This Gun Control Op-Ed In The Times Was Widely Ignored. Too Bad.

A week ago the NY Times gave space to Dan Gross, who "was the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence from 2012 to 2017 and is a co-founder of the Center for Gun Rights and Responsibility".

He delivered a truth bomb to the Times readership about the irrelevance of an assault weapons ban and made good points on other topics.

No one cared.

I Helped Lead the Gun Control Movement. It’s Asking the Wrong Questions.

A campaign galvanized by mass shootings and assault weapons will inevitably find itself in a dead end. But there’s a way out.

He bonds with his target audience by noting that hs own brother was critically injured in a mass shooting years ago. Then:

It also breaks my heart to see gun control supporters, part of a movement I once helped to lead, repeat the mistakes that doom us all to the unacceptable status quo: tens of thousands of shooting deaths a year.

The pattern is as familiar as it is tragic: In the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, the main demand of political leaders and gun control groups is a federal assault weapons ban. The news media, which seems to pay attention to gun laws only in the wake of mass shootings, amplifies that call, mostly taking at face value the idea that an assault weapons ban is the best way to prevent “gun violence.” Then, as headlines about the latest calamity fade, so do the hopes of federal policy change.

The problem as he sees it is that since assault weapons aren't the crux of the problem, going after then won't be much of a solution. That is a familiar argument on the right but a breakthrough insight for much of the left:

I believe that is the wrong question and illustrates the problem with the gun control debate in the United States. Though it does not grab national headlines, the daily toll of gun deaths and injuries is just as horrifying as our mass shootings, and more preventable as a matter of policy. The gun control movement should focus on the deaths and injuries that are most common, rather than be galvanized by mass shootings like the one that put my brother in a coma.

Of the nearly 40,000 deaths involving guns in 2019, well under 1 percent were caused by what the F.B.I. defines as “active shooter” incidents. In an average year, around 60 percent of deaths involving guns are suicides and upward of 30 percent are homicides that don’t meet the “active shooter” definition, like episodes of domestic and gang violence. Even unintentional shootings (about 1 percent of the total) outnumber mass shootings.

There are far more effective means to prevent these sadly routine tragedies than by focusing on assault weapons. And that means that it is both wrong and counterproductive for advocacy organizations and elected leaders to use the moments when the public is focused on gun control to push an assault weapons ban.

He reassures his audience that he personally would be fine with an AWB, then continues:

But the fact is that if one were to objectively list solutions based purely on how much they would lower the number of gun deaths in our country, an assault weapons ban would not be high on the list.

When an assault weapons ban is debated, the conversation inevitably becomes a technical and confusing one. While there is no standard definition of an “assault weapon,” much of the focus in the wake of mass shootings is on semiautomatic AR-15-style rifles. Yet most mass shootings, like most gun fatalities in this country, are committed with handguns.

No kidding.

The most meaningful way to deal with the problem, though, is not to look at how to keep certain guns from all people, but how to keep all guns from certain people — the people almost all of us agree should not have guns.

I have spent the past two years building relationships with leaders in the gun rights community, and have found that this framing leads us to common ground. And it points to five specific moves that together would have an enormous impact:

• Vigorously pursue and prosecute the small percentage of gun dealers who are knowingly contributing to the illegal gun trade (a trade that is disproportionately hurting communities of color).

• Identify opportunities to strengthen the background check system by adding prohibited purchasers that we all, including 90 percent of gun owners, agree should not have guns. For instance, federal rules governing privacy for health records could be modified to allow mental health clinicians to identify those who are a threat to themselves or others, so that they could be temporarily added to the National Instant Check System. This would have to include exemptions for private sales that may make some gun control supporters uncomfortable; but in the end, in combination with the other measures listed here, it would result in a significant improvement to public safety.

• Invest in a large-scale education and awareness campaign on the dangers of owning and carrying guns, and what can be done to mitigate those dangers. It is crucial that these efforts be led in partnership with gun rights groups and public health experts and that they remain free from any judgment about gun ownership or connection with political advocacy. There are many initiatives already, such as public education about the warning signs of mental illness and suicide, which have proved effective and could be models.

• Expand on the work of “violence interrupters” and similar programs proved to reduce gun violence in cities.

