yoink

Who cares WHY he did it? Remove the ability to do anything about it and the motive is completely moot. And that solution works for the motive of almost every future mass-shooter too. They could be angry for a million different reasons but if (in a simulated world) they couldn't get their hands on a gun, then they couldn't go out and shoot someone. So you'll say 'but they'll find another way to do it'... Maybe. I've not seen the data to prove that yet and it's certainly a damn sight more difficult to kill multitudes of people in very small amounts of time with improvised weapons compared to things designed to do exactly that... Trying to fix the motive means you need to put a different fix in place every time this happens. And again, this is statistically likely to happen today. And tomorrow. And the next day... It's insane.

Nope. They're too cowardly to have put those words out there. I agree that that is the situation, but let's hear some of the gun rights people say it - 'this is a tragedy, and it will be a tragedy next time it happens, but I am not willing to give up my constitutionally protected rights to try and change it.' Grow some balls - enough with the crocodile tears already. fucking Bill O'Reilly is the most honest person out there at the moment. Which is absurd.

The motive doesn't matter - It'll be different in the mass shooting that is statistically going to happen tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. Who gives a shit who he was affiliated with? Mass killings need to stop being seen as a political point scoring tragedy, first and foremost. If doesn't matter if the gunman's political affiliations were to the left, to the right, or to the fucking martians - the problem is the same. A person had the ability to do this, and he was wrong to do it regardless of anything else... if people from both sides of the political fence can't agree on that, then there is absolutely no point in even discussing this event... You may as well wish for something to happen. In tonights news! 59 people killed at a concert in Las Vegas. And now over to Chad for the sport. Either we limit the ability (somehow) that people have to commit acts like this, or we accept that this is the cost of the amount of freedoms we currently have. Motivation doesn't come into it.

Wasn't there that 9 year old who shot her instructor with an Uzi in Vegas a couple of years ago? Machine guns for everybody!

Let's not forget http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41472895 Share prices in gun retailers and manufacturers rise after events like these. It's good for the economy!

There's not really a lot he can say is there? 'This is tragic but is the sometimes unfortunate cost of the gun freedoms we enjoy in the US'. Unfortunate? Getting a speeding ticket is unfortunate. Suffering from a sinus cold is unfortunate. He can't say anything else - He won't even go that far, to be honest. Even making the statement I suggested above crosses the line that suggests owning guns is part of the reason in how mass killings happen.

There's not really a lot he can say is there? 'This is tragic but is the sometimes unfortunate cost of the gun freedoms we enjoy in the US'. He's not going to wax sympathetic (because he can't do empathy), and he's not going to say 'something must be done!', so he doesn't really have many options. Edit: to clarify. The quote above is all I think he could have reasonably said. Not what Trump actually said in his speech.

I'm not sure who is "winning" in the culture wars. But I know for sure it is not the culture. Maybe culture is the wrong word. Climate? Legacy? State of the union?

Move along folks. Nothing to see here. Business as usual... Public outrage for about 2 weeks. A bill proposed in congress that will never pass. All of the sympathies but absolutely no action, and of course cries of 'it's in the constitution!' anytime remedial action is suggested. This is the 273rd (I'm told) mass shooting (4 people+) this year in the US. That's one a day... That's the culture in America today. So yeah, keep banning those dangerous muslims and seditious gays... I hope y'all feel safer as a result.

Nonsense. It's only Catalunia - a very small part of Spain. It's about 6% of the total area of Spain, makes up about 16% of the total population and nearly 20% of the total economic output of the entire country... I think that dismissing it as 'only a small part of Spain' isn't giving the situation the gravity it deserves. Definitions of 'small' aside, I'd make the argument that for any established country a province of it having a referendum to break away that is taken seriously enough by the central government that they declare the vote illegal and then send in thousands of police causing hundreds of injuries is 'a mess'. And that's to say nothing of Spain's ongoing wider economic woes.

However did we manage before...? As for where, Google will probably help you but my guess is that it'd be a military thing. VR is fantastic for particular applications. For general skydiving training it's probably not worth the time or effort. The emergency drills we us aren't complicated - In fact they're as simple as decades of training can make them. 1) Is it a malfunction? (The type doesn't matter). 2) If YES then carry out your procedures. No simulation necessary. You're really overthinking this. Are you actually going to make a jump at some point? That's probably the best thing you can do.

