I read this one aloud to Urchling. It’s taken us over an hour to go through it and discuss. Lol. I’ve been waiting on it; I knew it would be all Penguin.

At 17, she’s got a lot to say about mass shootings and nihilism amongst her age cohort. I think it’s been productive, but also heart breaking.

The kids are not all right.

She was highly amused by your descriptions of toddlers and teenagers and wanted me to tell you that...

"If there is one saving grace to the brain’s regressive antics of being a teenager it’s that at least your physical leakiness (incontinence) has been upgraded to emotional leakiness. So, at least there’s that."

Gotta love the laser focus of teenage optimism to get right to the most important thing straight off. At least we don’t pee out pants anymore.

I think we’re going to go for the first option of getting used to mass shootings for the same reason we will be unable to sort out the kids. We have no true democratic process anymore. It’s been hijacked. The same people who stymy sensible gun reform or even raising the legal age to buy or carry are the same ones who will and do stymy legislation to fund mental health. Time and time again. It’s not like there hasn’t been multiple bills passed to address that and other systemic issues that lead to societal problems.

We all sink or we swim from the moment we are born and we all know it. If the aftermath of this last shooting hasn’t lifted the veil from certain American eyes, what will? Nothing, I fear.

When 80% of your population wants gun reform, to raise the legal buying age, and to ban weapons of war for the general public and that legislation cannot pass, you can’t say you have a functionally working democratic process.

I guess we’ll see if so called moderate conservatives are willing to cross party lines to do what’s right this November or if they’re okay with their kids and grandkids possibly not coming home one day. Most of these mass shootings in schools and otherwise are in red states. It says a lot that more liberals are outraged on those children’s behalf than their own major voting block. It’s their community they’re throwing under the bus over a 3 day waiting period, or a license.

I’m hearing a lot of older conservative veterans talking about voting Democrat specifically for this issue, so I’m cautiously hopeful. At the same time, I think too many Christian nationalists would still rather “own the libs" than act to protect their own children. After all, didn’t an angel stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac? They love Jesus so it only makes sense that if there’s a shooting an angel will protect their precious babes while the disgusting liberal Demonic spawn and gay kids are sent straight to hell where they belong.

At least, that’s what’s coming out of several of the Evangelical mega churches with pastors like Greg Locke, to rounds of applause and shouts of Amen. They seem to hold a lot of sway; that’s discouraging.

I highly doubt gun reform will pass in the near future. But I disagree that the conversation is over. It depends. If Republicans, particularly the lunatic fringe ones, get voted out that will signal that the overall public, even in conservative strongholds, is rejecting theocracy. If they don’t, then fundamentalist theocracy wins and we all know how much the Islamic Taliban love their AR-15s. The Christian Taliban definitely has the same weapon fetish. Just compare Christmas cards with Eid al-Fitr ones. Just saying.

It’s all related, really, and tracks back to fundamentalist take over. Roe v. Wade and gun legislation is the 21st century’s Dredd Scott. We stop this shit here and now, or we’re likely in civil war within 5 years.

If conservatives refuse to even have a legit conversation or admit there’s a real problem in the first place, liberals either have to live in terror of their next crazy which will be banning birth control, forced sterilization of minorities, conversion therapy and removal from home of LGBTQ children and work camps for the adults or chemical neutering, segregation, denial of education, etc., or we drop them as the dead weight that’s holding us back they are.

Those are our choices. I hope those veterans are right, and that there’s enough of them. Because this is it.