Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Comedy writer Megan Amram jokes Las Vegas shooter fits typical profile because he is a 'white man'
Comedian Megan Amram responded to a TMZ story that Las Vegas massacre gunman Stephen Paddock doesn’t fit the typical mass shooter profile by tweeting, “White man? Sure does.”
TMZ published an article
making a case that Paddock is unique for a mass shooter, as he is older
(64), lived in a retirement community and didn’t have a known criminal
record. The comedian's tweet to her 759,000 followers resulted in a series of responses mocking white males.
Amram’s comment was retweeted over 1,000 times and
favorited over 5,000 times in the first three hours after she published
the tweet. She followed up her response to TMZ with a pair of jokes
related to the massacre in Las Vegas in which Paddock opened fire at the
Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 58
people and sending more than 500 others to hospitals.“If only there was a way to have known he was going to use that rifle for assault,” Amram wrote, follow by, “Trump, please ban Americans from traveling to the United States. They are far too dangerous to let in.”
Amram’s Twitter feed is filled with anti-Trump messages, including one --“Today was the day Donald trump finally became president,” -- that she adds on an almost daily basis.
“I agree with republicans because I too want millions of people to die so that I can get revenge on Black President,” she wrote back on Sept. 21.
“There should be a dating app for people who have been fired from trump's administration,” she wrote back on July 31.
Amram was a writer for the 2011 Academy Awards and has worked on popular shows including “Billy on the Street with Billy Eichner,” "Parks and Recreation” and “Silicon Valley," according to IMDB. She is also a contributing writer for The New Yorker and recently wrote a spoof of Jared Kushner’s Harvard admissions essay.
The Boston Globe and Huffington Post have both profiled Amram’s Twitter account in the past, although it remains unverified. Amram is hardly the only person to make polarizing comments on social media on Monday, as a CBS executive said she is “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican” in a Facebook message.
The New Yorker and Amran did not immediately respond to Fox News’ separate requests for comment.
White House backs bill criminalizing abortions after 20 weeks
President Donald Trump walks from
Marine One across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington,
Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017, as he returns from Indianapolis. (AP
Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A House bill banning abortions after 20 weeks on Monday received the official backing of the Trump administration.
The White House “strongly supports”
the Republican efforts to “secure critical pro-life protections” and
believes “America’s children deserve the stronger protections” that the
bill would provide.
“The bill, if enacted into law, would help to
facilitate the culture of life to which our Nation aspires,” the
statement said. “Additionally, the bill would promote a science-based
approach to unborn life, as recent advancements have revealed that the
physical structures necessary to experience pain are developed within 20
weeks of fertilization”Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks is sponsoring the bill and it is scheduled to come up for a vote on Tuesday in the House.
The bill would criminalize abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, introducing fines and jail sentences - up to five years – for those who perform or attempt an abortion.
The measure would not penalize women seeking abortions after 20 weeks and would allow the procedure in the case of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
Pro-choice groups have come out in staunch opposition to the bill, calling it “cruel” and “unconstitutional.”
"20 week abortion bans are: unpopular, unconstitutional, part of the agenda to ban ALL abortion,” tweeted Planned Parenthood.
The Guttmacher Institute's director of public policy, Heather Boonstra, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill, saying the bill’s claim that unborn children can feel pain after 20 weeks “is not supported by the preponderance of scientific evidence.”
She also slammed the bill’s "particularly callous and cruel rape and incest exceptions" that require women to wait 48 hours and have two doctor visits with two different abortion providers before being allowed an abortion.
A similar bill passed the House back in 2015 but was later blocked by Senate Democrats, The Hill reported.
The new abortion bill is likely to pass the Republican-majority House but it might face opposition in the Senate where the rules require larger majority – meaning Republicans would need to sway at least eight Democrats to pass the bill.
CBS fires vice president who said Vegas victims didn't deserve sympathy because country music fans 'often are Republican'
CBS has parted ways with one of the company’s top
lawyers after she said she was “not even sympathetic” to victims of the
Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican,”
when discussing the mass shooting that unfolded in Las Vegas late Sunday
night.
Monday night she issued a statement of apology.
Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network's now-former vice
president and senior counsel, said, “Earlier today I posted an
indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic
Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry
for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen
Paddock’s terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted
on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect
the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor
do they reflect my actual beliefs — this senseless violence warrants the
deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words
have incurred.”A CBS spokeswoman told Fox News that Geftman-Gold, “who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS. Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families.”
Geftman-Gold took to Facebook after a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 59 people and sending more than 510 others to hospitals.
“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs [sic] will ever do the right thing,” Geftman-Gold wrote in a now-deleted message that was first reported and captured by The Daily Caller.
Geftman-Gold continued: “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc [sic] country music fans often are Republican gun toters [sic].”
Geftman-Gold is presumably referring to Sandy Hook, which occurred in Newtown, Conn. back in 2012. A 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza, killed 20 children and six adults during the tragic event that sparked intense political debates regarding gun control.
