Time Out

Mr. Trump’s willingness to make a near-immediate conclusion about the deadly shooting appeared to be at odds with one of his senior advisers. Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, told CBS News that he would not make a judgment call on video of the shooting circulating on social media.

“Let the investigation play out,” Mr. Homan said, “and hold people accountable based on the investigation.”

Homeland Security Secretary Noem commented on the fatal ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis and claimed that the woman killed had engaged in an "act of domestic terrorism" by trying to target officers with her car. 

Ever since this happened is seems I cannot swing a dead cat without hitting someone falling over themselves to get into their respective echo chamber of righteous hyper-partisan outrage.  

 

Keyboard warriors out for blood.  

 

I got no interest in turning-up the volume on this as it is way too early in the process.

I'm willing to wait for investigators to do their job, allow the process to play-out and the conclusions released to the public.  

 

It is abundantly clear that the administration had basically decided-upon the narrative they chose to spin before the deceased had been positively identified.  And with the locals stonewalled in any investigative role that puts the FBI under additional scrutiny to not engage in a cover-up.  Appearances will count for a lot.  I'm willing to give the FBI a fair shot at interpreting the forensics.   

 

Time will tell.

 

And liars, where ever they may lurk, get found-out.  Eventually. 

Semiquincentennial

As March 5, 1770 dawned, tensions between colonists and British soldiers were running high as a consequence of troops occupying Boston to enforce civil law for two long years already.  The presence of soldiers to enforce order inflamed resentment.  The town was a powder keg ready to explode.

Trouble began in late February when a schoolboy named Christopher Snider was shot and killed by a British loyalist during a melee.  The boy's funeral, organized by Samuel Adams, drew thousands of angry Bostonians.

On March 2, a British soldier, seeking a job, was told to clean my shithouse.  This triggered rioting.

On Monday, March 5, rumor had it that there would again be trouble.  The town was filled with people, mostly boys and young men milling about.  Many from out of town.  This was one of many brawls and arguments that broke out in Boston on that day.  

This one began innocently enough with a dispute over a barber bill.  A wig maker's apprentice was pestering an army officer, tailing him all over town, insulting him about the debt - which had, in truth, been paid. Eventually the officer entered a tavern on King Street opposite the State House.  The apprentice continued his harassment outside.  A solitary sentry on guard at the nearby Custom House joined the argument and struck the boy with the barrel of his musket.  A crowd began to gather, someone rang a church bell - normally used as a fire alarm - and more people arrived.  Many had sticks and clubs.

At the 29th Regiment's nearby HQ, Captain Thomas Preston 'walked up and down for near half an hour' wondering what to do.  The lone sentry was surrounded by hostile citizens and clearly in danger.  Finally, Preston led a detail to the Custom House to escort the sentry to safety.  Upon arrival Preston and his eight men found themselves surrounded.  For fifteen minutes the crowd grew uglier as the mob confronted the soldiers.  Insults and profanities were hurled.  Ice chunks were thrown at the soldiers.  Snowballs mixed with horse dung from the street were thrown at the troopers.  A club was thrown hitting one of the redcoats and knocking him to the ground.  Under stress and confusion and presaging events at Kent State two hundred years later - the trooper stood and fired at point-blank range.  More shots followed.  

Preston frantically ordered his men to cease fire; but three already lay dead and two more were dying.  Five colonists were killed including an African American - Crispus Attucks - remembered as the first violent casualty of the Revolution.  Several other Bostonians were wounded.

Samuel Adams and Paul Revere played this for all it was worth for its value as propaganda.  Their perennial villain, Lt. Gov. Hutchinson was forced to evacuate the troops to Castle Island in the harbor.

Revere's engraving of the Bloody Massacre was plagiarized from an illustration by Henry Pelham and was factually inaccurate but was terrific agitprop.  Prints were sold throughout Boston, the other colonies and made their way to England. 

But Boston was not ready for war and with the troops removed the situation quieted-down.  Two ardent patriots, John Adams (future president) and Josiah Quincy  defended the soldiers in court and won an acquittal for all but two of them.  The two found guilty of manslaughter were branded on their thumbs and set free.  

First installed in 1887, the circular brick memorial was in the middle of the street near where it was said Crispus Attucks fell.  It's been moved three times since with the present location selected so visitors would be less likely to be struck by traffic. 

The incident deepened colonial hostility toward Britain and contributed to unifying the opposition further laying the groundwork for the Revolution.

click on image to read the grave marker

 

Assault With a Deli Weapon

 

Credit - Banksy

Following Jeanine Pirro’s WWF performance a grand jury declined to indict the man who threw a sandwich at a federal officer in Washington D.C.  Further evidence a grand jury won't indict a ham sandwich after all.  

Never thought I’d live thru the American Clown Show Age…

Storm The Bastille

On December 4, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed outside the entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, NYC.  He was in town to attend an annual investors meeting for UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare.

Authorities believe the attack was not a random act and are investigating it as an assassination.  The shooting occurred early in the morning and the suspect, described as a white man, fled the scene. As of the publication of this post the perp has not been apprehended.

No arrest.

No interrogation.   

No motive.

Plenty of speculation to go around.

It is unclear what motivated the incident or whether it was tied to Mr. Thompson's work in the insurance industry.  The police have yet to identify the shooter who is still on the loose.

Nevertheless, social media has exploded with an avalanche of vitriol, and glee over the murder of the insurance executive.  Sure, I get it.  People have had negative experiences with health insurance companies at some of the most difficult times of their lives.  But in the absence of the facts and circumstances of this killing has anyone considered taking a moment to take a breath and not get over their skis? 

