Meeting Across the River - Bruce Springsteen

This one reminds me of Lillo, remember him?  I wonder if he's getting better or worse.  What do you think?

Update on the Mass Shootings in North Carolina

So, here we have a woman who was clearly at least adequate enough a shot to hit multiple people in the head,fatally. This kind of emotional violence that resulted in multiple murders and one suicide. I can't even begin to imagine what this woman was doing driving around with her son in the back seat shot in the head.

I have no doubt that before this, this woman may have been a reasonable and sane person.  But when she crossed over the line into dangerous and crazy, she had no problems whatsoever putting her hands on a gun and plenty of ammunition.  WHY is this acceptable?  In what universe is this ok?  There is something about firearms which studies indicate, over and over, lend themselves to impulse or emotional violence more than other weapons.

Are we going to acknowledge that? Or are we going to just have more justification rhetoric from the gun loons, who may as well be sticking their thumbs in their ears  while going "la la la la la la laaaaah la la la LAH! "

It is PAST time we secure firearms.  It is PAST time we require some kind of test to determine emotional and psychological soundness before anyone gets near a trigger. 

Other countries have the occasional mass or multiple shootings, but we have more of them per capita.  Enough is enough is enough.

From MSNBC.com and the AP:

Cops: Mom in love triangle kills 2 kids, wounds 4, then kills self

'We've got a situation basically that no one could ever imagine,' sheriff says

Guilford County Sheriff

Mary Ann Holder

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

updated 35 minutes ago

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A woman who killed her son and her niece — and shot her ex-boyfriend, another son, a nephew and a teen girl before killing herself — was bitter over an affair with the married man that ended with restraining orders filed, authorities said Monday.

Mary Ann Holder, 36, left behind two notes taking responsibility for the shootings Sunday morning and apologizing for the pain she caused, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said.
What the note didn't explain was why Holder decided to shoot five people under the age of 18 in the head along with the man she had an affair with.
"We may never know exactly what her thoughts were and why," Barnes said.
The shootings in three different locations south of Greensboro left Holder's 17-year-old son dead on Sunday. An 8-year-old niece died Monday.
Her 14-year-old son, 17-year-old nephew, and the older son's 15-year-old girlfriend were all in critical condition Monday morning. All were shot in the head.
Holder's ex-boyfriend, 40-year-old Randall Lamb, was in stable condition with a shoulder wound, Barnes said.

"We've got death. We've got drama. We've got a situation basically that no one could ever imagine would happen here," Barnes said.

The tragedy began to unfold shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday when Holder met Lamb in a parking lot. They spoke briefly before Holder shot him in the shoulder, investigators said.
Lamb called his wife and told her what happened, prompting deputies to begin looking for Holder. Officers were stationed outside her home, but a deputy spotted her car driving down the street about an hour later. The deputy said he saw a puff of smoke in the car and found Holder dead and her 14-year-old son, Zachary Smith, shot in the head, Barnes said.
The officers then went into Holder's home and found Holder's son, 17-year-old Robert Dylan Smith, dead. Smith's girlfriend, Makayla Woods was injured along with Holder's niece, Hannaleigh Suttles, and her nephew, Richard Suttles.
Holder had custody of her nephew and niece after their mother died last spring, NBC affiliate WXII12 reported Barnes as saying.
Holder used Woods' cell phone after shooting Lamb to arrange to pick up her younger son at a friend's house where he had spent the night, the sheriff said.
Authorities said Monday they were still trying to determine when the victims in Holder's home were shot and whether it happened before or after she met with Lamb. They were also trying to determine exactly when she wrote the notes.
Investigators said the notes Holder left behind indicate she was angry about how her relationship with Lamb ended. Barnes said there were restraining orders filed, which had expired.
Lamb's wife filed a restraining order against Holder, the Raleigh News & Observer reported, alleging that Holder would call and text and even send nude photos of herself to Randall Lamb.
She also planned to file an alienation of affection claim, which in North Carolina, allows someone who is cheated on to sue the person their spouse had an affair with.
"This is probably one of the worst situations I've seen in my over 30 years in law enforcement," Barnes said.
Holder had no history of mental health issues and no criminal record.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Wow! A Gold Pencil Pistol.... Lead versus Graphite?

