Photo Credit…Matthew Busch for The New York Times

The New York Times reported 9 mass shootings in the U.S. this past week.  What’s Going on?  WHY?

David Leonhardt wrote,  “The closest thing that I have heard to a persuasive answer comes from history. Criminologists and historians who have studied past crime waves — like Gary LaFree, Richard Rosenfeld and Randolph Roth — point out that they often occur when people are feeling frustrated with society, government and their fellow citizens. This frustration can feed a breakdown in societal norms and a rise in what the sociologist Émile Durkheim called anomie.

When I joined the state prison system as a psychologist, women went through training with the men.  The men did their thing and also some of the women. But some of the women burst into tears after firing a pistol at the bull’s eye.  It ws so violent! When it came my turn I asked to be allowed to cry first and not shoot…

And today, while preparing this blog, I read that Ohio’s House and Senate have  joined twenty-two other states that require no training or license  to carry concealed weapons.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Why in the world would anyone vote for that, especially during a period of unruly unrest in society?  Wink wink.  Of course we all know the answer to that: dark money.

And why?  Because it’s legal.  And why is it legal?  Because In 2010 a ruling in Citizens United  vs. The Federal Election Commission Board  held for the first time that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose candidates for elected office.  Because of the Citizens United decision, corporations and the superrich have even more influence over our elected officials.  Those who stand up against corporations face the prospect of huge funding against them in thr next election.

Simply by threatening to spenf an enormous amount of money, corporate lobbyists such as the NRA have unprecedented leverage over elected officials.  The only way out of this situaation is through an amendment to the constitution.  A group of concerned citizens are working toward The Democracy for All Amendment which would establish that corporations and the superrich do not have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited sums of money to corrupt our elections.

More than 5 million people have already expressed their strong opposition to the original Citizens United decision by signing petitions,  and twenty-two states and more than 800 cities and towns have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment.  More on this movement to return elections to the people can be found at http://www.citizen.org.

Neela Chakravartula, Managing Attorney at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS):   “Since its inception, Title 42 has been as illegal as it is cruel. Earlier this month, an appeals court handed down a decision in our class action lawsuit which affirmed what we know to be true: Expelling asylum seekers to places where they face persecution or torture violates our laws and treaty obligations. The Biden administration knows this. The administration also knows that every day Title 42 remains intact, Black and brown families, children, and adults are placed in harm’s way. Two years of Title 42 is two years too long. It is beyond time for the Biden administration to end its racist Title 42 policy, restart asylum at the border, and welcome all people seeking safety with dignity.”  

For more see Melanie Nathan’s blog….

Image: Pixabay

THINK BACK–Did the milk of human kindness ever rreally flow in our veins?

IF SO,  How did it dry up?

MUST HAVE HAPPENED during child rearing?

AND How can we get it back again?

MAYBE it was all a wish-fulfillment dream…

IMAGE:  Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia http://www.saint-petersburg.com › museums › peter-pa…

After awhile I’m going to get a little testy about what some politicians are doing to public education,  first cutting its funding, then muzzling teachers and banning books in schools, and now trying to demolish professor’s tenure.   Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced last month a plan to phase out all tenure in Texas’ public colleges and universities, and to revoke tenure for those who teach critical race theory.  Patrick is hardly the first state leader to go after tenure for university professors. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker worked to weaken tenure protections at his state’s university system. A current bill in South Carolina would end tenure in that state. Georgia made it easier last year for administrators in public universities to fire tenured professors.    See dianeravitch for more on the story.

THE WIND SINGS ME SONGS

Will Larkins is a junior at Winter Park High School in Winter Park, Florida.

Read the story and hear him (them?) speak to the Florida legislature.  A smidgen of the New York Times.com opinion piece:

“I have come to realize that those who have been so openly hateful toward me often knew little about the queer community — they thought being L.G.B.T.Q. was a conscious choice. Education didn’t just give me a sense of self worth but also the knowledge of a community and lifeline there for countless young people.

“L.G.B.T.Q. teens are four times more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts. According to the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for young gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people, teens who learned about L.G.B.T.Q. issues or people in school were 23 percent less likely to attempt suicide. We have a mental health crisis in the queer community, and Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party want to outlaw the solution….”

What a brave, remarkable young person this is, who led a protest march from school with 500 other students, in Florida. Go to the Times and see and hear his testimony,

Image by Todd Anderson….nytimes.com March 12, 2022

Dianeravitch refers us to a doozy: “This interview with education journalist Jennifer Berkshire is worth reading. Good questions, sharp answers.”