Monday
Aug052019
The Commentariat -- August 5, 2019
Photo found on the Facebook page of the El Paso mass shooter.
Late Morning Update:
Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: In a speech this morning, President* Trump said, "'In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy''... But Mr. Trump stopped well short of supporting the kind of broad gun control measures that activists and Democrats have sought for years, instead calling for stronger action to address mental illness, violence in the media and in video games, as well as 'the perils of the internet and social media.'... Mr. Trump took no questions, and did not repeat his call on Twitter earlier in the morning for Republicans and Democrats to work together to strengthen background checks for prospective gun buyers, but his proposal to link new gun control measures with immigration restrictions is likely to leave Democrats sternly opposed." ...
... At the end of the speech, Trump asks God to bless "those who passed in Toledo," whoever they may be.
The Lonely Republican Truth-teller. Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "A Republican state senator from Nebraska on Sunday accused the GOP of helping to enable white supremacy. 'The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country,' state Sen. Kevin McCollister (R) tweeted. 'As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it's the truth,' McCollister continued. 'I of course am not suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacists nor am I saying that the average Republican is even racist. What I am saying though is that the Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity inside our party.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
Devan Cole of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Monday suggested tying immigration reform to strengthening background checks following a weekend in which the alleged shooter in El Paso, Texas, is believed to have authored a racist, anti-immigrant document targeting Hispanics. Trump, who is scheduled to address the nation at 10 a.m. ET following two mass shootings that left at least 29 people dead, has previously expressed an openness to tougher action on gun control only to back away under pressure from Second Amendment activists and the gun lobby. He did not indicate in his tweets on Monday morning if he supported a sweeping gun control bill that passed the House with bipartisan support in February that requires universal background checks but has not been considered by the Senate. 'Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform,' Trump wrote in a pair of tweets...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: Consistent with Ken's comment below, my guess is that Trump wants to attach any gun-control measures to an immigration bill that McConnell won't bring up & Trump wouldn't sign if the bill did come to his desk.
Christina Zhao of Newsweek: "... Donald Trump has run roughly 2,200 Facebook advertisements using the word 'invasion' since May 2018[.]" --s ...
... Josh Marshall of TPM: "There's abundant evidence the [El Paso] shooter is a big fan of President Trump and certainly of his worldview. And yet [his] manifesto includes a sort of preemptive rebuttal of any claims that he is a Trump supporter or that Trump influenced [him]. He predicts that 'the media' will identify him as a white supremacist and blame President Trump's racist and xenophobic rhetoric for radicalizing him and provoking the attack. Such claims would be 'fake news' and such claims will indeed only prove that 'the media' is 'fake news.'... For someone who specifically denies Trump radicalized him, he's very focused protecting the President. He doth protest rather too much. The gaslighting is actually baked into the attack itself. He wants to be both the assailant and part of the post massacre spin and pro-Trump defense." --s ...
... ** Even the Gray Lady Goes There. Peter Baker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "At campaign rallies before last year's midterm elections, President Trump repeatedly warned that America was under attack by immigrants heading for the border. 'You look at what i marching up, that is an invasion!' he declared at one rally. 'That is an invasion!' Nine months later, a 21-year-old white man is accused of opening fire in a Walmart in El Paso, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more after writing a manifesto railing against immigration and announcing that 'this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.'... If Mr. Trump did not originally inspire the gunman, he has brought into the mainstream polarizing ideas and people once consigned to the fringes of American society. While other leaders have expressed concern about border security and the costs of illegal immigration, Mr. Trump has filled his public speeches and Twitter feed with sometimes false, fear-stoking language even as he welcomed to the White House a corps of hard-liners, demonizers and conspiracy theorists shunned by past presidents of both parties.... In televised remarks on Sunday afternoon..., Mr. Trump [said]..., 'Hate has no place in our country, and we're going to take care of it.'... He made no mention of white supremacy or the El Paso manifesto, but instead focused on what he called 'a mental illness problem.'" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Baker & Shear are two of the leading practitioners of both-siderism. They do allow a couple of Trump toadies -- Mick Mulvaney & Kris Kobach -- brief defenses of Trump's hateful rhetoric, but by and large, this report is a recitation & condemnation of Trump's encouragement of white supremacy. Remarkable. ...
... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post covers the same territory: "Since the moment Trump rode down his gold-plated escalator four years ago to start his renegade run for the White House, us-against-them language about immigrants has been a consistent and defining feature of his campaign and now of his presidency. Absent from his repertoire has been a forceful repudiation of the white nationalism taking rise on his watch.... Trump throughout his presidency has stoked fear and hatred of the other, whether Latino immigrants or black people living in cities or Muslims.... [The author of the screed attributed to the El Paso shooter] is so aligned with the president's that he decided to conclude the manifesto by clarifying that his views predate Trump's 2016 campaign and arguing that blaming him would amount to 'fake news,' another Trump phrase.... Although a press pool traveled with Trump to New Jersey, the president opted not to address the nation Saturday. He did, however, find time to stop by a wedding reception being held at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster...." ...
... Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "As the nation reeled from two mass shootings in less than a day, ... Donald Trump spent the first hours after the tragedies out of sight at his New Jersey golf course, sending out tweets of support awkwardly mixed in with those promoting a celebrity fight and attacking his political foes.... Not until Trump and the first lady prepared to fly back to Washington in the late afternoon Sunday did he appear before cameras.... While connecting 'hate' and mental illness to the shootings, Trump made no direct mention of gun laws, a factor brought up by Democratic officials and those seeking their party's [presidential] nomination.... 'We have done much more than most administrations,' he said, without elaboration. 'We have done actually a lot. But perhaps more has to be done.'"
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: Beto O'Rourke, "Cory Booker and Julián Castro, placed blame on Trump for his rhetoric [that encouraged the El Paso shooter]. Mrs. McC: I heard Rep. Tim O'Ryan & Sen. Kamala Harris on MSNBC do the same. I'm surprised & heartened that at least some Democrats are speaking truth to the racist-in-chief. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump: A Racist AND a Deadbeat. Kolten Parker of KSAT (San Antonio): "... El Paso officials have been critical of the president in recent months for his refusal to pay a $470,000 debt owed to the city for transportation and security services during his February campaign rally. For six months, the city has sent Trump's campaign invoices for services provided by city departments -- including police, buses, the health department and others -- but has not gotten a response, according to local media.... A local TV station reported two weeks before the shooting that Trump still hadn't paid the debt." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Federal authorities are treating the shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart that killed 20 people and wounded 26 more as a case of domestic terrorism and will pursue federal hate crime and firearm charges in connection with the massacre, officials said at a press conference Sunday. Patrick Wood Crusius, 21, was booked into El Paso County Jail early Sunday on capital murder charge, the El Paso Times reported. At the same Sunday morning press conference El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said his office would seek the death penalty." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Wajahat Ali of The Atlantic: "Will America finally confront the violent death rattle of white supremacy? Or will it fail to inflict the coup de grâce, allowing the ideology of hate to revive itself into a global movement, with radicalized young men engaged in what they believe is a zero-sum war for survival? Last year, those opening lines might have been dismissed as alarmist rhetoric and hyperbole. We no longer have that luxury.... Hate that was once hidden has now been given permission to come out of the closet and drop its white robes and masks. This has real-life consequences for communities of color, Jews, and immigrants." --s
... Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "In recent months, 8chan has become a go-to resource for violent extremists.... [Fredrick] Brennan started the online message board as a free speech utopia. But now, 8chan is known as something else: a megaphone for mass shooters, and a recruiting platform for violent white nationalists.... Mr. Brennan, who stopped working with the site's current owner last year, called for it to be taken offline before it leads to further violence.... 8chan has been run out of the Philippines by Jim Watkins, a United States Army veteran, since 2015, when Mr. Brennan gave up control of the site.... Mr. Watkins, who runs 8chan along with his son, Ronald, has remained defiant in the face of criticism, and has resisted calls to moderate or shut down the site.... The site remained on the fringes until 2014, when some supporters of GamerGate -- a loose reactionary collection of anti-feminist video gamers -- flocked to 8chan after being kicked off 4chan. Since GamerGate, 8chan has become a catchall website for internet-based communities whose behavior gets them evicted from more mainstream sites. It hosts one of the largest gatherings of supporters of QAnon, who claim that there is an international bureaucracy plotting against the Trump administration. And it has been an online home for 'incels,' men who lament being 'involuntarily celibate,' and other fringe movements." ...
