Piers Morgan, Filleted
Ben Shapiro’s satisfying dismantling of Piers Morgan on CNN over the issue of gun control has been getting some of the plaudits it deserves. Morgan is, as Ben says, a bully of the first water, a man whose delight in mud slinging was too much even for the bottom-feeding British tabloid the Daily Mirror, which fired him for publishing fake photos of British soldiers supposedly abusing Iraqi prisoners. Morgan is one of those liberals whose unshakable self-infatuation compels him to treat disagreement as a sort of moral heresy. His contemptuous—and contemptible—treatment of his guests makes for intermittently entertaining, if also cringe-making, television. But as Ben demonstrates, Morgan’s habit of contempt renders him a pathetic, deeply unserious mountebank.
Others have celebrated Ben’s performance. Here I’d like to underscore two points.
One concerns Morgan’s attitude towards the Constitution. At one point in the interview, Ben handed Morgan a copy of the Constitution and invited him to ponder the language of the Second Amendment. A few minutes later, Morgan handed it back to him dismissively: Here’s “your little book.” The Constitution of the United States is “your little book”?
The other point concerns the point Ben made toward the end of the interview. One of the reasons the Founders framed the Second Amendment, he pointed out, was to arm citizens against the possibility of a tyrannous government. This occasioned astonishment in Piers Morgan, who seemed incredulous that anyone could believe that the government of the United States might turn against its own citizens.”You’ve made your point crystal clear,” sneered Morgan. “People aren’t stupid. They can make up their own mind.” It would be interesting to ask Mr. Nakoula Nakoula about that. Of course, we can’t ask him. He’s in jail. He’s the chap, remember, whose video about Mohammed Barack Obama didn’t like, the fellow who then got a midnight visit from brown-shirted men from the sheriff’s office and was summarily bundled off to the police station, then decanted into jail, and then was sentenced to a year in prison, allegedly for probation violations. Or we could ask the increasingly large number of people who are arrested for the non-crime of photographing the police. Or we could simply ask ourselves about the increasingly intrusive nanny state regulations that have intruded more and more on our individual liberty. Yes, Piers, people aren’t stupid. They can make up their own minds. That’s why, as the illiberal-liberal establishment embarks on another another orgy of “ban the guns” rhetoric, people are rushing out in unprecedented numbers to arm themselves. It’s not only to protect themselves against the thieves who might creep into their houses at night to steal the family silver; it’s also to protect themselves against the suit-wearing thieves who practice their trade by wielding the levers of state power.
Also See: The Top 10 Funniest ‘Right-Sided’ Political Videos of 2012.
Morgan is an ignorant ass, more so because his ignorance is, to use the theological term, invincible. He is especially ignorant of American history. It was liberal icon Sam Ervin who famously wagged a pocket copy of the constitution during the Watergate hearings. If memory serves Ervin learned this piece of theater from Justice Douglas of sainted liberal memory.
Piers Morgan– nostaligic for the time of George III and wouldn’t have come over here to get away from it.
Somehow I’m reminded more of King John and the reasons for the Magna Carta.
I think you insult King John. Piers lacks his grandeur. I do not think that he even rises to the Sheriff of Nottingham’s level. Perhaps one of Monty Python’s French soldiers might be apt.
The proper term for Piers Morgan is Limey Poofter.
That malignant narcissist Morgan could not aspire to such a elegant sobriquet. He is slime of the lowest order.
I know that I am late and this is not the topic, but I will comment here anyway.
Piers Morgan brings up statistics of UK, manipulated. We don’t want to become like UK, where every year tens of thousands of young children are raped by Pakistani colonists. That’s what an occupying army does, rape and pillage if the occupied population. If Britons had guns this all would not happen. Or the sick fest in Paris of burning infidel cars all the time. Or Muslim enclaves. Piers doesn’t care about this because these things happen to his peasants, to his subjects. It can never happen to him. Let peasants figure it out among themselves, that’s what peasants are supposed to do. Peasants are not supposed to have guns and threaten the peace of his majesty Piers the First.
We don’t want to become like Mexico either. Just leave us alone.
Amen. Let’s not forget that the guns and ammunition being provided to the rebels in Libya and Syria – weapons transfers explained to American citizens as necessary in permitting these rebels to defend themselves against their authoritarian, tyrannical governments – are exactly the kinds those promoting the disarmament of innocent American citizens here want to ban. Those Libyan and Syrian rebels are only very loosely identified before they are provided those weapons and the movement of those weapons – and some even more dangerous, such as the 20,000 shoulder-to-air missiles originally provided rebels in Libya – is neither tracked nor known.
Piers Morgan wants to live in an imaginary world, where outlawing powerfully effective tools keeps innocent people safe from aggressive, predatory, and menacing people. We’re not going there with him, no matter how often he curls his lip, invites his audience to sneer at us along with him, or pretends offense when others challenge the tactics he uses to impose his will over theirs. His “beta-behavior” might have been useful two chairs down from Simon Cowell, but in America we all hold first-chair.
Of course these are also the types of weapons the US government provided the Mexican cartels in “Fast and Furious” as well.
More proof that you really should not provide bureaucrats or politicians access to weapons.
I’m all in favor of background checks for people who are going to be hired by any governmental body, especially if they will be carrying firearms or supervising/managing other people who are.
