We’ve endured so many school shootings and mass shootings in this country over the last 26 years that it’s almost superfluous to write the rest of the sentence: that it was a boy who opened fire in his high school in Winder, Georgia, earlier today, killing two students and two teachers and wounding eight more students and another teacher.
And that alone tells me more about the state of this union than I want to know. Factor in the ongoing assault on voting rights and it's all too clear what the GOP is about: reinstituting white male supremacy for all.
Would that our nation could muster the same moral outrage and political activism as we do over women’s rights and gay rights for a kid’s right to grow to maturity and to be free of the horrific fear for their safety when they go to school. But of course kids don’t vote. It discourages me that no pundit or politician has the courage to call for a day to shutdown business in America on this issue. We need to invoke King and Gandhi to build massive nonviolent protest. That may move the needle. Until then it is all words and no action.
Isn’t the ultimate travesty?!?! Banning abortion because Alito and other rigid medieval minds consider it “murder” while ferociously defending a ludicrously outdated amendment that, in their view, allows unfettered access to guns.
I say again: when the right ox is finally gored— ie, the immediate family of a white, male, prominent Republican lawmaker— then, and only then, will something be done (maybe) to terminate this madness.
I have said all along that IT IS THE GUNS, not the shooter and especially not the "motives." It is insane to be looking for a motive, talk about a motive, mention a motive. I don't really give a darn about that; without these guns, there would be no shootings. Period. When will we learn? Will there ever be enough tears to put an end to the endless killing of our children by other children? Will this country ever understand that the killings are a result of easy availability of weapons? In tears, love, mom and grandma.
Too many guns. And get this: there are estimated some 400 million plus guns in the US. If 50,000 firearms were to be destroyed EVERY DAY, and no new ones added, it would take about 22 years to be rid of them.
No, we absolutely must not stop. What I'm saying is that we will continue to have school shootings for the next two decades unless the next SEVERAL Dem administrations work to rid our streets of guns.
If Kamala/Walz were able to rid America of 200M firearms in their first 100 days, that leaves 200M remaining.
Kamala/Walz will work to promote change, but because the numbers of shootings will organically continue to increase, the GOP will say, "See where voting blue got you?"
"Motive" is almost used as a scapegoat. immediately everyone is talking about "the motive." Well, why should we take the shooters word for it? The motive is always a few layers up from the real issue, the person's problems with their life. And there is no way to predict who will become desperate/angry/sad enough to shoot a bunch of people. All the red flag laws and gun sales waiting periods will not solve this problem.
I guess I look to other countries and that leads me to believe that the easy availability of guns is a major reason why we have all these shootings. I think charging parents is a step in the right direction. If you want to have military weapons, or any weapons, at home, then LOCK THEM UP!
Nobel laureates lost. Teachers, nurses future generations all snuffed out by a round that is literally supersonic and designed to tumble and destroy as much flesh as possible.
All available to teenagers because of a self hating corrupt Reagan apooibtee.
The evolution of a rifle round* happened over a long period of time, from round shape to jacketed to today's elongated oblong shape. Tumbling was not a design consideration. It's more a product of physics due to the center of gravity changing when the round strikes something. Depending on what it strikes tumbling can to will occur. WABAC when the elongated oblong round became the new best thing the field of forensic ballistics was not a big thing nor was ultra-slomo photography or ballistics gelatin. More likely than not the discovery that a round tumbled after contact/peneration was a Eureka Moment.
Yes am a proud and safe gunnnnnn owner but not a gunkweer. Know well what a weapon including firearms are designed for and know well they are not tools or toys.
The current majority on SCOTUS are gunkweers. Little will change until the Court changes.
*rifle round*: the word round survived the change in its shape.
To continue on the theme of evolution or de-evolution treating gunshot wounds in some instances must be included. Not too long ago a trauma center wouldn't see gunshot wounds from an AR-style rifle. On a rare occasion a wound originating from a hunting rifle. Now it is far too commonplace. I consider that a societal de-evolution.
Have ~wet eyes~ for those who witnessed mass shootings whether they be school-age children, adults, first responders, or medical staff. That is sometimes lost when the subject of weapons of war in a non-war zone is discussed. Typically there are many more first-hand witnesses than there are dead or wounded. There's a second order of effect beyond that circle to those who are present yet did not see the carnage yet experienced the intense fear factor once the brain recognizes what is happening and the ensuing responses to escape or survive. Those mental and emotional wounds (PTSD) can be life-altering as well.
