VOTER FRAUD IS A MYTH: 10 yr study. It is a fraud by GOP to stop you and I from voting.

http://aattp.org/comprehensive-10-year-voter-fraud-study-found-its-a-gop-myth/

When the Republican party started losing national elections on a regular basis, they realized they had to do something about it. To a large extent, their solution has been to pass tough new voter ID laws in states where they have the political power to do so. The reason for these laws, they claim, is to put an end to “voter fraud.” Over the past few years a variety of organizations have looked into Republican claims that elections are being stolen by massive voter fraud. What these groups and researchers have found will probably not surprise you.

The Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” offers a summary of studies and investigations that have examined the issue of voter fraud. These studies have been conducted by academic researchers, news organizations, and state governments. They all produced similar results: The massive “in person” voter fraud that Republicans claim is helping Democrats steal elections simply does not exist.

Out of all of the research cited in the story, the investigations conducted by various states are the most interesting, because they were conducted by states that are currently controlled by Republicans. For example, the Kansas secretary of state took a look at 84 million votes cast in 22 states, trying to find duplicate registrations. The result? They referred 14 cases to prosecutors. Fourteen. Out of 84 million votes.

Risk Rights and the GOP. Why did the GOP vote to allow folks on the NO FLY LIST to get ASSAULT WEAPONS legally?

https://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/2015/12/06/risk-rights-and-republicans-regulating-firearms/

This is a great article about the GOP allowing people on the NO FLY LIST to legally get ASSAULT WEAPONS, like the AR 15.

30 Second video about Guns: A must see.

http://winningdemocrats.com/watch-amazing-30-second-ad-crushes-every-second-amendment-argument-republicans-can-make-video/

As he is standing alone, you see the point of the commercial in 7 simple words:

GUNS HAVE CHANGED. SHOULDN’T OUR GUN LAWS?

Study: WE ARE NOW AN OLIGARCHY

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/15/1292085/-DINO-New-Scientific-Study-Says-Yes-But-It-s-Not-What-You-Think?detail=facebook

Money talks.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.

Distilled down into simple terms: The U.S.A. is now provably an oligarchy; we are a democracy in name only. DINO, as in dinosaur... As in extinct.... Has the acronym ever been more pathetically poignant?

The authors of this study, which will appear in the Fall issue of of the academic journal Perspective on Politics, are Martin Gilens of Princeton University andBenjamin I. Page of Northwestern University. The findings are shocking, but should surprise none. The progressive website Common Dreams (www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/14) today posted an article on the study and pulls this deeply disturbing nugget from the study.

...the nearly total failure of 'median voter' and other Majoritarian Electoral Democracy theories [of America]. When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.

Climate Talks ending with agreement? Rich Nations and Corporations exercise control

http://www.alternet.org/environment/cop21-paris-delegates-agree-draft-climate-deal-big-questions-remain?akid=13741.294211.q8U0_L&rd=1&src=newsletter1046852&t=10

ENVIRONMENT

Huge Questions About Paris Climate Agreement as Rich Nations and Giant Polluters Exercise Control

With the rich nations clearly in charge and big polluters acting as corporate sponsors, is a meaningful climate change agreement truly possible?

While the draft outcome released this morning for negotiation next week will likely be met with applause by Global North governments and their corporate board room backers, it fails to deliver meaningfully toward the systemic transition climate change requires. At the core of this failure are the obstinate negotiating positions of the U.S. and other Global North governments who are bent on deregulating the global rules applying to them and advancing the financial needs of big business over the survival needs of people.

And, despite the image of hope and action President Obama and other leaders painted on Monday, the chasm between rhetoric and action continues to grow. Whether it’s finance or technology, loss and damage or differentiation, the positions reflected in this text are heavily biased towards the U.S., Japan, EU and other Global North countries, and the emissions-intensive industries they represent.

The U.S. position, for example, reflects the strong limits placed on U.S. climate action by a Congress overrun by the unconstrained campaign spending of Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil and other big polluters. As a result, President Obama has said the United States can’t accept a legally binding agreement and is failing to come forward with any new commitments on important issues like finance, technology and capacity.

