Guns now the leading cause of death for American children, and America is broken beyond repair, but at least we’re not Russia

Marco Bello/Reuters

CDC: Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children - Nothing will be done. The far-right makes up, approximately, 40% of the overall population, and upwards of 80% or more of the rural population. They are, by far, the largest percentage of gun owners, and their ranks include many police officers and military personnel. The Constitution is written in such a way that privileges small states and rural areas over cities. The Supreme Court is heavily biased in their favor. Most of the state legislatures are controlled by the GOP, and they are gerrymandering congressional maps anywhere and everywhere they can get away with doing so. They may not control academia, the entertainment industry, or pop culture in general (though they are working hard to change all of that), but politically and legally they have this country by the proverbial balls. January 6, 2021, was just a taste of what is to come, and the rank-and-file of #Cult45 are just waiting for the word to begin slaughtering the rest of us. I’ve been saying all along, dating back years, that America is a lost cause. Yet we still have to fight: After all, we will eventually have to give an account to God of whether we stood up to evil, or helped facilitate it. I am not anti-gun and would be opposed to just outlawing them altogether; but some basic measures to ensure to the greatest extent possible that only trained, qualified, and law-abiding individuals are allowed to possess them would not be an ‘infringement’ on the Second Amendment. No private citizen needs to own weapons of war, such as an AR-15. All rights come with responsibilities and limits, so do tell why gun ownership should be exempt? But, as I said, nothing is going to happen, except more bloodshed. America today is akin to places like Iran, much of the Middle East, Russia, etc., where ignorance and superstition is increasingly becoming enforced, and intellect and reason are gradually being suppressed. Go down fighting. (Axios 5/26)

Damon Winter/NYT

Michelle Goldberg: America may be broken beyond repair - Do ‘we simply stumble on, helpless as things keep getting worse?’ That has been the state of affairs for a couple of decades now, but simmering rage can only build up for so long before it explodes. It is very hard to see any scenario now where the country can heal these riffs and be held together. Therefore, the question becomes: Is this union worth persevering, or would it be for the best for the United States to be dissolved and a series of new, smaller states to emerge from its ashes? If it is the latter, there will be extreme disparities between the new states that emerge in terms of their economies, laws, standards of living, and so forth; and there will be bloody wars between some of these states from time-to-time. If one looks at the history of Europe over the centuries - and even within the last 100 years - borders are constantly changing, alliances come and go, and those processes always entail great conflict and bloodshed. So, just breaking America up does not guarantee there will no longer be strife between the peoples of this vast continent. But it would appear people in New England, or California, or in Chicago no longer want to be ruled over by people from the rural South and Midwest, and vice versa. Each side wants to impose their lifestyles and values (or lack thereof) upon the other, neither is in the least bit interested any longer in compromise and going along to get along. Something will have to give. (New York Times 5/27)

Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/WP

Russians face prospect of Soviet-style shortages as sanctions bite - Excerpt: ‘Stung by Western sanctions, Russia is starting to devolve into a secondhand economy dependent on poor substitutes, where shortages are stirring memories of the consumer wasteland that was the Soviet Union. While it may be able to find new purveyors for some Western-made goods and components in friendly countries such as China and India, Russia is increasingly determined to make its own — returning to policies of import substitution that yielded a vast, if globally uncompetitive, industrial complex before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Already, Moscow is facing serious challenges.’ (Washington Post 5/26)

Roger Dean

Fourteen warning signs that you are living in a society without a counterculture - Serious food for thought here. We are not living in a vibrant culture that rewards independent thought and creativity. I think that’s something we all should be ashamed of, and be working to fix. (Ted Gioia 5/28)

Rest in Peace, Alan White: Hall of Fame drummer of YES fame dies at 72 (AP 5/26)

This is beautiful. The Beach Boys serenade Alan White, sometime within the past few years. RIP to a great drummer and human being. 

Never really 'got' The Band, and I believe that holds true for most who came after that '60s generation. But, any musician who had a positive impact on peoples' lives as Ronnie Hawkins did deserves to be celebrated. (CBC News 5/29)

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