Long island man pulls out knife during public meeting on school safety in order to intimidate teenager he was debating.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

A Long Island man terrified students and others by pulling out a knife to demonstrate why he believed schools should have armed security guards. 

The man took out the pocket knife during a face-to-face confrontation with a student Wednesday during a public meeting in Rocky Point on school safety, reported Newsday. 

“I’m considerably larger than you, OK?” the man tells the student in cell phone video recorded during the incident. “If something happened, if I decided to attack you, it would take the cops three to five minutes to come here — probably 10 if the traffic’s bad.” 

The man, whose name was not released, apparently disagreed with 17-year-old senior Jade Pinkenberg, who spoke up during the school board meeting to argue against arming teachers. 

“What are you going to do now?” the man says, as the teen backs away. 

Pinkenburg’s father and others shouted to tell the man to stop, and school security escorted the man out of the meeting. 

“I had no idea what was happening,” Pinkenburg said. “He was in my face a bit and I didn’t know what he was about to do. When I realized, I kind of jumped back. My legs got weak and my heart was beating fast.”

What is it with these adults thinking that violence, or the threat of violence, is the way to demonstrate to children that they are overreacting about violence?

Clearly this man believed that if he could scare this kid, that in some way he would make his point that the only way to feel secure in school is with armed guards at every  exit.

That is simply not the case, and in fact, as we have seen several times just recently, guns in school tend to go off accidentally and place MORE children's lives in danger, instead of protecting them from danger.

All this guy proved is that he's an asshole and a bad role model to his own children. 

One of Steve Bannon's Navy Seal security guards attempts to intimidate 5 ft 2 mother and author on elevator.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

One of Steve Bannon's Navy Seal security guards lost his cool after a 5ft 2in woman made a snide comment towards the former Trump strategist in a hotel elevator, it has been revealed. 

Samantha Ettus found herself in the same elevator as Bannon and his two security guards at Manhattan's Regency Hotel on Tuesday. 

Unable to resist the urge to skewer Bannon, who was part of President Trump's original West Wing team before being ousted earlier this year, Ettus told him: 'I hope you get what you deserve.' 

Furious, one of Bannon's two former Navy Seal security guards moved towards her as if he were about to 'pounce'. 

DailyMail.com understands the veteran was only settled when Bannon told him: 'Let it go, Major Chief.' 

According to Ettus the other security guard restrained the man until Bannon called him off, but that she was left shaken.

Here is a picture of the author and mother so you can see for yourself how intimidating she could be.

But let's face it we should not be surprised.

After all Bannon, Donald Trump, and even Vladimir Putin are all terrified of women.

That is why they worked so aggressively to keep one of them out of the White House.

Sadly for them that just seems to have made them stronger and more determined. 

Accused pedophile Roy Moore promises to reveal the real motivations of his supposed victims.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:  

Roy Moore on Saturday promised there would soon be “revelations” on the “motivations” of those accusing him of sexual misconduct. During a Veterans Day event in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, the Alabama Senate candidate questioned why his accusers didn’t come forward sooner and warned voters of what he described as a Democratic conspiracy against him. “To think that grown women would wait 40 years... to bring charges is absolutely unbelievable,” Moore said. “There are investigations going on. In the next few days, there will be revelations about the motivations and the content of this article,” Moore said, referring to the Washington Post story that first revealed the claims. The report cited four different women who said Moore pursued them sexually or touched them inappropriately when they were underage. The youngest accuser said she was 14 at the time of the alleged sexual misconduct. “Isn’t it strange that after 40 years of constant investigation people have waited until 4 weeks prior to the general election to bring their complaints?” Moore said Saturday. He went on to call the story “fake news” and “an attempt to divert attention from the true issues which affect our country.”

Yeah, I expect these "revelations" to be trotted out alongside Barack Obama's "real" birth certificate.

It seems these GOP assholes always have some secret evidence that proves their point or exonerates them in some way.

The Attorney for one of the accusers had this to say:

The lawyer for one of the women cited in The Washington Post's story about sexual misconduct by Senate candidate Roy Moore says it is "reprehensible that so many Alabama Republican officeholders" have rejected the evidence.

Gloria Deason told the Post she went on dates with Moore in 1979, when he was 32 and she was 18. Deason told the Post that Moore ordered her alcoholic drinks even though she was under the legal drinking age. 

Deason's lawyer, Paula Cobia, has released a statement blasting Moore for "incendiary statements about the women." She says Deason stands to gain "no glory, no financial compensation, no justice." 

Cobia says Deason has no affiliation with either the Republican or the Democratic party, and has never contacted Moore's election opponent, Democrat Doug Jones.

Of course this did not keep Moore's supporters from attempting to intimidate or frighten these women into backing down.

