Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

The Land Of The Unfree And The Home Of The Greedy

5/27/2022

0 Comments

 

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

Picture
"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​Available on Amazon.


​THE LAND OF THE UNFREE AND THE HOME OF THE GREEDY

Picture
....Continued from previous post:
         Mass shootings are the scourge of this country. But the ruthless trajectory of this horrific  scourge could be changed. It could be changed in a day. Our Congress could immediately pass legislation banning assault rifles. As with tobacco and alcohol, they could raise minimum age to purchase a firearm to twenty-one. As with buying and driving an automobile, they could require a license and registration. They could regulate the transfer of firearms at gun shows. They could expand background checks and "Red Flag" laws for individuals wishing to purchase firearms. They could outlaw "ghost" guns.
         They could do all of the above. Or even a few of the above. Or even one of the above. They could do it in a day.
         That is to say, they could do it if not for an enormous obstacle in the way. I'm not talking about the Second Amendment to our United States Constitution,
​
Picture
...since the U.S. Constitution, like the Bible,
Picture
​...can be interpreted any way one wishes to interpret it.
​      Nor am I talking about the will of the American people, as a strong majority of Americans favor stricter guns control laws with over 90% supporting universal background checks for all gun sales.
        No, the obstacle to ending the scourge of gun violence in this country is higher than a mile-high mountain and wider than a mile-thick concrete wall:  It's greed. Massive greed.
      It's the greed of lawmakers who line their pockets with money from the National Rifle Association lobby. Look at the kind of money Republican members of the Senate have received and continue to from the NRA since taking office:


  • Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676
  • Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380
  • Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722
  • Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333
  • Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355
  • Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773
  • Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327
  • Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582
  • Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074
  • Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714
  • Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448
  • Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548
  • Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130
  • Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486
  • Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139
  • Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967
  • John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942
  • Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738
  • Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514
  • Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007
  • John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788
  • Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274
  • Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262
  • Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711
  • Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547
  • Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680
  • Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456
  • Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049
  • John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352
  • John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945
  • Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623
  • Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758
  • Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961
  • Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039
  • Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718
  • John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989
  • John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050
  • Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638
  • James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955
  • Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850
  • Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
  • Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255
        Of the most recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where nineteen elementary school children and two teachers were killed, here is what some of the above Republican Senators had to say:
Picture
​     Mitch McConnell: “Horrified and heartbroken by reports of the disgusting violence directed at innocent school kids in Uvalde, Texas. The entire country is praying for the children, families, teachers, and staff and the first responders on the scene.”
​
Picture
​ Marsha Blackburn: “Horrified and heartbroken to learn of the significant loss of life in the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Please join me in lifting their loved ones up in prayer. Thank you to the local first responders working on the scene.”
​
Picture
​Ron Johnson: “There are no adequate words to express the horror at Robb Elementary. “My sincere condolences to these families. Something this horrific, children being slaughtered in their school, it does not get worse than this."
​

Picture
  Ted Cruz: "Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community during this devastating time and we mourn the lives that were taken by this act of evil."  
​
​

Picture
  Mitt Romney (who has raked in by far the most money from the NRA, over 13.6 million dollars): "Grief overwhelms the soul. Children slaughtered. Lives extinguished. Parents' hearts wrenched. Incomprehensible. I offer prayer and condolence but know that it is grossly inadequate. We must find answers."

       Mitt Romney is right. The drivel drenched in corn syrup that he and his fellow NRA money-addicted senators offered is grossly inadequate to the parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, spouses, friends, classmates, and acquaintances of the children and teachers who bled to death crying in terror on that classroom floor. And he's also right that we must find answers. 
        So I have one for him: 
       The problem of mass gun violence in this country is primarily a mental health problem. It's the mental sickness
of massive greed among too many of our legislators fed by a crippling addiction to National Rifle Association money. These NRA money addicts may well feel deep sorrow over the death by gun shot wounds of the children and teachers in Texas and they may well be praying sincerely and fervently for the dead and the living. But they are addicts, and so have no choice but to keep in the good graces of their dealer, the gun industry, to be assured their fix. To an addict the fix comes first and foremost.
       And and so our greed-sickened, addicted members of Congress will sit tight and spout drivel and shuffle and tap dance and protect the gun industry until the outcry over this most recent mass shooting dies down and the public demand for gun law reform fades as it always does. Then they'll continue to block any laws that would prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and they'll promote laws that will assure that more guns will be sold to anybody and everybody and more money will roll in for members of the gun industry and from the gun industry to them and God will be in His heaven and all will be right with the world.
Picture
      If we were a pro-life country, if we cared enough about the sanctity of life of our brothers and sisters from cradle to grave, we'd vote out of office the greed-afflicted, NRA money-addicted lawmakers.
         Sadly, for being  the richest country in the world, life here is cheap.
Picture
References:
1. ​https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3500861-majority-in-new-poll-favors-stricter-gun-control-measures/

2. https://www.newsweek.com/republican-senators-nra-funding-texas-school-shooting-uvalde-1710332
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact