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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Bark louder, little dog.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

T R E 4 5 O N

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / You Take the Good, You Take the Bad…

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad…

by @heymistermix.com|  September 6, 20242:18 pm| 95 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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You Take the Good, You Take the Bad...

JD thinks that school shootings have “become a fact of life” and schools are “soft targets” so we need to turn our schools into even more prison-like structures.  (Note that JD’s boss was almost killed by a bullet from an AR-15, despite some of the best protection in the world, and he and JD both address outdoor crowds from a bulletproof aquarium, so that’s a fact of life, but I digress.)

Let’s look at some other facts.  First, the Georgia shooter’s dad had terrible judgment:

  • It’s been widely reported that he bought the AR-15 his boy used in his killing spree after police had visited him out of concern over threats that the kid had made.  But did you know the family was evicted in 2022?  Its not clear whether it was over money or over them being assholes, but if it was for money, what kind of judgment do you have to spend AR-15 money if you can’t pay the rent?
  • This poor boy had been begging for mental health counseling for months, according to his aunt.  No money or time for that in this family to actually help the kid — they spent all of that at the gun store.

Teenagers, of course, have access to other possibly deadly tools, like cars, but in those cases we protect ourselves from the terrible judgment of dysfunctional families by making sure the kid passes a drivers’ test, and that the vehicle they’re driving has insurance.  It’s a fact of life that something far more deadly than a car is routinely provided by shitty families to their fucked up kids, with none of the safeguards.

Another fact of life is that even those who are injured, or even the uninjured, in the shooting are deeply affected by it.

  • Remember the horrible slaughter of some Amish children in their rural Pennsylvania school?  Well, the youngest victim of that shooting died on Tuesday.  She made it to 23, and was 6 years old when she was shot.  She was the most severely wounded survivor.  She lived in “a wheelchair and unable to talk, fed through a tube and requiring constant care. She also suffered seizures, at times severe.”  The best healthcare in the world, if you can afford it, can save almost anyone who makes it to the hospital alive, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have much of a life afterwards.
  • One of the teachers who was ruthlessly murdered in Georgia was a football coach and sounds like a great guy.  He left the classroom during the shooting — the students believe he did it to protect them (Uvalde PD, take note).  He was shot and tried to crawl back to the classroom.  His students dragged him back in and locked the door.  Those kids will need years of therapy to overcome that trauma, if that’s even possible.

And the god damned, constant active shooter drills are a traumatizing fact of life. I was at a concert in Rochester last year and ran into some of my daughter’s friends.  They were with a young woman in her mid-20s, and standing far from the stage, near an exit.  That’s because this woman was deathly afraid of being the victim of a shooter, and wanted to be able to flee if something happened.  Active shooter drills are part of children’s lives from kindergarten forward, just like fire drills, but I can’t even remember the last time I heard about a child dying in a fire in a school.  If some kids did die in a fire, it would be an undeniable fact of life that there would be an investigation and changes would be made.

Yesterday, Walz likened listening to a Trump speech to hearing the next screenplay for Mad Max.  That’s the hellscape Trump’s running mate wants us to accept — prison schools staffed by cops with nothing but time on their hands who won’t protect the kids when the chips are down anyway.  We are not allowed to legislate reasonable protection from the worst among us, the disturbed kids of the terrible parents who over and over (Newtown, Michigan, etc.) have shown the most awful judgment when it comes to buying their kids killing machines.  We can’t even ask for insurance and licensing, because all these gun humpers know that no sane insurance company would insure their precious plastic AR-15 Jesus.  Those are the current facts of life, but for once I have just a little hope that an election might change them.

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Reader Interactions

95Comments

  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 6, 2024 at 2:22 pm

    Note that JD’s boss was almost killed by a bullet from an AR-15

    No he wasn’t. The motherfucker wasn’t even shot.

  2. 2.

    Quantum Man

    September 6, 2024 at 2:22 pm

    Imagine JD Vance as President.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    September 6, 2024 at 2:22 pm

    IIRC, The Facts of Life was a spinoff of Different Strokes, so #WhatchaTalkinBoutVance!

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    September 6, 2024 at 2:24 pm

    I can’t name another consumer good less useful and with a more powerful lobby. At least a car gets me to Trader Joe’s. Do I take my AR too, to speed up checkout? You know how bad they can be.

  5. 5.

    SatanicPanic

    September 6, 2024 at 2:24 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:  Maybe a small piece of junk grazed his head, but there’s no way a bullet hit his ear. It would not look like it does if one had.

  6. 6.

