I see how people get addicted to sleeping pills. It’s one reason i won’t take them. The price I pay is an occasional night of insomnia, followed by a terrible-feeling day, but it’s worth it not to be one of those people who can’t cope without Ambien.
Which is why I didn’t update yesterday. I was staring at my laptop at 8:30, the screen swimming in my vision, the tank utterly empty. And now I find myself overwhelmed by current events, an abundance of material.
Boy, Twitter was something early on in this disaster. I don’t think I’ve seen my own feelings tracked quite so closely without actually joining in. The gist of what I saw boiled down to fuck your thoughts and prayers.
As this story is, as they say, developing, let’s hash it out in comments hours from now, which is when you all will be reading this.
Two days off, and I have a million links, most of them good, to share. So here goes. Tuesday’s health coverage in the NYT led with the startling news that after years of increase, the number of new diabetes cases is finally starting to fall. And why? Well…
There is growing evidence that eating habits, after decades of deterioration, have finally begun to improve. The amount of soda Americans drink has declined by about a quarter since the late 1990s, and the average number of daily calories children and adults consume also has fallen. Physical activity has started to rise, and once-surging rates of obesity, a major driver of Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, have flattened. Type 1 diabetes, often diagnosed in childhood and adolescence and not usually associated with excess body weight, was also included in the data.
In other words, a problem once seen as well-nigh impossible turned out to be possible after all. It gives me hope for sensible gun laws. Of course, soda taxes of the sort public-health advocates would like is unlikely here, but when Mexico enacted them in 2013, guess what happened?
Preliminary data from the Mexican government and public health researchers in the United States finds that the tax prompted a substantial increase in prices and a resulting drop in the sales of drinks sweetened with sugar, particularly among the country’s poorest consumers. The long-term effects of the policy remain uncertain, but the tax is being heralded by advocates, who say it could translate to the United States.
“It’s exactly what we thought the tax would do,” said Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, whose team conducted the research.
OK, so with the health news out of the way, let’s get into the rest.
Sumner Redstone, head of Viacom and CBS and 92 years old, with some truly alarming cheek implants, is having his competency questioned. I wonder how often the reporters on this story get to write passages like this:
In an excruciating list of details, the petition said Mr. Redstone is incontinent, requires suctioning to remove phlegm up to 20 times a day, “has lately been susceptible to prurient urges and fixations that he is unable to control” and has lost interest in his prized collection of tropical fish.
The petition added that Mr. Redstone was “obsessed with eating steak,” even while on a feeding tube, and “demands, to the extent he can be understood, to engage in sexual activity every day.”
It was the part about the tropical fish that made me laugh out loud.
Remember Miss South Carolina Teen USA and her rambling, brain-farty answer to some pageant question? She was really, really hurt by your reaction. She and nine other internet-famous people – the leave-Britney-alone guy, Charlie who bit his brother’s finger, et al – talk about life these days.
The Upper Peninsula has one strip club. It is deep in the woods, and during deer season, it is jumping.
Here are all the lines spoken by female characters who are not Princess Leia in the first three Star Wars films. Don’t worry, it doesn’t take long to watch.
Ted Williams, one of my favorite outdoors writers, in an interview with Forbes. He’s old-school, a sportsman who hunts and fishes and prizes the outdoors accordingly. Alas, nature itself is like red and blue America:
…it doesn’t follow that most sportsmen are environmentalists. As a group they tend to be politically naïve and easily manipulated by their worst enemies. Because he fished and hunted and whooped it up for gun ownership, sportsmen ensured the election of George W. Bush—the most anti-fish-and-wildlife president we’ve ever had with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, also propelled into office by sportsmen.
PETA-type purists may love fish and wildlife but not enough to learn about it. That’s why they oppose use of rotenone to save endangered fish from being hybridized and outcompeted off the planet, and that’s why they oppose culling of overpopulated deer and alien wildlife (feral horses, burros, cats, rats, hogs, goats, etc.) that destroy our native ecosystems.
There’s also a great walk-off story about sharing a name with a famous athlete.
Finally, an interview with the great Jon Carroll, who used to be linked all the time here, but hasn’t been since the San Francisco Chronicle put him behind a paywall. He’s still one of my faves. Now retired. The story has a link to a piece he wrote about depression; oh hell, I’ll just put it right here. Worth reading, if you’ve ever had the big D, or know someone who has, which is to say: Everyone.
