Via Dan Savage, Paul Waldman at the American Prospect shares his angle on gun safety:
…[O]ne of the things that makes a society work is that people have rights that are protected in the law, but they also exercise those rights with consideration for the society’s other members. For instance, we have a strong commitment to freedom of expression, such that many things that would be deemed obscene and get you tossed in jail in other countries are tolerated here. So if I want do a performance art piece that involves lots of cursing and tossing about bodily fluids, I can do it. But I’m not going to do it on the sidewalk in front of your house during dinner time, not because I don’t have the right, but because that would make me an asshole. In the exercising of my rights, I’d be changing the conditions of your existence, even for a brief time, in a way that you’d find unpleasant. So because I value having a society where we all live together, I’ll choose to find a theater to put on my performance, and you can choose to come see it or not. In the same way, if you choose to have a gun in your home because you think it protects you, that’s your right. I’m going to choose not to let my kid come play with your kid at your house, and we can all get along….
As I’ve written before, the goal of many gun advocates, particularly those who promote concealed carry, is that we make it so as many people as possible take as many guns as possible into as many places as possible. That’s been the focus of their legislative efforts in recent years, not only passing concealed carry laws nearly everywhere, but also passing laws to make you able to take guns into bars, schools, government buildings, houses of worship, and so on, and also advocating for laws that would let you take your guns to communities where it would be otherwise illegal to carry them. Which would mean that your right to carry your gun trumps the right of everyone else to say, this is a place where we’ve decided we don’t want people bringing guns…
***********
What’s on the agenda for the evening?
Trooptrap Tripetrope
Catnip: Egress to Oblivion?
Ben Franklin
The paper of record emeritus, doesn’t have a clue what hacking is? Jesus……..
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/technology/how-mit-ensnared-a-hacker-bucking-a-freewheeling-culture.html?hpw&_r=1&pagewanted=all&
Dotcom flipping the bird….there is a diff.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/18/kim-dotcom-fight-internet-freedom
SiubhanDuinne
I’m glad there’s an open thread, because I’ve been wondering about DanceAroundInYourBones. Haven’t seen her for what feels like several months, and I’m hoping she’s okay and will return to posting.
Thanks. Now i’ll go back and actually read the post.
SiubhanDuinne
Should have said “commenting,” not “posting.” I’m sadly casual about making those distinctions.
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
She was here about a month ago.
burnspbesq
Tonight it’s the triumph of hope over experience: watching the Duke women’s basketball team go up against UConn.
Calouste
Feature, not bug, for the gun cultists.
burnspbesq
Has anyone not seen this?
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/01/19/playing-the-odds/
SatanicPanic
@Calouste: Yeah, that’s kind of the point for them. Show everyone who’s boss.
SiubhanDuinne
@Maude:
Thanks. Like just about all of us, I suppose, I don’t always read every comment on every thread every day, and realize it’s more than likely that DAIYB has been here when I haven’t.
Redshift
OT, and don’t know if someone’s already mentioned it, but apparently Republicans in the Virginia State Senate took advantage of being in session while a lot of Democrats were at the Inauguration to ram through a surprise mid-cycle redistricting.
Just appalling.
balconesfault
This is why I didn’t find objectionable the newspaper that published addresses of those with carry permits – if you keep guns around the house, I’d like to know, whether it’s my kids going to your house to play, or even my kids being warned not to jump the fence at dusk looking for their ball after a wiffleball home run.
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
We watch out for our own. And Tunch.
Comrade Dread
@burnspbesq: Saw it earlier. Was disgusted.
I must be weird. I haven’t even let my kids watch a cartoon or anything with guns in it yet. Granted, they’re only 3 and 2, but I love the fact that they still have an innocence about them and haven’t seen all the crap the world has to offer.
I want to let them hold on to that for as long as possible and the last thing that would cross my mind would be, “Here, kiddo, hold this tool that is designed to murder other people quite efficiently, so daddy can take a f***ing picture.”
