"Oh Woe Is Me! BOO HOO HOO!!!"

The piece of filth that broke into his ex wife's family's home and executed a bunch of kids as well as the adults?  The poor baby 'collapsed' in the courtroom on hearing the charges of 1st degree murder.


Sounds like they're going to try an insanity defense.

Durham, appointed by the court to represent Haskell, said his focus will be Haskell’s mental condition “and whether he was legally responsible at the time of his conduct.”
“I think the evidence is going to show … he is a troubled individual and he has a history of mental illness,” Durham said. “Unfortunately, the delivery of the health care has failed in this system.”

But get this:

Haskell had been jailed in 2008 on charges of assault and domestic violence in Logan, Utah. Those charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to Logan authorities. Last year, Haskell was served with a protective order from his ex-wife. It was dismissed after they filed for divorce, court records show.

Yep, and he had a current RO against him. Aren't we glad the authorities will protect us?

Gamer Rant: ROBOTECH Tactics & Academy

Some of you know that I'm a gamer and a fan of the series ROBOTECH.  There have been two Kickstarters in the last year regarding it.  One for a tactical miniatures game from Palladium Books, the other (ongoing) for a new animated series from Harmony Gold.

Holy Crap, the levels of hate, nonsense, and trolling on these are at 'Yahoo' message board levels, mostly from so-called 'fans' of the show/series.

I'll start w/ Academy.

Harmony Gold has a long history of aborted ROBOTECH (Sentinels, Shadow Chronicles, etc) projects and legal conflict over the Macross name, vehicle images etc and 'fans' make sure to dredge it up each and every chance they get on every medium they can find.  This KS is no different.  Starting w/ the first update, several folks pledged just so they could hate on Harmony Gold as often (and at length) as they could.  HG responded w/ their very own tier: Enemy Spy, just so people can bitch and whine to their hearts content.

Yeah, we get it.  You think HG sucks.  You want Macross expansions released in the US.  You think HG sucks.  Guess what?  I want to see Sentinels revived.  Ain't gonna happen.  I picked up the 'Shadow Chronicles' DVD.  Didn't like it. So you know what I did?  I didn't buy any more and sold the disc.  I'm hoping that 'Academy' is decent.  If it gets funded and I like it? Yay.  If not, I chalk it up as some money lost and sell it.  Bitching about it endlessly isn't going to change it.

IOW, don't like HG?  Don't support it.  THAT'S the way the difference is made.

Onto Tactics.

I'm not much of a minis gamer but really want these as shelf displays and might even play the game from time to time. I admit I funded at a fairly high level to sell off enough via second market to pay for the ones I got and to get them painted semi-professionally.  This game funded at about 20x what the original goal was and it was Palladium's first delving into the world of minis.  I think they got in a bit over their head.

 Now Palladium books has a long history of very much delayed projects, some indefinitely and KS projects are notoriously late.  Put these two together and the original shipping estimate of  December 2013 was....well..... naive, if not outright stupid.  Couple this w/ PB selling ROBOTECH Tactics Exclusives at GenCon last year and you're just asking for some pissed off customers.  The date didn't bother me (I'ld dealt w/ both Palladium and KS before on that and knew what to expect) but the exclusive mini thing cheesed me off. The levels of stupidity in response however, have surpassed Ludicrous Speed.

The levels of bitching by a select subgroup of fans is beyond nonsense. PB doesn't update as often as they like?  Bitching about how they're hiding things.  They update?  The update is 'crap', PB is 'lying', the models are 'garbage', ad nauseum. Seriously, whining because each mini doesn't come w/ enough pieces for every one to allow for half a dozen different poses. I'm not exaggerating on this. Models not put together at 'museum' quality hours after getting them unboxed so fans can see them. Splitting the shipping up into groups to get the main game pieces to backers sooner means the 2nd wave of expansions and extras will never arrive because all the money's been spent. It's seriously this stupid.  But it gets stupider.

