Master Trooper James R. BaileyRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Indiana State Police, Indiana
End of Watch Friday, March 3, 2023
Age 50
Tour 15 years, 6 months
Badge 7858
Cause Vehicular assault
Master Trooper James Bailey was struck and killed by a fleeing vehicle on I-69, south of Auburn, while attempting to deploy spike strips at about 4:30 pm.
Trooper Bailey was performing traffic control duties as the result of several crashes on the interstate when he was notified of a vehicle pursuit involving the Fort Wayne Police Department. The pursuit entered on I-69 toward Trooper Bailey's location.
The fleeing vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and struck Trooper Bailey as he attempted to deploy spike strips near mile marker 326. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The driver who struck him was arrested and charged with murder, felony resisting law enforcement, felony operating with a controlled substance resulting in death, and misdemeanor resisting law enforcement.
Trooper Bailey had served with the Indiana State Police for 15-1/2 years. He is survived by his wife, son, and daughter.
Weapon Automobile
An interesting article on a form of vacation. Who takes more cruises, Republicans or Democrats? And how has the Covid epidemic changed this.
The politics of cruise ships, and more!
…Ordinarily, we wouldn’t consider any one mode of travel particularly political. But someone brought to our attention a newsletter writer who characterized Democrats as “snobs” who look down on anyone who “goes on cruises or to all-inclusive resorts.”
Hmm. Is that right? Do cruises and all-inclusive resorts really attract a predominantly Republican clientele?
We tracked down our friend Carl Bialik at YouGov, a polling impresario who once wrote the (excellent) Numbers column at the Wall Street Journal. Late last year, YouGov asked 1,000 American adults this very question (at least the one about cruises) as a way to gauge how the coronavirus pandemic had changed our behavior.
Bialik found that the partisan gap among cruisegoers doesn’t yawn nearly as wide as some commentators might think. When asked if they’d been on a cruise before the pandemic, 16 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of Republicans said yes. That gap looks particularly unremarkable given that the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
That is a pretty significant margin error. Then again, it’s a small survey group to project on a nation of over 330 million.
Slicing the data by the 2020 presidential vote yields a slightly bigger gap: 17 percent of Biden voters and 26 percent of Trump voters said they had been on a cruise at some point before the pandemic.
As you might guess, your likelihood of boarding a cruise ship seems to increase alongside your age, as well as your income. Looking at cruisegoers by other characteristics, Whites (19 percent) were more likely to cruise than Black or Hispanic Americans (both 12 percent), while Southerners (20 percent) were more likely than Midwesterners (13 percent).
Can see Southerners going on more cruises than Yankees. We got the ports the good people in the Midwest don’t have.
But there are signs that the covid era has blown the partisan gap in cruising wide open. While about a third (32 percent) of 2020 Trump voters said they would be “very comfortable” going on a cruise right now, only 11 percent of Biden voters said the same. Meanwhile, nearly half of Biden voters (48 percent) said the opposite — that they would in fact be “very uncomfortable” cruising — more than double the rate of unease among their Trump-voting peers…
So is it cultural snobbery or covid caution that’s driving the divide? You may recall that cruise ships played a starring role in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. At one point in February 2020, a ship called the Diamond Princess had more covid cases than anywhere else in the world outside mainland China, where the virus originated…
…Looking deeper into the survey results, we find support for the covid caution theory. Because it’s not just cruise ships that make Biden voters nervous. Other activities that require mingling with large crowds in public aren’t quite as polarizing, but they all show growing partisan gaps.
Before the pandemic, Biden and Trump voters were equally likely to have attended a concert or traveled by airplane, for example: Everyone was close to 50 percent. Now, Biden voters are less than half as likely to be “very comfortable” with concerts and plane flights as Trump voters are.
Biden voters are even less comfortable taking public transportation than Trump voters, despite the fact that they were much more likely to ride on public buses and subways before covid hit.
Very understandable. Biden voters, Democrats in general, want to force Trump voters (all Americans for that matter) into mass transit or hamper mobility in one form or another.
So while there does seem to be a partisan gap on cruising, it looks to us like a manifestation of a larger partisan divide over the need for continued vigilance against covid rather than any elitist disdain for the big boats, onboard entertainment and 24-hour buffets.
