Yesterday In History (What Can I Say, I Forgot About Yesterday)

Yesterday, August 1, 2016 was the 50th anniversary of the University of Texas, Austin, Tower Shootings. The gunman, Charles Whitman, shot 49 people and killed 16 of them. He already had also killed his mother and his wife earlier that morning. After his death, an autopsy (that he had requested in his writings) revealed a necrotic tumor in his brain but it was never concluded if the tumor led to rampage. Prior to the shootings, Whitman had suffered from apparent mental health issues for some time and had fits of violent rage. He sought medical and psychiatric help evidently to no avail.


While I remember a lot of the general story from my youth, I was 10 at the time this happened, I did not recall the details. I found an interesting detailed piece on it over at Wikipedia. Read more about him there. There are many interesting points in his story but I found one of the most so to be the amount of preparation he put into carrying out his killing spree. Hasty as were those preparations, they were extensive nonetheless. It is evident that he had plannedto be shooting for a long time if he could. If he had better fortified his position to prevent access to the police, he may have been up there for days before they stopped him. Luckily, he was killed by a shotgun wielding officer after another officer had gotten the jump on him and fired all six shots out of his revolver at Whitman but missed with all of them from about 50 feet away. (I swear my last post was written before I even became aware of this stuff; yet, the officer getting him with the shotgun and the other officer missing with all 6 shots from his revolver, support what I said in that other post regarding a shotgun versus a pistol.)

A hat tip to Dom Di who had a post about the shooting up on his FB page.

All the best,
Glenn B

1970s Era Shotgun Tactical Training Video

I had to watch his twice to believe what I was hearing and seeing. I began my career in law enforcement at the tail end, right at the end of the tail, of the 70s. In the 1980's I took on collateral duties as a firearms instructor for handgun, rifle and shotgun and later for the MP-5 submachine gun. One of my preferred weapons throughout that time all the way through today has been the Remington 870 shotgun.

While some good points are made in this video about the spread of buckshot and other types of shot and the dangers caused by that to innocent bystanders, I find a lot of what is said in this training piece to be off target. My personally preferred round in my 870 shotguns has usually been 1 ounce slugs although I also carry buckshot in case a situation calls for it. As to me usually loading with slugs, there are no "spread" problems when it comes to slugs. Had the officer who shot the bad guy, in the first scenario of this video, been firing slugs, chances are he would have hit the bad guy and no one else. On the other hand, when the training officer claims that the officer would have put down the bad guy with a single shot from his revolver, that is doubtful to me. Would the officer have hit him with a revolver shot, under stress of incoming fire, in a standing unsupported position, at a distance of 50 yards (which was the distance that was attributed to that shooting)? It would have had to have been one heck of a great shot. A shotgun, shooting slugs, is a very effective weapon at a distance of 50 yards yet the training officer only mentions that slugs are a good choice when deep penetration is required. The truth is though that the likelihood of hitting the bad guy with one shot from the shotgun generally would have increased an officer's chances of hitting the bad guy several fold over his being able to do so with a revolver. As for this particular department, apparently the Pasadena PD in California, it could have been that the department in question only allowed officers to utilize buckshot when on routine patrols. If that was the case, I think they should have switched to slugs or at least have given the officers that option.

Some other things that I found less than acceptable in that video were: the officer firing with other people in the line of fire regardless of the weapon or type of ammo he was firing. That problem persists today throughout police departments and law enforcement agencies within the United States. You can read about police shooting an innocent bystander either directly or by way of a ricochet just about every few weeks or so. In some situations it may be impossible to avoid such a threat to bystander but still be necessary to shoot the bad guy to prevent a greater threat to the public than would be caused by your shot should it go astray. At other times though, and I think this is in most instances, you may have to withhold fire when innocents are in the line of fire. In that regard, the training officer made a very important note, you may not even see the bystanders. Remember to assess as each and every situation unfolds.

