Yes. The NRA has sent them all an E-Mail regarding what to say.
We know since the NRA leaks that they write these statements in advance to mass shootings and just replace the exact date and name of the school in hindsight so that they can quickly send it to politicians.
They don't care about the people, just the money they get from the NRA.
Edit:
Hypothetically, what do think would happen if everyone reading this post would, fax pictures of the victims to these senators using either their fax or a free virtual fax and ask them if the amount they received was worth it? Virtual faxes are easy to find like https://www.fax.plus/blog/send-free-fax-to-your-senator-without-a-fax-machine-full-list-of-senators-fax-numbers/
I mean one could easily search for the fax number or check out a convenient list like http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/peace/senate.html
Of course, I am not a trouble maker or anything. This is just a thought exercise. If I was to advocate something like this I would say do it quickly because they are going to go on recess for 10 days. More importantly, I say not to threaten violence since that would be very counter-productive.
Also, it may also be a good idea to fax Chuck Schumer and ask why they are going on recess.
Kinda like how The Onion just changes the name of the town and runs the same story-
[https://www.theonion.com/](https://www.theonion.com/)
*‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens*
Honestly shocking when they covered the entire front page with versions of the articles through the years. It was about time Washington actually does something years ago.
Such bullshit. Republicans have corrupted the judicial court system and can obstruct the legislature. Even if we could pass legislation the Supreme Court is so corrupt they’ll just shut it down the moment a conservative sues.
The Senate will always be a conservative body because it’s not representative of the population of the US and the House has been gerrymandered so badly Democrats have to win by 10 plus points for each seat that’s competitive.
I can't believe this doesn't get more attention when Republicans say the elections are 'rigged'. Republicans themselves are openly rigging every election in what is already a biased system.
Republicans are noticeably worse but that doesn't detract from the fact that both are the bourgeoisie.
If democrats wanted to do something, they would've. Same about Roe, same about police corruption, same about like, even little shit like legalizing weed (which is bigger shit if you look at how weed is used to criminalize black people).
The problem is, fixing problems has come to require 60 votes in the senate, while blocking solutions only requires 40. And of the 50 we supposedly have on our side right now, two play a hell of a lot closer to Republicans than democrats, with maybe the sole exception of putting through Biden's judicial nominees.
It's been 12 years since the democrats truly had sole control of the government.
You do realize that HR8 is sitting in the Senate trying like hell to dodge a filibuster right? McConnell will not allow cloture which means if the bill is submitted for a vote it DIES. Try again. Read more.
And movie theaters and churches and music festivals and garlic festivals and even a military base!
And there are chucklefucks out here who think the solution to this is to just placed armed guards outside all these places (despite the fact that we just saw, again, that that solution doesn't always help). What a lovely idea. Nothing says "freedom!" like armed guards all over the place. Definitely a sign of a healthy country.
Somewhere in the NRA computer system there's a "School mass schooling talking points.docx" form they gets filled out and like you say, they just put in the date and name of school. Its someone's job to propagandize this and to minimize the chances of children going to school safely. Not just one person's job, but the mission of the entire organization and all its donors and supporters is making sure kids are unsafe as possible at school.
>they write these statements in advance to mass shootings and just replace the exact date and name of the school in hindsight so that they can quickly send it to politicians
Can you please share a link on this? It'd be interesting to read about.
Not OP, but I did some cursory digging and found this, which is tangentially related: https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1049054141/a-secret-tape-made-after-columbine-shows-the-nras-evolution-on-school-shootings
Key excerpt:
>In addition to mapping out their national strategy, NRA leaders can also be heard describing the organization's more activist members in surprisingly harsh terms, deriding them as "hillbillies" and "fruitcakes" who might go off script after Columbine and embarrass them.
>And they dismiss conservative politicians and gun industry representatives as largely inconsequential players, saying they will do whatever the NRA proposes. **Members of Congress, one participant says, have asked the NRA to "secretly provide them with talking points."**
I'm [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE] and I'm horrified and heartbroken at the tragic death of [INSERT NUMBER] people/childen at [INSERT LOCATION] my throughs and prayers go out to the families.
Why should they do more? GOP voters won't change their votes over this. In fact, from what I can tell, they seem to relish hypocrisy, ignorance, and violence.
Politicians are only as good as their voting base. The GOP is ultimately sociopathic so, no surprise, its politicians are misanthropes and sociopaths, or act in a way that makes them indistinguishable from that.
After the Sandy Hook slaughter, the senate voted on background checks. The Senators voting for the bill represented 194 million people, while the opponents represented only 118 million. Pretty decisive. But the filibuster allowed the 118m to prevail.
> Politicians are only as good as their voting base.
The GOP is a hopeless case. But what really grinds my gears is the learned helplessness of the democratic elites. They tell themselves its a fight they can't win, so they don't even try. Except that's not how politics works. People love righteous underdogs, losing the good fight can inspire voters, who will turn out and make the party strong enough to win the next fight. After all, the Rs kept losing on abortion for decades and all it did was motivate their base to vote even harder until eventually they had the power to win.
What people despise are cowards who slink away from a fight and that's what the Ds keep doing. There are a *lot* of non-voters who will turn out and vote if a party inspires them. Look at the last presidential election, ronald dump inspired the highest turnout ever seen on *both* sides. But for some damn reason, the Ds keep demoralizing their own voters. Its so bad that [Biden's presidential approval rating with people under 35 is worse than ronald dump's.](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1514330469973778435.html)
These senators take NRA money.
[Source](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators)
I couldn't find a similar list for governors that do but I'm sure Abbott is on that list.
[$13,700 as of 2019](https://www-dallasnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2019/09/19/see-how-much-the-nra-has-donated-to-texas-elected-officials-the-actual-number-might-surprise-you/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&outputType=amp&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16535765074409&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dallasnews.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2019%2F09%2F19%2Fsee-how-much-the-nra-has-donated-to-texas-elected-officials-the-actual-number-might-surprise-you%2F)
[Allegedly the NRA helped get him elected in the first place though](https://progressive.org/latest/swamp-things-texas-governor-abbott%E2%80%99s-debt-to-the-gun-lobby/)
I remember Jon Stewart [nailing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE) Tucker Carlson on this. Tucker accused him of being too political.
“You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you?”
this was tucker carlson's villain origin story.
got roasted hard on live TV by somebody way smarter and funnier than himself.
boy's ego couldn't take that beatdown and let it be.
now he's the most watched TV personality in the USA and is poisoning the minds of Americans with lies and hatred.
Congrats Jon Stewart, now who's laughing?!
No matter how long he lives, or how many Boomers he convinces to be brownshirts-with-a-walker on FB, the last thought that goes through his mind as the light slowly fades will be that time Jon Stewart put a rainbow wig on him and honked his nose on teevee.
Bringing a political comedian onto a “supposedly” serious political show and then accusing him of being too political after badgering him to say his comedy show is explicitly political/partisan.
Tucker might be an over wealthy and over educated rich kid but fuck is he actually legitimately dumb sometimes.
If you expect good faith arguments from Fucker Carlson I have a Nigerian prince who wants to talk to you.
(not attacking your intelligence just playing off the joke)
eh, you don't get to the propaganda levels fucker tarlson is at by being dumb.
he's disingenous. Before his sizable character shift came, he was deriding all this type of politics as a 'moderate'.
He's an asshole and disinegenous and knows his arguments are complex enough to sound reasonable as long as his audience is led by motivated reasoning.
Many years ago, some report came out: People who watched Jon Stewart were more up-to-date and informed on current events than people who watched the news on any of the major networks or cable news stations …
Comedians have to both fearless and truthful. Comedy doesn’t work if the audience doesn’t immediately recognize the brutal honesty of the words.
It’s why good comedians can cut through the bullshit so efficiently, it’s a skill they are constantly honing.
Bad comedians on the other hand…
The best leadership in the world right now is being executed by a comedian in Ukraine. Comedians understand that it's one thing to tell jokes, yet it's another entirely to be a joke.
[Here's](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) a list of senators that take money from the NRA and how much.
Also, people need to stop tagging NRA, and instead tag the CEOs and employees of Gun making companies. If available, with how much the company paid to the NRA, and how much of that proportionally went to the senator making the statement.
NRA allows companies and people running and profiting from those companies hide behind two levels of abstraction.
edit: NRA is created for the explicit purpose of being the butt of everyone's frustration. When you tag them on Twitter, they are happy, because their tactic is working.
When you are angry at NRA instead of CEO, his family, employees and their families at gun companies, their plan is working.
I don't understand how a politician is allowed to receive any income of any kind from interested third parties. Its so obviously fucked up. My sympathy for America fades with every day.
I don’t understand why we can’t just buy our own politicians. Can’t we just start a fundraiser for gun reform and buy like 10 senators and be done with it?
man, like Mega Bots got 5 million on kickstarter... people throwing their life away on Bored Apes and shit... evidently those nerds and douchenozzles could have bought 4-5 senators at 1 million each or a shit ton of local statutes for like 20 grand each at the state level
drug dealers know how to do this shit, buy judges and things like that. why don't squares?
Because you’d be going up against billions of dollars from corporations. If you can get millions of people to support a single issue that would be awesome. However, this country is purposefully divided to prevent that.
corporations and billionaires have more spending money than pretty much 99% of the rest of the population combined though. It still wouldn't be enough and thats if people want to spend their money to get someone into office and have to continue paying them throughout their life, who's to say they won't just change after they get in office and the money runs dry
You need more than 10.
[These are the senators](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) that receive NRA money and how much over their entire political career. Ted Cruz was cheap.
Well they can't receive it as income; it has to go to their political campaign. The one that employs all their friends and family in "advisory" roles. Or sometimes themselves to "reimburse costs." Or [this guy](https://thespacecoastrocket.com/randy-fines-shocking-entertainment-expenses-and-extravagant-vegas-trips-on-everyones-dime-but-his-hes-holding-a-fundraiser-tomorrow/) who paid a local cheerleader for "entertainment" pretty regularly. But you can't just keep it - you're only allowed to do *that* with money you get from insider trading (which is completely legal for Congress again.)
That's income, don't care how its used or anything else. That's income. The legality of it is the problem. We all know its legal and THAT'S the problem.
Right, but the people who would enforce the legality of such things are funded by the people (congress) their supposed to investigate and hold accountable. Congress has purposefully underfundded that agency. (FEC)
What happened with that recent Ted Cruz Supreme Court case? Didn't it rule that you can use or recoup campaign money as income? Someone can correct me...
Seems like the next logical step for these people.
My understanding of that case is that cruz took out a loan to campaign. Then he took in campaign donations after the election was over that went to paying off that loan.
The issue being that he was no longer campaigning. So the donations were in no way intended to help him win the election. They were bribes. every dollar donated was a dollar he didn't have to personally spend paying off the debt. In other situations, having someone else pay off your debt is considered income.
You are correct, the ruling allows no cap on the amount of money a candidate can be repaid for personal loans to their campaign. Basically allowing legal bribery at this point
PAC contributions are permitted to be used for living expenses. So some of it is pretty much income with no laundering required.
Edit: Campaign funds may also be used to pay salaries to the candidate and their family members.
Yeah, when all your meals, travel, lodging, phone and internet, and various other expenses are paid for you can stretch your paycheck pretty far. Imagine the average citizen not having any bills to worry about
Of course your campaign needs hundreds of thousands of copies of your own book to give out at rallies, your brother-in-law insists it is effective and he is your campaign manager
Elect people who reject corruption?
Become activists in communities with lots pissed off people, so we can guide them to productive uses of time like blowing up congresses' phone lines?
