AFTERSHOCKS  MEMORIAL DAY in Newport, RI, while our hearts were thousands of miles away in Texas I LEFT UVALDE for a couple of days, because I could. And because – if you follow the news like many people do – you cannot survive without taking a break. It’s not fair to the people left behind in Ukraine, in Afghanistan, in New Mexico, in the Philippines and now in Texas, where catastrophe in one of its many horrifying varieties has affected actual lives, and then crossed deserts, mountains and oceans to reach into our homes and hearts. We who are listeners, viewers and consumers of the news are not starving, grieving, bleeding or being lowered into graves with or without dignity. We can switch the channel, go for a walk and pat the cat. Our time will come, but probably nothing like the way that tragedy has struck the mothers, uncles, classmates, brothers, friends and third cousins of the 19 murdered children in Uvalde and two of their teachers; for them, there’s no time off, no holiday, no break in the grief for the rest of their ruined lives. It bothers me, this facility of being able to pop in and out of the misery experienced by people we only know second and third hand; we care intensely in the moment, but not forever, because their story will soon enough be replaced by another bit of urgent news or perhaps a crisis in our own lives. Still, this doesn’t mean we are free of obligation to the people in Uvalde. Some responsibilities in a democracy are more important than others, and this gun thing is one of them. A PICTURE THAT OVERWHELMED  CREDIT: The Washington Post I didn’t want it to overwhelm me. Because I don't think it’s okay for somebody in Rhode Island to weep for children in Texas; we have no right to usurp the tears of their parents, their friends, their relatives. We can empathize, but we shouldn’t steal their grief. But I couldn’t help it. You’ve probably seen the photo. Nine children are standing side-by-side, along with a teacher, on the school stage for an honors ceremony. Most are smiling – maybe because the school year is nearly over, maybe because they’re genuinely proud of their achievements. They hold certificates in front of them, one of those moments when everything seems possible, the path ahead infinite and full of promise. An hour later, the shooting will start, and six will be dead. A BLASPHEMOUS PHOTO  Maybe you’ve seen this one as well.
It, too, features a child, although he seems younger, maybe a preschooler, certainly not old enough be murdered in the fourth grade. He cradles an assault rifle in his lap, the kind used by the teenage shooter in Texas. He seems intrigued, curious as if trying to figure out a just-opened birthday present. The caption reads: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” That display was posted on social media, prior to the shooting, by Daniel Defense, the company that made one of the guns used by the Uvalde killer. Appropriately, Daniel Defense has been getting a lot of bad press. Here’s what the New York Times wrote: “The company was an early adopter of a direct-to-consumer business model that aimed to make buying military gear as simple as ordering from Amazon, enticing customers with “adventure now, pay later” installment plans that make expensive weaponry more affordable. “And the company’s founder and chief executive, Marty Daniel, has fashioned himself as a provocateur who ridicules gun control proposals and uses publicity stunts to drum up sales. “Daniel Defense is at the forefront of an industry that has grown increasingly aggressive in recent years as it tries to expand beyond its aging, mostly white customer base and resists the calls for stronger regulation that seem to intensify after every mass shooting.” It’s hard to believe that a Daniel Defense exists; that it makes what it makes; says what it says. Yet, there’s a company seeking customers who might be “trained up” to do what they've been taught. NEWS HEROES – Part 1 The coverage of the Uvalde shootings has been breathtaking. I still get most of my news from newspapers, and the stories have been stunning in their depth, skill, and volume. I invite you to look at some of what the Washington Post offered its readers last Sunday. Since I’ve spent most of my career at newspapers, I grieve their disappearance because the economics and demographics, which once made the businesses powerful and rich, have now turned the tables and snatched away their bounty. Some major papers still have robust staffs of reporters, photographers and editors that were the hallmark of newspapers at their peak. But so far, the nation has found no way to replace the many that have shriveled or disappeared, yet another reason why democracy is at risk. Here are three Post stories: * SHE’D TAKEN ONE CHILD HOME. THE OTHER WAS STILL AT SCHOOL WHEN A GUNMAN OPENED FIRE The reporter, Peter Jamison, describes the terror experienced by an Uvalde mother, who had allowed one of her daughters to leave the school early, but insisted that her sister remain. Hearing about the shooting, the mother frantically drives her pickup truck back to the school, hazard lights flashing. * WHAT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS DO TO THE KIDS WHO SURVIVE THEM, FROM SANDY HOOK TO UVALDE The story is written by John Woodrow Cox, with contributions from Joanna Slater, Razzan Nakhlawi, Meryl Kornfield and Ian Shapira This is a sweeping chronicle that tells of the enduring trauma of seven survivors of school shootings at Columbine High School, Colorado, in 1999; Sandy Hook Elementary, Connecticut, 2012; Townville Elementary, South Carolina, 2016; and Robb Elementary, Uvalde, Texas, 2022 * THE UVALDE SHOOTING ‘STIRRED SOMETHING’ IN HIM. SO HE GAVE UP HIS GUN By Holly Bailey and Joshua Lott, with contributions from Tim Craig and Peter Jamison. A retired high school history teacher, a gun owner and devoted member of the NRA, visits the Uvalde memorial after the shooting, and decides to fetch his own AR-15, a gun similar to one the shooter used, so he can bring it to the police and be rid of it. NEWS HEROES – Part 2 As great as newspapers are when they are at there best, they only function if people tell them their stories. These people are rare and brave. Talking to a reporter is no casual matter. Even before Donald Trump declared war on the news media, ginning up hatred with phrases like “enemy of the people” and “fake news,” papers had a love-hate relationship with their public. Especially during a tragedy like the one in Uvalde, there’s a standing taboo against talking to reporters, because people are in shock; they need to grieve in private. But suddenly there are strangers demanding that they spill their guts, share their most most intimate, personal, precious, crushing memories and feelings. “Avoid the media” is the message from relatives, friends, the police, teachers. It’s a wonder it’s not posted on highway billboards and banners pulled across the sky by airplanes. But if real people don’t tell their stories, the rest of us cannot know what has happened. Those who do take that daring step into into the abyss cannot imagine the consequences – the dangers of being in the spotlight, whether reporters will get their stories straight, what their friends, their families will make of the stories and the people who told them. As a democracy, we cannot function unless people, usually ordinary people like those Uvalde, are willing to tell the rest of us what they have experienced, what they think, what their lives have become, what really happened. They are, in the full sense of the word, heroes. So, here are some of the names that made the news stories possible: * SHE’D TAKEN ONE CHILD HOME… Marisela Roque is the mother who allowed her daughter, Kat, 10, to leave school early, but insisted another daughter, Ariely, 9, remain. Roque drives back to the school. From the story: “Roque stood with many parents on one side of the school, near Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home. Her father waited with others at the back of the campus, near his house. Time passed, though she couldn’t say how much. The crowd grew angrier, and so did she. “Then she felt her phone buzzing again. It was her sister, who not long ago had delivered to her the news of the shooting. “Now she had more news. “Ariely was alive.” * WHAT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS DO TO THE KIDS… Columbine High School Samantha Haviland, now 40 and a former school counselor in Denver, survived the Columbine shootings. She remembers a practice drill 10 years after Columbine. From the story: “The nightmares — always of being chased — lingered for years, but she didn’t think she deserved help, not when classmates had died, been maimed or had witnessed the carnage firsthand. She would be okay. “But now there she was, a decade later, sitting in the darkness, practicing once again to escape what so many of her friends had not. Then she heard footsteps and saw the shadow of an administrator checking the locks. Her chest began to throb, and suddenly, Haviland knew she wasn’t okay. Sandy Hook Elementary Camille Paradis, Maggie LaBanca and Rayna Toth were third graders at Sandy Hook, and now are about to graduate from Newtown High School. From the story: “At first, Rayna couldn’t stand to be by herself. She couldn’t shower with the door closed or walk down the stairs in her own house alone. She couldn’t ever be left there without someone, even if her mom was only leaving for a five-minute errand. “Rayna still can’t go inside anywhere without thinking through how she would get out — at restaurants, she notes the exits before she decides what to order; at school, she plots how she would escape if another gunman showed up.” Townville Elementary “Zoey Hall, now 9, was 4 and in kindergarten when her teacher hid her and classmates in bathroom when shooting started. Her brother Jacob, 6, died in the shooting. She remembers details. So does Ava Olson, Jacob’s friend. From the story: “On Tuesday evening, she (Ava) was sitting on her living room couch, watching funny cat videos on TikTok. Then a different kind of video popped up. It showed that more than a dozen children had been shot dead at an elementary school in Texas.” “She started screaming, and her mother rushed into the room.” “‘Why?’ Ava cried. “‘Why?’” Robb Elementary Noah Orona, 10, was shot in the shoulder blade while in his fourth grade classroom. “I lost my glasses,” the boy later told his father, Oscar Orona. “I’m sorry.” * THE UVALDE SHOOTING ‘STIRRED SOMETHING’ … Richard Small, 68, is the retired high school teacher, an NRA member and gun owner, who brought his AR-15 to the police. From the story: “He didn’t want to sell the gun, fearful of where it might end up. Turning it over to the police seemed to be the best option, though he acknowledged that it might put him in conflict with friends, other NRA members and gun-rights supporters who might not understand why he was doing what he was doing. “‘But I can’t have this on my conscience,’ he said. “We can’t keep with the status quo.’”
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AMERICA WILL CURE ITS GUN MADNESS; |
| It’s time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It’s time to act. It’s time — for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more. We have to do more. |
The most important threat to children is fatalism, and its evil twin, hopelessness.
Resignation has become fashionable in the aftermath of the Buffalo, then the Uvalde shootings. Been there. Said that. Nothing changes. Can't do anything. What's the use.
All of which is understandable, given the way things are going: the stalled campaign to reverse climate change; the Supreme Court’s six-robed crusade to squelch abortion and many other freedoms; the success Republicans are enjoying as they lay their anti-democracy agenda on the rest of us.
In reality, what prevents democracies like ours from solving our crucial problems is despair, and the way hopelessness and resignation paralyze the processes that have always moved the country forward.
As Biden said, we can stop gun violence.
We will, if we work at it and work hard.
Over time, there will be fewer school shootings and other gun deaths.
That sounds like a miracle today; in the future, we will take it for granted.
Resignation has become fashionable in the aftermath of the Buffalo, then the Uvalde shootings. Been there. Said that. Nothing changes. Can't do anything. What's the use.
All of which is understandable, given the way things are going: the stalled campaign to reverse climate change; the Supreme Court’s six-robed crusade to squelch abortion and many other freedoms; the success Republicans are enjoying as they lay their anti-democracy agenda on the rest of us.
In reality, what prevents democracies like ours from solving our crucial problems is despair, and the way hopelessness and resignation paralyze the processes that have always moved the country forward.
As Biden said, we can stop gun violence.
We will, if we work at it and work hard.
Over time, there will be fewer school shootings and other gun deaths.
That sounds like a miracle today; in the future, we will take it for granted.
Dept. of What Not to Do
HOPING NOT TO WASTE MY TIME
(OR YOURS) ON TRIVIAL MATTERS –
EXCEPT MAYBE THIS LAST ONE
HERE’S A PROBLEM.
It’s not The Problem.
