Kattails just sent me this, and wondered whether the release of this video might have been timed to correspond with Biden’s speech today. Interesting thought! It was certainly timed to coincide with the graduation ceremonies that more than 3,000 class of 2021 graduates will not be able to attend because they died from gun violence.
Well done, Parkland dad. I am sorry for your loss, but you are not letting them forget.
The Former NRA President Was Tricked Into Speaking At A Fake High School Graduation
@ChangeTheRef kicking ass https://t.co/Dd7cpKEsZt
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) June 23, 2021
Former NRA President duped by Parkland parents into giving fake graduation speech to empty chairs. He thought this was the rehearsal, but a simple Google search would have told him the high school doesn’t even exist. pic.twitter.com/RLZns6YCIB
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) June 23, 2021
A Former NRA President Was Tricked Into Speaking At A Fake High School Graduation
Change the Ref, an organization founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin “Guac” was killed in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, held a fake high school graduation for what they call “The Lost Class” of students.
They invited Keene and John Lott, an author and gun rights activist, to give remarks to a high school graduating class and filmed what they were told was a rehearsal in a stadium of empty chairs.
“Ironically, had the men conducted a proper background check on the school, they would have seen that the school is fake,” a Change the Ref spokesperson said in a press release.
…
After filming, Keene and Lott were told the graduation was canceled and were not informed before the videos were released on Wednesday that the event was fake.
“You’re telling me the whole thing was a setup?” said Lott, when he responded to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment. “No, I didn’t know that.”
The stunt was designed to highlight how powerful gun advocates speak. “These two guys are part of the problem,” Manuel Oliver told BuzzFeed News. “We need to call them out, we need to show everyone — this is how they process the logic behind the gun industry.”
“We need to show we’re brave and we’re not afraid of these guys,” Oliver said. “We’ve already felt the worst possible situation. There’s no threat that can make me feel different.”
In videos released on Wednesday, Lott and Keene’s graduation speeches — in which they call for gun rights protections and talk about James Madison, the Founding Father who proposed the Second Amendment — are interspersed with audio from 911 calls about school shootings and the sound of gunfire.
Read the whole thing. And watch the video.
One of David Hogg’s tweets from yesterday said this:
One of the best ways to make sure young people don’t vote is to make it practically impossible for the elected officials (we helped elected) to do their job and pass legislation that the majority of Americans support.
We need to abolish the filibuster.
You know that is all part of the Republican plan. Bastards.
SiubhanDuinne
Rachel Maddow featured this story tonight, and interviewed Mr. Oliver. What a brilliant and profoundly moving pwn he pulled off.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I wish I had seen that!
The Oracle of Solace
As the old joke goes, for people who claim to hate socialism, they sure do enjoy being publicly owned.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Tune in the rerun right now! It should start very soon.
Martin
Manuel Oliver is great. If every parent turned their grief into that kind of creative advocacy, I can’t imagine we’d still be dealing with this.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Oracle of Solace: Well played, very well played.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Here ya go.
trollhattan
“Retired NRA spokesperson butt of cruel high school prank.”
-Fox lead story, top o’ the hour
HumboldtBlue
I avoided watching this all day and just finished watching, and that’s fucking powerful and heartbreaking.
Yutsano
Need to go OT for this: Spain somehow let this happen. It could just be PTSD from TFG but fishy, something smells.
Felanius Kootea
OT but this absolutely boggles the mind:
The fact that actual deaths didn’t change masking policy is unbelievable.
Arclite
LOL. That’s frickin’ hilarious. What a maroon.
Gretchen
@HumboldtBlue: Rachel asked Mr. Oliver if there is hope. He said we are on tv talking about the problem when another shooting isn’t the focus. Brave man.
mrmoshpotato
Wow. Well done to the Olivers.
Comrade Colette
Over 3,000 kids. In one class.
That’s all I can think about.
My son graduated from high school this month, and 3,000 other mothers’ kids didn’t.
JoyceH
@Felanius Kootea:
What’s truly unbelievable is that the county couldn’t institute a mask mandate if it wanted to. Remember, this is Florida. DeSantis signed an executive order back in May lifting all COVID restrictions and prohibiting counties and municipalities from instituting COVID restrictions of their own.
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: Republicans are going to commit mass suicide by COVID-19 to get a Republican president elected in 2024. It’s pretty amazing.
Chris T.
Random bizarritude: Ames Window illusion: https://twitter.com/DrewCoffman/status/1404475707917361156
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: …though I will say: part of the reason the situation in Florida isn’t worse than it is right now is that vaccination rates there are not actually that bad, by national standards. They’re at 53% one dose, 44% fully vaxxed (which makes them pretty close to average for the whole US), with the really low rates only in the rural areas–South and Central Florida are doing OK. Compare Florida to Alabama or Missouri and they’re way ahead. They’re doing better even than Arizona.
Gvg
@Matt McIrvin: And apparently the reason our vaccination rate is that high, is seniors. A GOP voting block, they still got vaccinated at a high rate. So they are actually disguising how low the rate is in younger cohorts. It’s really worrying. Colleges are resuming normal class set ups and we aren’t even allowed to require vaccination. I hate desantis. I swear, he is trying to kill people. I think he is secretly a psycho who has found a way to publicly kill more people.
Booger
@Felanius Kootea: Seriously? An IT department that can’t keep it’s antivirus up-to-date?
SFAW
@Gvg:
Back when Paulie Blue Eyes was “Speaker” of the House, my brother noted that Ryan was someone who got up every day, trying to find new/better ways to hurt or kill poor people. DeathSantis is not that far removed from Ryan (or vice versa), but I think — well, “know,” not “think” — he is more of a Trumpian psycho/asshole than Ryan ever was.
John S.
@Gvg: Deathsantis is a straight up sociopath. And he will probably get re-elected in this ridiculous state.
One of many reasons I am thinking of leaving after living here for nearly 40 years (pretty much since I was a kid).
Matt McIrvin
@Gvg: DeSantis got congratulated for “winning the pandemic” because he established an official policy of not giving a shit about COVID but his state’s overall case/death rates were… no worse than Northeastern states like New York.
Of course, we know that was down to a variety of things: Florida was spared the monstrous spring 2020 wave when doctors and officials had no idea how to treat or prevent COVID, that was mostly a Northeastern phenomenon; their warm climate makes COVID a counter-cyclic thing, by standards of most of the US; the seniors who make up a disproportionate part of the population got vaccinated early, when that was possible; and they’re probably fudging their numbers badly.
But he got the credit. The interesting thing will be to see if that holds up now that it looks like COVID rates going forward will be heavily dependent on vaccination levels in younger people. Maybe he’ll shut down reporting of COVID data entirely.
JWR
@Chris T.:
Uh, thank you! I think… =)
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: @NotMax:
I had already gone to bed, so I didn’t see this until just now. Looks like I get to see it anyway! thank you both
J R in WV
@Felanius Kootea:
Oh, Honey, No! This is Florida, where men are STUPID and can’t be told the sun is up at noon. I believe that no one will be personally compelled to get vaccinated as a result of these infections and deaths, either.
Vaccinations: Free, painless, harmless, proved to save your life>?? “No, thanks, I don’t believe I will~!!~”
Just Chuck
I find it just bizarre that with vaccines being so ubiquitous that we haven’t gotten to at least 80% now. I’m keenly aware that the pandemic is still on for billions, but it’s effectively over for me while I’m going back to breweries with friends, even sitting at the bar!
Can that much of the population really be that stupid? Do they now want to keep things closed? Do they want to catch it? Please don’t answer…