• Clearly define what it means to be a federally licensed firearm dealer, with standards that include sales volume. For years, gun control groups have talked about closing the “gun show loophole.” The real problem is not specifically gun shows but people who are regularly selling multiple guns to strangers, regardless of the venue, without being required to conduct the same background check that a federally licensed dealer must. Not only does this clearly contribute to straw-man purchasing and gun trafficking; it also puts honest dealers at a competitive disadvantage.

That laundry list does not terrify me. Points one and five seem to involve stricter enforcement of current laws.

Strengthening the background check system always sounds good (Don't just 'modify' it, "strengthen" it!). Obviously, rules and an appeal process are required; we don't want this to end up like the mysterious 'no-fly' list. I'd guess some sort of judicial oversight would be appropriate to turn a mental health professional's concerns into a court order.

A public education will be a nightmare to work out that satisfies both sides. Probably not possible, actually, given the current and ongoing fury of the culture wars.

And urban interventions, such as 'violence interrupters', should be happening anyway,as big city mayors try something other than defunding the police.

Now, do let me add: my theory as to the impetus for an assault weapons ban suggests his approach, however sensible, doesn't address the underlying psychology of the mass shooting hysteria.

He correctly notes that 60% of gun violence is suicide and 30% is somewhat predictable - abusive domestic partner or gang-adjacent lifestyle (member, customer, live in high-crime neighborhood.)

suburban moms (and dads!) have a pretty clear idea of their domestic violence risk and are in the suburbs in part to avoid urban violence. Bolt From The Blue school shootings freak them out in a way that Chicago gang violence does not. Only one is on the doorstep. Urban violence is someone else's worry and frankly, right now there aren't a lot of votes to expand stop and frisk and Incarceration Nation.

Urban gang-bangers are not shooting it out in suburban malls and schools. People are worried about the danger they might experience, not the one that they only read about as happening in a place they'll never be.

Comments

[Narciso]

How about enforce the laws that are already on the books, crazy right

2)dont put a firearms ignorant idiot, like aheila jackson lee

[Narciso]

That was no 1, dont let a prohibited posessor like hunter obtain a weapon, dontlet someone on aterror watchlist obtain a weapon.

[Narciso]

So why did he write this op ed before hr 8 , not when its foundering? Why he is ignorong the epidemic against law abiding citizems and lae enforcement officers

[Narciso]

I refuse these virtue signaling hacks are really interested in public safety.

[Narciso]

To believe

https://mobile.twitter.com/MrAndyNgo

[James D.]

the underlying psychology of the mass shooting hysteria

Maybe we shouldn't pass laws - or even have major public policy debates - based on hysteria? Just a thought.

[Narciso]

Well no that wont do, james we must have our hair on fire.

[Narciso]

While they burn the bill of rights on a bier.

[jimmyk]

“ Maybe we shouldn't pass laws - or even have major public policy debates - based on hysteria? ”

Pass laws? What a quaint notion. Is that even on the table? Or just an EO by our senile commander-in-chief?

[henry]

Red flag laws... if you own a gun, that’s a red flag.

[Appalled]

TM is endorsing rational debate again. As if...

A cultural feature of 2021 America is any debate requires hair being lit on fire. This isn't just a left wing thing. If you follow narc's 9:04 link, what do you find? "Inside ANTIFA's Radical Plan to destroy Democracy!"

Every election is a ride on Flight 92. Any decision to choose between two evils is endorsement of the evil you choose. Each compromise is a step towards civil war, because you didn't choose the right evil. (Yes, Iggy, I have your many comments in mind.)

Jane, incidentally, if you could prove that Biden stole the election or that the election was stolen on his behalf, I would support his removal. I think I would want to remove VP Harris first, though.

[Jim Eagle]

Just another erosion of our inalienable rights and pursuit of happiness.

That's written somewhere on something.

[Jim Eagle]

Frederick attends UWC Atlantic College, sister school to Prince Philip's alma mater, Gordonstoun in Scotland. Nice tribute from the school.

https://www.atlanticcollege.org/news/2021-04-09/tribute-hrh-prince-philip

[Jim Eagle]

Oh, BTW, popcorn time:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9458259/Head-NYCs-BLM-chapter-calls-probe-founder-purchased-expensive-homes.html

[Jane]

It’s coming Appalled. Meanwhile, enjoy what you voted for.