But it’s kind that gets in the way of dealing with genuine problems, like the threat to democracy by the Trumpified Republican Party, or the collapse of the environment due to climate change, or the forever crises of racism and poverty.
What I’m talking about is the senseless way I get angry – furious – at things that don’t matter. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I suspect most of us waste our energy, our time, our resources, on things that don’t count, but that are easy pickings.
We squander our outrage, which is a precious commodity that’s needed to solve important challenges.
You want a concrete example? Okay, here’s one literally ripped from the headlines.
It’s an op-ed in the New York Times.
See what I mean?
Who cares? Do most people know what an op-ed is? Do they read the New York Times? Or, for that matter, does anyone even read a newspaper anymore?
I’m embarrassed, humiliated, chagrined to say more. But it’s for a greater cause.
OUTRAGE #1: It happened yesterday morning at our house. A one-man Super Storm of foot-stopping, raised-voice, throw-it-on-the-kitchen-table hurricane of senseless fire-and-brimstone, which despite its frivolousness, was not without casualties, namely my wife, who’s had to put up with this sort of idiocy for decades, along with a couple of friends, who innocently answered their phone.
It’s not The Problem.
But it’s kind that gets in the way of dealing with genuine problems, like the threat to democracy by the Trumpified Republican Party, or the collapse of the environment due to climate change, or the forever crises of racism and poverty.
What I’m talking about is the senseless way I get angry – furious – at things that don’t matter. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I suspect most of us waste our energy, our time, our resources, on things that don’t count, but that are easy pickings.
We squander our outrage, which is a precious commodity that’s needed to solve important challenges.
You want a concrete example? Okay, here’s one literally ripped from the headlines.
It’s an op-ed in the New York Times.
See what I mean?
Who cares? Do most people know what an op-ed is? Do they read the New York Times? Or, for that matter, does anyone even read a newspaper anymore?
I’m embarrassed, humiliated, chagrined to say more. But it’s for a greater cause.
OUTRAGE #1: It happened yesterday morning at our house. A one-man Super Storm of foot-stopping, raised-voice, throw-it-on-the-kitchen-table hurricane of senseless fire-and-brimstone, which despite its frivolousness, was not without casualties, namely my wife, who’s had to put up with this sort of idiocy for decades, along with a couple of friends, who innocently answered their phone.
| The matter at hand was a column that took up two-thirds of the Times’ op-ed page. I’ve included a couple of photos to help the discussion. Op-ed pages are a Times' invention – some might say a Times’ conceit – that are placed opposite the regular editorial pages to showcase opinions by writers not part of the paper’s official “editorial board,” whose unsigned group-think essays appear on the aforementioned actual editorial pages, although the lines have blurred lately. I digress and apologize; detours are a side effect of senseless, wasted outrage. As you can see, the entire top of this op-ed page is taken up by a huge picture of Joe Biden, wearing a Covid mask and striding purposefully outside the White House; it’s a flattering photo, a nice contrast with many others these days that unfairly suggest an aged, infirm, doddering commander-in-chief. |  |
Beneath the picture is the text of a column by Tom Friedman, one of the Times’ most venerated veteran alleged deep-thinkers, whom I regard as marginal, unimaginative and mediocre.
The headline:
I Left Lunch With Biden With a Full Stomach but a Heavy Heart.
What’s a reader to expect from such a display?
The answer: What does Joe Biden really think? The suggestion is that at lunch,with you, me or Tom, Joe Biden might share something that he wouldn’t in public.
So, here’s the surprise. And it’s a big one.
Nothing doing. Nothing to read here, folks; please move on. Zip about what Biden told Tom at lunch. Tom tells us that in his very first paragraph:
PRESIDENT BIDEN INVITED me to lunch at the White House Monday. It was all off the record – so I can’t tell you anything that he said.
You’ve read that right: it’s FRAUD!
The whole two-thirds of the New York Times’ op-ed page yesterday, May 23, 2022, was a swindle. You, silly reader, had every right to expect that you were going to get a privileged briefing, the straight poop, the inside dope about what’s really on the mind of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Nope. Nyet. Nein. Fooled you.
Off-the-record is journalism’s most sacred promise: if somebody tells a reporter, and the reporter agrees, that something is off the record, that’s the end of the story. A reporter cannot repeat it. Not in print. Not on the internet. Not in a Tweet. Not at supper. Not in bed. Never, ever. In a profession where ethics are occasionally slippery, this is the one you die for, or at least pledge to go to the slammer for, even if a judge orders you to spill your guts.
“It’s a scam,” I yelled, throwing the newspaper onto the kitchen table in front of my wife, who can be forgiven for her fateful decision to linger too long over her iPad, instead of taking a morning walk, or filling the car with inflated fuel and heading for the Interstate and freedom.
It was too late for her; and too late for the friends I called later.
This was the New York Times’ version of the Big Lie, I roared. A conspiracy; and they’re all in it: Friedman; the editors who decide what goes on the editorial pages; the people who cut Friedman’s paychecks; the artists who design the layout of the op-ed pages; the folks who write the headlines; the entire racketeering influenced corrupt organization.
OUTRAGE #2: What in the world was Friedman doing in the White House in the first place? Isn’t a reporter’s job to report what the person said? Surely, it's not to keep his secrets.
A possible explanation is that even if he couldn’t report what the president said, Friedman could still tell the readers and the world that he, Thomas L. Friedman, is so important that someone who lives in a Washington mansion, and who has the power to blow up the world, wants to eat lunch with him.
If you’re wondering what Friedman did say, he wrote about what he, Thomas L. Friedman, was thinking about.
He recalled Biden’s stated hope in defeating Trump was that he could unite the country; but while he brought allies together after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it hasn’t worked that way back in the USA.
