Rev. Jesse Jackson Repeatedly Challenged To Defend Chicago Gun Ban After 500th Homicide This Year

 Mediaite.com:

Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared on CNN on Friday where he was pressed to defend Chicago’s strict gun control laws following the city’s 500th homicide, 87.5 percent of which are gun-related, this year. Jackson said that Chicago, unlike Newtown, has no gun culture – Newtown, Connecticut, having several gun ranges whereas Chicago has none.

He also said that the pressing issues of poverty, unemployment and the lack of a sense of mobility in America’s urban centers are the root causes of gun violence.


Jackson was asked to defend Chicago’s gun ban, given the staggering rates of gun violence in America’s cities compared to other areas that do not have such strict gun laws and experience less gun violence.

“I think about Newtown, for example, they have three or four gun ranges. There are no gun ranges in Chicago,” Jackson replied. “Newtown is so different than the complexity of the urban crisis.”

“40 percent unemployment does matter,” Jackson continued. “Lack of education does matter.” He said that gun crime and joblessness are inextricably linked. 

Jackson was asked again, given Chicago’s gun violence in spite of its strict gun laws, how even stricter gun laws can be justified. 

“The guns are not coming from Chicago,” Jackson replied. “Chicago is in a bubble as the manufacturer — we’re a target market for gun flow. And they exploit the poverty and the pain.”

“It’s not gun violence. It’s also poverty and lack of education and lack of dreams, where people think killing is the only way out,” Jackson concluded. “This is the need for an urban policy of reconstruction.”

RELATED:  Mayor: Chicago's 500th Murder An "Unfortunate, Tragic Milestone"

CNBC Anchor Maria Bartiromo Goes Off On Democratic Congressman: ‘Are You Guys Incompetent Or What?’

Mediaite.com:

During an interview last week, CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo went off on Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) over what she perceived to be his frustrating insistence that the Republicans are not offering a “balanced approach” in the ongoing “fiscal cliff” negotiations.

“Are you guys incompetent, or what?” Bartiromo pointedly asked the senator, emphasizing that both his party and the opposing Republicans repeatedly accuse each other of not having a “balanced approach” in negotiation to avoid the so-called “cliff.”

She continued to berate Cardin: “If you can’t do what the American people pay you to do, why don’t you just step aside and put somebody in there who can actually get a deal done?”

Cardin responded that he’d like to get a deal done, but the Republican leadership — namely House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) — have prevented talks from moving forward. This statement set Bartiromo off:

“So how come you’re not moving forward? What’s the problem? Because the American people are so tired of this, and they are really tired of the lawmakers thinking that the American people are stupid. You can’t keep coming on the show every week saying the same thing: ‘It’s not a balanced approach.’”

At this point, Bartiromo began shaking her head and laughing as Cardin insisted that the Democrats have long been ready to move forward with a deal. Unconvinced and clearly agitated, Bartiromo pointed at the screen and directly confronted Cardin about whether he’d be willing to consider tax code reform as a means to obtaining new revenue.

The senator’s response essentially boiled down to “No,” and so Bartiromo went off on him again: “You’re talking about $1.2 trillion in revenue, but you’re not prepared to put anything on the table. People are not stupid!”

Cardin then replied that “the easiest way to get the revenues is to [raise taxes on] the highest income brackets,” Bartiromo had enough and ended the conversation: “That’s all you want to do. That’s it. It’s your way or the highway. Raise the rates on the rich. No other way. Your way or the highway. That’s it. That’s where we are. Thank you, Senator.”

As soon as the interview ends, the Wall Street trading floor behind Bartiromo erupts into applause, prompting the anchor to blush and hide her face in hands.

RELATED: 'Scrooge-tivity': Congress Irked by Fiscal Cliff Cutting Into Holidays

Yes. Nancy Lanza Should Be Blamed For Newton, CT Massacre

There just shouldn't be any sympathy for Nancy Lanza. None. She was a reckless gun owner who taught her mentally ill son how to shoot guns, even took him to firing ranges. Adam Lanza didn't buy the guns, his mother purchased the arsenal, and failed to keep her guns secure from Adam. 20 children & 6 other families would still be celebrating Christmas right now if it wasn't for Nancy Lanza's incredible stupidity. And while the idiot media and even dumber extremists on the Right and the Left concentrate on the NRA and more gun control laws, the real blame for the Newton shootings lies with Nancy Lanza and anyone who allows a crazy person to have access to a gun. That's just the God's honest truth:

Twenty-six. Not 27.

When many people in Newtown count the victims in last week’s massacre, they tally 20 children in Sandy Hook Elementary School, plus six adult faculty and staff members. Few count shooter Adam Lanza’s first victim: his mother, Nancy. Police said that before he attacked the schoolhouse, Adam Lanza pumped four bullets into his mother’s head as she lay in bed.

As this heartbroken town tries to process Friday’s horror, there is considerable anger toward Lanza’s mother. Her name is noticeably absent from many of the impromptu shrines, memorials and condolence notes placed around town.

At the foot of the street leading to Sandy Hook Elementary, 26 Christmas trees stand to honor the dead at the school, each bearing the name of a victim, but no Nancy Lanza.

Outside the Newtown Convenience and Deli in the town center, 26 small plastic Christmas trees with twinkling blue and purple lights stand next to a sign that says, “In loving memory of the Sandy Hook victims.”

The University of Connecticut honored the shooting victims Monday with a ceremony before a men’s basketball game, with 26 students standing at center court holding lighted candles.

“I am feeling that there is more anger toward the mother than there is toward the son,” said Lisa Sheridan, a Newtown parent.

“Why would a woman who had a son like this, who clearly had serious issues, keep assault rifles in the house and teach him how to shoot them?” she said. “To deal with that, there’s a feeling here that we’re just going to focus on the 26 innocent people who died at the school.”

 RELATED: Nancy Lanza, Gunman's Mother, Deliberately Forgotten In Newtown Memorial

Pope Benedict XVI Denounces Gay Marriage As A ‘Manipulation Of Nature’

A great servant of God speaks the truth:

Pope Benedict XVI used the opportunity of his annual Christmas address to amp up his opposition to gay marriage Friday, calling homosexuality a “manipulation of nature.” He denounced people who “deny their nature” and “make it for themselves.” He claimed homosexuality was destroying the very “essence of the human creature.”

The Pope dedicated the speech to promoting “traditional family values” in the wake of campaigns to legalize same-sex marriage in France, the United States, Great Britain and elsewhere. He implied that the Vatican would be open to allying itself with other faiths who also oppose marriage equality.

During the speech, he referred to a study done by the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, who called the campaign for marriage equality an “attack” on the traditional family. The Pope agreed, saying,

“There is no denying the crisis that threatens it [the family] to its foundations – especially in the Western world. When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost.”

Earlier that same week, the Pope said gay marriage, along with abortion, was a threat to world peace.