The Reveille 6-12-19

Vo lum e 130 · N o. 2

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We d ne s d ay, Ju ne 12 , 2 019

Look back on the final season and career highs of four LSU baseball players — Duplantis, Smith, Watson and Hess, page 2

COURTESY OF LSU CREATIVE

NEWS

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Campus flooding on June 6 may not be the end of LSU’s battle against rising water levels.

SPORTS

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Sha’Carri Richardson hit a record-breaking speed in the 100-meter dash at NCAA outdoor championship.

OPINION

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“Everyone should be educated before contracting STIs instead of after they have an infection.”

L SU Re ve i l le.co m @l s u r e ve i l le

page 2 BASEBALL

As LSU’s season ends, so do careers of four all-time greats all four players left a huge mark on LSU baseball. Duplantis leaves as the school’s all-time As the Alex Box Stadium hits leader, while Hess, donning lights were turned off for the the “Wild Thing” nickname, was final time this season, the one of most electric pitchers to careers of many LSU baseball ever put on a LSU uniform.

Watson and Smith were players who shined under them came to an end — an end that both defensive stalwarts and never seemed to match the compounded that with ability at the plate. Duplantis, Smith beginning.

After a beginning that saw and Watson were the top three hitters for LSU LSU play for in 2019 with 91, a national 89 and 73 hits, c h a mpion sh ip r e s p e c t i v e l y. in Omaha two And now it years ago, the appears they Tigers failed to will all be gone. make it back “I’ve been to the Mecca of here for four college baseball years, and this last year. feels like a part But four PAUL MAINIERI of my life now,” underclassmen LSU baseball coach Duplantis said, played pivotal trying to stop roles in himself from helping LSU get there in 2017 were back as crying in the press conference upperclassmen and ready to following the Tigers’ Super Regional exit. “For this to come lead LSU back to Omaha.

Those four – right fielder to an end, it’s tough.”

Smith described Duplantis as Antoine Duplantis, pitcher Zack Hess, shortstop Josh “everything LSU baseball has to Smith and center fielder Zach offer” and said he’s never played Watson – were a big reason why with a better player or person hopes were so high and why than Duplantis.

“He’s done so much for this LSU was ranked No. 1 team in the nation at the beginning of program,” Smith said. “He gave everything he could to this the season.

Things didn’t go as planned program. That’s one guy I’ll look or as predicted. The team faced up to for the rest of my life. “[Duplantis] has done adversity on and off the field for the entire year, whether it everything for me. He’s made was constant injuries or the me a better baseball player and loss of coach Paul Mainieri’s he’s made everyone on this father, Demie, in the middle of team a better ball player by just seeing how he comes in every the season.

LSU just couldn’t catch a day and works.

“I love him, and I’m going to break. After a season-ending loss to Florida State in the Baton miss him a lot next year. I can’t Rouge Super Regional, the express how awesome he’s been emotion poured out as Duplantis to this program, and he’s had a graduated. The other three are hell of a career.”

Duplantis finished with juniors but are expected to sign with MLB teams after getting 359 hits, seven ahead of Eddy Furniss, who held the record selected in the draft.

Smith was picked in the since 1998. Duplantis also has second round, 67 overall, by the school record for most the Yankees. Watson went in triples with 16, and he has 216 the third round, 79 overall, career RBIs. The senior had a chance to to the Orioles, while Tigers drafted Hess in the seventh leave last season after he was round, 202 overall, and the Mets selected in the MLB draft but chose Duplantis in the 12th decided to play at LSU one more year. He said he has no round, 358 overall.

“The toughest thing about regrets about returning and, in this business – I just finished truth, didn’t want to play pro my 37th year – it’s not just ball and leave something on the the losing and seeing a season table at LSU. “I had to put everything I had come to an end, it’s how do you say goodbye to people that are into it, and I have to thank the such a big part of your life,” coaches, my parents, and all of my teammates,” Duplantis said.

Mainieri said.

“When they leave, you feel “It sounds cliché, but it’s been like a piece of you leaves with a dream come true. I’ve dreamt them. We’ve been out there on about it my entire life, and I’m that field for three or four years very grateful for everything that together, sweating, working, has happened.”

