I *wish* I could still get enraged about mass shootings, I think it would be healthier. At this point I’m numb: “oh another mass slaughter? And little kids this time? Shit. It’s too bad there won’t be any significant change.” The Republicans are heinous scum and the Democrats are ineffectual cowards who somehow -- against facts, evidence, and experience -- are STILL saying to the GOP “Surely you are reasonable people. Come, let us reason together.”
Truthfully, I just feel bleak despair. It goes beyond gun control and this latest atrocity in Texas, it’s everything. It’s the mid-terms. It’s 2024. I can live with going down fighting. But we are way past Lucy and the football territory, we’re watching most Democrats blithely lay down in front of an authoritarian steamroller because they believe in their heart of hearts the GOP would never *really* run them over. It’s incredibly demoralizing.
"and there went President Giuliani." So, we have guns to thank for that? I'll be damn.
That's about the best I could do -
I can't believe so many are ready to give up. In the last week or so the demoralization is everywhere. In the last year and a half we threw the most corrupt government in recent history out on it's ear. We came within two votes of enacting the greatest progressive agenda ever. We brought the country out of a major pandemic and ended up with the
most exuberant economy any one can remember. But it's all too hard really. We didn't get those two votes. We don't get any credit for the pandemic and the economy. Why bother?
The billionaires tell the press they own to unleash Buffy and Biff and the rest of the overpriviedged whitebread trustfunder kid reporters at Politico and the Daily Whatever to drumbeat the inevitable Conservative Resurgence and instead of saying "Ha Ha no - fuck you go learn some grammer then how to write a sentence" we say "I guess you're right, we're all doomed. It's just too hard. "
I remember a warm day in October 35 years ago when 4 or 5000 of my IBEW and UAW brothers and sisters went door to door in south Dayton to tell our fellow citizens about Micheal Dukakis. I don't think any of us imagined he could win. We did it though. I'll be honest. It was a lot of fun. But best of all we were doing the right thing. (Dukakis lost btw. You can tell by the lack of flying cars. )
Conservatives win because they pander to peoples worst impulses. That's strong stuff and it may, in fact be invincible. We've seen it beaten back and overcome. We can do it again. We don't really have a choice. And I'll be honest again - I hope Handsome Joe gets out of bed one morning and says "Fuck it" and gets Slim Pickens to ride a warhead straight up Putins ass and then says "What the hell, while we're at it" and steers a couple of drones at Mar a Lardass. That won't happen. The Good Guys don't do that sort of thing. And that's for the best what with that whole abyss staring back at you thing.
You should be writing speeches for the Democrats. Well, you sort of are, I guess I mean Democrats should be reading them out loud to their constituents, instead of the crap they mouth for their donors.
I can't think of any contest where the winners poor-mouthed themselves to victory. At the game tonight when Udonis Haslem gets his team to huddle together on the court he does not say " Well, it's all over but the shouting. I mean. look at those guys -they're so big.!We don't stand a chance. Glad I got money on the other team! Can that Jaylen Brown even miss a shot?"
Seems like what motivates Republican voters is "We've got this in the bag! The only way we can lose is if they steal it from us!" No Dem politician would try anything like that, because they'd be afraid of creating complacency, like Dem voters would stay home, thinking "They don't need my vote anyway." I don't know why Republicans never worry about complacency, but that's just one of about a thousand things I don't understand about Republicans.
Loved it, will have no significant effect. At the end of the day, the DNC doesn’t care to do anything about anything — and they have the track record to prove. And re guns, DNC pols are on the NRA payroll enough to be well-co-opted.
And didn’t I warn you about confusing the exception with the rule?
Oh I'm sure we will. They're on autopilot. Ken Paxton just called for arming teachers again. You or I would be ashamed, but Republicans have learned there's a future in frontin'.
Oh, turns out there was an armed cop at the school, Because America, and of course there was also an armed retired cop at the grocery store (other countries have that too, right?) and it seems like they weren't able to make much of a difference, because the murderers were better-armed. Obvious answer is full body armor and AR-15's for all "school resource officers." I'm calling it the "Gun Enthusiast Full Employment Act of 2022."
Two police officers were wounded hunting the psychopath blowing school children away...so Ken's "dream solution" amounts to a horror movie any way he slices it. For some reason he thinks children witnessing slaughter and shoot outs isn't traumatic for them.
God bless the mass shooters, for without them the Frenches and their ilk would have NOTHING to write except the mind-melting panderings to the wannabe ubermenschen...
