When Wingnuts Attack ... Students Fight Back

Of course I stand with the students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; I’ve stood with everyone who has come out in favor of responsible, sensible, common sense gun control, no matter who they are or their age.

Sadly, many on the right, those _____ supporters and lackeys, those rightwingnut news hacks, those NRA lapdogs, feel the same; but that’s okay. It’s okay to have a difference of opinion, but let’s talk. Let’s not name call and badmouth and attack these students; they aren’t Hitler Youth as one Fox News nut said; Emma Gonzalez if not a skinhead lesbian as a GOP politician claimed.

But we’ll talk today about Laure Ingraham, a Fox News pundit, and “Good” Christian, who has an issue with the Parkland students, most notably David Hogg, who has been eloquently vocal in his calls for gun control.

Ingraham took to her own show last week, Fox News’ Ingraham Angle to openly mock 17-year-old David Hogg for getting rejected by four colleges:

Yes, a grown woman who shares a different view on a topic than does Hogg, didn’t discuss their differences, but chose instead to make fun of Hogg for being rejected by four University of California schools. Of note, is that the news came out about his four rejections from David Hogg, himself, but still Ingraham slipped into the much to attack the young man.

In the six weeks since the shooting, Hogg has emerged as a leading student voice for gun control. But, sadly, in _____’s America, when you disagree with the Fat Bastard and his rightwingnut evangelical Christian hypocrite base, you spark a smear campaign that started out small, but has gathered steam thanks to fools like Ingraham who don’t understand how to have an intelligent discussion with people of opposing viewpoints.

And this isn’t the first time Ingraham has mocked David Hogg; the day before he spoke at the March For Our Lives rally, Ingraham mocked him for using profanity in a video interview in which he called politicians who refuse to consider gun control “sick fuckers.”

Um, is that wrong, because that’s exactly how I feel when politicians sit by and watch Americans slaughtered time after time and then just send out a meaningless ‘Thoughts and Prayer’ Tweet.

Too bad Laura Ingraham didn’t understand that the pendulum just might be swinging back toward the middle, if not the left, because David Hogg, after her series of attacks, took to Twitter himself and call for a boycott of her show’s sponsors:

Soon after, at least four of Ingraham's advertisers—Wayfair, Expedia, TripAdvisor and pet food brand Nutrish—announced that they were pulling their commercials from her program.

And then guess what? Laura Ingraham decided then, when money was being taken from her show, and her pocket, that maybe she should apologize:

And Isn’t it lovely that she thought it necessary to mention Holy Week, as though a real Christian would attack a student; Ingraham is one of those fake Christians who trots out her faith whenever she tries to make a point because if she really lived life as a Christian the last thing she’d want to do is attack a young man who watched seventeen of his fellow classmates shot to death.

And David Hogg wasn’t having the apology, either; he noted that it wasn’t enough and only came about when her advertisers began to flee:

"She's only apologizing after a third of her advertisers pulled out. I think it's great that corporate America is standing with me and the rest of my friends, because when you come against any one of us, whether it be me or anybody else, you're coming against all of us. And I think it's important that we stand together as both corporate and civic America to take action against these people and show them that they cannot push us around, especially when all we're trying to do here is save lives."

Look, we can all disagree, though how we can disagree about the need to do something to stop the flow of blood from mass shootings, is beyond me, but, yeah, we can disagree; but let’s talk; let’s communicate; let’s discuss.

Let’s not stoop to the level of a Laura Ingraham and attack high school students because, well, that’s just plain stupid.

PS Laura Ingraham suddenly decided to take a week off, possibly in the hope that her show will stop hemorrhaging cash; too bad she doesn’t care as much about Americans hemorrhaging blood in schools and malls and churches and concerts and …and …and …

#BoycottNRA Is Working

As more and more people come to realize—and by that, I mean they’re waking up—the National Rifle Association [NRA] is a terrorist group, more and more companies are choosing to end their relationships with the group.

The brands—insurance companies, hotel groups, airlines and rental car agencies—are, one by one, announced their decisions to cease any partnership with Wayne LaPierre and his band of terrorists, in response to the hashtag #BoycottNRA because many activists are using social media to shame these companies.

