Thursday 22 February 2018

Crunch

Trump has come up with another brilliant idea: Give all U.S. schools guns and make 20% of the teachers carry them so they can have shoot-outs with armed intruders in the corridors and classrooms. That will solve the problem. He is not just an idiot, he is a very unpleasant idiot, and that is me being polite.

I have almost given up listening to the news these days, because of Trump, Brexit and Syria, but I think it is our duty to know what is happening in Syria whilst the U.N. and NATO stand by and watch women and children being massacred in their homes by Russian-backed forces. At least 350 have been killed and thousands injured during a few days and nights in one small corner of a place which has been under siege for ages. They are being shelled by Assad day and night, and nobody dares to stop it for fear of upsetting Putin.

Today, there will be a prolonged emergency Cabinet meeting at Chequers with Teresa May making a last-ditch attempt to unify her government so that they can begin making real decisions on what to do about the few thousand alterations to policies which need hard legislation within about 3 months - or else.  Or else what? We don't know. That is the whole point. It is the uncertainty which is undermining British business.

The Port of Rotterdam is recruiting hundreds of extra Customs officers in the belief that it is all going to fall apart and Britain will impose hard borders all over the place. The Head of Customs in Holland says he cannot see it going any other way, but trade is trade and one way or another it will carry on. Better to spend money now and make more in the future.

What is the worst scenario for you? Theresa May calls a snap election and Jeremy Corbyn gets in?

20 comments:

  1. I heard of the give -the-teacher-gun thing on talk radio this morning
    What next?
    Dinnerladies with CS gas?

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    1. Give all the children guns so they can defend themselves?

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  2. If you dont arm the school the gunman will carry on walking in and kill the kids. He wont stop becauae he sees a no entry sign 'gun free zone' he'll just walk on in and they will be his little unprotected sitting targets.

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    1. You took the words out of Trump's mouth.

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    2. Did I. well he knew what he was talking about. If I had a kid in a school in the US I would want at least an armed gatehouse, one way in only. I would not want my kid at the mercy of a killer and told to hide in a cupboard and under a desk.

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    3. Yes, more guns in our schools. What could possibly go wrong. Shootouts down the school hall, what fun. Donnie the Idiot is a complete moron.

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    4. More? are there some there already?

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    5. Well, I used to belong to a gun club, albeit sporting guns. I left it because most of the (elderly) members held the same views as you do - not that I am saying your view is irrelevant, I just disagree. I have also used semi-automatic hand guns when it was legal to do so in Britain. It was fun, but there again I am usually mentally fairly well-balanced, bar a bit of shouting.

      I just think that by supporting Trump in this matter, you are addressing the symptoms rather than the cause. Logically, I really do think that your line of thinking should lead to arming all school kids over the age of 16, just in order to defend themselves. Right now you can own a gun at the age of 18, but you cannot buy a beer in most states.

      The NRA follow the same argument as you, but the NRA are a bunch of bastards who care more about their so-called right to own and use machine-guns than they do about the safety of people who do not want to own automatic weapons. Their 'freedom' is more important than their own children's lives, it seems. Listen to the parents of children killed in school shootings and tell me you agree with Trump and the NRA, but maybe that is just what you are doing.

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    6. I have just heard that Parkland (I think that is the name) had an armed guard at the gate who did not respond to the situation and let the boy in unchallenged. I could be wrong, but I think this is what I heard.

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    7. His name is Scot Peterson and he has now resigned. This was the gun which you thought may not have been there already but was.

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    8. I came to this from my own perspective of common sense which said to me defend your children. As I said in my first comment, if this agrees with what Trump said, then so be it. My starting point was not agreeing with Trump or anybody else. A media block on sensationalism of the killers would help to stop the copycat mentality. As for the officer who failed to act, this does not destroy the whole hypothesis of defend. And as for Americans,no one American is any worse or any better than the next.

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  3. I have no answer either, I'm afraid, but I'm quite sure that the more guns there are, the more deaths there are going to be .

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  4. You can always count on Trump to say the wrong thing. Just ban these weapons.

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  5. Women and children massacred in Syria, no one seems to notice or care. Innocent young children killed in school condoned by a country that allows any fool the use of a gun and the world is is uproar. America, Russia, Syria and North Korea to name but a few, run by The Great Unhinged. Where will it all end?

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  6. I remember when none of the insanity existed. But that was a bad time for people, too. The oppression of black people in this country. Oppression of women all over the world. So here are we bleeding heart liberals wanting fairness and equality, and selfish bastards yelling "It's mine, at any cost!" killing the women and children. I understand renting garments and wailing. I don't know an answer.

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  7. I try not to think about it. Selfish I know but I haven't that many years left and really I can do nothing about any of it. I just think the world has gone mad and when I see the faces of those children in Syria my heart bleeds for them.

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    1. Your post reminds me of an old friend of mine. Bernie was a Beatnik in his day. I knew him as a groovy artist & grandfather of a friend of mine. He told me that he'd sworn off reading and watching the news when he reached his 70s. He preferred to focus on things that made him happy: listening to live music & making art.

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  8. I foresee all US teachers dressed as Wyatt Earp, and all pupils packing well hidden Derringers. Just don't say the wrong thing!

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  9. Today Trump said he would've run into the school building even without a gun. We can only hope he will follow up on that in the earliest possible future.

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