A Fiore Friday - Who Killed Mike Brown?

The NRA is short sighted, foolish, and evil - AGAINSTILL

Cross-posted from penigma; by way of explanation, the annual 'Penny' (good penny or bad penny, our 2 cents worth) is an annual acknowledgement/ blog award.

WW I pennies with bullet holes in them considered 'trench art'

The NRA consistently demonstrates their failed level of limited thinking and lack of moral values in their political and policy positions. They ONLY value guns, to the exclusion of all else, including people, and actual safety - in this case, global safety. They have taken a pro-terrorist position.

In the video, below from the Daily Show, this is evident in the pro-ivory importation/ pro-terrorist position.

Where is the connection? Elephant ivory taken by terrorist poachers is funding anti-American and other terrorist acts, including attacks like the one on the shopping mall in Kenya. As noted by Think Progress:

NRA Campaigns Against The Plan To Save The World’s Elephants ...While many people would make the mistake of assuming that this was about helping save endangered elephants, the NRA understands what the real motivation is. “This is another attempt by this anti-gun Administration to ban firearms based on cosmetics and would render many collections/firearms valueless,” the NRA said in its call to arms. “Any firearm, firearm accessory, or knife that contains ivory, no matter how big or small, would not be able to be sold in the United States, unless it is more than 100 years old. This means if your shotgun has an ivory bead or inlay, your revolver or pistol has ivory grips, your knife has an ivory handle, or if your firearm accessories, such as cleaning tools that contain any ivory, the item would be illegal to sell.” For that reason, the NRA implores its members to flood the White House and Congress with phone calls and emails to “let them know you oppose the ban on commercial sale and trade of legally owned firearms with ivory components.” That desire to resell old — but not antique — weaponry clearly is more important to the NRA than preventing the looming extinction of the species — which is linked closely to the skyrocketing demand for ivory. “In 2013 alone an estimated 30,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory, more than 80 animals per day,” Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week. The commercial ivory ban is only part of a new National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking announced at the same time as the embargo, which prioritizes “strengthening domestic and global enforcement; reducing demand for illegally traded wildlife at home and abroad; and strengthening partnerships with international partners, local communities, NGOs, private industry, and others to combat illegal wildlife poaching and trade.” In that vein, the United States has been leading the charge in persuading countries around the world to destroy their stockpiles of intercepted ivory, annihilating six tons of it last November. Since then, Togo, China, and France have also followed suit and destroyed seized contraband of their own. Aside from the conservation concerns, which the NRA doesn’t seem moved by, poaching is increasingly being viewed as a national security issue for the United States. In an interview last year, Robert Hormats, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, said ivory had become a “conflict resource.” An Enough Project report from last year also found that Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army has begun poaching ivory from elephant tusks to fund the group’s activities, which include abducting children and forcing them into sex slavery.

Conservative values, pro-gun values, are failed values; conservative and pro-gun thinking is failed thinking. Neither the values, nor the abbreviated and short-sighted selfish positions make anyone more safe, or in a better world.

Can we?

We have endless sensationalism of ebola in the media, and not nearly enough emphasis on the far greater loss of life and health from guns. Both kinds of loss are preventable. We can and should do more, for the prevention of BOTH. Of course the conservatives, the ones who are science deniers and science illiterates, seek stupid solutions that we know won't work. They want to take away the freedom of sick people, but protest their freedom is pretty much entirely based on access to deadly force. So......following the logical conclusion, would the gun loons consider it justifiable to shoot anyone who either quarantined them individually, or regionally, or nationally? Just wondering.

Crazy conservative Christian shoots up gay bar in Minneapolis

from the Minneapolis City Pages:

Beginning with a comment that ranked 'comment of the day', for humor at the expense of Fakes News:





and continuing with the actual story as covered by legitimate journalism, in this case, still the City Pages:

another NRA-type gun nut - old, white, flabby, and crabby - and a little nuts

Wayne Odegard Allegedly Called Saloon Patrons "Faggots," Shot One with BB Gun  

Around 11:15 p.m. last Thursday, Wayne Odegard was walking down the sidewalk outside the Saloon's patio in downtown Minneapolis when he saw a gay couple kissing. Since the Saloon is one of the city's best-known gay bars, you wouldn't expect anything else, right? But Odegard was so incensed by the gay PDA that he allegedly called the couple "fucking faggots," broke out his BB gun, and started shooting.
Or at least so say Hennepin County authorities, who have charged Odegard, 43, with a felony count of making terroristic threats.

According to the charges, a security guard heard Odegard utter the slur and saw him shoot one of the men, hitting him in the leg. The guard then gave chase and wrestled Odegard to the ground before calling police.

When officers arrived on the scene, they saw Odegard, on the ground and handcuffed, looking at the person he shot as well as other Saloon patrons and allegedly calling them "faggots."

The victim later told authorities he heard Odegard mumble something.

"The next thing [he] remembered was hearing loud pops and feeling pain on his shin," the charges say.

After he was arrested, Odegard told authorities he saw the men kissing in public and "wanted it to stop."

"Defendant admitted to saying 'faggots' before the shooting, and said that seeing men kissing pisses him off," the complaint adds.

In an interview with Fox 9, the security guard involved in the incident, Tyler Erickson, said Odegard "told me multiple times that I'm going to go to hell and he's going to bring me with him."

"He recited a biblical passage -- I think it's a Deuteronomy passage," Erickson added.

Erickson told Fox 9 the gay couple involved live in Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

"They both joked that they came to progressive Minneapolis and got shot for being gay," he said, adding that the victim wasn't seriously injured.

In a subsequent report, one of Odegard's siblings told Fox 9 they're concerned that if he's released from jail, "he will escalate this behavior and seriously injure or kill a member of the gay community."

