This is actually Bret Stephen's, a conservative columnist, idea. I happen to like it. It is simple. It is democratic. And it will relieve the Supreme Court of bizarre contortions that states and Congress don't have the right to regulate things that in the absence of regulation cause public harm.
Bret's Stephen's Original column
It will not be quick, but it could be a winning campaign strategy for 2018 and 2020 for the Democrats. The Congress would have the ability to set national policy and States would have the right to set their local policy within that national framework. Hunters will still have hunting rifles and people afraid for their personal safety can have their handguns in their homes and on their property. A tourist in NYC doesn't need a hidden weapon. There are amble police everywhere tourists go.
Showing posts with label Gun Violence = Terrorism = Criminality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gun Violence = Terrorism = Criminality. Show all posts
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
This Blog will Be Becoming Inactive After this one
Most of my reader hits are from Italy and I don't believe that many Italians love my writing even though I love Italian food, wine and visiting Italy. Instead, I think those hits from Italy are Russian botts trying to accomplish heaven knows what.
But for those of you who are not Russian botts, I leave you with this thought.
I recently saw a historical review of Birth of a Nation. This film made about 100 years ago revealed how widespread racism was in America. Even President Wilson, who I always thought of as a liberal leader, believed in racist separation and Jim Crow laws. I think he thought of Separate but Equal as being a good state of affairs even if there was no equality in such a state.
But reviewing the controversy surrounding the movie, the widespread support and viewership of the movie in the countryside, there can be no doubt that racism was widespread in white America. The KKK had even been put to rest prior to the movie and the movie revived the KKK and made it more popular than ever for the next 30 to 40 years.
And I believe Donald Trump knows about his history because his campaign playbook is right out of it. He panders to racists in the same manner the movie did. And just as the movie revived the KKK, so shall Donald Trump's words revive racist action. Donald Trump can protest that he is not a racist, but if you pander to racists, you are guilty of pandering to racists which will get you accused of being a racist. I happen to think Donald Trump is an economic racist. If you are not rich, you are not worthy. If you are not working to support him personally, you are not worthy. He can only care about those who care about and pander to him. That is narcism and that is what Trump is.
So racism is alive and well in the U.S. And it must be fought so it has no political standing. Not every Trump supporter is a racist, but if they don't disown Trump's racist actions, like him they will be subject to accusation of being a racist. I know the GOP wants to free people who they believe the welfare system is holding back by creating a culture of dependency.
But I ask you, how are so many Medicaid people who don't work able-bodied and not looking for work. I have never met such a person, although I do not doubt that a small number might fit this profile, it is a large country. But a small number should not determine how we fund a necessary support scheme for public health care.
And, as my final parting, I repeat what I have written before. Fear drives much use of guns. And the widespread availability of guns makes the police legitimately afraid, but there can still be no forgiveness for a police officer who lets fear generate the killing of an innocent human being. That is why I do not understand why police across this nation are not speaking out for sensible gun control.
But for those of you who are not Russian botts, I leave you with this thought.
I recently saw a historical review of Birth of a Nation. This film made about 100 years ago revealed how widespread racism was in America. Even President Wilson, who I always thought of as a liberal leader, believed in racist separation and Jim Crow laws. I think he thought of Separate but Equal as being a good state of affairs even if there was no equality in such a state.
But reviewing the controversy surrounding the movie, the widespread support and viewership of the movie in the countryside, there can be no doubt that racism was widespread in white America. The KKK had even been put to rest prior to the movie and the movie revived the KKK and made it more popular than ever for the next 30 to 40 years.
And I believe Donald Trump knows about his history because his campaign playbook is right out of it. He panders to racists in the same manner the movie did. And just as the movie revived the KKK, so shall Donald Trump's words revive racist action. Donald Trump can protest that he is not a racist, but if you pander to racists, you are guilty of pandering to racists which will get you accused of being a racist. I happen to think Donald Trump is an economic racist. If you are not rich, you are not worthy. If you are not working to support him personally, you are not worthy. He can only care about those who care about and pander to him. That is narcism and that is what Trump is.
So racism is alive and well in the U.S. And it must be fought so it has no political standing. Not every Trump supporter is a racist, but if they don't disown Trump's racist actions, like him they will be subject to accusation of being a racist. I know the GOP wants to free people who they believe the welfare system is holding back by creating a culture of dependency.
