Majority of Americans believe that owning a gun increases safety, a majority of the facts say that is bullshit.

Courtesy of Vox:

Does gun ownership make you safer? 

If you ask the general public, most Americans say it does. According to a new poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, 58 percent of Americans agree with the statement that “[g]un ownership does more to increase safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.” In comparison, 38 percent agree with the statement that “[g]un ownership does more to reduce safety by giving too many people access to firearms and increasing the chances for accidental misuse.” 

This is a shift from 1999, when 41 percent of Americans agreed with the first statement and 52 percent with the second. 

But if you look at the research, it seems the majority from 1999 had the right idea: Gun ownership decreases safety — on both an individual and collective level. 

Individually, several studies have found that the presence of a gun in a home elevates the risk of death. A 2014 review of the research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, for instance, found that access to firearms was associated with a doubled risk for homicide and a tripled risk for suicide. A 2017 piece by Melinda Wenner Moyer in Scientific American also ran through the evidence, concluding that gun ownership was associated with a higher risk of homicide, suicide, and accidental shootings.

These facts need to be broadcast far and wide to counter the argument from the NRA and gun nuts who seem to think that banning military assault weapons would somehow render them impotent. 

The truth is that if they need a gun to make them feel safe, or like they are a real man, then they are already impotent.

Something to keep in mind.

Next time someone tries to tell you that the internet was fine without #NetNeutrality and it going away will won't change anything just remind them of this... pic.twitter.com/YHJMiWEBSe

— Barnacules Nerdgasm (@Barnacules) November 24, 2017

We busted our asses to put those net neutrality protections in place, and now we need to get off our asses in order to protect what we accomplished.

For more information, and guidance on what you can do, just click here.

The Secret Service is going broke trying to protect Trump and his family, and keep up with their extravagant lifestyle.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

The Secret Service can no longer pay hundreds of agents it needs to carry out an expanded protective mission – in large part due to the sheer size of President Trump's family and efforts necessary to secure their multiple residences up and down the East Coast. 

Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex'' Alles, in an interview with USA TODAY, said more than 1,000 agents have already hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances that were meant to last the entire year. 

The agency has faced a crushing workload since the height of the contentious election season, and it has not relented in the first seven months of the administration. Agents must protect Trump – who has traveled almost every weekend to his properties in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia – and his adult children whose business trips and vacations have taken them across the country and overseas. 

"The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law,'' Alles said. "I can't change that. I have no flexibility.'' 

Alles said the service is grappling with an unprecedented number of White House protectees. Under Trump, 42 people have protection, a number that includes 18 members of his family. That's up from 31 during the Obama administration. 

It is not just the large number of Trump family members and associates that is draining resources, it is also the number of locations the Secret Service is expected to cover and the amount of traveling they are required to do.

In response a number of agents are leaving the agency.

And that situation does not appear to be changing anytime soon:

The compensation crunch is so serious that the director has begun discussions with key lawmakers to raise the combined salary and overtime cap for agents, from $160,000 per year to $187,000 for at least the duration of Trump's first term. 

But even if such a proposal was approved, about 130 veteran agents would not be fully compensated for hundreds of hours already amassed, according to the agency. 

"I don't see this changing in the near term,'' Alles said. 

So not only do you have to protect Cheeto Hitler, but you may have to do it on your own time without any hope of compensation. 

I don't know why anybody should be surprised. After all this is EXACTLY how Trump treated contractors that worked for him in the past.

Secret Service vacates Trump Tower over dispute about cost.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions. 

Previously, the Secret Service had stationed its command post — which houses supervisors and backup agents on standby in case of an emergency — in a Trump Tower unit one floor below the president’s apartment. 

But in early July, the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts worry could hamper the agency that protects the president’s home and family. 

The command post appears unlikely to move anytime soon back inside Trump Tower, where the president and his family have rarely gone since moving to the White House. 

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization said the government should seek space in another location.

Apparently the brouhaha is over the fact that the Trump folks are charging the taxpayers too goddamn much for the space.

And good for them for standing up for the American taxpayer.

Remember we have already learned that it costs in excess of $300,000 a day to protect this building. 

Personally I would not pay fifty cents toward the protection of Cheeto Hitler and his family.

As far as I'm concerned if the Trump Organization cannot make a better deal on the rent, then Donald Trump can pay private contractors to protect his family and employees.

The US Military is paying $130,000 a month to stay in Trump Tower and protect a president who is never there.

