Rachel Maddow reports on Mitt Romney's confused attacks against President Obama at Friday's NRA Conference in St. Louis. Rachel also talked with Pittsburgh councilman Ricky Burgess about the conversation the country should be having about gun violence and the need for tighter gun control laws
The modern drive against gun control started with an expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment as bestowing an absolute, individual right to "keep" and "bear" arms, rather than a societal right based on the need for a "well-regulated militia."
But we are now in a new and dangerous phase of the gun movement, in which extremists led by the National Rifle Association are pushing beyond "keep" and "bear" to "use." They are pressing state and federal lawmakers to make it easier for people to shoot other people. [..]
They certainly will not discuss these statistics, compiled by the Violence Policy Center, on the homicide rate for African Americans, which is more than three times the overall homicide rate. The overwhelming majority of victims are killed by guns, and the majority of those are killed by handguns. Missouri leads the nation in this appalling statistic.
Washington, DC--Missouri leads the nation in the rate of black homicide victimization for the second year in a row according to a new analysis of unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC).
The annual study, "Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2009 Homicide Data," (http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide12.pdf) uses 2009 data--the most recent data available from the FBI--and ranks the 50 states according to their black homicide victimization rates. The study found overwhelmingly that firearms, usually handguns, were the weapon of choice in the homicides.
On April 16, 2007, our nation suffered its deadliest shooting incident ever by a single gunman when a student killed 32 people and wounded 25 others at Virginia Tech before committing suicide. Five years later, have we learned anything about controlling our national gun and gun violence epidemic? A look at just a few of the sad headlines across the country so far this year suggests we haven't learned much or anything at all. [..]
As a nation we can't afford to keep waiting for common-sense gun control laws that would protect our children and all of us from indefensible gun violence. It's time to repeal senseless gun laws like the "Stand Your Ground" laws enacted by 21 states that have grabbed so much attention in Trayvon's case and allow people in Florida to defend themselves with deadly force anytime and anywhere if they feel threatened. More than two million people have signed online petitions saying they want to repeal these laws. It's time to require consumer safety standards and childproof safety features for all guns and strengthen child access prevention laws that ensure guns are stored safely and securely to prevent unnecessary tragedies like those in Washington state. And in a political environment where the too-secretive and powerful advocacy group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) pushed "Stand Your Ground" laws in other states along with other "model bills" that benefit some corporate bottom lines or special interests like the NRA, it's time for all of ALEC's corporate sponsors to walk away from enabling or acquiescing in destructive laws that protect guns, not children.
It's a tragedy that five years after Virginia Tech so little has changed. How many years must we wait until tragic headlines about school shootings, children dying, and people using the "shoot first and ask questions later" defense to take the law into their own hands go away? When will we finally get the courage to stand up as a nation and say enough to the deadly proliferation of guns and gun violence that endanger children's and public safety?
Now for a little irreligious relevance. I'm here for the chocolate and Peeps.
Between you and me, in any decent universe, this guy would have been out on his all powerful ass a long time ago. By the way, I say "guy" because I firmly believe. looking at these results, that if there is a god it has to be a man, no woman could, or would, ever fuck things up this bad. ~ George Carlin
Glenn Greenwald was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher and exposes just how hypocritical Maher and Sullivan are.
One irony is that it was preceded by a discussion of hate crimes prosecutions (in the context of the Trayvon Martin and Tyler Clementi cases) in which both Maher and Andrew Sullivan insisted that Americans have the inviolable right to express even the most hateful and repellent opinions without being punished for it by the state, yet were both supportive of the Awlaki killing, an act grounded overwhelmingly if not exclusively in the U.S. government's hatred and fear of his political speech. The discussion also included Brown University's Wendy Schiller.
Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner offers his Daily Rant against one particular government agency, the Export-Import Bank, that is rolling out loan guarantees to mega-corporations while placing risks on the shoulder of tax payers.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government. It was established in 1934 by an executive order, and made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring foreign purchases of United States goods for customers unable or unwilling to accept credit risk. The mission of the Bank is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers. The Bank is chartered as a government corporation by the Congress of the United States; it was last chartered for a five year term in 2006. Its Charter spells out the Bank's authorities and limitations. Among them is the principle that Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders, but rather provides financing for transactions that would otherwise not take place because commercial lenders are either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risks inherent in the deal.
KEITH OLBERMANN: And now, as promised, a brief Special Comment on the resignation of Karen Handel from Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
There is no avoiding the simple fact that a week had passed since Ms. Handel decided that the Komen organization should collaborate with the witch hunt that the nation's right wing has directed against Planned Parenthood. In the time until Ms. Handel's exit this morning, Komen's only real actions had been a mealymouthed partial reversal about a rule change it had first denied, a new-new policy to replace the new policy - a spineless convenience by which Komen has still not really committed to continuing its funding of Planned Parenthood and, perhaps more importantly, by which it has not committed to staying out of this dangerous, ideological game which will kill some freedoms and which could kill some women.
