A.M. Links: Trump Tells Governors 'We Have to Have Action' on Guns, Hope Hicks Faces House Intelligence Committee, German Court Clears Way for Ban on Diesel Vehicles

• 

  Todd Kranin

  "President Donald Trump told a gathering of state governors on Monday that 'we have to have action' in the wake of the latest US mass shooting and urged governors not to be 'afraid' of challenging the National Rifle Association."

• White House Communications Director Hope Hicks will reportedly appear before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee today.
• Germany's top administrative court has ruled that cities and towns may ban diesel vehicles.
• U.N. investigators believe North Korea is shipping supplies to Syria for use in making chemical weapons.
• Austrian public broadcasting network ORF is suing Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, for saying the network spreads fake news.

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Comments

[Libertymike]

Cognitive dissonance: Draining the swamp while simultaneously urging that individuals surrender more of their rights to defend themselves to the swamp.

Only a dotard would defend such cognitive dissonance.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

4 comments in 17 minutes?

Tsk, tsk.

[Citizen X - #6]

Somebody should check on Fist.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Welcome to the 7th annual Day Without Fist Of Etiquette. Makes you appreciate what you have, doesn't it?

[Citizen X - #6]

Not really, no.

[loveconstitution1789]

AMong Fist.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

That's because Fist has the day off. He called in sick to The Jacket this morning.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Also, the comments are broken again. The squirrels will feast today.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

How'd your team make out with the trade deadline?

[Rhywun]

Mine is largely disbanded. But we still have Lundqvist and apparently that's all that matters.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Tough season to be a Rags fan. My sympathies.

This Bruins fan, however, would like to say thanks for the Rick Nash, and enjoy being frustrated with Ryan Spooner.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Tampa made the best deal.

I have to say they're definitely the favourites to win. And don't dismiss Pittsburgh.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Agreed. Stevie Y looks like he's got as much game as a GM as he had on the ice.

[Fist of Etiquette]

No one puts the Pens in a corner.

[Rhywun]

Spooner was pretty good the other night. 2 assists, I think.

[Rufus The Monocled]

You still have him because of that contract.

The Habs clearly didn't heed that lesson with Price.

Price is good but man it was weird how the media had a fetish for him. Over rated.

[Rebel Scum]

And no fist. Something is off.

[silver.]

He got caught trying to grab some dude's ass on the subway this morning.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Do I seem like the straphanger type? No public transportation for this guy.

[silver.]

He got caught trying to grab some guy's ass on the subway.

[Rebel Scum]

Homo squirrels.

[Zeb]

Most libertarian president ever!

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Somehow I think our resident Trump supporters will find a way to defend even this.

[Cy]

There's nothing to defend. He's an authoritarian promoting populist authoritarianism.

[Pro Libertate]

He's making a political mistake, too. Trump's drunkard's walk has accomplished some good things, but government power and spending mostly continue to grow.

On the other hand, President Paul would've been impeached, convicted, and drawn and quartered by now.

[Incomprehensible Bitching]

Dooooooooooooooo somethingggggggggggg!

[Rhywun]

"Warriors of the Light"

I would have spit coffee if I had any when I saw that on the train this morning.

Not running for president my ass.

[Conchfritters]

Antifa and Medgar Evers - pretty much the same.

[Zeb]

"warriors of the light"

Sounds like violent rhetoric.

How insulting is that to people who actually risked life and limb in the civil rights movement?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Or those brave four who successfully stopped Garland from implementing his time loop to repeatedly kill the world over and over again.

[$park? leftist poser]

Or Chaos, or Exdeath, or Kefka, or Emperor

[BestUsedCarSales]

We can only stand in awe of Galuf, who gave his life to fight the angriest tree in existence.

[silver.]

"How insulting is that to people who actually risked life and limb in the civil rights movement?"

This is a good point. I think I'd be denounced as racist for pointing out that these people aren't getting blasted with firehoses and instead are calling for the rape and murder of a woman at a nationally-televised Town Hall event.

[Alcibiades]

Just extended my NRA membership for a couple more years. From the blatant demonizing, lies and distortions coming from the anti-Second Amendment, anti-gun crowd the NRA should hold firm, stand their ground, go on the attack and never allow themselves to put on the defensive. Thought Antonia Okafor did a pretty good job here against the bullying, hectoring, jackass Piers Morgan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MABTx5Yzijo&t=305s

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

They ought to get a few people who have defended themselves with a gun and make commercials from it -- "I shot my rapist" -- " I sent my home invader packing" -- nothing long, 5 seconds each, no back story -- let the mainstream media go crazy trying to debunk it and thus confirm their stories. Go on the offensive -- show how many people every day use guns to shoot rapists, home invaders, robbers, how it makes the odd school shooting pale in comparison.

And stop pretending Trump is their friend.

