What Mark Longhurst and Sky News didn't realise about Pulse attack

Last night during the Sky News paper review at 10:30 (it wasn't repeated at 11:30) Owen Jones, who is someone I admittedly don't always agree with tried to make the point that the attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando was a direct homophobic attack. In a heated exchange in which Mark Longhurst the host and Julia Hartley-Brewer tried to down play the homophobic element of the attack Longhurst said "you don't have ownership of this horror cause you're gay."

I for one, and reading social media late last night, must of the LGBT+ community were outraged by such a reaction. We saw that comment for what it was a white, straight, cis-gendered, male not understanding that an attack on a minority grouping is not merely an attack on freedom, or an attack on humans having fun. This WAS and attack on the LGBT+ community. It was the realisation of many in the LGBT+ communities' worse fears.

If ISIS are throwing people some as young as nine off buildings in the areas they control for believing them to be gay, and they are carrying out attacks in the west, who might they attack here? Well of course one of the worse fears is that someone would claim to attack a gay venue or event in the name of IS. This is what happened in the early hours of Sunday morning and it is now the worse mass shooting in American history. So yeah the LGBT+ community can see that Owen Jones was right this was an attack on LGBT+ people. It was the realisation of our worst nightmare write large of the situation in our world today.

Julia Hartley-Brewer dismissed the attacked as "mad and bad" or as a "lunatic" bit for whatever reason he drove 90 miles and had premeditated to carry out this atrocity. The use of such words do not reflect what happened. This was someone with a seriously different world view to the established liberal, western mentality, even more so that the small c conservative mentality. But there are other people with a similar mind set out there who may well be planning something similar: a similar act to instil terror in the LGBT+ individuals.

In other words an Act of Terrorism against the LGBT+ communities.

Yet Sky News chose to mock the use of those words from someone who identifies as a gay man, someone in tune with the fear that is flowing out there amongst LGBT+ viewers. They negated the sense of terror that many LGBT+ people had heightened as a result of this attack, the mocked it in a way which is in itself homophobic in nature by ignoring the real concerns of all those individuals and merely seeing this in their own eyes.

It is therefore not surprising that I see that the segment which even Sky had deemed that they could not repeat has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

 

NRA Fact and Cost Check

So the National Rifle Association have finally spoken after the shootings at Sandy Hook. Basically they have said "Don't take our guns away, but place an armed police office at every school."

So lets look at the stats:

There are 98,917 public schools and 33,366 Private schools (2009-10 figures)

At a mean $26.74 per hour (2010 national mean), say a 40 hour week to cover arrival and departure times as well as teaching time that comes to $141.5Bn M per week

Typically with 36 weeks per year that is $5.094 Trillion Billion per year

Now there are only 644,300 Police Officers in the whole of the United States, therefore during the school year 132,283 of these or approximately 1 in 5 will be spending their entire working week on school protection detail. So there would have to be some sort of scheme to overcome the short fall in crime prevention, investigation and protection of the general public.

Now surely we can find cheaper ways to protect the school children from the bad men with guns, rather than having good guys with guns (another NRA quote) there?

Update sorry I was miscounting my zeroes Billions were millions and trillions merely billions

"The streets of heaven...

...are crowded with too many angels tonight." from The West Wing

The news from Newtown, Connecticut today is not good.

A man walked into an Elementary School, for children aged 5-11 and opened fire. 18 young children died at the scene, 2 more died at the nearby hospital. Six adults were dead in the school teachers and/or administrators, there is also another adult dead in the town.

This is more school children killed, at a far younger age, than the Columbine shootings.

Already the two sides in America are taking sides on the issue of gun control and the right to bear arms. The actually second amendment read at the time it was suggested:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Now the state funded militias are what has become the National Guard. So these are the regulated people that now for the security of a free state should have the right to bear Arms. The militia at the founding of the Union was any citizen that could fire a rifle but these days that has change, national service is not required and the threat of the occupying force coming back to claim its territory. 

No doubt the argument will rage again. But 20 children possible as young as six lost their lives today. They were no armed but a man in his twenties was, and came into their classroom and took their lives. How is the security of those children protected when everyone can get hold of a firearm. 

I'm not going to look solely at the raw figures of over 30,000 gun related homicides but look at it per capital.

