Web Letters | The Nation

Stop the Violence

Guns aren’t the problem

People need to stop blaming guns for violence, when it’s the fucking people. How would you like it if the government started taking your fucking hobbies? I love shooting all weapons at targets, don’t even hunt. People are pathetic. It’s a horrible, unthinkable thing that happened to those children, but guns didn’t do it, the low-life son of a bitch did. He could have accomplished the same tragedy without a gun.

How Walmart Helped Make the Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America

Guns do save lives

It’s sad that Mr. Zornick fails to tell the complete story about the mall shooting and why only two people were killed and not more.The truth is, in Oregon two innocent human beings lost their lives, but perhaps the carnage would have been worse if not for Nick Meli, who has a “concealed carry” permit and was in the mall when the gunman opened fire. Meli pulled his weapon, but did not shoot the gunman because there were bystanders who could have been injured. The gunman saw Meli, an armed citizen, and rather than shoot more innocent,s he pointed his weapon at himself. No amount of gun control will stop a lunatic; however, an armed citizen did stop one in Oregon that day, who knows how many incidents go unreported of people being saved, Get your head out of your a•• and find out all of the facts before spouting off on the keyboard with more misinformation.

Five Assault Weapons You Can Pick up at Walmart [PHOTOS]

Semantics

Your article lists five firearms as assault rifles. Let us review the definition of an “assault rifle”: a military rifle capable of both automatic and semiautomatic fire, utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge.

Bushmaster M4A3
Not capable of automatic fire.
Not an assault rifle.

Sig Sauer M400
Not capable of automatic fire.
Not an assault rifle.

Colt OPs .22 rifle
Not capable of automatic fire.
Doesn’t fire an intermediate cartridge (.22LR is far weaker than common pistol cartridges).
Not an assault rifle.

Colt LE6920
Not capable of automatic fire.
Not an assault rifle.

S&W M&P1522
Not capable of automatic fire.
Doesn’t fire an intermediate cartridge (.22LR is far weaker than common pistol cartridges).
Not an assault rifle.

Remington 870 Express
Not capable of automatic fire.
Not capable of semiautomatic fire.
Doesn’t fire an intermediate cartridge (12-gauge is usually more energetic than such cartrdiges).
This firearm is not even a rifle, let alone an assault rifle.

I would also note that none of these weapons are military weapons. In the interest of journalistic accuracy, I ask that you not report on that which you do not know. Otherwise, you would needlessly spread misinformation.

Five Assault Weapons You Can Pick up at Walmart [PHOTOS]

Guns, Walmart and US Customs

Yes, indeed, the largest importer in the United States provides weapons at great prices! But here is what makes this particularly upsetting: they are a partner with the DHS division of US Customs. A government agency, The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, has oversight of this largest importer into the United States, and not only that, [you will see s slideshow?] of the terms and conditions that Walmart must observe to be this partner. If you apply for a job at Walmart, your application will be vetted. You will have that application and your information reviewed, by terms and conditions of their partnership, by this division of DHS. They do not tell you this connection. You apply instore at a computer, and then when you are invited in, you are told that they might do a background check. But of course, if this is a contractual agreement, it would seem that has done before you are invited in for the interview. I just wanted to mention this because if Walmart is supplying these kinds of weapons, so is DHS. They are the partner. It would be interesting to learn how the applications for weapons are handled, who handles them etc.

Why Most Walmart and Fast Food Workers Didn't Strike

Persevere and you can prevail

Yes, few Walmart employees are brave, and that’s always been the case. I remember at most six people picketing The New York Times to desegregate the want ads. Eventually we were more, but never over twenty-five. All movements like the Freedom Rides start out small. I’ve been to two demonstrations of fast food workers and have been overjoyed at the turnout by them and other poorly paid workers. It also helps to have supporters, non-Walmart workers to embolden the employees. Yes, it’s harder in a recession. Movements are built slowly, and it’s good you went to talk to the workers in New Jersey. The warehouse workers seem more militant and warehouses can’t be moved. Be patient and keep up the struggle.

My View: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Shows Torture Playing Key Role in Getting bin Laden

Opinions are like…

Sadly, just an opinion of other people’s opinions. (1) I can watch this film and form my own opinion. (2) I can go to my local coffee shop or pub to get an opinion—i.e., I don’t need to waste my time reading Greg Mitchell’s opinion of opinions. (3) I think journalism’s goal is to get to truth. I suggest Mr. Mitchell try a Google search on “FBI agent interrogation,” just for starters. Or read some of the other Nation writers. Yes, I’m suggesting a little research before writing an article.

