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| I believe in the principle of Due Process  |
The Right Needs To Learn From The Left’s Astroturfing Of The Parkland Survivors Just because Trump's in the White House doesn’t mean the Right should stop working to influence the conversation. In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, something amazing happened. Unlike other mass shootings, which cause a flurry of calls for gun control that usually fizzle out in a week or so, this one resulted in a sustained conversation and some sort-of tangible damage to the NRA. The change came because many of the Stoneman Douglas High School students who survived the shooting became organized — attending rallies, tweeting, and appearing on major networks — to call for gun control. Or so we thought. About two weeks after what was reported as a movement by the students, forensic science specialist David Hines discovered that the whole “movement” was actually a coordinated plan from the Left. Within two days of the shooting, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was helping the kids; teacher’s unions, groups associated with Michael Bloomberg, and people connected to the Women’s March were all assisting in securing funding and promotion. Planned Parenthood, George Clooney, and Oprah Winfrey all donated money to the effort. The Right Victims For The Right Moment There’s more. Tweets referring to the NRA’s Carry Guard insurance as “Murder Insurance” went from being largely ignored during prior pushes to getting certain Center for American Progress-related accounts hundreds of retweets. Those tweets were being pushed and circulated in a way they hadn’t been before. Basically, the left had money and infrastructure ready to go for an all-out assault on guns and the NRA, they just needed the right moment — the right victims. It’s sickening, when you think about it; they were basically waiting for children to die so that they could swoop in and blame everyone they dislike, instead of the actual shooter. They paraded grieving children in front of cameras without any care for their well-being just to help their cause. And as much as it pains me to say this, and as much as I think this was a horrible thing for the Left to do; the right should learn from these tactics. Everyone remembers Michelle Obama saying “When they go low, we go high,” even though neither party really goes high. It was probably the most ridiculous thing she said as First Lady. Because what the Left has down with Parkland is not high, it’s incredibly low. But this is where we are in politics, and if the Right wants to win on some policy issues, they’re going to have to find ways to do this too. The Right does have a recent example of manufacturing a movement. The Tea Party rallies weren’t completely organic. Right-leaning groups trained activists and set up meetings to stoke outrage at spending that eventually grew into the massive political movement. The different with the Right’s efforts to prop up a movement is that they didn’t require people to die for it to get off the ground. Government overspending rarely causes deaths. An Organized National Conversation Now that Donald Trump is president, the Right doesn’t appear to be starting any movements or marches or rallies — when they really should be. Just because there’s a Republican in the White House doesn’t mean the Right should stop working to get issues in front of the public. I know, I know, there are a ton of right-leaning groups out there working on these issues behind the scenes. I’m talking about starting a national conversation, like the Tea Party did. No, they didn’t force President Barack Obama to spend less, but they fired up enough Americans to give Republicans a historic win in the House of Representatives in 2010 and multiple governorships and state legislatures across the country. Tea Parties left the rallies and started working to get people elected — and less spending is a pretty simple and broad message. The Left’s movements — the anti-Semitic Women’s March and this push for gun control — may not help them win at the ballot boxes in November, since gun control is a divisive issue and the Women’s March just preaches to the choir about left-wing issues. Still, their movements have potentially helped make President Trump shy away from avoiding gun control defunding Planned Parenthood. If the Right wants other major policy issues addressed, such as immigration reform, it might have to sink to the Left’s level. Ready the money and lay down the infrastructure for a big push for a border wall or crackdown on illegal immigration (or whatever they want most) and be ready to go the next time an illegal immigrant commits a heinous crime. (For the record, I don’t condone this, and I don’t think all illegal immigrants should be demonized because some murder or steal.) I would hope the Right can find a way to create such a movement without using a tragedy as a starting point, like they did with the Tea Parties. But they’re going to need to start creating some counter movements to try and get some policy wins. It doesn’t have to be a protest against Trump, but as a way of creating momentum for Republicans in congress to produce bills that actually fulfill their campaign promises. Link Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me. When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown | |||
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| Member |
Not that hard at all. The dearly departed Hognose charted it all out right here. Some are familiar, others are foundations set-up by a wealthy benefactor that directly or, in-directly supports a wide range of groups. Some groups are focused solely on grinding away at the local politicians others at the state level, some are connected with lobbyists and various aspects of the media. Others are focused on policy writing and providing 'data'. | |||
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Unflappable Enginerd |
Well, well, well... Broward Deputy Scot Peterson seen standing outside during Florida school shooting in new video __________________________________ NRA Benefactor I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident. http://www.aufamily.com/forums/ | |||
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Now in Florida |
Anyone see the irony in this photo???  | |||
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Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
^^^ Could she really be that ignorant? Unbelievable. ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| Unflappable Enginerd |
In a word, yes. __________________________________ NRA Benefactor I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident. http://www.aufamily.com/forums/ | |||
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thin skin can't win |
But it's a school team shirt, so it's ok and means something entirely different....  You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02 | |||
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Member |
Tonight's episode of "60 Minutes" featured the "Parkland kids" and told great stories of "all they have done in just three weeks." I don't think I have anything nice to say about it. God bless America. | |||
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| wishing we were congress |
https://apnews.com/9f92fe77777...ct-committed-in-2016 Officials were so concerned about the mental stability of the student accused of last month’s Florida school massacre that they decided he should be forcibly committed. But the recommendation was never acted upon. documents in the criminal case against Nikolas Cruz and obtained by The Associated Press show school officials and a sheriff’s deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation. There is no evidence Cruz was ever committed. Coincidentally, the school resource officer who recommended that Cruz be “Baker Acted” was Scot Peterson — the same Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who resigned amid accusations he failed to respond to the shooting by staying outside the building where the killings occurred. David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said that an involuntary commitment would have been a huge red flag had Cruz attempted to buy a firearm legally. The documents show that Cruz was very much on the radar screen of mental health professionals and the Broward County school system, yet very little appears to have been done other than these evaluations. It’s not clear from the documents who the recommendation was forwarded to or why it was not followed up. | |||
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I'll use the Red Key |
Yes, she obviously wants to win Dave Truong's March karma, but when the media showed up she acted like she didn't know anything about SIGforum. Go Spartans Donald Trump is not a politician, he is a leader, politicians are a dime a dozen, leaders are priceless. | |||
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Member |
[Rant] I will NEVER again tune in/listen to Michael Medved again. He is a closet Libtard and absolutely sickens me. I made this decision the day he supported the new Florida regulations prohibiting the sale of guns to anyone under the age of 21...said it was a "good thing", PRAISING Rick Scott for his swift signing of the bill. What part of "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" does that incompetent buffoon not comprehend?!? Sorry Medved...YOU SUCK!!! I'm just one listener, but I hope others follow suit. "If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24 | |||
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Semper Fi - 1775 |
I think I love this young lady. https://www.facebook.com/IJRRe...ts/10156650504692971 ___________________________ All it takes...is all you got. ____________________________ For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ | |||
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Chip away the stone |
Good for her. | |||
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| Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
Did he really? Jerk. I haven't listened to him in awhile but just as matter of happenstance. Sounds like i haven't been missing much. ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| I believe in the principle of Due Process |