In 2011 there was 9 gun related deaths per 100,000 of the USA's population. To be fair only 3.25 were from homicides or unintended reasons (the rest were suicides). 

Switzerland where ever man over 18 and under 60 has a fire arm as part of he nations defense force the figure was only 6.4 of which 0.73 were homicides or  unintended. In France the total was 3, 0.06 from homicide, UK 0.22 total 0.03 by homicide. German figures indicate 1.1 all of which are recorded as homicide.

But, I'll conclude as I began. The streets of heaven are crowded with too many angels tonight, so here is that clip.

 

Thank you for being inspirational Congresswoman Giffords

A little over a year ago I suspect like most other people in the UK I couldn't tell you the name of the Representative for the Arizona 8th District in Congress.

But when she was holding a Congress on Your Corner event in the Safeway store in Casas Adobes, to the NW of Tuscon her name became etched on many people's memory. Not because she was going out to meet the people but because of the actions of a gunman who shot her and , killed a staffer, a Federal Judge, 3 pensioners and a girl born on 11 September 2001 (yes that 9-11). Eleven others were injured in the shooting.

That congresswoman was Gabriele Giffords. Her recovery since then has been long and arduous, but none the less a little miraculous. She survived a head injury and has spent the past year getting back her motions, her speech, her cognitive functions, if not her memories of the day those shots rang out.

When she appeared in the House of Representatives on 1 August 2001, her first appearance there since the shooting, to vote in support of raising the debt limit ceiling, she received a standing ovation from her colleagues. She had previously been seen in public on 16 May at Kennedy Space Centre to see the launch of the last USS Endeavour Space Shuttle mission under the command of her husband Captain Mark E. Kelly. On that mission her wedding ring went into space with her husband while she kept his on earth awaiting his return.

On Sunday she announced that she would be stepping down from Congress this week, as she still had recovery ahead. However, she also promised that we hadn't seen the last of her and that she will be back. I certainly hope so.

So Gabby I wish you well as you continue to recover and I hope that the world has not seen the last of you as an active politician. You thank the people of the Arizona 8th for their patience, of the world for their prayers, but I'm sure we all want to thank you for the inspiration you have been over the last year.

Here is her announcement video.

Christina Taylor Green Born 9/11/01

If you were a mother who went into labour, or a father who was pacing the corridors and by your wife's side on the day that the World will  remember you would no doubt what a brighter future for your daughter or son.

 For John Green a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and his wife Roxana that is that they thought lay ahead for their daughter Christina. She loved her ballet and had recently shown an interest in politics being elected unto her school council. It was that interest in politics that prompted a neighbour to take her along to a "Congress on Your Corner" meeting being held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords yesterday.

Sadly that nine year old who had featured in the book "Faces of Hope, Babies Born on 9/11" took a bullet in the chest and was later pronounced dead at Arizona University Medical Centre. She was born on a day of immense tragedy for her country, for the world, she has sadly died on another as a victim of violence. Irrespective on what led the gunman to doing what he did, the lose of life so full of early promise is a travesty.

Updated: Gabrielle Giffords shot, child amongst six dead; staffers and others injured

Rep. Giffords with her husband Capt. Mark E Kelly NASA Astronaut

Originally posted at 21:06:

The news this evening that Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been shot  point blank shot to her head while out campaigning is harrowing news. The fact that some of her staffers and others in the grocery store when she was holding her first Congress on Your Corner were hurt or killed sadly highlights that in some cultures where guns are readily available, reaching out into the community isn't always safe. The fact is that a nine year old child, Christina Taylor Green, has died in hospital as a result and eight others are being treated, four others along with the congresswoman in a critical state. Update: It has now been confirmed that at least five other people were killed. As they were not taken the the hospital as reported earlier they may have been pronounced dead at the scene.

Update: The other dead have been named John Roll, chief judge on the U.S. Distroct Court of Arizona and Gabe Zimmerman the congresswoman's director ofcommunity outreach. Along with three elderly consitituents Dorwin Stoddard, 76, Dorthy Murray, 76, and Phyllis Scheck, 79.

