Democratic Unconventional: Not Alone

Perhaps more than the first two nights, the third night of the Unconventional was often geared to young voters.  It related major issues of immigration, climate crisis and racism viscerally and particularly from the point of view of the young.  It had at least one mesmerizing musical performance by Billie Eilish.  And apart from introducing herself and telling her story, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke especially (I thought) to a younger audience.

But major moments belonged to all, and especially to those who have had to numb themselves during these past four years.  There were more cathartic video moments, including outrages already forgotten because of the unremitting onslaught of new ones.  An absolute highlight was the appearance of Gabby Giffords, the centerpiece of a segment on gun violence.  She was a gun victim--a political assassin's victim--we shared, and we saw again the tragedy and her courage and resilience and determination.

We try to avoid the overload, but there are a range of benefits to realizing that we share these reactions to the past four years.  Kamala Harris expressed it this way: "The constant chaos leaves us adrift.  The incompetence makes us feel afraid.  The callousness makes us feel alone."

But it was President Barack Obama who embodied and expressed what we see and have concluded, but which we don't often hear from our leaders, or the media or the institutions that cannot operate unless they maintain some sense of normality, or at least aren't used to doing anything else.

The first part of his riveting 18 minute speech set the context for the paragraphs that will be the chief soundbites.  (Several outlets have the text, including this one.)

"The one Constitutional office elected by all of the people is the presidency. So at minimum, we should expect a president to feel a sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of all 330 million of us – regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we love, how much money we have – or who we voted for.

But we should also expect a president to be the custodian of this democracy. We should expect that regardless of ego, ambition, or political beliefs, the president will preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and ideals that so many Americans marched for and went to jail for; fought for and died for.

I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.

But he never did. For close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.

Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before."

As Hillary Clinton reminded us earlier in the evening,  she told us so, and too many voters didn't hear or believe or take the possibility seriously.  They didn't vote, or they threw away their vote.  Without saying so exactly, President Obama spoke to them, shamed them and anyone who won't vote Trump out of office this year, in for me the even more powerful part of his speech, so genuinely delivered.

He addressed those who were disenchanted with democratic government, warning that this cynicism is the chief weapon of the autocrat in the White House. He began with a story.

"Last month, we lost a giant of American democracy in John Lewis. Some years ago, I sat down with John and the few remaining leaders of the early Civil Rights Movement. One of them told me he never imagined he'd walk into the White House and see a president who looked like his grandson. Then he told me that he'd looked it up, and it turned out that on the very day that I was born, he was marching into a jail cell, trying to end Jim Crow segregation in the South.

What we do echoes through the generations.

Whatever our backgrounds, we are all the children of Americans who fought the good fight. Great grandparents working in firetraps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos told to go back where they came from. Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs, made to feel suspect for the way they worshipped. Black Americans chained and whipped and hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote.

If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work, and could not work, it was those Americans. Our ancestors. They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the myth. And yet, instead of giving up, they joined together and said somehow, some way, we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words, in our founding documents, to life."

The words are powerful, but the way he delivered them makes you listen, really listen to them.  Maybe at last some will really hear the linkages: The "Irish and Italians" of my grandparent's generation, "and Asians and Latinos" of more recent generations, all "told to go back where they came from."  Not just the "Muslims and Sikhs" of today, but the "Jews and Catholics" of generations within living and especially family memory, "made to feel suspect for the way they worshipped."

The words went on to, again, today's young people who can "take our country to a better place."  But not inevitably--for they are "the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed."  And then the conclusion, the final fierce urgency of now:

"That work will continue long after this election. But any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win. So we have to get busy building it up – by pouring all our effort into these 76 days, and by voting like never before – for Joe and Kamala, and candidates up and down the ticket, so that we leave no doubt about what this country that we love stands for – today and for all our days to come."

Historians are already on record saying that no ex-President have ever spoken like this before.  That it is this President, whose words and style many of us heard and saw for eight years or more, adds to their weight.  Yes, it's scary.  But it's out in the open now.  If you realized this before, now you're not alone.  Now there are things to do, even if it's just voting, and making sure those we know also vote.  It may take more than that, but saying it out loud is a start.

