Category: Gun Control

HUMOR: Let’s Find Something To Smile About

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 HUMOR: Let’s Find Something To Smile About

Times are tough, sometimes you just need to make time to smile

HUMOR: Let’s Find Something To Smile About

By D.S. Mitchell

 

Back At the Computer

I am back at the computer working on a new post for my www.calamitynewsandpolitics.com website.  Before I started this website, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough to scream about, but I’m finding that I could probably do half a dozen posts a day related to the B.S. and dangerous misinformation but I thought, before I start a fresh rant on the collapse of American democracy and other issues of importance to Western Civilization I should deliver something positive and uplifting.

So, dear hearts here are twenty-five things to make you smile:

  1. Touching toes in the night
  2. Sunsets over water
  3. Wraparound sunglasses
  4. The Science channel
  5. Kite flying contests
  6. The Muppets
  7. Astronauts on Mars
  8. Blowing the paper wrapper off the straw
  9. Winning at Poker
  10. A dog’s cold nose on your hand
  11. Barhopping on a Saturday night
  12. Old jeans that fit just right
  13. Your lover’s voice
  14. The clatter of skis being loaded for vacation
  15. The rumble of a train as it passes
  16. Walking in the rain
  17. The imagination of a six year old
  18. Margaritas at midnight (or any time, for that matter)
  19. Finishing the Sunday crossword without cheating
  20. A morning walk
  21. The smell of a new car
  22. Roller skating
  23. Your First grade teacher
  24. A sexy book
  25. Daddy’s smile

Back to the Fight

Now that we’ve had five minutes of smiles its time to get back to the fight. We have lots of work to do; stop the relentless gun violence, end state’s whittling away of our voting rights, stop anti-democratic gerrymandering that provides power to those who do not have voter support. We must halt the actions of John Robert’s  monumentally corrupt Supreme Court. Time to impeach Clarence Thomas and any other Justice that is in bed with the billionaires. And closest to my heart, the restoration of a woman’s right to choose, by the codification of Roe. We can do it all, we just need boots on the ground working toward these goals. Join the fight for democracy.

OPINION: ‘Eff the Supreme Court

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OPINION: ‘Eff the Supreme Court

I have something to say about the SCROTUS and it is not nice.

OPINION: ‘Eff the Supreme Court

Editor: I think this quote is a perfect response to the Supreme Court justices that want to enforce constitutional originalism on 21st century Americans. 

“WHEN PEOPLE START ACTING AS THOUGH THE PAST IS THE SAME AS THE PRESENT AND CONTEXT DOESN’T MATTER, THINGS START TO GET DANGEROUS.” TREVOR K. MCNEIL 2020

By D. S. Mitchell

Written on a Sign

I don’t know about you, but my outrage grows. In a recent abortion protest, I saw a young girl carrying a sign inscribed, “I hate it here.”  If you are a follower of Calamity News and Politics, you may have noticed an increased tension, and quite honestly, unbridled rage coming from this corner of the progressive community. I too have had several recent moments of, “I hate it here.”

Targeted Killings

The radical right sees no contradiction in banning abortion, for love of life, yet fuel rhetoric that has likely led to the  murder of at least 10 pro-choice physicians. The radical right tell us the Second Amendment is sacred. Sometime between my birth and today, the sanctity of the Second Amendment has taken on ridiculous, and unintended proportions.

Group Killings

Originally the Second Amendment described, “a well regulated militia.” Mind you, this was before the U.S. had a military. Out of that simple concept, it is now every Americans right, maybe duty, to load your AR-15, strap it with a bandolier of 30 shot magazines and go walk around town, terrorizing and murdering people who are just shopping for groceries, celebrating at a concert, attending class, and now a 4th of July parade. Mass murderers love it when we gather in groups.

