Showing posts with label nra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nra. Show all posts

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Democrats Hold Sit-In on Gun Control

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Previous Related Posts:
Orlando Shooting Deadliest in History
Gun Nuts See Fake Tears from Pres Over Sandy Hook
GOP Desperately Seeking a Speaker

The Democrats in Congress held a "sit-in" protest last week on the literal floor of the House of Representatives after Speaker Paul Ryan refused to allow a vote on gun control after the horrendous Orlando shooting. What they wanted was a way to keep terrorists on the no-fly list from buying assault weapons - something that seems like a no-brainer to a majority of Americans.

But Speaker Ryan called the protest a "publicity stunt" - never mind that he is the king of the Fake Charity Publicity Stunt, or that his own party has wasted time with Tea Party Shutdown and the silly Ted Cruz filibuster of Obamacare.

No, this protest was the real deal. When Paul Ryan attempted to shut it down by turning off the C-Span cameras, the Dems started filming the proceedings with their own phones and broadcasting to the world with the Periscope app. Almost immediately, C-Span picked up the Periscope feed and used it instead of the regular camera feed from Congress, completely bypassing Paul Ryan and making history.

While the sit-in ended with no legislation, the protest gave hope to the families of victims that eventually the logjam caused by threats from the NRA towards GOP politicians will fail.

From Reuters
“Eventually this problem will get addressed again one of two ways: We find a breakthrough, which I will seek, or there will be another terrorist attack which will bring us right back to this issue. I hope we can do it without another terrorist attack,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who supported Collins.
A few hours earlier, Democratic lawmakers ended a sit-in protest in the House of Representatives over guns.
Fueled by Chinese food and pizzas, dozens of them stayed on the House floor all night, at times bursting into the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" before giving up their protest after 25 hours.
"It's not a struggle that lasts for one day, or one week, or one month, or one year," said Representative John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia and a key figure in the civil rights protests of the 1960s. "We're going to win the struggle," said Lewis, who led the House sit-in.

































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Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Orlando Shooting Deadliest in History

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Again, we face unspeakable evil in Orlando - two senseless shootings just miles from each other in a city known as a playground for the world. And our useless elected officials want to pray and have "moments of silence" with no action.

The Lord helps those who help themselves. We need action now. #NotOneMore

From New York Times
As officials offered new details about the worst mass shooting in American history, which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded, Chief John Mina of the Orlando Police Department said that the gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, told police negotiators — falsely, they later discovered — that he had explosives and accomplices at Pulse nightclub.
Mr. Mateen eventually made comments persuading them that “there would be an imminent loss of life,” Chief Mina said, prompting the chief to end a three-hour standoff and order the assault that killed Mr. Mateen and freed dozens of people trapped in the club.
...Investigators were hunting for any indication that Mr. Mateen might have had help in planning or carrying out the slaughter, and they continued combing through the battered, blood-spattered wreckage of Pulse for clues.
“So far, we see no indication that this was part of a plot directed from outside the United States,” Mr. Comey said.

From CNN
Orlando, Florida (CNN)Florida authorities answered one of the major questions in the shooting death of Christina Grimmie, the 22-year-old singer who made her name on NBC's "The Voice."
The man who killed her was Kevin James Loibl, 27, of St. Petersburg, Florida, according to Orlando police.
. . . Grimmie was signing autographs late Friday after a show at The Plaza Live theater when a man approached and opened fire, police spokeswoman Wanda Miglio said.
She was rushed to a hospital, where she died.




















































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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Jeb Bush and the Big Gun Meme

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I'm sure Jeb Bush thought it would help his failing primary campaign to pander to gun nuts in South Carolina and Nevada when he posted a tweet of a big gun with his name stamped on it in gold letters and the word "America."



