Newt Gingrich Is Really Puzzled

Talk about living in a bubble!

This Is Not An Accident

BURKESVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Authorities in southern Kentucky say a 2-year-old girl has been accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother, who was playing with a .22-caliber rifle he received as a gift.

[...]

White told the newspaper that the boy received the rifle made for youths last year and is used to shooting it. He said the gun was kept in a corner and the family didn’t realize a shell was left inside it.

White said the shooting will be ruled accidental. (Emphasis mine)

Who, in their right mind, gives a 4 year old a gun?

Who, after giving (or accepting) a gun to a flippin’ 4 year old, keeps it in a flippin’ corner?

Who, with a functioning brain cell, would ever call this an accident?

The Stories Keep Coming

I’m probably going to regret this, but we need to talk about rape culture. We’ll begin by looking at recent news.

1. Steubenville’s football coach keeps his job.

Given Coach Saccoccia’s controversial behavior before and during the trial, which drew national scrutiny, many of us thought he at the very least would be shown the door after three decades of service. We all thought wrong. Today we learned that “Coach Sac,” as he is known, has been granted a two-year contract extension by the Steubenville school board. They made this decision despite the fact that a grand jury is meeting next week to assess whether he and others obstructed justice in the case. Saccoccia was legally required to report the sexual assault as soon as he was aware it took place. The grand jury will determine whether or not he in fact knew and tried to sweep it under the turf.

Whatever the conclusions of the grand jury, the question of whether Saccoccia should remain in a position to mold the minds of young men should not have been difficult to answer. Not when there are text messages sent by now-convicted team quarterback Trent Mays that read, “I got Reno. He took care of it and shit ain’t gonna happen, even if they did take it to court. Like he was joking about it so I’m not worried.” Not when, after the boys were arrested and charged, Saccocia kept them on the team for eight more games in their ten game season. Not when Saccoccia went nose-to-nose with a woman reporter looking into the rape case and said, “You’re gonna get yours. And if you don’t get yours, somebody close to you will.” Not when Coach Sac oversaw a locker room where the jock culture become inextricably connected to a rape culture.

I’m with Dave Zirin, author of the linked article. Getting rid of Coach Saccoccia seemed to be a no-brainer. The guy’s behavior, across the board, was indefensible. And yet he keeps his job. Why?

Boston On Lockdown

Authorities are asking the entire city of Boston to “shelter in place” and not leave their homes for the time being.  There are reports that one suspect is dead, the other on the loose.

TPM has a recap of the night’s events.

If you’re just waking up, it’s a been a surreal night of chaos and violence north of Boston which, according to latest reports, has ended with one of the two Boston marathon suspects dead and another (apparently the so-called suspect number two with the white cap) still at large.

[...]

Listening to police scanners from midnight until roughly 1 AM was a surreal experience and certainly a terrifying for those involved as law enforcement officers struggled to make sense of a chaotic situation, engaged in shootouts and were targeted with explosives by fleeing suspects. Soon scores of police from different departments and federal agencies were converging on Watertown. Dynamite, hand grenades, pipe bombs were the phrases tossed out live over police scanners as the events unfolded, though all that seems certain is that there were explosives of some sort. Police held a press conference a short time ago, the details of which are here.

Use the thread inside for updates.

BREAKING: Bomb Attacks at Boston Marathon

Via TPM:

BOSTON (AP) — Two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon have resulted in injuries.

Bloody spectators were being carried Monday to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners. Police wove through competitors as they ran back toward the course.

“There are a lot of people down,” said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg. A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.

About three hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another explosion could be heard a few seconds later.

Has Facebook’s Time Passed?

Okay, I’ve never been a big Facebook user so I might be jumping the gun.  Here’s what I have noticed in the past six months – almost all of my new friend requests are coming from family and friends over 60.   What’s funny is the comments that accompany these friend requests.  Most say the same thing:  “Look who finally joined Facebook!”

Basically, I’m not the one to judge whether Facebook’s time has passed.  I have an account I glance at about once a month and while I find some of the comments/posts interesting, most are not.

Two years ago, my then 13 year old daughter deleted her Facebook account, citing its useless drama as the reason.  She did rejoin, because it was where her school posted its information on Cross Country and Track meets and practice changes.  The last time she posted anything on Facebook was on March 20, 2013.   Her previous post was on February 23, 2013.   Seems to me if Facebook is counting on her to keep them going strong they might be in trouble.

Tuesday Open Thread (4-02-13)

Looks like the crew of DL is swamped today.

In the spirit of the season and what would Jesus do scenario, a Georgia town has made gun ownership mandatory. Don’t worry, the ordinance doesn’t carry penalties. Just another example of lawmakers wasting taxpayer money.

Why Is Consent So Difficult To Understand?

con·sent

/kənˈsent/
Noun
Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
Verb
Give permission for something to happen: “he consented to a search by a detective”.

