Like the week, the Sift will be dominated by talk about guns and murders. Sorry if you’re already sick of it; that’s just what’s up. I promise not to rehash the details of this week’s two shootings or speculate on things that are still unknown about the shooters, like their motives and their general psychological conditions. There’s already way too much of that.
Instead, I’ll make a few one-step-back points about our overall reaction to gun violence and the unhealthy state of our political discourse. Most of that is the weekly summary (titled “Enough?”), but one point demanded to be a separate post: “Don’t politicize tragedy is itself partisan rhetoric.”
In addition, this week has two holiday-themed articles: “Books to Ask Santa For” and “Questions Your Conservative Cousin Might Ask”.
Unless some unexpected inspiration strikes and refuses to be aside, I’m taking Christmas Eve off. So (probably) no Sift next week. In two weeks, I’ll do my traditional Yearly Sift.