Beware of Trackers

By Jeff Simpson

For those who do not pay that close attention to politics and hardly know the inside workings of campaigns.  There is a fairly consistent phenomena of campaigns sending a kid to video their opponents hoping to film them doing or saying something dumb so that they can make an ad/issue out of a misstep during the election. 

It is so much easier to use millions to smear your opponent for a misstep, than it is to let everyone judge you on your policy positions.

Mahlon, had a "tracker" following him around with a camera and decided to turn it around and film the tracker(Video here). 

Mitchell started filming Republican operative Ben Stelter, and asking him a couple questions:

The video shows Stelter videotaping Mitchell. Mitchell starts asking him who he works for and how much he’s paid. Stelter responds that he doesn’t make as much as Mitchell makes as a firefighter and president of the state firefighter union.
Stelter then climbs into his car and drives off as Mitchell asks why he follows him around.

 You can say that it is just the way politics works, but I would submit that I am curious why it took Mitchell so long to confront him and that allowing these guys to follow you around is downright dangerous. 

In the era of concealed carry, if the "tracker" does not have to identify themselves, how would you know who he was?

Do you just assume that he is assigned by the opposition.  What if he is someone that has believe the hype and believes that Democrats are the enemy of the people and is there on his own?  What if something Mitchell says while having conversations at the doors triggers him?  Has anyone done a background check on Ben?  How much does he agree with Ted Nugent?  Gabby Giffords showed us that it is dangerous to be a Democrat in public.  

We also were witness recently to the Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine GOP law in action.  

Markeis McGlockton was shot and killed July 19 outside a convenience store in Clearwater by Michael Drejka, sheriff's detectives say, after McGlockton shoved Drejka to the ground for confronting McGlockton's girlfriend over a parking space.Drejka was not arrested, with the Pinellas County sheriff saying the "stand your ground" law appears to give him immunity because he feared a further attack.
Sheriff's detectives said Drejka, 47, approached Jacobs while McGlockton and the couple's 5-year-old son went into the store. Drejka and Jacobs began arguing about her parking in a handicapped parking space.Jacobs concedes she parked in a handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store in Clearwater, and told "Good Morning America" this week that Drejka pulled up in a silver SUV and began yelling and cursing at her."(McGlockton) comes out and sees a guy yelling at me and I'm sitting in the car. So, by this time, my man is defending me and defending his children so he pushes the guy down," she told the ABC show.Jacobs said her two younger children were in the car with her.

We see in the video that Mahlon Mitchell took, when he asked Stelter, who he was working for, Stelter cowered in fear and ran to his car and drove away.  

How long until they send a kid who when he gets acknowledged, or asked a question, feels his life is threatened and takes steps to "defend himself"?  How long until a crowd gathers around the tracker and he slips and pulls his gun?   A privileged white boy introvert, following a Democrat of color who he has learned to fear and conditioned to think of as the enemy, in a diverse or less affluent neighborhood. while concealed carrying could lead to disaster.

While I personally believe that its a lowlife, TMZ thing to do by following someone around perpetually with a camera, I also realize that politics is a unique sport and logic and common sense is not allowed.

My suggestion would be that if a political party, or politician, sends someone to be a "tracker" they should be vetted and have to wear ID that is out in the open.  Or we will end up with this soon:  

When you have this happen at a rally for the GOP Presidential nominee and his response is he promises to pay the legal bills of anyone else who does so, you can not be to careful. 

Hopefully we look back upon Mahlon Mitchell confronting his tracker as a break water point in making candidates safer as they run for office.


Edit note: How could a guy who feels he needs security with him at all time send some young introverted possible psycho to follow Democratic Candidates wherever they go? 

The Hypocrisy Of Lena Taylor - The Trayvon Martin Edition

Bo Morrison

When the news came out that George Zimmerman got away with murder partially due to Florida's "Stand your ground" law, I remembered that we in Wisconsin have a similar law called the Castle Doctrine.  And it was this Castle Doctrine Law that was allowed the murderer of Bo Morrison go free.

Bo Morrison was a twenty year old black man that was shot and killed in West Bend about the same time that Trayvon Martin was murdered.  As with the Trayvon Martin case, Bo Morrison's murderer was able to get away with shooting a young black man, even though there were some questionable and suspicious behaviors from the shooter.

The biggest difference is that Bo Morrison's killer didn't even have to go to court.

I also remembered that State Senator Lena Taylor voted for not only the concealed carry law, but also voted for the Castle Doctrine that allowed Bo Morrison's killer go free.

I wondered what Taylor's reaction to Zimmerman getting away with murder was, so I checked her Facebook page.  What I found was not surprising, but still very disappointing:

If the gentle reader can't make that out, she wrote:

Words cannot express my disappointment and concern about the Zimmerman case, and the constant trend of JUST LESS fairness, instead of Justice in our US court system - ESPECIALLY for people of color.

