As those of you who follow the national conversation on gun control are aware, Florida functions as the foremost “meth lab of democracy” on guns at the national level. A wingnut majority in the statehouse, led by wingnut governors and controlled by uber-lobbyist Marion Hammer of the NRA, has driven our craven GOP reps to adopt ever more crazy laws (like Stand Your Ground) that infect other states. Mike Spies of The New Yorker did a great piece on that this week.
In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, and thanks to the passion and energy of the high schoolers who have had enough of these school shootings, even Trump and Florida Republicans are acting like they’re committed to changing the unacceptable status quo. I don’t believe it for a second, and neither should you.
Trump’s “gun-grabber” blather at the bipartisan meeting yesterday, while interesting in a “my God, look at this weird bug!” way, will almost certainly meet the same fate his “bill of love” talk about the DREAMers did: nada.
Ditto the Florida legislature’s bill, which is in trouble because Democrats won’t support a provision to create an “armed marshals” force in schools and Republicans won’t support raising the age limit on long gun purchases or countenance a waiting period. Meanwhile, new details emerged from the shooting in Parkland:
PARKLAND (CBSMiami) – CBS4 News has obtained new information in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre which left 17 people dead. An official briefed on the shooting investigation tells CBS4 News that the carnage could have been far worse.
Investigators believe self-confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz had planned on using a vantage point on the third-floor stairwell on the west side of the building to shoot at students as they fled the building.
Cruz attempted to create this sniper’s nest by shooting out the glass window in the stairwell, firing 16 rounds into the impact glass. Luckily, the hurricane proof window did not shatter.
Cruz then attempted to reload, and after changing magazine clips, the weapon is believed to have jammed, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.
Frustrated, and with police now responding, Cruz dropped the gun in the stairwell, ran down to the ground floor and fled the building with the students. Sources say he still had more than 150 rounds of ammunition left when he fled.
It was dumb luck that Cruz wasn’t able to kill dozens more. During his disastrous town hall appearance on CNN, the NRA’s Three Million Dollar Man, Marco Rubio, said he was willing to consider bans on high-capacity magazines. But today in a speech in the US Senate, he predictably walked it back and proposed NRA-friendly measures that focus on existing laws and mental health.
It’s already clear that Rubio, Trump and other recipients of NRA bucks (i.e., “Republicans”) will continue to be as useless as tits on a boar in addressing the mass shootings problem. All that hogwash about owing “respect” to gun-fetishists and standing aside to let do-nothing Republicans take the lead on gun safety has gotten us exactly nowhere.
The real movement is in the private sector, and there, we are making progress, thanks to people speaking up — sometimes rudely — and by naming and shaming the witting and unwitting abettors of these atrocities. Now we know where the pressure points are. It’s up to us to keep up the pressure where it might bear fruit — in the private sector — and then vote Republicans out. That’s the only way.
Corner Stone
He took 16 shots at a window? Thank goodness those didn’t go down the hallway or into a room.
cwmoss
First?
lollipopguild
Rubio gives the word “spineless’ a bad name.
Major Major Major Major
Clearly we need to outfit all schools with bulletproof glass and raze any bell towers.
Mary G
Wow, sounds like hurricane glass is a good investment. Sixteen bullets into the window mean sixteen fewer deaths or injuries, even before the reloading fail.
schrodingers_cat
Next up suggestion by the gun lobby, why stop at teachers, give all the children guns too. Give everyone a gun. Distribute guns at the naturalization ceremonies along with the flags. We can all settle our disputes like second amendment Jesus intended.
