Some days shit just isn't funny. There is no way to humorize school shootings, so some days anger and outrage is required. Our country's fetishization of guns, and specifically the official gun of mass shooters, stops me in my tracks of human absurdities. I cannot square this circle, and for that I am grateful because it informs me that I have not lost my humanity.
I agree. I was noticing that just before my daughter is getting ready to leave or return to the country from Europe where she is now going to University, there is a mass shooting somewhere. Tonight this was a discussion of an article in The Atlantic, why parenting in the wealthiest country in the world is so hard, and one part of that is the shooting. Then while I was still in Europe a few weeks ago, the Guardian published this. Every mass shooting in the USA since 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/27/us-mass-shootings-database
What I did then, was look up Chicago, where I live when I am in the USA, and I saw that on June 20, 2023, there were 75 people shot and 13 killed. However, if you look at the above chart it does not even show any killings in Chicago, which means that there were no shootings that killed 4 or more people in one setting.
In fact, it says 51 separate incidents. So, I am not a happy camper. I try to explain this stuff to my friends in Germany, especially when they go on about the crime they face, and how bad things have gotten, and I just know that it is apples and oranges. I am upset each time. When the shooter in Prague killed several people, we were reading everything we could about it. It is a rarity there so it got European press attention. I know that every time 75 people are shot in Chicago and killed they do not make the national news let alone global. When I looked at images of parents picking their children up from the school where the shooting was in Iowa I saw a lot of Hispanic families, and I wondered whether there was a meat packing plant near there. I guess I was stereotyping, but I was also knowing that these parents in many cases came to the USA to raise their children in relative safety, so this just adds to the distress. The USA is number 131 on the world peace scale. One of the reasons I am in Germany a lot, is because even though it has high crime relative to many of the countries around it, it is still number 15 on the world peace scale. See this and scroll to pages 8 and 9.
This is why I say we should be offering Icelandic in all of our schools, because in addition to being tuition free for anyone attending their universities, the crime rate is low, low, low.
Actually, I REALLY appreciate your dealing with this topic. I saw only one very, very brief mention of it in MSM. It is mind-blowing, and really makes me wonder about leaving this insane country.
I'm getting worn out. I'll be 71 in a couple of months. If the Orange Sadist wins, I'm outta here. I do everything in my Parkinsonian aged power to support Dems -- little donations every month for quite a while now to all of the Dems running against pugs in November; Act Blue; explaining to young people that not to vote means a vote for the O.S. (a new concept to a lot of people). But I'm tired. When I could, I organized many busloads of people to go Nixon's Counter-Inauguration, and to protest the VN war in D.C.; wrote many editorials re what was actually going on in VN; walked in Civil Rights marches; and joined Black Lives Matter after the massacre here in Charleston, SC at Mother Emmanuel Church in 2015. Needless to say, I will vote. But I'm getting so tired -- physically. I have to leave it to younger people, and pray that there are enough of them to educate others, to spread the word, to save our nation.
Congratulations, on making your voice heard, without being violent.
I , like you am burnt out at 67.
We can't force young people to vote or be involved. They do so at their own peril. They have not lived through Hitler Stalin Mao , they know not the London Blitz, Dresden, Tokyo ,Hiroshima, Nagasaki.
They know not Authoritarian Governments.
So this might be their wake up call? I sincerely doubt it.
Thanks for your good wishes Mark. You are so right that they are too many generations from Stalin Hitler and Mao to know what actually happened 70-80 years ago. You and I were born soon enough afterwards to know what horrors the fascist leaders and governments can wrought. Hundreds of millions of people slaughtered b/o just those three monsters, alone.
Five years ago, my son moved his entire family to Japan. I see him maybe once a year; my three grandchildren even less often. I miss them; but, at least, odds are good that they won't be shot.
Thank you for this one. "If you could have shown an AR15 to any of our nation's founders, they definitely would have shit their breeches and written a completely different second amendment". Half of our fellow citizens are insane.
Yeah, hard to be funny about Another School Shooting, and the realization that we've taken a Constitutional Amendment presented as a way for Americans to protect themselves from everything the Founding Fathers could think of (bigger predators, unionizing workers, foreign invasions, slave rebellions, the population that was here first being fed up at our taking all their land)—and fetishizing it into a death cult thanks to gun manufacturers and their very powerful lobbying group the National Rifle Association. It's not even as if all the guns the gun nuts have would be of any use against a modern invading army—to quote Ian McShane in the final episode of KINGS (a show that deserved to do better than it did), "Typical, your bringing a gun to a tank fight." (Since this was network television, he didn't add "Motherfucker" to the end...sadly.)
