-Proverb
Our saviour: The soldier, whose gun is circled, helps two women to safety. His identity has been protected for security reasons
I love coffee. But I don’t drink it everyday. Nor do I need the caffeine-fix. I simply like the taste. When I was growing up, I used to love going to Japan and having bottled coffee milk. It was like chocolate milk; but coffee flavored, and sweet. They no longer sell those. Just watered down iced coffee beverages.
Starbucks Frappuccinos are somewhat reminiscent of my favorite childhood drink in Japan. But it leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth. And frankly, I prefer Coffee Bean’s pure vanilla ice-blended.
Well, 6 days ago Starbucks left another bad taste in my mouth:
Our company’s longstanding approach to “open carry” has been to follow local laws: we permit it in states where allowed and we prohibit it in states where these laws don’t exist. We have chosen this approach because we believe our store partners should not be put in the uncomfortable position of requiring customers to disarm or leave our stores. We believe that gun policy should be addressed by government and law enforcement—not by Starbucks and our store partners.
Recently, however, we’ve seen the “open carry” debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening. Pro-gun activists have used our stores as a political stage for media events misleadingly called “Starbucks Appreciation Days” that disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of “open carry.” To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores. Some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction, including soliciting and confronting our customers and partners.
For these reasons, today we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas—even in states where “open carry” is permitted—unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel.
I would like to clarify two points. First, this is a request and not an outright ban. Why? Because we want to give responsible gun owners the chance to respect our request—and also because enforcing a ban would potentially require our partners to confront armed customers, and that is not a role I am comfortable asking Starbucks partners to take on. Second, we know we cannot satisfy everyone. For those who oppose “open carry,” we believe the legislative and policy-making process is the proper arena for this debate, not our stores. For those who champion “open carry,” please respect that Starbucks stores are places where everyone should feel relaxed and comfortable. The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers.
I am proud of our country and our heritage of civil discourse and debate. It is in this spirit that we make today’s request. Whatever your view, I encourage you to be responsible and respectful of each other as citizens and neighbors.
Starbucks is free to not only make such a request of its patrons; but to ban firearms on its own premises, if so desired.
Peggy Noonan in an interview with the CEO:
The company, which has some 10,000 stores and 160,000 employees in the U.S., is asking customers who carry handguns in open-carry states to please not bring their guns into the store. It’s hard to believe this will be taken as controversial or as anything other than reasonable, fair and sane, but we are an interesting country.
I spoke to Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz this afternoon, by phone.
Why did you do this? Why does Starbucks have to have a position on people bringing guns in for coffee?“We are not a policy maker and we’re not on any level anti-gun. But over the past four months there’s been episodes in and around our stores that alarmed us. Advocates on both sides [of the gun debate] began to stage events in and around Starbucks stores that mischaracterized Starbucks’ brand and position. That was not in the interests of our company, our shareholders and employees. So open-carry comes, and we abide by the law. But it began to disturb us, the number of customers and children who became alarmed at seeing people in the store carrying guns. . . . We had a couple situations the past few weeks where some people walked in with rifles! [Some local Starbucks stores] became a staging area for the argument over Second Amendment rights. We’re not pro-gun or anti-gun, and we decided to respectfully ask gun owners to leave their guns out of Starbucks.”
And yet by this request not to bring firearms on their premises is indeed taking a position; one on the side of the anti-gun advocates. They are not taking a neutral position. Think of the reverse reasoning if it read: ….it began to disturb us, the number of customers and children who became alarmed at seeing people in the store not carrying guns. . . . We had a couple situations the past few weeks where some people walked in without rifles!
Why did Starbucks become a theater of the gun debate?
“Our stores are a meeting place, coffee’s been part of conversation for hundreds of years” he said. This fact “became a natural opportunity for people to use us as a staging ground.”
How do you imagine this working—how do people who carry guns in open-carry states disarm themselves to get a cup of coffee?
