DL Open Thread: Sunday, May 7, 2023
‘Thoughts And Prayers’ For Texas Gun Victims. This. Is. Intolerable:
A gunman opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb on Saturday afternoon, killing at least eight people — including children — and injuring at least seven others before he was fatally shot by a police officer, authorities said.
Children were among the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, said Rep. Keith Self (R), who represents the area and said local authorities briefed him by phone after the shooting. Self said unconfirmed reports of a second shooter were false.
A video that could not immediately be verified by The Washington Post showed what appeared to be the gunman after he was fatally shot, wearing tactical gear with several magazines of ammunition on his chest. A firearm appeared beside him.
Led by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Texas has moved in recent years to loosen restrictions on firearms. In 2021, it began allowing permitless carry so residents can carry handguns in public without a license. The state “does not specifically put restrictions on who can carry a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun,” according to a Texas government website.
Abbott said in a statement Saturday that the Allen shooting was an “unspeakable tragedy,” while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said he and his wife were “praying for the families of the victims of the horrific mall shooting.”
Self, the local congressman, rebuked criticism of officials offering “thoughts and prayers” after shootings while opposing gun control legislation, saying on CNN that “people want to make this political, but prayers are important.”
This Keith Self is a real piece of work. Tries to change subjects to alleged looters in Chicago:
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) brushed away criticism that “prayers aren’t cutting it” and shifted the focus to “the trashing of stores in Chicago” during a CNN interview in the wake of a mass shooting that killed at least 8 people at a Dallas-area outlet mall on Saturday.
“Absolutely, any time there is violence whether it be in one of the big cities: riots, the trashing of stores in Chicago, or shootings like this. This is a very safe area. This is not usual,” Self said.
“I know that we hear about the number of deaths on a weekend in Chicago, this is not usual in this area.”
Reid later asked Self about criticism that “prayers aren’t cutting it” when it comes to addressing gun violence before the Texas Republican took aim at the analysis.
“Well, those are people that don’t believe in an almighty God who has… who is absolutely in control of our lives,” said Self, who later emphasized a need for more ways to address mental health and remarked that he’d “like to stay away from the politics today” to focus on the shooting victims.
Fuck all you fuckers. The blood is on your hands.
Total Wines Zillionaire Running For Maryland Senate Seat. He literally bought his seat in Congress. He sucks. Now he turns his millions to the Senate. He’s one reason I never buy anything from Total Wines (Moore Brothers, Kreston’s and Branmar are the others):
U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th) on Thursday became the second major Democratic candidate to join the race to replace U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) in 2024.
Undergirding Trone’s campaign is his immeasurable wealth: He’s the co-founder of a national liquor store chain, and he’s capable of spending tens of millions of dollars of his own money on the campaign — a formidable sum that no other candidate will come close to matching. Trone has also been a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, educational programs and advocacy groups. Still, he attempts to cast himself as a political outsider in his video.
There are, and will be, alternatives. Good alternatives:
Earlier this week, Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D) released a video announcing his intention to run.
In his announcement video, Jawando, 41, outlined an egalitarian vision with progressive policy solutions, leavened with a call for a generational change in leadership.
Next up in the quickly developing Democratic Senate primary: An expected announcement next week from Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks that she is going to run. And U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D) also continue to ponder the race.
Is It Just Possible That Tiger Woods Is Not A Good Person?:
Tiger Woods’s ex-girlfriend has accused him of sexually harassing her while his employee, alleging that the star golfer forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement or be fired from her job.
According to a court document filed on Friday and reviewed by Sports Illustrated, Erica Herman dated Woods for more than five years. She was also an employee at his south Florida restaurant The Woods Jupiter before she alleges that she was forced to sign an NDA about the pair’s sexual relationship under the threat of termination, which she argues amounted to sexual harassment.
“Mr Woods was Ms Herman’s boss,” her attorney, Benjamin Hobas, wrote in the court document. “On Mr Woods’s own portrayal of events, he imposed an NDA on her as a condition to keep her job when she began having a sexual relationship with him.
At some point, the accumulation of evidence becomes too much to ignore. Unless you are golf commentators on TV.
