Is it Thanksgiving already? Well you know what that means.

I decided to post the Countdown version this year, which featured David Shuster sitting in for Keith Olbermann.

Of course almost all of the versions of this are fairly entertaining, but something about the classics just keeps us coming back to them.

Hey folks remember when people actually thought this moron might run for president?

Ah, good times.

Ohio gun dealer may have averted a massacre by refusing to sell a gun to a customer despite the fact that he easily passed background check.

Courtesy of MSN:  

An Ohio gun shop owner refused to sell a gun to a man, despite the potential customer having cleared background checks. Now some are saying that in doing so, shop owner John Downs might have foiled plans for a mass shooting. 

James Howard, 25, withdrew from his classes at Ohio University last Monday and allegedly assaulted an assistant hockey coach before driving to Downs' store. Downs, however, turned him away. "Just the look in his eye... there was something about him. I don't know. You really can't explain it. He was going to do something. He was going to do something," Downs told CBS News. 

Howard returned to the gun store later that same day but Downs locked the door and had a customer call 911. The police later found Howard's car with a gun in the back seat at a Walmart; Howard was in the process of purchasing almost 50 rounds of 20-gauge shot gun shell ammunition. 

Hocking County Sherriff Lanny North told CBS he believed Downs' gut reaction might have saved lives. "We don't know what he may have prevented," North said.

As it turned out Howard had a history of mental illness, but that is really beside the point.

Having a mental illness is really not a consistent indicator for determining if somebody is a threat or not. Even seemingly rational people can be upset enough by circumstances to suddenly want to murder somebody.

That's where the term "crime of passion" originated.

This gun shop owner made the right call, and recognized that the person trying to purchase the deadly weapon had no business purchasing a deadly weapon.

Which is why we really need to have those cooling off periods built into gun purchases.

If you want to buy a weapon for hunting or home security you can plan ahead and wait two weeks without it interrupting your plan to assassinate Bambi.

However if you want to start killing people, two weeks seems like a long enough period of time to let that feeling pass. Of course to be fair, if you are indeed somebody who REALLY has your heart set on that killing spree then you will probably be able to handle the two week waiting period.

Gotta love that 2nd Amendment.

And finally remembering the three year anniversary of Sandy Hook.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

There are at least 555 reasons to ask whether American children are safer from gun violence today than they were three years ago, when the unthinkable happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 

That's how many kids under the age of 12 have died from gunshots — both intentional and accidental — since Adam Lanza stormed into the school in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012, and shot dead 20 children and six staff members, according to an NBC News analysis.

That figure, derived from news reports, other publicly available information and data from the Gun Violence Archive, is likely significantly lower than the true number of child gun deaths, as suicides often are not covered by news media and other gun deaths sometimes go unreported. Even so, it works out to a rate of just under one death of a child by firearm every two days in this country.

I don't know about all of you but the massacre at Sandy Hook hit me almost as hard as the attacks of 9-11.

Just like 2001 I was riveted to my TV, completely unable to fathom what I was seeing.

And then I thought, "Well this is it. Surely NOW we will start working on comprehensive gun legislation to keep our children safe from another attack like this one."

And I could not have been more wrong.

It was not that there were more victims in the Newtown shooting than in other massacres before it, but these were babies. Surely that would be enough to shock people out of their complacency and get the country angry and frightened enough to insist that we do something.

Something perhaps like what Australia had done in the wake of THEIR mass killing.

But that didn't happen.

Instead NRA President Wayne LaPierre blamed the politicians and the schools themselves:

" Politicians pass laws for gun free school zones, they issue press releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them. And, in doing so, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."

Sarah Palin responded by suggesting no real answer to gun violence other than more prayer:   

Unspeakable evil slammed America in the beautiful little town of Newtown, Connecticut, just days ago. No words can express the collective shock and sorrow shared by Americans who know the murder of innocent children is the most horrendous crime imaginable. The Connecticut state motto, “Qui transtulit sustinet,” promises that only God can sustain us. Though still insufficient and unfulfilling for the grieving families of these beautiful babies in the Lord's arms now, perhaps those words are all the inconsolable loved ones can hold on to at this time. May God show His sustaining love to them right now. Please Lord.

(Palin also claims in her book "Good Tidings and Great Joy" that she responded to the calls for more gun laws after Sandy Hook, by buying Todd a new gun.)

