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You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / NR(disarr)A(y) Update (Open Thread)

NR(disarr)A(y) Update (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  April 27, 201912:18 pm| 153 Comments

This post is in: Gun nuts, Open Threads, Assholes, General Stupidity

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Anne Laurie provided an overview of the turmoil at the death merchant lobbying organization in a thread last night. When we last left our zeros, LaPierre and North were pressuring each other to resign and accusing each other of corruption.

So, this happened today, and it looks like LaPierre won:

Here is Richard Childress reading a letter from Oliver North where he says he has been forced out of the NRA and then says the NRA has engaged in financial improprieties. pic.twitter.com/tAukwXVjZx

— Timothy Johnson (@timothywjohnson) April 27, 2019

The talking ham-hock featured in the video reads a portion of North’s resignation letter, in which he (North) whines about leaving a lucrative gig at Fox News to become NRA president, lured there by Wayne LaPierre with an expressed offer of a double-dip salary from both the NRA and its ad agency.

LaPierre has been accusing North of double-dipping, and North is saying that double-dipping was the offer from LaPierre all along. The reporter then notes in a subsequent tweet:

It’s important to keep in mind in all this that North is not some truth teller about problems at the NRA. Both he and LaPierre are deeply corrupt and it should be no surprise that in the end they turned on each other.

Yep. It’s crooks, all the way down. I don’t know or particularly care what the real story is; I just hope that foul, blood-soaked bunch of sociopaths rip each other to pieces with their bare hands since no operational guns are allowed in the convention.

Open thread!

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Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    April 27, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    Rooting for flesh wounds!

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    April 27, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    Christ, what a bunch of assholes. Can we still root for injuries?

  3. 3.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 12:26 pm

    Look how sad Ted Nugent looks in the audience.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    April 27, 2019 at 12:26 pm

    It’s a little surprising, isn’t it, that in the NRA, an organisation taken over by crooks and hustlers, there hasn’t really been that much overt dysfunction.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    April 27, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    Locked and loaded. What morons. Bring on RICO against the whole crew.

    Not sorry to see Oliver North shown to the curb again. That happens a lot, doesn’t it?

  6. 6.

    Rob

    April 27, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    Another reporter, Tim Mak (of NPR), is currently live tweeting from the meeting. He is at https://twitter.com/timkmak. Kind of riveting.

    I’m having trouble getting my head around a large organization that would elect a president (however much a figurehead) on a Saturday for a new term beginning on Monday.

    I’m off to check Timothy Johnson’s twitter feed now.

  7. 7.

    donnah

    April 27, 2019 at 12:28 pm

    I hope this nest of scorpions all sting each other to death.

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    April 27, 2019 at 12:28 pm

    Ollie North will find either another wingnut welfare grift or possibly a Trump appointment (SECDEF maybe?).

  9. 9.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 12:30 pm

    What was the word that Childress stumbled over and couldn’t pronounce?

    And what was North doing using big fancy unpronounceable words and quoting liberal rags like the New Yawker and New Yawk Times?

  10. 10.

    Salty Sam

    April 27, 2019 at 12:30 pm

    talking ham-hock

    I’m stealing that one…

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    Cincinnati Revolt in the late 1970s.
    LaPierre ran this exact scam in 1999 to consolidate his power and wealth. That time it included getting Heston to run for NRA president
    LaPierre is running this exact scam again in 2019. This time it included getting North to run for NRA president.

    Yep, no dysfunction at all.

  12. 12.

    Rob

    April 27, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    @donnah: Here’s what the Coathangers have to say about this organization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhOyxYKnACw
    (Their song F the NRA)

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 12:32 pm

    Anyone know if AG Barr has finished preparing the paperwork for Ollie North’s pardon over this?

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    April 27, 2019 at 12:34 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    You mean they only do this once every 20 years? That’s actually not too bad, considering.

  15. 15.

    PsiFighter37

    April 27, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Rooting for injuries.

  16. 16.

    Raoul

    April 27, 2019 at 12:43 pm

    I dunno how many NRA members will figure out that they should resign. Hopefully a decent share. Not matter what, I’m enjoying the public trashing of each other.

    The New Yorker article is quite something. NRA schlubs driving up to meetings in beaters, where the ad agency folks all drive Lexus. Hahahhahahaha. Morons.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    April 27, 2019 at 12:44 pm

    @Mike in NC:
    Guessing he’s just opened up his schedule for lots more Fox bookings. I’d like to see him become Li’l Tucker’s Ed McMahon: “Hey-ooh! Democrats are so bad, am I right, Tucker? You know who wasn’t bad? President Reagan. Did I ever tell you about the time….”

