LDSGator

One of my dearest friends got married this weekend and I was in South Dakota with them to celebrate and serve as best man. It’s an uber-Catholic community (descriptive, not an insult) and this was a major topic of conversation throughout the day. Putting everything aside, we still don't know what the opinion will say. We should wait until then to start celebrating or crying. Off topic-we drove straight up from Florida. We passed at least three LDS temples. St. Louis, one more I forgot, and the Bentonville one being built. Very cool!

My thoughts as well, and anyone who thinks there are easy answers to this vastly complex problem is lying to themselves. It’s way more complex than “banning AR-15’s” (a horrible idea) and arming teachers (a shaky idea at best).

Having lost a trusted mentor to cancer earlier in the year I pray this is true.

Correct.

Nope. Describing good social changes.

BMW is the same. It’s not because they are weak. It’s because that behavior helps them make money. So, they’ll do whatever they need to. If you aren’t pragmatic in some areas, then running a company isn’t for you.

To be fair, it’s not an LDS thing. My devoutly Catholic high school had a joke. The moment a virgin graduates the statue of the schools mascot will get up and dance. Grim humor? Yup. Accurate? Yup.

Of course some of it is good. Kids with learning disabilities are no longer called “stupid” or “unteachable”. That’s good. A black man can date a white woman without nasty comments. That’s good. People with crippling depression are no longer told to “suck it up”. That’s good. My niece can become a CEO, a doctor, a housewife…that’s good. Men can now be more “in touch” with their emotions and don’t have to just suffer in silence. That’s good. I could go on.

The bottom line? You have to just control your emotions. If you are blind sided, well, then you still just have to control yourself. Walking around like an abrasive jerk all the time looking for a fight and you’ll be made a fool of soon enough. No one is perfect. We all have moments of anger*. I know I do. So I am NOT saying I’m immune. But just because I get angry sometimes doesn’t make it right of course. *my vices tend to be more about my massive ego. It’s more arrogance than anger for me.

You answered your own question. That wouldn’t have happened in 1983.

Remember that the market is a thing of beauty. If you price something too high, no one will buy it. If you price it too low, it gets eaten up. To oversimplify real estate, it’s all about supply and demand. If a lot of people want to live in a certain area, the value goes up. If no one wants to live there, the value goes down. It’s that simple. I love real estate markets (and capitalism in general) because it can’t lie to you. No matter what your personal feelings are, if people like it, you can’t keep then away. If people don’t like it, there’s nothing you can do to get them to buy. Simple as that. Why do people like Amazon? Because it works. Why do people have a smartphone in their pocket? Because they work.

Many recovering addicts avoid situations where they know they’ll be tempted. In fact, some rehab places forbid television and music because they glorify drinking and drug use. If it works for them-complete avoidance-then I’m happy for them.

Lol! That’s awesome!!! Lol.

Just a joke.

No worries.

Thanks for the kind words. Like a lot of other martial arts geeks it’s part of who we are. I can’t imagine my life without it.

In warfare, I agree with you completely. In combat sports, I disagree strongly. 99.9% of the time in tournaments you don’t even know the other people you are competing against. You don’t want to hurt them, you just want to win. Also, in sparring, the other guy is there because he choose this. No one forced him.

TKD-Taekwando. Korean martial art Go-Kan-Ryu Karate. Japanese martial art. Hope this helps a bit.

I’m not his judge either. However, I can say with virtual certainty that you are correct about his eternal place. One of the reasons I’m not an atheist is that I can’t believe that Mussolini goes to the same place in the afterlife as those doctors who treat Ebola on the frontlines in Africa do.

It’s not cold, it’s totally understandable. I have sympathy for anyone in a dark mental place, but sympathy only goes so far. And it stops when someone decides to kill people. Mentally ill doesn’t mean “unable to comprehend right from wrong.”

TKD black belt here. I know very little about GKR Karate, but I studied Ed Parker karate for about three years. One thing all martial artists seem have in common is the ability to whine and play victim. Taekwando does this. Karate does this. Krav Maga does this. I have yet to meet a practitioner in any style who doesn’t play the persecuted victim card. “No one likes my style.” “They say it doesn’t work in real life.” “Poor me.” It’s the martial arts equal to “No one likes me, everyone hates me I think I’ll go eat worms.” Sorry bro, but it’s a huge pet peeve of mine to hear this in the combat sports world. And I hear it all the time. Just let it go, enjoy your style and let the haters hate. They are almost always out of shape pork chops who lack the backbone to do what we do. Most practitioners of martial arts have great respect for others, no matter what style they do. A good sign of a phony os when they badmouth other styles. Just let it go. @Jamie123-One more thing. My beloved TKD does this too. We’re not innocent either.

It’s just so sad. School shootings are rare, but it’s heartbreaking of course. Our human minds are simple. We like easy answers, good guys and bad guys. With issues like this there are no easy answers.

That’s how @NeuroTypical got me hooked on drugs.

I like him already. Send me the link in private via Facebook. That’s great, and I’m super happy that works for you-not kidding, it is my prayer that all of us here stay safe. Now, let’s convince those who have never ever seen a gun in real life, have no experience with them, and don’t like them to do the same. I’m not being mean, just asking a practical, real life question. Muffy from exclusive suburban Boston will not be convinced to carry a .45 while she teaches ethnic studies. When her school gets shot up, do you think the anti gunners are going to just give up? No, they are going to do the same things, and the cycle will repeat itself. I’m glad that you are who you are @Backroads. You know I have nothing but love for you. I also own two handguns and several long guns. I’m no expert though. All self taught, and yes, everyone here knows way more about guns than I ever will know, or in all honesty care to know. But I still am highly skeptical that arming teachers will help.

I actually agree with you for the most part, I’m just not naive. Like I mentioned above (I edited it, sorry) your average teacher lacks the desire, time and talent to become Dirty Harry. We all know that you can’t become an expert marksman in two weeks of training. Arming teachers makes second amendment advocates (and again I’m one of them) feel good, but it’ll do very little in the long run. Not to mention that when teacher X becomes distracted or over powered little Johnny Psycopath can now have full access to a nice, shiny toy to go kill people with.