Mike Pence to give speech at NRA convention, where for his protection no guns will be permitted. Wait, what?

Courtesy of The Sacramento Bee:  

Guns won’t be allowed when Vice President Mike Pence speaks Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Dallas in order to protect his safety. 

The NRA says the Secret Service ordered the ban, but survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting are calling the move hypocritical, noting the organization’s fierce opposition to gun-free zones in most public places. 

No firearms or weapons of any kind will be allowed at the NRA Leadership Conference at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, during Pence’s appearance, according to an NRA website. The notice emphasizes that the U.S. Secret Service is responsible for security at the conference, given Pence’s attendance.

So wait, everybody being armed makes everybody safer, EXCEPT the Vice President?

As you might imagine this smacked of hypocrisy for many people, including the Parkland survivors.

The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself. pic.twitter.com/6Pw6NTQAe6

— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) April 28, 2018

And the parents of those who did not survive the Parkland school shooting.

On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something? https://t.co/f4wgNhJ7RI

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 28, 2018

We also need to keep in mind that this is not the first time that the NRA has been caught being complete hypocrites.

It's really strange that when the NRA has a speaking event, or at CPAC, or at a Trump rally... it's a "gun free zone". I wonder why? Probably because guns kill people. #GunReformNow pic.twitter.com/MZ7ZPSPS2F

— Alternative NOAA (@altNOAA) February 25, 2018

The NRA is going to have to finally decide whether or not guns keep EVERYBODY safe, or if they are only dangerous to people that they care about.

Really can't have it both ways. 

Ammosexuals are murdering their coolers because they dared cut ties with the NRA. No, I am not joking.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

National Rifle Association backers are outraged over claims a company decided to cut ties with the organization, so they’ve started blowing up their products. 

Yeti, a Texas-based outfit for outdoor gear, is known for its pricey coolers which can cost more than $1,000 each. The company had been offering discounts to the NRA, but once those deals were ended, the NRA said Yeti was engaging in a boycott. That prompted owners of Yeti products to lash out, crushing, shooting and blowing up their purchases, The Washington Post reported. 

The source of the boycott claims was a letter from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action stating that Yeti was the latest in a series of companies to end business with the organization following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, FL, the Post said. 

Footage of NRA advocates above shows two women destroying a Yeti cooler in what’s being dubbed the ‘#YetiCoolerChallenge,’ then stating, “Yeti does not support the NRA, so we do not support Yeti.”

So let me see if I understand this.

If a company chooses to break ties with an organization that lobbies for gun manufacturers due to gun violence, these supporters of that organization respond with gun violence?

Good thinking.

Speaking of good thinking as it turns out the Yeti folks actually did NOT cut their ties with the NRA.

Though I would think they might be reconsidering that decision now.

Four killed as semi-nude man shoots up Tennessee Waffle House with AR-15.

BREAKING: Travis Reinking, 29, of Morton, IL, is person of interest in Waffle House shooting. Vehicle the gunman arrived in is registered to him. Gunman last seen walking south on Murfreesboro Pike. He shed is coat and is nude. See Reinking? Pls call 615-862-8600 immediately. pic.twitter.com/duoWCo5fC0

— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) April 22, 2018

Courtesy of CNN: 

Police are asking for the public's help in finding suspect 29-year-old Travis Reinking of Morton, Illinois. 

Authorities said the gunman arrived in a vehicle registered to Reinking, though he walked away from the restaurant naked.

The melee started around 3:23 a.m. (4:23 a.m. ET) in Antioch, southeast of Nashville. After sitting in the truck for a few minutes, the gunman came out wielding an "assault-type rifle" and fatally shot two people outside the Waffle House, police said.

"He then went inside the restaurant (and) continued firing," Aaron said.

The carnage stopped only because of the heroics of a customer who heard the gunshots and hid near the restaurant's bathrooms.

 Police said the customer monitored the gunman's moves from afar and jumped into action when he saw an opportunity. 

"He saw the gunman looking at his rifle. At that point, the shots had stopped. So he decided to rush the gunman, actually wrestled that assault rifle away, tossed it over the counter. At that point, the gunman then fled," Aaron said.

Wait, so this bad guy with a gun was stopped by a good guy WITHOUT a gun?

And this happened in the NRA's America?

Well that's going to confuse some people.

On a more serious note, this is yet ANOTHER mass shooting carried out with this country's favorite go to weapon for mass shootings.

And STILL nobody is doing anything definitive to stop all of this.

How many more Americans must die before it is finally enough?

If this were a disease we would be inundated with fundraising emails to stop it.

There would be telethons for fuck's sake!

But for this epidemic all we typically get are excuses from the Ammosexuals and politicians telling us it is still too early to talk about new gun laws.

Totally rational NRA spokes-asshole Ted Nugent suggests that liberals should be shot like "rabid coyotes."

Ted Nugent showing his penis on stage.

Courtesy of Media Matters:  

TED NUGENT (NRA BOARD MEMBER): Don’t ask why. Just know that evil, dishonesty, and scam artists have always been around and that right now they’re liberal, they’re Democrat, they’re RINOs, they’re Hollywood, they’re fake news, they’re media, they’re academia, and they’re half of our government, at least. So come to that realization. There are rabid coyotes running around. You don’t wait till you see one to go get your gun. Keep your gun handy, and every time you see one, you shoot one.

What did that survey say about the number of gun owners suffering from mental illness again?

Because I think we are looking at Exhibit One right here.

I actually think that if you took Ted Nugent's guns away he would simply roll up into the fetal position and die.

That's an experiment that I would like to witness first hand.

Robert DeNiro is my new spirit animal.

Courtesy of Indie Wire: 

Robert De Niro has made no secret of his disdain for Donald Trump. The actor made headlines a month before the 2016 election by declaring that he’d like to punch the future president in the face, and during a speech at the National Board of Review’s gala in January, he declared, “this fucking idiot is our president.” Now, as De Niro gears up for the 2018 edition of Tribeca Film Festival, which he co-founded in 2002, he has found some semblance of progress in one area of the political landscape — the debate about gun control.

“The people that I care about are those young people who demonstrated,” he said, in an interview with IndieWire at his Tribeca office with festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, referencing the survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida and other high school students who marched in Washington last month. “They’re the future. They know. They say, ‘We’ll remember in November.’ They’re the ones that feel the way we do, not the way the gun lovers and the NRA do, with all that idiocy to the point of absurdity.”

.....

Asked about the ratings win for “Roseanne” among working class viewers and the conversations it has started about reaching audiences that support Trump, he didn’t mince words. 

“I’ve never seen her show before, I didn’t know she was supporting Trump, but I have no interest in that,” he said. “We’re at a point with all of us this where it’s beyond trying to see another person’s point of view. There are ways you can talk about that, but we’re at a point where the things that are happening in our country are so bad and it comes from Trump. There are so many people who have left his administration. It’s a serious thing. So I don’t care about Roseanne. They want that thing, fine. We have real issues in this country.”

“We’re at a point with all of us this where it’s beyond trying to see another person’s point of view."

That is PRECISELY my opinion as well.

I know that the Russian plan was to spread divisiveness in this country, and that conventional wisdom is that we are supposed to fight that by keeping the lines of communication open and not ostracizing those on the other side of the ideological aisle.

But the facts are that it is all but impossible to communicate rationally with people you simply do not respect.

And I have not one ounce of respect for anybody dumb enough to have voted for Donald Trump.

But trust me I have similar disdain for anybody on the Left who allowed the Russians to manipulate them as well.

If you remain somebody convinced that Hillary Clinton stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders, despite all evidence to the contrary, then trust that you are off my Christmas list as well.

We need to move forward with eyes wide open, and people who continue to allow themselves to be manipulated by Russian propaganda, are simply in the way of this country's progress.

After calling he Parkland students "soulless" Ted Nugent complains that HE is under the victim of "hate speech."

You may remember that a couple of days ago Ted "Poopy pants" Nugent attacked the survivors of that school shooting by calling them "mush brains" and "soulless."

Well Ted got a little backlash on social media, and it hurt his tiny little run toting feelings.

Courtesy of Media Matters: 

TED NUGENT: I was told, coming out of a firestorm, a firestorm of guitar solo magic, that I was trending on Facebook because somehow, some dishonest, lying idiots claimed that my identifying, accurately and honestly, those in the gun control marches who call people who don’t agree with them child murderers -- now if I called you a child murderer without having any evidence, that would be hate speech. So they are guilty of hate speech. I merely identified that you have to have mush for brains to accept, blindly accept, the propaganda from the gun-hating, freedom-hating, America-hating, liberal Democrat left media. And who out there believes that so much of the media – who believes CNN, anybody? MSNBC, anybody? ABC, CBS, NBC? Certainly Media Matters, really? Boy, what a hypocritical title that is. Media Matters, MoveOn.Org, Southern Poverty Law Center, the Huffington punks, who believes these people? So they claimed that it’s hate speech to identify the hate of people that call us child murderers, because we don’t believe in banning guns, which won’t save any lives. So they’re so blinded by their hate, and their mushy brains have so robotically accepted the propaganda ministry’s lies and deceit, that they’re hate isn’t hate. My identifying their hate, is hate. What the hell? So I stand by my words.