Gin & Tonic
@cwmoss: Nope.
patrick II
It should go without saying it, but since they keep repeating that this is a mental health problem, they should not continue to cut various medical programs that go, in part to help the mentally ill. But, Republicans.
rikyrah
In an extraordinary development, the *entire* First Circuit — sitting en banc — has unanimously urged #SCOTUS to revisit precedents that all but nullify judicial review of whether a prison sentence is appallingly unjust and disproportionate to the crime. https://t.co/G5XqB0a7on
— Joshua Matz (@JoshuaMatz8) March 1, 2018
Judge Barron is an intellectual force to be reckoned with. His opinion for the entire First Circuit urging SCOTUS to revisit a terrible line of precedent is masterful. https://t.co/Lc9qPLmwOL
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 1, 2018
NotMax
Cruz fizzle?
gene108
@schrodingers_cat:
I think some folks are probably contemplating this. Compulsory gun ownership. If you are caught out in public, without a firearm on you, you will be fined by the police.
And for kids carrying, maybe they enforce it like they did with selling cigarettes to kids in the 1980’s, “oh, you have a note from your mom that your buying cigarettes for her…what brand does she smoke?” and would be like “oh, you have a note from your mom that you are just taking the gun back home from getting it cleaned at the gun store…well carry on then, and have a good day…”
trollhattan
This damn “kid” (legally adult with arrested development issues) has probably had a hard-on since Las Vegas. He wanted to be Stephen Paddock only punishing the real enemy–kids–with the very same weapon. Just great.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
Marion Hammer’s relative anonymity perfectly illustrates the difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to creating political narratives. She is infamously known for getting everything she wants from the legislature for the NRA, yet only news wonks would even know who she is. Even the state’s media treats her with bemused affection. She’s always portrayed as this tough, successful, crusty old lobbyist — an endearing symbol of the good ol’ days of smoky-room politics.
If she were a Democratic lobbyist this powerful, she’d be a national symbol of wingnut revulsion, right up there with Soros and Pelosi. Teabaggers from Wisconsin to Washington would be running against “the party of Marion Hammer,” and they’d be posting her kids’ social security numbers on 4chan or whatever.
Hell, how many rank-and-file Democrats even know who the Kock brothers are, compared to the number of republicans who know who Soros is? We simply lack the messaging and propaganda networks to really nationalize the nefarious people powering the GOP agenda.
trollhattan
How it’s done--Australian version.
Lee
This is a perfect example of why we need to start the conversation about repealing the 2nd.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan:
Automatic weapons? Wowsers.
The Moar You Know
The GOP isn’t going to do jack shit to address even one of the many problems we as a society have with guns. If you want to deal with it, we’re going to have to run the table with Dems for the next three election cycles, win everything, and then lean on those Dems HARD – because in the past they’ve not been helpful either. I believe that will change but we gotta get them back in command first.
randy khan
One point I would make to the Parkland students and any other young people fighting for reasonable gun control is that Republicans never will vote for anything that will make the slightest difference. Don’t listen to what they say – it’s as meaningful as their thoughts and prayers – watch what they do.
NotMax
@trollhattan
“Honey? I’m cleaning out the basement. You still want this?”
germy
(crooksandliars headline)
Thoroughly Pizzled
I’ve been really fatalistic and cynical about gun control, but something is happening here. It’s important to remember that everything from Sandy Hook onward has happened under Republican control of at least one house of Congress. We can fix this.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Lee: Yes. If the Supreme Court won’t overturn D.C. v. Heller, then the Second Amendment will have to go.
germy
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
They probably shouldn’t have made it easier for mentally ill people to get guns, either. A suspicious person might begin to think the other stuff they’re talking about- arming teachers, mental health, etc.- are just distractions that they have no serious interest in pursuing.
Major Major Major Major
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
We are perilously principled, alas.
@germy: damn that god, making him quit his job like that.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: His legacy at the DHS is putting small children in cages while they wait to hear about their pending asylum request, separated from their parents. If there is a God, he is not punishing the general enough.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@patrick II:
That shibboleth only demonizes people with mental disabilities.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@germy:
Nobody forced you to leave DHS, where you were committing human rights violations anyway, you piece of shit.
