Journalism coverage about the Uvalde Texas massacre focused on truth

Echo comprehensive review published in the Columbia Journalism Review, by Jon Allsop.

UVALDE, Texas, the day after a gunman killed nineteen children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas—Ted Cruz, the state’s Republican US senator, attended a vigil in the city and faced some tough questions from Mark Stone, a journalist with the British network Sky News. 

Ted Cruz walks away from a reporter who asked why the U.S. has so many mass shootings- NPR, Ayana Archie.

Stone asked whether now is the right moment to pursue gun reform; Cruz tried to brush off the question as a politicized media talking point; Stone countered that mourners were asking the question, too. 

Stone then told Cruz that people around the world “cannot fathom” why mass shootings keep happening only in the US, asking, “Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?” Cruz said that Stone had a “political agenda,” then tapped him on the shoulders and said “God love you” before turning heel and walking away. 

But, Stone followed, politely insisting that this is purely an American problem, and saying, “You can’t answer that, can you?” Cruz suddenly turned and hissed at Stone about American greatness. Then he left.

Artist Greg Zanis and his organization Crosses for Losses memorialize the victims of mass shootings. Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Also on Wednesday, Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, hosted a press conference at a local high school. He said that the shooting “could have been worse” if law enforcement hadn’t done “what they do” and shown “amazing courage.” When Abbott stopped talking, Beto O’Rourke, his Democratic opponent in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election, made a dramatic intervention, approaching the stage and speaking up at Abbott from the floor of the auditorium. “You are offering up nothing,” O’Rourke said. “You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.” Abbott stayed quiet, but others on stage shouted back, including Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Uvalde, who called O’Rourke “a sick son of a bitch.” 

O’Rourke was eventually ushered out by law enforcement as a media scrum formed around him; it continued into the parking lot, where dozens of journalists soon found that they had been locked out of the auditorium. The footage of the confrontation was shared far and wide, as were instantly iconic images taken by news photographers showing O’Rourke standing calmly as officials towered over him and pointed in unison for him to leave. The takes soon flowed; Newsweek wrote that the episode could cost O’Rourke the governor’s race.

Journalists that followed Beto O'Rouke when he was escorted out of Governor Abbott's media event were then locked out of the auditorium.

Also on Wednesday, just after 7pm local time, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, on the scene in Uvalde, interviewed a local med aide named Angel Garza, who explained how he found out that his daughter Amerie had been killed in the shooting from a friend of hers to whom he was tending. Amerie was trying to call the police when she was shot. She was ten. The camera zoomed in on a photo of Amerie that Garza was cradling in his arms as he bowed his head and sobbed. Cooper put a hand on Garza’s shoulder and kept asking questions. “She was so sweet, Mr. Cooper,” Garza said. “She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong.” Cooper took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. Garza apologized for breaking down again. Cooper said it was okay.

Victor Escalon, an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety, convened a press conference with the stated aim of clarifying the events of the shooting. He failed. Escalon did offer that the gunman had stayed outside of the building for twelve minutes before entering and that a school police officer did not, contra other officials’ prior claims, confront the gunman on entry, but he also made confusing statements about officers’ entry into the school and didn’t answer other, simple questions from reporters, including officers’ response time to the initial 911 call. 

Journalists seized on the mixed messaging and gaps in the official timeline. “We’ve been given a lot of bad information,” CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz told Escalon, “so why don’t you clear all of this up now?” Escalon said he would “circle back.” As he walked off, reporters clamored for him to take a question in Spanish. (Uvalde is heavily Latino.) He did not.

Also yesterday, parents and other members of the local community talked to reporters from various outlets about their frustration with the police response to the shooting and subsequent lack of clarity, amid growing reports, and videos circulating on social media, showing parents urging law enforcement to enter the school and suggesting that they might have to go in themselves. One parent, Angeli Rose Gomez, who has two children at the school, told the Wall Street Journal that as she desperately urged law enforcement to go in, US Marshals arrested her for interfering with an investigation, and handcuffed her. (Local police officers persuaded the Marshals to free her; the US Marshals Service denied cuffing anyone.) Gomez said she saw other parents being pushed to the ground, pepper-sprayed, and Tasered. “They didn’t do that to the shooter, but they did that to us,” she said. “That’s how it felt.”

Back on Wednesday, in France, Le Monde ran an editorial about the massacre in both French and English. “America is killing itself, as the Republican Party looks the other way,” the headline read. “If an American exceptionalism still exists, it’s in tolerating schools regularly being transformed into blood-soaked shooting ranges,” the piece itself said. “Always more weapons: that’s the only Republican credo.” The editorial was widely read, and various major US news organizations deemed it noteworthy enough to share with their readers. 

HuffPost described it as “damning.” The New York Times described it as “scathing.”

The three interviews, two press conferences, and editorial mentioned above were all shared or referenced widely. Of course, they are far from the only notable examples of journalism—or public information—to come out of Uvalde since Tuesday; they just stood out to me through an impressionistic blur of grief, outrage, and fatigue. Taken together, though, they illustrate broader truths about the coverage as a whole. I wrote in Wednesday’s newsletter, borrowing from the Texas Tribune’s Matthew Watkins, about the “numbing script”—parts of it necessary; others regrettable—that the press as a whole tends to follow in the aftermath of atrocities like this one. The six stories above collectively show different elements of that script: the factual struggle to piece together what happened, efforts to learn about the victims and center their grieving relatives, and the impulse to slot all the horror into a framework of national political debate and electoral contestation.

These stories illustrate something more, too. The official obfuscation and heavy-handed policing of traumatized parents, in particular, fit a script that is not limited to mass shootings; similarly, the rush of coverage that follows such events, while repetitive and distinctive in its rhythms, cannot be divorced from the way we approach other big stories across the sweep of society. In all such cases, the need to probe and scrutinize the official line, rather than just regurgitate it, is paramount. And Stone’s questioning and the Le Monde editorial, in particular, show ways—sharpened in each case by outside eyes—in which we might think about flipping the script, both on mass shootings and more generally. All of us should assess how America is exceptional—and how it’s not—with the clearest of eyes.

