Peggy Noonan takes a hard line against the vulgar fare that seems to be so ubiquitous in the material coming out of Hollywood. She begins by noting the general malaise that has fallen over our country. She writes: We are making more sick teenagers and young men now, not fewer, and this is going to continue as our culture breaks up. I think we all know this, deep down.
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Michael Gerson writes in favor of gun control
As the NRA’s Facebook and Twitter accounts go dark, another prominent conservative commentator has come out in favor of new restrictions on gun ownership. This time it’s Michael Gerson, columnist for The Washington Post and former speechwriter for George W. Bush. Gerson writes:
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Pastor Explains How Girl Played Dead to Survive
From NBCNews.com: Only one child made it out alive of a first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week — by fooling the gunman into thinking she was dead, the family’s pastor says. The little girl, who is 6½ years old but hasn’t otherwise been identified, “ran out of the school building covered in blood from head to toe, and the first words she said to her mom when she got outside was, ‘Mommy, I’m OK, but all of my friends are dead,'” the Rev. Jim Solomon, pastor of New Hope Community Church in Newtown, Conn., told ABC News in a report that aired Sunday. “Of those who were…
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Should we be talking about gun control right now?
I heard Bill Bennett say yesterday that we need to “let the tears dry” before we launch in earnest into political debate about gun control. I agree. The proverb says, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances” (Proverbs 25:11). Discerning the right time to say the right words requires wisdom. Before the victims are even buried seems a little quick to me. Doug Wilson illustrates this brilliantly:
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Emotional Joe Scarborough revises view on gun rights
Joe Scarborough received the highest possible rating from the NRA during his four terms in congress. In his subsequent years as a pundit, he has always supported gun rights. But this morning on “Morning Joe,” he did an about face: Nothing can ever be the same again… I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. Scarborough gave an emotional 10-minute speech explaining his feelings. He expressed support for restrictions on assault weapons. He says that his changed views are not merely to do with guns but also with mental health services.…
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Pres. Obama addresses mourners in Newtown
[Transcript below]
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“I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” interviewed on Today Show
If you haven’t read Liza Long’s essay dubbed “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother,” you need to. Long is the mother of a child with mental health issues, and she identifies with the tragedy in Newtown like few others can. She will be interviewed on “The Today Show” tomorrow morning. An excerpt from that interview was released earlier tonight (see above).
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The show went on at “Saturday Night Live”
Even Saturday Night Live acknowledged the national mood in their cold open last night. I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this from SNL. (HT: Russell Moore)
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The only Christmas spirit that could possibly matter
I commend to you Ross Douthat’s column in The New York Times in which he compares the realism of the evil in a Dostoevsky novel and the reality of the evil in Connecticut. Douthat writes: The only thing that my religious tradition has to offer to the bereaved of Newtown today — besides an appropriately respectful witness to their awful sorrow — is a version of that story, and the realism about suffering that it contains.
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Speaking of ‘evil’ in Connecticut
I’ve hardly been able to turn away from the reporting on the tragedy in Connecticut. I want to understand what happened there as much as anybody. There’s a feeling that somehow by watching I might be able to share the grief at least a little bit. I am grateful for the extensive coverage and reporting. Yet the 24-hour coverage does come up short in one crucial respect. They can tell us what happened, but they can’t tell us why.