Actually I didn’t get into any political discussions with the other guest on the last cruise I took with the family back in 2022. But I can see leftist distain for cruise ships, entertainment and a lot of food. Liberals don’t seem to enjoy themselves much. But more to the point, they don’t want others to enjoy themselves.
So to piss off the libs out there, the wife and I are taking an Alaskan cruise in a couple of months. We will eat, drink and be merry. Please stay home surrounded by the gun fire from the Obama voters, stick to your vegan diet and just leave the rest of regular America alone.
Police Officer Andres M. Vasquez Lasso
Chicago Police Department, Illinois
End of Watch Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Age 32
Tour 5 years
Badge Not available
Cause Gunfire
Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso was shot and killed while responding to a domestic incident at 4:45 pm in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood.
Officers were responding to a call about a man chasing a woman down the street with a gun. One group of officers went to the residence while other officers located the subject on foot. They were able to engage with the subject, but he fled from the officers. Shots were exchanged as Officer Vasquez Lasso pursued the subject, and both were wounded.
Officer Vasquez Lasso was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
The subject was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Officer Vasquez Lasso had served with the Chicago Police Department for five years and was assigned to the Eighth District. He is survived by his wife, mother, and sister.
Detention Officer Kenneth FowlerRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Pontotoc County Sheriff's Office, Oklahoma
End of Watch Sunday, February 19, 2023
Age 52
Tour 5 years
Cause Fall
Incident Date Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Detention Officer Kenneth Fowler succumbed to injuries sustained on January 31st, 2023, when he slipped on ice in the parking lot of the Pontotoc County Justice Center.
The area was experiencing an ice storm when he fell. He was transported to a hospital in Oklahoma City suffering from head injuries and hypothermia. He remained in a medically induced coma until succumbing to his injuries on February 19th, 2023.
Officer Fowler had served with the Pontotoc County Sheriff's Office for five years. He is survived by his wife, daughter, mother, brother, sister, and two grandchildren.
Police Officer Geoffrey ReddRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Memphis Police Department, Tennessee
End of Watch Saturday, February 18, 2023
Age 49
Tour 15 years
Badge 4800
Military Veteran
Cause Gunfire
Incident Date Thursday, February 2, 2023
Police Officer Geoffrey Redd succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two weeks earlier while responding to a suspicious person call at the Poplar-White Station Library at 5094 Poplar Avenue.
Officers, including Officer Redd, had responded to a nearby business regarding a trespasser. Approximately 30 minutes later the subject became engaged in an altercation with a citizen inside of the Poplar-White Station Library. As Officer Redd and another officer attempted to contact the subject outside of the library the man produced a handgun and opened fire on them.
Officer Redd was shot and critically wounded before the other officer returned fire and killed the subject. Officer Redd was transported to Regional One Hospital and remained in critical condition until succumbing to his wounds on February 18th, 2023.
Several years prior to being shot, Officer Redd had been critically injured when he was struck by a vehicle while on duty. He returned to duty following an extensive recovery period.
Officer Redd was a United States Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Memphis Police Department for 15 years. He is survived by his wife, three daughters, and four grandchildren.
An open question in military circles is has the carrier started its sail into the sunset. like the battle ship one-hundred years ago. While projection of power is essential, especially for maritime nations like the US, surface ships are becoming more risky as other nations obtain technology that can destroy these ships at low cost (drones, missiles, etc). And China is using artificial islands to project power in the South China Sea, where 1/3 of world commerce travels.
With China becoming more aggressive, many of the areas nations have looked at the US with trepidation. I'm stealing a quote, "Being America's enemy is bad, but being its ally is disastrous." With the current administration, very understandable.
Now there is no question if South Korea or Japan decided to produce nuclear weapons the time from concept to fielding would be measured in months, not years. We have open reports South Korea is looking at an independent nuclear deterrent. When I was stationed in Korea 88-89, we had a Lance missile battalion just south of Seoul, with a "special weapons" company attached to it. None dare called them nuclear warheads. The Lance was taken out of the inventory in the 1990s, but open source is there always a boomer submarine off the coast of the Korean Peninsula at all times.
Australia I think would take just a few more months. Personally I think all three should. China and North Korea only understand one thing, force. We must be ready.
Now I'm no friend of Joe Biden, but this is good news. We need subs, we need a lot, and we need them fast. Not everything we need, but movement in the right direction.
