#on the uvalde school shooting of all things. that was a year ago

[whimsycore]

I’ve just come to the terms no one in my family wants to get better they actively choose the worst decisions and revel in being miserable.

[supernaturalkickparty]

I posted 23,430 times in 2022

That's 7,112 more posts than 2021!

843 posts created (4%)

22,587 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fandom-hoarder

@sam-winchester-admiration-league

@starrose17

@sammysnaughtygirl

@neecy83

I tagged 5,908 of my posts in 2022

#aew - 1,293 posts

#all elite wrestling - 981 posts

#wincest - 510 posts

#aew dynamite - 455 posts

#jared padalecki - 347 posts

#sam winchester - 304 posts

#walker - 240 posts

#jon moxley - 215 posts

#eddie kingston - 205 posts

#adam page - 163 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#and wiawsnb dean has a gf and a job but sam thinks he's an alcoholic. but is obvs just waiting for a reason to go off the rails with him💞

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Jim posted this a while ago. It's from Amerie's mother. Her funeral was on Monday if I'm not mistaken.

Written by Amerie Jo Garza's (Uvalde victim) mom:

"The chicken soup in her thermos stayed hot all day while her body grew cold.

She never had a chance to eat the baloney and cheese sandwich. I got up 10 minutes early to cut the crust off a sandwich that will never be eaten.

Should I call and cancel her dental appointment next Wednesday? Will the office automatically know?

Should I still take her brother to the appointment since I already took the day off work? Last time Carlos had one cavity and Amerie asked him what having a cavity feels like.

She will never experience having a cavity.

She will never experience having a cavity filled.

The cavities in her body now are from bullets, and they can never be filled.

What if she had asked to use the bathroom in the hall a few minutes prior to the gunman entering the room, locking the door, and slaughtering all inside?

Was she one of the first kids in the room to die or one of the last?

These are the things they don’t tell us.

Which of her friends did she see die before her?

Hannah?

Emily?

Both?

Did their blood and brains splatter across her Girl Scout uniform?

She just earned a Fire Safety patch.

What if it got ruined?

There are no patches for school shootings.

Was she practicing writing GIRAFFE the moment he walked in her classroom, barricaded the door and opened fire?

She keeps forgetting the silent “e” at the end.

We studied this past weekend, and now she doesn’t need to take the spelling test on Friday.

None of them will take the spelling test on Friday.

There will be no spelling test on Friday.

Because there is no one to give it.

And no one to take it.

These are the things I will never know:

I will never know at what age she would have started her period.

I will never know if she had wisdom teeth.

See the full post

107 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#4

I think what I love about the spn pilot is it shows Sam is a crazy bitch but is good about playing normal. He drove the impala through a freaking house lol I love him for that.

127 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

#3

146 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

#2

See the full post

159 notes - Posted October 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

302 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[peakwealth]

No more silly season

Early morning sunshine and low cloud rising from the valley at Sever do Vouga, Portugal (July 2024)

Late September has brought the promise of a relaxed autumn. The afternoon shadows have lengthened and the nights have turned cool with clear skies and bright stars.

We used to look forward to summer. Now we are relieved when it is finally over, the punishing heat of southern Spain, the drunken rowdiness during the night and the crowds of tourists during the day.

Eloping to a more temperate part of Portugal brought temporary relief - see the preceding audio postcard from the small town of Sever do Vouga (1).

Summer also used to be the 'silly season' in the news business, when everyone was on holiday and there was nothing much to report. Not any more, the news is non-stop now and it is consistently awful.

I noted, with sadness and anger, that it was ten years ago that Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 was shot down over Ukraine with a Russian anti-aircraft missile. 298 people died, human debris twirling out of the summer sky. Justice has not been done, nor is it likely ever to be. Allowing Vladimir Putin to get away with this casual act of aggression opened the door to greater evil and unaccountability. This is where we are now.

But in the midst of horrific wars, summer fires and floods, I saw some hopeful stories popping up.

In no specific order of time or importance:

1. When the Labour party won the summer elections in the UK, Jacob Rees-Mogg lost his conservative seat in the House of Commons. Catholic, pompous, pin-striped and insufferable, Rees-Mogg is the son of a famous editor of the London Times (in the days when such editors were luminaries and persons of substance). He had been memorably called the Honourable Member for the 19th Century.

2. Another political wunderkind was sidelined when the French electorate turned against the hard-right Rassemblement national of Marine Le Pen. The mid-summer snap election went off the rails, delivering an unexpected swing to the left as well as a hung parliament. Jordan Bardella (29), Madame Le Pen's more Instagrammable front man, had been groomed to become prime minister. Not so. In some ways it was tempting to see Bardella as a junior version of Rees-Mogg, youthful looking and parvenu at the same time, both over-eager. Gone for now.

The good vibe ended there. President Emmanuel Macron ignored the outcome of the election and, after much hand-wringing and obfuscation, appointed an ageing conservative to be his new PM, Michel Barnier. Neither may last long.

Wall of shame at the 'duty-free' (Costa del Sol Airport, Spain, 2023)

3. The Geneva-based World Health Organization went out of its way to remind us about some of the great evil-doers of our age. Tobacco, ultra-processed foods, fossil fuels and alcohol cause a quarter of all deaths in Europe, the WHO said. (2)

“Today, we provide indisputable evidence of harmful commercial practices and products and we say people must take precedence before profit, always.” Hans Kluge, WHO Europe

No big news there, and the list of corporate bad actors and transnational manipulators is far from exhaustive, but it bears repeating. Every little bit of political pushback helps. In the US, more local governments (including California) are prosecuting oil majors and plastics manufacturers not only for the damage they do but for deceiving the (gullible) public about such things as recycling - a myth, according to the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta, perpetuated by Exxon Mobil, among others.

Hohoho.

Latest version. (Screenshot company website)

4. Talking about pushback, I was interested to see families of one recent school shooting in the US suing companies which, they assert, help gun makers promote their weapons to 'insecure (…) socially vulnerable' adolescent boys.

On May 24, 2022, an eighteen year old former student used an AR-15 assault rifle to kill nineteen children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Earlier in the day he had shot his grandmother in the face, apparently a premeditated act.

Lawsuits have been filed against Meta, the parent company of Instagram, and against Activision Blizzard (Microsoft owned), the developer of 'Call of Duty', a military video game favoured by the killer. The company prides itself of bringing "unrivalled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy".

