Spitting It in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

It is Sunday and I am in the office. Because I am trying to teach myself how to do my job. Fuck if I know how to do it.
It is interesting… we are the smallest county by far in this entire segment of the state… but by The District’s numbers… we have more crime than most of the other counties around us. Here is the problem with Statistics Based Research. Many are quick to say… Crime and Poverty are intrinsically linked; Up North County’s impoverished state is inspiring a larger criminal element. That may be true. One way of factoring poverty is in programs/services provided to the vulnerable… and 68% of all school aged children qualify for the Free Meal Programs. Another way of judging poverty is by viewing job availability and pay scale. Even the $8 an hour jobs are located out of county. The county has no available jobs. Another way of viewing poverty is home sales/costs/availability. There are currently over 600 homes for sale in this county. Or… by the numbers I was presented… 20% of the houses in this county are vacant. The price range is as low as $13,000 for a 3 bedroom, 824 sq ft… up to $275,000 (for a 3 bedroom, 1450 square feet). So… yeah, there’s poverty here.
But maybe… just maybe… the crime rate isn’t so strictly derived from the poverty numbers. Maybe it has something to do with the refusal to put people in jail. Maybe it has something to do with a Magistrate that doesn’t know Criminal Law. Maybe it has something to do with a County Attorney who believes “fines and probation” are acceptable sentences for all crimes. Maybe it has something to do with a Board that believes spending money on anything government related is a threat to liberty. Maybe it has something to do with a Sheriff protecting the drug house for the county. Maybe it has something to do with Juries which refuse to acknowledge that Drunk Driving is a crime. Those elements likely play a role as well.

Meanwhile… the Board, in all of their Extreme Libertarian and Self-Serving Glory… is attempting to figure out just how many attorneys this county needs. After all, the population keeps dwindling. Yeah, as the population dwindles our crime rate seems to double… but that isn’t their problem. Their problem is trying to figure out how to spend the least money on Government Programs that they aren’t allowed to shut down. Which is my office because County Attorney is actually a provision in the Iowa Constitution.
.......................................

If you couldn’t tell… my Wife and I are both… just… not pleased with the state of things in this place. And part of me is quick to try to brush it off. “Oh, we’re still adjusting” or “We’re never happy, we need to work on that.” Or things of that nature. But… when we lived in DM… we were happy. Maybe our relationship had significant issues; but we were happy with our location. When we were living in Cedar Falls… we were happy. Yeah, our relationship was just starting; but we were also happy with our location. Omaha… yeah, Wife didn’t like her job… but Omaha felt like home in two months. And Wife didn’t like her job because Wife is never going to be happy at Wal Mart… and until she decides to take that risk and look somewhere else… she’s just not going to be happy with her professional life. But she can dislike her job and still appreciate where she lives. After three years; that is what Omaha became for her. A place where she hated her job, but appreciated the city.

I’m trying to create a metaphor that is descriptive not not over the top, succinct but not cliche.

It is as though we run a book store. And our book store was moved to a new town. One that only had the illiterate. So, we decided to offer Reading Classes to try to help. But nobody came. And when we asked why not, the answer was always the same. “We’ve never needed to know how to read before. We’re not going to learn just for you. You’re not welcome here.” And so we sit… in a book store nobody wants… waiting out the lease… so we can try to find a place where people can read… or at the very least are willing to learn.

.......................................

