New Orleans looting downplayed by media?

Rambix has heard anecdotal tales of New Orleans residents who were able to flee the hurricane to other states being contacted by their home security companies, who advised their homes were being broken into and looted, but there was nothing they could do about it. This story may have some merit. For some unknown reason, there seems to have been a grace period of some sort for the looters. Apparently criminal statutes are void in the event of a disaster.

Rambix understands the need for the authorities to save lives first and foremost, but can't the authorities do both at the same time? The looters should have been hauled off to an ad hoc detention facility until order was restored, and then things could be sorted out in proper fashion.

Here's a Breitbart.com news story that kind of sums up the situation: "Officials Helpless Against Looters". How good is this for the city:

New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are gangs of armed men moving around the city. At one point, officers stranded on the roof of a hotel were fired at by criminals on the street.

This is what's known as chaos. Alright, let's say you're the forgiving sort and believe the motive of the looters is simple survival. The city still cannot afford to have a breakdown of law. While Rambix suspects that most of the looters are simply criminals and opportunists, the few that might be doing it for survivial need to stopped all the same, and directed to normal channels like everyone else.

On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting was in full view of police and National Guardsmen.

It's inexplicable how any law enforcement personnel could watch crimes occur right in front of them and not act.

As usual, Malkin is right on top of this angle here.

This is stunning: "Looting on Tchoupitoulas Street"

At about 2 p.m., the officers rushed back to disrupt a second break-in at the sporting goods store. An officer in a squad car tried to chase a Bell South utility truck that fled the scene, but he lost the truck amid fallen trees. Upon surveying the thefts, the officer said the most conspicuous missing items were all the weapons from the store's knife case.Before boarding up again, the officers took some essential supplies for themselves: socks, T-shirts and Power Bars. As officers were pounding the last nails the commander yelled: "Let's roll it, someone's driving around in a mail truck."

Maybe that explains Rambix' comment a few paragraphs up.

Katrina headlines you won't see

"France sending ships and sailors to assist desperate Katrina survivors"

"Spain sending 300 tonnes of relief supplies to help battered Americans"

"Germany will provide cash assistance and emergency relief crews for New Orleans residents"

"Indonesia armada on they way to southern US as thanks for American typhoon aid"

Meanwhile, the story within the story is the widespread looting taking place in the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. From Breitbart.com via Drudge:

"The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked," Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson said. "We're using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue while we still have people on rooftops."

As Sen. Mary Landrieu flew over the area by helicopter, a group of people smashed a window at a convenience store and jumped in.

At a drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers. One looter shot and wounded a fellow looter, who was taken to a hospital and survived.

Good news from Iraq

The Red Star publishes a news story today from AP, titled "Sunnis face tough political dilemma". The report is that the Sunnis are now facing a decision to participate in the fledgling democracy, or remain outside of the political process, leaving them further marginalized.

The Jan. 30 boycott was widely perceived by Sunnis as a disaster, handing control of the 275-member National Assembly to Shiites and Kurds. The Shiite-Kurd alliance then pushed through the legal foundation for purging thousands of Sunni Arabs from government jobs because of membership in Saddam's Baath Party.

Instead, Sunnis are being exhorted to register and vote to reject the constitution in the referendum. The very Sunni clerics who railed last January against an election "under foreign military occupation" are now urging their people to flock to the polls.

This should be front page news. The Sunnis are discovering that the only effective option for them to make their voices heard is to participate in the democratic process. Huzzah!

Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar, the highest-ranking Sunni in the transitional government, said Monday that Sunnis are unlikely to defeat the constitution. Instead, he said that Sunnis should look ahead to parliamentary elections in December and concentrate on winning enough seats to change the way the constitution is implemented.

That's exactly what they should do. If they're successful in implementing changes through the democratic process, then that's as it should be. They won't make changes by embracing terrorists, or through bombs, or protests. They'll make changes, if it's the people's will, through participatory democracy. And good luck to them.

Red Star editors - muddled and befuddled

The Red Star editorial board's foggy socialism is on display today in an editorial titled "Design strategy/Fight costs, fat and crime". It appears there is a connection between the layout of the streets, fat people and crime. The solution? Walkable streets.

Here are some numbers to worry about: 2.60, 7 and 7.63. Two-sixty was the average per- gallon price for gasoline in the Twin Cities last week. Seven is Minnesota's rank among states in which people are growing fatter fastest. Seven-point-six-three is the percentage increase in serious crime so far this year over last in Minneapolis, reflecting the general uptick in many metro communities. These numbers may not seem related, but they are. Indeed, coping with all three can be accomplished by a single strategy: designing healthful, walkable neighborhoods.

How is it possible that ostensibly educated people can be so divorced from reality? Have they ever seen evidence of success of their socialist utopia vision? These folks are living in a different world than us.

Here is their take on reducing crime:

Now crime. After years of dramatic decline, it's rising again -- for a number of reasons we won't get into here. We'll simply note that crime requires motive and opportunity. Of those, opportunity is the easiest to impede. Street crimes go way down when law-abiding people greatly outnumber criminals in public places [ed. - source?]. Lively sidewalks and robust mixed-use neighborhoods put eyes on the street and deter criminal activity.

So crime doesn't happen in crowded areas? Criminals are scared of normal people out on the streets? Rambix would call that scenario a crime smorgasboard.

The Red Star editors live in a bubble. They socialize with other socialists, they don't really know people with diverse political ideologies, and they view the world within a narrow construct of liberalism. Only that can explain today's editorial.

Strap on the Kevlar and visit scenic Minneapolis!

"I've said it before and I'll say it again until things change, 'It has become a dangerous city with a killing trend,' " Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein said.

It's been admittedly difficult to keep up with the constant flow of news releases on the (escalating) Minneapolis crime wave. This is what happens when someone puts liberals in control - there is no control. When you spend all your time at diversity training, celebrating diversity, and reading Karl Marx, it's difficult to give your attention to running a city, assuming you know how in the first place.

On course to become the "Fallujah of the Tundra", there were more shootings last night, as reported by the Red Star: "3 more shootings add to anger over crime".

City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Dan Niziolek, an outspoken critic of the current Police Department leadership, said after the incident, "Why is the outcry not there? ... The silence is deafening in regards to crime in Minneapolis."

Uhhh, have you read Rambix and the Red Star?

Council Member Barbara Johnson represents the city's Fourth Ward, where these shootings occurred. She said the police are doing the best they can. She faults the judiciary, not the lack of opportunities or jobs.

"We have far too many people in our midst who have multiple -- triple-digit -- contacts with our Police Department who are out walking around," she said. "Normal people cannot live with these people out walking the streets."

Bingo! There may be hope at the OK Corral.

The Minneapolis crime spiral

Now all you have to do to be a victim in Minneapolis is mow your lawn. Interestingly, the Red Star had a large story, above the fold, in the Metro section titled "Two nightmares on an ordinary summer night; Minneapolis police describe brazen kidnappings", but the story has not yet appeared (as far as we can tell), on the web site. Because of this, there is no link to the story. The story appears in the paper on Friday, 8/26/05.

There is, however, information obtained from Minneapolis Police Captain Rich Stanek that is important, and confirms the crime spike theory that Rambix has been documenting. Rambix reproduces the paragraph as follows (Capt. Stanek refers to two recent and unrelated kidnappings):

The crimes, which Stanek called bold and brazen, are a continuing pattern of violent crime in the city by people who have no fear of the criminal justice system or police officers, authorities say. There have been several incidents in the past month in which officers have had guns pointed and shots fired at them, Stanek said.

Have you heard about this somewhere before?

