Guns, guns everywhere but where are the well-regulated militias?

Today seems to be another one of those days that is all about guns.

Capitol police shot and injured a man, who was described by Capitol Police Chief Matthew R. Verderosa as an individual “known by Capitol Police” who had been to the complex on an unspecified number of times. Verderosa told reporters the man was attempting to enter the Capitol Visitors Center when a magnetometer used for detecting metal went off. The suspect withdrew his weapon and he was immediately shot by an officer. Other details are not yet available as the shooting happened about 1:30 p.m. my time (Central DST.) The Daily Beast has a story naming the alleged suspect, as well as a linked story about that individual’s capture after an incident in October 2015 in which the man yelled that he was a “prophet of God” from the U.S. House balcony. The report indicates the man was charged with “unlawful conduct” at the Capitol, as well as assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. The story does not say why the man is still out walking the streets.

Previous violent incidents have happened inside and outside the nation’s Capitol. Two Capitol police officers were killed in 1998 by a deranged man, two others and the suspect was shot. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., 59, has never faced trial as he is believed to be too mentally ill. He remains indefinitely in a federal prison in North Carolina. A famous incident dating back to 1856 also happened inside the Capitol among two congressional members. U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks beat Sen. Charles Sumner with a walking cane, nearly killing the senator. The beating came after Sumner denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would have admitted Kansas as a free, or slavery-free, state, to the nation. Sumner attacked the bill and mocked the authors of the Act, Sens. Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Brooks was Butler’s cousin. Apparently, there was no walking cane lobby the size of the NRA in those antebellum days.

Down here in Texas, there is hardly a worry that anyone will be near-fatally caned at the Capitol in Austin. The Capitol is guarded by a special force of state troopers who take their jobs very seriously. Plus, one who is licensed to carry a firearm is admitted on an expedited basis. Members of the press, or just plain ol’ Texans wanting to visit the beautiful pink granite edifice, have to wait in another line.

The GNA, Gun Nuts of America, lost one battle over firearms, however. Actually, no group was identified but a person whose psudonym is the hypernationalist, enlisted folks to sign a petition on change.org to allow the open carry of firearms during the July Republican National Convention in Cleveland. More than 42,000 people have signed on despite the fact that federal law says that ain’t happening. A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service told the Washington Post:

“Title 18 United States Code Sections 3056 and 1752 provides the Secret Service authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states,” Secret Service spokesman Robert K. Hoback said in a statement. “Only authorized law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with the Secret Service for a particular event may carry a firearm inside of the protected site.”

The hilarious, or maddening, however one cares to define it, GOP presidential candidates have tippy-toed all around the Secret Service laying down the law. The stock answer for Donald J. Trump is “I’d have to see the law first.” Well, Donald “The Donald” Trump, why don’t you go wearing six-guns on each hip on the stage and sees what happens?

I tried to find a non-partisan group with statistics on gun violence. While the Brady Bunch are well meaning altough the figures sometimes are not associated with a particular point in time. But I  presented a link anyway.

A site I found this afternoon presents some pretty near real-time evidence as to what is going on out there with people and guns. The Gun Violence Archives lets one see what is happening in a particular sector of gun violence. Let’s say for instance, children killed by guns. I have no idea how far the database goes back but it is over the last several years at least. The database gives the date, the state, city, address, the number killed and the number wounded. Each incident has a linking “source,” which is likely a newspaper story. There is also a link for the “incident” itself, which lists the names, ages of those killed and wounded and the reason for violent act.

Here's a thought!
Here’s a thought!

Here is a mass murder (which is classified by the database when more than four people are killed) that happened last August in a part of Houston that is less than 85 miles from where I reside. This incident took place Aug. 8, 2015 leaving dead six children ranging in age from six-to-13 years of age, and two adults. The 49-year-old shooter tied up all eight victims and shot them in the head. This is cast as a “family-involved” shooting. Here is just one of the stories with the very saddening details. This article from the Houston Chronicle also includes the three-page criminal complaint against the alleged shooter. The accused, charged with capital murder, turned himself into Harris County Sheriff’s deputies after a standoff.

