Archive for the ‘Guest’ Category

The problem is not the guns.

Sunday, January 29th, 2023

(This is a guest post from FotB RoadRich, speaking in his capacity as a private citizen, and not representing any organization or group. -DB)

In this article that I found after following links from the Michigan helicopter one, it is revealed that the old man who shot up two California farms had mental problems. But of course the problem is the guns.

Set aside the fact he tried to kill his roommate with a pillow.

It’s not mental illness, it’s the guns.

Oh, and later threatened the same roommate with a knife.

It’s the guns.

And also made a thinly veiled threat to bring his vengeance to work.

Can’t be mental illness.

Must be something we can take away from people so they can’t defend themselves when one of these lunatics snaps. So that we look like we’re doing something.

I know, we will just fight back with some paper laws and voluntary-only social programs.

Because people with mental illness will naturally sign up for those on their own, they know they need help.

Posted in Guest, Guns, Politics | 1 Comment »

Twenty Years Ago Today.

Friday, September 10th, 2021

(This is a guest post from FotB RoadRich, who is speaking in his capacity as a private citizen, and not as a representative of any Federal, state, or local governmental body, or as a representative of any corporation or non-profit organization. –DB)

Good afternoon,

Twenty years ago today (well, this evening) I went to a baseball game.

I was with friends who were also members of an athletic performance team I’m a member of. It so happens many of these friends were from families who had emigrated from Vietnam to a better place. I had been in their care since a few days prior, when after returning home from an outing with them, I discovered one of my previous cat family’s last members was near the end of his life. I called up one of my friends who rushed over and helped us both get to a vet where my little friend was confirmed to be gone, having passed away in my arms enroute. It became a very long night. A local friend offered a spot on his ranch for a burial and heading back into town I was told I was staying over at my friends’ shared apartment rather than head to an empty apartment.

The next day another of our friends visited and thought it would be good to get out of the apartment and do something, so after a quick dinner we went out to the Dell Diamond for a ball game. We were running late, so we were in line outside buying tickets when the National Anthem began to play.

Absolutely everything stopped. Tickets stopped being sold. Those in line paused and put their hands over their hearts, or removed their ball caps. I could actually see through the gates to the other side of the ball field and it looked full. But it was absolutely and completely silent. And I was moved.

The date was September TENTH, 2001. In twelve hours my small concerns would be submarined but in this moment I already felt how united we were.

Posted in Guest, History | Comments Closed

Can’t we just let the investigation get along?

Saturday, September 22nd, 2018

(This is a guest post from FOtB RoadRich, speaking only in his private capacity as a citizen, and not representing the opinion of any organization. I’ve made a few minor edits, but no major changes. -DB)

I listen to local talk radio station KLBJ, and enjoy Jeff Ward and Ed Clements’ banter. I really enjoy them though on occasion I mildly disagree with one or the other.

Today I heard something that seemed really irresponsible – Jeff was incensed that the Dallas police chief had not fired Amber Guyger for the horrible and very very avoidable shooting death of Botham Jean. He said that Acevedo didn’t waste any time and fired Geoffrey Freeman for the shooting death of ‘teen running naked’ David Joseph. Jeff said that the Dallas chief said he didn’t want to interfere with the investigation and that excuse was bogus – it didn’t stop Art.

I know a little about internal investigations. I’m no cop. I’m no lawyer. But I did JUST hear a presentation by Austin’s Internal Affairs which reminded me of a key point.

So, I looked up an article on the local paper on my phone. I confirmed my thought – that former Austin Police Chief / current Houston Police Chief / lightning rod for use or misuse of a microphone did in fact fire Freeman… AFTER the internal investigation was over. That’s the key point.

*I* know that if you have an officer involved shooting you have two investigations, the internal one and the criminal one. The criminal one is different from the internal one in that you are COMPELLED TO SUBMIT INFORMATION in the internal one as a condition of your employment. You quit or are fired, and that investigation STOPS.

I didn’t know, but I suspected, that far less time had passed for the Dallas case compared to the Austin one.

I called the caller line, which I haven’t done in over a year. I spoke with the screener, said my peace, and went back about my business. I didn’t get on the radio, which I don’t have any need to do. I haven’t heard the topic come back around so I can only hope that the information was relayed.