Jager
A friend’s 83 year old mother was getting a box from the back of a closet shelf about 7 years ago, she knocked another box off the shelf onto the hardwood floor of her bedroom. She opened it and there was a Colt Lady Smith .38 revolver.She was examining it, it went off, the bullet buried it’s self in the wall. She had forgotten she had the gun her long dead husband had given her for self protection years ago. Scared the crap out of her.
kindness
Betty I am so sorry Florida has gone off the rails. I wish I could convince the good people of Florida to vote for compassionate and sane people. I don’t know how to do that though.
Any thoughts on how those of us who don’t live in Florida could help?
Starfish
Did anyone else see this nonsense where the March for Our Lives rally is DC is being bumped for some super secret talent event? People need to bang the door of every school to see if the event is even real.
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: how?
indycat32
When the anti-gun control people start in on the ” taking guns from law abiding citizens” schtick, has anyone – reporter, democratic congressperson, pundit, anyone – pointed out that 99.9% of these shooters were law-abiding until the moment they started shooting, and asked them to respond to that. I don’t recall ever hearing that question.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
never ever ever let folks forget THIS is who he is.
rikyrah
If Little Marco thinks that those kids are gonna let him off the hook, he’s delusional .
J.
Amen.
John Revolta
@trollhattan: Yeahbutt now Oz is a lawless hellscape where murderous criminals loot and murder at will ’cause THEY’RE THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE GUNS, amirite?
Tom
@Starfish: Just give the name of the school to Devin Nunes. It will be all over Fox “News” by supper time.
Stan
“Law abiding” means “white”.
Chet Murthy
@randy khan:
Oh, I think they know this. watching (for instance) Hogg & Kasky dunk today on Rubio is unadulterated joy. They know *exactly* what they’re doing.
Aleta
–Craigslist’s policy prohibits sale of “firearms, ammunition, clips, cartridges, gunpowder, and reloading material.”
But because Craigslist does not have an automatic keyword filter, flagging and removing all of them doesn’t happen. They are very easy to find on the site.
Also, posting firearms for trade seems to be allowed on Clist. (Example today: “rifle, trade for tractor, $400”)
–eBay prohibits sale of firearms, and allows listing only certain parts and accessories. “Firearms regardless of their ability to fire, their age, status as a collectible (including flintlock and muzzleloader guns), pin-fire, zip, cannons, start pistols and blank guns (regardless of their markings) are prohibited.”
eBay has an automated keyword flag that flags and removes posts containing words like g un, A R **, am-tion, *lock, ri fle, stock.
ETA “Federal law allows individuals who live in the same state to sell guns privately without a background check or paperwork, but each state has its own set of laws that needs to be complied with.”
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@schrodingers_cat: We passed that stage last week
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Sorry, I meant when Republicans blame mental illness for mass shootings instead of guns. It stigmatizes the mentally ill.
ruemara
I hate these people.
The Moar You Know
@John Revolta: Hell ya it is they had a documentary years ago called something like “the road worrier” and all that were left were libatards and gays and there was nothing but killing and crimes like waht always happens when dumbocrats are left by themselves
Mary G
God almighty, these people:
They’ve been married since 2001 and have sons aged 12 and 9. He retired from the military after 20 years, but still works as a contractor for the Defense Department overseas and is gone from home a lot.
Aleta
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G: Why? Because they can. We can thank Kelly for instituting these policies when he headed the DHS.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Aleta:
So, I guess sticking their heads in the sand is what they’re going to try, instead of doing the right thing.
MomSense
@ruemara:
Hate, hate, hate these people.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
DESPISE THEM
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
I went to ‘sralia in search of beer and wallabies and ended up getting my arse kicked by Charlize Theron. Worst vacay evah!
jl
@Mary G: That’s disgusting. My concern is that once they get the power to wreak similar havoc with a large group of people, like DACA people, the US will move into human rights crime territory. What they are doing here is disgusting. I don’t know what legally can be done about it. I hope Democratic Party has the cajonies to make a big stink about what the Trumpsters are doing for the midterms.
