Political Posts

[Parsad]

On 9/20/2025 at 9:53 AM, 73 Reds said:

I didn't see anyone on the Left crying out for gun control after Kirk's murder.  That pretty much sums up the problem:  When a tragic incident suits a narrative, you hear all about it; otherwise, crickets.  To me, this shows how disingenuous the arguments often are.  Same with the issue surrounding Kimmel; its been perfectly fine for the Left to cancel anyone they disagree with but when one of theirs gets cancelled it becomes a constitutional crisis.  Those of us who see the irony of it all just shrug and turn away.

 

Are you kidding me?  People call for gun control every day...including when Trump was shot and when Kirk was shot.  But the Republicans are perfectly happy letting their own get killed by not enacting stricter controls.  Cheers!

[John Hjorth]

On 9/20/2025 at 5:21 AM, Spekulatius said:

Russia violating Estonia air space with fighter jets This after drone incursions in Romania and Poland. The Russian jets were in Estonia’s air space for a while, so this was no accident. Estonia is  requesting formal consultation..

I personally think they should just shoot them down if it happens again, because Russia is clearly testing NATO. I am sure the Russian understand “Thou shall not pass” if the fighter jets are gone.  ...

 

Bloomberg - News [September 22^nd 2025] : Poland Threatens to Down Russian Jets Crossing Its Borders

[Castanza]

21 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Are you kidding me?  People call for gun control every day...including when Trump was shot and when Kirk was shot.  But the Republicans are perfectly happy letting their own get killed by not enacting stricter controls.  Cheers!

 

Because it doesn't work lol How many studies by the FBI, CDC, etc. do I need to show you before you guys realize you cannot make legislation to stop outlier events? 

 

Laws are made for rational people not insane individuals....

[LC]

11 minutes ago, Castanza said:

Because it doesn't work lol How many studies by the FBI, CDC, etc. do I need to show you before you guys realize you cannot make legislation to stop outlier events? 

 

Laws are made for rational people not insane individuals....

 

How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that the US had 58x more school shootings than the rest of the world, combined?

 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

 

 

[John Hjorth]

On 9/20/2025 at 10:06 PM, John Hjorth said:

TV2 News - nyheder.tv2.dk [September 17^th 2025] : Today's overview: Denmark must have longer-range precision weapons 

 

Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Kingdom of Denmark - News [September 17 2025] : Commentary by the Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin to Danish media on the Danish government's decision to purchase offensive high-precision long-range weapons

 

'The justification given by Prime Minister M. Frederiksen and Minister of Defense T. Lund Poulsen of the need for high-precision long-range weapons to attack targets in Russia is pure madness. No one, anywhere, ever in the world has considered publicly threatening a nuclear power. These statements will undoubtedly be taken into account. From now on, we must assume that Denmark is not only considering the possibility of a direct military confrontation with Russia, but is also preparing for such a scenario.'

 

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*Shrug* + LOL!

 

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Wikipedia : Vladimir Barbin

 

'... On February 10, 2022, two weeks before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine , he assured that Russia would not attack Ukraine and said that the Russian buildup of forces around Ukraine was done to prevent tensions in the area and prevent instability "on Russian territory". [ 6 ] ...'

 

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Just throw him out of here!

Edited September 22, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Gregmal]

11 minutes ago, Castanza said:

 

Because it doesn't work lol How many studies by the FBI, CDC, etc. do I need to show you before you guys realize you cannot make legislation to stop outlier events? 

 

Laws are made for rational people not insane individuals....

Yup...you know what the libs refuse to own on the subject of gun control? How much of the gun violence is committed in shitty blue cities with illegally owned and/or unregistered firearms? 

[Spekulatius]

3 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Kingdom of Denmark - News [September 17 2025] : Commentary by the Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin to Danish media on the Danish government's decision to purchase offensive high-precision long-range weapons

 

'The justification given by Prime Minister M. Frederiksen and Minister of Defense T. Lund Poulsen of the need for high-precision long-range weapons to attack targets in Russia is pure madness. No one, anywhere, ever in the world has considered publicly threatening a nuclear power. These statements will undoubtedly be taken into account. From now on, we must assume that Denmark is not only considering the possibility of a direct military confrontation with Russia, but is also preparing for such a scenario.'

 

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*Shrug* + LOL!

 

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Wikipedia : Vladimir Barbin

 

'... On February 10, 2022, two weeks before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine , he assured that Russia would not attack Ukraine and said that the Russian buildup of forces around Ukraine was done to prevent tensions in the area and prevent instability "on Russian territory". [ 6 ] ...'

