Manns Medium

There are misconceptions and then there are plain bonehead assumptions, when it comes to the recent rash of officer involved shootings and it appears that many are guilty of the later. A misconception is the assuming that someone is a bad person long before ever really getting to know or even taking the time to get somewhat acquainted with that person and defined as “.a view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking or understanding.”  This happens a lot in life especially when we generalize about a certain segment of society based squarely upon the actions or perceived actions of some within that segment of the population.  If you consistently see a certain group of people committing crime over and over again, then one tends to assume and build a misconception that all people of that same particular group must also commit crimes on a regular basis.  This misconception leads us to assuming the worst or the best of a section of society even thoug...

Yesterday, the wife and I were talking about the shootings in Dallas and she said something that got me to thinking and something that had never occurred to me.  She mentioned how our generation and the generation before us used to exercise the art of peacemaking.  She remarked that those of us who sought peace first would always be the first responders to any crisis and begin immediately to look for a peaceful solution to the issue.  We never waited until it was too far gone and we never stopped to pose for a picture or camera while doing it.  She mentioned how we would always try to find the common ground before racing toward the high ground.  She then said something that made me sit up in my chair; she asked if possibly our generation and those before who sought peace first was a dying breed. I got to thinking more and more about what she asked and this morning came to a conclusion.  Many of us who had and have children wanted to raise them to quest...

Sometimes a story comes along that makes me see so many different avenues of what it may truly mean that I sometimes don’t know exactly how to phrase them and then comes a story that seems to encompass all of them at the same time.  This is one such story and it comes via an article titled “ Police chase ending near Route 38, I-39 ends in suspect suicide ” posted by Audrey Moon on WREX dot com.  She reports that “ The Illinois State Police and the Ogle County Sheriff's Department say a suspect committed suicide after a police chase stemming from a car-jacking that ended at Route 38 and Interstate 39 near Rochelle in Ogle County.  Officials say DeKalb Police saw a vehicle stolen in an armed car-jacking traveling on Route 38. Police pursued the vehicle westbound on 38 until the vehicle was initially stopped with vehicle stop-sticks.  However, the suspect continued to drive, leaving the highway and stopping in a nearby field. Police say the suspect then shot himself....

The situations that my fellow service members face day in and day out is the stuff of legends and on its own should merit front page in any newspaper, magazine or publication but to use an heroic situation add in a title you believe will get you more page views is an insult to these men and women who work so hard and dedicate so much than just their earthly lives, they risk their very souls. I was forwarded this article by a brother of mine, who is often at odds with me regarding a lot of things.  One of the things we stand in opposition with is President Barack Obama but even though we stand on different sides of any issue, make no mistake, if you place a scratch on him rest assured that I will put a gash on you.  He is my brother not because we have the same mother and not because we have the same dad but simply because we shared the same uniform as a Marine and traveled in the same circles like Beirut, Grenada, Lebanon, Somalia and Desert Storm.  He is my brother ...

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed just how moody America has been lately.  I mean from politics to parenting and all points in between.  We hear people talk about a slight willingness to change their minds about anything except their core beliefs and principals but even those things are flexible depending on the right amount of influence used to alter their belief or principal.  Here are a few examples I have noticed and see if what I am trying to say makes sense to you. There was a group of young black boys calling themselves representing “Black Lives Matter” who was witnessed harassing a combat veteran at some restaurant.  As the veteran stood up and was walking out of the restaurant, one of them struck him in the back of the head and then he was robbed of at least $400.  Now for those who stand with “Black Lives Matter” and support their cause, you must now decide if every action by those who claim to support the same group you do depicts who you ...

‘ Utah police nearly recaptured fugitive who killed officer ’ written by Sally Ho, Michelle L. Price and Lindsay Whitehurst is the title of the piece that makes me say that an escaped fugitive accomplishes what cancer couldn’t and it is all thanks to our justice system that is designed to protect the public from those dangerous and consistent felons who just can’t seem to control their demons so they follow it’s directions and blaze a trail of pain, suffering, murder and mayhem. The article reports; “ A Utah police department is grieving for a fellow officer slain while working overtime to pay for his cancer treatments amid questions about why his shooter was on the streets in the first place, despite a long rap sheet. Officer Douglas Scott Barney, of Unified Police of Salt Lake County, was killed Sunday after coming across Cory Lee Henderson, who later died in a shootout with other officers.  Henderson, 31, had walked away from a state-run parolee drug treatment center last m...

