Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Uvalde teachers killed protecting students in Texas mass shooting, as Governor reveals gunman’s earlier social media comments – ABC News

For Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, teaching fourth graders at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was one of the joys of their lives, a vocation dedicated to educating children and keeping them out of harm’s way.

Relatives briefed by police said Ms Garcia and Ms Mireles died on Tuesday trying to protect their students after a gunman burst into their classroom, barricaded the doors and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.

The gunman — who killed 19 children and two adults inside the elementary school — carried a long-barrelled rifle with multiple rounds of ammunition and wore a “tactical vest” as body armour, according to local officials.

 

Source: Uvalde teachers killed protecting students in Texas mass shooting, as Governor reveals gunman’s earlier social media comments – ABC News

Opinion | Roxane Gay: The Uvalde Shooting Shows America’s Deep Incivility – The New York Times

There is a cultural obsession nowadays with civility, with the idea that if everyone is mannered enough, any impasse or difference of opinion can be bridged. But these are desperately uncivil times. And there is nothing more uncivilized than the political establishment’s inurement to the constancy of mass shootings in the United States: 60 deaths in Las Vegas; 49 deaths in Orlando; 26 deaths at Sandy Hook; 13 deaths in Columbine; 10 deaths in Buffalo. Adults, schoolchildren, concertgoers, nightclub revelers, grocery shoppers, teachers.

The scale of death in Uvalde, Texas, is unfathomable. At least 19 children and two teachers are dead. These staggering numbers will not change one single thing.

Time and again we are told, both implicitly and explicitly, that all we can do is endure this constancy of violence. All we can do is hope these bullets don’t hit our children or us. Or our families. Or our friends and neighbors. And if we dare to protest, if we dare to express our rage, if we dare to say enough, we are lectured about the importance of civility. We are told to stay calm and vote as an outlet for our anger.

Incivility runs through the history of this country, founded on stolen land, built with the labor of stolen lives. The document that governs our lives effectively denied more than half of the population the right to vote. It counted only three-fifths of the enslaved population when determining representation. If you want to talk about incivility, let us be clear about how deep those roots reach.

COVID still on the rise in LA County schools – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

“While we recognize that many children who test positive experience mild illness, national trends are showing increases in cases and hospitalization rates for children and more concerns about long term impacts of even mild infection in children,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “We encourage parents, students, teachers, and staff, during this time of high transmission with the most infectious strains seen to date, to wear a mask when indoors and get vaccinated and boosted when eligible.”

She noted that for students and staff returning to school after being exposed, “masking is required through Day 10 from the date of your last exposure, along with testing between days three and five.”

“If we can all do our best to protect each other, and those who are more vulnerable to severe illness or death, we can safely celebrate the end of the school year and enjoy the beginning of summer,” she said.

 

Source: COVID still on the rise in LA County schools – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

DEBASED REGRETS. | Filosofa’s Word

Our friend David lives in Wales in the United Kingdom, some 4,000 miles across the big pond otherwise known as the Atlantic Ocean. And in the UK, they have their own problems right now, as I’m sure most of you have read. And yet … David sees so much more clearly the causes and reactions to our deadly school shooting yesterday that killed 19 small children, as well as two teachers. Quite frankly, our friends across the pond ALWAYS seem to have a better grasp on our situation than at least half the people in this country do! I appreciate David’s … and others in the UK and EU … views and clarity. Since David is currently having some WP issues with his comment box, please leave any comments for him here and I will see that he gets them. Thank you, David, for your compassion, your caring, and your insight.

Source: DEBASED REGRETS. | Filosofa’s Word

The Fish Are On Drugs? – Erin Brockovich and Suzanne Boothby

“These troubling findings underscore the urgent need for Florida to expand and modernize wastewater treatment facilities and sewage infrastructure statewide,” McDuffie said. “The health of our citizens and the coastal resources that support Florida’s economy depend on it.”

It’s another infrastructure issue! It’s time to update it.

This problem is not unique to Florida. Antibiotics and drugs are used in the livestock industry as well. So runoff from animal-feeding operations can contain pharmaceuticals such as acetaminophen, caffeine, cotinine, diphenhydramine, and carbamazepine, according to research from the USGS.

Source: The Fish Are On Drugs?

Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, Mookie Betts call for change after Texas school shooting – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Roberts said he was “raised to stay in my lane” but was moved by the horrific nature of the recent shootings in Texas and Buffalo to speak out. Kerr strongly called out Republican politicians who have blocked gun-control legislation at the Congressional level. Roberts expressed the same frustration with the failure to address gun violence in a meaningful way.

“It’s ironic that I’m sitting here in the nation’s capital where it’s been run up the flagpole, but it just seems to come to a hard stop at the Senate,” Roberts said. “How there can’t be a bipartisan consensus on an issue like this – it’s very disheartening. It’s very irresponsible by our nation’s leaders. Something needs to be done. Like everyone has said, enough is enough. When is enough enough?

“I love this country as much as anyone. But the people who are supposed to lead our country are supposed to take care of our walls first. That’s both sides of the aisle. If you have Americans killing Americans, I just don’t think they’re doing the job they’re called to do, to be quite frank. And we just can’t be afraid to hold people to a higher standard of accountability. That’s their job. That’s what they signed up for. It shouldn’t be about self-preservation, self-fulfillment. It should be about right is right, and what protects American citizens. Namely, kids. There’s no other spin.”

Roberts, whose father served in the US Marines for 30 years, said he can’t “see the other side” of those who argue for allowing access to automatic weapons.

“I try to be open-minded about a lot of things, but I don’t think it has anything to do with hunting,” he said. “I have a lot of friends that hunt. But hunting is a sport, it’s a game, and with an automatic weapon, that doesn’t seem to me like it’s hunting. Getting a driver’s permit, a job, (you have to be) 25 years old to get a (rental) car. But to be able to go in and buy an automatic weapon, that’s very scary.

“The other layer is mental illness and that’s something we all have to address as well. That’s not being proactive, it’s real in every walk of life that we all have to take note of. … Who’s to say that something can’t happen at a ballpark? We gotta all be careful and we have to be proactive and do what is right. Right is right.”

 

Source: Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, Mookie Betts call for change after Texas school shooting – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Hypocrisy Run Amok

Filosofa's Word

Picture a child out playing when she accidentally lands in a huge mud puddle.  She runs into the house crying, “Mommy, mommy, look at me … I’m all dirty!!!”  The mother tries to calm the child saying she will go run bathwater and they’ll get all that ol’ dirt off.  But no … the child screams even louder, “I don’t want no stinkin’ bath!!!”  She’s a child and the word ‘hypocrisy’ has no meaning to her, but that is the exact behaviour we’re seeing from members of one of our political parties today, and they are not children, they are full-grown men and women who ought to be able to see their own hypocrisy, but sadly they don’t.

Take, for example, the infant formula shortage which, by the way, is temporary and is NOT by any definition of the word a ‘crisis’ as some would have you believe. …

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Beto O’Rourke confronts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at Uvalde | The Texas Tribune

Source: Beto O’Rourke confronts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at Uvalde | The Texas Tribune