Hennepin County jail records indicate Odegard remains in custody this morning on $75,000 bail.

Recently, Governor Jerry Brown of California signed a bill that permits family members or others with a similarly close relationship to request that dangerous people have their guns removed. 

Assembly Bill 1014, by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, was the Legislature’s central response to the lethal shooting in May near the University of California, Santa Barbara. It will allow family members of someone who is displaying signs of mental instability to request a court order temporarily barring gun use and purchase.
Families of people killed in Isla Vista had lobbied for the bill at the Capitol, and Skinner cheered Brown’s action Tuesday.
“Family members are often the first to spot the warning signs when someone is in crisis,” she said in a prepared statement. “AB 1014 strengthens our mental health and gun control laws by providing an effective tool which family members and law enforcement can use to help prevent shootings before they occur.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/30/6749098/jerry-brown-signs-gun-restraining.html#storylink=cpy

Pro-gunners are having fits of the vapors.

However this guy seems to be the perfect example of why such laws are needed, and not just in California.  Odegard seems like exactly the kind of gun owner -- and it appears there is a concern he owns more than a BB gun -- who presents a danger to himself and others.  You have to be a little nuts to carry around a BB gun while just wandering down the street for no particular reason and then start shooting up people.

Eric Frein, gun nut and extremist right wing domestic terrorist

Eric Frein is the subject of a 1,000 man search, in response to the killing of one law enforcement officer and the attempted killing of another.

Frein has been evading the searchers, including resorting to wearing adult diapers in order to remain vigilant.  His dirty didies have been found in the woods by the searchers along with his AK47.

As we are approaching a second week of this manhunt, social media suggests that either Eric Matthew Frein is part of the Sovereign Citizen movement, or at least is receiving social media support and encouragement from it.  His beliefs seem consistent with those domestic terrorists and extremists, including their gun obsession and their desire to shoot their fellow citizens.

Pure speculation on my part, but given that bunkers filled with weapons and ammunition are characteristic of the right wing nuttery, and given the ability of Frein to avoid capture during this period while people look for him around the clock, he probably has some sort of longer-term hiding place that he is using, something on the order of an underground bunker.

As Frein continues to be spotted, and as the searchers continue to close in, the order has been given to shoot Frein on sight if he does not surrender, which is consistent with reasonable force by law enforcement under the circumstances.

One more example of why we should have stricter gun control; people like Eric Frein should never have weapons, much less military fire power.

More BAD Pro-gun conservative political candidates

From Minnesota again, this time courtesy of the City Pages about MN GOP endorsed, pro-gun state legislature candidate Roger Weber:

MNGOP Candidate Roger Weber Literally Sawed Neighbor's Garage In Half [PHOTO]

His "Issues" section may be blank, but it's safe to infer Weber is a big backer of chainsaw rights.

Roger Weber, the MNGOP-endorsed challenger for DFL incumbent Carly Melin's northern Minnesota House seat, faces a civil trial this week for sawing his neighbor's rural Nashwauk Township garage in half last year.

Why in God's name would he do such a thing, you ask? Because according to a Forum Communications report, Weber claims the half of the garage he mowed down was built decades ago by his father on land he now owns, but he doesn't want it on his property anymore. Meanwhile, the owner of the other half of the garage, Mark Besemann, acknowledges the property line dispute, but claims Weber acted unreasonably in resolving things with a power saw rather than peaceful negotiations.

Further down, the City Pages makes a passing reference again to the MN GOP endorsed candidate for Supreme Court, Michele L. MacDonald, and to the candidate Weber. The owner of the half-garage: Besemann, however, told Forum such behavior is reflective of a person "that isn't thinking properly." That would seem to apply as well to not only Weber, but MacDonald, and to Oregon candidate Wehby too. It's a fair concern that those who are pro-gun do not make a good case for widespread gun ownership when they stalk people, lie and plagiarize, obstruct justice and drive dangerously, and lie about being police officers (especially if under the influence of alcohol) or if they do erratic things like destroy garages with chain saws rather than seek resolution through the court system.

People who behave erratically, who are dishonest, and who don't 'think properly' demonstrate that they lack the personal qualities for public office, and arguably are not sufficiently responsible or capable of sound decision making relative to gun ownership EITHER.

One last little tidbit from the same City Pages article:

A poll released yesterday found that the incumbent MacDonald is challenging, Justice David Lillehaug, has an 86-point lead over her.

I don't know what candidate Melin's lead is over candidate Weber this time, but in 2012 she beat him by 42 points, 71 to 29% of the vote. I'm guessing with this garage sawing incident, in spite of being a mid-term election, that lead will go up, possibly as high as the Lillehaug lead over MacDonald.

Monica Wehby, SECOND incident of plagiarism, and apparent lying

Monica Wehby? 
The INNER, REAL
Monica Wehby,
behind the facade?

 From Oregon Live:

Monica Wehby's campaign acknowledges plagiarism problem, blames former aide who disputes charge

Monica Wehby's campaign on Wednesday acknowledged problems with plagiarism in some of her issue documents and removed them from her website.
Her campaign blamed a former staffer, and it was clear from the context that Wehby and her aides were referring to her former campaign manager, Charlie Pearce, who is now running Dennis Richardson's campaign for governor.

Pearce, who was clearly irked, denied having anything to do with the problem. "I did not author the health care policy or economic policy plans," he said in an interview.

The Wehby campaign scrubbed the issue papers from its website shortly after BuzzFeed reported that chunks of her economic plan closely followed wording from a report by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. Some portions also used the same wording as a plan by a 2012 GOP congressional candidate from California.

