Paul Ryan and his House Republicans gave the American public a huge middle finger Thursday-- and a big wet kiss to the NRA. Polling has consistently shown, the vast majority of Americans approve of measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. 91% of Americans favor preventing certain people, such as convicted felons or people with mental illness, from owning guns. The NRA doesn't agree and the Republican Party does whatever the gun lobbyists tell them to do. So a House resolution by Texas crackpot Sam Johnson that would make it easier for the mentally impaired to buy guns passed the House with all but 2 Republicans voting for it.The vote was to overturn an Obama-era rule that bars gun ownership by some people who have been deemed too mentally impaired to manage their own financial affairs by the Social Security Administration, including, for example, schizophrenics. It only applies to those who are severely impaired over a long period of time not, for example, for people suffering from depression or anxiety. The NRA and the Republican Party argued that the rule unfairly stigmatizes "people with disabilities" and strips them of their Second Amendment rights. Have you ever heard of the GOP being concerned about people with disabilities before? House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the rumored child molester who spends all his time trying to abolish the Office of Congressional Ethics: "This is a slap in the face for those in the disabled community because it paints all those who suffer from mental disorders with the same broad brush. It assumes that simply because an individual suffers from a mental condition, that individual is unfit to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights."Unfortunately 6 right-wing Democrats joined the Republicans in passing Johnson's resolution:
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)• Tim Walz (MN)
Minnesota Blue Dog Collin Peterson was away from Congress or he would have voted for it as well.Since 1990, gun groups have given $36,374,608 to congressional candidates, $31,445,831 to Republicans and $4,248,840 to Democrats (primarily from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party). Among the Democrats on the gun lobbyist payroll include:
• Sanford Bishop- $53,815• Henry Cuellar- $38,549• Ron Kind- $36,982• Tim Walz- $27,950
As my friend Daisy-Mae mentioned on the phone earlier today "now someone dressed as Napoleon can walk into a gun shop and buy a semi-automatic assault rifle and run down the street and shoot up a nursery school." And another friend, Harry, quipped, "How else could Trump qualify to get a gun for himself?"You'd think the Republicans would have the common sense to send someone better than slow Wyoming Senator John Barrasso out to the national media to make excuses for the Republicans' insane decision to let severely mentally handicapped individuals buy all the guns they want. Barrasso just couldn't answer the question. He's clearly a moron; just watch this sad video from CNN yesterday:Breaking News Tonight: Trump's Army Secretary Designate Wants OutThe Military Times reported tonight that Wall Street billionaire Vincent Viola "abruptly withdrew his name from consideration" as Trump Regime Secretary of the Army. There were too many business conflicts of interest, which hasn't bothered the head of the Regime or most of his other appointees. Eventually all high Trumpist officials are likely to face treason charges so this was probably a good idea for Viola, although rumors are circulating that the way Trump and Bannon screwed up in Yemen was what caused him to bail on Dear Leader.