Other conservative politicians responded in similarly cowardly ways, as did a few Democrats, and then of course we have the Sandy Hook Truthers who simply refuse to believe the attack happened at all.

However it was President Obama who went to Newtown and tried to comfort the people who had lost loved ones and try to ease their pain:  

The president took a deep breath and steeled himself, and went into the first classroom. And what happened next I’ll never forget. 

Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break. 

And then the entire scene would repeat—for hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss. After each classroom, we would go back into those fluorescent hallways and walk through the names of the coming families, and then the president would dive back in, like a soldier returning to a tour of duty in a worthy but wearing war. We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer. 

The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned.

In the end there were a few laws passed in Connecticut, New York, and Maryland, but nothing on the Federal level.

And here we sit, three years later, just as vulnerable as we were on December 14, 2012.

In fact it could be argued with this push for increased gun ownership and more conceal carry permits in the wake of recent terrorist attacks that the possibility for another school, mall, or theater mass shooting has only increased.

Because despite what the NRA might tell you, more guns mean more bullets, and more bullets mean more people killed and wounded.

It's just math.

After these most recent shootings these are being mass produced.

Yep, they have a point.

Yet another horrific mass shooting in "The greatest nation on earth."

Eight bodies found in Houston home after standoff with suspect http://t.co/11TAWC0wxQ #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/fi7pr1NPSd

— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) August 9, 2015

Courtesy of The Washington Post: 

Houston authorities have charged a 48-year-old man with multiple counts of capital murder after deputies discovered the bodies of six children and two adults in a home where the man was arrested. 

The man, David R. Conley, allegedly was involved in a standoff with deputies that ended when he was coaxed out of the home by hostage negotiators without incident, according to the Houston Chronicle. 

Once deputies entered the residence, they discovered the gruesome scene. 

“He restrained, shot and killed eight people,” Celeste Byrom, an assistant district attorney, said during a court hearing Sunday in which Conley was ordered held without bail, according to the Chronicle. 

Byrom said Conley gained access to the home through an unlocked window and restrained his victims using handcuffs before shooting them in the back of the head, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.

Apparently Conley, who has a history of violence, had previously been in a relationship with one of the victims, Valerie Jackson.

On fact one of the victims, a thirteen year old boy, is believed to be the son Conley had with Jackson.

Can we not go at least one week in this country without yet another report of a horrendous massacre involving a gun?

And let us remind ourselves once again that after Australia's 1996 Port Arthur massacre their politicians bravely said "No more fucking guns!" And there has not been a mass killing since. 

It can be done, we just lack the will, and perhaps the intelligence, to do it.

Hillary Clinton says that opponents of gun laws "terrorize" the majority of people.

Courtesy of Time:  

“We cannot let a minority of people, and that’s what it is, it is a minority of people, hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people,” Clinton said during a live CNN town hall. The comments were Clinton’s deepest foray into an exceedingly controversial political subject since leaving the State Department last year. 

“I was disappointed that the Congress did not pass universal background checks after the horrors of the shootings at Sandy Hook,” she said in response to a question from a school teacher in the audience. “I don’t think any parent, or any person should have to fear about their child going to school or going to college because someone for whatever reason, psychological, emotional, political, ideological, whatever, could possibly enter that school property with an automatic weapon and murder innocent children, students, teachers.” 

“I will speak out [on this subject] no matter what role I find myself in,” Clinton pledged, referring to her consideration of a presidential bid in 2016.

Damn, that is a pretty bold position for somebody who is clearly running for President in 2016.

This will ABSOLUTELY inspire the NRA to throw tons of money at defeating her and other Right Wing lunatics will now have a rallying cry to use to get the conservative vote out.

This also kind of softens the criticism that Hillary is too politically calculating and that all of her responses to the questions from reporters are focused on making her more electable rather than her honest feelings on the topic.

Clearly Hillary knows that this answer will show up in political advertisements, chain e-mails, and debates right up until November 2016.

To honest this really impresses me, and gives me more confidence in who she will be as President.

As did her response to the RNC squirrel:

A Republican National Committee intern, dressed in a Squirrel costume, has been stalking Hillary Clinton while she’s on her book tour. On Tuesday, the former Secretary of State walked up to the intern and said while handing him a copy of her book ‘Hard Choices,’ “Hello Mr. Squirrel, how are you?” She continued with a smile on her face, “I know you’ve been following me around and while you’re in between your gigs. I wanted you to get a copy of my book.”

