Gingrich Spreads Lies After Maine Mass Shooting

 

The horrific mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, yesterday where the death toll is estimated at 22 with dozens more injured, should be another wake up call for the need to ban assault rifles and to expand background checks, especially for people who are disturbed, as is the alleged shooter, purportedly. But you can expect the Republican / Christofascist right to jump to the defense of the gun industry, as in this "we need more guns" response on Fox "News" from the despicable villain Newt Gingrich:

"Frankly, in states that have conceal carry and other permits, constitutional carry permits, you have a much more rapid response to these kind of people who are crazy.

And we have no idea what this person’s motivation was, but I think we have to assume, as we move forward, that people... and by the way, this also applies to what happened in Israel when Hamas attacked... we have to have a greater ability for our citizens to protect themselves, because it’s clear that law enforcement comes in after the massacre. But law enforcement’s almost never there to stop the massacre.

This has been true in Europe. It's been true here. It's been true in Israel. So I think we have to think about a whole new strategy, because these kind of people are extraordinarily dangerous, are willing to kill others, have no sense of decency, and frankly, you have to stop them as early as possible to minimize the loss of individual lives."

He's lying as usual. The proliferation of military style assault rifles over the past two decades has been followed by an increase in mass shootings, which are rarely stopped by "good guys with guns" on site. His suggestion that Europe also experiences mass shootings on the scale approaching the U.S. because people don't go around armed is another fable, as research has shown. European nations don't have the permissive gun laws that the U.S. does, and therefore not the level of gun violence. Same with Japan and Canada.

Gingrich won't be the only right-wing purveyor of lies claiming that if more citizens were allowed to open carry firearms, we'd be safer. He and his right-wing cohort never wonder how police arriving on the chaotic scene of a shootout with a multiple "good guys with guns" could sort out the situation quickly enough to avoid even more mass casualties. Finally, who would be surprised if the alleged shooter were part of the same political movement as Gingrich? Not us.

UPDATE:  Not surprised at all:

... Liam Kent, who appeared on NBC News, grew up in Bowdoin, Maine, where [suspected shooter Robert] Card lived, and said Card and his family are “gun fanatics.”

“It’s known in the town to stay away from them and to not approach them,” Kent said. “If you see them, just turn around and walk away.”  [snip]

On X, formerly Twitter, Card often liked posts from former President Donald Trump, conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson, and a professor who taught about terrorism, according to Heavy. Card had liked a March post from Donald Trump Jr. following a mass shooting in Nashville that read, “rather than talking about guns we should be talking about lunatics pushing their gender affirming bulls**t on our kids?” Card’s X account was suspended after the shooting...

Fits the profile of so many of these mass murderers.

 

The Republicans' Pilgrimage To NRA Convention

Like supplicants to their benefactor, Republican / White Nationalist / Shooters Party leaders are heading to Indianapolis today to attend the National Rifle Rampage Association's annual convention. After the recent mass shootings in Nashville and Louisville, not to mention 145 incidents of mass shooting just since the beginning of the year, these cynical and perverse ghouls are there to implicitly appeal for NRA's blood money contributions and endorsements:

"Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence – the former ticket-mates who have split over Trump’s actions leading up to and during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol – will both attend the gathering, potentially putting the two in the same room for the first time since leaving office.

Other GOP candidates and prospects, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will also appear in person. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley will deliver video messages."

Unfortunately for the gun peddling group, it's hard to pick a date that isn't contemporary with a mass shooting. Their convention last year in Houston was held days after 19 children were slaughtered in Uvalde, TX. But the AR-15 pin-wearing Republican wingers aren't moved beyond "thoughts and prayers":

"The NRA, the nation’s foremost gun lobby, has seen its power wane in recent years amid leadership fights and legal battles. In 2021, the organization attempted to declare bankruptcy – an effort rejected by a federal judge. Still, the group is influential among conservatives, and its annual gatherings remain a magnet for presidential hopefuls. [snip]

The NRA’s annual conventions underscore how deeply entrenched gun rights advocates and Republican political figures have become despite the United States’ rash of mass shootings in recent years. In 1999, after the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado, NRA officials huddled on a conference call and discussed canceling their convention, according to tapes of those meetings published by NPR in 2021."  (our emphasis)

The majority of Americans reject the NRA's policies of fighting universal background checks and red flag laws, of making assault rifles and extended magazines widely available, and of promoting open carry and armed teachers. But, as with their extreme position on reproductive rights for women, Republicans are on the wrong side of the public on gun safety, and should pay for it at the polls.

