“These extremists are afraid their guns will be taken away — we’re afraid our children will be taken away,”
— Shannon Watts, to Reuters
“It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity — it’s inhumanity.”
— Amanda Gorman
“I want to live in a country where my presence is not seen by some as an existential threat. But this feels like a fantasy. I want to walk past the school where my son will attend kindergarten next year and see a place that will keep him safe. But this is impossible. We live in a country that has failed us. Where legislation is written — and erased — by the gun lobby. Where manipulations and distortions of Second Amendment rights prevent politicians from enacting any semblance of sensible laws that would at least attempt to prevent this. Where claims about what our Founders wanted supersede the slaughter we see right in front of us. Where the cocktail of easily accessible guns and the normalizing of extremist views makes nowhere feel safe. There is no other country in the world where this happens. And the fact that it does happen, and happens with such frequency, is reflective of a choice that has been made. But just because a choice has been made doesn’t mean that different choices aren’t possible. Different choices are possible.”
I'm totally onboard with having the same gun regulations as the Founding Fathers... provided we also have THE SAME TYPES OF MUSKETS. And everyone getting regular militia training.
Pop quiz: what's the Third Amendment? Answer: you cannot be required to quarter soldiers. Not super useful or relevant anymore, is it?
I too have thought about this, that muskets should be unrestricted and open carry. Whatever the early Americans did with those guns can be done today with those guns. But the guns of today deserve all the restrictions appropriate to today's gun designs, population size and living conditions, as well as today's media, vitriol and societal mental and emotional illnesses that make guns far more deadly and dangerous than muskets.
Muskets...quartering soldiers...the founders knew the world would change. That’s why they included a process to amend the Constitution. I get frustrated with the people who want the Constitution followed as originally written.
They want “originalism” only when it applies to their favorite topics. The claims for gun rights do NOT FALL into this philosophy. Automatic rifles? No!
Susan, Because the 2nd Amendment is riddled with complexities I’ve enumerated in previous postings, I wish to set it aside as I note that the Founders, I imagine for good reason, made it difficult to be edited—a two-thirds majority in each chamber, ratified by three-fourths of the states.
As we all know, the topic comes up frequently on local FB forums. One “clever” 2A gun rights loyalist commented that gun rights come from God; evidently linked to the right to “defend ourselves.” I have heard, from other sources, that 2A is considered “divine”. A bit bloated, in my estimation.
To add to my comment, I should add that by extension, the fact that gun rights “come from God” is the reason they cannot be limited. I wonder if these proponents understand that if the 2A comes from God, then other amendments must also. Therefore, voting rights amendments also come from God, and we can and should use our votes to address gun violence.
Having just re-watched the movie "Loving" and having followed that history since the 1980s, the judge who convicted the Lovings of breaking Virginian miscegenation law decreed from the bench that it was "god's plan" that interracial marriages did not take place. Ignorant, Religious Bigots. What would Jesus think?
I wonder what Jesus (as portrayed in The Bible) would think of the allowed slaughter, of what is preached from many pulpits in this nation, and the treatment of “the least of us” by those with power and wealth.
IMO it is utterly insane to require today's laws to be based upon what was legal in the 18th Century. Such a policy requires the erasure of more than 200 years of social, political and legal progress!
Society, though it retains dreadful racist and other "traditions," has evolved in many ways. We cannot survive as a nation by refusing to evolve.
The Supreme Court seems to be so wedded to the “originalist “ idea of government might think of banning all weapons except muskets. I recently suggested to my husband that this idea would dovetail with it’s other absurd ideas. We live in 2023 and the laws we live under need to reflect this. Nevertheless l still believe that “all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” To me this includes the right not to be gunned down, the right to vote, and the the right to choose what can or cannot be done to one’s own body. Not the right to call the president a liar in congress, or fire , when there is none, in a crowded theater.
Following truth in packaging laws, "originalism" ought to come with a warning along the lines of "Has been proven harmful to anyone who isn't white, male, and a property owner."
I'm not OK with yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater (or firing in a crowded theater, which is how I read this at first, because it has happened), but I think anyone has the right to call the president a liar, in Congress or elsewhere. Reason #1: For four years we had a president who lied habitually, so calling him a liar was merely speaking truth to power. I wish the press had done it more often. Reason #2: When the president isn't lying, calling him/her a liar is undeniably rude, but denying people the right to be rude strikes me as a step in the wrong direction. In some cases rudeness is justified, and when it isn't, it conveys useful information about the rude person.
You may be neglecting what "the 2nd" was mainly about, i.e., why it made it into the Bill of Rights in the first place. Carol Anderson, in her book THE SECOND, and others have persuasively made the case that the 2nd Amendment and the militia it references were tools for suppressing and preventing slave revolts. Slavery no longer exists in the U.S., but if you look hard at who's most vociferously defending the 2nd Amendment and why, and whom guns are being marketed to (and how, and why), and why the ban on semi-automatic weapons (which are of minimal use in hunting or fending off predators) expired almost two decades ago and hasn't been reinstated -- you'll probably recognize a through thread between then and now, and realize that plenty of USians continue to find the 2nd "super useful [and] relevant."
Since "history and tradition" (or some such phrase) is the new criterion for constitutional judgments, we should bring back slavery, right, Justice Thomas?
The consistency of the "originalists" is alarming enough, but even worse is how blatant they are about it. They seem to be awfully confident that they're in the majority -- or, if they're not, they're going to win anyway.
I think a lot at night as the darkness comes and reflection is prompted. Peering into our country’s future I saw saw an authoritarian government banning the classics, dumbing down educational curriculum and promoting for profit schools. I saw women being relegated to second class citizenry no longer in control of their own bodies. I saw opportunities for brown skinned Americans dry up, making home ownership and substantial employment out of reach. Conversely, all beautiful public lands would be bought up by the ultra wealthy, oligarchs changing laws to fit their insatiable greed. I saw assault weapons brandished by rogue militias on every corner. No one was safe to walk the streets. And I said to myself, where can I go to escape this? Where is a safe place to spend the final third of my life?
This is what our nation will become if we are not diligent and acutely aware of the extreme right agenda. If we do not open our eyes and face this threat, this is what is in store for us.
Some would say “that’s crazy thinking, but I see the same pictures in my mind’s eye. Almost as if it’s just a matter of time.
Yet, not much, as I see it, is being done…too many don’t vote who can. Too many oblivious to what the future could be like.
As you say, oligarchs in control, women’s rights taken away. a two-class society.
It is so incomprehensible that
seemingly, nothing can or is being done. The majority are against too much money in politics, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest, military-type weapons readily available and so much more.
Thank you for your response. We are already part way there. I refer to it as realistic thinking. Facing the reality, then do what we can to alter it. Our purpose on this planet is to prepare/preserve it for future generations; with that in mind we stay diligent.
Spot on. We need major distribution. An understanding of how our history of slaughter, kidnapping, enslavement and brutality, exploitation and Ronald Reagan’s strongman insanity to flip the middle class into a fearful, easily manipulatable mass for the economic harvesting of the plutocracy has warped us. We can change this. Biden sees it and is working on it for all he is worth. More to come.
I see Republicans in control as the most pressing problem we face. If Democrats were totally in control they would be changing the problems that plague us, including gun problems. It's Democrats that want to limit lobbyists, gerrymandering, harms to the environment, address access to mental heath, change access to guns, workers rights, immigration, etc.
What we need is a better informed public who stops trusting and voting for Republicans. And for voters to stop thinking they are outsmarting the system by spliting their tickets.
The past two years of Democrat control of the Federal government had been the most positively productive period I've watched, but somehow it's gone unappreciated, that when they are in the majority, government moves the wheel.
Republicans standing the the way and guming up the works is our number one problem. In my opinion.
I've read the above comment and most of the ones in response. To me the core problem is not guns, or Republicans, or Citizens United, all of which are symptoms of the most pressing problem we have.
In short, all of these and more are a consequence of the successful attack on objective truth.
It has been in the self-interest of many, both "liberal" and "conservative", to chip away at the Enlightenment foundations of our belief systems. By blurring the line between truth and opinion, movement agendas across all kinds of political, cultural and moral spectra have been able to defend what would otherwise have been indefensible positions.
Issues are being argued today by people who have no common beliefs. Those in power retain power based on what in the past would have been objectively called lies, or thrown out of power based on other lies.
In this environment, as our common core of truth erodes, we have less in common with others and less motivation to critically consider our own beliefs, which turns those beliefs into prejudices. Ultimately we feel no need to consider the opinions, feelings or even lives of others who are not part of our belief system. As we find we have less in common in our core beliefs, we dehumanize those who feel differently than we do. Debates become arguments, which become street fights, which become genocide. It has happened before, and it can happen again.
This progression away from objective truth is not the exclusive province of the right. It is a result of a nearly universal movement away from education in critical thinking and the intellectual canon. And one of the least surprising aspects of this progression is that as we lose the ability to talk to each other we also lose the ability to understand ourselves. We chase symptoms instead of underlying causes. And the society transforms itself into a mob, focused on self-preservation and domination of those who disagree.
