A Buffalo right-wing radio personality, Tom Bauerle, seems to have lost the plot:
During the height of the blizzard descending upon Amherst and Western New York early Wednesday, Bauerle called 911 at about 2:50 a.m. to report the suspicious person, according to two police sources in a position to know Amherst police investigations. Officers responded but found no one in the vicinity.
After an officer told Bauerle that he could not find any footprints in the snow – which would have indicated someone had been walking through his backyard – Bauerle told the officer that government operatives have special shoes that leave no prints in the snow, one of the law enforcement officials said.
Officers took away Bauerle’s loaded gun and sent him for a psych eval at the local hospital. This isn’t an isolated incident–his neighbors have called police several times recently because of his behavior. Bauerle’s delusions center around Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York’s SAFE gun control legislation.
I agree with Alan Bedenko (Buffalopundit) that this should be a personal matter, except for one thing: the management of Bauerle’s station let him back on the air on Friday afternoon, two days after he had his psych exam. He claimed on the air that he was suffering from exhaustion, and that he needed to catch up on sleep to get his “head back in the game”. Something’s clearly wrong with the management of that station if they can’t step in and make sure this guy gets enough treatment and rest to shed those paranoid delusions, but my guess is that the ratings are too sweet to pass up.
Origuy
His paranoid delusions are probably the reason he has those sweet ratings.
Violet
If he were not a white male there’s no way he’d be back on the air.
Ben Franklin
Cut him some slack. He’s in Buffalo, which is even more exhausting than Omaha.
MikeJ
@Violet: He might not be alive. Imagine the cops showing up at a black man’s house because they’ve been told he’s crazy and has a gun.
MattF
Right-wing radio is in a place where there’s a very fine line between “someone who says crazy things” and “someone who is crazy and says things.” I’ll just note that people who have had psychotic breakdowns are not very good at either self-diagnosis or self-treatment.
Schlemizel
He crossed the line between selling BS to the mouth-breathers and actually believing what he is saying. I’ll try to set aside some time later in the week to feel sorry for him but till then I wish this same thing for all his ilk.
Roger Moore
Right wing loonies putting the almighty buck above the health and safety of their employees and the general public? Hoocoodanode!
dedc79
Unfortunately, under our new system, a guy like Bauerle is considered a responsible, law-abiding gun owner up until the point when he shoots a naked, and therefore clearly unarmed, white toddler or infant (this being the only remaining scenario where an adult white male cannot possibly succeed with a self-defense argument)
Mudge
Government operatives are able to levitate. That’s why there were no footprints. Everyone knows that.
Villago Delenda Est
I’m sure his ratings will improve, as people tune in to find out what this obvious madman is raving about next.
The radio station’s management has no problem with that.
BTW, any weapons he has in his home should be confiscated. He’s clearly not a “responsible gun owner.” But then again, no gun fetishist/wingtard is.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mudge: Could have been elves.
Another Holocene Human
Sounds like the people exploiting Glenn Beck, of which Glenn Beck is one.
Mike G
It’s Rabies Radio — mental illness IS his act. This is just a new variation on the same theme.
Another Holocene Human
@dedc79: Are you kidding? If a child dies it was an accidental discharge, duh, don’t you know how “good guys with guns” (wink wink) works?
Villago Delenda Est
@Mudge:
“You fool! You were supposed to cast Wingardium Leviosa on me, not Levicorpus!”
PurpleGirl
@Mike G: If I wanted to hear psycho, rage-alcohlic ramblings, I’d rather play a video of Brother Theodore. At least he had put some thought behind what he said
Mudge
@Villago Delenda Est: I do believe you have hinted properly at the newest government operative training site. And their shorted name is Goopers.
Mudge
@Villago Delenda Est: I do believe you have hinted properly at the newest government operative training site. And their shorted name is Goopers.
Gex
Make sure you spread the sickness far and wide. This is what right-wing rhetoric does best. Spew a bunch of nonsense that makes sane people a little crazy and makes crazy people volatile and violent (such as jared loughner).