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    April 27, 2019 at 12:46 pm

    @Raoul:
    The non-sociopaths fled ages ago. Everybody left is either on the bus or has one of those famous lifetime memberships and simply lost track/interest.

    Corporate sponsors–that’s their vulnerability. Let the Kochs keep the doors open, they deserve one another.

  19. 19.

    justawriter

    April 27, 2019 at 12:46 pm

    They should handle it in a civilized way, by locking both of them in a room and then leaving the winner in the locked room forever.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    April 27, 2019 at 12:47 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Heh. :-)

  21. 21.

    Wayne Marks

    April 27, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    Two men enter. One man leaves.

  22. 22.

    sdhays

    April 27, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    @Wayne Marks: Does one have to leave?

  23. 23.

    PPCLI

    April 27, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    @justawriter: And the loser too.

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    April 27, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    @trollhattan:
    A I understand, the NRA’s membership roll has never been audited; and some unknown number of its life members are now in a post-life phase.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    April 27, 2019 at 12:53 pm

    Boyars, guns and money.

  26. 26.

    delk

    April 27, 2019 at 12:54 pm

    Some of those audience members are squeezing the life out of those lifetime memberships.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 27, 2019 at 12:55 pm

    @justawriter: Is that with or without an arsenal of semi-automatics to shoot at each other?

  28. 28.

    Plato

    April 27, 2019 at 12:56 pm

    So, who is going to be the good guy with the gun who will stop this?

  29. 29.

    MelissaM

    April 27, 2019 at 12:57 pm

    @Salty Sam: How about Talking Trotter?

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 27, 2019 at 12:57 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    are now in a post-life phase

    We call that ‘dead’ on this side of the Pacific.

    :)

  31. 31.

    MelissaM

    April 27, 2019 at 12:58 pm

    @Plato: But function guns aren’t allowed. It’s as if they are afraid one might accidentally shoot one’s foot off.

  32. 32.

    Plato

    April 27, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    More trouble for the NRA: Steve Hart, the longtime lawyer for the NRA board, has been suspended from that role, two people with knowledge of the move told The Daily Beast. https://t.co/OSW4ICtoW1— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 27, 2019

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 1:08 pm

    @Raoul: @trollhattan: @Amir Khalid: Most of the lifetime members are either dead or really old. That’s the secret the NRA doesn’t want anyone to know about their 4 million member membership list.

  34. 34.

    Repatriated

    April 27, 2019 at 1:08 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: It’s more a sort of aprēs vie…

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 1:08 pm

    @trollhattan: You know it’s coming.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    April 27, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    Two crooks fought and a crook won. I hope that the victor continues to fuck up the NRA.

    This is almost as much fun as the story about the poacher killed by one animal and eaten by another.

    I love feel good stories like this.

  37. 37.

    Ivan X

    April 27, 2019 at 1:10 pm

    no operational guns are allowed in the convention

    This is my favorite part.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 1:10 pm

    @Plato: Marion Hammer. I guarantee she is packing regardless of what the rules are regarding no firearms at the NRA meeting.

  39. 39.

    Repatriated

    April 27, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    @Amir Khalid: There’s enough money sloshing around there to keep the dysfunction covert up until now.

  40. 40.

    rk

    April 27, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    since no operational guns are allowed in the convention

    They can have a duel outside and shoot each other in the head.

  41. 41.

    Ivan x

    April 27, 2019 at 1:13 pm

    Hey FP’ers, can we get another artists/writers/musicians in our midst thread going? I love those.

  42. 42.

    Hitlesswonder

    April 27, 2019 at 1:13 pm

    @Wayne Marks: Exactly. Pistols at dawn. Live your values!

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    @Ivan x: TaMara has one scheduled for either today or tomorrow.

  44. 44.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 1:35 pm

    It's okay, the NRA has a rich banquet of coconspirators to choose from for president in this present scandal that Barr is covering up.— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 27, 2019

  45. 45.

    Mary G

    April 27, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    So the Russians poured in millions of dollars, the pigs spent half of it on themselves and gave the other half to Twitler. The Russians, pissed off at the excessive skimming, realized they had made enough connections to pay Republican politicians directly and cut off the tap.

  46. 46.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 1:39 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Writing perfectly combines my two favorite things: sitting and self-doubt.

    — Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) February 21, 2019

  47. 47.

    Martin

    April 27, 2019 at 1:39 pm

    Man, I was really hoping for more injuries on this one. AR-15s at dawn would have been especially nice, but indictments against both would have been pretty sweet.

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    April 27, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    Good news comes to Seattle from West by gawd Virginia! Mountaineer wide receiver Gary Jennings Jr. looks like a good target for Wilson in 2019. Pretty, pretty speedy.

  49. 49.

    Martin

    April 27, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    @Mary G: Yep, that’s my read as well. The NRA thought they had russian billionaires for life. And it’s not just having enough connections, it’s knowing they can do it in the open and nobody gives a fuck.

  50. 50.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    April 27, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: The Cincinnati Revolt was when my old man tore up his life membership card. Before Our Father Who Art in Houston did the same by a few months (I think).
    My father was old enough to have joined and remember when the NRA had been a sporting shooters’ association that offered actual gun safety tips to people who might need them (he did not, but that’s beside the point) among other things. He was furious about that whole thing, and disliked Heston as an individual to boot. I’m not sure where their paths crossed, but he told me Heston was a dull tinplated peckerhead putting on airs. Though he probably used asshole as the noun.

  51. 51.

    SenyorDave

    April 27, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    Hoping for maximum mayhem. There really isn’t a realistic bad outcome that I wouldn’t want to see in a battle between Wayne LaPierre and Ollie North (seeing the two of them literally crucified might qualify as too much, but I do use the word might).

  52. 52.

    scav

    April 27, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    That look of a known duplicitous gun-running yet pardoned crook complaining that he’s been denied his promised double-dipping by another strident complainy old fat guy — it’s somehow soooo Republican base. Locked (on the teats of big business) and Loaded (to the gills).

    (also leaves with a personal copy of the vocalizing ham-hock.)

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    April 27, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    and some unknown number of its life members are now in a post-life phase

    We refer to that as a “non-optimal patient outcome”.

  54. 54.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 2:00 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    The NRA still does offer gun safety training. They train and certify people to act as range officers (to supervise shooting range safety) and multiple levels of firearms safety training.

    There has been a move afoot in the past few years by leftists/progressives who shoot to bolster membership is less crazified shooting sports organizations but it is difficult to get much traction because the NRA safety/certification/insurance programs are deeply embedded in many shooting organizations/clubs (I had to go through an NRA course to be certified as a range officer at my club – there aren’t any alternatives).

  55. 55.

    PaulWartenberg

    April 27, 2019 at 2:02 pm

    The NRA was losing money before Ollie North showed up and it will lose money now that he’s gone.

  56. 56.

    West of the Rockies

    April 27, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    @Martin:

    Hopefully, everyone goes away diminished and damaged.

  57. 57.

    West of the Cascades

    April 27, 2019 at 2:10 pm

    Has anyone (Adam?) been tracking how Maria Butina’s conviction might/would/could play out as a basis for a future Harris or Warren administration USDOJ to dismantle the NRA? It’s still morning here on the West Coast and I am daydreaming …

  58. 58.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    April 27, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    @Harbison: I’ve never been exposed to anything good about the NRA due to my dad’s emphatic response to its shift from sports to handguns and lobbying. Then when Heston got wound up in it later, he mentioned his opinion of Heston.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    April 27, 2019 at 2:14 pm

    @Harbison: Sounds like another grift spigot.

  60. 60.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 2:14 pm

    @West of the Cascades: I thought Barr was trying to get her sent back to Russia (to keep her quiet) ?

  61. 61.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 27, 2019 at 2:16 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Old troll, new nym.

  62. 62.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 27, 2019 at 2:18 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Its Badger Time! How is the little guy and his long suffering sister?

  63. 63.

    bjacques

    April 27, 2019 at 2:19 pm

    When you come at the king you best not miss – Ralph Waldo Emerson, via Omar Little

    Now comes the purge of the Northists and other saboteurs. Who will be their Prosecutor Vyshinsky?

    Herr Hamhock should have read this instead.

  64. 64.

    Millard Filmore

    April 27, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    @Amir Khalid: So its not so different from Scientology membership counts?

  65. 65.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 2:23 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    There is very little good about it nowadays, that’s for sure. It would be wonderful if a well-funded, nationwide shooting safety and instruction organization would magically fall from the sky and replace the small amount of good the NRA does do, but it doesn’t look that is happening.

    A few years ago, I thought the NSSF might fill that role – they distributed hundreds of thousands of trigger and chamber locks and they still have that program, but it has scaled way back and now relies on an inconsistent funding stream: https://www.nssf.org/free-project-childsafe-gun-locks-ready-for-shipment/.