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
I saw one comment from her the other night, but that was it. So apparently she’s around, just not active.
sharl
@SiubhanDuinne: You got me curious, so I did the Google thang, and as I thought I remembered, she showed up here a few nights ago.
I like her too. A genuine hippie with a heart as big as the sky. I hope she is doing well.
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
Aren’t legislatures supposed to be a bit more structured than that? I thought they had to actually run these things through committees, schedule them some time in advance, have multiple readings of a bill, etc. It certainly seems that ramming a bill through this quickly ought to require some kind of supermajority to bypass the normal rules.
Maude
@Roger Moore:
Nothing normal about Republicans.
Mr Stagger Lee
Who was this Martin Luther King Jr, who be spinning in his grave over the Inauguration of President Obama? The stupid is strong in wingnut land.
James E. Powell
@Roger Moore:
Not to be a dick, but haven’t you been paying attention for the last ten years or so? The Republicans do not respect anything unless they can invoke it to their advantage.
PurpleGirl
What are the odds that one of those three girls will one day be mad at their parents (or one parent), grab a gun and kill one or both of them?
After all, the way to solve a problem is to wave a gun around, isn’t it?
Davis X. Machina
@Roger Moore: No. A majority, a gavel, and no interest in politics in the run-the-polis sense is all you need.
There may be problems with prior notice, depending on house rules, but that’s what the motion to suspend the rules is for. Throw in a tame parliamentarian and it is the opinion of the chair that you’re fucked.
Voters a.) won’t remember and b.) if you redistrict right, it’s irrelevant anyways.
Norms, not rules, are what keeps this country from looking like Grozny.
Roger Moore
@Maude:
But there is something normal about the rules of the legislature. If I were in Virginia, I’d want to look very closely at the Senate rules to see if any of them were broken in the course of passing this thing, since that could be used as a basis for a court challenge.
PurpleGirl
I’m supposed to be writing an APA zine for emailing to the editor, tonight. But I’ve been playing jigsaw puzzles at jigsawplanet.com instead…
Maude
@Roger Moore:
I would want to know how they got around the rules, if they did.
mainmati
@Roger Moore: @Roger Moore: I would think this will be challenged in the state supreme court, which is reactionary so may survive anyway. More voter suppression in a state that is now more blueish than purple.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Comrade Dread:
It is weird, and it’s not just the gun nuts. Go to a video store and count the proportion of films that have a person holding a gun on the cover. I actually like and own guns. But I don’t want to see gun violence, even in a military context, in my entertainment. It’s getting harder and harder to find movies to watch that don’t have shootouts in them.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq: When i saw that I thought “State’s Exhibit 1” in a child endangering trial. To be followed by “State’s Exhibit 2” consisting of the (possibly worse) photo from the link called “there’s more.”
It’s not the kids’ fault – they really don’t know better. But that’s quite hard to look at without horror. Had he a grave (instead of an ash niche), my father would be spinning in it. Of course, he was a lifelong hunter and trap/skeet shooter who beat Our Father Who Art in Houston by 10 years with his NRA resignation.
MattR
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: I was allowed to watch Porky’s long before I was allowed to watch Rambo. But I was the exception among my friends.
SiubhanDuinne
@Redshift: Yeah, and Mitch McConnell decided this would be the perfect day to send a blast email out basically shrieking “We’re literally surrounded!! They’re coming for your guns!! Aaaaarrgh!!”
Davis X. Machina
@mainmati: Good-bye E Pluribus Unum, good-bye Sic Semper Tyrannis, hello “Just Win, Baby”.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Sorry, forgot to include a link to Yertle McTurtle’s screed.
Even sorrier that it’s HuffPo.
Lurker
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
The Hobbit and other fantasy films with medieval settings sound like safe bets.
