Every American should watch this

Gun Rant

I do not hate guns.

I know, I know, I'm constantly whinging about the evil of the NRA and screaming that politicians who get money from the NRA should be voted out of office. But...

I do not hate guns.

I have fired guns. I have handled guns. I enjoy target shooting. A .22 rifle and a paper target are a joy to me. Handled safely, I have absolutely no problem with guns.

For defense against wildlife in truly wild places, I don't have a problem with slightly higher caliber weapons, responsibly owned by intelligent people. I don't even have an issue with people hunting, as long as they eat what they hunt and follow wildlife expert's advice so animals aren't driven to extinction. I don't really approve of it, and I wouldn't do it myself... I think it's a little childish and disgusting if you can get food in another way... but I'm not going to shame people for it and I'll keep my mouth shut about it. As long as it is done responsibly and legally. After all is said and done, I eat meat and - frankly - the meat I eat is produced in a disgusting way as well. I cannot claim any moral superiority there.

So I do not hate guns.

But I also see that guns should be carefully controlled and maintained, and I see that the "general public" is unable to do so because there are too many people with too many problems. There are always people who go too far, which is why we have to have rules. Some people won't stop until they hit the rules, no matter how much harm they are causing. You cannot leave *anything* completely open and free because someone will always ruin it for everyone else: the whole "this is why we can't have nice things" syndrome.

So limits must be established. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution was never a suicide pact. Reasonable limits are always expected on any freedom. Despite the First Amendment, free speech has reasonable limits on it. This is understood by everyone with even an ounce of brains. The same applies to the Second Amendment.

Right now, the freedom demanded by second amendment extremists is infringing on the freedom of literally every other person in the country by denying us our right to life and pursuit of happiness. It's hard for kids to be happy when any day they go to school might be the day they are slaughtered by a gun nut with an AR-15. People have been murdered by these "well-regulated milita" morons in schools, churches, grocery stores, movie theaters, street festivals... our entire lives are now at risk because some self-important twats decided their personal right to compensate for their own short-comings is more important than every other citizens' right to life.

I do not hate guns, but I hate people who love guns over everything else.

No one needs a weapon of war in their home. If you cannot defend yourself with a .22 you probably aren't intelligent enough to own a water gun, much less an automatic or semi-automatic. The likelihood you'll get yourself shot in a gun battle, probably with your own weapon, is very high if you feel like you *need* an AR-15 to defend yourself. Invest in a baseball bat, instead.

The arguments about defending against a tyrannical government are laughable as well. How long are you going to last against the entire US Army? No, seriously. The fantasies of urban warriors waging a war against the fascist state are just that, fantasy. You stop fascism by stopping it at the ballot box and destroying the propaganda machine that helps drive it - not by feeding into it and becoming the very tyrants you claim to want to defend against. Most gun nuts *are* the fascists they claim they want to bear arms against. They've just been brainwashed into believing they are the good guys. Years of propaganda by the Russian-funded NRA, and Fox propaganda channel have programmed them into being the very thing they hate. And they refuse to see it, because that would mean admitting they are wrong.

I do not hate guns.

But I am tired of people who love guns over their fellow humans. Who love the thought of being some sort of stupid action hero so much that they cannot see the pain they cause. Who worship guns devoutly, send their constant tithes to gun manufacturers and the NRA, who practically pray to their guns and celebrate the deaths of children with little dances on stage at the NRA. I'm tired of them all.

Every day those gun worshippers block reasonable gun control, they drive me further toward more severe gun restrictions. Every time another child, another mother, another cousin, friend, lover dies in a senseless hail of bullets, I want more severe restrictions. Every time I see a politician saying "let's not politicize this" as they turn a crime scene into a gun rally, I want more severe restrictions. Every time I see an NRA member crying that they are the real victims when a fellow gun nut murders someone, I want more severe restrictions.

Every time someone claims these slaughters are false flag operations, I want every single gun nut to be forced to view the crime scene in person and be forced to clean the gore up with their bare hands.

Right now, I'm in favor of reasonable gun control. The Clinton ban on assault weapons should be put back into effect. Other restrictions should be discussed and debated on their merits, not dismissed out of hand by the bought-and-paid for NRA politicians. The longer those politicians block reasonable efforts, the more severe my own position on gun control gets in response.

I do not hate guns. But I'm definitely headed that way, thanks to the NRA and the cult of the gun.

Jan 6th Hearing

You don't have to watch the whole thing, but I strongly recommend at least listening to the entire thing. It's three and a half hours, yes, but it's something that every single American should hear.

The format is as usual for a committee hearing - The chair of the committee calls four witnesses. The four are officers who were on the front lines on January 6th. All of them were injured, some far worse than others. Each witness gives a prepared statement explaining where they were and what they did. And what happened to them. After the witness statements, some of which were incredibly painful to listen to, each member of the committee is given five minutes to question the witnesses.