Courtesy of CNBC:

The United States government is paying more than $130,000 a month to rent a space in Trump Tower for a military office that supports the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. 

Lease documents obtained by the Journal showed the government agreed to pay $2.39 million for a 3,475 square foot space from April 11, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018 — above market rate for similarly sized high rise luxury apartments, the report said. 

A spokeswoman at the General Services Administration said the space is owned by someone not affiliated with the Trump Organization, suggesting the rent money isn't going to President Donald Trump, according to the report. 

The GSA is the agency that negotiates office space agreements for the government. 

An office like the one in Trump Tower is used by the U.S. military to provide services that need to be close to the president at all times. That includes medical, food, transportation, communications and a briefcase that allows the president to authorize a nuclear attack, the Journal said.

But here's the kicker.  

The president, however, hasn't spent a night at the skyscraper since taking office, it added.

So to be clear, the American taxpayers are paying Donald Trump for the services needed to protect Donald Trump, which he never actually needs because the taxpayers are also paying to protect Donald Trump on one of Donald Trump's many golf course.

Which are also being paid to house those protective services. 

Does that about sum this up?

Armed man shows up to Gettysburg National Military Park prepared to defend the memorials, promptly shoots himself in the leg.

Courtesy of Penn Live: 

A "patriot" who brought a revolver to Gettysburg National Military Park Saturday amid rumors of desecration of memorials accidentally shot himself in the leg Saturday. 

Benjamin Hornberger, 23, of Shippensburg, accidentally triggered the revolver, which was inside a leg holster, when he temporarily rested the bottom of his flag pole against the holster, according to witnesses. Park police were nearby when the shooting occurred and officers quickly applied a tourniquet that may have saved the man's life, said Sgt. Anna Rose, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Park Police. 

A tourniquet type device covered the wound on the man's left thigh as he was loaded into an ambulance. He talked with paramedics and seemed in good spirits. The gun then went off a second time about 1 p.m. when police were trying to unload the weapon. 

The gun was pointed at the ground in a field north of Meade's Headquarters along the west side of Taneytown Road. A PennLive reporter witnessed the second shot, which occurred as visitors to the park milled nearby. 

Officers said the gun was "bad" and they had a hard time getting the rounds out of the chamber. After they forced all of the rounds out of the revolver, they secured the gun.

"Bad" gun? I thought that guns could never be good nor bad, and were simply tools that were only dangerous in the hands of criminals?

At least that's what the NRA keeps telling us.

I know people are ready to mock this young man but I think he was very brave to shoot himself as a warning to those that may have wanted to desecrate those monuments that they could be next.

Just as soon as he returned from the hospital that is.

"Y'all stay away from them monument things. I'm going to get this here looked at and then I will be right back to shoot myself in my other leg if I see anybody who starts to look like they are preparing to do any desecrating."

So how much damage has the Trump presidency inflicted on the country in just a little over six weeks? Wait, that much?

Together we'll destroy this country. That will show them, that will show them all.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Giants in telecommunications, like Verizon and AT&T, will not have to take“reasonable measures” to ensure that their customers’ Social Security numbers, web browsing history and other personal information are not stolen or accidentally released. 

Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will not be punished, at least for now, for not collecting extra money from customers to cover potential losses from certain kinds of high-risk trades that helped unleash the 2008 financial crisis. 

And Social Security Administration data will no longer be used to try to block individuals with disabling mental health issues from buying handguns, nor will hunters be banned from using lead-based bullets, which can accidentally poison wildlife, on 150 million acres of federal lands. 

These are just a few of the more than 90 regulations that federal agencies and the Republican-controlled Congress have delayed, suspended or reversed in the month and a half since President Trump took office, according to a tally by The New York Times. 

The emerging effort — dozens more rules could be eliminated in the coming weeks — is one of the most significant shifts in regulatory policy in recent decades. It is the leading edge of what Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, described late last month as “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”

Almost every one of these guidelines and restrictions were carefully designed to protect every day citizens like you and me and now they are gone.

This is not even taking into account the new focus on rounding up undocumented immigrants, the Muslim travel ban, and the attempts to repeal Obamacare.

We have heard over and over again that "elections have consequences" but I don't think that has ever been more apparent than it is today.

LOVE this illustration.

I only hope this can last until the tangerine tyrant is finally removed from office.

Man starts Go Fund Me page to protect actress Betty White from 2016's angel of death.

