Trumps Birthday Protest in front of the Trump International Tower, June 14, 2019 (Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
Some folks say that Rep. Nancy Pelosi has become Donald Trump’s biggest ally. Why? She continues to oppose efforts to impeach Trump. It’s Pelosi v. Impeachment.
I do believe that the majority of people in this country are done with Trump. I love the 2020 campaign slogan “any functioning adult.” Donald Trump is clearly not a well functioning adult. When he refers to countries as “sh-thole countries” or proposes that we “buy” another country, the man has proven that “his elevator simply does not go all the way to the top.”
Beyond his completely idiotic statements, however, we also know that he is quite capable of scheming and scamming just about anyone. His “stock in trade” is deception and deflection. Having seen this demonstrated time and time again, one wonders why any responsible legislator would not feel compelled to protect the country. Until we get to November 2020, more than a year away, the only way out for us is impeachment.
Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi is blocking the path to impeachment. Although the majority of House Democrats favor impeachment, Pelosi is holding the gate firmly closed. Her rationale seems increasingly strained and incredible. She doesn’t want the country to focus too much on Trump. But the fact is, he keeps the focus on his outrageous comments and conduct.
It has been weeks since Robert Mueller confirmed to lawmakers that Trump’s 2016 campaign welcomed Russian assistance and that President Trump repeatedly attempted to undermine the investigation into Russia’s hacking and propaganda operation. Trump’s outrageous attacks on Hon. Elijah Cummings and the City of Baltimore are also fading fast in our rear-view mirrors. The country is incredibly resilient in the face of Trump’s demagoguery. The danger is that we become so immune to his attacks on democratic institutions that he is able to dismantle them without any consequence. Trump’s celebrity fascism is real!
That is the point of impeachment. Most people agree there must be consequences for inciting racist attacks and obstructing the law. Treason is defined by serving a foreign power after you are elected by the people in your own country. And let us be clear – the people elected Trump. Whether you stayed home because you hated Hillary, or you actually cast a vote for Trump. Elections matter – votes matter.
Pelosi v. Impeachment
Nancy Pelosi needs to recognize that a vote for impeachment matters. That standing up for the Constitution matters. Standing up for the rule of law matters. Indeed, standing up against a bully has power all by itself. Calling out America’s racism certainly resonates with those of us who are his targets. Letting the world know that there are still some people of good will and reason in charge of at least some small part of the U.S. government is a uniquely valuable gesture.
I heard Pelosi is currently travelling the world to reassure our allies that we have not all lost it. I say Pelosi needs to come home and make that point plain by supporting the impeachment of Donald J. Trump.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Protest, Parkland, Florida 2018 Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Who’s Killing Us? No this is not a song. It’s a serious question that we need to answer in America. More importantly, we need to admit that too many people are being killed in America by guns.
The news this week is the same news we heard last week. The same insane incessant scourge of gun violence overwhelms us. The same “thoughts and prayers” that were issued by legislators around the country last week are re-issued this week. To a different family. To a different grieving community. To the same shocked nation.
Too Many Guns
Across this country, legal and illegal guns are everywhere. Despite efforts to regulate access to guns, the situation has gotten completely out of hand. Increased criminal penalties and harsh sentences have had no impact whatsoever on the access to guns or the number of people killed by guns.
According to one 2012 study, Americans own at least 270 million guns. The second gun-ranking country, India, a country over three times our population, only has 46 million guns. And, the vast majority of the world’s countries have fewer than 10 million privately-owned guns. This disparity is based on the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The devastation to our country because of this law should compel us to take bold action to address our national crisis.
A March 2016 study in the American Journal of Medicine found that 90% of all women, 91% of children under 14, 92% of young people from 15 to 24 years, and 82% of all people killed by firearms in the world were in the United States.
Who’s Killing Us?
We wake up every day to another mass shooting. The face of death by gun knows no boundaries of age, race, sex or religion. Our senses have been shocked over and over again since the Columbine High School shootings in April 1999. Over the last 20 years, we have watched this type of random mass shooting increase in frequency. The number of lives lost in each incident is completely unpredictable.
In December 2012, a gunman murders 27 people – including 20 six and seven year olds – at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A gunman kills 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. Another gunman kills 58 people at a concert on the Las Vegas strip in October 2017.
Nine victims shot & killed inside Emanuel AME Church, June 2015
Racially motivated attacks have become commonplace as well. In June 2015, a white man wanting to start “a race war” kills 9 Black people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In October 2018, a man expressing hatred for Jews kills 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shocking attack in El Paso, Texas this month was the latest one.
#EnoughIsEnough
Parents wait for news after shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Joel Auerbach)
On Valentine’s Day 2018, a gunman kills 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This one woke up young people across the country. #EnoughIsEnough. They took on the National Rifle Association (NRA) with fierce energy. Their attack on the influence of the NRA in the political and media world left that organization reeling.
Watching the young activists who survived the Parkland massacre step up and demand an end to gun violence in America was inspiring. They courageously rejected the stupidest idea that we should arm teachers as a solution to the problem. They have been uncompromising in their insistence that we stop the violence now.
For more than 20 years, Congress prohibited the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting any research on gun violence in America. It was NRA pressure that led to the restriction on research. The CDC interpreted the ban to include all research on gun violence prevention, and so has not funded any research on this subject since 1996. In April, however, a Congressional committee allocated $50 million dollars to study ways to prevent gun violence, giving $25 million to the CDC.
Every 16 Hours
A recent study found that “intimate partner homicides ― when a person murders their spouse or romantic partner ― increased each year between 2014 and 2017.” The reason: guns. The study found that since 2010, intimate partner homicides by gun increased 26% while the murder of women by other means has decreased. According to one estimate, a woman is fatally shot by her boyfriend, husband or ex every 16 hours.
6-year-old Millie Drew Kelly killed by her 4-year old brother
Our children are also suffering from both legal and illegal guns. On April 11, 2019, 6-year old Millie Drew Kelly died after her 4-year-old brother accidentally shot her in the head. This kind of tragedy is a regularly re-ocurring event in America. In December 2018, a 6-year-old girl in Missouri dies after her 12-year-old brother accidentally shot her in the head. October 2018, in Virginia, a 7-year-old boy finds his grandfather’s gun and accidentally shoots his 5-year-old sister. March 2018 – an 8-year-old in Ohio loads a .22-caliber rifle and opens fire on his 4-year old sister. She miraculously survives.
4-year old Na’Vaun Jackson. Credit: Ramon Price
In Oakland, 4-year-old Na’Vaun Jackson accidentally shoots himself in the head when he finds a gun in the house. Although Na’Vaun survived, his family and the entire neighborhood are traumatized.
Repeal the Second Amendment
In this moment, we are having a national conversation about gun violence and gun control. Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for “the simple but dramatic action” of repealing the Second Amendment. He argues that will move us closer to stopping gun violence than any other possible reform.
It is long past time to repeal the Second Amendment. Repeal will remove the legal justifications that have thwarted every gun control measure ever proposed.
The Second Amendment is part of the Constitution as a compromise to protect the slave patrols in the South. The Founders knew the militias were necessary to keep slaves under control. Just like we abolished slavery, we need to abolish the Second Amendment. It is a vestige of our history, just like Jim Crow and mass incarceration, that is still killing us.
So, who’s killing us? It seems that we are all playing “russian roulette” with guns in America. Today, it’s Walmart. Tomorrow, it could be Safeway. Until we collectively decide that #EnoughIsEnough, our racist past will undermine our future. Once again, I say it is past time to Repeal No. 2.
