Dead children can't praise him, so he ignores them.

Those of us with a heart understand how important it is to remember the poor innocent victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

With a heart. 

"Not only did Donald Trump not tweet out messages of condolences for families who lost loved ones five years ago on Thursday at the Sandy Hook gun massacre in Connecticut, and not only did White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on that day insist there’s simply nothing that can be done to battle American epidemic of gun violence, but Trump himself managed to insult the Sandy Hook families in another appalling way.

In a craven display of collective indifference, Trump hosted Wayne LaPierre, the controversial head of the NRA, at the White House on Thursday night, as families and friends of the elementary school gun massacre were remembering the victims of the horrific killing spree.

The shooting rampage claimed 26 lives, including 20 young children. In the wake of the attack, LaPierre’s NRA spread lies about the emergency response to the attack, lashed out at critics, and urged that every school in America have armed guards in order to fend off possible gunmen wielding AK-47s.

And soon after that, LaPierre led the fight to obstruct President Barack Obama’s bipartisan effort to pass a wildly popular background check bill.

LaPierre represents everything that’s wrong and immoral with radical, far-right voices of the gun-obsessed GOP culture. And that’s who Trump invited to the White House on the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre.

Gun safety advocate Shannon Watts, who founded the group Moms Demand Action, noted on Twitter the contrast between how Trump and Obama deal with families of Sandy Hook, as well as the memories of the slain:

Trump’s do-nothing strategy regarding gun violence was on display on Thursday at the White House, when Sanders was asked by a reporter at the daily briefing to explain “what President Trump has done to try to protect the American people against a similar type” of Sandy Hook massacre. Sanders at first started touting Trump’s tighter border security measures.

After she was reminded that the Sandy Hook shooter didn’t enter the U.S. from another country, nor did the shooters who killed nearly 100 people during the massacres in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, this year, Sanders conceded that the White House hasn’t done a thing to try to stop the bloodshed, because the White House, echoing NRA spin, doesn’t think there is anything to be done to stop the bloodshed.

The White House now views gun massacres the same way it views the weather: It’s out of their hands. And it views the Sandy Hook victims as inconvenient reminders of the past." [Source]

Mr. Mueller, please end this nightmare. 

*Pic from heavy.com

Hide the hijab.

    America is quite a country. In the wake of the horrific shootings in San Bernardino, Americans are actually buying up more guns. If you own shares of stock belonging to gun manufacturers you are probably laughing your way to the bank.  

Meanwhile, a man the New York Daily News called a terrorist must be smiling at his handy work these days. The leader of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, has managed to buy off just about every politician in Washington. 

Just imagine this for a minute: There was actually some sensible gun legislation that would have blocked terrorist (yes, I said terrorists), the mentally ill, and felons from buying guns, but the GOP said no. I know I know, I am shocked, too.

To them, any such legislation might weaken the "right to keep and bear arms", because any day now the evil government led by the Kenyan Muslim might kick our doors down and take all of grandpa's guns from the attic.

"To say it's okay for would-be terrorists to buy guns after what happened in Paris in California shows just a total disregard for public safety and a total fear of the NRA. and it's hard to believe the NRA could be so unreasonable. They're digging their own grave," 

No they are not Senator Schumer, they will be just fine.  Money can fix everything. Politicians need it to get reelected, and a clueless electorate----- after a few ads that distort the Second Amendment, will vote them right back in.

Speaking of the San Bernardino shootings, as a result of said shootings, Islamophobia is now running rampant. It started with the media, and it just took off from there. (The ignoramos leading the GOP pack actually made this asinine statement: "Take a look. I mean, you look at the names, you look at what’s happened. You tell me,” Trump said, adding he thinks “it was terrorism"  You can't make this stuff up folks. And that's not the only one. There are plenty more like that in the orange colored one's arsenal. Good for Chris Matthews for calling him out.   

The GOP is doing their best to politicize the entire sordid episode because god forbid they miss an opportunity to score political brownie points at the expense of  the dead. Their minions and thralls are actually calling on "moderate" Muslims to fix their Muslim problem. Imagine that. I don't recall us telling moderate Christians to fix their Christian problem when Christian mass murders were terrorizing us. Or, for that matter, telling suburban moms to fix their child problem when their kids were killing their classmates in record numbers. 

The thing is, this type of ignorance and Islamophobia is playing right into the hands of Isis. They want us to lash out at Muslims so that they can say to other Muslims: See, this is what they think of you. Being a moderate Muslim will not help you. They (the West) will be against you no matter what.

Thanks to the right wing and their fellow fanatics, the Isis plan seems to be working.

*Pic from theguardian.com/ tweeted by Everytown.





 

Guns everywhere, and Marco needs a lesson about "class".

*As we keep seeing more sad and horrific stories like this ;and this ;and this; and this; and this; and.... ah you get the point. You have to wonder why this is happening in America.

I think it's time for that great Gyp Rosetti quote:

"I got a gun. He got a gun. He got gun...EVERYBODY GOT GUNS!"

Meanwhile, out in LA, they just found some poor stiff (literally) with an arsenal of over 1,200 guns.

I wonder how Wayne LaPierre sleeps at night.

Finally, Marco (I need water) Rubio says that the president doesn't have any "class".

   ** This is the same Marco Rubio who did all kinds of sleazy things while Speaker of the Florida House, and who spent big money on a speed boat and a luxury SUV even though he was deep in debt.

"Rubio's history of risky financial decisions has been well documented since he was a young Florida state assemblyman.

• In 2006, the Tampa Bay Times described Rubio as "barely solvent." 
• During his run for Senate several years later, the Florida senator was forced to defend his record after revelations that he put thousands of personal charges, including hair cuts, liquor-store runs, and a $10,000 family vacation on campaign and Florida Republican Party credit cards.
• According to The Times, in the early 2000s, the now presidential candidate bought several homes, putting no money down.
• On the eve of his presidential announcement, Rubio cashed out his $68,000 retirement savings to pay bills for a broken refrigerator, air-conditioning unit, and his kids' private-school tuition. The transaction incurs a significant tax penalty that could cost Rubio $24,000.
• Last week, Rubio's camp announced that the senator finally sold a Tallahassee home that he'd bought with Florida state Rep. David Rivera. The house proved to be a bad investment — Rubio and Rivera sold the home for $18,000 less than they paid for it.

Rubio's troubling spending habits are well known within Republican political circles. According to The Times, when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's team vetted Rubio as a potential vice presidential candidate, they found that the Florida senator's financial decisions were bad enough that they could damage the campaign."

Marco, I think you might need a lifetime supply of   Windex®  for all the glass it took to build your house.

No wonder Sheldon wanted his money back.

*Pic from thinkprogress.org

**Pic from huffingtonpost.com

Why are white men angry?

The Field Negro education series continues.

"Hillary Clinton’s entry into the race for the presidency has goosed the egos of some conservative ganders.

 

Wayne LaPierre, the C.E.O. and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, on the eve of Clinton’s announcement said of President Obama at the group’s annual meeting, “when he’s finished, he intends to go out with the coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton.” There were boos. LaPierre continued: “Yeah, I have to tell you, eight years of one demographically symbolic president is enough.” There were cheers.

 

Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly ratcheted up the rhetoric on Monday. With the words “HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT” in yellow and all-caps next to his face, he bemoaned the idea that “our traditional American values are under siege nearly everywhere,” and then added: “If you’re a Christian or a white man in the U.S.A., it’s open season on you. Therefore, Hillary Clinton has an advantage.”

 

In a way, one would expect nothing more from these men. They are simply playing to their bases.

As U.S. News and World Report put it in 2013 when noting a Pew Research Center report: “White men represent just a third of the U.S. population, but about 60 percent of adults with guns in America today are white men.”

 

And as for Fox, the website Mediaite reported in December that just 1 percent of Fox News viewers are black.

 

And yet, this faux oppression makes a mockery of very real oppression. Aside from the hilarity of the incongruous spectacle of two incredibly powerful white men grousing about the lowly plight of white men in general is the utter ridiculousness of the idea itself.

 

And unfortunately, this isn’t a new idea, but the resurrection — or elongation — of an existing one.

In 2012, the conservative commentator Matt K. Lewis wrote an entry on The Daily Caller under the headline “The silent war on noncollege-educated white men.”

 

That same year, the conservative blog RedState.com published an essay under the headline, “The Democrat War on White Men.” It included lines like “Democrats hate White Men” (capitalization theirs), “White Men in unions are tolerated and helped by Democrats — but only if they fall in line to punish other White Men” and “White Men were politically neutered and forgotten about.”

 

Suzanne Venker wrote an opinion piece in 2013 on FoxNews.com under the headline “Men — the new second class citizens.” She included the following passage:

 

“Yet it is males who suffer in our society. From boyhood through adulthood, the White American Male must fight his way through a litany of taunts, assumptions and grievances about his very existence. His oppression is unlike anything American women have faced.”

 

In August, Representative Mo Brooks, a Republican of Alabama, said on Laura Ingraham’s radio show that there is a “war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party.”

 

One thing that makes this line of reasoning so grating is the degree to which money and power in this country continue to be dominated by white men. As The Guardian reported in 2013, the “U.S.’s top-paid executives in 2012 represent technology, coffee, and sporting goods companies — and all are white and male.”

 

ThinkProgress, expanding on the report, explained:

 

“A big part of the lack in diversity on the list is the lack of diversity among executives overall. Women hold few of the top jobs at major companies. There are now 22 at the helm of Fortune 500 companies with Lynn Good’s appointment as CEO of Duke Energy in July, which means less than 5 percent of those positions are filled by women.

 

“Top executives are also not racially diverse. Among Fortune 500 CEOs, six are black, making up just 1.2 percent. There are eight Latino and eight Asian CEOs, accounting for just 1.6 percent each.

“But even when they reach the highest rungs, women are still paid less than their peers.”

"...the new Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male and 92 percent Christian.”

So much for white Christian men being under attack."

 

So much indeed. [Read entire article]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ted's World.

I believe that this Ted Cruz dude is off the republican reservation. He has been making a lot of noise about Obamacare these days and dividing his party while doing it. It's gotten so bad that they sent the republican news corporation opposition research on him before he appeared with republican spokesperson, Chris Wallace.

"Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that he’d received opposition research from other Republicans about Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in advance of Cruz’s appearance this morning, a serious indication of how upset the GOP is with the Senator leading the risky charge to defund ObamaCare.

“This has been one of the strangest weeks I’ve ever had in Washington,” Wallace said. “As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

“This was a strategy laid out by Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz without any consultation with their colleagues,” said Karl Rove. “With all due respect to my junior Senator from Texas, I suspect this is the first time that the end game was described to any Republican Senator. They had to tune in to listen to you to find out what Ted’s next step was in the strategy.”

“You cannot build a Congressional majority, in either party, for any kind of action, unless you are treating your colleagues with some certain amount of respect, and saying, ‘Hey, what do you think of my idea?’” Rove said. “Instead they have dictated to their colleagues through the media, and through public statements, and not consulted them about this strategy at all.”

Rove also corrected Cruz’s interpretation of a Wall Street Journal as giving the GOP the advantage on whom Americans trust on health care. “I wish that were true,” Rove said, pointing out that Democrats still held the advantage, but were at an historically low number." [Source]

A government shut down is looming, so I really hope that you republicans can get yourselves together soon. This is not a time for dysfunction among members of the same political party.

Finally, the leader of the NRA is at it again. Wayne LaPierre is calling for armed guards and more guns after another mass shooting in America. That's kind of like calling for an open bar at an alcoholic anonymous meeting.

Of course we know that what the NRA leader is calling for does not work.

Read what Mark Follman has to stay with his excellent article on the subject.

"In the wake of the unthinkable massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, pro-gun ideologues are once again calling for ordinary citizens to arm themselves as a solution to mass shootings. If only the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School had possessed a M-4 assault rifle she could've stopped the killer, they say. This latest twist on a long-running argument isn't just absurd on its face; there is no evidence to support it. As I reported recently in our in-depth investigation, not one of 62 mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years has been stopped this way. More broadly, attempts by armed civilians to intervene in shooting rampages are rare—and are successful even more rarely. (Two people who tried it in recent years were gravely wounded or killed.) And law enforcement overwhelmingly hates the idea of armed citizens getting involved.

Those pesky facts haven't stopped the "arm America more!" crowd from pressing the argument with alleged examples of successful armed interventions. The problem is, the few examples they keep using—in which they depict plain old folks acting heroically and with definitive results—fall apart under scrutiny. Here are five cases commonly cited and why they don't work: [Read more here] 

Follman goes on to outline incident after incident where what the NRA is suggesting did not work and where it actually had disastrous effect on the situation.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,"

Wrong Wayne, the only thing that can stop "a bad guy with a gun" is silencing a bad organization which supports his right to own a gun.

The NRA's blame game.

I saw the NRA's clown show press conference today, and, as is to be expected, they doubled down on their insane position on the proliferation of guns in America. Wayne LaPierre actually called for armed guards at every school in America. (Where is the money going to come from for this brilliant idea? And an armed guard at Sandy Hook would have simply meant that 27 people would have been killed at the school and not 26. And Ms. Lanza was a woman of some means, but I am sure that she couldn't afford an armed guard at her bedroom door, 24/7. Bye bye Ms. Lanza. )

"the next Adam Lanza," the man responsible for last week's mayhem, is planning an attack on another school.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said.

Or not having a gun at all. Dope!

It got worse. LaPierre went on to blame video games (one of them over a decade old), the president, and Big Foot for the Newtown, Connecticut killings. But he refused to accept any blame or offer any meaningful solutions to the daily incidents of killings and carnage taking place in America.

His speech was so idiotic and insensitive, that it left former republican party chairman, Michael Steele, speechless. Not to mention current republican governor, Chris Christie, flat out saying what the NRA proposes is a bad idea.

So the madness continues. And the NRA and their lemmings refuse to back down. They have drawn a line in the sand- right outside of the police crime tape- and they refuse to move.

While I was writing this post I heard about yet another mass killing which took place today in Pistolvania. Some animal shot three people to death on a Western Pistolvania road and injured state troopers who were pursuing him.

On a day when the nation was observing a moment of silence at the exact time of the massacre in Newtown, the shooter in Pistolvania decided to carry out his despicable act at almost the very same time.   

"The shooting took place with much of the United States still highly sensitive to gun violence one week after a gunman killed 20 school children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Pennsylvania state trooper Adam Reed said the shooting was believed to take place between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

At 9:30, Newtown held a moment of silence on Friday in remembrance of the children and teachers killed exactly one week ago in Connecticut."

Now that we know that the Mayan Calendar was wrong and that most of us will be here tomorrow, can we at least start trying to make sure that more of us will get a chance to ride this thing called life out to its natural conclusion?