In the absence of government leadership, it is refreshing to see the private sector taking the lead on the the cause to get assault style weapons off our streets, or otherwise restrict gun sales, in the wake of Florida school massacre.

To date, Enterprise Holdings, which owns the Enterprise, Alamo, and National rental car brands, as well as First National Bank of Omaha, Hertz, MetLife, Symantec, Chubb, SimpliSafe, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have ended discount programs with the NRA. And Dick’s Sporting Goods announced they will no longer sell assault-style weapons, and any gun to anyone under 21 years of age.

In this era of dysfunctional government, it is refreshing to see the private sector taking the lead on the issue of gun violence, as companies have on environmental causes, when our federal and state governments refuse or are unable to do so. More and more companies’ social responsibility initiatives are picking up the slack where our legislators refuse to act.

This behavior should be encouraged and rewarded by corporate shareholders and stakeholders of all corporations that can have influence on the discourse over gun violence and getting assault-style weapons off the streets, and all guns out of the hands of those who are incapable of using them responsibly.

 

 

One again, Fox tries to change the discussion. This morning, while the New York Times and every other news outlet were reporting the Trump campaign aid, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI, Fox was busy trying to, again, discredit the Mueller investigation by claiming the investigation team is “heavy with Democrats”.

It is true that several of the 16 attorneys on Mueller’s team gave to Democratic down-ticket candidates in 2016. Six made no political contributions in 2016. In terms of Hilary Clinton specifically, election filings indicate that three lawyers gave her 2016 presidential campaign a total of $700. That is hardly evidence of bias.

Mueller himself is a longtime Republican, and served under two Republican presidents. And he is prohibited from choosing lawyers based on political affiliations.

Fox News… the REAL fake news.

Thursday morning, 5:00am Pacific time. As reported by all major news outlets, except Fox News – see below – the Senate is expected to vote on a bipartisan two year budget bill today to avert another government shutdown and end the stalemate on a fiscal budget.

Granted, a Tesla Roadster heading for Mars is interesting. But Fox might have least considered a brief headline on the bipartisan budget agreement further down the page. I guess the geniuses at Fox consider the claim that Richard Pryor slept with Marlon Brando more interesting… or more important… to their audience than real bipartisan progress by our legislators.

It is 5:30 Pacific time, Wednesday, February 7th. The most amazing news of the day is the BIPARTISAN two-year budget deal in the Senate. Truly a remarkable accomplishment and positive news story amidst all of the disfunction and discord of the past several weeks… months… years. It is something to celebrate. And the major news outlets – The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN – did exactly that.

But over at Fox, not a word about the bipartisan two year budget deal, not anywhere on Fox’s home page. Instead, more rehashing of the 2016 election in Fox’s undying effort to discredit the Mueller investigation.

 

Why? Because celebrating a bipartisan success in the Senate does not align with “Fox evangelism” in its undying support of Mr. Trump?

This is the problem in America right now; a bogus and biased opinion network whose audience is comprised primarily of Trump’s base.  Why would Fox want to tell its faithful followers that something positive happened when both sides of the isle came together and actually struck a budget deal that’s good for America?