The Beltway Outsider

To: Mark Seagraves, WTOP reporter (msegraves @ wtop.com)

Mark,

In reference to your story here: http://wtop.com/?nid=109&sid=2514785

I have a quick pop quiz:

1: If you or I were caught in D.C. with an unauthorized, unregistered firearm, what would be the charge?

2: If you or I fired that handgun (in D.C., while drunk 0.15 BAC) into a car with 3 occupants, what would be the charge?

3: Does shooting at transgendered citizens also constitute a “hate crime”?

The answers should be you would be charged with one count Carrying a Pistol Without a License, in violation of D.C. Code § 22-4504(a) (2001); one count of Possession of an Unregistered Firearm, in violation of D.C. Code § 7-2502.01 (2001); one count of Possession of Unregistered Ammunition, in violation of  D.C. Code § 7-2506.01(3) (2001)  and multiple premeditated murder charges, one for every occupant in the vehicle  (in addition to DWI). But, when you are a cop working for the second most corrupt police force in the nation (after Chicago), and you have been specifically told you no longer have authorization to carry a gun in performance of your duties (this includes non-duty hours too) I guess it’s OK to get drunk, drive around town with your gun, and find some transgender folks to shoot at while drunk and standing on the hood of your car (a full 90 minutes after an altercation at CVS, that’s where the “premeditated murder” part comes in, Furr had to be out looking for these folks). You won’t be held fully accountable for your drunken attempted murder spree, at most you’ll be slapped with DWI and assault with a dangerous weapon charge. This is Lanier’s new management plan of “training trumps discipline“. Not being held fully accountable.

Some might say the cop shouldn’t be charged with the firearms charges, but once you lose the special police powers to carry a gun in D.C. you are no longer exempt from the same laws everyone else must follow. If you are not allowed to carry in the performance of your duties then any and all firearms and ammunition you possess outside the home in D.C. would NOT be legal, yes?

Mark, are you planning to follow up with DCMP to ask why this cop is receiving special treatment when you and I both know that someone NOT wearing a badge would also have these charges levied at them if they had done the same crime? Inquiring minds want to know!

Sincerely,

Ian Branson

Vienna, VA

Read: Lanier – Training trumps discipline for D.C. police

That’s what Chief Wiggums, err, I mean DC Metro POLICE Chief Lanier fetishizes when describing her POLICE department. She thinks her corrupt co-workers are a “paramilitary” force, HA! Let’s get one thing straight Cathy: your cadre of contemptible criminals you call cops (you know, the “Only Ones” in DC good enough and trusted enough to carry a firearm in self-defense) are not some elite seal team force protecting the streets of the capital. I’ve seen more police officers abuse the badge and authority in DC than any other place. That is if you can even get them to do their job when asked or arrest a criminal. Your department is a sad JOKE and you are the leader of this fail train. You even admit you don’t believe in administering discipline when your “paramilitary” coworkers get out of line. Shame on you, you’re a sad excuse for a cop, and an even worse example of a leader. You got your job under Marion Barry’s tenure, didn’t ya?

The man who wrote the Declaration of Independence must be turning in his grave at this moment. See, a few folks showed up at his monument in D.C and proceeded to conduct themselves in an inappropriate way. What was the indecency involved here? Well, a bit of dancing, hugging, and kissing. OMG!! Who knew that acting in a peaceful way could lead to violent behavior and arrests on account of the “Only Ones” who defend TJ’s memorial? See the video below:

From Nola.com:

In the rubble of Japan’s northeast coast, one small village stands as tall as ever after the tsunami. No homes were swept away. In fact, they barely got wet.

Fudai is the village that survived — thanks to a huge wall once deemed a mayor’s expensive folly and now vindicated as the community’s salvation.

The 3,000 residents living between mountains behind a cove owe their lives to a late leader who saw the devastation of an earlier tsunami and made it the priority of his four-decade tenure to defend his people from the next one.

His 51-foot (15.5-meter) floodgate between mountainsides took a dozen years to build and meant spending more than $30 million in today’s dollars.

This story really caught my attention this morning. A now deceased Japanese small town mayor had seen first hand the destruction caused by tsunami’s and felt he had to do something to protect lives and property by building a protective sea wall. Some felt his project was foolish and a waste, but he knew better and persevered to get the work completed. Thankfully he never caved into political pressure to abandon the project. Because of his preparation who knows how many lives were saved, or how many homes are still standing. Let this be a lesson to all: If you feel you are doing the right thing, peer pressure must not influence your actions.

The difference between a leader and a manager can often times be summed up by the decisions they make. Mayor Wamura could have managed the town and been happy in that role. Instead he stepped up and was a leader, making difficult decisions that ultimately paid off and showed his greatness. So, what kind of person are you? Are you a manager, or a leader? This may be a good time to take a moment to reflect on what your have done to contribute to your community and fellow man. Not everyone can contribute at the level Mayor Wamura did but everyone has the ability to make their mark on society in a positive way.

After being tortured with a “nonlethal” Taser…

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/22/florida.suspect.dead/index.html

Nothing to say here, just thought this might interest some folks. Metro train operator sees smoke ahead on the track and stops the train to investigate and get further instruction. She is ultimately told to use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire. If only all Metro’s troubles could be handled this quickly.

