50 killed at gay nightclub in Florida ...

[Smiles]

Understand that this awful story is not in the correct forum, but ...

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/50-killed-at-gay-nightclub-in-florida-attack-is-deadliest-mass-shooting-in-u-s-history-1.2942213

What can one say at this point?
Not a lot of details available just yet, but the bottom line regarding only the toll is horrifying enough in itself.

[lonelywombat]

Understand that this awful story is not in the correct forum, but ...

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/50-killed-at-gay-nightclub-in-florida-attack-is-deadliest-mass-shooting-in-u-s-history-1.2942213
.


your mundane cut & pastes.

If only you .... oh, forget it.

smiles you seem to find cut and paste when you use it, OK

[anonone]

Yeah. Another tragedy.

Even with all the recent progress made with acceptance, there are still crazies that hate LGBTQ and have contorted religion to find rationalization for their bigotry.

stay safe everyone.

[fountainhall]

From news reports, this does seem to have an ISIS element and a deliberate act of terror by a lone gay-hater against a group of gays merely out to enjoy their evening. Desperately sad event and I know all our hearts go out to all those with loved ones who have died or are injured. Let us hope in the days to come that the party presumptive nominees do not go to town on this tragedy, That can come later.

[homeseeker]

It is a possibility that some lunatic may try the same atrocity in a bar in Thailand. So lets all be vigilant!

[fountainhall]

I have for years expressed my concern at the lack of emergency exits in Silom Soi 2. A fire in DJ Station would start a panic that would quickly spread throughout the soi. Several hundred revellers then racing to get out of that narrow entrance on to Silom would, I fear, result in some falling and being trampled. Imagine what might happen if, God forbid, gun shots were heard.

[scottish-guy]

Apparently we are supposed to be re-assured by the gunman's father (in Afghanistan) stating that there was no religious element in this atrocity, his son just wanted to murder gays for being gay.

Phew - that's a relief eh?

[Nirish guy]

No we'll just leave the religious hatred up to the Christians today then as at least they agree that whilst it's probably not right to shoot us in bars ( cause that's illegal just) but it wouldn't matter if that damned Government were doing their job and killing us formally in an organised clinical way - as it says in the bible they should. I really despair about the world and the hate filled nutters in it sometimes :(

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/06/12/christian-pastor-celebrates-nightclub-massacre-theres-50-less-pedophiles-in-this-world/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/06/12/christian-pastor-celebrates-nightclub-massacre-theres-50-less-pedophiles-in-this-world/)

[goji]

No we'll just leave the religious hatred
Religions tend to lead to hatred. Some more than others. Yet we are expect to sit back when a specific religion attempts to infiltrate and ruin our civilisation.
Although the lunatic fringe in at least one other well known religion are also a slightly hostile.

[Surfcrest]

As long as our very good friends in the USA insist on protecting their 2nd Amendment and allowing all their felloiw Americans to have lots of guns, regardless of their mental state, then this nonsense is gong to happen again and again and again and....

I gave up caring about what happens down there with guns after Sandy Hook and nothing was done...

I don't even feel safe traveling around in the US and I regularly travel to what some might believe are much more dangerous countries.

Surfcrest

[fountainhall]

As the layers are peeled off the monster who perpetrated this ghastly mass murder, CNN is providing reports of his previous visits to Pulse. Apparently he was also a member of two gay hook-up apps. There is even talk on Don Lemon's programme that the shooting was the result of his being rebuffed in a hoped-for gay relationship. The ISIS, Al Quaeda, Hezbollah speculation arising from the phone calls to 911 seem much more a cover up for a fucked-up bipolar closet gay. No doubt there is more to come.

As to Surfcrest's point about guns, how is it possible that someone who had twice been questioned by the FBI for suspected terrorist links, once for as long as 10 months, can still be free to legally purchase a semi-automatic firearm - when someone with that background would not be permitted on an aircraft in the USA?

