Monthly Archives: February 2018

Using language as a weapon to oppose the NRA

High school students march against gun violence in Minneapolis, MN.

The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has led to a renewed movement against the “guns everywhere” policy pushed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Republican Party members who receive so much NRA funding. Led initially by surviving students from Douglas High School, but now joined by many other individuals and groups, there are marches, protests, school walkouts, phone calls, emails, campaigns on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and other efforts taking place to safeguard America’s children and adults. The momentum appears to be building and the tide may be turning in favor of steps such as Universal Background Checks for all firearm purchases, a renewed Assault Weapons Ban, and more. But as with all movements, the goals of this movement need to be articulated in a simple and powerful way in order to win over hearts and minds. So the question becomes, what is the best way to describe what this movement is fighting for?

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the gun violence goat

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida

After the Parkland, Florida school shootings last Wednesday that left 17 dead, most of them schoolchildren, one of the people who comes off looking the worst is Florida’s Republican U.S. Senator, Marco Rubio. Let’s look at Rubio’s responses to the Parkland shooting:

First, Rubio offered prayers, as Republicans typically do. However, Rubio’s version was to admit that his previous prayers did not work:

When it comes to gun violence, think, pray, vote

Republicans’ dream? Lady Liberty holding a gun instead of a torch.

After another deadly school shooting involving an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, this time in Parkland, Florida, Republicans responded with their usual calls for “thoughts and prayers.” Perhaps the worst offender was Florida’s own U.S. Senator, Republican Marco Rubio, who proved that his previous prayers didn’t work:

However, when Rubio and other Republicans want something on any other issue, from tax cuts to taking away a woman’s freedom over her own body to military spending to taking away our affordable healthcare, they don’t pray, they vote. That’s just what Americans should do here.

What Omarosa says about Donald Trump is relevant

Reality TV star and ex-Trump White House official Omarosa

Let’s first stipulate that things are strange when the discussion of the White House involves one reality TV show contestant talking about a reality TV show host. Nevertheless, that is the world we now live, where Donald Trump hired Omarosa Manigault-Newman to work in the White House Communications department, and then fired her one year later. Post-firing, Omarosa (now famous enough for first name only), known as a reality TV “villain” from Trump’s “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice” shows as well as other TV programs, quickly landed on the new season of CBS reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother.” There, she has already made waves for her ominous comments about Donald Trump. While many people dismiss Omarosa as just a media attention “whore,” she has twice been in a unique position to judge Trump, thus her comments about the danger of Trump’s presidency are relevant.