I’m dating myself (no, not that kind of “dating”!), but I used to watch “Gunsmoke” on TV and at the beginning of every show I’d see Marshal Dillon facing down some unknown bad guy in the street. Marshal Dillon would draw and fire, but I never saw the ”bad guy” die. To this day, I don’t know if he was shooting at a bad guy, Miss Kitty, Chester or Doc. I’ve watched John Wayne kill 10,000 marauding bad guys without aiming, without reloading, and sometimes without shooting, all in the same scene. Growing up I saw about 10,000,000 assorted bad guys die and I never, repeat never, saw one drop of blood. Now you ask—“well, that was so many years ago, what the hell does it have to do with anything now?” Please be patient, I’m getting there.

Recently, the AP ran a story about TV violence. Did you know that in the month following Vice President Joe Biden’s January meeting with entertainment industry executives on TV violence the Parents Television Council (PTC) monitored 392 prime-time scripted programs on the broadcast networks? Well, I didn’t either, but the PTC did and they found 193 with some incident of violence.

A sample of the incidents captured by the PTC between Jan 11 and Feb 11 shows:

• A character on ABC’s “Body of Proof” says he dreams of ripping a woman’s brain out while she’s still alive, but he’s shot as he’s about to stick a hook up her nose. Then he’s pushed off a balcony and killed.
• A woman on Fox’s “The Following” jams an ice pick into her eye.
• A prison riot episode of CBS’ “Hawaii Five-O” includes one man trying to kill someone in a laundry room press, a man snapping someone’s neck with his legs and a man injected with something that causes a violent convulsion.
• A man threatens hospital workers on NBC’s “Chicago Fire” with a gun before he’s disabled with a Taser.
• A gun fight on ABC’s “Last Resort” is ignited by one man stabbing another in the abdomen with a screwdriver.
• A man on CBS’ “Criminal Minds” is shot dead by the FBI as he tries to cut the eyelids off a gallery owner’s face.
• Two characters on Fox‘s “Bones” wake to find a corpse hanging from the canopy above their bed, dripping blood onto them.
• An already bloody man is dragged into a warehouse on CBS’ “The Mentalist,” choked to death and thrown in a furnace — all witnessed by a little boy hiding in the building.
• A man writhes in pain on Fox’s “Fringe” before a parasite violently bursts out of his body. He’s surrounded by the bodies of others who had met the same fate.
• A scene in ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” features a woman’s nightmare about sawing her leg, as blood spurts and she screams in pain.
• A gymnastics coach is stabbed several times in the groin on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU.”
• A man working on a coffee cart on “The Following” is doused with gasoline and burned alive.
• On CBS’ “Blue Bloods,” a man aims a gun at a group of children in the park before he is shot dead.
• Even President Grant on ABC’s “Scandal” gets into the act, removing an oxygen mask from a woman’s face so she suffocates.

This is prime time folks. This is also ugly, unnecessary violence pushed at us by broadcast networks. I’m not going to say that the broadcast networks are the only ones doing this, but they are tamer than some shows on cable networks or the big screen.

I’ve asked people over the years and never got a good answer, so I’ll ask again:  What does this ugly violence contribute to the story line? Does it improve the story line? Is it a distraction? Is it necessary? Read those incidents again, read them good, and decide if they make that program better. I’ve had people tell me that “realistic” violence shows things closer to real life. Hell, I don’t watch TV to see real life, I watch it to be entertained. I watch it for a distraction from real life. If I want real life I’ll move to Chicago.

These are just some examples of the shows on broadcast networks, but they are prime time—you know, the time our children and grandchildren are watching TV. Are these things that we want them to see?

For the women out there—is this a picture you want your children and grandchildren to see? A woman tied to a table about to be tortured and/or murdered. What does the picture say about women and violence?

I’ve seen many TV shows and watched many movies over my life and there is a BIG difference between shows and good, or great, shows. Know what that difference is? It’s the script. A good script can create the illusion of danger or death without the graphic details, without seeing the aftermath, without seeing the blood and gore. A good script can entertain without blood and guts squirting 50 feet across a room.

Are these shows good for prime time? Are they good shows for our children and grandchildren to watch? In my humble opinion—not only no, but hell no!

For the record, I don’t watch any of the programs listed here or many, many movies for one reason—the graphic, senseless violence, and the blood and gore.

___________

Gunsmoke photo credit: twm1340 via photopin cc

The AP carried a story about a 5-year-old boy accidentally shooting his 2-year-old sister to death in rural southern Kentucky. It seems that he had received the gun as a gift last year. The gun was a Crickett, a company that specifically makes guns, clothes and books for children. A little gun for a little kid and the little kid, who was used to shooting the little gun, picked it up and killed his little sister. What a legacy for the child! He’ll live his whole life knowing he killed his little sister.

Now for the parents, let’s see how many counts of parental negligence we can find in this situation.

1. The gun was a gift to a 5-year old. I don’t know of any 5-year old that needs a gun.
2. The gun was in a place that the child could get to it easily. You don’t leave a gun in a corner; you secure it so the child can’t just pick it up.
3. The gun was loaded. It’s the parent’s responsibility to make sure the gun is unloaded and secured.
4. The parents weren’t in the room with the child and gun. You don’t leave a child and a gun in the same room unsupervised.

Well, I found four counts of parental negligence. Can you find others?

The 2-year-old had a name — Caroline Sparks — and we shouldn’t forget that. Here’s her photo so we know what she looks like.

In an article by CNN, the grandmother said, “It was God’s will. It was her time to go, I guess. I just know she’s in heaven right now and I know she’s in good hands with the Lord.”

Now I have a problem with the grandmother’s statement. It was not God’s will! God doesn’t will a 5-year-old boy to shoot and kill his 2-year-old sister. I have no doubt that Caroline is in Heaven, but she’s in Heaven because of parental negligence! I sincerely hope that the parents hurt, and hurt bad, from this for the rest of their lives because it’s a just punishment for their negligence. I don’t mourn for them at all, just Caroline and her brother.

The same CNN article also pointed out “two other incidents in recent months involving young children shooting others. In early April, a 4-year-old boy in Tennessee shot and killed a 48-year-old woman, and just days later, 6-year-old Brandon Holt was killed in New Jersey after being shot in the head by his 4-year-old playmate.” Wow! Isn’t anyone going to learn?

REMEMBER—THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS WITH GUNS. GUNS KILL DELIBERATELY OR BY NEGLIGENCE!

I’m from North Carolina, home of state legislators who want to legislate a state religion, declare Islam a terrorist organization, require drug tests for some public benefits, and other craziness such as the U.S. Constitution not counting here in the Old North State. So, in an effort to get away from name-calling (NC state republicans deserve it), I’m going to write about how our two senators voted on the Manchin/Toomey background check measure.

In review, the Manchin/Toomey background check measure was painstakingly crafted to close a loophole and was the key to passing the first legislation in decades to address the sorts of mass slaughters that we saw in Newtown, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado.