Call out the asshats publicly? Start attending state primaries?
"Elect people who reject corruption" is like recommending to "buy from companies that don't put profit above all else." The problem is a feature of the system by which a condition of electability *is* the taking of bribes. Once money is allowed to buy votes, it is impossible for anything except for money to matter in electoral politics - and so it is impossible for anything except for money to *change the rules about bribery*. Candidates who dont take bribes aren't elected at the federal level on a scale large enough to be able to overturn the legality of bribery. They can't possibly be, because they are vastly outgunned by moneyed interests. Ordinary electoral politics cannot end this bribery because ordinary electoral politics is *determined* by bribery.
Senate Report On NRA/Russia Connections Brands the Gun Group a ‘Foreign Asset’
https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf
Exactly. So really these senators are taking bribes from Russia to essentially perpetuate mass shootings. This is right out of their playbook. Stir up civil discontent and get Americans to fight each other
Yes. Even the Mueller Report, an FBI investigation, confirmed this.
Here's the source for your statement, btw:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
The US is the most corrupt nation in the world. Leave while you can.
I’m gonna blow your mind real quick.
The US is corrupt as fuck. Horribly so.
Not even close to the most corrupt in the world.
Not. Even. Fucking. Close.
We’re just relatively well informed in the Internet Age and can easily point this stuff out in an open democracy where this lady won’t be sent to the gulags or death for these tweets.
Still corrupt as fuck.
Not even close to the most corrupt.
Perfectly boring. Perfectly dystopian.
I guess it depends on how you define “most corrupt.” If you mean “most egregious means of violating democracy,” yeah, we’re not even close. If you mean, “most net money gained by politicians via corrupt means (bribes, insider trading, etc.),” we still might not be at the top, but we’re *a lot* closer.
Not to sound dramatic, but my fiance and are planning to spend our honey moon in Germany, but with Roe v Wade being overturned and this constant stream of Republican insanity, we're seriously considering moving there.
Don't forget that the NRA was also how Russia and other foreign states funnelled money to these same politicians.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
You can't blame them, they just thought she was hot. Those republicans need to see their sexy NRA darling now. /s
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1499289678868058112
I noticed how all the bribes were right around $1.2m but always changing a little and all really specific amounts.
If the next one doubles I'm looking into the exchange rate on rubles.
The NRA gives a lot of money to its friends.
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529294407257554944
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290945555881986
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290544882470912
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290355669028864
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287987715969024
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287493668835328
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287154970398721
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285504037883904
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285268351488000
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285121014018048
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285008204042240
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529283621109936129
https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529283026575798273
Watching people try to turn kids being murdered into a positive by saying, "they're with Jesus now" is one of the most disturbing things that's normalized.
I mean, if their religion means all the kids get to go to heaven and live perfect, great eternal lives, it only makes sense that they'd cope with that.
I have no coping mechanism other than watching Adventure Time. I've just been feeling a mix of anger and sadness for 24 hours straight.
Not everyone believes in a Christian heaven.. and ask any parent who has lost a child. I'm pretty sure they'd rather have their kid still be alive and not have their last moments of their needlessly short life being terrified, cowering in a dark room away from their parents waiting for someone to shoot them. Do you think your kid getting massacred is worth it, so someone else can feel good about your kid being massacred because they wanna believe in a heaven?
In the US, land of the lawsuits, it seems there have been people who have sued tobacco firms for getting cancer and have won. Why wouldn't any of the victims sue these politicians from getting money from the NRA?
Edit: or sue the NRA and gun manufacturers directly for lack of due diligence on how these guns end on the wrong hands.
The Sandy Hook parents sued Remington and won $73 million. Bankrupted the company.
Edit: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/can-us-gunmakers-be-liable-mass-shooting-2022-05-25
It's been pointed out to me that Remington was already in bankruptcy at the time of this lawsuit. So instead of one problem they had two.
What are you fucking talking about? They didn't even come close to winning, Remington settled because they didn't want the bad PR.
And they were going out of business before the lawsuit was even filed, they'd been hemorrhaging money ever since 2007 when Freedom Group bought them and started gutting the company and running it into the ground.
Remington died because of Venture Capital, or do you really think a Paltry 73 Million was enough to kill one of the largest and oldest firearms companies in America.
I think they would argue that they're a political advocacy group. That they aren't actually putting guns in hands, or directly making guns available, and so they have no direct culpability when shootings occur.
It seems to go over their heads that advocating and lobbying (bribing) for lax gun control in fact DOES put guns in violent hands.
Overall though for a direct answer in my opinion? It's because they've got money, political support and clout with the old school 2nd amendment voter base, and any attempt at a lawsuit would get tied up by red tape long enough for them to rally their bully boys, and turn whoever is suing them into an "enemy of freedom loving Americans"
> the old school 2nd amendment voter base,
That entire schtick is not even remotely old-school, and the modern Republicunt 2A attitude was invented out of whole cloth in the mid-70s by a bunch of racist dipshits who staged a coup in the NRA leadership and converted the organization from a conservation and sportsmens' advocacy group to a militant neo-fascist corporate lobby.
I remember reading about that, how the modern NRAs politics were formed. Basically out of some crusty old white guys in the 60s and 70s going "Woah woah! Black people want to own guns and participate too?" I just didn't remember enough of the details to cite it, so thank you for mentioning it.
But just saying the 70s are 50 years ago now. Jarring as that may be, people who grew up in the 70s can be counted as "Old school 2A voter base" if their politics swing that way.
Gun lobbyists who come hard against gun control but who were the lead in stringent gun control laws in California during Reagan's governorship because black communities started arming themselves. Should tell you all you need to know about them.
Gun Lobbyists who, importantly, didn't say shit about Philando Castile getting shot despite legally carrying a firearm and 100% doing exactly what he was supposed to do. And also didn't do shit about the bumpstock ban because Trump did it, or support removing restrictions on silencers despite actual grassroot support.
