One of the things that came to light on Wednesday, in the paperwork the Justice Department unveiled to explain its seizure of 32 internet domains being used by Russian agents in foreign malign influence campaigns, was that the six right-wing U.S.
I like how Heather today goes from Putin to Trump.
Putin, as her notes on several of his agents go, is attempting to sow mistrust and divisiveness in the U.S. The orange felon, meanwhile, rails against America's legal institutions.
And Tucker? Is it really worth noting his nonsense. Is he really competing to be Putin's #1 ass-kisser -- when the orange felon has done that so well for years, and all those Americans Heather cites at the beginning of her piece also yearn for spots on the Putin posterior.
No, I think it's the AR-15 that best helps Putin.
Republicans en masse take money to keep it sowing fear across the land.
My search engine says: “Gun rights groups, including major organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America, have invested heavily in lobbying efforts. In 2021, these groups spent a record $15.8 million on lobbying. Since 1998, they have spent a total of $190 million on lobbying.”
Result: over 11 million AR-15s in private possession across America.
Mass murders every day. Schools. Theaters, shopping malls, houses of worship, grocery stores, music festivals. More schools. More dead kids.
“Fact of life,” says sicko J. D. Vance.
No. Continuous mass murder of innocents – more than one incident a day, year after year – is no fact of life anywhere in the civilized world.
The Apalachee High School shooting is truly appalling, Phil. There are now so many towns and cities whose names we associate with the absolute failure of our basic governmental and societal duties, allowing our schoolchildren to be collateral damage for the gun manufacturers, as to be immediately inducing shock, sickness and despair at their mentioning.
J.D. Vance is a sicko indeed, and the Newtowns, Parklands, Uvaldes, Columbines, etc., and now Winders of our Nation all weep not only for the loss of their children but for the failure of our political establishment to take the smallest of steps to secure the largest of our governmental obligations, to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us.
I was discussing the issue of Trump vs. Harris with two high school buddies (Class of 1958,) They both support Trump, even after a list of Trump's issues is supplied to them. Their responses? "I'll take common sense over critical thinking every day of the week and twice on Sunday." And, "Same old crap from you. Hard for me to believe you remain so brainwashed." My response, keeping in mind what Mark Twain said about arguing with stupid people: "That's what we critical thinkers call rationalizing. It's a form of confirmation bias, believing that to be true what one wants to be true." Twain's advice: "Don't argue with stupid people. They'll simply bring you down to their level and then beat you up with experience." So, that should be my last exchange with these two old buddies about politics.
For stupidity, there could be constructed reeducation camps. The Weagers (misspelled) understand this. So I propose American Reeducation and Labor Camps for MAGAs with a dose of a Clockwork Orange behavior modification tossed in for good measure. (I’m joking!)
Daniel & Susan, I take heart from our legal system which finally appears to be holding “the adults” responsible for securing these terrible weapons as well as just the teen-age shooters themselves. I saw video of the shooter's father in custody and being arraigned in court. This didn’t use to happen.
Michigan paved the way for holding parents accountable for their minor children who murder people with guns those same parents supplied. The Winder case appears to mirror the Oxford MI case. Both parents were sentenced to 10 yrs in prison.
Yes, JohnM, I was glad to see that the father is being held responsible and he actually gave the gun as a gift knowing his son had problems. The worst school shooting here in Oregon occurred several years ago in Springfield. There, the parents who were both teachers, gave their son a weapon, once again knowing he had problems. They paid with their lives as he shot them before going to the school. He is still in jail although he has tried for probation. I am hopeful in light of what happened to the two parents in Michigan(?) and now this father in Georgia, will make other parents think twice.
Michele, the only reason the Thurston shooting (1998) is not the pivot point of school shooting discussion while the Columbine shooting (1999) is rests on the weapons. The Thurston shooter had a .9mm pistol which he didn't use, and a .22 rifle which he did. The two shooters at Columbine were not armed with AR-15's; rather high capacity semi-auto weapons; one described as an "assault pistol" and a "carbine" along with a pump action shotgun each. The "lethality of method" was far, far greater there than Thurston. There were two fatalities out of that school event, with 25 injuries. Columbine lists 25 injured and 15 fatalities, including the two shooters who suicided. Thurston does not list the shooter's parents, who were murdered prior to him leaving for the school that morning.
My personal connections with Thurston include having my two closest friends in the department assigned as detectives to the patricide (which occurred in the county, not the city of Springfield) and as a newly-trained peer supporter having that event as my first "debriefing" incident. Today, I know three people who were in the cafeteria that day. One still lives at home with their parents, one has lived in a variety of transient housing situations and is impacted by suicidal ideation almost constantly, and a third who survived being shot in the head (this one is the child of a coworker).
It is not lost on me that the shooter's parents at Thurston died by the gun they gave to him.
Ally. I figured you had the details on the Thurston shooting. We were driving through Oregon City when we heard about it. I do not understand parents who give children weapons when they know the child has problems. And I agree, it's not lost on me that they died by the gun they gave to him. As a former educator, I have met some really nutso parents, but not one who gave a troublesome kid a gun. I did have a lovey student who was in special ed and we did for him what we could, but his father later in WA told him to murder someone and he did.
Honestly, I dont believe the lethality of the weapon should make any difference (and yes - somehow get rid of ARs) the kids or parents or teachers are dead either way. And yeah - I doubt any children or adults that have gone thru this ever forget - some never get over it.
It needs to be a PRIORITY with our "elected" officials. Or maybe it just has to become one to the rest of us, right?
Some at least are half-way thinking; although, it clearly is not enough. Take the 3 parents from Nashville Tennessee who were white, Christian, gun owners, republican, and believed their representatives would "listen to them." Did they? Nope! Not a chance in hell. They all lobbied their reps after their children survived the massacre, but an epiphany was had by the parents! One of the parents was in "shock" that nothing happened from their reps. As I was listening to this story, I was thinking to myself: "really? You were in "shock"? Really?!? Where the hell have you been lady? Well, I think we all know where they've been. Possibly in La La land, maybe polishing their firearms and fighting for their 2A rights? Look, I'll give these ladies credit for stepping up; however, in the case of "too little too late", that would be a gross understatement. The good thing about this story is that all three moms said they are not giving up on getting some reform done on guns. Then again, this is Tennessee. The majority of people led by the likes of Marsha Blackburn have demonstrated themselves as some pretty dim bulbs. You can't fix stupid! Here is the link to the story. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/27/nx-s1-5084081/a-school-shooting-in-nashville-started-a-gun-debate-in-a-very-conservative-state
And, then I saw a picture of the mother, also arrested with an apparent arrest history having had only slaps on her hands and released. We have too many families like this one! They own guns!!!! Because they can!!!! It is heart breaking! And they wear TFGs clothing. When I see his signs in their yards I wonder what they look like and what their problems are today! I wish I was brave enough to ask them....I wonder if they attend church faithfully every Sunday or sit in taverns on Saturday night. I wonder if they have children they that are learning this behavior? I have my Harris/Walz signs up. I have seen one other and he is the Democrat Chairman of District 8 in Indiana. I was informed this morning that our County Chairman has Harris/Walz signs now available for $10 each. Believe me that is a bargin. I can't put one close to the road because the Republicans steal them! Hopefully they will stay away from the front of my house!
Some of them are at the tavern more than just Saturday night. Once when we had to pass a school budget, one of my colleagues and I were going door to door to encourage the vote. We came upon one house which reeked and the children were alone inside. Some are at church being hypocrites.
School shootings have become the cool thing to do to get attention. And firearms easily fit that desire for attention. In other times, gold-fish swallowing was the in thing to do on college campuses. Or sitting on telephone poles was an attention-getter. But now we settle on murder. And when press reports that the latest is the biggest, someone out there is thinking how he (usually male) can make history and be being even bigger.
We know (most of us anyway) all too well that the 2nd amendment never gave everyone the right to bear arms. Any 5th grader can understand that by reading the amendment. It says in part with no ambiguity, “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.” What is it about that sentence that allows any asshole to think they have a personal right?
In the 18th century, a regulated militia was the exact same organization as a state guard. Its purpose was to defend the state against the overreach of a central government and at the time, the central government was the British Crown. But why doesn’t a conservative originalist accept the original intent of this amendment? The answer is that conservatives answer to one call only: Money. It’s not ideology-based. You can wrap shit in pizza dough and bake it in the oven but it will still come out as shit.
For a time we had some modicum of civility when it came to firearms. And here maybe I’m being too naive because the idea of citizens under arms was mostly used to oppress Black and First People populations aside of hunting animals to feed a family. By the 1970s, the board of the National Rifle Association, up until that period a sportman’s organization furthering safe gun practices, was taken over by gun industry zealots who turned the group into a lobby for the industry. They twisted the meaning of the 2nd amendment and turned it into a right for everyone. Even German Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels understood that the repetition of a lie eventually is accepted as truth.
The damage that the NRA has inflicted on the nation is complete. They don’t need to exist as the corrupt organization they developed into. The damage is done. I had the chance to chat with a local police officer last year and it was a friendly chat. I asked him what he thought about gun possession. (I had already resolved to write a story in the local weekly and indeed I got my story.) The officer immediately shot back (no pun intended) “We have a 2nd amendment right.” I then asked him if the families of two police officers that had recently been murdered in an ambush in Bristol, Connecticut didn’t also have a right to have their husbands alive. His response was unremarkable and I don’t recall what he said. I made the point.
I also picketed Hoffman’s Guns last year on the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield, Connecticut and the general manager came out to talk. He advised me (a threat clocked as advice) that it was dangerous to be there. I responded that I thought only the good guys have guns as it is scrawled in huge lettering across the front of the building. I soon wrapped up my activities.
There is only one ultimate solution and it’s a ban on all hand guns and assault-style weapons. Perhaps every civilized nation on earth has accomplished this except the Disunited States. A ban and especially those cool killing machines used in high profile massacres; the assault-style weapons. But let’s not kid ourselves, most gun deaths occur with handguns. So I propose if we can elect super majorities in both Houses of Congress, that President Harris expands the Court to four justices and the Court for a change protects We, the People instead of They, the Industry. It’s that simple.
I encourage everyone that is able to contact the closest battleground state activists and on Election Day, visit and work to get every person to vote. I have done this in the past. I know one person hardly makes any difference although I once worked for an coming congressional candidate not in my district and he won by only a few votes. I secretly knew that I made the difference and recall talking to a few voters and convincing them to vote. We can individually make a difference. If not in person, please donate as if your life depended on it.
I live in Connecticut and I will contact folks in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and drive there the night before so I can be ready for a full day of getting out the vote.
Re: original intent and money. I think also it’s power (and I suppose you can that power gives access to money). A Republican can never shift from this position for fear of losing their seat. The deaths of others means nothing to them.
And they accuse us of "indoctrination" in the educational system we have. Indoctrinating a child with images of guns on their clothing and gratuitous handling of firearms in the home is the worst form of indoctrination.
Daniel, since the “apologists” (“get over it”….WTF!!??) for school/mass shootings have been pontificating & decrying any move to regulate gun ownership (registration, background checks, red-flag laws, prohibiting AR-type weapons, etc), I have wondered if the diehard “believers” would change their tune if THEY were personally impacted (NOT that I’d wish it to be so…never, ever)….sometimes it takes the up close and personal to shake folks awake!
Maybe the trend of holding parents criminally responsible for teens with guns will have an impact. What kind of idiot buys their 13 year old an AR style gun after a discussion with the authorities about posting on line school threats?
I thought that he (the idiot) probably thought he was a cool dad and bonding with his son. Instead of scoring cool dad points, he ended up ruining his son's life, his life, and so so many others.
I wondered, Frank, what the son must be thinking knowing that his dad has been arrested too (both arraigned, as I understand it, it the same courtroom…first the son, then the father, tho’ not at the same time). I see these things reported over and over again and still can’t wrap my head around the idea that it happens!
Barbara the word thinking is key here. Do people who do these types of horrible things truly think? Not like healthy people think. And why is that? Can we use our assumptions about what thinking entails to understand these people? I have tried for far too long. I am stumped.
Good thing President Biden is in charge. The Orange deranged butthead would have invited Dad to the J-6 bash at Mar-a-lago and given the guy a full set of tRump trading cards.
I recall an old news report: a woman in a supermarket put her child in a shopping cart seat alongside her purse, which contained her gun. The child found the gun, pulled the trigger and mom was shot dead. A reporter interviewed the dead mother's uncle who said she did nothing wrong.
Russell: I didn't read the article, but the name of the store is what I suspected: Walmart. (,No offense to any Walmart shoppers out there, but it does have a reputation, or several.)
Frank, just recently some friends and I were talking about how more drivers nowadays do so in an unsafe, even dangerous, manner. It’s noticeable even in my rural area.
Barbara, every time we are out, we see bad driving. I belong to the local Facebook group that posts accidents, fire, etc. from a three county area here in the mid Willamette Valley. It is amazing to me how many accidents there are in a short period of time. There has also been a rash of motorcycles down lately. And nearly every night,I hear street racing sounds from some nearly main roads. Our own street has had construction on it for two years and they are not quite done, but once they are, it will return to being a racetrack. At least there are now sidewalks for the kids going to the middle school down the street to walk on. School has started here in Oregon, but also a heat wave, so some schools are shortening days especially in the Portland area and a couple are closed. Many schools have no AC and as people have noted, it is not going to get any better in terms of heat in the future. And trying to turn that around is another reason to vote for Harris and not death star.
I was looking up this stuff recently, seems distracted drivers top the list of cause of accidents, alcohol/drugs top fatalities, there was a long list, and yes reckless was definitely mentioned, as an uptick i think. Distracted didn't use to be #1. Also, USA came in as the #1 for deaths/100 million miles across OECD and others. Canada came in #10, but roughly speaking American deaths are about 10x Canada. USA gun deaths by far tops the list on that topic, truly an outlier among the OECD. More guns is part of that story, but i suspect there are underlying sociological reasons, I call it "gun culture" mentality in a country that parades its exceptionalism for both Americans and others to hear.
Frank, the only reason that number isn't double that is because of vehicle design improvements. In my last 10 years as a deputy I am aware of at least a dozen crashes that would have been fatals when I started my career that were simply injury crashes. The best comparison I have is that in the mid 1990's there was a crash where a pick up took on a tree head on that killed both the driver and the passenger. In 2007 there was a crash at very nearly the same location where a single driver crashed his pickup into a similar tree; he walked away from the crash with a cut on his forehead and the parts of his truck scattered over a wide debris field. Crumple zones work!
It was his daughter's protests, among other things, that gradually got Tim Walz to campaign for gun controls. I believe Harris is promoting a ban of assault weapons, so I figure he is too. Any news story I read on him so far has not specified the policies he supports.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Trump has vowed to rescind gun regulations enacted by the Biden administration, describing them as attacks on gun owners and manufacturers, and he has argued that mass shootings stem from mental health challenges.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Vance, a first-term senator from Ohio, has argued that restrictions on firearm access would be ineffective in stopping school shootings, and has instead called for stronger security measures.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Walz has evolved on gun policy since he was elected in 2006 to represent a conservative-leaning House district in southern Minnesota. Once a strong supporter of gun rights who won high marks from the N.R.A., he later became a champion of bills to ban assault weapons and bump stocks.
Barbara, why would it affect JD if he were “personally impacted" when his whole notoriety is built upon repudiation of his roots (see Hillbilly Elegy)?
Floridians,I’m voting NO on Amendment 2 on the ballot in Florida.My concern is that “The Right To Hunt and Fish “is a gateway to defending the use of AR-15’s for other than hunting and fishing. Yes, hard to believe but they are allowed under statute.Firearms is not defined so that loophole has been exploited by AR-15 carrying fisherman.
Either the fellow cited here or his ideologucal twin showed up in Key West. He carried no fishing gear other than the rod. No hook, no bait. Influencers are driving news for fun and profit.
I don't know any better adjective. And this, for the reason that intelligent, well-educated, well-off elites deliberately planned all this.
Not only for the grubby reason of money. And yes, that's vital here -- these vulgar predators love their money.
But more, in order to live more for money, more for power, they need to "lose their souls," as Barbara Keating puts it elsewhere here. And they need others to lose theirs.
Thus their campaign not only to erase humanities from K-12 and higher ed, but to replace it, replace them. In higher ed, with departments all strictly isolated from each other, all speaking wonk, all neutered. In K-12, with all schools crushed by the alternative imagination encoded in all standardized testing. Life is abstracted. Categorized. Linear. Numbered or otherwise a matter of units replicating each other. ("Blade Runner," anyone -- or the Philip K. Dick original?)
