Passion For Gun Control

Submitted by Meteor Man on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 2:32pm

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted

One of the Nine Beatitudes that speaks to our human capacity for empathy and compassion for our fellow citizens who lost loved ones in the most recent American tragedy.

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre:

Parkland is our new St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

So now there are 17 dead in Parkland, Florida. They are grieved by their families and by the other kids and teachers who survived this 21st century St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. They are mourned by the rest of us, even the hypocritical officeholders who offer their “thoughts and prayers” while sucking up to the NRA for campaign cash, and who defend the right to own as many big, deadly, terrorizing guns as anybody wants in the name of a constitutional amendment originally designed not to encourage the wholesale butchering of man and beast but to provide civilian militias with muskets.

The passion and rage of this uniquely American tragedy may be the straw that breaks the establishment camel's back:

What’s more, there’s a realization growing that’s greater than in a long while, a realization that come November, we have a good chance to vote a lot of these venal, toadying-to-the-gun-lobby bastards out. Admittedly, that may cause Remington and other gun makers’ sales to rebound as the NRA and others once again stir fears of Democrats seizing weapons.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/parkland-new-st-valentines-day-massacre/

The political problem will be channeling the righteous passion for change so that it does not simply reinforce the power of corporate Dems.

The M$M is even covering these students:

'This is about begging for our lives’: Parkland students reveal plan to destroy politicians in bed with NRA

The reason we started March for Our Lives and the reason we are doing this on March 24th, we’ve been hearing a lot that this is not the time to talk about gun control,” junior Cameron Kasky explained. “Here’s the time to talk about gun control: March 24th. My message for the people in office is, you’re either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/begging-lives-parkland-students-reveal-...

This has explosive potential:

'Nothing Has Changed Since Columbine,' Students, Teachers Call for Nationwide School Walkouts

As families continue to grieve and hold funerals for the 17 victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., students and educators are calling for a nationwide day of action including school walkouts to protest lawmakers' deadly inaction on gun control legislation.

The day set for the actions is April 20, which will be the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/02/17/because-nothing-has-changed...

This is not your typical gun control spokesperson:

You will not get re-elected’: Florida sheriff blasts politicians who don’t support new gun control measures

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/will-not-get-re-elected-florida-sheriff...

Of course Paul Ryan and the usual suspects insist this is not the time to play politics while loved ones are still grieving, but fundraising parties are just fine:

You’re here celebrating the death of 17 children’: Gun reform protesters booted out of Paul Ryan Florida fundraiser

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/youre-celebrating-death-17-children-gun...

Even a few prominent Republicans are stepping up to the plate:

WATCH: Furious John Kasich blisters ‘cowardly’ GOP and gun owners for opposing assault rifle ban

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/watch-furious-john-kasich-blisters-cowa...

Can you spell hypocrisy boys and girls? I knew you could:

Registering mentally ill is first priority in gun control. (Nov 2015)
2nd Amendment advocate: NRA rating changed from "F" to "A". (Aug 2015)
Keep existing restrictions, but tighten up on terrorist guns. (Nov 1996)
Cool off before making new gun laws after Littleton. (May 1999)
More parenting better than more gun laws. (May 1999)
Voted YES on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1. (Jun 1999)
Opposes restrictions on the right to bear arms. (Aug 2010)

http://www.ontheissues.org/John_Kasich.htm

Don't be surprised to see Conservadems "evolving" and giving lip service to gun control, at least until the mid-term elections are over. Will Bernie move left on gun control?

The Vermont senator reiterates his call for an assault weapons ban while defending his record on other gun control issues.

In Congress, he voted against a bill in the 1990s to require a five-day waiting periods to allow for criminal background checks before a gun could be purchased, voted to allow firearms on Amtrak, and came out against a lawsuit to hold gun manufacturers accountable for the 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. But he has also voted for universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a89ad60e4b004fc31934edb

Even GOP donors are appalled:

Top GOP Donor Won’t Back Candidates Unless They Support Assault Weapons Ban

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a890fe8e4b05c2bcacbbd85

This is just a sample. Will it die down or will the scheduled marches and walk outs keep it on the front burner? Will this help help solid progressives in upcoming Democratic primaries? Stay tuned. In the meantime, let me close with a very substantial serving of Stoopid Casserole with an extra crunchy Stoopid topping:

Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andrew Bauer (R) on Sunday suggested that more students are committing mass shootings because they no longer receive paddlings from teachers or watch The Andy Griffith Show.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/goper-claims-answer-school-shootings-wa...