And even though Duplantis’ going through the ups and downs that every season is, storybook career didn’t end and we develop an affection for with a national championship, his name will still shine each other.”

Maybe the team didn’t reach atop LSU’s record book for expectations, but in their exit, years to come.

BY BRANDON ADAM @badam___

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ZACK HESS 272 career strikeouts 4.42 ERA Three straight saves in 2017 College World Series

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NEWS

page 3

FLOODED WATERS

FACULTY

Gabriela González receives Boyd Professorship, SEC Teacher of the Year Award

BY LYNNE BUNCH @lynnebunch11

a.m., only for it to be cancelled just before. She said she waited on campus for about two hours for the flooding to go down.

“I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t because of the water,” she said. “That was kind of scary because I didn’t know how long the rain was going to last or how long it would take for the water to drain or if my car could get out of the parking lot … If I would have known that the rain would have gotten

When Argentina native Gabriela González entered her college career, she immersed herself into the ever-expanding universe of physics and astronomy. Now, after decades of work and research, she received an LSU Boyd Professorship as well as the 2019 SEC Professor of the Year award for her world-renowned research on gravitational waves.

The designation of Boyd Professor is LSU’s “highest and most prestigious academic rank” and is only awarded to faculty who have achieved national and international recognition for outstanding research, teaching or creative achievements. González received the professorship along with Willis Delony, an LSU Virginia Martin Howard Professor of Piano & Jazz Studies.

“González is a renowned researcher and highly sought spokesperson for science,” said LSU College of Science Dean Cynthia Peterson in her nomination letter for González. “These recognitions, along with her sustained energy and continued leadership, attest

see FLOODING, page 5

see PHYSICS, page 5

courtesy of TIGER TV

Campus stays open Thursday despite severe flash flooding around LSU

BY LARA NICHOLSON @laranicholson_ Students taking summer classes drove to campus Thursday in t-shirts and shorts, not realizing they would need a pirogue and a bathing suit to make it home.

Flash floods occurred across Baton Rouge Thursday, flooding buildings, homes and streets both on and off campus. According to Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, the city accumulated over five inches of rain

early Thursday, with 3.5 inches of rain occurring during rush hour alone.

The University remained open for summer students; however, four streets and four parking lots on campus were flooded with high water. Students were warned of highwater at East Parker Blvd., West Chimes St., West Lakeshore Drive and Alaska St. The South Stadium parking lot, Nicholson Gateway parking lot, Cypress parking lot and West Campus Apartments parking lot flooded as well.

Nursing sophomore Kelsey Shingleton arrived on campus for her 7:30 a.m. class with no trouble, but left the class to see the extent of the flooding.

“Highland Road was completely flooded up to my knees,” she said. “A lot of people were running through the rain. There were three or four cars stalled out on Highland and a policeman was blocking off the road and not letting people cross South Stadium and Highland.”

Shingleton stayed on campus to wait for her second class at 11

BUSINESS

Baton Rouge-based business makes bold, handmade clay jewelry

BY WHITNEY HICKS @whitchicks A local artist is proving that you don’t have to be in a high school art class to mold clay into something beautiful. Southern Clay Co. is a Baton Rouge-based small business that focuses on making jewelry including earrings and necklaces to colorful home decor.

Angie Taylor is the creator and owner of Southern Clay Co. The business, formerly known as Cotton + Clay, used to focus solely on jewelry, but Taylor wished to expand the name and business to encapsulate more. In the future, Southern Clay Co. will begin selling wall art as well as clay hair accessories and clothing pins.

“I was talking to my sister one day about ideas and we said how

cool it would be to make my terracotta rainbow earrings into a much larger size and turn it into wall art,” Taylor said “From there the topic just flourished and so many ideas are waiting to be made. They are super lightweight and durable and the possibilities of color and designs are endless.”

The inspiration for her business came from Taylor’s childhood passion for bold and bright statement jewelry. She has an adoration for bright colors and one-of-a-kind styles. She decided to make her dreams a reality with the creation of Southern Clay Co. “My grandmother always had big flashy earrings on growing up and I became obsessed with all of them,” Taylor said. “Now at 34, it’s rare that you won’t catch me in big vibrant earrings. It’s my everyday statement piece that I almost feel

lost when I don’t have any on.”

