Thanks for comments. I wonder if these are more than gestures.
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mbs: I wouldn't say so. It comes down to Congressional districts. If you're not from a tobacco or pro-gun district, both are fair game. Valuable too in the sense that they provide a liberal veneer to politicians at little expense.
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I am responding to the President's obvious caution about point scoring
after each and every massacre. I also believe, and believe others believe,
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mbs: This is easily explained as not wanting to appear to be exploiting a tragedy. Of course, politics of all types is all about exploiting tragedies; the trick is not to appear to do it crassly.
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tobacco capital was behind his impeachment. Certainly the "Independent
Prosecutor" is not independent of connections with tobacco interests.
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mbs: I'm afraid it's much bigger than that. The Wall Street Journal edit page was at war with him from Day One.
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I also I am responding to documentaries shown in England which argue that
the reason for the litigation route being the main way of attacking these
two sectors of capital, is because politicians fear to anatagonise major
fund-givers. I also know of statistics showing that the tobacco companies
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mbs: It's easier to legislate remedies through civil suits than statutes because the former are much less encompassing, and because they have their own powerful lobby -- trial lawyers. Funders is the smaller part of the matter, I would say.
mbs