Marvin Gaye sang a song with that title and the question is very apropos for the times. Just what is going on? It seems as if we all have lost our marbles, from the small to the large. The supposed leaders of ours behave as infants, sulking hidden away, or vowing to never move on important items like gun control, or a Supreme Court Justice and insist on chewing something to death if it might appear to benefit them.
Another black man is shot. Did he warrant it? I doubt it highly, but the fear induced in the officer when told that there was a gun on him, just lit that spark of fear and a frightened pull of a trigger. Was it even meant or was it an automatic tightening of a finger? Who knows - but the result is the same.
And the protests begin, all over and then we have a tragic turn of events, not a momentary lapse, but a full fledged attack on the police and for a time it is as if we are turning into Baghdad or Fallujah. We have snipers in a carefully planned attack on serving police officers - five dead, six more wounded and a civilian shot as well and thundering herds of the frightened rolling over those who fell in front of their feet. What is going on here in the United States?
The statistics I read this morning and I make no claim for their truth, just present them as they were given on a reputable source, present the following. Since the year began there have been 506 people shot to death by cops, 123 of which are black men, 10% of whom were unarmed and 61% who were. Not sure what happened to the missing percentage but it was not given. Perhaps they had knives or some status in between, or were not armed, but nothing is stated. In any case, I believe we can drop the responsibility for this on the paralyzed government legislative branch which refuses to face reality. They refuse to take on the NRA and have some sensible limitations placed on the purchase of guns, especially long guns and semi assault weapons.
I am not sure why the GOP and the NRA have such a strong feeling against limiting those purchases, denying those on the terrorist and watch lists, those mentally ill, those convicted of felonies, violent crimes, domestic abuse - denying them the right to buy and hold a gun in their possession. That we have not done so leads to the situation we have now. And do not get me wrong. I believe in the right to own a gun, but semi assault rifles? No limitations on those who can buy? This is not sane. This leads to what we have had and what took place in Dallas and in all the mass shootings. When, for Heaven's sake, will we gain some sanity and understand that one segment of society cannot run it over the rights of the rest for safety, for a knowledge that our police officers will not fear for their lives in a traffic stop and will not shoot those stopped for fear of being shot and those stopped will be able to walk away with the chagrin we all have when ticketed for a traffic violation. Chagrined, but alive and whole.
Black lives matter, yes, but to me that statement or slogan is offensive. ALL lives matter. Period. And we must all work together to make that a statement of truth in word and deed. But can we, given the tension that seems to be rising and tightening by the minute and the world situation does not help.
Police and guardians of society appear to have become legitimate targets, even preferred targets in many countries and I ask how can we have a society without peace officers? How can we have a society when we are afraid to tell our kids to find a police person if in a bad situation? How can we tell people to talk things out, to use common sense, to rise above provocations when the world itself says otherwise. Why is there a spy ship from Russia off the coast of Hawaii? Why did Russia play games of chicken in other areas of the globe? Why does China continue to abuse the civil rights of its citizens and get away with it? Why do countries violate human rights in a most egregious manner and get a pass on it in favor of targeting Israel? Why do we tolerate mass bombings, say tsk, tsk, and go on with our daily schedule. Why do we allow the targeted killings of children, of women, of civilians? And why do we have a President who speaks out on one type of killing, yet ignores what followed and does not back up our officers in their time of need and now we are looking for a bomb in Dallas? The shooter has not done enough damage? The world and governments are setting some pretty poor examples for their citizens to follow.
What is it that has given us the right to violate the constraints of civilized society? Is our society perfect? No, but it is sure better than what we have had, historically speaking. Yes, there is prejudice and hatred and as a Jew I can testify to that, but we also have a black president and Cabinet officers and army officers and doctors and engineers and teachers and bakers and restaurant owners and sports figures and stars of the media. Is it past time, well past time, that we drop all this nonsense of "the other'? Of course, but I believe we are on the wrong path now, perseverating on the wrong items.
For example, why are we wasting more money on this nonsensical probe of emails. The probers even conceded that they were not sure if one of the servers was hacked, but if Clinton had used a State Department server for some of these emails - that server WAS hacked, for years, by both Russian and Chinese governmental and private hackers!!! So the difference is......? Let us learn from this and move on. The GOP needs to know that Clinton is the candidate and nothing will change that and perhaps they need to look into their own cupboards and check out their candidate. The man is definitely off the straight and narrow in his thinking and has made outrageous statements, declarations and judgement calls and now I read that he is saying that even if elected (G-d forbid) he might not serve and refuse to take the office? Huh? What is that all about and how can they sponsor him as a candidate? For real? Can we not get back to some sanity here and discuss the real issues?
And why does our oh so esteemed leader here in CV refuse to read the writing on the wall and notice that his shenanigans will not be allowed, no free for all for his planned contracts. Atlantic Broadband? Never!! We do not need a company that is panned all over the "world wide web" - yup, David, the one with those 200 million readers that you are always going on about. No more of these contracts that rob us of funds, that are not necessary in the first place and I am not even sure that it is legal as no where is there a provision for us being forced to use and pay for, duplicate that which we already have in the form of Internet abilities. And why the cowardly sniping at assemblies and meetings? That is the way of cowards and people afraid of answering questions, of explaining their choices.
What is goin' on here? Sometimes I just place my head in my hands and wonder what the answer is? Why are people so stubborn and blind all over the world. And yesterday, a man with whom I was enjoying a conversation stated that his people say that when America coughs, the rest of the world is quite ill, and should America unravel, the rest of the world will collapse. Like it or not, we are an extremely important part of the world and must stand for reason, for order, for compassion, for rules and for spirit of those rules, for justice. We need to set an example for the rest of the world and we sure as shootin' are not doing that right now - or rather are setting a poor example and inducing a sense of despair elsewhere, as well as right here in our streets and towns and cities. G-d help us, for there are times that we are beyond helping ourselves, certainly not without making hard choices and rolling up the sleeves of society and getting down to work NOW! I don't think even having a chocolate feast would help! Seriously, folks, what gives?
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