San Bernardino sadness

This is an older picture (posted originally in 2012) depicting the largely failed attempts to revitalize downtown San Bernardino. Though it is about 3 miles north of the location of today's (12/2/2015) massacre of 14 killed and 17 wounded, the picture seems appropriate for today.

I found the massacre to be particularly sad because the shootings, happening just 5 days after shootings in Colorado, are such a reminder of our country's inability to do anything about either the access to weapons or the mental health needs that result in mass shootings.

But that they happened in San Bernardino adds to that sense of sadness. The town is in many ways emblematic of contemporary American politics -- a town economically bankrupt and struggling to stay alive thanks to the damages of decades of culture and economy destroying national neoliberal political policies.