There is a shooting incident with a hunt on for the perpetrator in New Brunswick (a Maritime Canadian province). It is huge news in part because it is really horrible and also because it is not such a recurring thing here. We don't expect such things to happen because they very rarely do.

Please don't let this encourage the gun rights people to make an argument against decent restrictions on guns. Yes, bad things can happen with good laws in place. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be restrictions against guns. This is an aberration against our culture rather than an ingrained part of our culture.

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/grandmother-stabbed-to-death-in-qld/story-e6frfku9-1226945491806

honestly, it's like asking why people would continue to live on "gold coast."

what Blue said - and the news MOTTO HAS ALWAYS BEEN:

IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS!

Same reason why people watch reality tv, or rubber neck at accidents - they haven't got anything else in their lives...

Yes we have people who murder but not mass killings like you seem to have with regularity. And - I hate the Gold Coast - I grew up there

I thought of the like button for so many previously written posts....all the way to the last post I left on here.  Got to work this morning at 7:15 and off tonight at 8:45.  Just thankful I can still put in days like that once in awhile.  I would love to add some 2 cents change in this post, but I'm having trouble sitting up straight.  Time to wash up, get in pj's and dose through whatever is on the tv so I can go to bed soon. 

Jackie

Population of Australia?

Population of USA?

Enough. Said.

Too much good to condemn an entire country because of a minority.

Great Editorial - thanks Kam, saved that one too.

Editorial The New York Times June 5, 2014
The Rush to Demonize Sgt. Bergdahl
Four months ago, Senator John McCain said he would support the exchange of five hard-core Taliban leaders for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. “I would support,” he told CNN. “Obviously I’d have to know the details, but I would support ways of bringing him home and if exchange was one of them I think that would be something I think we should seriously consider.”
But the instant the Obama administration actually made that trade, Mr. McCain, as he has so often in the past, switched positions for maximum political advantage. “I would not have made this deal,” he said a few days ago. Suddenly the prisoner exchange is “troubling” and “poses a great threat” to service members. Hearings must be held, he said, and sharp questions asked.
This hypocrisy now pervades the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and has even infected several fearful Democrats. When they could use Sergeant Bergdahl’s captivity as a cudgel against the administration, they eagerly did so, loudly and in great numbers. And the moment they could use his release to make President Obama look weak on terrorism or simply incompetent, they reversed direction without a moment’s hesitation to jump aboard the new bandwagon.
The last few days have made clearer than ever that there is no action the Obama administration can take — not even the release of a possibly troubled American soldier from captivity — that cannot be used for political purposes by his opponents.
Though we criticized the administration for ignoring the law in not informing Congress of the transfer of the Taliban detainees 30 days in advance, leave it to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other hyperventilators to claim that continued release of prisoners from Guantánamo without prior notice is now considered an impeachable offense, a ludicrous leap.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas says the whole exchange was cooked up to distract the public from the Veterans Affairs scandals, and the talk-show crowd has piled on Sergeant Bergdahl’s father for his suspiciously long beard.
Cowering politicians now even seem to regret their initial burst of joy that a prisoner was coming home. “A grateful nation welcomes him home,” said Representative Lee Terry, Republican of Nebraska, in a Twitter message on Sunday. The statement on his website was deleted a short time later. “Warmest regards to his family with gratitude for his/their service and sacrifice,” wrote Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, in another quickly deleted tweet.
This duck-and-cover response is the result of the outrageous demonization of Sergeant Bergdahl in the absence of actual facts. Republican operatives have arranged for soldiers in his unit to tell reporters that he was a deserter who cost the lives of several soldiers searching for him. In fact, a review of casualty reports by Charlie Savage and Andrew Lehren of The Times showed there is no clear link between any military deaths and the search.

Thousands of soldiers desert during every war, including 50,000 American soldiers during World War II. As many as 4,000 a year were absent without leave for extended periods during the Iraq war. They leave for a variety of reasons, including psychological trauma, but whatever their mental state, it is the military’s duty to get them back if they are taken prisoner. That’s what the Obama administration did in this case, and there was a particular sense of urgency because a video showed that Sergeant Bergdahl’s life might be in danger.
But the critics seeking political advantage don’t care about the life or mental state of a particular soldier, or of a principle of loyalty that should provide comfort to any soldier in danger of capture. They live only for the attack.