[Appalled]

I enjoyed what you voted for the last four years... What we have now is mediocre which is a vast improvement.

[Jane]

Is that the new leftist meme: “Striving for mediocrity! The new America!”

Amazing how much dumbing down costs!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The most effective gun control America has engaged in is being undone with the "overincarceration" fallacy.
It is not a surprise, as violent criminals are let out of prison or not put there in the first place and as riots and mayhem are not just tolerated but actually encouraged that violent crime and murder have skyrocketed.

This guy's ideas will have little effect and I suspect many more gun owners will agree with them than anti gunners for one simple reason; most antigunners simply want to prohibit the ownership of guns. Were that not so even more pro gun people would be able to agree to these kind of largely pointless but not confiscatory policies. But when so many antigunners make it quite clear they intend something like Aussie or Brit controls the idea gun control is not a slippery slope is simply false.

[Narciso]

Heh

https://mobile.twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1381631952214753282

[Porchlight]

Appalled, I know you believe yourself to be virtuously positioned in the middle.

Even if you were correct about being in the middle (I dispute this), the middle is not necessarily the morally correct place to be.

Think of the great political evils of history and now imagine yourself in the middle between those evils and what resistance to them there may have been at the time.

Does that work for you? If it does, there's not much more to discuss.

[Narciso]

Well the satan shoe was one step too far

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1381626006264446981

[rse]

http://invisibleserfscollar.com/neuroeducation-via-learning-standards-to-force-neuroliberalism-such-a-fruitful-site-for-intervention/ is a new post that uses a lot of quotes in case anyone hopes I am exaggerating or misconstruing.

Several concealed carry permits in this household and the constant refrain anytime anyone goes to a gun range for practice is how many of the participants there are minorities with a husband or brother teaching a wife or sister how to use a gun. People simply don't feel safe.

There was a terrible home invasion a few years ago in a $2 million or so Buckhead home and one of my kids went to get a concealed carry a month or two later and said it was the designer handbag Italian knit crowd determined to get a license to carry that day.

It is a huge demographic now of people who don't feel safe.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Each compromise is a step towards civil war, because you didn't choose the right evil. (Yes, Iggy, I have your many comments in mind.)--

Go read some Santayana.
Then go read some history of the various revolutions of the last 250 years.
Then go read some James Burnham and Eric Hoffer.
Then go read some Whittaker Chambers.
Then go read some Solzhenitsyn.
Then if you still are surprised when we are condemned to repeat the history you just read at least you can't say it was because you weren't educated about what is coming.

[Appalled]

Jane --

I am not in the confidences of Official Left Wing Thought. Speaking for myself, somewhat bad is better than much worse.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

yesterday "white lives matter" rally occurred in Huntington Beach, a few milers away. The spokesperson for Black Lives Matters, who counter demonstrated had this to say:

“We are here to let the community know we will not be a reflection of hate,” said Tory Johnson, founder of Blacks Lives Matter Huntington Beach. “We are not here for war, but to protect ourselves.”

So they go out of their way to show up and confront an apparently much smaller group, but it's "not war, but to protect themselves".

There's a professor at Chapman College (where the kids who couldn't get into USC go) who has defined Orange County as the most racist place in the country.

37% latino, 12% Vietnamese, huge numbers of Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Indians, etc, etc and we're racist. The hate crimes they report are of the order of some jerk yelling at someone, but those are now considered hate crimes.

UC Irvine has one of the most virulent anti-semitic student bodies in the country. It's not just BDS; it's hound all Jews out of public life.

We had until recently two Asian county Supervisors of five, but it's all about racism. It disgusts me.

These people are crazy.

[Narciso]

No hes proven himself a blithering idiot 12 years is enough time for a learning curven

[Narciso]

This is premium gaslighting

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/12/tucker-carlson-fox-murdoch-adl/

[Narciso]

Indeed

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2021/04/12/letting-hunter-biden-off-is-a-message-to-us-peasants-n2587716

[GUS]

APPALLING is "somewhat" retarded.

[Narciso]

Its interestimg about branding though, peter 111 was deemed the cruel even his slayer was terrible for the jews for instance.

