It’s been a rough week. Too many people have been shot and killed. Too many people have been terrorized. I know I have just not been able to listen to the news this morning. On Tuesday, July 5, Alton Sterling was shot by police in Baton Rouge, LA, for cooperating with police. The next day, Philando Castile was shot to death by police in Minneapolis, MN, again, while cooperating. Then last night, at the end of a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, a sniper started firing, aiming at police. Five were killed; seven more were injured. And all of this happened just barely a month after 49 people in an LGBT club were shot in a hate crime in Orlando, Florida.
As a community and as a nation, we’re hurting today. Many issues swirl around these events, including unjust treatment of people of color by police, unrestrained access to military-style firearms, and intolerance of differences among people by certain individuals. These are terrible, serious issues, but I don’t want to focus on those issues tonight. I hope for this community to create a healing space where we can try to process our sorrow over these events.
I don’t entirely know what I’m doing here, but I think it’s important to acknowledge this pain. I have no credentials as a counselor, and being an atheist, I make no claims on pastoral care, but writing about anything else tonight would have felt like false levity. I just couldn’t do it. So join me over the fold for what is basically an open thread.
But first, a word from our sponsor.
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Some music might help…
As perhaps a top musical comment, this next song was posted in Wee Mama’s diary tonight by kj in missouri
If anyone has other music to share, or soothing images, please post them in the comments.
And now, on to tonight’s featured comments:
Top Comments (July 8, 2016):
From JG in MD:
Great diary, great discussion. This (by G2Geek in his own diary) is what they have that beats us and this is what we have to do to combat it.
From Puddytat:
Excellent comment by harrylimelives on the events in Dallas and elsewhere. From Leslie Salzillo’s recommended post When FOX and their ilk tell you that BLM protesters cheered as officers fell...
From Tamar:
A succinct response from TJHANNINK to the NRA about what happened in Dallas. From Mark Sumner’s front page post What the NRA says, and doesn’t say, tells the story.
From ccotenj:
Philly76 posted this poignant comment regarding yesterday's events in ccotenj’s Hillary Hangout post
From Zen Trainer:
Here’s a comment by ten canvassers on the value of BFSkinner’s Question of the Night posts. Beware: it may involve alien currency, and I’m not talkin’ about no euro.
Top Mojo (July 7, 2016):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (July 7, 2016):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!
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