Lets see if we can keep this thread a little more civil.

I found this interview very interesting.  A lot of soft balls thrown at Trump, he explained his back pedalling on his more extreme issues as a lot of his claims as opening bids for negotiation purposes.  Which .. whatever .. I still think that those are insincere claims he used to get elected.

He does now come across way more presidential then he did prior to the election.  A lot of his noise, yelling, and rhetoric has been scaled back.

Do respect this one though:

Quote

 

Lesley Stahl: Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?

Donald Trump: Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year. But it’s a -- I don’t even know what it is.

Donald Trump: Do you know what the salary is?

Lesley Stahl: $400,000 you’re giving up.

Donald Trump: No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-donald-trump-family-melania-ivanka-lesley-stahl/

1 hour ago, JCon said:

Muricans are more afraid of brown people than picking up their dead kids from school. 

Americans are much more Catholic in their hatred- they hate blacks, browns, Asians, progressives, gays, transgendereds, environmentalists, uppity women and civil servants to name but a few.

ANY gun control legislation needs to get through the Senate, where 10 Republican votes are needed to overcome a filibuster.

Good luck with that one:

Quote

 

 

Wingnuts new tag line: you can’t legislate evil.

NRA is having a conference in Houston in a couple of days where the usually suspects will show up, also no guns allowed as they have been banned from the event. Protection for me but not for thee

Edited May 25, 20223 yr by bustamente

I was waiting for the old dude to throw the walker, as for Abbott people have the right to be angry but we aren't going to do anything, see you all at the next shooting

 

5 hours ago, bustamente said:

NRA is having a conference in Houston in a couple of days where the usually suspects will show up, also no guns allowed as they have been banned from the event. Protection for me but not for thee

if they were smart they would cancel the event in light of the recent tragedy

https://www.tmz.com/2022/05/25/american-pie-singer-don-mclean-drops-out-nra-conference-school-shooting/

 

                   

Interesting article

 

Japan has one of the lowest rates of gun crime in the world. In 2014 there were just six gun deaths, compared to 33,599 in the US. What is the secret? 

If you want to buy a gun in Japan you need patience and determination. You have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%.

There are also mental health and drugs tests. Your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. Then they check your relatives too - and even your work colleagues. And as well as having the power to deny gun licences, police also have sweeping powers to search and seize weapons.

That's not all. Handguns are banned outright. Only shotguns and air rifles are allowed.

The law restricts the number of gun shops. In most of Japan's 40 or so prefectures there can be no more than three, and you can only buy fresh cartridges by returning the spent cartridges you bought on your last visit.

 

The result is a very low level of gun ownership - 0.6 guns per 100 people in 2007, according to the Small Arms Survey, compared to 6.2 in England and Wales and 88.8 in the US.

"The moment you have guns in society, you will have gun violence but I think it's about the quantity," says Overton. "If you have very few guns in society, you will almost inevitably have low levels of violence."

Japanese police officers rarely use guns and put much greater emphasis on martial arts - all are expected to become a black belt in judo. They spend more time practising kendo (fighting with bamboo swords) than learning how to use firearms.

"The response to violence is never violence, it's always to de-escalate it. Only six shots were fired by Japanese police nationwide [in 2015]," 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729

4 hours ago, bustamente said:

I was waiting for the old dude to throw the walker, as for Abbott people have the right to be angry but we aren't going to do anything, see you all at the next shooting

 

If members of the house or senate were shot dead does it change? No. 

Guns are more American now than Apple pie. It's happened so many times now that it's just ridiculous.  Like honestly,  go Beto, fight the good fight. Surprised some ass didn't shoot him tho. Texass

Cruz saying there should only be one way in and out of schools. And armed guards should be posted at said door. You see it's not that there are too many guns. There are too many doors.

Schools that look and act like prison is the future! That's what the kids of America need! Ted Cruz is a brilliant brilliant man. 

 

So apparently there was a "good guy" with a gun at the school who did absolutely nothing. 

29 minutes ago, bustamente said:

So apparently there was a "good guy" with a gun at the school who did absolutely nothing. 