I'm not sure what to write about this, other than it is a helluva novelty, and the sort of collectible that should remain legal.  I doubt it is terribly practical for self defense, but at least it has an alternate use, for which it is better suited, so it isn't a complete waste.

All I can say is someone had way to much time on his hands to design this, and way too much gold to execute the design, LOL.


From MSN money, this came right after the solid gold toilet:

9 crazy ways to own gold

The shiny metal's price has soared, but owning it on paper or storing it in bars isn't a lot of fun. From bathroom fixtures to a gold iPad, here are 9 unusual ways to buy gold.

By Kim Peterson, MSN Money

Gold pencil-pistol

A gold-plated pistol that looks like a pencil? Sounds like something James Bond (who will play the villain in the next Bond flick?) would carry in his pocket.

Bling details. The pencil-pistol was made in 1948 by the late Maharaja of Jodhpur (see pics of his royal palace, now a luxury hotel) as a present for the last Viceroy of India, Technabob reports. The pencil's tip comes off, revealing a 2 3/4-inch barrel. 

I found out a little bit more about this piece from a June 2010 article:

This gold-plated pencil that would seem to be a prized possession of some billionaire is actually a gun with a concealed trigger and a 2 3/4-inch barrel that forms a .22 pistol. This “pencil pistol” belonged to Lord Mountbatten, who received this deadly gift from an Indian Maharaja as the last Viceroy of India. This 7-inch-long pencil pistol made in 1948 to the Maharaja of Jodhpur’s own design is now placed on the auction block in London to fetch nearly £1000 on June 24. This rare and unique masterpiece comes with its own display case along with a loose label stating its presentation to the Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Update on the Georgia Militia Old-Farts Plot to Use Ricin in Mass Killings

It looks like the 'we're just big talking crazy old coots' defense didn't get their saggy old backsides out from behind bars.  I'm guessing that must mean there is some compelling physical evidence to support the taped evidence of their plans, which is what the original search warrant affidavits asserted (yes, I try to read as much of that stuff as I can find).  I don't think the turn of phrase 'digruntles' means what they think it means, as in purchasing the materials to make ricin...

From NPR:

