Scott Pruitt and the EPA

So, according to today's front page (NYT Mar. 18), Scott Pruitt intends to use his position as head of the Environmental Protection Agency to run for president in 2024. What is also apparent is that Mr. Pruitt is using his post as a Trojan-horse assault upon the very agency he is charged with leading. Mr. Pruitt has every right to champion deregulation of environmental protections and oppose efforts to combat climate change, as he did when he was attorney-general of Oklahoma, but he should not be permitted to sandbag an agency created by law to accomplish just the opposite. His wholesale dismantling of scientifically-based programs and regulations and his harsh critique of his own agency is subversive and wholly at odds with the obligations of his office. 

That's what happens when you elect a president who puts a fox in charge of the henhouse.

President Trump and Gun Control

Two things became apparent during the "show and tell" gun conference President Trump conducted
today. First, he compulsively {and predictably) blames President Obama for lack of gun regulation,
ignoring that every attempt by his predecessor, to secure a sensible law, was blocked by an NRA-
dominated Republican majority in Congress. Now, only he, an action hero in his own mind, can bring
about true reform, however incremental.

Second, President Trump's insistence, that a potential shooter would not enter any school if he knew
he would be met by a hail of bullets from armed teachers, demonstrates his complete ignorance of the
psychological dynamics underlying these tragedies. The attacker invariably embarks on these
massacres fully believing and intending that he will be killed in the attempt. Indeed, the record shows
that most shooters commit suicide if they are not first gunned down. So arming school personnel is
hardly a deterrent.