22 killed in mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine

rgp said:
I have said it before and I'll say it again ..... Banning politics is just ignorant. We live in a political world , a governed society . As such politics touches our every moment.

There is virtually no way to discuss current events / the world today, without discussing the politics attached to it.

Yeah I know ... I'll probably get kicked off again ......
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Hey there. I don't know about bannings. One hopes the board admin takes time to make a judgement about the value of having different opinions here. Different opinions are indeed inevitable in a forum called "Current Events".

I would say - I don't believe my post was a discussion of politics. I was stating a fact based on the evidence. I didn't invite discussion on that particular aspect, I didn't assign a causal effect, and I didn't name any party or leader. I was not discussing politics, I was discussing the shooter, and all we knew about him. Turns out he has a political belief. We all do.

We can know the following about the shooting: His name, his age, his marital status, his medical history, what type of weapon he used, the name of his victims, the number of type of injuries, the number of deaths, etc. We can discuss all of that, but not was on his Twitter and Facebook pages, even in passing. It's worth thinking about.

As to complaints, I'm new here. I've only been here six months. I try to post and keep discussions going. I think I'm polite, and I spend time trying to ensure I'm fully understood. Then a brand new member comes on, instantly takes offense, and alerts the Admin to a perceived slight. That's strange, imo.

If I'm banned, I'm banned. I don't want to be banned, but if someone like myself isn't wanted here than that's up to the Admin. In fact, he wouldn't need to ban me. He could simply PM me telling me he'd rather I go. I'm a grown adult, after all.

As an aside, I've not visited the most popular thread on this forum about the Israeli war. I've not read its contents, and I've actively avoided it. My only curiosity - an itch I won't scratch - is how on earth is anyone discussing that topic without mentioning politics in some way or other, directly or indirectly? I've no idea, and since I'll never visit that thread, I'll never know.
 

Daisy99 said:
Then there needs to be a separate section for politics. There are THOUSANDS of site for discussing politics. Why does this have to be another one?!
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It's clear - politics is banned here. What's in question is what people define as a discussion of politics. What we discuss suggests others have decided to debate on that topic. My post wasn't a discussion on politics until you made it one.
 
Daisy99 said:
Then there needs to be a separate section for politics. There are THOUSANDS of site for discussing politics. Why does this have to be another one?!
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It is not that this needs to be another one ... It is just a different group of people that one corresponds with, as such different ideas / thoughts about a subject that may indeed have political overtones.

The Isreali / Hamas war for example .... How in the world can that really be discussed [in depth] without the mention of politics ?
And IMO the politics of it cannot be placed in a separate section .... the discussion itself would make no sense.
 

rgp said:
It is not that this needs to be another one ... It is just a different group of people that one corresponds with, as such different ideas / thoughts about a subject that may indeed have political overtones.

The Isreali / Hamas war for example .... How in the world can that really be discussed [in depth] without the mention of politics ?
And IMO the politics of it cannot be placed in a separate section .... the discussion itself would make no sense.
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I’m talking about people who specifically bring up their hatred of Trump or Biden or one political party or side of the aisle.
 
CallMeKate said:
Question... well, a call for clarification. Please don't answer with some pat or rote statement that doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Are you making a statement that you think the right thing to do if someone comes into a store/business/school with an automatic weapon slaughtering people, you'd prefer someone calling law enforcement and waiting for them to arrive instead of someone with a carry permit stopping the shooter before there's more carnage? Because that's sure what it sounded like you were saying.

We KNOW there's a gun problem. We hate it. But it exists at the moment, so my question is trying to figure out the mindset of those who give unhelpful answers and complain about gun culture in America. It's here... we hate it. That does not stop the murderous idiots who do the shooting and I wonder who would make a calculated choice to sit there and be killed while waiting for LE to arrive. They could be on the next block and a dozen more could die!
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I've stated before, I don't discuss gun law, nor religion, with Americans. This isn't meant as a slight on a society I love, but is a resignation to the fact that I've heard all the arguments, and nothing changes. I'd rather not go there. I lived in the US for 18 years, trust me, I've debated it a thousand times. I won't do so again. We must simply accept it for what it is. Guns are legal, people can own them, end of story.

As for your request, it's a loaded question, and therefore not really addressable. It insinuates the following: "Would you prefer more people to die while we wait for law enforcement when we could just take care of it ourselves". The answer is, I'd rather no-one died and that mass shootings never happened. We'll find out where the failings were with this guy at a later date, we don't know much right now.

