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I teach the Constitution for a living. I revere the document when it is used to further social justice and make our country a more inclusive one. I admire the Founders for establishing a representative democracy that has survived for over two centuries.

But sometimes we just have to acknowledge that the Founders and the Constitution are wrong. This is one of those times. We need to say loud and clear: The Second Amendment must be repealed.

As much as we have a culture of reverence for the founding generation, it's important to understand that they got it wrong and got it wrong often. Unfortunately, in many instances, they enshrined those faults in the Constitution. For instance, most people don't know it now, but under the original document, Mitt Romney would be serving as President Obama's vice president right now because he was the runner-up in the last presidential election. That part of the Constitution was fixed by the Twelfth Amendment, which set up the system we currently have of the president and vice president running for office together.

Much more profoundly, the Framers and the Constitution were wildly wrong on race. They enshrined slavery into the Constitution in multiple ways, including taking the extreme step of prohibiting the Constitution from being amended to stop the slave trade in the country's first 20years. They also blatantly wrote racism into the Constitution by counting slaves as only 3/5 of a person for purposes of Congressional representation. It took a bloody civil war to fix these constitutional flaws (and then another 150 years, and counting, to try to fix the societal consequences of them).

There are others flaws that have been fixed (such as about voting and Presidential succession), and still other flaws that have not yet been fixed (such as about equal rights for women and land-based representation in the Senate), but the point is the same there is absolutely nothing permanently sacrosanct about the Founders and the Constitution. They were deeply flawed people, it was and is a flawed document, and when we think about how to make our country a more perfect union, we must operate with those principles in mind.

In the face of yet another mass shooting, now is the time to acknowledge a profound but obvious truth the Second Amendment is wrong for this country and needs to be jettisoned. We can do that through a Constitutional amendment. It's been done before (when the Twenty-First Amendment repealed prohibition in the Eighteenth), and it must be done now.

The Second Amendment needs to be repealed because it is outdated, a threat to liberty and a suicide pact. When the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, there were no weapons remotely like the AR-15assault rifle and many of the advances of modern weaponry were long from being invented or popularized.

Sure, the Founders knew that the world evolved and that technology changed, but the weapons of today that are easily accessible are vastly different than anything that existed in 1791. When the Second Amendment was written, the Founders didn't have to weigh the risks of one man killing 49and injuring 53 all by himself. Now we do, and the risk-benefit analysis of 1791 is flatly irrelevant to the risk-benefit analysis of today.

Gun-rights advocates like to make this all about liberty, insisting that their freedom to bear arms is of utmost importance and that restricting their freedom would be a violation of basic rights.

But liberty is not a one way street. It also includes the liberty to enjoy a night out with friends, loving who you want to love, dancing how you want to dance, in a club that has historically provided a refuge from the hate and fear that surrounds you. It also includes the liberty to go to and send your kids to kindergarten and first grade so that they can begin to be infused with a love of learning. It includes the liberty to go to a movie, to your religious house of worship, to college, to work, to an abortion clinic, go to a hair salon, to a community center, to the supermarket, to go anywhere and feel that you are free to do to so without having to weigh the risk of being gunned downby someone wielding a weapon that can easily kill you and countless others.

The liberty of some to own guns cannot take precedence over the liberty of everyone to live their lives free from the risk of being easily murdered. It has for too long, and we must now say no more.

Finally, if we take the gun-rights lobby at their word, the Second Amendment is a suicide pact. As they say over and over, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. In other words, please the gun manufacturers by arming even the vast majority of Americans who do not own a gun.

Just think of what would have happened in the Orlando night-club Saturday night if there had been many others armed. In a crowded, dark, loud dance club, after the shooter began firing, imagine if others took out their guns and started firing back. Yes, maybe they would have killed the shooter, but how would anyone else have known what exactly was going on? How would it not have devolved into mass confusion and fear followed by a large-scale shootout without anyone knowing who was the good guy with a gun, who was the bad guy with a gun, and who was just caught in the middle? The death toll could have been much higher if more people were armed.

The gun-rights lobby's mantra that more people need guns will lead to an obvious result more people will be killed. We'd be walking down a road in which blood baths are a common occurrence, all because the Second Amendment allows them to be.

At this point, bickering about the niceties of textual interpretation, whether the history of the amendment supports this view or that, and how legislators can solve this problem within the confines of the constitution is useless drivel that will lead to more of the same. We need a mass movement of those who are fed up with the long-dead Founders' view of the world ruling current day politics. A mass movement of those who will stand up and say that our founding document was wrong and needs to be changed. A mass movement of those who will thumb their nose at the NRA, an organization that is nothing more than the political wing of the country's gun manufacturers, and say enough is enough.

The Second Amendment must be repealed, and it is the essence of American democracy to say so.

