Donald Trump and maga Republicans offer "thoughts and prayers" to gun violence victims but horrific tragedies continue!

When ‘thoughts and prayers’ come crashing down to earth

Three echo opinion letters published in the Boston Globe:

Thoughts and prayer memorial wall memorial for victims of
The Covenant School, a parochial elementary school, in Nashville in 2023.

1)  Dear Editor:  With our leaders, it’s always ‘too soon’ to take action against gun violence. “When tragedy strikes, our first instinct should be to remember what we have in common, not to rally support for any political program.

Our initial response should be seeking to build bridges,” writes Brandon Ambrosino in his Sept. 7 Ideas piece, “In defense of ‘thoughts and prayers.’ ” So, when can we try to rally support for political programs that can bring actual change❓ Should we wait a week or a month after the next tragedy❓

But, Ambrosino’s argument is disingenuous. Yes, those of us who feel helpless to change the problem of mass shootings can offer thoughts and prayers, and we can try to take some comfort from the outpouring of support. Nevertheless, our leaders, including politicians, clergy, and academics, hide behind thoughts, and prayers, again and again. It’s always “too soon” to discuss what we as a society could do to end these preventable school shootings.

From Dana Buske in Arlington, Massachusetts (Middlesex County)

2) Not everybody prays, but everybody feels the impact of a bullet:  When the response of “thoughts and prayers” is disparaged, it is not because thoughts and prayers are unnecessary but, rather, because of how the phrase is a cop-out for the right and for Second Amendment zealots. Of course pray, but then act — “do something❗” is what people are saying.

What’s more, Brandon Ambrosino writes as if everyone in this country prays like he does. Of course we don’t. That’s the whole point of this country’s First Amendment. We are different. Our beliefs are different. What isn’t different is that we all bleed. We all can die when bullets smash into our bodies.

From Brenda Sheridan in Swampscott, Massachusets

Lewiston Maine mass shooting victim shrine slaughter occured on October 25, 2023 

‘Thoughts and prayers’ are offered as a distraction

3) Brandon Ambrosino wrote to the Globe, to complain about the people who deride expressions of “thoughts and prayers”, after mass shootings. He defends this smokescreen statement as somehow missing something crucial. But, it’s Ambrosino who appears to be oblivious to the fact that many people offer these comments to intentionally prevent others from taking meaningful action to address gun violence.

He writes that prayers must be followed by action and that there is “no place in Christianity” for “those who pray while twiddling their thumbs.” Yet, for many public figures who give thoughts and prayers, the goal is to stymie legislation, not to “remind us of our shared humanity.” Politicians send their thoughts and prayers while receiving significant contributions from the National Rifle Association, which fights to stop laws that could prevent future shootings.

Ambrosino maddeningly echoes their empty rhetoric, writing, “Even if we end mass shootings tomorrow, we’ll still have to grapple with unexpected tragedy.” This is true, but irrelevant. That there will be tragedies is no reason not to work to decrease the number of mass shootings.

People sending their thoughts and prayers after shootings are really saying, “I don’t care.”

From Bret Seferian in Salem, Massachusetts

Trump tariffs create economic chaos: Risk of higher prices and even the "R" word recession

Duck and cover: The Trump economy takes ghastly shape.😱

I don’t recall a recession being among Donald Trump's campaign promises.

Echo opinion letters published in The Boston Globe:

Dear Editor: I followed the 2024, presidential campaign pretty closely. I do not recall ever hearing Donald Trump promise the American people that his policies in the first few months of his new term would raise consumer prices, alienate our allies, and threaten to plunge the United States into a recession. Did I miss something?

From: Barry Brodsky in Swampscott, Massachusetts

Dear Editor: Trump… a Dadaist? (Translated: Someone who embraces or is associated with Dadaism, rejecting traditional artistic values and embracing the absurd.)

Look at the stock market if you dare. Donald Trump pledged to “make America great again” yet look at the results. Destroying the country in order to improve it is much like the rationale behind Dadaism (destruction is creation). Can we survive such recklessness?

From James R. Weiss in Salem, Massachusetts

Dear Editor: Like Massachusetts, Maine has strong economic ties with Canada, especially in the summer when carloads of Quebecois fill the restaurants, hotels, beaches, and amusement parks of Vacationland. Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins should work with her Republican congressional colleagues to stop the Trump tariff threats. Failure to do so could prove economically crippling.

From Mark S. Sternman in Somerville, Massachusetts

Immigration reform is essential to improve the American human condition

Waves of immigrants are common in history:

Echo opinions reflect on the reality about American immigration published in The Roanoke Times, in Virginia: 

James Rosen wrote about how lawmakers play partisan politics that are intended to confuse you. Democrats and Republicans regularly warned of a "border crisis" during the previous guy's Donald Trump administration, although for different reasons. Trump used the bully pulpit to amplify the shrill cry. His core campaign all to "build the wall!" withered in the hot desert sun after he became president. 

Former Trump adviser, the right wing extremist Steve Bannon, faces charges of running a "We Build the Wall" crowdfunding scam to enrich himself and associates. The 11 million or 12 million figures, often reported as the number of undocumented workers in the United States, is just a guess.

No one knows, partly because the businesses that employ "illegal aliens" help to shield them, because of their willingness to do manual jobs for low wages.  The notion of a "border crisis" is almost as old as our nation. What it really means is ethnic prejudice and fear of foreigners.

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, New York, on May 27, 1920.

In “Waves of immigrants are common in history”, the author James Rosen reminds us about some of the many migrations to the U.S. borders, throughout history.

He referred to the Irish migration starting in 1845, by those that could afford to leave Ireland during the potato famine. Some of their sons served in the Union armies during the Civil War. The Chinese immigrants of the 1850s, arrived in California fleeing turmoil at home and hoping for a find of gold. These folks provided much of the labor for the most dangerous jobs during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The U.S. has been the beneficiary of many more migrations.

Nevertheless, there are differences in the “border crisis” of the 21st century and earlier times. We now have deadly fentanyl flowing across our borders — much more deadly than any powdered opium carried by Asians of the past.

We now have deadly drug cartels inflicting our cities with more dangerous results than any opium den of long ago.

This is beyond politics and late-night TV hosts laughing about old white guys alarmed by the “browning of America.” It does not matter if whites of European ancestry are a minority here in the last half of this century. 

But, it does matter that we leave our grandchildren a civilized society, just as the “greatest generation” left us a prosperous culture after winning World War II.

Border security should unite all concerned Americans of every race and political opinion.  “The test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves for the children.” - D. Bonhoeffer. (German theologian and anti-Nazi activist, died April 9, 1945, in Flossenbürg concentration camp, Germany.)

J.H. Woolwine, in Salem, Virginia