Tag: NRA

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News Round-Up: February 23, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Fitness model Quin Bruce looks ready for date night. #ThatFace #ThoseArms #Woof

 • Sixteen year-old Joshua Rush, who plays the Disney Channel’s first openly gay character on Andi Mack, says it was important to him to “do it right.”

• Members of the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday killed a proposed amendment to the House budget bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to its nondiscrimination provision.

• In the aftermath of last week’s school massacre in Parkland, Florida, several major businesses are ending their partnerships with the National Rifle Association.

• According to Donald Trump, CNN and MSNBC are “failing.” But not according to the latest info from the Standard Media Index which shows that MSNBC grew its revenue from from January 2017 to last month by a 62% and CNN jumped 32% year-over-year. Fox News showed a polite 17% increase.

• Brendan Fraser says a Hollywood bigwig sexually assaulted him by fondling his butt (and more) and the incident affected his acting career.

• Out bronze medalist Adam Rippon says with the Olympics coming to a close, he would definitely take time to chat with Vice President Mike Pence about LGBT issues.

But – Rippon doesn’t think the two have much to chat on: “Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I was taught when I grew up, and I think that it’s important if you’re given the platform to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.”

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Highlights: Students, Parents & Teachers Face Off With Marco Rubio And NRA At Gun Violence Town Hall

Fred Guttenberg faces off with Sen. Marco Rubio

Last night’s Town Hall hosted by CNN was a rough ride for Sen. Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch as they took questions from parents and students regarding the tragic gun massacre that took place last week in Parkland, Florida.

You can listen to and read a full transcript of the Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper here.

Just a few highlights:

• Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg who was killed in the shooting, told Rubio “your comments this week and those of our president have been pathetically weak.”

“Look at me and tell me. Guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week,” Guttenberg said. “And look at me and tell me you accept it and you will work with us to do something about guns.”

Rubio later tweeted, “Banning all semi-auto weapons may have been popular with the audience at #CNNTownHall, but it is a position well outside the mainstream.”

• Student Cameron Kasky asked Rubio to say he wouldn’t take more money from the NRA. Rubio has received over $3.3 million from the NRA over the course of his political career.

“Can you tell me you won’t take a single donation from the NRA?” Kasky said. “In the name of the 17 people who died, you can’t ask the NRA to keep their money?” Rubio did not answer, saying only “people buy into my agenda.”

• Student Ryan Deitsch asked Rubio why it’s fallen to students and young people to take up the cause of gun violence after our lawmakers have dodged the issue for so long.

“We would like to know why do we have to be the ones to do this?” Deitsch asked. “Why do we have to speak out to the [state] Capitol? Why do we have to march on Washington, just to save innocent lives?”

• And the insanely calm and confident Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma González asked NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch if the NRA supports making it harder to obtain semiautomatic and fully automatic weapons.

“Dana Loesch, I want you to know that we will support your two children in a way that you will not,” said Gonzalez. “The shooter at our school obtained weapons that he used on us legally. Do you think that it should be harder to obtain these semiautomatic and the modifications for these weapons that make them fully automatic like bump stocks?”

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News Round-Up: January 19, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Can we start the weekend admiring Nick Jonas (above) admiring his NY Yankees hat in the background? #TheresAHat?

• Indonesia’s IT Ministry is asking Google to block  LGBT-related networking apps.

• Check out the newly-announced list of nominees for the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards here.

• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will be a guest judge on an upcoming episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” #YouBettaWerk

• And speaking of, on the latest episode of Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast, RuPaul shares what he’s learned from drag: “What it teaches people is that all things are temporary. Everything’s temporary: just clothes, some paint, powder – this body, even, is temporary.”

• The FBI is looking into whether a top Russian banker funneled money through the National Rifle Association to help elect Donald Trump. It’s illegal to use foreign funds to influence federal elections, and the NRA spent $30 million on Trump’s behalf in 2016.

• Warning: NSFW – Fischerspooner shares their new single and music video, “TopBrazil,” from their upcoming album, Sir, produced by Michael Stipe due out February 16.

In the video, shadow and light create a collage of naked male bodies becoming one, all the while blurring the lines of masculinity and femininity.

Spooner explains, “The video celebrates a pop aesthetic typically reserved for the female archetype and liberates the male form to be sexual, expressive and fearless.”

I think it’s a very cool video, but again – Adult Content.

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News Round-Up: June 16, 2016

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will donate $150,000 to aid the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.

