American cities suing the Pentagon for failure to share information that would keep military criminals from buying guns.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The cities of New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are suing the U.S. Department of Defense over its legal failure to report service member crimes to the FBI and national gun background check database, multiple outlets reported Tuesday. 

For decades, the Pentagon has defied federal laws intended to keep firearms away from criminals like Devin Patrick Kelley, The New York Times notes. The 26-year-old was convicted of domestic assault before he purchased a rifle and killed dozens of people in Texas in November. Felonies and domestic violence convictions legally prohibit gun ownership. 

The democrat-led cities’ lawsuit now seeks to prevent more “senseless carnage” by requiring the Defense Department to fix other “deadly gaps” in the background check database and comply with existing reporting laws under federal court supervision, according to Reuters. It was filed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said his city “relies on this reporting when making the crucial decision whether a license-to-carry applicant should be permitted to carry a firearm.” 

“We’re joining in this suit because reporting these records is absolutely critical to those decisions,” he said in a statement. “The background check system only works if it contains the proper records.”

Kind of a shame that you have to sue your own government in order to force them to provide information to keep US citizens safe. 

But of course we are talking access to guns here, and the only thing more American than that is mom's homemade apple pie and using the Stars and Stripes as seat covers for your pickup truck. 

Philadelphia six year old shoots three year old brother after being left home alone without adult supervision.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

Police in Philadelphia say a 3-year-old is in critical condition after being shot in the head by his 6-year-old brother. 

Authorities say the younger boy suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of his forehead just after 3pm Saturday at the home on the 3600 block of North 18th Street. 

Three boys - aged three, six and 12 - were on the second floor of their north Philadelphia home, alone, when the shooting happened. 

The six-year-old grabbed the gun and began shooting, hitting his little brother on the left side of his forehead, according to police.

Another careless shooting in the NRA's America.

At least this time the father was charged:  

The father of two young boys has been charged after police say one of his sons shot the other inside their Tioga-Nicetown home. 

Action News has learned the father, identified as 36-year-old male Sirhaven Williams, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, even though, police said the gun belonged to the children's uncle who lived at the home.

Of course he's black which might help to explain why the cops are holding him accountable.

If it had been a white father I am sure they would have simply seen it as an unavoidable accident.

When will people finally understand that guns kill, that is their only purpose.

And having one in the house does not protect anybody, instead it puts every member of the household in danger.

Fearing voter intimidation Philadelphia responds to Trump's rhetoric with polling safeguards. Update!

"It's rigged, it's rigged, it's rigged!"

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Authorities in Philadelphia will station prosecutors throughout the city on election day to respond to any reports of voter intimidation or other illegal activity after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed that polling might be “rigged” in this mostly minority city. 

Philadelphia is one of many U.S. municipalities wrestling with how to respond to Trump’s call for supporters to “watch” polling places, and corresponding promises from civil rights groups that they will send their own backers to the polls. 

“All of our election judges will be provided with cell phones that have direct access to the district attorney’s office of Philadelphia,” said Tim Dowling, chief deputy to City Commissioner Lisa Deeley. “As soon as you cross the line, you’re going to be dealing with law enforcement.” 

This week, Trump told supporters to “watch” polling places in such cities as Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago - all with large minority populations. As Trump has slipped in the polls, he has repeatedly said the election is “rigged” against him.

In Philadelphia, teams from the district attorney’s office will be stationed throughout the city, ready to respond at a moment’s notice, Dowling said. The city is also increasing security at polling places, demanding for the first time identification even from credentialed poll-watchers sent by political parties. 

The city has activated such teams in previous elections, but this year there are more, and they will be set up at police stations. 

“Because of all the rhetoric, we’re erring on the side of caution,” Dowling said.

Other states are facing similar challenges with election officials all over the country being forced to assure worried voters that the election is not being rigged.

Gee he is not even the President, and he is already sowing the seeds of mistrust among the American citizens.

Good job Republicans, good job.

Update: It appears that even Alaska is taking precautions to put voter's minds at ease. 

I can only imagine how freaked out Trump will be if Alaska goes blue for the first time since 1964.

While currently polling nine points behind Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump tells his supporters that if he loses Pennsylvania it will be due to "cheating."

Courtesy of Politico: 

Donald Trump again raised the specter of election fraud Friday, saying that the only way he would lose Pennsylvania is to Hillary Clinton is if "they cheat." 

The Republican nominee, speaking at a rally in Altoona, Pennsylvania, repeated his concerns about the fairness of the election. 

“The only way we can lose, in my opinion — I really mean this, Pennsylvania is if cheating goes on and we have to call up law enforcement and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everyone watching because if we get cheated out of this election, if we get cheated out of a win in Pennsylvania, which is such a vital state especially when I know what is happening here,” he said. “She can’t beat what’s happening here. The only way they can beat it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if in certain sections of the state they cheat.” 

I have a news flash, Donald Trump IS going to lose Pennsylvania.

In fact he is almost certainly going to lose the entire election. 

But what happens when he does and then claims that the election was stolen?

In 2000 many progressives, myself included, believed that Al Gore won the presidential election and that it had been stolen from him by the Supreme Court.

In response we bitched and complained online, and then got our shit together and started working to get more Democrats elected, and to ultimately take back the White House. Which we did in 2008.

That's how Democrats handled a stolen election.

The question is how does a party made up of 2nd Amendment enthusiasts, who are convinced that the "left wing" media "makes stuff up," and that the polls are purposefully skewed against their candidate, going to respond to a loss. Especially with the candidate himself also screaming that he was robbed?

Just when you thought things could not get more terrifying.

President Obama's entire speech from the Democratic convention last night. If you have not heard this yet, well you need to.

It is very hard to list all of President Obama's greatest speeches in any kind of order, but I would argue that this speech would certainly have to be in his top five, if not top two.

It is inspirational, patriotic, optimistic, and literally EVERYTHING that Donald Trump's speech last week at the RNC was not.

And if you are not fired up to vote for Hillary Clinton after hearing it you might want to check your pulse. 

For those who do not have the time available to hear the entire speech, here is the transcript.

But let me suggest that reading the words on your own is nowhere near as inspirational as hearing them  coming out of the mouth of this great man.

Night Two of the Democratic Convention Open Thread. Update!

I thought I better post this thread earlier today and a whole lot of interesting stuff happened before last night's open thread.

Here are some of the featured speakers for tonight: 

President Bill Clinton headlines the convention Tuesday.. 

Other featured speakers include mothers who lost their children to gun violence such as Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr; Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton; and Michael Brown's mother, Lezley McSpadden. 

Other speakers will include former Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who will speak about the Americans with Disabilities Act, which he helped craft and pass in Congress. 

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe will also address the convention. He served as chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign and chairman of Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign in 2008. 

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will be speaking as well as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who served with Clinton in the Senate and who's expected to succeed Harry Reid as the Democrats' next leader in the Senate. 

Former Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to speak as well as Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards and actors Tony Goldwyn, America Ferrara, and Lena Dunham. 

Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state, will speak and former President Jimmy Carter is expected to make an appearance in a video message to the convention.

Damn! So you see why we need to post this early.

As promised here is my second favorite speech from last night:

I love Al Franken as a Senator, but Al Franken the comedian is pretty damn awesome as well.

There is also a rumor that Bernie Sanders will officially nominate Hillary Clinton tonight, so I imagine we will see more of this:

Oh joy.

Update: Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential candidate to represent a major party, has just officially hit the magic number of delegates to become the nominee.  Another history making day for the Democratic party.

Update 2: Sanders just officially named Hillary Clinton the nominee by acclimation.

And THAT makes it really official.

Update 3: Apparently this happened earlier tonight as well.

Bernie delegates have stormed media row and it's now locked down by police https://t.co/1CkTq8sX8P #DNCWalkOut pic.twitter.com/e48v9KhfkJ

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) July 27, 2016

Didn't Frankenstein have to chase his creation into the farthest reaches of the north to finally end its existence?

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is booed off the stage in Philadelphia.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was repeatedly interrupted and booed Monday as she sought to speak to Florida's convention delegation. 

The Florida lawmaker, who will resign after the Democratic National Convention this week after leaked emails showed top members of the DNC working to boost Hillary Clinton's presidential primary bid, had to strain her voice to yell over the flurry of protestors who showed up to interrupt her speech.

Well that just seemed fucking unnecessary to me.

Apparently the Bernie supporters have been causing a ruckus since yesterday, and there is every indication that they intend to keep on doing so all through the convention.

I'm sure it did not help matters that after Wasserman Schultz agreed to step down as the DNC Chairperson, only to then end up with a job as the honorary chair of Clinton's 50 state strategy.

