Today's Eternal Sadness

(paraphrasing Samantha Bee) Since we can't prevent all gun tragedies, why do anything at all to prevent any gun tragedy?

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We are so fucked.

Out For A Bit

Gotta be off-line a for a few days.

Back by next Tuesday, if not sooner.

Like Charlie always says, "Play nice, ya bastids."

Today's Eternal Sadness

Just the latest in the parade of carnage that accounts for the death of a child every three days.

PAYSON, Ariz. (AP) — A 3-year-old Payson boy shot and killed his 1½ -year-old brother after the boys found a handgun in a neighbor's apartment and took it to another room, the eastern Arizona town's police chief said Wednesday.
Police Chief Don Engler said his department's investigation of the Tuesday shooting will take about a week. Results will be forwarded to the Gila County Attorney's Office for a decision on whether to prosecute anybody, he said.

"What we're taking a look at is the circumstances regarding the securing of the weapon" and how the boys were able to get ahold of it, Engler told The Associated Press. "We are continuing our investigation, and we haven't ruled out criminal charges at this point."

He said it was too early to say what recommendation his department might make to prosecutors.

The boys and their mother were visiting the 78-year-old neighbor in their apartment complex when the shooting occurred in a bedroom.

The brothers found the semi-automatic pistol somewhere in the living area where it was not in plain sight, the police chief said without elaborating. Neither adult knew the boys had the weapon, Engler said.

The boys were playing when they found the gun, police said. The weapon discharged, and the toddler was shot in the head.

Engler said the mother was just entering the bedroom when the shooting occurred and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The younger boy was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Names of those involved were not released.

Engler said he didn't know whether the 3-year-old grasped what he had done.

"That'd be a difficult stretch for me to make that assumption," the police chief said.

However, he said the shooting was a tragedy that was felt by many in the community, including members of his department. Payson is about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix and has a population of approximately 15,000.

Engler noted many of the department's young officers have children of their own. "Certainly it's difficult for our officers in those circumstances," he told KPHO-TV.

But hey - freedom ain't free, so we'll need to continue these little sacrifices because what's good for the Ammosexuals is good for America.  And besides, your dead kids don't trump my constitutional rights.

Check this out at Pacific-Standard:

Since 1996, when a small CDC-funded study on the risks of owning a firearm ignited opposition from Republicans, the CDC’s budget for research on firearms injuries has shrunk to zero.

The result, as we’ve detailed, is that many basic questions about gun violence—such as how many Americans are shot each year—remain unanswered.

 And this at The New York Daily News:

Guns kill 32,000 Americans a year, but not one penny is given to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out why.

Victims of gun violence can thank the National Rifle Association for squeezing off that funding.

The NRA began lobbying Congress in the 1990s to limit the CDC’s funding after the agency gave financial backing to an independent study that found that keeping a gun in the home was strongly associated with an increased risk of homicide.

The pro-gun behemoth succeeded in ramming legislation through in 1996 that forbade the CDC from using federal funds for studies that “advocate or promote gun control.”

Whenever it becomes obvious that you have a real problem - and when that problem seems pretty obviously epidemic and systemic - then certainly the last thing ya wanna do is find out what the fuck might be causing it.

And finally, from The Onion, here's the checklist for enacting gun control legislation:

• Write gun control legislation. Pass gun control legislation.
• Before voting on gun control bill, try, if you can, to remember any recent examples in which guns have been used to kill innocent people.
• Acknowledge that it’s going to be hard to buck the pressure of the high-powered gun lobby, but not that fucking hard, dumbass.
• Consider if overwhelming public support for a particular measure is something you want to be associated with or not.
• Inform your decision by researching whether guns are good or bad when placed in the wrong hands.
• Muster everything that’s left in your black, desiccated heart to do something that might actually be of service to someone other than yourself.
• Carefully assess the other side of the argument wherein mentally unstable people can buy weapons at a gun show with no problem whatsoever, and then realize there is no other side of this argument.
• Put on your stupid little suit, run a comb through your greasy hair, go to the U.S Capitol building, pick up your fancy little gold pen, and pass a fucking gun control bill.

Today's LOL Cats

Turn About's Fair Play(?)

I'm not buying into this one 100%, but there's a point worth considering.



hat tip = Bored Panda

Take Me Back

The bad old days, when 42nd Street was something kinda wild and dangerous (also fun):

I'm not convinced this qualifies as "improvement":

But I have to keep reminding myself that 'Nostalgia' was considered a mental disorder until mid-20th century.

Dodging Bullets

Like anybody needs more reasons to avoid Wal-Mart:

PHOENIX -- Police said a man accidentally shot himself in the leg while at a Wal-Mart store in Phoenix on Saturday.
Phoenix police spokesman Officer James Holmes said the man had a gun on his hip and it went off.

Christa Allejandro was checking out at the store near 16th Avenue and Bethany Home Road when she heard a loud bang.

“It sounded like a balloon,” she said. “We were in the aisle paying for our stuff and then the next thing you know, a couple of aisles down from me, we hear a gunshot and we see a man cover his belly."

