Not what you think

 When ordinary mortals demand gun law reform it barely rates a mention.  How about professional football players?  How about professional football players who just won the Super Bowl?  DE Charles Omenihu:  "A time of celebration ends in tragedy.  When are we going to fix these gun laws?...It is too easy for the wrong people to obtain guns in America and that's a FACT."  S Justin  Reid:  "This is SAD man!  Kids are being shot and somebody didn't come home tonight.  We cannot allow this to be normal.  We cannot ourselves to become numb and chalk it up to 'just another shooting in America' and reduce people in statistics and then move on tmrw.  This is a SERIOUS PROBLEM!!  I pray our leaders enact real solutions so our kids' kids won't know this violence."

Justin Reid thinks this serious public health problem can be solved by the time his grandchildren come along.  He is clearly an optimist.  We might see some action if the billionaires who own NFL teams and contribute bigly to political campaigns decided to get involved, but the hired hands can be ignored like everyone else.  With only one person dead (21 wounded) this would not even be a two-day story if it hadn't disrupted the Kansas City Chiefs' victory party.  Unless the three people in custody turn out to be Palestinians or "illegals," fodder for the next campaign speech.

Mayor Quinton Lucas made a point of praising police for "running toward the danger" -- after Uvalde you have to pat them on the back when they do their job -- but it was a civilian named Paul Contreras who helped tackle the shooter:  "You can't be scared, you know.  Not saying you want it to happen but there's always that chance.  It could happen at work, the grocery store."  The way we live now.  Americans have the instincts of combat veterans, which is what we are.

 

Will Pope Francis wash the feet of twelve prisoners this Holy Thursday as he did last year?  I ask because this ritual has become a Thing since the Super Bowl (yes, again) when an evangelical outfit paid big money to air the He Gets Us commercial ("Jesus didn't teach hate.  He washed feet").  It's not clear who was responsible but financing came from Alliance Defending Freedom and other anti-LGBTQ groups, so, irony alert.  Somehow it has enraged our old friends the One Million Moms (some ladies in Florida) because it does not "share the Gospel" with its message of exclusion and condemnation as the Moms see it.  Trying to coax the radicaleft into the big church tent or insulting the believers with its kumbaya vibe?  Judge for yourself.  I'm not the pope, or even John Fugelsang.

As fewer Americans self-identify as Christian with each successive poll, the ultimately mysterious figure who inspired the New Testament becomes a more battered cultural and political football.  Trump's phony religiosity is now central to his desperate and cynical schemes to seize power and elude prison.   He didn't come down the gold escalator in sandals and a robe but he has done nothing to discourage the messianic cult invented by his more unhinged followers.  (During the coup attempt one Congressman half-seriously sighed, "The things we do for Orange Jesus," without having the courage to stop doing them.  Cowardice like that is traditionally accompanied by the crowing of a cock.)  At this point Trump, ever more lost in dementia, may believe he really is the anointed one.  Did he smirk while sharing a Jon Voight tweet hailing him as "the one man that was ridiculed, destroyed as Jesus"?  Probably busy planning a job for Jon the Baptist in his Forever Administration.  

Meanwhile we can still enjoy a laugh at Marjorie Magdalene, who would kill for a chance to dry Trump's feet with her hair.  Her committee antics are always a joy, even without the dick pics.  Dr. Peter Marks directs the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and naturally believes children should be vaccinated because he is an actual doctor.  "I'm not a doctor but I have a Ph.D. in recognizing bullshit when I hear it," the CrossFit Cracker shouted, without asking him any questions or even letting him respond.   There's no point while she's ranting, Dr. Marks.  It's a little like Bluto in Animal House getting worked up about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.  Speaking of which, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged Congress to pass the Ukraine aid bill:  "I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s.  He came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression."  Margie struggles with English, so she thought Cameron "tried to compare us to Hitler also...I think that's rude name-calling and I don't appreciate that type of language...frankly, he can kiss my ass."  Oh, Marge, you always brighten my day.  Never get any smarter.

With books and writers under attack from politicians, religious fanatics and even school board members, do we also have to contend with censorship from awards committees?  The Hugo Awards for science fiction are bestowed by readers rather than critics, so you'd expect them to be free of political pressure.  You'd be wrong, according to "leaked emails" from organizers.  It seems several writers were excluded from last year's shortlists because someone thought they might irritate the Chinese government.  It's bad enough when movie studios and streaming services are timid about losing access to the enormous Chinese market -- but awards?  The awards were given out last October in Chengdu, and committee members were told to eliminate books that mentioned "sensitive" topics like Tibet, Taiwan, or even the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian who lived in the 7th century CE.  It's not clear if the Hugo people got a memo from some cultural commissar or if this is a far worse case of self-censorship.  Maybe the answer is not to hold the awards ceremony in a country frightened by fantasy and speculative fiction, like the proverbial elephant frightened by the proverbial mouse.  Until I hear otherwise, Hugo fuck yourselves.