Each Monday in Chicago, we gird ourselves for the most recent score. Not on how well the Bears, Bulls or Blackhawks, Cubs or White Sox have fared, but on how many new victims of guns have been racked up. Two weekends ago, three were killed with 17 other shooting victims, according to CBS News.
Victims of gun shootings are spiking in Chicago and in cities across the country. From 2014 to 2015 to date, the murder rate in Milwaukee is up 76 percent. In St. Louis, it’s up 60 percent, in Baltimore up 56 percent, and in the nation’s capital, up 44 percent. Chicago is up “only” 20 percent, but the numbers are staggering – from 244 to 294 to date. Likely all cities that like Chicago have draconian gun laws.
Someone in Chicago has been shot every 2.84 hours this year, a total of 2,349 shootings from January 1 to October 6, according to the Chicago Tribune tally. Over five years, Chicago police report 12,814 shootings and 2,583 murders, according to a chart provided me by the Chicago Police Department. We lost nearly as many people in Chicago alone as we lost on 9/11. Pretty handy rhetorical sleight of hand. Those killed on 9-11 were killed by terrorists. The dead in Chicago were killed by other Chicagoans. Had the terrorists killed other Islamists or others of their nationality, we might not even be having this conversation.
Nearly nine of 10 murders (89 percent) are from gunshots. Eight of 10 victims are African-American males. The guns are not made in Chicago. The Chicago police recover about 7,000 illegal guns annually – more than any other city. Illegal as in recovered from people who committed crimes with those guns, or from people who were under an active warrant? He doesn't specify.
What we have here is a national security emergency. There is national mourning for the victims of the mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. But Chicago is experiencing an Umpqua almost every week. Funny how that works, innit?
Too many illegal guns are in circulation, from handguns to military assault rifles. These guns are powerful enough not only to shoot up churches and schools but to bring down airplanes. Too many legal guns are in the wrong hands. Too many young men use guns rather than reason to settle disputes, bullets rather than accomplishment to establish their manhood. I'd say that last sentence is closer to the truth than the rest of it.
President Obama has spoken out forcefully against gun violence, but his proposed reforms have been dead on arrival in the Congress, unable even to come to a vote. Because Obama is proposing more gun laws atop of already existing gun laws which do nothing but restrict individuals from buying a firearm for protection. In order to have protection outside of background check, they become a criminal, simply because they want protection.
His most recent comments have despaired that yet another slaughter brings no action.
It is time to increase both the heat and the light. President Obama should convene a White House Conference on Gun Violence. That commission should detail reforms needed to begin to address the epidemic of gun violence, and call the nation to action. The reforms can’t be limited to closing gun show loopholes or other gun law reforms. The Department of Homeland Security should be there, detailing the threat posed by the spread of guns designed for the military, not for hunters. A presidential commission, by gum! Why didn't 2A supporters think of that? And using the DHS, the agency which said that gun owners who are white and conservative are "potential terrorists"? That DHS?
We need to crack down on illegal gun ownership, with harsh penalties for repeat offenders. We should be jailing those who traffic in illegal guns, while reducing sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. There should be a push to revive the ban on assault weapons once more. It is ridiculous that weapons designed for war are spread across American streets. But, oddly enough, used in less than one percent of all shootings. Rifles which can be used not just for "sporting purposes", but to show a increasingly hostile government that a steep payment will come due quickly in any attempt to ban any guns.
But the murder spike represents more than simply too many guns. The violence stems from the growing misery of too few jobs, too many guns and too little hope. Any sensible plan against the spike in murders and shootings will include jobs for the young, increases in the minimum wage, guaranteed paid family leave days and more. The culture of drugs and guns has to be challenged with an economy of jobs and opportunity. Your customers were sold a bill of goods which included "hope and change", and yet the politician most responsible for that pitch failed to deliver. Wanna know why? Follow the unprecedented expansion of domestic spending and the size, scope and power of government. Obama's "hope and change" turned out to be a call for more and bigger government, unchecked either in Congress or in any other political class. Wanna know why people are frustrated? Obama delivered only more government.
The Black Lives Matter Movement has raised awareness of the violence in our cities, focusing on the horror of African-Americans threatened by the very police who are charged with protecting them. But the spike of murders and shootings comes not from the actions of the police but from the actions of residents. Police are only the salemen for the justice industry. The spike in murders can be directly traced to a lack of guns in hands that can do the most to stop violence, and that ain't the cops. Hate to see so many black folks killed? Repeal all of the gun laws that prevent transfers.
Citizens in many cities want a crackdown on the trafficking and carrying of guns. But many cities find themselves preempted by state legislatures. The gun lobby has systematically pushed to get state legislatures to block municipal reforms. That has to be exposed and challenged. The gun lobby is composed primarily of people, not some nefarious organization you can denounce and attack, simply because you don't want to be sued. And I bet you that even more citizens want gun laws done away with so that they might get armed and protect their lives and the lives of their own.
