Octopus Overlords

That’s so horrible and senseless.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022 ... em-briscoe

Seven-year-old Akeem Briscoe was hit hard by his father’s death last week after heart surgery.

“He said he didn’t want his dad to be gone, and he wanted to be with him,” the boy’s uncle Terribia Misters said. “Now he’s where his dad’s at.”

Akeem was killed Wednesday night when a gang squabble in an alley erupted into gunfire, sending a bullet through the window of the boy’s Humboldt Park home.

The second-grader is the 12th child 13 or younger to be killed in Chicago this year, and his death comes just days after an 8-year-old boy was killed in an accidental shooting in Bronzeville.
...
A vigil planned for Thursday night at the home drew a small crowd, but mourners scatteredafter about a dozen shots were fired near the house. Family members, whodidn’twant to speak with the Chicago Sun-Times, could be heard telling people to leave.

Ho hum, toddler among 14 people shot (plus one bit by a car) in mass shooting at Halloween night vigil. Also an 11 and 13 YO.

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootin ... /12404511/

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than a dozen people were hurt during a shooting Halloween night on Chicago's West Side.

It happened near California Avenue and Polk Street in East Garfield Park.

The incident took place at a large vigil and balloon release for a woman who died of natural causes on the West Side. Fourteen people were shot, including several children, and a 15th person is also in the hospital after being hit by a car.

...

The conditions vary among the 15 people hurt. At least six are listed in serious or critical condition at nearby hospitals.

"Oh my, that'll lead the national news. Oh, it's in East Garfield Park?
Nah, let's go with something else...."

LawBeefaroni wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:38 pm Ho hum, toddler among 14 people shot (plus one bit by a car) in mass shooting at Halloween night vigil. Also an 11 and 13 YO.

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootin ... /12404511/

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than a dozen people were hurt during a shooting Halloween night on Chicago's West Side.

It happened near California Avenue and Polk Street in East Garfield Park.

The incident took place at a large vigil and balloon release for a woman who died of natural causes on the West Side. Fourteen people were shot, including several children, and a 15th person is also in the hospital after being hit by a car.

...

The conditions vary among the 15 people hurt. At least six are listed in serious or critical condition at nearby hospitals.

"Oh my, that'll lead the national news. Oh, it's in East Garfield Park?
Nah, let's go with something else...."

I'm pretty sure the Today Show led with that. I didn't stay for the segment, but I saw the lede that seemed to have those basic facts.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:01 am https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022 ... em-briscoe

Seven-year-old Akeem Briscoe was hit hard by his father’s death last week after heart surgery.

“He said he didn’t want his dad to be gone, and he wanted to be with him,” the boy’s uncle Terribia Misters said. “Now he’s where his dad’s at.”

Akeem was killed Wednesday night when a gang squabble in an alley erupted into gunfire, sending a bullet through the window of the boy’s Humboldt Park home.

The second-grader is the 12th child 13 or younger to be killed in Chicago this year, and his death comes just days after an 8-year-old boy was killed in an accidental shooting in Bronzeville.
...
A vigil planned for Thursday night at the home drew a small crowd, but mourners scatteredafter about a dozen shots were fired near the house. Family members, whodidn’twant to speak with the Chicago Sun-Times, could be heard telling people to leave.

You'd almost think it was an article from the Onion it's so tragic and senseless and stupid and out of control. I read that, and I'm like, "that can't possibly be real, can it?" But, of course, it is. Awful.

stessier wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:40 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:38 pm Ho hum, toddler among 14 people shot (plus one bit by a car) in mass shooting at Halloween night vigil. Also an 11 and 13 YO.

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootin ... /12404511/

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than a dozen people were hurt during a shooting Halloween night on Chicago's West Side.

It happened near California Avenue and Polk Street in East Garfield Park.

The incident took place at a large vigil and balloon release for a woman who died of natural causes on the West Side. Fourteen people were shot, including several children, and a 15th person is also in the hospital after being hit by a car.

...

The conditions vary among the 15 people hurt. At least six are listed in serious or critical condition at nearby hospitals.

"Oh my, that'll lead the national news. Oh, it's in East Garfield Park?
Nah, let's go with something else...."

I'm pretty sure the Today Show led with that. I didn't stay for the segment, but I saw the lede that seemed to have those basic facts.

Fair enough but the Today Show isn't exactly what I'd call national news. It's national, sure.

