Letter to the President on gun control

Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

You have tried to stop gun violence on several occasions and I realize you have combated a GOP Congress that vowed from the beginning of your first term in office to stop any legislation you proposed. Any legislation. That in itself proves that you are dealing with a group of individuals that have put their ideologies, and I must sorrowfully say, Mr. President, their hate for you, before their country. You have always placed our country first and most of us appreciate that.

It seems to me that to deal with this kind of mentality you must prove to the American public, and those who would block this legislation, the nature of those who are against reasonable gun laws, those who put guns before the safety of innocent victims. I think the way to do this, and, it is my wife's idea by the way, is to lower all U.S. flags to half-mast at government facilities around the world and keep them there until Congress passes meaningful laws for gun control.

Then you, Mr. President, can be instrumental in convincing large and small business, plus individuals who fly the flag, to lower their flags to half-staff until Congress addresses and does something about gun violence. When American citizens realize the reason for doing this, and the fact that it is an on-going event, hopefully that will make them better comprehend the gun slaughter that takes place on American streets every day.

I thank you for your consideration, Mr. President, and my wife and I stand ready to help in any way we can in this matter.

Jack and Barbara Dunning
Cave Creek, AZ

Flags at half-mast until more gun control

Yesterday I introduced the concept of lowering all the flags to half-staff until the U.S. Congress addresses the problem of gun violence. On government facilities, private residences, commercial buildings, just anywhere that flies the American flag. Right through the evening hours,all the next day and on and on and on. Until we get acceptable gun legislation that will stop these mass gun killings and all the day to day bloodshed.

The Orlando LGBT club is only the latest of a string of mass murders by guns which already numbers 141 just in 2016. I read the comment just after the Florida devastation that from Sandy Hook (where 20 children age 6 were slaughtered with an assault rifle) to Orlando, the public's attitude toward more gun control has not changed measurably. They're still against it which is completely dumbfounding to me.

This can all be traced back to the cowards in Congress (Democrats and Republicans) who refuse to pass the reasonable gun control bills that would have saved many of the lives in those 141 mass shooting, and the day to day shootings on the streets. And this can be attributed to Congress' fear of retaliation from the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) and its head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre. Grown men who allow this sleaze bag to run their lives.

It's pathetic but if people woke up each day looking at flags everywhere at half-mast, after a while maybe this whole dilemma could be solved.

Think about it.

Here's an idea to make the gun control issue work

Fly the American flag at half-staff until Congress passes new gun control laws that will help curtail gun violence. This is not my idea. It is my wife's idea and she isn't even as close to the gun control movement as I am. But it is time that we realized the current loose gun laws and open availability of any kind of weapon that anyone wants is not working.

The National Rifle Assn.'s head, Wayne LaPierre, and his NRA minions can spout off their mouths all they want about the 2nd Amendment, but it is clear that their way has failed miserably. There have been 141 mass shootings in 2016. With 6,171 total deaths, 1,577 of them under the age of seventeen, 260 under eleven. If the American public can't understand this, there must be something wrong with their priorities.

So, how about lowering the flag to half-mast and leaving it there until we get some results on gun control legislation. I have researched this and it is legal to fly the flag at night as long as it is illuminated. The President can order this for government facilities but I am also talking about all those flags that are on display around the country, commercial and private, and around the world at other U.S. possessions. If we lead this movement here, maybe other countries hopefully will join in the cause and lower their flags to half-staff.

The purpose is to shame Congress into doing something about gun violence. So think about this over the weekend and follow my blog for more information. And please leave your comments that can be shared with others, particularly if your home or business agrees with the idea.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

Donald Trump

I think Donald Trump’s views on immigration and his slurring of the Latino community is not something that should be going on in the year 2015, and it’s to me an embarrassment for our country.

Why Clinton should not be Democratic nominee

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Huff Post has come up with a list of a 10-point plan being executed by the Democratic Party to lose the 2016 Presidential election. I would like to cover them a couple at a time.

Number one: Assume that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee, when it is clear he will not. There's some pretty good reasoning and not too shabby math in this conclusion but Trump, like Bernie Sanders, has had his share of surprises in this race that has kept the former in the lead and the latter in a very strong contender's position.

Number two: The Dems attempt to nominate the only one of the two Democratic candidates who is almost guaranteed to reunite the Republican Party. You think Mitch McConnell hates Barack Obama, there is nothing that will bring the GOP together quicker than its hatred of the Clintons. Huff Post says, "Hillary Clinton is one of the least popular major-party politicians in America, and her disapproval rating is not just sky-high among Republicans..."

We can thank Debbie Wasserman Schultz for the direction of the Democratic nominating process, something she has clearly steered to favor Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Sanders ratings against Trump and Cruz are better than Clinton's but due to Schultz' close ties with her and the fact that the Bern is an Independent, the DNC Chair is hell-bent on pushing him out of the race. 

Bernie Sanders Sayings

Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.

Clinton campaign whines on and on and on...

Hillary Clinton had just won 58% of the New York Primary vote to Bernie Sanders 42% when the Clinton talking heads started grumbling over the fact that Bernie is not playing fair. Seems that at the time exit polls gleaned from respondents that 46% felt the Clinton campaign was more unfair, only 34% for Sanders. In added comments, "...66% of Democrats said the primary contest is 'energizing' the party," according to CNN.

Chief whiner, Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director, says that "...the Sanders campaign 'has been destructive' to that point that he is 'not productive to Democrats' and is 'not productive for the country.'" What she is really saying is that the Bern is an Independent, not a Democrat, and the fact that he has won so many primaries against Hillary is embarrassing the party. What she fails to mention is the fact that Bernie Sanders is consistently committed.

But the numbers are that Sanders won 106 delegates in New York to Clinton's 139 for a total of 1,199 pledged to 1,452 respectively. Clinton has 489 superdelegates to Sanders 41, a hefty lead that could be whittled down with the upcoming primaries. Bernie's position, and it is a reasonable one, is that superdelegates will start changing their mind if he continues strong in future primaries, starting with Connecticut on April 26.

Another superdelegate factor includes states whose delegates have voted for Clinton where Sanders was the choice of the popular vote. Sanders adviser Tad Devine said, referring to the Clinton campaign whining, "I hear what they're saying, but what they're saying is being refuted by the voters themselves." One thing is clear, Bernie Sanders has started a revolution that the American public has connected with, and it has upset the Democratic Party process.