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FOUR ICONIC FIGURES FOREVER

kayokeith

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country. FDR

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. M.K. Gandhi

For what shall it suffer a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?—Jesus Christ, in Matthew 16:26

 

These four iconic figures in world history have gone above and beyond anything any of us could have or conceivably will ever accomplish but we can use them as our models. I cannot place my name anywhere among them but I can speak of them as my friends, as their words ring out the truth to this day and far beyond. I can only dream as Martin Luther King Jr did; I can only take hope from FDR, who, literally, stood on steel legs while giving confidence to men who, under his leadership, saved our country from becoming a dictatorship;  I can only take heart from Mohandas Gandhi, who gives us hope to this day, through his actions of non-violent protest that Martin Luther King Jr., took heart from and used as a template for his later civil rights marches and protests; and, of course Jesus Christ, whether you believe He was (is) just a man or God incarnate, I can take heart from what He has done for myself personally, as well as leaving us, mankind, the holy spirit to comfort us until He returns, something that could conceivably happen quite soon. Peace be upon us all.

CLOSE ALL GUN SHOWS IN FLORIDA

kayokeith

My name is Keith G. Laufenberg and I am running for a seat, as a Democrat, in the 2020 election for the seat of State Representative in District 35, in Hernando County. The current holder of that seat is Blaise Ingoglia, who is a Republican. I have many complaints as to the legislation Ingoglia, as well as the Republican Party, as a whole, is suggesting and passing in Tallahassee and I am going to replace him, with your help.
One of my first initiatives in Tallahassee will be to submit legislation that will get rid of gun shows in the State of Florida and, with them, what is known as the gun show loophole. This term refers to the sale of firearms by private sellers, including those at gun shows, if they don’t meet federal requirements for background checks. Federal law requires that background checks be done for any commercial sales but not for private-party sales, and, therein, creates a loop-hole: because at private-party sales any person can sell any firearm to any unlicensed resident of the same state as long as they don’t have a reasonable doubt that the purchaser should be prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms under Federal law. In other words, a gun salesman selling these killing machines for profit, at a gun-show, is “given” no reason to believe he will actually have to run a background check on “anyone” and so, he doesn’t.” I am not going after the 2nd Amendment here; if you have a pistol and a permit to keep it in your house, fine, I just don’t want anyone to be able to buy an AK-47 legally.

Under federal law, gun salesmen, selling their private-party wares at a gun show are NOT REQUIRED to perform background checks, record the sale, or even ask for any identification at any of the innumerable gun shows in the State of Florida. This law is contrasted sharply by gun stores and other sales by FFL (Federal Firearms License) holders: to whom it is mandatory for them to perform background checks, as well as recording any gun sales, whether in a store or at a gun show. Access to the NICS, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, is limited to FFL holders. It is a system whereby the FFL holder can determine if their prospective buyers’ name and birth date match any person not eligible to purchase a weapon. The NICS was mandated by the Brady Law aka the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act of 1993 and was launched by the FBI, in 1998, to honor James Brady who was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. during an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. After a prospective buyer completes the appropriate form, the holder of the FFL initiates the background check on a computer. Most checks are determined within minutes, however if, for any reason a determination is not obtained within three business days then the transfer may legally be completed.

Many gun control advocates have campaigned vigorously for universal background checks but to no avail. A bill must be written that will provide a uniform set of rules for commercial gun sellers, whether at gun shows or private residences. After the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, gun shows and background checks became a focus of national debate in the United States. Weeks after the Columbine shooting, Senator Frank Laufenberg, New Jersey, introduced a proposal to close the gun show loophole in federal law. It was passed in the Senate, but did not pass in the House.

Between 2001 and 2013 seven gun show “loophole” bills have been introduced in the U.S. House and four in the Senate and not one of them passed.
In the U.S House of Representatives there is a House representative, Carolyn Maloney, who is the representative for New York’s 12th congressional district, for the past seven years and previously for 10 years, in the 14th district, when it was redistricted. Since 2015, when she introduced H.R. 2380, aka the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2015, which was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations. In March of 2017, Representative Maloney introduced H.R. 1612, aka the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2017 and, then in January of this year (2019) she introduced H.R. 820 aka the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2019. None of these bills has yet to become law but, as your representative for District 35 I will introduce similar bills and do everything I can to see that they get passed and, along with you, the voters, WE SHALL OVERCOME!

They tied the knot; then they were gone

kayokeith

There’s not much I can add to this piece I read in the Tampa Bay Times yesterday. If you’re not religious; maybe this can convert you or, the opposite can also happen. Read this story warily, knowing that it is a truth that happened before people’s eyes who cannot, now or then, make any “worldly” sense out of it. May the Lord’s peace be upon you.

Family watched Friday as high school sweethearts got married – then, minutes later, as they died.

Harley and Rhiannon Morgan hit a trailer-towing pickup truck as they turned onto the highway from a driveway at the Orange, Texas, courtroom where they tied the knot, city police told local news station KFDM. The groom’s mother and sister looked on in horror from behind.

What they saw was haunting, Harley’s mother, Lashawna Morgan, told the news outlet. The Chevy Cavalier flipped before crashing into a ditch off Texas 87, according to the Beaumont Enterprise.

“I had to sit there and watch my two babies die,” Morgan said. “That is an image I will have for the rest of my life. I still have his blood on my hands from trying to pull him and her out of there.”

Harley was just 19 years old; Rhiannon was 20. The couple from Vidor, Texas, died on the scene near the chambers of Justice of the Peace Joy Dubose-Simonton, who had the grim duty of declaring dead the couple she’d just married, the Beaumont Enterprise reported.

Harley and Rhiannon got in the car to file their marriage license at the county courthouse, change Rhiannon’s legal name and snap more pictures, the paper reported. Five loved ones were along for the festivities. There were plans for cake and a bigger ceremony later this year, family said.

After the crash, about a dozen people came together in Vidor at the Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins where Harley was a baker. They remembered the couple with the cake they never got to eat.

Police, who did not respond to an inquiry, are investigating the collision. They said the man driving the truck was uninjured, KFDM reported.

The Morgans’ family, meanwhile, is devastated.“Please go home and hug your loved ones tonight,” Lashawna Morgan said, standing by the highway as officials carried over remnants of the upended lives: a bloody bouquet, the envelope with the marriage license. “Do not go to bed angry.”