Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Orlando Shooting Deadliest in History

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Again, we face unspeakable evil in Orlando - two senseless shootings just miles from each other in a city known as a playground for the world. And our useless elected officials want to pray and have "moments of silence" with no action.

The Lord helps those who help themselves. We need action now. #NotOneMore

From New York Times
As officials offered new details about the worst mass shooting in American history, which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded, Chief John Mina of the Orlando Police Department said that the gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, told police negotiators — falsely, they later discovered — that he had explosives and accomplices at Pulse nightclub.
Mr. Mateen eventually made comments persuading them that “there would be an imminent loss of life,” Chief Mina said, prompting the chief to end a three-hour standoff and order the assault that killed Mr. Mateen and freed dozens of people trapped in the club.
...Investigators were hunting for any indication that Mr. Mateen might have had help in planning or carrying out the slaughter, and they continued combing through the battered, blood-spattered wreckage of Pulse for clues.
“So far, we see no indication that this was part of a plot directed from outside the United States,” Mr. Comey said.

From CNN
Orlando, Florida (CNN)Florida authorities answered one of the major questions in the shooting death of Christina Grimmie, the 22-year-old singer who made her name on NBC's "The Voice."
The man who killed her was Kevin James Loibl, 27, of St. Petersburg, Florida, according to Orlando police.
. . . Grimmie was signing autographs late Friday after a show at The Plaza Live theater when a man approached and opened fire, police spokeswoman Wanda Miglio said.
She was rushed to a hospital, where she died.




















































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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Jeb Bush and the Big Gun Meme

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I'm sure Jeb Bush thought it would help his failing primary campaign to pander to gun nuts in South Carolina and Nevada when he posted a tweet of a big gun with his name stamped on it in gold letters and the word "America."



And the Twitterverse plus news media gave him what he deserved for such a tone-deaf and ridiculous tweet. What was he expecting? Why would any real Presidential Candidate want the world to think of America as one big gun fight, even if that is the GOP-Doomsday Prepper-Sovereign Citizen-NRA fantasy?




















































My Tweet:


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Monday, January 18, 2016

Bundy Malheur Occupation Enters Third Week

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Previous Related Post:
Bundy Militia Invades Oregon
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The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, remains the site of an occupation by several of rancher Cliven Bundy's sons and their sovereign-citizen firearm toting friends.

They remain holed-up in the office of a biologist while they stockpile grub and rant about the Feds. Meanwhile, law enforcement has taken a hands-off approach, allowing sympathizers to bring them food and moral support, and allowing the squatters to come and go, even to adjoining states to drum up support. This begs the question of whether the lukewarm reaction is because the Bundy freaks are too armed and dangerous, or merely too white.

If you are as frustrated as I am, sign the petition:



Of course the Feds want to "avoid another Ruby Ridge or Waco," which is the usual explanation. An yes, they are out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter, so perhaps the FBI and BLM are merely waiting them out until they get cabin fever. However, there are local people there who have to drive the same lonely roads, and who have been followed around by these creepy guys as they "protect" the land they claim as theirs. Not to mention the local Paiute tribe, who have the real claim to the land in the Malheur Refuge. Why has the Federal Government left the innocent people of Burns, Oregon, at the mercy of these backwards delusional crybabies with guns?





People did have some fun sending weird stuff to the Militia members, such as a bag of candy d***ks and some sex toys, and watching militia member John Ritzheimer melt down into a tantrum on a facebook video. But honestly - mail trucks and FedEx were able to deliver the stuff directly to the compound. No biggie french fry, except that these folks are criminals!




LaVoy Finicum, a 54-year-old Arizona rancher and one of the group’s leaders, says the siege will continue until the federal government cedes control of the 187,000-acre refuge to Harney County.
“It needs to be very clear that these buildings will never, ever return to the federal government,” says Finicum, who wears a cowboy hat and a Colt .45 pistol holstered on his hip.
. . . On Friday, one of the protesters was arrested in Burns and charged with theft of federal property after he drove a refuge pickup truck into town. It was the first arrest since the occupation began.
-- Washington Post



LaVoy Finicum or "Tarpman" ~ What A Guy!!!
Used foster children as "main source of income."





Refuge? What is a Refuge?







The self-described militia occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge disabled surveillance cameras around the area, saying the FBI had installed them to keep watch. “This in my opinion is unreasonable search,” said LaVoy Finicum, who is acting as a spokesman for the group. He then went on to goad law enforcement: “Come pick them up.”
-- Slate







On Saturday, Kierán Suckling, the executive director and founder of the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, stood in the parking lot of the Refuge where the armed occupiers hold their daily press conferences.
“We’re here as the public to speak up for our lands and say this is public land, Bundy and your militia, go home,” Suckling said, holding a sign that read “Stop Bundy Land Grab.”
-- Oregon Public Broadcasting





Oregon Senator Martic Heinrich reached out to the Justice Department this weekend:



And law enforcement isn't totally ignoring the Bundy Militia:












But . . . he went back to Malheur:













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Saturday, January 9, 2016

Gun Nuts See "Fake Tears" From President Over Sandy Hook

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Last week President Obama tearfully announced new measures included in an Executive Order meant to curb gun violence, such as better background checks at gun shows. He has always said that the day of the Sandy Hook massacre of innocent children and teachers was the worst day of his Presidency.

Of course, the wingnuts who believe he is still planning a "Gun Grab" and martial law don't understand real emotion when they see it. They immediately jumped to bizarre conclusions and conspiracies to explain the President crying over dead children.

Because they are insane. And heartless!







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Monday, December 7, 2015

Tra-la-la Shoot Somebody for Christmas

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I have barely blogged at all since the Paris attacks, and then we had the Planned Parenthood attack in Colorado by some guy who yelled "No more baby parts!" (thanks, Carly Fiorina). Then just the other day we had these heavily-armed American dream ISIS wannabes shooting up a hospital in California just because it was there.

So who wants to read headlines anymore anyway? I just stare speechless at my Facebook and Twitter feed, wondering whether we are at the end of modern Civilization in the United States, or if we will finally reach a tipping point that will stop the madness. On any given day, I can't decide where we are.



It's Christmastime and half of the country wants to be cozy and safe and happy. The other half wants Baby Jesus to bring guns for the whole family, and Grandma to have gun pictures with Santa, and the NRA to save them from Evil Obama who is coming to get their precious guns on Christmas Day. And they think and pray about it in church, while sending shoeboxes full of religious stuff to poor children in other countries, but if those same kids come here, they are dirty immigrants with diseases. These faux-Christians wouldn't even let Mary and Joseph into the Manger - they send them back to the desert and who the hell cares what happens to their baby? Thus endeth the Christmas Story, brought to you by Donald Trump and the NRA deacons of the Gun Church.

My hero this week is Igor Volsky, a journalist with Think Progress, who started calling out politicians who took the easy road by sending "Thoughts and Prayers" to the victims of various shootings and their families. It's just not enough at this point! This lip service without any forward-thinking policy is a crime.











NRA: Demons at our Door









































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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Chattanooga Mourns Military Deaths

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On Thursday, July 16, 2015, a lone shooter went on a rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee, targeting Military Recruitment offices. When it was over half the city and state was suddenly on lockdown, and the entire world was watching.

Four Marines died that day, while a wounded Navy Reservist succumbed to his wounds a few days later. A total of six people died, including the shooter, who was killed by police on the scene.

Chattanooga is my hometown, and it is no exaggeration that this crime put all Tennesseans in a state of shock. I had just been at Erlanger hospital that morning for short procedure. After that my husband and I drove home past the Lee Highway recruitment center, just remarking on what a pretty day it was and how green the trees were, and chatting about what to have for breakfast. After a leisurely meal we went home and five minutes later discovered that the shootings had occurred, the hospital was on lockdown, and police were in a manhunt for the killer on Amnicola Highway near our son's college, Chattanooga State. And people were possibly dead.















Later I would find out that the shooter, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, attended my alma mater, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, just a few miles from where the four Marines were shot, and where my youngest is working towards a similar Engineering degree. He attended high school with my future son-in-law, who owns a copy of the Yearbook in which he wrote “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do? -Hijabman.”

If this shooter had wanted just to kill citizens, he could have shot at cars on the highway, or shot at students and families on the Riverwalk, or shot through the windows of any restaurant. But he clearly targeted the military and the police. He had a plan - we could all see that. This wasn't a random crime, but an act of terrorism.

We still don't know everything about him, but we know that he lived among us as a Chattanoogan all his life and then one day, for whatever twisted reason, he woke up and decided to kill regular folks only because they wore military uniforms. For someone who didn't want to be judged by his own name, it is the ultimate act of selfish hypocrisy.

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From CNN
People who knew Abdulazeez were stunned to hear he was the man who sprayed a military recruiting center at a strip mall with bullets, then drove seven miles to assault Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga. He killed a sailor and four Marines, and wounded two more people, before being killed by police.
Friends described Abdulazeez as a once-devoted, disciplined mixed-martial-arts fighter; a top student known for smarts, charm and humor; and a devout Muslim who kept in touch with his roots in the Middle East.
The FBI hasn't released much information on Abdulazeez, saying it doesn't yet know what motivated the bloodshed but it is working on an assumption. "We will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it can be determined that it is not," FBI Special Agent Edward Reinhold said.























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Monday, April 20, 2015

"Oops, I'm Sorry" - The Tale of Wannabe Cop Bob Bates

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In a shocking video from Tulsa, Oklahome you can see Bob Bates, a 73-year-old reserve cop, shoot a black suspect named Eric Harris, who had already been tackled to the ground by another cop. Then Bob says "Oops, I'm sorry, I thought it was my taser."

New excuse - His taser made him do it. Even though the taser was inside his vest and the gun was on his hip. Oops.

Again, Harris was on the ground and nearly subdued. Other cops were standing around him, so there was no need for Bates to shoot, and indeed, dangerous to do so because he might have hit another cop!But good old boy Bob Bates just had to do something, so he shot Eric Harris.



Then as the dying man lay on the ground saying "I can't breathe," you see another cop press his full body weight onto Harris's head while snarling "F--- Your Breath," possibly referring back to the death of Eric Garner in New York City, the man who was tackled to the ground and grabbed around the neck while begging for air.

Seems like cops have had enough of this "freedom of breath" nonsense. The only thing you can do is just kill people. Totally understandable. After all the jails are too crowded, right? Killing suspects for petty crimes clears more space for the real bad guys - the killers, etc. You know, just like Bob Bates.

Bob Bates didn't even have the proper training records, according to Tulsa World
In a statement that the 73-year-old reserve deputy gave the sheriff's office following the fatal shooting of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2, Bates noted he had taken "active shooter training" from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Lisa Allen, chief media relations office for the sheriff's office there, said they had no record of Bates attending their training.
. . . "We don't allow out-of-state people to take the class," she said. "I'm only surmising, and I can't confirm this because this would not have been our class, but our active shooter instructor did travel to Dallas once to teach a class.
. . . Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.
At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates’ supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.





Even beyond the nonexistent certification is the fact that Bob Bates had supplied the Tulsa police department with gifts of money and equipment. So did he bribe his way onto the force?

KRMG in Tulsa published a list of donations from Bob Bates, ending with this important piece of information:
Bates also served as Chairman for the re-election campaign of Sheriff Stanley Glanz in 2012, and contributed money to the campaign.

From the Today interview with Matt Lauer via Crooks and Liars:

“First and foremost, let me apologize to the family of Eric Harris,” Tulsa reserve deputy Robert Bates said of the 44-year-old black man he fatally wounded. “This is the second-worst thing that’s ever happened to me or the first that ever happened to me in my life. I had cancer a number of years ago. I didn’t think I was going to get there… I’d rate this as number one on my list of things in my life that I regret.”

Asked by Matt Lauer how he could make the fundamental mistake of grabbing his gun instead of the taser, Bates replied, “This has happened a number of times around the country. I have read about it in the past. I thought to myself after reading several cases, I don’t understand how this can happen.”

He added: “You must believe me, it can happen to anyone.”

The remorseful deputy, who was surrounded by his family and lawyer, told Lauer that “I have no desire to ever take anyone’s life,” and recalled the state of shock he was in the moment he realized he had shot Harris.


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"This is my taser, this is my gun. This one's for killing and this one's . . . oh look, a black guy!"
~ Arfer on Crooks and Liars

An old geezer with no training playing cop, what could go wrong?
~ lardheppus on Crooks and Liars

As ever... conservatives love to TALK about responsibility... but when it comes to TAKING responsibility... we have folks like this guy. "I pulled my gun instead of my taser, but that's okay, because it's happened before to others, and I killed a guy but I right away said I was sorry, so I am NOT GUILTY!"
~ Willem on Mediaite

Literally unbelievable. "The second-worst thing that's ever happened to me." And "it can happen to anyone."
Well excuse me, Deputy Dawg, but I believe this is the first-worst thing that ever happened to Eric Harris, and the second worst is that you're still drawing breath.
"Remorseful" my foot. Bates is mildly inconvenienced because of all the attention he's getting because of his little oopsie and he wouldn't mind if you all just went on with your business and left him alone.
This guy needs a room with no view next to Alex Hernandez, and should be let out on the same day.
~ expatpatiot on Mediaite







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Saturday, April 11, 2015

The #NRA Comes to Nashville

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The gun-loving horde called the National Rifle Association descended on Nashville, Tennessee, this week. Ironically, loaded guns were not allowed within the venue - can you say hypocrites? They could have gone to Texas or some state where everyone could open carry everywhere, but they are concerned for their own safety. Thus, the NRA Convention was held in a "Gun Free Zone" which they say they are against.

It's probably a good thing - these gun nuts always end up shooting themselves in the foot, and they know it.

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My state of Tennessee has a love-hate relationship with guns. Clearly they are part of our heritage, from Davy Crockett to Sergeant York. But now that the true crazies have taken over the Tennessee Legislature, and hunting has become more popular than Bible-thumping, the NRA has more political pull than the Southern Baptist Convention.

However, not everyone is thrilled with the NRA - like me, for instance! I don't own any guns, and never will. And my father was a veteran who won badges for marksmanship, but amazingly he came home from WWII and never saw a need to shoot anybody. My Tennessee ancestors probably shot squirrels to make gravy, but that was for survival. I think they liked ham and fried chicken better...

But anyway, let's talk about our Governor, Bill Haslam, who is more of a bird-watcher than a hunter. While it's true that he just signed an ill-thought-out bill allowing "Guns in Parking Lots" (because people have guns in their cars anyway - so just give up on that), he sometimes ignores politics and vetoes crazy bills sent to him by the TN Legislature.

The latest is a "Guns in Parks" bill that was pushed through just in time for the NRA goons to arrive in town. The bill would also allow guns within the public buildings of the state capital. That's getting too close to home for Haslam, and he probably has too many enemies in the Tea Party to feel comfortable if they are packing heat - there could be one of those "accidental shootings" that responsible gun owners cause. And I truly believe he knows that parks are supposed to be peaceful places for families and not gun-fights between rednecks. We are a tourist state, and Nashville is a tourist city, end of story.











I'm thrilled that the NRA doesn't like Bill Haslam, and I think he will listen to cooler heads and veto the "Guns in Parks" bill.

But the convention gave many of the GOP 2016 hopefuls a forum, sort of a mini-GOP convention, where they were assured of a warm welcome. Yes, unlike the real world. The only two not invited were Rand Paul and Chris Christie.




























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