No, it’s the govament. Speaking of which, they just forced Americans to be prisoners in their own homes for over a year, wear masks etc, and all the 393 million guns in the nation did nothing to stop it. Australia’s Covid response was similar in strictness. What needs to happen before the guns come out? Death camps?

I’m pretty sure that if the government sent goons to an American’s house and threw them in a quarantine camp like they did to their own citizens in some Aussie states, there would be some violent standoffs. But the US has a Bill of Rights.

Not sure how it covers the right to be free while infected with a, shall we say concerning, virus.

Not sure what that means.

Biden's Chip Act has had a massive impact, Intel and TSMC are both building multi-billion dollar plants in the US (unlike DJT's much-touted refrigerator factory in Pennsylvania that transferred most of its operations to Mexico as soon as he walked out the door.) I've just read some fantastic books on the tech industry, Chip Wars, Chris Miller, and Silicon, by Federico Fagin (who desiged the first microprocessor.)

I fear for Taiwan, after what the PRC did to Hong Kong. Of course, we've stopped hearing about that now - wonder why that is? - but Taiwan is a proud and functioning democracy and a highly functional culture. It would be a travesty to see the communist jackboot on its neck (apart from being a possible cause of a global conflagration.) It's one of the scariest tensions in the world right now.

(Anyway I've drifted totally off-topic now so we better leave it for this thread, take it up elsewhere.)

I hear you. I doubt that much of this is held in place by a deep reading of politics or scripture. It seems more emotional, a form of tribalism which has become embedded in cultural identity in some parts of the US. — Tom Storm

It absolutely is NOT held in place by any sort of deep reading of politics, scripture, or anything else, save some sort of dark, nihilistic claptrap.

Tribalism strikes me as an accurate term. Some parts of the US have been more violent than others since the beginning. I like to contrast the New England Puritans to the Southerners. The Puritans, arriving from Eastern and SE England who became "Yankees", believed in the efficacy of the state as the means to achieve a better society. The southerners, deriving from the Cavaliers and Scots/Irish fringes, were implacable individualists. The Yankee culture was transplanted across the northern tier of states as far as the Upper Mississippi Valley (leaving an imprint on city names, speech styles, forms of government, and community involvement). The coastal southern planters spread across the south, taking with them speech styles, forms of government, and slavery of course. The southerns generally had difficulty cooperating as states (at least until the Civil War). The southern states were reluctant to cooperate in the construction of canals and railroads.

In more recent years, a sort of cowboy fascist gun, don't tread on me, anti-government, etc. culture has developed in various parts of the country--mostly rural areas. A lot of these yokels are anti-urban.

I can't succinctly trace out how this kind of fascist tribalism was hatched and disseminated, but if you were going to start looking under rocks, you'd want to start with conservative protestantism, parts of the south, parts of the Republican Party and conservative politics, parts of the military (places like Colorado Springs, Colorado), and so on. It didn't just happen by accident.

When one looks at gun violence, for instance, one sees substantially less of it in the northern Yankee influenced states than in the Cavalier/Scots-Irish influences states. The same goes, generally, for health, education, and welfare stats. The Yankee areas are healthier, better educated, and better off than other parts of the country.

I live in the Yankee state of Minnesota. Alabama is the bottom and we're the top (per Cole Porter, not sexual position).

I’m pretty sure that if the government sent goons to an American’s house and threw them in a quarantine camp like they did to their own citizens in some Aussie states — NOS4A2

:rofl:

Oh sorry, “Centres for National Resilience”. It’s right next to the Ministry of Truth.

It’s right next to the Ministry of Truth. — NOS4A2

No, we put 'em out back.

'stralia is big. You folk think Texas is big. It isn't. Some of our states are as small as Texas.

:up: Interesting, BC. Thanks.

In more recent years, a sort of cowboy fascist gun, don't tread on me, anti-government, etc. culture has developed in various parts of the country--mostly rural areas. A lot of these yokels are anti-urban. — BC

A reflection . . .

When I was in high school in the early 1950s I belonged to the NRA. I recall the American Rifleman being about target shooting and both small game and large game hunting. I dropped out when I entered college in 1954. A decade later the Vietnam conflict began and I had completed my military service and was a captain in the USAF Reserves. I remember seeing a copy of the magazine with a cover showing military men with weapons. Firearms became weapons. Hunters switched from the beautiful bolt action rifles of the past to ugly military-style semi-autos.

Recently, in urban areas in my state, there have been car-jackings by armed teenagers. Occasionally they shoot car owners who offer no resistance. In one incident a car owner shot back and, although several teenage girls escaped from the car the driver was injured and later died. He was twelve.

