Supporting Gun Wrongs

Members of Congress and their contributors are fighting fiercely for the rights of terrorists.

Is that too strong a statement? Well, you decide. 

The largest mass-shooting by a terrorist ever on American soil has just taken place in Orlando. From now until EPCOT freezes over, the mention of the name of that city will bring forth the Sunday-morning massacre at the Pulse Nightclub in the town people used to call the Magic City. It doesn’t matter that O-town and its surrounding area used to be known for sunshine, themeparks, waterparks, and huge conventions. Now we hear the name “Orlando” on the news and, rather than about the above fun things or about the tragedy of abused orcas, we knew that the story will be about 49 innocent people gunned down at the Pulse nightclub by one ISIS-inspired wackjob asshole. 

I am sure you will agree that it is not easy to shoot and kill 49 people and injure dozens more without a lot of hate in one’s heart, without a lot of planning, and without an AR-15 or other specifically designed slaughter-weapon. 

Weapons such as this were illegal in this country until about a dozen years ago. The NRA, which has poured millions of dollars into getting those who support its toxic and dangerous policies and ideology elected to congress, got that ban reversed, and now, just about anybody who wants one and can slap down the cash or a credit card, can buy one.

Make no mistake about it: the blood of all of those victims is on the hands of the dirtbag who committed the shootings. He planned the attach, he aimed his rifle, he pulled the trigger.

But those who made it so easy for him to get his weapon of slaughter are also partly responsible. Those who sold their souls to the NRA for the purposes of being re-elected are also guilty.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which meant so little to the founding fathers that they could not bother to word or punctuate it correctly, or their interpretation of same, means more to the gun-nuts than the lives of all of the many innocents that have been slaughtered over the years in this country. 

I am not talking about doing away with the verbally-impaired amendment. Almost nobody is advocating removing all of the guns from the nonviolent homes of this country.

But, there is no reason why these anyone needs an assault rifle, unless he or she is planning on killing a whole lot of people in one spree. 

That’s now how I planned to spend my weekend. I am sure it wasn’t your idea, either.

All right, then, join me in supporting those who want to enact sensible gun control.

Happy Sink-o the GOP-O!

I could almost feel sorry for the Republicans

Almost.

I could have predicted that Ted Cruz would drop out of the race for the nomination. After all, if you re-arrange the letters in Rafael Eduardo Cruz  you come up with a crazed rueful road, and it has been that, hasn’t it? Just not aa long a rueful road as I thought it would be.

I don’t suppose Lyin’ Ted will be on Trump’s short-list for running-mates. Maybe if Trump (the letters of whose name can be rearranged to read Jump Darn Dolt) wins the Presidency and  Cruz loses his Senate seat, the great orange leader of the free world will appoint Cruz as ambassador to whatever lizard-ridden swamp-planet Cruz came calls home.

John Kasich is out of the race. This may be the last time I have to look up the spelling of his name. We won’t even bother to come up with an anagram for him. Well, all right, if you insist, John is hack. An incomplete sentence to match his incomplete campaign. 

Remember that the GOP started with seventeen contenders for the nomination, seventeen! And Trump was the best they could do? 

They deserve him, you know. The GOP has been the party of the very rich for a long time. I don’t mean that the average Republican is very rich. The GOP has, for a long time, been the party that promotes the interests of the very rich. By and large, the vast majority of Republicans have been working against their own best interests for generations, as though, deem down they know that, if they work to make like better for those who are very well-off, they themselves will magically become well-off, too. 

Republicans have existed as the party that blames immigrants, illegal and otherwise, and the poor and the scientifically-minded, and those who want gender-equality, for all of America’s troubles. So, it should not be such a surprise that the Donald is able to walk right in, say back to the angry GOP members what they have been saying to themselves and to each other, and he is swept up to the top of the heap.

I expect that Trump will try to mend his ways and woo all those of his haters, hoping to turn them into fans. He has already started. 

In one of his recent speeches he said, "This country, which is very, very divided in so many different ways, is going to become one beautiful, loving country, and we're going to love each other. We're going to cherish each other. We're going to take care of each other."

Damn, Trump, is orange the new tie-die? Next thing you know, he’ll be promising us all Peace, Love and Rock and Roll!

Donald Trump once said, “I love the poorly educated.” I am sure he does – they are among his biggest supporters. I’ll bet he also has lots of big orange love for those with short memories. You know they are out there, those people who are cursing him today, but tomorrow will be swearing they supported the Donald from the beginning.

I don’t suspect those who truly distrust him will be convinced. So, what are they to do? Stay home? Start feelin’ the Bern? Get an urge to trudge up the Hill?  Cast a write-in vote for Ted Nugent or Paul Ryan? 

Yep, I almost feel sorry for them.

The Treatment for Jon Stewart Withdrawal

I have a question for those of you who – like me – still miss The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

What have you been watching to fill that void?

The current Daily Show with Trevor Noah has its high points, but it lacks the spark and punch of the John Stewart version. Maybe he needs more time.

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (which usually airs after initial showing of The Daily Show) is very good, but sometimes its satire degrades to silliness.

This Week Tonight with John Oliver is brilliant, but only on once a week.

I would also like to call your attention to Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Sharp and pointed as a raised scalpel. It is on TBS and the schedule seems to be irregular, so catch it on demand or the Internet.

On to the regular networks, Steven Colbert's show is often right on, but it has to fulfill the rites of the night-time talk show.

All of the above are from Daily Show alumni. The other I would like to nominate is an occasional brilliant monologue from former Saturday Night Live fake new host Seth Myers.

There is still great political satire to be had from your television or other device if it is properly-connected (or maybe improperly-connected, if that’s how you roll) , with great writing and really good points to be made.

But I still miss Jon.