Surprised there isn't a thread about this yet. Guess that goes to how how unsurprising it is to hear about another school shooting in America. This time, it was in Uvalde, Texas, at an elementary school.
What stands out to me this time was the baffling incompetence of the local police. So many things they did wrong. First, before entering the school, the shooter fired randomly. People immediately called 911. It should have only taken officers 3 minutes to arrive. It took them fourteen.
An armed officer was posted as the "good guy with a gun" to guard the school. They offered no resistance. When police arrived, officers with children entered the school to find their own kids and escort them out, then left the rest of the kids on their own. They did not engage with the active shooter.
Police waited an hour for backup, forming a perimeter to keep out the parents with the spines to do what they were too cowardly to do themselves. The shoved, handcuffed, and possibly even maced the parents, who screamed in horror as they listened to the sounds of gunshots.
According to a child who survived, police said to the children, "Yell help, if you need help!" One of the girls screamed for help. The gunman, who they had not taken care of yet, then found and shot her to death.
After nearly an hour, the National Guard appeared. They entered and finally killed the murderer.
Governor Greg Abbot congratulated the police on their good work at a press conference, where he conveniently left out any details that made the police look bad.
This fucking infuriates me. How the police could just stand there waiting for backup while children 10 and younger are slaughtered. "To protect and serve" my ass. Worse, I know it is unlikely anything will be done about this while NRA puppets like Abbot and Cruz are in office.
I didn't know those details about the response; I already thought the investigation was necessary because the cops killed someone (no matter how guilty he was)... but now I see it was Necessary(tm) necessary.
This changes my opinion of them, but ultimately I do still think that a logical level you have to ultimately blame the people training them - think about your average cop... let's be 100% honest with ourselves, he is not fit to go into a warzone. That comes down to their training, and you can only blame so much of that (though still blame all the same) on the cop, and so much of it on the corrupt police unions that seem to be intentionally teaching our cops false information to give them a Rambo complex.
And yet unfortunately as our society collapses that is more and more what America will be; an urban warzone... which means the "civilian cops" will be pushed aside for the militarized and authoritarian forces we already see in big cities. I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing wealthier, smaller towns and districts of massive cities start hiring private mercenaries (er, sorry, "contractors") to provide security for the elite... while those of us who are left in the growing slums of America have to deal with all the backlash and they live in growing luxury.
This is about guns 100%, and anyone who argues otherwise is an idiot, but guns are a symptom that only makes up a small fraction of the deeper social and political rot that is dragging us into oblivion. If that problem isn't fixed, guns will be the least of our problems... and it may reach a point where guns are our only protection from that very problem, and one of the two parties causing it are actively attempting to take them away... not maliciously (I hope), but in a "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" sort of way.
Films like "Bladerunner" and "Elysium", books like "Neuromancer" and "Dune"... these artists explicitly stated these were warnings, and yet we didn't listen to them... the scientists, the economists, the experts who told us that our actions would have consequences down the road... and those consequences are getting bumpier and bumpier and we still refuse to listen.
These cops are good for nothing more than writing parking tickets. Too chickenshit to save children from an active shooter, but they have no problem roughing up the terrified parents. They're not willing to be the heroes, but they won't step aside and let the armed parents show them up.
Absolutely disgraceful, and you can't believe a word they say about the investigation/cover-up. They keep changing their story. First they say the cop assigned to protect the school was "brave," but forced to retreat. Now they say he wasn't there. How much you wanna bet he did something shameful they don't want to admit to?
What I want to know is that if cops aren't prepared to stop an active shooter, what is even the point of having cops?
I was going to get real sarcastic with that answer, but not in the mood other than just saying fuck cops.
I mean, do we really need protestors to be brutalized and old men to be shoved to the ground?
(https://i.redd.it/4ouav3v6v8291.jpg)
Here's what he needs to do: write up a resignation letter, apply to be a walmart greeter. Cause standing around is apparently all this guy is good for.
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 29, 2022, 08:26:39 AM(https://i.redd.it/4ouav3v6v8291.jpg)
Here's what he needs to do: write up a resignation letter, apply to be a walmart greeter. Cause standing around is apparently all this guy is good for.
