Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Gunman Shoots Up Austin

Middle aged-white guy.  Wonder if anyone will describe him as a "thug" or an "animal?"

A white, middle-aged gunman, in what appears to be a politically motivated anti-government attack linked to immigration, fired more than a hundred rounds at buildings in downtown Austin early Friday and tried to set fire to the Mexican consulate before he died of a gunshot wound.

Politically motivated?  Ya think?  Gee, wonder where his anti-government and anti-immigrant views came from?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent the day at work, but Mrs. Froth still woke up at 6am just to make sure I got a cup of coffee before I headed out.

I'm thankful for Mrs. Froth. 

A True Story

The Ferguson thing brought this back to my frontal lobes.

It was about 15 years ago, I was a patrol officer, with about seven years on the job, and I spotted a car moving faster than the posted speed limit.  It wasn't outrageous, but enough to catch my attention.  I pulled said car over.  My intention was nothing more to issue a verbal warning.  I'd done this countless times before.  As I approched the driver's side door, I could see the driver was an elderly African-American man.  His wife was beside him.  The look in their eyes was a look of pure terror.  I'd never seen that look in the eyes of any white person I'd pulled over.  These two very nice people, who made a minor transgression, were terrified of me.  Where do you think that comes from??  I issued my warning, but the facial expressions of those two people stick with me. I really think they thought I would at best, haul them off to prison, or at worst, kill them.  My intention was nothing more than "hey, slow down!  I don't want to see you get hurt."  End of story: Verbal warning issued, look of huge relief on faces of driver and wife. 

I need to keep this in mind.

 

 

No True Bill

No matter what your feelings in the matter, the evidence presented to the grand jury wasn't sufficent to get at least nine of 12 members to hand down an indictment on the least of the four charges Officer Wilson could have faced.  As I noted earlier, in the words of Sol Wachtler, "a grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich." 

I can only conclude that there just isn't enough compelling evidence to support not only a conviction, but even to moving forward with a trial.  Paul Campos has a good take on this at The Daily Beast.  More detailed information is at The New York Times.

That's not to say we cannot have a conversation about racial attitudes or the militarization of domestic police forces.  That conversation should take place, and maybe we'll have it.

Shot In The Mouth

A four year old exercising his Second Amendment Rights shot a three year old in the mouth.  Needless to say, the owner of the firearm is no longer in the exclusive Responsible Gun Owner Club.

Woman Shoots Self In Head

Twenty-six year old Becca Campbell died from a gunshot wound to the head while exercising her Second Amendment rights.

The sources told CNN that the victim was involved in a car accident. Campbell's 33-year-old boyfriend, who was not identified, was driving the car and told investigators that Campbell began waving a gun around and joking that the couple were ready for Ferguson, the sources said.

The boyfriend said he rear-ended another car while ducking to avoid the gun, which then discharged and struck Campbell in the head, the sources said. The victim later died at a hospital.

The boyfriend told police that the couple purchased the gun because they feared unrest that may arise from a grand jury decision in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a white police officer, the sources said.

Gotta wonder if this woman would still be alive if it weren't for the media frenzy.

Grand Jury Announcement Today

Supposed to come after five P.M.  I really do not know what to expect.  The consensus among the punditry indicates a "no true bill" finding, but a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, and it takes only nine of twelve (sounds like a Borg) to return an indictment.  We'll see, I suppose.

UPDATE:  Announcement pushed back to 9 P.M.  I'll probably be in bed when it comes (I rise for the day at 0530).

Grand jury deliberations are secret, so if the decision is a no true bill, its possible we'll never see the evidence. 

He Earned Money The Old Fashioned Way

He stole it...from his children!

The two children of Richard Mellon Scaife have demanded, in court filings last week, an accounting for hundreds of millions of dollars that they said was drained from a trust to cover the losses of the Tribune-Review newspapers, despite the trustees’ duty to preserve funds for them.

Jennie Scaife, of Palm Beach, Fla., and David N. Scaife, of Shadyside, filed similar petitions in Orphans Court of Allegheny County. They claimed that three trustees who controlled $210 million in 2005 let that dwindle to nothing by the time of their father’s death, four months ago.

The Trib has never made a profit, but it appears that Dicky Scaife didn't keep the paper operating by using his own vast fortune, instead draining his offsprings' trust fund by over 200 million dollars!

Dicky's kids might have to go out and get jobs now! 

So What Really Changed?

On one hand, the worst governor in Pennsylvania I've ever experienced  was defeated. 

On the other hand, Republican governors who've arguably made things much worse for their respective states were inexcusably reelected.  And the people who sabatoged to functioning of government at the federal level were rewarded for their vandalism.

As for the Senate?  That's the least of my concerns.  So the gridlock we've experienced for the last 6 years will continue.  This time, the nutty laws the House sends to the Senate will also be passed by the Senate, and immediately vetoed by President Obama.  And since the Congress lacks the votes to override a veto, nothing changes.

There's the issue of Senate confirmation of presidential nominees, but its not like President Obama has had great success having his nominees confirmed even with Democrats in charge.

My guess is the Republicans will quickly make themselves look even sillier while continuing to wreck the country.  I expect a government shut down or two, and an impeachment resolution that's doomed from the start, since the the votes for conviction in the Senate just ain't there. And the electorate will be reminded why they should never, ever let Republicans anywhere near the levers of power. 

Oh, and Democrats?  When you run to the right and try to sound like a reasonable Republican, why should anyone vote for you when there are actual Republicans on the ballot?  Next time, try standing up for our values, instead of running away from them.

 

Election Day

Go vote!  And if you do not vote, do not complain about the results.