Waiting For Republicans - The Slaughter Continues

Accused killer Nikolas Cruz at his arraignment

Trump's live comments on Thursday in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida seemed like more of the same old useless bunk that most Republican politicians repeat in the wake of the numerous mass shootings that now take place with alarming regularity in America.

Republican lawmakers have controlled the House of Representatives for seven years, and they haven't passed a single piece of legislation that would help to curb the epidemic of gun violence in America.

Not one single law. Not so much as a single bill. Nothing.

Instead of the action outraged Americans from all all over the country are demanding, all we're getting from apathetic Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill is that contrived, mournful shaking of their heads and collective shrugging of their shoulders - like they have no power to do anything.

It's as if they're channeling the characters Vladimir and Estragon, from the influential post-WWII play written by Samuel Beckett back in 1948, Waiting For Godot, wringing their hands in hopeless despair repeating the phrase "Nothing to be done!"

Instead of waiting for Godot, Republican lawmakers, already nervous about the upcoming midterm elections in November, are awkwardly doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association and waiting for the outrage over 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz gunning down 17 innocent people in a Florida High School (with an AR-15 assault rifle he purchased legally) to simply go away.

What's interesting is that both Trump and his sycophant Attorney General-lackey Jeff Sessions both tossed around tough-talking dog-whistle phrases about "having the back of law enforcement" during the 2016 presidential campaign and the subsequent shaky first year in office.

Frequently vilifying President Obama while presenting themselves as saviors of law enforcement.

Trump endorsing police brutality in front of members
of the Long Island PD back in July, 2017

One of Sessions' very first policy statements after his nomination to head the Justice Department was passed by the Senate was to reverse the many consent agreements between the DOJ and local police departments.

Police departments across the country in places like Chicago, Baltimore and Ferguson with proven histories of racially-biased policing practices.

Many cops favored those DOJ consent decrees to enact long-needed reforms.

Even though the DOJ itself had spent time and money compiling data showing that such decrees were needed to reestablish trust between local police departments and the communities they serve, Sessions' bizarre rationale for revoking them was that reversing these agreements, drafted under the Obama administration when Eric Holder was attorney general, would actually make it easier for members of local law enforcement to do their jobs.

As if police departments being held to the standards spelled out in the Constitution was some kind of annoying burden imposed on cops by President Obama out of spite.

Last July, Fake President travelled out to Long Island, New York to trumpet his supposed adoration of cops to try and bolster public support for his irrational xenophobic hatred of immigrants by trying to link them to the El Salvadoran gang MS-13.

Remember Trump standing in front of members of the Long Island Police Department and basically endorsing the use of excessive physical force against suspects in custody?

Trump and Sessions were both big on painting themselves as big supporters of cops and "law and order" as a convenient dog-whistle policy stance to rally their base of hyper-conservative supporters.

But as far as gun control is concerned, are they really supporting members of law enforcement, or the National Rifle Association's pro-gun industry agenda?

Take a look at the detailed list of IACP Policy Priorities For the 115th Congress as clearly spelled out by the International Association of Chiefs of Police founded back in 1893.

Under the section titled "Reduce Firearms Violence and Target Illegal Guns", the IACP states that "A comprehensive approach is needed in order to prevent further gun violence in our communities."

Among the actions steps listed:

"Support legislation that expands background checks, and require background checks for all firearms purchases."   

And "Oppose any legislation that would limit or reduce the ability of U.S. law enforcement agencies to combat the sale of illegal guns."


It's hard to sift through the scores of scandals, firings and tweets, but try and flash back to Trump's first days in office.

One of the very first bills that he signed into law within the first thirty days of his inauguration last February was an NRA-backed law that rolled back an executive order signed by President Obama that would have made it harder for Americans with mental illnesses or those deemed unfit to handle their own finances who receive Social Security checks to obtain firearms.

