Barry Hastings: U.S. gun violence is result of GOP/NRA greed

“Obama’s executive pen crosses out cooperation” read the untruthful headline of an editorial purported to be by Fred Jacobs, publisher of the  Jan. 7 edition of the Hastings Banner.

(I write purported because it’s generally assumed he has neither the background, nor intellect, to connect 16 misleading paragraphs in a manner making any sense, whatsoever. Then, when you read what he’s written, you realize – he hasn’t.)

What Jacobs or his “ghost” has done, is attempt to lay blame for NRA/GOP hindrance (among state and federal legislators) of efforts to control gun violence on Democrats, when every thinking person (as well as gun and ammo hoarders) in the nation knows the opposite is true. The larger truth is, we know his is far from being the brightest star in the firmament. (We’ve been smiling at his intellectual “thinness” for some years.)

In his second paragraph, he wrote,, “I like the symbolism,” claiming the President goes to Congress for his State of the Union Address because he needs assistance of House and Senate “to address challenges.” Why in the world would the President expect GOP legislators to assist with challenges, when the first words out of their (collective) mouths (before he was even sworn into office) were, basically, “The only thing we’ll be working for is to assure he doesn’t have a second term.” They certainly tried.

By all appearances (accompanied by noisy groans), his re-election witnessed the world’s first case involving large groups of grown men having babies simultaneously. The other humorous thing about this two-sentence paragraph is in its construction; a four word opening sentence, followed by a 45 word run-on sentence calculated to drive border-line schizos over the edge.

“That’s why I’m shaking my head in frustration,” are opening words of his next paragraph, which is another run-on sentence of 54 words, even murkier than the last, followed by one assuring readers, “I applaud him for his drive to find an end to the horror of 32,000 Americans dying each year from gun violence” etc., etc., etc. He concludes the paragraph, “but I question his (the President’s) tactic of using executive authority to bypass Congress, which has continually opposed his plans” (emphasis added, and is any other explanation needed?)

Most gun deaths are through suicide, another hefty chunk (10,000 or so) are murders, and a very large number are accidental — a sad commentary on the number of weapons sold to people with inadequate training and no respect for the tools, criminals, shoddy background checks, followed by too many loopholes for greedy dealers (or purported dealers).

The writer said he worries the President’s plans to address our national firearm fetish, “particularly by defying a Congress whose cooperation could help accomplish something so much more significant, is not enough.”

Those of us with vocabularies know the difference between “could,” and “would.” Could means would if GOP legislators get their way about uninhibited sales to all comers (to the enrichment of firearm manufacturers, NRA, lobbyists, and Republican legislators stuffing big bucks into their wallets). Their share, though, is nothing like the billions grossed by manufacturers. They don’t give a whit about murdered school children, or citizens murdered by chance while involved in their lawful pursuit of life.

Truth is, every year, every year, EVERY YEAR, more Americans, in-country, lose their lives to guns, than all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines we’ve lost in 16 years of war against al Quaeda, ISIL and Boko Haram. Legislators (and newspaper publishers) know the truth about this problem. As I’ve noted above, legislators are too busy stuffing (large amounts of) cash from gun manufacturers, and NRA lobbyists, into their wallets.

Democrats moved the whole effort toward gaining the small (and temporary) improvement in background checks provided by the Brady Bill, when their own (mock-heroic) President Reagan was shot by another nut job 34 years ago. Promised improvements regarding mental health issues never materialized.

Oh, by the way, and contrary to the publishertorial’s author, the San Bernardino weapons were not legally purchased, and the man who bought them and gave them to the killers is facing trial, and a long term in federal prison. (Too bad we can’t put those who corrupt journalism with misinformation, disinformation,and spin in there as well.)

Well, I’ve got to carry on, here, because there is a lot more in this stupid and purely political axe-job, badly needing the light of day, particularly the sixth (oh, Lord, when will this stretching, twisting, denial of fact ever end?) paragraph:

“Why hasn’t the President, for instance, called for increased support for people with mental issues…”

Well, Mr. Publisher, that’s exactly what the President (and Democrats in general) have been calling for since Reagan was shot, and after every massacre since – and so, before most of them, as well. It is in no way the fault of Democrats (who obtain little, if any, gun lobby money). Maybe a few (of the few remaining) Blue Dogs get a trickle, but nothing like the millions going to GOP members of the U.S. Congress, and GOP legislators of the several states and commonwealths. The Blue Dogs are not considered real Democrats by real democrats.

The publisher went on to ask, “what’s been done for law enforcement agencies that deal with terrorist issues?” Well, on the local level, government has given them armored vehicles, M-16 rifles, stun-guns, thousands of cameras to spy on us at every crossroad, and a bunch of cops who dress like storm-troopers (and often enough, act like them, as well). But in general (as a newspaper publisher should know), the executive branch offers plans and asks for financing, which only the Congress can supply. (And Republicans have a very difficult time believing a black man can really understand how money works.)

Anyone looking back over years of decline in dealing with mental health issues and services, will clearly understand the problem is tied firmly (three round turns, and two half-hitches) to the GOP. The jerks won’t even take care of our veterans who need the services, bringing forth a host of “Wounded Warrior” and similar projects, whose executive are paid upward of $300,000 per annum — far more than similar jobs with the VA, for much, much less work, and who knows how much concern.

And again, he continued, “So what does Obama hope to achieve as he begins the countdown to his time in office?”

Let me answer for him. He hopes Republicans will start working to re-enlarge the middle class. He hopes Republicans will stop supporting agencies of our government spying on everything we do. He hopes Republicans will stop shielding executives of gun manufacturers from the criminal charges they deserve for lackadaisical, cold-hearted policies, resulting in so many dead Americans, for so many years. He hopes Republicans will join the 16-year efforts (long mis­handled by “Sagebrush Shrub”) to defeat the enemies of order causing so much heartache, grief, hunger and death in the world. He hopes Republicans will do something to curtail Wall Street excesses. (Bankers and financiers are up to the same tricks that brought about crashes of ’29 and ’08, and many smaller ones in between.)

He’s been urging them toward positive action since he first entered office. But he knows it ain’t gonna happen, and he knows why. (They’re mostly a bunch of racist pigs.)

Republicans feed off bribes from big business, big finance, big armaments and long-term war. Too bad they can’t adopt ideals and hopes of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, T.R., FDR, Ike, and Carter, rather than emulating those of R. E. (not Light Horse Harry) Lee, George Wallace, Woodrow Wilson, Coolidge  and Harding, Nixon, and Shrub. Oh yeah, I almost forgot…, Benedict Arnold, and the renegade (Democrat) knife-fighter, Andy Jackson.

There’s more to this poor fellow’s publishertorial, but what follows is as sickly as what led. Or, you can cross over the border and buy a copy of the Banner.

An aside to Ranger Rick:

If Benedict Arnold (who killed few Americans because Brits wouldn’t trust him with a real command after he turned coat, though they made him a Brigadier) is recognized as a traitor, what the hell do you call a man responsible for the death of a couple hundred thousand Yankee soldiers, in addition to spitting in the face of his father, War for Independence Cavalry commander ‘Light Horse’ Harry Lee? Robert E. Lee was a traitor, and the only reason he lived to enjoy his later years, was the generosity of heart of Abe Lincoln and U.S. Grant. If he’s been executed for treason, maybe those people would have accepted the fact they’d had their asses kicked, instead keeping up the war on black people which they’ve continued to this very day.