Another NRA Victory-- This One In Orlando

A gay Zionist friend in Florida, who spends a lot of time doing drugs and listening to Hate Talk Radio, sent me this note earlier: "I went to read your story about the Orlando shooting, are you going to post one? Do you see these Muslims should not be protected by the left? They will kill you all, they have been hiding behind the left to further their agenda, but in the end they are worse than the most far right Americans." Even before that, I got an e-mail from Roland saying, simply, "This is what Trump has been waiting for."

I'm going to assume that everyone who reads this post already knows the available gruesome facts about the largest mass shooting in U.S. history and the largest attack on the U.S. since 9/11, which is why I started with President Obama's response in the video above. And, indeed, Trump did pounce-- demanding President Obama resign and trying to blame the terrorism not just on all Muslims and all immingrants-- though the shooter was born in the U.S.A.-- but on Hillary Clinton as well. That's what Donald Trump is. (The imam of the sexually repressed, unhinged right-wing shooter, by the way, supports Trump for president.) Here's part of the statement by the pervert who wants to be president of the United States:

In his remarks today, President Obama disgracefully refused to even say the words 'Radical Islam'. For that reason alone, he should step down. If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words 'Radical Islam' she should get out of this race for the Presidency.

If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country anymore. Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen-- and it is only going to get worse. I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can't afford to be politically correct anymore.

The terrorist, Omar Mir Saddique Mateen, is the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan who openly published his support for the Afghanistani Taliban and even tried to run for President of Afghanistan. According to Pew, 99% of people in Afghanistan support oppressive Sharia Law.

We admit more than 100,000 lifetime migrants from the Middle East each year. Since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States.

Hillary Clinton wants to dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East, bringing in many hundreds of thousands during a first term-- and we will have no way to screen them, pay for them, or prevent the second generation from radicalizing.

We need to protect all Americans, of all backgrounds and all beliefs, from Radical Islamic Terrorism-- which has no place in an open and tolerant society. Radical Islam advocates hate for women, gays, Jews, Christians and all Americans. I am going to be a President for all Americans, and I am going to protect and defend all Americans. We are going to make America safe again and great again for everyone.

Perhaps Trump and Trumpists were enraged by President Obama saying "We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united, as Americans, to protect our people, and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us." That always enrages opportunists, racists, haters like Trump.

You probably also know-- as I reminded my Hate Talk Radio-consuming friend in Florida-- about the man arrested in Santa Monica early this morning on his way to the gay pride event in West Hollywood with a car filled with assault weapons. James Wesley Howell was born in Indiana, not Afghanistan.

Bao Nguyen, mayor of Garden Grove, just south of where Howell was caught, was brough to America as an infant from Vietnam and is currently running for Congress. He is openly gay and you can probably guess his sadness and horror at what occurred in Orlando. "As a gay man myself, I am especially disturbed by this horrific act of violence against my LGBT brothers and sisters. I condemn this barbaric shooting. Don't let anyone tell you that this twisted individual truly represents any faith community. At times like these, it's more important to hold our loved ones close, have compassion, and show the world that we stand together against hate, not divided against each other. My deepest condolences to the families of those killed. It's long past due for us as a nation to look inward and get serious about addressing the causes of mass violence in this country."

Similarly Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represents a New York City district with a huge gay population and a huge immigrant population and a huge Jewish population, noted that “From what we know at this time, this tragedy seems to be both a terrorist attack and a hate crime directed against the LGBT community. It is also clear that far fewer people would have been killed or wounded if the attacker had not had access to a deadly assault weapon. Once again, the necessity of controlling access to military-style assault weapons, whose only purpose is to kill large numbers of people as quickly and easily as possible, is made tragically clear. We must pass legislation that I have long supported to re-institute the assault weapon ban, and I hope Congress will finally take the action needed. Furthermore, we must continue to support efforts to destroy ISIS and other terrorist organizations which threaten America and our allies at home, and abroad. On the same day as the horrific shootings in Orlando, a suspect was taken into custody in California targeting the Los Angeles Pride festival, with assault weapons and explosives found in his car. This demonstrates the importance of hate crime legislation, which we worked hard to pass into federal law to make it easier to investigate and prosecute such crimes. We must continue to take action to crack down on hate crimes against the LGBT community, whether affiliated with terror groups like ISIS or the actions of an individual filled with hatred and bigotry."

