December 18, 2024

December 18, 2024

WTF!! We just had our 83^rd OTAP of 2024. What’s OTAP you ask? That would be “Our Thoughts and Prayers”, which we hear from politicians to those families and victims after every school shooting tragedy. Isn’t that what you hear each time there is a school shooting? On NBC News last night they reported that this was the 83^rd school shooting this year, but I think they meant this was the 83^rd in which someone was killed. According to an article in the Milwaukie Journal Sentinel, using data from a national K-12 school shooting database, there have been 323 school shootings this year. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2024/12/16/323-school-shootings-in-u-s-this-year-database-says/77029027007/ Whatever definition you want to use for a school shooting or the database you want to look at, any number over zero is too many. A fact that doesn’t need interpretation is that firearms are now the number 1 cause of death for children and teens (ages 1 to 19) in the United States. This statement is from multiple reports including the Office of the Surgeon General from the Department of Health and Human Services. The leading cause of death for children is not from an auto accident, cancer, or other medical disease, but from a firearm. Now, I’m not a stand on the soap box guy shouting that Americans have to give up their right to own guns, but I do believe that we need to put in place some controls for gun ownership. In too many cases a student aged school shooter obtained the gun in their household because it was unsecured, or a parent had purchased the gun for their child as a hunting weapon or for target practice, or it was a stolen gun bought off the street. We can’t continue to say that providing more mental health services or arming teachers will solve this problem. From my background in education there are teachers that “no way in hell” do I want them in the classroom with a 9 millimeter in their purse, briefcase, backpack or ankle holster. Besides Yogi Berra, you gotta love Betty White and her great quotes. I bet she was thinking of Ted Cruz, the legislator who received the most money from gun rights advocates, when she said, My thoughts and prayers are with the Senators that voted down gun control. My thoughts: do your job. My prayer: you’re voted out of office. She has another quote from her book that fits Ted, the guy who let Donald walk all over him during the first term debates. It references male and female body parts, but I was afraid if I put it in here you would cancel me like I did to Time magazine for their “Person of the Year” cover. Oh, I did get my refund from them, deposited to my checking account today. So I guess I better be off to the liquor store to get my bourbon. Here’s a Betty White I can put in today’s rambling – “Vodka is kind of a hobby.” (to David Letterman). If you want to quote me, I say, “Bourbon, the drink of the professional drinker.”

I hope y’all survived the storm last night. Our power on the mountain went out in the middle of the night, so this morning had to get up and start the generator and then get in the truck and run down to the gas station. Earlier this week I got rid of all the old gas in the cans from last year and, of course, the generator only had a quarter tank of fuel in it. I hope the beach house survived the gusts they were expecting on the coast.

Anyhoo, I hope you have a great evening and can binge on Christmas specials the rest of the week. Don’t forget to start storing up on popcorn. January 20th will be here before you know it and I’m sure there will be a run on it as we approach the beginning of the s–t show. Cheers. Ziggyman