School Shooter's Parents Loved Trump On Second Amendment

 

As facts about the Michigan school shooter, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, continue to come out, prosecutors are rightly looking at filing charges against his parents, presumably for not securing the gun that was used in the rampage.  It seems like the shooter's home environment was a Second Amendment sanctuary, with a mother who had her own grievances:

Ethan Crumbley’s mother, Jennifer Crumbley, 43, worked as a real estate broker in the Oxford area, but her staff bio has now been taken down. Although James’ online presence demonstrates a preference for the Seattle Seahawks, his posts were not overtly political.

Jennifer, however, penned an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump, which she posted on her blog, in November 2016.

“Mr. Trump, I actually love that you are a bad public speaker because that showed sincerity, and humility,” she wrote. “You changed your mind, and you said ‘so what.’ You made the famous ‘grab them in the pussy’ comment, did it offend me? No. I say things all the time that people take the wrong way, do I mean them, not always. Do I agree that you should of [sic] shown your tax returns? No. I don’t care what you do or maybe don’t pay in taxes, I think those are personal and if the Gov’t can lock someone up over $10,000 of unpaid taxes and you slipped on by, then that shows the corruption.”

Crumbley went on to tell Trump that she hoped he would “really uncover the politicians for what I believe they really are,” and that he might “shut down Big Pharma, make health care affordable for me and my MIDDLE CLASS family again.” She was in favor of Trump’s long-promised border wall, and noted that she was “not racist” because her grandfather “came straight off the boat in Italy.”

“As a female and a Realtor, thank you for allowing my right to bear arms,” the letter continued. “Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions. Thank you for respecting that Amendment.”

She complained about parents at other schools where the “kids come from illegal immigrant parents” and “don’t care about learning.”

It was signed, “A hard working Middle Class Law Abiding Citizen who is sick of getting fucked in the ass and would rather be grabbed by the pussy.”

Looks like a lot of resentments simmering in that house, plus some concomitant stupidity.  Combine that with an unsecured gun and an unstable child who decided to resolve his own grievances by taking it to his school and killing 4 students and wounding several other people, and ...

The parents have lawyered up, as well they should.

(Photo:  The Crumbleys, maybe not the best role models?/ Rochester Hills District Court screenshot)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

On the day we honor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s message of hope and nonviolence, gun humpers and neo- Nazis will be in Richmond, VA, to start something:

The convoys and militias are coming, if social media posts are to be believed, headed to Virginia's capital to take a stand for gun rights — or, in the words of some, to fan the flames of a civil war.

“I’ll be rolling into town early. I can’t give you my exact time for security reasons,” said Christian Yingling, head of the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia and a leader at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

“I organized a convoy, places we can meet up and drive up together. I’ll be leading it,” said Tammy Lee, a militia activist in Oklahoma.

Both Lee and Yingling were members of groups that signed consent decrees never to return to Charlottesville while armed, part of a lawsuit settlement over the violence there. But there is no restriction against coming to Richmond.

Thousands will join them, they say, for a rally Monday on Capitol Square to protest plans by the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly to pass gun-control laws. State and federal officials were preparing for a volatile mix of weapons, passions and anti-government fervor. Central Richmond was braced for road closures and extensive police presence.

That was before President Trump decided to weigh in Friday afternoon on Twitter.

“Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia,” Trump tweeted. “That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!”  (our emphasis)

Leave it to the divisive, lying, malicious moron to try to gain political advantage regardless of the danger involved.  But these are his "very fine people," and he's prepping them for ... something.

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein lay to rest several myths about "bipartisanship." That both parties are  equally to blame for hyper- partisanship is one:

... The bipartisanship that was common in the House through the mid-1970s began to fray as racial and cultural differences came to define the increasingly polarized and competitive parties. Partisan polarization began with these shifts in the coalitional bases of the parties, but Republicans, because of their increasingly homogeneous positions on race, religious traditionalism and other cultural issues, had more incentive to move right than Democrats had to move left. In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich and his allies fomented tribalism, using the House ethics process as a political weapon and uniting the GOP into a parliamentary-style opposition party. They had important and vocal allies in partisan media, starting with Rush Limbaugh and talk radio. Much the same happened a bit later in the Senate, where McConnell turned the filibuster into a weapon of mass obstruction and got his party to unite against every Obama initiative.

Today, Republicans are one of the most extreme (even radical) conservative parties in the democratic world, with no members in the House and arguably barely one in the Senate who would qualify as moderates or traditional conservatives, while Democrats look like a traditional center-left party...