Red Star shorting on good reporting; Rambix digs

Evidence that Red Star Suppresses Suspect Info - Public at Risk?

Here We Go Again - You Didn't Read This In The Red Star Today

Uptown Crime Wave Continues - Rape This Time

Update: Spike in violent crime in Minneapolis?

Spike in violent crime in Minneapolis?

Its the Red Star's world, we just live in it

Attention, Red Star: What happened to the Uptown thugs?

The Uptown crime wave and the PC trifecta

Uptown violence explodes, Strib gives clues

Be on the lookout for "three young men"

Exploding crime

A letter-to-the-editor today in the Red Star is titled "Exploding crime". Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows that we have been documenting the violence in Minneapolis all spring and summer. Vusumuzi Zulu is living it in north Minneapolis:

As a longtime North Side Minneapolis resident, I am dismayed and disappointed by the level of violent crime that my neighborhood is facing, despite the recent pronouncements from City Hall that it is making a concerted effort to address the issue.

Just a short four years ago, we had attained the lowest crime rates in decades, but violence has returned to our neighborhoods with a vengeance. I believe that crime increases wherever opportunity exists, and a lack of adequate police enforcement has left our residents vulnerable to the opportunists. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Near North and Jordan neighborhoods, where open drug dealing flourishes and shootings are far too common.

Citizens cannot adequately police our streets; we need enough well-trained police to keep all of us safe. As taxpaying citizens we deserve and demand nothing less.
All residents deserve respect from our police force, and civil rights must be paramount. But "respect" should not be a "whitewash" over what is in reality benign neglect. I am saddened that Mayor R.T. Rybak has allowed our city to fall this far during his tenure by making cuts to police and community policing programming that had allowed officers and community residents to build mutual trust and respect.

Vusumuzi Zulu, Minneapolis.

American Legion stands tall for America

In a sharp rebuke to antiwar protestors, the American Legion comes out swinging. Here's the national commander, Thomas Cadmus:

"The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples," Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group's national convention in Honolulu.

This is a group of people who won't forget what we're up against:

The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to "ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism."

In his speech, Cadmus declared: "It would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans fought so valiantly to protect would be used against their successors today as they battle terrorists bent on our destruction.”

Many of the men in the Legion are heros, and we thank God for them.

Cadmus advised: "Let's not repeat the mistakes of our past. I urge all Americans to rally around our armed forces and remember our fellow Americans who were viciously murdered on Sept. 11, 2001."

More on the homosexual pedophile killer

Rambix has written fairly extensively on the this case, including on the judge who let Mr. Duncan go on low bail. Shot In The Dark notes new developments.

This is one criminal who may have the ability to change an anti-death penalty person's mind. (Rambix opposes the death penalty in lieu of life at hard labor, but this case causes further reflection).

Coming to a community near you

More south Minneapolis fun:

SEX OFFENDER INFORMATION FACT SHEET
RISK LEVEL 3 NOTIFICATIONMinneapolis Police Department


THE RELEASED OFFENDER: Brian William Meger Dob 07/20/75
DESCRIPTION OF OFFENDER: White Male, 5’7”, 160 Lbs, Medium Build, Fair Complexion, Short To Medium Length Hair, Blue Eyes, With A Light Mustache.
DESCRIPTION OF OFFENSE: This offenders victim pool have been females aged 9 to 14. These offenses include fondling a victim over their clothing to forcing victim’s to also fondle him while he was touching them. Some contact involved penetration. The offender was acquainted with both victim’s. Mr Meger had a previous conviction in 1994 for commiting Terroristic Threats. His parole history lists several revocations. Subject owns a 1992 Red Ford Tempo Mn ERF 641 and 1990 Blue Ford Truck Mn 176 PSR
CONDITIONS OF RELEASE: NONE
SUPERVISION EXPIRED ON 03/16/05IS SUBJECT TO REGISTRATION UNTIL 11/24/2024

More violent crime in south Minneapolis

I barely finished posting this, when I received notice of this from the Minneapolis PD:

In the last week there were two reported robberies in Sector 3.

Robbery #1 Occurred on the 4800 block of Wentworth Ave. S. at 11:45pm on Aug. 21. Suspects asked victim for the time then demanded the victims wallet and cash. These suspects brandished a gun to the victim. Suspects are described as two black males, ages 16-20, 5'9" to 6' tall, light build, both wearing baseball caps.

Robbery #2 Occurred on the 5600 block of Harriet Ave. S. at 7:45 pm on Aug. 22. Suspects approached the victim while she was walking up to her front door, demanded cash and brandished a gun. Victim drove the two suspects to a nearby ATM and gave cash to them. Suspects left two bikes in the alley. Suspect description is two black males, one was 20- 22 years of age, 5'11", and medium build. The other was 18 - 19 years of age, 5'7", and medium build.

This area, for those who aren't local, is a busy, well-traveled area of south Minneapolis. It's home to families and children, and a lot of good people (yes, even the liberals). An armed robbery at 7:45 pm in this type of an area is extremely troubling, and indicative of a loss of control. Rambix has a theory on why some of this is happening, but it's very un-PC. Maybe someday (Hint: It has some government involvement).

Mayor Ryback - get control of your city!

The reason Powerline is Powerline - Essay on War and Peace

Rambix got chills to the spine when reading this post by John Hinderocker of Powerline. Please read it and pass it along to your friends.

Ms. Sheehan exposed as radical leftist

May God rest the soul of her son, but every day more of the dark anti-American agenda of Cindy Sheehan is exposed. Now the terrorists in Iraq are "Freedom Fighters":

"You know Iraq was no threat to the United States of America until we invaded ... But now that we have decimated the country ... freedom fighters from other countries are going in, and they [American troops] have created more terrorism by going to an Islamic country ... "

Ms. Sheehan is obviously an icon of the left, and while they deny biased reporting, this quote is not to be found in the MSM:

A WorldNetDaily search of CBS News, Google News, and Lexis-Nexis archives found not a single news report mentioning Sheehan's "freedom fighters" remark.

So her son was killed by a Freedom Fighter?

Crime spree continues in Minneapolis

For those of you who are out of state, southwest Minneapolis has generally been fairly insulated from crime, particularly violent crime. This seems to be changing, as Rambix has documented extensively in previous posts. Here's the latest, from the Minneapolis Police Department:

CRIME ALERT

In the past week (Aug 16-22, 2005) we had 5 Robbery of Persons in Sector 2.

8/19 at 2:35 am – 35xx block of Pillsbury; black male suspect, 20-25 years old, 6’0”, medium build; used a handgun to demand money from victim.

8/20 at 5:54 am – 33xx Hennepin Av S; black male suspect, 20-30 years old, 5’10”, medium build; chased victim across the street and pushed her into a wall, acted as though he had a gun and suspect grabbed victims purse and fled.

8/20 at 4:47 am – 14xx w 32nd Street; black male suspect, 20-30 years old, 5’10”, medium build; suspect gestured that he had a gun and demanded money from victim, victim said he didn’t have anything and got into his car, victim drove around, victim then saw the same suspect rob the party from #2 above.

8/20 at 1100 am – 37xx Garfield Av S; black male suspect, 20-25 years old, 5’11” – 6’0”; suspect approached the victim from behind and put a gun to her head, victim dropped her belongings and suspect grabbed them from the sidewalk and fled.

8/21 at 9:15 pm – Lake & Pillsbury; 5 black male suspects, 18-25 years old; 5 suspects approach victim and strike him in the face, victim falls down and the suspects take his wallet and CD player.