Watch four pro-gun arguments we're sick of hearing.

See the article here:
Why It's Time to Repeal the Second Amendment

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Posted: Jun 12, 2016 12:01 AM

I was surprised to read about Holder's opposition, as I have trouble seeing Holder as a model for social justice. As deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, Holder gave a "neutral-leaning to positive" recommendation for the pardon of billionaire Marc Rich, who fled to Switzerland to evade fraud and tax evasion charges. As President Obama's first attorney general, he was so stingy with the pardon power that political scientist P.S. Ruckman wrote that inmates seeking clemency had "a better chance of being struck by lightning."

Besides, law enforcement relies on fingerprinting because it works. According to the National Rifle Association, gun buyers must undergo fingerprint checks in some states. California teachers submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. California drivers are fingerprinted. I get into my gym thanks to a fingerprint scanner and swipe my index finger to open my phone. Don't tell me, I said to myself, Holder has joined gadflies who question the validity of fingerprints the way others oppose vaccinations.

Holder is no such animal. In a letter to Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, Holder explained that while fingerprint checks are a valuable law enforcement tool, they "often do not indicate whether a person who was arrested was even charged or ultimately convicted." Thus, mandatory checks "can prevent people from getting a job even if they were never found guilty of a crime." Because black men are arrested more than white men, the policy affects men of color disproportionately.

Pro-fingerprint politicians frame their stance as a matter of fairness. New Jersey limousine drivers must undergo fingerprint background checks. Ergo, the Limousine Association of New Jersey favors the same for ride-hailing service drivers "to adequately protect the riding public."

Uber contends it can check drivers' backgrounds more thoroughly with databases that probe applicants' driving records, criminal history and more. According to a fact sheet, Uber does not contract with drivers who have three or more moving violations in the past three years, have been cited for driving with a suspended or revoked license or without insurance in the past seven years, or were convicted of drunken driving or reckless driving in the past seven years.

Also, the market provides protections that regulation cannot deliver. Because technology identifies passengers and drivers, there is no anonymity. Riders rate drivers; drivers rate riders -- an incentive for good behavior. There's no place to hide, said Matthew Feeney of the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. No transportation model is risk-free, Feeney noted, but: "You would have to want to be caught to commit a crime in an Uber car. It is a detective's dream."

On television, fingerprinting is the gold standard for identifying suspects, but, Feeney noted, it's an incomplete tool for screening for criminal convictions. Feeney said he believes politicians who push for more regulations for ride-hailing operations care about public safety, "but there is also the chance that they're motivated in part by protectionist or anticompetitive feelings about taxis."

Uber's blog notes that Alderman Beale says he wants to level the playing field, "but the answer is to introduce new common-sense rules for taxis, NOT to impose the same bureaucratic regulations on ride-sharing apps like Uber."

Uber and Lyft left Austin, Texas, last month after voters rejected a measure (greased liberally with ride-hailing company capital) to end taxi-style regulations that included fingerprinting. The next battleground is Houston. Lyft left Houston in 2014 when it passed similar regulations. Uber Houston now offers provisional permits for drivers for 30 days, after which they must get fingerprinted. An Uber executive who did not want to be named told me fingerprinting is expensive and time-consuming.

San Francisco has seen sharing-economy startups operate outside the law, then try to work with local lawmakers. Compromise gets startups only so far. See how Airbnb worked to license and tax short-term rentals to get in the good graces of City Hall. Now the Board of Supervisors is threatening large fines and even criminal charges. Trusting City Hall is like thinking you can deal with the mob.

Triggered: NY Daily News Columnist Says Firing AR-15 Gave Him Temporary Case Of PTSD

Visit link:
Eric Holder: Fingerprinting Is Racist - Debra J. Saunders

BARCELONA Hillary Clinton is too weak and her conclusions after Sundays terror attack in Orlando too timid to be our next president.

Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee labeled the radical Islamic terrorist who attacked an Orlando nightclub A madman filled with hate, with guns in his hands and just a horrible sense of vengeance and vindictiveness in his heart, apparently consumed by rage against LGBT Americans and by extension, the openness and diversity that defines our American way of life.

The former secretary of state has incredibly bad judgement: she missed the rise of Russia and laughingly pushed a reset button on our strategy to isolate them; she reviewed the intelligence on Boko Haram and decided against putting the group on the terrorist watch list, she was unwilling to stop ISIS in Syria before they began to take hold, and she now diminishes the Orlando terrorist attack to a simple and tragic instance of gay hate.

Radical Islam isnt going to stop attacking us because of a shaming campaign labeling them mean people by Hillary Clinton and her supporters.

She talks of unity and prayers, albeit important messages, but is unable to offer serious government action. While listing the survivors names and occupations, calling the Orlando mayor, and thanking the first responders for their efforts is sweet, it isnt going to stop the growing terrorist threat we face in the U.S.