ETA: The best political operatives for the right are the mentally ill lone wolves who take the war and the destroying America rhetoric literally. And that rhetoric isn’t selected accidentally.
Litlebritdiftrnt
Ha! That reminds me on something funny I saw on Facebook this morning. “Want to drive your neighbors crazy? Name your WiFi FBI Surveillance Van 7”.
mdblanche
@Villago Delenda Est:
Wasn’t this the plot of a movie made back in the 70’s?
Hal
I’m convinced many radio “personalities” like Bauerle are faking it with the paranoia, but know that’s what appeals to their audiences. The problem is once you start suffering from, ahem, exhaustion the walls between delusion and reality crumble. Imagine a whole nursing home filled with right winger radio hosts. I’m not sure it would be different from what you hear now.
dedc79
@Another Holocene Human: Sigh, you’re right.
Smiling Mortician
@mdblanche: Pretty sure this is the clip you’ve got in mind . . .
Aji
@Hal: When that happens, the staff better get hazardous duty pay. Particularly since most of them are likely to fall into categories that make them professional targets (women of color, specifically).
Also hazmat pay. Even the air will be toxic from the crap they’ll all be spewing nonstop.
Matt
@Hal:
First time the staff makes popcorn everybody will shoot each other.
Violet
@Another Holocene Human: @dedc79: Said it before, the local municipalities are leaving money on the table with responding this way. In my opinion, one of the best ways to get better gun laws would be to leave the moral and constitutional arguments alone and go for the money argument.
Every time a previously “responsible gun owner”‘s gun is accidentally used to hurt a person or an object, they have to pay a Gun License Fine. Charge them for their irresponsibility. It’s like getting points on your drivers license. You pay more for your insurance. And while we’re at it–gun owners should pay more for their home insurance because it’s a known fact that owning a gun means a greater chance of someone or something getting injured by that gun. Increase the rates.
Insurance companies and cities and counties are leaving money on the table. Those gun owners can pay for their irresponsibility. They get to own the gun. They just don’t get to be irresponsible with it. Money, money, money.
gene108
Inability to sleep can be caused by serious mental illness and creates a vicious cycle because sleep will help your brain rest, but the mental illness keeps the brain going and going.
One thing you get asked in psych evaluations is how are you sleeping and how are you eating.
Serious changes to normal sleep and food consumption can be triggered by mental illness.
rikyrah
Important new developments in New Jersey’s ‘bridgegate’ scandal
Steve Kornacki shares new information about why the “bridgegate” scandal in New Jersey is much bigger than a traffic jam. He explains how the political and economic ramifications of a massive redevelopment project in Fort Lee could have been related to the George Washington Bridge closures.
http://www.msnbc.com/up/watch/important-new-developments-in-bridgegate-114674243672
rikyrah
These are the 15 Democratic saboteurs and chickenhawks attempting to undermine President Obama and Secretary Kerry’s diplomacy efforts regarding Iran. Email and call them. Over and over. Publish these names on other blogs. They are trying to push us to a war with Iran at the behest of Israeli conservatives. They are NOT working in the best interest of America.
Sen. Robert Menendez
Sen. Mark Begich
Sen. Richard Blumenthal
Sen. Cory Booker
Sen. Ben Cardin
Sen. Bob Casey
Sen. Chris Coons
Sen. Joe Donnelly
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
Sen. Kay Hagan
Sen. Mary Landrieu
Sen. Joe Manchin
Sen. Mark Pryor
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Mark Warner
gene108
@Violet:
Hahahaha….you sound like a 1970’s after school special.
Everyone now knows that guns make everyone safer and more polite. /snark
Keith P.
And Jesus said, “That was when I was carrying you…and FLYING!!”
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Yeah, I saw that. It looks like we might finally be seeing the real motivation behind it.