You won't see this in the Red Star, and in the unlikely event you do, you won't see suspect descriptions. Minneapolis residents beware, and keep this in mind as you go to the polling booth for mayoral race

Sign of the times?

World Net Daily reports that 13% of the female students at Timken High School in Ohio are pregnant. That's roughly 1 in 7. Here's principal Kim redmond:

"This has gotten to horrible proportions," said Redmond. "I wish I knew the answer to why it's happening."

Well, Rambix has a rough idea how it's happening. What we really need to know is why it's happening.

According to the Canton Health Department, through July, 104 of 586 babies born to Canton residents in the county's two largest hospitals had mothers between 11 and 19, the local paper reported.

Wrote columnist Rick Senften:

"McKinley High's numbers aren't rosy, either, and its culture is just as ripe for trouble. I recall a day there last spring, while waiting for an English class to let out, that a roomful of kids lauded a boy, no more than 16 or 17, for having become a 'dad' the night before. A paper on the kid's desk suggested he might struggle to spell that word."

That explains part of it. And what are they doing about it?

The principal says her school will initiate a three-pronged program addressing pregnancy, prevention and parenting this year.

That's a good start, but where are the parents of the child of the children?

Out of curiosity, Rambix looked into the census data for Canton, OH, where the school is located. Only 3 out of 4 in Canton have graduated high school, slightly more than half own their own homes, and the area is somewhat racially mixed, with approximately 75% whites and 21% blacks. More details are here.

This and that

So much news, so little time.

Guest blogger Bryan Preston on Michelle Malkin's site notices the tucked-away story on the decision by the Anti-american buffoons in San Francisco to deny making Fisherman's Wharf home to the USS Iowa. Rambix blogged on it here, but Mr. Preston takes it one step further by including the email address for the Board of Supervisors, and the the individual board member's email addresses. Have fun with that.

Minnesota has joined the National Sex Offender Registery, according to the Red Star. Great news, that. And maybe we missed it, but nowhere in the Red Star story do they give the website info. How could their crack reporters let that one slip by?

The Red Star has been weathering "attacks" by the right-wing bloggers on the Air Ameriscam news (For example, when are you going to report on this story, Red Star?). Their response? Counterattack! Here's their biased story: "Twin Cities turning deaf ear to political talk radio shows ". Their nonsense is successfully fisked by Shot in the Dark here, with another take by Anti-Strib here.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The shame of San Francisco

San Francisco, of course, for decades has been a haven to leftists, Marxists, socialists, counter-culturists, and so on. We know and understand that. Despite this, there was an underlying assumption that these groups merely represented relatively small segments of a larger, normal society (the left really hates the word "normal", so we'll be sure to use it here).

Now it's not so certain.

The Red Star reports, via the AP, that the San Francisco city supervisors have voted to decline making Fisherman's Wharf home to the storied USS Iowa battleship, retired. The reason?

But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things.

Can one convey in strong enough terms the vileness of this decision? Even Diane Feinstein D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, understands the idiocy of these people:

Feinstein called it a "very petty decision."

"This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and was born in," Feinstein said.

The ship is instead headed to Stockton, Calif.

San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face, said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce.

"We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives ... to protect our freedom," Wilhoit said. "Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq ... you shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."

It's difficult to believe that even the majority of San Franciscans agree with this decision. There are still people with common sense and decency in that area, but the Marxist, agenda-driven rats that make up the political fiefdoms in the city don't care what the majority think. These "representatives" are not only foolish, they are dangerous.

And we're sure it's only a matter of time before they change "Fisherman's Wharf" to "Fisherperson's Wharf".

Peebles peoples

More Minneapolis school superintendent Thandiwe Peebles drama here in today's Strib. "Black leaders" are calling for the head of School Board member Colleen Moriarty because...

Moriarty has broken the trust with the black community by criticizing Peebles before an inquiry is completed into allegations that the superintendent assigned employees to do her personal work, among other claims, said Francine Chakolis, president of the Minnesota Alliance of Black School Educators and a city resident. "The superintendent needs to have due process," Chakolis said.

It seems like a lot of people are jumping to conclusions. The Rev. Ian Bethel plays the race card, which means there is no substance to his position:

The Rev. Ian Bethel, pastor of New Beginnings Tabernacle, said that Peebles was helping to close the learning gap between white and minority students, and that the allegations and newspaper coverage amounted to a "bright daylight lynching."

The alleged crime?

School board members ordered an investigation after receiving two anonymous letters that said Peebles misused her office by assigning school employees to do personal chores for her. Copies of the letters were sent to state officials and the Star Tribune.

Glory be. Maybe the reverend Bethel isn't too far off after all. The board picked Ms. Peebles, and now they're throwing her under the bus. Isn't it amusing when liberals turn on their own? The black "community" supports her without knowing what the investigation will reveal, and the (white) School Board has hung her out to dry without knowing what the investigation will reveal.

Fools, all.

Perspective

The coordinated, nationwide anti-war protests on 8/17/05 were widely reported from various news organizations, such as the Red Star, here. The Minneapolis protest occurred on the Lake Street/Marshall bridge over the Mississippi river. The Red Star reports a turnout of 1200, according to the organizers.

The protests and turnouts, organized by radical left-wing organizations such as MoveOne.org, were widely hailed and celebrated in the liberal press.

Let's put this into perspective to determine how meaningful this was.

As mentioned above, an alleged 1200 peaceniks turned out for the Minneapolis protest. This represents .0002352 of the population of Minnesota, and .003209 of the population of Minneapolis.

CNN reports that there were approximately 200 protestors in Cincinnati, OH on 8/17/05. This represents .0006366 of the population of that city.

How's that for perspective? The leftists are statistically meaningless. Consider this instead, from Protest Warriors:

Fair is fair

Rambix and the Red Star exists essentially for the sole purpose of exposing the Red Star for it's propaganda, attempted mind-control, and unabashed liberalism. That said, we will acknowledge the rare occasion when they do something right. Today was such a day.

Right alongside yet another tiresome Cindy Sheehan article, on the bottom of the front page, is a story titled "A mother objects to Sheehan's protest" by reporter Eric Black. To wit:

Cindy Sheehan's protest vigil outside the Bush ranch is "a slap in the face" to the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, in the opinion of Marny Fasnacht, whose son Michael died in Iraq.

Like Sheehan's son, Ms. Fasnacht's son gave his life for the cause of freedom:

Michael Fasnacht, 25, of Mankato, believed the mission was about defending freedom, spreading democracy and defeating terrorism, said Marny Fasnacht, 58, of Janesville.

To suggest that he chose to risk his life for a cause that was neither noble nor necessary feels to Fasnacht like an insult to his intelligence.

Unlike Ms. Sheehan, Ms. Fasnacht seems to have some common sense:

It upsets her that "some Americans take their freedom for granted and enjoy it but don't think about the people that are standing in the gap, defending their freedom," she said.

Kudos to the Red Star for providing a story from another persepective to provide much-needed balance. If you did this all the time, you would likely increase your readership exponentially, as well as become an intellectual resource.

Powerline dissects the dysfunction of Minneapolis

Scott Johnson of Powerline writes an article on dysfunctional Minneapolis here that ties in quite nicely with Rambix' recent post here.

The City of Minneapolis is sorely in need of overhaul, but in the meantime provides an endless supply of material for bloggers. Please read both posts.

Leftist radical, a grieving mother

Cindy Sheehan is a mother in pain, someone who many feel has gone unhinged to some extent following the death of her soldier son in the Iraq War.

