[Updated] Kansas City: Muslim Teen Intentionally Struck by SUV Dies

Crime • Views: 51,747

And so it begins.

Where’s the wall-to-wall news coverage that would be happening if the driver had been a Muslim who intentionally plowed into a teen coming out of a church or synagogue? Where’s the outrage over a murdered innocent?

There’s video at the source, but I can’t embed it because it uses JavaScript.

The teen who had critical injuries after the crash has died. Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation says they are working in conjunction with the Kansas City, MO, Police Department to investigate any possible federal Civil Rights violations and the potential of a hate crime.

The wreck, at Admiral Boulevard and Lydia Avenue at 5:23 p.m. Thursday, happened in a Somalian neighborhood, as the teen and several others were leaving prayer at a mosque. […]

Police said the teen, either 14 or 15 years old, was standing outside a Toyota, about to get in, when the driver of an SUV appeared to intentionally swerve towards them.

They said both of the boy’s legs were severed as a result. Family friends say there was an adult standing outside with him and three younger children inside the car, all of whom suffered less serious injuries.

The SUV driver ran, but was quickly caught. […]

Others in the community said they recognize the SUV as the one once covered in anti-Quaran graffiti, driven by a man who has since been banned from Somali markets and restaurants for his rants. […]

More at KCTV News…

UPDATE at 12/5/14 12:26:19 pm by CuriousLurker

I’ve added an “Also See” link to the story. H/T becominginvisible.

UPDATE at 12/5/14 4:29:49 pm by CuriousLurker

Ugh, this appears to be based on ethnic hatreds. We have enough problems of our own without importing any foreign conflicts. I hope they throw the damned book at anyone—Muslim, Christian, Jew, whatever—that perpetrates this type of violence.

You want to come live in the U.S.? Fine, come on in. You’re welcome to stay as far as I’m concerned, but don’t bring your hate baggage with you. It needs to be made crystal clear that such behavior it won’t be tolerated, period.

A 34-year-old Kansas City man faced first-degree murder charges Friday in the hit-and-run killing of a 15-year-old boy, struck down after he had just finished Thursday evening prayers at a mosque near downtown.

Ahmed H. Aden faced additional counts of armed criminal action, leaving the scene of an accident and unlawful use of a weapon in the death of Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein, a sophomore at Staley High School. […]

While the boy was a Muslim of Somali descent, Aden was described by sources as a Somali Christian. Aden frequently made violent threats against worshipers at the Somali Center mosque, members of the community told reporters Friday. […]

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said that her office will continue to work collectively with federal prosecutors as the investigation continues.

“It is in both of our best interests that this offender face the highest possibly penalty for his actions,” Baker said. […]

“A lot more investigation has to be done,” she said.

More: Man charged with murder for charging teen with SUV outside Kansas City mosque

Also See
Possible hate crime: KC h.s. student killed in horrible attack outside KC mosque

Jump to bottom

264 comments
1 HappyWarrior  Dec 5, 2014 8:52:31am

Man. What the hell. This is terrible.

2 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 9:27:15am

At the very end of the video the reporter on the scene says that the police have confirmed that they found a machete in the SUV. I can’t help but wonder if he planned to use it and changed his mind… y’know like some sort of sick, effed up retaliation for the ISIS beheadings: “See?? We can do it too!”

Killing innocents is disgustingly depraved no matter who does it, especially when the victims are not only innocent, but also kids.

I wonder how long it will be before before the RWNJs and/or anti-Muslim hate bloggers start trying to find dirt on the kid and make him look like a thug or terrorist. After all, he was Black and Muslim so surely he was guilty of something.

3 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 9:34:00am
4 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 9:37:17am

FBI:
Defining a Hate Crime

A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.
fbi.gov

5 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 9:38:04am

I’ve already seen the “every murder is a hate crime” trope in comments on this case.

6 Rightwingconspirator  Dec 5, 2014 9:46:35am

The monsters among us are terrifying.

7 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 9:49:27am

re: #3 jaunte

Geller & company are now blaming the spread of Ebola on Islamic burial practices: donotlink.com, the same way Europeans blamed Jews for the spread of the plague.

She’s also going for full-out blood libel these days, claiming that ISIS beheadings and murders involving slitting the throats of Christian children (and women) is an “Muslim ritual”. So I guess people are now supposed to believe that all “devout” Muslims are required to perform human sacrifices using non-Muslim victims: google.com

My Google Alerts guarantee that my inbox is flooded with tons these filthy. dangerous lies every single day, non-stop, even on holidays.

8 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 9:53:27am

re: #5 jaunte

I’ve already seen the “every murder is a hate crime” trope in comments on this case.

I’m not surprised at all, unfortunately. Over at The Kansas City Star they disabled comments for their report on the story. I can’t imagine why. //

9 Romantic Heretic  Dec 5, 2014 9:59:00am
Others in the community said they recognize the SUV as the one once covered in anti-Quaran graffiti, driven by a man who has since been banned from Somali markets and restaurants for his rants.

Read more: kctv5.com

More demonstration that the mental health system requires expansion and improvement.

There is no reason that anyone that ill cannot get help.

10 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 10:00:17am

re: #6 Indy GOP Refugee

The monsters among us are terrifying.

Indeed. It’s uncomfortable when we’re confronted with the fact that it’s not just some horrible foreign “savages” who are capable of such atrocities.

11 Click My Icon To Watch This Short French Film.  Dec 5, 2014 10:06:50am

Oh Geezus. OMG. That poor family.

12 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 5, 2014 11:36:06am

There’s a lot of lone wolves out there these days isn’t there?

13 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 11:47:12am

re: #12 Eclectic Cyborg

I was thinking the same thing—you’ve gotta have mental health issues if you think it’s okay to brutally kill innocent people. Unless you’re Muslim, in which case if you’re beheading people (or whatever), you’re perfectly mentally healthy and simply a devout practitioner following the dictates of your religion.

14 becominginvisible  Dec 5, 2014 12:12:00pm

KCTV took down the slew of anti Islam comments that were posted last night. The guy had been arrested several times for harassing and threatening Muslims face to face in the neighborhood. Last arrest was a month ago. Fox4KC Link has posted several articles now that the FBI is investigating. Last night local press was lukewarm about the event posting it was a teen whose legs were severed when the car he was getting into was side swiped.

15 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 12:17:52pm

re: #14 becominginvisible

Thanks, I’m going to add that link as an “Also See”.

16 becominginvisible  Dec 5, 2014 12:18:21pm

re: #9 Romantic Heretic

Last night the police statement to the picture of the SUV with the graffiti was that the SUV last night had no sign of any graffiti and they wouldn’t verify that he had been arrested for threatening people in the neighborhood. . Police did say last night the SUV did have several unidentified weapons in it.

17 becominginvisible  Dec 5, 2014 12:22:27pm

re: #15 CuriousLurker

Thanks, since the FBI announced around 10am this morning that they will be investigating all 4 TV stations have been updating and adding video every hour. It was horrible to hear about last night. And sad that it wasn’t taken seriously by the press even with so many in the neighborhood showing evidence that it was intentional. Adam Hussein was 15 and he wanted to be a scientist.

18 Randall Gross  Dec 5, 2014 2:56:03pm

re: #8 CuriousLurker

I’m not surprised at all, unfortunately. Over at The Kansas City Star they disabled comments for their report on the story. I can’t imagine why. //

The Star is one of the good things about this area, the state might be red, but the paper is McClatchey.

19 Randall Gross  Dec 5, 2014 4:18:37pm

I cruised through several local newscasts, to my knowledge none of them broadcast the wording on the SUV over the air.

20 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 4:33:04pm

re: #18 Randall Gross

re: #19 Randall Gross

I keep forgetting that you live in there. It’s good to have someone on the ground for local info—thanks.

21 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 4:41:17pm

This was murder. First degree, since it was more than likely premeditated.

What a horrible, horrible thing.

22 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 4:46:54pm

Honest question:

Is this country getting worse or are we, as a nation, finally starting to take notice of all of the horrible shit that has been going on all along?

Either way I think that this may be right:

Martin Luther King Jr. — ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’

23 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 4:48:32pm

Here’s an ABC article that mentions the writing on the van.

Driver Charged With Murder in Somali Teen’s Death

abcnews.go.com

“In the weeks before the crash, worshippers said they saw a black SUV painted with threatening messages at the center and cruising around a nearby shopping area. One of the messages was “Islam Is Worse Than Ebola,” said Mohamed Ahmed, 13, of Kansas City.

“I would have thought the police would have taken care of it, but they didn’t,” he said.” More

The police? It was only Black people, and “foreigners” at that, complaining.

24 Teukka  Dec 5, 2014 4:48:33pm

This kind of shit is not only happening in the US, it’s happening here in Sweden as well (select and copy to translate.google.com) to get the text in english.

aftonbladet.se

And I’ve personally witnessed verbal attacks personally, and have decided to go zerotolerance on people with zero tolerance against ethnic minorities.

25 Decatur Deb  Dec 5, 2014 4:51:34pm

re: #22 b.d.

Honest question:

Is this country getting worse or are we, as a nation, finally starting to take notice of all of the horrible shit that has been going on all along?

Either way I think that this may be right:

We’re not getting worse, we’re getting information.

MLK was right, but at times it’s a fucking shallow arc.

26 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 4:52:40pm

re: #23 Justanotherhuman

Here’s an ABC article that mentions the writing on the van.

Driver Charged With Murder in Somali Teen’s Death

abcnews.go.com

//

The police? It was only Black people, and “foreigners” at that, complaining.

If the authorities are going to investigate Michael Brown’s stepfather for inciting a riot then they should also subpoena all of the radio show hosts on the AM dial.

27 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 4:53:06pm

How long before Pamela defends the attacker?

28 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 4:54:35pm

Thanks for the page promotion, Charles.

29 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 4:56:17pm

re: #28 CuriousLurker

Thanks for the page promotion, Charles.

Thank you for this article, I had heard nothing about it.

30 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 4:57:33pm

re: #21 Justanotherhuman

This was murder. First degree, since it was more than likely premeditated.

What a horrible, horrible thing.

According to the 2nd article I linked to (in my 2nd update) he was indeed charged with 1st degree murder today. Now two lives are ruined.

31 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 4:58:44pm

Speaking of killing each other off…are we losing our minds? Is there so much alienation it’s driving people to commit horrific acts?

