Friday, December 04, 2015

Happy Friday!

Greetings, gentle Dot Calm readers!

I've laid out quite a spread today. Be sure at least to scroll all the way to the bottom--there is a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoon waiting there for your enjoyment.

I hope it brings a smile after all the grim news.

posted by Dot Calm @ 6:55 PM 

The BEST Response to the San Bernardino Shooting

It's God's day off, people.
(Cheez, can't God get a day off fer Chrissakes?)

It's up to us to stop the terrorists and crazies from getting all the guns that the Republicans in the House and Senate keep VOTING for them to!
image.jpeg

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:10 PM 

From DKos: BBC treats latest mass shootings as "just another day in America"

BBC on latest mass shootings: "Just another day in the United States of America"

By Egberto Willies  

     
Thursday Dec 03, 2015 3:20 AM EST

SWAT team members approach a building with a gunman inside. Thirteen people were killed and 30 more wounded in an attack by a lone gunman at Fort Hood Nov. 5.
 
Another day, another mass shooting. The fact is that so far this year there have been more mass shootings than days.
The San Bernardino shooting is the 355th mass shooting this year, according to a mass shooting tracker maintained by the Guns Are Cool subreddit. The Reddit tracker defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people, including the gunman, are killed or injured by gunfire.
Irrespective of the motivation behind the shootings in San Bernardino, easy access to guns makes this the norm. The resignation in the BBC's reporter's voice said it all.
 
“Another day of gunfire, panic and fear,” said the BBC reporter. “This time in the city of San Bernardino in California, where a civic building is apparently under attack.”

America's gun culture has made us a macabre laughing stock overseas. When one listens to the BBC journalist reporting the mass shooting in San Bernardino, justifiable belittling of our culture for allowing the NRA to rule comes to mind.

One hopes that Americans get tired of the carnage. One hopes that politicians are punished for murder by neglect, coddling, and deception.

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:10 PM 

From AlterNet: Gun Rights, Smoker's Rights = Another Day, Another Shooting.

Mississippi Man Guns Down Waffle House Waitress After She Asks Him Not to Smoke


Another day, another shooting.

By Travis Gettys / Raw Story

November 28, 2015
 
An enraged Waffle House customer shot and killed a waitress early Friday who asked him not to smoke.

Police said Johnny Mount was eating about 1 a.m. at the restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, when he lit a cigarette, reported WLOX-TV.

A waitress asked the 45-year-old Mount to put out the cigarette or smoke outside, and he began arguing with her.

Police said Mount then pulled out a 9 mm handgun he had concealed under his shirt and shot the 52-year-old waitress in the head.

That seems reasonable.

She was taken to a nearby hospital but died from her wounds.

Mount was arrested as he tried to leave the restaurant and has been charged with first-degree murder.

He remains held on $2 million bond.

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:10 PM 

From DKos: America Reacts to Planned Parenthood Shooting


By Jen Sorensen  
Tuesday Dec 01, 2015 9:50 AM EST
 

Just in case somebody wildly misinterprets this cartoon, I do not in fact support issuing tracking collars to white males (though they might come in handy with one’s husband at the grocery store), nor do I blame all of Christianity for the shootings at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. I’m merely illustrating the ludicrousness of the GOP’s recent rhetoric against Muslims. 
 
Between this and their incendiary lies about Planned Parenthood, the current crop of Republican candidates have shown themselves to be dangerously unfit for the presidency.
 
But you knew that already.

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:09 PM 

Did you know that...?

********************************************
********************************************

                                           ...Now you know.

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:09 PM 

From Glamour: How to Feel Safe in a Scary World

San Bernardino Shooting: How to Feel Safe in a World That Feels Increasingly Scary

By Rachel Rabkin Peachman

In the aftermath of yesterday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California—which left 14 people dead and 17 wounded—many of us are reeling. As authorities investigate what may have motivated the two suspects (now dead) to open fire during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday at 11 A.M., there are still many unanswered questions.

“People might say, ‘is this a mass shooting or is this terrorism?’ and what we know from previous events is that this can be both,” Adam Lankford, Ph.D., an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama tells Glamour. So how do we cope?

san-bernardino-mass-shooting-coping-victims
Survivors evacuating from the scene of a mass shooting on December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California.

“I think that this is going to be a very hotly debated shooting as far as what this represents,” Jennifer Carlson, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, tells Glamour. “We don’t know enough about it yet to diagnose this,” adds Carlson, who is also the author of Citizen-Protectors: The everyday politics of guns in an age of decline.

With so much uncertainty, it’s natural to feel helpless and wonder how to make sense of this tragedy, especially when mass shootings in the U.S. and abroad are happening all too frequently. Is it possible to feel safe in a world that feels increasingly unsafe? Whether you are close to the horrific event or miles away, are there ways to find comfort after a terrifying act of gun violence occurs?

According to Melissa Cohen, a psychotherapist in private practice, there may be. “What makes people feel most vulnerable in circumstances like this, is that they feel powerless, and like there is nothing they can do,” Cohen tells Glamour. “One way to combat that feeling is to use this as a call to action.” Whether that means donating to the victims, supporting a political leader who represents your views on gun laws, or learning more about how to make your community safer, all of those things can be productive ways to cope.

“One of the best things you can do is to channel your emotional reaction and fear, and demand change,” says Lankford, who is the author of The Myth of Martyrdom: What really drives suicide bombers, rampage shooters, and other self-destructive killers.

That’s what Sarah Clements has done. Her mother was a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, when the mass shooting took place there on December 14, 2012. Her mother survived, but the Clements family was forever changed, and Clements, now a sophomore at Georgetown in D.C., now advocates for gun reform legislation.

“It’s traumatizing and very destabilizing every time there is a mass shooting,” Clements tells Glamour. “And though it takes me a while after a shooting to really truly believe this, I do remember that since 12/14—since Newtown—we have made strides and changes, and it helps me remember that our work is not in vain.”

For example, an online petition Clements started calling for more gun violence research has garnered more than 120,000 signatures as of press time. Clements has also found strength by joining forces with fellow advocates. “We’ve been able to pass expanded background checks in multiple states in the past three years and we’ve passed legislation in states to close loopholes that would allow domestic abusers and stalkers to access firearms,” she said. “There are lots of wins that have happened. It’s hard to remember in the aftermath of shooting after shooting, but we have to remember that and take comfort in the fact that these wins do mean something.”

Another way to move forward in the face of fear: “Dwell in gratitude, not in fear,” says Cohen. “Rather than waking up afraid every day, wake up grateful. “Hug your kids tighter. Call your mom or your friend.”

It’s also key to think practically about your safety. “Report it if someone in your sphere is having problems,” says Lankford, who notes that after mass shootings happen, it often becomes clear that there were red flags early on that were missed concerning the suspects. “If everyone is paying attention to their co-workers and community members, you can prevent potential problems.”

And remember to react within reason. When scary events such as these take place and they permeate in the news, people experience secondary trauma, says Cohen. “It’s important to get control of your thoughts and remember that bad things don’t happen to everybody all day all the time, so that you’re not re-traumatizing yourself,” she adds. “You could spend your life not being present because you’re worried, or you could really soak in every blessing that is offered to you.”

Want to help? To donate to the Inland Regional Center to help them rebuild, click here.
Photos: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:09 PM 

From DKos: Women have died for the right to abortions. Don't apologize, and don't give it up!

FB post about abortion goes viral: 'Women have given their lives to defend it'—'stop apologizing'
By Leslie Salzillo  

Wednesday Dec 02, 2015 11:17 AM EST
Screen_Shot_2015-12-03_at_1.53.16_AM.png
 

Amanda Duarte is refreshing and courageous.
When many are afraid to talk about abortion, as if it’s a bad word, Duarte passionately posts the hard truth on her Facebook page to set the record straight.
She relays important reasons why we should own the word, “abortion,” as well as our constitutional right to obtain one.
 
Here is her post, which is going viral:  
I don't care if Planned Parenthood provides nothing BUT abortion services.
I don't care if it's a million-story abortion superpark with abortion waterslides and an abortion electrical parade.
Abortion is legal.
ABORTION IS LEGAL.
If I read one more "defense" of Planned Parenthood that says "it's not JUST abortions!" or "only 5% of what they do is abortion! And abortions aren't federally funded!" I'm going to abort myself.
Abortion is legal, culturally necessary, and good for humanity.
It has been and will be practiced for millennia.
It is essential.
It is a fact.
By minimizing, denying or apologizing for this fact, you are allowing these venal anti-woman Nazis to frame this debate and continue to chip away at this essential right.
Abortion is not tragic.
It is not painful.
It is a fact.
It is a right.
Demand it, fight for it, and for the sake of the women who have given their lives to defend it, stop apologizing for it.
 
 

posted by Dot Calm @ 4:08 PM 

Unnnghhh--Daily Kos dump! Yep, it's been building up for a while, too. Again, at least catch the comics and cartoons.

  • Chris Matthews slams Donald Trump, tells supporters 'You should be ashamed'


  • Virginia man arrested for racist, threatening yard display (again)


  • Ted Cruz suddenly concerned that people think he's a jerk


  • Ben Carson pays a price with evangelicals for the two things he's said that made some sense


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: Do not sell sacred Native American land to foreign corporations, pass the Save Oak Flat Act.


  • Former GOP lawmaker says Republicans are not rational, not conservative and have 12-year-old thinking


  • Missouri bill would apply abortion restrictions to gun buying


  • Cartoon: Profiles in cowardice


  • Syed Farook and Malik are not the only recent mass murdering married couple


  • Sign if you agree: It's time to put an end to private prisons. Support Bernie Sanders' Justice is Not for Sale Act.


  • Cartoon: Learn to draw Republican turkeys


  • LOL u huntin? Me 2 where u @? Hard 2 txt w 50 cal LOL! OMFG just #2a myself! 911!I


  • Why won't Latinos vote? Here are the reasons, including why Donald Trump could finally wake us up


  • George Zimmerman suspended from Twitter after posting nude pics of ex-girlfriend out of revenge


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie Sanders: Wall Street is causing reckless inequality.


  • My local sheriff is calling for licensed gun owners to pack heat.


  • How many inmates have died in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails? Who knows, but it's a big number.


  • Flying wings and things


  • Sen. Warren to the anti-Planned Parenthood GOP: 'We will fight you every step of the way'


  • Your opinion on gun control doesn't matter


  • THIS is the best response to the San Bernardino shooting

  • Legendary actress ran an underground, illegal, life-saving AIDS safe house


  • Man executed by police firing squad today in San Francisco


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: Give everyone the option to bank at the Post Office.


  • I no longer give two f---s about your 2nd Amendment rights.


  • Now I'm 100 percent convinced—Trump doesn't want to be president


  • NRA-owned politicians' San Bernardino mass shooting tweets mocked


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: Do not sell sacred Native American land to foreign corporations, pass the Save Oak Flat Act.


  • Cartoon: Meet ISIS's newest recruits


  • Cartoon: This is what a dangerous refugee looks like


  • FB post about abortion goes viral: 'Women have given their lives to defend it'—'stop apologizing'


  • BBC on latest mass shootings: 'Just another day in the United States of America'


  • Your opinion on gun control doesn't matter


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: The rhetoric and fear mongering about Syrian refugees from Republicans is abhorrent.


  • Shocking video released of Maryland officer putting gun point-blank against man's head


  • Screencaps show Chicago PD tampering with Burger King video of Laquan McDonald's murder


  • In a big win for Democrats, Florida Supreme Court upholds new, fairer congressional districts


  • Republicans offer thoughts and prayers instead of voting to keep guns away from suspected terrorists


  • Cartoon: America's drunk uncle


  • Texan shoots man for parking on the street in front of his house

    •    
  • Cartoon: America reacts to the Planned Parenthood attack


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: The rhetoric and fear mongering about Syrian refugees from Republicans is abhorrent.