Many Americans know the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by heart, even though somewhat less probably kn0w the First or the Fourth Amendments word-for-word. Gun nuts cite the 2nd Amendment but probably kn0w even less about the Supreme Court decisions that give gun owners and the “well-regulated militias” a little room to breathe. That is why groups like the NRA wants a pro-gun-nut as president and as members of Congress. The next president in January 2017 can, especially with a Democrat majority in the Senate, replace perhaps a couple or more aging justices of the Court who might arrive with all sorts of ideas — such as tinkering with that language on the “well-regulated justices.” Maybe that’ll happen. Maybe it will not happen. Just read some of those gun-violence cases. If nothing else, perhaps it will make one think about guns and how they are destroying families and friendships one bullet at a time.

 

“The Republican Hour”

Watching the CNN program “Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer just now makes me think the program should be renamed “The Republican Hour.”

Clap for the Wolfman.
Clap for the Wolfman.

The Senate Armed Services Committee member Tom Cotton, R, Ark, held forth on the Brussels attack as well as slamming the president over going to a ball game in Cuba while the attack was happening. Cotton was one of the Republican congressional members who met this week with Donald Trump. This came only a couple of weeks after a secret meeting  among the powerful in tech and politics discussing how to stop Trump. And who was on the guest list? Reportedly, Sen. Tom Cotton attended. The young Arkansas senator would not criticize Trump and only say about The Donald’s stand on waterboarding or beyond, that “the United States of America doesn’t torture.” He said “all” American soldiers undergo waterboarding. I don’t know whether that is true. I know it has been used in surviving training, especially with Special Forces. If you happened to be an active Army member or recent retired or former soldier send me a message.

Cotton served in the Army. He was a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan although he reportedly spent most of his time in ceremonial duties in Washington, D.C.

Next up was another Wolf favorite, Sen. John McCain, R, he took the slam Obama route by saying we have a lack of leadership in fighting ISIS. As a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain went through torture that is beyond imagination. I was glad to hear his stand against torture, although with McCain, you never know when he may go off the deep end.

Blitzer has been chummy with GOP congressional members, particularly after the party gained the majority in Congress. To be fair, most of the members interviewed by Blitzer are either committee or subcommittee chairs even though some would quibble over that detail.

A favorite of  Wolf’s is the weasel-look-alike, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R, Utah, head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government. Say what you will, Chaffetz has an interesting background. He was a Democrat in college. His father was previously married to Kitty Dickson, the wife of former Democrat presidential candidate, and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Chaffetz was the co-chairman of the Dukakis campaign in Utah. Chaffetz was rejected after applying to the U.S. Secret Service. He was chairman for the Jon Huntsman GOP campaign for president during the 2004 campaign and was later Huntsman’s chief of staff. Despite his background with liberal and moderate politicians of both parties he is usually a hard-ass right-winger when the situation calls for it. Take his proposals which would reward the anti-government nuts like Clive Bundy.

This is not to say Wolf has gone native. But he does frequently have call-in interviews with Donald Trump, and it is no doubt that Blitzer was one of the large contributors of the estimated $2 billion in free advertising for the Trump.

Okay, maybe I just pick on the Republicans interviewed by Blitzer. I do think the famous cable journalist still has the reporter’s yearning for the “big scoop.” And, as I write this Wolf is about to interview a Democrat in Congress, so I will just conclude with this. I imagine true-believer Republicans still think CNN as that “liberal” network. I don’t think so. But I suppose it is all how one interprets the news.

Why can’t presidential candidates shut up?

If there is one talent in which politicians exceed it is making hay out of human tragedy, or more specifically, attacks of terrorism. The despicable attacks today in Brussels in which 30 people were killed is a perfect example.

