Today is Sunday, May 29, 2022. Before I progress, I must state why I didn’t release my blog yesterday. The reason was that Elliot and I had the good fortune to partake of a family gathering in Croton-on-Hudson, in Westchester County, with our dear friend, “Mark,” who invited us the day before to accompany him at about 3:30 p.m. Greeting us somewhere in the woods were Mark’s gracious cousins, “Leona,” and “Morris,” with their sixteen-year-old son “Larry.” Within time, Morris’s sister, “”Tania” and her husband, “Bob,” arrived with their two daughters, aged 14 and 11. Another guest at the cozy domicile was Morris’s Florida mom, “Anna.” Elliot and I immediately felt very comfortable with this assemblage of family members, whom, we could discern very clearly, apparently admired and revered their “uncle” Mark. We sat down to a lovely homegrown dinner consisting of fried chicken, salad, and pasta. For dessert, we were treated to Mark’s rugelach, cookies, and watermelon cubes. We enjoyed conversing outside on the deck that overlooked an expanse of grass and trees. At one point, I was waiting for Bambi to come strolling by at any moment.

The assembled crowd was made complete with the appearance of two sociable dogs, Joey and Minnie. I particularly enjoyed petting Joey at every opportunity during our stay there in the suburbs. I had to giggle when I spied Joey being used as a canine dish washer after dinner was over and it was time to load the machine with dirty dishes. Joey, who was a big dog, just took his long tongue and lapped off the residue left on the plates. Leona didn’t fail to remind me that the dish washer would still be turned on after Joey performed his own form of dish washing.

Thus we had such a good time that we left sometime after 9 or so and had to drive home pretty late. That is the reason why I didn’t post my blog yesterday. I thought I owed you an explanation then.

Now we are in the midst of Memorial Day weekend 2022, with such a string of tragic events occurring very recently that it’s very difficult to not be traumatized by such an unrelenting barrage of bad news. The most current tragedy is, as everyone knows, is the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting that occurred just last Tuesday. The country is still reeling from this assault on our children that is being promulgated by conspiracy theorists known as repugnicans who keep on harping that these murders are being committed by madmen, deflecting the real cause for this explosion of violence, which is the fucking easy access of guns for 18-year-olds.

Today President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived in Texas to pay their respects to the 21 people killed in the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. This sad visit was covered in an online article for The Hill by Morgan Chalfant entitled “Bidens arrive in Texas to pay respects after school shooting.” The Bidens were met by the abominable governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and his wife, Celia Abbott, as they visited a memorial construction outside the site of the shooting. The memorial was decorated with flowers and crosses bearing the names of the victims murdered in the shooting. “The Bidens placed a bouquet of flowers at the memorial and held hands with the elementary school’s superintendent, Hal Harrell, and principal, Mandy Gutierrez.”

This marks President Biden’s second visit to a grief-stricken community in less than two weeks; he recently went to Buffalo, New York, to meet with families of 10 victims killed in the mass shooting at Tops grocery store in which police are investigating it as a racially motivated hate crime.

In the wake of the bungled police response to the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting, the Justice Department announced today that it would now investigate the law enforcement response to the shooting at the request of Uvalde’s mayor.

These two tragic events have also renewed a contentious national debate about gun control, with President Biden and other Democrats pressing for action on the federal level on measures such as expanding background checks and banning assault-style weapons. In my mind, and almost 90 percent of all Americans, the resolution to end this unending cycle of shooting after shooting, is clear as the nose on my face: pass these two measures now – without further ado.

Given this renewed effort to fucking do something in the wake of these two atrocities, it’s still repugnicans who oppose gun restrictions as clearly as the warts on their ugly faces, and this country continues to be held in abeyance by these true uber-traitors to the American way. Greg Abbott, the fucker, and other repugnican lawmakers have dismissed the reasonable idea of enacting stricter gun laws in the wake of the senseless murder of 19 children younger than 12.

The frustration and anger felt by so many Americans was reflected by a spectator who yelled at the Bidens as they exited a church service for the victims, “Do something!” Biden quickly replied, “We will.” The country is waiting!

An incident at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn today pointedly illustrates how tense everyone is with regard to the incessant explosion of gun violence occurring in this country in every corner of the nation in which audience members began scurrying for their lives when they believed an active shooter was in the arena. Actually, police stated that there was some sort of noise discharge coming from where-I-don’t- know that made people imagine that a gun was being discharged. I saw a clip of this on my smartphone just a few minutes ago, and the commentator did not provide any further details. But this situation just embodies the uneasiness that everyone feels in places like the Barclays Center and other venues. Maybe now I shouldn’t even contemplate attending concerts or even theater anytime soon as a result of where we are right now in these gun-anxious times.

I am comforted that a repugnican adviser railed against my most hated senator, Ted Cruz, for his stance on guns and teens. Cruz, or “Ooze,” as I fondly refer to this sack of shit, was dragged over the coals today on MSNBC for his defense of the NRA and his refusal to consider banning 18-year-olds from buying high-powered weapons.

The commentary by GOP campaign consultant Susan Del Percio was covered in an online article for RawStory by Tom Boggioni entitled ‘Ted Cruz is a coward’: GOP adviser rains hell on Texas senator for stance on guns and teens.”

Appearing today with MSNBC host Alex Witt, Del Percio went on a rant against the Texas lawmaker after first calling him a “coward.” First Witt reminded the audience, “Why is a senator in the state where the most heinous acts of mass murder has just taken place, the killing of children, why is he not able to even, at least, mildly acknowledge verifiable facts?”

At this point, Del Percio shot back, “Ted Cruz is a coward.” She continued, “He does not have the ability, the inclination, to say why he supports AR-15s in the hands of children; which an 18-year-old is still almost a child, but he is afraid.” She further declared that it’s imperative to focus on saving “just one child’s life” before anything else. One of the “talking heads” Witt interviewed said this about Ooze: “He’s someone we shouldn’t even be talking about!” I concur wholeheartedly with that statement. So let’s just say this to our out-of-touch senator: “Let’s hope your family is never put in in the same situation as those grieving families in Uvalde and those in similar mass shooting incidents, where you might have to finally change your fucking position toward guns.” Let’s hope this doesn’t happen to you since no one has been made invulnerable to gun violence now because of your party’s stonewalling on the issue.”

It’s getting late here. I wanted to share what Elliot and I did today, but because of the seriousness of the subjects discussed here, it doesn’t seem appropriate now. Suffice it to say that we took the subway for the first time in a long time, and thank God, there were no incidents on either train to report. So that was good! We got to where we needed to go without any trouble. What was really nice was that we also didn’t have to wait too long for a train – in either direction.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.