It is too easy to be cynical, to suggest that the gun lobby always wins, or to dismiss gun control as inadequate. As the spike in murders continues, we witness a true national security crisis. Change will meet fierce resistance. Reform may be blocked and sabotaged again and again. But that is only reason to keep pushing. Make the case for fundamental reform at the local, state and national level. Lay out a comprehensive strategy. Challenge citizens to demand the changes that we need. No civilized country can allow this level of violence to continue without mobilizing in response.
Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is founder and president of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition. You can keep up with his work at www.rainbowpush.org
#1
I love the way they act like the Gun Lobby just forces everyone to do what they want. Actually its the massive number of NRA members and other supporters behind the group that make them powerful.
#2
Thugs know you don't have a gun, (I do, several.) this emboldens them.
They need to fear you.
My guns put fear into them, I'm old enough to not give a shit.So I'm left alone, not even scammers bother me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/27/2015 0:20 Comments ||
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#3
Posturing, pure and simple. Here's a clue, Jesse. It ain't NRA members gunning each other done on the streets of Chicago. It's young black men in poor neighborhoods, most likely resolving disputes over "commerce". Maybe you could cordon off the city and go block by block, house by house confiscating guns. But I doubt you have the will or the manpower. Seriously bad optics.
But even if you could magically wish guns away, do you think the killings would stop? If so, you're an even bigger idiot than you appear to be. Dunno who said it, but the problem is not too many guns, it's too many criminals.
#10
It's young black men in poor neighborhoods, most likely resolving disputes over "commerce"
It's far more civilized to set up an advocacy group and strong-arm corporations into providing "opportunities." Say a beer-distributorship or two for the family...
#11
It's well known that Chicago does a very poor job enforcing the gun laws it has. There are stringent penalties for committing a crime with a gun, especially for felons. Why don't you start with that. Lock up second offenders for 25 years, no parole.
[TheGuardian] One Friday in Old Sana'a, while filming the aftermath of the Saudi-led coalition bombings, I found myself surrounded by a group of militia who were trying to take hold of my camera. I was detained for a few hours in the ruins, confused and unnerved. The interrogation I received from the Iran lackiesHouthis was relentless. But the problems didn't stop here. For a week, I was harassed with regular phone calls and visits from National Security officials at my hotel. All this despite having a press visa issued in London. Yeah, that should impress them.
Incidents such as these are increasingly common since the rebel Houthi militia took over Sana'a in late September last year. Local journalists have either fled to their villages or left the country. Some have been threatened and assaulted, while others' homes have been ransacked, their families living in constant fear. There are only a handful of foreign journalists in the country and they keep a low profile.
If the optics can't be spunmedia can't do their job by reporting facts on the ground, how can we expect a proper global response? Yemen's human tragedy is exacerbated when the world can't comprehend who is behind the abductions and killing of innocent civilians. There are passionate local journalists such as al-Qalisi, keen to communicate Yemen's story. But they live in fear. When they are abducted, they are forgotten. This widespread fear has not only silenced the press, but also the people. Suppressing people's voices goes against the very ideas from which Yemen's revolution was born. Err, take up arms and defend yourself?
The writer has just cause for indignation, though comparing the current situation to that of 2011-2014 seems a bit lacking in deeper historical perspective. However, the question unasked is whether the world would be more interested or concerned if it were properly informed. I suspect, given the level of disinterest in the thoroughly reported events in Syria and Lebanon, that the world would would ignore Yemen just as completely, for Yemen has nothing at all the world wants.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/27/2015 00:00 ||
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[The Guardian] Amid revenue losses and expected job cuts, the famous motorcycle manufacturer must face facts: its all-American bad boy image is no longer cool.
It's been nearly 50 years since Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper rode out on their custom Harley-Davidsons in Easy Rider. Fonda and Hopper live on in American culture -- long-haired, wild-eyed expressions of bad boy cool. The motorcycles they rode? Not so much.
If the 100-year-old company's recent financial results are any indication, the image of Harley-Davidson bikes as the quintessential American two-wheeler may be fading. The US motorcycle manufacturer's market share slid nearly 4% last quarter. To make matters worse, it also announced that it would scale back production and cut jobs.
The problem may well rest with Easy Rider -- or at least the generation that spawned it. Those old enough to remember the movie may snap up the T-shirts, keychains, lawn flags and various other consumer products festooned with Harley-Davidson logos, but the Milwaukee-based manufacturer doesn't seem to have the reach it once did.
"The younger generation has no interest in Harley-Davidson as far as I can tell," Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book, said in an email. "Unless you ride a motorcycle or scooter in a city as your transportation, motorcycles are a splurge millennials can't afford and have no interest in -- especially Harley-Davidson, which seems like a old white-guy brand."