I Said

Fuck the NRA, fuck the U.S. Senate, fuck the Second Amendment, and most of all fuck this illegitimate court. This has become a human rights issue-a public safety issue, a fucking right-to-life issue. Every American should have the reasonable expectation to go out for a walk, go the local Starbucks safely; it should not be a flip of the coin, situation.

Worse Than Roberts

John Robert’s has been Chief Justice since 2005.  He was nominated by George Bush the Younger and in my mind, Robert’s has been the spearpoint of a ruthless and relentless right-wing attack on democracy. During his tenure, the court has turned back democracy by 75 years, and privacy rights by 50. Even with Robert’s terrible record on gun control, voting rights, gerrymandering, campaign finance, abortion, and every other personal freedom imaginable, there are more dangerous and radical justices than John Roberts, and that clique is now apparently running the court.  Where as Robert’s style is to just keep chipping away at a law until over several years it vanishes into history, barely noticed. This new blatantly political court is ready to upend the apple cart, the hell with the consequences, in essence giving majority America the big middle finger salute.

Let it Go Alito, This Ain’t 1776

So, this now 6-3 ‘originalist’ court thinks it can push back all Progressive reforms since 1930. These folks are willing to snatch away Medicare and Medicaid, and the ACA of course, will fall. Gut the EPA. Ban abortions, nationwide. When you see an institution disregard established law and take up the task of writing new laws, just because they can; says to me that we are in a dangerous place. It seems apparent that swift action is necessary.

What I Think

This Thomas-Alito court seems hell bent on destroying any shred of validity this court ever had. The most recent public confidence polls show the court to be deeply unpopular.  The approval level of the court among all voters is at a jaw dropping 25%. Talk about Biden’s underwater numbers. As laws become more oppressive, affecting larger swaths of the population; enforcement may fail, in fact, it most likely will. As larger numbers of citizens commit the unenforceable crimes, police and prosecutors begin to ignore them. The overturning of Roe is so unpopular 70% of the country is in full revolt.

Anywhere, Anytime

The lawmakers just passed the first gun safety act in thirty years. My cynical side says, “a little is better than nothing.” My realistic side says, “not nearly enough.” As I said previously, the Second Amendment guarantees do not supersede those of LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.  Yet, the radical ‘originalist’ court refuses to face the reality of a heavily weaponized country that needs some serious restrictions on gun access, not an open season on all of us, anywhere, at anytime.

Conclusion

When extreme decisions are pronounced without the support and acceptance of the population, those decisions become unenforceable. The court has no army, no police force to back up its decisions, the only thing the court has is its standing in the eyes of the country’s citizenry, and that includes law enforcement. It is time to enlarge the court, install term limits, and codify a standard of ethics these justices must adhere to. Right now, this radical right-wing abomination calling itself the “Supreme” court of the United States,  ain’t looking so “Supreme.”

 

The Bastardization of the Second Amendment

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OPINION:

The Bastardization of the Second Amendment

OPINION:

The Bastardization of the Second Amendment

*The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as “one with four or more people injured or killed, not including the perpetrator.”

By D. S. Mitchell

 

Breakdown

2022 started out with a bang, and it just seems to be getting worse. I had barely stopped crying over what had happened in Buffalo, N.Y. when Uvalde took over the news cycle. Yesterday, I watched Mathew McConaughey, the Texas actor who was born in Uvalde, break down during his speech at the White House as he described trying to identify young bodies after being shot to pieces by an AR-15 assault rifle.  One cable commentator told the television audience that there have been more than 250 mass shootings since the beginning of 2022.  I can’t confirm that, but such a number would not surprise me.

Statistically Speaking

As most of us are aware, Americans kill Americans in huge numbers. Americans kill themselves in huge numbers. In 2020, according to CDC data, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. That figure includes gun murders and gun suicides, accidental deaths, and law enforcement actions. During the Corona virus pandemic, it seemed like mass shootings had stopped; or at least decreased.  But as information comes out it is becoming clear that perception was an illusion; the killings never stopped. For some reason the shootings were less public. Maybe there was just too much noise about masks, mandates, and vaccine protests. With all that aside, the statistics are staggering. There were more than 600 mass shootings in 2020, compared to 417 in 2019. That carnage continued into 2021, and now 2022, with hundreds of shootings.