... Matthew Prince of Cloudflare: "8chan is among the more than 19 million Internet properties that use Cloudflare's service. We just sent notice that we are terminating 8chan as a customer effective at midnight tonight Pacific Time. The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit." ...
... Kevin Roose of the NYT writes in the report linked above, "Another company, Tucows, which controls 8chan's domain name registration, had no plans as of Sunday evening to disable the site's web address."
Jessica McBride of Heavy: "Connor Betts, the Dayton, Ohio mass shooter, was a self-described 'leftist,' who wrote that he would happily vote for Democrat Elizabeth Warren, praised Satan, was upset about the 2016 presidential election results, and added, 'I want socialism, and i'll not wait for the idiots to finally come round to understanding.'... On Nov. 2, 2018, he wrote: 'Vote blue for gods sake.'... On Feb. 14, 2018, he tweeted this at Sen. Rob Portman: '@robportman hey rob. How much did they pay you to look the other way? 17 kids are dead. If not now, when?' That was the date of the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida.... He also wrote that he enjoyed anime, railed against ICE and the industrial revolution, and made references to Satan.... He shared posts of people outed for possibly being at a KKK rally in Dayton and wrote, 'Know your enemies.'... He railed against the police, QAnon conspiracy theories, and white supremacists." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would seem Betts has had violent fantasies for a long time: "Dayton 24/7 Now spoke with other classmates of Betts' who said he was expelled from school after officials found a notebook where he reportedly wrote a list of people who he wanted to rape, kill and skin their bodies. The classmate we spoke with said Betts was supposed to write a letter of apology to the people on the list. After being expelled, Betts was allowed back to school, according to the classmate. The classmate added Betts was not a loner, but had friends." Betts is reportedly 24 years old. I can't be certain because the reporting is crummy, but the context suggests the source was a high-school classmate of Betts'. Also, since one of the people he assassinated was his own sister, it's pretty hard to guess what his motives were, but it doesn't really seem, based on what we know at this point, they were political.
New York Post Editors urge passage of a federal assault-weapons ban & devote their screaming front page to it: "This ban would only be part of the response: Keep improving background checks, find wiser approaches to mental health, get every state to pass a red-flag law* (do a federal one, too, even if issuing these restraining orders is mainly the job of state courts). And by all means, do as Sen. Elizabeth Warren suggested in last week's Democratic debate and 'double down on the research and find out what really works.'" Yes, the New York Post, a Rupert Murdoch production.
* "A red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves." ...
... Guardian: "Philadelphia Union [pro soccer/football team] captain Alejandro Bedoya brought attention to this weekend's mass shootings in Ohio and Texas when he called out Congress after scoring for his team in Washington DC.... After Bedoya scored he ran over to a TV microphone and shouted: 'Hey Congress, do something now. End gun violence. Let's go!' The comment could be heard on Fox Sports' coverage of the game.... [Bedoya] is from Weston, Florida, close to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School...." --s ...
... David Frum of the Atlantic: A "menu of atrocities offers a wide range of political points to score, if that is your wish. You will find here immigrants and natives; whites and nonwhites; Muslims and Christians; right-wingers, left-wingers, and the nonpolitical. There is even a woman, Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, targeted a Christmas party sponsored by the local Department of Public Health, where the husband worked. Despite their diversity, all these killers had one thing in common: their uniquely American access to firearms. In turn, these killers unite the country in a uniquely American determination to ignore the obvious.... America's uniquely bloodstained record of violence is a consequence of America's uniquely reckless attitudes toward weapons of mass death." ...
