What’s interesting in the news today?
I guess I’ll lead with the obvious…..
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And the Winner is……….
Best In Show, Banana Joe, the affenpinscher! 🙂
I want one! 🙂
OK, not really. But he is sooooo cute!
Now that’s a man’s dog. Reminded me of my black fuzzy Pekingese. He was a good dog too.
From TheTimesDispatch
“Banana Joe is America’s top dog.
The affenpinscher with the monkeylike face and wagging tail was picked as best in show Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club.
The 5-year-old earned his 86th best in show, a day before he was set to fly back to the Netherlands with his owner.”
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What? You didn’t actually think I meant the State of the Union did you? Please, we’ve all seen these campaign speeches of his before. That’s about all it was, props and all. But since the President lead off with touting our supposedly rebounding economy, so will I. While this guy might be a bit too much doom and gloom, he actually makes his case for why it’s not rebounding, unlike the President who just spouts talking points.
From ZeroHedge
“As I have said so many times, the economic collapse is not a single event. The economic collapse has been happening, it is is happening right now, and it will continue to happen. Yes, there will be times when our decline will be punctuated by moments of great crisis, but that will be the exception rather than the rule. A lot of people that write about “the economic collapse” hype it up as if it will be some huge “event” that will happen very rapidly and then once it is all over we will rebuild. Unfortunately, that is not how the real world works.
We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and once it completely bursts there will be no going back to how things were before. Right now, we are living in a “credit card economy”. As long as we can keep borrowing more money, most people think that things are just fine. But anyone that has lived on credit cards knows that eventually there comes a point when the game is over, and we are rapidly approaching that point as a nation.”
“According to Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, the U.S. government is facing a “present value difference between projected future spending and revenue” of 222 trillion dollars in the years ahead.”
And also keep in mind….
From CNSNews
“Since taking office in 2009, food stamp rolls under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people in America, exceeding the population of Spain.”
“Furthermore, between January 2009 and November 2012 the food stamp program added approximately an average 11,269 recipients per day.”
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The full text of the State of the Union Address is here, from TheWashingtonExaminer
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One of the things I dislike most about the speech is the human props. They were there for photo ops and optics, so he could push his gun agenda. The mother of the singer at his Inauguration, Sandy Hook families, and other victims surviving family. I get the idea of honoring them with an invitation. I have no problem with that. But too often, once the cameras are gone and it slips in importance due to the next crisis showing up, these people get forgotten. We saw it with Sandy victims. And we see it in this case as well. This doesn’t fit his agenda. This raises too many troubling questions about his policies and leadership. So these folks got forgotten.
From ABCNews
“Three years after the White House arranged a hero’s welcome at the State of the Union address for the Fort Hood police sergeant and her partner who stopped the deadly shooting there, Kimberly Munley says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of.
“Betrayed is a good word,” former Sgt. Munley told ABC News in a tearful interview to be broadcast tonight on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”
“Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of,” she said. “In fact they’ve been neglected.””
“Despite extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is treating the incident as “workplace violence” instead of “combat related” or terrorism.”
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Rubio’s response is here
And Rand Paul’s Tea Party response is here
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And the manhunt for Christopher Dorner has ended.
From MSNNews
” A charred body has been recovered from a burned out cabin in the mountains above Los Angeles following a gun fight between police and a suspect believed to be a fugitive ex-cop, a Los Angeles Police spokeswoman said.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller confirmed that remains had been found, with several news organizations reporting that the body is like to be that of former 33-year-old Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner.”
“A warden for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife traveling down Highway 38 recognized a man who fit Dorner’s description traveling in the opposite direction. The officer pursued the vehicle and there was a shooting at 12:42 p.m. in which the wildlife vehicle was hit numerous times and the suspect escaped on foot after crashing his truck.
After holing up in the cabin, there was a second gunbattle with San Bernardino County deputies, two of whom were shot. One died and the other was expected to live after undergoing surgery.”
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Wandering Views 
The officers on the scene decided to burn the cabin down rather than wait it out for Donner. I do no condone Donner, but this type of behavior by our law enforcement community is indicative of what is wrong with America. When you have Law Enforcement becoming Judge Jury and Executioner, we have become a Police State.