As Ali Vitali reported for NBC News last February, "President Barack Obama recommended the now-nullified regulation in a 2013 memo following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School which left 20 first graders and six others dead. The measure sought to block some people with severe mental health problems from buying guns."

Yet yesterday, a subdued, almost monotone Trump, obviously reading off a teleprompter, somberly invoked "mental illness" as the culprit in the shooting deaths of 17 innocent people by Nikolas Cruz in Florida.

He didn't even mention the words "gun laws" - like the AR-15 (pictured above) with it's rapid-fire technology and high capacity magazines had nothing to do with it.

In that same NRA-approved statement, Trump made a bunch of totally half-ass empty promises to work with members of federal, state and local officials to tackle the problem of mental illness, blah-blah, blah.

Terrified students comfort one another after being
released from Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS 

What a bunch of contrived, hypocritical horse shit.

Trump is the same spineless clown who's spent three years working with heartless right-wing Republican zealots in congress to vilify and repeal the Affordable Care Act - which mandated that insurance companies provide access to treatment for mental health conditions

Frankly I find it an insult that Trump had the nerve to try and use a press conference to reassure terrified students and teachers in schools across the U.S. that he's working to keep them safe.

Since his inauguration, when he ranted incoherently about "carnage" in America, he's shown himself to be nothing but an ignorant lackey of the NRA lobbyists who pumped millions into his presidential campaign.

Apparently the same K-Street gun lobby bozos who draft the text of his comments whenever another mass shooting takes place - so a contrite Trump can place the blame not on the almost unrestricted access to firearms, but on mental illness. "Nothing to be done!"

As if the guns used in these mass shootings are somehow like an innocent bystander that had nothing to do with anything.

To paraphrase some of the thousands of comments I've read on social media in the past 48 hours, there's no sense even waiting for Republican legislators in Congress to draft laws that would prevent a white supremacist like Nikolas Cruz from walking into a store and buying an AR-15 and a bunch of ammo.

MSD High School assistant football coach Aaron
Feis who died shielding students from gunfire

Thanks to Republican state legislators and the NRA, any 18-year-old in Florida can buy an AR-15 - it's perfectly legal - they can't buy a bottle of vodka but they can purchase the undisputed weapon of choice for mass shooters.

27 people (including shooter Adam Lanza) died at Sandy Hook Elementary and in Newton, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, Republicans who controlled the House did nothing.

49 people were killed on June 12, 2016 when Omar Siddiqui Mateen went on a shooting spree at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Republicans who controlled the House offered "prayers" but did nothing to pass a law restricting firearms access.

58 were killed and almost 500 injured back on October 1, 2017 when Stephen Paddock began firing on concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

In response the Republicans who control the House, the federal legislative body tasked by the U.S. Constitution with writing laws to protect the American people, did nothing.

The only way to mobilize and follow the recommendations of organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police to enact reasonable restrictions on dangerous firearms like the AR-15 and components like bump stocks and high-capacity magazines is to be registered to vote in November.

When those who are feeling powerless right now will be empowered to tell lawmakers who've done nothing in the face of the unprecedented gun violence happening in American schools, churches, malls, businesses, streets, concerts and homes, exactly what you think about their apathy, silence and prayers.

In the meantime, just remember there's so sense in waiting for Republican legislators who control which bills get to the floor to be debated or voted on to act.

That's like Waiting For Godot - they'll never show up.

Something Else in Oregon & Joseph Tartaro's "Urban Initiative"

The looming threat of Hurricane Joaquin has cast a gloomy anxious pall over New Jersey; a state where many people have only just recovered from the ravages of Superstorm Sandy two years ago - and some still haven't.

But after seeing the horrific aftermath of the latest mass-shooting on the Oregon campus of Umpqua Community College where 26-year old Chris Harper Mercer used at least three different guns to kill ten people and wound seven more, can the threat of any damage Joaquin might inflict on the east coast of America be any worse than the threat posed to society by gun violence in this country? 

