“I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” Well, the man that stood by that statement got what he wanted. I assume when he made such a thoughtless remark, he wasn’t considering that in a couple years he would be in the crosshairs and join the other nine Americans who were shot dead on Sept. 10, 2025; adding to the “some gun deaths” annual count. I don’t know a lot about the deceased man, but what I do know is that he belonged to the crowd that is hell bent for leather on making sure America’s homicide and other gun-related deaths continue at a steady pace.
It seems the present ruling party is afraid that a gay student in a classroom is somehow a danger to the straight student sitting across the aisle, as if the person’s godless gayness is going to invade susceptible young minds, while unconcerned about students raised in a gun-crazy culture whose evil will put a bullet in the brain of any student, no matter that student’s sexual orientation, who happens to be on the target campus. Politicians will bend to the will of the National Rifle Association because the NRA spends around $213 million in lobbying efforts a year so any effective gun control measures never really materialize from the offices of these elected officials. Students sitting in classrooms in schools across the nation have no such lobby so they die. Just more statistics, more “some gun deaths” needed to protect gun owners from being persecuted.
The rhetoric Republicans once spewed, that Democrats wanted to take their guns away, was of course ridiculous because of the protections guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution; the right of protection from unwarranted search and seizure. This amendment protects the people from governmental authorities arbitrarily barging into their homes and carting off anything they deem a threat to society, including the people. It seems a recent decision by the right-leaning highest court in the land has struck down that amendment and will allow immigration agents free rein when it comes to ridding America of her so-called undesirables. So, it will be the Republicans raiding homes without warrants and maybe, just maybe, they’ll snag a few guns in the process. True, not as many guns are found in the homes of people of color who labor in the agricultural and domestic fields as in the homes of the white middle class, but still it’s a start. Way to go, Supreme Court!
***
“Ah, you make a joke!” I heard this twice while in Ticino a couple of weeks ago. I had made some comments in a light vein and the persons to whom I was speaking responded aptly. In one short conversation with a Locarno native, most people in that part of the world speak multiple languages, at least on some level, and English is very common, so in this encounter we were speaking about airline safety and in reference to the increased number of incidents in America I said, “But Mr. Trump is going to fix that problem.” After a few beats, I got the response above.
The second time I got the “you make a joke” response was when I mentioned to a lady stocking shelves in a supermarket how Mr. Trump’s tariffs couldn’t be the reason for increased prices in her country. The receptionist at the hotel where I stayed, when I asked if she had ever been to America, replied she had not and I suggested she at least try to visit New York City someday. Because that city is the most well-known American city to the rest of the world, she readily agreed she would love to see Manhattan’s Broadway/Times Square surroundings while quickly adding she would wait until “your President Trump is gone” because she wants to visit when America “isn’t in so much trouble.”
A fellow passenger on a boat trip on Lake Maggiori asked simply, “How could you Americans choose such a man?” I could have told him “we” Americans didn’t elect him, slavery did, but that would no doubt have just further baffled him at how we choose a national leader.
If one looks at American history, something our current president does not do, we learn that people wanted a say in who runs the country, one man, one vote. Mark that, man. Only certain Americans were qualified to vote and women didn’t make the grade back then. Neither did Blacks as they were considered to hold only 3/5ths citizenship. And this made a big difference to states, like Virginia and the Carolinas, whose populations in some counties were 40-60% Blacks, and therefore while having lots of people living in the state, many could not vote.
And so was born the Electoral College, a now archaic institution in American politics that twice got Donald J. Trump into the Oval Office. In three elections, he never won the popular vote, twice beaten by women candidates.
***
In the current news, there are stories of Florida farmers discing under tomatoes; in Arkansas the soy bean farmers are going under, some multi-generational farms will not last the year and many children will not produce from the fields of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. In Texas some in the cattle business can no longer afford the herd sizes of the past and are selling light or, in some cases, destroying animals that cost more to raise than will ever be realized at sale. All the people interviewed in these cases voted for Mr. Trump. I wonder how our local agricultural folks are doing? Are ag businesses seeing the same impact as others around the country? Are any locals now rethinking the vote they cast last November?
Take care. Peace.
