And the Theatre Kids shall lead them; exposing NRA-whore politicians with Truth

Defying the latest round of rightwing-fed 'crisis actor' accusations, teenage survivors of the latest school shooting have proven defiant to the hypocritical inaction of GOP politicians who, instead of enacting swift gun control efforts, veer to the reverse, all the while enacting inept antiquated Band-aids by slapping up In God We Trust on school walls, and in Iowa, banning LGBT books in school libraries.

With the chilling 'conversation' and Q & As with weasels like Trump, Rubio and Florida Governor Scott offering nothing in the way of change, it's going to be a hard road. But the outspoken kids of these town halls may have finally found a breaking point.

Kissing & Bars: Orlando mass shooting struck a gay sanctuary

"If you can't wrap your head around a bar or club as a sanctuary, you've probably never been afraid to hold someone's hand in public," wrote Jeramey Kraatz in one of the more astute of social media quotes that has swept the internet since the mass murder of 49 people at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida.

That first step inside a gay bar, that first kiss between two girls, that first sighting of a trans or drag performer, are rites of passage for most of us, whether magical or awkward. It's a part of coming out and coming of age.

But for two men, one who shot 100 people, killing half of them in Orlando, and another who was caught before bombing Los Angeles Pride, their own internalized homophobia turned outward to violence.

What they may not have expected was the resultant outpouring of compassion and anger from around the world.

Rioty: the Language of Violence

My street, cordoned off by police cars and crime tape.

This was supposed to be a December post about the violence and protests in Oakland and San Francisco, the reactions to the violence in Ferguson, Missouri. But then it became about the murders in Paris at a magazine office. And now it's about four people shot dead around the corner from my home.

But let's go back to the Ferguson protests. You remember them. They were about the other senseless violence. I didn't feel comfortable reducing such a national movement with my own little perspective.

One of my Daily Kent Stater editorial cartoons, 1980

But then the Charlie Hebdo shootings happened in Paris. I thought, as a journalist, I had a connection.

But I didn't feel comfortable writing about that, other than posting some supportive million-forwarded meme jpg graphic or crowd shot from France. Because my situation as a much safer writer couldn't compare to the horrors in Paris.