Hey, guys, I’m back. The last few weeks have been hectic. I’ve been on a writing jag to beat all writing jags. I’ve also been on an editing jag that has left my eyes crossed and my head hurting. Add to that the usual complications of real life and, well, you get the drift. So apologies if this post is a bit hectic and rushed and, well, all over the place.
I will admit, it’s been difficult these last few days not to come here and be very political. I’m not talking about the various announcements being made concerning the next presidential election. I’m not talking about the civil cases against Trump or the slow-walking of the IRS investigation into Hunter Biden. No, this is more local to Texas and, for the last couple of weeks, to North Texas.
Oh hell, who am I kidding. I’ve got to get this off my chest, at least a little bit.
A couple of weeks ago, the outlet mall in Allen, north of Dallas, was the site of a mass shooting. It was bad. But we were lucky. It could have been so much worse. In this particular case, a police officer happened to be at the mall on another call and was able to respond quickly, preventing the shooter from killing and injuring more than he did. It shook our community, as it should have. Tragedies should never be ignored or glossed over.
However, it also became the latest cause celebre for the local media, especially for one of our local network outlets. Every newscast for more than two weeks dealt with the story and pushed the emotional buttons, not to remember the victims but to drum up support for gun control. It finally got to the point where people started turning away from that local network. Not because they didn’t agree something needs to be done to help prevent further tragedies like this one but because they wanted to know what the current news was. Stories were being ignored to keep banging this one political drum.
That, friends, is a disservice to not only the victims but to their families as well because it means their stories were being lost in the political agenda of the station and its network bosses.
You saw more of that yesterday, the one year anniversary of the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Most of the coverage, at least up here, was dedicated to those who lost their lives or who were injured by the bastard who decided to use their school for target practice. Local and national coverage of the story focused, as it always seems to after a mass shooting, on gun control and what has and has not been done to limit access to firearms.
But where were the reporters asking the difficult questions of law enforcement officials about why there has not been more transparency into the investigation of what happened? Where is the body cam video that was promised and has never been released? Where were the questions about why it’s a year later and the Uvalde mayor has yet to be briefed by ANYONE on what happened?
A year ago, I said we would never get the answers we wanted and we would not see the results of the official investigation into the way the matter was handled at the time of the siege because the shooter was dead. That means there would be no charges, so no discovery to be handed over to an accused, no day in court.
But the media gives only lip service to this and Uvalde still doesn’t know why its police department stood outside or in the corridors for approximately an hour and a half before moving in on the shooter.
And all because there is a more important political agenda, in the eyes of the network bosses, that must be beaten ad nauseum.
Sigh.
Okay, this post went off the rails from what I planned on. So I’ll be back later with more news about what I’ve been up to, the book that’s been written in the last couple of weeks–I told you I was on the writing jag to beat all writing jags–and more writing news.
Until later.
