A foreign correspondent covering American madness for SkyNews corners Ted Cruz on lax gun laws. Cruz hysterically repeats NRA/GOP talking points, then scurries away:
"Why only in America?"
US Senator Ted Cruz walks away from @Stone_SkyNews after being asked if "this is the moment to reform gun laws" https://t.co/d2oBaP4KvW#TedCruz #America #Texasshooting #gunlaws pic.twitter.com/gL4TYeg04t
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 26, 2022
Well done, Mr. Stone (the journalist).
This weekend’s NRA shindig is still on in Houston. Trump, Cruz, Abbott, et al., are still scheduled to speak. But one of the death merchants who previously reserved a booth has pulled out: Daniel Defense, maker of the battlefield weapon that killed the children and teachers in this week’s carnage. From The Daily Beast:
[I]n the aftermath of Tuesday’s slaughter in Uvalde, Daniel Defense, is no longer slated to join all the other profiteers of violent death at this weekend’s NRA convention in Houston…The now $100-million-a-year company was founded by 59-year-old Marty Daniel of Georgia. He started out making garage doors after flunking out of Georgia Southern University twice before finally graduating. A company history on its website suggests he might not have gone into guns if he had been a better golfer.
“Daniel Defense got its start because Marty’s golf game sucked. He would spend most of his free time unwinding on the golf course, until the day a friend invited him to shoot his AR,” the story says. “Every shot he fired filled him with a satisfaction he’d never before experienced. Marty would purchase his first AR this same year.”
Emphasis mine. Maybe he should close up shop, get lots of intensive therapy and work on his fucking short game again.
Open thread — any topic.
PS: Anyone else wondering how a barely 18-year-old high school drop out who worked at Wendy’s was able to purchase two guns that cost about $2K each? Daniel Defense has a “buy now, pay later” option. Maybe that’s how.
Dangerman
Oh, if there is one thing I am sure of here, this Dude’s fascination with AR15’s is definitely because of his short game.
Montanareddog
You can buy killing machines on credit now? It defies belief.
Gin & Tonic
‘@Dangerman – Well played, very well played!
oatler
“Now I gotta live out the afterlife like a schmuck.”
Ray Liotta RIP
Betty Cracker
‘@Dangerman: Got it in one. :)
Gin & Tonic
Speaking of death merchants, here’s a short vid of liberated Mariupol. Trigger warning, in case it’s not obvious.
https://twitter.com/mrsorokaa/status/1529837412960067584
Raoul Paste
Somehow I don’t think Daniel Defense is going to be repaid for this “pay-later” purchase. Maybe they’ll just write it off as advertising.
oatler
Also Alan White RIP. Magnificent drummer.
Mike in NC
Trump is liable to give the worst, most incendiary speech ever to this assembly of gun nuts, urging them to show up at their state houses with assault rifles and Confederate flags, to kidnap RINOs and anybody else who dare to laugh about his Big Lie.
Kropacetic
The thing about 18 year olds, not a lot of bills. I got my first job explicitly to make a different $4000 purchase, tickets to the class trip to Spain.
It didn’t take long and that was on $8.50 minimum wage in 1999.
But yeah, if they extended that to this kid on credit, that’s just flabbergasting.
Shalimar
Even a “buy now, pay later” option should come with a credit check that excluded this guy.
And I hope this ends all the bullshit about hiring more cops or arming teachers. There were plenty of cops just standing around, including a 9-person SWAT team. Paying them and arming them doesn’t give them courage when it matters.
SiubhanDuinne
‘@oatler
RIP indeed. I fell hard for Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson. Very sad to read of his too-young (67) death.
Kay
Shalimar May 26, 2022 at 1:31 PM
Even a “buy now, pay later” option should come with a credit check that excluded this guy.
And I hope this ends all the bullshit about hiring more cops or arming teachers. There were plenty of cops just standing around, including a 9-person SWAT team. Paying them and arming them doesn’t give them courage when it matters.”
I think that’s why the whole Republican Party has turned to “doors” as the issue. More guns in schools has been an abject failure.
“Doors” will fail too. It’s the guns.
sdhays
‘@Kropacetic $8.50 minimum wage in 1999?? I was working minimum wage in 2000 for $5.15. The state I was in still wasn’t up to even $7.50 a decade later (fortunately I was no longer working minimum wage).
WaterGirl
Some really good (not great) news about the site on the next post.
Kropacetic
‘@sdhays: Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s right. Massachusetts minimum wage has been higher than the federal my whole working life.
Feathers
‘@Kay That we are training teachers to sacrifice themselves to save their students and cops to wait for backup, says so much about gendered expectations in America. This world of qualified immunity, meaning there are no consequences for being wrong, and the expectation that increased funding is always and everywhere to be expected as their god given right, have destroyed American policing.
