Predictably, it took about a nano-second for Republicans in Congress to show their loyalty to the NRA over the lives of children.
Call that a harsh evaluation if you will, but I will not back down on this. Republicans – or those of any stripe – who continue to refuse to address some type of reform to our gun laws are little more than pond scum.
And that includes the entire Louisiana Republican delegation to Congress and virtually every state legislator of either party who continues to take money from the NRA in the name of upholding the sacred 2nd Amendment.
And while we’re being so damned protective of the 2nd Amendment, let’s consider a few other things our founding fathers believed and even enacted into law.
White humans had the right to own black humans. In fact, many of those founding fathers were themselves slave owners and one, Thomas Jefferson, even fathered children by one of his slaves.
Whites and whites only were benefactors of Manifest Destiny which was a license to eradicate the western states of Native Americans. In fact, Gen. Phillip Sheridan was quoted in the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee as saying the only good Indian was a dead Indian. And after we stopped killing them, we attempted to Americanize them, Capt. Richard Pratt said in 1892, “Kill the Indian and save the man.”
- Only land owners, meaning the American aristocracy, could vote.
- Blacks, considered as less than a full person for purposes of congressional representation (three-fifths, according to the U.S. Constitution, no less.
- And blacks certainly could not vote. They did not get that right until the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, gave the right to vote to all men. But it wouldn’t be until the 24th Amendment was ratified in 1964 which abolished the poll tax, that the right to vote was truly extended to all.
- Women were not allowed to vote or to hold office. It wasn’t until the 19th Amendment (apparently a little lower in priority than the 2nd) was finally passed that women finally got the right to vote in…1918. So much for the idea of a representative democracy that those founding fathers established for us.
- And blacks were relegated to their own inferior schools, to their own drinking fountains and waiting rooms at bus stations, their own back-door entrance to cafes where they usually had to eat in the kitchen, their places at the back of the bus (until Rosa Parks decided differently) and their own balcony seats in movie theaters. There were other indignities, too many to list here, but be assured they were all sanctioned by our founding fathers until the Constitution was amended to correct those injustices.
So, you macho, gun-toting, swaggering John Wayne wannabes who look so ridiculous with your sidearms in the Home Depot, do you really think your 2nd Amendment is really carved in stone? Think again. When it’s determined that a constructional provision’s effects are adversarial to Americans, it is tweaked.
I’m fairly certain the founding fathers never anticipated 30-round clips for an AR-15. By the say, if you need a 30-round clip to bring down Bambi, then you suck big time as a hunter and you really should take up checkers as a hobby.
What I’m saying here, for those gun nuts too thick to comprehend it, is no one needs and assault weapon – for any damn thing.
The one argument I keep hearing from the conceal carry advocates is that the guvmint wants to take our guns so they can rule our lives.
Here’s a news flash, Poindexter. You want your guns so you can stand up to the guvmint and fight for freedom, God, and the American way. (And this is mostly for those who would actually stay and fight and not cut and run at the first sign of gunplay – which is what most of you so-called conceal carry advocates would do). You have your sidearms and your AR-15s and well, that’s about it. The guvmint has all manner of aircraft, bombs, missiles, tanks, rocket launchers, land mines, grenades, and the wherewithal to initiate blockades of all major ports and they have the ability to seize social media and all electronic communications.
You really think you’re going to prevail against that kind of onslaught if it ever comes to that? If so, you’re more ignorant than I give you credit for.
I posted a STORY on Tuesday, only hours before the Uvalde tragedy, in which I named Louisiana politicos who either contributed to the NRA or who were recipients of NRA political contributions. There were a few who showed up on both lists.
I will say it now that if they don’t either demand a refund of their own membership fees or other contributions or if they do not return NRA money contributed to their campaigns, then the blood of 19 Uvalde students and two of their teachers is on their hands.
On May 18, H.R. 350, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022, passed the House by a razor-thin vote of 222-203, no thanks to the five cowardly Repugnantcan members in the Louisiana delegation: Steve KKK. Scalise, neophyte Julia Letlow, family values Mike Johnson, Clay “Shoot from the Lip” Higgins, and Garret Graves. The bill fared even worse in the Senate, failing to pass in a 47-47 vote with both Louisiana Senators, John “Foghorn Leghorn” Kennedy and Bill “We Don’t Need Black Women in Louisiana” Cassidy voting no.
