Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Gunman Kills 2 on Air and Posts Carnage Online” (front page, Aug. 27):

The deranged, savage killer who took the lives of two innocent television station employees was no doubt encouraged, aided and abetted by the ability to become infamous through the use of 21st-century technology.

He knew that he would secure a place in history by shooting his former co-workers while they were on the air, posting the murders on social media and providing a major television network with his “manifesto,” certain that it would be analyzed and widely disseminated so that society would focus on him and his trumped-up grievances.

Have we learned anything from the latest atrocity? Many of us have, but as we saw after the slaughter of 26 innocents in Newtown, Conn., any renewed desire to act to prevent future horrors will fade with time and through the persuasion of the National Rifle Association, which reacts hysterically to any proposal to regulate or restrict access to lethal weapons.

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So it shall be for us in the United States of America.

OREN SPIEGLER

Upper St. Clair, Pa.

Note from KBJ: This is mind-blowing. Of all the things to focus on in this criminal act, Oren Spiegler focuses on guns. The murderer could have driven a car into the reporter and cameraman; he could have stabbed them; he could have shot them with a crossbow; he could have detonated a bomb; and so on. Hoplophobia never sleeps.

Here is the setlist for yesterday's Yes concert in Grand Prairie, Texas, which Katherine and I attended:

1. Onward (“Tormato” recording, with Chris Squire tribute)
2. Intro / Firebird Suite
3. Don’t Kill the Whale
4. America
5. Going for the One
6. Time and a Word
7. I’ve Seen All Good People
8. Siberian Khatru
9. Owner of a Lonely Heart
10. Roundabout
11. Encore: Starship Trooper

I had a great time. Steve Howe is old and frail, but he can still play a mean guitar. The other four members of the band were Alan White on drums, Geoff Downes on keyboards, Jon Davison on vocals, and Billy Sherwood on bass. Nobody who played on the original Yes album (in 1969) was present: Bill Bruford on drums; Tony Kaye on organ; Peter Banks on guitar; Chris Squire on bass; and "John" Anderson on vocals. It occurred to me during the concert that this band has provided the soundtrack of my life. The first Yes album came out when I was 12. I have had Yes albums on eight-track tape, cassette tape, and compact disc. I listened to Yes while in high school in Vassar, Michigan; while in college in Flint, Michigan; while in law school in Detroit, Michigan; while in graduate school in Tucson, Arizona; and during all these years as a professor in Texas. I'm glad I finally got to see this legendary band. I own 19 Yes albums on compact disc.

Addendum: The opening act was Toto, which had a string of hits (such as "Hold the Line," "Rosanna," and "Africa") back in the day. The band was technically clean and, surprisingly, loud. The guitarist, Steve Lukather, whom I watched like a hawk (in order to learn), was very good.

Ann Coulter nails it.

Here.

Here.

To the Editor:

Your coverage of Senator Bernie Sanders has portrayed him as a hippie who escaped urban life to act out revolutionarily in back-to-the-land Vermont (“Outsider Went Mainstream, but Message Changed Little,” July 4); as an outlier whose colleagues in Congress see him as combative and uncompromising (“Sanders Fights Portrait of Him on the Fringes,” Aug. 15); and as a grumpy outsider who gives disaffected Democrats an opportunity to vent (“Sanders Draws Big Crowds to His ‘Revolution,’” Aug. 21).

I’m 57 years old and have voted in every presidential election since 1976, and for the first time I’m inspired enough by a candidate to donate money and volunteer my time. Last time I checked, the approval rating of Congress was at 15 percent, so I don’t think your readers put much stock in what Mr. Sanders’s colleagues think of him.

Maybe more relevant reporting would be on the thousands of us in the middle class who support Mr. Sanders’s positions, like a $15 per hour minimum wage; access to a college education without crushing debt; overturning the Citizens United decision that allows corporations to buy elections; and taxing the financial transactions of Wall Street speculators.

Maybe we aren’t all grumpy, disaffected outliers; maybe we recognize someone who could give this country the new direction it so desperately needs. Maybe we are what democracy looks like.

DEBORAH HYMAN

Seattle

Note from KBJ: Progressivism = economic illiteracy.

My friend and former student Kelly sent a link to this inspirational video.

Tomorrow night! (Click to enlarge.)

Seven-Inning Felix (15-8) pitched well today. He made it through eight innings (throwing 105 pitches) and got the victory over the last-place Oakland Athletics (the worst team in the American League). He's on track for 18.5 victories. Will he win 20 for the first time? Time will tell.