Trump's election partly responsible for legendary gunmaker's demise: Experts

The "experts" say...what experts?

I swear to Christ whatever goes wrong it's Trump fault! Only this time he's 'partly responsible'.

What a bullshit story and of course it's from ABC. They devout one small paragraph to the REAL reason they're filing bankruptcy. A faulty trigger mechanism on Remington bolt-action rifles causes the gun to fire without pulling the trigger which resulted in a few deaths and injuries prompting a class action lawsuit costing millions. Take that away and they would not be filing for bankruptcy.

Trump had about as much responsibility for the downturn at Remington as he did for the BP oil spill. Email the CEO and ask him about the woes at Remington. I guarantee you he won't blame Trump.  

BTW... Sandy Hook in the article blow? 

The gun is responsible? Not the lunatic's mother who gave him access to guns? So if they ever find OJ's knife should the Brown and Goldman families file a lawsuit against the knife manufacturer? 

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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesBolt action rifles sit on display in the Remington Arms Co. LLC booth on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, April 11, 2015. 

For more than 200 years, Remington has been one of America's best-known gunmakers, a wild west throwback whose durable products have been favored by sportsmen as well as the military.

But on Monday, the North Carolina-based company announced it intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to massive debt.

"We will emerge from this process with a deleveraged balance sheet and ample liquidity, positioning Remington to compete more aggressively and to seize future growth opportunities," Anthony Acitelli, Remington's chief executive officer, said in a statement, adding that the "fundamentals of our core business remain strong."

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesThe Remington Arms Co. LLC booth stands on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, April 11, 2015. 

Experts say the changing winds in Washington, specifically the election of President Donald Trump, has dramatically reduced the demand of guns and have hurt the bottom line of manufacturers like the Remington Outdoor Company.

Robert Spitzer, chairman of the political science department at the State University of New York at Cortland, said gun sales spiked during the 2016 presidential campaign because buyers feared Hillary Clinton would win and continue to strengthen gun regulations put in place by the Obama administration.

"We have seen the rise of 'political sales,' that is when people go out and purchase guns to make a political statement," Spitzer told ABC News. "Donald Trump was the 'great friend' of the National Rifle Association. They endorsed him early, then he wins and so the political incentive is gone. There's no looming threat of the national government imposing restrictions or taking guns away."

At the NRA convention last April, Trump told attendees, "You came through big for me, and I am going to come through for you. The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end."

FBI statistics show firearm background checks spiked in the last months of the 2016 presidential campaign rising from 1.87 million in May, when Trump was trailing Clinton, to 2.56 million in November, the month Trump was elected. Following the election, firearm background checks sank to 1.74 million by July 2017.

"I think Remington's decline is, in part, a reflection of the 'Trump slump,'" Adam Winkler, a professor of law at UCLA and author of the book "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America," told ABC News.

But Winkler said Remington's financial woes are also tied to a class-action lawsuit over defective parts in the company's most popular firearms, including its iconic Model 700 rifle. As part of a settlement approved in March 2017, Remington agreed to replace the triggers for free in more than 7.5 million guns.

Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty ImagesThousands of people participate in the March on Washington for Gun Control on Jan. 26, 2013 in Washington in response to last month's school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Remington's reputation also took a hit when loved ones of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook, Connecticut, school massacre, filed a class action suit charging the company's marketing of its Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle, the firearm used by the killer, was responsible for the shooting. A judge threw out the suit in October 2016, ruling the company had immunity under a law passed in 2005, but the Connecticut Supreme Court is considering an appeal by the families.

"The long-term debt that they (Remington) was struggling with made the downturn in sales that much more worse for them," Winkler said.

In a statement released Monday, Remington said they have come up with a restructuring plan to reduce its debt by $700 million while injecting $145 million of new capital into its subsidiaries.

"I am confident this regrouping ensures that Remington will continue as both a strong company and an indelible part of our national heritage," Jim Geisler, executive director of Remington, said in the statement.

Trump's election partly responsible for legendary gunmaker's demise: Experts

Lot about Rob Porter ...next to nothing about this

Justice for Gemmel Moore? Family wants answers in escort's death at Dem donor's home

Isn't it amazing?

Every time there's a scandal...there's a Clinton!

