#I harass these poor guys for the photo op

[talkingpointsusa]

The Right-Wing Stupidity Hall Of Shame

This is what one might call a living document as well as a sort of “best/worst of” for this blog. How this is going to work is that we are going to do this by year and month and every time I cover a right-winger who says something particularly dumb I’ll add that post to the hall. In short, watch this space every time I get ticked off in a post.

September 2024:

Michael Knowles doesn't understand poetry at all and decides that the reason that Trump is being made fun of on TikTok is because Trump intentionally set himself up to be mocked so that he could be associated with "delight"

Dave Rubin discusses the latest way the Democrats are going to steal the election....Taylor Swift.

August 2024:

Matt Walsh tries to go "undercover" at the DNC, it goes about as badly as you might expect and he gets his cover blown on the first day.

Matt Walsh doesn't know what a "holiday park" is, can't seem to decide whether he likes riots or not, spews white nationalist bigotry, and then defends colonialism.

Laura Loomer desperately tries to spin a conspiracy theory about Tim Walz having ties to terrorist organizations

Charlie Kirk has no idea how to handle Tim Walz and advocates for parents to financially abuse their kids into voting for Trump.

July 2024:

Broadcasting live from a Bitcoin convention, Michael Knowles lies about Kamala Harris and complaints about the Olympics and lab grown testicles.

Dave Rubin thinks that Biden isn't president anymore. This has nothing to do with him wanting to walk out of a bet he made in 2020.

Candace Owens compares transgender people to baphomet, cites a guy who talked shit while he was high, and declares that the Beatles were a psy-op

June 2024:

Charlie Kirk hosts a "Young Woman's Leadership Summit" dedicated to how he feels that men are under attack and allows Candace Owens to tell ridiculous lies about the Daily Wire during her speech.

Charlie Kirk interviews a felon who seems to think that COVID was engineered as a bio-weapon.

Dave Rubin knows absolutely nothing about New York's justice system

May 2024:

Matt Walsh's absolutely horrendous take on the dating market.

Tim Pool devotes an excruciatingly long amount of time to using ChatGPT to predict the 2024 election results.

April 2024:

Charlie Kirk speculates that the Pro-Palestine protests on college campuses are Soros funded because "the tents all look similar" and then goes on a bizarre rant about how oppressed he is because he's white.

Michael Knowles defends a Republican politician who admitted that she shot her dog and, seemingly forgetting that he made an episode with a segment praising predictive AI just days earlier, warns that predictive AI will corrupt our humanity.

Tim Pool dedicates an entire episode to yelling about furries in Utah.

The Daily Wire attacks women's sports and accidentally reveals their hypocrisy around trans athletes.

Fox News and the Daily Wire freak out over European Scrabble with hilarious results.

March 2024:

Candace Owens uses old photos, an RT writer, a clairvoyant that defamed the French prime-minister, and an antisemitic blog that says that Emmanuel Macron wearing a pink tie is a sign that he's a satanist as sources to prove that Brigitte Macron is secretly a transwoman.

February 2024:

According to Ben Shapiro, AI is anti-white. To prove this he lies about an executive order, ignores a massive amount of data, and digs through the old tweets of some guy who works at Google.

Chaya Raichik gives a terrible interview where she endorses a white nationalist conspiracy theory and split hairs about how ok it is for journalists to lie (but only her, not everybody else)

Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro attempt to argue that society has abolished all taboos and that's leading to an increase in "sexual boredom"

Matt Walsh advocates for harassing trans kids and tells people who are having difficulty living on the minimum wage to "stop being on the minimum wage".

Tim Pool makes multiple poor defenses for some guy's who defaced a rainbow crosswalk meant to honor the LGBTQ victims of a mass shooting and then calls on Ron DeSantis to commute their sentences.

January 2024:

Dave Rubin accidentally reveals that he may be the laziest journalist of all time multiple times over the span of a single episode.

Charlie Kirk teams up with a guy who collaborates with Neo-Nazis, a guy who got fired from FOX for being too racist, and some guy who works for him that sued Arizona once to declare that all movies are psyops, make disgusting false statements about the border, and praise a white nationalist who works at VDARE.

Tim Pool puts out an absolutely ridiculous episode where he uses jokes from TV shows to prove how AI women are going to lead to the death of society.

Matt Walsh thinks it's gay to love your wife and misrepresents every point he argues in the episode.