Courtesy of Money: 

As the past week brought news of deaths of George Michael and Carrie Fisher, people are fearing that 2016 might take the life of another beloved celebrity: Betty White. 

A user named Demetrios Hrysikos from South Carolina created a GoFundMe page to “protect” the Golden Girls actress from 2016. “Help 2016 catch these hands if it goes anywhere near Betty White,” Hrysikos wrote. “If she’s okay with it, I will fly to wherever Betty White is and keep her safe till Jan. 1, 2017.” 

People have donated as much as $100 to Hrysikos’ mission to keep White safe from the perils of 2016. The campaign has raised $2,146 as of Wednesday morning. 

(As of this post that amount has risen to $2,576.00.)

Personally I think there are worst causes in the world than protecting Betty White.

And to be honest I am not sure how many of these celebrity deaths we can take at this point.

Though I think we all agree there is at least one that might not break our hearts. (Okay that's probably just mean, right?)

P.S. I wrote this post yesterday before I learned that the grim reaper had been satisfied simply to take Princess Leia, he had to take her mother as well.

Maybe we should all just stand outside of Betty White's house and form a human shield against death.

The internet is planning to run for the Canadian border to hide itself from Donald Trump. I wonder if the internet has room in the van for one more?

Courtesy of The Verge:  

The Internet Archive, a digital library nonprofit that preserves billions of webpages for the historical record, is building a backup archive in Canada after the election of Donald Trump. Today, it began collecting donations for the Internet Archive of Canada, intended to create a copy of the archive outside the United States. 

“On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change,” writes founder Brewster Kahle. “It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change. For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a web that may face greater restrictions. It means serving patrons in a world in which government surveillance is not going away; indeed it looks like it will increase.”

The San Francisco-based Internet Archive is comprised of several different preservation efforts, spanning nearly every medium. As of 2012, the entire archive held 10 petabytes of data; for reference, Facebook’s entire photo and video collection totaled 100 petabytes around the same time. Alongside films and books, the archive holds thousands of early software programs and video games that can be emulated on modern systems. It’s particularly known for the Wayback Machine, which continuously crawls the web to archive pages over the course of decades. 

The Internet Archive provides some of the most comprehensive preservation of our digital ephemera, for both intellectual study and practical use — including journalistic fact checking. Kahle estimates it will cost “millions” of dollars to host a copy of the Internet Archive in Canada, but it would shield its data from some American legal action.

Okay so it's not the WHOLE internet, but it is the archive and protecting that is very important.

And seriously does anybody feel that it's safe in the same country led by a Donald Trump?

By the way you can contribute to protecting the internet archive by donating here. 

Before leaving office President Obama protects the Arctic by declaring portions of it off limits for oil exploration.

President Obama in Kotzebue, Alaska.

Courtesy of Phys.org:  

US President Barack Obama on Friday declared portions of the Arctic off-limits for oil exploration for the next five years, dealing a blow to Republican efforts to expand fossil fuel extraction. 

The decision means new oil and gas exploration leasing in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea will not be considered until after 2022. 

"Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry's declining interest in the area, forgoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement. 

The US government made a similar announcement in March, when it removed the Atlantic Ocean from the five-year road map. 

Environmental groups hailed Friday's decision as historic and coming at a key moment, as President-elect Donald Trump has promised to expand drilling for oil and to revive the American coal industry. 

Apparently the decision pissed off Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski which proves that it is a good one.

However it is also a fact that if Donald Trump decides to do away with his ban it is within his power to do so, though he will receive significant resistance from environmental groups and Democrats.

Even with only weeks remaining of his term President Obama is still doing what he can to protect us, and our planet.

Just a reminder that Bernie Sanders still has Secret Service protection, which is costing taxpayers $40,000 a day. Why?

2 million dollars to protect a guy who is NEVER going to be the Democratic nominee, simply because he refuses to end his campaign?

Oh I am dying to hear how the Bernie-bots are going to defend this.

Ohio gun shop owner shot and killed while teaching a gun safety course.

Courtesy of the Guardian:

Authorities say the owner of an Ohio gun shop who was teaching a concealed carry class was fatally shot in the neck by a student who accidentally fired a weapon. 

The (Cincinnati) Enquirer reported that the shop owner, 64-year-old James Baker, was shot on Saturday while students practiced weapon malfunction drills. 

The Clermont County sheriff’s office said about 10 people were taking the class at the time at KayJay Gun Shop in Monroe Township, about 25 miles south-east of Cincinnati. 