    Other MJS

    September 6, 2024 at 2:27 pm

    First, the Georgia shooter’s dad had terrible judgment

    You misspelled “criminal negligence”.

  7. 7.

    Josie

    September 6, 2024 at 2:28 pm

    I want to see an ad that centers on that picture of Vance behind his protective glass wall stating the these (school shootings) are just the facts of life. Maybe with pictures of kids of varying ages.

    ETA: I think I could learn to hate him even more than TFG.

  8. 8.

    wenchacha

    September 6, 2024 at 2:28 pm

    But guns are such good clean ‘Murkin fun.

    Always the best gift for your bullied, unhappy kid. Never the exact recipe for disaster.

    Absolutely we need more mental health services for everyone. GOP will never see fit to do that. And of course, less guns, more background checks, less fucking gun worship.

  9. 9.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    September 6, 2024 at 2:29 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Whatever your definition of “almost killed”, the fucking guy hasn’t shut up about it since it happened, unlike school shootings, which are supposed to be forgotten almost immediately after the tots and pears, lest we politicize them.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    September 6, 2024 at 2:30 pm

    @Quantum Man:

    Matt Gaetz is jumping up and down volunteering for Secretary of Education.

    “Ooh, pick me, pick me!”

  11. 11.

    Ksmiami

    September 6, 2024 at 2:31 pm

    The GOP is a death cult. JD Vance wants women to be brood mares so their offspring can be shot up in schools…

  12. 12.

    Ksmiami

    September 6, 2024 at 2:31 pm

    @Ksmiami: and yes, we should advertise this message…

  13. 13.

    karen gail

    September 6, 2024 at 2:32 pm

    The second amendment was put place before the US had a standing army. Today, we have standing military, armed police officers, armed security there is no need for the average citizen to run around fully armed when going to grocery store or to own weapons if they aren’t hunting to feed family.
    Back when I first picked up a rifle, back in the 60’s, my father drilled the rules into me; we also weren’t allowed to “play” with weapons or to have toy guns, rifles or bows. He also sent me and siblings to fire arms classes; today, some states require hunters to pass a hunter safety course before allowing them to have a hunting license.

    In my personal opinion it is beyond stupid to allow weapons created for war to be sold to the public, it is also stupid to allow anyone with enough money to purchase as many weapons and ammunition as they desire without them being held accountable.

  14. 14.

    SatanicPanic

    September 6, 2024 at 2:33 pm

    @trollhattan: He’ll be disappointed to find out that he won’t actually be around high schoolers very often.

  15. 15.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 6, 2024 at 2:33 pm

    This video of magats turning on each other will never grow old. Fat dude in the overalls got knocked the fuck out.

  16. 16.

    fancycwabs

    September 6, 2024 at 2:35 pm

    I remember the episode where Mrs. Garrett bought Jo an AR-15 and she murdered Nancy Olsen and Headmaster Bradley, and seriously wounded Blair and Tootie.

    It was billed as a “very special” episode back then, but these days it’s just a normal Friday. There were warning signs, of course, but all the cops were too interested in profiling Arnold and Willis Jackson.

  17. 17.

    KatKapCC

    September 6, 2024 at 2:37 pm

    If shootings are a fact of life then I guess we can nix Secret Service for elected officials. Take your fucking chances, people, it’s just life.

  18. 18.

    BethanyAnne

    September 6, 2024 at 2:38 pm

    No champagne today, sentencing delayed until after election.

  19. 19.

    Chief Oshkosh

    September 6, 2024 at 2:38 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: The guy who threw the punch had pretty good form. Does anybody know what the fight was about?

  20. 20.

    gene108

    September 6, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    schools are “soft targets” so we need to turn our schools into even more prison-like structures.

    He has a point here. We never hear about mass shootings at prisons.

    We can’t even ask for insurance and licensing, because all these gun humpers know that no sane insurance company would insure their precious plastic AR-15 Jesus.

    I doubt most gun nuts are consciously aware of the insurance implications, if firearms are insured or homeowners policies consider firearms or health insurance policies adjusted pricing based on guns in the home.

    I think for many they do not think beyond their absolute right granted by the second amendment to a stockpile bunch of guns, stockpile ammo, and carry it around anywhere they want. This is the minimum amount of freedom they’ve been led to believe they are entitled to as gun owners by Republican federal judges, gun manufacturers, Republican politicians, and gun organizations.

    Even with this, I get most of them feel put upon by what few regulations exist on firearm ownership.