So now we're seeing all kinds of arrests made thet turn up illegally modified firearms, modified to fire full auto.

Full auto handguns are very uncontrollable. So are full auto rifle caliber pistols like the gang-popular Draco. Throw in the propensity by offenders to shoot one-handed and often while running or from a moving car and you have anyone in the vicinity at extremely high risk. It's why we have so many mass shootings here.

Possessing there is a violation of the National Firearms Act and, from what I understand, is squarely in the ATFs wheelhouse. Not sure why we aren't seeing the feds swarming on this. There are gun dealers bringing in creates of these at a time.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-gu ... ad89911cf1

A gun trafficker from the Southwest Side says he’s been cashing in on the latest thing every Chicago gang member just has to have: a machine gun.

The man, who has an office job, says he sells illegal machine guns on the side — more than 1,500 in just the past year.

Most of the machine guns he peddles are Glock pistols equipped with an after-market auto sear, known on the street as a “switch.” It lets the shooter go from single shots to automatic. The guns also come with extended magazines that can hold 20, 30, even 50 bullets.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Nov 02, 2022 1:01 pm So now we're seeing all kinds of arrests made thet turn up illegally modified firearms, modified to fire full auto.

Full auto handguns are very uncontrollable. So are full auto rifle caliber pistols like the gang-popular Draco. Throw in the propensity by offenders to shoot one-handed and often while running or from a moving car and you have anyone in the vicinity at extremely high risk. It's why we have so many mass shootings here.

Possessing there is a violation of the National Firearms Act and, from what I understand, is squarely in the ATFs wheelhouse. Not sure why we aren't seeing the feds swarming on this. There are gun dealers bringing in creates of these at a time.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-gu ... ad89911cf1

A gun trafficker from the Southwest Side says he’s been cashing in on the latest thing every Chicago gang member just has to have: a machine gun.

The man, who has an office job, says he sells illegal machine guns on the side — more than 1,500 in just the past year.

Most of the machine guns he peddles are Glock pistols equipped with an after-market auto sear, known on the street as a “switch.” It lets the shooter go from single shots to automatic. The guns also come with extended magazines that can hold 20, 30, even 50 bullets.

C'mon Chicago, if you are going full auto, have some historical awareness and get a Tommy Gun!

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Nov 02, 2022 12:43 pm

stessier wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:40 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:38 pm Ho hum, toddler among 14 people shot (plus one bit by a car) in mass shooting at Halloween night vigil. Also an 11 and 13 YO.

https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootin ... /12404511/

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than a dozen people were hurt during a shooting Halloween night on Chicago's West Side.

It happened near California Avenue and Polk Street in East Garfield Park.

The incident took place at a large vigil and balloon release for a woman who died of natural causes on the West Side. Fourteen people were shot, including several children, and a 15th person is also in the hospital after being hit by a car.

...

The conditions vary among the 15 people hurt. At least six are listed in serious or critical condition at nearby hospitals.

"Oh my, that'll lead the national news. Oh, it's in East Garfield Park?
Nah, let's go with something else...."

I'm pretty sure the Today Show led with that. I didn't stay for the segment, but I saw the lede that seemed to have those basic facts.

Fair enough but the Today Show isn't exactly what I'd call national news. It's national, sure.

It was on Shephard Smith if that matters. It was also in my spam pretend news feed when I check my web mail. I thought of you both times.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Nov 02, 2022 1:01 pmNot sure why we aren't seeing the feds swarming on this.

Insert 'not sure if serious' meme here.

Reuters

Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students and staff with a semi-automatic rifle at a Florida high school, was formally sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after listening to hours of anguished testimony from survivors and victims' relatives.

A jury voted last month to spare Cruz, 24, the death penalty, instead choosing life in prison without possibility of parole for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Nov 03, 2022 12:16 pm Reuters

Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students and staff with a semi-automatic rifle at a Florida high school, was formally sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after listening to hours of anguished testimony from survivors and victims' relatives.

A jury voted last month to spare Cruz, 24, the death penalty, instead choosing life in prison without possibility of parole for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Whats the over/under on how long before he is raped and beaten to death with a mop handle?
I'm going with less than 1 year.

Yeah, whatever internal hell caused him to do what he did, shit's about to get MUCH much worse for him.

