Connect with us

News

‘Nothing That Protects Our Children’: Growing Anger as Senators’ Gun Bill Won’t Include Majority of Americans’ Demands

Published

on

It’s been more than three weeks since a self-described white supremacist and antisemite slaughtered ten Black Americans at a Buffalo supermarket, and almost two weeks since an 18-year old massacred 21 people including 19 elementary school children and two teachers in Texas.

And while a small number of Republicans have agreed to work with Senate Democrats to hammer out a bill to help protect Americans from increasing gun violence, it appears the legislation will “fall well short” of the basic common sense reforms many across America, including President Joe Biden, are demanding.

“Should an agreement come together, it is certain to fall well short of the parameters that President Biden laid out in a White House address on Thursday, when he called for renewing the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, as well as significantly expanding federal background checks for gun buyers and removing the firearms industry’s immunity from lawsuits,” The Washington Post reports.

While Republicans claim to be negotiating in good faith, the lead Senator representing them, Texas Republican John Cornyn, last week made very clear his stance on strengthening gun safety measures: “Not gonna happen.”

Various polls on gun control and gun safety show different responses to specific questions, like expanded background checks, or banning assault weapons, but the one constant is the majority of Americans on every question want Congress to act on those critical issues.

Citing a 2021 Pew Research report, Vox shows 81% of Americans support expanding background checks, 79% oppose concealed carry without a permit, and 63% support bans on assault-style weapons.

But the top Senate Democrat working to shape the gun deal says it will not include expanded background checks or an assault weapons ban, according to Insider.

“We’re not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that’s going to ban assault weapons, or we’re not going to pass comprehensive background checks,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said Sunday. “But right now, people in this country want us to make progress. They just don’t want the status quo to continue for another 30 years.”

“There are more Republicans at the table talking about changing our gun laws and investing in mental health than at any time since Sandy Hook.”Murphy added, sounding optimistic, saying he has “never been part of negotiations as serious as these.”

On social media, however, activists and others demanding actual gun reform are expressing outrage:

Assault weapons ban work to stop the slaughter. It worked when Clinton put it in—it has worked in every nation that has done it. Comprehensive background checks work. For someone like Sen. Chris Murphy (a dem) to cave to the GOP is disgusting. I give up.”

In other words, gun ‘reform’ without the things that will fix the problem.”

The end result will be nothing that protects our children and other innocent Americans. The only way to get common sense gun laws is to replace the politicians that refuse to pass them.”

This ‘effort’ on the part of Republicans is bullshit. They’re ‘running out the clock’ just like ⁦@LeaderMcConnell⁩ told them to.”

Not even including expansion of background checks? Come on.”

So watered down, any legislation will simply allow Republicans to claim they did something.”

Hate to be pessimistic but this deal appears to be lipstick on a pig. If this passes, and inevitably there is a mass shooting, Republicans will say gun control doesn’t work. This is just a show for the midterm elections.”

 

 

 

 

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Antisemitic’: Trump Blasted for Attack on Jewish Democrats

Published

on

Donald Trump is attacking Jews who vote Democratic, barely days after the criminally-indicted ex-president threatened there would be a “bloodbath” if voters do not put him back in the Oval Office. His remarks, which include claiming Jews Democrats “hate” Israel and their own religion, were quickly labeled antisemitic.

“I actually think they hate Israel,” Trump on Monday told far right wing radio host Sebastian Gorka, who alleged the Biden administration and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “hate” Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

“I think they hate Israel. And the Democrat Party hates Israel,” Trump, upping the ante, responded. Gorka is his former White House aide who served briefly in the Trump administration before reportedly being “ousted.”

“I really believe they hate Israel,” Trump also said, and accused Majority Leader Schumer, a Democrat who has represented New York for the past quarter-century, of appearing to hate Israel, for “votes.”

READ MORE: ‘Easy Mark’: Why Trump’s $464M Bond Failure Makes Him a ‘Massive National Security Risk’

“I think it’s votes more than anything else, because he was always pro-Israel. He’s very anti-Israel now,” Trump continued, before declaring: “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”

Haaretz reports, “Trump’s comments follow similar comments made during a Fox News interview, where he accused Israel of ‘being loyal to a fault’ for hoping to maintain bipartisan support within the United States.”

Trump, under tremendous fire for his “bloodbath” remarks, was immediately denounced for his comments.

“Another day, another depraved antisemitic screed from Donald Trump, who has repeatedly vilified the overwhelmingly majority of American Jews,” observed Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “He first called us ‘uninformed or disloyal’ in 2019 and essentially repeated it today. The feeling is mutual. 79% of Jewish voters have an unfavorable view of Trump according to @pewresearch.”

The Times of Israel’s Sam Sokol writes, “Trump said that ‘any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion.’ That’s a majority of US Jews. Gentiles don’t get to decide who is a good Jew. That kind of rhetoric is in itself antisemitic.”