Right Wing Fearmongering, Islamiphobia and War Fever ramped up after the San Bernardino Shootings.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/san-bernardino-killings-unleashing-right-wing-wave-fear-mongering-islamophobia-and-war?akid=13741.294211.q8U0_L&rd=1&src=newsletter1046852&t=6

This weekend, America’s right wing—from the 2016 GOP candidates to its media echo chambers on cable TV, online and talk radio—have unleashed what may be their most hate-filled, fear-based, war-mongering fusillade since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The attacks—from a former GOP congressman taunting the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to arrest him after threatening American Muslims on air, to RedState.com encouraging people to shoot the Saturday edition of The New York Times for its editorial calling for a ban on all militarized weapons and to post that image online—are the tip of this latest rage-filled response. Ex-New York Gov. George Pataki, a going-nowhere GOP 2016 candidate, also called for “war on radical Islam” and taunted Lynch. Fox News is berating moderate Muslims to “fix this,” while other right-wingers mock their spokesmen.

The simple truth about Gun Control

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-simple-truth-about-gun-control

 live, let’s imagine, in a city where children are dying of a ravaging infection. The good news is that its cause is well understood and its cure, an antibiotic, easily at hand. The bad news is that our city council has been taken over by a faith-healing cult that will go to any lengths to keep the antibiotic from the kids. Some citizens would doubtless point out meekly that faith healing has an ancient history in our city, and we must regard the faith healers with respect—to do otherwise would show a lack of respect for their freedom to faith-heal. (The faith healers’ proposition is that if there were a faith healer praying in every kindergarten the kids wouldn’t get infections in the first place.) A few Tartuffes would see the children writhe and heave in pain and then wring their hands in self-congratulatory piety and wonder why a good God would send such a terrible affliction on the innocent—surely he must have a plan! Most of us—every sane person in the city, actually—would tell the faith healers to go to hell, put off worrying about the Problem of Evil till Friday or Saturday or Sunday, and do everything we could to get as much penicillin to the kids as quickly we could.

We do live in such a city. Five thousand seven hundred and forty children and teens died from gunfire in the United States, just in 2008 and 2009. Twenty more, including Olivia Engel, who was seven, and Jesse Lewis, who was six, were killed just last week. Some reports say their bodies weren’t shown to their grief-stricken parents to identify them; just their pictures. The overwhelming majority of those children would have been saved with effective gun control. We know that this is so, because, in societies that have effective gun control, children rarely, rarely, rarely die of gunshots. Let’s worry tomorrow about the problem of Evil. Let’s worry more about making sure that when the Problem of Evil appears in a first-grade classroom, it is armed with a penknife.

President Obama: What he secretly did after Newtown showed strength and amazing character.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/04/1289644/-What-Obama-Secretly-Did-in-Newtown?detail=emailclassic

Rachel Maddow: ISIS and Police Training for Domestic Terrorism

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/terror-fight-calls-for-training-local-police-580023875545

Terror fight calls for better training, equipping local police

Rachel Maddow revisits the history of the creation of the FBI's SWAT special tactics teams like the one that responded to the discovery of bombs at the home of the San Bernardino shooters, and talks with Malcolm Nance, executive director of the Terror Asy ... more Duration: 8

Bible vs Koran: An experiment - Very Interesting

http://winningdemocrats.com/epic-christians-duped-into-trashing-the-bible-after-they-hear-verses-from-the-quran-video/

WATCH THESE YOUNGSTERS DUPE CHRISTIANS INTO TRASHING THEIR OWN BIBLE BECAUSE THEY THINK IT’S THE QURAN:

Another Koran vs Bible link:  Neither is more brutal than the other according to historian.

http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/11/22/historian-the-koran-is-not-more-violent-than-the-bible-christians-have-holy-amnesia/

NY Times Runs Editorial Against easy Access to Assault Weapons for everyone

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/dec/05/gun-control-new-york-times-ront-page-editorial-first-time-since-1920-san-bernardino?CMP=twt_gu

Arthur Sulzberger Jr, the newspaper’s publisher, said it was running its first page-one editorial since 1920 on Saturday to “deliver a strong and visible statement of frustration and anguish about our country’s inability to come to terms with the scourge of guns”.