Someone DID tell them what to do! Parents screamed at them for forty minutes, telling them to go in and save the children.
Defund them.
(https://scontent.fhou1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/284819017_454622506709754_6308364075172460846_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=7YiCuD1FrIIAX_d7M9C&_nc_ht=scontent.fhou1-1.fna&oh=00_AT9usjCVwebuulphSX4gYVFVzfi3cAGUEb-MHjnZZjfkww&oe=629A014E)
(https://i.redd.it/51fbzqea9n291.jpg)
In any sane country, this would be a career-ender.
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 30, 2022, 03:55:10 PM(https://i.redd.it/51fbzqea9n291.jpg)
In any sane country, this would be a career-ender.
Wooooow. I'm inching closer to ACAB with every statement they release.
Quote from: Blackleaf on May 30, 2022, 05:08:44 PMWooooow. I'm inching closer to ACAB with every statement they release.
Join the club.
And between not helping in an actual crisis, there's news that they attempted to summarily execute an unarmed pregnant woman (https://mobile.twitter.com/KCDefender/status/1531010435629174784).
And they made the super sensible choice of handcuffing her while she was bleeding out on the ground from their unwarranted brutal attack. :/
(https://i.redd.it/jakxqj59fq291.jpg)
(https://i.redd.it/qld7h1q1ts291.jpg)
They sure are brave when dealing with unarmed civilians.
(https://i.redd.it/7yv0ziqyba291.png)
I don't understand why the word 'hero' is being used in this context to begin with. Trying to eliminate the danger is their job. A 'hero' would be someone, who goes out of their way and risk their life to do something when it is not their duty. They could have come together and try to do something together. It looks like they didn't even try.
Quote from: drunkenshoe on May 31, 2022, 12:40:52 PMI don't understand why the word 'hero' is being used in this context to begin with. Trying to eliminate the danger is their job. A 'hero' would be someone, who goes out of their way and risk their life to do something when it is not their duty. They could have come together and try to do something together. It looks like they didn't even try.
They had the guy outnumbered. They had bulletproof vests. He was one untrained teenager who had barely even held a gun before this. Granted, it was still dangerous, but imagine how different the conversation would have been if they had acted quickly to stop the shooter. They would have been praised for their bravery. The community would have thanked them for saving the lives of their children and teachers. If any had been injured, they would have been seen as heroes. Instead, they chose to wait, and everything they did do only cost the lives of more children. They could have been the heroes, but now they're the villains, practically accomplices to the shooter. Nobody is relieved that the cops left with only minor injuries.
I've been in a few places where the bad guys have the guns and the police have night sticks. I didn't feel safer there.
(https://scontent.fhou1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/284382100_570464517774763_4990220575837520979_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=srezPIKq2XYAX84JggS&_nc_ht=scontent.fhou1-1.fna&oh=00_AT_WF8Ff_ttWwFixzULo_A9WmEMFcWWwx32HXt0qMDVlYA&oe=629BE78F)
I remember hearing something like---a society that does not protect its children has no future. Don't know who said it. But if that has any truth to it, we are beyond a failed society!
(https://scontent.fhou1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/284057933_336340455247174_7537106970599820075_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=VnJJtd4UvjoAX8DtcsT&_nc_ht=scontent.fhou1-1.fna&oh=00_AT9gtxm979mxJr1dFKs0ae21wvuzmaT4KyJMnLseBTMGcg&oe=629CAA70)
I keep seeing people posting that the Supreme Court ruled that the cops do not have a duty to protect people. Not to make excuses for the police, but to explain why they were so reluctant to help. "To protect and serve" is a slogan, not legally binding. People need to wake up and realize they're not here to serve us, and the money that is wasted on the blue mafia would be better spent on social services that would actually help people.
Yep, a few cases of both State and the Court Supreme have agreed they don't have any obligation to protect... and some of the cases are about as fucked up as what happened here.
Which leaves an unanswered question of... well, what is their job, legally, then and why should my tax money go to something that does not provide me or my community with a service unless they feel gracious enough to bless us with their presence, which 4/5th of the time is just to harass you...
