Kids sue Florida Governor Rick Scott for endangering their future by not combating climate change.

Anybody else ever get the feeling that Dick Scott is a reptile? Maybe that is why climate change does not bother him.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

A group of kids is suing Florida Gov. Rick Scott, claiming he “endangered” their future and violated their constitutional rights by not doing anything to combat climate change. 

The youngsters filed their lawsuit on Monday in Leon County Court. 

“It is the responsibility of the state to uphold the constitution, and these young people have a fundamental right to a stable climate system,” said Guy Burns, lead counsel for the eight plaintiffs, most of whom are teens.

The youths are being represented by the Oregon-based nonprofit organization Our Children’s Trust, which is supporting similar suits from children across the country. 

They range in age from 10 to 20 years old — and include climate change activists Levi Draheim and Delaney Reynolds, who expressed their outrage in a statement. 

“The reason that I’m a part of this lawsuit is because I believe that the climate change crisis is the biggest threat that my generation will ever have to face,” Reynolds explained. 

“Right now we live in what I like to call the state of denial because the state of Florida is doing nothing to address climate change, but everything to cause it. That is completely immoral,” she said. “If we ever want to have a future of living here in Florida, if my children ever want to live here in Florida, we need to start working together to implement solutions for climate change or the state of Florida won’t exist.”

Damn, these kids today are nothing short of amazing.

I think I am going to start relaxing about the future. It seems to be in pretty good hands. 

Michael Avenatti mocks Trump's attorney's attempt to organize a protest against his client Stormy Daniels.

The “fixer” Mr. Cohen (aka the real Ray Donovan) organized a protest - BIGLY - in Florida last night against my client. As usual, his execution was flawless. #impressive pic.twitter.com/4ADeM9rzeD

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 14, 2018

What is that, four people?

I think Daniels often has more people than that participating in her adult movies scenes.

And Avenatti was not done there.

The WH just confirmed that this is the largest protest of its kind in American history. More people tuned-in across ALL PLATFORMS than ever before. Not even close!!!!!!

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 14, 2018

Like fish in a barrel.

Speaking of Michael Cohen, somebody added the theme to "The Sopranos" to video of his meeting with his cigar chomping friends and it is magic.

omg this is amazing pic.twitter.com/TOlAIKvPl5

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 14, 2018

Surprising how well that fits, isn't it?

Marjory Stoneman Douglas teacher who said he would carry his gun in school arrested for leaving it unattended in men's room.

Courtesy of The Miami Herald:

Not the most normal sight: a gun left in the bathroom stall. 

But that's exactly what went down on Sunday in a men's room at the Deerfield Beach Pier. 

The circumstances of how the Glock 9mm got there are unusual. 

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the weapon was left by Sean Simpson. If his name sounds familiar, he's the teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas who said he'd be willing to arm himself while on duty. 

According to the sheriff's office report, Simpson told deputies he'd left his gun by accident. By the time the chemistry teacher realized his mistake, the Glock was already in the hands of a drunk homeless man who had picked it up and fired. The bullet hit a wall. 

Simpson was able to grab the gun away from the vagrant, Joseph Spataro, who was charged with firing a weapon while intoxicated and trespassing. 

As for the MSD teacher, he was arrested and charged with failing to safely store a firearm, a second-degree misdemeanor. Simpson posted a $250 cash bond and was released.

Gee, just imagine if this had been in a high school bathroom, and it was a student instead of a homeless man who picked up that gun.

Guns do not keep us safe.

Guns endanger us.

ALL of us.

Florida high school student forced to put band aids on her nipples. Say, what?

Courtesy of Law and Crime:  

A student in Bradenton, Florida says she was forced to put band-aids on her nipples because she wasn’t wearing a bra, according to a WPTV report. The school district admits the situation shouldn’t have been handled that way. 

17-year-old Lizzy Martin told the outlet she went to class in a grey Calvin Klein shirt Monday morning at Braden River High School. A dean said she was violating dress code and distracting male classmates. Martin was made to put on a second t-shirt under the other one. It wasn’t enough. The dean told her to stand up and move around for her, Martin said, but the official wasn’t pleased. 