The Scandal Behind The Florida School Shooting Is About Federal Coercion, Not Guns The Broward County Sheriff's Office failed to respond to warnings about the Parkland shooter ahead of time, and not because of a mistake or an oversight. It was the official policy. A thousand different things might have prevented the Parkland shooter from killing 17 people at a Florida high school last month. But among the most likely measures would have been the intervention of local law enforcement after any one of dozens of complaints about him from neighbors, family friends, and classmates. Why didn’t it happen? The shocking truth is that local officials failed to intervene not because of an oversight or a mistake, but because of a deliberate policy put in place to secure federal funding. Last week, Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations reported that Broward County School District, the country’s sixth largest, “was in the vanguard of a strategy, adopted by more than 50 other major school districts nationwide, allowing thousands of troubled, often violent, students to commit crimes without legal consequence.” The goal of the policy was to reduce the “school-to-prison pipeline” by making it more difficult for school officials to suspend or expel problem students, and to make it harder for local police to arrest them for certain crimes—some of which the 19-year-old shooter allegedly committed before his February 14 rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. According to Sperry, the strategy came straight out of Washington:
Why would Broward County and other major school districts adopt such a policy? Because the federal government was paying them for it. “Applications for federal grants reveal that Runcie’s plan factored into approval of tens of millions of dollars in federal funding from [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan’s department,” writes Sperry. The Failure to Intervene Wasn’t a Mistake In the weeks following the shooting, Broward County Sherriff Scott Israel was roundly criticized, not just for failing to respond to advance warnings about the shooter but also for using his elected office to run a corrupt patronage program. He was also criticized for the cowardly conduct of four of his deputies, including the school guard, who hid behind their cars outside the school during the crucial minutes of the massacre when they might have stopped it. Israel responded to all this shamefully, blaming the National Rifle Association, the school guard—everyone but himself. Given the failures of Israel’s office, it appeared as though the system itself had failed, just as it failed in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas last year. In that case, the 26-year-old killer should have been barred from purchasing the semiautomatic rifle he used to kill 26 people and injure 20 more because of a domestic violence conviction while serving in the Air Force. The conviction should have been reported to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database, which would have flagged his prohibited purchase. Likewise, if warnings about the Parkland shooter had been taken seriously, he probably would not have been able to buy the semiautomatic rifle he used in the February 14 shooting. But now we know that the two cases are very different. Sutherland Springs was a breakdown in a system that otherwise would have worked. But in Broward County, officials failed to intervene not because of a mistake or an oversight, but because of a deliberate federal policy put into place and actively promoted by local officials. Law enforcement failed to respond to dozens of complaints and warnings about the young man because not responding to such complaints was the official policy. Federal Coercion Corrupts Public Institutions In policy wonk circles, Broward County’s deal with Obama’s Education Department is called “cooperative federalism.” The idea is that state and local governments “cooperate” with federal executive branch agencies in exchange for generous funding—funding they would otherwise have to raise by taxing local residents. This is how massive programs like Medicaid operate. For every dollar that states spend, the feds match a percentage of that dollar on the condition that the state’s Medicaid program adheres to a long list of federal rules and regulations. In practice, it’s not cooperation but coercion. For large states like Texas and Florida, the federal government dumps tens of billions of dollars into their Medicaid programs every year. Because of how large Medicaid is relative to most states’ budgets, there’s no way they could reject the federal funding—and the rules that come with it—without a breakdown of state services. The result is that federal bureaucrats dictate how states run their Medicaid programs. Such a scheme helps, of course, if local officials agree with federal policy. By all accounts, Runcie, the Broward County school superintendent, was a willing partner with the Obama administration. He turned his school district into a poster child for the Obama administration’s “cops for counseling” policy while also securing substantial federal grants. All he had to do was make sure Israel and other local law enforcement authorities looked the other way when complaints came in about kids like the shooter. The school district’s arrest and expulsion numbers went down, and Runcie was able to claim success. Intermingling finances is how the federal government coerces state and local governments into doing things they don’t want to do. After all, state and local officials aren’t always as compliant as Runcie. Sperry notes that Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, issued new discipline guidelines in January 2014, “strongly recommending that the nation’s schools use law enforcement measures and out-of-school suspensions as a last resort.” Duncan was joined by Attorney General Eric Holder