DANGEROUS TIMES
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Photo

Day 150

6/18/2017

 

AFTERMATH OF A SHOOTING:
Congress sticks to its guns;
Even when it's the target

Picture
Picture
 June 18, 2017 
   

   THIS is Cat.
   I’ll be doing the blog today, because Phoebe’s been lost in deep thought since the shooting June 14, when Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was nearly killed, five others were wounded and the would-be assassin was shot to death.
   I know, a dog in “deep thought” is something of an oxymoron (Phoebe: That means a contradictory statement.) But let’s cut our girl a break. She’s been freaking out since the incident.
   It took us several days to even talk about what happened when Republicans were practicing for the annual Congressional charity baseball game. Phoebe finally broke the silence by cursing out the Right Wingers  (Yup – Sweet Phoebe)  who blamed the Left for the shooting by creating a toxic atmosphere with their verbal assaults on President Trump. 
   “Not to pour salt on the wound." I said, "but it’s kind of hard to ignore the fact that the would-be assassin was a Left Wing loud mouth who volunteered for the campaign of the King of Left Wing, Bernie Sanders.
   “Like most of these shooters, that guy was a whack job,” Phoebe said, “And secondly, for the Right to complain about toxic talk is like a skunk calling 911 about that terrible smell that's stinking up the neighborhood. It started with Trump: He campaigned in the gutter; and he’s governing from the gutter.”

   I HAPPENED to be curled up on the living room couch, listening to National Public Radio’s “Wait Wait …Don’t Tell Me,” the supposedly humorous program in which most of the zingers are aimed at the Right. At that very moment, the program's host, Peter Sagal, “joked” that the nickname for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is “Jeffie, the racist house elf.”
   “That remark doesn’t even make sense,” I said, “It’s an ugly thing to say about anyone on the radio or anywhere else.”
   “You’re right about that,” Phoebe said, a concession that was so rare that it nearly knocked me off the couch. “Name-calling is stupid. Still, that’s not the point, Cat.”
   I could see what was coming next, like a bullet aimed straight for my cat brain (thankfully, a small and elusive target).
   “Guns,” Phoebe said, “it’s the damn guns. And the Republicans, the Right, the NRA, the crazies won’t do anything about them, not before the shooting, not after.”
  “Actually,” I said, “the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia is a perfect example of what that NRA guy, Wayne LaPierre, meant after the terrible shooting of those school kids a few years ago in Connecticut: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
   The fur stood up on Phoebe’s neck, and I could hear that primeval growl that she uses when the mail lady comes to our house. I actually feared for MY life. But I bravely soldiered on:
   “If the Capitol Police hadn’t shot that guy, Rep. Scalise would have died for sure, along with FIFTEEN other Representatives and TWO Senators. It was just lucky that the security guys – Good Guys With Guns - were there!”
   Phoebe struggled to catch her breath: “If there weren’t so many guns, Cat, so many horrible guns, Nut Jobs wouldn’t be so dangerous in Virginia or anywhere.”      
Picture
    “HOW CAN WE all be so crazy?” Phoebe said, circling the conversation back to that Connecticut shooting five years ago.
   Twenty children – 6- and 7-year-olds – at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were murdered by a guy who first shot his mother (four rounds to her head), then the kids and six grownups, including the school principal, and finally himself.
   “Children, children, children, children,” Phoebe said, “murdered with that ‘Bushmaster’ rifle and Glock and his other guns. And you know what effect that had?  More stupid gun laws. Laws allowing guns in colleges, guns in bars, concealed guns. Children shot to death at school, and the result is guns, guns, and more guns?”
   Phoebe was shaking with such fury that I was glad that here in the liberal Northeast dogs can't own guns – at least not yet.
   But the girl wasn’t finished.

   “How about Gabby?” Phoebe said.
   “You mean Gabby, the sidekick in all those old Westerns that Our Humans watch on TV?” I said.
   “Gabrielle Giffords, the Congresswoman from Arizona,” Phoebe said. “She was left brain-damaged by another gun-toting Crazy, who managed to kill six people, including a federal judge.”
   “And that was in 2011, before the school shooting,” Phoebe ranted. “Giffords was one of their own, and Congress still wouldn't do anything. even after that one.”
   “Well, Giffords wasn’t exactly one of their ‘own,’ ” I pointed out. “She was a Democrat. And a girl.”
   “What ever happened to the Doctrine of Self-Preservation?" Phoebe demanded. "Doesn’t that trump the Second Amendment? If nothing else, aren’t we all, even Republicans, supposed act in our own best interest, you know, Survival 101?
   That dog simply would not shut up.
   “But we won’t do anything about guns to save our children, not in the classrooms of Connecticut, not on the streets of Chicago. Congress won’t lift a finger, even to save themselves from guns.”
   Phoebe stalked off, leaving me with a so much to think about.
   One thing struck me right off the bat:  That girl is never going to make a very good hunting dog.
​   You can bet your life on that.
Picture

Day 136

6/4/2017

 