As a classic Hollywood buff, especially film noir, it always amazes me that we had a more realistic view of police and their capabilities under the Hayes production code, which demanded that they always be shown in a positive light, than we do now.
Suzanne
‘@Kay
Doors are one of the most problematic elements of most architectural projects. There’s competing priorities, which put openness and long views, convenience, desire for large and flexible spaces, breakdown of spatial hierarchy, need to exit in an emergency….. all of that is in opposition to visual and aural privacy, security to prevent unauthorized ingress and egress, and the need to store stuff. We could put in $30K bullet-resistant doors on every classroom and bathroom, and it wouldn’t matter when a teacher props the door because it’s hot and stuffy inside. (I will also note that opening doors in schools has been advised during Covid to keep air moving.)
Paul in KY
Your standard police officer is consumed by being able to get back to their home safe at the end of the day. Nothing else matters to them.
Montanareddog
Ray Liotta was a professionally-successful actor with several admirable highlights. For example:
Field of Dreams
Goodfellas
Something Wild
Killing Me Softly
Narc
No Sudden Move
A handsome fellow, who, nevertheless, had a stellar career in non-traditional leading man, and supporting character roles.
I shall miss him.
Kay
Suzanne May 26, 2022 at 1:56 PM
@Kay
We built a new public school a couple of years ago, I was on the “community input committee” which was interesting, and the 2nd or 3rd time I went in the new “secure” front door – intercom system- the person ahead of me held the door open, smiling :)
The maintenance people were kind of ridiculous. They basically wanted no trees because they have to mow around them. Their ideal school landscape is…paved. So a huge building plunked in the middle of a flat, windswept field. How nice for the children!
Layer8Problem
‘@Suzanne: It was a bit of a gobsmack to find out from you in the previous post that “sally port” is a current term of art in behavioral facilities, and it turns out in police stations. I thought it went the way of “glacis” and “revetment.”
TheOtherHank
Several years ago there was a murder/suicide across the street from my house. The local cops showed up fairly quickly after the shots were fired and then stood around for 40 or 45 minutes before they went inside the house. Now I don’t know if my neighbor was still alive when they arrived, but if she was, she had plenty of time to bleed out while the cops stood around holding their dicks.
Kay
Suzanne May 26, 2022 at 1:56 PM
Then we had this “security” scammer come to town, claiming military service as his qualification, which it turned out he lied about. One of the reporters from the local paper is a veteran and he became suspicious for some reason and checked it out and exposed the fraud, so that was awkward for everyone.
“Hardening” schools is a business.
Captain C
“Anyone else wondering how a barely 18-year-old high school drop out who worked at Wendy’s was able to purchase two guns that cost about $2K each? Daniel Defense has a “buy now, pay later” option. Maybe that’s how.”
Will they write it off, or sue someone to get paid, either the perp’s estate, or maybe the kids’ families for not rushing the shooter? I wish I was joking about the latter but I wouldn’t be 100% surprised to see it happen that way.
Kay
Qasim Rashid, Esq.
@QasimRashid
Do people realize Robb Elementary doubled its spend on school security since 2017? They had a fence. They had surveillance. They had officers on duty. They had shooter drill trainings.
ALL OF IT FAILED.
100% of municipal budgets are going to be spent on “security” and then we can all sit around and wonder why kids are depressed.
Give them a fucking park and a swimming pool, maybe they’ll be happier.
The amount of money that we have spent in this country due to gun nuts is astronomical. We are all paying for their fetish object/cult.
Suzanne
‘@Kay
“The maintenance people were kind of ridiculous. They basically wanted no trees because they have to mow around them. Their ideal school landscape is…paved. So a huge building plunked in the middle of a flat, windswept field. How nice for the children!”
In much of AZ, school classrooms have no windows at all. Windows are considered too expensive to maintain. One district we worked for used literally the same (ugly) carpet in every single school building so that they wouldn’t ever have to trouble the maintenance staff with having two different colors or anything to maintain. Maintenance staff generally want the plainest, worst stuff.
Suzanne
‘@Layer8Problem
Nope, it’s still a thing. The concept is that there is no way to open both doors simultaneously, because the doors are electronically interlocked (unless overridden). Differs from a vestibule, which doesn’t have that interlock, and is designed to minimize mixing of outdoor air with conditioned building air.
Peale
Kay May 26, 2022 at 2:36 PM
But did they hire veterans to patrol the schools? Wait hiring them is never the plan. Its supposed to be volunteer veterans patrolling the schools for free in their spare time out of civic duty.
Suzanne
I will note that any sort of secure door apparatus is absolutely useless without a bag search, or magnetometer, or X-ray. Without that, you create the other hazard, which is that someone can easily get guns into a building and then no one can easily get out.
When we do security, we talk about layers. Starting from the property line or even further out. Hardening or stiffening is a huge undertaking that I’m sure we will continue to half-ass. Or quarter-ass.