Tucker Carlson interviews a congressman who thinks that his wife having a nightmare is proof that COVID is a ploy to take away American liberty about supposed January 6th evidence that we will never get to see.

Michael Knowles wants to create cartoon Nazi propaganda to "own Disney for transing the kids"

Tim Pool thinks that "sneaky fucker males" are turning women lesbian.

December 2023:

Michael Knowles is really concerned that a five second clip from a CocoMelon video is going to turn kids gay.

Dave Rubin casually suggests that 65,000 people being laid off due to the Bud Lite boycott is OK because "They'll just get a job somewhere else"

Matt Walsh fantasizes about misgendering trans people on air and generally conducts himself like an unempathetic child.

Ezra Levant doesn't even bother to read a document he's citing even though it directly contradicts his point

Tim Pool uses an out of context tweet containing disinformation as a source and as a result ends up spreading misinformation about Taylor Swift.

Michael Knowles decides that porn videos turn people trans and gay, to prove this he interviews a woman who tries to push back on his stupidity but ends up getting steamrolled by him

Ben Shapiro has no reading comprehension and declares that everyone on the left worships Beyonce

[72degreescold]

sometimes I like to slam the brakes... just ‘cause

[astaroth1357]

Demon Brothers at the Zoo

How many human world animals do you think they know anyway? I’m not much of a zoo person myself, but I was watching a nature documentary and just had a thought you know?

Lucifer

If they’re going to drag him to the zoo fine… but he’s going to make sure they make the most of their time. They’re going to have seen the whole place by the time they leave.

Absolutely the sort of person to get the park map and take five minutes to try and figure out the fastest route that will let them see as much as possible.

NO MEANDERING, they have a time table to keep! If they’ve only got two hours then they better get moving!

Limits the amount of time they can look at any animal, doesn’t matter how much the MC likes that particular species. If it’s their favorite, then they might get an extra minute but don’t push it.

If they go to one of those zoos where they let certain birds just roam free then the peacocks may start following him like a mother goose… By the time they leave, he’ll have his own avian army at his beck and call.

Mammon

So… humans get a bunch of animals together in one place and have other humans pay to just look at them? That’s it?? That gives him some ideas… Hey Levi! How’s Lotan doing??

Didn’t see what the big deal was before they got there but as soon as he starts seeing the animals he turns into one of those overly hyped kids who suddenly wants to see everything!

 The whole day will pretty much be Mammon pulling the MC from one enclosure to another based on what he thinks looks coolest in that literal split second.

He’s practically a bird whisperer so if there’s a walk-in bird exhibit he can get nearly any one of them to land on his hand no problem. He’s like a regular Disney Princess in there!

Yes, he is going to want to visit the gift shop and yes, he is going to want some of the most expensive stuff in there. He can be placated with something cheaper, but they will be walking out with something.

Leviathan

Will only go if there’s an aquarium. He cares about nothing else. Lions? Bears? Pffft, the seahorses are clearly where it’s at!

Is honestly the most relaxing person to go to the aquarium with anyway. He has a practically encyclopedic knowledge of most of the fish there so he’ll add little fun facts throughout the whole visit.

He does creep out most of the other patrons a little though because fish tend to gather around him whenever he gets too close to the glass…

At one point he had a whole herd of sharks following him when they went through one of those fish tunnels and it was freaky.

Eventually they tried popping into the reptile exhibit and every single snake in the room raised their heads up to look at him at once… Some poor lady fainted so they cut their visit short after that... Should have stayed in the aquarium...

Satan

He’s happy to come along because he’s always been curious about human world fauna… is what he says but let’s be real, this man is excited to see the big cats! 

Lowkey kind of steers the MC towards the cats as soon as he gets his hands on a map. He won’t admit that he’s really excited to see them if they ask him up front… but the look in his eyes when they finally get there says it all. 😏

The kind of guy to always make sure to read whatever info placard they have out, no matter how long it takes. Will read them out loud for them if they ask.

So he likes the big cats like the lions and the tigers, but he’s really drawn in by the smaller ones like the ocelots because they’re closer to looking to domestic cats.

The MC will have to keep a close eye out for any patrons who try to harass the animals because he WILL punch them if he notices. Full on, no restraint. Don’t fuck with animals when Satan is around...