But I ask you, how are so many Medicaid people who don't work able-bodied and not looking for work. I have never met such a person, although I do not doubt that a small number might fit this profile, it is a large country. But a small number should not determine how we fund a necessary support scheme for public health care.
And, as my final parting, I repeat what I have written before. Fear drives much use of guns. And the widespread availability of guns makes the police legitimately afraid, but there can still be no forgiveness for a police officer who lets fear generate the killing of an innocent human being. That is why I do not understand why police across this nation are not speaking out for sensible gun control.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
5 Year's After Sandy Hook
I just don't understand.
This country suffers gun violence on such a frequent basis and nothing is being done to address it.
Yes, the Sandy Hook parents are trying to work on educating people about how to identify people at risk of doing such horrible things. That is good.
But, you can still buy unlimited number and types of weapons in certain states in order to sell them in states where that is not legal. And the NRA and the GOP want to allow that and concealment of such weapons anywhere including states where it that is illegal.
Why do people need weapons that can be made into machine guns with bump bump stocks?
Why do people who are terrorists, criminals, abusers and other violent people, allowed to buy guns no matter what their personal history?
Why are people allowed to buy semi-automatic weapons that they can adapt to fire faster?
Why are people allowed to buy hand-guns that they can conceal and frighten policeman to the extent that they shoot anybody they fear may have such a gun? Even when the victim shows no move toward such a weapon.
This Congress will not do anything. I can only wait for enlightened people to be elected.
This country suffers gun violence on such a frequent basis and nothing is being done to address it.
Yes, the Sandy Hook parents are trying to work on educating people about how to identify people at risk of doing such horrible things. That is good.
But, you can still buy unlimited number and types of weapons in certain states in order to sell them in states where that is not legal. And the NRA and the GOP want to allow that and concealment of such weapons anywhere including states where it that is illegal.
Why do people need weapons that can be made into machine guns with bump bump stocks?
Why do people who are terrorists, criminals, abusers and other violent people, allowed to buy guns no matter what their personal history?
Why are people allowed to buy semi-automatic weapons that they can adapt to fire faster?
Why are people allowed to buy hand-guns that they can conceal and frighten policeman to the extent that they shoot anybody they fear may have such a gun? Even when the victim shows no move toward such a weapon.
This Congress will not do anything. I can only wait for enlightened people to be elected.
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Who Knew, US Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Immigration
I just finished reading a book about the flood of undocumented children that presented themselves to Border Police in the summer of 2014. These children would still be coming except the U.S.A. under Presidents of both parties have convinced Mexico to prevent them from transversing Mexico to arrive at the U.S. border.
There is much to be heartfelt about the story of these teenagers who really just want a safe place to live, grow up and be useful citizens to the country in which they reside. But the really awful thing is how U.S. policies promoted by Conservatives have a direct link to creating the environment that forces these children to have to make a life or death decisions and both paths are high risk.
For the most part, illicit drugs are illegal in the U.S. Many of these drugs are produced in South America. While the Mexican cartels have been leading traffickers of these drugs, this activity has now been muscled into by gangs further south in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. So it is U.S. demand for illegal drugs that fuels criminal activity in these countries.
These gangs are violent and they have ready access to weapons sold in the U.S. The U.S. has no effective controls on gun purchases thanks to the N.R.A. convincing any number of states to allow unlimited purchases of these weapons by a single individual. And the N.R.A. also has killed any effective control of automatic weapons. If these gangs can smuggle drugs into the U.S., they can smuggle guns the other way. And boy do they ever. They are violent and unafraid of any police in their country because they have more money and guns than the police do.
Because there are rival gangs, the gangs suffer losses and need new recruits. They try to force children to join them and if the children don't agree to, they are intimidated and frequently killed for daring to say No. So the children have a stark choice: (i) stay and be killed or (ii) flee to the U.S., be potentially harmed or turned around along the way in Mexico, and if they make it to the U.S., face a hostile government that wants to send them home to be killed or become a gang member.
And these gangs have an impact on life in the U.S. The gangs from those countries have outposts in the U.S. Barrio18 &MS-13 have been shooting up certain towns in Long Island the same way they do in their native countries. Trying to intimidate kids into joining them or killing them if they say no.
