Criminally charging, trying, convicting, and incarcerating those whose actions result in mass shootings will never put an end to the epidemic of gun violence in the United States, but at least it’s a start.

Here’s a guy who gave his mentally ill son the AR-15 he used to kill four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee; he’ll be going away for up to three years, following his sentencing in June.

Our nation is crying out for a real solution, i.e., common sense gun laws, but we live in a sick society where such a remedy is not possible.

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Uh, could it be corruption between the NRA and Congress?
A reader remarks: I hear there are 1400 NRA lobbyists in or around Congress.

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Sorry, but this is completely normal.  We live in a country in which mass shootings are so common that most of them don’t even make the national news.

The toxic mixture of hate, ignorance, and the corruptive effect of money from the gun lobby on our lawmakers have made this, at least for now, a totally insoluble problem.

There is no scenario in which Republicans pass laws that have the remotest effect on reining in the proliferation of guns, even the weapons of war.

Fortunately, there is a scenario in which progressive voters remove the greedy cowards in congress who are sacrificing our lives for their seats in office.

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I’m not sure that the complete erosion of women’s rights is a fait accompli under Republican control, but even at best, a GOP-dominant Congress is a horrible scenario for American females.

It certainly raises the issue of the direction that women will take in the 2022 and 2024 elections.  Sure, there are the so-called “women for Trump,” who will vote for anyone who promises to punish immigrants, reject science, and all that other good stuff.  But how many can there possibly be?

Most women are angry, and infuriated people are voters who are highly motivated  to extinguish the source of their rage.

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Unfortunately, social media is littered with sponsored political posts, some of which use the guise of market research to engage the reader.

Here, Senate hopeful Rick Scott asks in a “LIVE POLL”: Should America be more like Florida?  In Joe Biden’s America, Florida is one of the only places where your freedoms and rights have not been stripped away.

Luckily, we live in a country whose citizenry roundly rejects most of what’s happening in Florida.  We don’t want the rejection of science, the abandonment of environmental responsibility, the banning of adoption, the proliferation of weapons of war, white supremacy, and the regulation of teachers with respect to their dealing with matters of politics and sex.

Florida is a moral hellhole, but, I’m happy to report, its cultural ethos will have great difficulty spreading outside of the American South.

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As a Pennsylvanian, you don’t have to tell me that the middle part of the state is bright red, politically.  Yet the Keystone State is home to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and is dotted with wonderful small colleges and universities in its interior: Bucknell University, Lafayette College, Penn State University, Lehigh University, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, and Gettysburg College.

This bodes very poorly for the victor in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Doug Mastriano, who is a garden-variety Trump supporter, along with all the hate and ignorance that this implies.

From PBS affiliate WHYY: (more…)

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I’m not sure the United States needed one more blow against reason, honesty, and human decency, but it got one nonetheless.

A man worth $200 billion, with one of the biggest mouths in America, is suggesting that the Democrats “have become the party of division and hate,” and has announced that he’ll be voting Republican.  This, of course, is the party controlled by Donald Trump, our country’s most potent force behind bald-faced lies and white-collar crime (not to mention division and hate).

Btw, Elon, no “dirty tricks” are required here; it’s sufficient merely to publish your statements without alteration.

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It’s very clear that the Republicans are sabotaging life in America so they can blame our woes on the Democrats.

This isn’t even particularly well disguised.

When you’re not above starving babies, you know you have serious moral issues.

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Here’s another solid graphical reminder of what the beef industry is doing to our planet.

The plant- and lab-based meat industry is under an intense PR attack; I think it’s clear why.

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The stupidity and hate that is now front and center in the Republican party was hidden from view until just recently.  Now the GOP is embarked on an overtly transparent mission to:

• Find the most ignorant and mean-spirited people in the country. (The mission will not succeed when applied to people smart enough to see what’s actually happening.)

• Create and disseminate messaging that appeals to their abominable values. (more…)

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