[News] 2012 News (NO POLITICS)

[Tribblepoo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEn1hBStpYs

I actually always thought something like this was more appropriate for the North Korean rockets.

[Alaska Slim]

China to build world's tallest skyscraper... in 3 months.

While I don't deny they could marshal the labor, there is the problem of precedent.

[Mr. Tines]

If you wanted to get some donkey cheese, you're out of luck. Novak Djokovic has bought it all.

[A.T. Fish]

What an ass.

[CJD]

"Donkey cheese"? Excuse me, I'm going to go throw up.

@AT I like your post.

[Tribblepoo]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/14/15907407-multiple-children-shot-at-connecticut-elementary-school-alleged-gunman-is-dead#comments

This is going to get ugly, not so much the situation itself, which is over, but the debate about gun control just took an ugly "it's for the children" turn.

[CJD]

Jesus fuck, A shootout is bad enough, but a shootout at an elementary school?

[Tribblepoo]

Jesus fuck, A shootout is bad enough, but a shootout at an elementary school?

The news is saying 27 dead so far, 18 children, 8 staff and the shooter. What's worse is that news crews are tentatively reporting that the kindergarten class is unaccounted for.

Update; a second suspect is in custody. Also, from now on I am putting unconfirmed reports in spoilers. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like the kindergarten class being missing is sticking.

SPOILER: Show

Unconfirmed Reports
One shooter is the father of a student.
There's a second connected crime scene.
SWAT is already at one shooter's house.

[soul.assassin]

Not again. Not another rampaging nutcase. Seems this shit isn't going to end at all, as long as there are fucking lunatics behind the trigger.

[Tribblepoo]

Not again. Not another rampaging nutcase. Seems this shit isn't going to end at all, as long as there are fucking lunatics behind the trigger.

Unfortunately, in all the tragedy of this, the media tends to forget that the bolded is what is responsible for the killing.

[Fireand'chutes77]

Fuck. That rivals Virginia Tech's count.

I'm at Virginia Tech. There are a couple people crying in the hallways now.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

[Tribblepoo]

More confirmed news.

The shooter killed his father in New Jersey, his mother in Newtown, then went on to the school to finish it up.

Also, the three wounded are said to not have life-threatening injuries.

And if we don't have enough negative news; most news outlets I am seeing are already laying subtle blame on video games for this.

Edit: No official word, but inside sources from three networks have updated the dead to 29; 20 children, eight adults and the shooter.

[Xard]

This is fucking horrible and even though the guilt lies on the shooters the combination of cultural meme these mass shootings have turned into and wide availability of guns in USA ensures these things keep on happening unless the cultural complex gets dissolved or guns become much harder to get hands on.


Of course neither will happen.

[bobbyfischer's ghost]

God damn it! Elementary school kids really? How many people have to die before somebody does something?

The U.S. is all kinds of fucked. Makes me glad I have dual citizenship.

[riffraff11235]

The typical political arguments are already invading my Facebook Wall. This is becoming too common of an occurrence....

[Aiko Heiwa]

How many people have to die before somebody does something?

Seeing as children are abused and murdered everyday worldwide with most people not giving a thought as "it's happening thousands of miles away".

too many

[Tribblepoo]

This is fucking horrible and even though the guilt lies on the shooters the combination of cultural meme these mass shootings have turned into and wide availability of guns in USA ensures these things keep on happening unless the cultural complex gets dissolved or guns become much harder to get hands on.


Of course neither will happen.

Gun control is not the answer. Gun education and the dissolution of this retarded stigma we have about mental health is.

[CJD]

The typical political arguments are already invading my Facebook Wall. This is becoming too common of an occurrence....

Not to trivialize the shooting, but this.

[Xard]

Gun control is not the answer.

Works for most countries (however I'm cynical if it is feasible in country like USA where black market of guns for criminals would be very hard to control).

Gun education and the dissolution of this retarded stigma we have about mental health is.

No amount of education or changing attitudes about mental health removes the presence of fucking assholes who've figured out this mass suicide thing as expression of their various ills. Keeping guns unavalaible to them, however, brings down casualties massively. There's reason why these massive casualty mass killings take place in countries like USA or Finland instead of, say, Germany where it's much harder for these folks to get proper weapons and they're left to using air guns, self-made crossbows etc. which inflict far less damage.


Then again given the general mentality in USA as well as the nature of country above (like, being fucking huge with gigantic underworld, illegal traffic etc.) it would be very hard to implement such policies succesfully, even if there were no decent pro-gun arguments.


All in all gun control would be much easier than unrooting the social phenomenom itself which breeds itself further with every incident that happens though.

But as said I doubt there'll be workable solution through that route either.

[Tribblepoo]

Works for most countries (however I'm cynical if it is feasible in country like USA where black market of guns for criminals would be very hard to control).

The underground market would be virtually impossible to control simply due to land area available for storage, transport and trade. Plus, the whole Fast and Furious debacle further goes to show how well gun control would work.

No amount of education or changing attitudes about mental health removes the presence of fucking assholes who've figured out this mass suicide thing as expression of their various ills.

I don't think you quite understand how severe the stigma about mental health is here. It is so bad that it actually hampers effective diagnosis, let alone treatment. There is a cultural system of denial coupled with insurance-driven red tape that leaves a majority of cases undiagnosed.

Keeping guns unavalaible to them, however, brings down casualties massively.

Without diagnosis, we don't know who to keep from having guns, so even if there were an effective policy in place, that would be no guarantee against some nutter getting their hands on a gun.

There's reason why these massive casualty mass killings take place in countries like USA or Finland instead of, say, Germany where it's much harder for these folks to get proper weapons and they're left to using air guns, self-made crossbows etc. which inflict far less damage.

Preventing guns from getting to the hands of the criminally insane is no guarantee. Fire is a much more effective means of destruction and home made napalm (which is frighteningly simple to make, no I won't go into details how) is even more effective and is nearly as efficient at causing traumatic wounds and death as a gun. We're just lucky that most of these nut-jobs lack the basic knowledge or imagination needed to use fire.

Then again given the general mentality in USA as well as the nature of country above (like, being fucking huge with gigantic underworld, illegal traffic etc.) it would be very hard to implement such policies succesfully, even if there were no decent pro-gun arguments.

The culture of the US is partly to blame, but not in the ways one might think. I am hesitant to go into details because this is getting dangerously political now. If you want details on this, go ahead and PM me.

All in all gun control would be much easier than unrooting the social phenomenom itself which breeds itself further with every incident that happens though.

No, gun control would make the problem worse. One of the reasons places like malls, schools and colleges are targeted is because these are areas known to be largely gun-free. A shooter can enter these places with a reasonable guarantee that no one will shoot back. Gun control would only make these sorts of areas more numerous and less easily controlled. Places like schools, theaters and malls can have access controlled much more readily than a park or playground. Gun control would remove the uncertainty in the mind of a shooter and make these more accessible locations more ready targets.

But as said I doubt there'll be workable solution through that route either.

Well, to tell you the truth, the only real workable solution is for humanity to grow out of this barbaric phase where we seek to club each other over the head with 9mm cudgels (or any sort of striking implement).