Now I will admit that is the U.S. demand for these drugs that provide the money that causes all this. But the War on Drugs was started by Richard Nixon and is now almost 50 years old. Might it be time to start discussing legalization and treatment for addictions? I think so, but not with Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General. He thinks all drug users should be thrown in jail. Even Chris Christie thinks that is nuts.
But the U.S. has to do something about the availability of guns in bulk purchases. There are reasonable regulations that would do nothing to harm the average American's ability to buy another weapon while protecting society from madmen and criminals.
There is much to be heartfelt about the story of these teenagers who really just want a safe place to live, grow up and be useful citizens to the country in which they reside. But the really awful thing is how U.S. policies promoted by Conservatives have a direct link to creating the environment that forces these children to have to make a life or death decisions and both paths are high risk.
For the most part, illicit drugs are illegal in the U.S. Many of these drugs are produced in South America. While the Mexican cartels have been leading traffickers of these drugs, this activity has now been muscled into by gangs further south in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. So it is U.S. demand for illegal drugs that fuels criminal activity in these countries.
These gangs are violent and they have ready access to weapons sold in the U.S. The U.S. has no effective controls on gun purchases thanks to the N.R.A. convincing any number of states to allow unlimited purchases of these weapons by a single individual. And the N.R.A. also has killed any effective control of automatic weapons. If these gangs can smuggle drugs into the U.S., they can smuggle guns the other way. And boy do they ever. They are violent and unafraid of any police in their country because they have more money and guns than the police do.
Because there are rival gangs, the gangs suffer losses and need new recruits. They try to force children to join them and if the children don't agree to, they are intimidated and frequently killed for daring to say No. So the children have a stark choice: (i) stay and be killed or (ii) flee to the U.S., be potentially harmed or turned around along the way in Mexico, and if they make it to the U.S., face a hostile government that wants to send them home to be killed or become a gang member.
And these gangs have an impact on life in the U.S. The gangs from those countries have outposts in the U.S. Barrio18 &MS-13 have been shooting up certain towns in Long Island the same way they do in their native countries. Trying to intimidate kids into joining them or killing them if they say no.
Now I will admit that is the U.S. demand for these drugs that provide the money that causes all this. But the War on Drugs was started by Richard Nixon and is now almost 50 years old. Might it be time to start discussing legalization and treatment for addictions? I think so, but not with Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General. He thinks all drug users should be thrown in jail. Even Chris Christie thinks that is nuts.
But the U.S. has to do something about the availability of guns in bulk purchases. There are reasonable regulations that would do nothing to harm the average American's ability to buy another weapon while protecting society from madmen and criminals.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Sunday July 2 Musings
Gun Violence = Terrorism = Anarchy
Why do the police exist? Well from the very beginning of time, certain humans have decided to, or lost emotional control or perhaps both, to kill or abuse another human. Eventually society decided to give certain individuals the authority to protect everybody else from those humans intent on wrecking havoc. That is why we have the legend of Wyatt Erpe, Doc Holliday and any number of other famous policemen. Anyone remember Serprico?
I make that point to wonder why we get so hysterical about Islamic Terrorism, but not other acts of random violence including police shooting unarmed or even legally armed African Americans for various car violations. What motivated this thought was the Congressional baseball shooting was quickly labeled not a terrorist act. The shooting at the Bronx hospital was quickly labeled not a terrorist act. The shooting at the Little Rock night club was quickly labeled not a terrorist act.
Who did this labeling? The police and the Media. Who are they kidding? These are acts of gun violence are terrorism, a form of anarchy and criminal. They are just not committed by people of the Islamic faith.
So what I propose is the police and media either simply call Islamic Anarchy Islamic terrorism or call everything that is a criminal act terrorism or simply a criminal act. And if there is a lot of criminal acts then what we have is anarchy.
It all the same sh*t.
