Robert, I thought President Biden gave an excellent, persuading speech. He was articulate and speaking straight from the heart. He was speaking to all Americans, not just Democrats. As Americans we have got to decide whether we want to continue without common sense gun laws and continue having multiple massacres every month. Or, do we want to join the civilized nations in the world who have common sense gun laws and fewer deaths by firearms. It is as simple as that.
Most people are parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. America has always been known as a country that cares about the welfare of children. It is time for us to prove it.
Thank you for the clarification on what is allowable as an "executive order", so much gets blamed on Biden that is NOT his fault! I thought he gave a good speech and spoke of many things we have talked about at home...in the end it IS up to we the people, to VOTE!!
Yes! I was surprised and deeply moved by Biden's decent, thorough and total demolition of the naysaying, defeatist chatter that has blanketed the airwaves as we struggle to address the current wave of domestic terrorism: angry men armed with weapons of war invading churches, hospitals and schools. Insanity. We can, we must, do what we know we need to do: wrest control of our country from a hideous culture that celebrates guns, machismo and death. Enough. Save the children, save the teachers and doctors -- save ourselves.
"[Biden] is attempting to wrest control of the terms of the debate from temporizing Republicans and give it back to the American people—so that they can vote on the issue of gun control in 2022 and 2024." Exactly right, in a nutshell. The whole purpose of a democracy is to respond to the popular will. Joe Biden, in this speech, is harassing the existing views of Americans to their capacity to vote for candidates who support their views. I appreciate Biden's effort and your commentary.
Jun 3, 2022·edited Jun 3, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I agree with you that President Biden's speech was powerful and powerfully delivered. It should be played again and again until We the People demand and get action on gun legislation.
I asked a member of a memoir group I lead if I could pass on a piece she wrote, which I think is a fitting companion to Biden's speech:
A Moment of Noise
“Dear friends,
Do not lose heart. . .
I, too, am stumbling
under the burden of my not-enoughness.”*
I am all out of words. I have used up, run out of outrage. I am shattered by what has happened in a little town in Texas. I should never have heard of this town and I weep for its fame. I grieve for the survivors as much as I grieve for the dead. How does the teacher who propped open the door of the school go back to her classroom — to any classroom? How do the local police continue to enforce the law when they appeared at best inept and at worst cowards? How does anyone understand why he or she survived and how do they go on with their lives?
I am trying to understand a world in which it is normal for a parent to give a fourth grader a cell phone and instructions on how and why to call 911. I am trying to understand a world in which a fourth grader knows that she may survive being murdered by smearing herself with a classmate’s blood. I am trying, once more, to make sense of a country that allows citizens to own weapons meant for the battlefield. And I am trying to control my anger, my contempt, my despair for the country I still love, where mass murder is so common in our schools that there is a federal grant available so that the blood and chaos can be tidied up by simply razing the offending school building.
I don’t want to stand for a moment of silence called for by a clergyman who will preach against abortion but not against gun-violence. I don’t want to listen to anyone who clothes himself in false righteousness, but does nothing to protect the innocent. And I certainly don’t want to listen to a storm of rhetoric by self-serving politicians who are funded by the NRA. I wait, I listen for those same voices to speak out against the gun lobby. I wait for these people who love life so much to take a public stand and do something to save the children dying in their classrooms and on our streets.
I sit in the darkness, trying not to lose hope. I hold on to my faith and a belief in the possibility of change; I repeat the familiar prayer, “I believe, help my unbelief.” And I remind myself, do not lose heart. Do not lose heart.
Marie-Therese Marzullo
*Quotation from Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiedozkehr
Jun 3, 2022·edited Jun 3, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
One thing that has been missing in both gun laws and anti-abortion laws and the Supreme Court's rulings on them is what I call the "Principle of Responsibility" in a democratic republic. In a democratic republic where government is supposed to be "By and For the People" laws which give one right a priority of one group of people over the rights of another group people is anarchy not democracy. The right to own any gun needs to be tempered with the use of guns to take away the right to life of other citizens. The absolute right of a fetus to life over the right to life and privacy of the woman carrying the fetus is also wrong. The Principle of Responsibility in a democratic republic is that with any individual right there comes the responsibility to protect the rights of others. Without that responsibility an absolute right given one individual becomes anarchy if it takes away especially the right to life for others. There must be a balance reached like Roe v Wade has done now for almost fifty years. Justice Alito's draft position denies a woman her right to determine the risk to her own life by making forced pregnancy law based on one group's religious tenets. The same now needs to be done with gun rights providing some level of protection of the right to life of others. No individual or group of individuals should have more rights than the whole. We, the people, all of us this time.
