The Texas school shooting left us in an angry state of mourning
It comes as no surprise that our top subscriber columns this week were almost all related to the Texas school shooting tragedy.
You all did pay some attention to non-shooting columns so we have two of those on this list as well. As always, thank you to our existing subscribers. If you're considering subscribing, now is a good time thanks to our big memorial day sale. Just click on this link and join the club.
We hope everybody has a safe weekend.
Why do mass shootings keep happening? Because this is what we've allowed America to become.
By Louie Villalobos
Hours after 19 children were killed during a Texas elementary school mass shooting, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, made an impassioned plea from the Senate floor for members of Congress to do something.
In his speech, Murphy begs senators to take action, any action, to help the country wrestle with shootings.
He repeats a question that I would guess many, if not most, Americans are asking this morning. It's one that has haunted me for decades.
"What are we doing?" Murphy asked. "Days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African American patrons we have another Sandy Hook on our hands. What are we doing?" READ MORE
My son never came home from Sandy Hook. My heart bleeds for Texas as I relive Dylan's murder.
By Nicole Hockley
I know the unspeakable pain that parents of children killed during Tuesday's Texas school shooting are experiencing right now. I also know what they will endure for the rest of their lives.
My son, Dylan, my beautiful butterfly, was ripped away from me in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting nearly 10 years ago. That day I sent him to school, and he never came home.
My heart bleeds for the parents whose children are not coming home and for the families of the adults who also won't be coming home. I’m overwhelmed with compassion for the Robb Elementary School community that will never be the same because of the void left by 19 innocent children and two adults. READ MORE
Beto O'Rourke's outburst at Abbott's news conference shows the spine Democrats need
By Rex Huppke
Americans witnessed something rare in Texas on Wednesday: a Democrat with a spine.
Gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke showed up at news conference about the horrific Robb Elementary School shooting and confronted Gov. Greg Abbott. He busted right into the middle of the briefing – decorum be damned – and said what a whole lot of Americans would like to say: “You’re doing nothing. You’re offering us nothing.”
He was, of course, shouted down.
One man on the stage angrily hollered: “I can’t believe you’re a sick son of a bitch who would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.” READ MORE
Be angry about Texas elementary school shooting. We owe the 19 children killed our rage.
By Rex Huppke
The words popped up: “School shooting.”
Again? Hope it’s not bad. Please don’t let it be bad. As if a school shooting could be anything but bad. As if there should be varying degrees of such a thing.
Then the words: “elementary school.”
Oh no.
Then, “two dead, maybe a dozen injured.”
My god, these are children.
Then, by evening: “19 children and two adults at a small Texas elementary school were killed by a gunman Tuesday.”
Damn it. READ MORE
Mysterious 'CUP' cancer took my mom. As science grasps for a cure, her spirit endures.
By Kyle Bagenstose
Most bobbleheads go up and down. Sitting on the dashboard, they nod along with the music you're playing as your car hums along. They're happy little things.
My own head goes the other direction. As cancer ruthlessly dragged down my mother this spring – less than two months between diagnosis to death – I often found my chin moving methodically from left shoulder to right, eyes bleary and cast down at the floor next to my mother's bedside, a physical manifestation of my disbelief.
This can't be right.
What in the world is happening? READ MORE
Texas schoolchildren begged for help with officers waiting outside. Be very mad about that.
By Louie Villalobos
Outside, police officers in a small Texas community stood guard believing that things were safe inside the school. They believed they had a barricade situation and were no longer responding to an active shooter.
Inside, meanwhile, children were calling 911 begging for help. They were still being killed. The shooting was still going on. It wasn't over.
So why and how did a communication breakdown of this deadly proportion happen? How could 19 children and two teachers get gunned down while officers were right outside, waiting? READ MORE
Amber Heard lost in the court of public opinion. Johnny Depp's fans made sure of that.
By Carli Pierson
Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard is not over, but thanks to internet trolls, she's already lost in the court of public opinion.
Depp is suing his ex-wife for $50 million, claiming she falsely accused him of domestic violence in an opinion column that appeared in The Washington Post. In 2020, Depp lost a similar case against The Sun newspaper in a British court when the judge found that the evidence presented was "substantially true."
Heard is two decades younger than her former husband and was significantly less famous than he was when they were married.
She has argued from the beginning that no one would believe her against Depp. Based on the deplorable responses on the internet, that has proved to be true. READ MORE