... Yeah But. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "[I]f President Donald Trump's most recent appointment to the Supreme Court gets his way, both assault rifles and high-capacity magazines will soon enjoy special constitutional protection. It is likely, moreover, that Justice Brett Kavanaugh has the five votes he needs to make this happen.... Regarding assault rifles, the future Trump appointee [had] argued that these weapons should enjoy the same nearly unassailable level of constitutional protection the Supreme Court afforded to handguns in its 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller." --s
** David Li of NBC News: "Mexico on Sunday threatened to take legal action against the United States for failing to protect its citizens after this weekend's mass shooting in the border city of El Paso. Of the 20 people gunned down at a Walmart at the Cielo Vista Mall, at least seven were Mexican citizens, and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard promised Mexico City will act. Ina statement, the Foreign Ministry called the attack in El Paso a 'terrorist act against innocent Mexicans.'... Of the 26 injured in the attack, at least nine were Mexican nationals, according to the government." ...
... Elisabeth Malkin & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Mexican authorities could seek to extradite the gunman on a terrorism charge and were planning legal action against the seller who provided the shooter with his weapon, said the foreign minister.Marcelo Ebrard.... Tensions [between the U.S. & Mexico] are often fueled by President Trump in divisive invectives that target Mexicans, Central Americans and others, and speak of migrant caravans as 'an invasion of our country.' 'Xenophobic and racist discourse breeds hate crimes,' Martha Bárcena, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, said over Twitter."
A Convenient Slip & Fall. Ashley Killough & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fractured his shoulder Sunday after falling in his Kentucky home, his office said in a statement. 'This morning, Leader McConnell tripped at home on his outside patio and suffered a fractured shoulder,' David Popp, McConnell's communications director, said in a statement. 'He has been treated, released, and is working from home in Louisville.'McConnell's injury comes as Democrats demand he reconvenes the Senate to pass gun control legislation after a pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio this weekend left 29 people dead." Mrs. McC: Of course Mitch could still call the Senate back from recess; he doesn't have to show up himself. Let his second-in-command Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) try to explain why Republicans favor doing nothing or relatively nothing in the wake of the murders of 20 Texans.
Malcolm Scott, et al. of Bloomberg: "China responded to Donald Trump's tariff threat with another escalation of the trade war on Monday, letting the yuan tumble to the weakest level in more than a decade and asking state-owned companies to suspend imports of U.S. agricultural products.... Trump last week proposed adding 10% tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese imports from Sept. 1.... Chinese bureaucrats were stunned by Trump's announcement, according to officials who've been involved in the negotiations." --s
Motoko Rich, et al., of the New York Times: "The long-simmering conflict [between Japan & South Korea] erupted into a full diplomatic crisis on Friday, when Japan threatened to slow down exports of materials essential to South Korean industries. By Saturday night, thousands of protesters marched in the streets of Seoul, accusing Japan of an 'economic invasion' and threatening an intelligence-sharing agreement that the United States considers crucial to monitoring North Korea's nuclear buildup. Washington has long relied on both countries to stand alongside it to help counter China's rise and the nuclear-armed North. But ... the Trump administration has been reluctant to get involved to repair the rift. President Trump said he might take some action if asked by both parties, but added that trying to referee the dispute would be 'like a full-time job.' And State Department officials had said they want the two countries to work it out on their own. Still, as tensions escalated in recent days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted on Friday to orchestrate a reconciliation at an Asian security conference attended by regional foreign ministers.... The two ministers stayed far apart, however, with Taro Kono, Japan's foreign minister, grimacing, and South Korea's, Kang Kyung-wha, turning away, stone-faced.... 'Trump has made it worse,' [said Michael] Green..., [director of Bush II's Asian affairs division of the National Security Council]. 'He himself has done nothing to create a sense that there is a team of allies in Asia.'"
Way Beyond the Beltway
BBC News: "Iran has seized another foreign tanker in the Gulf, state media reports claim. Iranian forces seized the Iraqi ship for 'smuggling fuel for some Arab countries' and detained seven sailors, according to the reports. Iraq's oil ministry has said it has no connection to the seized vessel and that it is working to gather information about it.... If confirmed, the Iraqi tanker would be the third foreign vessel to have been seized by Iran in recent weeks."
News Ledes
A Walk in the Park, American-Style. NBC 5 Chicago: "Seven people were wounded in a shooting Sunday as they gathered in Douglas Park on the West Side [of Chicago]. At about 1:20 a.m. Sunday, a group was standing in the park in the 2900 block of West Roosevelt Road when someone opened fire from a black Camaro, Chicago police said."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "A planned mass shooting at a Lubbock hotel was averted when a gunman's grandmother convinced him he needed to go to a hospital according to federal authorities. Authorities found an AK-47 in the suspect's hotel room, 17 magazines loaded with 7.62 ammunition, a black trench coat, multiple knives, black tactical pants, blac tactical gloves with the fingers cut off and a black T-shirt that said, 'Let 'Em Come.' William Patrick Williams, 19, of Lubbock, was arrested Thursday and charged on Friday with making false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer."
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Reader Comments (29)
I'm really confounded, especially by the El Paso white nationalist terror attack. If the shooter was taking out his rage on "illegals", how many of "us" were in the body count. Did he first ask to see their papers before he executed them? I guess "we" were just collateral damage in fighting the invasion of the brown people.
@Dan Lowery: El Paso is 80% Hispanic, so assuming that son of a bitch is capable of logic, I suppose he figured his odds were good at murdering & maiming mostly Hispanics.
What could this blithering idiot of a Pretender do about anything if he couldn't take a hostage?
Another artless deal.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/05/politics/donald-trump-gun-control-immigration-reform-mass-shootings/index.html
All of us were in the body count.
GUN CULTURE Has Always Been About White Supremacy:-–– Ryu Spaeth of NR:
https://newrepublic.com/article/154652/gun-culture-always-white-supremacy
Perhaps we are seeing something like an unveiling of this country's hold on the old cowboy culture along with this idea of the supremacy of white America––old ideas die hard and nothing is going to change unless enough finally say ENOUGH. Keep in mind that even those who only use guns for hunting are using guns for killing prey––it's only a step away from using guns for killing humans––ergo–-guns equal power whether in the hands of the nice guy next door or the sociopath that kills as many as possible in a Walmart. Now that we are facing this problem once again with the double whammy of having a president fomenting unrest (I'm being kind here) will we see a surge of something good happening?
I want someone to ask like the Allstate commercial does:
ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS?
@PD Pepe: So imagine you're a Republican legislator (okay, that's a long stretch, but try). Mass murderers killed 58 people in Las Vegas, 49 in Orlando, 32 at Virginia Tech, 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary (the majority of them very young children), 26 in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, & so forth. I'd guess that well more than half of the casualties in these atrocities were non-Hispanic white people. You did nothing. Nothing. Well, you tweeted thoughts & prayers if you weren't too busy to knock out something short of 140 characters. So are you going to work to pass consequential gun-control legislation now? Are ya? I didn't think so.
If you have the time and the interest here is Connie Bruck's long, excellent piece from the New Yorker on Alan Dershowitz and Jeffrey Epstein.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/05/alan-dershowitz-devils-advocate
Reponse to Marie: NO way––sadly to say.
@Bea McCrab, I see that Charles Pierce over on Esquire agrees:
"These are the forces with which the Republican Party has engaged blithely, supporting this president* in everything he says and does. They are running around the powder magazines of American history, giggling, with blowtorches in all of their fists. I honestly believe they do know what they're doing. I honestly believe they could care less."
I understand Texas authorities will attempt to try the El Paso murderer (and Trump follower) for hate crimes, for which he could face the death penalty.
How is inciting people to racial violence not a hate crime? How does pouring kerosene on a fire AND adding additional combustibles to the pile not merit the assignment of agency for the ensuing conflagration?
Then I read that Trump is going to yap about something, something, something today, perhaps gun control.
Yeah. Okay. I'll believe it when I see it. More than likely this will be a case of the large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
My guess is that (aside from trying to tie gun control to his hate-born immigration rules, which is philosophically, as well as logically, completely indefensible) this is a nothing move. His "gun control" will most certainly not be across the board (which, again, philosophically and logically is what is required) but limited to a very tiny category of weapons, say, certain assault rifles (which is like saying you need a license to drive a Lamborghini but everyone else can hop into their unlicensed Corolla with no training, and careen out into traffic).
For sure, assault weapons should be controlled; they should be banned completely for civilian use. But even though they make headlines in these mass murders, the garden variety and vast majority of gun deaths and injuries come from handguns and rifles, which, I'm sure, will still not require any type of licensing in Trump's view. Fire when ready!
But never fear, it's not about guns anyway. According to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, guns have nothing to do with it. You know what they want the government to control instead of guns?
Video games.
Also, we need more god.
This is the answer from Republicans, known more colloquially as bupkis. In fact, it's worse than bupkis, which is pretty much nothing. This is something. It's a something that tries to draw attention, energy, and resources away from the real problem. So I guess it's Bupkis Plus©.
And once again, I ask, how is what Trump does on a daily basis not a hate crime?
Porky just finished his address, in which among other things he said hatred and white supremacy are bad. His response program is basically:
-- need to be bipartisan
-- establish detection systems to identify intending shooters
-- red flag laws
-- mental health treatment for threats/shooters
A lot of God Blesses.
Nothing about getting rid of assault weapons and high-caliber high rate handguns.
Pence nodded approvingly.
Oh, I forgot, also
-- rapid death penalty execution for shooters (that'll teach 'em)
... and video games, gotta get those under control
I don't know why I can't recall all these fine points easily, they just sort of recur while I'm sputtering here
One of democracy's problems (or an oligarchy or the kind of crony capitalism we've got, since they are also democracies, but with fewer votes), is that there is pressure on elected leaders to be followers instead, a tendency exacerbated by the curse of constant polling and instant communication which allow and almost require politicians to take their suppprters' pulse every three minutes to find out what they (the leaders) really think.
The implication here is that once a political party has allied itself so closely with the crazies, the gun nuts, the anti-abortion crusaders, the racists, not to mention the one tenth of one percent, most of whom have no interest in pursuing or preserving those lofty ideasls expressed by our Founders, each sub-group of crazies representing a minority, the party is trapped in anti-democratic boxes of their own devise.
In essence, they are forced to follow the crazies, not lead them in the direction of sanity.
And now, in the Pretender, who explicitly appeals only to the greedy class and the crazies who support them, they have the perfect leader to swirl down democracy's drain.
Bart O'Kavanaugh's take on assault weapons (they're perfectly okay) is purposefully disingenuous as well as dangerous. If he's trying to say there is no way these weapons can be controlled and must be treated the same as a Saturday Night Special (which, as I mentioned earlier are responsible for far more gun deaths than AK's, but which don't have the capacity for nearly instantaneous mass murder, ergo the need for banning), he is clearly ignorant (perhaps willfully so) of other Constitutional restrictions in the face of clearly assigned rights.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously allowed for the abridgment of freedom of speech, guaranteed in the First Amendment, citing the danger that could be caused by someone shouting "fire" in a theater. His thinking involved the creation of a clear and present danger, the banning of such speech resulting in either prevention or punishment.
For good ol' Rapey Bart to pretend that his justice is blind and sees no difference between hand guns and weapons that can wipe out an entire aisle in a Wal Mart in seconds, is an especially advanced species of casusistry, something at which Little Johnny's dwarfs have become past masters.
Sheesh!
