Children are being groomed to normalize and accept Gun Violence.

POSTED BY SNOOFY

This cannot be emphasized enough.

If anyone knows about this, it's me and I'm tired of having to deal with the aftermath of unrestricted gun violence.

You should be too. Everyone should be.

"Back to the Future" - Southern style. Women in today's South have less autonomy over their own bodies than did most of their mothers and grandmothers, and are now face with multi-hundred or thousand mile journeys to "freedom states" in order to receive unfettered healthcare services free from male-dominated and imposed government restrictions.

American women better wake up and vote for their own freedom moving forward or recognize the GOP plans on making them little more than incubators without any say over their own lives and healthcare options.

A column in Bloomberg Opinion drew attention to increasing profit margins and urged consumers to push back. "The idea that corporate profit expansion has been a big driver of inflation was once mostly confined to trade unions and left-wing academics, but it's now taken seriously by central bankers," the authors wrote.

By May, the Wall Street Journal published a story on how corporate profits were keeping inflation high, citing the work of Isabella Weber, an economist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who was derided for her work on the topic back in late 2021.

In a stunning comeback this month, The Times of London profiled Weber's rise from a lone voice to star economist who's drawn attention to the notion that companies and certain sectors can drive inflation -- she calls it "sellers' inflation," not greedflation. "Suddenly everybody wants to know how to think about inflation differently," Weber tells Axios.

The only way this nation is going to be moved en masse to enact meaningful gun reform is to publicize the photos of actual physical destruction wrought by weapons originally designed for the express purpose of killing and maiming human beings.

We all know that one picture is worth a thousand words, so let's stop talking and let's start displaying what's becoming nearly an everyday occurrence all across America. Let gun fetishists justify the carnage of their no-restriction policies once the world has actually viewed its damage with their own wide-open eyes.

#19

Moron:

Fact 1: Poor and working-class Americans pay higher payroll tax rates than the rich

67.5 percent of taxpayers will owe more in payroll taxes than in income taxes in 2022. Clearly, low-wage workers without any income tax liabilities have plenty of skin in the game.

...unseemly gifts and business transactions. (correction)

Straight line connection FTA:

In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the documents show ... He emphasized that the paperwork should have "No mention of Ginni, of course." The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.

In all, according to the documents, the Polling Company paid Thomas's firm, Liberty Consulting, $80,000 between June 2011 and June 2012, and it expected to pay $20,000 more before the end of 2012.

In December 2012, the Judicial Education Project submitted an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder, a case challenging a landmark civil rights law aimed at protecting minority voters. The court struck down a formula in the Voting Rights Act that determined which states had to obtain federal clearance before changing their voting rules and procedures. Clarence Thomas was part of the 5-to-4 majority.

Thomas issued a concurring opinion in the case, arguing that the preclearance requirement itself is unconstitutional. Thomas's opinion, which was consistent with a previous opinion he wrote, favored the outcome the Judicial Education Project and several other conservative organizations had advocated in their amicus briefs. He did not cite the Judicial Education Project brief.

I don't agree with this at all, but I truly think that that is exactly how Thomas justifies the unjustifiable as the majority of unbiased people see these seemly "gifts" and business transactions.

And I want to be perfectly clear as it regards my ire with the Thomas' complete dismissal of seemingly all ethical concerns. I could care less their ideology or party. I'd be equally upset with any judge/wife lacking the common sense to ignore the optics of being the recipient of largess from wealthy political allies and failing to report such transactions.

Doug Emhoff quit a multi-million dollar partnership with a law firm so as not to draw any negative inferences upon his wife the Vice President. He didn't take a leave of absence, he resigned. He's now a visiting professor at Georgetown Law School bringing in under $50K. This is how some Democrats deal with the appearance of conflict of interest or questionable income from directly-connected political sources.

But to me, here's the worse part of what all of this says about Clarence Thomas as a jurist. His mind is already made up - he never enters into a case with an open mind. He has his ending before it begins, he only needs to find a way to justify it through his interpretation of the Constitution and law. This is how he justifies everything he does because he doesn't do it for the money, he does it because that's how he views the law, and he's already made that perfectly clear to all his and Ginni's benefactors. So they're paying as a way to say "Thank you" for always being there for us as you've articulated in our private conversations.

There is no whiff of a quid pro quo. This is strictly gracious payments in arrears for services already rendered and a tip for whatever the next case will be that they already know he'll decide in their favor.

Drip, drip, drip and the next thing you know there's an actual deluge. This is the actual reality from confirmed receipts for unethical, indefensible bribery that the right always tries to project onto George Soros.

Wonder what the next damning revelation is going to be against Clarence and/or Ginni Thomas?

FTA:

The perception that life is getting more dangerous has spread on the right as GOP leaders and pundits repeatedly argued, without evidence, that immigrants and protesters are jeopardizing American peace. Conservative news channels have devoted more airtime to violence than their center- and left-leaning competitors: Over the past three years, for instance, Fox News anchors and guests spotlighted crime 79 percent more often than those on MSNBC and twice as much as voices on CNN, according to a Washington Post analysis 0f closed captioning provided by the GDELT AI Television Explorer and the Internet Archive.

