William Wolfe, Chirstians Taking Up Arms, And True Cowardice

One of these things is not like the other…

It’s not rhetoric, but action that proves how different the two parties are. Can we PLEASE stop treating them as if they’re two sides of the same coin? It’s not only lazy, but dead wrong.

Gun deaths among US kids continue to rise; Southern states have worst rates

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/09/gun-deaths-among-us-children-reached-new-record-high-in-2021-study-finds/

Guns remain the leading cause of death among American children and teens.

Students from Launch Charter School gather for a rally for National Gun Violence Awareness Day at Restoration Plaza on June 2, 2023, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City.
Enlarge / Students from Launch Charter School gather for a rally for National Gun Violence Awareness Day at Restoration Plaza on June 2, 2023, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City.

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, so did another grim reality: For the first time, guns became the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers, surpassing car accidents, the long-standing leader.

In 2021, youth firearm death rates did not fall to pre-pandemic levels as hoped, but instead continued a sharp rise to hit a new record high. That’s according to a recent study led by researchers in New York and published in the journal Pediatrics. The study was based on national mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationwide, there were 4,752 firearm deaths of American children and teens (ages 0 to 19) in 2021, translating to a rate of 5.8 gun deaths per 100,000 people. The deaths represent a nearly 9 percent increase from 2020 (4,368 or 5.4 deaths per 100,000).

The study looked for disparities and trends in the data. As before, firearm deaths were largely in older teens, with 83 percent of deaths in teens ages 15 to 19. Most were among males, who accounted for 85 percent of the deaths. Black children remained disproportionately affected, with the gap widening—50 percent of the deaths were among Black children. The death rate among Black children and teens increased from 16.6 per 100,000 in 2020 to 18.9 per 100,000, the largest increase among the racial categories.

As for intent, 64 percent of the 2021 firearm deaths were from homicides and 30 percent were from suicides, with the remainder from unintentional shootings. Homicide rates increased across all age groups, which was part of a multi-year trend. Between 2018 and 2021, homicides increased 66 percent in the 0–4 and 5–9 age groups. For kids ages 10–14, homicides increased 100 percent and 62 percent in teens 15–19.

The racial disparity in homicides was stark, with the rate of deaths among Black children being 11 times higher than that of white children. For suicides, white children accounted for 78 percent of the deaths.

Regarding where children and teens had the highest rates of firearm deaths, the study found that places where baseline death rates were already high got worse—namely in the South.

Pediatric firearm mortality rate by state and year from 2018 to 2021. States with absolute mortalities <20 are grayed out because of unreliable crude death rates (these include Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and District of Columbia).
Enlarge / Pediatric firearm mortality rate by state and year from 2018 to 2021. States with absolute mortalities <20 are grayed out because of unreliable crude death rates (these include Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and District of Columbia).

“In 2021, firearm mortalities were largely concentrated in Southern states,” the authors wrote. “Louisiana had the highest death rate per 100,000 persons (17.0), followed by Mississippi (14.8), Alabama (11.4), Montana (11.1), and South Carolina (10.2).”

The authors speculated that this could be due to “variability in social determinants of health, inequity, firearm access, legislation, and access to preventative strategies (violence intervention, suicide prevention, firearm safety).” State poverty levels were also tightly linked with pediatric firearm death rates, the study found.

In all, the authors called for more data to understand the deadly trend and develop prevention strategies.

“These findings highlight the necessity and urgency of real-time epidemiologic surveillance of this epidemic and implementation of evidence-informed strategies to prevent pediatric firearm fatalities among children and adolescents at highest risk,” the authors wrote.

DEMOCRATS vs REPUBLICANS! Let’s Compare & Contrast | Christopher Titus (BEST OF ’23 …so far!)

Jon Stewart GOES OFF On Right Wing Grifter | Hasanabi reacts

Jon Stewart confronts Republican Senator Nathan Dahm on the insane record of dead children due to gun violence and the lack of gun control in America in general.

We Are The OK Corral

This is an important post to read.  If you can read this and not have empathy for these people and want to end the flooding of the US with guns.   Hugs

Proud Boys Menace Tennessee Anti-Gun Prayer Vigil, Activists Removed From Hearing For Holding Signs

And of course the Proud Boys which are gang thugs carried guns and got to stay while grieving parents holding small signs got removed.  The police stood by and let the gang thugs harass women and anti-gun people.   Well it has come out that a large number of the police are white supremacist bigot gang thugs themselves.  Birds of a feather type thing.  The country is fast becoming over run by authoritarian cops and fascist politicians that are backed up by gang thugs.  Welcome to the fall of the US democracy.  Hugs

Hunter Biden Plea Deal

Know the facts around the #HunterBiden plea deal so we can, once and for all, put it to bed…

Bowling for Columbine (2002) – A Brief History of the United States Scene (8/11) | Movieclips

Weeks of news over hundreds of open tabs. I only have 0ne more open window with 39 open tabs and I will be caught up as of Saturday. Only taken three days so far. Hugs