32 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 5:00:15pm

Photo: Wake for Akai Gurley, the unarmed Brooklyn man shot by a probationary NYPD officer, gets underway as protesters march in Manhattan - @mgeorge4NY
see original on twitter.com

33 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 5:01:32pm

Humans suck sometimes. I can’t take any more death & destruction today—I’m out. Later, lizards.

34 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 5:03:04pm

re: #6 Rightwingconspirator

The monsters among us are terrifying.

The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.

The Monsters are due on Maple Street

35 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 5:04:27pm

Protesters Block Highway in Miami (Live video)

nbcmiami.com

Story about Reefa Hernandez:

wlrn.org

Dead by taser for “tagging” a McDonalds.

36 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 5:08:40pm

Bastards.

Men arrested for hunting cats (video)

wsbt.com

37 compound_Idaho  Dec 5, 2014 5:10:37pm

re: #9 Romantic Heretic

More demonstration that the mental health system requires expansion and improvement.

There is no reason that anyone that ill cannot get help.

Serious question. We are all required by law to have health insurance with mental heath coverage. Is there a point at which we should be required to seek treatment?

So many of the high profile cases are clearly cases of mental illness.

38 Teukka  Dec 5, 2014 5:15:51pm

re: #9 Romantic Heretic

More demonstration that the mental health system requires expansion and improvement.

There is no reason that anyone that ill cannot get help.

So it’s not just me that is increasingly getting the feeling that some on the right wing are getting to the point where it’s beyond freedom of opinion?

39 lawhawk  Dec 5, 2014 5:19:33pm

re: #7 CuriousLurker

Geller is purposefully spreading noxious BS.

For one thing, Muslim and Jewish burial practices are quite similar. In fact, they’re nearly indistinguishable in that both require ritual cleaning and purification. Both wrap the remains in shrouds, and both require fast burials. It’s because they spring from common regional rituals in the Middle East.

Replace Muslim with Jewish in her claims, and see how quick she’d claim that someone was spreading a blood libel against Jews.

The fact is that improper handling the remains of those who died of Ebola can be deadly. People in that region of Africa have burial practices that even predate Islam. Regional cultural practices include close contact with remains, who does what, etc. And that’s what has to be addressed by WHO and health authorities to stop the outbreak from continuing to spread.

Spreading the lie that it’s Muslim burial practices is the worst sort. But totally expected of Geller.

40 Skip Intro  Dec 5, 2014 5:20:56pm

re: #26 b.d.

If the authorities are going to investigate Michael Brown’s stepfather for inciting a riot then they should also subpoena all of the radio show hosts on the AM dial.

They all claim First Amendment rights. Brown’s stepfather, being black, doesn’t have that in 21st century America.

41 Justanotherhuman  Dec 5, 2014 5:23:00pm

I think I’m with CuriousLurker.

Keep calm and carry on, Lizards.

Later…

42 Blind Frog Belly White  Dec 5, 2014 5:27:06pm

re: #39 lawhawk

Geller is purposefully spreading noxious BS.

NO! Really? That’s hard to believe!

/// x 6x 10^23

43 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:29:41pm

re: #42 Blind Frog Belly White

NO! Really? That’s hard to believe!

/// x 6x 10^23

One mole of sarcasm? Avogadro approves.

44 klystron  Dec 5, 2014 5:30:13pm

re: #43 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

One mole of sarcasm? Avogadro approves.

Not to be mistaken for a mole of avocados.

Now I want guacamole.

45 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:31:41pm

re: #44 klystron

Not to be mistaken for a mole of avocados.

Now I want guacamole.

You’ll get one if you win at whac-a-mole.

46 klystron  Dec 5, 2014 5:32:28pm

re: #45 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

You’ll get one if you win at whac-a-mole.

You mean the craving will be mole-fied?

47 lawhawk  Dec 5, 2014 5:33:20pm

re: #44 klystron

Joule get it soon, for watt it’s worth.

48 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:33:51pm

re: #46 klystron

You mean the craving will be mole-fied?

Mol sehen.

49 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:35:18pm

Today (well, technically yesterday) I got hooked on this manga rather by chance. I just clicked on a random cover on a scanlation site, and I’m still reading it.

50 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 5:41:34pm
51 klystron  Dec 5, 2014 5:43:30pm

I spy a lurking WW. Hope everything is continuing to heal! <3

52 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 5:43:42pm

My son just brought me guacamole from Tia Maria’s. And fajitas.

53 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:46:37pm

re: #52 jaunte

My son just brought me guacamole from Tia Maria’s. And fajitas.

And a quantum of shoelace?

54 klystron  Dec 5, 2014 5:46:59pm

We are off to Pescadero for the weekend, in order to properly appreciate their eggnog without having to drive afterwards.

There will be chilled artichoke hearts and tasty aioli and drinks and maybe some Christmas shopping and lusting over fantastic furniture.

I hope my fellow Lizards can have an equally good and enjoyable weekend.

55 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 5:47:18pm

re: #53 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

And a quantum of shoelace?

Exactly what I need next.

56 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 5:47:19pm

re: #50 jaunte

[Embedded content]

That looks like the Hong Kong protests, taking over the highways is a bold and unmistakable move.

57 Charles Johnson  Dec 5, 2014 5:47:37pm

Cutest thing you’ll see today.

Youtube Video

58 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 5:48:09pm

re: #44 klystron

Not to be mistaken for a mole of avocados.

Now I want guacamole.

Made chicken tortilla soup (Now simmering in the Crock Pot™) for dinner. Garnish is shredded jack cheese and cubed avocado sprinkled with lime juice.

59 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:48:16pm

re: #55 jaunte

Exactly what I need next.

Yes, gotta keep the chemical Bonds together.

60 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:51:47pm

re: #57 Charles Johnson

A LIEBERAL TEACHING A WHITE BABY TO GIVE UP!!1
/sry

61 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 5:52:08pm

re: #59 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

Yes, gotta keep the chemical Bonds together.

Is Daniel Craig starring in that one too?

62 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 5:56:27pm

re: #61 Higgs Boson’s Mate

Is Daniel Craig starring in that one too?

Not necessarily a star-ring, could also be benzene or some other cyclic compound.

63 Charles Johnson  Dec 5, 2014 5:57:48pm

The Ginger Avenger is making @SabrinaRErdely his next stalking target.

64 The War TARDIS  Dec 5, 2014 6:00:43pm

Trying to watch the First Doctor serial, The Aztecs.

The pacing is really awkward for me.

Also, just a thought here, but the 1st Doctor is kind of a dick. Moreso than 12 is.

In fact, I would say that the 1st is somewhat immature.

65 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 6:02:04pm

re: #62 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

Not necessarily a star-ring, could also be benzene or some other cyclic compound.

As long as he isn’t a hypercrosslinked aromatic heterocyclic microporous polymer.

66 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 5, 2014 6:05:03pm

re: #65 Higgs Boson’s Mate

As long as he isn’t a hypercrosslinked aromatic heterocyclic microporous polymer.

I agree, he should shower regularly.

67 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 6:06:39pm

re: #63 Charles Johnson

The Ginger Avenger is making @SabrinaRErdely his next stalking target.

Because Chuck has to keep the journalistic world up to his own high standards of excellence.

68 Teukka  Dec 5, 2014 6:07:53pm

OT, but in the category “WTF is this world coming to?”:
m.thelocal.fr

69 allegro  Dec 5, 2014 6:14:12pm

re: #68 Teukka

OT, but in the category “WTF is this world coming to?”:
m.thelocal.fr

Oh dear. Someone actually thought that was a good idea?

70 Charles Johnson  Dec 5, 2014 6:16:32pm
71 calochortus  Dec 5, 2014 6:20:46pm

re: #54 klystron

We are off to Pescadero for the weekend, in order to properly appreciate their eggnog without having to drive afterwards.

There will be chilled artichoke hearts and tasty aioli and drinks and maybe some Christmas shopping and lusting over fantastic furniture.

I hope my fellow Lizards can have an equally good and enjoyable weekend.

Duarte’s? And what furniture do you speak of? (if you’re still here, that is.)

72 b.d.  Dec 5, 2014 6:22:38pm

re: #70 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

But Chuck soooo woulda have uncovered the Ruby, Oswald, Mob links back in the day.

//

73 klystron  Dec 5, 2014 6:22:59pm

re: #71 calochortus

Duarte’s? And what furniture do you speak of? (if you’re still here, that is.)

Duarte’s, yes, and the Made in Pescadero shop is a dangerous, dangerous place.

I have eyed a bookcase there for quite a while.

74 makeitstop  Dec 5, 2014 6:23:32pm

Frank Serpico: Cops are still out of control

75 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 6:23:36pm

I’m getting ready to take my online food handling course.

:( or :) it’s a mixed bag.

Catch you when it’s done.

76 Charles Johnson  Dec 5, 2014 6:25:07pm
77 calochortus  Dec 5, 2014 6:26:16pm

re: #73 klystron

Have fun. Bookcases are good. And Christmas is coming…

78 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 6:26:32pm

re: #70 Charles Johnson

He’s only a few BREAKINGs away from being able to weatherstrip his garage/home.

79 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 6:39:57pm

re: #75 #FergusonFireside

I’m getting ready to take my online food handling course.

:( or :) it’s a mixed bag.

Catch you when it’s done.

It’s actually very interesting. Norovirus.

80 KingKenrod  Dec 5, 2014 6:45:51pm

re: #64 The War TARDIS

Trying to watch the First Doctor serial, The Aztecs.

The pacing is really awkward for me.

Also, just a thought here, but the 1st Doctor is kind of a dick. Moreso than 12 is.

In fact, I would say that the 1st is somewhat immature.

The pacing of some of the 1st Doctor’s serials is glacial. And yes he gets more dickish as you go on. I recently watched all the existing serials from the 1st Doctor, interesting for historical perspective but otherwise kind of a tough slog, with exceptions. I remember liking The Aztecs, The Ark, The Romans, and most of the Dalek episodes. I know little about the Doctor beyond this (currently trying to watch all serials, in order).

81 Dave In Austin  Dec 5, 2014 6:46:04pm

The Pope is awesome. So he come out of his apartment and finds a Swiss Guard who had been posted outside the door all nite. He gets a chair and tells the Guard to set a spell. The Guard sez “I can’t, it’s against orders. Pope sez “I make the orders here, sit down.” The Pope then proceeds to go and get the Guard a cappuccino.
He fired the commandant of the Swiss Guard today for being to “Teutonic”. I think. That’s the word.

This guy is a bag-o- surprises.

82 The War TARDIS  Dec 5, 2014 6:53:58pm

re: #80 KingKenrod

I have grown to like the 12th Doctor. While crabby, he showed growth, and a good side.

Even though he had the effect of turning Clara into mini-me of sorts. Though I do admit the Clara in Mummy on the Orient Express got my attention in a captivating way.

83 Jenner7  Dec 5, 2014 6:57:04pm

I’ll never understand the hatred that drives someone to hurt or kill another person. Ugh..

Meanwhile, my daughter was supposed to sing with her group at a charity event and we were stuck on the freeway that shutdown because of an accident. 2 hours later and bladder’s so full we were almost crying, we just went home. It will be something we will never forget and will laugh about in the future.

Have a good weekend guys!

84 makeitstop  Dec 5, 2014 6:58:57pm

re: #76 Charles Johnson

If you find yourself sorta liking Kimbra, should you hide it and not mention it to anybody? Asking for a friend.

I think she’s very talented. There’s a video out there of her set at SXSW in 2012, and she’s a very good performer as well.

85 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 6:59:21pm

I can’t watch the whole Springsteen concert tonight because I have to get up really early tomorrow, but Jackson Browne just did American Skin (41 Shots), and I can’t stop crying.

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain’t no secret
It ain’t no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin.

Youtube Video

I’m going to order the DVD of the concert—no pledge pitches.

86 CuriousLurker  Dec 5, 2014 7:18:09pm

Okay, I couldn’t resist coming back to drop this off:

Heh. G’nite (again).

87 Jenner7  Dec 5, 2014 7:24:14pm

They hit their goal is one day. See, there are amazing people out there, even within the haters. Go us!

88 HappyWarrior  Dec 5, 2014 7:34:36pm

re: #87 Jenner7

[Embedded content]

They hit their goal is one day. See, there are amazing people out there, even within the haters. Go us!

Awesome. Nice to read something like this.

89 Randall Gross  Dec 5, 2014 7:45:58pm

OT: The annual DJ Earworm mashup is out

Youtube Video

90 RealityBasedSteve  Dec 5, 2014 7:49:45pm

I do have to say, I think I found my Dad the Ultimate Christmas Gift. He loves history, travel and different cultures. I got him the complete National Geographic set, 123 years, 200,000 pictures, 8000 articles, every issue published. That should keep him busy for the next year or so. :)

The Complete Nat Geo Set…..
91 allegro  Dec 5, 2014 7:54:05pm

re: #90 RealityBasedSteve

I do have to say, I think I found my Dad the Ultimate Christmas Gift. He loves history, travel and different cultures. I got him the complete National Geographic set, 123 years, 200,000 pictures, 8000 articles, every issue published. That should keep him busy for the next year or so. :)

[Embedded content]

Holy cow, does he have a spare room to put them? My hubby had several decades worth and it seemed like a truck load.

92 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 7:55:13pm

re: #79 #FergusonFireside

It’s actually very interesting. Norovirus.

Now it’s not. Soo much info. I’m a perfect student tho, taking notes. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

93 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 7:56:43pm

re: #85 BeachDem

I can’t watch the whole Springsteen concert tonight because I have to get up really early tomorrow, but Jackson Browne just did American Skin (41 Shots), and I can’t stop crying.

Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain’t no secret
It ain’t no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your American skin.

[Embedded content]

Video

I’m going to order the DVD of the concert—no pledge pitches.

perfect break from my shit.

I have loved Jackson since I was 15. Long love affair.

94 RealityBasedSteve  Dec 5, 2014 7:57:38pm

re: #91 allegro

Holy cow, does he have a spare room to put them? My hubby had several decades worth and it seemed like a truck load.

8 DVD’s. I’m heading down to Florida to see him in 2 weeks. He’s going to be stuck on his computer like a teenaged girl the week before prom. All set up with full search tools, image guides, all the good interactive features. I know he’s going to love it.

RBS

95 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 7:59:11pm

re: #93 #FergusonFireside

perfect break from my shit.

I have loved Jackson since I was 15. Long love affair.

I’m crying now too.

What is this from?

96 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 8:01:29pm

re: #93 #FergusonFireside

perfect break from my shit.

I have loved Jackson since I was 15. Long love affair.

We must have been fighting against each other (but I’m older, so I was fighting from a different angle!)

I had an artist friend who did many portraits of Jackson Browne and Dan Fogelberg for me—they adorned my walls. The guys I dated would come into my living room shrine and really give me some serious side-eye as they tried to ignore them.

Sigh—Dan’s gone; Jackson never knew I existed; but I still have the music.

97 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 8:02:32pm

re: #95 #FergusonFireside

I’m crying now too.

What is this from?

Sadness about the state of our country and/or unrequited love for Jackson Browne.

98 allegro  Dec 5, 2014 8:03:34pm

Cool. The Houston Police Chief has just come out with total support for grass legalization.

99 allegro  Dec 5, 2014 8:06:44pm

re: #95 #FergusonFireside

I’m crying now too.

What is this from?

Could be that exquisite guitar solo. choked me up, too.

100 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 8:06:59pm

re: #97 BeachDem

Sadness about the state of our country and/or unrequited love for Jackson Browne.

My greatest memory. I was a little older, prob 39 or something. Saw him in San Diego, the crowd was so very tame. Encore I ran down the isle & rushed the stage with zero interference. Danced right in front of him. LOL.

Thanks for the beautiful sad break, almost done with the food handling vid, then the test.

101 Sherlock Hound  Dec 5, 2014 8:14:25pm

re: #90 RealityBasedSteve

I got that for myself when it was 6 DVD’s. Good choice. I wish, though, I could read it on my tablet, where I read everything ekes.

102 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 8:18:33pm

re: #100 #FergusonFireside

My greatest memory. I was a little older, prob 39 or something. Saw him in San Diego, the crowd was so very tame. Encore I ran down the isle & rushed the stage with zero interference. Danced right in front of him. LOL.

Thanks for the beautiful sad break, almost done with the food handling vid, then the test.

Love it! I saw him several times at Blossom Music Center in Ohio. Never got that close (and never danced for him!)

Saw Dan Fogelberg at some small venues before he got very popular, then at the bigger ones. A friend of mine catered his wedding—had some great photos—the Eagles (or as she always called them, the Egos) were there and lots of others.

Adding this—this is a great site to help re-live concert memories:

setlist.fm

103 jaunte  Dec 5, 2014 8:46:45pm
On Monday, Cleveland police said officers fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice as the youth reached for an air pistol in his waist. Chief Calvin Williams said the air pistol was “indistinguishable from a real firearm.” An orange tip indicating the gun was not a real firearm had been removed, police said.
cnn.com

google.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

104 BeachDem  Dec 5, 2014 8:55:57pm

re: #103 jaunte

google.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

Yeah, that was the police story on Monday BEFORE the video was released that showed the cops were lying sacks of shit.

105 teleskiguy  Dec 5, 2014 8:59:48pm

Sheesh. When you’re away from internet at your house for 14 hours like I was today you can miss some stuff.

CuriousLurker, thanks for the post. This story should receive wide attention. How horrific.

106 Charles Johnson  Dec 5, 2014 9:00:34pm
107 teleskiguy  Dec 5, 2014 9:03:48pm

I left my phone on my laptop this morning and went to work. I tuned a bunch of GoPro reps skis for cool favors and went skiing with my co-tuner conspirator for the first time this winter. That was fun. I also talked to Ted Ligety this evening, he was as happy as can be! Even though he placed 28th in the Downhill World Cup race at my home mountain Beaver Creek today. I really didn’t miss my iPhone at all.

108 Mentis Fugit  Dec 5, 2014 9:07:05pm

re: #106 Charles Johnson

Don’t let on, but If I’m kneeling before Chuckie Clownshoes, it’s because I’m tying his shoelaces together.

109 RealityBasedSteve  Dec 5, 2014 9:09:37pm

re: #108 Mentis Fugit

Don’t let on, but If I’m kneeling before Chuckie Clownshoes, it’s because I’m tying his shoelaces together.

You do that… I’ll get on all 4s behind him, you give him a push, and we can give him the old 1-2 and laugh a merry laugh as he struggles on his back, unable to right himself. (oh, that’s turtles, but you get the idea)

RBS

110 RealityBasedSteve  Dec 5, 2014 9:10:20pm

re: #106 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Kneel…. Kneel before Derp!

RBS

111 retired cynic  Dec 5, 2014 9:12:12pm

re: #106 Charles Johnson

That boy just ain’t right!

112 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi  Dec 5, 2014 9:15:36pm

re: #110 RealityBasedSteve

Kneel…. Kneel before Derp!

RBS

Or,

Kneel before Clod!!

113 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 9:16:25pm

re: #102 BeachDem

Love it! I saw him several times at Blossom Music Center in Ohio. Never got that close (and never danced for him!)

Saw Dan Fogelberg at some small venues before he got very popular, then at the bigger ones. A friend of mine catered his wedding—had some great photos—the Eagles (or as she always called them, the Egos) were there and lots of others.

Adding this—this is a great site to help re-live concert memories:

setlist.fm

Oh hell.

I’m gonna cry reading those.

114 RealityBasedSteve  Dec 5, 2014 9:18:37pm

Well Lizard Lords and Ladies, Lizardettes of all ages, I’m going to put it down for the night. Doing a “Polar Plunge” dive tomorrow. Actually going to be pretty nice temps (air in the mid 50s, water will be cold at depth, about 45 degrees or so), but I’ve got the gear to handle that. Should be a pretty small group of us out there, I’d be surprised if there are more than 8-10 of us out there, and maybe a couple of other dive groups at the quarry.

Coffee pot is on the timer, the pancake fixings are on hand, all the gear has been checked off and packed up.

Have fun and don’t make too much fun of upChuck. In his defense, I understand that those lead paint chips really are tasty.

RBS

115 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 9:22:14pm

re: #103 jaunte

google.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

walmart.com

The police have become the enemy. Because of the lies.

And the deaths.

Hell, several years ago my ex husband had an encounter with a SD Sheriff. His description was steroided out and pissed.

Yeah. It finally erupted.

116 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 9:22:53pm

re: #106 Charles Johnson

How does he manage to stay that drunk with no job?

117 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 5, 2014 9:28:11pm

re: #116 Higgs Boson’s Mate

How does he manage to stay that drunk with no job?

Donations.

118 teleskiguy  Dec 5, 2014 9:34:35pm

Good God UpChuck is dense. He’s beyond parody.

