Lesser Evils

If you know a little about me, you know I’m very willing to overlook prior bad acts by candidates in order to ensure Democratic control of our bodies of government. The electability of a moderate Democrat with a less-than-perfect record was one of the primary motivators behind my support for Hillary Clinton. And if you’re one of my friends on the farther left, I’m sure you’re thinking “Bella really will just shill for any empty suit that calls themselves a Democrat. Is there a floor on this thing, or will we have to re-educate her when the revolution comes?”

I’m proud to report to you, my left friends and all other readers of the blog, that we found the floor. The floor named Joe Manchin.

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What You Can Do to Weaken NRA Control of Congress

Like most people with a heart, I was shocked and saddened by the recent school shooting in Florida. This was the 7th firearm attack during school hours in 2018, and the 5th resulting in injury or death. This was also the deadliest school shooting this year, resulting in the murder of 17 people.

As we all know, children being killed and injured by firearms is too commonplace in America. An average of 24 children are shot every day in the United States and in 2016, 1,637 young people were killed by firearms. And the saddest thing is, we all know in our guts that this type of school shooting will probably happen again, unless major gun control regulations are implemented. Which will be tough as long as the NRA maintains its stranglehold on Republican politicians.

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Good Trouble

Welcome one and all to the brand-new, official, real life website of West Wing, Best Wing! Like the Italian sculptors of yore, I have found myself a patron who gave me the funds necessary to make this blog official.

For my inaugural post, I was going to write about abortion. On Monday, the Supreme Court will be handing down a decision on Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt, and their decision on this could impact abortion laws across the country. But then I remembered that I've already written that post. Several times. And I promise to write another one explaining the decision when it is released on Monday.

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Give Them Hope

First, on a serious note.  Early last Sunday morning, a gunman burst into a popular gay bar in Orlando and opened fire with an AR-15, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others before being killed by the police. This is the worst mass shooting in American history by a single gunman, and LGBTQ people, specifically LGBTQ people of color, were explicitly targeted. All people were struck by the scale of this tragedy, but personally, it has hit me hard. Mass shootings are always more terrifying when you can see yourself in the people who were killed.

It can be hard and scary to be visible. A lot of queer people spend much of their adolescence, and sometimes much of their lives, hiding a big part of their identity. For me, even now that I'm fully and totally out, I'm faced with a lot of daily situations in which I have to make a choice between hiding a part of myself and coming out to a person I don't know very well. Sometimes I don't have the energy, sometimes I genuinely feel it's none of their business, and sometimes I feel I have reason to fear for my safety.

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Tickets to the Gun Show

"We all believe in the First Amendment, the guarantee of free speech, but we accept that you can’t yell “fire” in a theater. We understand there are some constraints on our freedom in order to protect innocent people."

As President Obama reminded everyone when he spoke about the executive actions he was taking on gun safety, he taught Constitutional law. His new executive orders on guns weren't created to eliminate the 2nd Amendment, but to regulate it, the way we regulate all the other Amendments (except the 3rd, I don't think anyone has ever brought a challenge to the 3rd Amendment).

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Actions Speak Louder Than Prayers

The actions following a mass shooting seem chillingly predictable now. Representatives and Senators take to Twitter to express their thoughts and prayers, President Obama holds a press conference saying that he can't keep holding press conferences after tragic events like this, the Democrats blame guns, the Republicans blame the mentally ill. A week later, the news media have moved on. Another mass shooting. Repeat.

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