Daily Archives: June 17, 2013

Gun-violence

Weekend Gun Report: June 14-16, 2013 – NYTimes.com

A 35-year-old man walked into a Catholic church in Ogden, Utah, and shot his father-in-law in the back of the head during Sunday morning mass. A man accidentally shot and wounded his grandson in Lawrence County, Ala., Sunday morning. An 11-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet from a passing car while he was sleeping in his bed in Oakland, Calif., Sunday morning. Someone opened fire on a group of people outside a Providence, R.I., house just after midnight, killing a 12-year-old girl.

via Weekend Gun Report: June 14-16, 2013 – NYTimes.com.

Gun-violence

Weekend Gun Report: June 14-16, 2013 – NYTimes.com The Children being shot

Dionni Branch, 3, was sitting on her grandmother’s Columbus, Ohio, porch Friday night when a stray bullet lodged just below her hairline. A 4-year-old boy was wounded when a bullet entered through a window in his north Wichita, Kan., home early Thursday. A 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot in the stomach by someone riding a BMX bicycle near her home in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, N.Y., Friday night. An 11-year-old boy was shot in the midsection and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the back during two shootings an hour apart late Friday and early Saturday that are believed to have stemmed from an argument over territory in south Monroe, La.

A 13-year-old girl was shot in the leg and wounded when a 13-year-old boy was handling a gun and it discharged in Chesterfield County, Va., Thursday.

via Weekend Gun Report: June 14-16, 2013 – NYTimes.com.

Feminism, terrorism

Undaunted by 2012 Elections, Republicans Embrace Anti-Abortion Agenda – NYTimes.com

House Republicans seem eager to reopen the emotional fight over abortion by bringing to the floor on Tuesday a measure that would prohibit the procedure after 22 weeks of pregnancy — the most restrictive abortion bill to come to a vote in either chamber in a decade.

The bill stands no chance of becoming law, with Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House. Republican leaders acknowledge that its purpose is to satisfy vocal elements of their base who have renewed a push for new restrictions on reproductive rights, even if those issues harmed the party’s reputation with women in 2012.

Keenly aware of the fraught position they are in, Republican leaders have moved to insulate themselves from Democrats’ criticism that they are opening a new front in the “war on women.” Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, will manage the debate on the bill when it reaches the House floor, a role that would customarily go to the sponsor, Representative Trent Franks of Arizona.

And in a last-minute revision, House leaders slipped in a provision that would allow for a limited exception in cases of rape or incest, but only if the woman had reported the crime.

via Undaunted by 2012 Elections, Republicans Embrace Anti-Abortion Agenda – NYTimes.com.

Uncategorized

Watch President Obama Discuss the NSA and Syria Tonight on Charlie Rose | The White House

Before leaving for this week’s G-8 summit in the United Kingdom, President Obama sat down with Charlie Rose in the White House Library for a 45-minute interview on topics ranging from Syria to the National Security Agency.

via Watch President Obama Discuss the NSA and Syria Tonight on Charlie Rose | The White House.

In the can now – wish I could see now – will not see till tomorrow – not staying up till 11 PM- gotta get up too early in the AM – grin

Feminism

Rule #1. Show up! Skipped briefings lead to fewer facts – The Maddow Blog

Last November, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was struggling to turn Benghazi into a political controversy. At one point, he scheduled a press conference to raise questions he wanted answers to, unaware of the fact that there was a classified briefing underway on Benghazi — which McCain had been invited to, but did not attend.

It was an embarrassing setback, which left McCain looking foolish. He had questions, and could have received answers, but instead complained to the media about his lack of information.

As it happens, McCain isn’t the only one. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) recently complained to Attorney General Eric Holder about the scope of NSA surveillance, demanding to know, among other things, “How could the phone records of so many innocent Americans be relevant to an authorized investigation as required by the [Patriot Act]?”

Sensenbrenner’s interest was more noteworthy than most — the Wisconsin Republican did, after all, take the lead in writing the Patriot Act during the Bush/Cheney, so his questions and concerns carry some additional weight.

But just as McCain failed to get the available information on Benghazi, it turns out that Sensenbrenner failed to get the available information on NSA surveillance. MSNBC’s Adam Serwer reported that the congressman chose not to attend “classified briefings on the National Security Agency’s program over the last three years.”

via Skipped briefings lead to fewer facts – The Maddow Blog.

Hispanic, HumanLoving, racism

Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | New Research Shows SNAP, Facing Big Cuts in the House, Reduces Extreme Poverty

Even as the House prepares this week to cut SNAP (formerly food stamps) by $21 billion and push 2 million low-income people off the program, new research shows that SNAP is the most effective program pushing against the steep rise in extreme poverty.

The number of households with children living on $2 or less per person per day — one definition of poverty the World Bank uses for developing nations — more than doubled between 1996 and 2011, to 1.6 million, according to research by the University of Michigan’s H. Luke Shaefer and Harvard University’s Kathryn Edin.

via Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | New Research Shows SNAP, Facing Big Cuts in the House, Reduces Extreme Poverty.

immigration, racism

Supreme Court Rules Arizona Citizenship Proof Law Illegal | Fronteras Desk

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states cannot on their own require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier.

The justices voted 7-2 to throw out Arizona’s voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal “Motor Voter” voter registration law.

Federal law “precludes Arizona from requiring a federal form applicant to submit information beyond that required by the form itself,” Justice Antonia Scalia wrote for the court’s majority.

via Supreme Court Rules Arizona Citizenship Proof Law Illegal | Fronteras Desk.