[Surfcrest]

Well, now the FBI needs to do an investigation into who the shooter was and everything that this guy did in the last 6 months or so. They'll find out everything and already, before any of that even begins...the Director of the FBI is saying he doesn't think anything could have been done to prevent this from happening or even happening again. This is the same FBI that interviewed this guy specifically about a complaint made by a co-worker of this guy, alleging that he was about to commit this very crime? Surely, if anything...the FBI can learn a little something about how they can stop someone like this, planning something like this. If it's the law that's lacking, then that should be the focus of the politicians.

I can't believe what I've heard from Trump and Clinton AND Obama about the true motivation of this massacre. Mental illness and guns, that's what it really was about. ISIS heard about it after we did.

Surfcrest

[fountainhall]

the Director of the FBI is saying he doesn't think anything could have been done to prevent this from happening or even happening again. This is the same FBI that interviewed this guy specifically about a complaint made by a co-worker of this guy, alleging that he was about to commit this very crime? Surely, if anything...the FBI can learn a little something about how they can stop someone like this, planning something like this. If it's the law that's lacking, then that should be the focus of the politicians.
Now, haven't I heard something along these lines this before? After 9/11?

[Surfcrest]

http://globalnews.ca/video/2758048/he-was-scary-in-a-concerning-way-co-worker-of-orlando-shooter-describes-gunman

https://news.vice.com/article/coworker-of-suspected-orlando-gunman-says-he-reported-him-to-employer-as-unhinged

It sounds like this co-worker reported the allegations to his employer G4S and that this may or may not have been reported to the FBI, making them all somewhat culpable for not preventing the obvious.

Surfcrest

[Dalewood]

As the layers are peeled off the monster who perpetrated this ghastly mass murder, CNN is providing reports of his previous visits to Pulse. Apparently he was also a member of two gay hook-up apps. There is even talk on Don Lemon's programme that the shooting was the result of his being rebuffed in a hoped-for gay relationship. The ISIS, Al Quaeda, Hezbollah speculation arising from the phone calls to 911 seem much more a cover up for a fucked-up bipolar closet gay. No doubt there is more to come.

As to Surfcrest's point about guns, how is it possible that someone who had twice been questioned by the FBI for suspected terrorist links, once for as long as 10 months, can still be free to legally purchase a semi-automatic firearm - when someone with that background would not be permitted on an aircraft in the USA?

It is worse than that. After the San Bernadino killings (13 dead IIRC), legislation was proposed to make gun purchases more difficult for non-citizens---it was defeated.

There is a significant group of nutcases that believe that if ownership of high-powered rifles is restricted/banned, it will be the end of American democracy. Google "Jade Helm" and start scratching your heads.

[Oliver]

Is it too cynical to suggest that there are some who deliberately encourage this sort of violence? After all, each atrocity persuades more Americans to buy guns and those who already have them to "up-date" their weaponry.

[scottish-guy]

...There is a significant group of nutcases that believe that if ownership of high-powered rifles is restricted/banned, it will be the end of American democracy. Google "Jade Helm" and start scratching your heads.

It's not just the gun lobby - I'm starting to worry if they're ALL nutcases one way or another in USA.

In my lifetime they've elected at least 2 morons to the Presidency (with the possibility of another one in November), and currently we have Donald Tusk saying that if the UK votes to leave the EU "it will be the end of Western political civilisation". What the actual fuck?

So, it unfortunately does not surprise me in the least when the reaction to the increasingly regular shooting sprees that occur in that country is not to restrict gun ownership but to widen access

[bobsaigon2]

Ridding the US populace of its weaponry is similar to ridding the country of its illegal immigrant population. Too many obstacles to overcome and too much politics and emotions involved in both cases.

No, not ALL Americans are nut cases. But when I read the US news on the internet every day, from my viewpoint in SE Asia, it does seem like about 80% of us would fit into that category. I'm sure sanity was more prevalent when I was growing up in the States.

[francois]

It's not just the gun lobby - I'm starting to worry if they're ALL nutcases one way or another in USA.

In my lifetime they've elected at least 2 morons to the Presidency (with the possibility of another one in lately does not surprise me in the least when the reaction to the increasingly regular shooting sprees that occur in that country is not to restrict gun ownership but to widen access

That is exactly what Donald Trump said in reaction to the shooting.

