Archive for the ‘civility’ Tag
October 1, 2018
What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you or said to you? Why did this mean so much?
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We live in a pretty uncivil world these days. People just treat each other badly, often … in traffic, on social media, in the grocery store … it would be easy to get discouraged with the current state of affairs.
But I’ve had lots of people do kind things to me and for me. Once when our family was going through a really rough time, I came home from work to find a cooler of Alaska wild-harvest products (jams, jellies, crabapple butter, and a raspberry and rhubarb pie) sitting on my front porch. Under the sweets was a caribou roast and a bag of potatoes with the dirt still on them. Twenty-four years later, I have no idea who did this. It wasn’t that we needed the food so much as someone knew we were having a hard time and they took the time to show me they cared. If you’re reading this, thanks for the cooler. We still use it on picnics.
I am an Alaskan woman which means I can change my own car tires and do simple auto repair because people (male or female) who can’t do that here end up dying of hypothermia waiting for rescue. Triple-A comes from Seattle, so that’s three days at 60 mph if the tow truck driver doesn’t sleep. We have cell phone service these days, but not everywhere. So skills are a necessity here. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like it when young military guys pull up behind my car on the highway and offer to “change that tire for you, ma’am?” I’ll compliment him on his skill and pull over at the nearest gas station to check those bolts are tight enough. Be grateful, but verify.
When I worked for an agency that was going through a rough re-organization, the Executive Director (who was not known for handing out compliments) said to me one day that he appreciated that I always kept a good attitude and never said “No, I can’t do that” without a good reason. That compliment meant a lot of me because I knew I’d earned it.
I was one day sharing my concerns about my daughter’s gypsy musician lifestyle and one of the women in our Bible Study group apparently misunderstood what I was saying because she said “Isn’t it marvelous that she’s so brave and what a incredible testimony to how you and your husband raised her?” It was a different way of looking at the situation and changed my attitude toward Bri’s adventures. I am partially responsible for them because my husband and I raised her to be fierce and independent and comfortable with hiking in the wilderness with bears, so she’s not frightened by the highways and byways of America. I still worry about her (you never stop worrying about your kids, I think), but I now see her life as an adventure and believe that God has her back and will see her through many of the dangers associated with the life she’s chosen.
But the most heart-touching compliment I ever received wasn’t really a compliment. It was more like a prophesy. Several years ago, events caused me to decide to leave the church I’d been a member of for decades. I loved that church. That spiritual family had seen me and my family through some wonderful times and some hard times. It is still my heart-home. But the pastor at the time was insufferable and the other members were backing him up, so it was time to go. I made that decision on a Sunday morning just before church service. I was literally in the parking lot when I decided I couldn’t go in. So, I went to a gas station to buy a coffee and decide what church I would go to that day. My heart was breaking as I waited for the man in front of me to fill his coffee vase so I could fill my cup. He turned around and I smiled because I have a commitment to being civil with people in public and it wasn’t his fault I was sad. And these words came out of his mouth:
Bless you, my sister in Christ, for your value is far above rubies and you have come into this world for just such a time as this. Your feet are upon the mountain path and it looks scary now, but don’t you worry because He has your hand and will lead you home.
He was right. I did find another spiritual home. Ironically, I went to the church we are currently members of that first morning, but because we had several friends already at that church, we didn’t want to just make an easy choice. We wanted to be where God wants us to be. So we visited about 10 churches over the next couple of months, but we finally returned to the first church I went to that morning of the prophesy. And, while it isn’t like our old church in so many ways, the feeling of spiritual family has gradually grown so that when we were asked if we would come back to our old church after the insufferable pastor left, we decided it was best for us not to do that.
But how he knew my situation that morning — it was a pure God thing. I’ve since met him again. He’s a deacon at a local church and he says God gave him those words many years ago and he’s felt called to say them a couple of dozen times to various people for no reason that he has ever known. He has another one for men. It’s a prophesy of foresaying – speaking God’s word into the life of someone at that moment rather than some future event (foreseeing). It draws from four different Bible passages — it’s not new revelation. I probably already knew what he said, but I needed to be reminded of God’s word and he was there to deliver the message. He was quite blessed when I was able to tell him that his message was delivered to the right person at the right time that day. It gave him hope that he’s not just a crazy man spouting forth Bible verses to random strangers in gas stations. And here’s the rub — two seconds before he said those words, I had decided I was going to go home and not attend church that morning. Maybe that would have been a fateful decision. How that would have turned out, only God knows, but I suspect it wouldn’t have been healthy for me, which is why God arranged for me to encounter this angel unawares.
We live in a divisive world full of people who backbite and strive to outdo one another, where civility is a limping, bleeding sacrifice to the tyrannical attitudes people hold toward each other. But there are a lot of bright spots if we keep our eyes open for them. Sunlight shines through the clouds and, even now, still creates rainbows.
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Another conversation on Facebook – Define “conservative”
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Before college campuses were adrift in the current morass of anti-thought, New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, a groundbreaking book that really ought to be read before wading into the tide of “trigger warnings”, “microaggressions”, and “safe spaces” that has become the dominate culture of college campuses. Haidt’s book is the most fascinating work on social science to come out in the last five years. In 2012, our political landscape was already deeply polarized and that has been magnified by several times in a half decade, but Haidt offers hope and a way forward.
Haidt starts by delving into the psychological causes behind our tribal politics. Drawing upon social psychology and 25 of original research on moral psychology, Haidt shows how evolution is responsible for shaping people’s morality that both binds and divides and how politics and religion create conflicting communities of shared morality.
According to Haidt, moral attitudes and judgments originate from intuition, not calculated logic. In his 1739 A Treatise of Human Nature, the philosopher David Hume remarked that, “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.” According to Haidt, the findings of modern social psychology research largely vindicate Hume.
To illustrate his point, Haidt uses the metaphor of a rider and an elephant. The rider represents the conscious mind with its rational functions and controlled processes. But the domineering elephant is everything else outside the rider’s control: automatic processes that include emotions and intuitions. Although the rider can do “several useful things” such as planning for the future and learning new skills, ultimately “the rider’s job is to serve the elephant.” As a result of this one-sided relationship, the rider mostly “fabricat[es] post hoc explanations for whatever the elephant has done, and becomes good at finding reasons to justify whatever the elephant wants to do next.” In short, “conscious reasoning functions like a lawyer or press secretary.”
How is this reflected in political discourse? When people are asked to believe something that conflicts with their intuitions, they instinctively seek an escape hatch – any reason to doubt the argument or conclusion that is vexing their deeply held beliefs.
Moral judgment is not a purely cerebral affair in which we weigh concerns about harm, rights, and justice. It’s a kind of rapid, automatic process more akin to the judgments animals make as they move through the world, feeling themselves drawn toward or away from various things. Moral judgment is mostly done by the elephant.
If you’re trying to change someone’s mind on a moral or political issue, you have to “talk to the elephant first.” You can rarely approach someone from a reasoned stance until you have satisfied their emotional or moral foundation.
I’m not going to say I completely agree with Haidt, because my initial first step toward Christianity was actually from a book on reason – Francis Schaeffer’s “The God Who Is There”, but I found a lot of compelling information in Haidt’s book. Through his interdisciplinary research, Haidt and his colleagues uncovered six moral foundations that are shared across human cultures:
1) Care/harm: This foundation is related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. It underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance.
2) Fairness/cheating: This foundation is related to the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism. It generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy. [Note: In our original conception, Fairness included concerns about equality, which are more strongly endorsed by political liberals. However, as we reformulated the theory in 2011 based on new data, we emphasize proportionality, which is endorsed by everyone, but is more strongly endorsed by conservatives]
3) Loyalty/betrayal: This foundation is related to our long history as tribal creatures able to form shifting coalitions. It underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it’s “one for all, and all for one.”
4) Authority/subversion: This foundation was shaped by our long primate history of hierarchical social interactions. It underlies virtues of leadership and followership, including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions.
5) Sanctity/degradation: This foundation was shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination. It underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way. It underlies the widespread idea that the body is a temple which can be desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an idea not unique to religious traditions).
6) Liberty/oppression: This foundation is about the feelings of reactance and resentment people feel toward those who dominate them and restrict their liberty. Its intuitions are often in tension with those of the authority foundation. The hatred of bullies and dominators motivates people to come together, in solidarity, to oppose or take down the oppressor. We report some preliminary work on this potential foundation in this paper, on the psychology of libertarianism and liberty.
Haidt found left-liberals and progressives recognize primarily the first two moral foundations, Care/harm and Fairness/Cheating, but tend to reject Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity, as proper morals. They feel these are base human traits responsible for patriarchy, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression. The US/EU political left holds an outlier stand compared to most other parts of the world.
Haidt noted that in “Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultures,” the moral spectrum is “unusually narrow” and largely limited to the ethics of individual autonomy.
In contrast, many non-WEIRD societies and conservatives use all five moral foundations that include embracing the ethics of divinity and community. Libertarians are a truly unique political species and are not easily placed on the Left-Right political spectrum in that they prize the last moral foundation, Liberty, above all other values.
These are extraordinary differences and would explain the growing political polarization in the United States and why liberals can’t understand conservatives (and vice versa). In today’s political discourse, partisans often seem to argue not so much against each other, but past each other.
Given that human nature is tribal, people automatically form teams with those who share similar values and morals. While morality can “bind” people together through benefits such as group cohesion and unity, it also “blinds” them to the possibilities or even the existence of other legitimate perspectives. That’s the premise of The Matrix. This kind of “moral matrix” can be so strong that it “provides a complete, unified, and emotionally compelling worldview, easily justified by observable evidence and nearly impregnable to attack by arguments from outsiders.”
As challenging as it may be to see through one’s own ideological blinders, empathy is crucial for successful outreach, acts as an “antidote to righteousness,” and has the added benefit of expanding one’s own intellectual horizons.
Why Intellectual Diversity Matters
Human reason has inherent limits, so Haidt reminds us that “we should not expect individuals to produce good, open-minded, truth-seeking reasoning, particularly when self-interest or reputational concerns are in play.”
However, under the right circumstances and conditions, people can use their reasoning powers to check the claims of others. That’s what Schaeffer’s book prompted me to do. It’s what I still do when I encounter reasoning that confounds me or makes me feel uncomfortable. When people “feel some common bond or shared fate that allows them to interact civilly, you can create a group that ends up producing good reasoning as an emergent property of the social system.” It is especially “important to have intellectual and ideological diversity within any group or institution whose goal is to find truth (such as an intelligence agency or a community of scientists) or to produce good public policy (such as a legislature or advisory board).”
Companies that wish to attract top talent in an effort to remain innovative have long embraced intellectual diversity as a paramount ideal. Universities, most of which are still committed to the mission to search for truth and push the boundaries of human knowledge, in particular must embrace complete freedom of speech, open inquiry, epistemic humility, and tolerance for the most radical and eccentric. Championing viewpoint and philosophical diversity goes hand in hand with these fundamental principles that form the bedrock of a liberal education.
Haidt’s findings from moral psychology are consistent with research from other fields highlighting the value of those who “think different.”
Saras Sarasvathy at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business profiled some of the most successful entrepreneurs and found them to be spontaneous contrarians who have “confidence in their ability to recognize, respond to, and reshape opportunities as they develop” to the point that they “thrive on contingency.” Unsurprisingly, entrepreneurs relish bucking conventional wisdom whether it be following standard management practices or any other kind of defined linear process.
Adam Grant at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has extensively researched how “originals” move the world. Startups, which by their very nature are nonconformist, have a special obligation to hire originals who can seed a resilient culture, anticipate market movements under conditions of extreme uncertainty, and repurpose dissenting ideas in alternative ways. Grant emphasizes how originals can mitigate the risks every company faces:
Conformity is dangerous – especially for an entity in formation. If you don’t hire originals, you run the risk of people disagreeing but not voicing their dissent. You want people who choose to follow because they genuinely believe in ideas, not because they’re afraid to be punished if they don’t. For startups, there’s so much pivoting that’s required that if you have a bunch of sheep, you’re in bad shape.
Eric Weiner speculates that intellectual development is stimulated when one’s world is turned upside down:
Many immigrants possess what the psychologist Nigel Barber calls “oblique perspective.” Uprooted from the familiar, they see the world at an angle, and this fresh perspective enables them to surpass the merely talented. To paraphrase the philosopher Schopenhauer: Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Broadly liberal attitudes towards risk-taking, unorthodox thinking, and entrepreneurship are among the reasons why the United States is still the richest country in the world. In science writer Matt Ridley’s wide-reaching book The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, the writer traced the origins and spread of economic prosperity. He credits voluntary exchange and specialization, specifically what happens when different ideas meet, mate, and recombine to create new ideas, for being the main drivers of human economic and social progress.
Innovations often happen when you combine two or more things in unexpected ways. When you have a diverse group of people working on something, magic often happens because each person brings a different perspective and experience to the table. John Daly, University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business
Authentic diversity must go beyond identity checkboxes to fully include diversity in ideas. Viewpoint diversity drives creative tension, cross-cultural understanding, and the ability to identify and solve problems from multiple perspectives. Creativity and innovation ultimately depend on people stepping outside of comfort zones and trying new things including exposure to radical and unorthodox ways of thinking.
Intellectual diversity creates awareness of our own blinders. While there are obvious economic benefits in that, a marketplace of ideas is one of the key underpinnings of a free society. Truth can emerge when views are freely exchanged, challenged, and refined. People’s individual reasoning have inherent limits but through our collective intelligence, we can achieve the impossible.
Even though our intuition-based morality divides our allegiances into different tribes that seemingly cannot coexist with others, accepting and encouraging intellectual diversity creates awareness of our own blinders and provides a possible escape path out of our moral matrices.
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I’m writing an apocalyptic series. When I first started, I didn’t really think the US would be headed toward a civil war before my son’s beard completely grew in, but the last year has me rethinking that feeling … at times.
I want to believe that the fears of civil war are mostly overblown, but …. I want such scenarios to stay inside my books, but ….
The Good News?
I see some hard leftists and some hard rightists will to kill each other, but I don’t see even my heavily-armed neighbors shooting at one another or even at the people in neighbors within my city. Politics makes people irrational, but average people don’t shoot each other over political disagreements.
The Bad News?
Some observers disagree with me. They don’t live in Alaska, where politics is an indoor participation sport, and they think there’s a rational argument for why civil war can happen.
Jonathan Logan makes a thoughtful, informed argument for the plausibility of civil war:
- For young people to be susceptible to war (the young fight while the old stay home and direct), they must not be too settled, invested, or satisfied with the status quo and they can’t be living stable lives. They require some motive, be it “making a name for themselves” or “fighting evil” or whatever.
- Few young people in the West are willing to fight a foreign enemy for their country. (Polls find approximately 12% in Germany and 20% in the US). But when you ask if they would participate in riots against an unjust political order, the numbers shoot up. In Germany, it’s 66%; in the US, it’s about 60%.
- For a civil war (which is really just a big riot against what is perceived to be an unjust political order) to break out, enough people must perceive the current situation as unbearable and be willing to use violence.
- The police must be unable or unwilling to keep the two sides apart.
Jonathan Logan’s theory goes like this:
- There’s a growing inability of “cultural progressives” and “cultural conservatives” to engage in reasonable dialogue. Civility long ago hit the fan and was shredded by the blades.