Chip Daniels
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
It isn’t just “mental illness” though, and we can’t let that stand.
It isn’t depressed women who are shooting places up, it isn’t neurotic old people it isn’t even those suffering from PTSD or hallucinations.
It is a very specific type of mental illness particular to men, usually white, suffering from a sense of victimization.
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: gotcha.
jl
Thanks to Cracker for informative post. I don’t think it makes any difference whether Trump changes his mind or not. The Congressional GOP will balk and Trump won’t notice, and if he notices he won’t care enough or have a long enough attention span to do anything, and if by some quirk of fate his attention is focused, he won’t know how to handle any negotiations, and even if by another quirk of fate, he (world historic great negotiator that he is) realized he doesn’t know what to do, he won’t be able to find anyone in the WH, or be able to collaborate with Congressional allies to get it done. So, I think Cracker is right nothing will come of it.
Trump got some good press out of his TV show babbling. But he is an ignorant fool, and surprising to me that, if he really is ‘a very smart person’ and ‘a very stable genius’, he started out by shooting himself in the foot by saying that due process and ‘rights’ could go hang themselves if he thought it was a good idea to take some guns away from people who shouldn’t have them. That is a little detail that Democrats typically think about.
One of the Trumpster gun nuts in my family is in deep shock about it, though.
jl
if Trump remembers his policy position at his meeting long enough to even attempt a follow-up, he’ll get frustrated and lash out. If that happens, and If past behavior is predictive, look for Trump to try to smear Ted Cruz as having some connection with the shooter Cruz, and smear Democrats as using gun reform as a cynical political move against him, which is treasonous, or some such vicious nonsense.
Betty Cracker
@kindness: Nothing much we can do until an election comes up. Florida is very much a microcosm of America — blue coastal enclaves that are populated and diverse and a red interior that is sparsely populated with white yahoos who wield out-sized power. I feel good about our chances of turning the statehouse bluer, but we’ll still be stuck with too many wingnuts who hold most of the power but don’t represent most of the people. If we can figure out Florida, maybe we can figure out America…
Brent
@trollhattan: this is pretty funny but just for the record, theron is south African, not australian
trollhattan
Sorta OT: Did Luntz issue a memo to Republicans urging them to press the idea that the Russia investigation is overblown hype and anyway, they couldn’t have altered the election outcome. NPR gave Gerson and some woman whose name I didn’t catch an inordinate amount of time to tut-tut the whole thing in weary, scolding tones while the McCain spawn tried the exact same thing with Schiff this morning on The View. Meaghan, you’re definitely no Schiff.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: actual literal monsters.
Adria McDowell
¿Qué?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/amp/white-house-preparing-mcmaster-exit-early-next-month-n852371
jl
Cracker’s post also made me realize that not only has Florida replaced California as the craziest state for crazy citizens, but also has replaced CA on the bad policy idea front. Goodbye Prop 13, hello worstest ‘stand your ground’ law in the country. Thanks, Florida.
Kansas probably also in the running for bad policy state, but fiscal policy is not as sexy as guns, so they get no credit.
Gin & Tonic
Well, we may not have to worry about the 2020 elections after all. Rumors are afoot that John Bolton is the front-runner to replace H.R. McMaster as National Security Adviser, so by next year the only thing the few remaining humans will have to worry about is finding food.
Corner Stone
I am wondering if Cole knows people he works with can see his tweets?
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
On the other hand, John Bolton is mental emough that he might not last even a month as NSA. Were I a betting man I’d put money on that.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I thought Bolty wanted Tillerson’s job?
Bill Arnold
Huh. I didn’t know about hurricane proof windows.
So Florida has something that in a very small way counterbalances the gun nuttery.