Sometimes you come across an article that won’t let you move onto other things.  Here’s mine:

MARCH 22–A New York City man flying cross country with his 12-year-old son allegedly put his hand underneath the skirt of a sleeping female passenger and massaged her thigh, an act he later defended by telling the victim, “It’s not like I molested you. It’s not like I stuck my my finger in your pussy or grabbed your tits.” [...]

As detailed in a probable cause statement, a few hours into the flight the woman took medication to help her fall asleep. About 40 minutes before arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the woman “woke up… to Zorse massaging her thigh underneath her skirt.” [...]

When questioned by investigators, Zorse claimed that he believed the female passenger was “flirting with him, telling him he was attractive and he was a good father,” adding that he felt he had “bonded” with her. While copping to placing his hand on the woman’s leg for “approximately 30 seconds,” Zorse denied placing his hand up her skirt. He did acknowledge, however, that he “could have said something like ‘It’s not like I stuck my finger up your pussy or grabbed your tits,’” according to the probable cause statement.

Here’s what really bothers me about this ugly, illegal incident.  Zorse confesses. Easily. He doesn’t see anything wrong in what he did to a sleeping (NON- CONSENTING) woman because he believed “the female passenger was “flirting with him, telling him he was attractive and he was a good father,” adding that he felt he had “bonded” with her.”  It’s all about his feelings.  Those are his only social clues.

Zorse determines what constitutes flirting.  He also determines what constitutes bonding.  He even decides that the conversation before the woman fell asleep progressed to the point where he could touch her. He had already granted himself permission.

Money Isn’t Working In School Board Elections

When it comes to school board elections something is different. Just ask Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and Michelle Rhee. They lost big in Los Angeles.

Despite Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and Rupert Murdoch’s big contributions, LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer was re-elected to the board, defeating their hope that Los Angeles would become the next big pathway to privatized education.

It seems that money, which is a must in other elections, doesn’t count for much in school board elections. And we don’t need to look at Los Angeles for proof. We experienced this phenomenon in Delaware.

Last year I wrote several posts on the upcoming school board elections. I hadn’t been paying much attention at the time, but as the election drew near, my attention was snagged. Something different was happening:

I haven’t really commented on the upcoming School Board elections, mainly because I can’t wrap my head around what’s going on. With all the attention on these races – phone polls, money, PACs – I keep feeling I’m missing something – Big. What is going on? What’s on the line? And why the hell is so much money being dumped into an election that, I predict, will still have a dismal turn-out.

Basically, what’s the agenda? For the life of me I don’t see it. Yeah, I get the split is between Charter and Choice (Ed reformers) supporters vs Traditional Public School supporters, but that’s hardly new. What’s new are the aggressive tactics being employed and the money being spent. All of this keeps me wondering… Am I missing something about these races; something that makes them vitally important? Is something major about to change depending on who wins these elections? If so, what?

So that’s where I started. The amount of money being dumped into our local school board races caught my attention. What held my attention was the emergence of Voices 4 Delaware, a nebulous PAC, that, in essence, became the school board candidate. You couldn’t turn around without being hit with one of their mailers or receiving another one of their phone calls. As I write this today, I can’t even remember the names of most of the candidates they supported, but I remember them.

And just like what happened in Los Angeles, big money lost in Delaware last year.

Help Wanted – School Board Elections

Given Jason’s recent post it appears School Board races may heat up against this year. If this is true then we need to get moving! Every year I send out a list of questions to Red Clay school board candidates and post their answers. Here’s my problem: Every school district has different concerns and I while I’m familiar with the challenges facing Red Clay, I have no idea what the Appo, Capital, Christina, Seaford, etc. District residents are looking for in a school board candidate.

So… I need a few volunteers to contact candidates in their district and report back. I’m also trying to figure out the best way to do this. Actually, I’d really like to find a way where I’m not sending out tons of emails – because a quick look at the number of candidates running is quite daunting, and, contrary to popular belief, I don’t get paid for this!

“Perpetuation Of Racial Entitlement”

Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, created quite a few headlines yesterday.

Scalia attributed the repeated renewal of Section 5 to a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” He said, “Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”

That’s quite a statement, and when I heard it all I could think was that the Voting Rights Act was enacted to stop the perpetuation of racial entitlement – for whites.

It’s been a long time since a statement truly shocked me.  I’ve been a bit numb to Republican insanity, but this statement was beyond offensive.  Since when is voting an entitlement?  (Isn’t it adorable how he used the Republican dog whistle?)

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who asked many questions in defense of the law, appeared taken aback by Scalia’s insinuation. In the final moments of oral argument, she asked Bert Rein, the lawyer for the challengers, if he agrees.

“Do you think think Section 5 was voted for because it was a racial entitlement?” she asked. When he ducked the question, she asked it again. He did not endorse Scalia’s sentiment.

I bet she was taken aback.  Scalia’s comment was outrageous.

Tuesday Open Thread (02-26-13)

Thought I’d take a stab at the open thread. I’m really trying to figure out the Republican position on sequester. This is what I’ve come up: Blame Obama for the cuts we love. Ezra Klein doesn’t understand the Republican position either.