No Thoughts, No Prayers

Kendall Long comforts Kianna Long, who was in the freezer section of the Walmart Supercenter when the shooting incident occurred. One male suspect is in custody in connection with the mass shooting that left 20 people dead and 26 injured. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre/EPA-EFE 

We've had two mass-murders in the past 24 hours in the United States.

We found ourselves staring helplessly at a Walmart in El Paso, TX.

It was better to be occupied with house cleaning, lawn mowing, and the great Bob Costas calling Yankees/Red Sox.

But, in truth, I knew. The number kept climbing...15...16...19.

Twenty.

El Paso.

"Not far from the border," I said to my niece Stephanie last night at dinner.

I knew it. I'm sure we all did.

I was tossing and turning around five this morning. At one time, I would have reached for the TV remote. Now I reach for my phone or iPad.

Again, numbers. This time it was Dayton, OH.

As of the last check, it's nine dead.

From there it goes into the land of the politically absurd. The right offers thoughts and prayers. The left says to keep them.

The right wants walls and guns. The left wants no wall and no guns.

I want common sense. Less posturing and pandering, more action.

I want less AOC (who's from Yorktown Heights, by the way). But I want less Trump and McConnell.

I want less Jim Himes and Chris Murphy (Connecticut, so I hear a lot of them) but also much less Schumer.

Either way, I want them all to do something and, honesty, shut up.

Their tweets and comments are about as useful as my blog.

** Incidentally, responding to these people on Twitter is fruitless because, more than likely, their notifications are off. They, frankly, don't care what you have to say, and more to the point, they don't see them. So are YOU doing it to be seen? For your ego? To get it off your chest? **

Let's get back to the point. The one basic, simple fact.

Twenty-nine lives have been lost.

I don't come here with answers, other than the common sense of better background checks and waiting periods. I'm not trying to go all pro-Second Amendment either.

But we shouldn't be in fear of going to Walmart in El Paso or a nightclub in Dayton or a TGI Friday's in Hamden, CT for that matter.

No person should be fearful due to their nationality, race, gender, religion, political party, choice of sports team or anything else.

I'm outraged by the whole thing, but it's useless.

I really fear these are wasted words.

But I had to at least try.