Thank you for this Robert, and especialy for this:
"Those commentators miss the point of Biden’s speech. He is attempting to wrest control of the terms of the debate from temporizing Republicans and give it back to the American people—so that they can vote on the issue of gun control in 2022 and 2024. America must ban assault weapons and will never succeed unless we declare our resolve to achieve a ban. In that regard, Biden’s speech was a welcome change of tactics that succeeded in its purpose."
I wonder if keeping Hungary and Turkey as members of NATO is good for NATO. They both appear to be staunchly supportive of Putin. Hungary scuttled the sanctioning of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who has been cheering Putin on with his war against Ukraine. Are those two countries really friends of the Western Alliance?
Jun 3, 2022·edited Jun 3, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
A simple truth understood by anyone who has even a passing knowledge of economics supplied by introductory university courses in the subject is that the President can have little impact on the rate of inflation. Congress with it's budgetary powers can have a far more significant though lagging impact. In the short term the Federal Reserve Board can have a moderating or accelerating impact through it's control of the monetary supply and interest rates.
However, Congress through it's legislative and budgetary powers has primary control over policies related to healthcare including reproductive healthcare, gun violence reduction efforts or none, police reforms or none, and taxation fairness and equity.
So when I speak to voters about thinking carefully on their choices, I urge them to focus their attention and their votes on where they can actually have an impact, areas where those they are choosing amongst can actually make their lives better, healthier, and safer or can make their lives of themselves and their families worse, less healthy, diminished, and poorer. Choose wisely. It will make a difference.
As far as the Russian Orthodox church supporting Putin: no surprise. They supported Pogroms against Jews. Just to bring some folks up to speed...a Pogrom were rape, pillage, and plunder missions. These could last for days. These were sanctioned by the Czar and by the Church. Many occurred right around Easter. Nice tradition, huh!
Robert, I think you know how much I appreciate your newsletters and the unflagging optimism and encouragement they give us every day. So this is absolutely not a criticism. I feel this morning I’d like to give words to some of the frustration that we/I am feeling. Republicans are spreading lies and disinformation which continues to permeate our discourse and people are still buying it. The answer? Vote them out. They are putting elaborate schemes in place to take over elections. The answer? Vote them out….in large numbers. They are killing our children and grandparents with their gun nonsense. The answer? Vote them out. They have gerrymandered districts and in many cases (Florida) courts have refused to do anything. The answer? Vote them out, and wait another 10 years for another census. We seem to be the only ones trying to do something. Where is the Justice Department, and the AG? Where are the judges who should not be afraid to make a sane ruling? Where are the leaders of the Democratic Party…you know, the ones who should be pulling the fire alarm loudly? Where are the people with a real platform? I fully understand the “power of the people”, but dear God we need reinforcements.
Question for the voters: What’s more important, your wallet or your life and the lives of your loved ones? Will you vote on inflation or on the denial of personal liberty to most Americans, and threats to the lives of all? That’s the question Democrats need to be asking, loudly, every hour between now and Election Day. Maybe there really are scores of millions of voters who love the unregulated right to possess weapons that enable mass killing, or maybe the people who feel that way just make the most noise. Maybe the polls are wrong and 2/3 of Americans don’t want Roe v. Wade upheld. Let’s find out.
Jun 3, 2022·edited Jun 3, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
First, I'm really glad to see that President Biden reads the Comments section of your newsletter, Robert, and took my advice by giving a prime time speech. The moment called out for it.
Biden finally used the "bully pulpit" to call for legislative action while simultaneously undercutting Republican arguments opposing legislation. Quoting from Scalia's opinion in Heller was brilliant. (For more on that, see link below to today's "A Note to Readers" by Ellie Honig.)
My only criticisms of his speech were, first, he should have announced an assault weapon buy-back program (something I'm guessing he can instruct the Treasury Dept to do via executive order) and, second, asked Americans to take action NOW by calling their elected Senator and *demand* they take action to stop this bloodshed.
