They Come Out Of The Woodwork

Sunday…….the day after the big march for our lives…..

Summoned to action by student survivors of the Parkland school shooting, hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their supporters rallied in the nation’s capital and cities across the US on Saturday to press for gun control, the AP reports. Organizers of the March for Our Lives rally in DC hoped their protest would match in numbers and spirit last year’s women’s march. Bearing signs reading “We Are the Change,” ”No More Silence,” and “Keep NRA Money Out of Politics,” protesters packed Pennsylvania Avenue from the stage near the Capitol, stretching many blocks back toward the White House. “We will continue to fight for our dead friends,” Delaney Tarr, a survivor of the Florida tragedy, declared from the stage. The crowd roared with approval as she laid down the students’ central demand: a ban on “weapons of war” for all but warriors.

Large rallies also unfolded in such cities as Boston; New York; Chicago; Houston; Fort Worth, Texas; Minneapolis; and Parkland, the site of the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead. The police presence was heavy as more than 20,000 people filled a park near the Florida school, chanting slogans such as “Enough is enough” and carrying signs that read “Why do your guns matter more than our lives?” and “Our ballots will stop bullets.” Gun violence was fresh for some in the DC crowd: Ayanne Johnson of Great Mills High School in Maryland held a sign declaring, “I March for Jaelynn,” honoring Jaelynn Willey, who died Thursday two days after being shot by a classmate at the school. “For our kids, feeling safe is fundamental, and they don’t feel safe,” said the mother of an 11-year-old marching in DC.

When the last school shooting and the ensuing debate/conversation thee NRA came out with this lame ass ideas on what should be done about the violence and of course none of had anything to do with actual solutions to the problem.

But as lame as the NRA is and their thoughts the GOP has them beat at times….candidates to show their support for the 2nd and their acceptance of gun deaths to win their election  have been known for some of the dumbest and the lamest ideas ever…..

There is a candidate that is at the top of my list of morons…..

For years, the gun lobby, led by the NRA, has pushed the idea that more guns make the world safer. Most recently this has manifested in the argument (endorsed by Donald Trump) that the answer to school shootings is armed teachers. But Brian Ellison is taking it one step further. Ellison is a Libertarian running for US Senate in Michigan, and though his third-party run is obviously hopeless, he drew some media attention this week for his plan to, uh, hand out pump-action shotguns to Michigan’s homeless population.

To be fair, Ellison isn’t the first person to come up with this idea—19th-century revolutionary anarchist Lucy Parsons implored “tramps” to “learn the use of explosives” and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine famously wrote “Arm the Homeless” on his guitar. But Ellison (who has not yet gotten enough signatures to qualify for ballot access) seems to have thought very thoroughly about his idea. He even started a GoFundMe campaign to buy 20 shotguns for homeless people, though the platform shut down his campaign for violating the terms of service.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne9jyb/the-senate-candidate-who-wants-to-arm-the-homeless-explains-himself

Wait!  Is not part of the problem as the GOP sees it as there is a mental illness problem with these shooters and if I am not mistaken that a good portion of the homeless are suffering from some form of mental illness….does anyone see a problem with his dumbass proposal…..

This why there can NEVER be a substantive conversation on gun violence because some people are just not prepared for the debate.

Go now and start your weekend and thanx so much for your time and your visits……chuq

Oh By The Way…You’re Dead

A wonderful Sunday……

As a veteran I have thought about using the VA….but I have refrained because I feel that vets of Iraq and Afghanistan need their services more than me…..that aside there have been many stories of how the VA has made mistakes and some are not so funny…..

A North Carolina man was notified that he was dead…….

Federal officials have discovered a North Carolina veteran isn’t dead yet. The Fayetteville Observer reported that 81-year-old Charles Covell of Fayetteville was surprised to learn that he had been declared dead by the Veterans Affairs Department last month. Covell’s wife realized something was wrong when a monthly disabilities payment was not deposited in their account, and the couple then learned that a death certificate for a Charles Covell was filed in January. A spokeswoman from US Rep. Richard Hudson’s office said Tuesday the VA has fixed the mistake, per the AP.

Covell spent 12 years in the Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. The Observer notes that this is not the first time Covell has been the victim of a red-tape gaffe over his service. The military tried to honor him for 1965 heroics on the battlefield in Vietnam, but the paperwork got lost for more than 40 years. Covell finally received his Bronze Star Medal for Valor in 2006.the SS office sent her a letter, addressed to her, notifying her that she was dead

This made me think of a letter we received after the death of my mother so many years ago…..she was on Social Security and Medicare and after she died a letter was sent informing her that she was indeed dead and if she had any problems she was to notify the Social Security office nearest her.  The letter was addressed to her……she was dead!

Sad to say that the letter and so many of my mementos were lost during Katrina or I would put a copy here for all to see and read…..

Enjoy your Sunday…..TTFN……chuq