(I heard from at least one person that this might have been the deal that Clinton needed to strike with DWS to get her to agree to step down. That makes sense.)

However it is time for every real Democrat to stop being an asshole, and move toward unity.

Hell if the Republicans were able to do it after the shit that happened on the first day of THEIR convention I think that the Dems can do the same.

And if you cannot, then I would kindly like to suggest that you fuck off.

Because we have an election to win, and at this point you are simply in the way.

Bernie Sanders is now asking for money to help his supporters get to the Democratic convention.

"Airfare, I'm just asking for airfare dammit!"

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign sent its supporters an urgent call for donations Tuesday, saying it was up to them whether pledged delegates could afford trips to Philadelphia. 

"Here's the thing: Our delegates are not wealthy campaign contributors," wrote campaign manager Jeff Weaver in the email. "They're not party insiders or establishment elites. They're working folks, and it's not easy for many of them to fly to Philly and stay in hotels for a week. ... It's easy for the political establishment to navigate this and know whom to call to find the right way in. That, or they're wealthy enough to pay for themselves."

Oh yeah, let me dig deep into my savings to help undermine the Democrats at their own convention and give Donald Trump even more help during this election cycle.

No thanks, I'm with her.

The Post also has a story that takes Sanders to task over that condescending interview he did with Jake Tapper this weekend:

That's a stunning answer from Sanders. What he's saying -- if you read between the lines -- is that the ball is in Clinton's court when it comes to winning his endorsement. Not only does he think she needs to come to him, but he also believes she still has to prove that she is "prepared to stand with them [the American people], as they work longer hours for low wages, as they cannot afford health care, as their kids can't afford to go to college." 

Now seems like a good time to revisit the fact that Clinton has already effectively won the Democratic nomination over Sanders, not the other way around. It's good to remind yourself of that fact because from reading Sanders's quote above, you would assume he won.

Boy isn't that the truth?

Slate magazine also has a story on Sanders titled simply, "Bernie Blew It."

The article ends with this paragraph: 

As it stands, the Vermont senator has almost vanished from the news cycle, overshadowed by Clinton’s growing lead, overall Democratic unity, global events, and the never-ending emissions of Donald Trump. He’ll still matter to the shape and direction of the Democratic National Convention, but he could have had a larger, more visible role. Bernie Sanders had his shot, and he threw it away.

Now invariably this is where the butthurt Bernie-bots start asking me why I won't stop writing about Sanders and let him slink off the national stage in peace.

And my response to that is to say that I will be happy to never write about Sanders again just as soon as he endorses Clinton, officially ends his loser campaign, and actually slinks off the national stage.

Supporters of Bernie Sanders to hold "fart in" during Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech in Philadelphia.

Courtesy of Truthdig:  

Cheri Honkala, the leader of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, announced that her group was organizing the world’s largest “fart-in” to be held on July 28 at the Wells Fargo Center during Hillary Clinton’s anticipated acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination. 

“We will be holding a massive bean supper for Bernie Sanders delegates on American Street in my Kensington neighborhood on the afternoon of July 28,” she said. “We are setting up a Clintonville there, modeled on the Hoovervilles of the 1930s where the poor and unemployed built shanty towns. The Sanders delegates, their bellies full of beans, will be able to return to the Wells Fargo Center and greet the rhetorical flatulence of Hillary Clinton with the real thing.” 

Honkala said she would issue an invitation to Sanders to join the bean supper, which she is calling Beans for Hillary. She has asked donors to send cans of beans to 1301-W Porter Street, Philadelphia, Pa., 19148. 

“Any remaining beans will be served to the homeless, although we will, of course, be urging Sanders delegates to eat as much as possible,” Honkala said. 

Chris Hedges, an author and activist who is an ordained Presbyterian minister, will open the Beans for Hillary meal with a nondenominational prayer. 

“I am happy to bless a meal that will be put to such effective political use,” Hedges said.

In other news a number of Sanders' supporters are also arguing against the Sanders' campaign given their mailing list to the DNC:

Asked Friday if Sanders should hand over his donor list to the Democratic National Committee or the Clinton campaign, a panel moderated by “Democracy Now!” co-host Juan Gonzalez voiced their opposition. 