A day earlier, the web publication had reported that a seven-point health care plan released by Wehby last year mimicked much of the wording of a survey taken for a group run by GOP consultant Karl Rove.

Wehby spokesman Dean Petrone had called the health care charge "absurd."  But following the second BuzzFeed report, Petrone issued this statement:

"These website pages were authored by staff that are no longer employed by the campaign and were immediately removed once brought to our attention.

That put the attention on Pearce, who assembled Wehby's initial campaign staff and was listed as the contact on press releases detailing the health care and economy plans. He left in a big staff shakeup after the primary when Wehby was struggling to get past controversy over calls to the police made by her former husband and an ex-boyfriend complaining about her behavior.

Petrone, who did not respond on the record to Pearce's statement, denied that Wehby or anyone currently connected to the campaign had anything to do with writing the plans.

However, Petrone said Wehby "stands by the positions she's taken and the ideas.  The act of what was done, she had no role in that."

UPDATE: An email obtained by The Oregonian containing the original Word document draft of the economic policy appears to show that it was written by an employee at Meridian Pacific, a consulting firm working for Wehby, and not by Pearce.  John Peschong, a partner in the firm, told the Salem Statesman-Journal that he couldn't authenticate that the document was produced by his firm and said he couldn't reach the person named in the Word document, who no longer works for Meridian.

Nice piece of work, Wehby plagiarizes BOTH her health plan, AND her economic plan, and then tries to blame someone else who was NOT responsible. Clearly, this woman has problems telling the truth, and we should not be taking her word for ANYTHING.  (Shame on the NRA AND the GOP for endorsing this woman!)

Monica Wehby deserves to be bounced to the curb, not sent to the Senate for Oregon.

Dr. Wehby, now busted on plagiarism, trailing in polls in Oregon

The NRA sure knows how to pick losers and unethical people.

Of course, we have Rand Paul as the pre-eminent plagiarist, but Wehby is apparently following in his footsteps.

from MSNBC.com:

Oregon Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby, already trailing in the polls against Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, is now dealing with a fresh plagiarism scandal involving her health care and economic plans. The campaign has pulled down portions of its website after news reports revealed instances of language pulled from other sources.
This week, Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski noticed that the health care plan on Wehby’s campaign site was largely identical to a survey conducted by Karl Rove’s political group Crossroads GPS. That would have been embarassing for any candidate, but Wehby has been running on her health care expertise based on her career as a successful pediatric neurosurgeon. It didn’t help that Wehby’s campaign offered up a flip response to the initial allegation.
“The suggestion that a pediatric neurosurgeon needs to copy a health care plan from American Crossroads is absurd,” a Wehby spokeswoman told Buzzfeed. “Dr. Wehby is too busy performing brain surgery on sick children to respond, sorry.”

They couldn’t ignore it for long, however, especially after Buzzfeed discovered the economic plan posted on Wehby’s site also lifted language from several other Republican sources and the story spread across local Oregon outlets. On Wednesday, the campaign removed portions of its website and blamed a former staffer for the issues.

...
“The Wehby campaign wants Oregonians to believe Wehby hadn’t read her own health care and economic plans until today,” Merkley campaign manager Alex Youn told the newspaper in a statement. “That’s ridiculous … This is her policy platform, and it’s the reason she is running.”
Wehby was considered one of the top Republican Senate recruits at the start of her campaign thanks to an appealing biography and a handful of moderate positions (she’s a rare pro-choice GOP candidate) that could play well in blue-leaning Oregon. But her campaign never caught fire, beset early on by revelations that Wehby had been accused of harassment by her ex-husband and an ex-boyfriend.
Recently, Freedom Partners, a Koch-backed political group that has backed Wehby, canceled planned October ads, an indication that big money donors may be giving up on the race. While polling is relatively scarce in the race, surveys have consistently given Merkely a double-digit lead for months.

Cowards blame others for their mistake.  The not-so-good doctor is responsible for her own damn health plan, and if she expects to go play with the big kids in Congress, she damned well better learn to read what goes over her name -- especially if she does not write it.  The woman lacks integrity as well as any original thinking, on top of her dubious medical expertise.

No wonder the NRA supports her -- it appears she is pro-gun, and apparently opposes limiting guns for stalkers, since she is accused of being one herself.

Here is more on the stalker story.

Yup, the NRA endorses people who perform unnecessary surgeries, but run on their medical expertise, and who are pro-gun -- but also stalkers, and let's round that up with a lack of integrity in plagiarism, and a refusal to take responsibility.

I'd have a modicum of respect if Wehby just admitted she borrowed from multiple sources, but she doesn't -- and she doesn't have the courage even to address the topic herself.

Michelle MacDonald, 2-A lunatic and GOP-endorsed crackpot for the Minnesota State Supreme Court

UPDATE:  Michelle MacDonald was convicted of obstruction of justice relating to her DUI arrest, a gross misdemeanor.
------------
We are told that the pro-gunners are always so law abiding, responsible and safe. They are not. In a recent post, my co-blogger Laci took an Oregon candidate endorsed by the NRA to task, both for her arguably poor judgement and for becoming a candidate while embroiled in a felony trial. She is not the only one.

Meet Michelle MacDonald, Republican candidate for the Minnesota State Supreme Court.

Michelle MacDonald's mug shot from her DUI arrest on 9/12/2013.



From the PiPress:

Jurors shown video of Supreme Court candidate's DWI arrest [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.]  

(Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 17--What started as a cordial Rosemount traffic stop ended with Michelle MacDonald screaming at police officers to get their hands off her as they pulled her from her car and accusing them of lying to trump up the charges against her.