“So we went to the clinic and she gave me band-aids in there, and told me to X out my nipples,” Martin said. She followed the command, saying she felt she had no options. 

Her mother told the outlet the school dean made a big deal about nothing: “This was a shirt that was unisex, that was too big, that was not form fitting.” She said there is a double standard, and that a male with “excessive breast tissue” wouldn’t be asked to “confine the movement” of his chest. 

Lizzy Martin asked rhetorically that if the problem was that the male classmates were distracted, then why weren’t the boys “educated about the situation” as opposed to her being taken out of class?

Look I understand that we live in country founded by Puritans, but damn it is 2018!

If young men, or even older men, are distracted by a nipple covered by clothing that is their fucking problem, not the owner of the nipple.

Not to be too crude here, but I had a perpetual erection from middle school, all through high school, and partway through my twenties.

I saw a nice rear end, schwing!

I saw some cleavage, schwing!

I saw nipples poking through a shirt, schwing!

I saw a female flip her hair behind her ear....well you get the drift.

But that was MY problem, and I handled it without staring and making the young women uncomfortable, saying crude things to them, or blaming them for distracting me from my school work.

This young women did nothing wrong, and to humiliate her in this way is simply ridiculous.

Florida teacher who hosted a white supremacist podcast has resigned.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Florida middle school teacher Dayanna Volitich submitted her resignation after it was found she was also the host of a white supremacist podcast called "Unapologetic" and the voice behind a Twitter account riddled with racist and anti-Semitic posts.

Charles E. Moore, Volitich's attorney, had no comment on his client's resignation letter. 

Volitich, 25, taught social studies at Crystal River Middle School in Crystal River, Florida. Online, she went by the pseudonym "Tiana Dalichov." Last month, she confirmed through her attorney that she was the one speaking as Dalichov on the podcast, but said her comments were "political satire and exaggeration" and the persona was a "hobby."

 "None of the statements released about my being a white nationalist or white supremacist have any truth to them, nor are my political beliefs injected into my teaching of social studies curriculum," she said in the statement.

That's funny, that "political satire" and "exaggeration" claim is the same one made by Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones when their hateful rhetoric was in danger of costing them a job, or custody of their kids. 

The local school district has not yet accepted Volitich's resignation but it is hard to see how they won't, after all even for Florida this is bad publicity. 

For those who did not catch our March post on this terrible person, yow can find it here.

A no pulling our punches comic to start your day.

I don't really have anything more to add than to say that this is just as gross as it is accurate.

Sarah Palin heads to Mar-a-Lago.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker at a GOP fundraising dinner at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, the Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday. 

The former GOP vice presidential nominee will address the Palm Beach County Republican Party during its annual Lincoln Fundraising Dinner. 

It’s not yet known if Trump, who regularly travels to Mar-a-Lago on the weekends, will be there during the dinner. He is also known for dropping in at events taking place at his properties.

Okay so during the same week that Trump is scrubbing his Administration of those who will not bend to his will, or refuse to see the world as he sees it, it's suddenly announced that Sarah Palin is coming to his favorite place in the whole world for a fundraiser?

That is quite a coinky dink.

And let's face it with Trump clearly angry about the personnel he was convinced to hire by those who claimed some expertise, Sarah Palin would seem like a breath of fresh air.

Palin sees the world in the same black and whites as Trump sees the world.

She is just as fucking stupid as he is on most issues.

And she has proven herself to be a dedicated Trump ass kisser even after he unceremoniously dumped her by the side of the road after she endorsed him.

There is literally no longer any degree of crazy that I would not expect from this Trump White House.

Even the kind of crazy that would see Sarah Palin with a cabinet position in his administration.

So thanks to the pressure from those Parkland students Florida passed some gun control laws. So now the NRA is simply suing the state.

Courtesy of the BBC:  

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is suing Florida after it passed a gun control law in the wake of a school shooting that left 17 people dead. 