Gabby's Progress (And Ours)

Gabby Giffords with husband and former astronaut Mark Kelly, 2014

In connection with the previous subject of presidential safety, it's important to recall that an assassination attempt was made on a member of the U.S. Congress in January of 2011, not even four years ago.  Gabriel Giffords was shot in the head at close range by a gunman and barely survived.

Here's a story from last week on Gabby's progress, both physically and as the focal point of an organization that intends to be big enough to go toe to toe with the National Rifle Association on issues of guns in America.  In both cases, progress is slow and limited, but enough to be encouraging and not futile.

This is what one powerful gun did in a flash: it reduced an active, promising young leader to years of therapy so that she can say a few words in public.  This is what guns do--in a moment of emotion or delusion or accident, they change everything.

Member of Congress Gabriel Giffords 2010

And yet while we regulate aspirin bottle caps, our country insists on making ever more lethal weapons available ever more cheaply to ever more people, and present in increasing numbers of circumstances: on the street, in backyards, in bars and restaurants, in churches, in schools, in political debates.
On Youtube I saw an old interview with some celebrity, I don't remember who, in which he commented that the Sandy Hook school shooting was so horrendous, that if it didn't lead Americans to demand effective gun control, there really was no hope for this society.  That was 2012.  The situation has only gotten worse.

One of the most moving moments at the Capitol was President Obama embracing Gabrielle Gifford before his speech.  As the L.A. Times story notes, it was both a welcome back to Giffords, and, for now at least, a farewell, as she leaves Congress to concentrate on her recovery from gunshot wounds.

It wasn't the only notable embrace.  The other was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who lifted her arms to embrace the President.  Could it be that she feels she might be attending her last State of the Union?  In any case, it was clearly a significant moment for her.

Here's video of Gifford's moment with President Obama.

Courage and Consequences

This is the Gabby Giffords video in which she announced that she's leaving Congress.  If you haven't seen all two and a half minutes of it, it's worth your time on so many levels.  Giffords will be at President Obama's State of the Union address tonight.

A True Bright Star



Gabby Giffords with husband, space shuttle astronaut Mark Kelley

Gabrielle Giffords announced on Sunday that she is giving up her seat in Congress in order to concentrate on her recovery from the assassination attempt last year in Arizona.  It is a reminder that however miraculous her recovery so far, such violence has enduring consequences.  It is a measure of our political decadence that the enormity of this act, and the atmosphere supporting gun violence and violent politics, was not confronted even after this incident that killed a federal judge, a public servant, and a child born on 9-11, among others.

Of Giffords, President Obama said: Gabby Giffords embodies the very best of what public service should be. She’s universally admired for qualities that transcend party or ideology – a dedication to fairness, a willingness to listen to different ideas, and a tireless commitment to the work of perfecting our union."  House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called Giffords "a true bright star."  It is a phrase worth contemplating--a bright star that points true.  

This gun violence, enabled by cowardly politicians and their at best deluded and at worst hate-filled constituents, silenced an exemplary voice in Congress, a voice that this Congress badly needs, and now that silence will continue.  But there will be one more opportunity to acknowledge some of this, as well as to honor Giffords, when her last act as a Member of Congress will be to witness President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday. 

Astronaut Mark Kelly watching President Obama's State of the Union address, as he holds the hand of his wife, Gabby Giffords, currently undergoing rehabilitation and further treatment in Houston. The President mentioned Rep. Giffords early in his address, and members of Congress left an empty chair in the chamber in her honor.

Guns in Town

It's a lesson from western movies: when there are guns in town, they will be used. Civilization is pretty much defined as a place where law and custom rule, not where the streets are ruled by guns.

Guns on the street aren't acceptable in a civilized town. It's the citizens who enforce this really, but it is the law that backs it up.

So what does that say about us right now?

Number of people who died from gunshots in the Tucson incident: 6.
Number of people who die from gunshots every single day in the USA: 80.

Guns destroy civilization, and they also destroy democracy. Bringing a gun to a Town Hall Meeting is the definition of an anti-democratic act, a subversive act.

President Obama last night described the scene in Tucson on Saturday:

"On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders –- representatives of the people answering questions to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns back to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” -– just an updated version of government of and by and for the people. And that quintessentially American scene, that was the scene that was shattered by a gunman’s bullets."

But how do citizens feel confident in participating in this quintessential American scene, this central tenet of democracy now? It's not just that a deranged gunman opened fire in Tucson. It's that it was legal and acceptable for anyone to bring a loaded gun to a public meeting. In fact, the shooter wasn't the only one armed. Someone else had his finger on the trigger, and almost shot the person who disarmed the shooter, because he was still holding the gun he'd taken away from the perpetrator.

The principle is simple. Democracy belongs to the most persuasive voices, not the biggest guns. Guns at public meetings used to be an image associated with eastern European or Chinese Communists or Nazi SS. The effect is easy to understanding. If chipping away at some corner of free speech produces a "chilling effect" on free speech, what does a gun at a public meeting do?

First and foremost, it deters people from even showing up. If I had a child, a nine year old girl who just won a student council election say, I would think more than twice before allowing her to attend a public meeting, even in a grocery store parking lot in the middle of town. Not just because one nut might bring a gun. But because all people might be carrying guns, where it is acceptable and legal to do so.

Are you going to argue over health care with somebody who might have a gun? Are you even going to go vote with people who might be armed?

Even if Americans have "a right to bear arms," I don't see where the Constitution says they have a right to bear them in a Town Hall meeting. Isn't there something about a "well-regulated militia" in that amendment?

I think Eugene Robinson was right to use the word "insane" in characterizing recent refusals to regulate guns. I really don't much care about length of barrels and size of clips, or all the other compromises. I'm sure police would feel better if it wasn't so easy for criminals to obtain more lethal weapons, and the idea of restricting guns only from appearances by members of Congress is what it transparently is.

You can debate all the sophisticated technical solutions and compromises, but for me the very first thing that has to be done is to restore the rule with force of law that you cannot bring your gun to town, anywhere in America. You cannot bring your gun to any public place, and you certainly may not bring your gun to any public meeting.

There is no conflict of rights here. No one except officers of the law should have the legal right in a civilized society to endanger innocents in a public place by carrying lethal weapons. No one has the right to threaten the foundation of democracy: the right of citizens to peaceably assemble.

But even more powerful than rights and law is the power of the people to set and enforce this standard by sending the message that this is unacceptable behavior, and anyone engaging in it is outside civilized society, period.

In Memoriam: John Roll

"Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and a graduate of this law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago -- appointed by President George H.W. Bush and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons and his five beautiful grandchildren."
--President Obama at University of Arizona, Tucson, last night.

In Memoriam: Dorothy Morris

"George and Dorothy Morris -– “Dot” to her friends -– were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together -- traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away."
--President Obama

In Memoriam: Phyllis Schneck

"A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her three children, her seven grandchildren and 2-year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she’d often work under a favorite tree, or sometimes she'd sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants -- (laughter) -- to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better."--President Obama

In Memoriam: Dorwan Stoddard

"Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together -– about 70 years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families. But after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, “be boyfriend and girlfriend again.”

When they weren’t out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with his dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers."
--President Obama

In Memoriam: Gabe Zimmerman

"Everything -- everything -- Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion. But his true passion was helping people. As Gabby’s outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits that they had earned, that veterans got the medals and the care that they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved -– talking with people and seeing how he could help. And Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year."
--President Obama

In Memoriam: Christina Taylor Green

"And then there is nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student; she was a dancer; she was a gymnast; she was a swimmer. She decided that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the Major Leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her.

She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age. She’d remind her mother, “We are so blessed. We have the best life.” And she’d pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

And in Christina -- in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic, so full of magic. So deserving of our love. And so deserving of our good example.

Imagine -- imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us -– we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.

As has already been mentioned, Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart." "I hope you jump in rain puddles.”

If there are rain puddles in Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on this Earth -- here on this Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and we commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit."

--President Obama last night. Christina Taylor Green was buried today. First Lady Michelle Obama has written an open letter to parents concerning how to talk about these events with children.

The Dreaming Up Daily Quote

"Imagine -- imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us -– we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations."

President Obama
Tucson, Arizona
January 12, 2011

President Obama Speaks in Tucson

This is President Obama's address at the memorial in Tucson. Here is the transcript of the address as given. It includes his riveting announcement that moments after he visited her, and as some of her congressional colleagues were in the room (including Nancy Pelosi), Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time. To this point the swelling prevented this. It is another good sign. Pelosi, now minority leader, was present at the memorial. Majority leader Boener was offered a seat on Air Force One to attend, but he stayed in Washington to attend a Republican political meeting.

Response to President Obama's speech has been mostly very positive. Here are some reactions. Jim Fallows is among those who call it one of his best and most lasting.

Those who watched the memorial in Arizona and across America may have taken note that one of the heroes honored, who sat with the First Family, is a Latino American. And one of the people who risked their lives to stop the shooter was a gray haired woman.

Some commentators differentiated between what he said about the civic community and what he said about each of the people who was killed, the heroes who aided the wounded and prevented the shooter from reloading, and everyone's personal reflections. What they missed apparently was how elegantly he threaded them together, paying off completely in the end when he talked about the nine year old who was killed, Christina Green. I will quote that part of the speech in another post.

However, I'll add this comment on it by Andrew Sullivan, because it was exactly the same thought that I had:

"Watching Christina Green's parents as the president speaks brings home the enormity of this crime. Making her brief nine years of life the focus for hope and inspiration is a lovely peroration. "I want America to be as good as [Christina] imagined it."
And one senses palpably that Obama's own love for his own daughters is behind this message."

The Wrong Ideal

Here's one more angle on the political atmosphere in which this shooting happened, from Jessica Valenti writing in the Guardian:

This is not the kind of history we want to be making. US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the youngest woman to be elected to Congress... is believed to be the first female politician in America to be the subject of an assassination attempt...

Without obvious answers at the ready, Americans are focusing on the culture of increasing vitriol in US politics...What's not being discussed, however, is that a fair amount of this violent language and imagery is coming from female politicians on the right..."

She offers the examples of Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle: "And in an interview with a local Nevada paper, Angle said: "The nation is arming … If we don't win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?"

Stephen Ducat, author of The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity, says that masculine and violent language is often used in elections and campaigns – especially by men on the right – because of a fear of being perceived as feminine. In a sexist society, what could be worse than being called a girl? So it doesn't seem unlikely that conservative female politicians feel the need to peddle their ideas in gendered and violent language in order to fit in with the masculinised right.

After all, the phrase – and sentiment – "man up" was one of the most popular in the 2010 elections. In the Colorado Senate primary, Republican Jane Norton accused her opponent of not being "man enough"; in the Delaware Senate primary, Republican Christine O'Donnell said that her opponent was "unmanly"; Angle told Harry Reid to "man up"; and Palin praised Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer as having "the cojones that our president does not have" to enforce immigration laws.

In a country that sees masculinity – especially violent masculinity – as the ideal, it's no wonder that this type of language resonates. But it's a sad state of affairs when women in politics have to resort to using the same gendered stereotypes that kept all women out of public service for so long. "

Apart from the mixed agendas within the feminist movement (which have always been present since the 1970s) or the loaded charge of sexism, the salient point here is one I've been thinking about since I first read this opinion piece a few days ago. We do seem to have gone backwards to a sense that physical force and the expression of uncontrolled violent emotions are the proper answer to almost everything. We've lost the sense that those with the courage to use peaceful means, or to struggle for reconciliation and take the hard messy path of resolving conflicts honestly but without violence, can be masculine role models--like Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy--as well as proper leaders of any gender, race, class or sexual preference.

It has become standard in the media to use vulgar terms and reductive, simplistic analysis to explain political positions and behavior that are not overtly confrontational. It then becomes easier for political opponents to make outrageous and insulting remarks, which also get widely reported and become part of the dialogue. This past campaign certainly was a humiliating example.