I grew up in a gun culture, learned to shoot and take care of a gun when I was eight years old, because that's what you did where I'm from. You also learned when NOT to use a gun—like, to end a disagreement at school or with a neighbor, or because you were in a bad mood and felt shooting a bunch of random people would make you feel better.
Time was, that's what people in a gun culture knew and did, because otherwise it was all just chaos. Nobody in my family would have ever taken a gun to school, even to show off—the one time my younger brother broke into Dad's gun safe and took out his .22 to show off to his friends, Dad came home and whipped him for doing that...and me for not finding out and stopping him! (Not saying it was a BETTER time, just different.)
To me, these near-daily mass shootings have me wondering WTF is WRONG with most Americans. It also has me changing my attitude from "Second Amendment's there for a reason, and it's only a few crackpots" to "You know, the whole idea of a free society with the rights we're granted is that we're all adults here, and can be counted on not to go around making baseless accusations, torturing outsiders, or shooting people just because we feel like it! Maybe too many Americans don't know that these days, and don't DESERVE the right to own a gun, or vote for an orange-faced dictator...."
Right on,the right wing media and messed up misinformation on the internet astounds me.A lot of it is from foreign countries trying everything they can to destroy our democracy.They will say and do anything.Then there is king orange and his Fox News helping him every step of the way!
Sadly, fascism seems to be winning. First we’re too exhausted by mass shootings to react even when they happen in elementary schools, then we’re too exhausted by political violence to react, and then the next coup succeeds. Definitely not funny, yet I think it’s the path we’re on. Definitely needs to be talked about, even in a space where we look for the lunacy to laugh about.
Abbi, please keep in mind that almost every media conglomerate is owned by the right wing. The polls and all the other bogus crap about Trump being viable is not something we should react to. Instead remember that the LGBTQIA community is not going to allow a trip back to the days of shame, women are not going to sit by while abortion rights are removed and book-banning is taking place. I regularly list out Biden’s accomplishments on various chat groups. Memorize a few outstanding ones. Challenge anyone who puts him down. We have the numbers! We won BEFORE the deadly coup, book bans, reversal of roe v wade. I’m not leaving MY country but I will fight to see the Rs implode... it started already!
Jeff, We like funny, but this is one of the most important topics we have. Children won’t have to worry about Climate Change if they’re shot dead in school, will they? A nation that watches school shooting after school shooting and does NOTHING is a very sick nation.
Biden needs to point his finger directly at RescumliCons because they are directly responsible for these deaths! And we also have a responsibility to make ourselves heard about this!
Why should parents have to go to Congress for more than 10 years, with pictures of their children who were slaughtered at school? We must demand that our congressiinal representatives make this a major topic.
Congress right now doesn’t give a damn! They are busy politicizing the Southern border!They refused to sit down and do anything about immigration reform 3 years ago when President Biden first introduced it!Then they refused funding for more border agents to control the border.Now it’s their big priority?Republicans have been herd saying they don’t want to solve anything that will help Biden approval ratings!I thought their job was an oath to uphold the Constitution for we the people,and to help improve things for the people?This is purely political!!!These republicans are a bunch of evil insurrectionists pigs
All true Kimberly! The entire republican party is a group of fascists intent on stealing power for the sake of power. They do not appeal to enough Americans to win so cheating, telling lies, trolling is their desperate ploy to fool the stupid part of the public. They’d rather see citizens die than lose power for themselves. They are also seditionist supporters and therefore should all be removed from public office. But as we’ve seen, we don’t apply the law for certain people.
Just retired after 30 years in public ed and managed to get through it without facing a school shooting. But this fall, my first year of retirement, a former middle school student of mine fired a gun on the high school campus next door. Luckily no one was hit but the high school teaching staff is incensed at how the district handled it. Complete lack of follow up.
As the meme says, thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children. I am so weary of the disgust at the lack of preventative action.
Oh, the excuses are already, of course, making the rounds by the Rs. It amazes me that in a country that the Rs find abortion unacceptable even to save the life of the mother, they'd rather have their fucking guns than think about the massive number of dead children at the end of those barrels.
I believe they are that evil. There was a female Congress woman, I think a Senator, when one of the sets of parents in a big school shooting and they begged Congress to do something. The Senator said it made her sick to her stomach and guess what, she did exactly nothing. And she's probably now managed to build that wall so it doesn't get to her. Fuck her. I do hope there's a hell and she burns in it forever.
At least the Republicans are consistent. They’re always for the death of the all ready living. School children, Women, and political opponents must die.
Yes, pre-check and clear will be available for a fee of $100 and the poor kids and their parents will have to stand in the long rope line. But that’s how Nikki’s world is supposed to work, right?
Nikki said that she will pardon Mango Mussolini because 80 is too old to be in jail. Is she inviting 79-year-olds to go on a crime spree right before their 80th birthday?