For those that won’t click the link,
Corner Stone
Could we actually be awaiting a monumental Friday news dump that names names in the 2016 election hack?
sherparick
@lollipopguild: Well, when you want to be as slippery as possible, being spineless helps. Since none of the these Rethugs, whether the Demonic Rick Scott (who is also lying through his teeth), Rubio, congress persons and state legislators, intend to do anything to prevent the next psychopath from arming himself with semi-automatic weapon (that they can make automatic with a bump stock) they also should be asked where the money will come from to “reinforce the schools,” “create this armed marshal” volunteer wingnut constabulary, or improve mental health treatment and availability. Will they raise taxes for it or cut teacher pay and educational programs to pay for it? Or is just more of the “Dad” party promising the kids a pony?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Corner Stone: I take it that’s a work meeting he’s tweeting about?
One time at an English Dept meeting, we were endlessly discussing something and someone asked the chair how long we were going to talk about it, and he said until everyone has said what they want to say. I was a tenured full professor so I just got up and left.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
Give the man a break. Gosh has darned him to Meeting Heck.
Frankensteinbeck
@jl:
They’ll go back to loving Trump as soon as they realize he’s just talking out of his ass and Republicans are going to stonewall any gun control progress. Trumpsters look at results, and they’ve gotten the results they want out of Trump – massive sadism to minorities.
SFAW
@Brent:
I’m guessing it was a Fury Road reference, hence (I assume) Australia.
bemused
@trollhattan:
If it’s so difficult for Meghan and others to differentiate between what’s overhype and what’s not, she should be supportive and eager for intelligence committees to get to the bottom of it.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Why? Does NSA have polonium cocktails on their menu, too?
MisterForkbeard
@Gin & Tonic: Really? I was reading that it’s… Sam Beigun? Might not have that name right. Current VP of international relations at GM, and who used to work for Condi Rice back during the early ’00s.
Which is still bad, but not Bolton levels of awfulness.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Bet you weren’t wearing overalls.
:)
zhena gogolia
@Corner Stone:
That set of tweets is so hilarious!
Citizen Alan
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
I will be angry until the day I die about this. Either Merrick Garland or whatever other Justice got nominated by President Hillary Clinton would have been the fifth vote to overturn Heller. And citizens united. And dozens of other 5-4 opinions I could name that would flip had Scalia been replaced by anyone to the left of Anthony Kennedy. We could have had the first liberal majority on the court of my lifetime, but that chance was thrown away because Hillary Clinton wasn’t pure enough for the Willmar scum.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
Mad Max: Fury Road was actually shot in Namibia.
lgerard
Bolton has a mustache. That eliminates him in trump’s eyes
ruemara
I might be attending WonderCon in Anaheim. Accent on might, but if so, BJ dine & carouse?
Elizabelle
I liked this NY Times reader comment, on their story about rightwingers dismissing protesters as “crisis actors.”
It explained a lot to me, and about how the right shoots down sincere arguments and actual news.
For link: good article in the FTF NYTimes (since it’s not by their whack DC press corpse):
Crisis Actor’ Isn’t a New Smear. The Idea Goes Back to the Civil War Era.
Reader comment by “Strix Nebulosa”:
John Revolta
@jl:
“I never thought the I Do Whatever the Fuck I Want President would do Whatever the Fuck He Wants to ME1!!1!!1!1”
Corner Stone
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I have been in more meetings than I can count where we covered my part close to the top of the agenda and then spent what seemed like hours on things like fabric for chairs in reception or tile patterns. Unfortunately, I had to stay because if I did not they inevitably would make a critical decision (usually horrible and GOD DAMN WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?) that I was unaware of until the next meeting or I read the minutes. So everything they had signed off on for my part would have to be changed because of some decision they made they had no fucking clue about.
cosima
I want to love Washington Monthly. I used to donate, subscribe, give gift subscriptions. But they publish shit like this: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/03/01/democrats-need-to-stop-normalizing-trump/, moaning about Feinstein and Klobuchar not asking the right questions or pointing out the flaws in the poo-flinging shitgibbon’s statements about seizing guns at that ridiculous ‘meeting.’ Can one even image how things would have gone had Klobuchar pointed out that seizing guns is illegal? That he’s clearly detached from reality? What was (is) wrong with staying silent so that the soundbite plays out, as it has, that HE is the one contemplating taking guns away? Dem’s ‘normalizing’ Trump? WTelF?
