Random Politics & Religion #00

And now a picture from Mother Jones:
This Map Shows What Each State Googled More Than Any Other in 2015

U.S. Republican Ben Carson's 2016 presidential bid was thrown into chaos on Thursday when his campaign manager and some 20 other staff members quit amid infighting, dropping poll numbers and negative media coverage.

Barry Bennett, who oversaw Carson's rapid rise to the top tier of Republican contenders and his later fall, said he quit over differences with another top adviser to Carson, Armstrong Williams.

Specifically, Bennett blamed Williams for an interview Carson gave last week to The Washington Post suggesting that the campaign was in disarray. "It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen a candidate do," Bennett said.

Things had "boiled over" with Williams, Bennett told Reuters. "For the past seven weeks, I’ve been doing nothing but putting out Armstrong Williams-started fires," Bennett said.

He also charged Williams was behind a story in The New York Times that suggested Carson was out of his depth on foreign policy.

Carson's communications director, Doug Watts, also resigned due to differences with Williams, Bennett said. Some 20 staff in total left, he said. Among them was deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen.

Williams, a political commentator who holds no official role with the campaign, said he was "shocked" by Bennett's criticism. "They’re giving me a lot more credit than I deserve,” he told Reuters.

He suggested Bennett and Watts left the campaign rather than be fired. "Right now, they’re upset and they need a scapegoat, and I’m the scapegoat,” Williams said.

Support for Carson has fallen ahead of the first contest - on Feb. 1 in the state of Iowa - for the Republican nomination in the Nov. 8 election.

The retired neurosurgeon now places fourth in many national opinion polls after surging into the second slot behind the front-runner, real estate mogul Donald Trump, in the autumn.

With the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, elevating national security concerns among voters, Carson has been criticized by rivals for his lack of foreign policy experience. He has never held elected office.

Craig Robinson, former political director for Iowa’s Republican Party, said Carson's lack of visibility in Iowa damaged him even though he had the chance to capitalize on his much-touted status as a political outsider.

"All along, I’ve never really thought this was a serious presidential campaign in that it is actually operating and doing things to get elected," Robinson said.

In spite of the poll numbers, Carson's campaign on Wednesday announced a fourth-quarter fundraising haul of about $23 million, and Bennett said Carson remained in a strong position.

"He’s got millions of dollars on hand," Bennett said. "He should be able to do something with that."

Carson's campaign announced that Bob Dees, a retired Army major general, would be the campaign chairman while Ed Brookover, formerly a senior strategist, would serve as campaign manager.

I guess the Miranda Lambert thing makes sense. I think she's originally from Texas. Was Louisiana more disheartened by the Blue Bell recall than Texas? We've had it back for a few months now.

And now a picture from Mother Jones:
This Map Shows What Each State Googled More Than Any Other in 2015

It's been like 75 years, can we bring back the Hitler mustache yet? I rocked one for about 5 minutes tonight getting rid of my beard and it was pretty awesome.

It's been like 75 years, can we bring back the Hitler mustache yet? I rocked one for about 5 minutes tonight getting rid of my beard and it was pretty awesome.

A 14-year-old Pryor boy is out of surgery after being shot several times by his neighbor who has not been arrested.

Police said the teen and two of his friends were ringing doorbells and running off early New Year's Day when the homeowner came out to his front yard and started firing.

The case has been handed over to the district attorney who is looking into whether the shooting was justified.

The call went out as a home invasion, but when police got to the scene they quickly heard a different story. Police said the three boys did not try to break into the home.

"Currently, the investigation suggests that the juveniles were engaged in neighborhood pranks and not attempting to break into the residence," said Chief of Police Steven W. Lemmings.

Cole Peyton is a freshman at Pryor High School. He's a football player, a wrestler and on the Honor Roll.

Pryor Police said he and two friends were walking through Peyton's neighborhood around 1:30 New Year's morning - ringing some doorbells and running off - when the prank resulted in gunshots.

Neighbor Samantha Perry said, "We saw three kids walking down by the newer houses. It was kind of odd, but didn't think anything of it."

Perry lives down the street and saw the teens earlier in the night. She didn't hear the shots fired but saw the sirens.

"I mean, that's just kids being kids right there, I don't think there should've been anything like that involved," she said.

Lemmings said the teens were trespassing on the man's property near the 1100 block of SE 15th Street when he fired several shots while outside his home.

"The investigation now centers around whether the homeowner's use of deadly force was lawful or illegal. No arrests have been made at this point," Chief Lemmings said.

Peyton's mom, now with her son at a Tulsa hospital, said the boys rang the doorbell earlier in the night and were coming home when the boys walked past the house again, and the shooting started.

Peyton told his mom the man yelled, "Hey," then shot him in the back, to which he yelled to his friends, "Run!"

Peyton was also shot in the arm. The other bullet punctured his liver and went through his body.

Peyton's wrestling coach describes the teen as "a great kid to be around," saying his thoughts and prayers are with him.

We rang the shooter's doorbell but no one answered.

The shooter has not been arrested and the Mayes County district attorney is looking into whether the shooting was lawful.

Lawful shooting or not?

shot him in the back

Here's an interesting story that caught my attention. This time the focus is Oklahoma.

Pryor Teen Shot While 'Ding Dong Ditching' In Neighborhood

Lawful shooting or not?

Back in the day people were taught to respect one another and gun safety was taught so this kind of crap rarely would happen.
Now days we are all dog-eat-dog and have just about lost our humanity.
That's why this ***is happening.
Zero compassion/mercy in the world.
Live by the laws of nature and die like animals.

No, not lawful. I knew a guy in high school who broke into a guy's house and was shot in the back. I didn't follow the court case that followed but given that OK is pretty *** up when it comes to laws, it could've gone either way but no, a shot in the back isn't self defense and if you shoot someone for ringing your doorbell and running, you don't need a gun, you need mental help.

I would say shooting a 14yr old kid for ringing a doorbell and running away is excessive, but in the eyes of the law they're still figuring it out while the shooter is free. Although them being arrested depends more on their previous record, risk to the community, and being a flight risk. All that and on top of there being a crime committed, which brings this full circle. Was the guy defending his property from potentials criminal(s), did he see it was just a bunch of teenagers messing around and decided to shoot anyway... I guess we'll find out.

You aren't supposed to shoot in the back AFAIK. That was the argument on the guy I went to school with; it was between what warrants deadly force, risk on your property (a TV and xbox in this case) or risk on your life (there was none in this case) the popular opinion was that shooting wasn't warranted as there was no risk on the shooter's life.

The rules to CC are very strict. You can't use your gun to protect a stranger for example. Not that either case was an issue of CC but you get the idea. There are rules and etiquette to it.

From what I understand, Texas is the only state where a private citizen can use deadly force to protect personal property. So, unless they present a continuing threat to your person or someone else in the immediate vicinity, you aren't allowed to use deadly force. A shot in the back is just a more obvious indicator of whether it was defensive.

Yeah, that last part is what I was getting at. I don't think there's any law about shooting in the back, it just implies the intent. Oklahoma legalized open carry a couple years back. I think I told the story about the fat guy with a pony tail in a wife-beater, khaki shorts, and sandals (with socks) wearing a Glock in the grocery store.

.454 long barrel revolver

long barrel

Lol...

LOL

Anything more than a .40 S&W is excessive for carry, anything more than 3"-4" is cumbersome for carry.

Also, I think it's funny how someone will down a 9mm as "weak" while carrying a revolver with .38 Special +P. 9mm is fairly close to .357 Magnum, close enough that comparing is pointless...yet their +P is "weaker" >.>