Another fucking spree shooting. Great.

maybe i'm just tired. all my friends are being doomers and i don't know how to handle it. i mean, if people are starting to notice and starting to care that cops are bad, then awesome. i'm glad to hear it. it's just hard to be patient sometimes.

has something changed? why do people keep acting like something's changed? am _i_ being a doomer for thinking things have always been this shitty but people just haven't wanted to acknowledge it?

I don't trust that anything's changed because it felt like that after Sandy Hook but didn't mean anything. But I think the combination of the horror of the massacre and the uselessness of the response is at least something new. It's not just that "evil happens" but that our warrior state is helpless against it. Of course that could motivate people to support all kinds of different things, good or bad.

am _i_ being a doomer for thinking things have always been this shitty but people just haven't wanted to acknowledge it?

short answer - a qualified no.

'people' have been able to acknowledge it for as long as I can recall, but they try to keep hope alive by seeking out every clue or scrap of evidence that things might be getting better, then focusing on that. it's a good coping strategy.

'people' have been able to acknowledge it for as long as I can recall, but they try to keep hope alive by seeking out every clue or scrap of evidence that things might be getting better, then focusing on that. it's a good coping strategy.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless)

idk, i used to do that and in the long run i just don't feel like it helped me a lot.

like, people i trust and care about just seem really worried about a lot of things and i want to give them the benefit of the doubt but at the end of the day i'm just... i don't feel like "things" are any worse now than they were last week. if people thought the police wouldn't do this kind of thing in response to an active shooter situation, and they're just now finding out otherwise, i'm glad they're finally picking up on it, because their belief that the police wouldn't behave in this sort of manner is a large part of what enables the police to behave in this sort of manner.

the big problem is this like panic that comes with the realization, like "oh my god these people are not accountable to us and there is NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT", i mean, i guess that last bit is true if you believe the only possible power one has is voting? and i guess that's what frustrates me. trying to live in accordance with certain base assumptions we have all had drilled into us (like, perhaps, the idea that "things" get better or worse, like it's the dow jones average or something) is... inevitably going to lead to learned helplessness and despair. maybe taking care of oneself means letting go of those assumptions.

more than anything else i am sorry for being stupid upthread, i just wasn't getting where other people were coming from on this. for me it was more, like, it was more a reminder of the learned helplessness thing, that this sort of law enforcement response _is_ considered normal and acceptable and that i personally don't really have any ability to change that, given that my view is apparently an extreme minoritarian one. i try not to get upset about things i can't change, because when i get upset about things i can't change i sometimes start sounding kind of crazy, and that doesn't really benefit anybody. it's really painful to watch this kind of thing over and over again and this time i guess people actually care? and i guess maybe a couple dozen more massacres like this one where the police actively aid and abet the shooter and i guess more people will start taking the idea of defunding the police seriously.

for me it doesn't really change anything i believe or want or how i'm going to behave, except that it fucking hurts a lot to hear people talking about this everywhere all of a sudden. and to be constantly reminded of this bad shit i don't have a whole lot of personal control over while i'm just trying to live my life. like, i wish it was as easy to be kind and compassionate as it apparently is to be outraged. that's all.

An article in The Federalist argued that parents must home-school so that kids can learn “in a controlled environment where guns can be safely carried for self-defense or locked away when not in use.” It’s a vision of a society — if you can call it that — where every family is a fortress.

Funny how just a half year ago when schools were closed due to the pandemic, these same people thought kids staying home was crippling to their development and we needed to reopen the schools....

I am told this morning that at least 2 parents of children killed in Uvalde are considering having open casket funerals to show the world what happened to their babies, who are now completely unrecognizable.

— Shaun King (@shaunking) May 28, 2022

is shaun king a reliable source on this bc fuck that guy

Who is he?

twitter grifter iirc

more even-handedly: fundraising activist who has failed to shake off persistent accusations of pocketing the cash he's raised

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating-if-retired-federal-agent-knew-of-buffalo-mass-shooting-plans-in-advance/article_bd408f18-dd39-11ec-be53-df8fdd095d6f.html

Ah, thanks. A normally reliable friend texted me the tweet.

"I am told" is an interesting way of framing a rumor.

So I'm told.

he could be right, but he's so full of shit about other things it's hard to take him seriously

^^^^

Authorities believe the former agent – believed to be from Texas – was one of at least six individuals who regularly communicated with accused gunman Payton Gendron in an online chat room where racist hatred was discussed, the two officials said.

its me the former federal agent chillin in a chat with psychopaths and racists

Wondering if the watch commander/Police Chief(30 year veteran of Law Enforcement) was getting the word about 911 calls---not that,as harbl observed, he should have waited to see if someone might be, you know, bleeding to death---also wonder, since he did choose to wait for "equipment" to arrive before attempting entry---rather than getting keys from janitor, and entering with a shield, which was already on hand, as CNN reports the Border Patrol agents finally did---why said equipment hadn't already showed up: so, while not excusing the watch commander at all, seems like systemic/shitstemic failure also played an important role. (Has an FBI investigation been announced?)

Also, have not yet noticed talking TV heads making this central point:

even if we turn these schools into impregnable fortresses with a single entrance and Vietnam Vets hiding inside every other locker it still wouldn't change much, since these violent psychos will just decide to shoot up a shopping mall, or a parade, or a grocery store, or a day care instead. it's like the "sell your home and move" solution to climate change. of course there's no purpose in pointing this out, cuz it's not like they really care about fixing this in the first place. just another thing to be mad about.