One of our local news station here in Rockford, Illinois, WREX posted a story on their website titled “ Several armed robberies reported in Rockford ”  by Breane Lyga and leave it to our local closet Klan members to be the first to chime in with comments and statements that would make most people say shut up.  They offer solutions that simply don’t make no sense because these are the same solutions they offer what any story that they comment on.  It’s somewhat annoying to read these things and often times you skip them thinking that they are not worth the time.  In this case you would be wrong because one of the comments did have smart advice and caused me to think of how we can put a serious halt to all this crap without violence as many suggest. The article reported that; “ The entire city of Rockford is on high alert after a string of robberies to people and businesses. Police confirm at least 13 armed robberies since 3 p.m. this afternoon and 12 of them seem...

Found this article on Cop Block dot com titled “ Louisiana Police Shoot 6-Yo Boy In Head Multiple Times Killing Him ” written yesterday and needless to say, I will not stay quiet on this one.  It is reported that “ The shooting on Martin Luther King Drive in Marksville happened at the end of a pursuit and involved multiple city marshals from Ward 2, Louisiana State Police spokesman Trooper Daniel “Scott” Moreau said. Louisiana police kill 6-year-old boy in passenger seat of fleeing car. 6-year-old dead in wake of shooting in Marksville involving city marshals.  It happened about 9:30 p.m. Nov. 3 on Martin Luther King Drive.  Preliminary indications are that city marshals from Avoyelles Parish Ward 2 “discharged their duty weapons at a vehicle at the conclusion of a pursuit,” says a statement released by state police.  The child was a passenger in the vehicle. The driver is in critical condition, the statement says.  Personnel from the investigative arm of state...

Take a few minutes and scan over this story titled “Broken system lets problem officers jump from job to job” written by Nomaan Merchant and Matt Sedensky for the Associated Press and tell me if it does not sound familiar.  I liken this to the story about the Catholic priest who was reported to be molesting altar boys but was never held accountable by those in supervisory positions and shipped out to other churches where they could continue to rob children of their childhood. The story reports that “A yearlong Associated Press investigation into sex abuse by cops, jail guards, deputies and other state law enforcement officials uncovered a broken system for policing bad officers, with significant flaws in how agencies deal with those suspected of sexual misconduct and glaring warning signs that go unreported or get overlooked.  The AP examination found about 1,000 officers in six years who lost their licenses because of sex crimes that included rape, or sexual misconduct r...

I remember growing up watching shows like “Adam-12”, “Emergency” and “Chips” along with “Baretta”, “Dan August”, “Ironside” and “Perry Mason”, all of these shows lead me to believe that the world was simply black and white, good or bad, right or wrong.  It made wishing to choose good and because good often always won over bad, as a kid I wanted to be on the winning side.  I share this with you because I think, this may have been the same reason the subject of the below article choose to put forth the efforts necessary to earn wearing the uniform of the Providence Police Department.  It may also have been the reason his son, stood side by side with him when they refused to just stand by and watch a crime happen, when they choose to stop sitting on the sidelines and get into the game.  The major difference is my results of dreaming and achieving can never compare to what happened to him and his son. I speak about an article titled “ A Black Officer Finds Himself O...

Often we dream about what others will say about us when we are gone and what, if any, affect have we had on the world while we were here.  Many attempt to get their names in lights or on the tongues of many others who remain while there are some whose idea of making a difference is meddling in the affairs of others.  But what seems to be missed by so many who claim to be paying attention is the greatest lesson you can teach and the only real legacy you will leave is the education you have passed on to your children. An example of this is an article titled “ Beloit Police arrest two 12 year olds in Family Video robbery ” posted by Mark Mayhew for our local station WREX.  In it he reports that “ Beloit Police arrested two 12-year-old boys in a Sunday night robbery at the Family Video store on Henry Avenue.  The original report stated two black males displayed a handgun and left with cash.  Beloit Police were able to identify the boys and arrested the first on...

Not much is known about how dispatchers are trained to handle 911 calls but one thing is perfectly clear.  If this article is an example of how some handles those calls a complete re-vamp of the manual is sorely needed.  There have been several articles about this type of dispensing of calls but this one may just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The article is written by Russell Contereras and Terry Tang for the Associated Press titled “Panicked 911 caller: Dispatcher had no reason to hang up” and it reports that “a 911 caller said Wednesday she was panicked about a friend being shot but stayed as calm as possible before a New Mexico dispatcher told her to "deal with it yourself" and hung up as she sought aid.  Seventeen-year-old Esperanza Quintero told The Associated Press that she wished dispatcher Matthew Sanchez had done more to help after her friend Jaydon Chavez-Silver was shot in June while watching friends play cards inside a home. He later died....

