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gun control Politics shootings violence

Gun Advocate – Stop Background Checks, End Gun Free Zones

Larry Pratt, an advocate for the Gun Industry and Director of Gun Owners of America went on Fox News Sunday today and shot down the idea that background checks would result in less mass murders. Pratt also embraced the NRA’s suggestion that everyone should have a gun, when he said that gun-free zones are not the solution because it tells people with bad intent where to attack.

Larry Pratt

“I think it’s false security that somehow we’re going to stop problems, when there’s really no way to spot these problems,” Pratt said. “Some of the most horrendous mass murders that have happened recently — including the one in Newtown — would not have been stopped by a background check.”

“We’re wasting our time going in that direction when we should be talking about doing away with the gun-free zones, which have been so convenient and such a magnate to those who would come and slaughter lots of people knowing that there’s going to be nobody that’s legally able to defend themselves in these zones.”

“In fact, background checks wouldn’t have stopped most of these mass murders that have occurred… We got to face the reality that we’ve got to empower average people, including teachers and other people in schools to be able to defend themselves.”

This is not the first time Pratt has made these claims. He embraced the NRA’s favorite Congressman Rep Steve Stockman, who introduced a bill to repeal the gun free zone around schools. Stockman, representing Houston, is considered one of the most vocal gun advocates in Congress. In promoting his Safe School Act to end gun free zones, Stockman said;

“Not only have so-called ‘gun-free school zones’ proven to be anything but that, they appear to have placed our children in even greater danger. Co-sponsoring the Safe School Act is the first step toward protecting our children.”

“The time has come to end the deadly experiment of disarming peaceable, law-abiding citizens near schools.”

Steve Stockman and Larry Pratt

Yes, you cannot completely stop mass shootings but sensible gun laws including background checks and regulations on the size of a clip can make a difference. New York has some of the strongest gun control laws in the nation, but the last mass shooting in this state occurred in 1993, twenty years ago, when 35 year old Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island Commuter train and opened fire. He fired 30 rounds, six people died and nineteen were injured.

Gun lovers would say if everyone on that train had a gun, Ferguson would not have killed so many people. That argument in itself makes no sense. One man fired 30 times in a crowded commuter train and killed six people. Imagine how many more would have died if everyone in that car had a gun and started shooting.

Categories
Technology

A Cheaper iPhone Coming Your Way

Apple is working on a “lower end” model of the iPhone in response to its declining position in the global smartphone market, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal cites “people briefed on the matter” as saying that a cheaper version of the iPhone, often dubbed the “iPhone Mini”, could launch later this year.

Apple is known to have explored the launch of a less expensive iPhone for several years, but the Journal‘s sources say that the plans are now “progressing”.

They claim that the iPhone Mini could resemble a standard iPhone in design, but with a different and less expensive body.

For example, Apple could lower production costs for the device by using a different shell, such as polycarbonate plastic rather than the aluminium body in the iPhone 5.

Other parts could remain the same, or be “recycled from older iPhone models”, said the Journal‘s sources.

h/t Digital Spy

Categories
Entertainment

Never Wakin’ From This “Kaleidoscope Dream”

Artwork/Amy Cconton

Kot damn! if I’m not feignin’ for more from the oh-so-fine Miguel Jontel Pimentel. The young crooner, born October 23, 1985 (Scorpio, is it any wonder why there’s all that animal magnetism?) and performing under the mononym Miguel, is a recording artist, songwriter and producer who has all at once transcended his age and wisdom parameters with a stage presence that channels the likes of the R&B Giants: Marvin Gaye, James Brown, David Ruffin, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson… and those are just the icons who’ve passed on! Both his “All I Want Is You” (Jive Records) and “Kaleidoscope Dream” (RCA Records) CDs are this eclectic music fan’s dream come true!

Thank goodness Miguel loves the live performance, but just watching the five-time Grammy nominated artist’s music videos will have you feeling his fire just as quickly! Check out this live rehearsal recording for ‘The Thrill’

Miguel’s lyricism is sophisticated, magical and wildly enigmatic, along with his repertoire of skats, catcalls, murmurings, chants, grunts and shouts that punctuate all his songs. His,by now infectious,”WHA!” signals that he is in-the-building and lookin’ for some trouble!

