This is a little off subject but what happens when Ryan cuts Medicaid to the States? When the Rejects (R) cut Medicaid, the states will suffer the result. They will not receive sufficient Medicaid funding from the feds. On top of that the Retard (R) criminals are planning to eliminate our deduction for state income tax. Saint Raygun already removed our deduction for state and local sales taxes. If the states have no funding for Medicaid they will have to raise income taxes or sales taxes to pay for it. The people of those states will be forced to pay higher taxes as a result and will not be able to deduct it from their income taxes. This will effectively give them a tax increase and not a cut as assholes Ryan/Trump insist. We will be screwed both ways from Tuesday. Get out the Guilotines.

They voted (the two I thought had shown a backbone/statesmanship and concerned about their grandchildren: those being Corker and Flake) to strip our right to sue financial institutions within hours just after announcing they were leaving..... I almost emailed or called to congratulate their standing up. Glad I was too busy today to do that! Bet they vote lock and step with the gun legislation pending. They stayed with the fascist Bannon wing by doing such. Why didn't they just say they were running for president or at least an invitation for VP next cycle? Their is no salvation now to me for any appeaser to this Fascist takeover of the Republican (well; so calld Republican) band of absolute fools! I usually would say "bless their hearts" but i'm done. I say Hell will be crowed with these bast..rds! (hope thats not an infraction of language). Guess I need to work on my vocabulary..... I happened to have a wonderful day with "real" republican ex Judges and Attorneys today in NC regarding Eminent Domain. They were shocked and appauled by what the NC legislature was trying to pull regarding judicial districts. Will they speak out? I don't know. However; if true reublicans don't soon, I'm afraid I must put them in the same category! Shame if they don't because they are good men. Our NC Senators? I hope one has an esophageal issue with "popcorn" that might help him along his way (nothing serious but eye opening) to some sort of revelation, and the other; well; I think he is embarrassed but still voting with the fascist so, what can you do. No use in mentioning the 5th district congresswoman. She's been too far gone since her first term!

I'm an independent progressive voter (neither mainstream party is worth a damn any more - both have sold out to the oligarchs). I believe in single payer health care for all, freedom of choice for women, ending these senseless brutal wars and reducing our military budget by at least 50 percent! Is that "blue" enough for you?

But let me say this: where it comes to guns, I am squarely opposed to ANY legislation that restricts firearms or related implements. My position is rooted in my belief that The Founders were terrified of a situation that is increasingly becoming a reality, and that's the takeover of the country by powerful intrests backed by a militarized police force or by a standing military itself. This, given the fact that our nation had only recently gained its independence from such a regime when the Second Amendment was penned, was clearly the motivation for that Amendment to the Constitution. In fact, our entire system was structured around a system of "checks and balances", of which an armed citizenry was the ultimate last resort. You can blather on all day about the meaning of "malitia", but to me, the intent was clear. And for the record, no, I belong to no malitia, nor am I a "gun nut". The idea of armed conflict in our streets sickens me, but it's happened many times before when ruthless dictators gain power.

I've heard all the arguments against WMD, such as assault rifles, in the hands of an armed citizenry. Remember, the standard at the time was the ball and powder musket, followed by the flintlock rifle and then the carbine, all fearsome weapons in their day. There was no discussion then of denying the citizen access to the state-of-the-art weapon. What we're talking about is parity. If a would be opressor, either foreign or domestic, is armed with assault weapons then denying the citizen equal access would violate the intent of the Second Amendment as I perceive it.

It's true, weapons designed to kill a maximum number of people in minimum time are terrible in the hands of certain individuals, as Las Vegas demonstrated. But this is a price we must be willing to pay to maintain our freedom.

If we are truly concerned about the level of violence in the world, lets begin by shutting down these companies that produce the "blood, guts and glory" video games that our youth is awash in. Let's crack down on gratuitous violence in movies and on TV. And let's put a stop to endless war, promoted by corporate owned politicians in which the number of foreign civilians slaughtered absolutely dwarfs the number of gun deaths in this country and is written off as "collateral damage".

Until that day comes, the adults among us need to remain vigilent an not, under any circumstances, allow the government to tamper with our right to bear arms, at parity.

(And to the would be heckler out there, please spare us all the tired example of trying to shoot down F-18's with assault rifles; you know damned well that's a specious argument).

STOPGAP and world, They have no shame and know they must act quickly.... before evolution of humans catch up with technology that has afforded every idiot with a patform that reaches worldwide to sway the uninformed with their veiled (at times and; others times not so much) Racism. That's what has driven this coup. I call it "latent Racism". I am a southern white male 3 generations old (60). I heard and saw it recently when a person I respect looked both ways and backward too before he used a racial statement in a public enviornment in Asheville NC. They don't even realize it. That's why I term it "latent" racism. My father gave me the most wonderful gift when I was 4 or 5 years old at a Klan Rally in/near Polkville NC. No crap! The cross was burning as "Onward Christian Soldiers was sang" (probably a recording) and then (in retrospect someone most probably threw firecrackers in the fire) the hooded came around excitedly and said "n....rs" have come in and are shooting. They (the hooded) had plastic buckets asking for money! As GOD as my witness this is true. The gift? My Dad rolled the window up, cranked the 1956 GMC pickup and we left. He never spoke of it again and had many black friends. I even called a black couple we loved (Harley and Ida) "Uncle Harley and Aunt Ida. How the hell did we get to this situation now ( as i literally cry) with sharing this. Yep; I'm done with this idiocy. DONE!

Directed to Outback: My second line. They were dealing with Muskets. Human evolution has not kept up with technology. The point was; with the dissimination of opinion/ propogation of racism/ and damn sure automatic weapons, with human evolution. Not to mention the "nuclear"..... I rode my bycycle underneath the planes flying south in September/October 1962 in a ballfield across the road and my family didn't have the resourses for a shelter. Their was one built by a better off family a few miles away. Supper conversation was "what the hell would we do?" I never realized it till now but; by god I have a story, non fictional, to tell. I hazzard that all 1%r's have bunkers and they are damn sure well stocked! With all them tax breaks and all. That's the jobs the "job creators create". Guns/stockpiling food/ local backhoe owners/ and fear mongers a manufacturing the bunker capsules. Not meaning to be combative here, just the cold hard truth! I see it in color on these hilltops in WNC. Been happening here for a long time. The Atlanta/Greenville/Charlotte/ Winston Salem elete buying up mountain property and building fortresses and hiring locals for the labor and the "lucky ones" to secure and maintain them and paying yearly salaries for little except monitoring..... Patterned after the "Greenbriar" idea I guess..... The truth.

fleuryb: Really! When the Democrats are in the majority, "they get us stuck/mired in corporate and governmental corruption." LMAO....Do you know any "truths" about the current illegit President and his party? So you actually believe we're not mired in corruption right now....you gotta raise the bar dude.

I'm confident we would all be far better off if the Dems were in control. McConnell obstructed for eight years. The self serving fool blocked legislation that would have benefited by far the vast majority of us. The Dems are not at all like the Kochpublicans....if you don't believe me, read and watch the legislative voting.

Regarding the Second Amendment, it will mean nothing as our First Amendment continues to erode. Fascism is real... ..eventually all dissenters will be disarmed and or killed.

Speaking of the Second Amendment, I'm all for using flash mobs to fight the current Kochpublican tax bill....no time to waste. Get patriotic and loud in the streets and disperse before the Fascists have a chance to suppress the truth/message. Don't give them time to plan ahead.

A two trillion give away to those who don't need more wealth with trillions added to the national debt by the very party that for the eight Obama years constantly balled their eyes out about out of control spending and our huge Debt.

Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, and his fiscal conservative bull and Reed's debt clock..what a bunch of god damn hypocrits, all owned by Wall Street ...we need to get the truth out.

I have now watched just a bit of news tonight on Rachael Maddow's show. Is everyone this damn stupid? Muller perhaps has a problem. Isn't (government corruption which a preponderance of the electorate's concern by recent pols) so widespread and obvious to anyone who still has any cerebrial function now? Mullers problem? Finding a few good men/women to march in and arrest the entire white house, Pence too and more importantly unfortunately. Speaking of being elected Dog Catcher? He was finished anyway (and Mother too) had they not got on the "Siberian Sled"! Krushev called it years ago. "We will bury you because of your freedom". Or; another is "without firing a shot"(translations differ and I'm sure some troll will part and parcel this as i'm not confident but the general idea prevails). Sand in the eyes...... Something a coming down and soon! Tomorrow? Where are the NC Senators? The Senate "appeaseavestigation" done blown up! Has no republican senator have any moral decency? Naw! You got today since it's after the "witching hour". Any real men or women with an "R" got the nads? I doubt it!

First let me say that I am all for background checks, and I think a mental health evaluation would be a good prerequisite to gun ownership. I would, however, like to make a technical point of fact on silencers. Despite what you see in the movies, silencers do not make most guns silent. There are two components to gunshot noise, the muzzle blast from the hot gases escaping the barrel and the sonic boom of the bullet breaking the sound barrier, which is about 1,100 feet per second. This is not a high velocity where most ammunition is concerned, many air rifles can break the sonic boom velocity barrier. A silencer reduces, but does not eliminate, the muzzle blast noise, but does not do anything to attenuate the sonic boom noise. The bullets coming from the Las Vegas shooter's guns were most likely around 2,500 feet per second or above, so there would have been plenty of noise even if he had used a suppressor. Making an argument that legalizing supressors would lead to more shootings because no one could hear the shots is factually incorrect, and as we know from Trump's continuous disregard for facts, causes the point to be ignored by those who do know the facts.

Thoms limited knowledge with respect to firearms comes solely from word for word talking points pushed out by Michael Bloomberg. Any knowledgeable opponent would bury him with facts compiled directly from the ATF and FBI statisitcs which is why he will never allow that to happen.

Typical leftie/socialist, it's not about gun control, it is all about control.

I have listened to Thom for many years, and he is not one to parrot talking points from any source. When he has conversations with right wing folks, the conversation coming from the right is usually mostly fact free. Trying to force control is what the right wing is all about, especially forcing women to accept their notions of reproductive rights by trying to criminalize anyone who does not agree with their beliefs.

#12 - Who can they fleece?

The mass!!!

History repeating

The mass will awake