The bombs ignited today in Belgium is claimed by the terrorist group du jour, ISIS. The three presidential candidates on the Republican side and the two on the Democrats slate weighed in, of course, after expressing their sympathy.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was his usual caustic self. The senator took the attacks as a time to slam President Obama, who is in Cuba on a historic trip to Cruz’ ancestral home. Cruz criticized the president for “going to a baseball game with the Castros.” The GOP senator also attacked Republican front runner Donald Trump for his usual over-the-top demagoguery. I can’t be critical for the remarks on Trump except perhaps Cruz didn’t go  far enough in his remarks on his opponent. Plus, the obsession of Cruz and some  other Republicans have about Obama’s refusal to label terrorists “Radical Islamic Terrorists” — a term which paints all Muslims as radical terrorists — was launched once again.

Trump was all over the television repeating his ridiculous answers to terrorism, once again calling for waterboarding and even outright torture.

Trump also wants the U.S. to abandon NATO and advocates shutting down the border to, as he says, “figure out what is going on.” He likewise advocates patrolling Muslim neighborhoods by the police.

Even the Caspar Milquetoast of the GOP candidates, Ohio Gov. John Kasich,  said Obama needs to come home to organize a response to the ISIS bombings. The president made a historic visit to Cuba this week and plans a stop in Buenos Aires.

As one might imagine, the Democrats running for president responded to the Belgium attacks in a softer tone, calling for resolve in the face of terrorists.

I admit to having no plan to fight terrorism beyond the normal means here at home of reporting strange things left in stores and airports and calling police if you see some jihad-looking guys carrying a long, olive green box — which might contain a shoulder-fired rocket launcher — into their motel rooms at night. If it turns out they are setting up an electric train set, oh well, it’s the “war on terror.” Should I sometime admit to being facetious?

The presidential candidates all really need to shut up when incidences such as today’s attacks take place. No matter that they give our allies mixed signals and our enemies more “bulletin board material.”

After today we are all Belgians. Or is it we’re all Americans, or Brits or French or wherever terrorist acts occur?

Flooding shutters Interstate 10 at Texas-La. border

The flooding along the Texas and Louisiana border is undoubtedly no big national story. That is because, perhaps, a half-million people reside there as opposed to larger metro areas. The same limited media coverage also happened in this part of the U.S. during Hurricanes Rita and Ike. Sure there were the TV people who parachuted in and got their “Dan Rather” routine, trying to stand up in the wind and rain while talking. I imagine some of these folks could even chew gum at the same time.

But have no doubt this flooding is affecting millions of people merely because the flood waters in the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana has submerged Interstate 10. Texas transportation officials say it could be Tuesday or later until it is reopened.

The most recent Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) figures, that I could find after an hour of searching, from 2013 shows about 48,500 automobiles travel I-10 just outside the southwestern Beaumont city limit. Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city is, mostly, west from there some 75-to-80 miles. Near where Interstate 10 intersects with what are basically three highways in Beaumont — US 69, US 96 and US 287 — more than 130,000 vehicles travel per day. On about 25 miles east, at the Texas-Louisiana border, the traffic count is about 46, 000. You talk about cars, trucks, buses to the Louisiana casinos, and so forth going here and there, that is a lot of people.

flood

The flooding at the I-10 bridge at the Texas border in Orange — that city was devastated from storm surge in 2008 from Hurricane Ike  and now may see even worse flooding — was the scene Wednesday of confusion between the two states and no doubt left much head-scratching among those in the more than 46,000 vehicles which head east and west.

It is really difficult to keep up with the confusing details of the I-10 closures at the Texas-Louisiana border. Wednesday morning, TxDOT was supposedly poised to close the Sabine River bridge. The Louisiana State Police did close the westbound lanes to the bridge. But the eastbound routes remained open, for awhile at least. Returning from Houston yesterday on I-10, I saw probably five or six electronic signs that warned the bridge was completely closed, in both directions.

Amid this confusion, TxDOT issued some I-10 alternate route information that made me wonder if the information was clear enough for the average driver who does not live in this part of the state, or even if they are from elsewhere.