It depends on the prison. Many wouldn't have him anywhere near the general population for a few years for just that reason. Solitary isn't just for punishment - it's also for protection.

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Nov 03, 2022 1:13 pmSolitary isn't just for punishment - it's also for protection.

Which I assume, for many, is its own kind of personal hell (but has to be better than being brutalized daily, or having that constant threat of it happening).

We had a SHU (Secure Housing Unit - IE, where you'd possibly put this guy) at the min-max where I worked. I spent a little time working in there - it isn't a life I'd want, and I'm comfortable being alone for extended periods.

Daehawk wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 11:26 pm Alex Jones ordered to pay near $1 billion. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

More, now as the Judge piles on:

onspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company were ordered Thursday to pay an extra $473 million to victims' families and an FBI agent for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax, adding to a nearly $1 billion jury verdict issued last month.

Connecticut Judge Barabara Bellis imposed the punitive damages on the Infowars host and Free Speech Systems. Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers the massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators was staged by "crisis actors" to enact more gun control.

Very important:

Infowars host Alex Jones was temporarily blocked from transferring any assets or spending money other than for ordinary living expenses by the judge overseeing the Sandy Hook defamation trial in Connecticut.

State court Judge Barbara Bellis, who oversaw the case in which a jury last month ordered Jones to pay nearly $1 billion for spreading lies about the 2012 elementary school massacre, issued the freezing order late Wednesday over concerns that he was “looting” his own estate and hiding assets through a series of shell companies owned by family members

He's been trying, and I think has succeeded temporarily, to hide assets. Will be much harder for him to do that now.

NBC News

The student suspected in a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three members of the football team dead and two others injured is in custody, officials announced Monday.

The University of Virginia Police Department identified Christopher Darnell Jones as the suspect in the shooting.
...
Gunfire was initially reported at a parking garage on Culbreth Road, near the school's drama building, around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, the University of Virginia Office of Emergency Management said in a tweet.

University President Jim Ryan said in a press conference Monday morning that the shooting unfolded on a school bus full of students returning from a field trip.

An armed 22-year-old entered an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday night and immediately opened fire, killing at least five people and injuring 18 others, before patrons stopped and disarmed him, police said Sunday.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/c ... index.html

Being upset that someone was there to stop a mass shooting is one hell of a hot take.

https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1595087049727647747

Manager apparently shoots 10+ at a Walmart in Chesapeake Virginia

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/us/chesa ... index.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/MichelleWolf ... 3662144512

Carlson platforming a neo-nazi/fascist apologist for mass murder is just another Tuesday night.

https://twitter.com/abughazalehkat/stat ... 6215383040

CNN

The manager of a Virginia Walmart who killed six people and himself and injured several others in a Tuesday night massacre has been identified as 31-year-old Andre Bing, the city of Chesapeake said on Twitter.

“He was armed with one handgun and had multiple magazines on his person,” the city said.

Bing was an “overnight team lead” and had been employed with Walmart since 2010, the company said in a statement.
...
“Three individuals, including the shooter, were located deceased in the break room of the store,” the city of Chesapeake tweeted. “One victim was located deceased toward the front of the store. Three other victims were transported to local hospitals for further treatment, but succumbed to their injuries.”

Unfortunately, a large proportion of America loves its guns more than anything else. Nothing will ever be done about this. It's just the cost of freedom.

Grifman wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 5:52 pm Unfortunately, a large proportion of America loves its guns more than anything else. Nothing will ever be done about this. It's just the cost of freedom.

I don't think this is the right way to think about it. I suspect the freedom line is a bit sarcastic but IMO this is a part of our descent into a failed nation. The fact is that consistently speaking 60-70% of Americans indicate they want stricter gun laws and don't feel safe in their own communities. Our politics are broken and unable to solve problems. That's going to cause more fiction and cause continuing social decline over time. Especially when we see indicators this is an escalating problem. This isn't something that is just going to fade into the background. Maybe nothing will be done in the current system but eventually if things continue like this the current system is almost certainly going to break.

Pyperkub wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 1:09 am Manager apparently shoots 10+ at a Walmart in Chesapeake Virginia

We should just go ahead and print "Officers are walking through the Walmart super center checking for victims" on US currency.

malchior wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:19 am Carlson platforming a neo-nazi/fascist apologist for mass murder is just another Tuesday night.

https://twitter.com/abughazalehkat/stat ... 6215383040

So what Tucker has found here is an apparently queer spokesperson claiming that queerness is inherently evil?

