Jackson Lahmeyer reacted to the mass shooting in Minnesota by baselessly declaring that “most school shooters are transgenders.“
So what are the facts?
Research shows that most school shooters are young males (often current or former students).
Motivations are often personal grievances (bullying, rejection, disciplinary issues) rather than organized political or ideological goals.
Databases like The Violence Project, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center all emphasize that personal crises, access to firearms, and prior warning signs are common factors.
On a wider scale and considering mass shootings more broadly, it has generally been Far-right extremists (white supremacists, anti-government, etc.) have been responsible for high-profile shootings (e.g., El Paso Walmart 2019, Buffalo supermarket 2022).
Realistically, the fact that absolutely nothing changed after even Sandy Hook, means that we’ll be needlessly dealing with school shootings for the rest of our lives.
There really is a solution, and so a complete lack of any political will to do the rather obvious is the core problem. On a Regular basis, The Onion has been running a headline pointing this out …
Meanwhile, the absolute “best” republicans can manage is the usual “thoughts and prayers”, and people are getting utterly sick of that do-absolutely-nothing “solution” …
- She in turn faced a lot of criticism for taking that stance, and that also is utterly sickening.
The key thing that those criticising her don’t get is that “Thoughts and Prayers” are fine for expressing empathy and fine as a means to cope, but when you then use it as your one and only “solution”, which is what they do ever single damn time, then it’s not fine …
Jones, nails it – they have the power to take meaningful action and instead just go with “thoughts and prayers”, that’s the point …
After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Pope Leo retweeted this from Senator Chris Murphy: “Your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers.”, yet they refused to listen then, and and still refuse to act now …
We really do not have to live like this, it is being imposed upon us by Republicans …
To test this entire “thought and prayers” stance, since they are so fond of it, then why not replace the entire Secret Service protection detail with thoughts and prayers. If it’s good enough for our kids, then it should be good enough for their own protection … right?
The political cartoonists are perhaps the best to truly articulate how some many of us feel about this.
So what else has been happening this past week?
Rumours that Trump is Dead
This popped up from a now deleted account on Reddit) …
It soon gained traction because he has not been seen, and so the idea that he had died went viral on twitter.
Even on BlueSky …
So is he dead?
Nope, but clearly the frenzy demonstrates that it’s the most anticipate obituary on the planet. The queue to piss on his grave is going to be very very long.
The Rising Police State
Crime rates have actually fallen everywhere except in the White House …
Dictator-in-Chief
The only thing he actually cares about is enriching himself …
Just one more tyrannical move – this time taking over the Fed…
It is also deeply scary that he is so very disconnected from reality and cobbles up fake emergencies to simply grab more and more power …
He becomes deeply pissed with subcontractors, but Putin … not so much …
Do you wonder why Trump imposed secondary tariffs only on India for buying Russian oil while not caring about all the other countries who buy Russian oil? Well here you go …
MacLeod – A crisis, exacerbated by the constant craven obsequiousness of the GOP.
The above is an actual Trump quote …
ICE Gestapo updates
The lunacy continues …
Multiple layers of Lunacy and utter incompetence
A vast data breach was enabled by DOGE. Via NPR: “A whistleblower says a former senior DOGE official now at the Social Security Administration copied the Social Security numbers, names & birthdays of over 300 million Americans to a private section of the agency’s cloud lacking adequate security…” www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n.
- 300 million basically means every single SS number.
Join the National Guard. It presents a wonderful career opportunity, such as learning how to pick up trash …
- Department of War and Sanitation, apparently
- It makes a great recruiting ad. “Leave your home. Travel a thousand miles in the back of a truck. Be deployed in America and reviled by everyone. Pick up garbage.”
- I’m also struggling with the concept of the high visibility vests designed to make you seen been worn over camo designed to make you unseen.
US Influence Operations in … Greenland …
No more parcels from elsewhere …
- To be wholly clear, it is not just the above. At least 25 countries have now suspended deliveries of parcels and goods to the United States
Propaganda vs Reality …
We are no longer a democracy …
- Mother Jones article is here – Aug 27 – Slouching Into Fascism – Are we already past the tipping point?
- Quote: “Where America goes from here is a story yet to be written. It will surely get worse — Trump’s push now is clearly focused on locking in an illegitimate claim to power. Whether we can come back from this moment is a story yet unknown. But it’s clear today America is different and, even if we fight our way back, it will never be the same again.“
Flags
Fun with flags …
Any amazing transition, now that the dictators orders have gone out …
Culture Wars for stupid people
One ever so tiny little flaw – nobody boycotted American Eagle …
MAHA – Alternative “Science”
Follow the science or follow Trump, you can’t do both. The question of whether to follow the data or follow the president is especially acute for those charged with keeping Americans safe — from foreign threats, economic crises, diseases…” www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p…
We are fast moving into a very very dangerous place …
… and of course the actual qualifications of the new CDC head are … (well basically nothing at all except ass kissing and decades of loyalty to Peter Thiel) …
- Link to article here
- He is also big into utter quackery … quote: “During the Covid pandemic, O’Neill voiced public support for unproven treatments that were not supported by scientific evidence, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, as well as vitamin D as a supposed “prophylaxis”.
- … and is basically a conspiracy nut … quote: “He also posted a number of conspiratorial theories on social media, including the baseless claim that “the name #COVID was chosen to conceal the origin of the virus. This name made it harder to study and probably slowed the response.”
RFK Jnr explains his “thinking” …
- Well yes, he is indeed being batshit crazy. Trusting the experts is the opposite of religion. Telling us to believe their uneducated opinions over the experts, is exactly what dictators do.
BERNIE: “Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/o…
Dennis Goris – I miss the old brand #CDC
Gaza Update
The AP & Reuters write a letter to Israel demanding answers about the multiple strikes on a hospital that first killed journalists, then the rescue workers – live on tv….
Mahdi exposes the war crime as he interviews former Israeli Ambassador …
- “we are going to correct the things“. How does one ‘correct’ the killing of people?
Israel is not fighting terrorists, they are now the terrorists. AP: “Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone and recovered the remains of two hostages as the army launched the “initial stages” of a planned offensive… death toll in Gaza has risen to 63,025…” apnews.com/article/mide…
Meanwhile the policy of deliberate slaughter and genocide continues. CNN: “At least 47 killed in Gaza City on Saturday, 6 children… footage showed a row of dead children shrouded in floral blankets… Video from after the attack showed numerous children wandering dazed, covered in blood and dust…” www.cnn.com/2025/08/30/m…
Ukraine Update
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command …
- Either he is not very bright and never pays attention, or he knows full well that Trump has said things like this and is pretending he hasn’t and gaslighting his own constituent and everyone in the audience. Evidence of Trump saying this: www.bbc.com/news/article…
Side Note: Alford’s constituents are not stupid, they can see very clearly what is going on here …
Christian Nationalists
The nuttier right-wing religious fanatics within the MAGA cult are as always doing their thing, and so here are a few samples from the past week …
- Christian nationalist pastor Andrew Isker says that if he became emperor of America, his first order of business would be to deport every immigrant: “They have to go back.“ — (… says the guy whose name is of Germanic origin, hence is very clearly the descendent of immigrants. It’s also deeply weird to observe how the actual teachings of Jesus has been replaced by Republican talking points)
- Micah Beckwith says that “separation of Church and State is and always has been a lie—a dangerous falsehood weaponized to dismantle our Republic”: “From its very inception, this phrase was twisted to marginalize Christian values and strip away the moral foundation that has held America together.” — (His “Christian” values are all deeply immoral things … bigotry, homophobia, misogyney, racism, and fascism)
- MAGA “Christian” “Intellectual” Eric Metaxas and his guest L. A. Marzulli explain that Bigfoots exist but there is no physical evidence of them because they are … interdimensional: “They pop in and they pop out.” Oh, and Bigfoot killed one of Marzulli’s friends. — (Yes, this is indeed all BS, and yes they really are that decoupled from reality).
- Christian nationalist pseudo-historian Tim Barton cheers on Trump’s attack on the Smithsonian, saying the museums should not treat slavery as “the most significant thing for American history” because “we had slaves for less than 100 years in our nation’s history.” — (Yes, “FFS” is indeed the correct response to that. I should of course add the obvious: Real Historians don’t disregard everything prior to 1776. The fake history this guy promotes is truly repugnant stuff)
Joel is of course being Joel
- When it comes to suggesting who should be silent and not speak in public, my vote on that goes to Joel.
He also has supporters. The anti-porn app Covenant Eyes is now sponsoring the webcast of antisemitic, misogynistic, racist, fascist Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon.
- But of course they are, his audience are the people who really need constant watching.
The false Profit$
It’s a Shane Vaughn special this week.
- It is only natural for MAGA pastor (and fraudster John Shane Vaughn) to take this stance. Like his orange Lord and Saviour he worships gold,
MAGA Pastor Shane Vaughn was also outraged over the rebranding at Cracker Barrel: “They hate Bubba and his biscuits. They’re ashamed of their customer base. And the remodel proves it.“
- I truly struggle to parse how a logo change can become a culture war icon … but hey, here we are in 2025.
Shane Vaughn believes that President Donald Trump “is running on supernatural time”: “You’re witnessing a supernatural event. Your president is not human right now.”
- You are actually witnessing the consequence of a lot of people being conned into making a very stupid decision at the ballot box – no mythological supernatural entities were involved.
Even More Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many excellent cartoons.
Clay Jones – Where will Trump send the National Guard next?
Gerrymandering Update
Iowa Dems just broke the GOP senate supermajority by flipping a Republican seat on a special election in a district Trump won by 11 points in 2024. (This is why Trump is stealing seats)
- Her Republican opponent ran as a hardline MAGA candidate—backing Trump’s immigration crackdowns, opposing abortion, denying climate change, spreading anti-vax conspiracies, railing against “woke,” and parroting Trump’s 2020 election lies. That’s why he lost and she won by a landslide – be encouraged.
How Not to Win at Politics
This is courage
It turns out that those FEMA employees who published a letter criticising Trump did so openly and in the full knowledge that they would most probably become targets for doing so …
- These 180 have more courage than the entire mainstream media.
And this is encouraging
Newsom Press Office Updates
I was worried they were starting to get it. It doesn’t appear that will happen anytime soon though …
… and so the trolling continues …
If that last one confused you a bit, well here is the explainer …
… and of course Trump style uppercase rants to troll him with …
Finally
Our favourite pranksters with … “Respect the Flag” …
Here is the full 8 mins clip, and honestly, it is truly hilarious that it all goes right over their heads …
Oh and Cracker Barrel now has another new logo …
Since we started with guns, let’s also finish on that topic.
The guys also interviewed a few gun nuts. The “insight” you gain via it is everything you might anticipate …
