Sunday, some cartoons…
Posted: December 29, 2013 Filed under: morning reads, Political and Editorial Cartoons | Tags: Adam Lanza, Newtown school shooting 9 Comments
Good Morning all…
The post I am working on for today is talking longer than expected.
The Newtown doc dump is all-consuming for me, and so many questions come forward. I planned on writing about it today, but the drop is overwhelming…it is not gonna happen any time soon.
So for now I am going to put up some cartoons, since the Friday Nite Lite thread was rather weak, it should be a welcomed relief.
First I wanted to post a couple of links to some of the new information I found on Newtown…
We Already Know What Adam Lanza’s Real Motive Was at Sandy Hook – The Daily Beast
Which brings up connections of Adam Lanza to“materials regarding the topic of pedophilia and advocating for rights for pedophiles.” It talks about screenplays and stories written by Lanza with plots dealing about love relationships between a 10-year-old boy and a thirty year old man…
The other link is this one:
Despite files released by police, Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza remains enigma | syracuse.com
Where there is some information on Lanza’s love of the game Dance Dance Revolution…and a guy he befriended at a local movie theater. Lanza was 6 feet tall and weighed only 112 pounds…the fridge at his house contained only frozen peas, apples, flax seed, bottled water and what appears to be prune juice. Reports say Nancy Lanza spent time cooking meals for him prior to leaving for New Hampshire? You look at pictures of the kitchen and there is nothing in the cupboards…seems so strange.
- fridge in kitchen
- pantry in kitchen
- Fridge in basement
- fridge in kitchen
- cabinet in kitchen
- cabinet in kitchen
Wait, you can read those two articles. I have more observations I am working on in my other post. I just wanted to bring those few things to your attention.
Okay the cartoons.
GOP Warmth – Political Cartoon by Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – 12/29/2013
2014 by Political Cartoonist Steve Nease
abortion law by Political Cartoonist Kap
Clay Bennett: Goodbye – Clay Bennett – Truthdig
That last one is perfect, because that is exactly how this past year has made me feel! Yeah, put me in a straightjacket, I’m done!
Think of this as an open thread…
Evening Reads Open Thread: Frontline’s view of Adam Lanza
Posted: February 19, 2013 Filed under: SDB Evening News Reads | Tags: Adam Lanza, Frontline 5 CommentsGood Evening…
Tonight I’ll be watching the Frontline special on PBS. If you go to the FRONTLINE | PBS website it is filled with articles and links and photos of Adam Lanza. Take a look at these:
Slideshow: Adam Lanza’s Path to the Sandy Hook Tragedy | Raising Adam Lanza | FRONTLINE | PBS
I have never seen some of these pictures before…it gives me chills to look into Adam’s eyes.
Before becoming the name behind the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, Adam Lanza was known as a shy boy who was quiet, withdrawn and seemed to recoil from being touched. He played violent video games and went to shooting ranges with his mother, but hardly showed signs of dangerous behavior.
Yet somewhere along the way, Lanza made the fateful decision that ended in the second deadliest school shooting in American history. The following collection of photos traces his path to the mass killings in Newtown, Conn. While his motive remains a mystery, they help explain some of the key forces that shaped his life.
I have always thought the pictures that have been release, especially the one from his Driver’s ID was somehow distorted…his chin and face seemed extraordinarily long….like the picture had been altered when it was enlarged. But now I see this is not the case.
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Following Adam’s sophomore year in high school, Nancy again made the decision to withdraw him. He enrolled at Western Connecticut State University at 16 and performed well, posting a 3.26 grade-point average. Nancy told friends he had embraced a more adult-like environment, but his high school support network was gone. Within a year, Adam left. He then enrolled at Norwalk Community College, but dropped out after the first semester.
Another link from Frontline, a video trailer for tonight’s show: “There Was A Weirdness” About Young Adam Lanza | Raising Adam Lanza | FRONTLINE | PBS
I have already linked to the second part of the Hartford Courant’s investigative article, but here it is again:
A Deeper Divide: The Gun Control Debate After Newtown – Courant.com
Just a few more links on Adam Lanza:
Will You Watch ‘Raising Adam Lanza’ on ‘Frontline’? – NYTimes.com
This is an open thread, so please feel free to comment about whatever you like…
Long Reads: Adam Lanza…the latest news
Posted: February 18, 2013 Filed under: SDB Evening News Reads | Tags: Adam Lanza, Frontline, Hartford Courant, Nancy Lanza 17 Comments
Good Evening
Tomorrow on PBS, Frontline will air a two-part show about Adam Lanza and Nancy Lanza. I have two long reads to share with you that discusses this joint investigation between Frontline and the Hartford Courant.
