(Fred Weinberg) – I’m just thinking out loud, here—as I’m prone to do—but since the election, there have been stories on the various network newscasts about stupidity which results in death and the viewpoint from the various anchor-twits (I’m going to copyright that word) is, “Oh the humanity!”
Now, one of my favorite stand-up comedians is Ron White.
He tells the story of his visit to Spain:
“We were in Spain during the running of the bulls, but we didn’t go to the event because we couldn’t figure out why you would.
The people that we know that live there were pitching this really hard, and they said that this event’s been going on for over 500 years, and I’m like, “what?”
Apparently, 540 years ago, a bunch of gay sailors in white suits with red scarves got all f—ed up and turned loose the cattle and tried to—I’m paraphrasing… They got all f—ed up and tried to get out of the way and couldn’t, and it ended up, the town was such a bore hole that compared to everything else that was going on there, this seemed like fun, and they kept doing it for 540 years.
I’m like, “I still don’t want to go” and this year, two people died, and they said it was a huge tragedy, but I think before you call something “a huge tragedy,” I think you need to first determine exactly which two people died… Maybe it was two people we didn’t need… They weren’t very bright, I can tell you that for sure.”
Put this in the context of the warehouse which caught fire and killed 36 people for which the media is trying to blame the City of Oakland, California.
Now I’ve seen the “before” picture of the interior of that hole. Anybody who walked into the place and didn’t immediately RUN for an exit, was by definition, a complete and total idiot. The City of Oakland should probably have demolished the place and the owners of the place will undoubtedly take their place in the slumlords from hell line up, but when did personal responsibility for stupidity leave the scene?
The national media blamed housing prices, the city’s inspections, the landlord.
How about blaming idiocy? It would have taken a moron not to see the place was a complete and total firetrap. And many of the people who died were LIVING there! One of the problems with government is that we think it exists to protect people from themselves.
Here’s a newsflash.
It doesn’t.
If you jump out of an airplane without a parachute, should you (or your estate) have the right to sue the owner of the airplane? Or the manufacturer?
If you shoot yourself in the head with a Heckler and Koch VP9 should you (or your estate) have the right to sue Heckler and Koch?
White went on to suggest that we ought to continue the idea of running of the bulls at the Talladega Speedway and call it the running of the NASCARs. If we did, I suspect there would be some small group of morons who would want to participate. If one of them died when he ran in front of the number 48 car, should he (or his estate) be able to sue Hendrick Motorsports? Or Jimmie Johnson?
Ok, now let’s move on to an incident right in the area where I live.
You probably saw on the national media last week that a 14-year old kid was shot at Hug High School in Reno by a school police officer while he was brandishing some very big knives and lunging at some kids.
He is lucky to be alive as I write this. Here is a description from the very liberal Gannett owned Reno Gazette Journal:
Reno Police Chief Jason Soto said the incident began at 11:25 a.m. with an altercation between two students. One of those students drew a knife and tried to attack others. At that point, a school police officer told the student to drop the knife, Soto said. When the student didn’t cooperate, the officer shot him and then provided medical attention.
So far, that comports with the video. (The kid’s family’s lawyer says he was “bullied”. Forgive my seeming lack of empathy but that doesn’t make it OK to cut up someone on campus.)
The newspaper couldn’t leave it there. It doesn’t fit the “hands up don’t shoot” anti-police narrative which Gannett likes to provide in USA Today:
From the father of the knife wielder’s friend:
“How could they shoot a kid in front of a bunch of other kids?” he asked. “My kid was right there. He could’ve been hurt. My son tried to go help (his friend) and the police told him to back off.”
Seriously?
From the mother of a witness, interviewed by the police:
“They don’t have permission to take my son away,” She said. “How can they do that? He needs a parent. He needs a support system.”
As Jerry Lewis would say, “Hey Lady!” The Police ARE the support system. And your kid just witnessed a CRIME. What’s the matter. You don’t watch Law and Order or Blue Bloods in your fantasy world?
If the kid who got shot had died, does what we will now call the Ron White Standard apply?
Again, forgive my lack of empathy, but I think it might. Knife-boy couldn’t foresee that holding a knife up in front of a cop with a gun might get him shot?
This is what we get when the media and the left start preaching about safe spaces, micro-aggressions and the like.
My late father put it another way:
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
Mr. Weinberg is publisher of the Penny Press. Get to know more about him by visiting www.PennyPressNV.com.