Friday, January 17, 2014

Theater and school shootings, and Bridgegate


It’s a brand new year, and already we’ve had more than a few major news stories on TV. The year is not even four weeks old and already we’ve had school shootings, a nut job go ape in a movie theater, and some people weep over the notion if a murderer was given a humane exit. Oh, and Judge Scalia once again proved that he’s perhaps the dumbest man ever to sit on the Supreme Court.

 

In perhaps the dumbest statement issued by a court justice since Roger Taney blacks weren’t full people, Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday took issue with buffer zones at abortion clinics. He complained that the law referred to the folks with the anti-abortion signs as protester. Instead, he referred to them as “Councilors” and that they were merely at the abortion clinics to “comfort” women seeking an abortion. Take a second to re-read that sentence, and let it sink in. A sitting justice on the Supreme Court, allegedly an educated man, said that the people that stand outside of abortion clinics holding placards featuring pictures of dead babies and shouting “murderer” aren’t protesters, but they are there to comfort and offer advice to the women seeking an abortion. I’m not sure what logic he was following there. When I see a large gathering of people chanting and holding signs, you know what I think they are? I think they are fucking protesters! By Scalia’s logic, anyone protesting the war isn’t a protester, no, they are anti-war councilors attempting to make the world leaders fight their battles without weapons.

I have no issue with the buffer zones, because I’ve seen how insane some of these protesters can get. And I’m going to call them protesters because that is exactly what they are, protesters. I’ve seen them shout at women, calling them baby killers and murders. They don’t really take into account that maybe the women are having the abortion for health reasons.  Nope, that would be rational. It’s not like some of these protesters don’t have a past in which they’ve killed people. Oh wait, that’s right, they do, which is why the buffer zone was put into place to begin with! Justice Scalia’s position on this subject is as ill-informed as it is dangerous.

On the subject of dangerous, that brings us to retired police chief Curtis Reeves. Reeves are the man who shot and killed another man simply because the man was texting during the preview of a movie. Oh, did you know that Reeves in a previous incident followed a 27 year old woman to the bathroom after confronting her over texting during the previews of a movie during a previous visit to the movie theater by Reeves. So it’s not like Reeves just snapped, because there is now record of his stalking a texter. Reeves is a former Police Chief who attempted to use the “Stand your Ground” act. Reeves’ attorney actually had the balls to say that Reeves felt threatened because Chad Oulson threw popcorn at him. I’m not sure in what universe popcorn throwing is a threat and cause for someone to take out a gun and open fire. So, Richard Escobar, attorney for Curtis Reeves, actually had the balls to say that because popcorn was being thrown at his client, that use of a weapon was justified because Reeves felt threatened!

First, I’m not exactly sure why Reeves brought a weapon into the theatre. What’s more disturbing is that Reeves was seeing the movie Lone Survivor. All that really matters is that Chad Oulson texted the day care center his daughter was in and it cost him his life. Reeves, who by the way, was denied the Stand Your Ground claim, is sitting in a jail cell, perhaps surrounding by some people either he or his son, who is a current Tampa cop,  put there. But I can’t really say that I have any faith that the Florida District Attorney’s office will be able to keep him there. After seeing them botch George Zimmerman and Casey Anthony in such amateur style it would be fitting for a comedy movie, you can’t say that Florida is home to the best and brightest legal minds.

On the subject of shooting, we also had a school shooting committed by a 12 year old in Roswell, New Mexico. Thankfully, no one was killed this time. A teacher, unarmed might I add, was able to talk the boy out of doing any more damage. Imagine that, talking actually got someone to put down a gun. Funny how the NRA isn’t trying to get every police agency to get rid of hostage negotiators and simply rush in anytime someone is held hostage.

Now, I’m sure that some of you might be wondering why I haven’t offered my opinion of “Bridgegate” and Chris Christie. Fox News, the unofficial PR firm for the Republican Party, anytime something happens, automatically, President Obama had full knowledge and knew everything a head of time. When one of their own claims no prior knowledge, they take it as gospel straight from Luke. Sorry, Chris Christie having zero knowledge that a bridge was going to close in order to stick it to a political rival doesn’t exactly right true to me. However, let’s be honest about one thing. If Chris Christie did put the bridge closure into play, he’s just taking a page from a playbook that was first written back in 1802 with John Adams and the midnight appointments. It’s nothing more than gamesmanship between political rivals than anything else, which is why I really don’t care about it. To me, it’s a minor issue. I think I’ll pay more attention to how the GOP plans to screw the unemployed, thank you very much. That is the bigger story.

That does it for this edition of the rant. I’ll see you next time.

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