“This decision was made through the lens of our values. . . . It’s not a ban. We’ll serve customers and not ask them to leave. . . . I personally have spent endless hours on this issue. I’ve spoken to passionate advocates on both sides.” He notes that two members of the Starbucks board are former Defense Secretary Bob Gates and former Sen. Bill Bradley. The board voted in support of the request. “We viewed this through the lens of bipartisanship.”
~~~Everyone probably asks you if you have guns. Do you have guns?
“I’m not gonna answer it because I don’t think it’s about me.”
Frankly, I feel safer when good citizens are trained and armed.
And in light of the Nairobi Mall terror attack, there is heightened concerns about the possibility of our own malls being staging grounds for future terror attacks.
Would you rather be among sheep or among sheepdog when the wolves come to play?
The Daily Mail has a possible answer:
A former marine emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives.
The ex soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall when it was attacked by Islamists on Saturday.
With a gun tucked into his waistband, he was pictured helping two women from the complex.
His story emerged as sporadic gunfire continued to ring out from inside the mall early today as Kenyan security forces battled Al Qaeda-linked terrorists into a fourth day.
The former soldier is said to have returned to the building on a dozen occasions, despite intense gunfire.
A friend in Nairobi said: ‘What he did was so heroic. He was having coffee with friends when it happened.
‘He went back in 12 times and saved 100 people. Imagine going back in when you knew what was going on inside.’
I wonder what coffee shop he was hanging out in? [/snicker]
Homegrown Islamic terror is a problem. How many radicalized youths come from Somali descent? In the Nairobi attack, 3 of the terrorists might be Americans, with one a British female:
The attacker from Britain was a woman who has ‘done this many times before,’ Mohamed said which lends weight to speculation that the so-called ‘White Widow’, Samantha Lewhwaite may have taken part in the raid.
U.S. officials said they were looking into whether any Americans were involved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that the department had ‘no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities’ of the attackers.
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
@Greg: If not Batman then surely Charlie Bronson. The height of ego to suggest I need him to protect my family.That is macho posturing.
Semper Fi
@CJ, #51:
I spent a year at war with the fully automatic predecessor of the weapon in the photo. As far as I’m concerned, the fewer of its descendants I see in civilian life, the better.
@Richard Wheeler: I never said you need me to protect your family. That’s not why I carry. I carry to protect ME. But, I will gladly step in front of a bullet to protect anyone around me from a criminal. It’s the height of ignorance to even suggest that I said something I didn’t.
@Greg:
So, in other words, you took an oath to defend a constitution you don’t defend? Sounds like the statement of a hypocrite to me.
C.J. There are about 8ooo Starbucks in the U.S. There has never been a shooting. Are you really carrying a semi-automatic weapon in public to protect yourself.
Are you as concerned about what you eat and how much you eat? Do you get an hour of exercise everyday? A healthy lifestyle is gonna keep you around longer than a rifle will.
@Richard Wheeler:
There are about 8ooo Starbucks in the U.S. There has never been a shooting. Are you really carrying a semi-automatic weapon in public to protect yourself.
Are you as concerned about what you eat and how much you eat?
I’m in the Army-everyone gets at least one hour of exercise each day. I, however, get TWO hours of either bike riding or kayaking each day. Again, thanks for caring about my health. I sure hope you’re taking care of yourself as well. Obviously, your mind needs more exercise, though.
@CJ: All the armed people in Starbucks? Now that’s funny.
@Richard Wheeler: #27
Why is it that people so often imagine only negative, demeaning reasons for someone doing something that the speaker doesn’t like? The only reason that you can imagine for open carry is “macho posturing”? Really?
I live in Georgia, where open carry is legal with a carry permit. Concealed carry is uncomfortable at the best of times, miserable in the summer. Adding clothing that will conceal a weapon just makes it worse. If it’s hot outside and I’m in a situation where I must be armed (shopping with my grandchildren, for example), then I have no problem with carrying openly. Not because I’m “macho”, but because I am old, lame, and accompanied by one or more people that I must be able to protect at all costs.
I make no apologies for the fact that the security of people who depend on me trumps anyone else’s “feelings”.
