I just read that the district attorney in FL in the case of the crazy white woman who shot and killed her black neighbor through a closed door will not be prosecuted. Says there's "insufficient evidence."
Marion County is horse country and horse country means rich white folk with rich white people rules.
Well, shucks, I suppose there will be a rather vocal protest over this and any Blacks that get shot will not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence. This DA is setting himself and his district up for some bigly trouble. Probably in the next day or two.
... Some places have laws commonly referred to as “stupid motorist laws,” in which drivers are forced to foot the emergency response bill when they ignore barricades on submerged roads. Arizona has such a law, and Volusia County in Florida, home to Daytona, enacted similar legislation this week. The idea of a similar “stupid hiker law” is a regularly debated item in Arizona as well, with so many unprepared people needing to be rescued in stifling triple-digit heat....
A 14-year-old Florida boy died while hiking with his brother and stepfather at Texas’ Big Bend National Park on Friday — and his stepfather, who left to get help, was later found dead in a crashed car....
You'd think that Floridians would know about heat illness.
The boy “fell ill along the trail and lost consciousness,” and his brother, 21, tried to carry him back to the trailhead, the statement says. The stepfather, 31, then headed out to get help for the boy, but was found dead inside his vehicle around 8 pm. The man's car had crashed over an embankment, authorities said....
The fatal hiking incident at Big Bend is still under investigation.
In theory, the father could have been charged with negligent homicide or worse and the brother still might be charged as an accessory.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
... Some places have laws commonly referred to as “stupid motorist laws,” in which drivers are forced to foot the emergency response bill when they ignore barricades on submerged roads. Arizona has such a law, and Volusia County in Florida, home to Daytona, enacted similar legislation this week. The idea of a similar “stupid hiker law” is a regularly debated item in Arizona as well, with so many unprepared people needing to be rescued in stifling triple-digit heat....
A 14-year-old Florida boy died while hiking with his brother and stepfather at Texas’ Big Bend National Park on Friday — and his stepfather, who left to get help, was later found dead in a crashed car....
You'd think that Floridians would know about heat illness.
The boy “fell ill along the trail and lost consciousness,” and his brother, 21, tried to carry him back to the trailhead, the statement says. The stepfather, 31, then headed out to get help for the boy, but was found dead inside his vehicle around 8 pm. The man's car had crashed over an embankment, authorities said....
The fatal hiking incident at Big Bend is still under investigation.
In theory, the father could have been charged with negligent homicide or worse and the brother still might be charged as an accessory.
Lot of difference in 95° with 90% humidity and 95° with 5% humidity that many Florida boys don't understand.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”
I dunno about Texas, but pretty much every open space trail I've been on in California has all sorts of dire warnings about taking water, wearing hats, etc., taking breaks... and that's just for garden variety summery weather- mid 80's is about as hot as it gets. Oceanside Harbor all time high is 95 ever, but some inland places have hit 100ish. But you'd think maybe the trails would even be closed at 119.
Opps! The woman in FL who shot and killed her Black neighbor through her closed front door has been charged with manslaughter. I guess that's better than being let off Scott Free. The story I posted earlier made me think the crazy bitch was going to get away with no charges.
Opps! The woman in FL who shot and killed her Black neighbor through her closed front door has been charged with manslaughter. I guess that's better than being let off Scott Free. The story I posted earlier made me think the crazy bitch was going to get away with no charges.
Yeah, misleading headline "declines to pursue murder charge" can seem like no charges, but fortunately that's not the case. I think manslaughter is appropriate and will be easier to get a conviction. Defense would argue that she didn't intend to kill her, didn't expect to hit her, and in fact couldn't even see the neighbor. Bullshit, of course, but could raise some jury doubt. For manslaughter, there's not much defense. She ought to plead guilty for a break.
Opps! The woman in FL who shot and killed her Black neighbor through her closed front door has been charged with manslaughter. I guess that's better than being let off Scott Free. The story I posted earlier made me think the crazy bitch was going to get away with no charges.
At least he was an apparently healthy 70 and died doing something fun. It sounds like he was killed instantly, but if he'd required rescue I would not have begrudged any costs above track/personal insurance despite his being a billionaire. I believe that most of us can save up enough for race car lessons if we wish, so this wasn't elitist adventuring.
First I googled, I'll bet there are cheaper options at less prestigious schools:
Opps! The woman in FL who shot and killed her Black neighbor through her closed front door has been charged with manslaughter. I guess that's better than being let off Scott Free. The story I posted earlier made me think the crazy bitch was going to get away with no charges.
Yeah, misleading headline "declines to pursue murder charge" can seem like no charges, but fortunately that's not the case. I think manslaughter is appropriate and will be easier to get a conviction. Defense would argue that she didn't intend to kill her, didn't expect to hit her, and in fact couldn't even see the neighbor. Bullshit, of course, but could raise some jury doubt. For manslaughter, there's not much defense. She ought to plead guilty for a break.
