Gun Violence

      More than 500 people have died of gunfire in Philadelphia so far this year, up from 400 just a few weeks ago.

   Nationwide, the total is nearly 20,000. That's an increase of some 5,000 gunshot fatalities compared to 2018.

   Yet for all the talk about the soaring death rate, there has been little talk about tighter controls. Instead, there have been efforts to blame the increase on the spread of the corona virus and its mutations, which bring more tension to social relationships.

   That may well be true, but deaths from the virus have increased in other countries worldwide, and it's not clear whether gun deaths have also increased in those countries.

   Meanwhile, the logic is clear: More guns bring more deaths. Therefore, fewer guns will mean fewer deaths.

   One wonders whether Canada, which has strict gun ownership laws, has also seen an increase in gun violence and deaths. A quick check shows that gun homicides in Canada reached a five-year high in 2020 at a total of 277. Or Britain, or Ireland, or Australia, or New Zealand, other nations where the English language is predominant but gun laws are more strict.

   In Britain, gun homicides in 2018 totaled 33. In Australia, there are an estimated 14 firearms per 100 inhabitants. In the United States, that ratio is 120. That means there are more guns in America than there are people.

   That raises the question, why do so many Americans feel they need multiple firearms?

   One reason proposed by the gun lobby is that Americans rely on the Second Amendment to have guns so they can retaliate against invaders. From where, Canada? Apparently these believers do not trust the U.S. military, including the Marine Corps, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Forces and other highly trained personnel to defend the nation from invaders on the other side of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

   Meanwhile, the proliferation of guns in America leads to more killings of students and children while they are attending school.

    

Josephine Baker

    France paused this week to honor the American Black woman singer who was instrumental in helping her adopted nation deal with the Nazi invasion during World War II.

   The French international TV operation carried the ceremony live and in full, while the British and German networks available in America devoted extensive coverage to the honors.

   But there were no reports carried on major American TV networks. One wonders why. Was it because they did not know who Josephine Baker was, or did they decide the event was not newsworthy?

   She was born in the U.S., lived in Harlem, moved to France and became the most popular entertainer in the country in the 1930s and 1940s. She stayed in Paris during the occupation and used her position to have contact with German military officers and pass on valued information to the French Resistance.

   After the war, she was given several of the nation's top honors, including one personally by Charles de Gaulle. She later appeared at the side of Rev. Martin Luther King during his "I have a dream" speech.

   Yet despite all this, when the nation of France inducted her into its Pantheon in Paris, to join its most honored citizens, American TV networks had no coverage of the event.

   One wonders why.

 

King of Denial

    The Pharaoh Syndrome is spreading as people refuse to accept the reality of the corona virus.

   Result: The death toll rises as infections soar. This is what happens when people refuse to believe medical professionals and embrace the words of politicians instead.

Whether

   Decisions are based on whether to do one thing or another. A simplistic definition, certainly, but one that has kept me off this page recently. Instead, I have been writing fiction, a very satisfying effort, and the results are posted on the Amazon site.

   It certainly is more satisfying than sending samples to traditional publishers, then waiting months for a rejection note so the text can be sent to another.

   Instead, a book goes worldwide overnight, sales are immediately recorded and royalties paid monthly. It's not enough to finance retirement, but it does encourage more writing.

   My latest effort is titled "The Druid Cat," and deals with a feline effort to help his human partner, a journalist writing on the conflict between a hard-nosed redemptionist and those who want to follow their own spiritual path. It's the latest in a series.

   But my favorite is one titled "The Wolf Who Came Back," and tells of a leader taking his pack to resolve issues that humans destroyed.

   Meanwhile, enjoy the stories while I dig up more commentary on current events.

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.