She couldn't even bring herself to mention Trayvon's name.

And then to complain about there being less justice in the courts - especially for minorities- was just too much for me.

She bloody well passed a bill that allowed Bo Morrison to be legally murdered and she is not complaining of less justice for African Americans?   She is as guilty as the man that pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Morrison.

If Taylor had any remorse or was feeling the least bit upset about Trayvon Martin's murderer getting away with it, she would have vowed to have the Castle Doctrine repealed.  Instead, she makes one lame quip without even mentioning Trayvon's name.

At the time of Morrison's killing, there were rallies and calls to repeal the Castle Doctrine, which like the law in Florida, is nothing more than legalized murder.  One of the most vocal opponents to the Castle Doctrine was then Representative Tamara Grigsby.

Interestingly, it came to light that Grigsby and Taylor do not have a mutual admiration relationship.  Wouldn't

it be wonderful to have a true progressive like Grigsby - or Mandela Barnes - take Taylor out in the next election?  Not only would the constituents in that district finally get some actual representation for a change, it would take one more seat away from the Republicans.

guns, Guns, GUns, GUNs, GUNS!

Some time has passed now since the horrific massacre of students and teachers in Connecticut.  This brought out the discussion on guns and what we need to do to start curbing some of the incredible gun violence that goes on every day in America.  

Gun suicides (nearly 19,000 a year in the U.S.) outnumber gun murders (more than 11,000), and a gun in the home increases the risk that someone in the home will commit suicide. The reason is that suicide attempts with pills or razors often fail; with guns, they succeed. When Israel moved to have many soldiers store guns on base rather than at home, its military suicide rates plunged.

With the passage of time, we realize that our friends on the right are incapable of having an adult conversation about anything much less guns.  Prime examples being here, here and here.  We even have people wanting to arm everyone, although anyone who says that is also not serious about this debate!

There are others on the right who also like to turn it into a straw man argument about the left wanting to repeal the second amendment, and that is also ridiculous.   The 2nd amendment is already limited!  

Immediately after the shootings, the cowards at the National Rifle Association(NRA) immediately went silent, even shutting down their facebook page.   After a few days, they issued a generic press release wanting in on the debate.   Which is a major improvement from Columbine when shortly after that horrible incident, the NRA held a party near by where this was the head of the NRA's famous distasteful quote:

Nice, so it would also be wise to limit the input of the NRA, unfortunately they have alot of money to give to people like we have been discussing who then do as they are told and muddy the waters.  

The problem is, we are shooting each other all too often and it has nothing to do with "protecting ourselves". 

A Florida man defended his decision to shoot an impatient pizza customer over the weekend, citing the state’s infamous “Stand Your Ground” law.
Michael Jock, a 52-year-old resident of St. Petersburg, was standing in line behind 49-year-old Randall White at a local Little Caesars on Sunday when Jock grew angry over White’s complaints about the speed of service. The two began to shove one another, prompting Jock to pull out a .38 Taurus Ultralight Special Revolver that had been concealed on his person and fire twice, hitting White both times in the lower torso.

Let's also never forget Bo Morrison! 

As William Rivers Pitt writes in TruthOut, guns are big business and its killing us!

An 11-year old boy in Utah brought a .22 pistol to school with him on Tuesday. His parents apparently gave it to him "for protection" in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre. His teacher found out he had it after he put the gun to the head of a classmate at recess and threatened to kill her.

Only two weeks ago, on December 4th, 11 people were shot in one night in Chicago, but that news barely jiggled the wires, because at the time everyone was encompassing the murder-suicide perpetrated by NFL player Jovan Belcher, who shot his girlfriend to death in front of her mother before killing himself in front of his coaches in a parking lot. At the time, everyone said it was terrible, something that really makes you think, and Bob Costas went so far as to lament the deadly nature of America's gun culture during the national broadcast of a football game. He was roundly attacked for speaking out of turn, for "not having all the facts," and for generally intruding upon everyone's enjoyment of the game.

Between 2003 and 2010, 247,131 Americans died of gunshot wounds. Since 1982, there have been more than 60 mass shootings in America. In almost every case, the weapons used were obtained legally. The number of households with guns has been declining, with a few upticks here and there, since 1990, and yet gun sales went through the roof in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, which means more people aren't buying guns, but the people who buy guns are buying more of them.

The gun business in America is booming, despite the decline in households that own guns. As the Washington Post glibly noted this week, "The U.S. gun industry has been one of the brightest spots in the U.S. economy in recent years, even through the recent downturn. This year, it racked up $11.7 billion in sales and $992 million in profits, according to the research firm IBISWorld." Almost 17 million people applied for a background check to purchase a gun in 2012. More than 156 million people have applied since 1998.

