[BBC] Murder charges brought against the father of a US school shooter have laid down a new marker on the issue of parental responsibility.
Colin Gray bought his son Colt an AR-style rifle for Christmas last year, even though the boy had been questioned by police just seven months earlier about online threats to commit a school shooting.
Investigators suspect the 14-year-old may have used that same weapon on Wednesday when he shot dead four people and wounded nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
The teen has since been charged with murder and - in an unprecedented move - so too has his dad.
Mr Gray, 54, faces two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children.
Together, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 180 years in prison.
CAN THEY MAKE THE CHARGES STICK?
The murder counts against Mr Gray stem from him "knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon", according to Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The pair of charges apply to the two teenagers killed in Wednesday's rampage: Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14.
Two Apalachee teachers - Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53 - also died in the attack.
The charges Mr Gray faces are second-degree and that may be due to specific wording in Georgia law.
According to the state's criminal code, a person commits second-degree murder "when, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice".
With prosecutors bringing these charges barely more than 24 hours after the shooting, experts caution the facts are still emerging, and it remains unclear what legal arguments will be directed at Mr Gray.
"There's a connection between the deaths and 'the commission of cruelty to children,'" said Evan Bernick, an associate law professor at Northern Illinois University.
"But is the cruelty directly arising from the shooting, or is it cruelty to his son that may have led [the boy] to commit the shooting? We just don't know yet."
The son will be tried as an adult, meaning that the criminal justice system will treat his homicide prosecution as that of somebody fully responsible for their own actions.
But that does not mean his father will escape punishment, Prof Bernick told the BBC.
The crux of the argument will be not that Colin Gray wanted the shooting to happen, but that he "failed to intervene, and his failure to intervene was negligent in ways that justify treating him as part of the homicide".
IF HE DIDN'T PULL THE TRIGGER, WHY A MURDER CASE?
Across the US, there are laws on the books to punish parents or guardians for everything from academic truancy and underage driving to shoplifting and vandalism.
But prosecutors in the state of Michigan expanded the reach of such statutes earlier this year when they secured dual convictions against the parents of another teen gunman.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for how their criminal negligence as parents contributed to their son Ethan, 14, killing four of his classmates in 2018.
Thursday's decision to charge the father with murder - a far more severe charge - could again test the legal bounds of parental responsibility.
Eve Brank, a psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, researches how the law intervenes and sometimes interferes with family decision-making.
In her view, the emerging concept of punishing parents after school shootings reflects broader frustration around US gun violence and, in the absence of regulatory reform, the inability to curb the country's unrelenting series of firearm incidents.
"It's not like we've created a bunch of new laws to address these issues. They're just being used, somewhat creatively, to address the issue," she said.
"In terms of what the research shows, most people would agree there are a lot of influences on how children behave, not just their parents."
But she noted that prosecutors in Georgia may be privy to information from the investigation not yet publicly available and may believe they can successfully argue that, like the Crumbleys before him, Colin Gray's actions were particularly egregious.
Tim Carey, a law and policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, argues that charging parents is also a reflection on weak gun safety policies.
Georgia has been "very apprehensive to gun violence prevention policies", he said, and prosecutors in such states may "feel confined to trying to bring a sense of justice or retribution after the fact, in part because they couldn't prevent" such a tragedy.
WHERE COULD PUNISHING PARENTS END UP?
Some legal scholars worry that expanding the toolkit prosecutors can use after a shooting could have unintended consequences.
"We know we have a problem of violence and guns in our society," said Ekow Yankah, a law and philosophy professor at the University of Michigan.
"And instead of tackling it with systemic and regulatory powers, we soothe ourselves with these kind of extraordinary prosecutions."
But, Prof Yankah warns, prosecutors are now armed with "a hammer" they can bring down on others, including poor families from minority groups and single parents.
"School shootings are highly visible... but I'm worried about the cases that won't make the news," he said.
And while parents are now at greater risk of being penalised for their children's violent actions, less progress has been made on the widespread access to firearms or on the availability of mental health resources for struggling kids.