The coward deleted it. @jack @biz @TwitterSupport needs to ban this serial harasser who uses Twitter to put innocent people’s lives in danger. pic.twitter.com/ors1NtYTU3

— Vic Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) November 10, 2017

By the way the reason that women sometimes wait decades before feeling safe enough to finally go public and talk about their abuse is because of shit like that tweet.

Men did not always have Twitter to bully and intimidate their victims, but doing so is a long and well established tradition.

And that is essentially what that lawyer referenced above said after hearing this crap from Moore.

“Roy Moore is publicly making defamatory statements about the 4 brave women” — new statement from Paula Cobia, attorney for Gloria Deason pic.twitter.com/m0I2O3TZmp

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 11, 2017

It looks like Roy Moore better start producing these "revelations" of his.

Donald Trump has been sending private messages to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. WTF?

Courtesy of USA Today: 

President Trump has publicly called the widening federal investigation into Russia's election meddling a "witch hunt." But through his lawyer, Trump has sent private messages of "appreciation" to special counsel Robert Mueller. 

"He appreciates what Bob Mueller is doing,'' Trump's chief counsel John Dowd told USA TODAY in an interview Tuesday. "He asked me to share that with him and that's what I've done.'' 

Trump's legal team has been in contact with Mueller's office, and Dowd says he has passed along the president's messages expressing “appreciation and greetings’’ to the special counsel. 

“The president has sent messages back and forth,’’ Dowd said, declining to elaborate further.

Okay I think we have all seen enough movies about the Mafia to recognize this tactic.

This is like when Tony Soprano sends some ravioli out to the FBI guys sitting in the van monitoring one of his restaurants.

It is meant to unnerve the agents and keep them off balance while he continues conducting his illegal business right under their noses.

Of course Tony Soprano was never up against anybody like Robert Mueller before.

This courtesy of Law Newz: 

Donald Trump‘s messages to Robert Mueller are not only unusual, but could be the basis of an obstruction of justice accusation. Jimmy Gurulé, a law professor at Notre Dame University and a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General under the first president Bush, told LawNewz.com that the messages leave the president vulnerable, legally speaking, because these could be construed as intimidation.

Gurulé said that anything Trump tells him could be used against him in the Russia collusion investigation. Also, the messages themselves could be construed as an attempt to influence the probe. 

“‘I’m watching you.’ How else could it be interpreted?” Gurulé said. ‘ Thank you for conducting an investigation into my campaign. Thank you for conducting an investigation into my son and my son-in-law.'” 

If nothing else, this sort of thing leaves the president vulnerable.

Trump seems to think he is dealing with one of the many small business people he swindled who were too intimated by his wealth and fame to fight back.

But Bob Mueller is not the owner of some mom and pop plumbing company, he is the former head of the FBI and has been taking down scum like Donald Trump since the 1970's.

Trump can play all of the games that he wants, but clearly Mueller is keeping his eyes on the prize.

Which is why the FBI apparently raided former Trump campaign manger Paul Manafort's home in the wee hours of the morning last month.

Perhaps Trump ought to call and thank him for THAT.

Omarosa, Trump's communications official, is now stating that her boss has collected dossiers on several journalists full of "negative information." Can you say suppression of the First Amendment?

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Conflict and controversy seem to follow Omarosa Manigault, who stirred up plenty of both as a reality-TV star and a longtime associate of President Trump. 

Manigault, who is now a communications official in the Trump administration, got into a heated argument with a White House reporter just steps from the Oval Office last week, according to witnesses. The reporter, April Ryan, said Manigault “physically intimidated” her in a manner that could have warranted intervention by the Secret Service. 

Ryan also said Manigault made verbal threats, including the assertion that Ryan was among several journalists on whom Trump officials had collected “dossiers” of negative information. 

Manigault, a onetime friend of Ryan’s, declined to address Ryan’s accusations on the record, offering only this emailed statement: “My comment: Fake news!” She did not specify what she considered false. 

This account follows a Politico report that state sponsored hackers, ie Russians, have been targeting journalists: 

Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine said he received several messages from Google warning him about an attack from a government-backed hacker starting shortly after the election. He said the most recent warning came two to three weeks ago. 

Julia Ioffe, who recently started at The Atlantic and has covered Russia for years, said she got warnings as recently as two weeks ago. 

Ezra Klein, the founder of Vox, said he had received the warning as recently as a few days back. CNN senior media reporter Brian Stelter said he has been getting the alerts for the past few months. 

Other journalists who confirmed they’ve recently gotten the warnings include New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger, Times columnist Paul Krugman and Yahoo Washington bureau chief Garance Franke-Ruta. 

GQ special contributor Keith Olbermann said the warnings started a few weeks after the election, and he received the most recent alert earlier this week, a “big bright red bar” across the top of his Gmail. Some of the reporters say they are tightening up their email security to try to prevent the hackers from getting in.

There are other journalists listed in the Politico article, but you get the drift.

