So much happened in these past two weeks since we’ve seen you last, but I want to take a moment to talk about the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise and 4 others at the republican congressional team’s baseball practice in Alexandria, VA on Wednesday morning. I think I speak for everyone in this room and for Cumberland Valley Rising when I say that we condemn this violent and cowardly attack, and that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during their long road to recovery, both physical and emotional. Sadly, this episode is one in a long line of violent attacks born out of the increasing political and cultural polarization over the past several years. It is not an isolated incident—this is NOTHING NEW. We condemn this attack. Just as we condemned the stabbing of three brave men in Portland a few weeks ago, who intervened on behalf of two young Muslim women who were being attacked by an Islamophobe. This attack resulted in the death o...
Russian interference in our election is a serious threat to our democracy. There must be a thorough and legitimate investigation of that interference, including possible collusion between the Russian government and members of the Trump campaign. On May 17 the Deputy Attorney General appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a Special Counsel to investigate this matter. This is a good first step which we applaud. However, by itself, this Special Counsel is not sufficient to adequately address the issues involved. First, the Special Counsel’s investigation will be done very much in secret and only addresses prosecutable crimes committed by Americans. It will not address Russian actions, nor our future responses to such actions. Secondly, the Special Counsel is subject to being fired by President Trump. Third, the report will not be made public. In...