Democratic donor Ed Buck is seen at left in the fall of 2015 with Hillary Clinton. Gemmel Moore, at right, was found dead inside Buck's apartment on July 27, 2017. (Facebook)

Family and friends of a male escort found dead in the West Hollywood home of a high-powered Democratic Party donor last year continue to press for answers—in a case that has eluded the national media spotlight on incidents of sexual misconduct and racial injustice.

Gemmel Moore, 26, was discovered by police on July 27 inside the apartment of Ed Buck, 63. Buck is a well-known Democratic contributor and has given more than $500,000 to an array of Democrats including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and a variety of state and local organizations in California.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office initially ruled the death an accidental methamphetamine overdose. But the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau on Aug. 14 announced they would investigate if there is any criminal culpability after Moore’s family and friends disputed the initial finding.

Investigators told Fox News they would like to have the inquiry wrapped up in the near future—but have had trouble interviewing certain witnesses.

(Emails suddenly disappeared?)

“We should have all the information, so we can make a good evaluation of everything that transpired to see if there’s any criminal culpability,” Lt. Joe Mendoza, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office homicide bureau, told Fox News in a recent telephone interview.

Detectives have already interviewed “numerous” witnesses who have information to share about their interactions with Buck, according to Mendoza. But investigators are trying to schedule additional interviews with people who may have useful information.

Shades of Trayvon.

The death of Gemmel Moore, 26, is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. (Facebook)

According to the July 31 coroner’s report, Buck’s apartment was riddled with drug paraphernalia. Among the items found were 24 syringes containing brown residue, five glass pipes with white residue and burn marks, a plastic straw with possible white residue, clear plastic bags with white powdery residue and a clear plastic bag containing a piece of crystal-like substance.

The report also states coroner’s investigators spoke with a woman who said Moore told her someone whose name is redacted tied him up “over a year ago” and “held him against his will at the residence in West Hollywood.”

“We don’t want to move forward with anything else without every single piece of information,” said Mendoza, adding that investigators have worked with the district attorney’s office to give immunity to witnesses for unrelated minor crimes so they can speak freely. “We’re just in a holding pattern until we can get those people interviewed.”

Mendoza said investigators are “trying to leave no stone unturned.”

Buck's attorney, Seymour Amster, told Fox News that his client has done nothing wrong.

“If it didn’t hurt so bad, I’d kill myself, but I’ll let Ed Buck do it for now.”- Gemmel Moore, in his journal

"There’s nothing there. As we always stated, this was an accidental overdose that Ed Buck had nothing to do with and it’s a tragedy," Amster said in a recent phone interview. "The coroner has not changed his opinion from an accidental death. Until that happens, and that’s not going to happen, we’re done." 

Once the probe is concluded, investigators will determine whether the findings should be turned over to a district attorney or brought before a grand jury. “I think a detective would probably present it to a DA, but a grand jury is not out of play either,” said Mendoza.

Among the items being investigated is a journal that Moore appears to have kept, which investigators discovered among his belongings. The writings in the journal, which Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, discussed with Fox News, describes his drug use and interactions with Buck.

“I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” a December entry reads. “Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth it was very painful, but after all the troubles, I became addicted…”

Moore’s final journal entry, dated December 3, 2016, reads: “If it didn’t hurt so bad, I’d kill myself, but I’ll let Ed Buck do it for now.”

Talk about speaking from the grave.

A page of Moore's journal is seen in the screen grab above. (Courtesy of LaTisha Nixon)

According to Jasmyne Cannick, an advocate for Moore’s family, a number of other gay black men have claimed Buck would invite them to his house, then pay them several hundred dollars to take drugs.

The coroner’s report also said investigators spoke with a woman who said Moore told her another man, whose name is redacted, was tied up by Buck “over a year ago” and “held him against his will at the residence in West Hollywood.”

Moore’s family has set up a website where people can come forward with information. “Gemmel deserves justice. What’s done in the dark always comes to the light,” Nixon told Fox News. “I’m happy Ed Buck got exposed for what he was doing.”

Amster told Fox News that the two men were “friends” and that Buck was “legitimately trying to help” Moore.