Unfortunately the do-nothing Republican majority that currently controls the U.S. House of Representatives have refused to use their Constitutionally-mandated authority to draft legislation and pass laws that might put into place the kinds of reasonable common sense gun control laws that might limit the access to handguns and keep mentally disturbed individuals like Mercer from obtaining firearms in the first place.
  
The response from the reactionary Second Amendment advocates like the NRA to this blood-soaked gun horror is as predictable as it is meaningless to the victims of today's shooting and their families, friends and co-workers.

National Rifle Assoc. CEO Wayne LaPierre

The Wayne LaPierres (pictured left) and other right wingers who deify America's gun culture will release the usual public statements condemning the (latest) violence and expressing their heat-felt condolences for the victims before they use the occasion to extol the lofty mythical virtues of the Second Amendment.

An Amendment that was drafted in the 18th century when our nation was a sparsely populated collection of territories with no organized law and order under invasion by a foreign power and regular citizens needed to be armed to defend themselves.

Hell, it was only about a week ago at the 30th Annual Gun Rights Conference in Phoenix, Arizona that Joseph Tartaro, the 84-year old president of the Second Amendment Foundation proposed a bold  new initiative for pro-gun advocates to begin aggressively reaching out to African-American and Hispanic citizens in urban communities and encourage them to learn to shoot firearms.

Yeah we could use more of that.

Joseph Tartaro

As Jennifer Mascia reported in an article on TheTrace.org, it was during the second session of the three-day conference when the theme of the day was "The Gun Rights Battle" that Tartaro (pictured left) shared his radical proposal for minority recruitment.

By the way, "The Gun Rights Battle" is an interesting theme given that a visibly-angered President Obama, speaking in response to the horror in Oregon yesterday, noted that right now there are enough guns in America for every man woman and child.

As of July 2014 the population in the United States was estimated to be 322,583,006 so do the math, shouldn't take you too long to figure out who's winning the "Battle" for gun rights - after the horror in Oregon we certainly know who's loosing.

Anyway back to TheTrace.org article.

In it, Tartaro acknowledged a truth to the gun-loving audience in Phoenix that scares the crap out of many American conservatives; that “Within the next 20 to 30 years, the U.S. white population will no longer be the majority.”

So, by Tartaro's thinking, the only way to ensure the continued expansion of "gun rights" in  America is to reach beyond the pro-gun constituency that “seems to be predominantly white and Republican.” and start reaching out to pastors and local and state political leaders with influence in predominantly minority communities who will then encourage a rising tide of gun ownership, training and eventually political activism that will ensure liberal access to firearms for future generations.

Now for you right-leaning folks who check this blog out I realize black folk are responsible for plenty of gun carnage too so don't give me any grief; Tartaro is an old white guy and I'm only quoting what he told a large audience of (mostly) gun loving white folks.

Go ahead and read the article for yourself. As Mascia reported, Tartaro insisted that,  “I know pro-gun white people can meet with urban Democrat politicians at the local, state and federal level for useful conversations when the way has been paved by pro-gun members of the minority communities,”

Now the thing is, I don't think Tartaro is crazy. Some of his views on gun ownership are a bit extreme but he's not crazy.

He's just one of the few conservatives I've seen express something that today's Republican party can't seem to understand; that indeed, there are many African-Americans and Hispanics in this nation who are very traditionally conservative socially, religiously, fiscally and politically.

Problem is, Republicans have allowed themselves, their party and their brand to be hijacked by a perpetually pissed off extremist element that tolerates bigotry, narrow-mindedness and the condemnation of "otherness."

One that embraces exclusion and vilifies inclusion.

If the GOP could learn to think strategically like Joseph Tartaro, they could win the White House.

But they won't.

They're too busy trying to shut down the federal government, flying the flag of the Southern Strategy, obsessing over women's reproductive rights and stoking the fires of imaginary issues like "religious freedom", Hillary Clinton's old emails and Benghazi to think three dimensionally enough to envision how welcoming non-white constituents could expand the Republican power base without the need for gerrymandering or voter repression.

But my point in citing Tartaro's "urban initiative" is to offer a snapshot of where the priorities of the nation's pro-gun advocates are currently focused.

And question why there wasn't a session on keeping guns out of the hands of those who would seek to use them as extensions of their mental illness or who harbor festering personal grudges during that three day conference in Phoenix last week.

Unfortunately Joseph Tartaro doesn't seem to quite understand the extent to which gun violence has decimated urban African-American and Hispanic communities in places like Baltimore, Chicago and Los Angeles.

But he's not a fool.

Texas open carry laws. The grocery store? Really?

He knows that support for the kinds of ridiculously unrestricted gun laws being passed in places like Texas and Georgia are loosing support and won't last.

Like the open carry laws that permit people to strap on a loaded handgun and pretty much go anywhere; like this lady (pictured left)  in the bread section of a grocery store with a .45 semiautomatic in a holster on her hip.

Tartaro knows that the kinds of senseless horrific mass shootings we saw yesterday in Oregon are also happening in affluent suburbs and the kinds of rural areas where the majority population consists of the mostly white conservative demographic who now make up the bulk of the pro-gun movement in this country; granted gunman Chris Harper Mercer did identify himself as mixed race.

So it's not enough for pro-gun advocates to continue using the imagined fear of a wave of armed minorities bent on crime as justification for arming anyone who can carry a gun. FBI statistics show the overwhelming incidents of gun violence in this nation are black on black or white on white crime taking place within specific communities.

There are exceptions obviously but they represent an extremely small percentage of overall crime stats; the NRA-promoted image of the brave white home owner fending off minority criminals is largely a myth - due in no small part to the highly segregated nature of American society.

Statistics show a white, black or Hispanic gun owner is far more likely to use it on someone they know personally than on someone  breaking into their home - which is why groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council have helped states like Florida pass 'Stand Your Ground' laws that essentially empower (mostly white) people to use deadly force to defend their person against someone they perceive as a threat in the same way they'd defend someone who broke into their home.

But as we've seen it's allowed deranged violence prone killers like George Zimmerman to kill innocent people and not be held legally responsible.

But again, Joseph Tartaro and other pro-gun advocates know that the more the the demographic that makes up the bulk of their constituents sees the kind of carnage that took place in Oregon yesterday, the more they recognize that common sense gun laws are just that; and not "attacks on the Second Amendment" as the NRA and their ilk like to paint any effort to enact things like mandatory waiting periods for gun purchases, mandatory federal background checks and reasonable limits of the number and type of guns people can own.

Something has to change.

As a nation we can't simply keep sitting there feeling stunned and powerless every time we see another violence-prone individual with serious mental problems, a massive chip on their shoulder and a huge arsenal of weapons wreak bloody havoc on innocent American citizens.

Chris H. Mercer (Center) & photos from his Myspace page

Listening to some of the almost non-stop coverage of the shootings yesterday on CNN I kept hearing the word "tragedy" used to describe what Chris Harper Mercer did in a classroom to people who were simply trying to educate themselves.

It's not a tragedy.

A tragedy is an earthquake, a landslide or some unforeseen natural disaster.

A tragedy is something that can't be predicted or controlled.

What happened this morning in Oregon was predictable given the easy access to guns in this country; it was inevitable given the difficulty many people in this nation have accessing mental health treatment.

What happened in Oregon this morning was preventable had Congress bothered to act decisively after any of the other horrible mass shootings that have become part of our lexicon. Sandy Hook. Aurora. Charleston.

No what happened in Oregon was something else. And the apathy of our political leaders bears no small measure of responsibility. As do we for not demanding action from those we elect to serve us.

A Lack of Shared Humanity

NRA radio host Cam Edwards

Leave it to the NRA to use the latest senseless gun massacre by yet another delusional hate-filled American with a handgun, mental issues and a massive chip on his shoulder to try and silence public calls for tougher gun laws.

As Timothy Johnson reported on MediaMatters.org yesterday, just hours after Vester Flanagan's cowardly murder of two innocent television journalists in Roanoke, Virginia on live television, the NRA was already in full media crisis mode accusing relatives of the victims, advocates for gun control and political leaders of "politicizing" the tragedy.

As Johnson reported, the NRA's Cam Edwards (pictured above) is virtually swimming in the Kool-Aid: 

"Later that same day during an afternoon broadcast, Cam Edwards, host of the NRA radio show, Cam & Company, lashed out at people who consider this latest incident of shocking public gun violence as more evidence the nation needs stronger gun laws. Edwards complained, "Before we know any of the details, we are seeing anti-gun politicians, anti-gun activists trying to turn this tragedy into some sort of political advantage," and went on to characterize calls for new gun laws as "the wrong response to take here. I think it shows a lack of shared humanity." 

So let's get that particular NRA position clear.

Advocates of reasonable gun control laws that might help prevent these heinous public massacres are demonstrating a "lack of shared humanity"?

Clean up on aisle six? Shopping in The Home of the Brave

Just for perspective, Cam Edwards was one of the right-wing extremists calling for an investigation into the activist group Moms Demand Action - For Gun Sense in America for calling on Kroger and other chain stores to ban idiots like this clown pictured to the left from openly carrying loaded weapons around grocery stores. 

Edwards was also active earlier this year when as many as ten different states were actually considering legislation that would make it legal for college students to carry concealed loaded weapons around on campus. (We see you ALEC.)

As Dan Burns reported back in March on MN Progressive Project.com:

"National Rifle Association radio and television host Cam Edwards claimed that people who argue against concealed carry as a solution to rape on college campuses are "OK with" sexual assaults that could supposedly be prevented by guns."

I swear if some nut-bag with a gun shot up a bunch of preschoolers and people held a candlelight vigil, people like Edwards would call them "opportunists".

Victim Allison Parker's dad Andy Parker [Photo - People]

On a more positive note, it's both touching and inspiring to see reporter Allison Parker's father Andy Parker (pictured left) step up and call out apathetic tone-deaf politicians for refusing to take action on legislation that would enact reasonable and sensible gun control laws supported by a vast majority of American citizens.

It's both remarkable, and a sad commentary on the state of 21st century America that a morally tone-deaf organization like the NRA wields so much influence on Capitol Hill and strikes such fear into the hearts of both Republican and Democratic Congressmen alike based on a simplistic and incredibly warped interpretation of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. 

There's nothing Constitutional about a group that is fond of boasting a total membership of over 5 million people (numbers that have been questioned) using political threats and intimidation, smear tactics, manipulation of facts and a flood of lobbyists to put the safety of a nation of over 300 million at risk from the horrific gun violence that has claimed the lives of over 8,566 people in the United States this year alone.

According to updated statistics posted on the GunViolenceArchive.org Website, there have been 222 mass shootings this year, 488 children between the ages of 0 and 11 have been killed or injured by gunfire, 17,465 injuries and a stunning 33,510 gun incidents this year alone.

Out of those 33,510 incidents, how many times were guns used for "defensive" purposes? 787.

You do the math. The NRA certainly won't.

They're too consumed with accusing the millions of average Americans begging our politicians for reasonable gun control laws of having "a lack of shared humanity."

America's Culture of Confusion

Kelly Thomas' parents (photo LA Times)

Sometimes the violence in this country just leaves me flat-out confused. Take the gun situation for example.

Consider the sadly clock-like regularity of shooting massacres like Virginia Tech, Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook; and those are just a few.

Or the ongoing plague of gun violence terrorizing marginalized urban communities in places like Detroit, Wilmington, DE, Trenton, NJ or Chicago - where young men who've developed an unnatural obsession with gun culture are killing each other over petty slights, perceived insults or worse; or less.

Polls show a vast majority of Americans support some sensible handgun laws; reasonable things like mandatory Federal background checks, limits on purchases and restrictions on sales.

Yet the Congress we elected to write legislation that protect us seems more interested in campaign donations from the NRA and abstract theories of Constitutional freedoms than the ongoing death toll going on all around us.

So when a 71 year-old retired Tampa police captain named Curtis Reeves decides to go catch a movie in Florida with his wife, he takes a loaded .380 handgun with him. Does he use the handgun to take down some delusional nut-bag with an AR-15 who played too many violent video games?

No, the ex-captain shoots and kills a man who's using his cell phone, and wounds the victim's wife when she tries to instinctively shield her husband from the bullets with her hand. News reports suggest the victim turned around and struck Reeves before being shot so don't be surprised if the 'Stand You Ground' defense is eventually used; if it worked for George Zimmerman after murdering an innocent teenager, it'll work for a 71 year-old retired police officer.

The mainstream media finds six ways to Sunday to tell us all about how shocking it was.

But how come the media isn't shocked by the nations lax gun laws? What are these reporters doing standing in front of a theater in Florida doing live reports when they should be in DC on Capitol Hill asking Republicans why they oppose any kind of firearms legislation?

Why aren't they standing in front of NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre's driveway asking why the NRA lobbies against the kinds of laws moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters and children all want?

How come the mainstream press isn't asking why LaPierre makes $972,000 a year to oppose common sense laws that would make the country safer? At what point did it became OK in Florida to use a handgun on someone talking too loudly on the phone?

This leaves me confused.

Did you read Josh Marshall's TPM blog about Multnomah County Republican Party in Oregon who are auctioning off an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in honor of the upcoming celebrations honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln? Don't they understand how sick and vulgar that sounds to most people to "honor" two seminal figures in American history who were both assassinated by gunmen by auctioning off a rifle used to kill people?

The weapon will be given away at the MCRP's Lincoln Day Dinner on February 14th; the featured speaker? Rafael Cruz, father of Ted Cruz (the apple sure didn't fall far from this tree).

That leaves me really confused.

And with one of the most well trained, well... well-equipped police forces anyway, in the nation you'd think members of the Fullerton, California police department could find a way to take an unarmed, mentally-ill homeless man like Kelly Thomas into custody after a 2011 confrontation at a transit parking lot.

But no, former Fullerton Police officers Jay Patrick Cicinelli and Manuel Ramos beat him to death.

Even though Ramos' attorney asserted the two officers were just "doing their job" and "had no malice in their hearts", a widely-seen surveillance video clearly shows Ramos putting his gloves on and shaking his fists in the face of Thomas before the two officers began beating him with their fists, clubs and using a Taser device on him.

A jury from Orange County found both men not guilty on all charges, sparking outrage and protests across the nation for this shocking case of excessive use of force.

While I understand people needing to comply with police commands; was it really necessary for these cops to beat Kelly Thomas to death for 30 minutes while he screams and begs for his life?

30 minutes.

Kelly was beaten so badly multiple bones in his face were broken, he choked on his own blood and the compression on his thorax by the officers prevented him from breathing; he was brought to the hospital in a coma and died five days later when his parents (pictured above) decided to take him off life support.

I won't post the photo of Thomas' face taken in the hospital; it's actually hard to tell it's a human face. But take a look at the photo if you don't believe me.

Because the Thomas beating was such an disturbing example of police brutality, I decided to post an news report/discussion that contains an edited version of the video beating that was caught on surveillance tape.

Hearing an unarmed innocent man scream and plead for his life during a violent police assault suggests we have become a confused culture - hard as it is to hear (the light in the video is poor so it's difficult to really see) I think everyone should see it once.

Just so there's no confusion about where we are as a nation.