Tennessee Gun Report

I’ve been remiss …. Sorry!

• June 12, 2013:

A 79-year-old woman was accidentally shot in the leg by a man who was target shooting.

• June 10, 2013:

A Chattanooga police officer started shooting at someone who was shooting at someone — and missed:

The department said the officer confronted a man who was shooting at people at the Southside Reunion. The officer fired several rounds, but the suspect was not hit. He fled the scene.

How’s that “good guy with a gun” stuff supposed to work, again?

• June 5, 2013

A Chattanooga couple have been found not guilty in the 2010 accidental shooting death of their 2-year-old. The child was shot in the chest by their 5-year-old who had found a loaded gun in the parents’ nightstand.

• June 3, 2013:

A 17-year-old boy shot himself in the leg with a stolen .45 in South Knoxville Monday afternoon.

I Don’t Think “Bias” Means What Glen Casada Thinks It Means

Tennessee Republicans appear to be doing their best to score irony points. Today we have Williamson County Republican Glen Casada, fresh off of wiping his boots with Metro Nashville’s non-discrimination ordinance which protected GLBT and other minority groups from discrimination when the city contracts with private businesses. Casada made sure Nashville’s — and any other city’s — NDO was null and void, so private businesses can continue to discriminate against gays and your tax dollars can continue to pour into such companies. Huzzah.

Today Casada is joining the charge to wipe out perceived “bias” in our state textbooks:

According to Casada, R-Franklin, the question is one of many passages that display bias. Students learn very little about the men who founded the U.S. and what is taught portrays them in a negative light, Casada said. Meanwhile, socialists and foreign “despots” who killed hundreds of their countrymen are praised.

The founders portrayed in a negative light, while socialists are praised? I find this extremely hard to believe. In fact, that defies credibility on all levels. Do show me a history book which only teaches negative things about the founders while praising socialists. I’m dying to see this.

Speaking of portraying people in a negative light, isn’t Glen Casada the one who passed on incorrect information to State Senator Stacey Campfield about Democratic House candidate Roger Byrge? Prompting a libel lawsuit? Why, yes he was:

Campfield maintained in the deposition that he was just repeating information he had received from House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada of Franklin. Casada and the state Republican Party were also sued by Byrge but settled the case to undisclosed terms.

“I did not say those things,” Campfield said in the deposition. “Glen Casada said those things.”

Pressed by Byrge’s attorney, David Dunaway, about whether he was sorry he had published the comments on his blog, Campfield said: “I’m sorry Glen Casada was mistaken in his report, yes.”

Casada said in court filings that he did not intend for Campfield to post the information on the blog before it was confirmed. But Campfield said he didn’t feel a responsibility to verify what he had been told by Casada.

“If you want to say Glen was reckless, I guess you could say that,” Campfield said.

Campfield said he was contacted by Mark Goins, a former Republican state representative from Lafollete, to inform him that the candidate had been confused with somebody else.

Woopsies. I think when it comes to issues of “bias” and “portraying people in a negative light,” the guy who killed Nashville’s non-discrimination ordinance and spread lies about a Democratic candidate to a known loudmouth with a blog ain’t exactly the voice of credibility.

Also? When it comes to education, the people who have confused religious propaganda with sex education are not exactly voices of authority, either.

Anyway, what the hell do you care, Tennessee Republicans? Aren’t you homeschooling all of your kids so they learn about how Adam and Eve had pet dinosaurs and climate change is a liberal hoax?

Please. The very idea that Tennessee Republicans think they know squat about “bias” is hilarious.

Horrible Pilot Flying J People Plead Guilty

Remember Pilot Flying J regional sales director Arnold Ralenkotter, joking about ripping off “a fuckin’ Russian mafia guy” in Illinois named “Pav”, whom he referred to as a “dumbass”?

Yeah. He pleaded guilty to ripping off the trucking company’s customers. Also pleading guilty: Ashley Judd. No, not that one.

I’m guessing there’s going to be some sweet singing by these two — especially Ralenkotter, who might want to avoid running into Pav’s friends and associates in prison.

I think it defies credibility that Jimmy Haslam didn’t know about this scheme, especially seeing as how the fraud was openly discussed at meetings where Haslam was present. But even if Haslam slithers away, the company is facing a rash of lawsuits.

