Don’t be distracted!

March 29, 2023

          Some topics are so contentious that it is difficult to maintain a linear discussion of cause and effect, problem and solution, and premises and conclusions. Mass shootings at schools is one such topic. Any discussion of efforts to protect school children from gun violence immediately veers into disputations over gun terminology, statistics, mental health, and the Framer’s intent relating to technology they could have never imagined.

          America has a gun problem. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from that simple truth by arguments intended to delay, dissemble, or confound. America’s gun problem is that its citizens own too many guns designed to kill people. America is a global outlier in gun ownership and gun violence. That correlation is a complete explanation of why America is the only country in the world that regularly witnesses the slaughter of its schoolchildren.

          Do other factors contribute to mass shootings at schools? Of course, they do. But imagine an America in which private ownership of guns was illegal and non-existent. How many mass shootings at schools would America experience under those conditions? Zero. Guns are the problem.

          By comparison, in nations where gun ownership is severely restricted, school shootings are non-existent or exceedingly rare. In the period from 2009 to 2018, the US experienced 288 school shootings. In the same period, Canada and France experienced 2 each, Germany experienced 1, and the UK experienced 0. America is an outlier in school shootings. The only relevant difference between the US, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK is the number of guns in private hands.

          I am going to great lengths to make the point that guns are the problem because the response from Republicans to the Tennessee school shooting predictably attempted to distract from the issue of guns. Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed gender transition therapy for the shooting, concluding, “Everyone can stop blaming guns now.” Greene also blamed the fact that the killer was undergoing treatment for mental health issues. Still others (including Josh Hawley) contended that the killer was motivated by anti-religious animus. (More on that in a separate article below.)

          A Tennessee member of Congress told reporters that they “were not going to fix it” (gun violence) because we can’t “legislate against evil.” Wrong! The clueless and callous congressman is apparently unaware that Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and other countries have managed to “legislate against the evil” of school shootings by restricting gun ownership. The Tennessee representative said that he keeps his children “safe” by home-schooling them—suggesting that we should cower at home so that gun rights absolutists can carry weapons of war into the public square. See Tennessee Republican says ‘we’re not gonna fix’ school shootings (usatoday.com).

          Tennessee makes the unlicensed purchase and possession of firearms easier than obtaining a driver’s license or a voter ID. The killer was able to legally purchase a half-dozen assault rifles, a pistol, and military ammunition without a background check. Tennessee is currently considering legislation to make it easier to carry firearms in public without a permit.

          Of course, if we do nothing except make it easier to purchase and possess guns, then we are “not going to fix it”—by design. But that is a dereliction of duty and a desecration of the memories of dead schoolchildren who believed that adults would take action to protect them.

          We must not waver in our conviction to ban assault weapons. We must not be distracted by arguments over the “definition” of assault weapons or the fact that assault weapon deaths are a small portion of an obscenely large number of annual gun deaths in the US (45,000+).

          We are right; they are wrong. We constitute the strong majority; they constitute a small and shrinking minority. Should we pursue other remedies like repealing gun manufacturer immunity to civil lawsuits? Yes. But America’s problem is guns designed to kill lots of people quickly with a minimum amount of effort.

          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.

Yep! Trump finally made the obvious point in response to Garland’s delay in investigating and prosecuting Trump.

          For inexplicable reasons, Merrick Garland sat on the investigation relating to Trump’s culpability for the January 6^th insurrection and coup for nearly two years. As a consequence, that investigation has bled into the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump is now pointing to the overlap of his campaign and the various criminal investigations as “election interference” and “a new way of cheating in elections.” See Talking Points Memo, Trump Desperately Tries To Connect Manhattan DA’s Hush Money Probe To The Big Lie.

          Although Trump’s specific comments related to the Manhattan D.A.’s investigation, the question to which he was responding related to “the investigations” currently underway relating to the former president.

          Merrick Garland promised that the DOJ investigations would not abate because of the 2024 presidential election. While that statement is cold comfort, the truth is that the closer in time we come to the 2024 election, the more difficult it will be to indict Trump. Although special counsel Jack Smith appears to be moving expeditiously, every victory Smith secures compelling testimony from a new witness leads to new appeals.

          Time is Jack Smith’s enemy. He may have to make a charging decision without having heard from key witnesses—like Pence, Meadows, and Navarro. For more on that, read on!

Pence ordered to testify, considering an appeal.

          A federal judge ordered Pence to testify about conversations with Trump regarding the 2020 election, although Pence can withhold testimony regarding his specific duties as President of the Senate on January 6^th. See NYTimes, Pence Must Testify to Jan. 6 Grand Jury, Judge Rules. Pence said he is “evaluating” whether to appeal the ruling.

          The mixed ruling is viewed as a victory for Jack Smith and a loss for Trump. See Dennis Aftergut in Slate, Mike Pence will testify against Donald Trump. Aftergut explains the significance of the victory for Jack Smith as follows:

 What Smith doesn’t have are the words that Trump spoke to Pence when they were alone, evidence that is near-certain to convey a criminal state of mind. That is almost always the most difficult element to prove in white collar crimes. Pence was in the room where those words happened.

While the subject of any such conversations would have centered on Pence’s anticipated Congressional role on January 6, the order reportedly says that Pence must testify if Trump’s words involved “any illegal acts on Trump’s part.” That’s really the only thing that matters here.

Court orders Peter Navarro to turn over encrypted emails from private email server.

          Remember “Hillary’s emails?” She was denied the presidency because she made the error in judgment of hosting government emails on a server in her private residence. She turned over all of those emails to Congress and the DOJ but lost about 30,000 personal emails in the transition out of office.

          Use of private, encrypted email services was rampant in the Trump administration—a violation of the Presidential Records Act. Trump Trade Adviser Peter Navarro stored government emails on Proton—a private, encrypted server. When the DOJ demanded his emails as part of its grand jury investigation of the attempted coup, Navarro refused. Or to be more accurate, Navarro said he would turn over the emails only if he is granted immunity from prosecution.

          Navarro’s demand for immunity and refusal to turn over the emails was soundly rejected (again) by a federal judge earlier this week. See Talking Points Memo, Judge Eviscerates Peter Navarro’s Argument To Keep Encrypted Emails. The flaw in Navarro’s argument is that the emails do not belong to him. They belong to the people of the United States and are subject to the provisions of the Presidential Records Act. He has no standing to refuse to turn over to the US government emails that belong to the US government.

          The order is embedded in the TPM article above. The order denies Navarro’s request for a stay pending the appeal of an earlier order requiring Navarro to turn over the encrypted emails. For you lawyers out there, you might enjoy reading the order because it discusses a “writ of replevin”—something you have probably not thought about since you sat for the bar exam!

          Navarro was at the center of the “false electors’ scheme”—a key component of the attempted coup. The encrypted emails may be very incriminating, indeed—and not just for Navarro!

Another casualty of the Tennessee school shooting.

          The Tennessee school shooting has engendered much discussion about the gender identity of the killer. I have separated this discussion from the act of the shooting itself to focus on a disturbing consequence of the Tennessee school shooting—conservatives are using the shooting to declare that transgender people are the “enemies” of Christianity. See Rolling Stone, Tucker Carlson Claims’ Trans Movement Is Targeting Christians’.

          Tucker Carlson has said many reprehensible things that justify his removal from Fox. But his comments about transgender people being the “enemies” of Christianity are beyond the pale of a civilized society. I will not repeat Carlson’s heinous remarks, but they are worse than you can imagine. Like Trump, Carlson makes oblique references to a war of violence between transgender people and the Christian church. The statements are quoted in the Rolling Stone article.

          To be clear, transgender people are more frequently the target of violence than other groups. Indeed, a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that transgender people are four times more likely to be the target of violent crime than the general population. The anti-LGBTQ hate speech emanating from some sects and congregations in the Christian church normalizes the notion that transgender people are somehow “different” or “less than” and do not deserve to be treated like people.

          It cannot be said enough: Transgender people are people, and if Tucker Carlson can declare a war on trans people by saying they are the “natural enemy” of the Christian church, Carlson and his torchbearers will come for you next. The right-wing war on transgender people is a national emergency that deserves urgent attention from every American. Fascists and strongmen everywhere follow the playbook of first attacking a small and relatively defenseless group before they expand their sights to others.

Concluding Thoughts.

          These are tough times. The political environment is more divisive than ever because of the GOP’s weaponization of the House and Trump’s need to win re-election to escape jail time. Daily disappointment over the pace of prosecutions is enervating. And then we face the sickening familiarity of another school shooting—an occurrence beyond our comprehension or powers of description.

          On days like these, I worry that summarizing the news achieves the opposite of my intended effect—to give hope to readers, to lift them up, and to bolster them for the challenges to come. But for us to prevail, we cannot look away from the news. Still, we must be judicious and temperate in our consumption of the media. We cannot succumb to the addicting force of algorithms designed to “increase engagement” in social media by provoking outrage and inducing despair.

          Most stories that seem urgent today will be largely forgotten in two weeks. Sadly, that phenomenon applies to the Tennessee school shooting and Tucker Carlson’s declaration of war on transgender people. As to those stories, we must force ourselves to remember. We cannot let the firehose of irrelevant information overwhelm important, urgent stories that demand long-term attention and dedication.

          Do not look away, but do not obsess. Stay informed, with a focus on the important and long-term stories that will shape our democracy. And keep the faith. We will make it through these difficult times if we stick together!

Talk to you tomorrow!