Holmes said the man's injuries were not life-threatening.

“I was just trying to get stuff for my son's birthday ... and next thing you know, all this chaos, and now it's shut down,” Allejandro said.

The whole ordeal caused confusion, shoppers to panic, and the store to be evacuated.

“I was tripping. I was trying to just get out of the store,” Allejandro said.

No one else was hurt.

--and--

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) -- Police say a gunshot wounded a woman inside a central Indiana Wal-Mart store after a man's handgun fell from his pants and fired.

Columbus police Lt. Matt Myers says the 26-year-old woman was treated for an upper arm wound by medics at the store but declined to go to a hospital.

Myers tells The Republic that city Police Chief Jon Rohde was inside the Wal-Mart store Saturday evening when he heard the gunshot and called for assistance.

Myers says a 56-year-old man told officers that his handgun was in a holster when it fell from his waistband. One bullet hit the woman who was pushing a shopping cart with her newborn son inside.

Myers says officers confirmed the man had a handgun permit and he wasn't arrested.

Wasted Weaponry

An unused weapon is a useless weapon.  Could we just stop fuckin' around with this shit now please?

And maybe do something with all that junk that might actually be of some use to somebody?

We really do deserve better than what we're getting out of all this.

The Patron Geek

How rich is Bill Gates?

What's The Matter With Wal-Mart?

The short answer, of course is, "Who fucking cares?"  but there's something that feels like a bellwether in this, from CNBC:

At the center of the discounter's domestic woes is its appeal among shoppers who are facing stagnant wage growth and simply can't afford to spend on discretionary items—or in some cases, food.

"They're lowering prices and they're still not getting the traffic," said Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi.

First, Wal-Mart is making all the right moves if what they're attempting to do is to drive a deflationary downward spiral.  They cut their prices which means they have to hammer their workers and their vendors to cut costs, which means their vendors have to hammer their workers and their vendors and on and on and on - until nobody's making enough to spend the few pennies it takes to buy any of the piece of shit merchandise available anywhere.  It's an obvious over-simplification, but that's basically how an economy works.

But there's a kicker - a delicious extra bit of irony.  From the comments at the CNBC site:

walmart can have it, went yesterday, stopped stocking three things we went there to get. no customer service, the place is full of third world village idiots who have no discipline with themselves much less five or six anchor babies in tow. Their prices may be cheaper, but I'll pay more just to stay away, or starve.............now car insurance?? whats next?? baby birthing stations for illegals??????

This rube has grown up believing the bullshit about how differences between people are all about ethnicity and skin color and everything except economic class. So the guy we tend to think of as the "typical Wal-Mart shopper" is now going to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart because it's filled with people just like him.

Today's Quote(s)

A couple from Bertrand Russell:

"It's a good idea to hang a question mark on things you've long taken for granted."

--and--

"Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes....A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men."

Today's Eternal Sadness

"We wear our Widow's Weeds like nuns, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifice."



Memorial Day is actually the one day I wish we could forget.  But as long as we seek  retribution while mistaking it for justice; as long as we see the extreme cowardice of brute force and insist on calling it gallantry; as long as we're willing to cover the stench of corpses rotting on the battlefield with dress uniforms and neatly folded flags, then we'll continue to have wars - which means we'll continue to have the dead and broken warriors that go with it, which means we'll continue to pretend there's something noble in sending people we love to fight and to bleed and to die in some shit-hole halfway around the world in order to get some dickhead politician re-elected so he can make sure ExxonMobil and Pfizer and Halliburton and Grumman and Goldman Sachs can add a few extra pennies to their quarterly earnings per share, which makes sure those companies have lots of extra cash to contribute to other dickhead politicians so we can keep this parade of war porn cranking along smoothly and efficiently.

In the meantime, maybe we could take just a moment away from our little celebratory circle-jerk and try to focus on a few of the reasons for this particular day.

One lousy fucking day - 0.3% of the year.

Anyway, take a look at this from Addicting Info:

Twenty-Two: the estimated number of veterans who commit suicide every day.

Three hundred and fifty: the number of active-duty military members who killed themselves in 2012.

Eight hundred and forty-one: the number of active duty troops who attempted suicide one or more times in 2012.

Eight thousand: the estimated number of troops who die by their own hand each year and that is a low estimate.

Military Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Military One Source: 1-800-342-9647

Wounded Soldier And Family Hotline: 1-800-984-8523

Today's Quote

"Negro poverty is not white poverty. Many of its causes and many of its cures are the same. But there are differences—deep, corrosive, obstinate differences—radiating painful roots into the community and into the family, and the nature of the individual. These differences are not racial differences. They are solely and simply the consequence of ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice." --Lyndon Johnson

Ta-Nahisi Coates does nothing to help me as I wrestle with what I do or don't need to do about "Reparations".

Sometimes, I understand completely why people spend so much time and energy longing for the good old days, when (they think) everything was so much simpler and easier.  Shit makes my head hurt.