Let’s compare the respective reactions to two individuals: Sen. Cancun TED CRUZ and the man who very nearly defeated him for reelection and who now is challenging Gov. Greg Abbott, BETO O’ROURKE, who crashed Abbott’s and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s orchestrated press conference yesterday. On the one hand, Cruz walked away from a legitimate question while O’Rourke, facing stiff opposition from a hostile crowd, challenged Abbott face-to-face.
Also, let’s hear how a couple of Repugnantcans have attempted to deflect blame for the slaughter of those 21 people: First, there’s Texas Congressman RONNY JACKSON, who put the blame on rap music, video games (neither of which I particularly care for but my distaste doesn’t extend to blaming them for senseless butchery), and the Internet. But the best deflection – and the most inaccurate and by far, the most stupid – comes from Arizona U.S. Rep. PAUL GOSAR, who labeled the shooter, Salvatore Ramos, as “a transsexual leftist illegal alien,” an absolutely absurd allegation which conspiracy nut Alex Jones picked up and ran with.
Problem is, Gosar, a fool in his own right, picked up his misinformation from social media when another conspiracy nut (their numbers are staggering) stumbled across a photo of transsexual Sam from Georgia who bore a resemblance to Ramos. And that, by Gawd, was all it took for the rumor to go viral that the transsexual was Ramos and for Gosar to latch onto it as gospel.
The NRA is holding its convention in Houston this weekend and the former guy is scheduled to speak, along with Abbott and Cruz. Of course, no guns will be allowed in the room with Trump as per the Secret Service.
So, bottom line: We are burdened with far too many nutcases out there who find it far too easy to purchase assault weapons to kill far too many children while far too many spineless politicians react with far too many “thoughts and prayers” and far too little action because they are whoring themselves out to an NRA a corrupt organization charged with money laundering, insurance fraud, misuse of $64 million of the organization’s money, and of illegal ties with Russia.
But as long as some of that money flows into certain political campaigns, all we’re going to get is, “Now is not the time to discuss gun legislation.”
What a pathetic bunch of gutless wonders.
Louisiana Voice 
Today, I sent each one of our Louisiana Republican senators a hand written envelope with a handwritten letter (hoping this is more effective than an email) with these words: “Are you so heartless, after all these mass shootings, that you will do nothing about gun reform?” Maybe, just maybe, whoever opens the letters will pass these few words on to them and it will register. Why do I doubt it?
Along with the obvious deterioration of quality of life (safety, health, happiness, etc) in this society, the complete insanity of these right wing politicians—and, unfortunately, a very large minority of this country—have recently made me decide that if I live long enough to enjoy retirement, it will be in one of the more advanced and progressive democracies, including but not limited to our neighbor to the north that people seem to always forget about, Japan, and quite a few European nations rather than to go down with the ‘Merica shitship.
And everyone speaks English nowadays in those places anyway.
I just hope by then the US didn’t have some deranged, homicidal lunatic with his finger on the nuclear button in power, but that seems likely at this rate.
Great article! Ecclesiastes 1:9,” There is nothing new under the sun”. NO ‘f***king Republican or preacher can destroy my dream retirement which I am now living. As long as I can learn, I can keep loving and not become “them”. I am taking my GREAT grandson to a private viewing of TOP GUN Monday. He is a LTC in Jr.Rotc and the Corp Commander for his Senior year. Go Top Gun. ron thompson Look around, there is no deterioration of quality of life. Move to the Ukraine and see Democracy in action. Peace is never easy.
Well, let’s see what happens and whether it will be enough.
Well articulated! Thank you for speaking out. Still waiting for Christians to stand up and articulate the characteristics of Christ, which are the opposite of “It’s all about ME & MY rights”.
