 |
| A real 'national emergency' |
Maybe
it’s evidence that a deity is watching over us, and that he had nothing to do with Donald Trump becoming president – the way some of
the more religiously overzealous ideologues amongst us like to claim.
But
on the day Friday when Trump tried to claim that conditions along the U.S./Mexico
border are so violent and drug-infested that they constitute a “national
emergency,” we got to see an incident that truly qualifies.
BY
THAT, I’M referring to the shooting incident in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, the
one that gained national attention as the latest of public outbursts that wind
up with multiple casualties.
In
this case, we’re talking about the “stressed out” factory worker whose reaction
to learning he was “fired” from the job was to pull out a pistol he was carrying (illegally) and start
shooting.
Police
ultimately killed the man in question, but five other people were killed and wounded
– including a few police officers themselves.
 |
| Who thinks more alongside mindset … |
The
sad aspect of this incident is that the details of all these public outbursts
usually wind up becoming so similar that they all become intertwined in the
public mindset. This particular moment happened in the unfortunately-named city
in west suburban Chicago – since there also was the 2012 incident at a movie
theater in Aurora, Colo.
HOW
MUCH YOU want to bet some people won’t be able to keep the two incidents
straight?
To
me, the notion that we have so much violence occurring in parts of the country
that would like to think they’re isolated from conditions that would cause such
incidents in the first place is the real “national emergency.”
 |
| … of the American people? It ain't Trump! |
It
ought to be the evidence needed to show that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
is correct when she claims a future Democratic president could easily use the
concept of a “national emergency” to push for the stricter gun control laws
that conservative ideologues claim are essential to the “American way” of life.
Although
that threat didn’t particularly sway Trump away from using “national emergency”
from trying to force funding for a U.S./Mexico border barricade.
 |
| Twisted sense of amendment's purpose |
In
short, Trump counts on the fact that the bulk of us aren’t as absurd as he is.
In
fact, many were trying to score political points against Trump by dinging the
president for not speaking out vociferously enough about the incident – with some
saying they wonder if he’d have been willing to use the incident to his
advantage if it had somehow involved a Latino gunman
Because
then, it would have fit into his line of thinking about all those foreigners
coming here to kill people.
JUST
LIKE HOW on Friday morning he was eager to claim “emergency” conditions about
all the illicit narcotics being brought into this country – even though the
reality is they’re being brought here because there’s a market for them amongst
the U.S. populace – many of whom probably voted for Trump in the first place.
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| If it were real, it could comfort us from Friday's violent outburst |
That
amendment, after all, says, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed,” but also cadges it with rhetoric about “well-regulated
militias” and “state security” that too many “gun nuts” prefer to ignore.
One
other reality of Friday’s incident – Aurora, Ill., won’t just be in the public’s
minds as the home town of “Wayne’s World.” I’m sure many Aurora-types would
just as soon go back to the days of people showing up and asking for the
location of the mythical “Stan Mikita’s Donuts” shop.
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