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I have had two friends murdered by guns; one of them was one of three people killed in a work-place violence incident. I also have a friend who was a science teacher at Columbine HS in Aurora, CO, and was hunkered down in the classroom next to the cafeteria where the two gunmen were blasting away at their fellow students. So, yes, I take this personally.

Once you stop recognizing facts and any sort of shared reality, there's no end to the bullshit these people will believe and accept in comparison to those of us who still live in a fact-based world. The two assassination attempts on Trump are Example A and B: In both cases, the gunman was a Republican, for Chrissakes! And tRump and Vance (and their cadre of sycophants) are trying to pin the blame on Democrats? Seriously?!

Voltaire said it best: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." It's almost like he predicted MAGA-land in the US some 250 years ago. And as for the sycophantic MAGA "established authorities" in Congress owned by the NRA, I'll offer them another apropos Voltaire saying they might want to ponder, "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." Just ask the kids at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Uvalde. Oh, wait--they're dead; never mind.

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Routh, the would-be Florida shooter, has been deeply involved in defending Ukraine, including, I believe, going there to take up arms (not necessarily his own) to fight the Russians. So the chances that he was angry at Trump for not helping Ukraine are very high. One does not need any reference to a general climate of violence or any more general political disagreement. Nor does he appear to be paying attention to the state of American democracy generally.

In any event it seems that Routh created his own climate of violance and carried it around with him.

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I am now worn out and worn down by crackpots with firearms. In a perfect world they would have a go at each other.

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I blame golf. I don't mean to start an international conspiracy theory here, but don't the Saudis own the entire sport now?

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