COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, July 20, 2012

Mass Shooting at Batman Film Premier in Denver


Gun attack at Batman film premiere in Denver

Breaking news
Many casualties have been reported after a shooting at a Batman film premiere in the US city of Denver.
Police said 30 to 40 people had been injured in the incident, Colorado state's 850 KOA radio reported.
A reporter for the 9News website at the scene says a gunman opened fire at the movie cinema complex in Aurora, where three theatres had a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
Witnesses said someone wearing a gas mask opened fire.
There were also reports of a lot of smoke.
Reuters news agency quoted a local reporter saying 10 people had died, but this is unconfirmed.
The Swedish Medical Center, which is not the area's main hospital, told the BBC it had received three gunshot victims.
Many ambulances are at the scene and it not clear if there is an active manhunt for the shooter.
NBC News reports that one suspect was in custody.
A witness told 9News that during a shooting scene in the film he heard loud bangs and a lot of smoke and initially thought they were live special effects put on by the cinema.
Projectiles came through the wall from the neighbouring theatre screening, where it appears the shooting occurred.

50 comments:

  1. Deadliest day in Syria as army makes gains in Damascus
    Syrian activists say 310 people were killed across the country on Thursday in what was the single deadliest day of fighting since the beginning of the revolt against President Bashar Assad's regime.

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  2. A month of scorching temperatures across the country's midwest has sent corn and soybean prices to record highs, while wheat prices have reached levels not seen since the last food crisis in 2008.

    The severest drought since 1956 in America's agricultural heartland has dashed the hopes that were alive just a couple of months ago of a bumper harvest. Traders and economists warned that the effect will ripple out from the US because it is the world's biggest producer of corn and a major supplier of soybeans and wheat.

    Pray for rain.

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    Replies
    1. Nay, dance for rain. Might as well get some exercise and have a good time, cause it's mostly too late already.

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  3. What a cowardly act by a cowardly man. Ambushing men, women and children in a crowded theatre. There's a special place waiting for you in hell.

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  4. It's pathetic, not tragedy, you moron.

    A little girl eating an ice cream cone getting flattened by a truck is pathetic too. King Lear going down due to a character flaw is tragic.

    b

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  5. We need gun control.

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    Replies
    1. If only ONE person had a concealed carry in that theater...

      Gun controls? How about more legal, responsible people WITH guns...

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  6. Adam West was taught psychology by my unca Jerry at Whitman College in Walla Walla.

    I need some spurs to go with my new boots. And a silver belt buckle.

    b

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  7. Ash, yes, I know. I horrible loss.

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    1. I did, indeed, think of you Gag, when I first heard the news. If only more folk had guns at the theater then things would have been more civilized!

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  8. Everything happens for a reason.

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  9. It is what it is.

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  10. This too shall pass.

    b

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  11. 7 Jews murdered, 50 wounded by a suicide bomber after boarding a tour bus in bulgaria.

    this on the 40th anniversary of the Iranian murderous attack on the Jewish Community Center in Argentina...

    No one gives a shit..

    Syria has 155 civilians murdered yesterday, no one gives a shit...

    no one gives a shit...

    wake up, protect yourselves, don't wait for others to do it for you

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  12. Maybe I'm wrong, and don't have any stats at all to back me up, maybe it's just an impression, but it seems to me the single shooter mass slaying deal is mostly a white phenomenon, while the drive by bullet spray in a car full of punks, and other ganged together action is mostly black.

    b

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  13. .

    Ford C-MAX hybrid takes a run at Prius.

    C-MAX

    .

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  14. Seems that James Holmes was manufacturing incendiary devices, so even if handguns, shotguns and rifles were unavailable to him, the improvised explosive devices he had in his apartment could have served his murderous intent.

    The question that came to my mind ...

    Why were so many children at that "midnight" premier?
    If their parents were responsible citizens, would not those kids have been home in bed?

    I was with a Child Protective Services employee the other night at a wedding party the other day, she was concerned that the kids were still there, at sundown. She thought it irresponsible of the parents, to keep those kids out, after dark.

    If she'd been there in Colorado, she'd have made a scene, prior to that midnight movie.
    Might have saved a life, or two.

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    Replies
    1. The goal of getting more guns in the hands of more people is to ensure more murder and mayhem in the ensuing shoot 'em up!

