Occasionally you see something in the news that you have to sit on for a few days. The horrible mass shooting in Colorado Springs is one of those moments. It isn’t the mass shooting itself. There have been deadlier and more tragic mass shootings in recent months. It wasn’t the fact that a specific group was targeted. We’ve seen that before too. It wasn’t the complete inaction following the event. That’s become the norm.

It was the reaction from the father of the shooter. Of course, before I get into that I need to offer some perspective. There are moments when we disappoint our parents. I still do it at times. There are moments when we are disappointed in our children. The worst moments come when we have to either apologize for their actions or when our parents had to apologize for us. I can still remember these moments as many as 40 years later.

In a very generic way I feel a ton of empathy for the parents of mass shooters. This is particularly true for the ones with children that die during those events. They lost a child just like the families of the victims. They have to mourn both their child and those their child took. They have to do it privately because no one is going to feel an ounce of compassion for them. In many cases, they will be blamed for not doing enough to stop it. There is very little they can say that will take any sting off.

Having said all of that, the shooter’s father failed the basic empathy test. He said virtually nothing that could soothe anyone in the wake of this event. All he could muster was the sentiment that at least his son wasn’t gay. He showed no concern for the victims. Somehow, killing five people and injuring two dozen others was somehow preferable to his son being there socially.

A part of me wanted to come on here immediately afterwards and just completely lay into him. Maybe it would have been cathartic. I suppose in a sense it would have made me feel better. However, that would be temporary. All of the snark and all of the vitriol wouldn’t be able to erase the fact that evil like that exists in the world.

It also wouldn’t erase the fact that I have disappointed my parents on occasion. I wouldn’t be able to soothe those feelings. It wouldn’t erase the times where we have been disappointed in our daughter. We are proud of her 99 times out of 100. I’m not sure if the same ratio exists with my parents.

There is a whole subtext in daytime television dedicated to the concept of schadenfreude and self-loathing. Watch enough talk shows and court shows and you will find yourself uttering, “at least I’m more together than that girl/guy” or “at least our family isn’t like them.”

There is a reason they say that schadenfreude is “shameful joy.” We are not made better when we witness examples of the dark side of humanity. We are not made better by comparison even if it might feel that way. We are worse in the collective. Our families are worse off. Our communities are worse off. Our nation and world is worse off. It leaves a hole in our collective heart. It creates the second worst feeling in the world. It is the feeling we get when we have to explain to our children why the world is a dangerous place.

I own some damn strong feelings about the First Amendment that puts a hefty strain between me and the rightwing.

For me, free speech was a concept developed by a high school literature teacher exposing me to Henry II and Thomas Beckett. By using the words “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Henry II let it be known that he needed Beckett dead but used plausible deniability by simply asking a question, not issuing an order. Of course, four of Henry’s knights immediately traveled from Normandy to Canterbury and killed Beckett.

It is my belief that your free speech cannot intentionally hurt a specific group of people. If you yell fire in a crowded theater, people in the theater will prematurely meet their maker. You do not have permission to make up lies about innocent people, call them out by name, and advertise their home addresses.

I recently heard your right to free speech have another simple explanation.  Speech is free; lies you have to pay for.  You do not have the right to slander or libel.

And, once again Twitter becomes the gold standard of misinformation from not very bright people.

… by the government.  Jeremy forgot to say that part.  The government cannot take retribution or censorship.

You and I, however, have the joy of being able to do both retribution and censorship. If my neighbor puts a sign in his yard that says, “My neighbor is a Libtard,” he has that right. I can fully and legally respond with, “But at least I’m not a Nazi with an ass as wide as a bayou.”  That’s retribution. I’m better than average at it.

If I should ever be the lucky random winner of a My Pillow, I will cut off the tags and donate the pillow to a homeless shelter. That’s censorship. The government is not stopping Mike Lindell, you and I are.  By the way, Lindell has announced that he’s running for RNC Chair.

Look, I’m sorry this is so long, but I didn’t have time for a short snappy one.

In the News You Simply Cannot Use department, Kanye West, now known as Ye, had lunch with Donald Trump, now known as TFG. Place cards at the table were a mess.

To add a little fun, Ye brought some uninvited guests, which was a complete surprise being as how Ye is known for his impeccable manners.  Just ask Taylor Swift. Oh hell, just ask anybody.

Ye also brought an almost-famous white nationalist because  … I dunno.  Ye said he was running for President and generously offered TFG the Vice Presidential slot on his ticket.

I know this is hard to believe, but TFG was not honored.  So here he was – eating lunch with a disrespectful Ye and a guy who yearns to be Hitler.  Okay, it sounds like there is no downhill from there.

Oh, yes there is.

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, said former President Donald Trump started “screaming” at him during dinner at the Mar-a-Lago resort and told the rapper he would lose if he were to run in 2024.

“When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was going to lose, I mean has that ever worked for anyone in history?” the rapper said in a video he tweeted on Thursday evening.

“I’m like whoa hold on, hold on, hold on. You’re talking to Ye,” he said in the video.

Okay, I know this sounds weird, but I would pay cash American money to watch those two try to communicate, much less try to insult each other.  Throw in some screaming and a nazi or two and I’ll buy an orchestra seat.

