Chaos in USA

[PHXPhlyer]

When taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, an SAT-style quiz to measure a potential recruit's academic ability, in the mid-80s for potential enlistment in the National Guard, many of the others taking the test seemed to have been "convinced" by judges that joining the Army might be an alternative to a jail term.
Many of them would probably have been more comfortable marking answers with a crayon than a pen or pencil.
I also think that correctly spelling their name on the test was not a requirement for passing the test either.

PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I thought they didn't give crayons to Marines, as they would just eat them?

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And didn't the Texas ANG drop its aptitude pass mark to 41 one year, instead of the usual 60? I have some vague recollection that was the year one Dubya got 41 on the Aptitude Test.

[bob2s]

Dubya got 41 on the Aptitude Test.
You mean to say he achieved a mark as high as that? Well lordy be.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

It was probably multiple guess, with quite possibly 40 being the random guess score, plus one for getting his name right (and I expect that was prefilled for someone like him).

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Service calls for Chicago Police last year

There-were-no-Chicago-police-available-when-400000-high-priority-calls-for-service-went-out-in-2021-642x420.png (143.77 KiB) Viewed 496 times

More than half the time when people dialed 911 with a confirmed emergency, there were no police available to respond.

[Boac]

Saw a tweet today which sums it up, really:

"A Well-Regulated Militia Opens Fire On Fourth Of July Parade In Highland Park, Illinois; Cheap Thoughts And Useless Prayers Now Being Rushed To The Scene ... more on this soon-to-be-forgotten-and-then-repeated story as it develops ..."

[boing]

Since it was a 4th of July parade I doubt it can be blamed on those damned patriots.

.

[PHXPhlyer]

Highland Park is a monied enclave north of Chicago, on the lake.
I think somehow the money aspect will promote a little more interest from the authorities.

PP

[Undried Plum]

Highland Park, in a not particularly monied enclave on the Northern edge of The Pond, has other connotations in Northern Britain.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

6 dead, 25 wounded, in Highland Park so far.
Meanwhile, 7 shot dead and 55 wounded in the rest of Chicago over the weekend. Although the mainstream media don't seem to have mentioned that. Nor did the Governor in his tweet this last hour.
https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootin ... /12016415/
5 shot dead, 24 wounded the weekend before.
What just happened in Highland Park is a normal weekend in Chicago.

[PHXPhlyer]

Highland Park Population: 29,596 (2020)
Chicago: Population: 2.699 million (2020)

Slight difference in per capita numbers.

PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

If Highland Park has one mass shooting every two years, that makes it average Chicago now.

[PHXPhlyer]

A tip from a ‘hero citizen’ thwarted a mass shooting planned for July 4 celebration in Richmond, Virginia, police say

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/06/us/richm ... index.html

One phone call saved countless lives and prevented a potential mass shooting during July 4 celebrations in Richmond, Virginia, the police chief and mayor said Wednesday.

The “hero” tipster overheard a conversation that a mass shooting was being planned for the celebration at the Dogwood Dell amphitheater and called that information into police on July 1, said Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith during a news conference. The amphitheater seats 2,400 people, according to the city’s website.

The same day as the tip, police went to a residence at the 1000 block of Columbia Ave. where they found the weapons and ammunition. In total, police found two assault rifles, one handgun and 223 rounds of ammunition at the home, Smith said.

One man was arrested Friday and police put surveillance on a second person, who was arrested Tuesday, the chief said. Both suspects have been charged with being non-citizens in possession of a firearm.

“They were planning to, actually, shoot up our Fourth of July celebration,” Smith said. “We know what their intent is but we don’t have their motive, we do know that they lived at the same location.”

Both men are being held without bond at the Richmond City Jail, Smith said.

“Our officers quietly investigated and collaborated with their law enforcement partners and the community to stop what could’ve been a terrible day for the city of Richmond,” Mayor Levar Stoney said. “As we continue to live through an era, an age, of mass shootings and all around our country, no community is immune.”


America's struggle with mass shootings has changed how these people live their lives
The US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were also involved in the investigation, Smith said. Police did not elaborate further on plans for the mass shooting but reiterated the importance of the tip.

“There’s no telling how many lives this hero citizen saved from one phone call,” Smith said. “Public safety is a responsibility of us all. One phone call saved numerous lives on the Fourth of July.”

The news out of Richmond comes just two days after a mass shooting left seven dead and dozens injured during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

The carnage in Highland Park punctuates an already bloody American spring and summer – during the past 186 days, more than 300 mass shootings have happened in the US, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit tracking such incidents.

PP

[Undried Plum]

If Highland Park has one hangover every two years, that makes it averages forever.

Pardon me, hic, for the misquote, but I know of what I speak.

**** lethal stuff, in my experience.

Don't ever, ever, even think of chasing it with the Orcadian stuff they call Skull. Not even once.

Stronsay would not be inhabited if they even knew what I'm talking about.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Too late, my friend. I have a selection of Highland Park vintages in my drinks cabinet right now.
I've been on the stuff for 30 years at least.

Which may explain a lot!

[Boac]

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[FD2]

Andrew Neil, one of, or the best of, the political interviewers, calls it as he sees it and has resolutely refused to support the left or right in politics or politicians and skewers them both the same. He has just written this interesting piece. Ignore the fact that it's in the Daily Mail, it seems pretty even to me.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... l-War.html

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Rubbish.
The article that is, not you FD2 - thanks for posting it.
Neil avoids blaming any of the mess the USA is in directly on the Democrats, despite mountains of evidence for that, and dismissing Trump as a cult is just a cheap trick to avoid discussing any of the legitimate concerns his supporters have.
And at the root of the crisis Neil is talking about IS the refusal of both the MSM and the Government to either hold government to account or admit these concerns exist, and he is part of that.

And none of what I've just said is, or should be taken as, approval of Trump.

[FD2]

It appears to me as a distant observer that in the last election it could have been won by a baboon - it was anyone but Trump - but the new incumbent and his various disparate groups of supporters are doing nothing about the very obvious mental state of the President (and I worry about the Vice President, but more because for competency) - they are both liabilities in a very unstable world. And Biden's people realise they'd lose the next election without doubt and have very poor results at the mid-terms. I won't get involved in the internal US accusations and counter accusations but...for God's sake put up some worthy candidates next time!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Worthy candidates?
You mean, like Trudy, Boris, Macron or Scholz?

It's an Idiocracy almost everywhere now.
The only person you can trust to do anything right is yourself,
so maximum autonomy is what is needed, in practice.