#Garrett Gun

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Tayo Bero

This month, the Texas state parole board unanimously recommended the pardon and release of convicted killer and former US army sergeant Daniel Perry, along with the restoration of his firearm rights. Perry had been working as an Uber driver in July 2020 when he shot and killed Garrett Foster, a white man who was attending a Black Lives Matter protest with his Black fiancee. Perry was later indicted for murder, tried, convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison by an Austin jury.

Almost a year from the date of his sentencing, Perry’s pardon was granted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and he now walks free. As terrifying as the initial incident was, this pardon sends a chilling message: that politically motivated killing is OK, and that politicians are more focused on pandering to political pressure than protecting people’s lives.

During Perry’s trial, it emerged that in the weeks before he killed Foster, he had shared white-supremacist memes and talked about how he “might have to kill a few people” who were demonstrating outside his house in 2020. He also compared the Black Lives Matter movement to “a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their shit”. And days into nationwide protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, Perry sent a text message saying: “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters.”

Perry described shooting Foster as an act of self-defense. Yet according to trial testimony about the day Foster died, Perry had seen the predominantly Black group of protesters gathered across the street from him, ran a red light and drove his car right into the middle of the protest. When Foster – who was legally carrying a firearm but had not, according to some eyewitnesses, threatened Perry – approached Perry’s car, he shot him dead and sped away.

In rehashing this horrendous incident, the question on my mind is: how do you justify “pardoning” a person like this? Condemning Perry’s release isn’t about believing in carcerality or wanting to keep people in prisons, mind you; it’s about how we get to this point as a society, whom we grant permission to kill, and how we treat the people involved in a tragedy like this in its aftermath.

Abbott – who rarely issues pardons, and has generally only pardoned low-level, nonviolent offenders – had faced pressure from conservative media figures to grant Perry one. Rightwing pundits like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and even Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi squeezed him publicly about Perry’s conviction. It doesn’t seem like Abbott needed much convincing, though, seeing as he directed the parole board to review Perry’s case just one day after he was convicted.

There’s also the question of how we got here. Foster’s death and his killer’s subsequent pardon are the direct result of a government that’s more beholden to wealthy gun lobbyists than concerned with commonsense legislation that literally saves lives. Foster’s death was, in part, the result of a tragic meeting of Texas’s notoriously loose stand-your-ground self-defense laws, which Perry’s supporters claim he was upholding when he shot Foster, and the state’s “open carry” laws, which Foster was legally exercising when he had his rifle slung over his shoulder during the protest.

Alan Bean, the executive director of the Texas-based civil rights advocacy group Friends of Justice, summed up the implications of Perry’s case succinctly.

“If one guy with a gun feels threatened by another guy with a gun, murder is permissible. If both men felt threatened, the resulting tragedy would technically be ruled a no-fault double-homicide,” he wrote after news of the pardon went public.

Even Texas police aren’t blind to the ways that open-carry laws are exceptionally dangerous and nonsensical. “We were completely opposed to ‘license to carry’ because anytime there’s more guns, there’s a problem,” Ray Hunt, executive director of the Houston police officers’ union, said back in 2021.

If there was any doubt that Abbott doesn’t care how problematic these laws are, even after what happened to Foster, consider that he used his pardon announcement to reaffirm that “Texas has one of the strongest ‘stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney”.

These are scary words to hear from your elected official after a tragedy that could have been avoided with better gun laws. Abbott continues to signal to gun-toting rightwingers that they can go around murdering people they don’t agree with, and that they will have the full force of the law to back them up.

Foster’s mother, Sheila, spoke to the New York Times after the pardon, and her words are haunting in their truth. “It doesn’t make sense,” she said over the phone. “It seems like this is some kind of a political circus and it’s costing me my life.”

[sorchathered]

Getting my husband to watch Triple Frontier with me

My husband- you have a type boo

Me- what do you mean?

Husband- brown haired military men with ptsd who are a little grumpy and sassy…

Me- oh so basically I pick you in fictional characters everywhere I go.

Husband- shit. 🤦🏼‍♀️

😂😂😂😂

He’s not wrong though 😂

[recycledmoviecostumes]

Helen Rose crafted this captivating pink and white gown with sheer sleeves for the 1949 film Take Me Out to the Ballgame, where it was worn by Betty Garrett, who breathed life into the character Shirley Delwyn.

The gown reemerged from the garment racks in the following year for the 1950 musical Annie Get Your Gun, where an extra wore it in a crowd scene filled with reused costumes from Take Me Out to the Ballgame and The Harvey Girls. Can you spot them?

Costume Credit: Tika Begleiter

Follow: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

[odinsblog]

“Covid, pregnant women bleeding out, submerged wire on the border, psychos with guns – if people are needlessly suffering and dying in Texas, Greg Abbott is always there to throw the full weight of his office in support of whatever is killing them.” —Matt Hinton

More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a protester in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned the former U.S. Army sergeant on Thursday shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon.

A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a 2020 demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color.