As is my annoying habit, I traveled to the U.S. Senate’s legislative website (via my keyboard and monitor, not personally) to read the bill and see for myself if my second amendment rights would be compromised or weakened. I assumed (I know, silly me) that our duly-elected senators would also read the bill and vote to close this loophole if it didn’t affect our said second amendment rights, because we all know that our Constitution is the supreme law of our country (as it should be). I didn’t, I repeat, I didn’t see anything in the Manchin/Toomey amendment that would adversely affect my second amendment rights in any way. It was a good amendment because it would help protect our society by preventing certain people from purchasing firearms that they could then use to kill us.

As we all know, the amendment failed 54 to 46, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster. Needless to say (and rightly so), the failure upset anew victims of the Sandy Hook shootings and other slaughters who watched from the Senate gallery, in addition to at least 90 percent of Americans (who stayed home but are) in favor of background checks.

Now to how NC’s senators voted—

Senator Richard Burr (R) voted “nay”. Burr’s vote was called “political cowardice” in a letter to the editor of the High Point Enterprise. In thinking about his vote, I also submit the following as probable reasons.

(1) He didn’t read the amendment; (2) he read the amendment but didn’t understand what he read; (3) he doesn’t understand the U.S. Constitution; (4) he voted strictly along party lines so the other Republicans wouldn’t think he’s a wuss; (5) he woke up in the senate when they called his name and voted “nay” before he knew what he was voting about, or (6) all of the above. I’m kind of leaning towards (6) as the answer because the only thing I do know is that his “nay” vote can’t be supported with common sense and that is probably why this paragraph sounds so sarcastic.

Senator Kay Hagan (D) voted “yea”. Nothing more to say, except that she understood the amendment, understood what Americans wanted, and voted in favor of common sense. Thank you Senator Hagan. You can be sure that I’ll support you in 2014 anyway I can.

This item on Sulia.com piqued my interest because it was so misleading. Actually it aggravated me a great deal. People who should know and understand our Constitution and laws write or broadcast erroneous information that other people then accept as the truth without attempting to verify the accuracy of what they read or heard. This is wrong, so wrong! I’m not saying that I’m 100 percent correct all the time, but I research issues I see or read about so I can have a better understanding of the issue and speak/write intelligently—I owe that to myself, I owe that to my readers.

The piece to which I’m referring appeared in ThinkProgress on Monday, April 15, under the heading Top Bush-Era Officials Sound False Alarm Of Obama Plot To Use U.N. To Take Guns. The Boston Marathon bombings overshadowed this piece, but I found it anyway. In a Wall Street Journal article, Obama’s United Nations Backdoor to Gun Control, John Yoo, the former Justice Department official responsible for the “Bush torture memos” and John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.,  sounded “the alarm against the sneaky way the Obama administration will come for Americans’ guns: the United Nations.” In the article, Yoo/Bolton write—

But the new treaty also demands domestic regulation of “small arms and light weapons.” The treaty’s Article 5 requires nations to “establish and maintain a national control system,” including a “national control list.” Article 10 requires signatories “to regulate brokering” of conventional arms. The treaty offers no guarantee for individual rights, but instead only declares it is “mindful” of the “legitimate trade and lawful ownership” of arms for”recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities.” Not a word about the right to possess guns for a broader individual right of self-defense.

Gun-control advocates will use these provisions to argue that the U.S. must enact measures such as a national gun registry, licenses for guns and ammunition sales, universal background checks, and even a ban of certain weapons. The treaty thus provides the Obama administration with an end-run around Congress to reach these gun-control holy grails.

Yoo/Bolton also state, “Yet because the Constitution requires that two-thirds of the Senate give its advice and consent to any treaty, Second Amendment supporters still have a political route to stop the administration.” Ah, here it is, the large hole in their article and they provide it themselves—the Senate, not to mention our Constitution.

But the damage is done. People read their article and accept it as fact. The following comment appeared under the article:

If Yoo/Bolton wrote the article with any sense of journalistic responsibility this comment wouldn’t have appeared. The end result is that Yoo/Bolton contribute negativity to the discussion on gun control and that is wrong. If we, as a nation, are to accomplish anything we need rational, truthful commentary and discussion.

You see, the U.N. treaty was adopted on April 2, 2013 and right away I found a copy of the treaty and read it. Gee, simple…yes, simple. I didn’t see anything in the treaty that would threaten my Second Amendment rights. The treaty addresses arms proliferation and requires that member states enact control systems for the exportation of arms and we already have that system in place. The treaty is also “Mindful of the legitimate trade and lawful ownership, and use of certain conventional arms for recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities, where such trade, ownership and use are permitted or protected by law…”

Ah, “protected by law.” Our Constitution provides the president with the power to make treaties, provided that “two-thirds of the Senators present concur” (Article II, section 2). This gives the U.S. Senate a share of the treaty power through advice and counsel. It also checks presidential power and safeguards the sovereignty of the states by giving each of our states an equal vote in the treaty-making process.

Ah, our Constitution. The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land! In Article VI, Clause 2 of the constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, establishes the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and U.S. Treaties as “the supreme law of the land.” These are the highest form of law in the U.S. legal system, and Clause 2 mandates that all state judges must follow federal law when a conflict arises between federal law and either the state constitution or state law of any state.

However, the Supremacy Clause only applies if Congress is acting in pursuit of its constitutionally authorized powers. Federal laws are valid and are supreme, so long as those laws were adopted in pursuance of—consistent with—the Constitution.

Ah, treaties. A treaty may not do or exceed what the Congress is charged to do or what it is forbidden to do. Constitutional authority supersedes, overrules, and precludes any contrary treaty authority!!! An international accord that is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution is void under domestic U.S. law, the same as any other federal law in conflict with the Constitution. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957), that the Constitution supersedes international treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate (emphasis mine). Read that again…the Constitution supersedes international treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate!!!

Now we’re at the crux of the Yoo/Bolton article and they are wrong! The article didn’t present rational arguments on gun control, it only added unneeded fuel to the heated gun control debate fires by not presenting fair, balanced and accurate information. They touched on some of it, but the slant of the article was complete opposition to gun control and fueling hatred of the Obama administration. By the way, the accurate information is—

1. The U.N. treaty must be ratified by a two-thirds (currently 66) majority of the U.S. Senate (Yoo/Bolton did write this).
2. If ratified, the treaty will not supersede the U.S. Constitution.
3. The president took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.
4. The treaty will be void if it is inconsistent with U.S. law.

As to end runs around Congress, well in District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court ruled, in part, that:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons. (Pp. 54–56.)

The Federal government has the power to regulate arms. We have the Second Amendment right to bear arms. These two rights/powers need to be balanced. Whatever action is taken on gun control has to conform to our Constitution. I have three guns and I don’t fear the government taking them away. At the same time, I don’t believe that private citizens need some of the weapons, clips and ammunition now in their homes. I also don’t believe that gun sales should be so easy and commonplace that anyone, yes anyone, can buy a personal weapon of mass destruction.

All I ask is that we all use commonsense and accuracy in our conversations about gun control, make that any subject. Omit the fear-mongering, omit the lies, omit the distortions. We owe that to our Constitution, to our children and to our fellow citizens.

Hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, currently under the microscope for alleged insider trading and  getting underlings to take the rap for more sleazy deals in the pursuit of mo’ money, is probably relieved that similarly named Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen (D) draws the limelight from financier Cohen’s less savory activities for tweets about how hot fifty-something punk rocker Cyndi Lauper still is.