I’m sure more will be revealed tomorrow about the California shooting. Now it’s looking like it came out of a fight at a holiday party? I can’t stand this. Talk later, all.
Dexter said on December 3, 2015 at 3:03 am
The last comment, by Susan, last thread, is a show stopper. NY Daily News just blasts the pro-gun pols.
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David C. said on December 3, 2015 at 6:28 am
Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Shit. That’s all they’ll need to turn this into a RW shitstorm. I know nothing of their backgrounds yet, but it seems they’re thoroughly Americanized SUV driving gun nuts. They’ll all be insufferable. That I know. I feel like crawling back into bed, pulling the covers over my head, and staying there for a month.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 3, 2015 at 7:34 am
Workplace violence, sympathetic copy-cat terror, even if there were any signs of connections to a larger group helping them plan it — I just don’t understand how you can have a six month old child at home and launch into something like this.
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basset said on December 3, 2015 at 8:21 am
Our local fair board just decided not to have any more gun shows at the fairgrounds for awhile, after this weekend they’re outa there till further notice. And the response is pretty much what you’d expect:
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson%20/2015/12/01/metro-halts-gun-shows-nashville-fairgrounds/76609946/
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beb said on December 3, 2015 at 8:29 am
As if there aren’t enough gun shops around to fulfill one’s every gun fondling need.
On the whole, I’d rather talk about Dave Letterman’s beard.
I thought Princess Leia was like Smurfette, the only female in the entire universe.
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Connie said on December 3, 2015 at 8:33 am
Basset, they’re going to show the Fair Board, they’re bringing in the NRA!
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brian stouder said on December 3, 2015 at 8:51 am
What Dave C said
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coozledad said on December 3, 2015 at 9:12 am
If mass murder helps you in the polls, then what’s the best use of your campaign dollar?
http://www.joemygod.com/2015/12/03/trump-celebrates-mass-murder-helps-me-in-the-polls/
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Deborah said on December 3, 2015 at 9:15 am
It is awfully depressing today. Will this be the mass shooting that turns the tide? I doubt it.
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Danny said on December 3, 2015 at 9:26 am
On KFI in Los Angeles this morning, one of the radio hosts says that every time one of these tragic shooting events occur, the NRA emails membership that it’s time to start stocking up on more guns before it’s too late to get one. Geeez. Crazy.
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Judybusy said on December 3, 2015 at 9:29 am
I saw the NY Daily news cover in my FB feed. Just so stunning, and won’t change a damn thing. We’ve had 355 mass shootings so far this year.
So, let’s say we get really tight gun control passed in some magical day in 2018. Prior to that, there will be a massive surge of the nuts to buy all the guns and ammo they can. Of course, we already have an excess. So, would gun control really change anything? We’d have to figure out a way to actually come and get their guns and to prevent the massive buy-up to really have a impact. I don’t see a practible way of doing that.
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Judybusy said on December 3, 2015 at 9:34 am
Many of you already likely know this, but there’s a ban even on doing research on gun violence.
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ROGirl said on December 3, 2015 at 9:42 am
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/gun-owners-study-one-in-three
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brian stouder said on December 3, 2015 at 10:19 am
Danny, there’s money to be made.
Assuming (for a moment) that this couple was not a self-radicalized jihadist cell, what must the progression have been?
They made me mad last year, and I bought another automatic weapon.
They made me mad again last week, and I built another 3 IEDs.
They made me mad again yesterday, and I purchased 500 more rounds of ammunition.
and then…..
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 10:24 am
On Black Friday, the FBI processed 185,000+ background checks for new gun purchases, a record for single-day purchases, but likely not all guns that were sold that day, as 40% of guns sold are sold by unlicensed dealers. Always good to know that American commerce is thriving.
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Suzanne said on December 3, 2015 at 10:28 am
This last shooting hit me hard. I am beginning to resign myself to the fact that either I or one of my family members will probably die in a hail of bullets. I know so many people who are more afraid of the government taking their guns than just about anything else in the world and truly do think that a bunch of dead people is worth the right to keep those arms. They really, really do. How do ever overcome that line of thinking??
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Heather said on December 3, 2015 at 10:46 am
A friend pointed out that the first line in an NY Times article about the shooting notes that the guy’s from Illinois and his parents were born in Pakistan. We don’t even know their motivations yet so his background is irrelevant right now. My best friend’s parents were born in Pakistan too. I don’t see any other similarities between these two individuals.