in the announcement. The new guidelines were more than mere suggestions, “they also came with threats of federal investigations and defunding for districts that refused to fully comply.” This isn’t something to shrug off. When public policy is formulated by federal bureaucrats in Washington DC and imposed on local communities through offers of federal funding, it removes political accountability. Local officials who are carrying out the will of distant federal bureaucrats can hardly be blamed for the outcomes of policies they didn’t devise. This loss of accountability is a form of corruption. Not the straightforward quid-pro-quo kind of corruption, but the kind that erodes and undermines public institutions over time. If all a mayor, school superintendent, or county sheriff has to do to keep raking in federal grants is tick off a list of boxes, then ticking off those boxes becomes how you define success. That’s precisely what happened in Broward County, with tragic consequences. Link Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me. When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown | |||
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| Ignored facts still exist |
Lyft is giving free rides to Downtown Portland for those who want to participate in the 3/24 March for your Life crap. Screw Lyft. Jerks. . | |||
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Sigforum K9 handler |
After their little “march”, this is going away. The shooting in Maryland killed their “mmmm guns are bad, hear us roar” momentum. | |||
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Whether 100 or 100,000 people march in DC, I predict the media will describe the event as a "Massive groundswell of public opinion against the NRA and assault rifles." Unfortunately, the strong actions of the Maryland school resource officer are now getting ignored with all the press coming from Austin. Then again, the media is likely to downplay any "good guy with a gun" story. | |||
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| Member |
Oh but when the news in Maryland was breaking, the media was breathlessly having SPECIAL ALERTS!!! Then... Nothing. Which is funny, because an officer stopping a school shooting while in progress is actually newsworthy. | |||
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Member |
http://floridacitizensalliance...iberty/white-letter/ I first want to say that I have received a number of responses from legislators thanking me for writing to them. All but one were form letters. The fact that this particular issue is not enough to at least put out a generalized statement as to reasons for voting for or against this disastrous piece of legislation is telling as far as the true caring that Florida legislators have for this issue, except that they are for the most part approaching it in the most politically correct way they can find…..what a tragedy for the future children who will be murdered in their classrooms because you politicians failed to put a serious correction to this matter into place. That having been said I want to express how horribly disappointed I am that this horrendous piece of legislation is now the law of the land in Florida. The Republicans who control the House, Senate and Governorship in Florida by a wide margin could have done so much better and created REAL solutions that would have resulted in landmark protections for the children in American schools….a model for the nation and the world over. This could have been a law that would truly have hardened our school security and protected our kids. Instead FL Republicans chose to compromise with a bunch of uncaring, politicized democrats who care nothing more for these kids than what they can do for them politically. Why is it that law abiding citizens are forced to pay the price with the removal of their civil rights because law enforcement failed to do its job and had been for years? Why hasn’t Broward County BCC, The Broward County School Board, The Broward County Sheriff and the FBI been called out on this? This horrible outcome of their destructive democrat policies have resulted in a very predictable outcome. Should we expect more? YES WE SHOULD. The Florida Legislature should have been and should still be screaming out loud about the horrendous conduct of these institutions and the horrific results of their policy. The resulting suit by the NRA is richly deserved and anyone who voted yes should be embarrassed and ashamed that their vote was cast as a yes on this legislation…..I am in hopes that the entire law will be overturned by the court and I will be in full support of it. The law that was passed will only be adhered to by the law abiding….not criminals. And those who wish to hurt school kids will have the ability to do so because the law passed is not adequate to stop shooters in schools. It only lessens the civil rights of law abiding citizens…..something all news outlets hailing the passage of this bill fail to mention. It will be the law abiding citizens in Florida who suffer under this law when they have an angry neighbor falsely accuse them of erratic behavior and the court orders the guns removed from their house with no due process. It will be law abiding wives who have all weapons removed because an abusive husband falsely accuses them of acting “crazy” and the court orders all weapons removed leaving the woman defenseless against a man who will murder her and then get maybe 2 years in prison for his actions. Law abiding 18-20 year olds have now had one layer of self-defense removed from them and they now are targets of lawless criminals along with kids in schools. You, other rich people and other legislators will of course be protected by armed security and you will do your job in a safe environment while the rest of us I guess will have to take our chances, including our kids. These instances will have nothing to do with school children and their protection, but you can bet it will result in more “police state” action by an overreaching government with endless resources against citizens who have limited if any financial resources to defend themselves against such tyranny. It will also result in more disastrous attacks upon our babies. I thought we wanted to actually ATTRACT businesses and law abiding citizens to this state. Your actions in passing this legislation say otherwise. It amazes me that Republicans allowed themselves to be snookered once again by leftists who used this horrible incident as a political ploy to gain a little more on their political agenda to remove guns from the hands of law abiding American citizens. Why were Republicans snookered? Because the left in Florida and from elsewhere in this nation paid for a bunch of kids who know nothing more than school, mom and dad taking care of them, and their own little world, to be bussed to Tallahassee where they very loudly proclaimed that they wanted their own civil rights restricted. They are too young and ignorant to even know what they were doing and how they were being used like tricks on the street by this pack of parasitic animals we know as democrats. You and other republicans, knowing the heartless, ruthless, parasites that they are caved to the pressure. Nick Cruz was not a monster, he was a troubled kid who had been horribly bullied and picked on by the children in that school. It sounds to me like nothing was done about it to help him. He was having serious problems with mental illness. There are myriad resources available within the Florida school system that could have helped him….they did not. They expelled him. What was done with the children who savaged and brutalized him? Nothing. What was said about Nick Cruz’ story? Nothing. The corrupt Sheriff of Broward County was contacted numerous times about Cruz, dealt with him dozens of times, ignored his overt violations with guns, ignored warnings from fellow classmates, his caretakers, etc. The FBI was aware of and had been contacted more than once about this young man and ignored those warnings. This very same thing happened with the Islamic Terrorist who murdered 49 people in the Pulse Nightclub Several years ago. The FBI had been given ample warning about this individual and ignored them. So far, the FBI has the blood of 63 murdered Floridians on their hands and nothing is said or done about it. The Democrat Broward County Sheriff, The Democrat Broward County School Board, The Democrat Broward County BCC all have the blood of these children on their hands because of their policies that leave their own children open to slaughter. Do I have a problem with Democrats? I do, I think they are the most heartless, ruthless, cruel and brutal bunch I have ever encountered. They take after their role models from Communist China, Cuba and the Soviet Union. I believe if they thought they could get away with silencing those who don’t agree with them with murder and violence they wouldn’t hesitate, in fact they are already doing it through their thug activists on the streets of towns and cities across the US with the slaughter of Law Enforcement nationwide, looting, pillaging, burning and destroying wherever they go. The obvious fact is that Democrats are fine with this behavior because they never say word about it. I have read that $400,000,000 will be going into the bureaucracy that will be created to “deal” with this situation. This money will be wasted, it will be ill used and go into political donation coffers just like all other money that we send to unneeded bureaucracies. Who will pay that $400,000,000? Only law abiding tax payers…..no one else. We will be shouldered with another useless burden that will simply serve to put more money, power and control into the hands of democrat barbarians who wish harm to this nation and say so openly on a regular basis. Police are nice but they simply CANNOT stop crime, they come to clean up the mess. If the Law Enforcement is corrupt and run by Democrats as are those in Broward County and the FBI you can bet money and win that these agencies will only make the problem worse. It is law enforcement that needs to be cleaned up in Broward County. It is the FBI that needs to be de-politicized and brought back to a normal state of law enforcement. I am weeping now for the children that will be mercilessly slaughtered in the future because of the failures of this law. I am taking the opportunity now to express my opinion…..given the current circumstances, with Florida legislators standing ready to rob citizens of basic civil rights and punish them rather than holding failed law enforcement or corrupt government entities accountable when their policies result in disaster, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to express my opinion openly… ____________________ | |||
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