Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the show. It's with a heavy heart that we opened

tonight's show discussing what happened over the weekend in Colorado Springs. And yes, there was

another mass shooting at an LGBTQIA nightclub. And this is heartbreaking for all of us, the community

especially, because these events, Sally events sadly are not unfamiliar and they are

happening more and more. And this is born out of a lot of the political polarization that's occurring right now in our country and in our culture.

The stats are showing us that it's about 20% that have an actual mental illness. So mass shooters

are generally 80% or so, just radicalized individuals. And that's happening as a result of a lot

of the political propaganda. And that's why I guess I wanted to talk first on a macro level that

we all need to really step into politics. And individuals are feeling helpless. They're even feeling hopeless, politically just in and of itself, but also with these

microcosmic events that are occurring under that umbrella as a result of that.

So we do need to support those around us and make sure everyone's voting,

because there's a trickle-down effect.

I will talk about the individual micro-level impacts that trauma like

this has on us, because that's very important. But I want to just first talk on a larger scale

that we all need to get involved. If these were individual mental health issues, then the answer

would just be we have to make, you know, healthcare more accessible. But that's not the case.

And so it is politically driven.

And so we do want to recognize that.

I want to just mention a quote that's from a psychiatry today.

It says that mass shooters are often terrorists,

being radicalized or motivated by specific ideologies,

not usually people suffering for mental illness.

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