[Alcibiades]

That's a great suggestion and I hope they're doing it. Just in case they're not, gonna send it their way, maybe you should too.

Dana Loesch also did a fine job at the CNN circus in front of a baying crowd calling for her murder, I'm sure the irony was lost on everyone.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I've never found the NRA easy to deal with. How does one make any suggestions? Maybe I will poke around their web site again.

[Alcibiades]

Just checked, they have a contact section but dont know if that gets through to anyone influential. Gonna check out their facebook and twitter sites and see if anything looks promising.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Well, what the heck, tried their "contact us" form, we'll see what happens, if it gets any reaction. Like I said, they've always ignored my ideas in the past 🙂

[Alcibiades]

Ditto, just done that.
I guess they get a lot of messages.

[silver.]

I saw this idea of yours in another thread, and it's growing on me. I'd probably emphasize defensive uses that didn't require a shot to be fired. Those are overwhelmingly more common, go unreported, and are much easier to everyone involved. Shooting somebody in self-defense is a nightmare; untrained citizens aren't allowed to fear for their life like trained cops. It's expensive as hell and emotionally exhausting. You never really get over it if you end up killing them, especially if they turn out to be an unarmed home invader, etc.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Good points. I also think it would be great to get them all around the country in the same short time span. Emphasize this is just 2 hours in a single day.

"7:14 I stopped my rape"

"7:19 I scared off a burglar"

and so on.

The point is to shock the hoplophobes and SJW into a severe reaction, make them do the work of trying disprove how common it is, and in the subsequent uproar, prove the point. Shift the narrative.

[silver.]

Excellent. One think I've noticed about gun control advocates is that they think firearms turn harmless little boys into violent killers. This is some sort of projection; it's like they don't trust themselves with guns, so they can't possibly trust anyone else. Some of this is just ignorance of the fact that a gun is just a hunk of steel-a tool. But I think some of it is that people don't want to be in charge of protecting themselves. They don't like the idea that police are minutes away, but when something goes wrong they can blame everyone besides themselves. I see this thread in all big gov't activists; it's like they want an entity protecting them from the world. To make choices for them, financially support them when they fall, provide health care for them. They want government to be like a parent.

So the arguments about personal empowerment don't work on these people. They don't want the power or the responsibility of owning a firearm. I know that sounds crazy.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

They went all in on Trump and owning the libs, so, while they can come back from that, it's not gonna happen quickly.

[dave b.]

She's a good NRA token like Colion Noir, considering that no black person should support the NRA under any circumstances.

[MarkLastname]

Black people should just trust their defense to the police.

Has anyone told you what a moron you are yet today? Aside from your mother.

[silver.]

Indeed. Black people are some of the most voracious supporters of the 2nd amendment I know. My first anti-gun convert was a black friend who was having trouble with a racist asshole threatening to kill him. Cops wouldn't do shit, obviously. Got his concealed permit, raised his shirt a little bit, and never saw the guy again. Additionally he traveled late at night and got pulled over once a month or so, because profiling, and the cops were way less tense when they ran his plates and saw that he was a permit holder. What dangerous criminal gets a CCP?

[BestUsedCarSales]

I thought you were being serious, based on how the NRA basically flopped around after Philando Castile. That's actually my major issue with the NRA. I don't think they're sincere, and I don't think they go far enough in their defense.

[loveconstitution1789]

I think the NRA does alright and has made some great strides to get more gun rights protected. They are attacked on many fronts and chose the incidents that have proven support and steer clear of gun incidents that are tough to win.

I think the only reason the NRA is defending gun rights with the Florida shooting is because the incident is not a good incident for gun grabbers. Sure kids died but the cops were incompetent and Cruz passed the background check.

The NRA sold bump stocks down the river after Vegas.

I still won't give the NRA money until they go zero compromise with gun grabbers. Until the NRA pushes to end background checks, bans on any armament, and bans on ex-felons they have enough money from other people.

I will have any armament that I want whether the NRA is out there or not.

[dave b.]

Supporting the right to self defense is not the same as supporting the NRA, since you're apparently too fucking stupid to figure that out. The NRA was all about gun control when the niggers were allowed to have firearms. They were front and center with CA governor Reagan to end open carry thanks to Huey Newton. Their reaction after Castile tells you all you need to know about them - they're for the 2A when it's convenient. As the owner of multiple firearms, fuck the NRA.

[silver.]

I loathe Piers Morgan. Ms. Okafor was losing her cool, and I don't see what other choice she had. She had to shout over him to even get a word out. He's allowed to use emotionally manipulative arguments but she's not? Classic anti-gun tactic. Shame on him.

I don't really understand why an American firearm debate is on Good Morning Britain. As he proudly states, they don't have much gun crime. They just have more of every other type of violent crime. Get the hell out of our politics; if I wanted to live in a country like Britain I'd leave.

