It’s been one week in April.

• Thursday, a gunman opened fire in an Indianapolis FedEx, killing nine, including himself.
• Saturday, a teenager shot two, and killed one, at a mall in Omaha
• Also on Saturday, a 12 year old’s birthday party was interrupted by gunfire; six were injured
• Sunday morning, a Kenosha bar saw three dead and two wounded in a shooting
• Later on Sunday, a ‘domestic situation’ in Austin killed three; the shooter is a former county sheriff

FedEx donated $500,000 to victims of shooting. Here’s how you can help.

In the wake of the FedEx shooting, there are several ways to support survivors and the families of the eight people who died. 

GoFundMe has verified several fundraisers, and guarantees funds donated through these fundraisers will reach families.

Indystar

National Compassion Fund

The National Compassion Fund provides a single, trusted way for the public to donate directly to victims of a mass crime, such as a shooting or terrorist attack. It has been developed by the National Center for Victims of Crime in partnership with victims and family members from past mass casualty crimes, including those from Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Oak Creek Temple, NIU, Columbine, and 9/11.

The National Compassion Fund (The Fund) serves donors by honoring their intent and crime victims by distributing donations directly to them, in a fair and transparent way.

Many funds that raise money in the name of crime victims are not under any legal obligation to give that money to the victims or their families. They may collect excessive administrative fees or conceal the amount donated or how it’s distributed. Others are outright scams. The National Compassion Fund was set up to address this lack of transparency and accountability. It honors the wishes of the donor, and serves the direct needs of victims.

The National Compassion Fund can also, if necessary, collect donations for multiple mass tragedies at the same time. Donors can designate which events to donate to, and those funds will be kept separately.

The Fund is a program of the National Center for Victims of Crime, a registered 501(c)(3) charity, and donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.

National Compassion Fund

Voluntary Gun Buybacks Are the Best This Country Is Going to Get

A experiment came to the fore, culminating in yet another American mass murder where one citizen killed eight others and then himself in the space of a couple of minutes, it may be time to address the fact that, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, the United States has more than 390 million guns in circulation. That’s more civilian-owned firearms than people who live here. That’s 45 percent of the world’s civilian-owned firearms, all in one country. And we’ve got the mass death—murders and suicides and accidental tragedies—to prove it.

This is the gun country, and it simply is not feasible to suggest the government—particularly the federal government—can solve this problem. It would be nice if we stopped allowing the gun manufacturers who ran the NRA until it ran itself into the ground to sell weapons of war to citizens who are almost never required to pass any kind of examination or competency test. That’s the kind of requirement we apply to driving automobiles—which, while dangerous, have some purpose beyond just maiming and killing other living beings—but not to tools with only that function. We should, of course, reinstate the assault weapons ban. It would be nice, also, to have universal background checks. But none of this gets 390 million guns out of circulation. The toothpaste ain’t going back in.

Esquire

For immigrants like me, the ‘Great Pretend’ doesn’t work anymore

My journey began 8,290 miles away, in India. I grew up in Mumbai, completed my studies, and first set foot in the United States as a young woman in my 20s. When I boarded that flight to California, I did so with my sister’s advice booming in my head: wear long sleeves to hide the henna ink from a recent wedding. But she was really making a bigger point: hide who you are, because they won’t understand you.

My sister’s advice was jarring but well-intentioned. The truth was, I didn’t even need the warning: already, for months, standing in front of my mirror practicing each night, I’d worked to stifle my Indian accent. It was the start of my journey as a performer –learning when and how to shed my identity, and trying to anticipate when it was safe to let my guard down and reveal my true self. I call it “the Great Pretend.”

CNN

Half of US adults have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot

Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one Covid-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4 percent of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

The U.S. cleared the 50 percent mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.

The country’s vaccination rate, at 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, currently falls behind Israel, which leads among countries with at least 5 million people with a rate of 119.2. The U.S. also trails the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which is vaccinating at a rate of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.

NBC News

Most Americans want to end lifetime Supreme Court appointments for justices

A majority of Americans want to end lifetime appointments for U.S. Supreme Court justices, according to an Ipsos poll for Reuters, though less than half are in favor of other efforts to reform the judiciary.

The national opinion poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, found that 63 percent of adults supported term or age limits for Supreme Court justices. Another 22 percent said they opposed any limits and the rest did not express an opinion.

The poll also found that only 38 percent would support expanding the size of the court by adding four more justices. Another 42 percent said they would oppose doing so and the rest were unsure.

NBC News