from PxHere
Let’s start here, via the AP: Man kills 7 of his children plus another child in shooting in Louisiana neighborhood.
A Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family Sunday morning that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.
Two women, including the gunman’s wife who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically wounded, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Officials said the children — who were all killed in the same house — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.
This happened roughly a week ago. While I suspect that most readers of this site are aware it happened, given that most of us are news junkies, it would not be surprising to me if it escaped the notice of some. I remember seeing the news alert about the event pop up on my phone while I was doing some yardwork. I did not even bother to click the link. The whole thing is just too common in America. I did, for what it is worth, feel a tinge of shame for not caring more about the story.
The Mass Shooting Tracker tells me that there have been, as of this writing, 148 such shootings in the United States this calendar year. I would note, dear reader, that just under 32% of 2026 has passed as of today.
By the way, yesterday’s event at the Correspondent’s Dinner doesn’t even count as a mass shooting by their definition, since only one person was shot. Their minimum number is four.
How many instances this year with one to three people being shot, I wonder?
Meanwhile, also within the week, Fox News reports Justice Department announces it’s readopting the firing squad as a means of execution. The administration is concerned, you see, that we are not executing enough people, and apparently not doing it dramatically enough for their tastes.
In other news, you may have heard the Secretary of Defense carrying on (and on and on and on) about lethality. You know, “Maximum lethality, not tepid legality.” Masculine men are warriors, dontcha know.
In a related note, I was listening to the Bulwark Takes podcast yesterday, and they were talking about the acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, who said the following when he ran for Congress in 2024:
“What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat ’em and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”
Or, like I have done with previous recent examples of obvious political violence (the murder of Charlie Kirk, and the two previous attempts on Trump), that Trump has a long history of violent rhetoric. Here’s a post from 2018: Radicalizing Rhetoric. Others could be found and cited.
May I add that we are currently highly polarized, and there are real fears of authoritarianism in the air. I have called Trump a fascist on multiple occasions, find and post examples of corruption, authoritarianism, and just plain weird behavior by the administration daily. Some people who oppose Trump call themselves, euphemistically, “The Resistance.” While I do not advocate for violence (and have markedly and pointedly asked commenters not to fantasize about the death of politicians), do I think that someone out of 340ish million people might think violence is a good idea? Well, I think we know the daily answer to that question.
So, I ask myself, what is more likely in the United States of America in 2026?
That Trump and his allies staged an event, or somehow orchestrated it to make Trump look better so as a boost to his ballroom?
Or
That some individual, likely with mental health problems, got a gun and brought it to DC?
I don’t even think I need Occam’s Razor for that one.
CBS News has the following on the suspect: What we know about the suspect in shooting at White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was an educator from Torrance, California with an engineering degree from a prestigious university. He also owned two firearms, one of which was used in the shooting at the Washington Hilton Hotel, according to two law enforcement sources.
[…]
Law enforcement sources told CBS News he checked in on Friday, the day before the event. They said he traveled there via train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then Chicago to D.C.
That reminded me, in part, that the man who engaged in a shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in DC had also travelled from Chicago. I feel like there was another recent example of a person travelling some distance to engage in their act of violence, but again, who can keep track?
At the risk of raising some hackles, I would highly recommend not falling into conspiracy thinking on this topic. Further, I would note that commenters often express incredulity, if not derision, about people on The Other Side who believe what is clearly nonsense. So don’t fall for it, and if you see it in your political allies, let it be a reminder that no group is immune.
Demand evidence and clear thinking; don’t succumb to conspiratorial thinking.
A shooter in America? Sadly, a daily occurrence.
Trump using an event to promote his ballroom and to self-aggrandize? What is so hard to believe about that?
That his followers on social media and on TV would parrot his nonsense? Seems par for the course for the last ten years.