    There are far more people killed by accidental discharges (children getting access to firearms) than in mass shootings/school shootings but the former gets very little media coverage, which is unfortunate because it is (comparatively) easy to prevent accidental discharges than it is to prevent school shootings/mass shootings. Education/storage laws/trigger locks have greatly reduced these deaths over the past 20 years: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-accidental-gun-deaths-20180101-story.html.

  66. 66.

    jeffreyw

    April 27, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    As I understand, the NRA’s membership roll has never been audited; and some unknown number of its life members are now in a post-life phase.

    They added the additional benefit of Post-Life Memberships (affectionately referred to as PLuMs) by affixing a Forever stamp to the file copy of the original form.

  67. 67.

    lumpkin

    April 27, 2019 at 2:30 pm

    I was an NRA member in the 1970’s back when I used to hunt. I wasn’t politically aware at the time but it became distasteful to me on some level and I dropped out. In the rural area I grew up in lots of people had guns and hunted but nobody had large capacity semi automatic military style weapons and we didn’t have fantasies about committing armed treason either.

    The NRA has advocated for treason against the United States for the last 40 years.

  68. 68.

    jeffreyw

    April 27, 2019 at 2:30 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:
    Thanks!

  69. 69.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 2:31 pm

    @lumpkin: Isn’t that why H.W. Bush submitted his resignation letter to them?

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 27, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    Nothing to do here but sit back, pass the popcorn, and root for mutual mortal injuries.

  71. 71.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 2:32 pm

    @germy:

    IIRC the thing that turned Bush the Elder was the NRA’s characterization of the FBI and other law enforcement as “jack-booted thugs.”

  72. 72.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 2:35 pm

    I was outraged when, even in the wake of the Oklahoma City tragedy, Mr. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of N.R.A., defended his attack on federal agents as “jack-booted thugs.” To attack Secret Service agents or A.T.F. people or any government law enforcement people as “wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms” wanting to “attack law abiding citizens” is a vicious slander on good people.

    Al Whicher, who served on my [ United States Secret Service ] detail when I was Vice President and President, was killed in Oklahoma City. He was no Nazi. He was a kind man, a loving parent, a man dedicated to serving his country — and serve it well he did.

    https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/us/letter-of-resignation-sent-by-bush-to-rifle-association.html

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 27, 2019 at 2:39 pm

    @Harbison: Pure projection on LaPierre’s part. The NRA is a fascist terrorist organization.

  74. 74.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 2:42 pm

    @germy:

    It would be an interesting project to document when the last prominent Republican with any sort of decency at all became extinct.

    Bush the Elder might be that specimen.

  75. 75.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    @Harbison: I don’t know about that.

    I think his letter was a personal reaction to an attack on his friends.

  76. 76.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 2:49 pm

    @germy:

    Well, I don’t know about that, but even if so, that is at least a sliver of decency, isn’t it?

    Hell, Lindsay Graham was supposedly quite close to John McCain, knew him for decades, and he has not said word one against Trump even after Trump pilloried McCain after death.

  77. 77.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 2:55 pm

    @Harbison: Winning is everything. Since pairing with trump Graham’s polling has gone up.

  78. 78.

    JDM

    April 27, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    As we’ve seen, though, that “sliver of decency” only shows itself when the rightwinger has a personal stake in the matter – family or someone close to them. And while it’s possible for that sort of sliver to develop further empathy, it’s rarely seen.

  79. 79.

    Aleta

    April 27, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    OT (except maybe the blind obedience to “guns before life”)

    Anne Thériault @anne_theriault
    Happy 260th birthday to Mary Wollstonecraft, writer, radical free-thinker, and, in her own words, “first of a new genus.”

    “Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.”

    

I think about Mary Wollstonecraft a lot. She had little formal education, but wrote some of the most blistering proto-feminist works out there. She had a messy, unconventional personal life. And she’s one of the few women who openly struggled with mental health issues yet thrived


    Living with mental illness, it can be difficult to see ourselves in history, especially when it comes to women, especially in a positive light. Mary survived abuse, she survived brutal bouts of depression, she survived two suicide attempts, and left an incredible legacy of genius

  80. 80.

    Harbison

    April 27, 2019 at 3:14 pm

    @JDM:

    I don’t think so. And, I want to be very careful here that I don’t appear to be praising such folks in toto… but think back to this: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/09/18/mccain-2008-presidential-campaign-audience-question-on-obama-as-arab.cnn

    I am sitting here trying to think of any other R on the national stage who would do such a thing today. Maybe Jeb Bush. I can’t even think of anyone else at all.

    Every other R on the national stage would either 1) say, “Yes, Ma’am, you raise some good questions there that should concern Americans and implicitly endorse what she is saying but leave wriggle room later if called on it to say “I was talking about him being untrustworthy, not being Arab” or 2) just flat out say he is Arab/Muslim/Whatever.