    Second, there’s a certain percentage of gun owners, especially rural gun owners, who view gun violence, including mass shootings, as a “them” problem. In their little town of 300 and county of 4000 people, these things do not happen and everyone owns guns.

    They don’t want to be inconvenienced because “they” (urban and suburban residents) have problems with gun violence.

    The only hope I have is if enough people in the younger generations that grew up with school shootings and active shooter drills get so sick of it, they have the political will to force change.

    Overweighting rural white representation in both the House and Senate makes this hard to deal with until the people supporting guns being everywhere in those places die off.

  21. 21.

    Ol_Froth

    September 6, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    Since it was asked in the post, the last time a child died in a fire at school was in 1908, which is why you cannot recall the last time it happened; its was over a century ago.  Schools (and most public buildings) were redesigned and retrofitted to prevent such a horrific event, and fire drills were mandated so kids (and staff) can quickly and safely exit the building.  americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/collinwood-school-disaster-influenced-fire-safety-protocols

  22. 22.

    SatanicPanic

    September 6, 2024 at 2:42 pm

    Unrelated but I’m currently in a Master’s program for Library Science and we were doing some group work. The class is collection development and I’m chatting about the various libraries that we work at about how they build collections. One person in my group is a woman from Georgia who works at a state university.

    She says… “not sure what I’m supposed to do in this class because we don’t do collection development”.

    “Wait… what?”

    “oh yeah, we’re not allowed to buy new books unless someone specifically requests something.”

    “Wait… no new books? No ongoing subscriptions, nothing?”

    “No, it’s Georgia, all I do is throw books away. We don’t even get copies of textbooks anymore”.

    I’m sorry but what in the fuck kind of hellholes are red states?

  23. 23.

    Suzanne

    September 6, 2024 at 2:44 pm

    @KatKapCC: That motherfucker is doing his little rallies from behind bulletproof (actually bullet-resistant) glass while telling his knob-slobbers that we don’t have a gun problem. What a piece of shit.

    I guess these are the moral trades you make when you’re garbage and you want to consort — or vote for — other garbage.

  24. 24.

    Chief Oshkosh

    September 6, 2024 at 2:45 pm

    @BethanyAnne: I just do not understand why all of these institutions and institutional actors feel that they must bend over backwards to show any consideration for Trump.

    So fucking what that the sentencing would affect voter perception. IT FUCKING WELL SHOULD! It’s part of who the candidate IS.

  25. 25.

    gene108

    September 6, 2024 at 2:48 pm

    @karen gail:

    Back when I first picked up a rifle, back in the 60’s,

    Society had a very different attitude towards guns, even when I was growing up in the 1980’s. Nobody thought they needed to carry a gun to grow grocery shopping.

    The gun lobby did transform society with their propaganda campaign over the last 35 years.

  26. 26.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    September 6, 2024 at 2:49 pm

    @Josie: If shootings, in school and, well, everywhere else, are a fact of life, why is Vance standing behind bulletproof glass with Secret Service protection? Doesn’t he trust God to keep him safe? I figured that where the “thoughts and prayers” came in.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    September 6, 2024 at 2:49 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    Uhhhh. Dumbfounded.

    They’ll be down to The Holy Bible and Fahrenheit 451 as their only physical books.

  28. 28.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 6, 2024 at 2:50 pm

    @@mistermix.bsky.social: ​ 

    Actually, it’s the other way around. One of the key reasons I think the whole scene was a set up is that he never talks about it. If he had been the target of a legitimate assassination attempt, he would never stop talking about it. There would be non-stop ads, he would be playing the righteous victim in every appearance every day all day and never shut up about it.

    But he doesn’t, because it was a set up, and he doesn’t want anyone to look very deeply into who did the setting up. My god, a man who revels in being the victim would never let the perfect scenario go to waste.

  29. 29.

    RaflW

    September 6, 2024 at 2:51 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: Our system is utterly broken. Or, maybe, it’s working as designed but we see so much more clearly now that it’s fully rigged for a narrow slice of people who are not us.

  30. 30.

    Kent

    September 6, 2024 at 2:51 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    @BethanyAnne: I just do not understand why all of these institutions and institutional actors feel that they must bend over backwards to show any consideration for Trump.

    So fucking what that the sentencing would affect voter perception. IT FUCKING WELL SHOULD! It’s part of who the candidate IS.

    More importantly.  The ONLY reason this all didn’t happen 2 years ago is because of the endless legal delays engineered by Trump and abetted by the courts.  If he didn’t want sentencing and other legal proceedings pushing up against the election he shouldn’t have delayed them until this point.  It is an issue of his own creation.