Anyone who makes decisions using logic instead of emotions will realize that a person carrying openly is almost certainly not a danger to others. The criminals will not be the ones who are visibly armed. So if seeing me on the rare occasion that I’m openly carrying makes you uncomfortable, well, I’m not willing to give up security to spare anyone’s feelings. The world is a dangerous place, you deal with it your way, I’ll deal with it mine. I won’t interfere with your rights in so doing, please don’t interfere with mine.
@Richard Wheeler: #58
Well, he also has to travel to and from Starbucks. They aren’t all located in safe places. Wasn’t there a man killed outside of a family restaurant recently in a “Justice for Trayvon” moment? Parking lots can be dangerous places.
Petercat
I will join your crowd and CJ CROWD ANY TIME,
there are too many lunatics around , especialy in the FULL MOON,
THEY CANNOT RESIST THE TASTE OF BLOOD SHED,
it’s genetic with them.
better safe than sorry,
@Greg: #53
As far as I’m concerned, after my years in the Army, the fewer green vehicles that I see in civilian life, the better. But I’m not going to try to prevent others from owning green vehicles, as long as they do so lawfully and don’t use them to harm the innocent.
@ilovebeeswarzone: #61
Thank you, Bees, you will always be welcome around me and CJ and our crowds. (I believe that I can speak for him on this!)
Not only will you be safe, you will be VERY well entertained! As will we…
Richard Wheeler
is too arrogant to be brave,when a killer appear at the door,
I will tell GENERAL MATTIS , THAT YOU ARE HUSTLEING an ARMY HIGH GRADED OFFICER,
@Petercat, #60:
That depends on how easy it’s made for people to openly carry firearms. My impression is that there are a great many people who lack the maturity and judgement necessary to safely carry a firearm in public, but who would likely qualify to do so if the only criteria is the lack of a worrisome police record. The American entertainment industry has spun too many fantasies around firearms over the years. A lot of overly impressionable, marginally mature, and/or marginally stable people aren’t really entirely rational about how they view them.
If you put a gun in every such person’s possession and let them carry them pretty much anywhere they want, I think there are very good, entirely logical reasons to believe that public safety will not be increased as a result.
GREG
PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, AND EACH INDIVIDUAL ARE DIFFERENT,
some are honorable and care for their surrounding they want it safe for other as well as themselves,
there are some of those, we should be thanking them,
instead of persecute them with negative remarks or arrogant shot,
they are the braves of the USA, LET THEM BE THEM, THEY ARE NEEDED AND FEW,
Petercat
nice, and I APPRECIATE IT GREATLY.
BEST TO YOU,
@Greg: #65
In Georgia, the only requirement is a clean criminal history and no record of mental illness, which makes this on of the most lenient of the CCW states.
Holders of the GA CCW permit have a lower rate of criminal convictions than the general population, so your supposition is unfounded.
In fact, that is true for CCW holders nationwide.
I believe in punishing people because they have harmed another, not because they might. That includes punishing by restricting their freedoms.
@Greg: And your impression is not based on fact, but on emotion and personal bias. Look at states like Georgia, Montana, Arizona and others that allow open carry and you’ll see that their crime rate is lower than states banning guns. In fact, since passing constitutional carry in Arizona the crime rate has dropped nearly 40%. So your fears are unsubstantiated and the sooner you recognize your ignorant bias and actually educate yourself by reading real statistics instead of relying on Mother Jones, Huffington Post, and our “gun loving” administration, the sooner you’ll wake up and stop trying to strip me of my rights.
@CJ: #69
The anti-gun people are very fond of using their imaginations in worst-case scenarios:
“But if we allow this, then these bad things will happen!”
And then “this” is allowed, and not only do bad things not happen, bad things are reduced.
But the anti-gun folks won’t acknowledge their errors, they will just move on to the next imaginary crisis. Their dire predictions regarding easing gun controls have failed every time, and their answer is… stiffer gun controls!
They aren’t stupid, so easing criminal misuse of firearms is not their true goal. Citizen control is their true goal, gun control is just a convenient vehicle.
