What If Colorado Theater Patrons Were Armed? It would have been worse. It could have been much worse.

There's been a chorus of claims from idiots like Louie Ghomert and various NRA types that if only there had been someone packing in the theater, many lives could have been saved. This is such an intensely stupid claim that it's hard to believe it requires refutation. However, never underestimate the stupidity of the denizens of Lower Wingnuttia.

First off, we'll start with the obvious...

* Pitch black theatre with the only light coming in flashes from the screen (strobe effect)
*Loud noises, including gunshots, from screen, loud gunshots in theater
*Clouds of tear gas
*Hundreds of screaming people literally falling all over each other in a total panic

Plus this guy...

...who, in addition to wearing head to toe bullet stopping tac gear, is packing a 12 gauge shotgun, an AR-15 assault rifle with a 100 round clip and a Glock .40, methodically pumping out 4 rounds per second or so.

Under these conditions even an expert pistol marksman is highly unlikely to get of a hit in the tiny area of vulnerability in the shooter's tac gear. Not to mention, odds are you could put 12 rounds center mass into this guy with a compact 9, the most common handgun used for concealed carry, and not leave anything more than a bruise.

But it gets worse...

Imagine if there had been multiple people packing. Now you have a bunch of people firing from a bunch of different places. Crossfire vectors everywhere. Two more theaters at full capacity are on either side, separated only by paper thin walls.

What you have now is a recipe for total disaster. But it gets worse....

Imagine you're a cop who happens to be in a position to respond almost instantly. You walk in to this darkened theater completely blind; It'll take 90 seconds or so for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. Shots are coming from every direction from a number of shooters. Who do you shoot?

From any of these scenarios the probability of a better outcome is virtually nil while the odds of an even worse outcome are astronomical.

If you have any remaining doubts about what happens when a guy with a handgun tries to take on a guy with an AR-15 in full tac gear, take a look at the following videos, courtesy of weapons testing company BrassFetcher...

Here's a super high speed video that shows the damage from a 9mm high velocity round using ballistic gelatin that mimics human flesh. This type of round is the most common for concealed carry and is easily stopped by the type of gear the shooter was wearing.



Here's a high speed video of a Remington .223, the round used in the Colorado shooting, into ballistic gelatin. Notice the massive trauma caused by the "spall" effect as the bullet tumbles into the gel.



Now, ask yourself, what kind of idiot would take on a guy with a .223 AR-15 and a 100 round clip with his compact 9 and 12 shots at most? I'll tell you what kind of idiot. A dead idiot.

Caveat: I am a gun owner. In fact, in addition to a 9mm and a .40 cal, I have high power weaponry that's actually superior to what the Colorado shooter had. But I didn't have to trade in my brains to get my guns. Like the vast majority of gun owners, I support common sense regulation of firearms.

Frenchified cheese eating pussy-ass surrender monkeys who wear those faggotty berets

Steve Douchey and his fellow idiot babblebots at Fux and Friends have a big problem with the US Olympic uniform: the berets. Douchey and friends spent an entire segment whining about berets and wondering why it couldn't have been macho Merkin cowboy hats or maybe sweat stained gimme caps...

The immediate response of poutrage from much of Lower Wingnuttia was entirely predictable: "Damn right! What kind of Frenchified cheese eating pussy-ass surrender monkeys would wear one of those faggoty berets?" Even tea bagging wingnut bigot Lou Dobbs chimed in...

"Some are also criticizing Ralph Lauren for topping off what is supposed to be a patriotic with a classic French beret of all things! I know, the U.S. Army Green Berets, Black Berets, etc. But it just so happens, I don’t like those berets either.”

In point of fact, Lou and ignorant wingnut morans everywhere, the beret is not French. It's been around since the Bronze Age, you stupid bleeps. Even the "classic French" beret isn't French, you stupid bleeps. It's Basque, you stupid bleeps. That's why, you stupid bleeps, the French for beret is "béret basque." The beret didn't even become popular in France until the late 19th/early 20th century, you stupid bleeps.

Man, is nothing too inane or too stupid that you stupid wingnut bleeps won't trip over each in your rush to make giant hairy asses of yourselves? Sheesh...

As a public service to Lower Wingnuttians who wonder what kind of Frenchified cheese eating pussy-ass surrender monkeys would wear those faggoty berets, THIS kind...

