BAD FOR A LAUGH

Not if it keeps up like this, it won't be.

Welp, 2025 sure entered with a bang. Several, in fact. In Montenegro, a gunman killed 12 people -- 13, including himself -- in what was redundantly called a rampage. A Tesla truck went boom outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, an event I would like to think was due to faulty design rather than a political statement. Three people killed in Hawaii in what's described as a fireworks "incident". Ten New Yorkers shot at a Queens nightclub. And of course, 15 celebrants killed and two cops wounded by a member of the New Orleans chapter of the Isis fan club. 

So much information, so little to learn.

The latter was enough for me to watch live coverage: endless replays of cellphone videos taken by witnesses on Bourbon Street; endless replays of photos taken by journalists post-carnage; endless replays of news videos taken by news camera folks taken post-post-carnage. You know, the usual time-filler when there's nothing new to report or see but the news networks have to fill time somehow. 

It was all a warm-up for the press conference, where a representative from the FBI refuted the New Orleans' police chief's earlier ridiculous statement that a guy slamming through a crowd of revelers with his Ford F-150 pick-up truck before firing away with an assault rifle wasn't considered terrorism. 

Gov. Landry believes a little levity could do us all
a little good.

But there were two other moments that caught my eyes and ears. The first was when the press conference participants were lined up and ready for the show to start. 

Despite being a professional politician since 2007, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was apparently too innocent to realize he was on camera when an aide adjusted his jacket collar, leading them and a woman to laugh it up while everyone else was still shell-shocked by the killings. Advice to Landry: always assume that when a TV camera is aimed in your general direction you really are on camera.

The second incident was when it came time for Louisiana Senator John Kennedy to speak. Rumpled, rubbing his face with exhaustion, and looking for all the world like an animated hound dog playing a senator, Kennedy eventually took the microphone and promised to "raise fresh hell" if the FBI didn't eventually release all the information about the killer and anyone else involved.

The reaction of the guy on the left
says it all.

It was an emotional and fully understandable reaction even if there was a whiff of playing to the voters. What wasn't understandable when, moments later, he grabbed the microphone from the FBI rep and used the opportunity to call out the reporters who were asking questions. 

After demanding to know where the CBS journalist was, he looked around for a fresh target. The exchange went something like this:

 

KENNEDY: Where's the NBC reporter?                                   OFF-CAMERA REPORTER: Over here on the right.

KENNEDY: That's unusual.

OFF-CAMERA REPORTER: I don't get the joke.

KENNEDY: You wouldn't.

Yes sir, there's nothing like a U.S. senator turning a terrorist attack into a joke-cum-political shot for the cheap seats. Congratulations, Sen. Not-The-John-Kennedy-We-Think-Of-When-We-Hear-Your-Name. The folks who pulled the lever for you might have whooped, cheered, and whatever else they do in Louisiana. But if one of the victims had been a loved one of mine, I might have blown up a used AMC Pacer outside your office in response. 

Not a threat, mind you, just a joke.

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