Mass shootings and gun violence are happening way too often

[fraurosena]

Even veterans are against the NRA!

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Finance 202: #BoycottNRA courses through Wall Street"

Spoiler

The #BoycottNRA wave is crashing through Wall Street as finance giants reckon with the consumer demands for blue-chip companies to cut ties with gun interests in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. 

The latest: 

• Blackstone Group, the investing behemoth, over the weekend asked outside fund managers to list their ownership in companies that manufacture and sell guns. “The request, with a roughly one-day turnaround, was emailed to managers at about a dozen hedge funds in which Blackstone has a stake, one of the people said,” the Wall Street Journal’s Jenny Strasburg and Miriam Gottfried report. “The email asked for information about ‘any ownership or lending’ of or to ‘gun manufacturers or gun sellers.’ ”
• Bank of America issued a statement Saturday indicating it plans to “engage the limited number of clients we have that manufacture assault weapons for non-military use to understand what they can contribute to this shared responsibility,” although precisely what that means wasn’t immediately clear. Ditto investment manager BlackRock, the largest shareholder in gun makers Sturm Ruger and American Outdoor Brands. A spokesman said the firm "will be engaging with weapons manufacturers and distributors to understand their response to recent events."
• MetLife joined the cavalcade of companies ending their discount program for NRA members, per a Friday tweet. And another insurer, Chubb, announced Friday that it will stop underwriting coverage for NRA members who get sued for shooting people, a program it called “NRA Carry Guard.”
• First National Bank of Omaha was one of the first corporate movers. The privately held bank holding company announced Thursday that it would stop issuing its NRA-branded Visa card, which had been advertised as “the official credit card of the N.R.A.” It gave members of the gun group 5 percent back on gas and sporting-goods purchases. 

Expect more to come. No other big banks are yet ready to announce they are reexamining their relationships with the gun industry, per a survey I did over the weekend. But the lightning-fast success of the consumer protest movement so far all but guarantees that more leading brands will feel compelled to sever ties.

Already, in addition to financial services interests, the list of those dropping partnerships with the NRA include Delta Air Lines and United Airlines; car renters Avis Budget Group, Hertz, and Enterprise; cybersecurity company Symantec; and the auto pricing site TrueCar. 

The corporate convulsion is following an increasingly familiar script in the Trump era. A shock event forces a hot-button political debate to explode on social media; progressives there wrench it into the commercial realm, demanding real-time responses from top companies; then those companies, keen to keep faith with their most prized customers, jump to respond even as elected leaders drag their feet. 

President Trump’s arrival on the scene didn’t create the dynamic. Back in 2015, for example, when then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a “religious freedom” law that critics called a license for businesses to discriminate against gay, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, marquee names such as Apple, Marriott International, Salesforce, Eli Lilly and Angie’s List helped lead a corporate revolt that forced the state GOP to roll it back. But it undoubtedly picked up steam over the past year, starting when Trump’s attempted travel ban spawned an outpouring of condemnation from leading CEOs on Wall Street and beyond. 

The C-suite opprobrium spilled out again last June, when Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, a decision that prompted this first-ever tweet from Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs:

And as Heather Long and I wrote last month, Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, among others, spoke out last summer when the president defended white supremacists who led a violent rally in Charlottesville: “I strongly disagree with President Trump’s reaction to the events that took place in Charlottesville,” Dimon said. The controversy led CEOs serving on a pair of White House advisory panels — including one led by Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman — to disband them. 

Last week, Merck CEO Ken Frazier, the first advisory panel member to speak up after Charlottesville, elaborated on his decision making in a New York Times interview: “It was my view that to not take a stand on this would be viewed as a tacit endorsement of what had happened and what was said,” Frazier told the paper. “I think words have consequences, and I think actions have consequences. I just felt that as a matter of my own personal conscience, I could not remain,” adding that his board “supported that 100 percent.”

Yet Blankfein, Dimon, and Schwarzman all lavished praise on Trump’s economic stewardship at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month — a reminder that financiers and other corporate brass won’t be joining any street marches against Republicans who are slashing taxes and regulations.

In the gun debate, however, the business case arguably aligns with the political winds that have Republicans edging onto the defensive for the first time in recent memory. The industry, too, is facing decline, as Trump’s election sapped sales by removing fears of a Democratic gun grab. 

Two days before the Parkland shooting, Remington Outdoor Co., which makes AR-15 rifles, filed for bankruptcy. Private-equity giant Cerberus Capital Management acquired the 202-year-old company in 2007 and announced it would sell it in the days following the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. It never found a buyer.

 

[neurogirl]

Just a reminder that this used to be America's President.