- For a long time the “cultural progressives” had success after success. That led to the internal perception that they were not just right but also absolutely right if only those stupid hicks (deplorables) would get out of their way. This was really the general lay of the American political landscape from the late-1960s through to the 2016 election with a couple of moderate setbacks when Reagan restructured taxes in 1986 and when Congress did the Contract with America in 1994.
- Meanwhile, with limited and sporadic access to the reins of governmental power, “cultural conservatives” grew dissatisfied. They were pushed by progressives on a whole variety of issues to the point where they had a hard time tolerating some of the cultural changes that were forced on them.
- Before Brexit and Trump, progressives were absolutely convinced that they were right, that they would win, and that the future would be bright. This wasn’t just an assumption. They were convinced of this as surely as they were convinced the sun will rise tomorrow morning. The election of 2016 came as a crushing surprise to them. They didn’t just lose an election. The results of that election destroyed their world perception. OMG, progressive liberals are NOT the center of the universe. The sky IS FALLING!
- The result is widespread post-traumatic stress disorder. The progressives didn’t just lose; they were traumatized. They now experience anything or anyone that doesn’t go 100% according to their ideology as being violent, hurtful, and triggering. Their coping mechanism is to push harder, become more radical, accept less compromise. They feel that everyone else is actually trying to kill them.
- At the same time the cultural conservatives experienced something new: victory. They’d just spent a decade in one losing battle after another. First, Bush 2 had reneged on his promises to them and then Obama had told them to sit down, shut up and let their betters lead because they were never getting into power again. Although they won the election of 2016, they are intently aware that there’s a huge mess to clean up. When they see progressives pushing back, they remember all the times conservative values were shelved, denigrated and ignored. They remember what it was like to be backed into a corner. Many of them haven’t actually left the corner yet.
- So, we have two groups backed into corners with a huge no-man’s land between them. Both groups are deeply polarized and have virtually no shared values on which to find common ground.
- A defining characteristic of my children’s generation (Millennials) is that they know they can expect nothing from the status quo. Add to that they lack tools for conflict resolution. Their generation is split between progressives and conservatives. Yeah, really, there are many conservative Millennials. Currently they are not the largest generation in existence and they lack influence because they are young. They, therefore, have no way to implement anything that matters to them.
- So, the Millennials on the progressive side feel they must radicalize because it is imperative to destroy the “evil” other side. Antifa, BLM, RevCom, those groups at the center of the protests and riots, are desperate, hurting, hating, and they feel righteous in their anger.
- Meanwhile, conservatives are starting to feel fear. Conservatives reject radicalism and the disorder that comes with it. They look at the progressive side and they see agitation, violence and hateful rhetoric. Their natural reaction is to defend themselves.
- We’re already seeing the more radical of Millennial conservatives and progressives pull out clubs. That’s what happened in Charlottesville and Oakland. That’s a growing trend that doesn’t show signs of stopping. In fact, the progressives have planned a whole series of color-revolution-type protest/riots for November.
- At the same time, the police are choosing to stand down in these conflicts. More often than not, they agree with the progressive sentiments, but occasionally a conservative administration will not step in the middle of a clash until someone has died.
- And their refusal to decisively take sides is what allows the ingredients of civil war to ignite. –
I kind of agree with Logan that people are currently so polarized that the ingredients are there for civil war, but I’m going to keep hoping that people will listen to their better angels and just stay home. That’s unlikely with the media stirring the pot in the pursuit of ratings. If a civil war does happen, Judy Woodruff and Sean Hannity will be culpable for causing it.
Notice, I’m not blaming this on President Trump. Why not? Because I don’t think the president is that important. I also don’t think he is seeking to tear the country apart. He is seeking to fulfill his campaign promises and, regardless of whether he does fulfillment well, he’s answerable to the people who put him in office. Let him have his turn. He’ll be out of office in three years if he doesn’t do a good job or seven years if he does and then you’ll get another shot at tyrannizing the country … or not. Maybe by that time, you polarized advocates for coercing “the other guy” will have figured out that politics is poison and that we’d all be better off if we paid less attention to it.
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I admire the French satirical magazine Charlie Bedo for its continued confrontation of cultural sacred cows. I’m not a regular subscriber because I don’t read French well enough to fully enjoy it, but I like their cartoons and a friend who is fluent sometimes forwards translated articles. Still, I think they went too far with this cover, which features the phrase “Dieu Existe! Il a noyé tous les néo-Nazis du Texas” as the caption. When my friend sent me the cover and asked me what I thought, I didn’t even need his translation of the French to know that this was rude and insensitive. I know just enough French to know it said something about “God exists” and “neo-Nazis of Texas.”
The caption translates to “God Exists! He drowned all the neo-Nazis in Texas!”
Charlie Hebdo is not exactly known for kindness, tact, or any sort of respect, but this sinks pretty low even for a magazine that specializes in low.
Before I could think about what I would blog about it, people quickly to remind Hebdo that the world (including the United States) stood by the publication when their offices were attacked by Islamic terrorists and that the U.S. military did a pretty good job eliminating the Nazis during WWII.
It pissed off Brad, who lived in Houston for about five years. He says the cover makes no sense. Houston is not a Republican city, the people of Texas most definitely are not neo-Nazis, and people of all races and creeds and colors were affected by the flooding and the storm. It comes off as a cheap shot at a community that is already suffering, and it’s pretty tasteless. If Hebdo is attacked again by folks angry over their slaying of sacred cows, they will have one less supporter and I don’t think I’m alone.
You have a right to free speech, but there are lines that just shouldn’t be crossed.
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I really strongly believe in the right of every human being to state their opinions without fear of retaliation by government or individuals. There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed in that belief. Shouting “fire” in a theater is not an opinion. It’s an incitement to panic. Calling people names has more nuance. If you call someone a derogatory term from 30 feet away, they are responsible to control themselves. If your face is in there and you have a club, they might seek to defend themselves.
So neo-Nazi thugs in Charlottsville, Virginia decided to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue by marching in the streets calling “Jews will not replace us.”
I actually mildly oppose the statue removal because I feel like it’s an attempt to scrub history and that doesn’t set well with me, but I have a better idea for our alt-right folks … buy the statue, buy a plot of land, put the statue on the land and stop screaming about it. Really, you could probably do a Kickstarter program and find folks who would fund it for you, but you could also just pass a hood around at the next KKK gathering.
These young people clashing in a town with a university founded by Thomas Jefferson imagine that they can change others by marching, waving flags and shouting slogans. It’s not just the alt-right who believe that, but the counter-protesters who are clashing with them also believe it. Please note, folks, that people rarely change their minds about people they oppose when the opposition is driving a boot into their ribs. And, both sides have done that this weekend. There is no good side on this. There’s just violence and aggression.
Many of the young men and women in the alt-right movement come from good homes and, under normal circumstances, would never hurt anyone, but they are a marginalized group that hangs around with others who are similarly marginalized and pretty soon the rhetoric they use to sooth their social pain starts to make sense and it seems reasonable to do the things they do, especially since they see groups like Black Lives Matter get away with smashing shop windows, burning cars and beating Trump supporters. History teaches that no idea is too insane to be off-limits to a group that perceives itself to be powerless through ordinary means of ruling. The means justify the ends
But know that the forces arrayed against them also have an intolerant ideology that would seek to subjugate these young men and women and silence anyone who expresses any opinion they deem “incorrect”. They also justify their violence and coercion in the name of “tolerance”, which is pretty ironic because they’re not at all tolerant of diversity of opinion. This burgeoning leftist movement seeks to counter the emerging alt-Right movement by demanding the government crack down further on human rights and freedoms. It’s really a perfect storm for totalitarianism and sort of reminds me of when Hilter stood before the burned-out hulk of the Reichstad and insisted he needed total power to protect Germany from their enemies.
What do we who are not caught up in the rhetoric and violence do now? The answer lies in the source of the problem. The huge mess began with bad ideas — bad thinking created by marginalization by a societal elite who doesn’t want to hear any opinions it didn’t approve. The answer to bad ideas is better ideas. We all need to throw ourselves into the intellectual battle as never before.
What are those good ideas?
You’ll find it in the historical progress of the last 500 years. You’ll find there a lot of books and speeches about social harmony, human rights, the aspiration of universal dignity, the conviction that we can work together in mutual advantage, the market economy as a means of peace and prosperity, and, above all else, the beauty and magnificence of the idea of liberty itself.
It’s time to rededicate ourselves to the mission of educating people to understand the left/right cycle is a violent trap that we can escape from if we will embrace liberty and the right of everyone to hold an opinion, even when it is wrong, without fear of physical assault and coercion.
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Hi, this is Brad. Lela is rewriting, so she’s letting me play on her blog. Oh my!
I didn’t know this woman. We were just in a class together. When her baby started fussing, she pulled up her t-shirt, exposing both breasts, and started feeding the baby. Every man in the room (and we were half the group) turned bright red and forgot all about learning anything. I watched as men shifted to relieve pressure from certain parts of their anatomy and smelled at least a few deodorants fail.
Is it just me or do women’s breasts make most men a tad uncomfortable?
There’s something about it that just makes my anatomy react.
That’s not a bad thing when it’s my wife’s breasts, but if it’s some other guy’s girl … nope, that’s not a good thing.
The Bible, actually Jesus in the Bible, tells me that if I look at a woman I’m not married to with lust in my heart, I’m guilty of adultery without every touching her or even talking to her.
Gulp!
So, when I see a woman breastfeeding uncovered in public, I don’t think — “Oh, how sweet!” I think “Please cover up, lady. Don’t make me guilty of what I don’t want to be guilty of.”
And, no, it is a visceral, instinct-based reaction that cannot be controlled. I can look away, but I can’t prevent that “oh-mama!” initial reaction because I am a normal male with normal sexual desires and it is written into my DNA that I’m supposed to be turned on by breasts.
Not too long ago, a Virginia woman did what she normally did when her 19-month-old baby was agitated—she breast-fed her. Trouble is, she did it in church, uncovered. Apparently, she now feels her “rights as a mom have been violated” because the church objected. Is there a right to breast-feed? Is there a right to breast-feed in public? Is there a right to breast-feed n a church? Is there a right to breast-feed uncovered?
I say “No” to all of those questions. There is no right to breast-feed … except on your own property — which means there is no right to breast-feed in public.
First, let’s get something straight. Lela breast-fed our two munchers and she did it in public and in church … but not uncovered.
The Summit Church in Springfield, Virginia, does not allow breast-feeding without a cover because it could make men, teenagers or new churchgoers “uncomfortable.” Yeah! The one place you really don’t want to have lustful thoughts for a woman you’re not married to is while sitting in church next to your wife and kids hearing a sermon on how you should flee sexual immorality. When a woman breast-fed her baby in the middle of a church service at Summit Church, she was asked to go to a private room. She declined. She was also told by a woman that the sermon was being live-streamed and that she would not want her to be seen breast-feeding on camera.
Yeah, let’s not tune into the titty show on the religious channel. We ordinarily don’t allow people to expose their private parts in the church service. That doesn’t magically change because you’ve got a baby with you.
The woman then fled the church, “embarrassed and in shock.” The next day, she posted a Facebook video of her breast-feeding her child, telling viewers what happened and “urging women to stand up for breast-feeding.” “Breast-feeding is normal,” she said. “I have breast-fed in a few different countries. I have breast-fed all over the place,” she said. “No one has ever said anything to me.”
Now the woman and her attorney “are pressing church leaders to reverse their policy. and issue a statement of apology. I guess there’s a Virginia that protects a woman’s “right” to breast-feed in public. The bills passed without any opposition whatsoever and the governor signed it into law back in 2005.
Before passage of this statute, Virginia law guaranteed mothers the right to breast-feed on state-owned property or any public place without violating the state’s indecent exposure law. Now, a woman may breastfeed in any place where the mother is lawfully present, including any location where she would otherwise be allowed on property that is owned, leased, or controlled by the Commonwealth in accordance with § 2.2-1147.1.
The church said it “was not aware of the law and would look into it.
A similar incident recently happened in North Carolina. There a judge told a women in his courtroom who was breast-feeding her son:
Ma’am, you need to cover up. For you not to realize that is absolutely ridiculous. Step outside, and cover up right now. Stand up, and go, now.
To nurse the child in the courtroom is just absolutely inappropriate. Now step outside and button up, or whatever you need to do to button up.
Yet, under North Carolina law: “A woman may breast feed in any public or private location where she is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breast feeding.”
These laws (like most laws) should never have been passed because there is no right to breast-feed.
I think breastfeeding is in the best interests of the baby and mother and here are 101 reasons why. I agree with the woman who breast-fed her daughter in church that breast-feeding is normal. I am not against breast-feeding. It is a natural activity.
So are urination, defecation and intercourse, but notice that we don’t do those in public and when we do, most people are okay with us being arrested for it. I’m not suggesting breast-feeding moms should be arrested. I’m suggesting they should take the similarity into consideration and cover up.
Because I am a sexually normal male with a moral code, I prefer (as does my 18-year-old son) that I don’t see bare-chested women. This is especially relevant for Kiernan because he doesn’t have the outlet to go have sex with the woman he’s married to. He’s not married and he claims one of his goals in life is to be a virgin when he marries … but that’s not the easiest thing to do in a society where women feel that somehow their sexually alluring private anatomy changes to something innocent when they are nursing a child. I don’t really understand why some women use breast-feeding as a means to expose themselves in public. I grew up in New York City where they used to (do they still?) arrest men for exposing their genitalia is public. It was a big deal then, and it must still be a big deal here in Fairbanks because the police blotter had some guy being arrested for exposing himself in public a few months ago. So why isn’t it a big deal when a woman does it? Because she’s nursing a baby? I don’t buy that because I know from Lela’s experience that you don’t have to uncover and exposure yourself to public view in order to breast-feed in public.
Then there’s the point Lela made about this when we discussed it. A church is private property. Yes. It’s a public venue, but it is owned by the members of the church. They allow the public in as a courtesy, but the property is not in the public domain. No one, including the government, has the authority to tell anyone what they must allow people to do on their privately held property. Restaurants, stores and churches are all private property.
If government can tell you that you must allow women to breast-feed on your property, then what can’t government tell you that you must allow people to do on your property? Should you be forced to allow public fornication in the middle of the church service? How about urinating and defecating? Male and/or female full-body nudity?
So, you see, there is no right to breastfeed. There is a right to do what you want on your own property, which could include breast-feeding. And there is a right to do what you want on someone’s else’s property as long as you have the owner’s permission and are doing it in accordance with whatever rules they’ve placed on the activity. That goes for breast-feeding, swearing, smoking, drinking, and wearing clothing.
Conversely, if you are on someone’s property and you see a woman breast-feeding her child uncovered, you don’t have the option to pressure the government to make her stop breast-feeding anymore than she has the option to pressure the government to grant her a government-regulated privilege to breast-feed.
Please, ladies, breast-feed … but for the sake of propriety and civility toward the people around you … cover up. It’s not that difficult. Most churches offer “cry rooms” where there are speakers so you don’t miss the sermon and women like Lela can show you how to breast-feed under a drape so you don’t have to relocate unnecessarily. Unless we’re going to stop arresting men for flashing women … but I think that’s really not what you want.