  81. 81.

    Steeplejack

    April 27, 2019 at 3:28 pm

    @Rob:

    Late to the thread, so I haven’t read below your comment.

    The presidency of the NRA is supposedly a mostly honorary, figurehead position, and North has been in that office for a while, so the timing is not that odd. Real power resides in whatever title it is that LaPierre holds (executive director?).

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    April 27, 2019 at 3:34 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    To be clear, North has been the NRA president for almost a year.

  83. 83.

    Sebastian

    April 27, 2019 at 3:34 pm

    I am wondering if an enterprising State AG couldn’t subpoena this membership list to identify the defrauded members in this state. For reimbursement and such of course.

  84. 84.

    Duane

    April 27, 2019 at 3:38 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:This looks like a fine time to kick the living shit out of the NRA while they’re down. With the damage they’ve done to our country, mere injuries just aren’t enough.

  85. 85.

    catclub

    April 27, 2019 at 3:43 pm

    @Raoul:

    how many NRA members will figure out that they should resign

    but you an bet that all the ones who paid for lifetime memberships will NOT get refunds.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 3:50 pm

    @Harbison: This is one of the reasons I’m not certified as either an instructor or a range officer.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    @West of the Cascades: The NY AG has the authority to take them apart as they never moved their incorporation registration out of NY state. The NY AG is currently conducting an investigation into the NRA and there is a lot of concern among the Armed Intelligentsia that she will, in fact, seize the NRA, decertify it, and dismantle it.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    April 27, 2019 at 3:56 pm

    @Steeplejack: Really? I did not know that. Thank you for that important and pertinent information.

  89. 89.

    Bill Arnold

    April 27, 2019 at 4:00 pm

    @Harbison:
    Lisa Murkowski voted against[1] the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
    She’s a bit more insulated against the RW crazies in the electorate than the others, having won an election via write-in votes after losing the R primary to Tea Party guy Joe Miller. (Yes, I have hopes that she’ll switch parties or start voting with Democrats someday.)
    But generally, yes, the Republican Party needs a cleansing destruction.

    [1] Sort of; she actually voted present in trade for somebody else:

    Yet her vote today didn’t get recorded as a “no.” She instead voted “present,” pairing her vote with senator Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter’s wedding. Though an old and rare practice, senators are allowed to pair their votes when they go in opposite directions (in this case, Murkowski’s “Nay” and Daines’s “Yea”) if one is not able to attend the vote, as the two votes strike each other out.
    Murkowski said she agreed to vote present as a courtesy to her colleague who was otherwise ready to leave his daughter’s wedding to cast his vote.

  90. 90.

    Just One More Canuck

    April 27, 2019 at 4:05 pm

    Wretched hive of scum and villainy

  91. 91.

    Rob

    April 27, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    @Steeplejack: Thanks for that information.

  92. 92.

    Aleta

    April 27, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    @Steeplejack: His title has been listed as CEO.

  93. 93.

    Achrachno

    April 27, 2019 at 4:10 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: That would be heart-breaking, wouldn’t it?

  94. 94.

    Raoul

    April 27, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    As much as it’s been fun peering into the NRA’s grifty innards, our sicko gun culture + rampant anti-semitism (enhanced by our evil potus), and we’ve got another d-g dammed synagog shooting. Gaaah.

    @CornellWBrooks
    Multiple people gunned down at #Poway synagogue, man detained for questioning

  95. 95.

    Wayne Marks

    April 27, 2019 at 4:18 pm

    @sdhays:

    @Wayne Marks: Does one have to leave?

    An outstanding point.

  96. 96.

    Rob

    April 27, 2019 at 4:23 pm

    @Steeplejack: Thanks for the information.

  97. 97.

    mad citizen

    April 27, 2019 at 4:24 pm

    @Aleta: Thanks for the education! Today in my local Target I saw a mother (one daughter) wearing a black long sleeve shirt with big white letters, two lines: “FEMINIST” “AF” I hope things are changing in my one party county. The primary election is Tuesday, but it’s really the whole election for local Rs. To invoke the late great efg: Fuckem.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 4:25 pm

    @Raoul: who will represent the NRA to offer thoughts and prayers.

  99. 99.

    mad citizen

    April 27, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    Got home and started up the recent Marvin Gaye retro release “You’re the Man” on amazon music. I’m embarassed to say I interrupted it for two minutes to listen to the talking ham-hock.

    I don’t think my town Indy should count on the NRA even being a going concern when the convention is due back here in 2023.

