On Tuesday, less than a week after the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, students who survived the massacre looked on as Florida's House of Representatives voted along party lines to shut down a bill banning assault rifles.

According to Florida's legislature the real threat to the health and safety of the state's teens isn't how easy it is for their classmate to legally purchase an AR-15. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the pressing, immediate danger is in all those erotic Tumblrs out there:

The state's House of Representatives approved the resolution by a voice vote on Tuesday. The resolution states a need for education, research and policy changes to protect Floridians, especially teenagers, from pornography.

Republican Rep. Ross Spano says there is research that finds a connection between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses, forming and maintaining intimate relationships and deviant sexual behavior. Spano is also a candidate for attorney general.

The most twisted part of this is the demands by Florida Republicans to research the public health impact of porn, while the CDC is implicitly banned from doing research on gun violence. The 1996 Dickey Amendment specifically blocks the CDC from using its budget to "advocate or promote gun control," and since objective, peer-reviewed, scientific studies consistently show effective gun control would reduce gun violence, there's no research the CDC can do that won't sacrifice its funding.

Seabass wrote:The next person that tells me Democrats are as bad, or even almost as bad, as Republicans, is getting kneed in the fucking nutsack.

Florida Republicans Believe Porn Is More Dangerous Than Guns

On Tuesday, less than a week after the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, students who survived the massacre looked on as Florida's House of Representatives voted along party lines to shut down a bill banning assault rifles.

According to Florida's legislature the real threat to the health and safety of the state's teens isn't how easy it is for their classmate to legally purchase an AR-15. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the pressing, immediate danger is in all those erotic Tumblrs out there:

The state's House of Representatives approved the resolution by a voice vote on Tuesday. The resolution states a need for education, research and policy changes to protect Floridians, especially teenagers, from pornography.

Republican Rep. Ross Spano says there is research that finds a connection between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses, forming and maintaining intimate relationships and deviant sexual behavior. Spano is also a candidate for attorney general.

The most twisted part of this is the demands by Florida Republicans to research the public health impact of porn, while the CDC is implicitly banned from doing research on gun violence. The 1996 Dickey Amendment specifically blocks the CDC from using its budget to "advocate or promote gun control," and since objective, peer-reviewed, scientific studies consistently show effective gun control would reduce gun violence, there's no research the CDC can do that won't sacrifice its funding.

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Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey (R) called for a "conversation" about impeaching state Supreme Court justices over their new congressional map, which both parties say will benefit Democrats.

At a press conference, Toomey said it was "inevitable" that state lawmakers would consider impeachment over the redrawing of the state's new congressional maps, which he called a "power grab" by state Democrats.

"Look, I think it's inevitable that that conversation's going to take place," Toomey said. "I think state House members and state senators are going to be speaking amongst themselves and their constituents, and the fundamental question is does this blatant, unconstitutional, partisan power grab that undermines our electoral process, does that rise to the level of impeachment?"

The new map released this week redraws congressional boundaries, throwing out a map written by Republicans that gerrymandered lines to benefit their party. Ten of the state's 13 districts are now held by Republicans.

Seabass wrote:The courts unrigged Pennsylvania, so naturally Republicans want to un-unrig it by impeaching judges. Bastards.

Toomey calls for 'conversation' about impeaching state Supreme Court justices

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey (R) called for a "conversation" about impeaching state Supreme Court justices over their new congressional map, which both parties say will benefit Democrats.

At a press conference, Toomey said it was "inevitable" that state lawmakers would consider impeachment over the redrawing of the state's new congressional maps, which he called a "power grab" by state Democrats.

"Look, I think it's inevitable that that conversation's going to take place," Toomey said. "I think state House members and state senators are going to be speaking amongst themselves and their constituents, and the fundamental question is does this blatant, unconstitutional, partisan power grab that undermines our electoral process, does that rise to the level of impeachment?"

The new map released this week redraws congressional boundaries, throwing out a map written by Republicans that gerrymandered lines to benefit their party. Ten of the state's 13 districts are now held by Republicans.

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A Florida state senator said that “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing that will stop mass shootings, before the legislature voted down part of a bill to ban assault weapons in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school.

Florida instead voted for a measure to arm teachers as part of Saturday’s vote on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, named after the school where 17 people were killed in a massacre February 14.

"When we say ‘thoughts and prayers,’ it’s frowned upon," said Republican state Senator Kelli Stargel during the vote debate Saturday. "And I take real offense at that because thoughts and prayers are really the only thing that’s gonna stop the evil from within the individual who is taking up their arms to do this kind of a massacre."

Florida was one of several states mulling a ban on selling assault weapons like the AR-15 used in the shooting.

“It’s not the weapon, it’s the evil from within,” said Stargel. “If I thought for one moment that if we banned assault weapons then all of these tragedies would end, you would have me, I would be with you.”

She likened banning assault weapons to banning “fertilizer, which is what they used in the Oklahoma bombing” or pressure cookers like those used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Florida lawmakers voted 20-17 against the amendment to the bill that would ban assault weapons. The bill is on track to pass the state’s Senate Monday and will then face a vote in Florida’s House.