 Oh yeah, she going to do fine.

President Obama's biggest frustration: Gun violence.

"People ask me what I'm proudest of and what are my biggest frustrations as president," Obama said. "My biggest frustration is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage. We're the only developed country where this happens. And it happens now once a week. And it's a one day story. There's no place else like this. Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There's no advanced developed country on earth that would put up with this."

"Now we have a different tradition, we have a 2nd Amendment. We have historically respected gun rights. I respect gun rights.  But the idea for example that we could not even get a background check bill in, to make sure that if you're going to buy a weapon you have to actually go through a fairly rigorous process so that we know who you are, so you can't just walk up to a store and buy a semi-automatic weapon, makes no sense."

Hey guess what?

President Obama's biggest frustration is also MY biggest frustration.

And do you know what?

It should be ALL of our biggest frustration.

I felt every word he spoke here, because I have said them over and over myself.

On the face of it we should have no problem protecting the rights of law abiding Americans to own firearms, while also keeping them out of the hands of those who might use them to do harm to others.

I know it can be done, and the fact that so many on the Right simply refuse to even engage in a conversation as to how is something that I find completely unacceptable.

And obviously so does the President.

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Remember that guy who stole the memorial sign for the Sandy Hook victim? Yeah, well they threw his ass in jail.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Virginia man who claims the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut never took place has been arrested after stolen memorial signs for two 7-year-old victims were found in his home, police said. 

A sign honoring victim Chase Kowalski had been removed from a playground in Mantoloking, New Jersey, and another, in memory of Grace McDonnell, was taken from a playground in Mystic, Connecticut. 

Both signs were found on Friday at the Herndon, Virginia, residence of Andrew David Truelove, 28, and he was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property, Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard told reporters. 

She said police tracked down Truelove after he emailed a reporter who had written about the thefts and the journalist passed along information to investigators. 

Grand theft charges for removing the memorial signs are pending in Connecticut and New Jersey, DeBoard said. 

Truelove told police he is one of the so-called “truthers” who do not believe the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook School actually happened. In the incident, one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, gunman Adam Lanza, 20, a former student at the elementary campus, killed 20 children and six adults before taking his own life.

This is apparently the outcome when people believe that the right to own guns is more important than the lives of children.

I was amazed at how many people got caught up in the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories.

I also hate the fact that crazy people like this undermine efforts to expose ACTUAL conspiracies or unrevealed facts about things we think we know.

The father of son murdered in UCSB shooting rampage asks the question that we all should be asking.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Speaking about his 20-year-old deceased son, Richard Martinez told the press: “Our son Chris Martinez and six others are dead. Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don’t think it will happen to your child until it does.” 

After explaining how beloved his son was, and how hurtful his loss is for the family, Martinez took aim at those he believes should be held responsible for the mass shooting: 

"Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say, “Stop this madness!” Too many have died. We should say to ourselves, “Not one more!”

I feel this father's pain, and share his frustration with a political system that seems unwilling to stand up to an organization that is pushing policies that put us ALL at risk.

Lone gunman kills seven and wounds seven more in shooting rampage in California. Update!

Courtesy of the Santa Barbara Independent: 

A lone gunman killed six people and injured seven more during a shooting rampage Friday night in Isla Vista that Sheriff Bill Brown called “the work of a madman.” The suspect was killed after firing on responding deputies, but it’s not clear if the fatal wound to his head was self-inflicted or the result of return fire. 

The seven injured victims are being treated at Santa Barbara Cottage hospital — some for gunshot wounds, others for trauma sustained when the suspect crashed his car as he was pursued — and one recently underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries. 

Initial reports suggested that two suspects were involved in the shooting, but Brown said during a 2:30 a.m. press conference Saturday morning that the gunman acted alone. Brown said the man was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and that investigators are working to determine if other weapons were involved. 

The names of the victims and the suspect have not been released. Brown, however, confirmed that written and video material left by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger of Calabasas in the hours and days leading up to the shooting is being reviewed as evidence in the massacre. “It appears to be connected,” he said.

The suspect left a video entitled "Elliot Rodger’s Retribution" (Old video link replaced with new one.) in which he laid out exactly what he was going to do and blamed it on girls not being attracted to him, and stating that he was a virgin that had never even been kissed even though he is the "perfect guy."

