gun safety

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Remember, Sharing Is Caring, Folx!

by Anne Laurie| June 13, 20248:44 am| 197 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, C.R.E.A.M., gun safety, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

Put aside ideology.

Less than three months.

The port reopened.

This is effective governance. This is America working again. This is what I’m voting for. https://t.co/QPYm7C1ZG9

— LadyGrey ???????????????????????? (@TWLadyGrey) June 12, 2024

President Biden promised to put the full weight of the federal government behind getting the Port of Baltimore reopened after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, and just 11 weeks later, the port is fully reopened.https://t.co/fOl5pj9YnJ

— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 12, 2024

BREAKING: President Biden just received an enormous ovation at a Moms Demand Action rally. Democrats know President Biden is the only candidate offering common sense gun violence prevention policies. Retweet so all Americans see this energy and enthusiasm.pic.twitter.com/7KkZUygqpw

— Biden’s Wins (@BidensWins) June 11, 2024

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Remember, Sharing Is Caring, Folx!Post + Comments (197)

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Positive Messages, Positive Negatives

by Anne Laurie| June 9, 20248:28 am| 222 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Elections 2024, gun safety, Military, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republicans in Disarray!, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

BREAKING: The Biden campaign has released this powerful ad highlighting President Biden’s consistent support for the Affordable Care Act. Donald Trump has promised to take away your healthcare. Retweet to make sure all Americans see this. pic.twitter.com/Bc9zQG8v7Y

— Biden’s Wins (@BidensWins) June 8, 2024

Remember — Sharing is caring!

The uninsured rates for Black Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans have all fallen, often by around half.

We're getting Americans covered under President Biden's leadership — just look at the numbers 👇 https://t.co/XdoV43j1fw

— Grace Meng (@Grace4NY) June 9, 2024

No one’s political survival is more important than our children's survival.

Survivors and advocates turning pain into purpose demand an assault weapons ban. #WearOrange today and Vote Blue to defeat Republicans standing in the way of commonsense solutions to gun violence. -NP pic.twitter.com/Nw6phZNQkt

— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) June 8, 2024

Our troops deserve our respect and support—both on and off the battlefield.

Trump doesn’t understand sacrifice. He thinks duty is a joke. And he is unfit to lead.

Watch our new ad. pic.twitter.com/9dx60cckrJ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 6, 2024

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: Positive Messages, Positive NegativesPost + Comments (222)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Doing As Much As We Can With the Tools We Have

by Anne Laurie| April 16, 20248:39 am| 139 Comments

This post is in: Elections 2024, gun safety, Healthcare, Proud to Be A Democrat

NEW: Biden has nearly erased Trump’s early polling advantage, amid signs that the Democratic base has begun to coalesce despite lingering concerns on economy and age.

Trump: 46% (-2)
Biden: 45% (+2)

My write up of the latest NYT/Siena poll—> https://t.co/E2ycphhgPr

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 13, 2024

New rules for Pregnant Workers Fairness Act includes divisive accommodations for abortion https://t.co/kiSeMSpewg

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 15, 2024

Workers are entitled to time off and other job accommodations for abortions — along with pregnancy-related medical conditions like miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation — under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to finalized federal regulations published Monday.

The regulations provide guidance for employers and workers on how to implement the law, which passed with robust bipartisan Congressional support in December 2022 but sparked controversy last year when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission included abortions in its draft rules. The language means that workers can ask for time off to obtain an abortion and recover from the procedure.

The EEOC says its decision to keep the abortion provisions in its final rules, despite criticism from some conservatives, is consistent with its own longstanding interpretation of Title VII, as well as court rulings. The federal agency added that the new law does not obligate employers or employer-sponsored health plans to cover abortion-related costs, and that the type of accommodation that most likely will be sought under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regarding an abortion is time off to attend a medical appointment or for recovery, which does not have to be paid.

The act requires most employers with 15 or more employees to provide “reasonable accommodations” for a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions — including fertility and infertility treatments in some cases — unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. The EEOC’s regulations will go into effect on June 18.

Labor advocates hailed the new law as especially important for women of color who are most likely to work in low-wage, physically demanding jobs but are often denied accommodations for everything from time off for medical appointments to the ability to sit or stand on the job. Major business groups also supported the law, citing the need for clarity about the accommodations that employers are required to give pregnant workers…

I can remember — because it was just changing, and not easily, when I entered the workforce in the 1970s — when it was standard business procedure to fire any woman who became pregnant, on the grounds they were ‘too much trouble’ or ‘made other employees / customers / uncomfortable’, and besides they were only going to leave and not come back once they gave birth. That didn’t change because bosses suddenly became enlightened; it required a lot of women (and their legislators, many of them women) to fight for every scrap of dignity.

Biden campaign co chair Gov. @gretchenwhitmer:

Our choice could not be more stark. Joe Biden is standing between a national abortion ban and expanding access to care for women & Trump appointed the justices who overturned Roe. Let's be very clear: Donald Trump did this pic.twitter.com/ZGMf4an35t

— Julia Hamelburg (@juliahamelburg) April 14, 2024

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Doing As Much As We Can With the Tools We HavePost + Comments (139)

Saturday Morning Open Thread

by WaterGirl| January 20, 202410:21 am| 104 Comments

This post is in: Elections, gun safety, Open Threads, Politics, Trump Indictments

Wow. My eyes literally got big as I watched this ad.

Didn’t we have a conversation here recently about how more people would connect with “dictator” than “authoritarian”?

Their most powerful ad yet, I think.

≠

Trump needs to write some basic information on his hand like… was it Palin … did? Oh wait, hands too small.

Perhaps he needs a notecard: Nikki Haley ≠ Nancy Pelosi. George Conway ≠ Concord NH. Barack Obama ≠ current President

≠

Did everyone see this?

“The law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary was a failure.”

Attorney General Garland announced @COPSOffice critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic 2022 shooting in Uvalde, TX.https://t.co/LkOCmdV5ml pic.twitter.com/5jE6NmyQuu

— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) January 18, 2024

≠

Justice Department Releases Report on its Critical Incident Review for Uvalde

A few excerpts from the announcement.

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“Uvalde is a community that is healing, and getting clear on the facts is part of healing,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “As I made clear last April when I came to Uvalde to meet with families and reiterated to them last night, we promised that our report would honor the victims and survivors; provide a detailed, independent, and authoritative accounting of the events; and would not only look backward but would also identify lessons learned and recommendations for other communities to prevent something like this from happening again.”

The critical incident review was led by the COPS Office, with the support of leading subject matter experts with a wide variety of relevant experience. The team established the following areas of focus: (1) incident timeline reconstruction; (2) tactics and equipment; (3) leadership, incident command, and coordination; (4) post-incident response and investigation; (5) public communications during and following the crisis; (6) trauma and support services; (7) school safety and security; and (8) pre-incident planning and preparation.

The report examines the multiple failures in the response to the tragedy, including the breakdowns in leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training that contributed to those failures. It describes the responding officers’ most significant failure as not treating the incident throughout as an active shooter situation and using the available and sufficient resources and equipment to push forward immediately and continuously to eliminate the threat. Although several of the first officers on the scene initially acted consistent with generally accepted practices to try to engage the subject, once they retreated after being met with gunfire, the law enforcement responders began treating the incident as a barricaded subject scenario rather than as an active shooter situation. In all, there was a 77-minute gap between when officers first arrived on the scene and when they finally confronted and killed the subject.

The report, in both English and Spanish, as well as profiles of the victims and additional resources, is available on the COPS Office website at cops.usdoj.gov/uvalde.

There’s not even a shorthand letter for how big a failure that was. “F” doesn’t even begin to cover it. I hope that it’s at least a small comfort to the families to at least have acknowledgement of the total failure.

Totally open thread.

Saturday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (104)

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some Good News, Too!

by Anne Laurie| September 22, 20237:16 am| 158 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, gun safety, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, War in Ukraine

“I think I can beat him again,” @JoeBiden said of Donald Trump tonight at a fundraiser.

The president has more recently been criticizing Trump by name. He has preferred to use euphemisms for the former president, often referring to him as "the last guy." https://t.co/bGAKbP0556

— Akayla Gardner (@gardnerakayla) September 20, 2023

NEWS: Biden administration announces a crackdown on medical debt and a key tool hospitals and others use to enforce it: reporting patients to credit agencies.

By @NoamLevey, who's been investigating this issue for more than a year.https://t.co/CG3W9VNXF4

— Alex Wayne (@aawayne) September 21, 2023

"Harris, who has played a leading role in gun safety policy, will oversee the office, according to a White House statement. Longtime Biden aide @StefFeldman, who has worked on gun policy for more than a decade, will serve as its director."

https://t.co/8StKbgdXby

— Herbie Ziskend (@HerbieZiskend46) September 21, 2023

Republican Rep. Tim Burchett criticizes McCarthy and then compliments Pelosi, saying "she was pretty successful … a lot of work goes into that. But I'm not seeing that work right now." pic.twitter.com/xevmzsPjoz

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2023

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SCOOP: The Pentagon has decided to exempt Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted. https://t.co/u2REWCROag

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) September 21, 2023

Hope this holds up:

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson…

But if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement and government appropriations lapse, DOD has decided to continue activities supporting Ukraine, DOD spokesperson Chris Sherwood told POLITICO Thursday — just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and other senior leaders at the Pentagon.

“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion.

The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and equipment, as well as shipments of weapons to Kyiv, will continue despite any potential shutdown. As recently as Tuesday, Sherwood had said the shutdown could halt those activities, as POLITICO first reported…

By law, the Pentagon chief can make exceptions to activities suspended under a government shutdown, Sherwood said, noting that the decision to exempt Ukraine operations was just made…

And… Trending on Twitter: Senator Mike Lee(… roy Jenkins!) is BIG MAD, you guys:

1) create nonsense poll
2) lose to NAFO
3) seethe and rage publicly about cartoon dogs https://t.co/oFYoJYmW9O

— Abandoned BMP Tïcketer ?? (@st_javelin_stan) September 22, 2023

Outstanding from #NAFO.
Two US Senators (who are not on the right side of history) wondering who pays us.
Seeing this happen to BustedMikeLee is especially funny.Well done #Fellas.

Cheque’s in the post, right @Official_NAFO? pic.twitter.com/mhHsWaCioL

— Benjamin Tallis ???? (@bctallis) September 22, 2023

Goodnight Fellas,
I just spent the past 2 hours tweeting explanations about what NAFO does to two US Senators who were complaining that NAFO ruined their polls. I bet the Senators already knew what NAFO does. The Senators were probably just rage-farming with their MAGA followers. pic.twitter.com/SASYBTGVFn

— F e l l a Historian ?? (@thisuser_isdumb) September 22, 2023

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some *Good* News, Too!Post + Comments (158)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: We Must Do What We Can

by Anne Laurie| June 3, 20235:54 am| 163 Comments

This post is in: gun safety, LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights, Proud to Be A Democrat

We celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during #PrideMonth and beyond. pic.twitter.com/cVi0Ieuuyw

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 1, 2023

June ???????? pic.twitter.com/ShVxVltgv0

— Julio Rodriguez?????? (@JRODshow44) June 1, 2023

Fun Fact. What was Nile Rogers's inspiration behind writing Diana Ross’ classic hit “I'm Coming Out” pic.twitter.com/OkocFeE2cg

— greg. ?????? (@mistergeezy) June 1, 2023

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: We Must Do What We CanPost + Comments (163)

Process This

by Betty Cracker| April 20, 202312:59 pm| 117 Comments

This post is in: Gun nuts, gun safety, Open Threads

The New York Times political desk sucks ghastly green gator balls and actively harms democracy. But the NYT organization beyond that crap unit still occasionally produces important, high-quality journalism. A story published today about the Sandy Hook crime scene processors is an example of that. I wish everyone in this death cult-damaged country would read it. Here’s a gift link.

I learned this from reading it: When the deeply traumatized crime scene processors learned that then-AG Eric Holder would be visiting the Sandy Hook mass shooting site, they were grimly pleased that someone important and in a position to maybe make a fucking difference would have an opportunity to see what they had to see. They made sure Holder saw it all. It probably haunts him still.

And of course, nothing changed because Republicans refuse to take any action whatsoever at the federal level. The crime scene processors didn’t know that at the time. Now they do. Now we all do.

Mass shootings understandably get most of the attention paid to gun violence in this country because mass shootings are generally senseless, random acts that traumatize entire communities. We also know how to reduce them — by outlawing the battlefield weapons and equipment mass shooters use — because we’ve done it before, and other countries have done it before, and it works.

There’s a single reason we can’t take that obvious step toward sanity: the Republican Party refuses to allow us to take that step. So we know who to blame. As the circle of people who are personally traumatized by mass shootings expands, it’s conceivable that they’ll become single-issue voters, at a great cost in blood and wasted potential. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that happening, but it’s conceivable.

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What’s not obvious, at least to me, is what to do about people like Andrew Lester and Kevin Monahan. Lester, age 84, is the Liberty, Missouri man who shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl when the boy showed up at the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers. Thankfully, Yarl survived.

Monahan, age 65, is the Ft. Edward, New York man who shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis to death when she and some friends mistakenly turned into his driveway. Lester wounded and almost killed a young man with a handgun. Monahan senselessly murdered a young woman with a shotgun.

Here are excerpts from a NYT article about Monahan:

Adam Matthews, who lives next to Mr. Monahan and has known him for decades, said his neighbor could be aggressive and intimidating. “He was a difficult guy,” Mr. Matthews recalled, adding he was “known to have altercations with people.”

He added that Mr. Monahan was “always concerned with trespassing” and that the wide opening of his driveway resembled a road to some drivers…

In a Kansas City Star interview, Lester’s grandson Klint Ludwig cites “fear and paranoia” as the contributing factors to his grandfather’s crime, and also constant exposure to toxic conservative media:

Ludwig said he and his grandfather, who goes by the first name Dan, used to be very close.

“But in the last five or six years or so, I feel like we’ve lost touch,” he said. “I’ve gotten older and gained my own political views, and he’s become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line. I feel like it’s really further radicalized him in a lot of ways.”

Ludwig said his grandfather had been immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.”

“And then the NRA pushing the ‘stand your ground’ stuff and that you have to defend your home,” he said. “When I heard what happened, I was appalled and shocked that it transpired, but I didn’t disbelieve that it was true. The second I heard it, I was like, ‘Yeah, I could see him doing that.’”

The problem of deranged madmen armed with AR-15s and high-capacity magazines (or clips — don’t know, don’t fucking care what the proper terminology is) has an obvious solution, though implementing it is a herculean political lift. I don’t know how we solve the problem of angry, paranoid cranks who mainline poison through their TV screens.

Open thread.

Process ThisPost + Comments (117)

“woke” is the new caravan.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

The revolution will be supervised.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Fight them, without becoming them!

Come on, man.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Remember, Sharing Is Caring, Folx!

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Positive Messages, Positive Negatives

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Doing As Much As We Can With the Tools We Have

Saturday Morning Open Thread

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some Good News, Too!

Saturday Morning Open Thread: We Must Do What We Can

Process This