I will note that if the minority leader had put his two traitors on the committee, they both pledged publicly to derail the hearing during the questioning phase. Pelosi refused them seats because they openly bragged about how they wouldn't do the job set to them. The two Republicans who actually agreed to serve honestly on the committee - both of whom I dislike intensely and disagree with on just about every policy matter - stayed on topic and asked good questions.

This is just the first hearing. There is a long way to go to find the truth... and the Truth. I hope the evidence hasn't been completely destroyed in the last six months.

What it's like to be a woman

The Kavanaugh hearings were pure hell, even though I did my best to not watch them directly. I heard and saw enough that I still feel sick about them. A very credible witness comes forward about a traumatic event in her life and a bunch of rich white men whine and cry and claim she's being unfair. All while insisting there is no need for an FBI investigation on the subject.

What are they afraid of? If she's lying outright, there's a decent chance the FBI will track down whoever is paying her to lie and reveal the truth, right? If she's telling the truth, then what sane person wants a would-be rapist who clearly has a drinking problem on the frickin' SUPREME COURT??!???

So it's been a lot of pain. Some suppressed memories came out, as well. I'm not going to talk about those.

Instead, I'm going to talk about a walk I took a few days ago. I've been walking every day in the city's central park, doing one or two laps around the parking lot. It's not a long walk, just under a half mile. I have seen a number of other people who are regulars there. I'm used to the older men: one who walks with a cane, one who spent the first week ignoring me but now nods back when I smile and nod at him as we pass each other. I was wary around them at first, but I'm comfortable now.

The other day I saw a new face. A younger man, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s. He was wearing a hoodie with the hood down, sweat pants and a baseball cap. I immediately felt uncomfortable with him there. I watched him as he passed me and watched as he approached another woman walking ahead of me. And this is what I thought: If he attacks her, I can reach them in maybe 10 seconds. I'll need a weapon. My car keys. Should I keep my phone in my hand? Should I call 911 first or fight him off?

That is the kind of thing I think whenever I see a lone man approaching a lone woman.

Because it's not safe out there for women. Every man could be a predator. Until we know them or have watched them be good for days on end, we can't be truly comfortable with them. We cannot feel safe. Even though my reasonable side was telling me that man was just a normal guy out walking like the rest of us who I see every day, I didn't know him and I felt like I needed to be alert and ready to jump to another woman's aid if necessary. When he walked past her I let out a sigh of relief and continued on, ready to keep an eye on him if/when he came back around.

That's what it's like for most women. We don't even think about it most of the time - or perhaps the more correct term is reflect on it. The thought is there, we are ready to act, and it passes because it's not needed, thankfully. I realized - while listening to Kavanaugh whine angrily - that I am alert in public more often than not. That I have been taught by experience to not trust any man, ever, when I don't know him. And to barely trust men I know (although, being socially inept, I've isolated myself from the real creeps - apparently).

When I was at Western, living in Highland Hall, I had to go down a long outdoor stairway to campus every day (Highland is on the Ridge, a housing area on a hill above the campus). One day I was walking down the stairs with another girl when we heard a voice from out of nowhere. We both stopped and looked around, and a young man, grinning, got up from where he was camouflaged in the foliage next to the stairs. I seem to recall hearing a second voice, but I don't know if I saw him. In short, neither of us saw the man even though he was literally a step away from the stairway and could have easily lunged out at us. He told us he was in military training and was trying out his skills - but I saw it as a warning. I have thought about it over and over for years. How I could not see him at all, and didn't realize he was there until he spoke. It makes me a little frightened even now. I don't think he meant to cause harm, but did he realize just what message he was sending?

Did he care?

I was taught some other lessons the hard way, but that's the only one I care to share right now. I think about it sometimes - how completely hidden that guy was. And I shudder. Because next time the guy might not be just exercising his power to scare women - he might want to hurt women. I don't know if I'll be ready if/when it happens.

Conundrum...

I have liked comic book characters since I was a child watching Super Friends. I started buying comic books in college, and one of my first titles was a Marvel book (Spider-Man 2099). But Aquaman is my hero, and I'm mostly a DC gal. That's the background for you.

I have no interest in Black Panther.

And it bothers me.

Oh, the movie looks exciting, and I'll probably see it once it's out on home video. Hubby-Eric and I have watched many of the Marvel Universe movies, and will watch many more before were through. Heck, I haven't seen Justice League yet because we can't afford to see it right now (I should probably go put it on my Amazon Wish List) and I only HOPE we'll have enough cash to see Aquaman when it's out.

But here's the issue... I read up on Black Panther, and he seems like the kind of character who ought to appeal to me. He's from a technologically advanced nation which he rules as king, that's basically hidden from/disregarded by the outside world. He's a superhero and ruler and has to balance between different goals and accomplishments while still staying true to himself. I mean, that description could easily apply to Aquaman. Just make him breathe underwater, and you've got my guy.

