Active Shooter Situation at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

It is the Las Vegas MPD's first and foremost duty to detemine the assailant's political affiliations as quickly as possible so that we know which is "side" is to blame here. And some side surely must be blamed here.

My money is on him being a Vermin Supreme/Deez Nuts primary voter.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Steve Scalise chimes in with a terrible opinion on gun control:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/steve-scalise-says-las-vegas-shooting-hasnt-changed-stance-gun-control/

Unbelievable. People who advocate prayer as a substitute for assistance or policy action of any kind are despicable. I can accept that argument that people benefit from prayer because it allows them to contemplate and reach spiritual clarity. But saying that somehow prayer benefits victims of actual violence, and is somehow more important than having a substantial debate about how to solve these issues, is horrendous beyond words. People who believe in prayer over legislating in this country shouldn't be allowed to write or vote on laws.

Also the mention to law enforcement and not to medical professionals and first responders who saved his life is also pretty gross. Those doctors must have prayed pretty damn hard when he entered the ER this summer.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Steve Scalise chimes in with a terrible opinion on gun control:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/steve-scalise-says-las-vegas-shooting-hasnt-changed-stance-gun-control/

Unbelievable. People who advocate prayer as a substitute for assistance or policy action of any kind are despicable. I can accept that argument that people benefit from prayer because it allows them to contemplate and reach spiritual clarity. But saying that somehow prayer benefits victims of actual violence, and is somehow more important than having a substantial debate about how to solve these issues, is horrendous beyond words. People who believe in prayer over legislating in this country shouldn't be allowed to write or vote on laws.

Also the mention to law enforcement and not to medical professionals and first responders who saved his life is also pretty gross. Those doctors must have prayed pretty damn hard when he entered the ER this summer.

It's more of the Republican / so-called Christian right's prosperity gospel nastiness. They believe that if you're a good/godly person then bad things cannot happen to you. Conversely, if you do have bad things happen to you, it's proof that God hates you and you're a bad person.  There's lots of self-reinforcing nuttiness involved, but that's the core of it.

Look up Calvinism and predestination for some idea of where it comes from. Most Republicans don't explicitly think of it in those terms, but that's where they're coming from. They believe everything - doctors who save their life, random chance of who gets hit by a bullet and how bad it is - are manifestations of divine favor or the lack thereof. Which is why they go on about prayer and God.

Usually I try not to be cynical or reductionist when thinking about politics, but I think it's more likely here that they are hypocritical lying pieces of sh**t who don't believe much of what they are saying.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Steve Scalise chimes in with a terrible opinion on gun control:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/steve-scalise-says-las-vegas-shooting-hasnt-changed-stance-gun-control/

Unbelievable. People who advocate prayer as a substitute for assistance or policy action of any kind are despicable. I can accept that argument that people benefit from prayer because it allows them to contemplate and reach spiritual clarity. But saying that somehow prayer benefits victims of actual violence, and is somehow more important than having a substantial debate about how to solve these issues, is horrendous beyond words. People who believe in prayer over legislating in this country shouldn't be allowed to write or vote on laws.

Also the mention to law enforcement and not to medical professionals and first responders who saved his life is also pretty gross. Those doctors must have prayed pretty damn hard when he entered the ER this summer.

It's terrible because you don't agree with it.. I believe that's a perfectly good response.

It's a man whose job is to write and debate laws is saying we should pray instead of writing and debate laws. If you and him want to pray for victims, that is good and I will not stop you. But there is zero evidence that prayer will help the wounded or prevent further shootings. To suggest otherwise in the absence of good faith efforts to address problems through policy is horrifyingly negligent for a policymaker.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Steve Scalise chimes in with a terrible opinion on gun control:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/steve-scalise-says-las-vegas-shooting-hasnt-changed-stance-gun-control/

Unbelievable. People who advocate prayer as a substitute for assistance or policy action of any kind are despicable. I can accept that argument that people benefit from prayer because it allows them to contemplate and reach spiritual clarity. But saying that somehow prayer benefits victims of actual violence, and is somehow more important than having a substantial debate about how to solve these issues, is horrendous beyond words. People who believe in prayer over legislating in this country shouldn't be allowed to write or vote on laws.

Also the mention to law enforcement and not to medical professionals and first responders who saved his life is also pretty gross. Those doctors must have prayed pretty damn hard when he entered the ER this summer.

It's terrible because you don't agree with it.. I believe that's a perfectly good response.

It's a man whose job is to write and debate laws is saying we should pray instead of writing and debate laws. If you and him want to pray for victims, that is good and I will not stop you. But there is zero evidence that prayer will help the wounded or prevent further shootings. To suggest otherwise in the absence of good faith efforts to address problems through policy is horrifyingly negligent for a policymaker.

He was saying that we should be praying for the victims of the massacre before we go out and try to change the laws.. We should definitely still be praying for these people. Particularly those still fighting for their lives and the families of those who were killed. Plus, I didn't know you were such an enlightened theologist.

No offense, but that's really dumb. Is your prayer supposed to be so all-consuming that you are incapable of doing anything else concurrently? Is it like the sabbath where you aren't allowed to do certain things (like your job) when you are praying for these people to recover? Should Scalise be doing interviews at all if he's spending all of his time praying and shutting down debate?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

He was saying that we should be praying for the victims of the massacre before we go out and try to change the laws.. We should definitely still be praying for these people. Particularly those still fighting for their lives and the families of those who were killed. Plus, I didn't know you were such an enlightened theologist.

No offense, but that's really dumb. Is your prayer supposed to be so all-consuming that you are incapable of doing anything else concurrently? Is it like the sabbath where you aren't allowed to do certain things (like your job) when you are praying for these people to recover? Should Scalise be doing interviews at all if he's spending all of his time praying and shutting down debate?

It's really dumb to be praying for these victims? Alright.. Great to know where you stand on this.

nice try

It's dumb to say that we should be so busy praying that we can't think about trying to enact laws. It's a dumb false dichotomy to say that you can either pray or legislate. Answer my questions from above: why is Scalise doing interviews if he's supposed to be praying all the time? I have a hard time believing that he and others are praying to hard that they don't have any time left over for doing their jobs.

If you want to pray, that's cool. I'm not spiritual but I know a lot of people who are who say that prayer is a great way for them to contemplate, get closer to God, etc. So, for an individual or even a community, I can respect it as a mechanism for emotional therapy in dealing with a crisis. But don't act like it's actually doing substantial good to address the issues at hand. Scalise is using prayer as a shield to protect him from admitting that he is in favor of doing nothing to stop future shootings.