So, again: do we have any bets on what new name the Haslam family will dream up to rebrand the family business? I’m thinking “Patriot Family Red White And Blue Freedom Oil Of America.”

Tennessee Gun Report

A run-down of some Tennesseeans who luhrve their guns:

• May 26:

In Memphis, a 13-year-old girl was charged with aggravated assault domestic violence for shooting her 15-year-old brother with a pellet gun:

According to Lt. Helms with the Memphis Police Department, the boy was locked out of the family’s home on Quito Road in Millington. When he tried to contact their father, the 13-year-old came out of the house and shot her brother in the arm.

Weird.

• May 24:

1- A Jackson teenager was arrested after taking a loaded shotgun into a Walmart. He said he was trying to buy ammunition and was afraid the gun would be stolen if he left it in his car.

2- Notorious Nashville gun loon Leonard Embody has his day in court, and lost horribly:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Appeals Court has ruled against a Brentwood man who claimed state law regulating the carrying of firearms was unconstitutional.

Leonard Embody filed a lawsuit in 2010 after state officials took away his carry permit, finding a “material likelihood of risk of harm to the public.”

The revocation came after Embody was detained by Belle Meade police in 2010 while walking with a .44-caliber black powder revolver in his hand. He was detained in 2009 while walking in Radnor Lake State Park with an AK-47-style pistol. He also has been stopped in at least three similar incidents, although he was never charged with a crime.

Embody, who represented himself, claimed in court that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives him a right to carry firearms.

According to the court, “The crux of Embody’s argument is that, as a law-abiding citizen, the legislature may not constitutionally bar him from carrying loaded firearms in public.”

Ruling on Wednesday from Nashville, a three-member panel of the Tennessee Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling that the right to bear arms is not without limits.

The court said recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have found that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to keep and bear arms for the protection of hearth and home. However, when a person is in a public place, he or she must submit to public regulations, the Appeals Court stated.

Suckit, loon. You know that old saying: a person who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client.

• May 23:

A former police officer opened fire on a Bean Station pharmacy, killing two and injuring two.

• May 22:

1- A Lebanon teen accidentally shot himself in the leg last week:

A 14-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the leg Tuesday night at a home on Fairview Avenue in Lebanon, according to police.

The victim was with another 14-year-old friend looking at a gun on the front porch of the home when it discharged, police said. The victim told police he accidently shot himself while handling the gun.

2- People are such assholes: two bald eagles have been shot in Tennessee this spring, and a reward is being offered for information. The eagles survived and are receiving veterinary care. Check this out:

Dang. Modern veterinary medicine amazes me.

• May 20:

A Nashville gang member (now incarcerated) told a local news station that he and his fellow gang members frequented local gun shows to buy their guns:

Gutierrez said at age 15, he and other gang members went to local gun shows with cash and were easily able to buy four to six guns each visit.

“Anybody will sell you a gun,” Gutierrez said. “I mean no matter what, if you want a gun and you show them the money, and tell them you want to buy it, he’s going to definitely sell it to you.”

Gutierrez said he bought most guns in the gun show parking lot, after going inside the show and picking out which guns he wanted.

Licensed dealers must run background checks, but private sales at gun shows require no background check.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, “What if you had to go through a background check?”

Gutierrez responded, “I guess we wouldn’t be buying none.”

Thanks to Republicans like Sens. Alexander and Corker, Tennessee gang members still have easy access to firearms. Way to go, assholes.

• May 18:

1- A Franklin middle school student was arrested after pulling a gun at a school dance:

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — A middle school student was arrested Friday night after police officers said he pulled a gun at a school dance. The incident happened at the 8th grade dance at Freedom Middle School in Franklin.

2- With all of these accidents, gun thefts, and toddlers finding guns and shooting themselves and their siblings, this idiot Farragut Alderman actually thinks a requirement that all homeowners keep a gun in the house is a good idea:

At this point it should be clearly stated that this issue has never been about making firearms mandatory; it is about economic development, brand differentiation and the benefits associated with having such a statement.

“Brand differentiation”? You’re kidding, right?

Also, to all the gun loonz who want to make firearms mandatory: I’m assuming you’ll allow religious exemptions for peace-loving Quaker types and other anti-gun/anti-violence believers, right? You know, the same way you’re all up in arms over the Obama birth control mandate?

Y’all are idiots. The jokes just write themselves.