Then there was the training officer standing there displaying his revolver with finger on the trigger. Even as the 70s came to an end we were trained to keep the booger picker off of the trigger until ready to shoot. It may have been different in other agencies or departments but safety was a high priority in my agency. We had one guy, on my first LE job, who refused to pay attention to that and he wound up shooting himself in his thigh while drawing with his finger on the trigger and the thumb snap still closed. The gun did not come out of the holster immediately and he tugged harder, finger still on trigger and still forgetting to hit the thumb snap.  It went bang and he went to the ER. So, it was something I paid attention to and faithfully have practiced since then.

Of course, there were also the potentially problematic and dangerous use of police commands used on at least one stop. Did you pay attention to the commands used by the officer who stopped the vehicle with three suspects in it. He sad: "Freeze, stay in your car and put your hands on your heads". Do you see the problem with that, it too is a problem that persists today and I do not mean using the word 'freeze'. What I am referring to is the use of contradictory commands. How can someone who has complied with a command to freeze then also move to put his hands on his head. Commands like that not only confuse suspects but can also confuse officers during such a stressful situation. Another officer may have heard the command freeze, say as he drove by the first officer to turn around his vehicle, and either not heard or not paid attention to the first officer then saying put your hands on your head. That second officer seeing the suspects raise their hands might then perceive a threat that simply is not there because the suspects would in fact be complying with the first officer's commands. That could lead to a suspect being shot though not posing a threat.

If you are going to stop a suspect and tell him not to move, give him the chance to stay motionless for at least a couple to few seconds as you assess the situation. It may be prudent to assure that you do not see any weapons within his reach over his head, in a hat band, or otherwise nearby before you tell him to put his hands up or on his head. You may also want to preface the second command, the one to put his hands on his head, with the word "now" so it is obvious that you have a new command starting at this moment. Also, why have all three suspects move at once. It usually is easier, at least for me, to watch one guy move while the other two remain motionless than to observe all three moving at once. Tell one of them to do it, then the next and then the next as the others remain motionless while the one is moving.

If you are in law enforcement in an armed encounter, or a homeowner protecting his family, paying attention to stuff like this may save your life, prevent you from shooting a bystander and may also help keep you out of jail for a wrongful shooting.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Sounds Of Silence...

...by Simon and Garfunkel (vocals mostly if not all by Garfunkel) has been one of my favorite songs for almost as long as I can remember. It was released in 1964, the year I turned 9, and that year is quite special to me. You may already know that if you have seen my signature line of years gone by: "When I look in the mirror, I am happy to see, some of the nine year old boy, who used to be me" but I will not now go into why 9 was such a personally significant year for me. Let me just assure you it was such and that song was part of it.

As for The Sounds Of Silence, by Simon and Garfunkel, the esoterically bittersweet lyrics accompanied by a truly somber yet heavenly melodic musical accompaniment has been deeply branded it into the memory of my soul. For many years, decades in fact, I thought there could be no match for it as sung by the duo who originally gave it to us, that is until this evening. It was not really the singing of it by a different vocalist with his deeply somber and heavily resonating voice that made it so very different than the original version but it had a newly acquired soul piercing quality about it because it was accompanied by a video while being sung by that hauntingly spiritual voice. This newer version, accompanied by the video, truly has made me shiver to the essence of my core. It is The Sound(s) of Silence - Blue Version. 

I guess that because I spent 32 years in law enforcement, this version with the video has reverberated through my being equally as much, if not more, as did the original when I was young and full of dreams and hopes and piss and vinegar during those times of never ending hopes for a better world. Funny, nothing in me has really changed sine then, I am still full of all four but I never imagined this song being directed at the listener the way this video frames when sung by the group Disturbed. I don't know if this group ever envisioned the song being paired with such a video; in fact I am almost 100% certain that Simon and Garfunkel never imagined it. Yet, here it is and it's about those who serve us right here at home, each and every day and whose lives are often at risk for us often without our ever even knowing or caring and with us taking them for granted as we do with all too many of the good things in our lives. 

