The March: The turnout was in the hundreds of thousands of people yesterday in Washington, DC and in cities large and small across the country in marches to protest gun violence and call for stricter gun control.
In Washington, the demonstration was led by students from Florida’s Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were mowed down by an 18-year-old shooter. About 20 speakers, all of them children or teenagers, addressed a crowd that covered 10 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Stoneman Douglas student Emma Gonzalez stood silent for six minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time the shooting took.
“To the leaders, skeptics and cynics who told us to sit down, stay silent and wait your turn: Welcome to the revolution,” said Cameron Kasky, a Stoneman Douglas student. “Either represent the people or get out. Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming.”
Edna Chavez, 17, said, “I have lived in South LA most of my life and lost many loved ones to gun violence … I’ve learned to duck from bullets before I learned how to read.”
A young man asked, “Are they going to arm the person in the Mickey Mouse costume at Disney? This is what the National Rifle Association wants, and we will not stand for it!”
Crowds also gathered in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Tokyo and London. Asked why he was marching, former Beatle Paul McCartney said in New York, “One of my best friends was killed in gun violence.”
The Parkland students who organized the March for Our Lives have increasingly become the targets of gun lovers. Colion Noir, a host on National Rifle Association said the air that, “No one would know your names” if a gunman had not entered their school.
President Trump said nothing public about the demonstrations.
It’s impossible to know the impact of the march and the movement that has grown out of the Parkland, Fla. shooting. Changing gun laws in America is a long march.
Signs of the Times:
– “Mental illness is worldwide. Mass murder is American.”
– “What’s easier to buy than a gun? A politician.”
– “Thoughts and prayers don’t save lives.”
– “I’m a teacher, not a sharpshooter.”
– “We should feel lucky to go to school, not lucky to come home safe.”
From the gun set:
“What can we do to stop mass shootings? SHOOT BACK.”
Heroism: A French police officer who volunteered to replace a hostage in a terrorist incident Friday died of bullet wounds sustained when his fellow officers moved in shooting.
Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame was the fifth person to die in the incident, including the gunman. The 25-year-old gunman, who had initially fired at police officers, took over a supermarket, eventually releasing all of his prisoners except one. Beltrame took her place and is being hailed as a national hero.
The Obit Page: Gary Lincoff, a self-professed and educated nut about mushrooms, died this past week at age 75 in Manhattan, not far from Central Park where he sometimes dug for his beloved fungi.
He was a college philosophy major and a law school dropout who ended up writing a field guide to mushrooms that sold a half million copies.
Lincoff loved mushrooms as food, medicine, soil decontaminator, and for their role in the perpetual cycle of decay and rebirth. “To know what these mushrooms are doing, that drives me,” he said. “That keeps me thinking. Every plant I see, every tree I see, I know that there are mushrooms totally involved in the health of those trees.”
Getting Warmer: Arctic sea ice coverage this winter was the second-lowest since satellite record-keeping began, researchers said Friday. With global temperatures getting warmer, every year arctic sea ice has grown less in winter, and melted ore in summer.
Scientists link this to changing weather patterns, including the four nor’easter storms that hit the East Coast this month.
March Madness: In an NCAA tournament marked by multiple upsets, Loyola Chicago continued to defy gravity, beating Kansas State 78-62 last night to reach its first Final Four in 55 years. Loyola has won 14 in a row.

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