Judge Refuses Bond For Men Accused In Militia Plot

by The Associated Press

text size A A A

November 16, 2011

A federal judge on Wednesday denied bond to the four Georgia militia men accused of plotting terror attacks against government employees, siding with prosecutors who feared the elderly men might lash out against federal officials because they have nothing to lose.
U.S. Magistrate Susan Cole's ruling echoed concerns from federal prosecutors who warned that releasing the men risked a deadly standoff with federal agents who are forced to bring them to court.
"I can only imagine the arrests of these defendants have only heightened their ill will against the government," Cole said after a third day of federal hearings. "I'm concerned there would be government officials and employees in harm's way."
Defense attorneys, who intend to appeal the judge's decision, said the men never intended to live up to the boastful chatter and that the charges accusing them of plotting to use guns, explosives and the biological toxin ricin against federal employees are overblown.
Frederick Thomas, 73, and Dan Roberts, 67, are accused of conspiring to obtain an explosive and possessing an unregistered silencer. Ray Adams, 55, and Samuel Crump, 68, are charged with conspiring and attempting to make ricin.
The four men were arrested in early November after at least seven months of surveillance by an undercover informant who infiltrated their meetings at a Waffle House, homes and car rides. The dozens of hours of recordings the informant made are the linchpin to the government's case against the four.
In the tapes, the four allegedly boasted of a list of government officials who needed to be "taken out;" talked about scattering ricin from a car speeding down a highway past major U.S. cities; and scouted tax offices. One man said, "We'd have to blow the whole building like Timothy McVeigh," a reference to the man executed for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.
Defense attorneys said the conversations were taken out of context and that the men were actually planning to unite various militia groups across Georgia to create a legitimate "governor's army" that would be at the state's disposal.
"It's all a hypothetical," said Jeff Ertel, who represents Thomas, the suspected leader of the plot. "This is not a plan to take action now. This is a plan to take action if we are legitimized and if the government calls us into action."
But assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney said the men took a series of concrete steps toward carrying out a violent plot.
He said the men cased two federal buildings in Atlanta, talked of targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, obtained an illegal silencer, amassed small arsenals of weapons, tried to purchase a briefcase-sized explosive from an undercover agent and attempted to make ricin from castor beans.
"We've moved beyond hypotheticals," he said.
McBurney warned that releasing the men risks giving them exactly what they want: A galvanizing standoff with federal agents whom they could portray as "jackbooted thugs taking action against elderly patriots."
The four played very different roles in the plot, according to court testimony. Thomas was described as the "thought leader" who helped host meetings and recruit new members. He is accused of scouting the two federal buildings with the informant and leading the effort, along with Roberts, to get an illegal silencer and buy explosives from an undercover agent.
Prosecutors said the men brought Crump and Adams into the mix after Roberts talked of obtaining a "silent killer" the toxin ricin, which can be lethal in small doses. Crump had memorized the recipe for the poison, prosecutors said, and Adams had the know-how to make it as a former government lab technician.
Defense attorneys, though, heaped scorn on the informant, who recorded the conversations while on bond on South Carolina charges that he sexually abused two girls and had child pornography. They called him an "instigator" and a "scoundrel" and questioned why he's free while their clients are facing stiff penalties.
And they claimed prosecutors were making too much of idle chatter from elderly men complaining at gatherings in local restaurants and at each other's homes.
"The government doesn't have a strong case. Surely there was talk about ricin, but it was ridiculous," said Dan Summer, who represents Crump. "It was like an old man in the stages of senility talking out of the side of his mouth."
Witnesses called over three days of hearings said the men were loyal to the government and often gave back to the community. Roberts, for instance, had an animal shelter at his home with 20 dogs and 30 cats. And Melissa Adams said her father spent many holidays playing Santa Claus for children.
"He may be intimidating at times, but on the inside he's just a teddy bear," she said of her dad, a big man with a busy beard. "He has his disgruntles just like the rest of the country, with the economy, but that's all they were small disgruntles."

On the same topic: From TPM Muckraker / Georgia:

Frederick Thomas

Feds: Senior Citizen Militia Members Targeted Holder, McKinney

Ryan J. Reilly | November 10, 2011, 6:03AM

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that four elderly militia members charged in a plot against citizens and federal employees were targeting Attorney General Eric Holder and former Rep. Cynthia McKinney as potential assassination targets.
Holder and McKinney's names were included on a hit list compiled by 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, federal prosecutors said at a bond hearing. Authorities also said Thomas had stockpiled 52 guns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition in his Georgia home. All four suspects pleaded not guilty.
Read more »
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Topics: Cynthia McKinney, Eric Holder, Frederick Thomas, Georgia, Militia Movement, Militia movement, Militias

Militia movement

Fringe Militia Member Accused In Ricin Plot Called Right-Wing Blogger's Novel 'Far From Fantasy'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 6:00AM

One of the elderly 'fringe militia' members arrested on Tuesday for allegedly plotting a ricin attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees was a frequent commenter on a right-wing blog and thought a novel written by the blogger that allegedly inspired his plot was likely to come true.
Former Alabama militia member turned "Sipsey Street Irregulars" blogger Mike Vanderboegh said in a post that he never corresponded with 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, the man the feds considered the ringleader of the group. But he did say he believed "Ahab" was Thomas' screen name that he used to leave comments on the website.
Read more »
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Topics: ATF, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Fast And Furious, Georgia, Mike Vanderboegh, Militia Movement, Militia movement, Militias

Georgia

Feds: Four Members Of Georgia 'Fringe Militia Group' Plotted Biological Attack On Citizens, Government Officials