[cdnmatt]

Is it too cynical to suggest that there are some who deliberately encourage this sort of violence? After all, each atrocity persuades more Americans to buy guns and those who already have them to "up-date" their weaponry.

This is one thing I have to give kudos to the Australian (I think, IIRC) govt for. Years ago there was a hostage situation at a cafe there done by a group of Islamic radicals. One of the first things they did was a complete media blackout, and didn't allow the media anywhere within a few km radius of the scene. About 8 hours later, media popped back on with the police saying, "yep, situation now resolved".

Kind of a, "You want attention for your shitty ideology? Fuck ya, we're not giving it to you.", kind of thing.

[christianpfc]

I have for years expressed my concern at the lack of emergency exits in Silom Soi 2. A fire in DJ Station would start a panic that would quickly spread throughout the soi. Several hundred revellers then racing to get out of that narrow entrance on to Silom would, I fear, result in some falling and being trampled. Imagine what might happen if, God forbid, gun shots were heard.
There is at least one emergency exit in DJ station, when you come up the stairs to 2nd floor it's on the right at the end of the stairs. There is even a glass window, you can see the multi story car park from there. However the ladder down can't handle many people, and if you look down, there is garbage and I didn't see a way out.

[Marsilius]

Is it too cynical to suggest that there are some who deliberately encourage this sort of violence? After all, each atrocity persuades more Americans to buy guns and those who already have them to "up-date" their weaponry.

You're not the first person to make that suggestion. See here for a more detailed examination of what's been called the "Obama effect":

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/death-cycle-mass-shootings-terrorism-and-economics-nra

[goji]

So, it unfortunately does not surprise me in the least when the reaction to the increasingly regular shooting sprees that occur in that country is not to restrict gun ownership but to widen access
Gun ownership in France and Belgium is restricted, yet we have seen similar terrorist atrocities there.
The problem is not access to firearms. People will either get those, or use explosives as in the last round of bombings in London.
The problem is religious ideology.

In Europe, thankfully the dominant religion is being increasingly and correctly sidelined. However, we are making is to easy for extremists of other denominations to enter the region through porous borders. So stupid.

At least the US isn't making that mistake and has a set of problems which appear much easier to fix.

[Nirish guy]

There is at least one emergency exit in DJ station, when you come up the stairs to 2nd floor it's on the right at the end of the stairs. .

Yeah, and SOMETIMES it's even unlocked when the club is open - but only sometimes mind...... :-(

[francois]

As bad as this shooting was, it was not, necessarily, the worst mass shootings in American history as reported in the news media.
In 1890 the US Army shot and killed 150++ native American men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, USA.

[Oliver]

Nearly all the mass murders in the US have been committed by white, "Christian" men; and the same is true of serial murders. What I've read so far suggests that the killer's motivation was not religious and his father confirmed this. Religion is so often a peg on which to hang prejudices.

I'm surprised that the G4S connection has not been explored more fully. This British/Danish security company is massive- it even works at Central, Pattaya- and yet has been implicated in astounding levels of incompetence (the London Olympics, for example), racist killings, child abuse in young offenders prisons in the UK and involvement in the routine torture of Palestinian kids and various other offences against the Geneva Conventions in Occupied Palestine. Admittedly, pressure in the UK has led to it declaring that it will stop working for the Israelis....but its incompetence and mendacity will no doubt continue. In Orlando, it appears that it knew that the killer was a ticking time-bomb and yet continued to employ him. I hope the BDS movement in the US will be as active as we are in the UK in publicising the misdemeanors of this dreadful company.

[Surfcrest]

Gun ownership in France and Belgium is restricted, yet we have seen similar terrorist atrocities there.
The problem is not access to firearms. People will either get those, or use explosives as in the last round of bombings in London.
The problem is religious ideology.

The France / Belgium situation is a little different, because they have the laws against guns but not the willpower to go after them. It appears they do now.

In the US you are allowed to have guns, even encouraged to have guns, but people don't carry guns around with them. They are probably at home locked up or they don't have any guns. So when these things happen, only the bad guys have guns and the victims not. Trump said, after the Paris shooting that if Parisians were allowed to have guns that tragedy would have never happened...and yet it happend in Orlando and only the bad guy had the guns.