  • Alabama’s attempt to cut off Planned Parenthood backfires


  • Polling update: Trump surges as Carson tanks, Democratic race static


  • This wasn't about mental illness


  • Sign if you agree with Bernie: Give everyone the option to bank at the Post Office.


  • Colorado Republican lawmaker says Planned Parenthood solely to blame for deadly attacks


  • Brothers save bald eagle from trap, take coolest bald eagle selfie


  • GOP dances hard to blame shift their stochastic terrorism


  • Christian group's survey finds that Christians have the most abortions in U.S.


  • Ted Cruz lie #1,078: Conservatives don't want to ban contraceptives


  • Planned Parenthood Right-Wing Christian Terrorist believed he'd be 'forgiven' for anything.


  • Congressman: 'Call terrorism, terrorism ... fueled by the extremist rhetoric from some on the Hill'


  • Canadian judge fines man $1.30 for growing 30 marijuana plants, calls laws obsolete and ridiculous


  • Contrary to myth, Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat 60 years ago wasn't spontaneous


  • Black pastors group meets with—but doesn't endorse—Donald Trump

    •    
  • This is how Fox News create ignorant viewers


  • Carly Fiorina, you ********* lying sack of ****


  • Ted Cruz, you ********* lying sack of ****


  • This is how Fox News create ignorant viewers


  • Man guns down Waffle House server after she tells him not to smoke inside—keeping count, NRA?


  • Sign if you agree: If it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist. Endorse Bernie's plan for Wall Street.


  • Yes, Carly Fiorina, we are singling YOU out


  • This is fascism, and we should say it clearly ... while we can


  • People applauded the Planned Parenthood killer


  • A screenshot of two Americas


  • Dear Republicans: Words do effing matter. I do blame You.


  • Cartoon: Tis the Season


  • Sign if you agree with the Democratic Governors Association––tell Republicans to stop gerrymandering to steal elections.


  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Muslim taxi driver shot in back by customer after conversation about ISIS


  • Texas Republican wants secession resolution on the Texas GOP ballot


  • Joshua Feuerstein is another stochastic terrorist inciting violence against Planned Parenthood


  • Iraq war vet killed in Colorado Planned Parenthood attack lived and died a hero


  • Kasich's new Trump ad goes full on Godwin and it's a doozy


  • Trump to South Carolina crowd: 'There's something we don't know about' Obama

  • Obama's favorite Obama conspiracy theory? Jade Helm.


  • The horrifying behavior of Anita Alvarez, Chicago's head prosecutor
    •   
       
  • Trump asks his supporters to report on their neighbors. 'Most likely you'll be wrong, but that's OK'


  • Hey Republicans, did you know that the Statue of Liberty was originally a Muslim woman?
    •    
       
  • 'Reckless eyeballing' really is a thing for Megyn Kelly


  • Oregon and California's new contraception laws may be game-changers


  • New thing I learned about Walmart today: breaks are merely a courtesy.


  • Big Pharma company that said it was lowering its price has decided to not lower price—keep gouging


  • Motives behind Planned Parenthood terror? If we have to ask, let's start with Fox, Limbaugh & GOP


  • Vile Fox News audience reacts to shooting at Colorado Planned Parenthood


  • Republican Party in Minnesota apologizing for 'Negro problem' tweet


  • Bill Clinton levels climate change deniers


  • Bella and her Great Dane service dog, George, go viral—and it's no surprise


  • Turn a black and white photo into color using your mind


  • Just because you don’t know about it doesn’t mean Jay Z isn’t ultra-conscious and charitable


  • Cartoon: In defense of the ‘R’ word


  • Escape from Alcatraz: The true story


  • MUST SEE: Hannity attacks Jon Stewart. Stewart responds with epic smackdown.


  • Scientific study says we are an oligarchy


  • Dr. Phil schools Fox host on racial inequities—and telling the truth


  • Costco labels Bible as fiction in this store. Pastor goes viral for wrong reason.


