- A hundred people are gunned down in Orlando, nearly half fatally. Capt. Fogg at Human Voices responds with his usual hopeless addiction to blame-both-sides.
One side blames Obama for not attacking Islam. The other blames assault weapons, thereby leaving the shooter blameless.
Our fearless middle-wing writer focuses his stern glare on the gun-safety side. Seems we are wrong because so many of us inaccurately describe the assault weapon as military grade rather than merely as deadly, and because prevention of the widespread violence would not prevent, say, arson. Or something. Besides, banning all guns, which as Capt. Fogg knows is what every gun safety proponent suggests, won’t make us safe.
This is the reflexive world of truth-is-always-at-the-midpoint. Jokers to the left of him, clowns to the right, Capt. Fogg laments both, being stuck as he is at the precise middle.
If we want an intelligent, non-lazy argument on guns, an argument with which many of us can disagree, we can start with Infidel753. That is one way to get an alternate viewpoint, yet avoid false equivalence and stale murder-is-already-illegal propositions that offer little return for the time investment.
- Confronted with preventable tragic violence in Orlando, Max’s Dad is too angry for his usual rant and defers to Samantha Bee.
- The Big Empty takes a illustrated look at how the NRA good-guy-with-a-gun solution would work.
- MyCue23 reappears after all this time at Random Thoughts to suggest that the right answer to violent tragedy may be something other than helpless inaction.
- Abuse of power is one thing. Abuse of power to help steal from the public is another. Doing all that to steal retirement funds? Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass calls our attention to a governor who uses police to threaten those in charge of those retirement funds into letting said governor’s allies get their hands on those funds.
- tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors seems not to find this reassuring. Representative Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House and occasional supporter of Donald Trump explains to those nervous about Mr. Trump as President why they actually have nothing at all to be scared about. Nothing at all.
- nojo at Stinque confesses to a guilty pleasure: contemplating the possibility of a Trump-Gingrich ticket.
- Conservative T. Paine is back (Yay-y-y-y), at Saving Common Sense, with a conservative point-by-conservative-point of conservative distaste for Hillary and Donald. Did I mention that my excellent friend is a conservative arguing a conservative point of view at a conservative website?
- driftglass examines the hilarious transformation of Michael-Gerson-speak as he uses a small change in the written word to move the Republican party away from himself.
- Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post guides us through history with an appreciative review of the life and career of the first woman member of the U.S. cabinet Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins who worked in the Roosevelt administration to lift the nation out of the Great Depression.
- Vincent at A wayfarer’s notes rediscovers that human experience is surrounded by something transcendent, beyond the day-to-day, and that religion, as it is used for other purposes, sometimes diverts us from that critical knowledge.
One thought on “State Power, GOP Trumped, NRA Worship, Lazy Middle”
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Capt. Fogg appears to have a moderate position on the matter, so of course he thinks that there are problems on both sides. I do as well. This is not at all the same as a “truth-is-always-at-the-midpoint” philosophy or the media trying to prove that “both sides do it,” both of which are cases of working *backwards* from “both sides have problems” to a middle-of-the-road position. I’d say that he just wants people to be informed and rational when they take a position and for solutions (if any are appropriate) to be more than symbolic ease-the-fear gestures. I may not like the NRA’s positions on gun control, but that does not obligate me to respect the bad arguments and useless policies that liberals sometimes offer.