Ted Cruz: “We know what works, it’s what we’re doing now, or maybe less, or actually nothing at all. I mean, it’s not like every schoolchild has been shot to death. It’s some tiny fraction of all schoolchildren, just like the women who die during pregnancy are just a small percentage of all women. And not like Biden and Harris opening our borders and letting the entire population of Mexico come here and take all the jobs and drive up the price of gas and drink all the baby formula.”
Sigh... another day where the media will spin spilled blood & human carnage as a problem of extremes on gun control, between "the Left" and the GOP, who might offer up "mental illness" as the root cause instead. Between such extremes how can anything be done, amirite?
These things have weaponized toxic white male grievance at their root. The attention showered upon the Buffalo shooter just emboldened the next one, who seems to have stepped out for his turn. [This guy is supposed to be 18 as well.] The state of Texas will go ahead making uteruses into Fort Knox & tell us this happened because not enough of us are Christians of the right faith or fervor. It fits with the program.
And there is not a single Democratic politician with the fortitude or support to do much about any of it, sorry to say. Can't even speak the problem so far...
I'd really like to see what the Democrats would do if they had a working majority in the Senate. I think the House, where Democrats do have a (barely) working majority, might be an indication. John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed, along with Build Back Better, codifying Roe into law, there's probably even some gun legislation in there somewhere, but who cares, because nothing the House passes becomes law.
and I would really, really like the media to stop blaming extremists on the left and progressives when the obstruction is Republicans, Joe Manchin, and Kristen Sinema. None of those three are any kind of leftists or progressives.
I expect this stupid shit from the right-wing, even the "good" kind, but can we take a moment to mention Matthew Yglesias' stupid fucking tweet from yesterday? If anyone didn't see it, it was basically a variation of "Yeah, America has the bloodshed equivalent of a third world country embroiled in a civil war, but people still like it here due to the abundance of FroYo shops and central air conditioning."
Because the most important thing right now is to adjust America's ranking on the international "Best Country" 10-point scale? "Some liberals think we should just be a 6, but my research shows [push glasses up on nose, hitch up pants] we're clearly at least a 6.5!"
I saw that Yglesias tweet and if I had an account I would mention most immigrants probably would prefer moving to Canada which not only has gun control but public single payer health care. It's a country that "may not be perfect" but is a better bet for mortality statistics than its southern neighbour. Oh and we also have shopping malls and Amazon.
The brothers at LGM illustrated a post on the School Killings of the Week with a screencap of a tweet from Greg Abbott urging Texans to buy more guns so they’re not in second place to California in the number of guns owned.
The subhuman monsters who oppose gun control and pols who support it cannot be changed. But the problem is that whatever their size, they’re the only part of the electorate our awesome elected leaders respond to in the least. Them and the special interests that have fully captured and corrupted (or vice versa) the system. The Powers That Be are both fully cool with the lack of gun control as well as doing nothing about climate change -- that statement from HSBC that’s going a little viral says a lot. (They’re also cool with the state subverting voter rights and the power of the vote among other societal issues that need resolving and addressing which they’re blocking.)
As for French -- who, after my beloved Tulsi, is the wannabe POTUS who made me go: Him? Seriously? -- I’d take a pass on any and all gun control in exchange for affordable healthcare and available, competent mental healthcare. Not that either will happen. But, you know, give me the healthcare and I’d be cool with no gun control.
But, of course, the voters referenced above are satisfied with offering thoughts and prayers, faith and hope, instead of doing the work to fix things to make the world any better. And that failure together with constantly electing unfit pieces of shit that have brought us an extractive, hollowed out economy, a federal government whose ability to address a global pandemic is now severely limited by a court decision based on insanity, etc., etc., etc., is why I have the contempt for those people. In any way that matters, they are wholly lacking in decency, so that yesterday’s killings will happen again and again and again. Nothing will be done on the national level because assholes and worse are calling the shots.
JFC, I’ve been watching shit like this without anything being done to ever expect better from this nation.
On a serious note, Ted Cruz blamed Democrats by name for politicizing gun massacres while Senator Coons called out “we” for not doing anything. That’s the rhetorical part of the problem. Republicans are fine with saying Democrats are to blame for whatever but Democratic politicians, including Biden in a national address, refuse to say “This is because our country is infested with Republicans.” It’s the same with the abortion debate, voting rights, etc., Democrats speak about “we” need to do this or that instead of “This is what Republicans have done, this is what Republicans want.” If they spoke this truth loudly enough, “Republicans” could easily become the next “Nazis,” a term so vile only the most hateful and amoral would embrace it.
