All of these murdered children are so rude!  Always politicizing things that are inherently political:

All this was the context when Beto O’Rourke confronted Abbott during a press conference in Uvalde last Wednesday. “The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing,” he said, adding, “This is on you.” O’Rourke, the former Democratic congressman and Presidential candidate, whose angry pledge to take away guns after the killings in El Paso was widely thought to have damaged his political prospects, is running for governor against Abbott this year. That likely explains, in part, why Don McLaughlin, the Republican mayor of Uvalde, who has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show, called O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch” and accused him of making the shooting “a political issue.” Senator Ted Cruz, who was also at the press conference, later said, “I get tired of all the politicking. It happens every time there is a mass shooting.” That Cruz used the phrase “every time there is a mass shooting” spoke volumes about how commonplace these abominations have become. Two days later, Cruz addressed the annual N.R.A. convention, in Houston.

O’Rourke did not politicize the shooting. The circumstances that make a mass murder of fourth graders possible are inherently political. The legal access to the weaponry involved is political. The most visible people refusing to see these things as political happen to be elected to political office. But O’Rourke was only partially right. Some of this is on Second Amendment fundamentalists and the politicians who translate their zealotry into law—the rest is on every one of us who has yet to find the courage, the creativity, or the resolve to stop it.

American Cities Are Rethinking Traffic Stops:

To prevent similar incidents murders from happening in their city, Schor and other Lansing officials are trying something new in the state capitol… they banned traffic stops for minor infractions altogether. The goal is to avoid unnecessary escalations, racial profiling and pre-textual stops where an officer uses a minor violation to pull over and search a car.

Hmm…? Unnecessary escalations ad racial profiling?  It seems like this takes racists cops pulling people over to hassle and murder them as a kind of given.  Maybe there is a way to keep enforcing traffic laws but without all the racism and murders?

As Long As Coons and Manchin are US Senators – Is Voting in “Blue” states Pointless?   Signs Point to – Yes 

The United States has always, in some capacity, been governed through some form of minority rule. But the last 22 years (and the last six in particular) have underlined just how difficult it is for the will of the majority to translate into policy or governmental action. It feels like the United States is regressing, but we’re actually just getting redrawn according to this minority group’s architectural renderings of a Christian Nationalist Theocracy. We’re free to pound on the doors (politely, of course, and certainly not in a way that would make any Supreme Court justice feel uncomfortable). But we’re stuck in the design. With all these motherfucking guns.

Speaking of Coons, it is the 1 year anniversary of the New York Times publishing this nonsense:

To trail Mr. Coons on Capitol Hill is to witness how he operates as an extra pair of eyes and ears for the Biden administration in Congress, a kind of consigliere trusted by both the president and the senators — many of them Republicans — whom Mr. Biden needs to succeed.

It is a far less prestigious job than the one that Mr. Coons — who interned for Mr. Biden three decades ago, became his mentee on the New Castle County Council, campaigned for him in Iowa and now holds the seat that once belonged to him — initially sought in the Biden administration, where he had hoped to serve as secretary of state. But it can demand the same kind of shuttle diplomacy and high-stakes negotiation.

It seems like ten years ago.  Nobody even pretends that there is a secret bipartisan caucus in the Senate anymore.  Certainly no secret bipartisan caucus that is going to come out of hiding someday and save the Republic, anyway.

Memorial Day FB post by a friend gets to the heart of it.

I know that today we’re supposed to remember those who died serving our country. But I feel that many of those people would be appalled at what our country is turning (has turned?) into.

They would be appalled to know that the same kinds of weapons with which we armed and trained them to “defend our freedom” are now easily obtainable by the worst elements of our society. More easily, in some cases, than cold medicine.

So on this Memorial Day, I remember the victims of the violent, militaristic culture we’ve created at home. In particular, those victims who were murdered before being able to reach the age where they could fully participate in our “democracy.”

And I remember the adults who only wanted to help those young victims learn and grow into productive citizens.

It’s not about disrespecting the memory of those who died while serving our country. But it’s also not about “performant patriotism” – something at which both political parties cynically excel. Especially on Memorial Day.