Perhaps the rest of us resent that Lauper can keep going like the Energizer Bunny while the rest of us Baby Boomers don’t mend as easily after a night out on the town.

After losing $602 million in Securities and Exchange Commission penalties recently, mogul Cohen did what any stressed moneyed person would do: go shopping. The financier  forked over some largess for a reported $155 million Picasso, and a pricey $60 million manse in the Hamptons to hang it in just in case Cohen ran out of room in his other digs.

Ms. Lauper pranced and sang her way out of a Queens borough neighborhood called Ozone Park, starting in the late 70s, as America was starting its 12-step recovery from the Disco Era of polyester dependance. Ozone Park is one of those amusing enclaves only found in metropolitan New Yawk City. Being a city that Red State country bumpkins love to hate between mating rituals called family reunions, the jealous Podunkers are more than a bit envious of Gotham, which makes the Treasury dollars less productive areas love to disproportionately consume. Lauper made it out of Queens to succeed in show biz. She made it when so many others didn’t. Aren’t we supposed to cheer that on?

It’s the “American Exceptionalism” Caribou Quitter Barbie $arah “Aw, shucks” Palin ought to really be talking about.

Steve Cohen, the Tennessee pol who isn’t a philandering physician whose bedside manner involved climbing in the sack to care for patients, explained he was celebrating Ms. Lauper’s recent White House musical tribute to Memphis. He was also having some good-natured fun with this columnist’s compatriots in the heat-seeking missile Fourth Estate of the free press. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re holding on too tight. Touché, Rep. Cohen.

Cyndi Lauper’s LBGT activism, which raises the bile in social conservatives’ gullets, might just be her realization that the world is bigger than she is. It’s none of my business what Lauper’s mating preferences are, but she has a longtime hubby and a teenage son which indicates conventionality. It makes me wonder why more Americans haven’t developed past the self-centered “Mine! Mine! Mine!” mentality which quickly loses any charm about the age of four.

Rep. Cohen’s fun fan tweet ought to have been a humorous sidebar tidbit buried in the style section. Heaven knows we, as a society, have far more pressing issues to deal with.

All who serve this nation overseas do not wear uniforms. State Department Foreign Service officer Anne Smedinghoff, 25, was one of five Americans killed by a car bomb blast in Afghanistan Saturday.

Anne Smedinghoff

She served her nation with distinction.

Not all who give their lives are trained warriors. The four U.S. soldiers who also made the ultimate sacrifice in the attack were likely well armed. Ms. Smedinghoff was bringing textbooks to schoolchildren in Afghani villages. Car bombs, and other improvised explosive devices, kill with wanton abandon.

America is on its way out of its lengthy Afghanistan misadventure. It’s about, nay, past time to end our involvement. We should have known better. Britain and the former Soviet Union learned the hard way. Our painful and costly lessons learned, it is time to move on.

One would think we would have learned from Vietnam long ago that we cannot be the world’s policeman. We don’t like to lose. The conflict in Indochina was my first war to oppose and protest. There was certainly no honor, except for those ordinary Americans who fought and died answering the misguided call of politicians. When was our last victory parade?

I remember American Family Association radio pundit Bryan Fischer decrying the “feminization” of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta for saving his fellow soldiers’ lives rather than for how many enemies he killed in battle. For all of Fischer’s tough talk, of course, he never served.

Failed GOP presidential candidate Mitt “Mitt WHO?” Romney demonstrated for the war in Vietnam as a college student, but for him “service” was bicycling around France battling Gaulist fondness for a decent Bordeaux. Weepy wifey Ann “Stop it! This is hard.” Romney never had to worry about her sons going in harm’s way. Nah, Ann maintained they “served” as Mormon “missionaries.”  Of course, Mitt & Ann’s progeny had nothing to worry about with Romney wanting to stay in Iraq.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s hypocritical saber rattling has to be measured against Cheney’s five draft deferments forty-odd years ago. The peril of war fighting from inside the Washington Beltway are rush hour traffic snarls on the 14th Street Bridge. Newt Gingrich would rather write novels set in nineteenth-century wars than be bothered to himself serve in uniform. I’m still waiting for a Republican politician to have his or her son or daughter come home in a box.

If it weren’t so costly in American lives and treasure, the conservative fondness for war would be comical.

There was a time in the last century where even hardened British troops during the bad, old days of strife in Northern Ireland came to the realization to ponder  “Leaving Fort Apache to the Indians.”  That conflict, as with most others, was resolved through diplomacy and negotiation, however imperfectly, rather than by the force of arms.

There are frankly countries not worth saving at such a perilous cost to young American and allied lives. Diplomacy has no video game precision guided weapon or drone bombings. It’s long, tedious work around the globe. It tends to work better, and cost far less, than military alternatives.  Our Foreign Service officers in trouble spots world wide risk their lives for all of us. They’re not just balancing a Chardonnay and crackered brie at some embassy soireé. Some pay with the cost of their lives, as Anne Smedinghoff did.

Our top diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, learned firsthand the horrors of war as a decorated naval officer aboard riverine craft in Vietnam. He returned home to courageously oppose that lost cause war.  Unlike the saber rattlers, Kerry bore the wounds of combat.  He viscerally knows the value of diplomacy.

Let’s remember the selfless sacrifice of Anne Smedinghoff and the other diplomats killed in the line of duty, and rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of diplomacy first, and military action only as a last resort.

A few near-miraculous events have taken place today. This April 1st is one for the history books!

The War on Women has been declared over. The men of the Republican party, joined by a few blue dog Democrats and Republican women, announced that they realised that unless they begin attending medical school in droves, any woman’s uterus is none of their business. They also announced that it’s time to fully support the Equal Rights Amendment and even expressed incredulity that it has taken this long.

The Supreme Court’s conservative justices – in a moment of social, historical and political reality and clarity – issued a statement that racism is not, in fact, dead and, therefore, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has not exceeded exceeded its authority under the 14th and 15th amendments (equal protection and voting privileges), thereby violating the 10th amendment (state sovereignty) of the U.S. Constitution. As a result of the realisation that the nation has a long way to go towards resolving racial disparities they also issued a joint apology, co-authored by Justices Scalia and Thomas, for even suggesting that affirmative action in the nation’s institutions of higher learning was never necessary.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that they will give President Obama full cooperation towards boosting the nation’s employment rate and furthering economic growth. The jobs bill submitted by the President ages ago is now being worked on by a bipartisan group. When asked their reasons for this sudden turnaround, the aforementioned  trio of GOP leaders noted in a joint statement that on Easter Sunday and during Passover, each had his own ‘come to Jesus meeting’ of sorts — and their respective deities informed them that if they don’t want to go to what they envision as hell, it’s time to ‘do what’s right’ for all of God’s (unemployed) children. They’re complying. They’re religious men…they’ve decided to not fuck with God’s will rules.

ExxonMobil, joined by other ‘Big Oil’ companies and several of the nations leading natural gas producers and distributors, announced at a press conference today that the most recent oil spill in Arkansas was enough to convince them was enough to rethink their position on caring for their bottom line more than the air, water and soil all humans need to survive. During an awkward ‘open mic’ moment, one official was heard to mumble something that sounded remarkably like ‘the Keystone Pipeline is a dead issue’ but that on-air comment hasn’t been confirmed.

