In the New York Times “top news” stories today were the following headlines:
- Google Devises Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals
- How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives
- Why Is Chartreuse Hard to Find Right Now? Ask the Monks Who Make It
- Clashes Spread Across Sudan on Second Day of Fighting
- Why Ron DeSantis Needs to Run for President in 2024
- The Surprising Thing A.I. Engineers Will Tell You if You Let Them
… and more, but nowhere did I see so much as a whisper of what should have been the first and foremost news of the day …
4 dead, several injured in Alabama birthday party shooting, authorities say
A local pastor says most of the injured were teenagers
Why? The above headline came from The Washington Post, but even that was not the #1 story of the day … it was the 8th story on the page. Very few details were provided.
Is there a concerted effort to downplay the gun lunacy, or have we as a nation become so inured that the press thinks we care more about a wine named “Chartreuse” than about a mass shooting? Oh yeah, and also yesterday there was another mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, but only two people died, so I guess no biggie, eh? This was our 163rd mass shooting in just the first 105 days of the year 2023. Way to go, America.
Filosofa's Word 
Do the majority of people support gun ownership?
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Well, the majority of people support the right to own a gun BUT only for people who qualify after passing a background check to ensure that they don’t have a history of mental illness, domestic abuse, or a criminal background. And even then, the majority of people want some regulations, such as a ban on assault weapons, licensing requirements, and regulations for where and how a gun must be stored. The vast majority (80%+) do NOT support the current level of nearly unlimited gun ownership.
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It’s a weird thing, isn’t it, that what the majority wants can have so little sway even in a democracy
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Sadly, what the majority wants comes second to what the super-wealthy 1% want. That is the crux of the gun madness, the reason we have no sensible gun laws, because the wealthy gun industry buys congressmen as if they were a bag of popcorn, and in exchange, those members of congress pledge to strike down any proposed gun laws.
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Yeah, that’s the crux of it. We have similar in Australia, but with gambling.
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Gambling is bad enough, for it has ruined many a life, but I’d still take that over guns.
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😭 My husband and I were literally just talking about this. Beyond sad, heartbreaking and yes angering!💔
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It is all of the above, but I think it’s time we put the anger out front … let our elected officials and those who aspire to become our elected officials that we are sick and tired of it and we’re not putting up with any more!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ….
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The news is just full of cheer and joy today, Jill. 😆 Gonna need be a big mug of coffee and lots of bacon for jolly Monday tomorrow morning!
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Heh heh … yeah, it was a bit dark, wasn’t it? No worries, amigo! Joyful’s got you covered on the bacon for this morning and the coffee too!!! In fact, I believe she even mentioned you!
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This must be unacceptable ☹️😡
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It must, but more and more we are being told to just accept it as “the price of freedom.” If that’s the price, I’m not so sure the freedom is worth the price.
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Freedom doesn’t means that everyone has a gun. Freedom means that everyone is safe from violence
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Exactly!
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👍🏼
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It made headlines here, though several other recent shootings haven’t. It just makes me glad to live in a country with sensible gun laws.
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More and more I think about leaving. There was a time, a few years ago, when I did plan to move to the UK, but practicalities foiled that plan. I no longer feel any loyalty or any sense of attachment to this country. Sad, isn’t it?
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At least you wouldn’t need to travel across the Channel in a small boat to get here. Mind you, with Cruella and her ilk running the country why would you want to, anyway?
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Sigh. This is rather like going to a birthday party where everyone is speaking a different language, everyone is drunk, and you’re the only sober person in the room, but all the exits have disappeared. 😥
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A very good description of an utterly stupid situation.
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😔
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It is just so unbelievable, mass shootings are a pandemic in America.
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Even worse. At least for a pandemic, you can develop a vaccine. For this illness, there is no vaccine, no cure. Sigh.
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Jill, dead kids are not newsworthy anymore in America. To the gun lobby, they are just a cost of doing business. As sad as that statement sounds, it seems to be more true than it should be. So, let’s all put our hands together and keep the stubborn gun funded politicians and gun lobby in “our thoughts and prayers” that they will find their soul and at long last be willing to discuss rationally and in a fact based way changes to our gun governance and related laws. America is by far #1 in gun death rates as compared to the other wealthiest 22 nations and has a higher child gun death rate than the other 22 nations COMBINED. I want these Congresspeople and Senators to explain that to me. Keith
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Collateral damage, I have heard it said. The “price of freedom” one congressman said, but I have to ask … WHOSE freedom??? I went to Barnes & Noble last week … my first outing in over two months … and I found myself looking at men, checking for a bulge at the back of their beltline that would indicate a pistol … keeping my distance from all. I listen to my little neighbor boy tell me how scared he is when they have “active shooter drills” at school. Like you, my friend, I want answers and I want change. I DEMAND change! What does it take? Does it take the children of members of Congress losing their lives before the issue is taken seriously? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …
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We wonder how people can live where crossing the street can get you taken down by a sniper ~ but we’re learning, aren’t we? Just like that frog in the slowly warming water…
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Sigh.
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👌
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Had a conversation about guns today. NRA is ignoring the problem, imo
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NRA finds it advantageous to ignore the problem, but worse yet, our elected officials are siding with the NRA and against We the People. They are placing profit far ahead of our children’s lives! When do we vote the assholes out of office and vote for those who promise gun laws … STRICT gun laws?
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It’s like … who cares? It’s just people … and there are millions of others to take their place.
SICK … SICK … SICK!!!
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You have to wonder if that’s why they are so dead-set against abortion … gotta make more babies to replace the ones that are getting killed by the inaction on guns! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr …
Yes, it’s sick … and I don’t see it ending any time soon … if ever.
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Pingback: Repeat After Me … 163! Yes, 163!!! Get Angry! | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News
This is an issue of mental illness.
The entire Republican party is mentally ill, with their obsessions about guns.
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Yes, and all their followers as well! I’ve had enough … and yet, my voice and the voices of millions of others simply don’t matter to anyone. Perhaps if my last name were Musk or Bezos my views would matter?
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I address this same issue in my latest post but, yeah, I think that at this point in our society, it’s not a headline, anymore. 😥
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Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr … how can we simply let this become “the norm”??? It will ALWAYS be a headline in my work as long as I live. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …
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