  • I was pulled over by the police, and feared for my life


  • India declares dolphins ‘non-human persons.’ Dolphin shows banned.


  • Cartoon: Goofball and Gallahad


  • Outrage in Delaware, now with a happy ending


  • Nebraska man challenges Oil & Gas Commission to drink fracking wastewater


  • California researcher accidentally discovered solution for color blindness


  • Oxfam: Wealth of the one percent will exceed that of the rest of humanity in 2016


  • The unbearable burden of being poor


  • Inside the Hostess bakery: A union worker speaks out


  • ‘Annie’ is black, and racists go crazy


  • Jon Stewart HAMMERS Fox News for attacking food stamp recipients


  • Community college students & instructors find awesome way to protest anti-gay Porno Pete


  • Elizabeth Warren’s brainchild continues to show good government in action


  • Native American school children taunted with slurs, sprayed with beer at South Dakota hockey game


  • Mother Earth weeps as Arctic Circle ice cap slides into the sea


  • White woman goes on shooting spree, yet somehow isn’t automatically killed by police


  • Can you spot the blatant racial media bias?


  • 28 mega retail chains will remain closed on Thanksgiving—one throws in Black Friday


  • Spare a thought for the people hard at work this Thanksgiving


  • Walmart holds food drive—for its own employees!


  • This is why capitalism chose China to be the World’s manufacturer


  • What’s wrong with housing today: A visual guide


  • How Walmart’s owners give thanks and give back


  • Petition quickly growing for President Obama to make 2016 Election Day a national holiday


  • Cartoon: Home of the brave


  • Little boy who gave $20 to vandalized mosque receives a special surprise


  • Michael Moore to Gov. Snyder: 'I myself am going to defy your ban'


  • A Scottish nationalist newspaper made sure that Syrian refugees were greeted by three words


  • RIP John Livingston—Shot by police trying to conduct an illegal search


  • If heavily armed, masked men 'protested' outside a church or synagogue, it would be national news


  • Ahmed Mohamed just sent a letter demanding $10 mil and apologies from chief of police and mayor


  • Bill de Blasio calls out Chris Christie: 'This is the cost of not bringing in innocent people'


  • Really Rick Scott? Secret contract payoff to rap star Pitbull with taxpayer money


  • Can you guess why STDs amongst 15 to 24 year olds has risen dramatically?


  • Finally! At long last, without further ado: Feds will track police shootings.


  • Texas governor tells nonprofits to stop helping Syrian refugees


  • Trump says 'maybe he should have been roughed up' after fans assault Black Lives Matter protester


  • Jury finds that cops intentionally framed innocent man for murder

    • posted by Dot Calm @ 4:08 PM 

    AlterNet Summaries

    Janet Allon, AlterNet
    They're even in denial about being in climate change denial. READ MORE»
    Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
    Cruz is so widely reviled that he might just unite both parties in hatred of him. READ MORE»
    Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
    Ryan clings to dumb ideas that are also cropping up among Republican presidential candidates. READ MORE»
    By Scott Eric Kaufman, Salon
    The host of "Real Time" tweeted his take on San Bernardino massacre and how seemingly "normal" people can do something so awful. READ MORE»
    By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
    The billionaire mogul once again leads the GOP field by huge margins. READ MORE»
    By Joan McCarter, Daily Kos
    Does the GOP exist just be obnoxious? READ MORE»
    By David Edwards, Raw Story
    Aaron Heslehurst advised Americans that they'll have to dismantle the organization. READ MORE»
    By Kate Iselin, The Guardian
    Being in an open relationship flies in the face of everything we are brought up to believe about ‘loose’ women being undesirables. READ MORE»
                 

    posted by Dot Calm @ 4:07 PM 

    From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal



    (Not sure if the link will work; if not, it takes you here: http://christmachrist.com/)
    Don't forget to click the Big Shiny Red Button at the bottom of the comic:



    (The original is here: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3944)

    posted by Dot Calm @ 7:46 AM