 So, as you all know, over the course of the last week, just absolutely horrific tragedies have dominated the news. And even though violence is fairly common in America, it does feel like things are getting measurably worse. And I'll tell you why that's the case. So I do want to focus on a couple of different stories and tell you why these things are happening in my opinion and why they are going to continue to happen, unfortunately. Now first and foremost, as you all know, there was another mass shooting over the weekend, which is no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention. And this time, it took place at a mall in Allen, Texas, where a gunman killed eight people and wounded seven before he was fatally shot by police. Now, as the Washington Post explains, the assailant used an AR-15-style weapon and was wearing tactical gear President Biden said on Sunday. In addition to the weapons found on his body, investigators found five additional guns inside his car nearby, said the people familiar with the investigation. Now additionally, the shooter was reportedly a neo-Nazi, a fact discovered about him by Eric Toller of Bellingcat. And there were lots of posts about Nazis from this individual. This is a photograph of him in a Nazi uniform, presumably. He had Nazi tattoos. On top of that, he was a fan of far-right figures like Tim Pool and Libs of TikTok. And additionally, NBC News reports that he made anti-Semitic racist and misogynistic posts on social media and referenced white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who I'm assuming he was also a fan of. And furthermore, he indicated that he was planning this attack. As NBC News explains, in the weeks before the attack, the shooter posted more than two dozen photos of Allen premium outlets mall where the mass shooting occurred on Saturday afternoon and surrounding areas, including several screenshots of Google location information seemingly monitoring the mall at its busiest times. The shooter also posted a series of links to other sites, including one of a YouTube account with one video posted the day of the shooting. In the video, he removes a scream mask and says, not quite what you were expecting, huh? Now that last line was likely a reference to the fact that the shooter here is not white. But he's still a white supremacist. Now as odd as that sounds, white supremacist Hispanics are actually on the rise. And Nick Fuentes, for example, this is somebody whose father is half Mexican and Rique Tario of the Proud Boys is a Cuban American. So yes, non-white people can become radicalized by white supremacist views as well. And I do think that this is an important point because far right propagandists will feign ignorance and claim that the shooter wasn't actually influenced by white supremacy because they don't want the fingers pointed at them since they used the sort of extremist rhetoric but make no mistake about it. The shooter was a white supremacist and his motivations were very clear. And this ideology once again cost people their lives. His victims include this Korean American family and all of them except for the five-year-old in the front, they were murdered at this mall. Thankfully, that five-year-old survived, but he's been hospitalized and his entire family has been wiped out. His life is never going to be the same again. This is just utterly horrific. Now one of the first responders spoke to CNN and I'm not entirely sure if he's referencing that family, but he described what he saw here and it is genuinely gut-wrenching and almost unbearable to listen to, but I do think that what he says here is important. So let's hear him. Because I understand that you found a child alive with a mother dead protecting that child. Is that right? Yes, it's pretty horrific what I saw. I didn't go with the intent of being a first responder or helping anybody. I went to find my son, I was surprised when I drove into the mall that the parking lot was empty, people were still sheltering in their cars, people were running away from the mall and there was one man at the scene that had a connection to 911 and he was having trouble describing to them where he was at, what he was doing, so I just kind of jumped in there, gave some directions on where the shooter went, he gave me a description and then I started trying to take care of victims and sadly the first individual I went to was, and I don't want to be too graphic, but she was not able to be saved. I couldn't save the second guy, the third guy actually expired while I was trying to do chest compressions. The child came off of a munder, what I believe was a mother might have been a relative, I don't know how the relation is, but was started to wander around asking for help saying mom, mom, mama, mama. So I just scooped the child up and took him about 15 feet away so she or she couldn't see what was going on. There was so much blood on the child I couldn't tell the sex, I just asked are you okay? The first Alan police officer pulled up and he said good god, oh my, I said take the child as he heard, I said I don't care if he's heard or not taking because he doesn't need to be here, so thankfully the Alan police department, this was not a Uvaldi situation. The first responders in Alan, Texas, the paramedics, the police officers are truly the heroes. The picture that he paints is, I don't even know what words to use, like it feels unreal, but it's very real and this wasn't something that took place in a movie. This was real life and the sad part is that this is a pretty common phenomenon here in the United States exclusively, but nowhere else and you already know what I'm going to say, right? It's the guns, we don't need to need to have these disingenuous conversations about it being video games or porn or a lack of prayer in schools. It's the guns. We've had this a thousand times, we need moderate gun control, we don't have to confiscate guns from people, right? We don't have to ban guns, we need moderate common sense gun control, but I'm not going to say that again because I already said it, we already know the solution, but don't take it from me. Take it from the first responder who we just heard from because on MSNBC, he was very clear that even though he's a gun owner himself, we can do very simple things and make a huge difference. I don't know what the gunman's problem was, I don't know his motive, but it wasn't mental health that killed his people, it was an automatic rifle with bullets, that's what killed him. I'm a gun lover, I have guns, I'm a former police officer, I'm a former army officer, but these M4s, MAR-15s, they've got to get off the streets or this is going to keep happening and we've got to stop