With the help of one action, the years of rhetoric about the need for the existence of a world-rounded hate group may have just been erased.  This article titled “See the Moving Photo of a Black Cop Helping a Man at KKK Rally” by Ryan Teague Beck for the Associated Press reports that “Police officer Leroy Smith helps a man wearing National Socialist Movement attire up the stairs during a rally on July 18, 2015, in Columbia, S.C.  The most memorable image of a Ku Klux Klan rally in South Carolina Saturday undercut the group’s mission.  When the North Carolina-based Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan rallied at the steps of the South Carolina statehouse to protest the removal of the Confederate flag, one older protester was affected by the heat.  A photographer captured what happened next: Police Officer Leroy Smith, who is black, helped the protester, who was wearing a National Socialist movement T-shirt, up the stairs and out of the heat.” We all are aware...

If the rumor of what seemed to be a death threat to Donald Trump by Joaquin Guzman aka El Chapo is true then the statement made by Mr. Trump of not worrying about himself and being more concerned about America was undermined by the information found in this article titled “ Donald Trump beefs up security after El Chapo death threat ” by Geoff Earle, Jamie Schram and Danika Fears for the New York Post.  Either Mr. Trump is the fearless man he claimed to be or he is about as weak of an individual as expected by so many.  Mr. Trump may have just let me mouth write a check, that his butt cannot cash which may be a good thing for some but it could ultimately be quite serve for all Hispanics. The article reports that “ As new photos revealed how billionaire cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman made his great escape from prison, Donald Trump beefed up his security detail in response to a threat the fugitive drug lord purportedly tweeted.  “We have officials all over the pl...

So much has been made about the rioting and looting seen in Baltimore, Maryland Monday, April 27, 2015 and many had decent questions and concerns but to a person those questions and concerns still remain because nothing was done to address them because so much energy was spent trying to make sure that yesterday was not a repeat of Monday.  All those meetings and not one to address the true concerns of those living in that community.  All those resources and not any of it was lent toward fixing the problems those citizens endure each and every day.  All that news coverage and nothing solid to help those who live and love that community feel better about their community.  All that money and none of it to be used to locate more jobs in that area or secure local financing to where those from that community to borrow and grow these jobs with a services that they know is greatly needed in that area.  So much time, effort and money wasted on reacting to an issue inste...

If you have ever had to face this, you will understand what I mean but if you have never had to face this then take a few minutes, go to a juvenile court waiting room and just sit there listening to the stories.  There are truly some horrific stories about child endangerment and neglect but there are also those stories that are fabricated and are so very far from the truth.  For those stories that are true, it is quite understandable why outside forces step in and attempt to give all children a shot at a decent life but for those stories that are discovered early enough in the process to lack credibility but are still push because of someone’s lack of conscientious or just plainly hate to be wrong, this is more than just a travesty of justice, it is downright criminal in its own right. You are notified that your children will be removed from your home for an offense that never took place but because they have those who appear to be carrying a grudge or clearly short-sight...

What do you call it when those hired to protect and defend our rights are the ones who violate them?  Some called it Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, some called it justified and others called it torture.  Whichever name you use, the fact that it is no longer executed on foreign soil but right here in our back yard should put all of us to shame and compel us to make that change. In an article titled “ The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site' Exclusive: Secret interrogation facility reveals aspects of war on terror in US” compiled by Phil Batta for The Guardian; editing: Mae Ryan and Spencer Ackerman in Chicago, it is reported that “The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.  The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homa...

I have often asked the question of what does those who support wrong think is going to happen once the target of that wrong is done humiliating and degrading them.  Do they think that their task will be over and everyone will then move on to bigger and better things?  There is a story originated by CNN affiliate WFSB reporting “an anonymous letter bitterly insulting African-American officers was recently found in mailboxes at a Connecticut police station.”  It said that this letter specifically mentioned an Officer Higgins who did nothing to restraint the police brutality caught on tape and even joined in on the misconduct.  The fact that he was acquitted on those charges and this letter being found says to me that he may have spilled his guts about the other officers involved and therefore needed to be reminded of the power of their Police Union.  He joined them as many under the hood of a white sheet did but now he is a target so what does that say to the res...

This is the question that people have been asking for quite some time.  To many it seems never too important unless it deals with them directly.  We are often conditioned to think that as long as something does not directly affect you, then it is no big deal but then isn’t that the trick that Satan plays upon us every day?  Getting us to ignore things going on around us so that he and his demons can continue to rap society at will and with no recourse?  Perhaps understanding better why we get so angry may just help us curtail the primary driving force in many of our thoughts, ideas and actions. Try this on for size.  An article, from the Associated Press out of Washington, about a 911 dispatcher and the call from a 13 year old girl about an accident that both parents were involved in may just shine some light on the subject.  It reports that “a 911 dispatcher twice told an emotional 13-year-old girl to "stop whining" as her father lay dying after a hit...