I give you four newspaper articles from this week, with key facts from each.
Brooklyn McDonald’s employee shot in face after arguing with customer
The 23-year-old was working in the fast food restaurant at 1531 Fulton St. in Bed-Stuy when he got into an argument with a female customer inside the eatery around 7 p.m., according to law enforcement sources.
The fight spilled outside and the woman’s adult son pulled out a gun and shot the worker in the face, police said.
Lisa Fulmore, 40, revealed her 20-year-old son’s chilling comments while describing exactly what led up to Monday night’s shooting that left a 23-year-old fast-food employee clinging to life.
“I talked to my son with the cops. My son is just saying that he gotta do what he gotta do and the [victim] came after him and whatever happened, happened,’’ she said.
NYC McDonald’s shooting could’ve been avoided with hot fries, says kin of suspect’s girlfriend
“Why were they laughing at her? Why didn’t they just give her hot French fries? That’s why we go in there to spend our money,” Dunlap’s grandmother said.
The grandmother conceded that Morgan’s mother could have also called cops to sort out the fast-food spat instead of getting her son involved, who has a lengthy criminal record.
Man accused of shooting NYC McDonald’s worker over cold fries slapped with 2020 murder charge: NYPD
The 20-year-old man charged with shooting a McDonald’s worker over cold French fries confessed to murder Wednesday in a separate 2020 slaying, police sources said.
Morgan was arrested shortly after the incident and charged in the shooting on Tuesday night, police said. Camellia Dunlap, 18 — Morgan’s girlfriend — was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after she allegedly admitted to cops she handed her beau the gun, law-enforcement sources said.
This is almost indescribably stupid on so many levels:
- The staff at McDonalds not giving the complaining customer replacement, fresh fries;
- The mother calling her son to complain, rather than the management;
- Her son coming down bent on violence to resolve her problem;
- His girlfriend carrying a gun for him, in case he needed it, and handing it to him knowing he was about to commit a crime with it;
- Him shooting a restaurant worker who may not even have been the one involved in the altercation;
- Him claiming "he gotta do what he gotta do".
I ran into that a lot when working with prison inmates. Here's a "Convict to Chaplain" vignette from my book describing prison ministry.
Yeah, you ain’t seen me before ’cause I just got transferred here, Chaplain. Why am I inside? I killed two old ****s. Didn’t mean to, though. It was their own stupid ****ing fault. Should never have happened.
**** it, man, I needed a car to go see my woman, and they had one. I jumped ’em as they stopped at the corner. Hadn’t even locked their doors, the dumb ****s! If they’d only listened and showed sense they’d have been all right, but that old **** started acting up when I hauled his woman out in a hurry. ****, he musta bin eighty years old, a real feeble old ****er. I punched him. That’s all — I just hit him. He fell down and hit his head on the curb and went real quiet. Out like a light. Then his damn fool bitch started screamin’ and hollerin’ that I’d killed him. I had to shut her up — people were startin’ to look outta their windows. I tried to put my hand over her mouth, but I musta twisted her neck somehow. There was this funny crackin’ noise, and she went limp. I didn’t stop to check, man — I dropped her and jumped into that old car and burned rubber outta there. Damn thing even smelt like old ****s inside.
The cops stopped me before I got halfway to my woman’s place. Those ****ers were mean, man! They ****ed me up real good. Rights? What rights? If the cops want you, they park their cruisers so those dash cameras don’t see ****, and they walk you down the road a bit so the mikes won’t hear the noise, and they go ape**** on your ***, man. They took me back to town and threw my *** in a cell, still bleeding and hurting bad, and those ******s wouldn’t even get me to a doctor for almost a whole day. Mother******s!
****in’ DA charged me with murder and I drew life twice. Murder? **** no! I didn’t mean to kill either of ’em. Those two old ****s were on their last legs anyway. I only did what they made me do with their damnfool hollerin’. Hell, I probably did ’em a favor! No pain, no waiting to die while their minds went crazy — just a quick, easy out, both together, no mess, no fuss. At worst I shoulda got five years for each of ’em. It’s all they had left! ****in’ judge an’ jury didn’t see it that way, of course.
I’m twenty-five years old, and they tell me I’ll live another fifty years or more in here. No way, man. I’m not taking this **** for the rest of my life. I’ll be outta here one way or another. Either I’ll escape, or they’ll kill me when I try. They’ll have to, ’cause I’ll sure as hell kill them if they try to stop me or bring me back here. No other way, man. You watch. You’ll see my name on the news one night. I’ll be dead, or I’ll be out — and either way I’ll be ****in’ free.
Now, what about that phone call, Chaplain? I gotta talk to my woman. Word is she’s goin’ with some other ****. Can’t have that, man, her dis-ree-spectin’ me like that. If she don’t listen to me, I’ll have to get my homeys to take care of the bitch — and her new guy. I mean, you unnerstan’, right? A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Right, Chaplain?
Did that last line sound familiar? Same sort of mentality as the McDonalds shooter. Same world view.
