@Smokin Joe @sneakypete Now on the other hand Smokin Joe might just be a Sociopath. Just ignore the voices in your head, unless they are telling you to send me money.
@verga LOL! No, I'm no sociopath. It's gallows humor. Note, I put 'fun' in '' marks.
But let me put it this way.
In the US each year, on average (last 20 years), according to NOAA, fifty one people are struck by lightning and killed.
Your chances of being killed by lightning are roughly double those of being killed in a mass shooting.
There are intangibles, however, and they may increase the odds of being shot.
Of course, it's an election year, the Communists (They aren't mere Socialists or Progressives, they aren't liberals, they are Leftists, followers of Marx and Engels, and that makes them Communists, with all the negative totalitarian images that can bring forth) are braying their particular brands of hatred across the land.
Keep in mind the inspiration for Goebbels was
Communist (Bolshevik) propaganda films, and a far better study of such things has been made since, including emotional manipulation by imagery, creating feelings in groups ("positive" or "negative"), and the ever present "Big Lie" techniques which have been refined and mastered by none other than Hollywood and Television Media over the time since. It makes for great and impactful drama and fiction on the big screen. But there is a dark side to that as well.
Right now, those techniques are being used to panic the American People, like a herd of frightened sheep, into demanding that their Rights be taken away. They are likely also driving some poor SOB over the edge somewhere, too. If you had the misfortune to believe what you heard on the broadcast channels, looped a go-zillion times a day for your viewing convenience, you'd probably go nuts, too. You might even begin to believe that drivel...
Don't let that be successful.
If the terrorists change you, if they instill fear in you (fear, not caution), they win. If they take freedom from you, or cause you to demand it be removed, they win--no matter who the terrorists are, no matter whose side they claim to be on.
I'm a mite more defiant than that.
I'm even more defiant when those who are supposed to be safeguarding our Rights (the reason Governments are instituted among people) are waving the white flag of surrender and demanding we surrender our Rights, whether those Rights include being free from having our property and freedom taken summarily without due process, whether that includes banning body armour for our personal defense at the most passive level, whether that be demanding any further limitations on our right to select the hardware we find appropriate to defend our selves, homes, families, and community.
I really don't care what Party they claim to represent.
No, damnit, enough!
Small wonder people wonder if these are false flag events, with the vultures in Congress ready to pounce at a moment's notice, rushing to
raise money over the still cooling bodies of the unfortunate victims, trying to turn them, regardless of the victims or their families beliefs, into poster children for their totalitarian machinations. That, to me, makes them the most insidious terrorists of all, and by promoting panic they only further their cause to the detriment of our Republic.
Not one thing they have proposed would have stopped the people who committed these acts, especially banning body armor, for Pete's sake.
I implore you, and all who read this, Don't let them win. Put these events in perspective. Go about your daily life. Pay attention to what is happening around you, sure, you should do that anyway. It has been years since I entered a room without looking for exits and cover and even items which could be used as weapons in a pinch. That's just my nature.
Be aware, not afraid.
And for the sake of all who follow us, demand our Rights be kept intact, because once taken or given up, they are hard to recover.
