Dear Commons Community,

Pope Francis had a guest essay in yesterday’s New York Times entitled, “There Is Faith In Humor” in which he provides commentary on the important role of humor in our lives.  He uses several stories that will surely give the  reader a chuckle or two.  Below is the entire essay.

Enjoy a laugh!

Tony 

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The New York Times

There Is Faith in Humor

Dec. 17, 2024

By Pope Francis

Life inevitably has its sadnesses, which are part of every path of hope and every path toward conversion. But it is important to avoid wallowing in melancholy at all costs, not to let it embitter the heart.

These are temptations from which not even clerics are immune. And sometimes we unfortunately come across as bitter, sad priests who are more authoritarian than authoritative, more like old bachelors than wedded to the church, more like officials than pastors, more supercilious than joyful, and this, too, is certainly not good. But generally, we priests tend to enjoy humor and even have a fair stock of jokes and amusing stories, which we are often quite good at telling, as well as being the object of them.

Popes, too. John XXIII, who was well known for his humor, during one discourse said, more or less: “It often happens at night that I start thinking about a number of serious problems. I then make a brave and determined decision to go in the morning to speak with the pope. Then I wake up all in a sweat … and remember that the pope is me.”

How well I understand him. And John Paul II was much the same. In the preliminary sessions of a conclave, when he was still Cardinal Wojtyła, an older and rather severe cardinal went to rebuke him because he skied, climbed mountains, and went cycling and swimming. The story goes something like this: “I don’t think these are activities fitting to your role,” the cardinal said. To which the future pope replied, “But do you know that in Poland these are activities practiced by at least 50 percent of cardinals?” In Poland at the time, there were only two cardinals.

Irony is a medicine, not only to lift and brighten others, but also ourselves, because self-mockery is a powerful instrument in overcoming the temptation toward narcissism. Narcissists are continually looking into the mirror, painting themselves, gazing at themselves, but the best advice in front of a mirror is to laugh at ourselves. It is good for us. It will prove the truth of the proverb that there are only two kinds of perfect people: the dead, and those yet to be born.

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Jokes about and told by Jesuits are in a class of their own, comparable maybe only to those about the carabinieri in Italy, or about Jewish mothers in Yiddish humor.

As for the danger of narcissism, to be avoided with appropriate doses of self-irony, I remember the one about the rather vain Jesuit who had a heart problem and had to be treated in a hospital. Before going into the operating room, he asks God, “Lord, has my hour come?”

“No, you will live at least another 40 years,” God says. After the operation, he decides to make the most of it and has a hair transplant, a face-lift, liposuction, eyebrows, teeth … in short, he comes out a changed man. Right outside the hospital, he is knocked down by a car and dies. As soon as he appears in the presence of God, he protests, “Lord, but you told me I would live for another 40 years!” “Oops, sorry!” God replies. “I didn’t recognize you.”

And I’ve been told one that concerns me directly, the one about Pope Francis in America. It goes something like this: As soon as he arrives at the airport in New York for his apostolic journey in the United States, Pope Francis finds an enormous limousine waiting for him. He is rather embarrassed by that magnificent splendor, but then thinks that it has been ages since he last drove, and never a vehicle of that kind, and he thinks to himself: OK, when will I get another chance? He looks at the limousine and says to the driver, “You couldn’t let me try it out, could you?” “Look, I’m really sorry, Your Holiness,” replies the driver, “but I really can’t, you know, there are rules and regulations.”

But you know what they say, how the pope is when he gets something into his head — in short, he insists and insists, until the driver gives in. So Pope Francis gets behind the steering wheel, on one of those enormous highways, and he begins to enjoy it, presses down on the accelerator, going 50 miles per hour, 80, 120 … until he hears a siren, and a police car pulls up beside him and stops him. A young policeman comes up to the darkened window. The pope rather nervously lowers it and the policeman turns white. “Excuse me a moment,” he says, and goes back to his vehicle to call headquarters. “Boss, I think I have a problem.”

“What problem?” asks the chief.

“Well, I’ve stopped a car for speeding, but there’s a guy in there who’s really important.”

“How important? Is he the mayor?”

“No, no, boss … more than the mayor.”

“And more than the mayor, who is there? The governor?”

“No, no, more.”

“But he can’t be the president?”

“More, I reckon.”

“And who can be more important than the president?”

“Look, boss, I don’t know exactly who he is, all I can tell you is that it’s the pope who is driving him!”

The Gospel, which urges us to become like little children for our own salvation (Matthew 18:3), reminds us to regain their ability to smile.

Today, nothing cheers me as much as meeting children. When I was a child, I had those who taught me to smile, but now that I am old, children are often my mentors. The meetings with them are the ones that thrill me the most, that make me feel best.

And then those meetings with old people: Those elderly who bless life, who put aside all resentment, who take pleasure in the wine that has turned out well over the years, are irresistible. They have the gift of laughter and tears, like children. When I take children in my arms during the audiences in St. Peter’s Square, they mostly smile; but others, when they see me dressed all in white, think I’m the doctor who has come to give them a shot, and then they cry.

They are examples of spontaneity, of humanity, and they remind us that those who give up their own humanity give up everything, and that when it becomes hard to cry seriously or to laugh passionately, then we really are on the downhill slope. We become anesthetized, and anesthetized adults do nothing good for themselves, nor for society, nor for the church.

Bison were first shipped to Catalina Island in 1924. GC Images

Dear Commons Community,

California’s bison were brought out west 100 years ago by Hollywood producers filming westerns — but now on Catalina Island they’re dying off.

What began as a herd of 14 bison, shipped in for 1925’s “The Vanishing American,” their numbers soon exploded. At one time, thousands of them roamed the island off the coast of Southern California, reports SFGate.

And they were also a boon to the island’s tourism.

As of the early 2000s, bus and Jeep tours of the interior parts of Catalina brought in more than $4.2 million in annual ticket sales, according to a report.

But the bison are also an invasive species, not native to the Golden State.

The mammals’ very existence threatens Catalina Island’s entire ecosystem, scientists said.

The bison — designated the official national mammal in 2006 — have stopped reproducing, however, and their numbers have shrunk fast.

Efforts began back in the 1970s to reduce the bison population on Catalina Island, with the many of the animals being removed to the mainland.

More aggressive tactics have been taken in recent years to reduce the herd to a more manageable size, including birth control vaccines administered to the females in an effort to stabilize the population at about 150 of them.

It was thought the vaccine effects would reverse over time — but that hasn’t happened, SFGate reported.

The last bison was born on Catalina Island in 2013. Today, about 80 remain.

Scientists don’t expect the last bison on Catalina Island to die off for another 30 years.

I somehow knew there were bison on Catalina Island but I never knew their origin. And soon they will be gone!

Tony

Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle

Dear Commons Community,

MSNBC is negotiating pay cuts with night anchors Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle as the cable channel nosedives in the ratings after the election according to The Huffington Post.

Rachel Maddow, arguably the star of the network, previously agreed to pare down her $30 million salary, it was reported.

The Ankler’s report this week about Reid and Ruhle negotiating pay cuts should come as no surprise.

Parent company Comcast generated concern over MSNBC’s future by announcing a plan to spin off MSNBC and some other NBCUniversal properties into a new company.

But perhaps more urgent is the station’s plummeting viewership. Its prime-time audience tanked 55% from Nov. 4 through Dec. 15, according to Nielsen ratings cited by The Wrap. (CNN, a mainstream counterpart, experienced a 46.7% drop.)

“The ReidOut” host Reid and “11th Hour” host Ruhle, whose salaries are believed to be considerably lower than Maddow’s, are experiencing audience declines in line with the network’s overall numbers.

Newly promoted “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire has also been presented with a new deal at a lesser salary, according to Ankler.

Sad times at MSNBC!  Not sure if it will survive?

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early this morning of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day’s outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”

The House approved Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.  As reported by CNN and other news media.

“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson said after the House vote.

President Joe Biden, who has played a less public role in the process throughout a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law later today.

“There will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.

Trump’s last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.

The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels through March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.

But it’s far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

House Democrats were cool to the latest effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.

“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.

Still, the House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill’s passage. Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it.

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said Musk’s interference was “not democracy, that’s oligarchy.”

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump’s not fearful of shutdowns the way lawmakers are, having sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.

