Yeah...it is all fun and games until 31 people die...right???
(and scores more are injured)
Today I was going to start back on the virtual AT...through Pennsylvania.
(....but nooooooooooooooooo...)
Then, this weekend happened.
Saturday in El Paso, Texas a 21 y/o kid drove ten hours and left behind a manifesto that, frankly, could be part of a Trump Rally Transcript...he walked into a Walmart there and went aisle to aisle killing those he encountered.
Before he was done 20 people were dead...two more would die later at the hospital of their injuries. 30+ more were shot and injured.
Then, he handed himself over to deputies without incident.
Trump and the rest of the GOP sent thoughts and prayers, of course.
Governor Abbot blamed video games and mental health.
When I woke up on Sunday...still out-of-sorts from the El Paso Shooting
the first thing to hit the newsfeed was
9 Dead and Dozens Injured in Mass Shooting in Dayton Ohio
This time outside a club.
24 years old...and the shooter was dead one minute after he started firing
and he STILL managed to kill 9 and injure many more.
(...although this kid admittedly wasn't politically motivated...even killing his own sister in the fray...and had a "hit list" To Kill and To Rape list back in High school...what the actual fuck??? And nobody thought this was a bit extreme???)
Picking up on GOP talking-points...a Representative from Dayton also shook her head and blamed videogames, gay marriage et al...and sent thoughts and prayers, of course.
Trump spent Saturday and Sunday on the Golf Course.
Today, he issued a less than 10 minute read-from-the-teleprompter speech...no feelings...straight ahead...like a kid being forced to read a What I did on Summer Vacation Essay...oh he said all the right things...
Okay...except for confusing Dayton for Toledo
( ...in all fairness he WAS playing golf all weekend...how was he to know...)
Biden...not to be outdone...offered thoughts and prayers to Texas and Michigan.
Oh- and Trump blaming video games and the Internet.
Not acknowledging any personal responsibility for fanning the flames at his hate rallies...and then the first kid using pretty much word for word in his manifesto.
"How could someone so young be such a MONSTER?"
...right...
But here is the deal...
As soon as he took office he began dismantling some of Obama's
Accomplishments by E.O.
Like the one that KEPT the mentally ill from purchasing, you know...GUNS!
(...don't take my word for it...look it up yourself)
And go to his twitter feed for this past year and read some of the transcripts online of his rallies.
Frankly, I am AMAZED the violence hasn't been worse and started sooner.
And there has been violence previous to this.
The Pipe-bomb Maker who happily gave Trump all the credit.
So, what does this guy
and this kid
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/patrick-crusius-el-paso-shooter-manifesto.html
have in common?
Remember Trump?
Both of them have effectively ended their lives
(...Crusius, perhaps literally)
to serve Donald Trump.
Who immediately disavowed both of them as lunatics...crazies...monsters.
Just like he jeered and smiled and paused when his supporters chanted
SEND HER BACK
at one of his rallies...
Then- Disavowed those same supporters the very next day.
Of course he loves the Uneducated
It is because you are too STUPID to even KNOW you're STUPID.
The 24 year old Dayton Shooter?
Admittedly, not tightly wrapped.
Also dead.
People, if you know someone who has a To Rape and To Kill list (even if they are in High School) please let someone in authority know.
The life you save might be your own...and their's.
And another thing...
I don't think this whole thoughts and prayers thing is working, okay???
Maybe...just maybe it is time to pass universal background checks, close the gunshow loophole, and maybe...just possibly...
STOP letting civvies arm themselves like RAMBO with AR-15 and AK-47's.
You want to shoot big guns? Something with a ginormous number of rounds?
Join the goddamned military.
No civilian needs a military weapon.
These are "street-sweepers" and their only purpose is to kill as many people as possible, in the least amount of time.
And no...you aren't going to use them "ag'in the damned Guv'mint" either...they have much more sophisticated weapons and can literally take you, your house and possibly your neighborhood out with a drone...
Without even getting near your property.
So good luck with all that...
The bright spot in this mess?
The heroes that surfaced during and immediately after.
The young man who started grabbing children out of harm's way.
The Mother who covered her infant with her own body...and then her husband who threw himself on top of both of them.
(both parents died...the baby was saved)
The officers who rushed in despite the barrage of bullets.
The line of people outside the blood drives after it was over.
The people who brought food and water to those who needed it.
These are the heroes, folks.
Thanks for letting me get this out of my system.
Look around you...hug your children...or dogs or cat or whatever.
Life is good and it is a beautiful world...no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Love each other.
Stephen Colbert on the Weekend Events and Gun Violence in America
https://youtu.be/8dMgEwQYdog
Late Night with Seth Meyers
https://youtu.be/rVf_9dihz3k
The Daily Show with Trevor
Noah
https://youtu.be/yiER4rUrGN8