"Our default response to very deep social problems in the United States is to bring in the apparatus of criminal law," said Prof Bernick.
The US Constitution and Legal code is very clear, we are not some old feudal system < 1600AD country that holds a whole Family bloodlines responsible for the crimes of 1 family member. Unless they can show a Parent deliberately and directly assisted in the crime. eg. like the WH staff hiding Joe's mental issues and running a shadow Gov. for 3 years
I feel it is just an Election Year Political overreaching stunt by the DA's and DOJ.
What if the kid stole Dad's pickup, chainsaw, used Mom's kitchen knife, or bought gas and poured it in the halls and set the school on fire is the Gas station or the parents guilty of Murder?
But with that said, given we are told the FED's investigated the brat for running off at the mouth last May 2023. Dad & Mom knew that 13 y/o Brat had verbal rage issues. There are some criminal and civil legal issues to be address. But Murder charges?
This smells of just a way for Big Government to FORCE a plea bargain for a PR win in an election year.
BTW: As we are seeing younger and younger mass murderers, maybe the legal age limit needs to be adjusted to account for greater criteria like, maturity, planning and understanding. Instead of a general 18 y/o cutoff.
#2
Since the ute wasn't qualified as militia under the law, he had no 'right' to the weapon. It was a family adult that provided the weapon to him without restrictions. He should be treated like any fence that sells guns to minors who in turn use them to commit felonies, accessory to the fact.
#5
In hind sight it seems incredibly stupid, but the actual thought process might have been something like: Don't let those people get you down. I trust you and here's a present to prove that trust.
#6
NN2N1 it is illegal for a minor to own a rifle. His father bought it and gave it to him in violation of the law. The father is indeed culpable. There was another case where a minor took his father's rifle and killed people. Both parents were tried and convicted.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/07/2024 12:34 Comments ||
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#7
#6 ^ well the are likely over 2 million fathers that take their kid hunting legally in many states. Ours bagged his 1st deer at 12. His weapons are kept under lock and key.
Then he does not own it — his father does, and thus no law is broken.. He basically gave the boy use of it, and committed to respect his control of it, the same way parents do with everything they give children. But as parents we also commit to take things away if they are not being acceptably used.
[Breitbart] Kansas’s fentanyl crisis is a “very dangerous situation,” according to law enforcement officials, as the synthetic opioid has caused approximately 80 percent of drug overdose deaths in one of the state’s most populous areas.
Authorities from Sedgwick County, which has a population of more than 520,000 people, revealed that police seized a whopping 750,000 fentanyl pills so far in 2024, KWCH12 reported Thursday.
Even with the massive police efforts to crack down on drug trafficking, the problem is far from over.
“This stuff is extremely strong. We’re not seeing where one dose of Narcan is bringing people back. It’s multiple doses that we’re having to administer, and the most we’ve administered to somebody is five,” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter told the local outlet.
“It’s very dangerous. If it’s not cut with something before it comes here, if it’s straight fentanyl powder, that type of pow[d]er can soak through your system; you can breathe it,” he explained.
Easter hopes that additions to police staff and opioid settlement money will lead to a substantial change in the area.
“We’re hoping, in the future, we can get on the front end of this, which means prevention, education, treatment, recovery services that would be more robust than we have,” he said.
According to the Douglas County Citizen’s Committee on Alcoholism, Inc. (DCCCA), more training needs to be made available on how to use the opioid overdose-reversal drug, Naloxone — commonly known as Narcan.
“(We are) seeing fentanyl being used with cocaine or methamphetamine, and, so, there’s a lot of education on that, as well, because we know that Naloxone only works on opioids, and, so, when you have another substance, it creates a whole other safety situation,” DCCCA Community Support Specialist Stacy Haines told KWCH.
Since launching a Naloxone vending machine at a central Wichita bail bonds establishment, more than 2,800 kits have been dispensed to those who need it.
“It’s nice to have that 24-7 access, 365 days a year, right there at 705 N. Broadway,” Haines said. “So, we’re glad that we can provide that.”
According to seven-time New York Times best-selling author Peter Schweizer, “our country is at war” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese crime rings who poison Americans with fentanyl after trafficking it across the southern border.