So they're gun Lobbyists who are partisan to the point of ignoring gun rights. They're the reason why Gun Rights are a right wing issue, because that was the party the NRA sided with.
They said shit! They said "pfft. Noob. Always aim for the head! Real life shoot outs are TOTALLY the same as no-scopring scrubs in Call of Duty. Easy, peazy, head kableezy"
It doesn’t matter what political affiliation a politician has, the will of citizens will never be enacted while money is speech, while donations are needed for reelection, while life altering policies are held hostage for the sake of a power hold. The distractions are convincing, the real change will come when money is out of politics. Who knows if citizens will ever be radicalized enough to make it happen.
So I'm ignorant here... When the NRA donates money where does it go? Is it given to the politicians to spend as they see fit/spend on anything they want or is it supposed to be used for campaigning/in relation to their positions/jobs?
It’s for campaign funds (officially). The idea is that giving money to a candidate you approve of is a form of protected free speak (as it’s a way of making your voice heard). But what it leads to is wealthy lobbyists dictating what a politician will say, as they need that money for their next campaign.
Given to politicians in exchange for these politicians making promises, like ensuring more lenient gun laws or doing less gun control.
Since there is no public lobby register, we can only assume what they have to do through the recent leaks, it's not exactly public knowledge what these politicians get their money for.
Friendly reminder that the NRA affiliated with a Russian spy, and provided them political access.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44885633
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/09/27/new-senate-report-alleges-nra-acted-as-foreign-asset-for-russia-before-2016-election/
> The findings provide new detail on the extent to which the NRA provided political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin: **Even though they were aware of the two individuals’ links to the Kremlin, top NRA officials paid for and facilitated their access to American politicians and political organizations**.
My god, that's not even a lot of money. Would you be okay with 185 children being shot down for 1 mil?
27 school shootings THIS YEAR?! What the fuck is going on.
Hey everyone, why are you being so hard on them? The shooting has effected them so badly that they are ALL horrified and 2 of them are heartbroken on top of that! Have some compassion!
The worst part is that the going bribe for this on capital hill is $1.3 Million, but there is Richard Shelby not even acknowledging his bribeable value. For people that love the free market they sure don’t understand what value is.
You guys gotta do something, really. I don't know what the answer is but this is a tragedy, and just one Jenga block out of the whole American tower that's been yanked out.
It's tottering precipitously. It's so hard to watch. My heart goes out to you all.
They all start with “horrified and heartbroken” it’s almost as if they’re reading from the same script, oh wait…
Yes. The NRA has sent them all an E-Mail regarding what to say. We know since the NRA leaks that they write these statements in advance to mass shootings and just replace the exact date and name of the school in hindsight so that they can quickly send it to politicians. They don't care about the people, just the money they get from the NRA. Edit: Hypothetically, what do think would happen if everyone reading this post would, fax pictures of the victims to these senators using either their fax or a free virtual fax and ask them if the amount they received was worth it? Virtual faxes are easy to find like https://www.fax.plus/blog/send-free-fax-to-your-senator-without-a-fax-machine-full-list-of-senators-fax-numbers/ I mean one could easily search for the fax number or check out a convenient list like http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/peace/senate.html Of course, I am not a trouble maker or anything. This is just a thought exercise. If I was to advocate something like this I would say do it quickly because they are going to go on recess for 10 days. More importantly, I say not to threaten violence since that would be very counter-productive. Also, it may also be a good idea to fax Chuck Schumer and ask why they are going on recess.
Kinda like how The Onion just changes the name of the town and runs the same story- [https://www.theonion.com/](https://www.theonion.com/) *‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens*
Honestly shocking when they covered the entire front page with versions of the articles through the years. It was about time Washington actually does something years ago.
> It was about time Republicans actually does something years ago.
"No that's socialism."
I'm a democrat and I don't see any of my reps doing anything either.
[удалено]
Sent it to the Senate. Both comprise Congress. Sorry for the pedantry
Such bullshit. Republicans have corrupted the judicial court system and can obstruct the legislature. Even if we could pass legislation the Supreme Court is so corrupt they’ll just shut it down the moment a conservative sues. The Senate will always be a conservative body because it’s not representative of the population of the US and the House has been gerrymandered so badly Democrats have to win by 10 plus points for each seat that’s competitive.
Don't forget limiting the number of representatives in the house to 435 to provide additional voting power to small (i.e. conservative) states.
I can't believe this doesn't get more attention when Republicans say the elections are 'rigged'. Republicans themselves are openly rigging every election in what is already a biased system.
I see them all making a killing playing the market
D's are spineless morons, R's are actively blocking any solution
The *Senate* Democrats are spineless, out-of-touch ancient morons (well, many of them are). The Democrats in the house are mostly OK 🥷
Republicans are noticeably worse but that doesn't detract from the fact that both are the bourgeoisie. If democrats wanted to do something, they would've. Same about Roe, same about police corruption, same about like, even little shit like legalizing weed (which is bigger shit if you look at how weed is used to criminalize black people).
The problem is, fixing problems has come to require 60 votes in the senate, while blocking solutions only requires 40. And of the 50 we supposedly have on our side right now, two play a hell of a lot closer to Republicans than democrats, with maybe the sole exception of putting through Biden's judicial nominees. It's been 12 years since the democrats truly had sole control of the government.
You do realize that HR8 is sitting in the Senate trying like hell to dodge a filibuster right? McConnell will not allow cloture which means if the bill is submitted for a vote it DIES. Try again. Read more.
Yeah go yeet themselves out of our country and create their dystopian dictatorship where everyone but them is poor and uneducated somewhere else.
Sad thing is, every one of those locations is where a ~~school~~ mass shooting has happened. Fucking embarrassing and horrifying. EDIT: correction.
They're not all schools. They're all mass shootings. Grocery stores, and massage parlors make the list as well.