The Nuclear-Submarine Pact Is a Welcome One
The U.S., Australia, and the U.K. have broken ground on the next phase of AUKUS. This arrangement, initially unveiled in 2021, saw the joint development of nuclear-class submarines between the three countries as its primary goal. President Biden and his counterparts filled in some critical details during an unveiling ceremony this week in San Diego.
To wit: Australia will buy its own class of nuclear-propelled submarine, produced through the agreement. That vessel will be based on a U.K. design, rely on some American tech, and be constructed in Australian and the U.K. shipyards. It will be a true blend of the defense-industrial bases of each country, and it will create important military and industrial links that could serve us well in the future. The submarines are the most important product of this arrangement, but their production sets the stage for more.
But there’s a catch: The sub purchases will begin in the 2030s, and their deployment remains years, likely more than a decade, out. The U.K. will get AUKUS-produced subs by the late 2030s, while Australia will get them in the early 2040s. Yet CIA director William Burns says that General Secretary Xi has ordered the People’s Liberation Army to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027.
Accordingly, the AUKUS countries will use that gap between present day and the deployment of the submarines to make some impressive progress in further integrating their naval operations and shipbuilding abilities. Australian shipmen are going to train with American and British personnel. U.S. subs will more frequently dock at Australian ports: In fact, Biden said at the ceremony, one such Virginia-class nuclear submarine is already docking in Perth under that new arrangement. Canberra is also updating and expanding its ports to host more submarines.
Within the AUKUS framework, Australia will also purchase three nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. in the 2030s. Arming the Australians with new subs to replace their aging diesel-fueled ships is a shrewd move, but it will place pressure on America’s fleet.
While this administration is appropriately touting AUKUS as a worthy new development, it has not yet demonstrated seriousness in overhauling America’s defense industrial base and boosting production, even though it has pledged to allocate just under $5 billion to submarine construction. This month, the White House released a budget that would cut defense spending in real terms next year...
Movement in the right direction, I must say.
Sergeant Christopher D. Fitzgerald Temple University Police Department, Pennsylvania
End of Watch Saturday, February 18, 2023
Age 31
Tour 11 years, 9 months
Badge 2362
Cause Gunfire
Sergeant Chris Fitzgerald was shot and killed while struggling with a suspect near 1700 W Montgomery Street in Philadelphia at about 7:30 pm.
Sergeant Fitzgerald was patrolling the area when he saw three masked individuals in dark clothing standing in an area where several robberies had recently occurred. As he exited his patrol car to speak to them, all three fled on foot. He pursued one of the subjects and began to struggle with him in the 1700 block of W Montgomery Street. The man produced a handgun and shot Sergeant Fitzgerald multiple times.
The subject then attempted to steal Sergeant Fitzgerald's duty weapon, belongings, and patrol car before carjacking a citizen several blocks away. Sergeant Fitzgerald was transported to Temple University Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
The man who shot him was arrested at his home in Bucks County early the next morning. He was charged with the murder of a law enforcement officer, robbery, carjacking, and several other offenses.
Sergeant Fitzgerald had served with the Temple University Police Department for 16 months and previously served with the Philadelphia County Sheriff's Office for two and a half years. He also served with the Sugar Land Police Department (Texas) and as a Lehigh County Corrections Officer. He is survived by his wife, four children, mother, father, sister, and brother.
His mother and father retired from the Philadelphia Police Department. Currently, his father serves as the police chief of the Regional Transporta
tion District Police Department in Denver, Colorado, and his mother is a Criminal Investigator assigned to Special Crimes in Tarrant County, Texas.
He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
Police Officer James Muhlbauer
Kansas City Police Department, Missouri
End of Watch Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Police Officer Jim Muhlbauer and K9 Champ were killed in a vehicle crash at 10:15 pm at the intersection of East Truman Road and Benton Boulevard in Kansas City.
A vehicle was traveling at 89 miles per hour, ran a red light and crashed into Officer Mulbauer and K9 Champ while in their patrol vehicle. The impact caused the squad car to roll over. A pedestrian was also hit. K9 Champ and the pedestrian died at the scene. Officer Muhlbauer was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The 18-year-old driver that hit the police car was also injured and was taken into police custody pending investigation. He was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Officer Muhlbauer had served with the Kansas City Police Department for 20 years. He is survived by his wife and child.