Ryan J. Reilly | November 2, 2011, 6:30AM

Four Georgia men who belonged to a "fringe militia group" were arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday and charged with plotting an attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees using the biological toxin ricin.
Authorities say 73-year-old Frederick Thomas of Cleveland; 67-year-old Dan Roberts; 65-year-old Ray H. Adams; and 68-year-old Samuel J. Crump, all of Toccoa, Ga. began meeting in March 2011 as part of a covert group that called itself, well, the "covert group."
Read more »

Topics: ATF, FBI, Fast And Furious, Georgia, Justice Department, Militia Movement, Militia movement, Militias

Craigslist Killing and Separte Shooting in Ohio May Be Part of a Multiple Murder Scheme

You have to wonder what substitution for thinking that ever made this kind of scheme seem like a good idea to the alleged killers / shooter and apparent accomplice.

Having a gun to carry out a comparatively easy execution is logically part of what  was an attraction to such a scheme.  That the land was rented for hunting would make the sound of gunfire, or the appearance  of blood - even blood in quantity - less suspicious.

That the man from South Carolina escaped with only a non-fatal wound demonstrates that people clearly CAN respond successfully to a dangerous, life-threatening situation without being armed.

From the AP by way of MSNBC.com:

Teen, adult arrested in Ohio Craigslist job slaying

Florida jobseeker found dead in shallow grave, another shot and wounded

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

updated 11/18/2011 7:46:59 PM ET

CALDWELL, Ohio — When a South Carolina man answered a Craigslist ad seeking a farmhand in Ohio, there was no job waiting for him. There was a freshly dug grave.

The man was shot and wounded in what investigators say was a murderous robbery scheme that used bogus help-wanted ads to lure victims. He escaped, but another job-seeker was later found dead in a shallow grave nearby. And two suspects — a man and a 16-year-old boy — are under arrest.
Neighbors living near the property where the graves were dug were shocked by the bloodshed. Some figured the arrests had closed the case, while others, like Angie Noll, put credence in rumors of more bodies to be found.
"We're a rural community, maybe there's 15 houses up here, and right in our backyard this stuff is going on," said Noll, a 28-year-old maintenance production clerk who lives just a few houses away from the neighbor whose door the South Carolina man knocked on after escaping. "I feel kind of dumbfounded about it."
The sheriff said it is unclear how long the ad had been online or whether there are other victims.
The wooded piece of land sits on the former site of a strip mine and is owned by a coal company and rented out to hunters. It is isolated, with no lights and only one-lane gravel roads running in and out.
"It's an ideal place to get rid of a body," said Don Warner, a rancher who lives nearby.
A judge issued a gag order in the case Friday, and the names of the two victims and the adult suspect were not released.
Before the order was imposed, Sheriff Stephen Hannum said that the South Carolina victim was taken Nov. 6 to the desolate area, where he managed to deflect a gun cocked at the back of his head and ran. Wounded in the arm, he hid in the woods for hours, then showed up covered in blood at the first well-lighted place he could see, a farmhouse outside Caldwell, about 80 miles east of Columbus.
This week, cadaver dogs were brought in, and authorities found one hand-dug grave they believe was intended for the South Carolina man and a second grave that held the body of a Florida man.
The Akron Beacon Journal identified the suspects as a 52-year-old man from Akron, about 90 miles away, and a high school student from the Akron area. The teenager was charged Friday with attempted murder. While his name appears in court documents, The Associated Press generally does not report the names of minors charged with crimes.
No charges were immediately brought against the man.
The South Carolina man who escaped to a neighbor's house told the homeowner, Rose Schockling, that he had answered an ad on Craigslist for a job and was told he would be erecting fences for a cattle farm.
But Schockling said there is no farm of the size the man described nearby, with most of the surrounding countryside either woods or strip mines.
The man had been told to bring his belongings with him to Ohio because he would be living at the farm, the sheriff said. Investigators believe robbery was the motive.
A few days after the man went to the police, authorities received a call from the Florida man's sister, concerned that her brother had not been heard from for weeks. The sister said her brother had responded to what she believed was the same Craigslist ad, for a caretaker for cattle on a 688-acre farm.
"We brought in cadaver dogs thinking that a possibility that the person that was advertising on Craigslist and lured this guy down here may very well have lured someone else to the same area," the sheriff said. "Our hunch was correct."
Investigators have not disclosed the cause of the Florida man's death.

