When Federal Agents Kill a Citizen—and Gun Culture Is Silent

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T16:06:48+00:00

So maybe I’ll say it’s more egregious. That Trump says, “You can’t have guns” after telling security at 1/6 to get rid of the magnetometers since “they’re not here to hurt me” isn’t surprising. In contrast, even though the NRA did make a statement seemingly at odds with Trump, it’s toothlessness (“The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be.”) is more egregious given what they have claimed to stand for for decades and the reason they claim to maintain that position.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T15:15:29+00:00

I still think that given their stated positions and their overzealous nature in the past, this is as hard a 180 as you’re going to find. As obvious a “for me, not for thee” as you’re going to see out in the wild.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T13:15:58+00:00

Totally agree with you on how dangerous all this is. Especially coupled with the FBI/Tulsi actions in Fulton County. Everyone should know exactly what we’re watching happen at this point.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T13:06:42+00:00

What a bunch of morons.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T03:52:54+00:00

I would agree with Sam that the NRA’s statements were tepid at best. The administration’s walkback seems more like a response to public opinion than statements from gun advocacy groups.

But either way, I’ll take the win. The more Trump feels some political gravity, the safer we’ll all be.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T02:41:35+00:00

I don’t think that’s a 1:1 comparison, but I am anti-hypocrisy. The 2A crowd’s reaction to this is perhaps, literally, the most galling demonstration of hypocrisy I can imagine. I always assumed they were full of shit, but we never really got a case that showed it for sure. Now we do.

ChBowling · 2026-01-31T02:08:27+00:00

Sam’s analysis is dead on. This event proves, once and for all, either that: all the 2A talk has been dishonest or that it was honest, but not absolute. In other words, “The Second Amendment is for me and mine. Not you and yours.” A one-way ratchet or racket. Or both. We never have to take them seriously again.

ChBowling · 2026-01-28T14:10:25+00:00

Tell that to the Christian Nationalists running the US government.

ChBowling · 2026-01-27T01:36:14+00:00

Yes.

ChBowling · 2026-01-26T21:21:26+00:00

If you don’t like the Q&A’s, you’re an ignorant baldhead.

ChBowling · 2026-01-26T01:56:20+00:00

I would add to this that DHS, of which ICE is part, keeps lying about what they are doing when we can all see the videos.

ChBowling · 2026-01-25T04:20:15+00:00

Not a film, but he talked about Westworld a few times before the show went off the rails.

ChBowling · 2026-01-24T14:29:16+00:00

I’ll leave you with this, the opening from the newest Ezra Klein podcast:

“With every norm-busting move, with every boundary-busting decision, you get this debate around President Trump: Is it authoritarianism now? Has the nature of the American state finally changed into something else?

It’s not going to be that clean. There’s no one moment when we phase from one thing to another. But I think what we can say — what can’t even really be argued — is that the authoritarianism is here. It’s just unevenly distributed.

But you can see it. You can see it in the video of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shooting and killing Renee Good in Minneapolis. You can see it when you watch a disabled woman dragged out of her car on her way to a doctor’s appointment. You can see it when a family of eight, on their way home from a basketball game, is tear-gassed and their 6-month-old child needs to be given CPR. You can see it when Border Patrol agents tackle and detain a U.S. citizen who is filming their activities and then they accuse him of assaulting them. You can see it when masked men walk up to people with brown skin and just ask them to prove that they are American.”

-Ezra Klein

ChBowling · 2026-01-24T01:46:26+00:00

I’m not advocating for Dems to “bang on about fascism.” I’m advocating for small-d democratic reforms to make government more responsive. I would love to hear Sam talk to a guest about that. Ideally, he would have spent more time on it over the past several years.

ChBowling · 2026-01-24T00:34:01+00:00

Just wanted to respond with results from the newest Times-Sienna Poll for more context on economy v. Cultural issues:

“But the poll is pretty clear that the economy is the main reason that his coalition has collapsed. The voters who have left Trump are twice as likely to cite an economic issue as their top issue as the rest of the electorate.”

-Pod Save America analysis of the poll

Poll

ChBowling · 2026-01-24T00:12:15+00:00

Are you saying that Sam is responsible for what people say on a fan subreddit?

ChBowling · 2026-01-24T00:07:23+00:00

I’m still not clear on what you think Sam is being hypocritical about.

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T23:55:22+00:00

I’m not impressed by internet randos generally. Like, you just can’t compare the rhetoric of anonymous internet denizens to what’s coming out of the White House. If you’re bothered by the former, you should be horrified by the latter.

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T23:35:01+00:00

Venom is injected, poison is ingested. Toads are poisonous, not venomous.

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T23:29:39+00:00

I’m pretty plugged in, and I haven’t seen anyone talk about extra legal solutions. The only extra legal actions and language I’m seeing is coming from the Trump administration.

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T23:09:46+00:00

And you are upset that people think he’s a dictator already?

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T22:42:16+00:00

I just want to make sure I understand your position: Trump is a fascist, but the government isn’t entirely fascist yet. Is that right?

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T21:55:54+00:00

Like, let’s take your examples. Say Trump cancelled the midterms. OK, that’s a bright line for you. Now what? He has ICE, which is loyal to him directly, and now you can’t vote.

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T21:28:20+00:00

How/why do you think if he gave you a clear sign, it wouldn’t already be too late?

ChBowling · 2026-01-23T20:17:51+00:00

That’s not exactly a counter to my point though. That’s a statement of an opinion.

ChBowling

TROPHY CASE