​ON A SPRING MORNING, SOAKING UP THE SUN, HEARING A PRESIDENT’S UGLY TWEETS

Picture
Picture
June 4, 2017
   
   SOME DAYS days are just too delicious, especially if you’re a lucky dog.
   I spent this morning on Our Humans’ back deck here in Newport, R.I., lying in the sun, just taking in the warmth and freshness of late spring. 
   The Nice One has done a great job, as usual, setting out flowers and plants around the deck, some of them hanging from brackets attached to the house, others on little stands. Please don’t ask me what kinds of flowers, but rest assure the lady don’t traffic in no ugly weeds.
   There’s a big myth that dogs see only in black and white. Not true. Today’s flowers are purples and pinks, and the leaves are green. 
   I think most people would give a lot to trade places with a dog like me,  and not just for my Long Eyelashes. Maybe in the great universities, they are debating whether it’s ethical and fair that a dog gets to spend Sunday mornings lolling in the sun, when so many Humans, even right here in the good old USA, are living on the streets, not getting enough to eat and rarely. maybe never, seeing the vet. It’s worse, much, much worse,of course, throughout the world, in refugee camps, prisons and in China’s smoggy cities.
   I’ve got no answers to a question that profound, except to say that at least I’m taking advantage of my good fortune by getting outdoors, as opposed to Cat, who apparently can’t appreciate the difference between a nice day and a cloudy one, since he’s sacked out, as usual, on the second floor guest bed. 

Picture
   WHAT DOES bother me, sprawled out on the sun, is what went on in London overnight. Yes, I was listening to the reports coming in from the BBC (the Humans leave the radio on at night in their/our bedroom) about the latest terror attack, this time in England, where three guys drove a van into people on London Bridge, then got out and started slashing and stabbing people with knives and a machete.
   It was a really terrible time before the police shot the attackers. But people tried to stop them, including a cop armed with just a baton, and patrons of nightclubs. who threw tables, chairs and bottles at them. As I’m writing this, 10 people were dead, including the terrorists, and nearly 50 were in hospitals.
   Right here, by the way, I’d like to give a shout out to the Brothers and Sisters, the dogs who were on the job with the police, as you can see from this photo copied without permission from the New York Times’ Website, searching for bombs and suspects. 
Picture
   And you do have to give The Humans credit in situations like this. They always rally to the cause. The cops and spooks hunt down the bad guys. Civilians try to help one another. World leaders send messages of unity and compassion.
   Oh, except for one.
   Trump spent the morning, not on the back deck of the White House, but back on his disinformation “device,” stirring up another Tweet Storm, crazy, ugly stuff.  

Picture
   One Tweet took occasion to promote his attempt to ban Muslims from the United States. (For the record, I’m betting the Supreme Court will overturn the lower courts and give Trump the big 5-to-4 OKAY to violate the Constitution’s religious protections). Can you imagine Trump would exploit another country’s terrorist attack on another country to promote his immigrant ban? Of course you can; Trump always exceeds expectations.
   This is the point in the essay where members of the National Cult of Trump say that the left wing cry-puppies aren’t giving you the complete story by not including all of the president’s Tweets.
Picture
    I think the worst Tweet was  one in which he showed that he is, indeed, a grand master of the Tweetsdom,  crowing two mean thoughts into one Tweet: 1) a Cruel Insult; and 2) a Big Lie. 
   London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, told city residents that there would be lots of cops around London in the aftermath, but that residents could help by remaining “calm and vigilant” and shouldn’t be afraid, nor should they let the terrorists scare their city. Trump’s version:
Picture
   Yes, he did: he made fun of Mayor Khan, belittling him, and misstating what he meant.
    But that’s okay, because Mayor Khan is what? Born in London, BUT, he’s the son of Pakistani immigrants, and a Muslim.
    (Memo to General Kelly: add the name of Sadiq “The Muslim” Khan to the no-fly list.)
    Trump was also atwitter with this one, making fun of people who want to regulate guns, saying that following the London incident, he wasn’t hearing anything about gun control, since the London attackers used knives.
Picture
Picture
   ON A SPRING DAY, lying here  on the deck in the sun, surrounded by flowers, you have a lot of options.
   You can turn over on your side.
​   You can lie on your stomach; roll over and warm your tummy.
   You can saunter down the stairs onto the lawn to cool off in the shade next to a flowering bush.
    You can admire the potted plants.
​    You can take in the deep green of the early spring grass.
    But you can’t get this out of your head, that: 
   Donald J. Trump is the president of the United States.
   He Tweets.
   And he Tweets for America.
  ​​​

    A "sweet dog" and a smart opossum consider a nation at risk.

    The writers

    Picture
    PHOEBE, a "sweet dog" who came to Rhode Island in 2010 as a stray puppy from Missouri, was a political agnostic until Trump's catastrophic election. She tracked his presidency in a blog, which she decided to resurrect it this year  when it became obvious that Republicans are committed to Trump's destructive policies
    Picture
    MR. O, an opossum, showed up in Phoebe's backyard somewhat mysteriously. He turned out to have genuine insight into political matters, and he agreed to assume co-author duties of the blog after Phoebe's previous writing partner, Cat, a cat, died.
    Picture
    CAT

    Archives

    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly