That's probably why Trump has done so little to get affordable healthcare and reversed regulations that prevent people who are judged not mentally capable to handle their own affairs from owning guns.
Hate, intolerance, racism and fanaticism are not mental illnesses. I didn't hear anyone blaming foreign terrorism on mental illness.
and the argument also is that there is plenty of mental illnesses all over but no mass shootings. I'm sure there are plenty of wackos in Canada and France and Italy. And England. And where are the mass shootings there?
I know there are PLENTY of mass shootings in the S-hole countries. So I guess America belongs among the S-hole countries he hates so much.
I think the act of committing a murder is a mad thing to do. One would have to have lived with angry and distorted thinking for a long time to get to the stage of committing such violence. But it's not a legal excuse. The fact that these characters often hide their weapons, personal diaries, and manage their IT communications on the Dark Web means that they're aware that what they plan to do is both legally and morally wrong. This means that legally, despite being depressed to the point of psychosis, they are still sane and culpable.
I have never known this about myself. I just felt JOY upon hearing that. I am ashamed to say. I felt relief.
They are all in hell now, and they are going to remain in hell for a good long time. And not because they offed themselves. That is the only saving grace God will recognize. At least they had the decency to end themselves. They were not living anyway. I feel no pity. But it is still way more pity and consideration than any of them gave to those children in cages at the border.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at August 8, 2019 1:04 PM MDT
I read it - and I easily understand it. Back when I was going through my worst patch - three years with no regular or sufficient work and no other means of support - I nearly succeeded in suicide. Proper jobs were not available. And I have three degrees and twenty years of experience in teaching. I applied for anything and everything I could do. Fifty to sixty applicants for each job advertised. I applied for 15 to 20 jobs per week - they didn't bother to reply. Later, I learned that in most cases the bosses already know whose going to fill the position - but they advertise because legally they must appear to be open to all comers. At one point I was getting $6 per hour, 20 hours per week, mucking out stables at an Andalusian stud. The legal going rate was $18 per hour. I was always a legal citizen. I accepted it because there was literally nothing else available. But it was not enough to live on. It was simply a lot easier to die than to find the means to buy food and pay bills. Unfortunately, I got caught and hauled into a hopeless kind of rescue program - the public health system - so overloaded it hasn't a chance of being effective. Managed to rescue myself in the end, but several of the keys that helped most happened by chance.
Trump isn’t responsible for any deaths (other than the prestige of the Office of the Presidency), —not yet— but I say his rhetoric has further emboldened (mostly white male) bigots with guns to act on their feelings.
We had a similar phenomenon happen over here when Pauline Hansen was elected. She formed a minor party, One Nation, which at it's peak attracted up to 15% of the vote in areas of far-right conservatism. With our system of secondary preferences, it was enough to win her a seat in Parliament.
When she stood up to give her maiden speech, it was a diatribe on: why Aboriginals should be given no special consideration, (meaning education, health, job and dole assistance should be removed,) and why we should end migration and keep Australia "white." (Australia hasn't been white for over 40 years; we're a wide mix from all over the world, every colour and creed.)
The very next day, a white supremacist group organised itself. A group of skinhead teenagers with swastikas travelled thousands of kilometres from Adelaide to Cairns: one of them poured petrol over Jandamarra O'Shane and set him alight, in a primary school playground, witnessed by all the other children. He was then the six-year-old son of an Aboriginal magistrate who was famous for her (small-l) liberal approach to justice. The boy nearly died and spent four months in hospital. He's now 21.
Other acts of racism, less spectacular but just as pernicious, also multiplied across the country during Pauline Hansen's time in office.
The larger part of the population was horrified - even very conservative people. Pauline was dumped at the next elections. She has struggled on, continuing to try to win adherents and getting advice from the Alt-Right in America. But the nation is wise to her now. Her following is less than 6% - not enough for her to stand a chance in the lower house, where her voice is out-voted. Then she got back in in the upper house, the Senate - which has the power to demand amendments and to veto. :(
This post was edited by inky at August 9, 2019 6:22 AM MDT
She and fellow neo-Nazi Malcolm Roberts still form a small but powerful bloc in the Senate - one third of the balance of power. Truly Paul Keating referred to the upper house as "unrepresentative swill". SIX PEOPLE are all it takes to pass or block legislation.
Thanks for setting the recent record straight, Slarti. You're right. And it is scary. It worries me a lot. I think non-racists need to take an active stand to explain the basics of why racism is so damaging to its victims and to the whole of our society.
Zack 