Tag Archives: Kentucky

May 6, 2013 · 8:31 AM

Another Toddler Dies From Self-Inflicted Gun Shot – This Time Three Year-Old In AZ

I really don’t like the NRA nor its cowardly servants in Congress…

Addicting Info

It seems like an everyday thing now. You get online or turn on the TV and there it is. Another headline of a child/toddler getting hold of a gun, playing with a gun, and dying by a gun.

Some of he public and media seems to getting tired or numb to such stories. The Arizona death of a 3-year old, didn’t even make it to mainstream media news, and it’s been four days. Why? Is this kind of story no longer shiny and sexy news? I’m angry. Children –babies are dying for no good reasons, while pompous NRA advocates are finding more ways to lobby/buy more pro-gun laws. In Arizona, the state where this child died, Governor Jan Brewer passed two anti-safety gun laws this very week. One demands resale of guns that were brought to community gun buybacks events, by citizens, wanting to help get firearms off the street and out of the hands of wrong people. Brewer ignored those citizens and also passed a law making it illegal to gather or maintain background checks on current gun owners. Yes, you read that right.

I wonder if the Arizona governor has any feelings about this toddler’s death. If so, did it cause her to rethink her new laws? At three, many children are still in diapers. How the hell do we live in a country, where a toddler can so easily find a gun, and shoot himself in the face?  How many innocent children, and adults are going to die in this country before all lawmakers start doing the right thing.

3,835 wrongful deaths have occurred by guns, since the Sandy Hook gun massacre. That’s over 75% of the total American deaths in the Iraq war (4,486 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq)  About 70 of the known gun deaths since Sandy Hook have been children. This means we have basically allowed three more Sandy Hook Massacres to take place, one child at a time.  Here are three very recent tragic child deaths;

This week, in Yuma Arizona,  3-year old, Darrien Nez, shot himself after finding a 9mm pistol in his 35-year old grandmother’s backpack

 April 30, in Kentucky, a 5-year old boy shoots and kills his 2-year old sister with a .22 caliber rifle he received as a gift.

April 17, in Kansas,  a 7-year old, Gavin Brummett,  shot himself in the head while firing a semiautomatic handgun. He was on a family shooting trip.  

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May 2, 2013 · 7:24 PM

Two-year-old gets shot and killed and, yawn, it’s just another day in America

USA Gun Map : http://mariopiperni.com/

More on the shooting of a two-year old child by her five-year old brother from Piperni…

Mario Piperni

America’s gun culture takes another life.

Authorities in southern Kentucky say a 2-year-old girl has been accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother, who was playing with a .22-caliber rifle he received as a gift.

…the boy received the rifle made for youths last year and is used to shooting it. He said the gun was kept in a corner and the family didn’t realize a shell was left inside it.

It’s difficult to say anything meaningful any longer that adds to the conversation on guns. It’s all been said a thousand times…but I’ll say this anyway. Yes, there are no gun laws that one could put in place that would prevent parents from acting irresponsibly. No amount of legislation can overcome stupidity. Got it.

But is there not something seriously wrong with a gun culture where this statement,

“In rural southern Kentucky, far removed from the national debate over gun control, where some children get their first guns even before they start first grade.“

…is true? Under what set of rules is it acceptable to place in the hands of a 4-year-old a weapon that could blow off another person’s head with a twitch of a finger?

For anyone who doesn’t find that argument convincing, just know that another 86 Americans will be killed by guns today – 30 by murder, 53 by suicide, 2 accidentally and 1 by police intervention. Add to that the 86 Americans who were killed by guns yesterday…and the 86 who will be killed by guns tomorrow…and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that…

For a little perspective on the matter, you might recall that in 2010, drop-side cribs were outlawed because over the previous 10 years, an average of 3 children a year were killed by moving side rails in cribs. Three deaths a year was enough to move the government to act. Fortunately, there was no powerful crib lobby in Washington pushing to have drop-side cribs left in place because, “cribs don’t kill babies, people do.” Also, there was no 240-year-old constitutional amendment stating that, “A well regulated Baby’s Room, being necessary to the freedoms of a Happy Family, the right of the people to purchase drop-side cribs, shall not be infringed.”

There was none of that. There was only data that 3 children a year were dying and something could be done to stop it.