American Exceptionalism

No where else in the world is gun violence a problem. So, why in the United States? Well, let’s see. I think a good place to start would be to recognize that we live in a country where there are more guns than people. We have a Supreme Court that wants to write its own laws. I say that, using the decisions of the Robert’s court to support that contention; whether it be Heller or Citizen’s United. In the minds of our 21st century ‘conservative’ justices, Ben Franklin, James Madison, Washington and all that crew visualized a country of 330 million people all able to pack AR-15’s if they are over the age of 18. Oh, and let’s not forget the NRA. In my opinion the NRA should be sued after every mass shooting. It is the power of the NRA lobby and their big money that buys off members of the House and Senate; halting any progress on common sense legislation.

Just Imagine

These rebels and rabble rousers of the 18th century never comprehended the potential invention of a revolver, much less an automatic weapon. Lord, folks, when I was a kid I never would have imagined the rise of the personal computer, cell phones, social media, electric cars, or billionaires. I’m damn sure that Ben, Jimmy and George would have written things a bit differently if they could have only imagined our world. There is no person on earth that could ever convince me of anything different. This bullshit of the Second Amendment being a permission slip to ignore pubic safety and turn our streets into war zones, as deadly as Mariupol, is outrageous. Personally, I don’t want to have to put on a flak jacket to go to the store, pick up my grand kids at school, or go to a concert.  Come on America demand sensible gun control; our lives, and the lives of our children depend on it.

 

OPINION: Mass Shootings

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OPINION:

Mass Shootings: A Feature of American Culture

Gun violence in the United States is out of control. We need common sense laws.

OPINION:

Mass Shootings: A Feature of American Culture

By Trevor K. McNeil and D. S. Mitchell

 

Nothing New

The recent rash of mass shootings has shaken the nation. Rightfully so, such a wanton loss of life is unacceptable, particularly in the civilian sphere. Sadly though, it is difficult to be surprised. Spree killings have been as much a feature of American culture as baseball and apple pie, reaching all the way back to the days of Howard Barton Unruh.  Howard  was an American mass killer, sometimes classified as a spree killer. Unruh  shot and killed 13 people (including three children) during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood in the fall of 1949, in Camden, N.J. He was 28 years old.

A Couple Years Later

Charlie Starkweather is another twentieth century mass murderer that blazed across the pages of American newspapers with his 14 year old girlfriend.  Charles Raymond “Charlie” Starkweather went on a multi-state killing spree killing eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between December 1957 and January 1958. He was 19 years old. He killed ten of his victims between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. The point being, America has a gun problem and it is nothing new.

Powerful NRA Lobby

The primary opposition to gun control laws in the United States are the gun manufacturers. The NRA has served as an arm of gun manufacturers for years, successfully masquerading as a citizen 2nd Amendment right’s group. The NRA and its bought and paid for wing of the Republican party have formed a powerful voice in Congress, effectively shutting down nearly all efforts to legislate gun control. One of their more ridiculous cries has been the case of “what-aboutism”

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Silverchair “Anthem for the Year 2000

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Silverchair “Anthem for the Year 2000”

Silverchair “Anthem for the year 2000

Silverchair were three school mates that came together and rose to international stardom in 1995.  They were all 15 years old when they recorded their first album, Frogstomp, was a pleasant mix of Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  Like all groups over the years their sound has morphed.  Their debut album topped the Australian charts and broke the Top Ten in America, making them the first Australian group since INXS to have significant success in the States.  T. K. McNeil suggested today’s Calamity Jukebox Choice of the Day, Silverchair doing “Anthem for the year 2000” and as usual he got a  “hell, yeah!” response from me and the parakeet. T. K. wanted readers to know that this song was written and recorded in response to a political movement in the 1990’s in Australia. “In the late 90 a far-right party was running on repealing the gun laws. These were the gun laws instituted after the Port Arthur Massacre. Lyrics are below. Enjoy! DSM

