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NRA Gives Ajit Pai 'Courage Award' and Gun For 'Saving the Internet' (arstechnica.com)
The National Rifle Association (NRA) today gave its Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. "Pai was about to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland when the award presentation seemed to catch him by surprise," reports Ars Technica. "The award is a handmade long gun that could not be brought on stage, so it will be housed in the NRA museum until Pai can receive it." From the report: "Ajit Pai, as you probably already know, saved the Internet," American Conservative Union (ACU) Executive Director Dan Schneider told the audience. The ACU is the host of CPAC; Schneider made a few more remarks praising Pai before handing the award presentation over to NRA board member Carolyn Meadows. Pai "fought to preserve your free speech rights" as a member of the FCC's Republican minority during the Obama administration, Schneider said. Pai "fought and won against all odds, but the Obama administration had some curveballs and they implemented these regulations to take over the Internet." "As soon as President Trump came into office, President Trump asked Ajit Pai to liberate the Internet and give it back to you," Schneider added. "Ajit Pai is the most courageous, heroic person that I know."
The signature achievement that helped Pai win the NRA courage award came in December when the FCC voted to eliminate net neutrality rules. The rules, which are technically still on the books for a while longer, prohibited Internet service providers from blocking and throttling lawful Internet traffic and from charging online services for prioritization. Schneider did not explain how eliminating net neutrality rules preserved anyone's "free speech rights." Right Wing Watch posted a video of the ceremony.
The signature achievement that helped Pai win the NRA courage award came in December when the FCC voted to eliminate net neutrality rules. The rules, which are technically still on the books for a while longer, prohibited Internet service providers from blocking and throttling lawful Internet traffic and from charging online services for prioritization. Schneider did not explain how eliminating net neutrality rules preserved anyone's "free speech rights." Right Wing Watch posted a video of the ceremony.
Sadly this is not off topic:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/18/trump-nra-fbi-alexander-torshin-russia-investigation
The FBI is investigating whether a Russian banker with close ties to Vladimir Putin funneled money through the National Rifle Association to support Donald Trumpâ(TM)s presidential campaign....The NRA spent at least $30m to back Trumpâ(TM)s 2016 campaign for president...News outlets have been examining ties and meetings between NRA leaders and Russia for months, including a 2015 NRA delegation to Moscow that included meetings with influential Putin allies....
You get the picture?
I shot competitively for a few years and I was a member of the NRA to keep track of my progress. I didn't agree with them 100%, but I supported their defense of the 2nd amendment in principle - and on a number of their talking points - so I was fine with paying for membership. Then they started going in the direction of being a mouthpiece for the far right with shit like this.
There are many moderates and even *gasp* liberals who like guns! If my experience is an indication of the rest of the country's gun-owning-but-not-far-right population, the NRA is going to continue losing membership and support. I may consider renewing my membership if they ever go back to what they used to be, but in the meanwhile I'll direct my money and energies elsewhere.
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
In the last couple decades, I've witnessed the transformation of the NRA from a firearm advocacy group into the armed wing of a very specific type of social conservatives, the Fox News social conservatives that worship Trump as their messiah. I don't know how their "Christian Values" can reconcile with their moral dexterity in accepting an serial sexual predator.
NRA has no business giving awards to a telecommunication lobbyist that has done little to advocate for firearm owners, except as a swampy favor to its new buddy Trump. This is the type of crony capitalism NRA used to nuts over during the Clinton years.
I used to enjoy reading American Rifleman but I started to question NRA's political stance during the GWB years when our Constitution was tramped by the Patriot Acts. By the Obama years, I skip all the political articles and stopped all donations. These days, I don't even bother reading the American Rifleman. The only reason I didn't cancel the subscription is because I don't feel like saving the NRA any money.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that unchecked proliferation of high capacity magazine fed semi automatic rifles in a polarized society with limited social safety net will eventually lead to the carnage we are witnessing today. We keep this up, in a few years we'll have open street warfare between the various armed militias, all vying to protect their own interpretation our Constitution from each other.
The problem with the 2nd amendment is right there in the Supreme Court that interpreted the original meaning of Militia to suddenly mean any one man and his gun collection.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Roger Stone, Trumpy advisor, already warned that getting rid of The Donald would result in Civil War.
I'm happy to call his bluff and take the chance.
The NRA doesn't "Stick up for the Constitution". It sticks up for part of the second part of the 2nd Amendment. If the NRA "defended the Constitution" they'd be demanding a "well-regulated militia." Which appears to have been more important to the people who approved the Constitution than "the right of the people to bear arms." Because they put it first.