SiubhanDuinne
@Comrade Dread:
I was quite pleasantly surprised the other night when Dustin Hoffman said in an NPR interview that he refuses to hold a gun in a movie scene. He’s been adamant about it for pretty much his entire career (I think he mentioned one exception). Hasn’t seemed to hurt his job prospects any.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
@sharl:
Thanks. I actually read the first part of that thread, but must have gone to bed before she showed up, and never went back to look at the Night Crew’s input.
jayboat
Thanks for this, AL- Waldman says exactly what I’ve been thinking for a while now, and I don’t have kids.
slightly_peeved
From the linked article:
I think you could also argue that the probability of being injured from a gun misuse is higher than the probability of the presence of guns preventing injury that would arise out of a robbery or spree killing. See the 5 people injured on “Gun Appreciation Day”, versus the complete lack of cases where a killing spree was ended by a random carrying citizen shooting the killer. Apart from the general negative effect on society of people always walking around armed, the math doesn’t add up.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: The exception must be Marathon Man, where he held a gun on psycho Nazi dentist Laurence Olivier.
And after the dental work he did, I would have too.
WereBear
@slightly_peeved: Why aren’t armed people allowed in gun shows?
Of all the places in all the world…
Litlebritdifrnt
I was watching today’s events on MSNBC, at one point Chris Matthews was talking about meeting POTUS after the first debate at some event. Apparently Matthews said something to POTUS about his debate performance at which point POTUS said to him “calm down Chris I got this” heh. I would like to think that there was a “fuck” in there somewhere that Matt didn’t report on.
MikeJ
@WereBear: Inventory control if nothing else.
sb
@slightly_peeved: Yep, this.
I’ve posted before that I’m a teacher, work with teachers that I would literally take a bullet for, have students that I’d absolutely take a bullet for and there isn’t one of these wonderful colleagues and students whom I would trust to carry a gun on a daily basis.
Teachers with guns, according to the NRA. The only reason why I don’t call that the stupidest, most ill-thought out idea the NRA has ever had is my certainty that they’ve had worse ones I’m not aware of.
Keith G
This eve I am in flu recovery. I got a flu shot in Oct, which as an AIDS patient, I get every year – even back when supplies are short, I am at the front of the line, yay me!
None-the-less this shit kicked my ass. I woke up last night with violent shivering caused by a 103 temp. All because some dude came to work sick since so few American get sick leave. I have determined that if this happens again, I will go home in order to prevent exposure.
Watching the Inaugural was healing. I am surprised at the catty comments I have read about it.
It was a beautiful ceremony – no waste, all the parts aiming to a specific point.
Obama’s address was the best I have heard in a long time. It was historic. This is a seasoned political leader at the height of his powers. It made me forget how crappy I feel, but now I am remembering.
If you come across someone with this flu, stay the fuck away.
Litlebritdifrnt
Ha Ha Ha “Romney makes desperate last ditch bid for the presidency”
http://www.theonion.com/articles/romney-makes-desperate-lastditch-bid-for-presidenc,30975/
SiubhanDuinne
@sharl:
Okay, now you’ve got me curious! What do you mean by “the Google thang”? I mean, I know what Google is, of course, but I just Googled dance around in your bones and all that came up was a long list of YouTube videos. Nothing about comments on BJ. What’s your secret?
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Keith G:
Crap! Everyone I know who got the flu, and there are plenty, said it was their worst in years. Get well soon!
dead existentialist
@Mr Stagger Lee: Did you notice the Fox & Friends guest was named Larry Winget?
And many white people have taken stupidity to a new level. Geesh.
Yutsano
@Keith G: We need mandatory sick leave in this country. Especially among populations of workers who don’t normally get sick hours like restaurant workers and such. But it MIGHT cause a jerb creator some slight discomfort if we did OH NOES!!
RareSanity
@SiubhanDuinne:
Add “site:balloon-juice.com” (without the quotes) to your search terms.
MikeJ
@SiubhanDuinne: site:ballooon-juice.com whateveryouwanttosearchfor, possibly followed by restricting it to a date range (most easily done through the gui).
ruemara
@Keith G: I’m sorry. I hope you feel better soon.
