“I’d much rather make a squatter homeless than have a landlord lose property.” — James Jacobs, ASAP Squatter Removal.
I have absolutely no doubt that the state of California is going to try its best to shut him down. Read the whole thing to find out why.
I know that Righteous Shootings, almost by definition, include the term “needed killing” somewhere in the preamble. But here’s an excellent example of taking out someone who’s just breathing oxygen unnecessarily:
A Vietnam War veteran managed to fend off a deranged, naked intruder who broke into a woman’s California home on Friday morning.
The elderly vet was thrown to the ground by the maniac, fracturing both of his legs before he opened fire and fatally shot the intruder.
Police say the nude suspect had been wandering the neighborhood moments earlier, shouting incoherently and attempting to break into several homes.
LAPD Capt. Warner Castillo told reporters that the suspect eventually forced his way into a residence where a woman and two other people were inside, including the 79-year-old veteran, identified by neighbors only as George.
‘The 79-year-old man tells the suspect to leave, tells him I have a gun and I will shoot you. The suspect grabs the man, lifts him, throws him on the ground, and that’s where the man suffered two broken legs,’ Castillo said.
Despite being in agony having been body slammed to the ground by the intruder, the elderly homeowner managed to grab his firearm.
And the best part:
Police said the rambling man was shot at least two or three times inside the home before collapsing.
Yeah, but:
‘I think it’s a textbook example of self-defense, and I really, really hope he does not face charges,’ neighbor Betsy Weiss said.
It’s Los fucking Angeles, so anything’s possible — but I think the “two broken legs” thing should cause even an L.A. district attorney to think twice before pressing charges.
But the locals should start warming up the tar and plucking the chicken feathers, just in case.
Now as we all know, cops are usually disqualified from being lauded for a Righteous Shooting because, damn it, it’s their job to shoot scumbags.
However, on this occasion I’m going to give Our Hero a waiver.
A man allegedly tried to carjack an off-duty Harris County deputy’s car Friday afternoon, around 2:45 p.m. in Atascocita, outside of Houston, and was shot dead by the deputy.
Fine, but why the waiver? Off-duty cops are still on duty if a crime is being committed, right?
Uh huh. Except that in this case:
FOX News reported that the deputy’s child was in the vehicle at the time the incident occurred.
So he went from being a cop to being a dad protecting his little girl. Clearly, a case of a Righteous Shooting if ever I saw one.
You may disagree with me, but you’d be wrong.
Alert Reader Eric K. sends me this lovely report:
A preliminary investigation revealed that an unidentified man followed a female customer into a beauty supply store and groped her, prompting employees at the establishment to demand he leave the premises.
“The male became increasingly verbally assaultive toward employees and customers, “the release noted. “He started throwing and damaging merchandise in the store. The incident escalated rapidly.”
While the man was reportedly threatening to kill and harm customers and employees, witnesses told investigators that they believed he was armed with a knife.
“A second customer in the store, fearing for the store employees, herself and other customers, retrieved a personal firearm and fired a warning at the male,” investigators said. “The male turned toward that customer, fearing she was going to be attacked, fired a second shot striking the male.”
And the result for El Gropo?
L.A. deputies and personnel with the Compton Fire Department responded to the scene where the man was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Details are sketchy at the moment, and as this happened in Southern California things may not turn out too well for Our Heroine.
However bad they may be, it won’t be as bad a result as what happened to the goblin. Thank goodness.
I’m pretty sure that I share quite a few Readers with The Divine Sarah (Hoyt), even though we write about totally different things most of the time, and even when we do write about the same thing, each will often have a totally different (but not opposite) take on the thing under discussion.
And anyway, most of the time she writes about gay pirates or whatever, living on a spaceship or some other planet five hundred years in the future, while I write stuff based on actual historical events. She’s also sold a jillion novels, and I haven’t. Clearly the market is more attuned to fantastic (literally) worlds somewhere else than it is to late 19th-century Europe; so she makes a living from her writing, and I don’t. Annoyingly, as anyone familiar with her historical novels knows, she writes Regency better than I write Victorian/Edwardian.
C’est la vie.
However, thanks to her upbringing in a tiny rural village in Portugal, the real-life Sarah is — unlike many writers — firmly planted in the here and now, and every so often she writes a post that is full of common sense, pricks many fantastical bubbles along the way, and (in her own sweet way) says, “Stop that bullshit.” It’s all the better if you’ve heard her speak in person, as I have, because that thick Portuguese accent, with its liquid vowels and strange intonation, is unbearably compelling, exotic and — dare I say? — sexy.
So it’s really wonderful when you imagine her saying something like this:
Guys, let me give you a tiny hint here “Science fiction warned us” really means “Guys and gals who were writing by the rule of cool and trying to make their next month’s rent warned us.” Now, is that scary? Of course not. It’s people writing drama to pay their rent.
Do most of them know what they’re talking about? Well, people like Heinlein did. That’s why he doesn’t have any big insanity like that. But most of my colleagues? Dear Bob (Heinlein). Remember, these are the people who write regencies with exploding carriages and the duchess taking the gig to the supermarket. Stop it, just stop it.
So get over to Sarah’s place and read her take on A.I., if you haven’t already. You’ll emerge from it refreshed, as I did.
Chris Muir has a savage take on today’s NFL. (For those who don’t get the first panel, this may help.)
Everyone has a website which is the first stop on their daily round of Intarwebz browsing.
Day By Day is mine, without fail.
Chris and I have a warm and cordial relationship which extends back to his very first cartoon strip. If you’re one of the few people on the planet who have never seen his stuff before, click on the “First” tab, and read them all in sequence. (It’s known as the “DBD Haj” to his regulars, and several of them, myself included, have done it more than once.)
And support him with yer $$$, because DBD is his job.