This week has been a series of gut punches.
The day of the Santa Fe high school shooting, I was out running errands. My phone coverage was spotty, so as I was heading back to pick up my youngest daughter from school, my phone notifications went nuts. There had been a lockdown at her high school. Apparently a stranger who was acting suspiciously had been run off the campus twice by teachers/administrators. In an abundance of caution, they instituted emergency lockdown procedures while waiting for the police to come and pick the person up for questioning.
My daughter hadn't ever been in real danger. But she knew I would be panicking from the school notifications of the lockdown and so in addition to their texts, I had several from her reassuring me of her safety.
This is our new normal. My child has to reassure me she's fine while her school enacts their active shooter lockdown protocol.
And then we came home to find out that ten people in Texas hadn't been so lucky.
I was particularly heartbroken over the death of Sabika Sheikh. Sabika was an exchange student from Pakistan, who was planning on reuniting with her family on Eid-al-Fitr, the final day of Ramadan, three weeks from now. Can you imagine a parent happy to send their child to escape the violence in Pakistan only to have her killed in another senseless school shooting here?
How enraging and pointless the conversation about this has been. Now the GOP wants to discuss having fewer doors (look up "Shirtwaist Factory Tragedy" to understand why this just is an insane suggestion). Or more guns. Or more armed guards (Santa Fe high school had two; one was shot, but not killed, on that day). Or maybe they can be satisfied with just "standing with the victims" with "thoughts and prayers" signifying nothing.
Another white male upset at being spurned by a girl who didn't share his affections. But will anyone on these Sunday shows say that armed toxic white masculinity is a bigger threat in this country than undocumented workers, Muslims, LGBTQ+ using bathrooms, or black people trying to live their lives?
I bet you know the answer to that.
ABC's "This Week" - Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland, Florida, shooting victim; Nicole Hockley, mother of Newtown, Connecticut, shooting victim; White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. ABC’s Dan Abrams; Alan Dershowitz; Harvard law professor emeritus. Panel: Donna Brazile; Amanda Carpenter; Ronan Farrow; American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp; and Jonathan Swan, Axios national political reporter.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Roger Stone, a longtime Donald Trump confidant. Panel: Yamiche Alcindor of “PBS NewsHour”; David Brooks of The New York Times; MSNBC host Hugh Hewitt; and Hallie Jackson of NBC.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Kudlow; Jon Meacham. Panel: Reihan Salam of National Review; Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report; Jamelle Bouie of Slate; and Anne Gearan of The Washington Post.
CNN's "State of the Union" - Warner; Lt. Gov. Patrick of Texas; Jack Kennedy Schlossberg. Panel: Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.; David Urban, former strategist for Donald J. Trump for President; former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich.; and Linda Chavez, chair of the Center for Equal Opportunity.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian legislator and scholar; Thomas Friedman of The New York Times; Joshua Matz, constitutional law scholar and co-author of “To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment”; Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard University and co-author of “To End a Presidency”; John Doerr, tech sector investor.
CNN's "Reliable Sources" - Ezra Klein, founder of Vox.com; Sabrina Siddiqui, political reporter, The Guardian; John Avlon, editor in chief of The Daily Beast; Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine; and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post.
"Fox News Sunday" - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; incoming National Rifle Association President Oliver North; Mark Kelly, co-founder of Giffords, a gun-control advocacy group. Panel: Brit Hume and Juan Williams of Fox News; Jane Harman, president of the Woodrow Wilson Center; and Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
