Today the highlight of my day was a conversation with the FedEx driver delivering a package to my address. I greet everyone I meet with what I call big talk and ask "What is your dream?" In under a minute you can make a meaningful connection with a total stranger. This young (39 years old) man's dream is to eliminate violence in our world. Of course, the conversation went to the shooting in Uvalde, a town I have visited only an hour's drive away from where we were. I was a little surprised to find he was very progressive and totally agreed about need gun safety laws and with women's and gay rights should be protected. So I asked him if others of his age and under felt the same way and again he said yes. We talked about the need for the younger generations to vote. He said many young people don't care about voting; they don't understand what difference it would make in their lives. We also agreed on the media being a problem. We agreed that now is the time for action and to encourage young people to vote. We, the People, all of us this time.
I disagree with the individual who says March for Our Lives is a waste of energy. I do think that it needs to be coupled with registering to vote and actually voting: Up and down ballot. The abysmal behaviour of the Uvalde mayor, at the sad news conference, should remain in the back of the minds of all who lost a loved one. This is even more true of the Governor and Senator Cruz.
Isaiah 1:15 totally applies to this gun violence situation. So too does an essay I read that said the Republicans are practicing child sacrifice by refusing to address gun violence.
I want to here (and elsewhere) express my concern and compassion, yes, for this week's shooting, which wakes me in the middle of the night, but today, even more for last week's shooting for the in some ways already forgotten Black dead, their families, friends, caregivers, and communities from last week's shooting by an 18 year old community college freshman who drove 200 miles to kill all the Black people he thought he could, in some ways now shadowed by the little children shot by an 18 year old high school senior, who drove maybe two miles to kill fourth graders of his own ethnic background. EIGHTEEN--adolescent, though legally adult.
Yes, a serious mental health problem. We need more staff in college counseling centers, in high schools, in elementary schools. We also need more free parenting classes, more mental health training for pastors, and more childcare for single teenage parents. And more food stamps.
AND we need gun control and bullet control in a country increasingly divided by fear, bitterness and hate. To borrow from the motto of the American Himalayan Foundation, we all need to be kind, do good, and have fun. Myself, a retired clinical psychologist, today I heard from a former patient who survived a college shooting, one retraumatized many times in the years that I saw him. He wondered if/what to say to his first child, soon to finish kindergarten. He doesn't want them to be afraid to go to school.
Yes, it is time for action. Today I think of the title of a book I've never read, Cry My Beloved Country, written by Alan Patton about South Africa.
The death of young children meat-grinds our inner instincts to protect our offspring even if our instinctive defense could mean our own death. That is the true definition of parenthood. Despite my own experiences as a first responder for 26 years and once witnessing a beautiful 14-year-old Cuban-American girl dead in her bed with a self-inflicted pistol hole in her scalp, her eyes wide-open in death. She was the same age as my own Theresa; when I returned to the station I immediately called Nancy to ask if Theresa was ok. But I never had to enter a classroom filled with bodies of children, even younger dead and as Chris describes. So, too, besides the kids dying in fear-filled horror and the anguish and rage of those parents is the effect this has had and will upon those Border Patrol Officers, those Deputies, Police Officers, Paramedics, EMTs, Ambulance Attendants and all the Doctors, Nurses and other Emergency Room Persons. How many of them have children and grandchildren and called home right after because what they saw struck their inner instincts as parents because they are human, unlike the Simians we have elected to represent us in government.
-RC Silvestri. Ft Pierce, FL
On May 27, 2022, at 5:53 AM, chris englund wrote:
The bullets of assault rifles are designed to tumble once they penetrate flesh , a meat grinder . Surgeons say the child victims are often unrecognizable .
Only in America does the massacre of children elicit calls for more guns .
As one pundit noted,prayer,religion,God will not stop gun violence.Neither will a break or remembrances of those who perished.We need ACTION.Since politics will not permit outlawing of guns,let's do something-100% background checks,banning assault rifles is the bare minimum.We should have a massive march on DC banning gun violence.
Here is another good response for the thoughts and prayers crowd. We were reminded this week by Nelba Marquez Greene, mother of Grace, who was murdered at Sandy Hook: "Faith without works is dead" ~James 2:26.