Sure sounds like it. Nikki, like most of her fucked up GOP colleagues, seem hellbent on keeping the felonious mango madman out of from where he really belongs. Once again, they don't have a damn thing to offer for the good of our country.
I am so terribly sorry about the death of your child. I know that pain will be with you always. I hope that someday sweet memories will bring some solace. I do want ask: the "little rhyme" you quoted is bone-chilling. Is this for real??
Yes, sadly that rhyme is for real. Similar ones are used across the country. Leaned when I did some research awhile back while writing a short story regarding a school shooting.
Absolutely HORRIFYING!! If I lived in another country and read that poem + knew it was real, I wouldn't even consider visiting -- let alone -- living in that country.
I agree! School authorities try to make young children ready for a shooting by making nursery songs into flight or hide instructions while politicians offer “thoughts and prayers.” It’s a travesty overflowing with horror.
Thank you, Philly, for your compassion. I'm basically o.k, if a bit guarded thanks to existing in the Arts, where expression is encouraged. If only the politicians could feel a tenth of any parent's anguish after losing their child to violence we could start to repair the untold damage.
There are no words that would express my sorrow at your loss. Our children aren’t supposed to predecease us. I truly am sorry for the pain that never really goes away.
Lucinda, that’s the worst part. The popular vote of the last 7 of 8 presidential elections were won by Democrats. The majority vote, the voice of the people, has been quashed over and over again. Our electoral college, gerrymandering and cheating have taken our voices. We need to learn our lesson and take to the streets if republican fascists ever do this again. We will not be allowing trump to win. Every woman, every LGBTQIA member, every author who had books banned will NOT go back EVER! We will push back hard and relentlessly and we WILL win.
We just have to, one decade soon, get enough of a Democratic majority to get rid of the antiquated Electoral College!! The majority of voters hate it & understand that it gives an unfair advantage to the least populace states. We must also expand the scotus. I like Elie Mystal’s suggestions for MAJOR court reform
I strongly suggest everyone read his book “Allow Me To Retort” a black guys guide to the Constitution
Some of those 6 hard-right justices may be on the bench for another 30 to 50 yrs!!!! Lifetime appointment is insanity
Lucinda, you are so right about the destruction this does to the family and even the community. And the culprit, guns, are left untouched. Do we all have to join the National Guard and take care of this gun scourge when the MAGA types march for it & for the death of others? It is an insult, in my mind, to offer useless prayers then do nothing about this horror.
Thank you for your kindness regarding my personal circumstances, which I am often loath to reveal. But when I think of the thousands of parents going through the school shooter episodes I feel like my heart is exploding. When will this madness finally end?
Sending huge hugs and much love your way. I'm so very sorry that you are a member of the worst club ever-- one that no parent would want to join. There are so many of us, and I'm sure like me, your empathy meter is wide and large.
Agreed Jeff!! I have said that since public shooting number 1. The “founding -rich white men-founders” never knew we would develop AKs. They never anticipated that people would use weapons beyond hunting dinner and slaves. They never anticipated after we won our freedom from Britain that the general public would need more weapons than the military. Don’t get me started about assholes who open carry in public let alone the laws allowing violent and mentally ill people to buy as many weapons as they want. We won’t even let our kid have a cap gun because orange or not, some trigger happy fuck will see him in the yard with it and take him out. Let’s look to the countries who HAVE banned weapons or who have successful background check systems like Japan. God forbid we do what’s right rather than greasing the hand putting money in our pockets. This country makes me sick.
And I thank God I’m no longer a classroom teacher. I didn’t get into teaching to take a bullet for my kids though I would’ve. Nor did I get into teaching to carry a gun and take a student out.
My brother and one of his friends had those toy rifles that just shot a blast of air and made a noise back in the 70's. The ice-cream truck was on the block, the guy driving it was always 3 sheets to the wind and my brother and friend pointed their (obvious) plastic toy rifles at the truck. That guy pulled out a shotgun and shot one round in their direction. Neither one of them got hit. They were behind a big tree, but the psychological trauma was bad enough.
I don't know what ever happened to that ice-cream truck driver, but he never drove through our neighborhood again. My brother was young enough that after a few years he didn't jump every time he heard a car backfire.
OMG and he wasn't arrested?!! Sweet Jesus. That's just horrible. Your poor brother. Thank GOD they weren't hit. OMG!!!! WTF is an ice cream truck driver doing with a shotgun!! Sounds like the perve who was taking photos of neighborhood girls while driving his ice cream truck through our neighborhood a few years ago. Oddly enough, his creepy brother or cousin was the mailman who abducted the girl in Moreau State Park, NY this past summer. Guess perv runs in the family.