In general, would I prefer sanctioned, protected, and legally bound representatives take care of situations they are specifically trained to deal with? Yes, I would. From what I've read, the police response time in this case was 6 minutes. Think about it. 6 minutes. The total length of time for the shootings, in both locales, was 12 minutes.

Now, 6 minutes doesn't sound like a long time, but they've got to secure people, figure out the details, figure out where the guy was, and so on.

NOTE: There is no restriction on the people of Maine with regards to owning a gun, or for having a concealed weapon. What you're asking for exists today. We don't know how many people in the mall had their guns with them. But would we put blame or responsibility on them because they didn't use them?
 
againstthegrain said:
Anyway on the ground in Maine deer hunting is scheduled to start so they'll be an armed maniac w AR, tons of armed hunters, and LEO's out searching. Perhaps they'll delay the opening.
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I'd imagine they would, no? Is this really a good time to be being going out into the woods, forests, hills etc.?
 
againstthegrain said:
Are thinly veiled comments ok?
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I’m not the arbiter of what is and isn’t OK. That’s what the report button is for. It’s ups to the PTBs.

Also, If they want to remove the prohibition on political comments, Katy bar the door. I have very strong opinions and don‘t back down. That’s what I do on Fox.
 
Unless one is lauding the Ku Klux Klan, etc. this "reporting" by adults is childish & babyish. Knock it off. Decide to make a comment or STFU. That's my opinion. Everyone here is basically very careful about what they say, so careful it's like walking on eggshells. I fear the reaction. Fear. That's no way to feel, is it?
 
rgp said:
If every Israeli that was killed on Oct 7 had a gun, and used it .... they might not be dead.
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Do I have to point out that............A number of the dead WERE BABIES. Others were in their 80's and 90's. Your suggestion is dumb/stupid in the extreme. JimB.
 
Daisy99 said:
I’m not the arbiter of what is and isn’t OK. That’s what the report button is for. It’s ups to the PTBs.

Also, If they want to remove the prohibition on political comments, Katy bar the door. I have very strong opinions and don‘t back down. That’s what I do on Fox.
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By reporting it, you become the arbiter. You have decided something is not okay, you've judged. I struggle to understand your stance on this, your comments are contradictory.

Personally, I've seen posts I haven't liked - I've not once reported them. I just pass them by.
 
VaughanJB said:
I've stated before, I don't discuss gun law, nor religion, with Americans. This isn't meant as a slight on a society I love, but is a resignation to the fact that I've heard all the arguments, and nothing changes. I'd rather not go there. I lived in the US for 18 years, trust me, I've debated it a thousand times. I won't do so again. We must simply accept it for what it is. Guns are legal, people can own them, end of story.
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Thank you for the well-thought-out and respectful reply, Vaughan... we need a lot more of that here, and I appreciate it greatly. @VaughanJB
 
The police in Maine are holding a news conference. So far two interesting things are that they found a note at one of Card's houses but they aren't revealing the contents.

Also they announced they will be sending dive teams into the rivers and dragging some waterways in case of a body.

They did not say the note and river activity is related.
 
There are reports that he went off the deep end when his niece was attacked in the restroom at school. The Right Wing School Board allows the kids to use whichever restroom they want.
 
MrPants said:
Maine shares a border 611 miles/983 km long between New Brunswick & Quebec Canada. Much of this area is densely forested with few roads and only a handful of official border crossings. It would be relatively simple for someone of his experience to hop over the border undetected in the woods somewhere.

Not sure why he'd want to come to Canada. He'd be out of his element, especially if he went to Northern New Brunswick or Quebec as I doubt he speaks French.
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Lewiston was a bilingual city when I was growing up. They spoke French in the stores and businesses and restaurants etc. I don't know if it's still like that. Probably not. But I agree he could find spots along the Canadian border where populations are so sparse.
 
VaughanJB said:
By reporting it, you become the arbiter. You have decided something is not okay, you've judged. I struggle to understand your stance on this, your comments are contradictory.

Personally, I've seen posts I haven't liked - I've not once reported them. I just pass them by.
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I gave up tattling in elementary school. If I don't like a post, I move on.
 
Pepper said:
Unless one is lauding the Ku Klux Klan, etc. this "reporting" by adults is childish & babyish. Knock it off. Decide to make a comment or STFU. That's my opinion. Everyone here is basically very careful about what they say, so careful it's like walking on eggshells. I fear the reaction. Fear. That's no way to feel, is it?
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No. I won’t! It is not childish when there are rules and certain people think they don’t have to follow them! If you have something to say about me, say it to me!
If you don’t like the no politics rule, ask that it be changed!
What is childish is calling someone names like fat and orange and saying you hate them!
Geez!
 
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