Cathie from Canada
Yes, I was also wondering how he could afford those guns and all that ammo in the bag he apparently showed to that girl in Germany.
I wonder if she ever thought about calling the police department about him? Oh never mind, they wouldn’t have done anything anyway.
taumaturgo
Uvalde is a small county population wise yet spends 40% of its budget in policing, which includes its own SWAT team!
In Uvalde County, TX, 39.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 0.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Uvalde county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.7% to 39.4%. Uvalde county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000
MaiNaem mobile
My sister noticed there was no mention of where the gun was bought in all the coverage so I googled gun shops in Uvalde. The population of Uvalde is ~16000. There’s 4 regular gun shops plus a pawn shop which sells guns. I bet there’s more gun stores than convenience stores or hair salons or taco shops in Uvalde.
Layer8Problem
‘@Suzanne: We’ve got “bastion hosts” in my line of work (computers and networks). Old defensive military engineering terms still used today.
jackmac
MaiNaem mobile: along with four-five gun shops, there are plenty of opportunities to Praise Jesus. One count I found via Google has 30 churches in the community and/or county, one for every 530 residents. I can’t tell if any are of the mega-congregation variety, but even the smaller ones probably offer plenty of praise for Trump and Republicans and to bash the evil, liberal, anti-gun, abortion-loving Democrats. Hard to offer any counter argument in that environment.
Feathers
‘@Kay This is why I support the Stolen Valor law(s?), despite many I know freaking out over them. Pretending to have a military background is used in so many scam situations. Scams are hard to prove and prosecute. Organizations, especially charities, don’t want to take the heat, or be open to investigation. Letting prosecutors just handle the faked military record separately spares the organizations having to press charges and gives the individual an official record of being hella shady.
MaiNaem mobile
‘@jackmac And not one of these Bible thumpin’ God fearin’ churches could reach out to this kid and find him a nice family oriented girl to date.
Michael Cain
Re the credit thing… Some years back when I returned to campus for a year, I was stunned at the rows of tables in the student center where banks were handing out credit cards with $25,000 limits to new freshmen students. By definition, the very large majority of those students were aged 18.
lowtechcyclist
‘@Paul in KY:
“Your standard police officer is consumed by being able to get back to their home safe at the end of the day. Nothing else matters to them.”
According to nleomf.org (the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Fund), there are >800,000 law enforcement officers in the U.S Over the past decade, about 60 per year have been killed in some sort of violent manner (shot, stabbed, strangled, etc.). Another ~50 per year are killed in or by motor vehicles, and (Covid aside) another ~45 per year die of job-related illnesses.
So on a given day, their chances of meeting a violent death on the job are less than 1 in 3,000,000, and less than 1 in a million of dying any which way.
IOW, unless they patrol a particularly dangerous area, the moments when their lives are at risk are few and far between. But their job in those rare moments is to take on that risk for the rest of us.
If that’s too much for them to deal with, then they’re in the wrong occupation.
prostratedragon
In 2020 approximately 1700 health care workers in the US died of COVID. Since then, googling around it appears that the cumulative is roughly double that. Just one way in which the police have been making themselves ridiculous for some time.
J R in WV
Ran a common every-day errand to Office Max this afternoon. Coming home I got behind a school bus through a residential area, big orange thing letting off elementary school kids at every other house. Tiny beautiful kids running hard from their bus up their short driveways.
I could not stop thinking about those other tiny kids shot to rags down in Texas, worst state in the nation. I cried all the way home.
And the video of city cops, armed to their teeth, standing around outside that elementary school, keeping order among the terror-stricken parents, ignoring the horror going on inside the school while they all waited for more guns or something. Horrible. Fucking cowards hoping someone else with real courage would show up and do the hard thing of going in to get that other poor crazed kid with his guns, killing little tiny wonderful kids…
I cried all the way home…
Texas, the only state to secede in defense of slavery twice, once from Mexico when the Mexican government banned slavery, then again from the US when they feared an American ban on slavery. How much evil can you commit for the love of evil, over and over? All of it Kate, if you’re in Texas!!
Sorry if I’m bitter, but I am really bitter today. Fuck those city cops, they should be prosecuted for impersonating police officers. Cowards with guns, in TX.
ETA: Hell, now I’m crying again… getting old sukx!!!
Eunicecycle
‘@JR in WV my husband and I attended the preschool graduation of our 5year old twin grandchildren last night, and my husband had a hard time holding it together. To see all those little kids up there, so excited and singing their hearts out was so bittersweet. I had already cried my eyes out so I was spent. On top of it, we also have a grandson just finishing 4th grade. This has not been a good week.
Ohio Mom
According to this list, Logging is the most dangerous job, in terms of on-the-job fatalities.
Police work comes in number 22 out of the top twenty-five: https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-united-states
Now maybe if the police worked harder at their jobs, they’d rank higher.