But was it the death of her son that drove her into the radical leftist camp, as represented by Moveon.org, Code Pink, and the like? Drudge reports on Ms. Sheehan's public comments at a rally in San Francisco on April 27, 2005:

"We are not waging a war on terror in this country. We’re waging a war of terror. The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush!"

and,

"They’re a bunch of f**king hypocrites! And we need to, we just need to rise up..." Sheehan said of the Bush administration.

"If George Bush believes his rhetoric and his bulls**t, that this is a war for freedom and democracy, that he is spreading freedom and democracy, does he think every person he kills makes Iraq more free?"

"The whole world is damaged. Our humanity is damaged. If he thinks that it’s so important for Iraq to have a U.S.-imposed sense of freedom and democracy, then he needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go to this war."

"We want our country back and, if we have to impeach everybody from George Bush down to the person who picks up dog s**t in Washington, we will impeach all those people."

Suddenly Ms. Sheehan seems like a less sympathetic person. May God bless her son for his sacrifice.

Contrast Ms. Sheehan with the wife of a fallen soldier from this post.

Another run-down criminal arrested

You won't find the name in the Red Star as of the time of this posting, but Minnesota's premiere newspaper, the Pioneer Press, reports that Tyreese Lavell Baker, 29, was arrested at about 8 p.m. Tuesday in a south Minneapolis home for the murder of Evelyn Geng last Saturday as she was purchasing gas in the middle of the day (Actually the initial holding charge is theft, hopefully soon to be upgraded).

This piece of human garbage has a long criminal history, multiple aliases, and multiple reported dates of birth, according to the Minnesota Criminals web site. Jim on Anti-Strib lays out some additional info in this post. Can't disagree with him. It's time we get serious about these rats who only take from society and contribute nothing.

Minneapolis school follies

Somebody should do a doctoral thesis on the dysfunctional city council, school board, and the mayoral bureaucracy in Minneapolis. The liberals cannot manage things by themselves. They are hell-bent on destroying what is left of a once fine city.

Now they're turning up the heat even further on school superintendent Thandiwe Peebles. Rambix has posted on this saga previously here "Minneapolis schools - will the last one out turn off the lights?" and here "Got Her Mind Right, She Did...". Now the school officials are spending more taxpayer dollars "investigating" Ms. Peebles, as reported here:

Minneapolis school officials Wednesday announced that they have retained an outside attorney to investigate allegations of misconduct made against Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles.

The alleged "misconduct" is not identified.

The close reader will recall that Ms. Peebles was selected by the school board following a nationwide search, to great acclaim and joy. They pushed to the wayside an eminently qualified administrator, David Jennings, because he represented the white male establishment, and he is (or at least used to be) a *gasp* Republican. So they got what they wanted, and now this.

Rambix can't even tell who the good guys and the bad guys are here, but the best working theory is that the lot of them are useless. Why must liberals always learn the hard way?

Red Star suppresses crime info related to premier restaurant closing

Hat Tip: Anti-Strib

When Minneapolis used to be a desireable city in which to live and be entertained, many of the finest restaurants were located downtown. The venerable Murray's Steakhouse, for example, has been there for years, and is hanging in to this day. The most celebrated of all restaurants, however, was Goodfellows. It was nationally ranked with four French stars, or something like that. It's a place at which the rich and powerful would have dinner.

That is, until recently. Goodfellows has closed. According to this Red Star article, the reasons vary:

A movement away from high-end dining was one reason for the restaurant's demise, [co-owner] Kostroski said.

And this:

Changes in the City Center tenant mix -- more office, less retail -- as well as disruptive construction in the building also took its toll on the restaurant, Kostroski said. Goodfellow's is the third restaurant to depart the center in the past few months. TGI Friday's closed after its 10-year lease expired, and Copeland's was one of four outlets to shut down in a corporate downsizing.

Fair enough. Anything else? Let's check the [Minneapolis] Skyway News article:

Goodfellows Managing Partner Wayne Kostroski cited construction and City Center's changing vision, as well as "real and perceived public safety issues" in the immediate Downtown area as reason for the closing.

Whoa. We didn't read that in the Red Star. There's more:

Kostroski also cited Downtown crime. In December, a bullet struck - but did not penetrate - a restaurant window.

"Who would expect that if you're sitting eating dinner in what is advertised as a quality building that there would be any inkling that bullets would be a factor?" Kostroski asked.

A few months later, Downtown police announced stepped-up patrols on a "hot spot" bordered by Hennepin Avenue, Nicollet Mall and 7th and 8th streets - which Goodfellows faces on 7th.

The Skyway News prints what the Red Star won't. You folks who subscribe to and read the Red Star probably aren't aware of the amount of editing they do in the name of political correctness, at the expense of your safety. All you have to do is read the Rambix and the Red Star archives to find documentation of suppression of important information and manipulative editing. Fortunately, you now have Anti-Strib, Powerline, and Rambix and the Red Star, among others, to point out their deception.

One year old terrorist?

Today's St. Paul Pioneer Press has an AP story titled "Babies caught up in 'no-fly' confusion".

Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."

The reporter interviews Ingrid Sanden, whose one year old daughter was stopped at an airport in Phoenix, apparently due to a similar name as that of someone on the no-fly list. The mother gives a common-sense quote that sums up a lot of our travel security problems stemming from political correctness:

"I completely understand the war on terrorism, and I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly," Sanden said. "But focusing the target a little bit is probably a better use of resources."

Ingrid, you've said this better than many others. Ingrid didn't think she and her daughter looked too dangerous:

"It was bizarre," Sanden said. "I was hugely pregnant, and I was like, 'We look really threatening.'"

Not the typical profile of a terrorist. Why are we spending time and resources to stop Ingrid and her one year old daughter, when there are real threats to worry about?

Are liberals angry? An unscientific comparison with conservatives

The Red Star (for non-locals, that's the Minneapolis Star Tribune) has recently hired one full time conservative columnist, Katherine Kersten. She was graciously added by the Red Star (after years of kicking and screaming) to provide a fair and balanced opinion. In fact, she does provide a nice balance to the liberal columnists, which include Nick Coleman, Doug Grow, and Jeremy Iggers (who writes about ethics from a leftist viewpoint).

And then there are the occasional writers like Syl Jones. Ah, Syl Jones. One of our favorites. You can read about Syl on Shot In The Dark here.

Now one might say that three liberal Red Star columnists to one conservative is unfair. If you read Katherine Kersten, you'll understand that she more than offsets the others. She's a class act. She also exemplifies the demeanor and professionalism of many public figures from the right. Sometimes the best way to understand is to look at side-by side comparisons. This is admittedly unscientific, but it's a representative sample from a second-tier, large metro area newspaper.

Here's a sample of writing from our friend Syl Jones in his 8/14/05 column titled "There's a big stink in the air, and it's coming from our 'leaders'":

What's most intriguing about this new brand of vulgar conservativism -- from Vice President Dick Cheney's use of the F word to skanky Ann Coulter's diatribes -- is that it's shamelessly primitive. Lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it turns out, was just the beginning. They also want you to swallow the story that Karl Rove, aka Turd Blossom, didn't violate federal law by leaking Valerie Plame's name to the press.

And what are we to make of excuses now on offer for the self-described prince of darkness, Bob Novak, who not only wrote the original story about the leak but ended up swearing on national television? This is family values spelled with a BS, the sort of hypocritical hooliganism reminiscent of Dick Nixon's gang.

Aren't liberals supposed to be the carefree, multicultural, peace-on-earth types? Mr. Jones is particularly vile and bitter, and it remains unclear where the anger comes from. He displays his sensitivities on a periodic basis for the public in his occasional opinion pieces for the Red Star. His columns are truly a window on the world of angry liberalism.