K9 Champ
Kansas City Police Department, Missouri
End of Watch Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Breed Dutch Shepherd
Gender Male
Age 3
Tour 1 year
Cause Automobile crash
K9 Champ and Police Officer Jim Muhlbauer were killed in a vehicle crash at 10:15 pm at the intersection of East Truman Road and Benton Boulevard in Kansas City.
A vehicle crashed into K9 Champ and Officer Mulbauer while in their patrol car. A pedestrian was also hit. K9 Champ and the pedestrian died at the scene. Officer Muhlbauer was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The driver that hit the police car was also injured and is in police custody pending investigation.
K9 Champ had served with the Kansas City Police Department for one year. He lived with Officer Muhlbauer and his family.
Correctional Officer Jay Miller
Washington State Department of Corrections, Washington
End of Watch Saturday, February 11, 2023
Age 52
Tour 31 years
Badge 6526
Cause COVID19
Incident Date Friday, September 24, 2021
Correctional Officer Jay Miller died from complications as the result of contracting COVID-19 while assigned to the Washington Corrections Center for Women at 9601 Bujacich Road in Gig Harbor.
Officer Miller was a United States Army veteran and had served with the Washington State Department of Corrections for 31 years. He is survived by his three sons.
My greatest annoyance with liberals is the purebred hyporcracy of them. How many fly private jets or always first class, but lecture middle/lower class people about using gas or diesel powered cars. Or complain about "the rich" not paying their fair share, when they are work millions and use every dodge the tax code allows to shield their income.
Well, like millions, this past Monday I did not watch the Academy Awards. Last time I can recall watching is was in1993, when Unforgiven won. Now I've heard the nominees get gift bags with items worth tens of thousands in them. Well, guess who is interested in those now? The IRS.
Oscars Nominees to Be Hit with Up to $63,000 Tax Bill for What Was in 'Free' Gift Bags
Gift bags handed out to Oscars nominees come with a tax liability that can top 50 percent of the value of the bags.
Who gets to pay when you get a gift? All of those Hollywood A-listers who accepted gift bags at the Oscars or any other awards show.
Holy cow, 63K in taxes on a "gift?" Now this shows something, taxes do make people change their behavior. That is heresy to good libs that infect Hollywood. But isn't this an example of taxes affecting behavior?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences no longer hands out bags due to the tax issue.
Over at Forbes, contributor Robert Wood looked at the cost of the freebies and estimated that the gift bags handed out this year totaled $126,000 in value each. For the record, that’s down from the $137,000 per bag estimated last year by CNBC.
The Internal Revenue Service has long decided these gifts were not really like presents from grandpa and grandma under the Christmas tree...
...The IRS alerted the entertainment industry in 2006 to the practice of taxing so-called gifts years ago, writing, “In general, the person has received taxable income equal to the fair market value of the bag and its contents and must report that amount on his or her federal income tax return.”
Wood did the math. Ouch.
“At the 37 percent IRS tax rate, that’s $46,620. California-based stars will have to pay California’s up to 13.3 percent tax too, another $16k or so. That’s up to $63,378 in state and federal taxes,” he wrote.
Oscar nominees in the acting and directing categories received more than 60 gifts.
This year’s choices included a three-night stay at The Lifestyle in Canada worth $40,000, a $12,000 arm liposuction procedure, a private hair restoration consultation valued at $7,000 and $10,000 worth of cosmetic procedures.
“It seemed a little inappropriate to offer a gesture of thanks that then carried with it a [tax] obligation,” Leslie Unger, a representative for the Academy, told CNN in 2006, when the deal with the IRS was struck to tax all gift bags from that point forward.
So if you tax an item or activity too highly, it reduces that activity. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you to hear this from the Left Coast.
I recall a former actor, governor of California, and president word's on taxation:
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan
So to all those good liberals in Hollyweird who are annoyed at being told to "pay your fair share," us in Flyover Country can only say, "We feel your pain."
WW3 Watch: Neocons Who Never Served Are Calling an Iraq War Veteran "Chicken" Because He Doesn't Want the US Involved in Ukraineby Dana Pico
Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) served in the United States Navy, and his military record, via Wikipedia, is shown at the right. Not in combat himself, he nevertheless saw what happened to our soldiers and Marines in the meatgrinder that was Fallajuh.
Bill Kristol, born on December 23, 1952, is the son of Irving Kristol, who has been the managing editor of Commentary and founder of the magazine The Public Interest, “and was described by Jonah Goldberg as the ‘godfather of neoconservatism.’” A son of privilege, Mr Kristol was educated in a tony private school before matriculating to Harvard. In and around government for much of his career, and the author, with Lawrence Kaplan, wrote The War Over Iraq: America’s Mission and Saddam’s Tyranny, which Amazon describes as:
(T)o understand why we must fight Saddam, the authors assert, it is necessary to go beyond the details of his weapons of mass destruction, his past genocidal actions against Iran and his own people, and the U.N. resolutions he has ignored. The explanation begins with how the dominant policy ideas of the last decade–Clintonian liberalism and Republican realpolitik–led American policymakers to turn a blind eye to the threat Iraq has posed for well over a decade. As Kristol and Kaplan make clear, the war over Iraq is in large part a war of competing ideas about America’s role in the world. The authors provide the first comprehensive explanation of the strategy of “preemption” guiding the Bush Administration in dealing with this crisis. They show that American foreign policy for the 21st century is being forged in the crucible of our response to Saddam. The war over Iraq will presumably be the end of Saddam Hussein. But it will be the beginning of a new era in American foreign policy. William Kristol and Lawrence Kaplan are indispensable guides to the era that lies ahead.
One thing Mr Kristol did not do was ever serve in the military.
And so I came to this tweet from Mr Kristol, which directed me to an attack article in The Bulwark:
The Ukraine Untruths of Disingenuous DeSantis
His recent remarks about the war have been cynical and deceptive.
by Willian Saletan | Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 5:30 AM EDT
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, bills himself as an enforcer. Speaking in Iowa last Friday as he prepared to run for president, DeSantis bragged about capturing Haitian migrants and sending the National Guard to control “BLM riots.”
“There’s a new sheriff in town,” he told an audience in Des Moines. He boasted that Sheriff DeSantis was finally taking on one of America’s worst villains: the Walt Disney Company. He proudly informed the crowd that he was “staring down the mouse” and “delivering them the biggest defeat” Disney had suffered in Florida.
That’s DeSantis’s idea of courage: rounding up boat people and stripping tax breaks from Mickey Mouse. But when a real menace emerges—hundreds of thousands of Russian troops invading Ukraine and slaughtering civilians—DeSantis chickens out. He preaches appeasement and blames America.
So, who is author William Saletan? His Wikipedia biography is a bit sparse, but it says nothing about him having ever served in the military. It does say that:
In 2002, Saletan wrote that the George W. Bush administration had failed to prove its asserted connections between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. In addition, he expressed concern about “an American policy of trigger-happy pre-emption.” But he argued that non-intervention in Iraq’s nuclear program was also dangerous. During the United States Senate debate over whether to authorize the use of force in Iraq, Saletan described the authorization as leverage that could pressure the United Nations Security Council to enforce its resolutions against Iraq. He concluded that although he distrusted Bush, he would support the authorization because “I don’t trust the French, Russian, or Chinese governments to do anything to Iraq that interferes with their commercial or political interests.”
I will admit it: there’s a real irony in the two neocons who never wore the uniform saying that someone who not only did, but served in a combat zone and saw American casualties, has “chicken(ed) out”. Mr Kristol, who never met a war that he didn’t intellectually support, and Mr Saletan, who supported the invasion of Iraq, at least far enough to support the Authorization to Use Military Force, which enabled that invasion, are just wholly upset because Governor DeSantis does not want the United States involved in another war.
So, what happened in Iraq? Well, 4,431 American soldiers were killed there, with another 31,994 wounded. As far as Iraqis, the number of deaths has been the subject od wild-eyed guesstimates, but every guesstimate is in the low-to-mid six-figure range. Today, Iraq is a nation which has undergone changes in government, but none of them have been anything Americans would see as good. We went into Afghanistan, which we had to do, to pursue and destroy Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, but after twenty years, twenty years! we finally pulled out, after “2,402 United States military deaths 1,921 of these deaths were the result of hostile action. 20,713 American servicemembers were also wounded in action during the war. In addition, 18 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives also died in Afghanistan. Further, there were 1,822 civilian contractor fatalities.” Yet the same Taliban government, albeit a younger generation of them, control Afghanistan today.