So, a complete stranger should be able to casually stroll through a playground or crowded shopping mall carrying a shotgun or samurai sword on his shoulder, and expect no concern on the part of anyone simply because he’s otherwise behaving normally?
It seems to me that reductio ad absurdum would bring most thoughtful people up short long before you would have the law becoming an obstacle.
@Greg: Yep. Why not?
@CJ:
Clearly Greg has never been to a renaissance fair. Thousands of weapons including firearms carried responsibly by large numbers of polite people, and the public of all ages can even see live presentations of weapon use by trained individuals. Large siege weapons and cannons are also on hand and are sometimes fired. I usually bring my smallish trebuchet and we allow people (including children,) to fire wet sponges at each other with it.
@Greg: #71
“So, a complete stranger should be able to casually stroll through a playground or crowded shopping mall carrying a shotgun or samurai sword on his shoulder, and expect no concern on the part of anyone simply because he’s otherwise behaving normally? ”
No.
A complete stranger should be able to casually stroll through a playground or crowded shopping mall carrying a shotgun or samurai sword on his shoulder, as long as he harms no one else. Whether or not anyone feels concern is not his responsibility. I would myself keep an eye on him, but I would do the same for any complete stranger.
Bearing in mind that history has shown that the people who are intent on doing evil don’t display their weapons openly until they are ready to act.
I doubt if there would be much danger from a total stranger, anyway, unless we were in a “gun free” zone where he could be certain that he would be the only one who was armed.
Or unless he were a liberal.
How many mass assaults have there been in places where ordinary citizens were allowed to carry firearms, anyway?
And how many have been carried out by conservatives?
Aurora. Gun-free zone. Registered Democrat.
Columbine. Gun-free zone. Parents registered Democrats.
Navy yard. Gun free zone. Liberal Obama supporter.
Somebody posted a list here once, maybe they’ll post it again. All gun free zones, all liberal shooters. If Pelosi and company truly wanted to stop mass shootings, they would introduce a bill preventing liberals from possessing firearms. They could cast it as a mental health disqualifier.
@Ditto: #73
I thought it was a faire.
Something about strangers firing your trebuchet… never mind. Sorry.
@Petercat: I’m truly sorry that you live in a place, where as a senior citizen, you feel the need to be armed when you go shopping with your grand kids. Sad for them as well.
@Richard Wheeler: What a crock. Very Alinsky of you, Richard. Nearly every gun owner carries a gun with the hopes that it will NEVER be needed in their life. We don’t carry a gun because we’re scared. We carry a gun because the world is a scary place. It’s better to have one and never need it than to not have one the moment you need it. What a pathetic you made.
TIM SCOTT, he is very smart and A REPUBLICAN WITH THE LIKE OF the other, who
we see working hard to defund OBAMA CARE, HE’S ONE TO CHECK AS SPECIAL,
SENATOR THUNE SAY OBAMACARE IS A FRAUD,OBAMA SAY DOWN 25 THOUSAND DOLLAR IS REALLY 300 THOUSANDS UP,
AGAIN THEY SAY IT’S A DISASTER,
@CJ: You or Petercat may feel where you live is a “scary place.” Where I live definitely is not. I haven’t picked up a weapon since I got out of The Corps. I’m very glad I don’t need to. Nam was enough.
What’s Alinsky got to do with this?
@Greg: #48
The term “assault rifle” wasn’t used until the propaganda media invented it. The term was never used in any war. Why wasn’t it called an “assault rifle” during any of them? The AR in AR-15 stands for the company that invented it: Armalite Corporation. If any other letters would have been used, I’m guessing that the propaganda media would have come up with a slanted name for those letters too.
An “assault weapon” is anything a person uses to assault another person. There are assault knives, assault screwdrivers, assault bats, assault rocks, and even assault fists. Guns of any type are not assault weapons until someone uses them to ASSAULT someone else. Until then, they are DEFENSIVE WEAPONS.