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drivesguy, I’d wait to hear more details before passing judgment. He was heavily armed and had engaged in a gun battle with authorities right before this. Authorities did appeal to him with a bullhorn to surrender, he refused. The guy has killed 4 people and had sworn to kill more.
I’m not sure it was handled wrongly.
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He could have come out of the cabin. He didn’t. And he apparently had a boatload of weapons and ammunition with him.
Sorry, but I don’t know that there was a whole lot of choice. I think it was one of those times where the criminal chooses “suicide by cop.” He left them with little recourse. And the choice was still his to surrender.
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I agree with much of what you say Donna. The man was dangerous and heavily armed, but the police did not have to torch the cabin. They could have waited. I suspect though that once the fires were started, Donner committed suicide. The dispatcher clearly confirms that there was a single shot fired shortly after the fires started. An autopsy will probably confirm that.
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This guy was simply not going to be taken alive, I think that was clear throughout. He’d just killed yet another deputy yesterday and clearly had no intention of going out without another gun battle. I just don’t fault them for what they did, he had repeated chances to surrender and refused over the course of several days. When he was finally found and cornered yesterday, he opened fire. It’s amazing no one else was killed.
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Did they fire it? I thought they shot in smoke bombs and something internal went off. Maybe I should read the story. This coming from the land of Ruby Ridge.
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Mumsee, it sounds like the fire was intentionally set by the cops using tear gas canisters known to cause fires.
An extreme move, perhaps, but I suspect they decided not to put any more cops in the line of this guy’s fire. He’d already killed 2 cops and 2 citizens in the past few days and had a long list of cops he was intending to go after.
I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the cops on this one. The guy had numerous opportunities to come out peacefully and negotiate a surrender. I think most everyone figured he wouldn’t allow himself to be taken in alive if it came down to that.
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Meanwhile, sounds like a couple maids up there could be in line for that $1 million reward (though perhaps it will be split with one other person who called in the sighting)
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Oh, I understand not wanting to get any more folk shot. But I am still reading stories saying they used smoke bombs, which still leaves room for him to have started the fire or something else to have done so.
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Talking to one of the cops on my round of calls this morning & he said they used canisters that can spark a fire — and with his being armed to the teeth & with so much ammunition it just wasn’t safe then to go in and try to extinguish the flames. I’m also thinking that still left an opportunity for him to come out voluntarily.
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Yes, I am fairly certain he could have left voluntarily, but he was not going to be taken alive.
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I’m thinking the intention was to fill the place with smoke in an effort to force him out (but knowing that it still could cause a fire as well).
As I said, I just don’t think this guy was going to waltz out and allow himself to be arrested. Ever. I interviewed one of his former supervisor several days ago and he was calling on him then to surrender, to end the bloodshed.
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hmm did something like this happen under Mr. Clinton where they killed ever one with out given them a chance to surrender?
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Did they rush the attack to soon is my question…
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If the police had cut off water to the cabin, he would have been out in 3 maybe 4 days tops. You cannot survive without water. Plus if you listen to scanner, you can clearly here one of the officers saying they see a blood trail which indicates that Donner was wounded. If that is the case, he would have been out sooner. If you are bleeding, the dehydration process is accelerated. In another scanner recording, you can hear another officer using explicative M___F__ encouraging the others to burn Donner.
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3 or 4 days as everyone nearby was in danger? A little too long for that kind of risk, I think. It’ll be interesting to hear more from the police, but I really am not seeing a big problem here with the way this was handled — considering the intense danger to the public and specifically to any police officer within gunshot range.
Meanwhile, the funeral for the Riverside cop is today. 😦
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And personally I can understand the emotions expressed by police officers; this was a guy who had targeted them (and families); and there were plenty more cops on his listed in the “manifesto.” He meant business, these weren’t idle threats.
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I don’t think the intent here was to play judge, jury, and executioner. But why put more cops in danger to try and take him alive? He chose this fate, not the police. Let’s keep the blame where it belongs, with the nutjob. And it’s not like this is a case where someone is unfairly targeted by police, or set upon in their home by police, having committed no crime. If it was, I’d question it too. But it wasn’t.
