Uvalde - the followup

Don't know about prior knowledge but they don't look to be the least bit sad or upset.

A shooting would leave me a little scared, since the reality is it would make me aware that anyone at any time could be a shooter.
Its almost as if they not only were not nervous, but happy it happened?

Side note is that all 2600 meals got frozen and donated to shelters.

{...
Are there any reports of what happened to the food not consumed at the WHCD?
11:58 AM

Claude responded: Yes — it's a genuinely heartwarming outcome from a chaotic night​


Yes — it's a genuinely heartwarming outcome from a chaotic night. The Washington Hilton donated roughly 2,600 meals that went unserved after the dinner was cut short by a gunman.

The shooting took place about half an hour after the dinner began, meaning attendees had only received a salad course before the room was thrown into chaos, leaving around 2,600 plates of prime Chateaubriand steak and Maine lobster untouched.

Hotel staff freeze-dried the steak and lobster for longer shelf life before donating them to two shelters for abused women and children. WHCA President Weijia Jiang gave a public shoutout to the hotel staff for working through the night under difficult circumstances.

The remaining produce items were composted and sent to farms for agricultural use. And in a lighter note, the livestream captured some attendees grabbing bottles of wine on their way out of the venue.
...}
 
Last edited:
"A shooting would leave me a little scared, since the reality is it would make me aware that anyone at any time could be a shooter.
Its almost as if they not only were not nervous, but happy it happened?" R5 #222
There's a diversity of "explanations" (aka "conspiracy theories") w/ varying degrees of implausibility.

"If nothing else it distracts people from the Epstein files and the disaster that's Iran." S2 #223
Our OJT CIC flails embarrassingly,
first by punishing our trade partners with $tariffs, insulting our NATO allies,
then cutting them out of the loop on Trump's decision to wage War on Iran again (second time this term),
and then acts imposed upon when NATO allies decline to join in to help clean up the mess Trump created without even the courtesy of consulting them.
And the Strait of Hormuz remains contested.

Trump pretends to professionalism / expertise.
He's a bumbling incompetent.

Anyone that contests that, how can we explain Trump's claiming lowering consumer prices his top priority,
and then sending them spiraling upward? "Competence"? By Trump standards perhaps.
 


Sorry, but I have to disagree.
What I read says pistols are 97% of all firearm deaths.
And the graph over time does not seem to show the assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004 as having any effect.

The assault weapons ban did not really ban much.
You could still buy an AK-47 for example, only they called it an MAK-90, and it had a thumbhole stock instead of a pistol grip.
You could still buy an AR-15, but just not from Colt.
 
There seem to be a lot of different analyses of the effect



 
"There seem to be a lot of different analyses of the effect" S2 #227
Thank you S2.
I've long had the uneasy apprehension when reading on the subject that what I'd previously read was not corroborated.

Utilitarianism may be an undeclared or unofficial objective of democracy.
QUESTION:

The Constitution's Second Amendment (2A) absolutizes this right: "... shall not be infringed ...". But,

Can we bell-curve the benefit of this 2A right?
100% disarmed risks authoritarian government oppression.
100% armament risks genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity.
Therefore it would seem the ideal is somewhere in between.

Is that close enough to be an objective toward which we strive?
 
There seem to be a lot of different analyses of the effect




The first URL is Pelosi defending her own bill, without any real substance, and only a claim of 34% decrease in mass shooting.
The 2nd and 3rd show a graph that to me looks like the 1994 to 2004 ban did nothing.

If there was any effect, it would have been the metal state of the people who were effected by the publicity against gun violence in general.

The actual ban result was simply to reshape the pistol grip into a thumbhole stock, which really does not change a thing about how it works.

The point of a rifle is its greater range than a pistol.
But since all these mass shooting are indoors, there is not a one where a rifle makes any sense.
If a pistol had been used instead, then they could have been firing 2 pistols at the same time, and not have worry about being attacked when reloading.
 
Last edited:
Thank you S2.
I've long had the uneasy apprehension when reading on the subject that what I'd previously read was not corroborated.

Utilitarianism may be an undeclared or unofficial objective of democracy.
QUESTION:

The Constitution's Second Amendment (2A) absolutizes this right: "... shall not be infringed ...". But,

Can we bell-curve the benefit of this 2A right?
100% disarmed risks authoritarian government oppression.
100% armament risks genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity.
Therefore it would seem the ideal is somewhere in between.

Is that close enough to be an objective toward which we strive?

Let us not forget that before 1900 there were essentially no police, and there were constant threats ranging from bears and wolves, to Spanish pirates.
So before 1800, over 90% of the population was rural and armed.
Meaning that history shows there was little risk of "genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity"?

The utility of firearms come from the fact the police not only can become a corrupt arm of a decadent government, but that they simply never arrive in time.
No one can ever count on police defending anyone, since they are not going to show up for half an hour.

And we should examine the motivations for shootings?
There have always been deadly weapons ranging from blunt weapons to exotic toxins.
So why are these mass shootings increasing?
I would tend to guess that they are not due to there being more weapons, but that people are more stressed and unhappy because the wealthy elite have an ever growing monopoly over the only means of survival, like rent, jobs, food prices, healthcare, etc.?
 
"Let us not forget that before 1900 there were essentially no police, and there were constant threats ranging from bears and wolves, to Spanish pirates." R5 #230
"INJUNS !" [like in the movies]

"So before 1800, over 90% of the population was rural and armed." R5 #230
Historic accounts of that differ.

"Meaning that history shows there was little risk of "genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity"? R5 #230
The only dude capable of accomplishing that with a muzzle loader would have been Adam, in the Garden of Eden.

The "100% armament risks genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity" #228
in 3rd millennium context is reductio ad absurdum, carrying 2A to absurd conclusion by the extreme of allowing / enabling a doomsday cultist like Jim Jones to have a genuine doomsday weapon, more than a pitcher of kool-aid.
Nukes wouldn't do it. Killing off literally 99% of Earth's human population in 2026 would leave 1% surviving. 1% of 8 Billion is 80 million, substantially more than needed for a viable breeding population.

No. To terminate the human race in 2026 a doomsday weapon would have to be either a planet killer, like sending an Earth-sized projectile direct hit into Earth's orbital path at planet-shattering velocity, leaving only tiny fragments, dissipating our atmosphere, etc. - OR -
A doomsday bio-weapon, a monstrously contagious, spectacularly lethal weapon that would propagate itself through the population.

The purpose of mentioning it in post #228 is, "shall not be infringed" Constitutionally protects such private individual citizen ownership of such weapon.
Bad idea, but in the 18th Century not a realistic concern for Madison to trifle with in wording 2A.

"The utility of firearms come from the fact the police not only can become a corrupt arm of a decadent government, but that they simply never arrive in time." R5 #230
Modern repeating firearms are force multipliers. They empower the weak against the strong.
"One bullet in the hands of a mentally unstable person or a convicted felon is one too many. Six bullets in the hands of a mother protecting her twin nine year olds may not be enough." U.S. Sen.Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [source: NBC-TV News 13/01/30]

"And we should examine the motivations for shootings?" R5 #230
Crimes of opportunity?
Psychological recompense for a misperception of lifelong victimization?

"There have always been deadly weapons ranging from blunt weapons to exotic toxins.
So why are these mass shootings increasing?" R5 #230
Never underestimate cowardice.

"I would tend to guess that they are not due to there being more weapons, but that people are more stressed and unhappy because the wealthy elite have an ever growing monopoly over the only means of survival, like rent, jobs, food prices, healthcare, etc.?" R5 #230
Difficult to narrow down specifically, in the abstract.
"Food prices" an interesting example. Food insecurity has been a way of life for most of human history. For most of the years humans have trudged, it was common to not know where their next meal, or next day's, or next weeks meal was coming from.
In the U.S. where food is available in unprecedented abundance, and simultaneously where mass shootings are disproportionately common?
 
"INJUNS !" [like in the movies]


Historic accounts of that differ.


The only dude capable of accomplishing that with a muzzle loader would have been Adam, in the Garden of Eden.

The "100% armament risks genocidal cataclysm, the termination of humanity" #228
in 3rd millennium context is reductio ad absurdum, carrying 2A to absurd conclusion by the extreme of allowing / enabling a doomsday cultist like Jim Jones to have a genuine doomsday weapon, more than a pitcher of kool-aid.
Nukes wouldn't do it. Killing off literally 99% of Earth's human population in 2026 would leave 1% surviving. 1% of 8 Billion is 80 million, substantially more than needed for a viable breeding population.

No. To terminate the human race in 2026 a doomsday weapon would have to be either a planet killer, like sending an Earth-sized projectile direct hit into Earth's orbital path at planet-shattering velocity, leaving only tiny fragments, dissipating our atmosphere, etc. - OR -
A doomsday bio-weapon, a monstrously contagious, spectacularly lethal weapon that would propagate itself through the population.

The purpose of mentioning it in post #228 is, "shall not be infringed" Constitutionally protects such private individual citizen ownership of such weapon.
Bad idea, but in the 18th Century not a realistic concern for Madison to trifle with in wording 2A.


Modern repeating firearms are force multipliers. They empower the weak against the strong.



Crimes of opportunity?
Psychological recompense for a misperception of lifelong victimization?


Never underestimate cowardice.


Difficult to narrow down specifically, in the abstract.
"Food prices" an interesting example. Food insecurity has been a way of life for most of human history. For most of the years humans have trudged, it was common to not know where their next meal, or next day's, or next weeks meal was coming from.
In the U.S. where food is available in unprecedented abundance, and simultaneously where mass shootings are disproportionately common?

When I was taking anthropology courses, they said that most of the primitives use to spend less than 3 hours a day on survival things like food.
Since we have increased the daily toil to 10 hours a day, apparently food used to come to primitives much more easily than it does now?
And this was not radicals, but the main stream, like Sir Desmond Morris, Margaret Mead, Strauss, Boas, etc.
 
"When I was taking anthropology courses, they said that most of the primitives use to spend less than 3 hours a day on survival things like food.
Since we have increased the daily toil to 10 hours a day, apparently food used to come to primitives much more easily than it does now?
And this was not radicals, but the main stream, like Sir Desmond Morris, Margaret Mead, Strauss, Boas, etc." R5 #232
I never read The Naked Ape.
But for over a year I binge-watched the TV series Alone from The History Channel. 6 hours Saturday night on defy01p.JPGbroadcast television network.
Survivalist participant competitors had more modern gear than they could carry, and yet some of them washed out of the competition for losing over 20% body weight.

I gather modern division of labor has tripled human life expectancy.
"... primitives use to spend less than 3 hours a day on survival things like food." R5 #232
So the rest of the time they'd watch Oprah, and munch Cheetos? It depends on which century, which millennium we're addressing. But I doubt there was much leisure time for them.
Even with automation today's family farmer in the U.S. toils from sun to sun. The aphorism is: "A man toils from sun to sun, but women's work is never done." "Never" in this case meaning always, never complete, accomplished, concluded, except by death.

I've seen B&W photos of horse-drawn sledges at logging camps. The loggers are generally lean, seemingly marginally if not under-fed.

What little I've read of it, a few centuries ago obesity was a sign of great wealth, abundance, power, prestige, and was envied. Ironically today in the U.S. morbid obesity is more common among the poor, including inner city poor that live in "food deserts".
 
Back
Top