“Our country is at war, and we need to wake up to the fact that we are at war, and war is being waged on us,” Schweizer warned during a February discussion with radio host Mark Levin.
“Part of this is what China’s doing to us. The other part is why our leaders are letting them do it, and they’re not even calling them out. Gavin Newsom is a prime example of that,” he continued, explaining why powerful U.S. figures turn a blind eye while China kills Americans, as detailed in his latest book, Blood Money.
“Meanwhile, fentanyl deaths in California are up more than 1,200 percent since 2016,” the author said, blasting California Gov. Newsom (D) for refusing to hold the CCP accountable.
According to Levin, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans is an “absolutely crucial book.”
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Teacher Bennie Leverett was arrested on child abuse charges in connection with the classroom fight, which was filmed by another student on January 18 at Progress Village Middle School in Florida.
It is unclear what triggered the confrontation, as it begins with Leverett allegedly grappling with the student and holding him in a headlock as the teenager attempted to free himself.
After the shocking footage was discovered, the school's assistant principal Tashiska Fabian was also arrested after she allegedly ordered the student to delete the video and failed to report the incident to law enforcement.
In the footage, released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, other students in the classroom were heard laughing hysterically as the struggle began.
As the teacher and student continued grappling, the severity appeared to dawn on the other students in the room, with one approaching the teacher as the girl filming yelled: 'Dude, help your boy.'
The two fell to the floor at one stage as the student struggled to break out of the chokehold.
While still on the floor, the teacher claimed that the student 'didn't respond to me', leading the other students to scream back at the teacher that 'he can't' while in a headlock.
A police report claimed the student involved was 14 years old.
Chokeholds have been banned by many major police departments across the US since the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a New York City man police were trying to apprehend for selling loose cigarettes, and that effort ramped up after the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation after the schoolroom video surfaced in February, and found that Leverett's chokehold 'restricted the student's ability to breathe', reports WTSP.
Hillsborough County Schools officials said Leavitt was 'pulled from duty' when allegations were made against him in February, before he was arrested and charged with child abuse the next month.
Deputies also alleged that assistant principal Fabian failed to report the incident when she met with the teacher and student immediately after their classroom clash.
She also allegedly warned the student who filmed the incident to delete the clip, and was removed from her duties at the same time as Leverett. Deputies later arrested the assistant principal on September 4.
Following Fabian's arrest, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister slammed the two school employees, branding Leverett's behavior 'deeply troubling' while scathing Fabian for 'failing to do the right thing.'
'This is a complete betrayal of trust within our community,' Chronister said.
'I'm proud of the witness who stepped up and did the right thing by reporting the incident, ensuring law enforcement could step in and bring justice for the victim.'
Leverett is now facing one count of felony child abuse, and the Tampa Bay Times reported that he posted a $5,000 bond to be released in March. He pleaded not guilty.
Fabian is facing one count of failure to report child abuse, and was released Wednesday after posting a $2,500 bond.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] American rock band Linkin Park announced their return to the stage after a seven-year break. The band reported this on Thursday, September 5.
During a live broadcast on the rock band's YouTube channel, Linkin Park co-founder Mike Shinoda introduced the new members of the band. Linkin Park has been joined by vocalist Emily Armstrong, and drummer Rob Bourdon, who left the band in 2017, has been replaced by Colin Brittain.
Linkin Park also announced the release of a new album, titled From Zero, on November 15 and performed the composition The Emptiness Machine. The rock band's upcoming performances will take place in Los Angeles, New York, London, Seoul, Hamburg and Bogota.
Linkin Park, founded in 1996 under the name Xero, has won two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The band took a break in 2017 after the death of lead singer Chester Bennington.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in August, the British rock band Oasis announced their reunion 15 years after their breakup. The band's founders, brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, have planned 17 concerts in the UK and Ireland for 2025. On August 31, the band reported that all tickets for Oasis's planned performances were sold out within 10 hours of the start of sales.