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nancy said on December 3, 2015 at 10:47 am
One of the nicest, coolest, most decent people I know here in Detroit went out and bought an AR-15 after Sandy Hook. I asked him why and he said he wanted one before the government told him he couldn’t have one. This is simply the American strain of insanity, like racism is the American original sin.
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brian stouder said on December 3, 2015 at 10:54 am
Yes.
And if 99.9% of the people who are otherwise loveable people who buy these things, and stock the ammo, and fret about guh-mint trying to grab their arsenal away from them are harmlessly eccentric –
that last .1% (or whatever the fraction is) still represents some significant number of people who will eventually not be satisfied with adding one more piece of weaponry to their collection, and who will decide “the time to act” is right now.
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AndreaJ said on December 3, 2015 at 10:56 am
Suzanne, I feel the same way, too. I work on a college campus. Last month, we had active shooter training, which included watching the video that was featured on 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago – http://www.cbsnews.com/news/responding-to-an-active-shooter-60-minutes-anderson-cooper/. This morning, I came in and really paid attention to where the fire alarm is, how my office door locks, what furniture I could move in front of the door, etc.
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Sue said on December 3, 2015 at 11:00 am
We need something cheerful.
I understand all the internet-famous people in this video had a great time making it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQHPYelqr0E
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Connie said on December 3, 2015 at 11:02 am
Still filled with despair about the state of my country.
So I posted a link on facebook to the the “thoughts and prayers aren’t fixing this” newspaper headline. My dear nephew, a very religious man, posted yeah, we should definitely NOT pray for people that are hurting.
I did not post my response: What freaking good do your prayers do? Don’t waste your time, do something meaningful. Your prayers help no one but yourself. They make you feel better. They are irrelevant to any one else.
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Deborah said on December 3, 2015 at 11:04 am
They have statistics for what your chances are of being struck by lightning and winning the lottery. I wonder what your chances are of being struck by a bullet in the USA? That would include accidentally or by suicide as well as homicide. I’ll try to google that.
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alex said on December 3, 2015 at 11:10 am
Amen hallelujah Connie!
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Deborah said on December 3, 2015 at 11:19 am
I found a lot of sites through Google that calculate your chances of getting killed by a bullet but not for getting struck by a bullet, period. I don’t seem to be able to ask google the right question.
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Julie Robinson said on December 3, 2015 at 11:20 am
After Watergate I was so disgusted with politics that I decided to focus my attentions in places where I felt I could make a difference. So I raised my children and volunteered at school and church and the community.
I see now that was wrong. Although I voted, I ceded decision making to the politicians and look what happened. It needs to change.
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So said on December 3, 2015 at 11:29 am
Muslims terrorize Paris and the response is well, what do you expect when people are marginalized and not welcomed into a community. Virtually opposite situation, except for that pesky Muslim part, and the response is those crazy American’s with the insane ideas regarding the second Amendment. Maybe you can get one of those gun-toting hunter-maggots to deal with the elephant in the room.
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coozledad said on December 3, 2015 at 11:36 am
Whuh?
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brian stouder said on December 3, 2015 at 11:36 am
So – was this your response to the South Carolina church shooter, or the Sandy Hook school shooter, or the Navy Yard shooter, or the small army of wanna-be shooters out west when that free-loader Nevada cattle-rancher was demanding the ‘right’ to let his cattle graze on public land, rather than on his own?
“That pesky Muslim part”(??) was absent in all of them, and the response hereabouts was the same.
But you know that
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coozledad said on December 3, 2015 at 11:47 am
brian: just trying to slog through that labored syntax is enough to make you wonder what kind of Skinner box our young fresh chickenfucker was whelped in. Try diagramming those sentences.
Learning your language is a step toward freedom, So(n).
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 3, 2015 at 12:12 pm
Why would someone be so intent, re: Nancy’s note earlier, on “getting” to own an AR-15? Our federal government was kind enough to loan me an M-16A1 for a period of time (5501559 if memory serves), and it was a balky, finicky, demanding son-of-a-mistress at best. We got to handle some prototypes of what became the A2 model, and at least the forward assist worked better.
But I’ve overheard conversations at parent events, where the other dads are, due to my tardiness in producing a son, about ten to fifteen years younger than I am, and they speak in excited tones about the opportunity to purchase some AR-15 variant. Twice I’ve had the opportunity to lean in and say “it’s an overrated air-cooled gas-operated magazine-fed piece of junk. Get yourself a nice Remington 1100 and shoot some skeet.” It’s amazing how the conversation shifts.