By this time in the societal de-evolution the phrase "I never thought it could happen here in_______" needs replacing with "I was wondering when it would happen here in ______."
There are a plethora of measures that when adopted would reduce gun violence. One that doesn't require legislation or court approval is showing the carnage as some nations do. Pixelating faces or blurring them is easy. The carnage needs to be shown in print, on teevee, other e-media and in workplaces, schools, houses of worship, community centers, town halls, inside state capitol legislative chambers, to Congress, a gun ranges, rod and gun clubs, NRA and other gunkweer org gatherings, and on and on. Hopefully with some capture of sounds of gunfire and yes the sounds of those dying and wounded. Sadly can't capture the scents of a mass shooting whether the cordite or of blood.
Advocate for that due to how American society romanticizes and glorifies "war" and good guys v. bad guys in civ life that includes shootouts. The latter is often overlooked yet is more prevalent than war/combat.
There is one film that addresses both in a way that leaves the viewer with a far better understanding of all things related to violence, (physical-mental-emotional) The Flowers of War.
This senseless killing of our children has got to end. Enough is enough. Many folks, after each shooting, offer their thoughts and prayers. To them, I say, enact common-sense gun laws now, which may be the answer to your prayers. Or I hope Moses Mike Johnson gets a message from God telling him to DO SOMETHING, DAMIT!
The Apalachee High Shooting Tragedy highlights the role of dark money on politics. Follow the money behind GOP weakened gun laws. Spot the correlation between the Republican led states that get the most gun lobby money and the number of mass shootings.
I live probably less than 30 miles from Winder where this happened, been there many times working here in GA. The more we learn about this tragedy, the more demoralizing it becomes. There are so many things that contributed to this; easy access to weapons of war and their ammo, the 2nd amendment which was never written to include these modern highly efficient weapons, in the day muskets took about a minute to shoot,reload, and shoot again, now 300 rounds per minute is possible, the mental component of dealing with a historically entrenched problem, privacy concerns, political certainty of the correctness of simply arming the entire country, the monetizing of that arming, the gun industry is no longer focused on arming hunters, now they are selling a macho lifestyle to both men and women, with all the slick marketing that we know how to do so well, and a deep seated resistance to change. “Thoughts and prayers” bullshit. I have 4 grandkids from grade school to college, but it’s everybody’s kids I worry about, as Kamala said today “it doesn’t have to be this way”, but it’s going to take the entire nation, to make a meaningful change, the nation is going to have to will it to change, otherwise more of the same.
The sad thing is that even if the nation came together to make a meaningful change it wouldn't matter, just like with Trump, this rogue Ct. is still hovering over it all to backstop it and rule any change "unconstitutional." This abomination lies solely at the feet of John Roberts and the rest of the court members who willfully misread the the 2d A in service of some obscene doctrine. They've created this war zone of a country. The liberal members of the Court need to stop extolling the "collegiality" on the Court and call out the MAGA cabal for what they are, unless the Court comes to its senses this will never end.
Or the SCOTUS gets packed, Congress can do it legislatively and POTUS sign the law - add four new Justices, and start overruling this Court's inane, dangerous mistakes.
The reason I’m walking around today sick at heart. Because nothing will be done to ameliorate this now fact of life in America. Death will be visited upon children and no words are going to prevent this catastrophe unless they are in a law banning gun sales without a waiting period, raise the age to purchase guns, require background checks and a unified system that makes that less of a joke. Ban bump stocks (fucking SCOTUS) ban high capacity magazines, ban assault rifles. Give to Gabby Gifford who is lobbying for changes, Sandy Hook Promise, those organizations that supply children with guidelines on how to stay safe. Support those in government who want sanity when it comes to these weapons.
"Political lunacy," as Lucian says, plus arrogance, greed, ideology, dehumanization, fear and paranoia. Today's Lucid newsletter by Ruth Ben-Ghiat hints at a possible other motivation, linked to Trump's brazen contempt for the American military and those who serve in it. I wonder if right-wing extremists actually want people to be afraid to ban guns, afraid of those with guns, and afraid to not know how to use a gun. The extremists who seek a civil war or an authoritarian take-over want people who will eagerly shoot and kill strangers as well as people they know.
Ben-Ghiat says, "Why does he [Trump] do it? His authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats who see the powerful U.S. military as an obstacle to their geopolitical aims." Her column is worth reading - it's at https://lucid.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-donald-trump-insults
There is no other country in the world that has so much gun violence by young men. How do we suss out the root of the problem? Why does Canada, our neighbor, have no child violence of this magnitude. Why us?
Beautiful. When I think of how WE could have been "Canada" now, if not for the revolution back then; what a mistake that looks to have been in hindsight.
Our unique and explosive mix of readily available weaponry and a culture the glorifies violence, plus the aggressiveness touted as normal, and social difficulties of young men all create a problem unseen in any of the other liberal democracies, including Canada, which also has many firearms in their society. And worst of all, we seem unwilling to do anything about it
The clause really isn’t poorly written. “A well-regulated militia”. I always want to ask these idiots where they train and how often. In what armory are their weapons stored? I know the original purpose as if 1789 wasn’t great: to chase down runaway slaves and fight off wild Indians, but those were the times and perceived needs. In today’s case, did the father lie that they only had hunting rifles in the house that the kid didn’t have open access to, or did the kid somehow get a weapon of war on his own? The R’s will blame it on “mental health”, whatever that is. (And they don’t want to fund treatment for that either.). I remember when they blamed violent video games and comic books.
EXACTLY RIGHT. The introductory clause to the Second Amendment makes it clear that the purpose of permitting guns is to have a WELL-REGULATED MILITIA. That is precisely what we do not have. We have chaos.
You would think that the RW of the court who claim to be such proud “originalists” would pay more attention to the clear meaning of those few words. BTW, “originalism” is a BS concept they came up with in the 80’s as a reaction to civil rights and other legislation they didn’t like. I was in law school in the late 60’s (Boalt, ‘70) and we never heard if such a thing in my Con Law classes.
Those weapons are despicably described as sporting weapons(for those who want to blow up an adult gopher or not eat a deer they might shoot with it).
How the fbi did not seek visual assurance that the weapons were secure? Imagine the horror of an official being permitted to look through the premises of that child’s home to ascertain the truth of that statement? You wouldn’t need a weapon to watch heads explode.
Tonight MSNBC is reporting this same teenager had written threats to shoot up his school last year . An "investigation" was conducted and the there was "no credible evidence" to justify any action.
So, in addition to too many guns we also need to ask ourselves when a young troubled teenager manifests violence should the "handling" of said teenager's anti social behavior be swept under a rug or assumed to be not dangerous enough to continue treating he/she as "normal?"
More to follow, obviously, on this but if it is true he had earlier made threats someone has some "splaining to do."
My wife has been walking around as we prepare and clean up after dinner muttering loudly "FOUTEEN YEARS OLD fourteen years old , f. o. u. r t. e. e. n. yea.....................................
She also said "It doesn't have to be this way". Was she looking back to when Dianne Feinstein and Joe Biden succeeded in passing an assault weapons ban in the early 1990s, but ten years later, when it came up for renewal, Congress, under G.W. Bush, failed to do so? Can there ever again be a big enough Democratic House and Senate majority along with a Democratic President to pass this ban again? This 85-year-old grandmother of four would give anything to see this in my lifetime.
The unimaginative literalist fundamentalist-like treatment of the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court is very much to blame. They need a refresher elementary school reading course with Rudolf Flesch’s classic “Why Johnny Can’t Read” as their text book.
It is so hard to read this list of school shootings. I'm old enough to have trouble comprehending how this can be possible. Parents, police ( think Ulvade) , gun manufacturers, politicians, school officials who do not listen to warnings, all have a share of the responsibility. But where does one start to break this horrible sequence of event?. We are a very sick country these days. Thoughts and prayers are not doing anyone any good. I hope you do not have to detail another school shooting in another month or two, but I'm relieved you make yourself do it. We need to hear about it over and over it seems.
I’ll never forget that abortions were banned over assault weapons.
And that alone tells me more about the state of this union than I want to know. Factor in the ongoing assault on voting rights and it's all too clear what the GOP is about: reinstituting white male supremacy for all.
P.S. This comment posted twice so I deleted one of them.
That's okay, it needs to be repeated.
💯😰
Would that our nation could muster the same moral outrage and political activism as we do over women’s rights and gay rights for a kid’s right to grow to maturity and to be free of the horrific fear for their safety when they go to school. But of course kids don’t vote. It discourages me that no pundit or politician has the courage to call for a day to shutdown business in America on this issue. We need to invoke King and Gandhi to build massive nonviolent protest. That may move the needle. Until then it is all words and no action.
Only the pro-life party bans abortions.
Reminds me of the formerly "small government" party that now wants to invade every aspect of our lives . . .
Isn’t the ultimate travesty?!?! Banning abortion because Alito and other rigid medieval minds consider it “murder” while ferociously defending a ludicrously outdated amendment that, in their view, allows unfettered access to guns.
I say again: when the right ox is finally gored— ie, the immediate family of a white, male, prominent Republican lawmaker— then, and only then, will something be done (maybe) to terminate this madness.
Just as some right winger finds out their child is gay and then, and only then, embraces the gay community.
😣
Meanwhile, at the local school board, books strike fear into some in the community.
Indeed! Books so much scarier than firearms!!
Rightly so. They might change flexible young minds being trained in groupthink.
I have said all along that IT IS THE GUNS, not the shooter and especially not the "motives." It is insane to be looking for a motive, talk about a motive, mention a motive. I don't really give a darn about that; without these guns, there would be no shootings. Period. When will we learn? Will there ever be enough tears to put an end to the endless killing of our children by other children? Will this country ever understand that the killings are a result of easy availability of weapons? In tears, love, mom and grandma.
Too many guns. And get this: there are estimated some 400 million plus guns in the US. If 50,000 firearms were to be destroyed EVERY DAY, and no new ones added, it would take about 22 years to be rid of them.
How old would your kids be in twenty-two years?
Yes, but we can't less this stop us (which I don't thinj is what you're saying).
No, we absolutely must not stop. What I'm saying is that we will continue to have school shootings for the next two decades unless the next SEVERAL Dem administrations work to rid our streets of guns.
If Kamala/Walz were able to rid America of 200M firearms in their first 100 days, that leaves 200M remaining.
Kamala/Walz will work to promote change, but because the numbers of shootings will organically continue to increase, the GOP will say, "See where voting blue got you?"
Let's not let them. Vote BLUE.
"Motive" is almost used as a scapegoat. immediately everyone is talking about "the motive." Well, why should we take the shooters word for it? The motive is always a few layers up from the real issue, the person's problems with their life. And there is no way to predict who will become desperate/angry/sad enough to shoot a bunch of people. All the red flag laws and gun sales waiting periods will not solve this problem.
I guess I look to other countries and that leads me to believe that the easy availability of guns is a major reason why we have all these shootings. I think charging parents is a step in the right direction. If you want to have military weapons, or any weapons, at home, then LOCK THEM UP!
I agree that looking for the motive is beside the point.
I am horribly saddened by each and every killing.
Nobel laureates lost. Teachers, nurses future generations all snuffed out by a round that is literally supersonic and designed to tumble and destroy as much flesh as possible.
All available to teenagers because of a self hating corrupt Reagan apooibtee.
Well-said, Peter.
(a gentle correction):
The evolution of a rifle round* happened over a long period of time, from round shape to jacketed to today's elongated oblong shape. Tumbling was not a design consideration. It's more a product of physics due to the center of gravity changing when the round strikes something. Depending on what it strikes tumbling can to will occur. WABAC when the elongated oblong round became the new best thing the field of forensic ballistics was not a big thing nor was ultra-slomo photography or ballistics gelatin. More likely than not the discovery that a round tumbled after contact/peneration was a Eureka Moment.
Yes am a proud and safe gunnnnnn owner but not a gunkweer. Know well what a weapon including firearms are designed for and know well they are not tools or toys.
The current majority on SCOTUS are gunkweers. Little will change until the Court changes.
*rifle round*: the word round survived the change in its shape.
Well stated. I have a copy of emergency war surgery. It has a lengthy discussion about the evolution of the calibers used by the military.
Must be a good read, Peter.
To continue on the theme of evolution or de-evolution treating gunshot wounds in some instances must be included. Not too long ago a trauma center wouldn't see gunshot wounds from an AR-style rifle. On a rare occasion a wound originating from a hunting rifle. Now it is far too commonplace. I consider that a societal de-evolution.
Have ~wet eyes~ for those who witnessed mass shootings whether they be school-age children, adults, first responders, or medical staff. That is sometimes lost when the subject of weapons of war in a non-war zone is discussed. Typically there are many more first-hand witnesses than there are dead or wounded. There's a second order of effect beyond that circle to those who are present yet did not see the carnage yet experienced the intense fear factor once the brain recognizes what is happening and the ensuing responses to escape or survive. Those mental and emotional wounds (PTSD) can be life-altering as well.
By this time in the societal de-evolution the phrase "I never thought it could happen here in_______" needs replacing with "I was wondering when it would happen here in ______."
There are a plethora of measures that when adopted would reduce gun violence. One that doesn't require legislation or court approval is showing the carnage as some nations do. Pixelating faces or blurring them is easy. The carnage needs to be shown in print, on teevee, other e-media and in workplaces, schools, houses of worship, community centers, town halls, inside state capitol legislative chambers, to Congress, a gun ranges, rod and gun clubs, NRA and other gunkweer org gatherings, and on and on. Hopefully with some capture of sounds of gunfire and yes the sounds of those dying and wounded. Sadly can't capture the scents of a mass shooting whether the cordite or of blood.
Advocate for that due to how American society romanticizes and glorifies "war" and good guys v. bad guys in civ life that includes shootouts. The latter is often overlooked yet is more prevalent than war/combat.
There is one film that addresses both in a way that leaves the viewer with a far better understanding of all things related to violence, (physical-mental-emotional) The Flowers of War.
I say this too, post much below.
Reagan what??? Appointee?
Clarence Thomas
No. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1991.
Yes. It was Bush, not Reagan.
Scalia.
This senseless killing of our children has got to end. Enough is enough. Many folks, after each shooting, offer their thoughts and prayers. To them, I say, enact common-sense gun laws now, which may be the answer to your prayers. Or I hope Moses Mike Johnson gets a message from God telling him to DO SOMETHING, DAMIT!
They are hypocrites. "Protecting" kids from things they don't need protecting from, but not assault weapon fire.
The Apalachee High Shooting Tragedy highlights the role of dark money on politics. Follow the money behind GOP weakened gun laws. Spot the correlation between the Republican led states that get the most gun lobby money and the number of mass shootings.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/09/04/apalachee-high-shooting-tragedy-follow-the-money-behind-gop-weakened-gun-laws/
I live probably less than 30 miles from Winder where this happened, been there many times working here in GA. The more we learn about this tragedy, the more demoralizing it becomes. There are so many things that contributed to this; easy access to weapons of war and their ammo, the 2nd amendment which was never written to include these modern highly efficient weapons, in the day muskets took about a minute to shoot,reload, and shoot again, now 300 rounds per minute is possible, the mental component of dealing with a historically entrenched problem, privacy concerns, political certainty of the correctness of simply arming the entire country, the monetizing of that arming, the gun industry is no longer focused on arming hunters, now they are selling a macho lifestyle to both men and women, with all the slick marketing that we know how to do so well, and a deep seated resistance to change. “Thoughts and prayers” bullshit. I have 4 grandkids from grade school to college, but it’s everybody’s kids I worry about, as Kamala said today “it doesn’t have to be this way”, but it’s going to take the entire nation, to make a meaningful change, the nation is going to have to will it to change, otherwise more of the same.
The sad thing is that even if the nation came together to make a meaningful change it wouldn't matter, just like with Trump, this rogue Ct. is still hovering over it all to backstop it and rule any change "unconstitutional." This abomination lies solely at the feet of John Roberts and the rest of the court members who willfully misread the the 2d A in service of some obscene doctrine. They've created this war zone of a country. The liberal members of the Court need to stop extolling the "collegiality" on the Court and call out the MAGA cabal for what they are, unless the Court comes to its senses this will never end.
Or the SCOTUS gets packed, Congress can do it legislatively and POTUS sign the law - add four new Justices, and start overruling this Court's inane, dangerous mistakes.
Dear Lord please let be so. The people need to rise up and stop this insanity
The reason I’m walking around today sick at heart. Because nothing will be done to ameliorate this now fact of life in America. Death will be visited upon children and no words are going to prevent this catastrophe unless they are in a law banning gun sales without a waiting period, raise the age to purchase guns, require background checks and a unified system that makes that less of a joke. Ban bump stocks (fucking SCOTUS) ban high capacity magazines, ban assault rifles. Give to Gabby Gifford who is lobbying for changes, Sandy Hook Promise, those organizations that supply children with guidelines on how to stay safe. Support those in government who want sanity when it comes to these weapons.
"Political lunacy," as Lucian says, plus arrogance, greed, ideology, dehumanization, fear and paranoia. Today's Lucid newsletter by Ruth Ben-Ghiat hints at a possible other motivation, linked to Trump's brazen contempt for the American military and those who serve in it. I wonder if right-wing extremists actually want people to be afraid to ban guns, afraid of those with guns, and afraid to not know how to use a gun. The extremists who seek a civil war or an authoritarian take-over want people who will eagerly shoot and kill strangers as well as people they know.
Ben-Ghiat says, "Why does he [Trump] do it? His authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats who see the powerful U.S. military as an obstacle to their geopolitical aims." Her column is worth reading - it's at https://lucid.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-donald-trump-insults
There is no other country in the world that has so much gun violence by young men. How do we suss out the root of the problem? Why does Canada, our neighbor, have no child violence of this magnitude. Why us?
Let’s ask my 14 year old, Canadian granddaughter what she thinks of America. Lila, what do you think?
“Seriously Nana, if any other shooting happens, you should move to Toronto!”
Her friends call the neighbors to the South:
“Guns, the country!”
“Guns, the country!” What a description! Our new name!
Beautiful. When I think of how WE could have been "Canada" now, if not for the revolution back then; what a mistake that looks to have been in hindsight.
Our unique and explosive mix of readily available weaponry and a culture the glorifies violence, plus the aggressiveness touted as normal, and social difficulties of young men all create a problem unseen in any of the other liberal democracies, including Canada, which also has many firearms in their society. And worst of all, we seem unwilling to do anything about it
I hadn’t even thought about the fact that Tim and Gwen Walz were both teachers until now. I’m sure they have some insight into this insanity.
The clause really isn’t poorly written. “A well-regulated militia”. I always want to ask these idiots where they train and how often. In what armory are their weapons stored? I know the original purpose as if 1789 wasn’t great: to chase down runaway slaves and fight off wild Indians, but those were the times and perceived needs. In today’s case, did the father lie that they only had hunting rifles in the house that the kid didn’t have open access to, or did the kid somehow get a weapon of war on his own? The R’s will blame it on “mental health”, whatever that is. (And they don’t want to fund treatment for that either.). I remember when they blamed violent video games and comic books.
EXACTLY RIGHT. The introductory clause to the Second Amendment makes it clear that the purpose of permitting guns is to have a WELL-REGULATED MILITIA. That is precisely what we do not have. We have chaos.
You would think that the RW of the court who claim to be such proud “originalists” would pay more attention to the clear meaning of those few words. BTW, “originalism” is a BS concept they came up with in the 80’s as a reaction to civil rights and other legislation they didn’t like. I was in law school in the late 60’s (Boalt, ‘70) and we never heard if such a thing in my Con Law classes.
Those weapons are despicably described as sporting weapons(for those who want to blow up an adult gopher or not eat a deer they might shoot with it).
How the fbi did not seek visual assurance that the weapons were secure? Imagine the horror of an official being permitted to look through the premises of that child’s home to ascertain the truth of that statement? You wouldn’t need a weapon to watch heads explode.
Tonight MSNBC is reporting this same teenager had written threats to shoot up his school last year . An "investigation" was conducted and the there was "no credible evidence" to justify any action.
So, in addition to too many guns we also need to ask ourselves when a young troubled teenager manifests violence should the "handling" of said teenager's anti social behavior be swept under a rug or assumed to be not dangerous enough to continue treating he/she as "normal?"
More to follow, obviously, on this but if it is true he had earlier made threats someone has some "splaining to do."
My wife has been walking around as we prepare and clean up after dinner muttering loudly "FOUTEEN YEARS OLD fourteen years old , f. o. u. r t. e. e. n. yea.....................................
As Kamala Harris said today,
“Let’s not normalize this.”
Too late, I’m afraid.
She also said "It doesn't have to be this way". Was she looking back to when Dianne Feinstein and Joe Biden succeeded in passing an assault weapons ban in the early 1990s, but ten years later, when it came up for renewal, Congress, under G.W. Bush, failed to do so? Can there ever again be a big enough Democratic House and Senate majority along with a Democratic President to pass this ban again? This 85-year-old grandmother of four would give anything to see this in my lifetime.
Yes, we KAM!!
The unimaginative literalist fundamentalist-like treatment of the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court is very much to blame. They need a refresher elementary school reading course with Rudolf Flesch’s classic “Why Johnny Can’t Read” as their text book.
"Johnny Can't Read but He Can Shoot."
It is so hard to read this list of school shootings. I'm old enough to have trouble comprehending how this can be possible. Parents, police ( think Ulvade) , gun manufacturers, politicians, school officials who do not listen to warnings, all have a share of the responsibility. But where does one start to break this horrible sequence of event?. We are a very sick country these days. Thoughts and prayers are not doing anyone any good. I hope you do not have to detail another school shooting in another month or two, but I'm relieved you make yourself do it. We need to hear about it over and over it seems.