Author: Douglas Handshoe
Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: DeSantis Stars; Pelosi Exceeds; Trump Irrelevant
Posted on November 9, 2022
Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida is now “The Man” in the Republican Party. He won very big in a very big state. The man has political skills and the inside track to be the Republican Nominee in 2024.
Nancy Pelosi held the line in what very well could have been a “wave election.” She got resources into the races where they could do the most good. She employed her tried and true political maxims: “Don’t agonize, organize. Own the ground. Get the vote out.”
Continue reading “Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: DeSantis Stars; Pelosi Exceeds; Trump Irrelevant”
Been watching like everyone else….
It is like DoJ knows what Cult 45 will be doing before the Cult does.
DOJ indicates Trump’s demand for special master may be too late ~ Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney
It was a delaying tactic in any event. As for the reason DoJ knows Cult 45 so well the answer can be found by browsing around here. The Germans knew exactly how to deal with their trash, the US has Supermax for that.
Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Still Catholic Despite the New York Times
Posted on July 27, 2022
Yeah, I’m Catholic. Not the best in the world. Maybe not even in the top ten.
I may get there though. The snark, ridicule and contempt shown by columnists and online commenters at the New York Times and Washington Post on everything and anything Catholic has been getting my Irish up and is causing me to be more energized in defense of the Faith Community into which I was born.
I grew up in a very Catholic environment. My father was one of ten, three of whom became Nuns (Sisters). When I was quite young, one or more of the Sisters would visit. They always wore the old style full religious habit. I have vivid memories of one of the Sisters looking at me in a way that made me think she knew I had been very bad and she knew the particulars of my reprehensible behavior in great detail and if she had anything to do with it God was waiting to give me a good ass kicking.
I was about three years old when all this was going down and all I could think was “how did she know?”
Luckily there was a friendly uncle who often came by for Holidays. He was a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Fred Berrigan, SJ (not related to the Berrigan brothers of the sixties). Father Fred was always in a good mood and he seemed to think I was good company. I liked him a lot. So, I guess things evened out, all things considered.
Church on Sunday was not a “maybe” thing in the Callaghan household. If you were living in the house you went to Mass.
But, religion, or “God”, was almost never mentioned in the house. God was Sunday Church. Being Catholic in our world was who we were. No need to talk about it Continue Reading…..
Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: How Bad Do We Want It?
Posted on June 5, 2022
Want what? The United States of America. Our country. Where we live. The place we call home.
It’s not a perpetual motion machine. It doesn’t run itself. It’s a volitional organism. Its not guaranteed to last forever.
It came into existence by an act of will. Blood was shed. We almost came undone in the Civil War. Much more blood was shed. It has continued to exist because a critical mass of citizens have determined consciously or subconsciously that their lives are better with it, than without it. And, a critical mass of citizens has a vested interest in having it continue to succeed.
It’s continued existence as a “going concern” has never been questioned in my lifetime. I’m watching CNN and they’re talking about shootings last night in Philadelphia, Chattanooga, Summerton, SC, Lexington, KY plus Phoenix and Mesa, AZ. The horror of Uvalde, TX is already in the rear view mirror.
Columbine and Sandy Hook are ancient history
And, all of a sudden, I started to think….this can’t last. I’m in NYC right this moment where I have access to an apartment on the Upper West Side. For the first time ever I thought, I wonder what the odds are of getting shot if I go out for a walk after the golf tournament on TV is over? Continue Reading…..
Red State America: Awash in Children’s Blood
I’ll admit it I’m callous. If the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistake over and over again expecting a different result then Texas takes the cake for the country. The after tragedy gaslighting of weak minds by Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbot and Texas law enforcement after will serve to insure it happens again and again. After all folks Abbot gets 24/7 protection, likely from seasoned professionals while kids are expected to make due with Barney Fife.
Where Were the Police? ~ Graeme Wood
Luckily the good folks at Vice were able to fill us in a bit later as they were likely in a planning session for their next social media PR video:
Uvalde SWAT Team Bragged About Training at Schools on Facebook ~ Matthew Gault
The sad truth is an army of Barney Fifes, for all their bravado on Facebook and your local media, will never be the solution to the problems involved with weapons of war being made available for mass consumption.