[Narciso]

Taibbis still entertaining noams parlor tricks

https://taibbi.substack.com/

[jimmyk]

narc, "terrible for the Jews" is pretty much the default for every European ruler from medieval times onward. Maybe Napoleon was an exception.

[Narciso]

That has been sadly true in tbe historical record.

[Old Lurker]

The DNA that survives the Coming Dark Age will derive from people who refused to give their guns up to the state.

[Old Lurker]

Porch "... I know you believe yourself to be virtuously positioned in the middle."

Hi Porch!

These are times where being in the middle is the same as being on the side of the devil.

Which is, of course, where I place half of the GOP and all of the muddle headed.

[Neo]

According to Aussie ex-PMs Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd, and climate activist Michael Mann, the climate Deniers of Murdoch Media were responsible for the unrest which led to the January 6th storming of the US Capitol Building.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/utterly-unaccountable-turnbull-labels-news-corp-the-most-powerful-political-actor-in-australia-20210412-p57idq.html

[MissMarple2]

Catturd ™
@catturd2
·
2m
Still can't believe changing a picture on a box of pancake mix didn't cause world peace.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Chinese doc admits their vaccine doesn't work too well.

Does this mean that you need another shot 1 hour later?

[GUS]

Buy ammo, you are going to need it.

[Neo]

“Everyone has some level of acid reflux,” says Helder Nakaya, a systems biologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil who has been studying the link between stomach acid and SARS-CoV-2 infection. “But I want to be clear . . . we cannot claim that this increased risk of death would apply to everyone with reflux.” The link does suggest that stomach acid might be a factor that’s often overlooked when it comes to COVID-19, Nakaya says.

In a retrospective analysis posted on medRxiv of roughly 1,300 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, Nakaya and colleagues found that individuals taking proton-pump inhibitors, including Prilosec, had a two- to three-fold higher risk of death compared with hospitalized patients not taking those drugs. This observation falls in line with a study published in late August in the American Journal of Gastroenterology by doctors in the US that also found people taking a proton-pump inhibitor twice a day for acid reflux had higher odds of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with individuals taking that type of drug once a day or individuals who took a histamine-2 receptor blocker such as Pepcid AC.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/stomach-acid-heartburn-drugs-linked-with-covid-19-outcomes-68026

[MissMarple2]

To all who are interested in the state of education and the news media:

My daughter didn't know the following before voting for Biden:

1. That he had had 2 brain aneurysms.
2. That he was the sponsor of the stringent drug law which affected minorities more than other groups.
3. That he was a close friend of noted KKK member Robert Byrd.
4. That most of the stories about Hunter Biden are true.

That's just what I gleaned over the weekend.

[Appalled]

Iggy --

The thing about revolutions -- and this includes the right wing revolution that you envision -- is that they rarely accomplish all that much. You end up at the same place you were at before all the tumult began. Moderates always end up before the firing squad or (if lucky) exiled.

The nice thing about the USA is that, while it did not dodge history (the late 1780s looked a lot like the 1760s), it did have a wise elite that instituted the constitution, and it had a wise people that tended towards gradualism. That did not keep us from slavery, civil war, and all sorts of bad ideas. But it generally kept us on the right path, and allowed us to get through the challenges history has made us face.

I believe we are in a pretty bad spot in our history. My guess is that it isn't all that different than the 1890s -- with an elite that hasn't a clue about the lower classes, and fantastically successful companies that think they have a right to run the country. We may end up with a Teddy Roosevelt kind of Progressive when all this is done. I could atually see the forces that gave us Trump-ism moving that way.

I am what I am. Not a Good German (with the moral blindness that implies) I like to work with in current structures rather than overthrowing them. It's easy to manage the unintended consequences when you don't make radical change all the time.

[Narciso]

The three horseman rudd and wallaby romney are more likr ponies

[GUS]

Scrolling past the imbecile.

[Narciso]

Even after the victory over national review, the fraudster is still lying

[Narciso]

Well he haent had to pay damages the punishment is still goimg for steyn for speaking the truth

[Porchlight]

Hi OL!!

[Jim Eagle]

Well, this is a different take on the cop who killed the Black kid with the air freshner hanging from his car mirror. Ycmtu.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9463027/Minnesota-cop-meant-draw-taser-Daunte-Wright-killing.html

[Jane]

Yeah Appalled, 174k illegals coming over is much better than secure borders. Taxes skyrocketing, jobs disappearing and prices thru the roof is much better than a stable economy. China controlling us, is much better than self government. And thankfully kissing freedom goodbye, because you didn’t like a game show host is well worth it! You should celebrate every monute!