I have been making cookies. Well cookie dough. I sorta volunteered to make cookies for a charity event and I realized that I had to make the components now since my end of month is kinda swamped. peanut butter banana chip with rum marshmallow filling and the ubiquitous bacon chocolate chip.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Keith G: I am afraid we may end up with a bad pandemic, no thanks to the stupid greed of the business community, maybe if there was an incident of sick worker causing an flu epidemic at a upscale restaurant in Manhattan or in Georgetown, maybe the issue of sick day compensation will come to a head, but it won’t.
huckster
@WereBear: Or as Jack Crabbe in his gunfighter phase in “Little Big Man”
MikeJ
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Seattle restaurants fought it tooth and nail. And then added teeth and nail clippings to the marinara.
Some restaurants put up posters about how unfair it was. I swore I’d never eat at one of those places. You would think food handling would be the least controversial place for such a policy, but they fought the hardest.
Another Halocene Human
@Yutsano: The franchise restaurant business losing just a tiny gram of its profitability is a bridge too far!
Much better to kill tourists in Orlando and then use state money to run more teevee ads when they go home and tell on us than have state health inspectors or even allow Orange County residents to vote on mandatory sick days.
To be fair, Darden declined to pay dues to the Florida Retail Federation this year. No word on Brinker.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Because, in their stony little heart of hearts they posit that, if it is legitimate flu, the workers’ bodies have ways of shutting that down.
MikeJ
@Yutsano:
Tied to my previous comment on Seattle law, sadly Wild Ginger is one place you don’t want to eat. Yes, yummy food, but the owner would like it better if it had mucus from his sick employees in it.
Another Halocene Human
@MikeJ: Some restaurants put up posters about how unfair it was. I swore I’d never eat at one of those places. You would think food handling would be the least controversial place for such a policy, but they fought the hardest.
Probably mostly chains and/or owned by Republicans.
When I worked at a (family owned) restaurant, if you so much as sniffled, they sent you home. (Without pay, but that was the least of my worries at that point.) The owner freaked one day when I was talking about getting my Hep B vaccination as required by my school… he thought I had been diagnosed with it.
These motherfuckers don’t want their minimum wage and below minimum wage labor force to be able to call in sick without penalty, never mind compensated days a few times a year.
Chain restaurants only exist because of a complicated chain of subsidies and horrific lack of regulation. Better food sector wages, for example, would already knock out one of their legs and leave them wobbling. Better wages and working conditions society-wide would probably take out another.
sharl
@SiubhanDuinne: Hmm, you’re making me think about why I actually do things the way I do them…
Although it isn’t necessary to do so, I start with Google’s Advanced Search window, to reduce chances that I’ll screw up the formatting while specifying search fields. Once there – using the particular question you originally posed – I entered balloon-juice.com in the ‘site or domain’ field. In the next step, since I couldn’t remember if she calls herself “Dance Around in Your Bones” or “DanceAroundInYourBones”, I just picked one to start with – and I got lucky by going with the first one – and from that I entered dance and bones in the ‘all these words’ field. Then I started the search, which gave me this list with 1800 hits. Fortunately, the second item on the list had a ‘3 days ago’ tag; otherwise I would have had to do further refining of my search (or trudge through that long list).
There are plenty of other folks with better Google-fu than mine. For me, the first question is always ‘how badly do I want/need an answer to my question?’, which determines how many times I’ll keep trying the search with new variations of words/terms/domains/etc.
Don’t know if that helps, but that’s how I do it, and in this case it worked out fairly quickly.
Rosie Outlook
@Keith G: I know whereof you speak. I also got the flu shot, got the flu anyway for some reason (usually I have good luck with the flu shot), and then got walking pneumonia. Flu shots are, at best, a stopgap as long as thousands of sick people have to go out and infect others because they can’t afford to stay home. Sick leave for everyone, especially those who have face-to-face contact with others, should be a no-brained.
