Rahm Emanuel defends Michael Bloomberg in wake of NRA criticism

[SecularMotion]

Mayor Rahm Emanuel voiced support on Twitter for Michael Bloomberg after the National Rifle Association purchased ad time to attack the former New York mayor's gun control work.

"No leader has done more to help end gun violence than @MikeBloomberg. He deserves our praise, not the NRA's shameful attacks," according to a tweet this morning on Emanuel's official Twitter account.

The Chicago mayor's camp also said that he supports "Mike and the moms" in a retweet of a woman's message that the NRA should be worried about "millions of angry moms" in addition to Bloomberg.

USA Today announced this week that the NRA had launched an ad campaign aimed at driving up negative opinions of Bloomberg even though the former mayor is not running for office. Bloomberg has announced he will invest heavily in trying to build a grass-roots gun control organization to counter the political strength of the NRA.

http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/local/chi-emanuel-bloomberg-nra-criticism-20140821,0,193292.story

[shedevil69taz]

1. If you really want to help end gun violence...

Rahm, and Bloomberg should be the last advocates you should be championing. You have to earn the trust and votes of current gun owners. You will never get either as long as these two idiots are involved...

[ileus]

2. I bet he does...

[Duckhunter935]

3. Rohm and Bloomie

should be worried about the tens of millions of firearms owners that vote and do not have to be paid off by a billionaire.

So SM, what do you want to discuss about your daily cut and paste here in RKBA. The SOP says discuss. Are you planning on ignoring it again? As a host I would think you should follow this groups SOP as strictly as you enforce the SOP of your group.

[Eleanors38]

4. So, where is a sample ad from the NRA?

[Starboard Tack]

6. Why are you posting this NRA garbage?

[Duckhunter935]

7. the question was asked

to show a sample ad. I complied with the simple request. Next time I will run it by you to get permission to post a youtube link. I am sorry I did not know I had to.

You do not need to watch it and you can even block me so you would never see it.

[aikoaiko]

8. That was a shameful hide.

[Starboard Tack]

9. No, it was a good hide.

The NRA is a right wing fascist organization (wasn't always that way), and we don't support RW shit on DU. And we sure as hell don't run free ads for them.

What is shameful is that you would support such shit.

[gejohnston]

12. it was a bad hide, and look up fascist

misusing the term is just as inane as the right wing misusing socialist and communist.
The reason it was a bad hide was because a question was asked, he was not promoting the NRA by running the ad. Just like pointing out proven facts (in a court of law) that is part of the public record is also a bad hide (and a frivolous alert) just because the objective truth does not match the preferred narrative.

Would you prefer we discuss Bloomberg's history of sexism and poor understanding of geography?

[Starboard Tack]

13. Good hide and I know what fascist means

I currently live in the country that invented fascism. I know its origins, its intent and I recognize it when I see it. He could have referred to the ad without posting it. We are not in a court of law. We are on the fucking internet, as in World Wide Web, where when you link or post a ad like that, it works as an endorsement. I do stuff like that for a living. I know how it works.

And no! I have no interest in discussing Bloomberg, period.

[gejohnston]

14. then you also know the Italy's current gun laws

are largely from that era. Tell MikeB hi for me.

[Starboard Tack]

15. Yeah, the laws may be, but you rarely see a gun

And the cops don't strut around like paramilitary assholes. Very low key. Much lower than it was 40 years ago.
You can buy guns and get carry permits here. It's just that nobody does. Wonder why. Oh, right, they aren't scared of each other. Very refreshing.
Where I'm living, people don't lock their doors. You can walk into neighbors houses, even if they don't know you. They don't yell at you, or shoot you. They tell you to sit down and eat some wonderful food.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I missed this country and how happy I am to be here, without any thoughts, not even remote ones, of ever returning to the US. But I wish you all well.

[gejohnston]

16. We didn't lock our doors either in Wyoming

I'm guessing you are not in one of the major cities. As for cops as paramilitary assholes, it seems that I remember 10 years ago they had the rubber bullets, water cannons, body armor when we didn't.
walking in my neighbor's house without announcing? I didn't even do that in Japan.
While you are there, see if you can get a tour of the Beretta plant, maybe send some pics.

[Starboard Tack]

17. I'll pass on the Beretta plant, thanks.

Many places I lived in N. America where we never locked the doors. Mostly in LA County, the most populous in the US. I lock doors sometimes at night or if we're leaving for a few days. Otherwise, what's the point? Never been burglarized. Never had anything stolen except a bike and a car radio, both in NYC.
Where we are, you can walk into the neighbors houses, but you announce yourself with a "Anyone home!" as you enter the open doorway. If the door is open, then you are welcome, and it is usually open and there is always food on the table and a glass of wine waiting. Yes, we're in the countryside, on a hilltop, about 30 miles from Rome. Wonderful people, no tourists. Olive groves, vineyards and fruit trees as far as the eye can see. Picked some blackberries, apples and figs today. The neighbor's dog digs up truffles for us. Makes a nice contrast to the ocean life.

[gejohnston]

19. I would rather be black in Alabama

than Jewish in Italy.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/29/italy-suddenly-gets-ugly-for-jews.html

[Starboard Tack]

22. As ugly as that graffiti is, it pales compared to racism in the States

There are racist extremist groups in all countries and probably always will be, unfortunately. Italy is no exemption. TMK, there has been no violence in this regard, and there is no institutional racism in the police forces. The RCC, of which I am no great fan, is not racist. I have many Jewish Italian friends who are not living in any kind of fear.

Italian Jews tend to be as divided on the I/P issue as American Jews. We spent time last week with some Israeli friends who have house here. They returned to Tel Aviv on Friday, the day Hamas warned people not to fly to Tel Aviv. They were unconcerned. Jews have been threatened and insulted for millennia. It's something they have learned to be philosophical about. Personally, I'd rather be a Jew in Italy than just about anywhere else in the world, especially Israel. But I'm not a Jew.

[friendly_iconoclast]

24. Or black or North African in Italy, for that matter

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/what-happens-to-african-migrants-once-they-land-in-italy-during-the-summer-9681473.html

To the outside observer, Italy has appeared to slide into the backwaters of European intolerance over the past two decades. In the 1980s, left-wing governments worried more about protecting incomers from discrimination than keeping them out. As the numbers grew, however, and disorder came to city-centres, some of the Italian simpatia curdled into hatred. In its most public spheres, football and politics, Italy seems unable to clamp down on the kind of bigotry last seen (openly) in Britain in the 1970s.

Throughout his nine-year, on-and-off premiership, Berlusconi displayed a cheerful backwardness – which peaked, perhaps, with a 2008 witticism about the "suntan" of Barack Obama. Less cheerful is the Northern League, Italy's far-right, anti-immigrant party. When, in 2013, Cécile Kyenge was appointed the first black minister in the country, the League's MEP jibed: "She would make a good cleaner, not a minister". The party has sought to capitalise on anger at apparently uncontrollable immigration. A few months ago, a Pew survey suggested that 80 per cent of Italians want fewer immigrants in the country; nevertheless, in May's EU election, the League's leaders corralled just 6 per cent of the vote. "There is racism, but not all of Italy is racist," was the diplomatic view of Father Mussie Zerai, a monk of Eritrean descent whose work for migrants has seen him elevated to saviour-like status in his home country.

Two weeks before I visited Catania, the local wing of Forza Nuova, a 'militant' far-right group, held a demonstration in the city. It was publicised on their website with a picture of a bloodied pick-axe, dropped on an Italian flag, next to the slogan 'Immigration kills. Go home Cécile Kyenge'. Videos show the white-uniformed group, in a crowd of around 100, marching under banners that carry slogans such as 'For Italy, blood and culture', and suggest, in their bold black-and-red design, that someone has spent a little too much time admiring Nazi regalia.

Do not do a GIS for "Lega Nord" (Northern League)
unless you have a strong stomach. Even the Tea Partiers aren't usually that blatant.

[friendly_iconoclast]

18. You wouldn't be so sanguine about the cops in Italy if you were obviously African...

...or South Asian.

I've noticed that the two people here who like(d) to extol the superiority of their new countries
of residence over the United States have/had two things in common:

1) They were/are of European descent in countries largely populated by Europeans,

and

2) Things aren't actually all that great for persons of color in those countries

[Starboard Tack]

23. Interesting you should bring that up

As I spend my time evenly divided between between Mexico and Italy, two countries with very different, yet significant migration issues.

And yes, you are correct that I benefit from both European descent and citizenship. However, it wasn't always like that. When I first came to live here, I was at a distinct disadvantage, having no birthright, no knowledge of the language, no money and no friends. Work was hard to come by, but I found jobs here and there, learned the language and made a life for myself.
Today, I see Africans here, struggling to do the same. I talk to them often. Most are from Nigeria and speak English. They are having a tough time, because the economy here is in the toilet, and they are trying to eke out a living selling cheap Chinese crap from shopping carts. Some get jobs in restaurants, but those jobs go mostly to Indians and Pakistanis.
I've neither witnessed, nor heard of any prejudice toward these immigrants, the majority of whom are illegal boat people, who risked life and limb to reach Europe. They are treated with respect, because they in turn are respectful.
Italy faces a crisis with these immigrants, as more arrive daily and the rest of the EU is not helping to absorb them.

[friendly_iconoclast]

25. Well, I just did a GIS for "Lega Nord" (Northern League) and "Forza Nuova"

Those that do the same will discover racist and downright fascist imagery of
a sort that USAian Tea Partiers would hesitate to use.

The results of those searches leads me to think you might be just
a little too optimistic about what will happen to poor non-Europeans
in Italy.

While you personally may treat immigrants with respect (and thank you
for that, BTW) there seems to be no shortage of those who don't and won't.

[Starboard Tack]

28. There is and always has been more racism in the north of Italy

They traditionally see southern Italians as inferior. In Rome, and further south, there is much less racism. Unfortunately, racism is a human trait that transcends national borders.

[Eleanors38]

20. Learn from your "enemies," Starboard...

Instead of gross censorship, see what they do.

Is the campaign effective? Are production values up to snuff"? Who are the (ahem) target audiences? Are those audiences the same as 5 yrs. ago? What "outlets" are carring the news/ads/campaigns? Heavens, what are the issues, and have they changed?

I should think you would be interested. But that's the big problem with prohibitionism: You convert people to enemies, then you lose respect them, then you suppress them.

[Starboard Tack]

29. A link would have been fine

Last edited Tue Aug 26, 2014, 04:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Posting the actual ad was not.

[NYC_SKP]

56. Placing a link to any youtube results in the video window appearing.

I don't know how the member could have worked around that DU feature.

That jury hide was really wrong. I see nothing wrong with calling out Bloomberg.

[friendly_iconoclast]

57. Give the title of the video and/or the bit after "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v="...

..that looks like a jumble of characters and tell people to Google it.

The video will be the first result that appears.

[NYC_SKP]

58. I forgot about the option in the post reply composition window to "link":

Test:

Shocking, Bloomberg is being attacked in this " target="_blank">NRA Youtube Video titled "Insult"!

" target="_blank">Video


ETA, doesn't seem to be working.

[friendly_iconoclast]

60. Just put it in the text of the reply without using the 'link' button, like the following

Google:

"Robin Williams as the American Flag" and/or "Q_L1vLv84vs"

[Starboard Tack]

59. I see nothing wrong with calling out Bloomberg or any nonDUer

The problem with the direct YouTube link was that it was free advertising for the NRA, which is worse than just about anything I can imagine, LOL. The link could have been to a source page like this one http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nra-targets-nyc-mayor-mike-bloomberg-aggressive-new-ad-article-1.1910271 That's the work around.

It isn't hard to find one. What the hide did was accomplish the same thing. The link is there for all to see, if they wish to click on it.

I really don't see what the big deal is. So Duckhunter got a hide. We all get hides, at least I do. Doesn't mean we're evil, but we step over lines sometimes. That's what lines are for. Helps make us all a little more aware.

[aikoaiko]

31. A DU member asked for a sample advert and it was provided for discussion

In this group, we're grown ups and can watch videos you like or not for the purposes of discussion.

Choosing ignorance of a thing when empirical observations are possible is truly shameful.

[Starboard Tack]

32. It isn't about choosing ignorance aiko

It is about posting the actual ad. As I pointed out to DuckHunter in a PM, it would've been OK to post a link to the site. But we don't give the NRA free advertising on DU.
I doubt we'd give them paid ads either.

[aikoaiko]

33. I have a star so I don't ads but DU does run RW ads via google ads

Last edited Tue Aug 26, 2014, 08:46 AM - Edit history (1)

I wouldn't be surprised if some aids are NRA

[Starboard Tack]

34. I sincerely hope not

but even if there are some, at least they are making money for Dems, as well as falling on deaf ears. free ads posted by members is a whole other ballgame.

[aikoaiko]

37. A jury apparently agreed with your stance on hiding the ad.

But the hide shows that too many are hell bent on some kind of purity rather than discussion.

[Starboard Tack]

39. I think it is more about boundaries than purity.

DU has a statement of purpose, which is pretty broad, but does not include overt support for extremist organizations. If the clip had been made by an individual, it would've been different. But it was and ad, paid for by the NRA. That is the bottom line.

[aikoaiko]

42. A bad hide by people who don't like the message or maybe the messenger.

[Starboard Tack]

44. I have no issue with the messenger Duckhunter

He seems like a good guy. I don't see him as one of the gun nut trolls who drop by occasionally. I think he made an honest mistake. An easy one to make when posting a link to a video on Youtube.
The message, of course, is the usual RW propaganda. Why would anyone on DU like it?

[aikoaiko]

45. A DU member requested it!! We can view/discuss these ads because that is the SOP of this group.

When a DU member requests to see an ad, you can be sure that they would be happy to view it.

If you want to shield thine eyes from such things, head to the castle.

[Starboard Tack]

46. The fact that a DU member requested it changes nothing

As I pointed out, a link would have sufficed and been OK. Posting the actual video was not. What do you not understand about this? The NRA is a wingnut organization. Its ads don't get free airtime on DU.
The post was hidden. Deal with it or feel free to take it to the admins.

[aikoaiko]

47. If you recall, you responded me with the weak defense of the shameful hide.

If you want to keep defending the hide, then I'll keep criticizing it. That is how I'm dealing with it.

When you post a link to a youtube video, by the way, the video itself posts automatically in the message.

[gejohnston]

38. they work by key words

I seen NRA ads. I have seen ads for US Concealed Carry in the echo chamber. I have also seen MDA ads on gun blogs.

[Starboard Tack]

40. You are correct, they work by keywords.

And I have no issue, and I doubt the owners of DU have any issue with receiving money from the NRA. I seriously doubt those ads influence any regular DUers to run out and buy a gun, or change their voting habits.

[gejohnston]

41. there are 80M gun owners

5M NRA members. You only make money of you click on them. I did click on a bio metric pistol safe ad sometime ago. If it encourages DU members to get training for the guns they already have I see as a good thing.
If it peaks repressed interest in guns, I'm more than OK with that.

[Starboard Tack]

43. If they just click away for hours I'm more than OK with it.

Nothing wrong with taking money from the NRA

[NYC_SKP]

30. It was an absurd hide.

It was on topic, I'd love to read the jury statements, if they made any.

[MohRokTah]

10. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

On Sun Aug 24, 2014, 10:31 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

Rahm Emanuel defends Michael Bloomberg in wake of NRA criticism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172151947

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

There's no point to this post now. It's about an NRA ad criticizing Bloomberg and a jury just voted to hide the ad the post is about. Kind of hard to discuss or comment on an ad, when you can't see the ad. Lock the thread please.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Aug 24, 2014, 10:38 AM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Point taken. I changed from leave to hide. Without the ability to see and critique the ad there is no context to discuss the actions of the mayors. It becomes a "have you stopped beating your wife" framework.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Wow, somebody got a sad over a legitimate gun related article being posted in the RKBA forum. It;'s an ARTICLE, not an advertisement, hence it meets the SOP of the forum.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Being for or against gun control is just another difference of opinion. We are here to express opinions at the very least - aren't we?
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: This is a shameful alert to ask that someone's post be hidden, which has consequences, because, "There's no point to this post now." CS alerts are to report violations of Community Standards. Also, the alerter should read the rules and learn that this was a CS alert where posts get "hidden" and not "locked".
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[sarisataka]

11. If mayor Emanuel

Wishes to defend a racist, elitist, hypocritical, megalomaniac against attacks from rabid, single issue, ideologues- who am I to ask questions.

Edit-

invest heavily in trying to build a grass-roots gun control organization

[Eleanors38]

21. "Invest heavily." Wonder if it's a fixed annuity?

[Starboard Tack]

35. "Racist"? "megalomaniac"?

Hypocritical perhaps, as we all are at times. Elitist, to be sure, as most of us are in one way or another.
But "racist megalomaniac"? Really?

[sarisataka]

48. According to GD this week

he's white, therefore a racist. Ignoring that racist label, his stop and frisk was clearly racially targeted. Other policies perhaps not so much. Perhaps racist is too strong of a term. Really he wants to control everyone.

He supports a federal ID database that uses DNA and fingerprint technology to keep track of all citizens and to verify their legal status.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Mike_Bloomberg_Homeland_Security.htm

Bloomberg is also a supporter of the USA PATRIOT Act

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Bloomberg

After the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombings, Bloomberg expressed the view that terrorism threats may require a reconsideration of civil liberties, saying "the people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry, but we live in a complex world where you're going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will ... our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022744413

As for megalomaniac, he has calmed NYPD as his own private army and stated he will not have to stop at the gates of heaven but can walk right in. I stand by that term.

[Starboard Tack]

49. So he's wrong on a few key issues.

Doesn't make him a racist or a megalomaniac. He's right on some things too. One being the proliferation of guns in urban environments.

[sarisataka]

50. I would say he's correct

On a few issues

He is not correct on guns; he is hypocritical and dishonest.
Worst of all, he makes everyone else pay for his hypocrisy. At least other gun control advocates have the decency to use their own money to pay for armed bodyguards.

[Starboard Tack]

51. Well, let us agree to disagree.

I don't buy the whole "armed bodyguard" nonsense. If you were a billionaire, or other high profile controversial figure, I'm sure you'd also have armed bodyguards. Especially in a country where guns are so prevalent. Let's be realistic.
Hopefully, they are licensed professionals and not individuals who carry out of personal fear.

[AtheistCrusader]

52. His stop and frisk policy was clearly racist.

&quot CNN) -- A federal judge ordered Monday that the New York Police Department's controversial stop-and-frisk policy be altered, finding that it violates the Constitution in part by unlawfully targeting blacks and Latinos."

Bloomberg doubled down and tried to defend it as a good policy. He also defied the judge.

""You're not going to see a change in tactics overnight," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters Monday, saying it would take time to implement the judge's changes even if an appellate court doesn't temporarily halt it."

A lesser mortal would have been held in contempt for that.

[Starboard Tack]

53. I agree the policy was racist.

Doesn't make him a racist, necessarily. It's so easy to throw out words like "racist" and "homophobe". Too much smearing already without adding to it.

[AtheistCrusader]

54. When a judge says 'you can't do that, it's racist', and someone doubles down and insists on continui

ng to do it...

well. That says something about the person, I think.

Besides, he's a Republican, so par for the course.

[Starboard Tack]

55. True, though I don't consider him mainstream GOP

In some ways the GOP is a pretty big tent too. NYC Republicans are more liberal than some Dems. And I thought he declared himself as an Independent.
Anyway, he's not a Democrat.
I liked him more than Giuliani, but I left NYC when Dinkins was mayor and he was nothing to write home about.

[merrily]

26. If you are a mayor of a large city, and you are pro more guns, you should step down.

That is all.

[friendly_iconoclast]

27. Go on- you've got us all interested now...

[Starboard Tack]

36. +1000