  100. 100.

    Martin

    April 27, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    @germy: Blue lives matter. Or whatever their Russian handlers want them to say tomorrow.

  101. 101.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    @Raoul: the mayor said that one dead and four injured. The shooter is in custody.

  102. 102.

    Martin

    April 27, 2019 at 4:32 pm

    @Raoul: [sigh]. A few summers back my son did a writing workshop that was hosted at the local Jewish school, supported very generously by one of the local billionaires. I expected a certain level of security, but the amount there was still shocking.

    At the other end of the state we have this wonderful specimen who drove his car into pedestrians that he assumed were Muslim. I know our assault rifle bans are only slightly effective, but I’ll take anything at this point to make these idiots less dangerous.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 4:34 pm

    @MelissaM:
    Probably more afraid that they will shoot off each others body parts.
    All things considered, not all that unwarranted of a concept.
    Of course it could be that they are concerned that the attempt would be made to shoot off a body part, and the aim would be off 10 or 20 bodies.

  104. 104.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    @Martin: The mayor said that the synagogue has security, but would not say more about what plans they have in place. If it’s true that only one died and four were injured that is not good news, but it could have been worse. No information on the person in custody.

  105. 105.

    debbie

    April 27, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    @JPL:

    My guess is the shooter is one of those “good” anti-Semites Trump referred to yesterday. //

  106. 106.

    Ryan

    April 27, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    Stay out of the way. Root for injuries.

  107. 107.

    West of the Cascades

    April 27, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks!! That would be awesome.

  108. 108.

    debbie

    April 27, 2019 at 4:46 pm

    @JPL:

    Every synagogue and temple around here always has a cop in the parking lot. Until just a few minutes ago, I assumed it was to catch speeders. Maybe something’s afoot.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    April 27, 2019 at 4:49 pm

    @Raoul:

    One of my co-workers is from there. She generally describes it as mostly a redneck shithole.

  110. 110.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    I have a question for commenters here (and Mr. Silverman if he’s still here):

    I just found out my MIL had the police show up at her front door. They told her they’d received a 911 call from her.

    But she never called 911.

    They asked to be let in.

    She told them no, they couldn’t come in. They left.

    She’s frightened and confused now (she’s 80) and can someone explain what this is all about? She didn’t make a 911 call, but police thought she did. Is she the victim of a prank?

  111. 111.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    @debbie: When things like this happen, I hope it’s not a brown person because those are the only ones he talks about.
    Trump congratulated the number two NFL draft pick, but not the number one. I wonder why.

  112. 112.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 4:56 pm

    @germy: Have her call a friend or neighbor to come over for a while.

  113. 113.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 5:03 pm

    @JPL:

    Racist who finished second in votes praises racist who came in second at the draft a day after praising dead racist who came in second in a War. Participation trophies all around! pic.twitter.com/ss9rX6dzj6— Zeddediah Springfield (@Zeddary) April 27, 2019

  114. 114.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    @germy: That sounds right. Trump doesn’t even try to pretend anymore.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 27, 2019 at 5:07 pm

    @JPL: When things like this happen, I hope it’s not a brown person because those are the only ones he talks about.

    right wing twitter, and not just the anonymous trolls with MAGA in their profile, has decided that Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib inspired the shooting

  116. 116.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 5:12 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: wtf

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 5:13 pm

    @germy:
    The 911 system should have the phone number of the person who called. It sounds like someone is fucking around, making false calls and the cops do not like that. Not sure who she should report it to but I would find that out and call them.

  118. 118.

    jc

    April 27, 2019 at 5:14 pm

    Didn’t Ollie threaten to spill the beans on LaPierre? Come on now, tell all about the financial improprieties, the Russian connections, etc. Or fall on your gun. Can’t have the truth get out.

  119. 119.

    germy

    April 27, 2019 at 5:14 pm

    @Ruckus: That was my guess; that someone spoofed her number.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    @JPL:
    Those brown people are always responsible for a white supremest guy shooting at them, no matter the circumstances. Ask any white supremest. Hell you could ask the president – oh wait he already gave that answer, if not in those exact words.

  121. 121.

    Ohio Mom

    April 27, 2019 at 5:23 pm

    Off topic—been bouncing around the internet and see that James Comey did one of those twitter “Name five jobs you’ve had.”

    Number four is “strike- replacement high school teacher.”

    So you can add “scab” to your personal list of swear words you use when referring to that election saboteur.

    That is all.