(photo: Pins for the pinheads)

 

Man Exercises "Second Amendments Rights," Kills 4, Wounds 8 In Kentucky

Another day, another mass shooting in the NRA/ Republican/ Shooters Party America:

A shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville killed at least four people and wounded at least eight others Monday, police said. The suspected shooter was also dead.

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south.

Police arrived as gunshots were still being fired inside the Old National Bank and exchanged fire with the shooter, Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said at a news conference. It wasn’t clear whether the shooter killed himself or was shot by officers.

“We believe this is a lone gunman involved in this that did have a connection to the bank. We’re trying to establish what that connection was to the business, but it appears he was a previous employee,” Humphrey said.

Humphrey said that at least eight people were being treated at a hospital for wounds, including two police officers, one of whom was in critical condition. 

An emotional Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost friends in the shooting in the building on East Main Street not far from the Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park.

“This is awful,” he said. “I have a very close friend who didn’t make it today. And I have another close friend who didn’t, either. And one who’s at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through.”...

This is what passes for "life in America." Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 

(Photo:  Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear reacts to shootings in Louisville/ Luke Sharrett, Getty Images)

The 5th Anniversary Of Parkland Mass Shooting

Today, Valentine's Day, marks the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. The brutal assault took the lives of 17 people -- 14 students and three staff members -- and wounded another 17.  At 10:17 this morning, the entire Broward County school district observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the slain and injured, and will observe a day of prayers and service.  CBS Miami has a story on the activities planned.

Little has been done to restrict the sale of assault style weapons of the kind used in the Parkland massacre, due to the resistance of the National Rifle Rampage Association and their wholly-owned subsidiary, the Republican / Seditionist / Shooter's party. While little has been done on the control side, much has been done on the shooter's side, with mass shootings happening almost daily, the most recent overnight at Michigan State University. The perverse spectacle of Republican House members wearing silver assault rifle pins just days after two mass shootings in California and months after last summer's Uvalde, TX, elementary school mass killing tells you everything you need to know about their abject inhumanity, and why the deaths continue.

(photo: Studens rush out of Stoneman Douglas H.S.  WSVN News)

 

Again

Another normal day in America:

The shooter who opened fire late Tuesday at a Walmart in the Tidewater area of Virginia was an employee of the store, Chesapeake Police said at a news conference Wednesday.

Six victims died in the attack, along with the shooter. Four others are injured and at local hospitals, though police said they had no information on their conditions. Police said the gunman used a pistol in the rampage and apparently died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.” They did not immediately name him pending notification of next of kin.

It remains unclear how many people were in the store at the time of the incident, which came less than two days before Thanksgiving. Walmart said on Twitter early Wednesday that it was working closely with law enforcement and “focused on supporting our associates.” The store will remain closed as the investigation continues, police said.

Days after the slaughter in Colorado Springs, gun violence tallies more victims.   It's the seventh mass shooting in the past week, and the 31st in November. 

(Photo:  The Walmart in Chesapeake, VA/ Kendall Warner, Virginian-Pilot/ AP)

Gunman At LGBTQ Club Kills 5 (UPDATED)

 

The Associated Press reports that late last night, a gunman killed 5 and wounded 18 patrons at the gay and lesbian Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, CO, marking the sixth mass killing by gunfire just this month. Republican-led culture wars intensified during the mid-term elections, prompting attacks on the LGBTQ community. It's not a coincidence that Colorado Springs is represented in Congress by Fanatic far-right gun humper Lauren Boebert, who has a record of hate speech (here, here, and here), is perhaps Colorado's most notable bigot in that regard. From the AP report:

"Authorities received a report of a shooting at Club Q at 11:57 p.m. and responded within minutes, said Lt. Pamela Castro of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

The violence is the sixth mass killing this month and comes in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Castro had few details beyond the number of dead and wounded. She said the suspect was injured but didn’t know how and that the FBI was on the scene and assisting. [snip]

The latest incident occurred as anti-gay rhetoric has intensified by extremists. In a statement, Club Q termed the shooting a hate attack.

'Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community,' the club posted on its Facebook page. It said its prayers were with victims and families, adding: 'We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.'

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a 'Drag Diva Drag Show' on Saturdays, according to its website."  (our emphasis)

The worst mass shooting of LGBTQ people was in June, 2016, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL, where a gunman killed 49 and wounded 53. Earlier this year, far-right extremists, often led by the fascist "Proud Boys" street thugs, attacked Pride celebrations around the country.

UPDATE: Police have identified the gunman as 22 year-old Anderson Aldrich, who apparently was arrested last year for threatening his mother with a homemade bomb and multiple weapons. Just the kind of person whose "second amendment rights" the National Rifle Rampage Association is protecting.

Surprise! Boise Mall Shooter Was Right-Wing Gun Nut

 

 

Re the Boise, ID, shooter who killed two people at a mall Monday:

The man who opened fire at a mall in Boise, Idaho, on Monday, killing two people and injuring five others before being fatally wounded by police, was a far-right gun extremist who had expressed an animus towards Latinos and other minorities—and who not only carried a gun into the Idaho governor’s office, but also turned up armed at an April antifascist protest in Boise and menaced demonstrators, Daily Kos has learned.

Jacob Bergquist, 27, was a convicted felon who had moved to Idaho a few years ago and had apparently developed an obsession with establishing his right to carry a firearm under Idaho law, a review of his social media posts indicates. He died Monday at a Boise hospital after being shot during the culmination of a shooting rampage inside Boise Towne Square, the state’s largest shopping mall.

Prior to his rampage, Bergquist was known to local police as someone who stalked an April Antifa demonstrations and always tried to take full advantage of Idaho's lax gun laws:

The result of these laws is an environment in which far-right extremists are empowered by authorities to use their guns to intimidate their political opponents, as Bergquist did in April. More insidiously, they have created an environment in which police forces—which increasingly have been demonstrating their sympathy with such extremists—actually green-light their threatening behavior, which is invariably directed at vulnerable minorities and the broader community.

Police?  In league with violent right-wing extremists?  We're shocked, shocked!

Sadly, two innocent people were sacrificed on the altar of the ammosexuals.  A normal day in America.

(Photo: Bergquist/ screenshot via Daily Kos)

Thoughts, Prayers And Dead Bodies

 

In what has become a frequent obscenity, eight people were shot and killed late last night in Indianapolis by a shooter who took his own life. There will be the usual examination of his background, motivation, etc. which will most likely fit the normal pattern of mass killers in the past 20 years: angry and often isolated males, many harboring grudges or paranoid fantasies, political extremists and white supremacists, mental struggles, and so on. The most common thread of all, of course, is that a gun was used in the commission of the mass shooting, whether an assault rifle, a handgun or combinations of the two.

Linked here is a list of the mass shootings in just the past five years. They include the Boulder grocery store (10 dead), the Georgia spas (8), the El Paso Walmart (23), Thousand Oaks bar (12), the Pittsburgh synagogue (11), Margery Stoneman Douglas H.S. (17), Sutherland Springs church (26), Pulse nightclub (50), and the grim champion Las Vegas concert (58).

With the Trumpist / Republican cult in the pocket of the gun lobby, despite overwhelming support for stricter gun control measures, little is expected to happen with a divided Congress. But whatever can be accomplished to keep guns out of the hands of mass killers must be done, and quickly. That means support of the House-passed legislation for expanded background checks and more time for law enforcement to vet the buyer, and executive actions like President Biden's crackdown on "ghost guns" and pushing "red flag" legislation at the state level. 

This time, as in the past, spare us the thoughts and prayers.