Her attorney, Carrie A. Goldberg, responded: “In the last few hours my client, her family and friends have been bombarded by online death unimaginable in quantity and detail. We beg people to show love and support to survivors and loved ones — in Las Vegas and their own lives — instead of creating more violence.”
Geftman-Gold did not work directly with the network’s news division. According to her LinkedIn bio, Geftman-Gold worked at CBS since September 2016 and graduated from the prestigious Columbia University law school in 2000.
Las Vegas tragedy: Shock, resignation, a call for unity and instant politicization
I was on Fox Business for half an
hour yesterday morning, before and after President Trump spoke about the
horrifying massacre in Las Vegas.
This was the deadliest mass shooting
in American history, but the aftermath, I told Stuart Varney, felt
uncomfortably like the new normal. Our collective shock was mixed with a
sense of resignation. The journalists, local officials, the public all
know the drill. The only thing that seems to vary is the death toll.
What can really be said, at this point, about stopping
the carnage? We can, and have, stepped up our efforts against terrorism.
But what about these lone wolf attacks carried out by deranged
individuals?I don’t understand how the shooter got 10 rifles into the Mandalay Bay Resort. Do hotels now need metal detectors? But it’s impossible to protect every public space.
After the president spoke, I said that his remarks were eloquent. He called the shooting an act of pure evil, said the FBI is investigating, but also talked about unity and love and praying for the victims. He didn’t deviate into politics. “And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today-- and always will, forever.”
For a leader who often wanders off message, Trump said what needed to be said—and not more.
I also said that with Hillary Clinton and other Democrats issuing messages about gun control, it was too bad they couldn’t wait one day as the country absorbs the grief of a mass murder in which the death toll wasn’t even final.
This was said out of sadness, but I got savaged online by people who think this is exactly when we should be debating gun control, hours after a brutal massacre.
Sensible gun control, I made clear, is a legitimate issue. All I said was that out of sensitivity toward the mourning families and a stunned country, waiting until the next morning before scoring political points seemed like a decent interval.
I have been consistent over the years in saying both the left and right should not instantaneously politicize these tragedies. Whether it’s Columbine or Virginia Tech or Aurora or Sandy Hook or Tucson or Washington Navy Yard or San Bernardino or Orlando or a Charleston church--or a Virginia baseball field where Steve Scalise nearly died but managed to return to Congress last week--there’s a knee-jerk tendency to blame the actions and rhetoric of the other ideological side.
I said the left shouldn’t be blamed just because the man who wounded Scalise and others hated Republicans. I said Sarah Palin shouldn’t be blamed because of a political map for the gunman who wounded Gabby Giffords and killed six others. Some of these mass killers are just crazy, deranged losers.
If Trump had used his speech to say we should loosen gun laws so more people can protect themselves, he would have been vilified for politicizing the tragedy.
By all means, let’s have the debate. The reality is that a Republican Congress is not going to approve stricter gun-control measures. Barack Obama couldn’t get a bill through even after the horror in Newtown.
In a CNN poll last year after the Orlando nightclub shooting, 92 percent said they favored expanded background checks, 87 percent supported a ban for felons or people with mental health problems, and 85 percent would ban people on federal watch lists from buying guns. But the power of the NRA changes the equation on Capitol Hill.
Asking politicians to briefly hold off before resuming the partisan warfare shouldn’t be controversial. But apparently it is.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
Monday, October 2, 2017
Pres. Trump Praises Work of FEMA, Military in Puerto Rico
OAN Newsroom
President Trump commends the work of FEMA and the military in Puerto Rico and takes aim at those not recognizing the efforts.
In a series of tweets Sunday, the president said people are now starting to recognize the amazing work of both groups.
He said all buildings on the hurricane stricken island have been inspected for safety.
The president also tweeted only “fake news” media outlets and “politically motivated” people are not acknowledging the government’s work on the island.
He then thanked the governor of Puerto Rico and those working with first responders.
Steve Scalise's prayer after being shot: 'God, please don't let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone'
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise thought of his
daughter while he was bleeding out on a baseball field in Alexandria,
Va. in June and prayed he'd be able to walk her down the aisle at her
wedding.
"At that point, I just went into
prayer. And it, it gave me a calmness. It was a weird calmness, while
I'm hearing the gunfire. You know the first thing that came to mind?"
Scalise said in an interview on "60 Minutes."
"I prayed, ‘God, please don't let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.' That was the first thing that came to mind."Scalise said he wasn't originally sure how badly he was injured because his body quickly went into shock.
"I knew I was shot. Didn't know how bad it was. You know, in a weird way, your body kind of goes numb. You know, as bad as the wounds were-- and obviously, I know now how severe it was," he said. "At the time, I guess my body had been shutting down a lot of the real pain, and I was just thinking about, what was going on at the moment."
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