Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-08-10/friday-news-roundup-domestic
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of dismantling federal welfare reform and creating a “culture of dependency.” The U.S. economy continued to send mixed signals. And victims of the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting were remembered at vigils across the United States. Ron Elving of NPR, Nia-Malika Henderson of The Washington Post and John King of CNN join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Ron Elving
Washington editor for NPR.
Nia-Malika Henderson
national politics reporter for The Washington Post.
John King
anchor of CNN's John King, USA, and chief national correspondent.
Friday News Roundup Video
The panel discussed why President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney have not discussed gun control following a shooting that left seven people dead at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin Sunday. Nia-Malika Henderson, national politics reporter for The Washington Post, said the U.S. doesn't have an appetite to curb gun use. She said a recent Quinnipiac University poll found 60 percent of Americans think stricter gun laws would have no effect on mass shootings. Ron Elving, Washington editor for NPR, talked about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's call for the presidential candidates to debate gun ownership. CNN anchor John King said every state has a different position on gun control. "What's frustrating in the political system is, like immigration, like taxes, we can't even have a conversation," King said.
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Well said.
I mean, you can't be editor of the Harvard Law Review unless you are exceptionally brilliant.
I would like to put to rest all of the misinformation concerning "Assault Weapons." These firearms are NOT machine-guns. They are semi-auto ONLY.
Most modern day assault weapons such as the semi-auto AR-15 are chambered for the 5.56X45 NATO round. Think .223 like the Bushmaster that was used in the D.C. sniper case. This bullet is the diameter of a .22 bullet, but with a large charge to make it travel at 3550 ft/sec and deliver 1259 ft/lbs of energy. At 200 yards, it is traveling at 2430 ft/sec and delivers 590 ft/lbs. At 300 yards, however, it is essentially ineffective (though any bullet can still kill at distances of up to a mile). At these high speeds, this low mass round will punch a small hole going into its target and a slightly larger one coming out. If nothing critical is hit (heart, major artery, head, etc.), then you have a wounded man down. This is one of the major reasons the military went to a smaller, high speed round. If your enemy is wounded instead of killed, then two of his buddies are occupied in trying to get him help. Three soldiers are out of the conflict instead of just one.
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On the other hand, a .30-06 round, which is what we normally think of as the quintessential deer hunting round, has a muzzle velocity of 3140 ft/sec and delivers a walloping punch of 2736 ft/lbs of energy. At 500 yards, it is still traveling at 1595 ft/sec and delivers 706 ft/lbs. This range and power is required to insure a clean kill on prey that will bolt and run if a shot is not placed precisely. That makes a Remington Model 7400 Weathermaster .30-06 far more deadly than the average semi-auto AR-15. The Model 7400 has twice the range and killing power of an AR and is also semi-automatic but it just doesn't look as evil. The Assault Weapons Ban targets firearms by appearance rather than function. It was written to appease people who have reacted primarily to firearms on an emotional basis rather than a true understanding of ballistics. It is the physics of the round that kills, not the looks of the weapon.
Some people are so stupid that no matter how often you tell them that a flaming stick from the campfire will burn and hurt people they will continue offering flaming sticks for their unknowing friends to hold and laugh at their friends shocked look of pain. They will keep doing this until a wise adult picks up a flaming stick and forces the offender to hold it and finally learn for themselves that flaming sticks burn and hurt. Too many humans in control of the economy behave the same way. No matter how much you tell them that in the last quarter of 2008, the global financial system was hours away from total collapse and this collapse would have been worldwide and made our Great Depression look like a summer layoff, the money people continue playing the same game telling us not to worry, they saved us four years ago and they will save us again. Both claims are lies of course. They will continue their greedy ways until a future global financial collapse forces them to live in a depression induced slum or until they die. As they are discussing this very moment on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR, the banking lobbyist have been paid millions of dollars to write the financial reform laws and they have written and gotten passed laws that make it virtually impossible to prosecute them. We are now peasants and we have lost.
In response to a friends facebook posting:
Ador Charming:
Surprise surprise! The Dept. Of Justice (LOL) will not prosecute Goldman Sachs for any mortgage fraud. 3 years after crashing the US and World economies and not one Wall St. Banker has been prosecuted. 8 million people thrown out of their homes. $850 billion dollars to bail them out, then 2.6 billion dollars in executive compensation for these money worshiping criminals. US Government- Owned
I completely agree with the show`s last caller. Barack Obama is the Republican in the race.That is why so many Democrats voice disappointment. Mitt Romney represents the John Birch Society,or today called the T-Party. An anti everything radical right wing group,who especially dislikes equal rights.
