• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The willow is too close to the house.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Well played, @robdelaney

Well played, @robdelaney

by Betty Cracker|  March 20, 20139:05 am| 97 Comments

This post is in: Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

FacebookTweetEmail

Via Salon:

rummytweet

Speaking of blood-gargling ghouls, the sociopaths at the NRA are doing an end-zone dance since Harry Reid had to withdraw the assault weapons ban portion of the Senate gun bill due to lack of support.

It’s infuriating as hell, and it’s entirely possible that our craven political and media class will step over the bullet-ridden bodies of 20 first graders to maintain the status quo instead of enacting the sane gun control measures that a majority of Americans want.

Still, I’m not as pessimistic as Steve M, not in the long term. The role of guns in American culture is declining, not fast enough to suit many of us, but the trajectory is clear.

Yes, it’s crazy-making that we allow bug-eyed lunatics backed by soulless plutocrats to drive our ship of state and tend not to stage a mutiny and make course corrections until we’ve foundered on the clearly visible rocks and lost a significant portion of the passengers. But that’s how we roll.

[X-posted at Rumproast]

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Choices
Next Post: Unfakeable »

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  1. 1.

    gogol's wife

    March 20, 2013 at 9:10 am

    That’s bad news, but it’s what I expected. But they just have to keep trying, keep trying, keep trying. It’s getting closer. They weren’t even talking about this before Newtown. A lot of people are really working on it now in a more sustained way. And things are happening at the state level, if you happen to live in a sane state.

  2. 2.

    Howlin Wolfe

    March 20, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Rummy ain’t a psychopath, that’s disrespectful to people with those kinds of disabilites. He’s a sociopath.

  3. 3.

    Linda Featheringill

    March 20, 2013 at 9:15 am

    This country’s love affair with things that go Boom! won’t be abandoned quickly or easily.

    We might have started the process though.

  4. 4.

    Suffern ACE

    March 20, 2013 at 9:16 am

    I wonder if Rob knew he was going to get this much attention, he would have worn something that didn’t make him look like he were a married man trolling for dates. Yay, headless torso shots!

  5. 5.

    Schlemizel

    March 20, 2013 at 9:18 am

    While it might be important from a visual standpoint the impact of an assault weapon ban would be negligible. The real work, the focus to reduce needless gun deaths has to be on handguns that kill many times more people than assault weapons. Universal background checks will save more lives than an assault weapon ban. If we have to use the ban as a red cape to distract the bull/NRA and then toss it aside after we get some actually effective laws passed I’m OK with that.

    Its taken 50 years of hysteria to get gun laws to the current, unenforceable, muddled mess they are it will probably take nearly as long to get them straightened out

  6. 6.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    March 20, 2013 at 9:18 am

    Michael Moore is crawling up one side of Harry Reid and down the other over on twitter, demanding to know how many more children have to die before he shows some spine and makes people vote against protecting children.

  7. 7.

    SatanicPanic

    March 20, 2013 at 9:18 am

    Still, I’m not as pessimistic as Steve M, not in the long term.

    Who is?

  8. 8.

    Rosalita

    March 20, 2013 at 9:18 am

    Okay, I can’t believe Rummy was stupid enough to even step out of his house yesterday let alone TWEET about the fucking Great Iraqi Adventure. What a fucking tone-deaf douchebag. I know,I shouldn’t be surprised.

    I’m disgusted about the assault weapons ban. I don’t get how there isn’t enough support. No Joe citizen needs that kind of weapon.

  9. 9.

    Ash Can

    March 20, 2013 at 9:23 am

    Rumsfeld has some goddaned nerve, opening his piehole on this. I hope he got many, many tweets like this.

  10. 10.

    jibeaux

    March 20, 2013 at 9:24 am

    Well, I’m pessimistic. If we can’t get it done now, it seems unlikely we ever will. People are reactive and not proactive, so if there ever is significant gun legislation I hate to say it will probably follow something worse than Sandy Hook. Right now even if toddlers got picked off from a helicopter that seems an uphill climb with the NRA.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    March 20, 2013 at 9:25 am

    @SatanicPanic: Steve M is the Eeyore of the Leftosphere. I say this with love.

  12. 12.

    monkeyfister

    March 20, 2013 at 9:27 am

    “Sail on, sail on, oh, mighty Ship Of State. To the shores of need, past the Isles of Greed through the squalls of hate.” — Leonard Cohen

  13. 13.

