...it goes to show you never can tell

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     Lately I feel like trying to view and understand what is going on in the world is like putting a puzzle together, not knowing where all the pieces are.  
     I try arranging and studying headlines...

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recent headlines


The Florida student spearheading the gun debate in the US now has more followers than the NRA
       || The Independent (U.K.)

Man saws AR-15 in half to support gun control
       || CNN

Back to the future:  How China returned to one-man rule
       || NBC News


CDC scientist allegedly made odd comment to neighbor the day he disappeared
       || CBS News

Jared Kushner's security clearance downgraded
       || ABC News

'Success' on YouTube Still Means a Life of Poverty
       || Bloomberg

Republicans say new gun laws not needed after Fla. Shooting
       || USA Today


Opinion / Chris Matthews --
The Parkland shooting victims are the most trusted people in America
       || The Washington Post

Italy Is Having an Election.  Most Italians Are Too Depressed to Care.
       || The New York Times

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some of today's headlines


Opinion/THINK piece by Daniel Peña --
The Supreme Court's latest immigration ruling formalizes terror against Latinos
       || NBC News

Most Americans say mass shootings can be stopped
     ----------- Shift marks strong change among Republicans, with 52 per cent believing further incidents can be prevented
                           || The Independent (U.K.)

Video of Boston police stop of black pedestrian draws ire from activists
       || CBS News

Police:  Georgia teacher fires gun in classroom; no one hurt
       || ABC News


Alaska's congressman suggests more Jews would have survived the holocaust if they were armed
       || CNN

President Trump meets with bipartisan lawmakers on gun control
       || CNN

'It's Time to Do Something':  American CEOs Are Getting Bold on Guns
     ----------- Dick's Sporting Goods is latest to pare ties with industry
     ------------ Corporate action contrasts with gridlock in Washington
                      || Bloomberg


California's leaders to protest Trump push to scrap Clean Power Plan
       || CNBC

Analysis / Hicks's evasiveness highlights how far Trump is pushing the envelope on executive privilege
       || The Washington Post

As Xi Tightens His Grip on China, U.S. Sees Conflict Ahead
       || The New York Times

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Mrs. Trump agrees with Whitney Houston song

"Allowing a country to be flooded with weaponry of military standard, is just asking for people to be killed."
    ~ Reader Comment / The Independent

headlines today


Melania Trump expresses support for teen activists
       || The Washington Post

CBS News reported:
[quote] First Lady Melania Trump said Monday that she was encouraged by the young activists who are speaking out in response to the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 students dead almost two weeks ago.

     "I have been heartened to see children across this country using their voices to speak out and try to create change," she told the spouses of the nation's governors, who are in Washington for the National Governors Association meeting.  "They are our future and they deserve a voice."  [end, CBS News quote]

   
     A CBS reporter wrapped up a related report, saying the Parkland students who survived the incident felt a responsibility to "pick up the reins and take the ball forward," (if the audience can excuse a mixed metaphor, which CBS apparently assumes we can...).


(Meanwhile, in other violence...)

Heather Locklear arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence
       || USA Today

Oh - kay.

Behind a Key Anti-Labor Case, a Web of Conservative Donors
       || The New York Times

No!

Jeremy Corbyn's cosy Brexit pitch is a gamble.  But he's still beating May
       || The Guardian UK - Opinion

Trump on Florida massacre:  'I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon'
       || CNBC

State leaders of both parties are worrying about the security of America's election systems against possible cyberattacks ahead of this fall's midterm elections.
       || ABC News on Twitter

Trump Vows to Take on NRA, Boasts of Willingness to Rush Shooter
       || Bloomberg.com

These Union-Seeking Coders Will Test Trump's Job-Saving Promises
       || Bloomberg Businessweek

Pennsylvania school cancels classes over nearby church ceremony featuring AR-15s
       || CBS News
                       -------------- NEWFOUNDLAND, Pa. - A Pennsylvania school district will cancel classes at an elementary school on Wednesday because a church down the street is hosting a ceremony featuring AR-15 rifles.  

World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland believes the AR-15 symbolizes the "rod of iron" in the biblical book of Revelation, and it is encouraging couples to bring the weapons to a commitment ceremony.

     The ceremony, to be held about a half-mile from Wallenpaupack South Elementary School, is expected to draw hundreds of couples, who are invited to bring their semi-automatic rifles to "show their willingness to defend their families, communities and nation," CBS Philadelphia reports.

     On Friday, the superintendent of the Wallenpaupack Area School District wrote in a letter to parents that while "there is no direct threat to our school or community," given concerns about parking, traffic and the "nature of the event," students will be bused to schools about 15 miles away.

     Superintendent Michael Silsby added there will be increased security at the school all week.

