55Jay

Had a Bahraini guy tell me a similar thing once.  He drove carelessly, lane straddling, no indicators, no seat belt, etc.  Said if it's his time to go, it's his time, nothing he could do about it.

If you're interested and until usurped by other articles, photo of the aerial art work can be seen on the front page of Military dot com.

Bad wife and a terrible student.  The Unbalanced Female Handbook, Chapter 2, page 57, clearly calls for genital mutilation in cases like this, not death.  

5 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

The people who believe CNN is "heavily biased US crap" tend to love alternate news websites like Russia Today, Infowars, Zerohedge, Fox, etc. LOL.  CNN, like BBC, does a pretty good job at vetting their news.  Other sites?  Not so much...

 

What's your favorite news source?

ThaiVisa. 

I'd visited Thailand a few times in the late 80's and once in the mid-90s.  Years after that, I worked with a guy who'd recently "discovered" Thailand.  Raving about it, hatching plans to buy a condo and retire here and trying to convince me it was a great idea.  I liked Thailand well enough, but it was never someplace I thought I would wan to live.  

Oddly enough, all these years later, here I am in Thailand.  He lives in Texas. 

We don't do a whole lot of discretionary shopping here because anything of reasonable quality isn't good value IMO, or in the back of my mind, always wondering about counterfeit krap.   And the shops that always have 70-80% off sale signs up give me a laugh, as well as this "SHOCK PRICE!" nonsense.  Yeah, shocking alright!  555!

Typically just wait until the next trip to the US to refresh the wardrobe, accessories and electronics.  Always seem to find real sales, and great finds at those end of season/unsold stock/model close out consolidators.

1 hour ago, AsianAtHeart said:

Drug control is long overdue.  Doesn't anyone else notice that other gun-owning countries have a surprising lack of such rampages while medicated America tops the list?  If you take away the guns, other weapons will be found--for it will not come close to touching the root of the problem.  Virtually all of the mass murders are carried out by people on Valium, Diazepam, etc.

If you're right, and these shootings are the result of mentally ill people on chill pill meds, I shudder to think what would happen if they STOPPED taking them.  Holy Krap!

One thing that struck me a few minutes ago is Republicans and then Candidate Trump, chastised Democrats in general, and President Obama specifically, for not having the courage to acknowledge the obvious muslim terrorist problem.  Flaming them for being too PC and scared of political repercussions to call it what it was - Radical Islamic Terrorism.  Hell, those yellow bellied wussies couldn't even call illegal aliens illegal aliens anymore!  I agreed, it was a depressing display of government's lack of courage.

Candidate Trump's answer was so simple!  Ban the muslims (from certain countries) and deport the illegals.  Keep it Simple, Stupid!  I thought, man, this guy has a big set of balls and is willing to come out and state the obvious, even if it's wildly unpopular. 

Well, here we are. Another opportunity to excel.  But President Trump and Republicans can't seem to man up and acknowledge this, or go with the obvious, KISS solution of banning guns; at least most of them, temporarily, until we can, "find out what the hell is going on!". 

Best we get are mealy mouthed prayers to Jesus asking for help down here on Earth, defeatist excuses, and more distractions about mental health issues. 

5 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

Gun violence went down in Australia, according to the statistics that are published (hopefully they haven't been massaged).  However, those same statistics reveal an equivalent uptick in rapes, well beyond what would be expected due to the population increase.  So, pick your poison.

That's the same kind of nonsense as the last guy's comment.  What are you trying to assert?  That fewer guns is somehow related to an increase in rape and/or rape reporting?

That's something I would expect the Texas Governor to say.  Did you see that clip of him above ^ ?  Woosh!

1 of my 2 MTD accounts with Krungsi got frozen a few months ago for lack of activity.  Both receive automatic interest payments but that doesn't count, apparently.  Had to go to the branch with passport and they re-activated it.  I didn't receive any notification.  My first and only indication there was a problem was the account disappeared from my internet banking login. 

I maintain 2 or 3 back up accounts in the US. Once a year I transfer $25 into them, just to show activity. 

4 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack)

6/11/2017, 10:05 PM

When do we start discussing radical gun owners? And when will mainstream gun owners condemn them?

Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

Neighbors of Devin Patrick Kelley, the 26-year-old man suspected of shooting and killing at least 26 people in a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church on Sunday, say over the past few days, they heard bursts of gunfire from the direction of his home.