The only other thing I can say about this is that this version has humbled me.
 

A hat tip to mein gut freund Richie M who sent this video to me.

All the best,
Glenn B

'Glenn Come Quick Someone Is In The Yard...

...there is a man in the yard sitting in the gazebo and drinking beer'. Well anyway, that is as close as I can remember as to what my wife excitedly and nervously told me about 20 or 30 or so minutes. I was about to go out to confront the guy and then had the prudent idea to ask my wife if our son was home. She said yes and I told her to go get him. When Brendan came to our side door, I had another wise thought, I told him to get his shotgun to back me up just in case.

While Brendan went back upstairs, my wife explained that she had gone out to close he gate and then saw this guy in our yard. She went over to him thinking it must be one of my son's friends and she saw it was an unknown drunk having a beer or whatever (can in a bag sort of a thing) in our gazebo in the back of our yard. I told her she was nuts to have gone out there and to standby in the kitchen ready to call 911 just in case. As I was waiting for Brendan and his Mossberg 500, Linda said 'the guy is leaving'. Brendan showed up just then and I told him to back me up but to stay inside the house with the firepower.

I went out, carrying concealed, and confronted the guy who was apparently quite drunk. It was the "I've been that drunk before" kind of a drunk, the kind that Wirecutter often posts about. The guy spoke little English so, I spoke mostly Spanish since he was obviously Hispanic. His only explanation as to why he was in my backyard was that he was very drunk and had been looking for the bus or train. He was not apologetic but was seemingly very willing to leave as far as I could make out. Maybe he saw my son or maybe an angry old man of a homeowner was enough, I do not know. I escorted him through our back gate. Yes, he had to open the gate to get back there and then left it wide open which is why my wife went out in the first place, she saw the gate open when she let one of the dogs out and yes Pepe, one of our Chihuahuas, started barking like crazy at the guy. Anyway, as the drunk departed he asked how to get to either a bus or train station. I told him and he headed that way more or less in a drunken sort of waltz down our street.

I should note that all the while he had his hands in plain view and he made no sudden moves, like going for his pockets or striking at me, that almost certainly would have at least had me pouncing on him or maybe even shooting him depending on the circumstances at the moment. When I first approached we wound up face to face, chest to chest, or in other words squared off to one another but I quickly turned to blade myself in a fighting stance to avoid a kick to the nuts or whatever and I backed off a bit. Besides that, I had competent backup just inside the doroway. Anyway, no violence was needed just some loud and authoritative talking to in order to get him to leave and hopefully never come back. I will admit, he had good taste, our gazebo may be small but it has some comfortable chairs in it. Makes me wonder if he has been here before. The only other thing I maybe should have done was checked his ID and then have my wife take a photo of it and of him.

After he was gone, I immediately called 911. I declined having an officer come to my house to fill out a report, it would be a waste of their time and mine since it would be unlikely to go anywhere. However, I figured the police ought to have his description, his apparent drunken condition and know he had been trespassing and scared the heck out of my wife. I wanted to assure - that if he wound up in another backyard in the neighborhood (or even back in ours) and fell down and got hurt or maybe got shot (more likely beaten up since this is anti-gun NY) by a homeowner - that the police would know he had already been trespassing somewhere else and scaring the shit of the lady of the house. Thus, should some other homeowner, renter, resident or whoever actually had to take some sort of action against the guy, they would have a little more credibility as to why whatever they might have done to the guy whatever got done. You know, anything legal to help a neighbor defend himself and his loved ones as the suspect lay in a hospital bed recuperating or on a morgue slab cooling.

All the best,
Glenn B

Yet Another Lie About Herself Being a Do-Gooder?

Hillary evidently included a bit in her speech about how she aided a wheelchair bong girl get to school because schools in New Bedford, MA were not accessible to the handicapped back in 1973. It evidently turns out that no schools being handicapped accessible was just about as pure a pile of bullshit as bullshit could be pure. More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Wonder If This Guy Was Considered As Sane As John Hinckley...