The Frontline’s two-part documentary Raising Adam Lanza and Newtown Divided premieres Tuesday, Feb, 19, at 10 p.m. on PBS.
Here is the link to the full article from the Hartford Courant, by ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com, and JOSH KOVNER, jkovner@courant.com: Raising Adam Lanza: Who Was Nancy Lanza
Who Was Adam Lanza, And What Was The Nature Of His Relationship With His Mother?
Watch The FRONTLINE Special Tues., Feb. 19 at 10 p.m. (check your local listings)Adam, 6, then diagnosed with a condition that made it difficult for him to manage and respond to sights, touch and smell, eventually struggled in the first grade at his new school — Sandy Hook Elementary.
His mother would respond, touching off a 10-year educational shuffle with moves in and out of schools and programs that addressed his sensory integration disorder and another diagnosis that would come by middle school: Asperger’s syndrome.
Adam would attend public school, take lessons at home, try private school for a couple of months, return to public school and attend Newtown High School, although he left after his sophomore year. He went to college at 16 and earned A’s and B’s — but it didn’t last. He was out in a year. He then went to a community college, and dropped out in the first semester.
A series of significant life changes followed for Adam as the number of people with whom he had contact began to shrink.
His parents divorced. He abruptly cut off contact with his father, Peter, in 2010, and grew estranged from his older brother. He spent more time alone at home. His mother, who loved to travel, told friends she was grooming him to be independent someday. There were even plans to leave New England — their lifelong home — so Adam could study history and possibly earn a college degree.
But mother and son never left. Adam, now 20, had a plan of his own. He returned to Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.
We know the outcome of that fatal trip Adam took to his old elementary school…but this long article details interviews with people who knew Adam and Nancy Lanza, and gives us a look at a sick boy who needed help desperately, and a mother who seemed to take two different approaches when dealing with her sons illnesses.
The impression I get from the interviews is that Nancy handled Adam and his multiple mental illnesses differently before her divorce in 2008/2009…According to a longtime friend of Nancy’s, Marvin LaFontaine:
In kindergarten back in Kingston, he had been “coded,” or identified, as needing an “individual education plan” and extra attention, both in the classroom and at home, LaFontaine said.
“There was a shyness and a learning thing and they were trying to unravel it,” he said of Adam, whom Nancy Lanza would bring along to Ryan’s Cub Scout meetings.
“Adam was a quiet kid. He never said a word,” LaFontaine said. “There was a weirdness about him and Nancy warned me once at one of the Scout meetings … ‘Don’t touch Adam.’ She said he just can’t stand that. … He’d become teary-eyed and I think he would run to his mother.”
LaFontaine recalled that at one of the Scout meetings in Kingston, Adam, a slight child with a mop of curly brownish-red hair, became immersed in a crafts assignment but still exhibited the signs that would define his life: He was withdrawn, said next to nothing, was resistant to touch, and tended to exist in his own world.
On that day, LaFontaine watched Nancy Lanza approach Adam. LaFontaine knew virtually no one could touch Adam without the boy recoiling.
His mother leaned down and whispered something in the boy’s ear. Then she kissed him gently on the back of his head. The boy did not say anything, or move or acknowledge the kiss in any way. But he did not draw back.
“He didn’t seem to mind that,” LaFontaine recalled thinking.
There seems to be a history of folks coming in contact with Nancy and/or Adam Lanza, then poof…no further relations are made or kept.
From mothers of Adams classmates, to teachers and high school tech club sponsors, to Nancy’s youngest brother and Adam’s own brother, and father…people come into the Lanza’s lives and then fall out…never to follow-up or have further contact with a mother and son who needed a friend or community support.
Read the article and you will see, a pattern of significant changes and withdraws in Adam’s life that does not mesh with the professional opinions on how to take care of a child with the kind of mental illnesses Adam had.
She seems attentive and welcomed the help and understanding a few teachers, friends and family members that had a part of Adam’s life. Then later, after her divorce and in the time period before Adam killed all those people, Nancy would leave her son alone for days at a time…isolated in the basement. Nancy no longer would speak with her brother, or other close friends…Adam was kept from talking to Nancy’s brother too. There is also some discussion of Adam withdrawing from contact with his father Paul and brother Ryan.