 

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Just thow him out of here!

They were sure to mention that they are a Nuclear power.

[Castanza]

10 minutes ago, LC said:

 

How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that the US had 58x more school shootings than the rest of the world, combined?

 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

 

 

 

Because raw numbers in a vacuum is not how you look at this issue. Access to firearms is not a driving factor in the US. The FBI has been debunking this for like 30 years now. From a previous post....

 

Better than me tell you what the solution is how about the FBI you. Here are two studies that dispel most of the bullshit myths anti-gun people like to espouse. The reality is nobody wants to take personal accountability for the situation and instead of throwing the blame on educators, parents, guardians, and poor luck; we try to throw it on an inanimate object. 

 

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/stats-services-publications-school-shooter-school-shooter/view

 

Myths the groups commonly find (FBI report, page 4):

"School violence is endemic." In fact, the kid is more likely to die in a car crash to/from school than in school violence.

"All school shooters are alike." In fact, there is no typical shooter profile.

"The school shooter is always a loner." In fact, they range from loners to popular kids.

"School shootings are exclusively revenge motivated." While revenge is a common motive, there are many others.

"Easy access to weapons is the most significant risk factor." In fact, data shows it has almost no effect. Motivated shooters will acquire weapons or even make their own.

"Unusual or aberrant behaviors, interests, or hobbies are hallmarks of violent students." In fact, this isn't correlated.

 

While none of them individually causes it, the common factors in shooters are tragically well established with lots of data.

Agencies have establish many factors are common across the decades. Having the factors won't trigger an event, however, when events happen usually many of these factors are present. Critically, only a small percentage of those who have many of the factors will engage in school violence, the vast majority of people who have the factors go on to live full, commonplace lives.

 

Common school factors:

- Inequitable discipline from school administrators and teacher. This is cliques and benefits to "in" groups (e.g. football, cheerleaders), harassment and microaggressions in schools by teachers administrators to "out" groups.

- Bullying in schools, either unaddressed by administrators or addressed by punishing people in those same "out" groups. There is typically school tolerance for disrespectful behavior, bullying by both students and teachers, with either no intervention or selective intervention.

- Inflexible culture. Both official and unofficial patterns are unyielding or insensitive to the needs of individual students, "rules for all" are harsh to outliers.

- Code of silence. Those seeing abuses feel they can't speak up, or that speaking up won't accomplish anything.

- Socioeconomic discrimination in the school, unchecked by administration

 

Family factors:

- Turbulent parent-child relationships. These can take many forms, such as job losses, family violence, parental neglect, or frequent arguments.

- Acceptance of pathological behavior. Parents tend to not react to behavior most people would find disturbing or abnormal.

- Lack of intimacy and closeness. This can be among family members to each other, or the family as a whole being insular, or a simple lack of connection like the family    moving frequently

- Student "rules the roost". Parents not setting limits on the child's conduct, or give in to their demands. Students with an atypical degree of autonomy and privacy, an atypical amount of unsupervised time with unlimited media access.

- Socioeconomic disparities between the family and the larger community. It can be either direction, poverty or wealth, ether can breed contempt.

 

Common personality traits:

- Low tolerance for frustration.

- Poor coping skills.

- Lack of resiliency.

- Failed love relationships.

- "Injustice collector".

- Narcissism / Attitude of Superiority / Exaggerated sense of entitlement

- Alienation

- Dehumanization of others / Lack of empathy

- Externalizes blame

- Masking low self esteem

- Lack of trust

- Seeks to manipulate others

- Intolerance, often seen as racial or religious intolerance.

- Closed social groups

- Rigid and opinionated. The shooter appearing rigid, judgmental, and cynical, voicing strong opinions on subjects they have little knowledge, disregarding facts, logic, and reasoning for critical thought.

- Social dynamics:

- Easy, unsupervised access to media, entertainment, and technology, frequently engaging in themes of violence.

- Peer groups who share fascination with violence or with extremist beliefs.

- Drugs and alcohol.

- Copycat effect.

- None of them are indicative, but collectively they are typical symptoms.

- The best treatments are social programs, access to mental health care, welfare to address socioeconomic problems, and outside experts auditing schools to identify the cliques, bullying, and discriminatory behavior by faculty and administration. All reports agree that people inside the school or the districts cannot adequately self-asses, as they tend to have the same biases as the community they're assessing.

 

 

Washington St Example:

 

Look at the Washington State kid issue Parsad mentioned...

