him firearms as holiday presents, taking him to the firing range, incredible, also incredibly rare, very bizarre parenting!)
Not sure what men are "always angry and have to settle the score," other than the segment I highlighted in another comment (gang members, but not just them by any means) , and we can add the "Proud Boys," to that, although as far as I know they haven't been tied to any mass shootings (yet!), and various domestic terrorists, almost entirely on the far right-wing.
"What is it that drives them to hurt or maim?"
Not sure what sort of answer could possibly be sufficient, the "drivers" are all over the map of human culture and psychology. What's your theory?
I need to at least have some idea why you are lumping men together as some kind of monolithic mass category --- can you really do that without losing too much granular detail, maybe with women as well, or any other category of humans vis-a-vis crimes, or any other activity? People are unique individuals, after all.
Women definitely commit violent crimes, but thankfully, for whatever reason or because of whatever "drivers," not many mass shootings. (About 2% or less).
Anyway, what's your theory as far as "why men are always (or at least, far too frequently and with sometimes catastrophic results) angry and have to settle the score"?
Possibly, as a provisional hypothesis, at least most of it comes down to a poorly integrated ego identity, such that their very identity as being "masculine, " somehow requires "being angry and always having to ( or are at least seeking to) settle the score," whatever "score" means.
Doesn't make much sense to me, but who knows, maybe it makes sense to them!
Actually, I don't think there's any possible all-encompassing "answer" that isn't far too tendentious to be plausible, but maybe I am just mistaken about that?
Thanks for spurring me to think about the issues, though, one of the central delights of this blog is people speaking their mind.
I can do on first cup of coffee, sorry!
i stand with George Hanson: "This used to be a helluva good country".
Yep about 1200 AD North America was great.
As always, there are some dubious assumptions packed into that sweeping moral judgment spoken on behalf of people alive at the time:
www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/popular-books/aboriginal-people-canadian-military/warfare-pre-columbian-north-america.html
Warfare in Aboriginal societies
Hochelaga around 1535 (Library and Archives Canada (C-10489))
Despite the myth that Aboriginals lived in happy harmony before the arrival of Europeans, war was central to the way of life of many First Nation cultures. Indeed, war was a persistent reality in all regions though, as Tom Holm has argued, it waxed in intensity, frequency and decisiveness. The causes were complex and often interrelated, springing from both individual and collective motivations and needs. At a personal level, young males often had strong incentives to participate in military operations, as brave exploits were a source of great prestige in most Aboriginal cultures. According to one Jesuit account from the 18th Century, ‘The only way to attract respect and public veneration among the Illinois is, as among the other Savages, to acquire a reputation as a skilful hunter, and particularly as a good warrior … it is what they call being a true man.’ Among west coast societies, the material goods and slaves acquired through raiding were important avenues to build up sufficient wealth to host potlatches and other give-away ceremonies. At a community level, warfare played a multifaceted role, and was waged for different reasons. Some conflicts were waged for economic and political goals, such as gaining access to resources or territory, exacting tribute from another nation or controlling trade routes. Revenge was a consistent motivating factor across North America, a factor that could lead to recurrent cycles of violence, often low intensity, which could last generations. Among the Iroquoian nations in the northeast, ‘mourning wars’ were practiced. Such conflicts involved raiding with the intent to capture prisoners, who were then adopted by bereaved families to replace family members who had died prematurely due to illness or war.
Read the rest here:
www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/popular-books/aboriginal-people-canadian-military/warfare-pre-columbian-north-america.html
"(With) apologies to the Iroquois and the Mohawks of High Steel"! ----
www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/10/17/apologies-to-the-iroquois
Too good not to pass on: 'Now it’s God’s fault': Texas Republican slammed for claiming 'the almighty' controls shootings. / RawStory
Yep all predestined.
Another kook politician on the loose.
Lucian, I looked closely at your next to the last paragraph and I see that you have avoided the cumbersome "his/her" formulation for describing a shooter. And you are fully justified in doing so. I keep asking why virtually all of the shooters are men (in your description, either angry young men or disaffected older men). We know that women can be outstanding soldiers, security personnel, and law enforcement officers so its not that women are unable to master the use of powerful weapons. Many women in the United States own firearms. We know that women can suffer from many of the same anxieties and mental turbulence as angry young men and disaffected older men. But they almost never engage in these acts of domestic terrorism. I'm so short of answers that I'm almost tempted to dip into genetics for an explanation--and I don't really want to go there. I wonder if we'll ever have an explanation of this disparity.
Expectation. Entitlement. Anger when your expectations of entitlement are not met. Your sincerely held belief is that you are chosen to be on the “top” and that if you are not, you have the privilege and the right to punish those “responsible”.
That’s my perspective as a white, female, retired cop.
Gang bangers protect their turf, and insist on respect, that includes white racist motorcycle gangs, Rolling Crips and Cosa Nostra affiliates, and these guys, from a neighborhood I used to live near when I first moved to Minneapolis from Tempe with then-girlfriend:
www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/native-mob-gang-members-sentenced-prison-assault-aid-racketeering-methamphetamine
And from just days ago, one of the largest single crackdowns on gangs in the Twin Cities since the Prohibition Era, when Dillinger, the Ma Barker/Alvin "Kreepy" Karpis gang, and Baby Face Nelson, among other hoodlums, used to periodically hang out here, with the understanding from both the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Chiefs, that as long as they didn't do crimes locally, they wouldn't be arrested:
Rare RICO indictments filed against 45 accused ...
Bring Me The News
https://bringmethenews.com › MN News
"4 days ago — 28 members and associates of the Highs and Lows gang, which prosecutors allege operate in north Minneapolis on opposite sides of Broadway Avenue ...
Indictments were unsealed Wednesday against 45 accused street gang members allegedly responsible for a “brutal and unrelenting trail of violence” in Minneapolis, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger announced.
The new charges mark the first time federal prosecutors have brought a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charge against Minneapolis-based street gang members.
The two gangs named in the new indictments —the Highs and Lows in north Minneapolis and the Bloods in south Minneapolis — are accused of being involved with several shootings, murders, racketeering, drug sales and more.
Those charged in the indictments include:
28 members and associates of the Highs and Lows gang, which prosecutors allege operate in north Minneapolis on opposite sides of Broadway Avenue.
17 members of the Bloods gang, which primarily operates in south Minneapolis.
The indictments filed on Wednesday relate to crimes committed dating back to 2016 to present day. It involves 20 shootings and seven murders, according to federal prosecutors.
Excerpted from -
bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/rare-rico-indictments-filed-against-45-accused-minneapolis-street-gang-members
August analysis and comments.
The rate of gun ownership is high in Canada and several other countries. With rare exceptions, only in this country—and then, mainly in certain regions—are automatic rifle mass murders routine. When a mass murder happens in one of those rare-exception countries, laws get passed immediately to prevent repeats. The laws work. Only in America etc etc: The explanation Ally House offers in her "Expectation. Entitlement. Anger …" comment satisfies me. In Texas, mental disease certainly is a factor, most conspicuously among the state's top office-holders.
I have a cousin who lives in Beaumont. Her son is getting married in Houston and I have been invited to the wedding. I have not seen my cousin for over 50 years. It would be nice to go, however, it’s Texas. I will send a gift.
I've kept wondering how anyone with options could step foot in that state. Maybe your cousin could use a recovery after-party on your turf?
I have to say that I am curious as to how she feels about al of these tragedies happening in her state.
I would again urge you to get her to unwind after the festivities vieiting you, but I guess you can't be sure what you'll find. I have a lone, dear, cousin on one side, far-right, but it just doesn't matter. Several cousins on the other side are probably equally RW but i'd love to get together anyway. I happen to be the only one of the lot who's overbearing.
There is a dividing line in between the art of simplification and oversimplification.
The statements are for the readers to decide which one it is.
To your wondering: Wimmin are the givers life. Men are the takers of life. The operative words givers- takers because it ain't exclusive to killing. Giving v. taking is the difference in kind between a matriarchal society and a patriarchal society.
I agree, there's much truth packed into that distinction.
I entered a search to bring up Joseph Campbell on the ancient female-centered
religious myths and "Evohe!"* look what turned up!
www.albany.edu/~dlafonde/wss510web/spirit.htm
* Bacchic rites cry, see this
spiritslip.blogspot.com/2017/12/barbarous-words-io-evohe.html
Excerpt:
"On the website, Hellenicgods.org, is an article revealing all of the many names of Dionysus. A particular entry stands out (highlights mine).
Évios - (Euius; Gr. Εὔιος, ΕΥΙΟΣ) Évios is an epithet of Diónysos referring to the ecstatic howl of joy, εὐαἵ, εὐοἱ, made by the God and those who worshipped him and participated in his orgies.
- Lexicon entry: Εὔιος (Εὔἱος EM391.15, cf. Lat. Euhius), ὁ, name of Bacchus, from the cry εὐαἵ, εὐοἱ, in lyr. passages; Εὔιος, = Βάκχος. II. εὔιος, ον, as Adj., Bacchic. (L&S p. 717, left column, edited for simplicity.)- "Cornutus, the tutor of the Roman poet Persius (ed. 34-62 BCE), tells us that the wine treaders invoked the God by various names, such as 'Bakchos' and 'Euios.' [Cornutus, Theologiae graecae compendium XXIX.] Reference to these scenes was made at the Second Council of Constantinople, the Trullianum, in the year 691 A.D. Until that date the wine treaders still cried out 'Dionysos,' but this was now forbidden. [μἡ τὸ τοῦ βδελυκτοῦ Διονύσου ὄνομα τοὑς τὴν σταϕυλὴν ἐκθλίβοντας ἐν τοῖς ληνοῖς ἐπιβοᾶν, cited by P. Koukoules, Βυζαντινῶν βίος καὶ πολιτισμός , p. 293.]" (Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life by Carl Kerényi, 1976, Princeton Univ. Press. p. 67)
- (ed. Évios is a) name of Dionysos, implying, Well done, my son! words ascribed to Zeus, when he saw Bacchus returning victoriously from combating the Giants. Evoe, or Evan, was the exclamation with which the Bacchanals invoked their God during the celebration of his orgies. (CM*p.181)"
Evohe! is also the name of one of the plays performed at the National Student Drama Festival of the British Isles in early January, 1972 --- Macalester College Drama Choros was only US group invited, that was about fifty of us, 13 days in the U.K., four in London, nine in Bradford, Yorkshire, site of the festival.
As usual you return with strings of Mikimoto pearls after discarding the useless oysters and shells. Glad you included the reference to Macalester. Explains much.
Might explain why I spent so much time in February 1973 playing chess with two Ojibwe guys, as we discussed this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Occupation
We also enjoyed this music:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YkDH2s5eW0&list=RDLVHf0Dm-OaTNk&start_radio=1
And this, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk
another way some experienced Canned Heat at Woodstock,
Goin' Up the Country...dig those crazy hippies and the nuns, too!
Maybe part of the Dorothy Day contingent, who knows, Sisters of the Carondelet affiliated with St. Catherine U. donated $40 when I canvassed them for COACT in the
early 1980s in Mac-Groveland, they were immediately tuned in to the economic/class struggle issues we were focusing on, straight out of Matthew 5-6-7, after all!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk
I think I'm going to write a column about this, but I think you'd be better at writing it, Lucien-to my mind, we are in an undeclared war in this country.
The targets: anyone who is a human being
The enemies (because there are more than one in this case):
The Republican Party
The NRA
The right wing 2nd Amendment fanatics
The suspects:
Gun dealers
Gun manufacturers
Alienated, aggrieved young men
Weapon of choice:
AR 15 with multiple reloads.
The real truth is that this IS an undeclared war, and until we (the survivors) take up the fight, we're never going to win.
What does it take to win?
A lot more pissed off people who have lost loved ones to actually get up off their fat asses and do something more than whine about it.
Like us.
Our mission should be to:
Replace those Representatives (like MTG) and Senators like Ted Cruz, Governors like Greg Abbot and Ron Desantis, repeal the 2nd Amendment, enact legislation to ban assault weapons, and put out of business the NRA , gun dealers and gun manufacturers.
Sounds like a lot of work.
It is. But with the 200th mass shooting of this year so far coming up in either hours or days, what do we have to lose?
More human lives.
I would add to your enemies list right-wing TV and radio “news,” right-wing podcasts, websites, social media and message boards; also organized wing-nut groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and of course MAGAts.
They can the “Thoughts and Prayers” and forcefully put them where the sun doesn’t shine. This is absolute lunacy. It’s a complete lack of understanding our history and the reason for the 2nd Amendment. It is lunacy.
As Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock(himself a pastor) said recently about “Thoughts and Prayers”- “it is a contradiction to say you are thinking and praying and then do nothing. It makes a mockery of prayer and trivializes faith. We pray by taking action”
If I could, I’d like this a gazillion times.
Mr. Damian: ❤❤❤ for your post.
Aka "Karma Yoga," exactly!
"Our enemy is the AR-15" is a clear message which fits on a bumper sticker. Cuts through the crap, so to speak.
Back to thinking about the kittens. More pictures?
Yesterday was an intense experience after I learned about the shooting. I feel distraught after all of them; this one happened closer. I lived in Allen, TX, several years ago. My sister, two nieces, and their families live there now. I used to go just north of the mall to see a specialist doctor every month. This was as recent as February of this year. After my father passed away, I moved out of state to take over my family home. I sent a text to my sister and both nieces yesterday. They were all safe and waiting to hear from others. One niece told me she knew several teenagers that worked at the mall, but they were all off yesterday. To put it mildly, I felt sick waiting to hear from them. I still feel sick over it. Those politicians at the mic yesterday are well-known to me. I lived in the same county - Collin County. Jeff Leach, the bearded one, is a State representative. He was one of the sponsors of one of the gun laws that led to even more madness. I believe the open carry, or perhaps another one after, removed the need for licensing.
Heck, maybe all of them. The County Judge, Chris Hill, is another piece of work. I remember his posts during the pandemic. There was one; I wish I saved it, where he wrote up some nonsense about businesses being allowed to stay open. It was a perfect example of trying to have it both ways. The only one I need to learn about is the Mayor. Allen, TX, is a lovely suburb, and anyone living there felt it was a very safe community for all, no longer as that dream or fantasy is dead.
On a side note, LKTIV, the Allen Premium Mall, is in the Allen city limits. I saw the same mentioned in other reports, and most people are reasonably accustomed to outlet malls being slightly outside the town or city. Thank you for your writing about this issue. I am thankful.
We know the “how” of these mass shootings, assault style rifles. The “who” seems to be mostly white males, usually on the young side. But what about the “why?” I think this is important, because in the absence of AR-15s there are still plenty of firearms that can do a lot of damage. And many of them have been available for decades, when there were no, or almost no, mass shootings. And, it seems there has been an increase in these shootings since 2016, when we elected a certain motherfucker president.
Thoughts. Prayers. Platitudes! Empty ones at that. Something has to be done. As I have said before “vote the fekkers OUT.” I am in the blue northeast, but those of you in free-wheeling, gun-toting states need to get the Guns Over People party out...of...office!