WTF 2/21/2024

Gun violence in America…

I am assuming ya’ll have at least through some form of the prevailing media have heard that the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs celebration parade turned into tragedy as multiple people were shot and at least one person was killed. Among those injured about half were children who were at the parade wanting to just get a glimpse of their sports heroes.

More tragically and sadly according to the Gun Violence Archive the shooting at the time of the parade was at least the 48^th mass gun weapons attack U.S. so far this year.

And zeroing in on just Missouri, as of this incident of gun violence according to CNN there have been at least 155 mass shootings in the state since 2013, causing 595 injuries and 157 deaths.

Of course the du jour… albeit very sincere and heart felt I’m sure… but the usual thoughts and prayers comments were issued from everyone from the mayor and various local dignitaries to the players and coaches of the Chiefs as well as various other celebrities and politicians and folks of various note.  

However among all of these comments of sorrow and prayers very few were in the form of the words that were expressed by Chiefs DE Charles Omenihu when he said, “When are we going to fix these gun laws? How many more people have to die to say enough is enough? It’s too easy for the wrong people to obtain guns in America and that’s a FACT.”

Maybe it’s time for some of these sport heroes… who whether we wish to admit it or not have some street cred among many of those folks, young people as well as adults, who have access to guns… to speak out and begin demanding that our politicians, our law makers, enact meaningful legislation that either makes it a hell of lot more difficult to get a gun or at the minimum creates much better rules around what is needed to be done to possess a gun in America. For these “heroes” to come out and lobby for gun-control laws and help fund gun-control initiatives.

Grok this reality… In 2023 there were more than twice as many mass shootings… 656.. then there were NFL games in the 2023 season… 272. And by the time another Super Bowl champion is crowned, and another parade celebration is held mass shootings in America will have killed a few hundred more people, and thousands more people will be injured from those mass shootings.

What is it going to take before we the people tell our politicians to quit hiding behind bullshit interpretations of the Second Amendment and the money of organizations like the NRA and gun manufacturers and either enact real gun-control laws or lose your jobs when election time rolls around.   

What if Patrick Mahomes had been shot? Or if Head coach Andy Reid was wounded or worse killed. Or Maybe Travis Kelce…

Would that get we the peoples of America’s attention? Would we as a country finally be at the point where we tell our politicians either do something to stop the essentially unchecked access for just about anyone in this country to being able to possess a damn gun or lose your jobs?  

Or will we allow the reality to continue that gun violence in the United States is as American as mom, apple pie and the kickoff of a football game at one o’clock on a Sunday afternoon?

Accept the fact that our politicians in general are lot more like Donald Trump who has bragged  that he is “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House… (and)…“During my four years, nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing.”

Or even worse were Trump’s remarks at a northeast Iowa rally one day after a school shooting in rural Perry killed an 11-year-old boy and the high school principal and he said the shooting was “so surprising” and “just terrible,” and then added  “but we have to get over it.”

Is that what we the people in the United States of America  are willing to settle for?  

Worried about immigrants overwhelming the U.S.?

Donald Trump has been on record of telling we the people of America that the United States is being invaded by immigrants… both legal and illegal… coming across our southern border, in particular along the Rio Grande and that these people are drug runners, thieves, murderers,  rapists and all sorts of evilness.

So what’s the truth? What are the facts about the people coming across the border through states like Texas?

Do they bring crime? Mooch off our taxes? Change American culture?

I’m going to tell ya’ll the truth about these immigrants coming to America. Here’s the skinny as garnered from various news reports including the Washington Post…

What share of the U.S. population was born in a different country?

The fact is it’s just 14%.

That proportion is less than many might imagine, particularly given claims that the United States has already taken in too many people from foreign countries. The United States chooses to admit some of these immigrants on work, family or other visas.

But what about immigrants who arrive illegally?

What share of all immigrants to the United States entered the country illegally?

The total of immigrants coming into America illegally is 25%. Which is probably a lot smaller number than most of we the people would have thought.  

Still, arriving illegally or not, people coming into the U.S. from developing nations might need economic assistance once they get here. So what effect will they ultimately have on the number of impoverished folks living in the United States

In 2022, around 11% of the U.S.-born population were living in poverty. And for immigrants it was about 14%. Not a significant increase whatsoever if you  give it a rational thought.

But what’s that gonna cost us in tax money?

In 2019, American-born citizens got an average of $8,000 per person in welfare and other entitlements. For immigrants the amount was a quarter of that number or less.

But what about Trump’s telling us all that immigrants are predominantly criminals, who will cause illegal activities of all sorts to go up drastically in the United States?

Close to 3% of U.S.-born men under 40 are incarcerated. For foreign-born men living in the United States that number is… about 1%

So what’s it about when it gets all sorted out?  

Trump, and all of those politicians who adhere to his MAGA BS and anyone else who buys into his stories of hordes of immigrants “destroying the blood of our country,” bringing only poverty and crime, are liars and telling tales of unfettered bullshit.  

Another thousand words…