He intimidates people into not holding him accountable

Another school shooting (that phrase alone shouldn’t happen), this one in Winder, Georgia. In the comments of a pundit roundup on Daily Kos Denise Oliver Velez posted several cartoons (definitely not the funny kind) about America’s obsession with guns colliding with schools. Some are old, and alas still appropriate. Here are some of them. One by Matt Davies shows the ABCs as “Active Shooter Alert, Barricade the door, Contact law enforcement”. Jason Betzner did a take on Normal Rockwell on America’s Pastime but showing off guns instead of baseballs. Cali posted one by Paul Fell showing a shot-up school with a sign saying the school is protected from drag queens and dirty books. Drew Sheneman posted one of an elephant telling a teacher. “You should have a gun.” The teacher replies, “We don’t even have pencils.” Pat Bagley showed an elephant crying “Stop Him!!!” not at a guy whose feet a buried in spent shell casings, but at a black man voting. Jane of the North included a picture of a statue of a child cowering under a desk. The caption:

"Sandy Hook marked the end of the U.S. gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.” - British Journalist, Dave Hodges.

No, some of us did not decide killing children was bearable. I hope Harris has large enough majorities in Congress to accomplish her plans for meaningful gun restrictions. Mark Sumner of Kos wrote:

Donald Trump keeps telling his supporters to vote for him in 2024 and they “don’t have to vote again.” Some Republicans are growing increasingly worried this is true—but not in the bye-bye-democracy way that Trump seems to intend. They’re worried that if Trump is defeated in 2024, he will leave behind a broken Republican Party that will have no path to power for generations. Or that even if Trump wins, he could drag his twisted cult of personality into a condition from which it can’t recover.

The nasty guy and his minions are despised by the young. Harris now has a 16 point lead in those age 18-29. That is a potential blue wave the could keep the GOP out of power for decades. I briefly mentioned the nasty guy at Arlington National Cemetery illegally using the graves of fallen soldiers as a campaign photo. I hadn’t mentioned then that he had an altercation with cemetery employees, the ones charged with enforcing the rules. They decided if they insisted on proper behavior the incident would escalate more, so let the nasty guy proceed to violate the law. Daniel Miller, in ThreadReader, wrote:

The incident at Arlington cemetery demonstrates a really profound and potentially underrated point. Trump intimidates people into not holding him accountable. Imagine how much worse this could get if he’s the president and controls the immense powers of the executive?

Miller lists several scenarios. Being the judge or on the jury at a nasty guy trial – do they worry about themselves and family? The board of a company doing business with a nasty guy company – do they worry the nasty guy Department of Justice might investigate? A Democratic member of congress considering oversight. A journalist reporting on him.

You might think you’re strong enough to overcome it. To push back. Maybe. But the fact is, when most people get put to the test, they fail the test. It’s just human nature. Maybe we’re different. And part of me thinks we are, that we have the courage and integrity to stare down such fear. But we really don’t want to find out one way or the other.

An Associated Press article posted on Kos discussed Dolly Parton’s three-decade program Imagination Library book give away program. A child under 5 can enroll to have a book mailed to their home each month. The program operates in 21 states (paid by the states) and sends out over three million books a month. It is in honor of her father, who never had the chance to learn to read. Said Parton:

Of course I want to be known as a songwriter and a singer, but I honestly can say that the Imagination Library has meant as much, if not more, to me than nearly anything that I’ve ever done.

Another AP article described the Benedictine sisters of Mount St. Scholastica outside of Kansas City. They have a tradition of being corporate activists. They may hold just a few shares in a company – Google, Target, Citigroup, and many others. But as shareholders they submit resolutions at annual meetings, asking the companies to respect human rights, implement DEI, reduce climate change, and consider the consumer when setting prices. The resolutions rarely pass. When they do they’re usually non-binding. Even so, they raise awareness inside the corporation. Support used to be in the low single digits and can now be near 30% or sometimes even win. In other ways they are traditional nuns. They hold services in their chapel three times a day. Those who work outside the community – as physician, church lawyer, concert violinist, and such – they share what they earn. David Hayward, the Naked Pastor artist, drew a rainbow sheep in front of two other sheep, one with “hate” glasses, the other with “love” glasses. The caption says:

If they want to see a sinner, they'll see a sinner. And if they want to see a saint, they'll see a saint. Don't let someone else's perception of you affect how you live your life.