• Former President Bill Clinton says more would have died in the Orlando nightclub shooting if they had been armed. Gee, alcohol + fear + dark nightclub + guns shooting into the dark – what could possibly go wrong?

• Donald Trump now says he plans to talk to the NRA about blocking folks on the “No-Fly” list from being able to purchase guns. Glad to see he’s taking Hillary Clinton’s advice.

• Billionaire Mark Cuban, longtime LGBT ally, is donating $1 million to help fund added security measures for Dallas’ LGBT community. Hmm, where’s the donation from our “good friend” Donald Trump?

• Vanity Fair takes a broad look at the current state of the presidential race, and for now, it’s looking very good for Hillary.

• Broadway blockbuster Wicked will hit the silver screen December 20, 2019. How’s that for planning?

• Two active-duty Marines are under investigation after posting a photo to a closed Facebook grouop for Marines that read “Coming to a gay bar near you!” showing a corporal in uniform holding a rifle with his finger near the trigger.

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Seth Meyers Takes A Closer Look At The NRA Endorsement O Donald Trump

Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s “Late Night,” takes note of Donald Trump’s flip-flop on gun rights over the years in an attempt to pander to the NRA for the organization’s coveted endorsement.

From International Business Times:

Meyers noted how before entering the presidential race, Trump previously supported an assault rifle ban and expanded background checks — far from the standard Republican unwillingness to disagree with any part of the NRA platform. However, on the campaign trail Trump has been promising that as president he would be unapologetically anti-gun control.

“Trump’s ham-fisted attempts to pander to gun owners were apparently enough to sway the NRA, which announced its endorsement of him Friday,” said Meyers. “You might think, ‘How can an organization that is devoted to defending second amendment rights back a candidate who has been so inconsistent on that issue?’

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New York Daily News Lists NRA Head Wayne LaPierre As “Terrorist”

Today’s cover of the New York Daily News features not only the “mass shooter of the week,” Syed Farook, but goes further and pictures several of the mad men who’ve waged war on Americans via gun violence, including (according to NYDN) NRA head Wayne LaPierre.

“Syed Farook joins long list of murderous psychos enabled by NRA’s sick gun jihad against America in the name of profit.”

Although over 90% of Americans approve of common sense background checks when purchasing a gun – including a majority of NRA members, the NRA has politicians so afraid no one in Congress is able to pass anything when it comes to gun legislation.

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NRA & Republicans Block Law To Prevent Terrorists From Buying Guns In US

According to the New York Daily News, suspected terrorists are able to legally buy guns in the US due to the lobbying efforts of the NRA.

A legal loophole allows suspected terrorists on the government’s no-fly list to legally buy guns, but a bill to fix that will likely wither on the vine. The federal Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, even in the wake of last week’s terrorist killing of 129 people in Paris, remains a long shot due to its rabid pro-gun opponents.

“Anything which they feel restricts the use or the ability to retain a gun they’re opposed to,” bill co-sponsor Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News.

“It’s sort of a knee-jerk reaction,” he said Tuesday. “The National Rifle Association is strongly opposed to it and the fact is we have only a handful of Republican co-sponsors.”

The legislation was initially proposed in 2007 by the Bush administration, with King formally introducing the bill in Congress two years later.

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA, has prevented tougher gun laws from being approved.

Currently, some known or suspected terrorists are prohibited from boarding airplanes by the government’s no-fly list — but all are allowed to buy assault rifles and other weapons.

While the bill remained a nonstarter, more than 2,000 suspects on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist bought weapons in the U.S. over the last 11 years, according to the federal Government Accountability Office.

The GAO reported that 91% of all suspected terrorists who tried to buy guns in America walked away with the weapon they wanted over the time period, with just 190 rejected despite their ominous histories.

The NRA did not respond to a Tuesday request for comment, but opposed the 2009 version of the proposed law on grounds that law-abiding Americans wrongly placed on the list would lose their Second Amendment rights.

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Mark Fiore: “Jihadi Rifle Association”

From Mark Fiore:

With the recent shooting in Las Vegas, it’s becoming more apparent that the crazed anti-government conspiracy nuts are a danger, to say the least.

What is the largest, most well-funded group fanning these flames of insanity? You guessed it, the NRA!

I’ve dealt more specifically with Wayne LaPierre’s recent apocalyptic diatribe in another cartoon. Since that cartoon was published, there has been an attack on a courthouse in Georgia and a “revolution” started by killing two police officers who were on their lunch break. (After said revolutionaries made sure that their cats would be cared for.)

You can read more on http://www.markfiore.com

(via JMG)