This isn't about ideology, unless it's about gun ideology or mental health crisis prevention ideology.

Surfcrest

[Moses]

https://scontent-vie1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13428441_911336105644977_1834428047412270946_n.jpg ?oh=df7585f6f482f0a97d78e2914e1765d1&oe=580B86F5

[fountainhall]

. . . but people don't carry guns around with them. They are probably at home locked up or they don't have any guns
Surfcrest
That is no longer true, unfortunately. A majority of US states have laws on the books permitting state residents to carry a concealed weapon. And apparently quite a few do. At least 40 states grant permits to residents AND non-residents. Most of the others MAY permit residents AND non-residents to carry a weapon. Bernie Sanders' state, Vermont, is the only one where if if you have a permit to have a weapon, you do not need another permit to carry it around with you!

The gun lobby has vociferously argued that if the teachers at Sandy Hook and others innocently caught up in other gun massacres had only carried concealed weapons on their persons, someone would have killed the shooters before they had time to commit mass murder! Can't you just see someone with a small hand-gun daring to try and kill a deranged person probably more than 30 meters away intent on killing as many as possible with a semi-aurtomatic weapon of war? I'm sure I'd hit the ground in a flash.

[bucknaway]

All these shootings seem to happen where guns are not allowed.😔 if only Some one, anyone had a gun to shoot back....

[cdnmatt]

if only Some one, anyone had a gun to shoot back....

Dude, doen't quite work like that. If someone shows up in a dark, crowded, hot, noisy night club with an AR-15 and starts spraying bullets, and you happen to have a handgun on your side, what are you going to do? Even if you're a well trained marine, the chances of you hitting him are very slim, the chances of accidentally hitting someone innocent are quite decent, and the chances of making yourself a target are about 100%.

[bucknaway]

Still. It was a gun free Zone. The only one with a weapon was the officer outside it seems.

We were not there and all we can do is speculate and wonder what if...

I said my what if. I'll go back to just reading everyone else's what ifs.

[francois]

All these shootings seem to happen where guns are not allowed.😔 if only Some one, anyone had a gun to shoot back....

Just what Donald Trump said. False reasoning.

[dab69]

All these shootings seem to happen where guns are not allowed.😔 if only Some one, anyone had a gun to shoot back....

For am wholly in agreement with Bucky on this. Really interested in hearing about the confrontation with the shooter and the off duty armed police officer
working security outside the club before the shooting.

[Oliver]

Nothing will be done. US society is so heavily biased towards the rich and the white that gun violence- which affects the Afro-American and poor communities more deeply than that of the golfing clubs and the gated communities- is just not that much of an issue. And this is reflected in the Senate and Congress which are effectively"bought" by rich, powerful and white special interest groups like the NRA and AIPAC, malicious, mendacious and fundamentally racist. We need a new Malcolm X after Obama's heroic attempts to engage with the vicious elements in society (like NRA and AIPAC) were rebuffed.

[dinagam]

I say good luck in trying to engage the neocons.

[Oliver]

Engage? Look what happened when Obama extended the hand of friendship. Revolution is more appropriate!
Remember that the neocons, despite their contempt for the poor and the ethnic minorities, have been quite successful in selling their ideology to its victims.... or at least to its white victims. At least the young are beginning to rebel, as Black Lives Matter and Bernie prove. And not just in matters relating to economic policies but in opposition to the bellicose colonialism of AIPAC and Clinton.

[Surfcrest]

Sounds like the US needs a good injection of Bernie Sanders style "education". Educate the people and all this shite goes away and things start to get solved.

They are so focused on distracting people into believing it's about ISIS or a Gay Hate crime, that the real reason this happened...and the last...and the next, is because people that shouldn't have guns do. I was watching on CNN tonight that many gun shops are now sold out of the same automatic weapon the killer used, so the next one is probably closer than anyone thinks. They've already glorified the shooter with all the photos of him posted. That's only going to inspire the next mass shooter.

Surfcrest

[Oliver]

George Orwell was right; frightened people are compliant people so keep 'em scared.....and buying!