Fear, paranoia and misunderstandings of the laws governing self-defense and use of force is a recipe for tragedy, said Geoffrey S. Corn, chair of criminal law at Texas Tech University Law School.

"We don't demand any education for people who own firearms," he said. "I was a soldier, and we couldn't touch a live round without completing weeks of basic training."

You're not good with anything but being contrarian over a deal that was consummated almost 60 years ago. No one is saying that Walt was a mensch, but he and his associates were indeed visionaries and made what was only a dream then into a reality that altered the region and the industry from what it was into the economic behemoth it is today.

Florida's law dictated the need for the district, not politics alone. Disney's "advantages" over the more recent attractions has them paying 50% more in taxes than the others and being totally independent from public resources for their own infrastructure/utilities/services inside their district.

No one is saying the Disney company is godly, they're a business trying to make profits, full stop. But none of this was controversial for the last 50 plus years until Disney took a public stance of inclusion and anti-bigotry that Florida's GOP governor and legislature disagreed with and then retaliated against Disney for its use of constitutionally-protected speech.

They continue to lie that Disney's district is based on them not paying their fair share. BS. Disney has always paid more than its share because doing so allowed it the autonomy to develop the world's largest entertainment complex and community without burdening local and state taxpayers or adding public debt to their ledgers. I applaud Disney for their foresight and commitment to the future so long ago.

Take a moment to consider yourself a moron for not remotely understanding what has been widely and publicly reported since the mid 1960s:

Lying liars have no clue what Florida's state legislature created in 1967. Disney has no tax abatements or exemptions. Disney pays MORE IN TAXES because they fund their own infrastructure as well as pay ALL STATE, COUNTY AND LOCAL TAXES just like every other theme parks which didn't build and maintain their own roads, utilities, fire and police departments. That's one of the chief reasons for these districts. Florida law prohibits entities from paying different tax rates, so without the district Disney could not overtax itself to fund infrastructure needs and utilities normally delivered by municipal governments.

Another day, another FAFO clapback. Anti-constitutional/anti-authoritarian schadenfreude is certainly delicious, isn't it?

Ron doesn't know that.

He's learning the truth very quickly. When GOP moneymen say that they're not giving you any cash and your own state's congressional contingent allowed you to come to DC for a meet and greet and then they run before a camera and announce that they're supporting Trump, I'd say not only is the writing on the wall but the ------ on Rhonda Santis' face is impossible to miss.

To no one's surprise, here's what Andrew Lester's grandson has to say about him:

"Andrew Lester's grandson has revealed new details about his grandfather's "racist comments" and interest in "QAnon-level conspiracy theories" after the white homeowner appeared in court charged with shooting Black teenager Ralph Yarl.

Klint Ludwig told CNN that the 84-year-old "holds racist tendencies and beliefs" - something he attributed in part to "this 24 hour news cycle of fear and paranoia".

"He would sit and watch Fox News all day every day blaring in his living room," he said.

According to Dominion spokespersons including their CEO, Fox News is paying them $787.5 million dollars in damages and is admitting that they lied about Dominion voting machines being corrupted in the 2020 Presidential election.

The prosecutor says 'through a glass door' but the front door is not broken, there must be a glass door around back.

95

Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson said that he decided against charging Lester with attempted murder because under Missouri law, first-degree assault carries a longer punishment.

What both of these shootings make clear is that far too many cloistered Americans fully believe that everyone else - but particularly people of color - are out to get them. Normal innocuous everyday moments of life now have to be weighed as whether they'll trigger another person's fears to the point that person will use deadly force out of those fears.

I get why the 84 year old man was frightened by the 16 year old black kid at his door. Dollars to donuts he watches Fox News - or other right wing fear mongering news sources - and internalized their incessant drumbeat of crime and violence perpetrated by men of color against white Americans.

There is nothing wrong with being diligent and observant, but these people have been brainwashed through targeted propaganda that people they don't know are out to harm them or take whatever they have of value, and that people who look like they do have zero regard for life or limb. So they regress to their own primal id and now believe in their minds that they're only doing to the enemy what the enemy will do to them if given the chance. The only problem is that the enemy isn't one and is often just a law abiding citizen living their life with no intent of doing anyone harm in the moment.

Is that the best Kansas City can do based on the facts of this case? Jeez.

"Mr. Thompson said Mr. Lester had been charged with assault in the first degree, a class-A felony, and could face life in prison if convicted. He also was charged with armed criminal action, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, Mr. Thompson said."

This also happened yesterday to a white girl.
Think it will get the press of the black kid?

"An 85-year-old White Kansas City man was charged with two felonies after opening fire on a Black teenager who rang his doorbell after showing up to the wrong home to pick up his siblings.

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Andrew D. Lester, who was charged with felony assault and armed criminal action, one of which carries a life sentence if convicted, after shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl twice " once in the head " late Thursday, according to the Clay County prosecutor's office."

Clarification for post 6 errors from one of Yarl's attorneys:

"Lee Merritt
@MerrittForTexas

2 points of clarification concerning the shooting of #RalphYarl:

1. The suspect was not detained for 24 hours. He was released in under 2 hours after providing a statement to police.

2. Police took a recorded statement from Ralph from his hospital bed Friday!"