We know that 58 children, including 2, 3, 4 and 5-year-olds, have been killed since the Newtown school shooting…and yet, not a damn thing is being done to stop it or to attempt to reduce the number of preventable deaths. Nothing.

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· 11:37 AM

5-Year-Old Boy Killed Sister With Gun Made For Kids

The sad part about this is that it won’t phase gun advocates one iota…

Think Progress

On Wednesday, a five-year-old Kentucky boy accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old sister with a gun he’d been given as a birthday present. The weapon, a small rifle, wasmanufactured specifically for children’s use.

The boy’s weapon was a “My First Rifle” .22-caliber gun from Keystone Sporting Arms’ youth branch, Crickett. Crickett’s website markets itself “especially for youth shooters.” The firearms come in several neon colors, and the website even has a “kids corner” featuring pictures of small children with guns:

Crickett does not manufacture bullets. The company offers books for “Grades 2-3 and up,” and says their guns are “ideally sized for children four to ten years old.”

The militarization of children has been tragically spotlighted in the aftermath of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut last December. Since then, the country has paid heart-sickening attention to the myriad accidental shootings that have taken place around the country, and the growth of a market of bulletproof children’s clothing.

In one week alone last month, four people were shot by toddlers.

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April 10, 2013 · 9:08 AM

Mitch McConnell’s Claim That Democrats Watergate Style Bugged Him Is Falling Apart

Of course it’s falling apart.  McConnell was lying like he always does…

PoliticusUSA

Hours after urging the FBI to investigate what he called a Watergate style Democratic bugging, Mitch McConnell’s blame the Democrats for the secret audio tape strategy is falling apart.

After the publication of a secret audio tape where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) detailed some of the sleazy tactics he planned to use to get reelected, his campaign called for an FBI investigation.

Mitch McConnell

McConnell’s campaign manager Jesse Benton said, “Senator McConnell’s campaign is working with the FBI and has notified the local U.S. Attorney in Louisville, per FBI request, about these recordings. Obviously a recording device of some kind was placed in Senator McConnell’s campaign office without consent. By whom and how that was accomplished presumably will be the subject of a criminal investigation.” Benton continued, “We’ve always said the Left would stop at nothing to attack Sen. McConnell, but Watergate-style tactics to bug campaign headquarters are above and beyond.”

“We are still waiting for Sen. Mitch McConnell to comment on the substance of the article. Before posting, we contacted his Senate office and his campaign office—in particular, his campaign manager, Jesse Benton—and no one responded. As the story makes clear, we were recently provided with the tape by a source who wishes to remain anonymous. We published the article on the tape due to its obvious newsworthiness. We were not involved in the making of the tape, but it is our understanding that the tape was not the product of any kind of bugging operation. We cannot comment beyond that, except to say that under the circumstances, our publication of the article is both legal and protected by the First Amendment.”

According to Kentucky state law, if the person who made the recording was a part of the conversation, the taping was legal. In order words, Mitch McConnell did not have to be notified that he was being recorded. It only takes one party’s consent for the taping to legal, so Mitch McConnell doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

The real purpose of this “FBI investigation” is to uncover the mole in McConnell’s reelection campaign. Mitch McConnell’s campaign has sprung a leak, and they are desperate to know who it is. The claims of a Democratic bugging are nothing more than a shameless attempt to distract Kentucky voters from the fact that McConnell is the least popular senator in the country. McConnell is hoping that the paranoid sympathy Republican vote will carry him to reelection.

Mitch McConnell’s story is crumbling quickly, and his hopes for another term may be fading before his own eyes.

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March 11, 2013 · 6:11 AM

Report: Looks like Ashley Judd is running

Ashley Judd Senate Run

After a period of speculation, the actress’s allies say she will run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

I’m certainly not an oracle, but I think Ashley Judd has a fair shot at taking Kentucky GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell’s senate seat in 2014.

Salon

The Huffington Post reports that sources in Ashley Judd’s camp say the 44 year-old actress is running for Senate in Kentucky against Senate Minority Leader and staunch Obama antagonist Mitch McConnell.

Reached via email, Judd

…offered a not-quite-ironclad denial to The Huffington Post. “I am not sure who is saying this stuff, but it is not I! I’d prefer as a fan of your journalism that you stay accurate and credible. We told everyone who called us yesterday these stories are fabrications.”

