by Barry Hastings

And won’t it be interesting to learn about his motivation? Even more interesting will be learning the motivation of Jason Dalton’s neighbors who, time after time that Sunday, appeared before the cameras of WWMT-TV News talking about the many times they’d heard (or seen) this slovenly killer (though completely indiscriminate) firing shots into the air to chase neighborhood kids off, or away from his property, a bit northwest of Kalamazoo.

To my way of thinking, those neighbors who failed to contact police about these shooting incidents, are guilty as “accessory before the fact,” whether or not they’re eventually charged as such.

Of course, there’s always the (good?) chance police failed to investigate calls from neighbors, or investigated such calls in a cursory manner. Sober consideration of American disinterest in “getting involved,” leads me to guess few, if any, of his neighbors got involved at all.

Mr. Dalton drove his personal auto as public transport for UBER. One rider who was in Dalton’s automobile on Saturday between shooting episodes (or perhaps slightly before them) complained to Kalamazoo authorities about a terrifying ride with Dalton that day, during which he drove wildly and dangerously, side-swiping parked vehicles, weaving all over the road. The rider gave cops a description of the car and driver, after leaping out and running away when Dalton came to a momentary halt.

I’d sure like to know how that complaint was handled. Maybe losing the fare was what set him off. Information about the whole matter is in such a state of confusion (except for the six dead, a terribly wounded 14-year-old girl now on life support, and a brave woman at scene of the first shooting, who stayed between shooter and a group of children, and took three bullets), we’ll likely not get much of an explanation for some time (or until a time line appears which satisfies police needs/requirements).

I know I’m getting pretty damned tired of mass-murder by idiots, maniacs and nut-jobs with guns.

Look for more of the same to come, and soon, as all the wannabee news­makers load up, and hit the road. I wonder how the National Rifle Association will try to paint this picture. (“Well,” they’ll say, “If the 17-year-old kid, or his dad (at the Seelye KIA dealership) had been armed, it might have ended right there!” Then they’ll add the (old familiar saw) words, “Nothing can stop a bad guy with a gun, like a good guy with a gun!”

Bull-roar! Nothing can stop a bad guy with a gun but preventing him from having a gun. Plain and simple. In our familiarity with the NRA, we could even expect them to add, “Maybe if one of the kids protected by the woman in the first shooting episode had a gun… etc., etc.,” (and the possibility of that occurring is not outrageous, these days, either.)

Another thing that might help, would be cessation of the (pretty common) practice of plea bargaining away gun charges against people charged with other crimes, by many county prosecuting attorneys.

Well, it’ll all come out in the wash (except for the blood-stains and broken hearts).

Reflections on Jeb Bush’s departure from the presidential race:

In another slaughter over last weekend, Jeb Bush took one right on the chin in (that hot bed of secession and racism), South Carolina. Jeb seemed really surprised calling-in brother “Dubya” didn’t help. His brother is better at creating messes, than in straightening them out, and millions of innocent people are living the proof, as I write, and as you read.

Biggest horse’s petute in American history. Dumb as a cement block.

So how smart is Jeb? You could clearly see (by his quavering voice and quivering chin) it really hurt when he was forced to admit he couldn’t win the GOP nomination anywhere, when his ignorant (and very stupid) brother won both nomination and election to the presidential office (Hey! Jeb, that’s a reflection on South Carolina and America, not just on you!)

Speaking of South Carolina, one of my most enjoyable reading adventures lately is Victor Davis Hanson’s The Soul of Battle: How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny (N.Y., The Free Press, 1999). I particularly enjoyed the second section entitled, The Army of the West: Sherman’s March to the Sea. It’s a study of how General Sherman pummeled Georgia, South and North Carolina, leaving all three seceded states glowing cities of smoking embers, and fields of waste and rubble.

I was particularly pleased with General William T. Sherman’s letter, in response to one from the Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, complaining about destruction of that rebel stronghold, as Sherman’s 68,000-man Union army prepared to move north and east, against the rebellious Carolinas.

“Now that war comes home to you,” Sherman began, “you feel very different. You deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent (railroad) carloads of soldiers and ammunition, and molded shells and shot, to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, to desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through Union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect and early success.”

Boy, our modern military and civilian commanders could still learn something from this grand old soldier of the Grand Old Army!

Well, don’t forget to go shopping for a gun. Otherwise,, who knows who might be next?