...when they released him from the hospital where he reportedly had been for most of the last month because he was suicidal? He was so much better upon his release from the hospital that he went to a local Costco, took a knife from the shelves, then started to threaten people - all within hours of his release. One man was the wrong guy to threaten, an off duty corrections officer. The officer was confronted by the knife wielding man who continuously advanced on the officer until the officer finally shot him (source). 

Luckily, for the officer, the man was apparently truly suicidal and evidently looking to be taken down by someone in uniform as in suicide by cop. Otherwise, had the man been intent on harming someone else, the officer would have been likely to have been either seriously injured or killed considering how close he let the man approach him with the knife. While on one hand I can admire the officer's restraint before shooting, I have to wonder was it restraint or anxiety prompted hesitation possibly caused by a thought that maybe he would be prosecuted if he shot him regardless of the guy threatening his life. Then again, maybe it was just not wanting to hurt another person but it could have gotten the officer killed. Anyway, the officer was totally justified in shooting him as I see it.

Hat tip to Ken L. on whose blog I first saw this.

All the best,
Glenn B

If Hillary Clinton Wins The Presidency, I Predict...

...a separation for them - a terminal one. The them is, of course, she and Bill. I am almost willing to bet my last dollar that if Hillary is elected, Bill will either commit suicide or come down with an ailment that suddenly kills him or that he will have a terrible and fatal accident out of the blue or will otherwise cease to exist under similar spur of the moment circumstances. It seems to be a Clinton sort of thing that happens to people around them when those people are no longer needed by the Clintons. Think about it. I mean, if she is elected - what will she need Bill Clinton for ever again!

All the best,
Glenn B

Office Furniture Could Mean A Lot To A President...

...named Hillary. Think of it this way:

 

All the best,
Glenn B

Sick of Political Parties? Try This One!

A hat tip to Michael P for that one.

All the best,
GB

Watch Out For Those Sugar Highs...

...they can be dangerous for reasons you ay never have suspected. A man in Florida was arrested after police found what they said was crystal meth on the floor of his vehicle. He swore it was something else and was eventually released with all charges dropped. More here.

All the best,
Glenn  B

John Hinckley Jr. - One Has To Wonder...

...or at least should wonder, just how much if anything Hinckley was exposed to about Donald Trump by his doctors and other care givers (at least the leftists among them) in the hopes that once he got out he would again take up his role as Taxi Driver. The timing of his release, with the elections forthcoming, are probably just coincidental - right!

Note too that since his doctors reportedly have all sworn he is no longer any sort of a threat and thus is virtually cured if not completely so, my bet would be that he can have any restrictions on him buying firearms terminated. Wow, think about that one!

All the best,
Glenn B

Yeah, What It Says!

 

All the best,

GB

Keep The Door Open...

...or make sure the folks you work with can keep their mouths shut.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Puttered Around Today With This And That...

...in the garden and with the upgrade to Windows 10 and may even start painting the basement walls this evening after dinner. For the most part though, I have not don much. It's just too darned hot outside to do the weed pulling that needs to be done. I may wait until around 9 or 10 PM tonight for that. I won't use Roundup though; I used that crap last year and was very careful to avoid getting it on my Japanese Maple Tree but the tree had several branches die off right after that regardless of my having been careful. I think the runoff with the chemicals in it got to the tree roots. It's doing okay now but is nowhere nearly as nice as it had been before that.

Anyway, here is the sentiment for the day at 95 degrees and about 30% humididity:

 

Stay cool and un-sober for the weekend (as long as not driving, shooting or doing other things during which it would be foolish o drink).

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

Windows 10 Upgrade Completed

Well, it seems as if this time, after almost exactly 2 hours of upgrade time, the upgrade to MS Windows 10 has taken hold and the old laptop seems to be working okay. Of course, I have not turned it off since the upgrade completed about 6 minutes or so ago - so who knows for sure if it will reboot as it should. I am keeping my fingers crossed but am pretty certain it is okay since none of what I am seeing now happened last time. last time it just crashed and would not reboot. Now to get used to all the new and apparently very intrusive operating system. One of the first things I will be doing is to turn off as many of the Windows 10 snooping applications that I can turn off. Then I have to figure out if I want to disable MS Edge and use only IE or if I want to keep Edge running.

