Once again, we have a tragedy that demonstrates the utter failure of "gun control".

Like Sandy Hook in CT, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, etc.

including a shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, La. and another at a church in Charleston, S.C.

Umqua Community College in Douglas County, Oregon

the college in Oregon was a "gun free zone".
disarmed by law, turned into a free-killing field,
and serving as a magnet for deranged killers.

The President, the former First lady who wants to be president,
the former Mayor of NYC, and dozens of other demagogues
are once again turning all of the evidence upside-down, and
trying to use these horrible killings to further their OWN agendas.

Instead of trying to SOLVE the problem, they want to make 
things even WORSE in our schools and other peaceable areas, 
prohibiting self-defense that could have saved lives,

===

Army bases.
(Carter, Clinton)

http://www.studentsforgunfreeschools.org/SGFSWhyOurCampuses-Electronic.pdf

4,314 colleges and universities in the United States prohibit students 
and faculty from carrying concealed handguns on campus

http://concealedcampus.org/common-arguments/

===

Not a single one of them has suggested a proposed LAW
that would might conceivably have STOPPED these killings.

Most of them OPPOSE laws that definitely WOULD have saved some lives,

+++
e.g.  not disarming teachers, principals, etc. who qualify for carry permits.
e.g. armed guards.
e.g.  not revealing that certain areas are completely unprotected.
e.g.  not requiring designated areas (e.g. schools, colleges, churches, hospitals, etc.) 
to disarm any (legally-armed) person who wishes to protect the people 
(children, patients, students, worshippers, etc.)
who enter therein under the assumption that they will be protected from harm.


Statisticians LOVE to cite “correlations”
(i.e. this goes up when that goes up,
e.g lung cancer goes up when smoking goes up,
pregnancy goes up when tampon usage goes up, etc.)

Since the “gun-free-schools” laws went into effect
(at the beginning of this century)
the KILLING of schoolchildren school grounds has escalated

More schoolchildren were killed under “GUN CONTROL”
than in the preceding TWO CENTURIES!
Since the LAWS were passed to mandate“ gun free schools”,
the killing of schoolchildren school grounds has increased EXPONENTIALLY!

Check it out at
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States
(but exclude acts of war, indian attacks, etc.).


Since President Carter disarmed military bases 
and since President Clinton spread the executive order to all bases,
(e.g Army officers no longer carry .45-cal sidearms on bases, to maintain order on the base), 
there has been a tremendous killing of innocent victims on military bases.
[[[ However, this sort of thing has been re-classified as “workplace violence”
so I suppose it no longer counts for anything. ]]]


———————

Some years ago, there was a suggestion 
circulated among various political parties
(such as Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Communist, Independence, etc.)
to stop using the term “3rd Parties”
and refer to the Demoblicans and Repucrats as the “OLD PARTIES”.

Actually, the Dems are really the OLD party.
The Reps have candidates whose are all in their 40s, 50, and 60s.
(Donald Trump is the oldest; he just turned 69.)

There are only three serious DEM candidates, and their average age is 71!
(If you include Jim Webb, it’s still 71.)

Martin O’Malley is a comparative youngster at 54.
If you add him in, the avg age drops to 67.

A few months ago, the average age of the 
significant Republican candidates,
was 57 — but that included Mitt Romney
(who is also 69, but he is not running, so the average dropped to 56;
just a couple of years older than the youngest Democrat, O’Malley,
and nearly 15 years younger than the top 3 (or 4).

Five of the Republican candidates are in their 40s.
None are over 70!

————————

Meanwhile, I increasingly suspect that Marco Rubio (age 44)
— who announced that he is giving up his Senate seat —
has decided to stay in the race and is really running 
to become President of the Senate
(i.e. Vice President of the United States),

Rubio is only a bit older than two Presidents (TR at 42 & Kennedy at 43),
but he is younger than most of our Vice Presidents
(Nixon was 40, Quayle at 41, TR and two others at 42).
However, John Breckinridge was only 36 when he became VP in 1821,
so Rubio cannot break any records in that department.

I would much rather see Rubio run for re-election, stay in the Senate, 
and dump Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader.

