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My skin isn’t thick enough to endure criticism trailblazers like Harris, Pelosi, Gandhi, Meir, and Thatcher have had to suffer; but I have been inspired to follow in their footsteps, in my own ways. As Harris told Marie Claire magazine, “I want [young] women to know, you are powerful and your voice matters." Amen, Sisters. Amen.

What’s needed to resolve this issue, once and for all? One, politicians with courage, standing up to extremists in their parties blocking compromise solutions, such as this one. Two, Americans accepting reality, actively supporting legislators who compromise with the other side. Too much to hope for?  Maybe, at least with extremists on both ends of our political spectrum.  But the rest of us, especially Modern Moderates, must embrace compromise as our only hope – and DEMAND it from our leaders.

The true cause of this crisis: our outdated, ineffective immigration system. Almost everybody agrees it’s broken and needs repair – or replacement. Congress has failed miserably to address that. In our next post, TMM will offer possible solutions to this seemingly intractable American challenge. Stay tuned.

Republicans, time to “put up or shut up”. Are you serious about preventing mass shootings? Are you serious about mental health as the true cause? If so, are you willing to spend money (without increasing deficits) to address that issue? Democrats, can you look beyond gun laws as the only solution – and avoid advocating radical proposals (like confiscating legally-purchased weapons)? Can you instead support a bipartisan solution that might actually WORK? Final question: do you both have enough courage to DO something together – before mentally ill mass shooters kill HUNDREDS MORE innocent Americans?

Recent mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder focused U.S. attention again – temporarily – on gun issues. More have occurred since then (in California and Texas, among others), but received less attention; maybe because numbers of deaths were fewer – or maybe because Americans were numbed by the carnage, yet again.

Recent shootings in Atlanta and Boulder remind us innocent people (potentially, any of us or our loved ones), simply going to the grocery store or to work, might never return home. Boulder police officer Eric Talley never did, to his wife and seven children – after bravely confronting a shooter to save others.

America now needs moderation and healing, requiring bipartisanship. Joe Biden seems uniquely suited to lead us toward that – if Democrats will let him, and Republicans will join him. If they won’t, let THEM be the ones who blow it.

Cloaked in misleading terms like “ensuring safe elections” and “protecting election integrity”, GOP efforts aim to reduce minority votes that cost them the White House and Senate in 2020. Realizing demographic shifts favor Democrats (with many young and minority Americans becoming eligible voters), Republicans came up with needed solutions, then searched for problems.

Several times in recent history (including November, 2020, when Biden defeated Trump to become President), some go-it-alone Texans have threatened to secede from the U.S.A. Facing BILLIONS of dollars in losses, they won’t threaten that now. But with the rest of us facing the costly prospect of bailing them out for their arrogant mistakes, maybe WE should offer this age-old (paraphrased) advice: Don’t let the door hit you on your cowboy-hat-holding, outstretched hand on your way out.

Respect for science is one of TMM's Basic Beliefs. Moderates, and all other humans, owe the climate-science pioneers described in this Guest Blog a debt of gratitude - along with citizen-scientists, activists and educators like George S. Turner (author of the blog), who continue studying climate change and informing all of us about it. Without them, our collective knowledge of climate change would have evolved much later – meaning it would have taken us even longer to understand (and eventually, reach consensus) that it is real, accelerating – and dangerous.