JOUR107.1001--Kamala Harris (D-CA) & Activision Video Games--CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS 2020

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019


     (The Arcade)--Curious how some of the most vocal opponents to language used that may or may not incite white terror against ordinary citizens come from those who have investors in their campaigns. California's junior Senator, Kamala Harris (D-CA), has been talking up the condemnation on the usual public soap box, Twitter;

     "Mass shootings don’t happen at this frequency anywhere else on the planet. They happen in America because our so-called leaders lack the courage to act.  I’ve had enough.
As President, if Congress fails to act, I will take executive action to keep our communities safe."
Senator Harris, however hasn't had enough money given to her by the video game manufacturer of "Call of Duty" which has been cited in the aftermath of El Paso-Dayton as contributing in keeping our communities anything but safe.
     Open Secrets, the online portal that lists campaign contributions to candidates, shows Activision Blizzard individuals contributing more than $13K to her 2018 campaign;
     "#89  Activision Blizzard  $13,551  $13,551  $0"  (Open Secrets)
This might explain why the focus is deflected away from video game manufacturers and toward "white supremacist" language from the President, carefully avoiding the hotbutton NRA link in the process.

     A close read at Open Secrets of the board members of Activision shows who contributed to Harris', (and others') campaign;
     Reveta Bowers (Dir)-$1000/2016 (to Harris)  (in addition to $5000 to Obama in 2011);
     Bobby Kotick (Dir) - $5400/2015-16 (to Hillary Clinton)
     Robert Morgado (Dir)- $1000/2019- (to Tulsi Gabbard)
     Casey Wasserman (Dir)- $2700/2018 (to Adam Schiff); $2700/2017 (to Cory Booker)
     Elaine Wynn (Dir) $2700/2016 (to Harris); $5000/2018 (to Dem Congress Campaign Cmtee)
If ever there was a "call to duty" it's the Activision board members stuffing the candidates' pockets with cash to keep legislation deflected away from curbing violence in video games, or even bringing the topic to the table in the halls of Congress.
     Nothing could be more clear than why all the studies that link violent video games to domestic mass homicides is systematically suppressed by the politicians.

Works Cited
@KamalaHarris, "Enough", Twitter, 6:33 PM · Aug 6, 2019
Campaign 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00036915&cycle=2018&recs=100&type=I
Activision Board, https://www.activisionblizzard.com/board-of-directors
Harris photo, KCFJ 570 Radio
Call of duty image, G2A

JOUR107.1001--El Paso-Dayton Blowback: Erstwhile Politician Alert---THE "DUSTBIN OF HISTORY" REPORT

JOUR107.1001
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

     (The Border)--Bad to worse can only describe those former political stars who have also chosen the dual home-grown strikes on El Paso and Dayton to further their forgotten political clout. Former President Barack Obama did some target shooting himself as reported by Josiah Bates in Time mag online;

     " 'Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these [shooters] may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet,' Obama’s statement read." (Time)
Sorry, Mr. Obama, the army that was ISIS invaded an entire Middle East nation and didn't "act alone." He was also careful not to incriminate other so-called "foreign terrorist organizations" so as not to alienate the Muslim world beyond the defunct ISIS thugs by singling out Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's another one of those craftily designed statements the ex-president has become accustomed to releasing thinking there would be no hard scrutiny of his language.
     Not to be outdone by Obama, the Clintons each acted alone in releasing statements pegged to the El Paso-Dayton double siege. Former President Bill Clinton's can be found in Marina Pitofsky's report in The Hill;

     “How many more people have to die before we reinstate the assault weapons ban & the limit on high-capacity magazines & pass universal background checks?” (Pitofsky, The Hill)
Clinton goes on to say "We must act now" but doesn't have any capacity as a lawmaker to do anything about it other than rant like all the others who are no longer official lawmakers with the capacity to ban high-capacity weapons and ammo. The article currently has 4886 shares at The Hill, for whatever it's worth.
     Former SecState Hillary Clinton, also issued a statement that can be found by Rebecca Klar at The Hill;

     "With two mass shootings in America in less than 24 hours, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action...The House has sent common-sense gun safety legislation to the Senate. Demand that @senatemajldr and your Republican elected officials join Democrats to pass it," (Klar, The Hill)
The headline reads "Clinton calls on McConnell" but in fact she calls on a Twitter handle to make the necessary legislation.  The article has 4156 shares, 700 below Bill's.

     If the President mistook Toledo for Dayton (Brett Samuels, The Hill), former VP Joe Biden, and leading 2020 Democratic candidate for the White House job, didn't even get the states right according to yet another The Hill report by Julia Manchester;
     "The 2020 presidential hopeful was speaking at the home of businessman Mark Arabo when he referred to 'the tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before' before correcting himself, noting the shootings took place in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio." (Manchester, The Hill)
The article has just under 5600 shares and just over 340 comments.
     Verified;
     "According to San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Lindsay Winkley, about 75 people attended the event, which was held at a private residence in the Del Cerro neighborhood of San Diego. Winkley, who was a pool reporter at the event, told us she personally heard Biden make the gaffe. It came during a speech in which he vowed to ban assault-style firearms if elected president in 2020." (Snopes)

Works Cited
Bates, J., Obama, https://time.com/5644593/obama-statement-mass-shootings-texas-dayton/
Pitofsky, M., Bill, https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/456257-bill-clinton-calls-for-reinstatement-of-assault-weapons-ban-how
Klar, R., Hillary, https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/456122-hillary-clinton-calls-on-mcconnell-gop-to-help-democrats-pass-gun-safety-bill
Samuels, B., Toledo, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/456179-trump-mistakenly-refers-to-shooting-in-toledo
Manchester, J., Biden, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/456160-biden-misstates-location-of-mass-shootings-before-correcting-himself
Gaffe, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-houston-and-michigan/
Obama photo, Quartz
Bill Clinton photo, The American Conservative
Hillary photo, The Daily Caller
Biden photo, NY Post