A settler colonial state founded on indigenous genocide and African enslavement that is still addicted to the doctrine of racial domination will be violent. How could it be otherwise? This nation has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, 1,000 police killings every year, a defense budget bigger than any other, and the imperialist wars that inevitably follow. No one should be shocked when individuals here carry out violent acts. Yet that is exactly what we get when mass shootings take place, pretend shock and confused outrage.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut won kudos for his particular act of pretense on the senate floor. Murphy’s performance was a bit over the top but that is probably why it garnered so much attention. The senator seemed to be on the verge of tears as he made an impassioned plea to his colleagues. “What are we doing? … Why are we here? …This only happens in this country and nowhere else. … Nowhere else do kids go to school thinking they might be shot that day. …  I’m here on this floor to beg – to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here.”

Those are fine words from Murphy until one considers that on a regular basis he advocates U.S. violence all over the world. In December 2013 he joined his colleague John McCain in Ukraine. They attended a rally hosted by the neo-Nazi Svoboda party which was dedicated to overthrowing the elected president. The ensuing violence after the coup killed 14,000 people in the region that opposed the U.S. backed government.

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