Self-immolation has been used for centuries, for an individual to protest against politics, or as a religious statement, or for martyrdom. Throwing oneself on a pyre, or wrapped in oiled cloth and set afire. Or the more modern method of kerosene or gasoline on the oppressor’s steps. The intent was to harm no one but themselves, but in a dramatic fashion (unlike a suicide bomber: maximum collateral damage). Now we have the American model: fireworks contained in a stainless steel vehicle.
It’s possible psych evals may need to be done on a routine basis after each deployment into a war zone before that soldier can be redeployed into the danger zone. We’ve found out that the human mind is much more fragile than we thought so it cannot be good that men and women continue to serve under conditions that continue to engage the fight or flight, constant anxiety system. Physically we just can’t handle the constant flood of cortisol that the body produces under constant stress.
Medicine has made huge strides in fixing the myriad physical issues that face returning personnel but seems to have fallen short when it comes to the mind-body connection and optimal health.
Both men showed the classic signs of continual high cortisol flooding its zone, their bodies. I believe we’ve been papering over this problem for far too long and will continue to reap the consequences as we saw Jan. 1.
I’ve been a Las Vegas resident for 40 yrs. Sheriff Kevin McMahill seems competent. I strongly suspect a combination of issues led to the early release of the Livelsberger notes. (1) The heavy involvement of the FBI contributed to the release to the press in a misguided attempt at transparency, borne out of the closeness in timing to the NOLA tragedy. Law enforcement seemed intent on reassuring citizens, and more importantly, visitors, that the 2 events were unrelated and differently motivated. (2) Las Vegas just doesn’t continue without tourism. All local businesses operate from the flow of tourism revenue. The concept that we are an unsafe destination is the greatest concern of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The darkness of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting still hovers over Vegas.
These are just thoughts of a local with no ties to law enforcement, but I’m retired from the hotel/casino industry. CEO’s, CFO’s and shareholders run this city.
This is the most level-headed, dispassionate exposition of facts about this event I have seen. (Or, honestly, about any major-media MAGA-related event in, well ... memory.)
Thank you for writing it. We need more of this. Not to argue, jump to quick conclusions, or sling blame, but to try to actually understand what the F is going on.
Excellent work, here, but one discrepancy using the libertarian false dichotomy left versus right to describe anything, that's an interruption, if not a distraction, too. But that could, in fact, be why such prevarication persist in active military, too, perhaps just by way of simple reference, repeated throughout the day, sharing a joke to pass the time with pseudo-intellectual stress.
Reminds me of what some had said to me before I left, that the "world only gets dumber," or some such nonsense. Perhaps officers lack sufficient supervision of their NCO's, of course no one wants to hear that. Simple seduction into racism, if not sexism already, steeped on nationalist ego meat. Hard to believe it, still. 1 year away from retirement to make a dumb stand for libertarian false dichotomy ignominy doesn't seem likely.
Chronological recap of pseudo-intellect in American leadership:
1975 Ronald Reagan adopts libertarian-ism, saying explicitly that "a wise man said" without naming him as Eisenhower sarcastically remarking something similar "liberalism is fascism" and the very next sentence "libertarians have always been conservative." By "conservative," he must have meant billionaires, perhaps less than ten during his presidency. In any case, anyone who gave it any serious attention would have required therapy.
2000 Bush Junior's "ownership Society" gets bailed out after his 2nd term ends. The US is from then on stuck on dividing the states as either red or blue (no time before that).
2010 "Left versus right" is the regular dialectical matter of the anachronistic Tea Party, like an open secrecy society of imbeciles in suits demanding church and bible replace public education, as so it must have been presumed what founder Ronald Reagan meant.
Today: None of this would be recognizable history, unless you lived during that time. But even then, how do lies eventually become necessarily taken apart as abominable rather than free speech?
Here's what I know, as a combat veteran. To spare a reservist veteran benefits the Army will reduce active time to 11 months. No dwell time. Many activist simply neglected their dwell time. A military retirement, however, as E9 or E10? Hard to believe that would be mistaken as worth suicide in a dumb truck outside a dumb casino.
Terrorist or not he was in pain and didn’t get the help he needed. The VA needs more to help our brave soldiers. But the incoming administration wants to CUT support. We can’t let them succeed!😥
I believe that he knew his violent political message would be found after his suicide, and that was his plan. That makes him a terrorist suicide bomber, regardless of the fact that there were no other casualties. The FBI should fully investigate how he was radicalized against fellow Americans. It's likely he will become a MAGA folk hero. I can feel empathy for his suffering, but still understand that his last act was terrorism, under the definition of the word. This radicalization among our troops is a huge problem. His message must be fully condemned.
