Young People in Hard Right's Crosshairs
By Thom Hartmann A...
The war against young people is continuing.
The old hard right, the ossified and billionaire hard right has now put not just progressive talk radio but young people in their crosshairs. I mentioned David Hogg in my last blog - his father's a retired FBI agent and this guy with Gateway Pundit, Wintrich, also uses an edited YouTube video of Hogg having some difficulty answering questions for a taped interview as evidence that Hogg is "heavily coached" on lines and is merely reciting his script. Of course, there's no evidence to support that claim.
And then he writes...
"Why would the child of an FBI agent be used as a pawn for anti-Trump rhetoric and anti-gun legislation?"
Wait a minute, right-wing so-called news site, are you saying that when a young person speaks out about politics that they're being manipulated? Really? My recollection is that my generation back in the 60s and early 70s literally ended the Vietnam War which killed over 56,000 Americans, about as many people as in the United States are killed in just two years by guns.
Maybe these kids can be the generation that ends this war on America, the NRA's war on America, the gun manufacturers' war on America, the Republicans' war on America. This from Think Progress...
"The article is also being promoted by Bradley Blakeman, a member of the George W. Bush administration, lobbyist and frequent television pundit."
He says...
"This kid is a shill. He bragged about the number of interviews he is doing and is playing to the camera."
Yeah, like you don't. It's amazing. And then they're going after Emma González and Delaney Tarr and Cameron Kasky. The entire article attacks these students for smiling in the photo. The article's entitled "Student School Massacre Survivors and CBS Reporter Party Like Rock Stars" but there's no evidence of any partying. That's incredible, it's just incredible. How despicable.
Comments
#2
No different than stupid Reagan saying the anti-war protestors were paid agents of Moscow. I wish that was true...maybe my check is in the mail!
Look, you can't talk logic to people who see the world as composed of gigantic conspiracies. Such a mindset simply doesn't get it that sometimes folks do things because they believe it's the right action, not because they are paid or manipulated or duped or whatever. When you get down to it the Birther movement was the same way of seeing the world--a true believer can never admit he's wrong, it is always "them" sneaking around and making his plans fail. Because that is exactly what he would do.
#3
Maybe DeathRey is right. I propose a better title: HARD RIGHT "IF WE CAN'T MOLEST'EM, WE SLANDER'EM"
Well, well, well, another day, another guilty plea from one of Trump's "all the best people." Pretty soon it will be "and then there were none."
#4
Just when you think they can't go any lower!
#5
# 3. I hope you are correct, and soon!
#6
America will never be "great" unless we citizens unite and overthrow the establishment in Washington at the ballot box. Sadly, that will never happen and America will continue it's downward trend toward being a "banana republic" ran for the benefit of those that un it or in Trump's case, ruin it. Here in Bedford County, Virginia we have a Trump devotee for County Sheriff that went on TV yesterday demanding we arm all the school teachers so they can gun down any shooter that might appear on school grounds. Bedford County is symbolic of many other municipalities in the "Bible Belt" south believing that democracy is achieved by killing "sum beeches that ain't got Jee-suz." As the late Rev Jerry Falwell said just prior to his death on a local TV station... that all "Christian students should be allowed to take their guns to school with them." As long as Bible Belt "Christians" believe that their Savior founded the NRA so they could be armed and ready to kill in His name, nothing will change in the senseless killing of innocent students... etc.
#7
This hits very close to home for me. As I mentioned previously I don't believe this is a gun issue it is a mental health issue. I have a very close relative who is finishing up a trial today for stabbing to death her gorgeous daughter. Anyone who knows her knows this wasn't her who did this. The things she said where so far out there it is impossible to believe. We all turn our heads when we see someone with mental illness and our governments do very little. We are letting pharmaceutical companies pump our children with these drugs that they know are causing serious instability . What are we doing. Blaming the frickin gun. Yes I agree no one needs a automatic weapon. It pisses me off when we use horrible tragic events like this for political gain. Where was all of these gun control changes when Obama had the majority in his first two years. There is far to many guns out there to stop this. So let's all rally together and help the ones suffering with mental illness and stop this for ever.
#8
Is this really a right / left thingy?
Or, indeed a mental health issue?
People are dying by gun ownership... that is very, very largely unecessary
Gun ownership is out of control
Why can just ANYBODY buy a gun?
2nd is dished out as a reason for gun ownership
This is a complete misunderstanding of intention and misused as a marketing tool purely for commercial interest (greed?)
2nd was written when there was NO standing army
NOW THERE IS A STANDING ARMY
Massive gun ownership is irrational
#9
#7 - Agreed!
Pharma knowingly issue drugs that effects human behaviour and bend research to their own ends... they own the FDA
They put the disclaimer document in their little boxes and put side effects in small print having created an addict that is unable to comprehend it after the fact
Need to be out of the political machine
Money and lobby need to be out of politics
#10
Thom mentioned Shay's Rebellion the other day and said something about bootleggers rising up against their new government. That in fact was the 1790's Whiskey Rebellion. Just to clarify, as I'm sure Thom knows, Shay's Rebellion took place in 1786 and lead directly to the 1787 Constitutional Convention....the new and improved version of the Articles of Confederation.
Shay's rebellion was a well justified uprising against timeless economic injustice and in my opinion our modern day Antifa Patriots most closely resemble this early movement.
I'm sure these same early patriots would be rising up against the NRA's twisting of the second amendment to enrich associated Fascists who would rob the rest of us of our liberty.
#11
It's important to note that because of a patsy named Trump, we currently have no firewall between us and Putin's continuing assault on what's left of our democracy. Our intel agencies have been fooled into thinking election tampering was all just a Russian political stunt that agreeably put the party these agencies favor in power. Well they're wrong, and are severly underestimating what Putin has done and will continue to do to destabilize this country.
BTW: Putin's cyber bots have allied with Trump and the NRA in spreading the same crap Thom mentioned in his blog.
#12
It sure seems to take a long time but Mueller is making progress. Rick Gates is talking and some are saying that Manafort will spend the rest of his life in Prison. Does the right realize that Manafort was Trumps Campaign Manager? He was not a Coffee Boy. Look at the people that work and have worked with Trump: Bannon, Flynn, Carter Page. Read up on what kind of a sleazy guy was Campaign Manager for Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort
Patience.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/23/mueller-is-ab...
#13
Trump wants to arm teachers. He should because not 1, 4 officers (good guys with guns) were hiding behind cars during the shooting.
https://nypost.com/2018/02/23/four-sheriffs-deputies-hid-during-florida-...
The only solution to stop this from happening again is to get rid of the semi auto gun and large clips. If you do nothing you are scheduling the next mass murder.
Should be noted the CPAC is a Gun Free Zone.
#14
Ironic that Republicans are suddenly interested in the welfare of the mentally ill. After all, it was their iconic idol, Ronald Reagan, that led the charge against the mentally ill in California by closing all the mental hospitals and kicking all the mental patients out into street. But the real irony is that they would place, at the fingertips of a paranoid, schizophrenic, seriously deranged, delusional, thin-skinned, corrupt thug, a nuclear arsenal that can destroy the world a thousand times over, just because they were so enamored with his brand of greed and bigotry.
Yes DeathRey, I'm up in the middle of the night typing out this post. Since Trump was elected, it becomes more and more difficult to get a good nights sleep, at least for the sane. Now that I think about it though, isn't Trump often "up all hours of the night spitting out stomach bile" on twitter?
#15
Trumps son in law cannot get a security clearance. A security clearance has never been done on the paranoid, schizophrenic, seriously deranged, delusional, thin-skinned, corrupt thug POTUS. He can push his bigger button easier than he can buy an AR-15.
#16
Indeed stopgap! They had a show series in the late 70's, called 'The 'Barney Miller Show' One show in1978, was about the mentally ill, litterally thrown out into the streeets with their medication, the clothing they wore, and the Mental Hospitals were shut down. One ended up in their police station. He had nowhere to go so they took him in. Dietrick eleborated on the doings of the governor; setting them free, left to fend for themselves. My jaw dropped on the floor when I watched the program. Ronald Reagan was governor of Califonia then.. They had no heart back then, and less now!
#17
Just to keep DeathRey updated on my whereabouts, it was around 1:30AM here when I last posted. Like Stopgap and others, I too have occasional sleepless nights of "giving a damn" about my country and fellow man.
#18
For the Trolls.
#19
Legend
That was hilarious. Laughed my ass off!
Lets hope it's actually prophetic!!
#20
Wow. An American Oligarch steering our Foreign Policy into war.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/world/middleeast/trump-embassy-jerusa...
#21
Not much babble from the trolls. Must be waiting for the mothership to make it back through the wormhole from the Universitis Oppositus for more talking points.
#22
"This is why I like Trump he doesn't owe anybody anything." This is from Kend 2 days ago. Besides Putin:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/opinions/trump-billionaire-influence-opin...
#23
Dear StopGap : Thank you very very much for your fantastic comments. I couldn't have said it better myself. Keep up the great work . Thank You The Radical.
#24
"Chuckling" Yeah.. Stopgap, your comments remind me of deepspace. BTW..
What ever happened to him? I sure miss his wordsmithing!
#25
As an African American woman born the year of Brown v Board of Education, this sounds all too familiar.
“There is no doubt that the so-called civil rights movement as it exists today is used as a Communist program for revolution in America just as agrarian reform was used by the Communists to take over China and Cuba.”
“Our Nigras were just fine until them outside agitators from up North riled them up,”
And even though history has shown the Civil Rights Movement to be a just and necessary part of this nation's growth we still have comments like these:
“Since today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I believe that it is important that we understand that MLK was a communist, and thus the entire merit of his glorification is found wanting.”
I just want to tell those kids to stick with it, prepare for attacks from without and within, and I'm with them ALL THE WAY! Finally, some words from Dr King:
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Hang in there babies, you may just save us all.
#26
Well I think us trolls have been busy laughing our butts off over Nancy Pelosi telling the people in the Arizona desert they don't need a wall they should just mow their grass.
Yea Nancy there's lot of grass in Arizona and you must be smoking it.
Speaking of grass how did the war on marijuna go for you?
Or Prohibition ??
So you think guns will be different??
I guess you must love the black maket.
#27
seeker64, Don't forget Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. Martin Luther King laid the ground work, and even as a white hick from Indiana I was really touched by the march on Washington, none the less, things really started happening for black Americans when Malcolm X and the Black Panthers came on the scene.
I really don't think that they get enough credit for their sacrifice. Things were progressing at a better pace for Black Americans in the early 70s until Ronald Reagan came along with his winks and nods toward subtle, and sometimes overt, racist innuendo, and anti civil rights policies and anti unionism, that empowered the greedy racist Republicans that have divided the country ever since.
#28
Holy Shit, the Mother Ship has returned, Hot Coffee is back with some talking points about Nancy Pelosi, gun control, blah, blah. blah, yada, yada, yada.
Radical & Jeff, I don't know what happened to that bastard Deepspace. Believe me, I wish I was one tenth as smart and articulate as that wordy nerd. Maybe he took my advice and made a million dollars writing.
#29
Well I guess I'm on troll watch duty right now.....So Coffee, do you really think anybody wants to ban "guns? " Other than your Foxaganda/alt reality belief that Obama or Hillary were coming to take your "guns," there has never even been talk about it. A ban on assault weapons yes, a ban on "guns" in general, absolutely not.
You might be able to convince and freak out your peers that the liberals are coming to confiscate their shot guns with the slippery slope bull sht talking point, but that's all it is.... a BS talking point, fake news, lie, desception, take your pick. BTW: Governments that have banned assault weapons do not have a black market problem with them.
Why do I even bother anymore?
God and Guns....when will you fools figure out it's all about voting against your own best economic interests?
#30
Last time you were on your rants...it was mazagines, so they were limited.
This time iT's assault weapons
next time guns
hell one of you admitted it a blog or 2 ago.
Gotta take it one step at a time.
We're not as dumb as Nancy whom you ignored like you do with all the lefts BS....we're not as dumb as the people that represent you.
#31
You may not be as dumb. You may not be as stupid. But you are definitely more brainwashed, if you think that Trump is the answer to any of Americas problems. There could not be any other person that is worse for the country than Trump. It really does not get anymore basic than that. If you think otherwise, then you are the enemy. Pure and simple!!!!!
#32
I'm positive you can't show in any post where I said Trump was the answer.
I did say the people fighting each other is not the answer.
Somehow you just can't see both sides keep getting the shaft and the only way to keep this country together is for the people to come together, which is exactly what they don't want.
Tell me who are you really pround of on the left because while you want me to be the enemy I want everyone to stop treating this situation like a football game of who's for what side. I posted here we need solutions not hate.
Even people like Glen Greewald and Greg Palast get it, they are honest enough to call BS on both sides...while the propagandist prattle on.
So if you want me to be an enemy fine I really don't have a need to post here, I'll leave and wish you well. Let me know.
#33
I live in a state where they set a limit of 15 rounds in a clip. NRA and everyone other gun nut went ballistic. You cannot do minor sensible changes. Why do you need more than 15 rounds in a clip?
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=y4qSWuacD8TIjwSkioDYBQ&q=colo...
#34
Election Reform can be passed with 51 votes since that is how the
Last Tax Reform Bill was passed.
#35
Sorry Hotcoffee. I'm apologizing for all of us! Please don't leave...
Did you heed my advice and switch to decaf yet?
I have to agree with 2950-10K. This country needs to ban ALL future sales of ALL semi auto weapons to the "general public". And when l say ALL, that would be ALL semi auto long rifles, rifles, carbines, shotguns and ALL semi auto handguns!
Maybe even offer a buyback program similar to what Australia did in 1996. Although "chuckling" lm not sure how our government would "pay" for it...
And l say this, as an experienced gun owner ( who owns a lot of guns) and avid hunter for over 45 years.
#36
@#29
"Well I guess I'm on troll watch duty right now.....So Coffee, do you really think anybody wants to ban "guns? " Other than your Foxaganda/alt reality belief that Obama or Hillary were coming to take your "guns," there has never even been talk about it. A ban on assault weapons yes, a ban on "guns" in general, absolutely not.
You might be able to convince and freak out your peers that the liberals are coming to confiscate their shot guns with the slippery slope bull sht talking point, but that's all it is.... a BS talking point, fake news, lie, desception, take your pick. BTW: Governments that have banned assault weapons do not have a black market problem with them."
Road runner must not listen to the head bobblehead Thom Hartmann who
"I'm a competitive shooter, I like guns" > nobody should have an assault weapon > nobody should have any semi-auto long guns > nobody should have any semi-auto guns at all" > whats next Thommy? Can I keep my revolver please? After you watch the link, probably not.
My friend Diane Feinstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCRKv-szJlo
BeepBeep!
#37
Legend
Excellent point. Unfortunately when it comes to these " gun nuts"... Logic and reason have no foothold!
Hence.. Thats why they're gun NUTS!!
I'm not sure what size magazines that kid in Florida had? Probably 20 -
30 round. But.. Even if he'd been limited to 15 round magazines. He probably would have succeeded in doing just as much carnage!
Im sad to say..
#38
Reynolds
Take a "chill pill" or heed your own advice and smoke a little "doobie"!
You and l both know that congress will NEVER propose a bill ( let alone get enough votes to pass it) to remove ALL guns from the general public. So there's no "slippery slope" for you, on your "high and mighty horse" to fall down!!
And l agree.. Diane Feinstein is a gun NUT of the other extreme!
Ive seen that video of the sharp shooter before. Its quite impressive what he can do with a six shooter...
#39
People like Diane that want to do nothing are scheduling the next mass murder.
#40
Colorado lowered clip capacity to 15 max. Which to me is way to high. Can any of you gun nuts tell me why you need more than 15? How many people have to die for your rights?
#41
Jeff are you saying that that the defintion of an assault weapon boils down to magazine capacity? If so, that's fine, so we need to deal with that then, which is what Democrats proposed doing many many mass shootings ago. I certainly agree with you on this.
Everyone be aware that the recent Kochpublican media strategy is to repeat that many Democrtas are against gun control period. This is an attempt to depoliticize which party would enact legislation and which one would def not.
Assault weapons don't frighten me as much as millons of brainwashed citizens armed with arrogance and stupidity.
BTW: I'm the proud owner of a Rev war period musket and small cannon...both single shot.
#42
I agree Legend, 15 shots still is way too high!...the gun nuts will tell you it's not a clip though, it's a magazine. Oddly enough , many of my friends, both liberal and conservative, seem to be gun nuts.
#43
The only thing they get with 30 or more per magazine is a hard on.
#44
2950-10K
I think a five round magazine limit would be a good start..
But in my post # 35 l stated that a complete ban on ALL future sales of ALL types of semi auto weapons is whats really needed!
In my opinion.
#45
...and a huge waste of money too Legend, same as having a giant pick-up truck that gets 8 miles per gallon.
#46
Reynolds, just to be clear , I listen to Thom because I accidentally stumbled across his broadcast years ago, one that echoed my life experience of paying attention to painful economic facts and reality. I didn't start with a blank slate and happen to turn on Foxaganda letting Fascists do all of my thinking for me.
However I don't disagree with Thom's recent extreme position on gun control...I'd be happy with that too. It would clearly end most of the mass shootings , if not all.
#47
Five sounds adequate to me Jeff....isn't that the limit Florida already places on hunters? Could still mess up a deer pretty good. Your stance on gun control is identical to Thom's, I don't disagree.
#48
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#13, Legend, and #35, #37, #40 (there are so many hysterical people ranting here that it's impossible to give you all your due), let me say this: To state that assault rifles and/or large capacity magazines are categorically responsible for the epidemic of mass shootings in this country is nothing less than a TROBBING dicto simpliciter; fallacy and a sweeping generalization. You call anyone that doesn't buy your simplistic logic a “gun nut”. If you want logic, think about this: A person capable of intentionally committing mass carnage must by definition be insane. To protect ourselves from those few insane people bent on doing us harm we must ensure that potentially lethal implements do not fall into their hands. Therefore, an acceptable solution would be to outlaw potentially lethal implements, including cars, gasoline, any poisonous or explosive substance or the ingredients from which these substances could be manufactured....etc. Are you willing to go this far? Doubtful. Oh, you'll fall back on your specious argument “but fertilizer was not invented to kill people”. Face it, you are fixated on assault rifles and large capacity magazines as the SYMBOL of the illness that is at the bottom of these school shootings. And as George Carlin once observed “Symbols …. for the symbol minded”.
#49
My next question is:
How is "assault weapon" defined?!?
Lets say; you remove the collapsible plastic buttplate..
And the billeted,freefloat handguard..
And the plastic forgrip..
And the pretty heat shrouds..
You know.. All the G.I.JOKE parts..
And say; replaced it with..
A traditional " wood stock"..
Would that same "such" gun still be called an "assault weapon"??
An example: A Ruger mini 14.
It uses the same caliber as most "assault rifles".
It is semi auto.
It comes with a 5 round magazine.
[Though-10, 20, and even 30 round magazines are readily available.]
But.. It comes with a "traditional" one piece wood stock..
It doesn't look like a G.I.JOKE gun!
Would this particular gun be considered an "assault rifle"??
#50
Hypothecitacly lets say we banned " assault weapons " for 3 years and people could turn them in to their local police dept for safe keeping. Then we found that the black market was strongly in effect...or the bad guys moved on to pipe bombs instead... or for whatever reason lawful owners were not the issue...would you be in favor of returning the weapons to their original owners?
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I thought after the Gabby Giffords shooting you were excorating the righties for using gun euphemisms. You should re-title your rant rather than look hypocritical unless it's another of your goose/gander things.