The NRA, gunned down in New York, flees to gunolatrous Texas

[jserraglio]

REUTERS

National Rifle Association files for bankruptcy, seeking to escape New York lawsuit

(Reuters) - The National Rifle Association on Friday filed for bankruptcy, a sudden development that could help the gun rights group escape a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general seeking its dissolution.

The NRA filed for Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court in Dallas, and said it plans to reincorporate in Texas to escape “a corrupt political and regulatory environment” in New York, where it is now incorporated.

“Texas values the contributions of the NRA, celebrates our law-abiding members, and joins us as a partner in upholding constitutional freedom,” Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said in a letter to members. “We seek protection from New York officials who illegally abused and weaponized the powers they wield against the NRA and its members.”

The NRA was sued in August by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused LaPierre and other senior leaders of self-dealing and mismanagement, and said the group’s activities violated state laws governing nonprofits.

James said NRA officials diverted millions of dollars to fund luxury lifestyles, including vacations and private jets, and to buy the silence and loyalty of former employees, costing the group $64 million over three years.

“The NRA’s claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt,” James said in a statement on Friday. “We will not allow the NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office’s oversight.”

In its own statement, the NRA pledged no immediate changes to its operations or workforce and said it was not insolvent, with LaPierre adding that it was “as financially strong as we have been in years.”

The group said it would continue to defend its members’ constitutional rights under the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.

Critics say the NRA is an enabler of gun violence.

In her lawsuit, James said the NRA’s incorporation as a nonprofit in New York gave her authority to seek its dissolution. The NRA filed a countersuit in federal court in Albany, New York, accusing her of violating its free speech rights because she disliked its politics.

The NRA accused James, a Democrat, of seeking a “corporate death sentence” in a partisan push to fulfill a “career goal.”

Sixteen Republican attorneys general filed a brief supporting the NRA’s case.

Friday’s move will likely put the New York lawsuit on hold, and a reincorporation in Texas could strip James of her power to dissolve the group.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Jonathan Oatis

[barney]

I'm still hoping that Texas will follow up the suggestion of the Republicans there that they leave the USA. Then the NRA is welcome to incorporate there, with no legal standing in the US.

I remember a very pointed cartoon after a recent gun massacre (I can't remember which, there are too many). Corpses lie around, and Uncle Sam comforts a bloodied survivor, "It's ok, you're safe now." The survivor is labelled NRA.

[maestrob]

I'm still hoping that Texas will follow up the suggestion of the Republicans there that they leave the USA. Then the NRA is welcome to incorporate there, with no legal standing in the US.

I remember a very pointed cartoon after a recent gun massacre (I can't remember which, there are too many). Corpses lie around, and Uncle Sam comforts a bloodied survivor, "It's ok, you're safe now." The survivor is labelled NRA.

When Texas won its freedom from Mexico, it became an independent territory for ten years, between 1836-1846, even adopting its own flag in 1838. When Texas was admitted to the United States, they retained that flag and became known as "The Lone Star" state. Texans have retained this memory of their independence and Republicans have mythologized it, often threatening to secede from the U. S., as you say. Their threat is just silly nonsense, of course.

That said, there are many Latinos (mostly of Mexican descent) living there, most of them U. S. citizens, about 11.1 million in 2017 and growing rapidly as a share of the population, about 39%. Without them, Texas's economy would crumble, and besides, they vote Democratic for the most part, and are turning the state blue, just like what happened in Georgia on January 5. The South is changing, and Texas along with it.

I believe that if Republicans don't repudiate DJT, we may not have a Republican president for a very long time, and that would be a good thing. Even Trump has acknowledged this publicly.

Incidentally, Barney, your remark about an NRA cartoon jogged my memory as well, so I found this one for you:

[barney]

thanks Brian. I hadn't seen that cartoon. It's rather cutting.

[maestrob]

thanks Brian. I hadn't seen that cartoon. It's rather cutting.

You bet. A terrible subject to make fun of, especially here in the U. S.

