Question for DUers: Do you hate the NRA so much you'll ally with Michael Bloomberg?

[friendly_iconoclast]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by hootinholler (a host of the General Discussion forum).

I'll state right off the bat that I'm not thrilled with the NRA personally, because I'm about 90% sure that despite their proclaimed non-
partisan stance, they are in fact a right-wing political movement with a bitchin gun club, like I stated here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117222584

"Why I'm not going to rejoin the NRA just yet."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117222584#post50

"No point in donating money to people that piss on the President, while accepting Mitt's AWB."

I'd like to see if they go into the tank for Mittens when it comes to edorsement time. However, they are not the only big money
players in the world of gun control politics-in fact they may not even be the biggest. That 'honor' might belong to His Honor, Michael Bloomberg.

Yep, Mayor 0.1% just might be the richest player in gun control politics, thanks to his billions and his founding, financing, and co-chairmanship
of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. They have a website (with videos of Da Mayah, of course) at:

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/home/home.shtml

So, what has our man Mike been up to lately? A few examples:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101476176

Mayor Bloomberg says ‘piling on’ of Goldman Sachs is ‘ridiculous’
Source: NY Daily News

BY TINA MOORE

Mayor Bloomberg defended a battered Goldman Sachs on Friday, saying that he thinks "this piling on is ridiculous."

Hizzoner said that he stopped by the investment bank Thursday to show his support after a former employee trashed the firm in a "nasty letter" to a newspaper.

The mayor brushed off the letter writer Greg Smith’s allegations that workers called customers "muppets" to be manipulated for profit.

"I don't know whoever said what," Bloomberg said on WOR Radio's John Gambling Show.

"But even if it was said, it's a few people and, you know, Goldman Sachs is a firm that's been around for well over a hundred years and it's a great firm.”...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002433100

Go 99%ers !!! - 'Mayor Bloomberg Proudly Stands With Goldman Sachs' - FDL

Mayor Bloomberg Proudly Stands With Goldman Sachs
By: Jon Walker - FDL
Friday March 16, 2012 9:48 am

<snip>

Apparently Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks one of the world’s most powerful corporations needs to be protected from a single former mid-level employee saying mean things about it. From Bloomberg Businessweek:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s headquarters in Manhattan in a show of support after a departing employee publicly criticized the firm’s culture yesterday.

“The mayor stopped by to make clear that the company is a vital part of the city’s economy, and the kind of unfair attacks that we’re seeing can eventually hurt all New Yorkers,” said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for the mayor.

The most amazing thing to me about Greg Smith’s resignation letter from Goldman Sachs is not his actual criticisms, most of them are relatively old news for a company known as the ‘vampire squid,’ but the intensity of the often bizarre wagon-circling by the financial elites in Goldman Sach’s defense. The quantity of people choosing to publicly support Goldman at this moment with some truly pathetic defenses is significant. There seems to be some actual fear that this one op-ed could do some real damage to Wall Street.

Bloomie's a man of many parts, it seems. Do you know he has his own army?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5076002

Mayor Bloomberg: 'I Have My Own Private Army' (in NYPD)

Source: PolitickerNY

Mayor Bloomberg: ‘I Have My Own Army’

By Hunter Walker 10:06am

In a speech at MIT last night to discuss the packed sweepstakes to build a tech campus in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg said he prefers City Hall to the White House. Almost immediately after Mayor Bloomberg dampened recent speculation he’s eyeing a White House bid, he added fuel to the fire by explaining why a mayor would be the best person for the job.

Mayor Bloomberg’s recent criticism of President Obama for allowing the debt reduction Supercommittee to fail led many political tea leaf watchers to believe he’s eyeing a potential White House bid. To the dismay of those who hope he’ll mount presidential campaign, Mayor Bloomberg began his speech last night by discussing why City Hall is just fine by him.

“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said....

http://www.politicker.com/2011/11/30/mayor-bloomberg-i-have-my-own-army-11-30-11/

Man, it's good to be a billionaire, isn't it? You can have your underlings keep track of those pesky subversives for you.
Wouldn't wan't them to cause your buds at Goldman Sachs any trouble, would we?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002461812

NYPD Infiltrated and Spied on Liberal Groups

Last edited Fri Mar 23, 2012, 04:18 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
The AP (via CBS) notes that undercover cops went to liberal political groups' meetings, building intel files on activists and protesters.

The newswire says that interviews and docs collected during the investigation "show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities."

The AP points out that the NYPD used these same tactics in 2004, when the department monitored church, environmental, and anti-war groups in the U.S., claiming these policies were necessary to prep for the GOP convention.

But these methods continued far after the convention took place: in 2008, the NYPD's super-secret intel department sent an undercover officer to attend the People's Summit in New Orleans. The project report gathered information on two U.S. activists, journalist Jordan Flaherty and labor organizer Marisa Franco, the AP notes.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/nypd_spied_on_l.php

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57403085/docs-show-nypd-infiltrated-liberal-groups/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101480663

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101481530

So if you're going to dislike the NRA because of its seamy political allies, be careful you don't acquire a few of your own...