The Kids Are Alright

And a child shall lead them....

Fifty years ago it was the college students of America that shook this country up and turned it around. This new revolution will be waged by mere teenagers in high school. They're standing up and are refusing to be sacrificed on the altars of political expediency, corporate greed and human stupidity. After sixteen students and one faculty member in their Parkland, Florida school were slaughtered last week by some homicidal psychotic who was able to obtain a rapid-fire weapon that, in a civilized country, he never would have had access to, the survivors of the massacre are determined that they are not going to live in a country where that sort of tragedy has become the new norm. They have decided that the politicians in Washington who are there merely to serve as handmaidens to the National Rifle Association are going to finally do the right thing by the children of this country or they're going to disappear forever.

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These kids are pissed, Buster. You'd better believe it.

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What happened at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018 - one week ago today - would never have happened anywhere but a "shithole country" such as this. Donald Trump should take note: These kind of grim events just don't happen in Haiti. Something we all need to take note of.

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These kids don't want the "thoughts and prayers" of a bunch of corrupt and greedy politicians, they want to be secure in their own country.  While avoiding any questions involving these lethal, people-killing-machines, Senator Marco Rubio (of Florida no less) suggested that Florida law should be amended to make it legal for police in that overrated state to seize the guns of people they believe are a threat to the populous. What good would that have done? Although it's being reported that the FBI was aware of the perpetrator's peculiar gun fetish, no evidence suggests that the police in Parkland were aware of it at all. Besides, such a law would not have prevented the massacre in Newtown five years ago. The murderous little nerd who pulled that one off wasn't on anybody's radar. Neither was the guy who killed fifty-eight human beings in Vegas on the first of October. These politicians are going to continue to stall, delay and rationalize. The campaign contributions from the NRA mean more to them than the lives of our children. Think about that for a while.

And now a new tweet from the First Twit:

If there's one thing we may be completely certain of in these trying and uncertain times, it is that our esteemed, Common-Pervert-in-Chief can always be counted upon to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Attempting to deflect attention in the wake of so hideous a tragedy is beyond contemptible. A student of Stoneman/Douglas High named David Hogg replied:

"Children are dying and their blood is on your hands because of that. Please take action. Stop going on vacation in Mar-a-lago. Take action. Work with Congress. Your party controls both the House and the Senate. Take action. Get some bills passed. And for God's sake, let's save some lives."

Ah, the bittersweet optimism of youth. I wouldn't know how to break it to this poor kid that his life means not a thing on the altar of greed and corruption. I am glad that I'm not the one that will have to give him the bad news. Oh, and speaking of gun violence, I do hope that Secret Service agents are on their toes and are working diligently to keep this president safe. The last thing the loony right wing in this country needs is the bloated, martyred body of this dimwitted sociopath to rally around. Spare me.

And if you need any further examples of what an unfeeling piece of shit your president is, here's a dandy one: At the moment the first of the students were being laid to rest, he was forty-five miles away playing golf on the course that he is the owner of. Isn't that soooo "presidential"?

On March 14, one month after the shootings in Parkland, Florida, students are planning a ten minute walk-out at high schools across the nation. School boards and administrators are already saying publicly that no such demonstrations will be tolerated. Fuck them. Walk out, kids. Many of us will be there to support you. I know I will definitely be there.

Don't look to my generation to clean up the mess we've made of America. We were handed - on a silver platter - a country that, while not perfect, was functional and rational. And what is it we're handing over to the generation of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School? A clusterfucked cesspool.

These kids are the ones who are going to turn America around. Just you wait.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

UPDATE: 

The GOP in the Florida statehouse voted down a debate on assault weapons. Minutes later they declared pornography to be a public health emergency. All of this was done in the presence of the survivors of the Parkland massacre who bore witness from the gallery.

Idiot Nation

AFTERTHOUGHT, 2/22/18, 9:26 AM:

Below is  a photograph of Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1988). She was a pioneering journalist in a day when women doing anything outside of the kitchen were pioneers. It is she for whom the now infamous high school in Parkland, Florida was named. Her good name will be forever linked to the carnage of February 14, 2018. That's pretty sad.