Yeah, when I first saw that initial story, I went WTF but yesterday when I saw the story with the manslaughter charge, I was able to unhook from my iron lung and go on as before. Initially, I was fish slapped and thought "get ready for some major protests with a large dose of DeSantishit in response." But I do wonder if she'd been charged with murder had she used a shotgun (in which case you'd not have to see who's on the other side of the door to kill them).
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, the man at the center of the recent tragedy of the missing Titan submersible, has found himself among interesting company. He was recently added to Wikipedia's list of inventors killed by their inventions.
The list includes 26 entries across several categories, including aviation, medical, and maritime. The last entry under the maritime section, before the addition of Rush, was Thomas Andrews, the architect behind the Titanic....
Stockton Rush ...
Thomas Andrews ...
William Bullock
Bullock was a newspaper editor who revolutionized printing by making improvements to the rotary printing press....
One day, while installing a printing press, Bullock's leg got caught in the machine. The press crushed his foot, resulting in a gangrene infection that killed him days later....
Robert Cocking
Cocking, a watercolor painter who was fascinated with air travel, designed a parachute in 1837 that he debuted to the public at Vauxhall Gardens in London.
On its maiden voyage, Cocking detached his device from a hot air balloon and promptly fell several hundred feet to his death....
Franz Reichelt
Reichelt, known as the flying tailor, attempted to test a parachute he designed by jumping from the top of the Eiffel Tower....
Reichelt petitioned the government to allow him to jump from the top of the Eiffel Tower, believing that his dummy tests were failing because they weren't high enough. After a year of back-and-forth, he was finally granted permission on the account that the test would be done with a dummy.
On February 4, 1912, Reichelt surprised authorities at the top of the Eiffel Tower when he announced he would conduct the test himself in place of a dummy.
In front of spectators, the press, and cameras, Reichelt took his leap from the Eiffel Tower, placing his faith in his 20-pound contraption. He plummeted to his death, leaving a hole where he landed.
Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake
... Despite initial problems, Smolinski and Blake had small successes in previous tests. On September 11, 1973, the inventors began a test-flight with the Mizar from Ventura County airport in California. Shortly after they took off, black smoke could be seen from the car.
It crashed shortly afterward, killing Smolinski and Blake.
The plan had some problems from the beginning, namely that the Ford Pinto was known to explode if rear-ended, which led Ford to be the first US corporation charged with reckless homicide.
Ford Pinto. Smart.
Thomas Midgley Jr.
Midgley Jr. invented leaded gasoline and the synthetic substance used in air conditioning and refrigeration, contracted polio, and died in a contraption he made to hoist himself in and out of bed.
The public was told that his death was an accident, but privately it was ruled a suicide, according to The New York Times Magazine. Either way, it was something of the lifelong inventor's creation that contributed to his death.
Luis Jimenez
Jimenez, the sculptor behind the work known as "Blucifer" at the Denver International Airport, died when pieces of his sculpture fell on him.
Jimenez was contracted by the Denver International Airport to make the sculpture and had been working on it for nearly a decade when he died.
The 32-foot-tall, 9,000-pound sculpture came loose from a hoist while being moved and pinned Jimenez to a steel support beam. The collision severed an artery in Jimenez's leg, and he died before he arrived at a hospital.
"nearly a decade"???
Marie Curie
Curie died from aplastic pernicious anemia 31 years after winning her first Nobel Prize. The disease was a result of her work with radioactive material....
Karel Soucek (1947–1985) was a Czech professional stuntman living in Canada who developed a shock-absorbent barrel. He died following a demonstration involving the barrel being dropped from the roof of the Houston Astrodome. He was fatally injured when his barrel hit the rim of the water tank meant to cushion his fall....
Opps.
Popular legends and related stories
... In 2010, Jimi Heselden was killed while riding a Segway scooter. While he owned the company Segway Inc., he did not invent the Segway.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
... The three-person sub is one of the oldest deep-ocean submersibles, commissioned in 1964. The famous vessel is perhaps best known for taking the first humans to the Titanic shipwreck in 1986 when oceanographer Robert Ballard led a research expedition to the wreckage just one year after it was discovered approximately 12,500 feet deep off the coast of Newfoundland.
The spherical sub boasts seven reversible thrusters and two robotic arms, and it can reach four miles beneath the surface, giving researchers access to 99% of the ocean floor, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the nonprofit research facility that operates the Navy-owned sub....
1964, LBJ election! When it's built good, it's good.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
... The three-person sub is one of the oldest deep-ocean submersibles, commissioned in 1964. The famous vessel is perhaps best known for taking the first humans to the Titanic shipwreck in 1986 when oceanographer Robert Ballard led a research expedition to the wreckage just one year after it was discovered approximately 12,500 feet deep off the coast of Newfoundland.
The spherical sub boasts seven reversible thrusters and two robotic arms, and it can reach four miles beneath the surface, giving researchers access to 99% of the ocean floor, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the nonprofit research facility that operates the Navy-owned sub....
1964, LBJ election! When it's built good, it's good.
