October 12, 2010

Featured Salon.com Blogger Blames Tea Party for Rutgers Suicide, Hispanic Gang Rape

Now the featured story on Big Journalism.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 05:27 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 11, 2010

Don't Let Facts Get In the Way of Your Racist Delusions

I've always found Salon to be one of the most informative web sites on the entire Internet...though not for the reasons you might think. Like many other sites that feature and attract progressives, Salon serves as a chronicle of the "liberal condition," collecting the insecurities and psychological projection of its writers and its intended audience.

And so I find myself gazing with sick fascination into the mind of someone named "Keka," a desperately frightened soul that warns us that a new age of White Supremacy, night riders, and lynchings are on the way, because she saw a bumper sticker at a fast food drive thru.

I wish I were exaggerating:

I saw it. But I couldn’t believe it.

There I was, in a fast food drive through, behind a man whose back window decal, in small white letters, sent me a message that sent a chill down my spine—just as he’d hoped it would, no doubt. It said:

THIS COUNTRY WAS BUILT BY WHITE MEN WITH GUNS

Now, I was there because I needed something to eat badly. I’ve been tending a new puppy that behaves and has to be tended like a newborn, so you only get so much “break’ time if you’re keeping to your schedule. I had just enough to grab a bite, get some work done…and get ready for play time number…I’m not sure which.

But I lost my appetite entirely, when I saw that decal.

I’ve lost my appetite for America, period, to be honest—he’s just one of the many reasons. Forget that fact that if he really believes this, this guy must never have read a history book in his life—it’s the fact that he felt comfortable driving around with that ridiculous statement on his back window that galls me most. But I saw it comin'.

What a delicate, brittle flower of liberal womanhood is our poor friend Keka! A man with a historically debatable message on his vehicle has her all but ready to revoke her citizenship. My, oh my.

Her article, such as it is—White Men With Guns--Reconstruction Redux—is a sad mix of history, ignorance, and willful self-deception. The bumper sticker was just the thinnest excuse for her own ahistorical rant.

She uses civil rights-era violence from a half-century ago as the excuse to foist upon us one bigoted and extraneous stereotype after another. Keka's target is the Tea Party movement, which she is desperate to portray as the next coming of the Ku Klux Klan. For a child of the 60s she is quite limber, contorting reality this way and that in order to twist it into something of which she can be afraid.

She bases her arguments... actually, Keka doesn't both to concern herself with arguments.

Nor does she deem it important to cite facts, instances, actors, or events that justify her beliefs. Unfortunately, poisoned beliefs and bizarre assertions are all that Keka has.

She holds white Tea Partiers responsible for a gay Rutgers student Tyler Clementi committing suicide, because his Indian-American roommate and Asian-American girlfriend filmed him having sex and live-streamed it on the Internet. White people made them do it?.

A Hispanic gang in New York called the "Latin King Goonies" beat and sodomized a fellow Hispanic gang member they thought was gay. But Keka says white people made them do it.

Another white man that Keka most assuredly hates made a comment last week about some people being born to be slaves. He was of course talking about those suffering from the sort of mental bondage to which Keka has subjugated herself, a self-imposed prison from which no other person can set her free. She has made whites in general and Tea Party protesters in specific into boogeymen, responsible for all the evil she sees, facts be damned.

From her sequestered reality it was not doubt a simple matter to turn a blind eye to the eight years of near insanity shared by her fellow passengers (NSFW).

Utterly lacking self-awareness, she laments:

How can I connect these crimes to the Tea Party et al? Easily. Any country which has gotten to the point where it's president can be caricatured and spoken of as he has been in the graphics I've supplied, many of them brandished at Tea Party events...is in trouble. Free speech? You bet. But what that right is being used to say and do right now is a chilling statement about where we are as a nation right now.

It's not really just about Obama, you see. It's about me, my family and all of the black people of America—the world, really. Yes, there were pictures of Bush as all kinds of things—but they were "ideological." Much of the awful stuff being done to Obama's images is racial. Even if the image isn't, the "subtext" is.

She spoke exactly one fragment of truth, when she said "It's about me."

The images she culled from 4chan and photoshop contests are horrific, but signs of bigotry are inevitable on a world wide network, and the fact that she had to pull from the same sources to even prevent the handful of truly racist images she provides is a testament to just how much opposition to Obama has nothing to do with his race, and everything to do with his radical socialist ideology, as the most popular caricature of his image readily proves.

It is readily apparent that Keka's myopia is self-inflicted, her phobias generated from paranoia, her view of the entire outside world overshadowed by a pysche trapped in the worst part of 1955 Missippi.

Congratulations, Keka. You found 14 images on the Internet, and that was enough to validate your own prejudices and world view, and was a sentiment that Salon's editors thought was one your fellow progressives would recognize and share (and they were right).

As Salon so often does, they exposed a seething hatred, and let us see into the twisted minds ruining this nation.