    Rosalita

    March 20, 2013 at 9:27 am

    I had to visit the thread to read all the put-downs, this one made me LOL:

    josh ‏@shmeattle 23h
    @RumsfeldOffice if there’s a hell, i’m certain you’ll be burning for your involvement, you wrinkled, soulless shit

  14. 14.

    flukebucket

    March 20, 2013 at 9:27 am

    stage a mutiny and make course corrections

    For that you will need AR-15’s

  15. 15.

    japa21

    March 20, 2013 at 9:28 am

    I don’t think Reid had much of a choice. Keeping the AWB in the bill would probably have doomed the whole thing. I understand it will be offered as an amendment but I am sure it will be voted down.
    The problem is that even in red states an AWB has strong support. But a lot of Dems, plus virtually every GOPer, lives in fear of getting a bad rating from the NRA.
    As long as these cowards give the NRA power, it will continue to use it against them.

  16. 16.

    Mark S.

    March 20, 2013 at 9:30 am

    If twenty dead first graders can’t do it, I don’t want to know what will. And from Steve’s post:

    48% of Americans still saw the NRA in a positive light, according to one poll; 46% said the NRA better reflected their views on guns, as opposed to 41% who said President Obama did, according to another poll; yet another poll said that 44% of Americans trust Republicans on gun policy, vs. 42% for the president.

    Who the fuck are these people? This isn’t just the 27% we all know and love. Almost half the fucking country thinks the lunatics in the NRA better represent their views on gun legislation?

  17. 17.

    SatanicPanic

    March 20, 2013 at 9:31 am

    @Betty Cracker: Yup. I can’t be quite as pessimistic about a AWB- 1994 wasn’t that long ago. It’s clearly not impossible, and like you said, guns are becoming a fringe hobby.

  18. 18.

    TaMara (BHF)

    March 20, 2013 at 9:31 am

    Yes, it’s crazy-making that we allow bug-eyed lunatics backed by soulless plutocrats to drive our ship of state and tend not to stage a mutiny and make course corrections until we’ve foundered on the clearly visible rocks and lost a significant portion of the passengers. But that’s how we roll.

    From the birth of this country to every major issue we’ve faced, this seems to be the fight, every single time. We have to drag the neanderthals along kicking and screaming to the right side of history.

    John Adams feels your pain.

  19. 19.

    jibeaux

    March 20, 2013 at 9:34 am

    @TaMara (BHF): To the extent that we’re taking the long view as in the 200 years long view, o.k. Probably civilian weapons will get to the point where they can vaporize a city park and maybe something will happen. But if the long view is the next 20 years, I have to say I don’t see it. Think about how many awful, horrible mass shootings have happened that resulted in nothing at the federal level, and this one took it to an entirely new scale, and that might, possibly, result in something pretty toothless. Ugh. I guess for some states there may be hope.

  20. 20.

    Cermet

    March 20, 2013 at 9:37 am

    The tragic consequence of our culture of hiding violence (but putting it in b-level movies) is that pictures of that terrible, monstrous massacre would help sane people get these insane monsters promoting a gun-ridden culture of mass murder to at least allow a few limited restrictions.

  21. 21.

    LAC

    March 20, 2013 at 9:37 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I hope that self aggrandizing asshat is also crawling over voters who sit out elections because their promised sparkle pony is on back order and bring about the election of these creeps with their NRA money and lack of spine.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    March 20, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Here’s a WaPost front page story: After decade of war, troops still struggling to find work

    Check out the front page photo (Capt. Bolton, his son, and pets). It made me think of soonergrunt.

  23. 23.

    ET

    March 20, 2013 at 9:40 am

    The reason the NRA is fighting this so hard is a signal that they know that the roll of guns in America is declining.

  24. 24.

    Cermet

    March 20, 2013 at 9:41 am

    @Cermet: This stupid site is not allowing edit – this is referencing Newton – a room full of slaughtered children might wake people up; as for people saying it is wrong to show the pictures (think of the children!), those same children are dead and suffered terribly at that the hands of that insane monster; maybe some good could be served by images forcing people to see exactly what their stupid support of the NRA does to children.

  25. 25.

    Ash Can

    March 20, 2013 at 9:47 am

    @Rosalita: I went there too, for teh lulz, and noticed that there’s only a couple dozen or so replies (all basically calling him a war-criminal POS), and they’re all from 23 hours ago. I know nothing about how Twitter works, but it looks to me like he posted that tweet, then closed the comments on it when the abuse started pouring in.

  26. 26.

    Punchy

    March 20, 2013 at 9:52 am

    The role of guns in American culture is declining, not fast enough to suit many of us, but the trajectory is clear.

    Whoa whoa whoa…..link please?

  27. 27.

    Comrade Dread

    March 20, 2013 at 9:53 am

    I am pretty cynical on this topic.