It IS about living up to the ideals those who died while serving our country believed in when they chose to make what many call “the ultimate sacrifice.”

Happy (?) Memorial Day Open Thread. I’m taking today off so put anything you think we should know in the comments.

I can just hear it. That’s going to be the reaction to the rightful excoriation of the cops who showed up at Robb Elementary School only to hassle parents and mill around with dumb looks on their faces. If only poor Ulvade had good cops like we do!

But here is the thing – NO. Our cops aren’t any better. Our cops are just as lazy, and lie just as much when ass covering is required. It’s part of the “thin blue line” culture. Why the hell else can’t they ever get rid of the “few bad apples?”

How Many Lies?
What will it take before journalists stop pretending they don’t know that “cops lie” is the default setting?
Cops don’t just lie, they’re *lazy liars*, because unlike politicians, “no one” ever bothers to check or pretend to give a shit when the facts contradict their stories.

Not that politicians or their flaks are always treated with appropriate skepticism, either, but there’s at least a chance!

If they want to keep changing the details we can let them and focus on what clearly happened: the shooter killed a bunch of kids, the cops did nothing to stop him for at least 45 minutes, and instead spent the time violently harassing the desperate parents and concocting their hilarious cover story.

Nobody who says “We don’t have a gun crisis, we have a mental health crisis” gives a fuck about dealing with mental health. Do you know how I know that? Where’s the follow-up? Where’s the money? It’s just a little stalling ruse to allow the latest gun atrocity to fade from the headlines. Also, even the most cursory mental health screening for gun ownership would immediately put gun ownership waaaaay out of the reach of anyone who has ever said, “We don’t have a gun crisis.”

Similarly, “armed teachers” is a bunch of bullshit. Setting aside the fact that it assumes that school shootings are natural and inevitable, like tornadoes, last week they wanted teachers locked up if they mentioned in passing that “gay” is a real thing. So which is it, guns or handcuffs, for the nation’s underpaid surrogate moms and dads?

So yeah. All of the GOP’s talking points on this are pure bullshit. But it is Democrat’s that allow them to get away with it every time. At least Beto had the guts to call them on it this time. Maybe that sensibility can spread.

You know your country is in a bad way when you’ve developed a sort of hierarchy of the awfulness of mass shootings, depending on the location and the number and identity of the victims. It’s safe to say the worst of all happen in an elementary school. The Sandy Hook massacre was a special kind of horror that transfixed the nation for days, and now so is Uvalde, Texas, where a lone gunman butchered 19 children and two adults in a local school on Tuesday.

In response, some senators proposed a vote on a background check bill that has passed the House several times, most recently last March. The swing Democratic votes in the Senate leaped into action to clarify that nothing of the sort would be done. Reached by reporters at the Capitol asking if he would support ending the Senate filibuster to clear the way for the bill, Joe Manchin refused, insisting, “The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity.” Kyrsten Sinema concurred, telling reporters that she doesn’t think “D.C. solutions are realistic here.”

The Senate leadership barely even pretended to try to force their hands by scheduling a vote. Instead, senators are reportedly going on their Memorial Day recess. It’s a broken, worthless institution.

Meanwhile Senator Chris Coons would like you to know that “we” have to do more, but by “we” he does not mean the US Senate.

Senator Chris Coons
@ChrisCoons
We have to do more. We have to make it harder for individuals to get access to weapons who have demonstrated the capacity, or the potential, to use them to harm themselves or their families. And we have to do more to address gun violence. We cannot become numb to this.

Cassandra Marshall – Via FB

This is so very appalling. Especially that Governor Carney can’t connect the dots between the DSU student stop that was utterly fueled by anticipation of collecting up small amounts of weed from young Black people and legalization. A thing that happens on the regular all over Delaware. Rarely, of course, to white people because weed is functionally legal for them — as in the police are rarely stopping young white people looking for weed. You can’t be against the trauma and indignation imposed upon the DSU team and decide to continue to impose the very same on the Black and brown people in your own state.
We are living with a river of guns coming through this state that law enforcement can’t control and yet, we can’t give up on the prospect of still prosecuting the most penny-ante battle of the failed War on Drugs. It’s a waste of police resources, a waste of court resources, and a real wasted opportunity.

Ho hum….more children murdered in their elementary school.  Here is the Pro forma, boilerplate response used by many GOP leaders.  Ted Cruz even re-used an exact tweet from a mass murder of children in October.

There seems to be a formula for how right-wing politicians are now responding to mass shootings on social media that goes something like this:

I [We] am [HORRIFIED, HEARTBROKEN, ETC] at the senseless tragedy in [LOCATION] today. We are [LIFTING THEM UP IN PRAYER, PRAYING FOR THEM] and thank the heroic efforts of [POLICE, FIRST RESPONDERS, ETC] on the scene.

Any Delaware politician, Republican or Democrat, that accepts money from the bloodthirsty Delaware arm of the NRA needs to be removed from office. We can start with the Democrats, every primary day. Accepting donations from NRA/De Sportsman’s Assoc. should result in certain defeat.

Yesterday 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered in an elementary school. Meanwhile, the Delaware arm of the NRA continues to fight tooth and nail against ANY common sense gun restrictions in Delaware.

We’re in the worst timeline.

I envy the fuck out of the Jason330 who is in the timeline where Gore beat Bush, climate change was taken seriously, Rupert Murdoch was stoned to death by an angry mob, and corporate hegemony was vanquished.

That Jason330 is probably sitting at his lap top right now bitching and grousing about some trivial nonsense, like cakes vs pies.

Let’s see. A Judge rules that Park City Kathy’s multiple confessions of wrongdoing* on her personal lap top can’t be used because State Police digital forensics (it is suddenly and conveniently revealed) sucks ass. Just around the same time Pete Schwartzkopf is rumored to be going around Rehoboth and Lewes saying that he has 100% faith in Park City and the AG really isn’t his cup of tea. I wonder if these things are connected somehow? Hmmm…?

*How can I say with such confidence that KMcG’s laptop contain multiple confessions of wrongdoing? That’s a cinchey question to answer. She still doesn’t think that any of the crimes she committed were actual crimes. Not crimes for rich, well connected white people anyway. She was perfectly at peace with what she did, so there’s never been any reason to attempt a coverup. Just in the course of her normal correspondence the structuring of contracts, for example,  is no doubt mentioned as a simple common sense.

Translating media’s “both sides”  gibberish into regular english

Biden cannot end Title 42 & furthermore it is illegal for Democratic Presidents to Govern:  

A federal judge in Louisiana on Friday prevented the Biden administration fromreopening the borders to migrants and asylum seekers,a position backed by 24 states pressing concerns about the costs of illegal immigration and the spread of covid-19.

U.S. Judge Robert Summerhays issued a preliminary injunction, siding with states that argued the expected border influx would impose costs on them for services such as health care and education.

“These costs are not recoverable,” the judge wrote. “The Plaintiff States thus satisfy the irreparable harm requirement for a preliminary injunction.”

He said the government could have considered the states’ concerns and perhaps devised an alternative to a “blanket” order that ended Title 42.

Non of Biden’s orders can be sustained and none of Trump’s can ever be ended. This is based on the very well established legal precedent of “LOL, FUCK YOU!”

Once again… Heck of a job pushing through all those Trump judges, Senator Chris Coons.

X

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, urged two Arizona lawmakers to help reverse President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory in the state, according to emails reviewed by ABC News — suggesting that the conservative activist played a larger role in pushing to overturn the election than was previously publicly known.

Meanwhile in the Chris Coons/DC bubble:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) last week in introducing a bipartisan resolution celebrating the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Colombia. Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are also original cosponsors.

Here is a flag.

It is the 9/11 commemorative flag that the dynamic duo of Hansen and Hensley propose government buildings fly each September 11th in memory of the terrorist attack which resulted in our terrorist attack in Iraq.

I’ve got nothing against the flag, but it should maybe be flown with the cluster fuck of a flag associated with the war that even George Bush recently acknowledged was “wholly unjustified and brutal”.