News started to break yesterday of the horrific kidnapping, brutalization, and torture of a mentally/developmentally disabled Chicago man by four others – one of whom was an acquaintance.
A mentally disabled man attacked and racially taunted on a Facebook Live video was able to leave a West Side apartment after a neighbor complained about the noise and distracted his attackers, authorities said Thursday.
Two of them followed the neighbor downstairs and the 18-year-old victim took the opportunity to leave the building in the 3300 block of West Lexington Street, ending a five-hour ordeal, police said at a news conference.
Officers found the man wandering the streets in the Homan Square neighborhood around 5:15 p.m., police said. “I observed him wearing a tank top, inside-out, backwards, jean shorts and sandals on,” said Officer Michael Donnelly. “He was bloodied, he was battered.
“He was very discombobulated,” he added. “He was injured. He was confused.”
The four perpetrators are facing felony charges, including hate crimes charges:
Four people face felony criminal charges including hate crimes and kidnapping in the brutal beating and torturing of a mentally disabled man that was broadcasted on live on Facebook.
Jordan Hill,18, of Carpentersville; Tesfaye Cooper, 18, of Chicago; Brittany Covington, 18, of Chicago; and Tanishia Covington, 24, of Chicago; face felony criminal charges of aggravated kidnapping, hate crime; aggravated unlawful restraint; aggravated battery deadly weapon; robbery; PSMV and residential burglary.
Chicago police were made aware of the video Tuesday afternoon. The footage shows the suspects kicking, hitting and cutting the hair of the victim while he was gagged. Shouts of “F*** Trump!” and “F*** white people!” can be heard in the background.
At one point, the victim is held at knife point and told to curse President-elect Donald Trump. The group also forces the victim to drink water from a toilet.
The victim was held hostage for at least 24 hours and as long as 48 hours. Police believe the kidnapping took place in an apartment in the 3400 block of West Lexington on the West Side. Chicago police found the victim “in distress” walking along a street, authorities said.
CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the footage “reprehensible.”
What has gotten a lot of play, and some of it absolutely falling in line with preconceived notions and prejudices, is that the victim is White and the perpetrators are African American.
I want to make this very, very clear: people, regardless of ethnicity, what we call race in the US, religion, or any other demographic descriptor we can come up, do horrible, terrible things to their fellow humans. And they do it all the time. In this case the victim/perpetrator realities lined up to provide grist for certain people’s mills, but what happened in Chicago is, unfortunately, not restricted to any one particular ethnicity or religious group. It is also unacceptable. And it would be unacceptable if the victim was African American and the perpetrators were white. Or if the victim was LatinX and the perpetrators were Jewish-American. Or if the victim was LGBTQ and the perpetrators were Asian American. Wrong is wrong is wrong regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, sexual orientation, or national origin. There is enough evil in the world without looking to shoehorn it into one’s ideological prejudices to score political points.
It is more important now than ever to remember and take to heart the wisdom of President Washington from his Letter to the Jewish Congregations of Newport, Rhode Island:
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Baud
No one disagrees, except for racists who want to race bait.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: True, but it has to be stated and reinforced. Over and over and over.
Cermet
But whites are always the victim and all other colors are always the criminals – look at our history …wait. Uh, not really the case but then, these parts of reality are overlooked by our 24/7 hate media. Yes, this rare occurrence will be sized by the media and used – especially the fake news. Typical and expected.
rikyrah
Trump said he had $315 million in debt. He left out $1.5 billion.
A new report reveals the breathtaking scope of Trump’s conflicts of interest.
Trump filed documents with the FEC over the summer that revealed he owed at least $315 million to ten entities. This debt, some of which is personally guaranteed by him, was a clear conflict. As president, Trump will be responsible for regulating entities that he also owes money to. Worse, these debts are frequently renegotiated, giving these companies leverage over Trump in the regulatory process.
A report this afternoon from the Wall Street Journal, however, revealed that Trump’s disclosure was the tip of the iceberg. The FEC required Trump only to report debt from entities he fully controls. The disclosure left out “more than $1.5 billion lent to partnerships that are 30%-owned by him.” That debt has been securitized and is owed to at least 150 financial entities.