I don’t think they rushed it. Waiting, and with darkness approaching, could have allowed him an opportunity to escape. I think they had few options. Given the history with this guy, I think they acted properly.
I also don’t think this compares to Waco. This guy was already a murderer. The people in Waco didn’t act violently towards police until they were under seige. They made no threats to law enforcement prior to the seige. This guy did. He made his intentions known, and it was to kill as many cops as he could. Big difference.
Personally, it reminded me of this.
Revelation 13:9-10
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
He chose this fate for himself when he began his killing spree. Let’s all remember that. He’s not a victim, he’s a murderer. And it may seem crass, but he certainly seems to have gotten what he deserved. Just my 2 cents.
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If you read the manifesto written by Dorner, he clearly states he will not be taken alive. He had nothing to lose by killing more people. If by some chance, he got away many more could have been in danger.
Whether the police should have waited is something I don’t know, but I am not going to second guess them, in this case, from what I have seen so far. We did have a case with someone in my neighborhood that was shot after drinking and threatening others. He was alone with only one way out. I do think the officers could have waited him out. Again, I was not there. It is easy to second guess; another to be there.
It is all very sad for all those touched in any way.
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I am not disputing the fact that Donner was a cold blooded killer and he would have killed again given the opportunity. While I can sympathize with the emotional outburst of the officers and the fact that Donner had also killed their comrades and even taken the lives of two civilians who were just related to one of the officers related to his termination, I have to wonder if their emotional feelings outweighed another option. As to darkness approaching, portable lighting could have been utilized along with k-9 units to keep Donner contained. In our culture of situational ethics and the fact that we have educated a whole generation where if it feels the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do, I can’t help but think that there could have been another approach.
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Again, I think waiting would have given him “the opportunity.” I’m sure there will be an investigation and more information forthcoming. But if this guy was alive and not wounded inside the cabin — armed to the teeth — I think waiting him out would have resulted almost certainly in more loss of life.
The authorities have been anticipating this for days now, I suspect they had strategies and plans in place. This was likely one of them and not something decided upon on a whim.
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Texas teen sues parents to stop them from forcing her abortion
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/13/texas-teen-sues-parents-to-stop-them-from-forcing-her-abortion/?test=latestnews#ixzz2KnxclzWN
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Good posts, DrivesGuy. Way too often nowadays, police are shooting first and asking questions later–just look at *THIS CASE* and the Swiss Cheesing of the misidentified car with the grandma and her daughter. Hyperactive cops nearly killed two entirely innocent people. The situation at the cabin may have more clearcut, but cops (whose profession isn’t particularly dangerous, anyway) *are* supposed to tolerate a certain amount of elevated risk when such situations present themselves, even when there are (nuclear) means of bringing an end to those situations. *That’s* what they signed up for.
Cops are woefully unaccountable in this country. How many times have you heard it: “Paid administrative leave.” That’s not even a slap on the wrist; it’s practically a *reward.*
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I believe that overall our criminal justice system was better in the 19th century. Part of that system was the strong possibility that lawmen or citizens would kill criminals involved in a murder spree. Nobody was forcing this killer to stay in a burning house. I almost always give police the benefit of the doubt when they are dealing with a killer.
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Our reporters are all over the Greta show tonight, very cool. 🙂
And the Scout ranger (with the dog) whose truck was hijacked by Dorner turns out to have been an old high school classmate of mine. I don’t remember him but the classmate who does all our reunions is a mutual friend on FB and was posting about it today. It’s a blessing that Dorner did not harm him or the other people he encountered.
I think it was Mark Furman, another guest on Greta tonight, who pointed out that once nightfall came it would have posed a major hazard for officers (who, btw, are saying they did not set the fire intentionally, that “burners” are what they call the more incendiary tear gas canisters that were tossed in after the “cold” canisters were thrown first).
So I’m still of the opinion they did what they had to do, gave him a chance to end it peacefully but he chose not to do that.
As for the people shot several days earlier in a mistaken identity incident, that clearly was wrong & will be obviously investigated. Administrative leave is the immediate action they take as that process beings, it’s not the final discipline by any means.
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“Administrative leave” is “the time it takes to let the police brutality brouhaha blow over so you can come back to work like nothing happened.”
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