Dominique Scott, a 21-year-old University of Mississippi student who attended the summit Saturday, argued that Sanders shouldn’t hand over his list because "there are reasons why people didn’t support Clinton in the first place." 

"She has her own donors," Scott said. "She has plenty of money." 

For those who may not know, it is traditional for losing campaigns to hand over their donor lists to the party once their campaign comes to an end. It is how grownups do politics.

In yet other news there are a number of Bernie supporters who are also practicing how to get arrested at the convention in Philadelphia:

The big question this weekend in Chicago is how to turn the Bernie Sanders movement into a lasting element of Democratic politics. 

For some of the Sanders faithful on Saturday afternoon, the answer was locking arms on a civic center floor and struggling as “police officers” pulled them apart and “arrested” them.

Okay just for clarification are THESE the people whose trust Hillary is supposed to "earn" before November?

Bernie Sanders promises a contested convention in Philadelphia. Update!

Courtesy of CNN: 

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday vowed to continue his fight for the Democratic nomination beyond the primary season, telling reporters at a news conference in Los Angeles that he plans to go after Hillary Clinton's superdelegates. 

Clinton currently has 2,313 total delegates -- 1,769 of which are pledged and 544 of which are superdelegates -- and she is expected to cross the 2,383-delgate threshold in the next few days to clinch the nomination. But Sanders, who has 1,501 pledged delegates and only 46 superdelegates, says he can still woo enough of her superdelegates between now and the Democratic convention in July to swing the nomination his way. 

It's a tall order.

It is not just a tall order, it is an impossible order. (By the way after the Virgin Island primary Hillary picked up seven more so her total is now 1,776 pledged delegates.)

All Sanders can hope to accomplish with his take no prisoners attitude is to cause disruptions and chaos at the convention to the great amusement of the Republican party.

If he hopes to weaken the party that so graciously allowed him to run under their banner, and their eventual candidate, this is how you do it.

P.S. I heard a pundit today say that the difference between Hillary Clinton accepting her inevitable defeat in 2008 and graciously nominating Barack Obama, is that she still hoped to have a future in the Democratic party, whereas Sanders on the other hand is an elderly man with nothing to lose as he is not even really a Democrat.

P.P.S. It looks like some folks are tired of Sanders' shit.

.@BernieSanders just tried 2 take the stage at a Spanish-language festival at Plaza Mexico. He was denied. Staffer said, "This is OUR event"

— Sam Sanders (@samsanders) June 5, 2016

I think we are going to see a lot more of this in the coming days and weeks.

P.P.P.S. By the way this is a recent tweet from Elizabeth Warren.

This is what Democrats united to beat @realDonaldTrump look like. Get ready, Donald – we're coming. pic.twitter.com/p8dFtvr9NV

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) June 5, 2016

Make of it what you will.

Update: Hillary wins Puerto Rico. And the hits just keep on coming.  

Bernie Sanders just continues to make friends. Update!

Millions of gay men alive & able to vote today thanks to @peterstaley. Attack on Peter from Sanders camp appalling. pic.twitter.com/LjUyi7x2vQ

— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) May 28, 2016

Perhaps his aides neglected to tell Bernie that the Democrats are typically pro-LGBT.

In other news it appears that Sanders is still trying to stack the deck in his favor at the convention.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Sanders’ campaign requested that Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy and former Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.) be removed from their respective positions on the Platform Committee and the Rules Committee. Both have endorsed Clinton. 

“Both Governor Malloy and Mr. Frank (the “Chairs”) have been harsh, vocal critics of Senator Sanders, and equally active supporters of his challenger, Hillary Clinton,” Brad Deutsch, a Sanders campaign lawyer, wrote to the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee in a letter obtained by Politico. “Governor Malloy and Mr. Frank have both been aggressive attack surrogates for the Clinton campaign. Their criticisms of Senator Sanders have gone beyond dispassionate ideological disagreement and have exposed a deeper professional, political and personal hostility toward the Senator and his Campaign.” 

“The Chairs therefore cannot be relied upon to perform their Convention duties fairly and capably while laboring under such deeply held bias,” the letter says.

Yes let's remove any Democrat who might support the Democratic candidate with the most votes going into the convention, because that might be unfair to the guy losing the nomination.

Of course the point of this is to preemptively cast doubt in the minds of Bernie Bros that the system is rigged so that when Sanders fails to win the nomination they can cry foul and then stream into the streets of Philadelphia angry and pissed off at the "establishment."