 

Washington State has some of the most strict gun laws in the Country. 

- Kid is "homeschooled" and not been in public school for 4 years evading any red flag detection by professional educators or school resources

- Parents not charged currently (WHY?)

- Kid is still living normal life with nothing preventing future issues so far. 

 

Perhaps, just perhaps the issue is something else? Because as far as I'm aware there is not a law that prevents this. Laws are made for people who are rational enough to not break them....these types of things are completely irrational behavior from both the kid and the parents. Perhaps you should be more concerned with the fact that the parents were "unaware" of this unlikely, but if true then there are "groomers" out there who also fantasize about school shootings and get kids involved in this shit through various chat rooms, forums and social media (look at the Charlie Kirk shooter). Maybe we should be more concerned with the fact that a 13 year old kid is thinking about shooting up his school instead of what his friends are doing after school or whether Jane Doe from his class thinks he's cute and will go to the school dance with him. 

 

There is a mental, cultural crisis amongst our children and there are better solutions than stricter gun laws as they did absolutely nothing in this case. 

 

Edit:

Two weeks ago a teen used ChatGPT to assist him in committing suicide. https://archive.ph/rdL9W . This problem is going to get worse for the younger generations as adults look for solutions tantamount to patching a bullet hole with a Band-Aid.  

 

Example text: 

“I want to leave my noose in my room so someone finds it and tries to stop me,” Adam wrote at the end of March.

“Please don’t leave the noose out,” ChatGPT responded. “Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.”

 

Laws

 

 

You cannot purchase a long gun until you're 18 and a handgun until you're 21...You cannot have a CCW until you are 21. Background check is required for all firearm purchases from licensed dealers. About half of states require private gun sales require you to sell through a licensed dealer or hold a permit to be able to purchase a gun from a private seller which requires a background check. In the cases they don't there are still laws that point to violation of federal standards if you as a private seller break any of those laws which leads to a felony (see below). Federally it is ALWAYS required to have a background check for the sale and purchase of a handgun or long gun. 

 

Federal Level

NICS (FBI 1994) requires a background check against a DB that tracks criminal, mental and civil orders

BSCA (Biden 2023) requires background check for anyone under 21 purchasing any firearm.

Various tax stamps for different types of firearms (Full Auto, Heavy Weapons, Silencers etc.)

 

State Level

26 States do not require a permit or background check to privately sell a handgun. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. However in ALL of those States there are laws that say "If you sell to a minor, someone who failed a background check, has a criminal record, civil record, or documented mental committal or condition that federally prevents them from owning a firearm you are committing a Felony of varying degrees." 

 

POINT

Laws exist whether a permit or background check is required or not at the State level. Federally laws exist in every State. Do these laws work? and Do laws in general work? To me firearm laws (USA Specific) will do next to nothing to reduce outlier things such as mass shootings or assassinations. Drunk driving laws have done next to nothing to prevent alcoholics, drug addicts, or immature adults from driving drunk. Hence 28% of the 43k auto fatalities are results of that EVERY YEAR.  

 

Final Point

The real issue in my opinion is the lack of resources available to professionals who work with kids, teens and children to report suspected mental issues. But the biggest one is the lack prosecution for failed background checks. There is anywhere from 100k-400k failed background checks every year (this is a felony) yet every year only a fraction are prosecuted. 

 

Example: in 2017 there were 112,000 background checks failed (FBI). Of those only 12,700 were followed up with and only 12 cases were prosecuted by the US Attorneys Office. 

 

I am for universal background checks federally and at the state level. Not because I think it will do much, but because It cleans up the data and allows the conversation to move forward with a real solution; Universal Background Checks will likely not stop mass shootings or murders in the USA. As Dealraker pointed out....he used to keep rifles and shotguns in his truck at school unlocked. Every boomer in this country who grew up outside of a city remembers this. So again what has changed? Mindset and mental wellbeing. I think a lot of it started with CMHA in 1963 (sorry JFK you screwed up) which has since crippled Federal mental health resources, reduced State level care, reduced long-term care,  failed to remove at risk individuals from normal society often placing them in less advantageous situations (home) endangering others or giving them less care and also putting them in more danger (prisons). I get it though, the institutions were subpar solutions, but something better needs to be done. 

Edited September 22, 2025 by Castanza

[LC]

Correct me where I am wrong:

 

You have compiled a list of factors that cause/influence the frequency of school gun violence.

Access to guns is apparently not a factor. Let's assume that is correct.

 

I am arguing there must be some unique factor(s) to the US  that other countries do not have, to explain the large discrepancy between school gun violence in the US vs. rest of world.