    Kind of like the child who murdered his parents asking for special consideration because he is an orphan.

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    September 6, 2024 at 2:52 pm

    @Ol_Froth: So, as an architect, a huge amount of my job is around design of emergency egress systems, collaborating with fire protection engineer, etc. We are really, really good at minimizing fire deaths. The building code is rigorous around this stuff. It is based in evidence, and assemblies are tested, buildings are inspected, etc. We know what strategies work in what buildings. And we do not fuck around with it.

    And yet, twice in the last couple of years, I have been in hotels when fires occurred (both in the kitchen) and I had to evacuate and it was fucken hell. It sucks. But it saves lives.

    But I will note that the entire apparatus of the profession and the operation of the building is rigorous about it. And that’s what it takes to be successful. If only we applied that same approach to firearms.

  32. 32.

    hrprogressive

    September 6, 2024 at 2:53 pm

    The problem is our society has allowed firearm ownership to devolve into a combination of macho, penile-enhancement, brotastic bullshit / government takeover fantasy Rambo bullshit instead of, you know, a solemn privilege / responsibility to be taken seriously, and only to be wielded in times of actual need, by citizens of age, who are mentally sound, of cool judgment, and even temperament.

    I know a lot of people want to just ban every gun outright, and you can pie me if you don’t like the opinion, but no, I don’t believe outlawing private firearm ownership is The Way.

    But “The Way We’re Doing It Now” is absolutely not right, either.

    A lot of things need to change.

    Mandatory training. Mandatory licensure. Ability to better revoke the privilege to own firearms of people who aren’t upstanding citizens. Better ability to track potential “lone wolf style shooters” and stop them beforehand.

    There can, and should, be a “middle ground” between “Unhinged Fascist Fever Dream With Unfettered Weapons To All” and “Ban All Private Firearm Ownership”.

    Of course, a shitty adult allowing their child access to a firearm of any type is where punishing the shit out of the parent is the way to do it.

    Anyway.

    That’s all I’ll say on that for now.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    September 6, 2024 at 2:54 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    I only thing I can think of is the shit storm of death threats and potential for violence should the courts are seen harmingTrump’s chances before the election.

    Also, Trump promising to pardon the J6 prisoners gives him a ready made group of brown shirts to hire as White House advisors to carry out official acts on his behalf.

  34. 34.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    September 6, 2024 at 2:55 pm

    @Ol_Froth: I think you mean 1958, not 1908. I remember being traumatized by TV  news reports about the deaths at Our Lady of the Angels.

  35. 35.

    ssdd

    September 6, 2024 at 2:55 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: not sure about the exact issue but apparently this particular local gopper group is an utter clusterfuck right now. bentoncourier.com/news/fight-breaks-out-at-saline-county-republican-committee-meeting/article_003113…

  36. 36.

    Chief Oshkosh

    September 6, 2024 at 2:57 pm

    @Kent: From TPM:

    “The members of this jury served diligently on this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election,” wrote Judge Juan Merchan in a letter.

     

    What the fuck does that even mean? It is nonsensical.

    GODAMMIT do your fucking job. Quit second and third guessing this shit. Just follow regular, normal guidelines.

  37. 37.

    laura

    September 6, 2024 at 2:59 pm

    I have almost completely stopped wearing slip on shoes and sandals in public. I haven’t been to a concert in that 20 years without : checking the exits and making a plan to get out ( the Roadie brothers worked for .38 Special a year or two before the Station fire) and I always Always ALWAYS wear shoes I can run in. I cannot imagine the toll gun violence is taking on the Yutes of America. We’ve collectively earned their distain and distrust

    We should make “well regulated” great again.

  38. 38.

    mr perfect

    September 6, 2024 at 3:00 pm

    I’m not American.  My one year old grandaughter is.  Soon her future will involve doing active shooter drills in school.

    Some Ghoul named Mike Collins said now is not the time to talk about school shootings and something about, “We need more God.”  Yeah, for more religious wing nuts to beat and sexually assault America’s children.  Seriously, how do these fuckfaces not get their teeth knocked out?  Never mind getting elected to office.  I wouldn’t be able to control myself around him.

  39. 39.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    September 6, 2024 at 3:03 pm

    I always liked Tootie and Blair; never liked Jo

  40. 40.

    Nelle

    September 6, 2024 at 3:05 pm

    What I’ve learned from young women this last year – there are those who, upon entering a public building (store, govt building, hospital, etc.), immediately scout out at least two emergency exits and places that they can hide.

    What I learned this week from students – the shooter is likely to be a classmate and has also been through the active shooter drills and knows all the hiding places.

