Charles Pierce on the slaughter in Santa Barbara. He should be read daily, nationwide.

[mark eagledove]

Beautiful, righteous essay:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/memorial-day-2014-052614

[MBS]

1. as you said: beautiful, righteous piece.

He really is brilliant. I read him several times a week to keep myself sane.

[The Blue Flower]

2. Excellent, spot on commentary

Recommended reading. The NRA's making sure all the bad guys have guns in order to spur sales to the good guys.

[KT2000]

3. Excellent!

This is the world we are handing to the next generations.

[wandy]

4. Summed it up nicely.............

This is a country at war with itself because its ruling elite is too cowed, or too well-bribed, or too cowardly to recognize that there are people who are getting rich arming both sides

Think abort it. That statement can apply to more issues than guns.

[n2doc]

5. thank you. great essay n/t

[genwah]

6. Yep. I'm looking forward to his interview on the Stephanie Miller show. She'll

give him time to expand on his work,

[Paladin]

7. Charlie Pierce nails it, once more.

I really recommend your making Pierce's writings part of your regular reading schedule. Nobody's doing a better job of righteous, well-aimed anger than Pierce is.

[bullwinkle428]

8. I regret that I can't rec this 1000 times.

[Voice for Peace]

9. gorgeous, powerful

[radiclib]

10. Great piece as usual, but I would disagree on one point

So that is Memorial Day this year, in a country in which its citizens are encouraged to make war on each other because not enough people care enough to stop it

I think enough people care. Just not the right ones.

[Bigredhunk]

11. He's a great writer.

Yup.

[yuiyoshida]

12. K&R

for today and beyond.

[armed_and_liberal]

13. This sums it up for me.

"This is a country at war with itself because its ruling elite is too cowed, or too well-bribed, or too cowardly to recognize that there are people who are getting rich arming both sides, because the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, so you make sure that it's easy for the bad guys to get guns in order to make millions selling the guns to the good guys"

I own guns, grew up with them, still enjoy shooting them. But even here in New York State where we supposedly have " gun grabbing" laws it is still too damn easy to buy a firearm on short notice and hurt people.

BTW, The NRA likes to say we need stricter laws concerning illegal weapons and illegal ownership, has anyone stopped to consider that nearly all firearms start out as legally obtained weapons?

[freshwest]

14. Thanks for bringing this here. Excellent piece. From the link:

This is a country at war with itself for profit. This is a country at war with itself because its ruling elite is too cowed, or too well-bribed, or too cowardly to recognize that there are people who are getting rich arming both sides, because the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, so you make sure that it's easy for the bad guys to get guns in order to make millions selling the guns to the good guys. This is a dynamic not unfamiliar to the people in countries where brushfire conflicts and civil wars are kept alive because distant people are making a buck off them.  In Africa, war is made over diamonds and rare earths. In South America, war is made over cocaine. Here, for any number of reasons - because Adam Lanza went crazy or because Elliot Rodger couldn't get laid - and the only constant in all those wars is the fact somebody gets rich arming both sides.

That is what has come home to roost now. This is a country at war with itself because cynical people have told its citizens that their fellow citizens - all of them, because you can never tell, can you? -- are the enemy.  This is a country in which citizens make war on each other because that's what they are being encouraged to do.  Someone finds it more profitable to maintain the war than they do to stop it...

The whole country is the battleground now because cynical people have made it so.

So that is Memorial Day this year, in a country in which its citizens are encouraged to make war on each other because not enough people care enough to stop it. There are more flowers in more places and there is no peace in sight, because we have chosen as a country to slake our appetite for it with blood. The dead are not honored in this war. Only the instrumentality of their murder is, god help us all.

[Mnemosyne]

15. Definitely a great essay. nt

[Tikki]

16. This was and still persists as reagan's call to order....

Tikki

[KauaiK]

17. This is a must read....

I ache for these families....

[adirondacker]

18. Perfect! Highly recommend and hopefully this OP goes to the Greatest! nt

[phantom power]

19. "Someone finds it more profitable to maintain the war than they do to stop it."

[mountain grammy]

20. K & R always for Charlie Pierce..

I also see this as a war. A very rich man once said he had enough money to pay half the working class to kill the other half. The NRA has taken that on as a mission to be accomplished. At the rate we're going, we should be there soon.

[valerief]

21. Always about rich people getting richer, the most important thing in the world. nt

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

22. Nothing more needs to be said...

Now it's time for action.

[Orrex]

23. I imagine that LaPierre had an orgasm while reading that description of him

K/R

[TrogL]

24. Pierce is as much a part of my daily routine as waking up