― frogbs, Friday, May 27, 2022 1

i read the most recent breakdown of events & am speechless that there were like, NINETEEN? of these mfers INSIDE ? the school while the shooting is happening! for at least 30 minutes! while a kid in the classroom
called 911 like 4 times the cops were fully there just chilling in the hallway.

i mean just WHAT the fuck

until now i had thought they were all outside waiting to go in

which is still horrifying but jesus now i am speechless at the logistical fuckery or lack of it idk

it was infuriating from the beginning and now i’ve wasted so much anger being upset about it 24/7 i’m just like, limp

and fuckin tasing parents outside and shit it’s all just so brutal & incompetent & egregious

for whatever reason, a lot police use this street over by my residence. thought about making a big sign that just says "COWARDS" and sitting out at the intersection all weekend and holding it up anytime one of their little convoys comes past.

cops know they have built-in trust with enough of the population that at least 40% won't blame them for what happened, no matter what they do. they don't even have to make excuses - their bootlickers already do it for them.

they know they're going to get funding and aren't at legal risk thanks to SCOTUS, so they aren't afraid to do what they need to in order to come home that night. like letting the shooter expend his bullets.

that precinct , shame if something happened to it

xp I’d be careful with that. Cowardice has a lot of different ways of expressing itself. Some of them involve ignoring duty, others are about exerting power over others to compensate

just thinking out loud.

police are the true "founding fathers" —and coincidentally the collective abusive father figure— of america.

"the founding fathers were some abusive ass parents" by charles mingus (1958)

Documents posted by NYTimes reporter make point even pointier, detailing all the training ignored:

I have spent the past few days researching the training of Uvalde officers, including the tactics they were expected to use to halt school shooters.

The documents are jarring. Here’s a thread of our findings so far.

1/9

— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) May 28, 2022

and you just know that the response to all this will include many people solemnly stating that the best solution will be "more training"

what is needed is for a non-partisan board in TX to conduct a study on the important issue of mass shootings, to try to identify what we can do that is not difficult

Documents posted by NYTimes reporter make point even pointier, detailing all the training ignored:

― dow, Saturday, May 28, 2022 12:44 PM

it really does get worse the further you read.

retail employees look at someone the wrong way and that's enough to get them canned. these people disobeyed direct training and let children die.

the level of accountability that's lacking is startling.

i know & accept acab but in terms of the job i also think abt other instances where law enforcement did act & put themselves in harms way to protect victims & for them to see other law enforcement officers in another jurisdiction ~collectively~ just completely lay down on the job & not even achieve any level of basic protection

I've got a good friend who worked in the police force to a pretty high level and he is one of the harshest critics of policing I've ever known - in the UK, but ACAB applies everywhere afaict.

The @NRA is currently promoting the specific gun model used to murder 19 kids and 2 teachers at Uvalde as part of a "banned guns giveaway," along with 1,000 rounds of ammo. https://t.co/ykBK7EtNuH pic.twitter.com/MWWPZP6iCM

— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) May 27, 2022

A lot of 'how could he afford it' false flag right-wingers suddenly unfamiliar with the concept of credit cards and convinced that AR-15s cost $10k.

Small town neighbors getting together, glad to see each other, missing the others, description of the shooter's grandmother, in the hospital now, shooter was one of the neighborhood kids too: not a harrowing listen, exactly, but in the twilight (about 4 minutes): https://www.npr.org/2022/05/28/1101955123/in-uvalde-tragedy-brings-a-community-together

Made me feel a little better, ultimately, or wouldn't have mentioned it at this point

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sheriff-husband-suspected-killings-woman-3-kids-rcna31026?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR2_a7tjLg5t8uVv4_FFjfZBSsZt12pJYmiEeGx1BHMBLXWWUtQvcyLNkbM

Hell, I didn’t even make the paper
‘Cause I only killed one man

—Steve Earle, 1990

Missing context makes for a weird detail in that one:

The person who alerted authorities was outside the home when deputies arrived and was not shot

BREAKING: Uvalde residents boo Texas Governor Greg Abbott as he pays his respects at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Texas | @TPUSA pic.twitter.com/4JSipaKOvv

— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) May 29, 2022

otm. the least he deserves

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/30/americas/canada-handgun-sales-cap/index.html

And now this

https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-police-school-district-longer-cooperating-texas-probe/story?id=85093405

I can't imagine that will go well for them

Huh, who'd have ever guessed that there might be implications after spending years making sure there is absolutely no punishment whatsoever for not cooperating with any sort of government investigation, probe or inquiry.

At the NRA Convention someone told us that hammers are used to kill more people than guns. So we looked up the stats in front of them. pic.twitter.com/ju5R8Pqbvk

— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) May 31, 2022

later that guy (probably one of his friends) will find where that "stat" came from that conclusively showed he was wrong, and they will attack whoever or whatever institution did the study or collected the data. it won't be hard for them to find that it is somehow connected to a university or department or professor, or was possibly funded by george soros, or both.

but it is temporarily satisfying and even addictive to confront complete fools like that guy and just tell them to their face how wrong they are. but it also doesn't change anything at all, ever. it is completely ineffective today

My colleagues' eyebrows went up like the curtain at the Met when a month ago during a teaching presentation I insisted, after teaching rhetoric for years, that we gotta stop teaching students as if facts mattered.

otm and completely evident in the way that guy neverthelesses back to the 2nd amendment being "important to him" on a personal level

Really hoping Channel 5 made it out to GunCon

Clinic shooting in Tulsa