I don't know if he was arrested or not. I am two years younger than my brother and all I remember was that the drunk ice-cream man wasn't driving the truck anymore. He may have been arrested, but I don't know.
The very people who want to insist that the SECOND Amendment of our Constitution SHOULD be taken literally regarding regulation are the ones who want us to believe that the FOURTEENTH amendment SHOULDN’T be taken literally regarding insurrection.
If November goes the wrong way the NRA is in for a little bit of a shock,as is every gun owner in the country! The Nazi regime Fatass is promoting will try to disarm the people of all the military weapons ,and ammunition,and more than likely any weapon bigger than a pop gun,what a scary scenario that will be , the gun folks will be killing their new leaders and the new government will have to use the military against the fools who voted the Nazi bastards in Hmmmmm ! Maybe 🤔 that’s the only good thing that could happen?! Don’t see the guns being handed over voluntarily to any government!
I caught a bit of the presser afterwards with the crocodile tears shedding fuckstain rethuglican governor. I was shouting at the tv and the wife came in and turned it off. I. am. so. tired of this.
Mindi…No we are NOT. But they are good at making you think so. Biden won by 8 mil before a deadly coup, before reversal of row v wade, before book banning before a guilty verdict of rape, before 91 indictments! The press, Russia and other countries have troll bots out there and what you are saying is just what they want. We have the numbers and they know it, that’s why scaring you is so important to them. (It IS a scary situation) BUT we must remember that we also have tremendous power!
Trump is campaigning in Iowa today and tomorrow and again next weekend. When he is appearing at Clinton Elementary School tomorrow, do you think the subject of gun control might come up, or will he continue his spiel about the Dems are coming for your guns? I know, rhetorical question.
First and foremost, meaningful gun control. Then, how about instituting curriculum in grades K-12 that teaches kindness and compassion so bullying becomes unacceptable?
Our K-6 school used the book “Bullying Hurts-Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds and Guided Conversations.”. This was a few years ago-but it was great-and we had the author at our school. I do hope the current principal is following through ❤️
Lorraine, this is a great part of the answer to my statement above. Each of us can actively work on the election: getting people registered, working the polls, influencing our families and friends and others by talking, postcards, phone banking and donations to like minded candidates.
Brought to you with no regrets or care at all by Donald Trump and his GOP starring the NRA.
The teenager carried a pump shotgun and small caliber handgun. These probably came from home and we're his dad's.
The second amendment was written in the realization that the brand new America needed some kind of armed forces (well regulated militia) in case the Redcoats attacked again, which they did. Sadly, the 2nd supposedly now covers whatever dipshits with grudges want a real machine gun so they can take revenge on humanity.
I have deadly force available here in Arkansas. There are poisonous snakes, wolves, coyotes, and poisonous people here. I am programmed for self defense and the defense of my property and belongings. I pray that I don't have to use deadly force on any Republicans.
We already know what's wrong with us.........FUCKIN' REPUBLICANS. The party that has chosen profits over people, cash over constituents, the rich over the rest of us, could care less. Don't you dare talk about gun control and upset our DONORS. THERE'S OUR PROBLEM 😡😡😡
this one's a bit of a bummer, I know. I promise to bring the funny tomorrow
Some days shit just isn't funny. There is no way to humorize school shootings, so some days anger and outrage is required. Our country's fetishization of guns, and specifically the official gun of mass shooters, stops me in my tracks of human absurdities. I cannot square this circle, and for that I am grateful because it informs me that I have not lost my humanity.
this is not funny. it is fucked up. it is insanity
I agree. I was noticing that just before my daughter is getting ready to leave or return to the country from Europe where she is now going to University, there is a mass shooting somewhere. Tonight this was a discussion of an article in The Atlantic, why parenting in the wealthiest country in the world is so hard, and one part of that is the shooting. Then while I was still in Europe a few weeks ago, the Guardian published this. Every mass shooting in the USA since 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/27/us-mass-shootings-database
What I did then, was look up Chicago, where I live when I am in the USA, and I saw that on June 20, 2023, there were 75 people shot and 13 killed. However, if you look at the above chart it does not even show any killings in Chicago, which means that there were no shootings that killed 4 or more people in one setting.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/75-people-shot-13-fatally-chicago-violent-holiday/story?id=100228756
In fact, it says 51 separate incidents. So, I am not a happy camper. I try to explain this stuff to my friends in Germany, especially when they go on about the crime they face, and how bad things have gotten, and I just know that it is apples and oranges. I am upset each time. When the shooter in Prague killed several people, we were reading everything we could about it. It is a rarity there so it got European press attention. I know that every time 75 people are shot in Chicago and killed they do not make the national news let alone global. When I looked at images of parents picking their children up from the school where the shooting was in Iowa I saw a lot of Hispanic families, and I wondered whether there was a meat packing plant near there. I guess I was stereotyping, but I was also knowing that these parents in many cases came to the USA to raise their children in relative safety, so this just adds to the distress. The USA is number 131 on the world peace scale. One of the reasons I am in Germany a lot, is because even though it has high crime relative to many of the countries around it, it is still number 15 on the world peace scale. See this and scroll to pages 8 and 9.
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GPI-2023-Web.pdf
This is why I say we should be offering Icelandic in all of our schools, because in addition to being tuition free for anyone attending their universities, the crime rate is low, low, low.
Actually, I REALLY appreciate your dealing with this topic. I saw only one very, very brief mention of it in MSM. It is mind-blowing, and really makes me wonder about leaving this insane country.
Fight don't leave, VOTE don't leave.
I'm getting worn out. I'll be 71 in a couple of months. If the Orange Sadist wins, I'm outta here. I do everything in my Parkinsonian aged power to support Dems -- little donations every month for quite a while now to all of the Dems running against pugs in November; Act Blue; explaining to young people that not to vote means a vote for the O.S. (a new concept to a lot of people). But I'm tired. When I could, I organized many busloads of people to go Nixon's Counter-Inauguration, and to protest the VN war in D.C.; wrote many editorials re what was actually going on in VN; walked in Civil Rights marches; and joined Black Lives Matter after the massacre here in Charleston, SC at Mother Emmanuel Church in 2015. Needless to say, I will vote. But I'm getting so tired -- physically. I have to leave it to younger people, and pray that there are enough of them to educate others, to spread the word, to save our nation.
Congratulations, on making your voice heard, without being violent.
I , like you am burnt out at 67.
We can't force young people to vote or be involved. They do so at their own peril. They have not lived through Hitler Stalin Mao , they know not the London Blitz, Dresden, Tokyo ,Hiroshima, Nagasaki.
They know not Authoritarian Governments.
So this might be their wake up call? I sincerely doubt it.
Stay Safe Stay Healthy
Thanks for your good wishes Mark. You are so right that they are too many generations from Stalin Hitler and Mao to know what actually happened 70-80 years ago. You and I were born soon enough afterwards to know what horrors the fascist leaders and governments can wrought. Hundreds of millions of people slaughtered b/o just those three monsters, alone.
And when it said Fight i did not mean with guns, I meant at the ballot box
That's okay; we all knew that already!
Five years ago, my son moved his entire family to Japan. I see him maybe once a year; my three grandchildren even less often. I miss them; but, at least, odds are good that they won't be shot.
I completely understand your relief. And how pathetic is it that our children have to move 10,000 miles away to protect their children.
What a disgrace for this country!
That's my plan. Fuck this place. Stupid won.
Thank you for this one. "If you could have shown an AR15 to any of our nation's founders, they definitely would have shit their breeches and written a completely different second amendment". Half of our fellow citizens are insane.
Some things just aren't fucking funny.
Yeah, hard to be funny about Another School Shooting, and the realization that we've taken a Constitutional Amendment presented as a way for Americans to protect themselves from everything the Founding Fathers could think of (bigger predators, unionizing workers, foreign invasions, slave rebellions, the population that was here first being fed up at our taking all their land)—and fetishizing it into a death cult thanks to gun manufacturers and their very powerful lobbying group the National Rifle Association. It's not even as if all the guns the gun nuts have would be of any use against a modern invading army—to quote Ian McShane in the final episode of KINGS (a show that deserved to do better than it did), "Typical, your bringing a gun to a tank fight." (Since this was network television, he didn't add "Motherfucker" to the end...sadly.)
I grew up in a gun culture, learned to shoot and take care of a gun when I was eight years old, because that's what you did where I'm from. You also learned when NOT to use a gun—like, to end a disagreement at school or with a neighbor, or because you were in a bad mood and felt shooting a bunch of random people would make you feel better.
Time was, that's what people in a gun culture knew and did, because otherwise it was all just chaos. Nobody in my family would have ever taken a gun to school, even to show off—the one time my younger brother broke into Dad's gun safe and took out his .22 to show off to his friends, Dad came home and whipped him for doing that...and me for not finding out and stopping him! (Not saying it was a BETTER time, just different.)
To me, these near-daily mass shootings have me wondering WTF is WRONG with most Americans. It also has me changing my attitude from "Second Amendment's there for a reason, and it's only a few crackpots" to "You know, the whole idea of a free society with the rights we're granted is that we're all adults here, and can be counted on not to go around making baseless accusations, torturing outsiders, or shooting people just because we feel like it! Maybe too many Americans don't know that these days, and don't DESERVE the right to own a gun, or vote for an orange-faced dictator...."