• May 15:

A resident of Unicoi believes his cat was severely injured by a stray bullet from a nearby shooting range:

Hinshaw said his cat was taken to the Unicoi Animal Hospital and, after X-rays were taken, bullet fragments were found in the cat’s injured paw. Hinshaw, who lives just across the road from the Scioto Shooting Range, also said he heard shooting at the range on the morning that his cat was found injured. He feels the bullet that injured his pet originated from the nearby range.

“Once the animal got shot that doesn’t cross the road, I mean, either it was shot in my yard or at the edge of the road, he doesn’t go to the range,” he said. “That’s when it really got real that bullets are coming this way. Then when you walk over to the range and you can see the holes in the garbage can from where they enter and where they pass through, it’s headed directly toward my house.”

While the federally-operated range predates the residences located across from it, and he said the once-secluded range provided an ideal location for marksmen to practice, Hinshaw said several homes are now in the “line of fire” and that he and several neighbors feel possible abuse of the range must be addressed.

Rep. Fincher Joins TNGOP’s Starving Children Club

[UPDATE]:

It’s not “stealing” when Rep. Fincher does it!

USDA data collected in EWG’s 2013 farm subsidy database update — going live tomorrow –shows that Fincher collected a staggering $3.48 million in “our” money from 1999 to 2012. In 2012 alone, the congressman was cut a government check for a $70,000 direct payment. Direct payments are issued automatically, regardless of need, and go predominantly to the largest, most profitable farm operations in the country.

I am literally at a loss for words. Surely Tennessee’s 8th district deserves better than a heartless bastard who has his hand in the till while telling poor children to go begging at the church door. And you call yourself a Christian with that mouth? No. That’s not Christianity. That is the opposite of Christianity. That is being selfish, greedy, and abusive.

I’m sick of these assholes and their phony faith.

—————————————————————————————

What is it with Tennessee Republicans and hungry children? First we had Williamson County GOP Chair Kevin Kookogey calling the National School Breakfast program a “perverse handout.” Yes, that’s right, making sure hungry kids start the day off right with some nutrition so they can actually learn something in school is perverse.

Then we had state Sen. Stacey Campfield’s now-infamous “starve the children” bill. And now we have Rep. Stephen Fincher, TN-08, passionately arguing to cut food stamps in the Farm Bill because, Jesus:

Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., then quoted a verse from the 26th chapter of Matthew, saying the “poor will always be with us” in his defense of cuts to the food stamps program. 

Fincher said obligations to take care of the poor should be left to churches, not the government.

Right, that worked so well for hundreds of years when the obligation to care for the poor really was left to the churches. Also, way to cherry-pick the Bible, dude.

But also, Jesus Hates Lazy Poors:

Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, who supports cuts to the program, had his own Bible verse from the Book of Thessalonians to quote back to Vargas: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” he said.

First of all, the idea that the poor don’t work is astonishingly, dumfoundingly stupid. Here’s a guy crafting policy affecting the poor and he knows absolutely nothing about what it’s like to be poor in America. But second of all, since Fincher brought the work topic up, what does he do for a living? When he’s not sucking on the taxpayer teet as a Congressmonster, of course.

Let’s ask the Great Gazoogle:

A seventh generation farmer, Fincher is a managing partner in Fincher Farms, a family business that grows cotton, corn, soybeans, and wheat on more than 2,500 acres in western Tennessee. The company has received $8.9 million in farm subsidies over the past decade, mostly from the cotton program, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.[6][7][8] Fincher received a $13,650 grant to help buy grain hauling and storage equipment from the state Department of Agriculture in 2009 as part of the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program.[9]

Oh! So Stephen Fincher thinks it’s perfectly fine for the taxpayers to send him a handout, but when the poor need help putting food on the table, it’s sorry! Jesus says no!

OMG.

In fact, Fincher — a self-described member of the Tea Party, ‘natch — was the largest recipient of farm subsidies in the U.S. Congress, according to this 2011 report, raking in $3,368,843. This was so horrifying that at one point some pundits thought this might be a problem for him with Tea Party voters.

Guffaw.

Get real. If you’re looking for principles on the right side of the aisle you will continually be disappointed.

Rep. Stephen Fincher, you are a horrible person who uses the Bible to selectively justify your greedy, selfish ways. Woe unto you.

Repent, asshole.