I think you are right about the tangled weave of lies we weave. I think you are right about truth being abandoned. I think our underlying core beliefs are still with us however. We all put our shorts on in striking similarity. What you said about what we have come to accept for a vision of truth haunts us for sure. When we clean up that bullshit we will find our core beliefs in good working order.
Given that there are more guns than people in the United States, I have concluded reluctantly that gun control, though necessary, will not appreciably improve conditions until I’m long in the ground. Hence, I’ve come to agree with Nicholas Kristoff of NYT that we should take a public health approach to guns. Start by requiring gun owners to carry insurance and to be liable for harm done by weapons that they control or should control, including those stolen that were not secured before the theft.
We in Public Health have not been allowed to take a public health approach to gun violence. Legislation is needed to stop the Republicans from blocking the CDC and state health departments from doing their research and prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) and enforcement work.
We also have to think about why people feel the need to have so many guns-especially assault weapons. Who do they plan to assault and why? The mentality of gun ownership goes beyond just hunting and sports. Some want guns to intimidate and kill people they don’t like or agree with..remember MTG’s poster-she’s holding a weapon with pictures of Representative Omar and others. We have to find ways to work on finding peace..live and let live..
None of the hunters I know would ever buy or use an assault weapon. Definately a different mentality, and one that needs to be confronted and treated (and evicted from elected office).
A ref to the other Valentine's Day History. Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, Parkland Florida Feb. 14, 2018, where a crazy teen with military weapons killed 17 ppl. It wasn't our last mass school shooting and the last mass school shooting won't be the last because the cowardly bought-off politicians will not do a damned thing about it.
I am a Michigan State University grad. This year's Valentine's Day has to be different. We must recognize the slaughter as The American War on Children. As MSU students in 1972, along with students in colleges all over the country, we marched to our capitols to end the Vietnam War. We succeeded. We must succeed now. Begin the marches.
Thanks so much Fern. My fellow MSU alum friends and I are devastated by this, and hope we can turn it into action, if only at our state level for now. We have the "Democrat Trifecta" in Michigan's House, Senate and Governor's office, with Democrat Secretary of State and A.G. And Gretchen Whitmer is as amazing and strong as she looks. We must end the American War on Children.
Thank you MaryPat. Seriously you got me out of Viet Nam a month early. My aircraft went down a week after I left in the Song Dong Nai river all aboard perished. The protesting had a profound effect where congress abjectly failed. What Putin is doing to Ukrainians brings back nightmares of Vietnamese villages over run in the night. Like now, we were always too late. My anger.
Pat, I struggle to find words. The men I knew who went to Vietnam never talked about it. Your experience is so horrific . When I was marching it felt like no one was listening or watching. Thanks for the assurance that we did make a difference. All those marches all over the country. Now we need to stop America's war on Children.
Too late in what way, Pat? In terms of the US's military invasion in Vietnam, I'm not suggesting we get into the Domino Theory, fervid anti-communism, Vietnam's natural resources...were you indicating we never should of gotten ourselves militarily engaged with Vietnam or out sooner?
I was too caught up Fern, in trying desperately to keep civilians from being slaughtered to even catch a breath. I didn’t get in to the war until 71 and out in 72. The politics were beyond any of us. We had our own problems with search and destroy missions in both Cambodia and Vietnam. We had problems as well with reconn ambushes. We had to respond to our Montagnard Allies who gave us real time enemy intel. Anytime anyone came under fire we had to go there. Many of our calls were to villages being attacked by the Viet Cong and NVA. The enemy had usually killed and kidnapped before we could get there. It was messy. Machetes saved bullets ropes hung leaders for examples. We were always too late. My war wasn’t about the niceties of who should and who shouldn’t do what. I faced the very real onslaught of the NVA coming down the Ho Che Minh Trail laying a swath of death. Every single day we faced from one to three combat assaults. We were skinny, busy, tired and bloody. Death was every day. As I saw it we were there save lives. I didn’t give a damn about the politics. The people were my concern. Everyone called it their own way. I would gladly forfeit my life today in a combat assault on Putin.
There have been so many years! But Parkland and Sandy Hook live vividly in my mind, as do George Floyd and Tyre Nichols. And Emmet Till.
God knows how many others have been murdered/massacred and yet the people who are supposed to represent us continue to not just allow, but actually ENCOURAGE the murdering of our children.
As a Michigan State University alum, I really appreciate this Fern. It is time to repeat what we did in 1972 as students, protesting the Vietnam war, march from our campuses to our state capitols and demand better gun control laws. We stopped the Vietnam War; We can stop The American War on Children.
I think it is simply that circumstances that brutally tragic either make you or break you as a human being. No one's life is improved by having loss that swift and severe in it, but for those who can find a way to get through it with their soul somewhat intact, I imagine it brings a certain fearlessness. The worst thing most people can imagine happening to them has already happened to you, and yet you are still here with something to offer; what adverse outcome from any decision you make could be worse than what you already had to handle? Nothing, really.
Very profound, Will. Especially when coming from a young person, as I feel many of us come to this much later in life, after we've suffered these losses.
Marj, I am so sorry that your girlfriend experienced that in her life. I refrained from saying so earlier, as I doubted it would be appropriate coming from someone who has not experienced childbirth, but it needs to be said.
If I may, my Mom created a photo series called "Lost" you and/or your girlfriend might be interested in. You can find it here on her website: https://www.dianneyudelson.com/gallery.html?gallery=Lost&folio=Galleries She is a highly acclaimed fine art photographer, and this series was published in 50 countries. It pays tribute to miscarriage, obviously not the same as stillbirth, but the only experience that I can imagine would be adjacent. She herself experienced 11 miscarriages; she says my brother and I are her 2 living children. I cannot fully conceptualize the tenacity and determination it would take to keep going and trying after all those times... and she is the least bitter person I have ever known. The idea that women could ever be viewed as weaker leaves me continually bewildered.
(Note for the record: Not many, but some, have misinterpreted it as having a pro-life message... She is very staunchly pro-choice).
Helen, I think WE have to do it. Barack Obama cares as we do, nevertheless, he could not bring about change. Biden hasn't managed it or to get a national voting rights bill passed. WE have to force 'them' all -- all the politicians -- however much they are paid-off to continue this massive inhumanity, they can't continue when they lose elections -- that is what WE can do.
Join a grassroots organization or two that you respect. Ask the people you know for recommendations if they are active and engaged in social/political/economic/educational/local issues:
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Join a Group Today
Local groups build and wield power in ways that individuals can’t. To create change, you need the power that comes with working together.
'Collected here are names and brief descriptions of approximately 500 leading organizations in the United States working for progressive change on a national level, grouped into categories that roughly describe the main focus of their work, with links to their websites. Use the links below to locate organizations by category or use the search box to find organizations by name.'
'Activism, Inc. introduces America to an increasingly familiar political actor: the canvasser. She's the twenty-something with the clipboard, stopping you on the street or knocking on your door, the foot soldier of political campaigns.'
'Granted unprecedented access to the "People's Project," an unknown yet influential organization driving left-leaning grassroots politics, Dana Fisher tells the true story of outsourcing politics in America. Like the major corporations that outsourced their customer service to companies abroad, the grassroots campaigns of national progressive movements—including Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Save the Children, and the Human Rights Campaign—have been outsourced at different times to this single organization. During the 2004 presidential campaign, the Democratic Party followed a similar outsourcing model for their canvassing.' (Dana R. Fisher is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia University)
Yes, he comes to mind often in that respect. However, I think the characteristics of compassion and empathy are already a big part of the person and the terrible loss of a loved one results in their expansion to the point of taking action.
We need more like Teddy Roosevelt, who endured so much pain but gave the nation so much badly needed reform.
“These extremists are afraid their guns will be taken away — we’re afraid our children will be taken away,”
— Shannon Watts, to Reuters
“It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity — it’s inhumanity.”
— Amanda Gorman
“I want to live in a country where my presence is not seen by some as an existential threat. But this feels like a fantasy. I want to walk past the school where my son will attend kindergarten next year and see a place that will keep him safe. But this is impossible. We live in a country that has failed us. Where legislation is written — and erased — by the gun lobby. Where manipulations and distortions of Second Amendment rights prevent politicians from enacting any semblance of sensible laws that would at least attempt to prevent this. Where claims about what our Founders wanted supersede the slaughter we see right in front of us. Where the cocktail of easily accessible guns and the normalizing of extremist views makes nowhere feel safe. There is no other country in the world where this happens. And the fact that it does happen, and happens with such frequency, is reflective of a choice that has been made. But just because a choice has been made doesn’t mean that different choices aren’t possible. Different choices are possible.”
— Clint Smith, in The Atlantic
I'm totally onboard with having the same gun regulations as the Founding Fathers... provided we also have THE SAME TYPES OF MUSKETS. And everyone getting regular militia training.
Pop quiz: what's the Third Amendment? Answer: you cannot be required to quarter soldiers. Not super useful or relevant anymore, is it?
The 2nd isn't either.
I too have thought about this, that muskets should be unrestricted and open carry. Whatever the early Americans did with those guns can be done today with those guns. But the guns of today deserve all the restrictions appropriate to today's gun designs, population size and living conditions, as well as today's media, vitriol and societal mental and emotional illnesses that make guns far more deadly and dangerous than muskets.
Muskets...quartering soldiers...the founders knew the world would change. That’s why they included a process to amend the Constitution. I get frustrated with the people who want the Constitution followed as originally written.
They want “originalism” only when it applies to their favorite topics. The claims for gun rights do NOT FALL into this philosophy. Automatic rifles? No!
And, they forget that amendment was part of the original constitution.
Susan, Because the 2nd Amendment is riddled with complexities I’ve enumerated in previous postings, I wish to set it aside as I note that the Founders, I imagine for good reason, made it difficult to be edited—a two-thirds majority in each chamber, ratified by three-fourths of the states.
Unfortunately the founders made the Constitution too difficult to amend.
As we all know, the topic comes up frequently on local FB forums. One “clever” 2A gun rights loyalist commented that gun rights come from God; evidently linked to the right to “defend ourselves.” I have heard, from other sources, that 2A is considered “divine”. A bit bloated, in my estimation.
To add to my comment, I should add that by extension, the fact that gun rights “come from God” is the reason they cannot be limited. I wonder if these proponents understand that if the 2A comes from God, then other amendments must also. Therefore, voting rights amendments also come from God, and we can and should use our votes to address gun violence.
Now that's devine Anne.
2A Disciples worhship the "Devine"? More like trapped in one of Dante's circles of Hell.
You mean 'divine'. (Just a little nitpicking for today.)
Having just re-watched the movie "Loving" and having followed that history since the 1980s, the judge who convicted the Lovings of breaking Virginian miscegenation law decreed from the bench that it was "god's plan" that interracial marriages did not take place. Ignorant, Religious Bigots. What would Jesus think?
I wonder what Jesus (as portrayed in The Bible) would think of the allowed slaughter, of what is preached from many pulpits in this nation, and the treatment of “the least of us” by those with power and wealth.
We all know what he would think, don't we.
Moses had an interracial marriage
Also, how did that judge get appointed and what about separation of church and state?
Or does that not apply
to the Judiciary?
IMO it is utterly insane to require today's laws to be based upon what was legal in the 18th Century. Such a policy requires the erasure of more than 200 years of social, political and legal progress!
Society, though it retains dreadful racist and other "traditions," has evolved in many ways. We cannot survive as a nation by refusing to evolve.
The founding fathers that gunners are so fond of quoting would be horrified by the way the 2nd amendment is used today
The Supreme Court seems to be so wedded to the “originalist “ idea of government might think of banning all weapons except muskets. I recently suggested to my husband that this idea would dovetail with it’s other absurd ideas. We live in 2023 and the laws we live under need to reflect this. Nevertheless l still believe that “all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” To me this includes the right not to be gunned down, the right to vote, and the the right to choose what can or cannot be done to one’s own body. Not the right to call the president a liar in congress, or fire , when there is none, in a crowded theater.
All men and women..."
Following truth in packaging laws, "originalism" ought to come with a warning along the lines of "Has been proven harmful to anyone who isn't white, male, and a property owner."
I'm not OK with yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater (or firing in a crowded theater, which is how I read this at first, because it has happened), but I think anyone has the right to call the president a liar, in Congress or elsewhere. Reason #1: For four years we had a president who lied habitually, so calling him a liar was merely speaking truth to power. I wish the press had done it more often. Reason #2: When the president isn't lying, calling him/her a liar is undeniably rude, but denying people the right to be rude strikes me as a step in the wrong direction. In some cases rudeness is justified, and when it isn't, it conveys useful information about the rude person.
You may be neglecting what "the 2nd" was mainly about, i.e., why it made it into the Bill of Rights in the first place. Carol Anderson, in her book THE SECOND, and others have persuasively made the case that the 2nd Amendment and the militia it references were tools for suppressing and preventing slave revolts. Slavery no longer exists in the U.S., but if you look hard at who's most vociferously defending the 2nd Amendment and why, and whom guns are being marketed to (and how, and why), and why the ban on semi-automatic weapons (which are of minimal use in hunting or fending off predators) expired almost two decades ago and hasn't been reinstated -- you'll probably recognize a through thread between then and now, and realize that plenty of USians continue to find the 2nd "super useful [and] relevant."
