Suspected Serial Killer Gets Ultimate Reward from Potential Victim

Saw this on one of the local news broadcasts last night:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Police are investigating whether there are other victims of an Oregon man killed after he attacked a woman in West Virginia.

The attacker met the woman online on the website Backpage.com. Police say he beat and choked her on Saturday at a home in Charleston. She grabbed his handgun after he laid the weapon down and shot him once, killing him.

Huh. I guess nobody told her to "Just give them what they want and they'll let you go", or that "A gun will just be taken from you and used against you".

Moving on in the same story:

Police say investigators found several axes, a shovel, bleach, handcuffs, knives, a machete and other items in [**SUSPECT**]'s vehicle.

Well, now… It would seem that "just give them what they want" doesn't work out so well when "what they want" is to kill you and remove all evidence.

But, it gets better:

LAS VEGAS -- An Oregon man shot to death while he was attacking a woman last week is now being investigated for several murders in Nevada, according to a Huffington Post report.

Investigators are also working to find out whether he is linked to other unsolved crimes, including four recent murders and two disappearances in Chillicothe, Ohio.

[…]

In an interview exclusive to Huffington Post crime reporter David Lohr, a Charleston police lieutenant says [**SUSPECT**] could be connected to unsolved murders in the Las Vegas area, including those of three women who were found dismembered. [links in original]

And the best part:

His killing has been ruled justifiable homicide.

In a perfect world, based on the information available, his killing would have been ruled a public service. But I suppose this will suffice.

Stay safe.

Astroturfy Prosecutors Against Gun Violence

(omnomnomnibus.blogspot.com)

The problem with being a world-weary, cynical pessimist is that the human condition doesn't surprise anymore. Nothing is ever new. No extraordinary depravity invigorates. Peter has been robbed for Paul so many times that it's a given. No lie is too big, no crony capitalist too brazen, no politician too craven to eclipse what has already occurred. It's all the same o' - same o'.

Then... something pops up that restores one's faith in the lacks of humanity:

Prosecutors Form New Coalition to Combat Gun Violence
          USA Today, Yamiche Alcindor, 9/17/14

(USA Today)

This breathless article from USA Today (America's Fish Wrapper) plows the same old barren ground, but does so in such an over-the-top, unreflective, and unexamined way as to make it truly extraordinary. It's penned by Yamiche Alcindor, who, despite her name, is not an Asian basketball player, but a "breaking news reporter, [who] splits her time covering quickly developing incidents and stories about the social issues affecting the USA. She's also a proud Miami Heat fan." (Well, that ship has also sailed.) Apparently proficient with the copy/paste function, she has crafted an article almost certainly pulled directly from the Prosecutors Against Gun Violence press release. That lack of journalistic discretion is in no way unique these days, but her transmittal of so many obvious howlers and her own embellishments make it damn enjoyable.

"As concerns mount over shootings and mass killings..." Ms Alcindor wastes no vowels before sticking her toe in the incredulity. On Sep 17th, 2014, just where are those mounting concerns? It may seem like a small literary fiction, but it provides a disingenuous answer to the important "Why now?" question. I don't see it - maybe those prosecutors are better at discerning the facts... To that point: 

"The group, Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, includes attorneys from several major metropolitan centers including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Houston and Milwaukee." Umm... any faint suspicion that since the cities listed have some of the worst rates of violence, they might not have the best solutions to gun violence?

" 'We are really key players in fighting gun violence proactively,' said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr." (He's the son of Cyrus Vance, failed Secretary of State to Jimmy Carter, the second worst President of the modern era.) Junior then spends the rest of paragraph describing how he procedurally reacts  to crime. Junior DA also claims to have "[H]elped dismantle gun gangs in New York City." Oh, this is good: gun gangs? Poly pistols or ol' skool 19-eleventy fans? Hey Cy, how about calling them drug gangs, robbery gangs, or extortion gangs? That is, if you intend to be the least bit honest. 

Feel the Smarm
LA DA Mike Feuer
(smartvoter.org)

" 'Our members will draw from our colleagues' most effective strategies and join forces to advance policies that can save lives,' said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, the other co-chairman." Oh, man... that's some Extra Large Grade AA feldercarb right there. In a town (my town) with 450 acknowledged gangs, a justice legal system charitably described as "catch and release", a frightening amount of radically reduced plea bargained charges, a vicious inner city, and an out of control murder rate, this ex-city councilman, ex-state assemblyman, current political whore is holding himself out as the fount of all wisdom? With barely a year in office? Oh, this is rich. 

"Feuer says the group will be more than just slogans."  ....Stop it! You're killin' me! 

He Fights Your Freedom
(frontpagemag.com)
Click to Imbiginate

Look for lots of press releases with half-baked declarations, juicy quotes ...and slogans, lots and lots of slogans. There will be elaborately staged TV appearances, commercials, and fawning articles and "news reports" like Ms Alcindor's. Whomever paid for this goat rope (and I'll bet Miley Cyrus' modesty we all can guess who the Sugar Cola Daddy really is) will expect nothing less. As for "Why now?" I'll further bet that these Prosecutors, cloaked in the dignity of the office they are absent from, will figure prominently in attack ads in this coming November. Perhaps they'll support Bloomberg favorite John Hickenlooper, the hard-pressed, anti-gun light-weight, stooge and Colorado Governor.

Does anyone not feel the hairy, hidden hand of Michael Bloomberg, That Nasty Little Fascist? (Thank you, Michael Bane.) The obsessive focus on the guns themselves is a damn good indicator. After all, the agendas and conclusions came long before the Prosecutor's first meeting. Might it be, I don't know, a rush to judgement? (Feuer should be very familiar with that term.) Think the tried and untrue demonization of an object was a foregone conclusion? You betcha: It's the guuuuuns!

And I thought the depths of the human condition had already been plumbed.

Mob Attacks 3 in Kroger Parking Lot

A  mob of 20-50 youths (reported elsewhere as upwards of 100-120) randomly attacked a Kroger shopper and two Kroger employees who came to his aid. Cell phone video showed one employee being repeatedly kicked the head. The mob was shouting "Fam Mob" (a local street gang) and apparently chose their victims based on race. One witness described the attack as being a game; the "Point 'em out - Knock 'em out" game. A felonious "game" that has already turned deadly. 

There have been no arrests to date. Fortunately, the three victims are recovering. Given the number of assailants and the viciousness of the attacks, it could have been much, much worse. However, there is absolutely no guarantee the next "game" won't result in a greater tragedy.

Update: A 15 year old thought to be the assailant in bright green stomping and kicking the store employee's head has been arrested.


Mad  Moms, tell us again why we should be disarmed while shopping at Kroger.

A little advice: you need to avoid urban malls, parks, concerts, sporting events and other places large groups of youths gather. Keep your head on a swivel -- It's getting more dangerous out there.

HT: WREG News Channel 3 and WMC-TV 5

Note: YouTube has removed the original unedited video of the attack first used in this post.  A screen explains the "The video has been removed as a violation of YouTube's policy of prohibiting content designed to harass, bully, or threaten." This is a highly questionable excuse, as the video only shows the actual attack with unrestrained comments from the cell phone operator. Why this censorship? One is left wondering if this video is too revealing for YouTube and their owner Google's political sensitivities. 

I've replaced the original clip with another one. However, given Google/YouTube's past actions, it might also disappear. 

James Brady -- Murdered?

Many (most?) of us suspect the area in and around Washington, DC is a reality-free zone. A North Virginia medical examiner has done nothing to quash that suspicion, ruling that James Brady was murdered in 2014 – 33 years after being shot.     

Jim Brady and Ronald Reagan - Fox

First, all due respect to James Brady. A madman severely injured him in the service of this Nation and the Reagan Administration. The brain damage was so severe that only miraculous luck, modern medicine and Jim Brady’s will to live prevented the attack from actually being murder. Furthermore, we've little compassion for the assailant. In a rational society, he should have been circling Dante’s Inferno long ago.

Most commentators are at a loss to explain the ruling. According to the Washington Post, there's little chance of a murder prosecution. Common law holds an assault can only be murder if the victim dies within a year and a day. A jury of average intelligence (yeah, we know) would likely find the 33 year span difficult to swallow. The madman has already been found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted murders. The Post lists another handful of good reasons against further prosecution. Like it or not (and we don’t), the attacker will probably never pay for the suffering he caused. But, this is a nation of laws, however imperfect, and we should be thankful for that.

James Brady Surrounded by Antis Frank

 Lautenberg. Paul Helmke and Sarah Brady - AP

Whatever the medical examiner’s reasons: simple-minded bureaucracy, Brady family pressure, political intrigue or something else; the anti-gun industry will certainly relish the chance to wave Jim Brady’s bloody shirt once again.   

HT: Emily Miller, FOX News

Armed Citizens Making a Difference

Detroit Police Chief Gives Credit to Armed Citizens For Drop in Crime

Detroit Police Chief James Craig - TDN

I'm really liking this guy.

But, it seems, to quote Josey Wales: "When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long."

We worry, because Detroit Police Chief James Craig has been a lone voice crying in the concrete wilderness - insisting that armed citizens deter crime. As the Detroit News pondered the causes of the significant drop in Detroit crimes, they didn't want the armed citizen to look too good. They led the article with an elderly homeowner they characterized as having "an itchy trigger-finger". Even thought he actually didn't defend himself during the home invasion robbery, and therefore actually isn't part of the story's subject matter, he did take a pot shot at a TV news crew who wouldn't get off his porch. While we applaud him for his public-spirited action, it doesn't really reflect well on armed homeowners. Which was obviously the intention of TDN.

The remainder of the article is mostly well-balanced; even though Josh Horwitz, Sad Panda of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, rears his misshapen head for a discredited platitude or two. Chief Craig credits the good work of his department, but also affirms that armed Detroiters are part of why crime is declining. TDN buries the article's money quote: “If I was out there now robbing people these days, knowing there are a lot more people with guns, I know I’d have to rethink my game plan,” said Al Woods, 60, a self-described former criminal. "They’re less likely to do so if they think they (the citizen) might be armed.”

  Well... duh. 

  Recommended reading.

  HT: The Detroit News