And then there’s the ridiculous piece at Rolling Stone talking about Dems losing the conversation about guns. According to whom? I had to click over to see if it was written by the odious Taibbi, but no, it’s not. So the DCCC said, months ago, blah blah blah. We are in a different place today from what I can see. Different discussions taking place, different priorities. So fucking tired of Rolling Stone and HuffPo and their seemingly untiring bashing of ‘establishment’ Dems.
Fair Economist
@ruemara:
Count me in. I might even go to WonderCon too.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
I’m thinking that Bolton’s thinking on national-security is going to encounter pushback here and there. And everywhere. This is the whackadoodle who wanted to demolish the top 10 floors of the UN Building, after all.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
tick tock…. tick tock…
Mary G
@Citizen Alan: I know. Every day I pray that Mueller will set his team onto McConnell and find out he’s in the Russians’ pockets and send him to jail for life.
ETA: @ruemara: Yes! Much closer than LA for me.
mad citizen
@schrodingers_cat: “Next up suggestion by the gun lobby, why stop at teachers, give all the children guns too. Give everyone a gun. Distribute guns at the naturalization ceremonies along with the flags. We can all settle our disputes like second amendment Jesus intended.”
I came up with this idea a few days ago. But we have to use some common sense, like start the Kindergarteners off with toy guys, then very small caliber weapons for grades 1-3, etc.
Immanentize
@Citizen Alan: This is the great political/legal tragic truth of our lives
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@NotMax: @Corner Stone: It’s true that if you’re not there you can also get put on committees that are hell holes. Though I probably could have averted that by wearing overalls.
Lapassionara
@Bill Arnold: only buildings built after Hurricane Andrew would be equipped with these types of windows.
Amir Khalid
@lgerard:
Oh yeah, that too.
Fair Economist
@cosima:
Totally with you on that. Klobuchar and Feinstein were spot-on letting Trump push the Overton window towards regulating guns, and letting other people (mostly Republicans, thus even more to our benefit) attack Trump over violating due process. They got us a positive shift in the discussion and a split in the Republican party. What’s the problem?
(Loved the video of Feinstein getting excited when Trump said that. *She* knew what it meant.)
ruemara
@Fair Economist: w00t woot! I just have to figure out a travel/housing/food budget to confirm but carousing away! Wait, I might be shooting in Chino that week too.
mad citizen
@Citizen Alan: “I will be angry until the day I die about this. Either Merrick Garland or whatever other Justice got nominated by President Hillary Clinton would have been the fifth vote to overturn Heller. And citizens united. And dozens of other 5-4 opinions I could name that would flip had Scalia been replaced by anyone to the left of Anthony Kennedy. We could have had the first liberal majority on the court of my lifetime, but that chance was thrown away because Hillary Clinton wasn’t pure enough for the Willmar scum.”
A million times agree. I’m PISSED and always will be. Somehow Obama’s election didn’t have a consequence for this. I wish Obama would have pulled some hardball move at the time–hell, shut everything down–to have forced the issue. For this alone, I want every future federal election to have a big F consequence!
MisterForkbeard
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Charges for WHOM, though?
@Elizabelle: This sort of article is hard for me to read, because I DO think elected Republicans (and many of those I sometimes argue with online) is lying, corrupt, or just there piss off liberals. So I usually give them a quick response and then ignore them.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
Voltaire, Questions sur les Miracles à M. Claparede, Professeur de Théologie à Genève, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de M. de Voltaire
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Frankensteinbeck: You’re giving them far to much credit. What they want is what the guy on TV tells them they want. Trump is such an idiot he lost the script, that’s all.
Mary G
Three guesses for the color of her skin:
Immanentize
@Citizen Alan: And I’ll add, that move has ruined the general, always tenuous belief that the Supreme Court is anything other than a political body.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Remarkable similarities to the belief system as laid out in their own words of the Westboro ‘Baptist church’ members.
No link as the site from which the excerpt came is defunct and refuse to link directly to those odious cretins.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Elizabelle: That’s why parody and post ironic logic, they both force the fantastic to rebut their own crazed arguments.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@NotMax: Except, Westborough was really a lawsuit factory – they would deliberately say offensive things to people in the hopes someone would assault them and then they could sue. The religion is merely so they can get cover under freedom of speech and be tax exempt.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: I think that train left the station with Bush v. Gore.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: way back in law school, I struggled at first to understand the legal reasoning in many decisions. Could be complicated, illogical, internally inconsistent, etc, It became much easier when I realized that they were making political decisions, then writing lengthy yet specious legal arguments to create color of authority as justification.
Now I get physically ill every time I see a 5-4 decision.
bemused
@John Revolta:
Jim Meacham: “Some people wanted WWE in the White House…and now they have it”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mary G: I always pegged Steven Mnuchin as merely being soulless.
Shalimar
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): Those messaging and propaganda networks have cost them 10s of billions over the past 40+ years to set up. We lack them because we don’t spend close to that amount of money, though we should do better with what we do spend than flushing most of it down the consultant/advertising toilet.
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting TechniquesA bit more of the lunacy.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I know — but there was still a whiff of panic in the court rather than plain partisanship. It wasn’t tainted in the same way everything going forward will be.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: Oddly, as many times as I have lost in the Sup. Ct., I am not quite that cynical about the process. Look at Blackmun! But the lower fed. cts of appeals really started changing in the 90’s from earlier appointment retirements and the Regan/Bush 1 Judges gaining strength. Obama balanced a lot out (look at the 4th). But now?
cosima
@Fair Economist: Seriously, though, what planet does Nancy Letourneau live on where the outcome of that fiasco was bad for Dems? ‘Please proceed governor’ was the order of the day. I feel like Washington Monthly is painting themselves into the purity pony corner with shite like that, and it really depresses me to see it descend to that level of lashing out at perfectly reasonable Dem behaviour. Supposed to talk policy with that crackpot? *That* is what ‘normalizes’ that evil orange shitstain.
cosima
One of the orange fart cloud’s daughters in law will be lead his re-election campaign, so sayeth my yahoo news feed. Must make certain that none of those donations escape! That family is the most disgusting passel of grifters on the planet.
Past my bedtime here! Night everyone.
Doug R
@gene108:
I’m thinking I have the right not to bear arms in that interpretation, the second amendment version of the right to remain silent.
Procopius
I don’t want to sound like I’m saying “both sides do it,” and I haven’t taken time yet to research it, but I would bet a significant portion of my monthly pension that I can find at least ten Democrats who take significant contributions from the NRA. I agree that the Republicans are virtually the public face of the enemy, but they need support from the other side and they get it. Joe Manchin? Heidi Heitkamp? You wanna bet?
Procopius
@Doug R:
Since the amendment includes the word “militia” I’ll bet you don’t have a “right not to bear arms” unless you can demonstrate that the state has excused you from duty for some reason.
Procopius
@Procopius: Whoops. Wrong quote. I meant to reply to Doug R.’s thought that the Second Amendment probably gave him a right to not bear arms.
Another Scott
@cosima: Nancy’s very, very good. I don’t have a problem with her take on the meeting. Encouraging Democratic Senators to do more at meetings with Trump is a good thing to do. But the “don’t get in the way of intraparty battles on the other side” aphorism applies, also too.
I like that she responded to comments from readers. Too few writers do that.
YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
KSE
“meth lab of democracy”… Just FYI I am stealing this line, repeatedly, forever.