In reference to Texas, it's worth remembering that Texan Lyndon Johnson was in Congress for 23 years before being chosen as JFK's running mate in 1960, ostensibly to add gravitas to the ticket, much as Joe Biden did for Barack Obama. Johnson became Majority Whip in 1951 in the Senate, and then Leader in 1953, where he sparred with Eisenhower for eight years as leader of the then inevitable Democratic majority that had endured since FDR's first election in 1932.

In spite of his escalation of the Vietnam War and all the lies our government told about that, I and many Americans consider him one of our greatest presidents, even though he decided not to run for a second term. He certainly was a master at passing legislation to improve American society, including both civil rights acts, Medicare, the Voting Rights Act, public housing (1968) and the first welfare system for poor children and adults, all in just four years.

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/lbjs- ... 0families.

[barney]

Interesting - I don't know a lot about Johnson. He's famous here for the fawning support he got from the Conservative Prime Minister of Australia at the time, whose mantra was "all the way with LBJ", but that's before my time.
May I say I am sure there are many fine people in Texas. I merely feel that if the state doesn't want to be part of the USA, it should not be impeded in its desire to leave. Get rid of a couple more red states: problem sorted! I've got an idea, and I wonder that no one thought of it before: divide the nation along the Mason-Dixon line.*

* Just kidding.

[maestrob]

Interesting - I don't know a lot about Johnson. He's famous here for the fawning support he got from the Conservative Prime Minister of Australia at the time, whose mantra was "all the way with LBJ", but that's before my time.
May I say I am sure there are many fine people in Texas. I merely feel that if the state doesn't want to be part of the USA, it should not be impeded in its desire to leave. Get rid of a couple more red states: problem sorted! I've got an idea, and I wonder that no one thought of it before: divide the nation along the Mason-Dixon line.*

* Just kidding.

I knew that!

Emotionally, that sounds like a good idea, but it would be fiscally disastrous for Texans.

Much of our oil industry is based there (and in the other Gulf States), and with the price of oil about to drop further as that commodity becomes irrelevant, good jobs that pay union wages in that industry are about to disappear just as they have in coal, unless the oil industry acts fast to reinvent itself, which they haven't done so far.

If Texas leaves the U. S., their citizenry, especially all the white supremacists who live there and vote Republican, would lose the massive amounts of money that flow from our tax dollars in the north to subsidize their federal benefits, like social security/disability payments and food stamps.

Because Texas did not accept the 10% Medicaid bonus funding option provided by Obamacare, they now have the highest percentage of its population with no healthcare coverage, thus exposing hospitals to a slew of unpaid bills from all those people who are entitled to be treated, which our Federal government then reimburses the hospitals for anyway (or at least a percentage, mostly for seniors). That's how screwed-up our healthcare system is! Without those funds, many hospitals there would be forced to close.

Census Bureau data released last month that shows that Texas has continued to lead the nation in uninsured residents over the past two years. In 2018, a little more than 5 million Texans, or 17.7% of the population, lacked health insurance. That’s up slightly from 2017, when 4.8 million (17.3%) Texans were uninsured.

In addition, Texas continues to have the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation by far at 11.2%."No other state is even in double digits,” Ms. Alker said. The Georgetown University report, which defined children as those 18 years old and younger, also showed that: Texas is now home to 21.5% of the nation's uninsured children, the highest percentage in the nation, way ahead of Florida at 8.4% and California at 7.4%.

https://www.texmed.org/TexasMedicineDet ... x?id=51858

I could go on, but you get my point, I'm sure!

[jserraglio]

I would suggest Texas look into joining the United Mexican States as its 33rd state; it was once part of Mexico before abandoning its Hispanic identity and becoming independent.

[barney]

Yes Brian, I do get your point.
I was motivated in writing that partly by a threa you started ages ago pointing out how disastrous it would be for Texas. That's why we know it's all just posturing; something Texans are really very good at.