It’s enraging and demoralizing to see Democratic politicians refuse to take their own side in an argument, then blame the voters who throw their hands up in despair and say, “I fking give up!”
Democratic politicians can be moved to call a Republican out by name only when it's the ONE guy they're running against. And even then, his horribleness needs to be treated as some freak of nature, rather than a general tendency of the party he belongs to.
Seems like they're imagining somewhere there's a Reasonable Republican who might be persuaded to switch sides and vote for them, and the whole campaign has to be designed around not offending this person in any way.
Funny how the Republicans were able to get masses of people in the South to switch parties (and then the "Reagan Democrats" later) but being careful to never speak ill of the Democratic party didn't seem to be part of the process.
It’s a hell of a thing, to be ruled by that voter who’s thinking “Gosh, the GOP sure has become a violent hive of extremist goons—I think I’ll switch… ohhh, but not if anyone’s going to criticize them!”
When you put it that way, I start to suspect that such people don't even exist. On the other hand, I know an army of Democratic campaign consultants have fully paid-off houses and kids put through Ivy League colleges based on their imagined existence, and you can't argue with evidence like that.
I'm old enough to remember when Reasonable Republicans actually existed, and they actually voted in ways that proved it, rather than limiting themselves to going into spasms of brow furrowing and concern. When Reagan became President, younger me knew instantly that their days were numbered. Can't understand why so many Dems still can't comprehend this sad reality.
Republicans = We fight dirty, and bring plenty of guns. We go low. We don’t give a fuck. We hypnotize the stupid White folks and always run the Okie Doke on them while we fleece them.
Democrats = We fight fair because it’s the right thing to do, and bring one polished pocket knife from Boy Scouts. We go high. We do give a fuck about how we look to others. We don’t hypnotize anyone, and we don’t try to fleece anyone.
If you come into government with the goal of burning the whole place down, it gives you a huge amount of freedom to be an asshole, if you're inclined in that direction. You put forward your crazy-ass right wing bill, but do you care if anyone votes for it? No, not really. Go ahead and alienate everyone in the building, your audience is outside, and hates your colleagues as much as you do. But if, on the other hand, you come into government with the goal of actually passing some legislation - any legislation - the incentives are entirely different.
I can't. I'm numb to the point of paralysis. I did block Matthew Ygleisias because fuck THAT guy, I'm sick of seeing him on my timeline. My 28 yr old son--my only child--and his lovely wife had a beautiful baby boy on Saturday. 5 years from now he'll be starting kindergarten. I doubt anything will have changed (for the good) in this gun-mad country.
Conservatives generally: Look, the government we paralyzed into inaction through procedural roadblocks isn't doing anything, didn't we tell you government never works?
Here is the one instance that I might agree with his commenters. How exactly are these red flag laws supposed to operate? We hope some teacher/friend/relative reports the suspect? Or do we set up a governmental agency that monitors the fetid recesses of the internet looking for possible suspects and their manifestos?
I think we can be fairly certain that we'll never know how they'd work. I could get more interested in the details if I thought any gun law actually had a chance to become a law. Otherwise, we're in "If I had a million dollars, what would I spend it on?" territory.
I do get tired of raging at Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott (as much as they deserve it) when the core of the problem is the millions and millions of people who are horrified by this and agree we should do something about it, and even express some support in polls for gun restrictions and then come November they vote Republican because they voted Republican in the last election and the one before that and the one before that...
Do these folks give ANY thought to how they're voting beyond "How am I going to fit in 20 minutes to vote on Tuesday between soccer practice and grocery shopping?"
Do they give any thought? Why yes, they think, "When Trump was president my wallet was full, and those dirty Democrats just wanted to reach in and take my money and give it away to a buncha lazy bums." The idea of voting for what's best for the country never crosses their minds; it's what they think will personally benefit them that counts, and fk everyone and everything else.
April 20th, 1999 - I was teaching in an elementary school on the 3rd floor of a huge educational complex on east 67th (JREC) when I heard the news about Columbine.
• I had 1010 WINS on the radio in my classroom as the kids trickled in for a Warhol styled self portrait lesson. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing - a kid shooting up a school, AND a possible bomb threat too?
