249

Remember that number.

That's the number of mass shootings in the United States so far in 2019 . . . before the twin mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.  And you can expect the number to go higher still before December 31.  I would guess that the the numbers in Canada and Mexico will remain unchanged.  As will America's gun laws - there is no incentive under America's current governmental system to limit the sale of guns in this country.

Trump went on TV to decry the mist recent violence and he finally admitted what everyone already knew - that most of the mas shootings in this country are linked to right-wing extremism and anti-immigrant sentiment, which he had more than a small role in stirring up.  He made a few proposals of his own to deal with gun violence, such policing social media, discouraging violent video games, mental health reform, and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, but his remarks were so rote and pablum-laden that he sounded like a robot.  And he said nothing about reducing the number of available guns.  He says that hate has no place in America, something that doesn't ring true in light of his own rallies.  He has no problem with getting the most reactionary elements of his base activated, and he never tries to quell them until and unless he has no choice.  That's not leadership; that's cowardice.  

Frankly, I wasn't going to comment on El Paso or last week's Gilroy massacre - because what can say other than that they were very bad things? - until Dayton happened within 24 hours after El Paso. As the press has said, when you mention this past weekend's shooting, you have to specify which one.  

Mass shootings are just one of the many unbearable problems with this country that cannot and will not be solved.  Now they're talking about bringing tighter security to the big-box shopping complex where the El Paso shootings took place.  And there's another thing wrong with this country - we're so dehumanized that we build these scary big-box shopping complexes that further dehumanize the simple act of living one's life.  I'm not surprised that such shootings take place in nightmarish landscapes that dehumanize everyone and everything around it.  The architecture of Columbine High School and the Century multiplex movie theater - both in Colorado, both the scenes of mass shootings (and 1999 and 2012, respectively) - are prefect examples.  Columbine looks like a warehouse, as it if it were designed to merely store children in, and the Century theater has a a warehouse design as well - merely a place to store moviegoers while they take in some entertainment.

I'm ready to just quit the United States - leave this country and never come back.  The laundry list of everything wrong with America and reasons why nothing ever changes is too damn long.