Please don’t forget our friends in Australia. That country experienced a horrific shooting in 1996 and almost immediately enacted gun laws outlawing the weapons of mass destruction that are still sold in the U.S. The shooting occurred in a cafe in Tasmania; the shooting killed 35 and wounded 23 others. Less than two weeks later, wide-ranging laws were enacted. No one said it was too soon to address the issue and no one blamed mental health or other factors. Australia recognized that access to these weapons is what is the primary cause of the mass shooting. (Duh!) The laws banned the sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns; provided for a 28 day waiting period to buy a firearm and initiated a gun-buyback program which resulted in the destruction of almost 700,000 weapons. And the result? Read the article below.
A horrifying summary of news in this edition, hard to believe it's only Tuesday. As I read through paragraph by paragraph I felt like I was watching a train wreck in progress, unable to look away, but just as I was about to stop reading, you concluded with your observations about struggling to balance informing us with also encouraging us to continue the work towards a better future.
I thank you for your writing but I wish that this edition was not so grim a reminder of the current state of our nation. Sandy Hook should've been the end of mass shootings, but here we are again. 45 should've been impeached and imprisoned, but here he is running for the highest position in our country despite being proven to be a total failure as a leader and even being human. SMH....
Your closing advice is excellent and we'll timed, thanks.
If we're going to strive for accurate reporting, let's be clear about one thing that is constantly part of every piece of political writing. Tucker Carlson, by virtue of his comments on the LGBTQ+ community, is not a Christian. Christians, by definition, follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, among them being "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Cloaking people who publicly and repeatedly disavow that basic tenet in the mantle of a respected faith tradition gives them a status they don't deserve and does an immense disservice to the millions who try to the best of their human ability to live their faith. God will be the ultimate Judge for them as for all of us but, here and now, let's be honest about what their actions say about their true beliefs.
There are several images I would have loved to share, but our comment section does not accommodate them.
Dolly Parton (national treasure) has been an exemplary advocate for literacy, ensuring kids have books. This week the news reports an elementary school's planned Mother's Day tribute was ordered to remove a duet by Dolly and her god-daughter Miley Cyrus for a song about inclusion that had "rainbow" (Rainbowland) in the title for being "controversial."
Anyone who is open to a REAL EDUCATION should learn about the life of Pauli Murray.
A good starting point is the award-winning documentary "My Name Is Pauli Murray."
A remarkable life, with direct impact on most of the rights of minorities and women fought for and gained in the 20th Century.
I watched a segment of Morning Joe today. A guest who is a former CIA agent had a very interesting idea. He said the Democrats need to enlist the assistance of police officers. He said most police officers do not support the idea of people owning assault rifles. He said the police officers who ran to the gunfire in Nashville did it in spite of their fear but would rather had had to go in against a lesser weapon. He recommended calling on police to be their allies in banning these weapons of war. He even said we should call these assault weapons an assault against children, and police. As Simon Rosenberg says, we need to get loud.
The big cop outs by Republicans, elected or voter, is that guns don’t kill, people do. Another is that it’s not the guns but mental instability as the problem. Hogwash!
I will quote a sign my wife; fellow advocates, Jerry and Ron, and I saw at THE MFOL in DC a month after the MSD High School shooting and slaughter of 26 people on Valentines Day 2018. The sign read “People without guns never shoot anyone.”
The Republican stance in part is Hogwash because they know if they make mental stability a requirement to own a gun, no Republican, elected or voter, will be allowed to own one and have what they have, confiscated. That’s because not one of them is mentally stable. That’s why the status is quo.
“Congress must act. Any politician who does not support an assault weapons ban does not deserve your financial support or your vote. Let them know your position and accept nothing less than an ironclad commitment. When we do that, we will get the results we want—and the protection our children deserve.”
I would ask all of these bastards “Do you love your children? Your grandchildren? Can you imagine life without them?” Their quick answer would be “Of course, I do!” The next question would be “Would you do everything to keep them safe?” “Of course!” they’d say. “Then why are you setting them up for failure?” At the rate these guys are going, their children will be kidnapped and/or killed. I honestly feel that way. There will be some very frustrated nutcase who will do this heinous crime. To think that it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen is naive. This climate of hatefulness has to come to a crescendo. I would hope that Garland/Smith would be very effective in rounding up the bad guys, imprisoning them quickly.
It is axiomatic that guns are the problem. It is also clear that the number of guns being readily available to the public is the direct result of the Supreme Count’s majority (Republican appointed) decision in Heller, which intentionally used phony history and illogical “reasoning” to misinterpret the Second Amendment. That egregious misinterpretation continues to “justify” the claims that nothing (legally) can be done to curb gun violence.