• A few teachers came into my room to hear the radio - so much info was being spread throughout the 5 floor building, much of it was wrong (remember, this was WAY before social media, and cell phones (if you had one) only made phone calls. (I had a Nokia 3210)
• I called my sister to see if she was watching the news on TV - she had CNN on, and we both couldn’t believe it. I looked at my kids as they came in the room, blissfully unaware of what was going on while my colleagues and I were FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. I hung up the phone, put on a smile, and turned on some Disco music so the kids could get their ya-ya’s out before getting back to their portraits.
• I kept thinking that this was so FUCKING CRAZY, that it would NEVER happen again…our government would act swiftly and MAKE SURE this would never happen again, right? Clinton was in office, he was smart and could help get the gun-nutty republicans to work across the aisle, right? I mean - there’s nothing but conservative White people who think just like them in Colorado, right?
• It’s been 23 years, and this America…it doesn’t want to let WOMEN make choices about THEIR BODIES after they’ve been raped, and will put you in jail for having an abortion…but it won’t do a fucking thing to prevent actual children from being murdered.
I’m really wondering why people are only going back as far as Sandy Hook🤔
I *wish* I could still get enraged about mass shootings, I think it would be healthier. At this point I’m numb: “oh another mass slaughter? And little kids this time? Shit. It’s too bad there won’t be any significant change.” The Republicans are heinous scum and the Democrats are ineffectual cowards who somehow -- against facts, evidence, and experience -- are STILL saying to the GOP “Surely you are reasonable people. Come, let us reason together.”
Truthfully, I just feel bleak despair. It goes beyond gun control and this latest atrocity in Texas, it’s everything. It’s the mid-terms. It’s 2024. I can live with going down fighting. But we are way past Lucy and the football territory, we’re watching most Democrats blithely lay down in front of an authoritarian steamroller because they believe in their heart of hearts the GOP would never *really* run them over. It’s incredibly demoralizing.
Sorry to be a downer, I have no jokes today.
Me neither!
"and there went President Giuliani." So, we have guns to thank for that? I'll be damn.
That's about the best I could do -
I can't believe so many are ready to give up. In the last week or so the demoralization is everywhere. In the last year and a half we threw the most corrupt government in recent history out on it's ear. We came within two votes of enacting the greatest progressive agenda ever. We brought the country out of a major pandemic and ended up with the
most exuberant economy any one can remember. But it's all too hard really. We didn't get those two votes. We don't get any credit for the pandemic and the economy. Why bother?
The billionaires tell the press they own to unleash Buffy and Biff and the rest of the overpriviedged whitebread trustfunder kid reporters at Politico and the Daily Whatever to drumbeat the inevitable Conservative Resurgence and instead of saying "Ha Ha no - fuck you go learn some grammer then how to write a sentence" we say "I guess you're right, we're all doomed. It's just too hard. "
I remember a warm day in October 35 years ago when 4 or 5000 of my IBEW and UAW brothers and sisters went door to door in south Dayton to tell our fellow citizens about Micheal Dukakis. I don't think any of us imagined he could win. We did it though. I'll be honest. It was a lot of fun. But best of all we were doing the right thing. (Dukakis lost btw. You can tell by the lack of flying cars. )
Conservatives win because they pander to peoples worst impulses. That's strong stuff and it may, in fact be invincible. We've seen it beaten back and overcome. We can do it again. We don't really have a choice. And I'll be honest again - I hope Handsome Joe gets out of bed one morning and says "Fuck it" and gets Slim Pickens to ride a warhead straight up Putins ass and then says "What the hell, while we're at it" and steers a couple of drones at Mar a Lardass. That won't happen. The Good Guys don't do that sort of thing. And that's for the best what with that whole abyss staring back at you thing.
You should be writing speeches for the Democrats. Well, you sort of are, I guess I mean Democrats should be reading them out loud to their constituents, instead of the crap they mouth for their donors.
I can't think of any contest where the winners poor-mouthed themselves to victory. At the game tonight when Udonis Haslem gets his team to huddle together on the court he does not say " Well, it's all over but the shouting. I mean. look at those guys -they're so big.!We don't stand a chance. Glad I got money on the other team! Can that Jaylen Brown even miss a shot?"
Let's not concede before the game starts.
