If it helps us evaluate the quality of information we're getting from our electric teevee sets about whodunit in Boston, we might consider this:
For a few days, the prosecutor shootings in Kaufman County, Texas, commanded the air waves. Virtually every on-air performer conveyed the notion that our culprit was a cabal of racist, ex-con, anti-government, gun-clinging skinheads.
Upon further review, authorities and the media now suggest that the prime suspect is a fat, middle-age, former government employee with hair, a law degree, and a conviction for stealing government computers.
So no matter who Rachel Maddow decides to blame for the Boston bombs during any given on-camera take, we might want to reserve judgement.
Showing posts with label Slime and Punishment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slime and Punishment. Show all posts
Apr 16, 2013
Mar 26, 2013
Quote of the Day (Clear Thinking in the 50 Words or Fewer Category)
Very tasty free ice cream this morning from the potential Empress of the Universe (and I've heard worse ideas). The subject is pedestrian -- shoveling your walks -- but she elevates it to a sizable segment of a world view and prompts a comment which ought to be chipped into the marble front of every court house in the land:
"... There are things you should do in order to live in a cultured society, and things you should be punished for if you don't. They are not necessarily the same set of things. Being unable to distinguish between the two is guaranteed to get you a police state."
"... There are things you should do in order to live in a cultured society, and things you should be punished for if you don't. They are not necessarily the same set of things. Being unable to distinguish between the two is guaranteed to get you a police state."
Mar 21, 2013
Sometimes it's hard to be an Iowan
Diverting the cops is a standard tactical move if you want to do mischief somewhere else, and I suppose calling a bomb threat to a school 20 miles away could work about as well as anything else. That's what a couple of would-be criminal masterminds from Des Moines did up in my neck of the woods..
The results were non-optimum. Their bank-heist take was an employee's purse. The car they stole was recognized and chased. They abandoned it along the wild bluffs of the Des Moines River and hid in the woods. Officers quickly found them. Homing in on chattering teeth?
Criminey. When even your criminal class apes a Three Stooges plot, you get to thinking about state pride and all. I may resort to social climbing. Claim to be from Arkansas or something.
The results were non-optimum. Their bank-heist take was an employee's purse. The car they stole was recognized and chased. They abandoned it along the wild bluffs of the Des Moines River and hid in the woods. Officers quickly found them. Homing in on chattering teeth?
Criminey. When even your criminal class apes a Three Stooges plot, you get to thinking about state pride and all. I may resort to social climbing. Claim to be from Arkansas or something.
Mar 8, 2013
A Jayhawker Stands His Ground
As a general thing, I oppose Kansas farmers shooting down Iowans, but I'm not unreasonable on the subject. Even a good herd benefits from an occasional and careful culling.
That leads me to applaud the actions of the sherf and prosecutors down in the Free Soil country of Sumner County where an unnamed farmer ended the career of a probation jumper from Creston, Iowa. They're giving him a self-defense pass, and knowing my fellow rustics as I do, I suspect his neighbors will throw a barbecue in his honor.
Kansas has a stand-your-ground law, and it appears to me that it was written specifically to cover cases like this where fugitive Joe Lamasters died in barn after making a bad tactical decision -- to leap from behind a pile of feed sacks into the enfilade area of Farmer's shotgun. As the sheriff reported, the perp "deceased right there."
Cops across the area had been looking for Lamasters and added the courtesy of going door-to-door to tell citizens of a bad guy skulking around. (in a county with a rural population density of maybe four per square mile, "door-to-door" takes on a special meaning.)
It's worth noting that Farmer had Lamasters under the gun twice. The first time the fugitive turned and ran. Farmer decided to have no truck with back-shooting. But the perp made the mistake of fleeing toward another farm where the good citizen believed a woman might be home alone. Farmer went there, found the house empty, and decided to check the outbuildings.
Courage, good judgement, and the shotgun did the rest, but please don't take this as an endorsement of Double-Barrel Biden. My take on the subject would be just the same even if the Kansas farmer had used a Bushmaster with a shoulder thingie and 40 bullets in the clip. But he probably didn't even own one.
Ain't no call for that plastic crap when a feller's got a real nice 12-gauge hanging over the back door. :)
That leads me to applaud the actions of the sherf and prosecutors down in the Free Soil country of Sumner County where an unnamed farmer ended the career of a probation jumper from Creston, Iowa. They're giving him a self-defense pass, and knowing my fellow rustics as I do, I suspect his neighbors will throw a barbecue in his honor.
Kansas has a stand-your-ground law, and it appears to me that it was written specifically to cover cases like this where fugitive Joe Lamasters died in barn after making a bad tactical decision -- to leap from behind a pile of feed sacks into the enfilade area of Farmer's shotgun. As the sheriff reported, the perp "deceased right there."
Cops across the area had been looking for Lamasters and added the courtesy of going door-to-door to tell citizens of a bad guy skulking around. (in a county with a rural population density of maybe four per square mile, "door-to-door" takes on a special meaning.)
It's worth noting that Farmer had Lamasters under the gun twice. The first time the fugitive turned and ran. Farmer decided to have no truck with back-shooting. But the perp made the mistake of fleeing toward another farm where the good citizen believed a woman might be home alone. Farmer went there, found the house empty, and decided to check the outbuildings.
Courage, good judgement, and the shotgun did the rest, but please don't take this as an endorsement of Double-Barrel Biden. My take on the subject would be just the same even if the Kansas farmer had used a Bushmaster with a shoulder thingie and 40 bullets in the clip. But he probably didn't even own one.
Ain't no call for that plastic crap when a feller's got a real nice 12-gauge hanging over the back door. :)
Mar 6, 2013
Zimmerman "Stuns" Court Observers?
His lawyers waived a separate hearing on a Stand Your Ground defense, and ABC News headlined the stunning of "court observers."
Maybe some "observers" are more easily stunned than others. I doubt many students of self-defense law were even trickle-charged.
George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Beyond that, the debate is open. If it was legally justifiable -- as it may have been -- it was on grounds other than Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Zimmerman left that legal cloak behind when he stopped his car, got out, and initiated the confrontation. A suspicious looking kid quietly walking through your night-time neighborhood is grounds for calling the cops, watching from a discreet distance, and taking steps to protect yourself in case he confronts you.
Zimmerman's self-defense argument will succeed or fail based on a judicial determination of what happened after he faced Martin and then, as he alleges, walked away. The details are in dispute and foggy. That's why we have courts.
---
Stand your ground law laws should be universal -- a simple affirmation of your right to use all necessary force to stay alive when a criminal threatens you. If we insist that they give full police power to every guy with a suspicion, we'll lose them, state-by-state.
Maybe some "observers" are more easily stunned than others. I doubt many students of self-defense law were even trickle-charged.
George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Beyond that, the debate is open. If it was legally justifiable -- as it may have been -- it was on grounds other than Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Zimmerman left that legal cloak behind when he stopped his car, got out, and initiated the confrontation. A suspicious looking kid quietly walking through your night-time neighborhood is grounds for calling the cops, watching from a discreet distance, and taking steps to protect yourself in case he confronts you.
Zimmerman's self-defense argument will succeed or fail based on a judicial determination of what happened after he faced Martin and then, as he alleges, walked away. The details are in dispute and foggy. That's why we have courts.
---
Stand your ground law laws should be universal -- a simple affirmation of your right to use all necessary force to stay alive when a criminal threatens you. If we insist that they give full police power to every guy with a suspicion, we'll lose them, state-by-state.
Feb 28, 2013
Fire a cop; save a life
I've encountered the Iowa Highway Patrol twice in recent years. The first happened as I was on my way home from the 2011 GOP straw poll. Tired in the wee hours, I pulled into an interstate rest area for a nap. A young highway officer woke me with a flashlight tap on a window. He gave me time to collect my thoughts, explained he was responding to a 911 hangup, and wondered if I'd seen anything. "Nothing much, just a couple of stray dogs running around." We chatted a minute or two, and he very politely left with, "Thank you for talking to me."
The next one was less pleasant. Flashing lights invited me to stop and discuss my speed. The veteran IHP cop claimed 70. I stood firm on 69, at most, and (accurately) blamed it on simple inattention, the Hedda Pass excuse. We arrived at a reasonable compromise. He wrote the ticket for 6-10 over rather than the much more expensive 11-OMG over. I departed angry only with myself. The natty officer did what he gets paid to do, levy the speed tax to fatten the Iowa treasury.
The point here is my personal view that most highway patrol guys are not unpleasant people and, in fact, are among our most intelligent and professional Only Ones.
Until, that is, you take a look at their collective behavior as expressed through their union as blared in the headline: Number of state troopers down nearly 100 since 2000.
"Iowa State Troopers Association president Darin Snedden (said). '…Our state needs to increase our trooper numbers by 87.' In 2000, there were 455 troopers on the state payroll. As of February 1st of this year, there were 363 state troopers on the job in Iowa. That’s 92 fewer troopers than there were 13 years ago.
