Dockworkers along the East coast threaten to strike.
Newtown, CT: thanks for the gifts, but please stop sending them for right now.
Teachers in Utah are getting concealed-weapons training today.
The head of the agency that brings weapons-grade nuclear material back to the U.S. for safekeeping is stepping down.
Sen. Blumenthal wants to protect gift-card recipients from abusive fees.
If the House doesn't come back into session, what happens to these veterans' benefits bills?
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As a teacher I completely agree with the Utah office of Education representative that said teachers with guns is a "terrible awful no good idea." The day that guns are allowed in the classroom is the day that you see a massive exit of students from public schools. No parent in their right mind would allow their child to be in a classroom that contained a loaded gun.
Which is actually part of the right wing's (not so) secret conspiracy to do away with public education. Clever bastards!
My guess is that the Utah legislature opposes big intrusive government, except when it comes to gun "rights," or regulating a woman's uterus. Quite an ironic combination, as I come to think of it.
Just think this through for a moment. People who commit mass shootings typically end up killing themselves, so armed teachers reducing their chances of survival won't be much of a deterrent. If it's publicized that teachers are armed, and 2nd Amendment zealots are likely to do that, it's logical for the shooter to seek out and kill teachers first, before shooting kids. That'll be facilitated by the teacher's having to give the warning; the first to speak up gets shot. Ironically, this approach is necessary to avoid tragedies like a kid or a visitor getting shot because he's/she's holding something that looks like a gun, but turns out not to be. Finally, once you get out of the earlier grades, where the kids are bigger, the danger of some student overpowering a teacher and getting the gun increases.
The idea of having an armed good guy to stop an armed bad guy sounds good only at that moment when the armed bad guy is present and threatening. All the things necessary to establish armed good guy presence in schools, so they can be there at the terrible moment, show what a folly the gun zealots' ideas are. Controlling access to the technology of mass shootings may not be perfect, but it's the only way.
I agree with you on this being an incredibly BAD IDEA!!! Utah has been embarrassing me on a regular basis politically of late. ;(
And what happens when those teachers fail the background check for the permits? Oh, wait, they said the law is going to allow teachers to carry. Then let's not forget the Stand Your School Ground law just in case a teacher blows away a student for spitballs or running to the bathroom.
I do believe after our 2014 elections not only will the Republican/Tea party be useless but the NRA will be almost history.
I am reading about Idle No More......The Lungs of the Earth = the Rainforest and why the creatures of the Waters and Sky are leaving their homes to die......The Bigger Picture is at hand......The Indigenous peoples of the land, Caretakers if you will Want us to heed the warning and signs of our own demise....Water, Air, Climate, Food Chains.....This seems to be a much bigger problem but not reported on or taking seriously....Educate us Rachel Please
Please no guest hosts tonight. I am going through RM withdrawal.
Some people won't be happy until the U.S. is Somalia--no government and a lot of guns.
Will USMX pass this on to the rest of our world or is it just to increase profit. After so many years in the agreement why drop it now? I was born and raised in SC a right to work state. As a construction Electrician I had leave SC long enough to even know what a union was created to do. Hang in there Wall Mart will raise prices to make up for not getting cheap imports. We all know profit is all that matters to the top.
Please don't count the Tea Party or the NRA out. Don't think for one minute that the Republican party is finished. Everytime we do then we get complacent and they end up coming back stronger than ever. Sound like the reasonable person when you talk to independents and be prepared to work for Democratic candidates in 2014, so that we can all smile in 2015.
I do not count them out but they still think more money is all it will take. What they wasted this past year is troubling those that gave it.
Utah has some of the most lax gun laws in the country. Additionally, our education spending ranks last in the nation. We have teachers who can't feed their families, but we now have legislators that think teachers should be armed? It's madness. Teachers do not go into education to pack heat in the case of a shooter. They teach because they love kids. If there is ever another way for Utah teachers to decide that they have had enough, asking them to carrry a weapon or work with others who carry weapons might be the tipping point. Armed teachers will NOT stop what is wrong with our country's obessession with guns. It only adds to the problem. I have taught for 34 years in this crazy, conservative state; a state that continually touts how much they love their children. I might need retirement soon.
They're using 'plastic' guns for training- I think that says it all. Are they afraid to use the real things? And live ammo?
Well of course- those things are dangerous. But they are willing to see them in our classrooms. Couldn't get much more ridiculous.
To add another thought on the arming teachers issue...it reminds me of the debate over arming pilots in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Pilots don't want to shoot people at work; they want to fly planes. Never mind the ridiculous logic that assumes flying a plane and shooting terrorists are things that can or should be done simultaneously.
