In March, 2018, the White House of the former guy made a proposal to reduce gun violence in schools by ARMING TEACHERS! The Wall Street Journal in their daily readers' question printed my response: “Children and guns do not mix! The logical next step from the NRA when—not if—an armed teacher kills the first innocent student will be eliminate any age restrictions on guns so the students can carry guns and protect themselves. The NRA is nothing but lobbyists for the gun manufacturers who have already proved they wouldn’t add a nickel to the price of a gun to save a child’s life. Congress will need to pass universal mental health care because the entire country has gone insane!”
You can bet if the NRA holds its convention in Houston this weekend with Governor Abbot, Senator Cruz, and the Former Guy scheduled to speak, someone will propose arming teachers! The Texas Tribune, the best newspaper in Texas for what journalism should be, has an excellent article on the history of mass shootings in Texas.
I have vowed after reading Justice Alito's draft for overturning Roe and taking away women's rights to never vote for a Republican candidate again at any level of government, local, state or federal. Tonight just cemented that vow and I encourage every citizen of America, now a failing democracy, to take the same vow. My Texas representative is very proud to have authored the euphemistically named "Constitutional carry" law allowing any one to carry a gun without even a permit. The whole Republican Party not just the MAGAettes and extreme right must bear responsibility for the rising autocracy, hate and violence in America. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal" - MLK Jr. Silence by any of us is now a betrayal of democracy. Action is the only response. We, the People, all of us this time!
Don't just label them Republicans; there are libertarians and others who don't carry that label who are to blame as well; I prefer the term: openly fascist conservatives.
100%. It is the Libertarians that own the NRA. Do not be fooled. It is not just the “Gun Lobby”. Libertarians (Robert and Rebbeca Mercer, Charles Koch) donate enormous sums of cash to the NRA to lobby on their behalf.
The gun lobby is so tied to Libertarian goals, most importantly to eliminate Public Education from all Government. Gun violence at school’s destabilizes them. And so, out of fear, parents of means take their kids out of the ‘dangerous’ Public School and enroll them in ‘safe’ private schools. It’s time we confront this craziness that plagues us and kills “Our Kids”.
Follow the money. Wayne LaPeirre has also courted foreign donors. Do not forget Maria Butina and her Republican operative boyfriend Ericson from South Dakota who went to prison. Maria’s Russian Oligarch former banker Alexander Torshin ( a most wanted man in Spain for money laundering). All three attended NRA events in 2016, together.
Why work on legislation, when Charles Koch and Robert Mercer have it all prepackaged for you ( state legislature). “ just do your job and focus on the demagoguery of Identy politics.
Let's be clear: Republican lawmakers are violent extremists who will never be able to wash the blood from their hands. Who is this God they believe in? What is this Constitution they have vowed to preserve and protect and defend? And Democratic lawmakers have to be more than outraged. They, too, need to throw out the money changers they have too long embraced. America is broken. The land of the free? The home of the brave? Are we not so very sick of the myths?
I’m waiting for all those “pro-lifers” to stand up and protest over all this violent taking of life. Oh wait. Alive, breathing children don’t register with these people.
Libertarians now, instead of Republicans, or is it the Liberatarian fringe of that party? Understand the distinctions, but wonder if this distinction will become a distraction.
Openly behaving as Fascists, definitely, but not openly admitting that is who they are. They’re still trying to pretend the fascists are on the other side. Their deception/brainwashing have been shockingly successful
I try to have open dialogue with my Trumplican neighbors on the Neighborhood Social Media Site. I have had zero success! Maybe it's my method of presenting them with verifiable sources and facts, or just plain statistics, but no luck! They always reply with lies and conspiracy theories that they have gleaned from Fox News Network! Until we force a law through Congress that at least restores the Fairness Doctrine in Broadcasting & Social media, I think we are doomed. The 2022 mid-terms elections are our last hope! Vote Democratic!!!
The Repugs are an organized crime syndicate run by fascist oligarchs, bent upon the destruction of this democracy. That should say it all. . . They need to be rounded up for treason and terrorism. Bring in a guillotine.
The term "Republican" is now a reference to people who like guns more than children. You CAN'T be a Republican and call yourself a moral human being any longer. The term is now covered in the blood of school kids.
Plus the republicans don’t want their kids to learn history or for anyone to talk about racism or LBGTQ realities but guns are ok??? My kids have not have kids yet but they are wondering if they can leave our country when they do:-(
I just heard a Republican legislator from the great state of Georgia argue that baby formula is bad for kids. "What's wrong with breast milk?," he asked.
Jeri and Sharon, I think you’re right. The repugs save us having to research or Google their claims, long winded defenses and hate mongering. Just listen for two minutes.
Heckfire, 169 of them couldn't even vote for baby formula. My words to them are: you are not a patriot, you are not a Christian, you aren't even a decent human being.
One does not decrease the chance of armed violence by arming more people. There are certain responsibilities and consequences for carrying a firearm, and there is an additional mental/emotional cost to those who use a firearm and kill someone in defense of self or a third person. Many people who choose to be educators and administrators in our schools are not "cut out" to be armed defenders, although every one of them would protect their charges to the highest degree possible.
If a gunless intruder breaks down my door I will surely tussle with them to protect my property but the chance of someone being killed is not likely. Put a "righteously" carried pistol in their hand and the chance of fatal injury rises dramatically and increases exponentially when I also am armed. I am all for defending ones property but that's not the point. Don't you get it? More guns equals more death.
The likelihood of someone bashing your door in and being weaponless is few and very far between, Bill! Death and maiming someone will occur in your scenario.
See how it works? Libertarian’s goal is to dismantle and close the Department of Education. This is accomplished by creating chaos, fear, distrust, which are the roots of destabilization. Libertarian’s want to privatize Public Education. We need to face this fact.
Honestly, every single teacher, across the country, should walk off the job and demand that their lives and the children who are placed under their care, not be subjected to this violence EVER AGAIN! Colleges should join in!
I think ur right. And I think as a parent, every parent needs to consider Emmitt Till’s mother and honor her courage. Some of these little kids have to be identified by dna…because?
It is immoral not to raise the age to purchase a gun. It is immoral not to have universal background checks. It is immoral to allow the purchase of military rifles and armor to the public. It is immoral to not even consider debating gun reform.
I think you’re right. Also in every profession that asks us to perform our job when we don’t agree. As a walkout. But may not be permanent. I walked a strike line once before I was tenured. A mistake. But, there’s another reason teachers may stay when they want to leave. And that is tenure, though in today’s world they might not have tenure at all. And in some states they weren’t allowed to pay into social security. It’s about money and earning a living for family. When teachers could retire early with some incentive, the admin called that the Golden Handshake. I call it the Golden Handcuffs.
Inequality. Few careers are as important as Teaching, the work to prepare the young to reach their potential. Teachers should make as much as a physicians assistant, an RN, perhaps more and with competitive benefits. Instead we give billionaires enough tax breaks to toy with their private space program to sell joy rides to multi millionaires.
Yes, teachers have spent enough money and time in their field of education, graduate degrees and credentials and move up in salary not only with experience but with those advanced degrees. And the pay for teachers can be so different between neighboring school districts. And states. Most teachers I know including myself spent summers and sometimes evenings in workshops and advanced course work. Which often were exciting and interesting, but that was our summer or break. And as I said before, changing course, leaving the profession before retirement means a great financial loss. Some serious changes need to happen to attract and encourage qualified and enthusiastic teachers to spend time and money on their specific graduate work. And for them to stay in the profession without burning out. And get back to meaningful and exciting curriculum for students. Except if the teachers and students are in the Bible Belt and are in trouble if they teach science, history and Truth.
In my State of Michigan, the Republican candidates for Governor are calling for eliminating all State funding for State Colleges and Universities, because they claim that those institutions indoctrinated kids by mandating masks! The nihilistic fools! Yesterday the Republican controlled legislature voted to table all gun safety legislation bills before it, yesterday! Thank God for Governor Whitmer!
Yes! When I read the roundup of the Republican Debate in an article quoted by Bridge Magazine in my local newspaper here in my rural community, I was stunned. Afterwards, in replying to a another comment posted by a Trumplican on the Neighborhood Site on Social Media, I said something so unkind. I said that once upon a time, I was a Republican, too, but not anymore since the Republican Party had gone bat sh** crazy! The last Republican I voted for was George H.W. Bush, and I had such buyer's remorse, I never voted Republican again! I litterly had to take cover in my apartment for a week after my remark!
The issue isn’t private vs public schools. Every school, every child, every American, is vulnerable and at risk. Many schools have turned their schools into fortresses. Metal detectors, more security. Signing in. Bars and fences like prisons. Basically it’s an American problem. Where’s our American solution? How many more? We know but getting there? How many more!!!
"As a reminder we have zero proof—ZERO—gun laws work. You know, if you don’t include Japan, U.K., Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Romania, Norway, Austria, Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea, Italy, Greece, Chile, France, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Portugal, Israel, Czechia, Denmark"
Lynell, We have to read the tweet carefully to get the sarcasm. In my mood, I thought it was serious. Below is a Guardian article link about other countries' gun laws. Including the ones listed. We are such outliers. And here's a bigger picture. It's personal for me and every citizen.
My rural PK-5 public school had a shooting in 2011, listed in that article and our principal was murdered. In the morning of the school day, after he had greeted every child getting off the bus or cars, by name. Murdered in his office. By the custodian. Who left school after a disagreement with the principal, who he considered a friend and returned to school with the gun. We had lockdown all day and trauma forever. 400 students held in their classrooms in lockdown. I wrote about it on today's letter. I didn't write how the murderer got the weapon; that's another story. Yes, there are countries that have gun laws and have not completely stopped the gun violence. But they acted on their violence, usually immediately and enacted laws that made some difference. They recognize the problem. Our repugs and the gun lobby has refused to protect the people, instead they protect the $$$. The other countries do not have the rate of mass shootings we have. Or even personal numbers of ownership. From The Guardian, 2016: Four countries with gun control – and what America could learn from them:
"The UK, Australia, Japan and Germany have all taken measures to reduce gun homicides. Can the US learn anything from them?"
Irenie, thank you for reaching out. You have reason to take this personally, as you experienced the horror of gun violence. I would never intentionally make light of that horror. You're right that the sarcasm is subtle. I didn't "get it" until I started reading the list of countries. I have found that Twitter does not engage much in long narratives.
Thank you for these links.
And just so you know, I wrote a snarky comment somewhere here without indicating it was supposed to be snarky. My bad. The end sentence said, "See you in November," to indicate they would not be voted for when that time comes.
Yes, and very well said. I'm really sad that WE [that is, people who care about things like voting rights for ALL, clean climate, safety for children, health care for those in need] will become very vocal, adamant and start writing, emailing, calling their legislators with a plea to heal our nation. To HELL with those who don't want to do a damn thing for others. Of course, I'm talking about Republicans. Make that Repugicans.
HCR's post and the ensuing commentary should be archived. We need to stay the course, meaning that people should connect. Damn difficult, I know, when careless and selfish legislators respond only to PACs and do their bidding. I spent years fighting fracking here in Chatham County, NC. We have a nuclear plant with spent fuel rods sitting openly in a pool. Any disturbance, as in a tremor often caused by fracking, would be a calamity. Sorry, went off topic.
I'm not making a case for Public vs Private Education. I am only making others aware of the hard truth that a well funded and highly organized effort to undermine Public Education in order to privatize all of it. Libertarians spend huge amounts of money in both campaign donations ( Ted Cruz) and the gun lobby to keep guns easily available, to anyone even the mentally troubled, but especially those that would commit the unthinkable, another school massacre. This fear inspires the poor to homeschool and the wealthy to private Schools, draining the talent level of teachers, diluting resources for all. I see the attack on teachers the same way I see the gun lobby: Attack every front on the war agaist Public Education.
