America - The Official Thread

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Scaff
What could possibly go wrong

www.cnn.com

DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to reestablish a World War II-era civilian military force that he, not the Pentagon, would control.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
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Like...a State Guard or similar state defense force?

Edit:
en.m.wikipedia.org

State defense force - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
1280px-SDF_Map_March_2021.png


I'm not sure which I have more justification to question, Ron's statement or CNN's reporting (bare minimum headline and lede, because it's CNN and I didn't actually read the article).
 
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TexRex
Like...a State Guard or similar state defense force?

Edit:
en.m.wikipedia.org

State defense force - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
1280px-SDF_Map_March_2021.png


I'm not sure which I have more justification to question, Ron's statement or CNN's reporting (bare minimum headline and lede, because it's CNN and I didn't actually read the article).
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I think it less the concept, as they exist in other states, and more who is requesting it and how it may be used.
 
Scaff
I think it less the concept, as they exist in other states, and more who is requesting it and how it may be used.
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Yeah, and that isn't entirely unjustified given other things he's implemented.

I just think this would have been the better initial treatment by CNN and entirely too many other outlets I had to bypass to find it.
www.news4jax.com

Gov. DeSantis proposes reestablishing Florida State Guard civilian volunteer force

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced more than $100 million in funding proposals to support Florida’s National Guard and to reestablish the Florida State Guard.
www.news4jax.com www.news4jax.com
Edit:



I used to have this as a signature and I probably will again. It went away because I chose to honor--in my tiny, probably entirely inconsequential way--someone who passed, and I just didn't go back to it.

If your first reaction to a headline is outrage, your immediate second reaction should be skepticism.
 
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TB
www.clickondetroit.com

Parents of Oxford High School shooting suspect charged with involuntary manslaughter

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office has filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the parents of the student accused of opening fire at Oxford High School on Tuesday, fatally wounding four students and injuring several other people.
www.clickondetroit.com www.clickondetroit.com
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The Detroit News has another article that gives the timeline of events and good lord is it a series of unfortunate events.
www.detroitnews.com

Parents knew Oxford High suspect was troubled, charged with manslaughter, officials say

Oakland County's prosecutor has filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the suspect's parents in the Oxford High School shooting.
www.detroitnews.com

I'm curious about the defense's position here though. Fred Lauck, the defense attorney, said that a 15-year-old has the right to own a pistol in the State of Michigan. Maybe something has changed since I lived there, but it was my understanding that no one under the age of 18 could possess a gun under 26" in the state. There are some exceptions where you can use a gun if you're under 18 and under direct supervision by someone over 18, you can also transport a gun to and from a range as long as it's in case (the gun and ammo need to be separated too). You can also be in possession of a firearm if you also have a valid hunting license.

Here are the two laws that I believe cover it:
Section 750.234f
Section 324.43517

Look, I'm not an attorney and I'm going to guess Lauck knows more about the law than I do. But it seems weird since any firearm course you take in Michigan drills all this stuff into your head.
 
TexRex
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This involuntary thing is sounding less and less likely by the hour, but I guess the prosecution have to start with baby steps.

I understand they didn't expect him to actively kill anyone but can't buy that they were incognizant of the danger that he might have, unless that's what involuntary manslaughter means.
 
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UKMikey
I understand they didn't expect him to actively kill anyone but can't buy that they were incognizant of the danger that he might have, unless that's what involuntary manslaughter means.
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In Michigan, that's pretty much what it is. The law says that involuntary manslaughter is when someone is killed due to your own criminal negligence.

A good example of involuntary manslaughter in Michigan, and one that gets used frequently, is when someone is driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, crashes into someone, and that someone dies. You didn't intend to kill the person, but because you were driving under the influence, you're charged due to your negligence.

Voluntary manslaughter is when you act out of emotion or as Michigan describes it "heat of passion".
 
And now the parents are on the run:
www.detroitnews.com

US Marshals join Oakland Co. fugitive team in search for Oxford suspect's parents; rewards offered

The search comes hours after James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students.
www.detroitnews.com

They're 100% going to be held without bond once they're arrested. Maybe they can have a holly jolly prison Christmas because with how slow the courts are in Michigan, this trial is going to take a hot minute to get situated.

Also, it appears the gun was a Xmas present for the son. That's called a straw purchase and is a federal crime, not just a state one. Even if they beat the involuntary manslaughter charges, I don't see the dad beating this one and being charged with, what is effectively, small arms trafficking. It carries 10 years in federal prison.