The AR-15 is just a man-card symbol. You can argue that’s true for most firearms in the modern world, but I live in an area where much of tonight’s choir practice at church is going to be delayed by the men and women chatting about what they or their kids or grandkids “got” on Monday or Tuesday. Friend of mine got a ten-point, and an Indian would be impressed with how much of the carcass his family is going to use. Not my idea of November fun, but it’s huge in large parts of the country. My frustration is how to communicate how they’re getting used by the NRA as it is today, which is just another fundraising behemoth like Samaritan’s Purse or AARP, and you shouldn’t send ’em a dime. I just about got my head handed to me when I mentioned out loud I didn’t think Wounded Warrior Foundation deserved one thin dime, and was fortunate I had just enough good will in the room to allow enough time to explain why a group that just processes funds and passes along grants after taking off a healthy admin is not, to my mind, as worthy as a Fisher House or Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society that does direct service without half the admin skim.
Patience, forsooth; I got ’em off of Operation Christmas Child this year, and I may yet peel away some of the NRA adherents from their assumptions about what Wayne LaPissant is really up to.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 3, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Coozledad, I couldn’t help but hear your last line as “Son, I say, son, learning your language, don’t you know, is a step toward freedom, son (hearty WHACK on the back).” And So(n) as the Chickenhawk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2nuOneeQ5M
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Jakash said on December 3, 2015 at 12:23 pm
As a conflicted, church-raised agnostic, I loved the Daily News headline, myself. But it seems to me that one might attempt to walk a finer line in pursuing that angle on the issue. I wholeheartedly agree that politicians, in particular, need to DO something about guns rather than JUST pray for the families, etc. But, while there’s a majority in this country who support sensible gun control and only a third of the population owns guns, there’s also a majority that believe in prayer. Pissing them off isn’t going to get any legislation passed more quickly.
I’m on your side, folks, but “fuck your thoughts and prayers” and Connie’s response @22 may make us feel better, but, if you can’t make the point that action is what’s necessary without quite purposefully antagonizing many of the people who are needed to VOTE for such action, I don’t think you’re doing the cause any favors.
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coozledad said on December 3, 2015 at 12:25 pm
It’s because that boy is about as sharp as a bag of wet mice.
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 12:32 pm
Congratulations on continuing to fight the good fight, Jeff. The world needs you.
As Sue said, we need a bit of cheer. Here’s the NYT 10 Best Books of 2015, some assurance that at least a few humans are still doing great things with their big brains. And our friend, Mr. Coates. Is one of the authors.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 3, 2015 at 12:41 pm
I think if I read the Breivik account, I’ll need the von Humboldt bio just to restore some hope for human nature. Great list.
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nancy said on December 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm
I agree that “fuck your thoughts and prayers” isn’t productive, but it’s an angry outburst with its own message: Get off your damn knees and DO SOMETHING. The NYDN headline wasn’t aimed at average people, but at the politicians who sit through every one of these with their thumbs up their asses.
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alex said on December 3, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Jakash, I would think that those who earnestly believe in prayer would resent it being cheapened by insincere politicians who obviously don’t give a rat’s ass.
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Sue said on December 3, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Yesterday Obama said:
“There are some steps we could take, not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don’t happen as frequently.”
Did that strike anyone else as an odd thing to say? Or an odd way to make a point?
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 12:51 pm
I found this NYT piece on
how often mass shootings occur to be quite interesting, not so much for the headline, which I knew, as for some of the detail. In particular, the paragraph below caught my attention.
In studying shootings that left four or more dead from 2009 to mid-2015, his organization found certain patterns. In only 11 percent of cases did medical, school or legal authorities note signs of mental illness in the gunmen before the attack, the organization said. Domestic violence figured strongly: In 57 percent of the cases, the victims included a current or former intimate partner or family member of the attacker. Half of all victims were women.
I know that data does not play a strong role in public discussions of this issue, but, it’s possible that it might help if more people understood where the greatest risks lie.
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 12:53 pm
Obviously, that last paragraph shouldn’t have been italicized. Typo in my previous comment too, darn it.
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Deborah said on December 3, 2015 at 12:56 pm
I’m still perusing the internet trying to find an answer to my question about the chances of being struck by a bullet and I’ve found it’s impossible to find out here’s why http://www.propublica.org/article/why-dont-we-know-how-many-people-are-shot-each-year-in-america.
Even if it did any good, it’s easy to say you will pray and then not pray, who’s going to know?
