Alan, let me clarify: by “abusive types” I meant those charged with spousal abuse, those with restraining orders, those convicted of violent offenses and so on. I wasn’t referring to law enforcement.
I think the majority of law enforcement officers are good people trying their best to do a damn hard job.
They are also “human”: they deal mostly with lawbreakers, many that want to hurt if not kill them, many that disrespect them just for serving the public in this capacity. Do some of them get “carried away” or have biases? You bet. Would I favor disarming them? Hell no. Could the system be improved? Yes, for sure…maybe they should rotate into non-street duties periodically, to reduce their stress? Some officers get involved with community service projects: around here there’s “shop with a cop”, where kids literally shop for toys w/ an off-duty cop, to help build community trust & positive associations. Some do mentoring or coach sports. There are many ways to make this all work better, including education to improve race & culture relations, and much of this starts with leadership, the chain of command & accountability. And hey, what if there were never any assault weapons in the hands of people they have to stop for a traffic violation (for example)? Maybe their attitudes would improve if they had better odds of making it thru the day?
That leaves me speechless, I don’t know about you? Time for some soul-searching, folks…
Sanction, boycott, divest most people have no idea were there money is being vested.
or they don’t WANT to know…or they don’t care enough. Totally agree with you…there’s more to voting than just the ballot box…we all “vote” with our money!
Absolutely, I agree.
I dare say you are right, Amy (I’m replying to your message “I’m not convinced it happened that quickly…”). But whether these kids do keep on fighting this fight or not, they are absolutely right: you need gun control so that some mentally ill person who has been living in a shoot-up game world can’t buy an assault rifle. Nobody needs an assault rifle unless they want to kill people. People who just want to collect them should find a healthier hobby. The NRA must not be allowed to continue to shape public policy in America. I do hope that these young people keep on with this because they are going make people take notice more than the adults who have been trying to do this for years.
Well they need to find out. Fund managers are setting up “ethical” funds now so you can avoid investing in munitions and tobacco. If your fund manager can’t tell you where your money is being invested you can change to another who can.
Agreed, but you have to stay diligent. You have to read the prospectus because they, (the funds) are constantly shifting investments. The other problem is, some funds own major positions within companies and spread that interest throughout all thier funds. For example, (2015) Vangaurd owned over 4% of Monsanto, you can probably guess how upset a GMO opponent was to discover that a percentage of their Van Guard Health Care Fund contained Monsanto.
I’m currently watching Trump’s sit down session with kids, parents and educators and I’m just so surprised at what I’m hearing or maybe not hearing. Perhaps these people were in awe of being invited to speak to the President or maybe they were selected because they were going to hold their emotions in check or possibly these folks, in most cases, hadn’t yet gathered their thoughts together. But I felt a lack of anger, emotion, constructive comments, and willingness to confront the President. Yes, a few parents were upset. Some of the parents who lost children at Sandy Hook had a program they had put together and are advocating expanding it so that sounded constructive. But I guess I expected a lot more. The kids were so deferential. These weren’t the kids that I’ve heard on interviews who are bold and outspoken. CNN is at this moment applauding the lack of rancor. And maybe that’s what was missing. But I am not seeing this as positively as some of the media is. It felt like this was kind of fake. The rally tonight may be when the emotions surface. I’m also expecting more eloquent comments from the teens, something lacking at the Trump session. I’m scratching my head trying to understand what was really accomplished except that Trump could look like an interested, caring leader. Have I become that cynical? And Trump’s major suggestion - to reopen lunatic asylums - was beyond laughable. He’s defunding mental health support but suggesting we just lock away anybody who shows signs of having a problem. Did anybody else watch this? Am I nuts in not seeing the value in this session?
One of the CNN staff echoed my thoughts so I feel partly vindicated.
I think the participants were carefully pre-screened…this was just another episode of the trump reality show, to feign concern while stalling any meaningful actions (like banning assault weapons).
After I finished watching, I sent [yet another] long letter (email) to the whitehouse.gov which realistically isn’t likely to see the light of day, much less be acted upon by these fakers.
What was in the kool-aid?
If it can numb that well, I wouldn’t mind a little of it for my tension headache that just won’t go away.
And candidates. I hope!
Can’t vouch for the credibility, but I read a tweet thread where people were also asking those more prominently featured kids why none of them had spoken at the WH. Without fail, they all said they had not been invited.
I’m not sure what’s more pathetic - the fact that he has the number monogrammed on his shirt cuff or the list he carried with his talking points (#5 - “I hear you” makes me ill; you’d think he could remember that one without notes). I must admit, some of the tweets had me on the floor!
If you ever needed proof that he’s a sociopath…? 
What kind of so-called human needs a note to remember to show empathy with phrases like “I hear you”? Truly frightful that he’s in the W.H. Or maybe he’s senile…does that make it any better? 
A medical, not political, perspective on what makes assault rifles so different (and dangerous).