Friedman, who rarely breaks new ground or comes up with an original thought, said he is worried, like many of us, that Republicans stand a chance winning the midterm elections and are already busy monkeying with the machinery of elections in order to steal them, and that, as a journalist, he’s seen it happen in other countries and is under no illusion that it can’t happen here.
But while Friedman said that’s what he was doing – musing about his own thinking – was he really?
OUTRAGE #3: Maybe what Friedman was up to after his private lunch with Biden, was trying to have his cake and eat it, too (actually, dessert was a chocolate milkshake). My theory is that maybe Friedman was trying to, sort of, but not exactly, find a work-around to skirt his off-the-record pledge.
He implied that Biden agreed with his, Thomas L. Friedman’s, way of thinking. So while not quoting Biden directly, or even paraphrasing him, he gave us some clues:
Alas, though, I left our lunch with a full stomach but a heavy heart. Biden didn’t say it in so many words but he didn’t have to. I could hear it between the lines. He’s worried that while he has reunited the West, he many not be able to reunite America.
Later in the piece:
And this brings me back to my lunch with Biden. It clearly weighs on him that we have built a global alliance to support Ukraine, to reverse the Russian invasion to defend core American principles aboard – the right to freedom and self-determination of all peoples – while the G.O.P. is abandoning our most cherished principles at home.
Which is it, Tom? You agreed that lunch would be off-the-record? Or you broke that promise by implying that he agreed with your line of thinking? Or, worse, you agreed to be Joe Biden’s water boy, getting the president’s message out there for Times’ readers, but without him having to say that himself?
Any way you slice it, it’s a crock.
Shame on you, Thomas L. Friedman. Shame on you, the New York Times.
And shame on me.
Shame on me going full-blast, crazy-man, total-tirade – burdening my wife and friends and, now, readers who have made it this far – with something of little importance, of minor, slender consequence.
It’s the easy way to be outraged these days. Find something that’s amounts to nothing and go on and on about it.
But it's exhausting.
I’d squandered my outrage for the day.
Climate change, the midterms and world poverty would have to wait.
The headline:
I Left Lunch With Biden With a Full Stomach but a Heavy Heart.
What’s a reader to expect from such a display?
The answer: What does Joe Biden really think? The suggestion is that at lunch,with you, me or Tom, Joe Biden might share something that he wouldn’t in public.
So, here’s the surprise. And it’s a big one.
Nothing doing. Nothing to read here, folks; please move on. Zip about what Biden told Tom at lunch. Tom tells us that in his very first paragraph:
PRESIDENT BIDEN INVITED me to lunch at the White House Monday. It was all off the record – so I can’t tell you anything that he said.
You’ve read that right: it’s FRAUD!
The whole two-thirds of the New York Times’ op-ed page yesterday, May 23, 2022, was a swindle. You, silly reader, had every right to expect that you were going to get a privileged briefing, the straight poop, the inside dope about what’s really on the mind of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Nope. Nyet. Nein. Fooled you.
Off-the-record is journalism’s most sacred promise: if somebody tells a reporter, and the reporter agrees, that something is off the record, that’s the end of the story. A reporter cannot repeat it. Not in print. Not on the internet. Not in a Tweet. Not at supper. Not in bed. Never, ever. In a profession where ethics are occasionally slippery, this is the one you die for, or at least pledge to go to the slammer for, even if a judge orders you to spill your guts.
“It’s a scam,” I yelled, throwing the newspaper onto the kitchen table in front of my wife, who can be forgiven for her fateful decision to linger too long over her iPad, instead of taking a morning walk, or filling the car with inflated fuel and heading for the Interstate and freedom.
It was too late for her; and too late for the friends I called later.
This was the New York Times’ version of the Big Lie, I roared. A conspiracy; and they’re all in it: Friedman; the editors who decide what goes on the editorial pages; the people who cut Friedman’s paychecks; the artists who design the layout of the op-ed pages; the folks who write the headlines; the entire racketeering influenced corrupt organization.
OUTRAGE #2: What in the world was Friedman doing in the White House in the first place? Isn’t a reporter’s job to report what the person said? Surely, it's not to keep his secrets.
A possible explanation is that even if he couldn’t report what the president said, Friedman could still tell the readers and the world that he, Thomas L. Friedman, is so important that someone who lives in a Washington mansion, and who has the power to blow up the world, wants to eat lunch with him.
If you’re wondering what Friedman did say, he wrote about what he, Thomas L. Friedman, was thinking about.
He recalled Biden’s stated hope in defeating Trump was that he could unite the country; but while he brought allies together after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it hasn’t worked that way back in the USA.
Friedman, who rarely breaks new ground or comes up with an original thought, said he is worried, like many of us, that Republicans stand a chance winning the midterm elections and are already busy monkeying with the machinery of elections in order to steal them, and that, as a journalist, he’s seen it happen in other countries and is under no illusion that it can’t happen here.
But while Friedman said that’s what he was doing – musing about his own thinking – was he really?
OUTRAGE #3: Maybe what Friedman was up to after his private lunch with Biden, was trying to have his cake and eat it, too (actually, dessert was a chocolate milkshake). My theory is that maybe Friedman was trying to, sort of, but not exactly, find a work-around to skirt his off-the-record pledge.
He implied that Biden agreed with his, Thomas L. Friedman’s, way of thinking. So while not quoting Biden directly, or even paraphrasing him, he gave us some clues:
Alas, though, I left our lunch with a full stomach but a heavy heart. Biden didn’t say it in so many words but he didn’t have to. I could hear it between the lines. He’s worried that while he has reunited the West, he many not be able to reunite America.
