Culture of Shootings , "Thoughts and Prayers" But No Solutions

We can't see smiles under a mask. I really miss that when I'm out and about.

 

Fact remains:
We have the right to keep and bear arms for the vast multitude of legal uses for a firearm.
The reasons for exercising that right are wide and varied, but its all an exercise of the right.

 

That's nice.
I like ours, where our right to own and use firearms is equally - or better - protected by the constitution as free speech, the free press, and abortion.

 

In many cases you can see if a person is smiling by looking at their eyes.

I don't like the elbow bump since it is a pitiful substitute for a good, old fashioned, firm handshake.

Finally, I also miss hugs and kisses depending of course on who you're hugging & kissing.

 

That's not quite what I meant. Certainly, a lot of Americans are frustrated, poverty-stricken and under psychological torture but we have to take responsibility for our own actions and find ways to cope with life's adversities if we hope for any happiness.

Re:

I feel that how you deal with stressful "matters" is among the things that determines if one is mentally ill or not.

I'm afraid that attempting to blame the American system for one's unwillingness or inability to cope with life's stresses and adversities is misplaced as the American system, with all of its flaws, is one of the best in the world.

 

The elbow bump was pointless IMO as you still had to get close to the person and hands are less of a threat than what is breathed out but I suppose they were advised as at the time little was known about the virus. I've never been that comfortable with handshakes. I definitely agree with your last sentence

 

I do too. It's so hard to assess what others are thinking and what they think of you

 

READ AGAIN

READ AGAIN

Completely false. Utterly untrue. The American murder rate, poverty, racial inequality, and war-mongering will attest to the falsity of your above statement.

 

We have all these - but we aren't free to just go get a Saturday Night Special
And we can't (or at least, at the moment) can't get late term abortion
And we don't quite yet have speech codes - like gender language requirements,
shutting down politically incorrect speech, going after conservative publications,
banning senators from committees because they are Republican and etc..

But if I want an AR15 I could conceivably get one - it about Level E on the scale
of firearms, and I had better have good credentials and reasons for wanting one.
We don't want a repeat of what has happened to America.

 

Saturday Night Special? That's SO 80s.
The current boogeyman for the anti-gun left in their effort to prey upon the emotions of the ignorant is "weapons of war".

You say that like you think your laws prevent you from waking up tomorrow to the news of a mass shooting

 

Might not "prevent'......but will certainly reduce the number of them...and that is a good thing.

 

How can you say that it will, or has, reduced their number when you admit nothing in your laws prevent you from waking up tomorrow to the news of a shooting?

 

Amazing how people choose statistics to attack flaws that are rarely seen. It is like being the poster boy for hyperbole.

 

I find it more amazing that people can make statements such as ..." the American system .... is one of the best in the world" with neither substantial motivation nor statistics to back it up and in fact, the statistics disprove the statement loudly and clearly.

 

If you're going to repeatedly quote me, the least you could have the integrity to quote me honestly:

I said: "... the American system, with all of its flaws, is one of the best in the world."

You deliberately misquoted me to distort the true meaning of my sentiments.

Meanwhile, it seems like it's the privileged and cloistered dilettantes who have seen very little of the brutal real world that are are the loudest whiners about the "American system".

Here you are on the keyboard of your expensive computer enjoying reliable electrical and internet service, a full stomach, running water and a roof over your head complaining about a system that allows you to criticize it without the fear of being hauled away at night for "crimes against the state".

While slavery(1), starvation, civil war, and far higher murder rates(2) are rampant in the countless countries you've only read about, you're not likely to see really high murder rates, poverty, racial inequality, etc from the security of your mom's basement?

Try getting off your pampered posterior and spending some time in festive Africa, the lively Middle East or any of the squalid and war torn countless regions whose citizens are risking their lives to make it to the US and then get back to us about how horrible America is.

Yes, there are many things wrong in America and they're unlikely to improve under Democrat rule but before we can fix what's broken in the American system, we have to acknowledge and appreciate what is working and improve on that.




(1) "Africa is again the world’s epicenter of modern-day slavery"
https://qz.com/africa/1333946/globa...hest-rate-of-modern-day-slavery-in-the-world/


(2) "Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) - Country Ranking"
https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5/rankings

 

What I wrote is not a misquote. The proper term is "paraphrase" and it is perfectly acceptable. Look it up and look again at my paraphrase to see that there is no distortion whatsoever. But if you really feel tweaked about it then I can re-issue my statement in a way that will please you:


"I find it more amazing that people can make statements such as ..."the American system, with all of its flaws, is one of the best in the world" with neither substantial motivation nor statistics to back it up and in fact, the statistics disprove the statement loudly and clearly".