If a guy like UpChuck can just spout off the most insane right wing shit on Twitter non-stop and not say anything that humanizes himself or say anything genuine about him as a human being AND support himself and make money doing those things, there’s something very wrong with United States discourse. Fucking Jonah Goldberg posts dog and cat photos fercrissake!

119 #FergusonFireside  Dec 5, 2014 9:43:46pm

Nighty. I passed my test.

120 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 9:59:22pm

re: #117 Eclectic Cyborg

Donations.

What an age we live in. When I was drinking I had to get drunk on my own dime.

121 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 5, 2014 10:04:42pm

re: #120 Higgs Boson’s Mate

What an age we live in. When I was drinking I had to get drunk on my own dime.

While stumbling uphill in the snow?

/

122 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 5, 2014 10:34:57pm

re: #121 Eclectic Cyborg

While stumbling uphill in the snow?

/

Crawling. Our motto was, “I may be so drunk I can’t walk but, by God I’ll crawl home like a sailor.

123 TedStriker  Dec 5, 2014 10:53:46pm

re: #122 Higgs Boson’s Mate

Crawling. Our motto was, “I may be so drunk I can’t walk but, by God I’ll crawl home like a sailor.

Well, swabbies should be familiar with hugging the deck, right?

///

124 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 10:54:04pm

niman hao, mein scaly drughi!

A warm Autumn night,
Walking beneath the full moon
Our shadows embrace.

Drunk on love and gin and wishing the whole world could be the same.

125 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 10:57:20pm

(Well, given that gin does not suit all types, I’ll elide the wish for the former into the latter.)

126 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:04:14pm

I think it’s been a year or more since last I stopped in.

The doomstead is complete, concerns of the various zoning and taxing authorities notwithstanding.

I lived in a beat-up travel trailer for a year or more - roasting in the summer, freezing in the winter - while I built my house. Just under a thousand square feet of earthbag sustainability, quite snug and comfortable, and damned near impervious to whatever Texas has to throw at it. Haven’t had to fire up my woodstove once.

Got two dozen chickens for eggs and meat and fertilizer. I catch rainwater and have a dew-pond for all my water needs.

Nice crop this year - managed to get enough grazing fodder planted that my neighbor’s goats survived without supplemental feeding - so I fed the love of my life (and where was she all those years ago? another story for another time) cabrito washed down with homemade cyser and store-bought liquor for digestifs afterward.

I’ve an income that, measured in dollars, comes to barely five figures, but live like a king.

My advice to any and all - get some land, learn to work it, and live the way you’ve always dreamed.

127 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:20:30pm

goddamned frank -

You changed my life, which is a Hell of a thing for one stranger to say to another, but ages and ages ago, you brought me to a moment of clarity concerning my entire life up to that point.

You asked, very simply, why I endured the misery of a loveless marriage to a woman who’d grown to despise me, and I found I had no answer worth offering.

From that epiphantic moment, my life began to change, and when the then-future-ex-wife pulled her customary outrage against my human dignity and defied me to do something about it, there came the day when she threatened to heave me and I realized it might not be such a terrible thing for us.

We;re as good friends now as ever we were - better, perhaps - and our children are thriving, which would never have been possible had we tried to tough it out, as so many do. Divorce was the best thing we could have done for our relationship - she is happy now, and (shockingly) so am I.

Strangers can affect the entire course of one’s life, often without their ever knowing it. A fox, caught in a trap, will chew its foot off to escape, but neither she nor I had to resort to that to find something very much resembling happiness, which is all we ever wanted for each other and ourselves.

I hoist a glass to you, goddamnedfrank, and to all the lizards.

128 William Barnett-Lewis  Dec 5, 2014 11:24:09pm

re: #126 Guanxi88

Cyser… Yummy.

I ponder five acres and some birds as well, but with the back and knees that 16 years of Uncle Sam’s green left me with… No, not likely.

129 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:32:33pm

re: #128 William Barnett-Lewis

the cyser is made from honey I got in trade from a beekeeper whose swarms I let play on my fields this summer……wonderful memory, that manic buzzing when he set the first hive in place. The apples, I confess, I had to buy, but the chickens loved the pomace left over, so no waste….

got just under 20 acres, but this is south Texas, so the land is hard.

A few years hence, and perhaps my chickens will have done all they need to do to improve the tilth, and maybe I can plant something worth harvesting.

In the meantime, crop after crop of clover for forage and grazing and nitrogen.

Amazingly, my neighbors actually pay me to let their goats and sheep - I’m counting on some wool before too long - to graze my land. Hilarious, actually, as my little patch was nothing but nothing before I took it in hand, With a bot more water, who knows what it might be? But I’ll stick to the basics and save my water.

Deer walk within feet of my back door, and more than once, I’ve caught them watching me as I go about my business. People say they’re good eating - and they are - but, somehow, I cannot bring myself to shoot such beautiful creatures, to say nothing of the fondness my Lady Mouse has for them.

130 William Barnett-Lewis  Dec 5, 2014 11:46:25pm

I don’t have that issue with the local whitetail population. There are not enough natural predators anymore and it gets dangerous to dodge them in a car.

Still they’re nice and to watch during the summer months along with listening to the loons across the lake at twilight.

131 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:46:36pm

Yes, a remarkable turn of events for Mr. Brooks Brothers with all his fancy degrees in the humanities…..

But perhaps all that came before was preparation? I don’t know, but I’m grateful all the same,

132 William Barnett-Lewis  Dec 5, 2014 11:48:45pm

Keep a journal or perhaps write the poetry of your birds and that place then. Put that education to a good use. :)

133 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:49:18pm

re: #130 William Barnett-Lewis

I don’t have that issue with the local whitetail population. There are not enough natural predators anymore and it gets dangerous to dodge them in a car.

Still they’re nice and to watch during the summer months along with listening to the loons across the lake at twilight.

What I’d give to have water and four seasons, though……

We’re full up with whitetail here, and I know the herds are thick - too thick - but for her sake, our land is safe for them.

134 Guanxi88  Dec 5, 2014 11:52:41pm

re: #132 William Barnett-Lewis

Keep a journal or perhaps write the poetry of your birds and that place then. Put that education to a good use. :)

Just now, I bore her with poetry and photographs. she’s a good sport about it all, though.

“Why write a poem?” she asks. “Let me see it and you’ll have no need for words to tell me what you mean. Why take a picture when I can see it from your windows?” Amazing woman.

135 William Barnett-Lewis  Dec 5, 2014 11:55:10pm

re: #134 Guanxi88

Heh… “Don’t ask me for the meaning, ask me for the use.” Ludwig Wittgenstein.

136 William Barnett-Lewis  Dec 6, 2014 12:01:09am

Ah well, back to work. Time to run the night audit. BBL

137 Guanxi88  Dec 6, 2014 12:03:24am

re: #135 William Barnett-Lewis

Heh… “Don’t ask me for the meaning, ask me for the use.” Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Fitting, eh? I have to travel half a world from my home to find a woman who’s traveled even farther, all in order for us to walk on unlit land, far from the cities that were our home, to see what all our education prepared us to express imperfectly?

Language is the house of Being, Heidegger says, and he’s right, of course (he’s Heideggeer; how are you gonna argue?) but tonight there was no need for discourse or explanation or any of the expedients and make-shifts of language when we saw deer moving liking clouds of smoke by the dew pond. We froze, she gripped my hand tightly, and nothing more was needed.

138 freetoken  Dec 6, 2014 12:18:52am

MP3 Audio

139 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 12:38:57am

You aren’t gonna argue with Heidegger or Hegel because an opaque, half-cooked, jelly-like mass of sentence-like constructions doesn’t deserve to be argued with.

140 Varek Raith  Dec 6, 2014 12:49:33am

re: #137 Guanxi88

Yo!
How the hell have you been?!

141 mrpayday  Dec 6, 2014 2:04:18am

re: #49 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

Today (well, technically yesterday) I got hooked on this manga rather by chance. I just clicked on a random cover on a scanlation site, and I’m still reading it.

It’s getting an anime and a live action film next year.

142 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 2:11:10am

re: #141 mrpayday

It’s getting an anime and a live action film next year.

I suppose an anime could do justice to all the delightsome wackiness, not sure about live action.

143 wheat-dogghazi-bola-trality  Dec 6, 2014 3:06:22am

Greetings, everyone! We’ve been without power most of the day, and I’ve been doing other stuff besides, so I’ve been out of the loop. In about 2 hours I’ll be on the overnight train to Changsha. And tomorrow I’ll be in Shenzhen, next to Hong Kong. So I won’t be around so much.

My son is coming to HK on Wednesday for a confab, so I’m gonna hang out with him for a week.

So, what has Chuckles the Clown done now?

144 Rev_Arthur_Icantbreatheing  Dec 6, 2014 3:23:46am

Well, well, well …
Washington Post’s Wemple Calls Out Colleague George Will’s “Out-And-Out Conflict Of Interest”

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple*, who writes a reported opinion blog on the media, criticized Post colleague George F. Will for praising a conservative advocacy group without disclosing his “out-and-out conflict of interest.”

Will wrote a November 19 column endorsing the efforts of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), which is fighting against increased Department of Justice oversight of private voucher schools in Wisconsin.

But as Wemple notes, the piece omitted “Will’s connection to WILL.” The Post columnist is a member of the board of directors at Wisconsin’s Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a nonprofit which granted WILL $500,000 in 2011, 2012, and 2013. The foundation states that board members are responsible for grant making decisions. Wemple correctly summarized Will’s ethical lapse:

Here, Will touted an outlet funded generously by a group he helps to lead. And thanks to the columnist’s kind words, WILL may have an easier time finding funders outside of the Bradley Foundation. All very cozy, synergistic and, as media critics might say, an out-and-out conflict of interest — an offense of which Will has been accused before.

The group promoted Will’s column on its Twitter account twice.

George Will is an unethical piece of shit. This is not even the first time he’s not disclosed his financial ties to groups he pimps in his columns.

145 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 3:26:19am

re: #143 wheat-dogghazi-bola-trality

So, what has Chuckles the Clown done now?

What he does every day: beclowned himself.

146 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 4:02:23am

re: #126 Guanxi88

I think it’s been a year or more since last I stopped in.

The doomstead is complete, concerns of the various zoning and taxing authorities notwithstanding.