As for the manufacturer of the gun used in the assault, it is also being sued. Daniel Defense is a family owned company based in Georgia. ("Freedom. Passion. Precision")

Daniel Defense online shopping website. (Screenshot)

This is not the first time families of children murdered in their schools sue companies they hold responsible for facilitating gun violence. The Uvalde families have also promised legal action against police officers. Local police were heavily criticized for their slow, timorous and chaotic response to the assault.

5. Personal or corporate responsibility for illicit content on social media and messaging apps remains a hot potato. So I took notice when Pavel Durov (39), the founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested in Paris in August. French police were waiting for Durov when he arrived in Paris from Baku, Azerbaijan, on a private jet. Investigators wanted to know about online criminal activity on Telegram, his global messaging platform with roots in Russia and almost a billion users, some of whom are said to be particularly unsavoury. Nothing to do with me, Durov told the police, but he was held for four days, prevented from leaving France and required to post bail of five million euros. He holds French citizenship. The investigation continues.

Hohoho. Has Elon Musk been to France recently?

__________________________________________

(1) Sever do Vouga is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Aveiro, north of Coimbra and south of Porto. Population around 12,000 (declining). Coordinates: 40°44′N - 8°22′W .

(2) https://www.politico.eu/article/world-health-organization-government-tobacco-food-fossil-fuels-alcohol-europe-deaths-harm/

[dankusner]

Whitewashed Uvalde report is yet another affront to the victims

I can’t stop thinking about the poor people of Uvalde.

Haven’t they suffered enough?

How much more pain and insult are the beleaguered residents of the 15,000-person town in Southwest Texas supposed to take?

Many of these people lost children or other loved ones in a gruesome massacre nearly two years ago.

Can they at least hold onto some of their dignity?

That is tough to do when you’re told that something you know to be true — and what other government entities, including the U.S. Justice Department, confirm is true, i.e., that law enforcement botched its response to the tragedy — is not really true at all.

The shattered Uvalde community can’t put itself back together, because it is being denied the one thing that will allow it to heal: closure.

And that’s the rub.

There can’t be closure without truth and accountability.

We won’t find either of those things in the 182-page report — or, as CNN’s Jake Tapper called it, “whitewash” — prepared by independent investigator Jesse Prado.

Hired by city officials to evaluate the response of local law enforcement to the tragedy, the retired Austin police detective was supposed to clear the fog. Instead, he created more.

The media has already done most of Prado’s job for him. Here’s what we know.

On May 24, 2022, a gunman named Salvador Ramos walked into Robb Elementary School, which he had once attended.

The 18-year-old had a history of psychological and emotional problems.

This being Texas, that means he might have had trouble voting but no problem obtaining a military-style AR-15 assault rifle capable of leveling a village.

In the end, 19 children — most of them fourth-graders who were 10 or 11 years old — were killed, as were fourth-grade teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles.

According to media reports, the teachers appear to have died trying to shield students from gunfire.

Sadly, that was pretty much the extent of the heroism on display that day.

Despite being armed to the teeth, the 376 law enforcement officers who descended on the scene from seven agencies acted like cowards.

That includes dozens of the fabled Texas Rangers, who were revealed to be — as they say down in the Lone Star State — “all hat and no cattle.”

I bet that if Garcia and Mireles had even 1 percent of the firepower the cops had, they would have put it to better use.

And this story might have had a different ending.

Law enforcement officers dawdled outside the school for 77 minutes before a special tactical unit of the U.S. Border Patrol finally stormed one of the classrooms and killed Ramos.

According to the report, which Prado presented to a packed City Council meeting, local law enforcement officials acted in “good faith.”

So he cleared them of all wrongdoing.

Incensed, the victims’ families denounced the report and once again demanded accountability.

Some of the officers involved in the debacle have already resigned or been fired.

That includes Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez, who was on vacation when the mass shooting took place.

This week, Rodriguez announced he is leaving.

But the families want — and deserve — much more.

They want some of the cops arrested and prosecuted, perhaps for criminal negligence.

Because Ramos was Mexican American, and so were almost all the victims, I have assumed from the beginning that race and ethnicity were part of the reason that police on the scene were slow to act.

Some will consider this accusation offensive.

But I hear the same thing all the time from other Mexican Americans when the subject of the Uvalde massacre comes up.

Americans have seen other school shootings — including one at a Christian school in Nashville in March 2023, in which three children and three adults died — where the victims were mostly white.

In those instances, police have moved faster to resolve the situation.

Still, now that an ex-cop has gone out of his way to exonerate other cops, I think this debacle is about a lot more than just race and ethnicity.

It’s about how cozy the power structure is in small towns, and how simple working-class people without connections or leverage rarely get a fair shake.

And it’s about how — in an alpha male state like Texas — what garners respect is strength and power and wealth, and how folks in Uvalde are 0 for 3.

It’s true what they say. The cover-up can indeed be worse than the crime.

And in Uvalde, both are horrendous.

[coloradocharmiegirl]

I live in the Denver area. We've had more than our share of mass shootings--schools (Columbine and 3 others I can think of that ended up with at least one non-shooter death), theaters (Aurora theater), grocery stores (Boulder), malls, and churches. We learn from each one, and our community still grieves--years and years later.

Law enforcement in the state have been trained and are expected to go the fuck in after an active shooter. That wasn't the case with Columbine (1999) but has been the practice since. We were all dumbfounded at what we are hearing out of Uvalde, with police failing to engage, failing to go in. It is cowardly, and feels disrespectful of all the lessons so many of us have already paid so incredibly much to learn.

Our elementary schools once had open secondary doors, but they've been locked to the outside with key-card entry since Sandy Hook in 2012--10 years ago already. (You can push them open from the inside at any time, so no fire safety concerns.)

I served on our school district's safety committee for years, and in the immediate aftermath of Sandy Hook we worked once again with law enforcement to see what they needed from us to prevent a repeat in our schools. They told us "2 minutes, we need an extra 2 minutes to get to you." It is chilling to think about really, that 2 minutes could literally be the only thing it took. But that answer--2 minutes--was predicated on police running IN, not away, and not standing around. And we found a way, with fortified glass and a buzzer for entry, to give law enforcement those few extra minutes. It's imperfect, and a little costly but I felt better knowing my kids at least had a chance if the worst happened.

My youngest graduated from high school yesterday, and marvelled that she made it through alive. What a sad commentary on this country's failure to protect its children and other citizens.