Tennessee Gun Report

Seems like it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these:

 May 14, 2013:

• Kids today:

KNOXVILLE — A Bearden Middle School student arrested Monday for having an unloaded .357 magnum gun at school got the weapon from a family member, a police spokesman said.

“It’s a family member’s gun,” Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said Tuesday. He declined to say that meant the boy brought the weapon from home.

DeBusk said the student brought the gun to school “just to show it to friends.” The seventh-grade student showed the handgun to friends before authorities found the pistol.

• Kids today 2.0:

An East Tennessee State University student was arrested Sunday after campus police responded to a call about possible drug use and found a loaded handgun, according to court and school records.

Jahmar D. Adams, 19, 260 Riverview Road, Johnson City, is charged with carrying weapons on school property.

ETSU Public Safety Officer Waymond Babb responded to the 6th floor of Centennial Hall and was directed to the east side stairwell, according to university records on the incident.

According to Babb’s report, he smelled a strong odor of marijuana and then a “blunt” fell from above him. A blunt is a hollowed-out cigar with the tobacco replaced with marijuana.

This is how grandma and grandpa learn what a “blunt” is.

• And closer to home … Hey look! Watch this! Erm ….

Police said the Tullahoma man accused of shooting his 1-year-old son in the chest while field stripping two handguns was acting recklessly.

Witnesses said Kevin Sayre, 26, was showing how parts of one gun were interchangeable with the other one when he fired, according to Lieutenant Jason Ferrell. Sayre was charged with aggravated assault.

“You’ve got to ask yourself if a reasonable person would consider those actions reckless,” Ferrell said. “It’s our contention that it was reckless that he was even performing those steps with the child present.”

May 12, 2013:

• Call It Nutbush City Limits:

(Memphis) – A man is dead and another is on the run after an argument leads to a shooting in the Nutbush Community.

Police say they have a good idea of who the shooter is because this all started over a family argument, but people in the neighborhood are saddened that a man lost his life on Mother’s Day.

Family Members were overwhelmed with grief Sunday evening after finding out their loved one was shot to death.

Nutbush sure has changed since Tina Turner wrote a song about the West Tennessee town.

May 11, 2013:

• Don’t get drunk and try to load your Springfield XD .45 at 4 a.m.:

BRISTOL — A bullet traveled through several walls of an apartment complex on Volunteer Parkway without injuring anyone early Saturday morning.

Jarred B. Horton, 25, 1270 Volunteer Parkway, was loading his Springfield XD .45-caliber handgun while intoxicated when it accidentally discharged at about 4 a.m., according to Bristol police.

[...]

Horton was charged with reckless endangerment because he was inebriated, his wife was also in the apartment and residents were in the apartment the bullet traveled through, police said.

• Just as the Founders intended, no doubt:

Police are looking for an individual who discharged a gun next to another man’s head early Saturday morning during an apparent argument, injuring the man’s ear.

[...]

“He put the gun up next to his head and fired off to the side of him, more or less to scare him, I think,” McGill said. “And it was the gas or recoil or something which caught his ear and cut his ear.”

May 7, 2013:

• In my fantasy moonbat world, unhinged crazies don’t have guns:

According to an incident report, officers met with the victim at a Moreland Drive business. She allegedly said her estranged husband had left several threatening voicemail messages on her phone — including one that sounded as if there was a gunshot, followed by Blevins boasting that one of her dog’s was, “suffering.”

Being afraid to go to the South Creek Court residence to retrieve the animals alone, police accompanied the woman to the home. An arrest report states Blevins met police in the driveway, with deputies “immediately” noticing that he emitted a strong odor of alcohol.

When asked where the victim’s large poodles were located Blevins allegedly stated, “running around the house somewhere.” Police say he then became belligerent and unruly, ignoring officers’ commands and attempting to walk away.

When his estranged wife began making her way towards the residence, Blevins allegedly attempted to “take off after” her. He was then taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

When the victim and an officer opened the home’s door one dog was spotted walking around, but trailing blood and suffering a gunshot wound to the neck. The woman’s second poodle was reportedly located dead on the floor of a bedroom, a bullet hole in its back.

Police say a pair of loaded handguns were found on a kitchen table, along with two bullet holes in a kitchen wall. Furniture was also allegedly flipped upside down throughout the home.