Gun-Humping Wingnuts Threaten Murder

Threats by white male wingnuts to commit violent acts are proliferating on social media. Two recent cases:

An Ohio man is facing charges of making interstate threats against New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying on his Facebook page that she "should be shot." Timothy James Ireland, Jr., who was also charged with being a fugitive felon and felon in possession of a firearm, confirmed to investigators that he took responsibility for the statement. The fugitive warrants were issued by Florida authorities after Ireland failed to appear in court on a felony charge.

In Florida, a 26- year- old man was arrested Friday for threatening to shoot up a Walmart with an AR-15 assault style rifle. Richard Clayton, whom Florida law enforcement described as having white supremacist views, posted on Facebook, "3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don't go to Walmart next week." We wonder what the "probation" was about, since he's apparently made threats on Facebook before.

Mentally unstable demagogue Donald "Very Stable Genius" Trump has unleashed forces of right-wing violence with his vile rhetoric and tweets, seeming to give them permission to go after people that Trump has marked as "the other" or the invaders. Those forces won't go away once Trump does --  it'll still be his Republican Party -- but they have to be confronted and stopped at every turn.

Puerile "President" Back To Form In Less Than 24 Hours (UPDATED)

1. Trump yesterday, reading someone's words off a teleprompter:  "Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love ["for your favorite President, me" he didn't say]."

2. A real President speaks the truth, not mentioning names (click to enlarge):

pic.twitter.com/nNOVtQ50O4

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2019

3.  Trump's flying couch monkeys tell Trump what to do:

Brian Kilmeade complains about Barack Obama's statement about the Dayton and El Paso shootings: "Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook?" pic.twitter.com/oRJzhhFepK

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) August 6, 2019

4.  Trump obeys, retweets, less than 24 hours after his dry mouth, inauthentic, rote reading off a teleprompter:

“Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2019

5.  Notice is taken:

Well, tbf, Obama never used the language of mass shooter and/or white supremacists ever, let alone in daily public parlance like you do, so....

— Victoria Brownworth 🏳️‍🌈 (@VABVOX) August 6, 2019

So much for the speech he could barely read. Back to form. https://t.co/DuImxAaRLM

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 6, 2019

That’s because the Sandy Hook mass shooter didn’t lay out guns that spelled Obama’s name, didn’t recite Obama’s words and didn’t target people Obama had likened to rats and criminals. https://t.co/VXQFf9HzWw

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) August 6, 2019

UPDATE:  FTW--

“Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.”
            — A White House Teleprompter, August 5, 2019 https://t.co/qqhZoYTnHo

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 7, 2019

"Commit To Beating Republicans"

A great monologue by Steven Colbert discussing the recent gun violence, the asswipe in the White (Supremacist) House and his enablers in the rotted- out Republican Party and media.  (We endorse Colbert's giant pork sausage/ gun trade- in for the reasons expressed, btw.)



We also want to endorse former Florida Republican Rep. David Jolly's advice to voters:

"Beat 'em. Beat every single one of them.” -@DavidJollyFL pic.twitter.com/zuSTMOGTYG

— AlterNet (@AlterNet) August 5, 2019

"Commit to beating Republicans. Beat 'em.  Beat every single one of them. Even the safe ones in the House.  Beat 'em.  Beat 'em in the Senate. Take back the Senate."

That sounds right.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Phil Rucker on the front page of today's Washington Post on the racist- in- chief's deliberately stoking hatred and violence: 

President Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as “an invasion of our country.” He has demonized undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals.” He has defended the detention of migrant children, hundreds of whom have been held in squalor. And he has warned that without a wall to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico, America would no longer be America.

“How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. Someone in the crowd yelled back one idea: “Shoot them.” The audience of thousands cheered and Trump smiled. Shrugging off the suggestion, he quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.”

On Saturday, a 21-year-old white man entered a shopping center in El Paso, according to police, and allegedly decided to “shoot them.” Inside a crowded Walmart in a vibrant border city visited daily by thousands of Mexicans, a late-morning back-to-school shopping scene turned into a pool of blood. Twenty people died, and dozens were wounded. [snip]

Regardless of the El Paso shooter’s motivations, Trump throughout his presidency has stoked fear and hatred of the other, whether Latino immigrants or black people living in cities or Muslims.

Although he has not directly espoused the “great replacement” theory of white supremacists, Trump has openly questioned America’s identity as a multiethnic nation, such as by encouraging migration from Nordic states as opposed to Latin America.