 

There are very few people on this earth who have seen as much of "the brutal real world" as I have.

You have been misinformed. The US is no credit to my cheap computer, reliable electrical and internet service, my full stomach, my running water, nor the roof over my head. You must be using the same spy service that was responsible for the WMD's that were strewn all over the Iraki desert yet didn't exist.

I have been to many of those countries and I have been in several of them while the rampage was underway.

My mother's been long past dead and I am probably old enough to be your grandfather.

I lived approximately 20 years in the US, I am a Vietnam war veteran, I was in Iran during the Islamic Revolution at the time of the American Embassy raid, I lived in Rhodesia during its revolution, I passed through Beirut during their revolution, I was in Cambodia towards the end of the Khmer Rouge madness, I've lived on five different continents, I have been to nearly 100 countries around the world, and I have traversed the globe overland on my own. So, what was it you were saying?

Wrong. American misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda has been lying to its population all along. The only way the US can improve is by stopping the lies and sending them to illegal wars and by starting to educate its people with a broader, more honest system and teaching them something other than pro-American BS.

 

No, what you wrote was a deliberate misquote since "...with all its flaws..." was a salient qualifier to: ""... the American system... is one of the best in the world."

I am well aware of the egregious corruption, gratuitous war mongering and numerous flaws within the American system and do what little I can to change things while, at the same time, I try to enjoy what is good about life in America.

Re: Your Post # 767

I, too served in S.E. Asia during the Vietnam War but was in Laos. Later, I got caught in the '73 War in the Mid East, walked/hitch-hiked from London to Iran with extended stays along the way, provided security in the Caribbean & Cent. America, spent time behind the former "Iron Curtain" etc.
It's not the number of countries you've seen that's important, it's how well you come to know their people and the ugly sides of their governments.

Re: Your Post #767.

You might be surprised by the degree to which I agree with you on this point.
America's OWI (Office of War Information) didn't close up shop at the end of WW 2 and, as you say: "...has been lying to its population all along."

This is especially true concerning the Mid-East and America's fraudulent "War on Terror". Americans have absolutely no idea how much control Israeli lobbies have over US Military Ops in that region or the true nature of the US - Israeli alliance(1).
This, however, is material for another thread.


(1) Netanyahu: “Once we squeeze all we can out of the United States, it can dry up and blow away”
http://web.archive.org/web/20060512...pecial_Reports/092105Madsen/092105madsen.html

 

Imagine being such a statist that it's considered normal to ask the government for permission to own an inanimate object.

Thank Christ I don't live where you do.

 

So, you are calling me a liar despite the fact that it is not a misquote and therefore couldn't possibly be a deliberate distortion of anything. But hey, you just believe anything you want to believe. I've told you how it is and if you don't accept it ..... it's your problem.

I don't care what you did.

Then you shouldn't have brought it up. You brought it up not me. If you think you can compete with me then you're going to be very unhappy with the results. Have a nice day.

 

So, you are calling me a liar despite the fact that it is not a misquote and therefore couldn't possibly be a deliberate distortion of anything. But hey, you just believe anything you want to believe. I've told you how it is and if you don't accept it ..... it's your problem.

I'm not interested in what you did.

Then you shouldn't have brought it up. You brought it up not me. If you think you can compete with me then you're going to be very unhappy with the results. Have a nice day.

 

NRA's Wayne LaPierre sought refuge from mass shootings on a friend's luxury yacht

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...=857693951420692326&utm_medium=Email Sailthru

behavior that speaks volumes........ and from and NRA guy.

 

Nothing in the article supports the claim made in the headline - no here does he say he withdrew to the yacht because of some fear of mass shootings.
He discusses a threat - real or perceived - and a need to secure himself from said threat, but nowhere does he quantify that threat as a mass shooting.

This sort of irresponsible "journalistic" behavior from NBC speaks volumes about the "unbiased" mainstream media.

 

But... but... THE CHILDREN !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Suspect dead, two wounded in Maryland shooting involving U.S. Navy sailors

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...=857693951420692326&utm_medium=Email Sailthru