Red received the sad news that one of his first friends had passed away this weekend.  Red and John had been friends since first grade and although they drifted apart in later years – the miracle of the internet had brought them back together several times in recent years.  John was Red’s first real school friend – a guy who grew up just far enough away to not be a neighbor friend.  John was a smart witty boy who always had a smile on his face.  He was impossible to not like.  Red isn’t sure how we became friends – it was just one of those lucky accidents.

John was the first baseball fanatic that Red ever met.  As he once said, “he would have given up his first born to play second base in the major leagues.”  Red is not entirely sure he was joking about that one.  In sixth grade, when John finally got called up to the “Major League” at Northwest Little League – it seemed everyone was very happy and knew that he had been overlooked for others with less talent and maybe more aggressive parents.  In today’s much more organized environment he would have stuck with baseball and probably played through high school.  He had some real talent.   Red remembers how that talent translated into gym class.  When we would play dodge ball (or bombardment as we called it), John’s technique was to stand in the middle and catch everything that was thrown at him and get the other guy out.  He rarely missed one.

John was also Red’s first golfing buddy.  Neither John nor Red were particularly good at the game but we always had a lot of fun on the course. And during those rounds, Red learned that John had a lot more insight into the adult world than Red.  It seems John’s Dad clued him into some of the guy stuff that Red’s Dad never talked about.

One last memory.  When Red and John were in sixth grade, we decided to host the year end talent show.  We were inspired by the Smothers Brothers and took our act on to the Cafetorium stage in front of the whole school.  As Red recalls it involved Red playing an old man for one part and John doing his Arnold Palmer impression.  John even had a little toy music box type guitar and brought the house down when in the middle of the program he had everyone rise for the National Anthem and then cranked the little music box guitar instead.  Oh for a videotape of that performance.

Goodbye John, Red will miss you.  You were the epitome of a nice guy.

Red is fairly numb to these events nowadays.  At one point in his life, a mass shooting where 17 students and teachers were killed would be an unbelievable tragedy – shaking Red and others to the core.  But these events are so commonplace now that the news cycle moves on rather quickly and Red’s ability to process exactly how deranged our society is diminished and his contempt for the vast majority of our political class is already overloaded.

Here is how it goes. First come the worthless thoughts and well-meaning prayers that will do absolutely nothing to prevent the seemingly inevitable future tragedy that will destroy more lives.  Then the calls for action that will be unheard.  Then the tired old platitudes about a “good guy with a gun” and how now is not the time . . .   Then the calls for legislation that go nowhere.  Then the claims of political opportunism.  Then slow fade to black – until the next time.  Rinse and repeat.  Always repeat.

Please spare Red from more demagoguery about your precious rights.  He grew up in the shadow of the worst mass shooting (up to that point) in U.S. history.  The 1966 UT Tower massacre now pales in comparison to what occurs on a monthly basis all across the U.S.  How many would have died that hot August day if there had been easy access to a semi-automatic with a bump stock.  If you think owning an AR-15 so that you can have fun shooting on the range is more important than the lives of 17 students and teachers in Florida then you should get in your car, drive to Florida and have the courage to face those families and say “So sorry about your child, but you see shooting one of these weapons is just so much damn fun, that it would be horrible to have that right taken away from me.  Again, too bad about your dead kid. Thoughts and prayers, y’all!”

And spare Red the empty words from the White House about being there for the victims and their families.  You are not there. You will not be there.  You will not propose legislation.  You will not tighten controls.  You will not provide for more mental health services.  You will not support background checks.  You will not support a ban on automatic weapons. You will pander to your base.  You will run scared from the NRA.  You will claim a righteous defense of the Second Amendment.   You will do nothing because when it comes right down to it you are a cowardly bully.

Red has to go vomit now.

From the Annals of Our Wars of Aggression –  In 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 of the American crew members aboard. The Maine was one of the first modern battleships weighing in at more than 6,000 tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million.  The Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect the interests of Americans there after a rebellion against Spanish rule broke out in Havana in January. A U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry found that the ship had been blown up by a mine but did not directly place blame on Spain.  The yellow press quickly worked up a war fever among Americans who held Spain responsible for the loss.  Spain’s rather brutal suppression of the Cuban rebellion contributed to a march towards war.

Texas played a part in the war as it was in San Antonio’s Menger Hotel that Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders who became famous for the attack on San Juan Hill.