Deal With The Devil
By Mitch Berg
One the one hand, the MinnPost is running sponsored news again.
And yet again, the subject is guns, and the sponsor is the Joyce Foundation, which is (aside from Michael Bloomberg) the biggest funder of anti-gun groups in the United States. Before Bloomberg bought the local rights for “Protect MN” and “Moms Want Action”, they were the major funder of gun control groups in Minnesota.
And part of that funding went toward buying favorable media, mostly in the form of risibly bald-faced propaganda.
Of course, Joyce has taken a whack at funding respectable journalism as well.
Investigative reporter Mike Cronin has embarked on a Joyce-sponsored multi-part series on the gun culture. And like not a few previous such efforts, it starts out as a “gorillas in the mist”-style exploration into what is clearly for Cronin a foreign culture, as he takes his Carry Permit training class from Andrew Rothman (a long-time friend of this blog, president of the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, and the guy who, if I had a carry permit, would have taught me my carry permit class two hypothetical years ago). Which is as good an intro as there is to the “gun culture” as a newbie can have.
Cronin is going through the class, intends to get his permit, and to purchase a gun as part of his investigation into the “gun culture>
And by all accounts, it’s a fair account, so far, although you be the judge.
No doubt Cronin will be looking at the “other side” of the debate; I’ll be watching.
It’ll be interesting to see what Joyce is paying for, this season.
June 9th, 2014 at 6:09 am
On a somewhat related note, after yesterday’s murder of two policemen and a Walmart shopper by two miscreants that had a death wish, I can’t help but notice that all, with the exception of the Loughner case, of these mass shootings have taken place in states under Democrat control. Further, the murder rates, involving guns, also seems to be highest in Democrat enclaves with the strictest gun controls.
June 9th, 2014 at 6:34 am
Boss – there have been some mass-shootings in Republican jurisdictions (the Crossroads Mall in suburban Omaha, for example), but I believe they’re almost all in “gun free zones” (Crossroads was a “gun free zone”).
June 9th, 2014 at 7:17 am
I attempted to leave the suggestion, on the Minnpost, that Cronin might kindly identify his benefactor to folks he’s mingling with. Spiked.
June 9th, 2014 at 9:27 am
Sounds as if he’s following in these footsteps:
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/12/my-month-with-a-gun-week-one/
.
June 9th, 2014 at 9:39 am
Does SITD have donations/contributions coming from any gun advocacy groups?
June 9th, 2014 at 10:01 am
Dang Joe, just followed your link. Looks like when Ms. isn’t sending it’s brain-dead writers out to make asses of themselves with guns, they’re conducting an all out assault on the Catholic church.
The level of hate in there was incredible.
June 9th, 2014 at 10:05 am
I found the article to be quite fair and impartial. More so, the author has decided to buy a gun based on his experience. If the author was being pimped-out by the Joyce Foundation, he’s in for a clothes hanger beating.
I’ve yet to take anyone shooting, from anti-gun friends, civic groups related to a police citizen’s academy, to my late, then-97 YOA grandmother-in-law, who didn’t enjoy the experience. Put the “average” person alone in a waiting room with a pistol and a slide rule (if such still exists) on a table and see which object the person gravitates to first as boredom sets in. Guns are generally considered cool. interesting, and fun regardless how forbidden they perceive the fruit.
June 9th, 2014 at 10:35 am
“Does SITD have donations/contributions coming from any gun advocacy groups?”
Nope.
When this blog gets *any* financial support, “Hugo”, it’s either:
I’ve never gotten a dime from any pro-gun-rights group. If I ever do, I’ll disclose it.
Unlike pretty much every liberal blogger in town that still gets paid.
June 9th, 2014 at 10:48 am
“Does SITD have donations/contributions coming from any gun advocacy groups?”
More likely SITD makes contributions to those groups.
June 9th, 2014 at 10:52 am
I certainly do, personally.
And I’d imagine at least a few people have gone from my blog and show to the COCRA, MNGOPAC and other Human Rights websites.
June 9th, 2014 at 11:41 am
Hey, “Hugo” – any relation to Ken Weiner?
June 9th, 2014 at 11:45 am
Narrative for sale but also anti-narrative, rumor has it Journalists are getting paid big $$$ to NOT cover all the scandals the O admin has lurking under the carpet. Unfortunately I can’t get their souls because these people seem to have been born without them. DC here is a vortex.
June 9th, 2014 at 12:05 pm
My undergrad. minor was Pre-Journalism. The now-deceased dept. head (and only staff member) was a prototypical, mid-1970s, old guard journalist with a fondness for gin. However, he was one of the few U of MN teachers who really seemed to care about and take an interest in his subject.
He would often warn us of an appalling new trend he saw developing in the world of journalism; “advocacy news reporting,” He’s likely spinning in his grave now, as he sees how right-on he was with his warnings. May God rest the soul of Professor Howard Martz.
June 9th, 2014 at 12:23 pm
Hey, “Hugo” – any relation to Ken Weiner
Pardon me!
It is I, Hugo Chavez from beyond the grave (eighth circle of hell). Comrade Swiftee can vouch for me. Swiftee was my inter-web guru when dealing with my political adversaries. I fondly remember many a night spent under the jungle canopy with Comrade Swiftee. Swiftee still claims that he was only spooning with two pillows. But I ‘m here to tell you those were not ‘two pillows’ he was spooning with. As a tribute to Swiftee, I used the image of El Jefe and Swiftee together in glorious embrace. I must be off now as Beelzebub has some more chores for me perform. A Marxist’s work is never done down here.
June 9th, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Hey whats my bitch doing posting here, GET BACK TO WORK slave
June 9th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Somehow, I knew Weiner would try to steal my superior cartooning style in a pathetic attempt to have a career. Screw magazine ain’t never coming back, and Roberta wasn’t gonna support him forever… even a lefty dick has to make a living sooner or later.
June 9th, 2014 at 1:01 pm
” But I ‘m here to tell you those were not ‘two pillows’ he was spooning with.”
Pffft. I know ears when I grab ’em!
June 9th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
Regarding the Ms. Magazine article, if the writer indeed did not get any training, I can understand why she was terrified of the gun. But why one would miss a chance to have a great time at the range and get that training is beyond me!
June 9th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
at least this guy is semi-entertaining and not dropping comment turds like DG
June 9th, 2014 at 2:32 pm
POD, if he hangs around long enough, I’ll share some my classic Life in the Dumpster ‘toons..Weiner loves ’em. It’s like ladling burning oil on the damned, great fun to listen to the screams.
June 9th, 2014 at 2:50 pm
I go to sleep every night to those screams.
June 9th, 2014 at 3:13 pm
Comrade Swiftee, it is I Hugo Chavez!
You don’t write, you don’t call, you don’t even Ouija board me… what’s a zombie Marxist Dictator to think? Beelzebub (not the piker above) has his eye on you. Ever since you rewired Comrade Wellstone’s bus he thought you showed promise and would make a good recruit.
Since I arrived at the eighth circle, Beelzebub (the Boss) allowed me to help create a sub–circle for the jihadis that were coming our way. I proposed a maze to infinity. At every intersection in this special maze, I suggested we place a placard that read: “Virgins Turn Here”. The Boss that was a good one so he went with it. Now he has me in charge of design and production of personalized Circles of Hell.
For you comrade Swift, I was thinking that you could ‘bunk’ with J Edgar Hoover. Hoover’s Circle of Hell involves a walk–in closet with no end. And the rub is that it’s filled with an endless supply of dresses and various woman’s apparel. It drives J. Edgar batty not knowing which one to select. I told Beelzebub that Comrade Swiftee would make an excellent personal valet to J. Edgar. The two of you together, doing what you both do best. Once again, the Boss thought that was good one!
Just a little something for you to look forward to Comrade! We’ll leave the light’s on and keep the fires burning in anticipation of your arrival.
XXOO Hugo…
June 9th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
this is what passes for humor in hell, we have very low standards…
June 9th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
and who the hell are you calling a piker? I’ve put my time in at the DoDE and I’ve spent the last 2+ years commentating on this site.
June 9th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Also, LBJ, Kennedy and Jedger all share a boiling vat of oil down here. We have to fish out the turds that Johnson likes to drop every week. Its a job we reserve for child molesters and rapists
June 9th, 2014 at 6:03 pm
Beelzebub states that Edina is no where near hell. Unless of course you count your personal hell that was created when Edina elected DFL Sen. Melisa Franzen.
We all have aspirations kid.
Everyone has a little devil in them as we say here….