Friday Shakedown

Dan Bidondi, an Infowars "reporter," went to Massachusetts and didn't plan on running into opposition like this.  An unnamed resident engaged him on Infowars' crazy conspiracy theories.

(NSFW)

I wish more people would confront wackos like this in this way.  It's just like the Westboro Baptist Church.  They do not respond to reason, reason, or facts, and they contribute nothing to the debate.  Having an argument with them is not a good use of your time.  You will walk away from the encounter feeling more frustrated than you were at the start and they will walk away thinking they've won.  The only thing they respond to is ridicule.  

North Carolina is trying to make it harder for students to vote.  Shocking, I know.  The bill, which was sponsored by six Republican Senators, would force the parents of out-of-state students to pay higher taxes if they claim their child as a dependent and the student is registered to vote in their college district.  If you are a student, you should be able to vote for the district that directly represents you where you live.  When I was a student at Ohio State, I petitioned the congresswoman for Ohio District 15, which was where the school sat.  For the time I was attending and living there, I considered her my voice in Congress.  I should have been able to vote in that district if there had been an election while I was there.  Speaking of Ohio... They're trying to do a similar thing there.  This is just another example Republicans trying to suppress the vote and change the rules of the game.  Instead of having a message that appeals to a majority of the country, or people in their districts, they try to keep opponents from voting.  That isn't how democracy is supposed to work.

In other news, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, famous for being one of the most hated members of the Senate on both the Left and Right, floated the notion of a presidential run.  This move was promptly met with laughter all around.

The NRA has a new president and he's possibly more to the right than the last one.  At a speech in New York, he referred to the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression."  There is so much wrong with that, I don't even know where to start.  The historian in my head is speechless at the moment.  

Maybe more along the lines of the Civil War tomorrow...