Since "history and tradition" (or some such phrase) is the new criterion for constitutional judgments, we should bring back slavery, right, Justice Thomas?
And inter-racial marriage is banned, right?
The consistency of the "originalists" is alarming enough, but even worse is how blatant they are about it. They seem to be awfully confident that they're in the majority -- or, if they're not, they're going to win anyway.
No. Not yet anyway.
This is untenable, a great moral failure and does not bode well for the future of this country.
And, it is true, that this country chooses (particularly red states) to live with gun deaths as the leading cause of childhood deaths.
It's insanity.
Nope. It's worse. Insane people don't know what they are doing.
We do.
I think a lot at night as the darkness comes and reflection is prompted. Peering into our country’s future I saw saw an authoritarian government banning the classics, dumbing down educational curriculum and promoting for profit schools. I saw women being relegated to second class citizenry no longer in control of their own bodies. I saw opportunities for brown skinned Americans dry up, making home ownership and substantial employment out of reach. Conversely, all beautiful public lands would be bought up by the ultra wealthy, oligarchs changing laws to fit their insatiable greed. I saw assault weapons brandished by rogue militias on every corner. No one was safe to walk the streets. And I said to myself, where can I go to escape this? Where is a safe place to spend the final third of my life?
This is what our nation will become if we are not diligent and acutely aware of the extreme right agenda. If we do not open our eyes and face this threat, this is what is in store for us.
Some would say “that’s crazy thinking, but I see the same pictures in my mind’s eye. Almost as if it’s just a matter of time.
Yet, not much, as I see it, is being done…too many don’t vote who can. Too many oblivious to what the future could be like.
As you say, oligarchs in control, women’s rights taken away. a two-class society.
It is so incomprehensible that
seemingly, nothing can or is being done. The majority are against too much money in politics, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest, military-type weapons readily available and so much more.
I fear for my descendants but so sad for America.
Sorry so long.
Thank you for your response. We are already part way there. I refer to it as realistic thinking. Facing the reality, then do what we can to alter it. Our purpose on this planet is to prepare/preserve it for future generations; with that in mind we stay diligent.
Spot on. We need major distribution. An understanding of how our history of slaughter, kidnapping, enslavement and brutality, exploitation and Ronald Reagan’s strongman insanity to flip the middle class into a fearful, easily manipulatable mass for the economic harvesting of the plutocracy has warped us. We can change this. Biden sees it and is working on it for all he is worth. More to come.
Lets go back to using guns on peoples inhabiting property you desire.
I totally agree. IMHO the gun problem is the most pressing problem that we face.
I see Republicans in control as the most pressing problem we face. If Democrats were totally in control they would be changing the problems that plague us, including gun problems. It's Democrats that want to limit lobbyists, gerrymandering, harms to the environment, address access to mental heath, change access to guns, workers rights, immigration, etc.
What we need is a better informed public who stops trusting and voting for Republicans. And for voters to stop thinking they are outsmarting the system by spliting their tickets.
The past two years of Democrat control of the Federal government had been the most positively productive period I've watched, but somehow it's gone unappreciated, that when they are in the majority, government moves the wheel.
Republicans standing the the way and guming up the works is our number one problem. In my opinion.
Getting rid of the United Citizen decision by the corrupted SCOTUS is key.
I feel disinformation and lies being accepted as truth are the pressing problem.
I think you and chc55555 are both right.
I've read the above comment and most of the ones in response. To me the core problem is not guns, or Republicans, or Citizens United, all of which are symptoms of the most pressing problem we have.
In short, all of these and more are a consequence of the successful attack on objective truth.
It has been in the self-interest of many, both "liberal" and "conservative", to chip away at the Enlightenment foundations of our belief systems. By blurring the line between truth and opinion, movement agendas across all kinds of political, cultural and moral spectra have been able to defend what would otherwise have been indefensible positions.
Issues are being argued today by people who have no common beliefs. Those in power retain power based on what in the past would have been objectively called lies, or thrown out of power based on other lies.
In this environment, as our common core of truth erodes, we have less in common with others and less motivation to critically consider our own beliefs, which turns those beliefs into prejudices. Ultimately we feel no need to consider the opinions, feelings or even lives of others who are not part of our belief system. As we find we have less in common in our core beliefs, we dehumanize those who feel differently than we do. Debates become arguments, which become street fights, which become genocide. It has happened before, and it can happen again.