[Neo]

The executive summary of the ruling in Murdock v. Pennsylvania (1943) was that it is unconstitutional for a state to levy a tax on people who want to sell religious merchandise. "A municipal ordinance which, as construed and applied, requires religious colporteurs to pay a license tax as a condition to the pursuit of their activities, is invalid under the Federal Constitution as a denial of freedom of speech, press and religion. The mere fact that the religious literature is 'sold', rather than 'donated' does not transform the activities of the colporteur into a commercial enterprise."

What does this have to do with fees to obtain a license to own or purchase a firearm? The USSC also found, "A State may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the Federal Constitution." This means the entire Bill of Rights as opposed to just the First Amendment.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/us_supreme_court_gun_licensing_fees_are_unconstitutional.html

[MissMarple2]

Jane,

Besides his policies, which were excellent, I actually LIKE President Trump, and I immediately look askance at anyone who gives me the "mean tweets, uncouth vulgarian" line. I like his personality, his humor, and I even like the Queens accent.

Appalled never really says what he thinks was so terrible about Trump, but I imagine that was a large part of it. (Biden has so much more polish, doesn't he? <---eyeroll)

[Jane]

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/04/11/why-biden-is-breaking-america-n359066

Just for you Appalled. More reason to cheer!

[MissMarple2]

As Russia amasses troops near a war zone border, Ukraine’s President tours front lines with CNN and calls for increased US support. https://t.co/Cqy70FC1oT pic.twitter.com/uqojCVpVTI

— CNN (@CNN) April 12, 2021

Video at link.
========================================
Steve Cortes
@CortesSteve
·
3h
With globalists back in power in Washington, the Davos ruling class moves quickly to draw America into a confrontation with Russia.

We have no vital interest in Crimea, and Americans have paid massive prices - human and financial - for needless foreign wars.

[Manuel Transmission]

This article, from the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE.org), while about the Real Estate sector, has some very interesting comments, and especially about the fundamental pathology of socialism itself.

https://fee.org/articles/how-deregulating-real-estate-markets-can-solve-america-s-shortage-of-affordable-housing/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_FEEDaily

We have been fighting this for years and many thousands with little success. A typical example is not being allowed to build a MIL cabin unless you have more than five acres. Apparently in totally messed up CA, ADUs are now allowed pretty much everywhere. Huh?

[MissMarple2]

Steve Cortes
@CortesSteve
·
5h
For reference, here’s Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the organizer of the weekend call of 100 multinational corporate chieftains who oppose election integrity reforms.

I wonder why they so vigorously oppose our populist movement?...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-voting-law-response-corporate-ceos-meeting/

[James D.]

It's easy to manage the unintended consequences when you don't make radical change all the time.

This is the single most deluded sentence I have ever read in my life.

[henry]

This idiot wants to control us.

@cnbc

CDC chief says Michigan should 'shut things down,' vaccinating alone won't stop Covid surge

[henry]

@themichaelsheetztweetz

NEWS – Northrop Grumman and Intelsat completed another space industry first today, as spacecraft MEV-2 successfully docked with active satellite IS-1002 to extend its life.

CNBC has an exclusive first look at the unique images from the docking: cnbc.com/2021/04/12/nor… $NOC

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1381669179355508738?s=21

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Anyone who doesn't endorse Trans super rights, Chinese adventurism, Russian adventurism, BLM, Antifa, riots, voter fraud, the suppression of traditional Christianity and Judaism, etc, etc. is now considered a right winger.

The oligarch class now includes the corporate elite. They no longer support the Constitution except when it suits their needs. They knowingly promote lies and propaganda. Their goal is complete authority over the masses, for their own profit, of course.

And in the face of this we are deplorable, bible toting rednecks and racists.

We were moderates once, and young.

[henry]

Cutting off peaceful attempts to have the laws apply equally will not end well.