With reference to "Holding Trump Accountable," how's the saying go? What goes around comes around? It will be ignominable payback when "The Worst Attorney General in American History—Bill Barr—" is subpoenaed to testify before the Federal Grand Jury. I'm guessing they will have some interesting questions for Mr. Barr (who's father was the headmaster at my school - a tight-arsed SOB) about his story published in the WSJ (see link below). As a refresher:
"When I [Bill Barr] left that afternoon for my previously scheduled meeting in the West Wing with the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, I knew what to expect. President Trump hailed me down to meet with him. I knew it would be an unpleasant meeting. . . .
I looked at POTUS and greeted him. “Hello, Mr. President.”
There was an awkward silence. He put down the remote control, at first not looking at me. I could tell he was enraged, struggling to keep his temper under control. He shuffled through some papers on the table, looking for something, his breathing a little heavier than usual, his nostrils flaring slightly. Finding what he wanted, he thrust a news clipping at me. “Did you say this?” he snapped.
It was the Balsamo article. “Yes, I did, Mr. President,” I responded. “Why would you say that?” he demanded, his voice rising. “Because it is true, Mr. President,” I replied. “The reporter asked me what the department had found to date, and I told him.”
‘He stopped for a moment and then said, ‘You must hate Trump. You would only do this if you hate Trump.
“But you did not have to say that!” he barked. “You could have just said, ‘No comment.’ This is killing me—killing me. This is pulling the rug out from under me.” He stopped for a moment and then said, “You must hate Trump. You would only do this if you hate Trump.”
“No, Mr. President, I don’t hate you,” I said. “You know I sacrificed a lot personally to come in to help you when I thought you were being wronged.” The president nodded, almost involuntarily conceding the point. “But over the weekend, you started blaming the department for the inability of your legal team to come up with evidence of fraud. The department is not an extension of your legal team. Our mission is to investigate and prosecute actual fraud. The fact is, we have looked at the major claims your people are making, and they are bullshit.”
Hopefully, Trumps' train is finally leaving the station headed toward **USP ADX Florence.** (From Wikipedia: USP ADX Florence houses male inmates in the federal prison system deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control, including prisoners whose escape would pose a serious threat to national security.)
Robert, I thought President Biden gave an excellent, persuading speech. He was articulate and speaking straight from the heart. He was speaking to all Americans, not just Democrats. As Americans we have got to decide whether we want to continue without common sense gun laws and continue having multiple massacres every month. Or, do we want to join the civilized nations in the world who have common sense gun laws and fewer deaths by firearms. It is as simple as that.
Most people are parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. America has always been known as a country that cares about the welfare of children. It is time for us to prove it.
Thank you for the clarification on what is allowable as an "executive order", so much gets blamed on Biden that is NOT his fault! I thought he gave a good speech and spoke of many things we have talked about at home...in the end it IS up to we the people, to VOTE!!
Yes! I was surprised and deeply moved by Biden's decent, thorough and total demolition of the naysaying, defeatist chatter that has blanketed the airwaves as we struggle to address the current wave of domestic terrorism: angry men armed with weapons of war invading churches, hospitals and schools. Insanity. We can, we must, do what we know we need to do: wrest control of our country from a hideous culture that celebrates guns, machismo and death. Enough. Save the children, save the teachers and doctors -- save ourselves.
"[Biden] is attempting to wrest control of the terms of the debate from temporizing Republicans and give it back to the American people—so that they can vote on the issue of gun control in 2022 and 2024." Exactly right, in a nutshell. The whole purpose of a democracy is to respond to the popular will. Joe Biden, in this speech, is harassing the existing views of Americans to their capacity to vote for candidates who support their views. I appreciate Biden's effort and your commentary.
I agree with you that President Biden's speech was powerful and powerfully delivered. It should be played again and again until We the People demand and get action on gun legislation.
I asked a member of a memoir group I lead if I could pass on a piece she wrote, which I think is a fitting companion to Biden's speech:
A Moment of Noise
“Dear friends,
Do not lose heart. . .
I, too, am stumbling
under the burden of my not-enoughness.”*
I am all out of words. I have used up, run out of outrage. I am shattered by what has happened in a little town in Texas. I should never have heard of this town and I weep for its fame. I grieve for the survivors as much as I grieve for the dead. How does the teacher who propped open the door of the school go back to her classroom — to any classroom? How do the local police continue to enforce the law when they appeared at best inept and at worst cowards? How does anyone understand why he or she survived and how do they go on with their lives?
