NP - It's not the video games

[David Morris]

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/more-companies-pull-out-of-gun-investments-121912

*Following the announcement* by
Cerberus<http://news.yahoo.com/newtown-backlash-prompts-gun-investment-overhaul-032547862--sector.html>,
the capital management firm that said yesterday that it was getting out of
the firearms business, it appears that the notion of divestment is starting
to catch on around the country.

The $150.1 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund is reviewing its
investments in firearm manufacturers, a spokesman for New York State
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said on Tuesday. New York City's pension funds
are also reviewing investments and may sell nearly $18 million worth of
stock in four companies that manufacture guns and ammunition, a spokesman
said on Tuesday.

The city's $128 billion pension funds hold nearly $14 million worth of
shares in ammunition maker Olin Corp, $1.7 million in gun maker Smith &
Wesson Holding Corp, $2.4 million in gun maker Sturm Ruger & Co Inc and
$17,866 worth of stock in Brazilian gun maker Forjas Taurus SA. Shares of
Smith & Wesson fell nearly 10 percent, shares of Sturm Roger fell 7.7
percent, shares of Forjas Taurus fell 3.8 percent and shares of Olin fell
2.1 percent on Tuesday.

If you're wondering why the NRA is extending what Joe Scarborough called
"the olive branch" this time, there's your reason. That's the real thing
that's changed since the massacre in Connecticut. There is a fundamental
reaction against the people who profit from mass slaughter, and the dots
are being connected in ways they haven't been previously. The NRA is the
lobbying arm of the armaments industry, and those guys are starting to lose
money by the fistful, and they can see more of this happening, so, I
guarantee you, we're going to be hearing about the "many causes" of gun
violence on Friday. The NRA will suddenly become an advocate for lavish
funding of the nation's mental-health system. These clowns didn't grow a
conscience over the weekend. Their sugar daddies are losing money, and
that's all that ever has mattered.


On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 3:19 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> More to this specific point, she's using the unavoidable "nothing you can
> do about it" presence of evil as an excuse for inaction on gun control.
>   There's no reason to consider why they kill so many more people in the
> United States than in other wealthy industrialized nations. Not a question
> worth asking! Maybe we're just that much more evil as a nation!
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 2:11 PM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> This, of course, presumes the basic dichotomy of good and evil. I, along
>> with a number of other folks, consider that a false dichotomy and assume,
>> rather, a multi-valent, many-leveled description involving stages of
>> development in an array of psychological lines. What we call evil can be
>> pathological development in the moral line, or some other crippling
>> pathology. That said, "evil" provides a quick shorthand for individuals
>> incapable of certain developmental requisites to socialization.
>>
>> That sounds kind of egg-headed, but I can't think of a better way to
>> phrase it off the cuff.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 11:55 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx:
>>>
>>> “There are just evil people in the world and nothing you are going to do
>>> is going to prevent evil sometimes from occurring."
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 11:10 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Atlas Shrugged
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 11:08 AM, Ian Livingston <
>>>> igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Tale of Two Cities.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 6:49 AM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Turner Diaries
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:35 AM, Henry M <scuffling at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> > Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Catcher in the Rye.  Communist
>>>>>> Manifesto.
>>>>>> > Das Kapital.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > Yours truly,
>>>>>> > ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶
>>>>>> > Henry Musikar, CISSP
>>>>>> > http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 6:37 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen
>>>>>> > <lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> Which books do you have in mind?
>>>>>> >> The Bible? Blood Meridian? American Psycho?
>>>>>> >> Just curious.
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> On 18.12.2012 19:46, Henry M wrote:
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> Just as the correlation of booze to hard drugs is greater than pot
>>>>>> to hard
>>>>>> >> drugs, it appears to me that books are more likely to lead to gun
>>>>>> murders
>>>>>> >> than are video games.
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> Yours truly,
>>>>>> >> ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶
>>>>>> >> Henry Musikar, CISSP
>>>>>> >> http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:53 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> But it turns out that the data just doesn’t support this [video
>>>>>> game]
>>>>>> >>> connection. Looking at the world’s 10 largest video game markets
>>>>>> yields no
>>>>>> >>> evident, statistical correlation between video game consumption
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> >>> gun-related killings.
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> It’s true that Americans spend billions of dollars on video games
>>>>>> every
>>>>>> >>> year and that the United States has the highest firearm murder
>>>>>> rate in the
>>>>>> >>> developed world. But other countries where video games are
>>>>>> popular have much
>>>>>> >>> lower firearm-related murder rates. In fact, countries where
>>>>>> video game
>>>>>> >>> consumption is highest tend to be some of the safest countries in
>>>>>> the world,
>>>>>> >>> likely a product of the fact that developed or rich countries,
>>>>>> where
>>>>>> >>> consumers can afford expensive games, have on average much less
>>>>>> violent
>>>>>> >>> crime...
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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