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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add...  (More)

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Cultural rot lies at the root of violence

Uploaded: May 26, 2022
The horrific mass shooting of school children and teachers in Texas have predicably brought forth demands to do something.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr spent his pregame press conference angrily denouncing politicians for their lack of action. Others, mostly of the liberal viewpoint, echoed similar views about more gun control. There’s no question that the United States has more than its share of mass violence situations, although they make up a small proportion of the violent deaths in the country.
Liberal newspapers listed the shootings and demanded action on the editorial pages. Notably lacking in their discussions was any evidence that what they demanded would make any difference. Two of the recent mass shootings were a deranged teen-aged white man shooting any black person he could find in a Buffalo supermarket and an older Chinese man killing Taiwanese churchgoers in California. What states have the toughest gun laws—California and New York are right at the top. Did it make a difference?
School shooting are horrifying, the young and innocent dying at the hands of a deranged gunman. So how do we process this and fit it into a larger picture? Do we consider how many black men died at the hands of other black men in cities such as Chicago? Check the news Monday and Tuesday to see what the death toll was in that liberal-governed city in a liberal-governed state and how little—if any—coverage and comment is addressed to it. It’s also a state with tough gun control.
Looking at the sadly chronic violence in the inner cities may yield clues. How many of those shooters grew up in homes with a father present? More than two generations of black men have grown up without fathers in their lives. Their acceptance is found in the gangs. Gangs thrive on violence and revenge.
Dads are one aspect. There are others. Since 1962 when the Supreme Court banned religion in the schools America has become a more secular country. It’s been a country where more than 60 million babies have been aborted, suicide has been legalized and the sanctity of human life has been greatly diminished. And make no mistake there is evil in this world.
Consider that some pro-choice advocates include killing a baby at partial birth or after it is born. A mom who abandons or kills her infant faces murder charges. If it’s done in a medical setting it’s considered a legal abortion. That’s an abomination.
The underlying fact is that America, as a country, no longer values life like it once did. Take away the Biblical foundation that this country was founded on and the secular forces are ruling. Mix in the video game culture with much of it about life or death conflicts and where are we as a culture?
As one conservative pastor wrote, “What does it take to stop a bad guy with a gun? A good guy with a gun.”
Whether we should have single-entry schools with armed guards is a debate to be joined, but the cultural rot is much deeper than physical facilities and staffing at schools.

Democracy.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by Lahommed, a resident of Dublin,
on May 26, 2022 at 9:51 am

Lahommed is a registered user.

Enforce our laws... fire DA's who do not prosecute. Bring back stop and frisk. bring back the death penalty. No more plea bargains at time of sentencings. by doing these things you can start to reduce crime and begin to get society more in line. failure to do so....and well you continue to see the inmates run the asylum? up to us all of us...you and I so what we gonna do?


Posted by Rich Buckley, a resident of Livermore,
on May 26, 2022 at 10:32 am

Rich Buckley is a registered user.

Bless Tim Hunt's willingness to engage the most difficult of subjects. - Nemaste.

I have 5 questions of my Christ

I use the term "My Christ" instead, but I understand if you substitute Jesus.

1st Question:

What would My Christ say?

We have been taught all our lives that resources are limited. Generally this is viewed as a universe of scarcity... a world of scarcity.

What would The Christ say about a new social narrative for a world of abundance?

- - -

2nd Question

What would My Christ say about US Foreign Policy as of this very moment?

- - -

3rd Question

What would My Christ say about today's Organized Religions as to teaching how to respond? To avoid karma or engage karma?

Web Link

4th Question

What would The Christ say about the true life story in the movie "Burden", Web Link and how we translate what happens to a small town into reacting in today's right-now world, in US Foreign Policy?

5th Question

What would My Christ say about dealing with the question, "Have we been bamboozled again?" depicted (Removed because it promoted a website)

Nemaste,
Rich Buckley
(Removed because it promoted a website)


Posted by MichaelB, a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on May 26, 2022 at 10:38 am

MichaelB is a registered user.

Since when is Steve Kerr an "authority" on criminal justice matters or firearms policy? It requires little effort or thought to blame guns for violence and the perpetrator in Texas in had nothing on the record that would have been flagged by a background check for a firearms purchase.


Posted by Dirk Svensen, a resident of Country Fair,
on May 31, 2022 at 9:13 am

Dirk Svensen is a registered user.

Overall, the US is middling on such deaths when compared with over 100 countries, but they seem to be accelerating to a degree. There must be a short term and long solution. The short term is securing the schools - or allowing for keycard entry and possibly armed guards. We do this at many of our businesses today - our children are much more valuable that *any* of those businesses. We know how to do this - why is this so difficult?

Completely agree that had teachers been armed (and properly trained), this would have ended quickly, and possibly with only one death (the shooter). But they must be trained - particularly on gun retention so they don't make things worse. But its difficult to imagine a worse outcome, even if a student steals a handgun from a teacher and starts shooting with no training.

Long term we need to come to terms with persons having psychological disorders and act quicker. But individual liberty must not be infringed - otherwise there will eventually be much greater death and suffering when (not if) the government goes too far and a civil war results. All governments eventually fail - we are very blessed that we have survived this long. The Second Amendment saves lives....although it does not seem like that right now. Hopefully our system will balance all this out. An appropriate quote from Printz v. United States:

"But the Constitution protects us from our own best intentions: It divides power among sovereigns and among branches of government precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power in one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day."


Posted by gregory, a resident of Kottinger Ranch,
on Jun 7, 2022 at 9:04 pm

gregory is a registered user.

Get rid of assault weapons! They are weapons of war. Hunters would not use a gun like when hunting an Elk or a deer. That type of gun is to kill people, as many as possible in as little time as possible.


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