So why am I not interested in him? My fear is that it's my innate racism kicking in. I want to say it isn't, but I'm not sure. Just because I love Cal Durham in the DCU Aquaman-family doesn't mean I don't have some bias against other black characters. Is it my lack of interest in Marvel Comics? Or do I have something against a fantasy country set in Africa? I like Storm. I like Vixen. I adore Black Lightning and Static. But I cannot rule out a hidden flaw in my character, hidden even from me.

Racism is something that every living soul in our country has thanks to being raised in a racist society. Whether we acknowledge it or not, all of us are racist in some ways. Some of those are overt, many are subtle and some never show at all. My goal is to be a good person, and that means understanding when I am being racist, acknowledging the flaw and trying my best to correct it. I have done this over and over and will have to continue to do it my entire life. You don't simply stop being racist because you don't want to be - it's a process instead of a one-and-done thing. I have failed. Many times. I sometimes curse my mind for thinking racist thoughts without my permission, and I sweep those thoughts off the stage of my brain whenever I can. But they still exist and I will never stop fighting them.

I'm really not sure if my disinterest in Black Panther is racism or not. I've been struggling with it, because if it is a symptom of something bigger and bitter in my heart, I want to figure it out and work through it. But perhaps I just don't have any interest. Perhaps I've never given the character enough time or effort. Perhaps the little bit of comic art I've seen and read just didn't hook me. I just don't know, and for the moment I'm stymied on how to figure it out.

My best option, I think, is to read as much Black Panther as I can find to see what it does to me. Sadly, with finances what they are, that will have to wait. If anyone can recommend a jumping on point, I'll put it on my list of to-reads and someday get to it.

In the meantime, the worry will unsettle my mind. I hope the movie is fantastic and does well at the box office. And I hope I can see it soon. Maybe I'll fall in love with this character too.

A Nightmare

I woke up from a nightmare about 3 am this morning.

At first I didn't know where I was. I had family - not my family, dream family - and neighbors. All of us were thirsty and hungry. All of us were suffering and more than a few were dying. I understood everything, but we weren't speaking English.

I've never been to Puerto Rico. My Spanish is weak, at best, nonexistent at worst. I don't know what an inland village looks like. My subconscious was clearly creating and filling in the details I couldn't possibly know.

This place had one building that appeared to be partially built with brick or stone that was intact, all other buildings were either destroyed or badly damaged by Hurricane Maria. We'd made efforts to rebuild whatever we could, but water was a big problem. Everyone needed more water and there wasn't any clean water to be had. Food was less of a problem, but still a huge worry.

We were suffering. We wondered when help would arrive. The roads couldn't be completely gone, could they? Some people had left the village, and hadn't come back, so they must have gotten through. Cell phones didn't work. We didn't have power.

But mostly I remember the thirst.

I remember the feeling of being abandoned and forgotten, the despair of watching another person dying while we couldn't help. I remember thinking of leaving and finding a safer place to live - although when I thought that I felt a horrible pang in my heart that told me I loved my home. I remember wondering if I would die before I had a chance to leave, and thinking of trying to get out and find help before I was too weak to go.

I woke up so thirsty I thought I was dying and looked at my clock. The thirst faded so quickly I wanted to cry. I am safe and protected. I'm not in the middle of a disaster zone that is being ignored by my countrymen. But people who should be protected and safe are not - they aren't just being ignored, they are being intentionally insulted and demeaned. People who are also Americans.

This is truly a nightmare.

The List

Amy Siskind has been publishing a weekly list of things that are not normal about the current presidential administration, starting right after the election. It's a bit eye-opening. I would love to see this done for every administration now, just to keep track of the things they are doing that might be "off" the acceptable path. It certainly gives stark reminders of what Congress is allowing to happen to the highest office in the land by not taking action.

However, at the moment, I'm just linking all of her lists so far, so I have them available to look through. While this is mostly for my own use, I figured other people may find it interesting or enlightening.

My Life Became the Start of a Sci-Fi Novel Yesterday...

When hubby-Eric and I moved out here almost a decade ago, I knew we were moving near the Hanford Nuclear site, but I never really thought about it much. The Hanford Reach is over a "mountain", well out of sight and mind. Neither of us traveled near it for any reason. Although some folks who live near us work on the cleanup, most people don't talk about it because - well, because it's Hanford. And even 70+ years later, it feels like a secret place.

The first inkling I had of the dangers was a long time ago, when I saw a listing for a house in this area that included a reinforced bunker/fallout shelter. I was amused. Although nuclear war was still a real threat when I was growing up, by the time I reached adulthood it seemed like a distant memory.

