Studies done to try and understand why school shootings are on the rise, why certain states have a higher ratio, and why a group of states have none at all! Research highlights the need for a national registry to monitor school shootings in order to better inform the debate over its causes and how to prevent these tragic events.

However independent studies do show some interesting leads into why they are more prevalent in some states than others. The states with no school shootings at all have something in common. I list them below.

Mandatory background checks for gun and ammunition purchases.
Higher spending on mental health.
Higher spending on K-12 education.

Now please do not jump on the band wagon that equates mandatory background checks for gun and ammunition purchases to mean someone is taking your guns away from you. No! It only means these states are looking at your background for criminal or psychotic histories and not selling guns to these individuals. These states are also spending more money on mental health and public K-12 education than other states that do have shootings.

So the states with the highest percentage of shootings, and the highest increase in the rate these shootings take place, all have one thing in common. Poor background checks for gun and ammunition purchases, low expenditures for mental health in the state, and lower spending on K-12 education. Georgia had the greatest number, with 15 school shootings. Florida and Texas each had 14. There were 12 school shootings in North Carolina and 10 in Tennessee.

Here comes my point. Your new cabinet possibilities that President elect Trump is appointing are against just this sort of spending, all of it! Trump actually does not think a department of education is even necessary, and said so. Betsy DeVos, his pick for Secretary of Education has a long and public distain for public education, and works to syphon money out of public K-12 schools to private schools! She also supports an organization  that thinks child labor laws should be abolished, and instead of wasting money educating them they should work along side adults in mines and other other like jobs because that teaches them things too, lets them earn money, and youth like danger anyway! So basically if your not wealthy enough to afford private school, you should join a child labor force. The other appointees for the other departments all have disdain for the federal organizations they will run. Rick Perry comes to mind. He is slated to become the new Secretary  of  Energy. A department he has said he does not think should even exist!. He has no background in Energy except for maybe how to pull it out of the ground. I did enjoy him on Dancing With The Stars, seemed like a nice guy! I am not sure that qualified him to replace an actual atomic scientist currently in the position!  This is similar to almost every appointee Trump is nominating, as far as their disdain for the departments they will be running goes!

School shootings on the rise is just the tip of a very big iceberg. You can cry big government all you want, and sure, it has some serious faults, but wait until the checks and balances on the 1% are removed, you will not like it, not even a little. I predict you will hate it, but by then our education of our children will have declined to even lower levels, and their safety be even more threatened! 

 

 

 

Christmas Letter 2016

Posted: December 14, 2016 in Christmas, Life

 

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I am sitting at my desk, it is a little after 2am, thinking about a myriad of stray ideas and thoughts. Probably why I am still up. I did go to bed around nine last night, woke up around midnight unable to fall back asleep. I am thinking about going back for my third cup of Joe, so this might be a long night. It is one advantage of retirement. I can make use of the time as I see fit, however my wife does not like it when I nap during the day, which is her time to hang with me!

I was going to say tomorrow is haircut day, but actually it is today! I also ordered some new Wranglers, a new Bullhide belt, have a new grocery order in and accepted which will be delivered sometime after 7 am, so it isn’t like I have not accomplished anything. Oh I also have my daughters present purchased and on the way. As I may include this in my blog I cannot divulge what it is, but it is something substantial I know for a fact she wants! The wife, well as usual I do not have a clue, and no purchase as of yet for her, but It will come, it always does! She always says she does not need anything, never gives me a wish list, even when I tell her that giving presents is what it is all about for me! It is where my joy is, watching someone get a present I got them when I managed to get it right and bring them joy! I am pretty sure I am getting at least a shirt or two, as she started in on me when she noticed I was looking at them myself. She never bitches, so it has to be because she has shirts on order already!

I actually have a lot to be thankful for this year. I myself feel fine, even though I do have a few challenges, as I am 68 now. But I still can walk as far as I want, still ride my motorcycle, I just can’t run very far, and I am carrying too much weight, which I am working on. It will not be part of a new years resolution however, just an attitude adjustment.