Why doesn’t the propaganda media call sawed-off shotguns assault shotguns, since only people who want to kill other people with them seem to be the only ones who use them?
@Petercat: #70
This is why that no matter how much you try to change their minds, they have an agenda, and it comes first. Just like two armies fighting each other, each side tries to convince the other that it is best to give up. That is their ultimate goal.
That makes no sense whatsoever.
@Richard Wheeler: #79
If you don’t think California is a scary place, then that is the place you should be. You will fit right in. You must live in an elite part of the state. Don’t pay any attention to what is going on in your state. Ban guns throughout your state, let illegals get drive’s licenses, let them get welfare, over tax the rich so much they leave, etc. How long before the tax payers in your state are fewer than the ones on welfare? Keep your eyes closed long enough and you will see why more and more people are buying guns that never wanted to before.
I feel safe where I live because I know there are a lot of guns around me, and the ones who have them know how to use them. I’m sure nobody wants to shoot anybody, but they don’t want anybody to shoot them either.
@Greg:
You know, strangely enough, I feel more comfortable with weapons out in the open; I’d rather know who is carrying and who is not carrying, than left wondering.
Tactically, it makes sense to conceal carry if you want the element of surprise on your side; but if you want to avoid trouble and deter a criminally-minded person from acting, open-carry would be just such a deterrent.
@Richard Wheeler:
Maybe not Starbucks specifically, but do shootings ever happen at restaurants, stores, markets, grocery centers, theaters, malls, etc.? And in the absence of shootings by either white hats or criminals, has deadly crime ever taken place around a Starbucks?
Incidentally, there have been shootings in and around Starbucks….
….Aug 29th:
The Starbucks Shooter:
March 2008:
I believe this is the first shooting referenced in the above link:
July 3, 2008:
June 2012:
April 2012:
Feb 2008:
July 2009:
June 2012:
Would it be okay to bring a gun to a knife fight…or must I simply settle with the knife to defend myself against an assailant on “equal” terms?
March 2013:
Nov 2012:
June 2013:
Sept 2013:
Rich wrote:
Rich, that’s a really flawed comparison. Like saying why bother screening at airports for possible terrorists when your chances of being struck by lightning or any number of accidental ways to die are far greater than being the victim of a terror attack.
@CJ:
As I opened the post up with….
My state:
Whether you carry overtly or covertly that’s why you carry.
Salt Lake City police arrested a deranged man who wanted to kill as many people as possible on the anniversary of his mother’s death (Sept 25th).
It can happen at any time in any place.
I still vividly remember driving a little MG Midget with the top down when a young man on a bicycle with a rifle taped to his handlebars pulled the trigger next to me.
The bullet whizzed between me and my front window, hitting the curb across the street.
He got away.
An armored car robbery attempt took place in LB, CA just steps from the Starbucks on Pine Ave near 6th.
Too bad there wasn’t an armed citizenry sitting having coffee.
One of the guards was shot to death.
You might want to be a gardener, but you’d be better off to be a warrior who gardens.
@Petercat:
I’m not as picky about the spelling.
The idea is kind of along the lines of a dunking booth or water balloon slingshot. My “Treb” is of course a fully operational siege engine capable of tossing boulders or pumpkins, but it also has a kinder gentler side. Like using a SLBM to launch a marshmallow warhead, it’s all in how you use it.
Strangers are only allowed to pull the firing mechanism via a long cord, and I designed it so that the release can only be triggered by an operator standing outside of the swing path. When firing wet sponges, they are loaded into a metal bowl bolted to the end of the arm, (the sling having been removed for these “short range” projectiles). Our personnel load “cock” and insure that everything is done safely. The trebuchet is safety locked at all other times in case of wandering fools. It’s the same type of overseeing you would expect with novices in a gun store range. The only way a person could possibly get hurt, is if they put themselves directly in the path of the swing arm or weight basket, which is why we closely safety monitor.
@Richard Wheeler: 79
Do not condescend to me. You have not earned the privilege.