The next time I recall having the risks of Hanford brought home to me was when I sat in as a reporter on a meeting about a lot of different budget items, including Hanford cleanup. The article that I produced was about the budget stuff, but I'll never forget the information presented about the cleanup and how difficult it is. Still, it didn't seem like it would ever have any impact on me, so I filed it away and forgot.

Until yesterday.

Hanford is a mess. It produced plutonium for bombs during WWII and the Cold War - including the bombs that ended WWII in the Pacific. It didn't stop this work until 1987, which means there is more than 40 years of nuclear waste from bomb-making at the site. Since 1987, the government has been trying to clean it up - a job made incredibly difficult because there are 70-year-old tanks rotting away underground, and radioactive barrels with unknown materials in them stored in a mishmash of places, mostly underground.

At the site, as we learned yesterday, there are some tunnels that were made to store rail cars carrying contaminated equipment. From the site: "The tunnels were constructed of wood and concrete with a soil covering approximately 8 feet deep." They are near the center of the site, which is HUGE. Hanford is apparently about half the size of Rhode Island.

Yesterday morning, some folks doing their job noticed a subsidence over one of the tunnels. Part of the tunnel had collapsed. In fact, a fairly large section of the tunnel had collapsed. Which meant there was a possibility of the release of toxic or radioactive materials into the air.

Immediately, the entire site went into lock-down, with the 9,000 or so employees asked to shelter in place. My guess is that anyone else on the Reach (which is larger than the site itself) was also asked to leave immediately, just in case.

The road hubby-Eric takes to work goes right through the Reach - right past the main gates of Hanford.

I learned about the "incident" just before noon, and immediately started to worry about Eric and his trip home. Then I started to wonder about me and how safe we are here and pulled up a map. As the crow flies, I'm sitting about 30 miles from where the incident occurred. Less than 30 miles from the main gate.

As I was searching for more information about these tunnels and the potential danger to hubby and myself, the news broke that Nixo- er, Trump had fired the person investigating him. I kind of fell into a state of shock... I'm now living in the Twilight Zone. I'm in a nuclear danger area with an irresponsible government. I no longer feel safe at all.

I do wonder, though. Is this the start of some inspiring science fiction tale where a hero comes to save the day, or is it a horror tale where everything goes terribly wrong and we end up in a dystopia, eating each other to survive? Or perhaps it'll be a comedy, in which the clown president is tossed into jail by the Congressional Keystone Kops?

All I know is that I'd rather read this book than be in it.

Some Links

I hope Carrie Fisher fully recovers. She has no idea how many fans echoed her heart attack when they heard about it.

The thing about this story that makes me very curious is why the letters are sent to that particular address in the first place.

Yes Virginia, there is a Spider-Man.

Here's a gingerbread creation I can get behind. I want a C64!

I was delighted to hear a great story about my hometown police department:

"Adrian and I were driving on Lincoln Ave. Towards Wal-Mart when I saw a police car with 2 officers and they were talking to a lady and her little (maybe 3 year old) daughter I thought something must have happened...Well it did in front of my eyes I witnessed these 2 policemen handing the little girl a wrapped present from the trunk of the car...I was almost in tears and I gave the officer a thumbs UP and a Honk of approval and he waved back . It made my Christmas seeing this Act of Kindness in my Town !" -Betty Lynn Garza on Facebook

I love this video that sets two pug puppies against a mostly indifferent kitten. The fact that the puppies aren't sure whether they should be playing with each other or trying to get out amuses me.


I still haven't been able to wrest control of my Twitter account from Inkwell. At least he is still allowing the blog posts to go through.

A new vaccine developed to protect against ebola was apparently 100% effective in a trial during a live outbreak. If that's really the case, it would be an amazing success. A total of 5,837 people were given the vaccine. Two people had serious side effects (including an allergic reaction) while many others had general soreness. The World Health Organization has a good summary of the results. While the vaccine only protects against one strain of ebola, it's a good start and the trial is definitely promising.

Author David Brin answers the question "Is Government Useless".

Question: If you are pro-life, are you for preventing unwanted pregnancies, or are you for punishing people who have unwanted pregnancies? Because there are many ways to reduce abortion that don't involve making it illegal and punishing people who are in desperate situations - but the pro-life movement rejects them all. Which suggests to me that the movement isn't about preventing abortion as much as it is about punishing people who have sex.

Politics

Some thoughts...

Thoughts

Some pointless thoughts after the jump...

Reflecting on the Past

The recent political revelation has led to a lot of attention on the issue of sexual assault. There is a NPR story about a tweet that launched a million women remembering the first time they were assaulted.

I cannot remember the first time. I remember a number of times, mostly petty and small, where a boy rubbed up against me or put his hand where it wasn't wanted. Most events happened when I was in grade school, mostly guys that literally didn't know any better. I didn't either. It wasn't until I was in college that sexual harassment became something people talked about - and it took people awhile to figure out what was normal and what was actually something that could be considered actionable.