that at some point. It could be you, it could be your family member. I never imagined it would be me, I never imagined it would happen in my community, but it did and we've got to stop this type of carnage and all the politicians are going to make statements, they're going to offer prayers and condolences. Prayers and condolences won't bring these people back, we need some action in our legislatures at the federal and state level for better gun control and I'm saying that as somebody who loves guns. Yeah, so this isn't some libtard who wants to confiscate your guns, he's saying we need basic common sense gun reform and I just want to show you this chart here where mass shootings exploded after the assault weapons ban expired. I mean, what we're looking at here is cause and effect, right? Now it is true that banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, they're not going to end violence in the United States, but it will reduce gun violence and it could minimize the number of mass shootings. And when they do occur, could make them less bloody. I mean, there are other countries like Australia who they took action after just one mass shooting and they haven't had another one since. Now people will lie and claim that Australia banned guns, they did not ban guns, they just implemented common sense gun reform and the government introduced a gun buyback program. So that way, if you want to turn in your guns to the government, they will pay you for it. It's a choice that they're giving you. But of course, there are people in this country, namely policy makers who have decided that the bloodshed is worthwhile to keep gun anarchy going in this country. Now, of course, that's not going to stop bad people from doing bad things because America is a country that is plagued by violence. But we can take action here and reduce gun violence. But we've made the policy decision, or I should say, Republicans have made the policy decision to allow this to continue to happen. Now still, as I said, this is a violent country and violence is getting worse. And even if we take action with regard to guns, bad people are still going to do terrible things. For example, as CBS News explains, a driver ran into pedestrians who were standing at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in South Texas on Sunday, killing at least eight people in an incident that police are investigating as possibly intentional. Authorities said another 10 were injured, according to Brownsville police. Police did not share detailed information about the victims. But police chief Felix Sassida told reporters that all of them were men and several were originally from Venezuela. The chief declined to answer reporters' questions about a possible motive for the driver, adding that they have not yet determined if the crash was intentional. He said witness accounts suggesting that Alvarez, the killer here in the car, was cursing at the pedestrians whom he struck and saying that they were invaders were unconfirmed. Now, the killer here is being charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. And the lingering question is, did he just lose control or was this intentional? Did he target these asylum seekers? Now, we don't know for sure if they're asylum seekers, but they were outside of a shelter for migrants. This was the Oseman Center. That's near the bus stop where they were killed. And what Mirna Artiega says, this is the manager of the shelter who sees dozens of migrants per day. We're talking over a hundred. Well, here's what she said about this. These are her words, quote, it wasn't an accident. Point blank. Now, again, this isn't confirmed yet, but this is somebody who runs a shelter for asylum seeking migrants in a border town. She's probably seen the vitriol firsthand. And while we still don't know all the details, I don't think that it is absurd to think that this person, especially given the reports about him yelling about invaders, decided to take it upon himself to kill people who he thought was invading. The odds of this being a coincidence just seem really low, especially if you watch the video. And I did watch the video and I'm not going to play that. But you can see that he was driving straight towards them. It was a straight line. It wasn't like he was driving and then veered off and swerved. He was headed straight towards them. Now, I'm sharing this story not to make the point that, oh, well, you know, if guns weren't here, then white supremacists and bad people would find other ways to inflict mass death on people. I think that there is an underlying common denominator here with all of these stories and another one that I want to talk about. The final story here, it took place last week and it involves Jordan Neely, who, as you all know, was killed on a subway last week in New York. Now, it wasn't surprising to see the response from right wingers, but it was still very jarring. And I didn't get to talk about this yet. We addressed this on the leftist mafia when Lance debated Tim Poul about this, but to actually see conservatives explicitly defend David Penney, the 24-year-old Marine veteran who murdered Neely. I mean, they're just getting so brazen. I'm talking about people like Tim Poul, Matt Walsh. They're openly advocating for vigilante killings of people who they deem to be bad people. Now, the individual who killed, I should say, murdered Neely was David Penney. He kept him in a chokehold for 15 minutes. And I'm going to use the word murdered here specifically because if you're putting someone in a chokehold for that long, I think it's pretty obvious that the intent is to kill. Furthermore, there's no evidence that Neely assaulted anyone. One man unilaterally decided that death was the punishment for aggressive speech. And because Neely was a little bit too aggressive, well, one man decided that that was caused to just take his life. As NBC News reports, one Alberto Vasquez, the witness who took the cell phone footage, told NBC New York that Neely got on the train and began to say a somewhat aggressive speech, saying he was hungry, he was thirsty, that he didn't care about anything. He didn't care about going to jail. He didn't care that he gets a big life sentence. Now, listen, growing up, I've been around people who are very clearly having a mental health crisis. I've been around people who were high and tweaking. My family was poor and we were at a food bank one day. And I remember a man pulled out a knife randomly. All of these instances, they're unsettling, right? But not once that I ever think, oh, my God, that person needs to die right now. But that's what happened to Jordan Neely. This is an unhoused man. This was an unhoused man who