The violence is horrible and unacceptable. Trump, Pete Hegseth, and West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey never should have put the troops in this position.
This reminds me of a sad story back home in the suburbs of STL.
Some criminal was on the run for an unrelated crime he’d committed that day. He was a bad dude, and any cop he came across was gonna get shot at, at least on that particular day.
Well, the City of Ballwin has this absolutely shitty speed trap. They built 3 schools on the same mile or so of horrifically underbuilt suburban mini-stroad, and then they slapped a 30 mph speed limit on it without the slightest fucking hint of traffic calming — everything about driving that road feels like you should be driving at its design speed of about 40-50mph, so it’s torture to be stuck going 30, which provides AMPLE ticket revenue.
It’s almost like they WANTED the ticket revenue and didn’t give a shit about ANY other kind of safety.
Well, the poor bastard who was working the speed trap that day pulls over this criminal, and sure enough gets popped before he reaches the criminal’s car, ultimately leaving him paralyzed for life.
I have zero sympathy for the piece of shit who shot him. But I also have zero sympathy for the city that put him there on revenue collection, instead of having him actively patrolling for threats like the guy who shot him. Or instead of rectifying their shitty planning decision! The point is, the person who got hurt the most here, had the least personal stake in being at that particular spot on that day.
Money and greed are just aspects of humanity. They CAN be channeled in proper directions; otherwise capitalism wouldn’t have delivered so much to the world.
In this case, our entire system of municipal government is broken. It has the lowest turnout rate of elections; the elections themselves are rarely competitive because of our totalizing top-down two-party system. The suburban growth model that practically every single municipal government is based on, is a Ponzi scheme of debt and unsustainably low-density infrastructure buildout with practically zero allowance for denser, urbanized cores that might even remotely create some redeeming revenue-generation capacity. The suburban city planning model of “pods” separating commercial from residential uses by miles and miles of stroads, is fundamentally flawed, unworkable, and an insane departure from millennia of evolved urban planning wisdom.
All of this contributed to that officer being in the wrong place that day and being wholly unprepared for the threat he was about to face.
Money and greed, out of all the other factors, may have superficially been involved, but a full analysis shows that they were mere mediating mechanisms for dozens of far more influential factors here.
These headlines are beyond terrifying, a nightmare previously described as the Troubles. National Guard troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary are strategically identical to firearms and ICBMs. It is the very presence of a weapon that causes arguments to escalate.
I get email ads that say that. Not to dismiss your sincerity, but Thanksgiving seems ill-placed this year. I am feeling deeply sad for my nation and all the nations we've harmed and now feel self-righteous about. I feel sad for the distressed young black man in a wheelchair who went untended at the clinic last week until an older woman intervened. I feel sad for the soldiers who were shot for being someplace they didn't need to be. I feel sad for my neighbors who recently lost their jobs (and worry about my daughter, the primary support for her family). Thanksgiving is not going to make my sadness or all the damage go away. Nor is Thanksgiving capable of giving joy and peace enough to change our course. It was nice seeing family, but I could not make it "Thanksgiving".
Anyone think that Trump's threat to force a return of Afghan refugees, particularly those who worked for the U.S. during the war there, has anything or everything to do with this terrible event?
Of course there is never a reason to go out and shoot someone, but in our country, that has more guns than people, it literally happens every day.
My first thought when I heard about this was, why are we sending our National Guard to cities that already have law enforcement? This is the result. I am so sorry this happened to those two National Guardsmen. I hope they will be okay. Where was trump? Mar-a-Lago of course! What was his response? Typical trump name-calling and threats of the ultimate punishment to the perpetrator!
If you, yes you, Mr Trump, hadn’t made up a stupid untrue reasons for the National Guard to be in Washington, these 2 young people would not have been shot. It’s all on you, Trump. You created this!
Although some press reporting is that Trump refugee reassessment is in response to the DC shootings, it was announced in advance of the shooting. And Trump had suspended any more refugees back in January.
The first sentence hits it. This shouldn't have had a chance to happen. People too often use violence to make the situation worse. More troops invite more trouble. Mayor-Elect Mamdani's support for reducing the police footprint when possible follows in the same spirit.
How do troops invite trouble? Do you walk past a member of our national guard, cleaning litter, and think to yourself, "I need to attack this man." Please help me understand how the mere presence of our service members invite conflict when they're walking around a street or standing in a park.
Well, America doesn't require quartering of these soldiers. Also, many instances of British soldiers being predatory. Your allegation that the national guard troops are behaving like red coats is without merit. Your analogy fails. You wrote the phrase I am asking about. I guess you have no thoughts of yourself. I predicted his response would be like yours, "what a stupid question," when it is in fact a fair question.
Quartering was a limited, if emotionally laden, problem regarding British troops. British troops as a whole were not an issue because they were "predatory." The people didn't want troops at all.
They were seen as outside occupants. It resulted in problems, as happened with the occupying forces throughout history. This includes innocent members of government forces being victims of preventable wrongful violence. That is, if they weren't there collecting trash or some other needless task, they wouldn't have been shot. As Chris Geidner noted.
Again, he is the one you should be asking the question, since I'm simply agreeing with him.
You taunt, you threaten, you call nasty names … and then are shocked someone responds. Yes, violence is terrible, but it’s not one-sided.
This reminds me of a sad story back home in the suburbs of STL.
Some criminal was on the run for an unrelated crime he’d committed that day. He was a bad dude, and any cop he came across was gonna get shot at, at least on that particular day.