One day after a jury convicted Perry, Abbott directed the parole board to review the former U.S. Army sergeant’s case.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles announced their recommendation on Thursday, stating that their decision came after a “meticulous review of pertinent documents, from police reports to court records, witness statements, and interviews with individuals linked to the case.” Governor Abbott quickly approved the recommendation, emphasizing Texas’ strong “Stand Your Ground” laws in his statement. “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said. “I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation.”

Abbott approved the board’s recommendation, which included restoration of Perry’s firearm rights.

(continue reading)

[paunchsalazar]

haven’t started Inquisition yet… but I know the day is coming and when it does…

[infinitepunches]

"No. We aren't allowing Joseph Kosinski to direct Tron 3 and continue the story he started in Legacy, even though he just made $1.5 billion off of Top Gun Maverick.

Instead, we got the director of... Maleficent 2..? and Pirates of the Caribbean 5..?"

[ilsilenteloquaceblog]

Bob Dylan - Knockin’ on heaven’s door

Il Silente Loquace ©

— @ilsilenteloquaceblog

[sci-fi-disney-prince]

My North—Episode 41: Garrett Hedlund

Posted by Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's YouTube Channel on 11/15/2017

[badsongpetey]

Danger Zone, page 9: The dogfight continues...

As I have said many times before, I started this comic so early into my art (and klance) journey that it's become as much about me learning to draw as anything else. When I first started this back in April (?), I sort of looked at every page as a chance to practice everything I was learning at that point. And while it's true that every drawing is practicing, I've recognized that throwing everything I've got at every page is slowing my progress down considerably. I had what I believe is called a "come to Jesus" moment with myself, and realized that at this point (about a year into drawing klance), what I want for this comic is to focus on the storytelling and not practicing whatever new thing I've learned about art on every page.

I like having nice lineart, but I've been trying to find ways to cut back on some details and go a bit simpler with shadows and colors. At one point I considered not coloring it at all, but I, personally, just like the color, so it stays :) Anyway, while design on this comic is an evolving thing, I do have a super fun, very klance story outlined for this that I hope now might go a bit faster (I'm anxious to share it with you all!). Thanks for reading and putting up with the constant changes lol

[masquenoire]

Icons Only - shows up in his office right behind him, no sound, no warning, nothing. :3 ( @gnarledbite )

Send "Icons only" and something for my muse to react toAnd I will show my muse's reaction using only icons (1-5) and no text

BONUS ICON!

[thebongomediaempire]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Democratic attorneys general call for federal probe of Greg Abbott pardon | Chron.

By Brooke Kushwaha

Texas Governor Greg Abbott's recent pardon of convicted killer Daniel Perry is now the target of 14 Democratic Attorneys General who are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the pardon.

The letter penned by New York Attorney General Letitia James and signed by 13 other Democratic Attorneys General urged U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a civil rights investigation into Perry, who was convicted of murder and later pardoned after killing Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin.

Governor Abbott vowed to pardon Foster before he was even convicted last year, citing Texas’ “stand your ground” laws permitting certain instances of armed self-defense if an individual feels threatened. Both Perry and Foster had been armed in the altercation, but Perry fatally shot Foster. Within a year, the governor-appointed Texas parole board recommended Perry’s pardon and Governor Abbott acted swiftly to approve his release. Perry walked free within an hour of the announcement.

In the absence of state intervention, James called on the federal government to bring Perry to justice, characterizing Perry's actions as racially motivated acts of hate.

“The facts of the case were egregious,” James wrote, noting that a jury of 12 had voted to convict Perry of murder after the discovery that he had posted online advocating for vigilante murder of racial justice protestors.

James cited the Dept. of Justice’s history of taking on civil rights cases superseding local and state justice systems, and expressed concern that Texas' "stand your ground" laws as enforced by Abbott could encourage others to commit further acts of violence against protestors.

“At the time of his murder, Garrett Foster was exercising his First Amendment right to protest, as a part of broader protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the summer of 2020,” James wrote. “Texas law does not prevent a federal prosecution for Mr. Perry’s act of killing someone for racial reasons in order to prevent him from exercising constitutional rights.”

Governor Abbott's office did not respond to request for comment.

[phantom-typist]

Can we talk about how much of a dumb fuck Wendy's brother was like wtf dude are you dense?

[feedbaylenny]

Suspect dropped straw, escaped until 'the chain of his bike broke and he then tripped'

(As originally published , Fri, December 8th 2023, 2:59 PM EST) LADY LAKE, Fla. (TND) — The report of a suspicious person outside a pain clinic led to a sheriff’s deputy, a minor accident, a chase, and two felony charges. It all happened last Tuesday, Nov. 28, by the National Pain Institute in Lady Lake, Fla. An employee claimed she saw someone “wandering around, circling the building,” after…

[rainbowbeanstyles]

i was about to complain about no one telling me garrett dropped the new vid but just saw it was posted three hours ago<3

[survivedsarchived]

the ableism kristin displayed in the finale is so frustrating, not because of its presence (it makes sense for her character) but because i always fear how ableism will be received by a fandom because historically.. it's just pretty dire <3 it makes SO much sense for her to act that way about danny's austim and everett's anxiety but i fear people dismissing it/not recognizing it/just acting like she "meant something else" because that's typically how these things go