  • El Paso take I-20 East of Van Horn
  • San Antonio take I-35 North to I-20 East to Shreveport
  • Houston take US 59 North to I-20 East to Shreveport
  • Beaumont take US 96 North to US 69 North to US 59 North to I-20 East to Shreveport

At least the last alternative made apprehensive. US 96 to 69 — remember they are considered the same along with US 287 going northward from Beaumont. That is really no problem but I think the transportation department might have added: In Lufkin, turn right on Loop 287 and take the US 59 exit toward Nacogdoches. Trust me, I lived in Nacogdoches for many years and those directions are seared in my brain.

All of those alternatives were not meant for me, of course. I think later, when the Sabine River bridge was opened on US 190 in Bon Wier, Texas, TxDOT gave the alternative to travel up US 96 to US 190 in Jasper, from where the state line is about 25 miles east to southeast on that highway toward Baton Rouge.

I worked today so maybe I didn’t read everything about traffic on I-10 that I needed to. I was quite surprised though when heading to downtown Beaumont this morning where I-10 was reduced from three lanes to one lane. It turned out, I didn’t even have the option of going on east to downtown. Traffic was being rerouted at the I-10 split with US 69/96/287. I found a way off and made my on alternate route to downtown. I wish I had known that I couldn’t drive on the interstate the way I usually do. To be fair, I had to go out westbound on I-10 later on, and coming home I saw that an electric sign message said that the interstate would be closed at the exit where the routes to the Piney Woods split.

These are all minor inconveniences to me. The majority of the area hit hardest on the Texas side of the Sabine is where I grew up and where my closest relatives and  old friends still reside. Several family members are working to keep others safe. One of those — a niece — is helping others even though she and her family had to be rescued by military personnel. Hopes for her home surviving are dismal, from the last messages I have seen.

This is, literally, a disaster. A large portion of this area in Texas has been declared a disaster area by the state. Gov. Greg Abbott, the Republican executive of Texas, flew over the region in a chopper. I am hopeful President Obama will also declare these counties as a disaster area.

Looking at such wreckage makes you forget your own minor problems — like some traffic slow-down. I do hope TxDOT will learn from their mistakes and miscues. Obviously, Texas and our neighbor to the east need better communication.

The T-word

Earlier, I thought about writing something concerning that national, and likely international menace we all face, namely Donald Trump.

I must admit I had mixed feelings about the hundreds of protesters who have been dogging the leading GOP candidate. On the one hand, I was happy to see him shut down in Chicago. One wonders, however, whether that whole scene was a set-up to earn sympathy for Trump after his continual baiting of young protesters. Anyone with a brain should have known that the inner-city campus of University of Illinois at Chicago would bring out all kinds of young, racially-diverse people.

Then Trump calls up the TV networks that night to make himself the victim despite his calls for supporters to level violence on those who protest his rallies. He just keeps on talking, ignoring and oblivious to the ideas that this violence might have been caused, at least in part, by Trump. He calls the protesters “thugs,” a prominent GOP code word for “blacks.” He said the protesters were dangerous, swinging their fists all over the place. That is even though the only real connecting punches that could be seen were thrown by the 70-something Trump supporter at a rally last week.

Trump is quite simply, a liar and a hypocrite. However, many Republican candidates have both of those qualities. I can’t imagine what those in other civilized countries are thinking.

Whether Trump will “wrap” up his nomination in tonight’s results is hard to say. Most anti-Trump Republicans fear his nomination because they feel he is most vulnerable in the General Elections. Of course, there is still the Cleveland GOP convention this summer. And, if he is actually nominated, he might pick some off-the-wall vice presidential pick like John McCain did with Sarah Palin.

Hopefully, this menace Trump will be slowed down enough so the media can start digging up dirt on him rather than kissing his ass at every turn.

That is all I have to say. Here is a pretty  good wrap-up in Slate about the pathetic Republican candidate.