Make that "....to follow as we swirl...."
Pretender logic?
If there weren't so many brown immigrant we would have to shoot them?
Patrick,
So, in other words, just plain ol' bupkis.
By the way, I wanted to add my thanks for your inside baseball look at nuclear weapons theory and policies. Very helpful to substitute realpolitik for real nose pick.
Ken,
Seriously digging your original construction which fingers Trumpado as "...the perfect leader to swirl down democracy's drain."
Hey, just had a (Trump) idea.
If, as Patrick mentions, the Orange Menace is all for quicky executions, how 'bout he do like he do when he crowd sources vetting for things like national security positions?
He can have an open call for gun knobbers to show up and blast the living crap out of the guilty party who would be, in true Devil's Island style, tied to a pole out in the Rose Garden. I bet he'd get about seven or eight thousand whack jobs to show up to "help".
Fox could do it live! TRUMP JUSTICE!, would scream the chyron.
OK, Akhilleus, take ten laps and hit the showers.
Trumps statement boiled down to the basics: "I don't want this to interfere with my agenda, but I'll give you some crumbs if you'll give ME what I most desire.
But let's just wait a day and see how even this is watered down by the NRA, Fox, and the far right.
@Bobby Lee: So now we find out you're Trump's speechwriter AND his chief strategist. And you got it all down in 51 words. Excellent work!
@Patrick: First big laugh of the day--thanks.
Akhilleus,
Bad morning here.
Leave a few words out and you liked the phrase better w/o them. WhadduIknow?
And looks like I couldn't type "...immigrants, we wouldn't have to shoot them" either.
Think I'd better quit.
The rest of you, carry on.
"As the nation reeled from 2 mass shootings in less than a day"
How about some ancient history? July 28 2019. 11dead, 32 wounded in 6 separate mass shootings.
Bright note: Based on year to date, only 171 mass shootings till Christmas. (If there aren't too many more July 28ths.)
The Bigoted Blowhard sez we gotta do better. Racism, oh yeah, very bad. This from the guy whose primary occupation is making sure violent racism overflows in this country (and, because of the international visibility of the American President, across the planet) to his benefit.
So, change? Let’s see how long he can go before his next explicitly bigoted outburst or orgy of hate tweeting.
He can’t change. He can’t help himself. About the only things authentic and true about Trump are his racism, his greed, and his pathological obsession with making sure other people see him as a great man, a cagey, smart, ultra-wealthy deal maker, and the single greatest (white) president (and world leader) in history.
He’s not gonna change. Let the countdown to the next race-fueled tweeter storm commence.
At least well be spared another Trump rally tomorrow. His planned visit to The Villages has been postponed due to a couple of mild inconveniences. However, it will be rescheduled.
In a recent Florida panhandle rally a fan called for immigrants to be shot, to Trumps amusement. We'd likely have gotten more of the same as this wrinkle city retiree center is solid Trump country.
Posted this afternoon on Buzzfeed (Ellie Hall). Its a description of Betts participation in a "pornogrind" band. The genre is quite degrading and offensive. Clearly, Bettts has had sexually violent fantasies for several years. Not suggesting posting this/ just FYI.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/dayton-shooter-pornogrind-band
Serwer provides a fascinating discussion of the influence of racism on the relationships between China, Africa, US in the 70's. He uses the racist conversation of Nixon and Reagan as a launch point and weaves historical factors, including Reconstruction into the piece.
"Nixon’s and Reagan’s racism had also blinded them to what actually occurred at the UN: They had been diplomatically outmaneuvered by China, which had spent years forging ties with African nations in a bid to increase its own influence as it split from its close alliance with the Soviet Union. China had worked diligently to present its agrarian communism as the logical path for rural societies seeking independence and prosperity, and as a way to resist Western dominance."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/reagan-nixon-trump-white-nationalism/595465/
So McConnell doesn't like being called 'Moscow Mitch'?
Well then, how about this one?:
Mitch, Mitch, Donald Trump's Bitch.