I know the US news isn't really big on talking about events in other parts of the world, but the stuff going down in Spain right now is kind of crazy. Catalonia is voting on a referendum for independence from Spain and has declared that they will abide by the results. If people vote yes then Catalonia was act as though they are an independent nation, but the Spanish Central government has stated categorically that the vote is illegal, has no effect and means nothing. No vote has been discussed or arranged between the two parties and court orders have declared any independent voting illegal. the central government have said they will thousands of police to physically stop people voting. This is where it gets interesting. The Catalan police, theoretically, should follow the rules set by the Central government and lots of them aren't doing, and nobody's sure what an independent Catalonia would do to Spain or Europe. Catalonia referendum defies Spanish obstruction http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41426023 And of course, now it's gotten even worse: Catalan referendum: 'Hundreds injured' in clashes http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41461032 Those thousands of police that are following the court ruling of preventing any voting taking place have started using rubber bullets and batons in the prevention of the voting, and are smashing their way into voting stations. It reads like something from a third world dictatorship to prevent free speech, but the actions of the regional government are categorically illegal, so who's in the right? Spain's a real mess right now.

Believe or suffer eternally? If that's your god's deal, he can stick it up his arse. I don't respond well to extortion. You have been exposed to misinformation. We all are born into sin. Sin means separation from God. Separation means upon death in the physical your spirit/soul will be lost for all eternity. God loves us and does not want us to perish for eternity. He provided a gateway through the death of Jesus the Christ to regain our relationship with Him. When we choose to accept Christ we jump onto the spiritual track to eternal life. If God loved us like you suggest he wouldn't demand belief to stop our suffering. Or he wouldn't have made EVERYBODY on earth naturally develop the concept of I. "Here. You're going to have this trait that I designed... unasked for and unavoidable. SURPRISE! You're now doomed for all eternity unless you do X and Y for me because you've got it." I stand by my 'stick it up his arse' position.

It's not exactly a difficult idea to think up is it? Thinking that maybe you should be trying to organize your people to distribute the aid that does exist? But you seem to be of the opinion that she's sitting on her arse doing nothing except bleating for help and blaming everyone else. It's completely illogical - if nothing else it's in her own self interest to get aid distributed. So here's a thought. Maybe she's doing whatever she can to organize her people, but is hampered by the catastrophic destruction that is affecting her country so she's asking for more help from HER government. I'm glad you're done here. Your attitude towards helping other US citizens is pretty shitty IMO. I say again, if this was YOUR state, you're be crying bloody murder if the government was bollixing aid distribution up like this.

Believe or suffer eternally? If that's your god's deal, he can stick it up his arse. I don't respond well to extortion.

This is exactly why your post about 'better ideas' in the other thread was nonsense, Ron. You are incapable of having an open mind or thinking anyone else's ideas might have value. You think you're a different person than your actions suggest. You've show it time and time again in this thread.

She has the ability and authority to get on international TV and ask the entire world for help in this crisis and your position is that her time would be better spent manually lifting crates of supplies? That's like me saying in the Houston flooding the best thing Trump could do would be to personally go and give people food. It's stupid and a waste of their authority. If this was YOUR home state in the same position as Puerto Rico I bet you wouldn't only be whining about the inefficiencies of your elected officials. You'd be screaming to high heaven about the clusterfuck of YOUR federal government for not being able to distribute aid properly.

So... that's behind us now... I look forward to Rosh Hashanah next year. For me it has taken the place of Christmas for anticipation. Doesn't it seem a little sick to be gleefully looking forward to the start of end of the world? - An event in which hundreds of millions (if not billions) of your fellow humans will endure chaos, deprivation, death and then an eternity in hell or purgatory or whatever... Not exactly 'love they neighbor', is it?

Coincidentally directly after the government fails to pass another Trumpcare bill...

non facebook link http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-41445810/stirring-speech-to-us-air-force-cadets-over-racist-slurs

Ron, no offense meant, but you are the least receptive person in this forum to the 'better idea' concept because you're convinced you already have the ultimate one. If it's in the Bible then it's necessarily the best idea... Not once have I ever seen you retract a position you've taken when confronted with a 'better idea'. Instead you're always the victim with YOUR values and YOUR way of life being attacked which means that America must be worse off than it was. QED. To implement the 'better idea' concept one must first have an open mind and to do that requires respect and a genuine attempt at understanding the positions and arguments of people who's viewpoints are different from yours. Some of those people might even be from different countries, religions, genders or sexualities.

No. Water landings are fucking terrifying and require additional training to mitigate even some of the risk. You might decrease the number of sprains and contusions, but the number of fatalities would skyrocket, I'd suspect.

Probably not - but less warning is better than more warning. I don't see any benefit in this announcement other than for Mr. Blumenthal for being the one to make the announcement.

And where exactly do you think the money to offset that the 2.2 trillon dollar tax cut he's just announced will be coming from? Chop into healthcare, introduce a supertax for companies supplying arms to the military then start all the wars you can. Profit!