On Will Smith and Sean Payton

It's another gun death in the US. Will Smith was just a higher profile death.

Police say former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith had a loaded gun inside his vehicle on the night he was shot.

In a statement released Tuesday, New Orleans police said they found a 9 mm handgun in Smith's vehicle.

They also said they found a loaded revolver inside the vehicle of the man accused of shooting Smith, Cardell Hayes.

But police said there was no evidence to suggest either of those weapons was fired during the shooting Saturday night. Police say Hayes shot Smith with a different handgun.

Probably the only reason I put up a post on it is for the statement from Sean Payton. When people do the right thing and will likely get a shit ton of grief for it, they deserve to be recognized. 

Payton drove to the site of the incident the next morning, then spent several hours at the hospital where Smith's wife was undergoing surgery. Upon returning home, Payton researched online about the weapon that killed his former player.

“It was a large caliber gun. A .45,” Payton said.

“We could go online and get 10 of them, and have them shipped to our house tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t believe that was the intention when they allowed for the right for citizens to bear arms.”

And now, Payton said, another life has come to a tragically early ending.

Thank you, Sean Payton. 

Quote of the Day

Thank you, Charles Pierce.

Beshear said. "A budget passed by the General Assembly is a mandate, not a recommendation."

Those are some words to live by.

Today in Humorless Harpies of Hate

One of my fave triple H's made an appearance in the PS today. This is the first draft of a reply.

     I’d like to respond to Ms. Thomas’ letter supporting Donald Trump. I am also supporting him all the way to the end of the convention in July. There are a few nits I need to pick, though. To say that socialism is one step away from communism is the equivalent of saying capitalism is one step away from fascism. There are a number of European countries that could be considered socialist, but are not bordering on Stalinism or Maoism.

     

     Hillary Clinton was absolved of guilt in Whitewater in September 2000. I presume “aiding four of our own to die on foreign soil” refers to Benghazi. It sounds as if you have information House Republicans could use. They’ve held hearings on it 21 times and investigated 8 times. Compare that to 22 and 2 for the 9/11 attacks. I’ll let Kevin McCarthy say it. “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”

    
     I’d normally be supporting Comrade Sanders more fervently. Because people of the right have attacked Hillary like rapid dogs for the last 28 years, I have grown sympathetic toward her. Why is it the right can’t be satisfied with attacking a Democratic president? They have to attack the whole family. I realize she started running for office in 2000. Michelle Obama has never run for office, though. And yes, I still remember Rush Limbaugh calling Chelsea the White House dog.    

I actually saw the show where Limbaugh pulled that. It was on his short-lived (rightfully) TV show. I did a search for whatever reason and came across this load of shit.

I kind of like this idea of first and last draft. So here we are with the babies killed. No actual babies were harmed in the production of this letter.

   I'd like to respond to Ms. Thomas' letter supporting Donald Trump. I am also supporting him, all the way to the end of the convention in July. There are a few nits I need to pick, though. To say that socialism is one step away from communism is the same as saying capitalism is one step from fascism. There are a number of European countries considered socialist, none of which are bordering on Stalinism.

     For the record, Hillary Clinton was absolved of guilt in Whitewater in September 2000. I presume "aiding four of our own to die on foreign soil" refers to Benghazi. It sounds as if you have information House Republicans could use. They've held hearings 21 times and investigated 8 times. Compare to 22 and 2 for the 9/11 attacks. Why would you have 4 times the number of investigations for Benghazi? Let's let Kevin McCarthy take that one. "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping." No sense in letting a tragedy go to waste.

     And so we move to the "scandal" du jour. E-mails. Is she guilty of anything beyond poor judgment? Who knows? The accusations come from ilk similar to Representative McCarthy. Wolf! Normally I'd be fervently supporting Comrade Sanders. Besides being jaded by it, the 28 years of slurs against Hillary have left me somewhat sympathetic towards her. If she puts Michelle Obama on the ticket, I'm totally sold.

Good News Monday

First, you got your local good news from Saratoga.

Saratoga Springs on Tuesday became the seventh municipality in New York to enact a law that requires gun owners to secure their weapons or risk criminal charges.

The Saratoga Springs City Council unanimously passed the law, which was named in honor of Nicholas Naumkin, a 12-year-old who died in 2010 when a schoolmate who was playing with a handgun accidentally shot him in the friend's Wilton home. The gun and ammunition had been left in an unlocked dresser.

The law requires that owners keep firearms locked in either a secure cabinet or with a trigger lock when not in their possession, and the use of an unsecured gun in a shooting could result in a criminal charge for the owner. The cities of Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, New York City, Buffalo and Westchester County have all passed similar laws.

Sorry, that should have read great news. The bad news is that the state senate in New York are assholes. 

Bills introduced in the state Legislature to enact a similar law statewide have passed the Assembly but not the Senate. New Yorkers Against Gun Violence said it will pursue laws in other municipalities if the Senate does not pass a statewide bill.