In speeches and on social media, the president has capitalized on divisions of race, religion and identity as a political strategy to galvanize support among his white followers...

In the same paper, E.J. Dionne, Jr., defines the right and wrong side:

When one side proposes ways that human beings might begin to solve a deadly problem while the other side leaves it up to God, you know which side is right.

When one side proposes solution after solution to contain gun violence — and offers compromise after compromise to get something done — while the other side blocks action every time, you know which side is right.

When the president of the United States and his most incendiary media allies fuel hatred of those who are not white while his opponents say we should stand in solidarity with one another, you know which side is right.

When one side brushes aside the dangers of racist and white nationalist terrorism while the other side says we need to be vigilant against all forms of terrorism, you know which side is right. 

And when Americans are gunned down in incident after incident, when we are numbed by repeating the same sorrowful words every time, when we move within a news cycle from “something must be done” to “the Senate will block action” or “the politics are too complicated,” you know America’s democracy is failing and its moral compass is broken.

Dionne calls out Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose unctuous subservience to NRA gun humpers was on full display when speaking to the media:

The wrong side in this debate does not want us to come together. On the contrary, its goal after every mass shooting is to deflect and divide. Here’s what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said when asked by reporters what we should do about gun violence. “Listen, there are bodies that have not yet been recovered,” Abbott replied. “I think we need to focus more on memorials before we start the politics.”

No, Abbott, reading from the NRA’s script, started “the politics” right at that moment, and it is an insidious form of politics. Simultaneously, he deflected by pretending it’s impolite to answer substantive questions and divided by saying that those who raise them disrespect the dead.

Nothing disrespects those who are slaughtered more than the political paralysis Abbott and those like him are encouraging.

Nothing will be done as long as the wrong side is in control of the White (Supremacist) House and the Senate, where when Moscow Mitch isn't doing favors for Putin, he's blocking gun control legislation:

After the Democrats took over the House earlier this year, they passed the most significant gun legislation in a generation, requiring background checks on all firearm sales in the country, and another bill extending the background check review period from three days to 10 days.

The Senate has yet to consider the bills. 

After this weekend's mass shootings, Democratic leaders blamed Republicans controlling the Senate for blocking them.

They began demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell take action this week, arguing they could help prevent the next large-scale tragedy. McConnell's office did not say whether the Republican leader is open to dealing with gun violence with new legislation.  [Spoiler alert:  of course he isn't]

Well, let's amend that last comment.  Republicans might be willing to deal with gun violence by attacking it at the root cause... video games!

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to Fox News on Sunday in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH, to suggest that blame could lie at least partially with video games.  [snip]

McCarthy’s comments echo ones made by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on Fox & Friends Sunday morning. “How long are we going to ignore — at the federal level particularly — where they can do something about the video game industry,” Patrick said. “In this manifesto that we believe is from the shooter, this manifesto where he talks about living out his super soldier fantasy on Call of Duty.” 

Lie, deflect, delay, repeat.  The cowardly, sociopath Republican playbook.

This comes a bit late:

A San Francisco-based Web company announced Sunday it would no longer provide services to 8chan, a website notorious for hosting lawless message boards where manifestos have appeared before mass shootings.

The move came after a screed against immigrants was posted to 8chan shortly before a mass shooter killed 20 and wounded 26 at an El Paso Walmart and shopping center. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, a firm that protects sites from cyber attacks, said he decided to drop 8chan because it “has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate.”

Changing topics, the trade war with China is settling in for a prolonged duration.  Here's the immediate impact on retail clothing sales alone:

The new tariffs will jack up prices for consumers at the start of the back-to-school buying season, four large retail trade associations said on Thursday.

"President Trump is, in effect, using American families as a hostage in his trade war negotiations," said Matt Priest, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America.

Stephen Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said his group's members were shocked that Trump had not allowed the resumed U.S.-China trade talks to proceed further before acting.

The measure will hit U.S. consumers far harder than Chinese manufacturers, who produce 42% of apparel and 69% of footwear purchased in the United States, Lamar said.

