Friday, May 18, 2018

The Best Explanation for Our Spate of Mass Shootings Is the Least Comforting

National Review


. . . "Those who advocate for gun control have an immediate answer — the prevalence of guns in the United States. Yet guns have been part of the fabric of American life for the entire history of our republic. Mass shootings — especially the most deadly mass shootings — are a far more recent phenomenon.

"Writing in 2015, Malcolm Gladwell wrote what I think is still the best explanation for modern American mass shootings, and it’s easily the least comforting. At the risk of oversimplifying a complex argument, essentially he argues that each mass shooting lowers the threshold for the next. He argues, we are in the midst of a slow-motion “riot” of mass shootings, with the Columbine shooting in many ways the key triggering event. Relying on the work of Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter, Gladwell notes that it’s a mistake to look at each incident independently: . . ."
But Granovetter thought it was a mistake to focus on the decision-making processes of each rioter in isolation. In his view, a riot was not a collection of individuals, each of whom arrived independently at the decision to break windows. A riot was a social process, in which people did things in reaction to and in combination with those around them. Social processes are driven by our thresholds—which he defined as the number of people who need to be doing some activity before we agree to join them. In the elegant theoretical model Granovetter proposed, riots were started by people with a threshold of zero—instigators willing to throw a rock through a window at the slightest provocation. Then comes the person who will throw a rock if someone else goes first. He has a threshold of one. Next in is the person with the threshold of two. His qualms are overcome when he sees the instigator and the instigator’s accomplice. Next to him is someone with a threshold of three, who would never break windows and loot stores unless there were three people right in front of him who were already doing that—and so on up to the hundredth person, a righteous upstanding citizen who nonetheless could set his beliefs aside and grab a camera from the broken window of the electronics store if everyone around him was grabbing cameras from the electronics store.
. . .  

Student Says School Shooter Was Picked On By Coaches, Wore Trench Coat Daily

Prepare for more CNN appearances by those foul-mouthed Parkland brats.

Daily Wire . . . "He's been picked on by coaches before for smelling bad and stuff like that and he doesn't really talk to very many people," the student said. "He wears a trench coat every day and it's like 90 degrees out here."
"I heard that he wore a shirt today and it said 'born to kill,' the shirt he was wearing, I don't even know how the school can allow that," the student continued.
The reporter then asked the student about his reaction to the school's handling of the shooting, asking him if they handled it appropriately.
"No, they pulled the fire alarm and got everyone in one position, that's not smart," the student replied. "They should have done the right thing and left the people in the classrooms."
The reporter then appeared to try to bait the student into making a statement on gun control, asking him what he thought about the state of America today.
"The student once again pointed out the alleged gunman was supposedly bullied by coaches, saying, "I think it's stupid, the coaches can't talk to students like that and make fun of them. That's their fault, and strictly their fault. Not the kid's fault, but their fault, no one has talked to him or tried to be nice to him."




Texas Colonel Describes How Police Must Engage A School Shooter – Puts Parkland Police To Shame "Multiple law enforcement officers engaged the shooter who killed 10 and wounded 10 at Santa Fe High School in Texas Friday morning.
"That’s according to Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw." . . .
"One of the Texas police officers was shot and severely wounded when he engaged the shooter. The officer has not been identified and is in the hospital.
"The actions of the Texas officers present a stark contrast to the actions of the Broward County Sheriff school resource officer during the Parkland, Florida shooting earlier this year." . . .

Two thousand years waiting for a restoration of Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem

"Two thousand years waiting for a restoration of Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem via Instapundit, and for some American Jews, today’s significance is that it gives them a chance to emote their hostility to Trump. Sad!"



"BECAUSE LEFTIST POLITICS HAS BECOME A RELIGION: Two thousand years waiting for a restoration of Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem, and for some American Jews, today’s significance is that it gives them a chance to emote their hostility to Trump. Sad!"

MS-13; the corrupt media throws this nation under the bus

"What rational Americans heard as a slam against the violent Salvadoran gang MS-13, the media heard as a racist rant. Kinda like that whole Laurel/Yanny thing… Cartoon by A.F. Branco."

Fake Racism News - A.F. Branco
Fake Racism News – A.F. Branco Cartoon
Thomas Lifson: MSM drive another nail in their own coffin with distortion of Trump's 'animals' comment  "The mainstream media have forfeited the trust of all but the dedicated progressive faction of the American public, roughly 20-30% of the populace.  Now that a majority distrusts their word, and now that we have a president who is a counter-puncher, they can't get away with their old tricks all the time.
"It was outright malpractice for many outlets, including the New York Times, CNN, and the Associated Press, to create the impression that when he used the word "animals" in public, Trump was referring to all immigrants, or to all illegal aliens, as he was responding to a question about MS-13." . . .
Below: "Rant"?

. . . "Like sobbing children, the left-wing media can’t get over the fact Trump beat Hillary Clinton and is systematically dismantling President Obama’s policy legacy, and it’s driving some of them, quite literally, insane."


Planned Parenthood, NARAL Are Very Upset That 
The President Called Violent Gang Members 'Animals' . . . "Hogue stepped foot into more bizarre territory, warning that dehumanizing even murderous individuals was the pathway to "very dangerous territory," where more human beings might face dehumanization. Hogue is apparently unaware that her own organization fights for the right to murder innocent, tiny humans in the first three to nine months of their lives — definitely dangerous territory." . . .


“When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either.” —

Scarcely a day goes by without the news media lying about the president and his administration. No wonder trust in the press is at an all-time low. It should be.  . . . "The round table had nothing to do with illegal immigrants in general, or “those trying to breach the country’s borders” (the caravaners, I take it). This was the president’s reference to animals; again, he obviously was referring to MS-13 gang members:. . . "

Pelosi: Trump Using 'Animals' Term in Sanctuary Debate Ignores 'Spark of Divinity in Every Person'. . . "If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they're more than welcome to," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. "Frankly, I don't think the term the president used is strong enough." . . .

terrellaftermath