  122. 122.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 27, 2019 at 5:23 pm

    The restaurant here is serving a buffet tonight instead of its usual menu because a number of their young workers are going to prom tonight. They just had a little gathering for them in the bar. The girls look so sophisticated a beautiful. They’re going downtown to a hotel to eat and then going to Navy Pier to get on a boat.

    I should probably add that it’s snowing. Not what the planners probably expected on April 27.

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 27, 2019 at 5:23 pm

    Shannon Watts Shannonrwatts
    Today’s shooting at a synagogue in Poway falls on the same day as the six month mark since the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

  124. 124.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 5:33 pm

    Well it was a white guy with an AR type of assault weapon. We need to find out how he was indoctrinated. Was he following the president’s twitter feed.. I’m not saying it was, just that it might be possible.

  125. 125.

    zhena gogolia

    April 27, 2019 at 5:35 pm

    Wow, I get back from a trip and the same thread is up all day.

    Anyway, where’s lamh? Idris Elba got married.

  126. 126.

    Mnemosyne

    April 27, 2019 at 5:37 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    My brother in law and his boyfriend are having their official housewarming in Wrigleyville tonight. Whoops!

  127. 127.

    delk

    April 27, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    @Mnemosyne: just north of Wrigley and it’s nasty out.

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    April 27, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    @delk:

    Yeah, they’re not really expecting any guests who aren’t already within walking distance at this point. And they have the spare room ready in case folks get stranded.

  129. 129.

    Uncle Cosmo

    April 27, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    @Ruckus: Sounds like someone has access to the same technology that allows the mortar-forking robocallers to send a fake number to your caller ID-enabled phone. (For awhile I was getting calls that said they came from my landline – the one that was being called. Fuckers.)

    ETA: Part of my gedanken-program for dealing with the robocall nuisance is legislation making that sort of thing a Federal offense with real penalties. (The keystone is to ID robocallers as commercial entities & charge them the same rate per call as if they were calling a cell phone in the EU, i.e., the total cost. That’d shut this shit down right quick.)

  130. 130.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 5:44 pm

    Did anyone listen to the president just now? I’m getting reports that it was a hate crime, hard to believe, hard to believe. They are digging into it deeper………I’m going to WI where they have been lining up since over night.

  131. 131.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 27, 2019 at 5:47 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    That sweet little story made me smile (except the snow part.)
    Thank you ?

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    April 27, 2019 at 5:50 pm

    @JPL:

    Yes, I’m sure someone shot up a synagogue on the Jewish sabbath by mistake. ?

    I almost want to hear what Twitler thinks could possibly be the extenuating circumstances or mistaken identity in this case, but I could probably experience the same effect on my brain by hitting myself in the head with a hammer.

  133. 133.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    April 27, 2019 at 5:56 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s a terrific tale of kindness – and snow. In late April.

  134. 134.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    April 27, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    OT:

    This has probably been discussed before, but would Trump’s supporters be turned off of him if they had to personally deal with him on a regular basis? We know he treats his White House aides/cabinet secretaries as well as others like total shit but they stick around because they have agendas to advance by using him. They all love to mouth off about letting Trump grab them by their lady parts, but do they really mean it? Would they still support Trump if he raped their daughters or wives; or themselves?

  135. 135.

    J R in WV

    April 27, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    @rk:

    …shoot each other in the head.

    But would that injure anyone at the NRA meetup?

  136. 136.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I just want a president who will say that hate crimes have no place in our society. Actually I just want President Obama to say something comforting.

  137. 137.

    JoyceH

    April 27, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    @JPL: Yeah, I saw it, and I couldn’t believe the White House staff thought it was a good idea to have Trump speak after tragedy/atrocity. They might have known he’d screw it up. Some blatantly pro forma and insincere comments about the shooting, then bragging about great trade deals, then yaps about how he has to go because people have been waiting to see him, lined up since yesterday, then back to a few more insincere words. Then I realized he was leaving for another one of his hate fests and had to walk by the press to get to the helicopter. So they fed him some condolence phrases and hoped for the best, since he had to say something. It was so pathetic. Cringe-inducing.

  138. 138.

    JPL

    April 27, 2019 at 6:08 pm

    @JoyceH: What surprised me was it’s hard to believe when it has happened over and over.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 6:12 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:
    I fight them two ways. I don’t answer the phone if I don’t have the number as a contact and it tells me who it is and let it go to voicemail. If they don’t leave a message, they get blocked. If they leave one and it’s some sales crap, blocked. I got a call about 2 weeks ago the number was 000-000-0000. But the person left me a vm and it was the local cops on a matter I was interested in. Cop said when I called back that they were trying to get the system not to leave that number because no one ever takes the call. But every once in a while the number doesn’t look fake and I’ll look up the number on the web-google search it. Had a company calling me a couple times a day on my new phone that I hadn’t figured out how to block calls yet and I called them back and told them to stop fucking calling me. They must get a lot of this because the person didn’t hang up, tried to explain. New phone now blocks calls. All is well with the world again. OK almost all well.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 6:14 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    That hammer to the head might not hurt as much as having Trump as president. Wouldn’t count on it though.

