29 Comments

I know I'm too much of a lefty to say this, but "and then his gun jammed." (FFS, don't say "gun," say "weapon." Personal experience -- they get REAL upset by the word "gun.")

Anyway, this is why I will only ever lean on a revolver. Preferably a S&W, so that I'm not hoping on an independent, floating firing pin. Ask your son. He'll know.

And I'm really, REALLY glad that he's OK.

And, like I said, this is not the sort of thing a lefty is supposed to admit or own up to.

One of the things that VP Harris is up against is ACAB. (Remind your son that, unlike the convicted felon, she was a DA and then an AG.)

If memory serves (which is rare enough) TX is the only state where the entire power infrastructure is on a for profit system. Thank Dog it isn't socialism ...

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Right? I love how poor ole Texas keeps taking it in the shorts because of their "lone star independent" energy grid. FREEEEEDUM!

You are officially hired as my weapons instructor. I'm here to learn, my friend.

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"Weapons instructor" -- your son has far more expertise there than I; I just know stupidly more than I ought.

True story: I've been out of the army since almost before you were in books, and I can still close my eyes and field strip an M16. Not the sort of enduring skill useful in building a democratic community.

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i am so sorry your son....and you...had these dreadful experiences. would be so nice if texas would just secede and take musk with it.

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THAT would be nice, wouldn't it? No Musk. Of course, it's entirely possible that Texas will prove to be his Waterloo....

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Knowing both Houston and Manhattan pretty well, I think, as usual, you've nailed it. The filth and tumult in Manhattan is somehow more human and comforting than whatever it is they have going on down in Houston.

Really sorry about your son, and so so so glad he made it out of that situation OK. These things break parents' hearts.

I'd also, gently, like to invite you to rethink using the phrase "off the Reservation."

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LOL! I did pause before the enormity of my "sin," so I like that you called me out on it. I'm of two minds on this issue of language, as you might expect I would be. There's the "good liberal" in me that wants to observe the social niceties. Then there's the language aficionado in me that balks at all attempts to dictate what's acceptable use. That isn't you, just to be clear. You're awesome. I mean in the bigger picture.

I'll let you know where I finally land ;-)

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Wow, what a shitshow! So glad your son is ok. And I'm sorry he's living in one of the few states in the US I'll never willingly visit. NYC seems a safe haven compared to them! Hope you're staying cool there in the Big Apple...I'm cool and comfy in Ohio (a purple/swing state at best).

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No, seriously. I feel safer here. I love all that's good about Texas (the people especially, who are kind and friendly and weirdly philanthropic) but I strongly feel that it's devolving. It's a state in desperate need of new leadership. I hope they get it.

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Seems the whole country is devolving. :( Retirement in 6.5 years can't come soon enough, when we'll split our time btw. the US and Europe.

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I'm willing to bet these will be the longest damn years of your life.

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Ha! I've been counting down since the 10-year mark. Thankfully, I love my job. Still, 5pm on Friday, Dec. 20, 2030 will be a red-banner moment!

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I didn't breathe as I read about your son's ordeal. What a week it was, glad you are both safe. Phew.

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I think he's doing better than I am. Thank you for your compassion.

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America is irretrievably broken. There is no longer civil discourse and even I have given up giving a rat's ass about the Christian right except to see them for the horror show they are and want to inflict on the rest of us. The camps already exist, they are only waiting for the Teabag Trump to be annointed so that he can start with LGBTQ, handicapped, followed by brown, black people and then jews (but only AFTER they have taken all their money). I am scared to death for my gay, minority and jewish friends.

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You aren't worrying for nothing, that's for sure. We are certainly at our inflection point. These next few months are going to be BRUTAL.

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😳

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What a nightmare. I'm so sorry you had to go through that and that Denialand will probably be elusive for quite some time. Thank god your son is okay.

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I hate that we have these kids, and then they grow up and have their own ideas about profession, etc. I doesn't seem fair, does it, after all the trouble we went through to raise them?

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How dare they!

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I know! With their own lives and ideas about how they should lead those lives. I ask you…

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America, Texas, Texas politics, stink of testosterone, hurricane, rising seas, humidity, heat, real and incipient violence, thin-walled house, a tight, fetid nesting like Matryoshka dolls, and you, poor woman, the innermost and tiniest, a female-creative, enlightened liberal and mother. Endangered species?

I pause to note that here in Umbria we have had weeks of hot weather - in the 90s, sometimes approaching 100 F. Shuttered houses with very thick walls, blessed cool of morning and evening, adjustments made to avoid the high heat, off to the local air conditioned bar or pasticceria for the usual, the only gunfire heard when some farmer bags an unfortunate hare darting across his campo.

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Ah, "The Poetry of Vian." I always love reading it. And your description of cool, stone, Italian houses brings a smile of remembrance to my lips. I miss my adoptive country.

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Hey, I finished my novel (well, one last edit underway). Called "Cuckoo", situated it in the valley I live in. Not bad.

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I'm so glad both that your son was not hurt in this incident and that he wasn't forced to live with the trauma of killing a teenager who was asking for it. Yet.

Every article I read from you opens exploding neural pathways, leading me closer to thought crimes than to substantive solutions. So I'll leave it alone. You know how I feel. I wish that were enough.

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SAME. Like, a million servings of SAME. If he'd had to kill the kid (or anyone, for that matter), it does things to a person. I was kind of hoping he could have one of those law-enforcement careers where the weapon never leaves the holster, but I think that's off the table at this point.

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Holy crap!

What a horrible experience. I’m glad you and yours are okay. I’m at a loss for words, your story is clear. WTF! 😳

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or his alamo.

musk is fleeing california for texas; spaceX to starbase, tx. No idea where that might be but he is also taking X hq out of SF to...austin because our new California law that bans school districts from passing policies requiring schools to notify parents if their child asks to change their gender identification. this from the dad who disowned his now 'dead to me' trans child. speaking of zpg, musk has 12 children. so very vance of him.

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or his alamo.

musk is fleeing california for texas; spaceX to starbase, tx. No idea where that might be but he is also taking X hq out of SF to...austin because our new California law that bans school districts from passing policies requiring schools to notify parents if their child asks to change their gender identification. this from the dad who disowned his now 'dead to me' trans child. speaking of zpg, musk has 12 children. so very vance of him.

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