Asmodeus

Wasn't too crazy about the idea of walking around in the heat and animal smell but went anyway because maybe he’ll see something cute, right? Human world animals are so much more cuddly than what they’ve got down in the Devildom…

Truthfully, animals LOVE Asmo, like all animals he comes across act like they just want to be cuddled by the man. 

Cue tons of adorable scenes of Asmodeus kneeling down by the glass of different enclosures and getting the animals to follow his movements or put their paws against the glass where his hand is.

They eventually develop a bit of a crowd of people following them from enclosure to enclosure just to see how Asmo will “charm” the next one. He even befriends the damn squirrels! Photo ops galore… 

Some of the staff eventually pick on it and end up cornering him to try and ask him what his secret is, but of course, he’ll never tell... 🤫🤭

Beelzebub

Only agreed to go as long as the MC promised to pay for whatever snacks he wanted. He doesn't exactly trust himself not to get hungry if he sees an antelope or something…

Pretty happy to go and see whatever as long as he has something to munch on… Popcorn is really his go to treat but he’ll take ice cream too!

Was pretty nervous when the MC wanted to visit the butterfly exhibit since he didn’t want to accidentally step on anything but let them pull him in anyway.

His fears didn’t last very long though because pretty soon the butterflies started to land on him like they were being lured in by sugar water. (It's 'cause you're so sweet, Beel 🤭)

The MC now has a very well-timed picture of Beel trying desperately not to sneeze because he had a very bold butterfly perched on his nose and he really didn’t want to bother it...

Belphegor

Lowkey loves zoos and used to visit them all the time with Lilith back when they were still angels so he won’t fight against visiting one again.

Truthfully he’s the chillest of the group. Doesn’t care if they don’t see everything or where they go as long as they stay together.

He’s second only to Asmo in getting animals to relax around him. When he and the MC swung by the petting zoo he practically attracted every animal there like catnip.

The cow may be his animal, but lambs love Belphie too for some odd reason... He managed to get three little ones to crowd around him while they were there. They kept nudging at his hands and legs like insistent children until he finally gave them some attention.

The MC bought him a sloth themed pillow to go with his cow one. It has a strap for him to wear like a backpack and though he thinks it's reeeaallly on the nose, he kind of loves the convenience so he doesn’t complain.

[not-just-any-fangirl]

Could you possibly do a Nalu photographer shoot AU? Natsu being the Model and Lucy being the photographer. Thank you!!

He’s A Natural

Pairing: Nalu

Word count: 1397

A/N: Have some Scottish Natsu! And Canadian Lucy, but that’s more from me using my own euphemisms lmao. This could get so much longer, and maybe ‘ll continue it when I’m not swamped! So model Natsu is always a fun thing, and tbh hot damn. 

“It won’t be hard, they said.

“You seem so much more comfortable behind the camera, they said.

“Just one photo shoot, they said.”

Lucy grumbled to herself, pacing in the space set aside for breaks. The white tent was partially open, but it still managed to hide her from the source of her spiking anxiety. The very attractive, very pink, and very naked source.

“Do a natural outdoor scene, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”

“Are you done talking to yourself or do you need another five?” Lucy sighed loudly, glaring at Loke’s head where he peeked around the corner of her sanctuary. “Seriously, the poor guy’s gonna freeze his dick off.”

“Then maybe he should put on some pants.” Lucy snapped, slumping into a chair and burying her face in her hands. She didn’t know why he was affecting her like this. Not only had Lucy worked with gorgeous models before, but she had also seen them naked! In her bed! Genitals did not faze her normally, so why was she losing her shit?

“You ready, Drama Queen?” Loke asked. Lucy pouted, accepting his hand and looking up at him. 

“Fine, but if anyone’s going to be taking him home it’s me, got it?” Lucy said sharply. Loke cackled, throwing his head back. He raked his hand through his wild, ginger hair as he grinned down at her fondly. Lucy liked to tell him it looked like a lion’s mane after she had had one too many drinks.   

“Whatever you say princess,” Loke purred, hooking his arm through Lucy’s and leading her back out to the meadow they were shooting in. “But first you have to talk to him. Maybe learn his name.”

“Shut up,” Lucy grumbled, leaning her head on his shoulder. 

“Thought I scared ya off,” the model joked as they approached, scratching the back of his head bashfully, towel wrapped around his waist. A very, very small towel, fluffy and white, which only made his deep tan stand out more. Who knew pink hair and brown skin went together so well. Or that Lucy had a thing for Scottish accents. 