May 6, 2013:

• Hey, it’s not all bad news:

Shelby County Commissioners voted down a resolution Monday, May 6, that would have backed the idea of state legislators and county sheriffs across the state “nullifying” federal gun control laws they consider unconstitutional.

The debate about Commissioner Terry Roland’s “Second Amendment Preservation Resolution” dominated a short commission agenda that also included a resolution honoring Commissioner Steve Mulroy for donating a kidney last week to the Methodist Healthcare transplant program.

Roland said he sponsored the Second Amendment resolution because his constituents wanted it. And he insisted the resolution was simply to state the commission’s general support of the right to bear arms.

“I’m not going to change any minds here,” Roland added as the debate continued.

Mulroy, a law professor at The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, questioned why the commission would want to do that. He also questioned the wording in the resolution which called on the Tennessee Legislature to “reject and nullify the enforcement of any federal acts, laws, executive orders, rules or regulations in violation of the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.”

He termed the resolution “an extreme right-wing position.”

Gee, ya think?

May 2, 2013:

• Always amazes me that all of these responsible gun owners are constantly forgetting about their guns. Seems like the first sign of a responsible gun owner is knowing where your guns are at all times:

(Memphis) A passenger at Memphis International Airport was stopped at a TSA security checkpoint Thursday morning after a .38 revolver was found in a carry-on bag.

TSA Federal Security Director Kevin McCarthy said this is the 9th gun found in a carry-on at Memphis International in 2013.

Nine guns total were found in all of 2012.

“People are not aware of what they have in their bags. The most common excuse we hear is I forgot about it or I didn’t pack my bag, but that’s not good enough,” said McCarthy.

Thursday’s passenger received a misdemeanor citation.

May 1, 2013:

• Coffee County Commissioner doesn’t think this is intolerant at all:

A Coffee County commissioner’s Facebook post suggesting Muslims are best greeted from behind a rifle barrel is prompting demands for an apology.

Commissioner Barry West’s post follows a string of anti-Muslim acts throughout Middle Tennessee in recent years, including at least four incidents of mosque vandalism. Opposition to a new mosque in Rutherford County was so strong it took federal Justice Department intervention to open it last year.

West played no active role in any of those incidents. He just put an image on his Facebook page, which shows a man aiming a shotgun under the phrase “How to wink at a Muslim.” But even that put a chill through Muslims in Middle Tennessee.

Dumbass.

April 28, 2013: 

• Art that makes a statement about gun culture comes to Chattanooga:

[...] visitors to the Main Gallery at the Association for Visual Arts weave their way through a sea of 1,000 black pingpong balls he installed and then see what awaits them on the other side — an assault rifle.

“Guns are fetishized in the U.S.,” says Murphy, an artist and assistant professor of art and technology at Georgia College. “Many, many Americans love guns. I’m creating a giant gun. Gun enthusiasts should love the piece.

“I just want people to keep talking about guns [and] why we should have guns,” he says. “Communication is necessary because I don’t see any sort of solution being proposed.”

Stay safe, y’all.

Tennessee Gun Report

Did you know that Tennessee has the sixth-highest rate of accidental shooting deaths in the country? I read that statistic buried deep in this story about parents and gun safety. You’d think a statistic like that might have been mentioned sooner amid all of the gun loonery foisted on us by the state legislature and their puppetmasters at the Tennessee Firearms Assn. Then again, maybe it was discussed and I just missed it.

With that in mind, I need to ask Greeneville, TN: WTF? This week’s gun report has two separate accidents from Greeneville, and some gun loonery that thankfully didn’t result in injury. Must be something in the water there.

Also, should we be worried that a TVA security officer patrolling outside Watts Bar Nuclear Plant was fired upon by an unknown person wearing a dark hoodie? The FBI is apparently investigating.

Meanwhile, our teen edition reports two Soddy Daisy (yes, that’s a real place) teenagers have been charged with felonies after firing on a group of people in a residential neighborhood, then embarking on a high-speed chase.

And here in Nashville at the upper-crust private school Christ Presbyterian Academy, a student was charged with bringing an AR-15 and ammo to school.

Without further ado, a run-down of recent gun accidents in Tennessee:

• April 9, 2013:

Man Accidentally Shoots Hand While Cleaning His .22 Rifle

A man accidentally shot himself through the right hand Monday afternoon while cleaning a .22 caliber rifle after target shooting, sheriff’s Deputy David Love said in a report.