Bipartisan option for a quick solution ?? Require military style weapons to be held under lock & key at a gun range for controlled target practice but not in your home. Gun shop owners may support this as it would be income for them and expand their business. Men own these guns likely because of video games using military style weapons to kill people. If they have the $ to buy a gun, they want to use it somewhere. Mental health disorders are not gender specific!!!! Mass shooting are done by men. We need to find the cause and solution for angry men at the core of these shootings.
In the ancient Roman Senate for 20 years Cato repeated “Carthage must be destroyed.” Ignoring his call for genocide and culture eliminating war, his consistent, undeterred message became reality. Rome buried Carthage. We must do the same if it takes “until Hell freezes over” to quote Adlai Stevenson. Repeal the 2nd Amendment! Anything less is futile.
Beau of the Fifth Column has proposed a potential solution. Some of the facts he stated stunned me but we should encourage our representatives to consider this https://youtu.be/g5g7OE3REME
The March for our Lives is unfortunately a waste of energy. Mobilize people to get folks registered to vote and then make sure they actually follow through in November. Vote the sleaze bags out of office. It’s the only path forward.
Realistic pessimist that I am, I think this time may be different because there is a level of outrage expressed by people in media, in entertainment, in sports etc. that I haven't seen before. Now we need the Republican Senators to realize that when we say "enough is enough" we're counting on them to finally do something!
There is a handy dandy article in the New York Times today listing every Republican Senator’s position on gun control. Let’s each keep it next to our computers and tweet, post, email etc every day for the next few weeks asking them to revive the ban on assault rifles and pass new legislation strengthening background checks.
My earlier comment about maintaining a list of R positions is intended to help go on the offensive. We shouldn’t just wring our hands and talk to each other about R heartlessness. Let’s attack, in words that will resonate with moderates. Other topics include:
Interference with 1/6 committee
Attempt to get officials in Georgia, Arizona and elsewhere to change voting results
Ambiguous relationship with Putin/Russia (here I would cite Tucker Carlson as well as Trump)
Attempt to bribe Zelensky - Biden investigation for weapons
Today the highlight of my day was a conversation with the FedEx driver delivering a package to my address. I greet everyone I meet with what I call big talk and ask "What is your dream?" In under a minute you can make a meaningful connection with a total stranger. This young (39 years old) man's dream is to eliminate violence in our world. Of course, the conversation went to the shooting in Uvalde, a town I have visited only an hour's drive away from where we were. I was a little surprised to find he was very progressive and totally agreed about need gun safety laws and with women's and gay rights should be protected. So I asked him if others of his age and under felt the same way and again he said yes. We talked about the need for the younger generations to vote. He said many young people don't care about voting; they don't understand what difference it would make in their lives. We also agreed on the media being a problem. We agreed that now is the time for action and to encourage young people to vote. We, the People, all of us this time.
I disagree with the individual who says March for Our Lives is a waste of energy. I do think that it needs to be coupled with registering to vote and actually voting: Up and down ballot. The abysmal behaviour of the Uvalde mayor, at the sad news conference, should remain in the back of the minds of all who lost a loved one. This is even more true of the Governor and Senator Cruz.
Isaiah 1:15 totally applies to this gun violence situation. So too does an essay I read that said the Republicans are practicing child sacrifice by refusing to address gun violence.
I want to here (and elsewhere) express my concern and compassion, yes, for this week's shooting, which wakes me in the middle of the night, but today, even more for last week's shooting for the in some ways already forgotten Black dead, their families, friends, caregivers, and communities from last week's shooting by an 18 year old community college freshman who drove 200 miles to kill all the Black people he thought he could, in some ways now shadowed by the little children shot by an 18 year old high school senior, who drove maybe two miles to kill fourth graders of his own ethnic background. EIGHTEEN--adolescent, though legally adult.
Yes, a serious mental health problem. We need more staff in college counseling centers, in high schools, in elementary schools. We also need more free parenting classes, more mental health training for pastors, and more childcare for single teenage parents. And more food stamps.
AND we need gun control and bullet control in a country increasingly divided by fear, bitterness and hate. To borrow from the motto of the American Himalayan Foundation, we all need to be kind, do good, and have fun. Myself, a retired clinical psychologist, today I heard from a former patient who survived a college shooting, one retraumatized many times in the years that I saw him. He wondered if/what to say to his first child, soon to finish kindergarten. He doesn't want them to be afraid to go to school.
