Gun Violence

    More than 400 people have been shot to death in the city of Philadelphia so far this year. At this rate, the city is likely to pass last year's record of some 500 gun deaths in Philadelphia.

   Nationally, 20,000 Americans died of gun violence last year, according to statistics. Yet the National Rifle Association has not been mentioned in any of the news reports of the soaring death rate.

  Why? The NRA supported the national gun control program when it was initiated in 1934, when the organization was sponsored by the U.S. military. But when that association was ended, the NRA became active in supporting gun ownership by the many, citing the Second Amendment to the Constitution and calling for near universal gun ownership by all Americans.

   Coincidentally, the NRA became a not-so-secret arm of the gun industry, and its program ignored the first phrase of the Second Amendment, which specifies that "A well regulated militia" is essential "to the security of a free state," and therefore gun ownership must not be limited. But the rash of shootings in major American cities cannot be attributed to members of any organized militia, well regulated or otherwise.

  Compare gun violence in America to other major nations such as Canada, Britain or France. So the question remains: Where is the NRA in all this?

Cancel Voting

    News media report there have been threats made against local and state voting officials, warning them of personal harm to them and to their families if Trump supporters lose.

  This during the few days before the coming off-year election next week. Typically, voter turnout is slim for such years, since many districts have only local offices at stake.

  But this could be a sign of things to come, a precursor to next year, when almost all seats in the House of Representatives will be open, and a third of the Senate seats.

 Separately, Donald Trump has called on supporters to ignore voting. Put the two together, and there is suspicion of a ploy to disrupt major elections in America to make it easier for the ex-president to "prove" the falsity of his loss in 2020 and to arbitrarily claim victory next time.

  Worse, if local and state election officials and poll workers refuse to risk their lives at polling places, that could mean they would be replaced by supporters of a given candidate, who would manipulate the vote count in favor of their candidate.

  If that sounds like the efforts made last year to overturn the vote counts that evicted Trump from the White House and now change the system to guarantee a return to power for the ex-president, then perhaps poll workers and election officials will have to be on guard to protect not only themselves and their families, but the Constitution itself, and replace it with someone who wants to dictate how the country shall conduct its elections.

Corona Blues

      The big virus is still keeping many folks home, and the death toll remains high. But despite that reality, many Americans insist the story is a Democrat plot meant only to harm Donald Trump and his campaign to return to the White House. Perhaps even before the official next re-election year in 2024.

    And have you noticed that Republican politicians refer to their opposition as the Democrat Party, and not by the official name "Democratic" Party? That can only be because they want to imply that members of that party are not really "democratic." This ploy on words has been going on for several years. One would think that eventually they might realize that the ploy is not working. But repetition is the guideline employed by propagandists for many decades.