Also, besides calling your elected representatives what can you do? Does anyone have any suggestions? I seriously feel that I need to get off my complaining butt and do something. But what?
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Sue, Obama’s statement could have been a bit smoother. His last phrase, for instance, could have been “but to reduce their frequency.” But, otherwise, I think it’s the right point. Am pretty sure I’ve said before here that we can’t let ourselves be distracted by the idea that this or that legislative change won’t eliminate all or particular cases of gun violence. We need to be aiming for changes that can be widely implemented in the hope of preventing a variety of incidents.
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Icarus said on December 3, 2015 at 1:09 pm
there’s a Meme out there about minorities joining the NRA and buying guns and if that happened, how quickly the gun laws would change. Maybe that’s not so off. Maybe we all need to buy NRA memberships and see if our votes can change things?
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Jolene said on December 3, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Deborah, there are numerous advocacy organizations that are working hard and having some success at state and local levels. I don’t know enough about them to judge which is most effective, but I think all of them would make good use of whatever money you could send them. Also, once you are on their mailing lists, you’d be informed about specific times to contact legislators or, if you’re inclined, take part in lobbying events. Here’s a list.
Americans for Responsible Solutions (started by Gabby Giffords and her husband)
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (started by Sarah and Jim Brady after attack on Ronald Reagan)
Everytown for Gun Safety (started and partially funded by Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York)
Sandy Hook Promise (started by parents of kids killed in Newtown massacre)
It is always a good time to call your legislators. Tell them what you want them to do, but also tell them what you think of what they have done, especially if it’s something good. If the issue is guns, you can be sure that they hear plenty from people on the other side, so, when they take a risk, let them know you have their back.
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Charlotte said on December 3, 2015 at 1:40 pm
Sigh. Just called my one congressman (GOP) and two Senators (one each). Congressman’s office didn’t even take my info (although the kid who answered the phone sounded sympathetic). I know gun control is a hard sell here in Montana, but there are also plenty of folks like me with a couple of old shotguns in a closet who also think that background checks, closing the gun show loophole and I don’t know? not allowing people to order ammunition online? are sensible ideas.
Personally, I don’t even have any shells in the house — bear spray is my first line of defense if anyone comes in when Himself is away. That and the fact that each of my neighbors’ houses are about 20 feet from mine.
It’s just insane. Sickening and insane. So I’ll be over on Instagram looking at pictures of knitting.
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MichaelG said on December 3, 2015 at 1:46 pm
The M-16 is a military weapon (the one I had was an XM16-E1, 117872, and was even crankier than the A2 model. It even still had the original chrome bolt carrier) and, as I understand hunting and other such sports, has little value in these endeavors. If you want to protect your house and must have a weapon, get a short barrel pump shotgun. Just the sound of that thing racking should be enough to stop an intruder cold. Why would anybody want a fully automatic weapon?
Read this, especially the LBJ quote:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a40162/three-multiple-shooting-events-one-day/
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Sherri said on December 3, 2015 at 1:54 pm
Icarus, I’m not sure how much good joining the NRA to try and take it over would do. I think at this point, the members serve the NRA, not the other way around, and the NRA serves gun manufacturers. It might, with a coordinated, concerted effort, be possible to take over the NRA, but another well-funded organization would pop right up in its place.
Now, when the Black Panthers were running around with guns, that resulted in tougher gun laws, because organized groups of black people with guns can’t be tolerated.
Jakash, I hear what you’re saying, but on the other hand, change doesn’t happen in a pretty and polite way. Yes, some people are going to be offended and opposed to your cause as a result, but my experience is, most of the time, a lot of those people were going to find some excuse to be opposed anyway. It’s like the anti-tax people who swear they aren’t anti-tax, but always seem to find a reason to oppose this tax.
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Scout said on December 3, 2015 at 4:13 pm
To the tone deaf, paid for Congress who refuses to act on the mass shooting epidemic: Every time there is another mass shooting, it is EXACTLY the time to politicize it. How else will we ever get you hypocritical do-nothings to pay attention?
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Sherri said on December 3, 2015 at 5:21 pm
Unsurprisingly, the shooters in the latest mass murder in America used the domestic terrorist’s gun of choice, the AR-15. One was a Smith & Wesson M&P15. The CEO of Smith & Wesson is P. James Debney: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324461604578189590914067014
The other was a DPMS Panther Arms A15. It is manufactured by DPMS Panther Arms, a subsidiary of the Freedom Group, which is a holding company owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm. Sadly, unlike with other companies acquired by PE, the Freedom Group companies (which include Bushmaster and Remington, among others) don’t appear to have been loaded up with debt and stripped of assets and then dumped into bankruptcy. The CEO of Freedom Group (aka Remington) is Jim “Marco” Marcotuli.
