“Multiple online petitions are calling on Apple, Amazon and other streaming services to cut ties with the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) television channel,” Julia Manchester reports for The Hill. “‘NRATV is home to the NRA’s most dangerous and violence-inciting propaganda,’ Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts said in a statement to accompany the petition, according to HuffPost.”
“‘It’s time for tech leaders to acknowledge their role in helping the NRA spread this dangerous content and cut it out,’ she continued,” Manchester reports. “The friend of a father of one of the shooting survivors also launched a separate petition on change.org calling for Amazon to no longer offer the channel. ‘The NRA has long ignored its role in promoting gun violence and betrayed the names of good and responsible gun owners,’ Brad Chase said on the petition’s webpage.”
“Delta, United Airlines, First National Bank and Hertz are just some of the companies that have cut ties with the organization since the Parkland shooting. The NRA said in a statement the companies have ‘decided to punish NRA membership in a shameful display of political and civic cowardice,'” Manchester reports. “‘In time, these brands will be replaced by others who recognize that patriotism and determined commitment to Constitutional freedoms are characteristics of a marketplace they very much want to serve,’ the NRA said. ‘Let it be absolutely clear. The loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single NRA member from our mission to stand and defend the individual freedoms that have always made America the greatest nation in the world.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“Streaming service Roku has rejected calls to pull the plug on a channel operated by the National Rifle Association, after antigun activists, outraged over the Feb. 14 massacre at Parkland High School in South Florida that left 17 people dead, pushed the company to sever its ties with the NRA,” Jonathan Berr reports for CBS. “Roku, a closely held company, says NRA TV is complying with its content policies. Roku says it doesn’t censor or curate channels based on their content if they are operating lawfully otherwise.”
“NRA TV, which describes itself as a ‘comprehensive’ news source on Second Amendment issues, is free to Roku users and doesn’t carry any ads,” Berr reports. “Activists have also targeted Apple, Alphabet’s YouTube and Amazon, which also operate streaming services. Several Twitter users said they would drop their Apple TV and Amazon Prime Streaming services if the companies don’t meet their demands.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV does not offer a “streaming service” (yet).
“On Monday, FedEx said it plans to keep offering discounts to NRA members, though it said it disagrees with the organization about gun policy,” Berr reports. “FedEx said it would ‘not deny service or discriminate against any legal entity regardless of their policy positions or political views.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Focusing on the identification and subsequent care of those suffering from mental illness is the surest, most direct way to prevent such instances of mass murder from occurring in the future.
Also, having law enforcement, from the local level to the FBI, not totally drop the ball, would be another productive avenue to explore.
Along with praying for the victims, families, and friends, we most fervently pray that a system will be devised wherein the severely mentally ill will be identified early and helped before they degenerate to the point where such calamitous tragedies befall innocents. — MacDailyNews, February 15, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Cook prays for victims, families, and loved ones of mass murder in Parkland, Florida – February 15, 2018