Vivian had some challenges this year, she got a little brittle, tripped and fell breaking her arm. Then while still rehabbing the arm, she fell coming down the stairs at the movie theater and broke her hip. The arm just required healing and rehab, but the hip had to be pinned, and she had to spend some time in a rehab hospital to get mobile again before she could come home! However she is moving around well, no walker, still a little stiff at times, but she healed up in record time! So now I need to get her out walking with me. She is too skinny, and I am too fat, so we need to find the middle of the road this year!

I was planning one more motorcycle trip up and down the western coast, then wherever the roads of the northwestern states would take me. However my wife will not share the motorcycle experience with me, so next year we should both be able to take a trip in the SUV and do basically the same thing! I have always wanted to show her all the places I lived in the Riggins and Lucille area, maybe some back roads up through Burgdorf and McCall areas. I will find some shorter motorcycle journeys to fill my need for the wind in my face and the roar of horsepower! I tried a club, but their trips are too regimented for me.

So the daughter was promoted to Principal this year. She is a little younger than most principals, but this school had need of her specialized skills!, she was  an English teacher who also was trained in reading and comprehension difficulties. She is also bi-lingual. She taught college for a short time, but when the school year ended she elected to take a job back with her younger students. It turns out college age students who are having comprehension problems and difficulty making it at that level are not so much suffering any malady, they are just plain lazy! She loves her kids, but thinks she needs to get them at least by junior high level to do the most good! She has been a very successful teacher, and now a Principal. She was an assistant last year, and then she also did the summer session this year as temp Principal. The school then requested her where she had been an assistant the year before as their new Principal.

She just sold her condo and moved into a much larger house with a huge yard. It even has covered RV parking. She has two pitbull mixes she dearly loves, one a rescue from the local pound. They are the most loving dogs I have ever seen, not a mean bone in their bodies. They do bark a lot if you come up to the fence or front door, but I have seen them both hide behind my daughter when people they did not know came in. It takes them about thirty seconds to make friends however, then they will not leave you alone, begging for attention and play time!   My daughter basically bought the house for them!

So Christmas will be a good one this year, I hope that it finds all of my friends in good cheer as well! My thoughts are always with you, and look, no politics!

Merry Christmas

John and Vivian Love

 

A Reblog of A note from Abroad, my favorite travelers. I mainly did this reblog on this trip because I know a lot of teachers and thought they would like it.

 

Sunday, October 30th ~ Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Day 5 ~ This was our last full day on the ship. Although I enjoyed Floreana, it was my least favorite of the islands we visited on our itinerary. Still a few fun memories, but not the WOW factor we experienced earlier.

via Galapagos Islands ~ Post Office Bay, Champion Islet, Cormorant Point (Floreana Island) — A Note From Abroad

A Reblog!

 

Another exciting chapter in the adventures of Tim and Joanne! 

 

Friday, October 28th ~ Tagus Cove, Urbina Bay, Isabela Island Day 3 ~ Before we take off on todays excursions, I wanted to share more information of what day-to-day life is like on board the Santa Cruz II. There are several primary large areas where meetings, or lectures, or meals can be served, the Panorama […]

via Galapagos Islands, Ecuador ~ Tagus Cove, Urbina Bay — A Note From Abroad

 

The next edition of my reblog of the Galapagos Islands thanks to Tim and Joanne!

Thursday, October 27th ~ Galapagos Islands ~ Isabela and Fernandina Islands Day 2 ~ A ship wide wake up call at 7:00 and breakfast served at 7:15, with a planned departure (again via panga boats) promptly at 8:15. Our day will be divided up into two sections. The morning on Isabela Island with our sightseeing […]

via Galapagos Islands ~ Isabela Island, Fernandina Island — A Note From Abroad

 

My friends have made it to the Galapagos Islands and the ship they will be calling home  during their trip through the islands. Their first day is chronicled here, enjoy!