Just for your information, former Marine, the whole world is a dangerous place, and those who refuse to acknowledge that and take steps to deal with the animals amongst us are cowards and fools. I can name you any number of places where people like you have felt themselves and their families perfectly safe, only to have their nice, safe, little worlds erupt in violence and horror.
Like the mother in my state who was pushing an infant in a stroller down the sidewalk.
Or the families at a fair in Minnesota.
You feel that you live in a safe place where you can relax and zone out? Then you, Marine, are failing in your duty to remain ever vigilant to protect those whom you are duty-bound to protect.
No, sir, I know that the world is a dangerous place, and I am not so big a fool as to feel that my own little corner of it is not.
I also know that the world is a place that is filled with beauty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, kindness, friendship and magic, and it is THAT world that I will show to my children and grandchildren, while making certain that they are aware of, and prepared to deal with, the other.
Preparing to deal with evil by doing more than hiding their heads in the sand and waiting for someone else to deal with it, that is.
Because I’m no liberal/progressive/socialist whatever the word is today.
By the way, did anyone catch the reference above? I love them!
Yes, friends, *sigh* I am one of those people.
@Smorgasbord: #81
I know, *sigh*, I know.
But discussing things with people with whom I disagree is a great way to clarify my own thoughts. That is why I like having Greg here. Someone who can disagree with me in a courteous and intelligent way is an opponent that I can respect. Don’t…say…it… I know that there have been, shall we say, issues in the past, but I haven’t seen any lately. I will accept him for the man I see today.
Some of the others here, (liberal and conservative) well, meh. Arguing with children is no fun.
I hate it when a discussion here devolves to this: http://oglaf.com/beot/1/ (Warning: NSFW)
@Ditto: #87
Sounds like a lot of good fun. When we were in Germany, one of our friends built a working catapult in his back yard in Fulda. A neighbor called the Polizi, who’s reaction was “That is so cool! Does it work?”
@Nan G: #86
“I still vividly remember driving a little MG Midget with the top down”
Ah, brings back memories. My wife had a bright-red Spitfire. She drove it, I kept it running.
@Petercat: #89
Sometimes I will get in a discussion with one of the liberals just because there are probably new readers to FA, and I am mostly directing my comments to them, knowing that most of the liberals who comment here are set in their ways and will stay in obama’s pan until it is too late.
@Smorgasbord: #92
Yes, I remember when I first arrived here. Your comments and responses were very clarifying for a new reader.
@Petercat:
Oh, it’s loads of fun and with the wet sponges a nice fundraiser attraction. We ask passing parents, “would you like to shoot your children with a catapult?” (and visa versa to the kids.) even if they don’t want to, they get a chuckle out of it, and on hot sunny days kids beg to be targets over and over.
After seeing the French (John Cleese) “chuck” a cow with one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail I had to build one for my own.
@Petercat: #93
Thanks for the compliment. It’s nice to know that I have helped someone, as you and other conservatives have helped me. I just realized that that is another way conservatives and liberals differ. We help each other, and are glad when someone we help succeeds. Liberals seem to only want to bring conservatives down to their level.
This reminds me of when I was a commissioned salesperson at a Montgomery Ward store. The top salesman was always telling me how the company was just about to go under, and I should be looking for something else. This started to wear on me, until I realized what he was doing.
I was selling almost as much as he was, and since we were on commission, and only paid for what we sold, he saw me as a competitor, instead of a colleague. He was the type of salesman who would walk away from a customer if he didn’t think the item the customer was interested in was worth his time, and if he thought he could sell something higher priced to another customer.
After I figured out what he was doing, his complaining about the company became a pep talk, because I knew he was trying to get me to leave so he could sell to more customers. Each time he was done with one of his rants, I felt like selling everything in the store. This is how we have to react to the liberal agenda constantly being thrown at us. They want the USA to be a socialist or some other type of non-free country, and we are in the way. The more they complain about what we are doing, the more we know that we are doing the right thing. It’s if they ever STOP complaining about us that we should take a closer look at ourselves and find out what we are not doing that we should be doing, so come one liberals, GIVE US ANOTHER PEP TALK.
