NRA's "Freedom Cruise" on the Danube is scheduled to depart today. Features Newt, Ben Carson & top NRA officials. https://t.co/B5R2YpVL3h
— Julie Bykowicz (@bykowicz) June 16, 2016
The Trickster God is a lousy novelist — he doesn’t even try for verisimilitude. Because their most fervent followers are the target market for such endeavors (old people with money, who want ‘luxury vacations’ involving rich food, gentle entertainment, and as little contact as possible with not-Americans who aren’t liveried servants), every year the NRA, Newt Gingrich, Ollie North and a fistful of fellow miscreants get together for a “Freedom Cruise.” So this year, as the rise of angry far-right revanchist movements on both sides of the Atlantic have led to an increasingly nervous skirting of Godwin’s Law… Per Bloomberg, back in April:
… The National Rifle Association annually invites donors on a luxury cruise where they can mingle with conservative notables. The 2016 Freedom Cruise in June will take participants along the Danube through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Aboard for policy discussions and private receptions will be the NRA’s top official, Wayne LaPierre; Oliver North of Iran-Contra notoriety; former Republican House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife, Callista; Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese III; and Dr. Ben Carson, who until recently was seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination…
The NRA has invited members of its Ring of Freedom — “freedom-loving individuals, families or companies who make gifts of $1,000 or more per year to the NRA”. Staterooms for the weeklong excursion run from $4,895 per person for double occupancy to $8,795 for single occupancy. The cruise is co-sponsored by Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit founded by North in 1990 to promote military service and a strong national defense. North promises: “Your tour will be special from start to finish.”
But not as special as it might be. Strict European gun laws would, under almost all circumstances, prevent guests from carrying firearms.
Would I be committing a social solecism if I quipped, “Poland just breathed a sigh of relief”?
And apart from mockery, what’s on the agenda as we start the weekend?
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