First Anniversary of Newtown Massacre

From Reuters

On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, shot his way into the school he had once attended and murdered 20 first-graders, all aged 6 and 7, and six adults. Before heading to the school, Lanza killed his mother, who had legally purchased the guns he used that day.

Newtown officials said the town wanted to be left alone on the anniversary. Some of the victims' families have encouraged those moved by the shooting to mark the day by performing an act of kindness in their own communities.

At the White House, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama observed a moment of silence after lighting 26 candles to honor those lost at the school.

One year ago God received 26 angels, never forget #SandyHook pic.twitter.com/wyGLO08o2p

— Miguel Gutierrez (@miguel_gtz95) December 14, 2013

We are all Sandy Hook: pic.twitter.com/2M4sDq3tQd

— Reisa Miller (@ReisaMiller) December 14, 2013

And just yesterday, a reminder that nothing has really changed ... yet. Another school shooting in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

From Yahoo News

A schoolboy armed with a shotgun opened fire and wounded two fellow students on Friday before killing himself, the latest US mass shooting on the eve of the Newtown school massacre anniversary.

. . . Hundreds students locked themselves into classrooms as the shooter -- identified by authorities as Karl Pierson, 18 -- stormed into the school brandishing a shotgun, shouting that he was looking for a particular teacher in what police said was apparently a planned "revenge" attack.

America's perennial gun control debate is back in the headlines on the anniversary Saturday of the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26 people, including 20 young children.

In Friday's incident, students locked themselves in classrooms after shots rang out shortly after 12:30 pm (1930 GMT), triggering an all-too-familiar police operation.

This is a picture of the children of AHS with their hands in the air, traumatized. @MomsDemand pic.twitter.com/NhkM6tVQKO

— Rebecca Morgan (@Rebecca_221B) December 13, 2013

Proud to be a Warrior #prayforClaire #ArapahoeHigh @ahswarriors #ArapahoeHighSchool AHS! #PrayForArapahoe pic.twitter.com/e28ydkHztm

— Bill WØSUN ☢ (@w0sun) December 14, 2013

Deadly Day in Moore, Oklahoma

My prayers go out to the families of Oklahoma City after the deadly F-5 tornado passed through the suburb of Moore yesterday. When they announced on MSNBC last night that a "couple dozen" third graders were found dead in Plaza Towers Elementary, I just lost it - broke down and wept. Why did that have to happen? Why those innocent children? Why those families? Didn't they suffer enough by losing their homes, their school, their community? There are no answers.

The death toll continues to rise, and we still don't know exactly how many people are missing or have perhaps sought shelter in a place where there's no phone lines, electricity or cleared roads. It's going to take days to asses the million small tragedies of this storm, and years to understand how more lives might have been saved. Right now we can just use the trite term "Act of God" and pray that the living can continue to cope with the disaster, the stuff of nightmares.

You can support #Moore response & other disasters by txting REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10, or online at redcross.org
— American Red Cross (@RedCross) May 21, 2013

Huffington Post

The Oklahoma state medical examiner's office said 24 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of Monday's storm, down from the 51 they had reported earlier. The earlier number likely reflected some double-counted deaths, said Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer for the medical examiner.

The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble. One elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed.

Thunderstorms and lightning slowed the rescue effort on Tuesday, but officials lowered the number of bodies recovered.

"We have got good news. The number right now is 24," Elliot said. "There was a lot of chaos."
She said additional bodies could yet be recovered.

Firefighters from more than a dozen fire departments worked all night under bright spotlights trying to find survivors at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which took a direct hit. Rescuers were sent from other states to join the search.

Alan Grayson is Back!

Nice to have Rep. Alan Grayson, R-Florida, back in Congress. He points out that the Republicans keeps dragging us towards these "cliff" situations, and it's all contrived by Congressional Republicans.

"This is completely unecessary. These are artificial crises manufactured by the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate in order to bring about cuts in Social Security, cuts in Medicare, cuts in Medicaid the country doesn't want and would never even consider except for these crises that they create. We're not talking about an earthquake, we're not talking about Hurricane Sandy, we're not talking about any natural disaster.

It's a disaster created by the Republican Party's Agenda, which is highly unpopular, and wouldn't ever be considered except that they keep dragging the country again and again into these "cliff" situations.

On Gun Control Reform:

There's a fundamental difference here between the two parties, and it crosses NRA lines, so to speak. . . . Over and Over again whether you're talking about guns, talking about employment, healthcare or any other problem that's facing the country, what the other side wants to do is very clear: Nothing. I pointed out three years ago, they're healthcare plan is don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly. And now we see the same thing is true with guns in the wake of a terrible national tragedy. A recurring national tragedy. Their answer is "Do Nothing."

They want to instill in us a kind of fatalism and nihilism that means we can't do anything to solve our problems.

Update on Newtown, Connecticut Shooting

White House Petition seeking Gun Legislation now has over 109,000 signatures:
Sign the Petition Here

Statement by the Medical Examiner: Victims ranged from 3 - 11 wounds apiece - everybody hit more than once - no sign of a struggle - It was one rifle used - lots of bullets - "the bullets are designed in a fashion that the energy is deposited in the tissue, so the bullet stays in" - "devastating injuries" - question from reporter: random or precision shooting? answer: "Both? Very difficult question to answer." Adult wounds similar to those of the children. Shooter and mother will be examined in the morning (Sunday, Dec. 16)


Piers Morgan on CNN refuting some NRA NUT who thinks we need "more guns in schools." OMG
Source

Joining the program remotely from Ann Arbor, MI, the Attorney for the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners made his case:

"If we could suddenly make all guns disappear, I'd have a different position," he stated. "The simple facts are, guns exist. They are essentially 1800's technology...they're easy to make, they're not going anywhere, they last several human lifetimes with minimal maintenance. So since guns exist, and we know for a fact that the only way to stop an evil person, like the person you were discussing earlier in the show, is to shoot him..."

At this point, Morgan jumped back in, presenting a different angle:

"This is exactly the argument that I have been hearing ever since I joined CNN," he noted. "The argument I keep hearing is well if everybody else was armed, it wouldn't happen. It's a load of total hogwash!"

Siding with the host, Jerrold Nadler added some statistics to the argument:

"The proof of the pudding, is that in every other industrialized country in the world, other than the United States, they have reasonable gun control laws," said the New York Congressman. "They have 100 people a year, not 9,000 or 10,000 a year, killed by guns."

Upon engaging in heated discourse with John Lott, who was attempting to make a case for less legislation, Morgan remained insistent with his stance:

"There are nearly 12,000 murders a year from guns in this country. When are you guys going to focus on that, and stop telling me the answer is more guns. It is not the answer!" he exclaimed to his guest. "How many more kids have to die, before you guys say, 'we want less guns, not more.'"

"I'm upset, because I worry that the gun control laws that you're pushing, have killed people," said Lott, the author of "More Guns, Less Crime."

The man behind "Piers Morgan Tonight" saw things differently:

"Oh what a load of nonsense," he grumbled. "I'm so frustrated, I'm so furious, that these kids, have been blown away again, with legally acquired weapons. Some boy, who's got problems, takes his mother's three weapons – including this ridiculous assault rifle – and goes in a school and kills these kids, and you guys on the gun lobby still want to tell me the answer is more guns. It is madness!"

Children in Connecticut Had a Right to Life - but Guns Took it Away

There are really no words for what happened to the children of Newtown, Connecticut today. Kindergarten students were slaughtered at school. Five-year-old kids are bright, curious, trusting, imaginative, sensitive, and above all, innocent. But someone walked into their normally safe school here at Christmastime and took away their right to live. Someone armed with an assault rifle he shouldn't have had, bent on some unknown mission that was all in his head.

A tragedy, people say, unpreventable. This guy must have been an "isolated nutcase" and no amount of mental health screening would have caught him. We are helpless in the face of the gun lobby, especially in red states. Blah Blah Blah. You know we can't protect everyone 24-7, especially children trapped in school buildings. It must be the parents' or teachers' fault (the shooter killed both his parents, and his mother was a teacher). It must be the principal's fault (the principal was shot). Remember Columbine? That was just as isolated an incident, and the shooters were just bad seeds, and all of this really means nothing, and should change nothing - according to the Tea Party and the NRA.

Innocents dying in vain is the new patriotism that protects the Second Amendment.

In the days to come, we will hear a lot of shoulda-woulda-coulda, and Republicans in thrall to the National Rifle Association with spread their usual manure like filth over the graves of these little innocent babies. They will moan and weep about how "terrible" it would be for politicians to take any action at all, that it would be an invasion of gun owner rights to request any type of new restrictions even on assault weapons, which can't be used for hunting any creature except other humans. It's a right to own one for "sport" you know.

That's right - assault weapon shooting is a sport to these cretins, and we better not get in their way, by God, or they will just buy more guns and join militias and burn crosses and send their goons to threaten politicians. It's been that way for years and we have rolled over and accepted things like spineless wonders.

But today I think something changed. The right for these small trusting innocent children to live should trump the right to bear arms everywhere. What militia did this shooter represent? There shouldn't be a constant open season on children and unarmed people. Enough. State Legislatures shouldn't be passing laws to carry handguns in day cares, schools, and libraries. ENOUGH. These children and their families were free citizens, too. They deserved to live, and not be shot down like animations in some redneck game. Enough!!!!!!!


Joel Achenbach on Washington Post

Newtown, Conn., became Everytown, America, on this grim Friday. By mid-afternoon, the scale of the horror became clear: Twenty children had been slain, plus six of their protectors. The crime took another sick turn with news that the killer was the son of one of the teachers, who died separately in her home. This appeared Friday night to be a matricide that evolved into mass murder.
All this happened during the holiday season, as people around the country prepared for a big shopping weekend, or got ready for relatives coming to town or kids coming home from college. This is family time, a season of joy. Light the candles, decorate the tree.

President Obama Speaks in Aurora

"Scripture says that 'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away.'"