Tuesday, June 29, 2021

The Lost Class

Last week former NRA president David Keene accepted an invitation to address the 2021 graduating class of James Madison Academy.

He arrived at the school and was scheduled for a rehearsal of sorts at the socially distanced ceremony, and took the stage and gave his speech in front of 3,044 empty chairs.

Trouble is, there is no such school as the James Madison Academy, so there was no graduation, What Keene did was speak to the 3,044 AKA “The Lost Class,” which represented all those students who should-have-been the 2021 high school graduates but were killed by gun violence before they finished school.


The stunt was devised by Change the Ref, an organization deeply involved in the gun control movement. Founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was tragically killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Footage from Keene’s speech was released last week, edited into a video advocating for raising awareness against gun rights advocacy and the threat it poses to middle and high school students. Keene was unaware that he was set up to make a fake speech which caused a Change the Ref spokesperson to say:

“Ironically, had the men conducted a proper background check on the school, they would have seen that the school is fake.”
Snap. Background checks are good.

Mediaite

17 comments:

  1. Saw that earlier and thought it was poetic justice of a sort...too bad the video got lost to the wider public media.

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  2. I can't with the foolish imbeciles or the imbecilic fools, today! This is good though.

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  3. When youngest son was in high school
    he walked right past a kid who had
    a gun in his backpack. Luckily
    nothing happened and the gun was
    removed from the boy later on.

    A somber and impressive move by
    the Change the Ref.

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  4. Too fucking funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is excellent! I wonder how he reacted? And to not do the background check is even funnier. They totally humiliated themselves.

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  5. Wow. What an amazing stunt they pulled on that guy. And the irony of him not running a background check. I didn't know about the organization that pulled it off until I visited you, Bob, so thanks for that as I need to check them out.

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  6. Fantastic.
    The thing with the NRA is that they make money off morons and resentful bigots. They'll never let go of their cash cow.
    On the other hand, this trolling was epic. A taste of his own medicine: background checks are good.

    XOXO

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  7. @Frank
    I liked the line about the “background check>’


    @Deedles

    Yeah, yesterday was all good news and today is Foolishness Day!!

    @TDM
    It makes a striking point.

    @Cookie
    Love to see NRA asshats snookered!

    @Maddie
    From what I read the NRA guy wasn’t pleased, especially when he realized there was a video that was to be released.

    @MrShife
    I’d never heard of Change the Ref either, but I have checked out their website and, if they keep this kind of stuff up, I will love them!

    @Six
    Foolish little men.

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  8. Hung by his own petard, as it were? Yes? Oh, my... this is a winner for the ages. And National Media? Hello? This was more than a prank, dears... this was a real statement. I like that org's style. Change The Ref. Nice to know. Kizzes. And thanks for sharing this. I learn things on your site I never hear about anywhere else.

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  9. Brilliant. Absofuckinlutely brilliant. I can't imagine accepting an invitation to speak somewhere and not Googling the place.

    Love,
    Janie

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  10. Too many people have died in the US of gun violence and that thousands of children should be part of the numbers is a sadness too deep to be bourne. But of course those responsible, the RQP, the NRA et al , don't give a F**K.

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  11. So elegantly done. What? No background check?

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  12. 3044, 30 times the size of my high school graduating class, 30 schools worth of lost students. A friend of mine's kids were at Parkland, hiding under desks, texting their parents that they were afraid they would be next.

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  13. @upton
    Yes, it wasn’t a rank, it was a protest; it was a stand, and the NRA fell for it!

    @Debra
    It’s amazing that Keene never bothered to check into the “school.”

    @Janie
    Right? Isn’t that step one???

    @Helen
    Whenever I hear someone shout gun control, I sadly remind them that we saw CHILDREN murdered at Sandy Hook and passed no new gun laws, so that’s who we are as a country.

    @Mitchell
    Silly NRA hack; background checks don’t do any good!!!

    @Travel
    The numbers are staggering, especially the way you framed them.

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  14. I hadn't heard this. When I first started reading, I thought to myself, "I have never heard of a James Madison Academy".

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  15. @Michael
    Neither had Keene, but if he'd only checked ....

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