Let's look at a sample of Nick Coleman's writing from an 8/3/05 column titled "Presidential 'salute' demeans us all":

I haven't written about President George W. Bush all year, and that suits me fine. I get tired of calling presidents liars, and he doesn't care what some blue-state hack thinks.

And how about the least acerbic of the liberal columnists, the longtime populist writer, Doug Grow? Here's a sample from 7/24/00, from a column called "Racial profiling here? Yup, and don't expect apologies":

Stopping black guys clearly is standard operating procedure for Minneapolis cops. No common courtesy -- or common sense -- is necessary.

Hmmm. It looks like he demeaned an entire police department, most, if not all of which are fine cops. Is Doug Grow angry? You bet.

Here's the other side of the spectrum, the glass-half-full Katherine Kersten from an 8/8/05 article titled "Judges, get ready for political arena":

Recently, some state courts have decided they can dictate the meaning of marriage. In Massachusetts, Hawaii and elsewhere, they've done their best to impose gay marriage, with no regard for the people's will.

Judicial independence is a vital aspect of our heritage. But if judges persist in acting like politicians, by usurping the role of our elected representatives, they'll find it hard to convince us not to treat them like politicians.

In this piece, Ms. Kersten puts forth an intellectual argument based on facts and logic. You'll notice no put-downs, no name calling from her. It's reasoned, respectful debate.

Obviously, these are just small examples. From the left, one can look at the obvious anger issues of Howard Dean. Or John Kerry, angry and arrogant. Or Barbara Boxer. Or Nancy Pelosi. Or Chuck Shumer. Or Michael Moore. And the leftist blogs are very angry. There are exceptions on each side, but the general trend is clear: conservatives are much more pleasant to be around, and better for our country.

I don't care - the essay

Do you care? This essay by Doug Patton is sure to evoke strong feelings one way or another.

Hit and run suspect captured

You won't see this in the Red Star as of the time of this posting, but you will see it here. A suspect in the hit and run murder of Evelyn Geng is in custody in the Hennepin County (Minn) jail. See here for the booking information and charge details. Unfortunately, no photos at this time.

The suspect is Simone Kathaleen Stillday, dob 10/4/81. The charge is murder. The motive, you may recall, according to local community activist Ron Edwards, is gas prices and economic desperation.

There are more suspects on the loose, but they've got a law enforcement community second-to-none looking for them. Kudos to the Minneapolis PD for the quick catch.

We'll pause now and wait for the Red Star to catch up.

Red Star reports yet another heinous Minneapolis crime

The Red Star reports today on a vicious crime involving a 62 year old Minneapolis resident. Her life was taken from her on a sunny summer day for $50 and a soda. Joy Powell of the Red Star reports here: "Woman run down chasing robber".

As her son and others young and old watched in horror, a 62-year-old woman was run down Saturday afternoon at a south Minneapolis gasoline station. Witnesses said Evelyn Geng had chased a robber who had snatched her $50 bill. She then tried to block his escape, only to be hit by a getaway driver.

This is a prime example of the crime wave sweeping Minneapolis since the spring of 2005, which hits the "average person", as opposed to gangbanger on gangbanger violence. See a compendium of links to prior posts here. Nothing could be more average than Ms. Geng's activity at the time of this latest incident; Ms. Geng was killed while doing the most mundane of tasks - filling her car with gas in the middle of the day.

In Rambix' previous log, we see that the Red Star reporter turns to the one page Rolodex for a quote from a community crime genius, Ron Edwards the "activist":

Ron Edwards, a civic leader who serves on the Police Community Relations Council, said the hit-and-run in broad daylight is symptomatic of bigger problems. It's part of a pattern of violence that has been predicted to sweep through the city, and not as much because of gangs and guns but because of economic desperation, he said.

Mr. Edwards, you've outdone yourself this time. Who'd have thought that economic conditions caused this killing? Thanks for unlocking the mystery.

A fool's analysis

Our 2nd Amendment watchdogs, the Red Star, put this article smack dab in the middle of the front page, above the fold: "Innocents under the gun". The article reviews recent shootings in Minneapolis in which children have been hit by bullets and shrapnel from our local gangbanger marksmen.

When the Red Star needs a quote for the story, do they go to Joe Lunchbox on the streets downtown? No, when speculating about the root cause of the increase in injuries to innocents, the Red Star goes to the local gadfly, the man with no visible means of support, Ron Edwards. Mr. Edwards, who has obviously studied the issue, racks his brain for a cogent answer. Here's what he comes up with as the reason for the mayhem:

It could come from economic pressure, said activist Ron Edwards. If somebody doesn't have a job or is making minimum wage and has to decide if they can afford to pay the rent or buy food, it becomes a 24-hour stress factor with no time for relaxation, he said. Throw in the recent rise in gasoline prices, which affects all classes and races, he said.

Stop the presses! Gas prices now correlate with violent crime. That's great, Mr. Edwards. You are the genius of all time. We're so lucky to have you on hand when some serious brainpower is needed to analyze a societal problem such as this. That's much better than Rambix' answer would have been, which is that stupid punk-ass gang scum have chosen a life of crime when every imaginable opportunity known to man is available for them, courtesy of liberals.

But then, that's why people like Mr. Edwards are so much smarter than Rambix.

Minneapolis Police send alert for Uptown robberies

Apparently the Red Star reporters are all away at diversity training, because there is still not a peep about the resumption of the staggering onslaught of violent Uptown Minneapolis robberies. The same group is now suspected of 25+ armed robberies of visitors, tourists, and workers in the popular entertainment area of Minneapolis. Isn't this news to the Red Star reporters? See Rambix' prior post for the latest.

Here's the Minneapolis Police email alert:

Recently there has been 5 robberies in the Uptown area that have similarities. It appears that they are following people out of the Uptown area bars, who appear intoxicated, to victimize. Also, there has not been another robbery since July 30.

The suspects are all black males, the age range has been from 18-30, some of the reports state that the suspect(s) speaks in accented English (ed. - Somali perhaps?), and are about 5’10” to 6’0” tall.

These people have either been standing on the street and as the victim approaches they use a handgun to demand money, or they have been walking in front of the victims and turned around to confront the victims with a handgun.

If you have any information on any of these crimes or suspects please contact the Minneapolis Police Department, Robbery Unit at 612-673-2941.

Rambix suggests that if you have plans to hang out in Uptown Minneapolis in the near future that you wear your Kevlar vest and take your self-defense tool - preferably .40 caliber or higher. Good luck. And thank you incumbant mayor running for re-election Ryback.

Can't be true - the Uptown robbers are back

Fox 9 News appears to be the first media outlet to report that the Uptown (Minneapolis) robbers are back. The very crimes that were suppressed in the media so long, especially the Red Star, were the 20+ Uptown robberies in mid to late spring of 2005. The Red Star buried the story for as long as they could, and when they could no longer supress the news, it only made it to the "B", or Metro, section of the paper.

For those of you from out of state, the Uptown Minneapolis area is the Times Square of Minneapolis. It's crowded and busy and hopping late into the night with mostly young urban and suburban types having a good time at the restaurants, bars, etc. In the early to late spring of 2005, this area was hit by violent robberies, and the public was ill-informed.

The robberies started in the early spring and were reported on haphazardly. When the Red Star did mention an incident, it was deep within the paper, only seen by the most assiduous reader. Rambix became so frustrated with the Red Star's suppression of the story, which directly impacted public safety, that the Rambix and the Red Star blog was created. If the Red Star won't report, Rambix will. Here and here are samples.