And the Twitterverse plus news media gave him what he deserved for such a tone-deaf and ridiculous tweet. What was he expecting? Why would any real Presidential Candidate want the world to think of America as one big gun fight, even if that is the GOP-Doomsday Prepper-Sovereign Citizen-NRA fantasy?




















































My Tweet:


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Saturday, January 9, 2016

Gun Nuts See "Fake Tears" From President Over Sandy Hook

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Last week President Obama tearfully announced new measures included in an Executive Order meant to curb gun violence, such as better background checks at gun shows. He has always said that the day of the Sandy Hook massacre of innocent children and teachers was the worst day of his Presidency.

Of course, the wingnuts who believe he is still planning a "Gun Grab" and martial law don't understand real emotion when they see it. They immediately jumped to bizarre conclusions and conspiracies to explain the President crying over dead children.

Because they are insane. And heartless!







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Monday, December 7, 2015

Tra-la-la Shoot Somebody for Christmas

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I have barely blogged at all since the Paris attacks, and then we had the Planned Parenthood attack in Colorado by some guy who yelled "No more baby parts!" (thanks, Carly Fiorina). Then just the other day we had these heavily-armed American dream ISIS wannabes shooting up a hospital in California just because it was there.

So who wants to read headlines anymore anyway? I just stare speechless at my Facebook and Twitter feed, wondering whether we are at the end of modern Civilization in the United States, or if we will finally reach a tipping point that will stop the madness. On any given day, I can't decide where we are.



It's Christmastime and half of the country wants to be cozy and safe and happy. The other half wants Baby Jesus to bring guns for the whole family, and Grandma to have gun pictures with Santa, and the NRA to save them from Evil Obama who is coming to get their precious guns on Christmas Day. And they think and pray about it in church, while sending shoeboxes full of religious stuff to poor children in other countries, but if those same kids come here, they are dirty immigrants with diseases. These faux-Christians wouldn't even let Mary and Joseph into the Manger - they send them back to the desert and who the hell cares what happens to their baby? Thus endeth the Christmas Story, brought to you by Donald Trump and the NRA deacons of the Gun Church.

My hero this week is Igor Volsky, a journalist with Think Progress, who started calling out politicians who took the easy road by sending "Thoughts and Prayers" to the victims of various shootings and their families. It's just not enough at this point! This lip service without any forward-thinking policy is a crime.











NRA: Demons at our Door









































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Saturday, April 11, 2015

The #NRA Comes to Nashville

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The gun-loving horde called the National Rifle Association descended on Nashville, Tennessee, this week. Ironically, loaded guns were not allowed within the venue - can you say hypocrites? They could have gone to Texas or some state where everyone could open carry everywhere, but they are concerned for their own safety. Thus, the NRA Convention was held in a "Gun Free Zone" which they say they are against.

It's probably a good thing - these gun nuts always end up shooting themselves in the foot, and they know it.

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My state of Tennessee has a love-hate relationship with guns. Clearly they are part of our heritage, from Davy Crockett to Sergeant York. But now that the true crazies have taken over the Tennessee Legislature, and hunting has become more popular than Bible-thumping, the NRA has more political pull than the Southern Baptist Convention.

However, not everyone is thrilled with the NRA - like me, for instance! I don't own any guns, and never will. And my father was a veteran who won badges for marksmanship, but amazingly he came home from WWII and never saw a need to shoot anybody. My Tennessee ancestors probably shot squirrels to make gravy, but that was for survival. I think they liked ham and fried chicken better...

But anyway, let's talk about our Governor, Bill Haslam, who is more of a bird-watcher than a hunter. While it's true that he just signed an ill-thought-out bill allowing "Guns in Parking Lots" (because people have guns in their cars anyway - so just give up on that), he sometimes ignores politics and vetoes crazy bills sent to him by the TN Legislature.

The latest is a "Guns in Parks" bill that was pushed through just in time for the NRA goons to arrive in town. The bill would also allow guns within the public buildings of the state capital. That's getting too close to home for Haslam, and he probably has too many enemies in the Tea Party to feel comfortable if they are packing heat - there could be one of those "accidental shootings" that responsible gun owners cause. And I truly believe he knows that parks are supposed to be peaceful places for families and not gun-fights between rednecks. We are a tourist state, and Nashville is a tourist city, end of story.