Aimai
@Violet: i could not agree more. Id like to see insurance rates tied to neighborhood density, as well. A lot of the danger of accidental gun negligence comes from the amazing firepower people can own. If your weapons are so powerful that an accidental discharge on your property can go through the walls of your neighbors home, or into their backyard, you ought to have to carry very heavy insurance to cover that. And without insurance you shouldn’t be able to own/store those weapons in a residential area.
dedc79
@Violet: I’m all for it. Mandatory insurance at point of purchase would be even better, but the current court would probably strike it down.
? Martin
How is this guy different from 27% of our population?
Omnes Omnibus
@? Martin: He has a radio show.
PsiFighter37
Hahahahaha. Who seriously believes this kind of shit? You have to be high on some really strong, really weird shit (which I suppose right-wing talk radio would qualify as) to hold this as a core belief.
gene108
@rikyrah:
To be fair Menendez and Booker (NJ), and Gilligrand and Shumer (NY) represent states with large Jewish populations. They maybe representing the interests of a subset of their states’ citizens by taking this position.
gene108
@PsiFighter37:
No. You just need to be actively psychotic that leads to experiencing hallucinations. My personal experience with hallucinations is taking a normal activity and have your brain slip in crazy conclusions that may or may not have been said and or occurred.
For example, you are on a conference call at work and you think someone in the background is talking about stealing something “Incriminating” from your office / desk, as a side conversation.
A lot of people have issues with walking into a room with people laughing and you first think they are laughing at you. When you are psychotic, you figure out what was said and why they are laughing at you and spend sleepless nights debating on how to act on your conclusions.
KG
@Hal:
Isn’t that basically what Fox News is?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Last week, when I said that the guy who went on a hunger strike over gay marriage should be given a psych evaluation, I was told that I was calling for the government to suppress people’s political beliefs. So isn’t hauling this guy to the psych ward an example of the government trying to force him to give up his non-mainstream political beliefs?
sparrow
@rikyrah: Ben Cardin is my rep (I had to hold my nose to vote for him). Emailing now.
KG
@rikyrah: huh, I’m slightly surprised that neither California senator is on that list
MattF
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Seriously, it’s a judgement call. Threatening to harm yourself is not a good sign. Threatening your neighbors to the degree that they call the police is several notches worse. Believing that G-Men have special shoes that don’t leave tracks in the snow is flatly delusional.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
To believe that there exist “special shoes that leave no prints in the snow” is not a political belief, regardless of who is alleged to have the shoes. It is a belief at odds with physical reality.
KG
Here’s the part I don’t get… Ok, he believes in magic trackless snow shoes, but why is he telling government employees that he knows they have them? Wouldn’t the “smarter” (let’s go ahead and call those wtf quote marks) be to tell them that more snow covered the tracks? That way, they won’t know you’re on to them, but now they know that you know…
Nutella
@gene108:
No problem getting us into another stupid war that kills a lot of people as long as a minority of voters appears* to be for it? Nope, it’s absolutely fair to criticize them for that.
(*) I say “appears to be for it” because I do not get the impression that the average Jewish voter sides with AIPAC when it comes to us invading countries the government of Israel wants us to. Some of them, sure, but not all or even most of them.
scav
@KG: Maybe the magical Sheriff powder rubs off on the other locals? Sheriffs are to be trusted with all aspects of the constitution, they know best, so clearly as to be trusted? Then again, expecting a logical chain of belief and behavior is rather something we should have given up for the duration.
KG
@scav: IANAP but I’ve often found that there is usually an internal logic, even among psychopathic actions. You just gave to figure out the internal frame of logic
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
It might not in itself be a political belief, but it does form part of a political belief system in which government operatives use all kinds of special secret technology to help them spy on people. Such operatives are known to do it with technology that does exist, as we have seen with the NSA. The crank invents nonexistent technology for them to use as well.