Baker died at the scene. The student who fired the weapon was not immediately identified. 

According to the gun shop’s website, the concealed carry class included basic pistol safety instruction, shooting range sessions and a review of Ohio gun laws.

I will assume that this student failed the course. But hey, at least he survived it.

Sorry to be so flip, but anybody who thinks that owning a gun keeps them safe does not really understand guns.

Guns end lives, they do not protect lives.

If you want to be safe you keep guns as far away from yourself and your family as possible, install some good locks on the doors and windows, if you are really concerned install an alarm system, and then to top it all off get a good dog.

There, now you infinitely safer than you would be with a gun in your house.

Sure it's a lot less macho than waving around a firearm at every bump in the night, but it is a hell of a lot better than going to jail for shooting somebody in a drunken rage or attending the funeral of a loved one who was accidentally killed by your totally inadequate safety measure.

Two year old girl hit in the face when the gun in her mother's purse goes off after being dropped.

Courtesy of TPM:  

A two-year-old child was struck in the face after a gun concealed inside her mother's purse accidentally fired inside a Jackson, Mississippi hospital, police said. 

The woman was standing next to a vending machine at Merit Health Center when she dropped her purse, causing the gun to fire, WJTV reported. A bullet bounced off the vending machine and grazed the child's face. 

The injury was non-life-threatening.

Apparently the incident is under police investigation because no guns are allowed in the hospital.

Actually it seems to me that hospitals should be the ONLY place where you are allowed to have a gun in your possession. That way when it goes off and shoots somebody, which seems to happen with increasing frequency, they will be right where they need to be.

Though in some cases I guess the best place to be standing would be the morgue.

Just another day in the NRA's America.

Muslim woman posts about daughter's fear that Donald Trump will "kick" them out of the country. Former and current military members respond with #IWillProtectYou.

That simple statement from a mother trying to comfort her child attracted the attention of hundreds of people.

One of those people was Army vet Kerri Peek:

Her request to veterans and active duty military members received quite a number of responses:

No one should be scared to live in a country because of their faith. #Sofia #iwillprotectyou pic.twitter.com/KjiBKrhh0D

— Bryan™ (@bryanchasebrown) December 22, 2015

After hearing a story of a Muslim child fearing she'd be taken from her home I was heart broken #iwillprotectyou pic.twitter.com/s83jt1kj4S

— Shannon (@shannon_cregan) December 22, 2015

Sofia, fear not. Good will always protect the innocent. Father of two daughters, Veteran. #iwillprotectyou pic.twitter.com/xhWJQI6mqm

— Simon Salt (@simonsalt) December 22, 2015

And there were more.

You see THAT is the country that we live in.

People like Donald Trump don't understand that.  Which is why they can NEVER be its leader.

H/T to Addicting Info and THV 11.

Just in case you thought Alaska was going to start treating every one equally without somebody trying to stop it. Nope.

"That didn’t take long, did it? Less than two months after the Assembly passed a ground breaking civil rights ordinance, a group of 10 women are leading the effort to repeal it."
Posted by KTVA 11 News on Thursday, December 17, 2015

This bullshit about transgender folks haunting restrooms for the opportunity to assault our children is such a weak argument.

First off as we have said before gay or transgender is NOT the same as being a pedophile. THAT is the shit that certain Baptist Temples in Anchorage try to shove down the throats of their congregants.

We have no more to fear from a transgender person using the same bathroom as our child than we do from ANY OTHER PERSON using the same bathroom as our child.

By the way let me just mention how nice it is to see John Tracy back reporting the news.

He was my go to local anchor back when he was at KTUU, and I really miss his reporting skills.

8 year old girl dies after gun falls to the floor while her mother braids her hair.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Georgia girl was killed in an apparently accidental shooting that also wounded her mother. 

Marsha Lynch said she was braiding her daughter’s hair when a handgun fell to the floor and fired, striking her in the leg and then shooting her 8-year-old daughter in the head. 

Sharia Lynch died from the gunshot wound before she could be airlifted to an area hospital.

Not a day goes by where some child is not killed by a gun in this country.

And yet every single one of these weapons were undoubtedly purchased because their owners believed that having them would be them and their loved ones safe.

That is the mindset created by the NRA and its supporters, and that is the mindset which needs to be changed before we can take the important steps necessary to protect the lives of our children.

This has gone on fucking long enough, and the time for change is now.

Look, more evidence that the Secret Service does not take their responsibility to protect the President and his family seriously enough.

