Today is Wednesday, February 14, 2024, Valentine’s Day.    It was also time for another mass shooting – damn it! – in America.  This time the location was Kansas City, Missouri, where more than 20 people were wounded at a Super Bowl parade for the victorious Kansas City Chiefs who won the “Stupid” Bowl this Sunday.   Now we have to add parades where it’s unsafe for Americans to congregate; by the look of how violence is so rampant and frequent in these here dis-United States, it might be safer to stay inside, but that isn’t safe either since domestic violence is a problem too. 

An online CNN article about this all-too-familiar tragedy appears today and is entitled “1 dead, at least 21 others wounded in shooting following Chiefs Super Bowl celebration rally, officials say.”   It’s written by Jamiel Lynch, Jillian Sykes, Kyle Feldscher, and Matias Grez.  

And how tragic that this sickening event occurred on Valentine’s Day, a Hallmark holiday intended for love and for lovers.     The shooting resulted in one fatality and at least 21 others wounded, officials said.   It shattered a joyous afternoon for the massive crowd celebrating the Chiefs’ latest NFL title.   As of now, three people are in custody for questioning.

Authorities are still determining the total number of victims, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said.  So the actual number could be higher than the aforementioned 21 already presumed wounded. 

The shooting is just the latest instance of gun violence disrupting American life at places once considered safe.   This one occurred at a sports celebration with a huge crowd.   More huge than a Donald Dump rally!   Others have been at churches, schools, outlet malls, hospitals, grocery stores, college campuses, and house parties.  And now we can add parades to the long list.

CNN spoke with four hospitals that received 29 patients from the shooting.  Officials indicated that 19 of those people were treated for gunshot wounds.  Three of the wounded were in critical condition, hospital officials said.

An estimated 1 million people were in downtown Kansas City celebrating their team’s back-to-back Super Bowl championship, and the area where the shooting took place in Union Station was steps away from where the team held a victory rally for thousands of fans after the parade ended.

Children were, unfortunately, in the crowd, as metro area schools canceled classes to allow students to attend the celebration.

Players were on the stage of the Chiefs’ victory rally when the shooting took place, mingling with each other after it had ended.    The area was still packed with fans, even though some individuals had begun filtering out of the location.  As the shots rang out, these fans began to flee in mortal terror.

Some guns were recovered at the scene, according to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves, and more than 800 law enforcement officers were in the area for the event when the shooting happened on the west side of Union Station, she said.

One of those witnesses to the chaos was Madison Anderes, 24, who thought that fireworks were going off, but when a man in front of her turned and yelled, “He’s got a gun.  He’s got a gun,” Anderes knew it was time to hightail it out of there, but she was knocked down on the ground when everyone started fleeing.   ”I felt like I was going to die. I felt like a sitting duck and I was going to get shot,” she recounted.

The celebration began with Chiefs players crowded on double-decker buses, waving to fans as they rolled through the city.   Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, star tight end Travis Kelce, was spotted on the same bus as Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, but it did not appear that his girlfriend was able to make the trip.   She has tour dates in Australia this weekend.

So here we are with yet another mass shooting that has claimed one life thus far.   It could end with more people losing their lives if they succumb to their injuries. 

Who in their right mind would shoot up a victory parade for Kansas City’s hometown football team?     How dare they?  Thousands of people will now take this memory of such an unsettling scene to their graves!      Thanks to at least three heartless people who had to respond to a grievance with a gun!    And, again, no one knows their motivation.   Let’s pray that this scene of carnage had nothing to do with right-wing politics this time!    A local anchor in Kansas City almost tearfully noted, “It can happen anywhere!” just now on MSNBC.     I just heard also that the shooting was not a terrorist act, but something arising from some criminal activity.  Can we actually be relieved to hear that?   Not when there are so many damn guns in this country!   At least the shooting had nothing to do with the biggest pop star on the planet then, who wasn’t even there!     So, folks, are we ever going to change this unfortunate situation that seems to get worse every day?    Can we?

As for yesterday’s special election which yielded a rousing Democratic victory, an online editorial by Donald Duck’s niece, Mary Trump, evinces a ray of hope for Democrats in the presidential race this November.  Her editorial in Raw Story is entitled ‘Hope for 2024’:   Mary Trump says recent election shows swing voters will ‘abandon’ Donald.”

Thus Donald Duck’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, said she had “hope for 2o24” based on her perception that the recent special election in New York showed that many independent voters will abandon the former faux president.  

Trump wrote on her Substack that the data underlying the special election is what gave her hope.  She points to the expelled Rep. George Santos who was roundly abandoned by his constituents when he was criminally indicted.  This shows, according to Mary Trump, that people will run from anyone with similar legal concerns, such as her uncle.

Oops, I lost the article. It just went whoosh on my smartphone and I can’t retrieve it, no matter how hard I try.   Well, you get the gist of what Trump said about her uncle winning back the White House; she believes the chances are not great. Let’s hope, according to the saying, that her mouth to God’s ears in her infamous uncle’s case.  That she is right here.  He is getting crazier and crazier, with his recent mad pronouncements on NATO and allowing Russia to attack a neighbor nation.  It’s pure lawlessness, in Dump’s case here.     To me, this is treasonous talk from a former president.   

Even though Elliot and I didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day today, we will tomorrow, as we drive to Peter Luger’s, the famous, long-standing steakhouse located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.   We might take in a film as well or go to my two bookstores in Williamsburg.    Actually, I need to start March’s book tomorrow for our gay men’s book club, Virginia Wolf’s gender-bending novel, Orlando.   I’m still reading Noah Hawley’s thriller Before the Fall.  I’m up to page 322; the book is composed of 448 pages.    Sheesh, what a long book!

I think I’ll be here tomorrow, but if I’m not, you’ll know why.

Stay safe and be well. 

Awww, here is Atticus staring up at me from his little house.