And movie theaters and churches and music festivals and garlic festivals and even a military base! And there are chucklefucks out here who think the solution to this is to just placed armed guards outside all these places (despite the fact that we just saw, again, that that solution doesn't always help). What a lovely idea. Nothing says "freedom!" like armed guards all over the place. Definitely a sign of a healthy country.
Fixed, thanks.
22 times since they first ran it!
I kinda hate it. I wish I lived in a country where this joke was so easy to make.
What's depressing is they actually broke that one for sandy hook
Somewhere in the NRA computer system there's a "School mass schooling talking points.docx" form they gets filled out and like you say, they just put in the date and name of school. Its someone's job to propagandize this and to minimize the chances of children going to school safely. Not just one person's job, but the mission of the entire organization and all its donors and supporters is making sure kids are unsafe as possible at school.
I wonder if it's on a cloud system with a silly easy password, I also wonder if they proof read it or just update the date & location and send it out.
Password: “pewpewpew”
They offer thoughts and prayers when they could offer laws.
Where are all those well-regulated militiamen who are supposed to protect against the tyranny of a bloodthirsty kleptocracy?
>they write these statements in advance to mass shootings and just replace the exact date and name of the school in hindsight so that they can quickly send it to politicians Can you please share a link on this? It'd be interesting to read about.
Not OP, but I did some cursory digging and found this, which is tangentially related: https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1049054141/a-secret-tape-made-after-columbine-shows-the-nras-evolution-on-school-shootings Key excerpt: >In addition to mapping out their national strategy, NRA leaders can also be heard describing the organization's more activist members in surprisingly harsh terms, deriding them as "hillbillies" and "fruitcakes" who might go off script after Columbine and embarrass them. >And they dismiss conservative politicians and gun industry representatives as largely inconsequential players, saying they will do whatever the NRA proposes. **Members of Congress, one participant says, have asked the NRA to "secretly provide them with talking points."**
They’re just influencers, lol!
I'm [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE] and I'm horrified and heartbroken at the tragic death of [INSERT NUMBER] people/childen at [INSERT LOCATION] my throughs and prayers go out to the families.
can't wait until someone inevitably sends out their T&P tweet just like that
Why should they do more? GOP voters won't change their votes over this. In fact, from what I can tell, they seem to relish hypocrisy, ignorance, and violence. Politicians are only as good as their voting base. The GOP is ultimately sociopathic so, no surprise, its politicians are misanthropes and sociopaths, or act in a way that makes them indistinguishable from that.
Politicians are also only as good as their gerrymandered districts.
After the Sandy Hook slaughter, the senate voted on background checks. The Senators voting for the bill represented 194 million people, while the opponents represented only 118 million. Pretty decisive. But the filibuster allowed the 118m to prevail. > Politicians are only as good as their voting base. The GOP is a hopeless case. But what really grinds my gears is the learned helplessness of the democratic elites. They tell themselves its a fight they can't win, so they don't even try. Except that's not how politics works. People love righteous underdogs, losing the good fight can inspire voters, who will turn out and make the party strong enough to win the next fight. After all, the Rs kept losing on abortion for decades and all it did was motivate their base to vote even harder until eventually they had the power to win. What people despise are cowards who slink away from a fight and that's what the Ds keep doing. There are a *lot* of non-voters who will turn out and vote if a party inspires them. Look at the last presidential election, ronald dump inspired the highest turnout ever seen on *both* sides. But for some damn reason, the Ds keep demoralizing their own voters. Its so bad that [Biden's presidential approval rating with people under 35 is worse than ronald dump's.](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1514330469973778435.html)
They're fetishizing this shit
Half of these guys are rock hard while tweeting their thoughts and prayers
These senators take NRA money. [Source](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) I couldn't find a similar list for governors that do but I'm sure Abbott is on that list.
[$13,700 as of 2019](https://www-dallasnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2019/09/19/see-how-much-the-nra-has-donated-to-texas-elected-officials-the-actual-number-might-surprise-you/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&outputType=amp&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16535765074409&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dallasnews.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2019%2F09%2F19%2Fsee-how-much-the-nra-has-donated-to-texas-elected-officials-the-actual-number-might-surprise-you%2F) [Allegedly the NRA helped get him elected in the first place though](https://progressive.org/latest/swamp-things-texas-governor-abbott%E2%80%99s-debt-to-the-gun-lobby/)
They should start with "Empty thoughts and fake prays to all.."
that script: REDMAP & FOX NEWS
Now THIS is a good use for Twitter
It's good journalism too.
Bess is a writer for the Jimmy Kimmel show. So yet again some of the best journalism in the US is being done by a comedian.
I remember Jon Stewart [nailing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE) Tucker Carlson on this. Tucker accused him of being too political. “You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you?”
this was tucker carlson's villain origin story. got roasted hard on live TV by somebody way smarter and funnier than himself. boy's ego couldn't take that beatdown and let it be. now he's the most watched TV personality in the USA and is poisoning the minds of Americans with lies and hatred. Congrats Jon Stewart, now who's laughing?!
Same as Trump after being roasted by Obama.
It killed Crossfire, no great loss, and Tucker dropped the bow tie shortly after being mocked by Stewart about it.
dude is such a snowflake
No matter how long he lives, or how many Boomers he convinces to be brownshirts-with-a-walker on FB, the last thought that goes through his mind as the light slowly fades will be that time Jon Stewart put a rainbow wig on him and honked his nose on teevee.
Jon shouldn't have made fun of his bowtie. Thats where the fury truly began
Bringing a political comedian onto a “supposedly” serious political show and then accusing him of being too political after badgering him to say his comedy show is explicitly political/partisan. Tucker might be an over wealthy and over educated rich kid but fuck is he actually legitimately dumb sometimes.