 

http://theweek.com/speedreads/735531/neighbors-texas-shooting-suspect-say-heard-intense-gunfire-recent-days

2 hours ago, tweedledee2 said:

You and I know different people with different views and mine probably outnumber yours 10-1. Some posters on this forum think they are experts and have all the answers to prevent violence in the USA.     The English claim restricted gun ownership laws in their home country reduce violence. Maybe they should also put restrictions on licensed drivers, to prevent future pedestrian deaths by extremists.    The Aussies think their government's gun buy-back program helps prevent crime. I ask this question.    How many criminals turned their guns in?    Until the technology is invented that can instantly diagnose and reveal someone's mental state, emotional unbalance and criminal intent, acts against humanity cannot be prevented or eliminated, in any country, by any law or any restriction.   

You're being intentionally dishonest in your characterization.  English and the Aussies claim their restrictive gun ownership laws have reduced GUN violence.  Specifically mass shootings. 

2 hours ago, notmyself said:

So you see these compilations of 'things' on YT such at top 5 funny dogs or 10 times someone said something funny or best moments or best of someone talking utter garbage.

Texas governor Greg Abbott talks about the issue.....

 

 

OMG, I wanted to punch my computer monitor.

2 minutes ago, Grouse said:

I'm glad you agree

 

The thing is, I've been invited back to the homes of many perfectly rational Americans and been shown their home arsenal of maybe 6 long guns and a number of pistols! Bizarre!

Well, I'm relieved and glad that your glad then.

I had (still have back in Murica, wrapped up in storage) 2 long guns and 2 pistols.  22 mag rifle was my Dad's when he was a younger man, gifted to me when I was about 13.  Used it for rabbit hunting.  Second, a 12 ga. shotgun, first weapon I ever bought saving money from my newspaper delivery route.  That was for busting bushes ~ dove, quail, occasional pheasant, and rabbits.  If I was into deer hunting, I would probably have 1, possibly 2 more.  Same as I had (still have) multiple sizes and styles of fishing reels and rods for different environments and applications.

.45 cal pistol I bought from my step-father in my early 20s because it was a fine specimen (still is).  Then an old, silver .38 Cal G-Man issue was my grandfathers, given to me when he died.

That's probably an arsenal to some people. Some people are into it, like coin and stamp collectors.  I wasn't, it just accrued over time.

1 minute ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

GCC bun fight????

Spat with Qatar by the other GCC member states.

It's a mess.  Need an independent, trusted referee between the two factions to blow the whistle and get everyone to shut up, sit down and listen.

  TIME THE <deleted> OUT, PEOPLE!  

That used to be the President of the United States, in theory, but we've not had one who could pull it off.  The division and derision just gets worse.  At times, I'm thankful to be living in a relatively calm, Junta led country. 

7 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Strangely though the status quo the gun toting christian right wishes to defend looks a lot like the theocracy the jihadist's wish to impose!! LOL!!

I know, some of them do.  Didn't I say that?  LOL. 

22 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Certainly, no need to keep an arsenal of weapons on the off chance though

Meh, you like to chuck around emotive terms like arsenal to make the contrast sound more dramatic and put people in 1 of  2 boxes. 

But I agree in practice, you don't need an ARSENAL, unless you're an octopus. 1, max 2, if home defense is the motivation.

Just now, Grouse said:

I was disturbed in the night with my wife and kids upstairs. I charged downstairs yelling blue murder and two youths cleared off with me running naked down the garden. It must have been horrible for them! ( they were attempting to steal a VHS video recorder) ?

Yeah, well, I lived on a nice street, but it was on the edge of the Grape Street Crips' territory.   Older areas of San Diego are funny like that.   Never had any problems other than that one time though, the gangstas usually sailed through on their way elsewhere.   Sadly, I was always in a state of mental/physical readiness due to my line of work at the time.  Fair odds an unwelcome guest wasn't interested in my VCR.  

16 minutes ago, Skywalker69 said:

Key diff is your average god fearing rifle toting American's intent is to defend status quo and retain existing rights.  The Jihad types want to impose their brand of change.  Subtle nuance but right, you can't help but giggle at the correlation when you start going down the list.  There's an amusing DarkMatter vid on this.   

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

Yes it is but to intentionally kill someone for stealing from you is far more unsettling don't you think?  Maybe you feel the death sentence for robbery is fair enough?

Oh dear, the old making shit up, false attribution put 'em on the defense guilt trip, eh?

First off, I didn't say that.  I was merely pointing out the likely intent of WWEST 5829, which Grouse surely knew, but decided to ignore in order to perform the same act of mental gymnastics you did.