American exceptionalism: Since 2014, the satirical site The Onion has responded to mass shootings by running pieces with the same headline: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” This week, the publication used the headline for the twenty-first time, and, in a first, featured all the other stories that use the headline on its homepage at the same time. “It kind of shows how powerful that looks when the entire homepage is filled with showing that nothing has been done for eight years,” Chad Nackers, The Onion’s editor in chief, told BuzzFeed. “It’s not two seconds. It takes you probably 30 seconds to scroll through all the articles if you just keep moving. And that’s just incredibly sad and it’s horrifying.”

Ukrainians risked everything to save NATO from entering Putin's war

Echo opinions from the News-Press, a newspaper published in Fort Myers, Florida.

Ukrainians are fighting a nuclear powered Putin, to save Europe from Russian aggression.

"Ukraine was given security assurances: Ukraine gained independence and severed from Russia with over 90 percent of the electorate vote in December 1991. At the time, Ukraine held a large amount of nuclear weapons which were from the former Soviet Union. In exchange for giving up the nuclear weapons Ukraine was given security assurances detailed in the Budapest Memorandum. Specifically, Ukraine, Russia, Britain and the United States signed the Memorandum to provide such security assurances," wrote Charles Mehler, from Naples Florida.

Now, without the nuclear weapons, the Ukrainians are engaged in a war with a nuclear power. As a result of Ukraine's sacrifices, NATO is given the proverbial "out of jail free" card and will not engage in World War III.

Russian people must stop Putin

It's the Russian people who must be reached.

They are the ones who now allow this man to bring us to the brink, to where we are.

Yes, he has the support of his military and of his police but it's the people as a whole who have the power. Just as they did, the day before, in Germany in 1939 and in Japan in 1940.

Our leadership has chosen to take the path of peace, by way of avoiding direct conflict and I think that most in this country believe that is the right path but I believe that message is not reaching the Russian people. It hasn't reached the Russian who stands just behind him, his YES men, his support, nor the Russian soldier.

Saint Vladimir Svyatoslavovich "the Great" (960-1015) Grand Prince of Kiev, Prince of Novgood and ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015.

It is clear, that #Putin man has gone beyond the pale: "Outside the limits of acceptable behavior or judgment."

We give our wealth and some means of defense. The Ukrainian people give their homes, their heritage, their lives, their all.

It's up to the Russian people to now save everything. This in which most of us believe; a chance of life on this beautiful planet.

It's now time for the Russian people to stand up and say, "Let's roll!"

We need you, our media to get them the message!

Paul A. Sloan, 1Sgt., USA (Ret), Cape Coral

Texas gun massacres timeline and data reports= x eight

Texas has had eight mass shootings in the past 13 years, while lawmakers have steadily loosened restrictions on carrying firearms.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit Robb Elementary School to pay their respects to the victims of the mass shooting, Sunday, May 29, 2022, in Ulvade, Texas.

Updated echo report published May 24, 2022, in The Texas Tribune, written by Mandi Cai: (Excellent data report.)

Texas has seen eight mass shootings over the last 13 years, and many of them sparked public debate about what legislation should be passed to prevent another one.

While University of Texas polls consistently show that Texans are divided about gun control — with 40% to 50% saying they want stricter gun laws — the vast majority of the laws passed over the past 13 years by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature have expanded where guns are allowed, who can have a firearm in schools and the right to openly carry guns.

A timeline details how state lawmakers and the public have responded to mass shootings — through legislation and University of Texas polls — since the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

We used Mother Jones’ mass shootings data and definition of a mass shooting, which relies on the FBI’s definition of a mass murderer, to determine which shootings to include in the timeline. Among the criteria:

• The shooter killed at least four people. (The U.S. government revised this in 2013, to three people, which is why the second Fort Hood shooting is included.)
• The killings were carried out by a lone shooter.
• The shooting occurred in a public space.
• Victim counts don’t include shooters who died or were wounded during an attack.
  
  Credits: Stacy Fernández and Chris Essig contributed to this report
  
  Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and Walmart have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

A gun violence litany of preventable deaths

This echo editorial opinion is the saddest litany I have ever posted into my Maine Writer blog.  I am beyond horrified by the number of names in this causality list. Every death named in this echo was completely preventable. Published in The Washington Post.

Guns do not make us safer!

Four days. That is the span of time — a mere four days — between when we published a list of some of the victims of U.S. mass shootings, newly updated with the names of those killed May 14, at a supermarket in Buffalo, and another slaughter by gunfire, this one at a Texas elementary school. 

Just four days. And now 21 new- additional- names must be added to the toll of innocents killed.

Nineteen of the victims were little kids, beautiful youngsters with their whole lives stretching ahead of them. Two were beloved teachers, women who had devoted their lives to educating, nurturing and protecting children.

Killed May 24, on the third-to-last day of classes at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, were: 

• Nevaeh Bravo, 10 
• Jacklyn Cazares, 9 
• Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 
• Jose Flores, 10 
• Ellie Garcia, 9 
• Irma Garcia, 48 
• Uziyah Garcia, 8 
• Amerie Jo Garza, 10 
• Xavier Lopez, 10 
• Jayce Luevanos, 10 
• Tess Mata, 10 
• Miranda Mathis, 11 
• Eva Mireles, 44 
• Alithia Ramirez, 10 
• Annabell Rodriguez, 10 
• Maite Rodriguez, 10 
• Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio, 10 
• Layla Salazar, 10 
• Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10 
• Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10 
• Rojelio Torres, 10

How many more days until the next shooting? 