OK, I can dream, can’t I?

Happy April Fools’ Day, folks.

*Sigh*

Let’s face it; the past few months have been bad for conservatives and Republicans.  After a fairly good shellacking in the Presidential and Senatorial elections last November, which many pundits didn’t even see coming, Republicans have good reason to be retrospective. The recent election postmortem by the Republican National Committee underscores the sober reality that the Republican band is damaged from excessively rounding “an ideological cul-de-sac.” This has led the GOP’s to lose influence among many, including minorities, women, young adults, and the gay community (while still doing well in the “old white guy” demographic).  The report states:

The Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself. We have become experts in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people but, devastatingly, we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue.

So, with the realization that the Party needs to modernize and reach out to conservative-minded people who share some of their ideas, though not necessarily their platform, what did conservative outlets do? Did they tone down rhetoric?  Did they accept changing demographics in America and make attempts to reach out to once-marginalized groups?

No, they fomented two feigned outrage stories this week to gin up the masses.

I usually refer to these momentary spurts of consumer activism as outrages du jour. Much like the du jour menu at your local bistro, they offer a varied and seasonal selection of rage to get the old ticker pumping and something for work colleagues to discuss or debate around water coolers. This journalism is the lowest common denominator, since it requires nothing more than an already built-in Pavlovian response to whatever wedge issue is currently in vogue to get people buying papers, clicking links, or tuning into the 24-hour cable channel of choice in the breakroom.

While we liberal and progressive types are not immune to this type of sensationalism, it’s rife in the right-wing mediasphere. So much, even, that there are several websites singly devoted to debunking some of the most conniving conservative canards. And with the prominence of social media, these baseless claims spread like wildfire. As of this writing, two notable conservative boycotts stand out: coffee and comedy.

The first involves many Americans’ morning pick-up: Starbucks. At a shareholder’s meeting last Wednesday in Seattle, several conservative shareholders, including one from the ironically named “National Organization for Marriage” confronted Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on his company’s pro-stance on same-sex marriage and whether such views may hurt returns in the coming year.  Schultz responded rather bluntly, stating those that thought they could get a “higher return” elsewhere (there was a 38% gain in 2012 for investors) were welcome to “sell [their] shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company,” perhaps one of the nicest middle fingers an executive has ever given to obstinate shareholders.

Again, you bought a $7 drink and dumped it down the drain because you don’t support their views…don’t you see the irony of that?!

This has sparked off TheTeaParty.net’s “Dump Starbucks” campaign this Sunday. Chances are you’ve already read it somewhere on your News Feed that your conservative uncle or best friend from high school swears to swear off that sweet nectar of the gods for all eternity. As of this writing, there are 24,000 likes on their Facebook Page and over 56,000 pledges on the Website.  And while I’m certain we’ll see many more intelligent folks protest by buying a $7 Venti Skinny Half-Caf Pumpkin Spice Latte and then dumping it down the drain (because irony is completely lost on some people, I guess), we’ll have to wait and see if this will live up to the hype we experienced over Chick-Fil-A last summer.

The second example of outrage du jour involves famous funny man Jim Carrey’s sketch uploaded to the website Funny or Die (clip below). It features a mock-up of the old He-Haw television series, with Carrey playing the part of guest host and noted gun-nut Charlton Heston.  They then introduce a music number by Lonesome Earl and the Clutterbusters (who are Abraham Lincoln on bass, John Lennon on guitar, and Mohandas Gandhi on percussion, all of whom were victims of gun violence). Carrey, as Lonesome Earl, sings the vehemently anti-gun anthem “Cold Dead Hand”–a spin on one of Heston’s most infamous quotes during his NRA presidency– which goes on to question the manhood of rabid gun owners. Heston attempts to dispatch them with his rifle only to both literally and figuratively “shoot himself in the foot” at the end of the song.

While this heavy-handed sketch is not pure comedic gold, it is a bit of biting social satire we haven’t seen from Carrey since his old In Living Color days, and quite funny, in our opinion. And his on-the-nose depiction of Heston and other gun nuts were not lost on the rightwing blogosphere either. Carrey was hounded on his Twitter account by Dana “Drop Trou” Loesch, as well as getting his lumps in at Red State and on Fox News by notably unfunny Greg “The Gutless” Gutfield. Carrey’s Twitter response calling gun-rightists “heartless mother*ckers” have only added fuel to the conservative fire (though no comment from the NRA or CEO Wayne LaPierre…yet).

So there you have it: barely a week after the Republican Party has realized that it needs to reach a broader audience to secure its own political survival, the rightwing mediasphere gives us not one, but two non-issues for pundits, politicians, and partisan internet trolls to cleave to, that further alienate those who support marriage equality (which is at an all-time high) and gun control.

While it may not be the best time to gloat, 2014 is looking better every day.

Last year was particularly hard on the fortunes of Tea Party doyenne Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)  After a flop at seeking the Party of No nod for President, and Bachmann’s months of proudly proclaiming her childhood Iowa roots, voters in her 6th Congressional District in Minnesota noticed their Congresswoman was off politicking for the White House, playing Tea Party ideologue, and AWOL from her constituents.  Voters, being the persnickety lot they tend to be, rewarded Bachmann’s frigid shoulder by her barely winning reelection over Democrat newbie challenger, hotelier Jim Graves. Voter dissatisfaction in a safe Republican district turned a “sure thing” into cold fickleness at the ballot box, eking out reelection by only a few thousand votes.

Alas, the miracle of Michele keeping her $174,000 a year gig in Washington was a little more too close for comfort for our Righty firebrand than just fearing which ladies rooms openly bi-sexual freshman Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and lesbian Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) might use. (The ones for competent lawyers.) Chastened by an electoral fire and brimstone brush with political death, Bachmann created a miracle of her own: shutting her big mouth and quietly representing her district.

Frankly, this columnist was amazed our Minnesota twisted sister could go “cold turkey” from her notorious gaffe-a-day past habit.  Job security for media fact checkers was starting to look bleak. Even when married, no headache lasts two whole months. Duct tape?

Giving the sports term “March Madness” a wacky new twist, Mindless Michele roared back with a slew of gaffes faster than actor Jack Nicholson could say “Heeere’s Johnny!” in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining. Her size 7 patent leather pump-in-mouth comeback in the misstep marathon was a testimony to that conservative “American Exceptionalism” Snowmobile Barbie Sarah Palin was touting. Comedy writers could give a big sigh of relief knowing where political joke material would come from in a “Spring” that obviously didn’t get the weather memo.

At CPAC earlier this month, Bachmann misquoted the source and proclaimed that seventy percent of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, neé “Food Stamps”) dollars went to the hated bureaucrats. At least Joe Isuzu was only a car salesman.

Seeming to make up for lost time, the rapid fire staccato of Bachmann gaffes continued. If she was a billion dollar Pentagon weapons system, the brass at the Pentagon would be overjoyed at a fantastic cyclic rate. We’ll work on accuracy in the next procurement block.

“Obamacare kills” she screamed. As a Member of Congress, no private health insurer would dare deny her claims with the regularity ordinary Americans face. Then, in a bipolar twist her hubby would send her to a real physician for a prescription for a lot of lithium, she tells us that Republicans “love” the poor, even as they seek to yank back the safety net for the most vulnerable.