[ThomasMoreSociety] Thomas More Society Argues Federal Appeal on Behalf of Angela Reading, Mother Who Was Treated Like a Terrorist .
Angela was visiting her seven-year-old daughter's school for 'math night,' when walking down the hall with her daughter, her child read posters promoting different sexualities at the school's entry and asked her mother what 'polysexual' meant. To Angela, this was deeply inappropriate for an elementary school environment. After Angela's concerns were dismissed by the school, Reading—herself a member of the school board—posted in a Facebook group dedicated to discussion about local schools.
However, when military officials at the neighboring Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst saw this post on the local Facebook group, they conspired with the local police chief for North Hanover Township, to take down and censor her post from the Facebook group. Military officials at the base even worked to portray her as a “security threat” and reported her to various law enforcement and security agencies in an effort retaliate against her and make her afraid to speak in the future—including to Homeland Security.
In March 2023, Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit to vindicate and protect Angela's civil rights. A U.S. District Court denied an injunctive order to protect Angela and her family, and in February 2024 filed a federal appeal. On September 4, Senior Counsel Christopher Ferrara presents oral argument in the appeal before Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Kent Jordan, Thomas Hardiman, and David Porter.
#1
Those in the chain of command who did this should be among the first discharged from service in a new administration. Too many have forgotten what they took an oath to uphold and defend.
#5
A few years ago the notion that criticizing the government is a fundamental right would have been so entrenched within the political consensus that anyone suggesting such retaliatory action would have ended his career in government.
The West in general has been transforming itself into something that is no longer compatible with Western civilisation.
Europe, the Anglosphere, very much including the US are becoming like Russia, China and the Islamic world.
ESCONDIDO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Fire crews are battling a fire at a San Diego Gas and Electric-operated battery storage facility in Escondido that broke out Thursday afternoon.
According to Escondido Fire Division Chief Tyler Batson, crews were first notified of the fire at 12:09 p.m. as a ringing alarm and a smoke check in the battery bank area of the facility, located at 571 Enterprise St.
Upon arrival, fire crews noticed smoke was seen coming from one of the battery storage trailers. Technicians on board confirmed a small fire was burning in one of the lithium-ion battery rank storage, Batson added.
A 1st alarm commercial fire response was called, with SDG&E’s contracted fire brigade, county emergency response and Escondido hazmat crews responding to the scene alongside Escondido Fire Department personnel.
As of 4 p.m., the fire remains active and has not been extinguished. According to Batson, experts said water cannot be put on the fire due to the involved chemicals, so their intervention is focusing on the area surrounding it.
"Fire suppression efforts are now being made to protect the neighboring battery storage units to make sure that they don’t light on fire as well," Batson said. "The plan is really let what’s on fire burn and we’ll safely protect the areas around it to keep it from spreading."
A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for the area around the facility, which is made up of largely commercial and industrial buildings, as a safety precaution.
The order applies to business located east of Alpine Street, south of Mission Road, west of Enterprise Street and north of Auto Park Way, the city of Escondido said in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon.
Some homes are located near the fire, although it is not believed to be an immediate threat to residents at this time, Batson said.
On Thursday evening, the fire prompted the Escondido Union School District to announce the closures of Carolyn Gilbert Education Center, the Del Dios Academy of Arts and Sciences and Rock Springs Elementary schools for Friday.
No additional details were immediately available, including what caused the battery storage facility to erupt in flames.
According to Batson, crews will remain on scene until the flames subside.
"What I’ve been told by SDG&E is that, best case, this fire burns itself out in about 12 hours, worst case, about 48 hours," Batson said. Escondido is about 15 to 20 miles inland. Friday evening now, the wind is not blowing at all, a haze is in the air and it stinks on the coast.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/07/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
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#1
Batteries are used to store energy. Sometimes the energy gets loose. Really no different than a fuel tank depot.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/07/2024 8:38 Comments ||
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#2
Except they are putting these where the energy is needed: residential areas
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/07/2024 8:42 Comments ||
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#3
Not a bad plot for a spy novel. The ChiComs use ubiquitous Li batteries as incendiary devices with internet connections to start fires where/when they wish. Everything from cars to cell phones. Maybe a future Reacher novel.