The video is incredibly disturbing so watch it at your own risk.

So much for the NSA spying on everything we do. If THIS did not get their attention it is hard to imagine what would.

I assume that the NRA will suggest that the only way to prevent other slaughters such as this one is to arm every sorority girl in America. Because heaven forbid that there is a lunatic out there who CANNOT get their hands on a weapon when they have murder on the mind.

Update: Apparently both his parents and social worker tried to warn police:

A lawyer for Peter Rodger said that his son, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome as a child, had been receiving psychiatric treatment from several mental health professionals. 

His parents contacted police after being alarmed by earlier YouTube videos “regarding suicide and the killing of people”, said Alan Shifman, the attorney. 

The police interviewed Rodger and found him to be “polite and kind”, though noted that he had trouble making friends, he said. 

A social worker, who worked with Rodger, also contacted police about him last week. Police said they were investigating a video in which a man complained of rejection by women and threatened revenge.

Looks like there were people trying to help him, but they simply did not understand the depth of his anger and feelings of isolation.

Personally I think that the minimum that should have been done was to make sure he had no access to weapons.  I have worked with a lot of angry, and depressed, young men, and keeping guns away from them is always our top priority.

Update 2: It's even worse than we thought.

Sandy Hook, faith, and the great weight that rests on the shoulders of the President.

This is taken from an excerpt of the book "THE PRESIDENT’S DEVOTIONAL: The Daily Readings That Inspired President Obama" written by Joshua DuBois, and posted over at HuffPo.

It deals with what the President experienced that day, how it affected him, and how it may have changed how he views his job as President.  

The families came in and gathered together, room by room. Many struggled to offer a weak smile when we whispered, “The president will be here soon.” A few were visibly angry—so understandable that it barely needs to be said—and were looking for someone, anyone, to blame. Mostly they sat in silence. 

I went downstairs to greet President Obama when he arrived, and I provided an overview of the situation. “Two families per classroom . . . The first is . . . and their child was . . . The second is . . . and their child was . . . We’ll tell you the rest as you go.” 

The president took a deep breath and steeled himself, and went into the first classroom. And what happened next I’ll never forget. 

Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break. 

And then the entire scene would repeat—for hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss. After each classroom, we would go back into those fluorescent hallways and walk through the names of the coming families, and then the president would dive back in, like a soldier returning to a tour of duty in a worthy but wearing war. We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer. 

The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned. 

And the funny thing is—President Obama has never spoken about these meetings. Yes, he addressed the shooting in Newtown and gun violence in general in a subsequent speech, but he did not speak of those private gatherings. In fact, he was nearly silent on Air Force One as we rode back to Washington, and has said very little about his time with these families since. It must have been one of the defining moments of his presidency, quiet hours in solemn classrooms, extending as much healing as was in his power to extend. But he kept it to himself—never seeking to teach a lesson based on those mournful conversations, or opening them up to public view. 

The book, and the HuffPo article, focus on the President's faith, and talk about how it provided him solace during this trying time, and many others.

I am not a person of faith, but I understand completely what it is like to draw from an inner well of strength that you didn't know that you had, and to use it to overcome things that may seem at first insurmountable.

Looking at that picture up above, and reading the words of this post, make it clear that President was able to put away his personal pain over what happened long enough to give strength, and compassion, and even love to these families that were so terribly impacted by the gunman's bullets that day. (The HuffPo piece also mentions that details of the killings that the President was privy to that have never been released to the public.)

Like I said, I am not a religious person, but I certainly do not fault WHATEVER the President tapped into that gave him the vast reservoir of strength that he relied on that day. Because there are many among us who would have found ourselves wanting in the face of such overwhelming tragedy, anger, and despair.

It is also quite clear why afterward the President tried so hard to get at least some comprehensive gun reforms through the Congress. I have little doubt that he felt compelled to do SOMETHING to protect the next victims of senseless gun violence.

Sadly he was stopped by those who put the needs of the gun manufacturers over the needs of parents to protect their children.

Perhaps if some of them had been with the President that day, the outcome would have been far different. At least I want desperately to hope that it would have made a difference.

Fox's version of a special needs classroom, The Five, takes offense at being mocked by Jon Stewart and decide they'd like to debate him. Yes, because there will be nothing mock-able about THAT!