    When it comes to guns, we go through the same damn script every time.

    1. Maladjusted wackaloon picks up an arsenal and a few thousand rounds (or steals it because some dumbass ‘responsible’ gun owner doesn’t lock it up) and then goes out and shoots up:
    – His wife and her family
    – A movie theater
    – A college
    – A workplace
    – A fucking elementary school
    2. Everyone expresses sorrow and condolences to the family and promises that we’ll work hard to make sure nothing like this happens again. We may even get congressional hearings, but probably not.
    3. The NRA comes out and says that if only the victims had access to body armor and anti-tank weaponry they’d all still be alive. This is echoed by the conservative media until it becomes a respectable sentiment.
    4. Someone studies or introduces ways we could stop maladjusted wackaloons from acquiring more firepower than God.
    5. A few weeks pass and, hey look! Lindsey Lohan! Isn’t she crazy!
    6. Uh… what were we talking about again?
    7. Another maladjusted wackaloon picks up an arsenal and a few thousands rounds and shoots up on of the aforementioned places.
    8. Lather, rinse, repeat.

  28. 28.

    Citizen_X

    March 20, 2013 at 9:54 am

    @Ash Can:

    he posted that tweet, then closed the comments on it when the abuse started pouring in.

    Good. Fuck him. Shut up and crawl back into your rathole, Rummy.

  29. 29.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    March 20, 2013 at 9:55 am

    @Punchy: The link is on the word declining.

  30. 30.

    Hill Dweller

    March 20, 2013 at 9:58 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Michael Moore is crawling up one side of Harry Reid and down the other over on twitter, demanding to know how many more children have to die before he shows some spine and makes people vote against protecting children.

    Reid said, and I believe him, he didn’t even have 40 votes for an assault weapons ban. Blaming Reid seems to miss the point.

    Only a fraction of the Dem caucus is willing to vote for gun control legislation knowing it’s going to get filibustered anyway.

    The same thing is going to happen with background checks. Republicans are already signaling they’re going to back away from any legislation on background checks, forcing Dems to go it alone. Many Dems, especially the ones facing reelection in ’14, will not be willing to do it.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 20, 2013 at 10:00 am

    What happened to Keitel and Jodl should happen to vonRumsfailed.

  32. 32.

    gogol's wife

    March 20, 2013 at 10:02 am

    @Cermet:

    No, I’m sorry. As the close relative of a murder victim, I do not think that the children’s bodies should be dragged out for public display, for the benefit of people who have the imagination of a worm.

    Can’t they visualize what happened to those children? If they can’t, then their souls are not reachable.

  33. 33.

    Trakker

    March 20, 2013 at 10:03 am

    Gun nuts are their own worse enemy (especially with a Black Democrat as President). I’m confident that eventually they will frighten and sicken enough people that Congress will have to listen.

    I can’t believe how many states now allow gun owners to carry loaded guns in public places, and I can’t believe that gun owners are actually doing it, often just to flaunt their “right.” That means a psychopathic gun owner with a loaded semi-automatic in a crowded space cannot be legally stopped or disarmed until they pull the trigger. Until they actually shoot someone they are a “good guy with a gun.”

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 20, 2013 at 10:03 am

    @SatanicPanic:

    Who is?

    Me. But then I live in a 3rd world country called Missomalia… Or something like that. These people ain’t real sharp. That is why we have a Senator named Blunt.

  35. 35.

    Svensker

    March 20, 2013 at 10:04 am

    @Ash Can:

    All the replies are gone now. Fecking coward. But we knew that.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 20, 2013 at 10:05 am

    @Cermet: Newtown. Please. Sorry but it is a pet peeve of mine when people get that town’s name wrong.

  37. 37.

    raven

    March 20, 2013 at 10:06 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: Jodl Foster?

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 20, 2013 at 10:06 am

    @jibeaux:

    Right now even if toddlers got picked off from a helicopter that seems an uphill climb with the NRA.

    If that ever happened the NRA would immediately begin lobbying for helicopter control legislation.

  39. 39.

    Ash Can

    March 20, 2013 at 10:14 am

    @Svensker: Too bad. At the very least, though, we know that he (or whoever is working on his Twitter account) knows what people think of him. He should just be grateful that he’s not imprisoned or worse for war crimes, and keep his head down and his mouth shut.

  40. 40.

    Schlemizel

    March 20, 2013 at 10:15 am

    @Punchy:

    I don’t have a link handy but several stories have been posted, some have been linked to from BJ that fewer and fewer people own guns in America. The problem stems from those that do buying more and more guns.