Governor Rick Scott, a staunch ally of the gun lobby, enacted the bill, which the NRA says violates the constitution. 

The law raises the legal age for buying rifles in Florida, but also allows the training and arming of school staff. 

It does not ban semi-automatic rifles like the one used in the 14 February massacre in Parkland. 

But it does introduce a three-day waiting period on all gun sales and a ban on bump stocks, a device that enables semi-automatic rifles to fire hundreds of rounds a minute.

The NRA filed its lawsuit on Friday just an hour after the bill was signed by the governor. 

One of its arguments is that the legislation violates the rights of young women as they are unlikely to commit violent crime.

Oh yeah, it's all about protecting young women. THAT sounds like something the NRA is well known for giving a shit about. 

By the way, whatever happened to all that "state's rights" rhetoric that the conservatives are famous for?

Not when it interferes with gun sales dammit!

It's not going to make a difference however.

As the great Joy Reid pointed out in her recent Daily Beast article, the NRA is losing.

Florida lawmaker mocks the Parkland school shooting survivors and says that adults make the laws because "we has the experience."

WATCH: Florida state Rep. Elizabeth Porter dismisses Florida shooting survivors calls for increased gun control.

"Do we allow the children to tell us that we should pass a law that says no homework?"https://t.co/Lrjygjriqh pic.twitter.com/iYBpePcpYG

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) March 7, 2018

Oh she is not a nice lady.

And yes you heard her right.

This woman also clearly says, "The adults make the laws because ... we has the wisdom"

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) March 7, 2018

You know the reason that the "children," as she calls them, feel the need to make their voices heard is because they have all shared an experience called "getting shot at with a semi-automatic rifle" that this nasty woman has been spared.

Now perhaps she will have yet another experience that the students have yet to endure called "getting voted out of office." 

Florida public school teacher had secret life as an online white supremacist provocateur.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Dayanna Volitich, a 25-year-old social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School in Florida, has been secretly hosting the white nationalist podcast “Unapologetic” under the pseudonym “Tiana Dalichov” and bragging about teaching her views in a public school, HuffPost has discovered. 

In her most recent podcast on Feb. 26, a guest railed against diversity in schools, dismissing the idea that “a kid from Nigeria and a kid who came from Sweden are supposed to learn exactly the same” and have the “same IQ.” Volitich enthusiastically agreed with the guest, and went on to argue that “science” has proven that certain races are smarter than others. 

In the same episode, Volitich boasted about bringing her white nationalist beliefs into the classroom and hiding her ideology from administrators. She said that when parents complained to the school’s principal about how she is injecting political bias into the classroom, Volitich lied to the principal and said it was not true. 

“She believed me and backed off,” she said. 

Volitich also agreed with her guest’s assertion that more white supremacists need to infiltrate public schools and become teachers. “They don’t have to be vocal about their views, but get in there!” her guest said. “Be more covert and just start taking over those places.” 

“Right,” Volitich said. “I’m absolutely one of them.” 

Huffington Post did a pretty admirable job of linking this "Tiana Dalichov" character to public school teacher Dayanna Volitich.

Heavy.com also found where Volitich, as "Tiana Dalichov," criticized the victims of the Florida school shooting, and even confronted them online.

They also featured part of her podcast which leaves no doubt that these two people are one and the same.

Thankfully, partly due to their efforts, she has now been removed from the classroom where she can no longer poison the minds of her students:

“The teacher has been removed from the classroom and the investigation is ongoing. Pursuant to Florida Statute an open investigation and materials related to it are exempt from public record and cannot be discussed until the investigation is complete,” the statement from Citrus County schools said.

Remember how we talked about the election of Donald Trump empowering these cowards and making them feel bold enough to come out of the woodwork?

Well this is yet another example of that very thing.

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the NRA is a terrorist organization.

Tonight at 6: Pensacola community reacts to a billboard calling NRA “terrorist organization”. We talked to the man responsible for the billboard @weartv #C3N #Pensacola pic.twitter.com/HPO1Nl1daF

— Jamarlo Phillips (@JPhillipsTV) March 2, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

A political action committee has erected a billboard in Pensacola, Fla. blasting the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a “terrorist organization.” 