Every child--everyone--in this country deserves better.

[burningtacozombie]

Danny Pino On His Directorial Debut In ‘Mayans M.C.,’ The Show’s Vocal Fan Base, And All Of That Newly Wild Hair

Mayans M.C. launched four years ago in the shadow of Sons Of Anarchy. It’s now 2022, and everything has not only changed within this world but also within this FX franchise. The spinoff’s now in the thick of Season 4 with Elgin James pulling sole showrunner duties (Kurt Sutter left the building long ago), and Danny Pino, who portrays drug lord Miguel Galindo, now takes the director’s seat for the first time. This move has been a long time coming for him, given that Pino’s done a lot of Hollywood time. That includes a recent return to a beloved role for Law & Order: SVU‘s 500th episode along with more fearsome characters, not only in Mayans but also The Shield.

In Mayans, however, Pino’s character (who is, at times, both unspeakably ruthless and empathetic) has taken quite a turn. No longer is he simply the Ivy League-educated prodigal son of the Santo Padre drug trade. Rather, he’s heavily bearded and hiding out in a convent after leaving his luxurious life (and Michael Corleone-esque ways) behind. He’s on the run from everyone; his wife has also run away after he attempted to poison her out of vengeance for her betrayal and let’s just say that Miguel’s life is messy. Ain’t no drama like biker-related drama is what I always say.

While Miguel’s (relatively) sidelined, Danny Pino has gearing up to direct, and now, he’s doing it on his own for Season 4, Episode 8. It’s a heck of an episode, too, after the death of a fan-favorite biker and as the Mayans and Sons engage in war, this time for real. Danny was kind enough to speak with us (shortly after the devastating Texas school shooting in Uvalde) about his realization of his long-running directorial plan and how he dealt with all of that unfamiliar hair.

Full interview under the cut!

Hey Danny, thanks for talking about Mayans with me today. I know that we’ve all got this shadowy cloud hanging over us.

Of course. And thank you for bringing that up, and I agree. Everything else seems trivial.

And we’re all struggling to find words to process this.

Unfortunately, it feels like, you know, it doesn’t seem like words are getting to the right people so that we can fix this epidemic that we have going on. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking, sometimes you can get lulled into thinking that it’s hopeless, but it’s not. We have the power to change it.

And of course, now I have to awkwardly change the subject.

Yeah. [Laughs] Yes, yes.

So, this episode that you directed, whoa, it looks great. I was taken aback at how beautiful the lighting is and striking the shots are. It felt like I was watching Ozark but had no trouble seeing everything without cranking up the brightness.

Thank you very much for that. It gives me an opportunity to quite literally shed light on the first person who makes every frame a piece of art. And that is Vanessa Joy Smith, who started off as a camera operator on Mayans in Season 1, and then moved into the cinematographer position and just flourished. So to be able to create those frames with her and think about what those scenes would look like, I had the advantage of not only being on the show, obviously as an actor, but also Elgin James encouraged me to shadow him and other directors on our show over the course of the last few years. He knew that I had an interest and a passion to tell stories and to direct and to expand my artistic expression and to continue to challenge myself as an artist. And I think that he probably recognized some of himself in that, and opened up many doors to me, to the department heads. And allowed me to ask them questions and one of those people was Vanessa. To tag along and ask her questions about what her taste for film and television and to watch things that she enjoyed watching, a long list of recommended material that Elgin suggested, that he derived some of his inspiration from, whether it was old-school film to some Asian films and Chinese cinema…

That Asian influence really comes through in this episode’s battle scenes.

… and really getting an understanding of that and applying it to the script that I was lucky to inherit when I was assigned Episode 408. Nobody really knew what that meant. We just knew that was the eighth episode in the fourth season because the storylines hadn’t really been broken yet. So we didn’t really know what all was going to land in Episode 408. It turns out that I received a huge gift in the depth and also the action, the kinetic energy in the episode. I got very fortunate with that combination of emotion and action, and it was really up to me and try not to mess it up. [Laughs] And to rely on the incredible ensemble of actors and equally incredibly talented and artistic crew. And editors to collaborate on telling the story.

What an episode to direct, too. The Sons of Anarchy are at war with the Mayans, who are sending a message to Charming. That feels like a lot of pressure for you?

I think fear is a great motivator. But it certainly helps to feel supported in every way from Elgin to the studio to our network, FX, and like I said, this cast and this crew. Having worked with them for the last three seasons and having built friendships and relationships, artistic and otherwise, to be able to collaborate on something that means so much to all of us. We all have skin in this game, and so I knew I wasn’t alone. And so sure, there was some intimidation, but more than that, it was excitement to be able to tell this particular story.

I know you can’t tell me any spoilers, but hey, is Miguel okay after this episode?

[Laughs]

C’mon, could you give me any reassurance here?

You know, Kimberly, I respect you too much to… tip my hand in any way, but I will say that our writers, specifically Elgin James, has a way of writing himself into a corner, only to kick through the wall.

That’s very cryptic. You’ve got me really wondering here.

[Laughs]

Let’s talk about your transformation. It’s a very new look for Miguel. With the facial hair and the new hair, how much of that was makeup?

Oh none of it, none of it was makeup.

Because you recently showed up on Law and Order: SVU‘s 500th episode looking, well, not like you do in Mayans right now, so that’s impressive.

No, I mean, all the hair was mine. The sunburn and the sunspots and the beating down of what Miguel has been doing at the convent, that was makeup. But the hair, the facial hair and the locks were all mine, which my wife protested vociferously about it, and nobody was happier when I cut it all off and shaved than she was. But I had to give her one last flavor of rebellion. I told her I would shave, but she came home to a handlebar mustache.

Oh nooooo.

You know, you gotta keep things interesting in a marriage.

Well, now I’m very distracted by that.

[Laughs]

Are you going to post a picture of the mustache on Twitter?

I’ll keep the anticipation… buoyant.

Speaking of social media, this show’s fans are enthused and very vocal. How much attention do you pay to that?

I really enjoy our fandom. They’re smart, they’re sarcastic. The anticipation they have for every episode, they’re prognosticating as to what will eventually befall certain characters. It’s amusing and sometimes very accurate. I don’t ever give that up, I don’t like to put spoilers out there, but oftentimes on shows, there’s a feeling that you are performing in a vacuum. Unlike live theater, where you get immediate feedback, and the experience of shooting something months before and having it edited/sculpted and finally having people see it. And to get on social media and to hear that people are enjoying it. There’s something very gratifying about that, and to be able to have a dialogue with people who appreciate all the work and time and effort and the emotion that goes into it. The ownership of the material that goes into it.

