The News Of The Day
And a broader need for context
News of the day, and likely several days to come, is of an indictment. And a former president. And the political fallout of a historic development.
It is news, to be sure. But have we already moved beyond another mass shooting of children?
What about the attacks on public education?
The demonization of members of the LGBTQ community?
The health and safety of our communities?
Rising military challenges overseas?
The increasing threats of our climate crisis?
The man who has now become the first former president indicted in our nation’s history will likely always be in the spotlight. His legions of fervent fans and determined detractors will make sure of it. And so will the press.
Furthermore, he wants to be the center of attention. And he will try to use all the power of his perverse showmanship to shift his legal jeopardy to his benefit. He will use the news to try to wreak instability and division.
He could face other indictments for crimes surrounding his determination to wreck American democracy through his alleged actions around the 2020 presidential election.
In all of these cases he will have — should have — a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise in a court of law. These cases will have many twists and turns. They may be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
But what we do know is that our world and our nation face many threats. And the former president played a role in fomenting or exacerbating many of our challenges. But he couldn’t have acted alone.
In the rush of coverage that is ensuing, we should not forget the larger contexts and perspectives.
His name will dominate the headlines. But the narratives are much broader and deeper.
To focus only on him is to risk missing seeing the other pieces come together for a more complete picture of our troubled times. And the resolve and resilience that will be needed to forge a brighter and more stable future.
No person should be above the law. The legal process should be allowed to proceed. But to focus too much on this is to let other dangerous actors off the hook. It puts in jeopardy too much of what we need to confront with clear-eyed determination.
This story should be covered. It is important. For sure. But not at the expense of everything else we need to know.
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“Trump has been indicted in New York for financial crimes related to hush-money payments to a porn star. He will be arraigned next Tuesday.” There, that’s all I need to hear about that, until later next Tuesday.
In other news, Putin continues to seek excuses for prolonging and escalating his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. American and European banking systems shudder as fallout from the cyber-swindle continues to reveal unprecedented greed and risk-taking by people who should have known better. Climate patterns display increased instability as the fossil fuel industry continues to cling to short term profit taking and denial, rather than responsible long term systems planning and management. An emotionally troubled person shot 3 children and 3 adults at a school after the legal purchase of 6 or 7 firearms over a period of time, although not all the weapons were used in the commission of the crime.
In counterpoint, one little early bulb is blooming under the juniper tree in my front yard, so I do expect Spring to come around one of these days. And, the male feral black cat has brought us a kitten, which he allows to eat from his bowl, and which he defends from the others. Life has it’s own mysterious ways of continuing.
I just now read about protests in Nashville, calling for gun safety laws.
I almost missed the story--and still haven't read it --about Ginni Thomas and $600,000 in "anonymous" donations.
My state legislature is running roughshod over marginalized persons while passing out tax cuts for the rich.
There is so much more than hearing about the bloviating shitgibbon. But I still hope they convict him.