[fountainhall]

They are so focused on distracting people into believing it's about ISIS or a Gay Hate crime, that the real reason this happened...and the last...and the next, is because people that shouldn't have guns do. I was watching on CNN tonight that many gun shops are now sold out of the same automatic weapon the killer used, so the next one is probably closer than anyone thinks.
Sadly, I'm sure you're right. But let's face it. Even if Congress were to enact laws to ban this type of semi-automatic weapon, there are so many guns available in the USA that a nut-case could still inflict a ghastly number of casualties just using the other guns that are so easily available. I have never been able to understand the gun culture in the USA. On another forum some years ago after yet another massacre, I had a dialogue with another poster who happens to be American and believes passionately in the 2nd Amendment, the one that is supposed to give a right to everyone to carry arms. I find this so totally senseless.

There have been other discussions on various Boards about religious beliefs which were framed at a time when tribes were massacring other tribes and children were utterly vital to ensure the future of a tribe. Hence, I believe, prohibitions on "men lying with other men". Many of those beliefs carry little or no weight today. Similarly with guns. I believe that if those who framed that Amendment could be beamed into present day America they would be utterly shocked at what their words have come to mean and how much senseless violence guns now generate. Times change. Attitudes change. Beliefs change - and are changing more rapidly now than probably ever before. To expect that a bunch of well-intentioned men (for of course women then had no similar rights!) in 1791 could foresee centuries and millennia into the future is surely cloud cuckoo time!

[dab69]

Chances of hitting him are very good. The area around the shooter would clear out a large space around him. Busy taking shots he wouldn't notice you taking careful aim. At least it would be a better chance than what took place. Again I wonder what happened as he was entering the club getting confronted by an armed off duty policeman working security there?







Dude, doen't quite work like that. If someone shows up in a dark, crowded, hot, noisy night club with an AR-15 and starts spraying bullets, and you happen to have a handgun on your side, what are you going to do? Even if you're a well trained marine, the chances of you hitting him are very slim, the chances of accidentally hitting someone innocent are quite decent, and the chances of making yourself a target are about 100%.

[Oliver]

I suppose the possibility of ricochets isn't a concern? or the fact that some high-powered bullets penetrate bodies and pass through them? or that the "legal" shooters may be firing at the same target from different angles? and do you recall the examples in Iraq where trained soldiers went crazy with their weapons and wiped families out? You think that the "legal" shooters will all be people of moderation, calmness and moderation?
Desperate attempts to justify the unjustifiable don't wash anymore....the bodies are piling up.

[fountainhall]

Chances of hitting him are very good.
Oh really? You are in a dark, noisy club with several hundred people packed inside when eventually panic breaks out because someone with a gun that should only be permitted for army use is firing methodically and killing your fellow members of the LGBT community and their friends. Even so, in that darkness you have the presence of mind to watch what the shooter is doing probably quite far from you, to get out your small handgun, to take aim and then to fire? So you haven't dropped to the floor like most if not all of the others? Or if you have, you are prepared to move and waste precious seconds to get hold of and then aim your gun in so doing probably drawing attention to yourself? And you are not scared utterly shitless that you might hit one of the other patrons? Or that as your hand is shaking with fear you might just miss him and he will immediately turn and fire in your direction? All this when the nightclub is begging patrons to leave fast?

You are some cool dude, dab69? But I somehow doubt in those circumstances you would act quite as stoically.

[Blueskytoday]

As most know,,when the American constitution was made,,"The right to bear arms"
Well, all they had was "MUSKET" guns and pistols...you had to put the powder in it..
push it in with a rod,,,,and then only have ONE shot..take another 2 minutes to load it again.
They had no vision that it would evolve into todays mad automatic weapons....

[cdnmatt]

Chances of hitting him are very good.

So while you're doing this Steven Segalesque move, would you also do a barrel roll while pulling out your gun, only to land on one knee, and *bam*... down goes the bad guy, just like in the movies?

[bucknaway]

The shooter was not in total darkness. It told that he went into the bathroom and shot people hiding in the stalls.

