The last time I felt inspired to replace a focused essay with a series of short, sharp takes, responses were good. It felt almost like doing a live radio show, without the 7-second delay, or the electronic shock collar my girlfriend makes me wear. You know, just in case I wander off the reservation, and into the fever swamps.

So here goes again. My title comes from the old Matrix reference. The blue pill is the one that leaves people happy and ignorant, the red pill the one that forces them to face unwelcome truths, and the black pill (not mentioned in the movie) is the kind of observation that tempts people to despair. So no, I won’t be dispensing those today. My faith forbids.

So however bleak a given observation might seem, remember that it stands against a backdrop of hope in the long run — if only the very, very long run of eternity. Seeing each thing in that light allowed the martyrs in the Roman Colosseum to smile as they faced the lions and bears their tormentors released on them. It’s like flipping the Bible to the back to see the ending. (Spoiler: Jesus wins.)

The first and obvious subject on everyone’s mind, especially here in Texas, is the gut-churning horror of the school shooting in Uvalde. For my more considered thoughts on how we respond to this kind of evil, see the piece The Stream reprinted today.

Here are my less considered thoughts.

Happy as a Democrat After a School Shooting

• In a perfect world, no boy would grow up twisted and fatherless, with a drug-using mother and no intervention, to turn out like the shooter. In a slightly less imperfect one than ours, counselors or teachers would have spotted his extremely eccentric behavior (wearing eyeliner, dressing in drag), and gotten him some help. But of course, we’re not allowed to notice that kind of weirdness any more.
• At the very least, school security should have detected the guns he brought with him, and a guard overpowered or wounded him before he could manage his slaughter. Instead, a member of the U.S. border patrol had to show up and end the horror, far too late.
• Maybe listen to the father who lost a child in a school shooting on what to do, instead of wealthy Democrats whose kids go to boarding schools in New England.
• And of course, our friendly neighborhood Democrats greeted the carnage like kids on Christmas morning. Beto O’Rourke crashed a sober press conference held by Gov. Abbott, where he belted out Veruca Salt’s song “I Want it NOW” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He claimed to want gun confiscation, but the present he wanted was a moment in the spotlight, even if he had to grab it by climbing on a pile of children’s corpses.

• Here’s a new turn of phrase I’ve coined: “Happy as a Democrat after a school shooting.” Send that out on social media, when they complain about “thoughts and prayers.” (To be fair, Democrats aren’t genuinely fond of either.)
• The same leftists ripping the bloody shirts off of dead kids to strangle the Constitution would have been thrilled to see them cut up in the womb and burned for Green Energy. So take their crocodile tears with a grain of salt, I suggest.
• Can we hire the WEF Police to protect our schools? They swooped in on scary-looking @JackPosobiec quickly enough when he tried to cover their Davos meeting to promote world government.

The Blue State Nursing Home Genocide Team Is Here to Help

• I’m not really shocked by the Democrats’ exploitation of the Uvalde tragedy. I put NOTHING past a party whose governors would dump COVID patients in nursing homes to pump death stats and justify mail-in ballots to steal the election.
• Blue states and cities with the strictest, unconstitutional gun laws have the most gun crime (dozens of deaths each week in Chicago, for instance). Red states with lots of legal guns have the least. Maybe that’s not a coincidence.
• I would rather that everyone in America, psychos included, had an AR-15, than just the psychos in the FBI.
• Australians are weighing in on Twitter, confused about why Americans won’t panic and give up our guns to the nice people from the Government. “What’s wrong with you people?” they’re asking. Those same Australians let their government lock them in their houses for months, with joggers getting arrested. That’s why we won’t give up our guns, okay mates? G’day!
• I cannot imagine the horror and suffering of the families affected by the Uvalde slaughter. Two adults and 20 children lie dead. But maybe the same liberals who shrug at 976 American babies aborted each day, every day, 365 days a year, don’t really care that much about human life. They might have another agenda in mind, like … a monopoly of power and violence for the government? Because in their minds, freedom starts at the bedroom door. It also ends there. Leave the bedroom and you have to show your vaccine passport.

When Hitler and Lenin Took Over, They Didn’t Confiscate All the Cars

• Nobody demanded car confiscations after the Waukesha Christmas Parade massacre by that black nationalist nobody’s supposed to mention. But in 2021, 42,915 Americans died in traffic accidents.
• Which is more essential to freedom, private automobiles or private firearms? Here’s a hint: When Lenin and Hitler took over, they didn’t confiscate everybody’s cars.
• Between 1914 and 1990, the modern State intentionally murdered some 170 million civilians, not counting casualties of war. What was the only thing those citizens had in common? They’d all been disarmed by those governments first.

Trust Those Nice Men in the FBI

• The Christians of Iraq got disarmed by their government. Then they were slaughtered and ethnically cleansed by ISIS.
• The Christians of Syria formed armed militias and allied with the Kurds. They conquered ISIS in just under seven months, with a little help from President Trump.
• “Turn the other cheek” has nothing to do with real violence, just minor insults to your pride.
• If Christianity taught pacifism, Christianity would be false.
• But hey, you can trust the government that labeled disgruntled parents at school board meetings “domestic terrorists” and considered sending the National Guard to intimidate them. Right? We’ll just let those nice FBI agents come and take them.
• Come and take them.

John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. He is co-author with Jason Jones of “God, Guns, & the Government.”