    So the role of guns is dwindling. There will be a tipping point eventually. We just have to accept a lot of needless deaths before that. We have to do what we can but until America gets past its need for firepower no law is going to fix the real issue.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 20, 2013 at 10:15 am

    @Cermet:

    maybe some good could be served by images forcing people to see exactly what their stupid support of the NRA does to children.

    This.

  42. 42.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    March 20, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Okay, so I’m going to be the contrarian here– fuck the AWB. An “assault weapon,” for the purposes of this discussion, hinge ENTIRELY on looks. A Ruger Mini-14 ranch rifle can be dressed up in a lovely wooden stock that looks like a strictly hunting gun– and it can be dressed up in a polymer stock with a pistolgrip that looks like a military weapon. It LOOKS that way, but the works are still the same.

    I would prefer to focus on what are (imho) far more important aspects– UNIVERSAL, UN-ESCAPABLE background checks for EVERY gun buyer; and a magazine limit (’cause as we know, it’s when the asshole stops to reload that he’s most vulnerable.)

    Fuck how the damn thing LOOKS; focus on how it WORKS and WHO CAN GET HIS HANDS ON IT.

    Can we have a little nuance up in here, please?

  43. 43.

    Raven

    March 20, 2013 at 10:20 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: Jesus, at least someone understands this.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    March 20, 2013 at 10:21 am

    @Punchy: Click the word “declined.” If you can’t for some reason, here’s the code:

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/01/435437/the-myth-of-nra-dominance-part-iv-the-declining-role-of-guns-in-american-society/

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 20, 2013 at 10:23 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko:

    I would prefer to focus on what are (imho) far more important aspects– UNIVERSAL, UN-ESCAPABLE background checks for EVERY gun buyer; and a magazine limit (’cause as we know, it’s when the asshole stops to reload that he’s most vulnerable.)

    THIS THIS THIS

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 20, 2013 at 10:27 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko:

    I would prefer to focus on what are (imho) far more important aspects– UNIVERSAL, UN-ESCAPABLE background checks for EVERY gun buyer; and a magazine limit (’cause as we know, it’s when the asshole stops to reload that he’s most vulnerable.)

    i was arguing with a buddy of mine about the expanded clips and he was totally unaware that that was when Jared Loughner was disarmed.

  47. 47.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 20, 2013 at 10:27 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: I fully agree with you.

  48. 48.

    Nylund

    March 20, 2013 at 10:29 am

    It’s one thing to start a war based on lies then royally eff it up in just about every imaginable way, some so ludicrous it’s hard to believe (like sending 747’s filled with billions in cash then losing those billions, as in, whoops, it was in this warehouse and now it’s just gone). But to then demand respect and appreciation for such a disaster of a war?

    Lord, it’s like a rapist demanding that his victim tell him how good he was in bed.

  49. 49.

    Gex

    March 20, 2013 at 10:30 am

    It’s all the same people. The people who believe there were WMDs in Iraq. That support Gitmo and “enhanced interrogation” (i.e. torture). Who support banning abortion and birth control. Who ban gay marriage. Who want a wall between us and Mexico. Who celebrate being able to down 64 oz of HFCS for $0.99.

    I guess there isn’t perfect overlap in that Venn diagram. But there’s substantial overlap. The screeching and the fight until the bitter end coming from these people is disturbing. But it is also the sign that they feel like they are losing.

  50. 50.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 20, 2013 at 10:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Your buddy is probably unaware of a great many things, I suspect.

  51. 51.

    gogol's wife

    March 20, 2013 at 10:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Would you say that if it were your child?

  52. 52.

    Gex

    March 20, 2013 at 10:37 am

    @Trakker: I was thinking about that the other day. An angry white man, not all that old, was sitting in a booth at a restaurant with his “Don’t Tread on Me” patches secured to the camo he was wearing.

    And I thought to myself, years ago, when only criminals brought concealed guns into places, I would be reasonably assured there were no guns in the restaurant. But now that conceal and carry is legal, there is a much higher probability that there is a gun in here. This man is losing his shit, and his appearance suggests he’s exactly the kind of guy who might be packing.

    I left very quickly.

  53. 53.

    The Moar You Know

    March 20, 2013 at 10:39 am

    Jesus, at least someone understands this.

    @Raven: Yep.

    Also, too, the prize is not assault weapons. For sheer body count, you’ve got to get the handguns. Yeah, 20 kids taken out by a nutjob is a crime against God and man, but double that number of people died that same day at the wrong end of a pistol. And every day since.