Mad Dog PAC, the group behind the sign, funds billboards nationwide calling out GOP candidates and President Trump. 

I think that this is now inarguable.

The number of deaths that can be traced back to the NRA, due to it's lobbying for gun manufacturers and attempts to undermine reasonable gun legislation, is many multiples higher than any of the US deaths attributed to all of the terrorist organizations in the world combined.

And that is simply a fact.

Parkland school shooting survivors confront the "What about Chicago" anti-gun control argument directly.

(1/4)Yesterday, the members of @AMarch4OurLives got to meet up with some of the most wonderful and most strong spoken students of Chicago. "Florida's safest city" and one of the cities in America most affected by gun violence came together to share stories, ideologies, and pizza. pic.twitter.com/3SIDgvAnDM

— Emma González (@Emma4Change) March 4, 2018

(2/4) Those who face gun violence on a level that we have only just glimpsed from our gated communities have never had their voices heard in their entire lives the way that we have in these few weeks alone. Since we all share in feeling this pain and know all too well how it

— Emma González (@Emma4Change) March 4, 2018

(3/4) feels to have to grow up at the snap of a finger, we were able to cover a lot of ground in communicating our experiences. People of color in inner-cities and everywhere have been dealing with this for a despicably long time, and the media cycles just don't cover the

— Emma González (@Emma4Change) March 4, 2018

(4/4) violence the way they did here. The platform us Parkland Students have established is to be shared with every person, black or white, gay or straight, religious or not, who has experienced gun violence, and hand in hand, side by side, We Will Make This Change Together.

— Emma González (@Emma4Change) March 4, 2018

This is in an extraordinary move on the part of these young people.

They are not selfishly hogging the attention for themselves, but rather using the attention directed at them to shine a light on those communities that also suffer from gun violence but have been neglected by the media.

They are demonstrating not only incredible compassion but advertising their unwavering commitment to see this movement through until it achieves the change that they are demanding.

If I worked for the NRA this is around the time that I would start breathing into a paper bag to keep from hyperventilating. 

By the way if you want to know why Chicago really has the problems with guns that it has, there is a great NPR article from 2017 that will do much to explain that to you.

Melania Trump voices support for the Parkland student's gun control crusade.

Now Melania Trump is addressing governors' spouses. She offers thoughts and payers to the victims and praises the students speaking out https://t.co/szBUkFmMdD

— Meg Wagner (@megwagner) February 26, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

First lady Melania Trump on Monday said she was "heartened" to see students across the country speaking out following a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., earlier this month. 

"I have been heartened to see children across this country using their voices to speak out and try to create change. They're our future, and they deserve a voice," the first lady said, addressing governors' spouses at a luncheon at the White House. 

"Our continued thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected by such a senseless act. As a parent, I cannot imagine the kind of grief a tragedy like that brings," she added. 

Monday's appearance marked the first time she has addressed the shooting publicly. She offered her condolences on Twitter immediately after the shooting took place.

When I first heard this I thought that Melania was publicly disagreeing with her husband, but then the other day Trump suggested that he wanted stronger background checks and to do away with the "bump stocks" that were used in the Las Vegas massacre.

I don't believe him of course, because he pulled this same shit by promising to work on DACA and protect people's access to health care.

What I do know is that Melania is on a completely different side of this issue than Junior, who retweeted conspiracy theories about these kids.

Don Jr. has liked at least two tweets pushing content that attempts to discredit one of the most vocal student survivors of the Parkland school shooting. pic.twitter.com/YI9ANh5dlL

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 20, 2018

That led to one of the Parkland kids reaching out to Melania on social media.

Hey @FLOTUS you say that your mission as First Lady is to stop cyber bullying, well then, don’t you think it would have been smart to have a convo with your step-son @DonaldJTrumpJr before he liked a post about a false conspiracy theory which in turn put a target on my back

— Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) February 23, 2018

So maybe that got Melania's attention and that is why she is voicing support for these kids.