Gemmel Moore is seen with his mother, LaTisha Nixon, above. (Facebook)

“These are merely accusations. This situation has turned into an attack on Mr. Buck’s personal life,” Amster told Fox News.

Moore family attorney Nana Gyamfi told Fox News she hoped a “substantive investigation can now take place with the statements of the additional victims who will corroborate certain details in Gemmel Moore’s journal, but also recount their own experiences with Ed Buck.”

Gyamfi said no wrongful death lawsuit has been filed, but that it’s “on the dry-erase board as one way in which some modicum of justice for Gemmel can be achieved.”

Moore’s mother is clear on what justice means for her:

“Getting Ed Buck off the streets and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for preying on and taking advantage of my son and others like him."

Judging by the results of recent Democratic, shall I say 'episodes', 10 to 1 Buck walks.

Lot about Rob Porter ...next to nothing about this

Judge awards graffiti artists $6.7 million after their New York works were destroyed

You're going to spray paint graffiti all over a building YOU DON'T OWN and collect $6.7 million after it was destroyed?

This could only happen in liberal states the likes of NY and CA. In any other state, with a rational judicial system, they would have charged the 'artists' with Willful and Malicious Destruction of Property.

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A Long Island City site known as 5Pointz was famous for its artwork on old buildings. The work was painted over in 2013, and the buildings were torn down a year later. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP-Getty Images)

A judge awarded $6.7 million Monday to graffiti artists who sued after dozens of spray-paintings were destroyed on the walls of dilapidated New York warehouse buildings torn down to make room for high-rise luxury residences.

U.S. District Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn said 45 of the 49 paintings were recognized works of art "wrongfully and willfully destroyed" by a remorseless landlord.

Twenty-one aerosol artists had sued the owner of a Long Island City site known as 5Pointz under the Visual Rights Act, a 1990 federal law that protects artists' rights even if someone else owns the physical artwork. Their graffiti was painted over in 2013, and the buildings were torn down a year later.

Before they vanished, the graffiti artworks became a tourist attraction, drawing thousands of spectators daily and forming a backdrop to the 2013 movie "Now You See Me," and a site for an Usher tour, the judge noted.

All the while, the crime-ridden neighborhood gradually improved and it became the "world's largest collection of quality outdoor aerosol art," through a system set up by the artists meant some paintings were temporary while others were given permanent status, Block wrote.

The ruling followed a three-week trial in November when Block said the "respectful, articulate and credible" artists testified about "striking technical and artistic mastery and vision worthy of display in prominent museums if not on the walls of 5Pointz."

He noted one artist came from London, another from rural West Virginia, while others were products of prestigious art schools. Some were self-taught.

He said he was impressed with the breadth of the artists' works and how many works "spoke to the social issues of our times."

Jerry Wolkoff, who owned the buildings, had conceded he allowed the spray-paint artists to use the buildings as a canvas for decades but said they always knew they would be torn down someday. His lawyer, David Ebert, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The artists had once hoped to buy the properties before their value soared to over $200 million.

Block said he hoped the award would give teeth to a federal law that should have kept Wolkoff from demolishing them for at least 10 months when he had all his permits.

Artists then could have easily rescued some paintings from siding, plywood or sheet-rock before the rollers, spray machines and buckets of white paint arrived.

"Wolkoff has been singularly unrepentant. He was given multiple opportunities to admit the whitewashing was a mistake, show remorse, or suggest he would do things differently if he had another chance," Block said.

"Wolkoff could care less. As he callously testified," the judge said. "The sloppy, half-hearted nature of the whitewashing left the works easily visible under thin layers of cheap, white paint, reminding the plaintiffs on a daily basis what had happened. The mutilated works were visible by millions of people on the passing 7 train."

Judge awards graffiti artists $6.7 million after their New York works were destroyed

Shani Davis is an Olympic disgrace

Shani Davis, the churlish speed skating star who's no stranger to Olympic controversy, blasted Team USA team on Thursday after he lost a coin flip to determine the flag-bearer for Friday's Opening Ceremony of the Winter Games. Erin Hamlin, who in 2014 became the first American woman to ever medal in luge, won the honor to lead the U.S. delegation into Pyeongchang.

On Friday morning, Martin Rogers of USA TODAY Sports reported that Davis is not expected to walk in the Opening Ceremony.