The editorial, which comes after three people were fatally shot at a planned parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last week and 14 people were killed in the shooting on Wednesday at a social services centre in San Bernardino, California, states: “It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency

Why Predicting who will become Radicalized is almost impossible, even for White Extremists.

http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/12/03/watch-a-radicalization-expert-push-back-on-foxs/207234

Watch A Radicalization Expert Push Back On Fox's Advocacy Of Muslim Profiling

Counter-Extremist Activist Maajid Nawaz: "Ethnic Profiling And Profiling For Overt Signs Of Religiosity Will Actually Miss The Target"

Seth Meyer makes fun of DONALD TRUMP and it is so true today.

http://egbertowillies.com/2015/12/03/seth-meyers-making-fun-of-donald-trump-it-still-applies-today-video/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=EgbertoWillies.com&utm_content=Seth%20Meyers%20makes%20fun%20of%20Donald%20Trump%20-%20It%20still%20applies%20today%20(VIDEO)

Seth Meyers making fun of Donald Trump – It… by ewillies

Donald Trump was at it again today as he disparaged the President. He used the San Bernardino shooting as a conduit to attack the president. Right Wing Watch reported the following.

He also said that there is something about President Obama that makes him ignore this supposed threat from Muslims: “We can’t close our eyes. I don’t know what’s wrong with Obama, he wants to close his eyes and pretend it’s not happening. Why is he so emphatic on not solving the problem? There’s something we don’t know about. There’s something we don’t know about.”

He went on to urge attendees to report their neighbors if they’re suspicious of them, adding, “most likely you’ll be wrong and that’s okay.”

The dog whistle was very clear. It was the rebirth of Donald Trump’s birtherism as he ‘otherized’  the President.

EX GOP Lawmaker: Current GOP not rational and think like 12 year old kids.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/3/1411482/-Former-GOP-lawmaker-says-Republicans-are-not-rational-and-have-a-12-year-old-s-kind-of-thinking

Ex GOP lawmaker says Republicans are not rational, not conservative and have 12-year-old thinking

Husband and Wife shoot and kill police and innocents: (This is the one about the White Right Wing Extremist Couple.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/03/1456575/-Syad-Farouk-and-Malik-are-not-the-only-recent-mass-murdering-married-couple?detail=facebook

The suspects were carrying three guns when they killed two police officers who were having lunch, police said. The firearms — a Smith & Wesson 9 mm, a Ruger .38-caliber revolver and a Winchester 1300 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a pistol grip — were later recovered.

After killing officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo at a pizzeria, the pair stripped them of their weapons and ammunition. They left a swastika, a Revolutionary War-era “Don’t Tread On Me” flag and a note proclaiming, “The revolution is beginning,” on the fallen officers.

The pair then migrated to the nearby Walmart, where a gun-carrying customer, 31-year-old Joseph Robert Wilcox, tried to take down Jared Miller. But police say Amanda Wilcox blindsided Wilcox and fatally shot him at close range, police said.

Chukchi Sea: 10 years ago, this water was iced over from Dec to June. Now, Due to Warming, it is iced over from Late Dec to April.

Break up of ice is a significant time for the Inupiaks.  The love the sea freezing over and use the ice to hunt seal and whale for their families to eat.  They used to be able to be on the ice until June but now, breakup is happening in April.  The permafrost is now being threatened in the far north as well.  I was able to go to the underground whale meat storage and there was water in August.  The far north is warming which allows Methane pockets which have been held harmless by ice are now being released into the air.  The snow and ice also bounced the rays of the sun back into space and with less ice, the heat from the sun is being absorbed into the waters of the Chukchi which causes warming.

We have a problem folks.  It is past time to serious consideration of Global Warming.

'Thoughts and Prayers' Politicians get called out one by one.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/03/thoughts-and-prayers-politicians-get-called-out-on-their-gun-records-one-by-one-tweets/

FOLLOW THE NRA MONEY that these 'Thoughts and Prayers' fellows took.

After every mass shooting, and unfortunately there are far too many of them, politicians run to their smartphones to tweet out a message of condolence to those affected in the tragedy. At this point it’s pretty much the NRA-approved auto-reply somewhere along the lines of, “My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by today’s horrific shooting.”

Well, one guy got sick and tired of all these, mainly conservative, politicians sending out their pretty much meaningless condolences, and decided to call them all out on their bullshit one by one.

Igor Volsky, who is the director of video at Think Progress, decided that he would go after each of these hypocritical politicians and respond to their “thoughts and prayers” with their voting record on guns, as well as how much money they may have received in campaign contributions from pro-gun groups.

His goal seems to be what many of our goals are, and that is to get these politicians to stop sitting on their hands and actually do something about the epidemic of gun violence that is plaguing the United States. All to often these politicians are so wrapped up in the NRA talking points of “more guns” or “guns aren’t the problem” that they don’t seem to see the need for common sense reform. Likely because they don’t have much, if any, common sense.

The Arctic: Rising Seas, Disappearing Ice, Warming waters create many problems.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/rising-seas-walruses-arctics-endangerment-affects-us-all?akid=13740.294211.rpj7aQ&rd=1&src=newsletter1046797&t=22

The most obvious ramification of this has taken the form of dramatically milder winters in the far north, coupled with temperature increases in the waters of the Arctic Ocean - both of which are dramatically increasing the melting of the sea ice, which is leaving more of the water's surface exposed, thus allowing more heat to reach the ocean during the summer. This process is likely the most well-known and most important feedback loop in ACD today - and because of it, land ice and permafrost in the Arctic are melting at a record pace.

Despite the remoteness of the Arctic, the region is deeply linked to the rest of the planet: Everything from our weather, to coastal flooding, to what we eat is tied to the Arctic and the events that are rapidly changing it.

Since the cold waters of the Arctic absorb more carbon dioxide than the more temperate waters that fill most of the rest of the globe, the Arctic Ocean is far more sensitive to ocean acidification. Add to that the fact that declining summer sea ice is exposing even more of that ocean, which is allowing even more carbon dioxide from the air into the waters.

The Arctic Circle contains an area that is roughly 6 percent of the Earth's surface, yet the dramatic evidence of its impact on the rest of the planet is mounting. Some of that evidence is now taking the form of melting land ice that is generating sea level rise.

The pace of global sea level rise is increasing, largely due to what is happening in the Arctic, according to the recently released report Arctic Matters: The Global Connection to Changes in the Arctic, a report by The National Research Council of the National Academies.

GOP Dilemma: Trying to understand the Monster they created. What to do?

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/gops-self-made-trump-dilemma-understanding-monster-their-own-creation?akid=13740.294211.rpj7aQ&rd=1&src=newsletter1046797&t=6

GOP’s Self-Made Trump Dilemma: Understanding the Monster of Their Own Creation

Republicans spent months pushing for maximum deportations, now they can't grasp why their party loves Donald Trump.

San Bernardino Shootings were done by Terrorists? They had brown skin and everything: Right Wing is Jubilant

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2015/12/female-in-involved-in-san-bernardino.html

The Colorado Shooting was Domestic Terrorism with a White, Right Wing, Anti Planned Parenthood fool. The GOP and FOX now have their Brown Skinned Islamic Terrorist so they will focus on Anti-Islam rhetoric and forget the White Radicalized Terrorists.  White Guys are Good Guys with Guns who have a bad day according to the GOP and FOX.

Syed Farook's aresenal is as American as apple pie: Several Million people in US have the same arsenal - feel safer?

http://www.thenation.com/article/syed-farooks-arsenal-is-as-american-as-apple-pie/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflo

Syed Farook’s Arsenal Is As American as Apple Pie

Several million Americans own the same guns the San Bernardino shooter used—and likely possess ammo in similar quantities.

ISIS is having a hard time due to the bombing. (Recruits are quitting)

http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/president-obama-never-said-isis-was-contained/23168/

About ISIS being Contained, What President Obama actually said was that ISIS had been geographically contained to some Middle Eastern nations and not others. He was pointing out that his ongoing fight against ISIS is now down to the specific nations where the terrorist regime hasn’t yet been wiped out. Oh and by the way, despite ongoing attacks, Obama is winning that fight. He’s taken out ISIS leaders on multiple continents in the past month, he’s taken out most of the oil rigs that were funding the regime, and various major news outlets are now reporting that ISIS is losing so badly, many of its recruits are deserting. That’s what you call winning.

Doctors demand 20 year Ban on Gun Research be allowed. (GOP voted to keep NO research)

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2015/12/physicians-demand-end-to-20-year-ban-on.html

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

This ban, supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA), has effectively silenced researchers at both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) for conducting any comprehensive studies on what causes violence — and what can be done to prevent it — since 1996. As expected, it’s left public health experts and policymakers with little to lean on as they attempt to craft new legislation to help quell the fatal trend. 
 doctor

At Wednesday’s press conference, led by Doctors for America, doctors presented a petition signed by more than 2,000 physicians in all 50 states requesting an end to the restriction. 

“It’s disappointing to me that we’ve made little progress in the past 20 years in finding solutions to gun violence,” said Dr. Nina Agrawal, who’s been a pediatrician in the South Bronx for years. “In my career, I’ve seen children lives saved from measles, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, motor vehicle accidents…because of federal scientific data and research. It’s frustrating that the CDC is not permitted to do the same type of research for gun violence.” 

Instead, GOP leaders have tried to make gun violence an issue that requires mental health research, despite the fact that less than 3 percent of U.S. crimes involve someone with a mental illness. 

The San Bernardino Shooting Victims: Who they were

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-shooting-victims-htmlstory.html

A father of six. A free spirit who befriended strangers in the grocery store checkout line. A mother of three who fled religious persecution in Iran. A woman who was 8 when she and her mother left Vietnam for a better life. The youngest was 26. The oldest was 60.

These are the names and stories of the 14 people killed in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015. They lived across Southern California, from Los Angeles and Orange counties, in the Inland Empire and the San Bernardino Mountains that tower over the valley where the shooting occurred.

The list will be updated as more information becomes available. It also includes information about some of the 21 people wounded.

Full coverage: San Bernardino shooting | Live updates | Share a memory

Fatalities

Robert Adams, 40,  Isaac Amanios, 60

Bennetta Betbadal, 46,  Harry Bowman, 46

Sierra Clayborn, 27,  Juan Espinoza, 50

Aurora Godoy, 26,  Shannon Johnson, 45

Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42,  Damian Meins, 58

,  Nicholas Thalasinos, 52,  Yvette Velasco, 27

Michael Raymond Wetzel, 37,  

The Day We told the GOP to shove their Thoughts and Prayers up their ass after Mass Shootings

http://www.pajiba.com/web_culture/the-day-we-told-finally-politicians-to-shove-their-thoughts-and-prayers-up-their-ass.php

While the fallout continues from yesterday’s shooting in San Bernardino that left at least 14 dead — the 355th mass shooting of the year — it was hard not to notice a dramatic turning point in the conversation around mass shooting yesterday. The sense in the past is that we in the media — social, Internet, and mainstream — shouldn’t be quick to politicize these tragic deaths, but the tide has begun to turn. We’re beginning to fight against this idea that we shouldn’t politicize something that can only be fixed through politics.

Chris Kluwe began teasing it out in October, after a mass shooting,

After a mass shooting is exactly the time to politicize these acts of violence, Kluwe seemed to suggest, and after yesterday’s mass shooting, Vox was quick to explain whyit’s important to politicize it:

The same debate that has played out over and over after a mass shooting in America: A massacre happens, someone calls for action, critics say calls to action are politicizing the issue, and nothing changes.

This is not an accident. Cries of “politicization!” are in and of themselves political — they’re meant to stop any momentum for changes in gun policy. The reality is that responding to crises with political agendas is one of the things that government is supposed to do, and doing nothing is a political and policy decision by itself.

The mass shootings have gotten out of hand, and now we’re finally pushing back. 

A Furious Heartbroken response to the killings in San Bernardino and all the rampant mass shootings.

http://www.upworthy.com/a-furious-heartbroken-response-to-san-bernardino-that-everyone-needs-to-read?c=ufb1

Police escort family members of employees of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, the site of yet another mass shooting Wednesday. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images.

I'm sick and tired of watching helplessly as innocent people are gunned down nearlyevery. single. day. for no reason at all.

I'm sick and tired of hearing there's no way to prevent this.

I'm sick and tired of being told not to make this political. The only people who benefit from "not making this political" are those who don't want anything to change.

I'm sick of tired of hearing that the rate of gun murder has nothing to do with the availability of guns. Yes, it very much does. 

I'm sick and tired of hearing that killers will kill with or without guns. Yes, some will still try — with knives, or bats, or their own fists. But it will be much easier to stop them before they cause mass carnage.

I'm sick and tired of hearing politicians say, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims." You know what's better than thinking and praying? Doing something.

These White Male Crazies with Guns at Mosques are terrorists.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/10/11/i-want-them-the-fck-out-of-my-neighborhood-armed-gun-nuts-terrorize-mosque/

Conservatives lose their shit over a lot of things. People peacefully practicing any religion other than Christianity –namely Islam — turns them into raging, violent lunatics. As Islamophobia reaches a fever pitch among rabidly Christian, gun-wielding right wingers, public incidents of terrorizing Muslims simply for existing, continue to become more common. One such incident has occurred at a Mosque in Phoenix, Arizona.

The latest protest at this Mosque is part of a series of armed protests against Muslims by people who believe that Muslims want to take over America. Calling these protests a Global Rally for Humanity, the protests haven’t attracted many people, until now. The Phoenix protest drew roughly 120 people, many armed with various firearms, including assault weapons.

One of the organizers for the Phoenix protest, a self-identified militia member named Gary Burleson, who admits to spending much of his free time patrolling the border, said of the adherents to the Islamic faith:

“I want them the fuck out of my neighborhood. They can practice Islam in their own country. I don’t want it shoved down my throat in my own country.”

The GUNS in the San Bernardino shootings were legal thanks to the NRA

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-guns-from-the-san-bernardino-shooting-were-legal-thanks-to-the-nra-20151203

The Guns From the San Bernardino Shooting Were Legal Thanks to the NRA

The weapons used in San Bernardino are only legal in the U.S. because the NRA cowed Congress into watching the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expire

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-guns-from-the-san-bernardino-shooting-were-legal-thanks-to-the-nra-20151203#ixzz3tN5XU5Me
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Mass Shootings DON'T Convince Gun Folks to Support Gun control: How Gun Nuts Think

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/4/9845146/mass-shootings-gun-control

One thing I often hear in the wake of these endless mass shootings is, "Surely this will convince those gun people. Surely the carnage and suffering are bad enough now that they'll feel compelled to support some gun control."

This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the cognitive and emotional dynamics at work. It presumes that mass shootings constitute an argument against guns, to be weighed against arguments in their favor. But to gun enthusiasts, mass shootings are not arguments against guns but for them. The rise in mass shootings is only convincing both sides that they're right, causing them to dig in further.

It's not even clear that opinions on guns and gun violence remain amenable to argument. Over the past few decades, gun ownership in the US has evolved from a practical issue for rural homeowners and hunters to a kind of gesture of tribal solidarity, an act of defiance toward Obama, the left, and all the changes they represent. The gun lobby has become more hardened and uncompromising, pushing guns into schools, churches, and universities.

This has taken place in the context of a broader and deeper polarization of the country, as Red America and Blue America have become more ideologically homogeneous and distant from one another. The two sides are now composed of people who quite literally think and feel differently — and are less and less able to communicate. The gun issue is a salient example, but far from the only one.

This suggests that if the status quo on guns in the US is to change, it will be through overwhelming political force, not through evidence and argument. Guns have now ascended to the level of worldview and identity, areas largely beyond the reach of persuasion.

GOP Blocks Bill to Stop people on NO FLY LIST from buying guns legally

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/262030-senate-blocks-tying-gun-fight-to-obamacare-repeal

Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected an amendment to the ObamaCare repeal bill that would have tied it to a separate fight on blocking suspected or known terrorists from being able to buy guns. 

Senators voted 45-54 on procedural hurdle for the measure from Sen. Dianne Feinstein. 

 

The California Democrat's proposal, which she has also introduced as a separate piece of legislation, would allow the attorney general to block the sale or transfer of a gun or explosive to a suspected or known terrorist if the individual is believed to use the weapons in an act of terrorism.

 

Terrorists: NY Daily News labels Terrorists including Wayne LaPierre

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/new_york_daily_news_front_page_labels_nra_head_wayne_lapierre_a_terrorist

I agree with NY Daily News.

NY Daily News Labels NRA Head Wayne LaPierre A 'Terrorist'

Two days after the largest mass shooting in three years, one New York City tabloid is targeting the head of the NRA.

Missouri Rep files a bill to make Gun Laws similar to Abortion Bill

http://theslot.jezebel.com/missouri-state-rep-files-bill-to-put-gun-sales-under-ex-1746030454?newstream=on&utm_expid=66866090-71.ZDl_b8uGQgG7HBI5sxDRgQ.2&utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F

You can read the full text of House Bill 1397 here; it sweetly proposes that gun buyers have a 72-hour waiting period imposed upon them, and have to “confer and discuss with a licensed physician” and risk factors that might arise “from the proposed firearm purchase:”

Prior to any firearm purchase in this state, a prospective firearm purchaser shall, at least seventy-two hours prior to the initial request to purchase a firearm from a licensed firearm dealer located at least one hundred twenty miles from such purchaser’s legal residence, confer and discuss with a licensed physician the indicators and contraindicators and risk factors, including any physical, psychological, or situational factors, that may arise with the proposed firearm purchase. Such physician shall then evaluate the prospective firearm purchaser for such indicators and contraindicators and risk factors and determine if such firearm purchase would increase such purchaser’s risk of experiencing an adverse physical, emotional, or other health reaction.