Turns out basketball has a comment.
https://youtu.be/Q5x4eHn_3tA
Seems like what motivates Republican voters is "We've got this in the bag! The only way we can lose is if they steal it from us!" No Dem politician would try anything like that, because they'd be afraid of creating complacency, like Dem voters would stay home, thinking "They don't need my vote anyway." I don't know why Republicans never worry about complacency, but that's just one of about a thousand things I don't understand about Republicans.
Dems gotta first care and then realize that the era of empty talk maybe should end.
Beto O'Rourke interrupted Abbot's post-massacre press conference, shouting "This is on you until you do something." Looked like caring to me.
Loved it, will have no significant effect. At the end of the day, the DNC doesn’t care to do anything about anything — and they have the track record to prove. And re guns, DNC pols are on the NRA payroll enough to be well-co-opted.
And didn’t I warn you about confusing the exception with the rule?
It's only going to get worse. Nothing about the political environment says otherwise.
Well, nothing says otherwise except for history, where things do sometimes get less worse.
Don't think we'll hear the "what about Chicago?" chirping on this one.
Oh I'm sure we will. They're on autopilot. Ken Paxton just called for arming teachers again. You or I would be ashamed, but Republicans have learned there's a future in frontin'.
You were right, and I was wrong: https://twitter.com/sfornek/status/1529529310326968321
People who never want to spend a dime on public education now pretend they'd be willing to spend billions on armed guards.
Oh, turns out there was an armed cop at the school, Because America, and of course there was also an armed retired cop at the grocery store (other countries have that too, right?) and it seems like they weren't able to make much of a difference, because the murderers were better-armed. Obvious answer is full body armor and AR-15's for all "school resource officers." I'm calling it the "Gun Enthusiast Full Employment Act of 2022."
Just telling the base what they want to hear.
Two police officers were wounded hunting the psychopath blowing school children away...so Ken's "dream solution" amounts to a horror movie any way he slices it. For some reason he thinks children witnessing slaughter and shoot outs isn't traumatic for them.
You’re being much too kind. The entire party is a documented monstrosity.
God bless the mass shooters, for without them the Frenches and their ilk would have NOTHING to write except the mind-melting panderings to the wannabe ubermenschen...
Ted Cruz: “We know what works, it’s what we’re doing now, or maybe less, or actually nothing at all. I mean, it’s not like every schoolchild has been shot to death. It’s some tiny fraction of all schoolchildren, just like the women who die during pregnancy are just a small percentage of all women. And not like Biden and Harris opening our borders and letting the entire population of Mexico come here and take all the jobs and drive up the price of gas and drink all the baby formula.”
Why doesn't the librul media talk about all the schoolkids who WEREN'T murdered yesterday, huh?
Sigh... another day where the media will spin spilled blood & human carnage as a problem of extremes on gun control, between "the Left" and the GOP, who might offer up "mental illness" as the root cause instead. Between such extremes how can anything be done, amirite?
These things have weaponized toxic white male grievance at their root. The attention showered upon the Buffalo shooter just emboldened the next one, who seems to have stepped out for his turn. [This guy is supposed to be 18 as well.] The state of Texas will go ahead making uteruses into Fort Knox & tell us this happened because not enough of us are Christians of the right faith or fervor. It fits with the program.
And there is not a single Democratic politician with the fortitude or support to do much about any of it, sorry to say. Can't even speak the problem so far...
I'd really like to see what the Democrats would do if they had a working majority in the Senate. I think the House, where Democrats do have a (barely) working majority, might be an indication. John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed, along with Build Back Better, codifying Roe into law, there's probably even some gun legislation in there somewhere, but who cares, because nothing the House passes becomes law.
and I would really, really like the media to stop blaming extremists on the left and progressives when the obstruction is Republicans, Joe Manchin, and Kristen Sinema. None of those three are any kind of leftists or progressives.
Excellent post, Roy.
I expect this stupid shit from the right-wing, even the "good" kind, but can we take a moment to mention Matthew Yglesias' stupid fucking tweet from yesterday? If anyone didn't see it, it was basically a variation of "Yeah, America has the bloodshed equivalent of a third world country embroiled in a civil war, but people still like it here due to the abundance of FroYo shops and central air conditioning."
Because the most important thing right now is to adjust America's ranking on the international "Best Country" 10-point scale? "Some liberals think we should just be a 6, but my research shows [push glasses up on nose, hitch up pants] we're clearly at least a 6.5!"
What White Privilege Sounds Like, Cont.
