For those of you unfamiliar with that abbreviation, that’s Jay G’s rendering of “Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes“.
This is why you don’t fire warning shots, people!
PSG, WSP.
September 28th, 2012Guns up!
September 28th, 2012Remember the auction we noted earlier in the week? The one that included some of Bonnie and Clyde’s guns?
Well, by way of SayUncle, we learned that there was a bit of a kerfuffle. One of the guns in the auction is a Colt Detective Special that was found taped to Bonnie’s thigh. Frank Hamer, the man who led the posse that reduced Bonnie and Clyde to “a bunch of wet rags” [*], took that gun (and many, if not all, of their other guns) as spoils after the ambush, and it got handed down from Hamer through a couple of other folks before ending up in the auction.
So what’s the problem? The serial number on Bonnie’s gun was obliterated, and BATFE doesn’t much like people selling guns with altered or obliterated serial numbers. Serial numbers, as I understand it, were actually not required until the Gun Control Act of 1968, so there are guns out there without serial numbers. But if the gun did have a serial number, like Bonnie’s did, and that serial number is defaced or altered, you can’t legally sell the gun.
What to do, what to do? If you’re the auction house, you contact your friendly local BATFE branch. I will now pause for a moment so you can laugh at the juxtaposition of “friendly” and BATFE.
In this case, though, BATFE issued a new serial number for the gun, and had the gun re-stamped, making it all nice and legal for the auction. SayUncle and some of his commentators seem a little bent out of shape about BATFE doing this; personally, I’d rather have them do this than have the gun confiscated and melted down.
While I was writing this entry, Lawrence sent me an actual link to the auction. Bonnie’s Colt is here.
The “Fitz Special” that I wrote about previously is here. Looking over the auction description, a couple of things jump out at me. There are three documents giving the gun’s provenance, from various law enforcement officers, but there’s no Colt factory letter documenting the gun. The price of a Colt letter, according to their website, is $75; that’s a small percentage of the estimated auction price, and I’d personally like to see one of those letters with the gun before I bid (were I planning to bid; yeah, like I have $50,000). It might help document the story that Clyde stole this gun from a Texas Ranger. I strongly suspect (and the auction notes seem to confirm) that this is not an actual Fitzgerald modified gun, but one done in his style.
Why, yes, as a matter of fact, there is a Smith and Wesson Hand Ejector in this auction. And it has “a copy” of a factory letter. There’s also a “Baby Face” Nelson Safety Hammerless (Third Model) with a S&W factory letter, too. And a .44 Double Action First Model top-break carried by Emmett Dalton, also with factory letter. Except for those three, it seems that choosy gangsters chose Colts.
[*] That description, and some of the other background in this post, comes from Jeff Guinn’s stunning Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde
Random notes: September 28, 2012.
September 28th, 2012So Bo Xilai has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, and faces criminal prosecution on charges related to bribery and the criminal case involving his wife and her alleged murder of a British businessman. That’s pretty much news everywhere.
But here’s something interesting:
More Herbert Lom obits: NYT. A/V Club. LAT.
Good news, everyone! If you work in the Texas state prisons, a Facebook friendship with a convict no longer violates the ban on fraternization!
Joseph Wolfe, a former police officer with the Fullerton police department, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force in the beating death of Kelly Thomas. Officer Wolfe is the third officer to be charged in this case. (Previously. Also previously, and graphic image warning.)
Really? That’s a shocker.
And you thought fried butter was excessive.
September 28th, 2012The HouChron has an article listing some of the fun foods you’ll be able to get at the State Fair of Texas, which starts today.
I am not sure if this differs from the:
or if the duplication is just sloppy editing by the HouChron.
Other highlights include the fried jambalaya and fried bacon cinnamon roll (previously), the “Deep Fried Red Velvet Cupcake” (the description of which sounds exactly like you’d expect, until you get to the “a perfectly fried boneless chicken wing is placed on the cupcake”), the “Deep Fried Chicken and Waffle”, and the “Fried Kitty-Kat” (which has nothing to do with being mean to animals).
Question for the huddled masses: would you eat something called “Cup of Trash”?
Random notes: September 27, 2012.
September 27th, 2012Sorry, folks. My normal schedule has been disrupted by a (thankfully not serious) personal matter.
“Who’s a good boy? Yes, you are. You’re a good boy. You sniff out drugs. Yes you do. And you don’t steal guns from the city and sell them. No, you don’t. And you don’t owe tens of thousands of dollars in child support in Texas. Good boy! Go catch the ball!”
(Hattip: Balko.)
The guy APD shot Tuesday night? Died in the hospital. (Linked article contains more details on the shooting.)
Obit watches: The WP is reporting the death of Herbert Lom.
John Silber, former Boston University president.
Holy cow.
September 26th, 2012There seems to be no question that Lieu Tran had problems. Specifically, bipolar disorder.
Mr. Tran was a math teacher at a local high school. In April of 2011, he was told his contract wasn’t going to be renewed. This sent Mr. Tran into a downward spiral; he contacted a friend and told that friend he’d been having “scary thoughts about shooting his supervisors”. The friend gave him a ride to a mental hospital.
Mr. Tran engaged in a discussion with the APD officer later that day. He spent a week in the hospital, “having his medication adjusted and participating in group therapy”.
After he was released, he was arrested by APD and charged with “retaliation”, based on what APD considered to be his threats to “buy a firearm, tying up [Assistant Principal Sheila] Reed and [Principal Daniel] Garcia, shooting them in the arm and leg and making them watch him kill their families”.
The case went to trial this week. Today, the judge threw out Mr. Tran’s statements to the police officer:
Without the statements, the state had no case, and the prosecution dismissed the charges.
That seems like the right thing to do. Now. But the right thing to do a year ago would have been not to bring charges.
Look, I understand Tran’s behavior might have been scary. But he sought help. He didn’t act on his impulses. He knew he had a problem and voluntarily committed himself. What were the APD and the Travis County DA thinking when they brought charges against a man who did the right thing? And did they even think about what impact this would have on other people facing similar situations?
Noted.
September 26th, 2012Ewell Hunt, the former sheriff of Franklin County, Virginia, has been convicted of “misconduct by an elected official”. Mr. Hunt has been fined $500 and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence.
Former sheriff Hunt’s conviction stems from the murder of Jennifer Agee by her ex-husband, deputy Jonathan Agee. I’ve touched on this case previously here and here.
Random crap, September 26, 2012.
September 26th, 2012Let us say, hypothetically, you run a restaurant. (I’m fully aware the vast majority of my readers are not crazy or stupid, but play along here.)
You need things like stoves and refrigerators to run a restaurant, right? Those things need to work. If the stove breaks, you can’t cook food. If the cooler breaks, you’re going to lose a lot of stockpiled goods. So when things break, it is important to get them fixed, fast.
What are the economics of restaurant repair? How much can you expect to pay for service? William Grimes has an interesting piece in the NYT today about that subject.
Kitchen Works specializes, from what I can tell, in stoves. Refrigeration contracts run roughly the same.
Speaking of Grimsey, I just finished Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York
More:
Remember yesterday’s APD press conference? Remember the chief saying that APD officers should stop putting themselves in front of moving vehicles?
I’m not saying the officer did anything wrong, or violated policy, at this point. Details are still coming in, but it sounds like the gentleman in question (who, according to the Statesman, had 16 felony warrants) may have deliberately driven at the officer. I just think this is worth noting.
And speaking of grits…
September 25th, 2012…the breakfast kind, that is, we learn by way of Mr. Henson and the Waco Tribune Herald that there’s an auction this weekend that includes some of Bonnie and Clyde’s guns.