A moment of “silence and reflection” for the Parkland victims was held after the vote by proclamation of Florida’s Republican Governor Rick Scott.

During the debate, however, Stargel also indicated that thoughts and prayers may not be enough to stop mass shootings and said that she supports raising the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21 so that the purchasers have “a little more maturity in their life.” She also supports mental health programs that could catch mass shooters early and “try to change the trajectory of their life.”

The National Rifle Association opposes provisions in the bill raising the age for assault weapon purchases and a three-day waiting period after purchases on all guns.

Many students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas have argued that thoughts and prayers from politicians are not enough in the wake of the shooting and have been pushing for an assault weapons ban. The students are organizing a “March for Our Lives” event in Washington, D.C. on March 24.

The high school’s junior class president Jaclyn Corin responded to the Florida vote and moment of silence on Twitter.

“A MOMENT OF SILENCE WILL NOT SAVE THE LIVES OF INNOCENT AMERICANS,” she wrote. The vote, she said, “breaks my heart, but we will NOT let this ruin our movement.”

John Oliver Made Pence's Kids' Book Gay and It's Now Outselling the Original

Pence's rabbit, Marlon Bundo, falls in love with a boy bunny in the 'Last Week Tonight' version, which is now at the top of Amazon's bestseller list.

Regardless of what you think about resident White House homophobe Mike Pence, you have to admit the vice president has at least one quality asset: his bunny, Marlon Bundo. The gentle creature has an impressive job title (BOTUS), a fire Instagram, and as of Tuesday, his very own children's book, written by Pence's daughter Charlotte and illustrated by his wife, Karen.

Alas, Pence somehow managed to make even a goddamn bunny controversial by sending him on a book tour that stops off at Focus on the Family, an anti-LGBTQ organization that pushes conversion therapy and campaigns against gay rights. So in a last-ditch effort to save old Bundo from the throes of intolerance, the folks over at Last Week Tonight published their own children's book about the rabbit—and in their saga, he's gay.

Now, their tale about Bundo falling in love with another boy bunny is outselling the Pences' original book, the Huffington Post reports. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo nabbed the top spot on Amazon's bestseller list, while its straight competitor—Marlon Bundo's Day in the Life of the Vice President—is sitting at number four.

In Last Week Tonight writer Jill Twiss's LGBTQ-friendly tome, Marlon Bundo vows to marry Wesley, only to have a crusty stink bug who runs things in the animal kingdom—and shares an uncanny resemblance to Mike Pence—tell him that "boy bunnies have to marry girl bunnies." Thus begins the two lovebirds' (er, lovebunnies'?) quest to stay together in the face of discrimination—namely, some smelly, power-hungry dickhead telling them how they should live their lives.

In the Pences' version, poor Bundo is subjected to hopping after his "Grampa" (Pence) while the Vice President does whatever he does all day: presumably getting shit-talked by Trump, sitting in on bizarre meetings, eating with only men, and trying to ignore the queer dance parties happening outside his front door.

Proceeds from both books are going to charity, though while the Pences are only giving away a portion of the cash, Last Week Tonight is donating 100 percent of what it makes, the Associated Press reports.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/d35zmz/john-oliver-made-pences-kids-book-gay-and-its-now-outselling-the-original

GOP Rep: The ‘Deep State’ is Responsible for Ordering Ben Carson’s Dining Set

New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney had a theory about why the HUD Secretary is in ethical trouble.


“Somebody in the Deep State, it was not one of his people apparently, ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was for a room,” Tenney continued. “And that’s what the cost was. Ben Carson tried to—he said “you know how hard it is to turn it back because of the way that the procurement happens?”

The “Deep State” is a catch all phrase for the cadre of career government staffers that conspiratorial-minded Republicans believe has been weaponized to undermine Donald Trump’s administration. It was not clear if Tenney was agreeing with the conclusion offered by the staffer that the Deep State was behind Carson’s furniture purchase or if she was offering her own line of thinking on the matter. Either way, Tenney’s statement appears to be wrong. A tranche of recently-released emails indicated that Carson and his wife were directly involved in the process of picking out furniture.

...

“Nepotism is when you hire a family member,” Tenney corrected them. “What it is is that people in the Deep State who’ve been there, they might be—they say ‘hey we’re going to buy this because this is what somebody else did.’

“I know that Ben Carson did not order that table,” Tenney continued. “It has nothing to do with him. He comes from, you know, poverty.”

Tenney is quickly gathering a reputation for headline-grabbing commentary about the state of current affairs. She recently said of former staff secretary Rob Porter, who left the White House after being accused of domestic abuse: “I don’t think it was a great hire if these are true, but again, are these true?” She also recently described it as “interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-rep-the-deep-state-is-responsible-for-ordering-ben-carsons-dining-set

Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum suggested on Sunday that students concerned about gun violence in their schools should learn how to revive wounded people instead of asking lawmakers “to solve their problems.”

Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, made the remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union, one day after an estimated 200,000 people participated in the student-led March For Our Lives in Washington demanding stricter gun control laws.

“How about kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations where there is a violent shooter,” he said.