We Need to Bring Back the Assault Weapons Ban

The GOP, the Vote, Guns and You, America

Guess which it wants to have less of, if not even do away with?

On Whose Side Will You Stand?

Question of the Day -- Officer Chauvin Edition

If Officer Chauvin did nothing wrong and didn't, in fact, murder Mr. Floyd---which he did, the video shows it, of course--why did the city of Minneapolis give Mr. Floyd's family 27 million dollars?

Because they just had it lying around and wanted to be nice?

Question of the Day

How could anyone, anyone, anywhere think it's somehow bizarrely okay if a rogue police officer ends up killing another American citizen who is only SUSPECTED of having passed a counterfeit $20 bill?

How and where does that make ANY sense? #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd

On Guns and Common Sense Gun Legislation

"Make no mistake about it: Universal background checks will save lives...

Make no mistake about it: Outlawing high capacity magazines will save lives. Make no mistake about it: Getting the military-style weapons off our street and private ownership will save lives." --Senator Ben Cardin, Maryland (D)

Republican Party Priorities

There's only one political party in the nation that is so patently, provenly bad and unpopular that they have to--and do--actively disenfranchise fellow American citizens.

End vote and voter suppression.

Require background checks for all weapons purchases, coast to coast, for mental stability and criminal history.

Put back into effect the Assault Weapons Ban.Require a waiting period for weapons purchases. Simple, important things we need to do as a nation. Oh, and vote out Republicans. For sure.

Quote of the Day -- On America, Americans and Assault Weapons

"After Bill Clinton banned assault weapons in 1994, mass shooting deaths dropped by 43%.

After the Republican Congress let the ban expire in 2004, they shot up by 239%. This isn't rocket science: we need to ban assault weapons again." --Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Pennsylvania Democratic Party candidate for the US Senate.

Quote of the Day -- On Guns In America

"Today it's a tragedy in Boulder, Colorado. This past weekend it was a house party in Philadelphia. And last week it was an armed attack on Asian American women in the Atlanta area.

It doesn't have to be this way. It’s beyond time for our leaders to take action." --Gabrielle Giffords @GabbyGiffords

Republican Party Policies

38,000 gun deaths a year in US: who needs gun control?

2 cases of voter fraud in 2020: let’s pass 253 new voter suppression laws --Ari Berman @AriBerman

Republicans Reached a New Low Yesterday

On the same day 7 women and 1 man were gunned down by a 21 year old madman in Atlanta, Georgia after purchasing a 9mm handgun EARLIER THAT DAY at a local gun shop, 172 Republicans voted against the Violence Against Women Act. The very same day. Unconscionable.

Republicans are NOT for Americans or America. They are for themselves and their own political party and money and power, period. That's it. Know this, America. Then let's vote them out.

Guns In America

On that Atlanta, Georgia slaughter of more innocent American citizens earlier today: Tom Winter @Tom_Winter "NEW: Two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter tell NBC News that the gun -- a 9mm handgun -- used by Robert Aaron Long in yesterday’s shooting spree in Georgia was purchased legally and it was purchased yesterday prior to the shooting." Reported w/ Mike Kosnar

igorvolsky @igorvolsky "Waiting period laws that delay the purchase of firearms by a few days reduce gun homicides by roughly 17%. 10 states + DC do have waiting periods for at least some types of firearm purchases. Georgia is not one of them." Again and as ever, thanks, NRA. Thanks, Republicans.

After the Atlanta Murders Today

"Every Republican official who has ever called it the 'Chinavirus' or 'Kung-Flu' has played a part in the violence being directed towards the Asian American community right now. #StopAsianHate" --Kaivan Shroff @KaivanShroff

Thanks Mr. Trump. Thanks, NRA. Thanks, Republicans.

Quote of the Day -- Insane Guns Edition

"The big increase in the murder rate in 2020 has carried over to 2021. Early data shows murder 18% in first 3 months of 2021.

Meanwhile, last week, 203 members of Congress voted to make it 'easier' for prohibited purchasers to purchase guns & traffic firearms." --igorvolsky @igorvolsky Doesn't portend well for the nation. Certainly doesn't bode well for the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Breonna Taylor, One Year On

It's one year today Breonna Taylor lost her life.

The whole idea that an American citizen, a hard-working, smart, honest ER Technician and former EMT, no less, could be in her own home, at night, around midnight, only to have her front door knocked down and then be shot by police, dead, with 6 shots. Un-freaking-believable. #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor

Anyone Who Thinks Lisa Montgomery Should Be Executed Should Read This Article

 Lisa Montgomery is the woman who was found guilty of having killed another woman, supposed to be here friend, only to cut her open and take her unborn baby. Here's the story. Anyone who thinks she should be put to death now, executed, should read this. It took place, as some may know, in not far away Skidmore, Missouri.

Society Failed Lisa Montgomery in Every Way Possible. 

So Now We’re Going to Kill Her

Here's just the core, just some of the story and this article. 

...Montgomery’s crime was certainly heinous. She had befriended a young pregnant woman, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, after the two met at a dog show. After arranging a meeting—ostensibly to purchase a rat terrier puppy—Montgomery killed Stinnett, then gutted her open to kidnap her then eight-month old fetus. Montgomery cleaned the baby—remarkably, the child survived—then brought her home to her husband. She pretended it was her own baby; it is possible she did not understand that the baby was not hers...

...Lisa Montgomery had little if any chance in life. She was born in 1968, the child of two troubled alcoholics. She had brain damage, likely caused by exposure to alcohol when she was a developing fetus. Mental illness ran in her family. Her father had a daughter from a previous marriage; the two girls grew up together. As part of an excellent story on the Montgomery case, the Huffpost tracked down the older sibling, Diane Mattingly, who described the traumatic world in which young Lisa grew up. It was a world of unimaginable cruelty and horror.

Her mother, Judy Shaughnessy, beat her daughters with belts, cords, or hangers. On one occasion, to punish her children Lisa’s mother killed the family dog in front of them, smashing its head in with a shovel. Her father was often away from home for long periods time. Her mother would bring home other men; fights would erupt, and the violence spilled over to include the young girls. When Mattingly was about 8, one of the men whom her mother brought home began raping her, as Montgomery, then only 4, lie in bed beside her. Mattingly escaped when child protective services removed her from the home.

Lisa was not so fortunate. Her mother married another violent, erratic man, Jack Kleiner, who beat his wife and the children regularly; he would often make the daughters strip naked before whipping them. The sexual component of that punishment morphed into ever greater abuse as Kleiner began molesting then raping young Lisa. The abuse lasted for years. The parents also allowed men who did work on their house—a plumber and an electrician— to rape Lisa as payment for their services. Lisa was thus a victim of child sex trafficking.

Shaughnessy and Kleiner divorced when Montgomery was 15. During those proceedings Shaughnessy told the court her husband raped Montgomery, saying once that she walked in on him while “he was in her. He was pumping her.” The court admonished her for not reporting the crime to authorities, but then itself failed to report the abuse. Kleiner was never charged. Lisa also told authorities of her abuse—she confided to a cousin who was a law enforcement officer—but the officer failed to report Lisa’s situation. At school, Lisa’s work was substandard, and she was placed with special needs students. She often came to class dirty and unkempt. School authorities suspected abuse, but they too failed to investigate or to report their suspicions to the police.

Like many victims of violent sexual assault, Montgomery blamed herself for her predicament. She also began to disassociate herself from what was happening to her. Her stepbrother told the court that “Lisa told me that when these men raped her, she would go away in her mind and try not to be present.” Clearly Lisa had only a fragile grip on reality because she needed to escape reality to survive. That break from lived reality would plague her later life.

As with many children who experience chaotic, unstable childhoods, her adult life mimicked those conditions. When she was 18, at her mother’s instigation, she married her stepbrother who then coerced her into sterilization. She drank heavily, could not hold a job, had multiple car accidents, and neglected her own children. She lived in extreme poverty and was constantly moving from home to home; by the time she was 34 she had moved sixty-one times. She was said to often space out, to be disconnected from reality. After she was sterilized, she repeatedly told people that she was pregnant.

If this young woman's circumstances shouldn't be taken into consideration then I don't know who we are. We certainly aren't a "Christian", forgiving, understanding nation, I'll tell you that. And this would no way be anything remotely close to anything called or considered justice.

USA: It Sucks to be You?

 I saw this article today.

Study ranks Canada #1 in the world for quality of life

Check that out.

Canada was recently ranked the second most beautiful country in the world, and now it is being hailed for its quality of life.

In fact, Canada took the top spot for the category in the latest 2019 Best Countries Rankings by U.S. News and World Report. What's more, this is the country's fourth year in a row in the ranking's top spot.

America?  Shall we compare?

• Guess what neighbor to the North has universal health care?
• Guess what neighbor to the North didn't tie health care to profit?
• And who's people don't go bankrupt from health care costs?
• And who's number 1 cause of bankruptcy for citizens isn't health care costs?
• And also has far less guns and weapons?
• And far less shootings and killings?
• And doesn't pay out an obscene amount every year for "defense"?
• And doesn't have an idiotic, self-serving, greedy, uninformed leader of their nation?

So...   Ladies and gentlemen?

Can we learn anything?

Maybe?

Could we?

Please?

Nearly Unbelievable Breaking News This Afternoon

Two big stories broke this afternoon I can hardly believe. First up from Louisville, Kentucky.

No police officers charged in Breonna Taylor shooting

The city of Louisville, Kentucky to the family of slain citizen and EMT Breonna Taylor:

"Here, here's 12 million dollars for your very, very recently deceased sister, daughter, cousin but understand, our police officers did nothing wrong whatever."

Sure.

Makes perfect sense.

How can anyone possibly tell Black people in America their lives matter when a young woman, an EMT, can be safely at home, at night in her own home, her own apartment when police officers then execute a no-knock warrant--but for the wrong address--and shoot her 8 times only to kill her?

And then there's this.

Louisville to pay $12 million to Breonna Taylor's family

The city of Louisville made sure they gave the family of Breonna Taylor TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS, very quickly, but then, now seem to be saying "Here's twelve million dollars, very quickly, right away, but don't think for a moment our police officers did anything wrong."

Sure.

Makes perfect sense.

And people think Black Lives Matter protests are unnecessary?

Really?

Let's truly make #BlackLivesMatter in America. This is insane.

Then, second, Missouri's Republican Governor Parson and his wife both came down positive for coronavirus.

Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has COVID-19

Mr. You Don't Need to Wear a Mask.

Thanks, Republicans!

You bloody hypocrites. You fools.

Quote of the Day -- Murderous Racist Edition

"When you cross state lines with an AR-15 and end up killing people, you're not defending your home.

It's called hunting."

--Randy Bryce @ironstache

Where We Are Now, America, With Racism, Systemic Racism and Very White Privilege

So get this straight, America.

An innocent Black American was killed.
On the streets.
Unarmed.
By yet another rogue police officer.
Shot 7 times.
In the back.

So naturally, rightly, people were out protesting.

Then a young, very young, 17 year old man, white man, 20 miles away, drove to Kenosha, to the protests.

He crossed a state line to do it, too.
With his assault rifle.

Which is illegal.
And he ended up shooting 3 people.
Killing two.

And he walked away from it.

And now people are defending him, saying he's innocent and should go free.

Right.

Got it.

And some of Americans don't think systemic racism exists.

In fact, Nikki Haley, at the Republican National Convention, says racism doesn't exist in America.

Sure.