Using Health Care Debt and Gun Homicides to Depress Upward Mobility and Freedom.

If only Democrats would start every town hall and candidate's debate with this: "Why are we continuing to play along with the right-wing game of distraction, intentionally ignoring all the problems reality keeps throwing at us."

For decades Republicans have declared President Lyndan Johnson's War on Poverty a failure, conveniently blaming what they know is not controllable, human nature. The Heritage Foundation framed it this way in 2014, ignoring the ravages of capitalism, purposely exempting that from any attempted reforms:

The culprit is, in part, the welfare system itself, which discourages work and penalizes marriage. When the War on Poverty began, 7 percent of American children were born outside marriage. Today the number is 41 percent. The collapse of marriage is the main cause of child poverty today. The welfare state is self-perpetuating.

#1-The Myth of "Working Hard and Getting Ahead" crumbles under Health Care Debt: Many of us do work hard and get ahead, but for how long? That hard-earned income disappears with our first medical problem, blocking upward mobility for the working class. 

Not surprisingly, Republican states that supposedly have all the "right answers" are the biggest cause of poverty and downward mobility (click images to enlarge). "The debt is also deepening racial disparities:"

Here's NPR's breakdown of the Kaiser Foundation's new survey. "Sick and struggling to pay, 100 million people in the U.S. live with medical debt:"

#2-The Surreal Defense of Mass School Shootings and the Arming of Teachers: This sick notion is now considered normal, part of a free society?:

Republicans again target what they know is unchangeable, human nature, and push for more guns and less training, arming teachers. It gives schools more "tools" to work with. Wait for it...

Teachers in Ohio have been allowed to carry guns in schools so long as they complete 700 hours of mandatory training, the same required of police recruits. Lawmakers argued that made it nearly impossible to arm teachers, so they drastically cut that training requirement down to 24 hours.

Whether it's in schools, public places, or just another mindless road rage incident, how does making people afraid of being randomly shot and killed make American "free" Yet it does for so many conservative voters. Here's the story about turning teachers into armed security guards:

No new gun laws targeting guns. None, and convincing many this is as good as it gets. 

The American Rights "Can't Do" Spirit! Guns?

What Wisconsin Republican Politicians Think: We already know where the Democrats stand on regulations reducing guns deaths and mass shootings. But even the mass shooting deaths of young children, whose bodies were shredded by a high velocity military style weapon, just won't move the needle even a little. A Wisconsin judge was targeted and shot by a gunman who had a kill list of big-name politicians including our governor. Rightwing domestic terrorism? Nah.

It's like nothing ever happened. In fact, it's so bad, that one GOP candidate for governor said, and I wish I were kidding:

Tim Michels: "I believe it's a societal problem. Uh, we have to have people that are afraid of law enforcement...a byproduct of "defund the police movement"...when I'm governor, I'm going to tell law enforcement it's okay to enforce the law." 

You know what he means. 

Ron Johnson is a walking-talking cliche. Imagine the kind of policy that makes "families stronger" and "renewed faith?" What would that be? Toss in "wokeness" and "CRT," where's the argument? Didn't Trump already Make American Great Again?  He had 4 years.

Ron Johnson: “The solution lies in stronger families, more supportive communities, I would argue renewed faith,” he said. “We’ve lost that. We stopped teaching values in so many of our schools. Now we’re teaching wokeness. We’re indoctrinating our children with things like CRT, telling, you know, some children they’re not equal to others and they’re the cause of other people’s problems.”

No one's doing that.  

Here's a list of mass shootings since Uvalde, the dead and injured for life (click to enlarge):

Let's start with this premise:

Shocking Revelation: They're not Like Us; Remember when Republicans made fun of empathy? I started this blog I thought just the facts would move the needle a little, change a few minds on the right. Wow was I wrong. Solving the problem of guns, air pollution, reducing premature deaths, cleaner drinking water, universal health care, funding schools, safe mining regs, spending taxpayer dollars on taxpayers for once...what a dramatic waste of time. It's hard to wrap your head around that. 

Republicans keep insisting they really "can't do" anything. Republicans are so 20th century. Take this Uvalde Elementary School shooting response by Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas. This is also a popular GQP talking point pushed by Ron Johnson as well. Interesting to note: which is worse, exposure to violent video games; or weekly exposure to heart wrenching, real life mass shootings?

When I grew up, things were different. And I just think that kids are exposed to all kinds of horrible stuff when they listen to rap music, the video games that they watch from a really early age with all of this horrible violence and stuff, and I just think that they have this access to the internet on a regular basis, which is just, you know, it’s not good for kids.”