I lived in a beat-up travel trailer for a year or more - roasting in the summer, freezing in the winter - while I built my house. Just under a thousand square feet of earthbag sustainability, quite snug and comfortable, and damned near impervious to whatever Texas has to throw at it. Haven’t had to fire up my woodstove once.

Got two dozen chickens for eggs and meat and fertilizer. I catch rainwater and have a dew-pond for all my water needs.

Nice crop this year - managed to get enough grazing fodder planted that my neighbor’s goats survived without supplemental feeding - so I fed the love of my life (and where was she all those years ago? another story for another time) cabrito washed down with homemade cyser and store-bought liquor for digestifs afterward.

I’ve an income that, measured in dollars, comes to barely five figures, but live like a king.

My advice to any and all - get some land, learn to work it, and live the way you’ve always dreamed.

Would be nice. But my wife is disabled and country life isn’t one for the disabled.

147 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 4:06:32am

re: #143 wheat-dogghazi-bola-trality

Greetings, everyone! We’ve been without power most of the day, and I’ve been doing other stuff besides, so I’ve been out of the loop. In about 2 hours I’ll be on the overnight train to Changsha. And tomorrow I’ll be in Shenzhen, next to Hong Kong. So I won’t be around so much.

My son is coming to HK on Wednesday for a confab, so I’m gonna hang out with him for a week.

So, what has Chuckles the Clown done now?

Have fun.

Oh, and UpChuck was fantasizing about who he was going to kill when he ruled the world.

148 Dr Lizardo  Dec 6, 2014 4:08:04am

Way OT, but I found an episode of a program I grew up watching in my childhood in Los Angeles: Ultraman.

This is from the original 1966-1967 program.

Youtube Video

Great times. I loved this show. This one’s English-dubbed, just the way I remember it.

149 Decatur Deb  Dec 6, 2014 4:29:06am

re: #126 Guanxi88

re: #127 Guanxi88

Good to hear from you. Heard of earthships, but earthbags must be new variations. Sounds like improvement all around, so keep up the flow. We need some positivity with all the crap that’s flowing up from underground.

150 Decatur Deb  Dec 6, 2014 4:33:18am

re: #147 Romantic Heretic

Have fun.

Oh, and UpChuck was fantasizing about who he was going to kill when he ruled the world.

You judge the man too harshly. When he says he’s going to have a media empire that scalps people, he means he’s going to become an honest (if clumsy) barber in a shop with two flatscreens tuned to Fox.

151 urbanmeemaw  Dec 6, 2014 5:01:58am

re: #28 CuriousLurker

Thanks for the page promotion, Charles.

Thank you for the article.

152 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 6:21:15am

re: #147 Romantic Heretic

Have fun.

Oh, and UpChuck was fantasizing about who he was going to kill when he ruled the world.

When someone starts talking about that, its usually time to put that person either in jail or in a mental hospital.

153 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 6:22:30am

Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. The steep slide in oil prices is a boon to the economy and for most everyone out there. It makes pretty much everything cheaper - and leaves more disposable income to buy other stuff.

Of course, there are a few people who’d complain. Republicans for one. The same ones who bitched about high oil prices throttling the economy and a few who are warning that the drop in oil prices will enable Democrats to make a push towards carbon taxes (even though Congress will be controlled by the GOP come January).

No, the ones who are going to be hurting because of the drop in oil prices are countries that depend on oil exports for revenue - think Russia and Iran and Venezuela, plus the OPEC countries. And states that have seen a boom due to fracking and oil exploration. Low oil prices means that the cost to develop new fields is higher than the rate of return. They need the high prices to make extracting that oil worth it. So, if the prices remain low, the boom times in places like the Dakotas, Texas, and Oklahoma will become busts. It’s why relying on a single industry for your economic growth is a huge problem. When the sector dries up, your economy does too.

Closer to home, the fight over whether to allow fracking will end up becoming moot if companies don’t see any profit from pursuing the drilling. NY’s Gov. Cuomo has been dragging his feet on whether to allow fracking or not, and the industry has been reluctant - natch - outright hostile to releasing information about what’s contained in the fracking fluids that can end up contaminating aquifers and damaging the environment.

154 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 6:28:55am

re: #153 lawhawk

Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. The steep slide in oil prices is a boon to the economy and for most everyone out there. It makes pretty much everything cheaper - and leaves more disposable income to buy other stuff.

Of course, there are a few people who’d complain. Republicans for one. The same ones who bitched about high oil prices throttling the economy and a few who are warning that the drop in oil prices will enable Democrats to make a push towards carbon taxes (even though Congress will be controlled by the GOP come January).

No, the ones who are going to be hurting because of the drop in oil prices are countries that depend on oil exports for revenue - think Russia and Iran and Venezuela, plus the OPEC countries. And states that have seen a boom due to fracking and oil exploration. Low oil prices means that the cost to develop new fields is higher than the rate of return. They need the high prices to make extracting that oil worth it. So, if the prices remain low, the boom times in places like the Dakotas, Texas, and Oklahoma will become busts. It’s why relying on a single industry for your economic growth is a huge problem. When the sector dries up, your economy does too.

Closer to home, the fight over whether to allow fracking will end up becoming moot if companies don’t see any profit from pursuing the drilling. NY’s Gov. Cuomo has been dragging his feet on whether to allow fracking or not, and the industry has been reluctant - natch - outright hostile to releasing information about what’s contained in the fracking fluids that can end up contaminating aquifers and damaging the environment.

The Dakota’s can weather middling oil prices, as Texas perhaps can as well. The reason being that the extraction costs are fairly low for the Dakota shale fields. Texas would depend on water costs, to a substantial degree.

155 Rev_Arthur_Icantbreatheing  Dec 6, 2014 6:39:15am

re: #154 Dark_Falcon

The Dakota’s can weather middling oil prices, as Texas perhaps can as well. The reason being that the extraction costs are fairly low for the Dakota shale fields. Texas would depend on water costs, to a substantial degree.

Bzzzzt. Oil prices are a substantial crutch to the Texas economy. Budgets will be difficult to square if this continues. Closer to home, I know that lower gas prices have helped my personal budget. When they shot above $4 several years ago, it was a huge hit to my spending habits.

156 BigPapa  Dec 6, 2014 6:49:59am

Fracking takes a lot of water. When oil prices drop and you’re in an epic drought fracking becomes financially implausible.

157 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 6:51:02am

That’s just about how I feel.

“Give me your poor, your tired, your full of hate and rage . .. “

WTF?

158 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 6:51:20am

re: #156 BigPapa

Fracking takes a lot of water. When oil prices drop and you’re in an epic drought fracking becomes financially implausible.

Which was my point about Texas. What makes North Dakota somewhat different is that it is not suffering a drought, so it still has reasonably low water prices.

159 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 6:52:13am

re: #153 lawhawk

Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. The steep slide in oil prices is a boon to the economy and for most everyone out there. It makes pretty much everything cheaper - and leaves more disposable income to buy other stuff.

Of course, there are a few people who’d complain. Republicans for one. The same ones who bitched about high oil prices throttling the economy and a few who are warning that the drop in oil prices will enable Democrats to make a push towards carbon taxes (even though Congress will be controlled by the GOP come January).

No, the ones who are going to be hurting because of the drop in oil prices are countries that depend on oil exports for revenue - think Russia and Iran and Venezuela, plus the OPEC countries. And states that have seen a boom due to fracking and oil exploration. Low oil prices means that the cost to develop new fields is higher than the rate of return. They need the high prices to make extracting that oil worth it. So, if the prices remain low, the boom times in places like the Dakotas, Texas, and Oklahoma will become busts. It’s why relying on a single industry for your economic growth is a huge problem. When the sector dries up, your economy does too.

Closer to home, the fight over whether to allow fracking will end up becoming moot if companies don’t see any profit from pursuing the drilling. NY’s Gov. Cuomo has been dragging his feet on whether to allow fracking or not, and the industry has been reluctant - natch - outright hostile to releasing information about what’s contained in the fracking fluids that can end up contaminating aquifers and damaging the environment.

IIRC, prices low, volume of sales up—profits up?

NO?

160 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 6:52:48am

re: #157 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

That’s just about how I feel.

“Give me your poor, your tired, your full of hate and rage . .. “

WTF?

The wind shifts around here can be brutal sometimes, GGT. And a flag can only take those for so long before it rips.

161 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 6:54:09am

re: #147 Romantic Heretic

Have fun.

Oh, and UpChuck was fantasizing about who he was going to kill when he ruled the world.

Abigail Adams — ‘Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could… “

162 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 6:54:30am

re: #160 Dark_Falcon

The wind shifts around here can be brutal sometimes, GGT. And a flag can only take those for so long before it rips.

Our church budges one a month.

163 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 6:55:56am

What we don’t need - another investigation into Benghazi that fills GOP campaign coffers and doesn’t reveal anything that we haven’t known for years. There was no administration wrongdoing.

How much time and money have been spent on this? The new investigation is all about trying to smear Hillary. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s all about 2016 and posturing. It’s about the hope that some media outlet will give credence to a finding already known for years - ignoring all the prior investigations that found nothing wrong. Not Issa’s hack job that ended in a whimper. Not Rogers’ “bipartisan” report that was released in a Friday night news dump because there was no wrongdoing found.

None of the investigations found wrongdoing.

And the Administration took action that no prior administration did after the attack on a diplomatic facility - they created a fast response team that would get to most diplomatic facilities within a couple of hours - a capability the US military simply didn’t have before.

Oh, and at the same time, Congress continues to drag its feet on funding security at diplomatic facilities worldwide.

164 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 6:57:25am

re: #159 FemNaziBitch

Lower prices and lower demand because higher efficiencies from most sectors. Trucking has made strides in improving fuel efficiency so now that prices are easing, they aren’t using as much fuel to go the same distances. Same with cars.

165 Feline Fearless Leader  Dec 6, 2014 7:02:08am

re: #164 lawhawk

Lower prices and lower demand because higher efficiencies from most sectors. Trucking has made strides in improving fuel efficiency so now that prices are easing, they aren’t using as much fuel to go the same distances. Same with cars.

And prices ease across a lot of industries since transportation costs drop. (For instance, rail freight rates often include a fuel surcharge based on the running average cost of diesel over the past 60 days. As diesel costs drop the surcharge, and thus the total freight rates also drop.)

166 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 7:09:43am

re: #163 lawhawk

Actually, the meeting of the Benghazi Committee this week was a follow-up on the topic of diplomatic security. By all accounts, though, it was just a routine sort of follow-up hearing, and I don’t expect it to actually change the budget much if at all. Money for embassies isn’t very popular with Congress.