Later in the piece:
And this brings me back to my lunch with Biden. It clearly weighs on him that we have built a global alliance to support Ukraine, to reverse the Russian invasion to defend core American principles aboard – the right to freedom and self-determination of all peoples – while the G.O.P. is abandoning our most cherished principles at home.
Which is it, Tom? You agreed that lunch would be off-the-record? Or you broke that promise by implying that he agreed with your line of thinking? Or, worse, you agreed to be Joe Biden’s water boy, getting the president’s message out there for Times’ readers, but without him having to say that himself?
Any way you slice it, it’s a crock.
Shame on you, Thomas L. Friedman. Shame on you, the New York Times.
And shame on me.
Shame on me going full-blast, crazy-man, total-tirade – burdening my wife and friends and, now, readers who have made it this far – with something of little importance, of minor, slender consequence.
It’s the easy way to be outraged these days. Find something that’s amounts to nothing and go on and on about it.
But it's exhausting.
I’d squandered my outrage for the day.
Climate change, the midterms and world poverty would have to wait.
AN AVERAGE JOE SOLDIERS ON
IN A JOB WHERE EVERYTHING
IS ALWAYS HIS FAULT
I STARTED writing this as Joe Biden was on his way to Buffalo yesterday to console the city’s residents about the latest mass shooting and to call again for gun control, even though the nation seems largely uninterested in curbing these massacres and the weapons that make them possible.
As Air Force One was en route, the White House quickly posted a recording on its website of the mini news conference that Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s new spokesperson, had just conducted with reporters aboard the huge presidential jet.
A reporter noted that Biden had vowed to move against domestic terrorism, when he took office, but in light of the Buffalo shooting there were obvious “gaps” in the administration’s plans. So, what’s Biden going to do now?
More questions: How will the administration respond to the Turkish president’s objections to Denmark and Sweden joining NATO? In the aftermath of the Buffalo shooting, was the White House worried about copy-cats? Will the president push for a domestic terrorism act? How come Biden hasn’t called out Republicans – by name – for embracing “White voter-replacement” conspiracies cited by the Buffalo shooter? How come Biden and his wife hadn’t attended pro-choice-abortion demonstrations last weekend? Would Biden be watching primary elections in Pennsylvania later in the evening? When might the president make a decision on student loan relief?
Jean-Pierre was cordial and competent in her new job as she answered every question in detail without saying anything new or useful to the media scrum. Her confident good cheer reminded me of two things about Joe Biden:
One, he continues to run a rational, normal government, appointing competent and professional people who believe in a rational, normal government, as opposed to the chaotic and lawlessness that characterized Donald Trump’s reign of terror.
Secondly, it’s far more interesting to hear directly from the “boss” than from his well-disciplined aides, for the simple reason that Joe sometimes acts like a normal human being and lets slip what’s actually on his mind.
The other day, for example, there was this question and answer exchange between Biden and CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who asked the commander-in-chief about the alarming shortage of baby formula.
As Air Force One was en route, the White House quickly posted a recording on its website of the mini news conference that Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s new spokesperson, had just conducted with reporters aboard the huge presidential jet.
A reporter noted that Biden had vowed to move against domestic terrorism, when he took office, but in light of the Buffalo shooting there were obvious “gaps” in the administration’s plans. So, what’s Biden going to do now?
More questions: How will the administration respond to the Turkish president’s objections to Denmark and Sweden joining NATO? In the aftermath of the Buffalo shooting, was the White House worried about copy-cats? Will the president push for a domestic terrorism act? How come Biden hasn’t called out Republicans – by name – for embracing “White voter-replacement” conspiracies cited by the Buffalo shooter? How come Biden and his wife hadn’t attended pro-choice-abortion demonstrations last weekend? Would Biden be watching primary elections in Pennsylvania later in the evening? When might the president make a decision on student loan relief?
Jean-Pierre was cordial and competent in her new job as she answered every question in detail without saying anything new or useful to the media scrum. Her confident good cheer reminded me of two things about Joe Biden:
One, he continues to run a rational, normal government, appointing competent and professional people who believe in a rational, normal government, as opposed to the chaotic and lawlessness that characterized Donald Trump’s reign of terror.
Secondly, it’s far more interesting to hear directly from the “boss” than from his well-disciplined aides, for the simple reason that Joe sometimes acts like a normal human being and lets slip what’s actually on his mind.
The other day, for example, there was this question and answer exchange between Biden and CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who asked the commander-in-chief about the alarming shortage of baby formula.
| QUESTION: Mr. President, Republicans have said that your administration should have anticipated this baby formula shortage before. Are you satisfied with your administration’s response so far? And some of the steps that you and your administration are taking now, including loosening these import requirements next week, should you have taken those steps sooner, before parents got to these shelves and couldn’t find formula? THE PRESIDENT: If we’d been better mind readers, I guess we could have, but we moved as quickly as the problem became apparent to us. And we have to move with caution as well as speed, because we got to make sure what we’re getting is, in fact, first-rate product. That’s why the FDA has to go through the process. |
Later, some predictable the headlines:
BIDEN LASHES OUT AT
CRITICS ON BABY FORMULA
BIDEN OFFERS LAME EXCUSE FOR
NOT ACTING ON BABY FORMULA
Given Biden’s tendency, like lots of us, to misspeak, I suspect that when he referred to “mind readers,” Biden meant “fortune tellers.” But his point was clear: exasperation.
Exasperation with the reporter's question (the question, of course, was legitimate).
And exasperation at the essence of his job, which is that it’s impossible.
Everyone – including people who run for president – buys into the great American myth that the President of the United States of America is “the most powerful person in the world.”