So to be clear THIS guy is the victim of hate speech. 

I see.

Have you ever noticed that the most verbally vicious Ammosexuals out there are also the most likely to cry like a bitch the minute they are confronted with their assholiness?

I have.

Ted Nugent claims that Parkland students have "no soul."

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Appearing on Newsmax’s The Joe Pags Show, the guitarist/conservative commentator let host Joe Pagliarulo know what he thought about the Parkland shooting survivors who have become outspoken gun reform activists. And, umm, yeah. 

Describing them as “poor mushy brained children who have been fed lies” and that they’re “committing spiritual suicide” by recommending gun control, Nugent went so far as to label David Hogg and others as lacking a soul. 

After Pagliarulo played some clips of Hogg and Emma Gonzalez speaking out against the NRA on CNN, Nugent railed against the media, liberals and the kids. 

“The dumbing down of America is manifested in the culture deprivation of our academia that have taught these kids the lies, media that have prodded and encouraged and provided these kids lies,” the ‘Wang Dang Sweet Poontang’ singer exclaimed. “I really feel sorry for them because it’s not only ignorant and dangerously stupid, but it’s soulless.” 

He continued, “To attack the good law-abiding families of America when well known predictable murderers commit these horrors is deep in the category of soulless. These poor children, I’m afraid to say this and it hurts me to say this, but the evidence is irrefutable, they have no soul.”

So it's a little hard to follow the theme here, but I think that what Nugent is trying to say here is that children fighting to protect others from gun violence are soulless. 

Because you know, THAT makes all kinds of sense.

You know I think ole "Poopy pants" here dropped an extra load in his drawers after watching of these kids on social media, and is a blind panic that they actually might help to pass laws that will keep him from accessing the military style weapons, flame throwers, and rocket launchers that he needs to help him feel like a REAL man. 

I am not sure if conservatives are all hypocrites, or if hypocrites are all conservatives.

Under constant attack from the Parkland students and pro-gun law advocates, the NRA aggressively increases its advertising.Update!

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune:  

Immediately after the horror of the February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the National Rifle Association halted all of its digital advertising, including ads on YouTube, banner ads on websites, and Facebook ads. 

Within four days, though, the NRA had returned in force, increasing its advertising aggressively on Facebook, and spending so widely and indiscriminately that its ads on YouTube showed up on videos for school-age kids. According to a previously unpublished review by Pathmatics, a company that scrapes data from online ads, the NRA spent more than six times as much on digital ads after the Parkland shooting than it did in the weeks before it. Its average daily spending in the 24 days before Parkland was $11,300, according to Pathmatics. In the 24 days after its silent period, that average jumped to $47,300.

Nearly all of the increase was on social media, primarily Facebook, where the NRA took its spending from an average of $4,400 a day in the three weeks prior to Parkland to $34,000 a day in the three weeks after the silence. Florida was heavily targeted in the post-tragedy ad burst. The state went from ninth most targeted in January to third between mid-February and mid-March. 

The NRA didn’t change its message – the ads were the same as before the shooting. The message was just pushed much harder. For the past year, the NRA had been ranked No. 706 by Pathmatics on its list of top YouTube video advertisers. In the period since Feb. 21, the gun-rights group jumped into the top 100 at No. 92.

The NRA did not stop with simple pro-gun advertisements, they also sent their spokespeople and Right Wing supporters out to attack the Parkland students.

In fact Laura Ingraham even went so far as to attack one of the student's grade point average.

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

Wait, seriously?

That seems like a rather pathetic attempt to undermine a teenager's credibility.

Hogg's sister, displaying far more maturity than Ingraham, responded with this:

How low are your ratings @IngrahamAngle that you have to start attacking my brother’s grades to get attention? If you ask me, he is more articulate than you and has far better character. Man, that’s real low even for you. Coming from a 14 year old, please grow up. #NeverAgain https://t.co/CgUVeGRfxP

— Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) March 28, 2018

For his part social media savvy David Hogg simply tweeted this:

Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers ... Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018

And yes that has started a boycott.