Most, if not all, of these reporters are also convinced that the attempts are coming from Russia.

So now that Putin has helped Trump get elected he is going to use the same technique to protect him from criticism by America's free press.

Is there ANYBODY still not convinced that Donald Trump is a tool of Russia?

White supremacists plan armed march in Montana town.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

The Daily Stormer, a popular American neo-Nazi website, is organizing an armed march in Whitefish, Montana, home of white nationalist leader Richard Spencer’s mother. 

In a recent blog post that features Hilter’s face as its banner image, Andrew Anglin, publisher of the white supremacist website, announced he’s planning an armed march in the town for the second week of January — days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

“Montana has extremely liberal open carry laws, so my lawyer is telling me we can easily march through the center of the town carrying high-powered rifles,” Anglin wrote, adding that he plans to be there personally. “Currently, my guys say we are going to be able to put together about 200 people to participate in the march, which will be against Jews, Jewish businesses and everyone who supports either. We will be busing in skinheads from the Bay Area.”

I wrote earlier that this same group was targeting Jews in Montana and releasing their personal information onto the internet.

This of course is just another example of what it will be like in Donald Trump's America, where no minority group is safe from intimidation, harassment, or physical endangerment.

In today's Trump Dump we learn that Donald Trump is a racist. Wait, didn't we already know that? Update!

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

While shooting the 13th season of The Apprentice, Donald Trump repeatedly used a racial slur to refer to rapper and contestant Lil Jon—even after several producers urged him to stop, three staffers on the show told The Daily Beast. 

During an episode of a season that first aired in 2013 (dubbed All-Star Celebrity Apprentice), the “Turn Down for What” singer was tasked, along with the other celebrity contenders, with mounting competing displays around and inside glass trucks in order to promote hair-care products. In the heat of competition, Lil Jon bought and donned an Uncle Sam costume to help advertise the “beautiful” hair product. 

During the day’s shoot, Trump himself caught wind of this gimmick and began referring to Lil Jon around Apprentice staff as “Uncle Tom” instead of Uncle Sam. 

“Look, he’s Uncle Tom!” one longtime Apprentice staffer recalled Trump blurting out at least twice.

Wait, am I hearing this right?

The man who came to national prominence by questioning the citizenship of the first black President in American history, launched his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists, and who threatens to block every immigrant with a Syrian birth certificate from entering the country, uses racist language?

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

In other Trump news one of his many accusers is planning to flee the country after being freaked out by by supporters.

Courtesy of the Palm Beach Post: 

Mindy McGillivray of Palm Springs said she is planning to leave the United States because she fears for her family’s safety since she publicly accused Donald Trump earlier this week of groping her in 2003. 

“We feel the backlash of the Trump supporters. It scares us. It intimidates us. We are in fear of our lives,’’ she said in an interview Friday with The Palm Beach Post.

McGillivray's claims were backed up by the photographer who was with her the day of the assault.

And before you dismiss McGillivray's claims has exaggerations you might be interested to learn that the press is becoming increasingly frightened of Trump supporters as well.

The vitriol toward the media here is as bad as I've ever seen it. Boos and cursing and middle fingers as soon as traveling press walked in. pic.twitter.com/n3pV9ngNEo

— Jose A. DelReal (@jdelreal) October 14, 2016

Crowd listening to Trump defend himself absolutely fired up. As he trashes press, they are joining in hurling insults around press pen.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 13, 2016

As Trump attacks press today, there is notably more security around media assembled here.

— Holly Bailey (@hollybdc) October 13, 2016

Press at Trump evening rally getting escorted to motorcade under watch of cops in riot gear, per pool. This is getting increasingly scary.

— Seema Mehta (@LATSeema) October 14, 2016

The press and accusers are not the only ones being intimidated by Trump supporters.

Courtesy of TPM:  

Two Donald Trump supporters openly carrying firearms sat outside the campaign office of a Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia for nearly 12 hours on Thursday, according to CBS affiliate Newsplex in Charlottesville. 

One of the protesters, Daniel Parks, told Newsplex that he held the protest to support Trump. 

"I'm just trying to provide a voice for someone who might be closet supporters of Trump. Other people that are a little worried to speak out because of possible persecution," he said. 

Parks and another Trump supporter who later joined him outside the campaign of the campaign office Democrat Jane Dittmar's office in Palmyra, Virginia, were openly carrying guns, Su Wolff, a volunteer for Dittmar, told Newsplex.

Overt racism, a rolling back of the 1st Amendment, victim shaming, and armed operatives openly intimidating political opponents.

Just a peek into the future if Donald Trump were to be elected president.

Update: Apparently all of these allegations are driving Trump out of his mind a little.