  54. 54.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    March 20, 2013 at 10:41 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: I wish I could T&R this 10,000×10,000 times. Michael Moore are you listening?

  55. 55.

    Gex

    March 20, 2013 at 10:44 am

    @Raven: I think the problem was that we allowed the last AWB to be gutted by the NRA by focusing on appearance instead of functionality. I don’t think it makes the idea of going after assault weapons wrong. The original commenter is right that we need to focus on functionality, but that can still be the same as focusing on assault weapons.

    We just can’t let the NRA define what an assault weapon is.

  56. 56.

    grandpajohn

    March 20, 2013 at 10:45 am

    @Mark S.: it would be informative and interesting to know who did those polls and especially to see the cross tabs by age, sex, and race. I would bet that the majority of pollees were white male.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    March 20, 2013 at 10:48 am

    Would you say that if it were your child?

    @gogol’s wife: Can’t speak for the hillbilly but if my kid had been shot up like one of those poor kids in Newtown, I’d have t-shirts with before and after pics which I’d wear every day, I’d plaster my car with that shit, I’d be handing out pics on the street. I’d chain myself to the doors of any WalMart that sold ammo wearing nothing but a sandwich board of pictures of my dead kid. I’d be insane. You wouldn’t want to be near me, ever. It would be all I’d talk about and you WOULD see the pictures.

    The anti-choice fuckers have done that shit for years, and although they have no friends save for other anti-choice fuckers, you know what? It works.

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    March 20, 2013 at 10:51 am

    @Nylund:

    Lord, it’s like a rapist demanding that his victim tell him how good he was in bed bear his child and raise it to adulthood.

    Fixed to reflect actual Republican policy.

  59. 59.

    Jamey

    March 20, 2013 at 10:51 am

    Problem with Rummy’s tweet is that there were approx 26 million Iraqis before we started…

  60. 60.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    March 20, 2013 at 10:57 am

    I don’t think it makes the idea of going after assault weapons wrong. The original commenter is right that we need to focus on functionality, but that can still be the same as focusing on assault weapons.

    We just can’t let the NRA define what an assault weapon is.

    So how do you define “assault weapon?” EVERY definition I’ve EVER seen (with regard to these politcal discussions, not amongst folk knowledgeable and nuanced) refers to appearances: the pistol-grip stock first and foremost. By that definition, were I to go buy a Ruguer 10/22 and slap a polymer bullpup stock on it it would become an “assault weapon”– but the damned thing is STILL just a .22!

    Maybe I’m a bit prejudiced– I think military-style rifles have their own kind of deadly beauty; and they’re fun as all hell to shoot. Knowing that there AIN’T NO PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE between a semi-automatic hunting rifle and a semi-automatic “assault rifle” makes me leery of many another argument for gun control.

    Meanwhile, keeping firearms away from nutjobs as much as possible (with universal background checks) and keeping magazine limits to 10 rounds or fewer is not only practical, it may well be doable.

  61. 61.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    March 20, 2013 at 10:58 am

    @Mark S.: That is why some nations are quietly building up their nuke arsenals, just in case the full blown crazy takes power in America.

  62. 62.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    March 20, 2013 at 10:59 am

    @The Moar You Know: Emmett Till’s mother sparked a revolution with a photo of her dead kid.

  63. 63.

    jibeaux

    March 20, 2013 at 10:59 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: No, no, no, that impairs people’s right to hunt things from helicopters. They would propose that day care centers have surface-to-air missiles. You new at this or something?

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 20, 2013 at 11:06 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko:

    Meanwhile, keeping firearms away from nutjobs as much as possible (with universal background checks) and keeping magazine limits to 10 rounds or fewer is not only practical, it may well be doable.

    Keep it simple, stupid. If you have to go on and on for paragraphs and pages to outline exactly what constitutes an “assault rifle” you’re doing it wrong.

    DiFi, talking to you now.

  65. 65.

    DemJayhawks

    March 20, 2013 at 11:14 am

    Another +1 to a 10-round magazine limit and universal background check for all purchases.

    Chasing cosmetic features is a waste of time.

  66. 66.

    Schlemizel

    March 20, 2013 at 11:20 am

    You really need to read this take down of the Washington WhorePost and their POS editorial board

    http://consortiumnews.com/2013/03/19/why-wposts-hiatt-should-be-fired/

  67. 67.

    Petorado

    March 20, 2013 at 11:24 am

    So 10 years ago it was the nation’s moral imperative to protect itself from weapons that were so terrible that each individual weapon was capable of causing mass deaths of innocent Americans. It was agreed by the powerful in Washington that there are some weapons that are too horrible to be in the possession of untrustworthy people and the nation applauded as a Republican administration sent in black helicopters in an attempt to take them away. And the NRA gave no dissent.