On an unrelated side note, these people have horrific taste in cars: A Kia Soul and a Kia Seltos. It kind of surprises me the dad doesn't drive a clapped-out domestic pick-up since that's like the official vehicle of northern Oakland County.
 
Famine
I believe they're searching every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse.
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Think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate doughnut with some of those little sprinkles on top.
 
TexRex
us-marshals-poster.jpg
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I looked up the full scene on YouTube, and it's one of the most amazing things ever. I love it when a movie is trying to be dead serious (and probably is with context), but, either through intention of accident, just trips over itself spectacularly.

Adds to watch list.
 
@NotThePrez before you watch US Marshals, watch The Fugitive. US Marshals is sort of like a sequel of sorts to that movie. I like both of them too. So much so that I actually went out of my way to go to the Cheoah Dam near Deals Gap, NC since it was in the film.

====

Oh, and it looks like the Oakland County Sheriff is not screwing around with kids making threats to do the same thing.
www.detroitnews.com

Lake Orion High student charged with threatening to shoot up school

At least 60 schools have closed due to the specter of threats being circulated on social media and other means, taxing law enforcement, police said.
www.detroitnews.com
This is where I went to school too and is in the next town over (Oxford is like 10 minutes north of Lake Orion). If it's a joke, it's in such poor taste that I hope the kid gets the book thrown at them too.
 
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Joey D
If it's a joke, it's in such poor taste that I hope the kid gets the book thrown at them too.
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So this gets into some interesting and frustrating--and interesting because it's frustrating--territory with "awful but lawful" speech.

The current standard for true threats in Supreme Court jurisprudence is--per Virginia v. Black--statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. Also covered is intimidation where a speaker directs a threat to a person or group of persons with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death. Political hyperbole and statements made in jest don't suffice because they lack intent by definition.
 
TexRex
So this gets into some interesting and frustrating--and interesting because it's frustrating--territory with "awful but lawful" speech.

The current standard for true threats in Supreme Court jurisprudence is--per Virginia v. Black--statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. Also covered is intimidation where a speaker directs a threat to a person or group of persons with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death. Political hyperbole and statements made in jest don't suffice because they lack intent by definition.
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In talking with some friends back home tonight, it sounds like the kid had access to several guns and the police removed all the firearms from the house. I think they have a decent case against the kid though and it sounds like they potentially want to pursue terrorism charges on the kid too.

The Oakland County Sheriff and prosecutor have done some pretty questionable things. When I was younger, their questionable actions even affected me. But thankfully, in this instance, they seem to be taking the avenue of "not playing around" which is good since that's exactly what needs to happen to curtail this kind of behavior.
 
So apparently they were found hiding in the basement of a commercial building in Detroit shortly after their car was discovered outside. Someone is supposed to have let them in.

The mother may or may not have been overheard saying to the father, "I told you this wasn't the courthouse."
 
I disagree. The statement they've given on why they fired him now sounds an awful lot like they are covering/making up the reason to be rid of him ("While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light"); probably to try to keep from having to explain why they were so ethically bankrupt as a journalist outlet that they kept him on for over half a year past when it was obvious what he was doing with Andrew's media defense.




Nothing that the NY AG office released this week is anything that people weren't calling for his head on a platter over back in May, nevermind two months before that when Andrew's COVID HERO GOVERNOR facade (that CNN also actively promoted) started rapidly collapsing; and it looks more like CNN is trying to hope people buy them playing dumb over the whole matter that they allowed him to do in the first place so nobody important (read: the C-suite) has to face any consequences.
 
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This is fun.
www.nhpr.org

N.H. ‘Teacher Loyalty’ bill would restrict how U.S. history, especially racism, can be discussed in school

The proposed bill seeks to ban public school teachers from promoting any theory that depicts U.S. history or its founding in a negative light, including the idea that the country was founded on racism.
www.nhpr.org www.nhpr.org
Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that would take those restrictions further.

The proposed bill, HB 1255, is titled “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty,’ and seeks to ban public school teachers from promoting any theory that depicts U.S. history or its founding in a negative light, including the idea that the country was founded on racism. The bill updates a piece of Cold War-era law that bans educators from advocating for communism in schools, and adds additional bans on advocating for socialism and Marxism.

“No teacher shall advocate any doctrine or theory promoting a negative account or representation of the founding and history of the United States of America in New Hampshire public schools which does not include the worldwide context of now outdated and discouraged practices,” the text of the proposed bill reads. “Such prohibition includes but is not limited to teaching that the United States was founded on racism.”

The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Alicia Lekas (R-Hudson), said in a phone interview Friday that she wants to bring the bill to the 2022 legislative session because she disagrees with the way history is being taught in public schools today.

