The outcome of the Kate Steinle murder case is stunning. (It’s also how you get angry mobs.)
My first approximation is that the verdict was, in no small part, a raised middle finger to Trump and his supporters. Symbolic gesture against “the man” and all that…for having the utter audacity to enforce immigration law a little better than his predecessors.
I seem to recall that Congress pinky-swore to address our southern border situation if Reagan signed the ’86 amnesty bill. Reagan was a damned fool to do so and y’all know my general feelings about Congress. Three-plus decades worth of Congressional Republicans and Democrats share some culpability in Steinle’s murder AFAIC.
In the Kate Steinle murder case, I thought from the beginning that the prosecutors made a mistake with the murder charges -- a manslaughter charge seemed more appropriate.
It’s stunning too that the jury convicted on the felon-illegal possession of a firearm charge. If this was all an accident, and Zarate found the gun moments before accidentally firing it, how does that equate to “possession”?
It’s absurd. I can buy that the killing in the moment was unintentional, but Zarate never should have been at the pier in the first place and his actions caused the death of Steinle. It makes me wonder about intentional prosecutorial mishandling, this being San Francisco and all.
Kate Steinle was a Medtronic employee. You know about our relationship to that company, but a neighbor of ours also worked at Medtronic. After the shooting in 2015, he was approached by another employee collecting funds for some liberal cause -- I forget which one. Instead of donating for that effort, he made the comment that they should be collecting funds to either help out with Steinle’s funeral expenses or to help build a wall on the border to keep out illegals like Zarate. You can guess what happened next: reported to HR for offensive and racist comments.
By most accounts, us living in California are going to be hosed if this tax bill goes through -- well, as much as it it is going to suck for us personally, we deserve it. I don’t even recognize the state I grew up in anymore.
Happy Friday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
In re possession of a firearm. If he picked up the weapon, he had possession of it, in the legal sense. Let’s say it was wrapped in a jacket, under a bench, he picked up the bundle, saw what it was, put it down, and immediately called the police. No DA would charge him, even though it was a technical violation. What I’d really like to see happen is the Feds step in and charge him under federal law (doesn’t count as double-jeopardy). Under the Armed Career Criminal statute he could get 15 to life. Of course given the current state of the DOJ, that’s not gonna happen.
I recall reading about a case where an ex-convict worked as a bus driver in a city. A robber with a gun came on board and demanded his money. He gave him everything but the man started beating him causing lose of control and putting all passengers at risk. The driver grappled with the robber and they went to the floor where the driver got the gun away from him. The robber attacked him to get the gun back and the driver shot him dead. The shooting was clear self defense and ruled such, but when the driver got the gun away from the robber he was a felon in possession of a gun and therefore committing a felony in which a man died, so they were going to charge the hero with felony murder. Luckily it got publicity and died in the light, but using a gun to save lives is a worse crime than killing innocent people in liberal values.
This case seems to show that as well. Walk for the killing but lockup for holding the gun?
I remember too that after the LA shootout the officials wanted to prosecute the gun store for giving the police guns without the waiting period (as people were being shoot down) and penalize the officers who asked for help without getting permission from upstairs first.
I recall that idiocy re the NoHo Bank of America robbery and the gun shop as well. I can only imagine what would have happened to the store if they hadn’t helped the cops.
I lived slightly less than a mile from that branch; my first inkling that something odd was going on was the sound of a preposterous number of choppers.
The only time I was ever actually in that branch was about two weeks after the robbery. A friend was driving me to pick-up my car from the shop and that was the most convenient branch for me to get cash (as the mechanic owned the shop and provided a non-trivial discount for cash from, ah, certain trusted liberty-loving customers).
As I completed my transaction and thanked the very young teller, said friend put on his most innocent face and asked her, “So…who do you think is going to play you in the TV movie?”
I managed to keep it together until we got out the door. Barely 👿
Friday greetin’s, Wheelizens!
The outcome of the Kate Steinle murder case is stunning. (It’s also how you get angry mobs.)
My first approximation is that the verdict was, in no small part, a raised middle finger to Trump and his supporters. Symbolic gesture against “the man” and all that…for having the utter audacity to enforce immigration law a little better than his predecessors.
I seem to recall that Congress pinky-swore to address our southern border situation if Reagan signed the ’86 amnesty bill. Reagan was a damned fool to do so and y’all know my general feelings about Congress. Three-plus decades worth of Congressional Republicans and Democrats share some culpability in Steinle’s murder AFAIC.
#BTFSTTG
Good morning,
In the Kate Steinle murder case, I thought from the beginning that the prosecutors made a mistake with the murder charges -- a manslaughter charge seemed more appropriate.
It’s stunning too that the jury convicted on the felon-illegal possession of a firearm charge. If this was all an accident, and Zarate found the gun moments before accidentally firing it, how does that equate to “possession”?
It’s absurd. I can buy that the killing in the moment was unintentional, but Zarate never should have been at the pier in the first place and his actions caused the death of Steinle. It makes me wonder about intentional prosecutorial mishandling, this being San Francisco and all.
Kate Steinle was a Medtronic employee. You know about our relationship to that company, but a neighbor of ours also worked at Medtronic. After the shooting in 2015, he was approached by another employee collecting funds for some liberal cause -- I forget which one. Instead of donating for that effort, he made the comment that they should be collecting funds to either help out with Steinle’s funeral expenses or to help build a wall on the border to keep out illegals like Zarate. You can guess what happened next: reported to HR for offensive and racist comments.
By most accounts, us living in California are going to be hosed if this tax bill goes through -- well, as much as it it is going to suck for us personally, we deserve it. I don’t even recognize the state I grew up in anymore.
Happy Friday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
In re possession of a firearm. If he picked up the weapon, he had possession of it, in the legal sense. Let’s say it was wrapped in a jacket, under a bench, he picked up the bundle, saw what it was, put it down, and immediately called the police. No DA would charge him, even though it was a technical violation. What I’d really like to see happen is the Feds step in and charge him under federal law (doesn’t count as double-jeopardy). Under the Armed Career Criminal statute he could get 15 to life. Of course given the current state of the DOJ, that’s not gonna happen.
I recall reading about a case where an ex-convict worked as a bus driver in a city. A robber with a gun came on board and demanded his money. He gave him everything but the man started beating him causing lose of control and putting all passengers at risk. The driver grappled with the robber and they went to the floor where the driver got the gun away from him. The robber attacked him to get the gun back and the driver shot him dead. The shooting was clear self defense and ruled such, but when the driver got the gun away from the robber he was a felon in possession of a gun and therefore committing a felony in which a man died, so they were going to charge the hero with felony murder. Luckily it got publicity and died in the light, but using a gun to save lives is a worse crime than killing innocent people in liberal values.
This case seems to show that as well. Walk for the killing but lockup for holding the gun?
I remember too that after the LA shootout the officials wanted to prosecute the gun store for giving the police guns without the waiting period (as people were being shoot down) and penalize the officers who asked for help without getting permission from upstairs first.
These things give a whole new meaning to “gun crimes” to me.
Oh crap! Who woke up Mac?
¡Hola Sven, Paddy y Mac!
Uh oh…Mac is “woke”?
I recall that idiocy re the NoHo Bank of America robbery and the gun shop as well. I can only imagine what would have happened to the store if they hadn’t helped the cops.
I lived slightly less than a mile from that branch; my first inkling that something odd was going on was the sound of a preposterous number of choppers.
The only time I was ever actually in that branch was about two weeks after the robbery. A friend was driving me to pick-up my car from the shop and that was the most convenient branch for me to get cash (as the mechanic owned the shop and provided a non-trivial discount for cash from, ah, certain trusted liberty-loving customers).
As I completed my transaction and thanked the very young teller, said friend put on his most innocent face and asked her, “So…who do you think is going to play you in the TV movie?”
I managed to keep it together until we got out the door. Barely 👿
I don’t know why I find this funny: 227 pounds of contraband bologna seized at TX border crossing:
http://cbsaustin.com/news/local/more-than-200-pounds-of-unclaimed-bologna-seized-at-border-crossing
“Excuse me, ma’am, is that a bologna in your trunk?”
“We haz bologna in our trunks!”