I've always thought Carlson was a little light on his feet.

That's really nice.

Holman wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:54 pmSo what Tucker has found here is an apparently queer spokesperson claiming that queerness is inherently evil?

Also just an indicator what the Twitter take over was about there was earlier today links to her flickr account.

As seen here - Twitter removed it for violating Twitter rules. Cool.

https://twitter.com/amygroark/status/15 ... 6808764416

Here is a MSN article instead talking about the contents

Gays Against Groomers, it should be noted, has a documented history of targeted harassment campaigns against trans people and trans allies — to the point that in September, Venmo and parent company Paypal banned them for violating rules against "activities that promote hate, violence, or discriminatory intolerance."

In addition, Michell identifies as Jewish and denies any affiliation with Nazism. But she has a long, documented history of association with white supremacist ideas. She is known to follow several openly white supremacists on Twitter, she has promoted the work of white supremacist Vincent James Foxx and she has openly called for political violence, among other things.

Old accounts owned by Michell on YouTube and Flickr contained explicit Nazi imagery, something Michell blames, variously, either on an ex-boyfriend or on being hacked, though she has never actually identified who her ex was.

I keep having the same thought pop up whenever I see one of these stories. That thought is, "I really do wish I was carrying a gun again when I'm out in public, just in case." It isn't a thought process or a decision, just a first instinct, and I always tamp it back down. That can't be the solution, and as soon as it is, we're doomed.

In my own defense, I've got a lot of background and training pushing that reaction on me, but more and more I feel dirty for it.

I get that instinct. Americans are taught it is normal to think that way. Still I forget where we are at now but we're running a rate of something like 20 times the gun deaths per hundred thousand compared to our peer nations for some theoretical ability to defend ourselves. There is no balance to the equation that makes that reasonable.

malchior wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 9:53 pm I get that instinct. Americans are taught it is normal to think that way.

For me it was professional. Watch for people acting suspiciously. Watch for signs of hidden weapons. Be aware of potential hard cover. Consider exits, consider lanes of fire, consider what's downrange from your target, consider what's behind you if the target is firing in your direction. Be constantly aware of your own weapon to ensure that nobody else can take it. It was drilled into me by multiple trainers and superiors in multiple jobs to constantly consider the ways to counter to potential threats. I was constantly running through visualization drills during slow times ("If someone suddenly came at me from there, I'd do this." "If there was a threat in this stairwell, where would they be, and how can I protect myself from them?")

It's been a little over 20 years since I've owned a non-antique firearm or carried one on a job, but when I hear about someone opening fire in a bar or a Walmart, my mind jumps right back to those drills, and my first thought is to consider how to employ my weapon, and as soon as the though occurs, I feel suddenly naked and vulnerable, and I don't like it.

But the solution (costs aside) is one that makes me part of the problem.

The Colorado shooter’s dad on finding out his son murdered people: “They started telling me about the incident, a shooting... And then I go on to find out it’s a gay bar. I got scared, ‘Shit, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay, so I said, phew… I am a conservative Republican.”

“His mother told me he changed his name because I was in (reality tv show) Intervention and I had been a porno actor,” Mr Brink told CBS8.

He had continued to believe that his child was dead until six months ago, when he got a call out of the blue from Aldrich.

According to Mr Brink’s account, Aldrich was “pissed off” and wanted to “poke at the old man”.

He went on to say he taught his child how to fight at a young age and “praised him for violent behaviour”.

“I told him it works. It is instant and you’ll get immediate results,” Mr Brink told CBS8.

Ah, the party of family values.

New data indicates a geographic shift....

A county-level analysis showed that firearm mortality shifted from the West to the South over time, as firearm homicide rates remained concentrated and growing in the South and firearm suicide rates spread more evenly across the country.

Urban areas had a higher burden of firearm mortality than rural areas, too.

Root study. (contains graph and other data)

One thing seems to be apparent... The rural areas really like killing themselves with guns.

Unagi wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:15 pm One thing seems to be apparent... The rural areas really like killing themselves with guns.

yeah. Nevada is insane - but they don't really have much in the way of good jobs there AFAIK.

That red one is Humboldt County

Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 17,285.[1] It is a largely rural county that is sparsely populated with the only major city being Winnemucca which has a population of 8,431.