Lawrence forwarded an obit for Rob Ford from National Review.
I think it’s worth reading, though I may be showing my bias here.
Obit followup.
March 24th, 2016Interesting times (part 1).
March 24th, 2016Earlier this week, I wrote about the Austin Police Department, use of force policies, and the officer who was fired for shooting a naked unarmed 17-year old male.
I have two followups to that.
Austin has an organization called the Office of the Police Monitor. This is an organization independent of the APD; the basic idea is that they serve as a civilian oversight organization for the police. They’re the ones who issued that report on stops and searches I touched on a while back.
Part of what they do is monitor Internal Affairs investigations, and make recommendations as they see fit. You might correctly guess that they were involved in the shooting investigation.
The Stateman published a story late yesterday afternoon about one of the OPM’s recommendations as a result of this incident: they want a trainer at the police academy reassigned.
Yes, a trainer. Why? I’m going to put a break here because this is running long…
Obit watch: March 24, 2016.
March 24th, 2016Ken “The White Shadow” Howard. A/V Club.
I had completely forgotten he was Jordan’s father in “Crossing Jordan”, and didn’t know that gig only lasted two seasons. Then again, I checked out of “Crossing Jordan” after the first season: my fondness for Jill Hennessy couldn’t overcome the stupidity of the show.
Joe Garagiola. I think everyone of my age remembers him from television, but I’m too young to remember his baseball career, such as it was:
“Senator, how can you tamper with a .250 hitter?” Garagiola said.
And that wasn’t intended as a cheap shot: he was amazingly self-deprecating.
Random notes: March 23, 2016.
March 23rd, 2016Let’s play a little game: fill in the blank in this headline. (No fair peeking.)
New York Police Increase Patrols Around 20 Clubs to Combat [Blank] Violence
Did you say “gun”? Bzzzzzt! Sorry. Understandable, but wrong. We were looking for “knife”. “Knife”.
I just like pointing out the use of “knife violence” here.
And speaking of things I just want to point out:
“There’s never been a paper bag for drugs…until now.”
I have to admit, “William Butler Yeast” is clever.
The latest additions to the National Recording Registry came out today.
A few random notes:
- You can find the W.H. Stepp version of “Bonaparte’s Retreat” on YouTube if you want to compare and contrast to Copland.
- I rather like the note on Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, putting it into the context of 1938.
- I want to hear those two “Destination Freedom” episodes. I haven’t had a chance to go looking for them yet.
- Dixie McCall for the win!
- Yeah, I can accept both versions of “Mack the Knife”. You know who did a really good version of that song? Sting, believe it or not, with Dominc Muldowney on the Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
album, which does not appear to be available digitally.
- As everyone knows, I am not a basketball fan, but I do acknowledge the significance of Wilt Chamberlain.
- Damn, “Mama Tried” is a great song.
- I have to agree Carlin belongs on this list, if for no other reason than the legal significance of the “Seven Dirty Words” routine.
- “I Will Survive” is a good song, but I prefer the Cake version. (I also prefer girls with a short skirt and a long jacket.)
- One of my coworkers and I have been joking back and forth about how metal I am. This is how metal I am: I’ve never heard “Master of Puppets”. Perhaps I need to fix that.
More obit watch.
March 22nd, 2016Rob Ford, controversial former mayor of Toronto.
I think there are a lot of jokes that people will be making in the coming days, but this actually kind of saddens me. 46 is too young for anyone to die. And he had his share of problems – whether they were his own or invented by Gawker – but I hope he finds the peace in death that seemingly eluded him in life.
Obit watch: March 22, 2016.
March 22nd, 2016There’s a nice tribute in today’s WP to Bob Ebeling, who died on Monday. You may not recognize the name:
For the historical record: Andrew S. Grove.
Use of force, Luke.
March 21st, 2016How much force can police use?
The first answer to that question probably ought to be another question, “Under what circumstances?”
For example, if someone’s passively resisting – just goes limp, doesn’t fight back – should a police officer whip out his issue sidearm and kill them? Perhaps if the officer is a member of the Chicago Police Department (where apparently officers can get away with anything) but in a normal police department, such behavior will get you fired and criminally charged.
Is this okay?
Data point.
