The school shooting in Florida this week has sparked a renewed call for lawmakers to take action, and some of the loudest voices demanding change are not even old enough to vote.
The tragic event, which occurred Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, is one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history. Seventeen people -- 14 students and three teachers -- were killed and many more injured.
Now, led by the students, this South Florida community is demanding answers on how this could have occurred and are asking what steps will federal and state authorities take to prevent this from happening again.
To help facilitate the discussion, CNN has announced it will hold a nationally televised town hall with the victims' classmates, parents and community members. "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action" will air live at 9 p.m., ET, on Wednesday, February 21 at the BB&T Center.
In addition, President Donald Trump, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, along with the state's Sen. Bill Nelson, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Ted Deutch have all been invited to participate in the town hall and hear directly from the grieving community.
Well first off Donald Trump will NEVER show.
Trump is the biggest coward to ever sit behind that desk in the Oval Office and the possibility that he might sit and listen to what these kids had to say in person is absolutely zero.
I mean can you even imagine how Trump would deal with the likes of Emma Gonzalez, or this young man?
I bet he is wetting his plus size Depends at the very thought.Cameron Kasky, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: “My message for the people in office is: you’re either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.” (via CNN) https://t.co/ShcPmXgXJR— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 18, 2018
And I would imagine that the same holds true for Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and the rest of the Republican politicians.
I hope that Bill Nelson and some of the other Democrats prioritize this however as it would provide a very powerful message to the voters come the 2018 and 2020 elections.
I know I'm going to be watching.
I can see it now..."didn't your parents teach you to respect authority? A child is to be seen and not heard."
ReplyDeleteBible. Some Chapter: Some Verse
I just noticed the blonde mom in the anguish photo as Ash Wednesday ashes on her forehead. To all the fools posting that this happened because we took prayer out of schools........why would a loving god let this happen to this faithful jeebus believing family? Huh? Huh??/
ReplyDeleteA friend posted the same Facebook. God wouldn't let this happen is prayer wasn't taken out of school. Ummm....I'm 60 and don't remember forced to pray. Pledge of Allegiance, every day standing by your desk, yes.
DeleteSo the Talibangelicals think God is so petty that he'd kill children because they don't pray in school?
Deletemlaiuppa, they're "god" is so capable of murder for the slightest reason! The OT is CRAMMED with ordered murder, infanticide, genocide, matricide, patricide and vicious acts of torture, rape and all sorts of destructive actions, I'm surprised ANY of the believers survived!
DeleteThe only politicians who will show up are ones who support gun control. The others will “have a previous engagement”.
ReplyDeleteGoof luck with that one those kids are going to run circles around those liars,trump will use the excuse CNN is fake and go golfing instead.
ReplyDeleteOops,good luck.
DeleteI would be quite surprised if ANY Republicans showed up. Republicans don't represent average Americans anymore - Republicans represent billionaire donors, the NRA, Big Banks and Big Oil.
ReplyDeletePeriod.
They don’t represent the average American, and they certainly don’t represent teenagers.
DeleteJerry, I can hear their comment already: "Come back when you're old enough to vote!"
DeleteLeland: That would be a big mistake on their part, because these kids will. And it won't be long. Some of them may even be voting this November. Many will be voting in 2020. By 2022 they will all still remember the shooting and they will remember the assholes that told them to come back when they're old enough to vote. And their reply will be "We're back!"
DeleteThe only Republicans that might show up are those that are already on record for tighter gun regulations and who already don't receive any money from the NRA.
Put any politician on the now defunct "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and watch them fail as kids laugh and roll their eyes.
ReplyDeleteTrump would fail at the game, “Are You Smarter Than A First Grader”!
DeleteI will be watching also. Trump will not even listen to these people.
ReplyDelete‘Stormy Daniels is not the only one’: Ex-adult star hints more performers may be coming forward to expose Trump
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/stormy-daniels-not-one-ex-adult-star-hints-performers-may-coming-forward-expose-trump/
C'mon ladies, bring it on!
Teen who survived massacre rips Trump to pieces in emotional takedown
ReplyDelete...“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy, and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us that nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association.”
Gonzalez then called attention to the $30 million spent by the NRA in support of Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and how that translates onto each life lost to gun violence.
“That comes out to being $5800. Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?” She asked.
“To every politician who has taken donations from the NRA: Shame on you!”
The crowd erupted into a loud chant, echoing her cry: “Shame on you!”
https://shareblue.com/teen-who-survived-massacre-rips-trump-to-pieces-in-emotional-takedown/
WTF? Seriously???