How does one try to protect one's self or family? Unfortunately law enforcement merely picks up the pieces. Yes, I've read of the probabilities of family tragedies due to having a firearm handy in one's dwelling. But there are three hundred million guns out there, and they are mostly well-made to last several generations.

How does one try to protect one's self or family? — jgill

The US followed an insidious path to a now intractable problem. Given the streak of rabid individualism that runs through that culture, the refusal by so many to see oneself as a part of a commonweal, there can be no meaningful solution.

A lesson for the world.

How does one try to protect one's self or family? — jgill

There are places where I would want to own a gun if I were to live there. New Guinea, for instance, is said to be a very dangerous place to live, with frequent home-invasions and assaults. But living in Sydney Australia, I've never felt the need. Gun ownership is very low, by US standards, and I've never seen a gun drawn or heard a single shot fired (outside a firing range during Cadet training in my teens.) So it's likely that the huge numbers of guns in circulation in the US and the extraordinary number of gunshot deaths, becomes, as I said, a vicious circle - fear of being shot drives the uptake of guns, which dramatically increases the risk of being shot. Classic vicious circle.

The US followed an insidious path to a now intractable problem. — Banno

So it's likely that the huge numbers of guns in circulation in the US and the extraordinary number of gunshot deaths, becomes, as I said, a vicious circle — Wayfarer

Yes, the gun problem is intractable.

On the other hand, for those of us in the middle class life is pretty good, despite stubborn inflation. When we go to a restaurant it is crowded with patrons, and when I go to a local fitness gym it is full of young people enjoying life. Driving and shopping are relatively safe when you look into the statistics. The parks are full of lively activities and I suppose theaters are not doing badly, although we don't go to movies - so much is available at home. And immigrants keep pouring in, looking for a better existence. I only wish we would immediately give them employment opportunities.

Hey I know, I've got immediate family in the US, son and family live in a really nice town in Wisconsin and I visit there regularly (last there in August). I never really seen any gun violence when I'm there, but then it's a pretty genteel part of the country.

Another mass shooting. Good time to point out, once more:

1) it’s the guns.
2) the Republican Party will continue to block any solutions, because they care more about money than children’s lives.

Simple truths get lost in a sea of bullshit, so it’s worth reminding ourselves occasionally.

Uncharacteristically carried out by a lone female shooter, although that does nothing to diminish the horror of it.

There really is a sickness deep in the soul of America. Actually, no, 'sickness' is the wrong word. I guess the right word is 'evil'.

Washington Post has a feature on the AK47 machine gun, (Might be paywalled, should be accessible via fresh browser session.) Chilling reading - those wounded by the high-velocity bullets from these weapons are liable to lifelong injury and disfiguration.. Not that the NRA gives a toss.

A transgender shooter. It might not be as uncharacteristic as we’d like to admit.

The Christmas Card of the Governor of the school district where these latest appalling murders happened.



source What is wrong with these people? Does delusion have absolutely no limits?

What is wrong with these people? Does delusion have absolutely no limits? — Wayfarer

Look at the face of the governor. We can see the madness ruling his brain. I feel bad for the children, they were born into the worst family possible.

A transgender shooter. It might not be as uncharacteristic as we’d like to admit. — NOS4A2

What do you mean?

There really is a sickness deep in the soul of America. Actually, no, 'sickness' is the wrong word. I guess the right word is 'evil'. — Wayfarer

Why evil, and not mental sickness?

Guns are now the leading cause of death of children in the US.

What do you mean?

Most mass shooters are male.

Most mass shooters are male. — NOS4A2

So how does this being a transgender shooter suggest that it isn't uncharacteristic? I'm pretty sure transgender mass shooters are a significant minority.

I thought the shooter was a male. I was wrong. It was indeed a female. So it is uncharacteristic after all.

@NOS4A2 Can the claim that we have a right to defend ourselves be squared with the fact that the leading cause of death of children in the US is guns? Does the right to defend yourself take precedence over children's right to life? Or is the answer to arm the children? Send them to school with semiautomatic rifles?

Sure it can. Before that it was car accidents. Maybe we should ban cars.

There should be armed guards at schools in the US, perhaps even teachers, in my opinion. The most recent shooter picked one target over the other due to lack of security.

Before that it was car accidents. Maybe we should ban cars. — NOS4A2

Banning cars would cause insurmountable damage to the country and the economy, and so car accidents are an unfortunate price we have to be willing to pay.

I can't say anything of the kind about gun ownership.

I don't live in America, but is the question as to why children (or in this case a young adult) are committing mass murders ever raised? Because I always find that conspicuously absent from any discussion.

Or is the idea that children want to commit mass murders becoming as commonly accepted as the idea that school shootings "sometimes happen"?

I'm just saying, if your young'uns are massacring each other with assault rifles, your gun legislation is not the only thing that's rotten.