March 20th, 2016Something that might be of interest to Texas People of the Gun:
My license to carry was up for renewal this year. I filled in the renewal application online on March 3rd.
My new license was in the post office box when I checked yesterday. So Texas DPS processed it in, at most, a little over two weeks. Not bad, not bad at all.
(To be fair: I did not have to take a renewal class this cycle, so I wasn’t required to send in proof of that. Also, while Texas DPS did warn me that this was a possibility, it turned out I did not have to get new fingerprints or a new photo. And I suppose it is distantly possible that these results were skewed by the fact that I had to go through recent background checks with the Austin Police Department for the Citizen’s Police Academy classes and my ride-along with APD.)
Just got paid today…
March 18th, 2016…so I feel comfortable asking you to give money to a cause I believe is worthy. As I’ve stated before, my policy is: I don’t ask you to donate for things I haven’t donated to myself.
Short version: Alexis Nicole is eight years old, and a competitive shooter. Her grandfather was taking her for training last week when he was killed in a car accident.
Longer version of the story from Oleg Volk here.
YouCaring page for donations to help with medical and funeral expenses here.
Short random notes: March 18, 2016.
March 18th, 2016I absolutely hate the BuzzFeed inspired headline on this story. But the story itself is worth reading:
Twenty-seven years ago, on a drug raid conducted by an elite special operations team with the same county police department, Sommers had shot and killed his best friend, a fellow squad member named Mark Murphy. In the days afterward, one of the few people who could reach Sommers, locked away in private torment, was another officer who had also accidentally killed another cop.
And now Sommers was being asked by his friend to do the same thing for the officer who had killed Colson — just as he has done for cops across the country who have suddenly found themselves at the center of unfathomable circumstances.
Obit watch: James Sheldon has passed away at the age of 95. The name didn’t ring a bell with me, but wow, what a career:
Larry Drake. You know, I remember being fond of “L.A. Law” when it was first running; I wonder how it holds up today.
Gonzaga 68, Seton Hall 52.
March 18th, 2016Well, I was right about something for once.
Obit watch: March 17, 2016.
March 17th, 2016Apparently, Barry Keenan was involved in a project to build a casino in downtown Austin? How did I miss that?
Police now give you no break…
March 16th, 2016I wanted to take note of this story, and the complete report from the Office of the Police Monitor.
Chief of Staff Manley, who is quoted extensively in the Statesman report, addressed our Citizen’s Police Academy class last week and spent about 30 minutes going over the report. I feel comfortable saying that pretty much everything he told us, as far as APD’s response to the report, made it into the Statesman‘s article. But I’m glad to get the OPM’s side, too.
(A representative from the OPM did address our CPA class, and I think the CPA deserves some credit for having him there. However, his presentation came the week before the OPM report was released.)
There are some things that Chief Manley said in his presentation that bother me a bit, but I’m having trouble articulating exactly why; this may be the subject of a longer post later, along with one I’m trying to write about “response to resistance”.
(As we all know, resistance is a) futile, and II) voltage/current.)
A couple of random notes: March 16, 2016.
March 16th, 2016How did I not have a “Lovecraft” category before now? Fixed.
What brought this to mind? Anther AP story, this one about the relationship between H.P. Lovecraft and Providence.
When I visited Swan Point on one of my trips, I was told Lovecraft’s grave was the most visited one in the cemetery. This struck me as interesting, because Sullivan Ballou, aka “the guy who wrote the letter from the Ken Burns series that everyone but me loves” is also buried in Swan Point. My recollection is that this was near the peak of “Civil War” mania, but I guess Lovecraftian horror beats banjos and sentiment at least five out of seven days of the week.
Tam has a very nice obit up for Todd Louis Green, noted pistol trainer, class act, and “Archer” fan.
I never got to take a class with him, and I wish I had: I think I would have enjoyed both learning from him, and finding out if he hates Bionic Barry as much as I do.
Imagine a rotting Elvis shopping for fresh fruit…
March 15th, 2016Today’s Statesman ran an AP article on the decline of Elvis mania in Las Vegas. I think this is the original.
…
…
I have no joke here, I just like saying “oversaturated by Elvis impersonators”.
First Liberace, now Elvis. Is there no sense of history in Vegas?