This is Lela. Brad wrote this, but I completely agree with it. I suspect this controversy has arisen because of some women’s insistence that other people can’t tell them what to do even when they’re on the property of those trying to do the telling. Interacting in society means following certain rules. Men don’t pull out their penises in public … and when they do, women call the cops on them. Women should not “flash” men and then try to use their baby as a shield. It is as much sexual assault as when men flash women. Cover up! It’s not that hard and it totally will not injure you or your child. It is among the habits that make up civil conduct within society.
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I’m not terribly surprised by Johnny Depp suggesting “it’s been a while and maybe it’s time.” He’s never struck me as a particularly intelligent person. Celebrities don’t have to be bright or informed. That’s not their job. Their job is to be entertaining and apparently Depp thought his British audience would be entertained by a suggestion that it’s okay to kill a sitting president. It speaks a great deal about the British audience that they laughed. Seriously, people, you were laughing over the prospect of killing another human being.
It’s a great big stupid world. It’s okay to murder babies (and presidents we don’t like), but we really must save the whale … and the snail darter. (With compliments to Randy Stonehill)
I’m not worried about Depp actually attempting the murder the president, but people unaccountably listen to celebrities and people do stupid things … like whomever sent suspicious white powder to the woman who won the Georgia special election.
Remember when Jared Loughner shot Gabby Gifford? The news was focused on a campaign ad by Sarah Palin that featured what was said to be gun-sights on various election campaigns around the country. “Oh, it’s all Sarah Palin’s fault! Destroy the Tea Party. They want to assassinate politicians.” It turned out Loughner had never seen the ad and there was absolutely no evidence that his rampage was caused by an affiliation with the Tea Party (he had long rambling posts on social media about admiring the Communist Manifesto). But the stink stuck and there are still liberals who will bring it up in conversation. “The Tea Party caused what happened to Gifford.” No, it didn’t. No one in the Tea Party advocated for anyone to go out and shoot anyone … including the President. We gathered peacefully in parks and along highways to protest the socialization of the country. Mentally ill people had to act upon their own delusional systems to decide to shoot elected officials.
And that is the difference between the Tea Party and the Resistance. The Resistance seems to be actively calling for violence against Trump and anyone who doesn’t see his presidency in the same way they do. Kathy Griffin (beheading Trump), Snoop Dog (shooting president in the head), Madonna (blowing up the White House), Robert DeNiro (I’d like to punch him in the face), Joss Whedon (what he wants a rhino to do to Paul Ryan isn’t acceptable fodder for this blog), Marilyn Manson (killing Trump in music video), Larry Wilmer (suffocating Trump with Scalia’s pillow) and several others have actively engaged in violent rhetoric, sometimes veiled as humor, but all designed to invoke a response both from their own followers and from “the other side.” I find it ironic that people are so worried about hurting the feelings of Muslims by talking honestly about Islamic terrorism or the feelings of transgendered people by using standard pronouns to describe them are okay with suggesting that murdering someone for their political views is fine.
So, if some Squeaky Fromm-like person tries to kill President Trump, Johnny Depp should be put on trial right next to that person, as an accessory before the fact. There are limits to what you can say under the concept of free speech. Shouting fire in a crowded theater and suggesting someone should kill the president are examples of when you cross a line and should pay a penalty. But, hey, my guess is that this will not hurt Depp’s career in the least and should an assassination attempt occur, nobody will remember who planted the idea in the public’s mind.
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These are the comments from the headline story on the Alexandria shooting.
Retired Chief
3 days ago
CNN did an interview today about the DC shooting with a Republican Congressman from Illinois (can’t remember his name). He was poised and thoughtful. He didn’t focus on the 2nd Amendment or refer to the gun issue at all. Instead, he expressed his view that this horrific event may well be traced to the hate and polarization that exists in America today. I think the Congressman is spot on. This hate is fueled through social media, talk radio, deliberate dissemination of false information, promulgation of ridiculous conspiracy theories, and the “my way or the highway” sickness that has infected our society and our politics.
We all, to one degree or another, are participants and complicit in this situation, which more than any foreign country represents the greatest threat to our democracy and our Republic. All citizens need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if we are contributing to this poisonous hate and intolerance. A citizen with different point of view is not your enemy.
Shawn O’Donnell
3 days ago
To steer clear of the 2nd amendment, on this issue and blame it on polarization is intellectually dishonest. Yes, there is massive polarization in this nation and much of it has to do with guns and the availability of them.
In reply to:
CNN did an interview today about the DC shooting with a Republican Congressman from Illinois (can’t remember his name). He was poised and thoughtful. He didn’t focus on the 2nd Amendment or refer…
— Retired Chief
Retired Chief: Excellent comment..unfortunately, the Commander in Chief disagrees.
just_another_patriot
3 days ago
In reply to:
CNN did an interview today about the DC shooting with a Republican Congressman from Illinois (can’t remember his name). He was poised and thoughtful. He didn’t focus on the 2nd Amendment or refer…
— Retired Chief
Hate is the common denominator of these mass shootings regardless of ideology or mental health. This particular incident is just another one in a continuing string. We need to have a conversation about how we preserve safety and security in our society without turning into a police state or devolving into armed camps.
In reply to:
To steer clear of the 2nd amendment, on this issue and blame it on polarization is intellectually dishonest. Yes, there is massive polarization in this nation and much of it has to do with guns and…
— Shawn O’Donnell
My right to own and use firearms has nothing to do with how polarized you want to be from that, Shawn. It’s only been in recent years that your kind has decided to dictate the availability to others– why is that? Gun crimes have decreased while gun ownership has increased– but what does that have to do with your zealotry?
In reply to:
To steer clear of the 2nd amendment, on this issue and blame it on polarization is intellectually dishonest. Yes, there is massive polarization in this nation and much of it has to do with guns and…
— Shawn O’Donnell
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or religious hatred? Just curious about how you justify your stance.
In reply to:
My right to own and use firearms has nothing to do with how polarized you want to be from that, Shawn. It’s only been in recent years that your kind has decided to dictate the availability to…
— Lars Bauer
Lars, your use of the term “your kind” is exactly what I was trying to speak to. You and Shawn obviously have dramatically different points of view relative to the whole gun rights issue. But why use the term “your kind”? Vilifying someone with whom you disagree just feeds the hatred, intolerance and polarization that seems to permeate our society and politics today. This is what I believe most threatens our Republic.
I’m a Centrist Independent – yes, there’s a few of us still around. I’m also a pragmatist. To the Right and vocal 2nd Amendment advocates, I’d assert that the politics of gun rights and gun control are such that nothing is going to change. Gun control advocates are naïve in thinking that further gun control legislation is possible. It didn’t happen even after Sandy Hook. 2nd Amendment advocates worry and fret over nothing. New gun control laws just ain’t gonna happen. Politics and the citizen divide on the issue will preclude anything but perpetuation of the status quo.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
To steer clear of the 2nd amendment, on this issue and blame it on polarization is intellectually dishonest. Yes, there is massive polarization in this nation and much of it has to do with guns and…
— Shawn O’Donnell
There is a polarization of this country based not on guns but rather freedom and personal responsibility. Gun control does not work as Chicago clearly illustrates.
In reply to:
Lars, your use of the term “your kind” is exactly what I was trying to speak to. You and Shawn obviously have dramatically different points of view relative to the whole gun rights issue. But why…
— Retired Chief
Chief- stop trying to use moral equivalency between me and Shawn. Just because “we disagree” doesn’t mean there isn’t an objective truth out there on the matter of my inalienable rights. Using the term “your kind” doesn’t mean I “hate” him– you’re projecting that, not me.
.
“When your sparring partner scratches or head-butts you, you don’t then make a show of it, or protest, or view him with suspicion or as plotting against you. And yet you keep an eye on him, not as an enemy or with suspicion, but with a healthy avoidance…. You should act this way with all things in life. We should give a pass to many things with our fellow trainees. For, as I’ve said, it’s possible to avoid without suspicion or hate.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.20
.
I avoid “his kind.” and as long as they don’t act in a way to disturb my rights, I don’t “hate” him.
Come on Lars, I suspect you’re better and smarter than the words in your response. Your “inalienable rights” (presumably 2nd Amendment rights) are not an issue for me nor are they at risk today and certainly not in our lifetimes – legal and political reality! Your rights in the real world are not threatened. So don’t lose sleep or fret about your 2nd Amendment rights.
I totally don’t get your use of “moral equivalency” in the context of these exchanges. I didn’t say or imply that you “hate” Shawn. But words matter. If I were to say in a comment to you something like “people of your kind….”, wouldn’t you feel insulted, perhaps even angry?
Shawn O’Donnell
3 days ago
In reply to:
My right to own and use firearms has nothing to do with how polarized you want to be from that, Shawn. It’s only been in recent years that your kind has decided to dictate the availability to…
— Lars Bauer
My Kind? Mr Bauer, I own firearms and I assure you I have fired more rounds out of more types of weapons than you can dream of, I was an expert rifleman and sniper in the army. Now that we have got that out of the way, show me a source that says gun crimes have gone down, cut and past a link go ahead. I
Shawn O’Donnell
3 days ago
In reply to:
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or…
— Lela Markham
I’ll tell you how I justify my stance, first the second amendment does not say what people say it says, it clearly states militia. Second, yes there, have a been a few a very limited amount of gun deaths in those nations, but come on, we kill more in Chicago in one weekend than they do in a year. How many school yard shootings do they have? There gun deaths are news worthy here it is ho hum. Meanwhile you fail to list ALL of the other nations that have restrictions on fire arms, Canada, Germany, Spain Italy, Singapore, Japan, Australia and on and on.
Shawn O’Donnell
3 days ago
In reply to:
There is a polarization of this country based not on guns but rather freedom and personal responsibility. Gun control does not work as Chicago clearly illustrates.
— Patrick Messmer
What? What gun control, that is the point, there is no control, I could fly to Chicago and buy a gun tomorrow. So total access to firearms works? If that is the case we should be the safest nation in the world right? I have a better chance of being killed by another American than I do by any Terrorist, Muslim or otherwise.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Chief- stop trying to use moral equivalency between me and Shawn. Just because “we disagree” doesn’t mean there isn’t an objective truth out there on the matter of my inalienable rights. Using the…
— Lars Bauer
I strongly doubt that Marcus Aurelius used anything like term “head butt.”
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
I’ll tell you how I justify my stance, first the second amendment does not say what people say it says, it clearly states militia. Second, yes there, have a been a few a very limited amount of gun…
— Shawn O’Donnell
It says the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed your cherry picking and only including the last part and less important part of the text. A constitutional scholar you are not
In reply to:
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or…
— Lela Markham
You know, legitimate statistical data actually has uses.. Why don’t you try again?
Thank you for your comment! Your peers are reviewing it now; you can track its status in the Activity view, above.
In reply to:
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or…
— Lela Markham
The social logical causes are one thing; but the weapons they get out of the hands of the military are the proximate cause – and if you understand statistics, you’re probably aware that the gun deaths per 100,000 in Europe – in any European country today – are far lower than they are in the United States.
In reply to:
My Kind? Mr Bauer, I own firearms and I assure you I have fired more rounds out of more types of weapons than you can dream of, I was an expert rifleman and sniper in the army. Now that we have got…
— Shawn O’Donnell
In reply to:
I’ll tell you how I justify my stance, first the second amendment does not say what people say it says, it clearly states militia. Second, yes there, have a been a few a very limited amount of gun…
— Shawn O’Donnell
Try reading the Federalist papers- do you know what our FoundingFathers thought of militias? SCOTUS disagrees with you. Yes- we have more gun violence than countries that ban people’s right to protect themselves with guns– of course we do: if a country banned cars, do you think their incidents of automobile accidents would go up, or down? These countries’ views on rights are much different than ours- AND they are almost entirely homogeneous: if we take certain cities and demographics out of the equation, our crime rates in those areas would mimic a place like Germany’s.
In reply to:
What? What gun control, that is the point, there is no control, I could fly to Chicago and buy a gun tomorrow. So total access to firearms works? If that is the case we should be the safest nation…
— Shawn O’Donnell
In reply to:
I strongly doubt that Marcus Aurelius used anything like term “head butt.”
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
You’re probably right- head butting wasn’t invented until the 1890’s, right? “I strongly doubt” you’ve read Bazooka Joe, let alone Aurelius.
In reply to:
To steer clear of the 2nd amendment, on this issue and blame it on polarization is intellectually dishonest. Yes, there is massive polarization in this nation and much of it has to do with guns and…
— Shawn O’Donnell
I believe the man was spot on, Shawn. This unrest that is going from the usual civil disobedience that past political dissatisfaction caused, to bloodshed. The People ARE angry, and have been for 30 years. We’ve seen nothing work for the favor of the middle class. Trickle UP is what has happened. People under 45 today do NOT earn what I did in 1974! And you have none of the benefits. Our wealth, our SECURITY, came from making sure that the BASE of the nation, the middle class, was treated fairly. It no longer is, and has not been since 1980. I can understand why violence like this is happening. And, the politicians are the root cause.Those that are not, are the exception but to those ‘others’ they are as complicit. They will receive the same sanctions. American workers, the great bulk of who/what the USA is, have been harmed again and again. Why anyone is shocked that it’s finally turned to violence surprises me. Perhaps talk time is over?
Matthew Carberry 382
2 days ago
In reply to:
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or…
— Lela Markham
Lela,
Gun control in most of Europe (as in US and the Euro colonies), is a modern invention, dating for the most part to post-WWI era when establishment fears of large numbers of armed and trained veterans, coinciding with rise of anarchism and Socialism (usually blamed on foreigners, usually subtly or not, eastern Euro Jews) as political threats to estab. order. Politicians made the same claims of increased crime rates and danger to society to disarm the law-abiding in what were already very low violence societies. England’s first substantive restriction, for instance, was a licensing program enacted in 1920. Restrictions gradually increased to the confiscation of registered firearms and handgun bans of the ’80s.
However, what is ignored is -none- of these laws shows a stat sig decrease in rate trends of homicide or violent crime from prior to enactment. They show -no- measurable impact on public safety. England, for instance, has had effectively the same homicide rate since 1860’s.
Thank you for your comment! Your peers are reviewing it now; you can track its status in the Activity view, above.
Patrick Messmer
2 days ago
In reply to:
What? What gun control, that is the point, there is no control, I could fly to Chicago and buy a gun tomorrow. So total access to firearms works? If that is the case we should be the safest nation…
— Shawn O’Donnell
You could go outside and buy crack on most street corners too and guess what that is illegal too. You can not legally go to Chicago and buy a gun tomorrow. The simple fact is gun control does not work. The cities in the US with the harshes gun control have the highest violent crime rates such as New York, Washington DC, LA.
Matthew Carberry 382
2 days ago
In reply to:
My Kind? Mr Bauer, I own firearms and I assure you I have fired more rounds out of more types of weapons than you can dream of, I was an expert rifleman and sniper in the army. Now that we have got…
— Shawn O’Donnell
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/violent-crime
It’s not particularly controversial to note that all violent crime rates, including homicide, are far lower than their highs in the mid-90s. You can check the FBI UCR’s year by year if you like but the chart in the link is based on that data.
Violent crimes as a group are homicide, in the US typically involving a firearm about 60% of the time off the top of my head, aggravated assault, which typically involves the use of a weapon, and robbery, which requires force and also typically involves a weapon. It would be an extraordinary claim that somehow the firearm as the weapon used rates have increased significantly enough to claim a meaningful “increase” given the stark decrease in overall rates.