But she declined to specify which “stories,” did not say what wasn’t “accurate,” and did not respond when asked directly whether she had, in fact, decided to run or chosen a time to declare her intentions.

According to the piece, Judd plans to go public with her decision around the time of the Kentucky Derby when Kentucky is in the media spotlight.

Judd, sources say, is working with New York pollster Jefrey Pollock; has interviewed a number of media consultants including Anita Dunn, formerly of the Obama campaigns, and J.B. Poersch, the former head of the Democrats’ national senate campaign committee, as well as leaders of Emily’s List; and is lining up allies and field organizers.

If in fact she is running Judd will give some star power to the race but will also be a ready-made lightning rod for criticism about liberals’ ties to Hollywood. Several weeks ago the liberal New York Magazine writer blogger Jonathan Chait summed up the potential contest as follows:

And while a Mitch McConnell concession speech after losing to Ashley Judd is possibly the most gratifying political event I could possibly imagine, it is also impossible.

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January 24, 2013 · 4:11 PM

The Top 10 Reasons Rand Paul should never start a sentence, ‘Had I been president …’

Daily Kos

No doubt you’ve seen Sen. Rand Paul’s made-for-TV tantrum yesterday at the U.S. Senate’s Benghazi hearing. When the Kentucky senator had his turn to question Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he said:

“I’m glad that you’re accepting responsibility. I think ultimately with your leaving that you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11. And I really mean that. Had I been president and found you did not read the cables from Benghazi and from Ambassador Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post. I think it’s inexcusable.”

Setting aside Sen. Paul’s thickheaded and insensitive remark that the murder of four Americans in Libya is “the worst tragedy since 9/11″—worse, for example, than 4,000 Americans killed in a pointless and costly war—his tea party toadying, “Had I been president,” should not pass without comment.

If Sen. Paul had been president, of course, the mess in Benghazi probably would’ve been a lot worse, as our embassy personnel would have had much less protection, given the GOP’s deep cuts to Secretary Clinton’s security requests. But he’s not president, and here’s why he shouldn’t even open his pie hole to entertain the possibility:

The Top 10 Reasons Rand Paul should never start a sentence, “Had I been president…”

#10. Half the audience will laugh so hard they won’t hear the rest of your comment.

#9. The other half of the audience will cry so hard your remaining words will be lost in their bawling.

#8. Security will remove you as an outside agitator, perhaps even an anarchist.

#7. Your nitwit tea party followers will have to change their “Rand Paul for Emperor” signs. (They have to change them anyway because they misspelled Emperor.)

#6. Sinners will buy up the world’s supply of coats, jackets, and blankets, anticipating hell freezing over.

#5. Michele Bachmann will sue you for “Presidential Batshit Crazy” copyright infringement.

#4. World leaders will set their nuclear missiles on high alert.

#3. Capitol police will immediately perform a breathalyzer test on you.

#2. Stocks will plunge, except for the companies that make “The End is Nigh” signs.

And the #1 reason Rand Paul should never start a sentence, “Had I been president …”

#1. Forget it, dude, ain’t gonna happen.

H/t: Yankee Clipper

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December 13, 2012 · 10:48 AM

McConnell suggests Obama ‘manufactured’ poll to make him ‘most unpopular’ senator

[Image via Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons licensed]

Here we go again with the “Obama is to blame…” meme from GOP politicians and right-wing media…

The Raw Story

A recent fundraising email from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign suggested that President Barack Obama ordered the firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) to “manufacture” a survey that said the Kentucky Republican was the “most unpopular Senator in the country.”

A poll released by the left-leaning firm on Tuesday indicated that only 37 percent of Kentucky voters approved of McConnell.

“Both in terms of raw disapproval (55%) and net approval (-18) McConnell has the worst numbers of any of his peers, taking that mantle from Nebraska’s Ben Nelson,” PPP wrote.

But in an email published by the Louisville Eccentric Observer on Thursday, McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton implied that Obama and other Democrats had conspired with PPP to fix the poll.

“Barack Obama and his allies told us what they were going to do,” Benton wrote. “They think if they can manufacture a difficult re-election for Senator McConnell back home in Kentucky then they can push our Leader around in Washington.”

He continued: “The partisan PPP polling company, which has been used as a tool for Obama Democrats to manufacture circumstances that don’t exist all across the country, descended upon Kentucky to proclaim that Senator McConnell has a 37% approval rating. The poll is laughable. But, the liberal press is gobbling it right up.”