Caution in Leadership
There was a book review about President Kennedy's caution in helping Dr. Martin Luther King. This was an epiphany for me about both President Obama and President Trump. Good leaders are cautious. They want to make progress but only with consensus behind them so there is adequate support for what they are trying to accomplish. That is how progress acquires support and acceptance from the masses. As much as I supported President Obama's policies, he and the Democrats got lost in their Congressional majority in 2009/10 and abandoned caution in the face of Republican obstruction. Now I don't have a clue what type of Health Insurance Reform the GOP would have supported in 2009/10? or what type of environmental actions that GOP would have supported? But we would certainly be in a better place if the GOP and a good slice of their voters supported a better health insurance structure than what we previously had and we would be in a better place with similar action on the environment. And as for President Trump and the Congressional GOP, they don't have a clue about this concept of Leadership should be cautious. They are pursuing a radical agenda with zero support from anyone other than the GOP core.
Now I read Trump EPA is busy undoing Obama Environmental Regulations. But they are not doing it through Congress either so the next Democratic President can undo the Trump damage and we can go back and forth on this for any number of 4 year periods. I'm not sure how business will react but I don't think this would be a net positive. And this highlights my point about Leadership = Caution.
Rural Jails
Fact. Most long term jail facilities are in rural areas. Fact, except for 4 states, these criminals are counted in the population where the jail resides. But felons do not have the right to vote. So while the voting districts are designed to divide the population up evenly, these rural voters have more than one vote in the overall scheme because their vote is part of a smaller total of number of voters. This enhances the rural voting power in Legislative Districts and leads to a GOP advantage. I believe this is why the GOP supports filling up the jails as much as possible. It enhances the gerrymandering.
Why do the police exist? Well from the very beginning of time, certain humans have decided to, or lost emotional control or perhaps both, to kill or abuse another human. Eventually society decided to give certain individuals the authority to protect everybody else from those humans intent on wrecking havoc. That is why we have the legend of Wyatt Erpe, Doc Holliday and any number of other famous policemen. Anyone remember Serprico?
I make that point to wonder why we get so hysterical about Islamic Terrorism, but not other acts of random violence including police shooting unarmed or even legally armed African Americans for various car violations. What motivated this thought was the Congressional baseball shooting was quickly labeled not a terrorist act. The shooting at the Bronx hospital was quickly labeled not a terrorist act. The shooting at the Little Rock night club was quickly labeled not a terrorist act.
Who did this labeling? The police and the Media. Who are they kidding? These are acts of gun violence are terrorism, a form of anarchy and criminal. They are just not committed by people of the Islamic faith.
So what I propose is the police and media either simply call Islamic Anarchy Islamic terrorism or call everything that is a criminal act terrorism or simply a criminal act. And if there is a lot of criminal acts then what we have is anarchy.
It all the same sh*t.
Caution in Leadership
There was a book review about President Kennedy's caution in helping Dr. Martin Luther King. This was an epiphany for me about both President Obama and President Trump. Good leaders are cautious. They want to make progress but only with consensus behind them so there is adequate support for what they are trying to accomplish. That is how progress acquires support and acceptance from the masses. As much as I supported President Obama's policies, he and the Democrats got lost in their Congressional majority in 2009/10 and abandoned caution in the face of Republican obstruction. Now I don't have a clue what type of Health Insurance Reform the GOP would have supported in 2009/10? or what type of environmental actions that GOP would have supported? But we would certainly be in a better place if the GOP and a good slice of their voters supported a better health insurance structure than what we previously had and we would be in a better place with similar action on the environment. And as for President Trump and the Congressional GOP, they don't have a clue about this concept of Leadership should be cautious. They are pursuing a radical agenda with zero support from anyone other than the GOP core.
Now I read Trump EPA is busy undoing Obama Environmental Regulations. But they are not doing it through Congress either so the next Democratic President can undo the Trump damage and we can go back and forth on this for any number of 4 year periods. I'm not sure how business will react but I don't think this would be a net positive. And this highlights my point about Leadership = Caution.
Rural Jails
Fact. Most long term jail facilities are in rural areas. Fact, except for 4 states, these criminals are counted in the population where the jail resides. But felons do not have the right to vote. So while the voting districts are designed to divide the population up evenly, these rural voters have more than one vote in the overall scheme because their vote is part of a smaller total of number of voters. This enhances the rural voting power in Legislative Districts and leads to a GOP advantage. I believe this is why the GOP supports filling up the jails as much as possible. It enhances the gerrymandering.
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