There is a silver lining though, Republicans suddenly want to talk about the societal problems associated with mental illness. Let’s review:
Trump Signs Bill Revoking Obama-Era Gun Checks for People With Mental Illnesses ~ NBC News 2/28/17
President Donald Trump quietly signed a bill into law Tuesday rolling back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to purchase a gun.
The rule, which was finalized in December, added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.
Had the rule fully taken effect, the Obama administration predicted it would have added about 75,000 names to that database.
President Barack Obama recommended the now-nullified regulation in a 2013 memo following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 20 first graders and six others dead. The measure sought to block some people with severe mental health problems from buying guns.
The results of the jackassery from the radical right are painful to witness:
Uvalde student says she covered herself in classmate’s blood, played dead to survive ~ Chloe Folmar
An 11-year-old student who survived the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday says that she covered herself in a classmate’s blood and played dead to protect herself from being shot.
Miah Cerrillo told CNN on Friday that she dipped her hands in the blood of a dead classmate after the shooter left her classroom and wiped it on herself to play dead in case he came back.
Cerrillo was treated in the hospital for wounds caused by bullet fragments, and her mother Abigale Veloz says the girl is “traumatized.”
Sounds like she needs some mental health assistance but never forget poor Miah lives in Texas so she is likely shit outta luck:
Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the Uvalde school shooter had a “mental health challenge” and the state needed to “do a better job with mental health” — yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs.
In addition, Texas ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care, according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report.
The grit and grind of making society actually work is more than fighting bullshit culture wars, as fueled by New York media companies, which are in turn used by politicians as an excuse to do nothing other than line their own pockets. Owning the libs carries a heavy hidden costs, just ask Miah and her parents.
Finally the two best ideas I’ve seen in the aftermath of yet another school shooting, one deadly serious and one appropriately absurd. First is the public accounting that needs to happen as all the school shooting crime scene photos should be released to the public so everyone can see what the sack of shit politicians have wrought:
Or maybe we should just give everyone what they want:
Don’t hold your breath anything gets done, the “Dear Republican Leader” Pays His Fealty today to the NRA at an event today where guns of any kind are not allowed.
Other Voices: Tom Callaghan: The Unbelievable War in Ukraine
Posted on April 19, 2022
I call it unbelievable because our Press has lost its mind in its hero worship of all things Ukraine and its Jewish President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Press has given us no context and no history on whether these two countries, Russia and Ukraine, might have had some connection with each other over the last several decades. Just unadulterated love for a guy who did what leaders have been doing for centuries. Not bugging out the back door when the fighting started. He stayed and he’s been demanding free stuff from the USA ever since.
We’re up around $2.5 Bil for the year now for Ukraine. Nobody gets more except Israel. Ukraine, like Israel, never lifted a finger to help the US when we were hit on 9/11 although a number of Non NATO countries, like Jordan and Iran, did. Yeah, Iran. Dig it.
So, we don’t, in any way, “owe” Ukraine.
Let’s set some context for the Ukraine-Russia relationship. The most important thing to know is there wouldn’t be a place called “Ukraine” if it wasn’t for the sacrifices of the Russian people. Similarly, the number of Jews lost in the Holocaust would have been much higher were it not for Russia. Continue Reading……..
Bay-Waveland School Bond Vote Not Even Close
Based on what little I did discuss with folks down there it was pretty obvious the bond issue was a crash and burn proposition.
Voters shoot down BWSD’s $37.8 million bond issue – Geoff Belcher
I think it was the overbuilding and accompanying price tag in the District’s construction plan that was the deal breaker for most people, especially with flood insurance rates on the verge of skyrocketing for so many people down there.
I think reasonable people could agree there are some construction needs at the BWSD that may require bonds to finance. My recommendation would be that any other such proposal be focused like a laser beam on the worsts of the needs only. With the beating the voters gave the bond proposal it would probably be wise to not get in a rush to schedule another bond election.