{"id":6280,"date":"2023-04-16T09:33:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-16T13:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6280"},"modified":"2023-07-13T11:24:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T15:24:56","slug":"the-gravel-pit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gravel Pit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Memes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a meme going around on Facebook.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cA Rock in bad hands killed Abel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Rock in good hands killed Goliath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s not about the Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Rifle Association is holding their annual convention this weekend in Indianapolis.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just an aside:&nbsp;&nbsp;you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Convention hall to hear Trump or Pence; no personal guns allowed in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NRA\u2019s famous \u201cgun rights\u201d claim is:\u00a0<em>\u00a0\u201cThe best protection from a \u2018bad guy\u2019 with a gun, is a \u2018good guy\u2019 with a gun.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That definitely was true in Nashville and Louisville in the last couple weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201cgood guys\u201d stopped the killing, responding immediately and courageously to mass shooters.&nbsp;&nbsp;One rookie Louisville police officer is still in the hospital.&nbsp;&nbsp;But it didn\u2019t save the six already dead in Nashville, or the five in Louisville.&nbsp;&nbsp;And that didn\u2019t work out for the twenty-one kids and teachers in Uvalde, Texas.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201cgood guys\u201d stacked in the hallway for an hour, unwilling to take out the \u201cbad guy\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;Meanwhile, kids bled out from their wounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Many Rocks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To push the \u201cRock in hand\u201d analogy a little bit farther, try this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cA fight in a gravel pit uses rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;A fight in a sand pit uses sand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;Sand is \u2018safer\u2019 than \u2018rocks\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Don\u2019t fight in a gravel pit.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s where we are in the United States today.&nbsp;&nbsp;We live in a \u201cgravel pit\u201d of guns, with 1.2 guns per person, all&nbsp;334,625,932&nbsp;of us.&nbsp;&nbsp;For us non-math majors, that\u2019s over 400 million guns in the United States.&nbsp;&nbsp;We don\u2019t live in \u201cgravel pit\u201d, we\u2019re buried in gravel.&nbsp;&nbsp;No wonder the weapon of choice in the United States, from gang-bangers to mass murderers to suicides, is guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s not that other countries don\u2019t have mental illness, crime, gangs, suicides, or even wars.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s that they are in a \u201csand pit\u201d, not a gravel pit.&nbsp;&nbsp;There are fewer guns.&nbsp;&nbsp;Canada, for example, has .34 guns per person.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even in Yemen, wracked with civil war and battling with Saudi Arabia; .53 guns per person.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course, we don\u2019t just have guns, we sell guns designed for warfare.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201cassault style\u201d rifle (yes, I know AR originally stood for Armalite) was designed for war.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201ctrick\u201d was a rifle that would be light and efficient.&nbsp;&nbsp;But the real \u201cvalue\u201d of assault weapons in war:&nbsp;&nbsp;the wounds created by these rifles were devastating, disabling the wounded and requiring massive and immediate care.&nbsp;&nbsp;When someone got hit by the high velocity round from an assault rifle, they were \u201ctaken out\u201d of the battle, and so were a couple of others to care for them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are eleven stores where I can buy \u201cmy\u201d rifle within twenty minutes of the house.&nbsp;&nbsp;I not only live in the gravel pit, but I can easily access the \u201cbig rocks\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;So can everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Books not Rocks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The NRA claims that if \u201ceveryone\u201d had a gun, our Nation would be much safer.\u00a0\u00a0But we know that\u2019s just not true.\u00a0\u00a0Statistics aside; if we were all safer, then people wouldn\u2019t be so scared.\u00a0\u00a0But we know that many Americans are afraid:\u00a0\u00a0afraid of strangers, afraid to go to the mall or the city, afraid to send their kids to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Here in our community, we just had a big \u201cdust-up\u201d about temporarily moving the public library into part of a school building.\u00a0\u00a0The concern \u2013 that the library threatened the safety of the kids in that school.\u00a0\u00a0And you know what?\u00a0\u00a0After months of discussions, the library was temporarily moved &#8212; somewhere else.\u00a0\u00a0Why is the library such a threat?\u00a0\u00a0We live in a gravel pit, and we need to fortify our schools against any \u201cstones\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Even the public library, is now a threat.\u00a0\u00a0Who thought books were so threatening?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Out of the Pit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I know, \u201c\u2026the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve already written about the Constitutional dilemma of taking a single phrase out of full context, but the reality is this.\u00a0\u00a0We, the American people, can regulate guns.\u00a0\u00a0We can regulate the size, the style, the numbers and styles of bullets.\u00a0\u00a0And we can regulate the gun owners, including their \u201cqualifications\u201d to own and use guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Supreme Court Justice Jackson (and others) noted that the Constitution is not a suicide pact.\u00a0\u00a0But for thousands, 12,237 in the United States in 2023 to date, our current interpretation of the Second Amendment is a literal suicide pact.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, half of those deaths were actually suicides (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gunviolencearchive.org\/\">Gun Violence Archive<\/a>).  If gravel is killing our children, then get them out of the gravel.\u00a0\u00a0Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the United States (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/nejmc2201761\">New England Journal<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s time to start crawling out of the pit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Essays on Guns<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/10\/03\/guns-and-sadness\/\">Guns and Sadness<\/a><\/td><td>10\/3\/17<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/02\/23\/a-teacher-with-a-gun\/\">A Teacher with a Gun<\/a><\/td><td>2\/23\/18<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/03\/25\/dont-change-the-subject\/\">Don&#8217;t Change the Subject<\/a><\/td><td>3\/25\/18<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/02\/15\/again\/\">Again<\/a><\/td><td>4\/15\/18<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/05\/03\/stay-small\/\">Staying Small<\/a><\/td><td>5\/3\/19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/08\/04\/saving-lives-is-not-politics\/\">Saving Lives Is Not Politics<\/a><\/td><td>8\/4\/19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/08\/05\/the-pain-becomes-too-great\/\">The Pain Becomes too Great<\/a><\/td><td>8\/5\/19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/08\/22\/whos-your-daddy\/\">Who\u2019s Your Daddy<\/a><\/td><td>8\/21\/19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/09\/01\/a-good-guy-with-a-gun\/\">A Good Guy With a Gun<\/a><\/td><td>9\/1\/19<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/05\/17\/rights-and-guns\/\">Rights and Guns<\/a><\/td><td>5\/17\/20<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/29\/pittsburgh\/\">Pittsburgh<\/a><\/td><td>6\/17\/20<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/12\/02\/our-choice\/\">Our Choice<\/a><\/td><td>12\/1\/21<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/05\/16\/toxic-mix\/\">Toxic Mix<\/a><\/td><td>5\/16\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/05\/25\/apple-pie\/\">Apple Pie<\/a><\/td><td>5\/25\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/06\/09\/prairie-dogs\/\">Prairie Dogs<\/a><\/td><td>6\/9\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/07\/06\/the-will-to-do-it\/\">The Will to Do It<\/a><\/td><td>7\/6\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/hanging-together\/\">Hanging Together<\/a><\/td><td>8\/12\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/09\/25\/swatted\/\">Swatted<\/a><\/td><td>9\/23\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/05\/26\/they-arent-pro-life\/\">They Aren&#8217;t Pro-Life<\/a><\/td><td>9\/23\/22<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/01\/24\/motive-means-opportunity\/\">Motive, Means, Opportunity<\/a><\/td><td>1\/25\/23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/02\/14\/accepted-losses\/\">Accepted Losses<\/a><\/td><td>2\/14\/23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/03\/28\/german-rights\/\">German Rights<\/a><\/td><td>3\/28\/23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/03\/30\/fear-itself\/\">Fear Itself<\/a><\/td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3\/30\/23<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The Gravel Pit<\/td><td>4\/16\/23<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memes There\u2019s a meme going around on Facebook.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cA Rock in bad hands killed Abel. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Rock in good hands killed Goliath. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s not about the Rock.\u201d The National Rifle Association is holding their annual convention this weekend in Indianapolis.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just an aside:&nbsp;&nbsp;you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Convention hall &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Gravel Pit&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Memes There\u2019s a meme going around on Facebook.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cA Rock in bad hands killed Abel. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Rock in good hands killed Goliath. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s not about the Rock.\u201d The National Rifle Association is holding their annual convention this weekend in Indianapolis.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just an aside:&nbsp;&nbsp;you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Convention hall &hellip; Continue reading &quot;The Gravel Pit&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"The Gravel Pit\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":995,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/16\\\/the-gravel-pit\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Gravel Pit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"Memes There\u2019s a meme going around on Facebook.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cA Rock in bad hands killed Abel. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Rock in good hands killed Goliath. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s not about the Rock.\u201d The National Rifle Association is holding their annual convention this weekend in Indianapolis.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just an aside:&nbsp;&nbsp;you have to go through a metal detector to get into the Convention hall &hellip; Continue reading \"The Gravel Pit\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"The Gravel Pit","datePublished":"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/"},"wordCount":995,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/","name":"The Gravel Pit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-04-16T13:33:15+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-13T15:24:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/04\/16\/the-gravel-pit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Gravel Pit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6281,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280\/revisions\/6281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}