@vickimckenna

"Hagedorn and liberal justices signal they may block latest election lawsuit" No need to separate Hagedorn out from the "liberal justices". After all, he IS one. jsonline.com/story/news/pol… @judgetroupis

https://twitter.com/vickimckenna/status/1381671363501514755?s=21

[Jane]

Henry,

Come down to Florida until Whitmar grows up. You can bring your trains - and your phone.

[Melinda]

Paul A. Szypula, US Senate Candidate for NY in ‘22
@Bubblebathgirl
Why is BLM allowed to distribute flyers calling for a riot at 7 PM tonight at Brooklyn Center Police Department?
https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1381673170273456129

[Jane]

Oops I got your governor wrong. Same thing different name.

[Tom Bowler]

The most meaningful way to deal with the problem, though, is not to look at how to keep certain guns from all people, but how to keep all guns from certain people — the people almost all of us agree should not have guns.

Yeah, but... The problem that Washington wants to solve really is to keep certain guns from all people -- the ones that shoot bullets.

...federal rules governing privacy for health records could be modified to allow mental health clinicians to identify those who are a threat to themselves or others...

And there's the ticket! For example, anyone thinking the 2020 election was not conducted flawlessly and honestly is obviously a deranged threat. Thus, the dangerous people can be identified and prevented from acquiring firearms. A piece of cake once health care is taken over through the public option.

Oh, yeah. And about those people who "knowingly contributing to the illegal gun trade." Can we go after the Obama administration on that? Seems they had quite a project going there for a while that got Brian Terry killed, and all for the sake of drumming up support for gun control.

[henry]

Jane, the thought occurs to me now and then.

No worries, this is a moderate requirement for travel papers inside the US.

@forbestech

Hawaii's vaccine passport is slated to roll out by summer

[Narciso]

But like that commercial 'i learned it from you' michigan is following cdc procedures more leaches por favor

[Neo]

WARNING: NURSING HOME WHISTLEBLOWER, "PATIENTS DYING LIKE FLIES AFTER VACCINE"
https://www.brighteon.com/14c9865e-36b3-48b1-afe4-5427a42802d6

[Narciso]

A rare ray of sunshine

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ecuadors-guillermo-lasso-wins-presidential-election-11618195085

[Narciso]

Deja vu

https://ace.mu.nu/walmart_corporate_liaison_to_arkansas_asa_hutchinson_conservatives_shouldnt_ask_republican_politicians_to_change_the_law#more

[Neo]

NBCNews:
'Online and vulnerable': Experts find nearly three dozen U.S. voting systems connected to internet
A team of election security experts used a “Google for servers” to challenge claims that voting machines do not connect to the internet and found some did.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/online-vulnerable-experts-find-nearly-three-dozen-u-s-voting-n1112436

[Pinandpuller]

Speaking of gun violence, if the lady cop who shot the guy in Minneapolis is the blond I saw a picture of, she’ll still be qualified to teach High School in Florida when she gets out.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Iggy --
The thing about revolutions -- and this includes the right wing revolution that you envision -- is that they rarely accomplish all that much. You end up at the same place you were at before all the tumult began. Moderates always end up before the firing squad or (if lucky) exiled.--

If by envision you mean desire then you aren't paying attention. Nor is this remotely like the 1890s where you had a coherent culture and strong institutions that despite whatever problems the country had kept the government's overriding thirst for power in check while society slowly adapted through cultural and extant political institutions and means. TR in fact is a perfect example of what we don't need because the present mess is the logical end of his career. He rode roughshod over those institutions and as the first official Progressive president set us on the last 100+ years of government accretion of power and the destruction of federalism. He is especially responsible through his irresponsible electing of Wilson when he didn't get his way and went all Bull Moose.

Ideas have consequences. Not only that but they're real, The culture has slowly and then suddenly been subverted and is now owned not by liberals or even neoliberals. The ideas animating not just the Dem party but much of the culture including education, the academe, the media, you name it, is largely the direct fruit and derivatives of Marx. Not JFK. Not MLK. K Marx. We know what the consequences of those ideas are and I struggle to think of a time when those consequences were done away with peacefully.
I do not "envision" a revolution. I anticipate one being thrust on us because the Marxists and their much more numerous enablers are systematically closing off every avenue of peaceful political change available. When those are gone those who wish to retain their liberty and autonomy from the state face the choice of submitting to being ruled or revolting.