#4
An oil storage tank is the devil I know. Lithium-ion batteries are the devil I don't know and, apparently, SDG&E doesn't either. Nor do the loony green energy politicians who don't seem to understand that so-called green energy isn't all that green. Nor do they have a plan for dealing with a lithium-ion battery fire other than to let it burn. Does anybody know the health consequences of breathing the smoke from such a fire? Kinda reminds me of Buttigieg and his East Palestine, Ohio train wreck.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/07/2024 12:26 Comments ||
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#5
My mechanic's car repair shop caught fire and burned because a small lithium ion battery on the security system leaked and caught fire. 3 cars were destroyed as well as the entire facility.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/07/2024 12:40 Comments ||
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#6
Like to see the environmental impact study of what is downwind of the 'smoke'.
[Breitbart] President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s wave of mass immigration is raising housing costs, straining healthcare services, and filling public schools in middle American cities like Springfield, Ohio.
As Breitbart News has chronicled for over a year, the Biden-Harris administration has helped flood Springfield — with a population of less than 60,000 residents — with roughly 20,000 Haitian migrants.
For months, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), now former President Donald Trump’s running mate, has been calling attention to Springfield as an example of mass immigration raising housing costs for Americans.
“This self-imposed disaster is crushing the job prospects of our citizens, making it more difficult for Ohio families to find homes and draining social service programs funded by American taxpayers,” Vance said last year.
A report from the New York Times recently admitted that mass immigration has made Springfield’s housing issue much worse:
Michelle Lee-Hall, executive director of Springfield’s housing authority, said that the affordability problem had been aggravated by landlords pivoting to Haitians who were willing to pay higher rent. [Emphasis added]
…
“Here in Springfield, the new homeless are people who can’t afford to pay $2,000 or $3,000 a month in rent,” she said. [Emphasis added]
One particular house flipper in Springfield told the Times that of his 400 housing units, 8-in-10 are occupied by newly arrived Haitian migrants.
It is not only housing costs that are causing problems for Springfield, brought on by mass immigration. Healthcare services are being pushed to the brink, where once 15-minute consultations are now 45 minutes in some cases as English-speaking healthcare workers navigate how to communicate with an influx of French-speaking Haitian migrants.
“This is not sustainable,” the chief executive of a healthcare center told the Times. noting that many of her staff had left following burnout. The center has had to hire translators and French-speaking staff, which has skyrocketed costs.
Springfield’s public schools are also seeing the results of mass immigration.
Registration day in the Springfield City School District, the Times reports, was filled with the families of Haitian migrant children.
Of the almost 350 new students enrolled in the district this year, the overwhelming majority are the children of newly arrived Haitian migrants. School administrators are concerned about how the district will deal with the growing influx of migrant children.
According to the latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office, the Biden-Harris administration has welcomed more than nine million migrants to the United States since the start of 2021 — the equivalent of importing nearly the population of Honduras in less than four years.
[Red State] Harvard Professor of Law Emeritus Alan Dershowitz has proven to be a wealth of (often but not always) solid commentary and analysis in recent years, as he is one of the few on the left side of the political aisle who’s been willing to point out that much of the endless Democrat lawfare against Donald Trump has been a banana republic style of justice and runs counter to our Constitution.
He’s also been a lifelong Democrat, which has been head-scratching to me. I sometimes wish I could ask, "How can you be a lifelong Democrat—did you hear what you yourself just said?"
But even Dershowitz has come to the obvious realization: this is not the Democrat Party of old; no, the modern version is a shrill, extremist version that wants to fundamentally transform America into some weird socialist utopia that it was never meant to be. He announced in August on the "Talkline With Zev Brenner Podcast" that he’s had enough in a clip that was re-posted Thursday evening and has gone viral on social media.
When a well known pillar of the Real Democrat Party openly states the New Democrat Party (NDP) is using a Banana Republic style of justice tactics, it runs counter to the US Constitution and US Code of Law.
#2
I guess it's a one-for-one swap as Richard Chaney said he's voting for Kamala, you know, because Trump is the biggest threat to democracy and the Republic ever.
[Breitbart] Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s (RFK’s) name will not appear on ballots in North Carolina or Michigan following emergency orders Friday from courts in both states, in a pair of major wins for former President Donald Trump.
RFK suspended his longshot third-party bid for the White House and threw his support behind Trump, shaking up the political establishment because of the Kennedy family’s dynastic status in the Democratic Party.
While Kennedy could not win the White House under any realistic scenario, polls showed him with sufficiently high single-digit strength to potentially change the outcome between Trump and Kamala Harris in certain battleground states — including Michigan and North Carolina — depending on which major-party candidate he siphoned more votes from.
#1
Given, RFK, the candidate himself, has asked for the removal.
It has to be pretty clear, to even the dumbest democrat appointed and owned judge out there. The New DNC is in a Political Panic mode.
If Trump survives whatever they have planned between now and Jan. 20th 2025, and takes office. They know they will be exposed and will likely have to stand trial for their collection of 2018-2024 Subversive & Conspiracy illegal acts.
[IsraelTimes] US presidential candidate gives few details about how commission would operate, other than placing billionaire supporter at the helm
Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... said on Thursday he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk if he wins the November 5 election, during a wide-ranging speech in which he laid out his economic vision for the country.
Speaking at the New York Economic Club, the former president also pledged to slash corporate tax rates for companies that manufacture domestically, establish "low-tax" zones on federal lands where construction companies would be encouraged to build new homes and start a sovereign wealth fund.
Trump had been discussing the idea of an efficiency commission with aides for weeks, people with knowledge of those conversations have told Rooters. His Thursday speech, however, was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea.
It was also the first time Trump said Musk had agreed to head the body. Trump did not detail how such a commission would operate, besides saying it would develop a plan to eliminate "fraud and improper payments" within six months of being formed.
"I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government," Trump told an audience that included his former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, and financiers Scott Bessent and John Paulson.
Musk said on an August 19 podcast that he had held conversations with the former president about the commission and that he would be interested in serving on it.
"I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises," the Tesla chief wrote on X on Thursday. "No pay, no title, no recognition is needed."
Politicians have called for separate efficiency commissions before. Republican President Ronald Reagan established a similar body during his 1981-1989 term called the Grace Commission.
Trump’s proposal drew a rebuke from Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing about 750,000 federal workers. He accused Trump and Musk of wanting to gut the nonpartisan civil service and replace fired workers with allies.
#4
Holman Jenkins (WSJ editorial writer) wrote a column during the Clinton years. The title was something like 'Don't reinvent government - just get rid of some of it.'
At this point Trump should just fire as many people as he possibly can on day one, and then keep going, say fire everyone at the DOJ on day two to set the tone. I don't like this 'commission' bullshit at all.
[Chick] If you could turn back the proverbial clock, would you? What if you could stop the clock altogether? That’s what some companies are trying to do in an emerging industry known as "death tech."
Can a Computer Cheat Death?
Death technology refers to the range of technologies and innovations designed to extend life by preventing death. This goes well beyond anti-wrinkle cream. Companies in this field range from those finding a cure for Alzheimer’s to some who want to revive the long dead.
Billions are spent on research to eradicate disease, slow the aging process, or prevent death altogether. If growth projections are accurate, the "lifespan improvement" industry should be worth $504 billion by 2025.
Do You Want to Be a Robot?
Looking to cheat death? Death tech also includes companies that help people achieve "digital immortality." These companies create a copy of your digital footprint, then create a look-alike avatar that your loved ones can interact with after you’re gone. You may not be present, but you can "live on" and interact with your loved ones.
Theoretical physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku, was involved in one such project called Eterni.me. When asked about the idea of digital immortality, Dr. Kaku responded, "One day you’ll have a disk that has all your consciousness on it and you’ll be able to, perhaps, put it into a robot... and you’ll be immortal. Even if your physical body decays, your consciousness, your memories, your personality quirks will live forever... Why not live forever? Why do we have to die?"