Komen could not do that by itself, of course.
If it never gave another dollar to Planned Parenthood, it would be doing the latter organization a fundraising favor, because it has raised the consciousness of many to whom the reality was not yet clear, that one of vote-getting machines in this country was zeroing in on Planned Parenthood as the scapegoat for all the evils which that vote-getting machine exaggerates - to whip up paranoia and political power among the easily led of this nation. Those who were thus awakened will find - or rather, fund - Planned Parenthood in ways Komen never has, and never could.
But the real issue here is the Komen organization's attempt to hide its new partnership with that most base of political advocacy groups - the guttersnipe purveyors of hate, and fear and revenge fantasies - by couching as apolitical the most intense kind of political involvement; the willingness to participate in guilt by association; to echo the infamous call of investigation; to shun affiliation with a group or an individual purely to amplify suspicion and doubt and paranoia about that group or individual.
All of the dark periods of American history have begun with acts like Komen's and excuses like Komen's.
Planned Parenthood's extraordinary services for men and women - 97 percent of which have had nothing to do with abortion - were to Komen's advantage, until one Florida congressman decided to try to get himself re-elected by launching a specious investigation of Planned Parenthood.
And recall what we're dealing with. Planned Parenthood's opponents will believe anything and say anything. Remember well that tragic, comical story from yesterday about the Louisiana congressman who posted to Facebook, with horrified comments accompanying it, the story of an $8 billion Planned Parenthood "Abortion-Plex" being built in Kansas, without ever noting - perhaps without even caring - that the story was, in fact, from the satirical website The Onion. These are the people with whom Susan G. Komen for the Cure got into bed.
Ms. Handel's resignation changes nothing of this. Komen's statement today continues to lie about its own motives, to insist its attack on Planned Parenthood was, "Not based on anyone's political beliefs or ideology," and to speak only of, "Mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions."
Komen - specifically its president, Susan Komen's own sister Nancy Brinker - has still not told the truth nor explained how she will again make this organization worthy of the donations from, and participation in and by, the women and men of this country who had put women's health and valuable organizations like Komen and Planned Parenthood above politics.
Mrs. Brinker has dishonored both her sister's memory and this essential cause. Until she acts, either by correcting what she acquiesced to, or by leaving the organization to somebody who truly cares, until she does one or the other - since are a thousand generous organizations which perform what Komen performs - Komen does not deserve a dollar in donations from a shocked public. Karen Handel is gone. Komen's corruption remains.
Keith Olbermann's Worst Person's Rant this Friday hit the mark. Keith take on the hypocrisy of Dr. Keith Ablow, "psychology pundit on the political whorehouse that is Fox News", and his defense of Newt Gingrich's lack of "Family Values."
But the winner? On the Gingrichian theme. Dr. Keith Ablow - he used to have a talk show on TV, but recently has been reduced to co-authoring a book with "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck and being the psychology pundit on the political whorehouse that is Fox News.
And, he may have admitted the single dumbest thing yet said in this campaign. I mean, Rick Perry is embarrassed for this guy.
Ablow writes that - if you are coldly analytical about Gingrich being a serial marrier and philanderer - you will realize it would make him a great president. Quoting:
One, "three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of theirs lives with him."
Two, he writes, "Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich is already married."
Three, he writes, "One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible."
You left out four - he betrayed the first two, one of them while she was fighting cancer.
But wait, this gets worse.
Albow writes, "So, as far as I can tell, judging from the psychological data, we have only one real risk to America from his marital history. If Newt Gingrich were to become president, we would need to worry that another nation - perhaps a little younger than ours - would be so taken by Mr. Gingrich that it would seduce him into marrying it and becoming its president.
So what you are saying, Dr. Ablow, is that voters need to worry about whether or not Newt Gingrich is loyal to the United States of America?
Dr. Keith Ablow - I think you may be mispronouncing that last name, buddy - today's "Worst Person" in the World.
Elected officials in America's vaunted punditocracy object to Barack Obama's appointment of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
South Carolina's Supreme Court rules that non-binding, advisory questions like that of corporate personhood cannot be placed on a presidential primary ballot.
South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian helps Stephen fight to restore his corporate personhood referendum to the Republican primary ballot.
Because of what he calls his "deep and abiding interest in the matter of corporate rights," Mr. Colbert approached the South Carolina Democrats, and on Tuesday the party chairman, Richard Harpootlian, filed a petition asking for a re-hearing.
"Trust me, this was a measure of last resort," Mr. Colbert said in a statement. "I've always thought Democrats had only one skill: simultaneously being atheists and holier-than-thou. But apparently they also have legal standing in this case."
