All politicians, to one degree or another, are BS artists. But when it comes to painting a dishonest tableau, Joe Biden is a modern day Rembrandt. As a career politician this talent has served him well. But being served a steady diet of bull all these years from Biden and his fellow con men has not served the American public. Enough with the BS already.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Friday, August 30, 2019
Death By Knife In D.C.: One Week, Two Random Street Murders
Lance Ammons
On the afternoon of August 22, 2019 in Washington, D.C., 62-year-old Robert Bolich, a contractor from Alexandria, Virginia, was working on the pedestrian walking lane to the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in the northwestern section of the city. Lance Ammons, a 42-year-old homeless man who lived in a wooded area near the bridge, approached Mr. Bolich, and with a knife stabbed him to death for no reason.
When D.C. police officers arrested Ammons at the scene, he said he had killed the man on the bridge on orders from the Devil. Ammons told officers he had moved to the spot where he was currently camped to prepare for the end of the world.
A local prosecutor charged Lance Ammons with first-degree murder. Through his public defenders office attorney, Ammons pleaded not guilty.
Eliyas Wendale Aregahegne
Twenty-seven-year-old Margery Magill, a 2015 graduate of the University of California at Davis with a bachelor degree in International Agricultural Development, worked in Washington, D.C. as a program coordinator for the nonprofit organization Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship.
At nine in the evening of August 27, 2019, while walking a dog in the 400 block of Irving Street NW, she was set upon by a knife wielding man who stabbed her several times and left her bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Witnesses heard her scream, "Oh, no? Help me!"
Medical first responders rushed Margery Magill to a nearby hospital where she died from her wounds.
The day following the random knife murder in the quiet D.C. residential neighborhood, detectives arrested an unemployed 24-year-old man named Eliyas Wendale Aregahegne. Accused of killing a complete stranger for no reason whatsoever, the prosecutor charged Aregahegne with first-degree murder. Aregahegne pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to his Facebook page, Aregahegne had attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison for one semester in 2013. The self-described Ethiopian, in July 2017, had been reported missing from his last known address on the 3000 block of 14th Street NW. Based on his numerous Facebook postings, Mr. Aregahegne had a high opinion of himself.
As potential victims of violent crime, Americans most fear being attacked in public by someone they do not know. Because Robert Bolich and Margery Magill were killed in separate incidents by mentally ill men with knives instead of guns, these two atrocious and frightening murders were essentially ignored by politicians and the national media.
On the afternoon of August 22, 2019 in Washington, D.C., 62-year-old Robert Bolich, a contractor from Alexandria, Virginia, was working on the pedestrian walking lane to the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in the northwestern section of the city. Lance Ammons, a 42-year-old homeless man who lived in a wooded area near the bridge, approached Mr. Bolich, and with a knife stabbed him to death for no reason.
When D.C. police officers arrested Ammons at the scene, he said he had killed the man on the bridge on orders from the Devil. Ammons told officers he had moved to the spot where he was currently camped to prepare for the end of the world.
A local prosecutor charged Lance Ammons with first-degree murder. Through his public defenders office attorney, Ammons pleaded not guilty.
Eliyas Wendale Aregahegne
Twenty-seven-year-old Margery Magill, a 2015 graduate of the University of California at Davis with a bachelor degree in International Agricultural Development, worked in Washington, D.C. as a program coordinator for the nonprofit organization Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship.
At nine in the evening of August 27, 2019, while walking a dog in the 400 block of Irving Street NW, she was set upon by a knife wielding man who stabbed her several times and left her bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Witnesses heard her scream, "Oh, no? Help me!"
Medical first responders rushed Margery Magill to a nearby hospital where she died from her wounds.
The day following the random knife murder in the quiet D.C. residential neighborhood, detectives arrested an unemployed 24-year-old man named Eliyas Wendale Aregahegne. Accused of killing a complete stranger for no reason whatsoever, the prosecutor charged Aregahegne with first-degree murder. Aregahegne pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to his Facebook page, Aregahegne had attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison for one semester in 2013. The self-described Ethiopian, in July 2017, had been reported missing from his last known address on the 3000 block of 14th Street NW. Based on his numerous Facebook postings, Mr. Aregahegne had a high opinion of himself.