 

Wednesday, October 26th ~ Galapagos Islands, Ecuador Day 1 – Getting off of the airplane I was already wondering where I was and what had happened. This surely was not the Island paradise I had envisioned. In fact far from it. Can’t say why I had envisioned lush and tropical, but the reality was hot, […]

via Galapagos Islands ~ From disillusion to wonderment all in a single day — A Note From Abroad

 

 

This is a must read. As you ponder this Reblog Post, ask yourself if the part of the country the jury pool came from answers any of the questions that start with the word “why”!

Michael Hulshof-Schmidt's avatarSocial Justice For All

Define Refuge Define Refuge

I was more than just a little bit disturbed yesterday afternoon upon hearing that all seven of the white terrorists who were armed and held the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge hostage, destroying many ancient Native artifacts during their occupation, were found not guilty of conspiracy. Ammon Bundy and his gang of heavily armed white terrorists occupied the Wildlife Refuge for 41 days and were found not guilty on all counts.

Here were the charges brought: conspiring to impede federal employees at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge through intimidation, threat or force stemming from the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Four of the seven defendants were charged with possessing guns in a federal facility. Two of the defendants faced an additional charge of theft of government and destruction of property. How is it that they were acquitted of all charges? In what universe does this make any sense? If…

View original post 217 more words

Tuesday, October 25th ~ Guayaquil, Ecuador Our Gate 1 tour officially begins today. For this portion there are just the four of us, Tim and I, Rica and her husband Fred. Our local guide, Fernando, picks us up at the hotel at 10:00 and we are off to see the city. First stop is Parque […]

via Guayaquil, Ecuador ~ City tour — A Note From Abroad

A 44 year-old British man has appeared to be completely free of HIV following a new treatment which has been labelled ‘kick and kill’ to eradicate the virus. Of 50 patients currently taking part in the trial for this new HIV treatment, this man who has remained anonymous, is the first to show remarkable progress…

via HIV Cure May Have Been Found. Scientists See No Sign Of Virus In Patient’s Blood Following A New Treatment — Sparkonit

 

House Benghazi Report finds no evidence of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton! And this was a House Committee that was populated mostly by Republicans!

The Report on Benghazi by the Pentagon stated that they were also not interfered with in any way by anyone in the administration. The only orders they were given were to offer any and all help possible! These reports did criticize the intelligence community for misreading and handing out erroneous talking points, but that there was no plot to mislead the public and Ambassador Rice and others were not to blame!

Yes Hillary used a private server. She was not the only Secretary of State to use them, but that did not seem to bother anyone in the GOP. Even G.W. and company had private servers, and when questions came up that they did not want to answer, they deleted over 3,000 emails and documents. So when the GOP gets aghast at all of the supposed wrong doing equally, then I will promise to be aghast also. About what I am not sure, but I promise to be aghast about something!

Now this is opinion, mine, but backed up by a couple of sources in the GOP itself, that this was all an attempt by the GOP to discredit Hillary because they knew she would be the Democratic nominee. I have tried to find any facts about murder, or any of a dozen other ludicrous charges, and can find absolutely nothing, no facts whatsoever to support these claims. Well except for the same reason I just gave.

Now for some more facts, like them or not!

Trump has sued everyone but his hair stylist! Legal filings across the United States finds that the Republican presidential nominee and his businesses have been involved in at least 3,500 legal actions in federal and state courts during the past three decades. They range from skirmishes with casino patrons to million-dollar real estate suits, to personal defamation lawsuits. The sheer volume of lawsuits is unprecedented for a presidential nominee. No candidate of a major party has had anything approaching the number of Trump’s courtroom entanglements. There have been 70 new court filings just since he began running for President! There are 50 civil suits pending now. He has had, so far, 1,900 lawsuits as the plaintiff, 1,450 as a defendant, and 150 bankruptcies or third party actions. He doesn’t hesitate to deploy his wealth and legal firepower against adversaries with limited resources, such as homeowners. He sometimes refuses to pay real estate brokers, lawyers and other vendors. I have found hundreds of stories where he negotiates a deal, agrees on a price, then when the job is done tells the contractor to settle for pennies on the dollar or take him to court, which in most cases would bankrupt the contractor, so he gets away with it! This is not being a great businessman; this is being a liar and a thief! And he wants to be your President!