Or this could simply be some Trump family double speak and she really could not care less.

Hard to tell really. 

Cadet Bone Spurs claims that he would have rushed in to save those Florida school shooting victims even if he didn't have a gun.

Pres. Trump talking about police response to Florida school shooting: "I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon." https://t.co/n7TqA3VDnW pic.twitter.com/U0VYekRGeF

— ABC News (@ABC) February 26, 2018

Courtesy of Raw Story:

President Donald Trump, who infamously avoiding serving in the Vietnam War by citing “bone spurs” in his medical examination, said on Monday that he would have personally intervened to stop Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. 

“I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” Trump said during a meeting with the nation’s governors, according to Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller.

Trump’s remark came as part of a broader criticism leveled at Florida deputies who did not act to stop Cruz while he was murdering 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He said Monday that the deputies “weren’t exactly Medal of Honor winners.”

He actually said this out loud.

This is the guy who lied about having bone spurs to get out of serving in Vietnam and who is frightened by the living symbol of America.

What an asshole.

We know this candy ass would have been lying in the fetal postion in a pool of his own urine if he had heard a single shot fired.

During the school massacre in Florida there was an armed sheriff's deputy on scene. He hid until the shooting stopped.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

The only armed sheriff’s deputy at a Florida high school where 17 people were killed took cover outside rather than charging into the building when the massacre began, the Broward County sheriff said on Thursday. The sheriff also acknowledged that his office received 23 calls related to the suspect going back a decade, including one last year that said he was collecting knives and guns, but may not have adequately followed up. 

The deputy, Scot Peterson, resigned on Thursday after being suspended without pay after Sheriff Scott Israel reviewed surveillance video. 

“He never went in,” Sheriff Israel said in a news conference. He said the video showed Deputy Peterson doing “nothing.” 

“There are no words,” said Sheriff Israel, who described himself as “devastated, sick to my stomach.” 

So roll that around in your mind a little, here was a trained law enforcement agent who panicked when the bullets started flying, and Donald Trump expects regular classroom teachers to walk into a hail of gunfire and kill an armed intruder?

By the way this is how a number of teachers responded to the idea of carrying weapons to school.

Guys, I’m a college professor.

I’ve also been shooting guns my entire life and own multiple guns now.

I don’t trust myself to be able to capably defend a classroom against a shooter, and I’m a good shot.

Why would we expect teachers everywhere to bear this responsibility?

— Josh Grubbs (@JoshuaGrubbsPhD) February 21, 2018

#CNNTownHall As a teacher, I’m letting you know I’m not carrying a gun to work. I’m not bringing guns around my children. I am not a police officer or in the army for a reason, I teach kids — I don’t go to war every day. My job is to educate children.

— skye l. (@skyelorenn) February 22, 2018

I’m a teacher. Don’t give me a gun. Give me the supplies I need, the salary I deserve, and the common-sense gun laws to protect my kids.

— Jocelyn ✡️ (@jocelyndorf) February 20, 2018

And your solution is to arm teachers??? Are you fucking insane?? I'm a teacher, I teach children. I've been in the army, I've made the choice to no longer be a soldier, but a teacher!

— Lucien (@LucienOldenb) February 22, 2018

This is idea is ridiculous and no serious person should even consider it as a solution to school shootings.

Mother Jones also took a look at the NRA's idea for "hardening our schools" and they are chilling.

Some of the ideas include putting up prison yard style fencing, getting rid of trees, getting rid of parking lots (Well that will be super convenient for parents and staff.), installing thicker, heavier doors, vastly reducing the number of windows, and for the windows they do keep, making sure they are made of “ballistic protective glass.”

This is not an environment in which to learn, this is an environment in which to serve time AFTER you have killed somebody with a gun.

It is where a school shooter ends up, not the children that he wanted to target.

On the same day that Florida lawmakers refused to even debate a ban on assault weapons they declared porn a danger to the public. Say what?

Stoneman Douglas students watch as Florida legislators reject ban on assault weapons.