Problem is, we already know who Eric Holder is. The public could have done something about it in the last election, but didn’t. If most of the citizenry is willing to tolerate flagrant evildoers in government, and in fact a government that is becoming evil through and through, then there isn’t much that the rest of us can do …
…actually, I spoke too soon…there still IS something that we can do to restore Constitutional rule. Not everywhere, to be sure…
Strange, the quote beginning the article you link to is of the same stance as Obama’s “everyone country is exceptional to them” comment.
I find that quite disturbing.
Patriotism is more than loyalty to where you are from, its loyalty to what is WORTHY. None of my grandparents are from America. Neither were they, in my lifetime, “loyal” or “patriotic” to anywhere BUT America…because she is (or was) WORTHY of such.
I’m not “patriotic” to the State I was born in (New fricking jersey?).
I am loyal to an ideal, a WORTHY ideal that transcends all Birthplace, bloodline and heredity.
I am loyal to the United States, the Nation “we”, free men of Gods making, declared ourselves in the Declaration.
I am loyal to what it is SUPPOSED to be, nation wide, regardless of an sub-boundaries that may exist.
The Declaration is our Thesis Statement, The Bill of Rights is is our mechanical blueprint, Supreme and Irrevocable, everywhere without question, in every corner of our land.
There can BE no Succession FROM the United States, without declaring the exact same principals descending from the exact same documents….
And we therefore cannot “co-exist”, with or within, another entity that also, however disingenuously, claims the SAME lineage, the SAME flag, the SAME Supreme and Singular “decendency”, anymore than a child can create their own (evil?) twin brother. It is simply not possible.
We can only declare the Constitution Corrupted and ignored, powers usurped, and tyranny rampant. We can only say their is a criminal regime that IS NOT the United States, masquerading as our government…but we cannot simply walk away and form something ‘like” that which other place “used to be”
We will therefore, freely annoy and antagonize this regime at our own discretion, with no fear of dis-loyalty, or desire for, ever NEED OF, “succession”.
We will do this, in the gravest extreme, by taking up arms and conducting such punitive actions as are required against various “criminal sub-regimes” that no longer respect our Constitution, our Rights, AS citizens of the United States. We may do this against any and all who disobey their oath to uphold the Constitution, with not just moral impunity, but with absolute moral IMPERATIVE.
We will form no OTHER Nation, leaving behind the broken corpse of Freedoms First and only Child, as Failure…to rot and fester as “proof” to all that such dreams and such principlas were too difficult to be long achieved
We will re-claim and repair the one Worthy Ideal we have, the one we’ve ALWAYS had, even though (some) in Leadership Positions became corrupt, and and far too many of its “members”, through treason and external loyalties to communists, unions, tribes and briberies, no longer deserve “membership”.
We form no NEW flag of a smaller, lesser place…abandoning the old to the corruptions of those we fear confronting…We will seize that Flag that was stolen, and cut off the hands of those traitors who dared soiled it with their corruption, and vanity, and TREASON.
Succession is simply not possible.
We are Americans. Period.
Nothing else will ever suffice.
This worthy patriot (The Root ’83) doth protest too much: “Succession is simply not possible. We are Americans. Period.” Perhaps he’s right, but when some of us are asked to bail out the profligacy of others (Texas, for instance, bailing out Illinois) the breakup will happen … and rightly (and Constitutionally) so. We, and not our nation, are the ultimate sovereign; and we can ill afford the compromises that legislation over the past 100 years has occasioned. And it is about time that we start doing something about it.
Diddian: “the guns and ammunition being provided to the rebels in Libya and Syria – weapons transfers explained to American citizens as necessary in permitting these rebels to defend themselves against their authoritarian, tyrannical governments – are exactly the kinds those promoting the disarmament of innocent American citizens here want to ban”
you didn’t go far enough. the weapons being provided to the rebels are probably full-auto—REAL “assault rifles” rather than semi-automatic-only lookalikes—and the magazines are full capacity. Those have been severely restricted in the US since 1936 or so, and no more can be made for civilian ownership since 1986. So we’re giving away more capable weapons to the rebels than our Government, despite the Second Amendment, will allow to us.
The Second Amendment merits a much broader interpretation than it has received in modern times.
Mr. Morgan is just another charaltan masquading as journalist. He has gotten to much coverage already. Though I did enjoy Mr. Shapiro’s dismantling him as a bully quite a bit.
“sneered Morgan. “People aren’t stupid. They can make up their own mind.”
I beg to differ. Some people are spectacularly stupid, and Piers Morgan qualifies in spades.
That self-righteous hypocritical windbag wouldn’t know an assault rifle if it shot him in the ass. It is long past time for those who don’t have a clue WTF they are talking about to shut their cakeholes. Take note Piers Morgan you pompous dumbass – “capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire.”
From the Concise Encyclopedia: Assault Rifle
Military firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge and has the capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire. Light and portable, yet able to deliver a high volume of fire with reasonable accuracy at modern combat ranges of 1,000–1,600 ft (300–500 m), assault rifles have become the standard infantry weapon of modern armies. Their ease of handling makes them ideal for mobile assault troops crowded into personnel carriers or helicopters, as well as for guerrilla fighters engaged in jungle or urban warfare. Widely used assault rifles are the U.S. M16, the Soviet Kalashnikov (the AK-47 and modernized versions), the Belgian FAL and FNC, and the German G3.
OSC:
While I am almost certain you know the difference, it is apparent that your “Concise” dictionary is as illiterate as most people in the media.
The FN-FAL and G3 both chamber the 7.62 NATO round. This is a full power cartridge, not an intermediate cartridge such as the 5.56 NATO or 7.62×39. As such, these are classified as Battle Rifles not Assault Rifles. They are effectively modern versions of the M1-Garand.
I stand corrected and somewhat embarassed that I did not read the entire definition. Thanks.
Good example of why one should not accept veracity by association – the definition was associated with Webster’s Dictionary. I thought it simply had to be accurate!
People have been deceived and continue to be deceived. The deception is the result of years of lying politicians and a complicit media. We need to practice discernment, to be able to sort out the truth from the lie. As that is becoming almost impossible to do in this day of photo shop, sealed records,lies heaped upon more lies, subterfuge, secrecy and intrigue, we need to question everything we read, see or hear. Do not believe anything until you scrutinize it from every angle.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
Stupidity has no social, educational or economic boundaries. It does not matter if you graduated from an elite college such as Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. It does not matter if you only have a certificate from a local community college. It does not matter if you are a billionaire or on food stamps. It does not matter if you hold a PHD or a GED. It does not matter if you are a lawyer, a judge or a clerk at Walmart. It does not matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat. Stupidity is a equal access, equal opportunity, non discriminatory state of mind.
It appears that a great many people lack the ability to internalize new knowledge. They proudly brandish their arrogance. I have found that without exception we all have had our “stupid” moments. Unfortunately, some a great many more than others.
Our government (politicians and bureaucrats) as a whole seems to be having a “stupid” episode. When a government spends more than it takes in, raises taxes to create jobs, fights wars it can not win, promises benefits it can not pay for, has open borders, punishes success, over regulates, assists in overthrowing governments that are friendly to us, disregards the constitution and the bill of rights, seeks to divide the country economically, culturally and socially (class warfare) what conclusion can you come to?
I would vote for commonsense over stupidity any day.
Roger, re your point about the Brit Twit’s scorn for the mere suggestion that the US government might in any way be something less than the country’s benevolent BF,why doesn’t PJM compile a list of the assaults on liberty that the obamination has enacted or attempted so far and make it a permanent fixture of your website. This has been done informally many times, including by commentators here (didn’t Zombie champion something like that before the election), but it is always a transient thing. David Limbaugh’s book (and others) is a good source, but even he misses some of them and the list grows every day, and the book isn’t online. Maybe somebody has done this, but nobody, to my knowledge, with an audience as large as PJM.
American should have easy access to a full list (in categories with references cited) so they can see what is obvious to most who attend PJM regularly.
WER, this is an excellent point. The infringements that come to mind (for me) are this that diminish our real property rights. Look back to the Eminent Domain conflicts in CT and other states. And the smaller but more common issues of local governments enacting and enforcing esthetic laws for lawns and outbuildings disguising them as code violations. It’s kind of funny now, but I remember being arrested for a traffic warrant 30 years ago. When I suggested that I was within my constitutional right to turn the vehicle over to my brother (accompanying me) ‘the man’ told me “f*ck your constitutional rights”. This by the way was during the Reagan Era.
Sorry, WEO
Here’s what’s behind a lot of those property rights incursions.
A website isn’t enough. How about billboards and Samizdat pasted to bus shelters and other public places?
Great point! We know it’s happening to us over the past 4 years at an astonishing pace but we forget all of the different liberties taken. This is something I’d like to see in print so I can copy and put over my fridge. Every morning I’ll have a chance to read it while my coffee is brewing.
@weo,
Whoever puts up that list will need to buy a heck of a lot of server space.
Just sayin’.
Excellent idea weo.
Have a centralized rap sheet for Obamao and his minions, complete with links to sources.
Read the suppressed book “Unintended consequences” for a list of criminal US government repression pre-dating the mid 1980s, back to the start in the mid 1930s. Just writing the name of the book here puts me on a list.
Wondering if Piers would call it “your little flag” too…
Interesting as how Morgan was to low for British media but sucked up and given employment by American media. So I wonder which national media may be lower? Kidding of course, our own scummy brand, the one that prostitutes itself for it’s depraved politics.
A few minutes later, Morgan handed it back to him dismissively: Here’s “your little book.” The Constitution of the United States is “your little book”?
So what’s he doing residing in the US?
the Daily Mirror, which fired him for publishing fake photos of British soldiers supposedly abusing Iraqi prisoners.
So this liar, basically that’s what he is, gets upset when people buy his nonsense?
“So what’s he doing residing in the US?”
Following the money, obviously.
Oops! Should be don’t buy his nonsense.
The Brits don’t have such a book, big or little. However they have become masters of vapid and insipid political correctness. Even the last frickin’ Bond film stunk of it. Bond isn’t edgy any more – he hangs around with 78 yr. old women even after their senility gets him shot off a Turkish train off a Turkish bridge for reasons only the film’s writer can tell us, and they chose not to.
He pouts, he drinks, he returns. The dumb ol’ school marm gives him tests which we have to watch.
If you can’t get a Bond film right then the jig’s up for ol’ Blighty.
Spot on FB. Is anyone else irritated that the writers/producers of Skyfall had to include a hint that Bond may have dabbled in homosexuality? Was that necessary for the plot? Make the villain gay if you must, but to me, ladykiller James Bond is as high up the heterosexuality scale as one can get. A bloody shame what they did to Ian Fleming’s superspy in Skyfall.
It was UP for ol Blighty in 1948 when they instituted the NIH.
And when they willingly gave up their guns once again.
Larry Correia refutes the gun controllers’ arguments once and for all.
The Second Amendment is not about crime, personal self-defense, or sport. It’s about limiting government power.
Mr. Kimball, I think Morgan’s dismissal of the Constitution as the “little book” hearkens back to communists and their Little Red Books and Little Blue Books; he means to liken this nutter as a book-thumper, not as someone whose thoughts are his own. A cipher, in other words.
Mr Little B’s: You see similarities between Mao’s little Red Book and our Constitution? That alone dis-qualifies what you think about anything from any serious consideration. And if you would like to install a system where I can follow “thoughts that are my own” instead of societal rules and guidelines, well I might just go for that after another four years of Progressives.
@ #3 Old School Conservative was nice enough to give the definition of “Assault Rifle”. The AR-15 does NOT fit this description! The kid, Ben Shapiro, made the mistake of letting Morgan label these as Assault rifles and then kept saying they were used in those four example shootings. We need to fight any attempt to use this label. If someone calls an AR-15 an assault rifle just say “Oh, so it is capable of full auto fire then?” If they say no but it can be changed to fire that way. then ask them “oh, the shooter was a gunsmith then? If they try to say anyone can make it full auto then ask them if they think they can do it! (It’s next to impossible without getting your hands on a complete lower assembly and then you are falling under the, I believe, 1936 firearms act.)
The shooter at Sandy Hook used two semiautomatic pistols. The rifle in question was found in the trunk of his car. Again, the rifle found was not an assault rifle, it was a semiautomatic replica of a Military style weapon. I cannot say the AR-15 was never used by our military. The rifle I was issued in Vietnam was a very early model and it was plainly marked AR-15/XM-16. This is just an aside, it makes no difference to the point. By definition none of the weapons used in any of these shootings are assault rifles.
Another point brought up was why does anyone need a weapon of this type. Shapiro kept saying to resist possible tyranny which is true but it is not the only reason. Both the AR-15 and the AK-47 are designed to be used in close quarters type situations such as jungles or heavy brush. This makes it perfect as a varmint gun. Farmers going after rabbits that want that little extra ommph and distance over a .22, ranchers that go after coyotes and other pests where a large caliber isn’t needed but something light enough to carry around but not so weak it won’t do the job while not so large it will kill something the next county over if you miss your target. Then there is just one main thing that I love about these style guns, they are just plain fun to shoot!
As necessary as they were back in the day (1770s) these weapons were not secured from seizure for hunting purposes. They were for self-defense against the government. Any government in the future.
Sorry, that urban myth keeps getting circulated due to erroneous early reports. And it’s wrong.
Mr. Lanza did take his Bushmaster with him. He used it to shoot the lock off the door and force his way inside. And according to the medical examiner, most of the victims were shot with it. Don’t believe me? Google for the medical examiner’s statement to the press.
Every time I see someone at PJ Media repeating that urban myth, I set the record straight. This is the third time.
Morgan needs to understand that he makes his living via the freedom we have to speak our mind. A concept found in that ‘little book’ he so snidely called the constitution – the first amendment. Or maybe he’d like to dispense with it too? The second amendment assures us – and him – that he can continue to spew his venomous words at law abiding citizens who believe in ALL the constitutional points regardless of whether he likes it or not. It is what it is. Take it all or forget it all – there is no middle ground. The first amendment gives us the choice of whether to watch this Brit make a fool of himself on CNN or to change the channel.
Seems like CNN isn’t getting the ‘message’. Their ratings are dropping precipitously and they don’t seem to know what to do about that. Hint: Give us more such idiots and we’ll continue to ignore the Communist News Network. (Formerly known as the Clinton News Network.
I couldn’t care less whether he keeps his little show on CNN since I don’t watch CNN unless breaking news is being covered that isn’t covered elsewhere. Their disregard for the practice of honest journalism is appalling. They’ve turned themselves into nothing but a broadcast of press releases from the DNC and the White House. In between they make fetid attempts to disparage any ‘opposition’ to Feckless Won with bad humor (Chris Mathews etc) and a mixture of baseless ‘facts’ and figures. Why show real news when you can just make this shit up and have 51% lap it up like it were appetizers? Eh – unfortunate for them most of the 51% are low info idiots and don’t watch tv news anyway. Too busy watching the latest video on utube.
Except as noted above I’ve been done with CNN for a very long time. I’m only left wondering when PJM will do the same. Morgan is less important to me than a good BM.
Paleo –
How do you tell the difference?
Chris Matthews is on MSNBC, not CNN.
Mark Kelly doesn’t respect my 2nd Amendment rights.
My favorite part of the interview was the faux-outrage Morgan expressed when Shapiro accused him of standing on the bodies of dead children. Morgan’s ‘how dare you’ was reminiscent of all Liberal faux-outrage when you have the temerity, the unmitigated gall to actually tell the truth about a Liberal.
We dare, Piers, because you are a Liberal and by that very definition you don’t know what the hell you are talking about. You substitute bullying and emotion for actual thought and reasoning. So when someone comes along that is skilled in the application of actual thought and reasoning you get bitch-slapped around like Andy Kauffman in a wrestling match.
The next time you bring someone on your show who is actually intelligent, perhaps it would better serve you to not skinny dip in the deep end of the stupid pool first.
Oh, I’m certain it’s wasn’t faux outrage. I’m sure he was genuinely outraged. Problem is, Shapiro is right and standing on the graves of those children is what Morgan was doing. No doubt he didn’t think of it that way. People don’t always like hearing the truth.
piers moron was pushing his anti-gun agenda way before the sandy hook shootings,…it was his pet project,.now all he talks about and refers to is that incident,as if it was what incited his outrage,…so who is the one who really doesn’t care about the kids?,….he is just a media whore exploiting this tragedy for his own ego,….dispicable and disgraceful,…and the man is an idiot of the highest order anyways,…he don’t know beans from toledo about weapons and firearms,yet wants to tell us what we can have?….a flaming hypocrite is what he is,…a left wing liberal lunatic loser.
I am all for reducing mass killings in the US- Time to get riud of Planned parenthood.
Morgan: a smug, mincing, effete little dandy.
Man, I’d love to say that right to his face.
how true,…dontcha just wanna bitchslap him back into the closet he came outta?
When I travel through airports, it takes some effort to AVOID being exposed to CNN.
I still try though since their babble makes my blood boil from the insults to logic and common sense contained therein.
The falkland situation has been oddly ignored. If all falklanders had assault weapons would the argies have invaded?.. Argentinia has made repeated threats to reinvade. Right this year the uk is spending a lot of money increasing military strength prior to a 2013 falkland referendum . It would seem to me that a very effective defense strategy would be to issue and train every falklander with a variety of arms and advertise that fact.
Good advice. It works for the Swiss.
P.S. Piers Morgan hasn’t been deported as an “undesirable alien” yet?
I’ve been reading about the latest sabre-rattling over the Falklands. The Brits vow to defend the islands again. Question: “With what?” If they want to hang on to their remote outpost, they’d better start preparing NOW rather than waiting until the Argies make a move. If they wait, they’ll end up having to go to war with another cobbled-together, barely adequate battle force like the one they had back in the 80s. British soldiers deserve better.
Give me a break. You’re all acting like our government is gonna round up “certain segments of the population” and start putting them in internment camps because of national security or something…
Oh…wait.
Can’t happen here?
Concentration Camps: Done it. Japanese Americans in WWII
Medical Experiments: Done it. Tuskegee syphilis experimen
Elimination of Probable Cause: Been through as airport lately? Heard of a “Terry Stop”?
Can’t happen here?
Yes it can. Hence the 2nd.
One might be tempted to scoff at these examples – two of which are in the distant past. However, the growing tyranny of our government is softer and less obvious as can be seen in the terry stop laws and even in drinking and driving enforcement. I used to joke that I was a safer driver after a pint of whisky than my grandfather was sober and on his best day (not that I would ever do that but I no longer use that joke for fear that I might be reported to the local police by someone without a sense of humor). As much as I can see the tragedy in impaired driving, I suspect that casting the net wider to catch people who had a half of a whisky sour before dinner does absolutely nothing to prevent additional auto accidents and deaths. And if you take a step back and look at it, you realize that it is just another example of how you no longer have to actually harm anyone or steal anything to have your life ruined by our government.
…sneered Morgan. “People aren’t stupid. They can make up their own mind.”
Its telling that his best defense is an appeal to conformity. “Smart people believe x, so if you want to be smart…”
I hope he’s still around when Tar & Feather time comes.
The question is… Who’s going to Tar and Feather Piers Morgan first?
Americans?
Or Brits whose phones were hacked by him?
It’s the “Argument from Intimidation,” that attempt to bypass the arguments of those you disagree with – by declaring the debate already won and yourself the moral victor – while intimidating all others present into conformity. Ayn Rand nailed it back in the 60′s and 70′s. Her essay about it describes Bill Maher with his audience, Keith Olbermann with his (when he had one), Rachel Maddow with hers, and now Piers Morgan with his.
What is most astounding about their occasional success with it, is that it relies on a presumption that the audience is unthinking and insecure. These people insult their own audiences.
http://www.andrsib.com/rand/intimidation.htm
The Sandy Hook shooter used a semiauto rifle and had two SA handguns with him; he left a shotgun. In his car. Per most reports I have read.
A lever action Winchester is a 130 year old gun that shoots 15 rounds in very rapid order ( as fast as 11 seconds) which proves the BS about “Assault Rifles” is just that.
Still pissed about that Yorktown SURRENDER, eh piers?
Buwwwwwwwhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Perhaps we should ask Mr. Morgan about the Magna Carta (from WikiPedia – “Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges”). Is that just a piece of paper?
Awesome post! My sentiments exactly. This is also why I canceled my cable television service, as I didn’t want to indirectly support idiots like Morgan and his ilk.
Piers Morgan thinks he is the reincarnation of King George III. Somebody call Freud.
After the American revolution, and while the US Constitution was being debated, Shay’s rebellion occurred where farmers took over courthouses in Massachusetts that were enforcing new taxation laws – pushed by the Boston mercantalists – that were putting many farmers in jail for not paying taxes with currency that was in very short supply, and were confiscating farmers’ properties, like oxen, for tax payments. There were many grievances – yet they continued to be undressed by the elite ruling class in Boston. It was an untenable situation. The same Patriots that had fought in the American Revolution were being put into jail. Riots against tax collectors occurred. Local government gun powder stores were considered for use by the protesters. Judges were threatened with swords. Some protesters were killed with grapeshot from cannon. Judges threatened protest leaders with burning down their houses upon them should they continue to protest. Heroes of the revolution were sentenced to death.
Should citizens have the firepower to confront a government gone wild?