This is a kid who was supposed to suffer from sensory disorders and other mental illnesses, who did not feel pain and had an extra-sensitive reaction to sights, sounds and touch. He would shut down and retreat into a corner, according to the sponsor of the Newtown High School Tech Club, he would sit there not moving or saying anything…like he was in some kind of catatonic state. (Don’t know if that is the technical term, but from the descriptions in the article, Adam would not even acknowledge or look at his tech club teacher when he was in this withdrawn state.)
So this kid who could not take loud noises…his mother would take him shooting. She would leave him alone for long periods of time when it was obvious he needed to have constant supervision. I don’t want to sound like I am faulting Nancy Lanza, but it is very strange when you see how many life changes this kid went through. This is a child who had more changes in his early and secondary education than a “normal” kid would be able to handle. It seems like there were contradictions left and right when it came to Nancy’s treatment and care of Adam.
Anyway, give the article a read, and take a look at the rest of these links below…
Raising Adam Lanza | Raising Adam Lanza | FRONTLINE | PBS
Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say – CBS News
‘Raising Adam Lanza’ review: Revealing – SFGate
Adam Lanza update: Thousands of dollars worth of ‘violent’ video games found in Lanza’s home
New Nancy Lanza Profile Is a Letdown
Wednesday Links and Reads
Posted: December 19, 2012 Filed under: Affordable Care Act (ACA), American Gun Fetish, Gun Control, morning reads, Republican politics, U.S. Politics | Tags: Adam Lanza, e-books, Fox News, Newtown CT, NRA 36 CommentsGood Morning
WordPress is being difficult for me, again, so I will just give you the links to some news articles you may have missed over the last 24 hours.
12/19/12 Luckovich cartoon: The Four Freedoms | Mike Luckovich
Love Luckovich!
Okay, last night Fox came out with this “exclusive” and boy did Drudge hype it up: EXCLUSIVE: Fear of being committed may have caused Connecticut gunman to snap | Fox News
Adam Lanza, 20, targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after killing his mother early Friday because he believed she loved the school “more than she loved him,” said Joshua Flashman, 25, who grew up not far from where the shooting took place. Flashman, a U.S. Marine, is the son of a pastor at an area church where many of the victims’ families worship.
“From what I’ve been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed,” Flashman told FoxNews.com. “Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I think this could have been it, what set him off.”
We posted the link in the comment section, and I found some interesting tidbits on Joshua Flashman, a wannabe actor “slash” model and gun enthusiast.
Joshua Flashman (JoshuaFlashman) on Twitter
@JoshuaFlashman
Retired Marine Infantryman, aspiring model & actor, fitness enthusiast, Second Amendment expert (feel free to test me on that)
His Facebook page and his CNN iReporter site can be found here and here.
The NRA has also made a statement, which we also linked to last night, but if you missed it:
NRA releases statement on Conn. shooting
In other news related to Newtown…and guns:
Gov. Snyder To Veto Concealed Carry In Schools, Churches | Crooks and Liars
So even Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is having second thoughts about his state’s new concealed carry law after the Newtown massacre – although of course his ALEC masters may try to ram it through at a later date::
One day before the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill to specifically allow guns into schools and other “gun-free zones.” This bill joined a so-called “right-to-work” law and an extreme abortion ban, the GOP-controlled legislature rammed through during its lame duck session.
Following the mass-shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, however, Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) promised to give the guns bill “extra consideration.” According to the Detroit News, Snyder has now decided to veto the legislation.
Gov. Rick Snyder plans to veto legislation allowing concealed weapons in public schools, according to bill sponsor Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville.
The bill allowing highly trained gun owners to carry concealed weapons inside public schools was delivered to Snyder’s desk Tuesday.
“He’s not going to sign it,” Green told The Detroit News.
The Connecticut tragedy has already forced many strident gun supporters to re-examine their beliefs. Most notably, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who once cut an ad featuring himself literally shooting a piece of legislation, is now leading the push for gun control on Capitol Hill in Sandy Hook’s wake.
Online Gamers Call For Virtual ‘Ceasefire’ On Friday In Honor Of CT Shooting Victims | Mediaite
Video games have been in the media spotlight following Friday’s tragic school shooting in Connecticut, and while many gamers don’t accept the link between virtual violence and real-world violence, one group of gamers is calling on a gaming “ceasefire” in honor of the shooting victims. Antwand Pearman, the CEO and founder of GamerFitNation, is asking all gamers to put down the virtual guns and stop firing the virtual bullets as a “small sacrifice.”
Republican Lawmaker with Top NRA Rating Blames Democrats for Lax Gun Control | Video Cafe
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) has an A rating from the National Rifle Association but he says that Democrats are at fault for not passing more gun control legislation.
