South Dakota Removes Hit-And-Run Killer AG And It Only Took Two Years!
The wheels of justice, boy, I don't know!
The South Dakota state Senate voted Tuesday to convict state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg in his impeachment trial, removing him from office nearly two years after he struck and killed pedestrian Joe Boever while driving late at night. Ravnsborg maintained throughout the investigation that he'd been sure he had hit a deer until he returned to the scene, where he and others found Boever's body.
Police determined that Boever had been walking on the shoulder of the highway when he was hit, although Ravnsborg maintained he had been driving safely when he hit something.
"Again, why would a man be walking down the road?" Ravnsborg asked North Dakota investigators in Sept. 2020. "I believe I'm on the road and — wham. My life changes."
A crash reconstruction found that Ravnsborg had all four tires on the shoulder of the road when he struck Boever.
Investigators told Ravnsborg that Boever's body ended up lying only a couple of feet from the edge of the road. A flashlight Boever carried was still on, even when investigators found it later, they said. Ravnsborg repeated many times that he never saw the body that night.
Police also advised Ravnsborg that Boever's glasses were found inside Ravnsborg's car, which certainly came as a surprise to Ravnsborg, who no doubt wondered how a deer had gotten hold of a man's glasses like that and then moved the shoulder of the road to the lane where he'd been driving.
Oh yes, and while Ravnsborg insisted he hadn't been distracted while driving, the investigation found that data showed that up until a minute before the crash, the phone had been accessing news articles and blog posts.
"So, when we look at that, our concern is everything that we're seeing here is appearing that you were on your phone reading political stuff at the time," one investigator said in an interrogation.
"But I just wasn't," Ravnsborg replied. "I set it down."
Also too, two days after the crash, Ravnsborg pumped a state forensics expert with the state Division of Criminal Investigation about the kinds of data that could be recovered from cell phones. Ravnsborg's questions made the expert, Brent Gromer, so uncomfortable that he took notes on the exchange and sent them along to his supervisors. Gromer explained,
We were not supposed to be involved. We conflicted out of this investigation and contacted North Dakota to do the investigation. We were not supposed to have anything to do with it.
In his impeachment trial, Ravnsborg was charged with two counts: committing crimes that caused a death, and malfeasance in office, because he had misled law enforcement and abused the power of his office. The latter charge stemmed in part from his meeting with Gromer.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who had asked Ravnsborg multiple times to resign, praised the state Senate's verdict:
“After nearly two years the dark cloud over the attorney general’s office has been lifted,” she said. “It is now time to move on and begin to restore confidence in the office.”
Noem will appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of Ravnsborg's term. In addition to convicting him, the state Senate also voted to bar him from ever serving in any public office in South Dakota again. South Dakota Republicans will pick an AG candidate for the general election at their annual convention this weekend.
Ravnsborg had previously pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges that very conveniently didn't require any jail time; when he was impeached, he accused Noem and the legislature of WITCH HUNTING him, arguing that "No state has ever impeached an elected official for a traffic accident."
He also said he was terribly sorry that the legislature went and involved his victim's family in "this highly political situation," because surely they were as hurt by Ravnsborg's impeachment as he was.
The New York Times reports that, on the eve of the Senate's vote in his impeachment, Ravnsborg released a letter explaining that he
“could not resign then and cannot resign now because the incident did not impede my ability to perform the functions” of attorney general.
Truly, South Dakota will have difficulty finding a new attorney general who so clearly understands devotion to duty and ethics and stuff.
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Oh Sure, Joe Biden Just THROWING MONEY At ... Firefighters? Good, Thank You, Carry On
Pay raises, thanks to the 2021 infrastructure law.
With another horrible fire season on the way thanks to drought and the climate emergency, President Joe Biden signed off on a big raise yesterday for federal wildland firefighters. In a White House press statement, Biden said,
There’s an old expression that God made man – and then he made a few firefighters. Firefighters are some of the bravest men and women among us, and the backbones of our communities, protecting our homes, businesses, schools, and families from catastrophe.
