Let's get poltical!

So far this year there has been over 33,000 reported gun incidents. Of those incidents only 2% of those was a defensive use. And last year out of almost 52,000 incidents only 3% a gun was used in a defensive way.

It is estimated that there are around 347 million guns in this country. Why? People that argue we need more guns, how many more? There is already enough for every person in this country and yet not everyone has one. I am sure someone, somewhere will utter the phrase, "if only a legal gun owner had been there to stop it."

Its difficult to make any progress on controlling gun violence or violence in general in this country. Why? Its because you have organizations like the NRA giving millions of dollars a year to politicians, between 1990 and 2010 gun rights groups donated over 20 million dollars in campaign contributions. And how can our country tell people not to be violent or use guns when out government has a military complex and uses violence and drones without thinking twice.

The Chattanooga shooting was flat out a terrorist act, the death of that girl in San Francisco is disgusting, and another black citizen, Sandra Bland, is dead while in police custody.

Chattanooga: This was a terrorist act, everyone knows this, and I fully support a governor taking action to arm military personnel. What bothers me about this is that the right and Christians are taking this as an opportunity to bash an entire religion. They are getting away with this because Obama is conscientious and is trying not to offend the millions of law abiding Muslin citizens that had nothing to do with this. Fine, bash an entire religion. If you do this you need to think twice before saying Christians are being persecuted in this country, you can dish it out but can't take it. Get over it, all your religions are terrible and hinder the advancement of the human race.

San Francisco: What happened in San Francisco should not have happened. The local government should have listened to the federal government when they told them to deport this man again. If a place is going to a Sanctuary City then they should cooperate with the federal government not just ignore warning and directives that they see it. The hypocrisy of the right is what gets me annoyed. They fully support state and local government rights without interference from the federal government... until it doesn't work for them. They support the state's right to allow military personnel to have a gun, they support state's making it difficult to get an abortion, they support state's that still refuse to grant same sex couple with marriage licenses, and many other things. Not this one though, every place needs to be completely compliant with the federal government.

Sandra Bland: This is probably the most disgusting thing to happen this past week. There is another dead black person, and what a shock, the police are involved. This woman was pulled over and was only going to get a warning but ended up being removed from her car. She didn't want to put out her cigarette so she was yelled at by this police officer, asked to get out of her vehicle and then threatened that she was going to be tasered if she did not comply. Sandra Bland then got out of the car and asked FOURTEEN TIMES why she was being arrested and never got an answer. She was arrested, for what? The arrest report never mentioned a cigarette or even that she was threatened with a taser. There are reports that she told the police she had tried to commit suicide before, allegedly. If that is true she should of been under suicide watch so nothing would of happened. Someone is dead and someone needs to be held accountable. This is getting ridiculous. If the police are going to arrest someone they are taking full responsibility for the care of that person, that's just the way it works. There is controversy over her mugshot that it was taken standing over her and she was already dead. If that turns out to be true, that entire police department needs to be held accountable and EVERY employee needs to be investigated and plenty of them need to go to jail for the rest of their lives. If you are still diluted enough to think racism and systemic racism in our justice system doesn't exist, you really need to figure it out. Fox News doesn't really have much time to report too much on this because they are too busy with immigration (San Francisco), bashing Plan Parenthood, ISIS, and the Iran deal. You just have to wonder if that girl that got killed in San Francisco had been a minority would there be legislation pending as a reaction to it, would Fox News even report it. Then if SANDRA BLAND was white, I'm sure the right would act and Fox News would report on it for the next year and a half. Someone needs to be held accountable, and something needs to change because this is getting out of hand and no citizens of this country should fear the people that are meant to protect them. Our government militarized the police forces in this country and now they are acting like the military and behaving as if there are no consequences for their action. It would actually probably be better if the military policed out street cause they are better trained.

Why do I keep seeing things referring to the word "atheist" as a dirty word. Every Atheist has a different view of the world and these negative connotations are completely misguided. I cannot speak for all atheists but let me speak for me.