     "We respect your decision if you choose to keep your children home for the day," he wrote.

     The church -- a breakaway faction of the Unification Church -- has said it planned Wednesday's event months ago, well before the Feb. 14 massacre at a Florida high school.  Authorities say the shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, used an AR-15 in the attack that killed 17 people.

     Church officials say that weapons will be unloaded, secured with zip ties and checked at the door.

     The Unification Sanctuary's leader, Rev. Sean Moon, is the son of Rev. Sun Myung Moon who was a self-proclaimed messiah who founded the Unification Church.

     The Unification Church, which is often described as a cult, has distanced itself from Wednesday's event, saying its ceremonies and theology do not involve weapons.

     "It saddens us that Reverend Moon's son has chosen to separate himself and walk in opposition to his parent's legacy building world peace," Rev. Richard Buessing, president of Family Federation, another name for the Unification Church, said in a statement.

__________________________________
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     That last news story was weird to see today, because I'd thought a little bit this weekend, and woke up thinking this morning, how the idea (or dream? fantasy?) of More-And-More-And-Bigger-And-More-Guns-Everywhere seems like it's almost like "a religion" with some people -- maybe at the more extreme end of the thought spectrum...

     Then I look at the news, and there, it's "Bring Your AR-15 With You To Church Day" in the northeastern corner of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

     And then I read it and it turns out, it has something to do with "Reverend Sun Young Moon" -- oh for heaven's sake, I remember that guy from the Seventies.  (Do these people never go away?)

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Not Our Grandpas' N-R-A

     About five years ago, I read a couple of articles which told how the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) started out as an organization for the members -- hunters, outdoorsmen -- with an emphasis on firearm education and safety, but starting in the 1970s, it had been helped -- then influenced -- and finally hijacked by weapons manufacturers.

     Criminal Justice Professor William Vizzard says they "started out as a grassroots organization and became an industry organization."

articles which can be read Online:

"Whom Does the NRA Really Speak For?"
The Atlantic
Dec. 18, 2012

"NRA leadership should refocus its priorities"
Houston Chronicle
May 1, 2013

"Does the NRA Represent Gun Manufacturers or Gun Owners?"
The Nation
Dec. 15, 2012

"This Is How The Gun Industry Funds The NRA"
Business Insider
Jan. 16, 2013

"National Rifle Association History:  How It Was Founded"
TIME.com

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other countries think we're crazy

"I don't much like the idea of police having guns, but a country where ordinary people have better guns than police officers makes absolutely no sense"
------------- Reader Comment, The Independent

_________________

     This week I was thinking about that Whitney Houston song, "Greatest Love of All" where it starts out, "I believe the children are our future..." because of the school shootings in our country, and those high school students from Parkland, Florida, speaking out and saying that we adults have not dealt with this problem.

     It occurred to me:  do we all say (or think) that we care about the children in our society, but in reality we don't give a damn?  I think we care.  Or -- I thought we cared.  

I think I believe we care.  

I think I thought we knew we were supposed to care... damn it, "I believe the children are our future!  Teach them well and let them lead the way!  Show them all the beauty they possess inside!"...

     Ah, the 90s power ballad.

     But do we really, seriously, actually care about -- children, and about The Future?  Or are we just jive talkin' when we make that claim?

     Are we treating the environment and the planet in a way that coincides with caring about The Future and the children and their children and grandchildren?

     Does truly caring about American innocents match up with creating a society that's awash in war weapons?  Who benefits from the Gun Overload?  (Hint:  follow the money.)

     The Independent, a British newspaper, ran a story about Scot Peterson, the security official at the Parkland high school in Florida who was outside the school for four minutes while the shooting took place inside.
     Commenters argue whether the policeman should have gone into the school instead of staying outside.

Reader Comments:


------------ Here's a question for you.  Have you ever had someone shoot at you?  Until you have, don't take your courage under fire, or others' for granted....
     The debate here isn't this one man's failure, or guns, or any single issue, it is the failure of government all the way up the line to act in the best interest of those who elected them, not those who paid for their campaign.


----------- Did he have a handgun against a machine gun.  It would have been suicide to go in.

---------------- There has to be a fall guy to apportion blame to, to protect the gun manufacturers and 'advertise' that the solution is more, bigger, faster firing guns. ...

Rather than actually going to the problem:  crazy people with easy access to high caliber weaponry.


--------- Some maniac with an AR15 is spraying bullets around and law enforcement cant do anything.  Yet Trump thinks the answer is to arm Miss Crabtree the 62 year old librarian.


-------- How about armed cleaners?

----------------- What happens to gun sales after every school massacre?  What happens to the sales of the weapon used in the murders?  

What action has the government taken to restrict the sale of military-style weapons in all that time?  

