I dunno, when the politicians and pundits have been attacking the entire community for literal decades, on the airwaves and in actual halls of power, as child rapists actively trying to destroy Christianity, what are we supposed to think?
The bomb was a mix of diesel fuel and fertilizer (weaponized chemicals) and that one still ranks as the greatest domestic act of terror in the US and only 9/11 surpassed it.
So…the sort of people who have dehumanized us, tried to pass legislation to deny us civil rights, blocked legislation to deny us civil rights, tried for decades to deny us the basic right of marriage, back destructive gay and transgender “conversion therapies,” and openly and with pride call us child molesters, perverts, criminals, and freaks of nature, and who leave death threats on answering machines threatening to vivisect and murder 7-year-old transgirls - those people aren’t happy about this?
All you have to do is look in the comments sections of various new websites, look at the North Carolina and Texas and other states’ legislatures, and go to their evangelical churches and see. Or look at a seemingly endless parade of lowlifes and current unbanned conservative trolls on this message board. Or meet them in the real world, away from the safe little bubble of online message boards, and see them scream at you, saliva spraying as they call you evil, monster, and say Jesus demands, yes demands that we die.
I don’t know any way to take a poll and get a factual number IRL, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a quarter of conservative Republicans didn’t get a nice sense of satisfaction out of this massacre. And I wouldn’t be surprised if one in 10 didn’t make a few jokes out of it, or even pump their fist in the air and scream “hell YE-AH!” If that guy in Los Angeles had not been caught too, who knows how many dead LGBT persons conservative Republicans and evangelicals would be celebrating today. While Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for President, puffs out his chest and refuses to make any substantive expression of sadness over this.
Actually no. They went in and attacked rather than trying negotiation because they were getting reports from people inside that he was killing people.
prior to that was the 1993 attack on the WTC with a urea nitrate bomb and in 2001 they used airplanes as kerosene fuel-air bombs against the same buildings.
Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I don’t mean non-weapon items turned into weapons; I am thoroughly aware of all the cases in which fertilizer and baseball bats have been used.
When was the last US “terrorism” or other major violent attack with commercially-manufactured explosives? Or with inherently toxic/dangerous commercially-manufactured chemicals (other than fuels)?
I think what’s absolutely disheartening is anyone who wants to jump in and point to their sacred cow being gored, however tangential. Jesus, when did we become so callous? Does it always have to be about finger pointing and blame? The whole thing just turns my stomach.
I’ve honestly wondered in the past why these massacre death tolls are not as high as this one. I’m glad they haven’t been, but why is it this guy was able to shoot so many? Was he just a better marksman? Was it the enclosed space? There have been other similarly crowded situations. What is it about this one that made it so “successful”?
The CNN website is quoting the shooter’s ex-wife as saying he was unstable when they were together.
your point isn’t clear at all. The bombs listed were made from easily and legally acquired commercial chemicals. There are many which are inherently toxic and dangerous.
I read his comment as bombs made from substances that are sold as explosives and don’t need to be prepared by the user to be explosives, e.g. nitroglycerine, TNT, C-4 etc. Seemed clear to me.
We can make it not easy for people to legally get guns; how much impact is that going to have on professional criminals or pre-planned killing sprees? Is there a city in America large enough to be a dot on the national map where someone who knows how couldn’t find heroin or cocaine in a few hours?
Full-auto weapons are anything but “easy” to obtain.
“These types of weapons” and “assault rifles” apparently mean semi-automatic rifles that have removable magazines; these have been publicly available since the 1970’s. So why the plague of massacres in the past few years that do not track with any increase in gun availability?
A family member who lives in Orlando regularly patronizes the Pulse nightclub. He stayed home last night because some other family members were driving to town to meet him this morning.
“Mr. Trump, if elected, will you go on a crusade against the Islamic religion?”
I think the answer would be enlightening at best and entertaining at worst.
ETA: Oh! And, “Since this is clearly a hate crime against gay people, as President, what laws would you enact to protect them?”
And the rest of us wonder what the big deal is. This sort of violence is too rare and insignificant to waste much time making policy one way or another. But people are bad at assessing risk.
That’s terrifying. I’m so glad he is safe.
I can’t imagine why anyone wants to be POTUS these days.
faithfool, your posts in this thread have been among the most sensible and sane. Almost everyone else is politicizing this tragedy, you have not. Kudos to you.
Only one statement would’ve been satisfying to conservatives: “In response to this tragedy, I am signing an executive order to make Islam illegal in this country. Plus, we start bombing Mecca in five minutes.”
As for “politicizing tragedy,” isn’t the nature of this crime, and indeed most hate crimes, inherently political? It’s definitely used an an excuse by some to avoid inconvenient conversations about issues like, say, firearms and gay rights.
Our family is feeling grateful tonight. A bit like finding out a loved one got caught in traffic and missed a flight that later crashed.
My nephew would have been at that club. But my BIL chose today to drive down to Florida and see him. So nephew stayed home last night instead.