I saw that Yglesias tweet and if I had an account I would mention most immigrants probably would prefer moving to Canada which not only has gun control but public single payer health care. It's a country that "may not be perfect" but is a better bet for mortality statistics than its southern neighbour. Oh and we also have shopping malls and Amazon.
Thoughts:
The brothers at LGM illustrated a post on the School Killings of the Week with a screencap of a tweet from Greg Abbott urging Texans to buy more guns so they’re not in second place to California in the number of guns owned.
The subhuman monsters who oppose gun control and pols who support it cannot be changed. But the problem is that whatever their size, they’re the only part of the electorate our awesome elected leaders respond to in the least. Them and the special interests that have fully captured and corrupted (or vice versa) the system. The Powers That Be are both fully cool with the lack of gun control as well as doing nothing about climate change -- that statement from HSBC that’s going a little viral says a lot. (They’re also cool with the state subverting voter rights and the power of the vote among other societal issues that need resolving and addressing which they’re blocking.)
As for French -- who, after my beloved Tulsi, is the wannabe POTUS who made me go: Him? Seriously? -- I’d take a pass on any and all gun control in exchange for affordable healthcare and available, competent mental healthcare. Not that either will happen. But, you know, give me the healthcare and I’d be cool with no gun control.
But, of course, the voters referenced above are satisfied with offering thoughts and prayers, faith and hope, instead of doing the work to fix things to make the world any better. And that failure together with constantly electing unfit pieces of shit that have brought us an extractive, hollowed out economy, a federal government whose ability to address a global pandemic is now severely limited by a court decision based on insanity, etc., etc., etc., is why I have the contempt for those people. In any way that matters, they are wholly lacking in decency, so that yesterday’s killings will happen again and again and again. Nothing will be done on the national level because assholes and worse are calling the shots.
JFC, I’ve been watching shit like this without anything being done to ever expect better from this nation.
On a serious note, Ted Cruz blamed Democrats by name for politicizing gun massacres while Senator Coons called out “we” for not doing anything. That’s the rhetorical part of the problem. Republicans are fine with saying Democrats are to blame for whatever but Democratic politicians, including Biden in a national address, refuse to say “This is because our country is infested with Republicans.” It’s the same with the abortion debate, voting rights, etc., Democrats speak about “we” need to do this or that instead of “This is what Republicans have done, this is what Republicans want.” If they spoke this truth loudly enough, “Republicans” could easily become the next “Nazis,” a term so vile only the most hateful and amoral would embrace it.
It’s enraging and demoralizing to see Democratic politicians refuse to take their own side in an argument, then blame the voters who throw their hands up in despair and say, “I fking give up!”
Democratic politicians can be moved to call a Republican out by name only when it's the ONE guy they're running against. And even then, his horribleness needs to be treated as some freak of nature, rather than a general tendency of the party he belongs to.
40 years of only punching left seems to have taken its toll on our ancient, ossified leadership.
Seems like they're imagining somewhere there's a Reasonable Republican who might be persuaded to switch sides and vote for them, and the whole campaign has to be designed around not offending this person in any way.
Funny how the Republicans were able to get masses of people in the South to switch parties (and then the "Reagan Democrats" later) but being careful to never speak ill of the Democratic party didn't seem to be part of the process.
It’s a hell of a thing, to be ruled by that voter who’s thinking “Gosh, the GOP sure has become a violent hive of extremist goons—I think I’ll switch… ohhh, but not if anyone’s going to criticize them!”
When you put it that way, I start to suspect that such people don't even exist. On the other hand, I know an army of Democratic campaign consultants have fully paid-off houses and kids put through Ivy League colleges based on their imagined existence, and you can't argue with evidence like that.
I'm old enough to remember when Reasonable Republicans actually existed, and they actually voted in ways that proved it, rather than limiting themselves to going into spasms of brow furrowing and concern. When Reagan became President, younger me knew instantly that their days were numbered. Can't understand why so many Dems still can't comprehend this sad reality.
Hear, hear. Like I said, at least go down fighting. The press will criticize Dems for being too pugnacious, but they criticize them now anyway.
Republicans = We fight dirty, and bring plenty of guns. We go low. We don’t give a fuck. We hypnotize the stupid White folks and always run the Okie Doke on them while we fleece them.
Democrats = We fight fair because it’s the right thing to do, and bring one polished pocket knife from Boy Scouts. We go high. We do give a fuck about how we look to others. We don’t hypnotize anyone, and we don’t try to fleece anyone.
