Hometown Gun Pushers

Partly putting this up because I have comments on it and don't want to go searching for it.

“Stronger gun laws WILL NOT prevent incidents like France and San Bernardino, but they WILL help create more victims, those who are not able to defend themselves,” Murphy wrote on Facebook, with the capital letters added by him. “That group apparently now includes law enforcement officers.”

A lot of his kvetching is about his not being allowed to carry a gun anywhere. I actually don't have a problem with police officers carrying most anywhere. My feelings are that they are an officer of the law on or off duty. Besides, he pushed my pick up back into the road once when I slid off during an ice storm. Belated thanks, Jeff. 

“One trained person on that (California) campus could have ended that,” he said, in reference to the San Bernardino shooting.

We do have a problem with that kind of thinking, tho. 

Anyway, already left comments on the site. Blah, blah. You know the label.

Bunch o' Stats from the Atlantic. Many are refreshingly happy.

UPDATE: At the point at which I gave up on the thread, I had a guy defending the due process rights of terrorists. Because there may be a few people on the terror watch list that shouldn't be there, we should enable them to all have access to guns. 

Moron the Liberal Media

So, I'm beginning to think Mark Frost is just as loony as my bête noire, Matt Funiciello. In the December 3, 2015 Chronicle, he's on once again about how ultra-liberal the NYTimes is, but the Wash Post is really liberal, too, except not so much. He admits that the WashPo has lots of conservative opinion people.

"The Times' liberal slant shows through too often in the news coverage." What does that even mean? It's lucky for him he has the ability to pierce the veil and discern Truth from Propaganda. Later on he says, "Don't get me wrong; I read a lot of Times articles and still believe great work goes on there, but lately I feel that more so about The Post." Yeah, great work except for the liberal propaganda.

And he mentions a piece the Times did on Amazon pointing out sweatshop conditions. Then praises Jeff Bezos. Mark, do you think the WashPo would have run that piece. Jesus, don't get me ranting about evil corporations like Funiciello.

Because I Don't Want to Write About Shootings

Thanks Matt for giving me something entirely different. Haven't written about the Mattster in awhile anyway.

Matt Funiciello said Saturday he is still in the "laying the groundwork" phase of his repeat congressional campaign in the 21st District.

"We set 5,000 Facebook fans as a modest goal (before announcing)," he said at the Climate March in Glens Falls on Saturday.

Funiciello had 3,335 fans on his campaign Facebook page, as of Saturday afternoon, an increase of 32 since Nov. 9.

This piece was published at the Post Star on November 28. Some quick ciphering tells me Matt, at the rate given here, will only have about 3,442 FB fans by the end of January. In fact, at the rate he is picking up FB fans, it'll take almost 2800 days to reach 5000. 

Funiciello said he is working on a unique strategy to campaign in all 12 counties of the congressional district, and he doesn't want to formally announce until his strategy is fully thought out.

"Come late January, early February, I think I'll be able to," he said. 

Well, I hope that strategy goes better than the FB fans thing. 

Thanks Matt for giving me something besides guns to write about. But, not to leave it totally untouched here's MF's position on them. 

"If you don't feel we need guns to defend ourselves against tyranny, then you're not paying attention."

Yeah. That's not getting my vote.

UPDATE: Just checked and Matt is up to 3,345 fans. That's an average of 2 per day where he was previously averaging 1.68. That brings him down to 828 days to reach 5000 if he can maintain that pace.

UPDATE II: Since I ended up talking about the gun issue anyway, I might as well mention MF's show from Thursday 12/3/15. This is something I just need to mention. He had a show the day after the Charleston shooting in the church where he and his guests made no mention of the previous day's tragedy. Same thing yesterday, the day after the San Bernardino shooting. Does the Green Party have no position on guns or is it too embarrassing to talk about?

Instead of talking about that, he yammers on about being a vegan. Kudos for that, but patting yourself on the back for not eating meat really doesn't do any substantial good.

UPDATE III: Today is Dec 16, 2015. Matt is now up to 3,360 fans on his campaign FB page. I'm too lazy to figure when he'll hit 5,000 at this rate. I believe the sun my go supernova first. 

Can It Get Any Worse?

Gun TV. I can't believe this is actually true, but the Guardian is not the Onion.

Like established channels such as QVC and Home Shopping Network, Gun TV will feature personable experts explaining and demonstrating the channel’s wares. If viewers see a weapon at a price they like, they can just click online, or pick up the phone and dial a toll-free number.

The principal difference between Gun TV and other home shopping channels is that a Gun TV viewer’s order will not be shipped directly to their home.

Thank you once again, Andrew Cuomo, for providing a little slice of relative gun sanity in the midst of outright lunacy in this country.

Thanks Shaw for this image. And this one.

Good for the Daily News and Chris Murphy. 

“Your ‘thoughts’ should be about steps to take to stop this carnage,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn) posted on Twitter. “Your ‘prayers’ should be for forgiveness if you do nothing — again.”

