Lover Boy and I went to lunch together with someone from his company and his wife. The husband asked what I did for a living and I responded that I'm mostly a homemaker while taking care of my school-aged SIL during the day.

"Oh, so you don't work," he said absently.

Lover Boy responded rather testily, "She said she's a homemaker and takes care of a kid. How much more f---ing work do you think there is?"

The gentleman apologized profusely for his insensitive remark.

that is as far as I'm going in that statement.

-- malcontent on.

A) Yes. It's that important to stand on principle even if the election is lost

B) Obfuscate, then come out for gun control once elected

C) No. I suppose we have more public outreach to do before risking the presidency

D) Gun control is totally a winning issue!

E) I'm pro-RKBA so this is an easy choice for me

F) Other

Assuming you want the GOP to field their most vulnerable, easily-beaten candidate.

EXTRA CREDIT: Who would be the last/worst-case GOP candidate if they were to win?

Assume there is a city ordinance duly passed against unsightly displays in pubic view but the homeowner has built a fort for his children and the neighborhood kids. Notice has been served that the fort has to be taken down but the homeowner refuses, stating the ordinance is stupid and the kids are having fun.

He receives a citation but since he considers the citation to be based on flawed reasoning of a flawed ordinance he refuses to pay it. He is then served with a summons to appear in court but now his mindset is the flaws have reached an absurd level so he again refuses to answer to the authorities. A bench warrant is issued for his arrest. He does not surrender himself. Law enforcement officers are dispatched to his residence. He will not comply with their instructions.

What should happen next?

A) Never mind, the juice ain't worth the squeeze

B) Find some other mechanism to impose a penalty, something less muscular

C) Screw this guy. If he wants to thumb his nose at the system we'll show him

D) Other

This OP feels a little too soon after the fact but this is gnawing at me.

The pilot that just murdered 149 people by deliberately crashing his plane had a history of mental illness and was deemed not fit for duty. In GD I have seen several threads cautioning us (lecturing us, really) not to blame the patient. I agree the patient doesn't want to be mentally ill and has done nothing to provoke their condition. So, in that regard, they are blameless and we should strive as society out of both basic decency and self-interest to provide them the treatment they need.

However, if the pilot had taken a gun and gone after his victims in a suicidal rampage who would be blamed?

-- The coed student not wanting to walk back to her dorm defenseless after staying out late studying

-- The store owner not wanting to surrender his meager earnings to common crooks

-- The wife escaping with her children from an abusive ex

-- The competition shooter

-- The hunters who feeds their families while ensuring game herds don't over-graze the land

-- The people spending time with friends and family at a generations-old hobby

-- The families protecting their homes from random criminals

And they are being blamed even though Loughner, Lanza, Hasan, Holmes, Alexis, Rogers, Cho and others were known to the authorities as being dangerous. Let that sink in. None of the above-named people emerged ex nihilo. All of them exhibited behaviors that brought them in contact with law enforcement, healthcare providers, superiors, etc. that made people warn there was a propensity for future acts of violence. We were warned. Why, then, are we blaming 80 million people for the acts of these individuals?

(By the way, how is it even logistically feasible to blame 80 million people -- a number so vast it can only be expressed as a generalized abstraction -- while those who commit the underlying heinous acts are so few they can be named as individuals?)

I suppose we could blame the authorities who appear derelict in their duties and try to hold them accountable -- but then who would be left to enforce gun control laws (assuming they would not be derelict in those duties, as well).

And all morning, every time my husband looks at me, he starts sporting this insipid grin.

I'm scared to check social media.