Pa.’s Richest Person Goes After Helen Gym, Philly’s Progressive Candidate For Mayor:
A new political group running last-minute negative advertising about Philadelphia mayoral candidate Helen Gym is largely funded by conservative Main Line billionaire Jeffrey Yass, who has donated millions to political candidates and causes.
Yass, principal at Susquehanna International Group, poured $750,000 into the super PAC, called the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth, which has raised nearly $1 million, according to campaign-finance reports filed Friday.
Last week, the group began airing negative television advertising and circulating mailers about Gym — a progressive former City Council member — ahead of the May 16 Democratic primary election.
Brendan McPhillips, Gym’s campaign manager, said in a statement that Yass, an advocate for charter schools, is “bankrolling a false smear campaign against the only candidate in the race with a real vision to invest in Philly’s public schools.”
Yass, a registered libertarian and Pennsylvania’s richest man, has primarily backed Republicans. He has also donated millions to political-action committees that have boosted some Democrats in favor of expanding the charter-school footprint in the state.
Wanna help Helen Gym, who has a great chance to be elected Mayor? Click here.
What do you want to talk about?
Early polling has black voters feeling ho-hum about Biden, even though there seems to be a decent chance that Kamala would finish his second term. If alarm bells aren’t going off, they should be.
Re: mass shooting- early reports are suggesting that the perp was facist sympathizer and apparently intended to survive the event. This was a terrorist attack, not a puzzle-piece kid off his meds.
“Early polling has black voters feeling ho-hum about Biden”
Ask them how they feel about twelve or sixteen more years of Trump.
I have have asked “them” this. The wide range of answers may surprise you!
Surprise me then.
I think poll respondents are smart enough to recognize that the alternative is trump/a trumpist. I suspect that for a lot of people that their personal material conditions haven’t changed. Why bother to show up and vote if it’s more of the same
I’ll pass on trying to find that polling and wait for the “people are saying..” stage of Jean’s concern trolling.
Concern trolling to be sure. But it does raise questions (to me anyway).
Biden was trailing badly in the race for the nomination, until he was endorsed by Jim Clyburn and, as legend has it, was heaved over the SC finish line by black women.
At that point, the “Senator from MBNA.” the “Public Option Whisperer, ” the “Fiscal Cliff Messenger,” was at the bottom of my preferences.
And yet, Joe Biden has somehow done more than any of my progressive favorites would have done. He has gotten more out of joe Manchin than anybody else could have.
But now I wonder: How did Jim Clyburn know? What the hell did Joe Biden say to Jim Clyburn to secure his endorsement? (to be clear, whatever it was, I approve).
Or was it just the wisdom of black women voters, some black girl magic, that secured the nomination for Biden?
And if so, will it still hold in 2024?
To be fair, the only people I’m razzing are the ones who are taking a pre-emotive victory lap over trumps legal troubles. Until the cell door clangs shut, he is still very much a spoiler for ‘24.
The same assumptions that lead to defeat in ‘16 are being made- most notably that certain demographics will fall in line and show up. Ah the very least the Biden ticket needs a shake up. Joe can assign Kamala a very important task somewhere that is not the white house, and find a better candidate that would likely be his successor. Fresh blood would get people interested.
Jean, You are either nuts or duplicitous. Possibly both, but my money is on duplicitous. So, keep commenting, but I’m done with you. Good day, sir.
Late to the party perhaps but I see Trump as the candidate for the Fascist party we call the Republicans, they both hate the same things and the same people. It didn’t work in 2020 and the people who voted for him tend to be old and rather stupid, it will fail badly in 2024 as Trump’s base falls (Literally) by the wayside.
Probably the only one here, but I can’t see Trump surviving the legal gauntlet he’s facing, and ending up the Rethug nominee for President.
Which, I think, is bad news for Biden. His mental acuity diminishes by the day, and a starker contrast will not benefit him.
Does he ultimately see consequences? Maybe, but he only needs to keep the legal system tied up for the next 16 months or so to make it to the general. Then all bets are off
Nobody is going to win a Republican primary against Trump. I doubt DeSantis could even carry Florida against Trump.
Trump will just fundraise off the indictments as the most persecuted candidate ever.
But in the general, indictments and more smoking-gun revelations will peel off a small percentage of Republicans who will either vote third-party or stay home. Depending on where that happens, maybe one or more Trump states will flip.