    This is insane.  The drills alone are traumatizing.  It is also traumatizing to know that the adults will not fix this.

  41. 41.

    different-church-lady

    September 6, 2024 at 3:05 pm

    DRAWING OF GOOSE: “Why are they a fact of life?”

    DRAWING OF GOOSE CHASING J.D. VANCE: “WHY ARE THEY A FACT OF LIFE, MOTHERFUCKER?”

  42. 42.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:06 pm

    Just heard on the radio, sorry to be the bearer of additional fucked up news. 💔

    cbsnews.com/news/kenya-school-dorm-fire-student-deaths-serious-burns/

  43. 43.

    RaflW

    September 6, 2024 at 3:06 pm

    In a turn of events I’d have not expected, Liz Cheney has added another Dem to her list of endorsees: Collin Allred.

    Two possibilities here, though porque no los dos can easily apply:
    – She hates Ted Cruz with all the appropriate heat of 1000 suns.
    – She understands that the rot in the GOP has spread, and more of the fungal growth needs to be removed.

  44. 44.

    different-church-lady

    September 6, 2024 at 3:06 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    I’m sorry but what in the fuck kind of hellholes are red states?

    All of them, Katie.

  45. 45.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:07 pm

    @RaflW: 🇺🇲👍 I’ll take it, either or both ways

  46. 46.

    Leto

    September 6, 2024 at 3:07 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: guy in pink was Little Joe from Mike Tyson’s Punch-out

  47. 47.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:08 pm

    @different-church-lady: that is evergreen 😍

  48. 48.

    jonas

    September 6, 2024 at 3:09 pm

    IIRC, the mother of the Newtown shooter had also bought her son weapons hoping it would help him channel his mental health issues into a “hobby.” We know how that turned out. Seems this dad was thinking the same thing: therapy’s for pussies — why not go out on the back 40 and shoot some shit up instead?

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 6, 2024 at 3:09 pm

    @hrprogressive: Very few people outside of the military have any need for a hand gun or a semiautomatic rifle with a high capacity magazine.  Oddly enough, those weapons cause most firearm deaths.  Hunters and weekend shooters would be largely unaffected by draconian restrictions on those categories of guns.

  50. 50.

    Kosh III

    September 6, 2024 at 3:09 pm

    I read that the mother of this murderous kid has warrants out for her arrest.

    Lock ’em all up!

  51. 51.

    David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch

    September 6, 2024 at 3:10 pm

    @fancycwabs: ​
     It takes different strokes to move the world

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    September 6, 2024 at 3:10 pm

    @Nelle:

    What I’ve learned from young women this last year – there are those who, upon entering a public building (store, govt building, hospital, etc.), immediately scout out at least two emergency exits and places that they can hide. 

    It me.

    I was in a Target with Spawn the Elder when he was a preschooler, and some lowlife pulled out a gun and attempted to rob the snack bar. Shots fired. But there were cops already in the store when he attempted to rob it, so he was unsuccessful. Still, running with my kid, trying to find an exit while being as inconspicuous as possible….. terrible.

  53. 53.

    Phylllis

    September 6, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    This poor boy had been begging for mental health counseling for months, according to his aunt.  No money or time for that in this family to actually help the kid — they spent all of that at the gun store.

    A couple of things about this from a school district perspective. We talk to parents and make these referrals and many parents are resistant, and it cuts across income and demographics. They just don’t want to acknowledge these kinds of issues. And if parents are willing to engage, due to the shortage of counselors, the wait times are eye-popping. There was a big push for additional counselors in schools once we got everybody back face-to-face after COVID and there was federal and state funding. There were no counselors to hire.

  54. 54.

    RaflW

    September 6, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    @different-church-lady: One distressing thing is that red states contain many blue cities. I used to live in Austin, TX. Having Shrub as our governor was awful. We tried to just ignore it and party on, but even in the 90s Republicans were making a hash of things.

  55. 55.

    E.

    September 6, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    @ssdd: We are going to see more of this and I am so here for it. My local GOP is currently splitting along ideological lines between the never ever ever allow an abortion to occur faction and the other never ever ever allow an abortion to occur but pretend otherwise faction, and they absolutely hate each other.

  56. 56.

    Chris

    September 6, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    @trollhattan:

    I remember being stunned a few years ago when I pet-sat for my wingnut cousins and it turned out the house had no books.

    I mean, I wasn’t expecting much, but I wasn’t expecting nothing.  A few Tom Clancy novels next to the Bibles and Tucker Carlson screeds, at least some C. S. Lewis books for the kids for fuck’s sake.  But instead, nothing.