Thanks for that.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:20 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I Guess He's Not The "Teabagger" Candidate After All

Carl Paladino is winning friends influencing people in the New York gubernatorial race with speeches like this:

Flame-throwing Republican Carl Paladino erupted again, declaring Sunday that being gay is "not the example that we should be showing our children."

"I don't want [children] brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option - it isn't," Paladino said to applause at a meeting with Hasidic Jewish leaders in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In a version of the speech distributed by a rabbi, the rant went further, charging there is "nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual."

Paladino, who's running for governor, winced as he got to this section of the text, and he never spoke the line.

His campaign later said it had days of discussions with Orthodox leaders about what Paladino would say, and the text distributed to some reporters was not produced by the campaign.

Unfortunately for Paladino, the voters he impressed the most were all from Westboro Baptist Church.

I can't quite understand how Paladino and his allies get it into their heads that being gay is an "option" like being between cloth or leather seats in a new car. You are attracted to who you are attracted to, and I find it baffling for him to suggest that being gay is a choice, because that also asserts that the vast majority of us choose to be straight.

At no point in my life was I handed a multiple choice test on this.

I like women, find them intoxicating. It simply isn't in my makeup to view men in the same way. But that doesn't mean that men who view other men (or women who view other women) as sexually desirable are evil, even if they are notably "deviant" from a statistical point of view. It just means they are different, not evil, and this sort of bigoted pandering isn't good for anyone.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:14 AM | Comments (24) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Me? Own A Gun? -- Updated

This is the first in a series of articles exploring, in depth, the issues revolving around gun ownership. Whether you have never considered owning a gun, are thinking about it or own all you need but not as many as you would prefer, this series may provide some ideas, or possibly provoke the latest round in a lively debate that has been raging for millennia. Our first installment:

THE PHILOSOPHY OF GUN OWNERSHIP

Do human beings have an inalienable right to self defense? If you do not accept this, now would be a good time to be sure you have 911 on your speed dial. However, tragically, that will be cold comfort, as this series will reveal. In addition, if you truly do not accept this proposition, and you live your conviction, it’s possible you’re not around to read this, survival of the fittest being a rather inescapable and final proposition.

Posted by: MikeM at 12:24 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 09, 2010

I Feel Sorry For John Amato

Perhaps the most aptly named excretion in the political blogosphere is Crooks and Liars, where John Amato and company do their very best to reinforce the group-think of their increasingly insular community-based reality.

Amato's latest attempt to bend the truth to fit with his ideology is this nearly humorous effort to call Rush Limbaugh a racist. What was the talk show host's offensive statement?

Why, this.

This is a tough thing to say, because a lot of people don't want to hear this, because it goes against everybody's desire that we all be the same, that there be no pain in life and that there be no suffering and that everybody do well and that everybody have what they want and so forth.

But there is no equality. You cannot guarantee that any two people will end up the same. And you can't legislate it, and you can't make it happen. You can try, under the guise of fairness and so forth, but some people are self-starters, and some people are born lazy. Some people are born victims. Some people are just born to be slaves. Some people are born to put up with somebody else making every decision for them.

Some people, on the other hand, are born and they're not going to take anything from anybody. They're going to be totally in charge of their lives. They're not going to sit around and wait for something. They're going to make it happen. You can see this throughout the American strata -- population.

Predictably, Amato got his quote from Media Matters for America, which shows he follows orders well.

But what, precisely, is wrong in what Limbaugh says?

But there is no equality. You cannot guarantee that any two people will end up the same.

Virtually no sane person will dispute that. There are variations in intelligence, education, physiology, and aptitude that differentiate us as individuals. It is part of what makes us such an interesting species. But perhaps it is the next line that infuriates the socialists and Marxists that are in the choir Amato to which Amato is preaching.

And you can't legislate it, and you can't make it happen. You can try, under the guise of fairness and so forth, but some people are self-starters, and some people are born lazy.

This truism—that you cannot pass enough laws to force equality and stamp out individualism—is what infuriates dedicated communists, for it undermines the entire premise of the ideology. It is a slap in the face of everything Amato and his fellow big government totalitarians believe. The next line—which is equally true—allows a reeling Amato to try and lash back with what appears to be the only weapon in the liberal arsenal, as he tries to claim the following words are somehow racist.

Some people are born victims. Some people are just born to be slaves. Some people are born to put up with somebody else making every decision for them.

No rational person can really dispute this comment, which merely speaks of the mindset some people have that keeps them from ever being able to prosper, not matter what advantages they are afforded. We all know of people like this, and acknowledge that it afflicts people in every segment and strata of society. Some people cannot be forced to succeed, just as other individuals cannot be keep down no matter the obstacles thrown in from of them.

But John Amato is neither a rational person, Nor an honest one. John Amato is a person so blinded with ideological hatred for moderates, independents, and conservatives that he is forced to lash out irrationally and disproportionately against any rational statement that threatens his carefully constructed and delicate view of the world. And so Amato does what modern American socialists do, and attempts to claim Limbaugh is racist, asserting bizarrely that his comment has something to do with the institution of slavery.