As potential victims of violent crime, Americans most fear being attacked in public by someone they do not know. Because Robert Bolich and Margery Magill were killed in separate incidents by mentally ill men with knives instead of guns, these two atrocious and frightening murders were essentially ignored by politicians and the national media.
An Editor Can't Save A Bad Novel
Maxwell Perkins, dead these many years after he by Herculean effort transformed Thomas Wolfe's undisciplined outpourings into actual novels, did a disservice to novelists today who believe in the notion that all they need to do is get something on paper and some editor somewhere, most likely wearing a green eyeshade, will toil upon the novel until it is fit to print. They are mistaken,
George V. Higgins, On Writing, 1990
George V. Higgins, On Writing, 1990
Thursday, August 29, 2019
The Richard De Wit Murder Case
Sarah Groves, a 24-year-old hotel fitness instructor from the English Channel Island of Guernsey, was visiting her boyfriend in India's northwestern region of Kashmir. A former student at the Catholic St. Mary's boarding school in Ascot, she was a friend of Princess Beatrice. The boyfriend, Saeed Shoda, had arranged a room for Groves on his father's houseboat "New Beauty" on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir's capital.
At two in the morning of April 6, 2013, 43-year-old Richard DeWit, an unemployed Dutch man with a room on the houseboat, broke into Grove's suite and allegedly stabbed her 45 times. At the time of the murder, Mr. Shoda was spending the weekend with his friends. Miss Groves had remained with Shoda's parents who told reporters she had been like a daughter to them.
Leaving everything behind on the "New Beauty" except for his passport and $2,500 inside his underwear, the barefoot, 7-foot-tall DeWit fled the houseboat in a stolen rowboat that capsized before he reached the shore. Once on land DeWit boarded a taxi.
Shortly after members of the houseboat staff found Sarah Groves dead in a pool of blood, Kashmir police arrested DeWit on the National Highway 50 miles away in the town of Qazgund.
Later that day, the murder suspect confessed to the police. He admitted having "violent tendencies" and said he had been under the influence of drugs during the 15-minute knife attack. DeWit explained that he had been overtaken by the devil. "The Devil took over my body," he said.
DeWit's 31-year-old wife, Uma Rupanya, informed the authorities that DeWit had left her and their two daughters in November 2012. She said he had become "increasingly paranoid and irrational." According to the murder suspect's wife, "He believed the government was out to get him, that spies were following him, that his house was bugged."
A prosecutor in Srinagar has charged DeWit with first-degree murder. At some point after his arrest Richard De Wit took back his confession and pleaded not guilty.
In February 2015, the De Wit murder trial got underway in Srinagar, India. In October 2015, following 29 trial delays, the defendant fired his attorney and the trial came to a halt.
Sarah Grove's parents, in the spring of 2015, publicly expressed concerns that the authorities, in going after Mr. De Wit, had targeted the wrong man. They characterized the aborted De Wit trial as a farce, and indicated that they suspected the victim's boyfriend, Saeed Shoda. According to the victim's parents, the police had badly mishandled the murder investigation.
As of August 2017, the De Wit case, after more than four years and 90 hearings, remained on hold. De Wit, from his jail cell, requested to speak to Grove's parents. According to the suspect, he had knowledge about the murder he wanted to pass on to them. The authorities denied that request.
By August 2019, after countless delays, it appeared that the Richard De Wit would finally get his day in court. Then suddenly that changed when the prime minister of India stripped Kashmir of its statehood and semi-autonomous status. Due to the complete lockdown in Kashmir where phone, cable TV, and Internet services were suspended, Sarah Groves' parents were unable to maintain contact with their legal counsel. As a result the murder victim's parents had no idea what was happening in the case. They feared the political unrest in India would destroy the chance their daughter's murder would be resolved.
At two in the morning of April 6, 2013, 43-year-old Richard DeWit, an unemployed Dutch man with a room on the houseboat, broke into Grove's suite and allegedly stabbed her 45 times. At the time of the murder, Mr. Shoda was spending the weekend with his friends. Miss Groves had remained with Shoda's parents who told reporters she had been like a daughter to them.