What a great idea THAT is.

You know when I first heard Sanders talking about a revolution I simply thought he wanted to alter the political landscape a little, but now it appears that he means a full on, turning over cop cars in the street, storm the Bastille, off with their heads, revolution.

And that is just fucked up.

Update: So now Bernie Sanders is warning Hillary who she can and can't name as her running mate.

.@BernieSanders tells @ChuckTodd that @HillaryClinton shouldn't look to Wall Street for her VP pick #MTPhttps://t.co/8KyDrhqroM

— Meet the Press (@meetthepress) May 28, 2016

Purity tests for Democrats, so now the Sanders' movement evolving into the liberal tea party movement is finally complete.

I guess Sanders did not pay attention to what the Teabaggers did to the Republican party.

Democratic convention host warns Sanders supporters to "behave themselves" once he loses the nomination.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

The chairman of the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee for this summer’s Democratic National Convention said supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have to “behave themselves” when the Vermont senator loses the nomination. 

During a radio interview with John Catsimatidis, Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and Democratic National Committee chairman, laid out his vision for how the convention would play out. 

“I think it’s gonna be a great convention, but of course the key to it is the Sanders people. Bernie’s gonna have his name placed in nomination; we’re gonna have a roll call; there’s gonna be a demonstration in support of Bernie; he’s gonna lose the roll call,” he said. “His supporters have to behave and not cause trouble. And I think they will, and I think Sen. Sanders will send them a strong message.”

I like how Rendell does not even bother to pay lip service to the possibility that Sanders might win the nomination. Just a simple "He's gonna lose the roll call" now don't be dicks about it. 

Philadelphia Wal-Mart sued for selling bullets to underage drunk man who then used them in a shooting spree.

Courtesy of Philly.com: 

Robert Jourdain had been drinking for hours before he walked into a Walmart store early in the morning of July 5 and bought a box of .38-caliber ammunition, court papers say. 

Shortly before 3 a.m., Jourdain, then 20, left the Northampton Crossings shopping center in Lower Nazareth Township and got into the white Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle where Todd West was waiting with a Smith & Wesson revolver. Within an hour, West allegedly used the bullets to kill three people in a random shooting spree on the streets of Easton and Allentown. 

The victims' families have filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia against Walmart that one expert says could succeed despite federal protections for gun and ammo dealers. The families claim Walmart and its employees were negligent in selling the ammunition to Jourdain because they should have known he was too young to buy it legally and was mentally impaired by alcohol. 

"The bottom line here is that Walmart sold .38-caliber handgun ammunition to an underage person in the middle of the night, and that ammunition was used to kill several people," said Philadelphia attorney Matt Casey, who filed the suit last week. 

Members of my family work in the bar business. If a bartender serves alcohol to a person who is clearly inebriated and then that person is involved in a fatal car accident the bar can be held legally responsible.

Same thing seems reasonable when it comes to selling bullets.

In fact I would like to see similar laws in place not only about alcohol, but also concerning a person who is clearly agitated, making verbal threats, or appearing in any other way unhinged or potentially dangerous.

After all these are bullets they are selling people, not baby aspirin.

Pennsylvania Governor touts success of his administration's job website which features openings for exotic dancers, prostitutes, and porn actresses.

Jobs so great that you can reach out and touch them.

Courtesy of Philly.com:

This is probably the last thing a governor dealing with a porn scandal needs right now. 

Gov. Corbett, during his second debate with Democrat Tom Wolf today, repeatedly mentioned the state’s job hunting web site and said there are 250,000 jobs available. 

That site – JobGateway.pa.gov – pulls from other job boards, including Craigslist.com. 

Here are a few of the Craigslist options that come up on the government web site. 

• “Casting Couch – Looking for M.I.L.F.S….hot mom & daughter combos!!! Young busty females between 18-45. Please attach pic. Thank you ladies!!!” 
• “VIP Hostess – I have two visiting VIP gentlemen coming to town. Need a couple of female hostesses to join them for cocktailing, dinner and clubbing. Send me a couple of pictures of yourself – under 30 please, if you are highly attractive and in need of $$...” 
• “Bachelor Party – Looking for one or two dancers for a bachelor party in June. Please send photos and other info/rates.” 
• “Dancing – We are planning a private party for 15 to 20 guys, looking for 2 girls to dance for us. Cash plus tips.” 
• There were also four listings for “Car dates,” a euphemism for prostitution. 