The Biden campaign was quick to post a clip of trump’s remarks. Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘How Fascism Came to Germany’: Historian Warns Trump ‘Knew Exactly What He Was Saying’

Continue Reading

News

‘How Fascism Came to Germany’: Historian Warns Trump ‘Knew Exactly What He Was Saying’

Published

on

Award-winning presidential historian Michael Beschloss sounded the alarm after Donald Trump’s “bloodbath” threat over the weekend, warning that his remarks echo those that led to the rise and installation of fascism in pre-World War II Germany and Italy.

“That’s how fascism and totalitarianism and in Germany’s case the Holocaust came to Germany, which had been a country where there were big institutions of democracy until, as you well know, the early 1930s,” Beschloss said on MSNBC Monday to “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski (video below). “In a way of Donald Trump has done us all a favor, because if you and I had been talking, Mika, let’s say 20 years ago, and they’ve been talking about what would have seemed like a very abstract and distant subject of how fascism and dictatorship might come to America, you probably would have been more wiser.”

“I would have said, you would have had some smiling person pretending to be a normal candidate like all the candidates for president who had gone before all the way back to 1789. And suddenly, after getting elected, that person would use the enormous powers of the presidency, that are given to that person, by their constitution,” Beschloss continued.

READ MORE: ‘Next Up – Property Seizures’: Experts Analyze ‘Unbankable’ Trump’s $464 Million Bond Crisis

“In a way Donald Trump has made it easier because when he tells you he’ll be a dictator for a day, we all know that dictators don’t resign after a day. When he uses the word bloodbath. Yes, it was in the context of an automobile industry speech, but he knew exactly what he was saying, When he talks about suspending the Constitution, or migrants as animals, this is him. He’s telling you what this choice is,” He continued, adding there is no “precedent for this.”

“I hate it when people treat this race as if it’s just one more presidential campaign. And there was lots of jokes, you know, both sides, you know, flaws and both candidates. Yes, these are two old candidates. One of those that is mentally stable, Joe Biden, whom I saw give a great speech at the Gridiron Dinner on Saturday night. Donald Trump, if you look at one of his speeches of these rallies, this is not someone who seems to have all his marbles.”

Beschloss says, “it’s important to know as we talk about this campaign, as it unfolds, we have never seen anything remotely like this in American history: a major party candidate is saying, you elect me, there’s going to be dictatorship, bloodbath, violence, retribution against my political enemies, that equals what we saw in Italy, in Germany and other places. If Americans do not get that if they choose that voluntarily, then this country has changed in a way that I do not understand.”

Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Bloodbath’: Psaki Slams Trump Over ‘Embrace of Political Violence’

Continue Reading

News

‘Next Up – Property Seizures’: Experts Analyze ‘Unbankable’ Trump’s $464 Million Bond Crisis

Published

on

Donald Trump’s attorneys in court documents say the ex-president has been unable to secure a bond for the full $464 million judgment against him in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil business fraud case against the ex-president, reportedly a billionaire who last year said he has $400 million in cash.

“In an April 2023 deposition for the fraud case, Trump said, ‘We have a lot of cash. I believe we have substantially in excess of $400 million in cash, which is a lot for a developer. Developers usually don’t have cash. They have assets, not cash. We have, I believe, $400-plus and going up very substantially every month,'” The Atlantic reported earlier this month.

But Trump’s attorneys now say securing a bond in the full amount is a “practical impossibility,” as Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld reports:

Trump’s attorneys tell the court they have spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world,” NBC News reports, and, “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” …. ‘is not possible under the circumstances presented.” They also note they approached 30 “surety” companies through four brokers and were unsuccessful.

READ MORE: ‘Bloodbath’: Psaki Slams Trump Over ‘Embrace of Political Violence’

Attorney General Letitia James says if Trump does not meet the March 25 deadline, she will begin the process of seizing his assets.

“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and, yes, I look at 40 Wall St. each and every day,” James said, MSNBC reported last month.

Meanwhile, legal experts say if Trump cannot secure a bond, and the appeals court does not grant him a stay, he may lose real estate assets.

“The financial demise of Donald Trump,” declared former longtime federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, pointing to the NBC News report. “He has no one to blame but himself. Next up – property seizures.”

MSNBC legal contributor Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI General Counsel, served up a blunt assessment: “I thought he was a billionaire? So is he lying to the public or the Court?”

Katie Phang, MSNBC host and legal contributor, offers additional insight: “Seems also like no one wants to lend Trump the money so he can then get the bond. He isn’t borrowing against his real properties to raise the money likely b/c they’re already leveraged. Trump is unbankable. Period.”

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti adds, “I’ve represented and prosecuted large real estate developers, and it’s not uncommon for them to be highly illiquid. That said, Trump had to know that this judgment was coming, and his inability to obtain a bond suggests he is much less wealthy than he portrays himself to be.”

READ MORE: FBI Agent Furious Over MAL Search Thought Trump Would Return Classified Docs if Just Asked

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.