I did get out in time to pick up my daughters. This led to a discovery of an hours long black out affecting a good chunk of Virginia Beach. Another truck had backed into a power pole, breaking it. The pole then fell on the truck. The power had been off for about four hours by the time I got out of Sandbridge.
I retrieved the kids, the sun is setting. I grab a couple of Happy meals because its going to be just about bedtime by the time we get home. Sure enough a school bus got in an accident tying up the entire area. We finally got out of that, and were amid the blackened stores when I heard two voices from the back seat.
"Daddy, I have to pee."
"Me too."
That was a tough commute.
PARENTS!!!
Stuff is afoot and with some kids in schools. It is some pretty stunning stuff, but what gets me more is how their parents are dealing with thing.
First up is the case of the eighth grader getting shot by police. The eight grader was wielding a pellet gun. Officers told him to put it down. He didn't and he got shot. Now, here's the breakdown. This kid was 15 and in the eighth grade. Probably not good at following directions. I've seen a picture of the pellet gun in question, and it is easily mistakable for a real gun. Witnesses heard the boy being told to put the gun down. He was shot twice in the torso. Two officers were involved. I don't know if each officer shot once, or if one fired both shots.
The boy was given an order to put down the gun. When a police officer tells you to put down a weapon, you damn well better put down the weapon. Officers are trained to aim center mass. That's exactly what they did. I fell really bad for the officers, because they have to live with what happened. that's some rough baggage.
There's been some serious blowback from a lot of stupid people. Some people are asking why the officers didn't shot the gun out of his hand, or just wound him. The answer is simple: THIS IS REAL LIFE, AND NOT A TV SHOW. If I'm armed and someone is pointing a gun at me and aiming for the biggest target and that is the torso. The fancy shooting we see in the movies and on TV is Hollywood make-believe. Then there are those people who are demanding to know why the officers didn't use non-lethal methods to subdue the boy. The range they were at has not been made clear so it may not have been in a good tazer range. It was too far for pepper spray or other gas weapons, and those are not what you are going to us when suddenly you are faced with someone with a gun. You pop smoke and you'll be eating lead before they even start coughing.
The parents of the boy are really leading the charge here. I fully understand where they are coming from. Their boy snapped, made some horrible decisions, and is now dead. These parents are angry and grieving. They want answers. They want someone to blame. There very well might not be anyone to blame. Its tragic. The parents are wrong trying to go after the police for this, but I can't judge them too harshly. They've lost their son.
So we have a set of parents who really want to see the best of their child that they've lost. Its put blinders on them a bit. On the other hand we have a case of parents who seem to want everyone to see all there is to see of their child and are willing to court to make it so.
The school administration backed the yearbook staff. Then the parents pitched a fit saying that the school was infringing on their daughter's right to Freedom of Expression.
I want to smack the living fuck out of these people.
What really sucks is that since the administration of a public school backed the yearbook staff's decision Colorado's law about schools not infringing on Freedom of Expression can be used to make the staff use the picture. The parents are actually taking this to court. They have to be completely off the rails. They want pictures of their daughter in suggestive poses wearing some sexy clothes for the her senior portrait? I remember my senior picture. All us guys put on tux jackets. We had these little clip on shirt things and bow ties. The girls had these nice wraps that they put on. We looked classy. It was actually a decent picture of me (after the air brushing), and those are hard to come by. So I really don't get why they'd even be allowing her to even try to use these pictures in the yearbook. I know she's legal, but its still creepy.
If she was going to put those photos in her modelling portfolio, that's fine. That's her portfolio. That's her business. Her now, her and her idiot parents are looking to impose their will upon the yearbook staff. Forget what they want. Forget that they're trying to put out the best product possible. Forget their offer to compromise and let the picture run in the advertisement section of the book. Now you've got an attention whore and her folks (and I doubt that apple fell far from the tree) getting national exposure on the news.
People wonder what the hell is wrong with kids nowadays, but I have to say, I'm wondering what's wrong with the parents. Kids make bad choices, it happens every day. It happens due to lack of experience at this thing called life. They're developing something called judgement, and until they've got that down, they need parents to look out for them and let them know when they're making bad choices. With the first case the parents didn't have much warning that something was going to go wrong, but defending their deceased son by placing blame on the police is a mistake. In the case of Spies, those parents are borderline creepy, and anyone who is willing to go to court to defend their daughter's whims is flat out bad parenting.
I'm taking a lot of note, because I know full well I'm going to have my hands full once my loin-spawn reach their teens. One thing all parents should know: kids are kinda stupid. Even the smart ones are kind of stupid. They make bad choices from time to time. You've got to tell them when they do.
MUSIC!!!
Everyone hopes their kids will end up alright. Doesn't happen by itself.
That'll do it for me today. See y'all Friday.
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