The situation didn't end until others arrived with guns. It's a shame that no one at the bar had any guns. Even if it only saved one life.....

[Oliver]

When Americans have guns it is so often some poor black kid from a project that dies. Black Lives Matter.....surely the Afro-American community can agree on this?

[bucknaway]

Is that directed at me?
Illegal gun owners are breaking the laws and killing people. That is no reason to try to restrict the rights of legal gun owners.

The focus of this story is a fag hating Muslim terrorist. I doubt he would abide by any laws. He broke the law by killing. I don't think he would care what gun laws were passed.

I could be wrong. Maybe he would abide by the law.....

Oh, all lives matter.

[cdnmatt]

The focus of this story is a fag hating Muslim terrorist. I doubt he would abide by any laws. He broke the law by killing. I don't think he would care what gun laws were passed.

You mean other than the laws that allowed him to buy the guns days before he committed the massacre?

[fountainhall]

The focus of this story is a fag hating Muslim terrorist. I doubt he would abide by any laws. He broke the law by killing. I don't think he would care what gun laws were passed.
Oh, all lives matter.
I happen to agree with you - except on one issue. You still assume that the 2nd Amendment also refers to semi-automatic weapons that fire goodness knows how many rounds per second/minute. These guns should be nowhere near the streets of any civilised country. As has been pointed out -


As most know,,when the American constitution was made,,"The right to bear arms"
Well, all they had was "MUSKET" guns and pistols...
They had no vision that it would evolve into todays mad automatic weapons....
Of course they had no such vision. Let's face it, they had zero vision of how much the world would change. How could they? So how on earth could those framers in 1791 have the faintest clue that their words would be so pored over and misrepresented for all time?

Lest we forget, here's some of what was happening around the end of the 18th century and of which those framers had little knowledge -

1. The evil of slavery was only ended legally 1808 when it was technically abolished. In fact, it was not abolished throughout the country until the end of the Civil War in 1865.

2. The UK’s 1841 census shows that the starting age for a whopping 49.9% of the workforce in the textile industry was of children still under the age of 10. A further 27.9% were aged between 10 and 13. Most were working in excess of 12 hours per day 7 days per week. It took a Royal Commission to recommend that children between 9 and 11 work a maximum of 8 hours a day. Did the UK lawmakers have any idea that public opinion would force through massive changes over time? Of course not!

3. In May 1791, the French Revolution was under way and about to get very bloody. In that month the Constituent Assembly decreed the continuation of slavery in the colonies. In September, the Constituent Assembly declared in that year’s Constitution: “The King’s person is inviolable and sacred”. Did those framers have any idea how long that would last? Not long! Nor did the Constitution, for there were to be four more over the next 11 years. A bit like Thailand, clearly!

It is frankly impossible for anyone today to have the faintest clue what will be happening on this earth 225 years from now - if, that is, the next generations haven't blown this world to smithereens. Yet, many Americans firmly believe that the framers of the 2nd Amendment would have been perfectly happy with the present status quo. I doubt that with all my being.

[Surfcrest]

Wake Up!

Americans killed in all wars since 1775: 1.2 million

Americans killed (domestic) with guns since 1963: 1.6 million

https://twitter.com/intlspectator/status/742533077876891649

Surfcrest

[Tobi]

Lest we forget, here's some of what was happening around the end of the 18th century...


Do you remember what the weather was like back then? Is it definitely getting warmer these days?

[francois]

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."


Militias in America existed in colonial days in order to provide for public safety. It was the militias that first confronted the British troops at the battles of Concord and Lexington that ignited the War of Independence. Thus the framers of the US Constitution added the Second Amendment.

All this right to bear arms crap, especially assault weapons and automatic handguns, has nothing to do with militias and is not what was intended by this amendment.

[Doug]

A couple of questions for the NRA. At your conventions, is everyone allowed to attend with a gun especially an assault weapon? Will Trump allow guns at his inauguration speech? Does he allow them at his rallies? Is there any place you suggest should be a "gun free zone".

[Oliver]

Perhaps mosques?