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Randy50311 days ago

Next time, instead of arguing whether America was founded on ‘christianity”, ask them why it is so important for them to make their (incorrect) point.
Okay, we were founded on Christian principles of slavery, and women as chattel with no vote, natives were stripped of their land and other rights, and only white male property owners could vote. Not to mention child labor was rampant, the majority of the country were small farmers, divorce was nearly impossible and so on.
Hurray! What is you want NOW? You want to reinstitute all of that? No, they will likely say, they just want “Christian principles” reinstitute. Like what? Name them, specifically. They will be likely more in line with Christian nationalism — no LBGT rights, minorities voting is restricted, reduction in social safety net, more deregulation and so on.
So now you can drill down — what does Christianity have to say about laws that control pollution, radioactive waste, plastics in our food, chemicals in the water you drink? They will give you mumbo jumbo about freedom, and all that. “”So why do we have to be a Christian nation” to achieve your goals of less regulation?
What it will likely come down to is morals and values. Again, we can hit hard back — you mean no divorce? Because Jesus had a lot to say about it. Premarital sex? Birth control? IF you want to talk about morals, let’s talk about children going to bed or to school hungry, of which millions do. What about the homeless? Again, we don’t need Christian nationalism to tackle those issues.
It wil come down to nothing at all — just a vague desire to make people go to church more, pray more, and be more aligned with god or something. “So you want to force people to pray?”
I could go on, but you just have to nail them down on specifics. Hawley is just about control — they don’t want drag queens, people having wanton sex, abortion, and all that. Force them to admit that.

Nice to know the GOP understands they don’t represent the USA
Do the Republicans know that they are not supposed to be working for Russia? Seems far too many do work for Russia.

Gregory In Seattle11 days ago

I remember in 2020 when they used the flag of the Russian Federation to decorate the Republican National Convention, which inspired me to make this meme.

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Wintercat11 days ago edited

GQP ads constantly have Russian troops, ships and MiGs because they use creative agencies in Russia, because few US agencies often full of GQP intended victims will do work for them.

Creative houses use the stock images they have on hand. That’s why so much Russian stuff shows up in their ads.

Flora DeMann Stogiebear11 days ago

When children first are taught the letters of the alphabet, the letters are capitalized. Maybe the MAGAs never got farther than that.

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Elagabalus2 days ago
Reminds me of the time Megyn Kelly got so flummoxed that Santa Claus was presented as black because in her worldview, Santa Claus was clearly white. What is it with conservatives and fictional characters?

Houndentenor Elagabalus2 days ago

It’s that thing when someone is so racist they can’t hear how racist they sound.

Chucktech Elagabalus2 days ago

See also: White Jesus

William2 days ago

I found this picture of the real new Snow White online.

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perversatile Rebecca Gardner2 days ago edited

Heads will crack open when they learn about the Black Madonna(s)

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If you read the articles on this it says that trump did not argue that the evidence was not there to show he committed a crime but that it was improperly gained. His lawyers are admitting to the crime basically. Hugs

Tick Tock

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“Library staffers were deluged with harassment and a bomb threat.”

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Talk about ego !!!!

“God doesn’t make mistakes”

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Family Leader is an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

Abortion should be freely available at any stage of pregnancy, on demand, without apology.

Reposting:

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“The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?

― Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

How many of our congress is on the payroll of Russia. Hugs
Indeed trans men should sign up for selective service when they turn 18, just like all cis men. But then trans men should be able to use the men’s room, just like all cis men do.

The current law states that all persons either born in the US or (with few exceptions) legally resident when they turn 18, and identified as male at birth are required to register for the Selective Service when they turn 18, no exceptions. If you are an American citizen living abroad, you must still register. If you are a legal resident alien, you must still register. If you are in a prison or mental asylum, you must still register. If you are here under a diplomatic passport (say, a parent works at an embassy or consulate) or have a tourist or student visa, you do not need to register. People who were identified as female at birth are NOT required to register for the Selective Service, and in fact trying to register can get you in legal trouble for filing a “frivolous” legal document (not sure if it has ever been prosecuted, but it is in the regulations.)

If they are going to make transmen register, then they must also make transwomen exempt. They will also need to clarify at what point relative to the age of 18 this will kick in: is it enough to identify as trans, or will they need to have passed some benchmark in transitioning? What if a person comes out as trans after they are 18, but before they turn 25 (the age that your registration remains in effect)? And if transwomen are not exempt, they they should make registration mandatory for ALL 18 year olds regardless of gender identity: there is no longer any restriction from women serving in combat, after all. Maybe if their precious daughters are required to register, and fact the very serious penalties for not registering, we can finally get rid of this whole Selective Service idiocy once and for all.

I guess it was done the same way the former idiot allowed a bunch of Russian spies into the building.

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This is the country and leader the republicans love almost as much as Putin.

Because if you don’t acknowledge LBGTs exist, kids will stop being gay

This year in the U.S. the majority of books most often banned are by LGBT writers and writers of color.

Here’s a good report from the writers’ organization PEN on the state of censorship in the U.S.
https://pen.org/report/bann…

Full fucking racism and full on white supramacy.
How did people get it in their heads that they have a “right” to never be offended? That is not a right and never has been. Freedom of speech, remember? Astonishing how the “fuck your feelings” crowd so quickly turn around to demand safe spaces where their precious feelings are prioritized so much.
Didn’t a black woman in Texas get five years for voting just once?
I think they claimed she was ineligible for some reason.
And it was a provisional ballot and was not counted. Further it was a poll worker that told her to fill out a provisional ballot.
Jesus isn’t in the Constitution either. Let’s start there.
Censorship by school boards is chipping away at the reality of LGBTQ history and our very existence. Good for Newsom.
They’ve already grabbed lots of the courts, then they want to control education (‘member how so many righties loves to quote hitler on this…) & inject religion into the schools – while wiping out all dissenting ideas & critical thinking – fast forward 10 years and VOILA – you have a whole generation of little christo-fascists that taxpayers are footing the bill to educate with xtian nationalist dogma. These wack job conservatives (an extreme minority) are proving too damn good at a multi-decade slow play here. People have to wake up.