This mindset, simplified, is that whatever you say that I don't like is racist, and therefore, I win. It is their ultimate, catch-all defense mechanism, now worn to the point of toothlessness.

Limbaugh's commentary cannot in any way be twisted to mean what Amato wants to make it mean, and it is sad he even makes the attempt.

One must wonder if he knows how much he is embarrassing himself, or if he even cares. But he'll continue preaching to his choir, not matter how small it gets.

Some people are born victims. Some people are just born to be ideological slaves.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:35 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Among Jackals

If one studies the psychological disease known as the "Palestinian cause," revulsion is the only natural response. This is a culture that draws its entire premise for existence from plotting genocide against Jews and eradicating Israel from the map. If you think this is hyperbole you only need read the charters of the terrorist groups that run Palestinian life, sample some of the vile propaganda that they feel their children as television programming, or simply watch how they use their own poisoned young without regard to life or limb, as this video shows.

Watch it once, and you'll notice the rabid attack of a small car by a gang of Palestinian youths. They charge directly into traffic on a narrow street, and one of the junior terrorists is hurled through the air as the drive simply lacks the time to stop as the mob converges.

Watch the video a second time, and you'll note that the rock-throwing monsters are being directed and filmed by Palestinian adults including not less than a half-dozen "journalists" with high end digital still cameras and video cameras to capture the staged event from every angle.

Watch the video a third time, and you suddenly realize that the child getting hit was purposefully orchestrated... in fact, it was required. The Palestinian adults chose a bottleneck in the road where the driver had no room to avoid the children, and that the attack took place on a sharp curve, where he could not see the attack in advance and avoid it.

The children themselves converge from all directions, focused on a spot in front of the car. These Palestinian children were purposefully sent into traffic in the hopes that one or more of them would get hit by a car driven by an Israeli so that they could use the tightly cropped and controlled images to generate more anti-Israeli propaganda.

Think about the kind of people who would send their children into on-coming traffic in hopes they are struck down, and tell me that kind of mindset is something with which you can negotiate.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:22 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 08, 2010

The Great Commode Flushing of 2010

“Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree.” So goes the venerable old saw. The modern, progressive version, however, would most likely be: “Let’s tax you, let’s exclude me, and let’s tax every rich person behind every tree until we drive them and all of their assets to Switzerland with its scenic numbered Swiss accounts, and their businesses to China.”

Perhaps the best contemporary defining example of the respective economic philosophies of conservatives and socialists--for that is what the artists formerly know as “democrats” have become--is the battle over the renewal of the Bush Tax Cuts, as they are so euphemistically called. In a rather deranged sense, it’s fortuitous that Democrats are calling themselves Progressives as there is nothing whatever democratic about what they intend to do to America.

Posted by: MikeM at 11:48 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Marxism, Socialism, Communism and Obama

“I don’t get it,” my friend said, shaking his head in confusion. “Obama is supposed to be so smart and such a brilliant politician...”

“Right,” I said. “So?”

“So everything he has done or wants to do is a disaster! It’s all opposed by the majority of the American people. Even Democrats are running away from him as fast as they can. If he’s such a great politician, why does he keep doing things most people hate? And that’s not the worst part. When people complain, he calls them too dumb to appreciate what he’s doing for them!”

Why indeed. The answer is deceptively simple:

Thus begins my exposition of Mr. Obama's background and motivation posted by the good folks at Pajamas Media. The entire article can be found here.

Posted by: MikeM at 09:35 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

How Not to Be a Firearms Instructor

This more properly belongs at the gun blog, but the events contained are so extraordinarily dangerous they deserve an audience as wide as I can provide.

Front Sight is a firearms training school with a good reputation for their level of instruction, even if they have gotten in a bit of hot water over some of their off-range antics trying to establish a shooting-based resort.

Recently, an excellent shooter with very impressive shooting skills submitted a series of videos to Front Sight's director as a sort of visual resume.

You won't believe what this guy did. I highly suggest that if you ever come across someone like this, you find the most convenient exit possible, and take it.

Needless to say, the would-be instructor didn't get the job.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:03 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I just hope he doesn't use his students as "hostages."

Posted by: NevadaDailySteve at October 08, 2010 10:36 AM (x/ANA)

2 just wow.

from the age of ten when my father started instructing me the one cardinal rule that was never to be broken even with an unloaded gun was never to point a firearm at a person ever. loaded or unloaded. unless you were in mortal danger from that person.

all other rules revolve around that one.

Posted by: rumcrook at October 08, 2010 11:23 AM (60WiD)

3 My grandfather shot a cigarette out of another man's mouth on a dare. It's not really his fault though. They were all pretty drunk.

(Completely true. And he hit the smoke, but didn't put it out, which was the bet, so he lost.)

Posted by: Kevin at October 08, 2010 01:13 PM (1sB4u)

4 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me that's fake.