    Their kid definitely had a Trump 2024 flag over his bed, though!  Thank God the important things are still there!

  57. 57.

    Kosh III

    September 6, 2024 at 3:11 pm

    @RaflW:She hates Ted Cruz with all the appropriate heat of 1000 suns.

    Everyone hates him: send him back to Cuba!

  58. 58.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:12 pm

     

    @HumboldtBlue: bingo

  59. 59.

    SatanicPanic

    September 6, 2024 at 3:13 pm

    @trollhattan: Right? I’d be willing to bet they accept donations of religious tracts

  60. 60.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 6, 2024 at 3:13 pm

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Construction is getting underway on a state-funded reproductive health and abortion clinic in southern New Mexico that will cater to local residents and people who travel from neighboring states such as Texas and Oklahoma with major restrictions on abortion, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday.

    Construction of the clinic will draw upon $10 million in state funding that was set aside by the governor under a 2022 executive order. New Mexico has one of the country’s most liberal abortion-access laws.

    Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat who can’t run again in 2026, reiterated her commitment to shoring up abortion access in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and revoked universal access to abortion.

    “Access to reproductive healthcare should be a fundamental human right,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Once completed, this clinic will stand as a testament to our state’s commitment to reproductive freedom for residents of New Mexico, and also those who travel here from out-of-state in need of this care.”

  61. 61.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:13 pm

    @E.: 🖤

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 6, 2024 at 3:13 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Actually, it’s the other way around. One of the key reasons I think the whole scene was a set up is that he never talks about it. If he had been the target of a legitimate assassination attempt, he would never stop talking about it. There would be non-stop ads, he would be playing the righteous victim in every appearance every day all day and never shut up about it.

    But he doesn’t, because it was a set up, and he doesn’t want anyone to look very deeply into who did the setting up. My god, a man who revels in being the victim would never let the perfect scenario go to waste.

    Is the orange shitstain still wearing a band aid over his ear booboo?

  63. 63.

    BethanyAnne

    September 6, 2024 at 3:14 pm

    I want a high trust society, somehow. Radically fewer firearms and radically fewer patriarchy worshipping assholes who need their AR binkies with them at all times. No clue how to create a civilized society with our one third garbage population to work with.

  64. 64.

    No One You Know

    September 6, 2024 at 3:14 pm

    @Josie: I think that’s a billboard. JD behind his screen, and pictures of the kids. The headline. And a question: how long is a lifetime?

    Or, how long should we hurt them to protect the gun lobby?

    Or, Where is the freedom to live?

    ( in the Preamble–BEFORE there’s even anything to amend!)

  65. 65.

    jonas

    September 6, 2024 at 3:14 pm

    @mr perfect:  Some Ghoul named Mike Collins said now is not the time to talk about school shootings and something about, “We need more God.”

    Golly, I wonder what explains the notable lack of mass shootings in relatively non-religious countries like Finland or Japan, then? (As well as the fact that when there is a rare mass shooting in these places, like the 2011 massacre in Norway, or the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, the perpetrator is almost inevitably a religious nut.)

  66. 66.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:15 pm

    @Kent: thank you, I think both you and the original comment you responded to are correct.

  67. 67.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 6, 2024 at 3:16 pm

    @hrprogressive:

    The problem is our society has allowed firearm ownership to devolve into a combination of macho, penile-enhancement, brotastic bullshit / government takeover fantasy Rambo bullshit instead of, you know, a solemn privilege / responsibility to be taken seriously, and only to be wielded in times of actual need, by citizens of age, who are mentally sound, of cool judgment, and even temperament.

    I’ve likened it over the last 20 years to Aztec blood sacrifice.  We’ve become a country (in part, not us here per se) that feels that the God of the Second Amendment needs the blood sacrifice of innocents in the form of mass shootings or school shootings on a basis that would make the most committed follower of Tlaloc blush.

    Of course much of this was in pursuit of PROFITS!  The NRA went from being a gun safety organization to a gun manufacturer (and ammo) lobbyist group.

  68. 68.

    Anoniminous

    September 6, 2024 at 3:16 pm

    Vance speaks

  69. 69.

    Citizen Alan

    September 6, 2024 at 3:17 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:  If only they were all carrying AR-15s, I bet they’d have stayed peaceful and polite.

  70. 70.

    SatanicPanic

    September 6, 2024 at 3:17 pm

    @jonas: Have any considered it’s too much God?

  71. 71.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:17 pm

    @laura: 💙

    We should make “well regulated” great again.