“What’s your name?” Lucy asked, loudly and suddenly. She felt her face flush hot when the model cocked his head at her, confused smile pulling his lips at her outburst. God, please let a random tree just crush her now.

“It’s Natsu,” he said, holding out his hand. Lucy took it, swallowing around her dry mouth at how big his was compared to hers. And she knew what they said about big hands and big feet…

Lucy yelped when something sharp dug into her side, pouting up at Loke before realizing why he had to shove his bony joint into her ribs in the first place. Her eyes snapped to Natsu’s, deep green almost black and sparkling with impish joy. He knew. And he knew she knew. And she knew he knew she knew. And Lucy was really praying for that stray tree right about now. 

“Lucy. My name- uh, my name is Lucy.” She managed out, blushing deeper at his amused and teasing smile. Oh, he had freckles. Wonderful.

“You can let go of his hand now,” Loke said, grinning down at Lucy smugly. 

“Maybe I like holding his hand,” Lucy retorted, glaring up at her friend. 

“He likes holdin’ your hand too,” Natsu said. He winked at Lucy’s squeak, deep laugh shaking his chest as she dropped his hand. 

“Alright! Either we start now or you’re all walking home!” Gajeel boomed. Lucy rolled her eyes at their equipment manager, ignoring his threat. He’d only followed through with it a couple times. Everyone wandered off to their positions, Lucy fetching her camera and fiddling with it as she kept her back to Natsu. She could do this. Be professional. Don’t take a picture of his dick. All things that Lucy could do. 

Lucy turned around, and marched herself to stand in front of Natsu. Who had lost the towel, and was standing legs spread and unashamed, basking in all his Scottish glory. 

“Do you dye your pubes?” Lucy squeaked, hand slapping over her mouth in horror. She was fired. This was it, her first time as the photographer  and she had blow it oh God Jason was going to kill her and then fire her-

“Ain’t ya a spit fire?” Natsu cackled, easy as he smiled at Lucy. “And I do no’ dye anything. All natural ‘ere.” 

“Oh,” Lucy breathed, some of the awkwardness melting off her at Natsu’s openess. 

“And before ye ask, I’m a grower, not a shower.”

Ahh, there was the mortification. 

“You don’t have to be crude!” Lucy gasped, smiling as she tried turn her face away from him. 

“Ain’t I ‘posed to be the shy one?” Natsu called. Lucy laughed, rolling her eyes before sticking her tongue out at Natsu. They continued to bicker as Lucy directed him this way and that, trying to find the best angle before snapping a photo. Honestly, all of his angles were good, what with his strong cheek bones and slightly pointed chin giving him a playful and boyish handsomeness, slanted eyes bright and framed with thick lashes, nose a little crooked at the bridge but still broad at the tip. And then there were the freckles scattered across his face, like little deep brown constellations. 

“Close your eyes and tilt your chin up. No, not that much. Okay more. Less. Natsu now you’re just doing this on purpose!” Lucy laughed, slightly exasperated by his exaggerated movements. She snapped a picture of his profile, eyes closed and tilted towards the sun, grin pulling the corner of his mouth up, the image on the camera looking as if he was a woodland imp who knew a secret and you didn’t. 

“So bossy,” Natsu teased, opening his eye and looking at Lucy from the corner of it. Lucy snapped another photo, breath catching as she looked down at the screen. 

There sat a picture of Natsu, seductive as he looked at the camera, gaze sharp like a wolf and just as hypnotic. Lucy’s mind shot down to dirty, dirty, places the longer she looked at it. 

“Oh, that’s a good one, ain’t it,” Natsu said, leaning over her shoulder. Lucy squealed, clutching the camera to her chest protectively. Lucy flushed when his eyes followed her motion, lingering a few seconds too long on her cleavage to be innocent. He coughed, eyes flicking away as pink coloured his ears. 

“You two can fuck later, let’s just get a move on to the body shots!” Gajeel called, ripping Lucy from her stupor. She threw her middle finger up at him, glaring when he waved her off and walked away, probably to harass the interns. 

“Ignore him,” Lucy smiled at Natsu apologetically. “His girlfriend’s away for a month and he gets a bit crabby when he doesn’t get laid.”