I hope this isn’t a trend in Nation articles. Careful, trust is hard to gain and easy to lose. I was going to read some of Mr. Mitchell’s books. The titles sound interesting, but now I suspect he doesn’t do the hard work (research and search for the truth), so why should I bother to read (let alone pay) to read his opinions (even if they are his opinions of others’ opinions)?

'The Limits to Growth': A Book That Launched a Movement

Getting the word

In 1972, I was teaching English in a high school in San Diego. I devoured Limits to Growth and tried to spread the word to all of my colleagues, students and friends. Sadly, very few actually read the book. I was the first to share the word ecology with the physics teacher! The Club of Rome’s work was on target at the time and, in my opinion, still is. I hope it’s not too late. I am 80 and won’t be around to find out.

'Lincoln,' Thaddeus Stevens and Why American Politics Still Needs Radicals

Stevens and compromise

As I understand it, the compromise Thaddeus Stevens made in supporting the Thirteenth Amendment was tactical and temporary. He believed, and said, that men (this was 1865) made laws, not angels. He was a skilled legislator who could move toward his goals one step at a time. He quickly moved on to sponsoring the Fourteenth Amendment, which would give the federal level some control over insuring that rights of citizens at the state level would be protected. He believed and stated that there was no reason to apologize for voting for an imperfect law that went as far as possible toward real equality, given the time and the circumstances. He was radical, but also realistic.

How to Save the Democratic Party: Replies

Fresh new faces are needed in 2016

The best thing that can happen to the Democratic Party is for new voices to be heard instead of the same voices from the past twenty years. It is a tragic mistake to once again go the tried and true way and ignore fresh new faces that are not afraid to be bold in their ideas and decision making.

We don't have coronations in America. We are not a monarchy. The election was held five weeks ago, and already the diehard Hillary supporters want to hand the nomination in 2016 to her. There are many, many other superbly qualified Democrats—women and men, who are senators, governors, congressmen, and mayors, and all of them deserve an equal chance at the nomination. The Clintons tend to suck all the oxygen out of the room, and that is not fair to other qualified people who deserve the right to contend for the Democratic nomination. Nita Lowey was a congresswoman from New York who had planned to run for the Senate, but when Hillary was leaving the White House and told her friends she planned to run for Senator from New York, Nita Lowey was told by the Democratic machine to forget about her plans.

Impressive résumé? She said Mubarak was a friend weeks before his countrymen overthrew the Egyptian dictator, and she called Assad of Syria a reformer weeks before he began murdering and torturing 40,000 of his own people with artillery strikes and planes dropping bombs on his own cities. It was her fumbling in Benghazi, Libya, that helped cause the problems that occurred on the ground. Ms. Clinton likes to brag about her million miles traveled in airplanes to more than 100 different countries, but perhaps she needs to have her feet planted more firmly on the ground. Syria is imploding with implications for Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan; the Muslim Brotherhood seems intent on forcing an Iranian-style Islamic dictatorship on Egypt; Libya, after Qaddafi, is far from secure or on a path to effective governance; and the Israeli Palestinian issue will heat up once again. The day of reckoning for Iran is coming in 2013 as well, with either an agreement to end their pursuit of nuclear weapons or else a possible war with Israel or the United States. Great Secretary of State? Really? By what standards? Miles traveled? Countries visited?

I have voted for Democrats my entire life and proudly supported Barack Obama and believe he is doing an excellent job. I liked the fact that in 2008 I had a choice and resented the feeling back then that if Hillary Clinton wanted the Democratic nomination it was hers to have. I deeply resent, four years before our next presidential election, having party bigwigs and politicos trying to tell me once again who is the one and only best choice to represent the Democratic Party. There are many, many other qualified women in the Democratic Party who are being ignored, and that is shameful. This claim that Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic qualified to be president in 2016 is a fantasy and does a great disservice to superbly qualified people who can serve our country well.

The best thing that can ever happen to the Democratic Party is for the party stalwarts and bigwigs to begin introducing the American people to many gifted and experienced Democratic women and men who can represent our party and do so in a progressive way to build on the accomplishments of the Obama years. There is talk about Jeb Bush running in 2016, against Hillary Clinton. The last thing our country, a nation of 310 million people, needs is the same tired faces and ideas from the past twenty years once again running our government.

Remembering Jane Holtz Kay

Honored to have known her

I am so happy to see this smart, sensitive and astonishingly complete sketch of a great woman and intellect. I had the honor to serve as literary agent, friend, occasional lunch mate and an inordinate admirer. Jane was a force, a woman who suffered fools not at all, an eschewer of insider language, a truthteller who was a scholar despite her suspicion of “scholars.” Anyone who knew this force called Jane Holtz Kay misses her like crazy.