Taylor was an artistic child who often took drawing and painting classes. With her artistic background and love for color and bold statement jewelry, Taylor always imagined herself designing and creating her own earrings. In fact, it wasn’t another piece of jewelry that gave her inspiration for her first handmade earrings — it was her own artwork, hanging on her wall in plain sight.

“I got into geometric canvas paintings a few years ago and one of my paintings was sort of the inspiration to my first jewelry design,” Taylor said.

“I looked at it one day hanging on my wall and thought how awesome would this be if it were a pair of earrings.”

see CLAY, page 5

courtesy of ANGIE TAYLOR

Angie Taylor is the creator and owner of Southern Clay Co. The business, formerly known as Cotton + Clay, used to focus solely on jewelry, but will begin selling wall art as well as clay hair accessories and clothing pins.

SPORTS

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full speed ahead Fresman Sha’Carri Richardson sets NCAA record, becomes ninth fastest 100-meter runner of all time in women’s history

BY BRANDON ADAM @badam___ Sha’Carri Richardson isn’t just the best 100 meters sprinter this year. She’s the best to ever do it at the collegiate level.

Oh, and by the way, she’s only a freshman.

Richardson won the event at the NCAA outdoor national championship in Austin, Texas, with a time of 10.75 seconds, setting a new NCAA record and breaking former LSU sprinter Dawn Sowell’s time of 10.78 set in 1989. Richardson’s time is the fastest ever by anyone under the age of 20, the fifth fastest of any American woman and the ninth fastest all-time in women’s history.

Her time may have been faster if she didn’t pull up in celebration a few feet before the finish line, but when you’re a freshman multiple strides ahead of the competition and winning national championships, it’s hard not to celebrate. Even with the early celebration, her time in Austin ranks as the fastest time in the world through 2019 so far.

“Knowing the kind of tradition LSU has in the women’s sprints, it’s kind of crazy to think I’m up there with the all-time greats,” said Richardson in a press release after helping LSU finish third in the nation. “You see those names like Dawn Sowell, Kimberlyn Duncan, Aleia Hobbs, and Mikiah Brisco,

and to know that I’m in their presence is special.

“Today was a great day on the track and I’ll never forget it. To set all those records in my home state in front of family and friends is truly special. I’m just glad I could go out there and put some points on the board for my team.”

The Dallas native also anchored LSU’s second place 4x100 relay team and finished second in the 200 meters by .01 seconds. Her time of 22.17, also an under-20 record, made her the first woman in history to finish the 100 meters in under 10.8 and the 200 meters in 22.8 in the same day.

Richardson totaled 20 of LSU’s 43 points on the day, making her the highest scorer of any competitor at the national championships. The overall third place finish for LSU is the women’s highest finish outdoors since 2011.

For her exploits the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Richardson the Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, and she is up for the Bowerman Trophy, given to the top athlete in track and field.

“It feels unbelievable knowing that I am basically among the fastest people ever in history,” she said in an interview with SiriusXM. “I wasn’t expecting it. I knew I had the potential to do it, but to execute it so early on in my career was like, ‘I did that!’ It’s just an amazing feeling overall.”

courtesy of LSU ATHLETICS PHOTOGRAPHY

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

page 5

PHYSICS, from page 3 to the extremely broad impact that Gabriela González has had nationally and internationally.”

While making marks within the University, González also became the second University professor to ever receive the SEC Professor of the Year Award, which is given annually to one SEC faculty member whose record places them among the elite in higher education. In recognition of the honor, the SEC provided González with a $20,000 honorarium and presented her with the award in May at the SEC Awards Dinner.

González is a leader in gravitational wave research and served as the global spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory Scientific Collaboration. The LIGO facility is outside the Baton Rouge bedroom community of Livingston and the project, which involved more than 1,000 scientists around the world, became the first to record the waves of a black hole in 2015,

FLOODING, from page 5 proving scientist Albert Einstein’s century-old calculations. In 2017, three LIGO leaders received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the organization’s work, including LSU adjunct professor and MIT professor Rainer Weiss.

