"Some of My Best Friends are..."

That's the start of a quote from Tallulah Bankhead's character in the Hitchcock movie "Lifeboat."

She uses that refrain a lot in the movie. So I'm grabbing it. 

Some of my best friends are...

teachers

students

parents

school officials

grandparents

siblings


And this Mama is mad. What, you say, do all of the above-listed folks have in common?

They're all victims of shootings. Mass shootings, which are now as familiar to us as a regular old weekday. 

Oh, my friends the politicians (some of my friends are even politicians...) will offer their "thoughts and prayers." And some of those "friends" will mightily castigate those who seek to "politicize" the shootings. 

You know THOSE folks. The ones who want - NOW, finally, THIS TIME to talk about mental health issues and gun regulations. 

"But it's TOO SOON." 

Then?

BAM. The next shooting. 

"But it's TOO SOON."

Then? 

BAM. The NEXT shooting. 

It's a bad refrain to an oft-sung song. 

It's NOT too soon. It's almost too late. 

Does anyone recall that the latest shooting in Parkland, Florida is TEN YEARS from the shooting at Northern Illinois University? To the day, people. 

How long (dare I even put this in writing) till someone decides to do "anniversary shootings"? Seriously, don't you dare laugh. Don't you DARE tell me "it's not the guns."  DON'T you dare tell me that it's a "terrorist" if the shooter isn't a white male. 

The mental health safety nets (what few of them still exist) will be shredded under the current administration's iteration of that farcical piece of garbage called their "budget." And we aren't allowed to mention gun restrictions - like restrictions on large purchases of ammunition - because it might upset the NRA and they won't be able to buy and sell their (really, once upon a time, OUR) representatives. 

Here's an idea. Those responsible gun owners that we hear from and about? How about ALL OF YOU resign from the NRA. Seriously, take your money and spend it elsewhere. Maybe when the NRA has only the zealots, and their budget tanks? Maybe THEN we can talk about sensible limits. Sensible regulations. Politicians that aren't bought. 

Because right now? Apparently, the lone "presidential" tweet sending "thoughts and prayers: isn't cutting it, and it is, after all, "too soon."

But not too soon to plan funerals for youngsters whose only misstep was -- going to school. 

Lost Our Collective Common Sense...

Memorial Day is NOT Veteran's Day. 

Just wanted to get that off my chest. Also, FYI, it's not the Fourth of July, so I would really appreciate the firework crazies taking a step back, please. 

And as Americans, we have, I believe, collectively LOST any vestiges of common sense we ever had.

Don't know if you've seen this on the news, but on Friday, May 23, a crazy kid killed people in Isla Vista, CA - 3 people in his apartment (he stabbed them) and then gunned down another 3 near the University of California at Santa Barbara. Why?

Because he said the women he killed "rejected" him. Oh, and they were whores, too... Of course. So, let's blame the women. Again. And let's blame the folks who choose not to carry weapons, because, you know, "good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns."

Except they don't. This kid had actually obtained his guns LEGALLY. He was able to get them because he didn't have a record. So much for screening, right? He had some pretty awful Facebook and YouTube screeds out there, moments before he went on his rampage.

Oh, and the big man -- killed himself. Because every killer channels Jimmy Cagney in "White Heat" - going out in a blaze of glory. (Apologies to James Cagney, by the way.)

The father of one of the victims asks a very pertinent question: "...what kind of message does it send to the world when we have such a rudderless bunch of idiots in government?" Mr. Martinez, do you mean the dolts who blocked the legislation set forth after Sandy Hook, which would have extended background checks for gun sales and banned assault weapons - AND limited magazine capacities? --- Yep, all blocked by our intractable Senate in April of last year. Intractable because the NRA told them to block the legislation. Because they were afraid of losing their upcoming elections. Afraid that their corporate slave-masters ('cause let's be serious - it's out there already) wouldn't be pleased that they didn't obey... 

And then... Here's the kicker. Not-Joe, the Not-Plumber -- yep, that guy. He says, in a stunning moment of absolute idiocy: "Your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional right to have guns." Yep. He did it. Here.  

Go ahead. Take a deep breath. Try not to whack your head against a brick wall. 

This is total and complete: the collective insanity in this country in regard to gun laws. We cannot ever have a sane conversation about anything to do with guns. Because the legislators have been bought and paid for by the NRA and because the folks on the side of reasonable regulation are unable to be heard by the "oh-my-God-grab-your-panties-'cause-the-Black-Guy-in-the-White-House-is-gonna-take-your-guns" mantra.

And that has happened -- exactly NOT. But like Henny Penny, the good little NRA chickies run around with that song and dance and get to change the whole tenor of the conversation. 

A conversation that grown-ups need to have. Now. Before another shooting. Before the memory of this fades as fast as it usually does, particularly since in about a nanosecond, we'll all be concerned (greatly concerned, I might add) with the pics of Kim & Kanye... 

We as a nation used to be great. We're not great anymore. We're a commodity. Bought and paid for by special interest groups and rich white folks. (For the record, I'm white, but I'm not rich.) (And also for the record, my brother, whom I would do anything for, is a gun owner and we disagree mightily on this topic, yet somehow, WE are able to have a sane conversation. Maybe we should be running for office... except we're not rich.)

As a friend in England said to me this morning, "What is wrong with you people?" The only answer I can give her is that we've been purchased. And that 90% of us don't have a clue that we've been purchased. We've bought the party line and we're lined up like lemmings about to go off the cliff. Because we're told to. 

I'm all about activism. I'm hoping that I can educate people. And what I'm educating you on is your right at the ballot box and your right in the arena of free speech. Get out and learn about even ONE SINGLE ISSUE that's dear to you. And then go preach it. I honestly don't care if your issues are completely opposite mine.

All I want is a decent, logical discussion without rhetoric, hype or talking points. I want YOU to make your point to ME. And then I want you to allow me the same courtesy. Maybe, that way, we can become great again; when we start caring about what others have to say and how our actions impact others. 

It's not "all about me and my rights." Are you listening, Not-Joe, the Not-Plumber?? No, actually, YOUR right to wave your metal penis around does NOT trump the right of my kids to live.  

Sure. You can have your guns. And you can stay home if you're that "a-skeered" of the boogeyman, protecting what's yours. And letting the rest of us, the sane ones, live in safety from you and your guns. 

REALLY, Florida???

So Marissa Alexander is set to go to trial now, for SIXTY YEARS for firing a shot into a wall, in the direction of her abusive estranged husband.

And someone says, "she didn't have to go back into the house." Really?

Reports say that she didn't live in the house, but had thought that the abusive estranged hubby wasn't home. Apparently, though it's not clear, there was something there she needed...? Either way, at the time of the incident, she did have a restraining order against him. I would like to think that she was as certain as she could be that he wasn't in the home before deliberately putting herself in this situation.  

The abusive estranged husband had already broken through the bathroom door and grabbed her by the throat, shoving her to the ground. According to the records, he was badgering her about the paternity of the child she'd given birth to "days" prior. 

She tried to leave, through the garage, but the door wouldn't open. I don't know - maybe Florida garages don't have service doors like ours do in Illinois.

I do wonder where the new baby was. But I don't have any indications in anything I've read on this matter.

See, here's what makes me angry. She was ALREADY convicted, for a term of 20 years (...though it was 3 counts. The judge combined the sentences to one of 20 years). This move by the judge, to have her serve the 3 sentences concurrently instead of consecutively, was what was tossed out by the 1st District Court of Appeal. Under Florida law, the original judge wasn't allowed to combine the charges that way. But wait... Different appeals courts in Florida have different opinions. Some say that Daniel CAN stack the sentences. Others say no. 

And so now the DA is re-trying it. What happened to double jeopardy? Anyway, this retrial, set for July, will (absent a plea agreement) will land this woman in jail for basically the rest of her life.

Because she fired a warning shot. At an abusive spouse who was charging her. The spouse claims that his kids, who were with him, were the victims here.

Well, yeah, probably. Because he chose that day to assault his estranged wife IN FRONT OF THEM. So that makes him what? Daddy of the Year??  

The Circuit Court judge, James Daniel, said during jury instructions that she had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was abused. 

I would think a restraining order was "beyond a reasonable doubt." But you never know about juries, especially those in Florida. It took the first jury twelve minutes. TWELVE MINUTES. To find her guilty. 

What's outrageous if you have a conscience and a soul is that, just recently, two white guys got away with KILLING black kids. Using "Stand Your Ground," they claimed to be in fear of their lives. Uh-huh.

Like Marissa Alexander WASN'T? With an estranged, abusive husband choking her, as opposed to, say, loud music playing in a car? Or a kid walking through a neighborhood who "looked gangster"? 

This article in Huffington Post is even more galling. Apparently, Daddy of the Year has had multiple "baby mammas" and has "laid hands on each of them" according to his own words. 

Oh yeah, this guy wins Prince Charming awards everywhere he goes. Here's a link to a Daily Sundial blog that just about summarizes it: if you're black and/or female, I guess the law isn't on your side. Your Prince Charming can run his scraggly butt out of the house and claim YOU threatened him. Of course, after HE "laid hands" on you. 

I want to vomit. Here's the thing. I'm past 55 years of age and I'm white. I'm female, a feminist, and have worked for a long time in male-dominated fields. I know from discrimination and the "pink collar" crap. I also know how men can get really intimidated by bright, educated women. And that doesn't count the double-whammy of being black.

I am under no delusion that we are now a post-racial society since Barack Obama's election (twice) to the Presidency. I was, however, thinking that just maybe, in 2014, the US would perhaps, somewhat, a teeny tiny bit, be post-gender. 

Yes, the statistics regarding our political representation (18.5% in both House and Senate) and the number of CEOs (4% in the Fortune 500 companies, and 4.4% in the Fortune 1000) are still pathetic. And we won't even talk about why anyone with ovaries would be Republican.

But still. Michael Dunn could "stand his ground" in a parking lot. Marissa Alexander can't do that in a home she once occupied? At least Ms. Alexander was being physically assaulted. 

Dunn just didn't like the music. 

Concealed Carry in Illinois...

So today, as long as I'm ranting on domestic violence, I read that the State of Illinois' new/stupid law allowing the citizens to carry concealed weapons may have a loophole. A large, frightening loophole. 

As a side note, a pox on Representative Brandon Phelps, who sponsored this NRA-written law. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your soft squishy parts. In your next life, may you come back as a worm. One of those night-crawlers that creep onto the sidewalks after a heavy rain -- you know, the ones everyone steps on...

Anyway. I digress. 

Under the current Illinois law, a person can be arrested for just about any offense including domestic battery.  Wait for it. You'd think, "Ok, ONE arrest and done."

Noooooooooo. You can be arrested up to five times within a 7-year period. Do you understand how incredibly ludicrous and stupid this is? How many times will it take to actually kill the woman you're assaulting? And those are only the situations where it's reported.

Domestic violence goes unreported. A lot. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has put out a flyer outlining some of the statistics. They're not as current as I'd like but the numbers are still staggering. Add the availability of concealed carry to this. 

Then add the fact that Illinois is broke, and that the background checks may not extend across state lines.

Right now, the IL statute is more restrictive than the federal statute, and the "domestic battery" segment is the only misdemeanor in the federal statute. Of course, the gun lobby is going wild about this. They want that misdemeanor REMOVED from the federal statute. The US Supreme Court held oral arguments in a Tennessee case that would repeal the "Lautenberg" amendment and restore gun rights to convicted domestic abusers.

Let me repeat that. 

...restore gun rights to convicted domestic abusers.

Has your blood run cold yet? If not, check your pulse. Women in this country (and particularly in Florida) are going to become an endangered species unless we duck our eyes, follow our man 5 feet behind his noble self, and act as breeders. 

Yeah. That's how I wanted my future to be. 

Random Picture...

Satellite picture

I'm not in the mood for cute-puppy-pictures. However, I will use these, that I found on The Google... According to today's paper, about 80% of the Great Lakes is still frozen. That hasn't happened since the mid-1990s. Spring, groundhog to the contrary, will be late. 

But Mother Nature is certainly putting on a show for us. 

Light-house-sicle

Icebreaker

Ice Beard