US Army Special Forces officer and right wing hero James Gordon "Bo" Gritz, awarded:

Silver Star with 4 oak leaf clusters, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Soldier's Medal,  Bronze Star Medal with "V" device for valor, one silver and four bronze oak leaf clusters (10 awards), Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with "V" device for valor (25 awards including 2 for valor), Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor and one oak leaf cluster (possibly more), Presidential Unit Citation with oak leaf cluster,  Meritorious Unit Commendation,  Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (unit award) Vietnam Civil Actions Medal (unit award), Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with one silver campaign star in lieu of five bronze service stars (possibly entitled to more), Armed Forces Reserve Medal,  National Order of Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with palm, Republic of Vietnam Honor Medal, Republic of Vietnam Staff Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Wound Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Gold Medal of Cambodia 2 awards, Combat Infantryman Badge, Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Scuba Diver Badge, Salvage Diver Badge, Special Forces Tab, Ranger Tab

Official US Army field combat uniform

US Army NCO Honor Guard

US Army official combat uniform, details

US Marine Vietnam hero John Ripley

USN Search & Rescue helicopter pilot on carrier duty

US Army Ranger Special Forces beret from official photo

US Army 82nd Airborne beret from official photo

The legendary US Army Green Berets honoring fallen comrades

US Army Green Beret commander Col. David Fridovich, wearing a Bronze Star

Not all beret wearing heroes are found in war zones

Freeh Report Details Decades Long JoPa, Penn State Cover-up of Sandusky Raping Little Boys - PSU Deserves the NCAA Death Penalty, at the very least

Well, well, well, it turns out that not only did JoPa know all about Jerry Sandusky raping little boys, everyone in the athletic department and school administration knew, too. And what did they do to stop this horrendous, felonious abuse that went on for fourteen fucking years?

Not one goddamn thing.

In fact, they actively covered it up. All of them. Then they all lied their asses off to a Grand Jury. The independent Freeh report on the Penn State abuse scandal has just been released. Here's a link to the full stomach churning report...

http://www.thefreehreportonpsu.com/REPORT_FINAL_071212.pdf

...and here are some excerpts from Freeh's comments to the media...

Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State. The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized. Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky’s victims until after Sandusky’s arrest.

In critical written correspondence that we uncovered on March 20th of this year, we see evidence of their proposed plan of action in February 2001 that included reporting allegations about Sandusky to the authorities. After Mr. Curley consulted with Mr. Paterno, however, they changed the plan and decided not to make a report to the authorities. Their failure to protect the February 9, 2001 child victim, or make attempts to identify him, created a dangerous situation for other unknown, unsuspecting young boys who were lured to the Penn State campus and football games by Sandusky and victimized repeatedly by him.

Further, they exposed this child to additional harm by alerting Sandusky, who was the only one who knew the child’s identity, about what McQueary saw in the shower on the night of February 9, 2001.
...
In order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University – Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley – repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large. Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky’s victims.
...
The evidence shows that these four men also knew about a 1998 criminal investigation of Sandusky relating to suspected sexual misconduct with a young boy in a Penn State football locker room shower. Again, they showed no concern about that victim. The evidence shows that Mr. Paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though Sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office just steps away from Mr. Paterno’s.
...
Their callous and shocking disregard for child victims was underscored by the Grand Jury, which noted in its November 4, 2011 presentment that there was no “attempt to investigate, to identify Victim 2 or to protect that child or others from similar conduct, except as related to preventing its reoccurrence on University property.”

 I said it when this story first broke and I'll say it again. Assuming the university survives the flood of lawsuits - no sure bet - if the scumbags at Penn State can't find the simple human decency to drop their football program, the NCAA should step in and give them the death penalty.

Don't bet on it. Last year they had a chance to do the right thing. The raping little boys story broke before the end of the season. As the evidence shows, JoPa and the rest of the Nittany Scumbags knew the truth, but they decided it was more important to play one more game than to do the right thing.

It wasn't just Jerry Sandusky who raped those little boys for all of those years. JoPa, Penn Sate's administration, the Board of Regents and by extension the entire university are all every bit as guilty of raping those little boys, as is the GOP scumbag prick then prosecutor who ignored these allegations so he could run for governor. Any on of them could have stopped it. Not one of them did.

Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all.