Patrick Messmer
2 days ago
In reply to:
Come on Lars, I suspect you’re better and smarter than the words in your response. Your “inalienable rights” (presumably 2nd Amendment rights) are not an issue for me nor are they at risk today and…
— Retired Chief
Our rights are being threatened by people like Bloomberg, Clinton etc. While we do have a 4 year reprieve. If the left gains power again they will once again try to take away our 2nd amendment rights and likely if Berkley is an any indication of things to come our 1st amendment rights as well.
Matthew Carberry 382
2 days ago
In reply to:
The social logical causes are one thing; but the weapons they get out of the hands of the military are the proximate cause – and if you understand statistics, you’re probably aware that the gun…
— Clay McD
They were far lower -before- the imposition of gun control, which in Western nations only starts in any real way in the post-WWI period. There’s no evidence of statistically significant changes in the rates of homicide nor violent firearm crime from before imposition of increasing restrictions to after. Note you cannot look at rates merely from the date of imposition and give the law credit for a decline, you have to show it changed the existing rate trend from prior to passage.
England, for instance, has had effectively the same homicide rate since the mid-19th century. If firearm licensing (first imposed with any seriousness in 1920), registration, then the confiscations and eventual bans of the ’60s til now, had had any effect that rate should show some stat sig decreases. In fact, the only change has been an arguable recent increase in the overall violent crime rate the Home Office tries desperately to explain away.
Christopher Crews
2 days ago
In reply to:
So how do you explain the shooting deaths in countries where private ownership of guns is largely banned … you know, France, England …. Is it the 2nd Amendment causing that or political and/or…
— Lela Markham
You’ve got a point there. No guns among the private citizenry in the UK. Maybe that’s why their getting beheaded in the streets of London, stabbed in the streets in London, and run over by moving trucks in London. Same can be said for France too, except firearms and bombs have been used effectively in France in mass murders. Actually there’s a growing segment of society in each country who are changing their opinions about firearm usage. The Swiss have firearms everywhere, and they’ve got a super-low crime rate. Your response was poorly thought out.
Lela Markham
28 minutes ago
In reply to:
You know, legitimate statistical data actually has uses.. Why don’t you try again?
— Clay McD
300 million guns in America. About 1200 gun-related incidents a year. No guns allowed in France and England (not in law abiding hands anyway). Yes French people have been fish in a barrel for several terrorist attacks that used — unbelievably — guns.
Meanwhile here in the US it is estimated that Americans use guns to defend themselves from violence about a million times a year. Here in Fairbanks, a guy recently stopped an assault that seemed headed toward the death of the victim by brandishing his firearm. He didn’t shoot or kill anyone. The presence of the gun was enough to make the assailant stop sort of murder.
I suggest you statistical data sources a bit. At least then your presuppositions will be based on facts and not half-truths.
Lela Markham
11 minutes ago
In reply to:
Lela, Gun control in most of Europe (as in US and the Euro colonies), is a modern invention, dating for the most part to post-WWI era when establishment fears of large numbers of armed and trained…
— Matthew Carberry 382
If denied guns, they use hands, feet, knives, and pipes.
I haven’t found a reliable statistic for it, but a friend who is from England says the murder rate has actually increased since the law-abiding have been disarmed. I believe her because her brother is a Birmingham cop and I think her source is probably good, but that’s a statistic that they don’t want out in the world.
The source of the guns doesn’t concern me that much. It’s the ludicrous notion that if you disarm the law-abiding, everybody will be safer. Clearly, guns are accessible and they will be used by those who want to do harm, but even if they are not accessible, hands, feet, knives, and pipes can kill people too, and as a small woman, I have zip defense against anyone who wants to harm me if I am disarmed.
Disarming people doesn’t make them safer. It makes them more compliant victims.
As of June 13, 2017:
27,778 gun incidents
6,865 gun deaths
13,484 gun injuries
Hi Blankenyblank: Question: from your stats, how many of those are by law-abiding citizens who are not wishing to commit suicide?…. Thanks. Oh- also: of the ones committed by criminals, how many would have been stopped by current gun laws?
.
It’s a little tougher to spout off gun statistics when you actually have to unpack and interpret them, isn’t it….
In reply to:
As of June 13, 2017: 27,778 gun incidents 6,865 gun deaths 13,484 gun injuries
— blankenyblank
Americans with guns stop about 700,000 crimes a year because they are armed and willing to use their weapons. The vast majority of those crimes are stopped without the defensive weapon ever being fired.
Only 21,000 gun-related deaths or injuries. Contrast that statistic to approximately 300 million guns in the United States. That’s a lot of guns that haven’t been used to harm anyone.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
As of June 13, 2017: 27,778 gun incidents 6,865 gun deaths 13,484 gun injuries
— blankenyblank
blankenyblank
40,200 died in fatal car accidents in 2016. That is clearly too many we need to ban cars. lol
Back in 1992, when my 16 yo daughter was killed in a car wreck, I started looking at the stats about highway deaths. After MADD was born, laws were changed and the ‘easy to target’ drunk drivers were criminalized to the point of ridiculousness. Two drinks – go to jail, have name in paper, lose license, pay huge fines — yet no one died, no property damages but they MIGHT kill! For years. current stats show: we got the big baddies long ago. Now, we jail secretaries who have two drinks then go home. The REAL culprits for the vast majority of deaths in the US has been SPEEDING DRIVERS. Ever see anyone tossed in jail for going 60 in 35 MPH zone? 45 in a school zone? Why not? Speed kills — more, more horrifically, and causes more property damages But DWI/DUI gets the funding, speeders get a ticket, maybe.Yet they maim and kill the most, and cause the most property damage. It’s not DWI, its speed. Its not guns, it’s policies that have gutted the middle class. People are MAD, not MADD. 😦
Patrick Messmer
2 days ago
Actually every 15 minutes someone is killed by a DUI driver. I lost my brother to DUI. However we don’t ban booze and we don’t ban cars. We go after the behavior that is criminal. Anti gun folks can seem to grasp that. These same people that want to ban guns want light sentences for criminals and are upset when they get killed in the commission of their crimes by police and others.
Shawn O’Donnell
3 days ago
Well, dare I say it, these guys are all about the 2nd Amendment and freedom to keep and bear arms at all cost. No restrictions, gun shows and all that, this is a symptom. I am sorry but I feel no empathy, where were these guys after Sandy Hook, in the NRA’s pocket that is where.
Matthew Carberry 382
2 days ago
This guy was from Illinois, which requires FOID cards (state licenses with background checks) to purchase and possess, requires background checks for all purchases (private sales have to be approved by authorities), has an assault weapons ban, will seize FOID cards and firearms if a temporary restraining order is issued, has as tight or tighter “prohibited person” laws as the Feds and has a restrictive concealed carry law which was only recently enacted.
So, Mr. murder apologist, what additional restrictions do you propose?
I think this is fake news put out so the senate can pass a tax giveaway called healthcare while folks are distracted, “everybody” knows these mass shootings are staged for political reasons, it also is great training for EMS and police when the GOP goes home after taking healthcare away from 24 million people.
The new normal is that people are actually paying attention to how congress is attacking them and voters can tell the difference between “better and less expensive” and nothing.
The fact that you actually believe this is a staged diversion from the health care vote indicates you are mentally ill. Homeland Security…….Please take note !!!!
I am quite sure this is a real event, however there are folks like Mike Flynn and that fellow that has a 4 hour show daily that believe that HC was part of a child porn site at a family Pizza Parlor and that Sandy Hook shooting didn’t really happen. Sorry to mislead you or anyone else.
I was utterly perplexed by your original comment! Like, .. HUH? Next time, Bruce, you might want to put in something like {sarcasm} after a sentence like “I think this is fake news …” LOLOL Whew! 🙂
silent majority
3 days ago
another Bernie bot goes crazy….A quick search of Hodgkinson’s Facebook page reveals he appears to be an avid Bernie Sanders fan, with multiple images of and articles about the Democratic U.S. senator displayed throughout his Facebook profile. -AOL News
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
Oh, do you want to compare which party promotes and causes the most violence? No? I didn’t think so.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
You can’t fix stupid. And now I don’t even try.
In reply to:
another Bernie bot goes crazy….A quick search of Hodgkinson’s Facebook page reveals he appears to be an avid Bernie Sanders fan, with multiple images of and articles about the Democratic U.S….
— silent majority
Except, he wasn’t. His friends and neighbors say he was a quiet man, not given to ranting and raving, or much else but the ol’ 9 to 5, working for a living middle class guy. Maybe he finally flipped out when he lost a long time job, through no fault of his own, and found his entire previous life yanked out from under him. his American Dream punched out — by greedy lawmakers in far off DC. LOTS of people have had this happen, so to be surprised that he, and yes, there have been others last year and this, that flip out. It’s bound to happen! Why be surprised when civil disobedience does not work that violence is used? It’s worked in the past — everywhere. You can’t eat fancy words from legislators, and that’s all they’ve given the workers of Americans since trickle up came into play, and all those laws that passed in favor of the corporatocracy we now have. The workers have been stomped on since 1980, the American Dream is unobtainable for our children! People are justly angry.
A cheer was rumored to arise from the press gallery:
Another WIN-WIN for the MSM!
Another WIN-WIN for the MSM!
Another WIN-WIN for the MSM!
Another WIN-WIN for the MSM!
Their “anti-all-things-trump” rhetoric is beginning to pay dividends.
I’ll even wager a little giddiness among some of those virulent posters here.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
There you go again, hate-mongerer. I’ll even wager a little giddiness among some of the virulent posters here – especially including you – who are using this violent incident to push their political agenda.
You don’t care about the people who got shot, anymore than you cared about the children who have been massacred by gun toting right wing nuts, or those who’ve been killed by the police, or those killed in Trump’s illegal war(s), or people who will die for lack of medical care, etc.
This is not about guns. This is about our nation becoming divided as it was before we fought a civil war. I feel it where ever I go. People are mad and fed up on both sides. And I admit that I loathe Donald Trump, but I have to say that his rhetoric only adds to the division. I have people who have been my friends for 30 years; we have gotten into big arguments about Trump. I know it’s not all about Trump. But I have to ask: is Donald Trump worth this nation falling apart over?!
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same ones protecting Nancy Pelsoi, Michael Bloomburg, and state Democrats seeking to strip away gun rights for the rest of us law abiding citizens. Now is the time to oppose knee-jerk reactions by Congressional Democrats and those who would exploit this event to further their anti-2nd Amendment zealotry.
Michael Bloomberg doesn’t get Capitol Hill police or Secret Service protection.
He’s a private citizen.
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
In reply to:
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same…
— Lars Bauer
I don’t recall the people you mentioned seeking to disarm the Capital Police and Secret Service. Can you please refresh me on when that occurred?
“I don’t recall the people you mentioned seeking to disarm the Capital Police and Secret Service.”
.
Why, me neither, commenter! Excellent point– If so against the 2nd Amendment, why don’t these Democrats disarm THEIR OWN personal security detail? Why don’t they ban firearms for the DC Capitol police and related security services? As it turns out, many politicians are going after these types of hypocrites:
.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/12/30/va-lawmaker-wants-to-defund-gov-mcauliffes-armed-guards-over-gun-dispute.html
.
If a politician wants to take away firearms for citizens, then their own armed guards can be taken away. Yes!
In reply to:
Michael Bloomberg doesn’t get Capitol Hill police or Secret Service protection. He’s a private citizen.
— muckamuck
Oh Mucky– “Private citizen” Bloomberg is a billionaire who lobbies against 2nd Amendment rights for average Americans while maintaining his own, 24-hour personal armed security force.
Must be nice.
As Mayor, he was surrounded 24/7 by a swath of private and public armed security, and took his most loyal police security with him to the private sector when he left. It sure is easy for someone surrounded by armed security forces that Americas shouldn’t own firearms, isn’t it.
In reply to:
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same…
— Lars Bauer
HE’s Dead: BREAKING: Killed SHOOTER identified as Illinois resident James T. Hodgkinson
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/14/exclusive-congressional-baseball-shooter-dies-at-hospital/
.
From his Facebook page, Hodgkinson is shown as a Bernie Sanders supporter who hated Republicans and President Trump. He was also charged in April 2006 with battery and aiding damage to a car in Illinois.
.
A great day for law enforcement and the hope for more freedom to law-abiding gun owners in D.C. and Virginia.
The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights.
He felt threatened and was standing his ground.
In reply to:
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same…
— Lars Bauer
This is what happens when you have FAKE news with wall to wall propaganda endlessly demonizing Trump and republicans. This is the 2nd Bernie supporter to attack with deadly force in as many months…when wil the media call for Sanders to disavow his violent supporters.
In reply to:
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same…
— Lars Bauer
You know – some people actually read the second amendment differently than you! Seems to me it used to be linked to a “well armed and regulated militia” .. but I guess the past 20 -30 years in gun violence shows that looser gun laws makes everyone safer –
oh wait a minute – we don’t really have good data on gun violence, do we? The centers for disease control aren’t permitted to collect that data!
I wonder why that is?
George Mason II
3 days ago
In reply to:
The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights. He felt threatened and was standing his ground.
— muckamuck
Actually, he was expressing his left-wing hatred of the right. Exercising Second Amendment rights entails protecting one’s self. In this case this left-wing, violent extremist drove from Illinois specifically to kill as many Republican members of Congress as he could. Given the wholehearted acceptance of violent thought and actions against those on the right expressed daily in the media, and even on these ADN pages, this is not a particularly surprising event, merely the culmination of what those on the left have been demanding since November.
In reply to:
You know – some people actually read the second amendment differently than you! Seems to me it used to be linked to a “well armed and regulated militia” .. but I guess the past 20 -30 years in gun…
— Clay McD
In reply to:
Actually, he was expressing his left-wing hatred of the right. Exercising Second Amendment rights entails protecting one’s self. In this case this left-wing, violent extremist drove from Illinois…
— George Mason II
The ready availability of weapons to the angry is a major piece of this problem – and you can’t blame it on the left or the remaining elements of the responsible right-the shocking and still-vivid pictures of Gabby Gifford, the Charleston black Church massacre, and the Sandy Hook horrors still leap into my mind when this ” Right to bear arms” comes up… Not a “liberal” psychopath among them!
Of course weapons other than guns can be used! Bombs in Oklahoma and trucks/cars in London come to mind… But public access to such efficiently mass killing firearms IS a real problem that is larger than gun rights rhetoric.
Speaking for myself I’d rather not see us keep moving toward becoming another everymans’ gun/totin’ Afghanistan.
In reply to:
The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights. He felt threatened and was standing his ground.
— muckamuck
“The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights.”
.
Oh Mucky– you don’t have a 2A right to murder someone, and that’s not “standing your ground.” But I can definitely understand how a Bernie Sanders fanatic could “feel threatened” by watching a game of baseball- which is exactly how the term Leftist “snowflake” came about…
In reply to:
Michael Bloomberg doesn’t get Capitol Hill police or Secret Service protection. He’s a private citizen.
— muckamuck
Yes, he is a private citizen who pays for an armed security team to protect him while he advocates for the rest of us to be as helpless as those people on the London bridge were. That’s the point being made … that he’s fine with rendering his fellow citizens helpless so long as his security team gets to keep their guns. Typical rich man’s attitude.