Does anyone have a source for the ~80 deaths a day? I'm positive that at least half if not 3/4s of those are suicides, and Britain is actually a great example to observe how, contrary to the claims of Means Matter, restricting suicide methods does not decrease the suicide rate at all. The vast majority switch to strangulation which only takes a few minutes to pass out, and it has an even higher chance of major disability from a failed attempt.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Quick look shows me that based on the 2016 suicide rate (44,695) and the percentage done by gun (51%) that it's about 62 a day.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Also, I'm finding that all of these statistics mention that these suicides cost 69 Billion dollars annually. And once I stopped laughing at 69 I'm pretty irritated by that. Fuck you for telling suicides they cost too much.

[Citizen X - #6]

"You were a burden in life and you're a burden in death!"

[silver.]

I guess that's in lost revenue and taxes and shit from them working. Because that's all we are. Serfs. Worker bees for the queens and kings in our capitols.

I've always said that if you tax the rich too much they'll just leave. Don't the top 1% pay like 30% of the taxes? They could easily retire to a life of luxury in a million-dollar estate on a beach somewhere. They don't owe us shit.

They're leaving California like crazy already.

Fuck you indeed; I'll voluntarily withdrawal myself from a life of serfdom if I damn well please. I don't owe shit to anybody.

[silver.]

Beautiful. So there are actually 20 firearm murders a day. 7,000 a year is still a lot, but not overwhelming for a country with our population. This source has some interesting comparisons. Murder rates are roughly similar depending on specific stat (site says we have 2x as many, WHO says they have 18% more), but there are twice as many rapes and assaults and at least 25% more total crime. Off the top of my head I want to say that there are a lot more hot burglaries for obvious reasons, but overall rates are similar.

Just like Ms. Okafor was saying in the video, we can't really be compared to Germany, Australia, Britain, etc. We have more current unregistered firearms than those countries have had in their entire histories. Unless the antis have a magic wand, they're not going away.

[Conchfritters]

I think I found a transcript of Hope's testimony:

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as, uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for the children."

[Rufus The Monocled]

What ever happened to that girl anyway?

I must say, it wasn't that bad after listening to Obama and Trudeau these past few years.

[Conchfritters]

Caitlin Upton? Not sure, but she is still smoking hot.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Why is a soccer goalie testifying before Congress?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

NCAA probe?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""I think I found a transcript of Hope's testimony:""

She should borrow Hillary's

Not that I recall, Not that I recall, Not that I recall, What difference does it make.

[Citizen X - #6]

Austrian public broadcasting network ORF is suing Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, for saying the network spreads fake news.

You know who else was an Austrian politician?

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

The Governator?

[SIV]

Arnold Schwarzenegger?

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Too slow.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Arnold Braunschweiger?

[Pro Libertate]

Hitler was a German politician. In Germany. He was no longer an Austrian when he held office.

[Citizen X - #6]

Who said anything about Hitler?

[Citizen X - #6]

"President Donald Trump told a gathering of state governors on Monday that 'we have to have action'

Choosing not to act is also an action.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

And if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

[Zeb]

As is telling things to gatherings of governors.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

What do you call a group of governors?

[Conchfritters]

A Brandstad?

[Rhywun]

My mama always told me if I didn't have nothin' nice to say, don't say anything.

[Jerryskids]

A group of governors is an anti-watt. James Watt invented a governor that utilized the force of spinning to regulate the flow of hot air and these governors use hot air to control spin.

[Pro Libertate]

Predator.

[Get To Da Chippah]

We have plenty of action already. Bolt, lever...

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

So Monica Lewinsky is more Mauser (cock on open) than Lee-Enfield (cock on close).

[Mr. Dyslexic]

Single action, double action.

[Brian]

But is choosing to act also... not acting?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Quick, someone get Geddy Lee on the phone!

[BestUsedCarSales]

I called him up and asked him. He politely asked me to stop calling him. Hope that helps.

[Pro Libertate]

He told you to take off, to the Great White North. Take off, it's a beauty way to go.

[Alcibiades]

On a brighter note, after yesterday's arguments at the Supreme Court it looks like Public sector unions will soon no longer be able to violate a core constitutional principle of American citizens and Abood vs. Detroit Board of Education (1977) will soon be history.

[Rhywun]

*fingers crossed*

[Alcibiades]

Gorsuch will probably be the decider, 5-4.

God, if Trump does nothing else positive for however long his administration lasts, for giving us Gorsuch I give him my heartfelt and genuine thanks. Hope he's got another originalist jurist lined up. Just how is Kennedy's and Ginsburg's health these days anyway?

[Juice]

Gorsuch isn't perfect, but he might just turn out to be the best justice on the SC.

[Alcibiades]

Agree. And he's nothin' but a youngster, he could be there for 40 more years!

Another young, solid originalist like that on the bench and most major attacks on the republic would be rebuffed. Maybe even two more like him...I can dream.

[silver.]

Haven't been following their cases much. I'm glad he's shaping up to be good; some are skeptical of how originalist he really is.

[Alcibiades]

From his previous decisions he seems to be of the originalist school. He interprets the Constitution and laws as they're written and doesn't discover hidden penumbras or other previously occluded subtexts.

So it seems for him, as for Scalia (RIP), the Constitution is a dead document, as dead as dead can be and does not "evolve" i.e. mutate.

I'm guardedly optimistic...

[Sevo]

"Germany's top administrative court has ruled that cities and towns may ban diesel vehicles."
Groceries now delivered by horse.

[Zeb]

I bet there are exceptions for commercial vehicles.

I don't know about Germany, but it a lot of Europe, it seems like everything's a diesel. Seems like just up and banning them would cause some significant disruptions. Or are they going to buy everyone a new car too?

[Rhywun]

The article says about half of all vehicles in Germany. It was supposed to be the Gaia-friendly choice, until it wasn't.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I continually tell people that government is incompetent, that everything government touches, it screws up one way or another. This is just another prime example.

[Zeb]

It may be the Gaia friendly choice. It's turned out not to be the human beings breathing friendly choice.

[Mickey Rat]

You can get some impressive fuel efficiencies out of diesel, but it burns hotter so there os a price to pay with high NOx emissions.

Everything is a tradeoff.

[Zeb]

And particulate emissions.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

If they were coal powered, they could call it Cash For Clinkers.

[Rhywun]

"Hogan!"

[Rufus The Monocled]

Didn't Germany go green and then had to import energy from Denmark because they're citizens froze in the winter?

I'm starting to think Germany is a tad over praised these days.

[Rhywun]

Germany has loooooong history of falling for the latest eco-fads.

When I was living there it was "plastic bags are better for the environment than paper".

[Rufus The Monocled]

For a country that's known for its science, it sure has fallen hard for sciency.

Alas, all of the EU has.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

German engineering and efficiency has always been over-rated. Who could possible think that murdering your own citizens during time of war is a good idea? Who could possibly think it a good idea to allocate hundreds of thousands of your own soldiers and citizens for the sole purpose of murdering millions of partisans who were ready to help you fight your common enemy?

Even aside from the ethical problems, the idea of wasting so much blood and treasure to hinder your own war effort just smacks of stupidity in the highest degree. Every time someone talks about German efficiency, I bring that up and shock them into silence. It has never failed.

[Juice]

Hitler was a terrible national leader. He would have made a great cult leader though. How high someone got in the government depended mainly on one's devotion to the Nazi ideology and loyalty to Hitler himself. Didn't really matter if you didn't have any experience in the area that you were now in charge of for the whole country and the whole war effort. This led to massive incompetence up and down the whole structure. I think this is the main reason why they lost the war. They could have won it early if it hadn't been for Hitler's arrogance, insisting on calling all the military shots himself or letting incompetent ideologues call the shots. They made so many military blunders it's a wonder they got as far as they did.

[silver.]

This is exactly how I feel. Considering the points SR&C made above, they really did a remarkable job in the war. They had some excellent engineering talent, but I don't think that talent was really all that loyal to Hitler. I think they were just glad to be putting food on the table after the hyperinflation from the crazy monetary policy after WWI.

I'm interested in learning more about the political and economic climate of Europe after WWI that inspired Hayek's ideas.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

And attacking Russia and opening the Eastern Front was just pure 5D chess. That's gold, Jerry, gold!

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

They're shocked into silence by you reminding them of... Hitler?

[MarkLastname]

At my parties bringing up Hitler always leads to fun discussions. Maybe I'm attrnding the wrong parties.

[NoVaNick]

This German guy I used to work with once told me that they did a poll and something like 70% of German men said they would choose their car over their wife or girlfriend. I thought it crazy at the time, but now I can understand.

[Get To Da Chippah]

"President Donald Trump told a gathering of state governors on Monday that 'we have to have action' in the wake of the latest US mass shooting and urged governors not to be 'afraid' of challenging the National Rifle Association."

Thank goodness. For while there I was getting tempted to vote for him in 2018. Trump's support among GOP voters will plummet, and Trump could cure cancer with just a smile and still not convince any Team Blue pseudo-socialists to vote for him.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Is anyone really surprised that Trump would come out for gun control? I saw this coming from a mile away. All fascists favor gun control.

[John]

Get back to me when something passes. Proposing something that he knows the other side will never agree to so that he can look reasonable is a Trump signature move. Maybe he really means this. But maybe he doesn't. The day he actually signs something is the day I will worry about him actually meaning it.