167 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 7:11:01am
168 Dr. Matt  Dec 6, 2014 7:12:36am

What’s up with Gus? He’s been active on twitter but not here. What happened?

169 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 7:13:37am
171 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 7:14:50am
172 FemNaziBitch  Dec 6, 2014 7:14:57am

bbl

173 Eventual Carrion  Dec 6, 2014 7:15:06am

re: #170 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Runnin’ with the pack.

174 BigPapa  Dec 6, 2014 7:15:14am

re: #168 Dr. Matt

What’s up with Gus? He’s been active on twitter but not here. What happened?

(casts a steely gaze across potential targets to assign blame)

Wasn’t me!

175 Targetpractice  Dec 6, 2014 7:15:43am

Not having a financial or economic background, I can’t really say how much of the fear-tinged talk I’ve been hearing lately is true, but apparently the sudden drop in oil prices has a lot of folks worried that commodity derivatives may about to take a dive. And if that happens, a lot of major banks, including the six “too big to fails,” are gonna find themselves back in the same place they were in 2007.

176 BigPapa  Dec 6, 2014 7:16:39am

re: #169 FemNaziBitch

Also, black men are incarcerated over petty drug crimes at a much higher rate, leading to more fatherless kids. For which all blacks are blamed.

177 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 7:18:57am

re: #163 lawhawk

Oh and since Benghazi came up:

Photos prompt speculation about Libyan militia’s air defences

Photographs showing surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) being transported in Libya suggest the powerful militia from the coastal city of Misratah is attempting to improve its air defences in response to an expansion in Libyan Air Force operations to the west of the country.

A photograph of two transporter/loader vehicles for the S-125 (SA-3 ‘Goa’) SAM system with missiles was published on 2 December on the Facebook page representing Khalifah Haftar, the former general leading a coalition of militias and military units, including the remnants of the air force, against the rival Libya Dawn alliance, which includes the Misratah militia.

The Facebook page said the missiles were being transported from the city of Sabha to Misratah, 600 km to the north.

Satellite imagery shows there was a S-125 battery just north of Sabah, but some of its support vehicles appear to have been destroyed during the NATO-led intervention in 2011. The battery’s three launchers and SNR-125 ‘Low Blow’ target-engagement radar appear to have survived the war, but had been removed by July 2013.

While photographs on the former general’s Facebook page showed the S-125 transporter/loaders and possibly some additional missiles in containers, they did not show the ‘Low Blow’ or other associated components needed to launch the missiles.

Photographs from other sources have also shown the same S-125 transporter-loader vehicles carrying missiles.

The Misratah militia are a group of Radical Islamists, and I hope Gen. Haffar’s aircraft blast any SAM site that the militia set up into scrap iron.

Note: The writer of the article is British and it was written in London, so ‘defense’ is spelled with a ‘c’ in the piece, instead of an ‘s’.

178 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 7:23:46am

re: #170 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Must be photo-shopped. I do like sea-otters, though.

Youtube Video

179 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Dec 6, 2014 7:39:25am

re: #171 FemNaziBitch

I recall hearing Rush Limbaugh maintain back during the Clinton years that a surplus was bad because it meant government was taking more from us than it needed to operate, and that was imoral.

180 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2014 7:44:07am

I loved my journalism studies in college. I’ve always had a real passion for writing and telling stories. I can honestly say though that if I could back in time, I may have chosen a different field of study.

I loathe what the business has become.

181 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 7:46:05am

This next story brought a smile to my face:

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas voted worst film ever with 1.3 out of 10 stars on IMDb

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas was widely panned when it hit cinemas on November 14, and currently has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

And now it has been deemed the worst film ever made, according to the IMDb Bottom 100 list.

The movie scored 1.3 out of 10 stars, based on ratings by regular IMDb voters.

Films must receive at least 1,500 ratings in order to rank in the Bottom 100.

Saving Christmas just beats the notorious Birdemic: Shock And Terror, which has 1.8 stars, for the title, and is 22 spots ahead of From Justin To Kelly (2.1 stars) and 66 spots ahead of Gigli (2.3 stars).

I see a Razzie in Kirk’s future, although in his case it should perhaps be topped not with a raspberry, but with a crocoduck,

182 #FergusonFireside  Dec 6, 2014 7:52:37am

I have a present for Darth

183 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2014 7:55:45am

re: #181 Dark_Falcon

This next story brought a smile to my face:

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas voted worst film ever with 1.3 out of 10 stars on IMDb

I see a Razzie in Kirk’s future, although in his case it should perhaps be topped not with a raspberry, but with a crocoduck,

Sure the ratings were crappy but the film still managed to pull in $2.5 million on a half-million dollar budget, meaning Cameron most likely saw anywhere from $500 000 to $750 000 profit on it.

184 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2014 7:56:19am

re: #182 #FergusonFireside

“What do you want for Christmas, son?”

“I want a beard just like yours!”

185 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 7:56:56am

re: #181 Dark_Falcon

Kirk Cameron has killed Christmas.
/

186 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 7:57:55am

re: #183 Eclectic Cyborg

Sure the ratings were crappy but the film still managed to pull in $2.5 million on a half-million dollar budget, meaning Cameron most likely saw anywhere from $500 000 to $750 000 profit on it.

187 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2014 8:02:01am

Not that I’m endorsing that trainwreck of a movie in any way of course. :P

188 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 6, 2014 8:05:09am

Glenn Beck loses motion to dismiss Marathon bombing-related lawsuit

Chief Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court in Boston has denied a motion by conservative firebrand Glenn Beck to dismiss a Boston Marathon bombing-related defamation lawsuit against him and the owners and distributors of his show.

Abdulrahman Alharbi, a student and Saudi Arabian citizen who lives in Revere, sued Beck earlier this year. He was near the finish line when the bombs exploded at the 2013 Boston Marathon. While Alharbi caught the attention of investigators and was subjected to searches and questioning, he was quickly cleared by law enforcement of any wrongdoing. Beck nonetheless seized on this early development in the investigation well into the following month, calling Alharbi a “bad, bad” person and claiming he financed the attack…

189 makeitstop  Dec 6, 2014 8:06:47am

Back to Charles’ Kimbra question for a minute…

This is the first song I heard by her, and it blew me away. Equal parts Janet Jackson and Andrews Sisters.

Youtube Video

I think she’s going to be around for a long time, because she’s got the chops to take her talents to other places than the Pop music she’s doing now.

190 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 8:08:29am

re: #187 Eclectic Cyborg

Not that I’m endorsing that trainwreck of a movie in any way of course. :P

I knew you weren’t, its just the fact that Kirk Cameron will likely make more money for putting together that piece of drek than I’ll see in a decade makes me want to headdesk.

191 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 8:14:39am

ISIS terrorist overcompensating.

Full story here.

“The man with a 10-foot rifle likely has a two-inch penis.” - Dark_Falcon

192 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 8:20:43am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

My apologies to Stanley Sea and GGT for the vulgarity of the preceding post.

193 Targetpractice  Dec 6, 2014 8:27:57am

Figures that the one day I want to just relax on my bed and watch some shows on Netflix, XBox Live is acting up and can’t keep me signed in for more than half an hour at a time.

194 Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2014 8:28:47am

re: #190 Dark_Falcon

I knew you weren’t, its just the fact that Kirk Cameron will likely make more money for putting together that piece of drek than I’ll see in a decade makes me want to headdesk.

Becoming an evangelical celebrity is usually pretty lucrative: Just ask the Duggars, The Robertson Family (Duck Dynasty), Sarah Palin, Ray Comfort and so on.

If you can get that first publicity boost, it’s a pretty sweet gig.

195 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 8:44:56am

No, Uncle So&So, you don’t always get what you “deserve”. Now, that little homily is a loaded, biased assumption, just like so many.

(Relaxing from a morning of catch-as-catch-can news.)

196 GlutenFreeJesus  Dec 6, 2014 8:45:12am

re: #143 wheat-dogghazi-bola-trality

Has he seen the terra cotta warriors yet? You must take him.

197 #FergusonFireside  Dec 6, 2014 8:50:27am

re: #192 Dark_Falcon

My apologies to Stanley Sea and GGT for the vulgarity of the preceding post.

No worries about me, I live in vulgarity.

198 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 8:50:59am

This is a seriously deadly typhoon.

199 #FergusonFireside  Dec 6, 2014 8:52:35am

Very very good read people. Luvvie is a great writer.

200 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 8:55:48am

If I had lived in the 14th century, I would probably have been flogged frequently, considering my modern behavior, even while it hurt no one. I would have gotten what I “deserved”, according to the ruling culture of the time.

Some would go back to that kind of “punishment”. And some are still suffering it because it’s assumed that they’re criminals because of who they are.

201 Lidane  Dec 6, 2014 8:59:05am

re: #193 Targetpractice

Figures that the one day I want to just relax on my bed and watch some shows on Netflix, XBox Live is acting up and can’t keep me signed in for more than half an hour at a time.

It’s not accidental:

202 Targetpractice  Dec 6, 2014 9:00:32am

re: #201 Lidane

It’s not accidental:

[Embedded content]

Fucking hell. This is why we can’t have nice things!

203 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 9:02:17am

re: #202 Targetpractice

Fucking hell. This is why we can’t have nice things!

Well, it says ‘Lizard Squad’ is causing it, so who here wants to ‘fess up?

/

204 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 9:04:15am

re: #203 Dark_Falcon

Well, it says ‘Lizard Squad’ is causing it, so who here wants to ‘fess up?

/

I’m not saying it was Varek,
but it was Varek.

205 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 9:11:27am

We’ll be paying for this shit in one way or another for decades to come, well into the future.

New Mexico levies more than $54 million in penalties against Department of Energy for violations that resulted in closure of nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository - @AP
read more on bigstory.ap.org

Sometimes “organic” isn’t the best solution, it seems.

206 Dr. Matt  Dec 6, 2014 9:15:50am

re: #193 Targetpractice

Figures that the one day I want to just relax on my bed and watch some shows on Netflix, XBox Live is acting up and can’t keep me signed in for more than half an hour at a time.

Had the same problem last night.

207 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 9:51:57am

Guy had a pen knife.

Yup.

The police claim that they were responding to reports that someone had been stabbed.

The officers arrived in the area of Hollywood and Highland when they observed a man in the intersection. The male was armed with a knife. When he saw the officers, he approached them, and an officer-involved shooting occurred

No one was found stabbed. But yet another person is dead at hands of law enforcement.

No attempt to disarm using less lethal means.

208 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 9:55:06am

re: #207 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Yup.

The police claim that they were responding to reports that someone had been stabbed.

No one was found stabbed. But yet another person is dead at hands of law enforcement.

No attempt to disarm using less lethal means.

That knife’s big enough to cut a gun out of your hand, Lawhawk, and its big enough to inflict a fatal wound. That’s all that matters.

209 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 9:55:36am

re: #207 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Yup.

The police claim that they were responding to reports that someone had been stabbed.

No one was found stabbed. But yet another person is dead at hands of law enforcement.

No attempt to disarm using less lethal means.

Saw that and thought, WTF? Pepper spray and 5 officers wouldn’t have been enough to subdue him?

210 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 9:57:45am

Later, Lizards.

211 Targetpractice  Dec 6, 2014 9:59:17am

I’m beginning to think cops never use pepper spray, tasers, or rubber bullets while taking down “armed” suspects because they’re saving those for to use on protestors. God forbid they should respond to a report of a stabbing with anything less than guns blazing.

212 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:04:03am

re: #207 lawhawk

In each case, trained officers escalated the situation, and killed someone who might have been subdued another way.

213 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:06:01am

re: #211 Targetpractice

I’m beginning to think cops never use pepper spray, tasers, or rubber bullets while taking down “armed” suspects because they’re saving those for to use on protestors.

Those protesters were sitting. Sitting times 10 = pepper spray. Walking times 10 = …

214 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 10:06:08am

re: #208 Dark_Falcon

I have a knife that size. It’s a similar to a Victorinoix Swiss Army knife w/4 inch blade. I know what it can or can’t do.

I also know that the cops have various means at their disposal to deal with people without using firearms. Tasers. LAPD has tasers.

Try holding on to anything with a taser. You can’t.

No effort to even try.

And I understand the need to use deadly force when addressing someone who has a deadly weapon. Yet, the LAPD fired away into a crowded scene, reminiscent of the NYPD officers who fired into a crowd to stop a suspect - injurying bystanders along the way. Here, no bystanders were injured, and that’s by sheer dumb luck.

[update]
And would your view change if the police had struck bystanders after firing at the suspect? Again, it’s just luck that no one else was injured.

215 ibob  Dec 6, 2014 10:07:08am

re: #199 #FergusonFireside

Very very good read people. Luvvie is a great writer.

[Embedded content]

Very powerful read.

216 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:09:34am

re: #208 Dark_Falcon

That knife’s big enough to cut a gun out of your hand, Lawhawk, and its big enough to inflict a fatal wound. That’s all that matters.

Here is the thing, Dark, it’s not even the point whether it was formally justified or not. The point is whether there are better ways. I will risk second-guessing and say: yes, there are. Shooting should be the last resort, even if because the cops shoot innocent bystanders from time to time while aiming at alleged perpetrators.

217 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 10:10:11am

re: #214 lawhawk

I have a knife that size. It’s a similar to a Victorinoix Swiss Army knife w/4 inch blade. I know what it can or can’t do.

I also know that the cops have various means at their disposal to deal with people without using firearms. Tasers. LAPD has tasers.

Try holding on to anything with a taser. You can’t.

No effort to even try.

And I understand the need to use deadly force when addressing someone who has a deadly weapon. Yet, the LAPD fired away into a crowded scene, reminiscent of the NYPD officers who fired into a crowd to stop a suspect - injurying bystanders along the way. Here, no bystanders were injured, and that’s by sheer dumb luck.

Not just dumb luck. Fewer shots were fired, and I think more of if not all the shots hit the intended target. So not so much dumb luck as good aim and controlled fire.

218 makeitstop  Dec 6, 2014 10:16:38am

re: #217 Dark_Falcon

Not just dumb luck. Fewer shots were fired, and I think more of if not all the shots hit the intended target. So not so much dumb luck as good aim and controlled fire.

But they honestly had no other options than to kill the guy?

I do not buy it for a second. They’re just taking the path of least resistance at this point - and sadly, that path is just to mow someone down with gunfire.

219 lawhawk  Dec 6, 2014 10:17:12am

re: #217 Dark_Falcon

I can’t disagree more. Person moves, bullet misses. Bullet passes through victim (a through and through) and strikes someone else down range.

The fact is that cops nationally have a lousy hit rate in shooting situations.

For instance, a few years ago, the NYPD had a hit rate of 34%. 34%.

2 out of 3 bullets fired missed.

According to a more recent study, the best cops manage to hit their intended target ~60%. Meaning 1 out of 3 bullets fired miss. The ratio gets worse (meaning more misses) once you get low light situations:

According to this research, the best-trained officers involved in shootings only hit their target 64 of the time in daylight encounters.

This percentage drops to 45% in diminished light encounters. If 77% of officer involved shootings occur in a diminished light encounter, that means that three-fourth’s of the time, highly trained officers are missing their targets 55% of the time. These are highly trained officers that train with their firearms several times a year.

That’s not only the best case scenario, but presumes the officers are highly trained and regularly practice with their firearms and tactics.

So yes, it’s dumb luck no one else was injured in the latest LAPD shooting.

220 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:19:41am
The setting, the suddenness, and the reported provocation make Friday’s incident reminiscent of a controversial police shooting in New York City in 2013. Officers shot two bystanders in Times Square while attempting to shoot an unarmed, seemingly unstable man who was weaving through traffic in Manhattan’s high-traffic tourist mecca. They then charged the man with assault for causing the officers to shoot the bystanders.
221 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:21:27am

Let me guess: there was never a chance these cops would have been charged for the attempted murder of the two innocent bystanders.

222 Targetpractice  Dec 6, 2014 10:22:18am

Perhaps it’s time to sit cops down nationally and inform them that their balls will not spontaneously detach if they back away from a suspect. You are not Rambo, emptying your gun’s magazine into a crowd is not going to make every bullet magically hit only the intended target.

223 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 10:29:48am

re: #220 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

Time to start charging attractive looking people walking down the side walk for causing car accidents.

224 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 10:29:57am

re: #218 makeitstop

But they honestly had no other options than to kill the guy?

I do not buy it for a second. They’re just taking the path of least resistance at this point - and sadly, that path is just to mow someone down with gunfire.

In a case where someone is clearly armed and irrational in a highly populated place and the police take him down without anyone else getting hurt, them I’m not going to second guess the tactics. If the guy hadn’t pulled a knife on innocent people, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.

Better one nutjob gets shot than the nutjob stabs 4 people, as happened on a train out of Chicago last night.

225 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 10:32:26am

re: #221 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak

Let me guess: there was never a chance these cops would have been charged for the attempted murder of the two innocent bystanders.

The bystanders and their lawyers didn’t really want that, since it would have delayed a civil settlement.

226 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 10:33:11am

We’re watching an Irish boys choir on PBS. They sing beautifully.

However, I can’t help wondering, why no girls?

227 makeitstop  Dec 6, 2014 10:33:13am

re: #224 Dark_Falcon

In a case where someone is clearly armed and irrational in a highly populated place and the police take him down without anyone else getting hurt, them I’m not going to second guess the tactics. If the guy hadn’t pulled a knife on innocent people, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.

Better one nutjob gets shot than the nutjob stabs 4 people, as happened on a train out of Chicago last night.

Not just shot, Dark. Killed. Dead.

What the fuck are we training these mooks for if their first response is to shoot to kill?

228 Islamo-Masonic Vourdalak  Dec 6, 2014 10:34:51am

re: #224 Dark_Falcon

where someone is clearly armed and irrational in a highly populated place

Like the cops.

229 gwangung  Dec 6, 2014 10:35:48am

re: #224 Dark_Falcon

In a case where someone is clearly armed and irrational in a highly populated place and the police take him down without anyone else getting hurt, them I’m not going to second guess the tactics. If the guy hadn’t pulled a knife on innocent people, he wouldn’t have gotten shot..

This is not well thought out, given the study cited above.

230 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 10:38:00am

re: #224 Dark_Falcon

In a case where someone is clearly armed and irrational in a highly populated place and the police take him down without anyone else getting hurt, them I’m not going to second guess the tactics. If the guy hadn’t pulled a knife on innocent people, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.

Better one nutjob gets shot than the nutjob stabs 4 people, as happened on a train out of Chicago last night.

A knife requires close contact, a gun doesn’t. Only people within striking distance are in danger, but they are also within the danger zone of a bullet. Depending on the circumstance of course, it makes more sense to use techniques that put others in less danger than what the threat does. If they can’t close enough to use pepper spray, then the use of a Taser is warranted.

In a society that prides itself on its civility guns should be the last resort not the first.

231 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 10:44:09am

re: #179 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

I recall hearing Rush Limbaugh maintain back during the Clinton years that a surplus was bad because it meant government was taking more from us than it needed to operate, and that was imoral.

Demonstrating yet again that the so-called conservatives don’t give a damn about national debt except as weapon to bash ‘liberals’ with.

232 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 10:48:30am

re: #198 Justanotherhuman

This is a seriously deadly typhoon.

[Embedded content]

I recognize that area of the world from The Battle of Leyte Gulf.

233 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 10:49:42am

Conservatives are prone to making sharp divisions between groups so life becomes a perpetual conflict between them or us, the chosen few against the evil of the many. It helps when it comes to making quick decisions, but is problematic when context or consequences are not clear cut.

It looks to me that the police are being taught that there is a sharp division between the good guys and the bad guys, supposedly to help them make quick decisions when it comes to life and death. What they haven’t been taught, or perhaps what is being taught hasn’t overcome their earlier learning, is that skin colour, head coverings, or even neighbourhood is not a valid or reliable way of categorizing the bad guys.

234 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 10:53:17am

re: #208 Dark_Falcon

That knife’s big enough to cut a gun out of your hand, Lawhawk, and its big enough to inflict a fatal wound. That’s all that matters.

I looked at that and my mind ran through tonfa techniques against a knife. I know all of those and I’m not even an LEO.

235 Dark_Falcon  Dec 6, 2014 10:53:55am

re: #232 Romantic Heretic

I recognize that area of the world from The Battle of Leyte Gulf.

That fits, since Halsey’s carrier task force got hit by a typhoon soon after the battle and lost three destroyers to the storm.

As a note, I have to sign off in about 15-20 minutes to go to lunch. I’m letting folks know now so they won’t think I’m running from a discussion.

