The 4th of July felt bittersweet even before the news of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. The “person of interest” alleged shooter — I don’t know if he’s been upgraded to “suspect” yet — seems to be one of those perpetually adolescent, useless, pissant young men we seem to produce a lot of these days. In an earlier age he would have gotten a job in some factory instead of making mediocre rap videos on the Internet. That might have kept him out of trouble.
Also in Illinois, the Republican nominee for governor, Darren Bailey, did not exactly handle the news about Highland Park gracefully. After leading some supporters in prayer, he said, “Let’s move on and celebrate the independence of this nation.”
People weren’t ready to move on. Bailey got slammed up one side and down the other.
The Bailey-Pritzker general election contest came about in part because incumbent governor J.B. Pritzker helped him win. The Chicago Tribune explained, “His victory was assisted by more than $40 million in advertising by Pritzker and the Pritzker-supported Democratic Governors Association, which ran ads attacking Irvin while labeling Bailey as ‘too conservative for Illinois.'” Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin was considered the front runner in the GOP primary for a while.
But you should see the ad the Democrats paid for; it accused him of being “100 percent pro life” and “protecting gun owners and the second amendment.” And Bailey got Donald Trump’s endorsement and “stands with the Trump agenda.” It used language to appeal to right-wing voters, in other words, even while presenting itself as an anti-Bailey ad. Richard Irvin saw the nomination slipping away and accused Democrats of “interfering” in the race. Bailey won easily.
J.B. Pritzker reckoned that Bailey would be the easiest of the Republican candidates to beat in the general, so he helped Bailey win. Pritzker may be right. Bailey has no discernible personality and apparently isn’t the sharpest crayon in the box. Let’s hope; if Bailey wins Illinois will be stuck with a right-wing nudnick as governor.
I've said it before, no weapons of war before age 25. If an individual wants to handle one, invite them into the military for a few years. Let them shoot their own brains out playing with such. It might also make them into better than average citizens, aside from being monitored and evaluated. "You want to carry and fire an AR, then run five miles, fully loaded and fire away". When they leave, one should be able to make a judgement call as to whether they should be allowed to purchase such weapons.
No weapons of war period.
I've heard dozens of news reports about the shooter and the rifle that was recovered. The police have said that they were able to trace the serial number on the gun to the shooter, but I haven't heard a word on what type of rifle it was. My suspicions are leading me to think it is an AR-15, the prefered weapon for mass shootings. I'm wondering why after this period of time since the weapon was recovered that nobody reporting the shooting, to my knowledge, has said exactly what type of rifle it was.
Has anybody heard what specific type of weapon it was to either confirm or disspell my suspicions?
AR-15 type reported with high-capacity magazines.
It does seem odd that the reports keep saying "AR-15 type" instead of exactly what it was. I assume this is because the police haven't released that information.
MSNBC was reporting today that the weapon was Smith & Wesson M&P 15 which is their version of an AR-15.
The AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite (the original manufacturer for the military).
It was reported that this Crimo punk dressed in women's clothing to escape.
How long after this one will it take for our Reich-wingers to steer the blame away from guns, to cross-dressers and/or trannies?
Oy.
My hope is that any Trump-endorsed candidate in any swing state will lose badly for comments that ignore gun violence and endorse similar stupid ideas. The J6 committee is doing better than I hoped. Trump supporters are pulling stupid stunts like a traffic jam on 1-95 near DC. (Yeah, piss off thousands by tying up traffic on a N-S artery and see how much support that raises.)
I'm still watching to see if Trump jumps into the spotlight with a public announcement of his candidacy and wild BS claims of fraud that will be called into question. (A poor strategic move – "prove it" is the last thing Trump can do.) Trump will make the public endorsement of his wild claims a requirement when Republicans in close races want to focus on Biden.
The police are still trying to determine a motive is a statement of pure stupidity in my books. Anyone who has taken a college level course in motivation would know better than to try. Johnny Cash probably had it down in Folsom Prison Blues…I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die seems motive enough for most of these shootings. Motive here is more aimed at trial issues. As the court likes to try to divine intent and show the work of the devil.
Let me just say that I am willing and able to rule out self-defense as a motive just from what I know about the case. Just to watch them die still seems plausible.
A determination of the real motivation is probably beyond knowing, at least at the skill levels of those trying to make this tardy determination.
We really know all we need to know anyway. We know other countries which regulate guns and gun ownership do not have our level of this problem.
What we really need to explain is why our government system cannot get motivated enough to follow what works. Oh, and BTW, these counties have crazy people too.
I did not realize until yesterday that the parade route went through a mostly Jewish neighborhood.
Jewish people are far from rare on the ground in Highland Park.
I'm happy Darren Bailey managed to damage his chance to be governor. I wish this wasn't the way he managed to do it.
I'm counting on a big turnout for Pritzker in Chicago and some of the more urban areas in the state. That's what keep Illinois in the blue column.
Pritzker will be fine. Chicago Democrats always get the vote out.