The “Republican” party proved after Sandy Hook it didn’t give a damn how many children had to die for the sake of its ignorant prejudices and what has changed in the decade since? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There could be dozens more school shootings, hundreds of dead children, the response would be exactly the same. These people DO NOT CARE how many children – or anyone else – have to die for the sake of their ignorant prejudices. They are by God entitled to them! Period. End of story. We have to stop pretending the right seeks a common American experience with the rest of us. If you’re willing to make excuses for the murder of children there’s no line you won’t cross. Think about these people over the last five or six years. What line have they refused to cross? They are never going to stop selling out because they are entitled to their prejudices. It’s the ONLY thing they believe and the rest of us need to wake up to that fact.
10-FREAKING-4!
Whenever you title an article with something like “Repugs…,” you come off like a college freshman girl posting on Insta. I didn’t bother reading beyond that.
At least TRY to be some sort of journalist.
When children are getting butchered because these “Repugs” steadfastly refuse to consider ANY gun reforms, I don’t even attempt to be a journalist. I revert back to being a parent and grandparent.
They are truly repugnant and I refuse to treat them with any professional or journalistic courtesy.
Accidentally caught Kornpone on TV this morning giving the conservative chant, “We don’t have a gun problem, we have a mental health problem.” As astute reporter might have asked, “Well then, senator, what do you propose to do to address that?”
50 years ago families in Louisiana (and I assume elsewhere) could get help from the state for their family members with mental health problems. They could, if necessary as determined by the coroner, have them committed to mental health hospitals, of which there were several. This is still theoretically possible, but lots of luck trying to get a commitment given the severe shortage of beds.
Then, our elected officials decided almost all mental health treatment should be done in community mental health centers. These were not particularly effective and there are fewer of them today. I don’t know how effective they are now, but I, personally participated in a months-long evaluation of them in the early 80s so I have an idea of how effective they were then. By the way, while lawmakers are hot to trot to de-institutionalize mental patients, they have the reverse view of nursing home senior care.
BOTTOM-LINE: If you are not wealthy, but need mental health services for yourself or somebody else, don’t be surprised if you can’t get it. And, Kornpone nor anybody else of whom I am aware are doing enough about it. So, Senator Foghorn Leghorn Korpone Neely Kennedy, if you aren’t going to support any, even the most modest, gun regulation enhancements, what, exactly, are you willing to support in the way of addressing the mental health issues you and your colleagues choose to make the scapegoat here?
I read your articles often and at times you make sense, this is not one of them. Why didn’t you write an article about the lady in the NE that shot and stopped a shooter dead in his tracks, probably because it doesn’t cover your personal and far left agenda. You say people will turn and run, how do you know, is it because that what you think you would do, more than likely. It is just like when you claimed that you understood and knew how veterans felt but you are not one, never been in combat so how could you. Don’t tell me it is because of friends, that is not the way it works. People in this country was raised with firearms since the beginning. We used to take our new shotguns to show and tell in Louisiana schools I went to. There was no worry because we all had decent hard working parents back then that taught us at a very early age about responsibility and accountability for our actions. So just know this, one day when you turn and run, I will be the one standing there protecting you. You have too much hate and name calling in your articles nowadays. They would be great reading and debate material without spewing hate and slurs.
Well, Goose, you got it wrong. I am a veteran.
If you’re good with 19 fourth graders being slaughtered, that’s your problem. I happen to believe we can no longer continue to look the other way.
But hey, that’s just me.
(Also, I couldn’t help but notice – after sifting through the poor punctuation and grammar – that you assumed I would run from a confrontation right after you criticized me for assuming the same thing of others. Do you see the irony there? But I feel so much better knowing that you have my back, you brave, courageous citizen soldier.)
What I’d like True American to ask themselves is, ‘how frequently does the good guy with the gun save the day’? How often do guns make a situation *safer*, as opposed to more dangerous? Guns currently account for 80% of all US murders, and the US murder rate with guns is 5 per 100,000 people. In the UK, it’s around 1.2 in total. In France, it’s around 1.2 in total. The same goes for Germany. All three countries practice gun control, but all three do so in different ways.
It would be foolish of me to believe guns are the only factor in the different homicide rates, but one of those four countries makes it very easy for people to buy deadly weapons, and the other three don’t. That’s got to be *a* factor.