    And today a ban on weapons that we’ve seen repeatedly used to kill large numbers of Americans in a single event fails to pass because the party of “right to life” that championed the war against Saddam’s alleged WMD thinks mass shootings of innocent Americans are no big deal.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    March 20, 2013 at 11:25 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: DiFi’s bill isn’t just about appearances — features are included too. Here’s a link, not that it’ll amount to a hill of beans now.

    Maybe I’m a bit prejudiced– I think military-style rifles have their own kind of deadly beauty; and they’re fun as all hell to shoot. Knowing that there AIN’T NO PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE between a semi-automatic hunting rifle and a semi-automatic “assault rifle” makes me leery of many another argument for gun control.

    You know what I could go the rest of my goddamned life without ever hearing about, ever again? The alleged beauty of firearms and how much fun they are to shoot.

  69. 69.

    The Moar You Know

    March 20, 2013 at 11:27 am

    Emmett Till’s mother sparked a revolution with a photo of her dead kid.

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: Exactly my point. The first time I ever read about that I totally understood where she was coming from.

  70. 70.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    March 20, 2013 at 11:30 am

    @Betty Cracker: I hear ya. Doesn’t change the facts.

    Which is why I am four-square behind universal background checks and magazine size limitations.

    ETA: I glanced through Sen. Feinstein’s booklet– and I think banning by manufacturer and model is roughly equivalent to banning dogs by breed.

    Useless.

  71. 71.

    gogol's wife

    March 20, 2013 at 11:38 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Get back to me when someone close to you is murdered, and see if you want their image plastered across the universe.

    People should be able to understand this without demeaning the dead.

  72. 72.

    scav

    March 20, 2013 at 11:40 am

    @Petorado: Well, so long as it’s the right kind of ‘mercans killing masses of other Americans, it’s all to the good and enshrined etc etc etc. Those others, those non-exceptional ones just can’t be doing it. That’s poaching.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    March 20, 2013 at 11:47 am

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko: Well, I’ll admit I haven’t studied the bill in-depth, but my quick perusal of it seems to indicate that it would have done a helluva lot more than ban guns by manufacturer; it would have also banned certain features.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    March 20, 2013 at 11:47 am

    Ohio school shooter sentenced to life. He’s 18.

    So, some dead kids, one permanently paralyzed kid, and one kid serving a life sentence.

    Hope the NRA executives are enjoying that sweet donor cash.

  75. 75.

    RinaX

    March 20, 2013 at 11:48 am

    Reid said, and I believe him, he didn’t even have 40 votes for an assault weapons ban. Blaming Reid seems to miss the point.

    Exactly. And this is at the point where the public desire for some sort of gun control is at its highest. And I don’t want to hear anything about Reid not “punishing” them. Those fucks would be orgasmic at the thought of running for office again while sternly stating how they stood up to their Dem caucus in the face of public hysteria. And they’d probably win, too. It matters fuck all how most of the country feels if their local districts are against this sort of legislation. Sadly, in many instances they ARE listening to their constituents.

  76. 76.

    scav

    March 20, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    Nobody’s mentiones that Head of Colorado’s Prisons Is Fatally Shot at Home hours before the Gov. was going to sign into law their state level gun laws. Could just be a big coincidence, but hey, county sheriffs are pledging not to uphold the laws. Counties rights! I mean, their natural cry of states right doesn’t work here. Get the wrong sheriffs and we’ll be down to mobs of individual enforcing their interpretation of the Bill of Rights on everyone else.

  77. 77.

    patroclus

    March 20, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    I don’t do twitter, but if I did, it would go something “You WMD-lie your way and cause untold death and suffering into an idiotic war with the atrocious Defense Secretary you have, not the one you might wish to have at a later date.”

  78. 78.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 20, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Yeah, that Democratic senate is awesome isn’t it…

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    March 20, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    @Ivan Ivanovich Renko:

    Emmett Till’s mother sparked a revolution with a photo of her dead kid.

    But it was her choice to use her child’s picture that way. I don’t mind if the parents of children killed in Newtown make the same choice, but it should be theirs and not ours.

  80. 80.

    Thot Gor

    March 20, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    @scav: @scav: If his murder was politically motivated, it may not have necessarily been due to the gun control bills. Clements was an opponent of the death penalty, and a bill to abolish it was up for a vote yesterday (postponed).

    http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22830756/family-clements-was-good-family-man-against-death

    Regardless, I would imagine that being the head of corrections would make some enemies both in the system and some running it.