I'm thrilled that the NRA doesn't like Bill Haslam, and I think he will listen to cooler heads and veto the "Guns in Parks" bill.

But the convention gave many of the GOP 2016 hopefuls a forum, sort of a mini-GOP convention, where they were assured of a warm welcome. Yes, unlike the real world. The only two not invited were Rand Paul and Chris Christie.




























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Friday, April 10, 2015

Special Candidate Rand Paul Is Special

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Rand Paul just keeps on having problems. Maybe it's because he arrogantly believes that even though he is a public figure who says outrageous things then flip-flops, no one should call him out. He's a very delicate flower and a special snowflake, and journalists need to handle him with care. And forget everything he ever said.

You can read some of his snafus in my previous post about Day One, when he lectured Savannah Guthrie on how to be a journalist (he's an opthamologist/politician) and then got on the abortion train and made a fool of himself.

Previous Related Post:
Rand Paul Runs For President - Crashes While Mansplaining

Rachel Maddow did a great piece on Rand's dysfunctional first week as a candidate, and had a few words to say about Mr. Special.

"Steve Schmidt who ran the McCain/Palin campaign in 2008 once famously said on this show that a presidential campaign is a "full-body scan" for everybody who runs at a high level. David Axelrod who ran Obama's campaign described it almost the same way ... "an MRI for the soul." Once you are officially running for President in this country you may like the political press in this country or you may hate the political press in this country, but if you are a candidate in this country at a high level because people take you seriously, you will receive so much scrutiny from the people who are running against you and by the press that is covering you all, that every single thing that is to be known about you, will become known."
~ Rachel Maddow



My favorite thing so far is that he is throwing cease and desist orders at campaign ads that don't paint him in a happy light. Yeah, good luck with that. Hasn't he ever run for office before? This is just kooky, and again he seems to think he should be treated differently from all the other candidates.

From Buzzfeed
The letter is an objection to a million-dollar ad buy by a group called the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, led by Republican operative Rick Reed. The ad, which launched in early primary states on the day of Paul’s presidential campaign announcement, accuses Paul of supporting President Obama’s policies on Iran and of opposing new sanctions.
“The Advertisement attempts to deceive voters regarding Senator Rand Paul’s position on U.S.-Iran relations through at least three false statements,” writes Paul campaign general counsel Matthew T. Sanderson in the letter dated April 7, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News on Thursday.

Here's the ad:



So Rand is trying to stop an ad from a Republican group that portrays him as cozy on Iran with the President. Considering there are about ten other GOP candidates who want to see him crash and burn, we can expect to see many more of these ads. Sorry, but that goes with the territory.



Rand also let it be known that he is royally ticked that the NRA didn't invite him to their giant convention in Nashville this week, since all the other guys are there having a good time touching each other's guns, and stuff.

From Bloomberg
"The interesting thing is that there's probably no greater advocate for the Second Amendment in Congress than myself," Paul said today. "To not be invited, probably, will serve more to cast aspersions on their group than it would on me. Because my record's pretty clear. It probably looks a little bit petty for them not to invite a major candidate because I raised money for other Second Amendment groups."





He told Sean Hannity on Fox to pay no attention to his campaign snafus. He has an etch-a-sketch just like Mitt Romney, and he's not afraid to use it. Anything he said in the past can just be wiped away.

Rand Paul and Hannity, via Daily Kos
It's not fair, Paul testily claims, to ask him about stuff that he said before he decided to be a presidential candidate. Because that was before, or "a long time ago." ...
. . . Sean Hannity, not surprisingly, let him get away with it. On the previous Paul statement that the idea of Iran being a threat to the United States is "ridiculous":
"You know, things do change over time," Paul said. "I also wasn't campaigning for myself, I was campaigning to help my father at the time."
Hannity let that slide. He allowed Paul to frame his opposition to new sanctions that would scuttle the Iran negotiations as his way of telling Obama he'd "have to bring a deal back to" Congress.