We have to start putting all these pieces together. Some scholars think its Oligarchy, some think its Authoritarianism, some think its business conservatives to keep government from regulating business. But I know its Libertarians who have organized the most through Alec, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, the NRA Lobby, and more. We are at a time where the structures built by the Libertarians (Mercer, Koch's, Murdoch's, Drumfps, etc) are working stronger and better together, as once compartmented conservatives have all been radicalized and "fearing for their minority", coalesce to pool their collective resources to maintain minority rule over all of us. Its not so much about guns, as the destabilization and growing fear that gun violence brings to all of us.
Check out Ruth Ben-Ghiat's substack today. Put that with "Democracy in Chains" and "Dark Money".
Absolutely!! Thanks for writing, and thanks for the Atlantic link.
Heather's post and this thread are far too important to just pass away. Please urge Heather to archive this entire thread, for it should be something to draw upon to strengthen our resolve to end the carnage that keeps repeating.
Maggie, this Atlantic article is excellent. Can you repost for the next letter so more readers see it? Theres another Atlantic article on Mass Shootings as Health Issues to possibly be addressed by CDC but I couldn’t access it. So many possible solutions that are ignored or not fulfilled because of the partisan divide.
There is no reason school shooters can’t shoot up private schools. One where I worked had the kindergarten in rooms with a whole front wall of glass in a repurposed department store. The other classrooms were windowless. Parents distrusted and feared the local public schools that much.
Exactly, ur right. It can happen anywhere anytime. But when’s the last time a wealthy private school got shot up? Walls. Gates. Guards. Checkpoints. Privilege. The very wealthy donor class has extreme safety. They do not care about or use “our kids” in the collective community sense.
I am sure you could. I meant that home schools contain fewer targets. Not recommending home schooling or private schools! Same reasons, too little exposure to the real world. Wrong amount and/or kind of parental involvement.
Article in my local paper(NC)today about homeschooling and how woefully understaffed and underfunded the oversight department for homeschooling is. Most parents involved in homeschooling their children say “no more regulation, please”. I’ve got 2words for them; “Madison Cawthorn”.
Well, if you are going to underfund something, might as well be that. Don’t need no stinkin’ oversight! Madison Cawthorn? The loss of his congressional seat couldn’t have happened to a more deserving candidate.
Exactly. It’s about the privilege. Those parents will end up sending their kids to the least expensive school. Libertarianism is a smokescreen used to guard the privileged in all things. Their philosophy does not consider the unprivileged nor the diverse community around them, nor any citizen’s responsibilities to other citizens.
There would be plenty of people for underpaid, dangerous, boring jobs. The privately educated kids would rise to their level of incompetence without facing competition from the extremely intelligent ones who can be found in every population.
I made that vow to never vote for Republicans in 1980, and have stuck with it. Last Republican I voted for was Dick Thornburgh for PA Governor, and that was in the 70s. I have not regretted that stance since.
In terms of benefit to humanity, I rank Republicans a little lower than pond scum and robotic telemarketers. No, a lot lower....
The very first time I voted was in '72 and I voted for Nixon. That pretty much soured my ever voting for a Republican again, and I have stayed true to that vow.
Bruce, I was taking some college classes to prep for returning to school. Don't do morning news (3 kids). Got to campus day after election and there was a big hubbub over Nixon winning. I went into a kind of shock. It felt as if I'd stepped into some sci-fi dystopia. It took me weeks to shake that feeling.
I have renewed my own vow. I am also going on the attack on my FB page against anyone who still "follows" me and votes Republican. On another substack, someone posted a list of all the schools where there have been shootings - it was a staggering list. I copied it and shared it on my FB page, daring anyone to vote for a Republican in the face of such hideous carnage.
Thank you. We need more anger and activism. It is clear that what is blocking making progress on reducing gun violence is every single Republican. It will not reduce until and unless we reduce their power to block reasonable gun violence reduction legislation. Everyone should vote like children’s lives are more important than guns.
I just pasted this on my FB page with the admonition: "Please look at these faces and vow to never vote for a Republican again! They and the NRA are killing our children, our elders, others, simply because Republican elected officials refuse to support *any* gun safety laws."
On a friend's Facebook page I found the predictable screed from a male who made all the usual excuses for assault weapons although he did favor better background checks for all guns. One of his arguments was that people could not take their assault weapons to the shooting range as if not being able to own an assault weapon is an infringement on liberty. BS I say. i didn't answer him because I am busy planting transplant and seeds into my garden while the sun is out here in Oregon. More rain to come tomorrow and the next few days. I guess I don't have many R followers, thankfully. Another of my ex-students went on a rant and given where she lives and is from, I would guess she has R friends. She has kids in school, so feels this keenly although my husband and I were saying that there is no safe place to go with so many people who should not have them, owning a weapon of mass destruction.
Yesterday, 19 children were deprived of their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. There are countless more after one mass shooting after another who will be traumatized by such events occurring again and again. Where are Republican concerns for their rights? I am angry and will not stop being angry until something is done. No more only thoughts and prayers. No more candlelight vigils only. Now is the time for organizing, advocacy, and activism. Now is the time for action on reducing Gun Violence. Nothing else short of that is acceptable.
I have not voted for any R for a very long time because they are now as I have said many times the party of death: of our democracy, of rights for women, POC, and those who are not straight, of common decency, of the planet. As I watched the loathsome Abbott read his statement....where exactly was his outrage....I was shouting at the TV and upsetting the dog. Then we watched the President furious and nearly in tears say what responsible leaders say.
Paxton has been battling (successfully) a number of felony charges in Texas for seven years. Two federal probes are continuing, and it is doubtful he will ever go to trial.
And now here in Florida, on its race to the bottom alongside Abbott, DeSantis is vowing to implement “constitutional carry” i.e. no permit required. Parkland, Pulse, etc. have had no impact here.
You are going to hear over and over from the NRA that it gets its money from all of those fine, upstanding NRA members' dues and contributions to its PAC. That is a lie! Most of its revenues and donations to politicians are funded by its Corporate Partners Program. And who you might ask are its Corporate Partners and how much have they contributed? The answer is gun manufacturers, ammunition manufacturers, and gun dealers both large and small. Some of their largest Corporate Partner donors are shown above in this post.
These two studies are now over 10 years old and since published by the National Violence Policy Center (https://vpc.org/)in September 2013 and April 2011, the amount of money received by the NRA through their Corporate Partners Program has only increased significantly.
Whether you are an NRA member or not, please understand whose interests the NRA represents. It is not you, it is their Corporate Partners who contribute the bulk of their revenues and whose interests they care about. They do not care about you or represent you. They do not care about our children's lives or anyone else's lives either. They care about their corporate partners - the gun industry.
The tragedies will continue until the 90% of Americans who want this country's gun violence crisis to lessen start to vote on this issue above everything else. There are 5 million NRA members and over 325 million Americans who are not NRA members. It is long past time for those who have had enough to speak up, speak out, and vote like we care more about our children than we do about guns.
Can we stop all gun violence? No, but we can have a significant impact and substantially reduce it. And, every child's life saved is worth the effort to do all we can to reduce it.
Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick also suggested arming teachers and having only one secured entrance/exit from schools after the last mass school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.
Today was “Footloose and Fancy Day” at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Students and teachers were asked to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.
It was the last week of school filled with festive events and dress-up themes for the elementary school children, but one that ended with students being rushed out of their classes while police officers rushed in with guns drawn.
Today’s school shooting in Texas is now the fourth deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history, behind only Virginia Tech, Parkland, and, of course, Sandy Hook.
Our nation’s schools should be the safest places in our communities, full of learning, fun and the kinds of happy memories Robb Elementary tried to provide for their kids in the final days of the school year.
They should not be places of horror and nightmares.
Speaking is still physically difficult for me, but my feelings are crystal clear: I am furious.
I am furious with those who have the power to act and save lives but are afraid to do anything to end this uniquely American epidemic.
I know the fear of the gun lobby that those cowards have must be nothing like the fear those children in Texas felt as their lives and the lives of their classmates ended in a hail of bullets.
Or the fear the children who survived today’s massacre will feel every single time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering in an effort to keep them safe.
Or the fear the parents must have felt when they were alerted that there was an active shooter situation happening at their kid's school.
Senator Chris Murphy said it best to his colleagues in the Senate today, “What are we doing?”
Congress knows how to solve this problem.
Congress knows the steps we can take to protect our kids in their classrooms.
And they know because this is the only country in the developed world where this kind of slaughter happens on a routine basis.
So yes, our thoughts and prayers are once again with the victims of this shooting, their families, and their friends. But our anger and outrage are with those who have the power to act and choose to do nothing.
We do not have to accept these horrific acts of violence as routine.
And we must never stop demanding our leaders not only acknowledge this devastating problem, but take long overdue action to keep our children safe.
I will not rest until we have righted the wrong our elected officials in Congress have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can finally look our parents in the face and say: we are doing everything we can to keep your children safe.
Good morning , Lynell, on this morning that is anything but. I replied on another site to a commenter that spoke about a friend who had acquired an AR-15.
He relayed the friend speaking of firing an AR-15 the first time. “You’ll become immediately addicted to the incredible power it gives you.” That’s where the Second Amendment has become twisted by greed and where it has led us. Acquisition of personal power through the thrill of shooting a weapon designed for military use but now unleashed upon children.
There was a time, for many years, that I felt safe every day in a classroom. The drills we practiced were training for the event of a fire or a bad storm and getting away from that threat to safety. And then that changed. But there isn’t an emergency drill training that children can practice or even the presence of resource officers at a school that allowed nineteen kids to get away from the bullets that seared and ravaged their bodies as a shooter felt the addictive power of an AR-15 in his hands yesterday. Little bodies that required DNA testing for identification instead of their lunch pass used to get their tray in the cafeteria. Their teachers dead while trying to get them away or shield them from the bullets. I guess it’s the luck of the “draw” that teachers now hold onto in hoping it will keep their school building, their site, out of a killer’s gun site.
Rage. Rage against rage. More rage.
Will it be different “this time”? That the question is even asked gives us the answer. That a President who speaks to a nation last night spoke to parents 10 yrs ago as Vice President about losing a child to gun violence while in school. There is your answer.
I loathe those that bend the knee to the NRA. Think they will cancel their convention this weekend? Not when it gives them an opportunity to conspire and “defend freedom”.
Terminal incompetence and neglect at the throne of greed. That’s our Senate. That’s the Republican Party leaders.
Steve Kerr set things right. “I’ve had enough.” And then walked out.
I grieve. And think about my students. My children. Our children. I’ve had enough. I walk out. All the while knowing I move forward. We move forward. We must. But, how? With courage. But, when?
The news hit me like a stab to my back, Christine; painful, shocking and incredulous. Why? Why are little kids and teachers being killed? Why are people in a supermarket or a church being so cruelly being shot? Why? To what end? How can anyone vote AGAINST gun control seeing murder after murder of innocent children and citizens just going about their lives? We have grandchildren; and imagining them under assault by a crazed person with a gun in their school? Yeah…really bad. My wife taught grade school her entire career…towards the end they practiced lock downs and other such drills. Crazy…right? We have WAY too many guns everywhere now and WAY too many people who are angry, mentally ill and just inches away from acting out violently with powerful weapons that only the military should possess. Now, a mass shooting by a crazy, angry person armed to the teeth is just another event in the news cycle because people who claim to represent us refuse to act because…why? How can any one of them vote AGAINST robust gun control measures at this point? Yeah, we need to get this done…it needs to be personal for every American who wants this problem resolved and lives saved.
That’s not going to happen…our democracy will finally move to address this vital initiative. Take action to shine a light on this issue and move Congress forward…
Your friend's comment: "You’ll become immediately addicted to the incredible power it gives you.” is chilling beyond words. I am proficient in the use of an AR-15 rifle; because of a modified radical mastectomy on my right side where I lost 27 lymph nodes, I can no longer fire a shotgun or any rifle larger than a .22 from the shoulder. The AR-15 fires a .223 round (slightly larger than a .22 and far smaller than a 30-30 or a 3006) and it is a dream to shoot accurately. For a rural patrol deputy, it was a great tool to have in my tool box. It has but one purpose: to kill people. It is useless as a hunting weapon (unless you intend to blow up birds, squirrels, or other small wildlife).