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This should fire up BLM. Probably burn down the UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE office in Colorado Springs.

Wonder if the ACLU contacted him yet to file a lawsuit?

We simply can't tolerate a racist coin toss.

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The 35-year-old, who's won four Olympic medals and was the first black athlete to ever win gold in an individual event, insinuated that his credentials should have given him the honor of carrying the American flag.

I am an American and when I won the 1000m in 2010 I became the first American to 2-peat in that event. @TeamUSA dishonorably tossed a coin to decide its 2018 flag bearer. No problem. I can wait until 2022. #BlackHistoryMonth2018#PyeongChang2018pic.twitter.com/dsmTtNkhJs

- Shani Davis (@ShaniDavis) February 8, 2018

His #BlackHistoryMonth2018 hashtag carried other implications.

Hamlin, who is white, was among eight American athletes nominated as flag-bearer - one from each federation. After multiple rounds of voting, the final tally ended 4-4, whereupon a coin was flipped to decide the outcome. The tiebreaking procedure had been decided upon last year. No one found it dishonorable at the time.

With his tweet and reported boycott, Davis hasn't just ruined whatever goodwill he'd regained after the early controversies of his youth, but he stepped on Hamlin's moment and that of every other American athlete marching on Friday night. It's a selfish move from an insufferable man.

The Opening Ceremony is an equalizer. Everybody is the same. Lindsey Vonn marches alongside alternate curlers. LeBron James and Michael Phelps wear the same ridiculous, patriotic outfits as every other American athlete. For the vast majority of competitors who won't medal in Pyeongchang, the Opening Ceremony is their moment in the spotlight. It's when they get to bask in the achievement of their lifelong dream without the pressures of competition. Davis has been there before. Others haven't. One grown man throwing a temper tantrum won't ruin the moment but Hamlin's moment, in particular, has been tarnished.

Flag bearers aren't chosen based on their fame or past successes. The last four for the U.S. were Todd Lodwick, Mark Grimmette, Chris Witty and Amy Peterson. No Shaun White. No Bode Miller. No Lindsey Vonn. It's a popularity contest, which is why the biggest surprise may be how close Davis got to winning the honor.

In the United States, the two-time gold medalist is almost as well known for his off-ice quarrels as he is for his speed skating success. (He's a huge star in Europe, where the sport is far more popular.) In the 2006 Olympics, Davis got into a spat with American teammate Chad Hedrick, who'd said he'd been "betrayed" after Davis refused to compete in the team pursuit race. Hedrick thought his teammate had cost him another chance at gold. Davis also made headlines in 2009 when he called Stephen Colbert a "jerk," after the late-night host raised money for the U.S. speed skating team. The skater was apparently angry over Colbert's past jokes about Canadians.

Though Davis came out looking bad in both those incidents, you could have made the argument that he'd gotten a bad rap. The Hedrick dispute was completely unfair: Davis had never planned on competing in the relay and was unaware he was even allowed to do so. He had been churlish in his NBC interview after winning gold and acted like a petulant child in a joint presser conference with Hedrick (who didn't behave any better), but Davis had a point.

He has none here. Shani Davis disgraced himself and his teammates by making the start of the Olympics all about Shani Davis. If he doesn't walk in the Opening Ceremony, good riddance.

The coin made the right choice.

Shani Davis is an Olympic disgrace

Macy's to sell Muslim clothing line

'Death to the Infidels' T-shirts should be a great seller. Of course, they could opt for this one:

They'll probably throw in 10 pounds of Ammonium Nitrate as an added incentive.

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The department store chain says it teamed up with a boutique called Verona Collection and plans to sell the collection of modest dresses, tops, cardigans and hijabs online. The clothing will launch on Macy's website on Feb. 15.

The brand was developed by Lisa Vogl, a graduate of Macy's minority- and women-owned business development program, which aims to offer more fashion diversity.

While Macy's is the first major U.S. department store to sell hijabs, it joins other brands offering products aimed at Muslims. Nike, for example, launched a high-performance hijab last year made for athletics. And Mattel announced plans for a doll modeled after Ibtihaj Muhammad, an American fencer who competed in the Olympics while wearing a hijab.

Macy's to sell Muslim clothing line