I'll keep this short - mostly because I'm filling in for Nicole Belle, and mostly because I'm the Saturday editor here at C&L, and, well...it's been a long Saturday.
My first Saturday as editor of this site was on October 27th of last year. That was the day of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. ("Saturdays are pretty easy," they told me. "Slow news days, usually" they told me. "Unless there's big breaking news or something.") Since that shooting, in which a male white supremacist terrorist slaughtered 11 Jews at prayer, inspired by Trump and his incendiary Nazi-like rhetoric, there have been 299 mass shootings. That includes today's shooting (well, yesterday's, at this point) in which a male white supremacist terrorist slaughtered 20 people probably shopping for back to school items in a Walmart. 299 mass shootings, in which 1055 people were shot, and 350 people died.
This doesn't include situations in which fewer than 4 people are shot, so these numbers are nowhere near the total number of souls impacted and stolen by gun violence. I'm too tired to find out what those number are. Hell, you may even want to check my numbers in the last paragraph, because it involved a Wikipedia page and a calculator and my aging eyes. Whatever number it is, is too many.
On a professional note, on that day in October, like on this day, and every time something massive happens, the entire C&L team rallied, helped, checked in even if they were off for the day, and made me see how unusual and strong our connections here are, and I'm personally grateful to be part of such a smart, loving crew.
On a societal note, we know white supremacy, Trumpism, and Conservatism rely to a large degree on toxic masculinity in order to thrive. Is it any wonder I felt compelled to share a video that is about as far from toxic masculinity as you can get? Here is Rosey Grier, fake playing the guitar, singing the song that always made me feel like I could get through anything.
I hope it helps you, too.
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Here's who will be on the shows this morning:
ABC’s “This Week” — Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; former Housing Secretary Julián Castro; former Vice President Al Gore.
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NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Gov. Steve Bullock, D-Mont.; White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
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CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas; Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Tim Scott, R-S.C.
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CNN’s “State of the Union” — Booker, Kudlow; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana.
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“Fox News Sunday” — Buttigieg; White House trade adviser Peter Navarro.
What will help you get through today?