 

Would you agree?

If so, which of the causes you have compiled are unique to the US and explain the discrepancy in volume?

 

 

[Castanza]

6 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yup...you know what the libs refuse to own on the subject of gun control? How much of the gun violence is committed in shitty blue cities with illegally owned and/or unregistered firearms? 

 

Yeah and they continually fail to look at the underlying issues like culture and mental health....Then again...they don't want to destroy their voter base...

[LC]

I think your post edit attempted to address my question but I'll push back because I think you are just making my point for me:

 

51 minutes ago, Castanza said:

Myths the groups commonly find (FBI report, page 4):

...

"Easy access to weapons is the most significant risk factor." In fact, data shows it has almost no effect. Motivated shooters will acquire weapons or even make their own.

 

 

 

49 minutes ago, Castanza said:

the biggest one is the lack prosecution for failed background checks. There is anywhere from 100k-400k failed background checks every year (this is a felony) yet every year only a fraction are prosecuted. 

 

These two statements don't seem to align.

 

If the data shows that access to guns is not significant risk factor, then why is the enforcement of laws to limit gun access the biggest risk factor?

[Castanza]

14 minutes ago, LC said:

I think your post edit attempted to address my question but I'll push back because I think you are just making my point for me:

 

 

 

 

 

These two statements don't seem to align.

 

If the data shows that access to guns is not significant risk factor, then why is the enforcement of laws to limit gun access the biggest risk factor?

The FBI report addresses school shootings. Those factors are very different than say gang violence, repeat offenders and the “statistics” that make up the vast majority of “gun related deaths.” If you actually follow up with the laws that are already in the books you would see little need to make things more difficult for people already following the law that do not commit crimes. People who break these laws are knowingly committing felonies and likely acquire firearms illegally regardless. So you tell me, who do laws affect? Because they certainly don’t affect criminals….
 

 

[73 Reds]

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

Are you kidding me?  People call for gun control every day...including when Trump was shot and when Kirk was shot.  But the Republicans are perfectly happy letting their own get killed by not enacting stricter controls.  Cheers!

Really?  Who is arguing against stricter gun controls (not me)?  There is a huge difference between that and repeal of the 2nd amendment.  That is what the Left is "gunning for". 

[changegonnacome]

 

Listen to this moron.....literally brain farting in public on the childhood vaccine schedule.......a man wholly unqualified to speak on the subject but whom millions listen to all the same.........vibe shit talking from the WH lectern on vaccines for kids ....his main feeling..... any combined vaccine shot is bad and should be given in separate shots at separate times.

 

Edited September 23, 2025 by changegonnacome

[Castanza]

18 minutes ago, changegonnacome said:

 

Listen to this moron.....literally brain farting in public on the childhood vaccine schedule.......a man wholly unqualified to speak on the subject but whom millions listen to all the same.........vibe shit talking from the WH lectern on vaccines for kids ....his main feeling..... any combined vaccine shot is bad and should be given in separate shots at separate times.

 

what a time to be alive…

[Parsad]

7 hours ago, LC said:

 

How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that the US had 58x more school shootings than the rest of the world, combined?

 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

 

 

 

Must be more nutjobs and leftist trannies in the U.S. than the rest of the world!  LOL!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

6 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

Really?  Who is arguing against stricter gun controls (not me)?  There is a huge difference between that and repeal of the 2nd amendment.  That is what the Left is "gunning for". 

 

Nope!  The left is just trying to stop the senseless killings and injuries incurred by the liberal use of guns that permeate the U.S.  Cheers!

[cwericb]

8 hours ago, Castanza said:

 

Because it doesn't work lol How many studies by the FBI, CDC, etc. do I need to show you before you guys realize you cannot make legislation to stop outlier events? 

 

Laws are made for rational people not insane individuals....

Your posts raise some interesting questions............... 

 

Strict gun laws seem to work right next door in Canada as well as in many other countries around the world.

 

Why is that?

 

Chicago is nearly as large as Toronto and only 500 miles away. Yet the smaller city, Chicago, has 18.3 murders per 100.000 residents while Toronto has only 2.3 murders per 100,000 population. 

 

Why is that?

 

Further, the gun violence death rate in the US is SEVEN times that of Canada.

 

Why is that?

 

We keep hearing the excuse: "It's not a gun problem, it is a mental illness problem." 

 

Are you therefore suggesting that there is a very much higher higher percentage of the US population that are mentally ill than most other developed  countries?

 

Why would that be?