Almost ironically, Miguel is almost on an island to himself, so to speak, this season. I talked to you before Season 2, and you mentioned how everybody asked if you were gonna ride, and you said that you only rode in a Maybach, and Miguel is very far from that Maybach now. I imagine you’re still seeing the usual suspects, even though you’re not in scenes with them?

It’s a strange dichotomy to be honest because while Miguel is isolated and certainly the faces of the actors who I was working with this season were new to me and to Miguel. I’ve never spent more time on set with this cast and this crew as I did this season. From prepping Episode 1 of Season 4 with Elgin and being there right alongside him, shadowing him. Spending time on set and asking questions and observing to having out with the cast. Miguel didn’t make an appearance until Episode 4 this season, but I was on set throughout every episode leading up to that. Every day, all day, which is very rare for any actor. In general, an actor shows up when he or she is called. They get in makeup and hair and they shoot however many scenes they have, and then they go home. The crew continues to shoot, but as a shadowing director, I was there from dark to dark. Even then, the crew is generally there an hour before call time, and an hour after wrap, putting things away. It was very eye-opening for me. I mean, I knew this, and I’ve spent enough time in the industry to know that intellectually, The hours involved, but to feel it physically, viscerally, along with the crew and to observe that. The irony is that Miguel isn’t seen for the majority of this season, but I certainly felt much more present as a member of this ensemble and this crew.

We’re running short on time, but I wanted to say that I just realized you and Emilio Rivera were in an SVU episode together. And it feels like everyone has guest-starred on that show.

Yeah, and Emilio and I actually go back to The Shield.

The timelines are all kinds-of crossed right now! You were a baddie on The Shield.

Emilio and I played brothers, and that was one of the first things I did in Los Angeles and in front of the camera. I was in a conservatory theater program and done mostly stage work, and one of the first things I did in Los Angeles was to work with Emilio, and then one of the next things we did together was to work on SVU. But we’ve always had this kind-of shorthand because we came up together, so the relevance of us being on Mayans and working so closely together, especially when Alvarez and Galindo were quite literally working together , there were a lot of layers in that experience. He’s one of those guys, when Emilio calls, I’m there.

He’s a class act. And hey, I’m looking forward to seeing the social media reaction to your episode next week.

Thank you, Kimberly. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the episode. We certainly spent a lot of time on it. There was a lot of love and effort put into it.

[rosethornewrites]

About Highland Park

I’ve been thinking about this since July 4, and I guess I just need to write it out.

I’m from Chicagoland, going back generations. After the Highland Park shooting, I was frantically getting in contact with those I knew who may have been there. No one I knew was even there, as far as I know now. 

It’s certainly not the first time I’ve frantically waited for news. The university where I teach was locked down some years ago twice. Once because someone in the rec center heard a bang and someone yell “gun!” (which was likely actually “run;” I wasn’t on campus at the time and watched it all on CNN), and the other time because someone got a little too into the Humans vs Zombies LARP game going on and dressed like a Walking Dead character and painted a nerf gun black. That time I holed up in my office, but colleagues had students sobbing in classrooms.

I was 16 when Columbine happened, when the safety of school was shattered, when millennials were promised “never again.” I privately refer to Gen Z as the mass shooting generation, since so many of them have grown up with school attendance being Russian roulette, literally, and now even public events are sus. I have students, every year, who are survivors of mass shooting events, who know someone who was killed, especially since there was one an hour away a few years back at a middle school.

Every semester, the first day I walk into a new classroom I come up with a game plan in the case of a mass shooter. How I can barricade the door, for instance.

I also grew up on Mister Rogers, who told us that when bad things happen, look for the helpers, trying to help us cope with dark events.

It’s sometimes hard to find them, particularly after the official “helpers” of Uvalde failed so miserably and are now harassing at least one parent who saved her kids herself.

But Highland Park gives us a helper during what has been a very dark... uh, decade? Two? I’ve lost count, to be honest, and hope is in pretty short supply.

Imagine, someone is shooting from an unknown location, bullets whizzing, and you see a toddler you don’t know under the body of a dying man (later we’ll learn it was his father, his mother also killed). At great risk to yourself, you pry the toddler out from under the dead mass of an adult body and carry him to safety, every moment delaying your own safety, risking your own life.

They say that the children at the parade led their parents in escaping, having been through mass shooting drills in their schools since kindergarten.

There have been other stories, other shootings, where people have risked or given their own lives to take down a gunman. And frankly, in an ideal world (nation) this would be a non-issue. We wouldn’t have over 300 mass shootings with 6 more months of the year to go.

I can’t do anything to stop mass shootings. Even voting--my state has been gerrymandered red for the last 2 decades--does nothing. What is a sociological problem has been made into a political issue because guns and the Second Amendment (which specifies a well-regulated militia) are a major lobby.

All I can do is look for the helpers, and comfort my students, and personally avoid events that could be targets, which is fairly dismal, and it’s really the only ray of light in the Highland Park massacre.

I don’t know what more anyone else can do, either.

This has been on my mind for days.

[yawn-emoji]

Hey, thank you for your posts about Uvalde. I live in Texas and just graduated from a school that has a history of gun violence (there was a really big tragedy like 50 years ago. It’s better now.) I am lucky to no longer be an in person student at a Texas school, I guess? No one can kill you during a Zoom class because I’m continuing my education. So just… thank you. I have lots of mixed up feelings about everything going on in this state that I despise - I love the land itself but the policies are so backwards it makes your skin scrawl. Thank you.

thank u for sending me this ... yeah its scary to think that a pandemic of all things lessened gun violence and mass shooting and that people had a reason to feel more safe in some respect. this country is a nightmare to live in and im sorry u have to grow up in this way <3

[supernaturalkickparty]

Jim posted this a while ago. It's from Amerie's mother. Her funeral was on Monday if I'm not mistaken.

Written by Amerie Jo Garza's (Uvalde victim) mom:

"The chicken soup in her thermos stayed hot all day while her body grew cold.

She never had a chance to eat the baloney and cheese sandwich. I got up 10 minutes early to cut the crust off a sandwich that will never be eaten.

Should I call and cancel her dental appointment next Wednesday? Will the office automatically know?