You can wish that away and pretend it is the brave moderates who get shot but that is baloney. If you asked any Good Germans if they were immoral or blind to the compromises they were making they would say exactly the things you are. That's the entire point of the Good German example. They didn't decide one day "Gee I think I'll become a Nazi monster today". They told themselves "Yeah this Hitler guy isn't very nice but he's a lot better than those Weimar guys. And those deplorable Jews...yeah they used to be ok but lately they're sounding pretty crazy too. The guy has a point."
And they believed and/or accepted things that just a few years before they would have recoiled from in horror because that became the cultural milieu they swam in in the same way so many "moderates" are now. Accepting and endorsing things that 20 years ago you would have rightly considered radical is not moderation, it's capitulation. And it's what you are doing whether you know or admit that or not.

--You end up at the same place you were at before all the tumult began.--

This part of it is ahistorical and I'd call it silly if it didn't ignore the hundreds of millions of corpses all those "tumults" produced.
The left/right paradigm is a false one, There are revolutions and movements that seek to impose totalitarianism on nations and a few that seek to remove or avert tyranny. The French, Russian, Chinese, German, Italian and the many subsidiary but similar revolutions most assuredly did not end up in the same place they started. They ended up in hell because those running them sought to replace authoritarian and/or corrupt and weak governments with all-powerful, totalitarian ones.
The American one did not end up in the same place either. Unlike the tyrannical ones it ended up in a better place because we sought to remove the shackles of arbitrary power and replace them with self governance.
And this one, if and when it occurs will bear far more resemblance to our first one than the others because arbitrary power is coalescing in this country in the form of a Progressive, Oligarchical and Marxist ruling class and those of us resisting it want to restore what they are in the process of stealing.
You can't or won't see that and there's nothing I can do to make you see it. But Trotsky's war is interested in you and you will see it eventually.

[Neo]

NPC ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUNpTues5nM

[Neo]

NPC vs CDC
https://twitter.com/RedpilledN/status/1380000257526861825

[Old Lurker]

Cannot argue with a word of your 3:44 Iggy.

On the other JOM I told Jane that I place "moderates" plainly on the side of Evil, including half of the GOP. You said the same "They didn't decide one day "Gee I think I'll become a Nazi monster today". They told themselves "Yeah this Hitler guy isn't very nice but he's a lot better than those Weimar guys."

30-40s circa Good Germans, Honest Hardworking FBI Agents, and "Moderates" (of any party or none) are all the same to me.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Don't forget the relentless propaganda the Nazis used. Theirs was a well thought out plan to demonize the other, which is exactly what the Left in this country is now doing.

Never let a good crisis go to waste is one of their key operative principles as is adherence to the Alinsky manual.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Tom Bowler's entire comment is excellent. Part of it:
--And there's the ticket! For example, anyone thinking the 2020 election was not conducted flawlessly and honestly is obviously a deranged threat. Thus, the dangerous people can be identified and prevented from acquiring firearms. A piece of cake once health care is taken over through the public option.--

Even reasonable TM was agreeing in the last thread with the yellow loon that anyone who doesn't believe the 2020 election was the very model of fastidiously clean, legal and upright operations and that Trump came within a whisker of leading the deplorable rabble to the slaughter of our brave congress and installing himself as the Der Orange Fuehrer of the MAGAReich is "insane".
The progs call us deplorable and irredeemable and racist and fascist and then begin intimating we're off our rockers and need to be deprogrammed or reeducated.
After all that they then say 'maybe we shouldn't let anyone own a gun who we judge to be off their rocker' and wonder why we think just maybe they have an agenda behind their rhetoric.
If progs ever learn to keep their mouths shut before they do what they really intend we'll really be in trouble.

[Old Lurker]

Matt "which is exactly what the Left in this country is now doing."

"NOW" and for several decades in more heaping doses to correspond to the dumber and dumber target population.

Could not have been planned out and implemented better.

[Old Lurker]

Not to worry, Iggy. We really are in trouble.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

My daughter in Santa Monica texted me earlier about the plan offered by the LA City Council to house the homeless at the beach. She asked why the situation is so out of control.

LA has become an asylum. The homeless are everywhere and the problems have gotten much worse. And even with the hundreds of millions being spent on housing, there is no path forward.