Cameron Bolyard, 25, of 307 Horse Creek Road, said he was cleaning the rifle when it went off.

“He was on his back porch cleaning his .22 rifle. He said he was holding the rifle in an upright position with the butt resting on the floor and was holding the barrel end with his right hand palmed over the end,” the report said.

• April 15, 2013:

Man Shoots Self In Abdomen Attempting ‘Cross-Draw’ Move

An Oakmont Drive man required hospital treatment after accidentally shooting himself in the abdomen about 6:15 a.m. Sunday, sheriff’s Deputy Michael MacDonald said in a report.

Deputies responded to Takoma Regional Hospital on a report of an accidental gunshot wound.

They spoke with Timothy Gray, 44, who said “he was attempting to attach his gun and holster to his left hip in a cross-draw fashion, when he accidentally discharged the firearm,” the report said. Gray shot himself with a .410 double-barrel Derringer.

• April 16, 2013:

Supervisors probing after National Guard sergeant fires weapon in local hotel
No charges filed by city police

MURFREESBORO — No one was injured Friday at the Clarion Hotel on Old Fort Parkway when a Tennessee Army National Guard sergeant “accidentally discharged” a handgun owned by a fellow Guardsman inside a room, according to Murfreesboro Police.

The incident involving Sgt. Ryan Mitchell and Sgt. Matthew Wilson is being formally investigated by the Tennessee Army National Guard, according to Maj. Darrin Haas, deputy director of public affairs for the Guard.

Mitchell was “checking out” a gun owned by Wilson at the Clarion when it “accidentally” went off in Mitchell’s room, according to a Murfreesboro Police incident report filed by Officer Charles Owens.

The bullet from the unidentified handgun ricocheted off the wall, went through a sliding glass window and lodged in the tail light of a vehicle in the parking lot, Owens reported.

Be safe, people!

Horrible People, Pilot Flying J Edition

More details have emerged in the fraud case against Pilot Flying J, the family business of Gov. Bill Haslam which is run by his brother. The company headquarters was raided by the FBI on Tuesday. And man, is this turning out to be a big ol’ shitpile.

The allegation is that the company intentionally reduced monthly rebates due trucking company customers to increase the company’s profitability on monthly P&L statements — and thereby increase sales commissions, which were based on those figures. According to the FBI affidavit, the practice was shockingly commonplace and widespread, involving a wide array of employees — account executives, regional supervisors, executive management; it was even openly discussed in a meeting attended by Pilot’s President Mark Hazelwood and CEO Jimmy Haslam III. This was no whispered back-room deal done under the cloak of secrecy — unless you’re a Pilot Flying J customer, of course. Nope, as layed out in the FBI affidavit, it was business as usual, even something discussed in sales meetings. Everyone, save customers, seemed to know about it. [UPDATE: The Tennessean, which operates the worst website in the history of journanimalism, now has a dead link to the FBI affidavit, because I guess they figure no one ever digs through the memory hole on the web. However, I think this one goes to the same information.]

Even more shocking is the incredible hubris on display in recorded conversations. “Fuck ‘em early and fuck ‘em often,” says John Freeman, Pilot’s VP of sales on page 50 of the affidavit. What a swell guy.

On Page 52 we hear Arnold Ralenkotter, Pilot regional sales director, joking with Brian Mosher, Director of National Sales, about ripping off what Ralenkotter called “a fuckin’ Russian mafia guy” in Illinois named “Pav”:

MOSHER: How’d it end up?
RALENKOTTER: Well, we agreed to the across-the-board deal. And we didn’t change a thing.
MOSHER: He doesn’t fuckin’ have a clue. He doesn’t have a clue.
RALENKOTTER: But he slid that, he slid the, you know, the Love’s offer letter, where they kinda lay it all out? Walked out of there, I said don’t change a thing. Let him believe whatever the hell he wants.
MOSHER: He didn’t have any fuckin’ clue.
RALENKOTTER: Dumbass.