My family is somewhat blessed to have five little boys.  The oldest is 9 years old and the youngest is almost 4. The oldest had a birthday party last week. Nobody screamed, and nobody said, “You’re talking to Ye.”  And Honey, that wasn’t even a challenging behavior bar to jump.

I hope your day is warm and wonderful and that somebody loves you enough to make you a chocolate pecan pie. I also hope you can mix leftover Aunt Erlene’s potato salad in with the turkey bones so that it doesn’t stand out on your plate that it’s awful. I do not know who taught that woman to make potato salad but they are going to hell.

I’ve got some great updates on the Alex Jones in Texas which I will post  later after the hub bub is over and I just need to sit and grin.

EDITED:

Okay, there was another Alex Jones hearing in Austin last week.  This one was for sanctions and a request for the judge to overrule the Texas Legislature’s cap on punitive damages.  It works like this: In Texas, the jury decides on two damages – one is actual damages and the other is called punitive damages. Punitive damages are meant to punish the bad guy who caused the lawsuit.

The jury in this case awarded about $4.5 million for actual damages on a vote of 10 – 2.  We learned after the trial from the jurors themselves that the two who voted “no” wanted the damages to be much higher. Next the lawyers argued punitive damages to the jurors.  The jury came back with $45 million on that.

However, the Texas Legislature decided that jurors could be trusted in deciding between life and death but they could not be trusted with really important stuff like money.  So, they put a cap of $750,000 for punitive damages. Juries are never told about this.

So, no matter what the jury says, the most that you can punish a civil shame bucket in Texas is $750,000.

There are a few rare exceptions to the cap but they are narrow and difficult to prove.

The judge in this case is Maya Guerra Gamble and I’ll have more to say about her later. After a day long hearing with lawyers Numbers 15 and 16 for Jones, she ruled that this case did not warrant caps and awarded the entire $50 million to Neil and Scarlett.

One other thing: The lawyer who totally messed up the Jones defense was there.  Andino Reynal returned to the scene of his last humiliation. Mark has asked for a sanctions hearing against him for the waste of time and money during this case. The judge has made no secret of the fact that she is “disappointed with” his appearances in court. He spoke not a word during this hearing and let the two new lawyers do all the talking.

He, however, did claim that he will be the attorney to represent Jones in the next two cases. We are pleased to hear that.

More to come.

we heard about another mass shooting in the news, my thoughts immediately went to a Joy Reid rant on TikTok. Now, I’m a bit old, so TikTok is not necessarily my thing, but the sentiment seemed so accurate that I couldn’t help but share it.

https://www.tiktok.com/@joyreidofficial/video/7164996613700717866?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7164996613700717866

For those of you that haven’t followed the news, the latest tragedy involves a LGTBQ club in Colorado Springs. As of the latest reporting, five have died with over two dozen being injured. It might have been more on both fronts if not for the heroic efforts of some inside the club.

I should point out that there are plenty of people I know that are conservative and good, decent people. This turns into one of those logical statements that we used to get on the SAT or GRE. Not every conservative is an asshole and I would surmise that most conservatives aren’t assholes. Yet, when you picture an asshole in your head you probably see a conservative.

Maybe that isn’t fair. I’m willing to concede that some liberals could be assholes. Heck, some people might think I’m an asshole. However, let’s consider the campaign we just finished. Crime seemed to be the number one issue on the ballot for them. Yet, whether violent crime really is as pressing an issue is open to considerable debate.

The Democratic brain and the Republican brain work differently. When you say violent crime, the images that pop into our head are vastly different. For many conservatives, violent crime is a dog whistle that point to certain people committing those crimes. The Colorado Springs shooting involved a young white male. Most of these mass shootings involve young white males. So, there is some cognitive dissonance going on here. There is a difference between who we think is dangerous and who might actually be more dangerous.

It would be irresponsible of me to claim that this shooter (I will not publish his name) was somehow radicalized by the rhetoric on the right. We know that was true in the El Paso mass shooting. Yet, it isn’t true all of the time. It isn’t true that they are ALWAYS white males, but that seems to be a good rule of thumb.

I suppose I risk the possibility of becoming the old man sitting in his lawn chair and shaking his fists at the neighborhood kids playing in the street. However, I don’t remember this many zealots actually representing us in government when I was younger. The inflammatory rhetoric has an effect. It ramps up the tension and widens the divide. It creates the irrational view that the other side aren’t real Americans or even real people. It becomes easier to depersonalize and shuts off our compassion when tragedy befalls us. We become numb.

I wish I had some answers for everyone. I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and make it all go away. Maybe it starts with each of us individually. Maybe each of us can make a small contribution to returning our discourse into something resembling civility. Short of that then it becomes simply a live and let die world

Hey, I just deactivated my Twitter account of 12 years. You can too! Here’s how:

1. Open Twitter
2. Tap the navigation menu icon , then tap Settings and privacy.
2. Tap Your account, then tap Deactivate your account.
3. Don’t bother reading the account deactivation information, just tap Deactivate.
4. Enter your Twitter password when prompted and tap Deactivate.
5. Confirm that you want to proceed by tapping Yes, deactivate.

You can then remove the Twitter icon from your desktop, and go in peace.