Finally, please check out Infidel 753's link round- up (where we found that last piece on the trade war).  It seems every week he finds even more interesting links to share.  Impressive.

Tweet Of The Day/ Sunday Reflection

The Trifecta:

We have a white supremacist problem. We have a gun problem. We have a money in politics problem.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 3, 2019

That adds up to "a Republican problem."

More Gun Violence: Dayton This Time (UPDATED)

The sickness spreads:

Nine people are dead after a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, according to police. Dayton Police say the suspect also is dead. Sixteen other people were injured in the incident that took place within 13 hours of a shooting that left 20 dead in El Paso, Texas.

The Dayton shooting took place around 1 a.m. on East 5th Street in the city's Oregon district, a popular downtown area, Dayton Deputy Director and Assistant Chief of Police Lt. Col. Matt Carper told reporters early Sunday morning. 

The suspect, who was shot and killed by responding officers, has not yet been identified. Carper said the shooter fired multiple rounds from a "long gun." The shooting happened as the suspect was making his way toward a bar called Ned Peppers, Montgomery County Emergency Services spokeswoman Deb Decker said. 

The shooter wore body armor, Decker said.

Unlike El Paso, the shooter died during the assault, so identifying him and his motives will take longer.  But, the commonality between the two horrific mass murders is the ubiquity of these assault weapons -- available to anyone who passes the most minimal threshold.  No other country in the "civilized" world allows this insanity.

UPDATE:    Somehow, we knew "young white male" was going to be in the shooter's profile again:

“The mayor said it was -- a young white male. I believe she may have said his age, I believe early 20s but I don't know for sure. He came not from the city of Dayton, he came from a town in Montgomery County nearby, that is the county Dayton is in and that is all that I know,” [Sen. Sherrod] Brown said.

UPDATE II:  He's being identified as 24- year- old Connor Betts of Bellbrook, OH.

UPDATE III:  Of course, officials of the rotted- out, despicable Trump Republican Party are blaming both shootings on "video games" and "social media," without any political context at all.  This is cowardice and evil incarnate.

UPDATE IV:  Much like his cowardly comrades in Texas and elsewhere, Ohio's Republican Senator wants to deflect the responsibility for mass shootings to "mental health."  What, "video games" was already taken?

Tweet Of The Day -- The Real National Emergency

Including Friday's Aurora, Ill., shooting, 2019 has had 39 mass shootings in 46 days. https://t.co/tnEjbc5ACB pic.twitter.com/EYmjjJsjRR

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) February 16, 2019

On a less somber note, nothing says "national emergency" like buffoon Donald "Rump" Trump filling up at the Merde o' Lardo omlette bar after a tough morning of golf. MAGA, bitchez!:

"Gimme the 'Executive Time' omlette. Better make it two."

Evil Ted Cruz Pops Up At Mass Shooting Site

Because it's always too early to "politicize" the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX, lying weasel Sen. Ted "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz is politicizing the shooting there. Appearing today before a crowd of mainly media, Tailgunner Ted, in his most unctuous nasal voice reverted to the "too soon to talk" about nutcases being allowed to purchase firearms when pressed by reporters:

"You know, it is an unfortunate thing that the first place the media goes after any murder is politicizing it. We don't need politics right now."

Tailgunner, who has opposed every gun safety measure, then wove in the National Rampage Association's nutty theme of "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" (which begs the question of why bad guys should have guns in the first place) by saying:

"That the reason this depraved gunman finally gave up and got in the car and fled and didn't murder more is precisely because one individual demonstrated bravery and courage." (emphasis added)

"Depraved gunman." That sums up the incoherence of Tailgunner Ted's and his party's position on gun safety, i.e., prostrate before the NRA. In one breath he's referring to someone whom the vast majority of Americans don't think should have a gun, and in the other saying that we can't talk about that outrage. Too soon....thoughts and prayers.....then another mass shooting.

Then, in a moment of rare self-awareness describing himself, Tailgunner Ted said, "Evil, tragically, will always be with us."

BONUS: You can add sociopathic demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump to the ranks of people with blood on their hands: earlier this year, he repealed a rule that prevented people with certain mental health issues from buying guns. But her e-mails!