Secondly, I'm a multiple gun owner (in the US) but I haven't lived there for 20 years.  Time, distance and an unsettling change in the socio-economic and political landscape, has cause me to shift in support of more gun control, up to and including a total ban - at least for a period of time.  Easy for me to say being way over here but IMO, there's no way in hell a few more gun control band-aid measures will have any meaningful impact at this point.  You gotta wipe the slate clean on this one, get your arms around it, and start again.  Pie in the sky. 

Finally, and to your point, yes..... if I was in the US and had a gun at hand when 1 or more thugs broke in to my house, I would warn them, if they gave me that opportunity, but the line between that and use of deadly force is very narrow, but totally up to them.    I have been in this situation before.  Thankfully he made the right decision and ran off into the night.   I consider that a win, and an ideal home-defense scenario.

10 minutes ago, Grouse said:

And there you have it

 

As a Brit, I don't really care if someone goes to the trouble of breaking in while I'm not there and taking the TV. I'll get a new one on insurance.

 

As an American, you would rather kill.

 

Maybe in another couple of hundred years you'll think differently.

I think he meant when he's home and somebody breaks in.  Not being at home is, obviously, a different scenario.

Apart from that, having your home burglarized, even when you're not there, is very unsettling. 

3 hours ago, NanLaew said:

In the article linked earlier, this guy apparently bought this assault rifle at the local sports shop. By simply checking the 'No' box on the purchasers questionnaire, thus claiming he wasn't in any way restricted from buying guns, he was able to flaunt the regulations and walk out with the weapon. He had a court martial in 2012 which apparently red-flags gun purchasing. If he had been more honest (yeah right), and the enforcement of the rules more rigorous than a gun buyer checking a box on a questionnaire, he would have been prevented from buying it.

Yes, I agree he should have been tagged ineligible for firearm purchase/ possession based on his reported dishonorable discharge status.  There's some confusion in initial reporting whether it was a DD or a BCD, but that is irrelevant under 18 USC 922(g) question #6.

(6) a person who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;

He was convicted of V.UCMJ Article 128 x 2.  Assault.   It was reportedly domestic violence against his then wife and daughter.   Problem is military system doesn't have a specific violation/crime code for domestic violence assault like many States have enacted in recent decades.  128 is non-specific.  The other problem is, the military system doesn't use crime categories of Infraction, Misdemeanor and Felony like the civilian system does.  You would have to query deeper to find out the details of the case, and to determine equivalent crime category, find out what his confinement sentence was.  In this case, he was apparently awarded 1 year in the brig, which is right at the top of Misdemeanor category.    If the Domestic Violence classification had been crystal clear in the NICS system during the gun seller's background check, he would have been disqualified again under 922(g), question #9.

(9) a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

So he either lied on the background check, or he slipped through the cracks caused by vagaries between military and civilian language and terminology.   Or both. 

8 minutes ago, PREM-R said:

There are those who say that taking away the guns from 'good'  Americans will mean the 'bad' Americans will have the upper hand.  In all of the years I have read and seen reports of incidents such as this one in Texas, I don't recall one occasion where a 'good' American, carrying a legal  firearm of his own, has stepped in and shot the 'bad' American and prevented a tragedy.   Surely if a 'good' American had ever prevented mass murder we would have had the NRA shouting about it from the rooftops.... but I have seen..... nothing.

I'm not disagree with the sentiment but.... in this case, if you read some of the earlier provided links from Scott and others, the moron in question was confronted by someone armed with a shotgun.  Shooter found in his vehicle later, not clear if he topped himself or succumbed to wounds from the earlier gunfight.  None of which prevented anything, sounds like the confrontation occurred after the damage was done.

On 11/2/2017 at 7:56 AM, KittenKong said:

Qatar is doing their business class 2-for-1 offer again, combined with a 3-for-2 offer in economy.

 

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-th/offers/20-anniversary.html

 

Useless to anyone like me who flies alone though.

Yep, Qatar is giving my email inbox a workout ever since the GCC bun fight. 

2 hours ago, vogie said:

How can anyone not feel uncomfortable in a situation like this?

Looks like 2nd Amendment open carry guys?

My first impression is they are displaying their weapons seeking attention.  That's one of their Pavlovian motivations;  normalization, trying to condition the public to not freak out if/when they see a big scary firearm. 

What I also see is <deleted> failing to maintain positive control and discipline over their weapons.   I could grab one of those rifles or the shotgun, which is most likely Condition 3 already, rack a round and get the first shots off before these knuckleheads could draw their sidearms..... because you know they've got them on too.  LOL.