ReplyDeleteMissouri third-graders sell AR-15 raffle tickets after Florida students are gunned down with similar weapon
A group of third graders in Missouri has been asked to sell raffle tickets for an AR-15 military-style assault weapon after a similar gun was used in a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Community baseball team coach Levi Patterson told The Kansas City Star that the decision to sell raffle tickets was made before the shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The weapon was reportedly donated by the co-founder of Black Rain Ordnance Inc., who is the father of one of the players.
Patterson told the paper that he initially considered raffling a different item after the mass shooting, but he changed his mind after receiving criticism from what he called a “hate group” on Facebook. After that, Patterson said that he decided to turn the AR-15 raffle “into a positive thing.”
But Patterson later admitted that he did not know if the messages on Facebook came from a “hate group.”
“I applaud them for standing up for what they believe in. I just think they have feelings to this specific type of gun (that are) different than people around here do,” he insisted.
In a response to his Facebook critics, Patterson wrote that “gun raffles have been going on for years. Evil has and will always exist. Our hearts break for those involved, and we do not take that lightly.”
He also offered a defense of the AR-15 as a legal gun, insisting that it was not a “killing machine.”
Patterson said that the children on his team, who are between 7 and 9 years old, would not be forced to sell the raffle tickets.
“We appreciate your ‘concern’ but please understand, we are not, have not, and will not force one of our boys to sell raffle tickets for the Black Rain AR15 Spec 15, if they are uncomfortable doing so,” he wrote on Facebook.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/missouri-third-graders-sell-ar-15-raffle-tickets-florida-students-gunned-similar-weapon/
Because every 7-9 year old knows that the only way you get through life is an assault weapon. Is he a Boy Scout leader?
DeleteSO, if he even shows up, how exactly does he answer questions? Can't do it teleprompter. Will students be given the questions they are only "allowed" to ask? Maybe they'll send Sarah "I can only see you out of one eye" Huckabee Sanders to speak for him?
ReplyDeleteFacetious? YES.
Fed up? You have NO clue how much.
For every troll that visits this site, I am sorry but there simply is no defense of any of this anymore.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm a retired combat veteran, I have a gun safe full of my toys. But, I burned my NRA card years ago. Something's wrong when kids die in their schools every few weeks. Instead of getting some sensible gun laws, we get Russia donating to Trump through the NRA. #NRAbloodmoney
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/Top_Sergeant/status/963943320404639744
“THE CANARIES ARE DYING”: HOW TRUMP IS MAKING REPUBLICANS PICK THEIR 2018 POISON
Caught between the president’s rabid, loyal base and suburban women, Republican candidates may not survive a blue wave election.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/the-canaries-are-dying-how-trump-is-making-republicans-pick-their-2018-poison
Forget about it. Trump would not show up on a Wendsday he is too busy packing his suitcase for Mar A Lago for the weekend.
ReplyDeleteMonday? That's just a no go, Trump is unpacking from his golf weekend.
Tuesday? Sorry, Trump has to be caught up on what happened while he was golfing.
Thursday? Sorry no can do that's when he is busy thinking about when he gets to ride Air Force One on our dime and Melania has to think about how the hell she can get out of riding on the same plane.Family first and that mantra, i am sure you understand.
Friday? Um.. no the secret service is too busy and too broke making arrangements for the Winter White House.
Saturday? Excuse me golf! duh.
Sunday? Look Trump is old and tired from riding his golf cart around, eating steaks with ketchup and having to put up with Melania's laser stare while sucking in his gut for a photo op.
Really people! what do expect? a real President?
Minutes after interviewing a group of Parkland, Florida, students organizing marches in response to the mass shooting at their school, “Fox News Sunday” put conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh on the air to dismiss their plans and condemn them for trying to advance a “political agenda.”
ReplyDelete“Marches aren’t going to solve it,” Limbaugh told Chris Wallace, the program’s host, after a segment featuring student survivors of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed the lives of 17 of their classmates and school faculty members.
“Chris, the next shooter is out there. The next shooter probably has the gun that he’s going to use. … How is anything that we’re talking about going to stop that?” he asked of the planned demonstration.
Limbaugh then proposed guns be allowed in schools.
“The solution to me ― and I know this is going to cause all kinds of angst ― but the solution is we need concealed carry (of weapons) in the schools,” he said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-parkland-limbaugh-interviews_us_5a89bfd8e4b05c2bcacc120f
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/02/18/minutes-after-parkland-students-discuss-their-planned-march-fox-news-sunday-rush-limbaugh-mocks/219423
A student brings a rifle to school and commits mass murder and his solution is to give guns to all of the students.
DeleteSorry, but isn't that the definition of insanity?
Yes, yes it is, miaiuppa, but it seems that sanity in today's environment is sorely lacking. The voices of hatred and stupidity ring louder than those of love and common sense. I despair for society.
DeleteA former Russian troll speaks: ‘It was like being in Orwell’s world’
ReplyDelete...How did it feel inside?
I arrived there, and I immediately felt like a character in the book “1984” by George Orwell — a place where you have to write that white is black and black is white. Your first feeling, when you ended up there, was that you were in some kind of factory that turned lying, telling untruths, into an industrial assembly line. The volumes were colossal — there were huge numbers of people, 300 to 400, and they were all writing absolute untruths. It was like being in Orwell’s world.
What sorts of untruths did you write?
My untruths amounted to posting comments. I worked in the commenting department — I had to comment on the news. No one asked me my opinion. My opinions were already written for me, and I had to write in my own words that which I was ordered to write.
For example?
When I was there, there were sanctions [by the European Union and the United States in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine] and the ruble started falling. I was writing everything that was the opposite: how wonderful our life was, how wonderful it is that the ruble was strengthening, and that kind of absurdity. That sanctions were going to make us stronger and so on and so forth.
Where were you writing this?
We were commenting on Russian sites — all sorts of them, LiveJournal for example, and all the Russian news websites. Wherever a given news item appeared on Russian websites, trolls were immediately created to provide the illusion of support.
What was the working environment like — was it really like a factory?
There were two shifts of 12 hours, day and night. You had to arrive exactly on time, that is, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. There were production norms, for example, 135 comments of 200 characters each. … You come in and spend all day in a room with the blinds closed and 20 computers. There were multiple such rooms spread over four floors. It was like a production line, everyone was busy, everyone was writing something. You had the feeling that you had arrived in a factory rather than a creative place.
How did the trolling work?
You got a list of topics to write about. Every piece of news was taken care of by three trolls each, and the three of us would make up an act. We had to make it look like we were not trolls but real people. One of the three trolls would write something negative about the news, the other two would respond, “You are wrong,” and post links and such. And the negative one would eventually act convinced. Those are the kinds of plays we had to act out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/17/a-former-russian-troll-speaks-it-was-like-being-in-orwells-world
In September 2013, as he was expressing hope of meeting Putin in Moscow, Trump said that his politics talk would be a waste if he weren't going to run for POTUS in 2016. 60 days later, he went to Moscow and, per Kremlin agent Yulya Alferova, discussed politics "again and again."
Deletehttps://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/965275566206259200
https://twitter.com/AHamiltonSpirit/status/965092921660854277
3/ By the time Putin allies/Russian oligarchs the Agalarovs came to Las Vegas in June 2013 to overpay Trump by *millions* for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, they'd have had no doubt Trump was running for POTUS. Nor did Putin—that's why he stayed away from the pageant.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/965278130201128962
There was a HUGE exodus from Livejournal in December 2016 and April 2017.
DeleteThe first wave was when they took their servers from the U.S. back to Russia. That's when my friends and I started to migrate our accounts to a U.S. based service. I personally thought it was telling given the (at the time) "rumors" about Russian interference in the election. Now I wonder what else was on those servers and what else they were being used for.
"Six Apart sold LiveJournal to Russian media company SUP Media in 2007; the service continued to operate out of the U.S. via a California-based subsidiary, LiveJournal, Inc., but began moving some operations to Russian offices in 2009. In December 2016, the service re-located its servers to Russia, and in April 2017, LiveJournal changed its terms of service to conform to Russian law. "
The second wave was when they changed their terms of service to be very homophobic, among other things. You had to conform to a user agreement that was written in Russian.
Not sure about the average Livejournal user but I know I was alerted by some of the friends in my blog circle. I then passed it on, telling my friends I was moving, where to and how to shut down your Livejournal account if you wanted to migrate.
I shut mine down when my last friend had migrated her journal. Early 2017.
I'm not sure there is any way to tell how many people left Livejournal due to the Russians. Livejournal had been losing users for years due to really bad business decisions. Some had had their journals on Livejournal for years. Mine was only from 2009 and sporadic for many years. Migrating was no big deal.