Yes, it is time for action. Today I think of the title of a book I've never read, Cry My Beloved Country, written by Alan Patton about South Africa.
The death of young children meat-grinds our inner instincts to protect our offspring even if our instinctive defense could mean our own death. That is the true definition of parenthood. Despite my own experiences as a first responder for 26 years and once witnessing a beautiful 14-year-old Cuban-American girl dead in her bed with a self-inflicted pistol hole in her scalp, her eyes wide-open in death. She was the same age as my own Theresa; when I returned to the station I immediately called Nancy to ask if Theresa was ok. But I never had to enter a classroom filled with bodies of children, even younger dead and as Chris describes. So, too, besides the kids dying in fear-filled horror and the anguish and rage of those parents is the effect this has had and will upon those Border Patrol Officers, those Deputies, Police Officers, Paramedics, EMTs, Ambulance Attendants and all the Doctors, Nurses and other Emergency Room Persons. How many of them have children and grandchildren and called home right after because what they saw struck their inner instincts as parents because they are human, unlike the Simians we have elected to represent us in government.
-RC Silvestri. Ft Pierce, FL
On May 27, 2022, at 5:53 AM, chris englund wrote:
The bullets of assault rifles are designed to tumble once they penetrate flesh , a meat grinder . Surgeons say the child victims are often unrecognizable .
Only in America does the massacre of children elicit calls for more guns .
As one pundit noted,prayer,religion,God will not stop gun violence.Neither will a break or remembrances of those who perished.We need ACTION.Since politics will not permit outlawing of guns,let's do something-100% background checks,banning assault rifles is the bare minimum.We should have a massive march on DC banning gun violence.
Here is another good response for the thoughts and prayers crowd. We were reminded this week by Nelba Marquez Greene, mother of Grace, who was murdered at Sandy Hook: "Faith without works is dead" ~James 2:26.
Bipartisan option for a quick solution ?? Require military style weapons to be held under lock & key at a gun range for controlled target practice but not in your home. Gun shop owners may support this as it would be income for them and expand their business. Men own these guns likely because of video games using military style weapons to kill people. If they have the $ to buy a gun, they want to use it somewhere. Mental health disorders are not gender specific!!!! Mass shooting are done by men. We need to find the cause and solution for angry men at the core of these shootings.
In the ancient Roman Senate for 20 years Cato repeated “Carthage must be destroyed.” Ignoring his call for genocide and culture eliminating war, his consistent, undeterred message became reality. Rome buried Carthage. We must do the same if it takes “until Hell freezes over” to quote Adlai Stevenson. Repeal the 2nd Amendment! Anything less is futile.
Beau of the Fifth Column has proposed a potential solution. Some of the facts he stated stunned me but we should encourage our representatives to consider this https://youtu.be/g5g7OE3REME
The March for our Lives is unfortunately a waste of energy. Mobilize people to get folks registered to vote and then make sure they actually follow through in November. Vote the sleaze bags out of office. It’s the only path forward.
Realistic pessimist that I am, I think this time may be different because there is a level of outrage expressed by people in media, in entertainment, in sports etc. that I haven't seen before. Now we need the Republican Senators to realize that when we say "enough is enough" we're counting on them to finally do something!
There is a handy dandy article in the New York Times today listing every Republican Senator’s position on gun control. Let’s each keep it next to our computers and tweet, post, email etc every day for the next few weeks asking them to revive the ban on assault rifles and pass new legislation strengthening background checks.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/25/us/gun-control-republican-senators.html
Sent from my iPhone
My earlier comment about maintaining a list of R positions is intended to help go on the offensive. We shouldn’t just wring our hands and talk to each other about R heartlessness. Let’s attack, in words that will resonate with moderates. Other topics include:
Interference with 1/6 committee
Attempt to get officials in Georgia, Arizona and elsewhere to change voting results
Ambiguous relationship with Putin/Russia (here I would cite Tucker Carlson as well as Trump)
Attempt to bribe Zelensky - Biden investigation for weapons
Undermining of NATO Alliance
Per Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, there will be a rally in Houston along with BLM Houston today. "Don't Look Away. Hold Governor Abbott and the NRA accountable". 12:00 pm, CT. I am hoping to find a live stream. https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article261851545.html
Right on.