ProudLib72
ProudLib72's JournalPresidents Can Be Impeached Because Benjamin Franklin Thought It Was Better Than Assassination
Older article concerned mostly with Bill Clinton, but still worth reading about what the founding fathers thought of impeachment.
It would be best, Franklin argued, “to provide the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive when his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be justly accused.”
The founders also debated on the criteria for impeachment, settling on treason, bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors against the state. “High crimes and misdemeanors” was another term that originated in British law, Chafetz writes. Ultimately, he writes, impeachment on these grounds was better for the country than than assassination. “The Constitution’s impeachment procedures make the removal of the chief magistrate less violent, less disruptive, and less error-prone than assassination.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/american-presidents-can-be-impeached-because-benjamin-franklin-thought-it-was-better-assassination-180961500/
Schiff Points out President's Insider Trading
https://twitter.com/AdamSchiffCA/status/969688914645495809?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EtweetI call it "Operation Cheeseburger!" says The Donald, who hopes the extra loot will keep him well stocked with delicious Big Macs.
Without a PR person, how will tRump survive?
Seriously, if he was at 37% poopularity WITH Hicks, then what will he be at without her? My God, what has she been shielding us from thus far? I am very afraid! 
In Oath Keepers Webinar, Student Gun Control Activists Are The Enemy
Definitely 
worthy. If another shooting occurred, would they only defend the students who supported guns? Maybe shoot the ones who didn't?
But the group doesn’t seem to think much of some of the students they say they want to protect.
During a meandering Monday night webinar held by the far-right, anti-government group, the gun writer David Codrea referred to Emma González and David Hogg, survivors of the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida as “the enemy.”
Another speaker on the webinar, Matt Bracken, said that sending armed guards to schools, “if handled right, could be very good PR” for the group. Bracken is the author of several books promoting gun rights, including “Enemies: Foreign and Domestic,” “Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista” and “Foreign Enemies and Traitors.”
More: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/oath-keepers-webinar-parkland-student-activists-enemy
The "Idiots With Guns" GIF Compilation Thread...Gonna Be Yuuuuggggeee!
Be sure to save a few to your desktop so you can post them on the social media platform of your choice or send them to your gun humping friends/relatives/neighbors.
As a teacher, I am wondering if a gun purchase counts as a tax write off
There is a $200 blanket write off I can take that is supposed to cover sundry supplies, but my new assault riffle is going to cost more than that I think. And I will need extra money for ammunition. I will need extra money to practice weekly at the local shooting range. I will need extra money for targets, obviously.
Yes, this is 
but can you imagine what that would look like on a tax form? To think it has gone so far that this is even a consideration is beyond stupid.
DUers, Did Your School Use Corporal Punishment?
That is the new RW meme for 'splainin' the Florida shooting: not enough God or spankings in school. So I wonder how many actually received or might have received a paddling from the principal when they were in school.
I never got a spanking, but I was in the principal's office a lot. He showed me his paddles and discussed having to use them the "next time". I always heard of kids in the older grades getting a paddling, but never believed the rumors. Mind you, this was in Texas in the late 70s, which should have been spanking central if we are to believe the RW meme. But before I call bullshit to the meme entirely, I would like to get some backup, maybe figure out if there really was widespread use of corporal punishment at some time in the past.
Juvenile Mental Health
Nikolas Cruz is 19, and will be tried as an adult. Had he been 17.5 years old, he would have the opportunity for parole. The issue of his age versus whether or not he should be tried as an adult has been rankling me. I am NOT advocating for him. I am, however, pointing out the arbitrariness of choosing 18 as the age at which a person becomes an "adult". Of particular interest in this paragraph is the last sentence of Justice Kagan's ruling.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority of the court "that mandatory life without parole for those under age of 18 at the time of their crime violates the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments". "Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features – among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences," Justice Kagan said. "It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him – and from which he cannot usually extricate himself – no matter how brutal or dysfunctional."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v._Alabama
This leads me to point two, access to mental health care and effectiveness of mental health care versus incarceration. After perusing the Mental Health America website, I have come across a few passages that sum up part of the problem that led to the Florida shooting:
In 2007, with a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) issued its Blueprint for Change: A Comprehensive Model for the Identification and Treatment of Youth with Mental Health Needs in Contact with the Juvenile Justice System.
MHA endorses the key principles which form the basis for the NCMHJJ Blueprint:
> Children should not have to enter the juvenile justice system in order to access mental health services.
> Mental health services should be consistent with the developmental realities of children.
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/positions/juvenile-justice
These few passages point toward two issues encountered in considering the case of Nikolas Cruz. First, he was identified as troubled while he was still a "juvenile" in school. The easiest way for the school to deal with him was to expel him. Let's call this administrative negligence. The second issue is imperiled access to mental health care. Being expelled from the school had the double consequence of removing a primary avenue to mental health care (school counselor plus his/her contacts with competent outside specialists) as well as placing the burden of locating health care and paying for it on Cruz's terminally ill foster mother (later on Nikolas himself, who would have had to apply through Medicaid). At the end of the day, Nikolas Cruz was on his own.
I put these sources out there for your consideration. The conclusion I draw from this is that we have a particularly vulnerable population of people on the verge of adulthood (but not quite), and we are failing them.
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