Tags:

#GunControlNow! #ParklandMassacre

Vote

Comments

Submitted by phillybluesfan on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 2:55pm

Armor of Light

I highly recommend Armor of Light

Abigail Disney makes her debut as a director with a riveting documentary about two people who bring their consciences to the problem of gun violence. She explores the spiritual journeys of Rev. Rob Schenck, an evangelical Christian minister who is an anti-abortion activist and a member of the far right Republican Party, and Lucy McBath, a Christian advocate of nonviolence who was drawn into a life of activism following the gun murder of her 17-year-old son Jordan in 2012 by a man who claimed that he was just complying with the "Stand Your Ground" law.

—

Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

Submitted by Tall Bald and Ugly on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 3:05pm

That's

a pretty heaping, steaming, pile of stoopid, alright.

Stop These Fucking Wars

peace

—

Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Submitted by k9disc on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 3:46pm

Well Regulated... Militia.

That's the answer to any bullshit coming out of the mouths of gun fetishists.

The fucking end.

Well Regulated.
Militia.

Rinse repeat, as often as fucking possible.

And I'm not joking here. A focus of millions of people saying just that and nothing more will completely alter and reframe the debate.

And go kids! You guys ROCK! Walk out and don't come back until something gives.

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Meteor Man on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 4:10pm

Stepping Up To The Plate

@k9disc
I guess this is the generation following Millennials. Have they been pigeonholed with a name yet? Ditto this:

And go kids! You guys ROCK! Walk out and don't come back until something gives

—

"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 8:33pm

The second amendment was passed by

@k9disc

rich white slave owners. Do you think that they actually wanted the citizenry to be armed so that they could rise up against them? Somehow I doubt that.

So what does the second amendment actually mean?

Overcoming Delusions About the Second Amendment

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The purpose of the Second Amendment was to prevent the new Federal Government established in 1789 from disarming the state militias and replacing them with a Federal standing army. It was a concern that was relevant perhaps for a few years around the birth of the country. It is irrelevant today. Americans do not rely on state militias in 2012 for our freedom from the federal government.

snip

Scalia acknowledges that the Second Amendment — even in his pro-gun interpretation — only protects arms that would be used in a militia, not the weapons of a formal army. He makes clear that “M-16 rifles and the like” have no Second Amendment protection and may be banned.

There is thus no constitutional protection whatsoever for the semiautomatic rifle that killed the kids in Newtown. Even Scalia is explicit on that point.

Yes people have a right to have guns, but for what reason do they need one that's capable of killing a lot of people so easily? Has anyone heard what a bullet from an assault rifle does to a body? Just the fact that they start tumbling after they're fired will give one an idea. The autopsy reports from the Vegas shootings can be found online.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Meteor Man on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 9:10pm

State Militias To Catch Runaway Slaves

@snoopydawg

By the time the US Constitution was ratified, hundreds of substantial slave uprisings had occurred across the South. Blacks outnumbered whites in large areas, and the state militias were used to both prevent and to put down slave uprisings. As Dr. Bogus points out, slavery can only exist in the context of a police state, and the enforcement of that police state was the explicit job of the militias.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratifi...

And:

State militias as patrollers

Slave owners feared slave gatherings would allow them to trade or steal goods, and the potential for organizing a revolt or rebellion. South Carolina and Virginia selected patrols from state militias. State militia groups were also organized from among the cadets of the Southern military academies, of The Citadel and the Virginia Military Institute, which were founded to provide a military command structure and discipline within the slave patrols and to detect, encounter, and crush any organized slave meetings that might lead to revolt or rebellion.[3]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_patrol

—

"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 9:20pm

This is a good point

@Meteor Man

And after the militias were disbanded, the PTB hired the Pinkerton agency for their protection from the peasants and they then became coppers. Now those coppers are just as equipped as our military troops and they are trained by the Israeli military. This takes them from seeing us as people who they should protect to seeing us as the enemy. The way they come out decked with their military equipment and body armor is so they won't get hurt when they beat us up. One day people are going to realize that there are more of us than them. I thought that when I watched a video of a cop dragging a girl off the subway because she had her feet up on a seat. People got off the train to try to protect her and I thought that cop looks very vulnerable. One day people will get their nerves up and take them on.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by k9disc on Tue, 02/20/2018 - 2:44pm

Militia's Put Down Insurrections, Not Foment Them:

John Brown

News of the raid reached Baltimore early that morning and then on to Washington by late morning. In the meantime, local farmers, shopkeepers, and militia pinned down the raiders in the armory by firing from the heights behind the town.

