The faces of innocent children murdered in Uvalde, Texas, appeared on The New York Times front page Thursday morning.
They shouldn't have been news. But on the day the students were to have begun summer vacation, they had replaced photos from Ukraine, and stories about the midterm primaries and the stock market.
Another mass slaying, America's third in recent memory, had killed 19 fourth graders and their dedicated two teachers in a small predominantly Mexican-American town near San Antonio.
In a scenario re-enacted over and over since Charles "Texas Tower" Whitman began the modern mass shooting era in 1966, a troubled young white male took out his life failures on innocent people, this time 10-year-old children and two beloved educators. The 18-year-old murdered the children in their classroom and was killed by law enforcement officers after a delayed police response.
Following America's threadbare script, anguished Democratic leaders called for "common sense" gun control measures, condemning Republicans for their fealty to the NRA and the gun lobby.
Before a playoff game in Dallas 400 miles from the massacre, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr uttered the most impassioned cry of grief and outrage against the GOP senators who block any modest gun control proposals. Kerr accused the GOP of worshipping power and money rather than caring for human lives.
Still, the game was played. Dallas Mavericks fans cheered their team's victory.
Republicans like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Sen. Ten Cruz spewed out their usual defenses of the GOP's gun addiction. In Washington, the GOP will again subvert the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly support measures like background checks, banning assault weapons and placing age restrictions on gun purchases.
Surprisingly, the editorial page of Rupert Murdoch's New York Post supported a practical agenda of gun-control legislation. Murdoch's Wall Street Journal engaged in its typical sophistry and obfuscation, discounting the effectiveness of any action.
In their silence, the photos of the children on The New York Times front page spoke loudly, asking the nation why.
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