Thank you, Robert. I had no words, and you so accurately described my shock, sadness, and anger. Please send this piece to all of them!
(And isn’t it ironic that these “protect guns over all else” people are the same ones saying “you can’t kill the fetus” “that would be murder”. But they really don’t seem to care what happens to the children after they’re born.)
I don't even think most of them are pro-birth. They've got hold of this biblical/Jesus thing and have ridden with it for so long they believe it. Nowhere that I know of in either the Hebrew Scriptures or the gospels or even Paul is there any statement about abortion. Period. But their very passion for the inaccurate leaves them wide open and vulnerable to the machinations of the politicians.
Well said. My concern is that both the reactionary christians and the “Make America White Again” politicians have stolen our language and I want it back. Pro-life, love, Jesus, savior, messiah, rights, constitutional rights, Republican and on and on have been redefined to mislead those who are marching on to Zion.
Thank goodness for men with both guts and education like Robert Hubble who carry the heavy burden every day.
And thank you for your expansion of my train of thought.
George Orwell wrote that as the language goes, so goes the culture. He warns of two signs of trouble--the loss of vocabulary and the twisting of language to conceal rather than reveal truth. We are far gone in both. You refer in your reply to the corrupt use of language to lie and reverse real meaning. But underneath that is what technology has done. It has created an entire generation who no longer communicate in words, let alone sentences. IMHO and LOL aren't words. We have literally lost, and continue to lose vocabulary, and the only thing we have to think with are words. If I don't have the words, I can't formulate the thought. Simple as that. We cannot think something if we can't name it. We can have feelings, emotions, but not ideas, and without the words, we don't know what the feelings are. The Dark Ages loom. As a teacher of literature who took joy for many years in watching students read a play or a novel, discuss it in the first move toward understanding, and finally sit down to wrestle with words, use the Thesaurus to find more words, and then to write essays that used those words to further clarify and enrich their ideas, I find this terrifying. It is the great dumbing-down of America and it's been going on for a long time. It has picked up speed with the juggernaut of money, power, and the extremists among the religionists.
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!
I, too, "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."
"There comes a time when silence is betrayal" - MLK Jr. Powerfully true. My nieces missed being slaughtered in Boulder last year by seconds; my sister is a high school teacher and, as all teachers, lives with this fear every day. The church in Orange County is a participant in my nonprofit's food distribution program. ENOUGH!
Oh, Cathy, thank you for this reminder. I had completely forgotten about the obscenity of the idea of arming teachers. So pathetic and ridiculous that I laughed about it at the time. Turns out it wasn't funny. The way things are going, not much is funny right now. I hope all this doesn't turn out as badly as it seems likely to be.
Robert, Picking up on your mention of the “history of the Second Amendment,” were I to hold any power, I would convene multiple public hearings in honor of the late, great Supreme Court Justice, Republican appointed John Paul Stevens, who, following the 2008 Heller decision that struck down virtually all prior restrictions, had argued for repealing, or at least reinterpreting, the Second Amendment to enable policies that would reduce the type and number of firearms in the US.
I am going to the extreme because other countries have no 2nd Amendement and in the case of those also democratic-republics it has not been the end of their nation; not “the end of the World”. We must remove the 2nd Amendment entirely , have an amnesty-no consequence surrender your guns deadline. We need mandatory military service below a certain age with an annual active duty similar to Switzerland, put the surrendered weapons in National Guard Armories to assure those who worry about attacks such as in Ukraine they will be called into action as a citizen militia, but unlike Ukraine, already trained. There can be licensed, certified and sanctioned firing ranges where adult citizens with no top age restrictions but with training, background checks and psychological testing can go and satisfy their craving to feel power in their trigger finger. Anything short of this is fooling ourselves.
I don't think anything is likely to be amended for a long time, Robert. The massacre of children--babies, really--does not bode well. I'm sure I'm repeating myself, but I read a comment somewhere a few years ago that said, in effect, that after Sandy Hook the conversation about gun-control was essentially over. Once we decided we could live with the murder of children without changing one thing in the way we manage guns in this country, once that was established, all the other discussions about gun control were window dressing.