GOP Doubles Down On Voter Suppression - Millions Disenfranchised, 600,000 in Texas Alone

Gov. Rick Perry signs Voter ID bill into law

It's not really news that tea bagging Texas GOPers are aggressively defending their blatant attempt to disenfranchise 600,000 mostly poor, minority and/or older voters. Lying (about imaginary voter fraud), cheating (gerrymandering, voter ID laws) and stealing (the right to vote from millions) is what they do. From The Guardian, via RawStory...

Texas will launch a challenge to a central piece of civil rights legislation in a Washington court on Monday in a case the Obama administration has characterised as a fight to protect the right to vote.
...
Critics have described the move as “voter suppression” by the state’s Republican administration aimed at stripping the ballot from people more likely to support Democrats.

Federal officials say that the state is obliged to get justice department approval for the move under the Voting Rights Act.

 Voter fraud? It's a LIE. The only fraud is the GOP disenfranchising millions of voters, like the 600,000 voters they've disenfranchised here in Texas. Going back more than two decades, out of hundreds of millions of ballots cast there have been only thirteen documented cases of in person voter fraud and most of them were found to be unintentional.

The non partisan federal U.S. Election Assistance Commission spent two years studying voter fraud claims. In 2006 they produced a report that concluded, "There is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters."

The lying BushCo Boobs nixed this inconvenient truth, changing the conclusion in 2007 to say there is a “great deal of debate” on the issue. Then they hid the taxpayer funded report away, never to be released to the tax paying public. USA Today did a story on the report with the unambiguous headline "Report refutes fraud at poll sites"...

The (EAC) consultants found little evidence of (fraud). Barry Weinberg, former deputy chief of the voting section in the Justice Department's civil rights division, reviewed their work. "Fraud at the polling place is generally difficult to pull off," he says. "It takes a lot of planning and a lot of coordination."

See for yourself. Despite the BushCo Boos trying to hide the report, you can still read the original.  Here's a link to the original EAC report, before the lying, thieving BushCo Boobs changed the conclusions...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/pdf/2006-10-11-election-report.pdf

Don't let the GOP get away with disenfranchising millions of voters. Sunlight is the best disinfectant here. Don't believe the lies. Educate yourself about the facts. Then, spread the word...

Cheap Guy Tip #87 - Poached Salmon

Now that summer is here and the heat is on - record heat all over the country - it's the
perfect time for cold entrees and sides. One of my favorite cold proteins is poached
salmon.

Poaching salmon isn't rocket science, but it is surprisingly easy to screw up. It's easy to
over or under poach the fish. Under poached salmon has an unpleasant, jelly-like
consistency. Over poached salmon has rubbery consistency and ends up tasting dry.
Perfectly poached salmon is, well, perfect. Here's a few quick tips to help your poached
salmon come out perfect every time.

First off, while it's lovely to poach an entire salmon half, it's not very practice unless
you're entertaining. Also, this requires a specialized salmon pan. I'm not a fan of single
use items in the kitchen, especially really big, rarely used single use items that take up
precious storage space. Finally, classic pan poaching is done in the oven. It's more
difficult to accurately gauge cooking time. Not to mention, here in Central Texas, the last
thing I want to do during the fiery summer is fire up the oven.

Here's a stove top quick, easy poaching technique that works beautifully for filets of
salmon. As always, the better the quality of your ingredients, the better the results. Wild salmon can be very pricey - $50/lb or even more - but this recipe will work beautifully with farmed salmon, typicaly in the $6-8/lb range.

Ingredients:
Water
Dry white wine (or dry vermouth)
Fine herbs (or fresh dill)
Peppercorns
Small bay leaf
Salt

Place your filet or filets in a saute pan with a tight fitting cover. If you're using a dry
white wine, add half wine and half water to just cover the fish. If you're using vermouth,
use 1/3 vermouth to 2/3 water. Add a dozen or so peppercorns, a few good pinches of your favorite fine herbs (or fresh dill), a teaspoon or two of salt and a small bay leaf.

Be generous with the seasonings. In the end their effect will be mild. Don't scrimp on the
salt. You need it to trigger the process of osmosis that will cause the salmon to take in
the flavors.

Place the pan, tightly covered, on the stove on high heat until it comes to a rapid boil,
3-5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Wait 20 minutes. Do not remove the cover at any time.
After 20 minutes of steeping, use a slotted spoon to remove the salmon and refrigerate in
well sealed plastic container or equivalent.

That's it. You're done. Once it chills you'll have perfectly poached salmon on hand that will keep in the frig for at least four days.