We know Trump treats woman badly, calls them disgusting names, claims that all the woman who had ever been on (The Apprentice) tried to seduce him! He thought that was inevitable because of who he is, demonstrating his narcissistic mental disorder! A woman even claims he raped her multiple times when she was only thirteen, and has filed lawsuits in California and New York. She claims she waited until just recently because Mr. Trump threatened her and her family’s safety, even death if she ever said a word. This allegedly happened at parties thrown by Jeffrey Epstein, an admitted friend of Trump who is a convicted sex offender for life. He, Mr. Epstein, has been named in multiple lawsuits of this nature. So if you listen to how Trump talks about women, asks people if they think his daughter is hot, it seems the kettle is on the fire and whistling. And people want this man as their President!

He is a racist! The Justice Department sued his company ― twice ― for not renting to black people! Workers at Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, have accused him of racism over the years. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission fined the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino $200,000 in 1992 because managers would remove African-American card dealers at the request of a certain big-spending gambler. A state appeals court upheld the fine. The first-person account of at least one black Trump casino employee in Atlantic City suggests the racist practices were consistent with Trump’s personal behavior toward black workers. “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor,” Kip Brown, a former employee at Trump’s Castle, told the New Yorker for a September article. “It was the eighties, I was a teen-ager, but I remember it: they put us all in the back.” Trump disparaged his black casino employees as “lazy” in vividly bigoted terms, according to a 1991 book by John O’Donnell, a former president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. “And isn’t it funny” Trump said, “I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it,” O’Donnell recalls! “The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” “I think the guy is lazy,” Trump said of a black employee, according to O’Donnell. “And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” I could go on and on with more stuff just like this, can’t all be a coincidence!

Trumps ghost writer for (Art of the Deal) has said in interviews that; “I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

He is unstable, Trump threatens physical violence to people who disparage him. Michael Bloomberg being one example. Trump said, in public, “I mean, the things that were said about me, I was going to hit a number of those speakers so hard their heads would spin, they’d never recover!” Trump then got specific; “I was going to hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin. He wouldn’t know what the hell happened.” And people want this man in the white house. By the way he also said Bloomberg was a disaster as a Mayor, but near the end of term previous to this statement Trump had praised him for being a great Mayor! Said he hated Ted Cruz, but he also said earlier he loved the guy. He loved Iowa, then later he wanted to know how stupid could Iowa citizens actually be! Now says Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State we ever had! But only months ago he stated that she was a very hard worker, he thought she did a great job, and that he liked her! At first he loves Megan Kelly and that she is a credit to her peers, than later he has no respect for her and thinks she is highly over rated! But some of us still want this man for President!

When asked who he was looking at for his cabinet, he gave us a long list of absolutely no names whatsoever, but they’re gonna be great, and very smart! He is keeping all his plans for ISIS secret, along with most of the rest of his plans, except they will be great, the greatest, amazing! Yes this is a man some people want for President!

He thinks Japan and other nations should have nuclear capability so they can protect themselves instead of getting our help. So that has to mean he approves of nuclear war. His handlers did try to get him to back off of that one. Well that and at least a hundred others! Wants to carpet bomb our enemies out of existence, including the civilian populations around them. Wants to demand NATO pay up or we pull out. Wants to create a force to arrest and deport 11 million people. Now does that sound like big government Mr. Conservative? Sounds a lot like Nazi Germany to me!

His plans will double; maybe even triple the national debt, countries that buy up our debt and keep us solvent will lose trust and stop doing so. We go down the tubes while Trump dances in the White House hanging giant pictures of himself on the walls! Yet some of us still want this man for President! Unbelievable!