SEATTLE -- A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday. Harmless and eccentric, eh? Tell us more.
Miles Murphy, a University of Washington senior, was shot several times at his apartment early Thursday after police said he pointed a rifle affixed with a bayonet at officers and refused orders to drop the weapon. Oh, yes - I see your point. Was pointing a gun at the police the "harmless" or the "eccentric" part?
Seattle police had converged on Murphy's apartment after receiving complaints that several men were firing rifle and shotgun rounds into the air. Murphy emerged from inside and pointed what was later identified as a World War II Kar 98 German infantry rifle at the officers, police said.
When he refused several orders to drop the weapon, two officers fired seven shots, police Officer Jeff Kappel said. Murphy was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.
A witness told some officers at the scene that Murphy had been firing blanks that night. Blanks, eh? Oh, well - that makes it OK then.
Police searching the house found alcohol, live ammunition and a large collection of German, Russian and Nazi memorabilia including photographs and uniforms, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said. Is this the German historical version of "hold mein beer und watch zis"?
But Murphy "wasn't a Nazi," Hattie Taylor, a friend, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "He was just fascinated with the past... He liked to dress up and have fun." By getting drunk and pointing a firearm at the cops? He seems a might unclear on the concept....
Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske called the situation "truly sad" but stood by the officers' actions. "Right now, I don't see any other choice that they had," he said. The two officers who fired at Murphy were placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
Murphy, 22, was a senior Germanics major, university President Mark Emmert said in a statement Friday mourning his loss. Unfortunately, he sure had the "manic" part down pat.
Murphy wanted to be a German literature professor and had a large collection of WWII memorabilia, said his friend Spencer Bray.
He was "a peaceful and loving young man," his mother, Dianne Murphy, told the local newspaper. I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Murphy - truly I am - but "peaceful and loving" and "points firearm at police and refuses to drop it when ordered to" just does not compute.
What a waste. Idiot. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 16:30 ||
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#1
It was an innocent prank. It won't happen again.
#2
More from today's Seattle PI: back in 2006 the guy's gun was 'siezed' by the Seattle PD, (reason not stated) but a few months ago the Dad called the cops and got them to give the gun back to junior.
Even more surprising, the majority of reader comments on the story are actually supportive of the police's actions! from Seattlestan no less!
#3
Remembers me of a group of people Who played Killer. For the uninformed, Killer was a game where people mock assasintated one another. That is you enter in another pklayer's desk, pull a banana from your pocket and Bang! Bang! Bang! ypu fried him... provided that the banana had not been crushed.
So a group of people decided it was smart to play Killer with life-like imitations of weapons. And still smarter to play it at night. Guess what happened when a police patrol saw two bozos at night trying to sneak in a house while carrying what looked like M16s. RIP.
Violence scarred celebrations and led to a bloody New Year across the country as emergency services endured a chaotic end to 2008. Ambulance control centres reported receiving 999 calls as often as once every seven seconds - the second highest volume of calls since the Millennium - as binge drinkers turned nasty in the freezing temperatures. Many of the calls related either to alcohol-fuelled assaults or excessive drunkenness.
Booze contributed to time-wasting calls to 999 operators too, with one man calling to ask if New York was in America, and what time it was there.
Elsewhere, while large numbers were ferried to hospitals, in some areas injuries were treated by paramedics in 'booze buses' to leave ambulances free for more serious emergencies.
Continued on Page 49
#1
in some areas injuries were treated by paramedics in 'booze buses' to leave ambulances free for more serious emergencies.
I kinda liked what they did during Mardi Gras in New Orleans back in the 80s: Cattle trailers as drunk tanks. Court held at sunrise; trailers hosed out and ready for the next batch of drunks.
A trail of popcorn on New Year's Day led Sacramento police to a man wanted on a warrant, authorities said.
Tyree Brown, 21, was taken into custody at a Natomas apartment on Thursday for a theft warrant and on suspicion of possession of stolen property, Sgt. Norm Leong said.
Brown may also face a burglary charge at a later date, Leong added.
Police received a report at 4:30 a.m. Thursday regarding a ringing alarm at Food Stop, located at 2101 Natomas Crossing.
Leong said officers found a trail of popcorn from the business that led them all the way to an apartment at 4000 Innovator Drive, which is located behind the store.
Leong said police saw the popcorn trail continue inside of one of the units. Officers conducted a probation search at the residence and located what appeared to be stolen property.
OK, it's time to play Bait the Troll again! Nice of the MSM to provide this follow-up article that basically sheds no new light on a very obvious situation! :-)
AirTran Airways apologized Friday to members of a Muslim family for kicking them off a plane and refusing to rebook them despite requests from FBI agents who had cleared them of wrongdoing.
The families of Atif Irfan, a tax attorney, and his brother Kashif Irfan, an anesthesiologist, were removed from a flight in Washington before takeoff Thursday after a passenger reported hearing Atif Irfan's wife say something suspicious.
The FBI interviewed the family and cleared them of wrongdoing.
"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did," AirTran said in a statement Friday afternoon. "But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount." Sounds more like an explainer than an apology. Unless you're gunning for a lawsuit.
The airline said it had refunded the family's money and offered to fly the family home to Washington free.
One family member, Kashif Irfan, said Friday he was "very appreciative and surprised" by AirTran's apology. "It's a very generous gesture," he said.
The statement was an abrupt about-face for the airline, which three hours earlier had issued a press release with an unapologetic description of the incident. Doesn't sound like any kind of change to me. Just the MSM trying to make news.
In that statement, the airline said it did not re-book the family only because the security concern had not been resolved, and because one member of the group "became irate and made inappropriate comments." Were they there the whole time? I somehow doubt it.
That account differed from accounts from the family and the FBI. The FBI said agents interviewed the family, resolved the security concerns and then tried to help re-schedule the flight with the airline. The FBI ultimately helped the family book a flight on US Airways.
The dispute occurred about 1 p.m. Thursday as Atif Irfan and his brother Kashif Irfan boarded AirTran flight 175 at Reagan National Airport near Washington for a trip to Orlando, Florida. They were accompanied by their wives, a sister and three children.
Federal officials say a passenger on the plane notified a flight attendant about a suspicious conversation, and the flight attendant notified the pilot and Federal air marshals who were aboard. The pilot asked the air marshals to remove the passengers, said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Christopher White.
"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," said Inayet Sahin, Kashif Irfan's wife. "We were [discussing whether it was safest to sit near] the wing, or the engine or the back or the front. But that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion." Didn't want to fall off the wrong side of the razor's edge.
The conversation did not contain the words "bomb," "explosion," "terror" or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Atif Irfan said. Didn't need to. The conversation was suspicious enough to someone just casually paying attention.
"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," said Sobia Ijaz, Atif Irfan's wife. "I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, maybe they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue." And Hamas wonders what all the fuss is about with the Kassams, too. But hey, we'll save that for later.
Authorities first removed Atif Irfan and Sobia Ijaz, then returned for the rest of the family, including three small children. They also removed a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking with the family.
After the FBI interviewed family members, the agency released them, Irfan said.
"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," said Sahin. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused." Probably wanted to make sure they had adult supervision on any subsequent flights.
In statements Thursday night and Friday morning, AirTran said it "complied with all TSA, law enforcement and Homeland Security directives and had no discretion in the matter."
But TSA spokesman White said it was the pilot's decision to remove the family and the airline and pilot had the ultimate authority to decide whether to allow the family back on AirTran flights.
An FBI spokesman confirmed Friday that agents intervened on behalf of the family with AirTran. When AirTran declined to book the family, agents helped them get tickets with US Airways, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.
"Our agents went way out of their way to make sure this family went on their trip," Kolko said. Nice, considering how the family went out of their way to ensure that an entire flight got delayed for a couple of hours based on their "innocent" conversation.
After the family and friend were taken for questioning, the remaining 95 passengers, the crew and baggage were removed from the plane and rescreened, AirTran said. "Free rescreenings for everybody! Woohoo!"
Family members said Friday they had not decided whether to accept AirTran's apology, saying there were a variety of opinions. As to whether or not they could possibly get any money out of this, I suppose. Better not cave or I'm going to put me on a barbeque cover and walk down airplane aisles talking about where the best place to sit on an airplane might be.
Meanwhile, an Islamic group -- the Council on Islamic American Relations, or CAIR -- filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees airlines. Note to editor: Remove preceding unnecessary paragraph. Stating the obvious is a waste of ink.
"We believe this disturbing incident would never have occurred had the Muslim passengers removed from the plane not been perceived by other travelers and airline personnel as members of the Islamic faith," CAIR said in its complaint. Gee, I wonder why that is.
#1
When AirTran declined to book the family, agents helped them get tickets with US Airways, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.
A kinder, gentler, more compassionate bureau. I wonder if they would have extended the same courtesy to you or I? I can just see the USAir Ticket agent now.... My name is Special Agent Smith, this is Special Agent Jones (flashes creds), I need a ticket for this lovely bunch of people. Please wave the 14 day advance booking requirements. Any questions?
#2
I spy a pattern: perfectly innocent Muslims dolled up in traditional garb going to a "religious convention" and making comments/gestures to gin up a response from others on the flight and then cry martyr.
The FBI steps in to pave the way for their Lawfare suit and to play travel agent for the aggrieved victims of Islamofobia.
Is there anyway the airline or beleagured passengers can sue these clowns for the pain and suffering caused by these assclowns?
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/03/2009 15:41 Comments ||
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Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chomping on the bark of spruce trees, yard trees, and have killed 50-foot-high native trees. The damage is estimated at more than $100,000 in the Mountain Village above Telluride.
Porcupines also favor salty and sweaty items, so plywood treated with a sodium-based substance has become attractive to them. They've also munched on shoes, vehicle tires, and tool handles.
Mountain Village resident Vicki Irwin said she's never seen the porcupines be so aggressive.
Some possible reasons cited for the porcupine's behavior are a harsh winter last year that ramped-up their appetites and the rodents can roam freely because many of the town's 4,100 resident's live elsewhere most of the year.
#3
I've read accounts of porcupines getting into cars in the old days when steering wheels were made of wood and chewing up the entire wheel in a night or two. Salt from the drivers' hands attracted them.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/03/2009 13:55 Comments ||
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#4
Well - Telluride aways has that magic mushroom festival where the Dead Heads go out and pick them and waltz about....
Maybe the porcupines are just mad about them taking all the recreation out of the wilderness?
#13
Porcupines are good survival food. Bonk them on the head with a stick. Burn off their quills over a fire. Then you can zip them open and gut them. Meat does not taste like chicken, however. More like spruce bark up here. We have some wandering about up in the valley. My dawgs learned a harrrrrd lesson this summer about attacking them. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2009 18:38 Comments ||
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#14
Not kosher, but that doesn't matter when survival is at stake. ;-)
Criminals with suspected links to witch doctors murdered an eight-year-old boy in eastern Burundi and made away with two arms and a leg, a rights group and an official said Friday. Albinos have been routinely targeted in the small central African country, where 80 of them have now been gathered in centers under the protection of the authorities.
"Three men armed with machetes attacked a family on Muzenge Hill in the Cankuzo province which included an eight-year-old albino boy," Kassim Kazungu, who heads Burundi's Albinos Association, told AFP.
Kazungu said the latest murder, which occurred on Tuesday, brought to six the number of albinos killed in Burundi since September last year, while a seventh has been missing for months. "This time local residents were fortunately able to capture the three murderers the next day and took the law into their own hands by killing one of them before the police arrived," he said.
Criminals in Burundi are believed to smuggle albino organs and limbs to neighboring Tanzania, where witch doctors use them for lucky charms. In Tanzania, at least 35 albinos, mostly women and children, have been killed in different parts of the country in 2008, according to the Tanzania Albino society.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I blame Western funded health centers. Years ago Albinos, seen as an evil sign of bad luck and a cursed family, were slain at birth by midwives. (Snark off) Few live beyond age 40. If the Sangoma doesn't get them, cancer does. Very sad situation all around.
A new £4.7m primary school in Sheffield is facing criticism for dropping the word "school" from its title after governors decided the term had "negative connotations". The headteacher of Sheffield's Watercliffe Meadow, Linda Kingdon, said the south Yorkshire school, which is due to open on Monday, will instead be called a "place for learning".
"We decided from an early stage we didn't want to use the word 'school'," she told local newspaper the Sheffield Star. "This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school.
"Instead we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to de-institutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."
Local MP Richard Caborn questioned the decision to drop the word school from Watercliffe Meadow's title. "I'm always open to new ideas but the reality is education is about preparing young people to live in the real world," he said. "I just don't think the case has been made to drop the word school to a place of learning. I don't know why they have done it."
Councillor Andrew Sangar, Sheffield city council's cabinet member for children's services and lifelong learning, said: "It's a school, we consider it a school and that's how we refer to it.
"How a school chooses to manage and refer to itself is a matter for the board of governors and the community it serves and we're relaxed about that."
The primary school is to replace Shirecliffe, Busk Meadow and Watermead infant and junior places for learning schools.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If they don't call it a school it sure as H*ll won't be a 'place for learning'.
#9
Ms. Kingdon clearly wanted to be an artist when she grew up, so she's just re-defining her job so that she can be a sculptor of young minds instead.
And so she goes to work, with a hacksaw, hammer and chisel. Just cut out anything which isn't part of your work of art, Linda!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2009 8:33 Comments ||
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#10
If the parents are having a fit at the sound of the word "school", what chance for the kids?
#11
How about calling it something closer to what it probably will devolve into.....like "warehouse for obnoxious gits", or "reformatory preparation centre"?