This is true only in a limited sense: the president uniquely is allowed to blow up the planet, because he (and, some day, she) can unleash the nation’s huge arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Other than that, presidents are limited because, with the exception of Donald Trump, they are standard human beings – limited, frail, imperfect, gaff-prone, rapidly aging average Joe's who've made the big mistake of undertaking a job that’s undoable.
IT’S POSSIBLE that the only people who understand the reality are the presidents (again, excluding Trump). And even then, the myth of omniscience and omnipotence may become apparent only when it’s too late, shortly after noon on Inauguration Day, then deepening with every news conference and each question.
Thus, Biden’s exasperation when somebody asks the latest why-didn’t-you-act-sooner to head off the (FILL IN THE BLANK) crisis.”
I’m no mind reader, but maybe this is the background leading up to Joe Biden’s moment of candor after the baby formula question:
Thus, Biden’s exasperation when somebody asks the latest why-didn’t-you-act-sooner to head off the (FILL IN THE BLANK) crisis.”
I’m no mind reader, but maybe this is the background leading up to Joe Biden’s moment of candor after the baby formula question:
| “Look," Joe remembered, "the other day, a bunch of us, including my wife, Jill, and Commander, our dog, were sitting around the 'Oval' obsessing about my dismal poll numbers." Joe continued: "We were kicking around lots of things that are contributing to those terrible numbers, which are even worse than Trump’s." "There are lots of thing that can lower the numbers," Jill said. “There’s the war in Ukraine - going well, but you never know when Mad Vlad might drop the Big One. The New Mexico wildfires. The galloping craziness of the Republicans. The Supreme Court going rogue. What voters in the Philippines were thinking when they elected “Bongbong” Marcos president? And could that happen here?" “I’ve got a great idea,” Joe said. “Say what, Joey?” Jill said. “Let’s just ignore the effect of the closure of a baby formula factory because of bacterial contamination, plus limited production facilities, nationally. Lots of people, including youngsters in my administration, have infants but aren't able to breast feed.” “What will that accomplish?” Professor Biden wondered. “Well, it will drive millions of likely voters crazy because they won’t be able to feed their babies,” Joe said. “Just what the doctor ordered for sagging polls," Jill said. “Woof,” said Commander. |
I’m also no fortune teller, but this kind of thing might explain Joe’s exasperation at holding down an impossible job, which nobody can really do successfully, but in which everything is his fault. Always.
Who’s to blame when your baby’s hungry?
Joe Biden.
Whose fault is it that 10 people were slaughtered at a supermarket last Saturday, three others wounded, because some kid believes Republicans and others, who say there’s a conspiracy to replace White voters with Black ones?
Joe Biden.
Low unemployment?
Biden.
Over-the-top inflation?
Biden.
Chaotic retreat from Afghanistan?
Biden.
Heroic pushback by Ukrainians to Russia’s invasion?
Biden.
Netflix's rate hike?
Biden.
Your teenager's taking to slamming doors again?
Joseph (“Joe”) (“Joey”) Robinette Biden Jr.
None of this is fair.
The most we should ask of the human in the White House is that she or he will try to say the right thing, that he/she will try really hard to do the best thing, to be of good will, and every once in a while, will talk to us like a normal person.
Who’s to blame when your baby’s hungry?
Joe Biden.
Whose fault is it that 10 people were slaughtered at a supermarket last Saturday, three others wounded, because some kid believes Republicans and others, who say there’s a conspiracy to replace White voters with Black ones?
Joe Biden.
Low unemployment?
Biden.
Over-the-top inflation?
Biden.
Chaotic retreat from Afghanistan?
Biden.
Heroic pushback by Ukrainians to Russia’s invasion?
Biden.
Netflix's rate hike?
Biden.
Your teenager's taking to slamming doors again?
Joseph (“Joe”) (“Joey”) Robinette Biden Jr.
None of this is fair.
The most we should ask of the human in the White House is that she or he will try to say the right thing, that he/she will try really hard to do the best thing, to be of good will, and every once in a while, will talk to us like a normal person.
WHEN HE GOT TO BUFFALO, Joe Biden, once a senator, then a vice president and now a president, gave a forceful, eloquent speech, in which which he sensibly demanded a ban on assault weapons; called on political leaders – although not by name – to condemn White supremacy; and warned about the threat that Republicans – without mentioning their party – pose to democracy.
Look, the American experiment in democracy is in a danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime. It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear are being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America, but who don’t understand America. To confront the ideology of hate requires caring about all people. Not making distinctions.
Joe’s just an average speaker, so people often don’t pay attention to the profound things he says; reporters, who do pay attention, are looking for him to go off script and say something worthy of a clever headline.
It’s possible, given the momentum that Trump-crazed Republicans have going into the November elections, that they’ll gain control of Congress, and that Trump, or someone equally cruel, but better organized, will take over the White House two years later.
Or maybe, given the incomprehensibility, the enormity, the complexity and the unpredictability of everything that goes into becoming a president, then serving as one, that the outcomes will be better than that.
For the time being, we should celebrate a normal government that’s headed by a likable, well-meaning, and occasionally exasperated Average Joe. It may be the last time we experience that in our lifetimes.
Three hours after the Buffalo speech, then Bidens were due back in Washington, where the the schedule called for Joe and Jill to host a White House observance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
It's another thing that we ask presidents to do.
Look, the American experiment in democracy is in a danger like it hasn’t been in my lifetime. It’s in danger this hour. Hate and fear are being given too much oxygen by those who pretend to love America, but who don’t understand America. To confront the ideology of hate requires caring about all people. Not making distinctions.
Joe’s just an average speaker, so people often don’t pay attention to the profound things he says; reporters, who do pay attention, are looking for him to go off script and say something worthy of a clever headline.
