Craziest Republican of the Day: Ryan Fattman

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Craziest Republican of the Day or Worst Human Being in the World. You decide.

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As Think Progress is reporting, this reprehensible Republican state senator from Massachusetts is so hateful of undocumented immigrants that he thinks they shouldn't come forward if they're ever raped and beaten.

Seriously:

[On Wednesday], the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported on Fattman's incendiary comments, which he made while defending a controversial federal immigration program that many say will damage the relationship between law enforcement and immigrant communities. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has refused to join the program out of concern that immigrants who are victims of violent crimes will be afraid to report them and seek help:

Mr. Fattman dismissed concerns of some law enforcement officials — cited by the governor — who said using local police to enforce immigration laws could discourage reporting of crime by victims who are illegal immigrants. 

Asked if he would be concerned that a woman without legal immigration status was raped and beaten as she walked down the street might be afraid to report the crime to police, Mr. Fattman said he was not worried about those implications.

"My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward," Mr. Fattman said. "If you do it the right way, you don't have to be concerned about these things," he said referring to obtaining legal immigration status.

Instead of helping rape victims, the new federal program would have police turn them directly over to the federal government to be deported.

I wish I were kidding about this, but this is pretty much in line with mainstream Republican thinking these days.

Even if you take a hard line on undocumented immigrants, even if you think they should be deported, shouldn't you at least treat them like human beings?

Fuck you, Ryan Fattman. You disgusting piece of shit.

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Fattman looks like he's 12 but apparently he's 26. And, alas, he went to Tufts. I'm embarrassed. And I hope my alma mater is as well.

Giffords shooter deemed incompetent, won't stand trial (yet)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

NYT:

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Jared L. Loughner was not mentally competent to stand trial on charges that he opened fire at a constituent event for Representative Gabrielle Giffords in January, killing six and injuring her and 12 others.

The ruling by Judge Larry A. Burns of Federal District Court suspends the court proceedings against Mr. Loughner while the suspect, who experts said has schizophrenia, undergoes treatment at a federal psychiatric facility in Springfield, Mo.  

It's disappointing, I suppose, that Loughner will now face treatment instead of a trial, but it's good that the system allows for such determinations. In this case, we can assume that the judge did not make his ruling lightly.

For more, see Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft.

DSK resigns (in criminal shame)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

NYT:

Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive allegations that he had sexually attacked a cleaning lady in a midtown Manhattan hotel room.

"It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF," he said in a statement issued Wednesday. "I think at this time first of my wife -- whom I love more than anything -- of my children, of my family, of my friends."

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In issuing his resignation Wednesday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said, "I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me."

Innocent until proven guilty. Yes, yes, yes.

But I still call bullshit.

The guy's got a history, after all, and, much like Berlusconi, he probably thought he could use (and abuse) women (and especially young, vulnerable women) at will.

(Am I unfairly jumping to conclusions? Please.)

(By the way, I suspect he'll either get off, pun intended, or be convicted on reduced charges given a lack of evidence. He'll still have his apologists in France, but there's no way he recovers from this.)

W.W.J.F?

     Minister in Atlanta shoots 13 year old who threw rocks at his vehicle.

     Just What Would Jesus Fire? A .38?

Crime City USA

     Orlando and Birmingham tie for the 3rd most dangerous cities in the USA, according to an analysis of crime stats by US News & World Report.

Nearby Atlanta is number one.