Selected weekend reads: LAX shooter, an Arizona liar and Kareem

The only thing random about the LAX Terminal 3 shooting is the shooter, says Charles Pierce, the politics blogger who was around the horseshoe in Terminal 7 when Friday's attack occurred. Esquire

There already is some talk about this event being a "random" one. But it is not. These things are becoming as regular as rain, as predictable as the summer heat. The only thing "random" about it is the shooter. He could be anyone, and that's the point. There are people who spend money making sure that he could be anyone, and there's nothing "random" about how they do that. There is nothing "random" about this country's ludicrous disinclination to regulate its firearms. There is nothing "random" about the millions of dollars that the NRA spends to convince people that they should have the right to carry their assault weapon anywhere they want to carry it, including into an airport terminal, if they so desire. There is nothing "random" about the politicians who truckle and bow to this lucrative monetization of bloody mayhem. These are all deliberate acts with predictable consequences. There is nothing "random" about how we have armed ourselves, and there is nothing "random" about the filigree of high-flown rhetoric with which we justify arming ourselves, and there is nothing "random" about how we learn nothing every time someone who could be anyone decides to exercise his Second Amendment rights by opening fire. There is nothing random about how we got where we are today, here in Terminal 7, where people have sought refuge from the bloodshed, four terminals over. There is nothing "random" at all. We have chosen insanity over reason. We have done it with our eyes open.

Also from Esquire's website: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on 20 Things Boys Can Do to Become Men:

Why should a young man listen to an old guy about the best way to become a man? Because the typical teen is not yet able to see a future past the next few months. That’s not a fault of character, but the fact that teens’ brains have not yet physically matured. The pre-fontal cortex (PFC) does not fully develop in most people until they’re twenty-four years old. Yet, the PFC is responsible for regulating mood, attention span, impulse control, and the ability to plan ahead and understand the consequences of one’s actions. In the meantime, it’s up to the adults to guide them by showing them possible consequences—good and bad—of their behavior. With that in mind, here’s my guide to becoming a man.

Here lies Jim Cook, Arizona's official state fibber, by Richard E. Meyer — whose byline has been missed in the Los Angeles Times. On the Op-Ed page:

Sometimes telling the truth is necessary, but most of the time the plain truth is just that: plain. It is better to lie.

I was reminded of this the other day when I came upon an obituary, published nearly two years ago, for someone I admired. His name was Jim Cook. He worked at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, where I landed my first newspaper job.

Jim was a gentlemanly, painstaking reporter who wrote with the grace of a slumming angel. He was bulletproof accurate. Finally, however, he began to realize that veracity had limitations. He left Phoenix for the town of Wickenburg and founded the Institute for Factual Diversity.

Its purpose was to shed the shackles of fact and expand the truth.

Jim Cook appointed himself the official state liar.

His legacy is a trove of essays about Arizona, a place he loved.