“Dys-to-pi-a” …an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

Please take a moment to re-read the definition of dystopia and think about the extent to which it applies, or will apply. to these United States in the not too distant future, if not now. And now for a few exhibits for your consideration:

Exhibit A – Travesty in Nashville

Last week the Tennessee State General Assembly revealed to the nation what the residents of Tennessee have known for a long time. Two young (under thirty) Black men, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were expelled for going on the floor of the Assembly with a bullhorn which was deemed to be such a breach of decorum that censure was not punishment enough.

Interestingly, Representative Jones, Representative Pearson and Representative Gloria Johnson were not protesting one of any number of racial disparities in Tennessee, instead they were protesting the lack of any action regarding gun control by the legislature in the aftermath of yet another gun massacre – this time at a predominantly white religious school in Nashville. Just as interesting is the fact that Representative Johnson, a white woman, was not expelled.

The clearly racist and radical action by the Tennessee General Assembly has been condemned throughout the nation and there is a very good chance that Representative Pearson will soon be reinstated (Representative Jones was reinstated by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville as this was being written).

But what remains to be addressed is how it is that in the third decade of the twenty first century this kind of blatant racist official action can be taken by a unit of government in these United States without any recourse.

Indeed, it may be time for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to look into the extent to which the Tennessee Legislature is doing a very poor imitation of South African legislative behavior in the 1980’s.

Exhibit B – The Louisville Gun Show

Earlier this day a disgruntled soon to be ex-employee of a local bank in Louisville walked into that bank with an AR-15 style rifle. Within minutes four people were killed, nine others were hospitalized and the shooter himself was dead.

We may never know what prompts people to engage in such suicidal carnage. But we do know that the prevalence and ease of access to high powered weapons of war makes for a clear path in completing the circle of madness. And yet, even as the families of the dead and wounded mourned and prayed and wept, it was already clear that there would be no gun control legislation in Kentucky, Tennessee or in Washington.

As long as legislators remain addicted to dollars of the gun lobby there will be no changes. Instead, we will hear more proposals that the answer to the carnage is more guns.

Presumably, if everyone in that Louisville bank had a gun, only the shooter would have died – or he would have never tried to attack knowing that everyone had a gun. And if you believe that, you are also one of the people who watched the nighttime sky on Christmas Eve waiting for a jolly fat man to fly by on his reindeer powered sleigh.

Texas Jail Break

In 2020 one Daniel Perry drove his car into a Black Lives Matter parade, driving against the direction in which the protestors were marching. When confronted by one of the protestors, Perry picked up his .357 pistol and shot one Garrett Foster five times.

Perry claimed self-defense even though Foster never fired his weapon.

Last week a jury found Perry guilty of murder. And then it was time for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to remind the nation of what an odious character he really is. Abbott immediately announced that he would approve a pardon for Perry if a request was sent to him from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Abbott is relying on the Texas “stand your ground” law which does not require a person to retreat from a threat. However, in such a case, there cannot have been provocation on the part of the shooter. And one would think that driving a car into the middle of a protest parade constitutes some kind of provocation – obviously the prosecutor and the jury think so.

But the likes of Tucker Carlson have tried to turn Daniel Perry in a martyr, victimized by the Woke Movement. And so, we have the governor of Texas indicating that he will pardon Perry even before he has been sentenced.

And that is what is known as Texas Jailbreak.