Thank you, Robert, for articulating the sentiments of so many grieving Americans today. Your words remind us of our duty to do all we can to bring back reasonable gun legislation for the safety of our children and our communities.
It's the money. The NRA is a for-profit business in which the goal is no longer to promote safe gun handling but rather to promote guns sales. That way, the NRA can generate the profits that it pours back into political races on the side of the candidate likely to do the most good in promoting further gun sales. That way, Wayne LaPierre and the government influencers and/or legislators can enjoy super fun times on big yachts or fly privately to exotic wild animal safaris. It's the money. Morality be damned.
Todays Edition has captured perfectly what I have been thinking. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s comments and understand the history of gun legislation. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?r=4bvyg&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email A very significant point was made today and that is to change the laws about abortion, gun controls, climate change and the filibuster to name a few we need to have a majority in both the Senate and the House to change the laws so a majority of citizens have their voices heard. Never before has voting in a midterm been so important. Many if not all of these issues are not party specific per se which means that Independents have equal skin in the game. Yesterday we discussed messaging and slogans for the Democrats For me it’s very simple. “ we have had enough” and there are certainly many things we have have had enough of.
Yes, HCR was especially helpful today, and this is what she does, put the historical foundation under all the unmanageable and unbelievable events of the day. By doing so, she in no way weakens the passion and outrage of the moment. She says, clearly, here is where we are and this is how we got here. Scariest thing of all is that we have raised an entire generation that believes any consideration of history is, at best, irrelevant, and at worst, some kind of trick to skew our thinking.
Coming from a culture where private gun ownership is very restricted, it is difficult for me to comprehend the gun culture in the States. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that restricting gun permits, availability and background checks will reduce the carnage that happens every year. So many countries around the world are proof of this, not just mine. Republicans always claim that it is never the time to talk about gun control after a massacre - but surely it is exactly the time. They just want distance between cause and effect to lighten the pressure on them
Thank you. This is exactly what we all need to say - no, to SHOUT - every day, over and over, while we do whatever it takes to turn politicians supported by the gun lobby out of office.
As your eloquent post today makes clear, the Republican Party is the Party of Death and the only appropriate action as Mary Pat Sercu says is to "VOTE EVERY REPUBLICAN OUT." Heather Cox Richardson's report about Golden State Warriors basketball coach Steve Kerr's comments at a press conference last night says it all about the character of the 2022 Republican Party. "We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington ho refuse to even put it to a vote, Kerr said, "despite what we the American people want." An arrangement like that sounds like Fascism to me, not Democracy, and the excuses offered up by these bought-and-paid for shills of the gun lobbies are disingenuous, pathetic and insane. These people belong in a mental institution, not the U.S. Congress, or is that now the same thing? Steve Kerr walked out of last night's press conference ending his statement with "I've had enough." Sadly, Kerr's sentiment doesn't apply to the Republicans who have repeatedly demonstrated that they are more than willing to sacrifice innocent children on the alter of gun control in order to get their way. Polls show that We the People, on the other hand, stand with Kerr against what Berry M once described as a "rats nets of evil," that the Republican Party has become.
Thank you for saying everything I am thinking, and more importantly everything that we should all be fighting for, and insisting on, to protect our children, and anyone of us who happen to be in the crosshairs of the “legal assault weapon” of a white supremacist or just your everyday nutcase that can easily get a gun
Thank you, Robert. I had no words, and you so accurately described my shock, sadness, and anger. Please send this piece to all of them!
(And isn’t it ironic that these “protect guns over all else” people are the same ones saying “you can’t kill the fetus” “that would be murder”. But they really don’t seem to care what happens to the children after they’re born.)
Zygotes rule is a political con, and the religious nuts wail
Amen!