Courtesy of CNN: 

What's more of a public health risk -- assault weapons or porn? 

Almost a week after 17 students and teachers were gunned down at a Florida high school, the state legislature voted 71-36 Tuesday against a measure to consider a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

But they declared pornography to be public health risk.

This almost too stupid to address. 

And it just goes to show that Republicans fear sex far more than they do actual instruments of death.

Somebody should ask one of them, "When was the last time that an adult video caused something to go off accidentally which killed an innocent bystander?

Florida mayors can be fined and even removed from office for trying to enact stricter gun laws.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times:  

South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard may be one of the most liberal mayors in Florida, so he would be a natural candidate to push through a package of local gun-control rules in the wake of the Parkland massacre 50 miles away. But that would be against the law. 

Florida bans cities and counties from imposing their own gun-control rules. Seven years ago, the Republican-controlled Legislature even created a $5,000 fine it can impose on mayors like Stoddard if they ever try to enforce stricter regulations on firearms. 

"I think it's outrageous," said Stoddard, a Democrat recently reelected to a fifth term after championing mandatory solar panels within South Miami and requiring organic fertilizer for city properties. "Why should the cities be prohibited from protecting their citizens?" 

Tallahassee lawmakers have created a long list of regulations and laws they've ordered off-limits for cities and counties — from accident clean-ups to Uber. But only gun control carries a package of sanctions that put local officials in personal financial jeopardy. Critics say it also makes Florida the toughest state in the nation when it comes to policing city and county rules on firearms.

But the $5,000 fine is no the end of it.

Along with the $5,000 fine, enacting local gun-control rules can end careers. The 2011 law allows Florida's governor to remove an elected official for violating the ban on most local firearms rules. Ignoring the state statute also "shall be cause for termination of employment" for city and county administrators who enforce local firearms rule that contradict Florida statutes. 

The state law also raises the possibility of unending legal expenses for mayors and city administrators. It bars cities and counties from spending tax dollars defending employees and elected representatives.

Can you believe that shit?

The NRA essentially owns this state, and the only way to break that hold would be to clear out the Republican majority as swiftly as possible.

Those Florida students certainly have their work cut out for them.

NRA claims they will participate in tonight's town hall discussion on gun control. Really? Update!

"I’m not a crisis actor. I’m somebody that had to witness this and live through this and I continue to have to do that," says Florida student David Hogg in response to conspiracy theories being written about him https://t.co/JruN0GWMRD https://t.co/j8VoIwj4ma

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) February 21, 2018

Courtesy of TPM: 

The National Rifle Association will participate in a town hall discussion on gun laws and last week’s Florida school shooting, which will be hosted by CNN on Wednesday evening. 

The NRA’s national spokeswoman Dana Loesch will represent the organization at the discussion with parents and students, CNN reported. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), have also told CNN they will be in attendance. The discussion will be broadcast live at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday. 

Loesch said she decided to attend because she’s “always been about more discussion, not less” and she hopes to be able to “offer some solutions as to what people can actually do to prevent these things from happening in the future.” 

“I just hope that people are respectful and that it’s a civil discussion,” she told NRA TV. “We’re not going to get anywhere in this country by screaming at people and impugning their characters simply because they believe as they do. … I hope we can be respectful and have a civil debate without anyone screaming murderer at me.”

Wait, they're sending Dana Loesch?

THIS Dana Loesch?

Is that really the MOST rational person the NRA can find to represent them?

Well she better pack a lunch because this is who she will be facing off against.

Delaney Tarr, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student: "We've had enough of thoughts and prayers... so this is to every lawmaker out there... we are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action, demanding that you make a change." (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/5CLQTyJPDu

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 21, 2018

As I a rule I do not bet, but if I did I would be putting the whole pile on that young lady.

Maybe she is not armed with military style weapons or armor piercing bullets, but she clearly has a conceal carry permit for the truth.

Update: My favorite part so far.

Marco Rubio and Trump are called pathetic and weak by father who lost his daughter in Stoneman Douglas shooting. #Rubio pic.twitter.com/g9Jp5CeZfJ

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 22, 2018

Rubio is getting filleted out there. 

