Anonymous wrote:In case you are one of those who are morally confused:

Good guy: Daniel Penny
Bad Guy: Luigi Mangione

It's clear in .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mental illness probably made worse by weed.
Psychosis directed at United Health Care.
Checked out from his family (mental health symptom)
Drifting around the US and elsewhere (another strong mental health symptom)

Back surgeries are notorious for bad outcomes. The reality is his family could have paid cash for him to go to the Mayo Clinic for follow ups on the back surgery gone wrong.

A 26yo far from home might have decided to handle this all on his own yet felt completely overwhelmed by it.

Clearly he wasn't overwhelmed enough to plan a murder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the two big contributors here are going to turn out to be weed (I bet he already used a lot in his frat in college, then it got worse with the back pain, and I’m sure there was free flowing weed in his commune in Hawaii) and playing first person shooter games. Weed absolutely precipitates psychotic illness in kids this age (see here for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33617756/). And growing up playing a lot of shooter games (it said several places that he was into them and at one point his goal was to develop his own) inured him to real life repercussions of shooting someone.

Completely agree. Drugs and first person shooter games. Once he had surfing accident and subsequent brain damage, it made this 10x worse. And he tried other illicit drugs for chronic pain.

Give me a freakin break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case you are one of those who are morally confused:

Good guy: Daniel Penny
Bad Guy: Luigi Mangione

Disagree. They’re simply divergent species of good guy.

Penny protected his fellow citizens on a micro level. Mangione did so on a macro level. Both saw something that needed doing, and stepped up.

Hard disagree. Penny didn't plan to kill anyone. In fact even in the moment I don't believe he was trying to kill Neely -- I think he used "excessive force" due to adrenaline and the intensity of the moment.

Mangione planned and executed an assassination. Thompson was a really terrible person but that's still murder with prior intent.

What if Mangione had taken his Ivy League degrees, money from his family, and passion regarding a broken healthcare system (including coming from a family that profited off that system) and become an advocate for changing the system? I think it would be as effective as what he's done but without murdering someone on a city street on a Tuesday morning.

I’m not condoning murder. But dude was wealthy and used his free will and will power to do something. There are millions of people screwed by health insurance companies and they just “accept” getting ripped off and negatively impacted by greedy policies and fake bureaucracy. Something has got to give.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he going to be charged federally or by the state of NY?

Possibly both. Murder is not federal but gun charges can be.

The suppressor is absolutely a federal charge. Three charges would be: manufacturing an NFA item without prior approval and registration, possession of unregistered NFA item, and potentially interstate transport of an NFA item to a prohibited state (NY) by someone not licensed as a FFL/SOT II manufacturer of firearms.


The gun itself is not a federal charge. It’s only a state charge for possession of unregistered firearm and potentially a high capacity magazine, plus carrying without a permit.

Anonymous wrote:I think the two big contributors here are going to turn out to be weed (I bet he already used a lot in his frat in college, then it got worse with the back pain, and I’m sure there was free flowing weed in his commune in Hawaii) and playing first person shooter games. Weed absolutely precipitates psychotic illness in kids this age (see here for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33617756/). And growing up playing a lot of shooter games (it said several places that he was into them and at one point his goal was to develop his own) inured him to real life repercussions of shooting someone.

Ding ding ding! This young man had a mental break, likely preciptated by heavy, chronic cannabis use (perhaps along with an underlying psychiatric vulnerability). Sadly, psychosis is a known serious adverse outcome of cannabis use, especially in young brains which are still developing. And significant levels of exposure to violent media, including first-person shooter game, can cause desensitization to violence and increase aggression. Add social media to the mix, and you have a pretty good explanation of how this formerly successful prep school kid ended up taking a bus to NYC to shoot a man in broad daylight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know if his huge family and/or friends recognized him from the photos and stayed mum.

This! If a random person in a McDonald’s recognized him from a photo shoeing kart if his face, how in earth could his friends and family not recognize him?! I can’t believe at least one of them didn’t report it.

They said that he was no contact with family. They probably just couldn’t believe that that was him. Nobody thought the rich prep school boy who seemed social and well liked would do this.

People don’t read. We do not know if his family called in or not. They did not know where he was.

NYPD and Altoona police both confirmed that until the tip from McDonalds came in and the police questioned him, authorities did not have a name of the suspect. Therefore it is pretty easy to assume that means the family did NOT call police (why, I don't know) but if they had called the authorities would have had a name.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the two big contributors here are going to turn out to be weed (I bet he already used a lot in his frat in college, then it got worse with the back pain, and I’m sure there was free flowing weed in his commune in Hawaii) and playing first person shooter games. Weed absolutely precipitates psychotic illness in kids this age (see here for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33617756/). And growing up playing a lot of shooter games (it said several places that he was into them and at one point his goal was to develop his own) inured him to real life repercussions of shooting someone.

