Boiling-hot outside this late-afternoon Wednesday here in California’s Central Valley — reportedly 108-degrees just before 6 p.m. PDT — and it’s still days away from official summer.
Shit-already-on-a-overheated-stick.

In the wake of the massacre yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the normal shit-stuffing by Republicans has grown in size and scope. Really shitty that a minority is killing the whole of America. Republicans need to be removed from the political scene if there’s anything at all that can be done about this crazy-ass situation with mass killings with automatic, weapons of war. Of with COVID. Or health care. Or climate change Or — WTF?
Republicans scream it’s a Constitutional right to bear an AR-15 rifle, and the only solution is to ‘harden’ the schools.

We’re up shit creek without a paddle. Although seemingly disruptive in appearance, Beto O’Rourke’s confrontation this morning with Greg Abbott is a route, considering the circumstances, maybe the only way to bring the gun issue to the forefront for everybody — confront these miserable, cruelty-is-the-point Republicans at every turn (for some reason I can’t load tweets, so this is an MSNBC video via YouTube):

One GOPer with Abbott called O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch” and called for security to “get his ass out” of the building — afterward per The Daily Beast:

Speaking to reporters following the dramatic confrontation, O‘Rourke was unapologetic and defended his actions as speaking out for parents who’ve lost children in mass shootings.

“We owe those parents action,” the ex-congressman said.
“I’ve talked to the parents in El Paso, in Santa Fe high school, in Midland, Odessa. They want us to do something right now. If we continue to accept this, it is on us. It’s not just the governor’s fault, it’s on us. I could care less whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent, I’m asking you to stand up for ourselves, our kids, our families and to stop the next shooting just like this one.”

He also called out Abbott’s “fealty” to the National Rifle Association while noting that the governor is still scheduled to appear at the gun lobby’s annual convention later this week.

“He goes to the NRA convention to brag about how easy he’s made it to buy guns and to carry them,” he declared.
“It is insane when the government talks about mental health. It’s insane that we allow an 18-year-old to go in and buy a gun. What the hell did we think he was going to do with that? that’s on us.”

Exactly.

And the asshole-Republican continuous mantra-shit on the ‘good-guy with a gun’ bullshit is just that, bullshit (Aaron Rupar at Vox in August 2018 after the Dayton, Ohio, mass shooting):

According to Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl, the gunman who opened fire in the popular Oregon District in downtown Dayton around bar close time was “neutralized” by officers a mere 30 seconds after he fired his first shot. But largely due to the .223-caliber high-capacity rifle with 100-round magazines he was wielding, 30 seconds was all the time he needed to leave nine people dead and at least 27 others injured before he was killed by police.
CNN, citing Dayton officials, reported that the gunman fired 41 shots in less than 30 seconds, and stuck 14 people with gunfire.

Despite the hardening response, a weapon of war is made to kill quickly.

In an op/ed this afternoon at The Washington Post, Paul Waldman notes we’ve gotten ourselves into a routine of horror, invoked by Republicans:

So with bodies still being gathered, the lieutenant governor of Texas goes on television to say that the solution to the next mass killing of children is that “We have to harden these targets.” He was talking not about forward operating bases in war zones but elementary schools.

This weekend, the National Rifle Association will hold its annual meeting in Houston. Speakers, including former president Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and Gov. Greg Abbott (R), will regale the crowd with tales of their passion for putting as many guns in the hands of as many people as possible. Guns will be stroked and admired and held aloft in triumph.
…
Republicans who keep us living in this nightmare would certainly prefer it if the lies they knowingly tell about guns were true. They’d be happy if bad guys with guns really were stopped by good guys with guns, if more guns did make for less crime, and if all these guns made us the safest society on earth.

But in the end, the fact that all those things are false does not change their minds. Tens of thousands of suicides and homicides committed with guns every year, punctuated by regular massacres of men, women and children are just the price they believe we have to pay for their version of “freedom.”

Even if most of us don’t agree, those who do can leverage their power to keep the slaughter going. And that’s what it will take to change things: power. Acquiring it and being willing to use it.

Change will not come because we looked into our national heart and found goodness lying therein. The heart of America is not one thing. It is sometimes kind and generous and wise, but it is also dark and hateful and murderous. That is who we really are — all of it. If for a moment you forget, just wait. In another few days, there will be another massacre.

And into the shampoo-rinse-repeat bullshit cycle.

Eric Lutz at Vanity Fair today also looked at the awfulness of the political straitjacket Republicans and one asshole Democrat has done to this country, and don’t seem to mind being obviously hypocritical and stupid at the same time.
Go read the whole piece, including this:

If pointing out the failure to act seems naive, it speaks to the utter brokenness of the American political system, which hardly even pretends to have solutions to the problems plaguing the country anymore, thanks to the bad faith and self-interest of Republicans and the total delusion, at best, of some Democrats.
“You would think there would be enough common sense” to pass gun reforms without eliminating the filibuster, Joe Manchin told reporters Tuesday, expressing support for gun control legislation but reaffirming his commitment to preserving the procedure that makes such laws impossible in the evenly split Senate.
“The filibuster,” Manchin added, “is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity.”

Crazy-ass sonofabitch knows he’s full of shit.

And like yesterday, here we are once again…

(Illustration out front by Taylor Callery, and found here).