To be "addicted to the incredible power it gives you" is a freaking scary thought, because the only purpose of that firearm is to kill people.
She’s a minion. She and all her ilk. I feel my hands on all their throats. It’s terrifying. I’m trying to keep it figurative, not literal. I will not buy a gun, I will not buy a gun, I will……what?
“Two families, along with a libertarian institute, brought a suit”
Charles Koch….spending billions to devolve American Society. Destabilize with gun violence and fear of taking away guns. Hollow out Public Education funding. Invest in charter and private school, and promote home school. Brainwash Judges via The Federalist Society. Bring a series of little law suits to chip chip chip away at Department of Education laws. The Libertarian goal is that the Federal Gov only exists for National Defense.
It make me sick to think this happened AGAIN. AGAIN? My niece just graduated with her masters in early childhood education. She loves working with the younger kids. I can see how happy this makes her. She cried with joy at their little graduation. This is how it should be, with no thought of threat from some sick person with a gun. These Republican Senators need to do what they are being paid to do. Enough of this bs already.
I remember, about 7 years ago, a co-worker proudly showing a picture of him teaching his 8 year old how to use an AR-15 at a gun range. I was horrified but he was proud of what he was doing. That now 15 year old is probably now capable of using such a weapon by himself. Sad, disgusting and frightening.
There is a record of these congressional cowards. Let us go to their homes. We are larger than the NRA. We are larger than their constituents. We are big enough to stop them. Call it America against the Berserkers.
But, tragically, thoughts and prayers, will do nothing for anyone. It's become the default position - shows you care, but "screw off it you thought I'm going to do anything about it!"
So Hugh. They aren’t listening or reading their mail. They are enlarging their war chests and amassing their fortunes on the lives of their constituents children. Now What?
"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion - mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his
doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, and an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one
gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding
photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
Correction! Apparently Gloria Steinem did NOT make this statement comparing abortion and gun permits, but in Dec., 2015 at a Women's March, she read it and thanked the author and added
Joan, A subscriber to Robert Reich’s Substack said the author is Euell Nielsen, Historian at First African Presbyterian Church and Author at Blackpast. Because I’m on an iPhone, I can’t post the link.
Please tell me how to find it. This great-grandmother just made the attempt but to no avail. There’s a learning curve involved here. I want to share these words. I can’t watch TV anymore about yesterday’s carnage because Abbott keeps coming on the screen with his made-up sad face spouting his “concern.” I’m tired of screaming out loud at the flaming lies and collusion that continues the carnage.
One has to be a paid subscriber to Reich to have access to it. I read his Substack blog, but am not a paid member--I HAVE to call a halt to subscriptions as I'm on a severely limited income!
I am with Senator Murphy and Steve Kerr...what the f...will it take to get you 50 republicans to care about the lives of our children and innocent people being massacred by guns obtained by people unfit to carry them?? I know your relationship with the NRA is so intertwined with your re-election money and obviously that is so much more important than innocent lives being taken. Do you not have anyone you love or care about? It seems not.
I know they filed bankruptcy. LaPierre was funneling money from doners to buy yachts and other trinkets. So not sure why they still seem to hold some power? Do you have insight TC?
I can hardly bear my freedom today, Linda. It’s feels suffocating. How our leaders have sacrificed our children so willingly with the attack upon public education, our schools and students and their families. And give license to a few sick some to kill the children and teachers while they play and learn together.
Someone just posted a photo of one of the victims. A little boy dressed in his finest, no doubt on his way to school. A beautiful child who never thought going to school would ultimately be a death sentence.
I saw that. Manchin offered up the usual empty words of consolation and expressed support for strengthening background checks, but then tacked on an addendum that he would not budge on doing away with the filibuster. A$$hole. That's called having your cake and eating it. He knows such legislation will never go anywhere, so he can give lip service to being for stricter gun laws, knowing it'll never happen...and probably still get $$ from the gun lobby.
I am with you Karen. It is time. We either rid ourselves of these unconscionable bastards in Congress or we impose term limits so no one serves a second term because they are afraid to be unelected. If we take that fear away from the bastards up front only then do I feel we make the necessary progress. The cowards want their cake so let’s take it away from them. Their unscrupulous actions must give way.
I’ve often wondered if a mass shooting inside the Senate would change any Republican senators’ minds. They didn’t when Gabby Giffords was shot at her own voter outreach event. They didn’t when Steve Scalise was shot.
Not a “good” experiment, Hale, but perhaps if the Dems all go to the Senate with body armor on, pointing a few pieces of fake weaponry, I bet they’d notice then! I am NOT calling for it but am calling for desperate measures to be taken today, not in 5 years!
I have lived long enough to have seen this play out since the 60’s. The bravado and ego tripping have made me literally heart sick. The propaganda machine, brought here by Reagan, seems to have eaten the brains of “a long line of formerly upstanding citizens caught in the swirl of power.” (Thanks to MisTBlu on HCR substack). As much as I hate being lumped in with the “guilty Texans,” I am going to lump all republicans together in the cult category, and say you ALL are guilty. I occasionally get mail from the likes of Ted Cruz, filled with non-stop lies. Republican campaign ads would make Goebbels proud. I know some “formerly upstanding citizens caught in the swirl of power;” they are complicit, if not as guilty as the shooters. Are there no consequences for destroying a once-great, but flawed country? Ask Joe Manchin…
"Republican campaign ads would make Goebbels proud".
After some thinking about this excellent sentence tying Republican tactics to Goebbels, I am struck by only one thought: Goebbels and his party were, in fact, fantastically successful in Germany.
The Nazi Party would still be running Germany if the Allies had not fire bombed and bombed every major city in Germany to dirt and then scoured the ruins to kill the remaining Nazi's. Concentration camps would still be feeding Germany's corporations workers.
Goebbels was fantastically sucessful. Most Germans bought in fully to his lies because: Germans WANTED to believe the lies.
Jeri: So do Americans (want to believe the lies from Cruz and the Pubs). Americans prefer the lies to the truth.
Sure, there are some thousands on this board that do not agree and are reading Dr. Richardson's truths avidly.
But, I bet if you divide all of the people in the US reading Dr. Richardson's work by the total population of the US?? You get a tiny number.
The number of people watching Tucker Carlson? Massively larger than those reading Dr. Richardson's column.
We are in trouble, real trouble Jeri, here in America.
People who value democracy, truth and equality are bullied and fearful and stressed. And confused. How do liars keep getting away with it? You simply cannot trust a liar and TFL has been able to slither through years of brainwashing and bullying to bring out the worst in too many people. The GOP is now the Greed Lie Power party and needs to be flushed and replaced.
Well, people want to be lied to and lap up lies like kittens lap up warm milk. If large fractions of the human population wanted to discern truth instead of lies, liars would, like bad grapes, be pruned.
I had already seen the Steve Kerr press conference, but for those who haven't, please watch share with others (video can be found at the bottom of this Letter from an American). Maybe a respected (revered) basketball coach can get through to a different segment of the American people and make some headway where grieving parents and gun control advocates seem unable to do so.
He's been speaking out passionately for years. I agree, this video is powerful, but I don't think it will change the 2nd Amendment Fundamentalists. They will complain that politics don't belong in basketball, lay low for a few weeks and all will be well. Meanwhile, those who fear the loss of their guns or any gun regulations will be lining up at gun stores to stock up.
Odd that politicians don’t hammer on the fact that SB8 in Texas mandates the shoving of an ultrasound wand up the vagina of anyone seeking an abortion (criminalized at 6 weeks since September 2021, complete with bounty hunting on those suspected of helping) but any legislation to place reasonable limitations on tools of slaughter is seen as restricting Constitutional freedoms? When you regulate my twat more than my gat, we’re going to clash.
Would be honored if you did so! I’m trying a last-minute run for Congress in New York’s CD 10 (was redrawn last Friday at midnight; shenanigans much?) - special primary election is Aug 23 and I’m scrambling for signatures to get on the ballot so if you quote me, would dearly appreciate a shoutout!
"In order to stop these tragedies, we must defeat and throw out Republicans that work for the NRA, prop up the gun lobby, and stand in complicity with these massacres. Each time these monstrous acts occur, they choose to allow mass shootings so they can hold onto political power. And it's the innocent who pay the ultimate price. It’s time to hold them accountable.
Senator Schumer started the process tonight to force a vote in the Senate on Enhanced Background Checks, a bill that has already passed the House. We are furious that Senator Manchin has said he will do "all he can" to address this plague of violence, yet is unwilling to change the filibuster to do it. His words are empty and insulting, and mean that this bill would need 60 votes to pass -- and that means 10 Republican votes.
We’ll be honest: having seen their cowardice and abandonment in the other crises our nation has faced, we are not willing to peddle false hope that 10 Republicans of good conscience can be found in the Senate today. But this is a place where we yearn to be wrong. Or if we're right, a place where we vow to make it as painful for them as possible, if they once again pledge their allegiance to the gun lobby over the lives of our children.
But seriously folks - guns are so part of the American Psyche - I remember in the early 70's having just arrived in Winnipeg Canada - taking a trip with my lady to Colorado (July 4, no less) - the guy selling fireworks - was wearing, what appeared to be ivory handled S&W's, and we kept seeing them - when even buying cherries at Fort Collins! Longe Ranger, etc, how do you reverse this deeply embedded mindset? It's not just the NRA.
I grew up in the Midwest and while I can’t argue with your memories I don’t believe guns were part a broadly held American mindset. Granted it’s a bit of show, but I don’t believe everyday Americans are that different from everyday Canadians.
I wanted to hunt and became a junior NRA member in mid 60s, like many of my male peers, to learn how to handle guns safely. And I did; it was an edifying experience, a bit like learning CPR. I bought shotgun shell loader from Herters and loaded my own shells; I hunted every fall from age 11 to 20. I haven’t fired a gun for 46 years but I still have my Winchester 101 over-under and my grandfather’s Remington 1100 in my attic.
More to the point of this posting, I think HCR is spot on in her description of what happened with gun interests, the NRA and Republican politics beginning in the 70s and 80s to today. Guns rights have never been a legitimate political issue. There’s never been a widespread effort to eliminate the kind of gun usage I engaged in in my youth. It’s instead been used as a rallying cry (I would call it a false flag issue) to appeal to some voters on an emotional level and create division. Along with abortion it’s among the first non-issues to take over our political discourse. Now there are countless such non-issues from mask mandates to vaccine requirements to ‘cancel culture’.
I wish the point I’m making here actually had some legs to go somewhere productive. For me it’s just recognizing that we’ve allowed the so-called culture wars to dominate our political conversations and most of the themes in these ‘wars’ should not even be in political discussions. Most are matters of public and mental health and should be handled broadly and if politically in a bipartisan manner. People and politicians who use these non-issues as political cudgels are employing or falling victim to a ruse. All I can think of to do is spot that and call it out when I see them.
❤️ the repubs have made everything about “owning the libs.” It’s total bull Schitt that is lapped up non-stop by Foxers, and their clones. 90% of our current crises are made up crap by republicans. With the cheating and voter suppression, we will die waiting for change. At least us oldsters will. But my grands (and yours) deserve better.
agree, my sentiments exactly… what seems like several years ago now I read Tim Alberta’s book “American carnage” and while he was dead right, what he described now seems like milquetoast. It’s a constant churn of phony non issues.
What’s also quite disturbing to me is that the half or more of Americans who know better are not being more positive about the Biden administration accomplishments, esp given the outrageous political and media environment. There’s no excuse that I can think of for his poll numbers to be where they are, except to be highly critical of a good part of the electorate that put him in office.