All the best,
GB

MS Windows 10 Upgrade Attempt In Progress

Wish me luck with this please. The last time I attempted to upgrade to the MS Windows 10 operating system, my laptop crashed miserably. It took me many, many, many attempts (at least most of a day if not days) before I was successfully able to restore it to operating condition. I would like to install the upgrade and am trying again after first making sure that everything on the laptop has been updated with the most recent drivers, creating recovery disks, and after doing a backup to a portable hard drive. According to the first step of the upgrade, it says my laptop is compatible with MS10 but that also is what it said the last time. Hoping for the best.

All the best,
Glenn B

Potato Vodka...

...in Crystal Light lemonade is nice at a ratio of about 4.5 ounces of vodka to 14-15 ounces of lemonade. Three of them tends to make one rather mellow on a hot summer night. Not that I would drink three of them, just saying is all.

All the best,
GB

The Job Search Continues

Over the past three weeks or so, I have applied for about 15 jobs (maybe even 20). I heard back from one, they said I was not qualified for some reason or another that they had not listed as a requirement in the announcement for the position but mentioned when they said I did not have the qualifications (truthfully, I was over qualified for that one). I also got called in for a single interview. Not a word was forthcoming from anyplace else where I applied.

As for the interview, that took place yesterday. I got a haircut the day before to make sure I looked very presentable @ $20.00. Yesterday, I got up at 0600 and donned a conservative dark gray suit, a white dress shirt, and nice conservative tie. I was out of the house at 8 and walked a mile to the Long Island Rail Road from where I took a train into Manhattan. The one way ticket was $11.50. When I got to Penn Station, I took the NYC subway downtown to the appropriate stop, another $2.50or maybe $2.75. I

 arrived at the interview location about 10 minutes early. I went to the third floor as instructed and was escorted to the second floor - go figure. I waited in the interview room for about 5 to 7 minutes. I was interviewed by two women for a grand total of 4 minutes at most, maybe it was only 3 minutes. I was not asked for either my résumé nor my armed guard license nor my pistol license - all of which it was highly stressed I bring with me. I was told about several openings in NY City but not one word about the job that I had put in for on Long Island. The available jobs were not even the same as the one for which I had applied. Then I was told that if the boss was interested in me, I would be called back for another interview. I graciously said thanks, told them to have a nice day and a nice weekend, and left.

On the way out, I was approached in the hallway by a black lab that had been roaming the office. It was sniffing at me intently. I said hi to the dog and stopped to see if it was amenable to being petted. It was not, it just sniffed a bit more and turned away.  The interview was for an armed security job, one of the jobs they offered me was as a canine officer to handle a bomb sniffing dog that I would have to shelter in my home. I guess the lab hit on the Glock 26 I had on my hip but who knows, maybe it was just curious as to who was the guy in the suit on a 90+ degree day. I just told the dog to have a nice day and walked out the door. I really meant it when I said it to the dog. I do not expect to hear from them again about a job offer.

I had to pay another $2.50 or $2.75 for the subway, another $8 and change for the LIRR (an off peak ticket as opposed to a peak ticket on the inbound trip) and went home but only after having lunch with a former co-worker and friend. Lunch with my pal was enjoyable, we had a lot of catching up to do. I am very happy I decided to call him to see if he was in his office and available for lunch.

About the interview: I have to wonder, why the fuck did I even bother calling them back to arrange it. It seems to have been a waster of money and time. My guess is they thought I was too old but who can tell. Even their fucking black lab was not very friendly. Anyway, I am still looking for a new job.

All the best,
Glenn B

This Is One Of The Most Baffling Shootings...