Posted by: Tony B at October 08, 2010 01:58 PM (hKEXb)

5 This guy is a maroon! Bet he doesn't have any friends.

Posted by: gDavid at October 08, 2010 04:35 PM (hVQAg)

6 His previous partners could not be reached for comment

These scenarios have russian-roulette vibe, see "The Deer Hunter".

Posted by: mockmook at October 08, 2010 08:45 PM (WZMt3)

7 Hey, someone has to make evolution a working proposition.....

Posted by: SDN at October 08, 2010 10:07 PM (f0Dgm)

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October 07, 2010

Erik Scott Case Archive Created

Mike has done such a phenomenal job researching and analyzing the available information surrounding this tragic and unnecessary death and the suspect investigation conducted by involved authorities that it only made sense to create a new archive dedicated to the case that is only just beginning. I've thrown in my few contributions and links to my Pajamas Media articles on the shooting as well.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:21 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Four Weeks -Remember November

Powerful Stuff.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:41 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Remember, remember, the 2 of of November,
the taxes, treason and rot
I know of no reason
why the taxes and rot
should ever be forgot.

Vote ANYONE ELSE on 2 November!

Orion

Posted by: Orion at October 07, 2010 09:59 PM (UnCdA)

2 Am I alone in finding that video incredibly annoying? I agree with the message, but it jumps from picture to picture so fast, and even when it doesn't, it uses that horrid shakycam thing.

Absolutely unwatchable. Still gonna vote republican though .

Posted by: Kevin at October 08, 2010 01:09 PM (1sB4u)

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October 06, 2010

Hey Joe, Where You Going with That Gun in Your...

Vice President Joe Biden has told Democrats at a Minnesota fundraiser that he'll "strangle" members of the GOP who complain about the federal budget.

I'm complaining, Joe. And like tens of millions of other Americans—Republican, Independent and Democrat—I'm a gun owner.

Good luck with that strangling thing.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:29 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 05, 2010

The Erik Scott Case: Update 5 (The Future)

Erik Scott would likely be alive today if only one officer had used his most effective, dangerous weapon: His brain, in concert with his mouth. If the police had used proper, smart tactics, a single officer should have approached Scott at the right time and place and asked: ‘Pardon me Sir; could I have a word with you please?”

And so we arrive at this, likely the final update of the Erik Scott shooting for the foreseeable future. For those who have read the previous four updates, including update 3.2, my thanks. For those who have not but would like to, those updates can be found here:

Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
Update 3.2
Update 4

Posted by: MikeM at 08:35 PM | Comments (28) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Training and employment screening is what is missing from this tradgedy. It is obvious that these three cops had neither. The fact that he was quietly leaving the store should have been the key to all of this. Just the thought that these cowboys would confront him in public is staggering. That is the basic flaw in this debacle and it only got worse. If these cops are not tried for at least manslaughter then the LVPD should fire them for the departments on sake.

Posted by: inspectorudy at October 06, 2010 12:17 AM (KOOZL)

2 Someone said in a response to one of the prior updates that officers are trained to empty their magazines at a person when engaging.
As there were 3 officers engaging, even if they only had 6 rounds each (unlikely, more likely they'd have at least 8-10 rounds each) that's 18 rounds fired, of which 7 hit.
A 40% hit rate at extremely close range. Well over the 25% you state as average, but it's assuming a very low number of rounds fired per officer. Go up to a 10 round magazine and it's down to 23%, or just about in the ballpark.

So indeed something's not right.
Either the officers were inexperienced enough to make a mistake in shooting him while being also expert marksmen, or where are the other 23 bullets fired by experienced officers who're just average marksmen (and which would indicate the LVPD and DOJ are protecting their own as usual)?

As to security cameras. Their mere presence acts as a deterrent to the casual shoplifter, which is all that can be hoped for.
As long as it's not public knowledge the camera is defective, that deterrence factor is not reduced, so it's little surprise they didn't hurry to get it repaired.

Posted by: JTW at October 06, 2010 02:33 AM (jMRqb)

3 I've never heard of any doctrine that requires one to empty the magazine. Every use of force continuum I have ever seen stresses use of minimum force required, and immediate de-escalation when the situation is resolved. "Two to the chest, one to the head" is a fine doctrine for combat, but in a LE or security scenario is nothing short of murder.

In short, you fire until the circumstance that required deadly force is resolved, and nothing more. If one round does it, then you fire only one round.

Posted by: Steve Skubinna at October 06, 2010 05:37 AM (QQ9sc)

4 Mike:

Knowing ONLY what the dispatcher told you, you would have walked up to Erik and said [‘Pardon me Sir; could I have a word with you please?”]?? I'm surprised you're still alive, unless you had one of them there 'empty holster jobs' your entire career.

Oh! BTW, that wasn't Erik Scott you just walked up on, it was Maurice Clemmons.

Posted by: Buck T at October 06, 2010 08:33 AM (rNnSn)

5 An excellent analysis and one that challenges law enforcement protocol...which is reckless and self-serving.

I'll repeat a condensed version of my comment in the previous post: The problem is chain of command and the nature of confrontations between LE and the citizen. Both are faulty and both have been faulty for a very long time.