The 3rd term representative for the Arizona 8th Congressional District was Arizona's first Jewish congresswoman. Her election in 2006 was against the former Republican Senator Randy Graf who was famous for his enforcement only position on immigration and illegal immigrants. Her debut congressional race was therefore often mentioned in the run up to polling day as a test bed for Arizona's tough immigration stance. Last year she retained her seat for a second time after defeating on the 'top ten' Tea Party Republicans Jesse Kelly. She is a pro-choice, pro-stem cell research, has spoken up for the immigrants which in a state like Arizona are all controversial subjects.

The events surrounding her shooting still remain a mystery. There have been numerous time in campaigns that I have been on walkabouts or events with the candidate, if indeed I am not the candidate myself. In fact I think in all four of the hustings I have even done as a parliamentary candidate on each occasion I was sat next to the person who was defending his seat. We're fortunate that the number of political assassinations or attempted assassinations in the UK have been few and far between. But would an increasedrisk make me any less likely to go a walk behindmy party leader, a candidate or go myself as the candidate out in public? No, my love for politics and helping others is what is and always will drive me on. Therefore those staffers and the congresswomen have been injured doing something they love, indeed have a passion for.

But while we of course all express our concern for her husband, who was to be the commander of the last Space Shuttle on Endeavour, scheduled for April, and family and sympathy for the family of the child who has died, there is also needs for the families of the other eight who are affected by this incident. Many of them were just going about their work helping their congresswoman, some appear to have been attending a public gathering that she had arranged. They were going about their democratic right to gather to talk about their future, making things better.

"For those that are fighting for their lives, it is time to pray" Mayor of Tuscon live at 21:05 GMT speaking at press conference at Arizona University Medical Centre

Update Somebody has recently unearthed this rather harrowing, in light of today's events, news piece from 25 March last year about threats of violence against some Democratic Representatives including Rep. Giffords

Update 2  While I am not putting a blame on any source, some of the imagery that did exist on Sarah Palin's website for those of her opponents that needed to be removed from office looks a bit sick in light of today's events. The Website is currently down and many are speculating that this list of Democratic congressional districts will either be removed or severely modified in the mean time.

Why We Still Need Pride

If anyone ever asks why there is still the need for Pride marches let them look at the events that took place over the weekend; the 41 anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

First off in the City that my family is strongly linked to Derry/Londonderry where a gay couple were attacked as they made their way home in the wee small hours of Saturday morning. Police are treated their attack as a homphobic incident. It has left them both heavily traumatised.

However, it pails beside what happened in San Francisco on the 4oth Anniversary of the first Pride Parades which themselves marked the first anniversary of Stonewall. There a man pulled a gun in the crowd shot one 19 year-old dead and injured two other revellers.

Coming on the weekend before the US Supreme Court decided to restrict the rights of city and state governments to impose controls on gun ownership. It makes you wonder how many more innocent lives will have to be lost before someone in America with the power wakes up the epidemic of gun related crime that is so easy to perpetrate because there is no control on ownership.

Mind you these are two incidents in more tolerant countries of the world. Of course there is a lot more at risk in many other territories. There are places where the state can take your freedom or your live for being who you are. There is still a lot more to be done, as the Amnesty Pride sticker said "Protect the Human: Love is a Human Right".

Cumbria

Yesterday afternoon when I heard that a gunman was shooting people in Whitehaven, my first thoughts were of my cousin who works in the town. As soon as I could I was checking on that first port of call in our social media age Facebook, to see if she had updated her profile to tell us she was OK. Thankfully she had, but for 12 others the news was not so great and further 25 had been injured.

After Hungerford and Dunblane our guns laws in the UK have become some of the most stringent in the world. But there are sometimes no way that even stringent guidelines for issuing licences can stop what locals say was the out of character actions of Derrick Bird yesterday.

With my uncle and cousin both involved in the Rugby world the fact that one of those killed was Garry Purdham a back row Rugby League forward for Wokington, brother of Rob the Harlequins captain and England cap, means there is someone they probably know among the dead.

The role of the dead includes Bird's twin brother, the solicitor dealing with a family will, fellow taxi drivers and then in indiscriminate drive by victims. The pensioner delivering shopping catalogues, the cyclist, the retired Sellafield security guard and others.

Coming so soon after the coach tragedy of 3 dead Keswick school children, indeed on the day of Chloe Walker's funeral, this small and beautiful corner of England is facing more mourning.