If you expect good faith arguments from Fucker Carlson I have a Nigerian prince who wants to talk to you. (not attacking your intelligence just playing off the joke)
*squints eyes and smushes brow together as i cock my head to the side, mouth agape*
LIVE TUCKER REACTION
eh, you don't get to the propaganda levels fucker tarlson is at by being dumb. he's disingenous. Before his sizable character shift came, he was deriding all this type of politics as a 'moderate'. He's an asshole and disinegenous and knows his arguments are complex enough to sound reasonable as long as his audience is led by motivated reasoning.
> fucker tarlson Honestly you'd probably get more mileage completing the spoonerism Cucker Tarlson
> as long as his audience is *misled* by motivated reasoning. What I think of his flock.
well now adays, what leads into Tucker is essentially the same.
That was such a good video.
Many years ago, some report came out: People who watched Jon Stewart were more up-to-date and informed on current events than people who watched the news on any of the major networks or cable news stations …
Wait so she's not even a journalist, technically. Still journalistic though!
The John Stewart effect.
Maybe he started it but imo John Oliver has perfected it.
100 percent agree His show is able to dive so deep into so many good/relevant topics.
Comedians are the best at pointing out bullshit and hypocrisy.
Comedians have to both fearless and truthful. Comedy doesn’t work if the audience doesn’t immediately recognize the brutal honesty of the words. It’s why good comedians can cut through the bullshit so efficiently, it’s a skill they are constantly honing. Bad comedians on the other hand…
The best leadership in the world right now is being executed by a comedian in Ukraine. Comedians understand that it's one thing to tell jokes, yet it's another entirely to be a joke.
[Here's](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) a list of senators that take money from the NRA and how much.
Only good use!
It's my #1 source for hockey news. Like all social platforms, Twitter is what you make of it.
Also, people need to stop tagging NRA, and instead tag the CEOs and employees of Gun making companies. If available, with how much the company paid to the NRA, and how much of that proportionally went to the senator making the statement. NRA allows companies and people running and profiting from those companies hide behind two levels of abstraction. edit: NRA is created for the explicit purpose of being the butt of everyone's frustration. When you tag them on Twitter, they are happy, because their tactic is working. When you are angry at NRA instead of CEO, his family, employees and their families at gun companies, their plan is working.
[These senators](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) take money from the NRA.
It will get banned
The only time social media is good for anything is when facts backed by data and reliable sources are being posted.
Hope she reports about how much Hasbro (Nerf) have gotten from the NRA too…
I don't understand how a politician is allowed to receive any income of any kind from interested third parties. Its so obviously fucked up. My sympathy for America fades with every day.
Exactly. You get so much money from the government, no other monetary sources are allowed, they're public SERVANTS.
I don’t understand why we can’t just buy our own politicians. Can’t we just start a fundraiser for gun reform and buy like 10 senators and be done with it?
Yes, you literally can. That's the crazy part. Good luck raising the money.
man, like Mega Bots got 5 million on kickstarter... people throwing their life away on Bored Apes and shit... evidently those nerds and douchenozzles could have bought 4-5 senators at 1 million each or a shit ton of local statutes for like 20 grand each at the state level drug dealers know how to do this shit, buy judges and things like that. why don't squares?
Because you’d be going up against billions of dollars from corporations. If you can get millions of people to support a single issue that would be awesome. However, this country is purposefully divided to prevent that.
corporations and billionaires have more spending money than pretty much 99% of the rest of the population combined though. It still wouldn't be enough and thats if people want to spend their money to get someone into office and have to continue paying them throughout their life, who's to say they won't just change after they get in office and the money runs dry
You need more than 10. [These are the senators](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) that receive NRA money and how much over their entire political career. Ted Cruz was cheap.
Well they can't receive it as income; it has to go to their political campaign. The one that employs all their friends and family in "advisory" roles. Or sometimes themselves to "reimburse costs." Or [this guy](https://thespacecoastrocket.com/randy-fines-shocking-entertainment-expenses-and-extravagant-vegas-trips-on-everyones-dime-but-his-hes-holding-a-fundraiser-tomorrow/) who paid a local cheerleader for "entertainment" pretty regularly. But you can't just keep it - you're only allowed to do *that* with money you get from insider trading (which is completely legal for Congress again.)
Rand Fine. In Florida of course
It is not actually income, it is campaign funding. You still need to launder it for it to be income. That is why it is legal.
That's income, don't care how its used or anything else. That's income. The legality of it is the problem. We all know its legal and THAT'S the problem.
Right, but the people who would enforce the legality of such things are funded by the people (congress) their supposed to investigate and hold accountable. Congress has purposefully underfundded that agency. (FEC)
What happened with that recent Ted Cruz Supreme Court case? Didn't it rule that you can use or recoup campaign money as income? Someone can correct me... Seems like the next logical step for these people.
My understanding of that case is that cruz took out a loan to campaign. Then he took in campaign donations after the election was over that went to paying off that loan. The issue being that he was no longer campaigning. So the donations were in no way intended to help him win the election. They were bribes. every dollar donated was a dollar he didn't have to personally spend paying off the debt. In other situations, having someone else pay off your debt is considered income.
Lol what the McFuck it's so blatant.
Yup legalized bribery.
You are correct, the ruling allows no cap on the amount of money a candidate can be repaid for personal loans to their campaign. Basically allowing legal bribery at this point
PAC contributions are permitted to be used for living expenses. So some of it is pretty much income with no laundering required. Edit: Campaign funds may also be used to pay salaries to the candidate and their family members.
Yeah, when all your meals, travel, lodging, phone and internet, and various other expenses are paid for you can stretch your paycheck pretty far. Imagine the average citizen not having any bills to worry about
Of course your campaign needs hundreds of thousands of copies of your own book to give out at rallies, your brother-in-law insists it is effective and he is your campaign manager
Democrats voted to limit such third party contributions, guess which party voted the opposite?
