Ep. 108 Gun Laws, Christine Lederman, Tarot Cards and Unemployment (Not in That Order)

Welcome to another episode of the MM… this was supposed to be an easy-peazy light episode with my friend and stand up comedian Christine Lederman.  Until… I decided to include something that I felt looked at both sides of the 2nd amendment-slash-gun violence issue that,  along with some other issues, you can throw on the pile of burning tires that divides this country right now.  And it has taken me a week to calm down enough to try again. 

I do this tiny podcast for the half dozen or so of us because I have fun doing it, I find some interesting people and stuff and I really am at a crossroads of being a complete shut-in that does not want to engage at all with our civilization as it has  become and another part of me that wants to be able to stay connected in some way.  So  to do that I have to read, watch and listen to the news with a sense of curiosity rather than with an opinion.  I’m really trying to get rid of my opinions that have collected like in a garage that can’t fit a car inside it anymore.  You ever see garages like that?  Maybe you have one.

So the guns issue.  Selfishly, i think the thing that pisses me off is that I can’t use this anymore… I love the ol’ machine gun sound effect as a symbol of over reacting to trivial matters.  If I owned an assault rifle, I would probably be sharing with you how I went off on my dishwasher, or my weed eater or my garage door opener… some inanimate item that is the object of my wrath.  But I can’t do that anymore because of the right to bear arms… the 2nd amendment written in 1791.  Couple of things to note about 1791:

• The population density of the entire country or colonies was the same as the city of Los Angeles or the State of Connecticut.  Many folks needed guns to acquire protein.
• The most common guns were muskets and flintlock pistols
• The most skilled hunters and marksmen could load from the muzzle of the weapon, fire, reload and fire again about every 20 seconds, maybe 15 seconds… so three to four rounds per minute.
• Those firearms were highly inaccurate.  They didn’t use bullets shaped for aerodynamics that would rotate to keep their aim true.  They were musket balls, which does not refer to the genitalia of a male muskrat.  I said musKET balls.  They did not fly true at all.

I feel like there is a silent majority of conservatives, I know there is because I talk to them.  Maybe they voted for Trump, but were embarrassed to say so, because… you should be embarrassed of him and his lack of integrity.  Most of these silent majority wish he would just go away.  They also believe in the right for a woman to  choose but don’t want to speak up because it goes against their faith tradition.  Most of the republican or conservatives I know maintain their political viewpoint for fiscal reasons and fiscal policy.  “Run your government like you run a household.  Don’t spend more than you have and if you borrow money, have a plan to pay it back.  Balance the budge, blah, blah, blah.”  But when it comes to social policy, they’re reasonably positioned.  But to speak out in the midst of your contemporaries, and I’m using air quotes, “just isn’t worth it.”  And over and over, the right to keep these automatic weapons and assault rifles is a more important right than the right of a kid to be able to go to school without having to be concerned about being shot, murdered, having their friends murdered, etc.  Because it radiates out.  Imagine how it radiates out from Uvalde, Texas and that school district.  All the schools across the country who have to reestablish and practice their active shooter drills, with 5, 6 and 7 year olds asking, “why do we have to sit in this closet and keep quiet for how long?”  And someone has to explain that to them and not bullshit them by making it some kind of a game. 

I want to bring to your attention a couple of articles on the recent shootings and the two groups of frightened people who either fear they or their children will be the next victim of a mass shooting because there are too many assault rifles or the frightened people who think there aren’t enough assault rifles to combat the assault rifles.

I’m absolutely enraged as you probably are of the lack of functionality of our government, their inability to compromise and the … and I have deleted so many expletives today; group of people that subscribe to the “bad guy with a gun needs more good guys with guns” philosophy.  I mean I’m having trouble sitting still in my chair to write and outline of what I want to say after listening to complaints about how 120 gun laws don’t work so one more isn’t going to help.  The reason we have to have 120 gun laws in the first place is because you gun toting idiots dig your heels in and won’t allow one or even a couple of thorough laws get passed because you’re either afraid the russians are coming over the hill or there’s going to be Marshall law declared so you need your guns to protect your families but those guns are actually killing each other’s families.  Go drink a pot of coffee on an empty stomach and that’s how I feel right now, it’s that bad.

However… I do have an interview-slash-article… from a gun advocate… that I feel is worth listening to if you are opposed to guns as I obviously am.  It’s abo

I also have an article for those who are in favor of fewer guns, guns, guns and I’ll get to that one later.

This first interview is from NPR, yes it’s left leaning, but it felt like at least it was an intelligent conversation… to me.  The interviewee is David French who is the  senior editor of “The Dispatch” which is a subscription-based and advertisement-free online magazine.  Mediabiasfactcheck.com puts them as a right-center bias publication with a HIGH factual reporting credibility.  They are NOT as far to the right as say Fox News which has a MIXED factual reporting credibility.  David French is also a contributing writer at The Atlantic which is a HIGH credibility LEFT bias monthly magazine.  This cat went to Harvard Law School where he graduated with honors.  I know I wouldn’t want to have a debate with him.  He is in favor of a concept called red flag laws that allow the proper authorities to reclaim or seize guns from those deemed to be a threat to the public or themselves by a similar legal procedure as getting a restraining order.  

I make a confession of an odd purchase for me in the form of a deck of tarot cards.  What?  I know, but Christine is the perfect person to confess this too because she is very much under the impression that she has psychic abilities.  Not only that but she will also tell you that the reason her intuitions about me are completely wrong is because I don’t believe she has “the gift.”  So, it’s all my fault.  She proceeds to prove her inaccuracies during our call but I think we might have a regular segment called the psychic eye of Queen Christine.  Something like that. 

We start our conversation with me inquiring about the hotel business and what seems to be the overall difficulty in our culture these days to get people to want to come back to work…

CLOSE - That was a kind of weird episode right?  Too much politics at the top and then tarot cards?  A couple of things before we part ways… as of the recording of this episode The Modern Moron is exactly 14 downloads away from it’s 10,000th download.  Doesn’t that sound impressive?  Let me put a little perspective on that huge, huge milestone… 

California Has America's Toughest Gun Laws, and They Work - New York Times/ Yahoo

Red flag laws, not gun control, are the way to stop mass shootings, proponent says - NPR  

What Firearms Looked Like In 1791 - Ranker.com