Nothing should be allowed to even risk situations where the end result is the death of an innocent man by way of public servant. All the at-scene analysis of the product of circumstances is interesting -- and we've seen reams of that -- but the real issue is how we came to have these hired, armed thugs walking among us, operating on robotic "training" and suffering not a single consequence in some lop-sided ethic that has them privileged and us victimized.

Posted by: Ten at October 06, 2010 09:16 AM (Ngxvl)

6 JTW
I somewhat disagree with your security camera view, It is true for small stores but big chain stores more often then not have to use them as evidence in slip and fall lawsuits so it is in there best Interest to keep them in good working order

Posted by: Rich at October 06, 2010 09:51 AM (siQqy)

7 @Steve: I'm only passing on what I've heard from my father (retired NY sergeant) and that is that emptying the clip or not depends entirely on your instructor. It may have been changed upon procedural review in recent years.

The NYPD had several issues in the last decade with firing ridiculous amounts of lead at people and they stated it was their training.

@MikeM. Thanks, this has been a very informative series. It's certainly helped me have a cooler head about the situation.

Posted by: Bill at October 06, 2010 10:12 AM (QDtMz)

8 How about putting all the posts on this subject in their own archive category for future reference? I have a feeling their will be much more to come.

Posted by: gcw at October 06, 2010 10:44 AM (l+Sgz)

9 I ran into a situation at the airport that was similar to this. A person double parked his car and went ot the curb to get his wife's luggage. An officer told him to move the car but he either did not hear or was in the process of completing his action. The officer drew his gun and was going to point and arrest. I was beside the officer and told him to put the piece away and back off. Luckily that wrrked and no one was hurt, if he had continued he liknely would have pulled the trigger. That is what we are dealing with.

Posted by: David at October 06, 2010 11:02 AM (dccG2)

10 I remember reading in the first couple of days of the inquest (newspaper diary) that 8 rounds were fired but the 8th round is never accounted for in any other testimony.

Also, Mosher testified he followed procedure in handcuffing Scott but then broke procedure by not searching him because he thought Scott would be taken directly to the morgue not the hospital. He stated he was distracted by the need to organize the other officers to manage the crowd, put up tape, etc.

They do not identify who uncuffed him at the paramedic's request or why no one realized that the search had been skipped after releasing the restraints.

Lamenting that the police should do better is ultimately futile. If you carry, you should be prepared to be confronted by the most incompetent officer who thinks you just shot his favorite dog. The most effective way of keeping police calm in a confrontation is to condition yourself to not touch your weapon, regardless. Just as you train to keep your finger off the trigger, to not check the trigger in stress situations, your response to a police challenge should be to require conscious effort to touch you weapon. Vice conscious effort to stop an automatic reaction to touch the weapon or seek to hand it to the officer.

In Scott's case the claim is that the officers ordered him to disarm but the words were "Drop your weapon" Not the same in my opinion but startled and on pain killers his judgement might have been off. In any case, if more than one officer is present, any order that requires you to touch your weapon will likely get you shot as one or more officers may not register the order and react to a weapon in your hand.

It would be nice if we could expect well-trained, experienced officers but there are a lot more rookies hopped up on caffeine and adrenalin, who didn't pay attention in training.

Posted by: JKB at October 06, 2010 11:13 AM (WqmOQ)

11 Your notation at number ( would certainly explain how Scott got shot in the back. He walked right past two cops who didn't even realize that he was the (armed)perp they were looking for.

I'm going to bet that his family will and their lawyers will end up owning a very large piece of COSCO and the city of Las Vagas.

Posted by: emdfl at October 06, 2010 11:34 AM (Cx/OL)

12 the way you proposed they handle it was how I was disarmed by the police about 15 years ago. and I had intuition the moment they walked in it was for me and kept my hands clear and well away from my holster.

they then asked if they could remove my glock from the holster, and I kept my hands up on the washing machine (I was In a loundrymat)

they asked me a few questions, looked at my ID determined the women who ran the place was a hysterical idiot and explained she was safer with me in there than without. (late at night, and a very crappy hood)

asked me not to re-load until they had left the building then gave me back my glock and the magazine and left.

Posted by: rumcrook at October 06, 2010 12:03 PM (60WiD)

13 Some have suggested that if Scott did this, or didn’t do that, everything would have been different, but that’s beside the point and can never be determined or supported by evidence.

I disagree. Perhaps because of your background, you focus on what the police could have done differently. From my non-cop perspective, my focus is on what someone encountering the police could and should do to avoid getting shot.

If I were carrying a weapon, I have to assume that (1) I may very well become of interest to the police, (2) the police may be relying on incomplete and/or inaccurate information, and (3) the police officers involved may not be paragons of proper training, restraint and good judgment.

Therefore, I have to assume they are viewing me as a threat... and one in which they are ready - perhaps even eager - to resolve by shooting me until I am dead.

Because of this, I would make darn sure I did NOTHING that could possibly be construed in a way that confirmed their fears and, in their mind, gave them the right to open fire.

This is no different than the advice supposedly given to young blacks who encounter the police, or, perhaps, to Ira**s finding themselves staring down the barrel of a US soldier's M4.

It's pretty simple and straightforward: just don't give them a reason... and the test isn't what a reasonable person would consider a threat but rather someone who, as I said earlier, may be on the edge of snapping.

the ** are because your comment filter found the original word (synonym for people living in Iraq) to be questionable content...?

Posted by: steve at October 06, 2010 02:44 PM (L9End)

14 Gotta agree with the other Steve in the last comment... If Scott had left the premises immediately upon being challenged by store personnel he would most likely be alive today.

Other than that, I have to say as a former peace officer that I am VERY nervous each and every time I have an encounter with law enforcement. Lot's of training is needed for the folks that are paid to protect us (even though they have no legal requirement to protect us).

Costco and Las Vegas need to be hit hard in civil court, and in Federal court regardless of the political considerations, over this incident.

Posted by: Steve in TN at October 06, 2010 03:59 PM (JI2OS)

15 I'm not sure what Costco's liability is. What tort did Costco commit? Nor am I sure that Costco's actions could be deemed the proximate cause of Scott's death.

Posted by: steve at October 06, 2010 04:07 PM (L9End)

16 Knowing ONLY what the dispatcher told you, you would have walked up to Erik and said [‘Pardon me Sir; could I have a word with you please?”]?? I'm surprised you're still alive, unless you had one of them there 'empty holster jobs' your entire career.

I don't think it jumps directly to that. Step one is to put a police eyeball on the suspect before starting a slow-motion stampede to the door. Doing that would have told them instantly that this was not an ED situation, it wasn't an active shooter situation, and it really wasn't anything other than hysterical store and incompetent dispatcher.

Then, after assessing the real situation, there wouldn't be any issue with just walking up -- especially flanked by the same two officers who participated in what has every appearance of a panic shoot.

Posted by: Phelps at October 06, 2010 04:25 PM (o/6if)

17 Phelps,

I totally agree with you.The three Officers that ultimately shot Scott were there long enough to go eyes on and assess for themselves. But Mosher, called in a CODE RED based on another costco employee's comment,"that it's escalating inside". When infact, it was exacly the opposite. The detective on the stand said," code red only means keep this channel open incase something happens". I guess that means code red had nothing to do with the additional 15 officers, air unit, and ambulances dispatched to the scene. This causes me to want to yell BS from my rooftop. It also confounds me about how little LE thinks of citizens intelligence. Expecting us to except everything they say at face value, and being upset when we cry foul.

On a morbid note. I can't even afford to breath on the glass case that houses the Kimber 1911 Ultra carry in the gun store. Having one, I wouldn't be inclined to just toss a very expensive firearm willy nilly on the ground,when told to do so. So I probably would be dead too.

Posted by: Jvh at October 06, 2010 05:52 PM (uaicc)

18 Sorry everyone I originally posted as JohnH on earlier Scott updates. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks again to Mike M for a place to intelligently debate the shooting. It's amazing how many blind haters are writing on this subject out there, on both sides.

Posted by: Jvh at October 06, 2010 06:14 PM (uaicc)

19 Vegas has a large force, why did they not send in a detective to mingle with the shoppers and get the lay of the land. Just like with a bank alarm, observe and report.

Posted by: Pops at October 06, 2010 07:13 PM (eXdIs)

20 Phelps:

You want customers to wait until the (incompetent/untrained/inexperienced/not qualified) police arrive to evaluated if it's a 'real deal' psychopathic gunman or just a prescription abuser having a bad hair day. Hummm....I have to think about that one.

My luck, pilgrim, I'd be in Costco buying my Mountain Dew when the 'real deal' guy would see the uniform policeman, have an anxiety attack, shoot everybody but me because he needed a hostage, the incapable authorities would sent in those federal negotiators of the Branch Davidians fame to parley my release and I'd be the first person to ever burn to death in the soda aisle.

Posted by: Buck T at October 06, 2010 08:27 PM (rNnSn)

21 Why must we tip-toe around LEO's? Citizens have the right to be armed. It shouldn't be an abberation. You shouldn't have to unload and present your firearm for inspection on demand. Your license, yes. Not your firearm. I can think of at least three methods for doing so in a calm, rational, respectful manner that cover escalation, too.

A gun-fearing citizen panics, overreacts and next thing I know I have a squad of officers pointing their weapons at me while they're hopped up on adrenaline, caffeine and testosterone?

I'm going to be confused, angry and not likely to listen for the first few minutes until I can figure out what's going on and yelling at me isn't going to help anything at all.

As MikeM said. LEO's, Use your best weapon, your brain. Treat others with the respect you demand.

...and this is why I'll probably be gunned down some day. yay.