Mosher and the rest treated customers like the enemy. If you were a smart negotiator, they’re all like, “How dare you! You gonna mess with me? I’m gonna mess with you.” But if a customer didn’t understand Pilot’s complicated pricing program, they’re like “Stupid rubes! You deserve to get ripped off!” Indeed, these guys seemed to take special pleasure in preying upon — no, relishing — customers’ ignorance about pricing and rebates:

SCHIMMEL: Let me ask a question. Even though, do we have an idea of what percentage of people out there truly know, have an understanding of discounts? I mean …
MOSHER: I would tell you it’s, I’m gonna say way less than 50%. I’m thinking it’s 25% or less, that really, really know on a day-in-day-out basis. Now, again, that depends, right? Because if you’re sending that customer a daily price fetch, he doesn’t have to know, all he has to do is save his e-mails, okay? Because he can go back and recalculate this stuff. (Laughter.) But the guy that doesn’t– huh?
WELCH: Some of’em. (Laughter.)
MOSHER: Some of ‘em, some of ‘em don’t know what a spreadsheet is. I’m not kiddin’. So, again, my point is this: Know your customer. Know what you’re sending him, know what his preferences are, know how sophisticated he is, okay? If the guy’s sophisticated and he truly has gone out and gotten deals from the other competitors and he’s gettin’ daily prices from us, don’t jack with his discounts, ’cause he’s gonna know, okay? But the guy that’s just sayin’ “Cost-plus, cost-plus, cost-plus, I need cost-plus.” “Why do you need cost-plus and what do you know about cost-plus? How’s cost-plus compare to retail-minus over the last three months?” “I don’t know, but Love’s is sayin’ it, so I need it.” Solution: Tell him we can do it. Tell him we can do it on a rebate.

What despicable people. I wonder if Gov. Haslam regrets his decision to keep his Pilot Oil holdings out of his “near-sighted” trust, under the reasoning that,

… Tennesseans are “very familiar” with his relationship with Pilot, a privately held company with annual revenues of $20 billion.

Yes, we are very familiar, indeed. Grab the dang popcorn, peeps.

Why We Suck

There are no words.

In defense of some of the people in this video, many appear to be tourists from out of state. That’s what happens when you do “man on the street” interviews at a tourist attraction like the Tennesseee Aquarium, and the Chattanooga newspaper staff should have known better than to ask a “who’s the governor of Tennessee” question at a place with a high concentration of tourists. They should have taken this bit to Kroger.

But clearly not all of them are, especially the idiots who think Phil Bredesen is still governor. And to those people I say: if you can’t fucking pay attention, then you deserve all the wingnuttery you get.

You know who benefits from ignorance, complacency and disengagement? The status quo. The plutocracy. The powerful. The people in charge.

Haslam Family Biz Investigated

[UPDATE]:

Pilot Flying J has issued a completey useless BS statement, which they call FAQs. And they are hilarious. I’m not sure

Was it necessary to conduct a “raid”?

and,

Was this politically motivated?

… are really the most Frequently Asked Questions in this case, but whatever. Also, the question

Is it a “criminal” investigation?

… can now be answered in the affirmative, according to CEO Jimmy Haslam’s press conference, which is in progress. Apparently the issue is rebates to some customers.

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First: I’ve got nothing to say on the Boston bombings. I’m thinking plenty, but speculation is pointless and counterproductive. I am, once again, in awe at the good we see in people when tragedy strikes. Our first responders rushing in to harm’s way, not knowing what awaits them … ordinary folks helping the injured … we pull together, and we make it through. Boston, my prayers are with you.

On to other news. Yesterday, around the same time as the news out of Boston broke, we heard that the Knoxville offices of Pilot Flying J were raided by the FBI and IRS. Flying J is the national chain of truck stops and convenience stores owned by Gov. Bill Haslam’s family; his brother, Jimmy, is its CEO.

From the story:

In April 2009, Pilot settled a price-gouging suit brought by Tennessee attorney general. Pilot settled similiar suits in Georgia and Kentucky.

Good to know. We still don’t know what this raid is about, however. Also of interest:

The Haslams have carefully guarded details about the size of their fortune. Gov. Haslam has refused to release his tax returns or how much of Pilot he still owns, saying the information could violate the privacy of other owners.

Haslam did make his success in business a selling point of his 2010 campaign for governor.

See how that works? Haslam wants all the credit for being a successful businessman, without revealing any details of said business. It’s more of this “just trust me!” crap we get from Republicans. Trust has to be earned, governor.

I didn’t want this story to get lost amid all of the other news today. Definitely something to keep an eye on.