Two Mass Shootings This Week: Merry Effing Christmas, Y’All!
Also, my tribute to Norman Lear and some good reads for your weekend, all in Volume 1, Issue 33 of Three-Point Shots.
Programming note: In case you’re wondering, I did not publish my usual Tuesday newsletter this week, owing to circumstances beyond my control. My apologies!
Welcome to another edition of Three-Point Shots, a part of my Life Its Ownself Substack page. If you enjoy reading it, please 1) hit the Like button, 2) subscribe to the Life Its Ownself, and 3) share it with others in the link below. Comments are welcome and encouraged.
Friday, December 1, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
1. Gun Violence Shakes Texas and Nevada. Merry Effing Christmas, Y’all.
On Tuesday, a 34-year old San Antonio man named Shane James killed his parents, then went on an eight-hour shooting spree in Austin. At the end, six people were dead and three more injured, two of whom were law enforcement officers. He is in custody in Austin.
On Wednesday, a 67-year old Las Vegas man named Anthony Polito killed three people and injured another before being killed in a shootout with police. His targets were University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) faculty members. He himself had taught college, and had been recently rejected by UNLV for a teaching job.
UNLV law student Carlos Eduardo Espina was on campus when the active shooter alerts came through. "At first it didn't seem real. And then you just say, 'Oh s***. It's my turn, I guess.'"
Welcome to 2023 circa America, Carlos!
My take: As usual, we are obsessed with the “why” of these mass shootings. At their core, they are profound mysteries. We might grasp the disappointment, or even desperation – police found an eviction notice on his apartment door when they investigated – of an Anthony Polito, but I imagine most of us cannot find that place in ourselves where we would lash out at strangers with deadly force. How dark must the world and its future look to that person?
Of course, the focus on the “why” allows people to avoid facing up to the “how” – the psychopathic ease with which guns can be purchased and used in this country. Tuesday’s rampage was the 50th mass shooting in Texas in the last 15 years, yet in that time our state leaders have virtually eliminated all training or licensing requirements for gun ownership in the state.
2. The Legacy of Norman Lear
Norman Lear, who passed away this week at the age of 101, is justly praised as one of the most influential forces shaping American popular culture during the last half of the 20th Century. In the 1970s, he produced shows that didn’t just stretch the boundaries of acceptable American TV entertainment, but obliterated them: All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. The groundbreaking shows talked about race, women’s rights, crime, and even abortion. And they were enormously successful: “Lear and his producing partner Bud Yorkin accounted for one quarter of all the shows in the Nielsen Top 15 from 1971 to 1978.”[i]
Lear was also committed to political activism, and brought the unique talents and connections of the entertainment world to his advocacy. In 1980, disgusted by the Moral Majority and its false claims to moral superiority, he founded People For the American Way (Barbara Jordan was among the co-founders).
(Norman Lear with People For co-founder Barbara Jordan. Photo: PFAW)
People For started with a few TV commercials challenging the Moral Majority but grew into a grassroots organization focused on issues of free speech, civil rights and developing civic leadership. It’s still going strong today.
My take: For three exciting years, I was a regional director for People For. I got to meet and work with Norman Lear, who combined avuncular affability with laser-like focus on the organization’s mission. He was particularly involved with programs for young and emerging leaders, including the Young Elected Officials network.
3. What I Read, Part 2: Legacy News
Last week, I listed some of the Substack newsletters I subscribe to and read frequently. Substack (and others) reflect a big shift in the provision of news and opinion: a more customized offering of sources and viewpoints.
I also read “legacy” media – old school newspapers, magazines and journals. Here are the news sources I look at every day – what am I missing?
National – The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post
Texas – Quorum Report, Texas Tribune, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle
Local/Alternative – Austin Chronicle, San Antonio Report, San Antonio Current, Dallas Observer, Houston Press, El Paso Matters, El Paso News
My take: The media landscape is rapidly changing as the reach and influence of legacy media erodes. Particularly, local newspapers face enormous financial pressures, and are losing great journalists as a result. Still, they are an important source of information.
Your weekend reads:
… Texas Monthly’s marvelous Mimi Swartz delivers this postmortem on the Paxton impeachment trial. Her verdict: the fix was in from the get-go.
“I won’t say exactly who said what,” the senator told me about the deliberations. “But the point was we can vote with Democrats and we still don’t get there”—meaning to the 21 votes needed to convict Paxton. “And then what’s going to happen to us? They were afraid of their primaries, what happens with Patrick. That was the loneliest night I’ve ever spent.”
… The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich confronts the dark truth at the heart of the hand-wringing over a possible second Trump victory:
If Trump wins in 2024, his detractors will have to reckon once again with the voters who got us here—to reconcile what it means to share a country with so many citizens who keep watching Trump spiral deeper into his moral void and still conclude, “Yes, that’s our guy.”
… Holly Berkley Fletcher, whose marvelous A Zebra Without Stripes Substack I heartily recommend, has written a profound essay about the critical role women play in creating community and a sense of belonging, especially during the holidays:
At Christmas and every other time of year, somewhere back in history, women got the job of essentially maintaining all of society’s relationships. The first church potluck was probably organized by all the Marys after the ascension.
[i] Ronald Brownstein, Rock Me On The Water: 1974 – The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television and Politics. The book is an excellent read on how the cultural center of American life shifted from New York to Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Initial response at first read... Deece, you surprise me all the time. I had no idea of your history with People for the American Way! Will have to go back and read Mimi Swartz's piece in TX Monthly.
You knew Norman lear? Wow.