Biden last year raised federal firefighter pay from $13 an hour to $15, and the new pay boosts their wages further, using $600 million from last year's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to increase firefighters' base salary by either $20,000 annually or 50 percent of their current base pay, whichever is less.
As of yet, no Republicans have accused wildland firefighters of being lazy takers feeding off the public teat; if any do, we're sure the Bureau of Land Management could arrange to hand them a Pulaski, a hardhat, and an emergency fire shelter and let them get an appreciation for the job. (We kid. We would never want to endanger actual firefighters by saddling them with such a teammate.)
The wage increase was originally meant to go into effect last October 1, but the Biden administration delayed implementing the raises while it reviewed recruitment and retention data to decide who should get pay increases. As the Associated Press explains, that's because the infrastructure law specified the higher wages should go to firefighters “located within a specified geographic area in which it is difficult to recruit or retain a federal wildland firefighter.”
Ultimately, though, the administration decided to give all 16,000-plus federal firefighters the raise for two fiscal years, retroactive to October 1, 2021, perhaps on the logic that "North America" is where it's difficult to recruit and retain wildland fire crews. Biden also pledged to work with Congress to go beyond the temporary pay increase so that wildland firefighters could have some real security, at least compared to fighting wildfires in dry, rugged terrain.
The wider pay increase had been supported by the union for federal civil servants, the National Federation of Federal Employees, whose president, Randy Erwin, issued a statement saying the wage increase would be "life-changing for thousands of federal wildland firefighters" who'll be able to afford housing, childcare, and maybe even some nice things now and then.
"They did the right thing and implemented this pay increase nationwide and as fast as they could. As a consequence, communities are going to be protected and lives are going to be saved. It really is that simple." Better pay, he said, will aid in the recruitment and retention of the federal firefighter workforce, currently a problem in every geographic area, according to an interagency FAQ on the implementation of the new pay schedule.
Oh, I see I was right!
2021 was another record-setting year for wildfires, according to the Department of Interior, with 48,487 wildfires burning more than 6.5 million acres and killing 15 firefighters and 33 civilians. 2022 is already shaping up to be bad, with catastrophic fires in New Mexico and in Northern Arizona already. A lighting-caused fire in Southern Arizona this week forced the evacuation of personnel from the Kitt Peak National Observatory, although the telescopes have so far been safe. Four buildings that officials emphasized were not used for research were destroyed.
So yes, wildland firefighters have already been plenty busy even before summer officially began yesterday, and with drought and climate change, the fire season is almost year-round.
In addition to the firefighter pay raise, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture are creating a program that will focus on firefighters' physical and mental health; that will also be funded by the infrastructure law.
[White House / AP / American Independent / Photo: National Interagency Fire Center]
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Senate Ready To Pass Gun Bill After All? Huh!
It has grants for red flag laws and closes the 'boyfriend loophole.' Good!
The Senate appears ready to actually pass a real bipartisan gun bill, modest though it may be, after a procedural vote yesterday moved the legislation forward on a 64-34 vote yesterday. It's likely to get a final vote by the end of the week, which is encouraging. The vote came a few hours after the bipartisan negotiators released the text of the bill and announced that they had overcome Republican qualms that had appeared to put the bill in danger last week.
Read More:
We Got A Gun Bill! It's ... OK, We Guess?
John Cornyn: Wait, Did I Say 'Gun Bill'? Pretty Sure I Said 'Guns Are SWELL'
California's Red Flag Law Stops Mass Shootings, How Is That Even Legal?
All 50 Democrats in the Senate voted to move the bill forward, as did 14 Republicans, including lead GOP negotiators Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). In a statement, the negotiators, who also included Democrats Chris Murphy (Connecticut) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona), said,
Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights. [...] We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law.
