Although it was a tragedy, the Dallas sniper shooting of 5 police officers was a reality-based experiment on the theory that a good guy with a gun beats a bad guy with a gun. Not only did the bad guy with a gun kill five armed good guys, but the bad guy was killed with a robot using explosives (one … Read More
More and More, It Looks Like The Dallas Cop Killer Was A Nut
Dallas police now believe that Micah Johnson, who shot and killed 5 Dallas police following a Black Lives Matter march, was actually planning some sort of mass attack, but advanced his plans to take advantage of the BLM march. His house was full of bomb making equipment, far too much to have put together in recent days. He had received … Read More
Breaking: Officers Shot In Dallas Protest
CNN affiliate KTVT in Dallas is reporting that two police officers have been shot after a peaceful protest deaths of two black men. Chaotic live footage from the scene shows police and SWAT teams in a tense combat Police in tactical gear carrying riots shields descended after about 20 shots in boomed loudly in quick succession, audio that was captured … Read More
Two Deadly Police Shootings In Two Days
Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was standing in the parking lot selling CDs as he had for years when two white cops arrived on Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning he was dead and protesters were in the city’s streets. Calls erupted from Congress and the NAACP for an independent investigation into the shooting, which the Justice Department announced within … Read More
Let’s Face It: The Way We Classify Documents Is F*cked
Another reason it is hard to get all bent out of shape about the Clinton email “scandal” came to me moments ago in the form of a Tweet I read: State Dept spox Kirby just now says two emails that Comey said were ‘marked classified’ were wrongly marked, and were not classified. — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) July 6, 2016 Yup. … Read More
Why I Don’t Have Much To Say About The Hillary Email Scandal
FBI Director James Comey gave a press conference yesterday morning that sent shock waves through the political establishment. The bottom line: Shock waves indeed, but when I looked around at the political landscape when it was over, I noticed that the pieces hadn’t moved. Hillary wasn’t indicted. That wasn’t news. She acted stupidly, carelessly. That wasn’t news either. That the … Read More
SCOTUS Strikes Down Oppressive Abortion Restrictions
This morning, the Supreme Court struck down parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40. The 5-to-3 decision was the court’s most sweeping statement on abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. It applied a skeptical … Read More
Democratic House Sit-In Enters Day Two
Late last night, Ryan managed to adjourn the House until after the July 4th break: After a chaotic, daylong occupation of the House floor, Republican leaders moved in the middle of the night to cut off House Democrats’ gun control “sit-in” by adjourning the House through the July 4 — without a vote on gun control. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) … Read More
Breaking: Scotus Decisions
Three big cases remain outstanding on the SCOTUS docket: one on abortion, one on immigration, and one on affirmative action. The last one was just handed down moments ago. FISHER v UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Facts of the case In 1997, the Texas legislature enacted a law requiring the University of Texas to admit all high school seniors who ranked in … Read More
Realistically, Here Is What Would Happen
Terrorist — we’ll call him Shooter A — walks into a crowded room (say, a nightclub) and starts opening fire. Immediately, some people fall, stricken by Shooter A. Others instinctively dive under the tables or behind the bar or run out of the room to the bathrooms. Brave Shooter B, a patron, reacts quickly. In half a second, he draws … Read More
Breaking: Literally “On The House Floor”
Dozens of House Democrats are staging a “sit-in” on the House floor until they are allowed a vote on a so-called “no fly, no buy” gun control bill. It is the most dramatic action by House Democrats on gun control since the Orlando shooting on June 12 that left 49 dead and 53 wounded. Two weeks ago, in the Senate, … Read More
The Four Bills Up For Debate And Vote In The Senate
Thanks to Senator Murphy’s 15-hour talk-a-thon on the Senate floor last week, Senate Republicans are willing to allow votes on certain gun control proposals. But don’t expect success — in part because 60 votes are needed to break a threatened Republican filibuster. Nevertheless, here are the four proposals – all submitted as amendments to a Justice Department spending bill…….. The Democratic proposals: Brought … Read More
Supreme Court Cases We’re Watching
It’s getting close to the end of the Supreme Court term, and this is when controversial cases start coming out. Although a few cases were handed down today, they weren’t the ones on my particular radar. The ones of national import, I believe, are: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (argued December 9, 2015). This case, a challenge to … Read More
Democrats Filibuster For Gun Control
Props to Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut for starting and leading a filibuster to enact some sort of gun control measure, something the Republican Congress won’t even consider, even in the light of such massacres as Newtown and the Orlando Pulse Club shootings. Senate Democrats ended a nearly 15-hour filibuster early this morning after Republican Party leaders reportedly agreed to allow … Read More
Breaking: Senate Democrats Engaging In Filibuster Re: Gun Control
About an hour and a half ago (around 11:30 am), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) started embarking on a talking filibuster in order to push the Senate to address gun control in the wake of the deadly mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) alternated speaking about gun control on the Senate floor, according to Fox 61 in Connecticut. … Read More