Yep, back in 64 (when America was great) but that year was also the beginning of the intentional murder of the federal budget. In the Revenue Act of 1964 the marginal income tax rates were cut from 91% to 70% and corporate tax rate went from 52% to 48% (the corporate rate is presently less than half of 48%). And since then, the middle class has virtually disappeared, along with most of the jobs that nurtured it. But I guess we can take comfort in the notion that we've created dozens of Chinese billionaires and a lesser number in various other Asian and Latin American countries.
Yep, back in 64 (when America was great) but that year was also the beginning of the intentional murder of the federal budget. In the Revenue Act of 1964 the marginal income tax rates were cut from 91% to 70% and corporate tax rate went from 52% to 48% (the corporate rate is presently less than half of 48%). And since then, the middle class has virtually disappeared, along with most of the jobs that nurtured it. But I guess we can take comfort in the notion that we've created dozens of Chinese billionaires and a lesser number in various other Asian and Latin American countries.
Things were well built in 1964. Shirking US fat cats killed the Titan fat cats? Then, LBJ/RMN financed the Vietnam War with deficit spending so that there was no 'home front' except for Gold Star households.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
Maybe, relatively speaking. A 1964 Chevrolet had a one-year warranty and could be expected to last reliably for maybe 5 before the engine needed work by 50K and unless they got really good garaged care and maintenance, it would look rusty crappy in 3-4 years. The bias-ply tires would be good for 10K miles or so.
The catastrophic Oakland firestorm of 1991, which I watched from my roof a couple of miles away, killed 25. The body count is expected to rise on Maui.
Sen. Brian Schatz said the centuries-old town (Lahaina) was “almost totally burnt to the ground.” Acting Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said communities had been “wiped out” after emergency services struggled to contain the fires... “... We need to figure out a way to help a lot of people in the next several years. The road to recovery will be long.”
Maui County officials said that 11,000 people have been evacuated from the island so far, with many more expected to leave. Since Wednesday, hospitals have been overwhelmed with burn victims and those suffering from smoke inhalation, including one firefighter. Landline and cellphone service remain cut for residents of West Maui, leaving them unable to contact emergency services....
The Big Island is burning, too.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
The Maui wildfires in Hawaii have killed at least 96, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with the total likely to rise as cadaver dogs sift through the ruins of the historic resort city of Lahaina....
WHAT IS THE DEADLIEST WILDFIRE IN US HISTORY? The Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin started Oct. 8, 1871 and killed 1,152, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)....
HOW MANY DIED IN THE CLOQUET AND GREAT HINCKLEY FIRES? The Maui wildfire is the deadliest since the Cloquet Fire in October 1918, when railroad sparks ignited a wildfire that raged for more than four days, decimating northern Minnesota, according to the Library of Congress.
The NFPA set a death toll of 453 as a result of what is known today as the Cloquet/Moose Lake Fires.
In 1894, amid conditions strikingly similar to the Peshtigo fire 23 years earlier, a breeze kicked up and transformed several small, scattered fires near a cluster of logging communities into a wall of flame that destroyed Hinckley, Mission Creek, Sandstone, Miller, Partridge and Pokegama, according to the Hinckley government website.
The fire consumed 400 square miles and killed 418 people....
WHAT ROLE IS CLIMATE CHANGE PLAYING IN WILDFIRES?
... Peak wildfire season is starting earlier in the year.
In 2022, there were 66,255 wildfires in the United States, compared with 18,229 in 1983, when record keeping began, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last two decades," according to the NOAA.
Gonna get worse.
A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower.
-- Charlie Sykes on MSNBC
1312. ETTD.
The Grey fire started on Friday around 12 p.m. and has destroyed homes, crops, and highways. The flames are traveling very quickly due to the high 35-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Level two and three evacuation orders are in effect for areas West to Gray Road, East to Silver Lake, South to Medical Lake Tyler Road, and North to Fancher Road.
The City of Medical Lake has received a level three “Leave Now” evacuation order meaning that residents will most likely travel to the Red Cross Shelter that has been set up in Cheney High School located at 200 E Barker St. Shelter in place is still active for residents at Pine Lodge, Eastern State Hospital, Martian hall, and Lakeland Village. The Spokane County Fairgrounds are also open to people with large animals and livestock....
. The mostly White jury may still impose "white people rules", though.
WTF but yesterday when I saw the story with the manslaughter charge, I was able to unhook from my iron lung and go on as before. Initially, I was fish slapped and thought "get ready for some major protests with a large dose of DeSantishit in response." But I do wonder if she'd been charged with murder had she used a shotgun (in which case you'd not have to see who's on the other side of the door to kill them).
Yep, back in 64 (when America was great) but that year was also the beginning of the intentional murder of the federal budget. In the Revenue Act of 1964 the marginal income tax rates were cut from 91% to 70% and corporate tax rate went from 52% to 48% (the corporate rate is presently less than half of 48%). And since then, the middle class has virtually disappeared, along with most of the jobs that nurtured it. But I guess we can take comfort in the notion that we've created dozens of Chinese billionaires and a lesser number in various other Asian and Latin American countries.
The catastrophic 