I am trying to understand a world in which it is normal for a parent to give a fourth grader a cell phone and instructions on how and why to call 911. I am trying to understand a world in which a fourth grader knows that she may survive being murdered by smearing herself with a classmate’s blood. I am trying, once more, to make sense of a country that allows citizens to own weapons meant for the battlefield. And I am trying to control my anger, my contempt, my despair for the country I still love, where mass murder is so common in our schools that there is a federal grant available so that the blood and chaos can be tidied up by simply razing the offending school building.
I don’t want to stand for a moment of silence called for by a clergyman who will preach against abortion but not against gun-violence. I don’t want to listen to anyone who clothes himself in false righteousness, but does nothing to protect the innocent. And I certainly don’t want to listen to a storm of rhetoric by self-serving politicians who are funded by the NRA. I wait, I listen for those same voices to speak out against the gun lobby. I wait for these people who love life so much to take a public stand and do something to save the children dying in their classrooms and on our streets.
I sit in the darkness, trying not to lose hope. I hold on to my faith and a belief in the possibility of change; I repeat the familiar prayer, “I believe, help my unbelief.” And I remind myself, do not lose heart. Do not lose heart.
Marie-Therese Marzullo
*Quotation from Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiedozkehr
One thing that has been missing in both gun laws and anti-abortion laws and the Supreme Court's rulings on them is what I call the "Principle of Responsibility" in a democratic republic. In a democratic republic where government is supposed to be "By and For the People" laws which give one right a priority of one group of people over the rights of another group people is anarchy not democracy. The right to own any gun needs to be tempered with the use of guns to take away the right to life of other citizens. The absolute right of a fetus to life over the right to life and privacy of the woman carrying the fetus is also wrong. The Principle of Responsibility in a democratic republic is that with any individual right there comes the responsibility to protect the rights of others. Without that responsibility an absolute right given one individual becomes anarchy if it takes away especially the right to life for others. There must be a balance reached like Roe v Wade has done now for almost fifty years. Justice Alito's draft position denies a woman her right to determine the risk to her own life by making forced pregnancy law based on one group's religious tenets. The same now needs to be done with gun rights providing some level of protection of the right to life of others. No individual or group of individuals should have more rights than the whole. We, the people, all of us this time.
Thank you for this Robert, and especialy for this:
"Those commentators miss the point of Biden’s speech. He is attempting to wrest control of the terms of the debate from temporizing Republicans and give it back to the American people—so that they can vote on the issue of gun control in 2022 and 2024. America must ban assault weapons and will never succeed unless we declare our resolve to achieve a ban. In that regard, Biden’s speech was a welcome change of tactics that succeeded in its purpose."
I wonder if keeping Hungary and Turkey as members of NATO is good for NATO. They both appear to be staunchly supportive of Putin. Hungary scuttled the sanctioning of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who has been cheering Putin on with his war against Ukraine. Are those two countries really friends of the Western Alliance?
A simple truth understood by anyone who has even a passing knowledge of economics supplied by introductory university courses in the subject is that the President can have little impact on the rate of inflation. Congress with it's budgetary powers can have a far more significant though lagging impact. In the short term the Federal Reserve Board can have a moderating or accelerating impact through it's control of the monetary supply and interest rates.
However, Congress through it's legislative and budgetary powers has primary control over policies related to healthcare including reproductive healthcare, gun violence reduction efforts or none, police reforms or none, and taxation fairness and equity.
So when I speak to voters about thinking carefully on their choices, I urge them to focus their attention and their votes on where they can actually have an impact, areas where those they are choosing amongst can actually make their lives better, healthier, and safer or can make their lives of themselves and their families worse, less healthy, diminished, and poorer. Choose wisely. It will make a difference.
I agree that Biden's speech was excellent. I would also highly recommend watching Rep. Swalwell during the Judiciary Comm. meeting: https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1532414741309792259?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
I am so glad that dems are calling out the GOP BS: "Are you for the kids or the killers?"
Thanks. Don't let us lose track of the $2 billion "bonus" Jared Kushner got from Saudi Arabia.
Thank you, Robert. Voting is the answer!
As far as the Russian Orthodox church supporting Putin: no surprise. They supported Pogroms against Jews. Just to bring some folks up to speed...a Pogrom were rape, pillage, and plunder missions. These could last for days. These were sanctioned by the Czar and by the Church. Many occurred right around Easter. Nice tradition, huh!
