Noteworthy News

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

That's an easy ask. It's because very few countries have raised gun fetishism to the levels seen in the US. We view gun ownership as a privilege, not a right. 

Boru

There's definitely a cultural anomaly, alongside a ridiculous prevalence of private gun ownership.

In a country of just over 5 million people, we have 1.5 million firearms in private hands. We average about ten gun deaths per year.

Boru

[Sheldon]

There's definitely a cultural anomaly, alongside a ridiculous prevalence of private gun ownership.

In a country of just over 5 million people, we have 1.5 million firearms in private hands. We average about ten gun deaths per year.

Boru

Yes I think from memory Norway was one country with a high percentage of privately owned guns, and a relatively low rate of gun deaths / violence, Canada perhaps. The UK and Australia both had infamous cases of mass shootings, and tightened already strict laws around gun ownership. Generally speaking the less guns, the less opportunity for gun crime or violence or accidents. 

I think you've got more chance of the US electing a gay, trans woman, who's also an atheist into the white house, than tackling the mess of they've made of the 2nd amendment.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In a country of just over 5 million people, we have 1.5 million firearms in private hands. We average about ten gun deaths per year.

Boru

Yes I think from memory Norway was one country with a high percentage of privately owned guns, and a relatively low rate of gun deaths / violence, Canada perhaps. The UK and Australia both had infamous cases of mass shootings, and tightened already strict laws around gun ownership. Generally speaking the less guns, the less opportunity for gun crime or violence or accidents. 

I think you've got more chance of the US electing a gay, trans woman, who's also an atheist into the white house, than tackling the mess of they've made of the 2nd amendment.

One chief difference here is that - as I said earlier - gun ownership is viewed as a privilege which can be revoked. Something as simple as not having your guns under lock and key or transporting a loaded firearm in a vehicle will get your gun license rescinded. Being aware of this tends to make people extra special careful.

Boru

[Sheldon]

Yes I think from memory Norway was one country with a high percentage of privately owned guns, and a relatively low rate of gun deaths / violence, Canada perhaps. The UK and Australia both had infamous cases of mass shootings, and tightened already strict laws around gun ownership. Generally speaking the less guns, the less opportunity for gun crime or violence or accidents. 

I think you've got more chance of the US electing a gay, trans woman, who's also an atheist into the white house, than tackling the mess of they've made of the 2nd amendment.

One chief difference here is that - as I said earlier - gun ownership is viewed as a privilege which can be revoked. Something as simple as not having your guns under lock and key or transporting a loaded firearm in a vehicle will get your gun license rescinded. Being aware of this tends to make people extra special careful.

Boru

Similar to the UK, any kind of violent offence, and your FAC is gone, and they don't issue them easily. They do random spot checks to make sure they're properly secured. Though we'd be talking about hunting rifles, and air rifles, shot guns are licenced separately, not sure any civilian could get a hand gun outside a shooting club, and I am pretty sure the law says they have to be kept there at all times.

[brewer]

The following was taken from a CNN coverage of the Madison WI shooting, the quoted speaker is a school representative.

“We also have a very strong faith in our community that in spite of tragedy, God is working. And we believe that God is good in everything and that he turns beauty for ashes. And so I had a number of families who mentioned that to me, that this wasn’t a surprise to God, and that he’s going to do something mighty with it,” she continued.

“We’re holding on to those words, and we’re continuing to believe and trust in him. He is our foundation at Abundant Life Christian school,” she added. “We have complete faith that he will carry us through this.”

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/abundan...index.html

Talk about brain washed.

Another thought, christian schools where I live are a dumping ground for the incorrigible kids removed from public schools, lot's of bullying which goes unreported and kept hidden. Guess I'll have to stay tuned.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The following was taken from a CNN coverage of the Madison WI shooting, the quoted speaker is a school representative.

“We also have a very strong faith in our community that in spite of tragedy, God is working. And we believe that God is good in everything and that he turns beauty for ashes. And so I had a number of families who mentioned that to me, that this wasn’t a surprise to God, and that he’s going to do something mighty with it,” she continued.