Hugh, I feel it's a generational problem as well. The rather bombastic "handing down" of guns from one generation to the next is wrong. We had a Gun Buy Back event by the Syracuse Police recently that did get some guns off the street. Unfortunately it also proved to be a payday for individuals that turned in their unwanted, non working guns to simple go back out and buy a shiny new one to terrorize the City with.
I wish more proponents of gun control would study this information so they could make their arguments sharper and raise awareness of this incredibly pertinent history.
In the meantime, Marjorie Taylor Greene (and probably others of her ilk) claim that massacres are false flag operations, carried out by those that want gun control in order to raise public support for it. So damned depressing.
Dian, I had dinner with a close friend about 2.5 years ago one evening. Smart guy. Engineer I used to work with.
He told me after a beer or two: Sandy Hook was faked. It was staged to scare people into allowing the government to confiscate our guns.
At first I thought he was joking so took a few seconds to look at his face and eyes.
He was not joking.
So, I asked where he got that information and it was a site I had never heard of called infowars.com if I remember correctly. I looked it up and it was some nut ranting about stuff to get people to buy his "remedies and herbal supplements". Just a huckster. A modern Charlatan. But, it worked!
But, your reference to Greene and her ilk selling these attacks as "fake" to "scare people" into "taking your guns" is more true than perhaps anyone realizes.
Today, all over America, websites will start pumping out lies about yesterday. It was faked. It was black guy who did the shooting (actually, it was a minority this time). The shooting did not happen and those Mexicans down there are lying to take our guns.
Thousands and thousands of Facebook posts from who knows where will echo and reference these websites supporting a faked shooting.
Soon, more than half of America will believe that yesterday never happened and it is all a scary, communist conspiracy to "take our guns" and our "freedom".
Well, those "intelligent, educated" people in Greene's 14th district just overwhelmingly voted for her in the Republican primary, and she won with 70% of the vote (72,000 votes). The Dem, Marcus Flowers, got just over 20,000 votes and will run against her in November.
It's time to step up, speak out and vote the NRA-backed sméagol replicas to into Mordor where they belong;
As Joseph P. Welch said to Senator McCarthy "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
I'm afraid the era of when words like that would have any impact are long gone. There does not exist any sense of decency within the Republican party. In fact, they seem to wear a "NO Decency" label as a badge of honour these days. They have become the definition, the personification, of the word "amoral".
They represent the new values in society replacing traditional cultural, human and spiritual values ; money, materialism and personal gain replace consideration and concern for the other.
Sainted Ray Gun was against gun control except when Bobby Seale and Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense came to Sacramento carrying loaded shotguns. Then he was so in favor of gun control the Assembly passed a bill against "brandishing" within two weeks. Yessirree bob, ol' Ray Gun was definitely against *those people* carrying guns and getting away with it.
I have to admit, the first moment I heard the news he'd been shot, the word that went through my mind was Yesss!!!!!!
TC, I haven't heard anyone use the nickname Ronald Raygun in a long time. He was only for gun control when he and his constituents felt threatened. It's a fine mess we are in when we can't do anything about injustice because of the political rift in the country. We don't really have a democracy. We have a nation controlled by power corrupted, rich, white men.
That’s the rub, as I see it. They will all still be here (with their guns) after any future election, no matter who wins and losing makes them worse. 😕
Well the good news ( and by god it’s a low bar!) Hershel was the ONLY trump backed candidate to win in the GA primary. Rafensperger beat Big Lie pusher Heise and Kemp (whom I actually detest) handily pounded the even more disgusting Perdue. So hanging your hat on trump’s sway ain’t what it’s touted to be. He’s just the loudest blow hard in the room. Hoping the press will stop giving oxygen to the trumpster fire.
There was a WONDERFUL op-ed I came across last night in USA Today (which I then promptly couldn't find again...) that had the headline that we needed MORE people like Warriors' coach Kerr and LESS people like Herschel Walker. Walker has come out solidly in favour of lax gun laws--well of course he would, wouldn't he, since he held a gun to his ex-wife's head and threatened to blow her "f*cking brains out". And, nota bene, Walker won the Republican primary here with 68% of the vote, over 800,000 votes. He could very easily be our next Senator, something I cannot even bear to think about.
Bruce Warrior coach Kerr was certainly golden! My wife and heard his speech, but I can’t recall the source. UTube by now?
Herschel ‘f+ucking brains out’ Walker is truly frightening. Georgia is a puzzling political state, with Kemp and the Secretary of State defeating Trump-supported candidates. My nightmare is that FBO could be elected in November.
Good point Bruce - but I was really struggling for something positive today! At least Jody Hise is out of the picture. But yeah - Hershel is a problem, and if possible, less qualified than trump. Please, let there be a record Dem turn out for Warnock in November!
I am watching a bizarre trend in posts from some of my LE friends on Fleecebook. There seem to be more from women than men, and they seem to be saying that maybe, just maybe, it is time for us to maybe do something to save the children. We'll see how far that goes.
In March, 2018, the White House of the former guy made a proposal to reduce gun violence in schools by ARMING TEACHERS! The Wall Street Journal in their daily readers' question printed my response: “Children and guns do not mix! The logical next step from the NRA when—not if—an armed teacher kills the first innocent student will be eliminate any age restrictions on guns so the students can carry guns and protect themselves. The NRA is nothing but lobbyists for the gun manufacturers who have already proved they wouldn’t add a nickel to the price of a gun to save a child’s life. Congress will need to pass universal mental health care because the entire country has gone insane!”
You can bet if the NRA holds its convention in Houston this weekend with Governor Abbot, Senator Cruz, and the Former Guy scheduled to speak, someone will propose arming teachers! The Texas Tribune, the best newspaper in Texas for what journalism should be, has an excellent article on the history of mass shootings in Texas.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/24/uvalde-texas-school-shooting/
I have vowed after reading Justice Alito's draft for overturning Roe and taking away women's rights to never vote for a Republican candidate again at any level of government, local, state or federal. Tonight just cemented that vow and I encourage every citizen of America, now a failing democracy, to take the same vow. My Texas representative is very proud to have authored the euphemistically named "Constitutional carry" law allowing any one to carry a gun without even a permit. The whole Republican Party not just the MAGAettes and extreme right must bear responsibility for the rising autocracy, hate and violence in America. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal" - MLK Jr. Silence by any of us is now a betrayal of democracy. Action is the only response. We, the People, all of us this time!
As President Truman so eloquently put it 74 years ago: "the only 'good Republicans" are pushing up daisies." There are no *good* Republicans now.
Don't just label them Republicans; there are libertarians and others who don't carry that label who are to blame as well; I prefer the term: openly fascist conservatives.
100%. It is the Libertarians that own the NRA. Do not be fooled. It is not just the “Gun Lobby”. Libertarians (Robert and Rebbeca Mercer, Charles Koch) donate enormous sums of cash to the NRA to lobby on their behalf.
The gun lobby is so tied to Libertarian goals, most importantly to eliminate Public Education from all Government. Gun violence at school’s destabilizes them. And so, out of fear, parents of means take their kids out of the ‘dangerous’ Public School and enroll them in ‘safe’ private schools. It’s time we confront this craziness that plagues us and kills “Our Kids”.
Follow the money. Wayne LaPeirre has also courted foreign donors. Do not forget Maria Butina and her Republican operative boyfriend Ericson from South Dakota who went to prison. Maria’s Russian Oligarch former banker Alexander Torshin ( a most wanted man in Spain for money laundering). All three attended NRA events in 2016, together.
Had enough? Yes, we have had enough!
Don't forget ALEC -- many of the usual suspects:
ALEC Exposed https://www.alecexposed.org
Yup. I just lump ALEC with Koch Bros.
👍🏼
ALEC is a powerhouse force.
Why work on legislation, when Charles Koch and Robert Mercer have it all prepackaged for you ( state legislature). “ just do your job and focus on the demagoguery of Identy politics.
And has been for years now. They have been on one helluva successful mission
👌🏼
Let's be clear: Republican lawmakers are violent extremists who will never be able to wash the blood from their hands. Who is this God they believe in? What is this Constitution they have vowed to preserve and protect and defend? And Democratic lawmakers have to be more than outraged. They, too, need to throw out the money changers they have too long embraced. America is broken. The land of the free? The home of the brave? Are we not so very sick of the myths?
I’m waiting for all those “pro-lifers” to stand up and protest over all this violent taking of life. Oh wait. Alive, breathing children don’t register with these people.
Run for office, Sarah
I prefer openly fascist far right radical regressives.
How about a "well heeled, well infiltrated "terrorist organization"??
When quoting the guy from 70+ years ago, we didn't have the radical fascist conservatives.
Libertarians now, instead of Republicans, or is it the Liberatarian fringe of that party? Understand the distinctions, but wonder if this distinction will become a distraction.
Openly behaving as Fascists, definitely, but not openly admitting that is who they are. They’re still trying to pretend the fascists are on the other side. Their deception/brainwashing have been shockingly successful
There are plenty of good Republicans, the problem is that, being dead, they can't vote other than in Chicago and a few other places.
There are some that can learn. We should try. Even 1-2% could make the difference. We Have to hope so. Have to.
Every little bit helps, and if we don't try, we certainly won't achieve.
I try to have open dialogue with my Trumplican neighbors on the Neighborhood Social Media Site. I have had zero success! Maybe it's my method of presenting them with verifiable sources and facts, or just plain statistics, but no luck! They always reply with lies and conspiracy theories that they have gleaned from Fox News Network! Until we force a law through Congress that at least restores the Fairness Doctrine in Broadcasting & Social media, I think we are doomed. The 2022 mid-terms elections are our last hope! Vote Democratic!!!
Good one!
Weeds.
The Repugs are an organized crime syndicate run by fascist oligarchs, bent upon the destruction of this democracy. That should say it all. . . They need to be rounded up for treason and terrorism. Bring in a guillotine.
The term "Republican" is now a reference to people who like guns more than children. You CAN'T be a Republican and call yourself a moral human being any longer. The term is now covered in the blood of school kids.
The only other thing they care about is when a child is still a fetus!
Except they really don't.
Yeah, it isn't about the child. It is about the incubator.
It’s about $, power, control.
And only that.
How does it feel to be regarded only as an incubator. Any woman who is still a R and supports this...we can ask what is your definition of a woman.
Plus the republicans don’t want their kids to learn history or for anyone to talk about racism or LBGTQ realities but guns are ok??? My kids have not have kids yet but they are wondering if they can leave our country when they do:-(
I just heard a Republican legislator from the great state of Georgia argue that baby formula is bad for kids. "What's wrong with breast milk?," he asked.
"Tell me you don't know anything about female biology without saying you don't know anything about female biology."
They can’t help opening their big trap and proving their ignorance
Jeri and Sharon, I think you’re right. The repugs save us having to research or Google their claims, long winded defenses and hate mongering. Just listen for two minutes.
Crazy!
Heckfire, 169 of them couldn't even vote for baby formula. My words to them are: you are not a patriot, you are not a Christian, you aren't even a decent human being.
The Repugnant Party - Prove me Wrong.
I call them the Pro-Rape/Open-Carry party (PROC)!
I call them fucking assholes.
Darling, they answer to that, as well.
Pro slaughter of children. They are all that and worse. We need to make these labels stick because they are 💯💯accurate
I'm now calling them the No Choice, Pro Death party.
They are also the party of the fetus and against living children.
Zygotes
One does not decrease the chance of armed violence by arming more people. There are certain responsibilities and consequences for carrying a firearm, and there is an additional mental/emotional cost to those who use a firearm and kill someone in defense of self or a third person. Many people who choose to be educators and administrators in our schools are not "cut out" to be armed defenders, although every one of them would protect their charges to the highest degree possible.
More guns is not the answer.
