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By Larry Keane

Michael Bloomberg made it official. Gun control godfather, financier of several anti-gun groups, is throwing his billions in to buy his way to the White House and forcing his radical anti-gun agenda on America.

It might have been the worst-kept secret in the history of presidential runs. The former New York city mayor has played an on-and-off again tease with his presidential ambitions. In October, the Nanny-in-Chief threatened a run, only to walk it back when he announced in March he wouldn’t. Then, he said, “I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination.”

It seems that the billionaire got a set of 2020 glasses where the future appears, at least to him, much clearer. Bloomberg’s vision for a gun control America is brighter, in his estimate, after he poured $2.5 million to flip Virginia blue for gun control through Everytown for Gun Safety, which he bankrolls, along with Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action and March for Our Lives. Those groups are already setting their sights on the Second Amendment stronghold of Texas, aiming to knock out Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Colorado’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.

None of this comes at a surprise. Bloomberg said in February he was prepared to spend a half billion dollars to wrest control of the White House from President Donald Trump. He dumped $80 million to bolster gun control Democrats to Congress in the 2018 midterms. Now, he’s vowing off public funding, using his near endless reserves to launch a shot to be elected as nation’s top Gun Controller.

Welcome to the Race
His announcement, though, is already being widely panned, even by those who openly embrace even the most far-reaching gun control ideas he embraces. Democratic candidate and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted the Republican-turned-Independent-turned Democrat. “Telling billionaires they can come and buy elections, that does not make democracy work,” she told reporters.

Bloomberg got a similar chilly reception from Sen. Bernie Sander (I-Vt.) when he reacted to the announcement saying Bloomberg’s “not going to get very far in this election.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) panned his $34 million announcement media blitz, adding “I just don’t think people are going to buy it.”

More Obstacle Course than Race
The 77-year-old has hurdles to overcome. Aside from his less-then-warm reception by his fellow competitor candidates, he’s not inspiring a strong following from those who he funnels missions of dollars to peddle his gun control message. Buzzfeed polled 11 Moms Demand and Students Demand Action grassroots volunteers to see if their gun control funder-in-chief earned their vote. None committed to the billionaire. “I’m not super psyched about it, but I respect him enormously,” said Jessica Craven, 51, the legislative lead for her Moms Demand Action group in Northeast Los Angeles. The Wall Street Journal reported Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action reassured their followers they wouldn’t need to pledge their votes to the guy footing their bill.

Adding to Bloomberg’s obstacles are two glaring facts he can’t ignore. Bloomberg’s own news organization refused to investigate their benefactor, a signal he might not be up for the media scrutiny. To be fair, they’ll extend that same courtesy to all other Democratic candidates, but not to President Donald Trump, whom Bloomberg has targeted. Former Bloomberg D.C. bureau chief editor Megan Murphy was astonished, saying “This is not journalism.”

Bloomberg’s also facing a dearth of public support. In the five national primary polls tracking the candidates, he’s hovering around 2 percent. That might explain why he’s skipping the early state tests of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and the debate stages where Americans get to hear directly on why he’s running.

Even the left-leaning Mother Jones begged Bloomberg to butt out. “Stop, please!” pleaded Michael Winchester of Cedar Rapids. “This is insane.”

That’s something we’ve been saying about Michael Bloomberg for years.

Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.

https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/gun-controls-godfather-is-in/

Thursday morning, the boss came in to work, and I met him outside, in the break area. His mouth was agape, looking at the sky. The sky was an eerie glowing green, with patches of gold where the sun was almost peeking through the cloud cover. (Bear in mind my color vision - maybe the green wasn't really green, but it's close enough.) Over the course of several minutes, it changed to a pretty solid slate green, without that glow. In my experience, that's one of the many different "snow" skies. I always loved these skies when I was driving, because all the wannabe truck drivers and all the timid 4-wheelers were searching for a warm den to hole up in. Which left the highways open to those of us more serious drivers, who would drive across several states before the wannabe's would venture back outside again.

The weather forecast for Thanksgiving promises lots of snow and/or rain, pretty much everywhere in the US and Canada. It makes me wish I were back out on the road again - except, it's a holiday week. That makes for lots of crashes, and lots of wrecks.

https://www.independent.co.uk//arts-entertainment/photography/amazing-storm-photos-tornadoes-the-great-plains-us-america-weather-a9209381.html

23 photos of truly beautiful nature

Eric Meola became interested in storms during a 1977 road trip across Nevada to photograph an album cover for the musician Bruce Springsteen.

While driving in the desert they encountered a violent storm, and Springsteen wrote a song about the experience called “The Promised Land”, saying later of those photographs: “Eric caught some great pictures but what he really captured was something in the sky and in the lay of the land that deeply revealed the grandeur and character of the country.”

Meola was transfixed as well by the display of nature’s fury, stating: “I always wanted to go back to that day when we drove up on a hilltop and watched as lightning revealed the valley floor.”

He began to photograph the tornadic storms of the Great Plains – the area in America’s heartland. Driving through the area known as Tornado Alley – from the Rio Grande in southern Texas, north to the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan – he photographed a forbidding landscape where atmospheric instability collides with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and spectacular cumulonimbus clouds form at twilight.

Over a period of several years he documented a landscape of elemental forces, where immense storms percolate miles above the ground, rotating with energy until tornadoes spin on the horizon.

He discovered a country of haunting beauty where the wail of coyotes and the glow of constellations fill the prairie’s void with simple graces.

“This book extends that narrative and reaches something profound,” says Bruce Springsteen of these new photographs.

I suppose I could write my own book. The night I sat on top of the mountain above Las Cruces, and watched a violent thunderstorm sweep in from the desert, envelope the town below, then move on toward El Paso, and not a single drop of rain landed on my truck. Or racing a blizzard out of the Yakima Valley, to Kansas City, where the blizzard smashed into a major rain storm that had developed over San Diego. Random photos of hurricanes crashing ashore.

Major weather events have always excited me - they get the heart pumping, and make me want to get out in it.

If you're traveling this week, take a little time, and admire the weather. Maybe you can find a place to get some great photos. Don't be one of the miserable drudges, cursing Mother Nature for ruining your holiday. Look up, and admire the beauty. Look around you, get some photos of vegetation bowing to the forces of nature.

There seems to be lots of opportunity for you to play Storm Chaser!!
https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2019-11-22-thanksgiving-weather-forecast-travel-2019

Me? I'm going to do what is expected of me. Sit at home, and let the kids come to me.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2019/09/26/watch-rep-elise-stefanik-shades-chairman-schiff-at-dni-hearing-n2553774

On Thursday, as the chairman was kicking off an Intelligence Committee hearing with Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, he decided to improvise some parts of the phone transcript.

        Rep. Schiff re-writes the call transcript for added drama: "I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good, I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it, on this and on that, I’m going to put you in touch with people" pic.twitter.com/1rV7BpEN6o
        — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 26, 2019

Schiff later explained that his version of events was simply a "summary of the president's call was meant to be, at least part, in parody."

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) was having none of it. She didn't wait to call the chairman out until their proceedings had finished. She took him to task right there.

        Today’s @HouseIntel hearing with Acting DNI Maguire is extremely important for Americans to hear. I focused on the whistleblower complaint itself & did not recklessly improvise a fake dialogue for parody purposes like Adam Schiff—the head of this committee—did. Watch part 1 ?? pic.twitter.com/5MBeV7XNCd
        — Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 26, 2019

"On page one - and I'm not going to improvise for parody purposes, like the chairman of this committee did," Stefanik said when she began to read the whistleblower complaint. "I'm going to quote it directly."

She went on to read the whistleblower's confession that he or she "was not a direct witness to most of the events described." Still, officials concluded that even though the complainant was relying on secondhand knowledge, it was "credible" enough to investigate.

So, Schifty Schiff pretty much admits he's full of schitz, and making stuff up? Bolding is mine - but we're going to impeach the president in parody!

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Impeachment-hearing-uncovers-new-evidence-from-14831773.php

Near the start of Tuesday’s hearing, Stefanik pushed Schiff to respond to a list of several witnesses Republicans want to call. Republicans submitted their list of witnesses on Nov. 9 to Democrats, who are reviewing their requests.

On Fox News last week, she said she wanted to call Schiff as the Republicans’ first witness in the impeachment inquiry. She has also supported a resolution to censure Schiff for his comments in an earlier public hearing.

Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, asked for a resolution Wednesday to question the whistle-blower, whose complaint sparked the inquiry, in a closed-door session. Democrats voted down that resolution at the close of the public hearing.

NO NO NO!! YOU CAN'T QUESTION THE WITNESSES!!!!!

WATCH: Rep. Elise Stefanik’s full questioning of Volker and Morrison | Trump impeachment hearings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yZJs5iHLB0

IF YOU QUESTION ANY MORE WITNESSES OUR ENTIRE NARRATIVE FALLS APART!!

Rep. Stefanik Makes Schiff Squirm, Exposes His Hypocrisy on Whistleblower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eip14ZOLro

Oh yeah - Stefanik 2024. She's better looking than Trump, she's smarter, and she has better fashion sense. Not to mention that she looks a good bit like my nieces.

See? Not all millenials are vacuous bubbleheads!

Iowa Poll: President Trump's popularity sky high among registered Republicans; more than three-fourths definitely plan to vote for him

© Copyright 2019, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.

President Donald Trump enjoys widespread popularity among registered Republicans in Iowa, the first state that will cast preference votes in the 2020 presidential race, a new Iowa Poll shows.

The president's popularity has never been higher among registered Republicans who don't plan to attend the Democratic caucuses, the Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll found.

His overall job approval is up 4 percentage points from March to 85%. The percentage of those who say they will definitely vote to re-elect him is up 9 percentage points to 76%.

“I think he’s doing a tremendous job, really, as far as I’m concerned,” said Wayne Sparker, an 82-year-old Lake Mills resident and poll respondent. "... I’ve been a Democrat all my life, but when he ran for office, when I could see what he was standing up for — for the borders and the different solutions he brought forth — I felt that I definitely needed to vote for him."

The findings come as the U.S. House of Representatives advances its impeachment inquiry into the president, an ongoing trade dispute with China and conflict over the way the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates biofuels.

It also comes as a wave of Democratic presidential candidates floods the state — some seeking to convert disaffected Republicans and independents.

But these Republicans are sticking with the president, poll results show.

"A majority of every demographic group say they will definitely vote to re-elect the president, with the exception of moderates (47%)," said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co. "All other groups stand with President Trump with strong majorities, not surprising given it is 76% overall."

Amy Potter, a 32-year-old Gilbert resident and poll respondent, said she doesn't pay attention to the daily ins and outs of politics, but she is a lifelong conservative and appreciates the thriving economy.

"At this current point in time, the way the housing market is and the way there are so many jobs available, I really do not believe America could be in a better place at all," she said.

Apologies for not providing a link - https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/2019/11/18/iowa-poll-results-president-trump-popularity-sky-high-among-registered-republicans/4205580002/

For reference, you can always take a block of relevant text, and copy/paste it into a search engine. I've done that often enough :^)

https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2019/11/14/ukraine-for-dummies/

At Wednesday’s debut of the impeachment hearings there was one issue upon which both sides of the aisle seemed to agree, and it was a comic-book caricature of reality.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff led off the proceedings with this: “In 2014, Russia invaded a United States ally, Ukraine, to reverse that nation’s embrace of the West, and to fulfill Vladimir Putin’s desire to rebuild a Russian empire…”

Five years ago, when Ukraine first came into the news, those Americans who thought Ukraine was an island in the Pacific can perhaps be forgiven. That members of the House Intelligence Committee don’t know – or pretend not to know – more accurate information about Ukraine is a scandal, and a consequential one.

As Professor Stephen Cohen has warned, if the impeachment process does not deal in objective fact, already high tensions with Russia are likely to become even more dangerous.

So here is a kind of primer for those who might be interested in some Ukraine history:

Late 1700s: Catherine the Great consolidated her rule; established Russia’s first and only warm-water naval base in Crimea.

In 1919, after the Bolshevik Revolution, Moscow defeated resistance in Ukraine and the country becomes one of 15 Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In 1954, after Stalin’s death the year before, Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, assumed power. Pandering to Ukrainian supporters, he unilaterally decreed that henceforth Crimea would be part of the Ukrainian SSR, not the Russian SSR. Since all 15 Republics of the USSR were under tight rule from Moscow, the switch was a distinction without much of a difference – until later, when the USSR fell apart.

Nov. 1989: Berlin wall down.

Dec. 2-3, 1989: President George H. W. Bush invites Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to summit talks in Malta; reassures him “the U.S. will not take advantage” of Soviet troubles in Eastern Europe. Bush had already been pushing the idea of a Europe whole and free, from Portugal to Vladivostok.

A Consequential Quid Pro Quo

Feb. 7-10, 1990: Secretary of State James Baker negotiates a quid pro quo; Soviet acceptance of the bitter pill of a reunited Germany (inside NATO), in return for an oral US promise not to enlarge NATO “one inch more” to the East.

Dec. 1991: the USSR falls apart. Suddenly it does matter that Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR; Moscow and Kyiv work out long-term arrangements for the Soviet navy to use the naval base at Sevastopol.

The quid pro quo began to unravel in October 1996 during the last weeks of President Bill Clinton’s campaign when he said he would welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO – the earlier promise to Moscow notwithstanding. Former US Ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock, who took part in both the Bush-Gorbachev early-December 1989 summit in Malta and the Baker-Gorbachev discussions in early February 1990, has said, “The language used was absolute, including no ‘taking advantage’ by the US… I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage,’ particularly since, by then, Russia was hardly a credible threat.” (From 16 members in 1990, NATO has grown to 29 member states – the additional 13 all lie east of Germany.)

Feb. 1, 2008: Amid rumors of NATO planning to offer membership to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns US Ambassador William Burns that “Nyet Means Nyet.” Russia will react strongly to any move to bring Ukraine or Georgia into NATO. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have Burns’s original cable from embassy in Moscow.

April 3, 2008: Included in Final Declaration from NATO summit in Bucharest: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

Early September 2013: Putin helps Obama resist neocon demands to do “shock and awe” on Syria; Russians persuade President Bashar al-Assad to give up Syrian army chemical weapons for destruction on a US ship outfitted for chemical weapons destruction. Neocons are outraged over failing to mousetrap Obama into attacking Syria.

Meanwhile in Ukraine

Dec. 2013: In a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland says: “The United States has supported Ukraine’s European aspirations. … We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”

Feb. 4, 2014: Amid rioting on the Maidan in Kiev, YouTube carries Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s last minute instructions to US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt regarding the US pick for new Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (aka “Yats”) and other plans for the imminent coup d’etat in Kiev. (See: ) When Pyatt expresses concern about EU misgivings about mounting a coup, Nuland says “Fuck the EU.” She then apologizes to the EU a day or two later – for the profanity, not for the coup. She also says that Vice President Joe Biden will help “glue this thing together”, meaning the coup.

Feb. 22, 2014: Coup d’etat in Kyiv; appropriately labeled “the most blatant coup in history” by George Friedman, then President of the widely respected think-tank STRATFOR.

Feb. 23, 2014: The date that NATO, Western diplomats, and the corporate media have chosen – disingenuously – as the beginning of recent European history, with silence about the coup orchestrated in Kyiv the day before. President Vladimir Putin returns to Moscow from the winter Olympics in Sochi; confers with advisers about Crimea, deciding – unlike Khrushchev in 1954 – to arrange a plebiscite to let the people of Crimea, most of whom strongly opposed the coup regime, decide their own future.

March 16, 2014: The official result from the voters in Crimea voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ukraine and to join Russia. Following the referendum, Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation. On March 18, the Russian Federal Assembly ratified the incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

In the following days, Putin made it immediately (and publicly) clear that Yatsenyuk’s early statement about Ukraine joining NATO and – even more important – the US/NATO plans to deploy ABM systems around Russia’s western periphery and in the Black Sea, were the prime motivating forces behind the post-referendum re-incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

No one with rudimentary knowledge of Russian history should have been surprised that Moscow would take no chances of letting NATO grab Crimea and Russia’s only warm-water naval base. The Nuland neocons seized on the opportunity to accuse Russia of aggression and told obedient European governments to follow suit. Washington could not persuade its European allies to impose stringent sanctions on Russia, though, until the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 over Ukraine.

Airplane Downed; 298 Killed

July 17, 2014: MH17 shot down

July 20, 2014: Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC’s David Gregory, “We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory. We know where it came from. We know the timing. And it was exactly at the time that this aircraft disappeared from the radar.” The US, however, has not shared any evidence of this.

Given the way US intelligence collectors had been focused, laser-like, on that part of the Ukrainian-Russian border at that time, it is a near certainty that the US has highly relevant intelligence regarding what actually happened and who was most likely responsible. If that intelligence supported the accusations made by Kerry, it would almost certainly have been publicized.
Less than two weeks after the shoot-down, the Europeans were persuaded to impose sanctions that hurt their own businesses and economies about as much as they hurt Russia’s – and far more than they hurt the US There is no sign that, in succumbing to US pressure, the Europeans mustered the courage to ask for a peek at the “intelligence” Kerry bragged about on NBC TV.

Oct. 27, 2016: Putin speaks at the Valdai International Discussion Club.
How did the “growing trust” that Russian President Putin wrote about in his September 11, 2013 New York Times op-ed evaporate?

How did what Putin called his close “working and personal relationship with President Obama” change into today’s deep distrust and saber-rattling? A short three years later after the close collaboration to resolve the Syrian problem peacefully, Putin spoke of the “feverish” state of international relations and lamented: “My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results.” And things have gone downhill from there.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year career as a CIA analyst includes serving as Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). This originally appeared at Consortium News.

Newly-divorced mother who shot dead her three children then killed herself in a triple murder-suicide was an anti-gun violence activist who battled depression, anxiety, and lupus

        Ashley Auzenne, 39, was found dead Tuesday along with her children in Texas
        Her divorce with the children's father, Murvin, had been finalized just last week
        Murvin Auzenne Jr. said his estranged wife was 'was very upset with the result'
        She had been battling anxiety, depression and a host of other health problems
        Auzenne had also campaigned on social media to end gun violence
        Their bodies were found after a relative called for a welfare check at their home
        Auzenne posted a picture to Facebook calling for an end to gun violence in 2018

This is an alt-left mass murder, except she didn't (quite) kill enough to be "mass".
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7642577/Newly-divorced-mother-shot-dead-three-children-killed-battling-depression.html

Father of slain Deer Park children 'devastated'

The father of three children who were found shot to death with their mother inside the family’s Deer Park home this week said he was shocked at the idea his estranged wife could be responsible.

Murvin Auzenne Jr. said he and his wife were nearing the end of a contentious divorce and “she was very upset with the result.” He said she was particularly distressed that she would not be able to move with their children to her hometown, and would have to get a job and pay him rent if she remained in their home.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Father-of-Deer-Park-children-slain-14574739.php

Deaths of Deer Park mother, 3 children ruled murder-suicide
The paternal grandfather of the three children found dead inside a home with their mother says their family is "completely devastated."
Author: Jason Miles
Published: 5:31 PM CDT October 30, 2019
Updated: 3:20 PM CDT October 31, 2019

DEER PARK, Texas — UPDATE: The deaths of a Deer Park woman and her three children have been ruled a murder-suicide.

Deer Park officials Tweeted the information out Thursday afternoon:

PREVIOUSLY: Deer Park police still guard the house where officers discovered four bodies Tuesday morning.

They were later identified by Deer Park police as a mother and her three children: Ashley Auzenne, 39; Parrish Auzenne, 11; Eleanor Auzenne, 9; Lincoln Auzenne, 7.

Police initially declined to say if they suspected a murder-suicide. However, they stated they weren’t pursuing suspects and that there was no danger to the community.

All of the bodies suffered gunshot wounds.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/there-are-no-villains-only-victims-family-speaks-following-deaths-of-mother-three-children-in-deer-park/285-159540e3-ef40-4bcd-aaf5-6dc532715642

After getting final divorce papers, anti-gun activist mother shoots her 3 young children dead: Police

As school staff at a Texas elementary school worried about how the children of a newly-divorced couple would cope with their new life changes, the mother of the kids shot them dead following her finalized divorced.

ABC 13 reports that authorities found the bodies of Parrish Auzenne, 11, Eleanor Auzenne, 9, and Lincoln Auzenne, 7, inside their Deer Park home off of New Orleans Street on Tuesday morning. After the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled their deaths as murder, detectives said that their 39-year-old mother, Ashley Auzenne, was the primary suspect.

After killing her children, Auzenne then turned the gun on herself, causing fatal injuries. Her death was listed as suicide.

Note how Ashely's friends makes excuses for her:

According to court documents, Ashley Auzenne was the one who filed for divorce.

One of Ashley Auzenne’s friends, Carrie Junot, called the woman “the sweetest person” who seemed dedicated to all of her children.

        “She was a mom, completely about making sure her kids were happy and taken care of. I know she was dealing with a bunch of stuff personally and medically…..She was the nicest person you could have met, opened her doors to people and advocated for her son.”

Another friend, Mary Dybka, reportedly said Ashley Auzenne was vocal about her disdains of guns and gun violence. Dybka said the pair would joke that Ashley was “more Yankee then Texan with her Democratic views and strict gun control beliefs.”

Dybka told the Houston Chronicle that her friend was the victim of emotional abuse.

“I know he had been extremely controlling and extremely verbally abusive,” she said, referring to Auzenne Jr.

Auzenne Jr.’s father, however, told CBS 11 that there is “no rational explanation” for what happened.

“When young innocents die like this, there is no rational explanation. We will never know why Ashley acted as she did, but we offer our heartfelt prayers to her family,” Murvin Auzenne Sr. said. “Until law enforcement completes its investigation, we ask the public to please respect our need to grieve our loss in private.

https://www.crimeonline.com/2019/11/01/after-getting-final-divorce-papers-anti-gun-activist-mother-shoots-her-3-young-children-dead-police/

And, that's how progressives will do ya. No guns for you, only for them. I'll give 100 to 1 odds the kids didn't have access to guns to defend themselves with. Another small-scale socialist monster here.

Also - do a search, and note the networks that are carrying the story. No extreme-right gun-nut here, so the US leftist MSM isn't interested in the story. Of the big networks, only ABC has it - https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-mom-newly-divorced-kills-young-children-coroner/story?id=66682355

A local Fox station, the NY Post, and quite a large number of fringe news networks, such as Heavy and FreeRepublic.

I'm not going to recap the recent history of 8chan, or 8ch.net. It appeared that it was dead. But, no, it's still alive. That, or someone has put up a reasonable facsimile thereof. 8kun.net It appears they are having some kind of issues, pages take many seconds to load. I was curious how long it would take them to get back online. I'm also curious if some of their stupid shit will be toned down. Not all boards are operational yet, it seems. Enjoy . . . ?

Tucson police: Woman shoots 2 intruders dead
Shaq Davis Arizona Daily Star Oct 17, 2019 Updated Oct 23, 2019

A woman shot and killed two men who were trying to break into her midtown home early Wednesday morning, police said.

The woman was not injured in the confrontation. Her home was specifically targeted in the attempted home invasion, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, Tucson Police Department spokesman. The attempted home invasion appears to have been narcotics related, he said.

Officer Frank Magos, a Tucson police spokesman gave the following account in a news release:

The woman, who was alone in the home, woke up around 3:45 a.m. to noise coming from the rear of the house.

She confronted and shot the two men accused of trying to force their way into the home in the 4600 block of East Duncan Street. The home is near North Swan and East Grant roads.

The woman then sought help from a neighbor and called 911.

Officers arrived to find the two who were shot, Corey Teixeira, 18, and Ali Mohamed, 18, in the home’s backyard.

Teixeira was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities transported Mohamed to a hospital where he died shortly after arriving.

It is unclear if the woman will face charges, Dugan said.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to call 88-CRIME, an anonymous tipster line.

Wednesday’s shooting is one of more than 100 incidents in the area reported to law enforcement in the past six months, according to Crime Reports, a crime-tracking website.

“I’m definitely going to get a gun to protect myself, too,” said Jay Spencer, a neighbor who has lived in the area for about seven months.

Spencer said that in the short time he has lived there, he already has caught a man attempting to break into the rear of his home. When police arrived, the man had already fled, he said.

He said there have been several other recent crime-related incidents in the neighborhood, including a woman reporting a break-in at her home, items stolen from a truck, as well as a person shown on video stealing a cactus from a home.