How do we deal with such feral trash? It's almost a waste of time to put them on trial in states like New York, where they won't get the sentence they deserve and will end up back out on the streets to hurt and maim and kill again. What's more, taking just one or two of them off the street won't help, because there are entire neighborhoods populated by such low-lifes.
Again I warn: If you live in a big city, particularly one with an inner-city ghetto environment like that, get the hell out while you still can. Things are going downhill faster and faster there, and there's no sign whatsoever that the powers that be are willing to do anything about it. You can't guarantee your family's safety there, and even if you defend them, the odds are very good that progressive left-wing District Attorneys will charge you with a crime, rather than your attackers.
If you can't leave a city like that . . . make your home as secure as you can, and prepare to defend it. When you go out, keep your head on a swivel, and don't walk along oblivious to what's happening around you. Finally - DO NOT go into neighborhoods or stores where people like that hang out!
Peter
EDITED TO ADD: "The McDonald’s worker who was shot in the neck over cold french fries is brain-dead and on life support, prosecutors said Thursday, as a Brooklyn judge ordered his alleged assailant held without bail. "
As I said elsewhere, I pretty much knew the...statistics of the incident before I clicked on the link. No different from the story of the dude who shot and killed a Subway worker for the crime of putting too much mayo on his grinder.
ReplyDeleteLower IQ = lower impulse control.
One hesitates to generalize, but in the interest of self-preservation, one simply must. Yes, it is true that low IQ and low impulse control (along with lack of future orientation vs. immediate gratification and all the rest) are the primary factors, but relying on statistical generalities, one must conclude that Americans of African extraction compose the largest cohort of such individuals. Thus, avoiding people who exhibit visible markers of African descent is the most effective way of avoiding the violence that frequently occurs among them. I apologize to those members of the cohort who inhabit the right side of the Bell Curve and do not deserve to be tarred with this brush, but again, it is for the sake of self-preservation that I make this observation.
ReplyDeleteWrong. The stats are clear. While blacks disproportionately commit certain crimes, it is a particular group of black people who commit said crimes, just like it is a particular group of white people who also commit said crimes. Same with Asians and Hispanics.
DeleteAnd, fortunately, said groups do not bother to try and conceal their allegiances. They dress and act in a way that makes it very obvious who and what they are. Going by race is both lazy and stupid, because thuggery is a human phenomenon, not a racial one.
(The reason, by the way, that you hear so much about black poverty and crime is because it is largely an urban phenomenon, and our news media doesn't care about anything outside the cities.)
TL;DR: One does not avoid thuggery by avoiding black people. One avoids thuggery by avoiding thugs of any race, and it's not hard to figure out who the thugs are.
Funny thing is I hear the attitude expressed by IamDevo from mostly folks in the Eastern US while I have heard the exact same sentiment from certain folks in the Western states only said about hispanics.
ReplyDeleteMostly those of us in the South just all seem to judge folks as individuals with some being good and some bad if not evil. Color or ethnicity isn't nearly as important as how they were raised and what managed to stick.
Homicide: n. There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
ReplyDeleteThe rise in Public Service Homicide is about to launch like a moon rocket.
Proverbs 22: 24Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.…
ReplyDeletePlenty more about how to handle yourselves around the easily angered.
Not all bad people will look different than you.
Matthew 7: 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Bad people are nothing new. The Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (BIBLE) is full of useful wisdom to stay away from trouble by being wise.
Proverbs 9: …9Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning. 10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.…
There are signs I've seen most of my troubles with and I listen to my guts.
A very smart man said this: 10% of people are evil and delight in it, 10% are good folks that help you with a flat tire on a rainy night. 80% can be persuaded by either the evil or good.
Also said that bad situations can make even the undecided and good folks act badly. Even the sweetest Grandmother will harm you if their Grandbabies are singing the song of "Mommy. I'm HUNGRY".
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph, said Burke, is for good men to do nothing; and most good men nowadays can be relied upon to do precisely that. Where a reputation for intolerance is more feared than a reputation for vice itself, all manner of evil may be expected to flourish.”
From words in the 1800's to reality on the ground in 2022.
If you're not prepared to lead the neighborhood 80% undecided, are you HOPING someone else good natured will do so?
Hope is not a plan. Mob leaders are always ready to gain the thrill of power leading a destructive mob against that "Nasty Hoarder" "Greedy not SHARING Prepper".
Praying for wisdom
Yet people really think locking up people like Derek Chauvin and his colleagues or those three White males in Georgia defending their community against this kind of vermin made that community safer.
ReplyDelete@Tom - One does not avoid thuggery by avoiding black people. One avoids thuggery by avoiding thugs of any race, and it's not hard to figure out who the thugs are.
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying what I was going to say.
@tom and @unknown, please name 5 white and 5 asian neighborhoods (in the US) where they are famous for their level of thuggery. Anyone have any difficulty naming 5 areas that are dominated by blacks and their primary culture that are famous for THEIR thuggery?
ReplyDeletePre-judices are pre-judging because it works 80-90% of the time. Freaking OBAMA admitted to doing it, because it works to keep you alive and unharmed when you have little time or knowledge to base your behaviours on.