Old school still has its appeal. But other brands have been gaining traction with retro looks at Harley's expense. Polaris Industries -- a company best known for manufacturing snowmobiles and ATVs -- revived the once-celebrated Indian brand. Indian seems to have upped the Americana ante, offering fringed leather saddle bags and classic 1940s styling aimed at direct competition with Harley. Ducati unveiled a retro model called the Scrambler last year, increasing the Italian manufacturer's sales by 22%.
But there may be something else -- a deeper cultural issue -- that's at the root of Harley's trouble. The company's bikes, which have always been a platform for customization, have become more available in "custom" trim straight from the factory, complete with dealer-supplied financing packages.
"It's not cool if everyone else has the same stuff as you," Carlos Dos Santos, owner of Brooklyn Motorworks, a New York motorcycle repair and customization shop said. "They're flooding the market with these cookie-cutter bikes, and it's not special any more if everyone can just buy instant cool."
Brian Robbins, a longtime Harley enthusiast and one of Dos Santos' customers, said that personal expression was important to many in the motorcycle crowd.
"If I'm going to spend my disposable income on a bike, I want it to be unique," he said. "I don't want to drop $40,000 on my bike and have some guy roll up at a light riding the same thing. Ever."
Dos Santos suggested that Harley's strong sales in the past may have led to over-production. He also explained that as Harley has begun offering directly from the factory trick wheels, louder exhausts and other accessories that were once the purview of aftermarket companies, aftermarket innovators like Roland Sands Design have focused their efforts on other manufacturers' motorcycles.
"There was a time when there was a waiting list to get a Harley-Davidson," he said. "Now you can roll up with a scooter and walk out of the dealership with a financing deal on a new bells-and-whistles Harley. It's almost too easy."
He also said the more well-heeled of his customers were going for older machines than Harley's gleaming mechanical odes to a bygone era.
"I worked on more Honda CBs and other 70s bikes in general this year than any other platform," he said. "I've had more high-dollar vintage rebuilds this year than ever before."
Chalk the vintage craze to hipsters, but with the baby boomer wave breaking -- Easy Rider generation motorcyclists are getting too old to ride -- perhaps it's time for Harley to consider its next move. Accordingly, the company announced this week that it would increase its marketing budget by 65%. It has also begun selling its most basic motorcycles in India.
While neither move guarantees success, Harley has been through worse. American Machine and Foundry nearly ruined the company and its reputation in the 1970s (ask any Harley aficionado about the infamous "AMF years" and watch them cringe), but the brand rose from the ashes and once more became a top-seller known for high-quality loud bikes. It remains to be seen whether Harley has enough gas in the tank to pull that trick off one more time.
#5
Sillyness! HD has priced themselves out of the market. A new CB1100 goes for $11k. You cant buy a decent Harley for under $20k. Pure economics. The 750cc Harley looks like a scooter. Harley needs to go after the 30 year olds generation, and not with some bike that looks like Their dads.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/27/2015 9:49 Comments ||
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[TheRebel] The Globe and Mail has been caught holding back a story in order to help Justin Trudeau and the Liberals win last week’s election and the paper is actually defending what they did.
In boxing it's called throwing the fight or taking a fall and it can be done in all kinds of ways, like by not trying that hard. The Chicago White Sox famously did that in 1919 taking money from gamblers to throw the game.
The Globe and Mail didn't take money from gamblers but their decision to hold off on a major political story due to concerns it would affect the election shows they were willing to tip the scales for the federal Liberals.
Continued on Page 49
[Dawn] SEVERAL years ago, an international newspaper compiled a list of the names of some 15 or 20 snuffies from different parts of the world, tried and convicted for involvement in various terror attacks. It gave merely their names, the atrocity they helped perpetrate, and their field of study and educational qualifications.
The list was varied in terms of the institutions, from the prestigious to the unknown, and the levels of qualifications were different, but in the disciplines it was startlingly uniform. The majority had engineering and other similar science backgrounds (though not pure or theoretical science or mathematics). A couple had nursing degrees, and there were a few business/MBA/economics degrees listed. There was no name associated with a liberal arts or social science background.
This seems to make sense. The fields of study/work listed above can be described as amongst those where questions tend to have black and white answers, training minds thus in thinking in similarly compartmentalised terms. Things are either right or wrong; by extension, minds not trained to think very creatively or flexibly would be more susceptible to similar rigidity in ideology and outlook.
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[TheGuardian] One Friday in Old Sana'a, while filming the aftermath of the Saudi-led coalition bombings, I found myself surrounded by a group of militia who were trying to take hold of my camera. I was detained for a few hours in the ruins, confused and unnerved. The interrogation I received from the 
