I saw it first on social media, reports of a shooter in Maine. My initial hope was that the shooter was neutralized immediately and that was why it wasn’t on the networks yet. Then a second report, and it started to become clearer that was going to be a story. In twenty minutes it was and continues to grow as I write this.
I thought about what was coming. The sad stories of our fellow innocent citizens. To learn it was youth night added to the agony of what was to come.
Then I knew the inevitable gun ban banter and the noise to ban guns would be all over. I thought, I wonder who the gunman is, and I bet he had no right under Maine law to have a gun. I bet, too, this gunman gave off signals that today’s society failed to heed.
As the night wore on and the search for the gunman was underway, we learned the name and a little history.
He had threatened to shoot up a military base. He was admitted just months ago for mental instability – and released. He was known in the community for the issues he had.
As they continue to hunt this murderer down, we’ll go through the pain of learning about the victims. But it wasn’t the gun, it was the person and what we failed to do as a society to get him off the streets.
The laws forbid him to have arms, he gave notice to society that he needed help.
We failed the victims.
Meanwhile
The Middle East went another day with Israel on the border ready to attack, the stories of Palestine deaths continuing to grow and the world on edge. Are we holding Israel back? When asked if he demanded they wait, the President said he did not. Maybe the reporter should have rephrased the question to “did you ask?”
When asked about Iran, the President warned them again about getting involved. What about the 14 attacks on our troops the past three weeks with 24 injured? Does that not count?
Appeasement does not work. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, California Governor Newsom was in China and actually got a full scale meeting with leader Xi Jinping. With China supporting Russia and Iran, what did they talk about? That “China has a friend in California, and climate change.” Oh I see. Well, Governor, China is the world’s number one polluter of the air. Did you confront them about that? There was no indication you did from your comments, the Chairman’s comments or any written report. Why is that? You drove a Chinese EV, priced at $160,000, and called it the future. We know California is banning gasoline autos, what is China doing to not be the number one polluter?
I say this was all a publicity stunt for the good looking and good hair Governor who wants to be President, with no substance. Does all of America want to be California? The golden land that for the first time has more people moving out than in?
But then again, you CAN fool some of the people ALL the time.
So, who is surprised that former President Trump was fined in court for his mouth? The judge in his civil fraud trial said the former president had violated a gag order by attacking the judge’s law clerk again.
And it’s too bad he did, because his attorneys got major witness Michael Cohen to admit that the former President never ordered him to change the numbers on his net worth, only suggested he was richer than reported.
“So Mr. Trump never asked you to inflate the numbers on his financial statement,” Trump attorney Cliff Robert asked. “Correct,” Cohen said.
The Ready, Shoot, Aim Republican House members finally got a speaker. Rep. Johnson earned high praise for his words following the vote. The gang of 8 all voted for him and love his far right positions.
His ascension to the speakership (6 years 8 months from election) is the second shortest in our history. Only one month removed from the shortest. As an example, Kevin McCarthy was 16.
He has a big challenge ahead, never having been on the leadership team. But, his party was happy yesterday.
Now watch what the Democrats and media do to him. It started already. Here’s a quote from one publication today: “If Democrats have their way, [Johnson] will soon be well-known by every American — as an election denier, an anti-abortion extremist and a slasher of Social Security and Medicare.”
Here’s another that provides the blueprint for the opposition positioning:
Johnson has made it easy, with reams of op-eds and newspaper columns paired with legislation he recently introduced and supported:
Abortion: Johnson posted in January that “we will get the number of abortions to ZERO!!” in Louisiana after the fall of Roe.
Sexual orientation and gender identity: “Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do,” Johnson wrote in a 2005 op-ed, CNN reports.
Criminalizing gay sex: “States have many legitimate grounds to proscribe same-sex deviate sexual intercourse,” Johnson wrote in a July 2003 guest column cited by CNN.
Trump’s election denialism: “Johnson led the way in shaping legal arguments that became gospel among GOP lawmakers who sought to derail Biden’s path to the White House — even after all but the most extreme options had elapsed.”
Then we have the vote taken immediately that Speaker Johnson set up to condemn Hamas for the attack on October 7th. You would think it would be unanimous right? And, if it wasn’t, there would be lots of coverage of those who voted not to condemn. Right?
You would be wrong. Because ten voted not to condemn and six voted present. 15 of the 16 were Democrats.
It was a 412-10-6 vote. These 16 should be as well known as the gang of 8 in my opinion.
They are familiar names:
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., Summer Lee, D-Pa., Cori Bush, D-Mo., Reps. André Carson, D-Ind., Al Green, D-Texas, Delia Ramirez, D-Ill. and Rep. Thomas Massie R – Kentucky.
The six who voted present were:
Reps. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., were joined by Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman had the added honor today of pleading guilty today to pulling the fire alarm in the House to delay a vote on the budget.
One final thing on politics that just raises my ire. Here’s a story on NYC Mayor Adams that says it all.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, greeting the first busload of migrants from Texas, declared in the summer of 2022 that the city was ready with a helping hand for “every asylum-seeker that comes to New York,” and his administration worked with immigration activists to get the newcomers settled.
Today, Mr. Adams says his city is full. He uses terms such as “destroy” for what the migrants are doing to New York. He has even traveled to Mexico and Central America to beg people to stop coming.