Video and audio of MacDonald's April 2013 arrest were played Tuesday during her drunken-driving trial in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. She is also charged with refusing a blood-alcohol test, obstructing the legal process and speeding.

The case is expected to go to the jury Wednesday after closing arguments.


A family law attorney, MacDonald was endorsed in May by the state Republican Party as a Minnesota Supreme Court candidate. She had a falling-out with party leaders after her criminal charges were widely reported.

Rosemount police officer Alex Eckstein, who pulled MacDonald over about 11:20 p.m. April 5, 2013, testified Wednesday. He clocked her going 8 mph above the posted speed limit of 30 mph.

The video shown in court was from his dashboard camera. MacDonald was heard but not seen for much of it.

The stop began in routine fashion: Eckstein said hello and asked if MacDonald knew how fast she was going.

She said she didn't. Almost immediately, she then identified herself as "a reserve cop." The term is used for nonsworn volunteer officers who assist with limited police duties. MacDonald was not one. She later said she misspoke and meant instead that she had attended a citizens police academy.

In his testimony, Eckstein said the remark made him suspicious.

"Typically, when somebody tells me that right away, they're either trying to hide something or lying about something," he said.

In the video, Eckstein then told MacDonald that he smelled a slight odor of alcohol. She said she hadn't had anything to drink. Eckstein said he wanted her to step out of the car for a field sobriety test.

MacDonald said she lived nearby and was just going to go home.

From there, the conversation spiraled into repetition and argument. Eckstein laid out multiple times why he had stopped MacDonald; she repeated again and again that she wasn't getting out of the car and wanted to go home. She said she would walk home if she weren't allowed to drive.

At one point, she said: "I'm an attorney. I do a lot of practice in Dakota County, and I'm not liking this." Eckstein called in another officer, Sgt. Bryan Burkhalter, to assist him. When MacDonald stayed in the car, the officers then arrested her, opening the car doors and pulling her from the vehicle.

She shouted, "Leave me alone!" and "Get your hands off me!" as they did so.

"Is this for real?" she asked. "Are you guys doing this to me?" At the police station, MacDonald continued to argue -- often emotionally and loudly -- that she should be let go. She was a good citizen, she said, and the officers had nothing better to do than fabricate accusations against her.

She did not take a blood-alcohol breath test in the time allotted. About 4:25 a.m., she obtained a private blood test from a hospital that showed a blood-alcohol concentration of less than 0.01 -- the lowest reading the test could give.

Her attorney, Stephen Grigsby, focused his cross-examination of the officers on whether they had probable cause to arrest her for drunken driving. He maintains that they did not and that they simply became frustrated with her exercising her right to stay in the car.

In Minnesota, MacDonald must be well aware that for refusing to take some form of test - breathalyzer, blood test, or urine test, etc., she can lose her drivers license. I find this case particularly interesting having just served jury duty on a DUI case. MacDonald then (allegedly) was arrested having violated the terms of the sentence for the DUI case.

But this is not the only legal problems that MacDonald is facing. She is something of a right wing nut job, and such a poor candidate that the MN GOP has tried to dump her after endorsing her. So Michelle MacDonald filed a complaint against her own party -- and LOST.

MacDonald also filed a motion to allow cameras in the courtroom for her trial, and lost that motion also.  MacDonald is arguably not a very successful practitioner of the legal profession, in my personal opinion.

Michelle MacDonald also tried to crash the MN GOP booth at the state fair, creating a scene that clearly argues the woman lacks judicial temperament at the very least, and both bad taste and worse judgement.

But that is not the only legal misadventures MacDonald has had.

MacDonald is primarily a family court attorney, but wants to abolish the family court system.  Not sure how someone adopts a child, or gets a divorce without family court, but apparently MacDonald doesn't care.

MacDonald also is one of the Bible thumper crowd who want to insert religion into our judicial system -- specifically HER religion, not yours or mine or someone else's (or choice not to embrace a religion).  And of course, she is pro-2A, although I'm not sure this nut job could discuss it with any intelligence or knowledge.

But conservatives of the crazy stripe -- and the part of Minnesota that elected that OTHER Michele shows they exist in some numbers -- will love her position on abortion, guns, and hating the government system she wants to join.  And the NRA should love her -- one more bat-shit crazy to stuff and put on a shelf alongside Ted Nugent and the other whackos.

Or maybe she'll just end up behind bars before the election?

Chicken Shit and Gun fun -- because you can't make this stuff up

Photo by Bajiroo.com

A story about chickens, some chicken shit, a dumb cluck, and some just plain scary dumb shit.

EVERY story like this is an un-opposable argument for stricter gun control. 

There is no way this man should EVER have been able to buy an AK-47.

But then, he also shouldn't have been able to make an explosive device either.

Heck, someone like this probably shouldn't own a dog or chickens either...

I don't care however if he has the pot -- the one thing so far, for which he has been arrested.

From WBOY 12  (follow the link for the video)

I-79 BACK OPEN: Chickens and ammo to blame for shutdown

Just before 4 a.m., Seth Grim was driving a 1998 Ford Explorer with Pennsylvania plates and rolled it over on Interstate 79 near Amma, West Virginia. A dog tried to jump out of the window, which might have helped cause the wreck. Unfortunately, the dog later died and Grim was taken to the hospital with minor injuries to his upper torso.

Here's where the story gets wacky. In the back of his explorer were 35 to 40 chickens along with an AK-47 and a large amount of ammunition. Also in the back of his vehicle was a device that police were extremely concerned about. The "improvised explosives" prompted a higher level of response.

The West Virginia State Police Bomb Squad out of Williamson was sent to the scene and removed the device.

Initially, all of the chickens were reported to have made it out alive. Our reporter, who was on site during the shutdown of the interstate, tells us that some of the chickens died.

