Is your state one of the crazy ones?
In northern Kansas City, Missouri:
On social media, family members posted photos and mementos of Yarl and his achievements: A recruitment letter from Yale's undergraduate admissions office; an invitation to participate in a 15-day performance tour of Europe with other Missouri student musicians; an honorable mention by the Missouri All-State Band for his bass clarinet ability.
Yarl's goal is to study chemical engineering at Texas A&M University and visit West Africa before starting college.
There’s just one catch. Raphael ‘Ralph’ Yarl went to pick up his 2 younger brothers from a friend's house last Thursday evening but confused 115th Street for 115th Terrace. He rang the wrong doorbell, waited a couple of minutes, the homeowner opened the door, told him he didn’t want to ever see him on his property again and shot him in the head through the glass door. After he fell to the ground, the homeowner shot him again.
Ralph was able to stand and run, knocking on 3 doors before one person called 911 for him.
Ralph will live. The homeowner was released by the police the next day and an investigation is underway.
In a statement Sunday night, civil rights attorneys Lee Merritt and Benjamin Crump, who are representing Yarl's family, demanded "swift action" to identify, arrest and prosecute the shooter.
"There can be no excuse for the release of this armed and dangerous suspect after admitting to shooting an unarmed, non-threatening and defenseless teenager that rang his doorbell," they said.
The circumstances of the shooting, paired alongside images of the 16-year-old student with his bass clarinet and younger siblings, sparked an emotional response in Kansas City and on social media. By Monday, even the vice president had weighed in.
"Let's be clear: No child should ever live in fear of being shot for ringing the wrong doorbell," Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter. "Every child deserves to be safe."
The homeowner was charged with 2 counts of felony assault today. The mayor said there “was a racial component” to his shooting.
North Carolina:
How refreshing is it to hear a new Congressman speak up normally?
Are you surprised that one of the key Stop The Steal organizers on January 6th turns out to be an accused pedophile?
In one message, Alexander allegedly complained that a 15-year-old wasn’t sending him “Jack off material.”
It’s called projection for a reason. Every cheat, every lie, every misuse of government and police power, every unlawful act done by some elected Republicans is proof - to them - that if they can do it, Democrats must be doing it too.
There’s no logic to it at all. In nearly every case, they offer no proof as there is none to offer.
Does it mean there are NO pedophile Democrats or no Democrats that become corrupted in office? No. There’s nearly always a few bad apples who break the law. Just like any time there’s a massive peaceful protest, there’s a few who take advantage of the moment and break the law.
But the proven cases of corruption like bribery and pedophilia are heavily weighted towards the GOP officeholders. The bullies and conspiracy nuts and violence promoters? Again, that’s mostly been coming from the GOP.
The readily available numbers of both indictments and convictions demonstrate this repeatedly since the 1980s. Democrats are held accountable for financial crimes or adulterous dalliances. Republicans used to be but more and more they evade prosecution or voter rejection by making up completely untrue things about their accusers.
Ali Alexander, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Ginni Thomas, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, Donald Trump and his two oldest sons are among them: all break laws or violate ethics, all are obvious hypocrites and most are criminals. Not the sort of people most parents want near their kids.
Wee Jimmy Jordan- leader of the House Judiciary Committee - is doing the ‘untrue’ thing again, bringing the committee to NYC today to investigate the crime rate their so they can attack the DA prosecuting the ex-president. But as the former chair of that Judiciary Committee noted in a blistering preamble, nearly every category of violent crime in NYC has dropped since DA Bragg took office 15 months ago. Columbus, Ohio, right at the border of Jordan’s House district, has 4 times the violent crime per capita than NYC does. NYC is actually one of the safest big cities in the country.
Nadler defined the reason for the investigation as an effort to defend Donald Trump by obstructing the DA’s work. And called out members using anti-semitic remarks as well.
It’s noteworthy that in his 16 years in Congress, Jim Jordan has never once introduced any legislation. How long would you last if you failed to do what you were hired to do? A lot less than 16 years, I bet.
Oklahoma:
GOP officials in McCurtain County were caught on tape talking about wanting to lynch black people and how to murder, burn and bury two local journalists. The small local paper McCurtain-Gazette News revealed the audiotapes, some made by a local woman present at the county meeting. Other sheriff deputies were present at the meeting and according to that resident, they knew she was recording them. But most of the audio - over 3 hours worth - was made by one of the targeted journalists, the publisher of the local paper. He says he checked with their attorneys twice to be sure his recording could legally be done. He was simply trying to prove they were secretly holding meetings in violation of open meetings law, so he left a recording device in the county meeting room after the public meeting ended. He was shocked to hear they were discussing killing him and his son, who’s a reporter for the paper. His son has published more than two dozen stories in recent years targeting corruption in the sheriff’s department. They also made disparaging remarks about a local woman who recently died in a house fire, too.
Sheriff Kevin Clardy (GOP), District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings (GOP), Investigator Alicia Manning and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix were part of the conversation. A fifth person, Robert Beck, was also involved. All but Hendrix were also recorded discussing hiring a hit man.
In response, hundreds of protesters showed up at the sheriff’s office in Idabel Monday to demand the resignations of the plotters, who weren’t around for the protest. Idabel’s mayor and Oklahoma’s governor have also asked for their resignations.
EXCUSE ME? ASKED FOR? Pretty weak leadership if that governor didn’t immediately fire them.
On a community news board, Sheriff McClardy delivered this response and it was also posted on a Facebook page:
So the sheriff is investigating the journalists. And both the Oklahoma AG and the FBI are now investigating the plotters. One local resident has asked authorities to investigate suspicious deaths of others in recent years. The father/son journalists have been urged to leave town for their safety.
Arizona:
Former dentist Paul Gosar, now a US Rep has done it again with his Nazi associations. Six of his nine siblings have publicly rebuked him repeatedly and supported his opponents, warning his district voters that he’s a mean, despicable and hateful guy. His latest was quoting a publication known for its praise of Hitler, its denial of the Holocaust and its hatred of Jews, praising the website in his House newsletter to his constituents. Per MediaMatters:
His April 16 newsletter included a link to a February 26 Veterans Today post by senior editor Jonas E. Alexis that has the headline “Congressman: Jewish warmongers Nuland & Blinken ‘Are Dangerous Fools Who Can Get Us All Killed.’” (Gosar’s newsletter omitted the word “Jewish" before warmongers from its link description.) The Veterans Today article is actually a repost of an article by the Kremlin-funded Sputnik that did not carry the “Jewish warmongers” descriptor.
Florida:
The other Florida man who wants to be president continues his war with Disney. Disney has held Gay Pride events for 3 decades and denounced Florida’s governor’s anti LGTBQ bills, so he’s responded several times trying to destroy the largest employer in the state. Yesterday he indicated he’s toying with the idea of building a new state prison right next to Disney World.
Also California’s governor took a shot at Governor DeSantis’ latest law.
Montana:
A really well done article describing the views from rural Montana and rural everywhere. A must-read.
Safe to say that the GOP is beyond redemption. They've been consumed by the Seven Deadlies.