I have been spending a lot of time on the streets of LA recently and am just stunned. And when I interact with them, it is the most basic human needs I see; a place to wash and go to the bathroom; a place to charge a cell phone; a place to sleep.

The drug crisis has a lot to do with it, but the streets themselves contribute to the mental illness. God help us.

[James D.]

She asked why the situation is so out of control.

The situation is out of control because the people currently in power want it that way.

[Neo]

One especially distraught witness, Charles McMillian, an elderly black man, testified to seeing “foam” coming out of Floyd’s mouth.

QUIZ: Is foam coming out of the mouth a sign of:

a) a head wound?
b) strangulation?
c) a drug overdose?

ANSWER: c) a drug overdose.

Apart from that crucial fact, McMillian’s evidence only pertained to “first-degree upsetting bystanders.” Which, again, is not a crime.

https://anncoulter.com/2021/04/07/minneapolis-vs-the-evidencex/

[Dave (in MA)]

So Officer Blondie used the Boom Boom thing instead of the Bzzz Bzzz thing. Did she train with Mohamed Noor?

[Narciso]

Da vizzini is doing a bang up job isnt he?

[MissMarple2]

Daughter got her first Pfizer vaccine yesterday and went to the doctor this morning because she was having heart races (not normal for her) and felt feverish and flushed.

Vaccine reaction and doc told her that she probably had, indeed, have Covid back last Feb/March 2020 when we were both so sick, and that this is a common reaction in those who have already had it.

Since to me heart races mean elevated BP and I am already on medication for that which my cardiac doc has worked very hard to help me control, I am less inclined than ever to get the vaccination, even the J & J one.

She is ok and sleeping now, but very worrisome to me.

[clarice]

https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/11/bezos-union-victory-further-strains-the-great-coalition/

[jimmyk]

A rare ray of sunshine

The Peru election is interesting too. It's a crazy system because it appears there are four candidates with around 15% of the vote. There will be a runoff between the top two. At last count the first place candidate is a leftist, but the other three are more center-right, including Hernando de Soto, the economist who wrote The Other Path.

[MissMarple2]

I can always count on Catturd for a pithy comment:

Catturd ™
@catturd2
·
41s
Seriously, what kind of a loser would it take to buy a book by John Boehner?

[Neo]

My wife and I went in for the J+J Friday afternoon. Frankly, except for being sleepy all weekend (which we usually are), no reaction.
I got the 2nd pneumonia vaccine 6 weeks ago and it made my arm hurt for a day, the J+J was nothing.

[Pinandpuller]

Can we just move past saying that Roberts sided with the three liberals on the court? It’s a bloc, end of story.

[Dave (in MA)]

Today's Red Sox game vs. the Twins was cancelled because some lady cop can't tell her Taser from her sidearm.

[jimb]

"The situation (in LA) is out of control because the people currently in power want it that way."

True, though it's not always clear who are "the people currently in power" ... A lot of fists stir those pots, but the biggest driver may be Mr. and Mrs. unintended consequences ...

[GUS]

Thank GOD social services are taking care of all the children....SNARK.

[GUS]

I just reported MISS MARPLE for saying she might not take the VACCINE. Call I 800 GES-TAPO. I did.

[GUS]

I think the "lady" cop should have been wearing the PREGNANCY FLIGHT SUIT. It would have helped.

[MissMarple2]

Brian Stelter
@brianstelter

A Fox writer asked me to comment for a story mocking me. I replied, "As I said on air: Why hasn't Fox shown live on-air vaccinations like other networks have? Why haven't the morning and evening hosts shared their vaccination experiences with the viewers? Maybe you can find out."
=========================================
J.E. Dyer
@OptimisticCon
·
32m
Is Stelter suggesting that it's essential journalism for news channel hosts to share their vaccination experiences?
Certainly clarifying. He sees his job as reinforcing narrative themes to the public - not reporting news.
We knew that, but it's good to know he does too.

[Jim Eagle]

CNN: No news only instruction.

[Dave (in MA)]

One of the other cops who was involved in the fatal stop seems to have his taser on his belt with yellow markings on it. Assuming that's departmental standard, the cop who pulled the trigger must have just panicked.

[Dave (in MA)]

(on this belt on the opposite side from his sidearm)

[Narciso]

Tater stelter whats the point.