David Gerrold has a disturbing Facebook post about learning that virtually all women have a story about unwanted contact.

I've been having nightmares the last few days, remembering things I'd worked hard to forget. I've never been raped. In fact, until recently I would have said the things done to me weren't enough to worry about. But if that's the case, why am I having constant nightmares about them every time I try to fall asleep?

I don't blame the boys. I blame our society. I blame every person who thinks that sort of rhetoric is acceptable "locker room talk". It isn't. It's discussion of sexual assault. Whether or not the "men" who talk that way act on those words, they are enabling rape and assault by allowing that talk and claiming it's normal. And, frankly, if you are inclined to defend those words, I don't want to know you. I don't want to hear from you. I don't want anything to do with you. As a society, we know better now. We are better.

Yes, yet more links!

I'm feeling the need for some more links! Let's start with a bit of personal news...

I took the leap today and submitted an application to The DC Writers Workshop, even though I do not believe I quite fit the profile of what they are looking for. I have no published fiction, yet, so my writing samples were news articles. That alone may disqualify me. However, the experience of forcing myself to fill out that application, instead of a boring job application, felt good. And hey, there's a chance they might invite me to the video workshop, which could lead to new writing skills. That's nothing to sneeze at.

In some other happy news, Variety and DC Comics have confirmed the return of Supergirl for a second season. It will be moving networks and filming will likely move to Vancouver, which could mean cast changes. I hope not, since the cast is the strong point of the entire show.

I wish I could afford a catio for Inkwell. And for me. Inkwell really wants to go outside, but is terrified of it. And I don't want to lose him to a car or coyote. Via King5.

I'd like to hang out with these women, but I don't work in comics at the moment.

Enjoy a video at Boing Boing of skipping sodium into a river. Lovely explosions!

There's a very interesting discussion at MetaFilter about the cost to taxpayers of businesses like WalMart that fail to provide adequate security and end up calling the police four times as much as comparable retail stores. This is a form of hidden taxes and corporate welfare, like how many WalMart employees qualify for food stamps. If WalMart were a responsible corporation, it would take care of its employees and not rely so heavily on local police to handle its security. But read the comments... lots of good views and other examples there.

A bunch of white morons got upset when a group of 16 black female West Point cadets raised their fists in one of many photos during a photo shoot to celebrate making it through the academy. The photo pose was determined to be "inappropriate" by an official inquiry because the raised fist (commonly used to indicate "Army strong!" during football games) could also be taken as a political statement. Personally, I think it's a great photo and the lily-livered idiots who got upset are clearly trying to make up for their own deficiencies.

Speaking of deficiencies... definitely not safe for work: Why ancient statues had small penises.

The Zipper Merge is the only way to drive, but for some reason, it's considered rude by people who don't know how to drive. The Minnesota DOT is trying to teach people how to use it, even including a video of why it works and a video of how to do it. These links are from MetaFilter, which has quite a long and heated discussion on the issue. Personally, I'm for proper zipper merging, but since the majority of Washington state is not, it's too dangerous to do it. People will literally try to kill you if you follow the law and use the open lane until the merge.

Inkwell believes this website is the most annoying thing online.

I really hope this archive is being digitized and preserved for posterity, because it sounds like it might be invaluable when looking at history.

Linkages for Tuesday

No, a kid did NOT find an ancient Mayan city by comparing ruin locations to the stars.

Weapons of Math Instruction?

Ursula K. Le Guin writes about her cat.

Huh. Wizards of the Coast has some tournament judges suing them, claiming they were effectively employees and should have been compensated as such.

The Chronicles of Cisco continues for fans of The Flash tv show: Part One (in which Cisco tries to improve the Flash suit and falls asleep), Part Two (in which Cisco tries to find an intruder at 3:45 a.m.), Part Three (in which Cisco makes a mistake), and Part Four (in which we learn... well, watch and see).

Boing Boing has a list of disappearances that still make people scratch their heads. Some fascinating stories there.

More fascinating stories came out of Remote Year, a social experiment that didn't turn out perfect, but certainly makes for good reading.

Here's a brutal Fortean topic: The terror of albinism in parts of Africa. In short, if you are albino, you do not exist and are constantly at risk of death.

This piece from Popehat has to be read to be believed. This guy seriously wanted an amendment declaring only people descended from white Europeans to be allowed to be citizens? Now the guy is a Trump delegate... what a surprise.

Hugo Corner:

• Boing Boing on Chuck Tingle's epic troll of the rabid puppies.
• GRRM on other awards.
• Bujold on her Locus nomination.
• A review of one of the works I don't plan to bother reading, because it's from the rabid puppies' master's publishing house (It sounds about as worthless as I suspected it would, building strawmen based on scant facts). The reviewer then responds to the morons who support the original piece.
• And lastly, a painful piece on the current status of the comic book industry, which also mentions the Hugo mess.

