Why we love the media
Quick plug – for you e-book/sci-fi types, Arthur C. Clarke’s complete short stories is available on both Amazon and B&N for $1.99 for a couple of days. My paperback version is probably 3″ thick and cost many times that… this is a bargain to jump on. Shameless commercial plug over.
This one just caught my eye Sunday – an archetypal example of why the news media is so respected.
Remember a movie called “Breaking Away”? Arguably the best movie ever made about cycling (OK, the field is pretty small, but it was a breakthrough movie for Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern, and Paul Dooley was SHAFTED when he didn’t get a Best Supporting Oscar) one of the central events is the “Little 500”, an annual biking track event that takes place in Bloomington at Indiana U. every year. Sad to say, the headline says violence intruded in this iconic race. The headline:
5 injured in shooting near Indiana University following Little 500 races
Five women were injured overnight Sunday in a shooting near Indiana University following its annual Little 500 races which brings about alums and large crowds of spectators.
Man, that’s terrible – who would shoot up a freakin’ BIKE RACE?
Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff said patrol officers who were monitoring crowds a few blocks from the university heard gunshots around 12:25 a.m. When they responded to the scene, they found five people who had been injured by gunshots or fragments of bullets.
Wait a minute, hold on – 12:25 AM?
The victims were women between the ages of 17 to 22 years old. All were treated and released but one who was hospitalized in stable condition, according to the police chief.
“It is believed that a fight broke out between two females near the front of the Five Guys restaurant on Kirkwood,” Diekhoff said.
So the shooting wasn’t at the school, but at the 5 Guys – which ain’t even on campus. University aged students, at least?
The police chief added that multiple people were seen drawing handguns, but investigators believe two people opened fire. An investigation is ongoing, he said, emphasizing that the incident was not a random shooting.
No Indiana University student is believed to be involved, the university said in a statement.
OK, so not students. Nothing to do with the races (many hours after they are over), no students involved… but the first thing you think of when you see the headline is that someone shot up a bike race.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson on Sunday condemned gun violence and said the Little 500 weekend sees a lot of visitors who come to see the largest collegiate bike race in the United States.
“It has been suggested that we forbid guns from public gatherings in the future in Bloomington,” Thomson said at the news conference. “Unfortunately, Indiana gun laws prohibit such actions. And if the gun laws remain as they are, anyone can open carry.”
In 2022, Indiana repealed its concealed carry permitting requirement. The state also doesn’t require background checks or permit for handgun purchases at point of sale.CBS News
Ah, NOW it makes sense – it’s an anti-gun screed disguised as a news article. Let me see – multiple people in that age brackets drawing guns – yep, they gotta be MAGA Republicans, right? Actually there is an update –
Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff said the violence appears to have started after a confrontation involving two women outside a Five Guys restaurant. During or after that altercation, two men allegedly produced firearms and began shooting into the crowd and notably, police said the women involved in the initial dispute were not injured. MSN
Two women in a fight so two guys open fire on the crowd… the book is CLOSED for bets on what the mug shots show.
Category: Crime, Exploitation
“…If you do read the news you are misinformed” I believe is the quote.
That “word”?
Hunter Thompson has it right…
“The press is a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.”
Hero of World War 11…
Someone take the captain’s bars off that ‘Slamo scrunt’s helmet. She couldn’t lead a rat to cheese. She is Private Lyin’, not the captain.
Those are “11” bars….
Well done. That was the thought that came to my mind exactly!
That’s a good one there.
Well, CBS news is falsely implying that one can walk into a firearms dealer’s store in Indiana and buy a handgun without a background check. False; I am certain Indiana has to follow federal law just like the other 49 states. FFL dealers there are going to have to conduct federal background checks to sell any firearm. And most states don’t require any kind of “permit” to purchase a firearm, whether a handgun or not.
It is hard to read Arthur C. Clarke, or any of the classics, these days. Childhood’s End and Rama were amazing when I was a kid, but now that I know all civilizations end up developing AI one way or another, becoming post-biologicals, and transcending our perceived reality, all the classics feel more like fantasy than sci-fi.