Saturday, July 9, 2016

Gun Control Cartoons





Trump, Clinton respond to Dallas shooting with restraint, calls for unity

How the Dallas ambush is changing policing across America
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton responded Friday to the killings of five police officers in Dallas, as well as the recent deaths of two black men in police shootings, with restrained remarks and by canceling most campaign events.
Both presidential candidates scrapped political events hours after the officers were gunned down by a former Army reservist during a protest over fatal police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Alton Sterling was shot Tuesday after struggling with two white officers who eventually pinned him to the pavement. On Wednesday, Philando Castile was fatally shot in a car by a Minnesota officer, with the aftermath livestreamed on Facebook by his girlfriend.
Hundreds of people gathered in Dallas to protest the killings Thursday night when Micah Xavier Johnson opened fire, killing five police officers and injuring seven others.
Clinton went ahead with an evening appearance Friday at the African Methodist Episcopal Convention in Philadelphia, in which she issued renewed calls for criminal justice reform and gun control as well as expressing support for police officers.
“We cannot, must not vilify police officers. Remember what those officers were doing when they died.  They were protecting a peaceful march,” Clinton said.
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However, she also called for Americans to work to end "systemic racism" and rebuild communities.
“White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day. We need to try, as best we can, to walk in one another’s shoes,” she said.
Trump, meanwhile, canceled a speech in Miami on Hispanic issues. He instead released a lengthy statement calling the shootings in Dallas "a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe."
“We must restore law and order. We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street,” Trump said. “The senseless, tragic deaths of two people in Louisiana and Minnesota reminds us how much more needs to be done.”
“This morning I offer my thoughts and prayers for all of the victims’ families, and we pray for our brave police officers and first responders who risk their lives to protect us every single day,” he said.
In a video statement late Friday, Trump also called for unity among Americans.
“Now is the time for prayers, love, unity and leadership. Our children deserve a better future than what we are making them live through today, but to get them there we must work together and stand together,” Trump said.

Democratic party platform calls for $15 minimum wage in win for Sanders

Clinton lays low before a possible Sanders endorsement
Sen. Bernie Sanders' effort to shape the Democratic Party's election platform scored a major victory Friday with the approval of an amendment calling for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The self-described "democratic socialist" from Vermont had repeatedly called for the increase during his surprisingly strong campaign for the Democratic nomination. His opponent, presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, had backed a $12 minimum wage, while saying she approved a $15 minimum wage in certain places.
An early draft of the platform contained language more consistent with Clinton’s position, saying that “Americans should earn at least $15 an hour” without explicitly calling for that to be the new federal minimum.
However, the party's 187-member Platform Committee approved an amendment saying an increase from the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour to $15 should happen “over time."
Sanders supporter Benjamin Jealous, a former NAACP president who serves as a member of the committee, called the amendment "a victory for the Bernie Sanders campaign and for working people across the country."

Still, Sanders' supporters want more changes before the platform committee completes its work Saturday. Many were wearing stickers stressing that they want the platform to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Clinton has come out against but Obama supports. They also want a carbon tax to address climate change and seek a freeze on hydraulic fracking.

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The roughly 15,000-word platform is a nonbinding document that serves as a guidepost for the party. After the Orlando meeting, the document will be voted on at the convention in Philadelphia this month. The draft under review already shows Sanders' influence, as it endorses steps to break up large Wall Street banks and urges an end to the death penalty.

Also on Friday night, the committee narrowly backed an amendment to strike mentions of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's name in the platform.

The Sanders and Clinton campaigns are still discussing policy areas where they can reach agreement, including ways to expand access to health care coverage. Clinton's campaign outlined plans earlier this week to expand college affordability and place a three-month moratorium on student loan payments, a proposal that was developed with the Sanders campaign.

For many Democrats, the endorsement is overdue. Sanders' reluctance to endorse Clinton drew catcalls from Democratic lawmakers during a private meeting this week. While he has hung back, other party leaders have coalesced around Clinton.

"He ran a remarkable campaign; he didn't win," said Bob Shrum, a longtime Democratic strategist and politics professor at the University of Southern California. "Hillary Clinton and her campaign have handled him very well. I think the time is coming to resolve this and to prepare for a convention where hopefully he will give a powerful speech."

Back in 2008, after a bruising primary race against then-Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton ended her presidential bid and endorsed him in a speech on June 7. The two then campaigned together in Unity, N.H., three weeks later. Asked Wednesday why he was not doing the same, Sanders told CNN he was working to ensure "we have the strongest Democratic platform out there that represents working families, and we have made good progress on that."

Sanders could take these issue fights to the Democratic convention and his campaign is making sure it is ready to do so. His aides stress his millions of votes and his highly motivated delegates to the convention. Still, Clinton will have more delegates in attendance.

"He's earned the right to stay on the clock," said Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, a Sanders delegate who has endorsed Clinton since she became the presumptive nominee. Sanders' presence and voice, Grijalva said, will be important to unity.

