Today's Toons

 (hat tip = Democratic Underground)

Let The System Work

When we follow the plan (as directed in that silly old thing called The US Constitution), it seems like we always end up better off for the effort.

Sometimes, it doesn't feel quite right - we don't always get the exact results we're hoping for - but on average, the system works for us when we let it work.

So, when the news came out that about half of the local Justice System was convened in Jahar Tsarnaev's hospital room yesterday, and they read out the charges against him; and they informed him of his rights; and they made sure he understood them; and that he was properly "lawyered up" - I just felt better.  There was something kinda normal about it, and I'm exceedingly relieved that John (Get-Off-My-Lawn) McCain and Lindsey (Huckleberry Closetcase) Graham didn't get their wish about turning him into a super villain straight out of the comic books.

This guy is nothing special.  We should be looking at how his brother got riled up and a little crazy; and how Jahar got caught up in it, but that's a different thing altogether.  What we don't do - what we must never allow - is for anybody to make him out to be anything more than the punk-ass little shit he chose to be.

Today's Homework

Finally.  I've been chasing this one for a long time.

This is the old PBS series that got me going and thinking in a dozen different ways.

The production values are kinda old and a little overdramatic at times, but this really is the real deal.  Stay with it for at least a few episodes.  It's worth it to learn something about how we got here and what we need to be thinking about if we wanna get where we oughta be going.

Connections with James Burke, Episode 1

Parent Ed

Take a few grams of pot, add 2 or 3 otherwise knuckleheaded teenagers; then stand back and be amazed - instant Design & Engineering Department.

Mind Mining

Here's a bit from Sir Ken Robinson at a TED conference.



Those who love to dance are often thought insane by those who cannot hear the music.

(hat tip = facebook friend Carol)

Whoop Di Do

This whole complex of "Guns, Inc" is a ridiculously profitable thing - and it includes "grass roots" joints that can be put together for almost literally a few bucks, which can then be used to fleece the rubes. And all of that is a big reason we'll be hard pressed to do much of anything to cut back on gun violence.

Comfort

Charlie Pierce at The Atlantic:

The comfort of the ordinary. The comfort of the mundane. Let's just have a trial. Let's just have an open and honest trial, with all the evidence right there in the open, and not whispered piecemeal and half-baked out of Spookworld to Richard Engel or Barbara Starr. Let's have an open and honest trial with no showboating from an embattled U.S. Attorney, and all the evidence laid out there in good, honest cop-speak -- "The suspect said..." "The suspect did..." (One of the most startling examples of this came during the sanity hearing granted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in Milwaukee when, reading from his own notes, one of the arresting officers testified, "The suspect stated it takes about an hour to boil a head.") We can do that here. 

Music

Put this on after a few drinks on a warm night, and you still can't get laid?  Well then you'll need to straighten up and just do something about yourself.

Music

Just toss up my heart and see where it lands.

Today's Question

So how exactly would it have turned out better if all the people at the marathon had been carrying lots and lots of guns? 

Today's Pix

Dire Threat To The 2nd Amendment

What Obama originally proposed in January 2013:

Proposed Congressional Actions

• Requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, including those by private sellers that currently are exempt.
• Reinstating and strengthening the ban on assault weapons that was in place from 1994 to 2004.
• Limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
• Banning the possession of armor-piercing bullets by anyone other than members of the military and law enforcement.
• Increasing criminal penalties for "straw purchasers," people who pass the required background check to buy a gun on behalf of someone else.
• Acting on a $4 billion administration proposal to help keep 15,000 police officers on the street.
• Confirming President Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
• Eliminating a restriction that requires the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to allow the importation of weapons that are more than 50 years old.
• Financing programs to train more police officers, first responders and school officials on how to respond to active armed attacks.
• Provide additional $20 million to help expand the a system that tracks violent deaths across the nation from 18 states to 50 states.
• Providing $30 million in grants to states to help schools develop emergency response plans.
• Providing financing to expand mental health programs for young people.

Executive actions

• Issuing a presidential memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
• Addressing unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
• Improving incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
• Directing the attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
• Proposing a rule making to give law enforcement authorities the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
• Publishing a letter from the A.T.F. to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
• Starting a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
• Reviewing safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
• Issuing a presidential memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
• Releasing a report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and making it widely available to law enforcement authorities.
• Nominating an A.T.F. director.
• Providing law enforcement authorities, first responders and school officials with proper training for armed attacks situations.
• Maximizing enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
• Issuing a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence.
• Directing the attorney general to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenging the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
• Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
• Releasing a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
• Providing incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
• Developing model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
• Releasing a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
• Finalizing regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within insurance exchanges.
• Committing to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
• Starting a national dialogue on mental health led by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, and Arne Duncan, the secretary of education.

And this is what the US Senate couldn't bring itself to vote on this past week:

1) Expanding background checks
2) Cracking down on gun trafficking and straw purchasing
3) Reauthorizing and expanding a Justice Department grant program for school safety

That's it - that's what Wayne LaPierre lied about, and couldn't allow his bitches in congress to bring up for a vote.

Music

Dreamin' in a slow groove on a dreary Friday afternoon.

Malkin Blows Another One

And be sure to spend most of your day watching DumFux News - that way you're sure to stay dumb enough to spend most of your day watching DumFux News.

Seriously - what the fuck's wrong with these people?

Hit "Like" If You Don't Like This Shit

I dearly love to hate facebook - and with good reason I think.  Read the whole thing and learn something important about marketing in the age of digits.

From an editorial in a Canadian newspaper:

"Anyone else getting sick of these daft posts?" my "friend" Chardon asked. This was on Facebook a while back.

That's why I put "friend" in quotation marks. She was talking about an annoying trend: posts showing up on Facebook news feeds, saying something like, "Name a city without an 'R' in it. It's harder than it looks!"

It's not hard, of course. Ouagadougou, Vilnius, Montevideo all leap to mind. And Budge Budge in India. I'm sure there are others.

So what's the deal? Why go to the trouble of posting such an easy puzzle on Facebook?

Another "friend" replied, "Maybe someone is testing to see how many posts this rubbish can get."

And he was partly right. The rest of the explanation turns out to be creepy and may affect you even if you're among the dwindling minority of Canadians not on Facebook.

It gets especially creepy when the post is less benign and strikes an emotional chord:

"'Like' if you hate cancer."

"'Like' if you hate bullying."

--snip--

A Facebook page is created, with an appeal for readers to like, comment or share. The creators, who are working together to build these pages, share it among themselves. They all have big networks, so the pages instantly get into thousands of other people's news feeds.

When those people respond with a "like" or a share, then it reaches their friends. Suddenly, the thing has spread faster than a high-school rumour.

Then what? Then the people who started it, having quickly acquired tens of thousands of followers, sell the page. Now an advertiser has all those names and Facebook addresses. And that advertiser, who isn't allowed to phone you and whose flyers go straight to your recycling box, is sending you commercial messages on Facebook.