Below from the Buffalo shooting. More guns and guards is not the answer. This guy was armed, and well trained to use it (assuming being a retired cop) and acted, and it changed nothing.  Then you've got guys like this that carry the gun for appearances, or maybe he was waiting for a real crisis. There was one way in and one way out of the store, and there was an armed guard there, and it didn't deter or slow the Buffalo shooter. Pieces of **** like Cruz can eat a bag of dicks.

Aaron Salter Jr., 55.

The "hero" security guard who engaged the suspect but was fatally shot was Aaron Salter, a former Buffalo police lieutenant, said the mayor.

 

Salter was well respected throughout the police department, Brown told CNN's "New Day Weekend," and had worked at the supermarket for several years after retiring.

He was a loving son who "had a caring spirit and a desire to take care of other people," Brown said.

Salter "is a hero who tried to protect people in the store, tried to save lives and in the process, lost his own life," Brown added.

The supermarket's security guard "fired multiple shots at the suspect" when he entered the store, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said, but the suspect was wearing tactical gear that protected him from the guard's gunfire.

 

Edited May 26, 20223 yr by itchy

Why are citizens allowed to buy body armour? It’s not part of the Second Amendment, and has no practical purpose for game hunting, does it?

                                                 

Senators are way to busy trying to decide red or white with lunch to care about everyday Americans. They could stop this craziness is they wanted to but it obvious over the years that this has happened they don't

Majority of US citizens: 'Another senseless mass murder of children and their teachers, we need to do something about access to guns!

US Senator response, 'Hey don't make this political'.

FFS

 

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made an impassioned speech saying how the majority  of Americans were being held hostage by 50 senators on gun control, and it frustrated me because they are not being held hostage so long as they exercise their vote. But an article from The Atlantic offers a perspective on why it is so difficult to make a majority vote mean anything. Good read. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/05/senate-state-bias-filibuster-blocking-gun-control-legislation/638425/

Edited May 26, 20223 yr by TrueBlue4ever

                                                 

                                            

3 hours ago, Tracker said:

                                                 

If only this was not true I'd laugh.

"Policing" 

https://www.tmz.com/2022/05/26/larry-gatlin-cancels-nra-convention-performance-texas-school-shooting/

"Policing" 

7 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Why are citizens allowed to buy body armour? It’s not part of the Second Amendment, and has no practical purpose for game hunting, does it?

To protect the children!

All the trained police standing around, and the GOP expects that teachers could handle the chaos better if they were armed. “Good guy with a gun” is a joke, unless they want to admit police are in fact bad guys with guns to maintain that myth. 
It is hard not to get numb to all of this. After Sandy Hook and the lack of response it became clear that any will to stop this lunacy by the people was gone, even though they were in the majority. It’s hard to try and keep caring from afar when those with a direct stake in it can’t be bothered to care enough to change things. Sad fact, for all the claims of “it’s a mental health issue, not a gun issue” that usually gets brought up, the worst mass shooting in US history (the Vegas Mandalay Bay concert shooting) still has no identifiable cause. I have talked directly to police who have read the full FBI investigation and they say the reason for the shooting has never been figured out, and likely never will be. The shooter left no note, had no known underlying mental health, psychological, or personal or financial issues that would have triggered him. Just an anonymous seemingly normal guy who had access to a massive arsenal and exploited it, and had planned out an attack like this in Chicago before settling on Vegas. Blows every excuse of the NRA out there of the water.

Finally, this may be too sensitive for some and and I’m not entirely sure if this is appropriate, but it is powerful and maybe the best example I have seen of a dramatization of a school shooting, certainly on network TV. It comes from a Canadian police show called “19-2” which filmed an episode called “School”. It was originally done in French and re-done shot for shot in English a couple of years later for the Anglophone version.  It has NSFW language and certainly content, but is very gripping and strongly brought home the terror and chaos of the situation for all involved. I am attaching the link here but if I do not mean to offend if anyone finds it exploitive or “glamourizing” these tragedies, not my intent. Just a reminder whenever I want to shrug and say “oh well, just another stupid day in the US, they don’t care why should I” what the human stakes are.

 

Edited May 26, 20223 yr by TrueBlue4ever