And now, a four-minute video that will make you cry. Maybe.

The Present from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

Conspiracy Theory...

I was thinking about this last night... we treat 'conspiracy theory' as if all conspiracies are made up by nutcases. But we know some real conspiracies have happened, some recently while some in the distant past. The level of respectability seems to be directly related to the known facts about the cases in question.

For instance, Holocaust deniers are completely wacko. The evidence that it happened is strong. We have photos, eyewitness testimony, documents and physical evidence in the form of existing building and survivors. To deny that the Holocaust happened is the mark of somebody who hasn't got much stuff inside their skull. People who claim it was completely made up are just short of being completely insane, and the vast majority of the world is in agreement that those such conspiracy theorists are either nutso or so consumed by a certain type of hate that the truth doesn't matter at all to them.

But another common conspiracy theory doesn't provoke such a strong reaction. The JFK assassination has a number of different theories surrounding it, but it's relatively respectable to wonder about that. The reason, in my opinion, is because those theorists usually don't deny reality to make their case. Instead of saying, "it never happened" they say, "it looked like it happened this way, but really happened this other way". As a result, they aren't seen as so completely off their rockers as people who deny the Holocaust.

They are both conspiracy theories, but one is more acceptable on multiple levels than the other.

Moving on to modern conspiracies... we've got Birthers and Truthers.

The people who deny Obama's nationality are in the same league as the first group above. There is plenty of evidence to indicate the President was born in the United States, but they ignore the newspaper's birth announcement and the birth certificate released by Hawaii and the nationality of his mother, because, again, they have a certain type of hate that isn't satisfied by reality.

The 9/11 Truthers are another kettle of beans altogether. They don't deny it happened, but argue that planes hitting a skyscraper couldn't take it down. To most of the public, who saw videos of the planes and saw the reaction of the people in New York, it's simply obvious that plane + building = boom. But the Truthers argue the planes, even with their heavy loads of fuel, couldn't have done that type of damage. While most people find Truthers' beliefs a little odd, they've gained some supporters through apparently well-reasoned videos and calm spokespeople... although most of their efforts fall apart quickly when experts start to point out mistakes in logic.

Then there are other types of Truthers... the Sandy Hook Truthers make me boil with rage. Not because of their beliefs, which I consider simply delusional, but because of their actions. The fact that they are harassing the grieving families and denying that the children ever existed is enough to make me want the Truthers tossed in jail. If they left the families alone I wouldn't have such an issue with them, but those Truthers are trying to prove something false that the vast majority of the population knows is true. In order for their reality to exist, first responders, school teachers, government and media would all have to be colluding in such a way that is impossible. And, once again, the reason behind the Truthers' beliefs is a certain type of hate, this one drive by extremist radio hosts and "news" channels, claiming that people are going to take away gun rights. It doesn't matter and most people in favor of gun rights don't want to take away all guns: the nutcases start believing in this vile type of nonsense because they've been taught to hate... thus proving that they are, in fact, the kind of people who shouldn't own guns. Ironically.

Do I have a point? I'm not sure.

Sometimes conspiracies happen. We know about the Business Plot, attempts to kill Hitler, the Gunpowder Plot and Watergate. Conspiracies aren't generally secret for long, because people talk, people make mistakes and the truth is usually lurking around a corner and not impossible to find. Many, maybe even most, conspiracies fail because people are not perfect and most conspiracies rely on people being way better at hiding things than they really are.

But when we talk about "conspiracy theorists", the ones we actively dislike - the ones that people find themselves disgusted with - are the ones who deny existing proof due to some sort of agenda. Simply having a conspiracy theory isn't necessarily bad... it's when that theory supports a preconceived notion in such a way that denies reality that other people start to think about throwing the theorist in a loony bin.

Does this mean we should close our eyes and stop up our ears when a conspiracy theorist starts talking? No... I'll listen to or read about their theories, but I'll also be looking for signs that they are ignoring facts and aiming to support a particular pet belief. And then I'll treat them, and their theory, with exactly as much respect as deserved.

It's over... sort of...

The occupation of a peaceful bird sanctuary is finally over after the final hold-out surrendered this morning, but not after some truly fraught and surreal moments. I made the mistake of trying to listen to some of it, since the tweets about it didn't make any sense. I quickly figured out why they didn't make sense. Because the people talking were total nutters.

I listened as a young man, the last hold-out, was talked down to by some ultra-conservative jerkwads who nearly managed to talk him into killing himself by putting on a lesson of what not to say to a suicidal person before an FBI investigator finally managed to wrest the conversation away from them and back into the realm of sanity. The talk ranged from Biblical references, to prison rape, to pizza and marijuana, to UFOs and nuclear leaks. In short, the kid was completely delusional by the end. It sounded like a lack of sleep combined with being surrounded by nutcases and hearing only their points of view. When you are stuck in a bubble like that, it's not good for you.