You could just as well argue that these school massacres are planned and executed by the gun manufacturers.

------------------------- It's money from the NRA that these horrible politicians take that prevents sanity to prevail, the only way to stop it would be to raise more money than the NRA give them to get the law changed, they have no principles.

--------- Running into an unknown situation with only a handgun is not heroic, it is stupid.

     If their plan is that one lightly armed man should take on an unknown number of attackers armed with AR-15's then their system is broken and those in charge incompetent.


---------------------- ...Allowing a country to be flooded with weaponry of military standard, is just asking for people to be killed.

     ...Yanks are looneys.

------------- ...the NRA logic is flawed, skewed and distorted beyond recognition of the term logic.  It is presented simply to make as much money from death and destruction as possible.
     Truly an evil organisation.


--------- ...As long as there is the free availability of semi-automatic weapons in the US, there will be many more mass shootings.  This is as certain as night follows day.  Not having free access to semi-automatic weapons would not cause any real hardship to anyone.

---------------- The solution is very simple.  Ban assault rifles.  In Australia they banned all semi-automatic long guns after a mass shooting, and there have been none since.

--------------------------- SWAT unit in every school next?

     Puts it into perspective when compared to UK policing where unarmed officers confront terrorists, yet armed US police stand by and watch [yet still manage to shoot unarmed people].

The country's a madhouse.

--------------------- Give everyone but the mentally ill their own grenade, and then everyone will be too scared to blow anyone else up because then the person who's just been blown up will use their grenade to...oh wait a minute, that doesn't work.  America, home of the idiot

--------------- Trump and the Republicans -- ducking and diving the real issue just to protect their money supply..  Launderers and fakers the lot of them.

--------------- If there was such an incident in UK would the police think it reasonable for a single ordinary copper with a gun to go in and fight it out with a crazy killer with a semi-automatic assault rifle?  Or would the police use a heavily armed, highly trained, squad of specialist policemen?

----------------- The British police would just go in with their truncheons and harsh language... it would all be over by elevenses

--------------- He fell down the stairs, y'honour...  
Right lads, it's Beer'o'clock!!

_________________________________

----------------- The debate here isn't this one man's failure, or guns, or any single issue, it is the failure of government all the way up the line to act in the best interest of those who elected them, not those who paid for their campaign.

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I believe the children are our future

Florida Republicans Face Mounting Pressure to Act on Gun Control
       || The New York Times

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greatest love of all

"There are certain people in this country that should not be ever allowed to have a gun.  We need to look at that."

~~  Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel

-------------------------------------

     Today in a headline which might be captioned "Flailing Wildly" a congresswoman from upstate New York proclaimed,

...Many Mass Murderers 'End Up Being Democrats'
       || The New York Times



other headlines


US is looking at potential new sanctions against Russia
       ...in response to election meddling and a cyber attack last year.
               || CNBC

Business leaders should take a stand on social issues, says Yale management guru
       || CNBC

Florida shooting:  students walk out of schools to call for gun control - video
       || The Guardian

Photos:  High School Students Stage Walkouts, Rally for Gun Control in Florida and Washington, D.C.
       || The Atlantic

Trump pushes ban on 'bump stocks' -- devices that turn weapons into machine guns
       ...The gunman in the Las Vegas massacre had at least 12 rifles fitted with the device that Trump now wants banned.
               || CNBC


Crisis actors, deep state, false flag / The rise of conspiracy theory code words
       || The Guardian-UK

California school shooting plot foiled, assault rifles found
       || ABC News

On gun control, President Trump almost sounds woke
       || USA Today


Parkland Shooting:  Deputies will carry rifles on school grounds, Broward sheriff says
       || NBC News

It hit 70 degrees today -- and it's going to snow tomorrow
       || The Boston Globe

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     I noticed in last night's headlines, a group of high school students in the Washington D.C. area protested gun violence by having a "lie-in" at the White House.  They lay down on the ground for a specific amount of time, to make their point.


     Signs being held up by protesters at various locations had these messages, among others:


You work for us, not the NRA


Am I not worth more than NRA $ ?