Robert, I think you know how much I appreciate your newsletters and the unflagging optimism and encouragement they give us every day. So this is absolutely not a criticism. I feel this morning I’d like to give words to some of the frustration that we/I am feeling. Republicans are spreading lies and disinformation which continues to permeate our discourse and people are still buying it. The answer? Vote them out. They are putting elaborate schemes in place to take over elections. The answer? Vote them out….in large numbers. They are killing our children and grandparents with their gun nonsense. The answer? Vote them out. They have gerrymandered districts and in many cases (Florida) courts have refused to do anything. The answer? Vote them out, and wait another 10 years for another census. We seem to be the only ones trying to do something. Where is the Justice Department, and the AG? Where are the judges who should not be afraid to make a sane ruling? Where are the leaders of the Democratic Party…you know, the ones who should be pulling the fire alarm loudly? Where are the people with a real platform? I fully understand the “power of the people”, but dear God we need reinforcements.
Question for the voters: What’s more important, your wallet or your life and the lives of your loved ones? Will you vote on inflation or on the denial of personal liberty to most Americans, and threats to the lives of all? That’s the question Democrats need to be asking, loudly, every hour between now and Election Day. Maybe there really are scores of millions of voters who love the unregulated right to possess weapons that enable mass killing, or maybe the people who feel that way just make the most noise. Maybe the polls are wrong and 2/3 of Americans don’t want Roe v. Wade upheld. Let’s find out.
First, I'm really glad to see that President Biden reads the Comments section of your newsletter, Robert, and took my advice by giving a prime time speech. The moment called out for it.
Biden finally used the "bully pulpit" to call for legislative action while simultaneously undercutting Republican arguments opposing legislation. Quoting from Scalia's opinion in Heller was brilliant. (For more on that, see link below to today's "A Note to Readers" by Ellie Honig.)
My only criticisms of his speech were, first, he should have announced an assault weapon buy-back program (something I'm guessing he can instruct the Treasury Dept to do via executive order) and, second, asked Americans to take action NOW by calling their elected Senator and *demand* they take action to stop this bloodshed.
https://cafe.com/elies-note/note-from-elie-the-2nd-amendment-justice-scalia-and-selective-textualism/?utm_source=CAFE&utm_campaign=414fa0d6ec-20220603_CAFEBrief_Insiders&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_575ee841eb-414fa0d6ec-165423610
With reference to "Holding Trump Accountable," how's the saying go? What goes around comes around? It will be ignominable payback when "The Worst Attorney General in American History—Bill Barr—" is subpoenaed to testify before the Federal Grand Jury. I'm guessing they will have some interesting questions for Mr. Barr (who's father was the headmaster at my school - a tight-arsed SOB) about his story published in the WSJ (see link below). As a refresher:
"When I [Bill Barr] left that afternoon for my previously scheduled meeting in the West Wing with the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, I knew what to expect. President Trump hailed me down to meet with him. I knew it would be an unpleasant meeting. . . .
I looked at POTUS and greeted him. “Hello, Mr. President.”
There was an awkward silence. He put down the remote control, at first not looking at me. I could tell he was enraged, struggling to keep his temper under control. He shuffled through some papers on the table, looking for something, his breathing a little heavier than usual, his nostrils flaring slightly. Finding what he wanted, he thrust a news clipping at me. “Did you say this?” he snapped.
It was the Balsamo article. “Yes, I did, Mr. President,” I responded. “Why would you say that?” he demanded, his voice rising. “Because it is true, Mr. President,” I replied. “The reporter asked me what the department had found to date, and I told him.”
‘He stopped for a moment and then said, ‘You must hate Trump. You would only do this if you hate Trump.
“But you did not have to say that!” he barked. “You could have just said, ‘No comment.’ This is killing me—killing me. This is pulling the rug out from under me.” He stopped for a moment and then said, “You must hate Trump. You would only do this if you hate Trump.”
“No, Mr. President, I don’t hate you,” I said. “You know I sacrificed a lot personally to come in to help you when I thought you were being wronged.” The president nodded, almost involuntarily conceding the point. “But over the weekend, you started blaming the department for the inability of your legal team to come up with evidence of fraud. The department is not an extension of your legal team. Our mission is to investigate and prosecute actual fraud. The fact is, we have looked at the major claims your people are making, and they are bullshit.”
Hopefully, Trumps' train is finally leaving the station headed toward **USP ADX Florence.** (From Wikipedia: USP ADX Florence houses male inmates in the federal prison system deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control, including prisoners whose escape would pose a serious threat to national security.)
;-))
https://www.wsj.com/articles/william-barr-when-i-confronted-trump-about-election-fraud-11646323237