April 22, 2015

Michael Slager Laughed Off the Shooting of Walter Scott Minutes After the Event.

http://bluenationreview.com/audio-cop-caught-tape-laughing-killed-walterscott/

He laughed it off.

In an audio recording obtained by the Guardian, Patrolman Michael Slager is heard laughing in the minutes after fatally shooting Walter Scott. During the conversation with a senior officer, Slager asks, “What happens next?”

Michael Slager“Probably once they get you there, we’ll take you home,” the supervisor tells him. At another point, Slager is told “by the time you get home, it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened. You know, once the adrenaline quits pumping.”

“It’s pumping,” Slager says, laughing.

The conversation goes to the officer’s state of mind. Many who viewed the video of the incident said Slager seemed eerily calm as he raised his weapon and let off the eight shots as if he were shooting at a paper target on a gun range.

Contrary to what he and other responding officers told investigators, no one attempted to render aid to Scott—who was either already dead or dying. At least three patrolman, including Clarence Habersham, who is seen on the video standing next to the body, said they assisted Slager in CPR.

The taped conversation with his senior officer occurs only minutes after Scott was killed. According to the Guardian, authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the recording or who was speaking, but a spokesperson said one of the voices “appears” to be Slager.

“It appears that way. I have not been able to independently confirm it,” said Thom Berry, a spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

April 21, 2015

Willie Nelson to Launch His Own Brand of Marijuana

Willie Nelson to Launch His Own Brand of Marijuana

Dan Kedmey

http://time.com/3829422/willie-nelson-marijuana-brand/

9:25 AM ET
Heartbreaker Banquet

Gary Miller—Getty Images Willie Nelson performs in concert during the Heartbreaker Banquet on March 19, 2015 in Luck, Texas.
"I will make sure it's good or it won't be on sale"

Singer Willie Nelson plans to launch his own brand of marijuana for recreational users who demand “the best on the market,” the 81-year-old country legend announced.

“Willie Weed,” from the newly formed company Willie’s Reserve, will hit dispensary shelves in Colorado and Washington, where legalization of recreational marijuana has created a booming industry, the Associated Press reports. Nelson said he would partner with growers in both states.

“I will make sure it’s good or it won’t be on sale,” the singer said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Nelson is the latest among a growing list of musicians to capitalize on the newly freed trade of marijuana. Last week, rapper Snoop Dog invested in Eaze, a California-based weed delivery startup that has been billed as the “Uber for weed.”

April 3, 2015

Bill signed in Kansas will allow concealed carry with no permit!!!

A bill signed Thursday by Gov. Sam Brownback will allow residents in Kansas to carry concealed firearms without a permit or training.

Kansans aged 21 or older will be permitted to carry concealed guns starting July 1 when the law takes effect, even if they’re not trained or don’t have a permit, the Kansas City Star reports. That will make the state one of six to allow “constitutional carry.”

Anyone who would like to carry a concealed gun in any of the three dozen states that accept Kansas permits must go through training, a requirement that Brownback emphasized. But even with regard to Kansans, who won’t be required to go through training, he acknowledged that his youngest son had “got a lot out of” a hunter safety course recently and urged others “to take advantage of that.”

“We’re saying that if you want to do that in this state, then you don’t have to get the permission slip from the government,” Brownback said. “It is a constitutional right, and we’re removing a barrier to that right.”

The Kansas State Rifle Association was supportive of the bill. A statement on its website reads: “the right to keep and bear arms is a natural, unalienable right protected by the Second Amendment and citizens should not have to go through burdensome and expensive hoops to exercise that right.”

http://time.com/3770182/kansas-bill-constitutional-carry-concealed-guns/

[Kansas City Star]


What possibly could go wrong?????

April 2, 2015

This Red State Almost Expanded Health Insurance to 280,000 Poor People

http://www.alternet.org/red-state-almost-expanded-health-insurance-280000-poor-people-then-koch-group-got-involved

This Red State Almost Expanded Health Insurance to 280,000 Poor People -- Then Koch Group Got Involved
The health care plan was killed, revived last week, and killed again.
By Tana Ganeva / AlterNet
April 1, 2015


Tracy Foster calmly explains that when she goes to doctors, all they can do is "poke" -- she makes a poking motion with her hand -- her bladder back into place, because it is falling out of her body. She has bladder cancer. She needs to have surgery immediately, the doctors all agree, but she doesn't have insurance and can't get the operation unless she hands over eight thousand dollars up front (two thousand for the doctor, six thousand for the hospital). She doesn't have that kind of money or a health plan to cover it.

Foster had one surgery for her cancer when she was covered by TennCare, Tennessee's version of Medicaid, state-run health care for the poor. But she was dropped, she says, because her daughter turned 18 and as an adult with no dependent children she's no longer eligible for coverage. She's spent most of her life working in the health industry, tending to Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes, working in a hospital lab, administering EKGs. So she has no illusions about her situation. "They found the lymph nodes near my bladder enlarged," she sighs.

<snip>

It should not be surprising that anti-government conservatives backed by the Koch brothers gave torpedoing the plan their all. The day of the Moral Monday protest, Tennessee's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group (David Koch heads AFP's Foundation), had relaunched its radio campaign against Insure Tennessee.

AFP-Tenn has relentlessly hammered the proposal's parallels to Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, making things exceedingly awkward for its Republican backers. "Obamacare has been a disaster. Expanding Obamacare in Tennessee will be the same," the latest ad said.

<snip>

Here's a link to the Gofundme campaign raising money for Tracy Foster's operation: http://www.gofundme.com/dvq5cs


Tana Ganeva is AlterNet's managing editor. Follow her on Twitter or email her at tana@alternet.org.




I feel such sadness and I am typing through tears of rage and compassion all at once. I have bladder cancer. If I hadn't enlisted in the Navy at 21 just so my dad would have to listen to my antiwar opinion at the Thanksgiving table in '72 I could very well be in this boat with Tracy Foster. I am being treated very well by the VA for my cancer. I will get a third surgery in a couple of weeks. And I will send a donation to Tracy as soon as I send this. Read the rest oft he article. It will make you shake in anger.

Herb Morehead aka Marble Falls.