Foot-Stomping Mad!

Posted on by under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

I am foot-stomping mad tonight over several things, not the least of which is the horrific shooting that has killed at least 20 people and injured 26 in an El Paso, Texas, Wal-Mart.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and no, I’m not going on a tirade at the moment about gun regulation and the NRA, although it would be easy and valid to do so.  But no, the blood from this shooting is on the hands of every single person in this nation who has cheered and applauded Trump’s anti-immigrant, racist rants.  It is on the hands of every single person who has shouted “build that wall!”  It is on the hands of every single person who believes immigrants do not belong in this nation.  It is on the hands of every single person who believes that white skin is somehow better than brown or black.  It is on the hands of every single person who has turned a blind eye to the maltreatment and abuse of children in detention camps.  And most of all, the blood is on the hands of Donald Trump himself.  It was only a matter of time before some damn fool took a notion to act on Trump’s words … after all, he has all but encouraged violence against immigrants, has painted immigrants as evil people out to murder those good, lily-white people and take their jobs, to boot.

In the past few weeks, as best anyone can tell, the only thing Trump has done is spend his days and nights carrying on with hate speech against people who happen not to be white.  An example … at a campaign rally (if he were actually the president, he wouldn’t have time to do all these campaign rallies, for he’d be busy working) in Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier this week, he riled the masses as he always does, and when a small group of protestors unfurled a banner that read “IMMIGRANTS BUILT AMERICA”, Trump’s loyal band of assholes snatched the banner and set to beating up the protestors.

The shooter in El Paso traveled some 600 miles, from Dallas to El Paso, a city whose population is 80% Latino.  The shooter, whom I shall not name out of respect for the victims, was Caucasian — white.  He was not Hispanic, nor of Middle Eastern descent … he was a white Texan. He had kept a manifesto that includes remarks attacking immigrants and sympathetic to the man who killed 51 people this year at two mosques in New Zealand.  The document lists “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” as one of several motivations for the attack.  Let me just remind everybody that Texas was founded by  Spanish conquistadors, and belonged to Mexico long before it became part of the U.S.

Meanwhile, #MoscowMitch McConnell and others in Congress expressed the usual “thoughts and prayers”.  Meaningless, useless thoughts and prayers, whereas for years and in some cases decades, they have passed up the opportunity to do something positive about the gun problem in the U.S.  Sorry, folks … keep your damn thoughts and prayers … give us action … address the gun problem.  It is a crisis every bit as much as the “opioid crisis” that everyone is so concerned about.  The gun crisis is more important, in my book, for these twenty who died in El Paso were innocent, some were even children.  They were killed through no fault or action of their own.

I will almost certainly have more to say about the El Paso mass shooting soon, but for today, let us move on to one of the other reasons for my foot-stomping …

On Monday, July 8th, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an amendment to a tax law that would require the commissioner of the Department of Taxation and Finance to share state income tax returns and reports when certain congressional committees request them.  This was a huge step forward … or could have been … in the investigations into Trump, his finances, his business interests, and potential Russian financial ties.  As Cuomo put it …

“This bill gives Congress the ability to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities, strengthen our democratic system and ensure that no one is above the law.”

But, the various committees, including the House Ways and Means committee, that had previously requested Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department, sat around the Capitol, twiddling their thumbs, debating whether to open an impeachment investigation or not, and they did not take advantage of the door that had been opened by Governor Cuomo.  They did not request the tax returns from the State of New York.

Trump and his lawyers, however, feared that someday soon the congressional committees might wake up and remember they owed something to the people who had elected them, remember that they had a constitutional obligation, and so … Trump did what he does best … he filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, July 23rd!  In the suit, he requested that the federal court prevent the House Ways and Means committee from seeking to obtain the New York tax returns, just in case they decided to do so … at some point.

Now for the kicker, the part that has me stomping my feet … last Thursday, federal Judge Carl Nichols granted a temporary order blocking New York state from turning over Trump’s tax returns. His reasoning?  He wished to ensure that, “Mr. Trump cannot suffer any harm”.  Trump can suffer no harm???  What about us???  We are suffering harm every hour of every day that he remains in office, but Judge Nichols wants to protect TRUMP???

