May 15, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 36 comments
From ABC News:
A medical report compiled by the family physician of accused Trayvon Martin murderer George Zimmerman and obtained exclusively by ABC News found that Zimmerman was diagnosed with a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Martin during an alleged altercation.
In addition, apparently Trayvon Martin had injuries to his knuckles. A clean case of self-defense would hinge on who the instigator was, but with this kind of evidence, it’s difficult to see how the prosecution still intends to support second degree murder. Even if Zimmerman was initially the aggressor, the most this would be is manslaughter.
But the angry mob had to be appeased, didn’t it? We should be ashamed of ourselves as a country for believing what the media said about this case, and more importantly the media should be triply ashamed for practically lying the country along the way to major urban riots.
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May 15, 2012
Posted by Bitter in Current Events | 3 comments
Please excuse the very off topic post, but you all should know by now that I’m a bleeding heart libertarian. If you like the idea of teaching kids how to read so they can actually read and appreciate our founding documents, then literacy should be a concern. It’s not just a hooked on phonics kind of literacy, but teaching kids how to truly understand the stories they read. Reading with Pictures thinks that they can capture the interest and imagination of kids by using comics. Yup, comics.
Right now, Reading with Pictures is running a Kickstarter campaign to support their first graphic textbook. They are a few hundred dollars short, and their campaign ends Thursday. They just met their goal, but they are trying to raise more so they can expand their plans for the organization!
As a 501(c)3, it’s a deductible donation. They also have all sorts of crazy incentives for higher donations. You can get a custom action figure of yourself ($275), become a Revolutionary War-era sketch in your own copy of the textbook ($70), have a kid in your life drawn into a comic as a classmate of the main character ($75), original artwork & commissions (starting at $75), or a hard copy of the textbook ($25).
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May 15, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Gun Rights | 4 comments
I’ve been watching our opponents somewhat carefully, since they launched the Second Chance on Shoot First campaign. I thought it was curious to note that while Mayor Bloomberg put his weight behind this effort, it did not appear that MAIG was joining. But then I noticed one of MAIG’s campaigns released a mother day message from Sabryna Fulton, however, you will note that it mentions nothing about Stand Your Ground, nor will you find it linked anywhere on the Fix Gun Checks Campaign web site. Why would this be?
Probably because Bloomberg can read polling data as much well as anyone else (h/t Dave Hardy for the link). There is a gap in thinking between elites and ordinary Americans on matters of self-defense, and Bloomberg has made a concerted effort to keep MAIG’s message narrow, and focused on topics that poll well. While the other two gun control groups, CSGV and Brady, have become a P.T. Barnum quality freak show, MAIG is being very careful with its image and message. Bloomberg must be worried fighting Stand your Ground using his Mayors could backfire on him.
He’s right. MAIG already got a small taste of what a minor campaign by NRA against his mayors cost him in terms of membership. He would not want to do anything to wake up the grassroots to take the fight to his mayors on their own. I think we can expect MAIG to largely stay out of the fight on Stand Your Ground, while Bloomberg will run a parallel effort under his own name, rather than that of his Mayors organization.
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May 15, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Gun Rights | 2 comments
He’s helping with an Amicus brief challenging discretionary permit issuance, and he needs every “the blood will run in the streets” quote you all can find. Doesn’t have to literally be that, but any quite predicting murder, mayhem, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
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May 14, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Anti-Gun Folks | 25 comments
Anytime a remark of mine spawns a post on CSGV’s “Things Pro-Gun Activists Say That We Take Out Of Context“ I feel I must be doing something right. I finally got tired of them spewing their peacenik nonsense, and tried to make them live up to the logical conclusion of their rhetoric, which would be that the violent, armed resistance that was necessary to eradicate Nazism in Europe was an immoral act. Apparently they didn’t appreciate that, and went off at length to mischaracterize my statement as suggesting that advocating non-intervention was the same as outright support.
But the fact is, anyone who advocated for waging peace against the Nazis, or sitting idly by while Hitler conquered Europe and wiped the Jewish people off the face of the planet, certainly fits in the category of those who “would have let Hitler finish his final solution.” Perhaps that is a logical conclusion of CSGV’s rhetoric for which they are deeply uncomfortable. But I suspect that is the case.
I would point out I never got a satisfactory answer to my question posed here, and ultimately CSGV had to cop out of that particular conversation, suggesting that questions about how to defeat Hitler by waging peace were above their pay grade, even though they themselves advocate this philosophy on a regular basis.
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May 14, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Blogs | 2 comments
Not many bloggers make it to 9 years. Congrats to Kevin. Kevin’s blog was one of the blogs that was on my RSS feed before I started blogging.
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May 14, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Current Events | 18 comments
In a couple of weeks, Venus will once again transit the face of the sun, on June 5th and 6th specifically. The last transit was in 2004, but this won’t happen again in our lifetimes. The next transit will not be until 2117, well into the 22nd century. It would be interesting to observe this, but I am not aware whether it can be observed with ordinary equipment, such as you can make for viewing a solar eclipse. Does anyone know much about how one would observe a phenomena like this absent a very expensive solar telescope?
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May 14, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in 2012 Election | 20 comments
Looks like even Rand Paul can’t help himself, to the point where even the FRC doesn’t particularly appreciate the Senator’s remarks. Yeah, I can see a couple of college students making a crack like that over some beers. I can’t see a sitting United States Senator thinking that kind of humor is a wise thing. I was hoping that perhaps Rand Paul could avoid beclowning himself like his father accomplished by trawling the paelolib/paleocon fever swamp for support back in the 80s. Now, not only has Rand Paul chased the stick, but he gnawed on it so viscously, even the SoCos don’t want to play fetch with him anymore.
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May 14, 2012
Posted by Sebastian in Anti-Gun Folks | 2 comments
Given that the Communication Director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Ladd Everitt, is a contributor at this site, don’t expect him to be condemning this bit of insurrectionist thinking any time soon:
I think it’s no accident that the question of self-defense has been coming up in some circles in the Occupy movement at this time. Having the discussion reflects how many people are realizing that moving the 1 percent out of the driver’s seat is a revolutionary mission. The person who doesn’t feel fear at the prospect of revolution is out of touch with their feelings. It’s only natural at such a moment to wonder if there is some way to act boldly — and at the same time stay safe.
The author even notes the history of armed resistance to the Klan and other aspects of the civil rights movement that occurred; facts that make Ladd Everitt decidedly uncomfortable. To be clear I don’t view violence as a legitimate answer to the problem of the 1%, the 3% or whatever side it’s coming from, provided the mechanisms of our Republic still largely function. But the author is at least taking a serious look at a serious topic. When we do this, Ladd is all over us for our “insurrectionism” and violence rhetoric. It just goes to show his double standard, and the double standard of all our opponents.
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