Tim Campbell for April 20, 2023

But he was so big.

They can’t all be locked up. Can they? See Jim Benton’s cartoon today. 4/20/23.

Not the Lester I was thinking of. (%^) }

When I was a 17, I knocked on the wrong door trying to find the house of a new friend from school. The owner yelled at me to get off his porch and threatened to call the police. I remember thinking that was a big overreaction on his part. Now I realize I didn’t know how good I had it.

It is shameful that in our society people are so fearful they feel they must have overwhelming firepower to feel safe in their own home.

Ah, Mr. Lester’s ex-wife said he had always been violent. Mary Clayton, 81, was married to him for 14 years and had three children with him, said “I was always scared of him. It doesn’t surprise me, what happened.”

According to the grandson of Andrew Lester, his racist grandfather watched Fox “News” non-stop. Fear and racist loathing in the most watched cable news in America.

Please say a prayer for Kaylin Gillis, her family is in so much pain !!

There are so many aspects to this. A) the guns — when that’s all you got, everything looks like target B) the racism — “if it’s a black kid at your door, he’s automatically up to no good and therefore fair game” C) the constant barrage of fear-mongering on Fox. And D) a culture of violence and control — remember that Oklahoma sheriff recorded plotting to kill a journalist and then reminiscing about how they used to be able to string up black people? https://fortune.com/2023/04/18/oklahoma-sheriff-mccurtain-recording-killing-journalists-hanging-black-people/

Don’t overlook this one of the fear-enhancing variants: “I am armed and dream of using violence, so I must fear that every stranger is the same.”