Lethal Injections

Dylann Roof is now in the sentencing phase of his murder trial for killing nine members of a black church in Charleston, SC ... see: Aiken Standard Article.

If it were up to me, I would love to see this chicken fry ... or whatever trendy verb can be applied to a lethal injection.

And while we are at it, how about also offing the Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, and, that traitor, Bowe Bergdahl? Oh, what the hell, if we can entice Edward Snowden back from Russia, let's also do him in (but the firing squad for this one.)

Love Is All You Need

In a previous blog post I had expressed concerns about the possible dire consequences of the Charleston church shootings ... see: Snapped. Although President Obama's angry remarks were not specifically inciting, he did try to make political hay against the Second Amendment. And, so far, Al Sharpton has been pretty taciturn over this incident  Dylann Storm Roof, the white shooter, however has been caught and already plead guilty to trying to start a race war with his killing of nine black parishioners.

And how have the people of Charleston reacted to this act of terrorism? They have, for the most part, exhibited their Christian faith with love and forgiveness ... hear: CNN Audio ... in stark contrast to those in Ferguson and Baltimore. In a way this is a minor miracle ... one which may go a long way toward healing the racial divides that have been festering in this country after the election of our first black president. If this trend of gentle forgiveness in the face of evil continues, then there is still hope for an eventual reconciliation of our races.

Snapped

A white man in his early twenties clearly snapped yesterday ... going into a black church in Charleston, South Carolina last night and shooting and killing at least nine worshipers ... see: Washington Post Article. The suspect, as of this posting, is still at large, therefore the exact motivation for these murders is not clear ... although one must surmise that there is a large racial component to them.

Is this tragedy a tipping point in the seven-year deterioration of race relations in the United States? I surely hope not ... but I can clearly foresee the coming storm of protesters and pundits trying their very best to make it so ...  to include Al Sharpton and maybe even President Obama (if he behaves true to form). In contrast, the national media did very little to inflame people after the Fort Hood massacre ... with a larger number of victims. They know well how to perform their craft.

There must be a lesson to be learned here ... which I seriously doubt will be heeded. And that is that racing baiting for whatever purpose is evil ... and likely to cause great societal dislocation. The radical Muslims can stir the pot enough to get Major Nidal Hasan to attack innocent soldiers at Fort Hood ... just like a backlash to the incidents in Ferguson and Baltimore probably caused a clearly deranged man to kill innocent worshipers in Charleston.

I passionately decry what just occurred in Charleston and my heart bleeds for the victims ... but I also condemn those wild-eyed crazies who would take this tragedy as an opportunity to incite violence as an appropriate response ... and believe me I expect a large parcel of such miscreants.