I shall stop now, for I must go attend to my poor foot, which has been stomped so much that it has come open and red stuff is coming out of it.  Besides which, there are words about to come out of my fingertips that you’d rather not hear.  But, be advised that I am not done ranting … I’ll return later.

97 thoughts on “Foot-Stomping Mad!”

  1. I have no explanation for this deranged behaviour. Trump says the El Paso killings are the work of a mentally ill person. I guess it takes one to know one, since it is the direct result of Trump’s hate mongering that cause this sort of thing. I expect more shootings because nothing is in place to stop them. And when your commander in chief cannot control his tongue or his thumbs, and has no tolerance for any adversary, either real or imagined, I can only say that Americans must be very wary these days. There are nutters everywhere now.

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    • You’re so right … it’s only a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’ the next one will occur. Given that there were 3 inside of a week, it seems to be escalating, and as you say, nothing is being done to prevent the next one. We probably are more wary these days, but then … life goes on. I’m not going to hide out of fear. If they shoot me, then hopefully my daughter will file suit against Trump! 😉

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        • I am sick and tired of politicians and other people saying stupid shit like videogames are responsible for all of this gun violence. If you believe that, you essentially have the notion that an individual is merely a robot who acts on the input of the last content he has seen before committing such a reprehensible act that forever changes the lives of more people than he can possibly imagine.

          You know what is to blame for these shootings? Shitty parents who don’t engage with their children so that they have an idea that some sort of breakdown is inevitable.

          Most of these kids are on a suicide mission and they want the attention that plastering the shooting all over the country gives them, even if they’re gone.

          24 hour news cycles bring infamy to these cowards even if they don’t mention the name of the shooter. They put his picture all over every paper and media screen, report the number of dead and then wonder why more people die after each subsequent shooting? It’s a competition to some of these people and that also has to stop.

          I really don’t understand the mind set of gun control proponents who believe that more laws will resolve this problem. It’s logically obvious that when you invoke a new law, two things are inevitably going to occur. Someone is going to break that law, and someone else, usually an official of the state, is going to abuse the authority given to him by the implementation of that law.

          How people can willfully ignore this logic and not see how ineffective the application of more laws would be is totally beyond me.

          I imagine that a lot of your readers and I are never ever going to agree on this topic except for the one reality that this needs to stop. How we arrive at that solution is something else again.

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          • You’re right, Scott … I don’t think anybody has the solution to the problem. But, I would like to weigh in on one thing, as I am one of those proponents of stiff gun legislation. All one has to do is look at the statistics of gun-related deaths and injuries in the U.S. vs any other country. I’ve published those stats a few times. Every other country in the developed world has tough gun regulations such that the average citizen is not a gun owner. Most in those countries are just fine with that. And their ratio of gun deaths compared to ours is miniscule. The assault weapon ban, for example. Once it was allowed to expire, deaths by assault-type weapons increased by something like 250%. The ban was working. Laws that ban assault weapons, that require waiting periods and extended background checks, and that require proficiency testing are just a few of the things that would reduce the number of gun deaths dramatically. Personally, I think the 2nd Amendment was never intended to be interpreted as a weapons free-for-all.

            Hugs!

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                • I have very mixed feelings on this issue. On the one hand, we, as private citizens, DO have a right to privacy, to anonymity in our vote, and by extension our support of a candidate. On the other hand … We the People have a right to know from where the candidates, the politicians, are getting their money. So, I am conflicted. Perhaps I will do a post about this soon.

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                    • Frankly, it only reinforces my notion that all guns should be banned from civilian ownership. Guns are not a necessity outside of the military and law enforcement. All one has to do is look at the statistics, the hard data. No other nation on earth even comes close to the number of gun-related deaths we have in the U.S. Civilians here do not have to learn to shoot a gun or prove their competency, they do not have to prove they have a safe place to keep them away from children. There is no reason for an assault-style weapon in the home … they are not for self-defense, but were made for the military, for mass assaults on oncoming foes. I would be happy to vote to repeal the 2nd Amendment altogether and shut down every gun store and gun show in the country. If the regulations aren’t going to put an end to the madness, it doesn’t mean we simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh well”. Get rid of all the guns … throw ’em in the Pacific Ocean for all I care, or let Elon Musk take them into outer space. Sigh. I hate guns and am not too crazy about gun owners, either.