Poached, chilled salmon can be served on it's own, as part of a salmon salad, with crackers or bread, in a green salad or omelet, with cream cheese and bagels or pretty much any way you can imagine. Personally, I like to present the salmon on a bed of greens with thinly sliced cucumber abd a few capers on top, lemon slices, a selection of crackers, cream cheese and optional add-ons of finely chopped onion, thinly sliced scallions, chopped hard boiled egg and spicy mayonnaise, but I encourage you to use your imagination. Once you're mastered the basic technique, there's no limits to presentation and combinations.

Leadership: On Immigration Obama leads, Rombot dodges while GOP works to suppress minority voting rights

Today the SCoUS handed down a decision on Arizona's "papers, please" law," striking down most of the law. Barack Obama issued a statement immediately:

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona's immigration law. What this decision makes unmistakably clear is that Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform. A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system – it’s part of the problem."

 Meanwhile Rombot made no public appearances, issued no statement and took no questions. Pressed repeatedly by reporters for a statement on the ruling, a Rombot spokesdroid spent seven full minutes refusing to say if Rombot agreed or disagreed with the ruling or what, if anything, Rombot would do about immigration. Here's the hilarious video:



Later, in remarks to donors at a private event where he refused to take any questions, Romdroid not only yet again refused to make any specific comments or proposals on immigration or say whether he agreed or disagreed with the much awaited SCoUS ruling, he addressed ruling only indirectly and with exactly one sentence:

 I believe that each state has the duty–and the right–to secure our borders and preserve the rule of law, particularly when the federal government has failed to meet its responsibilities.

Why are Rombot and the GOP determined to demolish any chance they had at garnering votes from Hispanics? Here's a little background...

A few weeks back Obama ordered federal agencies to stop prosecuting and deporting young people brought to this country illegally by their parents, one of the key provisions of The Dream Act. This action became necessary because of solid GOP opposition to the modest, common sense, originally bipartisan immigration reform, including a filibuster of The Dream Act in the Senate. From TPM...

Republicans killed the DREAM Act via Senate filibuster late in 2010, and to date neither elected members nor Romney have backed legislation to address the issue.
...
Romney has refused to say whether he would keep the new policy if elected. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of Republicans is calling on their nominee to pledge to reverse it.

 It's not that GOP lawmakers had a problem with the obviously fair idea of not visiting the sins of the father on innocent children. They didn't. There are two reasons the GOP blocked the bill. First, they know their wingnut, tea bagging, know nothing, ignorant bigoted base has a BIG problem not just with fairness, but with any skin not fair. Second, Obama was for it, so the GOP was against it, even if it was their idea to begin with.

August 1, 2001 the "Student Adjustment Act of 2001" was introduced in the Senate by Republican Orrin Hatch. This legislation, S.1291 was the first bill given the short title of "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act" or "DREAM Act."

Rombot and the GOP have made a calculation that they can't win Hispanic votes, so they're going all in with their weak hand of nothing but old, white, bigoted fundie moran stupid people and hoping to get enough of the squishy, low information "middle of the road" voters to put them over the top.

Rombot and the GOP know this strategy won't work. There just aren't enough stupid old people or uninformed squishy MOR voters to make the math work. So they're employing a second, far more sinister strategy: suppress the votes of demographic groups that tend to vote for Democrats.

All over the country wingnut tea bagging GOP morans in state leges have enacted draconian voter ID laws to "solve" a problem that simply doesn't exist: in person voter fraud at the polls. Despite being completely and utterly unable to document more than a handful of instances of fraud out of hundreds of millions of votes cast, the GOP insists on attacking the voting rights of women and minorities in a cynical effort to suppress their votes and take away the most basic, cherished right of a democracy.

Why would the party of Lincoln, the party that helped push civil rights and voting rights laws through Congress, lead efforts to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters? One word: Desperation. The GOP knows they're doomed by demographics. They've become exclusively the party of old white people, and the old white people ar3e dying off and being replaced by young brown people who support voter rights, civil rights, women's rights, LGBT rights and abhor basically everything the tea baggers of today's wingnut GOP stand for.

They know this is a war they can't win. But they're hoping to win one last big battle. If they do, they will set in stone backwards, stupid policies that will take decades to undo. Sounds like a lot of work to me. I say we just vote the bigoted old fucks out right now and get back to the work of the people and not the billionaire corporate masters of the GOP.