Posted by: Bill at October 07, 2010 10:14 AM (QDtMz)

22 @JKB, Erik Scott's girlfriend stated, in her police interview, that she and Erik discussed the reason for the evacuation, that it might be him, and what they should do about it. She encouraged him to take his firearm out to his car and secure it there. He then said that if the police asked for it, he would surrender it to them.

As a CHL holder in Texas, I do not understand why Erik would decide to do that. Perhaps it was his military training. I think the military is more likely to allow a man to disarm without shooting him, because they know that all of them are trained in weapon handling and they assume that no one in their right mind would try to shoot their way out of a situation where they were at close range and outnumbered.

Erik may have thought the police were trained the same way. He was wrong, at least about Mosher.

Posted by: Paul Schmehl at October 07, 2010 11:27 PM (D13W4)

23 @steve "I'm not sure what Costco's liability is. What tort did Costco commit? Nor am I sure that Costco's actions could be deemed the proximate cause of Scott's death."

I'm going to assume this is a serious question, even though I find that incredible.

1) Costco called 911 rather than simply asking Erik to leave the store, grossly overreacting to his behavior.
2) Costco falsely reported his behavior, significantly escalating the situation (unless you believe that an agitated, excitable, possibly ED man with a gun suddenly became an unremarkable customer as he walked, unidentified, past waiting police right after a Costco employee reported to the waiting police that the situation was "escalating".)
3) Costco pointed him out to police waiting with weapons at the low ready rather than simply watching him walk out of the store and reporting that he had left the store.

Posted by: Paul Schmehl at October 07, 2010 11:34 PM (D13W4)

24
MikeM:

I have not yet seen you mention the genesis of this entire tragedy. Perhaps you missed this part of the story and testimony. It is important.

Costco employee Linda Bem was the person that took and processed Erik's membership when he first entered the Costco. She testifying that she noticed Erik's knuckle was bleeding, and made some assumptions of her own (presumably that domestic violence had just occurred, and that he was acting strange). She is the one who then alerted Costco management and security to go after Erik. Without the actions of this single Costco employee, the incident would likely have not occurred at all. Costco security was following Erik looking for an excuse to confront him right from the start of his fatal visit to Costco.

Please review the full testimony of Linda Blem for confirmation.

Posted by: Jeff at October 08, 2010 09:35 PM (FUR+7)

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The Long Gray Line Sets Its Sights on Las Vegas Metro PD Over Erik Scott Shooting

My latest article is up at Pajamas Media.

If I were a betting man, I'd take the Army.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:13 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 04, 2010

50-Caliber. Hand-held. Full-Auto.

So... how was your Sunday?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:54 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 02, 2010

In Attempt To Save Face For Ed Shultz, MSNBC Edits Crowd Size Out of AP Story On Today's Left-Wing Rally

The great thing about wire service copy is that news organizations can pick and choose which parts of the story they would like to include, and which parts they would like to cut. MSNBC made some interesting choices today in their coverage of a left wing rally in Washington DC today, one that was headed by one of their own on-air personalities, Ed Shultz.

What did they edit out?

For starters, they removed a veritable who's who of radical left wing bomb-throwers (in this instance, figurative) and their quotes, from AFL-CIO's Trumka to White House outcast and radical Van Jones, to chronic race baiter Al Sharpton.

But the most obvious thing that MSNBC chose to edit out of the story was the reporter's crowd size estimate... one that would embarrass Shultz, who had previously bragged he could draw a bigger crowd than that which attended Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" held on August 28th.

This is the embarrassing graph that never made it to MSNBC's site.

Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck's rally. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck's rally. The National Park Service stopped providing official crowd estimates in the 1990s.

It's almost as if MSNBC itself was embarrassed to admit the radicals and outcasts that showed up at the rally they championed, or the decidedly low turnout. But don't worry, liberals... there are always crooks and liars around to make your community-based reality seem more in-tune than America than it will actually ever be.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:32 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Shultz doesn't have the Koch Bros. & Rupert Murdoch and his Foxettes to help him.

Posted by: Phil Silverman at October 03, 2010 12:25 AM (sUqKD)

2 No, 'Sgt' Shultz [I know nuthink!!!] only had the help of "400 organizations" since April [according to them].

I guess George Soros took a pass, hmmmmm?

Pretty lame defense. I'll wait for the "satellite" photos. The only ones I've seen so far so a crowd of less than 1/4 that of Beck's. Pretty much matches the ratings, I'd guess.

Losers.

Posted by: jorgxmckie at October 03, 2010 01:18 AM (290l2)

3 What was interesting also, were pictures of AFTER the rallies. When Becks crowd left, the grounds were clean enough to eat off, but when the progressive crowd left, the grounds looked like a fleet of garbage trucks exploded. So much for the environmental liberals.

Posted by: AndyJ at October 03, 2010 07:26 AM (Lik9t)

4 No, what was the most interesting and screamingly funniest thing was cnbc using photos from the BECK rally to illustrate their story - at least until they got called on it a few times, HAHAHAHA.

