A Tragedy in Virginia

With the increasing fever pitch on our nation's political scene,
your concerned Peasant has been worried about the accompanying
increase in violence between the partisans on both sides of the
political divide. Now a member of Congress has been shot while
preparing to play in Congress' traditional annual baseball game
pitting Democrats and Republicans for fun and for charity.
While engaging in a team practice at a field in Alexandria,
Virginia, House Majority Whip Steven Scalise was shot in the
hip by a gunman who also shot several other people before police
shot him dead. What is known about the gunman at the present
time is that he is a Bernie Sanders volunteer, having helped on
Sanders' unsuccessful presidential campaign, and has been
a member of some rather controversial left-wing political
groups. Moreover, he had a history of scrapes with the law
which included domestic abuse and aiding damage to a motor
vehicle. And he was allegedly distraught over Donald Trump
winning last year's presidential election, with the Republicans
also doing well in the Congressional and state races, so he
traveled from his home in Belleville, Illinois, to the Washington
D.C. area to vent his frustrations on Capitol Hill Republicans
with a gun.

I want to take the time to address this horrible event in the way
it needs to be addressed, but time is not proving generous today.
So, I shall do so next week, when I can more easily set aside
a block of time to do justice to this terrible act. Meanwhile,
please keep Rep. Scalise and his family in your prayers as he
is fighting for his life; he has had two operations just to stop
the internal bleeding, and faces more surgeries to repair his hip
and some internal organs. I have been praying the rosary for
them. Thank you and God bless. God be with Rep. Scalise
and the other victims.


MEM