American justice

And Another One

Mother Jones has another mass killing to add to their chart.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Lafayette Shooting - Further

Later it emerged that two teachers who had been in the theatre had raised the alarm and one had even thrown herself in front of the shooter to save her friend.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal told a press conference he had talked to the teachers, whom he described as heroes.

“Even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives,” he said.

“Now, I think as we learn more about the details tonight, we are going to hear about other acts of selfless heroism of people trying to help each other and trying to save other lives.”

Jindal commended the first respondents, who he said “ran towards the shots fired, towards danger”.

“This is a time for us to come together,” said Jindal. “What we can do now is pray.”

  The Guardian

Pray? That's your answer? "Selfless heroism" and prayer?

Looks like this Onion faux-report from last year pegged it:

ISLA VISTA, CA—In the days following a violent rampage in southern California in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Tuesday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said North Carolina resident Samuel Wipper, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”

  The Onion

Something Is Terribly Wrong with Us

Remember this just a day or two ago?

I don't know about the mall, but it's getting risky to go to a movie.

As the previews ended and the lights dimmed for the screening of the comedy "Trainwreck," a man stood up inside a Louisiana movie theater, pulled out a handgun and began firing indiscriminately.

The shooter, a 58-year-old man, killed two people and wounded nine others at the Lafayette multiplex Thursday night before he turned his gun on himself and took his own life, police said. The shooting comes within days of the guilty verdict in the Aurora, Colorado, theater massacre.

  CNN

All they've reported at this time about the man's identity is that he was a “lone white male.” (So you know it wasn't an act of terrorism.)

Our politicians want us to be afraid of an attack by foreign radicals.  Your chances of being attacked by a member of ISIS, or any other foreign radical organization, are infinitesimally small.  By the nutjob in your neighborhood, or a cop if you're black...getting higher and higher.

Mother Jones doesn't have this one in Lafayette up yet, but they are keeping a tally of US Mass Shootings from 1982.  (In spreadsheet format here.)

Is there any other country in the world where this kind of madness goes on so regularly that they have to keep a tally card?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Yes, We Are a Violent Nation - Part 2

Part 1 showed a chart for the US compared to other countries.  Here's one that compares US states in assaults resulting in death:

I must say I'm surprised that Texas and New York are not higher on the list. And I'll ask again:  What's going on in Louisiana?

Yes, We Are Are Violent Nation

From the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):  Assault deaths per 100,000 people.

"Other OECD" data include the following countries:  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Speculate away about the peak in the 70s and the continual drop afterward.  I don't know what it is - I read some speculation that improved trauma care might be the answer, but if that were the case, you would think the other countries would show the same type of curve.

But whatever the reason for the fall, we still outstrip the next "first world" country in the group by more than two times.

Looks like our high ranking is thanks mostly to the South. Imagine that.

(Source:Wikipedia - and PS, Wikipedia, change up colors, not tones - that's too hard to read.)

PS:  What's going on in Louisiana?  (Biggie-big the map)

PPS:  This reminds me - here's an actual-relative-size map of the globe: