A few days ago wasn't a video of a misrepresented exercise presented in the wrong context enough evidence to argue a giant leftist conspiracy to make white children sad? Always interesting the boot some people choose to lick.
Why? I'd let him smoke hay bales of dope, and put a Bunny Ranch in every strip mall. I'd lethally inject all the January 6th-ers though, that might make him sad.
If it is violent or destructive, or reasonably interpreted to be threatening such acts , then it ceases to be a protected right and nobody shoud have special privilege to behave that way. I am not taking anyone's word for it, and I would have the full context of the interaction recorded. Video and audio. No creative editing.
Funny how quickly you forget the tear gassing and rubber bullet to the face attacks on peaceful BLM protests and cops directly targeting journalists like they do in third world dictatorships. But hey, at least you're giving the Proud Boys the benefit of the doubt, even when they openly admit they're looking to assault innocent people.
I don't give anyone the benefit of the doubt. They can all jump in the same landfill and light themselves on fire for all I care. I'll not put up with anyone's shit no matter how supar cereal righteous they feel they are. There is one line for everyone , and if you you cross it, fuck you.
Wow, "supar cereal" is totally something the Proud Boys would say! You're the next Rich Hall! No, but seriously, what happens when you bitch about right-wing violence without making it sound like a left-winger stereotype off of South Park to antidote it? Does your throat burn like Dracula drinking holy water?
I'm all for it. But, at the end of the day, you still can not force an adult to take medicine without a court order. Then that court order is meaningless unless there is the actual threat of force behind it. What's going to happen when a nut tells his case worker to get bent? What's going to happen when a nut tells his case worker to get bent repeatedly? What's going to happen when the nut strikes their case worker because they tried to restrain the patient? What's going to happen when a Judge orders someone to be involuntarily restrained, against their will, to have medicine administered that they don't want? The optics are horrible and we all know that optics are reality. I deal with it every day and I'm so very glad my court doesn't have jurisdiction over those matters. I'm going to tell you a story that's probably going to make a lot of you think less of me. At this point, I don't really care. We have a family here locally. They actually live across the street from a good friend of mine. It's a 70 year old, stooped-over, father with a perpetual scowl and hate for all of humanity. Basically, @Uncle Albert crossed with Clint Eastwood from that movie. You know the one. But, I digress. It's the father, his 50 year old wife, and their two sons. The boys are 25 and 22 years old. The 25 year old is a mentally unstable severe alcoholic with severe anger management issues. The 22 year old is a doped-up meth-head. The 25 year old will get good and liquored up and beat the hell out of his mom or dad. He's not brave, or stupid, enough to take a swing at his 22 year old meth-head brother. Well, about three months ago, the 25 year old gets into with his mom after he's had enough booze to kill a horse. His mom gets out her cell-phone to call 911 and the son pushes her down, takes the phone (which has already dialed 911), and he breaks the phone in half. So, now we have two charges. Harassment (Physical) (DV) and Interfering with a Domestic Violence Emergency Call (Yes, it's a crime). The police show up, mom is crying and father and 22 year old saw nothing. The police arrest the 25 year old and that's when he lands in my lap. I go out to the jail the next morning to hold my Conditional Release Hearing and my Initial Appearance Hearing/Arraignment Hearing. I introduce myself and he dives over the barrier screaming that he's going to kill me. I kick him away and the Corrections Officers take him the rest of the way to the floor. They hog-tie him with handcuffs, ankle irons, and a belly chain before dragging him back to his holding cell. I tell the Booking Officer to change him from a $1,500 secured bond to a no-bond hold pending court in three days. Three days later, when the CO's go to get him out of his cell for court, they find him naked, covered in human feces, and ready to fight. Well, they ask me if it's okay to stand-down and try again on another day. I give them permission and all is well. Oh, and I forgot to say that dear old dad has been coming by my office, literally every day. He insists that his wife is lying through her teeth and that his son has never done anything wrong. Oh, I haven't mentioned that this is the fifth time the Police have been called out to this house in the previous three months. The 25 year old nut has over 12 DISMISSED Domestic Violence cases against his parents. They can't control him so they'll get him arrested, hope he'll calm down, and then refuse to testify. That's their right, but then the Prosecutor doesn't have a victim and he nol pros' the case. Then I'll dismiss the case for want of prosecution. Well, I've had enough. The Police, Jail, and Courts aren't baby-sitters for an out of control young man. I decided to hold him. I decided that enough was enough and that I'd do everything within my power to get this guy some help. I get State Mental Health involved. I get the Probate Court and Probate Judge involved. I get Family Services involved. I even get a privately owned in-patient mental health hospital to hold a bed. I get everything setup. The Probate Court is going to have a hearing with the goal of getting this man involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution for 30 days to get sober and regulated. Then he'll do a year at an inpatient group home for maintenance. That's it. Then the dad is asked to write a