don't take my guns away"

How's that for an idea for a poster or cartoon or billboard?

I don't know the answer to this, so I'm asking.

Here on DU we're all basically "on the same side" and have a lot of threads on this and that. Lots of k&rs, lots of +1s, and lots of yeahs. It's a chat room after all. But how is that helping to DO something about fixing the mess in DC?

The MSM seems to be divided into two camps: Fox and a few others, and everyone else. And there are lots of talk shows and opinions. But it seems that we only watch what we agree with. Fox viewers probably don't watch anything that leans left, and Dems don't watch Fox. So is the MSM also singing to the choir?

I know I'm exaggerating, but it just seems there's a lot of tail-wagging and barking going on, and very little biting.

Meanwhile, Congress -- except for a few members -- seems to move at the speed of a gear lubricated with Crazy Glue.

Sometimes I think that if the Founding Fathers had done what Congress is doing today, we'd all be talking with a British accent and drinking tea. And we would probably have lost WWII.

Thinking about joining a local group and curious about them.

Our cat Rocky, a Maine Coon mix, decided some time back that he really likes cold water, as in from the fridge, or, if not immediately available, right out of the faucet. He also jumps up on the bathroom counter to get at a glass of cold water we set out for him.

A few weeks back, he was in the bathroom with me, looked up at me, and said something like "ah-hwa" (I don't write Cat, so that's an approximation). I didn't think anything of it at the time, but when he said it again a couple of days later, again in the bathroom, I realized it sounded like "agua," which is Spanish for water. The next few times it was pretty clear.

I just hope he doesn't start asking for food that way.

I found myself wondering this morning as to the diversity of Fox News' staff, so I looked it up and found this:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kelly-wright-fox-news-lawsuit_us_5900d8a4e4b0026db1dd8789

At a time when potential employees are often grilled on their thoughts about diversity (or, in some cases, asked for written statements), this is really interesting.

If I remember correctly, Colin's intent when he knelt the first time was specifically to protest police brutality against black people. Then DJT turned it into a political statement by saying he was disrespecting the military, the flag, and the anthem.

Have people in general been hoodwinked by DJT and the MSM into forgetting Colin's original intent and getting into all this arguing about the flag and the anthem? IOW, did DJT get tons of people pissed off with a shithead comment?

Incidentally, when the movie Poltergeist came out, there was a scene, late at night, when the TV station was signing off and playing the anthem. It's right there on the DVD. I didn't see the movie in a theater, but I just have to wonder how many people stood up during the scene.

A couple of days ago I sent out several emails asking for some very simple information for a project I'm working on. The emails went to established businesses.

About half the replies told me that the respondents didn't read the email content (which was very clear and very short): they apparently went just by the subject line. In one case the response was to a totally different question than the one I asked.

I've been seeing this more and more over the past couple of years. I'm seeing it here on DU and I see it on other forums.

What's up with this?

We're hearing more and more about police being called on POC, and their ridiculous responses. The latest seems to be the woman (a lawyer) who was shopping with her daughter, accused of shoplifting, and handcuffed roughly. Before that it was the cop who went after a 22-year-old who had taken his sister to the prom.

I don't know if it's going to be possible to keep this thread from derailing, but here's a question: Is this happening more often nowadays, or was it happening all along and we're just hearing about it more?

I have my opinions too, but can we find some factual information?

According to their poll, only about 8% of gun owners are members. And some of the responses to "why" are interesting.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-many-gun-owners-dont-join-the-nra_us_5ad8a110e4b03c426dabf372

I know, I know, there will be those who scream FAKE POLL!

This has been mentioned before, but just now there are several OPs about trump's lawyer, and there were several OPs just recently about Michelle Wolf, the Starbucks incident, and many others, basically all saying the same thing.

I think it's fascinating.