Well, the City of Ballwin has this absolutely shitty speed trap. They built 3 schools on the same mile or so of horrifically underbuilt suburban mini-stroad, and then they slapped a 30 mph speed limit on it without the slightest fucking hint of traffic calming — everything about driving that road feels like you should be driving at its design speed of about 40-50mph, so it’s torture to be stuck going 30, which provides AMPLE ticket revenue.
It’s almost like they WANTED the ticket revenue and didn’t give a shit about ANY other kind of safety.
Well, the poor bastard who was working the speed trap that day pulls over this criminal, and sure enough gets popped before he reaches the criminal’s car, ultimately leaving him paralyzed for life.
I have zero sympathy for the piece of shit who shot him. But I also have zero sympathy for the city that put him there on revenue collection, instead of having him actively patrolling for threats like the guy who shot him. Or instead of rectifying their shitty planning decision! The point is, the person who got hurt the most here, had the least personal stake in being at that particular spot on that day.
I hear you. Somehow it’s always about the money. Greed is evil…
Money and greed are just aspects of humanity. They CAN be channeled in proper directions; otherwise capitalism wouldn’t have delivered so much to the world.
In this case, our entire system of municipal government is broken. It has the lowest turnout rate of elections; the elections themselves are rarely competitive because of our totalizing top-down two-party system. The suburban growth model that practically every single municipal government is based on, is a Ponzi scheme of debt and unsustainably low-density infrastructure buildout with practically zero allowance for denser, urbanized cores that might even remotely create some redeeming revenue-generation capacity. The suburban city planning model of “pods” separating commercial from residential uses by miles and miles of stroads, is fundamentally flawed, unworkable, and an insane departure from millennia of evolved urban planning wisdom.
All of this contributed to that officer being in the wrong place that day and being wholly unprepared for the threat he was about to face.
Money and greed, out of all the other factors, may have superficially been involved, but a full analysis shows that they were mere mediating mechanisms for dozens of far more influential factors here.
These headlines are beyond terrifying, a nightmare previously described as the Troubles. National Guard troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary are strategically identical to firearms and ICBMs. It is the very presence of a weapon that causes arguments to escalate.
Sigh. What exactly about “Afghan National who aided Americans during the Afghanistan War” says “left wing terrorist?”
Nothing. Maybe a long-standing grudge against US govt or military?
Hope your Thanksgiving is joyful and peaceful.
I get email ads that say that. Not to dismiss your sincerity, but Thanksgiving seems ill-placed this year. I am feeling deeply sad for my nation and all the nations we've harmed and now feel self-righteous about. I feel sad for the distressed young black man in a wheelchair who went untended at the clinic last week until an older woman intervened. I feel sad for the soldiers who were shot for being someplace they didn't need to be. I feel sad for my neighbors who recently lost their jobs (and worry about my daughter, the primary support for her family). Thanksgiving is not going to make my sadness or all the damage go away. Nor is Thanksgiving capable of giving joy and peace enough to change our course. It was nice seeing family, but I could not make it "Thanksgiving".
Anyone think that Trump's threat to force a return of Afghan refugees, particularly those who worked for the U.S. during the war there, has anything or everything to do with this terrible event?
Of course there is never a reason to go out and shoot someone, but in our country, that has more guns than people, it literally happens every day.
Exactly right, well said, and thank you for saying it. Here's to hoping the rest of the deployed guard troops desert en masse.
"The two shot National Guard troops never should have been in DC. More troops is no answer."
Exactly!
My first thought when I heard about this was, why are we sending our National Guard to cities that already have law enforcement? This is the result. I am so sorry this happened to those two National Guardsmen. I hope they will be okay. Where was trump? Mar-a-Lago of course! What was his response? Typical trump name-calling and threats of the ultimate punishment to the perpetrator!
If you, yes you, Mr Trump, hadn’t made up a stupid untrue reasons for the National Guard to be in Washington, these 2 young people would not have been shot. It’s all on you, Trump. You created this!
Although some press reporting is that Trump refugee reassessment is in response to the DC shootings, it was announced in advance of the shooting. And Trump had suspended any more refugees back in January.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-orders-review-biden-era-refugees-memo-shows-2025-11-24/
Happy and peaceful Thanksgiving, Chris.
The first sentence hits it. This shouldn't have had a chance to happen. People too often use violence to make the situation worse. More troops invite more trouble. Mayor-Elect Mamdani's support for reducing the police footprint when possible follows in the same spirit.
How do troops invite trouble? Do you walk past a member of our national guard, cleaning litter, and think to yourself, "I need to attack this man." Please help me understand how the mere presence of our service members invite conflict when they're walking around a street or standing in a park.
Did your ancestor write this when people were upset with British troops in the colonies?
Your comment seems better addressed to Chris Geidner.
Well, America doesn't require quartering of these soldiers. Also, many instances of British soldiers being predatory. Your allegation that the national guard troops are behaving like red coats is without merit. Your analogy fails. You wrote the phrase I am asking about. I guess you have no thoughts of yourself. I predicted his response would be like yours, "what a stupid question," when it is in fact a fair question.
Quartering was a limited, if emotionally laden, problem regarding British troops. British troops as a whole were not an issue because they were "predatory." The people didn't want troops at all.
They were seen as outside occupants. It resulted in problems, as happened with the occupying forces throughout history. This includes innocent members of government forces being victims of preventable wrongful violence. That is, if they weren't there collecting trash or some other needless task, they wouldn't have been shot. As Chris Geidner noted.
Again, he is the one you should be asking the question, since I'm simply agreeing with him.
Not true.
No. Try reading.