 

[new espadrille]

I'm proud of my governor today.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jay-inslee-trump-tweeting-guns_us_5a945b36e4b02cb368c4842a

[fraurosena]

17 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

@fraurosena -- I've complained to Amazon, but they are resistant to such requests. They tuned out all the requests to stop advertising on breitbart.

They think that people are using their services anyway, so what do a couple of complaints matter? They just shrug their shoulders and get on with their business of making money.

The only way to get corporations to act, is when it hits them where it really hurts: their pockets. If enough people stop using their services, or buying whatever they are selling, if they lose enough customers, then, and only then, will corporations take action. They hate bad advertising, but they hate losing customers much more, because it means losing revenue. It's their mainstay of existence after all.

[fraurosena]

Emma Gonzales is pissed. I don't think the Repugs will like her when she's pissed come November.

 

[Howl]

Oath Keepers now wants to station armed guards outside of schools, whether the schools want them or not.  Basically, alt-right wing nuts trying to make themselves relevant -- they are not a "well-regulated militia."    Oath Keepers Plan To Station Volunteer Armed Guards Outside Schools

One Oath Keepers member has already self-assigned to guard a school that doesn't want him, because they already have a full-time armed police officer assigned to that high school campus. 

Spoiler

Mark Cowan, an Indiana-based member of the Oath Keepers and an Army veteran, has since Friday posted himself outside North Side High School in Fort Wayne, wearing an Oath Keepers baseball hat and carrying a handgun and an AR-15...According to local news reports, Cowan was arrested last year in connection with a fight that involved his use of a deadly weapon, and pleaded guilty plea to a count of misdemeanor battery. He told WPTA that the incident involved his effort to protect two of his grandchildren, who were attacked by another man. The guilty plea does not prevent him from carrying a firearm under Indiana law. 

What could possibly go wrong?  

Here's how SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) summarizes Oath Keepers: The Oath Keepers, which claims tens of thousands of present and former law enforcement officials and military veterans as members, is one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S. today. While it claims only to be defending the Constitution, the entire organization is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans. 

Stewart Rhodes, the founder, thinks that John McCain is a traitor and that Herr Hitlery, if elected, would have used false flag operations as a pretext to destroy the economy and disarm the populace.  The SPLC page for Oath Keepers documents some of Rhodes' insane drivel and includes a well-researched background discussion.  This is a rabbit hole, for sure.  Rhodes is a veteran and a graduate of Yale Law School, so basically a well educated nut case. Not convinced he's bat shit crazy? Here ya go: 

Quote

“This wave of Islamist terror attacks will be part of a ‘perfect storm’ of intentionally orchestrated ‘Cloward-Piven’ chaos — inducing economic devastation, social and political disruption and violence, and the use of intentionally undefended borders and mass illegal and ‘refugee’ immigration as weapons of destabilization (and to provide cover for and facilitate more violence and terrorism by multiple proxy agents of the elites, including the cartels, gangs, well funded Marxist and racist agitators – such as La Raza and Black Lives Matter – and radical Islamist cells and individuals).”  

–Rhodes, in an Oath Keepers press release following the mass murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., June 2016

Organizations like Oath Keepers are scary, because they promote conspiracy theories that appeal to paranoid and emotionally vulnerable people as well as mean as shit junk-yard dogs itching for a fight or, let's face it, would really like to kill someone.  That there are law-enforcement people in this organization is horrifying.  

Those who followed the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in January - February 2016 might recognize the name Jon Ritzheimer; he ultimately received a year in jail, a year in a re-entry house and three years probation for his role in the occupation.  Ritzheimer was given some leniency in his Malheur sentencing because of PTSD and a mild brain injury from his service in Iraq.  But wait, there's more! 

Spoiler

That wasn’t the only time that the Oath Keepers has sought to put distance between itself and members who bring it bad press. In 2015, the group censured prominent member Jon Ritzheimer after Ritzheimer suggested that he planned to travel from Arizona to carry out a citizen’s arrest of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D. Mich.). Ritzheimer was angry that Stabenow had signed an agreement between the U.S. and Iran on limiting the Iranians’ nuclear program. Ritzheimer also said he would go on to arrest all of those involved in making the deal, including President Obama.

 

[fraurosena]

Hey everyone, and @GreyhoundFan in particular! There's an event happening this Thursday I think you'd be interested in:

 

[fraurosena]

You don't necessarily need legislation to do the right thing!

From the article:

Quote

[...]

But Edward Stack, the 63-year-old chief executive of Dick’s whose father founded the store in 1948, is deliberately steering his company directly into the storm, making clear that the company’s new policy was a direct response to the Florida shooting.

“When we saw what happened in Parkland, we were so disturbed and upset,” Mr. Stack said in an interview Tuesday evening. “We love these kids and their rallying cry, ‘enough is enough.’ It got to us.”

He added, “We’re going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation.”

Mr. Stack said he hoped that conversation would include politicians. As part of its stance, Dick’s is calling on elected officials to enact what it called “common sense gun reform’’ by passing laws to raise the minimum age to purchase guns to 21, to ban assault-type weapons and so-called bump stocks, and to conduct broader universal background checks that include mental-health information and previous interactions with law enforcement.

Mr. Stack said the retailer began scouring its purchase records shortly after the identity of the suspected Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz, became known. The company soon discovered it had legally sold a gun to Mr. Cruz in November, though it was not the gun or type of gun used in the school shooting.

“But it came to us that we could have been a part of this story,’’ he said. “We said, ‘We don’t want to be a part of this any longer,’” said Mr. Stack.

That decision raised rounds of discussions with top executives inside the company as well as the directors, all of whom backed the decision to take a stance, said Mr. Stack.

As of Wednesday morning, the company said all AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles would be removed from its stores and websites.

Mr. Stack said Dick’s remained a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and will continue to sell a variety of sport and hunting firearms. Although he has never been a member of the N.R.A., Mr. Stack said he is, in fact, a gun owner and enjoys trapshooting clay targets.

But when it comes to selling guns to individuals under 21 years of age or stocking assault-style rifles, Mr. Stack said his company was done. “We don’t want to be a part of a mass shooting,” he said.

This is not the first time Dick’s has made changes in response to a school massacre. In 2012, after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Dick’s removed assault-style rifles from its main retail stores. But a few months later, the company began carrying the firearms at its outdoor and hunting retail chain, Field & Stream.

This time, Mr. Stack said, the changes will be permanent.

[...]

Mr. Stack said he and his company expected there would be mixed response — including fallout — to its new policy.

“The whole hunting business is an important part of our business, and we know there is going to be backlash on this,” said Mr. Stack. “But we’re willing to accept that.”

He added, “If the kids in Parkland are being brave enough to stand up and do this, we can be brave enough to stand up with them.”

 

[fraurosena]

FedEx are two-faced hypocrites. 

(this is a 7-tweet thread)

[fraurosena]

This man has to be your future president. Promise?

 

[Howl]

20 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

This man has to be your future president. Promise?

 

Free ginger! 

[karen77]

I was excited to see this headline this morning

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/dick-s-sporting-goods-will-stop-selling-assault-style-rifles-n851881

 

I hope more retailers will follow suit. It's not the final answer, but it's a start.

[onekidanddone]

The backlash against the NRA and their spawn in Congress is inspiring. The strengths of these kids leaves me humble, and the push back by the business community is encouraging. Although with companies I wonder how much of it is it doing the right thing their bottom line.

All that being said, I'm wondering why this time is different. Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice were also children who were gunned down. Are their lives of any less value than the 17 souls we lost in Parkland? No, of course they are not. To me it is not a contest. All those children matter.

How would it work if  these anit-NRA voices coming out of Parkland to join with the BLM movement? Strength in numbers for a common goal. Keeping our young people from being mowed down. If it is some NRA gun freak or a hot headed cop the result is the same right?

 

[candygirl200413]

Already seen the "I'm done shopping at dick's because my second amendment rights!" post but now I'll be sure my next running sneakers will come from them among other things :), ditto to everyone else said a good start. Also, is there a way you could stop how your items get shipped? Like I just noticed a shirt I ordered went through FedEx which made me mad.

 

Also just read this, arm the teachers am I right?!

Spoiler

 

 

[karen77]

48 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

 

Also just read this, arm the teachers am I right?!

  Hide contents

 

 

That embodies one of the multitudes of reasons not to have teachers armed in schools.... wtf.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

53 minutes ago, karen77 said:

That embodies one of the multitudes of reasons not to have teachers armed in schools.... wtf.

I saw a news story last night about armed teachers in my state. Apparently the state leaves it up to each individual school district to set rules about guns on campus and 3 or 4 very rural school districts have chosen to allow some teachers to have guns, or access to guns at school. The school they showed has signs notifying everyone that the school's teachers are legally armed, so no one should be surprised. They said that the teachers who choose to be armed (or maybe they have access to a school gun room?) train regularly with the county sheriff's department on target practice and how to be safe and effective. 