“What was really surprising was that even cooked books couldn’t produce a Democrat candidate who could beat Senator McConnell head to head,” Benton said. “Cooked polls are certainly only the start of the liberals’ plans. They will throw the kitchen sink at us. This poll is just the tip of iceberg , and Leader McConnell needs your help. Please help with a contribution of $50, $100, $250 or even $500 today.”

PPP Director Tom Jensen told the Louisville Eccentric Observer that letter from McConnell’s campaign were similar to comments made by Republicans who were in denial about former presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.

“I think one of the biggest lessons of the 2012 campaign was that when Republicans are attacking polls it’s a sure sign that they’re losing,” Jensen explained. “GOP campaigns all over the country made these kinds of claims about us this year and we ended up calling every state in the Presidential race and Senate race we polled correctly. Nate Silver found that to the extent there was any bias in our polling, it was actually pro-Republican.”

A study from Fordham University political scientist Costas Panagopoulos found that PPP was one of the top three most accurate polling firms during the 2012 presidential election.

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November 28, 2012 · 8:18 AM

Teacher reprimanded for writing “You can’t be a Democrat & go to heaven”

Slate

A complaint was filed against a Kentucky teacher for writing the message on her class whiteboard

The mother of a student  in Kentucky filed a complaint with the Education Professional Standards Board after her teacher wrote ”You can’t be a Democrat & go to heaven” on the classroom whiteboard.

Kendra Baker, a teacher at South Laurel County High School, wrote the message, reportedly a comment by another student, shortly after the election.

From the Lexington Herald-Leader, Mary Gilbert, who filed the complaint, had a daughter in Baker’s psychology class:

“I feel like she was bullied by a teacher,” Gilbert said of her daughter.

Gilbert said she filed a complaint against Baker with the state Education Professional Standards Board, which issues credentials to teachers.

“She wrote it on her own, and she wanted to write it on the board.  She realized it was inappropriate,” Superintendent Doug Bennett said in a statement on Monday, the Herald-Leader reports.

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June 1, 2011 · 12:54 AM

Free Speech For Dummy

Digby and Think Progress actually get what Rand Paul is really about…

Hullabaloo – byDigby

Why am I not surprised that the alleged libertarian Rand Paul is just a tad uhm … incoherent?

PAUL: I’m not for profiling people on the color of their skin, or on their religion, but I would take into account where they’ve been traveling and perhaps, you might have to indirectly take into account whether or not they’ve been going to radical political speeches by religious leaders. It wouldn’t be that they are Islamic. But if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison.

Think Progress goes on to note all the praise Paul has been receiving from libertarians and liberals alike for his courageous support for constitution principles. And they also note how many of those constitutional principles he has ignored. What explains this?

How shall I put this delicately? The man isn’t playing with a full deck. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. He’s a few tacos short of a fiesta platter. His jogging trail doesn’t go all the way round the lake…He’s an idiot. The fact that we have to count on him to be the guardian of the constitution in the US Senate says everything you need to know about the state of civil liberties in this country.

Continue reading here…

Update:

Barefoot and Progressive’s Joe Sonka notes that by Paul’s own logic, he should be put in jail, as he himself has flirted with rhetoric about violently overthrowing the government.

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April 29, 2011 · 8:33 AM

Storms Kill Over 250 Americans In States Represented By Climate Pollution Deniers

Think Progress

Today, news agencies are still tallying reports of deaths from the most devastating storm system in the United States in decades:

Dozens of massive tornadoes tore a town-flattening streak across the South, killing at least 250 people in six states and forcing rescuers to carry some survivors out on makeshift stretchers of splintered debris. Two of Alabama’s major cities were among the places devastated by the deadliest twister outbreak in nearly 40 years.

“Given that global warming is unequivocal,” climate scientist Kevin Trenberth cautioned the American Meteorological Society in January of this year, “the null hypothesis should be that all weather events are affected by global warming rather than the inane statements along the lines of ‘of course we cannot attribute any particular weather event to global warming.’”

The congressional delegations of these states — Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, and Kentucky — overwhelmingly voted to reject the science that polluting the climate is dangerous. They are deliberately ignoring the warnings from scientists.

Update @weatherchannel:

Death toll continues to rise. Now stands at 267. Alabama accounts for 180 of these. #severe

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