González focuses her research on LIGO instrument development and LIGO data calibration and diagnostics, which are critical to increasing the astrophysical reach of data analysis methods. She helped make the worldwide announcement that gravitational waves had been discovered and has since been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a private agency that sometimes advises the federal government on scientific and technical matters.

González delivered the 2019 LSU commencement speech as well as a speech at the fifth annual TEDxLSU event in March 2017.

The theme was “Chain Reaction,” highlighting the domino effect of an idea or experience sparking an-

other. González spoke about the process of g-wave discovery and another small number the audience should be looking at if they want to continue scientific innovation — the small number of women working in physics.

“Do we really need more women in science?” González asked the audience. “Yes we do. Science is about questions and answers …

We want women because we want the best people doing the questions and answers. Women are not better than men at this, but men are not better than women either.”

González studied physics at the University of Córdoba, where she earned a physics degree. She came to the U.S. to pursue and attain her Ph.D. from Syracuse University, and her doctorate focused on Brownian motion applied to LIGO detectors.

Her work on gravitational waves detection took her to universities across the U.S. including MIT and Penn State before joining the faculty at LSU in 2001.

designs like her circle pieces are cut out by a cookie cutter to help ensure consistency in shapes. After the clay has dried, each piece is sanded and buffed before it is finally assembled.

Taylor enjoys playing with bold

and funky elements of design and said her jewelry is the perfect finishing touch to any outfit looking for a little more pizazz “I want every woman to feel beautiful and bold when they wear Southern Clay Co.,” Taylor said.

that bad and the flooding would have gotten that bad I wouldn’t have come at all.”

Mechanical engineering sophomore Rudy Stark tweeted a video Thursday of his purple route bus driving around campus with flood water sloshing back and forth around the bus.

Students on the bus held their feet up and yelled as the water moved near them.

“The purple bus driver is fantastic,” Stark tweeted. “She got us to class 10 minutes early on a flooded bus!”

In the greater Baton Rouge area, William Jackson, 37, drowned during the Thursday floods after his car became submerged in nearly nine feet of water on Chippewa St. near the I-110 entrance. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome released a statement Thursday regarding Jackson’s death, sending her thoughts and prayers to his family.

In the statement, Mayor Broome also made an emergency declaration regarding the state of the city.

“As we continue to assess damage throughout East Baton Rouge Parish as a result of yesterday and today’s weather conditions,” she said. “I have initiated the process to seek state and federal disaster support through an emergency declaration. This declaration will activate any and all necessary emergency plans and activities in response to this event.”

According to the National Weather Service, this is not the end of the floods. A flood warning was issued Tuesday until further notice. In the warning, it is forecasted that the Mississippi River will rise close to 44 feet

by June 17. At this level, parts of campus near the veterinary medicine building and stadium are likely to flood.

CLAY, from page 3 Each piece of jewelry created by Taylor is handcrafted and different from any other piece. She makes each piece of jewelry by rolling out colored clay and hand-cutting the shapes and designs to fit her inspiration. Some

ARE YOU

courtesy of ANGIE TAYLOR

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OPINION

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WASTE OF SPACE NASA funding should be lowered unless taken from over-the-top military budget ACCORDING TO ASHLON ASHLON LUSK @ashlonrose “For all of the money we are spending, NASA should not be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!” President Donald Trump tweeted.

I do not agree with Trump on where he thinks the moon is because it is obviously not the same thing as Mars, but I do think the U.S. is spending

too much money on NASA. It is a great program that has helped us further our education about space, but there are bigger issues to focus on.

The U.S. should not be funding a trip to the moon when there are so many issues on the earth we live on that need money to fix. We could be spending the money on helping homeless people, funding public schools or improving healthcare.

NASA is important because they inspire young people to pursue jobs in science, technology, engineering and math. Without NASA we wouldn’t know as much about the planets, stars and moons as we do today. With that being said, I do not think

we need to be giving NASA a $21.5 billion budget.

This budget is small compared to entities like the military, but it is still a lot of money that could go to other places. If the military budget was smaller I would advocate for NASA’s budget to be bigger, but there just isn’t enough money left over from the military.

The government’s budget is split up into two parts: mandatory spending and discretionary spending. The mandatory spending is money that goes toward things like social security, transportation and healthcare.

