Thursday Ramble: US Politics

 

I shared the meme below on Facebook after the latest high school shooting, there have been so many I have a hard time keeping track of them, and Congress does nothing.  A high school classmate of mine shared it on her Facebook feed, and I was appalled at some of the comments she received.  She is a gun owner, a retired federal corrections officer (prison guard.) 

"Some of the weapons involved are legally bought yes, a far number of these weapons are black market buys purchased from straw buyers in different states selling them in states with stricter gun laws or the weapons are stolen during break ins because the owner doesn’t secure them properly."

Show me the proof.  I don't recall a single mass shooting with an illegally purchased weapon. For the most recent murder spree, Daddy give the assault rifle to his 14 year old son as a Christmas gift.  The gift that keeps on killing.  Both have been charged with homicide. 

Another comment that has since been removed either by the person who posted it, or by Facebook, talked about needing assault weapons so she could fire off half a dozen rounds through a wall, real fast to scare away the baddies. And how much more effective an AR15 was at doing so. 

I have a policy of not engaging trolls and crazies, especially those with weapons, so I didn't respond to that comment.  I really wanted to ask how terrible of a neighborhood do you live in and WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING SOMETHING TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS, so they don't threaten your safety.  The reality is she has probably never been threatened in her home, unless she regularly does business with drug dealers and other criminals.  

During the Presidential debate, HeWhoShallNotBeNamed repeated a news story about cats and dogs disappearing and being eaten in a midwestern town, saying "see what is happening to our towers (I think he meant towns) when we let those people in. 

Two points: 

•  If he had fact checked the story, others had fact checked long before he repeated it, officials have investigated the report and can find NO EVIDENCE that the lost or stolen pets are being eaten. Yes pets are missing, the pets may have been stolen, or they may have gotten lost. But there is no proof that the pets are being eaten. 
• Eating cats or dogs, is a not so thinly veiled racist dog whistle. He was trying to be racist, without saying he is racist. He couldn't be more racist if he wore a white sheet and hood. 

Oh, and he should remember that he is married to an immigrant, and based on that marriage her parents were allowed to immigrate.  

And his running mate should remember that he is married to the daughter of immigrants, and his children are mixed race, before he questions the race of our next President.  

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, has announced that he will be voting for Kamala Harris. Dick is about as war mongering of a Republican as you can be.  But then he did have a change of heart a few years ago (he had a heart transplant.) Sorry, someone had to make that joke.