Forget Trump, Remember Morrow

As the alarm bells clang inside Donald Trump's head and resound across this land in the wake of last week's tragedy in San Bernardino, CA, we'd do well to recall the quelling contributions of TV journalist Edward R. Murrow amidst the Red Scare of more than half a century ago.

"We will not walk in fear, one of another," asserted Murrow in a 1954 CBS TV broadcast calling out Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist Party witch hunt, which was stirring fear and promoting paranoia throughout Cold War America.

"We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men," Murrow continued. "Not from men who feared to write, to speak and to associate and to defend the causes that were for the moment, unpopular."

If we were to listen to the increasingly "popular" disingenuous, hateful, fear-monger extraordinaire Donald Trump who makes allusions to President Barrack Obama as a terrorist and incites fear of all Muslims at home and abroad, then of course, the real enemy, fear, wins. And unreason is free to run rampant.

The Republican presidential front runner's call on Monday to block all Muslims from entering the United States, recalls what become known as "McCarthyism" in the 1950's and only bangs the war drums louder between the United States and the so-called Islamic State.

We must be vigilant and take security measures against radicals the likes of the San Bernardino shooters from entering the country. The House bill passed Tuesday that bars travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan from entering the U.S. without visas, makes sense -- and should have already been in the works.

But we can't penalize an entire religion for the misdeeds of a few, as Trump proposes. Even one of humanity's greatest offenders, former vice president Dick Cheney has chimed in against Trump.

Trump's fear mongering makes life all the more fitful for the millions of law-abiding, peace-loving Muslims already living here. Not to mention, it plays into ISIL's hands.

What's next if Trump had his druthers? Will Trump, a most egregious offender of our better natures, want to gather up all the Muslims in this country and ship them off to a far away land?

Mystifyingly, a large segment of fearful, brainwashed Americans are buying tickets to The Donald's freaky sideshow. And that's what's really scary.
Even at this late stage in the Republican Presidential runoff, Trump can say pretty much anything, as long as he says it in that outraged, snappy, trumped up Donald kind of way.

And the American living room masses will look at each other in amazement, nod their boggle heads in agreement.

Of course, all this enflamed rhetoric from Trump and his fellow Republican presidential candidates over the terrorism threat and President Obama's perceived international failures, obscures the urgency to address America's long-standing murder by gun epidemic.

Whether this administration is doing enough to fight terrorism can be debated. Whether or not America needs stricter gun control cannot.
An average of 36 people die daily and 30,000 yearly from gunfire in America. This year so far, there have been 353 mass shootings (three people or more shot), more than one for each day of the year.

Republicans' denial of urgently needed gun control measures -- like thorough universal background checks and assault weapon bans -- is arguably criminal.

You can't separate the two issues -- terrorism and the gun epidemic. One too easily serves the other. The San Bernardino shooting demonstrates this.
The two high-powered assault rifles used in the San Bernardino massacre were purchased legally in California nearly four years ago, despite that state's military assault weapon ban.

How? Faced with the prospect of no sales of the powerful AR-15 semi-automatic rifle after the 2000 state ban, firearms manufacturers simply added a "bullet button" on the weapon, which slows the magazine reloading process by a few seconds, thus somehow making it acceptable under the law.
Bottom line: gun laws need to be even tougher; loopholes like the "bullet button loophole" need to be eliminated. Universal background checks need to be required.

Republicans failure just last Thursday to expand background checks for gun purchases on line and also block those on the FBI's terrorist watch list from purchasing guns, demonstrates the degree to which Conservatives are owned by the NRA gun lobby.
By denying the problem exists, Trump, Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz and all the rest of the Republican presidential hopefuls continue to aid and abet gun-toting killers.