They are pro-birth, not pro-life. No interest in feeding the hungry or clothing the naked etc.
I don't even think most of them are pro-birth. They've got hold of this biblical/Jesus thing and have ridden with it for so long they believe it. Nowhere that I know of in either the Hebrew Scriptures or the gospels or even Paul is there any statement about abortion. Period. But their very passion for the inaccurate leaves them wide open and vulnerable to the machinations of the politicians.
Well said. My concern is that both the reactionary christians and the “Make America White Again” politicians have stolen our language and I want it back. Pro-life, love, Jesus, savior, messiah, rights, constitutional rights, Republican and on and on have been redefined to mislead those who are marching on to Zion.
Thank goodness for men with both guts and education like Robert Hubble who carry the heavy burden every day.
And thank you for your expansion of my train of thought.
George Orwell wrote that as the language goes, so goes the culture. He warns of two signs of trouble--the loss of vocabulary and the twisting of language to conceal rather than reveal truth. We are far gone in both. You refer in your reply to the corrupt use of language to lie and reverse real meaning. But underneath that is what technology has done. It has created an entire generation who no longer communicate in words, let alone sentences. IMHO and LOL aren't words. We have literally lost, and continue to lose vocabulary, and the only thing we have to think with are words. If I don't have the words, I can't formulate the thought. Simple as that. We cannot think something if we can't name it. We can have feelings, emotions, but not ideas, and without the words, we don't know what the feelings are. The Dark Ages loom. As a teacher of literature who took joy for many years in watching students read a play or a novel, discuss it in the first move toward understanding, and finally sit down to wrestle with words, use the Thesaurus to find more words, and then to write essays that used those words to further clarify and enrich their ideas, I find this terrifying. It is the great dumbing-down of America and it's been going on for a long time. It has picked up speed with the juggernaut of money, power, and the extremists among the religionists.
And there endeth the First Lesson
Yikes. What a downer of a reply. Apologies.
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!
I, too, "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."
VOTE EVERY REPUBLICAN OUT.
"There comes a time when silence is betrayal" - MLK Jr. Powerfully true. My nieces missed being slaughtered in Boulder last year by seconds; my sister is a high school teacher and, as all teachers, lives with this fear every day. The church in Orange County is a participant in my nonprofit's food distribution program. ENOUGH!
Oh, Cathy, thank you for this reminder. I had completely forgotten about the obscenity of the idea of arming teachers. So pathetic and ridiculous that I laughed about it at the time. Turns out it wasn't funny. The way things are going, not much is funny right now. I hope all this doesn't turn out as badly as it seems likely to be.
Robert, Picking up on your mention of the “history of the Second Amendment,” were I to hold any power, I would convene multiple public hearings in honor of the late, great Supreme Court Justice, Republican appointed John Paul Stevens, who, following the 2008 Heller decision that struck down virtually all prior restrictions, had argued for repealing, or at least reinterpreting, the Second Amendment to enable policies that would reduce the type and number of firearms in the US.
You pointed your arrow of disgust at the right targets. Don’t worry about hurting the feelings of any gun/cult nut. They have no heart…
You found the right words. Thank you.
I am going to the extreme because other countries have no 2nd Amendement and in the case of those also democratic-republics it has not been the end of their nation; not “the end of the World”. We must remove the 2nd Amendment entirely , have an amnesty-no consequence surrender your guns deadline. We need mandatory military service below a certain age with an annual active duty similar to Switzerland, put the surrendered weapons in National Guard Armories to assure those who worry about attacks such as in Ukraine they will be called into action as a citizen militia, but unlike Ukraine, already trained. There can be licensed, certified and sanctioned firing ranges where adult citizens with no top age restrictions but with training, background checks and psychological testing can go and satisfy their craving to feel power in their trigger finger. Anything short of this is fooling ourselves.
Amending the Constitution should be on the table.