In a sprint not seen since Nevada’s hapless 2010 Senate hopeful Sharron “Wacky”  Angle (R-”Second Amendment remedies”) got Vegas reporters and news crews in shape  for an Olympic track event, Bachmann left a CNN crew in the dust exclaiming “Benghazi,” when questioned about her groundless White House largesse j’accuse.

No wonder why Bachmann didn’t last long in the lawyering trade.

Fortunately, The Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, dutifully debunked Bachmann’s claims, and awarded her many more Pinocchios. The Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact web site has long vetted the Minnesota Congresswoman’s wild statements, with a whopping 72% ruled as “Mostly False,” “False,” or their penultimate fibbing “Pants on Fire.” Remember Bachmann’s 2011 whopper about a Presidential trip to India costing an alleged $200 million per day and tying up a sizable portion of U.S. Navy warships?

Few women, other than Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), use Rep. Bachmann’s raw egg on their faces as a makeup foundation.

And now she’s facing an ethics inquiry for her ill-fated Prez prance? Good comedians pause between laugh lines.

It appears many of the Republican “true believers” aren’t observing Ronald Reagan’s famed Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” Add one more to the discarded pro-choice and sensible gun control missives of the Matinee Cowboy’s purged lines.

Good ol’ Ronnie wouldn’t have been thrilled…

In the spirit of “Beware the Ides of March,” there’s a tempest in the G.O.P. teapot over last week’s thirteen hour talking filibuster lite of Loonytarian smirker Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky). A number of the Party of the Lincoln Navigator posh mega-SUV have been singing Paul’s praises after grouchy Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) called the freshman upstart out on his conspiracy theory laden diatribe.

If we thought the multiple back-stabbings from the myriad Republican presidential wannabe debates last year were entertaining, we’re in for another circus clown act in the years to come. Ready the beer and popcorn for another “really big show,” as the late showman Ed Sullivan famously said.

Faster than Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tejas) could count to three.

It’s a bit rich to have ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Tiffany’s) lambasting McCain for criticizing Paul. Even my AARP card vintage brain cells remember last year when Mr. Serial Monogamy accused then party frontrunner Mitt Romney of lying.

Ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) got all “frothy” labeling Mittens as the “worst” Republican in that ill-fated campaign. So much for party solidarity.

Leading the Paul praisers is GOP Chair Reince “Peewee Herman’s stunt double” Priebus. For someone seeking to “unite” the fractious GOP, Priebus appears in charge of a Balkanized party, with none of the late Marshal Tito’s unifying political skill.

Enter Tea Party frosh Rep. Justin Amash (R-Gaza Strip). Amash tweeted scorn on the grouchy old war bird Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for his “crazy birds” remark for extremist newbies  Sens. Rand Paul and Ted “$arah’s boy” Cruz (R-Tex).

Republican party infighting in the House had Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) muttering, “And they ask me why I drink.” The fractious GOP cancer has spread to the upper legislative body. The Senate is supposed to be the “grown-ups.”

I’m convinced it isn’t the onset of a second childhood watching again the Road Runner cartoons of the early 1960s. The antics of a fast bird and a hapless predator ought to have grad school 21st century Political Science course credits.

Potential Presidential prospects also wane due to the inept infighting. An early  flip-flop-flip on immigration by ex-Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Dynasty) diminished his chances among the sizable Hispanic voting ranks. Romney redux?  A Jeb Bush-Marco Rubio ticket has some constitutional questions. Joisey Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) was burned at the stake for heresy. Who’s left in the Righty ranks?  A bunch of hapless nobodies and the “usual suspects” not-ready-for-prime-time retreads.

Anyone who gives Sen. Rand Paul a chance needs to pee in the specimen jar. We want to know what you’re on.

Democratic strategists know better than to assume cake walks in 2014 and  2016, but the tortured infighting among Republicans weakened in last fall’s election have worsened. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton probably appreciates the G.O.P. tardy Valentine’s Day gift box of comical chocolates, should she aspire to become the Democratic party standard bearer in less than four years’ time.

Keep up the good work, conservatives. As reported by Nancy’s astrologer, Ronnie’s spinning in his grave.

“Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.” ~ Winston Churchill

“Those who expect real history from Hollywood should have a keeper.” ~ Davies

Cue the Canadian…on three

So it was last week in our land of perpetual mirth and sunshine. The latest cultural tempest in a thimble is the Oscar success enjoyed by Ben Affleck for his film Argo. His tale from Tehran suggests that some stouthearted Americans masterminded by an intrepid CIA agent were the true heroes in the daring 1979 rescue of US hostages held by Ayatollah Khomeini-enthused Iranian militants.

The historical record is clear. A then-unknown but very clever Canuck diplomat named Ken Taylor hid the hostages in the Canadian embassy, and in a ‘now you see ‘em, now you don’t’ play, Taylor helped the Americans leave Iran using that great international talisman – a fake Canadian passport. Taylor was widely hailed as a Great Republic® hero, and the best kind – a nice, self-effacing fellow. Feted by no less a revisionist historian than the Gipper and his gang in the weeks after the Tehran escape became public knowledge, Taylor and his exploits slowly sank into the deeper recesses of our collective consciousness – until Argo.

In Argo, Big Ben took artistic license several giant steps along the road from fact to pure invention. The poster says it all – a Hollywood / CIA feature presentation, and nary a Taylor in sight. The original postscript to the film hailed the CIA alone for its work. Anyone alive to commercial reality might conclude a flick where CIA-centred herosim is the hook might be a wee more appealing to American audiences than smooth Ken Taylor, no muss, no fuss, getting stuff done with the spooks in only a supporting role. Hmmm…

It is the tortured, angst-filled, Canadian chattering class bilge about the film’s ‘true story’ that is as entertaining as Affleck’s work. ‘Insulting’, ‘demeaning’, a ‘slap in the face’…..they went on and on, hours of talk radio and terra bytes of offence-taking and ‘we’re so disappointed that our part in Tehran was ignored”, ad nauseam. In a nation where we face myriad problems on a staggering range of social and economic fronts, it is comforting that so many can get so riled over so little. Like the outcry triggered by Lincoln, with its clumsy (and rather bizarre) remake of long dead and otherwise honorable Connecticut politicians into anti-emancipationists – it’s a film, stupid – nothing more. Entertainment, an escape from our day-to-day realities…you would think hockey was cancelled (again) given the Argo outrage north of the 49^th.

And then they went back to sleep…

_________

Image source: Washington Post

In the middle of a week that can only fall under the category of our founder’s favorite phrase –sequestration, an allegedly semi-divine pontiff resigning, sinkholes in Florida, massive Winter Storms from Maine to Virginia, these still do not merit the title of “What the living f*ck!?”

It’s when the first American guest of the last holdout of Stalinesque brutality and Leader Worship is a seven-foot, cross-dressing former NBA star.