[Horatio]

"You didn't build that" wasn't signing legislation, yet Obama was appropriately criticized for saying it because it revealed his worldview.

You really love Trump so much that you'll wait until a bill is sitting on his desk - one that he would've helped get passed with his support - to criticize him?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Aww, man, I was gonna reference that below... 🙁

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

It was pretty clear throughout the campaign.

[Zeb]

I was getting tempted to vote for him in 2018

I say go for it. Write him in as congressman.

[Cy]

From a political stand point, that was suicide to say.

[Cy]

Given Trump's base... that was political suicide.

[Rhywun]

Germany's top administrative court has ruled that cities and towns may ban diesel vehicles.

Why not? The Energiewende has been such a resounding success - at tripling your electric bill.

[Rhywun]

not to be 'afraid' of challenging the National Rifle Association

The National Rifle Association told that kid to shoot up his school? That's news to me.

[John]

http://www.city-journal.org/ht.....15741.html

According to Washington Post reporting, Broward County schools once recorded more in-school arrests than any other Florida district. But in 2013, the school board and the sheriff's office agreed on a new policy to discontinue police referrals for a dozen infractions ranging from drug use to assault. The number of school-based arrests plummeted by 63 percent from 2012 to 2016.

A few months ago the FBI indicted a bunch of school teachers in Atlanta for wire fraud because the teachers conspired to help their students cheat on statewide tests. If it is wire fraud to help students cheat, then how is it also not fraud to collude with the Sheriff's department to ensure criminals in your schools are not arrested so that your arrest numbers go down?

[Rhywun]

The MSM is going to completely ignore this scandal, isn't it.

[John]

The Post reported on it some. But generally, my guess is that it will. I can't help but wonder if Cruz's name had been Smith or Jones so that his arrest would not have hurt their "minority arrest" numbers if he wouldn't have been arrested and gotten the help he needed and none of this would have happened.

The school board stopped arresting criminals so that they could look good. And one of those criminals turned out to be criminally insane and killed 20 or whoever many it was people. As far as I am concerned, they should bear a lot of the blame for this, but won't.

[Zeb]

Do we know he did anything he could have been arrested for while he was a student?

[John]

He was very violent and had put a gun to several people's heads. He also showed up with a gun at school and was expelled but taking a gun to a school is a crime.

[Zeb]

I'd say it's better not to get the police involved for drugs or a mutual fight or something. But it sounds like they went a lot farther than that.

[John]

I read another article that said the gangs figured out not only that high school students got a virtual free pass and thus were very valuable to recruit but also that the police basically stopped arresting anyone towards the end of the month to avoid exceeding their monthly quota of arrests. It is just unbelievable.

[Ecoli]

You might recall that the FLorida school system where Trayvon Martin attended did the exact same thing. It didn't work out well for Trayvon in the end.

[DajjaI]

'we have to have action'

Just end it. We gotta get tough. You know we gotta do it folks.

[Rebel Scum]

"President Donald Trump told a gathering of state governors on Monday that 'we have to have action' in the wake of the latest US mass shooting and urged governors not to be 'afraid' of challenging the National Rifle Association."

You're breaking my balls, Donald. If there's any way to shoot yourself in the foot, this is it.

[Rebel Scum]

Hope Hicks

I'll be in my bunk.

[John]

Holy cow. My monitor about burst into flames. She is smoking hot.

[Horatio]

Yes, but...avoid power skirts at all costs.

[John]

She is likely evil and more than a bit crazy and a first class maneater. But, come on, like any of that would matter if you ever actually had a shot. Sure she would probably ruin your life, but what a way to ruin it.

[Rebel Scum]

Even so, she is still on the correct side of the crazy/hot scale. I'd risk it.

[Conchfritters]

Best piece of ass Corey Lewandowski ever had.

[John]

Really? Why was she with that loser?

[Conchfritters]

No fucking idea - she must be easy. My quote above was from Trump - he told her that!

[gaoxiaen]

Would, but such manjaws.

[Jerryskids]

"President Donald Trump told a gathering of state governors on Monday that 'we have to have action' in the wake of the latest US mass shooting and urged governors not to be 'afraid' of challenging the National Rifle Association."

Is this some of that 7-D Wizard Chess where Trump comes out in favor of gun control knowing that half the GOP and all of the Dems will immediately denounce the idea?

[John]

The Dems will never agree to any of his proposals because they are nuts. Then when nothing gets done, the gun rights people won't be able to complain since nothing was done and Trump can tell anyone who is worried about the evils of GUNS! "hey I tried but the Democrats wouldn't agree to anything."

[Ken Shultz]

When they quote the bit about Trump saying we should take on the NRA, they make it sound like he's an anti-Second Amendment gun grabber.

Trump's differences with the NRA are about raising the age of buying certain weapons to 21 from 18 and banning bump stocks.