Of course, too, there's the other damage, the tens of millions discarded, abandoned, as their jobs went overseas. And with no one in the media equipped with any humanities to see them, and sympathize with them as human, as individuals, fellow Americans, elites like Hillary (and, soon after, J. D. Vance) could indulge her (his) dismissive, scornful vocabulary of them.
We're still in that sick, sick state, Daniel. The mass murders symptomatic of it, fueling it.
well, NOT Hillary Clinton. What the media did not bother to report was the bulk of her speech after saying that half of Trump's supporters were a basket of deplorables (and judging from their conduct since, she underestimated that.) Most of her speech followed the part where she said 'the other half are facing some serious problems' and went on to propose a number of possible remedies. She was not in the least scornful.
Meanwhile the same press that filled its pages/screens with hand-wringing about 'deplorables' has had next to nothing to say about Trump's calling his opponents 'vermin' and calling for military tribunals to try the most prominent for .... something.
I agree with almost everything you write here, but let's separate out who the really bad guys are from those who have been the subject of poisonous lies for decades.
John Gregory, thank you for this. Our press is woefully inadequate. They prefer click bait to thoughtful reporting with context. That whole "deplorables" debacle is an excellent example.
In Abraham Lincoln’s era, “the same old serpent” was enslavers saying some people were better than others. In every era, the same old serpent is anyone saying some people are better than others.
There is an alternative. Know that you are the most important person on the planet bar none. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you’re tied for fist place with roughly eight billion other human beings. But there's more good news. Being tied for fist place is good news.
Is there a third alternative? None that I can think of. The way I see it, people who think like Abraham Lincoln embrace the better angels of our nature, and people who think like Elon Musk embrace the serpent.
We must block the NRA. Please do the research, it's easy to find how much MONEY, cold hard cash, is paid to elected officials by the NRA. If we put the faces of OUR children and grandchildren on the lists of the slaughtered, would it make a difference,? Vote and join a Brady group!
Pres Biden did pass a bipartisan gun law, the 1st in 30 years to do 3 things, incentives for states to pass so-called red flag laws that allow groups to petition courts to remove weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others; 2)
the bill expands an existing law that prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun to include dating partners rather than just spouses and former spouses; 3) and expands background checks on people between the ages of 18 and 21 seeking to buy a gun.
Can't say the NRA does more than anyone to divide Americans, but it certainly well funds the Republicans for whom hatred, rancor, racism, misogyny, ignorance, poison-based nationalism, growing wealth inequality, and culture wars need fountains of freebie money.
Phil, tho’ I’ve never wielded anything other than a “cap-gun” toy as a kid playing cops & robbers w/ my sibs in the ‘50’s, I recall the NRA as a do-right safety org primarily related to hunting safety and protocol (my father-in-law and his son—my ex—were occasional hunters & kept guns). IMHO the advent of weapons of war (AR type weapons) and the NRA’s shift (I’m sure there is investigative reporting on this…or at least I think so) 180 degrees from their mission is very troubling….seems like they’ve lost their “soul”.
I took the NRA hunter's safety class as a teen in the early 70s. It included not only gun safety and maintenance, but also orienteering and basic first aid. As far as I can tell, the NRA does not offer such classes anymore. They seem to have been totally subsumed by their lobbying mission, which in my opinion, is a great disservice to their members and has hugely contributed to the horror of gun violence we see today.
Also, anyone who used an automatic or even semi-automatic weapon to hunt game would have been considered a menace to other hunters in those days (as they still are). AR-15s, M-16s, etc., are weapons for killing people, not game, and should be treated as such. Real, actual people are dying. The leading cause of death among children (age 0 - 18) in the US for the past several years is not auto accidents, COVID or other diseases - it is being shot by a gun. What kind of people could continue their "lobbying" in the light of such stark horror?
I had the same experience as a kid growing up in MA. I took NRA riflery classes to hone my marksmanship with a .22. I'm glad I did it. It was fun. But should I have learned how to work an AR 15? You gotta be kidding.
All who want and have not been convicted of a crime of violence should be able to have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
In a word, yes. The money is more important than children’s lives or the lives of anyone else. What kind of people REFUSE to pass common sense gun legislation after the deaths of 26 people at Sandy Hook. 20 little 6 and 7 year olds. I read a book by a former NRA operative, and he said it was ALL about the money for Wayne LaPierre and the politicians.
You can thank the late Harlan Carter for the NRA “revolution” that put the gun manufacturers and gun nuts in charge (and no, I am not referring to all gun users as nuts, simply the ones who think firearms should be everywhere.) Carter was the son of an INS agent and as a youth, he killed a Mexican-American teenager in the mistaken belief that the teen had harassed his family. Carter was convicted, but had his conviction reversed on the legal grounds he deplored in other trials.
Steve, re semi auto rifles for hunting, for decades hunters used Remington and Browning semi autos like the Model 742 safely in the field. Magazine capacity is 5 shots, with no quick reload capability. The actions of an AR15 work basically on the same mechanical principles; the difference being almost unlimited cartridge capacity and swift reload. The NRA has falsely tried to make the argument, “guns don’t kill people”, but the truth is, they do. I hunt, I own guns I taught hunter safety for 30 years. I left the NRA at the same time LaPierre radicalized it
My republican husband was a member of NRA when he was a kid & it was doing all those things you cited. He grew up on a farm in rural MD. He quit his membership when they discontinued the lessons. I never thought much about the NRA until I moved to rural MD & every pickup truck had a gun rack because of hunting. Hunting was a huge part of everyday life back then. When the NRA changed in 1977 the new leader vowed to make it so powerful that no politician could get elected without its support. Up to that point it supported registration of & licensing for gun ownership. It changed because there was a federal raid on a longtime member who was shot & paralyzed & there had been unrest in the membership probably starting when black panthers started open carrying, pretty much because of the permanent confederate mindset that afflicts some Americans
I don't understand. I don't understand why we can't all have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
Apparently so, and of course Wayne LaPierre is nowhere to be found. He’s in trouble himself for using the NRA as a cash cow for himself and other top executives.
You've got it very simply, exactly, Barbara. "Lost their 'soul.'"
Wasn't an accident. In order for the commercially vulgar to implement the 1971 Powell memo, its far-right foundations needed to be set up, funded, and organized. Before they could proceed to their main order of business, offshoring those tens of millions of working-class jobs, they first needed to kill humanities from American schools. Thus no one would publicly reference the novels, films, and songs which in fact saw what the elite, well-groomed, well-coiffed predators proceeded to be doing.
Barbara, I was a member of the NRA in the mid 1960s when I was collecting firearms while in the Air Force at Ft. Meade MD. I had 2 modern revolvers, a cap & ball revolver, a flintlock black powder pistol, and 2 semi-automatic pistols, plus a couple of 22 calibre rifles. I had an ammo box with NRA decals on it, which my ignorant redneck bro in MS where the rifles were later stored at my dad's house would bring up when I mentioned we needed sane gun laws. Namely there is NO LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CIVILIANS TO HAVE WEAPONS OF WAR DESIGNED FOR EFFICIENT MASS KILLING. But, the NRA has since become the very profitable political arm of the gun manufacturers and public safety be damned.
Barbara. When Wayne LaPierre teamed up with an ad agency to ramp up donations to the NRA, they did so by moving NRA emphasis on safety toward radical support of the 2nd amendment, claiming “librals is trying to take away all yer guns”. The propaganda was incessant and wildly successful in drawing millions of dollars to “pertect our rites”. Money flowed like water and La Pierre colluded with the ad agencies to share the spoils in a personal way living high on the hog until their corruption was uncovered and New York State took him down. It was/is insideous and perhaps the Russia Connection get wider exposure
In 1996 after a horrific mass shooting at Port Arthur, Tasmania where a lone gunman slaughtered 35 people in a cafe, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard immediately brought in gun reforms including banning all semi-automatic and pump action shot guns buying back 700,000 of those killing machines. Firearm homicide rates went down 42% and by 2018 Australia had experienced no mass shootings. Still, the head of America's NRA called the reforms 'repressive and ineffective, a huge over-reaction that stripped away rights of Australian gun owners.'
Howard was one of Australia's most conservative Prime Ministers and unlikeable, yet he had a moral compass and did the right thing. The ability to know right from wrong I believe, is what makes us human and the sign of a good leader. Liz Cheney, James Packer et al are all showing themselves to be good humans, publicly stating they're backing the Harris - Walz ticket.
It doesn't take many too brain cells to work out that Trump, his puppet master oligarchs, and the entire MAGA extreme right are sucking on the devil's teat.
The problem is the prevailing misinterpretation of the Second Amendment that the NRA has helped to market to the public. The late Warren Burger called the NRA out for the lack of legal foundation for its pro-firearm arguments.
That's a classic case of "fewer guns means fewer deaths". But it will take a lot more than a ban on assault weapons to greatly reduce firearms deaths. Most are not with assault weapons, and half are suicides.
In Canada not so long ago the Liberals attempted to institute a cross the board gun registry. Rural owners esp long guns took extreme exception, the Conservative campaigned on deregistering and destroying the gun registration files. They won, and did exactly that, except Quebec objected and maintained their own registry since it had been set up under provincial control. That said, the murder rate in Canada is abt .9/10000. USA is abt 4.5. Where there is strong weapons regulation eg in UK, Australia, Japan, murder rates are much lower still.
True Frank, very true. But we have changed many myths during our adolescence as a nation. It was visceral that only men with property could vote. It was visceral that Africans should be enslaved. It was visceral that homosexuality was to be a crime.
My optimistic coffee suggests that WMDs in the hands of civilians (and kids!) will not be visceral - I hope I live to see it happen. But I DO think it will be the future. Why? Because Gen Y and Gen Z and whatever the next one is named - they are wicked smart and less jaded by stupid traditions.
Police kill triple the numbers of citizens as mass shooters. We are getting to the place where soon single-issue zealots will be claiming police unions take orders from Putin. I'd like to see data and evidence provided to give credibility to advocacy. I think Phil Balla's list is pretty spot on the division and political motivation to keep people divided and fearful of each other. If the NRA went away tomorrw, I think we would still have every dismal catalyst for violence on his list.
No, but look deeper. While this thread speculates that a foreign nation is buying governance of American citizens, Russia is hardly the only influence.
To corrupt a government by bribery ("campaign donations") requires buyers AND SELLERS. It also requires corrupt political parties who profit by recruiting willing sellers to political candidacy. I do not feel safer by the most violent cadre of our society being militarized by our political parties. Ask Democrats why their "gun control" measures are not addressing the contingent of society responsible for triple the firearms killing as mass shooters. I want ALL of the military hardware gone from our streets and neighborhoods. The politicians' ruling class benefactors do not. The parties—BOTH of 'em— are catering to the wealthy ruling class. Supporting a fully function democracy does not involve building a militarized police state.
True, because there are other more militant groups, like Larry Pratt’s Gun Owners of America. I was unusual because I grew up in a home with no firearms, nor did we feel lacking. The only thing I ever shot was a target with a BB gun at day camp, and the supervisors gave us strict safety instructions.
I asked DuckDuckGo about Russian money and the NRA, and there do seem to be a lot of traditional news sources writing about this connection between the NRA and Russian funding.
Part of the investigative process following each mass shooting incident should be sending pictures of the scene, especially the victims, to every member of Congress and the legislature of the state where the shooting occurred. Being confronted directly with the results of their dereliction will make it much less comfortable to take money from the gun and ammunition lobby.
I think you may be right, though some members have so encased themselves in what must be called evil that I’m not certain it would make much difference to them. On the other hand, it is almost certain that some of the pictures would be leaked, and some gutter press would publish them, thereby causing absolute devastation to the parents and siblings of the dead, and nightmares to many others. In addition one runs the risk that other people would harden their hearts and sensibilities to resemble the neanderthal Vance.
There is always some risk, and the devastation argument is most frequently used, but it's hard to believe that anything could be more devastating than the actual death and injury that the families have already suffered. It is abundantly clear though that something in the "thoughts and prayers" process has to change or the carnage will continue.
It’s rather like how the pictures of a teen girl in California killed in a gruesome auto accident got out. Her parents sued the CHP because someone there leaked the photos and they were not allowed to do it.
When I was maybe 11 or 12 I saw a photo of a botched illegal abortion victim & I was instantly against restrictions on abortion. It was gruesome & shocking. I think photos of a bunch of dead little kids shot & killed while at school should be publicized so people will start to become aware of the reality. If you don't see it you can easily deny that it's something that should never happen. Look what happened when news people embedded with soldiers in Viet Nam. I really wish the parents of victims would choose to release the photos. Gen Y & gen Z kids have grown up with shooter drills. That's why they have the desire for change.
According to my Gen Y daughter-in-law, Gen Y = millennials; I believe you mean Gen Z and Gen Alpha have grown up with the shooter drills (absolutely devastating).
Thanks for the heads up. I have no younger people in my life to keep me informed of such things. Probably don't read wherever this info is covered. Plus I'm surrounded by republicans where I live so probably no one would even use that phrase to describe anyone. Fortunately because of David Hogg Gen Z will vote & he's working specifically on all younger voters. I love that guy.
I don't understand. I don't understand why we can't all have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
Another of the many changes that need to be made. President Harris, even with Democratic majorities in both houses, is going to have a very busy 8 years.
Yesterday, I was discussing the fact that in Germany, where I am mainly living they have been discussing 2 recent knifing attacks, and there is a call for stricter knife carrying laws. Still, German parents are not warning their children about how to protect themselves from knife attacks, and starting in first grade, they largely walk to school on their own. Schools are not having knife attack drills either. So, while any form of murder is terrible, when you talk about knives and guns it is apples and grapes. For example, here is a list of mass stabbing attacks in Germany over the last 120 years.
You can see in the first one there is also a shooting. That is in 1913. Now-a-days Germany still has a lot of guns, but also has some sensible gun laws. You cannot buy one before 25 without having a psychological evaluation. You won't get a gun if there is some reason to be concerned about your behavior. You cannot own a gun for personal protection, and you must keep it locked up, get a certificate to own it, register each gun, and police can check unannounced to see if you follow the rules. You also need 1.1 mil € of personal liability insurance.
Here is the number of mass shootings in the US in the last 10 years.
In the US, when states enact gun control laws, red state AGs go after the ruling and try to get it to the Supreme court. So, without getting control of SCOTUS, we cannot enact serious gun legislation. This is why the US, the richest country in the world, is at #132 for safety. See the global peace index page 9 https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GPI-2024-web.pdf
If you scroll down to the table, you will see that people do not get to have guns for personal use. There can be a 4 year jail term if you violate gun rules. There is no open carry and no conceal carry. You can hunt with guns, and you can collect guns. You need permits to do this, and training. For that, Icelandic children can go to school and not spend time on preparing for active shooters, instead they can learn what they need to and not have to worry about being killed in school.
The fact that American students have to be concerned about this is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting. Some Americans value their firearms more than children’s lives.
It is tragic. It is why my daughter is going to university here in Germany, as well as that there is no tuition. Another stress taken from a child. It is much better for mental health, which contributes to physical well being. She was very stressed in first grade when there was a stranger in the building drill. She had worries for months after that some man was going to come to her classroom and snatch her. I even told her that such a thing had never happened in her school, plus I taught in her school. She said, that just because it had never happened did not mean it could not happen. When your 6-year-old gains wisdom like that because of fear you think, what am I doing? I had to do a lot of reassuring, and because she trusted me she got over it. Still, this is her fear and nothing had even happened to someone she knew. She did not hear news, or know anything other than that they had what they considered developmentally appropriate ways to explain their practice for a shooter to children. Ironically, these policies came from pressure from Republican parents at the school wanting the school to have more security and be like a fortress. I do not think it is the way to go. The US needs to have sensible gun laws, and Americans need to vote like they know it.
I grew up around a few who had handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles back in the 50s and 60s (at least until JFK was assassinated, when they downsized their collections a lot). Relatives had fewer than most and hadn't used them in years so the problem I started seeing was from the left over guns and ammo not being secured by some, though the only accidents were among friends of the family. One shot himself in the leg while trying to clear a jam.