[fountainhall]

All this right to bear arms crap, especially assault weapons and automatic handguns, has nothing to do with militias and is not what was intended by this amendment.
Unfortunately the right-wing controlled Supreme Court did not agree with you - or at least that is how the gun lobby interpreted the 2008 ruling. But change may well be in the air. If the Republican Convention does not come up with an alternative candidate, Trump will be running for President. The chance of his winning against Hillary Clinton seem tiny. If she gets in and the Republican majorities in the Senate and the House are reduced and/or wiped out, prepare for a major swing in the Supreme Court. Apart from the one existing right-wing vacancy, Kennedy is 79 and unlikely to last much longer. Although he has sometimes been a swing vote, he is in general a conservative. With a liberal judge as a replacement for Scalia and a similar one when Kennedy departs, the make-up of the Court could be changed for decades. If only the dreadful Clarence Thomas, whose election to the Court was a total sham, would disappear, liberals would no doubt celebrate for a lot longer. But there is the Trump factor - and those damned emails!

[scottish-guy]

3821

[Faranglaw]

There have been reports that Thomas intends to resign after the election. That would be wonderful if true.

[Faranglaw]

3821

Love it! My laugh for the day.

[Faranglaw]

Chances of hitting him are very good. The area around the shooter would clear out a large space around him. Busy taking shots he wouldn't notice you taking careful aim. At least it would be a better chance than what took place. Again I wonder what happened as he was entering the club getting confronted by an armed off duty policeman working security there?

There was an armed security guard there. He's dead now. You are living some Hollywood\NRA fantasy. The proof that you are wrong is that your fantasy has never happened.

[Faranglaw]

1. He was not a terrorist. He was a violent and unstable individual who happened to be Muslim, and he had access to weapons no civilized country allows its citizens to own. His claims of connection to ISIS do not stand up to scrutiny. He also claimed connections to Hamas and Al Queda, and they are at war with ISIS. His claims were delusional, made in the midst of his psychotic murder spree in an attempt to make himself seem powerful to others. No reason to believe him about ISIS, or anything.
2. The All Lives Matter movement is a response by closet racists who don't want to believe that Black people are more vulnerable to dying in the US than others, especially at the hands of authorities. But Black families know this, and Black children are cautioned to never ever speak back to someone in authority and always have their hands visible. African American Moms know that Black lives don't really matter much in the US, so they have to train their children far more carefully than White or Asian parents.

[fountainhall]

There have been reports that Thomas intends to resign after the election. That would be wonderful if true.
I can well remember his confirmation hearings held amidst the last-minute sandal of the allegations of sexual philandering and leaving his public hair on a coke can. After the hearings were delayed, he just sat before the Senate Committee, denied them in terms that were just way too strong and racist, and then sat back refusing to dignify them with a response. As my friends and I agreed at the time, "he doth protest too much!"

Sadly there have been rumours of his impending retirement before, notably in the Spring of 2013 when it was thought he'd be resigning in June that year. I suppose if Clinton becomes President and he then does resign - thereby leaving the Court in the hands of liberals for decades - it would be his way of sticking it in the eye of those Republicans who allowed him to go through those disastrous hearings and as a result blackening (sic) his name forever!

The New Yorker wrote in February 2014 a devastating article about his work on the Court titled "Clarence Thomas's Disgraceful Silence" -


As of this Saturday, February 22nd, eight years will have passed since Clarence Thomas last asked a question during a Supreme Court oral argument. His behaviour on the bench has gone from curious to bizarre to downright embarrassing, for himself and the institution he represents.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/clarence-thomass-disgraceful-silence

[Oliver]

Faranglaw is correct about All Lives Matter...or, more accurately, Some Lives Matter More . Black Lives Matter is a courageous response to the continued racism that haunts US society. It is particularly pleasing because it is a a genuinely-community-based movement and overwhelmingly composed of the young. I also applaud its support for the victims of Zionist racism in Palestine.

[Surfcrest]

https://youtu.be/cIlL75B_c_o

Speaking of who's life matter: More people have died as a result of the ramped up bombing campaign in Syria (as a result of this attack) than were killed in the Orlando mass shooting...and a lot of these lives were children.

Surfcrest