Update 2: Changed my mind, THIS my favorite part so far.

Student to Rubio: “Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?” Audience at CNN town hall erupts in cheers. #StudentsStandUp

— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) February 22, 2018

I think Rubio peed a little at that question.

I will leave you today with the powerful words of Emma Gonzalez, who was in that Florida school the day a man came in with an AR-15 and massacred 17 of her schoolmates.

I know it is hard to hear, but I urge you to listen to it in its entirety.

The raw emotion coming from this young woman is exactly what we should never forget as we call out Senators and Congresspeople and demand that they do something so that these victims in Florida become the LAST victims of school gun violence, and not simply the most recent.

For those who cannot get through with breaking down, here is a transcript:

We haven't already had a moment of silence in the House of Representatives, so I would like to have another one. Thank you. 

Every single person up here today, all these people should be home grieving. But instead we are up here standing together because if all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see. Since the time of the Founding Fathers and since they added the Second Amendment to the Constitution, our guns have developed at a rate that leaves me dizzy. The guns have changed but our laws have not. 

We certainly do not understand why it should be harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semi-automatic weapon. In Florida, to buy a gun you do not need a permit, you do not need a gun license, and once you buy it you do not need to register it. You do not need a permit to carry a concealed rifle or shotgun. You can buy as many guns as you want at one time. 

I read something very powerful to me today. It was from the point of view of a teacher. And I quote: When adults tell me I have the right to own a gun, all I can hear is my right to own a gun outweighs your student's right to live. All I hear is mine, mine, mine, mine. 

Instead of worrying about our AP Gov chapter 16 test, we have to be studying our notes to make sure that our arguments based on politics and political history are watertight. The students at this school have been having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives. AP Gov had about three debates this year. Some discussions on the subject even occurred during the shooting while students were hiding in the closets. The people involved right now, those who were there, those posting, those tweeting, those doing interviews and talking to people, are being listened to for what feels like the very first time on this topic that has come up over 1,000 times in the past four years alone. 

I found out today there's a website shootingtracker.com. Nothing in the title suggests that it is exclusively tracking the USA's shootings and yet does it need to address that? Because Australia had one mass shooting in 1999 in Port Arthur (and after the) massacre introduced gun safety, and it hasn't had one since. Japan has never had a mass shooting. Canada has had three and the UK had one and they both introduced gun control and yet here we are, with websites dedicated to reporting these tragedies so that they can be formulated into statistics for your convenience. 

I watched an interview this morning and noticed that one of the questions was, do you think your children will have to go through other school shooter drills? And our response is that our neighbors will not have to go through other school shooter drills. When we've had our say with the government -- and maybe the adults have gotten used to saying 'it is what it is,' but if us students have learned anything, it's that if you don't study, you will fail. And in this case if you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead, so it's time to start doing something. 

Sarah Palin spreading lies about the Florida school shooter on Twitter.

Fox News: Florida Shooter Member of ‘Resistance’ Groups, Searched Out ‘Allahu Akbar’ https://t.co/rpcgrabmz8

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) February 16, 2018

Clearly Palin and her cohorts do not want the truth to come out about this young man.

Fortunately Twitter justice was both fast and furious.

He was also member of MAGA Supports Too. pic.twitter.com/QFZYEsyZ7y

— Rafael Salazar (@RafaelSalazar20) February 16, 2018

https://t.co/bDbQjcdCt6

— California Strong (@HopeCapriola) February 16, 2018

Yeah, he was certainly NOT a Muslim terrorist or left wing activist.

He was a victim of the same kind of thinking, and mental health issues, that also inspired Palin's son to assault and point guns at his wife and girlfriends, and to beat the hell out of the only father he has ever known.

So did Track also search for Allahu Akbar on the internet?

In the meantime back in the reality based world.....

“No more guns” chant breaks out at #Parkland school shooting vigil. pic.twitter.com/gTbdlpIC0i

— Adam Kuperstein (@Adam4NY) February 16, 2018