![](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/05\/27\/opinion\/27goldberg1\/merlin_178468047_4af078e0-225c-4210-a993-7664e21d0294-superJumbo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
NYT, Michelle Goldberg, 27 May 2022<\/strong>: America May Be Broken Beyond Repair<\/a><\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n I imagine there’s an alternate Earth where matches are easily available to children, since children find playing with them so much fun. Sure, an occasional house burns down, even a school, but the pro-match advocates propose to simply rebuild all the houses, and schools, so that they’re fireproof! But never, never, think of taking the matches away from children. That would limit their freedom!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Cartoon on Facebook:<\/p>\n A man is drowning in a lake, crying \u201chelp!\u201d Another man on pier yells back to him, \u201cthoughts and prayers!” The man in the lake cries again: “HELP!” The man on the pier replies: \u201cT H O U G H T S A N D P R A Y E R S !!\u201d<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Memes on Fb:<\/p>\n 1) \u201cThere is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve\u201d \u2013 Miroslav Volf<\/p>\n 2) Why don\u2019t conservative states just use \u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d to stop abortions? After all, that\u2019s what they use when people murder actual, live children in schools.<\/p>\n 3) \u201cPrayers are dangerous. Prayers are a way for people to convince themselves they\u2019ve done something, when they\u2019ve actually done nothing. Prayers seem to absolve people of taking on the responsibility of demanding change. Prayers pass the buck to an imaginary being. Prayers ensure that the problem will persist.\u201d<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Headlines:<\/p>\n NY Times, John McWhorter, 27 May 2022<\/strong>: Gun Violence Is Like What Segregation Was. An Unaddressed Moral Stain.<\/a><\/p>\n NYT, Editorial Board, 28 May 2022<\/strong>: A Heartbroken Nation<\/a>. Online headline: “Our Leaders Are Failing in Their Most Basic Duty”<\/p>\n Washington Post, Frederic J. Frommer, 28 May 2022<\/strong>: A Supreme Court justice\u2019s solution to gun violence: Repeal Second Amendment<\/a><\/p>\n Washington Post, Kathleen Parker, 27 May 2022<\/strong>: Even Republicans seem to know something has to change now<\/a><\/p>\n Earlier online title: “An AR-15 is not a colonial musket. Our laws should acknowledge that.”<\/p>\n Vox, Ian Millhiser, 25 May 2022<\/strong>: How the Supreme Court made it impossible to solve America\u2019s gun violence problem<\/a>, subtitled, \u201cIf you can\u2019t ban handguns, you\u2019re just spinning your wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n Vox, 26 May 2022<\/strong>: America\u2019s unique, enduring gun problem, explained<\/a><\/p>\n Facts, statistics, charts.<\/p>\n Salon, Jim Sleeper, 29 May 2022<\/strong>: Gun violence, neoliberalism and Citizens United: We can’t change things without facing the truth<\/a>, subtitled, \u201cIt isn’t just the Second Amendment: If we can’t control social media and \u2018corporate speech,\u2019 we’ll never end this\u201d<\/p>\n Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams, 25 May 2022<\/strong>: Gun violence is the health care crisis we’re ignoring<\/a>, subtitled, \u201cFew medical schools train doctors on how to treat injuries stemming from gun violence\u201d<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n I see virtually no defense of *why* people should be able to buy military arms. But that first article at the top explained this much: people want to be armed in order to be able to overthrow the government.<\/p>\n \nGuns, in this worldview, are a guarantor against government overreach. And government overreach includes attempts to regulate guns.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n People like that God\/Guns\/Trump 2022 lady in the photo at the top, presumably. And then what will they do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NYT, Michelle Goldberg, 27 May 2022: America May Be Broken Beyond Repair \\\\ I imagine there’s an alternate Earth where matches are easily available to children, since children find playing with them so much fun. Sure, an occasional house burns … Continue reading