Leaving everything behind on the "New Beauty" except for his passport and $2,500 inside his underwear, the barefoot, 7-foot-tall DeWit fled the houseboat in a stolen rowboat that capsized before he reached the shore. Once on land DeWit boarded a taxi.
Shortly after members of the houseboat staff found Sarah Groves dead in a pool of blood, Kashmir police arrested DeWit on the National Highway 50 miles away in the town of Qazgund.
Later that day, the murder suspect confessed to the police. He admitted having "violent tendencies" and said he had been under the influence of drugs during the 15-minute knife attack. DeWit explained that he had been overtaken by the devil. "The Devil took over my body," he said.
DeWit's 31-year-old wife, Uma Rupanya, informed the authorities that DeWit had left her and their two daughters in November 2012. She said he had become "increasingly paranoid and irrational." According to the murder suspect's wife, "He believed the government was out to get him, that spies were following him, that his house was bugged."
A prosecutor in Srinagar has charged DeWit with first-degree murder. At some point after his arrest Richard De Wit took back his confession and pleaded not guilty.
In February 2015, the De Wit murder trial got underway in Srinagar, India. In October 2015, following 29 trial delays, the defendant fired his attorney and the trial came to a halt.
Sarah Grove's parents, in the spring of 2015, publicly expressed concerns that the authorities, in going after Mr. De Wit, had targeted the wrong man. They characterized the aborted De Wit trial as a farce, and indicated that they suspected the victim's boyfriend, Saeed Shoda. According to the victim's parents, the police had badly mishandled the murder investigation.
As of August 2017, the De Wit case, after more than four years and 90 hearings, remained on hold. De Wit, from his jail cell, requested to speak to Grove's parents. According to the suspect, he had knowledge about the murder he wanted to pass on to them. The authorities denied that request.
By August 2019, after countless delays, it appeared that the Richard De Wit would finally get his day in court. Then suddenly that changed when the prime minister of India stripped Kashmir of its statehood and semi-autonomous status. Due to the complete lockdown in Kashmir where phone, cable TV, and Internet services were suspended, Sarah Groves' parents were unable to maintain contact with their legal counsel. As a result the murder victim's parents had no idea what was happening in the case. They feared the political unrest in India would destroy the chance their daughter's murder would be resolved.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
A Leading Criminologist On Mass Murder
There is no evidence that we are in the midst of an epidemic of mass shootings.
James Allen Fox, Northeastern University, August 2019
James Allen Fox, Northeastern University, August 2019
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Job Priorities For Officials In Charge Of Jails And Prisons
It's really quite simple. If you are in charge of a jail or prison, it's your job to make sure no one escapes, is killed or injured in custody, starts a riot, or sets a fire. Everything else is secondary.
Monday, August 26, 2019
The Prestigious College: A Nightmare For Working And Middle Class Students
Authors Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Laura T. Hamilton, along with a team of researchers helping them produce a book that came out in 2014 called Paying For The Party: How College Maintains Inequality, embedded themselves in a freshman dormitory at an unnamed high-profile midwestern state school. The authors and their researchers kept up with a group of female students through college.
While according to the conventional wisdom that higher education is a form of upward mobility that is an economic and social equalizer, the authors of this book found otherwise. They believe that a college education from a prestigious, expensive school rewards upper-middle class and rich students while treating their working-class counterparts more cruelly, often leaving these students isolated and adrift.
The inequality manifests itself in the campus party/sorority scene referred to by the authors as the "Party Pathway" through the university experience. Many kids from well-to-do families select a college or university because of its rich party/social environment. (So, when a university is labeled "a party school," that's good for recruiters.)
Rich kids, while not necessarily academically prepared for college, get accepted into these expensive schools because the institutions need their parents' money. Many of these less than academically gifted students navigate the university experience by taking bonehead majors like speech communication, criminal justice, elementary education, broadcasting, and women's studies. They don't learn anything useful, but they get their degrees, have a good time, and establish important social relationships. Because their families have connections, they also acquire good jobs.