In reply to:
The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights. He felt threatened and was standing his ground.
— muckamuck
There is no natural right to kill someone who isn’t trying to kill you. The 2nd Amendment only acknowledges our natural right to defend ourselves against anyone who is trying to harm us. It doesn’t not magically make murder or attempted murder okay. It just acknowledges our right to defend ourselves from such aggression.
In reply to:
You know – some people actually read the second amendment differently than you! Seems to me it used to be linked to a “well armed and regulated militia” .. but I guess the past 20 -30 years in gun…
— Clay McD
Actually, when you study what the Founders said on this issue, the militia was all the armed men of the community and the men were meant to be armed because the Founder distrusted even the government they were setting up and figured someday, the militia would need to defend the people against the government. Go on! Read a book. Do some historical study. Even the most statist Founders held the opinion that being armed as a private citizen was a necessity for the protection of society. It wasn’t for hunting or home defense; it was because they assumed every government would eventually become tyrannical and require a citizen’s uprising. Some figured it might take a long time to get to that point while Thomas Jefferson thought it should happen every 20 years or so. But they pretty much all thought it would happen eventually.
In reply to:
The ready availability of weapons to the angry is a major piece of this problem – and you can’t blame it on the left or the remaining elements of the responsible right-the shocking and still-vivid…
— Clay McD
Well, when the terrorists with guns or knives attack the crowd we’re both in, Clay, I hope you’ll take them on hand to hand so I don’t have to kill anyone with my gun.
Which one of us do you think will be more effective at stopping said terrorists?
And, by the way, England … France … private ownership of guns is effectively outlawed, but notice the terrorists have guns … or knives. How many people died? Nine? It’s too bad some law-abiding citizen on that bridge didn’t have a gun. They might have saved a half-dozen lives.
In reply to:
Yes, he is a private citizen who pays for an armed security team to protect him while he advocates for the rest of us to be as helpless as those people on the London bridge were. That’s the point…
— Lela Markham
First, security details are no guarantee of safety. Ronald Reagan had Secret Service protection and still got shot.
Second, Virginia is an open carry state. The citizens there have not been rendered helpless, by Michael Bloomberg or anyone else. Nevertheless it took the police to kill the gunman.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
Another Bernie Sanders supporter goes off the deep end. This is the new Left.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
You know – some people actually read the second amendment differently than you! Seems to me it used to be linked to a “well armed and regulated militia” .. but I guess the past 20 -30 years in gun…
— Clay McD
Every other amendment covers individuals why do you think the 2nd would cover the state. The supreme court disagreed with you by the way with the Heller decision. Actually looser gun laws do make us safer as the cities and counties with the strictest gun control laws have the worst crime rates. Chicago for instance.
In reply to:
“The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights.” . Oh Mucky– you don’t have a 2A right to murder someone, and that’s not “standing your ground.” But I can definitely understand how…
— Lars Bauer
Oh piffle Larsie,
What the fun in owning a gun, if you can’t shoot people?
In reply to:
Actually, when you study what the Founders said on this issue, the militia was all the armed men of the community and the men were meant to be armed because the Founder distrusted even the…
— Lela Markham
Hogwash about the the militia protecting people from the federal government. Your revisionist history is a fable. Read about the Whisky Rebellion and how “founding father” George Washington put it down with 13,000 troops:
“The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington.”
“Throughout Western Pennsylvania counties, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax.”
“Washington himself rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency, with 13,000 federal militiamen provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
Dianne Woodruff
3 days ago
In reply to:
Well, when the terrorists with guns or knives attack the crowd we’re both in, Clay, I hope you’ll take them on hand to hand so I don’t have to kill anyone with my gun. Which one of us do you think…
— Lela Markham
Lela, it may or may not be a bad thing that “some law-abiding citizen on that bridge didn’t have a gun”. The unbounded optimism of those who think arming more people is the answer to every terrorist event isn’t warranted. In the right hands, guns are very effective. In the wrong ones, they can pose a greater danger. Not all armed citizens will carry safely, respond appropriately under stress, be extremely accurate, or instantly identified by police, no matter what they think before something happens. We can’t know how many might have been saved, how many bystanders killed by armed citizens trying to shoot the attackers, or how many bystanders and armed citizens killed by police shooting at armed citizens they mistook for terrorists.
It is good the terrorists had knives, not guns, or it would have been even worse. If it were easier for British citizens to obtain and carry guns, wouldn’t it be easier for terrorists to obtain and carry guns, too?
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“I don’t recall the people you mentioned seeking to disarm the Capital Police and Secret Service.” . Why, me neither, commenter! Excellent point– If so against the 2nd Amendment, why don’t these…
— Lars Bauer
If you want to talk hypocrites, Bauer, I’m up for that. Let’s start with Trump accusing the Dems of blocking his nominees…
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Oh Mucky– “Private citizen” Bloomberg is a billionaire who lobbies against 2nd Amendment rights for average Americans while maintaining his own, 24-hour personal armed security force. Must be…
— Lars Bauer
Yes, because your average soccer mom has the kind of power and notoriety that absolutely requires 24/7 private and public security.
Hyperbole much, Bucky?
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
This is what happens when you have FAKE news with wall to wall propaganda endlessly demonizing Trump and republicans. This is the 2nd Bernie supporter to attack with deadly force in as many…
— TJLYOM
Complain to your party and yourself – you guys invented fake news and Putrumpski invited it from Russia during his Campaign Hate-A-Thon and now, via his tweets.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Actually, he was expressing his left-wing hatred of the right. Exercising Second Amendment rights entails protecting one’s self. In this case this left-wing, violent extremist drove from Illinois…
— George Mason II
And you know this how? Please provide links and cites, FAKE news purveyor.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“The shooter was just exercising his Second Amendment rights.” . Oh Mucky– you don’t have a 2A right to murder someone, and that’s not “standing your ground.” But I can definitely understand how…
— Lars Bauer
Trump Bunnies get their widdle feewings hurted easily. That’s why they, SNIFF, just had to vote for the pathologically lying, mentally unstable psycho stinking up the White House. He represents them to a “T” – you know, all the red neck millionaires – and speaks to them in their language; the language of illiteracy, violence, religious nuts, gun nuts, anti-abortion nuts… well, all the nuts basically.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Another Bernie Sanders supporter goes off the deep end. This is the new Left.
— Patrick Messmer
Brought to you by the Wing Nut, Gun Loving, Pizza Gate, Nazi Loving, Muslim Hating Right. You should fully embrace this guy, since it appears he has crossed over to the dark side. He has passed the nut test and may now register as a Republican and NRA member.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Every other amendment covers individuals why do you think the 2nd would cover the state. The supreme court disagreed with you by the way with the Heller decision. Actually looser gun laws do make…
— Patrick Messmer
Name another city besides Chicago.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
The ready availability of weapons to the angry is a major piece of this problem – and you can’t blame it on the left or the remaining elements of the responsible right-the shocking and still-vivid…
— Clay McD
An armed society is a polite society. I would rather every one have a gun that only the criminals having them.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
Lela, it may or may not be a bad thing that “some law-abiding citizen on that bridge didn’t have a gun”. The unbounded optimism of those who think arming more people is the answer to every…
— Dianne Woodruff
Despite the lefts wing medias refusal to report on stories with good guys with guns stopping mass shooters it does indeed happen and far more often than the left would like to admit.
In reply to:
Capitol Hill police details and secret service personnel no doubt stopped what would have been a massacre– Isn’t it great that these elected officials had armed details to protect them? The same…
— Lars Bauer
I really think Afghanistan would be a great place for you to call home Lars – everybody can have all the guns of any kind I want as long as they can get them. A well-armed society is a polite society, right? Meantime, I heckuva lot of us would like to see significant restrictions on the kinds of weapons you can carry around in your car, or have around your house, or pull out when you’re drunk or angry..
In reply to:
Name another city besides Chicago.
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
New Orleans, Detroit, St Louis, and Baltimore. You know what else they have in common besides gun violence from criminals? Democrat leadership.
George Mason II
2 days ago
In reply to:
And you know this how? Please provide links and cites, FAKE news purveyor.
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
Are you really this obtuse? If you can’t read simple newsprint you’re even more dumb than your username. But seriously, who expects any more from you, you’re quite literally the most moronic left wing nut on this site.
In reply to:
This is what happens when you have FAKE news with wall to wall propaganda endlessly demonizing Trump and republicans. This is the 2nd Bernie supporter to attack with deadly force in as many…
— TJLYOM
His FB page was not “filled” with rants — until very recently. He was just your average joe who finally connected the dots, and it made him flip his lid. Maybe he got tired of the ceaseless rhetoric from DC, that seems to always end with the workers being on the losing end of legislation. It’s been going on since 1980, remember “trickle down” that has since proven to only trickle UP? People have voiced their concerns in peaceful demonstrations for decades and it has gotten them nowhere. Our kids have it far worse then we did in the 60s and 70s. We had the American Dream, but today YM’s can barely pay rent much less save up for a home, get no benefits, 35 hr workweeks, etc. It’s sickening to see that money trickle up, up and up! When peaceful civil disobedience doesn’t work, then what’s the next step? Politicians best wake up, remember who they work for, listen to us, or face the music. History repeats itself!
There is a commentator on these pages using several names like “Trump is a Failure” or “Dump Trump” spreading hate speech every day. It is hard to believe ADN allows him/her to continue with his/her hate speech. He/she might as well have held the gun this morning. It is truly disgusting.
LNG & Weed is all we Need Walker
3 days ago
Strada you are so right
I wonder when we will see it on the front page of the paper.
Foster McTeague
3 days ago
In reply to:
There is a commentator on these pages using several names like “Trump is a Failure” or “Dump Trump” spreading hate speech every day. It is hard to believe ADN allows him/her to continue with…
— Strada
I would suggest against making ridiculous statements like equating speech to the shooting which occurred. But then again knowing you it’d probably be a waste of time to recommend against being so foolish.
Ashton Kutcher
3 days ago
In reply to:
There is a commentator on these pages using several names like “Trump is a Failure” or “Dump Trump” spreading hate speech every day. It is hard to believe ADN allows him/her to continue with…
— Strada
“He/she might as well have held the gun this morning. It is truly disgusting.”
Whatever, broski, I find most of your comments disgusting.
Is it time now to do something?
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
Yes it is more training for law abiding citizens and programs to get as many good people armed as possible to protect against left wing terrorists.
so, still not into any gun control or assault weapon controls guys? Even when people with personal security details can’t be safe?
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
100 shots? Wow. Musta had a high capacity magazine to pull that off.
I wonder how much the NRA has donated to Scalise and Mo Williams and the rest of the congressional folks on the field. Glad no one was killed and this only serves as a wakeup.
“100 shots? Wow. Musta had a high capacity magazine to pull that off.”
.
…Or reloaded 10 times. I guess that proves that even if “high-capacity” (wherever that means) was used, it has no correlation to the amount of life lost. Way to “shoot” the argument against “high capacity”in foot.
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
Don’t play ignorant. If a gunman wants to kill lots of people in a crowd before he’s neutralized, the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10 times is a big advantage. And carrying 10 cartridges around would be far more noticeable. Your argument is tortured and “proves’ nothing and you know it.
So what’s a “high capacity cartridge”? The NRA states that it is one that holds more rounds than is considered “average”. Fair enough. Glock states that the standard cartridge for their guns holds between 12 and 17 rounds. So if you had a magazine in a Glock that held 50+ rounds that would reasonably be called “high capacity”.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough what capacity magazine he was carrying. Want to take bets?
Richard Corbeil
3 days ago
In reply to:
so, still not into any gun control or assault weapon controls guys? Even when people with personal security details can’t be safe?
— Clay McD
Actually it is because people with personal security can’t be safe that I want to have my ability to defend myself. Until you can stop bad people from having guns my opinion won’t change.
In reply to:
so, still not into any gun control or assault weapon controls guys? Even when people with personal security details can’t be safe?
— Clay McD
Um, “gun control” is the same as “assault weapon control–” and people with security details ARE safe– as evidenced by their security guards killing the bad guy with a gun while protecting their employer from death- with a gun. So yeah: “still not into it.”
Richard Corbeil
3 days ago
In reply to:
Don’t play ignorant. If a gunman wants to kill lots of people in a crowd before he’s neutralized, the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10…
— Another Commenter for Hire
Right, or use a bomb, or poison gas, or fire, or…………… Guns aren’t the problem!
Clayton Mcdowall
3 days ago
In reply to:
Actually it is because people with personal security can’t be safe that I want to have my ability to defend myself. Until you can stop bad people from having guns my opinion won’t change.
— Richard Corbeil
Afghanistan is Second Amendment Heaven!! Everyone believes – and behaves- the way you believe.. You and your family might want to give it a try for a while. They are definitely an individually well-armed society, and kids live daily with a strong “duck-and-cover” or “kill-or-be-killed” approach to community..
In reply to:
Don’t play ignorant. If a gunman wants to kill lots of people in a crowd before he’s neutralized, the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10…
— Another Commenter for Hire
“If a gunman wants to kill lots of people….the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10 times is a big advantage.”
.
….except, you know….in this case, where he expended 60 rounds and killed……no one..
.
“So what’s a “high capacity cartridge?””
no, genius: what you’re trying to say is “high capacity magazine.” (sigh)
…”Glock states that the standard cartridge….”
(sigh) no- still “magazine,” genius– not “cartridge.”
.
If you’ve never actually seen a real firearm, the absolute least you could do is use the proper terminology when talking about the subject.
.
And way to prove that the term “standard” is subjective, based on the make/model/group you talk to– thanks.
In reply to:
so, still not into any gun control or assault weapon controls guys? Even when people with personal security details can’t be safe?
— Clay McD
Yes I am now…registered Democrats and other leftists should be banned from owning firearms due to admission of mental health issues in the form of party affiliation.
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
In reply to:
“If a gunman wants to kill lots of people….the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10 times is a big advantage.” . ….except, you…
— Lars Bauer
Right. Excuse me, sonny. I was typing fast and used the wrong term. Thank you for pointing that out.
Now, about the basic point I made that you failed to refute… The fact that he failed to kill anyone is due to his poor shooting ability. Swapping magazines would have done nothing to improve his competence.
“I was typing fast and used the wrong term” — that would explain spelling errors- not the deliberate use of a wrong term. Sorry, not letting you off. Just admit you need more education on firearms; it’s ok.
.
“The fact that he failed to kill anyone is due to his poor shooting ability.” — got it: so just because you have a “high capacity” magazine does not at all mean you “have a big advantage,” as you originally claimed– this is a clear example of that.
Joe The Plumber
3 days ago
In reply to:
Right, or use a bomb, or poison gas, or fire, or…………… Guns aren’t the problem!
— Richard Corbeil
… or driving trucks into crowds
In reply to:
Don’t play ignorant. If a gunman wants to kill lots of people in a crowd before he’s neutralized, the ability to keep pulling the trigger rather than to pause to pull out and replace cartridges 10…
— Another Commenter for Hire
You do know that a cartridge is a bullet, right? It would be slow going to replace cartridges individually. Although replacing a 14-cartridge magazine a few times would definitely go much easier. Carrying 10 cartridges (bullets) would hardly be noticeable. Carrying 10 magazines would definitely make a bulge in your jacket.