While we at Borderless News and Views take no issue with those who wish to follow an alternative lifestyle (and, if you do, take it up with Mrs. Vera), it is surprising that the oft-vilified communist regime and current rabble-rouser North Korea, along with its diminutive dictator Kim Jong Un (someone we barely knew existed a few years ago), would invite the flamboyant and always controversial Dennis Rodman as their first American guest.  Rodman, as power forward for the Chicago Bulls during the 90s, alongside greats Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippin, made as much news off the court for his paparazzi-fueled antics as his electrifying play did on the court. While his style both on and off the court are to be noted, his role as ambassador to one of the world’s worst leaves a little less to be desired.

Perhaps even more audacious than the visit was the follow-up debriefing by This Week’s George Stephanopoulos, which can only be described as theater of the absurd. For those who have been under a rock (and I’d suggest you stay there) please watch the video for yourself here, we’ll wait for you to get back.

…

You back?  Good.

(pictured above) Leader King Jong Un asks Rodman for Madonna’s unlisted number.

For those at work or who just didn’t have the patience to watch this drivel, let me recap.  Stephanopoulos, in a rare instance of a Sunday Morning Show host actually pushing his guest, cites North Korea’s atrocious human right’s record via Human Rights Watch (which you’ll find conveniently posted here), as well as recent statements where North Korea, in an attempt to balk at the international community, has continued their nuclear weapons research and declared the United States the “sworn enemy” of the communist regime.  Rodman, decked out in blazer screen-printed with dollar bills (anyone else get that irony?) and clearly having not done his homework, rambles on about how Chairman Kim is “humble,”  “a great man” and “only a kid.”  When confronted with fact that there are over 200,000 political prisoners in forced labor camps, Rodman quips with “Well, you know, guess what, isn’t it amazing how we do the same thing here?”

We’ll give Rodman a point for that, since our incarceration rate is the highest in the world, and the fair execution of the law, especially among minorities, is questionable. So far, Rodman’s got a free-throw in at the end of the buzzer while the normally reserved Stephanopoulos is banking three-pointers from the top of the key.

Perhaps the most absurd exchange is where Stephanopoulos, maybe in a moment of pity, asks Rodman to clarify calling Kim and his predecessors Kim Il Sung and equally eccentric Kim Jong Il “great leaders.” Rodman responds by noting how he “saw people respect him and his family.”

“Aren’t they forced to?” Stephanopoulos replies.

“–Huh?–”

Stephanopoulos had to repeat the question.

…

If you’re not aware that in a Cult of Personality, one of the tenets is that the people are FORCED to show love and affection to the Leader, you are clearly either not from this planet, or you might want to consider a crash course in said regime’s history before you put your RSVP in the mail.

The whole point of this exercise in futility was for Rodman to serve as a proxy ambassador for Kim, and to tell President Obama to give him a call because he “does not want to do war.”  Rodman, the clever arbiter he is, points to both Kim and Obama’s love of basketball as a possible point to open a dialogue between the two adversaries.

Yes, using the old “find something you both have in common” tactic your mom told you when you had a bully at school. I guess maybe if Hitler and Churchill had started peace negotiations with their shared mutual interest in painting, maybe we could have avoided World War II. Hell, Obama admits that he shoots skeet “all the time” at Camp David; we even have the pictures to prove it. Maybe he and Wayne LaPierre can let bygones be bygones and stop claiming that universal background checks will lead to massive gun confiscations by the U.N.

At the beginning of a month that can only be described as “March Madness,” Rodman’s trip and painfully-comic interview with Stephanopoulos garners the title this week of “What the Living F*ck?!”

_____________

Photo: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images

Freed from the bonds of the Papacy, protected by Papal Immunity, but no longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, Joe Ratzinger blows the dome off of St. Peter’s Basillica and allows you to see what’s going on inside with his BLOCKBUSTER BEST SELLER…

“VICE IN THE VATICAN”

“We used to have little Friday night shows in the Sistine Chapel where a chorus line of altar boys would come in and sing Broadway show tunes!”

–Joe Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus

“VICE IN THE VATICAN”! See what went on behind the closed doors of the Papal Apartment!

“‘College of Cardinals,’ I said. ‘Are you kidding me? Junior High School of Cardinals, maybe, but COLLEGE or Cardinals? Ach! ‘ Bunch of red hat wearing poopyheads!”

–Joe Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus

“VICE IN THE VATICAN! For the first time in more than 600 years, there’s a guy who used to be Pope, and he’s STILL ALIVE…

AND SPILLING HIS GUTS!

“So they said to me, ‘Holy Father, we got to do something about the priests schtupping the little boys.’ I said, let’s do what we used to do in the old country. Put them in camps with pink triangles on their tunics and make them work until they die! I thought that’s what we were doing. I mean, I was the Supreme Pontiff, and they were supposed to do what I told them. So much for this Papal Infallibility scheise…”

–Joe Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus

“VICE IN THE VATICAN”! Full of beer and not caring any more, Joe Ratzinger saw everything that went on in the Vatican, and now he’s telling YOU!

“VICE IN THE VATICAN”, available at major booksellers everywhere.

Don’t be left out of this Papal Mystery. Find out what really goes on under those long, flowing, Papal Robes.

“VICE IN THE VATICAN”, available now! Get your copy today!

Bill Schmalfeldt was otherwise occupied this week having his foot surgically removed from the descending colon of a wingnut lawbreaker. So this week, his space is occupied by a guest columnist.

by Lester Smelgerson
Public Affairs Spokesman
Howard County, Maryland, Tea Party Splinter Group
That Splintered from Real Tea Party Upon Learning
Actual Tea Party is a Tool of the Left Being Used
to Make People Hate Conservatives

Our worst nightmares are coming true. Roving bands of armed Negroes are coming to kill all the white men, steal our white women, and drink all our gin and whiskey.

It’s true.

Listen to the words of Stan Solomon, blogger Greg Howard, and president of Gun Owners of America Larry Pratt as they outline the doom that awaits us all.

Pratt predicted that President Obama may begin confiscating guns in order to provoke a violent response to justify further oppression, which host Stan Solomon feared would lead to the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people.

Pratt once again insisted that Obama is acting like King George III, a sentiment with which Solomon concurred, saying, “That will happen quickly and they will wipe those people out to set an example.”

But Solomon wasn’t finished: “I believe they will put together a racial force to go against an opposite race resistance, basically a black force to go against a white resistance, and then they will claim anyone resisting the black force they are doing it because they are racist.”

Howard agreed: “You may be right because he has been sowing the seeds of racial hatred; we were healing quite well as a nation on racial issues until Obama came along and now we have a lot of racial discord.”

After arguing that Obama is “not American” and not a natural born citizen, Howard maintained that Obama may begin “wiping out a few hundred people who own guns, pull a large scale Waco or a Ruby Ridge type incident” and have it “tinged it with racial overtones.” But just in case Obama goes through with his plans to “take down” the Internet, “people are setting up phone-trees all over the place” to stop Obama in his tracks.

“If Obama can take your guns away he can take your car, he can take your home, he can take your bank account, he can take your very life,” Howard said.

Well, Suzie, we here in Howard County, Maryland, are proud to live in a county named after a patriot like Greg Howard. And we have already begun defensive measures. Every able bodied White man who thinks like we do has already started digging. We are going to connect our tunnels into one large underground room where we can hide our guns, our ammo, our food and water, our gin, our whiskey, and — if there’s room — our women.

We refuse to let Barry Sotero, the Obamunist that he is, take our rights to have unlimited means to inflict death from a distance. No ma’am. We ain’t gonna allow it!

