Drones vs Guns
December 17, 2024
America experienced another school shooting on Monday that killed two and wounded a half dozen people in Madison, Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the nation remained fixated on sightings of “mystery” drones (and planes and stars mistaken for drones).
As of Monday, no drones had killed or injured any American citizens, much less innocent schoolchildren whose only fault was trusting the nation’s leaders to protect them. The school shooting in Madison was the 83rd such incident in 2024, bringing the total killed to 38 and the total wounded to 115. See CNN, School shootings in the US in 2024: Fast facts.
The disparity in the treatment over sightings of legal, non-lethal drones flying at night (also legal) and the slaughter of America’s schoolchildren is unforgivable. Every politician or pundit who comments on drone sightings should begin by comparing the fatality rates of drones and guns. That fact should inform everything else politicians or pundits say about drones.
The mass panic over drones reached dangerous levels as felons-in-waiting began shining green lasers at aircraft in the New Jersey area. Green lasers can temporarily blind or permanently injure pilots. The interference with commercial and civilian aircraft became so acute on Monday that the FBI issued a statement warning people not to shine lasers at aircraft. See PIX 11 (NYC), Don’t shoot guns or lasers at mysterious drones, FBI warns.
Per the story published by PIX 11,
Pilots of manned aircraft are increasingly being hit in the eyes with lasers because people on the ground think they see a drone, according to the FBI’s field office in Newark, New Jersey. The FBI is also concerned that people might shoot a gun at a manned aircraft after mistaking it for a drone.
“Not only is this act against the law, but it poses an incredible danger to the pilots and passengers on those aircraft,” said Nelson Delgado, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Newark.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump went out of his way to suggest that there is something sinister about the drones and that President Biden is suppressing the information. See National Review, Trump Says Biden Administration Knows the Origin of the N.J. Drones, Urges Transparency.
Later in the day, National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said that all indications are that the drones are licensed commercial or civilian units that are flying legally. See Fox News, Drones flying over the country are 'lawful,' nothing indicates a 'public safety risk,' says top WH official.
The drone story will be “above the fold” news on Tuesday, but the school shooting in Madison will disappear from major media outlets.
Something is wrong with the American media ecosystem, our political leaders, and our laws. In the national debate about drones vs guns, there is only one device that is killing schoolchildren with sickening regularity.
Judge Merchan denies motion to throw out Trump guilty verdicts in hush money case
Trump moved to dismiss the NY state jury verdict that found him guilty on 34 counts of violating NY law by concealing the true nature of payments to Stormy Daniels in 2016. On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump's motion to dismiss the case. Trump claimed that the trial and verdicts violated the Supreme Court’s grant of immunity in Trump v. US. See MSNBC, Judge Merchan declines to overturn Trump’s guilty verdicts in hush money case over immunity ruling.
Judge Merchan ruled that the introduction of the evidence of Trump's actions after he became president did not violate the “official acts” immunity grant in Trump v. US. Merchan wrote,
The People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch,
Notably, Judge Merchan ruled that even if evidence of official acts did violate the holding in Trump v. US, the evidence was “harmless error” and did not taint the verdict:
Even if this Court did find that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of the [Supreme Court's presidential immunity] decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied as introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no mode of proceedings error has taken place.
Trump must still be sentenced before he can be called a “convicted felon.” The the correct description of Trump's status is that “a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts.”
Trump will appeal before he is sentenced, but it is likely that the guilty verdicts will still be on the record when he takes the oath office. So, he will be the first president sworn into office with thirty-four guilty verdicts outstanding against him.
Trump's press conference on Monday
Trump gave a meandering press conference in which he said many stupid things because he was asked questions by the media that baited him into making stupid statements.
Trump said the following:
He would consider privatizing the US Postal Service.
Regarding the disproven link between vaccines and autism, Trump said, “There’s something wrong and we’re going to find out about it.”
Republican Senators who oppose Trump's nominees would find themselves with a Republican primary opponent.
Hamas must release all hostages before January 20, 2025, or “all hell is going to break out.”
Trump suggested the Biden knew the nature and purpose of the drones sighted on the East Coast but wasn’t sharing the information with the public.
Trump claimed that Elon Musk would be able to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget “with no impact on people.”
But among the most idiotic statements Trump made during the press conference were three threats against the press:
He threatened to sue the Des Moines Register for publishing a poll before the election that showed him losing the state to Kamala Harris. See HuffPo, 'Election Interference': Trump Threatens To Sue Des Moines Register Over Poll.
He also threatened to sue CBS 60 Minutes for editing its interview with Kamala Harris. Emboldened by ABC settlement, Trump threatens more lawsuits against the press | CNN Business
And he threatened to sue the Pulitzer Foundation for awarding the NYTimes a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign.
Trump's threats are apparently motivated by ABC’s $15 million settlement payment in his defamation suit against George Stephanopoulos. In Trump's reptilian mind, “Lawsuit = $15 million, therefore repeat.” See Harry Litman on Substack, Talking Feds, Et Tu, ABC?
ABC’s surrender taught Trump that “threats work.” That is why “obeying in advance” harms democracy—and why the collapse of the billionaire class and corporate leaders has been disheartening. We must not make the same mistake. Do not “obey in advance.” Resist. Oppose. Speak the truth. Never surrender.
A letter to the Next Chair of the DNC
The DNC is selecting its next Chair. The Grassroots Connector serves as a hub for grassroots organizations and publishes a newsletter on Substack. The group sent a “letter” to the next Chair of the DNC that proposes job duties for the Chair relating to the important role the grassroots groups play in the Democratic Party.
Historically, grassroots volunteer groups have been under-recognized, under-appreciated, and ignored as a vital source of the party’s strength. See The Grassroots Connector, To the Next Chair of the DNC.
I recommend the letter in its entirety, but here is a sampling:
THE DNC CHAIR SHOULD COMMIT TO:
Opening lines of communication with all groups that make up the Democratic family.
Establishing “Grassroots Coordinator” as an official position on the DNC Executive Board and convening monthly town halls for dialogue with volunteers.
Reviewing the track record of current chairs and consulting with state party groups to field new leaders, particularly where chairs have poor track records.
Halting the selling of donor lists to anyone.
Presenting a clear plan for strengthening Democratic branding, messaging, and fundraising by appointing a task force of Democrats with proven talents in media/messaging, and allocating a serious budget to build a media strategy that reflects the current media landscape with an aim towards developing a counterweight to the world of rightwing media.
Renouncing shrill, hyperbolic, and scam solicitations in digital fundraising. “Hey, this is Chuck Schumer!” got so old! Such crass and transparent pitches turned off more donors than they gathered.
There is more. I will let you check it out for yourself!
Concluding Thoughts
MSNBC’s ratings are in a nosedive. There are undoubtedly many reasons to explain the decline, but I would put in the mix of reasons the constant “What went wrong” rotation of pundits explaining “Why Democrats lost in 2024.”
Featured in the punditry rotation are Obama administration alumni explaining that Kamala Harris is not Barack Obama. Although they never mention Vice President Harris by name, they focus on the loss at the presidential level and claim that Democrats “failed to listen to working-class voters” and were “judgmental” toward “voters who did not attend college.”
I frequently hear such criticisms from readers. When I ask for examples of such arrogance coming from Democratic politicians in general (or Kamala Harris in particular), the only two instances ever cited by a reader are Obama’s statement at a private fundraiser in San Francisco that white working-class voters in small towns were “bitter” and were “clinging to their guns and religion,” and Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment.
No one ever comes up with an instance in which Kamala Harris criticized or condemned voters because of their economic status, educational level, age, ethnicity, rural residence, or religious beliefs. And yet the urban legend among pundits is that Kamala Harris lost because Democrats “ignored working class voters” or “looked down on voters who did not attend college” or “live in rural America.” Nonsense!
Instead of meeting with billionaires at a private golf resort, Kamala Harris was on the campaign trail in high school gyms and community centers. She would kneel to talk to children; she would embrace people who were suffering; she crisscrossed the nation to meet with voters where they lived and worked.
So, please, spare us the lectures about what Kamala Harris or Democrats did wrong in 2024. Barack Obama was the most gifted politician of the last fifty years. It is no solution to say, “When I worked for Obama we did X [fill in rationalization retrofitted to make the Obama alumni look like political geniuses].
We absolutely need to understand why we didn’t win in 2024 and how we can win in 2026 and 2028. But re-telling war stories from the Obama years is not helpful; indeed, it is offensive and demeaning because it ignores the hundreds of thousands of Democrats who reached out to working-class voters, small-town voters, Black and Hispanic male voters, and voters who did not attend college. To pretend that didn’t happen is insulting.
And we must stop pretending that there was only one candidate in the 2024 presidential race. Donald Trump had a message that resonated with 77 million voters. No analysis about “why Democrats lost” is complete unless we grapple with the fact that Trump had a dark and divisive message that carried the day on November 5, 2024. Explaining the loss using “just so” stories that focus only on Democratic messaging will cause us to draw incorrect conclusions about how we can win in the future.
Figuring out what we need to do differently is difficult. But offending hundreds of thousands of Americans who volunteered in 2024 is not part of the way forward. Rather, we need to thank and lift-up those grassroots volunteers who did exactly what pundits are claiming Democrats failed to do in 2024—listen to working-class voters, rural voters, Black and Hispanic men, and voters who did not attend college.
I will say it again: The grassroots volunteers who rose unbidden in 2017 and continue the fight today saved democracy during Trump's first term—and in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023. They are doing so again as I write. They are the backbone of the Democratic party. They are the face of America. They are patriots and heroes who will never be asked for their view about “what went right or wrong” in 2024. Instead, their contributions will be overlooked, dismissed, and mischaracterized.
And despite being taken for granted, they will continue their efforts because it is righteous and because they are good people who will deliver our democracy safely to our children and grandchildren. Ignore them at your peril.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
I was so astonished by Larry Hogan’s video of the constellation Orion as proof of “mystery drones” flying near his house in Maryland that I was inspired to take (another) photo of the Orion Nebula. I recently published an image of the Orion Nebula, but the results change every time I take a photo. The reasons for the changes include varying exposure times, the quality of the “seeing” (the clarity of the atmosphere), and nearby sources of light (the Moon, local office buildings when the object is low in the sky, and alien spacecraft).
So, below is my latest image of the Orion Nebula. No drones were observed during the capture of this image.
Robert, Yes we are taken for granted, but this eloquent response by you, and with the gratitude we all share for this community, let's endure, more than survive.
And dare to thrive!
I so agree with your comments where VP Harris is concerned. I had the opportunity to hear her speak here in Kalamazoo Michigan and followed her speeches and appearances around the country. She did not speak down to any groups! I have stopped watching MSNBC. I will acknowledge in large measure because Joe and Mika so quickly went to Mar a Largo to meet with Trump.