100%
If a gunless intruder breaks down my door I will surely tussle with them to protect my property but the chance of someone being killed is not likely. Put a "righteously" carried pistol in their hand and the chance of fatal injury rises dramatically and increases exponentially when I also am armed. I am all for defending ones property but that's not the point. Don't you get it? More guns equals more death.
It’s that what “more guns is not the answer” means?
The likelihood of someone bashing your door in and being weaponless is few and very far between, Bill! Death and maiming someone will occur in your scenario.
Many teachers threatened to leave that occupation if they had to be armed.
Many HAVE left. Guns and then Covid with DeSantis as Governor created a severe teacher shortage in Florida.
See how it works? Libertarian’s goal is to dismantle and close the Department of Education. This is accomplished by creating chaos, fear, distrust, which are the roots of destabilization. Libertarian’s want to privatize Public Education. We need to face this fact.
Honestly, every single teacher, across the country, should walk off the job and demand that their lives and the children who are placed under their care, not be subjected to this violence EVER AGAIN! Colleges should join in!
I think ur right. And I think as a parent, every parent needs to consider Emmitt Till’s mother and honor her courage. Some of these little kids have to be identified by dna…because?
It is immoral not to raise the age to purchase a gun. It is immoral not to have universal background checks. It is immoral to allow the purchase of military rifles and armor to the public. It is immoral to not even consider debating gun reform.
“I have had enough”.
Someone on Twitter advocated naming these "shootings" after the politicians who refuse to enact gun laws. The Ted Cruz Massacre," etc.
Love it, nobody deserves it more than Ted
I think you’re right. Also in every profession that asks us to perform our job when we don’t agree. As a walkout. But may not be permanent. I walked a strike line once before I was tenured. A mistake. But, there’s another reason teachers may stay when they want to leave. And that is tenure, though in today’s world they might not have tenure at all. And in some states they weren’t allowed to pay into social security. It’s about money and earning a living for family. When teachers could retire early with some incentive, the admin called that the Golden Handshake. I call it the Golden Handcuffs.
Inequality. Few careers are as important as Teaching, the work to prepare the young to reach their potential. Teachers should make as much as a physicians assistant, an RN, perhaps more and with competitive benefits. Instead we give billionaires enough tax breaks to toy with their private space program to sell joy rides to multi millionaires.
Yes, teachers have spent enough money and time in their field of education, graduate degrees and credentials and move up in salary not only with experience but with those advanced degrees. And the pay for teachers can be so different between neighboring school districts. And states. Most teachers I know including myself spent summers and sometimes evenings in workshops and advanced course work. Which often were exciting and interesting, but that was our summer or break. And as I said before, changing course, leaving the profession before retirement means a great financial loss. Some serious changes need to happen to attract and encourage qualified and enthusiastic teachers to spend time and money on their specific graduate work. And for them to stay in the profession without burning out. And get back to meaningful and exciting curriculum for students. Except if the teachers and students are in the Bible Belt and are in trouble if they teach science, history and Truth.
In my State of Michigan, the Republican candidates for Governor are calling for eliminating all State funding for State Colleges and Universities, because they claim that those institutions indoctrinated kids by mandating masks! The nihilistic fools! Yesterday the Republican controlled legislature voted to table all gun safety legislation bills before it, yesterday! Thank God for Governor Whitmer!
Crazy town! Go Whitmer!
Yes! When I read the roundup of the Republican Debate in an article quoted by Bridge Magazine in my local newspaper here in my rural community, I was stunned. Afterwards, in replying to a another comment posted by a Trumplican on the Neighborhood Site on Social Media, I said something so unkind. I said that once upon a time, I was a Republican, too, but not anymore since the Republican Party had gone bat sh** crazy! The last Republican I voted for was George H.W. Bush, and I had such buyer's remorse, I never voted Republican again! I litterly had to take cover in my apartment for a week after my remark!
Whitmer has been a true leader with all that she has personally been through. Nihilistic fools is a perfect description!
The issue isn’t private vs public schools. Every school, every child, every American, is vulnerable and at risk. Many schools have turned their schools into fortresses. Metal detectors, more security. Signing in. Bars and fences like prisons. Basically it’s an American problem. Where’s our American solution? How many more? We know but getting there? How many more!!!
I read this on Twitter, Irenie:
"As a reminder we have zero proof—ZERO—gun laws work. You know, if you don’t include Japan, U.K., Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Romania, Norway, Austria, Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea, Italy, Greece, Chile, France, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Portugal, Israel, Czechia, Denmark"
We are a pathetic country.
Yet there are statistics proving that U.S. states with more strict gun safety laws have far lower numbers on gun violence.
Lynell, We have to read the tweet carefully to get the sarcasm. In my mood, I thought it was serious. Below is a Guardian article link about other countries' gun laws. Including the ones listed. We are such outliers. And here's a bigger picture. It's personal for me and every citizen.
"Ten Years of School Shootings: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/07/us/ten-years-of-school-shootings-trnd/
My rural PK-5 public school had a shooting in 2011, listed in that article and our principal was murdered. In the morning of the school day, after he had greeted every child getting off the bus or cars, by name. Murdered in his office. By the custodian. Who left school after a disagreement with the principal, who he considered a friend and returned to school with the gun. We had lockdown all day and trauma forever. 400 students held in their classrooms in lockdown. I wrote about it on today's letter. I didn't write how the murderer got the weapon; that's another story. Yes, there are countries that have gun laws and have not completely stopped the gun violence. But they acted on their violence, usually immediately and enacted laws that made some difference. They recognize the problem. Our repugs and the gun lobby has refused to protect the people, instead they protect the $$$. The other countries do not have the rate of mass shootings we have. Or even personal numbers of ownership. From The Guardian, 2016: Four countries with gun control – and what America could learn from them:
"The UK, Australia, Japan and Germany have all taken measures to reduce gun homicides. Can the US learn anything from them?"
America’s gun crisis – in one chart
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/15/so-america-this-is-how-you-do-gun-control
It’s not that we don’t know how, it’s that the arses with the money cheat, rig the system, and dare anyone to stand up to them. Go Beto
Irenie, thank you for reaching out. You have reason to take this personally, as you experienced the horror of gun violence. I would never intentionally make light of that horror. You're right that the sarcasm is subtle. I didn't "get it" until I started reading the list of countries. I have found that Twitter does not engage much in long narratives.
Thank you for these links.
And just so you know, I wrote a snarky comment somewhere here without indicating it was supposed to be snarky. My bad. The end sentence said, "See you in November," to indicate they would not be voted for when that time comes.
Irenie, you were right. there! Good grief! My ❤️ to you.
Yes, if we can rid ourselves of these thieves, these thugs, we will accomplish a lot.
Yes, and very well said. I'm really sad that WE [that is, people who care about things like voting rights for ALL, clean climate, safety for children, health care for those in need] will become very vocal, adamant and start writing, emailing, calling their legislators with a plea to heal our nation. To HELL with those who don't want to do a damn thing for others. Of course, I'm talking about Republicans. Make that Repugicans.
Call them out for what they really are, Dave: the Pro-Rape and Open-Carry Party! PROCP!
HCR's post and the ensuing commentary should be archived. We need to stay the course, meaning that people should connect. Damn difficult, I know, when careless and selfish legislators respond only to PACs and do their bidding. I spent years fighting fracking here in Chatham County, NC. We have a nuclear plant with spent fuel rods sitting openly in a pool. Any disturbance, as in a tremor often caused by fracking, would be a calamity. Sorry, went off topic.
I'm not making a case for Public vs Private Education. I am only making others aware of the hard truth that a well funded and highly organized effort to undermine Public Education in order to privatize all of it. Libertarians spend huge amounts of money in both campaign donations ( Ted Cruz) and the gun lobby to keep guns easily available, to anyone even the mentally troubled, but especially those that would commit the unthinkable, another school massacre. This fear inspires the poor to homeschool and the wealthy to private Schools, draining the talent level of teachers, diluting resources for all. I see the attack on teachers the same way I see the gun lobby: Attack every front on the war agaist Public Education.
We have to start putting all these pieces together. Some scholars think its Oligarchy, some think its Authoritarianism, some think its business conservatives to keep government from regulating business. But I know its Libertarians who have organized the most through Alec, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, the NRA Lobby, and more. We are at a time where the structures built by the Libertarians (Mercer, Koch's, Murdoch's, Drumfps, etc) are working stronger and better together, as once compartmented conservatives have all been radicalized and "fearing for their minority", coalesce to pool their collective resources to maintain minority rule over all of us. Its not so much about guns, as the destabilization and growing fear that gun violence brings to all of us.
Check out Ruth Ben-Ghiat's substack today. Put that with "Democracy in Chains" and "Dark Money".
https://lucid.substack.com/p/mass-shootingslucid-q-and-a-may-27?s=r
With Rupert to lie, twist, skew and rake in the dough while destroying us.
Absolutely!! Thanks for writing, and thanks for the Atlantic link.
Heather's post and this thread are far too important to just pass away. Please urge Heather to archive this entire thread, for it should be something to draw upon to strengthen our resolve to end the carnage that keeps repeating.
Maggie, this Atlantic article is excellent. Can you repost for the next letter so more readers see it? Theres another Atlantic article on Mass Shootings as Health Issues to possibly be addressed by CDC but I couldn’t access it. So many possible solutions that are ignored or not fulfilled because of the partisan divide.
There is no reason school shooters can’t shoot up private schools. One where I worked had the kindergarten in rooms with a whole front wall of glass in a repurposed department store. The other classrooms were windowless. Parents distrusted and feared the local public schools that much.
Home schooling would seem to be relatively safe.
Exactly, ur right. It can happen anywhere anytime. But when’s the last time a wealthy private school got shot up? Walls. Gates. Guards. Checkpoints. Privilege. The very wealthy donor class has extreme safety. They do not care about or use “our kids” in the collective community sense.
But not safe from inadequate parents, I could tell you some stories…
I am sure you could. I meant that home schools contain fewer targets. Not recommending home schooling or private schools! Same reasons, too little exposure to the real world. Wrong amount and/or kind of parental involvement.
Article in my local paper(NC)today about homeschooling and how woefully understaffed and underfunded the oversight department for homeschooling is. Most parents involved in homeschooling their children say “no more regulation, please”. I’ve got 2words for them; “Madison Cawthorn”.
Well, if you are going to underfund something, might as well be that. Don’t need no stinkin’ oversight! Madison Cawthorn? The loss of his congressional seat couldn’t have happened to a more deserving candidate.
Senator Scott, FL, is ALL about doing exactly that. Indeed, privatizing social security and Medicare as well.
Scott’s on the Libertarian donor gravy train.
His “contract on America” is Newt redux, only worse.
Hey, Ted. So what would happen to the children whose parents could not afford private education? Thanks.
Exactly. It’s about the privilege. Those parents will end up sending their kids to the least expensive school. Libertarianism is a smokescreen used to guard the privileged in all things. Their philosophy does not consider the unprivileged nor the diverse community around them, nor any citizen’s responsibilities to other citizens.
The have nots are not a factor in the equation
There would be plenty of people for underpaid, dangerous, boring jobs. The privately educated kids would rise to their level of incompetence without facing competition from the extremely intelligent ones who can be found in every population.
💯💯💯💯 and scare folks away from school boards by frightening and harassing their children
My son’s girlfriend finished her education to be a teacher and decided not to be one because of this violence.
Recently in Texas a candidate addressed this issue: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cdn5K2dglEu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I made that vow to never vote for Republicans in 1980, and have stuck with it. Last Republican I voted for was Dick Thornburgh for PA Governor, and that was in the 70s. I have not regretted that stance since.
In terms of benefit to humanity, I rank Republicans a little lower than pond scum and robotic telemarketers. No, a lot lower....
The very first time I voted was in '72 and I voted for Nixon. That pretty much soured my ever voting for a Republican again, and I have stayed true to that vow.
Bruce, I was taking some college classes to prep for returning to school. Don't do morning news (3 kids). Got to campus day after election and there was a big hubbub over Nixon winning. I went into a kind of shock. It felt as if I'd stepped into some sci-fi dystopia. It took me weeks to shake that feeling.
Me also, Bruce, in 1972. I took my oath at a clothing store in Silver Spring, MD.
Have more respect for pond scum
Action IS the only response! WE. MUST. ACT. Our children and grandchildren’s lives depend on it!💔💔💔💔💔
Yes, Cathy. Action is the only response.
Many speaking. Leigh McGowan, Politics Girl, and TC on That’s Another Fine Mess, mirror my thoughts this morning. With respect. Words matter.
https://youtu.be/Jb-JMshrKHk
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/it-wasnt-a-mass-shooting-it-was-a?r=l2aa7&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=direct
We the People, all of us this time. Including our children.
Thanks for Leigh's link, Christine. Much appreciated!
This: https://mobile.twitter.com/warriors/status/1529246789290934272?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwAR3zaJkJUcORk2SZ0stS-OBNZacp1STlM_zNhK0feJhq3DFcQW5YiYkdBz8
Calling out the child murderers in plain English. The Buck stops in Congress. Period!
Thank you, Christine! Political Girl is by far one of my favorites!
She knocked it out of the park this time, Marlene!
She’s the absolute best!
SEnding these both to as many people as I can. Thank you, Christine.
100%. Thank you. My thoughts exactly
I have renewed my own vow. I am also going on the attack on my FB page against anyone who still "follows" me and votes Republican. On another substack, someone posted a list of all the schools where there have been shootings - it was a staggering list. I copied it and shared it on my FB page, daring anyone to vote for a Republican in the face of such hideous carnage.
Thank you. We need more anger and activism. It is clear that what is blocking making progress on reducing gun violence is every single Republican. It will not reduce until and unless we reduce their power to block reasonable gun violence reduction legislation. Everyone should vote like children’s lives are more important than guns.
I just pasted this on my FB page with the admonition: "Please look at these faces and vow to never vote for a Republican again! They and the NRA are killing our children, our elders, others, simply because Republican elected officials refuse to support *any* gun safety laws."
https://twitter.com/AmeshiaCross/status/1529429833343811584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1529429833343811584%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2022%2F5%2F25%2F2100169%2F--Thoughts-and-prayers-horrified-and-heartbroken-Empty-words-from-empty-GOP-lawmakers
On a friend's Facebook page I found the predictable screed from a male who made all the usual excuses for assault weapons although he did favor better background checks for all guns. One of his arguments was that people could not take their assault weapons to the shooting range as if not being able to own an assault weapon is an infringement on liberty. BS I say. i didn't answer him because I am busy planting transplant and seeds into my garden while the sun is out here in Oregon. More rain to come tomorrow and the next few days. I guess I don't have many R followers, thankfully. Another of my ex-students went on a rant and given where she lives and is from, I would guess she has R friends. She has kids in school, so feels this keenly although my husband and I were saying that there is no safe place to go with so many people who should not have them, owning a weapon of mass destruction.
Yesterday, 19 children were deprived of their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. There are countless more after one mass shooting after another who will be traumatized by such events occurring again and again. Where are Republican concerns for their rights? I am angry and will not stop being angry until something is done. No more only thoughts and prayers. No more candlelight vigils only. Now is the time for organizing, advocacy, and activism. Now is the time for action on reducing Gun Violence. Nothing else short of that is acceptable.
It is way past time to “politicize” this issue. Down with Republicans- and Joe Manchin
If you feel like doing so, send me a friend request on FB.
Do you have pottery cats on your page?
No. Profile pic is of me and my tuba.
OK, did you go to Medford High School. There are several Ally Houses. I think this one is you.
Yes, Medford HS.
Would you please paste that list here for us to share?
I have not voted for any R for a very long time because they are now as I have said many times the party of death: of our democracy, of rights for women, POC, and those who are not straight, of common decency, of the planet. As I watched the loathsome Abbott read his statement....where exactly was his outrage....I was shouting at the TV and upsetting the dog. Then we watched the President furious and nearly in tears say what responsible leaders say.
He wanted to be the purveyor of the bad news, not a cop that I saw. Just the NRA stooges afraid that somebody would object to the body count. Go Beto
Paxton barely took a breath before he encouraged arming teachers yesterday.
I’m not surprised. That’s the Republican answer for everything. Just put more guns out there! What an idiot!!!
Paxton has been battling (successfully) a number of felony charges in Texas for seven years. Two federal probes are continuing, and it is doubtful he will ever go to trial.
Shame on anybody who voted for that trash.
Jailbird
And now here in Florida, on its race to the bottom alongside Abbott, DeSantis is vowing to implement “constitutional carry” i.e. no permit required. Parkland, Pulse, etc. have had no impact here.
You said this so much better than I could. Thank you! Vote blue!!!
Where does the NRA get its money from? -
You are going to hear over and over from the NRA that it gets its money from all of those fine, upstanding NRA members' dues and contributions to its PAC. That is a lie! Most of its revenues and donations to politicians are funded by its Corporate Partners Program. And who you might ask are its Corporate Partners and how much have they contributed? The answer is gun manufacturers, ammunition manufacturers, and gun dealers both large and small. Some of their largest Corporate Partner donors are shown above in this post.
You can read more about this here:
https://vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney2.pdf
and here:
https://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf
These two studies are now over 10 years old and since published by the National Violence Policy Center (https://vpc.org/)in September 2013 and April 2011, the amount of money received by the NRA through their Corporate Partners Program has only increased significantly.
Whether you are an NRA member or not, please understand whose interests the NRA represents. It is not you, it is their Corporate Partners who contribute the bulk of their revenues and whose interests they care about. They do not care about you or represent you. They do not care about our children's lives or anyone else's lives either. They care about their corporate partners - the gun industry.
The tragedies will continue until the 90% of Americans who want this country's gun violence crisis to lessen start to vote on this issue above everything else. There are 5 million NRA members and over 325 million Americans who are not NRA members. It is long past time for those who have had enough to speak up, speak out, and vote like we care more about our children than we do about guns.
Can we stop all gun violence? No, but we can have a significant impact and substantially reduce it. And, every child's life saved is worth the effort to do all we can to reduce it.
I think they also get money from Russia!
Pretty sure some of it came from Putin
Texas Lt Gov Dan Patrick also suggested arming teachers and having only one secured entrance/exit from schools after the last mass school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.
What a country we live in …
One secured entrance/exit? Whoa. That's a recipe for disaster I don't even want to think about.
What a country run by the most vile creatures
With you on this.
This, from Gabby Giffords:
Today was “Footloose and Fancy Day” at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Students and teachers were asked to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.
It was the last week of school filled with festive events and dress-up themes for the elementary school children, but one that ended with students being rushed out of their classes while police officers rushed in with guns drawn.
Today’s school shooting in Texas is now the fourth deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history, behind only Virginia Tech, Parkland, and, of course, Sandy Hook.
Our nation’s schools should be the safest places in our communities, full of learning, fun and the kinds of happy memories Robb Elementary tried to provide for their kids in the final days of the school year.
They should not be places of horror and nightmares.
Speaking is still physically difficult for me, but my feelings are crystal clear: I am furious.
I am furious with those who have the power to act and save lives but are afraid to do anything to end this uniquely American epidemic.
I know the fear of the gun lobby that those cowards have must be nothing like the fear those children in Texas felt as their lives and the lives of their classmates ended in a hail of bullets.
Or the fear the children who survived today’s massacre will feel every single time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering in an effort to keep them safe.
Or the fear the parents must have felt when they were alerted that there was an active shooter situation happening at their kid's school.
Senator Chris Murphy said it best to his colleagues in the Senate today, “What are we doing?”
Congress knows how to solve this problem.
Congress knows the steps we can take to protect our kids in their classrooms.
And they know because this is the only country in the developed world where this kind of slaughter happens on a routine basis.
So yes, our thoughts and prayers are once again with the victims of this shooting, their families, and their friends. But our anger and outrage are with those who have the power to act and choose to do nothing.
We do not have to accept these horrific acts of violence as routine.
And we must never stop demanding our leaders not only acknowledge this devastating problem, but take long overdue action to keep our children safe.
I will not rest until we have righted the wrong our elected officials in Congress have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can finally look our parents in the face and say: we are doing everything we can to keep your children safe.
Thank you for standing with me in this struggle.
With courage, Gabby Giffords
Good morning , Lynell, on this morning that is anything but. I replied on another site to a commenter that spoke about a friend who had acquired an AR-15.
He relayed the friend speaking of firing an AR-15 the first time. “You’ll become immediately addicted to the incredible power it gives you.” That’s where the Second Amendment has become twisted by greed and where it has led us. Acquisition of personal power through the thrill of shooting a weapon designed for military use but now unleashed upon children.
There was a time, for many years, that I felt safe every day in a classroom. The drills we practiced were training for the event of a fire or a bad storm and getting away from that threat to safety. And then that changed. But there isn’t an emergency drill training that children can practice or even the presence of resource officers at a school that allowed nineteen kids to get away from the bullets that seared and ravaged their bodies as a shooter felt the addictive power of an AR-15 in his hands yesterday. Little bodies that required DNA testing for identification instead of their lunch pass used to get their tray in the cafeteria. Their teachers dead while trying to get them away or shield them from the bullets. I guess it’s the luck of the “draw” that teachers now hold onto in hoping it will keep their school building, their site, out of a killer’s gun site.
Rage. Rage against rage. More rage.
Will it be different “this time”? That the question is even asked gives us the answer. That a President who speaks to a nation last night spoke to parents 10 yrs ago as Vice President about losing a child to gun violence while in school. There is your answer.
I loathe those that bend the knee to the NRA. Think they will cancel their convention this weekend? Not when it gives them an opportunity to conspire and “defend freedom”.
Terminal incompetence and neglect at the throne of greed. That’s our Senate. That’s the Republican Party leaders.
Steve Kerr set things right. “I’ve had enough.” And then walked out.
I grieve. And think about my students. My children. Our children. I’ve had enough. I walk out. All the while knowing I move forward. We move forward. We must. But, how? With courage. But, when?
The news hit me like a stab to my back, Christine; painful, shocking and incredulous. Why? Why are little kids and teachers being killed? Why are people in a supermarket or a church being so cruelly being shot? Why? To what end? How can anyone vote AGAINST gun control seeing murder after murder of innocent children and citizens just going about their lives? We have grandchildren; and imagining them under assault by a crazed person with a gun in their school? Yeah…really bad. My wife taught grade school her entire career…towards the end they practiced lock downs and other such drills. Crazy…right? We have WAY too many guns everywhere now and WAY too many people who are angry, mentally ill and just inches away from acting out violently with powerful weapons that only the military should possess. Now, a mass shooting by a crazy, angry person armed to the teeth is just another event in the news cycle because people who claim to represent us refuse to act because…why? How can any one of them vote AGAINST robust gun control measures at this point? Yeah, we need to get this done…it needs to be personal for every American who wants this problem resolved and lives saved.
Keith, I fear what we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg as Christian nationalists are arming themselves to take over the country
Yup. C. Nationalist, Anti Gov Libertarians, white nationalist, these groups have morphed into one base.
That’s not going to happen…our democracy will finally move to address this vital initiative. Take action to shine a light on this issue and move Congress forward…
The events on and subsequent to January 6, 2021 do not give me hope you are correct
Keep trying…giving up is not an option
I join you, Keith. It must be done. Even when streaks of tears run down my face.
Your friend's comment: "You’ll become immediately addicted to the incredible power it gives you.” is chilling beyond words. I am proficient in the use of an AR-15 rifle; because of a modified radical mastectomy on my right side where I lost 27 lymph nodes, I can no longer fire a shotgun or any rifle larger than a .22 from the shoulder. The AR-15 fires a .223 round (slightly larger than a .22 and far smaller than a 30-30 or a 3006) and it is a dream to shoot accurately. For a rural patrol deputy, it was a great tool to have in my tool box. It has but one purpose: to kill people. It is useless as a hunting weapon (unless you intend to blow up birds, squirrels, or other small wildlife).
To be "addicted to the incredible power it gives you" is a freaking scary thought, because the only purpose of that firearm is to kill people.
❤️
Kellyanne Conway said “let’s not overreact.” Yeah.
There is no reaction that is enough, let alone close to being an overreaction. Our nation is profoundly broken.
She’s a minion. She and all her ilk. I feel my hands on all their throats. It’s terrifying. I’m trying to keep it figurative, not literal. I will not buy a gun, I will not buy a gun, I will……what?
Salud, MLM.
Fk her!
KellyAnn works PR for Robert Mercer, the Libertarian Oligarch. His goal is to privatize Public Education.
...and SCOTUS will give him everything he wants-Carson V. Makin is on their agenda. Will allow proselytizing in charter schools and allow back door discrimination. Please read: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-likely-to-drop-school-voucher-bombshell/ar-AAXNNUR?cvid=ce70bb28fdca4692902066b29cdbcff1
Yup.
“Two families, along with a libertarian institute, brought a suit”
Charles Koch….spending billions to devolve American Society. Destabilize with gun violence and fear of taking away guns. Hollow out Public Education funding. Invest in charter and private school, and promote home school. Brainwash Judges via The Federalist Society. Bring a series of little law suits to chip chip chip away at Department of Education laws. The Libertarian goal is that the Federal Gov only exists for National Defense.
That is correct.
It make me sick to think this happened AGAIN. AGAIN? My niece just graduated with her masters in early childhood education. She loves working with the younger kids. I can see how happy this makes her. She cried with joy at their little graduation. This is how it should be, with no thought of threat from some sick person with a gun. These Republican Senators need to do what they are being paid to do. Enough of this bs already.
Thank you, Christine! The children! Our children! My heart hurts! 💔💔💔
I remember, about 7 years ago, a co-worker proudly showing a picture of him teaching his 8 year old how to use an AR-15 at a gun range. I was horrified but he was proud of what he was doing. That now 15 year old is probably now capable of using such a weapon by himself. Sad, disgusting and frightening.
All you say, Christine, and nothing more.
There is a record of these congressional cowards. Let us go to their homes. We are larger than the NRA. We are larger than their constituents. We are big enough to stop them. Call it America against the Berserkers.
VOTE DEMOCRATIC!!!
And work to get out the Democratic vote.
But, tragically, thoughts and prayers, will do nothing for anyone. It's become the default position - shows you care, but "screw off it you thought I'm going to do anything about it!"
I understand "T&P" is standard internet shorthand for when anything sad happens .
So Hugh. They aren’t listening or reading their mail. They are enlarging their war chests and amassing their fortunes on the lives of their constituents children. Now What?
Thank you, Gabby, for all you, your husband and so many others are doing to stop this craziness.
Support Mark Kelly (Gabby's husband) for Senate in November, if you can.
I do. He is my top priority for donations.
"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion - mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his
doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, and an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one
gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding
photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
( I don’t know author, but it is perfect.)
Correction! Apparently Gloria Steinem did NOT make this statement comparing abortion and gun permits, but in Dec., 2015 at a Women's March, she read it and thanked the author and added
“After all, it makes more sense to do this for young men seeking guns than for young women seeking an abortion. No young woman needing reproductive freedom has ever murdered a roomful of strangers.” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/02/09/fact-check-gloria-steinem-shared-didnt-write-post-guns-abortion/4437288001/
Joan, A subscriber to Robert Reich’s Substack said the author is Euell Nielsen, Historian at First African Presbyterian Church and Author at Blackpast. Because I’m on an iPhone, I can’t post the link.
Thank you! I'll find it!
Please tell me how to find it. This great-grandmother just made the attempt but to no avail. There’s a learning curve involved here. I want to share these words. I can’t watch TV anymore about yesterday’s carnage because Abbott keeps coming on the screen with his made-up sad face spouting his “concern.” I’m tired of screaming out loud at the flaming lies and collusion that continues the carnage.
One has to be a paid subscriber to Reich to have access to it. I read his Substack blog, but am not a paid member--I HAVE to call a halt to subscriptions as I'm on a severely limited income!
Please post if you can find it.
The quote has been reposted since at least 2015. Still powerful.
ABSOLUTELY THIS!!!
Wow, Molly, this is beyond brilliant.
If the uterus birthed bullets, it would be less regulated.
I've seen this a number of times... It is as poignant now as it was years ago when I read it.
Yes, it is perfect. Gonna cop it.
I am with Senator Murphy and Steve Kerr...what the f...will it take to get you 50 republicans to care about the lives of our children and innocent people being massacred by guns obtained by people unfit to carry them?? I know your relationship with the NRA is so intertwined with your re-election money and obviously that is so much more important than innocent lives being taken. Do you not have anyone you love or care about? It seems not.
The NRA today is a shadow of itself - it's broke, Wayne LaPierre is under investigation, they lost their corporate charter in New York.
I know they filed bankruptcy. LaPierre was funneling money from doners to buy yachts and other trinkets. So not sure why they still seem to hold some power? Do you have insight TC?
the scumbags are still scumbags.
Well that applies to a whole lotta scumbags.
❤️
I believe they were inept at filing bankruptcy: https://nrawatch.org/report/the-continued-decline-of-the-nra/ for details of the attempted bankruptcy of the NRA.
Is it? Or are the Libertarian’s tanking it, so that they can take it over completely?
Ask Joe Manchin
And Sinema. Both said today they would not support a "carve out" of the filibuster for gun control.
They are pariahs! We are being held hostage by their inactivity to support sensible legislation. May they rot in sewage.
I hadn't read that yet. The hell with them and the horse they rode in on!
I always think of a variation of that statement everytime someone mentions their names.
I can hardly bear my freedom today, Linda. It’s feels suffocating. How our leaders have sacrificed our children so willingly with the attack upon public education, our schools and students and their families. And give license to a few sick some to kill the children and teachers while they play and learn together.
The shame our country must bear.
Christine, I completely agree.
Someone just posted a photo of one of the victims. A little boy dressed in his finest, no doubt on his way to school. A beautiful child who never thought going to school would ultimately be a death sentence.
My heart is broken.
to "sacrifice our children so willingly? Brilliant campaign strategy, R's! Way to stick it to the Libs! See you in November!"
Manchin is all hat, and no horse.
And no cattle either.
They both make me 🤮
I saw that. Manchin offered up the usual empty words of consolation and expressed support for strengthening background checks, but then tacked on an addendum that he would not budge on doing away with the filibuster. A$$hole. That's called having your cake and eating it. He knows such legislation will never go anywhere, so he can give lip service to being for stricter gun laws, knowing it'll never happen...and probably still get $$ from the gun lobby.
God, I hope 2 more Dems win Senate seats, I would rejoice like I had won the lottery
Nailed. It. :-(
WTF
I am with you Karen. It is time. We either rid ourselves of these unconscionable bastards in Congress or we impose term limits so no one serves a second term because they are afraid to be unelected. If we take that fear away from the bastards up front only then do I feel we make the necessary progress. The cowards want their cake so let’s take it away from them. Their unscrupulous actions must give way.
Kerr's remarks made me want to weep and, at the same time, knock a few Confederate senators upside the head.
If a gunman mowed down several senators, would that change votes in the senate?
Please. No more violence at the Capitol.
I’ve often wondered if a mass shooting inside the Senate would change any Republican senators’ minds. They didn’t when Gabby Giffords was shot at her own voter outreach event. They didn’t when Steve Scalise was shot.
That would be a good experiment to test out.
Not a “good” experiment, Hale, but perhaps if the Dems all go to the Senate with body armor on, pointing a few pieces of fake weaponry, I bet they’d notice then! I am NOT calling for it but am calling for desperate measures to be taken today, not in 5 years!
I have lived long enough to have seen this play out since the 60’s. The bravado and ego tripping have made me literally heart sick. The propaganda machine, brought here by Reagan, seems to have eaten the brains of “a long line of formerly upstanding citizens caught in the swirl of power.” (Thanks to MisTBlu on HCR substack). As much as I hate being lumped in with the “guilty Texans,” I am going to lump all republicans together in the cult category, and say you ALL are guilty. I occasionally get mail from the likes of Ted Cruz, filled with non-stop lies. Republican campaign ads would make Goebbels proud. I know some “formerly upstanding citizens caught in the swirl of power;” they are complicit, if not as guilty as the shooters. Are there no consequences for destroying a once-great, but flawed country? Ask Joe Manchin…
"Republican campaign ads would make Goebbels proud".
After some thinking about this excellent sentence tying Republican tactics to Goebbels, I am struck by only one thought: Goebbels and his party were, in fact, fantastically successful in Germany.
The Nazi Party would still be running Germany if the Allies had not fire bombed and bombed every major city in Germany to dirt and then scoured the ruins to kill the remaining Nazi's. Concentration camps would still be feeding Germany's corporations workers.
Goebbels was fantastically sucessful. Most Germans bought in fully to his lies because: Germans WANTED to believe the lies.
Jeri: So do Americans (want to believe the lies from Cruz and the Pubs). Americans prefer the lies to the truth.
Sure, there are some thousands on this board that do not agree and are reading Dr. Richardson's truths avidly.
But, I bet if you divide all of the people in the US reading Dr. Richardson's work by the total population of the US?? You get a tiny number.
The number of people watching Tucker Carlson? Massively larger than those reading Dr. Richardson's column.
We are in trouble, real trouble Jeri, here in America.
People who value democracy, truth and equality are bullied and fearful and stressed. And confused. How do liars keep getting away with it? You simply cannot trust a liar and TFL has been able to slither through years of brainwashing and bullying to bring out the worst in too many people. The GOP is now the Greed Lie Power party and needs to be flushed and replaced.
Gigi,
"How do liars keep getting away with it"?
Well, people want to be lied to and lap up lies like kittens lap up warm milk. If large fractions of the human population wanted to discern truth instead of lies, liars would, like bad grapes, be pruned.
Easy as that.
Unfortunately some people deny truth and want to believe in false prophets who feed their denial. What climate change? Ukrainians are Nazis Etc
Denial is a powerful emotional defense that propagandists manipulate. MAGA. Putin. Truth is wrecked
The problem with America is Americans. I think I read that on this forum... ;-)
:-)
So glad you have lived and learned as I have tried to do. some just age and stew in Rupert’s juices and their ignorance.
Jeri,
I am still learning. A lot of what I learn I wish I did not.
:-)
I had already seen the Steve Kerr press conference, but for those who haven't, please watch share with others (video can be found at the bottom of this Letter from an American). Maybe a respected (revered) basketball coach can get through to a different segment of the American people and make some headway where grieving parents and gun control advocates seem unable to do so.
He's been speaking out passionately for years. I agree, this video is powerful, but I don't think it will change the 2nd Amendment Fundamentalists. They will complain that politics don't belong in basketball, lay low for a few weeks and all will be well. Meanwhile, those who fear the loss of their guns or any gun regulations will be lining up at gun stores to stock up.
Odd that politicians don’t hammer on the fact that SB8 in Texas mandates the shoving of an ultrasound wand up the vagina of anyone seeking an abortion (criminalized at 6 weeks since September 2021, complete with bounty hunting on those suspected of helping) but any legislation to place reasonable limitations on tools of slaughter is seen as restricting Constitutional freedoms? When you regulate my twat more than my gat, we’re going to clash.
Brava!
Love that and may quote you!!
Would be honored if you did so! I’m trying a last-minute run for Congress in New York’s CD 10 (was redrawn last Friday at midnight; shenanigans much?) - special primary election is Aug 23 and I’m scrambling for signatures to get on the ballot so if you quote me, would dearly appreciate a shoutout!
