…and my profit on’t/Is, I know how to curse.”
You know, I’ve been thinking: this Billy Shakespeare guy could write a little.
Which is to say that I haven’t got a lot of unprintable words about a lot of things these days. Like Prospero, the object of Caliban’s curses, I have a child. Like parents…Hell — like adults with or without children, who can still imagine a world that exceeds their personal span of years — I want my son to experience a better reality than I did, on as many axes of possiblity as I can think of.
So recent climate change news doesn’t sit well. Our failed political system is no balm to shattered nerves.* Dante would have had fun limning George F**king Will’s torments — I’m not sure whether the poet would have placed Mr. Will in the eighth, ninth or tenth Bolga of the Eight Circle of Satan’s domain, but the torments prescribed for any of those destinations would do, thank you very much. And there’s so much more.
But at least for the day, the curses that I would most like to level go to those behind those wielding the guns that so wretchedly cut holes in our lives, day after fucking day.
And I got nothing to say that hasn’t been said, sometimes by me. Except that we need to say so again, every time, so that bit by infinitely depressingly small bit we can undo the legitimacy of gun nuttery in our culture. A couple of threads down, DougJ talked of those glory days when McArdle et al. talked of the lack of danger to our political life demonstrated by open carry nuts. I blew a gasket at that, writing in 2009 (slightly edited):
Those who suggest that the presence of guns openly carried implies a series of risks — how many concealed weapons might be present; how much organization there might be in the insertion of armed protesters into the fabric of peaceful protest; how long it will take for over-the-top violent rhetoric to find a truly receptive ear amongst all these “patriots” — are not saying that any individual gun-toting asshole is a thug bent on murder.
They are saying that the more useful idiots like McArdle legitimize the presence of guns in political discourse, the greater the risk we take that the guns will stop being symbols, and will reappear as the tools they are…tools that are capable of dealing deadly violence at a distance.
McArdle would rather not dwell on that ugly fact of guns. They are not toys. They are not megaphones. They do not utter cute or funny or pointed commentary on the state of American polity today. They dispatch useful weights of metal at high speeds across considerable spaces with an accuracy restricted by the quality of the machine and the skill of its operator. Reality matters.
McArdle writes: “But it is pleasurable to tell yourself you believe terrible things about your enemies, and so you don’t examine the thought until someone says, “Well, how about $500 on it, then?” and you think about how much it would hurt to lose $500 on, and realize that you don’t actually have any reason to believe it’s all that likely.”
So thee it is: he validity of the argument that bringing guns to political rallies is (a) dangerous and (b) if unchecked, likely to increase the risk of an act of political violence turns on whether or not someone will lay a bet with Ms. McArdle…
That’s five years ago. Before Gabby Giffords, before the mass shootings, before the claque cheered on Bundy to a (so-far averted, thankfully) murderously provoked suicide by cop, before two domestic terrorists brandishing the emblems of a movement celebrated by our most successful political cable channel, Fox News, committed yesterday utterly unprovoked murder.
I don’t think we face mass insurrection. I do think we face a vicious rear-guard action by a small subset of a class and community that is losing the last wisps of pretension to dominance. But most of all, I believe we need to cut these people off from the aid and comfort the right-of-center elite is giving to the notion of armed violence as a form of political expression. I don’t hold out near-term help that this will happen, but I do, in my rare happy moments, think we actually are moving closer to that day.
But today…I’m with the monster on the isle. I know how to curse.
*Inevitable sequel here. Morans!
Image: William Hogarth, The Tempest, c. 1736.
RSR
o/t but arrests just went down in Philly over public ed cuts; check the live action via twitter #phled:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23phled&src=typd
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
This.
And also this. Tie the Republican elite to each death, every time it happens. “How can you sit there and say it is horrible and tragic and then do nothing about it? Are you useless or merely incompetent?”
Turgidson
“McArdle writes: “But it is pleasurable to tell yourself you believe terrible things about your enemies, and so you don’t examine the thought”
Good grief she is stupid and clueless. A huge amount of her “writing” on the topics she pretends to know something about begins from a premise that includes her own preconceived terrible beliefs about liberals and their ideology, and never includes any examination of that thought.
And that’s before you even get to the inevitable arithmetic errors and sophomoric little quips the twit puts in so much of her work.
MomSense
I’m taking my son out to a movie tonight because we are both freaking out and I can’t sit at home and fume all night.
About a month ago a man got into my son’s school and was acting suspiciously. He went to the book fair and then the police apparently identified him from the security film and interviewed him. We haven’t heard anything since then. Today a letter came home from school saying that some individuals were parked in a light blue car by the fence next to the playground and that one of them had a weapon.
I am so angry right now. The school administration has assured us that the police will have an increased presence tomorrow but I am worried. My son doesn’t want to go back to school. When will this fucking gun madness end? There is only a week left of school. Maybe it just isn’t worth it–even though I also hate the idea of not living our lives because of terrorists.
gogol's wife
@MomSense:
And they are terrorists.
We’re supposed to be afraid of the “Taliban Dream Team.” Ha.
John N
Hey, you know what? It’s not worth it, because no learning happens in the last week of school anyway. But the mom who starts her kid’s summer vacation a week early is the coolest mom in the world!
tybee
from the link:
“Virginia State Sen. Phillip Puckett (D) was supposed to get a job at the tobacco commission after he resigned from the legislature on Monday. But under a cloud of controversy about potentially improper behavior on his part, the commission has canceled its meeting this week set up solely to discuss the idea of hiring him, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported…”
this could get amusing.
MomSense
@John N:
He doesn’t want to go back and I have a brick in my stomach. They canceled the ice-cream social tonight.
SatanicPanic
@tybee: I hope they tell Pucket to suck it
SatanicPanic
@MomSense: You could always skip tomorrow and drive by to see if the school has improved security.
John N
@MomSense: I can’t even imagine what it must feel like. Things are getting really scary lately. I can say, though, that not a lot of work gets done in school during the last week, so at least from that standpoint, he probably wouldn’t be missing anything if you kept him home. It is so sad that you have to make that decision, I feel for you.
Felinious Wench
My husband is a high school teacher and coach. He is absolutely the type to run towards bullets to save his kids. We are in Houston and there have been so many school threats in the past month they rarely hit the news. They wait for actual gunfire.
My fear for him is visceral now, and I’m not a fearful person. Last day of school was Friday and I am relieved.
Patrick
@tybee:
But he still resigned so Medicaid expansion is still dead. And his daughter is still becoming a judge. So still so unfair…
Howard Beale IV
What’s really fucked is that in some states martial art gear (stars, bo staffs, nunchucks) must be kept locked in the trunk of the car. Loaded firearms? No problem!
Now what the fuck does THAT tell ya……
WaterGirl
@MomSense: That sounds truly awful, I can’t imagine.
Practical question: what is your son’s standing as far as absences go? Could he skip some/all of these days without an impact on him moving ahead to the next grade?
Trollhattan
@MomSense:
Wow, I don’t know what I’d do. You want your boy to have a kid’s life, free of worry beyond kid-level things, then this? Suppose it’s up to the school and school district to show they’re taking every reasonable measure to make school both safe and normal. Sitting in class wondering when something will go wrong is not normal.
More details on the killer couple:
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/08/6468251/las-vegas-cliven-bundy.html#storylink=cpy
The heck did they think they would accomplish inside that store?
Botsplainer
Have been hearing a lot of “…from your cold dead hands? That can be arranged…” talk these days.
It’s unusual. The part of the populace most historically entitled to politically correct deference to their mores, history and culture has been white males with a southern or western drawl, and they’re now being overtly mocked on a broad scale.
Something has changed – a broad swath of society is sick of their shit, including a larger share of white guys than was willing in the past.
It’s like when an abused wife finally has enough and is tired of the fear – he can still kill her, but the punches are laughable and his ego so fragile that she says “is that all you got, big man?”
beltane
@Howard Beale IV:
It tells me that the right-wing has turned this country into one great big asylum for the criminally insane.
Botsplainer
@Trollhattan:
If you look at her Facebook, she’s apolitical and sadly nerdy. Feeling like she may not have been as into it, and wound up horrified by what they did.
SatanicPanic
@Trollhattan: damn, Wilcox shoulda left the gun at home. Even if I DID have a gun on me, the words “everyone out” would have been enough for me. I woulda been heard to say “fine dude, rob the Walmart for all I care” as I walked out the door. I refuse to die for an empty Walmart.
Elizabelle
@Botsplainer:
Yes. But she ended up with 3 of the 4 kills (or did she)? She shot one of the officers (I think), came up behind the concealed carry Wal-Mart shopper (he was not expecting that) and shot him at close range, and then shot her husband and last, herself.
Unusual pattern.
Read the husband’s facebook page. He talked of how wrong his wife’s family was to be uneasy about him, because he loves her so much. And they are wrong about him.
Bet the wife’s family is sick for many, many reasons tonight.
Xecky Gilchrist
Have any of the guntards been objecting to the use of “mass killing” to describe an occasion when not even double-digit numbers of people are murdered? That’s one I have on my betting slip.
Elizabelle
What’s beyond sick is the comments on the Las Vegas Review-Journal stories.
The wingnuts are putting up lists of mass killers, and trying to make them all Democrats or liberals or atheists.
No accountability whatsoever, and they tell you they have “facts”. I hope the police are looking at who’s commenting there. Some sick f*cks on there, along with local residents trying to make sense of what’s happened.
Mostly sick f*cks now. Drudge commandos.
? Martin
@Trollhattan:
Lure cops in and kill them. Back of a Walmart, eh? I’ll bet everything they barricaded around the gun counter. Who needs to raise suspicion and buy a guy/ammo cache when Walmart has one ready for the taking.
Trollhattan
@Botsplainer:
Hadn’t thought of it, but now that you mention it, it’s usually the dude kills her and then, himself. “Ladies first” and all. Maybe some of the Bundy campers will tell all–hard to imagine them being so nutty as to get tossed from the joint.
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Have not heard that one, yet, and am awaiting the first official, “We don’t endorse what they did, but certainly understand their reasons.”
Botsplainer
@Elizabelle:
The weird part is the killing of hubs the way she did. Remorse? Rage over the ruin of her life? Feels like it when you see her photos.
? Martin
@SatanicPanic:
First they came for the empty Walmarts, and I did not shoot back, because I was not in the Walmart…
Elizabelle
Las Vegas Review-Journal on the dead concealed carry guy:
WaterGirl
@Botsplainer: I think you’re letting her off the hook WAY too much. She shot a cop multiple times and shot to kill her husband. That hardly sounds like someone just tagging along. Southern Poverty Law Center has “confirmed that the man and woman who ambushed and killed two police officers in Las Vegas yesterday before murdering a bystander were active in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement.”
The Other Chuck
@Elizabelle:Do they really call themselves “Las Vegans”? I so want to pronounce that with a long ‘e’ after all…
WaterGirl
@? Martin:
Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.
dm
So, with that intro, Tom, I have to ask: what did you think of the ART’s production of The Tempest?
For me, “the magic of the theatre” has always seemed self-congratulatory. Now it just seems accurate. Truly a fantastic production.
Trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Oh, joy. “…shot gun in one hand and a pistol in the other.”.
All together now: She sounds nice.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: They are going to try to make this fellow a hero, but he died because he thought he could be the good guy with the gun. It’s all part of their mythology.
I’m also not buying the “he wasn’t political’ line, either.
I see that final line as a hint for donations. Maybe that makes me a bad person.*
Edit: * or at the very least, uncharitable in their time of grief.
Trollhattan
@The Other Chuck:
You know who else was a vegan….
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
If there’s an absolute freakin’ minimum that Wal-Mart could do in this situation, it would be to pay to bury the guy who tried to protect their property.
Botsplainer
@Elizabelle:
Walter Mitty 30 something web designers are always looking for work.
They never seem to find it.
They probably teach you to fire from cover at the police academy, which would helped him live long enough to continue fantasizing about saving Scarlett Johansen from hordes of savage negroes.
Trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
My first thought was free grave-digging via a whole lot of Patriots shooting at a rectangle drawn on the ground.
feebog
@SatanicPanic:
Wilcox, like so many other wannabe concealed carry “heroes in their own mind” got gobsmacked by reality. Going up against an unknown number of assailants with an unknown amount of firepower armed only with your hand gun is like going all in with a 7/2 off suit and expecting to win the hand.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Honestly, my first thought was that she killed him because he was starting to freak out and was going to surrender.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: Yeah, poor sad nerdy girl, this wasn’t her fault, she was just swept away in the moment. If by “moment”, you mean murdering multiple people, including a police officer, in cold blood.
beltane
@Trollhattan: The most likely reason she shot her husband and then herself is not remorse but defiance. She did not want to be taken alive by the enemy.
You know who else committed suicide rather than be captured by the enemy…
Botsplainer
@WaterGirl:
They went deeper down than I did, or somebody was at work scrubbing her page.
gene108
@RSR:
Link to news article, for those not following on Twitter
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Protesters-Demand-Corbett-Repeal-Education-Cuts-262444041.html
I wish it was more than 300 protestors. What’s being done to Philly schools should get people in Harrisburg arrested.
Trollhattan
@feebog:
Am ready for my opportunity with certain acquaintences to compare and contrast: Seattle U student with pepper spray, halting a killer in mid-spree, versus an armed bystander who got himself killed to nobody’s benefit.
WaterGirl
@Botsplainer: That was from the Southern Poverty Law Center. (SPLC) These people have surely been on their radar for a long time.
If anyone has money to donate, SPLC is a very worthy cause. Not only do they keep track of these crazy groups, they also have a Teaching Tolerance program for the schools to try to work with the next generation so their won’t be so much hate.
Trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
+1. They do amazing work in a very unwelcoming environment.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: We’re all just speculating, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Not everyone can stick with the plan once “shit gets real”.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: I’m still pissed that President Obama and Homeland Security backed off years ago because the right wing didn’t like their report on domestic terrorists. Maybe if we had stood our ground then (no pun intended) this crazy wouldn’t have gotten this far.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: They are the only non-political organization I donate to, and I give them money every month. They do good work. They have put a lot of the klan out of business over the years because SPLC has had so many successful lawsuits that klan leaders go bankrupt.
WaterGirl
Sorry for so many posts on this thread, I get worked up about this gun terrorism. And Bowe, I am really worked up about Bowe.
Kay
@gene108:
Are you familiar with Helen Gym? She’s my edu-hero :)
I went down to Austin TX for their conference and she was there. She did a panel on parent activism to support public schools. I was impressed.
Elizabelle
@The Other Chuck:
Yeah, the “Vegans” stood out immediately. I’ve never heard them called that.
Las Vegasites? (Ooh, that sounds worse. Heading into tapeworm territory.) Vegasans?
“Sin City Denizens” works for me.
[cckids: what do you advise?]
Trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Yes. The first tea party rally I crashed they were absolutely livid about the domestic terrorism initiative, to which I responded, “Hmm, hitting a nerve here, keep it up.”
The MLK Day bomb found in Spokane reinforced the notion and when Boston happened, I was sure is was likewise the same type of wingers (proving my own fallibiltiy, but hey…)
SatanicPanic
@feebog: I could see if it looked like it was going to be a hostage situation… but in that situation I’d be doubly careful about who was in cahoots. Really this is just a lesson to leave it to the pros. I feel bad for his family though, no one should have to die for visiting a Walmart.
The cops are extra sad. Just minding their own business eating lunch, then shot in the back of the head.
SatanicPanic
@WaterGirl: Don’t be sorry! There’s no rule on multiple comments, is there? *scans thread
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne:
Wal-Mart hasn’t enjoyed its week in the news.
Liable for a fatal highway crash in New Jersey that injured a famous comedian and killed a less famous one. Their company driver allegedly telling investigators he hadn’t slept in 24 hours. (I’ve just heard that statement; no background on it.) Wal-Mart says they’ll accept responsibility if they are found responsible. Whatever.
And now a Wal-Mart shopper killed trying to stop a cop killer.
JPL
@WaterGirl: That’s what I thought also, so it’s not just you.
WaterGirl
@JPL: Glad to hear that. I’m not normally a hateful person, but it’s really hard to feel charitable toward the people who are part of the problem.
@SatanicPanic: Okay, just didn’t want to be “that person” who goes on so much that everybody else leaves the thread!
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: It may actually be worse than that. I am in complete agreement with Martin’s speculation that they went to walmart because that’s where the guns and ammunition are. I think walmart is a big part of the gun problem, too, so no sympathy for them, either.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Trollhattan: PSU, not SU, two different universities in different parts of Seattle.
skerry
I donated to Jon Meis, the student that stopped the shooting in Seattle as a thank you. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to donate to some concealed carry hero-wanna-be in a Wal-Mart. Let Wal-Mart and the NRA bury him.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl:
Maybe guns and ammo manna.
But also a large corporation, and Mr. Shooter’s Facebook webpage had some item on imperialism. Troops fighting on behalf of Exxon and oil companies. I kind of think I saw Wal-Mart in that cartoon, or maybe another. Not in a good way.
Or, as Martin said, draw the cops in. Take hostages. (Wal-Mart would be prime. How fast do those shoppers move? You’ve seen them.)
Elizabelle
I have sympathy for the shooter’s family not having the $$$ to bury him. You don’t expect that expense with a 31-year old.
I think Las Vegas and the police and maybe almighty Wal-Mart will come through there.
Mr. Concealed Carry provided a sad lesson in the final lesson of his life. A gun will not always save your life, or others’. As someone said, he didn’t see the script or get a do-over.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I’m happy to say that the last time I was in a walmart was about 15 years ago.
Roger Moore
@SatanicPanic:
Sure. You don’t have a hero complex, which is why you don’t feel a loaded sidearm is a must-have accessory for your Sunday shopping trip. The kind of person who does feel the need to go armed everywhere sees this with excitement as exactly the reason they’ve been packing heat for so many years; they sure as hell aren’t going to pass up an opportunity to use it.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore:
I fixed that for you.
pseudonymous in nc
@Elizabelle:
Never read the comments on newspaper sites. Really.
pseudonymous in nc
@Elizabelle:
Send the bill to Wayne LaPierre, Fairfax, VA. (Though I expect that the NRA will be doing that anyway, for the publicity.)
TerryC
@Howard Beale IV: Try getting a CCW for a set of throwing knives.
gian
@feebog:
he’s a victim. he didn’t plan to be there when it happened. He’s a victim of the homicidal wanna be Harley Quinn
he may also be a victim of NRA propaganda, but he may have just been a dude who wants to save everyone and couldn’t pass a police physical.
My 9 year old wants to save the world too.
He’s a victim, he didn’t deserve to die coughing blood in a Wal-Mart, period. But to quote the Clint movie “Unforgiven” “deserve’s got nothing to do with it”
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I certainly don’t want him dead, but I also think he just made matters worse and more dangerous for everyone. We don’t need a third shooter in the Wal Mart. The idea that this can be solved with an arms race has to end.
Police aren’t going to respond to more guns with less force. They’re going to respond to more guns with more force. That’s what they do. At this point they have no earthly idea what kind of arsenal they might encounter when they go up to a door or answer a call.
They’re going to continue to ramp it up, police, and they’re going to be more hair-trigger than they already are. The people who will suffer are the people who decided to opt out of this madness, because they are going to get the “blowback”.
WaterGirl
@Kay: You are right.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
He maxes out his absences every year but he also maxes the test scores so they let him get away with too much.
Ken
He has an outside chance at the Eighth Bolgia (evil counselors), but really, that is more for people who actually influenced events. I think George will end up in the Second Bolgia, with the flatterers who tell the powerful exactly what they want to hear, and thus have no impact on history since the powerful will always do what they want anyway.
celticdragonchick
@Botsplainer:
That is simply fucked up beyond any countenance. Show me the goddamned evidence the vicitm believed any of that, you fucking cretin.
He tried to save people and didn’t know the girl was in on it. Many cops would have made the same mistake.
BY the way…fuck you.
Gian
@celticdragonchick:
It’s poor for to say the least to pile on the still warm corpse of someone who died trying to do something good. The reports say shot in the ribs. Not the heart. It was a lonely painful death. I don’t wish that on anyone. (Well I can’t say that the likes of Charles Ng meeting an end like that would sadden me)
Ruckus
@pseudonymous in nc:
Free publicity probably, something that costs them any money? I don’t see it. And I’ll say the same for wally world. They won’t actually spend/give any money to anyone else for anything unless they can sell it for a profit.
pseudonymous in nc
@celticdragonchick: yep. It’s really not good to impute motives to the guy.
What we can say is that real life is not what the NRA pretends it to be.