Fascinating just to look at, with those big mischievous peepers, you just wanna reach out and smack his momma and papa (or maybe just shake their hands and congratulate them!)

And I told myself that I would not mention his height, but I’m gonna–only to reference the immense talent bundled in that compact, muscular frame! Talk about big things coming in small packages!

‘Do You…’, ‘Sure Thing’, ‘Pussy Is Mine’, ‘The Thrill’, ‘My Piece’, ‘Use Me’, ‘Kaleidoscope Dream’,’ How Many Drinks’, ‘Quickie’… Miguel gets away with saying shit to women that would get a guys’ ass kicked by their overly protective big brothers lol! I haven’t heard so much eclectic diversity from a recording  artists’ musical innovations since Seal’s “Human Being” CD in 1998 (Warner Bros). That’s an eternity in music years! In contrast to Seal’s lovelorn, heart wrenching ballads, Mr. Pimentel sings with all the confidence and swagger of a dude that knows you’ll be back, but in the meantime…

And This Just In: Miguel has officially joined Alicia Keys’ “Set The World On Fire” Tour and will open shows across North America beginning this March. Oh, and you can bet these two will be setting off sparks together! I can’t wait! See if Miguel & Alicia will be in a city near you this spring by clicking here.

My bet is, if all goes according to his plans, Miguel will hit super-nova status by the time his third album hits the streets this year.  And even then, as the modest singer states, “I’m running a marathon, man. I never wanted to be an artist that was just here for now; I’m here to create music that isn’t just a here and now thing. It’s rooted in emotion, and that’s what makes it timeless…There’s still a lot of discovery to be made, and there’s still a lot of growing.”

Artwork/Amy Conton

“To the moon, Baby!”

Categories
Featured

Alabama Pastor Murders Wife, Wounds Daughter, But Fails To Stab Himself To Death

A Pastor? Are you kidding me? A Pastor…?

GARDENDALE | A prominent Alabama pastor fatally shot his wife and wounded their 18-year-old daughter in their church-owned home before grabbing a kitchen knife and trying to stab himself to death, police said Friday.

The Rev. Terry Greer, 54, is being charged with murder in the slaying of 52-year-old Lisa Greer and attempted murder in the wounding of Suzanna Greer, a University of South Alabama student, according to police in Gardendale, a suburb about 10 miles north of Birmingham.

Greer is senior pastor at Gardendale-Mount Vernon United Methodist Church near Birmingham. Prominent in Methodist circles in the area, he leads a church with an average Sunday attendance of about 670.

After Greer opened fire on his wife and daughter Thursday, the teenager grabbed the gun and ran to a neighbor’s house to alert authorities, police said.

The minister then grabbed a kitchen knife and went to a bathroom, where he repeatedly stabbed himself in his chest and neck, police said. Responding officers stopped Greer and took him into custody.

Categories
divorce Sports

Kobe Bryant And Wife Calls Off Divorce – “We Have Reconciled” Wife Says…

The message that Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa were back together came via Social Media. Vanessa used her Instagram to send out the following message:

The Lakers Basketball star was accused of a sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in a Colorado hotel back in 2003. He maintained his innocence and claimed that the sexual act was consensual. The charges were later dismissed when the victim decided not to go through with the case.

Vanessa Bryant however filed for divorce in 2011 citing ““irreconcilable differences.” Apparently those differences have been reconciled.

Kobe Bryant and Wife Vanessa

Categories
New York Politics

Public Health Flu Emergency Declared In New York

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a public health emergency in New York on Saturday in response to this year’s severe flu season.

Cuomo issued an executive order allowing pharmacists to provide flu shots to patients between the ages of six months and 18 years old. The order suspends state law that restricts pharmacists from administering the vaccinations to minors.

Two children in New York and 18 children nationwide have died because of the flu this season.

To date, 19,128 cases of influenza have been reported in New York this year. In comparison, there were 4,404 positive laboratory tests for the flu last year.

Since Jan. 5, the state Department of Health has received reports of 2,884 patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza, compared with 1,169 total hospitalizations in 2011.

h/t USA Today

Categories
Tid Bits

Customer Fails To Leave A Tip – Blames President Obama Instead


After eating the meal, a customer handed this note to the server. The note was later posted on Reddit. A Reddit user called Blind_Name captures the sentiment of the average person reading this note, by commenting with:

The interesting thing about the tax increase is that they increase on the money that you make beyond 250k. So you make 251k a year, you pay more taxes on the 1k. So the people leaving these around are still rich assholes.

Yep. Couldn’t have said it any better.

Categories
Piers Morgan Politics white house petition

White House Answers Petition To Secede – No, You Can’t

The White House politely shot down the secession petitions circulating on the White House petition website late Friday, dashing the hopes of malcontents who have submitted petitions to allow their states to withdraw from the union in the wake of President Obama’s reelection last November.

“Democracy can be noisy and controversial. And that’s a good thing,” wrote Jon Carson, director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. “Free and open debate is what makes this country work…But as much as we value a healthy debate, we don’t let that debate tear us apart.”

Carson offered the would-be secessionists a history lesson, explaining that the Constitution guarantees “the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot – a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it.”

He also invoked the sad history of the Civil War as a cautionary tale for those who would so casually seek a repeat of our bloodiest conflict, writing, “More than 600,000 Americans died in a long and bloody civil war that vindicated the principle that the Constitution establishes a permanent union between the States.”

n/t CBS

Categories
News satanic cults satanic cults and the music industry

Whom So Ever Shall Conspire Against Us

CONSPIRACIES

“Just because you’re paranoid and you think they are after you…doesn’t mean they’re not after you.” 

A healthy dose of suspicion and skepticism never hurt anyone. In fact, you might say that its good for you. If you believe in Einstein’s Theory of Evolution, the human genome would have never made it outside the primordial soup if it hadn’t had a basic hunch (well, as much a hunch as a complex, organic polymer could have) to access the hostilities of a new environment and gradually mutate, adapt and conform to it. Its in our DNA to be suspicious of things that “just don’t smell right.”

Grounded in our primitive nature is the capacity to be wary of the bigger, more powerful among us (predators) conspiring against the weaker, smaller among us (prey). We like to use words like “civilized”  and “cultured” when describing ourselves, but in actuality we use them to convince ourselves that we are no longer the ‘animals’ that we once were. But our Merriam Webster definition of those adjectives do not do much to subdue a compulsion to behave the exact opposite. WE ARE greater than that, but we haven’t as of yet embraced it fully as a group. Watch any episode of Animal Planet and see if some of the behavioral patterns of our fellow creatures seem somehow familiar...

This is not meant to sound harsh, because there’s really nothing for us to be ashamed of. We are what we are after all, and there is only room to evolve even further until we reach our pinnacle, whatever  and wherever that may be.

As mentioned earlier, our base instincts are what keeps us alive in this physical world, so by Human standards a little paranoia is a damn good thing. Read the rest of this entry

Categories
Technology

Can You Buy Two iPads With Food Stamps?

Apparently not, but this woman wanted to try anyway…

Categories
Politics war weekly address

President’s Weekly Address – Ending The War In Afghanistan And Rebuilding America

Following his meeting with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama used his weekly address to update the American people on how we will end the war in Afghanistan, and how our goal of ensuring that al Qaeda never again uses Afghanistan to launch attacks against America is within reach. The war will be over by the end of next year, and we must now focus on the task of rebuilding America, strengthening our economy, and supporting our brave troops and veterans, and the President is confident we can meet these challenges by working together as a nation.

Categories
Politics sex workout

Do This 50 Shades Of Grey Workout, Have Better Sex

It was only a matter of time before someone introduced this workout video, and according to The New York Daily News, fitness trainer Kristen James is making a lot of promises with her 50 Shades video.

The 13 different 50 Shades of Grey exercises presented in the video includes “bend-over-better,” “sexy scissors,” and “seductive squat.” All geared towards making you better in the bedroom with better and bolder sex.

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