Here's a litany of Rand's problems for the first THREE Days of his campaign.

He broke the copyright of a song he wanted to use in his rollout, and YouTube blocked him

From Mother Jones:
he gave a speech and the crowd ate it up and they cheered his name and then he finished and they clapped and cheered and the campaign uploaded the video of the speech to YouTube so that the world could clap and cheer and...YouTube bots automatically pulled the video for unlicensed use of copyrighted material.
Womp womp.
Warner Music Group, the official owner of John Rich's "Shutting Detroit Down," a song about how much it sucks that rich corporations own things, has now shut Rand down.
Both Billboard and The Washington Post have reached out to get to the bottom of this and neither Warner or YouTube have commented on the situation.
The campaign's video has now been deleted from YouTube (C-PSAN's remains)

He suddenly became "Dr. Rand Paul" on Twitter, because he is a self-proclaimed opthamologist. And I guess that gives him political cred with . . . somebody???



His website misspelled "Education." Derp.



A website map urging people to endorse Rand Paul was made with stock photos taken by a German photographer, probably in Germany. Those faces are not Americans! The photos, who were models, were removed pretty fast.



Rand was in South Carolina today but said nothing about the shooting of Walter Scott by a police officer which has been the top story on all news channels all week. Nothing. What kind of Presidential candidate says "nothing" about it?
But the day before on CNN - he was pro-Police.
Rand has inherited his father Ron's Bodyguard, but also a Bribery Scandal!

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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Thundersnow, Anonymous, and the KKK as Grand Jury Decision Looms in Ferguson, Missouri - With Updates

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Rumors are flying about when the Grand Jury decision may come down in the Ferguson, Missouri case, and whether there will ever be justice for Mike Brown, slain by cop Darren Wilson for no apparent reason.

After a Saturday of harsh winter weather in St. Louis, including thundersnow - an omen perhaps? - rumors flew that CNN was preparing to hear the decision on Sunday afternoon (today) but that has not been confirmed as of yet. Update: It didn't happen - just a rumor.

Bad Omen?







Today, protestors in Ferguson had a "Die In" on the street.






Last week was quite extraordinary, as Mike Brown's parents flew to Geneva, Switzerland to speak to the UN about their son's death.



Also last week the white mayor of Ferguson showed up in an NRA (National Rifle Association) hat as he spoke to reporters. Messaging?







The Governor of Missouri made a speech, talking about keeping people safe if there are riots after the decision is announced, including calling out the National Guard (again) if need be. Of course he isn't talking about keeping the protestors safe, since they have always been seen as the enemy.













Ferguson Police Chief, Tom Jackson, also had a press conference, saying he would reinstate killer Darren Wilson to his old job on the police force. Needless to say, that did not go over too well with the Ferguson protestors, or anyone with a brain.









Meanwhile, the hate group Ku Klux Klan announced that they were going to protect white people against the Ferguson protestors, which caused the internet group Anonymous to hack their websites and start looking into the identities of KKK members in St. Louis - to "dox" them, and release their Facebook pictures and other information. Some of the Klan members are apparently connected to law enforcement.

Members of a Missouri-based KKK chapter have been distributing fliers in the St. Louis metro area and on social media promising to use "lethal force" against Ferguson protesters they say have threatened police officers and their families.
In the flier, the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan refer to the protesters as "terrorists" masquerading as peaceful, and says that they have "awakened a sleeping giant."
"You have been warned by the Ku Klux Klan!" the flier exclaims. "There will be consequences for your acts of violence against the peaceful, law-abiding citizens of Missouri."
~ Via Vice.com















UPDATE: The KKK pushes back











And Anonymous Retorts:









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