Blog

  • Recovering the Burned Flag

    It’s a video you won’t see in the mainstream media, which starts with Ferguson, Missouri protesters burning an American flag, then kicking it into the street. This is followed by one man using the flaming flag to light his cigarette.

    It then cuts to a car speeding by as four Missouri National Guardsmen and a police officer calmly walk across the street towards where the flag was burned.

    The videographer asked the cop if he knows anything about an incident where someone was removed from a vehicle. The officer tells him that he does, but that he cannot comment on what happened.

    Next, the police officer announces to the crowd of demonstrators, “Just so you know, the Guardsmen have come over to look for pieces of the American flag that got burned.”

    “Why is that?” the videographer asks.

    “Because it’s an American flag,” the officer answers.

    “It’s a piece of cloth,” he says over and over, finally adding, “I appreciate your guy’s service, but it’s a piece of cloth.”

    “But it means something to us,” one the Guardsmen replied.

    “It’s not their flag,” the videographer complains to the surrounding rioter, but his protestations go unanswered as the officer and four Guardsmen return to the opposite side of the street with the remnants of the burned flag they later disposed of properly.

  • A History of Criticizing Presidential Children

    Thomas Lincoln was known for herding his goat, through his mother’s tea parties, appointing himself toll taker on the White House stairway, making everyone give him a nickel before they could pass, and for once interrupting a Cabinet meeting so his father could sign a “pardon” for one of his dolls.  Teddy Roosevelt’s children, especially Quentin and Alice Roosevelt were also “terrors’.

    For example, when younger brother Archie was confined to his room with measles; Quentin got the family pony, Algonquin, on the White House elevator and up to Archie’s room. Alice smoked on the roof of the White House, drove at breakneck speeds, fired guns at telegraph poles from a moving train, jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed and sometimes appeared with her pet boa constrictor around her neck.

    In fact, after repeatedly interrupted an important meeting, a visitor insisted that the Roosevelt do something about his daughter.

    “I can either run the country or I can control Alice,” Roosevelt replied. “I cannot possibly do both.”

    Margaret Truman began a career as a concert vocalist, appearing on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” TV show.  However, in 1950, she gave a concert in Washington that was reviewed by Washington Post music critic Paul Hume.

    Hume trying to be diplomatic called her “a unique American phenomenon…extremely attractive on stage,” adding, “Miss Truman cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time.”

    Harry Truman threatened to kick Hume’s butt if they ever met.

    Susan Ford was criticized for wearing blue jeans in the White House, had her high school dates critiqued and humiliated when her mother told a national talk show that she “wouldn’t be surprised” if Susan had a premarital affair. Ford also busted out of the White House on one occasion running from secret service.

    Luci Johnson was reprimanded by the public for her “poor grades,” and Chelsea Clinton was made fun of for her looks and even mocked on a Wayne’s World skit on Saturday Night Live. Mike Myers later sent an apology to the White House after her parents complained.

    Jenna Bush was nailed for underage drinking twice, and both she and her twin, Barbara attempted to ditch their security agents. And for April fool’s Day 2005 spoof, Maxim published a photo illustration of Jenna and Barbara Bush, plumage in the air, sporting lingerie in what was meant to be the aftermath of a pillow fight.

    Amy Carter, who was ordered to go to state dinners by her father; she brought a book to read and was assailed for not showing the proper respect to heads of state. One reporter called her “a lamentably spoiled, perpetually tired, whining brat with miserable manners.”

    The Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, are not exempt from this – though Progressives everywhere wished they were.

    Tennessee’s Stephen Fincher’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Lauten criticized the sister’s teenaged behavior as their father issued his annual Thanksgiving turkey “pardon.” In a social media posting, Lauten told the girls to “try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play.”

    However, many think she took the chastising to far when she added, “Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much or the nation foe [sic] that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”

    Following the social media shit-storm she found herself in and a lengthy apology, Lauten resigned.

    While there is nothing extraordinary about her resignation, as a father, I would never let her posting go unanswered as President Obama did, allowing instead, his minions to do battle on his behalf. Rather, I would have defended my kids and ripped her a new one.

  • Looking for Racial Bias in a Bunch of Numbers

    It was Mark Twain who said, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

    The FBI collects records from local and state law enforcement every month as part of their Uniform Crime Reporting system, which is what they use to produce official reports on crime rates in the US.  Those records tell the FBI how many crimes were committed and what type, but it doesn’t say much about the characteristics of the victim, offender, or crime.

    Statistics show that Black-on-Black crime is far more common than the case of a White-on-Black crime. From the 2011-12 FBI files — 193 Blacks were killed by Whites, while 448 Whites were killed by Blacks and 2,447 Blacks were killed by Blacks.

    This isn’t surprising given that the U.S. is about 63 percent White and 12 percent Black.  So it isn’t hard to see how more Blacks might die in confrontations with police than Whites.

    There were 41 teens, 14 years or younger, reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012. Twenty-seven of them were Black; eight were White; four were Hispanic and one was Asian.

    There were 151 instances where police noted teens they had shot dead had been fleeing or resisting arrest at the time of the encounter. Sixty-seven percent of those killed in such circumstances were Black, while 15 teens shot fleeing arrest from 2010 to 2012, 14 were Black.

    Forty-four percent of all those killed by police across that 32 years span, were White. Black officers account for 10 percent of all fatal police shootings and of those they killed, 78 percent were black.

    White officers killed 91 percent of the whites who died at the hands of police. They were also responsible for 68 percent of people of color, killed.

    Seventy-seven percent of ‘undetermined shootings’ (those that didn’t list the circumstances) were black. Meanwhile, from 2005 to 2009, “officer under attack” was cited in 62 percent of police killings.

    What the numbers can’t show is ‘intent,’ ‘motive’ or ‘belief system.’

  • The Real Danger to the Community

    Larry McQuilliams targeted several buildings in Austin on the morning of November 28, including the Mexican Consulate, the United States Federal Courthouse and Austin Police headquarters within a 10-minute period. Police Chief Art Acevedo said at least 100 rounds were fired within that time frame.

    Now Acevedo wants the residents of Austin to turn friends and neighbors into the police so they can investigate them.

    “… It’s important for us as Americans to know our neighbors, know our families — tell somebody,” Acevedo said. “If you know somebody that is acting with a lot of hatred towards any particular group — especially if it’s somebody you know is a gun enthusiast or is armed with these type of firearms and they’re showing any kind of propensity for hatred — it doesn’t mean we’re going to take them to jail, but we might want to vet these people.”

    The danger isn’t so-called ‘police brutality,’ or ‘White cops killing Black men,” or a ‘militarized police force,’ it’s that men and women in positions of authority like Acevedo wants people inform on neighbors like the Gestapo or Stasi.

  • Where Murder and Protests Miss the Cut

    Zemir Begic came to the U.S. from Bosnia in 1996, moving first to Utica, NY, before settling in Waterloo, Iowa, then moving to St. Louis where he married Arijana Mujkanovic, six months ago. Begic died early Sunday morning in St. Louis after four kids walked up and began beating on his car using hammers.

    Mujkanovic was in the car when Begic got out confronting them and saw the teens striking her husband with the hammers, before running way. Begic died at St. Louis University Hospital after suffered multiple injuries to his head and abdomen.

    After news spread of the fatal attack, resident Bosnians took to the streets to voice their frustrations over what seems to be a developing trend in violence targeted at their community.

    “Some of the demonstrators recalled other recent Bosnian victims of violence,” reports St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “including Haris Gogic, 19, who was fatally shot in May 2013 by a robber in his family’s Bevo Mill convenience store.”

    Police arrested two male teens, ages 15 and 16 and are still looking for two others, a 16-year-old black male and a 15-year-old Hispanic male. Authorities have yet to release a motive for the attack.

    Many are why the mainstream media has yet to cover the newlywed’s death. Unfortunately, the answer is simple – it doesn’t fit the progressive narrative.

  • Will the Real Northern California Please Stand Up

    Dear National Media types:

    Every evening, while watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX news, I see your field correspondence having trouble figuring out where they are reporting from within the ‘Golden State.’ Please allow me to help.

    This is Northern California.
    Eel River

    This is NOT Northern California.
    san francisco

    Thank you. You can go back now, to your regular self-appointed position of being lapdogs for Progressives.

  • The Fallacy of Cop Cams

    The Obama administration plans to spend $263 million for police body cameras and training in the wake of the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.  The program would offer a total of $75 million over three years to match state funding for the cameras by 50 percent, helping to pay for more than 50,000 of the devices.