How many more mothers and fathers will have to wait in torment to learn whether their child will come home? How many more kids will be forced to flee from bullets and watch as their friends are gunned down?

Congress needs to pass sensible gun laws. Now.

April 20, 1999 • At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.: Cassie Bernall, 17; Steven Curnow, 14; Corey DePooter, 17; Kelly Fleming, 16; Matthew Kechter, 16; Daniel Mauser, 15; Daniel Rohrbough, 15; William “Dave” Sanders, 47; Rachel Scott, 17; Isaiah Shoels, 18; John Tomlin, 16; Lauren Townsend, 18; Kyle Velasquez, 16.

Dec. 26, 2000 • At Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Mass.: Jennifer Bragg Capobianco, 29; Janice Hagerty, 46; Louis “Sandy” Javelle, 58; Rose Manfredi, 48; Paul Marceau, 36; Cheryl Troy, 50; Craig Wood, 29.

March 21, 2005 • At Red Lake High School on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minn.: Derrick Brun, 28; Dewayne Lewis, 15; Chase Lussier, 15; Daryl Lussier, 58; Neva Rogers, 62; Chanelle Rosebear, 15; Michelle Sigana, 32; Thurlene Stillday, 15; Alicia White, 15.

Oct. 2, 2006 • At an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa.: Naomi Ebersol, 7; Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, 13; Lena Zook Miller, 7; Mary Liz Miller, 8; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12.

April 16, 2007 • At Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.: Ross Abdallah Alameddine, 20; Christopher James “Jamie” Bishop, 35; Brian Bluhm, 25; Ryan Clark, 22; Austin Cloyd, 18; Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, 49; Daniel Perez Cueva, 21; Kevin Granata, 46; Matthew G. Gwaltney, 24; Caitlin Hammaren, 19; Jeremy Herbstritt, 27; Rachael Elizabeth Hill, 18; Emily Hilscher, 19; Jarrett Lane, 22; Matthew J. La Porte, 20; Henry Lee, 20; Liviu Librescu, 76; G.V. Loganathan, 51; Partahi Lumbantoruan, 34; Lauren McCain, 20; Daniel O’Neil, 22; Juan Ramon Ortiz, 26; Minal Panchal, 26; Erin Peterson, 18; Michael Pohle, 23; Julia Pryde, 23; Mary Read, 19; Reema Samaha, 18; Waleed Shaalan, 32; Leslie Sherman, 20; Maxine Turner, 22; Nicole R. White, 20.

Vote Blue!

Dec. 5, 2007 • At the Westroads Mall in Omaha: Beverly Flynn, 47; Janet Jorgensen, 66; Gary Joy, 56; John McDonald, 65; Gary Scharf, 48; Angie Schuster, 36; Dianne Trent, 53; Maggie Webb, 24.

April 3, 2009 • At the American Civic Association immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y.: Parveen Nln Ali, 26; Almir O. Alves, 43; Marc Henry Bernard, 44; Maria Sonia Bernard, 46; Hai Hong Zhong, 54; Hong Xiu Mao, 35; Jiang Ling, 22; Layla Khalil, 57; Roberta King, 72; Lan Ho, 39; Li Guo, 47; Dolores Yigal, 53; Maria Zobniw, 60.

Nov. 5, 2009 • At Fort Hood, near Killeen, Tex.: Michael Grant Cahill, 62; Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52; Justin Michael DeCrow, 32; John P. Gaffaney, 56; Frederick Greene, 29; Jason Dean Hunt, 22; Amy S. Krueger, 29; Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19; Michael S. Pearson, 22; Russell Seager, 51; Francheska Velez, 21; Juanita L. Warman, 55; Kham See Xiong, 23.

Jan. 8, 2011 • In the parking lot of a grocery store near Tucson: Christina Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; Gabriel Zimmerman, 30.

Feb. 27, 2012 • At Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio: Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Russell King, Jr., 17; Daniel Parmertor, 16.

April 2, 2012 • At Oikos University in Oakland, Calif.: Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38; Doris Chibuko, 40; Sonam Choedon, 33; Grace Eunhea Kim, 23; Katleen Ping, 24; Judith O. Seymour, 53; Lydia Sim, 21.

July 20, 2012 • At the Century Aurora 16 movie complex in Aurora, Colo.: Jonathan Blunk, 26; A.J. Boik, 18; Jesse Childress, 29; Gordon W. Cowden, 51; Jessica Ghawi, 24; John Thomas Larimer, 27; Matthew McQuinn, 27; Micayla Medek, 23; Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6; Alex Matthew Sullivan, 27; Alexander Teves, 24; Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32.

Aug. 5, 2012 • At the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wis.: Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Suveg Singh Khattra, 84; Paramjit Kaur, 41; Prakash Singh, 39; Ranjit Singh, 49; Sita Singh, 41.

Dec. 14, 2012 • At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.: Charlotte Bacon, 6; Daniel Barden, 7; Rachel D’Avino, 29; Olivia Engel, 6; Josephine Gay, 7; Dylan Hockley, 6; Dawn Hochsprung, 47; Madeleine F. Hsu, 6; Catherine V. Hubbard, 6; Chase Kowalski, 7; Jesse Lewis, 6; Ana G. Marquez-Greene, 6; James Mattioli, 6; Grace McDonnell, 7; Anne Marie Murphy, 52; Emilie Parker, 6; Jack Pinto, 6; Noah Pozner, 6; Caroline Previdi, 6; Jessica Rekos, 6; Avielle Richman, 6; Lauren Russeau, 30; Mary Sherlach, 56; Victoria Soto, 27; Benjamin Wheeler, 6; Allison N. Wyatt, 6.

Sept. 16, 2013 • At the Washington Navy Yard in D.C.: Michael Arnold, 59; Martin Bodrog, 54; Arthur Daniels, 51; Sylvia Frasier, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Mary Frances DeLorenzo Knight, 51; Frank Kohler, 51; Vishnu Bhalchandra Pandit, 61; Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46; Gerald Read, 58; Richard Michael Ridgell, 52.

June 17, 2015 • At Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; DePayne V. Middleton Doctor, 49; Cynthia Graham Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lee Lance, 70; Clementa C. Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Daniel Simmons, 74; Myra Thompson, 59.

July 16, 2015 • At an armed services recruiting center and a Navy reserve center in Chattanooga, Tenn.: Carson A. Holmquist, 25; Randall Smith, 26; Thomas J. Sullivan, 40; Squire K. “Skip” Wells, 21; David A. Wyatt, 35.

Oct. 1, 2015 • At a community college in Roseburg, Ore.: Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20; Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Lucas Eibel, 18; Jason Dale Johnson, 33; Lawrence Levine, 67; Sarena Dawn Moore, 44.

Nov. 27, 2015 • At a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs: Jennifer Markovsky, 36; Ke’Arre M. Stewart, 29; Garrett Swasey, 44.

Dec. 2, 2015 • At an office park in San Bernardino, Calif.: Robert Adams, 40; Isaac Amanios, 60; Bennetta Betbadal, 46; Harry Bowman, 46; Sierra Clayborn, 27; Juan Espinoza, 50; Aurora Godoy, 26; Shannon Johnson, 45; Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42; Damian Meins, 58; Tin Nguyen, 31; Nicholas Thalasinos, 52; Yvette Velasco, 27; Michael Raymond Wetzel, 37.

June 12, 2016 • At Pulse nightclub in Orlando: Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Amanda L. Alvear, 25; Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26; Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33; Antonio Davon Brown, 29; Darryl Roman Burt II, 29; Angel Candelario-Padro, 28; Juan Chavez Martinez, 25; Luis Daniel Conde, 39; Cory James Connell, 21; Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25; Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32; Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31; Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25; Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26; Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Paul Terrell Henry, 41; Frank Hernandez, 27; Miguel Angel Honorato, 30; Javier Jorge Reyes, 40; Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19; Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30; Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25; Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32; Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21; Brenda Marquez McCool, 49; Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25; Kimberly Jean Morris, 37; Akyra Monet Murray, 18; Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20; Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32; Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35; Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25; Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27; Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35; Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24; Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24; Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34; Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33; Martin Benitez Torres, 33; Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24; Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37; Luis Sergio Vielma, 22; Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50; Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37; Jerald Arthur Wright, 31.

Jan. 6, 2017 • At the baggage claim of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida: Mary Louise Amzibel, 69; Terry Andres, 62; Michael Oehme, 57; Shirley Timmons, 70; Olga Woltering, 84.

June 5, 2017 • At an awning company near Orlando: Kevin Clark, 53; Kevin Lawson, 46; Brenda Montanez-Crespo, 44; Jeffrey Roberts, 57; Robert Snyder, 69.

Oct. 1, 2017 • On the Las Vegas Strip: Hannah Ahlers, 34; Heather Alvarado, 35; Dorene Anderson, 49; Carrie Barnette, 34; Jack Beaton, 54; Stephen Berger, 44; Candice Bowers, 40; Denise Burditus, 50; Sandy Casey, 35; Andrea Castilla, 28; Denise Cohen, 58; Austin Davis, 29; Thomas Day Jr., 54; Christiana Duarte, 22; Stacee Rodrigues Etcheber, 50; Brian Fraser, 39; Keri Galvan, 31; Dana Gardner, 52; Angela Gomez, 20; Charleston Hartfield, 34; Christopher Hazencomb, 44; Jennifer Topaz Irvine, 42; Teresa Nicol Kimura, 38; Jessica Klymchuk, 34; Carly Kreibaum, 33; Rhonda LeRocque, 42; Victor Link, 55; Jordan McIldoon, 23; Kelsey Breanne Meadows, 28; Calla-Marie Medig, 28; Sonny Melton, 29; Patricia Mestas, 67; Austin Meyer, 24; Adrian Murfitt, 35; Rachael Parker, 33; Jennifer Parks, 36; Carolyn Parsons, 31; Lisa Patterson, 46; John Phippen, 56; Melissa Ramirez, 26; Jordyn Rivera, 21; Quinton Robbins, 20; Cameron Robinson, 28; Rocio Guillen Rocha, 40; Tara Roe, 34; Lisa Romero-Muniz, 48; Christopher Roybal, 28; Brett Schwanbeck, 61; Bailey Schweitzer, 20; Laura Shipp, 50; Erick Silva, 21; Susan Smith, 53; Brennan Stewart, 30; Derrick Taylor, 56; Neysa Tonks, 46; Michelle Vo, 32; Kurt Von Tillow, 55; Bill Wolfe Jr., 42.

Nov. 5, 2017 • At the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex.: Keith Allen Braden, 62; Robert Michael Corrigan, 51; Shani Louise Corrigan, 51; Emily Garcia, 7; Emily Rose Hill, 11; Gregory Lynn Hill, 13; Megan Gail Hill, 9; Crystal Marie Holcombe, 36; John Bryan Holcombe, 60; Karla Plain Holcombe, 58; Marc Daniel Holcombe, 36; Noah Holcombe, 1; Dennis Neil Johnson, 77; Sara Johns Johnson, 68; Haley Krueger, 16; Robert Scott Marshall, 56; Karen Sue Marshall, 56; Tara E. McNulty, 33; Annabelle Renae Pomeroy, 14; Ricardo Cardona Rodriguez, 64; Therese Sagan Rodriguez, 66; Brooke Bryanne Ward, 5; Joann Lookingbill Ward, 30; Peggy Lynn Warden, 56; Lula Woicinski White, 71.

Feb. 14, 2018 • At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Scott Beigel, 35; Martin Duque, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Aaron Feis, 37; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Chris Hixon, 49; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; Peter Wang, 15.

May 18, 2018 • At Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Tex.: Jared Black, 17; Shana Fisher, 16; Christian Riley Garcia, 15; Aaron Kyle McLeod, 15; Glenda Ann Perkins, 64; Angelique Ramirez, 15; Sabika Sheikh, 17; Christopher Stone, 17; Cynthia Tisdale, 63; Kimberly Vaughan, 14.

June 28, 2018 • At the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis: Gerald Fischman, 61; Rob Hiaasen, 59; John McNamara, 56; Rebecca Smith, 34; Wendi Winters, 65.

Oct. 27, 2018 • At Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh: Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Cecil Rosenthal, 59; David Rosenthal, 54; Bernice Simon, 84; Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69.

Nov. 7, 2018 • At the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sean Adler, 48; Cody Coffman, 22; Blake Dingman, 21; Jake Dunham, 21; Ron Helus, 54; Alaina Housley, 18; Dan Manrique, 33; Justin Meek, 23; Mark Meza Jr., 20; Kristina Morisette, 20; Telemachus Orfanos, 27; Noel Sparks, 21.

Jan. 23, 2019 • At the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Fla.: Debra Cook, 54; Marisol Lopez, 55; Jessica Montague, 31; Ana Piñon-Williams, 38; Cynthia Watson, 65.

Feb. 15, 2019 • At the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, Ill.: Russell Beyer, 47; Vicente Juarez, 54; Clayton Parks, 32; Josh Pinkard, 37; Trevor Wehner, 21.

May 31, 2019 • At the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia Beach: LaQuita C. Brown, 39; Ryan Keith Cox, 50; Tara Welch Gallagher, 39; Mary Louise Gayle, 65; Alexander Mikhail Gusev, 35; Joshua O. Hardy, 52; Michelle “Missy” Langer, 60; Richard H. Nettleton, 65; Katherine A. Nixon, 42; Christopher Kelly Rapp, 54; Herbert “Bert” Snelling, 57; Robert “Bobby” Williams, 72.

July 28, 2019 • At the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California: Trevor Deon Irby, 25; Stephen Romero, 6; Keyla Salazar, 13.

Aug. 3, 2019 • At a Walmart Supercenter in El Paso: Andre Anchondo, 24; Jordan Anchondo, 25; Arturo Benavides, 60; Leo Campos, 41; Angelina Englisbee, 86; Maria Flores, 77; Raul Flores, 83; Jorge Calvillo García, 61; Adolfo Cerros Hernández, 68; Maribel Hernández, 56; Alexander Gerhard Hoffman, 66; David Johnson, 63; Luis Juarez, 90; Maria Eugenia Legarreta, 58; Ivan Filiberto Manzano, 45; Gloria Irma Márquez, 61; Elsa Mendoza, 57; Margie Reckard, 63; Sara Esther Regalado, 66; Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15; Teresa Sanchez, 82; Juan de Dios Velázquez, 77.

Aug. 4, 2019 • At the Oregon Historic District in Dayton, Ohio: Megan K. Betts, 22; Monica E. Brickhouse, 39; Nicholas P. Cumer, 25; Derrick R. Fudge, 57; Thomas J. McNichols, 25; Lois L. Oglesby, 27; Saeed Saleh, 38; Logan M. Turner, 30; Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis, 36.

Aug. 31, 2019 • On the streets of Midland and Odessa in West Texas: Rodolfo Julio Arco, 57; Kameron Karltess Brown, 30; Raul Garcia, 35; Mary Granados, 29; Joseph Griffith, 40; Leilah Hernandez, 15; Edwin Peregrino, 25.

Dec. 10, 2019 • At the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket in New Jersey: Mindy Ferencz, 33; Joseph Seals, 40; Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49; Moshe Deutsch, 24.

Feb. 26, 2020 • At the Molson Coors Campus in Milwaukee: Dale Hudson, 50; Gennady Levshetz, 61; Jesus Valle Jr., 33; Dana Walk, 57; Trevor Wetselaar, 33.

March 16, 2021 • At spas in the Atlanta area: Daoyou Feng, 44; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Soon Chung Park, 74; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Delaina Ashley Yuan, 33; Yong Ae Yue, 63.

March 22, 2021 • At King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colo.: Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Rikki Olds, 25; Neven Stanisic, 23; Denny Stong, 20; Eric Talley, 51; Jody Waters, 65.

April 15, 2021 • At a FedEx facility in Indianapolis: Matthew Ross Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; John “Steve” Weisert, 74.

Nov. 30, 2021 • At Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich.: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17.

April 3, 2022 • In downtown Sacramento: Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; Devazia Turner, 29.

May 14, 2022 • At the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo: Celestine Chaney, 65; Roberta Drury, 32; Andre Mackniel, 53; Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72; Margus D. Morrison, 52; Heyward Patterson, 67; Aaron Salter Jr., 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Ruth Whitfield, 86; Pearl Young, 77.

American has failed these children- Supreme Court upholds politically driven agendas

Editorial echo opinion published in The Denver Post:

‘I lost a piece of my heart,’ says mom of 10-year-old shot dead along with his classmates, educators when gunman barricaded himself in 4th grade classroom at the Texas Robb Elementary School.

Look at the photos of the 19 children – fourth-graders about to celebrate the beginning of summer – and ask if collectively we did all we could to protect them from a traumatic, painful death in a place they thought was safe. Many of the photos grieving families are releasing were taken the day before the shooting as students celebrated making the honor roll.

America failed these children.

We failed the students and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, just as we failed students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago.

The gunman may solely be responsible for firing the bullets that shattered bodies in these and other schools, but we supplied the tools and the vulnerable target.

More than half of our country believes that this price – dead bodies in elementary schools, teachers lives cut short trying to protect children, lost lives in grocery stores, stray bullets that hit sleeping babies – is worth the freedom to own almost any gun and ammunition desired.

The Denver Post editorial board does not hold that belief.

On the contrary, we support an abundance of simple regulations that would pass constitutional scrutiny, prevent mass shootings, and reduce casualties when shootings occur. These policies are simple, popular, and should be bipartisan: impose mandatory waiting times, and require gun safety training and much more rigorous background checks, regulate ammunition sales and gun features. This is by no means a comprehensive list, nor would it be true that any politician should require all of these to be part of a bill.

Legislation at both the state and federal levels reasonably restricting what type of “arms” Americans can “bear” and more specifically which Americans should be barred from bearing any arms is fully in accordance with past rulings of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008, District of Columbia vs. Heller, that reasonable restrictions on firearms were constitutional.

The case was built upon United States vs. Miller, in a ruling that found a ban on sawed-off shotguns to be constitutional.

“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority, in an opinion that was long overdue. “We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’ ”

The case built upon United States vs. Miller, a ruling that found a ban on sawed-off shotguns to be constitutional.

“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority, in an opinion that was long overdue. “We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’ ”

Law are in place to impose restrictions on all sorts of constitutional rights. The right to bear arms is no different.

Unless the new court veers dramatically from these precedents — as a majority of justices seem likely to do with Roe vs. Wade — it would be prudent for lawmakers to operate under the assumption that this is the test for reasonable restrictions on weapons in this country.

If the new conservative majority of the Supreme Court wishes to, once again, show disdain for precedent and the rulings of their predecessors, we should give them the room they need to expose their politically driven rulings.

Tragically, Congress allowed a ban on semi-automatic rifles with certain features to expire. Millions of these deadly weapons have been sold, making it likely that a court would struggle to find that these guns are not in common use. But we think restrictions on the features of these guns would withstand the Heller/Miller test. 

Shotguns cannot be outlawed but sawing off the barrel makes the gun an entirely different tool. At a minimum, semi-automatic rifles should be required to have a permanently affixed magazine, like a cylinder in a revolver, that must be reloaded one bullet at a time.

Neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court stand in the way of life-saving restrictions on guns and ammunition. 

Men and women who serve this country in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are the only impediments to protecting our children.

Courage and the Fulton County Georgia District Attorney

Fani Willis Strong!

Up to 50 Subpoenas Expected as Grand Jury Begins Trump Inquiry: New York Times

Courageous in the pursuit of truth and jurisprudence!

Ms. Fani Willis, a Democrat, has said in the past that Mr. Trump created a threatening atmosphere with his open criticism of the investigation. At a rally in January, he described the Georgia investigation and others focusing on him as “prosecutorial misconduct at the highest level” that was being conducted by “vicious, horrible people.” Ms. Willis has had staffers on the case outfitted with bulletproof vests.

ATLANTA, Georgia (YahooNews) echo report by Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is stepping up the pace of her investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, questioning a wide array of witnesses and preparing a rash of subpoenas to top Georgia state officials, state lawmakers and a prominent local journalist for testimony that will start next week.

The district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., is weighing racketeering charges connected to G.O.P. attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who won a surprise victory against a Trump-backed opponent in Tuesday’s Republican primary, is slated to be one of Willis’s lead witnesses when he appears before the grand jury next Wednesday, sources confirmed to Yahoo News.

“Based on her pugnacity, it looks like it’s full steam ahead,” said one lawyer representing a client who has been contacted by Willis’s team of investigators and prosecutors. “She’s much more aggressive and determined than I expected.”

HKS: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/why-electoral-integrity-matters (Harvard Kennedy School)

Willis’s investigation appears to now represent the biggest single legal threat to Trump, given that there have been no clear signs that prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice or the New York district attorney’s office are actively preparing to bring criminal charges against the former president. 

Willis has assembled a team of about 10 prosecutors and agents for the Trump probe. Earlier this month a group of them flew to Washington to meet with investigators from the Jan. 6th, committee, who shared details from confidential witness testimony and other material relevant to Trump’s efforts to flip Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, said a source familiar with the probe.

Initially Willis was expected to focus on Trump’s Jan. 3, 2021, hourlong phone call to Raffensperger in which the then president repeatedly implored him to “find” just enough votes to change the election results and suggested he could face criminal penalties if he did not.

But, sources familiar with the investigation say Willis’s agents and prosecutors are casting a much wider net in an apparent effort to establish that Trump’s phone call was only one piece in a broader conspiracy — potentially prosecutable under an expansive state racketeering law — to pressure or intimidate state officials and lawmakers to change the results of the 2020 election by promoting bogus claims of voter fraud.

“The process of hearing from witnesses is starting June 1,” said Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Willis. He declined further comment.

In recent weeks Willis’s team, including an outside special counsel and at least four prosecutors and investigators, has interviewed witnesses about efforts by Georgia Republican lawmakers to appoint an alternate slate of electors who would certify Trump as the winner of the state’s electoral votes. The team has also questioned legislators who sat for a controversial series of hearings in which Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani made demonstrably false statements about a video he claimed showed evidence of voter fraud. That assertion had already been debunked by state officials and the FBI.

Elena Parent, a Democratic state senator who attended the hearings, told Yahoo News that she was questioned by Willis’s team a couple of weeks ago and then received a subpoena to testify before the grand jury on June 22. (Parent shared a copy of the subpoena with Yahoo News.)

Parent said the Willis team — led by Nathan Wade, a private lawyer and friend of Willis’s who has been hired as a special counsel by her office — questioned her about the circumstances of how Giuliani came to appear before two legislative committees on Dec. 3, 2020, the remarks he made before the lawmakers and his questioning of witnesses he brought with him that day. They wanted to know about “everything that happened with the hearings,” Parent said. But she said they also “zeroed in” on vile death threats she received after her comments at the hearing and a mocking tweet about Giuliani’s appearance she posted later that day.

Parent had noted in a Dec. 3, 2020, tweet that Raffensperger’s office had already explained how Joe Biden had legitimately won the state’s electoral votes. “Now we are being forced to listen to bonkers conspiracy theories out of Rudy Giuliani’s team,” she wrote. “What a disservice to the public.”

Willis had publicly promised to hold off on subpoenaing witnesses before Georgia’s primary so as not to be accused of seeking to interfere in the election. But the state’s primary voting ended on Tuesday and Raffensperger himself defeated a Trump-backed opponent, Rep. Jody Hice, garnering 52 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff. 

Bradford Jay Raffensperger is an American politician, businessman, and civil engineer, serving as the Secretary of State of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of Representatives.

As a result, Raffensperger will now be among the lead witnesses next week while multiple Georgia state officials — including Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr and others in Raffensperger’s office — are bracing for what they have been told will be a wave of subpoenas.

“There’s likely to be a flurry of people being brought in [before the grand jury] in the next few weeks,” said one witness who has been contacted by Willis’s team and told to expect a subpoena.

But there are already signs that Willis will face considerable legal challenges. Republican lawmakers have refused requests to sit for voluntary interviews and have hired an outside counsel who is expected to raise challenges to any subpoenas on the grounds that the lawmakers had legislative immunity barring them from being questioned about their official actions.

In another move that could produce a legal skirmish, Willis’s office has also contacted Greg Bluestein, the lead political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and told him to expect a subpoena. Bluestein was a witness to events surrounding the Dec. 14, 2020, effort led by Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer to appoint an alternate slate of electors pledged to Trump despite Biden’s victory in the state. Bluestein has written that after being tipped off to a gathering of the rogue Trump electors in the state Capitol, he tried to attend but was blocked from doing so after being told it was an “education” meeting, a scenario that could be used by Willis’s prosecutors to show that the Trump electors were being secretive about what they were doing. (Bluestein declined comment, but legal experts expect lawyers for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to challenge the subpoena.)

But Raffensperger remains the star witness, with his phone call from Trump most likely the core of the case. Although he sought during his reelection campaign to court conservative Trump voters by pledging to fight for a constitutional amendment that would bar noncitizens from voting, he has never wavered from his position that there was no evidence of fraud that would change the results of the 2020 election. And he reaffirmed that with strong and pointed words about the improper pressure he came under from Trump in remarks he made in a brief victory speech to a group of supporters.

“We investigated everything and it wouldn’t have overturned the results of the race,” he said. “My thinking was the vast majority of Georgians are looking for honest people for elected office. Standing for the truth, and not buckling under pressure, is what people want.”

Interfaith united response protesting the National Rifle Association in Houston

Echo report published in Religion News Network by Monique Parsons:

Texans plan interfaith protest at Friday’s May 27, 2022, National Rifle Association #NRA convention in Houston. 

This protest, the organizers said, is meant to send a message to politicians who receive donations and support from the gun rights group.

A woman kneels as she pays her respects in front of crosses with the names of children killed outside of the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Thursday, May 26, 2022. Law enforcement authorities faced questions and criticism Thursday over how much time elapsed before they stormed the Texas elementary school classroom and put a stop to the rampage by a gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

(Interfaith America) — Outraged by the massacre of 19 children and two teachers (and responsible for Joe Garcia's grief stricken heart attack death- husband of Robb teacher Irma Garcia)  inside a school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday (May 24), organizers of an interfaith protest for stricter gun laws will gather outside of a Houston convention center on Friday where the National Rifle Association is holding its annual meeting.

“Civil and human rights happen when you have interfaith leaders that come together,” the Rev. Teresa Kim Pecinovsky of Houston said. “We have political power too.”

Pecinovsky, is a hospice chaplain and former elementary school teacher.

Pecinovsky, is a hospice chaplain and children’s book author who is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ denomination, was looking at social media Monday afternoon when news of the killings began filling her feed. She messaged Megan Dosher Hansen, a social media contact who lived nearby, asking if she knew of any faith groups gathering at the NRA meeting.

“I reached out to her and said, ‘Why don’t we co-organize an interfaith protest?’ And she said, ‘All right, I’m on board.’”

Hansen, an elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, created a registration page for the interfaith protest, which is planned for 1 p.m. Central Time Friday outside the George R. Brown Convention Center. Among the scheduled speakers are former President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott  (who has since changed his mind after this article was published) and Senator Ted Cruz, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as well as NRA officials.

By Thursday morning, some 400 people had signed up and word was spreading on social media. The two began a phone campaign as well, reaching out to Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Catholics, and members of other Protestant denominations. “We’ll gather and pray together and do a silent march through the convention center and come back out and recognize the victims,” Hansen said.

Texas gun laws are among the least strict in the nation; a law that went into effect September 1 allows people to carry handguns in most public places without permits or special training.

The protest is planned outside the NRA convention, the organizers said, to send a message to politicians who receive donations and support from the gun rights group. The NRA “used to be an organization that is for hunters, and that’s a sport that doesn’t require AR-15s,” Hansen said. “We just see so much tragedy that occurs at the end of a gun.”

Pecinovsky said her first reaction to the Uvalde massacre was shock, rage and grief. “I have preschool age children and I was in high school when Columbine happened. I remember it very clearly. The teenagers who survived that are now parents and have their own school age children. It has not stopped since.”

Gun violence is causing thousands of preventable American deaths.

Her voice broke as she described seeing images of the children and their parents, who were celebrating their achievements on the last day of the school year. As a former hospital chaplain, she witnessed the anguish of parents who have lost young children to violence. While it has been an honor to be present for grieving families and hospital staff, “You will never forget the images of dead children, and you will never forget the sound of their wailing mothers.”

