Observations

 1.  Trump made the comment yesterday....the reasoning behind the necessity to have a weapon....is the "existence of evil".  

Someone in the 1960s/1970s era probably wouldn't have made that comment.  By the late 1990s....yeah, most of us would have suggested that, and in the past decade (particularly if you live around a metropolitan/urbanized city)....the thought is on your mind at least once a week.

You carry the pistol in the car because some nutcase at work might go 'unhinged' and need to be put-down.  You carry the pistol in the car because some drugged-up 'crazy' might go 'unhinged' at the steak-house.  You carry the pistol in the car because some guy might attempt to carjack you as you refuel on the way home.  You keep a pistol in the kitchen because home invasion threats.  

It didn't get that way overnight....it's the system that created the 'funnel' and it seems that the police, the abundance of laws, the refusal to use the laws, the prosecution system, and the jail solution can't resolve the path of where things are going.

2.  Graduation party in West Virginia back on Wed night.  Some 'nut' came in with a AR-15 and started firing shots.  Some gal pushed out her pistol, and put the guy down.  Odds of you hearing about the story?  Probably only a 10-percent chance.

3.  Learning to 'comply' in life....has its limits.  

4.  It is an odd situation to ponder....one idiot telling you that a 18-year-old's maturity is not sufficient to purchase/own a gun, but the same idiot telling that if a 12-year-old wanted gender-flipping, they are mature enough.  

5.  If you are trying to impersonate someone, or some culture, or some gender....at least make a serious attempt.  If you come across like you are drugged-up or crazy....people take you as a joke.

6.  The quote: 'Looks aren't everything' is actually handed down by the Greeks.  Shocking....they figured this out probably 2,500 years ago.

7.  There is some rumor going around that President Biden will create some path where stupid college debt folks will be given a $10,000 'gift', and forgiven of that debt.  

Power to do so?  Well....that's the question.  Apparently the Democrats can't pass this via the House/Senate.  

For all of you that paid your money, or those who found successful paths in life without college?  You are basically screwed, and helping to pay that $10,000 debt for the idiot.

Observations

 1.  On this Texas school shooting.....the more that is laid out on the school master plan of security being totally ineffective, the lack of action by local police for an hour, and the shooter-kid himself....the less I believe of the story.  

2.  Russians agreeing to allow age 40 and over Russian men to enlist in the military?  Makes sense....bunch of drunken guy taken off the street....fed into the military machine and dead within six weeks.  

3.  Southern Baptist folks released a 205-page summary of ministers (all men) who sexually abused folks.  Seems like a fair number of them probably need to freshen their resumes and find real work.

4.  70-percent of independent-voters say Biden is too old.  Generally, I'd have a physical test for future folks in this position.  Give a car with a flat tire, and just say you got 15 minutes to change it.  Fail?  You don't run for office.

5.  Someone asked the ATF Director what a 'assault weapon' was, and he couldn't respond.  Kinda like that woman question.....asking folks to define a woman.  I have the feeling in twelve months....if you asked some political guy to define 'tramp', 'whore', 'drunk' or 'weeded-up'.....they'd just grin and say they can't define the terms.

6.  Just a wild guess, but I'll predict that the entire police force of Uvalde, TX is likely to be resigned, let-go, or terminated within six months.  

What Was MKUltra In The End?

 Shortly after WW II....the CIA got a tasking.  Basically, after examining the Japanese and German experiments going on....the US took what they had and built a 'lab' of sorts....to continue developments.  

Key areas?  I'd suggest seven areas:

1.  Develop substances that helped impulsiveness and poor thinking.

2.  Develop substances that improved your perception.

3.  Develop substances that doubled-up the effect of booze.

4.  Find useful ways of hypnosis.

5.  Develop ways to 'fight-off' torture or brainwashing. 

6.  Find products/substances that produce amnesia.  

7.  Find ways (substances) to make you dependent upon a function or person.

For about twenty years....the CIA went at this mission, then realized public attention was going to arrive shortly.....destroying a great deal of the paperwork. 

The development of these 'tools'?  There's a lot of discussion that has come up over the past fifty years....that various people walked out the backdoor.....taking their 'tools' to various companies/individuals, and that MKUltra got 'loose' in public.

The Unabomber?  Well....Ted Kaczynski was rumored to have been on one of these experimental efforts with MKUltra.  Same is suggested for Sirhan Sirhan (RFK's killer).  Charles Manson?  Yep....he was connected in various ways.  

In the end, as much as the CIA thought they were doing a good deed.....they were simply opening up a bigger door to a mess which cannot ever be cleaned up.  

Age of Maturity

I travel a lot (at least before Covid).  So I tend to notice 'age of maturity' a good bit.

This week, the topic of ages for purchasing weapons came up (Texas), and it was an interesting thing to ponder.

Folks tend to 'mark' age 18 as this mythical age crossing....where you can vote, buy a weapon, buy booze (at least in some states), etc.

In some countries....it's age 21.

In Germany, you can buy beer/wine at 16, but hard booze at 18.

Up until the French Revolution.....the legal age of consent to marriage was 12 years old for girls, and 14 for boys.   After 1804, they set the age of consent for girls at 15, and boys at 18.  That rule sat around until 2006....where everyone was set at 18.