Rep. Corrine Brown indicted in fraud case over charity 'slush fund'

Rep. Corrine Brown indicted in fraud case
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida and her chief of staff have been charged with multiple fraud and other federal offenses in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday after a federal investigation into a fraudulent charity with ties to the congresswoman.
Brown, a 69-year-old Democrat, was to appear later Friday in Jacksonville federal court on charges of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction and filing of false tax returns. She has represented a Jacksonville-based congressional district since 1993 and is seeking re-election in a newly-redrawn district.
The indictment comes after an investigation into the charity One Door for Education Foundation Inc., which federal prosecutors say was purported to give scholarships to poor students but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.
Also charged in the 24-count indictment was Elias "Ronnie" Simmons, 50, of Laurel, Maryland, who has served as Brown's chief of staff since 1993. It wasn't immediately clear from court records whether Brown and Simmons had attorneys to represent them.
Earlier this year, One Door President Carla Wiley pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after it as determined that she had deposited $800,000 into the foundation's account over four years. Over that time, federal prosecutors say it gave one scholarship for $1,000 and that Wiley transferred herself tens of thousands of dollars.
"Congresswoman Brown and her chief of staff are alleged to have used the congresswoman's official position to solicit over $800,000 in donations to a supposed charitable organization, only to use that organization as a personal slush fund," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement.
"Corruption erodes the public's trust in our entire system of representative government," Caldwell added.
The indictment says that Brown, Simmons and Wiley "used the vast majority" of One Door donations for their personal and professional benefit, including tens of thousands of dollars in cash deposits that Simmons made to Brown's personal bank accounts.
According to the indictment, more than $200,000 in One Door funds were used to pay for events hosted by Brown or held in her honor, including a golf tournament, lavish receptions during an annual Washington conference and the use of luxury boxes for a concert and an NFL game in the Washington area.
Documents previously obtained by The Associated Press from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's office show that he received an invitation bearing the seal of the House of Representatives to a July 13, 2013 golf tournament called the "Corrine Brown Invitational." It was sponsored by the One Door organization and coincided with a freight and rail industry symposium in Jacksonville.
Potential donors attending the tournament received letters from One Door with Brown's signature and official House seal asking them to give from $125 up to $20,000 to One Door, according to Wiley's plea agreement.
The invitation said the donations would benefit a scholarship fund for the Jacksonville chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, or COMTO, and other charities. Authorities say none of the charities received any of the money raised.

Dallas sniper followed black militant groups on Facebook, was sent home from Afghanistan over harassment claim

Defense official: Dallas suspect served in US Army Reserve

The Army veteran who gunned down five Dallas police officers Thursday evening subscribed to updates from black nationalist groups on social media and had been sent home from Afghanistan following a sexual harassment allegation.
Micah X. Johnson, 25, shot 14 people, including 12 officers, at the end of an anti-police protest in downtown Dallas. He was killed early Friday after authorities sent a bomb-wielding police robot to infiltrate the parking garage where Johnson was holed up.
Beginning in 2009, Johnson served in the Army Reserve as a private first class with a specialty in carpentry and masonry, the military said.
In May 2014, six months into his Afghanistan tour, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an "other than honorable discharge," said Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him.
That recommendation was "highly unusual," Bradford said, since counseling is usually ordered before more drastic steps are taken.

"In his case, it was apparently so egregious, it was not just the act itself," Glendening told The Associated Press. "I'm sure that this guy was the black sheep of his unit."

According to a court filing Glendening read over the phone Friday, the victim said she wanted Johnson to "receive mental help," while also seeking a protective order to keep him away from her and her family, wherever they went. Johnson was ordered to avoid all contact with her.

Glendening said Johnson was set to be removed from the Army in September 2014 because of the incident, but instead got an honorable discharge months later -- for reasons he can't understand.

"Someone really screwed up," he said. "But to my client's benefit."
After Johnson returned from Afghanistan, a friend who served in his platoon told FoxNews.com, "he got in touch with some bad folks and went all Black Panther."
On Facebook, Johnson "liked" black militant groups including the African American Defense League and the New Black Panther Party, which was founded in Dallas.

His photo showed him wearing a dashiki and raising his fist over the words "Black Power," and his cover shot carried the red, black and green Pan-African flag.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown, said Johnson cited the fatal shootings of black men by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota, which prompted the protest march in Dallas and many other cities.

"The suspect said he was upset with white people and wanted to kill white people, especially white officers," Brown said.

Activists with Black Lives Matter, whose peaceful march police were guarding as he opened fire, repudiated the shootings, and it wasn't immediately clear if Johnson had any connection to the movement, which has disavowed violence.

But one of the groups Johnson "liked" on Facebook, the African American Defense League, posted a message earlier in the week encouraging violence against police in response to the killing in Louisiana.