God Love The Onion

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

Sitting Waiting Wishing --Jack Johnson

Now I was sitting waiting wishing
That you believed in superstitions
Then maybe you'd see the signs
But Lord knows that this world is cruel
And I ain't the Lord, no I'm just a fool
Learning loving somebody don't make them love you

Must I always be waiting waiting on you?
Must I always be playing playing your fool?

I sing ya songs I dance a dance
I gave ya friends all a chance
Putting up with them wasn't worth never having you
And maybe you been through this before
But its my first time
So please ignore
The next few lines cause they're directed at you

I cant always be waiting waiting on you
I cant always be playing playing your fool
I keep playing your part
But its not my scene
Wont this plot not twist?
I've had enough mystery.
Keep building me up, then shooting me down
Well im already down
Just wait a minute
Just sitting waiting
Just wait a minute
Just sitting waiting

Well if I was in your position
Id put down all my ammunition
I'd wondered why'd it taken me so long
But Lord knows that I'm not you
And If I was I wouldn't be so cruel
Cause waiting on love ain't so easy to do

Must I always be waiting waiting on you?
Must I always be playing playing your fool?
No I cant always be waiting waiting on you
I cant always be playing playing your fool, fool

Today's Yeesh

Can't imagine why Repubs are having such difficulty appealing to Them Wimmins.



This lunkhead says it straight out - women are ornamental.  And so what he obviously thinks is a great idea is to treat them like so many prize heifers to be won (ie: owned) by the awesomely virile and irresistible manliness of GOP candidates and party organizers.  Because we fucked up 94 years ago when we "gave" them the vote, so now I guess we gotta pay some attention to 'em, even tho' they're not really people, they're just "the gals".

Y'know fellas - they don't even pull this kinda high school fuck-around bullshit in high school anymore.

Yay, Free Enterprise

The whole banana by Col Bateman guest-posting on Charlie Pierce's blog:

Last week I mentioned the harassment that the women of Mothers Demand Action Against Gun Violence received in the past few months since the group was initiated on Facebook. The hatred is real, violent, and should not be ignored. What I did not appreciate at the time is the reason why the rabid gun advocates were so angry with these women. Now I know.

"Open Carry Texas" (which I think of as "Wimps With Mommy Issues"), conducted an open carry, en masse, at a Chipotle Restaurant — then the moms shared the word. They posted pictures of these morons carrying rifles in a family restaurant. Then they asked that the chain bar weapons on their private property. As Founder Shannon Watts put it: "The Chipotle petition received more than 10,000 signatures within just a few hours." The corporation realized where their business interests lie and that guns are wrong in their establishments across the entire nation.

In a statement Chipotle released Monday, the company said, "the display of firearms in our restaurants has now created an environment that is potentially intimidating or uncomfortable for many of our customers."

These women are doing what nobody else had managed to do before now. They are actually affecting change. Not through legislation, but through the free choice they have to patronize, or to NOT patronize, private companies that allow guns to be carried in their stores, restaurants, malls, and more.

Watts has become a target, and a heroine. She is the sort of woman that I want my daughters to grow up to be, facing a threat to our nation and taking it head on. Is she afraid? Of course. Anyone would be in her situation. Gun advocates (most who identify themselves as such are also NRA members) have threatened her life, they have threatened to rape her, they have threatened her family, and they have demonstrated their earnestness by showing up at her house. But she has not stopped, she has not quit, and she has not backed down.

This is moral courage, and indeed physical courage, of the highest order.

Today's Pix

Logical Fallacy # 14 - Band Wagon

Just try to remember that once upon a time (1974), the Ford Pinto was the best-selling car in the US - and that was after it was discovered they had an annoying tendency to explode (of course that little gem of consumer information would be a well-guarded secret for another 3 years, but that's a different rant - or better yet, just watch Fight Club again).

In Contrast

Two kinds of people in the world - those who have more time than money and those with more money than sense.

People (and remember, "corporations are people, my friend") who have enough money get to pay for their crimes by donating cash to whatever government agency gets in on the action.  When the government is being starved of the funds it needs to operate properly, you're going to see the evolution of semi-entrepreneurial efforts to make up those short-falls.  Eventually you get exactly what we're seeing now - people in government selling freedom to wealthy law-breakers for whatever price can be negotiated over a few breakfast meetings downtown.

So Credit Suisse "pleads guilty" and mails a few big fat checks to Eric Holder and to Andrew Cuomo et al, and they go on their merry way.  A few upper management suits have been fired, but are you willing to bet they don't land on their feet somewhere else?  Or that they didn't picked up a nice severance package on their way out the door?

Meanwhile, a woman named Cecily McMillan is going to prison because she elbowed a cop who (essentially) sexually assaulted her while trying to arrest her during one of the dust-ups between NYPD and Occupy Wall Street - and she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 5 years probation even tho' something like seven jurors wrote letters to the judge saying that while they had to vote to convict, they think she deserves leniency and shouldn't be punished by having to serve time in jail.



No peace without justice.