deposition stating the problem so the Court can address it. The Probate Judge e-mails me a copy of the deposition. The dad writes that this is all a joke, his son is NOT insane or in poor mental health. That nothing is wrong and his wife, the boys mother, is simply lying through her teeth. Well, I'm out of time. I have to let the guy out of jail. I can't, legally, hold him any longer and the Probate Court's ruling was obvious to anyone with a brain cell. So, after coming to my office literally every business day, I finally sit down with the dad. I'm not holding any trump cards. I don't even have a pair of one's at this point. He tells me that he's gotten an apartment for he and his sons away from his lying, good for nothing wife. That he'll be in good hands. I write the order and the guy is released from jail. But, I tell the dad that we're done. I will not try to help him ever again. Well, this past Thursday, guess who shows up at my office. The dad. I'm watching the scene from the security monitor in my office and I hear him ask my clerk if I'll consider having his son put in protective custody. Apparently dad was beaten up the night before because he can't control his son. I get up, walk out of my office and across my clerk's office, I open the security door, and I step into the lobby with the dad. I point to the exit door and say, "Get out of my office." I stand there, pointing, until the door latches behind him. First of all, there's no such thing as "protective custody" in the State of Alabama. I tried to get him help and you, dad, sabotaged it. Now you'll reap the whirlwind. So, fast forward to this Sunday. I'm taking a long weekend getaway with the family. I'm sitting on the beautiful white sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and my phone rings. It's the Lieutenant on duty with the PD. They've just arrested the 25 year old for Harassment (Physical) (DV) for pushing his mom down causing her to bang her head on the door frame. I thank them for the head's up and go back to building a sandcastle with my son. Today, I go out to hold my Conditional Release Hearing and my Initial Appearance Hearing/Arraignment Hearing. I introduce myself and he dives over the barrier screaming that he's going to kill me... Edit: The dad came by this afternoon while I was in court asking if I'd let the 25 year old out...
With these kinds of things, I'm gonna be honest: I don't know how much is mental illness and how much is bad behavior that's been enabled from the time a kid's old enough to sass back. I'd say this is an extreme case that you did what you could but there's only so much one can do with shitty ass parents getting in the way.
I was going to have him brought to court this afternoon. But, when the CO's went to prep him for transport he was naked and he fought like a wild man after giving them a note for me. Yes, jailhouse letters are still a thing. On the front of the envelope was my name, written in pencil. "To: Honorable Elwood Blues" On the inside was a folded piece of paper with a two word note. It said, "Fuck You"
There are times when the two are indistinguishable from one another. I know people who are legitimately mentally ill and think that COVID is nothing to worry about. They make the exact same arguments that any number of religious folks would do (whom nobody would consider to be mentally ill), yet I can point to some very devout Christians here who would say that anyone who doesn't get the vaccine is a fool. Now, I'm more than willing to butt heads with religious folks on any kind of subject, but those who say people need to get vaccinated against COVID, I'm not going to argue with, regardless of if they say it's because of science or religion. I'm not going to say that everyone who is religious is mentally ill, but I am going to say that there are times when the two are indistinguishable from one another, without meaning that as a slight against religious folks that I know.
There's a huge overlap in religious background and vulnerability to conspiracy theory, including Qanon, according to a recent sociology paper. It's of course because of faith being valued over reason. They are taught that they must doubt critical thinking. In Christianity at least, the original sin that Jesus died to 'redeem' was the failure of blind obedience to authority.
Goddam, Elwood, you make me glad I just had an office job. Even if there WERE crazy people there, at least it never came to the level of assault (well, not physical). My nephew's youngest son, when he was about 14, full-on attacked his father and tried to strangle him. "Troubled" is an understatement, and we wonder how much his mom being a meth-head during pregnancy had to do with it. My nephew's a really good guy in a bad situation. So when his kid attacked him, he didn't lay a hand on the kid so nobody could claim he was the aggressor. Social Services told the kid it was get sent to a home or relatives, his choice, and he chose his mother's parents (who raised his meth-head mom, btw). Anyway it's years later now, my nephew and the kid have made up and he says the kid is doing "really good." They posted a July 4th pic when everyone was shooting targets in the back yard. The kid is standing there with his baby momma and an AR (see pic in the green room photo thread). That gives me all kinds of worries.
This is all UA really does anymore, so if I do it for him in all the threads, he'll have nothing to say.
I never lived in Alabama, but as a citizen of the United States, I say "thank you" for trying. Hopefully you'll be able to walk the tightrope without burning out and .... well ... or just getting so cynical and jaded that you just say "fuck 'em all" when they darken your door.
There's no danger of that. Remember, this isn't my first rodeo. Besides, his outbursts give me time to figure out what to do. Contempt of Court is a thing. Diving over the dais is five days. Telling the Judge "Fuck you" is another five days.