After hearing about 6 or so accidental deaths of kids, I had my son keep parts of a 1911A1 left to me by my-brother-in-law (the only gun I ever owned, though I used several types in Vietnam), so it couldn't be used, and he could sell it through a licensed dealer to a Law Enforcement Officer (we wanted it to only go to LEOs or relatives that were court officials, otherwise have it destroyed). One coworker offered $1,000 for it but didn't want the sale registered, and we'd never sell it to non-LEO types that had no reasonable explanation for why they "needed" it, anyway (especially since seeing the accidental bullet hole they put in their front door).
I was convinced by what I knew of accidents with kids, well before I read stuff like:
And I for one, see there will be a need to defend myself and my family. Did I ever want it to come to this? No. But. It has. This brainwashing by P has been going on long enough that there is no turning back for those affected. They have by now too much time and thought of how true the misinformation can be to invest otherwise. The only damage control is defense.
Traitors, all of them with blood on their hands. Lobby for guns, promoting pro Putin BS. Listen to their tortured rationalizations to justify all their hatred and love of guns. And they call themselves patriots. As for this election, all the high-profile Republicans are finally waking up to trumpism and wanting their party back and knowing that the only way is a complete and total defeat of all MAGAts and their wannabe dictator who emulates the likes of Putin et al.. Who thought for a second that this country would be faced with so many who want essentially fascism?
About the Tenet Media influencers, I don’t think they cared where the money was coming from as long as it continued to come. Now they’ll have to find more honest work.
I ask the good readers to hesitate a moment and picture Carlson in your mind. I know, for me, and quite possibly a number of others reading, you'll see him with those deep furrows between his brow, his mouth puckered up quizzically. I view this as an attempt (by him) to be ever so dramatically confused and concerned. However, when I see him with this stereotypical expression, I can't help but think that he and his expression are better suited for a role as a clueless hanger-on to the teens in one of the "American Pie" films. Seriously--can't you picture him like this?
I try very hard--really, I do!!--to NOT judge people by their looks, at least by their God given ones. However, when I see people adopt a persona that is so obviously intended to portray them as something they are not, and cannot ever be, my better angels do abandon me.
Just as if I dressed like a 20 year old for a night of clubbing--which I absolutely cannot carry off--thus Tucker never carries off his role as a leading journalist for me, either.
Someone, perhaps here, once said that MTG's face looks like a potato. I can't help but think that now, every.single.time I see her. If now, after reading what I said about Tucker, YOU see that (I have to say it) WEIRD expression on his face, and you think of him doing whatever in American Pie.......oh well.
"...Dyke brought the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which had been considered taboo to market to civilians, into general circulation, and helped keep it there. A folksy turnaround artist who spun all manner of companies into gold, he bought a failing gun maker for $241,000 and built it over more than a quarter-century into a $76 million business producing 9,000 guns a month. Bushmaster, which operated out of a facility just 30 miles from the Lewiston massacre, was the nation’s leading seller of AR-15s for nearly a decade. It also made Dyke rich. He owned at least four homes, a $315,000 Rolls Royce and a helicopter, in which he enjoyed landing on the lawn of his alma mater, Husson University.
Although his boasts of military exploits and clandestine derring-do caused associates to roll their eyes, he was actually no gun enthusiast. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. Once, when his brother Bruce persuaded him to go deer hunting, Dyke sat in his Jeep reading The Wall Street Journal, rifle out of reach as a deer ambled safely past.
Along the way, Dyke and his team capitalized on the very incidents that horrified the nation. Sales typically went up when a mass killer used a Bushmaster. After a pair of snipers in the Washington, D.C., area murdered 10 people with a Bushmaster rifle in 2002, Dyke’s bankers noted that the shootings, while “obviously an unfortunate incident … dramatically increased awareness of the Bushmaster product and its accuracy.” ...
...Today, more than 24 million AR-15s are in circulation. Because of their accuracy, light weight and low recoil, they are the most popular rifle in the U.S. But while they accounted for less than 3% of homicides in 2020, they’ve become a favored weapon of mass shooters. Both fetishized and demonized, they’ve also emerged as a potent symbol of defiance. Gun rights activists have flaunted semi-automatic rifles at counter-protests against Black Lives Matter, on social media and at rallies at state capitol buildings. In 2022, President Joe Biden called for banning AR-style weapons, saying too many schools and workplaces “have become killing fields, battlefields here in America...”
Other countries like Swizerland and northern tier countries have high percentages of gun owners in some areas but relatively very few mass shootings compared to the US. It seems they know who to keep from having some weapons, or all weapons.
Jd did some noticeable ass kissin to get back with tiny t. I think he’s used to it from his relationship with p theil his golden goose. That’s kind of funny to think about the similarities of a golden goose and an ass kisser.
I think we should sue and then imprison any one group who takes money from these lobbyists. As we have realized we need to hold accountable those parents who offer up their children with guns.
Now we need to hold accountable lobbyists who willfully support terrorism.
That is dreadful news about the Russian mis- and disinformation campaign that is deeper and wider than we ever could have imagined.
That is good news about Liz and Dick Cheney actually putting country before party. Let's hope it impels other Republicans to follow their example.
And we must continue to engage the independents, the apathetics/disaffecteds, and the young voters to register and vote blue so this won't be our country's last legitimate election.
One thing that concerns me in watching the mainstream media this last week is how, yet again, Trump is dominating the news. There is very little coverage of Harris and Walz and what little is there is generally critical. Even when I google specifically for news updates on the Harris campaign, the results are easily 2/3 or more about Trump. I’m wondering if we could counter that outrageous bias here and through to the election, always include some kind of update on what the Harris Wallz campaign is doing? Just an idea. Meanwhile, thank you for the in-depth information about the Russian dis-information campaign. And, you know, everything you do to keep us sane and united.
And yet, there seems to be nearly ZERO coverage of Cheetolini that actually reports what he says. He spews incomprehensible word vomit and the mass media claims it’s an “economic plan”.
You mean what he doesn't say. His answers to questions are nor relevant and are immaterial. In a courtroom, a judge would direct the jury to disregard everything he says.
The BIG NEWS in Trumpland is that Truth Social is failing.
Interesting about "Truth" "Social", Daniel. I just had a FB friend (a MAGAt; he and I went to the same high school at different times, we're both brass musicians) bemoan that the site mentioned was asking him for his credit card information. Duh, dude, they need your money.
You can find it on particular cable news channels, which a lot can't afford, but for the rest, that are limited to antenna - coverage is as you say nearly ZERO.
Absolutely true. In the last two elections, MSNBC basically invited Trump into our living rooms. Also, on Public TV David Brooks tends to lead off with a quip implying we’ve seen all this before and it’s routine politic before analyzing, which has the effect of reinforcing false equivalence. Sometimes you see an incredulous look on Jonathan Capehart’s face.
This is not routine. It is exceedingly dangerous. I don’t watch the news. I read it instead because the news on tv has a surreal game show quality to it that I find annoying and distracting.
I have often cringed at David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the NYT, but at times he's said some pretty sensible things, at those times aligning with Jonathan, who I greatly enjoy. I think it's PBS's way of offering "balanced" journalism. You're so right about "incredulous look"
Readers of Le Monde are wondering how in the world tens of millions of Americans can even think of voting for him? and lamenting the pending loss of France's historical "twin".
Just the remember the French have been staving off a now long-term right-wing resurgence led by Marine Le Pens. Trump has also had support from conservatives in the UK.
Actually, no. The Le Pens, first father and now daughter, have been a no-no for as long as I've been following French politics (about 30 years). When Macron was first elected, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who thought he'd been going to win, was livid, and started working to destroy, making it look like popular uprisings. Last week, when Macron appointed a prime minister (right-wing), Mélenchon started bellowing about a "stolen election". And yes, everyone's noticed where he found those words... As for the UK, it's Nigel Farage, who keeps a low profile since he wrecked the European Union (Brexit), but was up there laughing beside Trump in Trump Tower on election night.
I did reply to this, hope it got through. The two-round election system, with one week between, enables the electorate to fix a bad mistake, such as a Le Pen in the Elysée for five years! On the Friday night in April 2002 I ran into one of my colleagues in the ladies' washroom; I asked her what she was doing over the weekend. She raised a fist: "I'm going to the march! Aren't you?" "I don't feel I have the right. I'm not French." "But don't you care?" So, with a million others, I went. One of life's great experiences. The loss of Jospin was indeed stupid, and cruel, and too late to repair. When he was in Australia on a book launch a few years ago, I had the honour of meeting him. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/jean-marie-le-pen-shocks-france-second-in-presidential-elections-2002
I follow Walz and Harris on social media and hear first hand what they are doing daily usually several times a day. At present they are traveling the country.
Heather, I understand why the Russian story is so important, but I also note that it is taking up much more space, especially in Garland's active offices, than the equally great or greater threat of voter suppression, intimidation, raids on Latinos, and tampering with voter rolls. Given how much impact this could have on the electoral results, eg in Georgia, why isn't the DOJ doing a detailed investigation of those bad actors? You often point out the comparison with the Reconstruction period and Jim Crow. I am truly surprised at how little fuss the Democrats are making and how little action Garland is taking. I don't think it bodes well for the Senate race in Texas, a possible close call in FL...and who knows where else. Don't you agree there is a disparity here?
I disagree. Though both issues are critical, the Russian interference in our society is tearing us apart and that is what it is meant to do. The Republicans couldn't get away with their shenanigans without Putin pumping out the propaganda via "influencers" here. There are people languishing in jail for selling a classified document or even being negligent with it. Yet I see what some of the right wing media, such as Carlson, doing as much deeper damage, that should, by rights, be called espionage. Podcasters, and all the others are being paid to destroy the USA. Ignorant and helpful idiots pass it on to one other through MAGA/Q/FB forums. It is a cancer that could kill this country.
A cancer that is also well established in the United Kingdom. Elon Musk is a useful idiot. His recent reiteration after the UK’s recent racist led riots in England and Northern Ireland that ‘civil war was inevitable’ was a line fed to him. I live in daily somewhat forlorn hope that an international investigative institution with teeth is looking at the part played in this decades long Russian black propaganda operation by rogue elements both in and run by British Intelligence within Northern Ireland.
Fox News has been tearing us apart for all of its existence. Do you ever watch their slant in stories and how they mock people who ideas they dislike? They are almost as bad as Trump and Jordan.
It has turned my mother into a fearful, freaked out wreck. Please let's make an effort to stop putting the word "news" after the word "fox."
It's neurolinguistic programming like "pro-life" (anti-choice) and other bs made up by the extreme capitalist class and their duplicitous PR companies.
A minority do for sure, and often it's their only "trustworthy" news channel. In any case, unlike most other stations/networks, Fox explicitly supports one party esp in its columnist segment - ie Hannity et al.
Russia succeeds in convincing US citizens to commit domestic terrorism because the people they convince are willfully ignorant, violent thugs in the first place. Focus on infiltrating terrorist groups, getting the evidence on them, and putting many thousands of them in jail serving long sentences. Proper law enforcement against domestic terrorists will make potential new recruits reconsider their options. This would probably have a side benefit of getting a lot of bad cops off the street, assuming law enforcement personnel are way over represented in domestic terrorism groups, which I’d lay odds is a good bet. Do what can be done to stop Russian disinformation, but there probably isn’t much that will work. They operate almost entirely from inside Russia.
Agreed, Russia would get nowhere without an American audience already predisposed to out and out radical "before Russia". Think Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, the major right-wing organizations which have been at work since the 70s.
No, Rex, I fear that virtually every study done of stiffer penalties for most of anything has shown that increasing penalties does NOT reduce the crime in question. See the effects of “the war on drugs” as an example of the ineffectiveness of upward-spiraling penalties.
Drugs, theft, murder, and even embezzlement are a different kind of crime than terrorism. Terrorism requires political commitment and, usually, careful planning by many people. It is not done for personal aggrandizement or in a sudden rage. I’m skeptical that the data on a disconnect between crime and penalties applies to terrorism.
I fear, SuZette that we are suffering the results of a government that generally protects free speech vigorously and legally, even when that “speech” serves to divide us. It becomes an exercise in maturity, understanding and tolerance to endure so many of the absurdities which get aired under that broad mantle of free speech. One must proceed with the conviction that truth can and ultimately will hold the day, …even when such a large proportion of our population seem incapable of grasping, or at least accepting, truths they don’t like!
DOJ can do both. DOJ employs over 10,000 attorneys. The FBI within DOJ "currently has over 37,100 employees, including approximately 13,700 special agents and 20,100 professionals, who serve as intelligence analysts, linguists, surveillance specialists, engineers, computer scientists, financial analysts, and other professionals. These employees are stationed in 55 field offices."
When I listen to the seasons of Rachel Maddow’s ULTRA, I think politics “as usual” is exactly what we’re seeing currently and the whole system needs reform and better guardrails to prevent corruption and retribution. Let’s elect democrats to save Democracy so we can work hard to protect it.
Ultra was a WW2 pro-Fascist conspiracy at a time when all kinds of people had supported fascism, had little faith in modern democracies. Not sure "as usual" describes either the people involved or the times.
Yes this is alarming. But the propaganda IS a major method of voter suppression—getting Americans to believe that its institutions have failed and voting itself is 1) dangerous 2)futile 3)mostly fraudulent. These will make for apathetic citizens who sit out voting or zealously challenge the final count if they lose. The most dangerous instruments of voter suppression (except our MAGA dominated SCOTUS) are the election deniers who are feeding at the pro-Putin wing propaganda fodder. They stand ready to contest the count, and their actions might well lead to violence once again.
And I thought the Nazis were whipped. Ike did too. He demanded films, documentation because he said that in the future “…some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Yep, Ike knew that crazy wasn’t defeated forever.
I think Ike saw this due to the fascists in the U.S. that were in the country at that time. If he had not brought in those to document, he knew those Americans would whitewash the Fascists crimes. It did not take long either with people like Joe McCarthy working to get the German soldiers off for the Malmady massacre of American POWS during the Battle of the Bulge. In ULTRA, season 2.
There were fascists in America in the 1930's who wanted to 'eliminate' FOR and they were financed by among many others, the J. P. Morgan establishment and the Singer family. The fascists are very present in this country and have been for a long time. Donald Trump and a large faction of the Republican Party along with organizations like the "Heritage" Foundation, I could go on and on, are true fascists.
Given how much more sophisticated the Russian networks and other troll groups have become, it is ever more imperative for us all to be on our guard and to explain the dangers to others. I'm hoping that the debate will crystalize for many the danger of a second Trump term for our democracy and that seeing it in real time will be persuasive. I read today that 91% of Americans have said that they plan to watch. That's encouraging news.
I had hopes for the last debate too. Debates are orchestrated by the media and the media has gone rogue in many cases. Still, hope she mops the floor with the moron.
I thank you for your detailed and accurate reporting on this.
It was clear there was much Russian interference in the 2016 election. When I saw TFG's expression when it was announced he had won, what I saw on his face was shock, and I had a sense that he was thinking, "Wow, he really pulled it off, what do I do now?" Then there was his whipped dog expression after he had visited Putin who obviously had him on a tight leash.
I have been bewildered that the Russian influence has been ignored for so long. Maybe the CIA and others just needed to get their ducks in a row before the exposure, but Mueller's refusal to expound and elaborate on his own report was inexcusable. Was he also threatened?
The puppeteer had been exposed. How many more are on the payroll by now?
It was my understanding at the time that Mueller's report got redacted by AG Barr.
"On March 27, Mueller privately wrote to Barr, stating that Barr's March 24 letter 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions' and that this led to 'public confusion.'"
Sara, just so you are aware, the CIA is forbidden to act in anyway on US territory (which includes the 50 States, only the FBI can act within America. Same is true of the military only the National Guard units can act within the United States and that only at the request of the State Governor.
That didn’t stop them from doing it up until the 1970s, but their skeletons came tumbling out of the closet then to show the CIA had been violating its charter and acting on US territory. I don’t believe the weirder claims that have been made, and I can’t stand conspiracy theories, as they drive me wild with aggravation no matter the political outlook of the people who make them.
Never thought I would agree with Dick Cheney about anything, but here we are. And I admire his daughter Liz for sticking up for what she knows is right despite what it did to her political career.
Heather, you are a National Treasure. This essay is extraordinary. You always get a zinger in at the end too. I look forward to seeing you speak in Portland on the 17th. I hope the smoke clears by then so you can enjoy some of Oregon’s beauty again.