Why would the Red Star suppress a robbery story? There are two main reasons: The suspects are minorities, in this case Somalis. The Red Star's agenda is to "even the playing field", because the Red Star loves to feel they are the champion of the minorities and the underclass. This satisfies their liberal desire to feel useful and important, despite the fact that some of these minorities are flat out criminals. If more minorities commit crimes per capita, then the Red Star will balance that out by reporting them less.

The second reason for suppressing the stories is that the Red Star is Minneapolis-centric. They are urban elites, and feel that the "big" cities are the best parts of the state. They feel kinship with the Minneapolitans due to the high concentrations of liberals. Most have never set foot in a small town. They know that if the story broke big, as it should have, then it would hurt business in the Uptown area.

In any event, in late spring 2005 the robberies continued and escalated in violence, with the shooting of two victims (thankfully no deaths). The police put major heat on, and the criminals were arrested and thrown in jail.

Well now we find out, thanks to Fox 9 News (TV, not the website yet), that a couple, if not all, of the criminals were out on bail, and lo and behold, robberies have started up again, with suspect descriptions of: Somali males.

Rambix feels this is an Alice in Wonderland world. Fox 9 News did a great job reporting the story, which even included footage of the actual arrests, but the reporter never asked the obvious question: After 20+ violent robberies, how is it that these animals were given the opportunity to get back on the streets? (And do you know that the Red Star never published photos of the criminals?)

So here we are again, with another Uptown Minneapolis crime spree. Read Rambix' prior posts for background, in reverse chronological order:

Red Star shorting on good reporting; Rambix digs

Evidence that Red Star Suppresses Suspect Info - Public at Risk?

Here We Go Again - You Didn't Read This In The Red Star Today

Uptown Crime Wave Continues - Rape This Time

Update: Spike in violent crime in Minneapolis?

Spike in violent crime in Minneapolis?

Its the Red Star's world, we just live in it

Attention, Red Star: What happened to the Uptown thugs?

The Uptown crime wave and the PC trifecta

Uptown violence explodes, Strib gives clues

Be on the lookout for "three young men"

The Rolling Memorial to 9/11

It's hard not to feel some pride after reading the indominatable Katherine Kersten's article on The Rolling Memorial to 9/11.

Minneapolis schools - will the last one out turn off the lights?

Rambix has an aquaintance from Los Angeles who was trained as a commercial airline pilot. In the early/mid 1990s, when the airlines were laying off pilots, he took a temporary job as a teacher in one of the Los Angeles public schools. He had no training whatsoever, but the schools were so desperate for teachers they were taking essentially anyone who was willing. He's a smart guy, but you can imagine the mess in that school system with the untrained teachers, unruly kids who didn't care about learning, and all the other distractions.

The Minneapolis schools are certainly not to that point, but the the downward slide is leading them in that direction. The Red Star reports today on the massive outward migration of teachers from Minneapolis to the suburbs and hinterlands in this story: "Urban teacher exodus swells".

The migration out of Minneapolis has swelled as falling enrollments have forced layoffs for hundreds of teachers. But it's been exacerbated by others, like Kaari, who'd prefer to stay but say they are discouraged by ever-tightening budgets or disheartened by building or district leadership they find inadequate.

Tim Kaari's moving from Minneapolis to Bloomington.Kyndell HarknessStar TribuneThe city's loss is the suburbs' gain.

"When Minneapolis has a mass layoff, we benefit," said Dan Walker, an assistant superintendent in St. Louis Park.

Licensing records show that 238 teachers and administrators who worked in Minneapolis in 2003-04 worked elsewhere last school year. Suburban districts hired two-thirds of them.

Rambix has reported previously on the follies of the Minneapolis school board and superintendant, the improbably named Thandiwe Peebles, in this post: "Got Her Mind Right, She Did...".

Conservatives have always been outsiders when it comes to Minneapolis politics and the Minneapolis education establishment. The liberals own these systems lock, stock, and barrel. That's the bad part. The good part is that they also own the results. The liberals, and no one else, are responsible for the mess they've created in the city of Minneapolis, and the school system. They alone are responsible for driving good taxpayers out of the city. They alone are responsible for driving good teachers out of the city. They are unrestrained and unaccountable.

As we follow this story, you will see the liberal socialists blame everyone except themselves for the hole they've gotten themselves into. It will be governor Pawlenty's fault, it will be the Republican's fault, and, somehow, it will be President Bush's fault.

The liberals are reaping what they've sown.

Caribou coffee and Islamic Sharia law

For those of you not familiar with Caribou Coffee, they are regional and growing fast (300+ stores), aiming to compete with the likes of Starbucks. And by the way, and they follow the same Islamic religious law as the Taliban.

Shot In The Dark reports on the Caribou-Islamic connection here.
Rambix' initial report is here.
Little Green Footballs weighs in:

The chairman of Caribou’s shari’a supervisory board (until the connection was exposed and they disassociated from him) was none other than Muslim Brotherhood “spiritual leader” Dr. Yusuf Abdullah Al-Qaradawi.

The always sharp Lileks is all over this. Great post (you'll need to scroll down to the June 13th, 2005 entry) here.

Rambix had thought something was up, because it seemed unusual that the counter staff would shout "Allahu Akbar!" after a customer placed an order. They don't do that at Starbucks.

Respect for authority?

Think the punks and gangsters have a healthy respect for the police? Read this from the Red Star, "Teen stabs Minneapolis officer with screwdriver". Rambix has written extensively on surging violent crime in Minneapolis; this latest incident is indicative of the growing lawlessness:

Minneapolis officer Daniel Horn was sitting in his squad car writing a traffic citation Monday morning when a teenager walked up and started stabbing him in an unprovoked attack, police said.

About 7 a.m., a 17-year-old boy "walked up, leaned into his car window and stabbed him with this screwdriver," Police Chief Bill McManus said.

Thank God the officer was wearing a Kevlar vest at the time. The officer used far more restraint than many would:

Horn, who has been on the force for 15 years, managed to trap the teen's arm in his steering wheel, disarm him and call for assistance, the chief said. The teen and a man who obstructed officers were arrested at the scene at 62nd Street and 2nd Avenue S. and may be charged with second-degree assault, Capt. Rich Stanek said.

That's quick thinking on the officer's part.

McManus said when he visited Horn, who was checked at a hospital and released, Horn said he was glad he was able to control the teenager without shooting him, the chief said.

No one particularly wants to shoot anyone, but 99% of the time, they would have needed to call the coroner to scrape the criminal off the street. This officer was heads-up, brave, and resourceful. Best of all, the vest saved him and he's healthy. Kudos to Minneapolis' finest.

Truckloads of cash, stealing from the children, and marginal talent...

...couldn't keep Air America afloat.

Major bloggers have documented this growing scandal better than Rambix could, so here are the latest links:

The ever-resourceful Michelle Malkin unleashes both barrels, as only she can here and here.

Al Franken and the rest of the socialist leftists at Air America have nightmares about The Radio Equalizer.

The freight-train of truth, Captain Ed, blasts his way through Air America here.

And finally, another peek at the Air America's Minnesota affiliate ad campaign, utilizing only top shelf advertising talent:

How'd we miss this one?

Rambix scours the Red Star (Minneapolis Star Tribune) fairly thoroughly, rooting out bias and attempts at socialist brainwashing. We almost missed this unbelievable item in the business section, 7/25/05, "Caribou won't sell pork, beer or lottery tickets". Why? Because of Islamic Shari'ah law. For those not familiar with Caribou Coffee, they are a large and growing coffee chain started in Minnesota. From their website:

Today, Caribou Coffee still calls Minneapolis home, but has grown to more than 300 stores across the central and eastern U.S. Caribou is owned by a group of investors, management, employees, the company's founders, and many of the company's original investors.