Nothing ever happened with any of these women. Totally made up nonsense to steal the election. Nobody has more respect for women than me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2016

The failing @nytimes reporters don't even call us anymore, they just write whatever they want to write, making up sources along the way!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2016

Trump also bizarrely has suggested that both he and Hillary take drug tests before the next debate:

Donald Trump suggested Saturday that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has been "getting pumped up" with performance-enhancing drugs and challenged Clinton to take a drug test before the final debate next week. 

Trump argued that Clinton was more energetic during the beginning of their debate last Sunday, but lost her steam by the end of the debate. He offered no evidence to back up his wild claim. 

"I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate," Trump said during a rally here. "Because I don't know what's going on with her, but at the beginning of her last debate, she was all pumped up at the beginning, and at the end it was like, huff, take me down. She could barely reach her car."

Actually if I remember correctly Clinton attended a rally after the last debate and certainly did not she was running out of energy to me.

Well since Trump is the master of projection this can only mean one thing.

Under heavy suspicion of his cocaine use, Trump is calling Hillary to take a drug test before debate.
Yup. pic.twitter.com/MaAAX2WCqG

— George D. (@xdelmar59) October 15, 2016

I think Hillary should publicly call Trump's bluff and then mock him during the debate when he refuses.

Militia members who took over the bird sanctuary in Oregon are engaged in harassment and intimidation of locals.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Local law enforcement is accusing armed protesters who seized an Oregon wildlife refuge of harassment and intimidation. 

In a statement Monday, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward described an "uptick" in reports of "law enforcement officers and community members being followed home; of people sitting in cars outside their homes, observing their movements and those of their families; and of people following them and their families as they move around the community." 

Ward added, "While not direct physical threats, these activities are clearly designed to try to intimidate." 

Federal employees of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the site occupied by the protestors, also reported "a number of uncomfortable instances" of "unknown" outsiders idling outside their homes, watching them and initiating debates about their employment. 

"Many of these confrontations are taking place as their employees are grocery shopping, running errands with their families and trying to lead their day-to day lives," Ward said.

Gee what tough guys.

Bunch of overweight bullies is what they are.

In other news a judge has said that the county will charge Bundy and his associates up to $70,000 a day for the increased security.

So yes this little occupation is working out perfectly.

P.S. Well it looks like I got fooled by a parody site as well. In an earlier version I shared a story that came from  a site that seemed legit, but turned out to be having a laugh.

Oh well that kind of thing is bound to happen eventually.

Home schooling lobby "Make the anti-vaxxers seem rational."

“I’ve never seen a lobby more powerful and scary,” said Ellen Heinitz, the legislative director for Michigan state Rep. Stephanie Chang, who ran up against HSLDA backlash when she tried to pass home-schooling regulations a few months ago. “They make the anti-vaxxers seem rational.”

The above quote was taken from a Slate article that reports on the struggle that one New Jersey State Senator faced when trying to pass legislation to require parents to notify the state that they were homeschooling their children, submit proof of annual physicals, and to complete the same yearly tests that other New Jersey students had to take.

The response to this bill was quick and incredibly aggressive:

Soon afterward, a small group of home-schooling parents began following Weinberg around the capitol. The barrage of phone calls from home-schooling advocates so jammed her office phone lines that staffers had to use their private cellphones to conduct business. “You would have thought I’d recommended the end of the world as we know it,” said Weinberg. “Our office was besieged.”

Ultimately the state senator, Loretta Weinberg, dropped the bill and has little success with modified versions of it, removing the testing requirements, since.

Slate also reports similar obstacles which halted legislation in other states. Including Michigan which is where we get that quote at the top.

Now for those who simply do not trust the government, and do not want them educating their children, this might seem like no big deal, but there are some very troubling statistics:

• Forty-eight states have no background check process for parents who choose to home-school. Two have some restrictions. Arkansas prevents home schooling when a registered sex offender lives in the home, while Pennsylvania bans parents previously convicted of a wide array of crimes from home schooling. 
• Fewer than half of states require any kind of evaluation. In some of these, including Washington, New Hampshire, and Georgia, home-schooled students are tested, but these tests are not submitted to the school district, and there are no ramifications for failure. Others, like Oregon, require parents to submit the test scores only if the local districts request them. A third category of states, including Maine, requires that test scores be submitted but set no minimum score. 
• Seventeen states have no required subjects for home-schooled students. Of the 33 states that do, 22 have no means of checking whether a parent is actually teaching those subjects. 
• In 40 states, home-schooling parents are not required to have a high school diploma, even if they intend to home-school through 12th grade. 
• Twenty-five states do not require home-schoolers to be vaccinated. Another 12 mandate vaccinations but do not require records. Only five states require home-schoolers to submit proof of vaccinations at any time.

Now I recognize that whenever I introduce the topic of home schooling on this blog that emotions run high, and that several of my regulars have home schooled their children and are advocates of home schooling in general.

However as many of you know I have very strong reservations concerning home schooling, ESPECIALLY religious homeschooling, based on my own experiences and interactions with home schooled children over the years.

So I will simply suggest that you read the article over at Slate and perhaps come back here afterwards to share your thoughts, whether they be pro or con.

A group of Wisconsin militia wannabes are organizing themselves as unofficial gun toting poll watchers in heavily Democratic areas.

Courtesy of The Chippewa Herald:  

A self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4. 

"We prefer our people be armed," reads a Facebook post by Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, screen captured on a blog at Politicususa.com. "Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine, and Beloit's worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location." 

The exchange posted on Politicususa continues: 

Patrick Murray: "Just so you are aware, I will not report Republicans. Only Democrats." 

Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia: "We will be targeting heavy democrat districts, so it is doubtful this will even be an issue." 

Another entry from the group's Facebook page, which has 31 likes as of Friday afternoon, reads: "Please private message us names of people you know are active voters and wanted on warrants. We can get our agents to watch their polling location, identify the individual, and then follow them to their residence. A call the police and they will be picked up for processing." 

Another: "Attention all members: Militia training will be at HQ on September 20, 2014 at 0930. We will hand out updated watch lists, duty assignments, and discuss rules and regulations. Expect it to take around 2-3 hours. After our discussion we will be headed to the range for anyone who wants to participate."

So to be clear these individuals, who are almost undoubtedly Caucasian, are going to go into heavily Democratic neighborhoods in Wisconsin, many of which are certain to be occupied by mostly non-whites, while armed and then follow voters to their homes.

Oh and if you dare to approach one of their members you risk "being put down like a rabid dog."

First off let me just say that I seriously doubt that there are many potential voters who are wanted by the police. Maybe a few, but not enough to warrant this ridiculous overreaction.

Secondly if these idiots actually start following people to their houses that is harassment, and if they are lucky the police will pick them up and escort them out of town or lock them up. If they are not so lucky they may learn that the 2nd Amendment is a knife that cuts both ways, and that, surprisingly, you do not have to be an arrogant white guy to have access to a firearm.

Seattle based women's group supporting background checks for gun shows find bullet riddled target at their front door. Probably does not mean anything, right?

Courtesy of KIRO TV:

A target riddled with bullet holes was found at the doorstep of the Seattle-King County League of Women Voters earlier this month. 

Staff there believe it was a direct threat because of their support for I-594 – the initiative that would require background checks for gun sales online, at gun shows, and even exchanges person-to–person. 

The staff member who found the target immediately called 911. SPD told KIRO 7 detectives are investigating this incident as a threat. 

Staff at the League of Women Voters did not find a note or writing on the target, and they told KIRO 7, they don’t know who left it. 

“I think it’s someone who disagrees with our stance, and at a minimum they’re trying to scare us,” said Allison Allison Feher, Administrative Manager for League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County.

Yes let's convince voters that we don't need background checks to weed out criminals and the mentally unfit from purchasing weapons at guns shows by using crazy intimidation tactics to scare them off.

Brilliant.

And the thing is that this is not an unusual sort of tactic for the Ammosexuals, they have resorted to these scare tactics time, and time again.

Essentially by their very actions they are proving that those who want access to guns the most, might be the ones who can be trusted with them the least.

Open Carry demonstration in Virginia attracts two.

Courtesy of the Roanoke Times:  

More than 300 people were invited on Facebook to walk down Cary Street on July Fourth with handguns, rifles and other so-called “long guns” proudly displayed. 

Two showed up — and they were the organizers of the midday event in the family-oriented Carytown shopping district. 

“I don’t know why,” said organizer Jason Spitzer, 29, when asked to explain the low turnout for what he described as an Independence Day demonstration to “spread Constitutional awareness” of Americans’ Second Amendment right to bear arms. 

“But even if nobody came I’d still walk,” the Chesterfield County steel mill worker said, holding a large American flag in his hands, with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a holstered handgun on his hip. “It’s the Fourth of July and I love my country.”

Yes and loving your country inspires you to terrify its residents during a holiday?

The fact that nobody except these two nitwits felt that the demonstration was a good idea is nice to know, but exactly what the hell is the motivation for these people?

Salon thinks they have the answer:  

Meditate for a moment on the notion of making people comfortable with the sight of guns in public via habituating them to the instinctual terror of seeing one, and two issues immediately arise: firstly, it resembles other illogical forms of activism in which the goal is wholly incompatible with the means, such as murdering abortion providers to achieve a culture of life; secondly, it is, above all else, an effort at achieving control. 

After all, it isn’t as though the advocates of openly carrying guns in public are unaware of the effect they have on the public; they are usually met with resistance precisely because they terrify innocent bystanders, while their constitutional concerns – such as they are – tend to be swallowed up by the technique of their “protest.” It is rather the case that they claim the period of fear they deliberately inspire is one they intend to force the public to endure until they are no longer met with resistance. If their narrative is to be thought genuine, then their intention is literally to forcibly habituate the public to the idea that they are constantly in danger, and that there is little that can be done about it. Or, as Open Carry Texas puts it, the goal is to: “condition Texans to feel safe around law-abiding citizens that choose to carry [guns].” Of course, the fact that they are willing to inflict terror to achieve, bizarrely, a sense of safety demonstrates that people feeling safe isn’t really a goal here; otherwise pictures of guns or speech campaigns would surely suffice. The fear is, in other words, intentional.

In other words these folks are attempting to terrify us with their guns into also carrying guns so that we will not longer feel defenseless against their guns.

So what we are dealing with are bullies.

Bullies who have no problem terrifying you, and putting you in fear for the lives of your children, simply so that they can intimidate you into buying and carrying a gun of your own to put your mind at ease.

However this will undoubtedly fail, because most of us are far too civilized to believe that having more guns around increases our safety.

Especially in the hands of individuals who believe in using fear tactics to get their message out.

Guess who's back.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Former Gilberton, PA police chief Mark Kessler has released a new expletive-laden video in which he threatened his critics, then angrily fired an assault rifle. 

The video opened with Kessler off-camera, trying to secure the camera to the tripod. Then, wearing a black baseball cap and a pair of matching black ear protection earmuffs and carrying an AR-15 assault rifle, he entered the frame and began to rant. 

“Chief Kessler here,” he began, “and I want to tell all my supporters out there that I thank you very much.” 

For his detractors, however, Kessler had a different message. 

“And for all the people out there that are against me, you can all go f*ck yourselves,” he said. “Go f*ck yourself! Okay? If you think for one minute that I forgot, or that I’m gonna f*ckin’ forget any of this, you have another thing coming.”

I am still amazed that this guy was put in charge of law enforcement in Pennsylvania. 

And even more disturbing is that it seems that he is not an aberration among the community of fanatical 2nd Amendment defenders.

Check this out from Mother Jones:

A top target for gun extremists has been the women of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the grassroots group that began after Sandy Hook and has since merged with Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns under the Everytown banner. The battle has grown particularly ugly in Texas, where gun groups such as Open Carry Texas have conducted demonstrations showcasing their right under state law to openly carry rifles in public. The sight of groups of (mostly) men carrying semi-automatic rifles along a busy road or inside the local Jack in the Box has prompted bystanders to call police. In response, Open Carry Texas has begun making open-records requests, identifying callers and threatening to publicize their personal information. 

On April 10, Brett Sanders, a member of Open Carry Texas in Plano, a midsize city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, posted a video on YouTube highlighting the name and cellphone number of a woman who'd called the police after seeing heavily armed men on her way to a shopping mall. The post drew condemnation not only for outing the woman but also because it was misleading: It claimed that the woman had called 911, though she'd called the nonemergency line of the Plano PD. And the footage it used came from friendly-looking demonstrations elsewhere—not from the one that the woman encountered. ("Feel free to contact me when you work for a real news organization," Sanders replied to my request for comment.) 

The woman—a high school teacher who asked not to be identified—quickly got pummeled with text messages and voicemails, copies of which she provided to Mother Jones. Callers told her she was a "stupid bitch" and "motherfucking whore." 

"They fought for their right to carry guns," said another. "You're a piece of shit." One caller threatened to come after her with a gun. 

Over the next four days she received nearly two dozen such calls and text messages. Someone put her information into a phony profile on a large e-commerce site, and she got a barrage of calls about agricultural products and security systems.

Included in the Mother Jones article was the story of a wheelchair bound woman, paralyzed by an attackers bullet, who had a man walk up to her in an airport and spit in her face, and another assailant jump out of the shadows to shoot her with a water gun while mocking her with, "Don't you wish you had a gun now, bitch?"

A Florida gun instructor also made this threatening Mother's Day video for the group "Moms Demand Action."

And these are the type of people demanding to have access to high powered rifles, automatic weapons, and the right to openly carry their arsenal in public.

Chris Hayes reports on the armed response in Texas to the gathering of four women to talk about gun control.

Men piling out of cars with rifles and automatic weapons, in response to four women meeting to talk about gun control.

A woman so frightened that she refuses to reveal her identity on television.

THIS is the group of people who believe that they deserve to be allowed to walk around armed in this country?

And I have a question, why would these morons need to get out the "self defense tools" if they were not needed for self defense? (And by the way that is the DUMBEST name for weapons that I have ever heard.)

In my opinion bullies, especially bullies who only feel tough when they have a gun, don't get to have her way.  They get their asses kicked.

And if there are any REAL men in Texas they should be hunting these assholes down and showing them that not everybody is afraid of their store bought penis extenders.

Open Carry advocates attempt to intimidate "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America," with, you guessed it, guns.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

On Saturday, nearly 40 armed men, women, and children waited outside a Dallas, Texas area restaurant to protest a membership meeting for the state chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun safety advocacy group formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. 

According to a spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action (MDA), the moms were inside the Blue Mesa Grill when members of Open Carry Texas (OCT) — an open carry advocacy group — “pull[ed] up in the parking lot and start[ed] getting guns out of their trunks.” The group then waited in the parking lot for the four MDA members to come out. The spokeswoman said that the restaurant manager did not want to call 911, for fear of “inciting a riot” and waited for the gun advocates to leave. The group moved to a nearby Hooters after approximately two hours. 

MDA later released a statement calling OCT “gun bullies” who “disagree[d] with our goal of changing America’s gun laws and policies to protect our children and families.” The statement added that the members and restaurant customers were “terrified by what appeared to be an armed ambush.” A member of OCT responded by tweeting, “I guess I’m a #gunbullies #Comeandtakeit.” 

So to be clear, this group of pro-gun nuts decided to state their case that Americans should be allowed to carry any gun they want to openly, and they did so by demonstrating EXACTLY why many of us feel that is dangerous and unwise to allow that without having comprehensive background checks and guidelines.

These individuals are pathetic excuses for men and should serve as an embarrassment to every responsible gun owner in the country.

This kind of thing literally makes me seethe with anger. 

How is this NOT considered an act of domestic terrorism?

Courtesy of TPM:

Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) held an event in New Hampshire Friday urging the state's political leaders to fight for an expansion of background checks on gun purchases, the Associated Press reported. Giffords, 42, survived an assassination attempt in January 2011. 

Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples posted this photo on Twitter, which he describes as showing a protester at the event holding an AR-15 and taking a nap:

Protester with AR-15 takes nap outside Gabby Giffords' NH event. pic.twitter.com/A9cfwmg4NA
— Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) July 5, 2013

The woman was SHOT IN THE HEAD!

Should there not be an added concerns about something similar happening again? Especially now that she is taking up the battle for background checks?

In my opinion showing up at, or near, an event featuring Gabby Giffords, blatantly displaying a weapon, is an intentional act of intimidation and, considering that it is meant to terrify the poor woman, an act of domestic terrorism.

And it seems that these jerkwads are showing up EVERYWHERE!

I think it would be well within Mark Kelly's right to knock this corpulent POS on his chubby white ass.

I know I would.

Rachel Maddow calls out the gun nuts for using intimidation tactics to suppress opposition.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This of course follows up on the report by Dana Milbank that I reported about yesterday.

Of course Rachel takes this issue and does her usual incredible job of adding new data and defining it in a way that should make it easily understandable even to those ignorant enough to think that more guns equals more safety.

Yeah I know, even Rachel Maddow cannot explain clearly well enough for THAT crows to understand!

If the conservatives and gun nuts thought they could bully Jim Carrey into silence, they do NOT know Jim Carrey!

Yesterday Jim Carrey posted this on HuffPo in answer to attack against him:  

I disagree wholeheartedly with those who say that there are just too many guns out there to control and that more gun laws won't make a difference. Change must start someplace. I'm pretty sure that no worthwhile endeavor has ever been accomplished without a beginning and reducing gun violence in America is a worthwhile endeavor. 

These mass shootings and daily body counts on your local news are terrible tragedies. The utter devastation that must be endured by the victims' families is unfathomable. These horrific events are also an invitation for us to become more civilized and to deal with our addiction and entitlement to violence. Not to shut our eyes and ears and scream at those with a different opinion than ours to "fuck off and go back to Canada." I will gladly go back and visit Canada as I have many friends and loved ones there. I am so proud of that country and everything it's given to me, but I am also a naturalized American citizen and I have been bringing as much joy as I can to people in this country for 30 years. I care deeply about our future and I feel it's my duty as a citizen to do everything in my power to make this a better place. 

For those who say I'm a hypocrite because I have an armed bodyguard, lets make one thing clear: No one in my employ is allowed to carry a large magazine and NO ONE IS ASKING ANYONE TO GIVE UP THEIR RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, though it is in the vested interests of those who profit by gun sales to make it seem so. It's just the type of arms, the easy access and the means with which to cause massive devastation to good and innocent people that I hope we can limit. It's the quality of mercy, the tiniest spark of empathy that I know lives in every one of us that I wish to ignite in you. 

And to the bullies who will try to marginalize and discredit me by saying, "Shut up, you're just an actor," while they brag about what a great president the ACTOR Ronald Reagan was, who threaten me with the demise of my acting career and much worse, I say SO BE IT! How shallow do they think I am? I would trade my money, my fame, my reputation and legacy if there were the slightest chance of preventing the anguish of another Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, or Sandy Hook Elementary School. I ask you, truly, what manner of human being would not? 

I have been aghast at the level of hatred heaped upon me, my family and the people I work with over a mere difference of opinion on this issue. Perhaps my words were a bit harsh at the onset, but calling someone a "Motherfucker" is far different than wishing them to die. It is shocking to see this concerted effort to brutally intimidate anyone who speaks of a compassionate compromise. These thugs, though menacing, are a minority but they will have their way if good people don't step forward now and make a difference. Every American has the right to speak their mind. Every American has the right to bear arms. But it is up to every American to draw the line when it comes to the type of guns that are considered a reasonable means of self-defense. 

No one is allowed to own a bazooka. In a movie theater an assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine can cause just as much damage. 

So don't just sit there and do nothing. Contact your representatives and let them know that their jobs depend upon change. It won't always be someone else's kids in the line of fire. 

The time is now. LET YOUR HEART BE HEARD.

Carrey followed this by providing a list of the Senators in every single state.

It is clear to me that the those Fox News idiots and the gun lobbyists have seriously underestimated Carrey's commitment to this cause. There is no doubt he is in it for the long haul.

As am I by the way.

The only question remaining is, are you?

No surprise to Alaskans that some of the people who dared to speak to Joe McGinnisss on the record are now being threatened.

Courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press:

Author Joe McGinniss says some of the people quoted by name in his controversial book on Sarah Palin have been threatened since its release last week. 

"A couple of them have already gotten some blowback," McGinniss said Thursday in a telephone interview from Toronto, where he was in town promoting "The Rogue: Searching For The Real Sarah Palin." 

"One guy was even told he'd better watch his back because it's going to be a long winter; he might not see the end of it because he has such a big mouth." 

After months spent fending off similar threats when he moved next door to the former Alaska governor last year while researching the book in Wasilla, Alaska, McGinniss suspects Todd Palin and his pals.

"Todd really is a bully," he alleges with a sigh. 

This is the point that has to driven home repeatedly concerning why so many people will NOT speak on the record about Palin and her numerous scandals.  Because they are terrified of just this kind of thing happening to them.

And if anybody has reason to doubt Joe, then listen to what Nick Broomfield has to say on that same topic:

To make matters worse, word had spread throughout the town that Broomfield was intending to make “a hit piece” on Palin, which scared many of the townspeople into silence, with one former Palin classmate worried that speaking out against Palin would ruin him financially in Wasilla. And that's when things got strange. 

“I got Anchorage police calling me up, then I started getting some weird phone calls to the office—people calling me ‘scum' and a lot of people just saying one word and then hanging up,” said Broomfield. “Just creepy stuff.” 

By the way in this interview Joe also responds to a question about the letter from Palin's lawyer threatening a lawsuit:

Although Palin has dismissed the book as defamatory and warns she will sue, Crown Publishers says it stands by the book and its author, while McGinniss says he's not worried. 

"Anybody can have a lawyer write a letter threatening to sue," he said. "To actually sue is a very different business and you open yourself to a discovery process."

I have it on good authority that Joe is chomping at the bit for the opportunity to face Palin in a courtroom.  There are some on the Right who claim that he and his publisher are in deep doo doo and that because the lawsuit would take place in Alaska that McGinniss and his Crown Publishers are sweating the cost involved in traveling back and forth to Alaska.

Bullshit! Take it from me, Joe LOVES Alaska, and if he could get his publishers to foot the bill to fly him back and forth, while also receiving tons of press for his book during a lawsuit against Sarah Palin, the man would be in hog heaven!

Teabaggers use intimidation to disrupt Moveon.org meeting in Roseburg, Oregon.

Courtesy of The News Review:

Many members of the Douglas County tea party, including Americans for Prosperity President Rich Raynor, initially defended the party's actions and vowed to use similar tactics to break up future MoveOn meetings.

After the incident was reported, Raynor told The News-Review he received phone calls threatening his family. Raynor said several email accounts and his Facebook account had been hacked. 

Seemingly boastful exchanges between him and tea party member Karen Meier were posted in The News-Review's comment section, allegedly by an email hacker. 

Meier and Raynor said the hackings are being investigated by the FBI. Regional FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said she was “not aware of any active investigations” involving email hacking.

In a voice mail message, Raynor said he had been “advised not to make any further comment.” 

In a phone interview Tuesday, Meier, who attended the event, extended an apology to the MoveOn group, saying tea partiers got caught up in the moment.

This is a shameful display.  How can people who claim to want to defend the Constitution so callously interrupt someone's attempts to exercise their right to free speech?

They were clearly just being bullies and assholes, and if nobody every stands up to them they will continue acting that way until somebody gets hurt.

Of course it could have been worse for the MoveOn.org people.  When Dennis Zaki and I interviewed Teabaggers in Anchorage two years ago, a number of them were packing guns and wearing shirts that claimed they were members of the 2nd Amendment Patriots. (Later they gathered outside of the Dena'ina Convention Center and dared Senator Mark Begich to come out and talk to them.)