  81. 81.

    Thot Gor

    March 20, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    @scav: @scav: If his murder was politically motivated, it may not have necessarily been due to the gun control bills. Clements was an opponent of the death penalty, and a bill to abolish it was up for vote yesterday as well (postponed after 9 hours of testimony).

    Regardless, I would imagine that being the head of corrections would make some enemies both in the system and some running it.

  82. 82.

    Barry

    March 20, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    Could posters please post a link to the tweet?

  83. 83.

    Trollhattan

    March 20, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Some of us remember Jackie Kennedy that November day.

    Jacqueline Kennedy was seated in the back seat of the open-top Lincoln Continental to Kennedy’s left side as it traveled through Dallas. Immediately after Kennedy was shot in the head, the suit was spattered with his blood; when Lady Bird Johnson saw the car at Parkland Hospital in Dallas following the assassination, she said:

    “I cast one last look over my shoulder and saw in the President’s car a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms, lying in the back seat. It was Mrs. Kennedy lying over the President’s body.”

    At the hospital, she kept her blood-stained suit on but removed her hat; the whereabouts of the hat today are unknown, and the last person known to have had it – her personal secretary, Mary Gallagher – will not discuss it.[11] Several people asked Jacqueline Kennedy whether she would like to change her suit but she refused. She told Lady Bird, who had asked her whether she wished to have someone in to help her change:

    “Oh, no … I want them to see what they have done to Jack.”

    Despite the advice of John F. Kennedy’s physician, Admiral George Burkley, who “gently tried to persuade her to change out of her gore-soaked pink Chanel suit,”[15] she wore the suit alongside Lyndon B. Johnson as he was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.[13] In the photograph of the inauguration (right), the blood stains cannot be seen as they were on the right-hand side of the suit. Lady Bird recalls that during the swearing-in on Air Force One:

    “Her hair [was] falling in her face but [she was] very composed … I looked at her. Mrs. Kennedy’s dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost entirely covered with it and her right glove was caked, it was caked with blood – her husband’s blood. Somehow that was one of the most poignant sights – that immaculate woman, exquisitely dressed, and caked in blood.”

    Kennedy had no regrets about refusing to take the blood-stained suit off; her only regret was that she had washed the blood off her face before Johnson was sworn in.

    [
    But no, as a parent of a grade-schooler I can’t imagine putting those families through the daily confrontation of the gore that resulted from their children’s savage murders. No matter the intent, it would simply be too much. I’ll add many of the responders are being treated for PTSD. What could possible prepare anybody, professional or not…?

  84. 84.

    scav

    March 20, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    @Thot Gor: Sorry, Yup, I said the murder could be a coincidence, but my usual tongue position might have gotten in the way. Thing about the Sheriffs is what really caught my attention. I know they’ve been doing it, but it’s spreading. Between police officers enforcing the law as they see fit and not enforcing the law as they see fit, the whole pretense of being a nation of laws is weakening.

    ETA: Also interesting comparing this to the meltdown in LA/CA recently, although that one at least clearly had clear evidence of future intent.

  85. 85.

    Maude

    March 20, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    @Trollhattan:
    Jackie Kennedy had a backbone of steel.
    This talk of showing gunshot children is movie stuff. Reality is different.
    I remember Mrs. Kennedy that day.

  86. 86.

    scav

    March 20, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    For some families, the whole photo public thing might be intensely therapeutic. Gives them a chance to do something, to make the loss and that life mean something. To Not Forget. The images are probably stuck in their brain anywhere. It’s a matter of individual choice. Equally makes sense that others only want to remember the good times and work on that.

  87. 87.

    Unsympathetic

    March 20, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Countdown for Bob Delaney to be disappeared: 10..9..

  88. 88.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    March 20, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Schooled by a guy in a banana-hammock. Too bad when you have to go to war with the tweets you have rather than the tweets you wish you had.

  89. 89.

    Anna in PDX

    March 20, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    @Mark S.: But if you ask them if they support specific gun control measures – especially if you let them set the limits by themselves – they will come up with stuff exactly like what O is proposing. IT is totally a framing issue – it is not that they actually agree with what the NRA actually supports, it is that they *think* the NRA is protecting the second amendment and that’s a good thing.

    I had a big argument with a friend who’s a member of the NRA, for example, over the small arms treaty. I said the NRA should not be fighting it. He said but the NRA must be doing it for a good reason having to do with the second amendment. I said no there is none. He got mad at me. He at no point thought that as a member of the NRA it is his job to figure out what they are actually doing. He trusts them that much.