The Russo-Ukrainian War? It might be closer to the set-piece, traditional European war with an actual combat front, but does that mean we can provide enough money and war materiel for Ukraine to drive Russian forces out of the country? Thomas Meaney, in an OpEd published in The New York Times,, said:
The trouble is that Ukraine has only one surefire way of accomplishing this feat (defeating Russia and expelling Russian forces from all of Ukraine) in the near term: direct NATO involvement in the war. Only the full, Desert Storm style of deployment of NATO and U.S. troops and weaponry could bring about a comprehensive Ukrainian victory in a short period of time. (Never mind that such a deployment would most likely shorten the odds of one of the grimmer prospects of the war: The more Russia loses, the more it is likely to resort to nuclear weapons.)
President Kennedy introduced a few American troops into South Vietnam, as trainers and advisers, but it never stopped there. With escalation after escalation, 58,220 Americans gave their lives in Vietnam — a war in which Mr Kristol was of age to have volunteered and served, but he didn’t — and another 304,000 were wounded, and the Communists still took over the country after we left. How likely is it that, if American and NATO aid to Ukraine continues, and the war grinds on and on, that eventually there will be American and NATO troops directly fighting the Russians?
Of course, Messrs Kristol and Saletan won’t be casualties of the war in Ukraine, unless it results in a strategic nuclear exchange, which is not completely out of the realm of possibility. Their children won’t serve on the front lines. But in their ghoulish glee, there will be plenty of men and women and children killed in that war.
If the next President, someone smarter than Joe Biden — which would include almost anyone else! — decides that no, we’re done pouring money and materiel into Ukraine, it would mean that the war would go on and on until one side wins and one side loses. No, we don’t want Russia to win that war, but I want Russia to lose that war far less than I want to keep the United States out of it.
There is, of course, what Mr Meaney said: “The more Russia loses, the more it is likely to resort to nuclear weapons.” That’s the difference between Vietnam and Korea and Iraq and Afghanistan: none of our enemies had nuclear weapons, and none of them had what Russia has, a strategic nuclear arsenal capable of striking anywhere in the United States, over literally thousands of targets. Is the fight to keep Ukraine independent worth even one American city being incinerated in a nuclear fireball? Many people, including some a lot smarter than me, think that’s simply not a concern, but the probabilities are not zero, and a lot of other people, also including some a lot smarter than me, believe that if Russia really does begin to lose, the chances that a ‘tactical’ nuclear weapon will be used against Ukrainian troops or logistics depots increase.
If the nuclear threshold is crossed, only the Lord knows if and how that would spread.
So, Messrs Kristol and Saletan think Governor DeSantis is “chicken” because he doesn’t want the US to fight in Ukraine. As President, Mr DeSantis would be in no more danger than Messrs Kristol and Saletan. But there are a lot of Americans who could wind up fighting and dying if the two neoconservatives get their way, and if Mr DeSantis is “chicken” when it comes to their lives, I say that’s a good thing.
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Police Officer Julian Becerra
Fountain Police Department, Colorado
End of Watch Saturday, February 11, 2023
Tour 4 years, 6 months
Badge 976
Military Veteran
Cause Fall
Incident Date Thursday, February 2, 2023
Police Officer Julian Becerra succumbed to injuries sustained nine days earlier when he fell from an overpass in Colorado Springs during a vehicle pursuit of carjacking suspects.
The suspects had been pursued by multiple agencies over the course of several hours. At about 7:15 pm they attempted to carjack a second vehicle at the Love's Travel Plaza in Fountain and led officers on another pursuit toward Colorado Springs. The vehicle was partially disabled after stop sticks were deployed as it exited I-25 to South Academy Boulevard. The vehicle was stopped just east of Hartford Street and all three occupants fled on foot with officers in pursuit.
Officer Becerra was chasing one of the suspects when he fell from an overpass to the pavement approximately 40 feet below. He was transported to a local hospital where he remained until succumbing to his injuries on February 11th, 2023.
All three suspects were apprehended.