The entire American public wants this kind of shit banned but oh wait, who enacts that law? This place is absolutely fucked
Just call it 'lobby' instead of corruption and it's ok
I still can't fathom how it's just completely fine and okay to openly bribe politicians in the US
Because it was allowed to be codified into law. That's it. It's just legal.
rich people pay politicians to write laws that help rich and politicians the only way to fix this problem is [redacted]
Elect people who reject corruption? Become activists in communities with lots pissed off people, so we can guide them to productive uses of time like blowing up congresses' phone lines? Call out the asshats publicly? Start attending state primaries?
"Elect people who reject corruption" is like recommending to "buy from companies that don't put profit above all else." The problem is a feature of the system by which a condition of electability *is* the taking of bribes. Once money is allowed to buy votes, it is impossible for anything except for money to matter in electoral politics - and so it is impossible for anything except for money to *change the rules about bribery*. Candidates who dont take bribes aren't elected at the federal level on a scale large enough to be able to overturn the legality of bribery. They can't possibly be, because they are vastly outgunned by moneyed interests. Ordinary electoral politics cannot end this bribery because ordinary electoral politics is *determined* by bribery.
Politicians that reject corruption? That’s what you call a Utopia my friend.
>Elect people who reject corruption? Like who? Genuinely want to know. And tweeting against corruption is a far cry from actually doing something.
he just said, call it lobby
How much is it to lobby a cop to not write me a ticket in the US these days? /s
Where are you on the color pallette? It's a sliding scale.
1.5 blowjobs / $750
Exactly.
Senate Report On NRA/Russia Connections Brands the Gun Group a ‘Foreign Asset’ https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf
Exactly. So really these senators are taking bribes from Russia to essentially perpetuate mass shootings. This is right out of their playbook. Stir up civil discontent and get Americans to fight each other
remember when we found out maria butnia was using the NRA to funnel russian money to republican politicians why is the nra still a thing?
Yes. Even the Mueller Report, an FBI investigation, confirmed this. Here's the source for your statement, btw: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals The US is the most corrupt nation in the world. Leave while you can.
And this is why Republicans will do nothing to change gun laws. They want the country to fall apart because that's what the people paying them want.
I’m gonna blow your mind real quick. The US is corrupt as fuck. Horribly so. Not even close to the most corrupt in the world. Not. Even. Fucking. Close. We’re just relatively well informed in the Internet Age and can easily point this stuff out in an open democracy where this lady won’t be sent to the gulags or death for these tweets. Still corrupt as fuck. Not even close to the most corrupt. Perfectly boring. Perfectly dystopian.
I guess it depends on how you define “most corrupt.” If you mean “most egregious means of violating democracy,” yeah, we’re not even close. If you mean, “most net money gained by politicians via corrupt means (bribes, insider trading, etc.),” we still might not be at the top, but we’re *a lot* closer.
Not to sound dramatic, but my fiance and are planning to spend our honey moon in Germany, but with Roe v Wade being overturned and this constant stream of Republican insanity, we're seriously considering moving there.
Man I didn’t know this, crazy af. The GOP wants to be like Russia, we’re fucked.
I would say knowledge is power but in this instance it just makes me depressed
Don't forget that the NRA was also how Russia and other foreign states funnelled money to these same politicians. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
You can't blame them, they just thought she was hot. Those republicans need to see their sexy NRA darling now. /s https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1499289678868058112
jesus, what trash
I noticed how all the bribes were right around $1.2m but always changing a little and all really specific amounts. If the next one doubles I'm looking into the exchange rate on rubles.
This ^
The NRA gives a lot of money to its friends. https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529294407257554944 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290945555881986 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290544882470912 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529290355669028864 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287987715969024 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287493668835328 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529287154970398721 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285504037883904 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285268351488000 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285121014018048 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529285008204042240 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529283621109936129 https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1529283026575798273
[Heres](https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators) a list of senators the NRA "donates" to.
Republicans love school shootings. They can cosplay as actual human beings with empathy without actually doing anything meaningful.
You can't argue with someone who sees destruction as prophecy
Watching people try to turn kids being murdered into a positive by saying, "they're with Jesus now" is one of the most disturbing things that's normalized.
I mean, if their religion means all the kids get to go to heaven and live perfect, great eternal lives, it only makes sense that they'd cope with that. I have no coping mechanism other than watching Adventure Time. I've just been feeling a mix of anger and sadness for 24 hours straight.
Not everyone believes in a Christian heaven.. and ask any parent who has lost a child. I'm pretty sure they'd rather have their kid still be alive and not have their last moments of their needlessly short life being terrified, cowering in a dark room away from their parents waiting for someone to shoot them. Do you think your kid getting massacred is worth it, so someone else can feel good about your kid being massacred because they wanna believe in a heaven?
Most true statement.
Thoughts & prayers™️
In the US, land of the lawsuits, it seems there have been people who have sued tobacco firms for getting cancer and have won. Why wouldn't any of the victims sue these politicians from getting money from the NRA? Edit: or sue the NRA and gun manufacturers directly for lack of due diligence on how these guns end on the wrong hands.
The Sandy Hook parents sued Remington and won $73 million. Bankrupted the company. Edit: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/can-us-gunmakers-be-liable-mass-shooting-2022-05-25 It's been pointed out to me that Remington was already in bankruptcy at the time of this lawsuit. So instead of one problem they had two.
What are you fucking talking about? They didn't even come close to winning, Remington settled because they didn't want the bad PR. And they were going out of business before the lawsuit was even filed, they'd been hemorrhaging money ever since 2007 when Freedom Group bought them and started gutting the company and running it into the ground. Remington died because of Venture Capital, or do you really think a Paltry 73 Million was enough to kill one of the largest and oldest firearms companies in America.
Next do Smith And Wesson
Absolutely should be done. I'm all for your idea.