I tried on a Face Book group to counsel restraint and got hammered.  I was slammed for not embracing the notion that a man responsible for millions of deaths of people for money got his comeuppance.  

UnitedHealthcare denied 32% more claims last year than any other insurer, it's not hard to figure out.

Posting a photo of Albert Bouria, CEO of Pfizer, from Prophetic Memetics someone else suggested that he just thought someone else might might be curious.  

Anybody else, beside me, consider that a passive aggressive threat instead of your garden variety internet troll?

It is interesting to me the instances of individuals who have flippantly shared that their grievances (large or small, real or perceived) are justifiably resolved at the point of a gun.

It is a chilling observation to note that killing someone for a slight, a political difference or an insurance dispute is justified. 

Regrettably, this is what can happen when there are no appropriate channels for people to make meaningful change to a malign system.  The Supreme Court has allowed unlimited money in our politics and politicians are voting with their corporate overlords, including health insurance companies.  

My sense is that government is broken and simply does not work very well for the average American.  As a consequence they despair.

If this shooter becomes a folk hero it will be appalling; but not surprising.  I have shared many times that capitalism is messy business.  Perhaps we've arrived at a Storm the Bastille moment where the murder of both oligarchs or a neighbor with an offending bumper sticker becomes normalized.

I sure hope not....

Land Grab Rip-Off

Rattling-around the interweb I somehow happened to stumble-across this historic real estate injustice.

That's right.  Wisconsin was robbed of the upper peninsula.  

Gasp!

In the 18th century our country adopted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to establish a process whereby new states might be admitted to the Union.  You know, all that stuff that ultimately fed Manifest Destiny that would attach large landmasses which became territories which would then lead to the formation of states.

Unfortunately, the boundaries for the lands that would eventually become Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin were poorly and incomplete defined.

The territory of Michigan went to war with the state of Ohio for a small piece of land known as the Toledo Strip. There was a cessation of hostilities only after Old Hickory intervened and the Federal Government stepped-in granting Michigan the Upper Peninsula and Ohio what is now the City of Toledo on the shore of Lake Erie.

500 square miles of land in exchange for 16,500 square miles of peninsula.  That's 28% of Michigan's entire landmass.  Not fair!  Wisconsin represents a far-larger land mass sharing a larger common border with the upper peninsula.  The UP isn't even physically connected to the state of Michigan.  Besides, Yoopers (those who live on the Upper Peninsula) share a closer cultural connection with Wisconsinites than they do with Michigan to the east.  Yoopers have even felt strongly-enough about this that if they cannot be part of Wisconsin maybe they should become the 51st state to seek admission to the union.

In closing, if you feel as much grievance as I do over this arbitrary and totally inexcusable  land grab you should go here and Sign the Petition.  Get on board and help Wisconsin Reclaim Upper Michigan. 

We got ripped-off.....

Change.org

Notable Quotable

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

 - Obi-Wan

Unjust Forfeiture and Seizure

Police abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws allows police to seize - and then keep and sell - any property they allege is involved in a crime.  If it is your property you need not be arrested or convicted of a crime.  Your cash, vehicles and real estate can be taken from you permanently by the government.

These forfeiture laws were originally pitched as a mechanism to cripple large criminal enterprises by seizing their resources.  Because many of these statutes are deeply flawed many police departments use forfeiture to fatten their bottom line making seizures a means of profit instead of crime fighting. 

Forfeiture laws pose one of the greatest threats to property rights in our nation.  These laws encourage law enforcement to favor the pursuit of property  over the pursuit of justice.  Citizens are encouraged to be vigilant when it comes to action by government without criminal due process protections.  Abuses of forfeiture proceedings have been well documented.

Between 2001 and 2018, Texas law enforcement agencies forfeited more than $781 million under Texas law.  In Texas, law enforcement doesn't need to arrest, charge, or convict someone to seize your property.  All that is required is a need to articulate probable cause based upon the officer's suspicion that it is linked to criminal activity; or even that it could be used to facilitate a future crime that hasn't even been committed yet.  

Texas prosecutors rush to civil court - not criminal court - to use this flimsy standard.  In criminal court you have a right to counsel and the government must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.  Neither of which apply in forfeiture cases.

Be grateful you live in Wisconsin and not Texas or another state with flawed laws on their books.  On April 3, 2018, Governor Scott Walker signed Wisconsin Act 211, a bill that changed the rules the State has to follow when it seeks to forfeit property seized in relation to a crime.  This Act significantly changed Wis. Stat. § 961.55, which had previously permitted law enforcement agencies to seize and later forfeit property, in many cases for their own benefit.  The act now protects citizens whose property is seized but who are not prosecuted or whose criminal case is dismissed.  Furthermore, the fruits of any forfeiture is turned over to Wisconsin's School Fund and not the law enforcement agency that seized the property.  

The most significant change to the old forfeiture law is that if the owner of the property is acquitted or the charges dropped, the court must order that the property be returned within 30 days.  The bill also requires seized property to be returned to innocent owners of the property unless the owners were involved with or knowledgeable about the crime related to their property.

Wisconsin Act 211 restored balance between the power of the state and the rights of its citizens. 

Yet, there is reason to be hopeful.  Last year, a Texas judge allowed a class-action lawsuit to move forward against Harris County over its unconstitutional forfeiture program.  

Everyday citizens, along with help from organizations such as The Institute for Justice are pushing back and fighting back to reform flawed and unjust forfeiture laws. 

Remain vigilant, people.

Presidential Trivia

Historical Factoid - 

There is also one less serious example of a president being arrested. 

A Washington, D.C., police officer arrested Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 for speeding in his horse and buggy before letting him go.