The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

@Pyxis - interesting story but the price is a tad steep for me
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41461592

That's ok. I've ordered two bottles, and I'll let you have one drop delivered by a pipette straight to the tongue.

GDB2222 wrote: »

What makes a person execute an attack like the one in Las Vegas? He wounded/killed over 500 people, so he must have just kept on firing and reloading until stopped.

He was shooting from the 32nd floor. Perhaps from that height they don't look like people?

There was a thing on Victoria Derbyshire pointing out that between 1968 and 2011 , 1.4 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.
Compare that with 1.2 million Americans killed in all wars they have participated in since the American Civil War.

That's shocking. I hope those statistics wake people up.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Says the NP#1 stalker

That's probably "the type" .... stalker types. They're just weird.


So ... note to all NP ... don't lend them to michaels either!

I understood exactly what you said, Pastures, that some people reach a level of despair and anger that profound.

But also as you say, there has to be something else in them that wants others to suffer "as they have suffered".

Couple that "something else" with the very readily available means to cause suffering, and boom.

Now, I know the Hungerford guy here had a weapon, and to be honest, I can't remember the details of the whys and wherefores of that, but surely those ghastly statistics above show why tighter firearms laws, not laxer ones, are needed.

I mean, I can understand a farmer needing a shotgun, by would anyone else 'need' anything in the way of a firearm, let alone an automatic or semi-automatic?




Edit, I have just googled the Hungerford massacre, and found that the guy owned the following, which I believe all had licences:

Zabala shotgun
Browning shotgun
Beretta 92FS semi-automatic 9 mm pistol
CZ ORSO semi-automatic .32-caliber pistol
Bernardelli .22-caliber pistol
Type 56 7.62×39mm semi-automatic rifle[6]
M1 carbine .30 (7.62×33mm) semi-automatic rifle (a rare "Underwood" model)


Admittedly, the law has been changed since then, but it does beg the question as to why licences were ever issued to people for those sorts of weapons.

michaels

Agreed, I am sure if we had the same gun laws as the US we would have just as many shootings - or possibly even more given how densely populated the country is plus the terrorist threat on top.

In the US shootings always make more Americans want to have guns to 'defend themselves' - incidents such as this one make it obvious how stupid that idea is.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

That's ok. I've ordered two bottles, and I'll let you have one drop delivered by a pipette straight to the tongue.

That'd still be at least a couple of quid's worth !!!

There was a thing on Victoria Derbyshire pointing out that between 1968 and 2011 , 1.4 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.
Compare that with 1.2 million Americans killed in all wars they have participated in since the American Civil War.

That's shocking. I hope those statistics wake people up.

Indeed. Quite an eye-opener - unless you're NRA affiliated in which case you won't care unless someone wants to have another go at "taking away your Goddamned right...."

Of course, the war deaths would have been higher if they hadn't turned up late to at least two of the wars

LydiaJ

Pyxis wrote: »

That's shocking. I hope those statistics wake people up.

Maybe a few. A very few.

Apparently one of the singers who had been performing at the concert has been speaking publicly today about having been an ardent supporter of their 2nd amendment (right to bear arms) and having changed his mind after witnessing what happened on Sunday.

Most people, however, won't change their minds. There are plenty of left-leaning Americans who already want some kind of gun control, but they never get anywhere legislatively because of the vast financial resources of the NRA - and Washington is all about which special interests have got the most money.

The moral vacuum of the current Congressional Republican party is appalling. I hear they have at least responded to yesterday's shooting by postponing debate on deregulating silencers, which was to have been later this week, or next week or something. But it's not just the gun thing, or even the healthcare thing, shocking as those are.

It's possible to believe that some at least of them might have genuine reasons for believing in citizens carrying guns, or in not letting the federal government have anything to do with organising healthcare, as mistaken as we may consider those reasons to be. But there is no conceivable legitimate reason for confirming the appointment of someone as health secretary who is under investigation for insider trading in health company stocks while on a Senate health committee that was passing legislation that would affect the price of those stocks.

Likewise, without accepting that the senators concerned have completely lost their moral compass, it's not possible to explain why every single Republican member of the Senate judiciary committee voted to approve the appointment of a man who has until now been the defence attorney for one of the Russian banks currently under investigation for interference in the 2016 election, to be the head of the criminal justice division at their Department of Justice, even though it's a prosecutorial role and the man has no prosecutorial experience.

Herzlos

Sometimes I feel there is a competition to see who can get away with the most outrageous hiring. Could just be that all the tolerable candidates won't touch the jobs with a barge pole.

Pyxis

Herzlos wrote: »

Sometimes I feel there is a competition to see who can get away with the most outrageous hiring. Could just be that all the tolerable candidates won't touch the jobs with a barge pole.

Hallo, Herzlos.
(I hope you aren't really herzlos, though I doubt it, seeing your post! )

Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head, there!

michaels wrote: »

Oops, I hadn't even realised I was a stalker. Why did no one tell me

C'mon, Michaels, spill, watcha bin doin'? :rotfl:

chris_m

LydiaJ wrote: »

Apparently one of the singers who had been performing at the concert has been speaking publicly today about having been an ardent supporter of their 2nd amendment (right to bear arms) and having changed his mind after witnessing what happened yesterday.

I have heard that the problem with the 2nd amendment is that it was written by someone with the typical American inability to spell correctly - it was actually intended to allow all the people to wear t-shirts :rotfl:

LydiaJ

chris_m wrote: »

I have heard that the problem with the 2nd amendment is that it was written by someone with the typical American inability to spell correctly - it was actually intended to allow all the people to wear t-shirts :rotfl:

If only, if only....
Thanks for making me smile this morning, anyway.

michaels

Wednesday is a non-working day for me so at 06:45 was I:
a) tucked up in bed cathing up on some zzzzs
b) downstairs in the utility room in a puddle of water trying to reach the inaccessible valves needed to isolate the leaking water softener

:mad::(

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

I have heard that the problem with the 2nd amendment is that it was written by someone with the typical American inability to spell correctly - it was actually intended to allow all the people to wear t-shirts :rotfl:

And some people say that spelling isn't important! :mad:
See what's happened now? And all because a little a and e got put in the wrong places!



The other problem, of course, is this.................





(I know this isn't really a meme/gif thread, but I couldn't resist these two this morning).
Bear with me.

(Someone from a department store twice emailed me with " bare with me". I'm afraid the devil on my shoulder overcame the angel on t'other one that day, and I replied, declining politely).