Is it sometimes unfair? Too bad. Trust in unknown strangers is a luxury of civilization, and civilization is failing. The vast majority of the world exists in "low trust" societies because that WORKS to keep you safer from others.
Not every tiger will attack you today. Not every tiger will attack you tomorrow. Some tigers never attack anyone. That's no reason to not avoid tigers.
You are correct that thugs are often easy to see by their markings the same way nature's predators are often marked by their claws and teeth (and where their eyes are) and that is great for the person that can see and recognize those markers. But from a survival point of view, waiting to see those markers up close is much riskier than avoiding people who have a higher than average chance of being thugs, and the places they congregate.
The risk is you are wrong and are killed or suffer life changing injuries. The reward is ... what? You get to feel good about how fair and progressive you are? Who is going to feed and protect your kids if you are wrong?
Risk vs reward, the decision should be clear. Take the most obvious markers and avoid them.
n
I see you missed the part about urban stuff getting more attention. Hell's Kitchen in New York was largely Irish and notoriously criminal at one point, as was Charlestown in Boston.
DeleteHigh-density poverty breeds crime, and it doesn't matter what the race is of the people who are in it.
"Wrong. The stats are clear. While blacks disproportionately commit certain crimes, it is a particular group of black people who commit said crimes, just like it is a particular group of white people who also commit said crimes. Same with Asians and Hispanics"
ReplyDeleteFair enough. Stay away from thugs. But your statement contradicts your claim of "Wrong".
"...blacks disproportionately commit...".
Sort of like Asians don't really need to worry about White Supremacists that much because it is young black men who are mostly targeting Asians for hate crime attacks.
Hate/lack of control isn't a factor of race as much as it is environment and peer pressure on young teens. And the locations where they are 'indoctrinated'. The ghettos, Compton in LA, the Chinatowns in major cities, Koreatown south of LA, Section 8 housing, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade
ReplyDeleteAnd it has only gotten worse
With a regular hamburger being $2 now it's just as fast as eating a grilled cheese sandwich at home without the danger.
ReplyDeleteI can name 4 white street gangs in Chicago alone - Simon City Royals, Gaylords, Popes and Insane Deuces. I'd also note that most motorcycle gangs are white, with the occasional latino. They tend to move often, so don't have specific neighborhoods, but they do have territories.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Asians go, their thugs generally only prey on their own population, and since I'm not Oriental, I can't name names. I do know they have their own territories in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, for starters.
Alas, you can not tell if someone is good or evil by the shade of their skin. Our Lord doesn't color code us.
Unfortunately, the census figures cross-compared with FBI crime stats and prison populations tell a rather different story.
ReplyDeleteBut anyone who wants to buy the world a Coke should go ahead on with that plan. Write and tell us how it works out for ya.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend you check out the novel "Victoria" by William S. Lind (writing as Thomas Hobbes): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23590549-victoria
His characters are well aware of the feral trash problem and solve it creatively and finally. I don't want to give away much else for fear of spoiling the surprise.
NA
What money buys is a better class of people who seek to do you harm.
ReplyDeleteIf you have enough money, you can move from the “shoot you in the face neighborhood” to the “HOA will make you pay neighborhood” to the “my lawyers will contact your lawyers neighborhood.”
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI see you skipped American History and mathematics.
The entire country was poor during the Great Depression, and violent crime fell, everywhere, across the board. The Gangster Era was during the Roaring Twenties, when nationwide prosperity was at a peak.
If high-density poverty was the problem, cities in a thousand miles of coastal China would be the murder capitals of the world, or half a dozen African countries where average annual income comes to $100/yr or so.
Instead, that distinction falls to multiple Mexican cities by rate, and Chicongo, NYFC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore by actual numbers in this country. "High density poverty" is therefore a correlation between weak, and zero.
When 13% of the population provides 33% of the violent criminals, nearly 40% of the inmates, and commits 59% of the murders year in and year out since they began keeping records, this isn't a poverty problem. You could look it up.
Innumeracy can be cured. There are books.
The Diversity is killing us.
Literally.
For those who claim avoiding thugs of any race is the answer, you are only partially correct. The problem is one of extremes. The same reason more men are in prison than women. Men are naturally only a little more aggressive than women,but only the very tail on the curve goes to prison. But there are a lot more men than women in that tail. And the same logic applies to black men.It is unfortunately safest to avoid those you don't know.
ReplyDeleteHey Peter;
ReplyDeleteThe Entire country was poor during the great depression, but with the exception of pockets of individual crime here and there, there wasn't much...mostly property theft of people stealing to survive, what it was, was a cultural thing, a code of behavior that was considered "acceptable" and it was ingrained. Someone had asked if President Roosevelt "CCC" program could be restarted again...I said "No, It worked for the times it was there, the idea of taking money and no work was a big nono by the cultural norms of the times, but now people would gladly take money for no work and crow about "Getting over on da system" so it wouldn't work in this day and age. because if they tried to institute the same requirements, the cries of sexism and racism would be flying fast and furious with their media handlers pushing this for all it was worth."