Sumter Democrats

The Villages Democrats

Neighborhood Buzz

A blog for Democrats and Independents

Editor  - Jerry Meyer

The Following is re-printed From the Ditch Mitch Campaign

Earlier this month, America witnessed two more mass shootings within less than 24 hours of each other. Thirty-one more innocent lives were stolen, and thirty-one more families had to plan funerals, joining a club none of them ever wanted to be a part of.

In the days that followed, you couldn’t turn on the news without seeing the victims’ stories or hearing political talking heads discuss what should be done to prevent the next tragedy from happening.

Suddenly, even Republicans seemed on-board with the idea that something had to be done. Donald Trump came out in support of passing universal background checks. Republican congressmen sent out press releases saying they supported passing gun laws. And then, just four days after the massacre, something happened that we never expected to see: Mitch McConnell called for not just thoughts and prayers, but passing legislation.

"What’s happened after every one of these shootings is there’s been a temptation to just engage in political discourse rather than actually passing something… The key to this honestly is making a law and not making a point… The urgency of this is not lost on any of us, because we’ve seen entirely too many of these outrageous acts… What we can’t do is fail to pass something by just locking up and failing to pass. That’s unacceptable. What I want to see here is an outcome."

- Mitch McConnell; August 8, 2019; News Radio 840 WHAS

It was incredible. We couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Could it be possible that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell would actually pass something – anything – to address gun violence?!

Of course, we know now that Mitch McConnell didn’t actually mean any of those words. He doesn’t actually intend to hold a vote on a gun bill. It was a lie. Already Donald Trump is now telling reporters that – never mind – actually, he agrees with the NRA. Our existing background checks are strong enough. We don’t need to ban assault weapons or high capacity magazines. We don’t need to pass a law. We don’t need to do anything.

Mitch McConnell was just stalling. He was hoping that Trump would say or do something outrageous between then and now (like trying to buy Greenland or saying something anti-Semitic). He was hoping that we would forget. He was hoping that we would move on until the next massacre. And unfortunately, it appears that once again, we have.

In 2015, after a mass shooting in Oregon that you’ve probably forgotten even happened because there have been so many countless ones after it, reporters gathered in the White House press briefing room to hear President Obama speak. They expected that he would give his usual condolence speech to the nation. But that’s not what happened. It was not his “routine” response. We saw something we rarely saw. We saw an angry Obama:

"Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this… This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction. When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities. We have seatbelt laws because we know it saves lives. So the notion that gun violence is somehow different…"

- President Barack Obama; October 1, 2015

President Obama was right. And if we had listened to him then, imagine the countless lives we could have saved. If we want to get something done and finally pass gun reform – any gun reform – then we need to break the routine.

We need to stop forgetting about mass shootings until the next one occurs. We need to stop letting politicians like Mitch McConnell get away with pretending to care but then never actually holding a vote. We need to stop allowing the NRA and the gun lobby win. We need to stay angry. We need to keep protesting. We need to keep donating. We need to keep voting. And if we want to get anything done on gun reform, we need to defeat Mitch McConnell when he’s up for reelection in 2020.

Neighborhood Buzz

A Blog for Democrats and Independents

Editor _ Jerry Meyer

The Villages Democrats    --  Sumter Democrats

Trump – Master of Diversion

One thing you can say about Donald Trump, he can turn the conversation on a dime.

There are reports the economy may be weakening, and we are still trying to cope with news of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, followed by police shootings in several cities

With these stories in the headlines, Trump attacks two Muslim Congresswomen for their plans to visit Israel.

Taking to “Twitter,” Trump said “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota to visit, writing,  “They hate Israel and all Jewish people.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau quickly announced that entry would be denied, saying that the two women are leading activists in promoting the legislation of boycotts against Israel in the American Congress.

The Guardian, in an editorial, calls Tlaib and Omar Israel’s fiercest critics in Congress.  They go on to say that Trump and Netanyahu are so afraid of letting them travel through the country and ground their critique in first-hand witness accounts of life in the occupied territories is just as troubling as it is unsurprising.

Trump’s game of feigning concern for Jews in order to undercut women of color in Congress is all too transparent, writes the Guardian, adding that this time his racism has been handed a new amplifier in Prime Minister Netanyahu.   The editorial goes on to say that banning the women is the latest episode in Israel’s serial move to ban left wing dissidents.

Congressman Omar called Netanyahu’s decision an affront and both an insult to democratic values and a chilling response to a visit by government officials from an allied nation.

The decision has also been denounced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the office of Rep. Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most influential pro-Israel organization in the U.S. also disagreed with the move.

On Friday, August 16^th, Israel’s interior ministry said Talib would be allowed to enter the country as a private citizen to visit her aging grandmother in Palestine, which had been part of the original trip.  Tlaib’s parents are Palestine immigrants to this country and the family has relatives in the West Bank.

Tlaib has decided not to make the visit, because of restrictions that came with the permission to visit.  She said the requirements were meant to humiliate her.

Conversation on what is taking place continues on talk shows – and Trump again has diverted our attention.

Don’t look for any action on gun legislation in the near future.

Neighborood Buzz

A Blog for Independents and Democrats

Editor- Jerry Meyer

thevillagesdemocrats.org

sumterdemocrats.com

Two items for you - one a news story on gun legislation  in the Phoenix and a book review.

An article from the Phoenix

In the wake of the mass shootings that took place earlier this month in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, two Florida Democrats from South Florida have filed legislation that would allow immediate family members to have the power to go before a judge to confiscate firearms from people they believe could post a significant danger.

Matching bills filed  by Broward County Democrats Richard Stark in the House and Lori Berman in the Senate would allow a parent, legal guardian, spouse or sibling of a person believed to be a danger to himself or the community to go before a judge with what is known as a Risk Protection Order.

A similar measure proposed in the 2019 session died in committee.

Currently, if someone suspects a family member might pose a danger to themselves or the community, they must contact a law enforcement official, who can then petition the court to restrict that person’s access to guns. That measure was part of the sweeping Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act that was signed into law in the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting massacre last year.

In order for a risk protection order to be issued, law enforcement authorities must fill out a petition that includes information about how the person in question poses a risk to himself or others and a description of their access to firearms.

Stark’s new bill also says that a person petitioning for a risk protection order does not have to be represented by an attorney.

In the wake of the most recent mass shootings which killed 31 people, President Donald Trump came out in support of red flag laws and indicated he would get Republican support for such measures on the federal level. Currently, Florida and 16 states and the District of Columbia already have such laws on the books, according to CBS News.

Since Florida’s law went into effect, there have been more than 2,300 risk protection orders issued across the state, the Tampa Bay Times reported last week.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, told WTSP-10 News last week that he doesn’t see the need for such a law.

“People have the absolute ability today to get that in court and get that before a judge and that is call law enforcement,” he said.

Gualtieri says his office has executed almost 400 risk protections orders since the law went into effect last year.

And- a review of a just published book.

Evangelicals are losing the culture war. What if it’s their fault?

In 2016, writer and filmmaker Ben Howe found himself disillusioned with the religious movement he’d always called home. In the pursuit of electoral victory, many American evangelicals embraced moral relativism and toxic partisanship.Whatever happened to the Moral Majority, who headed to Washington in the ’80s to plant the flag of Christian values? Where were the Christian leaders that emerged from that movement and led the charge against Bill Clinton for his deception and unfaithfulness? Was all that a sham? Or have they just lost sight of why they wanted to win in the first place? From the 1980s scandals till today, evangelicals have often been caricatured as a congregation of judgmental and prudish rubes taken in by thundering pastors consumed with greed and lust for power. Did the critics have a point?  

In The Immoral Majority, Howe—still a believer and still deeply conservative—analyzes and debunks the intellectual dishonesty and manipulative rhetoric which evangelical leaders use to convince Christians to toe the Republican Party line. He walks us through the history of the Christian Right, as well as the events of the last three decades which led to the current state of the conservative movement at large.  As long as evangelicals prioritize power over persuasion, Howe argues, their pews will be empty and their national influence will dwindle. If evangelicals hope to avoid cultural irrelevance going forward, it will mean valuing the eternal over the ephemeral, humility over ego, and resisting the seduction of political power, no matter the cost. The Immoral Majority demonstrates how the Religious Right is choosing the profits of this world at the cost of its soul—and why it’s not too late to change course.

Neighborhood Buzz

A Blog for Democrats and Independents

Editor Jerry Meyer

The Villages Democrats

Sumter County Democrats

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemoller -- written after he realized the reality of Adolph Hitler and what he was doing.

-------------------------------------------------------------
So, what are you going to do when they come for you?


I'm guessing that like  most of us, you have no direct contact with any of the shooting incidents that have taken place around our nation.  They are something on television.  We gasp and recoil, but the reality is they are happening to people we don't know.  If you do know someone involved I apologize and express my sorrow for your loss.

So, what are you going to do when the mall door opens and a shooter with a great deal of ammunition opens fire - and  your wife, your husband, your son, your daughter, your grandchild is struck and killed by a bullet from  an assault weapon.

Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough.  They never were.  It's time to say ENOUGH!

----------------------------------------------------------

Letter to the Editor

The violence must be put down.  Congress must show their significance by an immediate return to their desks for bipartisan laws that will authorize a war on murderers.  This means all guns registered and an end to the manufacture or sale of automatic weapons.  The money to enforce can come from that wasted on building walls and confining immigrants.  Need also is a pledge to refuse NRA contributions.  People should not lose the right to protect their homes, but weapons without identification should mean fines and worse.

Joel Rosenblum 

-----------------------------------------------------------
The information below was gathered for you to consider in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to the Villages.  The information is still valid, although his visit was postponed.

As of 2018, There Were Over 4.5 Million Total Medicare Beneficiaries In The State Of Florida. [Kaiser Family Foundation, Total Number of Medicare Beneficiaries, 2018]

Trump’s FY20 Budget Called For Cutting $845 Billion From Medicare, A Program He Previously Promised To Protect. “Trump’s ‘Budget for a Better America’ also includes dozens of spending cuts and policy overhauls that frame the early stages of the debate for the 2020 election. For example, Trump for the first time calls for cutting $845 billion from Medicare, the popular health care program for the elderly that in the past he had largely said he would protect.” [Washington Post, 3/11/19]

Trump’s FY19 Budget Would Cut Medicaid Spending By About $250 Billion Over A Decade. “But Trump's plan does seek $554 billion in cuts to Medicare spending over 10 years, plus about $250 billion in cuts to Medicaid spending.” [David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 2/12/18]

Social Security 

Trump’s FY20 Budget Proposed Spending $26 Billion Less On Social Security Programs. “And Mr. Trump proposed spending $26 billion less on Social Security programs, the federal retirement program, including a $10 billion cut to the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which provides benefits to disabled workers.” [New York Times, 3/11/19]

Trump’s FY19 Budget Proposed $72.5 Billion In Cuts To SSDI And Supplemental Security Income. “President Trump’s 2018 budget proposed $72.5 billion in cuts to SSDI and to Supplemental Security Income, another program for disabled people, over 10 years.” [Vox, 2/6/18]

Affordable Care Act

Donald Trump's administration is part of a lawsuit to declare the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Two major issues for older workers, seniors, and retirees are that those with pre-existing conditions would lose protections and it would allow insurers to charge older people more. 

7.8 Million Floridians with Pre-Existing Conditions Would Be Put At Risk: As many as 7,838,652 people with pre-existing conditions in Florida could have been denied coverage before the ACA went into effect. [Compilation of State Data on the ACA, Health And Human Services, December 2016]

Older People:  Overturning the ACA would allow insurance companies to charge older people significantly more than younger people – in many cases making the coverage unaffordable.  The ACA set a 3 to 1 rating band, protecting older Americans.

Young Adults on Their Parents’ Coverage:  Overturning the ACA would not allow children to stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26.

Florida Would See It’s Uninsured Rate Jump Up 67 Percent: The number of people uninsured in Florida would increase by 1,560,000 -- Or 67 Percent -- under repeal compared to current Law. [Urban Institute, March 2019]