Megan Marz reviews a book of essays that captures the experiences of younger Americans fleeing "toxic Christianity":

In “Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church,” mostly Gen X and millennial writers describe their disillusionment with the faith of their youth and their departure from their religious communities. In a foreword, Frank Schaeffer, who in 2007 published a memoir of leaving evangelicalism, calls the thinning of the ranks “a generational exodus from toxic Christianity.” The essayists in the book — who include Carmen Maria Machado, (“Her Body and Other Parties,” “In the Dream House”), Garrard Conley (“Boy Erased”) and Linda Tirado (“Hand to Mouth”) — come from a variety of Christian backgrounds: Mormon, Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical. All grew up in schools, social circles, families or churches where religion took a conservative, if not an authoritarian, form. Some faced rejection because of their sexual orientation; some were abused; at least one was taught that black people and white people belonged to different species, and that the Earth was 6,000 years old.  [snip]

A pattern emerges in the narrative arcs of the essays: Childhood faith falters and then dissolves in the face of corruption, hypocrisy, rejection, abuse or beliefs that do not align with reality. While many of the essayists testify to having felt isolated, this collection makes clear that — to paraphrase editor Lauren O’Neal — they were part of a community they did not know existed. Each time I read a piece in which the writer had no one to talk to about their dissipating faith, or the abuse they were enduring, I wished they could reach through the pages and into another essay, where they might find relief or solidarity...  (our emphasis)

Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger, hero of the "miracle on the Hudson," has a few words for yet another contemptible Trump:

As a small boy in Denison, Texas, I remember vividly the anguish of being called on in grade school, knowing that I was going to have a hard time getting the words out; that my words could not keep up with my mind, and they would often come out jumbled. My neck and face would quickly begin to flush a bright red, the searing heat rising all the way to the top of my head; every eye in the room on me; the intense and painful humiliation, and bullying that would follow, all because of my inability to get the words out.

Those feelings came rushing back, when I heard Lara Trump mocking former Vice President Joe Biden at a Trump campaign event, with the very words that caused my childhood agony. “Joe, can you get it out?” Ms. Trump was seen saying onstage, as a few giggles are heard from an otherwise silent audience. “Let’s get the words out, Joe.”

The entire essay is really worth the read, as he later pivots to speak to children who are stutterers.

Among many other topics, Infidel 753 highlights a number of other posts and essays about religious toxicity in his latest link round- up (as well as in his own essays).  Regardless, you're bound to find lots of gold there that he's mined in his weekly internet search.

The NRA's New Nutjob President

Following the ignominious canning of gun-running felon Oliver North as NRA president after an internal power struggle (unfortunately not involving gun play), the National Rifle Rampage Association has a new president, and she's everything you'd expect. Meet Carolyn Meadows, a movement right-winger from Marietta, GA, who could not be more of an extremist (not that she won't try).

In an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal, Meadows laid out her priorities for the NRA: first, re-elect demagogue and bigot Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump, put guns in the hands of every school teacher and churchgoer, and expand gun "rights" under the Second Amendment (what, are they proposing to form "state militias", as the Second Amendment refers to?). She's also got a nasty history:

"Meadows—a longtime Republican official who worked to block the construction of a monument to Martin Luther King while serving as chairwoman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which oversees the largest pro-Confederacy monument in the country—also attacked newly elected Georgia Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath as only having won her 2018 congressional race for being 'a minority female.'” (our emphasis)

We're surprised the 80 year-old Meadows didn't use the "n" word to describe Rep. McBath, who lost a son to gun violence at the hands of a racist who thought he was playing his music too loud. Also, note the mention of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in Meadows' background. It's the "sacred site" for the KKK, where, on November 25, 1915, the newest version of the Klan was created, and for 50 years thereafter, was the site of annual cross burnings on Labor Day. Media Matters has more on her dangerous wingnuttery here, if you have the stomach for it.

(photo: via Media Matters. Armed and dangerous)

Armed And Dangerously Stupid

These are neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump supporters Cletus and Zeke Aaron Wissinger and Daniel Parks outside the campaign office of Democrat Jane Dittmar, who's running for Congress from Virginia's 5th District:

They seem nice.

Why were they there and why does this matter?  Wait, there are words coming out of Cletus' Daniel's mouth:

"I'm just trying to provide a voice for someone who might be closet supporters of Trump. Other people that are a little worried to speak out because of possible persecution," he said. 

Parks and another Trump supporter who later joined him outside the campaign of the campaign office Democrat Jane Dittmar's office in Palmyra, Virginia, were openly carrying guns, Su Wolff, a volunteer for Dittmar, told Newsplex. 

"He turned sideways to be sure that we would see that he has an open carry gun, which is legal, it’s fine, but it's intimidating," she said of one protester. "If he wants to support his candidate that's fine, but don't come here and stare into the office all day." 

Parks told Newsplex that he was not a threat and that he was carrying a gun legally. 

"We're not a threat to anybody, the only threat is ignorance, and ignorance will breed fear," he said.  (our emphasis)

"[A]nd ignorance will breed fear," he says, right after saying he's fearful about "persecution."  Out of the mouth of babes boobs.

As far a being persecuted Trump supporters... WTF?  They're not in Clinton Country down there. Also, they were the only ones packing penis compensators. Maybe these ignoramuses have been listening to the fillings in their teeth a little too much lately, hearing an NRA call to arms. Or maybe they're just taking seriously what Trump and his surrogates have been saying about their civilization coming to an end and they're just practicin' for election day intimidation. Or maybe they just wanted to get on the local tee-vee strutting their manhoods pistolas.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to look forward to in the weeks leading up to and through the election.  (Musical accompaniment )

These North Carolina Peckerwoods Need A Secret Service Visit

They seem nice:

Last month, Donald Trump appeared to encourage the “Second Amendment people” to shoot Hillary Clinton if she wins this November. Now, the unhinged Republican nominee's jaw-dropping comments appear to be gaining some terrifying traction. 

A North Carolina gun-rights group recently announced “The Hillary Clinton Special” — a raffle promising participants the chance to win an AR-15 assault rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a portrait of Hillary Clinton, which the group claims is “very popular at the range.”  (our emphasis)

The flyer announcing the raffle appeared under the header "Grant Gardner, GRNC-PVF Treasurer" (that's "Grass Roots North Carolina-Political Victory Fund").  Just a reminder for goober Gardner and his fellow assassination enthusiasts:

 (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon - (1) a former President or a member of the immediate family of a former President; (2) a member of the immediate family of the President, the President-elect, the Vice President, or the Vice President-elect; (3) a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate; or (4) a person protected by the Secret Service under section 3056(a)(6); shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. (18 U.S.C. Sect. 879)

Secretary Clinton comes under (1) and (3), above.  Handing out targets with Secretary Clinton's picture seems like a threat to us. Ding-dong, Secret Service calling.

Proceeds from the raffle are going to gun- humping Republican mouth breathers opposing these North Carolina Democrats:

Roy Cooper (for Governor)

Deborah Ross (for U.S. Senate)

Josh Stein (for State Attorney General)

Consider donating to these Democrats and help them win their races. Please go to those links and let's negate some of the money coming from the knuckle- draggers, shall we?

(Image:  low caliber North Carolina gun humper -- visual approximation)

Texas Students Say "Cocks Not Glocks"

Recently, misguided gun nuts in the Texas state government, with wingnut Gov. Greg Abbott leading the charge, passed a law allowing the concealed carry of firearms on the University of Texas - Austin campus.  Just a day after the campus shooting at Texas Southern University, and days after the mass shooting on a community college campus in Roseburg, OR, students at the University of Texas - Austin are organizing a protest of the concealed carry law, signing up to wearing sex toys -- specifically dildos -- from their backpacks when the 2016 fall semester begins next August (already, some 4,100 students have signed up, so that will take some long-term manufacturing planning on the part of America's dildo industry).  Calling it the "Cocks Not Glocks" movement, the student organizers will be simultaneously challenging the campus' "obscenity" rules, rules which seem quaint now that lethal weapons will be permitted on campus in the hands of students.

The University of Texas - Austin has its own infamous history of mass shootings.  In August 1966, a mentally disturbed engineering student, Charles Whitman, armed with multiple guns, shot and killed 16 people from the tower of the University's Main Building, having killed his wife and mother earlier. The victims on campus were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.  This new lunacy by right-wing Texas politicians is beginning to look like an ominous reminder that occasionally history repeats itself.

In-Bred Gun Humpers Greet Obama In Oregon

Such nice, bright people you got there.  They must be Republicans!

If brains were gunpowder, they wouldn't have enough to blow their collective noses.  File under: Why we can't have nice things in this country.

UPDATE:  Steve M. has background on the upstanding citizen cretin who organized the anti-Obama demonstrations.

Quote Of The Day - Hillbillies 1, Muslims 0

“I saw several of those gentlemen out there yesterday,” said [Muskogee County] Sheriff Charles Pearson. “The way they were holding their weapons, with the fingers on the triggers, you can tell a couple of these gentlemen have no idea about weapons safety. It’s like the Clampetts have come to town." --  from a news story about a gun- toting patriot hillbilly goober who accidentally shot himself in the arm while "guarding" a "Muslim- free" shootin' range with a bunch of other armed patriots hillbilly goobers in Oktaha, Oklahoma, this past Tuesday.  There's no word whether, when the bullet struck the ground, up came a bubblin' crude (oil that is, black gold, Texas tea).

Liam Neeson States Facts, Gun Dolts Enraged

Here's what it's come to in today's Ammo-America.  Irish actor Liam Neeson, star of the "Taken" movies, recently offered his opinion on the fact that there's a gun for nearly every man, woman and child in America:

“There’s too many f—ing guns out there. Especially in America,” he remarked. “I think the population is like, 320 million? There’s over 300 million guns. Privately owned, in America. I think it’s a f—ing disgrace. Every week now we’re picking up a newspaper and seeing, ‘Yet another few kids have been killed in schools.’”

Of course, this sparked self-righteous outrage by the death merchants who provided some of Neeson's weapons in the latest "Taken" film.  Here's the Facebook reaction of the small-bore brains at PARA USA, a North Carolina firearms company:

“While the film itself is entertaining, comments made by its Irish-born star during press junkets reflect a cultural and factual ignorance that undermines support of the Second Amendment and American liberties,” the company said.

“We will no longer provide firearms for use in films starring Liam Neeson and ask that our friends and partners in Hollywood refrain from associating our brand and products with his projects. Further, we encourage our partners and friends in the firearms industry to do the same.”

Ooooh, someone's fee-fees were hurt!  So sad.

"Second Amendment and American liberties" to this over-compensating demographic of gun-fondlers are totemic words that trump the right of a child to live a full life.  They trump the right of Americans to feel safe from random gun violence in their communities and their homes. They trump everything because to them there's nothing that makes them happier than their blood money -- oh, and a warm gun.  Bang bang, shoot shoot.

(h/t Raw Story)

Headline of the Day (The NRA's Newest Poster Girl Edition)

"Jennifer McCarthy Pulls Gun From Vagina After Dispute Over Space Aliens: Cops"

BONUS:  The story comes from (ahem) The Smoking Gun.  Yeah, count on it.

Wingnut Police Blotter: You Say You Want a Revolution Edition

You may have heard of this guy:



Well, here's another reason to feel totally comfortable with open carry gun laws:

Police searched the Northern Virginia home of activist Adam Kokesh Tuesday evening and took him into custody on a charge of being in possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms while also having a gun, authorities said.  (our emphasis)

Right-wing paranoid + shrooms + gun = fun times.

Today In Gun Nuttery

South Dakota's Rethuglican Governor  Dennis "The Menace" Daugaard has signed a bill authorizing teachers to carry guns in class.  Not surprisingly, the bill was strongly lobbied by the National Rifle Shoot Up Your School Association, who have been pushing more guns everywhere as a solution to gun violence.  What these wing nuts don't seem to get is that it's not "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," it's that the vast majority of Americans don't want bad guys to have guns in the first place.  Let's be clear:  bad guys having guns is OK with the gun lobby, as witness their opposition to any universal background checks, including at gun shows.

Meanwhile in decent America, 26 cyclists, calling themselves "Team 26" and representing each of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary,  are traveling from Newtown, CT to Washington, DC from March 9 - 12 to draw attention to the need for stricter gun laws.   They'll be stopping for several rallies along the way, and will be joined in College Park, MD by a cycling team from Virginia Tech as they approach Washington.

Today's Cartoon - Coming To Get Your Guns

(click to enlarge)

 (Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

(Jen Sorensen, via gocomics.com)

Local Yokel Not To Be Confused With Justice John Marshall

In a letter to Vice President Biden, Linn County (Oregon) Yokel Sheriff Tim Mueller says he'll be the one to decide what Federally-mandated gun laws he will or will not uphold in his neck of the woods, f**k you very much. As the nullifying Oregon solon stated in an interview:

"We're restricted and prohibited from enforcing all types of federal laws, including immigration laws. It would be unreasonable for anyone to think that I would enforce a federal firearms law."

Yes, totally unreasonable! Daily Kos' 88 Kathy has penned a fantasy response letter from VP Biden that encapsulates our thoughts on this "we are a cafeteria of laws" cop:

Dear Linn County Board of Commissioners.

RE: Crazed letter from Sheriff Mueller, January 14, 2013

Your sheriff has lost his mind. Please remove him from office for the safety of the public.

All off and on ramps for Interstate 5 though your county, all off and on ramps for Highways 20 and 126 will be closed until your county wishes to elect a sheriff who will comply with federal laws.

Your Friend,
VPTOUS

(Photo: Sheriff Tim with his letter to Santy Claus VP Biden.)