At a time when we need all the complexity of thought and feeling we can muster to face the complex and emotionally unusual crises that test the evolutionary fitness of human civilization, we seem to be falling back into habits and states of mind we worked hard to overcome, and thought we had. This is one more indication of that sorry prospect. It's also a further distortion of masculine virtues, for the young who are going to need them.

Alien Nation

Another angle from Robert Wright:

"Six months ago, police in California pulled over a truck that turned out to contain a rifle, a handgun, a shotgun and body armor. Police learned from the driver — sometime after he opened fire on them — that he was heading for San Francisco, where he planned to kill people at the Tides Foundation. You’ve probably never heard of the Tides Foundation — unless you watch Glenn Beck, who had mentioned it more than two dozen times in the preceding six months, depicting it as part of a communist plot to “infiltrate” our society and seize control of big business.

Note the parallel with Loughner’s case.... But it doesn’t matter who Loughner got the idea from or whether you consider it left wing or right wing. The point is that Americans who wildly depict other Americans as dark conspirators, as the enemy, are in fact increasing the chances, however marginally, that those Americans will be attacked.

In that sense, the emphasis the left is placing on violent rhetoric and imagery is probably misplaced. Sure, calls to violence, explicit or implicit, can have effect. But the more incendiary theme in current discourse is the consignment of Americans to the category of alien, of insidious other. Once Glenn Beck had sufficiently demonized people at the Tides Foundation, actually advocating the violence wasn’t necessary.

By the same token, Palin’s much-discussed cross-hairs map probably isn’t as dangerous as her claim that “socialists” are trying to create “death panels.” If you convince enough people that an enemy of the American way is setting up a system that could kill them, the violent hatred will take care of itself."

Guns and Madness

Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post:

"We may not be sure that the bloodbath in Tucson had anything to do with politics, but we know it had everything to do with our nation's insane refusal to impose reasonable controls on guns.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, about 80 percent to 90 percent of disqualifying mental health records are not in the background-check database. Some states simply don't bother to submit the information; others do so haphazardly. Arizona is neither the best nor the worst on this score.

We must recognize the obvious distinction between rifles, shotguns and target pistols used for sport on the one hand, and semiautomatic handguns designed for killing people on the other. We must decide that allowing anyone to carry a concealed weapon, no questions asked, is just crazy. And for heaven's sake, we must demand that laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of lunatics be enforced."

Senator Frank Lautenberg is being widely quoted today: "We don't have more madmen. We have more guns."

Well, we certainly have more guns.

And we give our madmen daily coast to coast radio and TV broadcasts.

Mourn This, Too

Michael Tomasky in the Guardian (writing from the U.S.):

"I would like to report to you that my nation is in shock, and that we will work together to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. Alas, neither of these things is close to true.

Of course an event like this is hard to believe in the moment; but in the context of our times, it's really not surprising at all. Last summer, a California man armed himself and set off for San Francisco with the express intent of killing liberals at a nonprofit foundation that had been pilloried by Glenn Beck and others. Only the lucky accident of his arrest en route for drunk driving prevented the mayhem then.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has documented more than two dozen killings by or arrests of rightwing extremists who intended to do serious political violence since 2008. One Tennessee man killed two worshippers at a liberal church, regretting only that he had not been able to ice the 100 liberals named by author Bernard Goldberg as those most responsible for destroying America. Giffords herself received threats after voting for the healthcare reform bill, and shots were fired through the window of her district office. An event like this has been coming for a long time."

Focus

The suspected shooter in the Arizona assassination attempt has appeared in federal court, and his photo is everywhere right now--except here. His flaring eyes and grin may demonstrate various things to various people, but to me they say that he's finally the center of attention he intended to be. And the media is giving him exactly what he wants, along with more incentive for others to copy his actions. But not here. Instead, a photo of Christina Green, killed by the bullets of his gun. She was nine years old, born on 9/11. I might add that four of the six people killed were over 60 years old. Four were uninvolved in politics except as citizens. 19 people were injured and will bear scars of various kinds for the rest of their lives. So while all eyes are on the eyes and personality of the perpetrator, I'm keeping my eyes on them.