Officer Becerra was a U.S. Air Force veteran. He had served with the Fountain Police Department for 4-1/2 years and was assigned to the Canine Unit. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Police Officer Charles HerringRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Pembroke Pines Police Department, Florida
End of Watch Thursday, February 9, 2023
Age 54
Tour 24 years
Cause Motorcycle crash
Routine Driving
Police Officer Charlie Herring was killed in a motorcycle crash near the intersection of 184th Avenue and Sheridan Street.
He was on routine patrol when a falling piece of a tree fell and struck him. The impact caused him to fall from his motorcycle. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Officer Herring was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Pembroke Pines Police Department for 21 years. He had previously served with the Starke Police Department for three years. He is survived by his four children.
When I was 18 years old, a very wise Army Master Sergeant told me something I have remembered my entire life. “Thiac, the loudest noise you will ever hear in your life is the sound of an ‘unloaded’ weapon firing.”
Alex Baldwin, learn this before you go back on stage. Also, something else I was taught before that, “There is no such thing as an ‘unloaded’ firearm.” The point, always treat any firearm as it is loaded, and no one gets hurt.
Guns are not toys, and should never be treated as such. I’ve said this before, cops can be our worst enemy. See this article from South Carolina:
S.C. deputies disciplined after 'horseplay' during training leads to officer being shot
One deputy fired a blank round from his simulation firearm, then a colleague shot back with a loaded gun
GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. — A South Carolina deputy fired a blank round — then a colleague shot back with a loaded gun, officials said.
The real bullet “inadvertently” hit the first deputy, sending him to a hospital with a foot injury, according to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. Now, about two weeks after officials said they began investigating the act of “horseplay” that went awry, several deputies face suspension…
...The case dates to Feb. 22, when officials started an investigation. During a “controlled” training exercise in Abbeville County, deputies used blank rounds and had access to a simunition gun, which uses fake ammunition.
“It was discovered that after the training exercise, GCSO deputies were securing their equipment when one of the deputies discharged a blank round from a simunition gun in what was determined to be horseplay,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “In response, another deputy discharged his weapon, inadvertently striking the deputy in the foot, forgetting he had already transitioned back to his duty weapon…”
…The sheriff’s office put the two deputies on administrative leave before they reportedly were disciplined for “careless use of a firearm” and “improper handling of a firearm.”
“Both deputies have been given a 10-day suspension, placed on the Performance Improvement Plan, and will undergo remedial training,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
Also, a supervisor accused of not properly monitoring weapons is expected to be suspended for three days and faces additional training, according to officials.
Both my two agencies, when we train with Blue Guns or Sim Guns, no real weapons are allowed anywhere near the training site. Hell, generally pocket knives are not allowed to prevent inadvertent injury.
Thankfully the deputy will recovery, and the men will be “reeducated” on a simple task. And thank you sheriff setting and enforcing a standard.
Police Officer Charles HerringRest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch
Pembroke Pines Police Department, Florida
End of Watch Thursday, February 9, 2023
Age 54
Tour 24 years
Cause Motorcycle crash
Police Officer Charlie Herring was killed in a motorcycle crash near the intersection of 184th Avenue and Sheridan Street.
He was on routine patrol when a falling piece of a tree fell and struck him. The impact caused him to fall from his motorcycle. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Officer Herring was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Pembroke Pines Police Department for 21 years. He had previously served with the Starke Police Department for three years. He is survived by his four children.
Terry Stops and Three Strikes Laws (Part IV, Self Initiated Activity or "That **** Don’t Look Right")This is Part IV in a series on public safety and policing. Previously, we discussed some of the more critical components/techniques of successful policing, such as the Terry Stop, Three Strikes and Broken Windows policing. What makes these successful are two things, synergy and what’s known in police circles as, “self initiated activity.” First of all, as I mentioned in Part III, there is no single, major silver bullet for success. However, when component parts work together, something magic does happen—synergy. The whole indeed becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
Let’s take the simple example of how Terry Stops, coupled with properly structured Three Strikes laws can have a hugely positive effect. For the purposes of this discussion, we will state that a “strike” counts as any violent felony or illegal firearm possession by an adjudicated violent felon. Coupling the the very real threat of lifetime incarceration with properly directed, focused and supervised Terry Stop policing in high crime areas, what happens is that illegal gun possession goes down while at the same time, the most violent felons are taken off the street, a twofer…or perhaps a threefer if he’s put away for long enough.
