Current Events – Page 16 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Media Will Have a Field Day With This

So just my luck to fly into Intercontinental in Houston just as some jackass decided to involve everyone in is drama, and committed suicide-by-cop at the security checkpoint the next terminal over. From the sounds of it, our intrepid loser went into the terminal, pulled out an AR, fired off a few random shots, probably to ensure some return fire, then pulled out another gun and shot himself.

Folks, if you’re going to off yourself, and aren’t sure you have the guts, please consider getting some help before forcing some poor cop to do the job for you. Also, involving an entire airport of people in your problems is just rude, to say the least.

Given the fact that NRA is in town, I’m sure the media is going to be on the “Pin this on NRA” narrative like stink on shit.

The Media Didn’t Learn a Thing after Boston

You’d think after so much public derision over their terrible job reporting on the Boston bombing situation, the media would think it wise to step back and consider how they report on breaking events and whether they are contributing to a sense of panic by printing and announcing every rumor they hear. I think it is safe to say that the Philly media definitely didn’t learn anything.

Here’s what I can tell you about a story that has apparently been unfolding since 9:00am today at the Independence Visitor Center in downtown Philly.

The local paper says that the Center was closed down because of a bomb threat in their headline. When you read the article, you find out that there was no actual threat just a perception that a guy who looked funny because he wore a camo coat on a cold day had some clothes and junk in his car may have possibly been a threat that involved a bomb.

A local tv station reports nothing about concerns about a bomb, but that SWAT teams were on the scene because the guy in the camo coat may have also had his face painted. There’s no mention of clothes or junk in his car, just that police shut down the main parking garage in the area in order to search every corner for anything suspicious before giving an all clear.

So the only clear facts that appear to be consistent are that a guy was wearing a coat on a cold day, the coat was apparently in a camouflage pattern, he had a car parked in a parking garage, and that the Philly police felt the best response was to shut down a major landmark and the parking garage because of this man wearing a coat on a cold day. Oh, and they also agree that he was hauled off in handcuffs, but officials are unwilling to say why he was detained.

At this point, even if there is a reasonable explanation for the police response, the reporting by at least one of these outlets–if not both–is irresponsible and clearly geared toward promoting fear in order to draw eyeballs. That’s why neither story is getting a link at the moment. Neither one deserves to be rewarded for reporting that appears to be, under the most generous descriptions, sloppy at best.

UPDATE: Another report actually relies on on-the-record statements from the police. Can you imagine the insanity behind such caution and restraint?

So far, the facts appear to be that a man was wearing camo (no mention of face paint) and that he had a car that was dirty. This alone was enough for police to determine that he should be taken into custody even though they admit that the K9 unit and bomb squad found absolutely nothing in his car but junk. Now this might be my crazy libertarian side coming out, but last time I checked, possession of shitty fashion sense and dirty cars isn’t actually a crime.

Is there no one else disturbed by the apparent extreme police state on display here? Are urban dwellers that content to give up their civil liberties?

Russians!

Who would have thunk it? Stayed up last night until 3:30AM, enthralled by the running gun battle with police in Boston.

Well one good thing, I suppose, is that the left were desperate for the bombers to be extremist white guys, and the right were desperate for them to be Muslims. Everybody wins!

Analysis of the Boston Bomb

Joe takes a look at the explosion and concludes it may have been a deflagration rather than an explosion. He has more direct experience with this explosives than any other gun bloggers I know, so I’d trust his analysis. Reports coming out in the media about it being a gunpowder bomb fit with what Joe has said. I don’t want to even think about the new restrictions on civil liberties the powers that be will dream up in response to this one.

Holy Crap!

Looks like there were some explosions during the Boston Marathon. Terrorism?

UPDATE: Looking at some of the video out there, the explosion doesn’t look like it was that large. But who would target the Boston Marathon? And why?

UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. Worms.

UPDATE: Lots of speculation running rampant in the media and on Twitter. I don’t plan to do play-by-play with this nonsense. We’ll have the truth soon enough. We’ll return to regularly scheduling blogging shortly.

UPDATE: The President’s initial statement.

UPDATE: Don’t jump to conclusions.

CBS on Adam Lanza Motivations

CBS is reporting that they have talked to law enforcement officials who say that they believe Adam Lanza was acting out a video game fantasy where he believed that each person he shot was simply adding up to a score in his sick mind. They also say that they have evidence that he became obsessed with another mass murderer, and that he may have been hoping to top that body count of 77.

In addition to living out a video game massacre scenario, they also say that Lanza picked the school as his target because he knew it would be an easy target to attack with large clusters of people. He did apparently fire a couple of rounds in the direction of the parking lot when police first showed up, but then quickly shot himself.

Live Blogging the SOTU

On Twitter. Brought to you unofficially by Jim Beam Rye, which is the only rye carried by the state monopoly in my town. I can’t promise to be witty or to even keep up, but I will try.

Not a Winning Issue for the Prez

Gallup polls shows most Americans do not approve of Obama’s gun policies. Is everyone stocked up enough on booze for the State of the Union tonight? You’re bound to hear more of it. I used to have to drink through Bush’s SOTU speeches too, because he was bloody awful at public speaking. Barry is at least good off a teleprompter, but the booze will help fight the urge to defenestrate my monitors* as I’m told I have to give up my rights for the President’s notion of the greater, collective good.

* Well, at least as long as my temporary office is up here three stories. When I move my office back to the basement, throwing electronics out the basement window wouldn’t be very satisfying, would it?

h/t Instapundit.

Don’t Shoot!

I’d say that’s really funny, but it’s kind of funny in a sad kind of way. That it has come to this. Did you ever get that feeling that you were living with a government that was totally and completely out of control, and you can’t do a damned thing about it, because no one seems to give a shit?

I really want an answer to this question form urban voters, before I agree to be ruled by the likes of them: why do you keep voting for this shit? What are you going to do to punish the people who have created a culture where citizens have to go about in public begging their police department not to shoot them? Don’t you see something very very wrong with this?

And Republicans, what does it say about you, that as a party that purportedly stands for Traditional American Values^TM, that you’ve been utterly unable to capitalize on moments like this, and perhaps compel urban voters to re-evaluate their political alliances?

Cop Goes Berserk in LA

Apparently he’s a strong supporter of gun control and the left, a fact which the media seems to be happily burying.Â This actually isn’t the first time a cop has gone berserk. One of the largest mass killings in history was committed by a police officerÂ in the 1950s, armedÂ with two M2 carbines (select fire version of the M1 carbine) and hand grenades. From PJ Media:

Itâ€™s pretty clear that Dorner is disturbed. Itâ€™s also pretty clear that the media and left have fueled his madness. His writing reads like a regurgitation of media narratives he could pick up on any mainstream leftist web site or media outlet. The same media are now censoring his manifesto. This comes just a day after news broke that another leftist gunman used leftwing propaganda to launch an armed attack on the conservative Family Research Council. Most media have ignored that angle, too.

I blame the media for ignoring that angle when it happens from their side of the spectrum, while they play it up for their opponents. But at the end of the day I don’t think heated rhetoric on either side is to blame for the act of crazies and lunatics. Ordinary people can engage in heated rhetoric without going on a killing spree, just like ordinary people can be around guns without doing the same.

UPDATE: More here.