Why, Chicago?

Every single day our nation hears stories like this from Chicago. Everyone across the cultural and political spectrum weighs in with their opinions and solutions which they are CERTAIN will work.

My favorite is the Gun Cult who harp continually about how "restrictive" gun laws prohibit ordinary citizens from defending themselves. This results in the "only criminals will have guns" meme which has always cracked me up. So, we make guns easier for them to get? And we allow more, untrained citizens access to guns? I guess the Gun Cult wants a return to this...




I suppose it makes sense since they are largely older, white men who grew up on a Hollywood western view of violence. Yet this on Chicago's ongoing challenges with crime (along with nearly all of them) fails to note the root cause.

Violence in Chicago is the direct result of slavery.

Consider that it was slavery (and the ensuing Jim Crow laws) which drove African Americans north to Chicago over the course of several decades in the 19th and 20th century. The result of such an influx of people resulted in a jolt of increased population density that was economically harmful to the area. With so many people vying for jobs, especially in times of economic contraction, many citizens of Chicago, newly arrive or long time residents, were bound to be disenfranchised economically. Invariably, this leads people to crime and it has continued on to this day with city officials endlessly trying to play catch up in a game they will never win.

So, we are back, once again, with being confronted by the great wound that our society fails to recognize. Violence in Chicago will not be mitigated until our entire country admits that slavery is still having a profound effect on the socioeconomic status of millions of US citizens of color.

We can't even begin to discuss possible solutions until we recognize the problem.

The Transcript

Take a look at the transcript of Donald Trump's interview with the Washington Post.

Wow.

Kinda reminds me of right wing blog commenting and discussion...no facts, adolescent tantrums, complete ignorance of reality, imperial declarations...no wonder he has around 40 percent of the GOP vote. They are EXACTLY like this.

Facing Charges

Remember Jamie Gilt? She was the gun activist who had images like this on her Facebook page.

Then her 4 year old son accidentally shot and wounded her. Ah, "responsible" gun owners...

Well, she's now facing charges which could land her in jail for up to 180 days. Here's to hoping she does the full stretch.

26 Dead And...

Pass Three Laws

Bindu Kalesan from Boston University has just released a peer reviewed study that concludes the following.

Of 25 firearm laws, nine were associated with reduced firearm mortality, nine were associated with increased firearm mortality, and seven had an inconclusive association. After adjustment for relevant covariates, the three state laws most strongly associated with reduced overall firearm mortality were universal background checks for firearm purchase, ammunition background checks, and identification requirement for firearms. Projected federal-level implementation of universal background checks for firearm purchase could reduce national firearm mortality from 10·35 to 4·46 deaths per 100 000 people, background checks for ammunition purchase could reduce it to 1·99 per 100 000, and firearm identification to 1·81 per 100 000.

This means...

Very few of the existing state-specific firearm laws are associated with reduced firearm mortality, and this evidence underscores the importance of focusing on relevant and effective firearms legislation. Implementation of universal background checks for the purchase of firearms or ammunition, and firearm identification nationally could substantially reduce firearm mortality in the USA.

Boom.

Done.

Getting Out The Hispanic Vote

Donald Trump sure is doing a great job of getting out the Hispanic vote.

Healy is part of a wave of Latinos getting their US citizenship for the express purpose of voting against Mr. Trump. Overall naturalizations typically rise in election years, but in 2016 the numbers are stark: Applications could approach 1 million this year, 20 percent higher than average, according to The New York Times.

Hee hee...

Did We Miss Anything?

"Losing" With Cruz

You have to love what the GOP has come to these days.

Republican elders, desperate to stop Donald Trump, are increasingly convinced they would rather forfeit the White House than hand their party to the divisive Manhattan billionaire. That’s why the party’s establishment is suddenly rallying behind Ted Cruz, a man they’ve long despised and who has little chance, in the view of many GOP veterans, of defeating Hillary Clinton on Election Day.

They are getting exactly what they deserve:)

Guns In Schools

Looks like parents in Michigan are pretty pissed about open carry a gun in school.

"Kids with a toy gun can get kicked out of school but an adult with a (real) gun doesn't?" one man asked. "It's not appropriate," said parent Michelle Miller. 

"My family hunts. My daughter carries a concealed weapon. There's a time and a place for it (carrying guns) and school is not the time and place."

What did you guys expect would happen when you enable the Gun Cult?

The Great Establishment Hope

Why I Heart Al Franken

Sen. Franken Pushes Back Against Republicans Obstructing Supre...
In case you missed it, yesterday in the Judiciary Committee I decided to set the record straight on some of the absurd arguments that many Senate Republicans are using to shirk their constitutional duty. They are refusing to hold hearings for Chief Judge Merrick Garland—President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court—and many are refusing to even meet with him. This is obstruction, plain and simple, and the American people deserve better.
Posted by U.S. Senator Al Franken on Friday, March 18, 2016

What The Fuck Happened To The Republican Party?

Would it make any difference that Saint Ronnie is saying it?

The Self Esteem Movement is to Blame for Trump

Good Words

Donald Trump is epically unprepared to be president. He has no realistic policies, no advisers, no capacity to learn. His vast narcissism makes him a closed fortress. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and he’s uninterested in finding out. He insults the office Abraham Lincoln once occupied by running for it with less preparation than most of us would undertake to buy a sofa.

---David Brooks, The New York Times 

The Boiling Vat of Oil

Trump Voters are Losers

There have been several theories advanced about the nature of Trump voters: they're angry, they're authoritarian, they're racist, etc.

This analysis found the locations where Trump is attracting the most voters:

...Trump counties are places where white identity mixes with long-simmering economic dysfunctions.

The places where Trump has done well cut across many of the usual fault lines of American politics — North and South, liberal and conservative, rural and suburban. One element common to a significant share of his supporters is that they have largely missed the generation-long transition of the United States away from manufacturing and into a diverse, information-driven economy deeply intertwined with the rest of the world. 

“It’s a nonurban, blue-collar and now apparently quite angry population,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. “They’re not people who have moved around a lot, and things have been changing away from them, but they live in areas that feel stagnant in a lot of ways.”

 In particular, Trump voters are white with no high school diploma, they live in mobile homes, they have "old economy" jobs, they have a history of voting for segregationists, they're unemployed, etc.

In other words, they're losers.

This pretty much explains everything about Trump supporters, and how he's able to con them into supporting him. As a casino owner, Trump knows a lot about losers. That's because casino gamblers are by definition losers -- the house always wins.

The trick to running a casino is to provide the illusion that you're winning even when you're losing. Slot machines are a great example. There's a lot of noise, and lights, and the thrill of anticipation that something exciting is going to happen. The machine keeps leading you on, giving you a little jolt of excitement every once in a while while you keep feeding it money, fooling you into thinking you're winning, even though you never hit the big jackpot.

Like a Trump rally. Trump puts his supporters in the same mindset as gamblers placing sucker bets on the roulette table or feeding slot machines. Trump constantly yaps about winning and making lots of money, like casino and lottery ads that promise the suckers instant riches.

Real winners don't constantly yap about winning. They're competent and confident in their abilities. They don't need constant adulation. Losers obsess about winning.

Trump is not a real winner: at heart, he's an insecure loser who's perpetuated the illusion of winning. He's failed at most of his business ventures. He's rich, but that's because he inherited millions from his daddy (he's tied for 121 in the Forbes 400 list with two women you've never heard of). People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are real winners, people who started with an idea and got really rich.

Donald Trump is running his campaign like a slot machine or a lottery, promising his supporters that they're all going to win and they're all going to be really rich. The truth is, everyone who plays the Trump lottery is a loser, and if Trump wins the United States will be the biggest loser.

Winner Take All Predictions

For tonight's primary states, I predict the following.

On the Republican side,

Donald Trump will win Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina,

Ted Cruz will win Missouri

John Kasich will win Ohio

Marco Rubio going bye-bye

On the Democratic side,

Hillary Clinton will win Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, and Ohio.

Bernie Sanders will win Missouri,

With the Kasich win in Ohio and several Northeastern states to follow, the GOP race will become more convoluted than ever. Contested convention here we come!!

The Dark Heart of Nationalism

Fact Checking Trump

Good Words From The President

"We’ve got a debate inside the other party that is fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it’s the Home Shopping Network," Obama said in a clear reference to Trump's Tuesday-night press conference, where he wheeled out products like Trump Steaks and Trump Water to prove his business bona fides. 

"How can you be shocked?" he asked. "This is the guy, remember, who was sure that I was born in Kenya. Who just wouldn’t let it go. And all this same Republican establishment, they weren’t saying nothing. As long as it was directed at me, they were fine with it. They thought it was a hoot. Wanted to get his endorsement. And then now, suddenly, we’re shocked that there’s gambling going on in this establishment." 

Sounds familiar...:)