Modest though the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" is, it does include provisions that are likely to reduce some gun deaths. Most notably, it funds grants to states to implement "red flag" laws that allow judges to temporarily take guns away from people who are a threat to themselves or others. As we've noted, red flag laws really do save lives, and even prevent mass shootings.
The bill also closes the "boyfriend loophole" by prohibiting gun ownership by those convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse or stalking of a dating partner or recent dating partner, and enhances background checks by allowing checks of juvenile records before a firearm purchase.
Other provisions clarify who must register as a federal firearms dealer (It's this one guy named Dave), and also will crack down on gun trafficking and illegal "straw purchases" of firearms, like when a person with a clean criminal record buys a gun from that asshole Dave on behalf of someone who's prohibited from owning a gun. People pardoned by Donald Trump will still be able to buy all the guns they want.
Also too, the Texas Tribune explains, the bill
includes $11 billion for mental health services and $2 billion for community-based antiviolence programs. It also includes money to help young people access mental health services via telemedicine, money for more school-based mental health centers and support for suicide hotlines.
Gosh, those are the sorts of things a civilized nation should already have, even without horrific massacres persuading a few Republicans to talk about "mental health" instead of doing anything about guns.
As we noted last week, Republican negotiators created a lot of drama about the bill's support for red flag laws and the closure of the "boyfriend loophole," because what is a "recent" dating partner and how dare we keep stalkers from protecting themselves from Antifa? Politico explains the bill offers an out for first-time offenders if they keep their noses clean:
The legislation would change federal law so that if a person has a misdemeanor conviction for assaulting a dating partner or a recent former dating partner, they would be barred from purchasing a firearm. Under the deal, that person’s right to purchase a firearm would be reinstated after five years if he or she is not involved in any violent acts or felonies during that period. This would apply to people in this newly created category who are first-time offenders.
We'll see how that works in practice; if it turns out that guns are returned to people who then go on to kill former partners — which seems a real possibility — that may need revision. Haha, as if Congress will pass another gun law in the next 30 years. Also, as the New York Times points out, the prohibition on gun ownership for non-married abusers can't be applied retroactively, so only partners of recent or future abuse or stalking can dare a sigh of relief. Maybe it'll be of some comfort that bipartisan compromise is allegedly how great laws get passed.
The Times also notes that in addition to providing funding for new red flag laws — but not a federal one, so red states can continue to insist that taking away the guns of someone who has, say, threatened schoolchildren is tyranny and decline to instate them — the bill will also give grants to support
what Mr. Cornyn described as “crisis intervention programs,” including programs related to mental health courts, drug courts and veterans courts.
Still, it's a hell of a lot better than anything that's been passed since the last major gun law in this country, way back in 1994 when we first got the national background check law and the 10-year assault weapons ban that George W. Bush allowed to expire. Congress has nibbled around the provisions of the background system since then without making it significantly better, and it's still possible for people to sell used guns in private transactions without a background check.
As you'd expect, gunhumpers immediately whined that the very small changes to national gun laws would be unconstitutional and would "make gun owners second class citizens." Missouri candidate for US Senate Eric Greitens, who recently ran an ad fantasizing about hunting and murdering fellow Republicans, called it a "gun confiscation bill" and claimed it would be "one of the most anti-2A laws ever passed." Also, fuck that guy. Needless to say, the National Rifle Association condemned it as well.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), who as Florida governor supported a much more robust gun law following the 2018 massacre in Parkland, Florida (including a state red flag law), voted against the Senate bill because he still thinks he can be president some day.
Even so, the bill has the support of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to advance it yesterday, so it's likely to pass before the July 4 recess, and then it should easily pass the House and be signed into law.
Like, unless five Senate Republicans suddenly decide to not vote for it and it's killed off by the filibuster. But what are the odds of a last-minute reversal by Republicans, huh?
[Politico / Texas Tribune / NYT]
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God Help Us, Great American Artist Jon McNaughton Made One Fugly Painting For Dok's 60th Birthday
Oh lordy, there's a poem, too!