The next step will be the authorities examining the bird sanctuary as a crime scene. As several references were made to the thing being booby-trapped, I suspect law enforcement will move slowly and carefully in some places. Once it's been determined how much damage the bozos did, then they can be charged for cleaning up the mess and with any other crimes discovered. I hope they didn't do too much damage to archaeological sites, but I fear they may have, based on their own videos of "building roads" in sensitive areas.

I hope the folks that need mental health assistance get the help they need, and I hope the rest of them spend a long, long time occupying a federal building before they are released... if ever.

Stupid Political Rant

Sorry, I've got to get this off my chest...

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Far be it from me to defend someone whose political views are pretty far off from mine, but folks... Ben Carson is partly right.

His smirking attitude makes his comments on the Oregon shooting a bit off-putting, to the point where it almost seems he's blaming the victims. And his previous statements on the second amendment and shooting victims mean people aren't going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But he's absolutely correct that, in some specific cases, it's better to rush the shooter than to stand there and just get killed. In fact, that's the new way children are being taught in schools. But, of course, it's more complicated than just rushing the shooter.

The old protocol for school shootings dictated that everyone huddle in place and hide, making no noise to attract the shooter to your location. The result was that shooters could go from room to room killing without distraction. There have been studies done on the subject, and the conclusion seems to be that a "one size fits all" response to a school shooting is ... well ... stupid.

The newer protocol being taught relies on the teachers being informed and the students being drilled in what to do. The first step is keeping everyone updated on what's happening, whether through intercoms or text messages or security badges with alert systems.

If the action is happening outside the school, the building will go into the traditional lockdown. Outside doors locked, students staying in classrooms instead of roaming the building - the usual. This is for situations where police are conducting a search for someone believed to be armed in the neighborhood near the school or a case of somebody spotting a danger outside the school.

However, once the danger comes inside the building, the protocol changes. The new protocol says that students who are far enough away should escape if it's possible and safe to do so. So, if there is a shooter reported at the front door of the building and your classroom is at the back (and there's no evidence of a second shooter), then you evacuate the class out the back as fast as possible. The shooter can't kill kids that aren't there.

If the shooter isn't in the same room but you cannot escape through another door, you follow the old lockdown standards. You are silent, don't move, don't attract attention. If possible, barricade the door so even breaking/shooting the lock doesn't let the shooter in. So far, I bet most of you are in agreement with these ideas.

The final, last resort happens ONLY if the shooter enters the room you are in. And this is the only situation in which Ben Carson's "I would have done it this way" would work. If you are in the same room as the shooter and cannot escape, then rushing the shooter or trying to distract him (and the odds are high it's a "him") is the best way to survive. Because at that point you are likely dead anyway, so rushing the shooter (if you have the courage and physical ability to do so) makes more sense.

Of course, children aren't being taught that they must rush the shooter in these cases. It's emphasized in the training that it's a personal choice. It might be easier for some kids to throw things at the shooter or run around to distract the shooter or scream (a classroom of 14-year-old girls screaming at the top of their lungs would distract anyone). Whatever works. Some kids would rather hide. In the most drastic situation possible, if the shooter is in the room, there is no wrong response (except maybe pushing someone else in front of you to die, that might be wrong). It depends entirely on the person.

Carson said he would have rushed the shooter. Giving him the maximum benefit of the doubt, I'm assuming he meant in a case where there was no other option: where he couldn't escape and hiding was no longer safe.

That said, there are about a dozen different ways he could have said it better, starting with dropping any laughter or smiles while talking about people who have just been murdered. He could have cited ALICE training, he could have noted that it was a last resort. He could have made himself considerably more clear. Simply saying "I would have rushed the shooter" is a pretty weaksauce way of describing a valid method of defense against a problem that is becoming entirely too common.

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I'm still very much in favor of reasonable gun control laws written by reasonable gun owners. I'm not of the opinion that guns should be outlawed, nor do I feel that people who enjoy shooting at the range or hunting should be vilified. But I also think the NRA has completely lost its way and it's time for the responsible gun owners to either take it back or start their own gun owners association.

Linkdump

My cold has hit... thank goodness for Labor Day. Maybe I can recover enough by tomorrow that I won't be miserable at work! Here's some links to keep you busy:

Do you want to wear a book? Try a litograph. I'm sure my hubby would like this one or this one. Personally, I wish the tattoos were smaller and a bit less expensive, because I'd love to put some literary quotes on the back of my hand, where I usually put my temporary tattoos (one of these days I need to figure out a way to get the Aquaman "A" logo from the current books as a temporary tattoo for my hand).

If you'd like to watch the Hugo award ceremony, there are four videos of it here to watch the ceremony itself, skip the first video entirely, it's just the annoying pre-Hugo show (although the guests aren't too bad) and start at 1:07:15 into the second video.