This past week, as anyone who watches America News is likely to know… has been difficult. Very difficult. For all of us. Apparently, it has brought out the worst Partisan Binary Bullshit Mentality in all too many people.
(1) POINT OF IMPORTANCE: Black Lives Matter was not started as anti-cop. But when it was adopted after the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, it quickly became Anti-Cop. It is now used, primarily, as a statement that Cops Kill Black Kids. Part of the problem of the Michael Brown shooting… evidence and testimony brought to light during the trial proved that Brown was charging the officer. He did not as reports suggested have his hands up in a “don’t shoot” or “defensive stance”. It is also why so many bullets were found in the body. The officer was attempting to put down an individual that was not only a threat, but a threat not listening to commands to stand down. To those who ask why not a taser weapon? Watch video of PCP users reacting to tasers. It is awful and nobody has the right to take someone’s life… but in a case where the police officer is going to die if he doesn’t pull the trigger… I understand and accept the police officer pulling that trigger.
(2) POINT OF IMPORTANCE: Suggesting that all police officers fire only when appropriate is ridiculous. Do you know which group of innocent victims is shot more than any other group by officers? Dogs. Domestic, non-attack dogs. Because in the instance that an officer comes across a dog during a contact (term used for officer/civilian anything)… the standard is “If the officer feels threatened.” So… if the officer feels threatened by a dog, he can legally shoot the dog dead. You ever met someone who was afraid of dogs? You ever see a dog that made you feel threatened? You ever met a dog that was the “right” breed or the “right” size that you were uncomfortable being close to it? Officers can kill the dog for those reasons. And that is awful. And we DO need to readdress shooting standards and training for officers.

So… again… the Partisan Binary bullshit isn’t helpful. But then I look to my well-intentioned, people-loving friends. And it is getting brutal. I have friends now openly blocking their friends (and putting them on blast) for “All Lives Matter” posts. Just for posting something about All Lives Matter… a friendship ended. I have friends now openly trying to destroy one another for posting unfavorable commentary on Philando Castille. Friendships ruined over discussing whether this was “an armed criminal threatening an officer” versus “an unarmed black man killed for his race.” And… the investigations into these incidences haven’t even reached a mid point to their beginning! But already… people “know what needs to be done” and are convinced one way or the other… because apparently the facts of the case aren’t as important as how people feel about it or how the media is portraying it.

Funny story… I don’t want to get into population demographics and statistics and the like… but 50% of all people shot by police officers last year were whites. And none of those shootings made it to TV? None of those shootings were plastered all over the media causing people to take sides before facts were evident? Why? Because it wouldn’t make for good TV? Because it is unlikely that any of those white people were innocent? Because it doesn’t add to a narrative that police are racists? If “person being shot by cop” is good tv… or if we’re discussing the tyranny of police… why not discuss Police shooting Whites… or if that sounds racist… Police Shooting Hispanics?

A lot of this just feels… puppeteered. That isn’t a conspiracy theory and I am not attempting to diminish from the very legitimate issues of Police Shooting Citizens or Citizens Shooting Police. But… why are we getting the stories we are? Why is “evidence” and “investigation” secondary to reporting on these SPECIFIC cases? Two years ago in Omaha, when the police shot a white Meth Dealer fleeing the scene… why didn’t that make national news? When a black undercover cop shot a 61 year old innocent bystander on accident… HOW COME THAT didn’t make national news?! Because honestly… THAT is the kind of thing that should. Yes, it was an accident. But the 61 year old wasn’t being pursued, wasn’t a person of interest… he was a crossfire kill. As opposed to all of the victims the news covers… who are people of interest, suspects in crimes, etc. Not to diminish their deaths AT ALL… but the specific incidents that are getting the public divided, riled up, and hostile towards one another… they are being selected. By the news media. To promote widely and cover for days on end.

But… to get to the issue I mentioned earlier… how and why is this the kind of thing that ends friendships?
Some of my friends have been posting this:

And my response has been: “The Hashtag Politics Concept has really only become yet another way for people to “be active” without taking action. Like watching the news and saying you’re politically active. I may get argument on this but.. what needs to happen:

Bob is siting at a dinner table. Everyone else gets a plate of food except Bob. Bob says, “Bob deserves food.” Everyone at the table responds with “everyone deserves food” and everyone at the table stops eating until Bob is served. Everyone deserves food; therefore everyone should fight for the principle that everyone deserves food.

This is actually a good metaphor anyway because… it goes to Manners and Etiquette.”

And why is my personal opinion and personal view any more offensive or any more “horribly wrong” than the previous which the gentleman specifically stated was his personal interpretation.