I-79 is now back open.

Seth Grim is being charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Officers saw a quart jar of what they believed to be marijuana in the front seat. He's being held in the South Central Regional Jail on a $25,000 bond.

Ah, poor Holly Hobby Lobby-loving Fisher - welcome to your theocratic corporatocracy

A follow up to Laci's post about gun porn queen wannabee posing with her gun, her Bible, and her flag, in the exact same pose as a Muslim woman doing the same thing.

While not as on-topic for gun issues, it does display the poor thinking and factual ignorance of the conservatives generally, particularly the faux-patriot religious right, and why they should have little or no influence on our politics or government.

These are dumb, narrow-minded, violent bigots.  The only appropriate response to these bimbos and bozos is to point and laugh, and laugh and laugh.

Her insurance company demands a waiver to not have to follow the ACA guidelines and raise their rates but it's Obama's fault. Right.

Busted: Holly ‘Hobby Lobby’ Fisher’s Anti-Obamacare Sob Story Exposed as Typical GOP Hypocrisy and LIES

AATTP.org

H/t to AATP on facebook for this! (LOVE ATTP!!!  - give them a look!)
courtesy of Americans Against the Tea Party web site:

Busted: Holly ‘Hobby Lobby’ Fisher’s Anti-Obamacare Sob Story Exposed as Typical GOP Hypocrisy and LIES

Posted by: Paul Loebe in GOP War on Women, Most Popular on AATTP, TEApublican Smack Downs July 7, 2014

Intrigued by the ridiculousness that is Holly Fisher I wandered over to the blog she set up and decided to do some investigation.

In late May, we were notified that because of tripling premiums, my husband’s employer was dropping Cigna for a new insurance. This comes one year after they dropped United Healthcare because premiums were increasing drastically.  United and Cigna are very similar and adequate insurances, however we did lose coverage, options, and our deductible went from one thousand per family member to two thousand per family member.  Out of pocket for our family went from eight thousand.

Wait, so the same ignorant woman that stood in front of Hobby Lobby with a Chick-Fil-A cup just to piss off liberals – while at the same time supporting Hobby Lobby for controlling the healthcare decisions of the women in their employ – is upset that her husband’s employer CHOSE THEIR INSURANCE FOR THEM! How dare they!
Except wait…let’s just blame Obamacare! Thanks Obama!
But wait! One dumb turn deserves another.

So despite the fact the law was designed to stop premiums from going up – by requiring 80% of healthcare premiums to pay for *gasp* healthcare, as well as restricting companies from placing a cap on healthcare benefits – this law failed to do so. Why? Because certain states and companies (West Virginia and Cigna specifically) applied for waivers that made them exempt from following the letter of the law.

Basically, these companies and states DIDN’T follow Obamacare by the letter….Holly’s health insurance premiums rose, and her company – in their infinite wisdom – chose to get another policy, because that is their right as determined by the Supreme Court, after all.
So I guess it’s okay for Hobby Lobby to determine the health insurance they can provide for their employees but not for Holly’s company to do the same. Holly is upset and whines about it because it affects her life. It puts her child in danger. She wants everyone to feel sorry for her. And in fact I do! I don’t think that she should be forced to accept sub-par coverage for her child’s condition because her employees chose the health plan for them.
Am I sensing another conservative playing the Teapublican tune that “I care when it affects me, but not when it affects others.”
Let me break it down for Holly ‘Hobby Lobby’ Fisher. We liberals want you and EVERYONE to have access to affordable healthcare where the rate isn’t determined by some corporate fat-cat who thinks he knows better than what you and your family need. We also don’t think employers should be involved in making those decisions. We think YOU and YOUR FAMILY should. The solution for that? Single payer. The sore back-up plan? Obamacare.
Your plan? The corporatocracy controlling a market designed to give them profit without concern for any of the citizens of the Republic…
Sounds legit.
How’s that glass house feel?

Independence Day Weekend American History Quiz!

It is intentionally difficult -- and pay close attention to the section on nullification; I put that in for those who think that works for ignoring federal gun legislation.

Quiz answers will be published sometime Wednesday!



1. How many states in the U.S.?
a. 50
b. 51.
c. 46

(yes - it IS a trick question! so are some of the others)

2. The first U.S. President was:
a. George Washington
b. Peyton Randolph
c. John Hancock

3. How many U.S. Presidents were there between  September 1774 and November 1788?
a.   3
b.   9
c. 14

4. The UK has commonwealths, like the nations of Canada and Australia. 
Does the U.S. have any commonwealths?  If so, how many and what are their names?

5.The War of 1812 started in 1812; what year did it end?
a. 1815
b. 1814
c. 1812

6. Who declared war on whom in that war?
a. France declared war on the British (and we joined in, on the side of the French by treaty, but did not actually declare war)
b. the U.S. declared war on the British
c. Spain declared war on the British over Florida, and we tried to take it from both of them while they were fighting each other

 7. What is the "Chowder and marching club" group in Congress, and when was it started?

 8.  Yankee Doodle Dandy was another patriotic American song, also written by the British along with dancing, to mock the colonists.  It subsequently became a battle tune for Washington and his troops, to mock the Brits.  And then in 1904, George M. Cohan wrote a Broadway musical, "Little Johnny Jones" in which he updated the tune and music as "Yankee Doodle Boy".  True or false, the tune was actually a British drinking song 'stolen' by the American revolutionaries?


