12 Jun 2016
Got to see my two favorite groups, these are the Methodists. One of my co-congregants was among them.
And here were the Philly Veterans for Peace.
Unfortunately, there was an attack in Orlando, FL early this morning that left 50 people dead and 53 injured. I feel the need to put this story here because although the gunman claimed that he was affiliated with Daesh (ISIS), there's really no indication that the gunman had any connection to them. This very strongly appears to have just been a hate crime.
Donald Trump claimed that "radical Islamic terrorism" was to blame, but even though he has personally insulted all 1.6 billion members of the Muslim faith and even though the killer was a Muslim, there's evidence that the crime was motivated simply by hate.
Fanaticism comes in all religious garbs. No religion has any moral superiority over another. The Lieutenant Governor of Texas tweeted Biblical verses from Galatians 6:7 "A man reaps what he sows."
I'm not a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders for president, I believe he's a weak general election candidate, despite all of the polls saying he's more enthusiastically supported than Hillary Clinton is. But the TV reporter Chuck Todd was absolutely wrong to say that Sanders was trying to needlessly politicize the issue of too-easily-available guns.
Fortunately, Democrats appear to be united on a strong push for gun safety measures. One of the major problems in the Orlando shooting was that
Trevor Velinor, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said [Omar Mir Seddique] Mateen legally bought the two guns believed to have been used in the attack within "the last few days".As to Mateen's personal motivation for the killings. His father claimed that he was "enraged after seeing two men kissing, in front of his wife and their child."
A few years ago, I went to a pro-gay rally in Trenton, NJ and was returning to the rally when I came across a fellow who was carrying a sign with a very lengthy statement on it. I found myself asking "So, is this fellow pro-love or is he against that?" The poem read out at last night's Tony Awards emphasizes exactly that question.