The logical next question I'm waiting for some reporter to ask: "So your solution would be to pass laws banning or limiting rap music, video games, and require time limits on Americans access to the internet?" I'm still waiting.

Gun Campaign Ads tell the Republican Story: Like Radical Rebecca in Wisconsin:

...and this compilation of GOP video ads:

"Can't Do" democracy is the message! Charlie Syke's recent Bulwark email took the long view about our democracy, and how under MAGA "reality," it ain't gonna work: 

Does democracy work anymore? I spent much of the weekend listening to the chatter from the cool kids’ table about the hopelessness of confronting mass carnage. The “realist” position insists that the problem is insoluble. There are too many guns, and too much entrenched opposition. Failure is not just an option. It’s inevitable. So what this litany of hopelessness really means is that nothing can be done to prevent mass murders under our current democratic system.

At bottom, though, this isn’t just about guns; it is also about the crisis of democratic governance. Because if we genuinely cannot solve this problem, it raises more fundamental questions about democracy’s ability to get things done. A system that cannot keep its children safe, or prevent a million deaths from a pandemic, is a system in crisis, perhaps in terminal decline.

Insane GOP bill: If you can lift a gun you can hunt!!!

The common sense law allowing 12-year-olds to get a hunting license, if they responsibly participate in the mentor hunting program, must have gotten too onerous for responsible mentoring parents I guess.

So let's give guns to camo dressed children, babies even, any age...to hunt. Not kidding. Isn't that cute? Republicans are desperately trying to stave off the dwindling numbers of hunters:

"Responsible" gun owners
need Adult supervision too?

Anyone of any age, even toddlers, could legally hunt in Wisconsin under a bill the state Assembly is set to take up ... allow anyone of any age to participate in a mentored hunt, effectively letting anyone of any age hunt ... wipe out the requirement that a hunter and mentor have only one weapon between them.

With so many accidental shootings by children in the US, you'd think a bill like this would never see the light of day. Not with these mindless gun-toting advocates of the NRA, where safety isn't the point, gun sales and campaign contributions are.  

It looks like Republicans are speeding down that "slippery slope" of gun deregulation by removing responsible gun regulations to accommodate really irresponsible "law-abiding" gun owners who can't, or won't follow the law.

Right now someone must be at least 12 years old to purchase a license or hunt with a gun unless they're participating in a mentored hunt. Children as young as 10 can hunt under that program.

Here are a few statistics for those indoctrinating their kids to use guns like a cell phone:

Each day in the United States, an average of 3.5 people under the age of 18 are shot to death and another 15.5 are treated in a hospital emergency department for a gunshot wound. The number of child fatalities related to guns is far higher in the U.S. than in any other high-income country. The U.S. accounts for 91% of all the firearms-related deaths of children under 14 in the world’s 23 richest countries. The majority of the nearly 1,300 children killed in gun-related incidents each year are boys between the ages of 13 and 17.

Oh, and you know who else thinks arming children is a good idea....

Republicans defend Child Gun Deaths with Owners Right to Store Firearms however they want.

How any adult can accept the twisted logic of gun rights advocates below, is a mystery to me:

In state after state, proposals that would create or toughen laws intended to keep kids from getting a hold of unsecured guns have stalled.

Critics say the laws trample on the rights of gun owners who should be able to store their firearms however they want, and unfairly single out guns. Swimming pools and prescription drugs also can cause accidental deaths of children, they say ... the measure would allow government to tell law-abiding adults how to store their guns.

Yes, that's exactly what these laws would do.

An often overlooked reason for just about any law:

Child access prevention laws allow prosecutors to bring charges against adults who fail to safely store their loaded guns, especially when they are obtained by minors and used to harm.

The horrific assumption that existing laws and penalties are already adequate, misses the point: they're all AFTER THE FACT:

In Tennessee, MaKayla's law — named for an 8-year-old killed by a neighbor who got hold of his father's gun — would have made it a felony for gun owners to store weapons in a way that allowed children access to them.

Sponsors were outraged that the 11-year-old who shot MaKayla Dyer will be jailed until he is an adult while his father remains free. The boy was convicted of murder for killing the girl after she refused to let him play with her puppy.

Gun-rights activists claimed the measure would allow government to tell law-abiding adults how to store their guns, and a Republican-controlled committee voted 7-2 against it.

Sponsors addressed that criticism and returned this year with a simpler version allowing adults to be charged with reckless endangerment if children obtain their guns and use them to kill or injure. But in March, the proposed MaKayla's law met a similar fate. It was rejected 6-3 in committee. This time, lawmakers argued the bill wasn't necessary because prosecutors could bring charges under existing laws, such as reckless homicide.