#13
In a madrassa they actually have to learn things... and get whacked if they don't...
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 10:39 Comments ||
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They are just going back to the original meaning of school. A school (from Greek σχολή (scholē), originally meaning "leisure", and also "that in which leisure is employed", "school")
In its first year, the landmark Arizona law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants has produced no civil cases against businesses.
One difficulty cited in bringing business-license suspension and revocation cases against employers is prosecutors lack of civil subpoena powers to make suspected violators hand over records and give testimony.
Republican Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, who led the effort to create the law, said the only way prosecutors can now get hiring records in employer sanctions investigations is by pursuing criminal cases against workers who use fake IDs or stolen identities to land a job. We know people are still playing games, Pearce said.
In the coming year, Pearce plans to ask the Legislature to revise the law so that prosecutors can have civil subpoena authority, a prospect that critics of the law said would be an unnecessary expansion of prosecutors powers.
The push for civil subpoena power is expected to continue the wrangling that has dogged the law since it was approved. Business and civil rights groups that argued the state couldnt regulate such hirings have thus far failed in their attempts to get the courts to strike down the law.
Faced with criticism that the law was poorly written, the Legislature revised the law to impose criminal penalties for people who use fake identities to get jobs and clarify that the new law didnt apply to people hired before 2008. And voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made business-friendly revisions to the law, such as requiring complaints of illegal hirings to be made in writing rather than permitting anonymous tips.
Although authorities across Arizona said they have examined several dozen employer sanctions complaints, no civil cases have been made against businesses for illegal hirings. But the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office has accused employees of a handful of businesses of using forged documents or stolen identities to get jobs. The law has prompted or contributed to an unknown number of illegal immigrants leaving Arizona for their home countries or other U.S. states.
The biggest difficulty cited in bringing employer sanctions cases is the requirement that prosecutors prove that a business knew it had hired an illegal immigrant; it doesnt suffice to show only that the illegal worker was employed at the business.
Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix, who is an attorney and voted against the law, said the threshold for getting a civil subpoena is much lower than a criminal subpoena and that granting such new authority could lead to fishing expeditions in which prosecutors could search records without having to show any wrongdoing on the part of the employer.
They have enough power to do their job, Sinema said. If they are not able to do it now, its their issue.
Maricopa Countys top prosecutor, Andrew Thomas, who has made combating illegal immigration a top priority in his office, said the subpoena authority that he wants from the Legislature would be similar to the powers of state agencies that regulate business licenses.
It really doesnt make sense to have a license revocation law which is what the employer sanctions law in Arizona really is without giving us the subpoena authority, Thomas said. He declined to say whether any businesses have refused to hand over records in civil employer sanctions inquiries.
Julie Pace, one of the lawyers representing business groups trying to overturn the law, said prosecutors can already ask judges to sign off on subpoenas.
In representing businesses that have been asked to provide documents in employer sanctions investigations, Pace said she provides authorities the documents they need and that they dont normally come back to say they havent received what they needed.
Thomas said civil subpoena power will allow his office to help build cases against employers.
One of the criticisms that has been made of the enforcement so far is that we have focused too heavily on employees and not on employers, Thomas said. That is not by choice.
#1
It's amazing how hard they will fight to keep a good supply of illegals around. All the while claiming that they are worried about the immigrants.
They are worried about having to pay minimum wage most of the time.
#2
Not only that, bigjim. They would also have to pay employment taxes, pay overtime in some cases, maybe cough up for some benefits, and even obey OSHA laws.
Gee, what a horrible imposition on these hardworking business owners. My heart bleeds.
#4
Other than coyote contractors using "day labor" to drywall houses, most businesses aren't really pro-illegal. Many employers pay the same wages and benefits regardless. Sanctuary states like California certainly don't encourage employers to be overly curious about whether an employee's SSN is valid. Arizona can certainly change their law and give the necessary sopeona power. Employers will certainly comply.
Until then the laws are in place I wouldn't expect an employer to demonstrate initiative with regard to illegal enforcement. Having a couple hundred people picketing you business is not the type of advertising that employers want. Not to mention the line of human rights lawyers that would line up to suck the blood out of the facility.
It would be helpful also if the current generation presented a better range of potential minimum wage employees. The smart ones are headed to college. The tough and hardworking ones are headed into the military. The locals that are left are mostly pieced and tatted loafers. Immigrants and the mentaly handicapped are better workers than the majority of those folks who pick up an application at McDonalds.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 19:27 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SEATTLE -- A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday.
A trail of popcorn on New Year's Day led Sacramento police to a man wanted on a warrant, authorities said.
