This Just In: The News Thread

Memorial day weekend saw 12 mass shootings. The definition is a bit narrow but can't imagine a better definition of 'moving the goalposts' than changing the parameters of a mass shooting to include more deaths/injuries just to stop tracking them.

It's pretty ridiculous. Something should be done. If an outright ban isnt feasible there has to be other options. This whole doing nothing and buying more guns sure doesn't seem to be working.

We're all fine here thanks for asking.

So many people were like "oh I never thought it would happen here," as if we don't live in a reasonably large metro with a million people in population.

Then you get the ubiquitous "thoughts and prayers," which pisses me off to no end. On the news one of the hospital administrators even said "all we can we can do right now is just pray for our community."

Really that's all we can do?

That certainly puts my post-back surgery issues in perspective.

So... now that he's behind bars and can't hurt anyone am I allowed to listen to his music again?  Kind of sick of having to "mute" Ignition (Remix)

Press conference today. Debris field found near titanic.

It's a tragedy, but one that could've been avoided. Lots of cost cutting and ignoring of critical warning signs from people involved with the submersible's creation and expert opinions from the outside saying that this was highly dangerous.

No backups with a lot of features, from batteries to lighting. Changing the frame of the ship from fully titanium to a cheaper, lighter material. Just a lot of head scratching decisions that in retrospect make this so much worse.

apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-comedians-f702834c1c07bc5988e39ef88458b6b8

Before flying to Italy’s southern Puglia region to meet world leaders at the Group of Seven summit, Pope Francis hosted a very different audience at the Vatican on Friday celebrating the importance of humor.

The pontiff welcomed more than 100 comedians from 15 nations, including U.S. celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.

“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told the comedians.

“You unite people, because laughter is contagious,” he continued, asking jokingly, “Please pray for me: for, not against!”

Francis pointed out that in the creation, “Divine wisdom practiced your art for the benefit of none other than God himself, the first spectator in history,” with God delighting in the works that he had made.

“Remember this,” he added. “When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile.”

Francis also said it was OK to “laugh at God” in the same way “we play and joke with the people we love.”

After delivering his speech, Francis greeted all the comedians individually, sharing laughs and jokes with some of them.

“It was great, it was very fast and really loving, and made me happy,” Goldberg said afterward.

O’Brien noted that the pope “spoke in Italian, so I’m not quite sure what was said.”

“To be in that room and to be with all my fellow comedians, some of whom I’ve been good friends with for many years, in that environment, was quite strange,” the TV host added. “All of us were thinking, how did this happen? Why are we here, and when are they going to throw us out?”

Colbert admitted his Italian “is really bad, I would like to speak it better.” But he managed to remind the pope that he had done the audiobook for his memoir.

“It was wonderful, he’ll never forget me,” he joked.

Starting to think Israel doesn't like Hezbollah.

Day after the pager attack they blowing off hands using the Hezbollah preferred walkie talkies today.

Hearing from yesterday since they have the pagers on their hips there are just a ton of people with giant holes in their hips and I don't think Gaza hospitals will be up to snuff to make these people's lives a bit better. So expecting more deaths from that.

And now the walkies all were triggered to be picked up so they pulled em outta their pockets and then they exploded so a lot of people are losing one or both hands.

Shits wild I can't wait to read more about how they pulled off this essentially terror attack.