In December 2000, a majority of shares in the company were sold to Arcapita, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

What is Arcapita, you ask?

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Arcapita, Inc. is a private equity investment firm that seeks to acquire significant equity interests in successful growth companies. Arcapita owns a majority of shares of Caribou Coffee Company.

That's great, but where are they based?

Arcapita, Inc. serves as the U.S. private equity arm of Arcapita Bank B.S.C., headquartered in Bahrain.

What does this mean? According to the Red Star story:

Porn, pork and Pabst -- you're safe from them at Caribou Coffee. In an SEC filing last week for its initial stock offering, the Brooklyn Center-based coffeehouse chain noted that it operates its business according to the Islamic principles known as Shari'ah.

Oh boy. If you've been to a Caribou, you know that they appear as American as apple pie, and are homey and designed kind of like a cabin in remote Alaska or somewhere similar. In short, there are no overt signs of Islamic control. But here is an MSM news story breaking this incredible finding with no fanfare. Does it concern anyone that a mainstream (formerly) American business is controlled by Islamic Shari'ah law? It gives Rambix the shivers.

By the way, does anyone recall a group of folks in the news over the past few years who practiced Shari'ah law? Does the "Taliban" ring any bells?

When is a terrorist not a terrorist at the Red Star?

Red Star reader representative Kate Parry, the newer and squishier version of the prickly and predictably left-leaning Lou Gelfand, tries to parse the ongoing journalist dilemma of just what to call those muslim males, generally between the ages of 17 and 40, and who like to blow things up and kill women and children.

For many on the left, including 95% of all journalists, this is a difficult decision. Terrorists? Insurgents? Militants? Freedom fighters? What dizzying array of choices! Let's see, a Palestinian who blows himself on a bus of Israeli civilians is a militant, and a Saudi who blows himself up and takes out a crowd of policemen in Baghdad is an insurgent, and muslim males who blow themselves up while taking out civilians in New York and Washington are terrorists. Which ones are the true terrorists? Tricky to figure that one out [Hint: all of them]. Could politics and left-wing bias have a role here?

Scott Johnson of Powerline calls Ms. Parry's column "unqualifiedly outstanding". A Strong endorsement indeed. This quote from Ms. Parry is good:

To my mind, when a person intent on a cause straps explosives to his body and detonates himself to harm nearby civilians, he and his supporters become terrorists. Period. This is a scourge civilized people of all faiths condemned during July in blunt language.

This, not so good:

Whether suicide bombers and others deliberately blow up children and their parents in Oklahoma City, New York, Baghdad, London, Netanya in Israel or Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt, at that horrific moment the perpetrators become terrorists, wiping away all complexity and nuance regarding their cause.

Yes, Tim McVeigh was a terrorist. And the left never fails to include his name when discussing terrorists and terrorist acts. However, Mr. McVeigh represents approximately .000000000000000001% of all terrorists. Not significant. Doesn't even show a glimmer of a trend among western caucasion males. Can you make your point without including McVeigh? He's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. [Hint: Islamofascist terror is the enemy]

Sometimes the left almost gets the point, but they always have to spoil it by including qualifiers - the "buts" and the "howevers". Isn't terrorism obvious? Isn't it obvious who is a terrorist? Can we just use some common sense?

Isn't it obvious?

Hennepin County Minnesota District judge Robert Lynn, apparently thinking he was in Mayberry, was surprised when unhandcuffed convicted murderer Dominique Jefferson went beserk at his sentencing hearing. He had been given a light sentence of 35 years for coldblooded killing of Mohamed Moulay el-Boudknili at the Super USA Store at 3807 Fremont Av. N. in the Camden neighborhood of Minneapolis.

The way the article is written, it does not appear that criminal Jefferson had a problem with the incarceration part of his sentence, but rather the restitution:

Dominique Jefferson just had been sentenced to 35 years in prison on Friday for killing a convenience store clerk when he became angry after a judge told him he would have to pay an undetermined amount of restitution.

Hey, 35 years is one thing, but you're going ask me to pay money!? Criminal Jefferson sure didn't like that:

He began swearing and refused to cooperate when Hennepin County District Judge Robert Lynn ordered him removed from the Minneapolis courtroom, said Jeff Bakken, spokesperson for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

Jefferson, who was not handcuffed, pulled away from Deputy Joel Flygaren and the two scuffled on the courtroom floor, Bakken said. Flygaren was hit above his right eye, Bakken said.

Here's the nice judge:


Does anyone wonder why the judge would allow a murderer facing a long sentence to be unhandcuffed or unshackled? These aren't boyscouts, they're killers for cryin' out loud! Here's the given speculation:

Peggy Rogers of the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va., said there have been no studies on defendants being handcuffed during court proceedings.

It generally is considered a violation of a defendant's civil rights if he or she is seen in handcuffs or jail clothing, which would indicate the person is in custody, she said.

Rambix would argue that it's even prudent to have handcuffs and/or shackles on the prisoner at all times, even in front of the jury. However, Rambix understands that some bleeding hearts would have concerns over the jury being biased by the hardware. Fair enough. But this was a sentencing hearing. This is generally not done in front of the jury. In any event, who wouldn't go nuts after getting a relatively long sentence, given the opportunity? Certainly many criminals would. They'd have nothing to lose, especially in Minnesota.

The judge endangered the public and most certainly the bailiffs when he didn't insist on restraints for the prisoner. This is not excuseable; let's use some common sense.

Here's the judge's statistics. Note the low (2.2%) Percentage of Notices to Remove. This means the defense likes him, which further means that he's a softie.

Remember Atlanta?

Angry Nick buys the lies

Today our good friend, Nick Coleman, the Red Star's most obvious affirmative action hire, breaks away from the leftist screed-blogs just long enough to write an article titled "Truth, war's first casualty, also needs our support".

In monkey-see, monkey-do fashion, tricky Nick parrots the wild-eyed leftist bloggers, such as Kos or Commie Cause, and asserts that the Iraq war is based on lies, lies, lies. The left has a fascinating inability to distinguish between reliance on faulty intelligence (which most major governments agreed with, including France, by the way), and lies.

The well-meaning patrons who gathered to ask our support for the troops did so on the same day that 14 Americans burned to death in a 25-ton vehicle overturned by a hidden bomb, and at a time when the families of 2,000 Minnesota National Guard member are preparing to see their loved ones sent off to a war that was based on lies and has no defined utcome.

Nick, we hate to embarrass you in front of the blogosphere, but even your own paper has published the "defined outcome". It is when the Iraqi's are self-reliant, and when a democratic government has been established. It is when America's fighting men are no longer needed in Iraq. That's the defined outcome.

Sorry, Nick, we're not going to say "well, we'll pull out May 1, 2006". Surely even you understand that the terrorists will wait until May 2, 2006 and let it loose. Isn't it obvious?

This makes Nick want to cut and run:

As of Thursday, at least 1,826 Americans had died in Iraq, 1,771 of them since the alleged end of major combat operations on May 1, 2003. Of the dead, more than 400 belonged to National Guard or reserve units made up of citizen-soldiers who, in the view of many, should not be in Iraq. Our state has about 1,000 soldiers in Iraq now, and that number shortly is due to double when the National Guard makes its largest overseas deployment since World War II.

The same facts that make Nick quiver make a real man want to turn up the heat. Instead of running away, let's get mad and turn it up several notches, and rain hellfire upon the terrorists so we can get the job done and go home.