was experiencing a mental health crisis, obviously. But one man decided that man needs to die. The penalty for aggressive speech was death. And police decided to just let Penny go. He killed a man. And they let him go. They didn't even arrest him. Now, the tough on crime people argue that his death was his own fault because, I mean, everyone is just sick of crime in America. You know, even though crime is lower. Well, since the news talks about it and they've elevated the salience of this, well, Americans are just tired of crime. So yeah, maybe don't do crime. But the irony is that they don't realize that Neely wasn't the criminal here in this instance, the assassin was. And in a statement released from his attorneys, Daniel Penny admits that Neely didn't actually harm anyone. They admit he was, quote, aggressively threatening people, but never actually accused Neely of physically harming anyone. And they also highlight his, quote, documented history of violent and erratic behavior. And the media also highlighted 40 different arrests. But we need to be very clear here. All of this is completely irrelevant. It's not an indictment on Neely. Rather, it's an indictment on the system that couldn't care less about unhoused people or people with mental health crises. But the reason why they bring this up and the reason why Penny's lawyers brought that up in particular was to smear the victim, smear the person whose life their client took. And they're trying to justify Neely's death, make it seem as if this white dude was justified in killing this black man on a subway who didn't attack anyone. Do you think that the killer here, Daniel Penny, did a background check on Jordan Neely while he was using, quote, aggressive speech? Of course not. The only relevant details here are what Neely was doing in that situation. And there's been zero evidence that he posed a physical threat to anyone. And this is what Neely's family pointed out as well in a response to that statement, saying, quote, Daniel Penny's press release is not an apology, nor an expression of regret. It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordan's life in the first paragraph. He talks about how good he is. And in the next paragraph, he talks about how bad Jordan was in an effort to convince us Jordan's life was worthless. The truth is he knew nothing about Jordan's history when he intentionally wrapped his arms around Jordan's neck and squeezed and kept squeezing in the last paragraph. Daniel Penny suggests that the general public has shown indifference for people like Jordan, but that term is more appropriately used to describe himself. It is clear he is the one who acted with indifference, both at the time he killed Jordan and now in this first public message. He never attempted to help him at all. In short, his actions on the train and now his words show why he needs to be in prison. So there you have it. I don't think I could have put it better myself. What they said here was spot on. Now, in conclusion, I wanted to talk about all of these stories because I think that they're related. They're related tangentially, but they're still related nonetheless. The reason why we're seeing these types of stories more frequently is because unfortunately, we are now witnessing the breakdown of society. And as government fails to address certain crises like homelessness, mental illness and gun violence, these things are going to continue to happen and it's only going to get worse. And as violence proliferates, citizens will become increasingly polarized. Many will become radicalized and they'll root for vigilante justice after feeling like the state just isn't meeting the needs of citizens. But while the right digs their feet in and insists that the state supplies more police officers, you know, in these situations and gets tougher on crime, the left once again is going to root for the state to address the root causes like poverty and a lack of a social safety net, a lack of health care and mental health care. The problem is that the right in this instance and all of these instances, they're always going to get what they want because of the very nature of our system. We are living in a late stage capitalist system and every single aspect of our society has been commodified. The state is literally incapable of addressing these root causes because all of these problems have been outsourced to private institutions. All of the things that the state previously had the responsibility of addressing, these are now the jobs of private institutions. The state no longer handles mental health, private clinics do. The state isn't going to opt for immigration reform because it's more profitable to treat migrants like slaves. The state doesn't meet our most basic needs because capitalism necessitates the prioritization of profits over the well-being of human beings. And as a result, all politicians can do is opt for short-term solutions like more police, more loss to criminalized homelessness and mental health crises. And it's not like that is tantamount to them putting a band-aid over an accident because all of these solutions are only making matters worse. So in short, our institutions have failed us and the state has been incapacitated by late stage capitalism. And as a result of this, society is starting to break down because the state cannot function because every single government responsibility has been outsourced, every element of society has become commodified. So this isn't the most rosy conclusion, but I'm not going to lie to you and pretend like things are going to get better because the truth is that until we can get non-corrupted anti-capitalist politicians in power to address the root causes specifically here, all of these crises that we're witnessing, they're going to continue and they're going to get worse because again, you can't just apply solutions that are inappropriate to put problems and then expect them to go away. All of these problems have root causes, root causes that are being ignored, root causes that aren't being discussed because media is obfuscating specifically right wing media with regard to gun violence. All media with regard to crime and homelessness and mental health crises. So these problems are going to get worse. And I can't tell you that it's going to get better. But step number one is understanding why these problems are happening in the first place if we want to correct them and apply actual solutions. So I'll leave that there. It's really disgusting to see these stories constantly. But I think that a lot of us aren't surprised by this because this is American life. It's the reality of America in 2023. And I don't expect it to change anytime soon.