I believe this was the headline on the Huffington Post yesterday. Another mass shooting in America ... Ho Hum. Nothing to see here ... move along. 26 people this time, in church. A crazy guy (no sane person does these things ... that's a given) walks into a Baptist church during Sunday services and blows away half the congregation. Half were kids. The shooter had a previous domestic violence charge against him but the military ... he was ex-military it turns out ... the military had forgotten to record this little tidbit on his record so he was able to get his gun without problems. And once again we have this conversation ...
Trump says, as one has come to expect from him, that this isn't a "gun" problem but a mental health problem. I wonder, just for the hell of it, what would have happened had this guy been carrying just a knife. You think 26 would be dead? Really? I think as soon as the knife appeared someone in the church would have gone after him and we'd be talking a different story right now. Maybe a few people sustained "minor" wounds disarming a crazy guy. But that's not what we got, is it? We got a semiautomatic weapon and lots of dead/wounded people. A bit different I think. And the "hero" who shot at him, missed of course because he wasn't trained and was nervous so he missed. I wonder how many of the slugs they dig out of the victims came from his gun? Anyone willing to make a guess? So no, he wasn't a hero. His gun made no difference in the outcome. It certainly didn't stop the killer did it?
I look at my country and wonder what the hell went wrong. When did the crazies take control of the country? When did we start selecting the most insane among us to be our leaders? I can't even begin to describe just how nuts we've gotten. Look at our leaders, local, state and federal, and tell me that they are the best of the best. They're not even the best of the worst. They're mostly just crazy. Is that the new normal for our elected leaders? Do we need to institute a mental exam and they have to "pass" by getting the highest crazy scores possible before they can run for office? We are heading for the abyss and everyone seems OK with that. Well, I'm not.
Mammoth Springs ... Yellowstone
I've already talked about Mammoth Springs in earlier posts so I won't bore you with a repeat. This image was taken on the other side of the walkway from where those earlier images were shot. The water has cooled somewhat by this point and the structures being deposited have gotten lower and less pronounced but are still extremely interesting. You can see, in the upper left corner, some calcium carbonate which has dried and bleached out. It is stark white. The colors in the frame are created by living organisms thriving in the warm, mineral rich water. Mostly shades of brown but I've also seen yellow, green and blue in other pools throughout the park. Life always finds a way to thrive, even in the most adverse conditions. It's truly amazing how they do that. So sit back and enjoy ... Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone.
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| Mammoth Springs - 35mm,f/18,1/100 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0 |
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