Such shows are essentially broadcast versions of newspaper columnists and opinion pieces. I have no objection to the hosts of these shows speaking their minds, provided that it's clearly advertised that it's an "opinion" show and not a "news" show.

As far as Piers Morgan is concerned, I'm not a big fan and I hardly ever watch him, but hearing that the NRA wants him deported makes me think that there must be some redeeming quality about him!

The NRA apparently wants to quash the First Amendment so that the Second Amendment is saved from criticism!

Apparently a petition to deport the man is garnering huge support - 40 000 signatures as of yesterday. I actually feel kind of sorry for the man. I've never watched his show, but it sounds like this is happening simply because he exercised his right to free speech. It's sad, really.

CH

I posted some of the Piers  videos that have gotten him into trouble  on Mike's gun thread . Sorry I can't c/p the posts for some reason but they are near the bottom of the first page. Piers reputation isn't the best in general but I sure agree with his views on gun control. I don't think the petition will be successful. He is voicing his opinions according to his rights. He hasn't broken any laws. He can be quite arrogant but I sort of like him for his entertainment and foolishness sometimes. He has a little baby daughter!

I managed to c/p them now, bottom of page 2.

SAF Alan Gottleib

 

 

 

Piers explodes at gun advocates

 

I think its all being taken as a kind of joke.....it  hasn't a leg to stand on! There's a new petition.....KEEP HIM.....!!

American democracy died a long time ago. The attack on Piers Morgan is simply another demonstration that intolerance for democracy is going mainstream.

Graeme, 40,000 morans signing an online petition is not a sign of some massive shift on democracy. It's a sign that there are 40,000 gun nuts who like Bill O'Reilly when he gives opinions but don't like it when Piers Morgan does the same, because, hey, furriner.
I'm no fan of Piers, but he is talking sense here.

Tweet from Piers: "If I do get deported from America for wanting fewer gun murders, are there any other countries that will have me?"

Piers Morgan is an insanely self-promoting tabloid brat from the scum-press of London. But to boot him out for saying something actually sensible reflects very oddly on the U.S. — and not just on the gun nuts… it's such a bizarre issue to make the headlines as a serious piece of "news".  

Mike, we don't have "news" anymore - just "opinions"...........

It's even worse than that - we only tolerate opinions that support our own prejudices.

And here's my opinion -

I predict polarization will reach endemic proportions -which will make peace and harmony almost impossible......

Funny, Pilgrim… Piers Morgan KNOWS that . Maybe he's lost the plot? Impossible.

He probably spoke out for gun control as a ruse to get a free ticket home. That'd be very "Piers".

What you say about polarization? That is completely, absolutely, incomprehensibly, totally,  utterly, hideously WRONG! 

. You said it.

That said, I'll just add that it's a sad reflection on the gun nuts that they seem to value their beloved 2nd amendment over the 1st (freedom of speech) whenever someone's exercise of the 1st is critical of their love of the 2nd.

Mendalla

This is just so crazy and getting worse......!!!!! ( Ive always thought Larry King and/or Piers are a front for the U.S. gov't? I mean they get lots of private info. from certain politicians so this stunt is a test run to test  the American pulse re guns , what they think)

Brits have responded to the petition calling on the White House to deport Piers Morgan for his anti-second amendment stance by lodging a petition of their own with UK Home Secretary Theresa May entitled ‘Stop Piers Morgan from being deported back to the UK from America’.

As Infowars documented in a previous article, Morgan’s assault on the constitutional rights of American citizens is not protected under the first amendment because he is not a U.S. citizen.

Legal precedent suggests that Morgan could be deported from the United States for openly engaging in subversion by calling for Americans to be disarmed, but the fact that he has cultivated a friendly personal relationship with Barack Obama, something which denigrates his supposed impartiality on CNN further, makes that outcome a long shot.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/brits-petition-government-we-dont-want-piers-morgan-back.html

Piers'  baby girl - 1 yr. old

http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/2012/11/27/first-glimpse-of-piers-morgans-daughter-elise/gallery/4

Given that some of the Brits on rpg.net basically said "good riddance" when Piers moved to the US to join CNN, this surprises me not.