@Smorgasbord: #95
“We help each other, and are glad when someone we help succeeds.”
Congratulations, you just stuck the landing!
I used to teach photography, and can tell you from personal experience that there is no more awesome, majestic, soul-filling moment in a teacher’s career than when he is able to tell a student:
“There is nothing more that I can teach you.”
That moment when you realize that your student has surpassed you is the best moment ever!
@Petercat: #96
For years I have said that GOOD teachers are underpaid. I also know that a person can know more than anyone else about a subject, but can be lousy at teaching it. Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory comes to mind. Getting things into people’s heads is an art.
Well, there you have teacher’s unions and public education in a nutshell. The rules and promotions and tenure are structured to preserve mediocrity at all costs. Dedicated teachers are not rewarded for their efforts so they are that large proportion that drifts away after the first few years. The good ones leave. The useless drudges stay for a career.
Smorgasbord
yes, and not everyone can excel in teaching just because they pay their UNION’S FEE,
that’s what is going on in many schools and you cannot get them out,
or you have yourself a good fight to loose with the UNIONS TOP HEADS,
they could not care less of the teaching, and they protect their members regardless of the quality they give, they should be reduce to the right scale they belong to,
they are only in there for the money and power,
which is now OBAMA’S PANTS, they control election,
as we have seen, and get away with what they have done,
Anecdotal: A farrier friend of mine, for whom I had just finished a day’s work in another state with carry laws, asked if I was packing. I replied that it’s not legal back home. He looked at me like I was losing my mind and said, “I carry when I am there.”
He pulled out a small feed sack from a hidden place in his console, and then showed me a revolver with an engraving dating from 1911 with a lieutenant’s name on it. The pistol was in excellent shape. He told me he would rather be alive defending himself in court than dead with no legal obligations.
A devout Mormon, this man would be less likely to commit a crime than me, but when he travels to my state to work, he doesn’t want to die because a criminal plans to rob and or kill him. I live in a violent part of the country, with heavy drug trafficking and an overflow of illegal aliens with nothing to lose.
This man and myself often carry fairly large amounts of cash from our businesses and some people are aware of the money that can be made after a long day.
I am the type of person who avoids altercations with people and the law, but I am thinking, especially after reading of the above altercations with the criminal element, it may be time to defend myself or be ready to defend myself.
I was driving home last night and talking to my soul mate, who is a beautiful younger woman (former model). She said she was scared and wanted to know how much longer, before I arrived home. Unfortunately, traffic was bad and it was going to be several more hours. I reminded her that her father, a former Marine and CIA officer of three different wars was coming to live with us, but she said he is in his late 80’s. I told her that his age was not a factor and a Marine with a rifle was one of the most dangerous things in the world, for bad actors.
I am at my wit’s end. To be legal, I must talk my way out of a violent confrontation, which I did once, or be willing to take a bullet; my Mormon friend refuses to be a victim in some morgue. I am leaning towards becoming a potential felon, and packing a pistol for when I sleep in rest areas or along deserted highways. I fear no man in personal battle, but I know I can do nothing to save myself when the bullets are fired. I say again, I live in a high crime area.
@Skookum: #100
When I was an over the road truck driver, I carried a single-stack alloy framed 9mm in an appendix holster. Small, slim and light. It was taking a chance, but without it I felt that I was taking a worse chance. Criminals seem to know that interstate truckers usually can’t carry firearms, depending on which states that they enter and their company rules.
And they’re not going to hang around for multiple appearances that drag on for months, as a prosecution witness. For that reason, a lot of crimes against truckers go unreported due to being dropped for lack of a witness.
Truck parking lots can be lonely places, indeed.
There is no federal regulation on truckers and guns, by the way.
A driver for my old company foiled a robbery by showing a handgun to the man who was trying to break into his truck in NYC. The robber ran off and called the police, who arrested the driver. By the time he got out of jail a week later, his truck had been stripped clean.
The DA refused to prosecute, but the driver was fired.
At least he was alive and healthy enough to look for another job.