We don’t have that kind of money to throw around, but we are intrigued by the event. The Waco paper’s writing is a bit sloppy; when they refer to “a fine Colt Fitzgerald revolver”, we’re pretty sure they mean a Fitz Special. But we’d really like to know how one of those wound up in Clyde Barrow’s hands; our understanding is that the Fitz Specials were all custom orders for law enforcement, and it is hard to imagine J.H. FitzGerald building one for Barrow. We wonder if there’s a Colt factory letter on that gun…
Random thought.
September 25th, 2012If I had a film of SuAnne at Lead (as far as I know, no such film exists) I would study it in slow motion frame by frame. There’s a magic in what she did, along with the promise that public acts of courage are still alive out there somewhere. Mostly, I would run the film of SuAnne again and again for my own braveheart song. I refer to her, as I do to Crazy Horse, for proof that it’s a public service to be brave.
—Ian Frazier, On the Rez
TMQ watch: September 25, 2012.
September 25th, 2012Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#O of a series)
September 25th, 2012So Austin’s favorite police chief had a press conference this morning “flanked by two of his harshest critics”. (In case you were wondering, those are Nelson Linder, president of the local NAACP, and Jim Harrington, executive director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.)
Why the press conference? APD policy changes, which Chief Acevedo credits to input from Mr. Linder and Mr. Harrington. Specifically:
- Supervisor approval is required before officers do a consent search of a house or vehicle. Officers are required to get consent in “written and videotaped form”.
- “In cases where a suspect is known to be mentally or emotionally disturbed, a minimum of four officers along with a sergeant will be sent to the scene, and at least one of them must be specially trained in handling such issues.”
- Don’t stand in front of moving vehicles, dumbasses.
It isn’t clear to me if these are the only policy changes, or if there were less significant ones that the Statesman is skipping. One other area that’s been highly controversial lately is photographing and recording APD officers during arrests: Scott Henson over at “Grits for Breakfast” has some good coverage of what’s been going on.
Off the top of my head, none of these sound horrible. I do have a concern that requiring a minimum of four officers to respond to emotionally disturbed persons might, just might, cause problems, if that kind of response looks overwhelming to the subject. However, I think the training requirement may offset that concern. The big issue: does APD have enough people, with the right training, to respond in a timely fashion?
Charismatic megafauna.
September 25th, 2012Headline of the day:
I know at least one person who would answer that question with a hearty “Hell, yes!”
(Said person also needs to update his blog. Badly.)
Obit watch: September 25, 2012.
September 25th, 2012The NYT is reporting the death of Tereska Torrès.
Yeah, I’d never heard of her, either. After the jump, why I’m bringing this up (so to speak). (Strong hint: mature content.)
Maybe they should have done “Gaslight” (and more random notes for September 25, 2012)
September 25th, 2012Ben Sprecher is a theatrical producer. Most of his work has been off-Broadway, but he’s trying to put on a Broadway musical version of “Rebecca”. (I know what you’re thinking, but according to the NYT, this was done in Vienna in 2006, and played well.)
Anyway, Mr. Sprecher estimates that he needs $12 million for this. Mr. Sprecher had an investor – a man named Paul Abrams – who was putting up $4.5 million. That’s a lot of money for one person to invest in a Broadway show. But wait, it gets better!
But wait, it gets even better: Mr. Sprecher never met or spoke to Mr. Abrams at all. There are questions as to whether Mr. Abrams ever even existed.
Mr. Sprecher is trying to raise money to fill the gap. But if he fails and the musical doesn’t open, he’s on the hook to his other investors.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, bat cave!
Obit watch: Edwin Wilson. Remember Edwin Wilson? Former CIA guy? Convicted of shipping plastic explosives to Libya? Spent 20 years in prison?
Yeah. That guy.
Debacle? That seems strong. But I didn’t watch the game. “Debacle” may not be strong enough.
Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do? Well, they can register domains. But Donuts, Inc. has close ties to Demand Media…
The current theory on convicted sex offender and fugitive from justice Prakashanand Saraswati seems to be that he’s in India now, having been spirited out of the country by his followers. And the US Marshals don’t have an office in India.
Maybe they could send some BATF guys from Reno to India.