The poorer, more academically prepared students struggle to afford sorority fees, clothing costs, spring break trips, and bar tabs. These students are referred to by the rich kids as "wannabes." Students who can't keep up socially end up humiliated and unhappy. According to the authors of Paying For The Party, the most successful working-class students end up transferring to less prestigious, expensive institutions where they are happier and get a better education.
While according to the conventional wisdom that higher education is a form of upward mobility that is an economic and social equalizer, the authors of this book found otherwise. They believe that a college education from a prestigious, expensive school rewards upper-middle class and rich students while treating their working-class counterparts more cruelly, often leaving these students isolated and adrift.
The inequality manifests itself in the campus party/sorority scene referred to by the authors as the "Party Pathway" through the university experience. Many kids from well-to-do families select a college or university because of its rich party/social environment. (So, when a university is labeled "a party school," that's good for recruiters.)
Rich kids, while not necessarily academically prepared for college, get accepted into these expensive schools because the institutions need their parents' money. Many of these less than academically gifted students navigate the university experience by taking bonehead majors like speech communication, criminal justice, elementary education, broadcasting, and women's studies. They don't learn anything useful, but they get their degrees, have a good time, and establish important social relationships. Because their families have connections, they also acquire good jobs.
The poorer, more academically prepared students struggle to afford sorority fees, clothing costs, spring break trips, and bar tabs. These students are referred to by the rich kids as "wannabes." Students who can't keep up socially end up humiliated and unhappy. According to the authors of Paying For The Party, the most successful working-class students end up transferring to less prestigious, expensive institutions where they are happier and get a better education.
Thornton P. Knowles On Political Dexterity
To succeed in politics, the practitioner must be ambidextrous. While patting a constituent on the back with one hand, the politician needs the other hand to pick the voter's pocket. And while applying this two-handed simultaneous maneuver, the politician has to sweet talk his victim with a litany of lies such as "I'll fight for you, I'm my own man, and I'll put the country above politics." It takes a lot of practice to pull this off, but for the career sociopath, the economic rewards are great.
Thornton P. Knowles
Thornton P. Knowles
Sunday, August 25, 2019
The Ten Safest Cities In The U.S. (2018)
In 2018, the ten safest cities in the country were: Virginia Beach, VA; Honolulu, HI; Lexington, KY; Anaheim, CA; San Diego, CA; El Paso, TX; San Jose, CA; Austin, TX; Mesa, AZ; Tampa, FL.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
More People Go Off To Jail Than College
There were 2.3 million prisoners in the U.S. as of the 2010 Census. It's often been remarked that our national incarceration rate of 707 adults per every 100,000 citizens is the highest in the world, by a huge margin.
Much of the discussion of prison population centers around inmates in our 1,800 state and federal correctional facilities. But at any given time, hundreds of thousands more individuals are locked up in the nation's 3,200 local and county jails…We have slightly more jails and prisons in the U.S.--5,000 plus--than we do colleges and universities. In many parts of America, particularly the south, there are more people living in prisons than on college campuses…[Here's a bumper sticker: MORE JAILS, FEWER COLLEGES]
Florida, Arizona and California stand out as states with sizable corrections populations in just about every county. States in the midwest, on the other hand, tend to have concentrated populations in just a handful of counties…
In many instances, large correctional facilities are located in sparsely populated regions like northern New York. In some of these counties, prisons account for 10, 20 or 30 percent of the total population….
"The U.S. Has More Jails Than Colleges," washingtonpost.com, January 6, 2015
Much of the discussion of prison population centers around inmates in our 1,800 state and federal correctional facilities. But at any given time, hundreds of thousands more individuals are locked up in the nation's 3,200 local and county jails…We have slightly more jails and prisons in the U.S.--5,000 plus--than we do colleges and universities. In many parts of America, particularly the south, there are more people living in prisons than on college campuses…[Here's a bumper sticker: MORE JAILS, FEWER COLLEGES]
Florida, Arizona and California stand out as states with sizable corrections populations in just about every county. States in the midwest, on the other hand, tend to have concentrated populations in just a handful of counties…
In many instances, large correctional facilities are located in sparsely populated regions like northern New York. In some of these counties, prisons account for 10, 20 or 30 percent of the total population….
"The U.S. Has More Jails Than Colleges," washingtonpost.com, January 6, 2015
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