That’s great Kathaleen! Our seats are in the Mezzanine sections D and E. My sister is coming with me and we are planning on meeting Ally and her friends for dinner before the presentation. I’m not sure where we are going yet but would love for you to join us if you can. I live in Hood River but work at OHSU in Portland. My number is 541-806-4549
Kathaleen, I hope to see you there! I think Karen RN and I have seats near each other, and are hoping to get together before the event. They just released some new tickets; if you can't get one, message me; I have an extra.
Thanks Ally. I’m going to call the venue tomorrow because I need 2 seats. I bought a membership and hope to get a discount. My neighbor, Gary & I would love to connect. Thank you for the ticket - and sorry for late response, Kathaleen
Heather, you’ve penned the perfect ending to this letter: “Nazis. I hate these guys.”
The few remaining holocaust survivors must be shaking their heads at how many people believe the pro-Nazi lies. Once again, for them it’s “What are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?” They rightly fear that, with no eye witnesses to refute the Nazi lies, the world will forget the atrocities and will possibly repeat them.
This week I was at the Stutthof Concentration Camp. The “crematory” and gas chamber were clear to all. Have also been to Auschwitz years ago. Terror and cruelty on a massive scale. Nazis were monsters, yet many Germans came to fall into line after hearing propaganda endlessly. Not to excuse them but how many have heard enough of tfg they fervently believe him? And these were people we thought we knew …
The idea that Churchill was the ‘villain’ of WW II is a lulu, even for the whoppers that come daily from the Trumpists, including Tucker and Sean. Does that make Hitler and the Nazis misunderstood and the Holocaust some minor mishap?
Trump’s gaslighting is consonant with Russian efforts to denigrate the United States and democracy, while glorifying authoritarianism.
What better symbol of America’s decline than a former president who pontificates on how terrible America is?
While Trump and Project 2025 are a major threat to American democracy and justice, Trump targets President Biden (and now Kamala) as the greatest threat (and the worst president in American history).
I am proud of the United States of America. I am aghast at a former-and-would-be-president who publicly trashes my country and has bromances ranging from Putin, to Orban, to Kim.
I never thought that I would be witnessing a presidential race in which one candidate, on his own, would be denied a security clearance because he associates with enemies of the United States.
The only way that Trump can obtain a top secret clearance is by returning to the White House.
As a former Foreign Service Officer (with TOP SECRET, CODE WORD clearance) who was a ‘sucker’ almost a ‘loser,’ I shout THIS CAN NOT HAPPEN!
I left the Republican Party when DT was nominated for President. I was shocked that he had deceived so many. He has no good character. Everything in his life is focused on himself...power for himself....he can commit any crime he chooses for his own benefit without facing judgement nor is he required to take responsibility. It is his main hope that by becoming the President of the USA, he can be free of paying the price for his crimes. His children are complicit in their father's business dealings, including outside our country.
I was especially shocked by the supposedly "Christians" who voted for him so enthusiastically and who still support him. WHY???? Christians!!! he is using you!!!!
"Tough guys and gals" he is using you as well. Take note, has he ever served in the military or cared to defend your freedoms???? He is happy to use you, but he only cares for himself!!!
WAKE UP!!!
Kamala and Tim are heroes!!! They have grown up as regular Americans, within different types of families but families who loved and cared for and watched out for one another. They have given their lives to serve justice, to protect this country and her people. They are the ones who will work to watch over all of us. They know how to govern and how to lead. And especially, they are NOT controlled or influenced by foreign or domestic agents who want to destroy our freedoms from within!!!
well, perhaps for one "ally" that has gone to the dark side; loves Trump; and knows he has our security in his hands. Who, remarkably enough, is creating even more destruction, and death, than Trump, just to keep himself out of jail. (and because he is also racist as hell.) I know some people might accuse me of anti-semitism for this, but I stand with Jewish Voice for Peace (and the entire UN except for the United States,) in condemning his ruthless crimes. Like many friends of Israel I fear that this man (and his Extreme Conservative and Religious coalition) is putting Jewish people, and the future of Israel, at grave risk.
He is ALSO putting our own democracy at risk, and I don't believe that's an accident.
He and Trump are cut from the same cloth, but he is much, much more capable and intelligent. He knows a stooge he can use, just like Putin does.
I hope someone figures out the weak point in our chain and breaks us free.
Churchill did have his flaws. He was trying to uphold an empire destined to disintegrate, was contemptuous of people of color, and sparked a famine in Bengal that killed millions, however, Hitler was far worse. For all his flaws, Churchill was correct in forming the Allies and helping to defeat Hitler.
Kathy You’re right that Churchill could be great and also dreadful. Gallipoli is a severe black mark. When he insisted on Allies attacking the island of Rhodes, General Marshall told him “We are not going to lose a single soldier invading that damned island.’
He was a racist imbedded in the fading British empire.He was a real pain in the ass, BUT he did save England against Hitler and, despite having a poor 6th grade master’s report, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
A man of his times that made decisions that haunt us to this day, that said, he persevered when it was down to the wire, and his government was hanging by a thread.
Yes he was far from perfect. But he redeemed himself in my eyes. I was just trying to think of one politician who had not many black marks against them. Lincoln comes as close as any. He did not want to be a slave, nor did he want to be a master.
How did they get to the judges? They don't seem to be helping much at all. It is uncanny how ineptly they are " protecting" democracy. Thank you Professor Richardson.
I agree Jack, between the Judges not protecting our Democracy, the RNC supporting their ignorant choice of Trump and Vance having reckless power for four years (if elected), the mainstream media sticking their heads in the sand (instead of doing quality checks) on the candidates extreme disinformation, and the bribery of the SCOTUS - our American government is playing games with our hard-earned taxpayer wages, while our global allies are producing efficient infrastructure, clean energy resources, progressive healthcare, affordable homes, safe childcare and elder care for the future. It’s like we are pandering to junkies playing the roulette wheel of greed & power.
JD - good point. They were also hand-picked to ignore standing and allow cases to be heard that should have been tossed out (like mifepristone). And you know the Nazi judge in TX is fully on board in supporting Project 2025. Look for more ridiculous cases to come through his court.
Gary I recently re-watched Judgment at Nuremberg while highlighted how judicial acquiescence to Hitler in 1935 led to their version of Stench Courts.
In America this shatters the constitutional checks and balances in which the Supreme Court is required to be apolitical and be grounded in stare decisis except for a lengthy reconsideration process.
Now it seems like Katie bar the door with folks like the judge in Texas and Judge Cannon, who has violated every judicial rule, in keeping with the Stench Court.
Reversing this will be a lengthy process. Flushing the Trumpites from the Stench Court may, at best, require a generation, IF we have a Democratic president and Senate.
So much crap clogs our lives and complicates. Chump is the one who is creating carnage. But it started way back, with some times low profile. Now’s in your face and trying to rule lives of people just trying to survive.
They were also loyal members of the Federalist Society. Even Peter Calabrese, who helped found the Federalist Society in 1982, is dismayed at what it’s become.
Yes, I like the dogs and cats living together comparison. And although I completely disagree with the Cheney policies, it’s hopeful that we have allies for our democracy, where we can have civil discourse and agree to disagree. And mostly agree on our freedom to disagree without getting jailed or shot. Something noted in project 2025
I can only postulate that Dick Cheney has some dark secret reason to come out for Harris... some giant payout from Koch, perhaps. And I wonder how clear his reasoning skills are these days.
I place a lot of blame for Russia's knowledge of how "language creates reality and enables the speaker to shape how other people see the world" at the feet of Werner Erhard, who founded the est Training (which later became Landmark Education) in the late 1960s. Werner (for reasons unclear to me) conducted training programs in what was then the USSR for many years. I will provide two links below that describe what he did. While I have no way of knowing the names of the people who he trained way back then, I would not be surprised if Vladimir Putin was one of them or knew some of them.
Having taken the est Training myself (in 1979), I know its "technology" (some people say it is similar to Neuro-Linguistic Programing aka NLP) is very powerful...and like all technologies can be used for good (to help people escape their pasts and create a better personal future) and for evil (to manipulate people by creating a cult of personality).
I wonder if anyone in the US State Department and/or CIA is aware of what Werner Erhard did? I have no connections that would enable me to find out. But if anyone here has State Department or CIA connections, please share this with them. Thanks!
I went to several training sessions on NLP and saw no evil intent. Also, it’s too complicated for the average bear. I know nothing of est but cannot imagine NLP being on Putin’s radar.
Just to be clear, I didn't say est was NLP... and I didn't say Putin was aware of NLP. I saw Werner taught his programs in the USSR and that Putin (or people Putin knows) may have participated in those programs. The est Training was once summed up as "You create your own reality". And that is very much what Putin does in Russia and seeks to do throughout the democratic world: a "reality" based on hate, fear and division... where only "strong men" rule.
Well, I see similarities myself… including that a lawyer I once knew studied it to learn how to better convince juries to accept his point of view at trial. But est was more far-reaching… ran deeper than being a bag of verbal tricks to me. It really advocated create a new world… without ever teaching the value system that would insure that students didn’t want that new world to be one where people were pitted against each other.
I went through that training in 1981. I didn't get it then, and I didn't get the devotion to "the training" that so many people had. I suspect that for a variety of reasons, their "hook" didn't work for me; not because I have some superpower, but mostly because there are some areas of thought that I really don't understand. That devotion to a "greater power" is one of those.
That greater power, as described by man, is usually in line with man’s selfish bull Schitt. If there is a “higher power,” i venture to say that not one man on earth knows more about it than I do. Which is zip…. I have an open mind, but it’s not a sieve which allows bull Schitt in and then locks it up forever and spews it back…
Fascinating. I had a number of friends in the 1980s that were big EST followers. They spent a lot of time trying to convince others to join as well. Is that organization still active?
Back when ... I was & remain hostile to Erhard-est. The psychological health of patient-oriented psychologists were clustered around Carl Rogers & others & popularized circa the late 1950's into the 1960's.
As an undergrad at UCLA I took 12 psychology courses & was vividly aware of social psychology & the Stanley 'Milgram Experiment' researching the human trait to follow authoritative commands to extreme & perverse ends. Fast forward to 2024, I do have access to capable neuropsychologists in the CA Bay Area but, that will have to wait.
In the next two months I will be focused on my upcoming CA Election worker training & political support for Team Kam-Tim.
The point I was making (in case you didn't see my original comment) is that the effectiveness of Russia propaganda today can possibly be traced to the extensive trainings Werner Erhard conducted in the USSR many decade ago.
I like how Heather today goes from Putin to Trump.
Putin, as her notes on several of his agents go, is attempting to sow mistrust and divisiveness in the U.S. The orange felon, meanwhile, rails against America's legal institutions.
And Tucker? Is it really worth noting his nonsense. Is he really competing to be Putin's #1 ass-kisser -- when the orange felon has done that so well for years, and all those Americans Heather cites at the beginning of her piece also yearn for spots on the Putin posterior.
No, I think it's the AR-15 that best helps Putin.
Republicans en masse take money to keep it sowing fear across the land.
My search engine says: “Gun rights groups, including major organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America, have invested heavily in lobbying efforts. In 2021, these groups spent a record $15.8 million on lobbying. Since 1998, they have spent a total of $190 million on lobbying.”
Result: over 11 million AR-15s in private possession across America.
Mass murders every day. Schools. Theaters, shopping malls, houses of worship, grocery stores, music festivals. More schools. More dead kids.
“Fact of life,” says sicko J. D. Vance.
No. Continuous mass murder of innocents – more than one incident a day, year after year – is no fact of life anywhere in the civilized world.
The Apalachee High School shooting is truly appalling, Phil. There are now so many towns and cities whose names we associate with the absolute failure of our basic governmental and societal duties, allowing our schoolchildren to be collateral damage for the gun manufacturers, as to be immediately inducing shock, sickness and despair at their mentioning.
J.D. Vance is a sicko indeed, and the Newtowns, Parklands, Uvaldes, Columbines, etc., and now Winders of our Nation all weep not only for the loss of their children but for the failure of our political establishment to take the smallest of steps to secure the largest of our governmental obligations, to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us.
And yet in parts of northern Montana, some idiots cloth their kids as young as ten in tee shirts emblazoned with Reload on them. It IS sick.
For sickness there is often reason and treatment. For stupidity, there is no education or cure.
I agree there seems to be no cure, but we of sounder mind are in the majority and must continue to stand against gun proliferation in any way we can.
Ditch the NRA as it has become an enemy of a sane country.
Some years ago, I seem to remember that the NRA was having financial difficulties. Did pukin resuscitate it with his billions?
I was discussing the issue of Trump vs. Harris with two high school buddies (Class of 1958,) They both support Trump, even after a list of Trump's issues is supplied to them. Their responses? "I'll take common sense over critical thinking every day of the week and twice on Sunday." And, "Same old crap from you. Hard for me to believe you remain so brainwashed." My response, keeping in mind what Mark Twain said about arguing with stupid people: "That's what we critical thinkers call rationalizing. It's a form of confirmation bias, believing that to be true what one wants to be true." Twain's advice: "Don't argue with stupid people. They'll simply bring you down to their level and then beat you up with experience." So, that should be my last exchange with these two old buddies about politics.
Fox damage goes deep, just say sorry I shouldn’t try to reason with devoted cult members
For stupidity, there could be constructed reeducation camps. The Weagers (misspelled) understand this. So I propose American Reeducation and Labor Camps for MAGAs with a dose of a Clockwork Orange behavior modification tossed in for good measure. (I’m joking!)
Is this before or after HAL takes control. Or has he already…. BTW, what gender is a computer brain.
I’m not going there. Ok Hal is Trans Male
Tempting!
Daniel & Susan, I take heart from our legal system which finally appears to be holding “the adults” responsible for securing these terrible weapons as well as just the teen-age shooters themselves. I saw video of the shooter's father in custody and being arraigned in court. This didn’t use to happen.
Michigan paved the way for holding parents accountable for their minor children who murder people with guns those same parents supplied. The Winder case appears to mirror the Oxford MI case. Both parents were sentenced to 10 yrs in prison.
They should have been tried for murder for hire. They hired their sons and put the guns in their hands. Ten years for murder is a travesty of justice.
Yes, JohnM, I was glad to see that the father is being held responsible and he actually gave the gun as a gift knowing his son had problems. The worst school shooting here in Oregon occurred several years ago in Springfield. There, the parents who were both teachers, gave their son a weapon, once again knowing he had problems. They paid with their lives as he shot them before going to the school. He is still in jail although he has tried for probation. I am hopeful in light of what happened to the two parents in Michigan(?) and now this father in Georgia, will make other parents think twice.
Michele, the only reason the Thurston shooting (1998) is not the pivot point of school shooting discussion while the Columbine shooting (1999) is rests on the weapons. The Thurston shooter had a .9mm pistol which he didn't use, and a .22 rifle which he did. The two shooters at Columbine were not armed with AR-15's; rather high capacity semi-auto weapons; one described as an "assault pistol" and a "carbine" along with a pump action shotgun each. The "lethality of method" was far, far greater there than Thurston. There were two fatalities out of that school event, with 25 injuries. Columbine lists 25 injured and 15 fatalities, including the two shooters who suicided. Thurston does not list the shooter's parents, who were murdered prior to him leaving for the school that morning.
My personal connections with Thurston include having my two closest friends in the department assigned as detectives to the patricide (which occurred in the county, not the city of Springfield) and as a newly-trained peer supporter having that event as my first "debriefing" incident. Today, I know three people who were in the cafeteria that day. One still lives at home with their parents, one has lived in a variety of transient housing situations and is impacted by suicidal ideation almost constantly, and a third who survived being shot in the head (this one is the child of a coworker).
It is not lost on me that the shooter's parents at Thurston died by the gun they gave to him.
Ally. I figured you had the details on the Thurston shooting. We were driving through Oregon City when we heard about it. I do not understand parents who give children weapons when they know the child has problems. And I agree, it's not lost on me that they died by the gun they gave to him. As a former educator, I have met some really nutso parents, but not one who gave a troublesome kid a gun. I did have a lovey student who was in special ed and we did for him what we could, but his father later in WA told him to murder someone and he did.
Up close and personal, the bullets are not all that hurts
Honestly, I dont believe the lethality of the weapon should make any difference (and yes - somehow get rid of ARs) the kids or parents or teachers are dead either way. And yeah - I doubt any children or adults that have gone thru this ever forget - some never get over it.
It needs to be a PRIORITY with our "elected" officials. Or maybe it just has to become one to the rest of us, right?
Ally, I have been wanting to ask how you feel about the over 300,000 officers union putting their weight behind Trump? I am appalled!