“Most of us become anesthetized to the amount of murder that happens in our communities and our schools,” she said. “These are not other people’s children. These are our children.”

This article first appeared on Interfaith America.

Gun sales and the futility of "thoughts and prayers"

Thoughts and prayers. It began as a cliché. It became a joke. It has putrefied into a national shame.

Echo essay published in The Atlantic by David Frum:

If tonight, Americans do turn heavenward in pain and grief for the lost children of Uvalde, Texas, they may hear the answer delivered in the Bible through the words of Isaiah:

“And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them).

Prays need action!

We will learn more about the 18-year-old killer of elementary-school children: his personality, his ideology, whatever confection of hate and cruelty drove him to his horrible crime. But we already know the answer to one question: Who put the weapon of mass murder into his hand? The answer to that question is that the public policy of this country armed him.

Every other democracy makes some considerable effort to keep guns away from dangerous people, and dangerous people away from guns. For many years—and especially since the massacre at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School almost a decade ago—the United States has put more and more guns into more and more hands: 120 guns per 100 people in this country. The years of the pandemic have been the years of the greatest gun sales in U.S. history: almost 20 million guns sold in 2020; another 18.5 million sold in 2021. No surprise, those two years also witnessed a surge in gun violence: the spectacular human butchery of our recurring mass slaughters; the surge of one-on-one lethal criminality; the unceasing tragic toll of carelessness as American gun owners hurt and kill their loved ones and themselves.

https://www.uvaldeleadernews.com/articles/robb-shooting-claims-19-children-2-teachers/

Most of us are appalled. But not enough of us are sufficiently appalled to cast our votes to halt it. And those to whom Americans entrust political power, at the state and federal levels, seem determined to make things worse and bloodier. In the next few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will deliver its opinion in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, a decision that could strike down concealed-carry bans even in the few states that still have them. More guns, more places, fewer checks, fewer protections: Since Sandy Hook, this country has plunged backward and downward toward barbarism.

In his memoir of his career in the gun trade, the former gun-industry executive Ryan Busse writes of the effect of mass shootings on gun sales. They are, to put it bluntly, good for business. People think that perhaps the authorities might do something, and race to the gun stores to buy weapons before the “something” happens. The gun in the gunman’s hand multiplies to more guns in more hands. Most of those hands do not mean to inflict harm. But the harm follows, even so.

In this magazine five years ago, I wrote a parable: 

A village has been built in the deepest gully of a floodplain.

At regular intervals, flash floods wipe away houses, killing all inside. Less dramatic—but more lethal—is the steady toll as individual villagers slip and drown in the marshes around them.

After especially deadly events, the villagers solemnly discuss what they might do to protect themselves. Perhaps they might raise their homes on stilts? But a powerful faction among the villagers is always at hand to explain why these ideas won’t work. “No law can keep our village safe! The answer is that our people must learn to be better swimmers—and oh by the way, you said ‘stilts’ when the proper term is ‘piles,’ so why should anybody listen to you?”

So the argument rages, without result, year after year, decade after decade, fatalities mounting all the while. Nearby villages, built in the hills, marvel that the gully-dwellers persist in their seemingly reckless way of life. But the gully-dwellers counter that they are following the wishes of their Founders, whose decisions two centuries ago must always be upheld by their descendants.

Since then, of course, things have only gotten worse. Can it be different this time? Whether any particular killer proves to be a racist, a jihadist, a sexually frustrated incel, or a randomly malignant carrier of sorrow and grief, can Americans ever break the pattern of empty thoughts, meaningless prayers, and more and worse bloodshed to follow?

The lobbying groups and politicians who enable these killers will dominate the federal courts and state governments, as they do today, until the mighty forces of decency and kindness in American life say to the enablers:

“That’s enough! This must stop—and we will stop you.”

P.S. Maine Writer:  Thank you David Frum

Eucharist- All are welcome

Echo: A social media message from Rev. Suzie Robertson:

Earliest written account of Eucharist: "...'eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord' in the celebration of a 'Supper of the Lord', to the Last Supper of Jesus"

As an Episcopal Priest actively serving a church as Interim Rector, I must speak to the announcement that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be denied the opportunity to receive communion in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco. 

As a servant at this holy table for decades, I have never denied anyone the Eucharist.

So many are caught up in politics and church dogma that they have lost sight of Jesus and what he said. Speaker Pelosi was instructed by Jesus, himself, to do this. 

People forget that a group of saints and sinners were at the dinner table with Jesus, who would die for them, the next day. They were at a family meal. They were friends and colleagues who didn't agree on everything. They didn't have everything figured out. They were existing in chaos. They were afraid. Some of them turned their backs on their own.

The Eucharist, Holy Communion, The Lord's Supper is a holy meal. All were encouraged by Christ to partake of it. So, how does denying someone echo the words of Jesus? The very word, Eucharist comes from a 1st Century word from which charity, grace, compassion, thank you, gracias, grazzi, comfort, etc., also get their meanings. Practically, when a person comes to a family meal to eat, it is rude not to welcome them.

When someone who is spiritually or otherwise hungry comes to us, it is cruel not to feed them. At this table, altar, or whatever you want to call it, we say thanksgivings, we ask for forgiveness. Before that, we offer the peace to our neighbors and bring an offering to that table, the fruits of our own labors and our contributions to God and God's people.

Speaker Pelosi, or even any derelict who walks this planet, you will always be welcomed at my table, and I will feed you. Bring them on! Send the Archbishop back to Sunday School or Bible Study.
Come worship with me at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Seattle. Regardless of your circumstances, where you have been or where you are going, eat and drink with me, the holiest meal ever served. All are welcomed.

Maine Writer:  As a Roman Catholic woman, I want to thank Rev. Suzie Robertson for writing this social media commentary.

Salvatore Cordileone is the Archbishop of San Francisco- He can be fired!  #PopeFrancisAlert