“We’re holding on to those words, and we’re continuing to believe and trust in him. He is our foundation at Abundant Life Christian school,” she added. “We have complete faith that he will carry us through this.”

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/abundan...index.html

Talk about brain washed.

Iron chariots and now lead bullets. Quoth Carlin, "If this is the best you can do, I'm not impressed."

Another thought, christian schools where I live are a dumping ground for the incorrigible kids removed from public schools, lot's of bullying which goes unreported and kept hidden. Guess I'll have to stay tuned.

When my older sister got strung out on speed around 1980 or so, my parents -- Baptists! -- sent her to a Catholic boarding school in Coeur d'Alene ID, not because Lynda needed popery, but because Lynda needed some harsh nuns.

The cure wore off about three or four years later.

[The Grand Nudger]

Kathy Hochul has decided that the real terrorism in america is ceo killing.

New York state is considering creating a special hotline exclusively for CEOs to report perceived threats, CNN reported this morning. Nice little reminder of just how responsive government can be when it comes to corporate executives.

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/new-cr...e-for-ceos

[Silver]

When corporations are considered more human than the people themselves, you know you're screwed.

[Ivan Denisovich]

Kathy Hochul has decided that the real terrorism in america is ceo killing.  

New York state is considering creating a special hotline exclusively for CEOs to report perceived threats, CNN reported this morning. Nice little reminder of just how responsive government can be when it comes to corporate executives.

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/new-cr...e-for-ceos

Is it surprising that servant runs to his master rescue?

[Angrboda]

Louisiana forbids public health workers from promoting COVID, flu and mpox shots

A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events.

Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, influenza or mpox vaccines, an established practice there — and at most other public health entities in the U.S. — must stop.
KFF Health News logo

This story was produced in partnership with KFF Health News.

NPR has confirmed the policy was discussed at this meeting, and at two other meetings held within the department's Office of Public Health, on Oct. 3 and Nov. 21, through interviews with four employees at the Department of Health, which employs more than 6,500 people and is the state's largest agency.

According to the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear losing their jobs or other forms of retaliation, the policy would be implemented quietly and would not be put in writing.

Staffers were also told that it applies to every aspect of the health department's work: Employees could not send out press releases, give interviews, hold vaccine events, give presentations or create social media posts encouraging the public to get the vaccines. They also could not put up signs at the department's clinics that COVID, flu or mpox vaccines were available on site.

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Policy change follows new governor's election

Until becoming Louisiana governor in early 2024, Republican Jeff Landry served as the state's attorney general for eight years. During the pandemic, he criticized the state's COVID response and filed lawsuits over federal and state vaccine mandates.

On Dec. 6, 2021, Attorney General Landry spoke at a state committee hearing against adding COVID to the childhood immunization schedule. At his side was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who presented false claims about COVID vaccines.

This year the Republican-controlled legislature passed five bills — all signed by Gov. Landry — and two resolutions aimed at loosening vaccine requirements, limiting the power of public health authorities and sowing doubt about vaccine safety.

Attorney General Jeff Landry speaks about medicines being donated by drug companies during the coronavirus pandemic in Baton Rouge on April 6, 2020. in Baton Rouge, La. After Landry became governor in 2024, his appointees at the Louisiana Department of Health oversaw a policy shift that forbid staff from promoting vaccines for COVID, flu and mpox.

Gov. Landry also appointed Dr. Ralph Abraham, a family medicine doctor, to be the state's surgeon general. That position co-leads the Department of Health, and is tasked with crafting health policy that is then carried out by the departmental co-leader, the secretary.

Dr. Wyche Coleman, an ophthalmologist, was named deputy surgeon general.

At a Sept. 26, 2024 legislative meeting on the state's handling of the COVID pandemic, Abraham and Coleman repeated misinformation about COVID vaccine safety and the debunked link between vaccines and autism.