I don't know what I think about it in an area where the nearest law enforcement is 45 minutes to an hour away, but I know that it would be beyond stupid to arm teachers in my urban area, where police officers are so close. Teachers need to be allowed to teach.

[Maggie Mae]

7 minutes ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

I don't know what I think about it in an area where the nearest law enforcement is 45 minutes to an hour away, but I know that it would be beyond stupid to arm teachers in my urban area, where police officers are so close. Teachers need to be allowed to teach.

Here's what we do when a moose comes to the playground: recess is inside and we call fish & game and/or the police. Then someone armed keeps an eye on the situation. 99.9% of the time, said moose wanders back to whatever greenbelt he came from. The armed officer (not an employee of the school) is there to shoot the moose if it attacks someone. 

I am so pissed off at our moron in congress who suggested arming teachers. This is the same guy who blamed high school students when a fellow student committed suicide. Teachers are paid (not enough) to teach! Not to run security drills. Not to lock their students in a closet, locking them in from the outside, and then waiting for gun men to shoot them. 

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

All that being said, I'm wondering why this time is different. Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice were also children who were gunned down. Are their lives of any less value than the 17 souls we lost in Parkland? No, of course they are not. To me it is not a contest. All those children matter.

I think this time is different, because the times are different now. People are finding their voices, and getting mobilized more and more. Just think of the Women's Marches, and the #metoo movement.

But maybe it started even before that. Maybe the catalyst was the shock of November 9, 2016. I don't think that feeling of consternation and dismay has really abated. If anything, it's gaining traction and it's seeking an outlet. The outrage people are feeling, the need to do something, is getting stronger. That's why all the things that are wrong with American society are now the very things that are focussed on. 

The time for sitting back and hoping politicians will ensure a change for the better has gone. The depth of corruption and rot on the Hill and in the WH has been laid bare.

The realization that only you, the people, can initiate the changes you want, has finally sunk in.

[fraurosena]

This brings the meaning of the phrase  'gun nut' to a whole new level.

Pennsylvania church holds AR-15 blessing ceremony

Quote

A Pennsylvania church on Wednesday held a blessing ceremony for couples and their AR-15 rifles.

The World Peace and Unification Sanctuary hosted the event, at which couples wearing white dresses and dark suits renewed their vows and received blessings on their unloaded firearms, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The religious group, considered to be a “cult” by many, is led by the Rev. Sean Moon, who prayed at the ceremony for “a kingdom of peace police and peace militia where the citizens, through the right given to them by almighty God to keep and bear arms, will be able to protect one another and protect human flourishing."

The group views AR-15s as religious symbols, and has previously held events featuring the rifles. An AR-15 is the weapon police say was used to kill 17 people and injure 14 others in the school shooting at a Florida high school.

A small group of protestors gathered outside the sanctuary, with one calling the attendees “an armed religious cult.”

One attendee of the ceremony told the Tribune that she and her husband own an AR-15 to protect themselves from “sickos and evil psychopaths.”

"People have the right to bear arms, and in God's kingdom, you have to protect that," she said. "You have to protect against evil.”

A nearby elementary school closed in preparation for the event, instead taking students to a school 15 miles away as a safety precaution.

In the wake of the Florida shooting, lawmakers have grappled with how to act on gun control legislation, with some proposing a ban on assault-style weapons like the AR-15.

President Trump on Wednesday pushed lawmakers during a bipartisan meeting at the White House to raise the minimum age for purchasing such rifles from 18 to 21.

Here's a picture from the article:

[PsyD2013]

Our Republican friends in Alabama have the answer to stop school shootings- just place a statue of the 10 Commandments out side of schools.  

http://www.newsweek.com/ten-commandments-alabama-republican-gerald-dial-school-shooting-christian-roy-827195

[Tikobaby]

Here in Florida, the Hendry Co. sheriff has announced a program to allow volunteer school staff to anonymously carry concealed weapons in their schools  after completing a training course. 

http://www.winknews.com/2018/03/01/hendry-county-sheriff-plans-arm-anonymous-school-staff/

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, PsyD2013 said:

Our Republican friends in Alabama have the answer to stop school shootings- just place a statue of the 10 Commandments out side of schools.  

http://www.newsweek.com/ten-commandments-alabama-republican-gerald-dial-school-shooting-christian-roy-827195

So if I get this guy, he thinks that his deity is such and vengeful and hate fill God he let these children get slaughtered because ...stone tablets.

I'm pretty sure most churches have some version of the Commandments on hand, yet that didn't save the victims in South Carolina and Texas.

[fraurosena]

Crap. It looks like there's another school shooting happening in Central Michigan University. 

 

[AmazonGrace]