We will stay underground until the Negro Menace is satisfied that they have beaten us. You don’t have to listen to all that many Amos and Andy shows to realize how lazy they are as a people. And as soon as they’re napping in the hot, midday sun with a bellyful of watermelon and fried chicken, we will rise from our holes and take America back.

And that, little girl, you can count on!

The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI, who will abdicate the Papacy on Feb. 28, will not move into the Blessed Sisters of the Poor Convent as first planned. (Mother Superior said his presence would be a distraction and he’s been Pope — who’s gonna tell him to put the toilet seat back down?)

So, a special habitat will be devised for the Supreme Head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (soon to be known as Mr. Ratzinger) to spend his twilight years. In fact, always looking for a way to turn a buck, the Vatican has turned the idea into a money-making proposition.

The ex-Pope (Pope Ex-Officio? What the hell do you call a Former Pope?) will live in a 14 x 20 foot stone-walled cell with a plexiglass front with holes drilled through to facilitate the passage of food and other necessities. There will be a screen in front of the Papal Privvy to give the ex-Pontiff the privacy he needs to conduct his holy business.

The new Former Papal Residence will be added to the “Premium Package” in the Vatican tour, along with the Sistine Chapel and the vaults where the other former popes — the dead ones — are entombed.

Coin-operated machines will be available for pilgrims to purchase small handfuls of peanuts or little pretzel bits (which the outgoing Pope just can’t seem to get enough of these days) that they will be able to throw to the former Pope over the top of the Plexiglass enclosure.

The Supreme Pontiff is working on a little “Pope Dance” he will do for the visitors who pay to hear a German beer hall tune played on a loudspeaker.

“Whaddya want from me,” a Vatican spokesman said. “He’s the Sarah Palin of Popes. Like he deserves better?”

_______________

Image source: HawaiiLife.com

Hello, this is Wayne LaPierre here. Many of you have read my Stand and Fight Op-Ed in the Daily Caller this week (Happy Belated Valentine’s Day as well).  I thought I’d take this time to explain to you, Borderless News and Views Readers, what we at the National Rifle Association are doing to further protect yourself and your family from our nation’s own imminent demise.

Trust me…

Though President Obama has outlined his terribly optimistic, pie-in-the-sky view of America in his recent State of the Union Address, we here at the National Rifle Association think that’s a bunch of malarkey!  We don’t trust humanity as far as we can throw it! To prove our mistrust of everything and how much we respect your intelligence, here’s a list of scary things meant to illicit Pavlovian responses: Encroaching tyranny; Diane Feinstein; Mexican Cartels; Hitler; Gun-wielding mentally insane people; Mortal Kombat; Hurricanes; Rainy days and Mondays.

All these people/things want to kill you, rape your dog, and shoot your wife.

We feel the best way you can defend yourself is to purchase a gun. And not just any gun, a gun with a bazooka attachment. You want to make sure that any thuggish, scary gangster/illegal immigrants/drug dealers/landscapers who come on to your sacred property (leased by Bank of America™) is blown to smithereens. Worried about voluntary manslaughter charges? Don’t worry. We’ll change the name to “Stand Your Ground” Laws so that you sound like a cowboy. You like cowboys, doncha? The Duke, the Gipper, Ted Nugent?

While you’re at it, purchase two backup guns and an assault pistol for the Missus. They’ll soon be gone right before Obama reveals himself as the Antichrist.

Furthermore, don’t just use your guns to indiscriminately kill roving bands of brown people listening to their hippity-hop music,  brandish that weapon! Get a special rhinestone holster and a cod piece to let everyone know who the man in charge is! And bring that gun everywhere you go: schools, churches, bars, court hearings, bar mitzvahs, first dates. Let everyone know that you fully support the Constitutional right of a well-regulated militia of one. Who needs government when you can proclaim yourself judge, jury, and executioner?

While we’re on the subject of government: jack-booted thugs. That’s all.

In order to continue to protect your right to murder in cold blood anyone that stares at you sideways (unless you’re black or Latino, that would make you a gang-banger and an illegal) we think you should join the NRA. We just lowered the cost of membership from $25 to $35. We also believe every one of your family members and friends should stand strong and join the NRA. This means your spouse, children, grandparents, second cousins, hidden mistresses, even your crazy uncle who believes drinking fluoridated water will make him gay (sign him up for our lifetime membership, reasonably priced at the blood of your firstborn son). It’s not that we want to take your money and rob our already poorly educated, working class supporters blind, its that it’s our Constitutional right to do so. Its right next to the part where Kenyan half-bloods are disqualified from the presidency. I swear.

So, in closing: Tyrannical government; your family; guns in bars…

…Be afraid. Be veeery afraaaaaid….

Sincerely,

Wayne La Pierre

CEO, National Rifle Association

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey is being sued by former Breitbart ally, Nadia Naffe. The reason? Since Naffe filed charges against Dead Andy’s favorite video-making toady, the ridiculous James O’Keefe III, alleging that O’Keefe drugged her, took her to a barn and attempted to sexually assault her, Frey (who had never met Naffe but who was friends with O’Keefe) made slandering Ms. Naffe his personal business.

He published blog posts calling her stupid, calling her incapable of attending Harvard, casting aspersions on her truth-telling skills, etc. He crossed the line between just plain meanness into possible lawsuit land when he published a blog post containing a document which revealed Ms. Naffe’s Social Security Number, date of birth, and private medical information.

Frey quickly retracted this and blamed it all on a mistake, saying that he had gotten the document from the PACER system where court documents are stored for public access, and he had assumed the document would be redacted, so it was PACER’S fault, not his, that her personal info was “out there.” Since then, Ms. Naffe has alleged her identity has been stolen and she has had many other difficulties related to the release of public info.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice?

@Patterico, yesterday, revealed a pattern of lashing out at women who anger him by releasing personal information, including date-of-birth and medical conditions.

The publisher of the blog “Breitbart Unmasked” sent an unredacted screen cap of this exchange to the judge hearing Nadia Naffe’s suit against Patrick Frey. He feels this will establish a pattern that shows Frey releases the personal information of women he is angry with in an effort to attack and hurt them, much as he is alleged of doing in Naffe’s case.

“At present Judge Wu is looking into Frey to see if there is a pattern of activity that would show that Frey has an MO for this type of conduct. Thus this timeline with {redacted} shows that even if he believes {redacted} to be an autistic woman living with parents, that he would release her info to suit his hatred or rage or whatever psychological problems Frey has to hope that harm comes to OR. It’s a clear pattern of abuse, and a clear violation of Twitter rules to release dates of birth or personal info of other users.”

And this guy is a LAWYER? Being paid by the TAXPAYERS???

With all the talk about guns and mental health, and the post-traumatic stress syndrome of vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, what better idea could one have than to grab your neighbor and take a homecoming Marine who has psychological problems out to a gun range and put a weapon in his hands.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well… he could kill you. There’s that.

The wisdom of putting powerful firearms into the hands of a man with mental issues was learned just a bit too late over the weekend by former Navy Seal and author Chris Kyle — the man known as the most prolific sniper in American military history and writer of the book “American Sniper.”