Let’s go further. Let’s look at the inflammatory and offensive stuff I’ve been sharing (that is apparently, racist)

THIS VIDEO: Armed or Unarmed; you make the call.

THIS VIDEO: Of an alleged Marine saying what I was taught to believe… that color is an element intended to cause divide and strife; that when we are color blind and treat every person the way we ourselves wish to be treated (Golden Rule, it’s in The Bible....) THAT is where we need to be!

This comic got the most depressingly vitriolic toxic comments of anything I’ve ever seen on the internet. “Fuck the pigs,” “We need strong black people, not more cops,” and my favorite… “Fuck this ignorant cartoonist; cops should be thrown away for oppressing my people. Fuck all of ‘em. They got it coming.” Just… horrifying… especially in the wake of the Dallas shooting.

And this article said to be written by the woman in the picture: “The look of a frustrated officer. The fear I feel inside, as I am waiting for this war on blue to start. It’s coming… As a black woman, I hurt for my brothers that are killed with no mercy. Sometimes I feel that the public has it wrong, because they don’t know what it feels like to be in a life or death situation. Sometimes I feel that the officer(s) are wrong. Don’t tell me I don’t know either! Because almost 2 years ago, I responded to a call of men with guns, mine drawn, as I’m walking on foot checking the area, when I turned the corner to a RIFLE pointed dead at me. With the slack out of my trigger, all I needed to do was slightly squeeze. But I didn’t… I gave one loud verbal to drop it and he did and fell to the ground immediately. Had he moved a inch, both his and my life would’ve changed forever! It turned out to be a BB GUN. But I didn’t know that?! So I would’ve been justified. But I thank the Lord I didn’t, because inside I would feel terrible. Some questioned why I didn’t shoot. As they would’ve… We are all different. I say that to say this, DO NOT RESIST when an officer tells you to do something! If you are RIGHT deal with that later, at least you’ll be alive to tell it! Resisting is actively, so fighting back for example, as well as passively, so stiff arming as I’m trying to cuff you. DO NOT DO IT. Better to be judged by 12, than carried by 6! Yes sometimes officers are afraid too! We are human! Traffic stops are the worse, I never know what I’m walking into. I’ve walked up to a car before, and all I seen were his FEET at the steering wheel. Yeah he was flipped into the back seat hiding drugs, however I thought he was going for a gun. Had to hold him at gun point demanding him not to move until my backup arrived. Had he not listened, I Would’ve been justified then too. But nope… My life’s been on the line both of those times, due to the stupid decisions of another. Fussed at him like his mother as to why he would do something so stupid, and he could’ve just lost his life over a dime bag. THINK YOU GUYS!Somethings gotta give… I’m just praying. It breaks my heart that people get afraid when I drive by them, or walk by and I’m smiling saying hello, and they look at me like I’m the devil himself… It hurts because all I want to do is make a difference. Keep my community safe. Sadly I feel that won’t matter soon, because we have some that are just trigger happy, and all a person will see is BLUE, and shoot😔”

..... but no. I’m racist. Saying things like the above prove that I’m an over-privileged white man with nothing but hatred for minorities, the gays, and women. And yes… someone did tell me that. And my hispanic cousin has been posting “Down with cops” “Tear down the racist institution” shit all day… and she’s being called brave.

Well… if my heart wasn’t broken and torn to shatters before… it certainly is now.
...........................

On a lighter note… have you guys seen this Pokemon Go thing? Apparently almost half of my friends nation wide are playing. I get it… I absolutely understand the allure. But… a few things. (1) It seems a bit intrusive. People are going onto other people’s yards or just wondering into businesses to catch their Pokemon… and… yeah. Don’t do that. The rules of polite society (if they still exist) don’t end because you have to grab your ninth Metapod. (2) HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT MUCH TIME?! Seriously… I’m lucky to get enough free time between work, house chores, sleep, etcetera. How do you have three hours to go looking for all of these (as 3 seems to be the average per day from those with whom I converse). Seriously. 3 hours to wander around catching digital monsters? I should be so lucky.