Just pointing out that you have NO understanding of the topic you’re pontificating on, so maybe you should consider educating yourself before you lecture those who do know something about the topic as if they were idiots and you were the wise one.
Frank Colitivito 887
3 days ago
“You do know that a cartridge is a bullet, right? “
Uh, actually, no it is not. A cartridge contains a bullet, a primer, a casing, and powder.
“you should consider educating yourself before you lecture those who do know something about the topic as if they were idiots and you were the wise one.”
So, where does that leave you?
LOL….
Thank you for your comment! Your peers are reviewing it now; you can track its status in the Activity view, above.
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
In reply to:
“I was typing fast and used the wrong term” — that would explain spelling errors- not the deliberate use of a wrong term. Sorry, not letting you off. Just admit you need more education on…
— Lars Bauer
Well, no. If your goal is to kill people, a 50 cal will provide you an enormous advantage over a BB gun. I trust you will agree with that. But if you can’t hit the target, it gives you no advantage at all.
They type of weapon and your ability to effectively use it are two different issues, but nice attempt at conflation.
By the way, you seem very angry, Lars. Why is that?
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“100 shots? Wow. Musta had a high capacity magazine to pull that off.” . …Or reloaded 10 times. I guess that proves that even if “high-capacity” (wherever that means) was used, it has no…
— Lars Bauer
Are you getting off on all the gun talk, Bauer? If yes, that may indicate you have a problem. The good news is that treatment is available for those who cannot quit fantasizing about holding a smoking gun (rifle, etc.) in their overly-excited, hot little hands. Call 1-800-Love-Me-Some-Purty-Little-Shooters and ask for Lance.
Michael Albertson
3 days ago
In reply to:
“I was typing fast and used the wrong term” — that would explain spelling errors- not the deliberate use of a wrong term. Sorry, not letting you off. Just admit you need more education on…
— Lars Bauer
Ah Lars, how do you climb so high to get onto of your soapbox?
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Um, “gun control” is the same as “assault weapon control–” and people with security details ARE safe– as evidenced by their security guards killing the bad guy with a gun while protecting their…
— Lars Bauer
Didn’t say security details, Trump Bunny. Said with “personal security” as in a personal weapon.
You can’t fix stupid, deliberate or not.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Right, or use a bomb, or poison gas, or fire, or…………… Guns aren’t the problem!
— Richard Corbeil
Your right; it’s the people that support them – like that Congressman, for example, that are the problem. Thanks for clearing that up Cornhell.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Yes I am now…registered Democrats and other leftists should be banned from owning firearms due to admission of mental health issues in the form of party affiliation.
— TJLYOM
Just as right wing nuts should be barred from Medicare, Social Security, Healthcare, any kind of government assistance, police/military protection, use of infrastructure, use of any machine that is subject to regulations, laws, and so on. They should be on their own, completely free of government “interference,” including any say in what others do or don’t do.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“I was typing fast and used the wrong term” — that would explain spelling errors- not the deliberate use of a wrong term. Sorry, not letting you off. Just admit you need more education on…
— Lars Bauer
I’m just gonna say my logic teacher would give you a zero..
it’s obvious that, generally speaking, a competent shooter with a gun that has the ability to rapidly shoot multiple rounds gives that shooter the advantage over anyone of similar skill not similarly armed.
In reply to:
Are you getting off on all the gun talk, Bauer? If yes, that may indicate you have a problem. The good news is that treatment is available for those who cannot quit fantasizing about holding a…
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
Nice rebuttal: I eat anti-2nd Amendment zealots for lunch, and love talking about this topic, as I actually use and carry firearms. Come back any time if you’re interested in rebutting the fact that “high capacity” (whatever that means) plays no part in how dangerous a gun is, as shown by this Bernie fanatic firing 100 rounds and killing….no one.
In reply to:
I’m just gonna say my logic teacher would give you a zero.. it’s obvious that, generally speaking, a competent shooter with a gun that has the ability to rapidly shoot multiple rounds gives that…
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
You have a “logic teacher?” Please tell us more about this “logic teacher….” ….is he, like, Mr. Spock, or something? LOL!
.
“….with a gun that has the ability to rapidly shoot multiple rounds” congrats, Mr. Logic– you just described EVERY single semi-automatic firearm on the market today. LOL. So since this was clearly NOT “a competent shooter,” then having such a firearm was of NO advantage– got it.
In reply to:
Ah Lars, how do you climb so high to get onto of your soapbox?
— Michael Albertson
In reply to:
Well, no. If your goal is to kill people, a 50 cal will provide you an enormous advantage over a BB gun. I trust you will agree with that. But if you can’t hit the target, it gives you no…
— Another Commenter for Hire
Great post– thank you for articulating your continual and utter ignorance of firearms (hint: a bb gun isn’t a firearm)…..
Right- If a Bernie fan couldn’t kill a single person from firing 100 rounds, I would probably also say that “They type of weapon and your ability to effectively use it are two different issues”[sic] . LOL
Lela Markham
3 minutes ago
In reply to:
“You do know that a cartridge is a bullet, right? ” Uh, actually, no it is not. A cartridge contains a bullet, a primer, a casing, and powder. “you should consider educating yourself before you…
— Frank Colitivito 887
Which most people just call a bullet. Go back and read the comment I was responding to. The commenter was clearly talking about magazines and didn’t have a clue that he was spouting off from a lack of knowledge.Imprecision of language is one thing … complete lack of knowledge of a topic you’re lecturing knowledgeable people on is quite another.
In 2016, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said in a tweet:
“Why do we have a second amendment? It’s not to shoot deer. It’s to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical.”
Tim Johnson 48
3 days ago
I sure hope that this man has rethought what he said. I’m having some venison and I hope he’s having crow. So easy to just type some stuff – and so hard to take it back.
More violent hate from the left? No WAY!
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
More hypocritical, snarky comments from the hateful, gun toting right? No WAY!
Another group of dems trying to change the conversation. The hate being spewed from Dems has created so much discourse. the bullying on the part of the Dems is unbelievable. You bullied Republicans when Obama was in office and now they are bullying Americans who voted for Trump. Again that gun did not plan to kill republican lawmakers. A gun is not a verb. The hate spewed by Dems created a guy who took what is being said by your media and attempted to kill Republicans. This guy is at the foot of all hating Democrats. Not a Gun. Different points of view should not be reason to create an enemy and then decided to kill. Think about it Dems?
M Graham: Unfortunately, it may not seem as though it is…but both political parties are at fault for demonizing each other.
History may regard this as a Fort Sumter moment…
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
May I give you a bit of personal advice about your personal hygiene….
Civil unrest and lack of faith in our institutions is exactly what the Russians want to happen. Now watch for them to pour gasoline on the fire……….
Did you ever think they’re using the media and Democratic Party for exactly that?
They will use whatever means and whatever platform to foment division and unrest. When you mention only the Democrat Party you play into their hand. Glad to see President Trump sound “presidential” in his comments.
The reason I mention the media and democrats is that the left wing media has NEVER been so negative in coverage of anything…they have justified violence in the feeble minded. Trump is not perfect but he is not what the Fake News says he is.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
What a load. The left is merely reporting what is happening under Trump. It isn’t rocket science: It’s negative, because what he’s doing is negative. Trump himself is negative.
The left is tired of the right’s bull#%*t.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Did you ever think they’re using the media and Democratic Party for exactly that?
— TJLYOM
Did you ever think they’re using the the right wing media and the Republican Party for exactly that?
Yes, because it’s true. The left are thinkers.
In reply to:
What a load. The left is merely reporting what is happening under Trump. It isn’t rocket science: It’s negative, because what he’s doing is negative. Trump himself is negative. The left is…
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
What’s “happening?” 6 million new jobs, renewed US stature in the world, rollback of countless economy killing regulations and a 16% growth in the stock market…I know Rachel Maddow doesn’t report it but the truth is out there.
In reply to:
Did you ever think they’re using the the right wing media and the Republican Party for exactly that? Yes, because it’s true. The left are thinkers.
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
Nope because that’s the false story the left has pushed for months without a scrap of evidence. Hillary and Podesta had lots of shady connections to Russia though. Makes one wonder if the Russia conspiracy theory was concocted by Podesta as a red herring to throw off the scent on their own shady dealings
Nope, haven’t forgotten about the Russians yet.
If I didn’t prefer living in a country where you were safe to let kids ride their tricycles on the sidewalk, or to walk your dog on a beautiful afternoon, or to gather for picnics or to play baseball, I would probably agree with those – may I call them “gun nuts?” -who tell us that if only we were all armed all the time then we would have a much safer and far more pleasant country …
They may have a point. Think of the tax money we could save?! If we are all alarme they may have a point. Think of the tax money we could save?! If we are all armed, we could do away with police departments! And we could do away with schools! We already have police in the schools to protect kids from other kids or adults with guns – Why not just keep our kids safe & do away with schools altogether – educate them all at home, protected by their parents? I did read yesterday a father accidentally killed his young daughter by pointing a gun at her, but that’s a rare event!
Second amendment rocks!
Richard Corbeil
3 days ago
More of the usual myopic distorted mis-information from the mind of a liberal. The reality is –http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php guns don’t rank in the top 10 causes of death in this nation. School shooting don’t rank in the top 1000. Millions of people die in this nation every year but only a handful in school shootings, yet the FBI says that a quarter million crimes are thwarted by citizens with guns every year. So ya, you are correct, The 2nd Amendment ROCKS!
In reply to:
If I didn’t prefer living in a country where you were safe to let kids ride their tricycles on the sidewalk, or to walk your dog on a beautiful afternoon, or to gather for picnics or to play…
— Clay McD
“- may I call them “gun nuts?”
.
You can, but you’d look foolish. The scenarios you describe: walking the dog, playing with children, picnics: I hate to break it to you, but these are activities already being enjoyed by citizens carrying guns. Whoops. It’s also foolish to say that because we carry and use firearms, there is no need for police– how silly. I think that may have something to do with your faulty belief that gun owners think of themselves as law enforcement, which is, of course, not true. You also bring up home schooling, which has exploded in the last 10 years in popularity- for a number of reasons– perhaps you could connect that to the freedom to use firearms, as that was missed by many, including myself.
.
Yes- the 2nd Amendment DOES rock!
Clayton Mcdowall
3 days ago
What the hell is a “liberal” or “conservative” to you? Do you really think its all about owning a gun, or hunting? As for “only a handful” die in school shootings – you think a handful is acceptable now in America? Your “liberal and conservative “nonsense on this issue is just that – nonsense! I was shooting and hunting from probably before you were born! Maybe with a little help you can learn to stick to the subject and not toss out labels you can’t support – (tho I confess I have my doubts).
You are more likely to die in a car accident. It’s just a random disgruntled old guy. Nothing to see here. Move along. Just good honest politicians playing baseball.
Tim Johnson 48
3 days ago
I know people like this guy. Right wing and Left wing. Both sides are driven by those who seek to divide us by our political positions. Those in the media (and that includes both the Rightist Talk Media and the Leftist Late Night – so called – comedians) drive this divide for their own profit. Our political divisions should give us strength – should give us the same alloy that puts the alloyed steel in our constitution. But the opportunists have blinded us from the fundamentals that should inform us: The Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule as expressed by our Saviour many times in both the Old and the New Testament. I’m not a fan of baseball. When I played it, I usually struck out; but when I did – the outfielders were out in the tall grass trying to find the ball. I ask anyone who reads this to put your love of our country into the tall grass and walk away from this political swamp. Yeah, I know – lot of metaphors here. Play ball in the prairies where folks look out for each other.
💫Trumpism is a Huge Failure
3 days ago
Republicans are actively trying to take your healthcare away in order to give money to billionaires.
Flagged, made-up poster hater. Wrong topic, false narrative, and unfounded lies. Try again, next time using a real name and facts to back up your hate.
💥Τrumpism is a Huge Failure
3 days ago
< this comment did not meet civility standards >
Happy to flag all comments by this impostor.
In reply to:
Republicans are actively trying to take your healthcare away in order to give money to billionaires.
— 💫Trumpism is a Huge Failure
You are part of the problem that fuels tragedies as happened today. Your exaggerated inaccurate distortion of facts and inflammatory rhetoric is despicable. And that goes for those opponents on the other side as well using the same tactics. Shame on you.
The right wing is full of sad snowflakes
3 days ago
Republicans are actively trying to take your healthcare away so they can give tax breaks to billionaires.
Facts make you so very insecure that you become irrational and delusional.
No shame in telling the truth, snowflake, it’s obvious you haven’t heard much of it.
The right wing is full of sad snowflakes
3 days ago
In reply to:
< this comment did not meet civility standards >
— 💥Τrumpism is a Huge Failure
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
You are part of the problem that fuels tragedies as happened today. Your exaggerated inaccurate distortion of facts and inflammatory rhetoric is despicable. And that goes for those opponents on the…
— Donald Smith
No, you are a part of the problem. The state made by TIAHF is correct. Wingers are always trying to gaslight those who rightly question them.
This simply must be Fake News. Everyone knows that ordinary citizens cannot carry or discharge firearms in urban areas around Washington DC. And any Democrat knows that when you have “strict gun control” criminals cannot possibly be armed. Criminals DO obey all the laws, right?
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
You make a good point. Criminals will break every law. So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway.
Just arm everyone and let the citizenry take over policing our country.
“So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway.”
.
Because every time an asinine gun law is passed, it further erodes away gun rights for law-abiding citizens. That’s why your comparison to murder laws is stupid: murder laws aren’t negative rights; you never had the right to murder someone in the first place- you DO have the right to own and use firearms in the first place. If you’re still having trouble seeing the difference, let me know and I’ll further clarify that for you.
Joe The Plumber
3 days ago
In reply to:
You make a good point. Criminals will break every law. So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway. Just arm everyone and let the citizenry take over policing our…
— Another Commenter for Hire
Good point. People need to take a more active role defending themselves, not wait for the government to do it for them.
It sounds to me like you are ready to enlist! Or to emigrate to Afghanistan! No there’s a country that lives up to your guiding principles – everyone can be armed with anything they want all the time! And they have to be – because since everyone is armed and no country can afford police were soldiers enough to defend the well armed society, it’s the only way to protect yourself! If you could learn the language, you’d be pretty happy there!
Me? I prefer a safe and peaceful neighborhood bolstered by a far less gun-totin’ approach to community. Like the USA and alaska used to be. Guns for hunting is one thing. Guns as penis substitutes something else.
Another Commenter for Hire
3 days ago
In reply to:
“So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway.” . Because every time an asinine gun law is passed, it further erodes away gun rights for law-abiding citizens. That’s why…
— Lars Bauer
Perhaps. But the OC’s comment was: “when you have “strict gun control” criminals cannot possibly be armed. Criminals DO obey all the laws, right?”
Thus I was responding to the OC’s point. Please resist your urge to shift topics.
In reply to:
It sounds to me like you are ready to enlist! Or to emigrate to Afghanistan! No there’s a country that lives up to your guiding principles – everyone can be armed with anything they want all the…
— Clay McD
Clay- it sounds like you have absolutely no exposure or experience with firearms, firearms owners, the 2nd Amendment, hunting, the Constitution, or our country’s history. But please: don’t let little things like that get in the way of posting.