Thank you, Robert, for not allowing the gun problem to go quietly away with our thoughts & prayers.
The assault weapons industry has made the calculation that profit, and the unmitigated power it brings, is worth exponentially more than democracy which, no surprise, is their nemesis.
It and the NRA have now successfully bribed enough of our elected officials into falling in line with it’s goals or, at least, being a quiet enabler.
These elected officials, stoked recently by the Trump administration, are empowering a dangerous and growing segment of its constituency to arm themselves with assault weapons to destroy our government because… wait for it… a democratic government is the enemy of assault weapons manufacturers! This also has now “bled into the 2024 presidential campaign.”
Democrats stop trying to work across the isle on this. These, bought & paid for, elected officials are enemies of democracy. It just doesn’t work for them and they’re so done trying to work with you!
Thinking about the sad shooting and too many guns, I think the public could flood the streets as happened in Israel. Public protest on mass scale could cause legislation to wake up to the people they represent. In my state when I write notes to senators, I receive irrelevant responses.
A question can be, what stake does person have in the problem? Have they taken steps to pay attention to the reasons and fix the problem? In the case of child safety, what precautions are being taken to make them safe? Mental health care is one path. Accessibility. Profit. 'Two Eyed Seeing, Albert Marshall, 2004) 5. 5. Become able to put our values and actions and knowledges in front of us, like an object, for examination and discussion
In a situation where much harm is done I have found this to be a very good way to examine it using many perspectives. Questions become clear. Is someone taking action? Or are they continuing in their ideology completely, without taking in any information?
Oh, yes. Painful as it may be. So many wrongs to right. As you also said, Robert, like a "firehose." But we MUST hold the line. Invite others to join us. Together we can and must do this. Will.
One school shooter is transgender. Therefore it follows that all school shooters are transgender and voila, the solution is at hand. Just ban transgenders from society - school shooting problem solved! Who knew, the solution is SO EASY! We don’t have to do anything we weren’t already doing!
Please don’t forget our friends in Australia. That country experienced a horrific shooting in 1996 and almost immediately enacted gun laws outlawing the weapons of mass destruction that are still sold in the U.S. The shooting occurred in a cafe in Tasmania; the shooting killed 35 and wounded 23 others. Less than two weeks later, wide-ranging laws were enacted. No one said it was too soon to address the issue and no one blamed mental health or other factors. Australia recognized that access to these weapons is what is the primary cause of the mass shooting. (Duh!) The laws banned the sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns; provided for a 28 day waiting period to buy a firearm and initiated a gun-buyback program which resulted in the destruction of almost 700,000 weapons. And the result? Read the article below.
See, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-can-australias-reaction-to-a-mass-shooting-teach-us-about-guns-and-gun-control/
A horrifying summary of news in this edition, hard to believe it's only Tuesday. As I read through paragraph by paragraph I felt like I was watching a train wreck in progress, unable to look away, but just as I was about to stop reading, you concluded with your observations about struggling to balance informing us with also encouraging us to continue the work towards a better future.
I thank you for your writing but I wish that this edition was not so grim a reminder of the current state of our nation. Sandy Hook should've been the end of mass shootings, but here we are again. 45 should've been impeached and imprisoned, but here he is running for the highest position in our country despite being proven to be a total failure as a leader and even being human. SMH....
Your closing advice is excellent and we'll timed, thanks.
If we're going to strive for accurate reporting, let's be clear about one thing that is constantly part of every piece of political writing. Tucker Carlson, by virtue of his comments on the LGBTQ+ community, is not a Christian. Christians, by definition, follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, among them being "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Cloaking people who publicly and repeatedly disavow that basic tenet in the mantle of a respected faith tradition gives them a status they don't deserve and does an immense disservice to the millions who try to the best of their human ability to live their faith. God will be the ultimate Judge for them as for all of us but, here and now, let's be honest about what their actions say about their true beliefs.
I have so MUCH I want to say on these topics.
Bottom line: Ban bullets, not books.
There are several images I would have loved to share, but our comment section does not accommodate them.
Dolly Parton (national treasure) has been an exemplary advocate for literacy, ensuring kids have books. This week the news reports an elementary school's planned Mother's Day tribute was ordered to remove a duet by Dolly and her god-daughter Miley Cyrus for a song about inclusion that had "rainbow" (Rainbowland) in the title for being "controversial."
Anyone who is open to a REAL EDUCATION should learn about the life of Pauli Murray.
A good starting point is the award-winning documentary "My Name Is Pauli Murray."
A remarkable life, with direct impact on most of the rights of minorities and women fought for and gained in the 20th Century.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11092594/
I watched a segment of Morning Joe today. A guest who is a former CIA agent had a very interesting idea. He said the Democrats need to enlist the assistance of police officers. He said most police officers do not support the idea of people owning assault rifles. He said the police officers who ran to the gunfire in Nashville did it in spite of their fear but would rather had had to go in against a lesser weapon. He recommended calling on police to be their allies in banning these weapons of war. He even said we should call these assault weapons an assault against children, and police. As Simon Rosenberg says, we need to get loud.
The big cop outs by Republicans, elected or voter, is that guns don’t kill, people do. Another is that it’s not the guns but mental instability as the problem. Hogwash!
I will quote a sign my wife; fellow advocates, Jerry and Ron, and I saw at THE MFOL in DC a month after the MSD High School shooting and slaughter of 26 people on Valentines Day 2018. The sign read “People without guns never shoot anyone.”
The Republican stance in part is Hogwash because they know if they make mental stability a requirement to own a gun, no Republican, elected or voter, will be allowed to own one and have what they have, confiscated. That’s because not one of them is mentally stable. That’s why the status is quo.
“Congress must act. Any politician who does not support an assault weapons ban does not deserve your financial support or your vote. Let them know your position and accept nothing less than an ironclad commitment. When we do that, we will get the results we want—and the protection our children deserve.”
All too true, Robert, all too true.
Count on the 2024 elections to solve some of our problems.
I would ask all of these bastards “Do you love your children? Your grandchildren? Can you imagine life without them?” Their quick answer would be “Of course, I do!” The next question would be “Would you do everything to keep them safe?” “Of course!” they’d say. “Then why are you setting them up for failure?” At the rate these guys are going, their children will be kidnapped and/or killed. I honestly feel that way. There will be some very frustrated nutcase who will do this heinous crime. To think that it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen is naive. This climate of hatefulness has to come to a crescendo. I would hope that Garland/Smith would be very effective in rounding up the bad guys, imprisoning them quickly.
It is axiomatic that guns are the problem. It is also clear that the number of guns being readily available to the public is the direct result of the Supreme Count’s majority (Republican appointed) decision in Heller, which intentionally used phony history and illogical “reasoning” to misinterpret the Second Amendment. That egregious misinterpretation continues to “justify” the claims that nothing (legally) can be done to curb gun violence.
What kind of chickens**t coward would decline to protect children?
Thank you, Robert, for not allowing the gun problem to go quietly away with our thoughts & prayers.
The assault weapons industry has made the calculation that profit, and the unmitigated power it brings, is worth exponentially more than democracy which, no surprise, is their nemesis.
It and the NRA have now successfully bribed enough of our elected officials into falling in line with it’s goals or, at least, being a quiet enabler.
These elected officials, stoked recently by the Trump administration, are empowering a dangerous and growing segment of its constituency to arm themselves with assault weapons to destroy our government because… wait for it… a democratic government is the enemy of assault weapons manufacturers! This also has now “bled into the 2024 presidential campaign.”
Democrats stop trying to work across the isle on this. These, bought & paid for, elected officials are enemies of democracy. It just doesn’t work for them and they’re so done trying to work with you!
Thinking about the sad shooting and too many guns, I think the public could flood the streets as happened in Israel. Public protest on mass scale could cause legislation to wake up to the people they represent. In my state when I write notes to senators, I receive irrelevant responses.
Thanks for your newsletters.
Carol
A question can be, what stake does person have in the problem? Have they taken steps to pay attention to the reasons and fix the problem? In the case of child safety, what precautions are being taken to make them safe? Mental health care is one path. Accessibility. Profit. 'Two Eyed Seeing, Albert Marshall, 2004) 5. 5. Become able to put our values and actions and knowledges in front of us, like an object, for examination and discussion
In a situation where much harm is done I have found this to be a very good way to examine it using many perspectives. Questions become clear. Is someone taking action? Or are they continuing in their ideology completely, without taking in any information?
". . . we must force ourselves to remember."
Oh, yes. Painful as it may be. So many wrongs to right. As you also said, Robert, like a "firehose." But we MUST hold the line. Invite others to join us. Together we can and must do this. Will.
Rightwing “logic”:
One school shooter is transgender. Therefore it follows that all school shooters are transgender and voila, the solution is at hand. Just ban transgenders from society - school shooting problem solved! Who knew, the solution is SO EASY! We don’t have to do anything we weren’t already doing!