Michele, for the parents to think twice, they would have to think once. I don't believe that they are thinking at all.
Some at least are half-way thinking; although, it clearly is not enough. Take the 3 parents from Nashville Tennessee who were white, Christian, gun owners, republican, and believed their representatives would "listen to them." Did they? Nope! Not a chance in hell. They all lobbied their reps after their children survived the massacre, but an epiphany was had by the parents! One of the parents was in "shock" that nothing happened from their reps. As I was listening to this story, I was thinking to myself: "really? You were in "shock"? Really?!? Where the hell have you been lady? Well, I think we all know where they've been. Possibly in La La land, maybe polishing their firearms and fighting for their 2A rights? Look, I'll give these ladies credit for stepping up; however, in the case of "too little too late", that would be a gross understatement. The good thing about this story is that all three moms said they are not giving up on getting some reform done on guns. Then again, this is Tennessee. The majority of people led by the likes of Marsha Blackburn have demonstrated themselves as some pretty dim bulbs. You can't fix stupid! Here is the link to the story. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/27/nx-s1-5084081/a-school-shooting-in-nashville-started-a-gun-debate-in-a-very-conservative-state
I actually thought about that. The gun types are not thinking.
WHY would an adult buy an AR rifle for a 14 year old child???
And, then I saw a picture of the mother, also arrested with an apparent arrest history having had only slaps on her hands and released. We have too many families like this one! They own guns!!!! Because they can!!!! It is heart breaking! And they wear TFGs clothing. When I see his signs in their yards I wonder what they look like and what their problems are today! I wish I was brave enough to ask them....I wonder if they attend church faithfully every Sunday or sit in taverns on Saturday night. I wonder if they have children they that are learning this behavior? I have my Harris/Walz signs up. I have seen one other and he is the Democrat Chairman of District 8 in Indiana. I was informed this morning that our County Chairman has Harris/Walz signs now available for $10 each. Believe me that is a bargin. I can't put one close to the road because the Republicans steal them! Hopefully they will stay away from the front of my house!
Some of them are at the tavern more than just Saturday night. Once when we had to pass a school budget, one of my colleagues and I were going door to door to encourage the vote. We came upon one house which reeked and the children were alone inside. Some are at church being hypocrites.
Another Mass Shooting: There is But One Solution
School shootings have become the cool thing to do to get attention. And firearms easily fit that desire for attention. In other times, gold-fish swallowing was the in thing to do on college campuses. Or sitting on telephone poles was an attention-getter. But now we settle on murder. And when press reports that the latest is the biggest, someone out there is thinking how he (usually male) can make history and be being even bigger.
We know (most of us anyway) all too well that the 2nd amendment never gave everyone the right to bear arms. Any 5th grader can understand that by reading the amendment. It says in part with no ambiguity, “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.” What is it about that sentence that allows any asshole to think they have a personal right?
In the 18th century, a regulated militia was the exact same organization as a state guard. Its purpose was to defend the state against the overreach of a central government and at the time, the central government was the British Crown. But why doesn’t a conservative originalist accept the original intent of this amendment? The answer is that conservatives answer to one call only: Money. It’s not ideology-based. You can wrap shit in pizza dough and bake it in the oven but it will still come out as shit.
For a time we had some modicum of civility when it came to firearms. And here maybe I’m being too naive because the idea of citizens under arms was mostly used to oppress Black and First People populations aside of hunting animals to feed a family. By the 1970s, the board of the National Rifle Association, up until that period a sportman’s organization furthering safe gun practices, was taken over by gun industry zealots who turned the group into a lobby for the industry. They twisted the meaning of the 2nd amendment and turned it into a right for everyone. Even German Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels understood that the repetition of a lie eventually is accepted as truth.
The damage that the NRA has inflicted on the nation is complete. They don’t need to exist as the corrupt organization they developed into. The damage is done. I had the chance to chat with a local police officer last year and it was a friendly chat. I asked him what he thought about gun possession. (I had already resolved to write a story in the local weekly and indeed I got my story.) The officer immediately shot back (no pun intended) “We have a 2nd amendment right.” I then asked him if the families of two police officers that had recently been murdered in an ambush in Bristol, Connecticut didn’t also have a right to have their husbands alive. His response was unremarkable and I don’t recall what he said. I made the point.
I also picketed Hoffman’s Guns last year on the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield, Connecticut and the general manager came out to talk. He advised me (a threat clocked as advice) that it was dangerous to be there. I responded that I thought only the good guys have guns as it is scrawled in huge lettering across the front of the building. I soon wrapped up my activities.
There is only one ultimate solution and it’s a ban on all hand guns and assault-style weapons. Perhaps every civilized nation on earth has accomplished this except the Disunited States. A ban and especially those cool killing machines used in high profile massacres; the assault-style weapons. But let’s not kid ourselves, most gun deaths occur with handguns. So I propose if we can elect super majorities in both Houses of Congress, that President Harris expands the Court to four justices and the Court for a change protects We, the People instead of They, the Industry. It’s that simple.
I encourage everyone that is able to contact the closest battleground state activists and on Election Day, visit and work to get every person to vote. I have done this in the past. I know one person hardly makes any difference although I once worked for an coming congressional candidate not in my district and he won by only a few votes. I secretly knew that I made the difference and recall talking to a few voters and convincing them to vote. We can individually make a difference. If not in person, please donate as if your life depended on it.
I live in Connecticut and I will contact folks in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and drive there the night before so I can be ready for a full day of getting out the vote.
Every vote is important.
Re: original intent and money. I think also it’s power (and I suppose you can that power gives access to money). A Republican can never shift from this position for fear of losing their seat. The deaths of others means nothing to them.
Just prayers and thoughts.
And then there's this.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/590668374/my-daddy-doesnt-shoot-blanks-creeper-ar
This is grotesque.
Chilling.
Wow, David. They at least came up with the right name: Creeper. Jeepers.
And they accuse us of "indoctrination" in the educational system we have. Indoctrinating a child with images of guns on their clothing and gratuitous handling of firearms in the home is the worst form of indoctrination.
Proud of crazy
Do to me that says anyone who feels this is necessary to publicize - this "dad" must really have an inferiority complex!!!
Whoops - changed this before I sent it and apparently didnt complete how I started out!!
Thanks for like anyhow.
Daniel, since the “apologists” (“get over it”….WTF!!??) for school/mass shootings have been pontificating & decrying any move to regulate gun ownership (registration, background checks, red-flag laws, prohibiting AR-type weapons, etc), I have wondered if the diehard “believers” would change their tune if THEY were personally impacted (NOT that I’d wish it to be so…never, ever)….sometimes it takes the up close and personal to shake folks awake!
Maybe the trend of holding parents criminally responsible for teens with guns will have an impact. What kind of idiot buys their 13 year old an AR style gun after a discussion with the authorities about posting on line school threats?
Cameron, I'd go further: what kind of idiot buys a 13 year-old an AR-style weapon AT ALL?
I thought that he (the idiot) probably thought he was a cool dad and bonding with his son. Instead of scoring cool dad points, he ended up ruining his son's life, his life, and so so many others.
Same mistake made by the mother of the Sandy Hook shooter. She was his first fatality.
Father's been arrested I thought
I wondered, Frank, what the son must be thinking knowing that his dad has been arrested too (both arraigned, as I understand it, it the same courtroom…first the son, then the father, tho’ not at the same time). I see these things reported over and over again and still can’t wrap my head around the idea that it happens!
Barbara the word thinking is key here. Do people who do these types of horrible things truly think? Not like healthy people think. And why is that? Can we use our assumptions about what thinking entails to understand these people? I have tried for far too long. I am stumped.
Father's been arraigned on murder charges.
Good thing President Biden is in charge. The Orange deranged butthead would have invited Dad to the J-6 bash at Mar-a-lago and given the guy a full set of tRump trading cards.
I recall an old news report: a woman in a supermarket put her child in a shopping cart seat alongside her purse, which contained her gun. The child found the gun, pulled the trigger and mom was shot dead. A reporter interviewed the dead mother's uncle who said she did nothing wrong.
Speechless.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/us/walmart-shooting-by-2-year-old.html
Russell: I didn't read the article, but the name of the store is what I suspected: Walmart. (,No offense to any Walmart shoppers out there, but it does have a reputation, or several.)
Afraid so. Collateral damage. 45,000 Americans die on the highways annually.
Frank, just recently some friends and I were talking about how more drivers nowadays do so in an unsafe, even dangerous, manner. It’s noticeable even in my rural area.
Barbara, every time we are out, we see bad driving. I belong to the local Facebook group that posts accidents, fire, etc. from a three county area here in the mid Willamette Valley. It is amazing to me how many accidents there are in a short period of time. There has also been a rash of motorcycles down lately. And nearly every night,I hear street racing sounds from some nearly main roads. Our own street has had construction on it for two years and they are not quite done, but once they are, it will return to being a racetrack. At least there are now sidewalks for the kids going to the middle school down the street to walk on. School has started here in Oregon, but also a heat wave, so some schools are shortening days especially in the Portland area and a couple are closed. Many schools have no AC and as people have noted, it is not going to get any better in terms of heat in the future. And trying to turn that around is another reason to vote for Harris and not death star.
I was looking up this stuff recently, seems distracted drivers top the list of cause of accidents, alcohol/drugs top fatalities, there was a long list, and yes reckless was definitely mentioned, as an uptick i think. Distracted didn't use to be #1. Also, USA came in as the #1 for deaths/100 million miles across OECD and others. Canada came in #10, but roughly speaking American deaths are about 10x Canada. USA gun deaths by far tops the list on that topic, truly an outlier among the OECD. More guns is part of that story, but i suspect there are underlying sociological reasons, I call it "gun culture" mentality in a country that parades its exceptionalism for both Americans and others to hear.
Frank, the only reason that number isn't double that is because of vehicle design improvements. In my last 10 years as a deputy I am aware of at least a dozen crashes that would have been fatals when I started my career that were simply injury crashes. The best comparison I have is that in the mid 1990's there was a crash where a pick up took on a tree head on that killed both the driver and the passenger. In 2007 there was a crash at very nearly the same location where a single driver crashed his pickup into a similar tree; he walked away from the crash with a cut on his forehead and the parts of his truck scattered over a wide debris field. Crumple zones work!
The scary thing is, Ally, I wonder if that only makes people more convinced with their "immortality" and another reason why rules dont apply to them.
It was his daughter's protests, among other things, that gradually got Tim Walz to campaign for gun controls. I believe Harris is promoting a ban of assault weapons, so I figure he is too. Any news story I read on him so far has not specified the policies he supports.
Frank Loomer - "Any news story I read on him so far has not specified the policies he supports."
Here’s what each candidate said after the school shooting in Georgia, and where each stands on guns.
“𝑂𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝐺𝐴. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟.” --Donald Trump
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Trump has vowed to rescind gun regulations enacted by the Biden administration, describing them as attacks on gun owners and manufacturers, and he has argued that mass shootings stem from mental health challenges.
“𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦.” --Kamala Harris
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: The vice president has pushed for a federal assault weapons ban.
“𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠: 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠.” --JD Vance
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Vance, a first-term senator from Ohio, has argued that restrictions on firearm access would be ineffective in stopping school shootings, and has instead called for stronger security measures.
“𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 (𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚) 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟, 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛, 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑.” --Tim Walz
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬: Mr. Walz has evolved on gun policy since he was elected in 2006 to represent a conservative-leaning House district in southern Minnesota. Once a strong supporter of gun rights who won high marks from the N.R.A., he later became a champion of bills to ban assault weapons and bump stocks.
[Gift Link] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/06/us/politics/trump-harris-georgia-school-shooting.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I04.5AcW.kWnhuygXhO6-&smid=url-share
The right lost their minds when he misspoke regarding “guns of war” he carried. He definitely supports a ban.
Barbara, why would it affect JD if he were “personally impacted" when his whole notoriety is built upon repudiation of his roots (see Hillbilly Elegy)?
John, the more I see/hear about Vance, the more my reaction is “eeewww” 🤮!!!
Shows himself to be creepier and creepier
Barbara, call me a cynic, but I seriously doubt they would change their tune. They'd probably just double down.
Floridians,I’m voting NO on Amendment 2 on the ballot in Florida.My concern is that “The Right To Hunt and Fish “is a gateway to defending the use of AR-15’s for other than hunting and fishing. Yes, hard to believe but they are allowed under statute.Firearms is not defined so that loophole has been exploited by AR-15 carrying fisherman.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/05/13/case-dropped-against-gun-toting-fisherman-youtuber-arrested-in-brevard-county/
https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_2,_Right_to_Hunt_and_Fish_Amendment_(2024)
Urgent Message from Mother Earth to Florida....... "Kick out the Orange A-Hole"
Either the fellow cited here or his ideologucal twin showed up in Key West. He carried no fishing gear other than the rod. No hook, no bait. Influencers are driving news for fun and profit.
"Appalling," Daniel, gets close to it.
I don't know any better adjective. And this, for the reason that intelligent, well-educated, well-off elites deliberately planned all this.
Not only for the grubby reason of money. And yes, that's vital here -- these vulgar predators love their money.
But more, in order to live more for money, more for power, they need to "lose their souls," as Barbara Keating puts it elsewhere here. And they need others to lose theirs.
Thus their campaign not only to erase humanities from K-12 and higher ed, but to replace it, replace them. In higher ed, with departments all strictly isolated from each other, all speaking wonk, all neutered. In K-12, with all schools crushed by the alternative imagination encoded in all standardized testing. Life is abstracted. Categorized. Linear. Numbered or otherwise a matter of units replicating each other. ("Blade Runner," anyone -- or the Philip K. Dick original?)
Of course, too, there's the other damage, the tens of millions discarded, abandoned, as their jobs went overseas. And with no one in the media equipped with any humanities to see them, and sympathize with them as human, as individuals, fellow Americans, elites like Hillary (and, soon after, J. D. Vance) could indulge her (his) dismissive, scornful vocabulary of them.
We're still in that sick, sick state, Daniel. The mass murders symptomatic of it, fueling it.
well, NOT Hillary Clinton. What the media did not bother to report was the bulk of her speech after saying that half of Trump's supporters were a basket of deplorables (and judging from their conduct since, she underestimated that.) Most of her speech followed the part where she said 'the other half are facing some serious problems' and went on to propose a number of possible remedies. She was not in the least scornful.
Meanwhile the same press that filled its pages/screens with hand-wringing about 'deplorables' has had next to nothing to say about Trump's calling his opponents 'vermin' and calling for military tribunals to try the most prominent for .... something.
I agree with almost everything you write here, but let's separate out who the really bad guys are from those who have been the subject of poisonous lies for decades.
John Gregory, thank you for this. Our press is woefully inadequate. They prefer click bait to thoughtful reporting with context. That whole "deplorables" debacle is an excellent example.
You have a VERY unrealistic view of elementary education in this country.
In Abraham Lincoln’s era, “the same old serpent” was enslavers saying some people were better than others. In every era, the same old serpent is anyone saying some people are better than others.
There is an alternative. Know that you are the most important person on the planet bar none. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you’re tied for fist place with roughly eight billion other human beings. But there's more good news. Being tied for fist place is good news.
Is there a third alternative? None that I can think of. The way I see it, people who think like Abraham Lincoln embrace the better angels of our nature, and people who think like Elon Musk embrace the serpent.
We must block the NRA. Please do the research, it's easy to find how much MONEY, cold hard cash, is paid to elected officials by the NRA. If we put the faces of OUR children and grandchildren on the lists of the slaughtered, would it make a difference,? Vote and join a Brady group!
Nothing will be solved until Harris is president and the Democrats control the house and the senate.
Pres Biden did pass a bipartisan gun law, the 1st in 30 years to do 3 things, incentives for states to pass so-called red flag laws that allow groups to petition courts to remove weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others; 2)
the bill expands an existing law that prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun to include dating partners rather than just spouses and former spouses; 3) and expands background checks on people between the ages of 18 and 21 seeking to buy a gun.
The Russians have been a major funding source for the NRA for decades.
If true, George, it sure makes sense.
Can't say the NRA does more than anyone to divide Americans, but it certainly well funds the Republicans for whom hatred, rancor, racism, misogyny, ignorance, poison-based nationalism, growing wealth inequality, and culture wars need fountains of freebie money.
