By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com 

INDIANAPOLIS – Words fail.

The sights and stories from Parkland, Florida, have a sad familiarity.

We Americans now have seen so many pictures of families and communities battered by horror and grief. We had heard so many tales of terrified young people bearing more than children should be asked – no, forced – to bear.

We have witnessed so many – too, too many – mass shootings in our country.

In elementary schools.

In high schools.

In theaters.

In workplaces.

On public streets.

On military bases.

Everywhere, it seems, here in America.

Every time, our response is the same. Shock surrenders to grief, which then yields to rage.

Our anger is intensified by our impotence, the sense that these tragedies are avoidable and yet at the same time inevitable, because of our determined evasion of moral responsibility.

It feels as if we are trapped in a nightmare from which we cannot awaken.

In this time of fury and confusion, the temptation is strong to lash out at the National Rifle Association, the gun manufacturers and merchants and the public officials awash in the flood tide of campaign contributions and dark money unleashed by the firearms lobby.

Lord knows, in this world and the next, these folks have and will have much for which they must answer.

But berating them, baiting them with evidence of their cash-laden complicity in horror and trying to shame them into doing the right thing is likely to achieve nothing more than a temporary venting of frustration, a momentary therapeutic release from a grief that seems to have no end.

In some ways, doing so fuels the frenzy and fantasy that fire their fears, the sense that they are alone, attacked and embattled in a hostile world and thus must cling to their weapons even more fiercely.

We won’t change our current reality by reinforcing their fantasies. We won’t chase away terror by stoking their fears.

I have talked, debated and argued with gun advocates for years. I have listened to them, and I have heard them.

However misguided and misinformed their view of the world is, their adherence to it is genuine. They believe what they believe, and not because someone has paid them to think or argue or vote that way.

For that reason, they hear only what they want or need to hear. They latch onto whatever crumb of misinformation plucked out of context confirms their faith that more guns mean more safety. They seize on whatever cry, however grief-soaked and unrealistic, for draconian gun policies as evidence that the real plan is to disarm and disenfranchise them, and they use that as renewed justification for their unyielding opposition to all attempts to grapple with senseless suffering.

This makes them impervious to the force that is supposed to animate our system of government, the gathering of facts that empower the process of reason.

So long as they continue to disregard information that does not support their beliefs or does not give flame to their fears, they cannot and will not be persuaded. They will remain beyond reason’s reach.

And we will remain trapped in this nightmare from which we cannot awaken.

That is why our grief must give way not to rage, but to thoughtful planning and action.

I talked once with former Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Troy Riggs, himself a gun owner but one whose work and experience made him sensitive to the tragic consequences of this nation’s overabundance of privately owned firearms.

Riggs said, in effect, that we will not cure our national ailment by focusing on symptoms. We instead must look at causes.

We must ask ourselves, he said, why so many young people feel they need a firearm.

I would broaden that to say that we must ask why so many Americans feel they need not just one deadly weapon, but, in many cases, entire arsenals, just to feel secure.

Until we can plumb the depths of that fear, we will not solve this problem.

We will remain trapped in this nightmare.

And words will continue to fail.

FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

This article was posted by the City-County Observer without opinion, bias or editing.

Mayor Winnecke says, “We really felt it was important to come together tonight to reassure the community that there is a strong connection between the school systems and local law enforcement…every threat is taken seriously and that partnership between law enforcement and our school systems could not be stronger…so tonight we’re here to send that message, that law enforcement and the school systems are working as great partners to ensure our schools, whether in the county, a diocese school or part of the EVSC, that the students in each of these schools are safe.”

Tyrone Morris

Web Producer

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Confrontation With Congressman Bucshon

By Richard Moss, MD
Candidate for Congress, Republican Party, 8TH Congressional District

I have given some thought to the events that occurred last Saturday and after reflecting, I have decided that in the name of good governance it was best to share it.

The Vanderburgh County GOP through Chairman Wayne Parke kindly invited me to speak at their monthly Saturday morning breakfast meeting before fellow Republicans regarding my campaign for Congress to represent Indiana’s 8th district.

In this venue, other candidates were permitted to introduce themselves briefly. There were two scheduled speakers, given roughly 10—15 minutes, which included Mike Duckworth, who is seeking the office of Vanderburgh County Commissioner, and myself. Mike went first, then me.

Congressman Larry Bucshon and his wife were present in the audience. I assumed someone notified them of my presence and was glad they decided to come.

I delivered my speech, introducing myself, my background as a Cancer Surgeon, local investor and businessman, columnist, author, and devoted husband of nearly 30 years, and father of four highly accomplished children. My oldest child, Arielle, is a Fulbright Scholar, fluent in Arabic who spent a year in Morocco after graduating from IU. She is an artist and musician and plays the violin, piano, and saxophone. She was drum major for the Jasper Marching Band for two years. She currently performs with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and will be going to Medical School next year. Noah was number 2 in tennis for the state while playing for Jasper High School as a senior. He plays a mean jazz saxophone and recently graduated from IU with a degree in business management. Last June, he and I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa together. He is involved with a start-up company in Jasper. Adina and Isaiah are in the 9th and 8th grades, play the saxophone and violin and will be going to Indianapolis next week to compete at state. They are in “honors” level classes in school and getting A’s.

During my speech, I explained that my purpose for running was to provide a choice for Republicans in the primary. I stated that the Republican Party at the national level was a broken party cut off from its base, a party that refused to fight for the causes, values, and policies of the grassroots conservatives that help them win elections. I stated I was concerned that many conservatives would sit out coming elections because nowhere did they see their policies being represented and advanced. And that as a result, Republicans would suffer reversals that would be damaging to the party and, more importantly, to the country.

I mentioned that the Republican Congress just passed a budget with a $trillion deficit, worse than every year under Obama other than the first year, 2009, the recession year. The Republicans had now managed to position the Democrats as the party of fiscal discipline.

I stated that the Republicans were also busily negotiating an Amnesty Bill that would have upped the number from 690, 000 DACA recipients eligible for work permits to 1.8 million on a pathway to citizenship, a Democrat priority, not a Republican. The Republicans were now to the left of Obama on amnesty. At this time, Congressman Bucshon interrupted me and accused me of lying. He said that it was Trump’s doing. “Someone has to call you out when you lie,” he said to me.

Some people in the audience were quite taken aback by his behavior and comments.
I presented a choice for the audience and Republican voters throughout the district. I explained that if they believed that the current Republican Party and Congress reflected their beliefs and values – they had their party and their Congressman. If they, on the other hand, were deeply frustrated by the Republican Party and did not feel that they represented their interests, they should consider me.

I mentioned also that based on two articles published by Tom Langhorne of the Evansville Courier Press I was concerned that, like Evan Bayh before him, Congressman Bucshon had chosen to move this family to Washington DC, which I criticized. I felt that a representative should live, work, and raise his family in the community he represented.

I brought up Congressman Bucshon’s liberal voting record. Heritage Action, a conservative think-tank, rated him at 52% conservative, an F. I mentioned that the House Republican average was 68% and that Marlin Stutzman a former Indiana Congressman was 86%, and that if he had such numbers I wouldn’t be opposing him. But I could not accept a 52% ranking.

After my presentation, Congressman Bucshon stood up, walked towards me, and angrily ordered me to “Come here,” as if I were a subordinate. Quite frankly, I looked at him as if he were daft. He obviously doesn’t know me. He then got into my face, inches away and began poking his finger in my chest, red-faced and angry. He threatened to defame me and stain my character and reputation over alleged domestic abuse allegations from 25 years ago, the same story that was published 2 years ago in the last election cycle, two weeks before the primary, in the Evansville Courier Press. I told him it was an old story and addressed already by my wife in the Evansville Courier Press and City-County Observer. Beyond that, I’m still married to my wife, we have four wonderful children, the incident was based on a misunderstanding and, in any event, was 25 years old.

He angrily said to me, “You attack my family and now I will attack yours.”
I replied that I had never attacked his family; I only mentioned that he had moved his family to DC, based on two articles written by Tom Langhorne. He continued acting aggressively towards me until others present stepped in and separated us.

Congressman Bucshon’s behavior demonstrates him to be belligerent and intemperate, and unable to abide the normal back and forth exchange of a campaign. He appears incapable of tolerating a candidate who challenges him, points out differences, and provides a choice for the voters.