In case you missed it here is the Daily Show bit that has the time-out corner all in a huff.

Let me just say that I have NEVER watched The Five in my life, but IF they get Jon Stewart on to debate them I will gladly sit through the entire program with a huge bowl of popcorn so that I can watch him tear them into tiny bite size pieces.

I am guessing that this group of short bus riders have never seen Stewart's famous Crossfire appearance, which resulted in that show being yanked off the air by a horribly embarrassed CNN. (Luckily for them Fox News is used to being embarrassed.)

All in all it will be a bloodbath,. A very, VERY satisfying bloodbath.

(H/T to Addicting Info.)

Well this should save the authorities time in identifying the people responsible for the next gun massacre.

I cannot tell you how embarrassed I am that BOTH of my Senators are represented in this graphic.

Gun store owner who sold weapons used in Newtown massacre has license revoked.

Courtesy of Journal News: 

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has permanently revoked the federal firearms license of East Windsor, Conn., gun store owner David LaGuercia, whose shop reportedly sold guns used in the Newtown school massacre and a second Connecticut mass shooting. 

ATF spokeswoman Deb Seifert told The Journal News on Thursday that she could not be more specific on the reasons LaGuercia’s license was revoked. It was revoked Dec. 20 and the 60-day time frame to appeal has expired. 

“It’s been revoked,” Seifert said. “It’s final at this point.” 

Seifert declined to comment on any criminal investigation into Riverview Gun Sales, which ATF agents raided in December, days after the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary left 26 dead. She referred questions on any criminal probe to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Tom Carson, who could not be reached Thursday for comment. 

In December, LaGuercia said in a statement that he was “absolutely appalled” to learn that a gun he sold to Nancy Lanza may have been used by her son Adam in the Newtown massacre. 

“There is nothing more devastating than the loss of a child, and I am absolutely appalled that the product that was sold several years ago would be used in this type of crime,” he said in the statement at the time. “Our hearts go out to the victims’ families and, as a father of three, I know firsthand of a parent’s loss and it’s the worst nightmare. 

“We are cooperating with law enforcement in their efforts to get to the bottom of this senseless tragedy,” he said. Citing anonymous sources, The Hartford Courant has reported that the guns used in the Newtown massacre, including a Bushmaster rifle, and the mass shooting at Hartford Distributors Inc. in 2010 that left eight dead were both bought legally at LaGuercia’s gun shop. 

I don't know if this has any actual connection to the shooting, nor do I see how it could be right now, but I will say that just having this happen might send a signal to OTHER gun shop owners to be very careful as to who they sell their guns to.

I would also have to imagine that this gun store owner was probably devastated to learn that the guns that he put out on the street were used in such a horrendous massacre.

I think if it were me I would not want to continue on in that business.

Rachel Maddow offers some new, and troubling information about the Sandy Hook massacre. She also informs us as to why Dianne Feinstein was exactly the WRONG person for Ted Cruz to lecture about gun violence or the Constitution.

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

You know I usually see Rachel as being the more measured voice on MSNBC.

She is less bombastic, or histrionic, than Matthews, O'Donnell, or Schultz.

However THIS time you can hear in her voice how upset she is by these deaths, and Senator Feinstein's treatment at the hands of Ted Cruz, which by the way matches my anger and frustration almost perfectly.

The fact that if the Republicans had not let Dianne Feinstein's assault weapon ban expire it could have saved many of the lives at Sandy Hook, or perhaps even prevented that tragedy altogether, makes my blood boil. Dianne Feinstein and the Democrats tried to protect our children from being massacred, and the NRA, the GOP, and the gun nuts might just as well have been the ones that walked into that school and put those bullets into those babies themselves.

Their blood is on their hands, period!

Roger Ebert is serious about wanting Sarah Palin to debate Annabel Park, founder of the Coffee Party.

From Roger Ebert's Twitter page:

I'd like to hear this young woman in conversation with Sarah Palin. I'm very serious. http://j.mp/cLQDDv
5:23 AM Jul 23rd via web
Retweeted by 57 people

Here is the video.



I am totally with Mr. Ebert on this one.  It will absolutely NEVER happen, but damn I would pay big money to see it!

Okay just for fun, how long do YOU think that Caribou Barbie would last in a debate with this articulate, intelligent young lady?  You know assuming that she would actually show up of course.