America's Next TARP Model A Bloomberg report reveals that the U.S. government loaned banks $7.7 trillion in secret bailout funds at no interest and then borrowed the money back at interest.
In a Special Comment, Keith contextualizes Mayor Bloomberg's actions against Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park and how they have - unintentionally - vaulted the movement from a local nuisance to a global platform for the disenfranchised.
Lewis Black takes a look at good and bad arsenic and wonders what makes Chaz Bono more controversial than a bunch of criminals and freaks.
I don't know if letting your kids watch Chaz Bono will turn them into transsexuals, but I'm pretty sure letting them watch Keith Ablow will turn them into ass holes."
Kristen Schaal is torn on the HPV issue: on one hand, Rick Perry takes care of Texas vaginas, and on the other, Michele Bachmann argues for a woman's right to choose cancer.
Republicans have a choice between a guy with a multipoint fact-based plan that he thinks will get the economy going and a guy who will punch cancer in the face.
New Tork Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning Economist, Paul Krugman was a guest on This Week with Christiane Amanpour participating in a rountable discussion with Jared Bernstein, Doug Holtz-Eakin, and Carol Lee on jobs. Sounds like Dr. Krugman had a lousy morning.
First, we had DeMint assuring us that businessmen he talks to say that fear of regulation - and the National Labor Relations Board!- is holding them back.
Then Douglas Holtz-Eakin repeated the claim, and also did the "we're about to be Greece" thing after a week in which the 10-year Treasury fell to 2 percent.
OK, that's what happens with zombie ideas- no matter how often you kill them, they keep coming back. But don't these people ever get embarrassed?
WASHINGTON - Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation.
snip
McClatchy reached out to owners of small businesses, many of them mom-and-pop operations, to find out whether they indeed were being choked by regulation, whether uncertainty over taxes affected their hiring plans and whether the health care overhaul was helping or hurting their business.
Their response was surprising.
None of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it. Some pointed to the lack of regulation in mortgage lending as a principal cause of the financial crisis that brought about the Great Recession of 2007-09 and its grim aftermath.
Umm. Yes, he's right these people are zombies. You can't kill them or their lies.
MSNBC talk show host Dylan Ratigan lets go with both guns blazing on US political ties to banking. The Republican strategists sticks to her talking points, totally ignoring reality.
Stephen thanks his contributors to his Super PAC with a special call out to Suq Madiq, his dad, Liqa Madiq and his mom, who still uses her maiden name, Munchma Quchi. He did warn his affiliates he was going "low".
Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) explains why he turned down a new, significantly larger MSNBC contract after hosting a prime-time show on the network that was beating CNN in the key demo ratings. He also shares his thoughts on Rachel Maddow and Fox News.
I have, and always have had, tremendous respect for Cenk Uygur. His contract with his audience is that he will never put himself in a position where he cannot say what he really thinks. And in turning down MSNBC's offer to host a weekend show so he could give his audience a fair appraisal of what happened, he honors that contract.
(But as) Uygur's stories make clear, MSNBC very much considers itself "part of the establishment" and demands that its on-air personalities reflect that status. With some exceptions, MSNBC largely fits comfortably in the standard, daily Republicans v. Democrats theatrical conflicts, usually from the perspective that the former is bad and the latter are good. It's liberal -- certainly more liberal than other establishment media outlets have been in the past -- but it's establishment liberalism, and that's allowed. It's wandering too far afield from that framework, being too hostile to the system of political and financial power itself, that is frowned upon.
To promote fracking, Talisman Energy releases Talisman Terry the Frackosaurus, the funnest energy extraction-based character since Mountaintop Mining Manny.
The Republicans "crazies" are flooding the primary field with felons, the head of the KKK and the religious fanatics that make the Westborough Baptist Church members sound sane.
Stephen Colbert comments on Sen. Rand Paul's proposal that anyone who hears a speech that might advocate the over throw of the US government be arrested.
"After all the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech, not freedom of listen"
Osama bin Laden is dead. Now after 10 years why are we still Afghanistan? What our diplomats fail to recognize about tribal customs of the Afghan people gets an explanation from Rachel Maddow. The reason for the military to be in Afghanistan is dead, of that I am certain. Are we now getting closer to bringing our troops home?
Thanks to Stephen Colbert, John Lithgow and Lawrence O'Donnell for this rendition of Newt Gingrich's press release. If only the rest of politics were so entertaining.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) thinks that the right to health care is slavery and that the police could come to his house to "conscript" him to treat patients. If the right to health care makes doctors, nurses, et al, slaves, then the Constitution which bans slavery, enslaves lawyers. Rand, you really should have read the document that you took an oath to uphold, some libertarian you are.
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