The Bible answers Dr. Kaku’s question. Hebrews 9:27 says, "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." No amount of technology or digital data storing can delay the inevitable.
What About Freezing?
Pioneers in the death tech space are even freezing people as soon as they are clinically deceased in hopes of reviving them later. Cryogenics is a concept that sounds like it belongs in a science fiction novel. However, there are very real companies agreeing to put people’s bodies into a state of deep-freeze post-death. They hope that one day, technology will become so advanced that the frozen bodies can be resuscitated.
Robert Ettinger, the founder of cryogenics, once wrote: "No matter what kills us, whether old age or disease, and even if freezing techniques are still crude when we die, sooner or later our friends of the future should be equal to the task of reviving and curing us."
Unfortunately, this is a gamble that may cause people to delay their need to face the reality of eternity. Those who trust science for their future will ultimately find themselves waking up in the flames of hell instead of sleeping on ice. What an ugly surprise!
In the middle of a press of bodies at the departing flight TSA line on a HOT Dallas summer day, I began to sweat. Not a gentle drop on my brow, shirt soaking rivulets.
Bereft of my Stetson, now a elderly older, bald shaven headed gentleman I was of course guided to the sniffer station for a secondary inspection and 'safe' TSA statistic augmentation.
The sniffer alarmed and I was grabbed then securely guided to the 'pat-down' station. "What's up?" I asked the bulky pre-trans female giving me the free exam. "You were selected sir because the sensor station alarmed for an accelerant, alcohol."
"Oh, I chuckled, that's beer sweat.
You better change your gloves."
[Harvard] Few U.S. medical schools emphasize nutrition in their curricula, which is potentially undermining doctors’ abilities to effectively address chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer, according to nutrition experts.
A July 8, 2018 Washington Post article noted that while some medical schools are establishing teaching kitchens and offering electives on nutrition, there remains a dearth of nutrition education for up-and-coming doctors. A 2015 survey of 121 four-year medical schools found that 71% didn’t require at least 25 hours of nutrition education and fewer than 20% required a nutrition course.
Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, warned that such an "extremely unbalanced medical education" could have long-term impacts on patients.
"People are gaining a pound or two a year, and nobody says anything. But then by age 50 or 55, they’ve often gained 30 or 40 pounds, which has huge impacts on their health," Willett said. "In the younger years, middle age, people are acquiring the risk factors that often don’t show up as major diseases until later in life."
Read the Washington Post article: Your doctor may not be the best source of nutrition advice
[Real Clear Wire] Last Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. withdrew (kind of) from the 2024 presidential race. He didn’t have to, and in the case of 40 out of 50 states, he actually didn’t. But, he also didn’t have to endorse Donald J. Trump, and yet he did. As I waited for his press conference, I wondered: What could drive a lion of Democratic party royalty to side with Trump? The answer turned out to be a trio of existential crises. As RFK Jr. explained, he and Trump are aligned on three critical issues, and they are of such existential importance that he was willing to set aside their differences to work together.
Beyond being a refreshing break from the mind-numbing drumbeat of Trump’s opposition, RFK Jr.’s remarks were a stark reminder of why two-thirds of Americans believe the country is moving down the wrong track. He first took aim at the military-industrial complex’s perpetual provoking of foreign wars and followed up with the alarming assault on free speech. These were, however, just the warmup acts for his primary grievance: the moral and legal corruption of the food and pharmaceutical industries, assisted by their captured agencies, e.g., the FDA and USDA.
RFK Jr. cited horrifying statistics and catastrophic trends, highlighting the surge in chronic diseases, cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, metabolic syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease. He then laid the blame squarely at the feet of Big Sugar, Big Ag, Big Pharma, and the cabal of government sycophants who do the bidding of their corporate sugar daddies (pun intended). Sprinkled among the sickening stats, he made multiple references to mitochondrial dysfunction, a term many may not fully understand. If we are going to forcibly reconstruct several industries, along with their regulatory agencies, over this medical crisis, we’d do well to understand what it is we’re battling. So, what exactly is mitochondrial dysfunction, and why is it being blamed for such a wide range of health issues?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
