Uvalde

[TranquillityBase]

21 dead

A damaged child
became a catastrophic man
aged 18
when he could buy guns
their one true purpose
to kill other human beings
as quickly as possible.

Border patrol heroes intervened
carrying the same kind of guns
but too late for
19 children and their two teachers.

The senseless made so sensible
by men with those guns.

[Knot]

.
Hi TqB,


a terrific start and close,
I wonder if you need the middle?


A damaged child
becomes a catastrophic man

The senseless made so sensible
at the point of a gun.



(Certainly worth polishing)


Best, Knot


.

[Mark A Becker]

Imagine the abject terror those young children felt.

Imagine the brutal damage that a gun can do to a child.

Imagine the nightmares the surviving children will have.

Try to un-see those images.

Now, imagine being a parent trying to verify the identity of that child, by a piece of clothing, or a birthmark, because your child's face has been blown off. 

Imagine pictures from the crime scene; possibly the only way to shock people into action.

Thoughts and prayers are bullshit.  Screaming into the wind- no help. 

Goddamnit am I pissed off.

We are at a terrible place where donating blood for the survivors seems to be our only realistic reaction.

[TranquillityBase]

(Certainly worth polishing)

I'm all ears, or eyes, for your ideas for polishing.

TqB

---

Imagine the abject terror those young children felt.

Imagine the brutal damage that a gun can do to a child.

Imagine the nightmares the surviving children will have.

Try to un-see those images.

Now, imagine being a parent trying to verify the identity of that child, by a piece of clothing, or a birthmark, because your child's face has been blown off. 

Imagine pictures from the crime scene; possibly the only way to shock people into action.

Thoughts and prayers are bullshit.  Screaming into the wind- no help. 

Goddamnit am I pissed off.

We are at a terrible place where donating blood for the survivors seems to be our only realistic reaction.

I wrote this when I first read of this.  In a state of utter shock.  Takes a lot to shock me these days, but this did it.  And Uvalde is an old Texas town.  Close to home.

Thanks for the read and your visceral response.

[Mark A Becker]

Imagine being a responding officer trying hard to maintain focus amid the carnage, while picturing your own children.

Imagine the grotesque speeches that will be made at this Friday's NRA convention in Houston, TX.

Imagine the presence of angry protestors amid the crowds in Houston.

Which way will the curve bend at this inflection point?

[CRNDLSM]

The shooter has pictures of himself in a dress. I can't help but blame politicians.

[Mark A Becker]

Imagine Abbott, Cruz, and Trump in dresses at the NRA convention.

[Mark A Becker]

Tim-
Thank you for your piece on this.
Even though you are closer geographically, I am with you emotionally.
Every parent feels each loss as a heavy, heavy burden, and I know that you feel this on a level that many of us hope to never feel.
Still, as a parent, with many grand nieces and nephews, some in Texas, the pain is acute, and the healing feels distant.
Yours in spirit,
Mark

[Mark A Becker]

Hear

Hear the pens
and pencils drop;
the pop-pop-pop
that doesn't stop;
the screams! the cries!
the shattered bones,
the final moans,
then all alone...

the silence.

[Mark A Becker]

And on the fouth day
concentric circles
of grief
across the nation
collapse
into a black hole

"ask not
what your country
can do for you"

Because it won't.

[CRNDLSM]

The husband of one of the teachers killed himself, yesterday in my neighborhood a high school went on lockdown when a 9th grader had an unloaded gun, they found no ammunition

[TranquillityBase]

The husband of one of the teachers killed himself, yesterday in my neighborhood a high school went on lockdown when a 9th grader had an unloaded gun, they found no ammunition

I think he died of a heart attack, a literally broken heart.  Unless I've missed some news which is possible.  I have a hard time reading the details.

The gun lobby's canned response is "protect the schools".

There are about 134,000 public schools.  With a minimum of a 3 man squad of highly trained security, that's 500,000 security (really you need soldiers).  And larger schools would need larger squads.  Then there's the grocery stores, the malls, the special events.  Say a million man army, just to protect us so a bunch of toy collectors can buy military style rifles and handguns.

The toy collectors are going to bring on the military state they are so afraid of.

[Mark A Becker]

There are about 134,000 public schools.  With a minimum of a 3 man squad of highly trained security, that's 500,000 security (really you need soldiers).  And larger schools would need larger squads.  

We now know that 19 officers were inside the school while kids were calling 911 begging for police to help them. 

By your math, Tim, it would require way more than a million armed cops, just for the schools, and even that apparently won't work. 

The news just keeps getting worse.

[TranquillityBase]

There are about 134,000 public schools.  With a minimum of a 3 man squad of highly trained security, that's 500,000 security (really you need soldiers).  And larger schools would need larger squads.  

We now know that 19 officers were inside the school while kids were calling 911 begging for police to help them. 

By your math, Tim, it would require way more than a million armed cops, just for the schools, and even that apparently won't work. 

The news just keeps getting worse.

My wife just gave me a condensed version of the clusterf**k that the police response was, until the Border Patrol arrrived.

The NRA will now be able to change the conversation.

And worser.

[TranquillityBase]

Opinion piece by a native of Uvalde:

https://wapo.st/3wZekzw

[Mark A Becker]

Opinion piece by a native of Uvalde:
https://wapo.st/3wZekzw

I have the Post app, and read it the other day. The tragedy heaped upon this latest tragedy is that the next dark red cloud hovers just over the horizon. 

I hate to say it, but images of those destroyed bodies need to be circulated within State Houses and the US Congress. If 4th graders are expected to witness the horror in person, then politicians should be required to have those horrific images seared into their minds. Then they may begin to understand just how meaningless their incessant blathering really is. 

With so many US Senators already over the age of 65, why don't enough of them just vote their conscience, retire, and recieve all those great federal benefits. Go write a book that nobody will want to read.  Do some gardening. Be useful.

[busker]

There is a section of the US population that stands in the way of sense and progress. This section, though a minority and gradually dying out, will continue to do great damage in the time they have.
The abolition of class distinctions in western societies, and the emergence of a know-it-all population that wields democratic power more dangerously than ever before, has led to a situation where the west can only decline. China has bridged the technological gap with the west already, and is now pulling ahead.