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    April 27, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    @JPL:
    Who on his staff is going to tell him?
    One of the toadies still there? Most of them are probably as or almost as bad as he is. It really is disgusting to realize how many people think his actions and words are acceptable, let alone encouraging.

  142. 142.

    Alice

    April 27, 2019 at 6:20 pm

    @germy: I had that experience years ago. When we told the police that we had not called, they explained that sometimes when the battery is dying on a handset, it will call 911. That was back in the days when you could share an ironic laugh with the police over a mistake. I have no idea if current technology might still behave that way. I hope your MIL will be able to relax.

  143. 143.

    Suzanne

    April 27, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    One of the members of my city council posted on Facebook that his 90-year-old uncle was injured at the synagogue today. He wasn’t shot, but he fell and hurt himself ducking and hiding from the gunfire. What a nightmare.

  144. 144.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    April 27, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    @Suzanne:
    How horrible! It’s good he didn’t die. No one, let alone a 90 year old, should have to hide from a gunman. Fuck Trump and all his enablers for encouraging this shit. Him and his fucking (((globalist))) shtick

  145. 145.

    WhatsMyNym

    April 27, 2019 at 6:50 pm

    @germy: It happens sometimes with phones that have one button 911 dialing. It might be that she pressed the button accidentally when using the phone or it’s just a flaw in the phone. If she has cats, blame it on the cats.

    My cellphone dialed 911 as the battery was running low – when I was driving and had just passed the county sheriff’s office.

  146. 146.

    EthylEster

    April 27, 2019 at 7:10 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: My sister’s husband’s mother was a lifetime member. She died at age 96 several years ago. Once when I was asked to pick up her mail from her house and bring it to the hospital, I remarked to my sister that the subscription to American Rifleman must have been a joke Christmas gift. That’s when she told me that her MIL had been a lifetime member since the 60s.

  147. 147.

    Miss Bianca

    April 27, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of blood-gargling psychopaths.

  148. 148.

    Miss Bianca

    April 27, 2019 at 8:14 pm

    @justawriter:

    They should handle it in a civilized way, by locking both of them in a room and then leaving the winner in the locked room forever.

    Harsh. Just, but harsh. Sounds like the end of a Poe short story.

  149. 149.

    Uncle Cosmo

    April 27, 2019 at 10:00 pm

    @Ruckus: I never answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize; I also put a long (but informative!) message on the answering machine. (Many scammers use automatic dialers that call a large number of phone numbers simultaneously; the scammer picks up the first real person who answers & the machine drops the rest of the calls.)

    IIRC in the EU anyone who calls a mobile phone is required to pay the entire cost of the call – & cell calls are much pricier than a call to a land line. If we compelled robocallers & coldcalling scammers to pay even $0.10 per call they initiate (whether or not it’s picked up) those sorts of operations would quickly become too costly for the expected return.

    Another thing I’d do is put every phone number in the country on the Do Not Call list by default. Let people opt off that list if they want – let them partially opt out for commercial entities that call them with legitimate business (e.g., your doctor or pharmacy). And let them report a robocall or scammer to a national hotline, & once calls from a specific originating number amass some threshold quantity of complaints, that number gets flagged as commercial & has to pay the charges on each of its calls. Something like that anyway.

  150. 150.

    Uncle Cosmo

    April 27, 2019 at 10:02 pm

    @J R in WV: Need two shots – one for the agglomeration of ganglia in the hips sometimes known as the hindbrain.

  151. 151.

    OldDave

    April 27, 2019 at 11:32 pm

    Flew home from Indy yesterday. There were giant posters featuring Ollie North all around the Convention Center. I wish I had taken a picture or two – who knew they would be obsoleted even before the NRA 2019 gabfest was over?

  152. 152.

    arielibra

    April 28, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    @NotMax:

    Boyars, guns and money.

    I do know how late to the thread I am, but it’s relevant because I still can’t breathe from laughing at this.

  153. 153.

    Kathleen

    April 28, 2019 at 1:22 pm

    @Suzanne:SOOOO late to dead thread but was it dead members that inspired “pry my guns from my cold dead hands” meme?

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