Up comes PB's update that they're expecting to get in some containers of product right before GenCon.  They're going to start shipping to backers and continue during the convention while bringing about 100 sets there to demo and sell because there is no way they could bring enough to fulfill KS orders (never mind the logistics headache of keeping it all straight of who got what).  You'ld think Kevin Siembieda had announced he was selling their mothers and sisters into slavery by the reactions.  Threats of lawsuits, boycotts, demands for refunds, claims they're going to buy the retail sets at the Con and destroy them in front of the booth, all from a group of fanboys who are pissed they aren't getting their plastic army toys first (many of them to resell on the secondary market). Anyone who tries to disagree are labelled as 'White Knights', and 'SiemBieda fanboys sitting under his desk'.

So up comes the next update.  Kevin Siembieda puts up he'll leave it up to KS supporters whether PB will sell at GenCon but non-responses will be counted as compliance, iow a 'yes'.  Yeah, that's pretty sh!tty right there but it didn't matter.  The ones spewing out the hate have turned out to be in a small minority.  80%+ of respondents have been voting in the positive to allow sales of the 100 or so sets.  The 'No' votes, outnumbered 5-1, are continuing to troll the thread and refuse to respond to the FACT that they've been outvoted even w/o the d!ck wording of the counting.

To those few dozen people.... you're acting like a bunch of jack@sses.  I've looked at some of your profiles and I've seen little but hate towards everything.  Go ahead and talk to a lawyer about a 'class action lawsuit'.  You'll get laughed out of the office from any competent attorney.  Go ahead and demand Palladium bring 1000 games w/ them to the convention (no, I'm not exaggerating that one either). It just shows you know nothing about business or logistics.  Go ahead and say 'you'll never buy another Palladium product again. You're in the minority and odds are good you'll buy it if you like it anyway. Go ahead and sell off all your ROBOTECH KS stuff.  You were planning to sell most of it anyway. 


As for my creds, I cut my teeth on pre-'Red Box' D&D and Top Secret.  I watched Mazes & Monsters on TV and had my school ban D&D due to Patricia Pulling.  I picked up  ROBOTECH 1st ed (3rd Printing) RPG when I was about 12 and expanded into PFRPG (also 1st ed, 3rd printing w/ the controversial 'Sexual Deviancy' rules) both of which I still play.  I refuse to play 2nd ed. as I think it's crap, basically just Rifts Dimension Book: Palladium, and sold off the majority of the Rifts books since I didn't care for them.  I've been gaming for over 30 yrs along w/ near a decade of political activism.  I've seen this type of petulant childishness countless times from trolls much better than these.

IOW, screw off and let those of us who want to enjoy it do so.

Rahm-bo Grilled At Taste of Chicago

What happens when media don't pander to politicians and give them a free pass on their incompetence?

Actual journalism:


Rahm, wanting some nice, happy soundbites at the ToC to distract from the fact that Chicago is more dangerous than Iraq, gets asked tough questions.  Instead of answering, he scurries away while one of his lapdogs tries to censor/assault the interviewer.

Here's one I'ld like to ask "Hey Mayor, instead of wasting millions of dollars trying to keep people like Rhonda Ezell and the late Otis McDonald disarmed and helpless, why don't you invest that money in schools, after-school programs and police?"

Here's the weekend so far:


At least 2 dead, 18 wounded in city shootings 
 a possible drive-by shooting...refused to cooperate with police
 gave police a bogus address before they figured out he had also been shot on Quincy.
 opened fire from a passing light-colored four-door car
 what may have been a drive-by shooting

It rained last night:

1 killed, 4 wounded in separate city shootings 
 there were some gang overtones.
 a gray vehicle pulled up and someone shouted at the man, who started to run away when he heard shots

40

F*ck.

Review: Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes

Set 10 yrs after "Rise", most of humanity is gone due to the 'Simian Flu' from the first movie.  Still set in/around San Fran, the apes have established a society led by Caesar and have not had any contact w/ humans for several years, making them wonder if there are any left.  Well it won't be a spoiler to say that there are and a conflict arises between a survivor colony in the city and the ape colony. Be prepared for a third installment to this series.

