Levels Of Tragedy

Last week, eight people died when a man drove a rental truck into a crowd along a walkway in Manhattan.
Last week, three people died when a man walked into a Colorado Wal-mart and opened fire with a handgun. 
The suspect in Manhattan, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, was apprehended at the scene. 
The suspect in Colorado, Scott Ostrem, was still at large and considered armed and dangerous.
Last week, the "President" tweeted, "NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!"
Last week, the "President" tweeted, "Wouldn't it be great to Repeal the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate in ObamaCare and use those savings for further Tax Cuts."
Wait a second. Where is the outrage and moral certitude? Why no cries for the death penalty for random shooter in Colorado? 
It could be that by choosing not to shout "Allahu Akbar" at the time of his crime, suspect Scott Ostrem didn't have a lot to say. Bang. Bang. Bang. 
Maybe our "President" wanted to be sure that Miter Ostrem was in custody before he started making pronouncements about his guilt and ultimate consequence for his actions. 
Perhaps killing just three innocent people doesn't rate a judgmental tweet from the "President." It's only after you match the magic number of the day, which turns out to be eight this week, do you receive condemnation from the White House. 
Or maybe it's about terror. Nobody expects to be run down in Manhattan by a rental truck from Home Depot. That's terrifying. Nobody expects to be gunned down while shopping at Wal-Mart, either. That's terrifying. 
But we're probably not going to be politicizing Scott Ostrem's crime anytime soon. The good news is that Ostrem is now in custody, and now the terror is over. This round, anyway. But I continue to puzzle over the difference. Both of these murders have my attention. If it's purely a math thing, I guess I understand, but why are we discouraged from politicizing the death of fifty-eight Americans in Las Vegas?
Last week, a whole bunch of Americans died. Senselessly. Tragically.