I don't think anything is likely to be amended for a long time, Robert. The massacre of children--babies, really--does not bode well. I'm sure I'm repeating myself, but I read a comment somewhere a few years ago that said, in effect, that after Sandy Hook the conversation about gun-control was essentially over. Once we decided we could live with the murder of children without changing one thing in the way we manage guns in this country, once that was established, all the other discussions about gun control were window dressing.
Thank you, Robert, for articulating the sentiments of so many grieving Americans today. Your words remind us of our duty to do all we can to bring back reasonable gun legislation for the safety of our children and our communities.
It's the money. The NRA is a for-profit business in which the goal is no longer to promote safe gun handling but rather to promote guns sales. That way, the NRA can generate the profits that it pours back into political races on the side of the candidate likely to do the most good in promoting further gun sales. That way, Wayne LaPierre and the government influencers and/or legislators can enjoy super fun times on big yachts or fly privately to exotic wild animal safaris. It's the money. Morality be damned.
A poem written by Amanda Gorman after the shooting…
Schools scared to death.
The truth is, one education under desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge when we ask
Where our children
Shall live
& how
& if
Todays Edition has captured perfectly what I have been thinking. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s comments and understand the history of gun legislation. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?r=4bvyg&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email A very significant point was made today and that is to change the laws about abortion, gun controls, climate change and the filibuster to name a few we need to have a majority in both the Senate and the House to change the laws so a majority of citizens have their voices heard. Never before has voting in a midterm been so important. Many if not all of these issues are not party specific per se which means that Independents have equal skin in the game. Yesterday we discussed messaging and slogans for the Democrats For me it’s very simple. “ we have had enough” and there are certainly many things we have have had enough of.
Yes, HCR was especially helpful today, and this is what she does, put the historical foundation under all the unmanageable and unbelievable events of the day. By doing so, she in no way weakens the passion and outrage of the moment. She says, clearly, here is where we are and this is how we got here. Scariest thing of all is that we have raised an entire generation that believes any consideration of history is, at best, irrelevant, and at worst, some kind of trick to skew our thinking.
The great dumbing-down of America
Coming from a culture where private gun ownership is very restricted, it is difficult for me to comprehend the gun culture in the States. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that restricting gun permits, availability and background checks will reduce the carnage that happens every year. So many countries around the world are proof of this, not just mine. Republicans always claim that it is never the time to talk about gun control after a massacre - but surely it is exactly the time. They just want distance between cause and effect to lighten the pressure on them
Well said Robert. You said everything I feel. This is a tragic and sickening day for this country. We must change this!
Thank you. This is exactly what we all need to say - no, to SHOUT - every day, over and over, while we do whatever it takes to turn politicians supported by the gun lobby out of office.
Amen
As your eloquent post today makes clear, the Republican Party is the Party of Death and the only appropriate action as Mary Pat Sercu says is to "VOTE EVERY REPUBLICAN OUT." Heather Cox Richardson's report about Golden State Warriors basketball coach Steve Kerr's comments at a press conference last night says it all about the character of the 2022 Republican Party. "We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington ho refuse to even put it to a vote, Kerr said, "despite what we the American people want." An arrangement like that sounds like Fascism to me, not Democracy, and the excuses offered up by these bought-and-paid for shills of the gun lobbies are disingenuous, pathetic and insane. These people belong in a mental institution, not the U.S. Congress, or is that now the same thing? Steve Kerr walked out of last night's press conference ending his statement with "I've had enough." Sadly, Kerr's sentiment doesn't apply to the Republicans who have repeatedly demonstrated that they are more than willing to sacrifice innocent children on the alter of gun control in order to get their way. Polls show that We the People, on the other hand, stand with Kerr against what Berry M once described as a "rats nets of evil," that the Republican Party has become.
Thank you for saying everything I am thinking, and more importantly everything that we should all be fighting for, and insisting on, to protect our children, and anyone of us who happen to be in the crosshairs of the “legal assault weapon” of a white supremacist or just your everyday nutcase that can easily get a gun