Should I still take her brother to the appointment since I already took the day off work? Last time Carlos had one cavity and Amerie asked him what having a cavity feels like.

She will never experience having a cavity.

She will never experience having a cavity filled.

The cavities in her body now are from bullets, and they can never be filled.

What if she had asked to use the bathroom in the hall a few minutes prior to the gunman entering the room, locking the door, and slaughtering all inside?

Was she one of the first kids in the room to die or one of the last?

These are the things they don’t tell us.

Which of her friends did she see die before her?

Hannah?

Emily?

Both?

Did their blood and brains splatter across her Girl Scout uniform?

She just earned a Fire Safety patch.

What if it got ruined?

There are no patches for school shootings.

Was she practicing writing GIRAFFE the moment he walked in her classroom, barricaded the door and opened fire?

She keeps forgetting the silent “e” at the end.

We studied this past weekend, and now she doesn’t need to take the spelling test on Friday.

None of them will take the spelling test on Friday.

There will be no spelling test on Friday.

Because there is no one to give it.

And no one to take it.

These are the things I will never know:

I will never know at what age she would have started her period.

I will never know if she had wisdom teeth.

(Or if they would have come in crooked.)

I will never know who she spoke to last. Was it the teacher? Was it her table partner, George? She says George is always talking, even during silent reading.

Did she even scream?

She screamed the lyrics to We Don’t Talk About Bruno at 7:58 AM as she hopped out of my car in the circle drive.

She always sings the Dolores part, her sister sings Mirabel and I’m Bruno.

“And I wanted you to know that your bro loves you so

Let it in, let it out, let it rain, let it snow, let it goooooo……..”

Did the killer ever see Encanto?

Could we have sat in the same row of seats, on the same day, munching popcorn?

What if Amerie brushed past him in the aisle? Did she politely say, “Excuse me,” to the boy who would someday blow her eye sockets apart?

Was he chomping on bubble gum as he destroyed them all?

If so, what flavor?

Cinnamon?

Wintergreen?

Was the radio on as he drove to massacre them? Or did he drive in silence?

Was the sun in his eyes as he got out of the car in the parking lot?

Did his pockets hold sunglasses or just ammunition?

These are the things I will never know.

There is laundry in the dryer that is Amerie’s.

Clothes I never need to fold again.

Clothes that are right now warmer than her body.

How will I ever be able to take them out of the dryer and where will I put them if not back in her dresser?

I can never wash clothes in that dryer again.

It will stand silent; a tomb for her pajamas and knee socks.

Her cousin’s graduation party is next month and I already signed her name in the card. Should I cross it out?

That will be the last card I ever sign her name to.

The dog will live longer than she will.

The dog will be 12 next month and she will be eternally 10.

What will the school do with her backpack?

It was brand new this year and she attached her collection of keychains like cherished trophies to its zipper.

A beaded 4 leaf clover she made on St. Patty’s Day.

A red heart from a Walk-a-Thon.

A neon ice cream cone from her friend’s birthday party.

Now there will be no more keychains to attach.

No more trophies.

Surely they can’t throw it out?

Would they throw them all out?

19 backpacks, full of stickered assignments and rainboots, all taken to the dumpster behind the school?

Is there even a dumpster big enough to contain all that life?

These are the things someone else knows:

The moment the semiautomatic rifle was put into his hands--was “Bring Me a Higher Love” playing in the gun store? “Get off my Cloud” by the Rolling Stones? Maybe it was Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

Did the Outback Oasis salesperson hesitate as they slid him 375 rounds of ammunition?

not my problem my kids are grown and out of school

Or I don’t have kids, so I don’t have to worry about their skulls getting blown across the naptime mat

Or fingers crossed there’s a good guy with an equally powerful gun that will stop this gun if needed

Did they sense any danger or were they more focused on picking that morning’s Raisin Bran out of their teeth?

My Nana used to say, “Pay attention to what whispers, and you won’t have to when it starts screaming.”

But now I know there is a more deafening sound than children screaming.

More horrific even, than automatic rifles on a Tuesday morning.

I beg the world:

Pay attention to what’s screaming today, or be forced to endure the silence that follows."

[thatbipolargirl]

5-30-2022

I know I haven't written in awhile, but life has gotten in the way. My Aunt Rita died on Tuesday, May 3rd at 1:04 in the morning after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. My Uncle Jim died of the same thing in 2008, so it could possibly be hereditary. Aunt Rita didn't suffer much, not nearly as much as Uncle Jim. Either way though, pancreatic cancer is an absolutely horrific way to die. My mom has been having severe pain underneath her left shoulder since the day of Aunt Rita's funeral on May 6th. It got so serious, she even went to the ER in Brookfield on Monday, May 9th thinking she was having a heart attack. The pain radiates around her side, so that is why she thought it was her heart. It wasn't thankfully. At first they thought it was gallstones, which she does have, but now they think it is arthritis. I was worried it was pancreatic cancer because that can cause all kinds of weird symptoms, but I think they've ruled that out. She is supposed to have an MRI of her back (and also an Upper GI for the gallstones). They did an ultrasound of the gallstones several weeks ago, but the doctor said it wasn't causing her pain. He said the biggest one was about 3/4 of an inch big, but it isn't blocking anything such as the bile duct, and a person generally only has pain if they start to move or if they are blocking a duct. So hopefully we will find out answers after her MRI. I'm worried about her, and I hate it that she's in any kind of pain whatsoever. Sometimes the pain gets so bad she can't sleep, which is just awful.

Addie had her baby on April 14th. It is a little boy and his name is Ashton Luke. He's thriving and seems to be such a sweet baby. We went to a Women's Rally in Maryville at the Nodaway County Courthouse on May 14th, and I got to hold him for a little while. It is so wonderful to cradle such an innocent soul and think about all the possibilities for him throughout his (hopefully) very long life. The reason they held the rally was because the US Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, which scares the hell out of me! I personally won't be affected, but millions and millions of women in this country will be, including all three of my nieces. I can't believe women are still fighting after 50 years of Roe being basically settled law. However, more than half of the states have been chipping away at reproductive rights since Roe was won, including Missouri. I literally don't know what to do to help women in the US, so I went to the rally and donated to both NARAL and Planned Parenthood. It would be nice to become a member of some kind of underground railroad for women seeking abortion, but as of now I haven't been made aware of one since abortion is still legal in most states at least for the next month when SCOTUS officially delivers their decision. Oh, also I donate to the Missouri Abortion Fund through Amazon Smile, so every purchase I make on Amazon goes to them. It is just pennies on the dollar for each transaction, but a little is better than nothing.

