I will commence and conclude today’s article with the same phrase: Nothing is going to happen. Both are a prediction and I fear I am correct. Let’s explore.
It is Monday afternoon as I begin this piece. My recovery, while generally great, is just rocky enough that I need to stay ahead of the curve a bit with writing. I slept later than normal this morning and therefore missed President Trump’s live address. That turned out to be a prudent use of time.
This weekend’s news was dominated by the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio which as of this writing have taken more than 30 lives. They were the 249th and 250th mass shootings in America in 2019. (Note: we have not yet reached the 250th day of the year yet.) Only someone afflicted with willful ignorance would refuse to admit that America has a gun problem.
An overwhelming majority of Americans including registered Republicans and gun owners favor common sense gun regulations like mandatory background checks, restricting clip capacity and banning automatic weapons. Since the Republican Party at the national level and in state capitals where they have control are effectively wholly owned subsidiaries of the NRA (read: gun manufactures’ lobby) no legislation along those lines has been passed in response to other recent mass shootings or will be in the foreseeable future.
It is still early in the investigations and the motivation for the shooter in Dayton remains a question mark. In El Paso it was clearly radical right wing, racism and white supremacy as promoted by Trump. In fact many political analysts predict racism will be the root of his reelection campaign. He is “betting the ranch” on a combination of rallying his base (much of which is racist) and foreign interference being sufficient to get another Electoral College win.
Trump and such other very stable geniuses like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are blaming video games for the shootings. That’s like saying that one incident of hard braking wasted gas and caused you to run out. I suggest that your failure to watch the gas gauge has a bit more to do with your misfortune.
Trump was joined by a chorus on the right wing who claim the solution is better mental health delivery and screening. Far be it from me to say that an unstable individual should have a gun but when will the Republicans (very much including Trump) put their money where their mouths are? Remember this is the same crew who has spent years trying to destroy Obamacare instead of improving it. Where’s the money? In fact these are the same people that have been cutting health care money and denying access to millions of Americans in the states they control.
But the height of hypocrisy and lunacy comes when Trump and his minions try to tie the problem to immigration to gun regulation. The overwhelming majority of these cowardly domestic terrorists –and that is exactly what they are – are white males. I guess the non-Caucasians – some of whom were not American citizens – who died in El Paso did so of their own fault. If they hadn’t gotten in the way of the bullet(s) they wouldn’t have gotten shot. Trump seems to be tying some vague promise of gun regulation for immigration reform (read: his stupid wall). This is classic Tea Party – unless you give me something I want I’m not going to do the basics of my job (keep America safe).
Democrats are calling on Moscow Mitch McConnell to call the Senate back into session to deal with the problem via legislation. I like a snowball’s chances of survival in Hell better. Speaking of Mitch there is no truth to the rumor that he is planning on having surgery on his shoulder in a Moscow hospital. The rumor that his plans are to teach at the University of Idaho (location: Moscow, Idaho) if he losses in 2020 appear to be equally false – wrong Moscow.
I could go on but I lack the energy to write an essay and I doubt you feel like reading one at this moment in time. The bottom line is that Trump may put on another dog and pony show(s) but nothing is going to happen.
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