We are talking about temperament. People choose different lines of work based upon what their temperaments suit them to. Teachers don't want to kill people; they want to teach students. Asking them to be prepared to kill dangerous psychos BEFORE those dangerous psychos can kill them not only assumes such an action is even feasible (does the teacher have to have a loaded gun on their person during recess? Story time? Gym class? In the teachers' lounge?), it assumes a teacher's temperament is sufficient to be quicker to pull a trigger than that of a psycho bent on killing. That is a tall order and a recipe for failure.
Just as armed sky marshalls was the only answer to the question of whether to arm pilots on planes, armed and trained guards is the only possible answer to the question of whether to have guns in schools as protection. Note well, however, I don't personally think more guns in schools is the answer (and probably not financially feasible in most communities). I am am adjunct professor. I can't imagine the idea of allowing guns on the SUNY campus where I teach, just in case a mass shooting occurs. I'd leave my job before I'd work on a campus that instilled such a rule. We don't live in a Hollywood movie or an episode of THE WALKING DEAD (well, actually we do, kinda, but that's another discussion)--having more guns in an already terrifying and confusing situation would lead to more chaos and more deaths. Period. This is simply not the answer.
Just curious but ...... who will be to blame if (God forbid) one of these teachers decides they've been wronged in some way and feel their only retaliation is to show who's really boss? How many times have we seen disgruntled employees take to their weapons in response to being wronged. And are these teachers going to have background checks done on them ? What if one (or more) fail these checks and found unable to possess a weapon, will the whole school be declined to have guns on the property due to these failures? Don't get me wrong about teachers .. I feel they are the best thing for most of our kids today and they should be rewarded and paid more for their efforts !! But, to have guns in schools ...... such a terrible and misguided idea !!!
Recently, an Oakland-San Francisco gun-buy-back program took 600 firearms off the streets. The program, which paid $200 per gun with no questions asked, had so many cars lined up with people wanting to get rid of their guns that they ran out of the $50,000 that had been donated and another $50,000 had to be found. The program was run by a non-profit with the police role of supervising and disposing of the guns.
So here's an idea: why doesn't someone use crowd-funding to start a gun buy-back fund where people can contribute to buy guns back in their city in order to destroy them. Imagine if the guns could be melted down and a metal statue to all the victims of gun violence made of them in their city. Just an idea.
Senator Maddow has a nice ring to it, doesn't it. Let her know! Go to and like: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elect-Rachel-Maddow-to-replace-John-Kerry/455307911184522. Leave a comment telling her why you want her to consider running to fill John Kerry's soon to be vacant Senate seat. Share the page with your friends on your FB newsfeed to spread the word. Maybe she would be interested if enough people let her know! Thanks.
Look at the shooter in the photo. Her eyes are closed and her nose is about 45 degrees in the air. She can't hit anything like that. She's about as qualified to protect life and property as my cat is. And the NRA trainer is a phony or he wouldn't allow those mistakes.
Neutralizing another human being with a firearm is a lot more complicated than proper stance, sight picture, and handhold. It involves a mindset...Many experienced and well-trained police officers are killed because hesitation and doubt keep them from pulling that trigger in time. They have a lot to lose...maybe their job, civil or even criminal prosecution, and the PTS that frequently follows. Their adversary has no such doubts; he or she will pull the trigger without hesitation. A quarter-second of doubt will mean a dead teacher and an ever more pissed-off armed lunatic.
Sorry, but it is my opinion that people drawn to teaching (especially primary grades) are not likely to develop the warrior mentality necessary to take another human life without hesitation if the situation warrants it. This includes the ability to function as a warrior in an atmosphere of screaming, crying, gunshots, etc. A few hours of training cannot do this. Armies and police forces take months to turn someone into a shooter who can acquire and neutralize multiple targets in a high stress atmosphere. and even then, some hesitate and die.
Trouble is, a lot of gun owners think that it's easy to willingly pull a trigger on another human being. Most of them are making this assessment based on Hollywood shows and their fantasies of defeating the US Army in some kind of a crazy, right-wing putsch, They think that just because some person is threatening them, they will be able to neutralize the "enemy" without any moral hesitation. Most of them have never fired a shot in anger, and they'll not really know until the time comes. In a close-quarter showdown with an firearm-equipped enemy, your life (and that of those you are protecting) will depend on how quickly you can clear those moral cobwebs and engage your enemy. Find somebody that HAS had to make that decision and act upon it Speak with them before you go hog-wild on carrying a firearm in school or anywhere else.