Roger Moore
@sb:
Since teachers with guns is just one tiny part of their more general program of having everyone go armed everywhere all the time, it can’t possibly be their dumbest idea ever. Even if you don’t count “everyone, everywhere, all the time” as their dumbest idea, I think that their idea of restoring gun rights to people with felony records for gun crime is obviously far dumber.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@mainmati: One more reason why Democrats will have to turn out in 2014.
lamh35
damnit, my computer appears to be shot. it been checking the systems for startup problems for about 15min and attempting repairs and still nothing. ugh shoot, I haven’t backed it up in a while, so all my stuff is still on it.
General Stuck
Bloody Bill haz a big Osad that peace breaks out.
By “crushed” I suspect he means the Stonewall method. kill them all . And it just doesn’t penetrate that titanium skull of the war pigging wingnut. That some wars are unwinnable, and that is all there is to it.
If anyone needs a little mood boost after discovering Barack Obama isn’t perfect, they should read the scarlet letters of the neo cons and their yearnings for permanent war to be fought by others/.
SiubhanDuinne
@RareSanity:
@MikeJ:
@sharl:
Thanks to all of you. Instructions flagged and saved for future reference (now I have to find out what a “gui” is, but I can prolly Google that!)
dmsilev
Some grade-A wingnuttery: Erick of the House of Erick congratulates Obama on his inauguration. Commenters go apeshit.
Basically, we now live in a world where there are people who regard Ericksonsonson as a RINO.
Felonius Monk
Is this is the best way to protect our children?:
Elementary SWAT Team
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Graphical User Interface. I think they really mean the advanced search form, which lets you restrict the search to a single site or require a specific phrase without you needing to know the magic incantations for making it so.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
As soon as I looked it up, I realized I knew the term and the concept, it’s just not an acronym that’s part of my regular discourse. Thanks, though, for the enhanced commentary and tips.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
FWIW, Acronymfinder.com is your friend. I have added it to the search box on Firefox.
Jebediah
@burnspbesq:
That picture gives me the extra creeps since the girl on the right strongly resembles a girl I used to teach.
cckids
@ruemara:
Well hey, major yum. Do you share recipes? I’m drooling here.
SiubhanDuinne
Anybody watching Biden addressing the Salute to Heroes inaugural ball? Hilarious and adorable and moving. I’m so glad Joe Biden is VP.
SiubhanDuinne
And now it’s POTUS speaking at the CIC inaugural ball.
He really gets energy from appreciative crowds. Fuck that reporter the other day who basically accused him of being a misogynistic introverted cold fish who doesn’t like people.
Ben Franklin
@cckids:
Yeah the bacon chocchip…intriguing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Nice, thx.
MikeJ
Might I say about Michelle, “Hubba hubba.”
Suffern ACE
@SiubhanDuinne: he doesn’t like them. He likes people. They can’t figure out why.
Raven
Let’s stay together. . .
Raven
Gunny dancin with Michelle!!!!
SiubhanDuinne
Michelle looks fanfuckintastic in her red gown. Wowz.
MikeJ
@Raven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6uHR90Sq6k
SiubhanDuinne
Dress Jason Wu. Shoes Jimmy Choo.
Raven
@MikeJ: We iz discussin that as we speak!
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Bless you.
Tone in DC
@Suffern ACE:
The M$M, at this point, have not been people IMHO since Peter Jennings died.
Just sayin’.
MikeJ
@Raven: I remember that day they told Michelle that Barack had sung at an event and she immediately said, “Al Green? He always does that.”
Raven
@MikeJ: I dunno, I struggle with some policy shit but I really like these folks.
ruemara
I wanna see the dress/shoe combo!
MikeJ
@ruemara: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/01/michelle-obamas-dress-second-inauguration/61249/
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Ha! When Rachel said it (Yes!! Rachel!!) I said Gesundheit to the teevee.