But in the end none of us were willing to stay on a platform run by Russia from servers in Russia. We didn't need Mueller to tell us what the Russians were capable of doing or had already done.
OT: Iron Dog Race today! World's longest, toughest snowmachine race; 2000 miles across extreme Alaska terrain,... https://fb.me/GietVxJK
ReplyDeleteIron Dog
https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/965432353928687616
Palin
https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/photos/pcb.10156188164928588/10156188164838588/?type=3&theater
Sara Todd
https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28055701_10156188164873588_5491302316980104688_n.jpg?oh=b20c2092e3d64bca0be3cf9d1fce1988&oe=5B16EB8A
Meyer
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SgtDakotaMeyer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=643317669041411
This fast-growing Christian movement is aimed at taking over the government through Donald Trump and Sarah Palin | RawStory | "INC Christianity is led by a network of popular independent religious entrepreneurs, often referred to as 'apostles.' They have close ties, we found, to conservative U.S. politicians, including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry and more recently President Donald Trump."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/this-fast-growing-christian-movement-is-aimed-at-taking-over-the-government-through-donald-trump-and-sarah-palin/
Dotard Duo
A cross species between on Orangutan and an Oompa Loompa. The Dotard is usually bred in captivity by wealthy families that wish to pass on their inheritance without having to raise an actual human.
https://www.rawstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trump_palin-copy.jpg
I know when you are young you believe in positive change. Unfortunately, here in America we are run by rich old white men. They want the status quo.
ReplyDeleteSorry, nothing will change. No matter how much protest, tears, anguish, nothing will change.
And if by chance it does, is because the people of America finally realized they had the power to boycott the guns, or the business that is bringing shit to their own backyard.
Someone once told me that Americans only get alarmed when it is in their backyard.
Donnie dotard dumpf from the swamp will meet with innocent kids on Wednesday he said. Will cohen be there protecting Donnie dotard drumpf from these kids? How much will be paid to be quiet? Will they discuss the definition of Treason and Espionage and what happens to nasty dirty liars and predators that use child for their own gain in this very small world. What kind of scam can be pulled off? 3rd graders selling raffle tickets to win a AR15? Will banjo boy be there too? Dotard dildo drumpf from the shithole country finally attends school for a education. Chicken shit republicans will be there too.
ReplyDeleteIt will be gross seeing those smart beautiful kids next to that idiot puke of a man. And he’ll want to shake their hands—no way should any of them feel they must do so (for one, because those hands have assaulted so many females, but also for so many other reasons). The Miami Herald said “Trump spent about 35 minutes at the hospital” visiting victims and talking to the doctors and first responders there. I saw a Twitter page that said he spent 14 minutes of the 35 with the victims. Pathetic. Oh, and he spent more time than that visiting the sheriff’s office next. How is he going to survive a discussion with the other teens from the school! Oh, and I noticed how he immediately politicized things by pushing aside the Dem. Senator, Bill Nelson, while keeping Marco Rubio close at hand. Usually in these situations we see both senators working together and the president being inclusive with both senators. Rubio stayed in DC until flying on AF1 with Trump late Friday afternoon and visiting the sheriff’s office with Trump that night. Rubio is in the smiling pic at the top of Trump’s Twitter page. Nelson was on the Senate floor Thursday morning for a moment of silence followed by his plea for gun control. Rubio followed and made the usual excuses for there being guns and mass killings. Nelson left for Florida as soon as he could and was meeting with local and federal officials at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school very early Friday morning, and then he was on TV doing interviews and holding a press conference and pleading the case for gun control. He’s co-sponsored a 100-page bill with Sen. Feinstein—100 pages necessarily written just to cover the very definition of assault weapon. Meanwhile, Rubio got PR after hanging out waiting to fly on AF 1 with Trump late Friday. I don’t know if Rubio went to the hospital with Trump, but on Rubio’s Twitter page it does say on Friday that he met with a victim, so he may have been with Trump—but he was absolutely with Trump immediately following for the photo taken at the sheriff’s office. Rubio finally spoke with people publicly on Saturday. Had to—Nelson had already done so much and Rubio was looking like a fool. Thankfully, CNN didn’t overlook the senior senator of Florida and Nelson will be part of that conversation they hold. The meeting won’t be complete BS as far as the politician part of it goes.
ReplyDeleteOops. IMers, please forgive my long single paragraph.
DeleteThe thing about those voices that aren't old enough to vote?
ReplyDeleteThey forgot....yet.
They will soon be old enough to vote. This year, 2020, 2022. They'll be old enough to vote and then they'll be old enough to run. The savvy ones will start with the local school board, then city council and then either go for the state legislature or straight for Congress.
And they'll win. Maybe not the first time but eventually they'll win.
They'll add their voices to the women and scientists now running for seats. Eventually the tide will turn. Because this country is mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more. We may start by screaming but we will end as taking the power away from those that will not listen and will not act.
Those voices will take action. It won't end today with a protest and it won't end tomorrow with a march. It will become votes. And more votes. And more action.
Look for candidates from Florida who when they campaign will say they survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting and that they are campaigning to give a voice and a vote to those that no longer can do so.
They'll win.
Emma Gonzalez and all of the students are amazing strong young people—they make me feel such pride in America and belief in its future. Cameron Kasky is another student people should hear. Here’s something he wrote. And student David Hogg has been filming and interviewing—here’s something on him, too, but there’s more on both male students online.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/opinions/florida-shooting-no-more-opinion-kasky/index.html
http://time.com/5161034/florida-school-shooting-survivor/
I hope to hear from all three of these students at that meeting.
OH BOY! They're starting to turn on each other.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/former-trump-aide-rick-gates-010752198.html
"Rick Gates, a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump, will plead guilty to charges related to fraud and is willing to testify against his longtime business partner, Paul Manafort, The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday."
And whatever plea deal Manafort might have had is now void as he was caught falsifying the worth of the real estate he was going to put up as a bond.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/16/mueller-manafort-bank-fraud-accusations-416509
"The plea will reportedly change in the coming days, and Gates will likely serve about 18 months in prison in exchange for his cooperation, the Times reported."
Flynn and Papadopoulos have already pleaded guilty and are cooperating.
Sure, Gates will get 18 months in a Prison-Spa but each subsequent plaintiff will get more and more time under worse and worse conditions.
Cnn must not allow drumpf to take over the microphone sprew his lies. They must sit his ass down and force him to listen and then answer without a teleprompter. Cnn keep control over the townhall and protect these children from additional trauma from this fraud and liar.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Donald Trump is attacking OPRAH on Twitter. I guess he is scared she actually will run against him in 2020. Plus he is scared of powerful, smart women.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-spent-sunday-night-watching-072452586.html
"President Donald Trump capped a long weekend of hate-tweeting by taunting an “insecure” Oprah Winfrey over her latest appearance on “60 Minutes.”
And he practically dared her to run for president."
And of course Twitter came to Oprah's defense, not that she needed it. But it just stokes Trump's fears that if she ran she'd beat him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/twitter-defends-oprah-trumps-insecure-insult-121435811.html
"As HuffPost reports, the president took offense to a 60 Minutes segment Sunday night in which Winfrey spoke to Michigan voters about their political concerns. Though Winfrey has dismissed speculation about a 2020 presidential bid, Trump — who has spoken positively about the former talk show host in the past — tweeted that he wanted her to run so that she could be “exposed and defeated.”"
"The president, who is in Florida in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, also called the billionaire “very insecure.” "
Now we all know about Trump's projection. Whatever he is accusing others of, he himself is guilty of.
So pretty much proof positive that Trump is the most insecure snowflake on the planet.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-bardella-trump-women_us_5a872af1e4b00bc49f43d30d
"This is what we have come to expect from Trump. His response wasn’t an outlier; it was consistent with a man who always gives the benefit of the doubt to powerful, white and Republican men. In Donald Trump’s paradigm, no women are innocent. They are asking for it."
"Trump’s emotional fragility and personal history with sexual misconduct allegations have created a construct where he will always side with the man because he is inherently afraid of empowering women. At the heart of any abuse against women lie massive insecurities harbored by cowardly men. These men seem to delude themselves into thinking that the only way to compensate for their lack of intellect, ability, circumstance or position is to target and attack a woman."
Plus Oprah has more money that he does and she doesn't use it to act like a bitch.
He made a big mistake targeting Oprah. She is not a weak woman and she not only won't tolerate his abuse, she has the smarts to slap him upside the head and put him in his place.
Of course, the best thing she could do is ignore the little wanker. That would drive him nuts.
If he was trying to goad her into running against him, this might do it. But that would be a big mistake because if she decided to run for president....she would WIN.
Lucky for him, she has no interest in being president.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal