“...our nation has become a world leader in mass shootings. And the pattern has become agonizingly familiar: horror, grief, candlelight vigils, stories about the victims... angry debates about gun laws that go nowhere — and then a wait for the next bloodbath.”
“Mental health is a factor in this problem, but hardly the most obvious factor. Actually, very few of the mentally ill are violent or a danger to anyone, except perhaps themselves.”
“many Americans — or at least their lawmakers — won’t come to grips with the idea that something is out of kilter when a young man like Cruz can easily and legally purchase a modified version of a military weapon designed to kill as many of the enemy as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, communities, local police and federal agencies must all play a role in dealing with this scourge. How about Congress?”
“simply weaving these atrocities into our national fabric — shrugging and rationalizing that most likely next time it won’t be our church, school or kids — will do worse damage to the nation than even the loss of life. Do we really want to be that sort of country?” - @capgaznews
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Trump Administration has again taken American leadership a step backward since it announced an historically low refugee cap for FY19. It is mandated that they consult Congress before they announced this. They did not.
My colleagues and I are pushing back.
Last week, the Trump Administration made an announcement that the refugee cap for FY19 would be set at 30,000, a dramatic cut from the previous historic low of 45,000 of FY18. nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/…
This cannot go unnoticed...
Trump's resettlement rate is currently the lowest in program history. He's also claiming that the Admin cannot address the asylum backlog while maintaining a strong refugee admissions level.
One of the most important things we can do to fight the growing epidemic of suicide in America is talk about it. We have a really bad problem that is getting worse quickly, but we can't help people if we ignore their problems. 1/
First a few notes on the problem, and what we've learned in recent months.
A new CDC shows that the incidence of suicide in the US has risen sharply, by about 30% over the past two decades. 2/ cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
They made up new rules to assign a "committee confidential" label, without precedent, to documents that reveal Kavanaugh's beliefs on matters he would rule on during his lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
They are deliberately hiding important and revealing writings. 2/
Senate Republicans are rushing this nomination while hiding key facts from the public.
They cite the Presidential Records Act as justification for their unprecedented secrecy, though they have ignored numerous violations of that Act by the President. 3/ time.com/5308542/trump-…
The @USGSA Inspector General just put out a report on what may be one of Trump's most blatantly corrupt actions in office.
That investigation, into why the Administration scuttled plans for a new FBI headquarters, also revealed what looks like a cover-up by the White House. 1/
Background: for over a decade officials have warned that the FBI headquarters was structurally deficient.
The effort to move the FBI to a new building has taken years, thousands of staff hours, and millions of taxpayer dollars. It was nearly there. 2/ washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp…
Then, last year, the Trump Administration suddenly and inexplicably threw all of that work out the window, and cancelled the plans.
The truth is that Trump isn’t “sticking it to the elites,” he’s shoveling money into their pockets.
Big banks, pharmaceutical giants, CEOs, Wall Street firms, and the wealthiest 1% are making out like bandits under Trump. They couldn’t be happier. 2/
This is *intentional*
When Trump touts “tax cuts” and “deregulation,” he’s bragging about weakening protections for public health and economic safety to make rich people richer.
It comes with a price: high deficits. They want to pay for it with Medicaid and Medicare cuts. 3/
President Trump and Acting EPA head Andrew Wheeler just teamed up with their friends in the fossil fuel industry to release a Dirty Power Plan that would open the floodgates to more carbon pollution across the country.
It is dangerous for all of us. Here's why: 1/
For a decade the EPA has regulated greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act following its "endangerment finding" that carbon pollution and other emissions represent a threat to Americans.
Trump never withdrew this finding, which still stands, binding the EPA to act. 2/
The Dirty Power Plan just issued by Trump and Wheeler will enormously weaken the US government response to something the US government still says is an active threat to our health and the planet. On purpose. 3/ washingtonpost.com/national/healt…