Oh my ohhhhh my. I’ve always felt that tasers, tools which emit THOUSANDS of volts of electrical energy which impair motor functions of those unlucky enough to have one used on them… should NOT be regularly used by professional police forces in any Western style democracy which claims to respect the rule of law and citizens rights. (I still support their use only in situations where a firearm would be proper to deploy) The original intent behind tazers was to offer police a tool which was supposed to be “safe” and billed as an alternative to deadly force (firing a handgun). Tasers were only to be used when deadly force was authorized. In the years since introduction, more and more officers have started carrying tasers and their scope of use has expanded so they may be justified in using these tools any time they (the officers) feel their authority is not being respected. We’ve all heard stories about drivers being tased for not complying with police instructions during traffic stops. Does anyone also feel the use of a firearm would be justified in those situations? Not hardly! So, why is it now SOP for an officer to tase a citizen for disobedience or simple resistance (not cooperating)? The use of these devices has simply gotten out of hand, and police conduct review boards see no issue with overboard cops unloading several thousand volts into disrespectful citizens. Here we have a story from Courthouse News Service where a grandmother who is old and bedridden couldn’t remember the last time she took her meds when her grandson asked the question. Not satisfied with the response the grandson called 911 and asked for an EMT to come and evaluate her.

Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, “connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose.” She is “in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily,” and “was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds,” so, Tinsley says, he called 911 “to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her.”
In response, “as many as ten El Reno police” officers “pushed their way through the door,” according to the complaint.

Instead several cops arrived and not surprisingly the grandmother was not happy to see armed agents of the government in her house without permission. She yelled for the police to get out of her apartment and was tased in her bed (while hooked up to highly combustible oxygen) for her act of defiance. That’s right, they tased a bedridden 87 year old woman in her bed who posed no threat to them, and they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. And how did these cowards justify their actions? They actually claimed the bedridden woman has taken an “aggressive stance” in her bed, whatever that means. Latest news shows the woman is suing the town for their assault that day.

These assaults on citizens are growing more common every day. Until we as a nation demand strict policies concerning their use we can expect rogue police officers and conduct review boards to continue approving employing them in barbaric ways when their commands are not complied with immediately. This folks is the beginning of a police state, where compliance is mandatory and passive resistance is met with painful electrical force which depending on the health of the citizen attacked can (and has) had deadly consequences.

Further reading on tasers and the cowards who use them…

Today I’ve sequestered myself at a Panera Bread away from my toys and TV. Just me, a laptop, and a tethered cellphone for data (Panera’s WiFi is abysmal!) so I can get a few posts up I’ve meant to commit to the interwebz. This story, courtesy of The Consumerist details how four Wal-mart employees were staring down the barrel of a loaded handgun held by a laptop swiping shoplifter.

It began when Walmart workers noticed the suspect stick a netbook under his clothes. He was met at the exit by a loss-prevention coordinator who escorted him back to the loss-prevention room at the store where three more employees joined him.

When the shoplifter pulled out the netbook, he also pulled out his handgun.

“It’s cocked, guys,” the gun-wielding fellow reportedly told the workers. “Don’t make me do this.”

This isn’t a situation they asked to be a part of but yet fate forced their hand. They intervened to save their lives by tackling the gun wielding thug and for their brave actions they were rewarded with disciplinary termination. The Wal-mart policy they violated is called “AP09″ and it states if a suspect displays a weapon, Wal-mart associates (as they are called in Walton lingo) are to disengage and withdraw. I can surely imagine they would have prefered to be anywhere else other than a  back security room with a gun pointed at them, so I’m at a severe loss to understand… where should they have disengaged and withdrawn to? there is a criminal with a gun standing in-between them and the exit door. It appears Wal-mart feels they should have submitted to the criminals whims, even if that meant he takes their lives. This is UNACCEPTABLE to anyone who values their own life. Wal-mart would rather YOU, the employee DIE or get seriously wounded than defend yourselves from attack. Is Wal-mart actually this ethically challenged? Yes, “Always”.

From: 11alive.com

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA — Every once in a while a hero steps into someone’s life. One stepped into Heather Kloer’s life on January 6th. It happened in the parking lot of an Office Depot on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. Kloer was walking to her car when she was approached by a man with a knife.

Link to full story above, another example of an armed citizen saving a life. Imagine if Rob Strickland had only had a cellphone to call 911 and not a handgun that night… do you feel the outcome might have been different?

Via Crooks and Liars:

Yesterday we had another act of violence by a right-wing extremist intent on attacking and harming the government, inflamed by far-right conspiracy theories about 9/11 and other supposed instances of government “tyranny”

Mr. Neiwert, I see you are quick to jump the gun, but not so quick to issue an apology. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Pentagon shooter was a mental case who could not be trusted to function in society without a custodian.

Bedell, who went by Patrick, had vigorously objected to the government’s role in the 1991 Persian Gulf War since high school, telling relatives that the United States was trying to enrich itself and oil companies, said his brother, 33-year-old Jeffrey Bedell.

But, in about 2002, after the breakup of a long-term relationship with a girlfriend, his skepticism began to turn to deep-rooted suspicion. And soon it became paranoia, his brother said.

Patrick would point skyward, convinced that “they” were watching him. He believed songs he heard on the radio were meant as warnings. Deeply concerned, the Bedell family and close friends tried to seek medical help for him, but Patrick refused, convinced that he was privy to information that warranted his mind-set.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Neiwert and his friends will gladly use any national tragedy to paint those who don’t think like them (liberals) as extremist threats to society. I just wish he would stick to the real right-wing wackos (there’s enough of ‘em) and not use crazy mental cases who go postal.