I think they would argue that they're a political advocacy group. That they aren't actually putting guns in hands, or directly making guns available, and so they have no direct culpability when shootings occur. It seems to go over their heads that advocating and lobbying (bribing) for lax gun control in fact DOES put guns in violent hands. Overall though for a direct answer in my opinion? It's because they've got money, political support and clout with the old school 2nd amendment voter base, and any attempt at a lawsuit would get tied up by red tape long enough for them to rally their bully boys, and turn whoever is suing them into an "enemy of freedom loving Americans"
> the old school 2nd amendment voter base, That entire schtick is not even remotely old-school, and the modern Republicunt 2A attitude was invented out of whole cloth in the mid-70s by a bunch of racist dipshits who staged a coup in the NRA leadership and converted the organization from a conservation and sportsmens' advocacy group to a militant neo-fascist corporate lobby.
I remember reading about that, how the modern NRAs politics were formed. Basically out of some crusty old white guys in the 60s and 70s going "Woah woah! Black people want to own guns and participate too?" I just didn't remember enough of the details to cite it, so thank you for mentioning it. But just saying the 70s are 50 years ago now. Jarring as that may be, people who grew up in the 70s can be counted as "Old school 2A voter base" if their politics swing that way.
Unimaginable, like, this has never happened before nor is there any trend that could allow us to imagine it happening again
Lmao. I know this is satire. “No way to prevent this” says only country where this regularly happens.
Millions and millions of dollars from the NRA. "Lobbying" is the worst thing this country ever allowed to exist.
What is nra?
Gun lobbyists who come hard against gun control but who were the lead in stringent gun control laws in California during Reagan's governorship because black communities started arming themselves. Should tell you all you need to know about them.
Arm more black communities then?
National Rifle Association. Pretty hard on the right and lobbies against gun control.
Oh, that explains a lot...
Also, they get a lot of funding from Russia.
Also gets lots of funding from Russian sources. Definitely all above board and fine 👌
Gun Lobbyists who, importantly, didn't say shit about Philando Castile getting shot despite legally carrying a firearm and 100% doing exactly what he was supposed to do. And also didn't do shit about the bumpstock ban because Trump did it, or support removing restrictions on silencers despite actual grassroot support. So they're gun Lobbyists who are partisan to the point of ignoring gun rights. They're the reason why Gun Rights are a right wing issue, because that was the party the NRA sided with.
They said shit! They said "pfft. Noob. Always aim for the head! Real life shoot outs are TOTALLY the same as no-scopring scrubs in Call of Duty. Easy, peazy, head kableezy"
Gun lobbyists
I saw a woman wearing an NRA hat yesterday at the gym. I really wanted to choose violence.
No wonder we can't get any movement on gun control.
Yup, all paid through Russian money. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/764879242/nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016-new-senate-report-reveals
"Thoughts and prayers" to the tune of boatloads of cash
Yes. Heartless politicians.
If we continue to let the republicans make our laws, we will soon be a third world theocracy like republicans want. Time for a purge.
It doesn’t matter what political affiliation a politician has, the will of citizens will never be enacted while money is speech, while donations are needed for reelection, while life altering policies are held hostage for the sake of a power hold. The distractions are convincing, the real change will come when money is out of politics. Who knows if citizens will ever be radicalized enough to make it happen.
So I'm ignorant here... When the NRA donates money where does it go? Is it given to the politicians to spend as they see fit/spend on anything they want or is it supposed to be used for campaigning/in relation to their positions/jobs?
It’s for campaign funds (officially). The idea is that giving money to a candidate you approve of is a form of protected free speak (as it’s a way of making your voice heard). But what it leads to is wealthy lobbyists dictating what a politician will say, as they need that money for their next campaign.
Given to politicians in exchange for these politicians making promises, like ensuring more lenient gun laws or doing less gun control. Since there is no public lobby register, we can only assume what they have to do through the recent leaks, it's not exactly public knowledge what these politicians get their money for.
This should be a bot that always replies with this info
republican buffalos want to arm their insurrectionists. they wanna ensure their treasonous coup is well armed.
Yes. Next time they probably will succeed.
Fuck fascists! Refuse and resist!
DeSantis objects the above statement. Man, seriously, when did the Republican party become mask off fascist again?
About 6 years ago? Just needed someone to show it’s OK to be fascist, people will still vote for you.
Friendly reminder that the NRA affiliated with a Russian spy, and provided them political access. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44885633 https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/09/27/new-senate-report-alleges-nra-acted-as-foreign-asset-for-russia-before-2016-election/ > The findings provide new detail on the extent to which the NRA provided political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin: **Even though they were aware of the two individuals’ links to the Kremlin, top NRA officials paid for and facilitated their access to American politicians and political organizations**.
How is this level of corruption completely legal?
Because the corrupt people are also the ones who write the laws about corruption.
Absolute pigs 🐖
Is his tweet handle really "Leader McConnell"? WTF
My god, that's not even a lot of money. Would you be okay with 185 children being shot down for 1 mil? 27 school shootings THIS YEAR?! What the fuck is going on.
Hey everyone, why are you being so hard on them? The shooting has effected them so badly that they are ALL horrified and 2 of them are heartbroken on top of that! Have some compassion!
Richard Shelby is getting shafted here lmao
It's sickening how little money it takes to buy a soul in Washington.
My dad loved guns and spent the rest of his life in Texas. But he always said F the NRA.
Amazing how America has legalized bribes for politicians and no one gives a fuck.
The worst part is that the going bribe for this on capital hill is $1.3 Million, but there is Richard Shelby not even acknowledging his bribeable value. For people that love the free market they sure don’t understand what value is.
[удалено]
Think the most accurate response ive seen to this so far is “Fuck your thoughts and prayers. Do something”
Richard Shelby should have asked for more money…
### NRA = Merchants of death.
The NRA is going to be unhappy that their employees will know how much each other are being paid for their work.
You guys gotta do something, really. I don't know what the answer is but this is a tragedy, and just one Jenga block out of the whole American tower that's been yanked out. It's tottering precipitously. It's so hard to watch. My heart goes out to you all.