Did Hillary Clinton lose because she was a woman? The DNC establishment is trying to to spin her defeat as evidence that the United States as a country is still unwilling to accept a female President.
That’s bullshit.
No power in the hands of the state is more sobering than the power to end a human life. Only a handful of nations on Earth retain this power and the United States is the only western democracy among them.
Being an outlier on such an issue would be no problem so long as the United States derives some practical benefit from it, such as a demonstrable deterrent effect that has a downward impact on violent crime.
This is most certainly not the case. Capital punishment not only completely fails to deter people from violent acts but it is far from the most efficient means of dealing with the worst members of the human species.
The conservative blogosphere has been creaming its collective jeans over TV host Mike Rowe’s “epic” smackdown of a liberal Facebook troll Continue reading
Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, which is challenging the constitutionality of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, specifically the provisions of Section 5, which require certain states to receive Federal permission before altering any of their voting laws.
Note that this law was so controversial that, when it was re-authorized in 2006, it squeaked through the Senate on a vote of 98 to 0.
During his questioning, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that the protections of Section 5 were a form of “racial entitlement” that the “normal political” process could not be trusted to get rid of, because no legislator would ever be brave enough to vote against something called the “Voting Rights Act.” It apparently did not occur to Justice Scalia that legislators of both parties had done their due diligence and determined that the law was still useful. One does not need to be brave in order to not be stupid.
Needless to say, such comments sparked huge controversy. Continue reading
Right now there are three proposals for new gun control laws making the rounds on Capitol Hill. They are, in decreasing order of inevitability:
The background check law, which would extend the background check to all private sales as well as those conducted through a licensed dealer. This is supported by 90 percent of virtually everyone, including 80 percent of gun-owning NRA members like myself. Reason: We don’t want to let crazy people and gang bangers into our club. We want the gun-owning public of these United States to be composed entirely of people who have no reason to fear a background check.
Of the other two provisions, the extended magazine ban, which would restrict magazine capacities to 10 rounds or less, and the assault weapons ban, would be ban selected rifles due to their shared features with military rifles, I maintain that only the extended magazine ban is necessary. It solves the real problem, making the assault weapons ban redundant. Continue reading
Today, on NBC’s Meet the Press, our old buddy John McCain responded to a simple question about Benghazi with a bizarre non-sequitor attack on host Dick Gregory. The host wanted to know what McCain actually thought the administration had covered up about the attacks on Benghazi. Rather than answer the question, he deflected it by accusing Gregory of not caring about the four people. It was the sort of petulant non-answer you would expect from someone who doesn’t have an answer.
What about you, Mr. Speaker Boehner?
Today the United States Senate broke with 200+ years of tradition, and not in a good way. By a vote of 40 to 58, they failed to invoke cloture in the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. That’s fancy Senate-speak for not being able to force an up and down vote on the nomination. Cloture votes typically occur when Senate is trying to overcome a filibuster by the minority. According to Senator Graham, this wasn’t really a filibuster, just a delay.
Looks like, quacks like, you know the rest.
I like Lawrence O’Donnell, a polished combination of eloquence and passionate pugnacity. Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, however, he more than any other host at MSNBC has allowed his rhetoric to get a little overheated when discussing the National Rifle Association. Even as a member of that group, I confess that I have little use for it and will probably let my membership lapse if it hasn’t already. If it’s not going to represent the views of 80% of its members, than the NRA doesn’t offer anything you can’t get from the Auto Club, namely hotel discounts.
With whom do you think Marco Rubio should be more angry?
I’m afraid both of those people are probably named Marco Rubio. If that’s the best he can do, he won’t be spending much time in Iowa and New Hampshire in early 2016.