(https://i.redd.it/ix7izo73py491.jpg)
Police chief didn't know he was in charge. Maybe he shouldn't be in charge, then.
https://www.insider.com/uvalde-schools-police-chief-said-he-intentionally-left-radios-behind-2022-6
Seriously, get this guy a different job.
(https://i.redd.it/3h5ln06wly591.jpg)
I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure that 100 is a lot less short than 10.
Also, somehow I doubt I'll see the "life is short" guy go skydiving or wear a wingsuit. In fact, I think he'll take advantage of government-subsidized healthcare to extend his life as much as possible. And utterly unwilling to even feebly try to extend the lives of others.
How do assholes keep getting into office?
He is also under FBI investigation for corruption and has a lot of allegations around him - Texan politicians don't win on votes outside of like Republicans in Lubbock or Independents in San Antonio, they win purely based on how much money (a lot of it being foreign money from the DNC and GOP) they spend - and fuck me, are Texas elections expensive - $294 million dollars spent, only $100,000 less than Illinois spent and nearly $800,000 less than California spent.
I don't even know Republicans who like him, at most they vote for him because he has an R next to his name... but even most Republicans I know think he is scum.
I don't know. Expecting empathy, common sense, reason... obviously is the wrong way to go. Wouldn't it be awesome, if one of the parents of the victims put one of these carbon wasters in hospital and get away with temporary insanity due grief? Life, you know... It's not just short, things like that happen all the time. There are 206 bones in human body, and they are all breakable. Must be god's plan. I'm just musing. Gawd, look at that cunt's face.
Quote from: Hydra009 on June 16, 2022, 01:02:17 PM(https://i.redd.it/3h5ln06wly591.jpg)
I have no fucking words for this. This is the grossest thing I've read in a really long time.
Quote from: Mermaid on June 18, 2022, 07:59:29 PMI have no fucking words for this. This is the grossest thing I've read in a really long time.
You probably haven't seen the one where a right-winger drew a pic of those kids in heaven playing together and everything is great and they say that life is rough but trust in Jesus and pwetty pwease don't ban guns.
Chief Failure put on leave.
(https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-school-district-puts-pete-arredondo-administrative-leave/story?id=85572056&cid=social_fb_abcn)
It's a start.
I was in Sutherland Springs a few days ago for the first time, never realized that it was in the same region I grew up in.
Didn't do much for my confidence knowing that it is the exact same type of people I grew up around and now am trying to convince my mom to get the hell away from - our state GOP are now pretty much outright calling LGBT+ abominations, and her church has a gay pastor... if it can happen just down the road...
Texas is even more culturally split than I realized, and I already knew it was astronomical. I thought the backwater piss-hole I grew up in was the poor exception, not the even poorer normal.
I don't think Texas can go more than 5 more years without a large-scale paramilitary action happening here, if not sooner.
Shiranu, may have even asked you this before--but old people always forget--well, everything. :)) My dad was born and raised in Mexia, which is east of Waco and due south of Corsicana. Is this anywhere near where you were raised??
Quote from: Hydra009 on June 22, 2022, 10:31:29 PMChief Failure put on leave.
(https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-school-district-puts-pete-arredondo-administrative-leave/story?id=85572056&cid=social_fb_abcn)
It's a start.
Paid, I'm sure. Cops don't get fired. They get rewarded with paid retirement.
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12 out of 433 times (a whopping 2.7%), A Good Guy With A Guntm saved the day.
If you factor in security guards and/or off-duty officers, that rises to 22 out of 433 times (5%). Curiously, a bystander subduing the attacker happens roughly twice as often as that, 42 out of 433 times (9.7% chance)
But the most likely outcomes are that the attacker kills people and leaves the scene before the cops show up (assuming they intend to show up) 113 out of 433 times (26% chance)
That followed closely by a scenario where the attacker kills people and is then killed by the police, 98 out of 433 times (22.6% chance)
Step right up folks and roll those dice. You never know where you're going to land.
(https://i.redd.it/arvd18dsjn891.jpg)
Imagine being so bad at your job that someone doing your job while you cowered made you so mad that harrassing them is now your new job.