Finally got my hands on the Phillips complaint.

Finally got my hands on the Phillips complaint.

18 Comments
It's pretty disgusting, the allegations contained therein. Read at your own peril. It is a public filing, so it is ok for you to read it. And while the Plaintiff/alleged victim is over 18 now, and while her name is plastered all over that complaint, I will not tolerate any mention of her name here in the comments. If the complaint is to be believed (and I do believe it), this young woman was a sexual assault victim, and I will not have her attacked by name or even mentioned by name on this thread. Consider it the Rape Shield Law extended.
A story to keep an eye on…

A story to keep an eye on…

6 Comments
From the News Journal:
A 58-year-old New Castle man was critically injured this morning after opening an ammunition box left by a neighbor in the Van Dyke Village neighborhood for a special trash pick up, officials said. Explosive experts from Dover Air Force Base have been called to help after officials believe they found more explosives. According to Chionchio, a woman on Van Dyke Drive put several items out for a special trash pickup today. This included an ammo box that belonged to her husband. She did not know there were explosives in the box, Chionchio said. The man, a neighbor from across the street, asked if he could have the box. After getting her permission he took it across the street and placed it on a pickup truck tailgate. As he opened the box, Chionchio said, a mortar shell went off, covering him in shrapnel.
When I first read this story as it was breaking this morning, it sounded like a man was building a bomb and it exploded on him. Now it appears that the husband of the woman who put out the explosives in the trash unknowingly, and that the injured man was an innocent victim. Still, the question remains why the husband had the explosives in the first place, and how many more explosives does he have. Before our Second Amendment fetishists get their britches in knots, please note that there is no right to bear explosives. It is quite illegal. And it is quite Constitutional for them to be illegal.

Tuesday Open Thread [5.21.13]

4 Comments
Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), the Republican nominee for Attorney General in Virginia, had introduced legislation in 2009 to require women to report their miscarriages to their local police department. Not only that, these devastated women would have to provide information in their report on the location of the fetus' remains. Or else what, you ask? Well, if the mother did not report her miscarriage to the police, she would be charged and presumably be found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which in Virginia carries a maximum sentence of “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500.” And they wonder why women, nationwide and in Virginia, have a problem voting Republican. Hey Assshain, oh excuse me, Obenshain, a woman's miscarriage is none of your goddamn business, nor the government's. It is a horrible tragedy for expectant mothers to go through. And you want to make their pain worse.
How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?

How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?

3 Comments
Pete Santilli went on a disgusting rant and caught the attention of the Secret Service who paid him a visit saying...
“We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will take the appropriate follow up action,” Edwin M. Donovan, a Secret Service spokesperson, told TPM on Monday. “He certainly has a right to free speech, but the Secret Service has a right and an obligation to determine what a person’s intent is when making comments like this.”
And what were those comments?
‘Miss Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted, she needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina,” he said. “I wanna pull the trigger. That ‘C U Next Tuesday’ has killed human beings that are in our ranks of our service. I want to remind you that in Benghazi, Miss Hillary ‘the fricken’ biggest vagina on the face of the planet’ told troops to stand down and to not go in and interfere with the operation that they set up because they’re moving arms; Barack Obama is moving drugs through the CIA out of Afghanistan and Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America.”
24 Dead in Oklahoma Monster Tornado

24 Dead in Oklahoma Monster Tornado

10 Comments
70 of them are children. The revised number is 24 dead, with 20 of them being children. That the monster tornado destroyed two elementary schools is what makes this tragedy so horrible. I wondered on Facebook yesterday why these elementary schools, or any structure really, had no basements or underground storm shelters while located in the heart of Tornado Alley. To me it seemed criminally negligent. But then I was told that the ground in the area, which is either clay with a high water table or bedrock, makes it cost prohibitive to build them. I am not satisfied with that explanation, but at least it is an explanation. Come inside for some stream of consciousness thoughts about this latest human tragedy.