Do you know how embarrassing defending Obamacare has been? Obamacare,Romneycare,or the Conservative plan,vs HR676,or Universal Single Payer,or Medicare for All, that we really wanted?
But we can say with great pride,Bin Laden is dead,and GM is alive.And that makes the T-Party crazy,and makes my day.
I am grateful that Spencer is a self appointed god of the English language and can decree exactly what an "Assault Weapon" is. And may this god have mercy on us if we do not use this term exactly as he decrees. As most gods go, he appears to have little connection to the real people who have real bullets tear through them from a deranged man who can continue shooting uninterrupted as fast as his finger can pull the trigger from a magazine of 100 rounds. He must think that his pontification on mass and velocity of projectile have some bearing on the rending of flesh and shatter of bone in the person being shot. Yesterday I listened to a Supreme Court Justice say in an interview that as he sees it, the Second Amendment can be interpreted to permit a citizen to have any weapon such as RPG's. If worldwide coverage of grieving families at funerals and bedside coverage of victims in hospitals cannot change our weapon laws, I say we should just give up. If I was a deity of some sort, my commandments would decree that every child born on earth receive an AK-47 and an initial supply of 10,000 rounds of NATO 7.62...
Oldbrit wrote: "The word is out that Mitt Romney is actually an alien from Kolob who was brought to Earth by a Mormon prophet. Romney needs to prove that he is really a human-being born in the United States. We have a right to find out the truth about who Mitt Romney is before we elect him president"
If Obama's college records show that he was a foreign exchange student this would be big news for obvious reasons. Talking about Harvard or anything else about his college experience would mean nothing. He refuses to release the records because he is hiding something, and YES we have the right to know.
The International Baccalaureate program and foreign exchange students are not held to the same standards as U.S. citizens, this is right off the Harvard web site. I don't think high grade levels would be required from someone from Jakarta Indonesia.
"Are there minimum required SAT I, ACT or SAT II scores?"
Harvard does not have required minimum scores; however, the majority of students admitted to the College score between 650 to 800 on each section of the SAT I as well as on the SAT II Subject Tests. We regard test results as helpful indicators of academic ability and achievement when considered thoughtfully among many other factors. The Admissions Committee understands that international students may not be as familiar with the SAT and ACT formats as American citizens. Nevertheless, international students who distinguish themselves for admission often present the Committee with exceptionally strong standardized testing by any measure"
http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/international/faq.html#25
Is it true that Romney wanted the auto industry to fail so it could be channeled to Bain for its special brand of profit making dismemberment?
Politicians are continually allowed to distort the truth knowing that a certain percentage of the voters will be too young or too busy with the day-to-day to locate the real story. Independent third party analysis should be a requirement of all political ads paid for by each campaign.
Elected office is too important to allow attaining office by deception to be in any way or any longer acceptable.
Citizens United is a prime example ... is it any longer possible for the common American voter to know who really owns corporations or the extent of foreign ownership or influence in US elections?
Well, patsy, pancake, kathleen, I see the level of discourse hasn't risen here while I have been away.
John King is the epitome of feckless, neutral journalism. "People say this, they also say that." And, "CNN has this poll..." I learn nothing from him. I listen to the Friday News Hour to hear some good arguments, not the attempts of a rich famous journalist to avoid bringing facts to bear out of fear that he'll seem "partisan."
Although I would favor stricter gun laws, I think that we have to look at other aspects to explain why gun violence is so high in the US and the NRA might actually agree with that.
http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/american-mass-murder-a-toxic-cultural-brew
This is outrageous, your conversation about political ads. Your guests nor you, did not discuss the discussing nature of the super PAC Priorities USA, Joe Soptic ad, or in inconsistent statements made by the Obama campaign regarding that ad.
zzzzzz...... sorry, but these guests are B-O-R-I-N-G.
Gee, why didn't the DOJ pursue the case against the bankers? Couldn't be because they are rich and white! No, it's because those cases are soooooo complicated, and if the DOJ isn't 110% sure it will win the case, they can't even think about starting the process.
And it couldn't be because the same rich, white bankers populate the White House, could it?