It’s possible, given the momentum that Trump-crazed Republicans have going into the November elections, that they’ll gain control of Congress, and that Trump, or someone equally cruel, but better organized, will take over the White House two years later.
Or maybe, given the incomprehensibility, the enormity, the complexity and the unpredictability of everything that goes into becoming a president, then serving as one, that the outcomes will be better than that.
For the time being, we should celebrate a normal government that’s headed by a likable, well-meaning, and occasionally exasperated Average Joe. It may be the last time we experience that in our lifetimes.
Three hours after the Buffalo speech, then Bidens were due back in Washington, where the the schedule called for Joe and Jill to host a White House observance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
It's another thing that we ask presidents to do.
OKAY, IT’S BEEN A GLOOMY WEEK.
BUT DON'T LET IT GET YOU DOWN
YOU'RE RIGHT. It’s been an absolutely gloomy week.
Worse, there’s still a little time for the week to get gloomier.
We’ve got all of Friday, which traditionally is one of the week’s best/worst days for disasters. And don’t forget, we're living in truly wretched times, during which tragedy no longer takes the weekend off.
So, I understand how you’re feeling. And forgive me here for oversharing, but I’m feeling a just a tad bit gloomy, too.
And why not?
Things got off to an awful start Monday evening, when Politico dropped a genuine news bombshell: a draft of a Supreme Court decision that would obliterate the right to abortion.
It’s still hard, a few days later, to get your hands around the misery that will be visited on the one-half of the population for which pregnancy is a possibility, should the court's final decision mirror the draft, which seems likely.
More trouble showed up the next night: J.D. Vance won the Ohio Republican primary, which maybe is easier to understand than the legal reasoning behind the abortion draft, although Vance's victory was just as hard to stomach.
The problem was not just that Vance might become another mean-spirited Republican in the Senate if he defeats the Democratic nominee in November, which he has a decent chance of doing.
The actual gloomy part was that the real winner of the Ohio primary was Donald J. Trump, the worst president in history, whose endorsement moved Vance from third place in the opinion polls to first place in the actual polls.
Trump could also take a victory lap for the Supreme Court’s move against abortion, since three of his scoundrel-nominees were now on the court, and joining two of the court’s longtime conservative grouches to constitute an anti-abortion majority, .
So, yes, Trump was still with us this week.
Still calling the shots. Still shaping our lives. Still fibbing, still working to wreck our democracy, when he should have been in jail, and his zombie-cult Republicans twisting themselves in pretzels, trying to explain to the rest of us what in the world had caused them to join a zombie-cult.
Instead, just five people were about to send the country back a half-century,
undermining the Supreme Court's own decisions which made abortion legal, starting with its Roe v. Wade ruling, long, long ago in 1973.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., author of the leaked draft simply brushed all of that away.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. It’s reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.”
Actually, a future court, not as politicized or as demonic, could conserve that wording, saving it for new decision restoring abortion and other privacy rights inherent in the Constitution.
In the meantime, Republican states have laws ready to go that will ban and criminalize abortions after the court issues its final decision, probably next month.
What’s more, anti-abortion forces are anticipating a new, national law that will strip Democratic-led states of their ability to allow abortions.
Worse, there’s still a little time for the week to get gloomier.
We’ve got all of Friday, which traditionally is one of the week’s best/worst days for disasters. And don’t forget, we're living in truly wretched times, during which tragedy no longer takes the weekend off.
So, I understand how you’re feeling. And forgive me here for oversharing, but I’m feeling a just a tad bit gloomy, too.
And why not?
Things got off to an awful start Monday evening, when Politico dropped a genuine news bombshell: a draft of a Supreme Court decision that would obliterate the right to abortion.
It’s still hard, a few days later, to get your hands around the misery that will be visited on the one-half of the population for which pregnancy is a possibility, should the court's final decision mirror the draft, which seems likely.
More trouble showed up the next night: J.D. Vance won the Ohio Republican primary, which maybe is easier to understand than the legal reasoning behind the abortion draft, although Vance's victory was just as hard to stomach.
The problem was not just that Vance might become another mean-spirited Republican in the Senate if he defeats the Democratic nominee in November, which he has a decent chance of doing.
The actual gloomy part was that the real winner of the Ohio primary was Donald J. Trump, the worst president in history, whose endorsement moved Vance from third place in the opinion polls to first place in the actual polls.
Trump could also take a victory lap for the Supreme Court’s move against abortion, since three of his scoundrel-nominees were now on the court, and joining two of the court’s longtime conservative grouches to constitute an anti-abortion majority, .
So, yes, Trump was still with us this week.
Still calling the shots. Still shaping our lives. Still fibbing, still working to wreck our democracy, when he should have been in jail, and his zombie-cult Republicans twisting themselves in pretzels, trying to explain to the rest of us what in the world had caused them to join a zombie-cult.
Instead, just five people were about to send the country back a half-century,
undermining the Supreme Court's own decisions which made abortion legal, starting with its Roe v. Wade ruling, long, long ago in 1973.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., author of the leaked draft simply brushed all of that away.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. It’s reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.”
Actually, a future court, not as politicized or as demonic, could conserve that wording, saving it for new decision restoring abortion and other privacy rights inherent in the Constitution.
In the meantime, Republican states have laws ready to go that will ban and criminalize abortions after the court issues its final decision, probably next month.
What’s more, anti-abortion forces are anticipating a new, national law that will strip Democratic-led states of their ability to allow abortions.
WELL, IT'S NOT FUN being on the losing side.
Not fun being wrong.
I admit that I was wrong about about Vance winning in Ohio, because I thought - hoped, anyway - that Vance losing would mean Trump had lost his grip on the Republican Party.
I was wrong about how far Alito would go in decimating abortion rights. Maybe you were, too.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong - and I know you were, too - in thinking that Donald J. Trump could not possibly become the president of the United States.
Sometimes I think that’s a problem with liberals, progressives and Democrats: we are just too optimistic, too positive, too hopeful, and then, when things don't turn out that way, we go full gloomy.
The Supreme Court couldn’t possibly reject its own precedents that ensured that a woman has the right to decide if and when she’ll have a baby.
Really, you couldn't imagine forcing someone to carry a pregnancy she doesn’t want; couldn't imagine someone being raised by parents who don’t want you; hard to imagine being too poor to provide basic necessities for your child.
But that’s what happens when a J.D. Vance and like-minded zombie-cult Republicans get control of Congress, putting them in a position to approve a president’s high court nominees. That's what happens when a guy like Donald Trump shows up in the White House and nominates more “justices” like his first three. Or worse. Can there be worse justices? Of course.
Not fun being wrong.
I admit that I was wrong about about Vance winning in Ohio, because I thought - hoped, anyway - that Vance losing would mean Trump had lost his grip on the Republican Party.
I was wrong about how far Alito would go in decimating abortion rights. Maybe you were, too.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong - and I know you were, too - in thinking that Donald J. Trump could not possibly become the president of the United States.
Sometimes I think that’s a problem with liberals, progressives and Democrats: we are just too optimistic, too positive, too hopeful, and then, when things don't turn out that way, we go full gloomy.
The Supreme Court couldn’t possibly reject its own precedents that ensured that a woman has the right to decide if and when she’ll have a baby.
Really, you couldn't imagine forcing someone to carry a pregnancy she doesn’t want; couldn't imagine someone being raised by parents who don’t want you; hard to imagine being too poor to provide basic necessities for your child.
But that’s what happens when a J.D. Vance and like-minded zombie-cult Republicans get control of Congress, putting them in a position to approve a president’s high court nominees. That's what happens when a guy like Donald Trump shows up in the White House and nominates more “justices” like his first three. Or worse. Can there be worse justices? Of course.
BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.
The solution is simple.
There are enough Democrats and Independent voters to keep America sane and safe.
Which is why we shouldn’t - why we can’t - overdo this gloomy business.
It’s okay to take a moment or two to realize our side, at least for the moment, is on the losing side. Losing is hard. Losing hurts. Not easy to whistle a happy tune when Republicans are on a roll, and Democrats can’t catch a break.
And, like I said, it can always get worse. Remember that I said that there might be more bad news? I started writing this on Thursday. And when I checked later that night, I came across this Washington Post headline:
DOW PLUNGES MORE THAN 1,000 POINTS AS FEARS ABOUT ECONOMY INTENSIFY.
Investors are reacting to concerns about a slowing economy and interest rate increases.
JUST CAN'T catch a break. The economy is what’s on voters’ minds these days; inflation particularly; and here’s the stock market going cuckoo on us. And the week's not over.
But enough is enough.
There are enough Democrats, enough Independents, like I said, to win this November and again two Novembers from now, to keep the country safe and sane.
But that’s only going to happen if we stop with this gloomy attitude.
Instead, we should get just a little bit mad - maybe really mad - about the abortion fiasco and the fact that Trump is on the move to be a once and future authoritarian.
It's so simple to make sure those things don’t happen.
The danger isn’t that Republicans are on a roll, counting their chickens and taking some victory laps this week.
The danger is that Democrats are feeling so gloomy that they stay that way, thereby missing the chance of a lifetime to keep democracy sensible and secure.
Before we know, it will be Fall and our opportunity to put put this gloomy week and many others behind us, starting with my vote, then your vote and millions of others just waiting to make Nov. 8 the brightest, happiest day of the year.
The solution is simple.
There are enough Democrats and Independent voters to keep America sane and safe.
Which is why we shouldn’t - why we can’t - overdo this gloomy business.
It’s okay to take a moment or two to realize our side, at least for the moment, is on the losing side. Losing is hard. Losing hurts. Not easy to whistle a happy tune when Republicans are on a roll, and Democrats can’t catch a break.
And, like I said, it can always get worse. Remember that I said that there might be more bad news? I started writing this on Thursday. And when I checked later that night, I came across this Washington Post headline:
DOW PLUNGES MORE THAN 1,000 POINTS AS FEARS ABOUT ECONOMY INTENSIFY.
Investors are reacting to concerns about a slowing economy and interest rate increases.
JUST CAN'T catch a break. The economy is what’s on voters’ minds these days; inflation particularly; and here’s the stock market going cuckoo on us. And the week's not over.
But enough is enough.
There are enough Democrats, enough Independents, like I said, to win this November and again two Novembers from now, to keep the country safe and sane.
But that’s only going to happen if we stop with this gloomy attitude.
Instead, we should get just a little bit mad - maybe really mad - about the abortion fiasco and the fact that Trump is on the move to be a once and future authoritarian.
It's so simple to make sure those things don’t happen.
The danger isn’t that Republicans are on a roll, counting their chickens and taking some victory laps this week.
The danger is that Democrats are feeling so gloomy that they stay that way, thereby missing the chance of a lifetime to keep democracy sensible and secure.
Before we know, it will be Fall and our opportunity to put put this gloomy week and many others behind us, starting with my vote, then your vote and millions of others just waiting to make Nov. 8 the brightest, happiest day of the year.
BRIAN C. JONES
I'VE BEEN a reporter and writer for 60 years, long enough to have learned that journalists don't know very much, although I've met some smart ones.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about their answers.
This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, 2022, and I don't see getting over that very soon.
Occasionally, I think about trying to reach her via cell phone.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about their answers.
This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, 2022, and I don't see getting over that very soon.
Occasionally, I think about trying to reach her via cell phone.
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