"The Pig has shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana! You and I know what we must do and I don't mean marching, making a lot of noise, or attending conventions. We must `Rally The Troops!' It is time to visit Louisiana and hold a barbeque." The message was attributed to Dr. Mauricelm-Lei Millere, a leader in the organization.

Another group Johnson "liked" was the New Black Panther Party, whose leaders have "long expressed virulently anti-white and anti-Semitic opinions," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Johnson also "liked" the Nation of Islam and the Black Riders Liberation Party, which the center described as "hate groups."

Among Johnson's other social media likes were groups that focus on the history and accomplishments of African-Americans, such as Black Love Matters, the Nubian Rootz Cultural Center, and I Love Black Archaeologist, a web series whose main character uses a time machine to visit famous black people.

The Dallas Police Department said Johnson's Facebook account also included information about Richard Griffin, also known as Professor Griff, who "embraces a radical form of Afrocentrism."

On his Facebook page Friday afternoon, Griffin, a member of Public Enemy -- an influential hip hop group known for its politically charged lyrics -- said he does "not advocate killing Cops."

Johnson had no criminal history, according to authorities. Local court records show his parents were divorced in 1996.

He was believed to have shared a two-story tan brick home in Mesquite with family members. He graduated from John Horn High School in Mesquite, where he was a ROTC member, school district officials said.

Sharon Carter, who works in the district's registrar's office and lives near Johnson's home, said she saw him occasionally wearing military fatigues as he left for Army reservist training, but never saw him armed.

"They say he was standoffish in high school," Carter said. "I never really spoke to him. He kept to himself."

A relative had praised Johnson on his birthday in 2014 as "definitely Army strong" on his Facebook page, calling him an "entertaining, loving, understanding, not to mention handsome friend, brother (and) son."

After Johnson was killed, a relative posted on her Facebook page, "I keep saying its not true...my eyes hurt from crying. Y him??? And why was he downtown." She did not respond to Facebook messages.

Friend Israel Cooper said Johnson went by "Xavier,' his middle name, had a "cool vibe," wasn't really political and seemed educated.

Cooper said he and Johnson played basketball at a park near his home. "He would be out there for eight hours. Like it was his job. Just hoopin'," he said.

Cooper said that when he heard the suspect was Johnson, he "was in disbelief because he's just not like a violent or rough dude."

"So I was, `Nah, it's probably another Xavier somewhere, you know,"' Cooper said. "But then, with pictures on the internet and stuff, I'm like `OK.' "

Cooper added: "It's the quiet ones that just do the most devastating stuff. You never see it coming. But then it's more expected, like `I should have known."'

Obama renews gun control push after 'senseless' Dallas murders

The only answer to the problem this man can come up with over and over and over is gun control.

President Obama renewed his push for gun control measures Friday as he condemned the “senseless murders” of five Dallas police officers in a coordinated sniper attack overnight.
Late Friday, the White House announced Obama would cut short his current European trip by a day and visit Dallas early next week.
The attack, which also injured at least seven, was carried out during an anti-police brutality protest. It was the nation's deadliest day for law enforcement since 9/11.
Obama, speaking at the start of a NATO summit in Poland, decried the “vicious, calculated and despicable attack.”
He vowed “justice will be done” and voiced support for the “extraordinarily difficult job” of America’s law enforcement officers.
“Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us,” Obama said.
But before wrapping his remarks, the president once again returned to the issue of gun laws.
“We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic, and in the days ahead we’re going to have to consider those realities as well,” Obama said.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said it appears multiple rifle-toting suspects were working together, "triangulating at different positions" as protesters marched through the streets of Dallas. Three people were in custody and one suspect dead.
The attack comes on the heels of a string of failed votes in Congress to tighten gun regulations, particularly for those on terror-related watch lists. The latest surge of votes followed the deadly terror massacre at an Orlando nightclub last month.
Lawmakers, though, still have not been able to come together on a piece of compromise legislation. Democrats have objected strongly to the stalemate, even staging a protracted House floor sit-in.
House Democrats are likely to ramp up their calls for gun restrictions following the Dallas murders as well. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, at a previously scheduled press conference Friday morning, continued to urge legislation on the issue.
"We need legislative action now," CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said, while mourning the victims of both the Dallas tragedy and two recent deadly shootings by police.
Protesters also held a police shooting rally by the U.S. Capitol Thursday night. At the same time, Fox News is told House Democrats are mindful of further stoking the embers of an already volatile situation.
Obama’s swift turn to gun control riled some Republicans.
Former 2016 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said the “common denominator” is “not the weapon” – but the “anarchy in the heart of the person who’s … committing the crime.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers across the country voiced solidarity with the people of Dallas and law enforcement community.
“Tonight I join the people of Dallas, Texas, in praying for the safety of the Dallas Police Officers and all who are in the downtown are this evening,” Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions said in a statement. "Our police officers selflessly put their lives on the line every single day to vigilantly protect our families and communities and it is devastating to think that someone deliberately targeted our law enforcement.”

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