“There’s not enough enforcement, to be honest,” Spencer said.

https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/tucson-police-woman-shoots-intruders-dead/article_c70d5fe6-f022-11e9-99d7-fbeb8a97095c.html

Ohhhhhh - it appears that the story doesn't end there though!

Detectives said in the court document that two “spent” .38 caliber shell casings were recovered from the property. Other items taken by police included: a Remington 870 shotgun; two .38 caliber Smith & Wesson Special Revolvers; a knife; suspected psilocybin mushrooms; LSD sheets and tablets; marijuana seeds; packaging materials; and a vacuum sealer, according to the document.

Pills suspected to be Xanax, a knife sheath and duffel bags were taken from a vehicle apparently used by the two slain men, according to the document.

The woman has not been charged with a crime.

https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/drugs-guns-found-in-home-of-tucson-woman-who-shot/article_1e23a3c8-5dcb-5db4-9bff-f3e5295fe5c3.html

So, then, is this young lady dealing in illicit drugs? Not charged with a crime? Does that mean the drugs found don't belong to her? The guys breaking in brought the drugs with them? Hmmmmm . . . Maybe she has just very, very recently started dating the sheriff?

Rosa Parks died on this day, in 2005. The impeachment inquiry is currently trying to establish how Donald Trump did it.

https://www.thewrap.com/donald-trump-met-rosa-parks-muhammad-ali-photo/

I took one of the more scenic routes home from work today. I needed a router bit, so stopped off at the local lumber yard / tool shops. Business finished, I started thinking about food. There's a Burger King just down the hill from Bailey's Building supplies, so I thought I'd give that impossible burger a try.

It's important to understand a couple things:
1. I ordered the burgers to go, and I ate one driving down the road toward home.
2. I was hungry to start with.
3. I did not unpackage the burger for inspection before eating it.

So, I'm tooling along, with one red light between me and the open road. Reach into the bag, and pull out a burger. Fold that flap back - the light stays green - and I take a tentative bite. Hmmm - not bad. It tastes pretty good, really.

So, over the course of five miles or so, I'm chowing down. And, getting less hungry. That's kinda the whole point, I think. Fill belly until hunger fades, or something like that. And, as the hunger fades, the sandwich tastes less beefy. The next couple miles pass, and the sandwich seems to last longer and longer. Hunger is gone, and that sandwich just doesn't taste like beef anymore. In fact, that last bite was something of a chore to finish chewing, and swallowing.

Now, let me start over. The appearance of the meatless patty is pretty convincing. It even has char-broiling stripes across it, just as you expect with a Burger King burger. The texture is pretty convincing too. It's a rather dry burger, but very burger like. The smell . . . it doesn't smell beefy, but it doesn't smell bad. Chewing the patty was convincing, initially, but at some point, it became less convincing.

Luckily, I bought two of them, so I could evaluate it when I got home.

Fold back the paper, and you see a pretty standard sesame seed bun. Pull the top off, you see standard lettuce, tomato, onions, a bit of pickle, and some mayo-based sauce. The patty looks like a pretty standard 1/4 pound burger. Pinch off a bit of patty, and there are no strands, no tubular shaped spirals, and no evidence of fat. It's a fibery mat, really. Taste it, and it's kinda beef-like, but not beefy. Smell it - there's no sign of cow.

Do I like it? Well, when I was hungry, it went down pretty well. It's hamburger-like enough to convince a hungry stomach that it's pretty real. But, it just doesn't cut it as I get filled up. I highly doubt that I'll ever buy another. I might eat one again, if someone buys it and offers it to me.

They might do better deep frying these things. Call it a beef flavored fritter, or a beef flavored hush puppy. If the patty had a bit of crunch to it, I might enjoy it more. Or, maybe if the interior of the patty contained more moisture, it would be better.

This thing isn't "bad", but it's just not "good".

I recommend that everyone try one, and make your own mind up about it. It's unlikely to leave you gagging, but I don't think you're going to fall in love with it.

Want the details? Here’s the ingredient list:

Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

Contains: Soy

https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018937494

Enjoy your own adventure! I'll stick with beef when I feel like eating beef in the future. I've done my bit for scientific research!