As a true fan of the original 'Planet of the Ape' movies, I will say I find these to be a worthy relaunch, especially considering the abortion that was the 2001 film. The acting is decent, the story is engaging w/ character development as well as characters to enjoy, and top notch special effects and cinematography.

4.5/5 stars

Hell Hath Frozen Over

These words combined in the same sentence in the Chicago Tribune, the same paper that once called for repealing the 2A:

the NRA has a point

This is regarding the secret, governor appointed panel to 'review' CCW denials. 

Maybe, just maybe, their NRA-hate has been overridden by the fact that starchamber courts like this are a bad idea in ANY circumstance, even in an area they find unpalatable, because you never know, there might be a similar 'panel' in store for the writers if Dick Durbin et al get their 'Authorized Journalist' bill passed.

@ShannonRWatts: State Gun Laws Don't Work...Even In State

According to her, ONLY federal laws can stop in-state criminal activities:

"We always hear Illinois has some of the most extreme gun laws in the nation, that if gun laws worked, Chicago's strict laws would make it a safe haven," Watts says. "But the borders around Chicago are invisible. The guns stream in from Indiana, Wisconsin and Mississippi."
Indeed, 43 percent of the guns seized by Chicago police were originally purchased in other parts of Illinois, and 57 percent came from out of state, according to ThinkProgress.
"That's only going to be stopped by a federal law," Watts says.

So like most people, she has trouble recognizing that 'Illinois' /= 'Chicago'.  Illinois has licensing, universal background checks, waiting periods yet nearly half of the guns the CPD confiscates are from Illinois.  Does she think that a FEDERAL law will suddenly change that? 

Guess what Shannon, the borders around the STATE are invisible.  The borders around the COUNTRY are invisible. The strict laws don't even work in Illinois, why do you think they'll work in the country? 

All Chicago All The Time

2 dead, 8 wounded in Tuesday shootings
 
According to a police source, both are self-admitted gang members.
 A police source said the teen was a self-admitted gang member.
a dark-colored sedan drove past and someone inside fired at him (iow gang)
 someone in the pursuing vehicle then shot him in the head (gang/drug)

Young mother of five dead after shooting on Dan Ryan 

Some gang-banging thug shooting up the highway. 

 This is McCarthy's 'crime fighting techniques' in action.  Instead Rahm and Quinn will continue to spend millions trying to keep victims victims.

So where's Jesse Jackson Sr. and Shannon Watts and their paid for marchers?  Obama did a press conference on the boy he wanted to be his son, what about these? 

John Walsh Wants His New Show Cancelled

by following in the tracks of Piers Morgan in 'taking on the NRA'.

So a "Gun Owner Butt..." wants to use a new show on a network w/ declining ratings to stump about a generally unpopular topic while getting gun advice from Joe 'Shotgun' Biden.

Yeah, there's some good marketing for you.

But I found this particularly funny:

Walsh said he has suggested that gun manufacturers put GPS tracking devices in every gun so stolen weapons could be easily recovered.

Hmmm. A tracking device in a gun.  Kind of like what the Gov't attempted w/ 'Fast and Furious'? 

Just goes to show he's another sufferer of 'Hollywood Syndrome'.

Grassroots vs Bloomberg Money in Niles, IL

As what usually happens when gun control doesn't function in an echo chamber of censorship, they get outnumbered and lose.

In this case, Niles, IL was debating a permit for a gun shop in an industrial zone.  Bloomberg supporters have a conniption fit because it would be 'within walking distance' of some schools/parks then try to play some of the standard parlor tricks w/ the debate.  Well the main committee punted it to 'zoning' which held their meeting last night.  PuSH'ers were outnumbered 3-1 at least. 

According to the ISRA, the anti-gun folks used quite a bit of nonsense as well as attempting to smear the owners of the shop in order to spread the usual fear-mongering, going on about kids wandering through the store and range.  They even tried to get Todd Vandermyde, NRA lobbyist thrown out of the meeting.

So tell me again how it's a conspiracy theory that the anti-gun groups will try and get rid of gun shops after mandating 'universal background checks'?