If you come into government with the goal of burning the whole place down, it gives you a huge amount of freedom to be an asshole, if you're inclined in that direction. You put forward your crazy-ass right wing bill, but do you care if anyone votes for it? No, not really. Go ahead and alienate everyone in the building, your audience is outside, and hates your colleagues as much as you do. But if, on the other hand, you come into government with the goal of actually passing some legislation - any legislation - the incentives are entirely different.
Ted Cruz is attending an NRA convention THIS WEEKEND.
Of course he is - so is the DOTARD, and other losers. And they’ll all be blathering their bullshit too.
Remember: Children being gunned down in mass shootings in their schools is just the price we have to pay for freedom, BUT . . .
. . . asking those children to wear a surgical mask to ward off disease is a far worse imposition of tyranny than any massacre.
I couldn't eat enough to puke enough.
I can't. I'm numb to the point of paralysis. I did block Matthew Ygleisias because fuck THAT guy, I'm sick of seeing him on my timeline. My 28 yr old son--my only child--and his lovely wife had a beautiful baby boy on Saturday. 5 years from now he'll be starting kindergarten. I doubt anything will have changed (for the good) in this gun-mad country.
#NoMoreDeadChildren
French's commenters: red flag laws don't work, so why bother?
Conservatives generally: Look, the government we paralyzed into inaction through procedural roadblocks isn't doing anything, didn't we tell you government never works?
"Government is the problem, and we're going to do everything we can to make it even more so."
Here is the one instance that I might agree with his commenters. How exactly are these red flag laws supposed to operate? We hope some teacher/friend/relative reports the suspect? Or do we set up a governmental agency that monitors the fetid recesses of the internet looking for possible suspects and their manifestos?
I think we can be fairly certain that we'll never know how they'd work. I could get more interested in the details if I thought any gun law actually had a chance to become a law. Otherwise, we're in "If I had a million dollars, what would I spend it on?" territory.
It long past time for prayers. More thoughtful action please.
I do get tired of raging at Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott (as much as they deserve it) when the core of the problem is the millions and millions of people who are horrified by this and agree we should do something about it, and even express some support in polls for gun restrictions and then come November they vote Republican because they voted Republican in the last election and the one before that and the one before that...
Do these folks give ANY thought to how they're voting beyond "How am I going to fit in 20 minutes to vote on Tuesday between soccer practice and grocery shopping?"
Do they give any thought? Why yes, they think, "When Trump was president my wallet was full, and those dirty Democrats just wanted to reach in and take my money and give it away to a buncha lazy bums." The idea of voting for what's best for the country never crosses their minds; it's what they think will personally benefit them that counts, and fk everyone and everything else.
April 20th, 1999 - I was teaching in an elementary school on the 3rd floor of a huge educational complex on east 67th (JREC) when I heard the news about Columbine.
• I had 1010 WINS on the radio in my classroom as the kids trickled in for a Warhol styled self portrait lesson. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing - a kid shooting up a school, AND a possible bomb threat too?
• A few teachers came into my room to hear the radio - so much info was being spread throughout the 5 floor building, much of it was wrong (remember, this was WAY before social media, and cell phones (if you had one) only made phone calls. (I had a Nokia 3210)
• I called my sister to see if she was watching the news on TV - she had CNN on, and we both couldn’t believe it. I looked at my kids as they came in the room, blissfully unaware of what was going on while my colleagues and I were FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. I hung up the phone, put on a smile, and turned on some Disco music so the kids could get their ya-ya’s out before getting back to their portraits.
• I kept thinking that this was so FUCKING CRAZY, that it would NEVER happen again…our government would act swiftly and MAKE SURE this would never happen again, right? Clinton was in office, he was smart and could help get the gun-nutty republicans to work across the aisle, right? I mean - there’s nothing but conservative White people who think just like them in Colorado, right?
• It’s been 23 years, and this America…it doesn’t want to let WOMEN make choices about THEIR BODIES after they’ve been raped, and will put you in jail for having an abortion…but it won’t do a fucking thing to prevent actual children from being murdered.
I’m really wondering why people are only going back as far as Sandy Hook🤔
PROTECT FETUSES! FUCK THEM KIDS!
Spent a couple of years living a couple of blocks from Julia Richman, back when it was a HS.
And given our national agnosticism relating to acknowledging the past, going back to Sandy Hook is an accomplishment.
But, you know: heritage.
That part.