Should severe mental illness be a factor in gun background checks?

Should severe mental illness be a factor in gun background checks?

Posted on by Jack

The House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this month to overturn an Obama administration rule which would have the Social Security Administration send records of some beneficiaries with severe mental illness to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bill may go to the Senate this week where it can be passed simple majority and soon thereafter sent to President Trump.

If you think this information should be available to the FBI during background check (or not), you may want to contact your Senator and President.

The anti-choice forces are ahead with PA SB 3

The anti-choice forces are ahead with PA SB 3

Posted on by Jack

The anti-choice forces in the Pennsylvania are ahead. The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 3 which was quickly passed in the state senate. Those anti-choice folks sure move quickly.

Senate Bill 3 would criminalize abortion in cases where the fetus is older than 20 weeks. It would also outlaw a safe and medically accepted technique (dilation and evacuation) which is called “dismemberment abortion” in the bill. In either case the doctor performing the abortion commits a felony of the third degree. i’m not sure what that means since I am not a lawyer but it does sound good.

There are other provisions in the bill as well providing exceptions and additional requirements. In my original post on Senate Bill 3 which was written before on the bill went to the judiciary committee I gave a link to the text of the bill.

The bill goes to the House next. Although Governor Wolfe has indicated he will veto it, the anti-choice forces in the state legislature may be able to override the veto. Therefore it is important that you let your legislators in both the Senate and House know your opinion. The House does vote next and the Senate has already voted but if there is a veto, both may be voting again. You might also want to share your opinion with Gov. Wolfe

Here are 2 links, another article on this and an easy way to look-up your Senate and House members:

So important that he might get to it next week

So important that he might get to it next week

Posted on by Jack

President Donald Trump thinks it is so important that he might get to it next week.

President Trump issued his now famous executive order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” on January 27, 2017. Within hours, there were mass demonstrations. Several federal judges blocked parts of the order.
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A new job for Kellyanne Conway

A new job for Kellyanne Conway

Posted on by Jack

Kellyanne Conway has a new job – Saleswoman, Presidential branch. She is probably feeling under-worked in her main job as counselor to the president. She needed an additional job to keep her busy

The Ivanka Trump brand was having a bit of trouble. The ordinary sales staff just could not succeed and they lost the Nordstom account and a few others. A sales boost was needed.

And what better way to increase sales than by diversifying a bit by opening a Presidential branch. And who better to head it than the stylish mistress of misdirection. A new job for Kellyanne Conway.

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Shutup and sit down or #LetLizTalk

Shutup and sit down or #LetLizTalk

Posted on by Jack

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not say to shutup and sit down but that was the result of his objection to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s speech. Twitter quickly came alive with people saying #LetLizTalk

Senator McConnell used his power to silence an opposing voice in a confirmation hearing. He invoked Senate rule 19 which in part says
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Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3, express your opinion

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3, express your opinion

Posted on by Jack

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3 would criminalize abortion in cases where the fetus is older than 20 or 24 weeks. There are other provisions in the bill as well providing exceptions, additional requirements, criminalization of a specific type of abortion (at any gestational age), and additional reporting requirements.

It is a bit hard to tell which way it will go now. The bill is before the Judiciary committee today and both numbers are in the bill online. I think that means that one number is current law and the other is in the bill.
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News that wasn’t

News that wasn’t

Posted on by Jack

The news that wasn’t seems to be around a lot lately. Part of the news that wasn’t was my announcement of the renaming of this blog (see Reality Based Opinions), so I am sort of qualified to discuss this. But I suppose I should back up.

When I was much younger, there was a TV show called “That Was the Week That Was”. Since we now have so much fake news coming out of the Trump administration I was thinking we could have a new show called “That Was the Week That Wasn’t”.
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Love that dirty water

Love that dirty water

Posted on by Jack

I am glad to hear that the Senate has voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule . I hope the House and President follow-up on this quickly. I just love that dirty water.

I have long been tired of clean drinking water. I just doesn’t have an interesting taste. I am looking forward to the added taste of coal debris or maybe even coal tar in my drinking water. It may add a bit of flavor.

Unfortunately flavor in drinking water does not seem to add many jobs.
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Hypocrisy and the super-imperial president

Hypocrisy and the super-imperial president

Posted on by Jack

President Trump in less than 2 weeks in office has become the super-imperial president. He has far outpaced his predecessors in issuing executive orders.

Remember when President Obama issued orders often to solve problems when Congress failed to act. Republicans were livid and complained about his illegal imperial presidency. Now President Trump is out doing that. You would think Republicans would again be outraged. But this super-imperial presidency is much to their liking.

A few Republicans have complained about some specific executive orders but for the most part hypocrisy rules. See the recent editorial in USA Today “Hypocrisy on executive orders: Our view” for details.

Are women people ? – legally speaking

Are women people ? – legally speaking

Posted on by Jack

Are women people ? You would not think that needed to be asked or could be asked without giving offense. Unfortunately it is an important question right now.

Why is it important to ask this question when most people would think the answer so obvious? Most people would say “YES” and perhaps add a few words about my stupidity for even asking. But the reason I bring the question up is not that I doubt women are people but I do not think we need a Supreme Court justice who believes that the legal rights in our Constitution do not apply to women.

Judge Neil Gorsuch has been nominated by President Trump to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. His legal philosophy is said to be very similar to that of Antonin Scalia.

Over 6 years ago, I wrote about Justice Scalia’s beliefs on women and legal rights . So I was concerned about Judge Gorsuch’s beliefs.
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Protect the National Security Council (NSC)

Protect the National Security Council (NSC)

Posted on by Jack

Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy has introduced the Protect the National Security Council from Political Interference Act of 2017.

Do you think the our national security should be a political thing? Should Steve Bannon as President Trump or other political types determine how we should respond to national security issues? Should the National Security Council (NSC) be nonpartisan and consist of security professionals as discussed here.

If you find this issue important please read the Congresswoman’s remarks on this.

They can be found at http://stephaniemurphy.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=18

Diversity, President Trump, Steve Bannon

Diversity, President Trump, Steve Bannon

Posted on by Jack

It may come as a surprise to many but President Trump is going to have a diverse administration. You say you haven’t seen it. Well, the diversity is there and increasing, but you haven’t looked hard enough.

His cabinet includes both billionaires and multi-millionaires. He has added Steven Bannon to his National Security Council to add a bit of diversity. Why should the National Security Council be dominated by security experts and folks like the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?
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President Trump shares the truth and avoids the biased media

President Trump shares the truth and avoids the biased media

Posted on by Jack

I’m glad that President Trump shares the truth and avoids the biased media.

After watching the news with thousands of people around the county protesting President Trump’s immigration order and the detention of legal residents, legal immigrants, and visa holders I was not surprised to hear about his attempt to blame the problem on airline computer problems.
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Trump’s religious preferences on immigration

Trump’s religious preferences on immigration

Posted on by Jack

President Trump has recently issued an executive order on immigration. I have been writing about that alot in the past few days. But this post is just about a small part of it which is quoted below.

Upon the resumption of USRAP admissions, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, is further directed to make changes, to the extent permitted by law, to prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.

Since the ban is on immigration from 7 majority-Muslim nations, it is very clear that minority religion means all religions except Islam.
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Update on GOP stances on Trump’s travel ban

Update on GOP stances on Trump’s travel ban

Posted on by Jack

This is an update on my GOP cowards post. A few more Republican lawmakers have have been brave enough to take a stance. Some positive, some negative, and some unclear.

But it is nice to know where these Republican lawmakers stand. It would be nice if others also had the courage to express a view.

Here is the latest from the Washington Post