The shooters also had semiautomatic handguns, one a Smith & Wesson, the other manufactured by LLama Firearms, a Spanish company no longer in business.
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Sherri said on December 3, 2015 at 5:28 pm
Why I look up the CEOs of the gun manufacturers: https://theintercept.com/2015/12/03/mass-shooting-wall-st/
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David C. said on December 3, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Several years ago when my wife was sick and I was wearing myself to a frazzle, I had a lot of people fixing us food and asking what the could do. We were offered prayers too. As nice as it would have felt to say shove your prayers, I didn’t, but boy I wonder why God’s answer to their prayer wasn’t “mow the poor guy’s lawn, asshole”. I guess God works in mysterious ways. There seems to be doers and prayers. There’s a plenty of overlap between the two, but the most fervent of the prayers aren’t much into doing.
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Charlotte said on December 3, 2015 at 7:25 pm
If you’re on Twitter, @igorvolsky has been retweeting “thoughts and prayers” tweets from lawmakers with the $ amount the NRA has paid them to respond to mass shootings with “thoughts and prayers”.
Sigh. Yes, the prayer thing. I don’t know, I used to be a real, if lefty Catholic, and I don’t mind people praying for someone as long as they show up, as David C noted above, to mow the lawn or clean the bathroom or do your laundry. (Or feed the hungry and clothe the naked and shelter the homeless.) I kind of love Stephen Colbert for standing up as a genuine person of faith and reminding everyone of that stuff.
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susan said on December 3, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Sherri – Michael Bloomberg, worth $41 fucking billion, who proclaims to be anti-gun, could buy Smith and Wesson. Bill Gates, worth $79.2 billion could buy Glock. Jeff Bezos $46.6 B. Zuckerberg $35.7B. Buffett $66.7B. All these richy riches could buy up all the gun companies in the world and shut them down. And still have a lot of billions left over to burn with their trash. Oh wait, we don’t burn trash anymore.
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alex said on December 3, 2015 at 9:00 pm
You’d think with that kind of money they could buy Wayne LaPierre and make him into a turncoat spokesperson for the cause of gun safety.
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Sherri said on December 3, 2015 at 10:04 pm
Susan, good point. Cerberus has been trying to unload Remington ever since Sandy Hook. They had been hoping to get $1 billion for it, but haven’t been able to find a buyer and have had to move it out of their main fund into a special fund so that public pension funds could divest themselves of it.
Zuckerberg just announced his big initiative, which is an LLC, so it doesn’t even have the restrictions a foundation might have. Seems like a great first program for the Zuckerberg Chan Initiative, to invest in a safer world for his new daughter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/business/dealbook/cerberus-unable-to-sell-remington-will-buy-back-its-shares-from-investors.html?_r=0
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basset said on December 3, 2015 at 10:09 pm
MichaelG, I know guys who shoot deer with 223s but I always thought that was too light a round. Agree that the M16 is not a good close quarters home defense weapon, shotgun is much better… or a pistol which fires shotgun ammunition, several of those on the market.
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basset said on December 3, 2015 at 10:13 pm
Sherri, I bought a Remington rifle last month and it just doesn’t seem to be as well-made as the older ones, had a tiny scrap of metal left over from the manufacturing process floating around in the action and it didn’t work 100-percent right till a gunsmith picked that out. He brought up the Cerberus issue too, said Remington had been laying off their more experienced workers and using cheaper, less capable labor.
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Deborah said on December 4, 2015 at 12:13 am
Damn, I completely forgot about The Wiz, missed it. Love Queen Latifah, especially when she sings the classics like this one https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ENenW3h8Q0, just listen, don’t watch the photos. It was the only YouTube version I could find.
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Deborah said on December 4, 2015 at 12:26 am
Ok, here’s a better one https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeg0xYutXU
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Dorothy said on December 4, 2015 at 5:50 am
Don’t fret, Deborah. I’m sure The Wiz will be repeated at least twice. THat’s what they did with their previous live productions. I missed it too–had two events on campus last night that I attended and got home at 9:30. I was too pooped to tune in but I did see it as I quickly channel surfed before falling asleep at 10.
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