Yakety Yak

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Yesterday Senate Republicans killed a couple of gun control proposals:

The first gun control measure proposed by Democrats was legislation from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would deny people on a federal terrorism watch list the ability to purchase guns. The measure failed, 45-54. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) voted with Republicans to reject the measure, and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) crossed over to vote in favor of the gun restrictions.

The second vote revived legislation from April 2013, written in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., with bipartisan backing that would enact universal background checks. The four Republicans who backed the bill then — Kirk and Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who co-authored the measure with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — also voted in favor of the Democrats’ plan on Thursday. Heitkamp also opposed the second gun-control measure, which was blocked on a 48-50 tally. …

… The vote carried little drama: No one changed their position from April 2013, and other than Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) attempting to vote “aye” twice, there was little drama as senators scrolled on their phones during the first major gun vote in two and a half years.

So, Republicans make sure we can’t do anything about our most common form of terrorism — mass shootings. The New York Times editorial board:

In the hours after the attack in San Bernardino on Wednesday, President Obama specifically mentioned that legislation as an important security measure. “Those same people who we don’t allow to fly can go into a store in the United States and buy a firearm, and there’s nothing that we can do to stop them. That’s a law that needs to be changed,” he said on CBS News. The George W. Bush administration backed the terrorist-list bill in 2007.

No matter. The House speaker, Paul Ryan, issued his party’s weak defense of arming potential terrorism suspects on Thursday morning: “I think it’s very important to remember people have due process rights in this country, and we can’t have some government official just arbitrarily put them on a list.” Mr. Ryan’s Senate colleagues demonstrated that they are more worried about the possibility that someone might be turned away from a gun shop than shielding the public against violent criminals.

Short on action, big on talk:

At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference on Thursday, the Republican presidential candidates offered little but political attacks. Senator Cruz immediately blamed Mr. Obama: “Coming on the wake of the terror attack in Paris, this horrific murder underscores that we are at a time of war, whether or not the current administration realizes it or is willing to acknowledge it, our enemies are at war with us and I believe this nation needs a wartime president to defend it.”

Gov. Chris Christie injected more fear: “The president continues to wring his hands and say ‘we’ll see,’ but those folks dressed in tactical gear with semiautomatic weapons came there to do something. We need to come to grips with the idea that we are in the midst of the next world war.”

From Jeb Bush, a bizarre slam: “The brutal savagery of Islamic terrorism exists, and this president and his former secretary of state cannot call it for what it is.”

And Donald Trump, true to his birther views, insinuated that Mr. Obama was hiding something: “Radical Islamic terrorism. We have a president that refuses to use the term. He refuses to say it. There’s something going on with him that we don’t know about.”

One, the Planned Parenthood shooter was not an “Islamic terrorist.” The Charleston shooter was not an “Islamic terrorist.” Of course, to Republicans, terrorism is defined by who does it. If a Muslim shoots somebody, it’s terrorism; if a white supremacist or anti-abortion whackjob does exactly the same thing, it isn’t.

Two, the President wants to be clear the United States is not at war with Islam. But, you know, those shrieking magical adjectives could keep us safe …

20 thoughts on “Yakety Yak”

  1. Now, no need to get out of your Barcolounger to go to a gun show or gun store!

    You can watch your TV, and shop at home for your guns!
    http://www.guntalk.tv/site88.php

    Hmm…
    I wonder if the deliver to ALL neighborhoods, or are there some hoods that they don’t think are neighborly enough to ship guns to?
    (If you know what I mean… And I think you do…)
    My guess, though, is the love of green tops all other colors and religions.

    After all, guns and bullets are colorblind.
    Besidies, guns don’t kill people. People do.
    And more trite shite from a bull, like that………………………………..

  3. “Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference ”

    Is that a constituency worthy of every republicant presidential candidates best attempt at fellatio, what are there 15-20 of them? Yes the christian right-wing fundies have finally gotten the Islamic right-wing fundie terror attack they have been praying for since 1-20-2008, finally they can blame President Obama for not keeping the “homeland” safe. It’s a glorious day in wing-nutta-stan from both sides of the backward fundie fence!

  4. uncledad — with Republicans and their contempt for democracy, it’s not about their numbers, it’s about how much money they put into political campaigns. Particularly when your party’s modus operandi is selling a shit product with relentless marketing.

  5. I think the Dems should re-word their bills to read “ Allow Terrorists, Criminals and the Mentally Ill to Purchase Unlimited Guns in America Law” and then call for a vote. That way all of the Republicans and a few Democrats can vote yes and all of the sane people to vote no.

  6. I was in the elevator with some neighbors, who were talking about how bad what happened in SB was. One of the neighbors is an immigrant from Poland. She and the others were saying how we shouldn’t allow any more immigration… I piped up with “no, immigration isn’t the problem, but the ease of buying weapons is.” Unfortunately I got loud and they tried to shush me. I also tried to ask the Polish woman why a man would need 5,000 guns, alluding to the guy caught the other day.

  7. PurpleGirl,
    Nothing unusual there.

    The last person on the lifeboat doen’t want to help others still in the water, lest that boat become overcrowded, and collapse.

  13. Back in the day, I always wanted to fit my key into her brand new pair of roller-skates…

    Now, her roller-skates gotta lotta miles on ’em, and, at best, my key droops…
    :-, (

  17. “There’s something going on with him that we don’t know about.”

    What is going on is a rational appraisal of events and the attempt to generate a practical policy in response. This is, as Mr. Trump says, something that “we,” the Republicans, don’t know about.

    CUNDgulag, my last celebrity crush was on Olivia Hussey, after seeing “Romeo and Juliet,” she represented to my mind, the very essence of young womanhood.

  20. “I think it’s very important to remember people have due process rights in this country, and we can’t have some government official just arbitrarily put them on a list.”

    So where the hell was Ryan when Bush was creating the No-Fly List?

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