Political Cartoons 2017

Texas shooting: Gun laws aren't the problem, government incompetence is

In the wake of a Baptist church shooting that left 26 people dead Sunday, Democratic politicians and pundits once again took to social media and cable news to denounce those who they deem to be the true monsters in the entire situation –  National Rifle Association members and Christians offering thoughts and prayers.

The NRA was denounced a “terrorist organization” that was “drenched in the blood” of the victims of gun violence.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. – who looks like a pining presidential candidate – was of course out front in a rush to the microphones. He demanded that we all do “something,” without ever actually disclosing what that something might be. Apparently, what he really wants is confiscation of firearms from law-abiding Americans, who are now once again facing media backlash for a crime they had nothing to do with.
But as was revealed Sunday, in what is becoming a common theme in these mass shootings, no amount of background checking would have stopped the shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas from purchasing his firearms, because the federal government failed to do it’s job properly. It’s not the first time.

If federal employees cannot perform the simplest of tasks of enforcing laws already on the books meant to keep people safe, then those employees need to be released and their agencies eliminated.

While serving in the U.S. Air Force, shooter Devin Patrick Kelley was convicted of domestic assault against his wife. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges stemming from incidents including physically striking his wife and choking and kicking her. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting his stepson, severely enough to crack the young child’s skull.
Kelley’s court-martial conviction should have disqualified him immediately from purchasing any kind of firearms. So what happened? The Associated Press reported:
“Under Pentagon rules, information about convictions of military personnel in crimes like assault is supposed to be submitted to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Investigation Services Division for inclusion in the National Criminal Information Center database. For unspecified reasons, the Air Force did not provide the information about Kelley as required.”
The AP report continued: “Acknowledging its mistake, the Air Force said in a written statement that the top two Air Force officials – Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein – have ordered a review of the Kelley case by the Air Force Office of the Inspector General.”
Because of a law passed in 1996, it’s illegal for anyone convicted a domestic abuse crime to purchase a firearm, something some of our dutiful lawmakers in Congress seem to not be aware of.
Because Kelley’s court records were never submitted the FBI database, Kelley sailed through several background checks and purchased up to four known firearms. Great work, guys.
This also appears to not just be a bad slip in judgment but a systematic problem. The Trace reported: “… the military has no distinct charge for domestic violence, notes Grover Baxley, a former judge advocate general who now practices military law as a civilian. ‘We see this all the time,’ Baxley said. ‘There is no specific domestic violence article.” Instead, military prosecutors charge abusers with other offenses, like assault. A scan of active records shows that the Department of Defense has just a single misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence on file with the National Criminal Instant Background Check System, or NICS.”
A chart accompanying the report shows a startling statistic. The military has submitted “zero records for members subject to domestic violence restraining orders” to federal authorities. This isn’t one or two bad apples falling through the cracks. This is a tree shaking them all to the ground.
But even when the FBI has all the data needed to flag someone from purchasing a gun, there have been examples of gross incompetence as well.
Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people during evening services at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.
Roof was not legally permitted to own a firearm due to an unlawful drug possession charge from earlier that year. Roof’s record listed the wrong arresting agency and because of this error, he was able to legally purchase the weapon he used in the shooting. Victims of family members killed by Roof have filed suit against the U.S. government because of this avoidable error.
Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people and then committed suicide at the school in 2007, was under years of mental health observation. In 2005 he was accused of harassing female students and ordered by a court-appointed special justice, who declared him mentally ill, to attend treatment.
The justice declared that Cho “presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness.” Because Cho was never actually institutionalized, his state records were never sent to the FBI database, and he was able to purchase his weapons. Families of the victims settled with  Virginia for $11 million in damages over the lapse.
A 2012 report from Mayors Against Illegal Guns found similar lapses in the background check system. As NPR reported: “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined why states aren't submitting records in a July report. Some cited bureaucratic barriers, others technical ones, like switching from paper-based to computer systems. And some states contend it violates their laws to forward mental health records to the federal database. A few states are changing their laws.”
It should not matter if these incidences are occurring because of a political correctness stigma around mental health, or just dumb laziness. If federal employees cannot perform the simplest of tasks of enforcing laws already on the books meant to keep people safe, then those employees need to be released and their agencies eliminated.
The National Rifle Association and lawful gun owners are not involved in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. During the shooting in Texas, a former NRA instructor was instrumental in stopping Kelley’s rampage – a rampage that could have been prevented had our government not been asleep at the wheel again. But sure, let’s turn over our health care to the government now.

If our government cannot perform simple tasks like filling our criminal record forms and entering information into databases, then why in the world would we burden federal employees with new gun laws that do nothing but restrict the constitutional rights of citizens and vendors in full compliance with the law?
Start with enforcing the federal laws on the books before attempting one of those “conversations” about curtailing rights. When our government gets that right, then we can have a larger discussion about the Second Amendment.

Stephen L. Miller has written for Heat Street and National Review Online. Follow him on Twitter at @redsteeze.

Trump blames Gillespie for loss in VA race: He 'did not embrace me'

President Trump criticized Republican Ed Gillespie within moments of his projected loss in Tuesday's Virginia gubernatorial race, suggesting he fell short because he did not “embrace” Trump's agenda. 

“Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!” Trump tweeted from Seoul, South Korea on Tuesday night, minutes after the gubernatorial race was called for Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

The president repeatedly had urged voters to support Gillespie leading up to Tuesday's vote. The Republican nominee, though, kept a certain distance from the president throughout the campaign, even as he adopted some of the president's tough immigration policies.
But while Gillespie tried to strike a balance in the swing state -- the only southern state Trump lost in last year's presidential election -- Democrats worked hard to tie Gillespie to the president at every turn.
One controversial ad showed minority children seemingly being chased by a driver in a pickup truck, decked out with a Confederate flag and a “Gillespie for governor” bumper sticker. The ad concluded with a scene of a Charlottesville-like rally, with a narrator asking: “Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by the ‘American Dream?’”
The ad was removed after extensive backlash.
Other mailers from Northam’s camp boasted that he is “standing up to Trump and Gillespie’s politics of fear and hate.”

 (Mailer from the Northam campaign sent to Virginia voters this campaign season. )

Northam campaigned with Democratic power players like former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden and even had a fundraiser headlined by Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Gillespie garnered Republican support with a fundraiser hosted by former President George W. Bush. He was also joined by Vice President Pence on the campaign trail, but not Trump.
The Trump-referendum strategy has not been particularly successful for Democrats in House special elections this year, which the president referenced in his tweet Tuesday night. He referred to special elections in Kansas, Montana, Georgia, and South Carolina—Republicans won all four of those races.

Democrats Northam, Murphy win gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey

Democrat Ralph Northam, left, won the gubernatorial race in Virginia as Democrat Phil Murphy, right, won in New Jersey.

Democrats rode to victory in Tuesday's hotly contested gubernatorial elections, as Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia and Phil Murphy beat Republican Kim Guadagno in New Jersey.
The victories -- especially the win in Virginia -- are a shot in the arm to the beleaguered Democratic Party, which has lost four special congressional elections to Republicans since Donald Trump was elected president a year ago.
Northam, Virginia's lieutenant governor, won with the support of federal government employees and non-white voters, according to the Fox News Voter Analysis.
Northam garnered 54 percent to Gillespie's 45 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reported.
As he began his victory speech late Tuesday night in Fairfax, Northam was briefly ushered off stage by security after several pro-sanctuary cities protesters in the crowd began heckling him. Once he returned to the stage, Northam vowed to work to unite the state.

Democratic nominee Ralph Northam, left, defeated Republican Ed Gillespie, right, on Tuesday in the state's gubernatorial contest.  (AP)