Kyle and his neighbor, Chad Littlefield, knew of a recently returned Marine who was having problems with PTSD. What better way to help a guy get his feet back under him, mentally-speaking, than to take him to a range and put gun his hands so he can shoot away some of that excess stress. After all, as they say, when you fall off a horse the best thing to do is get right back on again or you’ll be afraid for life.

Well, apparently the former Marine, identified by police as Eddie Ray Routh, wasn’t quite ready for such a big step as handling a firearm. He demonstrated this by allegedly shooting and killing both Kyle and Littlefield, stealing his truck and driving off in a brief police chase that ended up with Routh in jail, and the American Sniper and his buddy in a Texas morgue.

Kyle, credited for more kills than any other sniper in American history, was trying to help returning vets suffering from PTSD. He helped form a nonprofit that provides at-home fitness equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans. It’s not known whether or not giving guns to emotionally disturbed people was part of the program curriculum.

According to CNN, Kyle was an outspoken advocate for war veterans who claimed more than 150 sniper killings during his time in Iraq, which he described as a record for any American. He said insurgents placed a bounty on his head and nicknamed him “the devil.”

He leaves behind a wife and two children.

He appeared last year on the NBC reality show “Stars Earn Stripes,” in which competitors took on missions based on military exercises.

At the moment, authorities don’t know what kind of gun was used to kill the two men. They brought plenty with them to the shooting range, according to CNN.  At the range, investigators found 25 to 30 weapons, including handguns, long guns and AK-47s.

According to a story in USA Today:

Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares, a non-profit group Kyle helped start to help fellow veterans, told the Associated Press that the former sniper and Littlefield had taken Routh to the range trying to help a veteran “who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him out, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them.”

In a statement, Cox said that Kyle served four tours of duty as a U.S. Navy SEAL. “Chris died doing what filled his heart with passion — serving soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). His service, life and premature death will never be in vain. ”

One is free to wonder whether taking an emotionally disturbed man to a shooting range with 25-30 deadly weapons will continue to be seen as “a good idea” by others who help those struggling with combat-related PTSD.

Or will they, perhaps, wait until someone has all his emotional and mental ducks in a row before giving him an arsenal of high-powered killing tools to choose from?

Well, this did happen in Texas.

So…

No, this is not a photo of some kidnap victim taken to prove he is really still alive.  This is a shot, self-taken by Lee “The Grifter” Stranahan. See, Lee talked some dumbass right wing donor into giving him money so he could travel from Dallas to Chicago, from Chicago to Pittsburgh, then from Pittsburgh to Steubenville, Ohio so Lee could be there, in person, to do…

Something.

Lee is a freelance writer for Breitbart.com whose only source of income is the pittance he gets for writing lies for Dead Andy.  That, and whatever he can grift from stupid, stupid people who send him money.

See, that’s why we of the liberal persuasion don’t do so well in the donations department. We tend to write for smart readers. People like Stranahan write for dumbasses. If Lee told his readers that liberals, disguised as pitbulls, were attacking his home and threatening to tear his babies to bits (his BABIES!), people would send their social security checks to him because a nice boy like Lee wouldn’t LIE about a thing like PITBULLS!

Lee is sitting in a bar in Steubenville, holding a newspaper with Sunday’s date on it, because I did not believe he actually WENT to Steubenville.  There was a hearing on Friday to determine whether or not to leave that rape case involving high school football players and a girl who claims she was assaulted, open to the public. Lee had to be there for…

Some reason.

So, he wheedled on his Twitter account and sure enough. Someone gave him the money so he could be in Steubenville for the hearing and do…

Whatever it was he went there for.

He was supposed to have a gathering Saturday afternoon with a bunch of the local townsfolk to discuss how to reclaim the narrative (that narrative being, there ain’t no coverup in Steubenville, and we don’t give our high school athletes special preference when they rapes girls, and there ain’t no incestuous relationship between the law and the people what enforces them laws. Nope. Not in Steubenville.)

But the manager at the restaurant where Stranahan was supposed to show sections of his film, Occupy Unwatched Unmasked, said there was no such gathering and she even laughed at the idea.

For awhile, I was operating under the assumption that Stranahan never quite made it to Steubenville and was, in fact, phoning it in from his home in Dallas. That’s when the toothless wretch decided to have a photo taken with him, hostage style, holding the day’s local newspaper.  Now, I don’t know if the Steubenville paper is available in Dallas. I will assume it is not, and Stranahan actually DID make the trip to some place near Steubenville.

Did he shine any new light on the case? No. No, he did not.

Did he hold that meeting with the townsfolk? We can’t find anyone who says he did.

So, other than drink beer and eat food and sleep in a hotel at SOMEBODY’s expense, what in God’s name was Stranahan doing in Steubenville?

Well.

There is that matter of a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigation he probably doesn’t want to hang around for. Stranny hates answering hard questions, and those are the only kind of questions TDFPS asks.

But is this what the donor paid for? So Stranahan could get away from the wife and kids and live the life of quiet luxury in Steubenville for a few days?

Well. If you know anyone who donated to Stranahan, give that person my information. I’ll give that person Lee’s home phone number and address so they might facilitate the person getting a refund.

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by Shiloh Marie Schmalfeldt
German Shepherd, Age 6

Daddy too busy write column. Shiloh write column. Daddy watch football, do podcast. Daddy nice.

Why for people not nice?  Why for people mean to each other? Why need guns?  Guns scare Shiloh.  Guns scare Raven, too.  She my big sister, border collie, 8 years old. She pretend brave, but Shiloh know better.

Dogs no need gun. When dog mad at other dog, dog politics come into play. Dog know how to not anger other dog unless really trying.  Watch two dog sometime arguing over who had  ball.  (Shiloh had ball, but that not point.)

See? Shiloh HAD Ball. Raven Full of Poo Poo!

Dog no make direct eye contact. Raven make growl. More elegant, sophisticated German shepherd sit quietly and wait. Soon, silly border collie distracted by something, stop paying attention to ball. Shiloh pick up ball and walk away.  Problem solved.

Sometimes, when Daddy or Mommy throw ball meant for Shiloh, Raven (the big lug) gets in the way and intercept ball. Raven think she NFL cornerback or something. But we not fight. Raven growl. German shepherd (a superior dog in every respect) never growl unless good reason. Ball not good reason to growl. Besides, Shiloh get ball eventually because Shiloh tricky and clever.

Not to say dog never fight. But when we do, it over real fast. Nobody hurt. Just barking and yapping, maybe a nip on the butt. Who cares? Butt on Raven and Shiloh thickly furred. Then, it over, we check each other to make sure we both OK, we kiss, we go about other important dog stuff, like stealing Mom’s spot on the couch.

So, why not human, who think he better than everyone else, not able to solve problem without gun? When dog kill other dog, it usually because that was dog trained to do by bad man. Good man not train dog to do that. Good man teach dog how to do what dog does naturally, and that mean love.

Dog don’t care your color. Dog don’t care your politics. Dog don’t care your religion. Sexual orientation not important to dog. Raven is girl like Shiloh, but sometimes she try humpy humpy on Shiloh, but that just playing. It grosses out Mommy. That’s funny.

So remember, next time you pick up gun. Who superior being? Human who need gun to feel safe? Or dog who just need people to love?

Think about it.