A Moment of Silence Says It All About GOP Policies

In the wake of the Orlando attack at the Pulse nightclub, Republicans in Congress had one decisive response to another horrible mass shooting. It was a swift and collective action that came without hesitation…they went silent.

Ordinarily, the offer of Republican politicians to shut all of their mouths for a moment would be quite appreciated but when the nation is experiencing an epidemic of mass shootings, nowadays they’re occurring around once every day, there could be no more offensive response to the ongoing slaughter of innocent Americans except applause.

So while our nation’s NRA approved gun laws allow even people on The Terrorist Watch List, people who are considered so possibly dangerous that they aren’t allowed to board planes, to buy as many military assault rifles and as much ammunition as they can afford, Republicans break their silence on restricting the sale of weapons of mass murder to suspected terrorists to condemn President Obama for not doing anything to prevent these frequent mass shootings.

Any informed person knows that Obama has been using drone strikes, military attacks, electronic and human surveillance, military collaboration with other countries, etc. to attack ISIL and it has been working.

Iraq says Islamic State control shrinks to 14 percent of its territory

Iraq said on Wednesday its U.S.-backed military campaign against Islamic State had retaken around two-thirds of the territory seized by the militants in their lightning sweep across the country’s north and west in 2014.

“Daesh’s presence in Iraqi cities and provinces has declined. After occupying 40 percent of Iraqi territory, now only 14 percent remains,” government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said in a televised statement, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-islamicstate-idUSKCN0Y21MY

Isis revenue drops nearly a third after loss of territory shrinks tax base

Islamic State’s revenues have dropped about 30% since mid-2015, forcing the group to introduce a range of new taxes, a research group has said.

“In mid-2015, the Islamic State’s overall monthly revenue was around $80m,” said Ludovico Carlino, senior analyst at IHS, which issues regular reports on Isis-controlled territory.

“As of March 2016, the Islamic State’s monthly revenue dropped to $56m,” Carlino said.

An IHS report also said oil production in areas controlled by Isis jihadists was 21,000 barrels a day, down from 33,000 barrels a day.

Isis ranks have been pared back to lowest level since 2014

The Islamic State group’s ranks have been pared back by international and local military action in Iraq and Syria to their lowest level since Washington began monitoring the group, a senior US official said Tuesday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/isis-islamic-state-lowest-level-since-2014-us-official

Of course you’ll never hear about reality on Fox News, from Republican politicians or Donald Trump though you will hear from them that if only Pres. Obama would say the magic words, “Radical Islamic Extremists” and click his heels together three times, ISIL would vanish in a puff of smoke.

And in its own way, this GOP harping on what words Obama “needs” to say to prove he’s an enemy of ISIL and wants to defeat them, is also a way of Republicans maintaining silence on what’s really happening in the war against ISIL.

We had a moment of silence as well when Obama went to the GOP-controlled Congress to get a vote on authorizing military action against ISIL.

When it comes to explaining how they intend to replace the ACA after repealing it, there too is a Republican moment of silence.

When you really think about it, on most issues that are most affecting Americans, whether it’s institutionalized racism, economic inequality, Climate Change, the ongoing plague of mass shootings, etc., all that Republican legislators…who are in a position to do something and pass laws that address severe issues…offer the nation are moments of silence. And part of that silence is because for most of the year, they are not even at The Capitol to break the silence (if an issue falls in The Congress and there’s no one there to hear it, did it actually occur?).

House Republicans set a 2016 schedule of only 111 work days and are such workaholics that they even added one more day on for the year to make it 112. They take two full months of vacation over the summer, rarely work more than 2-3 weeks consecutively and in those weeks, only work 3-4 days. And how many hours do they work on average in those rare weeks when they do work? They only put in around 18 hours in the week. Congress is a part time job which may be why so many Congressmen seem to be working other jobs on the side (for deep pocket donors).

Much of the rest of their time is spent on fundraising for their campaigns which is a bit perverse, they spend more of their year trying to get money to get re-elected than working once they are.

Here’s what The House’s calendar for 2016 looks like:

Working for the people is exhausting…if you’re in charge of scheduling flights and vacations for politicians.

No wonder Republicans are so accustomed to moments of silence, they aren’t even assembled to speak and do their jobs for 2/3 of the year.

Combining the practical amount of silence in the Capitol with the Republican policy of silence on the most important issues facing the nation, it’s no wonder that so many Americans feel their voices aren’t being heard…they never hear an acknowledgement, just silence.

It is ironic that the most offensive loudmouths in the GOP can become so silent when faced with a real issue. As we’ve seen with Trump, they can be earsplittingly obnoxious on manufactured, bogus issues railed against in the name of politics but when faced with real issues where Americans are suffering and being killed, all they have to offer is another moment of silence.

One can only hope that Americans have had enough of the Republicans’ silences and speak out against them very loudly this November in polling booths across the nation.