**The Port Arthur massacre of 28–29 April 1996 was a mass shooting in which 35 people were killed and 23 wounded in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The murderer, Martin Bryant, pleaded guilty and was given 35 life sentences without possibility of parole. Wikipedia

Anthem for the Year 2000

by Silverchair
We are the youth
We’ll take your fascism away
We are the youth
Apologize for another day
We are the youth
The politicians are so sure
We are the youth
And we are knocking on death’s door
Never knew we were living in a world
With a mind that could be so sure
Never knew we were living in a world
With a mind that could be so small
Never knew we were living in a world
And the world is an open court
Maybe we don’t wanna live in a world
Where our innocence is so short
We’ll make it up to you
In the year 2000 with
Never knew we were living in a world
With a mind that could be so sure
Never knew we were living in a world
With a mind that could be so small
Never knew we were living in a world
And the world is an open court
Maybe we don’t wanna live in a world
Where our innocence is so short
We’ll make it up to you
In the year 2000
Build it up for you
In the year 2000
Make up to you
In the year 2000
Build it up for you
In the year 2000 with you
Never knew we were living in a world
With a world that could be so sure
Never knew we were living in a world
With a mind that could be so small
Never knew we were living in a world
And the world is an open court
Maybe we don’t wanna live in a world
Where no one even cares at all
We’ll make it up to you
In the year 2000
Build it up for you
In the year 2000
Make it hard for you
In the year 2000
Build it up for you
In the year 2000
Make it hard for you
In the year 2000
Build it up for you
In the year 2000 with you
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Daniel Johns
Anthem for the Year 2000 lyrics © Sony Music Australia

Bad Guys With Guns

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Bad Guys With Guns

By Trevor K. McNeil

Gun Culture

America has a gun culture. More than any other country, Americans love their guns. The only other place in the democratic world that has as many guns in civilian hands is Northern Ireland. Most of those weapons, are imported from the United States. Intended for use by the Emerald Isle’s alphabet soup of republican and anti-republican paramilitaries. ‘Republican’ in this case meaning to join the Republic of Ireland. Not that having more guns than an urban war-zone puts most Americans off.

Rallying Anthem

America’s gun love is so strong it has led to a willful ignorance seen in few other cultures. John Lennon wrote a satirical song, directly mocking American gun culture titled Happiness Is A Warm Gun. Weirdly, that scoffing rebuke of the gun culture has been adopted by America’s horrifically powerful pro-gun lobby. An instance of sick irony rivaled only by the embracing of Tomorrow Belong’s To Me, a song from the famously anti-Nazi musical, Cabaret, by the American far-right as their rallying anthem.

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SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH

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D. S. Mitchell

Please Call #988 for help. 

Dangerous To Your Health

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. If you are between 15-35, suicide is the second leading cause of death for your age group.  For all age groups, suicide is responsible for more deaths than murder and natural disasters, combined.  Men take their own lives four times as often as women. Many men sadly would rather be dead than seem ‘weak.’

Not Rare, Or Isolated

As you can see, suicide is not a rare, or an isolated event. Twenty-two vets a day kill themselves. An alarming increase in suicide among law enforcement officers should be of national concern. Approximately 170 officers killed themselves last year. Suicide is permanent. No one comes back. It is very real and definitely a permanent end.

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Editorial: “A Matter Of Time”

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A Look At Gun Control and 2nd Amendment Reform           

By Trevor K. McNeil

Still Echoing

The cycle has come back around again, and gun-control has returned to the sociopolitical forefront. Something that has occurred with increasing regularity since the beginning of the 21st century, starting with the Columbine shooting in 1999. A twenty year old tragedy that still has echos today.

