Another fucking spree shooting. Great.

they still sound p innocent to me idk

Haaretz publishes sensationalistic/speculative stuff all the time - when they're not actively publishing incorrect facts + information.

Okay, apologies - only read the Belgian news site's article which looks deliberately vague now, indeed.

Still, the shooter doesn't look like an amateur/crazy madman - maybe the victims were wrongly identified as targets or something?

He could very well be a professional killer. Hezbollah has executed (and planned) attacks on Israeli civilians in a variety of countries. The professionalism of the shooter doesn't necessarily indicate that the targets were anything but convenient.

The shooting reminds me of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Cyprus_terrorist_plot

In the months preceding the disruption of the terrorist plot in Cyprus, Hezbollah and Iran were implicated in terrorist attacks and plots against Israeli targets in Thailand, India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kenya.[1] On July 18, eleven days after Yaakoub was arrested, five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian citizen were killed in a suicide bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government implicated Hezbollah in the attack.[2]

There may be a slight "move along, nothing to see here, everyone's safe, it's just secret spy stuff, you know what they're like" tone about the reporting here - before, it was all "(muslim?) terrorism - stay out of museums and jewish-themed places everywhere because we don't have a clue what's going on and everyone may be in danger".

Sounds like (some) Belgians find it hard to accept that something like this can happen there, so they're happy to grasp the "it was spy stuff all along, not anti-semitism" straw.

i doubt anybody really knows exactly what happened yet

there have been more than enough egregious crimes in belgium over the years

strangely enough someone was arrested over the unsolved brabant massacres only a couple of weeks ago

http://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_peut-on-dire-que-l-on-tient-l-un-des-tueurs-du-brabant?id=8270916

yeah, i wouldn't suggest that i know exactly what happened. just that the facts of the case - 2 tourists that have done accounting for the israeli government being shot by a pro in a jewish museum in brussels - is not enough to responsibly speculate about spies + espionage.

This dude otm

http://m.washingtonpost.com/politics/father-of-victim-in-santa-barbara-shootings-to-politicians-i-dont-care-about-your-sympathy/2014/05/27/8a030d10-e5ad-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html?tid=HP_more

gonna go buy some postcards

that guy otm.

Those truth bombs hurt so much, because a bunch of fuckers in this country all but guarantee nothing will come of this. Fuckers in Congress, fuckers in and around every (mostly empty and scary) state in this fucked up country, fuckers who elect the former to office and the fuckers who vote for them.

I'm fairly confident that current makeup of cali legislature will pass something. And we already have the strictest gun laws in the country. This is well shy of the larger more important goal, obviously, but still.

xp so otm and inspiring

I'm fairly confident that current makeup of cali legislature will pass something. And we already have the strictest gun laws in the country. This is well shy of the larger more important goal, obviously, but still.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, May 27, 2014 1:29 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they can pass something, but will it survive a court challenge is the question. look what happened in chicago.

also mr. martinez has a lot of courage and is very much otm.

Idk but lets find out.

^^^

I've said it elsewhere, but there is nothing more disheartening than going to my kids' elementary school and seeing a gun decal in the window with a little slash through it. Because, you know, not allowing guns in an elementary school is the exception, not the rule, right? See also: bookstores, playgrounds, restaurants and dozens of other places I pass every single day that remind me that the world is full of horrible, selfish assholes.

joe the plumber: "your dead kids don't trump my constitutional rights"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/joe-the-plumber-wurzelbacher-ucsb-shooting-dead-kids

suck it libtards

The most amazing thing about that is that those are his actual words.

ah, the has-been/clickfarm symbiosis economy at work

dismissing rednecks doesn't make them go away. these are the thoughts of tens of millions of americans

I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But:

As harsh as this sounds - your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights.

Richard Martinez, whose son (Christopher) was among the murdered, choked back tears at a news conference, blaming politicians the next day: "The talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?" Martinez said - and much more.

There are no critical words for a grieving father. He can say whatever he wants and blame whoever he'd like - it's okay by me. You can't take a step in his shoes - at least I can't.

But the words and images of Mr. Martinez blaming "the proliferation of guns", lobbyists, politicians, etc.; will be exploited by gun-grab extremists as are all tragedies involving gun violence and the mentally ill by the anti-Second Amendment Left.