Yes, maybe to the weed, no to the video games. You probably don’t have college kids. They are frustrated with this country. People aren’t ready to kill, but there was so much attention on him because the environment is sh-t, there are people being needlessly killed across the globe, mental health isn’t funded (see UHC on this), and their quality of life will be worse than their parents (GenX). I’ve heard several kids say they don’t want to “bring kids into this world.” They didn’t want to vote (“feels pointless, it’s all theater”). Everything is so freaking expensive. We have a lot of problems in society that aren’t being addressed by either party because they’re so entrenched on drawing party lines. The millennials are about to have the biggest wealth transfer in history. GenZ is already, and knows they soon, bear the brunt of all of this.

On a micro level, this kid seemed to have a better quality of life than his parents. He lived in Hawaii, working remotely, surfing, and hanging with friends in this co-working/co-living community. He had the benefit of their wealth, no student debt despite a very expensive education. I don't really feel you can blame this on a generational frustration with income inequality or lack of opportunity because he is one of the lucky ones from his generation. Other Gen Zers definitely feel that way and rightfully so, but I don't see why he would.

I think this was more a case of someone with fragile mental health being radicalized online after a few IRL setbacks. He didn't lack for healthcare (had access to good care and the funds to pay for it), he wasn't struggling to buy a home (his parents bought him one), wasn't struggling finding stable work in the "gig economy" (had a good job in a solid field thanks to an expensive BS and MS from Penn, also paid for by his parents). He was very, very fortunate. Yet he became a killer. I think it was just buying into the online rage machine and perhaps being too disconnected from family, combined with underlying and untreated mental illness.

This will sound callous and I don't mean it that way because I feel for Thompson's family, but at least he just killed one guy. He'll go to prison for most of the rest of his life. Situations like this are often much, much worse.

He was on psychedelics becajsr his hero is RFK jr

Anonymous wrote:Did the shooter have back issues his whole life or did a single surfing incident cause them?

according to people he lived with in Hawaii, he already had back issues before he moved there.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/09/us-news/luigi-mangione-suspect-in-fatal-shooting-of-unitedhealthcare-ceo-reported-missing-by-family-after-back-surgery/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mental illness probably made worse by weed.
Psychosis directed at United Health Care.
Checked out from his family (mental health symptom)
Drifting around the US and elsewhere (another strong mental health symptom)

Back surgeries are notorious for bad outcomes. The reality is his family could have paid cash for him to go to the Mayo Clinic for follow ups on the back surgery gone wrong.

Curious as to why he didn’t go after the surgeon. Why take it out on the insurance company?

A lot of speculation about his back and surgery. No one knows. We do know he is able to stand fully upright, run, rock climb, ride a bike, sit on grayhound buses for long periods of time, and sleep in a terrible hostel bed with seemingly little problem.

And shirtless pictures of him make it clear he has been able to lead and maintain an active lifestyle with an emphasis on intentional physical fitness and weight lifting.

Anonymous wrote:Mental illness probably made worse by weed.
Psychosis directed at United Health Care.
Checked out from his family (mental health symptom)
Drifting around the US and elsewhere (another strong mental health symptom)

Back surgeries are notorious for bad outcomes. The reality is his family could have paid cash for him to go to the Mayo Clinic for follow ups on the back surgery gone wrong.

A 26yo far from home might have decided to handle this all on his own yet felt completely overwhelmed by it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the two big contributors here are going to turn out to be weed (I bet he already used a lot in his frat in college, then it got worse with the back pain, and I’m sure there was free flowing weed in his commune in Hawaii) and playing first person shooter games. Weed absolutely precipitates psychotic illness in kids this age (see here for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33617756/). And growing up playing a lot of shooter games (it said several places that he was into them and at one point his goal was to develop his own) inured him to real life repercussions of shooting someone.

Completely agree. Drugs and first person shooter games. Once he had surfing accident and subsequent brain damage, it made this 10x worse. And he tried other illicit drugs for chronic pain.

It’s hard to muster a lot of sympathy for Little Lord Fauntleroy galavanting around the world, taking up surfing, taking drugs, and then injuring himself in the process. What a loser.

Anonymous wrote:In case you are one of those who are morally confused:

Good guy: Daniel Penny
Bad Guy: Luigi Mangione

Disagree. They’re simply divergent species of good guy.

Penny protected his fellow citizens on a micro level. Mangione did so on a macro level. Both saw something that needed doing, and stepped up.