More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn’t want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation’s borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. “Without this, we should never make a deal.”

President Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”

As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”

For a recap of the what is in and out of the new funding bill, check out this recap at:  https://www.aol.com/news/government-funding-agreement-144719808.html

It is a shame that every year federal workers have to go through the agony of whether or not there will be a shutdown.

Tony

Amazon workers on strike in New York City.

Dear Commons Community,

Amazon workers affiliated with the Teamsters union launched a strike at seven of the company’s delivery hubs less than a week before Christmas.

The Teamsters said the workers, who voted to authorize strikes in recent days, joined picket lines yesterday after Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline the union had set for contract negotiations.

The company says it doesn’t expect the strike to impact holiday shipments.

Amazon has a couple hundred employees at each delivery station. The Teamsters mainly have focused on organizing delivery drivers, who work for contractors that handle package deliveries for the company. But Amazon has rebuffed demands to come to the negotiating table since it doesn’t consider the drivers to be its employees.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters also says the union represents some Amazon warehouse workers.

Here are some takeaways and what you need to know if you are an Amazon customer:

Where are the strikes happening?

The strikes are taking place at three delivery hubs in Southern California, and one each in San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement.

The union hasn’t said how many workers are participating in the strike, nor how long it will go on. Vinnie Perrone, the president of a local Teamsters union in metro New York, said Thursday that the walkout would continue “as long as it takes.”

The union, which claims to represent 10,000 Amazon workers at 10 facilities, said workers in more locations were prepared to join the fight.

Employees at a company air hub in California have authorized a strike. So have workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York, which unionized with the nascent Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and has since affiliated with the Teamsters.

The Teamsters says its local unions are also putting up picket lines at other Amazon warehouses. A company spokesperson said yesterday the strikers were “almost entirely outsiders, not Amazon employees or partners, and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters.”

What do the workers want?

The striking workers are fighting for higher wages, better benefits, and safer work conditions.

The Teamsters have tried to get Amazon to come to the negotiating table since last year, when the labor organization first said it had unionized a group of delivery drivers in California who work for a contractor. Amazon — which denies it employs the workers — refused, leading the union to file unfair labor charges against the company at the National Labor Relations Board.

In August, prosecutors at the federal labor agency classified Amazon as a “joint employer” of subcontracted drivers. In September, the company boosted hourly pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.

Amazon warehouse workers who voted to unionize in the New York City borough of Staten Island also have tried to get the company to engage in contract negotiations.

The National Labor Relations Board certified the Amazon Labor Union election, but the company objected to the representation vote and refused to bargain. In the process, Amazon also filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the labor board, which it accused of tainting the vote.

Some organizers involved with the unionization effort there have long believed Amazon would not come to the negotiating table unless workers went on strike.

What about holiday deliveries?

Amazon says it doesn’t expect the strike to impact its operations, but a walkout — especially one that lasts many days — could delay shipments in some metro areas.

An Amazon spokesperson said Thursday that the company intentionally builds its sites close to where customers are, schedules shipping windows and works with other large carriers, such as UPS, to deliver products.

“We believe in the strength of our network and plan for contingencies to minimize potential operational impact or costs,” the spokesperson said.

Tony

Neil Cavuto Waves Goodbye to Viewers.

Dear Commons Community,

Neil Cavuto, a  journalist, who hosts a weekday afternoon show on the Fox News Channel and has been with the network since its inception in 1996, is leaving the cable news network. Yesterday was his last show.

A workhorse at the network, Cavuto also hosts programs at Fox’s sister, the Fox Business Network. As reported by Fox News and the Associated Press.

“Neil Cavuto’s illustrious career has been a master class in journalism and we’re extremely proud of his incredible 28-year run with Fox News Media,” the network said. “His programs have defined business news and set the standard for the entire industry. We wish him a heartfelt farewell and all the best on his next chapter.”

Unlike many at Fox, he has not interviewed President-elect Donald Trump since 2017 and sometimes has angered him. Trump said on social media that Cavuto “is one of the WORST on television” after the Fox host said on his show that Trump had “decisively lost” his debate with Democrat Kamala Harris.

Cavuto’s contract was coming to an end and he and Fox could not agree on an extension, said a person at the network with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about contracts.

The exit had nothing to do with Trump taking office next month for a second term, the person said.

Cavuto, 66, has stayed on the job despite a number of health issues through the years. He has multiple sclerosis, underwent heart surgery and had bouts of long COVID.

There’s no immediate word on who will replace Cavuto at 4 p.m. Eastern on Fox’s schedule.

I watched his  show last evening.  He gave  a classy farewell thanking Fox News for standing with him during his past and ongoing medical episodes.  He will be missed.  He is the only Fox News personality to present “fair and balanced” reporting.  There is no reason to ever turn on Fox News again unless you want to watch Republican Party spin.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Chronicle of Higher Education had a featured article yesterday of how small-town Aurora, New York was coping with the closure of Wells College, its economic and social-cultural engine.  Here is an excerpt from The Chronicle article

Overnight, the fire department in Aurora, N.Y., lost a quarter of its volunteers.

The sole local doctor found herself reassuring anxious patients that they would still be able to get treatment for heart disease and diabetes.

And Jim Orman, mayor of the small upstate village, had to come up with $200,000 to keep the community’s water-treatment plant, operated for nearly a century by Wells College, running. “Do you want a public-health hazard on your hands?” he said.

All of this upheaval had a single cause: The abrupt announcement this spring by Wells, a private liberal-arts college, that it was closing its doors. The decision, made public just a week before final exams, left students — including members of an already-admitted freshman class — scrambling to find a new college for the fall. Professors, who had missed the academic hiring season, were out of a job.

The impact of college closures reverberates beyond the campus, though. Higher-education institutions are often among their region’s largest employers, and their graduates can feed into the local work force. Students keep the coffee houses and by-the-slice pizzerias humming. When their parents visit, they pay for nice dinners and dorm-room supplies.

And the relationship between colleges and their communities runs deeper than dollars and cents. Colleges can be cultural magnets, neighborhood anchors, gathering spots, partners in solving everyday challenges.

“This is no longer a time when communities or colleges see the edge of campus as a boundary line,” said Matt Wagner, chief innovation officer for Main Street America, an organization that promotes community preservation and revitalization.

While many of us associate the words “college town” with football-playing flagship universities, America has hundreds and hundreds of college towns like Aurora, which was home to Wells for 156 years. In these communities, the college is part of the fabric of the place, central to its identity.

That identity is also under threat. College closures have been picking up since the pandemic, averaging about one a week this year. In addition to Wells, Goddard College, in Vermont; Fontbonne University, in Missouri; and Birmingham-Southern College, in Alabama, have shut down in the past few months.

Financial pressures, a demographic squeeze, and growing skepticism about the value of a degree could lead more to disappear. Fitch Ratings recently called the outlook for American higher education “deteroriating.” Many of the most vulnerable institutions are small colleges like Wells in small towns like Aurora.

For some of these places, the college “is the center of their universe,” said Jonathan Nichols, who wrote about the demise of Saint Joseph’s College, in Indiana, where he taught English. “When that falls away, you have to find a new universe.”

As the article implies, college closings in small towns will accelerate in the coming years leaving many of these communities devastated.

Tony

MacKenzie Scott (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Dear Commons Community,

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $2.1 billion in the past year, she said in an online post listing recipients, bringing her total reported giving to more than $16 billion since 2019.

While previous announcements have included detailed essays about the reasons for her donations, Scott offered only a three-sentence post titled “(Giving Update)” this year, writing, “Excited to call attention to these 360 outstanding organizations, every one of whom could use more allies.” She added, ”Inspired by all the ways people work together to offer each other goodwill and support.”

The gifts include three donations of $25 million to affordable housing nonprofit Mercy Housing, reproductive care organization Upstream USA and youth training group Year Up, according to her Yield Giving website.

It’s not known if those are the largest gifts made in the past year as the database of gifts on the website withheld the amount donated to more than 100 of the recipients in 2023, with the explanation, “Disclosure delayed for benefit of recipient.”

The brevity of the announcement stood out compared to how other philanthropists publicize their work, said Gabrielle Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of The Panorama Group, which has researched the impact of Scott’s gifts on nonprofits.

“My word count had that it was 54 words,” she said. “It’s almost like a haiku.”

The gifts were consistent with Scott’s focus on economic security, education, equity and health, Fitzgerald said, though there were many this round that went to organizations that describe themselves as working on health. Scott also supported several organizations that work on caste equity.

As in previous years, a significant portion of Scott’s donations this year focused on housing organizations, including community land trusts, advocates for affordable housing and legal aid societies, which often represent tenants among other clients.

The San Francisco Community Land Trust received a $20 million gift, which they first announced in August and which represents about ten times their annual budget. Saki Bailey, its executive director, said that the wealth created in Silicon Valley has created deep inequality, in part seen through the astronomical cost of land and housing.

“We’re seeing the highest number of tech billionaires per capita. But we’re also seeing the incredible destruction of communities and the houselessness problem at a new scale in the Bay Area,” she said. “So that deep inequality of wealth is really, really evident.”

Her organization corresponded with The Bridgespan Group for about six months answering questions for an anonymous donor, who turned out to be Scott. Still, Bailey said the total amount of the gift was more than they could have ever hoped for. Because of that, they will allocate some of the funds towards a collaborative effort to fundraise to increase the capacity of her organization and other West Coast community land trusts, which seek to keep housing affordable by removing land from the commercial real estate market permanently.

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation was in the rare situation of receiving a second donation from Scott, this time of $5 million to support its Maui Strong Fund, which it started to benefit the survivors of the wildfire that wreaked havoc on the island in August.

The foundation said the donation was supporting evolving needs like child care, connecting people to jobs and finding short- and long-term housing. Part of the donation also went to the foundation itself, in order to cover its internal operations. It’s promised that all donations to its Maui Funds will go directly to supporting recovery efforts.

“We really respect the way she approaches philanthropy, in that she trusts those of us who are on the ground and most importantly, in the community, with where to put the dollars so that they can have the most impact,” said Micah Kāne, CEO and president of Hawai‘i Community Foundation, of Scott. “We are trying to do the same.”

Scott declines to comment about her donations, which often are the largest a nonprofit has ever received, beyond blog posts, now published on her website, which she launched in December 2022. For the first time in March, she opened an application process to receive funding, promising to grant $1 million to 250 organizations. Some 6,300 nonprofits applied, according to Lever for Change, the organization overseeing the application process, which has said it will announce the winners in early 2024.

Scott has promised to give away more than half of her wealth, which largely comes from her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

According to a Center for Effective Philanthropy report released in November, Scott’s giving is “unprecedented” because she provides “meaningfully sized” donations to groups without any restrictions.

Most of Scott’s wealth comes from shares of Amazon that she received when she divorced the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current wealth to be $31.7 billion, even after giving away her money for five years.

Gabrielle Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of The Panorama Group, has researched Scott’s giving and provided advice and support for nonprofits who have received Scott’s gifts. She said she sees a growing focus in Scott’s giving on issues of poverty.

“She is creating an amazing role model for philanthropists, although I don’t see very many that have followed her role modeling,” Fitzgerald said. “But it really shows that it’s easy to give away a lot of money to good groups.”

May God bless her!

Tony

Source:  K-12 School Shooting Database

Dear Commons Community,

Gun violence on school grounds has seen an uptick in recent years, according to a review of data collected by the K-12 School Shooting Database.

More than 50 shootings with at least one victim have occurred during school time each year since 2021, according to the database, a research project that tracks all instances in which a gun was fired or brandished on school property. The victims and suspects were not all minors.

They include a Memphis teenager who shot another classmate last month during a dispute in his high school parking lot; a teenage girl in Dallas who was grazed by a bullet in September when a fight broke out across the street from her school; and the attack at Apalachee High School in the same month that killed two students and two teachers in Winder, Ga.

From 2010 and 2019, the annual figure did not exceed 30.

The uptick in school gun violence re-entered the national conversation this week after the authorities said a 15-year-old student opened fire at a Christian school in Madison, Wis., on Monday, killing another student and a teacher.

The shooting, which injured at least six other people, became the latest high-profile attack to terrify children and their families. It came during a period in which overall gun homicides and active shooter incidents also remain above their prepandemic levels.

Please God protect our children from violence!

Tony