I have nothing new to say. 💔
I won't just mourn, I intend to ORGANIZE. There have been 27 mass shootings this year. 27!!
That has to end. No matter what, VOTE BLUE this November.
Tragically, Gary, there actually have been over 200 mass shootings in the US this yesr—more than one per day! https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
Robert Hubbell forcefully adds to our voices of righteous outrage that We Have Had Enough:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-blood-of-innocent-children?s=r
Indivisible.org has action:
"In order to stop these tragedies, we must defeat and throw out Republicans that work for the NRA, prop up the gun lobby, and stand in complicity with these massacres. Each time these monstrous acts occur, they choose to allow mass shootings so they can hold onto political power. And it's the innocent who pay the ultimate price. It’s time to hold them accountable.
Senator Schumer started the process tonight to force a vote in the Senate on Enhanced Background Checks, a bill that has already passed the House. We are furious that Senator Manchin has said he will do "all he can" to address this plague of violence, yet is unwilling to change the filibuster to do it. His words are empty and insulting, and mean that this bill would need 60 votes to pass -- and that means 10 Republican votes.
We’ll be honest: having seen their cowardice and abandonment in the other crises our nation has faced, we are not willing to peddle false hope that 10 Republicans of good conscience can be found in the Senate today. But this is a place where we yearn to be wrong. Or if we're right, a place where we vow to make it as painful for them as possible, if they once again pledge their allegiance to the gun lobby over the lives of our children.
Click here [https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators] to see how much your senators have received from the gun lobby. And with the shaking outrage of that knowledge, call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and demand that they vote yes on the background check bill."
indivisible.org
Also Moms Demand Action:
momsdemandaction.org
Manchin will “do all he can” except for doing the one thing that might actually work.
❤️ yes, very very true…sigh🥺
Thanks, Ellie !
Just sent LFAA with plea to print to Orlando Sentinel
Will contact Rubio and others today.
Rubio: 3,303, 355 from NRA !!!!
VOTE 4 DEMMINGS!!
But seriously folks - guns are so part of the American Psyche - I remember in the early 70's having just arrived in Winnipeg Canada - taking a trip with my lady to Colorado (July 4, no less) - the guy selling fireworks - was wearing, what appeared to be ivory handled S&W's, and we kept seeing them - when even buying cherries at Fort Collins! Longe Ranger, etc, how do you reverse this deeply embedded mindset? It's not just the NRA.
I grew up in the Midwest and while I can’t argue with your memories I don’t believe guns were part a broadly held American mindset. Granted it’s a bit of show, but I don’t believe everyday Americans are that different from everyday Canadians.
I wanted to hunt and became a junior NRA member in mid 60s, like many of my male peers, to learn how to handle guns safely. And I did; it was an edifying experience, a bit like learning CPR. I bought shotgun shell loader from Herters and loaded my own shells; I hunted every fall from age 11 to 20. I haven’t fired a gun for 46 years but I still have my Winchester 101 over-under and my grandfather’s Remington 1100 in my attic.
More to the point of this posting, I think HCR is spot on in her description of what happened with gun interests, the NRA and Republican politics beginning in the 70s and 80s to today. Guns rights have never been a legitimate political issue. There’s never been a widespread effort to eliminate the kind of gun usage I engaged in in my youth. It’s instead been used as a rallying cry (I would call it a false flag issue) to appeal to some voters on an emotional level and create division. Along with abortion it’s among the first non-issues to take over our political discourse. Now there are countless such non-issues from mask mandates to vaccine requirements to ‘cancel culture’.
I wish the point I’m making here actually had some legs to go somewhere productive. For me it’s just recognizing that we’ve allowed the so-called culture wars to dominate our political conversations and most of the themes in these ‘wars’ should not even be in political discussions. Most are matters of public and mental health and should be handled broadly and if politically in a bipartisan manner. People and politicians who use these non-issues as political cudgels are employing or falling victim to a ruse. All I can think of to do is spot that and call it out when I see them.
❤️ the repubs have made everything about “owning the libs.” It’s total bull Schitt that is lapped up non-stop by Foxers, and their clones. 90% of our current crises are made up crap by republicans. With the cheating and voter suppression, we will die waiting for change. At least us oldsters will. But my grands (and yours) deserve better.
agree, my sentiments exactly… what seems like several years ago now I read Tim Alberta’s book “American carnage” and while he was dead right, what he described now seems like milquetoast. It’s a constant churn of phony non issues.
What’s also quite disturbing to me is that the half or more of Americans who know better are not being more positive about the Biden administration accomplishments, esp given the outrageous political and media environment. There’s no excuse that I can think of for his poll numbers to be where they are, except to be highly critical of a good part of the electorate that put him in office.
Bless you, David! You are doing everything you can do and contributing to this conversation on LFAA. That, in itself, is very important. Thank you!
Hugh, I feel it's a generational problem as well. The rather bombastic "handing down" of guns from one generation to the next is wrong. We had a Gun Buy Back event by the Syracuse Police recently that did get some guns off the street. Unfortunately it also proved to be a payday for individuals that turned in their unwanted, non working guns to simple go back out and buy a shiny new one to terrorize the City with.
Yeah, there’s something really wrong with that picture!
I am familiar with most names on the list, but not all. Are they all Republiqans? Does the NRA donate to any Democrats in the Senate?
Moms Demand Action and Indivisible? Can you clarify?
I wish more proponents of gun control would study this information so they could make their arguments sharper and raise awareness of this incredibly pertinent history.
In the meantime, Marjorie Taylor Greene (and probably others of her ilk) claim that massacres are false flag operations, carried out by those that want gun control in order to raise public support for it. So damned depressing.
Dian, I had dinner with a close friend about 2.5 years ago one evening. Smart guy. Engineer I used to work with.
He told me after a beer or two: Sandy Hook was faked. It was staged to scare people into allowing the government to confiscate our guns.
At first I thought he was joking so took a few seconds to look at his face and eyes.
He was not joking.
So, I asked where he got that information and it was a site I had never heard of called infowars.com if I remember correctly. I looked it up and it was some nut ranting about stuff to get people to buy his "remedies and herbal supplements". Just a huckster. A modern Charlatan. But, it worked!
But, your reference to Greene and her ilk selling these attacks as "fake" to "scare people" into "taking your guns" is more true than perhaps anyone realizes.
Today, all over America, websites will start pumping out lies about yesterday. It was faked. It was black guy who did the shooting (actually, it was a minority this time). The shooting did not happen and those Mexicans down there are lying to take our guns.
Thousands and thousands of Facebook posts from who knows where will echo and reference these websites supporting a faked shooting.
Soon, more than half of America will believe that yesterday never happened and it is all a scary, communist conspiracy to "take our guns" and our "freedom".
You.....are......right.
How can an intelligent, educated person fall for such BS?! I will never understand.
Learned working at jr high that smart can also be crazy
Yes. No doubt.
Well, those "intelligent, educated" people in Greene's 14th district just overwhelmingly voted for her in the Republican primary, and she won with 70% of the vote (72,000 votes). The Dem, Marcus Flowers, got just over 20,000 votes and will run against her in November.
Marcus on my donate list,
That's sad.
Indeed it is.
MJT is what modern Americans want.
I don't know Ellen. My friend had an MS in Chemical Engineering. He was a nice guy to work with. Honest.
But, whatever mix he had, infowars.com appealed.
That's why I never generalize about these people.
What a real POS!
“Someone”, who are you? I appreciate you liking my posts but you never contribute anything to the conversation. Just wondering…
After Alex Jones, the ugliest witch ever should be careful. She might lose some of her millions
It's time to step up, speak out and vote the NRA-backed sméagol replicas to into Mordor where they belong;
As Joseph P. Welch said to Senator McCarthy "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
I'm afraid the era of when words like that would have any impact are long gone. There does not exist any sense of decency within the Republican party. In fact, they seem to wear a "NO Decency" label as a badge of honour these days. They have become the definition, the personification, of the word "amoral".
They represent the new values in society replacing traditional cultural, human and spiritual values ; money, materialism and personal gain replace consideration and concern for the other.
Such proud evil
Sainted Ray Gun was against gun control except when Bobby Seale and Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense came to Sacramento carrying loaded shotguns. Then he was so in favor of gun control the Assembly passed a bill against "brandishing" within two weeks. Yessirree bob, ol' Ray Gun was definitely against *those people* carrying guns and getting away with it.
I have to admit, the first moment I heard the news he'd been shot, the word that went through my mind was Yesss!!!!!!
TC, I haven't heard anyone use the nickname Ronald Raygun in a long time. He was only for gun control when he and his constituents felt threatened. It's a fine mess we are in when we can't do anything about injustice because of the political rift in the country. We don't really have a democracy. We have a nation controlled by power corrupted, rich, white men.
He's a drug store truck drivin' man...
Boy, that's a blast from the past! It sure fits...
I hate to admit that too, TC!
I remember that, hahaha
I don't want to live in this country any more.
I hear you, Ellen.
That’s the rub, as I see it. They will all still be here (with their guns) after any future election, no matter who wins and losing makes them worse. 😕
That might be a wise approach. We are putting our backup in place.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders (next ARK governor)—White House Press Secretary embarrassment
Herschel Walker (toss up GA senator)—Heisman has-been carpet bagger
Dr. Oz (Trumpist PA senate candidate)—Turkish TV snake oil salesman
Even scavenger carp are aghast at such candidatorial crap.
Well the good news ( and by god it’s a low bar!) Hershel was the ONLY trump backed candidate to win in the GA primary. Rafensperger beat Big Lie pusher Heise and Kemp (whom I actually detest) handily pounded the even more disgusting Perdue. So hanging your hat on trump’s sway ain’t what it’s touted to be. He’s just the loudest blow hard in the room. Hoping the press will stop giving oxygen to the trumpster fire.
Huckabee winning the Repub nomination is an abomination but it was predictable.
Marlene I can imagine an ARK gubernatorial campaign sign: HUCKLEBERRY FOR GOVERNOR. (Truth in advertising)
When her family was in the Gov mansion her mother was known as Lurch. She fills mom’s shoes perfectly.
There was a WONDERFUL op-ed I came across last night in USA Today (which I then promptly couldn't find again...) that had the headline that we needed MORE people like Warriors' coach Kerr and LESS people like Herschel Walker. Walker has come out solidly in favour of lax gun laws--well of course he would, wouldn't he, since he held a gun to his ex-wife's head and threatened to blow her "f*cking brains out". And, nota bene, Walker won the Republican primary here with 68% of the vote, over 800,000 votes. He could very easily be our next Senator, something I cannot even bear to think about.
Bruce Warrior coach Kerr was certainly golden! My wife and heard his speech, but I can’t recall the source. UTube by now?
Herschel ‘f+ucking brains out’ Walker is truly frightening. Georgia is a puzzling political state, with Kemp and the Secretary of State defeating Trump-supported candidates. My nightmare is that FBO could be elected in November.
Good point Bruce - but I was really struggling for something positive today! At least Jody Hise is out of the picture. But yeah - Hershel is a problem, and if possible, less qualified than trump. Please, let there be a record Dem turn out for Warnock in November!
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/warriors-steve-kerr-delivers-emotional-passionate-plea-in-wake-of-texas-elementary-school-shooting/amp/
What has poet Amanda Gordon said?
“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,”
Somewhere there's someone who has children of their own and approves of this. I can't get my head around it.
I am watching a bizarre trend in posts from some of my LE friends on Fleecebook. There seem to be more from women than men, and they seem to be saying that maybe, just maybe, it is time for us to maybe do something to save the children. We'll see how far that goes.
I'm confused Ally--what is LE?
BTW hope some headway is coming for your f.i.l's situation.
Law Enforcement. Not as much progress as I’d like to see, but there is movement.
Ah. I should have realized. 2 retired Chgo PD and one active in my family, I just didn't make the connection.