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                    • and how do people protect themselves from corrupt law enforcers who abuse the authority they’ve been given? I’m not one of those crazy people who believe you should be held up in a bunker with a stockpile of ammunition should the government decide to come after you but the right to protect oneself is inherent not only in this country’s constitution but merely by virtue of being a biological lifeform. Animals in the wild have the right to protect themselves, would you be okay with declawing a cat for instance? I know you’re thinking that this

                      is a stretch in logic but think about it.

                      It’s not a question of owning a weapon that can shoot hundreds of rounds a minute, at least in my mind, but the aforementioned question of self-protection. If you took away the second amendment, by what legal recourse would people have to protect themselves from the criminal element that is surely out there?

                      Remember, they don’t obey the law so no regulations will prevent them from doing evil and harm to people.

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                    • Now Scott … how many times have you been forced to protect yourself or your family from corrupt law enforcement officers? Or from a home invader, for that matter. It really isn’t as if this is a likely occurrence. But, that said, if guns simply are not available to the public, then even the criminals won’t have them, and nobody would need to have to defend themselves against a bad guy with a gun. The reality is that guns are used against a home invader far fewer times than they are used by children who saw daddy’s gun unattended and decided to play with it, and the largest number of gun deaths are suicides.

                      I have never de-clawed any of our kitties … not that I wouldn’t, for they are not compatible with the furniture, but … declawing is a cruel procedure, as they actually cut off their little fingers. Removing a gun from a person’s possession doesn’t cause bodily harm, one doesn’t have to cut off a body part.

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  2. The ideal response would be to declare all right-wing groups this trash was affiliated to as terrorist groups, detain all members without due process of law and then to go town on them re-educating them, then once they have seen the error of their ways be let out to preach how wrong they were.
    Apart from the shooter…he would be expunged from all records…never existed, his fate unknown… and anyone who tries to resurrect his name, get ‘the terrorist’ treatment.
    Sounds extreme?…Well its no worse than post 9/11. It’s no worse than what the creature in the Whitehouse is blathering.
    Get out there and vote Americans. Win back your country. It’s a war out there people.
    Otherwise you’ll be finding out how Lebanon felt in the 1980s

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  3. Unfortunate for all of us, money talks and citizens get shot. That’s the reality we have to live with b/c our representatives failed us. I’m talking Democrats as well as Repubs, many Dems won’t push for outright ban on assault type weapons b/c of backroom sweetheart deals which benefit them personally. Sadly, guns are a sacred cow that all politicians pay lip service to, but won’t actually fight to pass legislature against assault weapons.

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  4. Jill, I wrote a month ago that Trump’s racist and xenophobic rhetoric is placing lives in danger and has before. Whether it is the named targets of color or a specific population of people, there are some in his base who have extreme and dangerous views and are fueled by his hate-speech.

    Trump did not invent these radicals, but he has played (and plays) to their fears, simply because fear sells. We had a self-professed fan send a package bombs to Democrat leaders, the gang of four have received death threats, he celebrated the break-in of Elijah Cummings house and now this.

    If he will not immediately change and start to unify this country, this independent and former Republican asks for his resignation. If he does not, then the Republican party needs to join with the Democrats and impeach and remove him from office for his clear impeachable offenses and lying to the investigators in the Mueller Report, so says the Republicans for the Rule of Law, former GOP (and now Independent) Congressman Justin Amash who read the Mueller Report and over 1,000 former federal prosecutors. It pains me to say the president is a “clear and present danger” to our democracy.

    I am tired of GOP sycophants defending the indensible. Keith

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  5. Jill, I have said this before. Hatred has been attributed to fear and that is true in many instances. But much of what we are seeing today is sheer stupidity and laziness on the part of those Americans who are incapable of distinguishing reality from the violence, bloodshed, murder that they see everyday on TV and in the movies. Our entertainment industry has normalized this violence just as much as trump has normalized chaos and hatred in government. Just a simple thought from a tired, old man. Thanks for your work.

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    • You’re right, my friend. Willful ignorance is what I would call it. The media and the entertainment industry are not, perhaps, without blame, but the real culprit is people who are arrogant, greedy, and ignorant enough to be molded and swayed by the likes of Trump who feed them a few crumbs and they will then do his bidding. This tired old woman is sick and tired of it all, but … I’ll keep on fighting ’til I stop breathing, for to do otherwise is unthinkable. Sigh. Thank YOU, Larry … you’re a good man.

