One more law with no teeth

Here we go, so now Donnie and Mitch are talking about background checks for every gun sale. The staunch advocates of our Second Amendment rights, staunch NRA allies. Sure. Please tell me this doesn’t surprise you. Please.

Let’s look at the high-level logic of this. Most recent mass shooters have gotten their guns legally with background checks. Or they have borrowed a gun from someone who has. So how is this going to identify mass shooters? Another feel good law that will do nothing. How about the threat on the street or in a gang? Do you really think criminals will buy guns through legal means? Do you really think extremists will buy/sell their buddies guns through background check processes?

It’s not that I have a big problem with background checks. I just think the reasons for putting this one in at this time are wrong or even sinister. Gee, let’s have our leaders agree on some feel good gun law. The real effect will be law-abiding gun owners will pay more in taxes and be better tracked. Just in case of what, exactly?

I propose we should be talking about red flag measures that actually bite. Look, we find out after-the-fact that most of these mass shooters someone knew about, if not multiple folks. It’s the kid in school that wears the long dark clothes and threatens people. It’s the religious zealot who argues angrily over his views with anybody who listens and threatens people or places. It’s the guy on the no-fly list for a good reason. It’s the guy who has threatened his coworkers. It’s the guy on websites talking with his buddies about “somebody should do this or that” and burning crosses. We know who they are.

You know, if you’re on the no-fly list, maybe you should work on figuring out why you’re on it and get off of it instead of trying to buy a gun. And if you threaten your wife/girlfriend and others around you, maybe you should explore anger issues instead of trying to buy more guns. And if you’re poor, unhappy and can’t get out of the hole you’re in, don’t blame it on somebody else. Do something about it, even get some help. There’s plenty out there.

We the people individually know who these people are. We are either scared of reporting them, or we tell ourselves they won’t act on their words, or we are one of them. We should have a mechanism for pointing it out and vetting those reports. And that mechanism should work. Not to spy on the masses but to keep ourselves in check. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re some Muslim who thinks that all other people are wrong if they’re not part of your religion and should die, you shouldn’t have a gun and there are people who know that. And if you’re some white extremist who thinks that every other color on this planet is bad and should die, you shouldn’t have a gun and there are people who know that. Just a few examples, mind you, but does it get any simpler?

Law-enforcement should be aware of all these idiots, and to do that they need more support. Law enforcement/government also needs to be monitored very carefully so as to not allow abuse. This process should all be very transparent. There should be government and watchdog groups that report to other government and watchdog groups. If there’s any hint of abuse it should be in the media and dealt with immediately and harshly, because certainly what I’m suggesting can threaten a democracy. People all over the world use it for ill-gotten gains.

But wait, don’t we already have this in place? Why don’t we simply work on making what’s in place better? Why are we viciously arguing over new laws that are likely not great solutions and not even enforceable? Just putting more thought, time and resources into what already exists will work. Of course there will be some changes and updates, but that’s how all processes progress if they’re to get better.

Different sides, same coin.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/pelosi-warns-gop-that-a-democratic-president-could-declare-a-national-emergency-on-guns.html?fbclid=IwAR2UGUlR-zKD-mGUppHUMUnF_lFqER2hGS1JVwz5VMy6ePVghOD6dpXQ_tQ

She’s right. Then We the People can watch our great leaders declare emergencies until we can’t get out of our borders and have to call our leaders ‘Father’.

Both sides are the same. Extreme control freaks. Trust none of them. This is why our founding fathers put all this down in writing. To preserve our rights. We the people must recognize tyranny in all it’s forms and persevere to preserve those precious rights.

The Blame Game: Talk the Talk

So, another school shooting and we hear ‘ban the guns’ again. Like that would without a doubt solve the problem. Like there aren’t already millions out there. What I don’t hear is real solutions. Want to keep people safe? Ban some guns or legislate keeping some people from getting them and that will do the trick. Always the easy answer and the blame game. Know what? There are no easy answers and we are to blame.

People say they care about children and education. That’s why our education system is a mess when it could be the best in the world. Not enough teachers, teachers who don’t care or don’t have the resources to do their jobs, teachers whose hands are tied, doublewides for classrooms, guns and knives in schools. Kids bullying other kids till they shoot each other or kill themselves.

You say kids are the future? Kids should be protected and not scared at school? Kids have always been scared at schools. There’s always been kids getting beat up. Even shot in inner cities. Just a bit worse now.

You say kids are the future and we need to make sure that we treat them accordingly? You’re right. So do it. Spend the money. Put the time in. Work the details. How about spending more on schools in the right ways to get the right people teaching and make the school someplace the kids want to go? Clean up the buildings. Safety? Metal detectors at every entrance to the school 24/7. Bulletproof glass. Two doors in every classroom. Stop the bullying. Let qualified teachers carry guns and teach them how to safely resolve situations (though in theory we could forego that if the aforementioned solutions were put in place). Hire qualified bus drivers who the kids can trust and we can trust.