Atheists are a huge minority in this country. Almost 71% of this country still consider themselves Christian and of the 23% that claim they are unaffiliated with any religion only 3.1% claim atheist.

Let me also explain something to religious people. I am not an atheist because I am mad at your god. I am not an atheist because I am misguided. I am not an atheist because I haven't found the light or because I am rebelling.

I am an atheist because science exists. Religion has a track record of saying God did something because they couldn't explain it and science came along and proved that wrong consistently. It would be silly for me to believe the discoveries of science and continue to believe in a god. You cannot just keep pushing the line of what God did just because science keeps discovering more because eventually that line will be gone. You cannot fill in the gaps of science with God.

I am an atheist because your modern religions are nothing new. It is basically recycled stories with a new character. For example, just look up the similarities between Jesus and Horus, and ancient Egyptian god. You can't just change the name of the story and tell me this this the true story.

I am an atheist because I have a level of comfort that religious people will never experience. I am comfortable saying "I don't know" and "I don't care." I don't know how the big bang happened or the full story of the evolution of modern humans but I don't fill in the blank with something just because I don't know. I don't care what your beliefs are, literally don't care. You can believe whatever you want but do not try and bring beliefs into politics or into public education. They do not belong. You also don't get to use your religious beliefs to discriminate because you think you are being "persecuted." Please refer to that almost 71% of the population considers themselves Christian. No one is persecuting you.

I am an atheist because I get to live my life how I want to. I do things that I think are right not because some metaphysical being said to do something. I don't serve that metaphysical being; I serve myself and I serve the human race. The human experience is far more interesting than any religious text. When you accept that you must live your life a certain way because of a text or a figure head said to, you limit your own potential to thrive in this life. This is all we got so appreciate every part of it.

Believe what you want but don't try and make it seem like atheists are immoral or bad people. I don't believe in your God just like you don't believe in Zeus.

I am an atheist and proud to say I am one.

Holy fuck.....! Who is anyone to say someone is not a hero. Just because they are not a personal hero to you does not mean that millions of other people don't see them as such.

Caitlyn Jenner became and American hero when she won the gold medal in 1976. To diminish that because of whom her family is, is just disrespectful. I am confused by the comparison to military heroes. There is more than one way to define/show courage, bravery and heroism. Calling Caitlyn a hero in no way diminishes the heroism of our soldiers. Our soldiers should be honored and we should do so and if you don't see her as a hero then don't honor her but don't be disrespectful to her or those that do look up to her. If you just don't care about her then just go about your day because to try and knock someone down just because you don't understand or support her does not make it right to be disrespectful.

We do have freedom of speech and you have a right to show your disrespect but then it is also my right to call you disrespectful.

I am sorry to tell you that the world is not black and white, and your close mindedness will not get you very far in society.

A person in 55 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist. Young black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police compared to whites of the same age.

Those are facts and in no way diminish a white person being harmed by police officers. Any person unjustly harmed by police is reprehensible.

The Freddie Gray death was a flash point for the citizens of Baltimore that are seeking justice and answers. 10,000 people of all different colors and religions showed up to show unity and support for change and only about 1% were inciting violence. The media that reported only violence share part of the blame for this because they incited rage and discourse, all for ratings. There is plenty of blame to go around though. There are reports of people yelling racial slurs at peaceful protesters, instigating them and the violence was reported to be started by outside supporters.

Yes, there was violence but that should not overshadow why people were protesting in the first place. Most posts I have seen only reference the violence and nothing else.

Why was Freddie Gray, who asked for medical attention repeatedly, not given care in a timely manner? How did Freddie Gray suffer a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody? Why are 6 police officers connected with this incident receiving pay while they are under investigation? Why are black men 21 times more like to be killed by a police officer?

There is evidence of systemic racism in this country and it continues to not be addressed. We are aware of police brutality and the systemic racism and the media and social media posts only allow their focus to only go to one area of a much larger picture.