16 Ways Europeans Are Just Better At Life than Americans

Huffington Post

10. MEASUREMENTS

Europeans:

Europe uses the metric system. If you can multiply by 10, you now have the next highest unit. Boom. Done.

Americans:

There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, 16 tablespoons in a cup, 2 cups in a pint, 2 pints in a quart and 4 quarts to a gallon. There are 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard and 1,760 yards in a mile (or 5,280 feet, as is more commonly known). There are 144 square inches in a square foot and 43,560 square feet in an acre. There are 16 ounces in a pound and 2,000 pounds in a ton.

This list excludes such fun units as picas, furlongs, fathoms, nautical miles, survey townships, bushels and hogsheads. Yup. A hogshead is a unit of measurement and not a Harry Potter character. Look it up.

Tennessee is the Most Violent State in the Country

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The ‘Most Violent State’ Crown Is Held By…Tennessee

What do you think is the state with the highest violent crime rate? You might be surprised to learn it’s Tennessee. Despite the reputations of states like New York, California and Florida when it comes to violence, Tennessee the most violent state, followed by Nevada and Alaska. Those are in the 2nd and 3rd spots, respectively.

The violent crime statistic comes from the FBI compilation of statistics for rape, robbery, murder and aggravated assault.

Why is Tennessee the most violent state? Well, according to 24 Wall St., who originally reported on the list of most dangerous states,

The state was among the top 10 in the country for murders and robberies and was first for aggravated assaults, with an estimated 479.6 for every 100,000 residents. Tennessee’s 41,550 violent crimes in 2012 were up 6.8% from 2011 but down 10% from 2007, when there were 46,380 violent crimes. There were 388 murders in the state in 2012, up for a second straight year. To be fair, Tennessee’s violent streak is concentrated in some of the major metropolitan areas. Memphis’s violent crime rate was the nation’s fifth worst, while Nashville’s was the 18th worst. Like many states with high violent crime, poverty in Tennessee is acute, and high school and college graduation rates are lower than most of the country.

Who else is on the most violent state list?

The rest of those on the most violent state list are NV, AK, NM, SC, DE, LA, FL, MD and OK.

Most of the top ten are the gun-friendly states we often have occasion to write about. Of course, the gun-rights fanatics will point out the exceptions and claim there's absolutely no connection to gun proliferation, but we know better.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

New Recall Effort in Colorado Targets State Senator Evie Hudak

Sen. Evie Hudak

The Denver Post

A renewed and spirited effort is underway to recall Sen. Evie Hudak, a Democrat from Westminster, less than six months after an initial effort faltered.

Organizers from within Senate District 19 were certified by the secretary of state late Friday to begin gathering signatures to have a recall placed on the ballot. The group, "Recall Hudak, too," must gather about 18,900 valid signatures within 60 days, and on its website the group even has a running ticker that counts down to the deadline.

"She has infringed upon our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She has voted to make all citizens less safe and to drive hundreds of jobs from Colorado," reads an excerpt of the petition language e-mailed by Mike McAlpine, a spokesmanfor the group.

"A small group is seeking to undo the will of voters, who re-elected me to the Senate last November. Unable to defeat me then, they are now attempting a political power grab using a low-voter-turnout, no-mail-ballot recall election strategy," Hudak said in a statement, alluding to a Denver District Court judge's ruling on a constitutional matter that in turn nullified mail ballots in the recalls of Morse and Giron.

You remember the controversy earlier this year when Sen. Hudak spoke the truth at a hearing about gun rights and all the gun nuts freaked out. Here it is from Wikipedia:

In March, 2013, while in a legislative hearing about concealed carry firearms on college campuses, rape survivor Amanda Collins discussed how, when attacked by convicted rapist and murderer James Biela, she wished she had a firearm to defend herself. Hudak responded: "I just want to say, statistics are not on your side, even if you had had a gun. You said that you were a martial arts student, I mean person, experience in tae kwon do, and yet because this individual was so large and was able to overcome you even with your skills, and chances are that if you had had a gun, then he would have been able to get it from you and possibly use it against you..."

California's Tim Donnelly: Assault Weapons Ban Erases the Second Amendment

Breitbart News

Donnelly was referencing SB374--a bill which broadens the definition of an "assault weapon" and then bans all such weapons within the state. 

Donnelly talked to Breitbart News about the bill on October 7:

SB374 basically erases the Second Amendment. We have California-only fuel, California-only this and California-only that, and with SB374 we are pursuing a California-only version of the Constitution. It's a version that will not have a Second Amendment.

This bill takes rifles that are semi-automatic with a detachable magazine--rifles that were lawfully purchased and are lawfully owned--and it bans them, period. If you own a gun that is on the ban list you will have to register it and it becomes non-transferrable. Therefore, although the government will allow you to keep the gun in your possession until you die, once you die it will be confiscated and taken out of circulation. 

This means if you own the M1 Carbine that helped us win in the Pacific during WWII--a gun that shoots a small .30 caliber bullet--if you own one, you would not be able to pass it on to your children.

This is an illegal and egregious confiscation plan. 

Donnelly says the bill's straightforward attack on the Second Amendment "deprives Californians of their basic civil rights to self-defense and to defend themselves from tyranny."

SB374 is sitting on Gov. Brown's desk. He has until October 13 to sign it into law. 

The most pro-gun Supreme Court of all time even said that no Constitutional right is limitless.  But, the gun-rights fanatics conveniently forget that when they get on their soap box.

I can't wait to see what Governor Brown does with this bill, and what happens to Donnelly in his bid to oust the Gov.

I tend to think Californians generally consider this guy a dangerous fanatic who belongs in Arkansas rather than The Land of El Dorado.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Pre-emptive Self-defense - Indiana Woman Kills Husband to Prevent a Mass Shooting

Justice Ruth Ginsburg Speaks about the Second Amendment

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg talks with The Takeaway host John Hockenberry. (Photo by Jillian Weinberger.)

PRI

Ginsburg has also been a strong proponent of gun control throughout her time on the bench.

In the wake of the fierce, nationwide debate over gun rights and gun control, Justice Ginsburg also explained the historical basis for her view on the Second Amendment.

"The Second Amendment has a preamble about the need for a militia ... Historically, the new government had no money to pay for an army, so they relied on the state militias," she said. "The states required men to have certain weapons and they specified in the law what weapons these people had to keep in their home so that when they were called to do service as militiamen, they would have them. That was the entire purpose of the Second Amendment."

Ginsburg said the disappearance of that purpose eliminates the function of the Second Amednment.

"It's function is to enable the young nation to have people who will fight for it to have weapons that those soldiers will own," she said. "I view the Second Amendment as rooted in the time totally allied to the need to support a militia. So ... the Second Amendment is outdated in the sense that its function has become obsolete."

As for the Heller case, decided by the court in 2008, Ginsburg says the court erred in its decision.

"If the court had properly interpreted the Second Amendment, the Court would have said that amendment was very important when the nation was new," she said. "It gave a qualified right to keep and bear arms, but it was for one purpose only — and that was the purpose of having militiamen who were able to fight to preserve the nation."

Anti-Hillary Campaign Buttons Show the Republicans for the Misogynists They Are

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In 2012, Republicans suffered a 12 point loss among women in the race for the White House. Even with this major defeat, the GOP believes it can still attract female voters while continuing to be anti-women by simply keeping their mouths shut about women’s bodies, rape, and reproductive rights. But that strategy has now been blown completely out of the water with the appearance of extremely sexist and highly offensive anti-Hillary Clinton buttons at the California GOP convention.