You and I and most of teh people who come here may see it as Ben Shapiro demolished Piers Morgan, but there are literally tens of millions, a majority of the adult population going by the 2012 election, who disagree.
We all need to be thinking on that
No, not the majority of the adult population.
There were approximately 129 million votes cast out of approximately 211 million eligible voters (61%). About 82 million eligible voters didn’t bother to vote.
Obama won 51% of the votes cast (about 67 million).
So in reality he only won about 31% of the adult population.
Think about that instead.
Piers Morgan would do well to remember what happened to the last batch of Brits who came to our shores and tried to deprive us of our guns.
Morgan is the perfect exemplar of the saying:
“It is better to be silent and thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”
In an age where laws -pfft- consume 2500 pages of unread contradictory utterances of baboons, the thirteen-page constitution is a little book. It’s conceptual genius to have condensed down (into plain language) principles of free individuals establishing an appropriate government.
I can imagine if the exercise were repeated today, it would be 13,000 pages of unknowable nonsense. Yet be worshiped (for its vastness) by the likes of Morgan.
The EU Constitution is only 474 pages long but I get your point.
I like to point out this one:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html
The US government poisoned the alcohol supply during prohibition and probably killed at least 10,000 people.
>>During Prohibition, however, an official sense of higher purpose kept the poisoning program in place. As the Chicago Tribune editorialized in 1927: “Normally, no American government would engage in such business. … It is only in the curious fanaticism of Prohibition that any means, however barbarous, are considered justified.”<<
Liberals are very big on "higher purposes."
Loved this article. Wagged my tail the whole time.
Shapiro handled himself well and exposed Morgan’s idiocy well, however he made one fundamental error, and that is falling into the “need” trap.
The Constitution does not describe needs. It describes rights. It denies the government the ability to remove arms from law-abiding citizens, whatever they may be. Need has nothing to do with it, any more than the 1st Amendment protects one against censorship from a particular government agency.
These are all or nothing rights. They are not specific. The 1st protects us against ALL prohibitions against freedom of religion, speech, and so on. The 2nd protects us against ALL prohibitions against firearm ownership. Period.
We need to avoid these idiotic traps, as we also need to avoid nonsense like “well, we can ban machine guns”– They are ALSO legal to own in many states, and as with legally owned semi-automatic weapons, are statistically irrelevant in the commission of crime.
Compromise gets us crap like Obamacare, infinite debt, and other general idiocy. Compromise on the Constitution means our doom. It’s about time people woke up and realized that.
Yep, although Shapiro overall did an excellent job against the pompous Morgan, not only did he fall into the ‘need’ trap, as you point out, but he also let slide Morgan’s characterization of ‘assault rifles’ as ‘killing machines’, a typical trick of the left & clever attorneys, ask a leading question. They’re only ‘killing machines’ in the hands of those who would kill; in the hands of law-abiding citizens, (which is the vast majority of them btw) they’re not. I give Shapiro one demerit for letting that one go unchallenged.
“needs” are for Marxists, “rights” are for citizens.
Notice the Marxist credo “for each according to their needs and from each according to their ability”?
“NEEDS” IS A MARXIST CODE WORD.
What a silly piece of drivel this article is. How convenient it is to want your guns when your own flesh and blood hasn’t suffered. Wake up you 2nd amenders, there’s a world out there, quite different from the one you backwards looking nostalgics envision.
I liked Shapiro’s moxie (and his expressive eyebrows) but he talks way too fast to understand easily. And as for his support of government vetting of would-be gun owners, how is that not an infringement of the right to bear arms?
The way to deal with Piers Morgan is to not watch CNN during his time slot. I refuse to watch him. If his ratings go down far enough they will can him. Problem solved.
To follow the progressive agenda is to believe in the ongoing guaranteed benevolence of government. It’s foolish and ahistorical to do so, but it doesn’t stop them.
Read and sign the WH petition to excise the root:
http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=377230
The federal government, led by a progressive liberals, packing American citizens off to internment camps without due process and having it all blessed by the Supreme Court. Can’t imagine it.
Korematsu v. United States
Does anyone have a reliable source on what types of firearms PM’s bodyguards carry? Perhaps he should just refer to himself as Prime Minister.
Piers Morgan gets to get his show for the same reason the disgusting hags of “The View” get theirs: People love watching crappy shows whose conductors bully their guests when they dare to brandish views that oppose their own. Since those shows are aimed to a general public, they must not assume that the average intellect of the average viewer will be above the average. Piers Morgan and Whoopi Goldberg are just right for these kind of shows and these kind of intelects.
Showing concern or surprise about the level of stupidity displayed by this Morgan chap is like showing surprise at an 8-year-old child who cannot paint like Michelangelo. What would be surprising would be for this child to be able to get the Met to exhibit his paintings next to Michelangelo’s. Such is the state of the “info-tainment” industry in the US: allowing mental 8-year olds to guide the trend-setting, opinion-forming programs and shows in the American media.
“The Battle Of Athens”
The Battle of Athens was an armed rebellion led by WWII veterans and citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, against the tyrannical local government in August 1946.
On American Heritage site: http://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-athens
youtube video from a made for tv film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ut6yPrObw
At the risk of being branded a barbarian, I swore to protect and defend “that little book” against all enemies…to lay down my life if need be. Officers and soldiers of the commonwealth nations swear fealty to the Queen (yes, they do…all of them), we swear fealty to the ideals in “that little book.” Morgan should have been punched in the face…physically, not just metaphorically. I am sure that’s what a commonwealth officer would do if we called the Queen, “that little woman.”