Discretionary spending is money that goes toward the military, education and science. This type

of spending is decided on by Congress each year.

Discretionary spending is 53.7 percent military. More than half of the discretionary budget is going into the military, when only 6.3 percent is going toward education and 3.7 percent is going toward the environment.

This is not a Republican or Democratic concern — this is a concern for the people in this country. The people who do need help and aren’t getting that help because of lack of funding. Our military is big enough and there is far too much money going toward it. There is no reason for us to have such a huge military because we are not under attack and most likely won’t be any

time soon.

People in the U.S. are poor, hungry and living on the streets, but we choose to spend the money on fighting countries who are poorer and hungrier than us. The budget should be more evenly distributed. I am not against funding the military, but not to the extreme that we are now.

I would love for NASA to eventually have more funding.

Right now there is so much money being funneled into the military — there is no room for anyone to have extra money if it is not crucial.

Ashlon Lusk is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from Houston, Texas.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

People should educate themselves on sex, get tested for STIs

BY JORDON SMITH In recent years, many states across the country have decreased their STD rates. As a country, we have continued to decrease the incidence rates of gonorrhea and syphilis. Although we have advanced dramatically to easily get rid of some of these diseases, we still see more than tens of thousands of cases every year for each syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. While a lot of these numbers have continued to slowly decrease in many states, a lot of these cases come from one state that tops the charts — Louisiana.

In 2015, there were about 4.66 million people living in Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Office of Public Health STD/HIV Program, there were 32,305 new diagnoses of chlamydia in Louisiana in 2015 for a rate of 694.8 per 100,000 people. In 2014, Louisiana held the third-highest

chlamydia rate in the U.s. In 2018, Louisiana had the secondhighest rate, with 742 cases per 100,000 people. Out of those numbers, 71% of cases were people under the age of 24, which serves as a glimpse of how many college and/or high school students walking around with this disease.

Just in recent years, we have learned how fast the number of cases can grow. In 2018, Louisiana rated third on the list for gonorrhea, with about 257 cases per 100,000, which was an increase from 221 in 2014. Again, up to 65% of people diagnosed with gonorrhea are high school and college-aged. Last year, Louisiana was No. 1 on the list for syphilis at 93 cases per 10,000 people. Immediately following Louisiana was Nevada with 58 cases, which suggests Louisiana might be holding that No. 1 spot for quite a while.

However, gynecology clin-

ics, such as Planned Parenthood and the clinic at the University’s Student Health Center, provide free classes that provide education for pelvic exams, Pap smears, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contraceptive measures. Individuals are tested confidentially, as well. While many people may feel the need to learn about these and educate themselves, hesitation occurs when no one wants to be seen as “dirty” or “grimey.” But everyone should be educated before contracting STIs instead of educating after they have an infection. Such a cycle can become never-ending if we don’t act soon.

So if you haven’t been tested, I highly recommend you go for safety precautions for you and your loved ones. Schedule an appointment at the Student Health Center. Stay safe Tigers!

Jordon Smith is a sports administration student at the University.

THE REVEILLE ARCHIVES

The Women’s Center gives out buttons, condoms and informational brochures on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Feb. 7, 2018, on LSU campus.

Editorial Policies and Procedures EDITORIAL BOARD Lynne Bunch Ha-Vy Nguyen

Editor in Chief Managing Editor

The Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, The Reveille or the university. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to opinion@lsureveille.com or delivered to B-39 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must provide a contact phone number for verification purposes, which will not be printed. The Reveille reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration while preserving the original intent. The Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Reveille’s editor in chief, hired every semester by the LSU Student Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

Quote of the Week “Without pain, without sacrifice we would have nothing. Like the first monkey shot into space.”

Chuck Palahniuk Author Feb. 21, 1962 - present

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

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‘Incel’ community breeds misogyny, acts of domestic terrorism ELLIPHANT IN THE ROOM ELLI KORN @kornstellation On May 23, 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed three men in his apartment and shot two women outside a sorority house in Isla Vista, California. Rodger then shot and killed one and injured 14 others in a drive-by shooting before taking his own life.

On April 23, 2018, 25-year-old Alek Minassian killed 10 and injured 14 in Canada, after deliberately driving his van into a crowd.