...that I have ever heard about. Police are now claiming that the officer(s) was or were shooting at the guy sitting there. That would be the autistic man who as holding a toy truck. Yet, they fired multiple shots and hit the other guy, the one they had ordered down on the ground and who seemingly had his hands raised in the air AND who had explained to the police that the man sitting next to him was autistic, escaped from a care center, did not have a gun, had a toy truck and was not a threat (source).

Bang-bang, shoot-shoot; happiness is not always warm gun! Folks, if you are going to shoot someone, you had better assess the situation and determine shooting is justified before you shoot.

All the best,
Glenn B

Cruz Went Way Beyond Kasich

Let's face it folks Governor Kasich proved himself a piss pants whining spoiled brat when he stayed in the running for the Republican presidential nomination while not standing any possible chance of winning it except by what in essence would have been cheating. Then he continued to show his true colors by refusing to attend the Republican National Convention. I guess though that was to be expected after his childish, rotten child at that, behavior during the months leading up to the convention.
 
Cruz, on the other hand, seemed like a responsible adult for the most part during the debates and all of the months leading up to the convention. Once things were seriously underway, I for one had thought him the best choice among all the candidates for the Republican nod. Then though, it became obvious that the voters overwhelmingly preferred Trump and that Trump would come out on top. In other words, there was not a chance for any other Republican candidate to come even close to the amount of votes he had garnered. What was a responsible person, who definitely would not vote for or in any way assist Hillary Clinton, to do? It was obvious the answer was: Support Donald J. Trump for president.

It did not matter if you were once Trump's rival, it did not matter if you platforms were different, it did not matter that you liked or disliked Trump, it did not matter if it was personal and Trump had insulted you - what mattered was that you had to do, were obliged to do, were compelled to do what was best for America. By the time of the convention, that was to support Trump 100%. Ted Cruz thought otherwise and he got up on stage and showed how little of an American he was by refusing to endorse Donald Trump. He showed himself to be in essence a sniveling little brat boy and did that the very next day when he came out and tried to defend his failure to endorse Trump by talking about his own personal issues that he had with Trump, basically saying he could never endorse anyone who had insulted his family. This from a man who had been running for the nomination as the Republican candidate for the presidency - his feelings were hurt and thus he could not do what was right!
 
Let me tell you something about America and loyalty to her. I worked in the federal government for 32 years. I (and every other federal law enforcement officer) took an oath, more than once, and was sworn thusly (or very similar to it): 

'I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.'

Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator who also swore to defend and uphold the very same Constitution by way of a very similar oath of office, was more concerned about his personal feelings when it came to Donald Trump's nomination than he was about defending the Constitution from a want to be tyrant the likes of Hillary Clinton. Let's face it - Cruz would have run against her had he won the nomination and he would have done so vehemently but he did not win it. Yet, for Cruz and any Republican, Conservative or freedom loving American citizen, the utter defeat of Hillary Clinton in her bid for the presidency and protecting America should remain the primary goals in this election. Cruz was too small of a person to see that and decided that his feelings were more important than the future of the United States of America. What he did, when he failed to endorse Trump, was to assist Clinton in her bid to become president. Because of that, I am certain that I could never, and I do mean never, support Cruz should he run for the presidency again at some time in the future. Since his life, his loyalty, his politics seemingly are ruled by such petty emotions, in the face of the protection of our Constitution and of our country, how could I or anyone do anything but oppose him. Damn, he sounded like our nemesis, he sounded like Hillary Clinton making excuses as she always does.