Let me remind people of a few facts. First of all, Republicans have consistently rejected proposals to prevent the sale of assault weapons regardless of how many massacres and murdres take place-- guns solely meant to murder large numbers of people rapidly. And Republicans-- with a few conservative Democratic allies-- have refused to pass legislation that would ban the sale of weapons to people exactly like Omar Mir Saddique Mateen. Last time a proposal to ban sales to suspected terrorists came up in the Senate 45 senators voted for the bill and 54-- all Republicans plus EMILY's List right-wing Democrat Heidi Heitkamp (ND)-- voted against it, as the NRA demanded they do. Like Trump, all the Republican leaders opposed the bill and all 4 Republican senators running for president at the time-- Cruz, Rubio, Graham and Rand Paul-- voted against it. Corrupt consevatives in the House killed the same legislation-- proposed by Nita Lowey-- in the Appropriations Committee by a 19-29 vote.

Not all my friends are like the Hate Talk Radio consumer in Florida, of course. Another one had a more thoughtful approach. Her e-mail asked, "What, exactly, is the difference between the hatred spewed by radical Islamists and that by Christian fundamentalists in the United States? How can any less responsibility be laid at the feet of the U.S. politicians and their supporters for violence and terror when they espouse the same forms of hatred and marginalization as those they blame for that terror? Why are we so quick to connect the lone gunman in Miami with Islam and so unwilling to connect the “lone wolves” like Robert Dear, Angie Dillard, and Scott Roeder with the Christian right, or to hold young white star athletes accountable for the violence they perpetrate on women? Why are we so loathe to talk about rational limits on an AK-47 assault rifle, a weapon of war, when mass murders have become routine?

As you no doubt know by now that ATF confirmed earlier today that the Orlando murdrered bought two weapons within the last week, having previously been investigated twice by the FBI for possible terrorism charges. He legally purchased the weapons with no restrictions whatsoever. Thanks, Paul Ryan and the GOP/NRA.

I want to share part of a statement from People for the American Way president Michael Keegan issued right after the mass shooting:

"[O]ur sympathies are not enough. This tragedy, the worst mass shooting in American history, is the result of a toxic brew of intolerance and easy access to firearms. Today is a heartbreaking reminder that despite decades of progress, anti-LGBT hatred and violence is still a deadly reality, and it’s crucial that we recommit ourselves to challenging bigotry in all its forms. It’s a reminder, too, that a nation awash in guns isn’t inevitable. It’s the result of policy choices driven by pro-gun extremists and enabled by politicians who refuse to stand up to them. Our elected leaders could take sensible steps to keep weapons of war away from those who would use them to murder innocent people. They’ve simple chosen not to. As we mourn the victims of this horrible tragedy, it would be inexcusable to ignore the steps we can take to prevent the next one."

#NeverTrump-- as they work to create the next, less psychotic model

As one angry, exasperated Democratic member of Congress put it tonight, "I will not attend one more 'Moment of Silence' on the Floor. Our silence does not honor the victims, it mocks them."


UPDATE From Alan Grayson (D-Orlando):

Today I call on my colleagues in the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to ban assault rifles permanently.

Yesterday in Orlando, one man, armed with one assault rifle, caused so much carnage in a few short minutes that he killed 49 people, and 53 others were injured. It was the worst mass shooting in the history of our country.

The killer couldn’t have committed this mass murder with a knife, or a pistol. He had an assault rifle, and he used it as a weapon of mass destruction. It was the same weapon as the one used in the Sandy Hook massacre. A weapon like that makes it far too easy to kill many people, very quickly.

Until last summer, virtually any would-be killer could have bought one at Walmart. Then the company, the largest seller of guns in America, decided to sell militarized weapons of war to civilians no longer.

It’s too late to save the 49 innocent people who died in Orlando yesterday, but it’s not too late to save countless other lives-- if we act now.