Statesman article. Guardian.

Once in front of the computer I pursued my other thought – how long did it take to investigate Freeman, and how long has passed since the flood of bad decisions and poor luck caused some guy watching a football game in the supposed safety of his own home… to be killed by a cop.

You can find any number of articles on this, but I found this one.

From here, I did the math. It was simple. February 8, 2016 APD Officer Freeman is rushed by a naked teenager that was reported to be acting ‘erratically’. Freeman goes on the defensive and David Joseph is shot dead. March 21, 2016 fAPC/cHPC/lr4mum Art Acevedo fires Officer Freeman after the investigation, 42 days after the shooting. September 6, 2018 DPD Officer Guyger ends a long shift, thinks she’s parked on the right level, thinks she’s at her apartment, overlooks the red mat outside and goes on the offensive and Botham Jean is shot dead. Today is September 21 and it’s only been fifteen days, one third of the time that was taken for the Freeman investigation, which was pushed full
throttle, and some think ‘rushed’, others think not.

The overarching problem is that we think we know more (by ‘we’, I mean ‘them’ of course – naturally I think myself and my friends are well and above reproach)… and we are weaned on hour-long cop shows and think that random people showed up to the building they call the police department and JUST started working that day. (Born yesterday anyone?)

There’s a procedure for everything from investigating an officer ‘stealing a cup of coffee’ to one who takes the life of another citizen. The guys in the building learned the job, learned the processes, and are applying them. We… ok, THEY who are outside of this process think they get to make policy on social media — and broadcast media — and then get outraged because they weren’t proven to be a better judge of procedure, than policy manuals that reach nearly 1000 pages over decades of legal precedent.

It’ll get investigated. No one has more hatred for a bad cop than all the good cops.

Posted in Cops, Guest, Law | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: In Defense of Eli.

Thursday, December 7th, 2017

(Guest post from Infidel de Manahatta, as promised.)

Was he as good as Peyton? No but that’s not really a fair comparison. But Eli still belongs in the HOF.

Posted in Guest, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

More stabbing hypocrisy… I mean cutting journalism

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

Great and good friend of the blog RoadRich sent us an email yesterday. I liked it so much, I’m making it the very first guest post here (with RoadRich’s permission).

I saw yet another article on the USC murder spree. And though I’m not prone to rant, it seems this got me in a ranting mood once again. Of course it helps to preach to the choir.

I give the family lots of credit for earlier trying to get someone to take notice of the violent tendencies of their own son… which by itself is monumental… and I credit the family again for rushing to the developing scene (as the news reports indicate). The family of the murderer tried to save lives, weeks before it came to this.

However, the blame that the father of one victim levies on the NRA, and on politicians for not tightening gun laws, aims to hide the elephant in the room, which of course are the first three victims in this killing spree. Long before a person was killed by Elliot Rodger’s gun, two of his roommates plus someone who apparently had been visiting, were felled by Elliot Rodger’s knife.

By itself, the three stabbing victims may well have been called a ‘mass murder’, perhaps. And if the rampage by an overprivileged, self-important madman had stopped there, it would have still shaken Santa Barbara. But because the rampage moved on and changed to the weapon most feared by an uninformed or misinformed public, we are treated to a blind demand for gun laws. This shamefully ignores those who were killed by means other than bullets as somehow less important deaths. What do gun laws protect the stabbing victims from? What would more laws have done to save /anyone/ from someone who is willing to violate the law against murder? Is the loss by the parents of David Wang, James Cheng and George Chen any less important than that felt at the deaths of Veronika Weiss, Katherine Cooper or Christopher Michael-Martinez?

Of course we know what made the madman stop. It was someone who could defend himself, and whose job it was to defend others. It was someone with a gun, who ended a knife killing spree, a gun killing spree, and very nearly a car killing spree.

I feel bad for all the victims’ families. Yes, even the parent of Martinez, who is rightfully outraged. But between you and me, I would hope that someone Farq’s the article with the headline “Parent seeking tighter gun laws ignores stabbing victims” or “Parent doesn’t see stabbing deaths as victims” or something like that.

Posted in Guest, Guns, Law, Politics | Comments Closed