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I suspect no one really knows how they will react in such a situation. Some might lock up. Who knows how well trained they are. There was a church in Colorado Springs that was attacked and the security guard did great and stopped the dude in his tracks. It has worked sometimes.

CNN has a little write up. Loner. Got bullied at school. Got in fights a lot. this doesn’t explain it but the story Sounds familiar. Every school has kids like this. He needed some friends. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/us/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-salvador-ramos/index.html

I read on CNN that a school security officer confronted the kid when he walked in. It made him drop a bag of ammo, but I have not seen any other details. Not sure if the kid just ran away from the guard and the guard didn’t shoot. It will be interesting to find out what happened. Maybe he missed his chance to be a hero.

How does an 18 year old kid get to a point where he shoots his grandmother, 19 kids and two teachers? I can’t wrap my head around it. Maybe because my boys are this age and I know so many teenagers, it seems unreal that any of them would do something like this. Two in a week.

This allows a all teams to play every two years which is great in my opinion. I guess the CCG would have to be the two best teams. I am not wild about having to beat a team twice which might happen a 1/3 of the time. with pods the Big10 would have the option of “seasonal divisions” that would change with pod rotation. That would mean teams in a pod would never play in the CCG. I believe pods will need a 9 game schedule to play everyone every two years.

It's the same on lots of topics. All or nothing. I think it's really the slippery slope worry. We can't outlaw ARs because they will come for the semi auto next, and then the side arm with too big of a clip. Lots of pro gun folks worry about "big brother" too. Seems like limits on certain guns would be easy and better background checks too. If I owned a gun shop I would tell 18 year olds, no, but then again they can fight a war. I would even profile people and refuse to sell if they gave me the creeps, but then they might come after the gun shop when they get one...or sue me.

I heard on another board that the Big10 took down future schedules from their website. I haven't checked yet. I am in favor of pods to keep geographic rivalries together, but do we need two more teams? If they schedule pods correctly, teams will play everyone else more often than they do now. Is all this going to lead to expansion and a break from the NCAA?

I am wondering if this type of event will be way more common in the coming years. I think people, especially the youth, are struggling to cope with just about everything. Once again I can’t imagine what made this kid want to do this or why he targeted little kids he probably didn’t even know. He was pretty far gone. He’s probably one of many many more on the verge of doing something like this. Eliminating his access to ARs would certainly limit the damage he can do, but what do we do about folks like him in general? Where is our value of someone’s life?

I feel like Russia will not have much left once Putin's war is over....except nukes I guess. No pride, no army, no leaders. It could get dangerous or it will be another Berlin Wall moment with folks in Russia going a different direction than Putin.

We have the ability to be energy independent and produce all the energy we need and he thinks this a transition moment. I hope he enjoys the midterms. “Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over," Biden said https://www.newsweek.com/backlash-biden-says-high-gas-prices-are-part-incredible-transition-1709401

I remember reading through Georgia’s voting law or at least various summaries of it. It was fine from what I read. The complaints were not very justified. Of course, I am a person who only wants citizens who can legally vote to vote. Texas had some bad stuff in theirs. They removed some of it, but I am not sure where it ended up.

Georgia voter laws. Working better than forecasted. Good to hear. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/21/voting-is-surging-georgia-despite-controversial-new-election-law/ “After three weeks of early voting ahead of Tuesday's primary, record-breaking turnout is undercutting predictions that the Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021 would lead to a fall off in voting.” "To go in there and vote as easily as I did and to be treated with the respect that I knew I deserved as an American citizen — I was really thrown back,"

As far my family, all 16 and older are vaxed. No one is boosted. My daughter under 12 has had nothing. We didn’t see a need for that. We questioned whether to get the teenage boys vaxed, but ended up doing it just before delta. We have had close contact with both asymptomatic and symptomatic people that were confirmed positive, but no one in my family has ever tested positive. one of my teenage boy seemed like he had symptoms very similar to Omicron in January and BA2 in April. The doc thought he had it, too, but multiple tests on various days after symptoms were never positive. I wonder if the home kits just do not work well.

One trans persons take on the current situation with kids. The title is typical FOX, but this person is concerned with the lack of mental health care given to kids that decide they want to transition at any age and also expresses concern about puberty blockers. https://www.foxnews.com/health/transsexual-pioneer-criticizes-modern-trans-activists-indoctrinating-kids

I very much doubt any explanation I get about “dark MAGA” is going to be reasonable. I suspect most have no idea why Cawthorn said it, but I have couple friends I might ask.

Satellite videos of Ukraine from Planet. New mass graves in Mariupol could hold 5000. Grain silos and storage purposefully bombed and destroyed. https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/05/22/ukraine-satellite-images-russia-tuchman-pkg-newday-vpx.cnn

I appreciate you sharing your perspective and agree with teachercd on the last sentence. I have been working with kids in the community for 20+ years and they certainly are all looking for acceptance and belonging. A person I know is a psychologist that specializes in helping families through gender and identity related topics. I haven’t talked with her much about it, but she has shared her struggles with the kids. she struggled with being female while growing up, but not from a sexual context. She said she was always attracted to men but felt like they had all the advantages. She drew the short straw in being born a women so to speak and was angry about it. I would be interested in getting more of her perspective on these topics, but it is not a conversation I tend to bring up is a social context. I do worry about kids making life long decisions on these topics at a young age when they are still developing and are impressionable. I am not even sure that puberty blockers are safe.

I can’t believe I didn’t find this posted anywhere yet given this boards affinity with crazy Republicans…but maybe I missed it. This is Cawthorn calling on the Dark MAGA to rise up and take control. Maybe he thinks he is part of the First Order. He seems to have gotten more crazy as time goes on. I am both curious and hesitant to have him explain what he means. He sounds like a nut bag. I will ask my more conservative friends and see if anyone knows. The conspiracy theory nuts are always fascinating. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/madison-cawthorn-dark-maga-right-scandal-primary-loss

I do not know about trans, but in the local high school it seems to be ‘trendy’ to identify as another gender or sexual preference….I am not even sure how to best word this. Two of the neighbor girls we know have changed how they identify a couple of times now. Most of the kids we see doing this are part of the music and drama programs or the friend groups participate in these areas of study. I only mention this because it’s an observation. It could be that it’s not as comfortable for kids playing football to come out for example.

Interesting story of a Russian officer who resigned his commission and refused to fight. It sounds more common than one would think. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/22/europe/ukraine-russian-officer-resigns/index.html

“The Russian Army destroyed 1,873 educational institutions. This is a colossal scale of losses,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

Report that Putin is now making tactical decisions. This might be over sooner than expected. The decisions probably include which officers to shoot. What will Ukrainians call victory day? https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/05/20/russian-strike-odesa-apartment-pkg-sidner-newday-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/russia-ukraine-military-conflict/

And….never mind…stick a fork in the Dem border reps campaigns. https://www.foxnews.com/us/justice-department-appeal-decision-title-42

judge blocks cancellation of Title 42. Biden should buy this judge a beer and wait until AFTER the 2022 election to repeal. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/20/politics/title-42-biden-us-mexico-border/index.html

I know. Neither party is….or was really. Politics are never kind.