Natsu’s nose twisted in a grimace even as a low chuckle fell from his lips. “He’s me cousin, I don’ think I need’a know ‘bout his sex life.” he chuckled. His grin grew warmer at Lucy’s shocked expression, arms lifting and crossing behind his head as he continued to talk. “He’s the reason I got the job. It’s me first time modelin’, but I needed the pay, so ‘ere I am.”

“Well you’re a natural at it,” Lucy assured. She could hardly believe this was the first time he had modeled, the camera adored him. 

“Thank ya,” Natsu grinned. Lucy returned it, having to tilt her head up a bit to look at him, standing as close as they were to one another. 

“Seriously, make yer bedroom eyes at each other when we’re not on the job!”

“Piss off ya walkin’ pin cushion!”

Lucy laughed, half hiding her face as she shook her head. Natsu beamed down at her, sharp canine revealed by the curl of his lips. She shooed him further back, taking in a deep breath. Looking at Natsu fully, standing buck-ass naked in the middle of a spring meadow just starting to bloom, Lucy couldn’t help but bite her lip. God, she had no idea what he did for a job, but Lucy was leaning towards boxer if the grooves of his muscles on his chest and abs were any indication. Not to mention his thighs… or his forearms…

She was definitely going to take Natsu home. Or at least out for drinks. 

She needed to know the dirt Natsu had on Gajeel from when they were kids. And just how much of a grower the pink haired model really was. 

[alythekitten]

Magic Con: a little review

My post con blue is hitting me so bad this time and sooooo..! Time to write down about Magic Con.

I won't lie, this time my experience was bittersweet and I don't wanna fake it, now I'm gonna explain everything.

First the good stuff, because there were so many and good stuff are more important and valuable <3

Meeting you all again was amazing, all the friends I missed since a year, all the love, hugs and dances, it was truly blessing for me in this moment of my life <3

I missed you all, and partying with you, sharing the excitement and having some chatter with you was lovely :')

And a special thanks to who recognized me on the dance floor as Kili, asking me about last year and the cosplay contest, I felt a very proud Durin <3

Even breathing the atmosphere made me feel good, like I was back home.

I also unexpectedly met Maul Cosplay! Like I didn't realized I was in Germany and he is actually german xD I took a selfie and had a little conversation with him, he is the best, so charming and chatty also xD he told me he will come to Italy in the future and I really can't wait because he is an incredible cosplayer :D

Now the Hobbit actors: having back Deano after two years of absence was such a good joy, he was lovable and amazing, spicy (uhu the giraffe) and cute at the same time, his panels were just wonderful. And also having back Graham was lovely, with his grumpy face and his big heart he is special xD And Adam with his genuine humor, narrating us about his life, ah that guy deserves all the hugs in the world! And Jed, well Jed is Jed and we love him unconditionally because… he is Jed xD

And all the newcomers! Especially Louise Brealey stole my heart with her energy and cuteness, I had the possibility to talk to her a bit during the autographs session and she is the best! Adorable, I am super happy to actually had the possibility to discover her behind her BBC Sherlock character <3

And obviously Andrew Scott, god knows how much I love him, well probably you do as well, and you'll be glad to know that now I love him even more x'D Because he is so "true" and different from other actors I saw in person, or generally from the one I follow, he seems to be genuinely interested, humble and so damn shy (he is so cute for this I admit), I loved to see such a different approach to the audience, mesmerized me even more than expected. Plus I had the opportunity to ask him about Sea Wall and the answer I got was amazing and so interested, I really appreciated it; and again during the autograph session I gave him the drawing I made about Sea Wall, he looked so happy and also read all the dedication and added to the autograph a "Thanks X" shaked my hand and was truly lovely and charming :) One of the best experiences of my life and also -I can say- as an artist, because giving a "piece of you" to the someone who inspired that process is truly satisfactory, then discovering that he loves to paint and specifically "drawing people" as he said, well made me uncontrollably happy xD

Can I forget about Mark and Lori? How can I!? They were amazing as always, and Lori made my day when during the party told me "Nice beard! Don't shave it!!!" I got her autograph and we laughed together about a lot of things, she really rocks!

Now, and sorry in advance because it will take a while to explain, now the bad stuff about Magic Con.

In first place I am not a fool and I knew it would have been different from Hobbitcons, of course, different fandoms means different kind of people, but what I didn't expected was WHAT kind of people.

In first place the very first time I saw Ian Somerhalder walking in the corridors he was surrounded by four bodyguards and followed by a crowd of yelling monkeys-ops I mean "girls" (sorry not sorry) trying to touch him, literally, the poor guy was like "too close girls, too close", and I only shakes my head and thought what the fuck is wrong with people and where their education and manners went.

Then I can tell you a fun fact about him: I was in a corner waiting, alone and a little tired so I was in my "resting bitch face", then I saw someone waving at me, I turned and here he was: Ian telling me to "smile" while smiling me back, so I smiled and he went away still smiling. He for sure is a nice person and not only a good looking guy, I feel sorry for those who tried to harass him for getting attention when it took nothing (literally) to me to have an unexpected interaction with him, just saying: they are normal people, so treat them as such and you will collect a lot of good experiences.

Now speaking of harassment, comes the worst experience about Magic Con.

I was waiting in the crowd for Andrew's photo session, I was happy and smiling, nervous and excited, planning to ask him "are hugs ok?" or something like that, thinking about a nice pose for the photo. Then a member of the staff came out the room and yelled at us something in german, I asked him to repeat in english and he yelled in front of my face "DON'T TOUCH ANDREW SCOTT, JUST STAND ON HIS RIGHT!", it was like a punch in the face, to be honest, I felt like I did something wrong (of course I didn't), I felt horribly and nervous in a bad way, terrible, the closer I get to the room the worst I felt because I didn't know how to act in that situation. And wham: matter of few seconds, step, he said "hi" so nervously, I answered "hi" back nervous as well, with my arms down, faked a smile pretending to feel ok, then they yelled to me again, he said "bye" still nervous I answered "thanks", then I got my photo, still shaking for the embarrassment of the situation and… Puf, my experience was a mixture of anxiety, embarrassment and don't knowing how to act, still wondering why, what happened, asking myself "is him THAT shy?" and "something happened?" feeling guilty even if it wasn't my fault at all.

Then I got the answer, and I am not gonna tell who gave me the explanation because I trust that person without a shadow of doubt, and because this explanation seems enough plausible to me that I have no doubts in general, even if I am still telling myself "It can't be real", but still…

In few words, at the very beginning of the photo session someone during the photo touched his butt. And even if I can't believe it, this gave me another point of view about the situation, of course he was nervous, we still have to thank him for not canceling the photo session instead! I would had his same reaction so I understand, probably I would have punch the person in the face to be completely honest.

And now, now I am still pissed as fuck, I just want to say to that person a super sarcastic "THANK YOU": thank you because you ruined our experience, our little moment, not the photo in particular but the memory behind that piece of paper, you also ruined his experience in this kind or convention and with the fans; thank you for having no respect for us but especially for HIM, because this basically is harassing someone, knowing how shy he is this was the worst thing that could happen in that situation; and thanks for being such an uneducated, horrible, filthy human being. I truly hope that if all this story is real this person was kicked out from the convention and banned from the next ones.

And if I am not wrong kind of this happened also to Ian, I don't know what specifically, but he didn't even join the closing ceremony. And in the end, right during the closing ceremony, we had the confirmation from Andrew that his experience was not that ok, he lightly told us, not explicitly but if you had enough empathy for sure you get it in that moment, so I don't think we will see him again next year anyway.

And again because empathy is my weakness, I feel so sorry for him (and also for Ian), because that week end of the year means a lot to me, I really feel like I am in my family, and the actors always tell us "we feel home" "this is our family", that's why Hobbitcon was so important to me, and all the people that went to one of that con perfectly know what I mean… So knowing about those bad experience let me feel kind of "responsible", even if I am not.

In conclusion, after this "wall of text", if you are still here congrats: you survived my rant!

Sorry again, but I can't and I don't wanna fake it was all good to me, I wanted to be honest and I think that some people can relate to what I wrote.

This was still a good experience, so full of amazing moments I forgot to write like the party and the comedy hour, all the panels, the people, everything. But also is good to know also the negative things about a situation, for avoiding them in the future.

