Uvalde - the followup

Shiftless2 said:

"Report reveals Evergreen High School shooter's alarming online activity linked to violence, white supremacy" #180​

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Casual amateur analysis might conclude this murder was politically motivated. It may well be! BUT !
Does it make sense to assume it?

If the shooter decided what was missing from his own life was the excitement of being the target of a manhunt,
and realized murdering a non-celebrity might reduce his own publicity yield,
and this particular celebrity was nearby (no need to deal with the TSA)
wouldn't acting on that scenario produce similar behavior?

sear said:

Casual amateur analysis might conclude this murder was politically motivated. It may well be!

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The important take away from this isn't whether the murder was politically motivated but that the shooter was not liberal/gay/trans or whatever but was, instead, hard core right wing.

BTW, I'm reading posts on another board where someone is claiming that the left wants the shooter to be a liberal and the same poster is absolutely adamant that he's not right wing but is instead some sort of liberal fruitcake.

The murderer was young? 22?
Wouldn't surprise me if his worldview in general & his politics in particular was a bit of a jumble.

Shiftless2 said:

"The important take away from this isn't whether the murder was politically motivated but that the shooter was not liberal/gay/trans or whatever but was, instead, hard core right wing.
BTW, I'm reading posts on another board where someone is claiming that the left wants the shooter to be a liberal and the same poster is absolutely adamant that he's not right wing but is instead some sort of liberal fruitcake." S2 #182

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Bias confirmation, quite common.
It's early in this investigation. I can wait and see what facts are disclosed.

Shiftless2 said:

"BTW, I'm reading posts on another board where someone is claiming that the left wants the shooter to be a liberal and the same poster is absolutely adamant that he's not right wing but is instead some sort of liberal fruitcake." S2 #182

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Such adamance sometimes results from knowing the weakness of ones own position, therefore trying to compensate for implausibility with feigned, or factually unsupported certitude.
Didn't Cook have a reputation for diverging from the truth? If so, should we be surprised by it in his adherents?

Shiftless2 said:

"The important take away from this isn't whether the murder was politically motivated but that the shooter was not liberal/gay/trans or whatever but was, instead, hard core right wing." S2 #182

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Bigots may believe their bias confirmed in this case.
Is it not equally true that LGB are (independent of gender) a cross-section of the population, and thus also include doctors, lawyers, and murderers?

This is 24-year old Matthew James Ruth. Yesterday, he shot and killed 3 cops with an AR-style rifle. He's yet ANOTHER young, white male murderer in America who Republicans will ignore because it doesn't fit their narrative. And it gets worse...

He stalked a woman. He set her truck on fire. He killed her dog. Then he murdered three detectives.

This is the story of a young, white male from Hanover, Pennsylvania whose violent spiral was ignored until it exploded into tragedy. Neighbors and cameras had seen him creeping outside his ex-girlfriend’s home with a rifle. Her truck was set on fire. He was accused of stalking, trespassing, loitering. There were warning signs everywhere. And yet, somehow, the system didn’t stop him.

On September 17, when police went to serve a warrant, Ruth was waiting. He opened fire with an AR-style rifle equipped with a suppressor. In seconds, three detectives were dead. Two more officers wounded. When authorities finally made it into the house, they found his ex-girlfriend’s dog shot dead in the basement.

Here’s the bitter truth: if this story didn’t involve murdered police officers, you’d probably never hear about it. Because for the Republican Party, for the gun lobby, and for too many in power, deaths only matter when ....

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The Supreme Court has indeed ruled that, under the U.S. Constitution, police do not have a specific constitutional duty to protect an individual from harm, even when a court-ordered protective order has been violated. This principle was established in the case of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005), which held that a woman could not sue her local police department for failing to respond to her pleas for help after her estranged husband kidnapped their children, leading to their deaths.

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Maine mass shooting survivors refile lawsuit after Pentagon watchdog report cites Army negligence​

The survivors and family members of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history have refiled their lawsuit against the U.S. government following a new U.S. Department of Defense watchdog report that faults the U.S. Army for a high rate of failure to report violent threats by service members.