Posted by: emdfl at October 03, 2010 08:23 AM (LQJvB)

5 The cleanliness is a metaphor for the two mindsets. One take responsibility for their own actions, the other expects someone else to do it for them.

Posted by: Tregonsee at October 03, 2010 08:24 AM (vq2sy)

6 I see no graph at the link

Posted by: Kevin at October 03, 2010 12:54 PM (1sB4u)

7 Oh haha I get it. You meant paragraph. Duh. I opened the link in Firefox, IE and Chrome to see if I was somehow blocking a graph .

Posted by: Kevin at October 03, 2010 12:55 PM (1sB4u)

8 Shultz doesn't have the Koch Bros. & Rupert Murdoch and his Foxettes to help him.What a target rich comment.
Sooo...
If Murdoch is "polluting" our minds, what does it say that your Ted Turner "pollution" has only a quarters worth of reach?

Fox can marshal more people than CNN+MSNBC+PBS+NPR+NBC+ABC+CBS combined?

The left can only corral half as many people into the mall as tea party members freely chose to attend?

Be scared leftists, and be scared media-whore republicans. We already have term-limits - and many in Washington are just now realizing this.

Posted by: bains at October 03, 2010 08:48 PM (QTAQI)

9 Big government is doomed. Socialism a failed experiment. Communism a failed path. We shall not kneel to government nor those whoe imagine they rulat rather than serve. I already have a mother and father and they never were in Washington D.C.

Posted by: Odins Acolyte at October 04, 2010 05:45 PM (brIiu)

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The Erik Scott Case: Update 4

Since Update 3.2, much has changed. The seven person Coroner’s Inquest jury deliberated only 90 minutes before unanimously finding the officers justified in shooting Erik Scott. Considering the unchallenged evidence presented by the prosecutors, there was no other reasonable verdict. Yet, in at least one instance, the public was treated to the bizarre spectacle of prosecutors trying to discredit one of their own witnesses whose testimony--perhaps coming as a surprise to prosecutors--did not adhere to prosecution theory.

We know more of the facts to at least some degree of certainty, but most of the evidence, and the most potentially accurate and telling evidence, has not yet been produced. It will doubtless take the discovery process of the civil trial Erik’s father, William Scott, has announced for a reasonable semblance of the complete story to unfold. It seems clear that the authorities are not going to provide more than has been made public unless they have no choice, and in the case of any potential videotape, perhaps not even then. More on this shortly.

Before we get into analysis of the 9-11 transcript (available here) and a partial transcript of police radio traffic (available here), we’ll address the concerns of Confederate Yankee commenters on Update 3.2 and add additional information.

Posted by: MikeM at 09:49 PM | Comments (53) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Pro-Depression Rally In DC Today

Of course that isn't what they are calling it, but how else do you characterize 400 left-wing groups that are coming together to protest for the policies of bailouts, takeovers, bullying and bigger government that has this nation spiraling deeper in debt and away from prosperity?

"This is certainly an opportunity to remind similarly aligned progressives what’s at stake in November," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "Elections have consequences. There will be very few progressives who will prosper under a Republican Congress."

That's pretty much the point, Fred.

Americans are sick and tired of progressives prospering at the expense of our current economy, our nation's culture, and the future of our children. We don't was to see our nation decline into a second-rate nation so that you can file hate crimes charges at someone who turns up their nose just because you decide to prance down the street in high heels and a feather boa.

We're also tired of public officials raping the taxpayers at large to payoff narrow-minded and exclusive special interests and thuggish unions.

We want simple things: an America that allows Americans a chance to prosper, an opportunity to grow, and the room to dream. Progressive politics are constrictive, choking the life out of our republic.

Bus in your paid-for day laborers, freaks and thugs, your stoners and university Marxists, your limousine liberals, eco-fascists, and racial supremacist groups. It will not matter.

November is coming, and we remember what you have tried. We are of no specific color, age, creed, or nationality, but we remember what America once was, and what it will be again once you are defeated.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:10 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

October 01, 2010

Cheerio! Eco-Fascist Greens Want You Dead

I'll let James Delingpole splatter you with the details, and instead, merely let the video stand on its own demerits.

True Believers—whether they follow Jim Jones, David Koresh, Che, or Mao— are one of mankind's greatest threats. When idealism is stripped of humanity and becomes zealotry, no number of lives is too many to purge to "embrace the change."

BTW, there is a political party here in the U.S. chock-full of eco-nuts just like these, and they are coming up for re-election in almost exactly a month, and will pursue economy-killing eco-fascism for the next two years if you don't show up Nov. 2 and vote them out.

No pressure.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:30 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

CNN Provides Rick Sanchez the Opportunity to Do the Reich Thing

This whole thing happened so far I didn't ever get a chance to write the "whoa," much less the "gotta go."

Basically, one of CNN's lesser lights came out as a conspiracy-minded anti-Semite on a radio show yesterday afternoon, and was terminated today after the story got out.

I'd say I'm sorry to see him go, but quite frankly, he brought very little to the air in the first place.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:26 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

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