The implication is that motoring Iowans are at greater risk in proportion fewer officers. He wants $13 million to hire about 90 more, but here the Smokey Union butts up against the statistics:
In 2000 -- the base comparison year Mr.Snedden cites -- we had 455 speed cops and 445 traffic deaths.
In 2012 we had 363 cops and 362 fatal crashes.
Hence, using the sort of logic loved by our political class, the more cops, the the more deaths. It's probably just a statistical quirk that the ratio of police manpower reductions to reduced traffic deaths approaches 1:1.
---
Of course my analysis is silly when applied to the issue at hand. All sorts of things affect road deaths, and -- while I doubt it -- perhaps hiring a few more highway enforcers is a wise use of money.
But it does illustrate the mindset of the ruling political class -- "We can say any damned thing we want because the proles are too lazy and stupid to check the numbers. They think math is too hard."
The next one was less pleasant. Flashing lights invited me to stop and discuss my speed. The veteran IHP cop claimed 70. I stood firm on 69, at most, and (accurately) blamed it on simple inattention, the Hedda Pass excuse. We arrived at a reasonable compromise. He wrote the ticket for 6-10 over rather than the much more expensive 11-OMG over. I departed angry only with myself. The natty officer did what he gets paid to do, levy the speed tax to fatten the Iowa treasury.
The point here is my personal view that most highway patrol guys are not unpleasant people and, in fact, are among our most intelligent and professional Only Ones.
Until, that is, you take a look at their collective behavior as expressed through their union as blared in the headline: Number of state troopers down nearly 100 since 2000.
"Iowa State Troopers Association president Darin Snedden (said). '…Our state needs to increase our trooper numbers by 87.' In 2000, there were 455 troopers on the state payroll. As of February 1st of this year, there were 363 state troopers on the job in Iowa. That’s 92 fewer troopers than there were 13 years ago.
The implication is that motoring Iowans are at greater risk in proportion fewer officers. He wants $13 million to hire about 90 more, but here the Smokey Union butts up against the statistics:
In 2000 -- the base comparison year Mr.Snedden cites -- we had 455 speed cops and 445 traffic deaths.
In 2012 we had 363 cops and 362 fatal crashes.
Hence, using the sort of logic loved by our political class, the more cops, the the more deaths. It's probably just a statistical quirk that the ratio of police manpower reductions to reduced traffic deaths approaches 1:1.
---
Of course my analysis is silly when applied to the issue at hand. All sorts of things affect road deaths, and -- while I doubt it -- perhaps hiring a few more highway enforcers is a wise use of money.
But it does illustrate the mindset of the ruling political class -- "We can say any damned thing we want because the proles are too lazy and stupid to check the numbers. They think math is too hard."
Feb 7, 2013
Officer Friendly - Really
Somewhere in Douglas County, Colorado, there's a cop who should be promoted to high federal office.
Schools there are understandably worried about a copycat of the Aurora or Newtown breed. As usual there was a lot of talk about new programs, maybe useful, maybe not, but certainly budget-busting. Then came some one's flash of brilliance.
Every once in a while in the course of a shift, it seems, the patrol officer must take care of his paperwork. The practice had been to pull over at some handy place and do the reports. The anonymous genius, said, "Hey. Why don't we just have our guys do the reports in a school parking lot?"
The little kids get accustomed to blue giants with guns and probably feel quite a little more secure. The cops are that much more familiar with school layouts. Their frequent presence should help deter all sorts of slime -- from the random kid-groper to the armed warpies bent on a celebrity farewell party.
Cost? Roughly nothing.
C'mon, media. find out who this cop is and make him famous.
Schools there are understandably worried about a copycat of the Aurora or Newtown breed. As usual there was a lot of talk about new programs, maybe useful, maybe not, but certainly budget-busting. Then came some one's flash of brilliance.
Every once in a while in the course of a shift, it seems, the patrol officer must take care of his paperwork. The practice had been to pull over at some handy place and do the reports. The anonymous genius, said, "Hey. Why don't we just have our guys do the reports in a school parking lot?"
The little kids get accustomed to blue giants with guns and probably feel quite a little more secure. The cops are that much more familiar with school layouts. Their frequent presence should help deter all sorts of slime -- from the random kid-groper to the armed warpies bent on a celebrity farewell party.
Cost? Roughly nothing.
C'mon, media. find out who this cop is and make him famous.
Feb 2, 2013
Murder math in Chicago
Let me impose on your kindness. I know I'm know I'm giggling in public, a breach of taste and good manners.
Please forgive me. You see, I was just reading about Chicago, the political womb of one Barack Obama, sometimes known as His Ineptness, the lawyer-cum-neighborhood organizer. He is the politician who is, at the moment, busily explaining to us what the Constitution of the United States actually means.
As you have read, Chicago -- actually Cook County which is about the same thing -- lost a murderer the other day. The perp had been serving 60 years in an Indiana pen. Chicago borrowed him so he could be tried on an old "drug and armed violence case." Never mind that the case was closed, dismissed, six years ago. Never mind that Cook County prosecutors told Sherf Tom Dart that no prosecutor or judge had a yen to talk with the Hoosier convict. But Sherf Tom Insisted, so the killer got a nice ride to Chicago, accompanied by a polite note from Indiana, "Y'all wanna please make sure and send this fella back when you're done with him?"
The sherf lost the paper. Somebody in uniform opened the jailhouse door and wished him good luck. Hilarity ensued. Somebody caught the crook. Game over?
Not quite. That gradual warming trend for upper Illinois can be attributed to the hot breath of Chicago pols, screaming blame at one another. The sheriff finally admitted he and his troops were guilty of misfeasance, but not too guilty. Budget cuts, don't you know. An outdated computer. A Homeric load of work piled on his poor shoulders.
"It's our fault but we move 100,000 people a day and it's all done with paper," Dart said.
(Gratuitous full-frontal arithmetic follows. Reader discretion is advised.)
So, Sherf, you are telling us that you and your acolytes move the equivalent of the entire population of Cook County every 52 days? (5.2 million divided by 100k). Or that you can move every man, woman, and kid in Illinois between Spring Training and the All-Star Break? If you have enough paper, of course.
All that may be unfair to Officer Tom as a person. After all, he works in a mysterious numerical environment where a ward of 200,000 human beings can easily deliver 200,001 votes for Rahm, Daly, & Obama, Inc.
Besides, how could this Indiana killer have been part of "armed violence" in Chicago? Guns were (and generally still are) illegal there prior to McDonald, so he couldn't possibly have been armed. This principle has been carried to the White House whose occupant these days is offering it as a paradigm for America.
Please forgive me. You see, I was just reading about Chicago, the political womb of one Barack Obama, sometimes known as His Ineptness, the lawyer-cum-neighborhood organizer. He is the politician who is, at the moment, busily explaining to us what the Constitution of the United States actually means.
As you have read, Chicago -- actually Cook County which is about the same thing -- lost a murderer the other day. The perp had been serving 60 years in an Indiana pen. Chicago borrowed him so he could be tried on an old "drug and armed violence case." Never mind that the case was closed, dismissed, six years ago. Never mind that Cook County prosecutors told Sherf Tom Dart that no prosecutor or judge had a yen to talk with the Hoosier convict. But Sherf Tom Insisted, so the killer got a nice ride to Chicago, accompanied by a polite note from Indiana, "Y'all wanna please make sure and send this fella back when you're done with him?"
The sherf lost the paper. Somebody in uniform opened the jailhouse door and wished him good luck. Hilarity ensued. Somebody caught the crook. Game over?
Not quite. That gradual warming trend for upper Illinois can be attributed to the hot breath of Chicago pols, screaming blame at one another. The sheriff finally admitted he and his troops were guilty of misfeasance, but not too guilty. Budget cuts, don't you know. An outdated computer. A Homeric load of work piled on his poor shoulders.
"It's our fault but we move 100,000 people a day and it's all done with paper," Dart said.
(Gratuitous full-frontal arithmetic follows. Reader discretion is advised.)
So, Sherf, you are telling us that you and your acolytes move the equivalent of the entire population of Cook County every 52 days? (5.2 million divided by 100k). Or that you can move every man, woman, and kid in Illinois between Spring Training and the All-Star Break? If you have enough paper, of course.
All that may be unfair to Officer Tom as a person. After all, he works in a mysterious numerical environment where a ward of 200,000 human beings can easily deliver 200,001 votes for Rahm, Daly, & Obama, Inc.
Besides, how could this Indiana killer have been part of "armed violence" in Chicago? Guns were (and generally still are) illegal there prior to McDonald, so he couldn't possibly have been armed. This principle has been carried to the White House whose occupant these days is offering it as a paradigm for America.
Jan 4, 2013
Duuuhhhhhh Darwin nomination
Hi guys. Any convicted felons out there?
Okay, you fellas with your hands up. This is for you. Until you get your full pardons, I recommend against appearing in public with AR-15s. But if you must do so, make every effort to avoid getting your shooting session taped for You Tube.
Okay, you fellas with your hands up. This is for you. Until you get your full pardons, I recommend against appearing in public with AR-15s. But if you must do so, make every effort to avoid getting your shooting session taped for You Tube.
Dec 19, 2012
Joe Biden to the rescue
Tuesday: No one knows who His Ineptness will put in charge of raping modifying the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Gun maker stocks plunge.
Wednesday: His Ineptness appoints Joe Biden as national gun control czar. Gun stocks open more than 4 per cent higher.
We can't expect a break like that every day, folks, so march on. Make them prove the blame for murder falls on the people who didn't kill anyone.
---
(Dead-cat bounce remarks cheerfully considered.)
Wednesday: His Ineptness appoints Joe Biden as national gun control czar. Gun stocks open more than 4 per cent higher.
We can't expect a break like that every day, folks, so march on. Make them prove the blame for murder falls on the people who didn't kill anyone.
---
(Dead-cat bounce remarks cheerfully considered.)
Nov 30, 2012
Castle Doctrine; How Many Times Can I Shoot?
You'll never meet two cuter kids than Haile Kifer, 18, and Nicholas Brady Schaeffel, 17, cousins who personify the American ideal of wholesome good looks. They could do Pepsodent ads.
You'll also never meet a 64-year-old retired government security geek who looks more ominous than Byron Smith. He's the guy who shot them. And shot and shot.
Haile and Nick could easily have been featured in a happy 1940s Ronald Reagan/June Allyson movie. Unfortunately, they seemed to enjoy burglarizing other folks' homes.
Every media outlet in America lusts for a piece of this story, lots of drama plus a segue into another Castle Doctrine shouting match.
It happened Thanksgiving Day. Byron says he was tinkering in his basement shop when Nick came down the stairs, either unarmed or carrying a piece of pipe. So Byron shot him, dropped, him, and fired a finisher.
Then came Haile. And the second most bizarre fact -- if fact it be -- of the tale.
Smith said he sat down in a chair when Kifer started walking down the steps. Smith shot her and she also fell down the stairs. He tried to shoot her a second time, but his rifle* jammed. When the gun jammed, Kifer laughed at him, fueling his anger...
(He then used his ".22 revolver" to silence her misplaced sense of humor.)
"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," he told police.
Most bizarre: He let the bodies season for 24 hours before deciding to ask a neighbor to call the cops who booked him for Murder Two.
It's going to be hard to find a hero in this one.
---
The dead thugs made the overriding error. All they had to do to stay alive on Thanksgiving Day was to decline to invade that home. No burglary, no funeral, no anguished families.
And Shooter Smith is not destined to become the poster boy for libertarian self-defense principles. He was conceptually within that framework when he raised the rifle against threat and shot until the young man fell helpless. Likewise, there's no argument against his stopping the girl's advance. But:
Smith told police he then shot Kifer "more times than I needed to" in the chest, leaving her gasping for air. He ended her suffering with a "good, clean finishing shot" under her chin.
He probably blew his Castle Doctrine protections somewhere amidst the gunfire, but if not then, later when he told the authorities he "wanted them dead."
Good gawdamighty. Was there ever a more compelling example of the need to shut your stupid mouth and hire a lawyer to do your talking for you?
There's a lot more to be sorted out, and the accused finally got a lawyer, a man we rather assume is trying hard to recall everything he ever read about the diminished responsibility defense.
---
*A Mini-14, according to my private spook in the MSM.
You'll also never meet a 64-year-old retired government security geek who looks more ominous than Byron Smith. He's the guy who shot them. And shot and shot.
Haile and Nick could easily have been featured in a happy 1940s Ronald Reagan/June Allyson movie. Unfortunately, they seemed to enjoy burglarizing other folks' homes.
Every media outlet in America lusts for a piece of this story, lots of drama plus a segue into another Castle Doctrine shouting match.
It happened Thanksgiving Day. Byron says he was tinkering in his basement shop when Nick came down the stairs, either unarmed or carrying a piece of pipe. So Byron shot him, dropped, him, and fired a finisher.
Then came Haile. And the second most bizarre fact -- if fact it be -- of the tale.
Smith said he sat down in a chair when Kifer started walking down the steps. Smith shot her and she also fell down the stairs. He tried to shoot her a second time, but his rifle* jammed. When the gun jammed, Kifer laughed at him, fueling his anger...
(He then used his ".22 revolver" to silence her misplaced sense of humor.)
"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," he told police.
Most bizarre: He let the bodies season for 24 hours before deciding to ask a neighbor to call the cops who booked him for Murder Two.
It's going to be hard to find a hero in this one.
---
The dead thugs made the overriding error. All they had to do to stay alive on Thanksgiving Day was to decline to invade that home. No burglary, no funeral, no anguished families.
And Shooter Smith is not destined to become the poster boy for libertarian self-defense principles. He was conceptually within that framework when he raised the rifle against threat and shot until the young man fell helpless. Likewise, there's no argument against his stopping the girl's advance. But:
Smith told police he then shot Kifer "more times than I needed to" in the chest, leaving her gasping for air. He ended her suffering with a "good, clean finishing shot" under her chin.
He probably blew his Castle Doctrine protections somewhere amidst the gunfire, but if not then, later when he told the authorities he "wanted them dead."
Good gawdamighty. Was there ever a more compelling example of the need to shut your stupid mouth and hire a lawyer to do your talking for you?
There's a lot more to be sorted out, and the accused finally got a lawyer, a man we rather assume is trying hard to recall everything he ever read about the diminished responsibility defense.
---
*A Mini-14, according to my private spook in the MSM.
Oct 24, 2012
A reporter discovers irony
In the village of Haverhill in the commune of Massachusetts, police arrested a drug dealer. The local newspaper covered the bust in exhaustive detail -- really more than most folks would want to know about a hulking ex-con who discovered prosperity in peddling Oxycodone.
Hmmm. Why the journalistic opus? It couldn't have been his $15,247 in cash the cops found. That's a pittance in his business. it must have been his EBT card (translation: food stamps) which he had used at a convenience store an hour before the bust.
Actually, I understand his viewpoint in not going home to pick up a little green to pay for his beer and Frito-Lays. Things just aren't safe in Massachusetts these days, and a guy doesn't want to be carrying cash out on the mean streets. Too many druggies and ex-cons lurking the alleyways.
Hmmm. Why the journalistic opus? It couldn't have been his $15,247 in cash the cops found. That's a pittance in his business. it must have been his EBT card (translation: food stamps) which he had used at a convenience store an hour before the bust.
Actually, I understand his viewpoint in not going home to pick up a little green to pay for his beer and Frito-Lays. Things just aren't safe in Massachusetts these days, and a guy doesn't want to be carrying cash out on the mean streets. Too many druggies and ex-cons lurking the alleyways.
Aug 20, 2012
Hi! I'm yo Fuller Rush Man
The cops have three of them in jail over in Estherville. They're accused of drug offenses, and I can only wonder again why there is no statute making criminal stupidity a felony all by itself.
A bunch of guys from around Portland, Oregon, blew into the quiet little county seat, checked into some cheap rooms and fanned out to sell drugs door-to-door. Let me repeat that. Door-to-door. How surprised could they have been when some folks called the law?
To add a little more bizarre:
"The investigation resulted in authorities obtaining two search warrants for rooms at the Super 8 Motel in Estherville. However, authorities believe some of the suspects got away after being told door-to-door sales require a permit."
I see. The perps were comfortable selling pot and heroin to the lady of the house. But they panicked and lammed after learning that their enterprise needed the same city permit required of Hoover vacuum hustlers.
A bunch of guys from around Portland, Oregon, blew into the quiet little county seat, checked into some cheap rooms and fanned out to sell drugs door-to-door. Let me repeat that. Door-to-door. How surprised could they have been when some folks called the law?
To add a little more bizarre:
"The investigation resulted in authorities obtaining two search warrants for rooms at the Super 8 Motel in Estherville. However, authorities believe some of the suspects got away after being told door-to-door sales require a permit."
I see. The perps were comfortable selling pot and heroin to the lady of the house. But they panicked and lammed after learning that their enterprise needed the same city permit required of Hoover vacuum hustlers.
Aug 13, 2012
Gasp. Maybe he even had nail clippers.
*Here's one for you to think about next time you're standing barefoot in the airport with a TSA perv groping around between your legs.
While the feds and the airports are getting pretty good at thwarting terrorism by twiddling your willy and confiscating your Coke, they haven't quite mastered the art of building a useful fence around JFK.
"(A) 31-year-old man swam to a Jamaica Bay shore and then walked past motion sensors and closed-circuit cameras of the airport's state-of-the-art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System. The $100 million system* is meant to safeguard against terrorists."
The cops have charged the swimmer with criminal trespass. Wrong. He rates whatever kind of reward the feds give to heroic whistle blowers.
---
* I wonder if this is the same fence company hired to "secure" the Mexico/U.S. border?
While the feds and the airports are getting pretty good at thwarting terrorism by twiddling your willy and confiscating your Coke, they haven't quite mastered the art of building a useful fence around JFK.
