I have been following with interest the various leaks from Edward Snowden, although I have not been writing about them much. I write this post to officially say that the so-called whistleblower really is a self-aggrandizing a-hole, and not the 4th Amendment crusador that he envisions himself to be. I join with others who ask — if he was so … Read More
Jan Brewer Is Too Crazy Even For Scalia
In an opinion by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, a 7-2 Supreme Court held this morning that an Arizona law requiring voting officials to reject voter registration forms that are “not accompanied by concrete evidence of citizenship” conflicts with a federal law requiring states to use a uniform voter registration form for federal elections. Scalia once justified an anti-immigrant opinion with … Read More
US Majority Backs NSA Surveillance
A new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll found that 56% of Americans consider the NSA's accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders "acceptable." A 62% majority believe it's more important for the government to investigate terrorist threats, even if those investigations intrude on personal privacy. Support drops when it comes to government monitoring of emails, but even here, the … Read More
This Happened
What's remarkable is that it barely made the news, and has prompted little discussion. I guess the NRA won: Five are dead after a gunman rampaged through Santa Monica, CA, on Friday, ending at the local community college. The Santa Monica shooting marks the tenth mass shooting on a school campus in California since 1976. The suspect, 23-year-old John Zawahri, was known as an … Read More
On The NSA Leaks And The Fact That Your Phone Records Are Being Seized And Everything You Do On The Internet Is Being Swept Up And All That
Busy-ness and business kept me from blogging about last week's bombshell news: the leaks to Glenn Greenwald and the Washington Post that (a) phone records of Americans are seized en masse by the NSA and (b) everyone's Internet activity is likewise seized. My immediate thought is: This is news? Rachel Maddow devoted almost all of her show on Thrusday to … Read More
Hey, I Can Blog This Sh*t Forever
10 year old boy dies of gunshot wound after he and 9 year old girl were playing with loaded handgun.
And Again
3 year old accidentally shot with rifle in Louisiana after rifle was knocked over by another child.
Strange Bedfellows
Yes, it is very unusual for Justice Scalia to side with the liberal side of the court. But when he's right, he's right. And the Times is wrong.
Second Amendment Terrorism Is Here
Second Amendment supporters are suspected to have committed three terrorist acts this week on American soil – one against the group Mayors Against Gun Violence, another against Mayor Bloomberg, who is a staunch gun control advocate, and a third against President Obama. All were sent similar suspicious letters, at least two contained powder, and at least one tested positive for … Read More
Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Planned Parenthood Appeal
This is good news. Indiana passed a law attempting to strip Planned Parenthood of all of its Medicaid funding because it performs abortions among its medical services. The courts, including the Seventh Circuit, said this was unconstitutional because the federal-state Medicaid health program for the poor is for general health services including cancer screening. The state appealed to the U.S Supreme … Read More
Today In Second Amendment Fun
Anastasia Adair, a 22-year-old Colorado woman, died after she was accidentally shot with an assault rifle she had recently purchased, TV station KMGH reported on Thursday. Adair's husband, Shane, and other witnesses told police she was drinking with friends in her garage Tuesday night and wanted to show off the weapon. It fired twice, hitting her once in the head as … Read More
Today’s Second Amendment Legacy
A man was field stripping two handguns in Tullahoma, Tenn. when one discharged, shooting his 1-year-old daughter in the chest, The Tennessean reported. Kevin Sayre, 26, was "showing how parts of one gun were interchangeable with the other one" in the presence of the child. Police said Sayre was acting recklessly. He was charged with aggravated assault. The child was listed in critical … Read More
This Is What The Wingnut Rhetoric of Fox News Get Us
Expect to see more stories like this one: MONTEVIDEO, MINN. – The Black Snake Militia’s home base is the Rogers family trailer on the north end of town, where the group’s initials are spray-painted on a repurposed Farm Bureau sign and passerby are greeted by a handmade warning about the dangers of government tracking devices. “We are not slaves,” the cardboard … Read More
Downloadable Guns
Thank God that 3D printers cost about $10,000. But what about 5 or 10 years from now?
Yet Again: Today in Gun Culture
A 13-year-old boy shot his 6-year-old sister with a handgun at their Oakland Park, Fl. home on Saturday, where they appeared to be unsupervised. "The siblings had been home alone when the teen found the handgun," Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Dani Moschella said, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The girl was taken to Broward Health Medical Center where she is listed … Read More