At least 10 shot, 1 fatally, at Michigan church set on fire by the gunman: Police​

Police said the shooting erupted during a packed service.
By Bill Hutchinson, Josh Margolin, and Darren Reynolds

Multiple people were shot Sunday during a packed service at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, police said.

At least 10 parishioners were shot, including one who was killed, Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye said at a news conference. Renye said two other victims were in critical condition and that the gunman, a 40-year-old man, was killed in a gunfight with police.

The church was deliberately set on fire by the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, Renye said.

"We do believe we will find additional victims once we have .....

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Shiftless2 said:

At least 10 shot, 1 fatally, at Michigan church set on fire by the gunman #186​

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The Republican party lock-step policy position is opposition to the scope of gun control that has reduced such incidents.
Reported statistics corroborate the 1994 assault weapons ban resulted in a reduction in such massacres.
And as expected, the repeal of this ban reversed the carnage reduction.

OK
We get it.
Guns are more important to Republicans than human lives.

So keep your guns Republicans. Why not instead, implement a national public education campaign administered within and beyond U.S "public" (government) schools, informing Americans including prospective mass-murderers that there are better ways to express frustration than to shoot up a school, a church, or a shopping mall?
Because that would require $funding?
And money is more important to Republicans than human lives?

Anyone see a pattern emerging here?

Doubt it?
Then how do you explain Trump's [R-FL] 100% levy on branded or patented drug imports? Trump's benevolent intention, to extend human life by helping them get off prescription drugs?

note: Reports now indicate two fatalities, authorities warning additional corpses may be found in the smoldering rubble.

Shiftless2 said:

Michigan church set on fire #186

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- holy smokes -

sear said:

... how do you explain Trump's [R-FL] 100% levy on branded or patented drug imports? Trump's benevolent intention, to extend human life by helping them get off prescription drugs?

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It's a plot to save Social Security and Medicaid - all those people will die and won't live long enough to claim the benefits they paid for [/sarcasm]

Joking aside, I do remember a politician (somewhere in Europe IIRC) claiming that the long term savings to their national pension plan resulting from smokers dying young would more than offset the additional medical costs of their illness.

Holy crap, Mad Magazine isn't pulling any punches.​

Good for her



If you're like me you've probably never heard of Neko Case

And that vigil wasn't for one of the children who was shot .....

I preferred him when he was alive as well - nobody knew who he was




Republicans if Charlie Kirk were actually alive today

Listen to teachers



Many of us are watching the Abby Zwerner case right now and feeling something sit heavy in our hearts. Abby was a first grade teacher in Virginia who was shot by her six year old student during the school day. She survived. She has carried physical and emotional pain that no teacher should ever have to know. And what is coming to light in court is something teachers know far too well:

She asked for help.

She raised concerns.

She knew something was wrong.

And she was not listened to.

Multiple times on that day, Abby reportedly told administration that the child may have had a weapon. Staff members also raised concerns. Yet no one took the steps needed to protect her and the students in that classroom. And the unimaginable happened.

Teachers have been saying for years that school safety is not just about doors and drills. It is about listening. It is about taking concerns seriously even when they are inconvenient. It is about acknowledging that the adults in the classroom often see things first, and most clearly, because we are living in that space moment to moment with our students.

When teachers say a child is escalating

When teachers say something feels unsafe

When teachers say we need more support

We must be heard. Not dismissed. Not minimized. Not told to "handle it."

We cannot wait until tragedy occurs to put measures in place. Waiting until harm happens is not safety. It is reaction. And our schools deserve better than reaction. Our children deserve better. Our teachers deserve better.

Abby Zwerner is showing tremendous courage in continuing to speak up. She is not only fighting for herself, but for every educator who has ever sat in a classroom feeling afraid, unheard, and alone in trying to protect the students they love.

Please pray for her as she continues to heal and speak her truth.

And please, let this be a turning point.

Listen to teachers.
Believe teachers.
Support teachers.
Safety starts there.

SOURCE

As an observation - sounds like she's got solid grounds for suing the administration - that should wake them up. And if she does so her job's safe because, if the try to punish her for doing so she'll have grounds for wrongful dismissal.