I think it is obvious that Rubio has no chance of grabbing the brass ring
(especially after his “Gang” of Immigration Reformers failed miserably),
so I think his announcement is an act of desperation.
My prediction is that he will stay in the Presidential race 
(even while slipping down to single digits or less)
in the hope of becoming “that young, Hispanic guy” 
who gets picked by the winner, in order to balance the ticket.

Rubio WAS an excellent Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives,
and I really wish he was maneuvering to to replace Mitch McConnell 
as Senate Majority Leader — instead of quitting the Senate and trying
to become Vice President (titular “President of the Senate, but — in the
words of VP John Nance Gardner — an office that is “not worth a bucket
of warm spit — or, in the words of another VP, whose honorific title 
should be “His Superfluous Majesty”.)

The VP is in a somewhat conflicted position, as part of the Executive Branch,
but also involved with the Legislative Branch (as “President of the Senate”).

AGAIN:
I would much rather see Rubio run for re-election, stay in the Senate, 
and dump Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader.

————————

Middle East (& Near East):

It has become increasingly obvious
(or maybe it was obvious from the beginning)
that the effectiveness of the United States is nil 
in more and more regions of the world.

Aside from having NO STRATEGY,
the current “leadership” [quotes] of the USA
provides no credible support for 
those whose behavior it tries to influence.
No wonder the imprecations of our diplomats 
are totally ignored (sometimes politely; often with snickers).

At this point, regarding Syria:

	*	There is NOTHING productive the US can do regarding Syria.
	*	Syria is a client state of Russia, and we have not the will to make it otherwise.
	*	Putin will protect Syria from ANY serious pressure from the (weak) USA. 
	*	Anything we try to do in Syria will either backfire or make things worse.

Regarding the “Arab Spring” states of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, etc.

	*	Most of what the US did has made the situation worse.
	*	The US is not in a position (militarily OR politically) to do anything that would affect anything significant in these areas.
	*	STOP deceiving these states and rebel groups by suggesting that the USA is dependable or that we might support their actions to overthrow tyrants, etc.  (If they believe we will support them then, historically, they will likely be killed while we stand by and watch/lament!)
	*	Encourage groups (especially those that aspire to individual liberty) to assert their own revolutions — but make it eminently clear that the USA is not dependable and that they should therefore not depend on our support.

Regarding Iraq (which has NEVER been an actual “nation” but was ruled by minority Sunnis and is now a puppet of Shiite Iran), …  What can the US do to impede or destroy the ISIS/ISIL Caliphate?

	*	Cut off ALL roads that connect ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq (in Anbar province) to ISIS-controlled areas in Syria.
	*	Along the border between Ira and Syria, drones and bombs (and maybe some limited ground operations) could be used effectively to prevent cross-border support, supply, communication, etc.
	*	Involvement within these two areas (interior Syria and interior Iraq) is best avoided!
	*	[[[[ Let Russia get “involved in a land war in Asia”. ]]]



We got our room reservation!! Our first official meeting will be this Thursday, October 8th, 5:30pm - 6:50pm in Earth and Space Sciences room 181.

Please try to make this meeting, especially if you would like to take on a leadership position in the club. Leadership positions are very little work and are great for your resume. We will be discussing the future of the club going forward. If you can't make it at this time but would like to be involved, please let me know.

We will be discussing No More Che Day. This is an annual event founded by Young Americans for Freedom to educate people about who Che Guevara really was and what he stood for. To mark this occasion I will be putting up posters around campus that I got years ago. The posters show some of the people killed by Che & his thugs. I also have a handout with quotes by Che, and am working on a pro-capitalism brochure.

We will also be discussing possible collaborations with Stony Brook Students for Rand Paul. If you would like to be on the SBS4RP mailing list, email faud.faruque@stonybrook.edu Please invite your friends to sign up for SBS4P. If we get enough people there is a chance Rand Paul may visit Stony Brook. Currently Rand's team has a keen interest in the Northeast, especially New York, as a location to win delegates in the Republican primary this spring.

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Regards, - Dan Daniel C. Elton Physics PhD Candidate Vice President, Stony Brook Young Americans for Liberty Institute for Advanced Computational Science Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 @moreisdifferent www.danielcelton.com