A splendid reduction of liberalism: “…one of those liberals whose unshakable self-infatuation compels him to treat disagreement as a sort of moral heresy.” Notice the man in the White House. We have a regnant political culture which is determined to stifle all dissent no matter the cost, and it’s a poser as to whether the First or Second Amendments will yield first. Or perhaps it’s pari passu.
Yes. Being locked up for photographing the cops. Read, or re-read Primo Levy’s Aushwitz memoir. Thirsty, unwatered, for they were livestock, he reached out a broken window to break off an icicle. A guard hits him with the butt of his gun. The zek asks, “Why?”
“There is no why here.”
Climate change. There is no why here. Solar energy. TINWH. Ethanol. TINWH. Jesse Jackson hooted decades ago about political prisoners. We have one, which Mr. Kimball mentioned: Nakoula Nakoula.
For years it’s been a commonplace that Progressives get a pass for whatever they say or the taxes they declare; conservatives get audited and mocked.
There is no why here.
We no longer have stereotypes and ethnic jokes in America today. Except for a certain ‘stage Englishman’. You know the type, condescending, snooty, a grating upper-class accent, a phony artistocrat…the kind of Brit we Americans love to hate. But this is no Monty Python gag, it’s Piers Morgan in the flesh!
We did win the Revolutionary War, can’t we get a good laugh at Piers’ false erudition? He’s really just at the edge of comical.
Remember what John Adams said at the victorious conclusion of the War for Indepdendence: “We are the bastard sons of Englishmen no more”.
Well, one of the bastards is still here…
Is there any reason to continue to promote Piers other than for comic relief?
While we are discussing the intrusion of Big Government, let us not forget the real threat of possible IRS Tax Audits brought against individuals by the government. Remember Frank VanderSloot, the Idaho businessman who was a large contributor to Romney campaign. He was hit not only with a IRS Tax audit but but by the Department of Labor for three employees on his ranch.
Ok, for those of you who agree with Shapiro regarding the need for a check on tyrannical government, I get it. In fact, I think most liberals get it. But what I dont understand is who you think that if the United States government, literally the most powerful military force in the history of the world, became tyrannical and started oppressing its citizens, who automatic rifles and long arms could make a difference.
Look at the Arab Spring. Syria, Lybia, those rebels were armed with automatic rifles but in Syria are requesting air support and in Lybia, couldn’t achieve success until the United States provided air cover. So if checking a tyrannical government is the primary reason why its ok for everyone else to live in constant fear of mass murder by madmen, why then, not allow private citizens to own fighter jets? Or chemical weapons? Biological weapons? Atomic weapons?
Please, I actually would like to hear some real feedback on this question.
Thanks,
Bob
Military aircraft created a revolution in warfare. No army has ever won a war against a foe who had control of the air.
The invention of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft missiles helped to make the odds more even. But without those, an army is doomed against air attack.
And even the National Rifle Association isn’t demanding the right to own Stinger missiles.
So all these folks who are dreaming of the day when thousands of patriotic Americans armed with AR-15s hold off the Federal Government armed with attack helicopters, attack aircraft and jet fighter-bombers are living in a dream world. They’ll end up just like the compound at Waco. Incinerated.
Bob- I think this is a fair question and given all the crazy things already posted here, I’m impressed you have an expectation that you’ll get a real answer. I asked a co-worker (who we all know carries a concealed weapon with him every day to an office in the suburbs) this very question and his response was that if every citizen in our country of 313M people had a weapon, the government would never be able to suppress it. He also believed that no one would attack our country with a land force because we’d all stand ready at arms.
Those who love guns want everyone to have one. That is seriously the dream that these people have and they think you’re crazy not to agree.
That’s what we’re up against.
Can we find him a slow boat back to Great Britain?
Rather than indulge in ad hominem attacks on Piers Morgan – what about the truth that violent gun-deaths in America dwarf those in all other OECD countries.
What about the fact that in Britain there are only 59 gun deaths at most a year, 11,000 in the US, year after year after year
You are seen by all other civilised democratic countries as having a very weird 17th century attitude to gun-ownership – that results in terrible carnage.
Freedom to bear arms = freedom to be slaughtered. 8(
We have a higher gun-related death rate…they have a higher murder rate. Paring down statistics to meet your agenda is unethical.
I had rather take my chances being shot to death in the US than drowning in my own blood in London.
Tell you what. Don’t you buy a gun. If you need defending I’m sure there will be enough of us to defend your liberal as…self.
“A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state…”
I have an extraordinarily difficult time understanding how any rational person could interpret these words to mean the amendment intends to protect the rights of citizens to arm themselves against the government. After all, the local militias were agents of the government, as there was at that time no standing army.
UH…you left out the second part…
George Mason, Co-author of the Second Amendment during Virginia’s Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788: “I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the Whole People. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
When a 4th rate host of a seldom viewed interview show on a fading network wants to perk up his ratings what’s the things that they typically do?
They take a side on a controversial topic, any side, and push the envelope to the limit by intimidating their guests, make outrageous and ludicrous statements, and perhaps even secretly start a movement to have themselves banned from the air or, in Mr. Morgan’s case, the country.
This is followed up with a series of mock confrontations where the host is put in his place and then fights his way back through subsequent shows.
This cycle continues unabated until the controversial topic is no longer of interest and the public has moved on to the next sideshow.
Sound familiar? It’s called hyping a show. I figure Mr. Morgan’s ratings will remain high for about another week when the subject of assault weapons bans, magazine restrictions, and all the other topics of which no one had an interest a month ago have run their course.
Piers Morgan is God’s gift to Republicans. He couldn’t be doing his side more harm if he were a double agent. Which is a shame because his side is largely correct.
his backside, of course, he’s an a**hole all over
Piers is no worse than the overwhelming majority of American media that trades in personal opinion divorced from fact. I’m not going to dump on him just because he has the impediment of begin European. Let the TV ratings decide.
Roger, you are on a roll and Mencken approves if your use of ” mountebank”!!
Using Britain to compare with USA is like comparing a cat and a lion. Yes they are both from the same family but one is ruled by a tyrant and the other by a republic. One has democracy and one has been lying to the world she has democracy when she does not. One has elected head of state and the other has not. one has a healthcare system that kill his people because they see them as inferior with saving money for the government an excuse, while the other allow people to buy insurance and therefore gives everyone equal care no matter your social class. the percentage number of deaths from british hospitals and other universal healthcare system is not only alarming but heartbreaking. the greatest thing that happened to piers Morgan is coming to USA and he knows it. my friend almost died in a hospital in England because while he was in the hospital with heart attack the second cousin of the royal family came to er. They left everyone in the hospital to attend to the aristocrat. yet it is a universal health care that gives good care to the few. pathetic!!!
Atleast if it does hit the fan, likely weapon knowledge deficient liberals will leave alone one of the best possible “atmageddon guns”. The SKS, uses powerful, accessible 7.62 rounds. 10 round disposable stripper clips. Hardy and easy to clean. Very accurate, with adjustible 1000 meter iron sights. Oh yeah and typically sold for less than $500
Piers morgan may not be the best debater on gun rights but I give you this.
The tree of liberty is nourished by the blood of patriots.
So how many people must be killed each year in our country…by guns…
for it to be worth owning yours?
Or does this country simply accept regular mass murders as the new normal so long as it does not happen to you?
Yes, our local state and federal governments are intruding more and more into our lives. Unfortunately many citizens are willing to give up their freedoms for government economic security and as Franklin believed, they will deserve neither. But when citizens decide enough is enough, the 2nd Amendment rights can make the difference. The 2nd Amendment rights were useful for the veterans who threw out the corrupt and powerful McMinn County, TN government that suppressed citizens constitutional rights in the Battle of Athens on August 1, 1946. Even Eleanor Roosevelt supported the necessity of that effort.
Why should any American citizen believe that if elected officials are willing to violate a basic American right to bear arms, that existed even before we were a nation, that we should trust said officials to safeguard ANY of our constitutional rights.
Mark, Stating that all people who own guns want everyone else to own one is a gross and inaccurate assumption on your part. I own several and don’t care if anyone else has them. That is also the sentiment of pretty much every gun owner that I know. Your “Us vs. Them” attitude is very counter productive. The right to keep and bear arms is an “unaliable” right for all Americans. Its a right, not a requirement. If you don’t want to own a gun or a specific type of gun you don’t have to. Herein lies the difference between those who support the second amendment and those who would confiscate them in flagrant defiance of the amendment. We don’t insist you own a gun, but you insist that we surrender ours.
Might I suggest to anyone here that they may also read some of Mr Kimball’s books. They are witty, learned and stimulating. Just finished reading “Lives of the Mind”, & intend to read more of his work.
I favor gun control, but you make some reasonable points here. Were I scoring it on points, I’d have given it to Shapiro. However, as you know, as a non-citizen Morgan has First Amendment rights and need not fear deprotation for his views on gun control. I haven’t heard anyone on the right call out Alex Jones for the farcical and constitutionally unsound nature of his petition. Additionally, the Heller decision permitted cities and states to make restrictions on firearms. It simply prohibited them from blanket bans on all firearms. I haven’t heard anyone on the right concede that. But there’s no doubt, Morgan is as poor of a spokesman for the gun control position as Jones is for the gun rights position.
Someone should inform Piers that if the Constitution is our “little book,” the Magna Carta becomes England’s “little memorandum.”
In the meantime, back in Jolly Old England….
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2458/_muslim_patrol_vigilantes_attempt_to_control_london_streets
Who is this “Piers” person to whom you refer?
I see from Drudge that there’s someone by that name at the bottom of the cable ratings… Why give him any publicity?
The Morgan curse and cure.
1. Morgan is good for America because: (A) America needs another know it all. lol Joke!
2. Seriouly, he makes the boob’s that watch him think outside the box.
3. Sure he is stuck on himself but then who isn’t.
4. He needs to go to a gun range and have some fun one of these days. He might like it.
5. Or If he can get away for a week in Novermber, he is invited to come to my new hunting cabin in Northern Minnesota and deer hunt with my family.
6. He can get a wolf permit and shoot one durning the deer season too.
7. He might change his mind about being a gun owner if he met up with a alpha wolf in the woods.
8. When will he realize the problem is the crazies not the guns? Maybe never.
9. A week in the woods would cure him of his fueds with his neighbors.(fellow wise guys)
10. School shooting will never stop until the bad guys learn there are armed people in the schools that will shoot back.
11. End of story. Will someone protect the children please
12. Wish he had spent as much air time championing protecting the children and he did whineing about automatic weapons. Agree or disagree?