The NRA website claims that it “pays to be a member” and that you can get back hundreds of dollars more than you pay in dues from benefits given to the group by various businesses, like home and auto insurance drug discounts and, something called the Official Wine Club of the NRA … because booze and guns is never a bad thing.

This past weekend both Delta and United Airlines joined a growing list of companies that have distanced themselves from the NRA by announcing they would no longer offer discounts to members:

“Delta is reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website.”

And …

“United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting and we are asking that the NRA remove our information from their website.”

This boycott began with the First National Bank of Omaha last Thursday when they announced on that they "will not renew its contract with the National Rifle Association to issue the NRA Visa Card." The bank said "customer feedback" spurred it to review its relationship.

Boycotts, or the threat of boycotts, work, y’all.

And the very next day Symantec, the cybersecurity company, announced it has also ended its NRA discount program., and on the heels of Symantec’s Tweet, insurance giant MetLife also Tweeted:

“We value all our customers but have decided to end our discount program with the NRA."

And then came the rental car companies, whenEnterprise Holdings, which owns and operates Alamo, Enterprise and National, announced that each brand would sever its NRA member discount program; Hertz also followed suit, and ended their affiliation with the NRA.

And it goes on … Wyndham Worldwide stopped offering NRA discounts in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, but last week they announced that their hotel brands—including Travelodge, Howard Johnson, Ramada and Days Inn—will no longer be “affiliated with the NRA."

To be fair, many on social media have maintained their support for the NRA, which says it has some five million members, but my favorite Tweet I read was from someone who announced that while the 5 million NRA lapdogs can continue to support the group, there are nearly 300 million others who will boycott.

Looks like the numbers are on our side, causing even Wayne LaPierre, who is not a Second Amendment advocate but a shill for gun manufacturers, let’s be clear, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC] and released a statement from the NRA:

“The more than five million law-abiding members of the National Rifle Association have enjoyed discounts and cost-saving programs from many American corporations that have partnered with the NRA to expand member benefits.

Since the tragedy in Parkland, Florida, a number of companies have decided to sever their relationship with the NRA, in an effort to punish our members who are doctors, farmers, law enforcement officers, fire fighters, nurses, shop owners and school teachers that live in every American community. We are men and women who represent every American ethnic group, every one of the world’s religions and every form of political commitment.”

First off, they aren’t punishing anyone; as a business they are simply deciding to end a discount program, as is their right.

“The law-abiding members of the NRA had nothing at all to do with the failure of that school’s security preparedness, the failure of America’s mental health system, the failure of the National Instant Check System or the cruel failures of both federal and local law enforcement.”

This isn’t about people, responsible people, owning guns, this is about how easy it is in this country for anyone to buy guns, to amass an arsenal, with no one watching. And no one is saying that NRA members—at least most of them—aren’t law-abiding citizens, so it’s funny that the NRA is using that term; and then, to blame anyone and everyone, except gun sellers and manufacturers and the NRA, for the shooting in Florida, is disgusting; you simply want to keep giving anyone and everyone the ability to buy guns, guns, and more guns in this country.

And, Wayne, you piece of filth, you are not fighting for anyone’s rights’ you are fighting to keep filling your bank account with the coins thrown at you by people who make guns, and assault weapons and bump-stocks and the only way you’ll continue to make money is by seeing to it that gun manufacturers can still sell murder weapons.

“Despite that, some corporations have decided to punish NRA membership in a shameful display of political and civic cowardice. In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve.

Let it be absolutely clear. The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world.”

Let me be clear, Wayne; boycotts work, and when another hotel group or rental car company or insurance group steps up to take the place of those companies that have ended their relationship with you, we … We The People … will boycott them, too, and shame them, into ending their alliance with your terrorist organization.

The students of Parkland have your number, and we all have it now, too. There are some 70% of Americans who want sensible gun control, and your puny little five million won’t help; and your payoffs to GOP politicians won’t help either because we will vote them out, and vote into office people who don’t wish to see Americans murdered at school or church or a mall or a concert just so Wayne LaPierre can make money.

Now, fuck off.

NPR