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    2. Yuppers AG Holder is behind this fo sho.
      ....
      Idaho man persecuted by Obama for making stuff work, being successful and such, even though he didn't do it himself, then giving some of the money he didn't make himself to the Romney campaign --

      nice video of the guy --

      http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/20/irs-labor-department-persecute-idaho-man-after-appearing-on-obamas-enemies-list/

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  15. The Agua Caliente solar project is delivering over 200 megawatts of power to the grid, and is about two-thirds complete. When it is completed, it should be generating a total of 290 MW.
    Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1iryi)


    Yuma County, Arizona is the construction site. On average, about 400 workers are employed in completing the plant, which should be finished by 2014.

    “We look forward to the project’s continued success as we work together to meet California’s ambitious renewable energy goals. Solar projects like this are helping PG&E provide its customers with some of the nation’s cleanest electric power, more than half of which comes from sources that are renewable or emit no greenhouse gases,” said John Conway, PG&E’s Senior Vice President for Energy Supply.


    Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1iryi)

    Why don't the republicans ever talk about these stories?
    <a href="

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    1. Solar projects like this are helping PG&E provide its customers with some of the nation’s cleanest electric power, more than half of which comes from sources that are renewable or emit no greenhouse gases,” said John Conway, PG&E’s Senior Vice President for Energy Supply.


      More Than Half

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  16. Replies
    1. I'm glad some things seem to be working out, Rufus.

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    2. This is an election year, in case you haven't heard, and some things mustn't be spoken about, except things like how the ethanol industry is starving the children -

      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/07/quietly_a_food_crisis_brews.html

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    3. .

      Seventy-five percent of everything sold in a supermarket is affected by the price of corn. Besides the natural state, it's used in packaging, as an ingredient and as a filler in other foods, as feedstock for other critters, etc.

      Chicken is called corn with feathers. The price of beef and other livestock will also be affected.

      Even those cheap little taco shells.

      :)

      .

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  17. If those children were eating "field" corn, they were starving, anyway.

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  18. There is about $0.08 worth of Corn in a $4.00 box of Corn Flakes. I guess, now, there will be a dime's worth.

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  19. No, you could go back in the archives of any of the Domestic Fuel/Ethanol websites a couple of years, and find the various figures for "Corn content of Beef, Pork, Chicken, Corn Flakes, etc. There was quite a big argument about corn ethanol's impact on food costs back then.

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    1. By the way, those "cheap little taco shells" are made with white, sweet corn, not yellow field corn.

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    2. .

      Probably irrelevant. If the government mandates that a certain amount of corn will be used in producing ethanol, then the choice between making white, sweet corn or yellow field corn hardly becomes a choice I would think. I assume all of this is done by contract.

      As for the comment I above, I forgot to put my sarcasm font on or leave the smiley face. Sorry.

      However, I have posted here before a list of the numerous things that corn goes into from dairy products to feedstocks to syrups and sweeteners to cardboard and other packaging to binding agents to vegetable oil to crayons to chalk to medicines to ...well, you get the picture.

      I've posted an extensive but not exhaustive list of the things corn goes into here before. As I recall, it goes into more than 600 non-food related items.

      However, even if our grocery bills go up 10%, it probably won't be a tragedy. However, we are the biggest producer of corn in the world. If 30% of it is going for ethanol, that's 30% not going to food and other products. It might not hurt us to any great extent, but since we produce a third of the world's corn, I suspect it will hurt countries like Egypt where they spend 40% of their income on food.

      .

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    3. Don't forget corn whiskey -

      http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/442218

      The only question seems to be who drinks this shit, other than Rufus.

      (see article, and comments)

      b

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    4. "

      afterthought. I was proved right about my instincts about that last stuff, as I opened the jar about a month later, and the rubber ring on the lid had dissolved from the fumes"

      Permalink | Reply
      By chazzerking on Sep 22, 2007 10:14 PM


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    5. As in any good debate, or in more friendly terms--discusion--we must first define our terms.

      Bourbon v. Corn Whiskey

      Bourbon is made from a Mash Bill (recipe) that contains at least 51% corn.
      Corn Whiskey is made from a Mash Bill that contains at least 80% corn.

      SO, both Bourbon and Corn Whiskey have a high percentage of corn as raw material. There are four things that most effect the end result of any particular whiskey: the mash bill, the water used, the barrels used to age and the length of time the product is aged in those barrels. **This also assumes no other unique production processes** Of course there are nuances whiskey afficionados will recognize as also having an impact on the end product but for the most part, change one of these four things and the product will come out rather different as opposed to subtley different.

      Change two or more of these four factors and the end product will be REALLY different. In the case of Georgia Moon the Mash Bill and the ageing are different than most other whiskey on the market. There are a couple other entries, mostly from the same people that make Georgia Moon (Heaven Hill Distillery), but for the most part this is a unique spirit. When you take a 100% Corn Whiskey and don't age it at all you have something that is a fun sip during a distillery tour but otherwise a challenging beverage for most.

      While many Bourbons are, in balance, more corn based than anything else, they are carefully concocted with Mash Bill's that include other items like wheat or barley. Moreover, a Bourbon MUST be aged for at least 2 years in new charred white oak American barrels. Georgia Moon is aged in a stainless steel tank for as few DAYS as possible without a recipe that is based on anything other than trying to replicate a time where costs ruled the game.

      Now that being said, it might be a little closer to "moonshine" than most other products on the market. So it probably lives up to its marketing intentions. But it also can do a disservice to those who think corn based whiskey is not tasty becuase of their label...Bourbon is by definition, corn based. It just isn't so much darn corn. And it isn't so darn young. So I think this is basically a marketing based ploy to get our vision blured.

      And on a side note, to further the idea that this is a marketing ploy, I doubt they actually distill this product to 50% alcohol/100 proof. I am just speculating, but I would bet this is cut with water after a second distillation that comes out closer to 130 proof. But just a guess.

      Now I can answer your question. Who drinks this stuff?

      1. Rubes who like great packaging and something presented as nostalgic. That includes me, who has bought it before. Twice.

      2. Distillery workers.

      3. Distillery tour goers.

      4. Those who feel they need to prove themselves by what they drink.

      5. Those with both a totally non-functioning tongue and a highly-functioning liver.

      Permalink | Reply
      By ellaystingray on Feb 23, 2009 10:48 PM


      Rufus would seem to fit the profile of #'s 3,4,5.

      b

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    6. :), of course

      b

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  20. Egypt imports wheat to feed people; its imports of corn are minimal to nonexistent.

    Our corn exports (20% of the crop) go, primarily, to Asia to feed livestock (basically, beef, to feed ^Rich^ People.)

    Of the remaining 80%, 3/4ths of that goes to feeding domestic livestock. Most of the rest goes to sweeten beverages. A small amount goes to corn flakes, etc.

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    1. .

      Again, more or less irrelevant.

      It matters little where US exports are sold to or how they are used there. Like oil, corn prices are largely determined by supply-and-demand relationships, in this case, within the U.S. market; and the rest of the world must adjust to prevailing U.S. prices.

      Brazil, for instance, since they are in the southern hemisphere, can plant more corn to somewhat offset shortages that occur in the US harvest but they will do so at the higher price set by the US market, at least that's what the USDA website says.

      Therefore, when prices rise in the US, the rest of the world suffers.

      .

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    2. US corn is king. Drives the price of barley and much more too, here and abroad.

      b

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    3. .

      By the way, Egypt consumes about 50% more wheat than they do corn. They import about half of their usage for both products. On wheat, about 1/6 of the imports come from the US. On corn, about 90% comes from the US.

      Egypt consumes about 11,000 (thousand metric tons) of corn per year, about the same as Canada. Now Egypt has twice the population of Canada but I doubt Canada is using the corn entirely for food.

      .

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  21. Here is one thing we won’t have to suffer from:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President George W. Bush is skipping the Republican National Convention next month in Tampa, Fla., where presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney will officially become the party's standard-bearer.

    "President Bush was grateful for the invitation," his spokesman, Freddy Ford, said Friday in an email. He added that the 43rd president "is confident that Mitt Romney will be a great president. But he's still enjoying his time off the political stage and respectfully declined the invitation to go to Tampa."

    Bush's presence at the convention could undercut Romney's argument that he knows better than President Barack Obama when it comes to improving the wobbly economy. A CBS News/New York Times poll this month found more voters say Bush deserves the bulk of the blame for the nation's economic downturn than think Obama bears a lot of the responsibility. Almost two-thirds of voters think Romney's economic policies would mirror Bush's at least somewhat.


    Bush should be going to Obama’s convention. He and the Republicans that supported him created the Obama presidency.

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  22. No one was armed in the theater. That cinema chain has a strict 'no guns allowed' policy of course. So he went through there like the muslims going through the Mumbai mall. The shooter, who was even wearing body armor I read, ignored the policy of the cinema.

    This -

    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/17/video-excellent-concealed-carrier-stops-an-armed-robbery/

    - is a better way. Geezer stops armed robbery in internet cafe in its tracks.
    (posted it before I think)

    b

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