"(A) 31-year-old man swam to a Jamaica Bay shore and then walked past motion sensors and closed-circuit cameras of the airport's state-of-the-art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System. The $100 million system* is meant to safeguard against terrorists."
The cops have charged the swimmer with criminal trespass. Wrong. He rates whatever kind of reward the feds give to heroic whistle blowers.
---
* I wonder if this is the same fence company hired to "secure" the Mexico/U.S. border?
Aug 12, 2012
Little Leon, Iowa. doesn't make the news often. Pretty quiet down there in the quasi-Ozarks of southern Iowa. So imagine our surprise to discover some sort of redneck ninja outbreak.
Now, a young woman and her three kids can be terrorized anywhere, any time; but by four guys all dressed in black armed with a bow and arrows -- plus a stun gun -- demanding guns, money, and drugs?
For once I agree with the news writer that "bizarre" is an appropriate adjective for a home invasion. There must be a whole lot more to this story than meets the eye, and I hope there's some followup reporting.
Now, a young woman and her three kids can be terrorized anywhere, any time; but by four guys all dressed in black armed with a bow and arrows -- plus a stun gun -- demanding guns, money, and drugs?
For once I agree with the news writer that "bizarre" is an appropriate adjective for a home invasion. There must be a whole lot more to this story than meets the eye, and I hope there's some followup reporting.
Jun 27, 2012
The SWAT raid as circus
I try to keep up. Honest. But the idea of duelling SWAT teams as a 21st Century version of Lions vs. Christians caught me flat-footed. Anyway, St. Cloud beat the Canadians.
I scoured the program for the event called "Raiding the Right Address." No luck
I scoured the program for the event called "Raiding the Right Address." No luck
Jun 16, 2012
How many cops does it take...
... to control a cane-armed naked woman who is 80 years old?
In Dorchester County, South Kalinky, the answer is "four" if one of them is willing to shoot her in the back with his Taser.
So, how are these fellows with badges equipped to handle a husky young gang banger? An RPG fire team? Abrams tank? Small tactical nuke?
In Dorchester County, South Kalinky, the answer is "four" if one of them is willing to shoot her in the back with his Taser.
So, how are these fellows with badges equipped to handle a husky young gang banger? An RPG fire team? Abrams tank? Small tactical nuke?
Jun 14, 2012
Texas justice
The urge to kill neighbors who blast high-decibel rock across the block is understandable. It is not defensible, and a jury in Texas got it right.
Danaher was part of a loud party in the wee hours. Rodriguez got a gun, walked onto Danaher's driveway and, after a long and moronic argument fueled by the demon rum, shot him dead.
He claimed self-defense under the Texas stand-your-ground law. The jury disagreed, even after learning that Danaher and some of his partying pals added their own boozy stupidity to the fracas.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when we initiate a confrontation, intrude on our neighbor's property, and then kill him we are not "standing our ground." We are behaving like an especially stupid asshole who misses the whole point of self-defense statutes.
Their purpose is to permit lethal response to a gratuitous threat of lethal force. It is a doctrine designed to allow you to preserve your life, not your ego.
Nor even your right to be free of 100-decibel juvie music intruding on your sleep. That's a job for the cops.
This guilty verdict should sustain the arguments for stand-your-ground by making the point clearer. It becomes part of the case law, and we ought to cite it freely when ever we are contesting the issue with the dupes of Ste. Sarah.
Danaher was part of a loud party in the wee hours. Rodriguez got a gun, walked onto Danaher's driveway and, after a long and moronic argument fueled by the demon rum, shot him dead.
He claimed self-defense under the Texas stand-your-ground law. The jury disagreed, even after learning that Danaher and some of his partying pals added their own boozy stupidity to the fracas.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when we initiate a confrontation, intrude on our neighbor's property, and then kill him we are not "standing our ground." We are behaving like an especially stupid asshole who misses the whole point of self-defense statutes.
Their purpose is to permit lethal response to a gratuitous threat of lethal force. It is a doctrine designed to allow you to preserve your life, not your ego.
Nor even your right to be free of 100-decibel juvie music intruding on your sleep. That's a job for the cops.
This guilty verdict should sustain the arguments for stand-your-ground by making the point clearer. It becomes part of the case law, and we ought to cite it freely when ever we are contesting the issue with the dupes of Ste. Sarah.
Jun 8, 2012
Being a devout Philistine, I wouldn't reach across the table for a bite of fat duck liver sausage. If someone forced a gob of pay dee foy grass on me, I'd get a doggie bag and save it for catfish bait.