It is the goal of the terrorists to attack anyone they believe to be apostates.

Hillary doesnt get that. She talks of unity and prayers, albeit important messages, but is unable to offer serious government action. While listing the survivors names and occupations, calling the Orlando mayor, and thanking the first responders for their efforts is sweet, it isnt going to stop the growing terrorist threat we face in the U.S.

The Orlando attacker pledged his allegiance to the caliphate and it is clear that more people will do the same. Every American woman and man who acts Western are targets. Gays are not separate from this agenda. This is the real war on women. This is the real war on gays. This is a war on the West.

As Secretary of State Clinton missed this growing war with Islamic radicals. Her tenure as Barack Obamas lead diplomat saw the Arab Spring turn into the Islamic Awakening. And she was ill-equipped to stop it.

She failed to respond quickly and forcefully enough against ISIS when she was in charge, and that led to her presiding over the growth of ISIS and Boko Haram. It is troubling to hear her now support the exact same strategy weve been pushing for years with our 63 coalition partners one that has failed to even take out the command and control center of ISIS.

Clinton also reacted to the terrorist attack in Orlando with the typical liberal political suggestion of more gun control policies. Her judgement during and after a crisis should be a serious concern for all Americans. She failed to see that the Orlando attacker not only went through a background check but had also been investigated by the FBI. If an FBI investigation isnt going to catch a terrorist before they act, then an increased background check is a weak and insufficient response.

The fact is that the FBI was suspicious of the Orlando attacker months ago. They were investigating him. But since he didnt have a prior arrest record, the politically correct mob demanded that law enforcement agencies leave him alone. Hillary has even mocked policies that push to follow Muslims on suspicions of threats. So while she calls for more action, she ridicules the very thing that could stop the attacks.

Hillarys call Monday to, keep the pressure on ramping up the air campaign, accelerating support for our friends fighting to take and hold ground, and pushing our partners in the region to do even more is a weak, stay-the-course response to a frightening trend.

In other words, she suggests we hug our neighbor and hope that others do something more.

Richard Grenell is a Fox News Contributor. He served as the spokesman for four U.S. Ambassadors to the U.N. including John Negroponte, John Danforth, John Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad. Follow him on Twitter@Richard Grenell..

Original post:
Hillary Clinton's response to Orlando proves she's too weak ...

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a computer game based on the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation television series. The game was developed by 369 Interactive, published by Ubisoft, and was released for the PC in 2003. It was also ported by EPCConnect[1] and published by Aspyr on the Macintosh.[2]

This game, like CSI: Miami and CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder follows a distinct pattern of five cases, with the fifth case tying together the previous four.

A showgirl is found tied, gagged, and strangled to death in a hotel room. Suspects in this case are the owners of a record of priors involving women, and a man who she not only had sex with, but passed along a STD. Players work with Gil Grissom.

Investigate an arson at the home of an aviation designer. Only suspects in this case are the man's rival, and a local drug dealer. Players work with Sara Sidle.

Players and Nick Stokes investigate the cop killing of an officer and the case is a match to an old cold case.

A strange call to the lab leads to the discovery of a female body. The woman is the daughter of a casino owner. The only suspects was a doctor, who had an affair with the dead woman and a pharmacist, who is also a suspect, and the doctor's wife. Players work with Warrick Brown.

Grissom disappears after having been called out to a previous crime scene - from the previous case. And the last murderer you arrested in the previous case is beginning to sing her victory. Players work with Catherine Willows for discovering the link between the suspect, Grissom and another victim's death.

The game was met with mixed reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 64.10% and 61 out of 100 for the PC version,[3][5] and 43.43% and 45 out of 100 for the Xbox version.[4][6]

See the rest here:
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (video game) - Wikipedia ...

We just want Jews to be perfected. Coulter[1]

Ann Coulter (born December 8, 1961) is an American political pundit famed for her extreme, wilfully ignorant, inflammatory versions of mainstream right-wing talking points. As such, Coulter effectively says what others in her political sphere are "really thinking" even going so far to say that Bill Clinton should be executed[2] and the USA should actually invade Canada.[3] Her attitude and style have led to her being labelled a lightning rod (and she has used some related metaphors in describing herself), with the main purpose of distracting liberal commentators from less-extreme conservative views. Even more amazing, by her own quote, she would deny herself the right to vote.

If you can find every single problem with American society and put them into one person, it's her.[4] Proceed with caution.

Ms. Coulter is so extreme, so off the charts, that some have suggested that she doesn't really mean it, that she's some sort of comic genius making a fortune out of baiting liberals, a Stephen Colbert who doesn't let anyone in on the joke.[5] However, others have pointed out the many ways in which she does really mean it and point out that her actions back up her vile rhetoric.[6] Coulter states that she is a Deadhead (ardent fan and follower of the Grateful Dead), and even proclaims that "Deadheads are what liberals claim to be, but aren't."[7] In danger of invoking No True Scotsman, though, we say the jury's out.

Coulter originally trained as a lawyer which may account for many of her unpleasant traits as with other off-the-edge right-wing commentators like Neil Boortz. Coulter became a political ambulance chaser, running after such fringe notables as Anita Hill and Paula Jones. She later developed a habit of turning upon potential clients who didn't toe her line, including Jones[8] and Hill.[9]

Ann Coulter has been accused of negationism through minimizing, denying, perverting, bending or simply ignoring basic facts. Writer John McNally comments "My new novel, America's Report Card, is dedicated to Ann Coulter, but it's not a warm and loving dedication. It reads, 'To America's Iago, Ann Coulter, for rewriting history to suit her own nefarious purposes'."[10]

Coulter has repeatedly come out in support of maintaining Confederate symbolism.[11] She has also misleadingly associated the Democratic Party (when it really should be the States' Rights Democratic Party) with the KKK and segregationist policies. You can't have it both ways, Ann.

Coulter's view on McCarthyism is her most dangerous attempt at historical revisionism. In an incredibly titled chapter "The Indespensable Joe McCarthy" of her book TREASON: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, Coulter portrays the figurehead of the the most severe period of cultural and artistic censorship in American history to be a victim of liberal persecution. "The myth of 'McCarthyism' is the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times," Coulter pounds "Liberals are fanatical liars, then as now. Everything you think you know about McCarthy is a hegemonic lie."[12] (Well sure, Ann, but you do know who invented the word "hegemony"?)

In 2001 Coulter was named one of the top 100 Public Intellectuals by federal judge Richard A. Posner.[13] Posner, an appointee of Republican president Ronald Reagan, provoked outrage in the legal community in 1999 when he contended that "the rule of law is an accidental and dispensable element of legal ideology" in an article in Raritan magazine, and caused another stir in an article that put forth the argument that buying and selling babies on the free market would lead to better outcomes than the present situation of government-regulated adoption.[14]

On April 1, 2009, Ann Coulter published in her Human Events article the following passage:[15]

Coulter got such a bizarre notion from an April Fools prank from the magazine Car and Driver.[16][17]

Rush Limbaugh, in a dumbfounding bout of stopped clocking, said "If you really want to pull something off, don't do it on a day where people are going to immediately doubt it. It's absolutely silly. Car and Driver has a phony page on the website saying Obama has banned Ford, Chevy, and a bunch of others from NASCAR. Well, now, who's going to believe this?"[17] Someone so clouded by hate she didn't bother to check out the story, obviously.

Coulter's Godless: The Church of Liberalism prompted a flurry of responses in skeptical circles due to its chapter on evolution ripped off from written with the "tutoring" of William Dembski and Michael Behe. According to Coulter, the "flatulent raccoon theory" in which a raccoon farts and creates the universe, is as likely to have happened as evolution.[18][19] It's not known whether she is a young Earth or old Earth creationist.

Ann Coulter seems to have taken a shine to the crank version of radiation hormesis. She wrote an article stating that radiation released during the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was good for you and can reduce the rate of cancers (We are not making this up).[20] She then went on The O'Reilly Factor stating that "the scientific consensus has changed, but that the media are not reporting it." Bill O'Reilly for once was the voice of reason, pointing out the real dangers of radiation.[21] Many people started fund raising drives to send Coulter to the Fukushima reactor so she may experience the healing powers herself, but she hasn't taken anyone up on the offer.[22]

Ann Coulter said of the Sandy Hook massacre, that "only one public policy has ever been shown to reduce the death rate from such crimes: concealed-carry laws."[23]

Although most of Coulter's detractors, obviously, hold a less extreme point of view than she does, there are a lone few whom she cannot answer simply by yelling "LIBERAL!" at the top of her lungs.

John Lofton, a less-than-notable crank and latter-day Puritan associated with the U.S. Constitution Party, really let her have it on his blog:

Coulter accepted an invitation to give a speech at "Homocon," a conference sponsored by the gay Republican group GOProud. They are in favour of same-sex marriage and military service for open homosexuals, something that would be anathema to your more wingnut right-winger. Such as Joseph Farah, who claimed he dumped her because of "homoconflict."

Once news that the "right-wing Judy Garland" would be addressing the convention broke, WorldNetDaily dropped her as their keynote speaker at their "Taking America Back National Conference." Farah claimed he withdrew the invitation because Coulter no longer espoused the ideals he saw for the right, and he did not wish to be associated with the "radical and very 'unconservative' agenda" of GOProud.[25]

She is responsible for many crimes against the lumber industry in book form, including:

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Ann Coulter - RationalWiki