All the best,
Glenn B

One Lucky Police Officer & Maybe One Not So Lucky

So there was a probably mentally deranged man or wrong doer on a city bus in Oklahoma City and the guy was making trouble and trying to keep the bus driver from stopping at any stops. The bus driver finally has had enough and orders folks off of the bus; I am guessing his timing had to do with seeing police officers on the street where he stopped or quite possibly the police had pulled over the bus. (I found it difficult to readily understand the suspect but it sure sounded to me as if he mentioned the police in his rant to the driver once or tree times.) The people get off and the driver then tells a police officer on the sidewalk that this is the guy indicating the trouble maker. The officer draws her weapon and advances on the suspect. You watch it and someone please explain to me why she offered him her gun to be taken from her - anyway it sure looks that way to me.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5041079038001/warning-graphic-video-fatal-shooting-on-city-bus/?#sp=show-clips

It must have looked that way to the bad guy too because he dropped the fire extinguisher that he seemingly tried to throw at her and then lunged for her pistol. They wound up in a life or death struggle with the officer evidently screaming in panic for her partner as her gun possibly fires. Her partner gets on the bus, pistol drawn, and tries to take aim at the suspect, cannot do so, the female officer and suspect fall to the floor with her on top, the male officer closes in and pulls his partner off of the bad guy and fires a several shots at him until the guy stops moving and thus is no longer a threat.

I am not sure why the female officer drew her service weapon. I am not faulting her in any way for having done so; for all I know the guy was a fleeing murder suspect. That he had been fleeing from someone seems quite likely by his nervous actions, his possibly mentioning the police, his actions with the fire extinguisher for the police boarded the bus and by what he said to the bus driver about not stopping the bus. What I find hard to believe is that a trained police officer held her gun out in front of her one handed like that, then approached the suspect at close range, as if the gun was a magic shield. What is not surprising is that the suspect tried to take it away from her when it was held out like that. She was a lucky officer indeed to have held onto her pistol and more importantly to have been accompanied by another officer who readily took action to save her.

The truly messed up thing is now a guy is dead at the hands of an officer who did no wrong as far as I could see but who will almost inevitably be suspended, get grilled over and over again, possibly face a grand jury, question himself for years to come and suffer long term post traumatic stress. That post traumatic stress and self doubting will all come whether or not his department and prosecutors find his actions fully justified or not because you can bet that the officer did not get out of bed that day chomping at the bit while hoping to kill someone.

Edited at 1210 to Add: The suspect was reportedly suffering mental problems, his wife reportedly claimed he had been violent in the recent past, and he had reportedly just carjacked a car with two women in it, among other things, before getting on the bus. The incident took place in June and police recently released the raw video footage of the incident on the bus that led to him being shot by the officer (source).

All the best,
Glenn B

A Bad Summer For Police - Another Officer EOW

Sadly, for another police officer, it is End Of Watch at the hands of criminals. The police officer, who was shot yesterday while responding to a 911 call about a drive by shooting in Kansas City, KS, has died. Robert David Melton, 46, was a 17 year veteran of the police department. My thoughts and prayers for his family and loved ones.

All the best,
Glenn B

Read This Long But Excellent Article About Modern Human Sacrifice

I just finished reading this tome of an article. I must say it was one of the most sensible things I have read when it comes to individuals like Obama or groups like Black Lives Matter or rich white liberals (and other leftists) blaming the white race for just about everything and then demanding a sacrificial someone to make their point. I suggest you grab a large beverage of your choosing before beginning. See:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263496/black-lives-matter-rich-white-liberals-and-human-danusha-v-goska#.V46m3CujAAp.facebook

A hat tip to John B who had the link on his FB page.

All the best,
Glenn B

Happy Birthday Mr. Peacemaker...

...or should I posthumously say happy birthday to the creator of the Peacemaker! Today is Samuel Colt's birthday. He was born on July 19, 1814 and died in January 1862. While he lived a short life, dying at 47, he certainly made a major impact on the world with his invention of the modern revolver. (No, he did not invent the revolver just the one that was used in modern times as opposed to an earlier flintlock version.)

More on Colt here.

Hat tip to Chris L for having a birthday wish to Colt on his FB page.

All the best,
GB

Some Handicapped Folks Seem To Have A Lot Of Free Time...

... well, at least one of them or one of their supporters seems to have had some time to spare.

I guess he was parked in a handicapped zone.

All the best,
GB