Jon McNaughton, the Sage of Salt Lake City and creator of the Greatest Patriotic Painting of All Time, "Jesus Hands George Washington the Constitution While Lincoln, Adams, Madison, and Everyone from the Sgt. Pepper's Album Cover Sing Barbershop," has shared a new work of art with America, just in time for Yr. Doktor Zoom's 60th birthday today.
I swear, if any of you filthy fuckaducks even THINK of buying me a print, I will not invite you to my birthday party, which I am not having anyway.
The new work is titled "Politically Incorrect," and like every other McNaughton painting, we suspect it's meant to be a savagely bold affront to liberal sensitivities. We'd say we were "triggered" by this thing, but we're fairly sure that isn't supposed to involve quite this much giggling.
The racially ambiguous fellow with the AR-15 there — McNaughton says he's "neither black not white," so we'll assume it's a middle aged Michael Jackson — is adorned with all sorts of messages we suppose are intended to make libs wail and gnash their teeth. Let us catalogue these many artifacts of the Kitscher wars.
- Big scary gun that scares liberals, who are all afraid of freedom and guns, which are the same thing.
- MAGA hat, because you libs all just LOSE IT when you see those.
- American Flag print bandana — not an actual flag because that would be blasphemous.
- Confederate flag belt buckle, because liberals hate the real history of America and want to erase it.
- Patch with a cross that says "faith," because liberals hate God Almighty and the nation He founded.
- Patch with the Gadsden Flag, because Patriots will not be trod upon.
- Patch reading "2A" because McNaughton wasn't sure he could paint the NRA logo that small and have it still be recognized, and what if they sued him? Oh hey, maybe that's the bit of red beneath his gun's shoulder strap?
- Patch that appears to be the Union Pacific logo, because liberals ... hate trains?
- "All Lives Matter" T-shit, because liberals only care about Black lives, what hypocrites!
- Holy Bible, because obviously that makes libs cry. We bet you are crying right now, libs, because you know you are going to Hell.
- Tiny American Flag lapel pin, exactly like the one Barack Obama never wore even once ever because the USA flag makes Muslims burst into flames.
- Republican party elephant logo patch, which I can't imagine any actual rightwing gunmilitia loony wearing, but McNaughton can.
- "Secure the Border" patch, based on a real design you can google it yourself
- "Straight Pride" patch, which is not based on a real design as far as we can tell. McNaughton also includes what's purported to be a "straight pride" flag on our dude's jacket, a bit of iconography I'd never seen until just now. McNaughton apparently doubted his customers would recognize it, so he added that other patch with the words spelled out.
But wait! At McNaughton's website, you can also read a poem that McNaughton wrote about this transgressive character — if you dare ! As we noted in our review of McNaughton's now memory-holed YA novel about angels and good posture, Jon McNaughton is a multi-talented artist whose way with words makes his paintings look pretty darn competent. Here, have a pome!
“Politically Incorrect” by Jon McNaughton
Out on the gun range he stood,
The embodiment of a man.
He was neither black nor white,
A proud American.
He held a firearm of choice.
It was his right to own,
and was trained to use it skillfully,
For defenses unbeknown.
The American Dream is real.
Though ideologies clash.
He wore a red MAGA hat,
And a Martin Luther King mustache.
Who tells you what to think,
Or how to raise your voice,
Republican or Democrat,
Choose life, or be pro-choice?
You see - ALL Lives Matter,
And you cannot favor race,
The Constitution is colorblind,
Wokeness - a disgrace!
There is an absolute truth
Bigoted leftists always forget:
You cannot censure people,
Or the politically incorrect.
Crom knows that when we think of Martin Luther King and his mustache, we also think of Confederate flags, albeit he's not usually the one wearing one as a belt buckle.
In conclusion, we are all one nation, but only one part of that nation is really American, and liberals should knock it off with all that censureship, happy birthday to me I am OLD now, get off my lawn, Jon McNaughton, you cannot have your frisbee back.
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