As a father, husband and a man, it is my responsibility to protect my family. I will stand up for that right vehemently. Please believe me, as a father I share your grief and I will pray for you and your family, as I do whenever I hear about senseless tragedies such as this.

We still have the Right to Bear Arms and I intend to continue to speak out for that right, and against those who would restrict it - even in the face of this horrible incident by this sad and insane individual. I almost said "Obama Voter" but I'm waiting for it to be official.

I noticed the mainstream media have stopped the practice of immediately reporting the psycho maniac is a conservative Tea Party Republican Christian. Guess they're sick of having to hide being wrong every time when it comes out the whacko votes Democrat?

Mr. Martinez and anyone calling for more restrictions on American's rights need to back off and stop playing into the hands of the folks who merely capitalize on these horrific events for their own political ends.

They don't care about your family or your dead children at all. They sound like they do, whereas I sound uncaring and like I say, harsh. Don't be fooled - I care about your family and mine. The future of our very liberty lies in the balance of this fight.

In conclusion, I cannot begin to imagine the pain you are going through, having had your child taken away from you. However, any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.

the right to misuse apostrophes shall not be infringed!

I don't think he's called for the banning of guns, anyway

any gun legislation will be sold as "the banning of guns" though of course

They don't care about your family or your dead children at all. They sound like they do, whereas I sound uncaring and like I say, harsh. Don't be fooled - I care about your family and mine.

war is peace

very tempted to tell Mr. Plumber exactly HOW he can have his precious guns, but that wouldn't be very productive.

Time to embrace gun-grab extremism. The other side already paints our position that way no matter what, might as well just go there.

xp: who knows, after nine months he might give birth to a beautiful baby butt-gun

Trying to be more nuanced or compromising or whatever has obviously failed. Why concede their rhetorical point about the left having a hidden agenda? Be honest about our agenda, fuck the 2nd amendment, yes I am coming to take your guns away. Lets find out how useless they actually are against our cryptofascist police forces after all, the najority of whom strongly support gun control.

Tons of gun owners going out in death-by-cop infinitely preferable to dead innocent kids imo

I don't think "the second amendment is more important than the lives of our children" is a v persuasive bit of phrasing

no, it's sociopathic and bizarre. the 2nd amendment is a law and there are lots of laws that are stupid and have been repealed. it's not some unalienable right. WTF.

my favorite part of Veep this season was when she told the finnish lady "the 2nd amendment is a problem" which, let's face it, it is.

heaven forbid anyone say that though

i don't advocate confiscating guns. i advocate arming prisoners. after all, we can't take away the right to freedom of speech just because someone's in jail

I have had to explain the whole US gun-culture thing to two foreigners today in the aftermath of the UCSB shootings. which is hard b/c I don't really understand it myself.

frontier culture

I think it goes beyond the Richard Slotkin type of thesis but that's a big part of it.

rugged individualism, fear of black ppl + indigenous population, political mythologies of revolution against tyranny, hunting culture, frontierism... gun fetishism is kinda the most explicable of america's faults!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this,36131/

fear of black ppl

Ironically, it was exactly this that spurred Reagan to sign gun control measures in California in the late 60s:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/?single_page=true

Republicans in California eagerly supported increased gun control. Governor Reagan told reporters that afternoon that he saw “no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.” He called guns a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.” In a later press conference, Reagan said he didn’t “know of any sportsman who leaves his home with a gun to go out into the field to hunt or for target shooting who carries that gun loaded.” The Mulford Act, he said, “would work no hardship on the honest citizen.”

rugged individualism, fear of black ppl + indigenous population, political mythologies of revolution against tyranny, hunting culture, frontierism... gun fetishism is kinda the most explicable of america's faults!

― Mordy, Tuesday, May 27, 2014 3:48 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's a lot to unpack, actually!

ban men

xpost

for a foreigner, I mean.

humankind, especially americans, are the deadliest animals alive

but also... the most dangerous game?

i don't advocate confiscating guns. i advocate arming prisoners. after all, we can't take away the right to freedom of speech just because someone's in jail

Loving this.

the amazing race