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Author Topic: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022  (Read 753058 times)

Offline gattaca

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6045 on: May 31, 2021, 05:58:16 AM »
Hopefully, sometime today, each of us will pause and remember why today 31 May is a National Memorial Holiday.  Each year I reflect on all the people, their children, grandchildren, which we, the world will never know. So many lives, so many waves, so many possibilities - all lost because they answered the call of their country, our country.  They did their duty as proud citizens - preserving the truth, protecting the rights, freedoms and safety we now hold dear.

On each Memorial Day, I have a memory in my mind's eye which I recall from when some friends and I visited the large Manassas Battlefield in Virginia when I was Junior in college. -> https://www.nps.gov/mana/index.htm

It was early in the season and there were not many visitors there at that time.  When we were walking around the battlefield's expanses, I suddenly was covered in chill-bumps and a wicked sense of déjà vu.  I could not shake it until we left that hallowed ground and then that day was seared in my memory.   About 10 years later, I was watching an episode of "The X-Files" where Mulder encounters his past life in the episode titled, "The Field Where I Died"  -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Field_Where_I_Died or -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751225/

That viewing re-triggered shivers ravaging throughout my body. I was having flashbacks to that day, those chill-bumps and the overwhelming feelings of déjà vu all those years ago while I was standing on that Manassas Battlefield.  It finally made sense.

I've attached a few YT clips for pivotal elements from the episode.

The longer version (~ 5 mins) which explains more of the background -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kldXC4rrOyQ 

Shorter crux, with Mulder reading lines from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning.
  -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l40myDtyaoI
  -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgYJ-LOCxbc 

I visited the same battlefield a few years after that episode with my family and I found the déjà vu all over again. Makes you wonder for damn sure.

Stay safe, stay alive.  Peace.  Remember.  V.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2021, 11:24:02 AM by gattaca »

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6046 on: May 31, 2021, 08:15:50 AM »
Today, Memorial Day, remembering those who gave all of their tomorrows for our today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omd9_FJnerY

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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6047 on: May 31, 2021, 08:49:48 AM »
Hopefully, sometime today, each of us will pause and remember why today 31 May is a National Memorial Holiday.  Each year I reflect on all the people, their children, grandchildren, which we, the world will never know. So many lives, so many waves, so many possibilities - all lost because they answered the call of their country, our country.  They did duty as proud citizens, to preserve the truths, protect the rights, freedoms and safety we now hold dear.

When I visited the Vietnam memorial wall, it awed me, choked me up--and then made me angry. What might all those people have done for this country if they hadn't been sent to die in the heat and the muck by a bunch of idiot politicians in Washington?

Offline gattaca

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6048 on: May 31, 2021, 11:35:44 AM »
^^^ I had a very strong reaction to our Vietnam Memorial.  It was not the same déjà vu I had walking on the Manassas Battlefield. I also remember the "crazy controversy" that surrounded it being designed and built.  Sadly, more cultural racism on full display.
 
The Vietnam War has impacted my family since I was small. I had a cousin who was an only child.  He volunteered to "do his duty" for our country. He was killed in Vietnam by a sniper. We were close with his family as his mother was my grandmother's sister. 

When I visited the Vietnam Memorial, I found his name etched into the wall. I took photos and a rubbing and then had them both mounted and framed.  I presented them to my great aunt b/c she was too elderly to ever get to see them on the wall in DC.  You know, she hung the frame on her wall, along with his other medals for decades.  When she died a few years ago, I placed his medals and that framed work in her casket before they locked it.   Those were hers and only hers.   

Funny, I donated many of his and her personal papers to the State Archives.  They were elated to receive materials from the Vietnam era as the archivist said so much has been discarded.   She'd kept everything, his bicycle, clothes, toys, keepsakes, even the correspondence between she and her son on the daily operations on the farm.  It was a chilling insight into that era. 

Yeah - it was not long ago that classified papers were finally released showing how the US Govt deceived the American public for years about that *@(*@ war.    :(    Stay safe, stay alive.  Peace.  Remember.   

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6049 on: May 31, 2021, 05:27:59 PM »
The Vietnam War has impacted my family since I was small. I had a cousin who was an only child.  He volunteered to "do his duty" for our country. He was killed in Vietnam by a sniper. We were close with his family as his mother was my grandmother's sister. 

I'm very sorry to hear about your cousin. I can't imagine what that was like for his mother.

Offline gattaca

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6050 on: June 03, 2021, 12:41:54 AM »
Moved, wrong forum.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2021, 05:08:47 AM by gattaca »

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6051 on: June 03, 2021, 07:00:03 PM »
Dallas man pleads guilty to hate crime after targeting gay men on dating app

By Olafimihan Oshin - 06/03/21


A Dallas man pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge for targeting gay men on dating apps, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

The Department of Justice on Thursday issued a statement saying Daniel Jenkins, 22, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to his involvement in a scheme to target gay men for violent crimes. Jenkins was the last of four defendants to plead guilty to charges from the scheme.

According to court documents, Jenkins told authorities that he and other co-defendants used the gay dating app Grindr to lure their victims to a vacant apartment and other places in the Dallas area to commit robbery, carjacking, kidnapping and hate crimes in 2017.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/556712-dallas-man-pleads-guilty-to-hate-crime-after-targeting-gay-men-on-dating

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6052 on: June 03, 2021, 07:02:50 PM »
Good. More should.

Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, "Verweile doch! Du bist so schön..."

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6053 on: June 05, 2021, 10:31:25 AM »
As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/

Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, "Verweile doch! Du bist so schön..."

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6054 on: June 05, 2021, 11:14:44 AM »
As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/


apparently, that location is going to be closed permanently as well.


https://www.ktvh.com/news/national/legion-in-ohio-to-close-permanently-after-cutting-veterans-mic-during-memorial-day-speech

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6055 on: June 05, 2021, 11:21:32 AM »
And in their effort to silence LTC Kemter, they brought more attention to it and more shame upon themselves.

Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, "Verweile doch! Du bist so schön..."

Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6056 on: June 05, 2021, 12:24:08 PM »
California’s Assault Weapons Ban Overturned as Federal Judge Compares AR-15 to a Swiss Army Knife
by Timothy Bella | June 5, 2021 | Washington Post

A federal judge Friday night overturned California’s longtime ban on assault weapons, saying the state’s law was unconstitutional and that prohibiting such firearms for decades was “a failed experiment.” In a 94-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of the Southern District of California said that sections of the state ban in place since 1989 regarding military-style rifles violate the Second Amendment. Benitez characterized the assault weapons Californians are barred from using as not “bazookas, howitzers or machine guns” but rather “fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.”

In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favorably of modern weapons, said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons. "Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle," the judge said in his ruling's introduction.

[YEE HAW!]

The judge said: "This case is not about extraordinary weapons lying at the outer limits of Second Amendment protection.

Hmmm...I wonder if the framers of the constitution were presented with the current hardware being fought over would not think them "extraordinary weapons."

Offline brianr

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6057 on: June 05, 2021, 12:29:56 PM »
In Aotearoa New Zealand
Section 13A of the Summary Offences Act 1981 makes it an offence for every person who, in a public place, without reasonable excuse, has any knife in his or her possession. This offence provides for a maximum of three months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding $2,000


Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6058 on: June 05, 2021, 01:03:03 PM »
I saw a movie from 1947 (Crossfire) where a police detective, trying to explain something to another, starts by saying, as a general accepted fact, "You know we have laws against carrying a gun, because they're dangerous..."

How far we've gone off track.


Offline killersmom

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6059 on: June 05, 2021, 07:59:12 PM »
As a member of the American Legion, I'm glad to hear that the Legion official, who would not let LTC Kemter's remarks about black history and Memorial Day be heard, has been forced to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/04/jim-garrison-resign-veteran-mic-cut-memorial-day/

This was terrible, Fritz. I'm glad the state Legion took prompt action.
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