Right on,the right wing media and messed up misinformation on the internet astounds me.A lot of it is from foreign countries trying everything they can to destroy our democracy.They will say and do anything.Then there is king orange and his Fox News helping him every step of the way!
Brilliant writing, Jeff. And great heart. Thanks.
Sadly, fascism seems to be winning. First we’re too exhausted by mass shootings to react even when they happen in elementary schools, then we’re too exhausted by political violence to react, and then the next coup succeeds. Definitely not funny, yet I think it’s the path we’re on. Definitely needs to be talked about, even in a space where we look for the lunacy to laugh about.
Abbi, please keep in mind that almost every media conglomerate is owned by the right wing. The polls and all the other bogus crap about Trump being viable is not something we should react to. Instead remember that the LGBTQIA community is not going to allow a trip back to the days of shame, women are not going to sit by while abortion rights are removed and book-banning is taking place. I regularly list out Biden’s accomplishments on various chat groups. Memorize a few outstanding ones. Challenge anyone who puts him down. We have the numbers! We won BEFORE the deadly coup, book bans, reversal of roe v wade. I’m not leaving MY country but I will fight to see the Rs implode... it started already!
Jeff, We like funny, but this is one of the most important topics we have. Children won’t have to worry about Climate Change if they’re shot dead in school, will they? A nation that watches school shooting after school shooting and does NOTHING is a very sick nation.
Biden needs to point his finger directly at RescumliCons because they are directly responsible for these deaths! And we also have a responsibility to make ourselves heard about this!
Why should parents have to go to Congress for more than 10 years, with pictures of their children who were slaughtered at school? We must demand that our congressiinal representatives make this a major topic.
Congress right now doesn’t give a damn! They are busy politicizing the Southern border!They refused to sit down and do anything about immigration reform 3 years ago when President Biden first introduced it!Then they refused funding for more border agents to control the border.Now it’s their big priority?Republicans have been herd saying they don’t want to solve anything that will help Biden approval ratings!I thought their job was an oath to uphold the Constitution for we the people,and to help improve things for the people?This is purely political!!!These republicans are a bunch of evil insurrectionists pigs
All true Kimberly! The entire republican party is a group of fascists intent on stealing power for the sake of power. They do not appeal to enough Americans to win so cheating, telling lies, trolling is their desperate ploy to fool the stupid part of the public. They’d rather see citizens die than lose power for themselves. They are also seditionist supporters and therefore should all be removed from public office. But as we’ve seen, we don’t apply the law for certain people.
Just retired after 30 years in public ed and managed to get through it without facing a school shooting. But this fall, my first year of retirement, a former middle school student of mine fired a gun on the high school campus next door. Luckily no one was hit but the high school teaching staff is incensed at how the district handled it. Complete lack of follow up.
As the meme says, thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children. I am so weary of the disgust at the lack of preventative action.
listen to Randy Rainbows version of "thoughts and prayers"
I will. Thanks. He's the best.
This.
I second this!
Oh, the excuses are already, of course, making the rounds by the Rs. It amazes me that in a country that the Rs find abortion unacceptable even to save the life of the mother, they'd rather have their fucking guns than think about the massive number of dead children at the end of those barrels.
Think about them? I suspect they masturbate to the idea of dead children. Their lips are firmly attached to NRA dick.
I believe they are that evil. There was a female Congress woman, I think a Senator, when one of the sets of parents in a big school shooting and they begged Congress to do something. The Senator said it made her sick to her stomach and guess what, she did exactly nothing. And she's probably now managed to build that wall so it doesn't get to her. Fuck her. I do hope there's a hell and she burns in it forever.
They definitely masturbate with their assault rifles.
And they're part of the churches of many of these cretins.
At least the Republicans are consistent. They’re always for the death of the all ready living. School children, Women, and political opponents must die.
Precisely James!
oh man, you got it right. Fascism at its best.
But Nikki Haley wants us to secure schools the way we do airports. Will PreCheck be available?
Yes, pre-check and clear will be available for a fee of $100 and the poor kids and their parents will have to stand in the long rope line. But that’s how Nikki’s world is supposed to work, right?
Yeah and they think we're the communists. This woman is a megalomaniac
Nikki said that she will pardon Mango Mussolini because 80 is too old to be in jail. Is she inviting 79-year-olds to go on a crime spree right before their 80th birthday?
Sure sounds like it. Nikki, like most of her fucked up GOP colleagues, seem hellbent on keeping the felonious mango madman out of from where he really belongs. Once again, they don't have a damn thing to offer for the good of our country.
The cynical view would be that they want to preserve fetuses so they can grow up enough to be cannon fodder.