Phil, tho’ I’ve never wielded anything other than a “cap-gun” toy as a kid playing cops & robbers w/ my sibs in the ‘50’s, I recall the NRA as a do-right safety org primarily related to hunting safety and protocol (my father-in-law and his son—my ex—were occasional hunters & kept guns). IMHO the advent of weapons of war (AR type weapons) and the NRA’s shift (I’m sure there is investigative reporting on this…or at least I think so) 180 degrees from their mission is very troubling….seems like they’ve lost their “soul”.
I took the NRA hunter's safety class as a teen in the early 70s. It included not only gun safety and maintenance, but also orienteering and basic first aid. As far as I can tell, the NRA does not offer such classes anymore. They seem to have been totally subsumed by their lobbying mission, which in my opinion, is a great disservice to their members and has hugely contributed to the horror of gun violence we see today.
Also, anyone who used an automatic or even semi-automatic weapon to hunt game would have been considered a menace to other hunters in those days (as they still are). AR-15s, M-16s, etc., are weapons for killing people, not game, and should be treated as such. Real, actual people are dying. The leading cause of death among children (age 0 - 18) in the US for the past several years is not auto accidents, COVID or other diseases - it is being shot by a gun. What kind of people could continue their "lobbying" in the light of such stark horror?
I had the same experience as a kid growing up in MA. I took NRA riflery classes to hone my marksmanship with a .22. I'm glad I did it. It was fun. But should I have learned how to work an AR 15? You gotta be kidding.
All who want and have not been convicted of a crime of violence should be able to have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
In a word, yes. The money is more important than children’s lives or the lives of anyone else. What kind of people REFUSE to pass common sense gun legislation after the deaths of 26 people at Sandy Hook. 20 little 6 and 7 year olds. I read a book by a former NRA operative, and he said it was ALL about the money for Wayne LaPierre and the politicians.
In part, you're likely right, it is about $$$.
You can thank the late Harlan Carter for the NRA “revolution” that put the gun manufacturers and gun nuts in charge (and no, I am not referring to all gun users as nuts, simply the ones who think firearms should be everywhere.) Carter was the son of an INS agent and as a youth, he killed a Mexican-American teenager in the mistaken belief that the teen had harassed his family. Carter was convicted, but had his conviction reversed on the legal grounds he deplored in other trials.
Steve, re semi auto rifles for hunting, for decades hunters used Remington and Browning semi autos like the Model 742 safely in the field. Magazine capacity is 5 shots, with no quick reload capability. The actions of an AR15 work basically on the same mechanical principles; the difference being almost unlimited cartridge capacity and swift reload. The NRA has falsely tried to make the argument, “guns don’t kill people”, but the truth is, they do. I hunt, I own guns I taught hunter safety for 30 years. I left the NRA at the same time LaPierre radicalized it
My republican husband was a member of NRA when he was a kid & it was doing all those things you cited. He grew up on a farm in rural MD. He quit his membership when they discontinued the lessons. I never thought much about the NRA until I moved to rural MD & every pickup truck had a gun rack because of hunting. Hunting was a huge part of everyday life back then. When the NRA changed in 1977 the new leader vowed to make it so powerful that no politician could get elected without its support. Up to that point it supported registration of & licensing for gun ownership. It changed because there was a federal raid on a longtime member who was shot & paralyzed & there had been unrest in the membership probably starting when black panthers started open carrying, pretty much because of the permanent confederate mindset that afflicts some Americans
In 1967 CA Gov Reagan signed some of the first gun laws restricting open carry, mostly because of WHO was open carrying—the Black Panthers.
https://californialocal.com/localnews/statewide/ca/article/show/4412-california-gun-control-reagan-black-panthers/.
The NRA changed decades ago.
I don't understand. I don't understand why we can't all have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
Apparently so, and of course Wayne LaPierre is nowhere to be found. He’s in trouble himself for using the NRA as a cash cow for himself and other top executives.
Deliberately and with malice toward us all
You've got it very simply, exactly, Barbara. "Lost their 'soul.'"
Wasn't an accident. In order for the commercially vulgar to implement the 1971 Powell memo, its far-right foundations needed to be set up, funded, and organized. Before they could proceed to their main order of business, offshoring those tens of millions of working-class jobs, they first needed to kill humanities from American schools. Thus no one would publicly reference the novels, films, and songs which in fact saw what the elite, well-groomed, well-coiffed predators proceeded to be doing.
Barbara, I was a member of the NRA in the mid 1960s when I was collecting firearms while in the Air Force at Ft. Meade MD. I had 2 modern revolvers, a cap & ball revolver, a flintlock black powder pistol, and 2 semi-automatic pistols, plus a couple of 22 calibre rifles. I had an ammo box with NRA decals on it, which my ignorant redneck bro in MS where the rifles were later stored at my dad's house would bring up when I mentioned we needed sane gun laws. Namely there is NO LEGITIMATE REASON FOR CIVILIANS TO HAVE WEAPONS OF WAR DESIGNED FOR EFFICIENT MASS KILLING. But, the NRA has since become the very profitable political arm of the gun manufacturers and public safety be damned.
Barbara. When Wayne LaPierre teamed up with an ad agency to ramp up donations to the NRA, they did so by moving NRA emphasis on safety toward radical support of the 2nd amendment, claiming “librals is trying to take away all yer guns”. The propaganda was incessant and wildly successful in drawing millions of dollars to “pertect our rites”. Money flowed like water and La Pierre colluded with the ad agencies to share the spoils in a personal way living high on the hog until their corruption was uncovered and New York State took him down. It was/is insideous and perhaps the Russia Connection get wider exposure
I’m not positive I remember this right but I believe Bush senior canceled his membership because of the changes
He may have done so late in life but he campaigned courting the votes of the NRA and GOAL.
In 1996 after a horrific mass shooting at Port Arthur, Tasmania where a lone gunman slaughtered 35 people in a cafe, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard immediately brought in gun reforms including banning all semi-automatic and pump action shot guns buying back 700,000 of those killing machines. Firearm homicide rates went down 42% and by 2018 Australia had experienced no mass shootings. Still, the head of America's NRA called the reforms 'repressive and ineffective, a huge over-reaction that stripped away rights of Australian gun owners.'
Howard was one of Australia's most conservative Prime Ministers and unlikeable, yet he had a moral compass and did the right thing. The ability to know right from wrong I believe, is what makes us human and the sign of a good leader. Liz Cheney, James Packer et al are all showing themselves to be good humans, publicly stating they're backing the Harris - Walz ticket.
It doesn't take many too brain cells to work out that Trump, his puppet master oligarchs, and the entire MAGA extreme right are sucking on the devil's teat.
The problem is the prevailing misinterpretation of the Second Amendment that the NRA has helped to market to the public. The late Warren Burger called the NRA out for the lack of legal foundation for its pro-firearm arguments.
IMHO the NRA is a political front for weapons manufacturers and right wing civil war plotting.
That's a classic case of "fewer guns means fewer deaths". But it will take a lot more than a ban on assault weapons to greatly reduce firearms deaths. Most are not with assault weapons, and half are suicides.
Frank, apart from banning military style weapons, Howard's legacy included:
- all gun-owners require a licence
- all firearms need to be registered
- gun-owners need a genuine reason for owning a firearm – and this does not include self-defence
I'm sure something of that nature in the US would make a difference though that last one would be contentious.
In Canada not so long ago the Liberals attempted to institute a cross the board gun registry. Rural owners esp long guns took extreme exception, the Conservative campaigned on deregistering and destroying the gun registration files. They won, and did exactly that, except Quebec objected and maintained their own registry since it had been set up under provincial control. That said, the murder rate in Canada is abt .9/10000. USA is abt 4.5. Where there is strong weapons regulation eg in UK, Australia, Japan, murder rates are much lower still.
Would it be poetic justice if Putin was assassinated with a US made AR-15 assault weapon?
Right to bear arms is simply entrenched in American myth, and backed up by the Supreme Court. It's visceral.
True Frank, very true. But we have changed many myths during our adolescence as a nation. It was visceral that only men with property could vote. It was visceral that Africans should be enslaved. It was visceral that homosexuality was to be a crime.
My optimistic coffee suggests that WMDs in the hands of civilians (and kids!) will not be visceral - I hope I live to see it happen. But I DO think it will be the future. Why? Because Gen Y and Gen Z and whatever the next one is named - they are wicked smart and less jaded by stupid traditions.
Bill so love your « wicked smart »!
I am sure. It seems that the Russians still have a lot of money to spend on disinformation campaigns and that is as much a part of their war budget as equipment and troops. I was reading about the Russian spies and Chinese spies in Spy Talk today as well. https://www.spytalk.co/p/new-in-spyweek-russia-russia-russiaand/comments?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&comments=true&utm_source=substack
Can you give sources for this? I was wondering about that, if it could happen without being thoroughly investigated.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/476409/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-weapon-types-used/
https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/statistics
Police kill triple the numbers of citizens as mass shooters. We are getting to the place where soon single-issue zealots will be claiming police unions take orders from Putin. I'd like to see data and evidence provided to give credibility to advocacy. I think Phil Balla's list is pretty spot on the division and political motivation to keep people divided and fearful of each other. If the NRA went away tomorrw, I think we would still have every dismal catalyst for violence on his list.
This doesn’t seem to say anything about Russian funding of the NRA, which is what my question referred to.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/27/nra-russia-foreign-asset-senate-report-investigation
Most of the investigations were squashed by GQP puppets of the NRA, but they couldn’t hide all of it.
Thank you for the Guardian link!
No, but look deeper. While this thread speculates that a foreign nation is buying governance of American citizens, Russia is hardly the only influence.
https://uscpr.org/nra-aipac-common/
https://polisci.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Hannah%20Katz%20-%20Guns%20in%20America%20vs%20Israel.pdf
To corrupt a government by bribery ("campaign donations") requires buyers AND SELLERS. It also requires corrupt political parties who profit by recruiting willing sellers to political candidacy. I do not feel safer by the most violent cadre of our society being militarized by our political parties. Ask Democrats why their "gun control" measures are not addressing the contingent of society responsible for triple the firearms killing as mass shooters. I want ALL of the military hardware gone from our streets and neighborhoods. The politicians' ruling class benefactors do not. The parties—BOTH of 'em— are catering to the wealthy ruling class. Supporting a fully function democracy does not involve building a militarized police state.
True, because there are other more militant groups, like Larry Pratt’s Gun Owners of America. I was unusual because I grew up in a home with no firearms, nor did we feel lacking. The only thing I ever shot was a target with a BB gun at day camp, and the supervisors gave us strict safety instructions.
I asked DuckDuckGo about Russian money and the NRA, and there do seem to be a lot of traditional news sources writing about this connection between the NRA and Russian funding.
Part of the investigative process following each mass shooting incident should be sending pictures of the scene, especially the victims, to every member of Congress and the legislature of the state where the shooting occurred. Being confronted directly with the results of their dereliction will make it much less comfortable to take money from the gun and ammunition lobby.
I think you may be right, though some members have so encased themselves in what must be called evil that I’m not certain it would make much difference to them. On the other hand, it is almost certain that some of the pictures would be leaked, and some gutter press would publish them, thereby causing absolute devastation to the parents and siblings of the dead, and nightmares to many others. In addition one runs the risk that other people would harden their hearts and sensibilities to resemble the neanderthal Vance.
There is always some risk, and the devastation argument is most frequently used, but it's hard to believe that anything could be more devastating than the actual death and injury that the families have already suffered. It is abundantly clear though that something in the "thoughts and prayers" process has to change or the carnage will continue.
It’s rather like how the pictures of a teen girl in California killed in a gruesome auto accident got out. Her parents sued the CHP because someone there leaked the photos and they were not allowed to do it.
When I was maybe 11 or 12 I saw a photo of a botched illegal abortion victim & I was instantly against restrictions on abortion. It was gruesome & shocking. I think photos of a bunch of dead little kids shot & killed while at school should be publicized so people will start to become aware of the reality. If you don't see it you can easily deny that it's something that should never happen. Look what happened when news people embedded with soldiers in Viet Nam. I really wish the parents of victims would choose to release the photos. Gen Y & gen Z kids have grown up with shooter drills. That's why they have the desire for change.
According to my Gen Y daughter-in-law, Gen Y = millennials; I believe you mean Gen Z and Gen Alpha have grown up with the shooter drills (absolutely devastating).
Thanks for the heads up. I have no younger people in my life to keep me informed of such things. Probably don't read wherever this info is covered. Plus I'm surrounded by republicans where I live so probably no one would even use that phrase to describe anyone. Fortunately because of David Hogg Gen Z will vote & he's working specifically on all younger voters. I love that guy.
I don't understand. I don't understand why we can't all have sporting guns, register them, and restrict military assault weapons to the armed forces (and police if you have to). Is the gun manufacturing money so much more important than the lives of kids to our elected representatives?
Sure seems to be, otherwise they would have taken some action.
You've got Citizen's United, the misbegotten Roberts ruling of 2010 to thank at least in part for this sorry state of affairs.
Another of the many changes that need to be made. President Harris, even with Democratic majorities in both houses, is going to have a very busy 8 years.
Yesterday, I was discussing the fact that in Germany, where I am mainly living they have been discussing 2 recent knifing attacks, and there is a call for stricter knife carrying laws. Still, German parents are not warning their children about how to protect themselves from knife attacks, and starting in first grade, they largely walk to school on their own. Schools are not having knife attack drills either. So, while any form of murder is terrible, when you talk about knives and guns it is apples and grapes. For example, here is a list of mass stabbing attacks in Germany over the last 120 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_stabbings_in_Germany
You can see in the first one there is also a shooting. That is in 1913. Now-a-days Germany still has a lot of guns, but also has some sensible gun laws. You cannot buy one before 25 without having a psychological evaluation. You won't get a gun if there is some reason to be concerned about your behavior. You cannot own a gun for personal protection, and you must keep it locked up, get a certificate to own it, register each gun, and police can check unannounced to see if you follow the rules. You also need 1.1 mil € of personal liability insurance.
Here is the number of mass shootings in the US in the last 10 years.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/27/us-mass-shootings-database
In the US, when states enact gun control laws, red state AGs go after the ruling and try to get it to the Supreme court. So, without getting control of SCOTUS, we cannot enact serious gun legislation. This is why the US, the richest country in the world, is at #132 for safety. See the global peace index page 9 https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GPI-2024-web.pdf
Germany is at #15. Even better is Iceland at #1. People in Iceland have guns too, but they have restrictions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_of_gun_laws_by_nation
If you scroll down to the table, you will see that people do not get to have guns for personal use. There can be a 4 year jail term if you violate gun rules. There is no open carry and no conceal carry. You can hunt with guns, and you can collect guns. You need permits to do this, and training. For that, Icelandic children can go to school and not spend time on preparing for active shooters, instead they can learn what they need to and not have to worry about being killed in school.
The fact that American students have to be concerned about this is absolutely disgraceful and disgusting. Some Americans value their firearms more than children’s lives.
It is tragic. It is why my daughter is going to university here in Germany, as well as that there is no tuition. Another stress taken from a child. It is much better for mental health, which contributes to physical well being. She was very stressed in first grade when there was a stranger in the building drill. She had worries for months after that some man was going to come to her classroom and snatch her. I even told her that such a thing had never happened in her school, plus I taught in her school. She said, that just because it had never happened did not mean it could not happen. When your 6-year-old gains wisdom like that because of fear you think, what am I doing? I had to do a lot of reassuring, and because she trusted me she got over it. Still, this is her fear and nothing had even happened to someone she knew. She did not hear news, or know anything other than that they had what they considered developmentally appropriate ways to explain their practice for a shooter to children. Ironically, these policies came from pressure from Republican parents at the school wanting the school to have more security and be like a fortress. I do not think it is the way to go. The US needs to have sensible gun laws, and Americans need to vote like they know it.
I grew up around a few who had handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles back in the 50s and 60s (at least until JFK was assassinated, when they downsized their collections a lot). Relatives had fewer than most and hadn't used them in years so the problem I started seeing was from the left over guns and ammo not being secured by some, though the only accidents were among friends of the family. One shot himself in the leg while trying to clear a jam.
After hearing about 6 or so accidental deaths of kids, I had my son keep parts of a 1911A1 left to me by my-brother-in-law (the only gun I ever owned, though I used several types in Vietnam), so it couldn't be used, and he could sell it through a licensed dealer to a Law Enforcement Officer (we wanted it to only go to LEOs or relatives that were court officials, otherwise have it destroyed). One coworker offered $1,000 for it but didn't want the sale registered, and we'd never sell it to non-LEO types that had no reasonable explanation for why they "needed" it, anyway (especially since seeing the accidental bullet hole they put in their front door).
I was convinced by what I knew of accidents with kids, well before I read stuff like:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7250a1.htm
And I for one, see there will be a need to defend myself and my family. Did I ever want it to come to this? No. But. It has. This brainwashing by P has been going on long enough that there is no turning back for those affected. They have by now too much time and thought of how true the misinformation can be to invest otherwise. The only damage control is defense.
Phil, please note that the NRA was being courted by a Russian operative in 2020, receiving donations. The story got buried wuickly
Traitors, all of them with blood on their hands. Lobby for guns, promoting pro Putin BS. Listen to their tortured rationalizations to justify all their hatred and love of guns. And they call themselves patriots. As for this election, all the high-profile Republicans are finally waking up to trumpism and wanting their party back and knowing that the only way is a complete and total defeat of all MAGAts and their wannabe dictator who emulates the likes of Putin et al.. Who thought for a second that this country would be faced with so many who want essentially fascism?
Tucker Calrson is not spouting nonsense. He is a blatant Putin sympathizer and mouthpiece. Millions of Americans listen to him.
We ignore him at our own peril.
About the Tenet Media influencers, I don’t think they cared where the money was coming from as long as it continued to come. Now they’ll have to find more honest work.
Tucker.
I ask the good readers to hesitate a moment and picture Carlson in your mind. I know, for me, and quite possibly a number of others reading, you'll see him with those deep furrows between his brow, his mouth puckered up quizzically. I view this as an attempt (by him) to be ever so dramatically confused and concerned. However, when I see him with this stereotypical expression, I can't help but think that he and his expression are better suited for a role as a clueless hanger-on to the teens in one of the "American Pie" films. Seriously--can't you picture him like this?
I try very hard--really, I do!!--to NOT judge people by their looks, at least by their God given ones. However, when I see people adopt a persona that is so obviously intended to portray them as something they are not, and cannot ever be, my better angels do abandon me.
Just as if I dressed like a 20 year old for a night of clubbing--which I absolutely cannot carry off--thus Tucker never carries off his role as a leading journalist for me, either.
Someone, perhaps here, once said that MTG's face looks like a potato. I can't help but think that now, every.single.time I see her. If now, after reading what I said about Tucker, YOU see that (I have to say it) WEIRD expression on his face, and you think of him doing whatever in American Pie.......oh well.
I admire your confession re "at least by their God given ones". I am the same.
The article that woke me up after Lewiston (15 miles from where I live and very close to the VA Clinic I use) is at:
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-bushmaster-made-ar-15-into-best-selling-rifle-us
"...Dyke brought the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which had been considered taboo to market to civilians, into general circulation, and helped keep it there. A folksy turnaround artist who spun all manner of companies into gold, he bought a failing gun maker for $241,000 and built it over more than a quarter-century into a $76 million business producing 9,000 guns a month. Bushmaster, which operated out of a facility just 30 miles from the Lewiston massacre, was the nation’s leading seller of AR-15s for nearly a decade. It also made Dyke rich. He owned at least four homes, a $315,000 Rolls Royce and a helicopter, in which he enjoyed landing on the lawn of his alma mater, Husson University.
Although his boasts of military exploits and clandestine derring-do caused associates to roll their eyes, he was actually no gun enthusiast. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. Once, when his brother Bruce persuaded him to go deer hunting, Dyke sat in his Jeep reading The Wall Street Journal, rifle out of reach as a deer ambled safely past.
Along the way, Dyke and his team capitalized on the very incidents that horrified the nation. Sales typically went up when a mass killer used a Bushmaster. After a pair of snipers in the Washington, D.C., area murdered 10 people with a Bushmaster rifle in 2002, Dyke’s bankers noted that the shootings, while “obviously an unfortunate incident … dramatically increased awareness of the Bushmaster product and its accuracy.” ...
...Today, more than 24 million AR-15s are in circulation. Because of their accuracy, light weight and low recoil, they are the most popular rifle in the U.S. But while they accounted for less than 3% of homicides in 2020, they’ve become a favored weapon of mass shooters. Both fetishized and demonized, they’ve also emerged as a potent symbol of defiance. Gun rights activists have flaunted semi-automatic rifles at counter-protests against Black Lives Matter, on social media and at rallies at state capitol buildings. In 2022, President Joe Biden called for banning AR-style weapons, saying too many schools and workplaces “have become killing fields, battlefields here in America...”
Other countries like Swizerland and northern tier countries have high percentages of gun owners in some areas but relatively very few mass shootings compared to the US. It seems they know who to keep from having some weapons, or all weapons.
Jd did some noticeable ass kissin to get back with tiny t. I think he’s used to it from his relationship with p theil his golden goose. That’s kind of funny to think about the similarities of a golden goose and an ass kisser.
Will Hodge's "Nikki's a Republican Now"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGwTKAiaI0E
and for those of us that don't hear as fast as we used to - Lyrics are here
https://genius.com/Will-hoge-nikkis-a-republican-now-lyrics
and "Thought's and Prayers"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBJSzZYHAg
¿". . . . from Putin to Trump."?
¡Really!
Wuupppssss: I forgot that they are two separate people after all. 😉😊🤔😳🤢
I think we should sue and then imprison any one group who takes money from these lobbyists. As we have realized we need to hold accountable those parents who offer up their children with guns.
Now we need to hold accountable lobbyists who willfully support terrorism.
Thank you, Heather..
That is dreadful news about the Russian mis- and disinformation campaign that is deeper and wider than we ever could have imagined.
That is good news about Liz and Dick Cheney actually putting country before party. Let's hope it impels other Republicans to follow their example.
And we must continue to engage the independents, the apathetics/disaffecteds, and the young voters to register and vote blue so this won't be our country's last legitimate election.
One thing that concerns me in watching the mainstream media this last week is how, yet again, Trump is dominating the news. There is very little coverage of Harris and Walz and what little is there is generally critical. Even when I google specifically for news updates on the Harris campaign, the results are easily 2/3 or more about Trump. I’m wondering if we could counter that outrageous bias here and through to the election, always include some kind of update on what the Harris Wallz campaign is doing? Just an idea. Meanwhile, thank you for the in-depth information about the Russian dis-information campaign. And, you know, everything you do to keep us sane and united.
And yet, there seems to be nearly ZERO coverage of Cheetolini that actually reports what he says. He spews incomprehensible word vomit and the mass media claims it’s an “economic plan”.
You mean what he doesn't say. His answers to questions are nor relevant and are immaterial. In a courtroom, a judge would direct the jury to disregard everything he says.
The BIG NEWS in Trumpland is that Truth Social is failing.
DOJ indicts former Trump campaign adviser, Russian intel officers in new cases. https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4864244-justice-department-russian-charges/
Interesting about "Truth" "Social", Daniel. I just had a FB friend (a MAGAt; he and I went to the same high school at different times, we're both brass musicians) bemoan that the site mentioned was asking him for his credit card information. Duh, dude, they need your money.
WaPo for the last few days has had some excellent "word salad" verbatim analyses.
Well, they've got an unlimited supply of word salad to work with!
But WaPo has no Russian election interference arrest headlines. Seems like big news to me.
You can find it on particular cable news channels, which a lot can't afford, but for the rest, that are limited to antenna - coverage is as you say nearly ZERO.
Absolutely true. In the last two elections, MSNBC basically invited Trump into our living rooms. Also, on Public TV David Brooks tends to lead off with a quip implying we’ve seen all this before and it’s routine politic before analyzing, which has the effect of reinforcing false equivalence. Sometimes you see an incredulous look on Jonathan Capehart’s face.
This is not routine. It is exceedingly dangerous. I don’t watch the news. I read it instead because the news on tv has a surreal game show quality to it that I find annoying and distracting.
You're right. Starting with glamorous young female presenters.
The line between news and infotainment is nonexistent.
David Brooks is a big NO for me. His arrogance is endless.
I have often cringed at David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the NYT, but at times he's said some pretty sensible things, at those times aligning with Jonathan, who I greatly enjoy. I think it's PBS's way of offering "balanced" journalism. You're so right about "incredulous look"
However, the reports about the convicted felon are not as kind as they have been.
Way past time
Readers of Le Monde are wondering how in the world tens of millions of Americans can even think of voting for him? and lamenting the pending loss of France's historical "twin".
Just the remember the French have been staving off a now long-term right-wing resurgence led by Marine Le Pens. Trump has also had support from conservatives in the UK.
Actually, no. The Le Pens, first father and now daughter, have been a no-no for as long as I've been following French politics (about 30 years). When Macron was first elected, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who thought he'd been going to win, was livid, and started working to destroy, making it look like popular uprisings. Last week, when Macron appointed a prime minister (right-wing), Mélenchon started bellowing about a "stolen election". And yes, everyone's noticed where he found those words... As for the UK, it's Nigel Farage, who keeps a low profile since he wrecked the European Union (Brexit), but was up there laughing beside Trump in Trump Tower on election night.
Thanks for the clarifications. Didn't her party just become the largest single group in the first round of the latest elections, all the other parties blocked her in the run-up? Here's a story from the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/29/marine-le-pen-putin-trump-axis
I did reply to this, hope it got through. The two-round election system, with one week between, enables the electorate to fix a bad mistake, such as a Le Pen in the Elysée for five years! On the Friday night in April 2002 I ran into one of my colleagues in the ladies' washroom; I asked her what she was doing over the weekend. She raised a fist: "I'm going to the march! Aren't you?" "I don't feel I have the right. I'm not French." "But don't you care?" So, with a million others, I went. One of life's great experiences. The loss of Jospin was indeed stupid, and cruel, and too late to repair. When he was in Australia on a book launch a few years ago, I had the honour of meeting him. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/jean-marie-le-pen-shocks-france-second-in-presidential-elections-2002
Racism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/06/trump-clinton-harris-election
I follow Walz and Harris on social media and hear first hand what they are doing daily usually several times a day. At present they are traveling the country.
Heather, I understand why the Russian story is so important, but I also note that it is taking up much more space, especially in Garland's active offices, than the equally great or greater threat of voter suppression, intimidation, raids on Latinos, and tampering with voter rolls. Given how much impact this could have on the electoral results, eg in Georgia, why isn't the DOJ doing a detailed investigation of those bad actors? You often point out the comparison with the Reconstruction period and Jim Crow. I am truly surprised at how little fuss the Democrats are making and how little action Garland is taking. I don't think it bodes well for the Senate race in Texas, a possible close call in FL...and who knows where else. Don't you agree there is a disparity here?
I disagree. Though both issues are critical, the Russian interference in our society is tearing us apart and that is what it is meant to do. The Republicans couldn't get away with their shenanigans without Putin pumping out the propaganda via "influencers" here. There are people languishing in jail for selling a classified document or even being negligent with it. Yet I see what some of the right wing media, such as Carlson, doing as much deeper damage, that should, by rights, be called espionage. Podcasters, and all the others are being paid to destroy the USA. Ignorant and helpful idiots pass it on to one other through MAGA/Q/FB forums. It is a cancer that could kill this country.
A cancer that is also well established in the United Kingdom. Elon Musk is a useful idiot. His recent reiteration after the UK’s recent racist led riots in England and Northern Ireland that ‘civil war was inevitable’ was a line fed to him. I live in daily somewhat forlorn hope that an international investigative institution with teeth is looking at the part played in this decades long Russian black propaganda operation by rogue elements both in and run by British Intelligence within Northern Ireland.
Oliver Bullough has a good book from 2022 as to how Britain’s banks and real estate agencies became butlers to the world’s kleptocracy.
Fox News has been tearing us apart for all of its existence. Do you ever watch their slant in stories and how they mock people who ideas they dislike? They are almost as bad as Trump and Jordan.
Take them DOWN!
It has turned my mother into a fearful, freaked out wreck. Please let's make an effort to stop putting the word "news" after the word "fox."
It's neurolinguistic programming like "pro-life" (anti-choice) and other bs made up by the extreme capitalist class and their duplicitous PR companies.
Agreed. Fox has been at it for a quarter century. And has the country's largest audience.
that last part is what hurts the most. Murdoch did such a great job making Fox Look like a news outlet that Americans still think that it is.
A minority do for sure, and often it's their only "trustworthy" news channel. In any case, unlike most other stations/networks, Fox explicitly supports one party esp in its columnist segment - ie Hannity et al.
Russia succeeds in convincing US citizens to commit domestic terrorism because the people they convince are willfully ignorant, violent thugs in the first place. Focus on infiltrating terrorist groups, getting the evidence on them, and putting many thousands of them in jail serving long sentences. Proper law enforcement against domestic terrorists will make potential new recruits reconsider their options. This would probably have a side benefit of getting a lot of bad cops off the street, assuming law enforcement personnel are way over represented in domestic terrorism groups, which I’d lay odds is a good bet. Do what can be done to stop Russian disinformation, but there probably isn’t much that will work. They operate almost entirely from inside Russia.
Agreed, Russia would get nowhere without an American audience already predisposed to out and out radical "before Russia". Think Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, the major right-wing organizations which have been at work since the 70s.
No, Rex, I fear that virtually every study done of stiffer penalties for most of anything has shown that increasing penalties does NOT reduce the crime in question. See the effects of “the war on drugs” as an example of the ineffectiveness of upward-spiraling penalties.
Drugs, theft, murder, and even embezzlement are a different kind of crime than terrorism. Terrorism requires political commitment and, usually, careful planning by many people. It is not done for personal aggrandizement or in a sudden rage. I’m skeptical that the data on a disconnect between crime and penalties applies to terrorism.
And why republicans are so intent on reducing the size of government. So they can get away with more naughty.
I fear, SuZette that we are suffering the results of a government that generally protects free speech vigorously and legally, even when that “speech” serves to divide us. It becomes an exercise in maturity, understanding and tolerance to endure so many of the absurdities which get aired under that broad mantle of free speech. One must proceed with the conviction that truth can and ultimately will hold the day, …even when such a large proportion of our population seem incapable of grasping, or at least accepting, truths they don’t like!
DOJ can do both. DOJ employs over 10,000 attorneys. The FBI within DOJ "currently has over 37,100 employees, including approximately 13,700 special agents and 20,100 professionals, who serve as intelligence analysts, linguists, surveillance specialists, engineers, computer scientists, financial analysts, and other professionals. These employees are stationed in 55 field offices."
And Marc Elias of Democracy Docket is fighting in the courts as we speak.
https://www.democracydocket.com/
Send money! Democracy Docket is one of the REALLY good guys: doing something.
Yes, Margaret!
The DOJ can not only walk and chew gum at the same time, it can also “grind exceedingly fine.” - Ecclesiastes 8:10
Yes, Jessica, I definitely agree. It is past time for Democrats to stop being polite.
No, we must not try to out do the convicted felon with his own histrionics.
But stop acting like this is politics as usual. It ain’t
When I listen to the seasons of Rachel Maddow’s ULTRA, I think politics “as usual” is exactly what we’re seeing currently and the whole system needs reform and better guardrails to prevent corruption and retribution. Let’s elect democrats to save Democracy so we can work hard to protect it.
True, but I am concerned about the senate and its propensity to become a place where good legislation goes to die.
Politics as usual was bad enough. This is politics corrupted to the nth degree, deliberately and with malice
Ultra was a WW2 pro-Fascist conspiracy at a time when all kinds of people had supported fascism, had little faith in modern democracies. Not sure "as usual" describes either the people involved or the times.
Yes this is alarming. But the propaganda IS a major method of voter suppression—getting Americans to believe that its institutions have failed and voting itself is 1) dangerous 2)futile 3)mostly fraudulent. These will make for apathetic citizens who sit out voting or zealously challenge the final count if they lose. The most dangerous instruments of voter suppression (except our MAGA dominated SCOTUS) are the election deniers who are feeding at the pro-Putin wing propaganda fodder. They stand ready to contest the count, and their actions might well lead to violence once again.
Loved the last comment about Indiana Jones!
And I thought the Nazis were whipped. Ike did too. He demanded films, documentation because he said that in the future “…some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Yep, Ike knew that crazy wasn’t defeated forever.
I think Ike saw this due to the fascists in the U.S. that were in the country at that time. If he had not brought in those to document, he knew those Americans would whitewash the Fascists crimes. It did not take long either with people like Joe McCarthy working to get the German soldiers off for the Malmady massacre of American POWS during the Battle of the Bulge. In ULTRA, season 2.
There were fascists in America in the 1930's who wanted to 'eliminate' FOR and they were financed by among many others, the J. P. Morgan establishment and the Singer family. The fascists are very present in this country and have been for a long time. Donald Trump and a large faction of the Republican Party along with organizations like the "Heritage" Foundation, I could go on and on, are true fascists.
Yep, they rallied in Madison Square Garden in 1939. And tried to take out FDR in the Coup of 1933. So much evil in our midst.
When Harrison Ford was in Sydney, he was interviewed... enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrTCpq4KV-Q
Thank you!!!
Given how much more sophisticated the Russian networks and other troll groups have become, it is ever more imperative for us all to be on our guard and to explain the dangers to others. I'm hoping that the debate will crystalize for many the danger of a second Trump term for our democracy and that seeing it in real time will be persuasive. I read today that 91% of Americans have said that they plan to watch. That's encouraging news.
I had hopes for the last debate too. Debates are orchestrated by the media and the media has gone rogue in many cases. Still, hope she mops the floor with the moron.
That would be sweet, Gish Gallop and Brandolini's Law notwithstanding.
May she be the government auditor that we need. Piss on Elon. May she erase the stench of republicans everywhere.
I thank you for your detailed and accurate reporting on this.
It was clear there was much Russian interference in the 2016 election. When I saw TFG's expression when it was announced he had won, what I saw on his face was shock, and I had a sense that he was thinking, "Wow, he really pulled it off, what do I do now?" Then there was his whipped dog expression after he had visited Putin who obviously had him on a tight leash.
I have been bewildered that the Russian influence has been ignored for so long. Maybe the CIA and others just needed to get their ducks in a row before the exposure, but Mueller's refusal to expound and elaborate on his own report was inexcusable. Was he also threatened?
The puppeteer had been exposed. How many more are on the payroll by now?
It was my understanding at the time that Mueller's report got redacted by AG Barr.
"On March 27, Mueller privately wrote to Barr, stating that Barr's March 24 letter 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions' and that this led to 'public confusion.'"
Here's the long version:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mueller_report
Should have been public not a private letter.
Among other things, Barr hid evidence that Trump might have taken bribes from Al Sisi of Egypt. This wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
Morning, Lynell. Yikes!
Morning, Ally! Yikes is right!
Sara, just so you are aware, the CIA is forbidden to act in anyway on US territory (which includes the 50 States, only the FBI can act within America. Same is true of the military only the National Guard units can act within the United States and that only at the request of the State Governor.
That didn’t stop them from doing it up until the 1970s, but their skeletons came tumbling out of the closet then to show the CIA had been violating its charter and acting on US territory. I don’t believe the weirder claims that have been made, and I can’t stand conspiracy theories, as they drive me wild with aggravation no matter the political outlook of the people who make them.
Thank you for that clarification and information. I was not aware of that.
Did you see his anger in his last public discourse about information Russia was involved AGAIN? That really gets him cranked up.
Scared of the truth leaking out.
You are so right. Yep, Helsinki locked it for me. Good Q, she did say tip of the iceberg
Never thought I would agree with Dick Cheney about anything, but here we are. And I admire his daughter Liz for sticking up for what she knows is right despite what it did to her political career.
Liz is one of the only conservatives left unless you want to classify "fascism" as being conservative.
What was the last thing Republicans passed that could be classified as conservative.
Befuddled in Iowa.
Heather, you are a National Treasure. This essay is extraordinary. You always get a zinger in at the end too. I look forward to seeing you speak in Portland on the 17th. I hope the smoke clears by then so you can enjoy some of Oregon’s beauty again.
HRC is in Portland this month? I am in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Yes, she’s speaking at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland on September 17th. You can purchase a ticket on the Oregon Historical Society website.
On Constitution Day!
¡Gracias! Karen 👍
I live in Hood River and work in Portland. There are several of us Oregonians meeting there that night. Would love for you to join us.
I guess I already told you I live in Hood River and work in Portland. Oh dear I’m starting to repeat myself 😹
Thanks Karen RN. I’m going to call the venue tomorrow because I need 2 seats
That’s great Kathaleen! Our seats are in the Mezzanine sections D and E. My sister is coming with me and we are planning on meeting Ally and her friends for dinner before the presentation. I’m not sure where we are going yet but would love for you to join us if you can. I live in Hood River but work at OHSU in Portland. My number is 541-806-4549
That’s a beautiful place to be from 😊
Kathaleen, I hope to see you there! I think Karen RN and I have seats near each other, and are hoping to get together before the event. They just released some new tickets; if you can't get one, message me; I have an extra.
Hello Ally,
I was able to get two seats to the Sept 17th HCR lecture using a discount after buying a membership at the Oregon Historical Society.
I'll be with my neighbor Gary, and we'd love to connect with you. My text/phone number is (971)3
Thanks Ally. I’m going to call the venue tomorrow because I need 2 seats. I bought a membership and hope to get a discount. My neighbor, Gary & I would love to connect. Thank you for the ticket - and sorry for late response, Kathaleen
Yes she is. Thank you Heather.
Heather, you’ve penned the perfect ending to this letter: “Nazis. I hate these guys.”
The few remaining holocaust survivors must be shaking their heads at how many people believe the pro-Nazi lies. Once again, for them it’s “What are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?” They rightly fear that, with no eye witnesses to refute the Nazi lies, the world will forget the atrocities and will possibly repeat them.
https://www.denverpost.com/2015/01/26/dwindling-holocaust-survivors-worry-world-will-forget/amp/
This week I was at the Stutthof Concentration Camp. The “crematory” and gas chamber were clear to all. Have also been to Auschwitz years ago. Terror and cruelty on a massive scale. Nazis were monsters, yet many Germans came to fall into line after hearing propaganda endlessly. Not to excuse them but how many have heard enough of tfg they fervently believe him? And these were people we thought we knew …
Ike thought they would eventually. It’s why he wanted documentation.
Doppelganger story continues to disgust Professor ⭐
Thank you for shedding more light on it.
In our era, Indiana Jones said it best in The Last Crusade: “Nazis. I hate these guys.”
- Love it and couldn't have said it better my self...
The idea that Churchill was the ‘villain’ of WW II is a lulu, even for the whoppers that come daily from the Trumpists, including Tucker and Sean. Does that make Hitler and the Nazis misunderstood and the Holocaust some minor mishap?
Trump’s gaslighting is consonant with Russian efforts to denigrate the United States and democracy, while glorifying authoritarianism.
What better symbol of America’s decline than a former president who pontificates on how terrible America is?
While Trump and Project 2025 are a major threat to American democracy and justice, Trump targets President Biden (and now Kamala) as the greatest threat (and the worst president in American history).
I am proud of the United States of America. I am aghast at a former-and-would-be-president who publicly trashes my country and has bromances ranging from Putin, to Orban, to Kim.
I never thought that I would be witnessing a presidential race in which one candidate, on his own, would be denied a security clearance because he associates with enemies of the United States.
The only way that Trump can obtain a top secret clearance is by returning to the White House.
As a former Foreign Service Officer (with TOP SECRET, CODE WORD clearance) who was a ‘sucker’ almost a ‘loser,’ I shout THIS CAN NOT HAPPEN!
Keith Wheelock.
I left the Republican Party when DT was nominated for President. I was shocked that he had deceived so many. He has no good character. Everything in his life is focused on himself...power for himself....he can commit any crime he chooses for his own benefit without facing judgement nor is he required to take responsibility. It is his main hope that by becoming the President of the USA, he can be free of paying the price for his crimes. His children are complicit in their father's business dealings, including outside our country.
I was especially shocked by the supposedly "Christians" who voted for him so enthusiastically and who still support him. WHY???? Christians!!! he is using you!!!!
"Tough guys and gals" he is using you as well. Take note, has he ever served in the military or cared to defend your freedoms???? He is happy to use you, but he only cares for himself!!!
WAKE UP!!!
Kamala and Tim are heroes!!! They have grown up as regular Americans, within different types of families but families who loved and cared for and watched out for one another. They have given their lives to serve justice, to protect this country and her people. They are the ones who will work to watch over all of us. They know how to govern and how to lead. And especially, they are NOT controlled or influenced by foreign or domestic agents who want to destroy our freedoms from within!!!
well, perhaps for one "ally" that has gone to the dark side; loves Trump; and knows he has our security in his hands. Who, remarkably enough, is creating even more destruction, and death, than Trump, just to keep himself out of jail. (and because he is also racist as hell.) I know some people might accuse me of anti-semitism for this, but I stand with Jewish Voice for Peace (and the entire UN except for the United States,) in condemning his ruthless crimes. Like many friends of Israel I fear that this man (and his Extreme Conservative and Religious coalition) is putting Jewish people, and the future of Israel, at grave risk.
He is ALSO putting our own democracy at risk, and I don't believe that's an accident.
He and Trump are cut from the same cloth, but he is much, much more capable and intelligent. He knows a stooge he can use, just like Putin does.
I hope someone figures out the weak point in our chain and breaks us free.
Agree with every word
Well said, Emily. I cannot fathom how my friends with a military background support him so slavishly.
Scream it loud, as we all should. The denigration of Churchill one reason for my seething rage
Churchill did have his flaws. He was trying to uphold an empire destined to disintegrate, was contemptuous of people of color, and sparked a famine in Bengal that killed millions, however, Hitler was far worse. For all his flaws, Churchill was correct in forming the Allies and helping to defeat Hitler.
Kathy You’re right that Churchill could be great and also dreadful. Gallipoli is a severe black mark. When he insisted on Allies attacking the island of Rhodes, General Marshall told him “We are not going to lose a single soldier invading that damned island.’
He was a racist imbedded in the fading British empire.He was a real pain in the ass, BUT he did save England against Hitler and, despite having a poor 6th grade master’s report, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
A man of his times that made decisions that haunt us to this day, that said, he persevered when it was down to the wire, and his government was hanging by a thread.
Yes he was far from perfect. But he redeemed himself in my eyes. I was just trying to think of one politician who had not many black marks against them. Lincoln comes as close as any. He did not want to be a slave, nor did he want to be a master.
JD When I visited Lake Tiberius, I remembered the story of Jesus walking on water, but there is no definitive proof.
Maybe he had a God complex or somebody had one for him
Or water skis?
It. Cannot. Happen.
Period.
As always, thanks for your perspective, Keith.
How did they get to the judges? They don't seem to be helping much at all. It is uncanny how ineptly they are " protecting" democracy. Thank you Professor Richardson.
I agree Jack, between the Judges not protecting our Democracy, the RNC supporting their ignorant choice of Trump and Vance having reckless power for four years (if elected), the mainstream media sticking their heads in the sand (instead of doing quality checks) on the candidates extreme disinformation, and the bribery of the SCOTUS - our American government is playing games with our hard-earned taxpayer wages, while our global allies are producing efficient infrastructure, clean energy resources, progressive healthcare, affordable homes, safe childcare and elder care for the future. It’s like we are pandering to junkies playing the roulette wheel of greed & power.
Well said.
The judges were hand-picked to respond to bull schitt from the Heritage Society. Are they in on it. I’d bet the farm.
JD - good point. They were also hand-picked to ignore standing and allow cases to be heard that should have been tossed out (like mifepristone). And you know the Nazi judge in TX is fully on board in supporting Project 2025. Look for more ridiculous cases to come through his court.
Gary I recently re-watched Judgment at Nuremberg while highlighted how judicial acquiescence to Hitler in 1935 led to their version of Stench Courts.
In America this shatters the constitutional checks and balances in which the Supreme Court is required to be apolitical and be grounded in stare decisis except for a lengthy reconsideration process.
Now it seems like Katie bar the door with folks like the judge in Texas and Judge Cannon, who has violated every judicial rule, in keeping with the Stench Court.
Reversing this will be a lengthy process. Flushing the Trumpites from the Stench Court may, at best, require a generation, IF we have a Democratic president and Senate.
So much crap clogs our lives and complicates. Chump is the one who is creating carnage. But it started way back, with some times low profile. Now’s in your face and trying to rule lives of people just trying to survive.
They were also loyal members of the Federalist Society. Even Peter Calabrese, who helped found the Federalist Society in 1982, is dismayed at what it’s become.
My friend’s son is a Federalist nut, but he was a turd in jr high, so he found his calling.
Still pretty stunned that Darth Cheney publicly endorsed and said he’s be voting for Harris.
Seems like a Ghostbuster’s moment: “dogs and cats living together . . “. 😁
Yes, I like the dogs and cats living together comparison. And although I completely disagree with the Cheney policies, it’s hopeful that we have allies for our democracy, where we can have civil discourse and agree to disagree. And mostly agree on our freedom to disagree without getting jailed or shot. Something noted in project 2025
I can only postulate that Dick Cheney has some dark secret reason to come out for Harris... some giant payout from Koch, perhaps. And I wonder how clear his reasoning skills are these days.
I place a lot of blame for Russia's knowledge of how "language creates reality and enables the speaker to shape how other people see the world" at the feet of Werner Erhard, who founded the est Training (which later became Landmark Education) in the late 1960s. Werner (for reasons unclear to me) conducted training programs in what was then the USSR for many years. I will provide two links below that describe what he did. While I have no way of knowing the names of the people who he trained way back then, I would not be surprised if Vladimir Putin was one of them or knew some of them.
Having taken the est Training myself (in 1979), I know its "technology" (some people say it is similar to Neuro-Linguistic Programing aka NLP) is very powerful...and like all technologies can be used for good (to help people escape their pasts and create a better personal future) and for evil (to manipulate people by creating a cult of personality).
I wonder if anyone in the US State Department and/or CIA is aware of what Werner Erhard did? I have no connections that would enable me to find out. But if anyone here has State Department or CIA connections, please share this with them. Thanks!
https://wernererhardbiography.com/werner-erhard-ussr-1990/
https://wernererhardandest.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/491/
I went to several training sessions on NLP and saw no evil intent. Also, it’s too complicated for the average bear. I know nothing of est but cannot imagine NLP being on Putin’s radar.
Just to be clear, I didn't say est was NLP... and I didn't say Putin was aware of NLP. I saw Werner taught his programs in the USSR and that Putin (or people Putin knows) may have participated in those programs. The est Training was once summed up as "You create your own reality". And that is very much what Putin does in Russia and seeks to do throughout the democratic world: a "reality" based on hate, fear and division... where only "strong men" rule.
Thanks, guess I often see est and NLP lumped together.
Well, I see similarities myself… including that a lawyer I once knew studied it to learn how to better convince juries to accept his point of view at trial. But est was more far-reaching… ran deeper than being a bag of verbal tricks to me. It really advocated create a new world… without ever teaching the value system that would insure that students didn’t want that new world to be one where people were pitted against each other.
Exactly so.
I went through that training in 1981. I didn't get it then, and I didn't get the devotion to "the training" that so many people had. I suspect that for a variety of reasons, their "hook" didn't work for me; not because I have some superpower, but mostly because there are some areas of thought that I really don't understand. That devotion to a "greater power" is one of those.
That greater power, as described by man, is usually in line with man’s selfish bull Schitt. If there is a “higher power,” i venture to say that not one man on earth knows more about it than I do. Which is zip…. I have an open mind, but it’s not a sieve which allows bull Schitt in and then locks it up forever and spews it back…
Fascinating. I had a number of friends in the 1980s that were big EST followers. They spent a lot of time trying to convince others to join as well. Is that organization still active?
The organization is now called Landmark Education.
https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/ec/schedules
Erhard was a former encyclopedia salesman, which prepared him well for EST (Erhard Seminars Training.)
Probably the 'Encyclopedia Britannica' but, stack the books to the side & never open them.
Bryan McCowan?
Back when ... I was & remain hostile to Erhard-est. The psychological health of patient-oriented psychologists were clustered around Carl Rogers & others & popularized circa the late 1950's into the 1960's.
As an undergrad at UCLA I took 12 psychology courses & was vividly aware of social psychology & the Stanley 'Milgram Experiment' researching the human trait to follow authoritative commands to extreme & perverse ends. Fast forward to 2024, I do have access to capable neuropsychologists in the CA Bay Area but, that will have to wait.
In the next two months I will be focused on my upcoming CA Election worker training & political support for Team Kam-Tim.
Be safe All.
Good luck with all you're doing.
The point I was making (in case you didn't see my original comment) is that the effectiveness of Russia propaganda today can possibly be traced to the extensive trainings Werner Erhard conducted in the USSR many decade ago.