Well I for one am happy to see a Republican who supports women in the workplace and is not always pushing for them to leave their jobs and return to being housewives. 

In other news the latest national Jobs report has been released and it is much better than anticipated.

No word on how many of those jobs involve casting couches, stripper poles, or "car dates" however.

The 2nd Amendment keeps gun owners so safe that two of them were robbed leaving two different gun ranges.

Courtesy of NBC Philadelphia:

Police are asking for the public's help tracking down the second suspect responsible for robbing gun range customers of at least nine weapons and shooting a 67-year-old man. 

Authorities identified the missing robber as 27-year-old Jeffrey Chandler. 

Officials say Chandler, who stands 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds, has numerous tattoos on both arms. The most distinctive tattoo is the word - "Stretch" - located on his right hand, they say. 

Investigators say Chandler fired the shot that wounded one of the victims.

Chandler's female accomplice surrendered to authorities after seeing that her face showed up on video surveillance tapes. However Chandler remains on the run, and is considered now heavily armed and dangerous. 

Besides the 67 year old, they also robbed a second man as he left a second gun range:

They robbed a 68-year-old man at gunpoint outside Yury's at 544 N. Percy St. around 6:40 p.m. June 11, emptying the victim's pockets and taking off with his backpack, which contained two .22 caliber handguns, according to authorities.

So to be clear these two managed to steal nine weapons from two different armed citizens that they can now use to murder or rob anybody whom they choose.

Yep thank goodness that 2nd Amendment exists to keep people safe from crime, right?

P.S. That kind of reminds me of a conversation I had years ago with a local cop who told me that many burglaries were targeted toward homes that were known to have a large number of weapons on the premises, because guns are incredibly easy to sell once stolen.

Which means instead of an arsenal protecting a homeowner from crime, it actually made them a more desirable target.

Man fires gun indiscriminately from his front porch, hits eight year old boy. Who could have predicted that?

8 year old AJ Hanger. Photo courtesy of Raw Story.

Courtesy of NBC Philadelphia:  

An 8-year-old boy is home with his family two days after he was struck by a stray bullet. 

Police apprehended a suspect who they say randomly fired a gun from his front porch and struck the 8-year-old boy on Friday. 

Authorities arrested 55-year-old Wayne Snowden of the 300 block of South Hanover Street, North Coventry Township and charged him for aggravated assault for allegedly shooting the child, 8-year-old AJ Hanger, as he rode his bike with a friend around 5 p.m. Friday. 

Police say Snowden was standing on his porch speaking with individuals inside the residence when he raised a handgun and fired a single shot in the direction of Coyne Alley. 

The bullet struck Hanger in the leg as he passed the Pottstown Dance Theatre near the intersection of West Main Street and Coyne Alley, North Coventry Township. 

"The defendant was extraordinarily reckless," said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. "The right to own firearms includes the responsibility to handle firearms safely." 

Thankfully this little boy was only wounded, but of course it could have easily have been much worse. Much worse.

You might expect the NRA to leap to the shooter's defense.

Wayne Snowden, the alleged shooter.

However since the defendant is not of the Caucasian ethnicity, and the little boy was, perhaps they will be more hesitant to impulsively get involved.

But hey perhaps their new, hip African American spokesperson will come to his aid and explain how we cannot blame the shooter simply because some young boy carelessly got in the way of his bullet.

You know when guns become an everyday accessory, considered no more dangerous than a pocket knife or pair of fingernail clippers, there will be more of these incidents.

The NRA literally wants guns in the hands of EVERYBODY. That means millions of bullets in millions of guns, just waiting for a domestic argument, or drunken tirade, to give them freedom.

Freedom to wound. Freedom to kill.

Some day somebody should conduct a study to determine just how many bullets have been fired in self defense, and how many were fired out of anger, or jealousy, or by accident. 

"People are going to be dying." Philadelphia reporter kind of loses it as she reports on ice storm.

Look I understand her passion and desire for people to take the weather warning seriously, but there is a find line between providing necessary information and having a breakdown on television.

If she were a flight attendant on a flight that hit severe turbulence she would be in the back of the plane screaming "We're all going to die!"

So helpful.

P.S. By the way I found this on the American Preppers Network Facebook page.

They of course think she is underselling the problem.