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

Photo Cameron Kasky, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, speaking at a rally in Florida on Monday. Credit Joe Skipper/Reuters Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived last week’s mass shooting, wrote a beautiful essay for CNN.com that declared: “At the end of the day, the students at my school felt one shared experience — our politicians abandoned us by failing to keep guns out of schools. But this time, my classmates and I are going to hold them to account. This time we are going to pressure them to take action. This time we are going to force them to spend more energy protecting human lives than unborn fetuses.” Cameron, God bless you for that sentiment. But just one piece of respectful advice: If your generation and mine want to get serious about a gun control crusade, we all need to get out of Facebook and into someone’s face: the N.R.A.’s. This fight can’t be won on Twitter or Instagram. They do get people into the streets. But social media have created a world of faux activism — “Hey, I tweeted about it” — that the bad guys take advantage of. The N.R.A. is not just in the chat rooms. It’s in the cloakrooms of Congress and state legislatures. And it’s there with bags of money and votes it uses to reward lawmakers who do its bidding and hurt those who don’t. I loved seeing the 100 students from your high school taking buses Tuesday to Florida’s capital to directly press lawmakers. That’s a great start. I hope every high school follows. But, ultimately, nothing will change unless young and old who oppose the N.R.A. run for office, vote, help someone vote, register someone to vote or help fund someone’s campaign — so we can threaten the same electoral pain as the National Rifle Association, which, according to PolitiFact, spent $203.2 million between 1998 and 2017 funding its candidates, defeating gun control advocates and lobbying. This is not about persuading people with better ideas. We tried that. It’s about generating raw electoral power and pain. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Because most of the G.O.P. members of Congress who do the N.R.A.’s bidding care about only one thing: their jobs. The pay of a typical congressman is $174,000 — and free parking at Reagan National Airport — and they will sell themselves to whoever can generate the votes to enable them to keep both. Are some Democratic lawmakers cowards, too? You bet. But I can show you plenty who have bucked their party’s orthodoxies on education and trade and who insisted that their much-admired colleague Senator Al Franken had to resign over sexual harassment allegations. And most of them have long dared to lose elections to oppose the N.R.A. This is primarily a G.O.P. problem today. Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story Sign Up for the Opinion Today Newsletter Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. SEE SAMPLE MANAGE EMAIL PREFERENCES PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME How do we know that? Read the paper or the web. The G.O.P., which claimed to stand for conservative family values, has prostrated itself before the most indecent person to ever occupy the White House — a man who lies as he breathes, smears poor, nonwhite nations and reportedly had sex with a porn star shortly after his wife delivered their son. But G.O.P. lawmakers are mute on this because President Trump energizes their base and ensures their $174,000-a-year jobs and free parking at Reagan National Airport. This is a party whose evangelicals have been telling us for decades that life is so sacred the G.O.P. must oppose abortion — even in the case of rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life. But Republicans won’t back common-sense gun laws that would protect fully developed human beings — because the N.R.A. energizes their base and funds their campaigns and ensures their $174,000-a-year jobs and free parking at Reagan National Airport. This is a party whose “Freedom Caucus” was so obsessed with our rising national debt that it tried to prevent Barack Obama from spending a dime to stimulate our economy after it went deep into recession — but just voted to add $1 trillion to the debt for a corporate tax cut without regard for the burden put on our kids. Republicans did so because Trump energizes their base and ensures that they keep their $174,000-a-year jobs and free parking at Reagan National Airport. Trying to embarrass them to act on principle is wasted breath. I suspect they’re already embarrassed. When these G.O.P. lawmakers are alone at home contemplating the pictures of all these kids gunned down in Florida — thinking about what it’d be like to be one of their parents — plenty of them probably feel filthy for doing the N.R.A.’s bidding. They know full well that most voters are not asking to scrap the Second Amendment, but for common-sense gun laws that could prevent or reduce more school shootings and would not interfere with any decent Americans’ right to own guns for hunting, sports or self-protection. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story They know full well that a common-sense banning of all military assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks, or mandating universal background checks for gun buyers or to prevent terrorists and the mentally ill from buying guns, would not curb the constitutional right to bear arms. 235 COMMENTS They know full well that they’re in the grip of an N.R.A. cult, whose heart is so frozen, it’s content to watch innocent children and adults get gunned down weekly — rather than impose common-sense gun limits. They know all of this — but they suppress it, because they also know if they vote for common-sense gun laws, the N.R.A. will fund their next opponent. Like I said, this is just about raw naked power, and that is what sensible gun control advocates have to generate more of now — in the form of votes and campaign funding. Otherwise nothing changes. Keep speaking out, Cameron — but never underestimate what some people will do for a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport.