Elsewhere

All snark and joking aside: there may be no better measure of the tragedy of the mass shooting at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday than that Speaker Ryan, in delivering an eloquent statement, was able to cast aside for the moment his obsession with tax cuts for the wealthy, a/k/a "tax reform."

That story is being covered heavily and will continue to be, with a dose here and there of And so let us check out with our ally "across the pond" to find out what might be going on there, including one event which was initially reported but is now ignored.  We learn

Grief and sorrow at the Grenfell Tower inferno on Thursday gave way to anger as residents of the gutted block demanded answers over the litany of failings which led to the disaster.

As fears mounted that the death toll could rise above 100, senior politicians who visited the scene were asked to explain why a series of loopholes had left the inhabitants vulnerable, despite repeated warnings over the last 30 years.

And in an eerie similarity to events on September 11, 2001 in New York City

Two separate sources have told The Telegraph that not all the front doors in the tower block were fire-proofed. This is hugely significant because official fire brigade advice to stay put in the event of a fire is based on fire doors offering protection to residents told not to leave the building.

Sidani Atmani, 41, said his neighbour on the 15th floor, a man he knew as Stephen, died because he had followed fire brigade instructions to stay in his flat.


“A lot of people died because of what they were told to do,” he said. “It was horrible.”

Following the horrible attack on GOP baseball players outside of the nation's capital, President Trump issued a professional, tasteful, and perhaps even inspiring statement which included

We can all agree that we are blessed to be Americans, that our children deserve to grow up in a nation of safety and peace, and that we are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good.

The number of deaths in a tragedy which should remind us of  the worst day in our nation's history may have reached triple figures. Little attention is paid by the media (an exception, below) and none by our President.

Most of us are fortunate to be Americans. But a "blessing" comes only from God, and there is in the response to London's disaster nothing to suggest that such favor has been bestowed upon our nation, formerly the leader of the free world.











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