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  6. Thank you for sharing, my friend!.. don’t stop what you are doing… progress is made through voice and deed and if the voice becomes loud enough, those who pretend to be deaf will eventually hear… 🙂 I even posted about it today, using my voice and deeds of the past… it will take time and patience but there is hope we shall win in the end… 🙂

    “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ― Barack Obama

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    • from twitter and this is an excellent point as well.

      “Also, don’t be surprised if roughly the same number of people are shot in Chicago over the weekend and those pushing for gun control don’t say a damn word about it

      They only care about exploiting tragedy for political gain

      They do not care about people”.

      My thoughts.

      If they really did give a damn about this issue, why do they not address said gun crime in Chicago, which, by the way, has some of the strictest gun control in the United States.

      Logically, if less guns equals less crime, then you shouldn’t have as many people murdered in one weekend in the inner city as you have during one of these “mass shootings”.

      race only comes into the conversation as a tool to promote a specific political agenda, the agenda of painting white people as those evil doers who hate anyone who looks different from them and though there is a certain amount of that going on in specific parts of the country, I hardly think it’s a national trend as the dishonest mainstream media would have us believe.

      If a white man guns down a black man, it’s all over the news but if a black person guns down a white person or even another black person, which happens quite a lot, you don’t hear a word about it from the political activists who are pretending to be journalists. Why is this?

      Think about it.

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      • Y’know, Scott … this is the same things the republicans do when they really don’t want to answer a question … they say, “Oh yeah, well, whaddabout the time Obama said ________________”. That isn’t what we’re talking about. My post was a rant about people who are committing violent acts against minorities because they feel emboldened by Trump’s racist incitements. That’s all. You want to talk about Chicago? I’ll write a post about Chicago. But right now, i am talking about mass shootings that were a result of Trump’s racism. The El Paso shooter plainly said he was inspired by Trump, and by the NZ mosque shooter. He said his motivation was Mexican “invaders”. Never mind that Texas belonged to Mexico long before it belonged to the U.S. That’s the only point I was making. Fewer guns DO equal fewer shootings, and the assault rifle ban DID almost end mass shootings such as El Paso. And, I’m tired, I’m sad, I have, as you well know, my own problems at the moment too, so perhaps I’m being a bit over-sensitive, but I was a bit hurt by you referring to me as a “political activist pretending to be a journalist”. I’m not in the habit of pretending to be anything other than what I am … somebody who cares about people, about the earth, about ever living creature, and who has a small voice and tries to use it to shine a light on both the good and the bad in this world. Hugs, my friend.

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        • Hi Jill.

          I wasn’t referring to you specifically as a political activist so I apologize profoundly for putting it in such a way to include bloggers when I was really referring more to journalists in the mainstream who, in my view, profit financially off dividing our country.

          Racism of any type is reprehensible and deplorable and I am as offended as anyone when the president calls for people of color who represent this nation to go back to their countries or doesn’t stop a “send them back” chant at a rally, especially when he lied about doing that. I heard the rally and it was a good 13 seconds or so between his last word before the chant and his subsequent speaking and that’s plenty of time to call out people for chanting something so reprehensible.

          again, I’m deeply sorry for offending you where my intention was not to do so.

          big hugs my friend, these times are more and more trying every day.

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    • Thank YOU, Dutch! I couldn’t stop if I wanted to … I’ve thought about it a time or two, for it does take a toll, but … I cannot. I always hope that I’ll say something that will make somebody stop and think, maybe change their tune a bit. It’s all I have to give, really. And you did a great job of using your voice in today’s post … you also gave me the inspiration for my next music post! I have always loved this Obama quote … thank you for the reminder.

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  7. Why don’t these psychopathic parasitic politicians ever talk about other things that end human life? Medical malpractice, car accidents and cigarettes claim the lives of a great many more people a year than these shootings but why don’t these bastards ever talk about these statistics? It’s because they aren’t interested in protecting you, they are only interested in taking away more and more of your freedoms. Meanwhile, these hypocritical politicians have their armed security guards around the clock and they call for “sensible gun control”. I have news for you. We already have “sensible gun control” laws on the books.
    Yes, this shooter was a white nationalist, and that evil needs to be called out for what it is, a reprehensible blemish on the face of our representative republic. The blood of the victims is on no one’s hands except the evil criminal who perpetrated such an act of atrocity. It’s not on the hands of people who voted for the president the first time but who won’t be voting for him again in 2020.