This progression away from objective truth is not the exclusive province of the right. It is a result of a nearly universal movement away from education in critical thinking and the intellectual canon. And one of the least surprising aspects of this progression is that as we lose the ability to talk to each other we also lose the ability to understand ourselves. We chase symptoms instead of underlying causes. And the society transforms itself into a mob, focused on self-preservation and domination of those who disagree.
It has happened before, and it is happening now.
I think you are right about the tangled weave of lies we weave. I think you are right about truth being abandoned. I think our underlying core beliefs are still with us however. We all put our shorts on in striking similarity. What you said about what we have come to accept for a vision of truth haunts us for sure. When we clean up that bullshit we will find our core beliefs in good working order.
Given that there are more guns than people in the United States, I have concluded reluctantly that gun control, though necessary, will not appreciably improve conditions until I’m long in the ground. Hence, I’ve come to agree with Nicholas Kristoff of NYT that we should take a public health approach to guns. Start by requiring gun owners to carry insurance and to be liable for harm done by weapons that they control or should control, including those stolen that were not secured before the theft.
We in Public Health have not been allowed to take a public health approach to gun violence. Legislation is needed to stop the Republicans from blocking the CDC and state health departments from doing their research and prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) and enforcement work.
We also have to think about why people feel the need to have so many guns-especially assault weapons. Who do they plan to assault and why? The mentality of gun ownership goes beyond just hunting and sports. Some want guns to intimidate and kill people they don’t like or agree with..remember MTG’s poster-she’s holding a weapon with pictures of Representative Omar and others. We have to find ways to work on finding peace..live and let live..
None of the hunters I know would ever buy or use an assault weapon. Definately a different mentality, and one that needs to be confronted and treated (and evicted from elected office).
Yes. The Tragedy of America.
A ref to the other Valentine's Day History. Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, Parkland Florida Feb. 14, 2018, where a crazy teen with military weapons killed 17 ppl. It wasn't our last mass school shooting and the last mass school shooting won't be the last because the cowardly bought-off politicians will not do a damned thing about it.
I am a Michigan State University grad. This year's Valentine's Day has to be different. We must recognize the slaughter as The American War on Children. As MSU students in 1972, along with students in colleges all over the country, we marched to our capitols to end the Vietnam War. We succeeded. We must succeed now. Begin the marches.
A physical response moved through me as I read your post, MaryPat, and now a chill. A nod and hug.
Thanks so much Fern. My fellow MSU alum friends and I are devastated by this, and hope we can turn it into action, if only at our state level for now. We have the "Democrat Trifecta" in Michigan's House, Senate and Governor's office, with Democrat Secretary of State and A.G. And Gretchen Whitmer is as amazing and strong as she looks. We must end the American War on Children.
It is a spectacular team. I'm familiar with their work, words and faces.
Thank you MaryPat. Seriously you got me out of Viet Nam a month early. My aircraft went down a week after I left in the Song Dong Nai river all aboard perished. The protesting had a profound effect where congress abjectly failed. What Putin is doing to Ukrainians brings back nightmares of Vietnamese villages over run in the night. Like now, we were always too late. My anger.
Pat, I struggle to find words. The men I knew who went to Vietnam never talked about it. Your experience is so horrific . When I was marching it felt like no one was listening or watching. Thanks for the assurance that we did make a difference. All those marches all over the country. Now we need to stop America's war on Children.
…and on one another.
Too late in what way, Pat? In terms of the US's military invasion in Vietnam, I'm not suggesting we get into the Domino Theory, fervid anti-communism, Vietnam's natural resources...were you indicating we never should of gotten ourselves militarily engaged with Vietnam or out sooner?
I was too caught up Fern, in trying desperately to keep civilians from being slaughtered to even catch a breath. I didn’t get in to the war until 71 and out in 72. The politics were beyond any of us. We had our own problems with search and destroy missions in both Cambodia and Vietnam. We had problems as well with reconn ambushes. We had to respond to our Montagnard Allies who gave us real time enemy intel. Anytime anyone came under fire we had to go there. Many of our calls were to villages being attacked by the Viet Cong and NVA. The enemy had usually killed and kidnapped before we could get there. It was messy. Machetes saved bullets ropes hung leaders for examples. We were always too late. My war wasn’t about the niceties of who should and who shouldn’t do what. I faced the very real onslaught of the NVA coming down the Ho Che Minh Trail laying a swath of death. Every single day we faced from one to three combat assaults. We were skinny, busy, tired and bloody. Death was every day. As I saw it we were there save lives. I didn’t give a damn about the politics. The people were my concern. Everyone called it their own way. I would gladly forfeit my life today in a combat assault on Putin.