Our school children now sing little rhymes like this one:
Lockdown, lockdown, lock the door
Shut the lights off, say no more
Go behind the desk and hide
Wait until its safe outside
Lockdown, lockdown, it’s all done
Now it’s time to have some fun!
twisting "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to a far more deadly threat.
As a parent whose child was murdered in different circumstances, I assure you that every single one of these shootings destroy so many families.
I cannot comprehend how our politicians ignore this ongoing onslaught of fear, pain and grief.
Fuck their prayers and thoughts!
I am so terribly sorry about the death of your child. I know that pain will be with you always. I hope that someday sweet memories will bring some solace. I do want ask: the "little rhyme" you quoted is bone-chilling. Is this for real??
Thank you for your thoughtfulness.
Yes, sadly that rhyme is for real. Similar ones are used across the country. Leaned when I did some research awhile back while writing a short story regarding a school shooting.
Absolutely HORRIFYING!! If I lived in another country and read that poem + knew it was real, I wouldn't even consider visiting -- let alone -- living in that country.
I agree! School authorities try to make young children ready for a shooting by making nursery songs into flight or hide instructions while politicians offer “thoughts and prayers.” It’s a travesty overflowing with horror.
I can’t imagine your pain. Hugs from
Philly .
Thank you, Philly, for your compassion. I'm basically o.k, if a bit guarded thanks to existing in the Arts, where expression is encouraged. If only the politicians could feel a tenth of any parent's anguish after losing their child to violence we could start to repair the untold damage.
Our politicians don’t seem capable of feeling anything. I’m so sorry.
There are no words that would express my sorrow at your loss. Our children aren’t supposed to predecease us. I truly am sorry for the pain that never really goes away.
Thank you for your understanding and empathy. The emotional impact lasts a lifetime. But while I am here, my task is to do good in her name and mine.
couldn't have sung it better myself!
Each in our own way, a chorus of anger, anguish and sorrow while a minority stomp on compassion and care.
Lucinda, that’s the worst part. The popular vote of the last 7 of 8 presidential elections were won by Democrats. The majority vote, the voice of the people, has been quashed over and over again. Our electoral college, gerrymandering and cheating have taken our voices. We need to learn our lesson and take to the streets if republican fascists ever do this again. We will not be allowing trump to win. Every woman, every LGBTQIA member, every author who had books banned will NOT go back EVER! We will push back hard and relentlessly and we WILL win.
We just have to, one decade soon, get enough of a Democratic majority to get rid of the antiquated Electoral College!! The majority of voters hate it & understand that it gives an unfair advantage to the least populace states. We must also expand the scotus. I like Elie Mystal’s suggestions for MAJOR court reform
I strongly suggest everyone read his book “Allow Me To Retort” a black guys guide to the Constitution
Some of those 6 hard-right justices may be on the bench for another 30 to 50 yrs!!!! Lifetime appointment is insanity
I have Elie Mystal’s book too. About half way through. A good eye opener!
OMG 😦
Four days in to the New Year and already children are scarred for the rest of their lives. Parents terrified to let their kids go to school!
I’ve lived with my loss. But am furious that others must suffer so just because politicians don’t give a damn.
Lucinda, you are so right about the destruction this does to the family and even the community. And the culprit, guns, are left untouched. Do we all have to join the National Guard and take care of this gun scourge when the MAGA types march for it & for the death of others? It is an insult, in my mind, to offer useless prayers then do nothing about this horror.
Thank you for your kindness regarding my personal circumstances, which I am often loath to reveal. But when I think of the thousands of parents going through the school shooter episodes I feel like my heart is exploding. When will this madness finally end?
Sending huge hugs and much love your way. I'm so very sorry that you are a member of the worst club ever-- one that no parent would want to join. There are so many of us, and I'm sure like me, your empathy meter is wide and large.
Agreed Jeff!! I have said that since public shooting number 1. The “founding -rich white men-founders” never knew we would develop AKs. They never anticipated that people would use weapons beyond hunting dinner and slaves. They never anticipated after we won our freedom from Britain that the general public would need more weapons than the military. Don’t get me started about assholes who open carry in public let alone the laws allowing violent and mentally ill people to buy as many weapons as they want. We won’t even let our kid have a cap gun because orange or not, some trigger happy fuck will see him in the yard with it and take him out. Let’s look to the countries who HAVE banned weapons or who have successful background check systems like Japan. God forbid we do what’s right rather than greasing the hand putting money in our pockets. This country makes me sick.
And I thank God I’m no longer a classroom teacher. I didn’t get into teaching to take a bullet for my kids though I would’ve. Nor did I get into teaching to carry a gun and take a student out.