Trump did not say that we should fight the NRA totally and on every issue.

When Trump said he wanted to take on the NRA, he didn't mean what the progressives mean when they say they want to take on the NRA. Look at the quote I pasted below from the same speech. He praised the NRA and said he supports the NRA. He disagrees with them on x, y, and z.

Incidentally, I oppose things the NRA leadership has said in respect to making it easy to commit the mentally ill without a trial. I'm not willing to sell the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments short to save the Second, but sometimes I think that's exactly what the NRA leadership would have us do.

[loveconstitution1789]

The NRA rarely uses the term unconstitutional when it opposes gun control. This is one of my biggest beefs with the NRA along with trying to compromise with gun grabbers. The NRA should better than to try and negotiate with them.

All this gun control is unconstitutional and requires repealing the 2nd Amendment for it to be legal.

[Rebel Scum]

Austrian public broadcasting network ORF is suing Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, for saying the network spreads fake news.

Do you know what other Austrian was critical of the media?

[Citizen X - #6]

Friedrich Hayek?

[Citizen X - #6]

Ron Paul?

[Ken Shultz]

Zsa Zsa Gabor?

[silver.]

Archduke Ferdinand?

[mad.casual]

Joseph Pulitzer?

[loveconstitution1789]

Arnold schwarzenegger?

[Horatio]

The 80's era pro-business Democrat that Republican primary voters foisted on us is about to learn a hard truth: it is not the NRA's money that his party is afraid of, but rather the ~100 million voters who are a VERY passionate about this issue. They're passionate all day, every day - unlike the gun grabbers.

Trumpkins - keep your dog on his leash for once.

[John]

I am not my President's keeper. That being said, just like with immigration, what Trump says and what actually happens are often two different things. If the Republicans in Congress are dumb enough to pass gun control and Trump dumb enough to sign it, there will be hell to pay. But until that happens it is all just blowing smoke up people's asses.

[Horatio]

Cool, I'll just ignore the fucking president feeding the grabbers' narrative that the NRA owns politicians, while pushing for policy that threatens my rights. In the middle of a gun grabber blitz. In the run up to the mid term elections. Because MAGA. Truly you people are a wonder to behold.

[John]

As a general rule, ignoring what politicians say and paying attention to what they do is a good idea. No one is more radial about gun rights than I am. But, I don't give a shit what any of these people say. I care about what they do. I am not interested in them making me feel good. I am interested in how they do their jobs.

[Rebel Scum]

As a general rule, ignoring what politicians say and paying attention to what they do is a good idea

This. My gf's card-carrying Democrat family was always gaga over Barry's lofty rhetoric and did not pay attention to his actions. This is why they 1) did not know that we were militarily involved in more countries at the end of his terms and 2) didn't care or didn't believe me when I brought it up. So I'm with you on waiting to cast judgement on Trump's actions.

[John]

I know a ton of people who voted for Obama. And all of them claim with the utmost sincerity that Obama was a centrist and it was the Republicans who were racist radicals who refused to even try to work with him. The reason they believe that is they only listened to what Obama said and because they get their information from the MSM, have no idea what he actually did in office.

[loveconstitution1789]

I voted for Obama knowing that he was a socialist. He could have been locked down for 4 or 8 years with a strong GOP Congress.

McCain is a warmonger who would have had us in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and the Crimea Vietnam style. We would have had over 10,000 KIAs by now. He would have been so much worse than Obama because a Republican or Democrats Congress would have done whatever he wanted.

Romney would have made a bad president but would have been better than Obama. The damage was already done by 2012.

Luckily, events happen and sometimes we get good things from bad. Trump is that good thing. If McCain won in 2008 or Romney in 2012, Hillary might have won the next election. Obama being that bad, allowed the USA to pick Trump. Trump is right politician for the time.

[Ken Shultz]

I think there's something to what John is saying about the difference between Trump saying something and Trump actually doing something.

I'd love to rail against Trump for pulling out of NAFTA or starting a trade war with China.

He hasn't actually done either of those things yet.

I'm always the first person to point out that we shouldn't judge Trump by his tweets; we should judge him by his actions. I'm always the first one to make fun of journalists and progs flying off the handle over one of Trump's tweets and ignoring what Trump actually does.

I don't suppose I can turn my back on that now that he's effectively tweeting something that I don't like.

Trump has not turned his back on the Second Amendment and become a gun grabber.

Trump has said a bunch of things that are bad.

John is right. There's a difference.

Let's not act like a bunch of journalists going ballistic over one of Trump's tweets.

[Horatio]

Ah yes, the ol' "he doesn't mean it unless it's convenient for my narrative that he means it" canard.