[barney]

I would suggest Texas look into joining the United Mexican States as its 33rd state; it was once part of Mexico before abandoning its Hispanic identity and becoming independent.

Excellent idea, Joseph. And very good indeed for all the white supremacists.

[jserraglio]

I would suggest Texas look into joining the United Mexican States as its 33rd state; it was once part of Mexico before abandoning its Hispanic identity and becoming independent.

Excellent idea, Joseph. And very good indeed for all the white supremacists.

Thanks. I would add that Mexico has triple the oil reserves of Texas, so can offer plenty of employment to oil-rigger roustabouts.

[david johnson]

Surely, some of you are NOT serious! We fought a war over secession and decided the UNITED states is the way to be. Over 600,000 of us died in that conflict. No reason to do it again. I'm not grumping at just those who actually hold the view, but more at us here who 'cheer it on'.

[jserraglio]

Surely, some of you are NOT serious! We fought a war over secession and decided the UNITED states is the way to be. Over 600,000 of us died in that conflict. No reason to do it again. I'm not grumping at just those who actually hold the view, but more at us here who 'cheer it on'.

I was kidding, of course. The obvious and most rational solution would be for all gun-totin’ teetotalin’ Trumpista Texans to emigrate to Cuernavaca and once there install Ted Cruz as their Lord of Misrule. The hero of the Capitol Hill mob & the only figure who actually tried to live up to the nickname Trump bestowed upon him, Cruz is currently starring in the sitcom ‘Washed Up in Washington’.

[barney]

Surely, some of you are NOT serious! We fought a war over secession and decided the UNITED states is the way to be. Over 600,000 of us died in that conflict. No reason to do it again. I'm not grumping at just those who actually hold the view, but more at us here who 'cheer it on'.

I'm being sarcastic too. But I am staggered that you don't mind the secessionists who boast of their loyalty to the US, run around waving flags, yet want to leave. That's quite ok by you; no contradiction there, it seems. But Joseph and I, who note the hypocrisy and self-serving nature of those who suggest it and who laugh at them, are the subject of your "grumping"? David, that is a seriously distorted view.

[david johnson]

barney and jserraglio, I am glad you are being sarcastic, but it doesn't sound that way to me.
Where do you get that I do not mind the 'secessionists', js? Nothing distorted in my statement. They are of the same cloth as the many pop figures who claimed they would leave the USA if Trump won. Hot air.

[barney]

barney and jserraglio, I am glad you are being sarcastic, but it doesn't sound that way to me.
Where do you get that I do not mind the 'secessionists', js? Nothing distorted in my statement. They are of the same cloth as the many pop figures who claimed they would leave the USA if Trump won. Hot air.

You stated above you were more grumpy at Joseph and I (et al) who cheered on the secessionists (saying good riddance to bad rubbish) than you were at the secessionists themselves. Are you more concerned at the Germans who encouraged the Nazis, such as aristocrats in the army, than you are at the Nazis themselves? I know this is an extreme example, and I am not suggesting you encourage Nazis in any form, but it highlights how truly distorted your position is. The perpetrators aren't as bad as the people who either encourage them or laugh at them. Weird.
The reason it is sarcasm is that we all know Texans won't leave. They'd have to live up to their boastful big-noting and not rely on the federal teat.

[jserraglio]

Where do you get that I do not mind the 'secessionists', js?

I believe I never said or implied that and hope I never would. If I did, I apologize.

I have dreaded the onset of a Second Civil War for more than 60 years, since the day in DC in 1957 I was verbally attacked by a mob of Confederate flag waving white boys and later physically assaulted by a bunch of racist scalliwags from my hometown. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those pint-size lads gave an encore performance on Jan. 6, this time as arthritic old farts. In this space, I have worried about a new Civil War ever since an obese renegade named Donald Trump came on the scene. I can tell you that those concerns about civil war were roundly pooh-poohed then as needlessly alarmist.

[maestrob]

I can tell you that those concerns about civil war were roundly pooh-poohed then as needlessly alarmist.

Certainly not by me!