There have been a lot of mass shootings lately, the most recent one being at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen nine, ten and eleven year olds were killed, along with two teachers. Now gun control is the main topic of the news, and the gun rights advocates are screaming "Second Amenement" at the top of their lungs, while others are screaming for stricter gun laws. All I know is that it is truly scary that I (yes, me) can buy a gun legally in Missouri even with all of my mental health issues. It should not be this way. I have literally had panic attacks thinking about me having a psychotic break, purchasing a gun (or guns) and shooting up a public place. It scares me to death that I could do something like that. It just isn't right that guns have more rights in the United States of America than women do. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that, but it is true.

I started to see a new therapist (yes, again). I think she is my 37th therapist I've had in my life. Her name is Ada Silvey, and she is 80 years old. I thought that would be a problem, but the woman is very sharp and remembers, in detail, every single thing I tell her. My worry now is that she will die after we make good progress, and then I will have to start all over again with a new therapist. Also, I've had recent visions of her dying during an actual session with me, which is scary as hell. She's been quite helpful so far, teaching me a new breathing technique and assisting me with my intrusive thoughts about death and dying and killing other people. I have been both suicidal and homicidal lately. That's why I started therapy again in the first place. I told Dr. Harden about the intrusive thoughts, and all he did was up my Zyprexa from 30mg to 45mg, which took away (most) of the intrusive thoughts, but took away most of my other thoughts as well. I felt like a catatonic zombie for a few days, but I stopped taking the extra Zyprexa, and now I'm feeling a bit better. The intrusive thoughts are back, but they aren't as bad as they were...yet. I need to find a new psychiatrist in St. Joe. Driving to Kirksville is such a pain in the ass. Especially for a fifteen minute appointment that could have been done over the phone. Dr. Harden does allow me to do every other session over the phone, which is nice, but it is harder to tell him the truth when I'm not looking him in the eyes. And I need to be very truthful about these suicidal and homicidal thoughts so I don't become a danger to myself or others. I seriously wish there was a hotline for homicidal thoughts, just like there are suicide hotlines. I'm sure there are many others like me, and that I am not the only one to have these thoughts.

I haven't talked to David in almost two months. He told me another outrageous lie about being raped, and I just quit communicating. I also think he has been talking to Jeanette or another woman while he's talking to me because he sent me a text that wasn't meant for me. I'm sick and tired of his lies -- muggings, hospitalizations, the murder of his best friend and now rape. Not to mention his constant lying about working or looking for work and his lies about drinking. I think I finally got him out of my system, and that there is no way he can redeem himself in my eyes. I have been struggling internally with the existence of fate and soulmates and twin souls since we quit talking. He fucked up what little faith I had in this universe, and now everything just seems so damn random, with no meaning at all when it comes to the big picture of everything. Fuck past lives and future lives and parallel lives. This life is all we get. That's it. End of fucking list. Also, fuck him for destroying my fragile faith. Alcoholic asshole who in no way is amazing to me anymore. I'm done. Finished. He can live out his miserable fucking existence without me, and I hope he suffers every single day for the rest of his life.

Something positive -- I am going to Hermann/Columbia with my mom, Holly, Angela, Callie and Cassidy this weekend. We are touring several wineries in Hermann on Saturday, then spending the night in Columbia and shopping there the next day. The one winery I really wanted to go to is closed for the weekend because of a family wedding. It is the Adam Puchta winery, and I think it is his son (or maybe grandson) that is getting married on the property. The other wineries we are for sure going to are Stone Hill and Hermannhoff. I'm glad Callie and Cass are going so they can drive our drunk asses around! Ha! With as rarely as I drink, I'm sure two glasses of wine will have me lit up like fireworks.

Jeremy hurt his back the other day, and it really frustrates me. He really needs to find a doctor here in town as soon as fucking possible. I'm sure he needs refills on his metformin, and he definitely needs blood tests for his diabetes. I don't even know the last time he had his A1C checked. Or his cholesterol. And now that he's over 40, he needs to start having a prostate exam once a year. Part of the contributing factors to my father's death was prostate cancer, and I'm not losing my husband to something that can so easily be detected and treated. Also, he needs to get a referral to the pain clinic so they can treat his back. No more fucking excuses about it being too expensive either. He has the money, he just doesn't like to spend it on anything that isn't food or video games. But this is his health, and like it or not, he's going to get healthcare or I'm going to go insane.

It is just now 6:30am, and I've already written a small novel today. I'm a little manic from not taking the extra Zyprexa last night. I fell asleep around 11:30 and then Boxxy woke me up at 4:00 this morning. I've got so much shit on my to-do list that I need to end this for now and get fucking busy.

Until then...

[eitherandor-blog]

They Say

I do not know about you but I cannot stop thinking about what happened in Uvalde, Texas.  Yes, it has only been a few days and just happened.  Yes, details and deaths are still forthcoming from the shooting and about the shooter.  However, I do not know what the capacity is to witness, read, and absorb these levels of violence.

Some of what I feel is because the majority of victims were students attending their elementary school.  Mere children who were supposed to finish their school year later this week.  Children who were looking forward to moving onto middle school, to summer, to the rest of their lives.  Teachers too were among those killed.  People who had committed their professional lives to educating and encouraging young minds and personalities to grow.  Their respective families have been reduced exponentially by this tragedy and the loss of their loved ones.  The community which is apparently small and close-knit, has been ravaged by this deadly shooting.  Maybe we all are in some way.

As a parent and guardian, many things have changed in my life.  Almost everything (film, music, even anecdotes) that references and revolves around children affects me deeply.  It does not take much on these topics for me to be rendered a puddle when thinking about the many (MANY) emotions of being a parent, having a child, and seeing little people grow in your life.  Although my child is far from the age of those killed at Robb Elementary, this shooting has personally connected with me.

Perhaps that is due to my identity and privileged existence: I have not known the personal impact of gun violence and only connect with this from the distant experience as a parent.  Guns and violence are things I am more exposed to from TV and film than my everyday.  In my last job, in violence prevention, the majority of the staff I worked with and young people we engaged had firsthand experience with guns.  Whether they had a gun personally, had been shot or shot at, or lost someone to gun violence, it was commonplace for them.  We even had a coworker killed in a domestic incident with their family.  Emotional as it was, the prevalence of guns and gun violence wasn’t all that surprising to my teammates.  This was and still is otherworldly to me.

Within my world, there are people I know who own guns.  Some have a firearm they are assigned to as part of their day jobs.  Others are select friends and family who are interested in hunting.  There may be others who I know who have these weapons for other reasons too.  Me personally?  I have not held a gun and will be content to never touch one in my life.  Whether or not I have a “right” to one, it is not something I ever hope to utilize or require.

I remember that years ago, I learned the US Constitution basics and Bill of Rights.  The Right to Bare Arms was hard for me to comprehend, partially because of the odd wording.   Mostly though because living in suburban Chicago, I did not know what I or my family needed a gun and protection for or from.  (Note: My white and class privilege is showing again even though this was my truth and ignorance growing up!)

Nowadays though, what I keep learning about are active shooter drills.  My career has been filled with transitions and yet in every job, there is discussion about what to do in the event of a shooter.  These have been schools and youth nonprofits- as opposed to some other sector that generally uses firearms- but still we must all be prepared for this possible emergency.  It is another of the many onboarding tutorials staff sit through.  How is it possible that I have become so desensitized to violence that shooting in what is an otherwise peaceful profession is just another training bundled with benefits, payroll, and more that we new employees sit through?  The same thing happens in schools and may be occurring in places of worship and other sites and businesses.

If people think guns are important and some part of the founding of this country, I’ll accept that (not something I agree with or respect but let’s move on).  I will accept that you want to hunt or protect your home, though I think I can hunt for great produce and protect my home by building community with my neighbors (but I digress).  But why or how has the topic of guns become a binary?  

Some questions I cannot answer and truly want to understand: 

-Can’t you own a gun AND want other people that have them to respect the power they wield?  

-Isn’t it a lot easier to protect your home and family if you are not threatened by others raining down on you with semi-automatic weapons?  

-So you want to have a gun- great!  Why do you need a gun, in your home or to hunt an animal that preys on grass and flowers, that was made for war?  Can we agree that semi-automatics and extended magazines should not be available?

-Why do you have a problem with universal background checks?

-I have had developmental stages where I was consumed with video games, running, collecting CDs (which I still do), football, and many more.   Why is it that guns happen to be your “thing”?  Are you open to exploring some other hobby- anything- that does not pose a fatal risk to you and everyone around you?

Anyone is welcome to answer these or add to the list.  I genuinely want to learn.

...

The references to Sandy Hook Elementary School remind me of how much has transpired in ten years time.  There was Emanuel AME church, Pulse, Tree of Life synagogue- most of which feel like they only happened a year or two to go (COVID isn’t helping with the passage of time).  And these are a FRACTION of the mass shootings that have occurred in recent years.  It is hard to keep track of when we have all been surrounded by them all the time.  Which is to say nothing of the “small” shootings where fewer than four people (what defines a mass shooting) are shot and killed but also embedded into the everyday part of living in this country.  My “go-to” source for information, Wikipedia has a list which although it may not be definitive, gives a glimpse into the scope of mass shootings recorded recently in this country.

Which is the thing: this is unique to us in the US.  Many other countries have their fill of issues but guns and gun violence, to this degree, are not among them.  We have more guns than people in this country (and with a population > 330M, that’s a lot) and substantially more gun owners than any other country.  Considering those are just what are known and registered (and separate from military weaponry), the true numbers may balloon when viewing the full landscape of guns (legally and illegally obtained) throughout the country.  

Other countries have had issues with gun violence.  However they reign it in- usually in response to one mass shooting- outlawing guns, making them far less accessible, or simply in prioritizing people above them.  I know there is money all over our political system and the NRA is no exception lobbying to maintain gun rights and teach gun safety.  

Even so, there are individual actors, people, who are making decisions that are not in the best interests of their constituents and communities time and again.  There are also plenty of individuals around the country who support the free range policies that abound around our guns.

There is an eerie truth about who the shooters are.  Disproportionately, well over 90% of the time, the shooters of these events identify as men.  Maybe we just need to ban cis men and boys from owning guns(!). The most recent examples in Uvalde and Buffalo were committed by 18 year olds.  I do not know how anyone can inflict these levels of harm on others but that seems like a detail we should pay attention to and correct.  Teenagers killing others is a red flag if I ever saw one- and they are too often among those pulling the trigger.

Which means we have to double down and do more.  Reach out to your politicians and representatives to guarantee they are listening and taking this seriously.  More than that though, reach out to the people in your life.  Whether or not they have a gun themselves, there are millions of people in this country who either value gun rights above all else or value other things more but vote for the politicians who support gun rights all the same.  Because if the majority of voters, all voters, said they cared about gun reform with their words and by their votes, we would have different politicians and different policies.

Those policies are not demanding we have more officers in schools or armed teachers.  When we as a country are still trying to figure out the inequity and injustice among our law enforcement, this does not seem practical.  Arming teachers..so that every school room has a gun?  So when a classroom is unruly there is a lethal weapon to threaten or that a student can easily acquire?  From what we are learning and trying to process: it took over an hour for on-site law enforcement to enter the classroom in Uvalde.  This is perplexing and should be an indication that having more armed adults is not a solution to the violence.

There are the beliefs that it is simply about mental health.  Among the unending list of shooters and mass shootings, there are a spectrum of perpetrators.  Some have mental health diagnoses and others do not.  The research and data indicate that mental health statistics are not grossly more in the US than any other country, so hard to imagine this being the culprit.  It is worth noting that Governor Abbott thinks the mental health is what should be prioritized one month after cutting more than $200M to the state department that presides over mental health programs.  It’s important now: what about for every other shooting?  Mental health programming is underfunded, possibly everywhere in the world, and will be beneficial to be better prioritized (and necessary in Uvalde and all schools going forward).  That should always be the case instead of a reflexive response to shootings that have nothing to do with mental health.

We need to redefine what sets the USA apart from other countries.  We used to talk like the “American Dream” existed for all people living here, but I think time has proven that a myth and opportunity for the privileged few.  For a country that has already had more mass shootings than days in the year, I think it is pretty clear what the country believes and supports.  None of that is something I accept, am good with, or will continue to endure.  They can say whatever they want.  I’m done talking.

(This blog title “They Say” comes after a song of the same name by Raye Zaragoza.  I learned about Raye from her Tiny Desk concert here.  You can listen to the song and several others in the performance.)

[ruminativerabbi]

Uvalde

The simple, and so-very-satisfying, way to deal with the Uvalde shooting is to wave it away as the irrational act of a crazy person. And there is, as there always is, something deeply appealing to that approach. Who but a truly insane individual, after all, could bring a loaded weapon to an elementary school and start shooting, apparently randomly, at the children and teachers present? (That the shooter started off his day by shooting his own grandmother only makes it easier and simpler to explain the school shooting as the act of a deranged person.) But is that really all there is to say?

In crime novels, the perpetrator is generally located through some thoughtful application of the cui bono rule. Those Latin words, originally spoken in this context by Cicero more than two thousand years ago, mean “to whom does it benefit” and supposes that, because people generally commit crimes because they expect to reap some sort of benefit from their actions, perpetrators can often be identified by figuring out who stood to profit from the crime. According to this line of thinking, jewel thieves generally steal jewels because they want them but can’t afford to purchase them honestly. The murder of people about to appear as witnesses in court can be supposed to have something to do with the person they were going to testify about wishing to keep them from doing that thing. Arsonists set fire to buildings because they believe they will somehow benefit from that specific edifice burning to the ground—and out-of-control pyromaniacs are merely the exceptions that prove the rule. And now we get to the point: since the police have yet to uncover any specific way that the shooter can possibly have imagined that his terrible act would benefit himself or, for that matter, anyone at all, it feels reasonable to wave this horror away as the insane act of a crazy person. Doesn’t that feel logical?

Maybe not so much. Would you have the courage to tell one of the bereaved parents that this was just a bad thing that happened, that crazy people do crazy things all the time, that there is no one to blame because the shooter is dead and there is no one else to blame? And what of the shooter’s own family? To know that your son’s name will live on in infamy as the murderer of innocent children has to be unbearable, as no less so must also be the knowledge that, not only is your son dead, but the overwhelming majority of citizens think that’s a good thing, that he deserved to die, that even had he survived he should have been sentenced to death and then executed by the state—would you comfort them by explaining that their son was crazy and that no other explanation is called for or needed?

Statistics provide no comfort at all. About thirty-five Americans die every single day of the year from gun violence. Americans own about six times as many guns per capita as, say, Germans, but have thirty times as many gun murders on an annual basis. Comparisons with other countries are even more unsettling: Americans own about six times as many guns per person as Spaniards, but there are in these United States three hundred times as many gun murders per year as there are in Spain. Are Americans simply more violent and prone to gun-based crime than other nations? Is there such thing as a national predilection for violence that can be brought to bear to explain events like Uvalde or Buffalo? Or is such a thing just a made-up fantasy promulgated by people eager to explain away this never-ending carnage as something indelibly stamped on our national character, thus as something we have to live with despite its obvious undesirability, something like the way blind people  have no choice but to learn how to cope in the world without being able to see?

I have never been able to understand how the specific words the Second Amendment uses to permit citizens to formed “well-regulated” armed militias to defend their cities and states can magically be made to mean that teenagers with no training in gun safety have the right to buy assault rifles even though they specifically do not belong to any sort of state-run militia, well-regulated or otherwise. So I won’t even begin to go there. I understand I am fully out of step with the way the text has come to be read. But, unburdened as I am with any actual training in constitutional law, I simply do not see anywhere in the language of that amendment anything even remotely related to the issue at hand.

And so that leads me to my next question: is it possible that there simply is nothing to do to stem these kinds of mass shootings, events so numerous in our nation that no one can keep them straight any longer or remember precisely which shooter goes with which event? In an article I read a few years ago by Nicholas Kristoff, the author argued that what’s needed is a national approach to gun safety based on our very successful efforts to make driving cars safer. And, at the face of things, there is something to recommend that approach: by introducing more and more safety features in automobiles (seat belts, air bags, etc.), we have managed to lower the rate of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles by six-sevenths since 1946. That number would be amazing under any circumstances. But to note that we reduced automobile fatalities by 85% without outlawing cars or making them impossible to acquire or use is beyond amazing. Kristoff’s essay very interesting and I recommend it to you all. (Click here to see the updated version published on the Times’ website earlier this week.) But it’s also a cosmetic solution—something worth exploring and putting into action, but still an approach that wants to alleviate the symptoms because it seems impossible to cure the disease. Doctors do this all the time, of course, and who, if we are dealing with a terminally ill patient, would object to a doctor focusing on the effort to make the symptoms of that patient’s disease easier to bear? But—in medicine as in life—the first choice will always be to cure the disease and not merely to alleviate the symptoms.

So what would that mean on a national level for our stricken country as the blood of murdered innocents yet again seeps into our American soil? That is the question I think American should be asking themselves today.

The ultimate answer, who knows? But I don’t think there is no point in trying to think this through—and specifically not with reference to making guns safer and harder to steal. (Those would be too good things. But neither speaks to the real issue at hand.) Instead, we need to repair our cavalier American approach to the value of human life…and then seriously discuss the price we are prepared to pay to live lives in sync with that approach. In our cultural milieu, being “pro-life” means being opposed to abortion either entirely or mostly. (I’ll write about that some other time.) But what if we were somehow to nudge society along to the point at which the inviolate sanctity of human life was paramount in the minds of all as the bedrock foundation upon which the national ethos rests, and not just as a handy slogan to push one specific approach to one specific issue? What if it were to become natural and normal to do everything conceivable—with no exceptions at all—to safeguard the lives of the children in our schools? Or if it started to go without saying that the willful taking of another person’s life was never, and not under any circumstances, to be explained away with reference to the circumstances of the murder or the mindset of the murderer, but instead was considered, as an offense against the living and against God? What if we taught our children truly to believe that human life is of inestimable value—by which I mean that its value cannot be calculated in terms of money—and then enacted legislation based on that assumption? What if the notion that you can effectively express political or personal rage by buying an automatic weapon and then discharging it in a public place were to be so totally anathemized that only the truly deranged—and not the merely angry or disgruntled—would even consider expressing themselves in such a way? If we as a society were to find the courage to answer all or even just some of these questions, we’d be on our way to restoring the secure decency of our lives in this place.

There is no way to make the world totally and absolutely safe. But there are nations where the chances of being killed by a violent maniac holding a loaded gun are basically infinitesimal when compared to our own nation. It can, therefore, be done. And, that being the case, the only real question is whether we have the national will to do it.