Gun buyers would also have to watch a 30-minute video “on fatal firearm injuries” and verify in writing that he or she viewed the entire video “in the presence of a licensed firearm dealer.” There’s more:

Larry Wilmore takes down Donald Trump re: Black Pastor Meeting

http://www.salon.com/2015/12/02/you_people_are_just_lying_how_stupid_do_you_think_we_are_larry_wilmore_delivers_the_epic_trump_takedown_the_political_press_hasnt_managed/

Wilmore rolled the clip of Trump’s spokesperson on CNN’s Jake Tapper saying that Trump wasn’t making fun of the reporter. He was just gesticulating wildly to show the exasperation of the reporter. “Oh my God, you people are just lying,” Wilmore said. “I mean, that is a lie. How stupid do you think we are?! Look, if somebody accuses me of making fun of blind people, my excuse can’t be, ‘ya know my neck started hurting so I started moving it like this, and it got kinda bright in there so I put some shades on…'”

And Wilmore began doing an impression of Ray Charles.  “I’m not making fun of Ray Charles. In fact, I demand an apology from the Ray Charles estate.”

But the best moment came when Wilmore showed the hilarious clip of Tapper’s WTF face when Trump’s spokesman said the 9/11 claim was true. The spokesman had never come across something where Trump has said something that is inaccurate. “Seriously?” Tapper asked after a double-take.

8 Ways the Richest make the lives of regular folks worse

http://www.salon.com/2015/12/03/8_ways_the_super_rich_make_life_miserable_for_the_rest_of_us_partner/

1. The wealthy are more politically active than typical citizens. 
2. The wealthy want government to act on their behalf

5. The wealthy support education, but not public schools. The very rich and the general public both support investing in education, but diverge on key specifics. The researchers found that a majority of the 1 percent and the general public would pay more taxes for pre-K and kindergarten; support merit pay for teachers; support charter public schools; support taxpayer-funded vouchers so parents can send their kids to private or religious schools; and support giving high school students the option of vocational training to start work immediately after graduating.

Where they differ, however, is notable.

The top 1 percent have a strong bias against public schools, with only 35 percent agreeing that “the federal government should spend whatever is necessary to ensure that all children have really good public schools they can go to,” compared to 87 percent of the general public. On affirmative action in education, a slight majority of the wealthy, 53 percent, agreed that “it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure that minorities have schools equal in quality to whites, even if it means you will have to pay more in taxes,” compared to 71 percent of the general public. Only a small slice, 28 percent, agreed “the federal government should make sure that everyone who wants to go to college can do so,” compared to 78 percent of the general public.

It is time to Politicize MASS SHOOTINGS. Mass killings in the US is out of control.

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/7/9471503/politicize-shootings-gun-violence/in/9602151?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ezraklein&utm_content=thursday

Dealing with crises is one of the points of government and the political system. The government is meant to solve problems that individuals and private organizations can't fix on their own. And the political system lets the general public hold politicians accountable, and provides a way to discuss the best strategies to respond to big problems.

In fact, the most consistent criticisms hurled at political leaders come when they do nothing in the face of a crisis. After Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Democratscriticized President George W. Bush for vacationing during the beginning of the disaster. After the attacks on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans died, Republicans criticized Obama for not calling the attack an act of terror (he did) and not being in the Situation Room the night of the attacks. This happens time and time again, whether the issue is police officers getting shot, the Keystone pipeline, war, or something else entirely.

In the case of gun violence, there is something the federal government can do. We know, for instance, that America has more gun violence than other developed nations; we also know part of the reason for that is America has more guns, and the research very clearly shows more guns mean more gun deaths. So reducing the number of guns — by limiting access to them, or by immediately cutting the supply of them through, for example, buyback programs — would very likely lead to fewer gun deaths.

As one example, if the US reduced its firearm deaths to UK levels, it would have saved nearly 33,000 lives in 2013.