Clueless.
Meanwhile, 39 shootings in Chicago this weekend, 9 deaths. No national media outrage. Why is that?
Ask the NRA.
***Yes, someone should study this problem…***…
Infuriated by CDC-funded research suggesting that having firearms in the home sharply increased the risks of homicide, the NRA goaded Congress in 1996 into stripping the injury center’s funding for gun violence research – $2.6 million. Congress then passed a measure drafted by then-Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) forbidding the CDC to spend funds “to advocate or promote gun control.” (The NRA initially hoped to eradicate the injury center entirely.)
The Dickey Amendment didn’t technically ban any federally funded gun violence research. The real blow was delivered by a succession of pusillanimous CDC directors, who decided that the safest course bureaucratically was simply to zero out the whole field.
He isn’t even capable of giving a subtle dog whistle. This is his form of “Just Kidding, Guys - Love your support so much am going to retweet it!”
OK so this is interesting (and there’s no thread on it)—first the heads of Merck and UnderArmour left that manufacturing council, and now the head of Intel, and here’s what he had to say:
I have already made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville, and earlier today I called on all leaders to condemn the white supremacists and their ilk who marched and committed violence. I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them. We should honor – not attack – those who have stood up for equality and other cherished American values.
and this:
My request—my plea—to everyone involved in our political system is this: set scoring political points aside and focus on what is best for the nation as a whole. The current environment must change, or else our nation will become a shadow of what it once was and what it still can and should be.
This is a guy who had planned a fundraiser for Trump at his house last year (but cancelled after the media asked him about it). So figure a conservative leaner but skittish about appearances. I just find it interesting and maybe significant.
Hey, Jack-Ass. When you’re ready to support gun control, then you can complain about the media not reporting injuries and deaths from guns.
Until then, you’re just a fucking hypocrite bitching in bad faith.
No, but it definitely had a “chilling effect”. The same language is still included in appropriations bills:
None of the funds made available in this title may be used, in whole or in part, to advocate or promote gun control.
Even Dickey now says it went too far.
The world is full of people with regrets. Regrets they’re willing to stand on the graves of their victims and implore them for forgiveness.
Obviously a reference to 45 tweeting his displeasure at the CEO of Merck.
Because, of course he did.
I’m really getting fucking tired of saying that line. Maybe Josh should just make it a part of the “TPM” logo at the top of the page as long as the Fucknut Fuhrer is in office.
Yep. It’s a pretty scathing denunciation of Trump generally. And these CEOs are not the kind of people whose at least tacit support he can afford to lose. He’s not savvy enough to be anything but a figurehead. If he tries to rumble with these guys he’ll end up well and truly curbstomped.
Trump instinctively knows how to play to and satisfy his base - because deep down he shares so many of their beliefs and grievances. He has no understanding, empathy or capacity to, or even an interest in, representing America’s basic values and rights, the vast majority of people who hold them, nor especially the people who most need their basic human rights acknowledged and upheld. He can barely bring himself to read a prepared statement written for him by someone else that even suggests some equality or humanity for all. I don’t think it’s so much he doesn’t realize the difference between groups or what he’s doing - he just doesn’t care. In fact he’s the champion of division - that’s why the most vile and divisive see him as their guy.
And speaking of the NRA and its poor, downtrodden representatives, rocker David Crosby had a little message for one of them, some third-rate guitarist who has fetishes for soiled underwear and underage girls:
Saying Donald Trump isn’t a supporter of Nazis and white supremacists is like saying Hannibal Lecter doesn’t enjoy fava beans.
Reading the coverage in NYT, and this popped out:
"Leslie A. Brun, another board member, said Mr. Frazier had emailed him on Sunday to seek his input before making his decision. Mr. Brun said he was supportive, and that he felt Mr. Frazier’s background, in some part, informed the action he chose to take.
“As you can imagine, as the only African-American in that position, on that council, you can’t take yourself out of your own personal context,” Mr. Brun said. “As a consequence, Ken had a very strong reaction to what he saw as a failure of leadership.”
"As for Mr. Trump’s reaction, Mr. Brun added, “I thought the pettiness of the president’s response, on a personal level, is indicative of how far we’ve sunk.”
Now 45 has pissed off board members.
I would award Dickey a few points for belatedly supporting research into gun violence, which is more than you can say for most republicans today. My biggest problem is that his support was still limited by a false equivalence.
“Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners,” Mr. Dickey reiterated in 2015, “in the same fashion that the highway industry continued its research without eliminating the automobile.”
First, I don’t know of anyone in a high profile position who advocates eliminating guns. Maybe someone does, but obviously it isn’t a majority opinion among legislators or policy makers of any party. Second, the automobile’s primary purpose is transportation, not running over people you don’t like. The gun’s primary purpose is to kill or maim.
Okay, Donald. You’ve tweeted that the only reason you made your additional comments yesterday was because the press forced you to; you’ve floated pardoning Arpaiao; you’ve attacked the black CEO of Merck, but not the white CEOs of Under Armour and Intel; and now this. We get it. Your froggies get it. You don’t really condemn Nazis. Stop digging.
Please proceed, f@cknut.
Yes, and they’ve proven especially effective at doing so to friends, relatives, ex-spouses and partners, and innocent bystanders.