Clayton Mcdowall
3 days ago
.. wrong… probably began hunting and shooting with my father before you were born… but that’s not the public policy point here, is it? Or is that the best you’ve got?
Clay- so your dad owned some firearms back in the day, and you went along for the ride, so years later you could claim to have had “experience” with firearms– got it.
.
If your honest goal is “public policy,” then you need to at least use the right terms, about the right people, and understand firearms owners. You clearly don’t, but I’d love for you to start.
In reply to:
Perhaps. But the OC’s comment was: “when you have “strict gun control” criminals cannot possibly be armed. Criminals DO obey all the laws, right?” Thus I was responding to the OC’s point. Please…
— Another Commenter for Hire
And I answered your question– you’re welcome. Again: if you have trouble seeing the difference or have a rebuttal– let me know.
Michael Albertson
3 days ago
In reply to:
“So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway.” . Because every time an asinine gun law is passed, it further erodes away gun rights for law-abiding citizens. That’s why…
— Lars Bauer
Lars, I do not think you know the difference between a “asinine gun law” and “gun rights”. Guns do not have “rights” in the US, although surprisingly corporations do. Without universal background checks how can you say anyone is a “law-abiding citizen”? If a “law-abiding citizen” commits a crime, any crime, are they no longer a “law-abiding citizen” and subject to forfeiture of firearms? No, not in this country.
The comparison to murder and law isn’t stupid, its logical. What about the “right” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all?
I own a few firearms. A couple of hunting rifles and my son has an older rifle he inherited from his grandfather. A pistol for bear protection. That’t it. No shotguns, no high capacity magazines, no reloading equipment, grenades or rocket launchers. Oh, and a few pocket and hunting knives, although we do not actually use the “hunting knives” for hunting.
“I do not think you know the difference between a “asinine gun law” and “gun rights”.”
.
I have an inalienable right to own and use firearms– laws which curtail and marginalize that inalienable right are “asinine.” Glad I could clarify that for you.
.
“Without universal background checks how can you say anyone is a “law-abiding citizen.”
* give me the name of a gun dealer that doesn’t have to complete a background check.
* So a policeman is fully within their right to pull you over and search your car? After all- how could he know you weren’t a criminal? You miss the point, completely.
.
* Your decision to own the type and amounts of firearms you do is up to you– just like the types I own are up to me– thanks for proving freedom.
* The 2A has nothing to do with “grenades and rocket launchers,” and no one thinks so.
* “high capacity” is a made-up, subjective term that means nothing, except by those wishing to pass asinine gun laws (see above for definition of ‘asinine.’)
Michael Albertson
3 days ago
Lars, you unfortunately continue to miss the target of my conversation.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
This simply must be Fake News. Everyone knows that ordinary citizens cannot carry or discharge firearms in urban areas around Washington DC. And any Democrat knows that when you have “strict gun…
— Pete Buist
Yes, in the same way as Republicans tell the truth. Just ask “I do not recall” Sessions.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“So why have any laws? They’re going to murder and rape and steal anyway.” . Because every time an asinine gun law is passed, it further erodes away gun rights for law-abiding citizens. That’s why…
— Lars Bauer
Try to keep up Boomer. Instead of responding to ACFH’s post, you’re ranting to yourself.
You know, the usual.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“I do not think you know the difference between a “asinine gun law” and “gun rights”.” . I have an inalienable right to own and use firearms– laws which curtail and marginalize that inalienable…
— Lars Bauer
“So a policeman is fully within their right to pull you over and search your car? After all- how could he know you weren’t a criminal?”
I don’t know Boomer, how could he know? And gee, are you conflating gun sellers with policemen?
George Mason II
3 days ago
It was them dang Russians.
Gunman has those NRA shooter glasses, logo on his shirt is ASHI, either First Aid or a Home inspection organization.
The goofy want to blame this on gun control instead of the loony left in this country. From the violence on Trump Supporters in Portland to the shooting in Virginia that’s what the left wants, civil war.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
No, it’s what the gun-loving, hateful right wants. You can’t demonize and declare war on immigrants and others, erase the safety net, threaten Medicare, Medicaid. And social security, destroy regulations put in place to protect people, generally push people to the limit and travel around the world threatening nations with war and expect that all is going to be peachy keen.
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
You mean take away the free loaders free stuff that we pay for. Cry me a river
Patrick Messmer
3 days ago
In reply to:
No, it’s what the gun-loving, hateful right wants. You can’t demonize and declare war on immigrants and others, erase the safety net, threaten Medicare, Medicaid. And social security, destroy…
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
So your justifying this left wing terrorist actions?
Ashton Kutcher
3 days ago
In reply to:
The goofy want to blame this on gun control instead of the loony left in this country. From the violence on Trump Supporters in Portland to the shooting in Virginia that’s what the left wants…
— HereIam
So you’re abandoning the “snowflakes” theory?
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
The goofy want to blame this on gun control instead of the loony left in this country. From the violence on Trump Supporters in Portland to the shooting in Virginia that’s what the left wants…
— HereIam
“I can tell you one prominent politician who has drastically degraded the quality of political discourse in this country and has repeatedly advocated violence from the microphone — Donald Trump. Over and over again, throughout his campaign, Trump spoke of how he yearned for the day where protesters were carried out on stretchers and how he’d personally pay for the legal costs his supporters incurred for being violent with protesters. That wasn’t Hillary Clinton. That wasn’t Bernie Sanders. That was Donald Trump. To this very day, he has supporters in legal trouble for the violence he encouraged at his rallies.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-don-blame-sanders-congressional-baseball-shooting-article-1.3247576
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
So your justifying this left wing terrorist actions?
— Patrick Messmer
It wasn’t a left wing terrorist action, drama queen. It was one extremely dusturbed individual with a gun he should never have been allowed to get his hands on. Complain to your legislator and the NRA.
And what’s the point of your comment: “You mean take away the free loaders free stuff that we pay for. Cry me a river.” That’s inflammatory.
My brother used to go out when he was in a bad mood, drink, and start fights. He picked on the wrong dude one night and got the s#%* beat out of him. Mr brother saw the light and changed his ways. He told me there’s always someone bigger and badder than you. My observation of bullies is that they only stop when someone finally gets tired of their crap. When you bully someone – or a group – there may be consequences; you pick on the wrong one and pay the price. It’s natural law. I don’t agree or disagree with it; it just is.
The gunman, James Hodgkinson, was a Bernie Sanders campaign worker and anti-Trump activist. Is this the America the Democrats want?
George Mason II
3 days ago
Yes, it is the American the Democrats want. It’s clear from both their words and their actions. Be it violent riots to prevent conservative speakers from speaking, mock executions of President Trump, or the constant demands for conservatives to give up their arms, the left is bound and determined to quash anything with which they disagree, in any manner required.
In reply to:
The gunman, James Hodgkinson, was a Bernie Sanders campaign worker and anti-Trump activist. Is this the America the Democrats want?
— Strada
Strada:
This is not the America I want; and yes, if we talked, you’d call me a stinking liberal. But I’m a patriot. My life and the lives of my grandfather, father, brother, and son prove that we love this country and served it. Please acknowledge that this kind of division was not evident until Donald Trump was elected president? I know it’s not all his fault. Obviously, his rhetoric resonated with lots of Americans. But I can honestly say that what I hear most times when Trump speaks is hate and fear. Donald Trump is a very, very flawed man. He is not Abraham Lincoln by a very, very long way. We should not allow this man to lead our nation into a civil war!
In reply to:
The gunman, James Hodgkinson, was a Bernie Sanders campaign worker and anti-Trump activist. Is this the America the Democrats want?
— Strada
Strada: The country is divided, and both sides have issues with folks attacking with guns, knives, or vicious words.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
The gunman, James Hodgkinson, was a Bernie Sanders campaign worker and anti-Trump activist. Is this the America the Democrats want?
— Strada
Is this what the America right wing nut, gun toting, Trump lovers want? Where was the concern when nazi Trump lovers were defacing schools, burning down mosques and insulting the parents of children killed in mass shootings?
If you want to point fingers, point them at yourself.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Yes, it is the American the Democrats want. It’s clear from both their words and their actions. Be it violent riots to prevent conservative speakers from speaking, mock executions of President…
— George Mason II
Oh, BS. If any group is a danger to America, its right wing nuts and the idiot they voted into the Oval Office. Seems to me Trump and his corrupt minions have pushed this nation to the breaking point. He’s a traitor, and while I do not approve of violence in any way, shape or form, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that this happened. Where were you when Gabby Gifford was shot? What has been your reaction when children have been mass murdered by gun nut members if the NRA? How many times have you defended the NRA? Promoted zero gun control, even in the case of mentally unstable people? How many guns do you own? How many animals have you killed?
As I’ve always said, violence begets violence. We have one of the most divisive, most hate-mongering, violent Presidents ever in the White House.
Incidents of hate crime went up and are increasing because of Trump. If any group is responsible, it’s the right. Only a fool wouldn’t have seen this coming.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Yes, it is the American the Democrats want. It’s clear from both their words and their actions. Be it violent riots to prevent conservative speakers from speaking, mock executions of President…
— George Mason II
Yes, it is the America the Republicans want. It’s clear from both their words and their actions Be it violent riots to prevent liberal/black/Muslim/immigrant/women speakers from speaking, mock executions and threats to kill President Obama, hateful rhetoric directed to his family or the right’s constant demands for liberals to give up their Constitutional rights, the right is bound and determined to quash anything with which they disagree, in any manner they wish to us, such as blocking all of President Obamas legislation for 8 years, and blocking his Supreme Court nominee and colluding with America’s enemies to steal its most important election.
CNN hosts holding bloody severed Trump heads. Public plays in New York displaying the mob assignation of President Trump. The son of Vice President candidate Kane arrested during a violent anti Trump protest. Universities eliminating free speech except from the left. Now a left wing Bernie Sanders supporter who has vocally expressed his hatred from Trump and republicans shoots republican representatives. The left’s hate and intolerance fueled this. What’s next?
Wow, for a minute there I thought you were talking about the people who make those same comments here in ADN. I know of one commentor that calls for a revolution in virtually every one of his/her posts.
Since you don’t give examples, I can’t comment on your feelings, but even if true, the clear difference is that those calling for violence against Republicans and the President are in the national media and thus influence those who act out on their inclinations. When the left defends the depiction of the President being assassinated, it’s obvious they are encouraging this type of violence.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
CNN hosts holding bloody severed Trump heads. Public plays in New York displaying the mob assignation of President Trump. The son of Vice President candidate Kane arrested during a violent anti…
— Tokdog
No one, & I mean no one beats the right wing nut media for hate speech. It’s the right that’s intolerant, or am I missing something in the President’s tweets about banning immigrants, exporting them, breaking up families, written no uncontritutional travel bans, The police shooting first and asking questions later, getting off scott free after killing people, including children, Sessions and other Republican “leaders” working to give the police immunity from killing citizens; blocking the Russia investigation, lying to the people under oath about Trump and his greedy, corrupt gang of enablers and helpers? The Trump Bots are also responsible: They elected a man who admits to sexually assaulting women, defrauds people, cheats contractors out of their promised pay, a pedophilic Peeping Tom, a traitor who colluded with the Russians, who cares more about enriching himself than taking care of the people of America, a sneering, hateful, pathological liar of the worst kind.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Wow, for a minute there I thought you were talking about the people who make those same comments here in ADN. I know of one commentor that calls for a revolution in virtually every one of his/her…
— Raven33_2
And rightly so. Just as I know of one who spreads lies about the left in everyone of his/her posts.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
Since you don’t give examples, I can’t comment on your feelings, but even if true, the clear difference is that those calling for violence against Republicans and the President are in the national…
— Tokdog
What depiction of Trump being assasinated? The left has nothing on the Right for hateful, and I do mean HATEFUL, violent depictions of killing and/or injuring presidents & their families, not to mention depicting them as apes in high heels, for example. Where was your outcry against Ted Nugent when he advocated killing President Obama – then was invited to the White House by your President, where he insulted Clinton? How about all those threats by gun totng right wing thugs at political rallies ? How about the guy that viciously attacked a reporter for nothing, then was elected by the Right the next day? Where’s your outrage, you hypocrite?
In reply to:
No one, & I mean no one beats the right wing nut media for hate speech. It’s the right that’s intolerant, or am I missing something in the President’s tweets about banning immigrants, exporting…
— TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
Wow…..I don’t even have to respond. Your own hateful words prove my point. Thank you.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
Wow, your own hateful comments provided the grist for my replies. Bullies don’t like it when they’re challenged. In stead, they pretend to be shocked and say, “Who me?”
You must not own a mirror.
A cursory review of the comments you’ve left here shows you spewing your hatered and blind copy paste replies at an alarming rate. You are exactly the type of person that has excused extreme alt left violence and then pretends it’s everyone else’s fault. And after your long soliloquy earlier filled with hate filled comments, your best reply is that it’s my fault you act that way. Step outside the basement, breathe some air, take a walk, maybe talk to you neighbor and then try not to hate the world and everything in it you don’t like. You’ll be a better person.
In reply to:
Since you don’t give examples, I can’t comment on your feelings, but even if true, the clear difference is that those calling for violence against Republicans and the President are in the national…
— Tokdog
I did give an example and because I named the person, it was deemed uncivil. This person states “it’s time for a revolution” in most of their posts. I’m sure this will be deemed uncivil too.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
2 days ago
I’m a big boy. I don’t cry over liberal nonsense. Unlike the one responding.
LNG & Weed is all we Need Walker
3 days ago
We should make sure all the congress is armed at all times… to protect themselves of course…… and perhaps go back to the days of the political duel.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
I’m not surprised by the shooting or Steve King’s reprehensible comments.
Lightfoot Letters
3 days ago
Top Republican shot – The Washington Post (adn).
We probably can not stop some violence without creating a ‘police state’ where no one is free. However, some of the violence is caused by public policy. Public policy created 911; violence on our military bases; young women killed in San Francisco and San Diego; other citizens killed every day by non-citizens; the killing at the Christmas party in Ca. and the killing in a nite club in La. and the killing at a marathon in Boston.
We all feel for the dead. We burn candles and build monuments…We think up politically correct sayings usually ‘something strong.’… when in reality…we do nothing except invite more killing by our public policy !?
“Public policy created 911; violence on our military bases; young women killed in San Francisco and San Diego; other citizens killed every day by non-citizens; the killing at the Christmas party in Ca. and the killing in a nite club in La. and the killing at a marathon in Boston.”
9/11, Fort Hood, San Bernadino, Boston, Orlando were all committed by Islamic terrorists, so you are correct. The “Public Policy” of unvetted immigration and “student” Visas from hotbeds of Islamic terror lead to each of these.
…. Gabby Gifford; Sandy Hook, Charlestown black church massacre, ….
3 lunatics on SSRI drugs…good examples. Google all three of them and look at their eyes. Tells you all you need to know.
In reply to:
“Public policy created 911; violence on our military bases; young women killed in San Francisco and San Diego; other citizens killed every day by non-citizens; the killing at the Christmas party in…
— TJLYOM
Then there’s this tweet from Republican Senator Rand Paul almost exactly a year ago today:
Senator Rand Paul ✔@RandPaul
.@Judgenap: Why do we have a Second Amendment? It’s not to shoot deer. It’s to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical!
