Lots of things Bob Braun says are way too important to only be seen on Facebook. Like his thoughts on the relationship between Christie’s ranting/abuse and youth shootings motivated by a desire for “respect”:
If the governor of the state can suggest that someone should “take a bat” to a woman, why should we be surprised that a child shoots people because they “disrespected” him?
We live in a state in which the governor prides himself in bullying, misogynistic behavior, someone who shows his displeasure with threatening gestures and who refuses to defend gun restrictions in court. We live in a state whose voters re-elected this bully and elected as US senator a man who, as Newark mayor, laid off cops and presided over the worst carnage in almost a decade. We live in a state where the busiest interstate crossing can be held for political ransom despite the threat to public safety.
We live in a state where the unemployment rate is higher than the national rate. We live in a state where grinding poverty and Jim Crow era segregation lives side-by-side with affluence and all-white towns. Where greed is more highly prized than civic duty when the bully-in-chief proposes lower taxes on the rich. Where public services for young people have been eliminated. Where public education in communities that need it the most has been reduced to a mindless competition over numbers. Where the adults most likely to be in contact with young people with problems – public employees – are considered interchangeable drones who don’t have to be paid much or treated with respect. Where fair housing initiatives are suppressed.
Yet, somehow, we wring our hands and wonder why our children are killing each other in the streets. We have met the enemy, my friends, and he is us.
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