    This friend still is not talking to me because I was so rude about the NRA. Go figure. He considers himself a “moderate” on most issues (he’s sort of a concern troll about “liberal spin” though).

  90. 90.

    dance around in your bones

    March 20, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    @Maude:

    I was almost ten yrs old when JFK was assassinated. I ran home from school and told my mom who slapped my face and told me not to say such things. Then we turned on the TV.

    I remember Jackie standing there in her blood-stained suit. Good for her to show the effects of gun violence (of course, that is a personal decision).

    I knew a guy who blew his head off in his truck after his wife decided to divorce him….I still remember his pick-up parked in our neighbor’s driveway with blood and brains all inside it. It’s pretty sobering to see the results of guns.

    I can’t remember who cleaned it up.

  91. 91.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 20, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    I was almost ten yrs old when JFK was assassinated. I ran home from school and told my mom who slapped my face and told me not to say such things.

    Jesus. Why in the hell would a mother slap her child in that situation?

  92. 92.

    dance around in your bones

    March 20, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    You know how sometimes when you are a kid you have a kind of stupid grin on your face when you deliver really bad news? I’d heard it over the loudspeaker at lunch, and at first I thought they were talking about Lincoln.

    My mom slapped me because she thought I was joking about something really serious. I never held it against her. The whole thing was traumatic enough, everybody glued to their TV’s for the next 3 days. Even standing outside TV stores, watching through the windows.

    It was like a huge stunned nation in shock. I remember asking my mom “Why would God let something like this happen?” and she had no real good answer.

    eta:She had not heard about it yet.

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    March 20, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    @dance around in your bones: My mom was a teenager when Kennedy was assassinated, and she said she was the one who told her grandmother, who said, “Praise the Lord!” That pissed my mom off because she (my mom) liked the Kennedys, not because of their politics but because they were a handsome, glamorous couple. Great-Grandma despised Catholics and pretty much anyone who wasn’t a John Bircher.

    Anyhoo, I’m always fascinated to hear people’s recollections of the Kennedy assassination. There aren’t many cultural touchstones like that when virtually everyone who was alive and sentient at the time remembers the event, what they were doing when they heard about it and what it meant to them.

    9/11 is another one, of course. My daughter doesn’t remember it (she was three), but she interviewed me about it for a class project a couple of years ago. I remember interviewing my parents about the Kennedy assassination when I was a kid.

  94. 94.

    dance around in your bones

    March 20, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    As far as 9/11 goes, I was living in Baja with no TV. A neighbor came running over and said OMG you have to see this, a plane just flew into the World Trade Center. We got there just in time to see the second plane fly into the other tower.

    That was another glued to the TV moments for days afterwards. Some other neighbors walked by and said let’s all have dinner together tonight, which we did, and as some of us lefties started discussing reasons WHY someone would do this we mentioned blowback from various American policies in the region. That prompted one person to stand up and yell “Why do you hate America?!” (I swear this is true) and ran out of the house, slamming the door on her way out. (She was the one who got us over to her house in the first place to watch the TV, and started slamming tequila shots and smoking the Mary Jane in response).

    It was another one of those bizarro never forget where you were when it happened moments.

  95. 95.

    OmerosPeanut

    March 20, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    “But that’s how we roll.”

    Rolling in the Dep(ression).

  96. 96.

    A Humble Lurker

    March 20, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:
    Yep. People in it actually would vote for this thing, as opposed to the other guys.

  97. 97.

    Platonicspoof

    March 21, 2013 at 3:11 am

    From the President’s State of the Union address, my bolds:

    (snip)
    But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans — Americans who believe in the Second Amendment — have come together around common-sense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.

    Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. Now, if you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote.
    (snip)

    Thehill.com article refers to a base bill being introduced and infers later amendments.

    Senators are going to introduce amendments for all of the President’s proposals (e.g.), right?

    Because when he said they deserve a vote, everyone cheered, right?

    And have roll call votes on all of them cuz U.S. senators aren’t ashamed of their votes, right?

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Matt McIrvin on Supersized Head Gets Minor Trim (Jun 8, 2023 @ 5:50am)
  • sab on On The Road – cope – Western Colorado Sampler (Jun 8, 2023 @ 5:41am)
  • Wag on On The Road – cope – Western Colorado Sampler (Jun 8, 2023 @ 5:36am)
  • sab on Late Night Sportswashing Open Thread: Saudi Princes Just Bought (Off) the PGA (Jun 8, 2023 @ 5:35am)
  • CaseyL on On The Road – cope – Western Colorado Sampler (Jun 8, 2023 @ 5:34am)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup on Sat 5/13 at 5pm!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!