9. Yankee Doodle was also a northern/ Union Civil War song, with changes to the earlier lyrics, True or False?

10.  The Pennamite - Yankee War was an actual "shooting war" that ended in 1799, although the Continental Congress tried to end it in 1782.  Who was that war between?
a. New York and Pennsylvania
b. Pennsylvania and the Pennamite Indians
c. Connecticut, Vermont, and Pennsylvania

 11.  Yankee appears to have been a word used originally as an insult by Dutch colonists for the English colonists as far back as the latter 1600's and then by the English towards the Dutch, and then by the English towards Americans, during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 onwards.
Americans first applied the term "Damned Yankees" as a disparaging term towards their fellow Americans :
 a. Civil War southerners towards northerners
 b. disgruntled Texans after joining the United States as the 28th state in 1845
 c. disgruntled sports fans towards the New York baseball team in the mid- 20th century, following the book, Broadway musical and movie

12.  In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, buying land which subsequently became  all or part of  16 states comprising the central United States sometimes referred to as 'Tornado Alley".  One point for every one of the 15 states correctly named.

13.  Florida became the 27th state of the Union in 1845, but the area of that state became U.S. territory because of a treaty related to the Louisiana purchase, through the Adams - Onis treaty of 1819.  The treaty not only settled through diplomacy and treaty who got Florida, but also settled and ceded large parts of the U.S. from the western boundaries of the Louisiana purchase all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Which Adams of the early political dynastic Adams family negotiated the treaty, and with what country? (hint - he also negotiated the end of the war of 1812)

a. John Adams with France
b. John Quincy Adams with Spain
c. Charles Francis Adams (son of John Quincy, grandson of John Adams) with Mexico

14. - 20. Pretty much everyone knows about the Civil War in the mid-19th century.  The deep southern states from Virginia to Texas, attempted to nullify their membership in the United States through armed rebellion, and to thereby secede (as distinct from the legitimate process of secession under the Constitution).  Virginia and Kentucky had promoted the idea of nullification, in 1798-99 but not attacked the United States. South Carolina initiated that first treasonous act of armed rebellion by firing on Fort Sumter, but had previously attempted the failed effort at nullification creating the Nullification Crisis of 1832, over tariffs, which laid the ground work for the actions of the south in the Civil War and the conservative issue of states rights, which continues into the 21st century.
Secession, states rights, and the sovereign citizens movement continue from those issues and incidents through our modern era.

14. States rights advocates are or have been colloquially referred to as:
a. quids
b. 98s
c. tenthers
d. secessionists
e. sovereign citizens
f. all of the above

15. The resolutions of 1798 and 1799 were secretly written by then Vice President Thomas Jefferson for Kentucky, and James Madison for Virginia.  Nullification is refuted by what part of the Constitution?
a. Supremacy Clause
b. Enumerated Powers
c. Preamble
d. all of the above

16. The resolutions and the subsequent Nullification Act of South Carolina relied on the compact theory and the theory of state interposition.  Compact theory presumes the Constitution is a 'compact' between the states, which the states can break or end, and 'interposition', that the states hold a position between the federal government and the people.  One of the opposing arguments is that, under the U.S. Constitution, the nation was formed by the will of the people, not individual states as was the case with the earlier Articles of Confederation. 

This refutation is based on what parts of the Constitution:
a. Preamble and Article III
b. Supremacy Clause
c. 14th Amendment and the Incorporation Doctrine
d. all of the above

17. We tend to think of the U.S. as having a two-party system.  John Quincy Adams negotiated the resolution to the Nullification Crisis of 1832 through legislation; which of the following political parties did he belong to during his presidency?
a. Federalist party
b. Democratic-Republican party
c. National Republican party
d. Anti-Masonic party
e.Whig party
f. all of the above
g. none of the above

18. There were key differences between the Articles of Confederation established by the Continental Congress, notably that the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union defined the United States as a confederation of states.  The Articles of Confederation also defined the chief executive as the President, but the office was more similar to that the current speaker of the House of Representatives.   Who was the first President under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, and how many were there before the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were replaced?
a. Peyton Randolph of Virginia, first of 14 Presidents
b. John Hancock, first of 20 Presidents
c. Cyrus Griffin, first of 6 Presidents

19.George Washington was elected unanimously as the President of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to repair and replace the failures of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.  In what two years was he first elected President of the United States?
a. 1781 and 1785
b.& 1792 and 1796
c. 1788 and 1792

20. Although not an official party member, President George Washington was associated with the Federalist party.  True or false, the Jeffersonian party delayed the beginning of the Washington monument, even though Congress had authorized it after Washington died in 1799, because they had distrusted Washington, much like the modern Republicans and Tea partiers distrust President Obama?

Bonus question:
What was George Washington's middle name?
a. Henry
b. Thomas
c. Fairfax
d. none of the above - he had no middle name

New York man walks in, asks for job, starts shooting

ONLY in the crazy world of the failure of gun culture fetishist do you take a gun to a job interview.

ONLY in the crazy world of the gun culture fetishist do businesses have to tolerate idiots with guns on their premises as routine, no matter how dangerous -- and of course the gun fetishists are in total denial about their lack of safety or absence of sound judgement.

Firearms are an impulsive weapon in the crimes of murder/suicide.  Without those weapons, far fewer of those crimes occur because of that contribution of impulse.

From Raw Story:

NY man walks into business for a job, shoots two workers and himself when he doesn’t get it

A New York man who walked into a business looking for a job on Monday shot two workers, and then turned the gun on himself when he did not immediately get it.
According to the PIX11, 54-year-old Cameron Waithe asked Oscar Ramirez for a job just after walking into C&A Iron Works in Brooklyn at around 11 a.m. on Monday.
“Oscar said he should go talk to the manager,” employee Marcos Chantes told the New York Post.
Company manager, Joselo Gonzalez, then directed Waithe upstairs where he could talk to the owner of the company.
“I see him looking nervous,” Chantes recalled. “He’s looking behind his back like someone is looking for him.”
That’s when Waithe pulled out a gun and took aim at Ramirez.
“Oscar said, ‘Hey, hey, what’s happening?’ And he just shot him,” Chantes explained. “I ran and started yelling, ‘Everyone get out, get out.’?”
Waithe fired his gun eight times over the next ten minutes. Ramirez fled the building after being shot in the stomach, and 66-year-old employee Armando Tapia was also hit.
For hours after that, the shooter sat barricaded in an office with a gun to his head, while NYPD negotiator Lt. Jack Cambria said that he had “positive” negotiations. Waithe agreed to give up his car keys, and a bomb-like device during the talks.
"We engaged in dialogue and then, unprovoked, he shot himself,” Cambria remarked.
Ramirez was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. Tapia was reportedly also at Lutheran Medical Center in stable condition.
Police said that Waithe had a criminal history that included assault, criminal possession of marijuana and resisting arrest. But his friends and family were shocked to learn of the incident.

No mention of mental illness; this was just a bloody-minded asshole with a gun that he could acquire far too easily.

Remember - within a year of a criminal conviction for marijuana possession, no record would remain on the NICS data base.

Thank the NRA and gun fanatics for that contribution to gun violence. 

That is IF his name was ever submitted to the NICS data base in the first place -- more than half the names who should be in the national data base are NOT.

Thank the NRA and gun fanatics for that contribution to gun violence.

So long as the resisting arrest crime was plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor, in spite of it being a violent crime, it would not prevent him from legally buying a firearm from an FFL seller. 

Thank the NRA and gun fanatics for that contribution to gun violence.

Think about, as well, the cost of law enforcement, the danger to law enforcement, and the hospitalization costs for NOTHING OF VALUE because of this jerk having easy access to firearms. 

Think about, as well, the cost of the lost productivity of these workers, the loss to this business, and the costs of hospitalization and possibly physical and psychological therapy as a result of this shooting --- all for NOTHING OF VALUE because of the obsession with violence and firearms by a segment of our society.

Guns should be much harder to acquire and own.

Guns should be much harder to use.

Gun ownership should be mandated to require insurance coverage, for liability, for the damages that gun owners do.

And no -- where there is stricter gun ownership regulation, there are FEWER criminals with guns, and law enforcement is at less risk, and there is less cost associated with gun violence as well.

New York has excellent gun laws; the problem firearms come from out of state, from those states with LAX gun laws. 

We need national regulation that prevents the people in the "bad gun law states" from victimizing the people across the nation, including those in the "good gun law" states like New York by providing, selling, and/or transporting guns that would otherwise be prohibited to people who would otherwise be prohibited from acquiring them.

For the gun hugging scared shitless and scared witless!

Ah, Florida, Haven (and Heaven) for Gun Lunatics

Earlier this week, there was another mass shooting, no surprise - in lax gun law state Florida, haven of ammosexuals. This quote from seems to sum up the problem with allowing weapons with large capacity magazines and which can fire a great deal of ammunition very quickly, for the purpose of wounding or killing large numbers of people. From the Miami Herald:

...two men had pulled up in a dark SUV around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday as more than a dozen people were hanging out, talking and drinking. The men climbed out lugging high-powered automatic weapons, and took aim. ...When the shooting stopped, more than five dozen shell casings littered the parking lot, sidewalk and street. Two men were killed and seven people were wounded in one of the worst mass shootings in Miami in decades. But sources say the two men, carrying an AK-47 and an AR-15, were firing at an intended target who might not have even been in the crowd. The shooters had not been arrested or identified by Tuesday night. Police were tagging beer bottles and other paraphernalia around the crime scene hoping to find DNA matches or other evidence that might help identify the shooters. “The motive at this point is still unknown. We’re still investigating,” said Miami police spokeswoman Frederica Burden. The scene was so chaotic that when reports circulated that three men had been arrested in connection with the shooting, police immediately said it wasn’t true. The reality: Three men were detained after tossing a Sponge Bob Square Pants bag that contained weapons.

As noted in supporting a ban on large capacity weapons and assault-style weapons in Washington D.C., back in 2011, from the New York Times, quoting the findings of the presiding court:

This ruling underscores a principle set forth in the 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which held that the Second Amendment allows individuals to keep handguns at home for self-defense. The Supreme Court said in that case that the right is “not unlimited” and doesn’t protect guns “not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.” And it specifically suggested that jurisdictions could ban the possession of the military’s M-16 rifle because it is “dangerous and unusual.”

The District’s firearms law defines “assault weapon” to include rifles like the AR-15, which the Supreme Court once called “the civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle.” The appeals court suggested that the only place where assault weapons, which are designed to spray bullets at a rapid rate, are necessary for self-defense is on a battlefield or the equivalent for police. Anywhere else their presence is an invitation to mayhem and puts police officers and all around at high risk.

It also concluded that “the evidence demonstrates a ban on assault weapons is likely to promote the Government’s interest in crime control in the densely populated urban area that is the District of Columbia.” The court reached the same conclusion about banning magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Those magazines increase the dangers of semiautomatic guns: they result in more shots fired, people wounded and wounds per person. The appeals court’s ruling is careful and convincing on this heated topic.

To date the SCOTUS has not in any way disagreed with this ruling that :

1. Specifically sets limits the kind of weapon guaranteed under the 2A; and

2. Restricts that right to the home, not on the street or in/at/on any other public or private place;

Shootings like this underline why we need stricter gun control laws and enforcement, and fewer and different guns in our population.

This is my weapon......this is my.............well, it USED to be....

an actual penile gun shot photo -- not this one though

From TPM:

Georgia Man Later Discovers He Shot Himself In Penis While Holstering Gun

A Macon, Ga. man accidentally shot himself in the penis on Thursday, according to WMAZ Channel 13.
The man was trying to holster his .45 caliber gun while parked in a gas station parking lot when it accidentally discharged.

He then when to a friend's house, where he discovered he "shot himself in the penis and that the bullet exited out of his buttocks," according to WMAZ.

Just sayin' --- when I see some jerk out parading around with his fetish object gun, I think of this guy and all those like him who are not safe, who are not secure gun carriers, and who lack both physical dexterity and most of all, good judgement sufficient safely to be armed with a lethal weapon for no good reason. Just because they wannah is not a sufficiently good reason

More info on the Straw Purchase SCOTUS decision

From USA TODAY:

The 5-4 decision upheld two lower courts that had ruled against so-called straw purchasers, even though the justices acknowledged that Congress left loopholes in gun control laws passed in the 1960s and 1990s.

For gun purchasers to be allowed to buy from licensed dealers without reporting the actual final owners of the firearms, the justices said, would make little sense.

"Putting true numbskulls to one side, anyone purchasing a gun for criminal purposes would avoid leaving a paper trail by the simple expedient of hiring a straw," Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the slim majority.

"No piece of information is more important under federal firearms law than the identity of a gun's purchaser — the person who acquires a gun as a result of a transaction with a licensed dealer," Kagan said.

During oral arguments in the case in January, she had noted that without such a finding, "it does not matter whether the ultimate transferee was Al Capone or somebody else."

Gun control advocates were delighted with the decision. "This is a very big and very positive decision that will save lives by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

It was the second ruling from the conservative court this term that went against the gun lobby. In March, the justices ruled unanimously that a federal law intended to keep guns away from domestic violence offenders can apply even if their crime was nothing more than "offensive touching."

Thank you, SCOTUS -- and hooray for you especially, Justice Kagan.

This points out the flaws as well in not requiring a background check on EVERY gun purchase. PERIOD.

Another School Shooting - 2 dead, Oregon High school

NOT ONE MORE.

This is a GUN problem, whatever OTHER kind of problem it is.

There is a presser right now.

A gunman entered the high school this morning around 8 a.m.

He shot one student, aprox. age 15, who died.  The shooter was found also dead, and has been reported to be another student.

Remaining students are now being reunited with parents

There will be additional press sessions at noon Pacific Time.


NOT ONE MORE.

Guns are too easy to obtain, too easy to abuse.  We need stricter gun control, we need fewer guns.

More on the Nasty, Nazi-like, Nevada Gun Nuts

The ONLY thing a 'good guy with a gun' stopped was a bullet, one of the concealed carry guys in Walmart -- where there are so many, many gun incidents even without the right wing white supremacist gun nuts.

They seem a tidge unclear about white supremacists and neo-nazis.

From the Huff Po:

Las Vegas Shooting Suspects Amanda Miller, Jerad Miller Equated Government 'With Nazis'

Police in Nevada have identified the two shooters -- responsible for the deadly weekend killings of three people, including two police officers -- as a husband and wife named Amanda Miller and Jerad Miller.

"We believe that it was a random act," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a Monday press conference.

"[We have] no doubt the suspects [had] some apparent ideology along the lines of militia and white supremacists," McMahill added. "We believe that they equated government ... with Nazis."

According to McMahill, Jared Miller, 31, and his wife Amanda Miller, 22, shot and killed Las Vegas police officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo, and a civilian identified as Robert Wilcox, during their shooting spree.

Beck, 41, was a married father of three who had been with the department since 2001. Soldo, 31, had been with the department since 2006. He is survived by a wife and baby, police said. Wilcox was a resident of Las Vegas.

In addition to identifying the suspects, McMahill released new details about the shootings, which began late Sunday morning while Beck and Soldo were having lunch at CiCi's Pizza restaurant.

 "Jared Miller pulled a handgun out and shot officer Soldo one time in the back of the head," McMahill said. "Officer Beck immediately began to react ... [but] was shot once in the throat area. Amanda Miller [then] removed a handgun from her purse and both Jared and Amanda fired multiple shots into officer Beck."

After shooting the officers, police say the suspects pulled the men out of the booth and laid them on the floor. They then placed a flag – a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words, "Don't tread on Me" – on top of Beck, along with a swastika. On Soldo, the two placed a note, police said, that read, "This is the start of the revolution."

After the shooting, police say the couple took the officers handguns and ammunition and fled across the street to a nearby Walmart. There, police say, Jared Miller fired off one round and told everyone to get out of the store. At some point he allegedly yelled, "This is a revolution."

According to police, Walmart shopper Robert Wilcox, 31, was carrying a concealed weapon and confronted Jared Miller. Wilcox was apparently unaware of Amanda Miller and when he walked by her to confront her husband, she shot him in the rib area.

A shootout with pursuing officers ensued, during which Amanda Miller "took her handgun and fired several rounds into Jared," McMahill said. "At that point Amanda took her handgun and ended her life with one gunshot to the head."

Seattle Shooter Stopped by a Good Guy WITHOUT A GUN

Per MSNBC news, the shooter in Seattle was stopped by a student guard with pepper spray when he stopped to reload.

Proving once again, as with other shootings - Gabby Giffords shooting by Jared Loughner comes to mind as an example - there is a good argument to be made for smaller capacity weapons and magazines.

A good guy with a can of 'ouch', not a can of whoop-ass, not a can of deadly.

The NRA was wrong.  Wayne La Pierre is WRONG.  More guns are not the solution, the are the problem.