Deep sadness and downright anger

 

May 28, 2022

The past two weeks have been tough, most recently for the families in Texas who had parts of their souls ripped from them when a gunman senselessly murdered their children. Here at POGO, we’re wavering between deep sadness and downright anger. Over this extremely short period, we’ve seen a racist massacre at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, a deadly shooting at a Taiwanese church in California, and now mass murder at an elementary school. This all comes at the two-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer. We’re left stewing in a sense of hopelessness, knowing that our government won’t do anything about the violence plaguing our nation. But hopelessness isn’t part of our mission statement at POGO. While we’re not experts on gun control, we do hope this is a wake-up call for the Senate. The chamber must reform the filibuster and make it harder for the minority in the Senate to block legislation from even being debated. We cannot go on with this current, broken system. We don’t have any illusions that filibuster reform alone will solve the gun crisis in our country. If only it were that simple. But it would be a positive step forward for our gridlocked legislature; it would chip away at the paralysis in our government that prevents lawmakers from meaningfully responding to any number of crises we face in America. We gave ourselves a couple of days to simply be sad and angry. And while we’ll continue to hold these victims and their families in our hearts, we’ll now continue our push for a government that works for the people, not just the few depraved souls in power who hold progress hostage. LISTEN NOW Episode 4: It’s Good To Be The King Hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan discuss how presidential power has increased and what we can do to restore proper checks and balances. Listen, rate, and review now. ANALYSIS How to Protect Yourself from Surveillance While Seeking Reproductive Health Care The Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has raised huge questions about abortion and the future of reproductive health care. We provide answers on how numerous surveillance powers can be harnessed against individuals to enforce bans. Read More ANALYSIS Congress, Don’t Lose the Plot on Judicial Ethics Supreme Court ethics reform is a commonsense good-government reform, backed by nearly three-quarters of the public. Read More LETTER POGO Endorses Legislation to Establish an Inspector General for the Office of the United States Trade Representative An inspector general would provide the agency with much needed oversight, transparency, and accountability. Read More QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Sometimes I think the real story is what is legal but doesn’t necessarily … inspire public confidence in policymaking at the federal level. And this, I think, could be a good example of that.” Liz Hempowicz, Director of Public Policy, in Politico OVERHEARD ONE LINERS “There is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Cawthorn may have committed insider trading or some other manner of impropriety.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in the Washington Examiner   “A lot of these fancy electronic systems end up being more of a distraction than they are actually useful in helping soldiers do their jobs.” Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow, in The Intercept

pogo.org The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.

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