When problem kids arise, put the money and time into helping them and figuring out what’s wrong. Worst case, put them in jail or an institution. Everyone should learn accountability early. Make the parents accountable for the things that the kids are doing in the schools. Up to and including jail time. Go outside the schools through outreach programs to give kids things they can do instead of getting into drugs and gangs and stealing cars. Make the programs in the schools such that kids see there’s a way out of the life they have.

Yeah, that’s all going to cost money. Taxes. Do you want great schools and great education and a bright future or do you want your money? You can’t have both. But if you have a truly great education system, everybody has a better standard of living in the end. Why is it that only the elites have true access to a great education system? The same people that run the country. Maybe they don’t want the rest of us to have a great education system. What would you pay to give your own kids a great start in life? If you aren’t answering that question as “almost anything”, there’s something wrong. These are the overriding questions we should be answering.

We say we want our kids to have a bright future. We say a lot of things. If we can’t put our money where our mouths are, then we’re just a bunch of monkeys trying to get something for nothing, make someone else pay for a half ass answer or blame someone else for our misgivings. We talk a lot of talk. Time to walk the walk.

 

Do not look behind the curtain

So the gun control argument is refreshed anew because some crazy bastard executed a plan to shoot a whole bunch of people.

We should not let people buy  semi-automatic weapons. We should not let people buy automatic weapons. Whatever. The cat’s already out of the bag. The criminals and crazies will still have them.

How about nobody has guns? You think our forefathers trusted each other when they put together the second amendment? What happens in other countries when only the government has guns?

How about everybody has guns?  Then we can all start one big Civil War because we hate each other.

Look, the issue isn’t the guns. It’s the people. Humans have some fundamental issues that few seem to be arguing about. We act like animals. Not all of us, but most of us a lot of the time. Some of us get even worse. Animals don’t shoot each other and then kill themselves.

So why is it that few are arguing that point? Is it preordained? Is it too hard to change people? Is it easier just to take away the guns and other rights of the individual? Where do we stop?

Any side you look at, it’s voting rights, women’s rights, gun-control rights, corporate rights, right to marry, right to worship, etc.. Arguments going on about all of it.  Our forefathers knew we were going to argue incessantly and even violently about all of it. Because they did, too. That’s why they set this democracy up this way.

What I want to talk about is doing the right thing. I don’t give a damn whether everybody has guns or no one has guns. It wouldn’t matter if everybody was doing the right thing.

 

The way things are

I have a couple of fish tanks with African cichlids in them. They have two types of cichlids and one of the types has different colors between them. One orange, one orange with spots, and one gray.

As they have bred, I’ve noticed that the two types of cichlids do not interbreed. Kind of maybe like a chimpanzee and a great ape? The different colors do interbreed, but over the years I have not noticed any more of one type versus another.

They also fight, sometimes for food, more often for territory, and definitely for breeding rights with a female. But that’s about it. They don’t understand what money is.

That’s just the way things are.

Divide and conquer the unthinking masses

Had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day. A thinker who expresses himself well.  He took one side of an argument and I took the other. I shredded his argument  and the argument of the think tank who’s article he sent me.  Instead of arguing further in reply or capitulating, he stated that we should not discuss these issues because neither of us will change the others mind.

Maybe he was saving face because he couldn’t think of a better argument? Either way this is dangerous. People must be able to argue each and every issue. Because the details of the issue  is what is important. Not identity politics. Media, politicians, universities, pundits of all sorts and elites on both sides will have you believe that you are either this or that. You are not. Every one of us is a complex thinking animal that has beliefs and thoughts on every issue. Whether we like that or not.

Do the work. Think. Argue. Or we will be divided and conquered by this side or that.

We better start caring

This is the follow-up to ‘Nobody cares’.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-07/russians-are-said-to-be-suspects-in-hacks-involving-nuclear-site

Man, we better start caring more. Nobody’s saving us from the mess were getting ourselves into. The way that you get better is to try harder, to care and do the work.

There are a lot of people out there who do care. Scientists, teachers, reporters, cops, healthcare workers, lawyers, house cleaners, babysitters and others. They come in all professions and most professions have both people who do and don’t care. People have to motivate themselves and care. We can’t expect our leaders to motivate us and care, though it’s nice to see when some do.

Look, there are over 7 billion humans on this earth. That’s a lot for a species as physically large as us. You see that many of other large species? As far as I can tell, nothing else is close. What happens when a species overruns the resources that it has? What if we create something stupid that takes away those resources, like a total electrical power failure or some sort of nuclear catastrophe? We go bye-bye. Maybe we take everything else with us. Let’s not be a plague. That’s all I’m saying.

https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/dying-mother-ganges-holy-river-succumbs-to-pollution?utm_campaign=web-app-launch&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=rcom&utm_content=ros

Some of us have it pretty good here. We need to start taking care of what we’ve got or lose it. That means spending less time in front of the TV and more time understanding politics and keeping those idiots in line. That means spending less time at fast food joints and more time keeping our minds sharp and bodies healthy. It means spending less time and effort scraping everything we can from everybody else and instead sharing more. It means spending less time creating problems and more time and money protecting ourselves from them.

Everybody makes choices. Together we’re making them collectively, good or bad.