Now you might think that NRA members would be embarrassed by all of this and perhaps be less supportive, but you would be incorrect.

Courtesy of the New York Post: 

Contributions to the National Rifle Association’s political action committee tripled in February amid public attacks against the organization following the Feb. 14 high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. 

Supporters of the Second Amendment donated about $779,000 in February to the NRA’s political arm, the Political Victory Fund, according to recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. 

The figure marked a more than threefold increase compared to January, when the PAC received nearly $250,000 in donations, and was the fund’s second-best month over the last year.

Well I guess if you define your manhood by the size of the metal penis extender you have strapped to your body it is a little hard to shame you about anything.

P.S. Okay just like an hour after I wrote this post Laura Ingraham caved under pressure and apologized to David Hogg on Twitter.

Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David...(1/2)

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018

Really? If you think he should be proud of a 4.2 grade average than why did you say that nasty shit in the first place?

In my mind these Right Wing trolls attack these Parkland kids at their peril, because these teenagers know exactly how to use social media to deal with idiots like them.

Update: I think this belongs here.

"This kid's not scared. He's not scared of the NRA. He's not intimidated and scared by Laura Ingraham ... Half the Republican party is hiding under the table, under their bed. They're so scared ... Not these kids, though" - @SteveSchmidtSES w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/QZE5I6zmv3

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) March 29, 2018

Very well said.

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.

H.R. McMaster out as Trump's National Security Adviser, will be replaced by John "bomb the hell out out everybody" Bolton.

I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2018

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the battle-tested Army officer tapped as President Trump’s national security adviser last year to stabilize a turbulent foreign policy operation, will resign and be replaced by John R. Bolton, a hard-line former United States ambassador to the United Nations, White House officials said Thursday. 

General McMaster will retire from the military, the officials said. He has been discussing his departure with President Trump for several weeks, they said, but decided to speed up his departure, in part because questions about his status were casting a shadow over his conversations with foreign officials. 

The officials also said that Mr. Trump wanted to fill out his national security team before his meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. He replaced Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson with the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, last week. 

Officials emphasized that General McMaster’s departure was a mutual decision and amicable, with none of the recrimination that marked Mr. Tillerson’s exit. They said it was not related to a leak on Tuesday of briefing materials for Mr. Trump’s phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

"They said it was not related to a leak on Tuesday of briefing materials for Mr. Trump’s phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia." In other words that is EXACTLY what it is about.

(I just assume now that the truth is always the opposite of whatever the Trump White House says that it is. Real time saver. )

So now another grown up is out the door, leaving Trump surrounded by sycophants and conspiracy theorists.

And this new addition is DEFINITELY going to make things even more inane inside this White House.

John Bolton worked for the Bush Administration and was well known for wanting to bomb just about everybody, and who as Ambassador to the UN spent all of his time undermining it and shitting on its agenda.

After the Russians hacked the DNC, Bolton put forward the theory that it was a false flag operation orchestrated by President Obama.

You know, because THAT makes sense. 

Bolton also has ties to Cambridge Analytica, and once appeared in an advertisement for a pro-gun Russian group with ties to the NRA.

Fox News contributor, with ties to Cambridge Analytica, the NRA, and Russia.

Oh yeah, he is going to fit into this clown car just fine.

So while those brave kids were protesting for more stringent gun legislation this is what the NRA was tweeting out.

I'll control my own guns, thank you. #2A #NRA pic.twitter.com/jqbZzwcWf6

— NRA (@NRA) March 14, 2018

Jesus Christ was assholes!

I am really going to enjoy watching this terrorist organization finally come to an end. 

Animators use cats to explain gun control, and it's actually pretty effective.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

The gun control debate rages anew in the wake of last month’s Florida high school mass shooting. While there may not be a fix-all solution, the vast majority of Americans agree: Something must be done. 

Sometimes, humor is the best way to present an issue ― even a serious one. Alex Clark and his animation studio broke down the gun control debate in a way that the internet would surely understand: with cats. 

Now I am not completely on board with everything in this video, as I don't really see ANY guns as cute and cuddly. 

However I do agree that there are responsible gun owners, and if their guns are never used to injure of kill another human being they are not really part of the problem.

However I would also suggest that there be laws to limit how many guns a person can own, and what kinds of firearms are reasonable for private citizens to have in their homes.