Posting Memes

Both Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza and Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz posted memes related to Columbine massacre, before committing their own atrocities. The down time between mass shootings has been reduced from months, to weeks, to hours.  The two most recent shootings in Ohio and Texas occurring on the same day. Something that has never happened before on American soil. It has gotten to the point that in the United States no one is safe anywhere. Not in church, not in school, not at the mall, not at a concert, not at a restaurant.

Efficient Means Of Killing

The main reason this is happening, and will continue to happen, is a lack of political will by law makers to devise meaningful reforms. Finding that ‘will’ seems is apparently hard.  But we must find the will. We must make it more difficult for such crimes to occur by limiting access to guns. Death by gun is one of the most modern and efficient means of killing, on an personal level, ever devised. One such reform would be an extreme overhaul of unlicensed gun shows. Such unregulated gun shows are exactly how the Columbine shooters got the guns they used that fateful day, in April 1999.

Under Age

Despite that both shooters were too young to buy, or own a gun in Colorado, they were able to use a ‘straw buyer’ to get the guns at an unlicensed gun show. In December, 1998 several guns were purchased at an unlicensed gun show by the straw buyer. The buyer later sold the weapons to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, in spite of the seller knowing the boys were under the legal age. It is clear that if they had tried to buy such weapons in a licensed gun store they would have been turned away.  If they hadn’t gotten the guns a lot of people would be alive today, including the shooters.

Gun Love

The gun love is so strong in some quarters, not even Democrats dare stand against them, even in terms of reasonable measures. Conor Lamb, as such, is a self-described “Pro-Gun Democrat.” It was that distinction that was key in his victory over his Republican opponent in 2018. It is a fact that gun law reform will be necessary if America is to slow the number of gun related deaths. Currently, the United States loses 40,000 people annually to gun violence.  Many of these deaths are not mass shooting events, but rather domestic violence or suicidal actions.

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What Happened At Columbine

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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This is a piece I wrote about the Columbine tragedy. It turned out a bit different than I thought it was going to, but I think it works. It basically centers on the difficulty of really knowing the past with so many factors and interests involved, and ends with a counter-factual. A counter-factual is a sort of intellectual game we historians do to better understand what actually happened. We go through the facts and find a factor, usually a small one, that plausibly could have changed everything; presuming everything else stayed the same.

My factor was the fact that both of the attackers were under the legal age to buy the kind of guns they used and had to get them through an illegal “straw purchase.” In this case, meaning through a third-party, someone who got them at a gun show from unlicensed sellers. Had this not happened they would have been left with their primary bomb plot which if successful would have been the second largest domestic bomb attack after Oklahoma City. We, however, know that the large bombs completely failed and the homemade pipe-bombs were ineffective, all of the deaths coming from gunshots. No guns, no dead and what is seen as the first-mass shooting becomes an embarrassing fuck-up-T.K. McNeil

What Really Happened At Columbine

By Trevor K. McNeil

When Are Facts, Really Facts?

Recording history accurately is a tricky business at best. Particularly when there is a degree of shock and trauma involved in the events. Passion, stress and the now known unreliability of eye-witness reports make accuracy difficult if not impossible to piece together.  Furthermore, human memory can lead to things being a matter of record that turn out not to be true. The only reason we have a good idea of what happened on 9/11 is that there is video. But to this day, there are theorists who believe there were explosives inside the towers that were the real cause of the towers collapse.

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WE CAN STOP THE KILLING.

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Adding Up The Dead

We at www.calamitypolitics just keep adding up the numbers of lives lost to gun violence in America on a near daily basis. We can’t be the only ones horrified and appalled. At some point it will sink in; we need gun control. We cannot continue wasting these beautiful young lives. Let’s have some common sense conversation–D. S. Mitchell