At the time, I thought it odd that he would suddenly make a very deliberate effort to reach out and shake hands with what I assume to be a secret service agent. Could be a county detective, but even still, it seemed out of character to me. Either way, it seemed he was posing for my benefit, which might bring on some secondary possibilities that would explain his particularly magnanimous behavior – for a hack photographer and a shade tree website builder like myself.
The problem that intelligent and well-informed people face in Alabama, is that there are still plenty of rural places tucked away up in the holler where Johnny still hasn’t traveled farther from home than he has to go to fetch a bucket of water from the well. Even though this observation is quite literally true, it is just as unfortunate that it is also metaphorically true, and so extends to what otherwise appears to be “normal” people living in places like Huntsville. The fact is, the South ain’t gonna “rise again” in the sense that seems to motivate the cretins – that South simply don’t exist, that South was an entirely different animal whose politics and plantations are extinct.
In the months since Ferguson, we have seen countless police shoot and kill unarmed (black) men, and virtually the entire country has stated that the consistent excessive use of force is not ok. And yet, the response from law enforcement has been the same old excuses. Oh sure, under enormous public pressure, they did some restructuring in Ferguson. But everywhere else from New York, to Cleveland, and even Huntsville, the law enforcement response has been totally wrong, and totally lacking in contrition.
Really, for all the circus posturing, I see the red flags flying over the big tent that say – hay, wait a minute, this is a free election in the greatest democracy the world has ever known, and they want to eliminate the most popular of presidential candidates, because they don’t like what he has to say about the most important and persistent political issues in the public’s mind? It’s absurd! It’s messed up! It’s unAmerican! It’s a threat to democracy, to free elections, and whatever pretense of constitutional government we have left – and it’s potentially a prelude to socialist dictatorship.
A cops job is dangerous. True enough. But, take another looks a the facts. Since 1880, 22 law enforcement officials have been killed in Madison County. In the last ten years alone, I’ve counted about 15 unnecessary deaths that were the result of jailer depravity, or excessive force by cops. A that rate, the cops have killed around 200 people – almost all of which were innocent or guilty of nothing serious. A track record of 22 cops to 200 innocent citizens isn’t very good. In fact, it’s goddamn unacceptable.
Got God?
God I love Panoply and Fireworks! Here’s a neat pic I took last night.
For the facial recognition record, it is my opinion that state legislator Mike Ball should shut his mouth and swallow his own cannabidiol oil.
If ever a picture was worth 750,000 words, this one is surely it. Nowadays it isn’t hard to get up a few Uncle Tom’s to make a picture like this, a shameless and unabashed echo of George Wallace’s infamous school house stand in 1963.
Today, when you go to the store to buy your goods and services, you will be met with an additional one percent sales tax. Last fall, right before Christmas, when no one was paying attention, the Huntsville City Council unanimously passed the sales tax increase – and today is your lucky day!
Finally, there are the religious cults who still believe in human sacrifice as a tenet of salvation. To them, their mea-culpa is their communion. As for me, I am Christian, and my God stated it fairly plainly. Jesus was the ONLY begotten son of God.
Oriana Ferral did something wrong, even still, she is not incarnate evil waging war on New Mexico. Her kids certainly are not.