    The president says the funding would to help improve relations between police departments and minority communities, saying there is a “simmering distrust” between the two groups that extends well beyond the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

    Shortly after Michael Brown was shot and killed, New Orleans Police Officer Lisa Lewis got into a fight with a man during a traffic stop. During the fight, she shot Armand Bennet in the forehead.

    According to Lewis’ attorney, she was going off-shift when she pulled Bennet over and had already turned her body camera. Bennet survived, only to be  booked on five outstanding warrants including possession of marijuana, illegal possession of a weapon, resisting an officer, resisting an officer and criminal damage to property.

    It was during a July 17 confrontation that Eric Garner died following what was called a ‘chokehold,’ performed by Daniel Pantaleo, one of the arresting New York Police officers attempting to arrest Garner. The entire event was video taped from start to finish and still a grand jury chose not to indict the Pantaleo.

    On April 21 cops in Albuquerque shot and killed Mary Hawkes, who was suspected of auto theft.  The officer who shot and killed Hawkes did not have his lapel camera turned on. He insists he turned it on ahead of the encounter but it was off and the manufacturer said they couldn’t decide if the officer was being truthful.

    That officer, Jeremy Dear, has since been fired.

    In 2013, a Chicago police officer wasn’t even charged for fatally shooting an unarmed man, despite video footage showing the officer standing over the victim’s body. Earlier this year, a jury acquitted two former police officers caught on tape beating a schizophrenic homeless man to death in 2012.

    Ever since the beating of Rodney King was caught on tape in 1991, police have been aware that their actions may be recorded and used against them – and still we see rioting in the streets. And I don’t even want to get going on the possible abuse of civil liberties these body cameras can lead too.

    So as you can see, such “21st century policing,” will not work.

  • The Coming Uncivil, Civil War

    Here We Go Again.

    A Staten Island grand jury cleared an NYPD cop in the chokehold death of Eric Garner during his caught-on-video arrest for peddling loose cigarettes. The panel voted a “no-bill” and dismissed all charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo, capping weeks of investigation by the special grand jury, set up in September specifically to review evidence in Garner’s racially charged death.

    City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called the ruling “a terribly disappointing outcome” that ran counter to “the events that led to Eric Garner’s death.”

    “What makes this even more infuriating is the frequent lack of accountability, which is why I urge the U.S. Department of Justice to launch its own investigation,” she added.

    Meanwhile – back in the “Show Me” state…

    Members of the New Black Panther Party plotted to bomb St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and assassinate local police in the wake of the original Ferguson riots, but the Justice Department hasn’t issued terrorism charges – only hitting them with minor possession gun charges.

    Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis of the New Black Panther Party discussed using bombs to blow up the Gateway Arch and the murder of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch.

    Evidently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has a “go soft” order on the racist group – but watch how hard he comes down on the NYPD.

  • Police Angry at St. Louis Rams Players Gesture

    It reminds me of when Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood atop the medal podium at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City, bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists during the playing of the national anthem.  They ended up being kicked off the U.S. Track Team for their actions.

    It was neither the time nor place for such a protest – and most Americans knew it.

    Forty-six years later, the St. Louis Police Officers Association wants a public apology from the St. Louis Rams and the NFL after five Rams players walked out on to the field on Sunday with their hands raised similar to those used by Ferguson protestors. SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda points out the hypocrisy.

    “All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson.”

    Where and how these five players decided to express their opinions was wrong, since there were more than 50 business owners and clean-up-crew workers in the stands. Basically, the players slapped those people in the face by supporting the rioters and looters with their ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ gesture.

    The Rams should support their community, not add to the problem – and most Americans know it.

  • The Theatrics of the Congressional Black Caucus

    There was a time when the Democratic Party was respectable. But on Monday, four members of the Congressional Black Caucus did the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” gesture during remarks from the House Floor, to show solidarity with protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.

    Congressional folks Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) and Al Green (D-Tex.), referred to the gesture that has come to symbolize the outrage over the death of Brown, the Black man shot dead by White police officer Darren Wilson in August. Lee and Green, also offered their praise for the five St. Louis Rams who gave the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” signal on the field during a game.

    Such theatrical activities evoke an emotional reaction and have nothing to do with facts or laws.