Hope springs eternal, though. 

Voters on Long island will soon pick a replacement for a convicted former top lawmaker in a contest that could help give Democrats complete control over New York state government.

Democrat Todd Kaminsky faces Republican Chris McGrath in the April 19 Senate election for the seat long held by ex-Senate Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican convicted last year of using his position to obtain payments and jobs for his son.

In good news from the rest of God's creation:

Worldwide, in fact, inequality is actually going down.

Humanity, it seems, is not leaving its poorest behind.

This conclusion comes from the work of an eminent expert on inequality, Branko Milanovic. He spent decades studying data at the World Bank and now works at City University in New York. In a new book, “Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization,” he makes a case that the rapid growth of poorer countries since 1988 has brought the first decline in inequality since the Industrial Revolution.

Not so much in the US, but we takes what we can gets.

Milanovic’s findings are reinforced by new research from Tomáš Hellebrandt and Paolo Mauro of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. They find global inequality fell between 2003 and 2013. And they project the number of people in poverty will fall from 12.3 percent of the total population to 3.6 percent by 2035.

EBJ Saturday

Green Party Persecution

I wanted to link to this article in the PS, mostly because of the comment by Matt Funiciello. I'll hit the article first so as to work down to the comment. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The backstory is that the city of Glens Falls is withholding $4800 from the GF Collaborative because the Green Party is listed as a member on map/brochure/handout thingies.

The city’s payment was intended to print 5,000 maps that would be distributed at rest stops along the New York State Thruway, which will not be distributed now.

City funds cannot be used to further political groups. Seems reasonable. 

Each member pays $240 in annual dues, which covers the map/brochure and other promotional expenses.

Gray Whann said being listed as a member does not constitute an advertisement for Warren County Green Party.

The GP is a member and has paid the $240. The part that bothers me is the idea that it doesn't constitute an advertisement. 

the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements

It would seem to be the very definition of advertisement. 

“We just can’t use city tax dollars to promote these (political) organizations,” he said in an interview Thursday at City Hall.

Diamond said the situation is similar to when he objected in 2012 to Republican congressional candidate Matt Doheny advertising his campaign at an Adirondack Phantoms hockey game at Glens Falls Civic Center, a city-owned building.

Of course, Diamond is a Democrat so he's likely just screwing with the Republicans and Greens (sarcasm intended).

Gray Whann said she suspects her friction with city officials is due to her political involvement.

She had been exploring a run on the Green Party line for Glens Falls mayor in 2017, when Diamond cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

She said to insulate the Collaborative from controversy, she has resigned as president and as a board member, and has decided not to run for mayor as well.

Run or not, but don't use this as an excuse because that really doesn't seem legit. 

And I'll just give my response to Matt's comment:

crying like little babies at the thought that they have been excluded from the Collaborative's map

If you were my candidate, I would advise you to tone that down a bit. Since you're not, rock on! It does sound a little Trumpian if you don't mind my saying so. Strike that last part since you probably do.

I'll once again add the disclaimer that I know nothing except what I've read in the article. I would hope that the Collaborative and the city can work this out.

instead of harassing a very active publicly-minded citizen using bureaucratic means and loose interpretations

I don't see how Ms. Whann has been harassed. The article says she was appointed to the ZBA by Mayor Diamond and he indicated he'd like to see her remain on it. It sounds as though the city has been consistent in their treatment of all parties. Once again all I know is ...

He really should invest in a campaign manager or someone who could point out not to say certain stuff. A no-man, if you will.

In Defense of Hillary

I like to make my ears and brain bleed by listening to Sean Hannity now and then. What can I say? I like to get all shouty at the radio now and then. I do like to hear what stupidity he's promoting to the right wing masses. The big one is that Hillary is doomed over the e-mail "scandal." If not doomed, then the FBI or Justice Department or President Obama or God Knows is going to bury the evidence just like what happened with Benghazi. And it's just another typical case of American blind justice.

So here's Charles Pierce to reassure me that, surprisingly, Sean is lying to me. Or maybe Charles is. I'll take my chances with Pierce.

It is getting a little bit unseemly to hear Democratic analysts and liberal voices in the punditariat latching on one of the more desperate hopes of Republicans who would rather not run against Hillary Rodham Clinton—namely, that she's going to be questioned by the FBI and subsequently indicted for something in connection with the great email nothingburger. Today's entrant is the increasingly hilarious H.A. Goodman, whose devotion to the notion that The Great Bernie Wave Is Just Around The Corner has become positively Millerite in its fervor. 

I like Bernie, but some of his supporters are a little hard to take. Apparently, the WashPo can't be trusted too much either.

The sorry tale tracks back to what was simply a false story in The Washington Post. The Post published a story that put together various Clinton interviews and recent statements and summed it up as 'Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be President.' 

Scott Walker's democracy.

In further defense of Hillary from The Rude Pundit.