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Great minds run along the same paths. . .as do sewers!
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven: Heh.
ruemara
OK, Jennifer Hudson is killing it. ANd the sessy pair-in-chief are smoking. DOes this guarantee fertility for the nation? Yow.
Baud
@ruemara:
Obama’s going come for our guns while we’re all making love…
Schlemizel
@General Stuck:
Not sure how Billy came to that conclusion. We lost the war in SE Asia but won the peace quite easily once we stopped pretending it was critical to kill all Vietnamese
Maude
What’s this bit about Michelle Obama rolling her eyes at Boehner? She doesn’t do things like that.
ruemara
@Baud: I don’t think that’s a bad trade. Make love, not war!
Also too, Jill & Joe Biden-SEXY. Her dress is fantastic.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Ugh! It did seem this year that the flu shot did not prevent me from getting the flu, but it did seem to shorten its duration and make it less severe, so hopefully you’ll have the same benefit from your flu shot.
Raven
@Maude: I bet it turns out to be something funny.
Baud
@Maude:
Maybe the orange was especially bright and she had to look away?
MikeJ
@Baud:
Two of them:
http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2013/01/21/michelleeyeroll.gif
Seconds later:
http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2013/01/21/michelleyeroll2.gif
I’m guessing the kids have seen that a lot.
Raven
Cool super hi-res shot of the ceremony.
Baud
@MikeJ:
Looks like Boehner was reminding her about that time he and Obama negotiated a deal, and Boehner got 98% of what he wanted.
ETA: There was obviously some joke that the Prez was in on, because he was smiling through the whole thing.
lamh35
@Maude:
http://gawker.com/5977763/watch-michelle-obama-throw-world+historical-shade-at-john-boehner?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Mnemosyne
@MikeJ:
Is that what the kids call the “side-eye”?
I showed it to a couple of people at the inauguration party I went to this afternoon and they LOLed.
Yutsano
@Raven: Where all the Dawgs at? DC is usually crawling with them.
Raven
@Yutsano: I can pick Hank Johnson out. Gomert is there too!
Maude
@lamh35:
Thank you.
Mnemosyne
Found a video of the First Couple dancing at the Inaugural Ball.
That poor staff sergeant dancing with Mrs. Obama looks like he’s afraid of stepping on her dress.
Raven
Shit, Newt is there!
lamh35
damnit. my computer has been “repairing” itself for the last 30-45min. Shit! what can I do?
Raven
Ike lassoed and the triskster laughs it up!
Raven
@lamh35: Unplug it and yank the battery.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: The AF sergeant was positively glowing! And yeah the poor Dawg was definitely thinking he didn’t wanna fuck this up. They both looked adorable!
General Stuck
Almost too tragic to acknowledge. Gun control or not, you cannot legislate away stupidity. As in leaving loaded assault rifles and other firearms just sitting in a closet with a houseful of children.
And yes, NM is very blue all around, but the western love affair with firearms is here as well.
lamh35
@Raven: a.right I’ll try that
Elmo
@SiubhanDuinne:
There’s something *wrong* with being an introverted cold fish who doesn’t like people? ::sadface:: I thought that was why God made comment sections.
Suffern ACE
@Elmo: there there. In a big chunk of the country the fish and the introverts are cold today. There are millions of us today.
Calouste
@General Stuck:
FTFH
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
As far as I can tell, the president loves nothing more than going around meeting ordinary people. What he hates is having to talk to journalists and politicians.
I think I’m with the president on this one: journalists and politicians aren’t really people, or at least not interesting ones.
Randy P
@SiubhanDuinne: Steven Seagal tried to hold this stance briefly, as a Buddhist. It did hurt his career. Dustin Hoffman has the advantage that he can act, so I guess he can pick and choose his scripts more. Personally I think Seagal is cool because he’s using Aikido (about 10 times faster than any other human I’ve ever seen) to get the job done, but his audiences apparently want to see him shoot things.