236 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 10:54:13am

The image the US has among the other cultures of the world is of a cowboy - shoot first, ask questions later, consequences be damned.

This is an unfair assessment, of course, but what is being shown to the world right now is in a sense validating that view.

237 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 10:59:57am

re: #236 b_sharp

The image the US has among the other cultures of the world is of a cowboy - shoot first, ask questions later, consequences be damned.

This is an unfair assessment, of course, but what is being shown to the world right now is in a sense validating that view.

The only quibble I have with your post is that the current assessment is unfair. Looking pretty accurate to me today.

238 b_sharp  Dec 6, 2014 11:02:34am

Yay! It’s shopping time! Time to go get groceries with a woman who randomly wanders through the store because her list isn’t organized by aisle and she wants to get the frozen stuff last.

Thankfully she’s on her pre-diet liquid diet so the list is short.

239 makeitstop  Dec 6, 2014 11:02:42am

The net effect of all these shootings is that it’s getting really difficult to trust any law enforcement at this point.

And I’m an old white man. I can only imagine the level of mistrust among young minorities.

240 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 11:09:21am

re: #239 makeitstop

The net effect of all these shootings is that it’s getting really difficult to trust any law enforcement at this point.

And I’m an old white man. I can only imagine the level of mistrust among young minorities.

I’ve been feeling the same jeebies. It’s like Schrodinger’s cop - might be a great and ethical person stopping you for a traffic thing but how can you know anymore?

241 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 11:12:41am

re: #238 b_sharp

Yay! It’s shopping time! Time to go get groceries with a woman who randomly wanders through the store because her list isn’t organized by aisle and she wants to get the frozen stuff last.

Thankfully she’s on her pre-diet liquid diet so the list is short.

Who goes on a diet in December? Doesn’t she know that there are no calories in holiday foods? :D

242 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 6, 2014 11:41:34am

For those who always wanted a luxo car but couldn’t afford one:
Top 14 Status Symbol Cars at Bargain Prices

243 ObserverArt  Dec 6, 2014 11:58:50am

For the last two weeks all I have read is people going out of their way to justify why all these people end up dead by cop.

Sure would be nice if we could take some of that energy and try to justify police need better ways to apprehend people that don’t result in unjust death.

In each case it was the overreaction by the police that led to the results. It was not the initial crimes. Think about that. Justify that.

What is the consistent factor? The police response once on scene.

None of the infractions prior to the cops coming onto the scene were huge crimes. How do so many justify the outcomes??? Isn’t it just as easy to see this as huge problem? Or, are all those people fine with it all?

My brain must not work right, because I do not see how all these people so easily accept all this as acceptable.

244 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 6, 2014 12:12:43pm

re: #243 ObserverArt

My brain must not work right, because I do not see how all these people so easily accept all this as acceptable.

Ever since 9/11 we’ve been told that we should be afraid, very, very, afraid of all of the dangerous people out there because they could get us at any place, at any time. We were also told that unfettered and unquestioned use of force was and is the only way to deal with those dangerous people. The definition of “dangerous people” has come to include not only those who pose an active threat but to those who simply make us uncomfortable. It’s become acceptable to bomb a village or blow away a wedding party because someone there might be dangerous. It’s become acceptable to shoot and kill black people because they, too, might be dangerous.

245 makeitstop  Dec 6, 2014 12:19:54pm

re: #244 Higgs Boson’s Mate

Ever since 9/11 we’ve been told that we should be afraid, very, very, afraid of all of the dangerous people out there because they could get us at any place, at any time. We were also told that unfettered and unquestioned use of force was and is the only way to deal with those dangerous people. The definition of “dangerous people” has come to include not only those who pose an active threat but to those who simply make us uncomfortable. It’s become acceptable to bomb a village or blow away a wedding party because someone there might be dangerous. It’s become acceptable to shoot and kill black people because they, too, might be dangerous.

Add to that the by-now largely-accepted wisdom that all police are ‘heroes’ (with the accompanying inference of infallibility), and you’ve got a majority of the populace that believes that if a cop does the killing, there’s an inherent justification for it.

And what’s worse than most of the public buying into the ‘hero’ mythos - it appears now that most of the police have bought into it, too.

246 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:30:10pm

re: #244 Higgs Boson’s Mate

It’s become acceptable to shoot and kill black people because they, too, might be dangerous.

That’s been the meme all my life.

Yet, the only people who have ever done me any harm were white.

247 ObserverArt  Dec 6, 2014 12:33:51pm

re: #245 makeitstop

Add to that the by-now largely-accepted wisdom that all police are ‘heroes’ (with the accompanying inference of infallibility), and you’ve got a majority of the populace that believes that if a cop does the killing, there’s an inherent justification for it.

And what’s worse than most of the public buying into the ‘hero’ mythos - it appears now that most of the police have bought into it, too.

Yes, I too have mention the hero moniker in comments. I said it just the other day. I mentioned I have a high bar to meet for who gets to be a hero. It comes from deeds not from a badge and uniform. It is not automatic, it is earned.

248 ObserverArt  Dec 6, 2014 12:34:49pm

re: #246 Justanotherhuman

That’s been the meme all my life.

Yet, the only people who have ever done me any harm were white.

But white harm is so much better than harm by other colors.

///

249 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:37:09pm

This doesn’t just happen in movies. It was probably heroin which is becoming a big problem in NC.

3 dead, 3 others hospitalized after suspected ingestion of cocaine, sheriff’s office in Chatham County, NC, says; deaths occurred within 1 hour of taking the drugs - @ABC11_WTVD
read more on abc11.com

250 Higgs Boson's Mate  Dec 6, 2014 12:38:19pm

re: #246 Justanotherhuman

That’s been the meme all my life.

Yet, the only people who have ever done me any harm were white.

I’m a white guy. Oddly enough, other than those Vietnamese who were justifiably trying to kill me, I can say the same as you.

251 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:47:44pm

What a horrible day. Along with the mayhem of cops and other bad news going on, it’s been raining all day here, and I’m suffering the effects of the course of the “cure” of Cipro, potassium and Flagyl given to me over a week ago, along with the bland diet (no spices or natural form foods, like nuts, seeds, grains, etc). Must cook veggies to death, also. I do have a qt of Fage plain yogurt, but even eating a full cup of it doesn’t satisfy, although it could be putting back the good bacteria I need for my gut.

And I’m craving white carbs like a monster.

252 Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2014 12:49:26pm
253 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 12:49:49pm

re: #251 Justanotherhuman

What a horrible day. Along with the mayhem of cops and other bad news going on, it’s been raining all day here, and I’m suffering the effects of the course of the “cure” of Cipro, potassium and Flagyl given to me over a week ago, along with the bland diet (no spices or natural form foods, like nuts, seeds, grains, etc). Must cook veggies to death, also. I do have a qt of Fage plain yogurt, but even eating a full cup of it doesn’t satisfy, although it could be putting back the good bacteria I need for my gut.

And I’m craving white carbs like a monster.

I guess drinking is out, too?

254 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:49:53pm

In the who-gives-a-shit dept:

The New Republic will not publish its next issue, after dozens of editorial staffers resigned in the wake of company shakeup - @adage
read more on adage.com

255 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:50:30pm

re: #253 allegro

I guess drinking is out, too?

Definitely. Not even a glass of vino.

But you can. : )

256 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 12:54:55pm

re: #255 Justanotherhuman

Definitely. Not even a glass of vino.

But you can. : )

Now that REALLY blows. If not for those 2 stiff rum & cokes I had last night I may have punched a hole in the wall after the way my day went. It was like if one more things goes wrong, I will go freaking berserk. And then it did. And then something else did.

257 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:56:28pm

Unfit much?

On Job Application, Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Listed ‘Under-The-Table Jobs’ As Prior Employment

thinkprogress.org

258 allegro  Dec 6, 2014 12:58:01pm

re: #257 Justanotherhuman

Unfit much?

On Job Application, Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Listed ‘Under-The-Table Jobs’ As Prior Employment

thinkprogress.org

Actually, according to his application he listed that as a reason for leaving his job as “unemployed.” Not a mental giant here.

259 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 12:59:24pm

re: #256 allegro

Now that REALLY blows. If not for those 2 stiff rum & cokes I had last night I may have punched a hole in the wall after the way my day went. It was like if one more things goes wrong, I will go freaking berserk. And then it did. And then something else did.

If I could just sneak a couple of hits, but no, NC will take its time making pot legal—if ever, at least in my lifetime, even for medical purposes. : (

260 A Mom Anon  Dec 6, 2014 1:00:01pm

I am just astonished at the level of denial in this country over the corruption and lack of training in regards to the police. This is what happens when you underfund, lower standards and turn a blind eye in the name of “saving the taxpayers money”. Another fine example of breaking government so it can be said “See? It’s broken, let private business take over”.

The asshole that killed the little boy in Cleveland FELL ASLEEP during the classroom part of his firearms training, his instructors said he was a horrible recruit and yet the police department put him out on the street with a gun. How many other cops in how many other cities are that unqualified? There’s no way in hell that this is some rarity.

When I was a kid my grandma used to tell me that when you ignore lessons they come at you bigger and worse til you wake the hell up. I shudder to think, with all we’ve seen in the last 15 years that’s been ignored, rationalized and explained away, what in the hell it’s going to take before things change.

I am heartbroken, both personally and just with “the way things are” right now. I find myself crying all the time now and I am generally a happy human being. I can’t stand this, I really just can’t.

261 Justanotherhuman  Dec 6, 2014 1:04:50pm

Yeah, people are being killed all over. There may be indictments coming in “Bridgegate” but what the hell is Christie doing about these kinds of things? What has he ever done but promote himself?

Official: 2 dead, 9 hospitalized in Passaic incident involving carbon monoxide

northjersey.com

These people never had a chance.

262 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 1:28:29pm

re: #246 Justanotherhuman

That’s been the meme all my life.

Yet, the only people who have ever done me any harm were white.

In my case almost all of them were white ‘conservatives’. Like the bully I co-wrote two novels with.

263 Romantic Heretic  Dec 6, 2014 1:30:14pm

re: #252 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Tweet this back at him.

abstrusegoose.com

264 unproven innocence  Dec 6, 2014 3:32:07pm

re: #68 Teukka

OT, but in the category “WTF is this world coming to?”:
m.thelocal.fr

IIRC, this sort of thing has happened before.


This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ...
Cheechako
3 days ago
Views: 122 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
2 weeks ago
Views: 285 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1