8:48 AM – 23 Jun 2016
In reply to:
…. Gabby Gifford; Sandy Hook, Charlestown black church massacre, ….
— Clay McD
“…. Gabby Gifford; Sandy Hook, Charlestown black church massacre,….”
.
….Could not have been stopped with additional, asinine gun laws– correct.
Christopher Crews
3 days ago
In reply to:
“Public policy created 911; violence on our military bases; young women killed in San Francisco and San Diego; other citizens killed every day by non-citizens; the killing at the Christmas party in…
— TJLYOM
Crimes committed by: mullah, mullahs, illegals, mullahs, mullah……etc.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
“Public policy created 911; violence on our military bases; young women killed in San Francisco and San Diego; other citizens killed every day by non-citizens; the killing at the Christmas party in…
— TJLYOM
Let’s don’t forget violence by homophobes, xenophobe, misogynists, the police, President Trump, the Republican Party, Trump Bots, etc.
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
…. Gabby Gifford; Sandy Hook, Charlestown black church massacre, ….
— Clay McD
TRUMP: 100 Days Of Failure And Counting
3 days ago
In reply to:
3 lunatics on SSRI drugs…good examples. Google all three of them and look at their eyes. Tells you all you need to know.
— TJLYOM
Tsk, tsk. Defending gun violence again.
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Alaskans have strong opinions and very few of us subscribe to the idea that you can’t talk about religion or politics in polite society. So this is an article from the Alaska Dispatch News about Alaska being the 50th state to FINALLY allow ride-sharing services to operate here.
https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2017/06/15/uber-and-lyft-are-arriving-in-alaska-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
I’m not that interested in the article, mainly because it assumes that Alaskans have not already used these services in the Lower 48. We’re not uneducated troglodytes, but Alice Rogoff and her staff keep insisting we need them to educate us.
My focus is the comments section, which I’ve posted below so you can have an example of the rhetoric the Alexandria shooting was inspired by. I won’t use his name here because I don’t give publicity to murderers, but he was a self-radicalized terrorist who had supped deeply at liberal-progressive hate speech. His social media posts have been taken down now, but some of us read them while they were available.
So, this is an article about ride-sharing. There’s a tiny bit of controversy involved, but it really shouldn’t get people’s panties in a knot. But notice to prickliness of some posters, especially when you question (however mildly) the culturally accepted assumptions.
Dave H
What the cab companies need to know is, “don’t let the door hit your rump on the way out”! Good riddance, pirates!
In reply to Dave H
It doesn’t seem to have destroyed taxis in other cities, but it has made them pick up their game – cleaner rigs, lower rates, better customer service. There will probably always be people who are willing to support the huge government medallion fee because they think anyone who isn’t background checked, covered by workman’s comp and in radio contact with a dispatcher must be a serial killer looking to kill passengers. Then there are those of us who are willing to forego that because we prefer to spend less and get more and we’re just not that afraid of people. And, that’s fine. In an actual free enterprise system, we should have choices that match our individual wants and needs. And, now we do.
What the cab companies need to know is, “don’t let the door hit your rump on the way out”! Good riddance, pirates!
— Dave H
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
And you think cab companies don’t also do this?
About time. Calling a cab to take me to the airport always carried an air of uncertainty. Would the dispatcher ever answer the phone? Is the cab going to show up in 5 minutes or 45 minutes? Is it going to be another Crown Vic and get stuck in my driveway, again?
Were you waiting until the last minute to call for a cab? They take appointments. My last trip I called in the afternoon to catch a redeye that night and the cab showed up early. Also you can request for a specific type of vehicle. For example, a minivan or an SUV if you are worried about a steep driveway (and you cannot be bothered to salt/sand it).
Finally. Alaska is, what, the very last state in the union to allow ride sharing? Even years behind several third-world countries with similar services offering nicer cars and lower rates than our local cab cartels? Has this been because our legislators have been extra concerned about Alaskans’ welfare … or the welfare of the cab cartels? Hmmm….
In Reply to ProfessorX
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
Nope. I take a lot of taxis for work, usually to and from airports, and when I travel Outside, almost anywhere Outside, I get to take Uber or Lyft. There is no comparison in service, they are different products that both provide rides. I prefer using a smartphone to arrange a ride: it tracks the drivers, payments, destinations, and lets me know arrival times and costs ahead of time with fairly good accuracy. Cars are new and drivers are friendly.
With cabs, who knows what I’m going to get? Maybe calling 15 minutes ahead is sufficient, maybe I need an hour. I can count on the car being old junk and the driver being colorful. Sometimes that’s fine and sometimes it’s gross, like when one driver was cleaning his teeth with is tongue and lips (after taking out his teeth.) He was a character though and was funny. YMMV.
I just want a choice and am happy Alaska is one step further from being a third-world colonial state.
Use ALASKA2017 code for $5 credit on Lyft!
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
Use ALASKA2017 code for $5 credit on Lyft!
— russiarulez
Uber is offering $5 off five different rides (as long as they don’t go over $20), starting two minutes ago until June 20th 2017!
Good idea, but not everyone has (or can afford) a smart phone.
In Reply to Angel Damask
If you can afford a taxi, you can afford a smart phone. TracFone sells (admittedly annoying) smart phones that will cost you about $10 a month.
Good idea, but not everyone has (or can afford) a smart phone.
— Angel Damask
Seriously, if you are poor you can get one for $5/month from Lifeline at GCI. If you are more busted than that you really need to rethink this life.
You should rethink your negative comments about people who have nothing football. What exactly are you implying with that comment?
In reply to alaska61flyer
Lela Markham
I’m implying that the poster is implying this is somehow an unfair service because you have to have a smartphone to use it. If you can afford a taxi ($27 from my house to my workplace, 7 miles), you can easily afford a smartphone. I was merely removing the excuse of “only rich people can use this” from the table. It’s not true.
I’m waiting to find out what that ride will cost me with ride-sharing. I think it will be a lot less and therefore more affordable to those of us on a budget.
New Comment
Actually free enterprise?
Wow. I thought that would never be seen again. Good going Legislature and Gov. Walker for allowing almost unrestricted free trade.
[Actually free enterprise?]
Not in the strict sense. The Legislature gave in to lobbyists and carved out exceptions. The article touched on one:
[Alaska’s new law says they are independent contractors.]
The most bothersome (for me) is the lack of government oversight.
[While the law requires ride-hailing companies to conduct local and national background checks for people who apply to be drivers, and also look into their driving history, there’s no state oversight to make sure businesses actually do this.]
The law also PREVENTS local municipalities from any oversight as well. The taxi industry is arguably one of the most municipally regulated industries in Alaska.
I wouldn’t call it free enterprise when some are favored by the law.
In reply to Foster McTeague
Lela Markham
Um, free enterprise would mean that taxi companies would not be favored anymore than ride-sharing. Until this bill passed, the taxi companies held an industry monopoly. THAT isn’t free enterprise. Allowing ride-sharing services in moves us slightly in the right direction. Government oversight would not be free enterprise. Having to ask permission from a bureaucrat to make a living is basically slavery.
I know that is scary … the idea that individuals might do something in their own interest, but that is what freedom is. Uber and Lyft are free enterprise in action.
New Comment
Finally a remedy to some extent at least to the traffic problem, air pollution, and golly gee… it creates jobs. Moreover, we might make it to work on time.
Anchorage doesn’t have a traffic problem. If you want to see traffic problems go to Seattle, Portland San Francisco or LA.
Finally a remedy to some extent at least to the traffic problem, air pollution, and golly gee… it creates jobs. Moreover, we might make it to work on time.
— Sky Killough
It doesn’t create any jobs. The drivers are “independent contractors”. They don’t have any protections afforded to actual employees, and the companies are free to exploit them as they see fit.
In Reply to James Dickey in Reply to Sky Killough
Lela Markham
Owning your own business (which is what an independent contractor does) is a job. An independent contractor subscribing to a service that brings business to their door is making use of a good business practice. A friend of mine who used to drive taxi in Seattle has been driving Uber for several years now, also in Seattle. He says he makes a lot more money as an independent contractor, even adjusting for maintenance costs on his vehicle and having to buy commercial insurance. His wife’s job pays for their health insurance and my friend pays for a liability insurance policy that works a lot like workers comp. If Uber/Lyft drivers treat it like a business, they come out ahead of the employees of taxi companies.
Starting your own business creates a job for the business owner.
New Comment
This is interesting news, alright. I went back over the article for something about the vehicles, insurance, driver background checks, etc. but I didn’t find much. I was struck by the fact that the vehicle must have four doors, though. I hate it when there’s a door missing. Cold and windy…
New Comment
It’s discouraging that posters here don’t get the crony capitalism aspect of this bill. For those of you who claim that there is such a thing as a free market, here’s evidence that there isn’t. Including the posters who are paid by Uber/Lyft etc to troll web sites for articles like this.
In Reply to Allen English
Where is the evidence?
How much is the taxi industry paying you to troll web sites for articles like this?
It’s discouraging that posters here don’t get the crony capitalism aspect of this bill. For those of you who claim that there is such a thing as a free market, here’s evidence that there isn’t….
— Allen English
Nobody is paying me, but I fail to see how this is any more crony capitalism than the taxi companies holding an industry monopoly. THAT is crony capitalism. They went to government many decades ago and asked for and received a monopoly. Here in Fairbanks, two companies own pretty much all the taxi companies and getting a medallion prices most people out of the market.
Private contractors signing up for a ride-sharing service that people voluntarily use in place of taxis is competition to the crony capitalists.
It is leading to less monopoly. Just explaining the economics here.
Thank you representatives and governor for helping keep young women safe. Many women have been hurt from people offering rides at night after they gave up waiting on a cab. A disgusting crazy individual was recently convicted for trolling the bars near closing that was offering rides to women. He raped and beat many women before he got caught. Peaceful Warriors for years were helping individuals get home safely and are truly glad someone was finally listening. There is now a police force walking the downtown streets last November and now more transportation. Thank you for looking out for women in our state and not taxi’s profits. Love to you all. Alaskan Women Get ER Done!
New Comment
Plain old taxi has always worked well for me in Anchorage. They’ve been very reliable, although we live close to the airport and that may help. Best wishes to folks driving taxis, Uber, and Lyft. In New York I used Via; they were really good. I appreciate my Senator Costello– she’s a good person and next (I hope) on her itinerary will be helping unplug the fiscal logjam between the house and senate, working with other good folks like Tom Begich and the Senate Minority, and my representative Jason Grenn who is part of the House Majority.
Cool, I guess. A new thing from outside that I never used or needed before, and will continue to never use or need.
In Reply to meanwhile
Cool. A new thing from outside that I have used all over the US and overseas that works well. Happy to see that I now have a new transportation option in Alaska.
Cool, I guess. A new thing from outside that I never used or needed before, and will continue to never use or need.
— meanwhile
Do you ever take a taxi to an airport inside Alaska or out?
Cool, I guess. A new thing from outside that I never used or needed before, and will continue to never use or need.
— meanwhile
I bet you’re fun at parties.
meanwhile (in reply to muckamuck)
Do you ever take a taxi to an airport inside Alaska or out?
— muckamuck
Yup! And they’ve always worked very well. Were your experiences with taxis bad? If so, I can understand how having a different option has an appeal.
muckamuck (in reply to meanwhile)
My experience with taxis is bad. You call and you never know when they will come. You watch the clock anxiously wondering if you’re going to miss your flight. With Uber and Lyft, you get a fairly accurate ETA, and can see where the ride is as it moves toward you. You also get a price estimate.
Taxi’s are usually some dingy old car with seats with no support. The drivers are not friendly. Not so with ride sharing services. Uber and Lyft rides are automatically charged to your credit card. No fumbling with cash or swiping your card, necessary.
I suggest you give them a try. I’m sure you will find it a better experience than a taxi.
Rock DeAugustine (in response to meanwhile)
Yup! And they’ve always worked very well. Were your experiences with taxis bad? If so, I can understand how having a different option has an appeal.
— meanwhile
Alaska cabs are extortionist and Yellow specifically has incredibly bad service. Uber and Lyft are half the price and way quicker
Fred Willis in reply to meanwhile
Cool, I guess. A new thing from outside that I never used or needed before, and will continue to never use or need.
— meanwhile
They got these things called flush toilets outside as well which you may never use or need but hear they are a step forward…I guess.
Allen English (in reply to Rock DeAugustine)
Alaska cabs are extortionist and Yellow specifically has incredibly bad service. Uber and Lyft are half the price and way quicker
— Rock DeAugustine
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
SpicyMorale (in reply to Rock DeAugustine)
Alaska cabs are extortionist and Yellow specifically has incredibly bad service. Uber and Lyft are half the price and way quicker
— Rock DeAugustine
Not too mention they used to listen to Checker’s radio feed, to steal rides.
Rock DeAugustine (in response to Allen English)
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
— Allen English
ha no, I’m someone who has used them extensively in the US and Europe
Lyft launched at FAI today. I guess ADN forgot to investigate, as usual. Great job!
New Comment
” Lyft launched in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks as soon as the bill was signed on Thursday.”
I mean, that’s exactly what the article says, Jim.
Ewww you got me, not. FAI is not Fairbanks. It is an airport code for the airport. Please think before you comment. It’s ok. Anyhow The article said they will be allowed to enter into agreements with the airports (future tense). Please read the final 2 paragraphs. They’ve already started. Take care.
Jimmy R (in reply to Alaska Jim)
” Lyft launched in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks as soon as the bill was signed on Thursday.” I mean, that’s exactly what the article says, Jim.
— Lou Skizas
Pretty sure he’s taking about FAI (the Fairbanks airport), which the article said was “conning soon, after more negotiations”, and which Alaska Jim claims already happened. So, no… not exactly what the article said.
Heywhawn123 (in Reply to Jimmy R)
New Comment
Checker & Alaska Yellow are history.
New Comment
Lyft Promo Code for some $$ discount: STATE49
In Reply to AndyAK
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
Lyft Promo Code for some $$ discount: STATE49
— AndyAK
AndyAK (In Reply to Allen English)
Uber and Lyft pay people to lobby for them on newspaper web sites. Are you one of those?
— Allen English
I wish they paid))..
STATE49 is the promo code for discount when u install the app.. it may be used by more then one person. Thats why I am sharing it..
Anchorage taxi companies charge a customer $1.00 just for using a credit card. If the fare is $10.00 or $100.00, there is an additional charge of $1.00 and I think this is wrong. Uber and Lyft will not do this. Another point in favor of choosing ride hailing alternatives!
Boom! I’m going out tonight …
New Comment
As a driver of those, you will be an independent contractor. You have to keep track of all your mileage so you will be able to write them off come tax time. You will get a 1099 not a w-2. Any maintenance done to your car, keep track of Everything so u can write them off.
Taxi ride for me to airport is 23-25.00 for 8 mile trip. Plus tip.
I had 2 different taxi drivers tell me they will become Uber drivers as they hope to make more money than driving a leased cab.
This will be Representative Adam “Anti Faculty” Wool’s signature accomplishment: legalizing cheap rides to his bar! (Which is for sale, by the way.)
Now that that priority has been taken care of, maybe they can move on to the budget and education issues.
So, I’ll follow up with the comments from another article that really set off the rage.
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aurorawatcherak 