Pirate's Cove

First off, liberals, like those at the failing, click-baity, #resist CNN, just can’t MoveOn from losing the 2016 election fair and square, after having nominated an unpopular, shady, un-charismatic woman who failed to campaign in several states, which meant she was beaten fair and square by a political neophyte who did the things required to win an election under the rules. Second, Russia Russia Russia!

What do the gun violence debate and 2016 election have in common?

The news that a federal grand jury has indicted 13 Russians over interference in the 2016 US election comes on the heels of what would seem to be a totally unrelated event – the mass shooting in a Florida school. The indictments were over alleged meddling in the presidential election, but Russia’s efforts to undermine US democracy may extend well beyond that. Russia appears to be stoking divisions on the acrimonious subject of gun violence, one where America’s system of government appears to be failing.

The indictment lays out in spine-chilling detail the extent to which the Kremlin mobilized to destabilize US democracy. A secretive, Russian technology company, the Internet Research Agency, sought to “sow discord in the US political system.”

It’s shocking that a foreign government would do that! It’s a good thing we never tried to interfere with foreign elections, like, say, Israeli and Russian ones.

America’s nonresponse to the epidemic encapsulates all that is broken in US politics and government. That’s because gun violence stands at the intersection of the most urgent problems threatening the functioning of American democracy and the cohesion of the country.

The gun violence crisis is the canary in the coal mine of the American political system, an ominous warning sign.

We might actually get something done if Leftists weren’t actually pushing for gun grabbing and banning private ownership as the ultimate goal. Few of their proposals go after the criminals that use them or may use them. It always seems to be the law abiding citizens who are most affected. And their policies do not work. Look at Chicago. Companies might actually develop a worthwhile smart gun if New Jersey liberals weren’t stupid. And they offer dumb things, like using the utterly flawed no-fly list.

Anyhow, here comes the real fun

In the hours after the Florida shooting, bot and troll tracking sites detected a proliferation of activity in Russian-linked Twitter accounts working to add to the acrimony that always follows US shootings. That is in keeping with the Kremlin’s well-documented efforts to intensify internal divisions in the United States and other democracies. But there may be more to Russia’s involvement.

The FBI is reportedly investigating whether a Russian, with ties to the Kremlin, funneled money illegally to the National Rifle Association to give to the Trump campaign. The NRA spent an unprecedented $30 million to help Trump campaign — through both pro-Trump and anti-Clinton efforts — more than double what it spent to help Mitt Romney in 2012.

Bots and trolls!!!!!! ZOMG!!!!! Interestingly, Frida Ghitis, who’s writing this screed, and her editor, fail to note that the CNN article cited about “funneled money illegally” stated that CNN could not independently verify the McClatchy article it came from, nor did the FBI reply. Strange to leave important info out. Eh, doesn’t matter, because Russia Russia Russia. Oh, and CNN was unable to independently verify the whole Russian bot thing Frida pretty much bases her article on, vis a vis guns

The Alliance For Securing Democracy is a group housed at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) think tank to “defend against, deter, and raise the costs on Russian and other actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions,” according to its mission statement.

The group does not disclose which accounts it tracks and CNN has not independently verified its findings.

Among the hashtags and topics related to the shooting are #falseflag, #fbi, #gunreformnow, #fbigate, #parklandschoolshooting, the name of the shooter — Nikolas Cruz — and Florida.

But, they still ran with the article. As did Frida. Who yammers on and on and on about guns and money in politics, moving on from her premise on Russia Russia Russia, because, quite frankly, it’s thin, ending with

The United States is failing to stop a problem that has killed more Americans than all the wars in US history because money now trumps principles. Because partisanship overwhelms common sense. America’s adversaries have found these weaknesses and are using it against the United States. The gun problem is a warning. If the country cannot solve this crisis, much worse lies ahead.

What she forgets to do is offer solutions. Similar to what Cass Sunstein and others are doing. Lots of complaints, but, they’re just saying “Do Something!” Perhaps it’s because they know their ideas are extreme.

Oh, and perhaps CNN could give up its own use of armed security at the CNN buildings around the world.