TomFlannery.com

One would think that in this at least we’d be united. We’d come together as one to agree that a well documented pedophile is not fit to be a United States Senator.

One would be wrong.

So there it is. America, 2017

In a bit..

–tf

And so it goes. Again.

I write these things for me. You can agree with my sentiments or not agree. I honestly don’t care. I like to keep a record of what I was thinking when such craziness occurs. It helps to keep me grounded. It helps to make me feel normal. And it reminds me that I was on the right side of history. Then, And now.

I do feel like I’m repeating myself, but it’s less because I’m derivative and more because the same shit keeps happening over and over again. We arm ourselves to the teeth, legally and otherwise, and seem intent on slaughtering each other like hogs, in places where one might not expect hog slaughtering. A concert. A school. A church. We’re numb to it. It rates a shrug….perhaps a few mouse clicks. One or two social media comments to rile up the fanatics, and then we holster our ideology until it happens again. Next week. Next month. Tomorrow. The next mass shooting is probably already in the works.

We’re morally bored. Dead kids? Meh. Dead pregnant women? Meh. Not kin to us so…..

Toss off the ubiquitous “thoughts and prayers”, argue about the true intentions of guys arguing over flintlocks  200 years ago….then find something to binge on Netflix.

Short of some sort of Trumpian “extreme vetting” of angry white dudes, what exactly are we doing? Not that dead people and their families don’t appreciate your thoughts and prayers and all that, it’s just that they don’t seem to be helping much. The latest set of victims were deep in thought and prayer already….and then this dude wearing body armor and carrying what’s being called an “AR-15 variant”, whatever the fuck that means, riddled them with  bullets. I’m sure it matters to some what he was carrying, but the dead no longer give a shit. For obvious reasons.

Information on the shooter is coming out. Typical white trash. Abused his wife and child. Abused pets. Court-martialed out of the military for being a loser. He was a felon. He wasn’t supposed to legally own a gun, but wasn’t flagged during any background checks (apparently because the Air Force didn’t enter his conviction in some database), which makes sense to somebody I’m sure, but not me. His facebook page proudly displayed a pic of his illegally obtained gun, buy nobody really gave a shit. America. Guns are like porn.

His crime is not labeled terrorism because he’s white. If he was brown, Trump would have called him a deranged animal and Twitter-threatened him with free tickets to Guantanamo Bay. But these days the only thing that forces Trump to put DOWN his phone is when a white guy kills a few dozen innocents.

Our fearless leader is as inspirational as a bag of kitty litter. Looks for your moral leaders elsewhere, bubba.

After most-recent-angry-armed-white-dude did his killing….the shooter was chased by a guy with a gun….the “good guy with a gun” from the NRA narrative. A brave man for sure. He deserves the accolades he’s receiving….that’s all I got to say about that.

But even THIS bit is ideologically twisted….Fox News is jizzing all over themselves over this part of the story…..and taking it a step further in saying that what we REALLY needed was for armed “good guys” to be INSIDE the church during the service. So thanks hero, but next time Geraldo really would prefer if you weren’t late. Because you didn’t show up until after they were all dead.

(Just wait for the armed-carry goons to start volunteering to pass along the collection plate in a church near you. See how safe you feel when that dangling shoulder-holster hits you in the face, bubba.)

A country musician named Caleb Keeter was part of the concert in Las Vegas when that shooting happened. This is what he said….no doubt pissing off Nugent and Kid Rock in the process, but still…..

“I’ve been a proponent of the 2nd amendment my entire life. Until the events of last night… We need gun control RIGHT. NOW. My biggest regret is that I stubbornly didn’t realize it until my brothers on the road and myself were threatened by it.”

It became personal. See how these things work? Our stomachs get twisted when we hear about cancer, because we’ve ALL been touched by the disease in some way. Nancy Reagan became an outspoken advocate for embryonic stem-cell research only after her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Before that? She stuck to the “life begins at conception” talking point, and considered it immoral.

Was she a hypocrite? Or did she truly believe one way, and then flipped, like Keeter, when the proverbial bullets started whizzing past her head?

Paul Ryan and his ilk? They don’t care….because it’s not their kids….their homes…their schools….their churches. They are politicians. By definition they are narcissists. The world is what they can touch and feel. The rest is shadows…..worthy of “thoughts and prayers” but not much else.

It’ll happen again. And again. And perhaps someday…..just about all of us will have been touched personally by these mass shootings…..the way we’re all touched by cancer.

And then, the better angels of our nature will come together, unarmed, and truly make America great again.

In  a bit..

–tf