In conclusion, Congressman Bucshon physically and verbally accosted me in front of several witnesses at the Vanderburgh County GOP breakfast and showed himself to be vindictive, rude, and a classic bully. I find his behavior unacceptable.

Finally, let me add that Congressman Larry Bucshon misread me. I will not be bullied by him or anyone. Nor will I be intimidated by such schoolyard antics.

I will continue to press the issues that are important to the people of Indiana’s 8th district. I also pledge that if elected, I will continue to live, work, and raise my family in Indiana’s 8th Congressional District.

Sincerely,

Richard Moss MD

Posted Below Are Links that Was Referenced Article:

http://archive.courierpress.com/news/politics/elections/local/bucshons-setting-down-roots-in-dc-395620dd-dc20-44f3-e053-0100007f6193-389385301.html

https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2017/10/07/bucshon-lives-washington-and-evansville/741862001/

WIFE OF 8TH DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE RESPONDS TO COURIER AND PRESS ARTICLE

https://city-countyobserver.com/170869-2/

FOOTNOTE: City-County Observer posted Dr. Richard Moss statement without editing or bias.  Its been alleged that the speech given by the 8th Congressional District candidate Dr. Richard Moss at last Saturdays Vanderburgh County Republican Party breakfast was video in its entirety?

By Peter Funt

I have several online accounts that I use a few times year and not once have I gained access without first trying several passwords and then clicking “Forgot Password” to begin the damnable process of getting a new one.

More challenging for me than the password itself is the Security Question. What was the first street you lived on? Apparently when I set-up the account I typed “Mt. Airy Road,” but months later I entered “Mount Airy Road.” Sorry: Your answer does not match our records for this account.

Who was your favorite school teacher? Sheesh. Did I give them Mrs. Corwin because she wrote on my second grade report card that my work was “extremely average”? Or was it Mr. Brooks because he doubled as the tennis coach and made me captain when I didn’t really deserve it? Or was it Miss Fox, the fifth grade teacher on whom I had such a crush that I phoned her at home every night and spoke for over an hour?

What is your favorite breakfast cereal? Do they mean before age ten, when I would only eat Kellogg’s Sugar Corn Pops? Or later in life when someone convinced me that Special K is healthy? Are they talking about hotel breakfast buffets where Fruit Loops are free? Or do they mean at night, straight out of the box, in which case peanut-flavored Panda Puffs are an excellent choice?

After failing the Security Question I have to obtain a text message with a multi-digit Temporary Code, which is difficult because I’m only able to grasp four, maybe five, digits at a time. While typing them into the Reset Password Form on my computer the light-up screen on my phone goes dark and I can’t see the next batch of numbers. I tap my phone, and the text disappears.

Many of the sites I try to access tell me, “Your User ID and/or Password are incorrect.” Come on, which! I have five or six IDs and maybe two dozen passwords. Do you have any idea how many possible combinations that is? Well, I don’t either‒but it’s too many to try before being notified that “For your protection, your account has been locked.”

I tried using one simple password, even if it didn’t have the “Strength” that most sites recommend. Here’s the problem with that: If your password is, say, StephCurry, but you forgot that you entered Curry with a capital C, then it won’t work. And when you reset that password you’ll probably be told that it’s “Too similar to a recently used password.”

So, you make it StephCurry#. I’m warning you: forget that last part and you’ll wind up changing it to StephCurry@ and then StephCurry+ and pretty soon you’re back with a Security Question that you can’t answer.

I often stare at the screen counting the little dots in my “hidden” password, hoping for a clue. Ten dots suggests it might be StephCurry; 11 dots might mean StephCurry#.

Over the years I have watched several YouTube classes on how to set-up a Single Password for all accounts. Let’s just say I did worse with those tutorials than I did in Mrs. Corwin’s class.

Last month I got a new credit card through American Airlines. The last thing I need is another credit card, but this was one of those deals offering 40,000 free miles.

When I tried to log in to pay my first bill I was notified that my User ID was incorrect. I entered my gmail address, which usually works, but not this time. In desperation I tried StephCurry and KevinDurant, but no luck.

I managed, on the second try, to answer the Security Question, which had to do with a “favorite pet,” and was notified that I would be emailed a link with which I could “retrieve” my User ID.

After several clicks CitiBank informed me: “Your User ID is Peter Funt.” Now, how could I have ever guessed that?