The City of Chicago is still racking up distressing numbers of shootings even as crime otherwise in the Windy City has gone down. On August 12, for instance, six people were shot in the space of only one hour.
[Wash Times] A gunman who took hostages at a Louisiana bank was shot and killed shortly after midnight Wednesday, after SWAT teams stormed the facility and put an end to a 12-hour standoff.
The gunman was identified as 20-year-old Fuaed Abdo Ahmed, ABC reported. He had shot two hostages, an unidentified male and female, before police killed him. Both victims were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. One died, Louisiana State Police said, and the condition of the other is not known. A third hostage was able to escape and is doing well, police said, in the ABC report. All three hostages worked at the Tensas State Bank, police said.
The standoff started about 12:30 on Tuesday. Mr. Ahmed, originally from California, entered the bank and took three people hostage. His relatives helped FBI officials during the negotiation process that ensued, ABC reported. Appears he was beyond help.
Police say Mr. Ahmed was mentally ill and his intent was to do harm to the hostages. A common theme I'd say.
He told police during the standoff that he heard voices in his head, ABC reported. He had a duffel bag in the bank with him filled with items that he was going to use to torture his hostages, Louisiana State Police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said, to The Associated Press. The voices in my head are more powerful than your infidel FBI hostage negotiator.
#4
Unfortunately, there are only two options for dealing with violent schizophrenics. This is the second one. The first is to commit them to a locked psychiatric hospital with forced medication. Unfortunately, most psychiatric hospitals were closed during the Reagan presidency, and the residents ended up on the streets; and then the laws everywhere require those legally adult to formally accept any offered treatment -- treatment can only be forced if lives are in imminent danger, where imminent is defined as "he just killed Grandma with a knife, and we fear he might kill the rest of us," as happened to a girlfriend of mine earlier this year. But many schizophrenics are unable to grasp that their mental experience is abnormal, so refuse treatment.
My girlfriend's son is now being treated in a locked psychiatric hospital, the one they had been trying desperately for two years to get him committed to so that he wouldn't kill his grandmother, which everyone on the county mental health team agreed was a strong probability. And now that he is responding to the medication, they are preparing for his murder trial, though he still believes he only stuck the knife in a corpse.
#5
Death by cop might have been kinder.
"Live free or kill" seems to be the rationale behind the current treatment of the insane who seem (to the sane anyway) to be at risk of going on a killing spree.
#6
Many times I tried to commit my late wife to a psychiatric hospital such as TW mentions. Most times she refused to go or, she would check herself out after the Docs assertained she was not actively suicidal.
We exhausted all treatment options (therapy, medication, etc.) and none were effective in treating her schizophrenia.
Shortly before she took her own life during a rare moment of rationality, she told me "If I was a dog, you'd put me down as an act of mercy."
She was right.
Unfortunately, due to my late wife's illness, we had a very close relationship with the local LE community and they routinely brought her home after one of her 'episodes' naked, disleveled, disoriented and terrified. Through the grace of God she never hurt anyone and the Prosecutor never brought charges - bless his heart.
While my heart breaks for the victims of Ahmed, I can't help but feel abit for him too.
During the formal investigation of my wife's suicide, the Chief of Police said to me "You know, I always thought she was going to force one of us to do this."
I fully support involuntary detaining of the violent insane.
#7
You understand the 'insanity' plea predates modern psychology. That's before all the fancy certification and 'scientific' classification and writings. That's now the fall back and excuse for allowing the modern version of 'human sacrifice' because we, which predominately includes advocates and judges, demand levels of perfection in dealing with unstable individuals. It's probably too late now to reestablish reasonable protections for society since the oligarchs would be more than happy to use a process to institutionalize people much like the Soviets to deal with political threats and not just those who present a physical danger to the community and family.
[DETROITNEWS] The first group of chaplain trainees began instruction in 2011 and graduated this June. More sessions start next month; enrollment in the program ends Aug. 22, coordinators said.
During the program, students paid to attend courses on Musselmen history, law and other topics. They also volunteered at hospitals and other sites in the area.
Coordinators insist the effort is not about finding converts but focusing on a person's spiritual needs in a serious situation -- an act that transcends denominations or specific affiliations.
"We're not trying to create Musselmen chaplains -- we're just trying to create chaplains that happen to be Musselmen so they can minister to anyone," said Urias Beverly, director of the program.
That broad approach is evident throughout the interactions.
Abu Muhammad Ussabur, who volunteers for hospitals in bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... , recently was called to the bedside of an elderly Baptist woman. Initially skeptical after eyeing her visitor's kufi and long robe, she began inquiring about his faith.
Ussabur quickly cleared some of her misconceptions about Islam, including followers' beliefs on Jesus. "She said, 'It seems like there's not too much difference between us and you all,' " he said. "I said, 'That's right. It's not.' "
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08/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[POLITICO] Michelle Obama is teaming up with some big names in hip hop to help release a Let's Move! inspired album next month. I could maybe listen to it if I was on the outside of a case of Billy beer.
Entitled "Songs for a Healthier America," the record features video cameos (but no singing) of the first lady along with big names like Jordin Sparks, Ashanti, Run DMC, Doug E. Fresh and Monifah.
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08/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I call shennanigans, as I've never known Michelle to act or dress like a Rapper in anything.
#8
another unearned award coming soon. Grammy? Intro to the Rock & Roll hall of fame next year. The mind boggles at the bright future ahead of the first lady on this venture.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] In the wake of a rodeo clown's anti-Obama skit this weekend, the Missouri State Fair is forcing all clowns to undergo sensitivity training.
Somebody doesn't understand how this clown thingy works...
The state fair commission voted Monday to ratify the decision to ban the clown in question who wore an Obama mask as the rodeo announcer asked if the crowd wanted to see him get run down by a bull. The crowd enthusiastically approved, according to local media reports.
But the state commission went further, saying it will require that before the Rodeo Cowboy Association can take part in any future state fair, "they must provide evidence to the director of the Missouri State Fair that they have proof that all officials and subcontractors of the MRCA have successfully participated in sensitivity training."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
We. Are. So. Screwed.
When it comes down to this - forcing rodeo clowns (*CLOWNS* mind you) to take sensitivity training for a bad skit - we are circling the drain.
#3
Sounds like an excuse to shut down the rodeo; libs have found them cruel to animals for a long time (and, in truth, not without some justification.)
#4
Apparently the commission is part of the state government and thus it should be subject to at least some 1st Amendment restrictions.
"The Missouri State Fair Commission was established by the Missouri Legislature effective September 1, 1995 through Missouri Revised Statutes (Chapter 262, Section 26.217)
Number of Members: Nine (9)
Members Appointed by Governor: Nine (9)
Length of Term: Four (4) years
Senate Advice & Consent Required: Yes"
#13
Of course when George Bush dummies were used in rodeos nothing was said.
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08/14/2013 14:37 Comments ||
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#14
Wait, now, guys. There was clearly a safety issue involved -- the mask may have confused a contestant into thinking he was looking at a retreating bull.
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08/14/2013 15:39 Comments ||
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#15
Lets not forget they didn't seem to get too upset about Bush'es head on a spike in 'A game of thrones'. Can you imagine the hissyfit they would throw if it was Bumbles head?
[Bangla Daily Star] A Cameroonian court has sentenced a former health minister to 20 years in prison for corruption over a fake contract to deliver mosquito nets to hospitals, legal sources said yesterday.
The country's special criminal court, charged with fighting high-level graft, on Monday found Urbain Olanguena Awono guilty of embezzling more than 80 million CFA francs (122,000 euros, $162,000).
Co-accused Yves Rodrigue Soue Mbella, who is on the run, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
Soue Mbella had won successive public contracts to supply the insecticide-treated mosquito nets to hospitals in northern Cameroon, but never delivered the anti-malaria treatment despite being paid in full by the government.
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[An Nahar] An army colonel deserted the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... 's government forces with at least 30 of his men to join the ranks of the M23 rebels stirring unrest in the country's east, the army said Tuesday.
Colonel Richard Bisamza left with 30 of his men in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Hamuli told Agence La Belle France Presse, adding that the decision was "not a surprise, given his ethnicity."
"His departure doesn't affect the army whatsoever. We aspire to have an army that isn't infiltrated by rats," Hamuli said.
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[An Nahar] Central African Republic's interim leader Michel Djotodia promised Tuesday to fight against the spread of weapons in the country, still suffering the aftermath of a coup earlier this year.
In an address to the nation on the 53rd anniversary of independence from La Belle France, Djotodia said the government had "taken measures to restore security".
"We must fight against the proliferation and circulation of weapons," he said, adding that controls on gun ownership would be put in place.
"Our defense and security forces must only use weapons to protect people and their property across our territory."
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[An Nahar] As a teenager radicalized by China's Cultural Revolution, Zhang Hongbing denounced his mother to the authorities. Two months later a firing squad shot her dead.
Now after more than 40 years of mounting guilt, Zhang has ruffled the silence that cloaks China's decade of turmoil with a public confession.
Such rare apologies have been welcomed as a potential gateway to the collective soul-searching that could bring healing -- but is blocked by a ruling Communist Party whose critics say is unwilling to confront its own responsibility.
"Back then everyone was swept up and you couldn't escape even if you wanted to. Any kindness or beauty in me was thoroughly, irretrievably 'formatted'," Zhang told the Beijing News last week.
"I hope that from my self-reflection other people can understand what the situation was like at that time."
The 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, unleashed by then-leader Mao Zedong to reassert power after the famines caused by his disastrous Great Leap Forward, inflicted myriad personal tragedies and threw society into chaos.
"Red Guard" youths abused their elders -- officials, intellectuals, neighbors, relatives -- dragging them into "struggle sessions", ransacking their homes and driving some to suicide.
Many targets were placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! or killed, and while no official figure has been issued, one Western historian estimated half a million people died in 1967 alone.
Zhang reported his mother in 1970 for criticizing Mao, and military officials came to their home, assaulted her and took her away.
But as the political winds changed -- a few years after the Cultural Revolution ended, a court in his native central Anhui province recanted his mother's sentence -- Zhang began to rethink as well.
"I will never forgive myself," he said. Hey, don't worry about it. It was just your Mom.
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#1
We hear all this talk from the Chinese about the atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II. I don't doubt that the Japanese committed atrocities any more than I do that the Germans committed the Holocaust. But I wonder who killed more Chinese...the Japanese or Mao?
#2
If the Chinese made a study of "Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View" by Milgram obligatory at their high school level, things like the "Cultural Revolution" would be less likely to happen. However, this would most likely lead to civil unrest & tank treads squashing human heads like watermelons. Zhang Hongbing should leave well enough alone.
#3
Wondering who killed more Chinese, Japanese or Chinese Communists -- is the Chinese equivalent of ridiculing Obama by dressing up as a clown -- don't go there.
An Indian navy submarine with about 18 sailors on board has caught fire after an explosion and sank at a port in Mumbai. Fire started at midnight and went on till 5:30-6:00am local time, he said.
Indian news channel, NDTV, said nearly a dozen fire engines rushed to the dockyard to douse the fire.
The submarine was nearly submerged at its berth in the naval dockyard.
Indian media reports say the 16-year-old Russian-made submarine, INS Sindhurakshak, had recently returned from Russia after undergoing an overhaul and upgrade. Time for another upgrade...
Al Jazeera's Anu Anand, reporting from Rajouri, Kashmir, said that the cause of the explosion is still unknown. If you read the whole Al Jiz story you would think it was a Nuke power sub that sunk - somewhat disingenuous editing
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... on Tuesday stressed that he will not accept to be excluded from the new cabinet, noting that his dispute with Hizbullah is over "the issue of building the state."
"There is an attempt to form a cabinet without taking the views of others into consideration, which makes it a de facto cabinet," Aoun said in an interview on his movement's mouthpiece OTV.
"A national unity cabinet is usually formed when there is a national crisis. Amid this crisis, should we gather people or divide them?" he said.
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"...That is why the department will implement policies to allow military personnel in such a relationship non-chargeable leave for the purpose of travelling to a jurisdiction where such a marriage may occur," the DOD news release said.." Strangely, I seem to recall fellow service members taking CHARGABLE leave to go get married. But that was a different time....
h/t Gates of Vienna
...In Kentucky, an eighth grade exam from 1912 was recently donated to the Bullitt County History Museum. When I read this exam over, I was shocked at how difficult it was. Could most eighth grade students pass such an exam today?
Back in 8th grade I would have nailed this test, except the parts about Kentucky. That was also when I had the side-angle-side and my phone numbers list memorized.
The Pasedena, California City College professor, Hugo Schwyzer who insinuated himself into feminist circles as a male feminist, then admitted it was all a fraud: despite protests about his personal shame and promises to leave the internet on a hiatus a few days ago, is back, both on the Twitter and as an interview subject in The Daily Beast.
Twitchy's reportage of his tweeting activity can be found here. He brags about "pumping in an extra 10 mgs of Kolonopin" (I didn't know you were allowed to self medicate an anti psychotic) and waiting for the 300 mgs of Seroquel to get some sleep.
My guess. He will keep stirring up the pond so his agent can shop a memoir.
Just a guess...
From TFA:
But none of that is why Schwyzer is so famous right this second. What's driving his current notoriety is his very public Twitter meltdown last Friday in which he sent out more than 100 tweets in an hour, admitting to building a career "on fraudulent pretenses," to being an addict, and to teaching feminism with no specialization or degree in the field. This came on the heels of the revelation last month that the 46-year-old married professor wasn't taking his own advice when he sexted with a 27-year-old sex worker activist.
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.
The City of Chicago is still racking up distressing numbers of shootings even as crime otherwise in the Windy City has gone down. On August 12, for instance, six people were shot in the space of only one hour.
[POLITICO] Michelle Obama is teaming up with some big names in hip hop to help release a Let's Move! inspired album next month.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] In the wake of a rodeo clown's anti-Obama skit this weekend, the Missouri State Fair is forcing all clowns to undergo sensitivity training.
An Indian navy submarine with about 18 sailors on board has caught fire after an explosion and sank at a port in Mumbai. Fire started at midnight and went on till 5:30-6:00am local time, he said.
Michel Aoun