“Too often I’m running into too many students who don't know anything about real history and stuff like that, because teachers spend too much time indoctrinating students about political things, which I don't think teachers should be doing,” Lekas said.

Lekas believes that although slavery was a negative chapter in U.S. history, the historical context of the time isn’t given enough weight when it’s taught to students.

“Slavery was a terrible thing, but a lot of people don’t know slavery happened all over the world, that’s the setting you need to be teaching,” Lekas said. “If you’re going to teach about the founding of the country you need to teach it in its proper setting so you know what was happening in the rest of the world so you have a better idea of why people did the way they did.”

The bill was co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Keith Ammon (New Boston), who introduced last year’s divisive concepts bill, and fellow GOP Reps. Glenn Cordelli (Tuftonboro), Erica Layon (Derry) and Tony Lekas (Hudson).

Last year’s divisive concepts bill was modified and ultimately passed through a rider bill to the state budget, signed by Gov. Chris Sununu, which also included the state’s first abortion ban. The Department of Education has now set up a web page where parents can report a teacher who might indicate that any group of people is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”

Megan Tuttle, president of the National Education Association New Hampshire, the largest teacher’s union in the state, spoke against the proposed bill in a statement Friday, calling it “anti-freedom.”

“New Hampshire educators want to provide every child an accurate and quality education that imparts honesty about who we are and integrity in how we treat others,” Tuttle said. “Certain politicians want to censor the truth of our history, and pass laws to ban learning from the mistakes of our past and erase leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. who stood up to racism and changed our country for the better.”

Deb Howes, president of American Federation of Teachers New Hampshire, said in a phone interview Friday that she is concerned about the impact the bill will have on a teacher’s ability to facilitate classroom conversations about historical topics.

“It’s a further attempt to intimidate teachers, to bully them into being silent,” Howes said. “It is clear that some of our legislators don't want public school teachers to go anywhere near honest discussions about race in schools, which is a disservice to all of our students. Race exists, racism exists and and if we ignore the fact that it has been a part of our history and still exists now, we are not doing our job as educators.”

Empowered by the new divisive concepts law, officially called the “Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education Law,” Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut created web page last month that links to a form where parents and students can report teachers for alleged discrimination under the new law. NEA-NH and AFT-NH came out strongly against the move and Howes called on Edelblut to resign, saying he had declared a “war on teachers.”

Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, also criticized the bill Friday, calling the legislation “Orwellian.”

“We are better as a state and community when we can have hard conversations and learn from them—which is why it’s so important that our students get a full picture of America’s history that includes both the good and the bad,” Chaffee said in a statement. “This bill would unconstitutionally restrict New Hampshire teachers from covering America’s legacy of racism and slavery, building on the disturbing trend we’ve seen this year of putting teachers at risk of professional discipline and lawsuits for teaching about these difficult topics.”

State Rep. Alicia Lekas said the additional ban on advocating for socialism and Marxism on top of the pre-existing ban on promoting communism, came from a desire for specificity.

“We are not a socialist country and socialism does so many harms,” Lekas said. “You look at all the socialist countries in the world and all the harms that come to them... I hate to see our country fail and I hate to see us moving in directions that history tells us fails.”

When asked if she thinks the bill could have a chilling effect on teaching about parts of early American history, Lekas said she doesn’t believe it will, as long as educators are teaching a “proper history.”

“It doesn’t keep a teacher from teaching history, it just says if you are going to teach it, you gotta do a good job of it,” Lekas said. “You can’t teach one-sided history.”

The proposed bill will be heard in the House Education Committee in January.
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From the "marketplace of ideas" party.
 
TexRex
So apparently they were found hiding in the basement of a commercial building in Detroit shortly after their car was discovered outside. Someone is supposed to have let them in.

The mother may or may not have been overheard saying to the father, "I told you this wasn't the courthouse."
Click to expand...
So this is hearsay, but the word in the Oxford community is that they were going to go to Canada, but were denied at the border because of not being vaccinated (shocker) and not having a recent PCR COVID Test.

Doing a bit of investigating myself, I think I might know what they were planning on doing. Where they were found is really close to Belle Isle (like a couple of blocks). It's less than 2,000 feet across the Fleming Channel to Canada. My guess is that they were attempting to get a boat so they could try to get into Canada. Nevermind that they would've been caught almost immediately and extradited to the US.

But I'm really curious how they thought they'd be able to hide in that area of Detroit. Two middle-aged white people from the northern suburbs stand out like a sore thumb.
 

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