I agree with everything you said. As a matter of logic, definition, and morality, each sentence stands correct.
But before we leap to each of those remedies, in particular your last, correct sentence, I think we need to pause and just fully understand what happened and what he said. There's a lot of different things wrapped up in it, and in who he was, what he meant, and why he did what he did. And some of those things are conflicting, some may be true and some false, and many of them are shared by wide swaths of America (not all by the same swaths).
We need to slow our roll and pay attention to this. And not just leap to "Violence is bad, MAGA is bad, condemn the bad people and actions." Those simple truths are not leading us out of today's problems.
I can’t see Livelsberger as a terrorist—he showed all the signs of a brother who needed more help than he was willing to admit to. His suicide wasn’t an attempt to terrorize, it was a final cry for attention.
I understand the struggle and some days it’s hard to get out of bed and keep going. It can be exhausting to constantly fight the same battles and struggle over the same demons, day after day. I’m sorry that he saw this as the only way to get the attention and help he needed. The saddest part of this, he isn’t alone. Livelsberger might have had hard right views, but like you said, it wasn’t he who posted the “manifesto”. In the end, we’ll never truly know what happened, only he could say.
We do have a choice though, we can choose to invest more time and attention to our brothers, sisters, and others when they show the signs of needing help. We also need to invest the time and attention at ourselves. There is nothing better we can do for ourselves and our loved ones than take care of our mental health. Not only take care of, but talk about and promote for others. It’s corny, but it’s the whole “be the change you want to see in the world”.
We spent 20ish years at war without thinking of the societal consequences that come with not caring for the needs of the post-war service members. I’m glad you stress the importance of mental health and Veteran care services. We need the specialized support the VA offers. We need it expanded and prioritized.
So many with undiagnosed PTSD.
Self-immolation has been used for centuries, for an individual to protest against politics, or as a religious statement, or for martyrdom. Throwing oneself on a pyre, or wrapped in oiled cloth and set afire. Or the more modern method of kerosene or gasoline on the oppressor’s steps. The intent was to harm no one but themselves, but in a dramatic fashion (unlike a suicide bomber: maximum collateral damage). Now we have the American model: fireworks contained in a stainless steel vehicle.
I think so. And one of the released messages on his phone says pretty much just that.
It’s possible psych evals may need to be done on a routine basis after each deployment into a war zone before that soldier can be redeployed into the danger zone. We’ve found out that the human mind is much more fragile than we thought so it cannot be good that men and women continue to serve under conditions that continue to engage the fight or flight, constant anxiety system. Physically we just can’t handle the constant flood of cortisol that the body produces under constant stress.
Medicine has made huge strides in fixing the myriad physical issues that face returning personnel but seems to have fallen short when it comes to the mind-body connection and optimal health.
Both men showed the classic signs of continual high cortisol flooding its zone, their bodies. I believe we’ve been papering over this problem for far too long and will continue to reap the consequences as we saw Jan. 1.
I’ve been a Las Vegas resident for 40 yrs. Sheriff Kevin McMahill seems competent. I strongly suspect a combination of issues led to the early release of the Livelsberger notes. (1) The heavy involvement of the FBI contributed to the release to the press in a misguided attempt at transparency, borne out of the closeness in timing to the NOLA tragedy. Law enforcement seemed intent on reassuring citizens, and more importantly, visitors, that the 2 events were unrelated and differently motivated. (2) Las Vegas just doesn’t continue without tourism. All local businesses operate from the flow of tourism revenue. The concept that we are an unsafe destination is the greatest concern of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The darkness of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting still hovers over Vegas.
These are just thoughts of a local with no ties to law enforcement, but I’m retired from the hotel/casino industry. CEO’s, CFO’s and shareholders run this city.
This is the most level-headed, dispassionate exposition of facts about this event I have seen. (Or, honestly, about any major-media MAGA-related event in, well ... memory.)
Thank you for writing it. We need more of this. Not to argue, jump to quick conclusions, or sling blame, but to try to actually understand what the F is going on.
Please carry on.
Thank you so much for the post, your service, and your sensibility. We all owe you 🤗🥰❤️🖖
Excellent work, here, but one discrepancy using the libertarian false dichotomy left versus right to describe anything, that's an interruption, if not a distraction, too. But that could, in fact, be why such prevarication persist in active military, too, perhaps just by way of simple reference, repeated throughout the day, sharing a joke to pass the time with pseudo-intellectual stress.
Reminds me of what some had said to me before I left, that the "world only gets dumber," or some such nonsense. Perhaps officers lack sufficient supervision of their NCO's, of course no one wants to hear that. Simple seduction into racism, if not sexism already, steeped on nationalist ego meat. Hard to believe it, still. 1 year away from retirement to make a dumb stand for libertarian false dichotomy ignominy doesn't seem likely.
Chronological recap of pseudo-intellect in American leadership:
1975 Ronald Reagan adopts libertarian-ism, saying explicitly that "a wise man said" without naming him as Eisenhower sarcastically remarking something similar "liberalism is fascism" and the very next sentence "libertarians have always been conservative." By "conservative," he must have meant billionaires, perhaps less than ten during his presidency. In any case, anyone who gave it any serious attention would have required therapy.
2000 Bush Junior's "ownership Society" gets bailed out after his 2nd term ends. The US is from then on stuck on dividing the states as either red or blue (no time before that).
2010 "Left versus right" is the regular dialectical matter of the anachronistic Tea Party, like an open secrecy society of imbeciles in suits demanding church and bible replace public education, as so it must have been presumed what founder Ronald Reagan meant.
Today: None of this would be recognizable history, unless you lived during that time. But even then, how do lies eventually become necessarily taken apart as abominable rather than free speech?
Here's what I know, as a combat veteran. To spare a reservist veteran benefits the Army will reduce active time to 11 months. No dwell time. Many activist simply neglected their dwell time. A military retirement, however, as E9 or E10? Hard to believe that would be mistaken as worth suicide in a dumb truck outside a dumb casino.
Terrorist or not he was in pain and didn’t get the help he needed. The VA needs more to help our brave soldiers. But the incoming administration wants to CUT support. We can’t let them succeed!😥
I believe that he knew his violent political message would be found after his suicide, and that was his plan. That makes him a terrorist suicide bomber, regardless of the fact that there were no other casualties. The FBI should fully investigate how he was radicalized against fellow Americans. It's likely he will become a MAGA folk hero. I can feel empathy for his suffering, but still understand that his last act was terrorism, under the definition of the word. This radicalization among our troops is a huge problem. His message must be fully condemned.
I agree with everything you said. As a matter of logic, definition, and morality, each sentence stands correct.
But before we leap to each of those remedies, in particular your last, correct sentence, I think we need to pause and just fully understand what happened and what he said. There's a lot of different things wrapped up in it, and in who he was, what he meant, and why he did what he did. And some of those things are conflicting, some may be true and some false, and many of them are shared by wide swaths of America (not all by the same swaths).
We need to slow our roll and pay attention to this. And not just leap to "Violence is bad, MAGA is bad, condemn the bad people and actions." Those simple truths are not leading us out of today's problems.
Slow our roll? I don't think any progress will be made at all under the new regime, so our roll will be plenty slow.
I can’t see Livelsberger as a terrorist—he showed all the signs of a brother who needed more help than he was willing to admit to. His suicide wasn’t an attempt to terrorize, it was a final cry for attention.
I understand the struggle and some days it’s hard to get out of bed and keep going. It can be exhausting to constantly fight the same battles and struggle over the same demons, day after day. I’m sorry that he saw this as the only way to get the attention and help he needed. The saddest part of this, he isn’t alone. Livelsberger might have had hard right views, but like you said, it wasn’t he who posted the “manifesto”. In the end, we’ll never truly know what happened, only he could say.
We do have a choice though, we can choose to invest more time and attention to our brothers, sisters, and others when they show the signs of needing help. We also need to invest the time and attention at ourselves. There is nothing better we can do for ourselves and our loved ones than take care of our mental health. Not only take care of, but talk about and promote for others. It’s corny, but it’s the whole “be the change you want to see in the world”.
We spent 20ish years at war without thinking of the societal consequences that come with not caring for the needs of the post-war service members. I’m glad you stress the importance of mental health and Veteran care services. We need the specialized support the VA offers. We need it expanded and prioritized.
"Hard Reset" is coming, whether any of us like it or not. Many, many will die. Sooner than you folks think.