My brother and one of his friends had those toy rifles that just shot a blast of air and made a noise back in the 70's. The ice-cream truck was on the block, the guy driving it was always 3 sheets to the wind and my brother and friend pointed their (obvious) plastic toy rifles at the truck. That guy pulled out a shotgun and shot one round in their direction. Neither one of them got hit. They were behind a big tree, but the psychological trauma was bad enough.
I don't know what ever happened to that ice-cream truck driver, but he never drove through our neighborhood again. My brother was young enough that after a few years he didn't jump every time he heard a car backfire.
We grew up in an impoverished neighborhood.
OMG and he wasn't arrested?!! Sweet Jesus. That's just horrible. Your poor brother. Thank GOD they weren't hit. OMG!!!! WTF is an ice cream truck driver doing with a shotgun!! Sounds like the perve who was taking photos of neighborhood girls while driving his ice cream truck through our neighborhood a few years ago. Oddly enough, his creepy brother or cousin was the mailman who abducted the girl in Moreau State Park, NY this past summer. Guess perv runs in the family.
I don't know if he was arrested or not. I am two years younger than my brother and all I remember was that the drunk ice-cream man wasn't driving the truck anymore. He may have been arrested, but I don't know.
The very people who want to insist that the SECOND Amendment of our Constitution SHOULD be taken literally regarding regulation are the ones who want us to believe that the FOURTEENTH amendment SHOULDN’T be taken literally regarding insurrection.
If November goes the wrong way the NRA is in for a little bit of a shock,as is every gun owner in the country! The Nazi regime Fatass is promoting will try to disarm the people of all the military weapons ,and ammunition,and more than likely any weapon bigger than a pop gun,what a scary scenario that will be , the gun folks will be killing their new leaders and the new government will have to use the military against the fools who voted the Nazi bastards in Hmmmmm ! Maybe 🤔 that’s the only good thing that could happen?! Don’t see the guns being handed over voluntarily to any government!
Good point!!
Laura, 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I caught a bit of the presser afterwards with the crocodile tears shedding fuckstain rethuglican governor. I was shouting at the tv and the wife came in and turned it off. I. am. so. tired of this.
and that's what fascists want, us to tune out so they can do what ever the fuck they want.
CORRECT.
We are so fucked by the right wing! 🤬
Vote blue baby!
Mindi…No we are NOT. But they are good at making you think so. Biden won by 8 mil before a deadly coup, before reversal of row v wade, before book banning before a guilty verdict of rape, before 91 indictments! The press, Russia and other countries have troll bots out there and what you are saying is just what they want. We have the numbers and they know it, that’s why scaring you is so important to them. (It IS a scary situation) BUT we must remember that we also have tremendous power!
Trump is campaigning in Iowa today and tomorrow and again next weekend. When he is appearing at Clinton Elementary School tomorrow, do you think the subject of gun control might come up, or will he continue his spiel about the Dems are coming for your guns? I know, rhetorical question.
First and foremost, meaningful gun control. Then, how about instituting curriculum in grades K-12 that teaches kindness and compassion so bullying becomes unacceptable?
Our K-6 school used the book “Bullying Hurts-Teaching Kindness Through Read Alouds and Guided Conversations.”. This was a few years ago-but it was great-and we had the author at our school. I do hope the current principal is following through ❤️
Think such a book would be considered subversive and be banned? If MAGA reigns, it very well could be.
Scary but true!
Correct- that’s why we make a lot of noise online and scare the trumpanzees.
Linda, Sounds like a good idea to me!
Yes~a bummer~but this post should be headlines in every damn paper and news broadcasts!😭
The ONLY way to fix our country is to have HUGE BLUE WAVES for the next 20 years.
Lorraine, this is a great part of the answer to my statement above. Each of us can actively work on the election: getting people registered, working the polls, influencing our families and friends and others by talking, postcards, phone banking and donations to like minded candidates.
Brought to you with no regrets or care at all by Donald Trump and his GOP starring the NRA.
The teenager carried a pump shotgun and small caliber handgun. These probably came from home and we're his dad's.
The second amendment was written in the realization that the brand new America needed some kind of armed forces (well regulated militia) in case the Redcoats attacked again, which they did. Sadly, the 2nd supposedly now covers whatever dipshits with grudges want a real machine gun so they can take revenge on humanity.
I have deadly force available here in Arkansas. There are poisonous snakes, wolves, coyotes, and poisonous people here. I am programmed for self defense and the defense of my property and belongings. I pray that I don't have to use deadly force on any Republicans.
VOTE BLUE FOR SCHOOL KIDS! Also, vote blue to make make mental health part of health care.
We already know what's wrong with us.........FUCKIN' REPUBLICANS. The party that has chosen profits over people, cash over constituents, the rich over the rest of us, could care less. Don't you dare talk about gun control and upset our DONORS. THERE'S OUR PROBLEM 😡😡😡