“We need to close the wounds that divide, and bring unity to Virginia," he said. "Whether you voted for me or not, we are all Virginians. And I hope to earn your confidence and support as we move forward."
Speaking in Richmond, Gillespie told supporters he had conceded to Northam.
“Obviously, wish it had gone the other way, but I thank those who voted,” Gillespie said.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez celebrated the wins by saying voters in Virginia and New Jersey “rejected a Trump-Pence agenda” -- though the voter analysis suggested President Trump was not a major factor at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, Trump reacted to the results by saying Gillespie, whom he supported, did not adequately embrace him during the race.
"Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for," the president tweeted. "Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!"
Ahead of Tuesday’s elections, the president repeatedly tweeted his support for Gillespie in the race to replace Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia. Polling in recent weeks had seemed to show Gillespie gaining ground on Northam in Virginia, the only southern state lost by Trump in 2016.
FULL ELECTION DAY COVERAGE
Towards the end of the campaign, Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, emphasized issues embraced by Trump during the presidential campaign, vowing to crack down on sanctuary cities and the MS-13 gang.
The race between Gillespie and Northam had gotten particularly nasty in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of running ads that were out of line and racially tinged.
VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE GUIDE
Last week, a liberal group called the Latino Victory Fund released a television ad showing immigrant and minority children in Virginia being chased down the road by a man in a pickup truck with a Confederate flag and a Gillespie bumper sticker. Republicans decried the ad, accusing Democrats of fear-mongering. The group behind it eventually took the ad down after last week’s terrorist attack by truck in New York.
Meanwhile, Democrats repeatedly protested ads from Gillespie accusing Northam of voting for bills that would lead to a threat increase from the MS-13 gang. In a video posted on Twitter after he voted Tuesday, McAuliffe warned about a possible Republican upset and called on voters to reject the “bigoted, racist ads that Ed Gillespie has run against Ralph Northam”
“I do not want you waking up like you did after the presidential election last November and saying, ‘how could this possibly happen?’” McAuliffe said.
VIRGINIA, NEW JERSEY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES SPAR OVER SANCTUARY CITIES
Gillespie and Northam also sparred over the highly charged issue of removing Confederate monuments in the state. Northam's campaign attempted to tie Gillespie to the white supremacist violence this summer in Charlottesville, something Gillespie's campaign called an "ugly character smear."
Northam’s team portrayed the race as a referendum against Trump, labeling Gillespie “Trump's chief lobbyist” because of his former lobbying career.
The gubernatorial elections come as the national Democratic Party finds itself in disarray over former DNC interim chairman Donna Brazile’s new book claiming the DNC rigged the nomination for Hillary Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders in 2016.

Democratic nominee Phil Murphy, right, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, left, in New Jersey.  (AP)

In New Jersey, Murphy -- a former Goldman Sachs executive and U.S. ambassador to Germany -- will succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who has seen his approval numbers take a drastic hit and is term-limited after eight years in office.
Christie's deep unpopularity made Lt. Gov. Guadagno's campaign an uphill climb from the start.
Like Gillespie, Guadagno spent the campaign railing against sanctuary cities, releasing an ad drawing attention to Murphy’s comments in support of New Jersey being a “sanctuary state” and telling the story of an illegal immigrant who was convicted of killing several students in 2007.
“Murphy doesn’t have our backs,” the ad’s narrator said. Referencing criminal illegal immigrants, the narrator added: “He has theirs.”
Like Northam in Virginia, Murphy responded by accusing Guadagno of channeling Trump.
“Kim Guadagno should be ashamed of herself for the way she’s politicizing the deaths of three children and painting a community with the broad brush of a murderer, a tactic she must have gleaned from President Trump,” Murphy said in response to the ad. “To say the least, these are not New Jersey’s values.”

Trump, speaking in Seoul, warns North Korea: 'Do not underestimate us'

Speaking in front of South Korea’s National Assembly Wednesday morning, President Trump warned North Korea: "Do not underestimate us."

"Today, I hope I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations, when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us. And do not try us," Trump said. "We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity, and our sacred liberty," the president said to cheers.

"We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction," he continued. "We will not be intimidated. And we will not let the worst atrocities in history be repeated here, on this ground we fought and died so hard to secure."
The comments contrasted remarks the president made earlier in the week, in which he appeared open to possible talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
During a news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, Trump argued that "it makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and make a deal that is good for the people of North Korea and for the world."
"I do see certain movement," Trump said.
But a day earlier, while in Tokyo, the president argued that "the era of strategic patience" with North Korea was finished and defended his previous rhetoric regarding the country.
That tone matched his speech on Wednesday.
"The world cannot tolerate the menace of a rogue regime that threatens with nuclear devastation," Trump argued, while advocating for "peace through strength."
"All responsible nations must join forces to isolate the brutal regime of North Korea," he said.
"It is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together - because the longer we wait, the greater the danger grows, and the fewer the options become," he continued. "And to those nations that choose to ignore this threat or, worse still, to enable it: The weight of this crisis is on your conscience."
TRUMP LANDS IN JAPAN, KICKING OFF FIRST ASIA TRIP
The speech in South Korea comes amid a 13-day trip to Asia that has already seen the president visit Japan and South Korea with stops in China, Vietnam and the Philippines still on the docket.