During a Tuesday interview on MSNBC, host Thomas Roberts asked Kingston if he looked at the recent massacre of 20 school children in Connecticut and felt “a sense of guilt” over his tough stance against gun control.
“Where I think we have the guilt is we see a huge problem like this — and it’s a problem that’s happening in other countries as well — and we look for something that, okay, what can prevent it?” Kingston explained. “And I think that’s where we need to go with this discussion is, yes, put gun control — more gun control — on the table. But, also, don’t forget the mental health element. Don’t forget, is there a home situation that we need to learn more about? Was this young man addicted to violent video games? Was there a Hollywood influence? I think that we can’t just stop at guns.”
Here is an editorial from The New York Post: Adam Lanza & gun control—Editorial – NYPOST.com
Has technology rendered the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution obsolete?
That is, has the application of modern military design to civilian firearms produced a class of weapons too dangerous to be in general circulation?
We say: Yes.
Then, from the same paper…you have this: Hillary Clinton’s fishy concussion—Editorial – NYPOST.com
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was set to face a grilling from Congress this week over the terrorist attacks in Benghazi when she started channeling the late poet Shel Silverstein.
“I have the measles and the mumps / A gash, a rash and purple bumps,” said Clinton, in effect, informing the House and Senate (with regrets!) that she was suffering too many maladies to testify as expected about the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.
America’s top diplomat was to provide her first public answers regarding the murder of US Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Now that won’t happen.
When the news came out that Hillary had fainted and received a concussion, my mom and dad and I were watching the report on a cable news station…and we immediately joked about how long it would be before the right-wing accuses her of “faking” injury as an excuse for Hillary not testifying at their Benghazi hearing crap.
One more gun link: Do Your Senators Support an Assault Weapons Ban? | Mother Jones
No need for me to check out what my Banjo playing senators support, but it is interesting to see who does.
From South Carolina, more crap…New South Carolina bill pushes jail sentences for state workers implementing ‘Obamacare’ | The Raw Story
Yeah, believe it?
A Republican lawmaker in South Carolina has introduced legislation that would send state and federal officials to jail for implementing the Affordable Care Act.
According to U.S News & World Report, the proposal, which has been has been prepared by state Rep. Bill Chumley (R) for next year’s legislative session, threatens state officials with up to two years in jail and a $1,000 fine for enforcing the law. Federal officials could be sent to jail for five years and be fined $5,000 for enacting the legislation.
“I think we’re within our rights to do this,” Chumley said. “It’s an obligation, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the people.”
Chumley said he came up with the bill following the formation of a “little study committee” that included lawyers, doctors and retired political science professors, as well as state Sen. Lee Bright (R), who is reportedly proposing a similar bill.
Assholes, this has already been settled by SCOTUS.
Last month, a group of Wisconsin lawmakers also said they would support nullifying the law and arresting federal officials for trying to enact it. One of them, state Rep. Chris Kapenga (R) openly paid little mind to the court’s decision.
“Just because Obama was re-elected does not mean he’s above the constitution,” Kapenga said.
Damn, they just don’t give up!
And now, one link that has nothing to do with guns, or Republicans…but still deals with assholes…of the publishing kind.
Penguin joins settlement in US e-books lawsuit
Penguin Group has agreed to join three other publishers in a settlement of a US government lawsuit alleging an e-book price-fixing conspiracy with Apple, officials said Tuesday.
The Justice Department said that with four of the five publishers having agreed to a settlement, it will proceed in its case against Apple and the remaining publisher, Macmillan.
The agreement was filed in a US federal court in New York and would end Penguin’s role as a defendant in the civil antitrust lawsuit filed by the department on April 11.
Previous settlements were reached with Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.
I’m still waiting for the “refund” from overpaying…cough I mean the publishers overcharging, my e-books on my Kindle.
A trial against Macmillan and Apple currently is scheduled to begin in June 2013.
“Since the department’s settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, consumers are already paying lower prices for the e-book versions of many of those publishers’ new releases and bestsellers,” said Jamillia Ferris, of the department’s antitrust division.
“If approved by the court, the proposed settlement with Penguin will be an important step toward undoing the harm caused by the publishers’ anticompetitive conduct and restoring retail price competition so consumers can pay lower prices for Penguin’s e-books.”
Yeah, undo the harm? Undo this!
Okay, that is all I have today. I hope this mess going on with wordpress stops soon. If y’all can get wordpress to take your comment, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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