This GOP algorithm - if Obama does it it must be wrong - has reached ridiculous heights.   Really, are regular citizens now judge and jury for Bowe Bergdahl's actions in Afghanistan and by their judgement he should be left to die in Afghanistan?   Can you imagine if he was beheaded by the Taliban what those same people would say? (< rhetorical question - apply algorithm).

My point is, it is now becoming a National Joke imo.  If Obama does it, it is wrong and now that has come down to rescuing an American prisoner of war.  How silly does that sound?  Have "they" become so inured in their own propaganda they can't see how silly their rhetoric sounds?  I'm embarrassed for our country.  We (really "they") look like total jackasses.  I'm sad for our country too.

As I said above, it all boils down to this:  the wrong wing, the teanderthals, the America-haters,the anti-military, unpatriotic RWNJs would rather let a young man in his 20s, with his whole life ahead of him, a young man who volunteered to serve his country (and STFU about what they THINK) he may or may not have done ... They would rather let him die a lonely death in a foreign country in the hands of our enemies, perhaps tortured to death, perhaps dying from disease or malnutrition, than give President Obama any kind of success in anything at all.  They would rather let all that potential that young man carries go to waste to spite the black man in the White House (and OF COURSE it has to do with his race - it ALWAYS does with them - they live and breathe it).  They would rather devastate his parents, his siblings, his friends and his hometown, knowing that he could have been saved and wasn't, because they hate Barack Obama.  They are willing to actively cause a death to spite the President.  I call that moral depravity.

I just read the RR article.  I knew there was probably more to this story.  I can't even imagine how he must have been treated when he showed compassion for the people of Afghanistan.  It will be very interesting when he tells his story.  

It's the same immoral algorithm Ford motor company used on their bad transmissions in the 1970's and GM on their bad ignition switches (now), though their rule of thumb was how does it affect our bottom line (which, btw, is another mantra of the GOP, e.g.  reasons for not doing anything about Climate Change - it is bad for the bottom line).  Both companies let people die rather than having a recall because it was cheaper to pay off lawsuits for fatalities and injuries than fix the problem.  Instead of how does it hurt our bottom line, it's how can we hurt Obama.  Moral deprivation - YES.

Speaking of "the bottom line" I remember former Rep Ney (R) say that if there was legislation pending in the House that would help people,  Rep Boehner's response was "but how does it help business?"  That's all the GOP cares about for the most part.  They are shallow tools of big money and Obama is not one of them - race aside.

There was a gun buy back scheme - they all seemed to be rifles. They were destroyed. The main thing is that gun ownership was never commonplace here but the laws back then allowed people to own guns for recreational shooting eg pig shooting. Those laws became extremely strict after that incident.

 I could just keep on hitting that like button.........With Sunny on the Karma. 

Jackie

No - that's one of the right wing nonsense speaking points that is intended to feed fear and blame the victim.  This is from:  http://www.newsweek.com/stop-blaming-bowe-bergdahls-father-253828

"Bergdahl and his wife Jani are not Muslims; they are pious Presbyterians. Bob told Time in 2012 that he started growing his beard (and learning some Pashto and Urdu, as well as reading books about Afghanistan) to better understand the world his son could not escape."

Suzie - you must be watching one of Rupert Murdoch's stations in Aussieland.  

Suzie -- For a person who has arguably the most stress-filled job that neither you nor I could possibly imagine, I think we could cut the President a little slack when it comes to relieving some of that stress.  Chewing nicorette?  Horrors!  By the way, is it really any different from someone sucking on breath mints in the presence of others?

My sister-in-law has developed dry mouth syndrome (awaiting tests to see if it's Sjogren's -- sure hope not).  Her doctor told her to start chewing gum to assist in the production of saliva.  My DH told her the same thing, reminding her that the act of digestion starts in the mouth.

But no -- she won't.  She would never let her children chew gum and she's "certainly not starting to do so now" herself.

My point is that many adults chew gum or suck on mints for a variety of reasons, many of them health-related (and yes, even to combat a nicotine addiction).