Some critics accused Murphy of religious insensitivity, but he didn’t waver in a statement later Wednesday.

“My heart aches for the people of San Bernardino,” he said. “I cannot express the profound sadness I feel each time a new community grieves and endures the same pain that brought Newtown to its knees three years ago this month.”

May as well link to Charles Pierce on this as well. 

More Evidence Against Bush and Blair

What the post title says.

Tony Blair went to war in Iraq despite a report by South African experts with unique knowledge of the country that showed it did not possess weapons of mass destruction, according to a book published on Sunday.

God, Spies and Lies, by South African journalist John Matisonn , describes how then president Thabo Mbeki tried in vain to convince both Blair and President George W Bush that toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003 would be a terrible mistake.

Mbeki’s predecessor, Nelson Mandela, also tried to convince the American leader, but was left fuming that “President Bush doesn’t know how to think”.

The claim was this week supported by Mbeki’s office, which confirmed that he pleaded with both leaders to heed the WMD experts and even offered to become their intermediary with Saddam in a bid to maintain peace.

So, not being able to think is Bush's excuse. What's Blair's? 

Colorado Shooting Victims

The most recent ones. Unless there are more being produced as I type this.

The two civilian victims of the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting were named by family members, local media reported on Sunday.

....

The woman who died was identified as Jennifer Markovsky, a Hawaii-born resident of Colorado Springs. The man who was killed was named as Ke’Arre Stewart.

The third person killed was University of Colorado–Colorado Springs police officer Garrett Swasey, a 44-year-old father of two. 

Ke'Arre Stewart:

Ke'Arre Stewart, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and the father of two girls, was among the three people killed in Friday's shooting at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, a friend confirmed Sunday.

Stewart, 29, graduated from La Vega High School in Texas in 2004 and joined the Army, said friend Amburh Butler. Stewart was stationed at Fort Hood and did one tour in Iraq.

Stewart was a good father and friend, Cross said.

Jennifer Markovsky:

Family members identified the woman as Jennifer Markovsky, a 1997 Waianae High School graduate.

They said Markovsky was accompanying a friend who had an appointment at the clinic in Colorado Springs. The friend suffered a gunshot wound to the hand.

"The family is grieving. We're all shocked," one of Markovsky's relatives said.

On Facebook, Markovsky's father, John Ah King mourned his daughter's loss.

This is just a side note: Hawaii has the lowest per capita rate of firearm deaths in the U.S. That's because they regulate them there. Can I prove that? No. It's common sense. 

Colorado ranks number 26.

ADDENDUM: I want to add this story that was in CSM today on Ke'Arre Stewart.

After being shot outside the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Iraq War veteran Ke'Arre Stewart ran inside to warn the others..

With his last breaths, his brother said in an interview with NBC, the father of two tried to save the lives of those still in the clinic.

Calling his brother a hero, Leyonte Chandler recounted Mr. Stewart’s involvement in the five-hour standoff. He said Stewart had been outside the building when he was shot.

"He tried to run back inside the building – well, he did – and tell the other people inside, you know, 

'Take cover, get down,'" Mr. Chandler said. "People started taking cover, hiding in bathrooms and whatnot."

See the quiz on extremism in America, too.

Colorado Shooting

There doesn't seem to be a lot of info on the Planned Parenthood shooting. I could say fuck the guns, but I say that all the time. Can't trash Christians as being responsible for this lone nut. The people who put together the sliced and cut video, I believe should be held accountable. They certainly are culpable in some way. I would urge civil suits against them by survivors of this tragedy. Sue the shit out of them.

The National Abortion Federation has reported an uptick in incidents involving clinics since The Center for Medical Progress released videos this summer, including a nine-fold increase in harassment of clinic employees.

"We have been quite worried that [an] increase in threats would lead to a violent attack like we saw" on Friday, Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, which tracks attacks on clinics, told Mother Jones on Friday.

A pause here to say Rep. Kinzinger is an asshole. Sue him, too.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R) of Illinois, a staunch abortion opponent, told CNN that the shooter could have had a “legitimate disagreement” with the organization, though he panned the man as a “person … that is to some level psychotic and crazy.”

And crocodile tears from CMP.

“The Center for Medical Progress does not support vigilante violence against abortion providers,” added David Daleiden, the founder of the organization. “There are people at Planned Parenthood who I still consider friends and my thoughts and prayers are with them at this time for no one to be injured.”

They need to be held responsible. Criminally is never going to happen. At least defund them to the greatest extent possible.

To close, I'll once again express my gratitude to Governor Cuomo for pushing through the SAFE Act.

The attack came as thick snow fell on a state that has now seen several mass violence attacks in Columbine, Aurora, and, just late last month, in Colorado Springs, where a gunman killed three people near downtown, before being shot and killed by police.

Oh yeah, fuck the guns.

The Guardian

Magpie