We're in an ideological war with these fuckers. We don't use bullets (yet) in this war, we instead use arguments. And when I'm out there defending my rights when there are 17 dead kids being buried - an unenviable position considering the pig-ignorance one must confront - I would hope the *Republican* President would at least avoid accepting the anti-gun lobby's premise that the NRA owns the party in power.

But 8-D MAGA chess, so shut up and let Daddy win this for me, right?

[Ken Shultz]

The narrative that the NRA owns the Republican party is only bad if people think the Second Amendment is bad.

Personally, if the NRA has that kind of a lock on one of the two big parties, I think that's a good thing.

[John]

Yes we are at war with these fuckers. That means the point is to win not score rhetorical points. The fact is not all of the public cares about gun rights as much as you and I do. A good chunk of the public isn't gun grabbers but they are not committed to the issue either. And that they want is for everyone to be reasonable. So you can't just say "fuck you". You have to try and look reasonable. The trick is to look reasonable without actually giving anything away. So you make proposals that you know the Democrats won't agree to and that wouldn't mean anything even if they were enacted. That way when they are not enacted you can say that you tried and were reasonable. That is how you win. You make the other side look like crazy zealots and your side look like reasonable pragmatists.

[Rebel Scum]

You make the other side look like crazy zealots and your side look like reasonable pragmatists.

Which is easy to do with gun-grabbers. They want technology from the 1950's (and earlier) banned, for christ's sake.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""As a general rule, ignoring what politicians say and paying attention to what they do is a good idea""

Yep, historical, if you want to know what a president will not do, just listen to what is said on the campaign trail.

[John]

Pretty much that.

[Griffin3]

If you assume his tweets are 100% for the purpose of playing-to/freaking-out the press, I don't think you are far off the mark. I dunno if the policy-making happens in different people, or a different part of his brain, but there doesn't seem to be much overlap between the two.

[Griffin3]

If you just assume Trump's tweets are 100% for the purpose of playing-to/freaking-out the press, I don't think you are far off the mark. The policy-making seems to happen in in a different part of his brain, or perhaps in different people altogether.

[John]

I have no idea what his purposes are. So, I can't tell you what he really intends to do and what he doesn't. All I can do is judge him by what he does.

[Ken Shultz]

"Even as a rift appears to be widening between his positions and those of the NRA -- which spent more than $30 million to back his 2016 presidential bid -- Trump called the NRA officials "great patriots" and promised that "there's no bigger fan of the 2nd Amendment than me and there's no bigger fan of the NRA."

That's a bunch of crap, but Hillary really would have been worse.

I'm not sure whether Trump is helping the congressional Republicans with swing voters in an election on this issue or whether he's hurting them more with the Republican base. I'm inclined to believe that he's helping.

The first midterm after a new president takes office is almost always a referendum on the new president. By my calculations, since 1910, the median loss of House seats by the president's party in the first midterm after a new president takes office is -24 seats. The more divisive a president is seen as being, the bigger the loss--and Trump is seen as being pretty damn divisive.

[Ken Shultz]

Statistics and probability can't tell us what the next role of the dice will be, and I suspect Trump is more of a unifying figure than the press and the polls would have us believe. After all, he won the presidency by flipping swing states like Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin from blue to red, and that's the meaning of unification. It isn't about unifying press support like Obama did.

To whatever extent marginal voters were planning to stick it to congressional Republicans because they wanted to lash out at Trump for doing nothing in the wake of a big mass shooting, he's muted the effect of that.

Other than that, I don't really see an upside to what Trump is saying or doing here.

Hillary would have been worse.

Trump will likely face a challenge in the primaries for his reelection, and he'll probably need to move to the right after the midterms for that reason. At least I hope so.

[John]

The media thinks anyone they don't like is "divisive". Obama was by far and away the most divisive President of my lifetime. I cannot think of a single division in this country Obama didn't go out of his way to aggravate. The media complains about Trump trolling but Obama trolled a lot more than Trump ever has. The media just didn't see it that way because they like Obama.

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, and by my definition, Obama's party lost -63 House seats in his first midterm--and it was mostly a referendum on Obama's use of TARP funds and ObamaCare.

That was the second worst showing in a first midterm since 1910--Warren Harding lost -77 seats in 1922, largely because of a split in the Republican party.

In the wake of 9/11, before we invaded Iraq, George W. Bush was a big unifier in his first midterm in 2002. There wasn't even much opposition to him coming from the Democrats then.

After the USSR fell and George H. W. Bush had won big in Operation Desert Shield, the press was still going after him like he was Ronald Reagan--but he was a unifier, and in his first midterm, he only lost -8 seats.

Trump makes Midwestern Democrats cross party lines to vote for him. They used to call them Reagan Democrats for voting for Reagan. Reagan was seen as a divisive figure by the press, but didn't he carry 49 of 50 states in 1984? That's the opposite of divisive.

Trump may be one of those kinds of figures, too. I wouldn't bet on it, but I wouldn't bet against it either.

[dave b.]

Trump isn't a uniter. People were voting against Hillary.

[Ken Shultz]

That would be more persuasive if Trump hadn't won the primaries because of open primaries--in which Democrats could vote for him, too.

By the time that Trump had won the primaries, the only open primary states he lost were to native sons--Cruz in Texas and Kasich in Ohio.

Trump beat other Republicans in primary elections in which Hillary wasn't even a candidate.

And it's really not hard to see why. Trump's anti-free trade rhetoric was especially appealing to the kinds of culturally conservative, blue collar, union types that crossed party lines to vote for Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

That's evidence for unification.

[Ken Shultz]

"In those open primaries, Trump has come out ahead in 13 out of 16 states. In states with closed primaries, Trump won only six out of 14 states. Overall, Trump has won closed states about half as often as he's won those open states."

----CNBC, March 22, 2016

https://tinyurl.com/yb567kt9

Of the three open primary states he'd lost at the point, one was to Cruz in Texas and the other was to Kasich in Ohio.

. . . Didn't' even Mondale manage to win Minnesota in 1984? Native sons have an advantage.

Trump's advantage was that he was able to appeal to traditional Democrats, especially in open primary states. Hillary Clinton be damned.

People forget that the white, blue collar, middle class in the Midwest used to be the bread and butter of the Democratic party, but it wasn't that long ago--as recently as Obama's last election in 2012.

[Ken Shultz]

I guess part of what I'm saying is that just like it makes sense to judge politicians by what they do rather than what they say, it also makes sense to judge voters by what they do rather than by what the press says.

It's easy to join in the press' delusion that they're the voice of the American people. They're no such thing.

Everything we read, hear, or see about the president ultimately comes from 55 people in the White House Press Corps--who are only speaking for themselves.

Here they are:

https://tinyurl.com/y9a3szyz

[silver.]

My inclination is to say that Republicans are going to lose both houses comfortably. I even think Dems could win a super majority. Of course, I thought he'd lose the presidency handily, too. That this shooting happened as potential politicians are stirring from their hibernation to start campaigning for the midterms could end up being a boon. A lot of people are single issue firearms voters. Come November I'll be thinking about bubbling "R," if this anti-2A madness keeps up. They're clamoring for very serious bans, and I refuse to let that happen while the 2nd amendment is still in effect. We can't infringe on constitutional rights so egregiously. Period.

[John]

The Democrats have zero chance of winning the Senate. Their chances of winning the House are decent but a lot less than they were even a few months ago. The problem the Democrats have is that they are basically not competitive in large areas of the country. They can command a majority of the national vote because they have huge majorities in a few areas. That is nice, but means absolutely nothing in a representative republic like ours.

[Rhywun]

didn't he carry 49 of 50 states in 1984

I still marvel at that. I doubt we'll see anything like that again in our lifetimes.

[Ken Shultz]

And yet they call Reagan "divisive", "polarizing", etc.

That's Shrike talking about nothing. That's the press talking about themselves.

It certainly isn't talking about the American people judging by their voting behavior.

[Zeb]

His election success doesn't really disprove divisiveness or polarizing. Those who voted against him could still be extremely divided from those who voted for him. You still see quite the division of opinion on Reagan. Not that that necessarily has much to do with the man himself.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I suspect that's the biggest reason why the left hated Nixon and Reagan so much--it wasn't so much for what they actually did, it's that the American public disagreed with the arguments against them and re-elected them by such overwhelming margins.

[Juice]

Obama was by far and away the most divisive President of my lifetime.

More than George "You're either with us or against us" Bush?

[John]

Yes. Not even close. Bush was talking about terrorists there. I am pretty sure most of the country knew they were not talking about them. How many bipartisan things did Obama ever do? Absolutely none. Bush, in contrast, signed all kinds of legislation that got support from both parties.

Since you like Obama, you never noticed or cared how he would do things like refuse to put the flags at the White House at half-staff after a couple of military recruiters were murdered in Tennesee or spend years calling the Fort Hood attack "workplace violence". He did that stuff and a lot of other things because he was an asshole and liked spitting in the faces of the part of America that didn't vote for him. Obama was a real nasty piece of work.

[Zeb]

Bush was talking about terrorists there.

So, he thought that maybe some terrorists would be with us?

[John]

No. He thought some people would be tempted to join them. I don't know a single person who cared or was offended by that statement that didn't already hate Bush.

[Citizen X - #6]

Despite everything, Florida remains Florida.

[mad.casual]

The FWC safely removed the gator, but its motive is still unclear.

I hope the ADL does a deep dive into 4chan to elucidate the gator's motive.

[loveconstitution1789]

Trumps running for prez 2020.

[Citizen X - #6]

...among lefties.

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