Furthermore -- and even if you could double for the young Marilyn Monroe -- if you put that crap in your mouth and suddenly wished to kiss me, I would delay the pleasure until you wiped out a quart of Lavoris.
So, why do I have this notion that the Constitution of the United States would be well served if someone flew to Berkeley, choked down a piece of diseased duck organ, and waited calmly, a Louisville Slugger in hand, for the first phucking phood cop to approach the table?
---
h/t -- J
Furthermore -- and even if you could double for the young Marilyn Monroe -- if you put that crap in your mouth and suddenly wished to kiss me, I would delay the pleasure until you wiped out a quart of Lavoris.
So, why do I have this notion that the Constitution of the United States would be well served if someone flew to Berkeley, choked down a piece of diseased duck organ, and waited calmly, a Louisville Slugger in hand, for the first phucking phood cop to approach the table?
---
h/t -- J
May 30, 2012
Shots Fired!
I'm in my gun-tinkering room. I've reshaped the lips of the Colt Huntsman magazine. I check my work by unloading five fast ones into a big billet of oak. Three minutes and 55 seconds later I'm cuffed up and a cop is reading me my rights.*
I've been ratted out by a geek in Mountain View.
It's the latest Telescreen precursor, called "ShotSpotter, an aural triangulation system made mighty by the magic of communications satellites, the GPS, and warp-speed computing. If it isn't universal yet, it 's not for lack of desire by cops, prosecutors, and the company that owns the system,
Trusted members of the Outer Party visit your neighborhood and nail sensors to utility poles, buildings, and so forth. The gizmos hear a shot and instantly inform the watchers who, again with speed-of-light communications, tell the local cops. The company propaganda boasts location accuracy of within a few yards. It's a real crime-stopper.
So was the Tell-All Tube in the shabby room over the antique shop where Winston boffed Julia.
---
The Times superficially reports the usual privacy vs. security debate, which is revealing in itself because, wonder of wonders, the same system can also record conversations.
Sam Sutter, the district attorney in Bristol County, Mass., called ShotSpotter “an extremely valuable tool” that had helped his office bring charges in four nonfatal shootings.
“In my view legally,” he said, “what is said and picked up by the ShotSpotter recording does not have the expectation of privacy because it’s said out in public, and so I think that will turn out to be admissible evidence.”
The company jumps on that PR problem:
James G. Beldock, a vice president at ShotSpotter, said that the system was not intended to record anything except gunshots and that cases like New Bedford’s were extremely rare. “There are people who perceive that these sensors are triggered by conversations, but that is just patently not true,” he said. “They don’t turn on unless they hear a gunshot.”
Very reassuring, James. We are relieved that your bug is so limited that there is no way on earth to tune it to pick up conversation without an announcing gun shot. I hope someone alerts me when your technology advances to that point so I can be careful to say nothing seditious in the public space which I usually refer to as my front yard.
I've been ratted out by a geek in Mountain View.
It's the latest Telescreen precursor, called "ShotSpotter, an aural triangulation system made mighty by the magic of communications satellites, the GPS, and warp-speed computing. If it isn't universal yet, it 's not for lack of desire by cops, prosecutors, and the company that owns the system,
Trusted members of the Outer Party visit your neighborhood and nail sensors to utility poles, buildings, and so forth. The gizmos hear a shot and instantly inform the watchers who, again with speed-of-light communications, tell the local cops. The company propaganda boasts location accuracy of within a few yards. It's a real crime-stopper.
So was the Tell-All Tube in the shabby room over the antique shop where Winston boffed Julia.
---
The Times superficially reports the usual privacy vs. security debate, which is revealing in itself because, wonder of wonders, the same system can also record conversations.
Sam Sutter, the district attorney in Bristol County, Mass., called ShotSpotter “an extremely valuable tool” that had helped his office bring charges in four nonfatal shootings.
“In my view legally,” he said, “what is said and picked up by the ShotSpotter recording does not have the expectation of privacy because it’s said out in public, and so I think that will turn out to be admissible evidence.”
The company jumps on that PR problem:
James G. Beldock, a vice president at ShotSpotter, said that the system was not intended to record anything except gunshots and that cases like New Bedford’s were extremely rare. “There are people who perceive that these sensors are triggered by conversations, but that is just patently not true,” he said. “They don’t turn on unless they hear a gunshot.”
Very reassuring, James. We are relieved that your bug is so limited that there is no way on earth to tune it to pick up conversation without an announcing gun shot. I hope someone alerts me when your technology advances to that point so I can be careful to say nothing seditious in the public space which I usually refer to as my front yard.
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