Philly Gets its Own Shooting

You saw it on the news. You caught live feeds on Youtube. You listened to the scanners. Philly's very own shooting. Unfortunately it's not a mass shooting event, with only 6 police shot (none seriously, thankfully). Here's a timeline, sorta:


Philly police went to serve a drug warrant on a man in North Philly.

When they got to the neighborhood, they were taunted and had projectiles thrown at them.

• probably the same people who say the police need to protect them from drug violence.

Police entered the house.

Man with a semi-automatic rifle let loose on them.

Police wisely use doors and windows to exit.


Perp fires out the window at random intervals.

• Street cleared of everybody but SWAT and a few police. No one hurt.

Perp livestreams on Faceyspaces.

• Because nothing happens til it's on Faceyspaces first.

No contact with perp, in spite of bullhorns and phone calls.

News goes viral - the whole world's watching.

A daycare center advises parents the kids are safe but don't pick them up yet.

Eventually the police commissioner makes the first statement. Next at the mic was the mayor, using his first sentence to call for gun control.

• Oh, sorry, Mayor Sanctuary City.. the gun was illegally obtained. Your gun control laws won't prevent this. It's already illegal to own the rifle and illegal to sell drugs. Any other agendas you'd like to go over?

Democratic candidates for president go into Gun Control Mode with the press.

• Sure didn't take them long. Again, the rifle was illegally obtained. In fact, the criminals will be the only ones with guns if you get your way. Never let facts stand in the way of an argument.

Hours later, the perp's attorney gets involved and convinces him to surrender peacefully.

• A very smart attorney who is also wise. "They won't shoot you with the whole world watching."

On the way to jail, perp falls down several flights of steps, then punches himself in the face and body repeatedly (unverified) (completely made up).


Credit to the Philly Police for lack of stormtroopering. They did not rush the house, preferring instead to talk it out first. Philly got a serious black eye during the MOVE situation. A satchel of explosives was dropped on a house by the police commissioner, taking out the house, an inhabitant or two, and the entire block. The taxpayers had to pay to rebuild the entire block. As is typical, the taxpayers had to pay to re-rebuild the block when the original construction was found to be seriously faulty.



Some libertarians say this makes a hell of a point for legalizing drugs and not tampering with the Second Amendment. Do you agree?




UPDATE: I heard a very small snatch of a press conference, possibly from Philly's governor, possibly mayor: I'm going to push the legislature to start passing laws to get the guns out of the hands of criminals.

Huh?

It's already illegal for criminals to have guns. Are you feeling ok today?

Sensenbrenner - Half an Idiot

Wisconsin representative James Sensenbrenner Jr made some remarks at a town hall last week. When being questioned on collection of private data by ISPs, he stated "nobody's got to use the internet".

What kind of a genuine caveman (homonidus idiotus) are people electing to office? And do I really need to ask that question? Nobody's got to use the internet?

The reason he's only half an idiot is that the rest of what he said, which probably won't make much of a splash, is that the internet has worked fine all this time with no regulation, so he was hesitant to start now. Very libertarian of you.

• Two time olympic medalist James Cracknell states that North Korea is one of only two countries in the world that has "a handle on obesity."  You say handle on obesity, I say starving.

It's that time of the year... the time around April 19, when we celebrate Waco and the FBI building bombing, as well as Philly's own MOVE demolition. Always a happy time (and time for reflection on how these happened).

• If you happen to be visiting a certain African village, and who among us hasn't, you'll need to be aware of the gay baboon, who raped five men. Strangely, the African Tourist Board reports increased tourism.

A team has made a solar-powered device that can produce drinking water out of air, even in desert climates. Or they could just come to Philly, where the air is so humid, paper goes limp with moisture some days.

• Two vulnerabilities were discovered and patched in Bosch's auto dongle and smartphone app that allowed researchers to shut off the engine of a vehicle. Via Bluetooth. Why? Because the designers didn't think to allow only diagnostic messages travel around the car.  This kind of forethought will serve us well, provided we don't we don't use it. Oh yeah, and provided it's not installed in our cars. Houses. Refrigerators....

Throughout the years, there have been many complaints leading to jokes on Bose products, especially in the professional sound industries.  Their alleged hifi speakers and direct/reflecting technology had to be pushed through a ton of signal processing to make it work: this is not good for fidelity. Now we have $350 Bose headphones.  One consumer bought a pair and fell for the claim that they'd get the most out of their headphones by downloading an app. You  know, because phone apps make headphones sound better. Oh yes, you needed to provide your name, email address, and headphone serial number.  In exchange for this data, Bose would allegedly take your information, along with the songlist, and give it to a marketing company. As one would expect, there is a lawsuit.

• Venezuela has seized the General Motors plant. That should do wonders for their economy and international relations. Fortunately for Venezuela, it did not seize any US oil-producing concerns (or things could go spectacularly bad for them - see Iraq).

Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin and Kid Rock visited the White House.

I have to admit that the republican wingnuts are slightly more amusing than the democratic wingnuts. Frequently more attractive too.

You rang?