Enough is Enough


Let Our Voice Be Louder Than The Guns


Lives Over Guns


------------------- [excerpt / article] ----------- Following the lie-in, protesters continued to hold signs in support of stricter gun laws and shouted phrases including "Shame on you" and "Disarm hate" toward the White House.  The group also chanted "No more deaths," "Am I next?" and "Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today?"                     [HuffPost]

     The teens were not alone in their protest -- at a town hall meeting in Colorado, a photograph showed a woman in her fifties or sixties, holding up a sign which read,

Save Our Children

Control Guns

No    NRA    $$$


     Another sign read, "Protect Kids Not Guns"

-------------------------

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waiting on the Double E

headlines
----------------------

Shooting survivor:  You're with us or against us
       || CNN

Man saws AR-15 in half to support gun control
       || CNN

The Tea Party is dead and buried, and the GOP just danced on its grave.
     | Republicans have turned their backs on the Tea Party, and on everything the GOP has ever said about fiscal discipline.
       || Boston Globe

President Trump says he wants to improve background checks, but budget calls for cuts
       || ABC News

Most see inaction by Trump, Congress on mass shootings
       || ABC News

Ohio seventh-grade student shoots self at Jackson Memorial Middle School
       || CBS News

Florida school shooting students urging lawmakers to consider tougher gun control
       || CBS News

Another woman accuses Trump of having an affair
       || CBS News

Florida Legislature rejects weapons ban with massacre survivors en route to Capitol
       || CNN

Florida teachers' Pension Fund Invested in Maker of School Massacre gun
       || Bloomberg


Woman threatened for destroying her own gun
       || CNN

Trump pushes insurance that doesn't cover pre-existing conditions
       || NBC News

After Florida School Shooting, Russian 'Bot' Army Pounced
       || The New York Times

Troll networks manipulated gun conversation after Florida shooting, expert says
       || CNBC

The Arrest Was a Bust.  The Officers Got Overtime Anyway.
     | A federal trial in Brooklyn is set to explore the issue of so-called collars for dollars.  The implications could be far-reaching.
       || The New York Times

Is there a Trump link? / Putin's chef, a troll farm and Russia's plot to hijack US democracy
       || The Guardian

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     It's like a "mash-up" of crazy; a puree of the bizarre.  And it is not a John Waters movie -- it's the News...!  (?!)

     Linda Ronstadt had a hit song in 1975 with these lines stating the drama some guy had visited on her life:  "...put me through some changes, Lord; sort of like a Waring blender" ...  Lately when I see News, I think of that lyric -- one -- big -- Waring blender....

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Emma Gonzalez calls B-S

"Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS," Gonzales said.  

"They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence.  We call BS.  

They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun.  We call BS.  

They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars.  

We call BS. ... 

They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred.  

We call BS."

--------------------------- [Vox, Feb. 19, 2018]

     Miss Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, was telling it like it is from her point of view at a rally this past Saturday.


     "Enough is enough" will be the theme for two events next month:
     National School Walkout, on March 14
     March for our Lives, March 24

     Official websites and Facebook pages give information for each of these events.

     Ohio Governor John Kasich has said something about guns and public safety, but whatever he said went back and forth so much, I couldn't tell what it was, so...

------------------------ [excerpts, article:  "Students are rising up against gun violence in the aftermath of the Florida shooting."  Written by German Lopez.  Vox] ----------------------- "Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school,"...organizers...said in a statement.  

"Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day."


     Alex Wind, one of the survivors of the Florida shooting, echoed the sentiment on NBC's Meet the Press:  "We're marching because it's not just schools.  It's movie theaters, it's concerts, it's nightclubs.  

This kind of stuff can't just happen.  

You know, we are marching for our lives, we're marching for the 17 lives we lost.  And we're marching for our children's lives and our children's children and their children."


------------------------ Some of the response is also perhaps fueled by sentiment against President Donald Trump, who in his speech after the Florida shooting failed to mention gun control at all and tweeted over the weekend that Democrats are to blame for inaction on gun violence. ------------------------ [end, excerpt]


CNN
Feb. 19, 2018

"Trump tweet angers survivors of Parkland shooting"

written by Eli Watkins

     David Hogg, one of the students, spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" and issued an angry and passionate call for Trump to take action on the issue.

     "You're the President," Hogg said.  "You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us.  How dare you?  Children are dying, and their blood is on your hands because of that.  Please take action.  Stop going on vacation in Mar-a-Lago.  Take action.  

Work with Congress.  

Your party controls both the House and Senate.  

Take action, get some bills passed, and for God's sake, let's save some lives."

------------------------------------------

According to CBS News, Al Hoffman Jr., major Republican donor, says he won't fund politicians who oppose assault weapons ban....

...When Hoffman first heard about the school shooting, he said he was "incredulous."
     "I couldn't believe it.  I felt I had my heart in my hands," Hoffman told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan.

     That feeling led the 83-year-old Republican donor to stop contributing to his own party candidates unless they change the gun laws.



     "I will not write a check for anyone who does not propose a ban on assault style weapons," Hoffman said.
     "You were quoted as saying, 'This particular shooting was the end of the road' for you," Duncan said.

     "That's right," Hoffman responded.
     "Why not a Sandy Hook?" Duncan asked.

     "Well, I have been after so many politicians to adopt legislation and always the answer is, 'Well, we're working on it, we're working on it,' and nothing ever changes," Hoffman said...

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