For this to work however, there is another, most critical component necessary. In fact, without this component almost all policing becomes ineffective. That component is called, “Self Initiated Activity.” It’s the part of boots on the ground policing that separates the good cops from the check cashers.
I did a brief 10 year stint as a Deputy Sheriff down in South Florida. However, the best description I ever heard of this very fundamental task, comes not from my Field Training Officer, or the various and sundry Sergeants assigned to ride herd on me, but rather the crime drama, NYPD Blue. There is one scene where Detective Andy Sipowicz is passing some street smarts on to his son Andy Jr, who wants to know about being a good cop. Sipowicz says that the most important things for a beat cop to know are: People, places, the things they do and the times they do them. Here is that transcribed conversation in an article from Police One: (Note, if anyone has a legal you tube link to that scene, please post in the comments so I can embed in the article).
Read: 4 things Andy Sipowicz taught me about being a beat cop
Andy: OK. You’re eatin’ your sandwich, you’ve got company, the weather’s fine, it’s the perfect time to tune out the job.
Andy Junior: Yeah.
Andy: But you don’t want to tune it out, ‘cause there’s too much you’ve got to learn. Here’s a story about being a uniformed cop. Years ago, it’s midnight, me and my partner [are] a couple of blocks from the precinct house, when I see two big Cadillacs turn into an alley. Cadillacs, I’m thinkin’ maybe they’re mob guys. So we get out, go into the alley, see what’s goin’ on. Well the Cadillacs are gone, but I keep on walkin’ and pretty soon I see two guys come out of a back door, and one of them’s got a machine gun. So I yell to my partner, “Hey, we got a guy back here with a machine gun!” I didn’t know he could move so fast. He runs behind a telephone pole, and I’m standing in the door with my gun pointed at the guy with the machine gun.
Junior: What’s goin’ on with that?
Andy: The building was a toy factory that made toy machine guns, and one of the guys was takin’ one home to his kid. I don’t think he knew how close I come to me shootin’ him.
Junior: But you didn’t.
Andy: I could’ve, and it would’ve been off not being prepared. This was my beat, and I should’ve known about the toy factory and what kinda toys they made, and knowing that, I shoulda figured, it’s midnight, graveyard shift is just getting off. I didn’t put it all together. So I came this close to shooting that man. People, places, the things they do, the times they do them. Say that.
Junior: People, places, the things they do, the times they do them.
Andy: A beat cop knows those four things, he’s ready to do his job… You’ll be OK.
When good cops spend time out and about on their beat, they learn things. They get familiar with people, places, the things they do and the times they do them. With experience they can easily recognize when all is not quite right in their patrol sector. Good cops, based on that experience, make many a preventive stop that sometimes results in a serious arrest. Why? Because they look at a familiar location and say to themselves, “That sh** don’t look right.” That’s where the self initiated activity begins. That’s when a good cop goes over to have a closer look. That’s where he begins the investigation. That’s where often his mere presence precludes something really bad from happening. That is where the real policing happens. That’s also where he gets to know the good citizens…and they tell him things.
This is ultimately what ANTIFA, BLM and all the other leftist organizations supported by morally preening White liberal women are trying to destroy—and they are succeeding. Police officers, being hung out to dry by their Mayors, are retiring in droves. The ones that stay, are responding to dispatched calls…and nothing more. Why would an officer risk his job, his pension and even perhaps his freedom in such an environment? Why would he do anything other than respond to dispatched calls?
Zone 6, corner of Avenue D and 25th Street, Ft Pierce, FL. The usual crowd is hanging out at the Wings Hut. The zone car is piloted by a 7 year veteran Deputy Sheriff who looks over and says to himself, “That ***t don’t look right.” Then he keeps on driving. It’s not worth the risk to his career, his paycheck or the civil suit that would award his savings and future earnings set aside for his daughter’s education to some thug, to step out and see what’s going on.
This is what the leftists want. They want to seperate the community from its would be defender, the beat cop that see’s something that “don’t look quite right” and who will take the immediate action to investigate further. Of course, this leaves the streets in full control by ANTIFA, BLM or merely the local thugs—which is just what the left wants.
