They’ve already gotten a jump on things in Baltimore, city of UD‘s birth; but you gotta figure there will be more Independence Day public slaughter as we approach the actual date.
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A whole lotta bullshit gets said about mass killings in this country, and UD might as well scroll through the latest crapola statements outta Balto.
And why should she do this? Because as long as everyone lies about the way legions of public events in this country are getting shot up, we’ll never get anywhere.
So let’s see what’s being said. Start with the headline in USA Today‘s reporting: VICTIMS OF BALTIMORE MASS SHOOTING etc. Since this was almost certainly a gang revenge event, we can expect that some of the dead/injured are perpetrators – an important distinction no one ever seems to make. It’s like calling Eric Harris a victim of Columbine.
A lot of what we feel in the wake of these routine large-scale murders needs to be disgust at the assholes who commit them. If we’re not allowed to cast a cold eye at the people who start the shooting, and the people they’re fighting with who continue the shooting and turn it into a massacre, the event dissolves into an emotional puddle.
The killing “marred the holiday weekend.” Marred? “Spoiled to a certain extent; made less perfect, attractive.”? Other than your MARRED evening, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?
Let us start describing these pathetic, terrifying events honestly. The killing destroyed not only a holiday weekend, but was one more nail in the coffin of many communities ever being able to gather in celebration, mourning, commemoration, graduation, etc. Ever. The killing once again graphically demonstrated the absence of police personnel in a city far too dangerous to attract enough applicants to the force. The killing is a humiliating admission of the failure of a once-significant American city to live a normal communal life.
The violence in Baltimore comes as federal prosecutors there this week touted their efforts to reduce violent crime in the city.
Where’s the word “ironically”? Why does the writer not insert “even” between comes and as?
“I want those who are responsible to hear me, and hear me very clearly,” Mayor Brandon Scott said at the scene. “We will not stop until we find you, and we will find you. Until then, I hope that every single breath you take, that you think about the lives that you took, think about the lives that you impacted here tonight.”
If I were the killers, who I assume successfully accomplished their mission of killing some of their rivals, I’d be giggling at the would-be tough-guy mayor of a city that can’t stop everyone from killing everyone. “Lives you impacted” – wow. Impacted. Strong stuff.
I mean, kiddies, the street certainly ran with blood after this, didn’t it? ‘“The shots were just going on and on and on,” [one observer] said.’ The streets must have turned RED after thirty injuries and deaths. Is “impacted lives” the best we can do?
The governor’s statement was even worse. We’re doing everything we can…
But you can’t do anything; you can’t even hire a functional police force.
A police union official said in an email Sunday there were no officers specifically assigned to the gathering.
“There were only three officers assigned to the Brooklyn area of Baltimore City’s Southern District. This is a large area, and to police it safely and effectively you need about seven to eight officers per shift,” said Mike Mancuso, president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3.
Mancuso said about 2,800 officers are needed to effectively police the city, but staffing is down to about 2,100.
I mean, there’s your lead right there, and instead it’s at the end of your article: no officers assigned… Start with that, and ask why a large gathering in a bloody mess of a city included no police presence.
UD doesn’t claim cold honesty/vivid language about streets dripping with blood will make all the killing go away. But it can certainly help concentrate the collective mind. The vague crap we keep getting is worse than nothing.