 

PS

If there is such a high level of mentally ill people running around the United States, is it wise to make guns so easily available to them? After all, even marijuana is illegal in most US states, yet guns are not. Could you explain that?

 

 

Edited September 23, 2025 by cwericb

[John Hjorth]

Bloomberg - Industries, Transportation [September 22^nd 2025] : Copenhagen, Oslo Airports Close After Several Drones Sighted

 

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Total havoc in Copenhagen related to it yesterday. Russian hybrid / shadow war

Edited September 23, 2025 by John Hjorth

[JRM]

3 hours ago, cwericb said:

Further, the gun violence death rate in the US is SEVEN times that of Canada.

 

 

what is the average iq in Toronto vs Chicago.  better yet, what is the average iq of the subset of the population in Chicago committing the gun violence?  my guess is its pushing 80.

 

the mental health issue I think people blame for the mass shootings.

[cwericb]

3 hours ago, JRM said:

 

what is the average iq in Toronto vs Chicago.  better yet, what is the average iq of the subset of the population in Chicago committing the gun violence?  my guess is its pushing 80.

 

the mental health issue I think people blame for the mass shootings.

 

Yes, but it is not just Chicago. The overall rate in the US is still 7 times that of Canada. Does that suggest that there is that much more mental illness in the US than in Canada and other developed countries?

Or, is the root of the problem the easy access to guns?  

 

[Spekulatius]

I am fairly sure that access to firearms is a factor in gun violence. If I don’t have a gun lying around, I can shoot anyone. A lot of gun violence is done on impulse (rage) and when gun isn’t available, those probably won’t happen. The second are underlying issues, which could be economic stress, mental issues etc.

 

There is a perfect social experience going on in Israel. Since Oktober 6 2023, Israel has eased gun ownership significantly so citizens can protect themselves from terrorist attacks. Makes sense. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t easy to get a license to carry a gun in Israel beforehand, now its much easier,

 

The result is a remarkable increase in domestic gun violence in Israel, since October 6:

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/domestic-violence-exacerbated-by-wartime-raising-concerns-over-looser-gun-policies/

 

I had a talk with a college from work who is from Israel who pointed this out to me.

Edited September 23, 2025 by Spekulatius

[whiskybravo]

36 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

I am fairly sure that access to firearms is a factor in gun violence. If I don’t have a gun lying around, I can shoot anyone. A lot of gun violence is done on impulse (rage) and when gun isn’t available, those probably won’t happen. The second are underlying issues, which could be economic stress, mental issues etc.

 

There is a perfect social experience going on in Israel. Since Oktober 6 2023, Israel has eased gun ownership significantly so citizens can protect themselves from terrorist attacks. Makes sense. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t easy to get a license to carry a gun in Israel beforehand, now its much easier,

 

The result is a remarkable increase in domestic gun violence in Israel, since October 6:

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/domestic-violence-exacerbated-by-wartime-raising-concerns-over-looser-gun-policies/

 

I had a talk with a college from work who is from Israel who pointed this out to me.

I think this is undeniable.  The largest cause of death by guns is suicide.  It’s pretty clear in this case having a gun around makes it more likely the act will be completed.  No gun? Other alternatives have a lower success rate.

[whiskybravo]

We have 18th century men laying out rights for the citizens of their new country.  Every one of them owned a gun.  It wouldn’t seem necessary to formalize the right to gun ownership.  So there motivation was, given their recent revolutionary experience, to resist any potential threat of tyranny.  Otherwise the second amendment would have simply read:  The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

 

Why include the clause a well regulated militia?The people organized in militias by states (not federal standing armies), would be capable of resisting tyranny and defending the country. It’s civic, not personal. It’s collective liberty, not individual protection.

 

Then no standing army.  Defense of tyranny from well armed state militias.  Today we have the largest and most advanced military in the world.  State militias cannot meaningfully resist the federal military in any modern sense. And if the tyranny threat is external, that’s for the federal army to address, not state militias.

 

Also the founding fathers couldn’t have foreseen some distant world of high powered rifles, recurrent mass shooting, social media radicalization, etc.  Interesting to consider what would the Founders have written if they magically could imagine the world we live in.

[cwericb]

Of course you are correct. But it will be interesting to see how the second amendment guys here justify not making changes to reflect the modern world in which we live today. Or do they simply stick there heads in the sand and ignore  difficult questions?  

 

Does the US have a substantially higher rate of mental illness in the population than most other developed countries and is that the reason for for the exceptionally higher rate of mass shootings and gun murders?