There have been so many years! But Parkland and Sandy Hook live vividly in my mind, as do George Floyd and Tyre Nichols. And Emmet Till.
God knows how many others have been murdered/massacred and yet the people who are supposed to represent us continue to not just allow, but actually ENCOURAGE the murdering of our children.
Money is truly the god they worship.😪😡
Well said, Fern.
As a Michigan State University alum, I really appreciate this Fern. It is time to repeat what we did in 1972 as students, protesting the Vietnam war, march from our campuses to our state capitols and demand better gun control laws. We stopped the Vietnam War; We can stop The American War on Children.
This breaks my heart 💔
Like Robert Kennedy, like Joe Biden. Is someone who has lost a loved one just more compassionate, more caring, and a more capable leader?
I think it is simply that circumstances that brutally tragic either make you or break you as a human being. No one's life is improved by having loss that swift and severe in it, but for those who can find a way to get through it with their soul somewhat intact, I imagine it brings a certain fearlessness. The worst thing most people can imagine happening to them has already happened to you, and yet you are still here with something to offer; what adverse outcome from any decision you make could be worse than what you already had to handle? Nothing, really.
Very profound, Will. Especially when coming from a young person, as I feel many of us come to this much later in life, after we've suffered these losses.
My girlfriend says this. She lost her twins at birth. She fears nothing. The worst has already happened.
Marj, I am so sorry that your girlfriend experienced that in her life. I refrained from saying so earlier, as I doubted it would be appropriate coming from someone who has not experienced childbirth, but it needs to be said.
If I may, my Mom created a photo series called "Lost" you and/or your girlfriend might be interested in. You can find it here on her website: https://www.dianneyudelson.com/gallery.html?gallery=Lost&folio=Galleries She is a highly acclaimed fine art photographer, and this series was published in 50 countries. It pays tribute to miscarriage, obviously not the same as stillbirth, but the only experience that I can imagine would be adjacent. She herself experienced 11 miscarriages; she says my brother and I are her 2 living children. I cannot fully conceptualize the tenacity and determination it would take to keep going and trying after all those times... and she is the least bitter person I have ever known. The idea that women could ever be viewed as weaker leaves me continually bewildered.
(Note for the record: Not many, but some, have misinterpreted it as having a pro-life message... She is very staunchly pro-choice).
--->>> "...a certain fearlessness..." <<<---
Very good response. I hadn’t bought of this before.
Not always. There are people whose hearts are open to the sorrows of others even when they have had none that close to home
You mean like President Biden?
Helen, I think WE have to do it. Barack Obama cares as we do, nevertheless, he could not bring about change. Biden hasn't managed it or to get a national voting rights bill passed. WE have to force 'them' all -- all the politicians -- however much they are paid-off to continue this massive inhumanity, they can't continue when they lose elections -- that is what WE can do.
How? I'm in.
Join a grassroots organization or two that you respect. Ask the people you know for recommendations if they are active and engaged in social/political/economic/educational/local issues:
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Join a Group Today
Local groups build and wield power in ways that individuals can’t. To create change, you need the power that comes with working together.
https://indivisible.org/defeat-maga
https://statesproject.org/
https://www.startguide.org/orgs/orgs00.html
'Collected here are names and brief descriptions of approximately 500 leading organizations in the United States working for progressive change on a national level, grouped into categories that roughly describe the main focus of their work, with links to their websites. Use the links below to locate organizations by category or use the search box to find organizations by name.'
https://www.startguide.org/orgs/orgs00.html
'Activism, Inc. introduces America to an increasingly familiar political actor: the canvasser. She's the twenty-something with the clipboard, stopping you on the street or knocking on your door, the foot soldier of political campaigns.'
'Granted unprecedented access to the "People's Project," an unknown yet influential organization driving left-leaning grassroots politics, Dana Fisher tells the true story of outsourcing politics in America. Like the major corporations that outsourced their customer service to companies abroad, the grassroots campaigns of national progressive movements—including Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Save the Children, and the Human Rights Campaign—have been outsourced at different times to this single organization. During the 2004 presidential campaign, the Democratic Party followed a similar outsourcing model for their canvassing.' (Dana R. Fisher is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia University)
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=8743
Thank you.
Would you believe I have until this moment never encountered StartGuide? What a fantastic resource! Bookmarked immediately! Thank you, Fern!
Yes, he comes to mind often in that respect. However, I think the characteristics of compassion and empathy are already a big part of the person and the terrible loss of a loved one results in their expansion to the point of taking action.
Doesn't that describe Joe Biden?
Joe Biden