(photo: "Evil....will always be with us.")

Weekend War Zone Music

Carnage.  Less than a week ago, Orlando.  Nearly six months ago, Denver.  One year ago, Charleston. And the list goes on and on and on.  Just since Orlando, guns have killed 125 people in America.  As four- star General Stanley McChrystal writes in the New York Times in "Home Should Not Be A War Zone":

In 2014, 33,599 Americans died from a gunshot wound. From 2001 to 2010, 119,246 Americans were murdered with guns, 18 times all American combat deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

That is a national crisis. And as a combat veteran and proud American, I believe we need a national response to the gun violence that threatens so many of our communities.

With the assassination of British MP Jo Cox two days ago, gun violence has reared up in an unlikely place, perpetrated by an unhinged right- winger.  It seems we're faced with constant, often brutal reminders of how fragile life is and why, as Gen. McChrystal says, "home should not be a war zone." We say "home" should mean not only America, but Europe, Syria, and every continent and country where human beings should have every right to live a full life free of this kind of mindless violence.

In America, where the problem of gun violence is most acute and our political system is best at offering "thoughts and prayers" in response, here are a few suggested resources for citizen action to help stop gun violence and the cancerous evil represented by the National Rifle Rampage Association and soulless people like this.

Resources: Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Gen. McChrystal's Americans for Responsible Solutions, and the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence.

For all those casualties-- those flowers cut before their time -- we offer this classic anti- war song performed by the Kingston Trio as our rather inadequate memorial.

Tweet, Countertweets

Here's anti-tax libertarian neckbeard Grover "Drown Government In A Bathtub" Norquist on President Obama's plans to address gun violence:

To understand what Obama wants  in our future.... ....Watch the Star Wars movies and imagine that only the storm troopers have guns.

— Grover Norquist (@GroverNorquist) January 2, 2016

Here's a response from John Sheehan:

@GroverNorquist pic.twitter.com/ngiEUNXtp5

— John Sheehan (@dogstar7tweets) January 2, 2016

And Jeet Heer's fact check:

Fact check: Ewoks defeated Storm Troopers without relying on guns (or blasters).  https://t.co/DRVRJU3uAg

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) January 2, 2016

And, as a bonus, Bob Schooley's overall take on the neckbeard's "Burning Man" utopia:

#WhatGroverNorquistWants pic.twitter.com/LskMTCnHDD

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) January 2, 2016

For the neckbeard, the only thing missing in that last image is that the two aren't packing AR-15's.

Cartoons of the Day

(click to enlarge)

Always ignoring the, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state" preface to the Second Amendment, the gun lobby and their coin-operated facilitators in the U.S. Congress may not respond with gun safety legislation until there's an attack on them collectively-- and probably not even then.

(cartoons: top, Signe Wilkinson, bottom Mike Luckovich, via Gocomics.com)

Here We Are Again

It never stops, does it?

A mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon on Thursday morning has left 13 dead, according to Oregon's attorney general. 

Sheriff John Hanlin at a press conference said he would not confirm the death toll, saying only that there were multiple fatalities and multiple casualties. At 10:38 a.m. local time, police received a 911 call of a shooter in a classroom.

Hanlin said officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter and he was neutralized. The shooter is deceased and has not been identified publicly. Oregon Governor Kate Brown said the shooter is 20 years old.

Spare us the ephemeral outrage.  Spare us the 36 hours of concerned media coverage.  Spare us the smarmy words from the unspeakably evil enablers at the N.R.A., their bag men in Congress, and every right-wing creep.

We have a sick political system in this country, and these are its casualties.

UPDATE:  Here's some of what is known about the shooter:

A posting on the Spiritual Passions dating and social networking site uses a picture that appears to be [Chris Harper] Mercer under the user name IRONCROSS45, which Mercer also used as his email.

He described himself on the site as a 26-year-old, mixed-race “man looking for a woman”. He said he was “not religious, but spiritual”, and was a “teetotaler” living with his parents and a conservative Republican. Socially, he said, he was “shy at first” and “better in small groups”.

We hadn't seen anything in the "mainstream media" about his political leanings and probably never will.