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| America Barely Noticed Navy Yard Shootings | ||
| 2013-09-22 | ||
| What number of dead here would it have taken to give the nation pause? Twelve people were fatally shot at the Navy Yard on Monday, and America hardly noticed. President Obama perfunctorily noted that "yet another mass shooting" had occurred. He required no moment to get control of his emotions, as he had at the lectern after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. Perhaps because he knew that the massacre of 20 children and six educators, and his subsequent attempts to jump-start the gun-control debate, changed nothing when it came to meaningful violence prevention. Maybe Champ had a golf game lined up? Maybe it was mostly military folks. BTW, "meaningful violence prevention" means gun control, not help for sickos.
Beyond the Beltway, Americans can be forgiven for not knowing the geography of the city. For not knowing that everything here happens within a few miles. That the site of the massacre is about a block from a park where kids splash in a fountain. Just like inside the Beltway, few know what state Des Moines, Iowa resides in. What cannot be forgiven is the dehumanization of a town and the uninterest when 12 people who work there do not make it home. While I am sympathetic to your unhappiness, I fear you have done nothing to draw the attention of flyover country.
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| Posted by:Bobby |
| #13 My Senator--scratch that, the Senator elected by the fools in my state--is Stabenow. She used the shooting to front herself on a bill increasing--supposedly--access to mental health care. She either knows and hopes we don't, or doesn't know because she's as dumb as a senator, that the recent shooters have all been involved in the mental health care system. Some folks have suggested looking at the psychotropic drugs these guys may have been prescribed. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2013-09-22 20:30 |
| #12 So, "we hired him, we fired him" makes it OK. Uh, yaha... I'm not sure where you're going with this. For the record: The shooter was separated from active duty by the Navy, supposedly by request; more likely either as an administrative separation or for the 'good of the service' under general-under-honorable conditions. He was hired by HP as an IT contract employee. Prior to his attack, he'd been fired by HP. He had no official access nor possessed an ID that would gain him access into the building. One can gain access to the Navy Yard as a tourist. There are a couple of museums on the grounds. The shooter knew where the building was and obviously knew of the rush-hour access. According to open-source, he 'piggy-backed' his way into the building, meaning he tail-gated someone who had already swiped their card at a morning-rush-hour entrance (card scan only.) The original intent was to gain access to the fifth floor of the building, where the IT contractors work. Failing to gain access to the fifth floor (the dead guard's card wouldn't work), the shooter then proceeded to open fire on both the fourth floor and down into the atrium. The dead were civil service employees, most likely mid to slightly upper level , judging by the ages (50-70, though there are quite a few GS-04s and 05s that old.) To put it in plain words: The shooter was not an active-duty sailor. He was not a civil service employee. He was not a contractor at the time he decided to shoot up the place. He was dabbling in Buddhism. He was mentally ill. He acquired his shotgun legally. And yes, I'd prefer Buckley's maxim over the current crop. But just like commenting at the Burg, anyone with half a mind to run for office, usually does. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-09-22 15:38 |
| #11 To paraphrase Bill Buckley: I'd rather be ruled by the current NRA board of directors than by the assholes who rule us now... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2013-09-22 12:33 |
| #10 He knows that our country is still beholden to a Congress that blanches at the thought of an unfavorable NRA voting record while it tries more than 40 times to repeal a law making affordable mental health care available to those who desperately need it. Got that? ItÂ’s the Pubs fault that President Obama responded to the Navy Yard shooting with just a few obligatory statements and then quickly pivoted back to his usual political grandstanding. GeezÂ…he wouldnÂ’t be so apathetic if the Tea Party types werenÂ’t so damn racist dontchaknow. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2013-09-22 12:22 |
| #9 So, "we hired him, we fired him" makes it OK. Uh, yaha... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2013-09-22 12:21 |
| #8 Gummit workers murdered in cold blood by a deranged, protected class gummit worker.... He was a low-level contractor, and a fired one at that. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-09-22 12:16 |
| #7 Sorry, USN, Ret., but the answer is "never." The Clintons and Bushes are committed to the idea that "pisslam is the religion of peace." This is inside the beltway gospel and won't go away until the US gummint no longer resides inside the beltway. That's a long ways off, regrettably... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2013-09-22 11:32 |
| #6 Rhetorical question time: How many more PC-based events like this will we have to endure before we can get back to basics and throwing the bad apples out? Fort Hood ( can't call a muzzie a terrorist, that's icky. And he had publicly stated some of his beliefs, no big surprise when the bullets flew) now this guy with a long rap sheet of documented troubles, yet nobody had the balls to call a spade a spade for fear of being labeled a racist. Can we please get some grown-ups back in charge? |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2013-09-22 11:19 |
| #5 and he was black |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-09-22 10:57 |
| #4 America hardly noticed because the shooting failed to support any pet theories of the Left. No AR-15. No background check. It occurred in a "gun free" zone. If it doesn't fit the narrative, then it didn't happen. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2013-09-22 10:49 |
| #3 There's the answer: ban gummint workers and gummint workplaces... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2013-09-22 09:25 |
| #2 Gummit workers murdered in cold blood by a deranged, protected class gummit worker.... inside the booming beltway gummit worker paradise. Tragic, yes of course, absolutely. Sympathy? You know where to find it in Webster's. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-09-22 09:10 |
| #1 What number of dead here would it have taken to give the nation pause? Only two or three if it had been a white, Tea Party connected, conservative who'd voted for any Trunk. We'd get the full Zimmerman treatment from the Party Propaganda Machine 24 hours, 7 days a week. Maybe the rubes are catching on and the media still reliant upon ad revenue needed another 'the world is ending' subject to fill the air time and print columns. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-09-22 08:56 |