The adminstration rightly should take some hits for mistakes made in war management. But the "root cause" of problems we're facing is that the leftist softies like Nick Coleman force Americans to fight with one hand tied behind our back. Were we able to unleash the full power of our resources (and not just the military), this thing might have been over by now.

Gee, thanks

One of the funniest episodes of the old M*A*S*H show was when an unexploded bomb landed on the grounds of the M*A*S*H unit and stuck in the dirt. Hawkeye was called on to defuse the bomb, with Radar reading instructions from a safe distance. Open the casing...now slide the cover off...now identify the wiring, and so on. Then it was time to cut the wires. Radar continued - cut the blue wire (snip)...now cut the red wire (snip)
..............but not before you cut the yellow wire! Arrrgh! (Everyone runs).

That was funny, but this was less so. We received this message at work from our tech department:

For your convenience, attached see the file named XP Back-up. Click and drag the file to your desktop to save it on your system so that it can be used at any time. Run the back-up file by double-clicking on it and this will save reflections/favorites/desktop items/my documents/etc. It will not back up your Outlook settings/folders. Before running the utility, rename the previous back up folder located on your H: drive (as it will replace all items previously backed up and you might loose something you wanted) [Arrrgh!]

How many people do you think dutifully went through this instruction step by step and had it all done, until they got to the last line? We won't tell you what Rambix did.

Stories the MSM ignores - even the Red Star!

Anti-Strib has a great post detailing major stories the MSM and propaganda sheets such as the Red Star willfully ignore, because the stories don't advance their leftist, socialist, homosexual, one-world agenda. The post is here, and Rambix encourages you to read it and find the truth.

P.S. The photo of Bush giving the "finger" is one of the worst photoshopped jobs I've seen. Are you kidding? The left is that desperate?!?

Judges win first amendment rights in Minnesota

The Red Star laments a federal appeals court decision "pav[ing] the way Tuesday for potential knock-down partisan fights among judicial candidates in Minnesota with a ruling that will allow candidates to align with political parties and ask for campaign donations."

The ruling by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated longstanding restrictions on Minnesota's judicial candidates that attempted to prevent campaigns from affecting a judge's impartiality. The court said those restrictions violate First Amendment rights.

Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth was heard from leftist outposts such as the Red Star editorial offices, and the majority of current judicial chambers.

It's interesting how the Minnesota DFL (democrat) party chair believes the ruling is in line with the constitution, but not an appropriae policy:

DFL Party chairman Brian Melendez, a lawyer, said he thought the decision was "correct as a matter of constitutional law, but I still think it's bad policy." Melendez said he thinks the Minnesota tradition of restraint in bringing parties and issues into judicial races has produced "a very talented and nonpoliticized judiciary."

Does policy trump constitutionality? We think not. In an unbiased quote, the reporter provides an "acerbic" quote from conservative hero Bill cooper, chairman of TCF banks:

Bill Cooper, chairman of the TCF Corp. and a former Republican Party chairman who has helped lead the court challenge since 1997 and who spent about $100,000 to help Wersal's cause, cheered the ruling. He offered this acerbic analysis: "How shocking! The courts said that somebody running for election can say what they think. The Founding Fathers will roll over in their graves."

It is amazing when you think about it. The Democrats are the party of hypocrisy. They will wail and moan at this decision only because they know they have a lock on the judiciary, and this is their remaining refuge for enacting their policies (judicial lawmaking).

The liberal's reaction to this ruling is similar to their horror at the rise of competition for the main stream media (MSM) by the conservatives, through alternate media sources such as blogs. The libs knew they owned the MSM, and they don't like competing viewpoints one bit. They're like cornered rats.

Imagine that - voting for a judge and actually knowing what he or she stands for! If it doesn't matter what judges personal viewpoints are, as many on the left claim, then why are they so exercised about this decision? It will be difficult for many on the left to accept, but that's just a bonus for the "right thinkers".

Duncan's reign of terror mounts

To no one's surprise (except the liberals; they're always surprised), Joseph Edward Duncan III is now suspected of being involved in the kidnapping and killing of a 10 year old California boy in 1997.

Why do conservatives in general have the capacity to learn that predators like Duncan will rarely, if ever, be rehabilitated, and should be locked up forever, yet liberals don't? Unfortunately, any liberal involved in these type of cases will be certain to feel the criminal has a capacity to reform, and should be given more chances, probation, etc. What the liberals don't understand is that you can't reform sexual predators. They are defective humans, that's all.

Minnesota has finally passed some rigorous laws regarding sexual predators, in the wake of one too many victims. We'll see how well it works.

Duncan is a bad, bad man. We need to keep him separated from civilized society for the rest of his life. We suspect there's enough cause in his case to even overcome the most liberal of judges.

Here's some past Duncan posts:

Tough judge? One predator, 4 dead

Inevitable

More on the Minnesota homosexual pedophile

Minnesota homosexual pedophile arrested

That warm and fuzzy feeling

Two items appear in the Red Star Metro section today, guaranteed to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. First, we learn that the now-deceased bank robber who tried to kill two police officers was a Level 2 sex offender:

The man killed by Minneapolis police Monday after he stabbed two officers was a Level 2 sex offender wanted by Anoka County authorities.

Read his sordid history here, then thank the officers for snatching him out of the hands of a liberal judge who would give him 15 years of probation.

And next, the tragedy of a fallen Marine reveals a brave and wonderful surviving wife, Leandra Opskar:

"There are no regrets," she said. "My husband died so that every breath we take is free."

May God bless this woman and may her husband rest in peace. He was everything that the anti-American left is not.

Follow up on 7/31/05 robbery post

You won't see this in the Red Star, so here is the Hennepin County (Minnesota) jail log for Lamarr "Lucky" Smith & Anthony Robert Lee (The original post is here, or scroll down):

Lamarr "Lucky" Smith jail log here.

Anthony Robert Lee jail log here.

Rambix wants photos of these criminals, so if anyone has a link please post it in the comments and I'll put the photos up. The world needs to see the faces of evil.

Sources, you smarmy Red Star editors?

The Red Star published a brief editorial at the bottom of the page today (8/1/05) regarding the semantics of the War on Terror. The tone of the piece is reminiscent of the 6th grade, when the little girls would wag their fingers at the boys, and say "I told you so, I told you so". The only difference is the 6th graders would generally have a point.

Has the Red Star sunken so low, have they waited so long for a "gotcha" moment, that they came up with this:

It was announced last week in Washington by "senior administration and military officials" that no longer is the United States in a "war on terror." Henceforth, the nation will be engaged in a long-term "global struggle against violent extremism."
...
Well, blow us over with a feather. Just what the Europeans and a whole lot of others have been saying all along. Of course, until now they've all been treated like cheese-eating, terrorist-coddling surrender monkeys. But it turns out they were right after all. Mea culpa, anyone?

The alleged "senior administration and military officials" are not sourced, and we at Rambix and the Red Star suspect there is a context issue here. The first part of the first paragraph comes from the unnamed sources, and the second part of the first paragraph includes a quote from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Meyers. His quote is not specific on the "renaming" of the War on Terror. The juxtaposition makes it appear that he endorses the unsourced idea (who would accuse the Red Star of manipulating text to advance their agenda?).

In any event, the editors at the Red Star are desperate to take the president down a notch. Isn't it self-evident? They've resorted to childish finger-pointing for Pete's sake. Nyah nyah nyah. (And by the way, not all Europeans are cheese-eating surrender monkeys - that is for the French. And they still are).

As the man from the previous post would say, "C'monnn".

Avert your eyes, hide the children, batten down the hatches

Arisen from the depths of the swamp; view at your own risk at The Attic.