The old Aztec civilization set male maturity at 20 to 22.

Finding someone under the 18 being responsible for their actions?  I'd say two out of three in the fifteen to eighteen year old group probably could handle full-up adult responsibility.  The other third?  They probably wouldn't earn my respect even at age twenty.

But here's the thing.  If you say age 21 is the age for buying/using a gun....then you are saying in general....their maturity is not there.....so why allow the 'kid' to vote?

The booze rules?  Shouldn't this accompany the problem as well?  

What if we just mandated no gun purchases, no votes, no booze until age 20?  Would folks have heartburn over that?

While discussing all of this....shouldn't we bring up that most kids are educationally prepared to wrap up school by age sixteen?  If you tested most kids....I'd say almost forty to fifty percent are ready to move on by age sixteen.

There's going to be this age discussion and the more you open it up.....the more likely that people will throw a bunch of things (like voting and buying booze) onto the discussion.  

There are a fair number of kids already at age twelve....fully pepped-up and roaring to have independence....make their own decisions and to get out of the 'control' of parents.  I'd say we need to let the system work, and just say at age 12....let them run 'free' and see how thing progress.  Yes, voting, driving, and working.  

Driver's License Story

 One of the odd things about this Texas shooter.....he had no driver's license.  At age 18, you'd expect that.

For the first 15 years I was in the Air Force.....I had one single co-worker who had no license....a guy named Mike from Baltimore.

Mike was unique.  After a month of working with the guy....I came to realize Mike wasn't that bright, and probably more of a 13-year old kid than 19 years old.

About six months after arriving at the base (McChord, far NW of the US)....Mike wanted to take leave (going back to visit Baltimore for four weeks).   About four days before leaving....Mike said he didn't have much cash (he wasn't going to fly back....he was going via Trailways).  So we passed the hat in the shop and handed Mike around $150....enough for a R/T bus-ticket in those days.

Mike left and on day thirty...he failed to show up.  Day thirty-one.....our boss called Mike at the number he left, and his momma said he wasn't coming back.  

The next day, our First Sgt called Mike and spelled out the routine....but Mike was pretty blunt....no return.

They sent the cops there, and had someone from the unit fly into Baltimore....pick him up and bring him back.  He spent 30 days in the base jail, lost a stripe, and then told to just hang out for the remaining 2.5 years.  

After Mike....I was in my final three years before coming across five individuals (all coming into service around 1996-1997).....with no license.  

Excuse?  They didn't need it.

After retirement, from 2000 to 2009.....I worked around another five or six individuals with the same issue.  

It's one of those odd things you came to notice from the 1990s on....people were finishing high school without a license, and didn't care.  

AR-15/M-16 Chatter

 Years ago on the Air Force gun range....we had Sarge (the trainer) to get the question about the difference of the M-16 (we were shooting that day with it) and the AR-15.  He had a AR-15, which he could demonstrate.

So Sarge laid the two weapons down, and there were basically three basic differences: different trigger/hammer, different disconnector, and a safety modification. The safety?  On the civilianized version.....there was safe/single shot.  The military version had safe/single shot/3-shots/full-automatic.

Beyond that....it was the same weapon.  

And then came the shocker on history....the AR-15 was developed and ready in the early-1950s. It would be almost ten years later before the military reached a level of accepting the military version (M-16).

This led to a ten-minute sequence of Q-and-A, 

The ammo clip?  You can go back to the 1880s/1890s and view various developments between the French and Germans.  The box-magazine?  Already around in the 1888 period (British development).

So there was a open discussion then over weapons and maturity.  Sarge brought up a point, which has stuck to my mind over the years.  The services don't let you out of boot-camp unless you can show some maturity over handling a weapon.  If you go out to the Air Force or Navy gun-range in basic.....they spend a good amount of time talking over handling and behavior.  

During my day at basic training and the gun range.....somewhere down the line in another group.....some idiot went into some behavior like you'd expect a 7-year old kid.   Gun-handling?  He lost it....with the instructor grabbing his weapon before he did stupid crap.

Among gun instructors....they all have some story like that from basic training and note that if you act this way.....they won't have you on the range, and you are finished with boot-camp.  

If you asked most folks of today....attending military boot-camp, I would take a guess that more than 50-percent have never handled a weapon in their life.  

Observations

 1.  Beto O'Rourke showing up at the school shooting press conference.  It was a poorly thought-out moment, with parents in attendance.  His electability?  I'd say at this point....he's wrapped up in politics and should just concentrate on a mayor's job somewhere.  

2.  Key element of the shooting?  Empathy missing.  It's just an odd factor, from across the globe....almost all of the shooting (like 99.9-percent) are male-driven.  If females kill anyone....it's typically a one-on-one situation and they know the person they have intent upon killing.

3.  What's it really mean for 'known to the police'?  Well....someone called the police and they came out to interview you in a blunt fashion.  They typically write a report.  Maybe forty years ago....it'd be used to build a case for some real jail-time.  Today, you have have forty reports existing, with zero jail-time.  Reporters like to hype this angle of a story.

4.  I noticed some Senators have asked President Biden to turn over internal documents on this new Disinformation Board/Truth Commission.  I doubt that he will comply on this.

5.  After the primary in Georgia this week, Stacey Abrams noted that voter suppression still exists.