  72. 72.

    Nelle

    September 6, 2024 at 3:17 pm

    I’m startled to see people board airplanes in flip flops and sandals. And heels.  If there is a chance to get out, I’m going to be in shoes that I can move quickly.  Two stories for background.  One, none of you will face.  We were leaving Fairbanks in a float plane decades ago (husband was then a bush pilot).  Couldn’t get lift but couldn’t settle back in the water.  We hit the back and the plane threatened to flip back over in the water.  What had taken me about 5 – 10 minutes to get in (go out on the float, under the wing, in the pilots seat, over to the copilots seat, and strap in, while in parka and heavy boots?  I was out in a matter of seconds, following my husband, sitting on the tip of the floats to prevent the plane from flipping.  One can move fast when motivated.

    Second story, sitting by emergency exit on commercial flight.  We weren’t gaining the right kind of altitude after takeoff.  Looked out the window and saw that we were dumping fuel.  Quietly asked the people across the aisle.  They confirmed the same.  After about five minutes, the pilot announced we were turning back.  We came in pretty fast and hot, and there were emergency vehicles with lights ready for us.  That whole time, I mentally rehearsed taking the door off, putting it on the seat, and running away from the plane.  Part of my Be Prepared strategy.  I always wear shoes that I can run in, even though I don’t run so well at 73.

    (It did hit me on one of my many flights between CA and New Zealand that, if there was a problem, I wouldn’t be running.  It’s all water below the whole 12 to 13 hours.  Still, I wear running shoes.)

  73. 73.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 6, 2024 at 3:19 pm

    @Kosh III:

    @RaflW:She hates Ted Cruz with all the appropriate heat of 1000 suns.
    Everyone hates him: send him back to Cuba!

    Rafael “Calgary!” “Ted” Cruz needs to return, permanently, to the country of his birth.  Sorry Canada, we need you to take one for the team.

  74. 74.

    Chris

    September 6, 2024 at 3:19 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Bluntly, the very act of trying to buy a handgun or a semiautomatic should be treated as proof positive that you’re not qualified to have one.

  75. 75.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 6, 2024 at 3:21 pm

    @Nelle: Hey, my first plane trip was in a float plane.

  76. 76.

    Kosh III

    September 6, 2024 at 3:22 pm

    @RaflW:One distressing thing is that red states contain many blue cities.

    Exactly.  Nashville and Memphis have been attacked by the Gov and Legislature so many times.  They tried and failed to take away control of Nashville airport, they tried and succeeded in firing the Board that controlled Tenn State Univ.  an HBCU and my alma mater. They are currently threating Memphis with retaliation for somethingsomething–they don’t need an excuse-it’s a majority colored  black city.
    A Rep pushed hard to pass legislation allowing first cousins to marry—I could go on all day.

  77. 77.

    Lobo

    September 6, 2024 at 3:23 pm

    @RaflW: Welcome to the marginalized experience.  😉

  78. 78.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:25 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: his ear tampon was removed so they could make fun of Tim Walz and tampons – plus his ear grew magically back with not even so much as a small scab.

  79. 79.

    Anoniminous

    September 6, 2024 at 3:28 pm

    @TBone:

    It’s a MIRACLE!  Because NRA Jesus loves him.

  80. 80.

    Ksmiami

    September 6, 2024 at 3:29 pm

    @Nelle: I fly all over and my plane uniform is athleisure and nice running shoes or hiking boots… there’s usually not much chance of survival, but prep makes a difference

  81. 81.

    Ksmiami

    September 6, 2024 at 3:30 pm

    @BethanyAnne: bring on another pandemic?

  82. 82.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 3:33 pm

    @Anoniminous: exactly

    🤮

  83. 83.

    catclub

    September 6, 2024 at 3:49 pm

    @Nelle: That whole time, I mentally rehearsed taking the door off, putting it on the seat,

     

    It looked to me that throwing it out the hole once you remove it would clear more space.

  84. 84.

    Betty

    September 6, 2024 at 3:54 pm

    @Ol_Froth: I don’t know where that information came from but 92 children died in a school fire in 1958 in Chicago at a Catholic school. I remember it very well.

  85. 85.

    Nettoyeur

    September 6, 2024 at 4:00 pm

    @Kosh III:  Or Canada

  86. 86.

