“He enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in April 1996, according to spokesman A.A. Puryear. He was assigned to the Norfolk-based 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team as a 13B cannon crew member. He was discharged in April 2002 and held the rank of specialist at the time, the spokesman said. His records did not indicate overseas deployments.” —CNN on latest mass shooter

We’re supposed to overlook this bit of information. We’re supposed to focus on mental health questions or the inscrutable incomprehensible mystery of the inevitable human tragedy of mass shootings, which bizarrely and unfairly are inflicted by the universe on this particular 4 percent of humanity living in the United States, which quite irrelevantly has been glorifying violence through endless wars for many years.

NO NUKES! Anti-HB6 Protests Scheduled Across Ohio
Scheduled Protests:
TOLEDO: Monday, June 3, 4:30 to 6:30PM, 300 Madison Ave. (Toledo Edison Building.

COLUMBUS: Wednesday, June 5, 4:30 to 6:30PM, Ohio Statehouse, corner of 3rd and State.

AKRON: Friday, June 7, 4:30 to 6:30PM, Venue to be determined.

House Bill 6 would eliminate Ohio's energy efficiency and clean energy programs, and instead replace them with a charge on every Ohioan's electric bill that would go to bailout First Energy's crumbling, leaking Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants, as well as two coal fired plants, one in Indiana.

Opponents will be gathering at three locations across the state during the first week in June to protest this unacceptable nuclear power tax on Ohioans. Wind and solar power are cheaper and can easily replace both Davis-Besse and Perry plants. However, the Republican controlling the Ohio state government are hostile to clean energy, and instead want to protect First Energy, one of the largest donors to the Republican Party.

It was back in 1954 that Japan gave us Godzilla, the story of an ancient monster reawakened by tests of the hydrogen bomb. The original movie (though toned down for its U.S. release) was a grimly compelling morality tale. Like Frankenstein, it warned of the horrors that can be unleashed by scientists bent on advancement at all costs.

Over the years, the classic has spawned numerous sequels and reboots. Many of the earliest were campy affairs in which an actor in a Godzilla costume trampled miniature facsimiles of Tokyo while fighting new monsters such as Mothra and Rodan. More impressive was the 2014 U.S. remake, which used the latest cinematic technology to recapture the awe and wonder—if not the moral authority—of the original.

Now we have Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which could be the Godzilla movie to end all Godzilla movies. Not because it’s so great, unfortunately, but because it’s so boring.

Yes, they’re planning a monument to the Gulf War. I have some questions about the design.

A case can be made that just about any public statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the worst one. The much lamented statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are not alone in their offensiveness. Determining a winner in a contest for the worst monument in Charlottesville is not nearly as important, I think, as removing any of the lot of them from our central public spaces and installing them in a museum. I’m grateful to everyone who has advocated for the removal of any of these monstrosities and support those efforts 1000%, as I have written about often.