Now that every state but Illinois has CCW and 17 million people are applying to purchase guns, is it too late to let everyone know that carrying a gun does not keep you safer?

 Let's hope that Joe Biden can hear better from his left side than his right! 

Guns Dont Kill People?

When I said the other day, that we are having the wrong debate, It was because of the NRA's ultra powerful lobby and lack of courage from politicians.  One of the first thing many politicians did after the horrible shootings in Aurora, CO was to jump on TV and point out this is not the time to talk about reasonable gun control.  Well of course it is, but maybe we need a few more examples.

1.  To the great pleasure of Kevin Binversie,  The Florida Stand Your Ground law was successfully used again! 

Kenneth Bailey Roop, 52, has been charged with second-degree murder for killing 30-year-old Nicholas Rainey.

A co-worker who witnessed the shooting said Rainey had knocked on Roop’s door, but received no answer. While Rainey was walking down the drive-way, Roop pulled up in his pickup truck and asked why Rainey was at his house. Rainey explained that he was selling steak and seafood. The witness said Roop then pulled out a black handgun and shot Rainey. As Rainey lay on the ground, Roop fired another bullet into the back of his head.

Roop later told police that he shot Rainey in the head “for effect” and that he had three no trespassing signs on his property. Roop said he feared for his life.

“I’m not going to give him the chance to do something to me,” he told police. “I was in fear.”
An off-duty Collier County sheriff’s deputy was nearby and heard the gunshots. When she arrived at Roop’s property, she found Rainey dying on the ground while Roop was in his garage reloading his handgun.

Yee Haw!!!!  Good thing nothing like that could happen in WI!

 These stories must warm Joel Kleefisch's heart up!!

2.   As long as guns can continue to go without any reasonable controls, young children just need to be more careful!!   

KIELER — An 8-year-old boy is dead after he was shot near Kieler.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office was notified Friday that a boy had been accidentally shot with a gun. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after deputies and emergency medical crews arrived.

Besides accidents happen, and happen and happen and happen and happen .....To Infinity & Beyond! 

 

Perhaps now IS the time to start having those discussions?   

Republican Thugs - Phil Dziki Edition

When I was at Blogging Blue, there seemed an endless supply of stories to write about the bad behavior of the republicans and Walker supporters, as they realized they were losing their short term grip on power. I even labeled these stories as part of my Republican Thug series that had too many instances to count. Now that I have relocated here at CogDis, the republican thug stories keep on coming. This one from a republican, walker supporter and former elected official!

A federal investigator and former local elected official has been cited for repeatedly harassing a man gathering signatures during the governor recall petition drive Phil Dziki, 60, of Trevor, was cited for harassment and for unlawful use of a telephone. According to Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department reports, a man in blue Toyota — later determined to be Dziki — confronted the alleged victim while he and another man were gathering signatures in Old Settlers Park in Paddock Lake on Jan. 9. Dziki reportedly shouted at the man that he was not allowed in the park then pointed his finger at him “like a gun” or with “gun-like action” and drove away. Feeling threatened, the petition gatherers called 911. Before they were off the phone with the dispatcher, the car returned and the driver again pointed his finger at them in a gun-like motion.

So this federal investigator & former elected official is threatening others with a "gun-like" action. Brilliant! But as is wont to be the theme at this blog- but wait there's more!

When deputies traced the car’s license plate, they found it was registered to “Elmer D. Fedd, 123 Rabbit Hole Drive in Coon Valley.” “It appears given the close reference to the cartoon character Elmer Fudd, the registration was made fictitiously,” the sheriff department report states. Further investigation revealed that the car was registered to Dziki, an industry operations investigator with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and a former member of the Wilmot School Board and Salem Town Board.

Wow he lied, who have ever guessed that republicans would lie??? SO he was driving around illegally, I wonder if JB wants to deport him? But wait, before we wrap this up, there's more!

About two month later, the alleged victim told the sheriff’s department that Dziki called him twice, saying he would be “scrubbing” the signatures the man collected on petitions “and if they find any false or bogus signatures he is going to fill out a sworn complaint” to make sure the man would be prosecuted. Dziki reportedly said he knew where the man, a retired firefighter, worked and said “when the recall ends in favor of Walker, I’m going to make sure that everyone knows that you and (the other man gathering signatures) and the others will be rewarded with a present. It will be a nice set of flowers with a note on it. It will be delivered to your fire house in Bristol.” In a second phone call, the caller said “I consider you to be a pariah in this county.”

So this sick freak not only threatens a recall petitioner with "gun-like" gestures, could not let it go and kept harassing this poor man! You say what harm could come with a former elected official messing with a citizen? Let me see if we can find any cases of a lunatic with a gun in WI causing any damage???? Nuff Said!