Nutella
Wow, that wouldn’t have happened in a lot of places. Good for the officers and the locality that lets them do the right thing.
muddy
@scav: Everyone knows the bailiff outranks the shire reeve. Silly.
scav
@KG: Probably a more intelligent way of framing it. The magic sheriff & local police not being tainted while the feds are framework would have to fall under that heading, as would the if corporations do it, it’s totally ok, but if a govt does exactly the same, it is evil mindset. See data privacy for latter. Looks to be still more companies beyond Target and Macy’s, surprise surprise.
Mike in NC
@Steeplejack: No doubt many wingnuts would argue that gravity, like evolution, is merely a “theory”.
muddy
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I didn’t think the hunger strike guy needed an evaluation because he’s just he’s just a posturing dweeb. If he actually did it properly for some time and got to the point of actually hurting himself then perhaps check him (do they do this to people with anorexia?).
Otherwise you have to check everyone that says stupid self-serving bullshit with little to no followthrough.
This radio guy was so nuts he forgot that you shouldn’t tell the cops about the magic footprint thing. You can be nuts, and totally believe it, but still know not to say it to the cops. Or anyone really.
? Martin
@KG: We don’t have a powerful Jewish coalition here. But probably more telling, the hawkish position in this case doesn’t involve more DOD spending.
I suspect most of our Senator’s hawk positions are simply bringing money home to the biggest defense spending state.
scav
@Mike in NC: You don’t believe it’s the angels holding us down, preventing premature rapture!? That’s why the feds can levitate over snow — they’re perverting god’s will and sneaking away from the gravity seraphim. Sheriffim.
Smiling Mortician
@efgoldman: Slander! Everyone knows guns don’t kill people.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@MattF:
So is believing that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, but that’s a mainstream belief among Republicans now.
This is my point: when one of the two major political parties builds their arguments on conspiracy theories and crazy assertions, how do you tell the difference between your average Rush Limbaugh listener and someone who’s psychotic?
kindness
Sounds like the nut has a substance abuse problem.
ruemara
@Violet:
FTFY
muddy
@Smiling Mortician: It always seems to be in the passive voice, doesn’t it?
Violet
@ruemara: It’s not an either or. It’s a both and.
dedc79
@Smiling Mortician: you beat me to it
Yatsuno
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I STILL have never gotten an answer if I’m required to surrender my passport since all I got was a Certificate of Live Birth from the state records in Hawai’i. Hell if it ain’t good enough for the wingnuts why should it be acceptable proof for me?
Bill E Pilgrim
The news item here not being the fact that a right-wing hate radio host was clinically delusional, but that somebody actually had one of them taken away for evaluation.
muddy
@Yatsuno: You know why. And so do we, having seen you in photos.
Cheers on your recovery! I’ve been reading with interest.
Jay C
@Nutella:
I don’t think this is so much the case (as much as certain interests in Israel and the US would like it to be) as a matter of the Israeli government looking to nail down US backing for – or, more precisely, protection from negative international fallout from – a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities of their own. And also (and IMO, much the worse motoivator) undercut the Obama Administration’s diplomatic initiatives re Iran, and show the US who the boss in in US/Israeli relations really is.
gene108
@Mike in NC:
WIng-nuts do not do nuance.
Since things fall down Gravity is a Law of Physics!
Since we have not seen a monkey turn into a person evolution is a “Theory” that cannot be proven and has just been made up by delusion liberal-God-hating-elitist-snobs, to test the faith of good Christians.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike in NC:
Theory of Intelligent Falling.
The way you demonstrate the fallacy of said theory is to chuck one of its proponents out of a helicopter hovering 1000 feet above a soccer field.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Why do you hate soccer fields?
sm*t cl*de
Bauerle told the officer that government operatives have special shoes that leave no prints in the snow
Apparently “Welcome to Nightvale” needs the “not a documentary” disclaimer.
Glocksman
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
That’s damn funny.
I have an extra router I’m not using and I might do just that.
I’ll even leave it unencrypted, though not actually wired up to any network connection.
If nothing else, it’ll annoy anyone who tries to leech off of ‘DEA_TASK_FORCE’ wireless for free internet.