Just like the crazy cat lady who ends up being devoured by her pets after she slips and falls in the kitchen, there is a point where having too many guns is just a recipe for disaster. 

Trump Administration decides to address school shootings by arming teachers and appointing Betsy DeVos to head up commission. Following the NRA's blueprint to a "T."

Courtesy of Politico: 

The White House on Sunday night announced backing for a new Justice Department program that would aid states that seek to train teachers and other school personnel to carry firearms, as part of a package of steps to curb school violence. 

In addition, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will chair a government commission exploring steps to prevent school violence, following the Parkland, Fla., shooting last month that left 17 dead, the Trump administration said. 

“We are committed to working quickly because there’s no time to waste,” DeVos said on a conference call with reporters. “No student, no family, no teacher and no school should have to live the horror of Parkland or Sandy Hook or Columbine again.” 

DeVos said the commission would include teachers. A senior administration official on the call said that it was expected the work would be completed within a year. The official said existing Justice Department funds would be used to assist states and local law enforcement groups that want to bolster their armed school personnel programs.

Trump also backtracked on his call to raise the age limit to buy certain firearms after his meeting with the NRA. (Remember how Trump mocked the Republican politicians for being scared of the NRA? Yeah well he better check the mirror.)

Let me save you all the trouble of waiting and tell you exactly what this commission will decide to do to effe3ctrively combat school shootings. Not a goddamn thing.

Sure they will have a few metal detectors installed, put in some safety glass, and of course suggest that several teachers start packing heat, but it will not protect a single child from gun violence.

And of course this will do NOTHING to address the shootings in shopping malls, movie theaters, or churches. 

Putting DeVos in charge of this commission is essentially a giant "fuck you" to the Parkland students who are the driving force behind gun control legislation, and they certainly recognize it as such.

"Betsey DeVos basically paid for her position...I think she's not the right person for this," says Florida shooting survivor David Hogg after WH unveils plan to establish a school safety commission chaired by the US Education Secretary https://t.co/eTBqSkJnS0 pic.twitter.com/e4btWpov5Y

— CNN International (@cnni) March 12, 2018

Clearly these kids see through the bullshit, which means they are only going to become more determined to advocate for real change in this country's gun laws.

The next school shooting, and yes we know there will be one, is going to be a public relations nightmare for the Trump Administration and only empower these students even more than they have been already. 

This is far from over. 

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.

Senator wants more information about the NRA's ties to Russian banks and Russian mobsters.

Source

Courtesy of TPM: 

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has sent a second letter to the NRA asking for details about the pro-gun lobbying group’s finances. The letter zeroes in on the group’s ties to Russian banker and accused mob boss Aleksandr Torshin, a longtime confidant of several consecutive NRA presidents and a “life member” of the group. 

The FBI is reportedly probing whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. 

The Wyden letter asks about the now-notorious trip to Moscow taken in 2015 by a number of NRA executives and supporters, including then-Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke, as well about the NRA’s “Golden Ring of Freedom” program, reserved for million-dollar-plus donors. 

In one of the pictures tweeted by Torshin’s Russian gun-rights group, Right to Bear Arms, the head of the Golden Ring of Freedom program, Joe Gregory, can be seen in attendance. 

“Please identify the purpose of Mr. Gregory’s December 2015 trip to Moscow and confirm whether he attended in his capacity as the individual who runs your organization’s million dollar donor program,” Wyden wrote.

You know what, I'd like to know the answer to these questions as well.

But for right now I will simply assume that the NRA is a terrorist organization who receives financing from Russian mobsters.

And unlike what the NRA promotes, I bet this is not simply a conspiracy theory.

Did NRA spokes-psycho Dana Loesch just threaten to kill supporters of better gun control? Cause it certainly sounds that way.

“To every lying member of the media, to every Hollywood phony, to the role model athletes who use their free speech to alter and undermine what our flag represents…Your Time is running out. The clock starts now."
–@DLoesch #Oscars90 pic.twitter.com/SDVjeTxyfB

— NRATV (@NRATV) March 4, 2018

Seriously, WTF was that?

She calls out journalists, celebrities, and late night talk show hosts, and then name checks half of the MSNBC lineup before stating that their "time is running out?"

How is that NOT considered a direct threat on their lives?

You may notice that the NRA Twitter account included the hashtag Oscars90.