OTOH, the Americans come off looking like jackasses internationally if they do deport him simply for remarks made on the air so I hope Obama and anyone else involved in the decision thinks long and hard before doing anything rash.

As for impartiality, I've never found Piers to be particularly impartial and I don't think he's meant to be. CNN needs opinionated blowhards as much as Fox does and he's their blowhard of choice right now (though I hear his ratings aren't great so maybe he'll get the boot eventually).

Mendalla

Not really a huge support.

Another petition, at the same white house site, that demands that the earth be declared flat and that all sphere promoting government scientists be fired, garnered 120,000 votes, and one that insisted that evolution be forbidden in high school science classes got over 2,000,000.

chansen, I didn't say that 40,000 signatures meant a shift in american democracy. The shift happened a long time ago.

What is peculiar about the US is that its history focusses so strongly on the revolution that it is easily, if thoughtlessly, assumed that it was unique from its origins, almost - more than almost - a creation of God, There is very little popular sense of its British origins and its European connections. As a result, there has long been a popular view of the US as having no connection to the rest of the world except as a model - which fit nicely in the plans of those who saw the US, for either economic or religious reaons, as destined to rule it all.

The popular perception of American history also rests heavily on democracy achieved and spread through guns. Generals have occupied the presidency several times - and came close with Petraeus. I cannot think of a general in Canadian history who has ever had that sort of prominence - not even Sir Arthur Currie who was a far better general and far more intelligent man than he ever got regognition for.

In fact, in the last two centuries, at least, of British history, I can think offhand of only one general who became prime minister (and a very bad one) - Wellington.

Oh, and I know of few american histories that even mention that many people fled the US just after it was created. Canada, alone got 60,000 - and at least as many went to Britain and the West Indies.

I don't have any coherent idea of what this all means. But it does seem to me that americans grow up in a tradition that lends itself to self-righteouness and violence.

Free speech? I'm sure Piers would have wanted a cheque.

The reason to deport Piers is if he is convicted of being part of an effort to hack into the cell phones of celebrities and dead people as part of his former job. With a criminal record, deporting him should be a cinch. Trying to deport someone because they said something you don't agree with is dickish, and if the White House has to respond to this, it will be a simple, "No."

Well, yeah, but that issue hasn't even been mentioned in the discussions that I've read, only the stupid petition based on his anti-gun stance. If they want to deport him over a conviction in the phone hacking scandal, then I'm all for it.

Mendalla

Free speech in the US means -
We stand behind your 1st Amendment right to free speech, well, unless and until we don't like what you have to say"  and  "besides he ain't got no rights, he wasn't even born here. You don't like America, leave it! You are either with us or against us....."

The propaganda, the rhetoric,  the mentality.....  is powerful. 

It makes sense that the NRA would cuddle up with politicians.

Ever ponder why the government would be in bed with those who claim they want guns in case they need to overthrow the government?

Why would they allow guns on a par with police officers and the military? Why not say, "You have the right only to a  muzzle loader or single shot shotgun. It meets the criteria of keep and bear arms"?

Because an armed populace works for them!

When things do not work we quit doing that thing. As long as it works, we will continue.

The government is not in fear of the NRA and gon-toters. It loves them!

Imagine needing to control people and the ways one can do that. Contemplate cost and effort, time and resources... contemplate UN sanctions and human right violations....

Like the Roman Empire and others, imagine that you do not have to threaten the people.... the people themselves will threaten their fellow citizen's and foreigners for speaking out against the government and the nation, its actions, the cultural mores and values....

It works!

Ask the Dixie Chicks how many threats you might get.

Ask Charlie Chaplin, Claudia Jones,  Rosaura Revueltas, et al  about deportations for political opinions

Ask Jesus about sedition.

News must be scarce over the holidays, eh?... its time to print  "non news"......

i settled into a comfortable interpretation of Morgan when i saw an interview of his with Penn Gillette...

i still can't decide whether that was 'really' a POEE moment, Morgan forgetting to pet his kitten, an example of British taking the piss or if Morgan 'really' 'is' that anal...