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When I was a young reporter at the World-Telegram and Sun in New York starting in 1962, I would pull clips from the morgue and discover stories written this way: "Robert Jones, colored, was arrested today for assault...." Judging by the dates on those clips, I joined the paper only a few years -- five at most -- after that noxious practice ended. (Legend had it that it was dropped when a reporter racially identified everyone in a story as in: "Robert Jones, colored, was arrested today by NYPD officers Bill Smith, white, and Pedro Lopez, Puerto Rican/Mixed Race. He was accused of beating his wife, Mary Jones, colored, in a domestic dispute. A neighbor, Frank Smith, white, called the police to the scene...." I have no way of knowing if the legend is true.). Anyway, it appears that for the right-wing media, "transgender" is the new "colored."

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That's such a great NYC reporters story—loved it, legend or fact, no matter.

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You missed the days of headline, GIANT NEGROES ____by circa 60yrs. Basically wld paint white LEOs as heroes for taking down a GIANT NEGRO.

Yes, am ancient. Witnessed Tom Tom (as he was then known) Bombadil's first steps.

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As far back as the killer bees invasion? They just spell GIANT NEGRO differently now. The story and sensibiliy are the same.

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We are drowning in a sea of lies and misinformation. Scuba divers die if they forget which way is up. For out society today, which way indeed is "up"?

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Most people of any segment of society are not violent but this headline would have the readers think trans people are particularly violent which of course is not the case. When the full story comes out it is quite possible the manifesto will show some kind of resentment for the school because of the Christian tendency to make gay people in general feel feel guilty about their orientation. I'm sure that when these kids first realize they are "Different: they don't know why except they probably quickly become aware that certain people hate them for it. Kids quickly catch on to this difference and no doubt that is when the bullying starts. I understand there is a higher rate of depression, subsequent drug abuse and suicide than for the general population. There was a kid in my class at the age of 11 who was always being picked on as he spoke with a sort of lisp and looking back now quite effeminate in his mannerisms. Of course the other kids picked up on this very quickly and would tease him and pick on him. I was not a big kid but was always getting in g fights and I felt sorry for him and defended him, telling the other kids to lay off him. His name was Joe Orton although we knew him as John then, and he became a famous playwright. This was in Leicester, England. Sadly his partner murdered him at the height of his success. We all left school at age 14 back then. It was raised to 15 the following year. But that was the extent of my limited education, Here is John's (Joe's) Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton

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I also want to know more about this shooter. From what I've read so far, this was a 28YO woman who was reportedly using male pronouns. The overwhelming majority of mass shootings, and most shootings, period, have been committed by XY-chromosome people. That this one was committed by an XX makes it noteworthy. People who commit mass shootings aren't representative of whatever subgroups they belong to -- nowhere close. But *if* this shooter had a prior connection with this Christian school, and *if* the Christianity taught there was of a fundamentalist sort, and *if* this person was unsettled about sex, sexuality, and/or gender . . . Well, I want to know more, and I wish there was a way to bring those children back to life.

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Well said, Susanna, interesting too re the chromosomes mix. There was another school planned as a target but decided against as too much security, Based on what you said it will be interesting to see if that was also a private Christian school. I'm sure the manifesto when made public will say more, but whether or not related the whole thing is beyond understanding. How can anyone under any circumstances shoot 3 little children unless so consumed with rage they don't care who they kill. She obviously wanted to commit suicide knowing the police would be there quickly. but why take innocent people with her.I guess she was under mental counselling also at the time. A friend of hers got a disturbing text message minutes before the shooting that something bad was about to happen. She reported it but of course too late.

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Robert, all these school shootings are beyond *rational* understanding -- all mass shootings, period, IMO -- but it's still important to at least make an attempt to identify the factors that combine to make them happen. I start with the innocuous truism is that many kids hate school, at least some of the time. For a kid who's bullied, or treated unfairly, or comes to feel like a failure, that may turn into a grievance that lasts into adulthood. Grievances can fester into serious dysfunction. (Most recovering alcoholics and addicts can tell you this.) For people who don't see a way out of their dilemma(s), blaming others seems like the only recourse.

Without a alternate path (therapy, 12-step program, an informal support network, political action, etc.), the prognosis can be pretty bleak -- it may lead to suicide, or one-on-one violence, or even to a mass shooting directed at what the (seriously dysfunctional) individual holds responsible for all their problems. (Remember how the phrase "going postal" entered the U.S. English lexicon?)

Now factor in easy access to semi-automatic weapons. This is not only a crucial factor in nearly all mass shootings, it's the one that "we the people" have the most control over. And "we the people" are doing very, very little to exercise that control.

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All so true, Susanna. We think of kids as being young and innocent, but some can be very cruel. The meeker, quiet kids get bullied a lot, and as you say can harm themselves or explode and shoot their tormentors and anyone else in the vicinity. I think schools need to do more to stop bullying. Of course kids do it on m line now/ But they need to call the whole school together and say anyone caught bullying will be expelled immediately/ We were physically punished when I was in school and we grew up fine, but teachers can't do that any more and kids know it and take advantage.

