Because they deserve some sort of recognition and because we are never going to have sensible gun laws in this country.
Republicans have won the gun-control battle. ... As such, the Republican Party now has the kind of historic opportunity that only victors enjoy. They have the opportunity to declare victory while at the same time extending a hand to the losers; to reach across the aisle and to relieve their Democratic counterparts of the terrible responsibility of actually doing something in the wake of national tragedies; to inject some realism into the gun debate while dealing with it on an entirely symbolic level; and most of all, to have something to offer grieving families beyond empty words, ineffectual promises, and hypocritical bromides:
A medal.
The medal would be called the Bearing the Cost of Freedom Medal, although, because it would be loosely modeled after the Purple Heart and would come with a black ribbon suitable for mourning, it could also be called the Black Heart.
Of course, it will never be as black as the hearts of those who support the NRA.
UPDATED: I really can't believe that so soon after putting up this post I have to update it with this. We have become a sick society.
Eight people were wounded, and at least two people are dead, after a shooting outside the Empire State Building in the Midtown area of Manhattan on Friday morning.
The shooting occurred at Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street around 9 a.m. ET. The New York Post reported that the incident was the result of a co-worker dispute; the gunman was fired from his job on Thursday and returned to his office today to target his boss, local and federal officials told NBC News, according to a tweet. The gunman, who was shot by police at the scene, and a bystander are both dead.
It's just disgusting.
This post is about a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma, which LGM has
been deputized to crowdsource. The mystery is: Who is Jolin Ellison?
Yesterday, t...
We've become so inured to gun violence and death that we hardly notice it anymore.
ReplyDeleteWe're the only civilization like this on the planet.
And we can thank the venal pigs of the NRA.
The same day this story was in the NYT there was another about a number of random cases of gun violence in Chicago wahich I believe killed 18 or 19 people. It almost has to reach a certain level before it makes the news. I see Green Eagle pointed out the number wounded by police at the scene in NY. And still the gun people suggest arming more civilians. It is insane.
ReplyDeleteWe banned the ownership of automatic and semi-automatic weapons after a mass shooting committed by a disturbed individual in 1996. Our conservatives did that.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to tempt fate, but we have not had a mass shooting since, anywhere in the nation.
You could fight the NRA. Fight the bogus logic that says owning a gun is the solution to other people owning a gun because yet someone else owns a gun. It would take decades to get anywhere, to incrementally change the argument and eventually control it. But it could be done. But someone has to make a start.
I'm thinking if we could get the guys that did the Swift boat ads to take on the NRA we could get somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThere's a John Wayne ethos in this country that needs to change. Hopefully by working around the edges that can be done. Rebuilding community is maybe part of it (on and offline).