Courtesy of Radar Online:  

An exhaustive probe dug up the shocking revelation that the married agent assigned to protect Michelle was busy trying to hook up with a prominent female Washington D.C. staffer and ignored his duties. 

Racy text messages and a graphic “selfie” that the agent snapped and sent to the woman were also discovered during the probe. 

Agents brought the woman who received the incriminating phone messages to Secret Service HQ in Washington D.C., where she spent “three hours answering questions,” the source tells Radar. 

“They went through her phone and pulled every pertinent text and photo related to the agent,” continues the source, who notes agents “asked the woman if she planned to go to the media” and “made her sign a non-disclosure agreement.” 

“They are in cleanup mode now because they know it’s about to be a bigger story somehow,” says the source.

Seriously folks WTF? 

This Secret Service agent is trying to get his wick wet rather than protect the First Lady of the United States of America?

If I were the President I would rip this guy a new one, and make sure he never worked in any law enforcement capacity for the remainder of his life.

And this is not the first time, by any means, that the Secret Service has dropped the ball.

Here is a laundry list of Secret Service screw-ups since President Obama took office.

I swear if any harm befalls this family the very first place the investigation should start is within the Secret Service itself. Either through incompetence or malice, that is where the trail will likely start.

Secret Service agents drunkenly crash car into White House security barriers. Can we trust the safety of our President to this organization?

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

The Obama administration is investigating allegations that two senior Secret Service agents, including a top member of the president’s protective detail, drove a government car into White House security barricades after drinking at a late-night party last week, an agency official said Wednesday. 

Officers on duty who witnessed the March 4 incident wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, according to a current and a former government official familiar with the incident. But the officers were ordered by a supervisor on duty that night to let the agents go home, said these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal matter.

The investigation is being handled by the Department of Homeland Security. 

I am not exactly sure why the police supervisors felt it appropriate to allow these agents to leave the scene of the accident without being arrested, but it makes me concerned that there will be any disciplinary action at all.

Remember these were SENIOR Secret Service agents, not some green around the gills new hires.

These are men who are tasked with keeping the President, and the President's family safe. And I just have to say that I am increasingly worried that they are simply not up to the job. 

Or perhaps even worse, worried that they are not really even trying to do their jobs.

Remember it was only back in November of 2011 that a gunman was able to fire bullets at the White House, and the only way we know it happened is because a housekeeper noticed broken glass and a chunk of concrete on the floor.

If that were the only incident perhaps there would be no reason for concern. But it is certainly not:

Earlier this year, three agents were sent home from a trip to the Netherlands after getting drunk the night before the President was set to arrive. 

In 2013, two agents were removed from Presidential security detail after sending sexually inappropriate emails to a colleague, which was uncovered when one of the agents was discovered trying to forcefully enter a woman’s hotel room after forgetting a bullet inside. 

In 2012, eight agents were fired after it emerged that they had allegedly solicited prostitutes while on an on-duty trip to Colombia. 

In 2001, an agent admitted to having stolen nearly $3,000 in cash that the Secret Service had taken as evidence in the years prior.

There are other incidents reported by the Time magazine article, but those are scattered throughout a number of presidential administrations. The ones listed above are all from President Obama's. 

Look far be it from me to suggest that an agency as revered as the Secret Service, is simply not doing their jobs. But do you know what? It certainly fucking appears that the Secret Service are not doing their jobs!

This is the first black President ever elected in this country, he should have the best, most beefed up, most dedicated bodyguards on the planet.

And instead he seems to be surrounded by the Federal government's version of the Keystone Kops.

Today, finally, the internet is safe. Update!

Courtesy of USA Today:  

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to implement new net neutrality rules designed to make sure Internet service providers treat all legal content equally. 

The historic vote on the proposal, pitched by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, elicited hearty cheers from a wide array of technology companies and consumer groups while setting the table for lawsuits from Internet service providers. The controversial proceedings that led up to the vote generated heated lobbying in Washington and public clamor on social media, all in efforts to steer the future direction of the rules that guide Internet traffic. 

"The Internet is too important to allow broadband providers to make the rules," said Wheeler to applause from the standing room-only crowd gathered before the FCC panel. 

"So today after a decade of debate in an open, robust year-long process, we finally have legally sustainable rules to ensure that the Internet stays fast, fair and open," he said.

This is great news for those of us who use the internet for our livelihood.

Update: Here is a note from President Obama to the folks on Reddit for fighting the good fight for net neutrality.