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In my culture 2spirit people are honored, not ridiculed and worse. Our naming convention indicates just that. Keep in mind our languages/words are not ever confused w/the full OED so we don't play word games. And as an aside we nevah evah loaned any words to Roger Williams or any other hooman.

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The name of the movie is Prick Up Your Ears. Excellent film...

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Ah, yes that's right.

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There is a movie about Joe’s life, but I am very bad at remembering titles. The film doesn’t include his childhood. Thank you for your post.

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Prick Ip Your Ears is the movie

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gr8 storytell

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precisely my take as well.

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WOW! What an interesting story, Robert, and what a character Orton was! He may have been shy in school but he certainly became a great writer while being promiscuous with young boys. Horrible how his life was snuffed out by his lover.

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Hi Marlene, Yes, he certainly overcame his shyness. The stuff he wrote was very funny. I've read several of his plays, The family lived about half a block from ours, I didn't know them well but had been to the house. They were very nice. I didn't know he was homosexual until my brother sent me a newspaper article about his murder.

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They want a scapegoat for their brownshirted helots. Terrifying. My partner and I flashed back to JFK's assassination and how horrified we were when Jack Ruby turned out to be Jewish. Get an outgroup. Blame the outgroup. Kill members of the outgroup. It enables the brownshirts to feel safe. But they never are, and no blood sacrifice is ever enough.

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I have a transgender child, and this headline is illustrative of the breathtaking transphobia which runs rampant in our nation. How dare they! If they are going to use gender identity to sell papers, they should identify the 99.9% of shooters as cisgenders.

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I have a transgender nephew. Never has he been happier but seeing this headline just makes me worry. So cruel!

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I think there's a probability that it's true. If that's the case , truth is paramount to all things. All purpose and meaning is built upon it. No matter how resistant or painful the truth might be, we as a species must pursue it , face it and embrace it. That's the path to so-called salvation and wholeness.

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This is what a conservative would say: I didn't have a problem with the trans community until it felt like I was being forced to treat them like royalty. The aggressive and adversarial over-representation by people who aren't even their members is what's making me push back. (If they had the ability to accurately convert their feelings to words)

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You are absolutely right. This headline is a ploy to sow more division amongst us and prevent us from taking responsible action to end gun violence.

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Dog whistle big time for the message du jour to be disseminated by the easily triggered. A whole army of preprogrammed Manchurian Candidate types. Buzzwords (stimulus) triggered to repeat (transgender, Black, etc.)

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Identifying gender is such a disgusting trait that is becoming more frequent these days. A NY Times review of a Justin Peck ballet during the winter found it necessary to identify the male in a pas de deux as using gender neutral pronouns .When it comes to a shooting, what difference does gender make if a person uses a gun to kill another human ? Will we suddenly start identifying the gender of every gun owner?

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it's almost always unnecessary since they tend to be guys.

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Like the bullets in the chamber and magazine care about the gender identification of the person pulling the trigger…FFS…

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How nice that this (Murdoch) paper is trying to cloud the gun issue by diverting attention to a (not really) Trans person.

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Start the countdown for the tsunami of anti-trans, anti-non gender conforming legislation.

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F*****s. And that's what I have to say about that.

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I have only incoherent streams of profanity and vulgarity mixed with white-hot anger. This is beyond reprehensible.

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You have lots of us with you on that.

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Feel the same, Ally!

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Lucian, don't be too hard on old Rupert. After all, he's got an empire to hold on to and he needs to appeal to as many of his readers as possible (assuming his readers can actually read). Faux news & Faux nation are long beyond the point of no return. They've got their own imagined axe to grind and this is the way they do it. Just appeal to the those who are easily led by the nose and cannot think for themselves, and rake in the $$$. What a sick organization.

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Not to mention Jerry Hall's extra weight now on the ex-wives' scale, and the.financial burden of yet another new wife. I think it's silly to take this seriously from the Post. It's not like this is some kind of departure from respectable journalism. This is what the nyPost is—the stuff of late-night tv jokes.

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Unfortunately, this could justify a "Crusade" mentality for Christians to persecute the "heathen" homosexuals.

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They have no shame or compassion, kind of like the Republicans in Congress and state houses that refuse to allow gun control laws to pass.

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From MTG today at 3pm EST.

In the wake of a transgender shooter targeting a Christian school and murdering kids, every American should know the threat of Antifa driven trans-terrorism.

Twitter should not whitewash the incitement of politically motivated violence.

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is it possible she's the stupidest person ever to serve in Congress? or am I just being forgetful?? Michelle Bachman was also pretty stupid (even with the genuine burden of her gay "conversion therapy" hubby), but was definitely less hateful.

we need to work out some kind of Stupidity Point System or something.

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No, I beg to differ. Lauren Bobert is the stupidest person to serve. MGT has a bachelor’s degree but Bobo just passed her GED right before she started “serving” in Congress c

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Twitter suspended her account for 7 days. Too bad they didn’t give her a lifetime suspension.

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