On November 2, 2018, 40-yearold Scott Paul Beierle shot and killed two and injured four in a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida before shooting himself.

What do these occurrences have in common? Misogyny.

In a disturbing instance of wanton darkness, Rodger uploaded a YouTube video the night before the shooting. In the video, Rodger detailed his entire plan, which he called his “day of retribution.”

“Well, this is my last video, it has all had to come to this,” Rodger said in the video. “Tomorrow is the day of retribution, the day in which I will have my revenge against humanity, against all of you. I’m 22 years old and I’m still a virgin. I’ve never even kissed a girl. You girls

have never been attracted to me. I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it.”

“It’s an injustice, a crime, because... I don’t know what you don’t see in me. I’m the perfect guy and yet you throw yourselves at these obnoxious men instead of me, the supreme gentleman. I will punish all of you for it. On the day of retribution I’m going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) and I will slaughter every spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see inside there.”

Despite having broken one of the gravest of the Ten Commandments, Rodger has been canonized by a toxic internet subculture called “incels” - a toxic community which both Minassian and Beierle belonged to and were active in.

In a post made minutes before he slaughtered innocent people, Minassian uploaded a post to Facebook that read: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”

It’s time to recognize that this subculture, however small and lonely, is pumping out mass murderers, and legislation needs to be put in place to combat it. It’s time law enforcement surveil and monitor incels to stop these events be-

fore they occur.

But what even is an “incel?”

Short for involuntary celibate, incel is a term used in disturbing pockets of internet discourse by misogynous men to describe their state of loneliness or lack of intimacy. Incels obsess over looks and believe that characteristics they can’t control — like unattractiveness, shortness or mental illness — doomed them to eternal loneliness.

They gather on forums and anonymous sites, where they pass their time in echo chambers of self-loathing and hatred of others.

They make threads of “Sui Fuel,” content that encourages suicidal tendencies and “Rage-Fuel,” where they attack “Stacies” and “Chads” names the incel community coined to represent sexually active women and men.

Incels commonly express desires to rape or harm women and use racial slurs. “I hate ch*nkwhores with a burning desire,” posted one user called Ritalincel on incels.co, one of the largest incel websites in a Rage-Fuel thread. “I want to lock this soulless cunt in a jail cell, set her on fire and watch her scream her lungs out in pure agony. I hope all ch*nkwhores die in the most excruciating way imaginable and when they are dead I will walk up to them and take a shit on their ugly gook corpse.”

Before his killing spree, Bei-

erle had twice been arrested for sexually assaulting women. He had also uploaded racist rants about black women to his YouTube channel in which he condemned interracial dating and said the players’ dreadlocks made it hard for him to watch football.

Active incels who make credible threats to commit violence should be placed on a watchlist.

However, a “rebuffed” version is required as the current system allows far too many to fall through the cracks. For example, the Florida Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen was able to purchase a gun despite his watchlist status.

Currently, if someone is put on the FBI Watchlist, they can still purchase a gun and rent a van.

A week after what was then the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, the Senate turned down four different gun control proposals, including one proposed by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

“My amendment is called the Shield Act, and it would stop terrorists from buying guns while ensuring law-abiding citizens placed on a watch list by mistake don’t have their rights taken away because of some secret list created by the Obama administration or by this government,” Cornyn said of the bill in 2016.

The Shield Act failed to pass by just seven votes, despite

being backed by the NRA. Had it passed, the bill would delay the purchase of an arm by 72 hours, during which the attorney general would determine whether there was probable cause to deny purchase.

The act protected the constitutionality of the Second Amendment, while still making important strides in gun control.

The Shield Act got swept under the rug, and there is no current legislation that would deny the rental of a van or purchase of a gun to anyone on the watchlist.

The Shield Act is, at the very least, worth reevaluating, as preventing violent watchlist members from purchasing a gun or renting a van could prevent shooters like Mateen and Rodger from carrying out their plans.

Even with potential changes, the incel community still presents an umbrella of misogynist dangers.

We don’t have control over whether the incel community exists, but we can take more measures to prevent the toxic violence and misogyny they preach online from being carried out.

We need to begin tackling the extreme and fringe symptoms of the incel disease.

Elli Korn is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Dallas, Texas.

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