Which caused one Twitter user to point out that Loesch is a failed wannabe actress.

Fun Fact: Dana is a failed sitcom wanna be actress.https://t.co/39FMqFbVdK pic.twitter.com/1DUTa6JJVF

— AlwaysAFedcase (@ChristinLuvsSno) March 4, 2018

Perhaps Loesch is not a crazed aamosexual calling for the murder of her critics, and instead is simply a failed actress, calling for the murder of her critics.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

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.

Massive study by the Rand Corporation finds that NRA backed gun policies actually increase the number of gun homicides and violent crime. Quick, put on your surprised face.

Courtesy of WaPo:

The best available evidence suggests two major National Rifle Association gun policy prescriptions — what are known as “stand your ground” self-defense laws and permissive concealed carry laws — increase homicides and violent crime. 

That is according to a massive new study by the RAND Corporation, an independent think tank. The group's experts scoured thousands of academic papers on gun violence in an effort to make definitive statements about how gun policies affect crime and safety. They winnowed that list down to only the highest-quality studies — just 62 in total — containing evidence capable of establishing a causal link between a gun policy change and a specific outcome. 

Because the RAND researchers' criteria for including studies in their final analysis were rigorous, for the majority of policies and outcomes, there was not enough good research to make any definitive statements — a clear indication of how little we know about how to prevent gun violence. But there were notable exceptions.

There is moderate evidence, for instance, that “stand your ground” laws, which remove the requirement for gun owners to attempt to retreat from a situation before using lethal force, increase total rates of homicide. A 2013 study, for instance, found that states passing such laws saw 6 percent to 11 percent increases in their total homicide rate. Another study found that Florida experienced a significant 24 percent increase in total homicides and 32 percent increase in firearm homicides following enactment of the stand-your-ground law in 2005.

Gee, how completely unsurprising.

Now if you are relatively new to the whole gun debate question, you may be asking yourself why is there is so little research into the impact that guns have on our society, the answer to that is both simple and infuriating.

Courtesy of Vox:  

For decades, the federal government, with the support of the National Rifle Association, has made it very difficult to answer a question at the heart of American public health and safety: Does gun control work? 

The answer is hugely important given that guns killed nearly 39,000 Americans in 2016 alone. But after research on gun violence in the 1990s found that firearms do not — contrary to NRA talking points — make people safer, the group backed a federal funding freeze on gun policy research.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the reason that the government does not have reams of well researched data to back up their policy decisions, is because the NRA recognized decades ago that having access to that data would undermine their mythology about more guns leading to less gun fatalities.

Guns kill. Period.

And more guns, kill more people. Period.

And the NRA actually know this, which is why they have spent millions to obstruct research. Once again, period.

I think one of the first things that the blue wave of Democrats coming into Congress and the Senate in 2018 need to do is to is thaw out that gun research freeze from the 90's, and start accumulating some real data to use in order to move forward with comprehensive new gun control legislation.

Russian politician claims his close ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump.

Courtesy of NPR: 

A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics, NPR has learned. 

Russian politician Alexander Torshin claimed his ties to the National Rifle Association provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election. 

Torshin is a prolific Twitter user, logging nearly 150,000 tweets, mostly in Russian, since his account was created in 2011. Previously obscured by language and by sheer volume of tweets, Torshin has written numerous times about his connections with the NRA, of which he's a known paid lifetime member. NPR has translated a selection of those posts that document Torshin's relationship to the group.

These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, McClatchy reported in January. 

In a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate intelligence committee, the NRA denied any wrongdoing and suggested the FBI is investigating Torshin, not the NRA. Neither the NRA nor Torshin responded to inquiries from NPR.

Here's a question.

If the NRA helped to facilitate the Russian influence over Donald Trump, does that not make them a terrorist organization, or at the very least guilty of some form of treason?

And by the way despite what Trump said recently the NRA clearly has him in their pocket.

I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA

— Chris Cox (@ChrisCoxNRA) March 2, 2018

Chris Cox is a top NRA lobbyist by the way, and this was posted AFTER Trump ridiculed some of his fellow Republicans for being afraid of the NRA.

Trump before NRA meeting: “We should have comprehensive gun control.”

Trump hours after NRA meeting: “Video games. Video games are the problem. And mental health, too.” https://t.co/TqcHBGLIim

— Ned Price (@nedprice) March 2, 2018

Well if the NRA is a terrorist organization, they have managed to place one of their suicide bombers into the White House.