Throughout Western Pennsylvania counties, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax. Resistance came to a climax in July 1794, when a U.S. marshal arrived in western Pennsylvania to serve writs to distillers who had not paid the excise. The alarm was raised, and more than 500 armed men attacked the fortified home of tax inspector General John Neville. Washington responded by sending peace commissioners to western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels, while at the same time calling on governors to send a militia force to enforce the tax. Washington himself rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency, with 13,000 militiamen provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

I think this is a great misunderstanding in history. It is the kind of thing that allows both "Well Regulated" and "Militia" disappear from our discussions of the 2nd Amendment.

Like I said...
Well Regulated.
Militia.

If the governor can't call on you, you ain't a militia.

@snoopydawg

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 02/18/2018 - 8:01pm

Unbelievable

This shooting is just another way for the media to push more Russian propaganda bullshit! This is beyond disgusting, it's also cruel. To take this heinous act to push more propaganda is unethical, in my opinion.

PRO-GUN RUSSIAN BOTS FLOOD TWITTER AFTER PARKLAND SHOOTING

EACH NEW BREAKING news situation is an opportunity for trolls to grab attention, provoke emotions, and spread propaganda. The Russian government knows this. Fake-news manufacturing teenagers in Macedonia know this. Twitter bot creators know this. And thanks to data-gathering operations from groups like the Alliance for Securing Democracy and RoBhat Labs, the world knows this.

In the wake of Wednesday’s Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which resulted in 17 deaths, troll and bot-tracking sites reported an immediate uptick in related tweets from political propaganda bots and Russia-linked Twitter accounts. Hamilton 68, a website created by Alliance for Securing Democracy, tracks Twitter activity from accounts it has identified as linked to Russian influence campaigns. As of morning, shooting-related terms dominated the site’s trending hashtags and topics, including Parkland, guncontrolnow, Florida, guncontrol, and Nikolas Cruz, the name of the alleged shooter. Popular trending topics among the bot network include shooter, NRA, shooting, Nikolas, Florida, and teacher.

It's interesting that this article isn't behind their paywall. Guess if it's something that they want people to read, they will make it available.

Opinions After the Parkland shooting, pro-Russian bots are pushing false-flag allegations again

For most Americans, the Parkland shooting was a terrible tragedy. But for social media accounts that promote the interests of Russia in the United States, it was a fantastic opportunity.

On the morning after the tragedy, the Russia-linked accounts were commenting fiercely, pushing the “crazy lone killer” explanation for the shooting and mocking advocates of gun control. According to Hamilton 68, a tracker website created by the German Marshall Fund, a lot of them linked to photos of guns and ammunition on the Instagram account of the suspected killer, plus a screenshot of a Google search for “Allahu akbar.” Others linked to a fact-checking website that debunked some statistics about gun crime. By Friday morning, some of the same accounts were also pushing something slightly different: the hashtag #falseflag. That’s a reference to the conspiracy theory, already widespread 48 hours later, that the shooting never happened, that the attack is a “false flag” operation staged by the U.S. government as a prelude to the seizure of guns.

Oh look, there's Hamilton 68 again pushing its propaganda that everything that goes wrong in this country is Russia's fault. Guess where else this is being covered? Yep.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by ovals49 on Mon, 02/19/2018 - 4:13am

A population living in fear is easy to control.

Fear is cultivated. Random senseless acts of violence may not be as random as we think.

Who benefits? Those who have.
Who suffers? The masses, already imbued with political, economic and emotional insecurities.

Chaos is simply order unperceived.

There is a larger plan for us, not the one of God's unseen and loving hand, but of the hands of greed and avarice of a few who have so much but who will never have enough.

The massive numbers of firearms are not the reason we live in fear, they are just the tinder waiting for the next spark. Even if we were to remove every firearm, there would still be jet fuel, thermite, loose nukes and scary foreigners to keep us cowed and compliant.

Who benefits?

—

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Submitted by Ellen North on Tue, 02/20/2018 - 4:03pm

@ovals49

@ovals49

There's a whole series...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5FW-oXk_Ag

Requiem for the Suicided: Terrance Yeakey
Corbett Report Extras

Published on 10 Feb 2017

Show Notes and mp3: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=524

In this edition we turn the focus of our open source investigation to Sgt. Terrance Yeakey, one of the first responder heroes at the scene of the OKC bombing who discovered something that conflicted with the official story of the bombing…something that cost him his life.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.