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    • Sigh. Alright, Scott … the difference between medical malpractice, car accidents, smoking, drug use, etc. and gun deaths is … all of the aforementioned ARE BEING dealt with already! Nobody is turning a blind eye on those, as they are on guns. Smoking is now prohibited in most all public places, even outdoors! I know this, for I am a 3-pack-a-day smoker. Not only that, but cigarettes are taxed at outrageous levels, supposedly to help defray the health costs of us smokers. Medical malpractice … the medical industry is highly regulated. It still happens, sure, but it isn’t ignored and there are laws that hold medical professionals accountable for their mistakes. And car accidents … this is why the auto industry is highly regulated … seat belts, air bags, safety testing, recalls … are all intended to make autos safer. AND … think about it, Scott … to drive a car you have to do what? You have to take both a written and a competency test, pass both, obtain a license, and renew it every 3-5 years. Guns? There are almost no regulations, and there is no testing for competency … NONE AT ALL. Any damn fool who had the money can buy a gun. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound angry, but guns are a far bigger threat to innocent lives than the above, and are almost worshipped in this country. There is no comparison to cigarette smoking, which only injures the person who chooses to smoke anyway, and guns which can kill dozens, nay hundreds, within minutes. None.
      Hugs.

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  8. Excellent post! I will address each of your justifiable rants in turn. #1 I have been a long time follower and supporter of “The Trace”. Per their website : “The Trace is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to shining a light on America’s gun violence crisis.” I urge each of your followers to sign up to receive their free newsletter that is informative and well worth reading. Some suggested reading, on August 3rd a piece by Champe Barton titled “When 12 People Are Shot in Your Neighborhood, and America Shrugs.” Also on August 3rd “At Least 20 People Killed at an El Paso Mall” by Jennifer Mascia. The Trace has long had their investigative sights on the NRA and are vocal about them. I am sure that I have mentioned The Trace before, it bears repeating, now more than ever! Yes, I am in total agreement that much of the blame and blood lies on Trump’s doorstep. It must also be shared with every member of Congress, party be damned, that have failed to pass any legislation to address our GUN CRISIS! Thoughts and Prayers are not protecting anyone! #2 While our eyes and focus are constantly drawn to the Twitter Chief, the Miserable Mitch is pushing more judges through various courts. Why? Assuredly not because they are nonpartisan or worthy of the positions! Read the Common Dreams August 1st column by Jake Johnson titled “Should Send Shockwaves Across the Nation : Grave Warnings as McConnell Accelerates Right-Wing Takeover of US Courts.” Be aware that rulings that are pro-Trump will only continue and increase! I shudder to think how long the influence of these Mad Mitch appointees will control the courts…decades!! Thank-you!

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    • On Rant #1! I had meant to include that per The New York Times today : There have been at least 32 mass shootings in the United States this year. The Justice Department defines a mass murder as 3 or more killings in a single episode. At least 32? When will it be enough, how many more needless deaths will it take? As you are so fond of saying…’Think about it’!

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      • Remember the Peter, Paul & Mary song … “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”? I often, at times like this, ask the question in the last lines of each stanza “When will we ever learn?” When, indeed, will we ever learn? 😥

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    • #1 Indeed, you did mention The Trace before, and on your recommendation I signed up for their very informative newsletter. Though I don’t read it every day, I do peruse it a few times a week. I haven’t yet, however, read the two that you mention here, though I will do so later this evening. In my current dark mood, I have responded on both Twitter and Facebook to a few politicians, such as the Governor of Ohio, Donald Trump, and #MoscowMitch that they could keep their useless thoughts and prayers and give us some gun legislation. Better yet, demolish all the weapons manufacturing plants and ban ammo sales!

      #2 Yes, Trump has packed the courts, and McConnell enabled it by refusing to confirm almost every one of Obama’s appointments, including Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Many, though not all, are lifetime appointments and you’re right, they will affect our nation for a very long time. They can actually be ousted, but it is not a simple process and is unlikely, except in the case of blatant abuse. This is why somebody needs to ship both Trump and McConnell to a small desert island somewhere that they can never find their way back.

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  11. I tried to reblog this but my phone has some snatch. Will come back later to it. I dread to tbink how you’ll wake up and hear of tve second shooting. Sending you a big hug. All that comes to mind at the moment is: when the night is darkest the light is close. Love & Rage my friend Love & Rage

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    • Thanks for trying! I appreciate it. I actually heard about the Dayton shooting, which happened only about 20 miles from where I live, before I went to bed last night. Thanks so much for the hugs, my friend … they are both needed and appreciated. I hope you’re right about that light … sigh. Hugs ‘n love! ❤

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      • It made me speechless that it was so close to you. Andy and I were just saying last night how we thought life would get better after the wall came down. People seem to forget how crap that time was so easily. I am right about the light but it might not come anytime soon. Life doesn’t always work how our sayings want them to. That said: lets spread kindness and light more than ever 😚🙋‍♀️🐝

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        • We fail to learn the lessons of history, thus we keep making the same mistakes over and over. Some days, I have little hope for humanity. With the threat of the earth’s atmosphere becoming unable to support human life if we don’t wake up, I wonder if there is time for that light to come later. But, we plod on through each day and do the best we can to be a light to someone, at least. 🙋

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  12. Hello Jill. I agree with what you wrote. However I would like to mention something Ron told me after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting. He mentioned that it was getting to the point where people wouldn’t want to gather anywhere and if they did they would always be suspicious of everyone else. So conventions and events are going to slow down or need to have a huge security foot print at more costs. Now even stores are not safe. Do we need detectors at the doors, armed guard check points at each isle, or shall we all have to wear protective gear like school kids do these days. All so some can hate and have weapons of mass destruction. If you follow this path will it keep people from voting in some areas for fear of being shot? At this point it is terrorism, and reminds me of how the divided Ireland was with bombings and shootings. We are on a horrible path to the militarization of the US and a loss of freedom / rights for all.

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    • Ron is so right. As an introvert, I’ve never been comfortable in large crowds anyway, but even I find that if we go to a restaurant for dinner, I’m looking around, wondering who may have a gun stuck in his belt, or who might be a radical Trump supporter. Not long ago, I was in the grocery store and saw a man with a gun in a holster on his hip. He didn’t appear to be law enforcement, and perhaps I was just paranoid, but I didn’t like the way he looked at me, so I left my cart of groceries and got the heck out of the store. We are, indeed, on a horrible path, my friend, and it seems to know no bounds, there seems no end until we finally go over the cliff at the end of the path. Sigh. Hugs.

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  13. Your anger is justifiable in both cases. I too lay the blame for the shooting at Trump’s door because of his Rally Rants against immigrants. He is responsible for a lot of deaths like these Walmart killings but also for the deaths of children in the concentration camps he had built.
    The sheer stupidity of the committees who did not request the New York tax details of Trump astounds me..They’ve had weeks to be able to do so yet even knowing Trump’s penchant for going to court to prevent things they did nothing.. The judge has granted a temporary injunction maybe if they try they cab get it overturned or perhaps when the injunction ends they can show some interest and try for the records before Trump puts a full stop to it.
    Cwtch……..rest that foot.

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    • And now, in the wee hours of the morning, another mass shooting, ten dead so far, and this only about 20 miles north of my home. When, my friend, does the madness stop? I don’t know how we came to this point, and I don’t know how we find our way to respect, acceptance of others, compassion … I only know it won’t happen as long as there is a madman at the helm of this ship. Sigh. 😥
      Cwtch Mawr

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  14. After the tragedy of the mosque shootings here in NZ, I’m horrified at the ongoing and unfettered stream of hate in the US. What happened in NZ should have served as a warning to the US but it’s had no apparent effect in reining in these words of hate at all. I’m very sad at what’s happening in the US. I didn’t know any background to what happened in El Paso so what you’ve written filled in some detail I wasn’t aware of (but had suspected). It’s unbelievable that things have got into such a terrible state of affairs.

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    • You’re right … it should have served as a warning, but … I just read portions of the “manifesto” the El Paso shooter posted, and he actually praises the Christchurch shooter. And he is not the first … there was another who shot up a synagogue a few months ago who said the NZ mosque-shooter was his “inspiration”. Sigh. It is a strange world we live in today … turned upside down it sometimes seems. And in the wee hours of this morning, another mass shooting, ten dead so far, and this one only about 20 miles from my home. 😥

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        • It’s funny, the El Paso shooting broke my heart, but when it got so close to home, somehow it was even more real and I’ve been crying off and on all day. Maybe it’s just the cumulative effect, too. I just know that this must stop!!! Thanks Liz … I’m so glad Benjamin introduced us!

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          • It’s tough – it really ‘hits home’ when it happens close to home. Same with me with the Christchurch mosque tragedy. Let the tears flow, you need to release. People here left notes/cards of support, flower tributes, etc. I don’t know if there’s opportunity where you are to do that sort of thing but I think its helpful for both individuals and the community, to be able to do this. Thinking of you and BIG hug!

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            • Thank you so much, my friend! I think that people here are too busy pointing fingers, denying their own culpability, to do anything healing and positive. I applauded Prime Minister Ardern’s response to the Christchurch shootings, and only wish our own government would respond the same, but we all know that isn’t going to happen. The gun lobby is too strong here, and far too many of our politicians are in the pockets of the NRA. We are in a sad state in this country … money speaks much louder than humanity, I fear. Thanks so much for the BIG hug! Much appreciated!

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        • Yep, Trump and McConnell and Gov. DeWine all sent their “thoughts and prayers” and I tweeted them all right back to them. Told them nobody wants their stinkin’ prayers, we just want them to do their jobs and pass some serious gun regulation. Sigh.

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          • there are cowardly republican senators like Ted Cruz who refused to go on national television when offered the opportunity to condemn white nationalism.

            This is disgusting and these pathetic cowards don’t deserve to represent the people anymore. they need to be voted out.

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            • Right now, every member of Congress, democrat or republican, disgust me because they have not done their job, they have not looked after the best interests of the people of this nation, and they have failed miserably at providing ‘checks and balances’ on the madman that wormed his way into office. And mostly, I am disgusted by the thousands of people who think that Trump is some sort of hero, or saviour. In short, I’m coming to a point of hating the human race. I’m ready to shoot for my next life as a wolf!

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          • I heard today that McConnell fell and broke his shoulder. He’s getting old like me and you sometimes begin to lose balance. I did even before my back and knees got bad. I think it has to do with the inner ear. When the elderly begin to have falls they sometimes soon need a walker to steady themselves. He should just retire and stay permanently at home. It said he’s going to work from home for now. He just won’t give up the position. It looks like he just will die on the Senate floor, probably in a wheelchair. 😦 — Suzanne

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            • I heard the same, and I must admit that I thought “Good enough” when I heard it. However, he is doing his part to keep the government from accomplishing anything by working at home. No, he is like Trump and will have to be forced out, for he will never leave on his own. Sigh.

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                • From what I’m hearing, the love affair may be dying. His approval rating has taken quite a hit in recent months, and my Kentucky friends are fed up. That said, Kentuckians would drink poison before they’d vote for a democrat. Maybe. Time will tell.

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                    • Thanks for sharing this. I am a broken record on this. If someone wants their argument to be heard, name calling, labeling and shouting death threats is not the way to get heard. Especially, the latter as it matches tit for tat the extremist who they vehemently disagree with. It also places the death threaters in the same bailiwick. Is that where they want to belong? Even if someone’s argument is more correct or humane, shouting death threats make his or her points moot. Trump wants a mud fight, as he does not have the patience or appetite for studying issues. What he fears is an informed electorate. When people who oppose his issues with this kind of crap, they make it easier for him not harder.

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                    • You are quite right that I would condemn anybody making death threats against another. Even McConnell doesn’t deserve that. However … I question the validity of this story, for knowing that the New York Post is about as reliable as Fox News (the Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox and other media outlets that often fall short of honest and truthful), I went in search of verification of this story. The only other places I found the story were in Breitbart (absolutely NOT genuine news), RT (Russian Times), and a handful of off-the-wall sources. So … if it is true, then no, I don’t support such behaviour, but I’m not convinced of the validity of the story.

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                  • That’s the problem right there. They are what I call “rock-hard Republicans. It goes back to enforced desegregation and the federal troops being sent by President Johnson. They will “never” forget or forgive. 😦 — Suzanne

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