More Multiple Shootings - in North Carolina this time

This tracks with the statistical use of firearms in suicides, and with the use of firearms in crimes of passion and domestic violence.  While it is still possible that some injuries or deaths would have occurred if this woman had not had access to a firearm.  There is a greater lethality to guns than to other weapons, and particularly a greater ability to kill at a relative distance.

The capacity for this kind of violence makes every one of us less safe, and therefore less free.

I'm sure this woman also thought it was very important that she have her guns.  I disagree.  It would have been better for her, and better for those around her if she did not have guns, including law enforcement.

I will post updates as more information becomes available.

From the AP by way of MSNBC.com

NC police: Woman kills 1 and herself, wounds 5

updated 11/20/2011 11:33:37 PM ET

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A woman killed one person and wounded five more before fatally shooting herself as police approached her on Sunday morning, North Carolina authorities said.

One victim was found wounded in a parking lot of Guilford Technical Community College near Greensboro. The gunwoman shot herself in a car and was pronounced dead at a hospital, said Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes. A wounded victim was in the back seat, he said.
Deputies then went to the suspect's nearby home, where they found one person dead and three more wounded. The victims ranged in age from 9 to 40 and four were younger than 18, Barnes said. They all knew each other and some are related, he said. Their identities were not released.
The sheriff says three of the wounded were on life support late Sunday afternoon. Deputies say no more information will be released until Monday morning.
"We're trying to figure out exactly what did happen here," Barnes said at a news conference. "The only thing we know is we have a large number of gunshot victims."
The shootings began happening around 9 a.m., and police have recovered several guns, Barnes said.
A two-page note was found at one of the shooting scenes in Pleasant Garden, but Barnes could not specify what it said.

A Bankster Who Belongs in Court - but for criminal charges of fraud

This ass was one of those individuals who appears to have figured prominently in the machinations and over-leveraging which crashed the economy for all of us. Dishonest ratings of credit default swaps was only one part of the secret and unregulated financial activity which ripped off all of us.  The mismanagement of this man should require HIM to PAY SHAREHOLDERS for the return of his compensation and for the loss of value of their stock.

And of course, a good share of the blame goes to the lack of effective regulation under the Bush administration. Remember that economic crash the next time you hear a damned republican talking about 'onerous regulation'. These are the people and the kind of abuses they are trying to protect from regulation and enforcement.

I hope this jerk spends a fortune and gains nothing in his suit.

Former AIG chief sues U.S. for $25 billion

Choi Jae-Ku/AFP/Getty Images

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chairman of American International Group (shown in 2003 file photo), is back in court with a lawsuit against the federal government.

By Martha C. White

Former American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg thinks he got a raw deal, and he wants the government to pay up. Greenberg filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims asserting that the government bailout and takeover of the insurance giant was an unconstitutional seizure of private property, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Greenberg's Starr International Co., which used to be AIG's biggest stakeholder, is seeking $25 billion in damages, based on the value of the 80 percent stake in AIG the government took after providing it with an $182 billion bailout.
Those funds allowed AIG to pay off counterparties like Goldman Sachs in full and reward executives with $165 million in bonuses in 2008, even though AIG lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of that year. This situation raised considerable ire among both the public and investors. AIG's own value plummeted and it was reduced to selling off assets to pay back the government, both moves of which hurt Greenberg's stake in the firm.
An AIG representative declined to comment on the suit via email; the Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Journal said that the Treasury Department had no immediate comment.
This isn't Greenberg's first legal tussle with the government, and it's not the first time he's clashed with his former company. Greenberg left AIG in 2005 after an accounting fraud investigation was launched by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The criminal charges didn't stick, but in 2009, Greenberg paid $15 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting violations. Also in that year, a federal judge ruled that Greenberg was entitled to $4.3 billion in AIG shares the company had sued in an attempt to recover.