    Ironcity

    September 6, 2024 at 4:10 pm

    @Nelle: With light aircraft one thing you are always taught is to never give up control of the aircraft.  It could have pieces falling off, on fire, whatever but never give up control of the aircraft.    An instructor of mine’s advice was to wear clothes you can walk out with, so it depends on where/when you are flying.  My pick is appropriate shoes/light boots, correct weight jacket/hat/gloves/whatever, and all clothing at least cotton blends, for goodness sake no polyester, which is plastic which melts in the fire and sticks to you and I don’t want to go like that.

  87. 87.

    Kenneth J Fair

    September 6, 2024 at 4:13 pm

    @gene108:

    Second, there’s a certain percentage of gun owners, especially rural gun owners, who view gun violence, including mass shootings, as a “them” problem. In their little town of 300 and county of 4000 people, these things do not happen and everyone owns guns.

    They don’t want to be inconvenienced because “they” (urban and suburban residents) have problems with gun violence.

    I think this is true, although ironically, it’s not generally the big cities either. It’s places like Columbine, CO (2020 population: 25,229); Newtown, CT (27,173); Parkland, FL (34,670); Uvalde, TX (15,217); Santa Fe, TX (12,735); and Red Lake, MN (1,786).

  88. 88.

    OlFroth

    September 6, 2024 at 4:16 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You are correct!  I however wasn’t including private/parochial schools.

  89. 89.

    Jim Appleton

    September 6, 2024 at 4:26 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: How do you explain the slain civilians?

     

    Crisis actors?

  90. 90.

    lowtechcyclist

    September 6, 2024 at 4:47 pm

    @hrprogressive:

    I know a lot of people want to just ban every gun outright, and you can pie me if you don’t like the opinion, but no, I don’t believe outlawing private firearm ownership is The Way.

    Who are this ‘a lot of people’? Where do you find them?

    I mean, I’ve been hanging out in liberal places online over the past couple of decades, but I can’t remember when is the last time I’ve run into anyone advocating banning firearms altogether.

    Any polls showing nontrivial support for a 100% ban on firearms?

    And specifically here, seriously? Who here is going to pie you for saying that a total ban on firearms is not the answer? C’mon, man!

  91. 91.

    TBone

    September 6, 2024 at 5:40 pm

    @Jim Appleton: sacrifices.

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    September 6, 2024 at 6:28 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    It would be one in a billion chance to end up like that but it is possible that it was a shot from a rifle.

    Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying IT WAS, just that it was possible. And yes everything had to be just so to have it turnout like it did, he had to turn his head at exactly the right moment, at exactly the right angle, but it is possible. Or it was an expected thing by the victim. Look at the press, at the results, at the size of the bandage against the wound size and damage.

    What gets me is that the Secret Service was supposed to be watching, controlling all the possible shooting locations and the perfect one to be shooting from was seemingly not in any way checked. Or watched. WTF?

    The entire thing reeks of – what is that word, oh yes bull and shit.

  93. 93.

    JKC

    September 6, 2024 at 6:37 pm

    It won’t change. There’s too much money being raked in by consulting groups designing and carrying out active shooter drills (the more realistic, terrifying and traumatizing the better) and too many police departments stocking up enough military gear to successfully invade Quebec (though if the Uvalde cops are any indication, the Quebecois are safe from anyone from Texas.)

    And as a country we can’t even manage to be ashamed of this state of affairs.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    September 6, 2024 at 7:12 pm

    @karen gail:

    I carried a loaded sidearm in the USN. On board ship it was only on in port watch and there were 2 people at all times that had a loaded sidearm. Out at sea it was only when qualifying – we had to shoot into the water while underway to show that you could handle the weapon. Otherwise, on a guided missile destroyer that had 5 in guns, torpedos, ASROC (a rocket powered torpedo), and guided missiles, there were no weapons in sight….. Last time I qualified I emptied a full clip in a straight line as fast as I could pull the trigger on the .45 caliber pistol, with about 6 inches between splashes, which considering the speed of the ship meant that not underway I would have hit the bullseye dead center. (I had shot a gun prior to the USN) After the USN I haven’t shot a gun since. Just not interested.

  95. 95.

    Pink Tie

    September 6, 2024 at 9:22 pm

    I’ve never touched a gun, but as a teacher have been part of drills. One was a REAL incident where four armed men were being chased through the neighborhood and one was apprehended in the front of our school. I was there in my capacity as a music teacher through a non-profit foundation, and was stunned at the efficiency of the Head Start teachers I worked with. They had a curtain ready to go blocking the door window, and we had to gather all the kids and keep them *silent* in one corner, the farthest from the door. All of us could hear running feet and slamming doors and sirens. K9 units howling and barking. No words for that experience. They made us all stay locked down for over an hour.

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