The Dish

It's best to wait till tomorrow to discover exactly what we actually know about what happened today. I've now read so many conflicting reports and rumors and speculation about motives that I'm dizzy. We do know now though that the killer is alive, and so some greater understanding will be possible soon. And we also know, despite frenzied speculation, that there was one gunman.

As soon as we have some reliable facts to interpret we'll join the fray. Until then, some restraint. But please pray for all those murdered and their families.

An American soldier stationed in Iraq blogs an exchange he had with his wife in Fort Hood:

Around, midnight, local Iraq time, which was about 2 pm central time, I was just finishing up a late night at work when I decided to call my wife. But the phone didn't ring; I got a busy signal. So I tried email. My wife was already online.

Angela: We are on lock down, baby
me: What?
Angela: We have shooters
me: Lock Down?
Angela: on post schools and everyone
yea
multipule shooters on
me: according to who?
Angela: Clear Creek
The sirens
They're saying to lock all doors and windows
…
Angela: Soldiers?
Who is doing it?
me: They're not saying
Angela: ugh
me: This is ridiculous
I'm in the war zone
not you!
Angela: I know!

Now, I think I have an inkling of an idea of what it's like to be at home while your loved one is in a dangerous combat zone. Here I am in Iraq, worried my wife and son are in danger in their own backyard.

Jann Gumbiner thinks through minors' relationship to pot:

If pot is still illegal to anyone under 21, how will teens get it? I think the most likely scenario is the same as beer and cigarettes. Older brothers and sisters, with IDs, will legally buy packaged marijuana cigarettes at gas stations and share them with younger ones on Friday night parties. As a parent, I ask myself, “how do I feel about this?” And… after a little thought, I actually feel better knowing my child is with trusted friends, ingesting measured substances than on a corner at night buying an illegal substance from a stranger.

Scott Morgan chimes in:

As a teenager, I witnessed firsthand a world in which it was easier to get marijuana than alcohol. I don't just say this now because it suits my agenda; it's the truth. If my friends wanted booze for a party, they planned days ahead. If they wanted pot, they just made a phone call. The difference was that old, but very true, cliché that drug dealers don’t check ID. That's why research has repeatedly shown that teenagers have easier access to marijuana than beer. What can never be quantified, however, are all the other harms that go along with this vast underground, underage drug economy that continues to thrive thanks to marijuana prohibition.

Karl Rove and Michele Bachmann should not celebrate Tuesday too soon:

Suderman is unhappy with how healthcare bill costs are being presented:

It's true that the reform bills, as written, produce some savings by cutting certain types of Medicare expenditures. But that money is then repurposed to help pay for subsidies so that lower-income people can buy insurance. And that money only pays for some of the new expenditures in the bill. The rest comes from either a surtax on expensive insurance plans (in the Senate plan) or a new tax on couples who earn more than a million dollars a year and individuals who earn more than $500,000 a year (the House plan). Either way, what these bills do isn't save money. Instead, they spend more, but also bring in more revenue through new taxes, theoretically resulting in a lower deficit over the long haul.

As yet we know little except that the prime suspect was a military psychiatrist destined for another tour of duty in Iraq. The best breaking news blogger on the story is Robert Mackey.

A reader writes:

Just wanted to give you a heads up – the breaking news here in Dallas is that both the Fort Worth Police and TABC are releasing their internal investigations into the Rainbow Lounge incident today.

Unsurprisingly, both the FWPD and the TABC are reporting that none of their officers used excessive force or inappropriately targeted a gay bar for a shakedown. None of the officers involved from the FWPD will be fired; two TABC agents were already fired. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that some of the officers involved will be "disciplined" for such dire infractions as not turning in their incident paperwork on time. In other words, "Johnson, you get me that write-up of yesterday's queer hunt, or I'll have your ass!"

Disappointing, to say the least.

In case you missed it, the skinhead on the right is Stephen Colbert.