Also, if you want something strange, H.P. Lovecraft explains the Sad Puppies.

The final attendance for Sasquan was 5,171 people actually there and a total membership of 11,648. Last year's Loncon 3 had 6,946 people in attendance and a total membership of 10,718. Sasquan's total membership broke records. The attending membership was high, but not the highest, with perhaps eight other Worldcons having more attendees.

Another fun stat to look at is how many of those members each year voted in the Hugo Awards. There were 5,950 this year, but only 3,587 last year. There were only 1,848 the year before that and 1,922 in the year 2012. It's impressive how fandom reacted when a small clique attempted to take over the Hugo Awards - like antibodies after a virus, fandom swarmed and prevented the clique's nominees from getting awards.

Nerds don't understand politics.

These Vintage Computers aren't so old. I remember using a lot of them. They aren't old!

I don't read Detective Comics right now, but this has to be my absolute favorite non-Aquaman variant cover in a long time:

Yes, All Lives Matter...

But if your kneejerk response to "Black Lives Matter" is "All Lives Matter" then you are very much missing the point. Thankfully a nice person at Reddit explained it better than I possibly can, so here, read this and see if it changes your mind about the slogan. Apologies for any serious language, this is a serious topic.

Imagine that you’re sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don’t get any. So you say “I should get my fair share.” And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, “everyone should get their fair share.” Now, that’s a wonderful sentiment — indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad’s smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn’t solve the problem that you still haven’t gotten any!

The problem is that the statement “I should get my fair share” had an implicit “too” at the end: “I should get my fair share, too, just like everyone else.” But your dad’s response treated your statement as though you meant “only I should get my fair share”, which clearly was not your intention. As a result, his statement that “everyone should get their fair share,” while true, only served to ignore the problem you were trying to point out.

That’s the situation of the “black lives matter” movement. Culture, laws, the arts, religion, and everyone else repeatedly suggest that all lives should matter. Clearly, that message already abounds in our society.

The problem is that, in practice, the world doesn’t work the way. You see the film Nightcrawler? You know the part where Renee Russo tells Jake Gyllenhal that she doesn’t want footage of a black or latino person dying, she wants news stories about affluent white people being killed? That’s not made up out of whole cloth — there is a news bias toward stories that the majority of the audience (who are white) can identify with. So when a young black man gets killed (prior to the recent police shootings), it’s generally not considered “news”, while a middle-aged white woman being killed is treated as news. And to a large degree, that is accurate — young black men are killed in significantly disproportionate numbers, which is why we don’t treat it as anything new. But the result is that, societally, we don’t pay as much attention to certain people’s deaths as we do to others. So, currently, we don’t treat all lives as though they matter equally.

Just like asking dad for your fair share, the phrase “black lives matter” also has an implicit “too” at the end: it’s saying that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying “all lives matter” is willfully going back to ignoring the problem. It’s a way of dismissing the statement by falsely suggesting that it means “only black lives matter,” when that is obviously not the case. And so saying “all lives matter” as a direct response to “black lives matter” is essentially saying that we should just go back to ignoring the problem.

I know I'm racist. I was born and raised in a racist society, and I'm absolutely certain that I have internalized things that happen in a way that I don't see the problem as clearly as people who are victims of racists attitudes can. I fight it when I'm aware of it, but I bet I offend people all the time with my racism, and I bet I am blissfully ignorant of some, if not most, of the hurt I cause that way. And I'm sorry about it. I try to get better, I try to recognize the ways my skin color has benefited me, but there are some experiences I will never be able to truly understand. And I will never truly get rid of it, no matter how hard I try. I will do the best I can, but it's so embedded in our society, so pervasive, that I don't know if it'll ever go away in my lifetime. I hope things are getting better, but I have my doubts.

Black Lives Matter. Don't dismiss the slogan out of ignorance or deliberate misunderstanding of what it means. Black Lives Matter.

Linkdump

There have always been women in comics. Since the very beginning, really.

Dalek Relaxation Tape. "Your tension has been EX-TER-MIN-ATED!"

I'm still amused by the Wheel of Time pilot that was shown early in the morning back in February on the FXX Network.

A scientific explanation as to why cats rule the internet.

Bleeding Cool looks at subscription boxes. I've been tempted, but my tastes tend to be fairly narrow. I suspect I would usually be disappointed by all of these.

Doctor Puppet, videos on YouTube...

Yes in Pictures. via.

That would be a dangerous wedding to attend.

Remember that guy who used Kickstarter to raise $10 to make a potato salad? Then it went viral? Well, Potatostock has happened, and it sounds like it ended up being a win-win all around.

I backed another Kickstarter graphic novel of world's colliding. And the second volume of another Kickstarter as well. I have the first volume.

I also bought a fantasy storybundle, thanks to Sherwood Smith, who mentioned it and made me curious.