These financial institutions include many firms that are under the scrutiny of the federal agencies that Trump will soon control. Wells Fargo, for example, which services over $900 million in loans connected to Trump, “is currently facing scrutiny from federal regulators surrounding its fraudulent sales practices and other issues.”
Trump will soon appoint the top regulators who will be responsible for scrutinizing the bank’s conduct.
Gin & Tonic
To anyone who chances to visit our fair state, the Touro Synagogue is well worth stopping in. The eloquence of George Washington is not required.
Particularly apt now, I think, are also the words of Moses Seixas, the Warden of the congregation (not called a Rabbi) on the occasion of the visit, when he referred to “This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue” — traits not now so much in evidence.
Mnemosyne
Yep. This is showing up all over my Facebook as See, we told you that Black people are the real racists! And yet there are crickets for the multiple daily incidents of racial violence against non-white people.
rikyrah
They aren’t smart. And, their asses will get what’s coming to them in General Population. Don’t drop the soap, you sadistic
rikyrah
Julie Davis Verified account
@juliehdavis
Trump team broke w precedent & issued blanket edict denying all Obama political ambassadors extensions post-1/20
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
And a lot of knee-jerk blaming of BLM thugs.
Miss Bianca
This really happened? For some reason I was in denial and thinking/hoping/wishing it was fake news – some twisted hoax. : (
schrodingers_cat
Its Thinking Housewife’s world now, we are just living in it. I haven’t ventured to check her blog since election day. But I am sure that she has been all over this incident.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Nope, unfortunately it actually happened.
Baud
@debbie: It’s not knee-jerk, it’s calculated.
charluckles
We just went through an election where the President-elect verbally attacked anyone and everyone including on at least one occasion attacking a person for his disability, and also went so far as to encourage and condone violence. Did people really believe they could assist in creating a more angry violent America and it wouldn’t effect them? Privilege is going to end up killing this country.
Chris
@efgoldman:
It still might.
rikyrah
Everything Makes Sense If You Accept That White People Just Want Everyone And Everything Dead
Damon Young, 1/5/17
…………………………….
Anyway, I’m thinking about this movie today because it helps to put the last three months of American politics in a certain context. Of course, we all know that White people went full capital letter White People and elected Donald Trump President; an act that seemed not to make any sense until you realize that it actually made perfect sense. Today, however, I had an Agent Kujan at the bulletin board epiphany. I even dropped my milkshake in slow motion on the floor.
Capital Letter White People want everyone dead. Not just us (Black people) or Muslims or Mexicans or Colin Kaepernick. But everyone.
Before you dismiss this, consider the following:
1. They elected a man who A) is literally a tweet away from starting a series of events that would culminate in a nuclear war and who B) apparently gives no fucks about the fact that he’s literally a tweet away from starting a series of events that would culminate in a nuclear war
…………………
3. They desperately want to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood; ultimately snatching health benefits and free and/or reduced cost health care away from millions of Americans — which will totally, definitely result in more dead Americans
Felonius Monk
I can hardly wait until the Gelatinous Orange Pig Bladder starts tweeting about this as the reason to cut food stamps or some other program.
Adam L Silverman
Holy Crap! Charlie Pierce got a haircut! This is, I think, the third seal of the Apocalypse.
Belafon
When people start bring this up and blaming BLM or all blacks, remind them of this:
The victim was black and mentally handicapped, and the assailant is white. Here’s what the assailant received for punishment:
Ella in New Mexico
I need to find a comprehensive summary of what the series of events were for this poor kid. Somewhere I heard his parents dropped him off at a fast food restaurant to meet someone, then didn’t report him missing for three days. How do you not wonder where your special needs kid is for three whole days?
How did he come into the hands of these monsters anyway? Did he know them? And what the hell was their motive for this besides just torturing another human being? He’s lucky to be alive.
I hope his family takes better care of him from now on and that he recovers from this. The people who did this are pretty much irreparable and need to spend the rest of their lives in jail as fare as I’m concerned.
Ohio Mom
While everyone goes on about the racial aspects of this, the disability aspects get lost.
People with disabilities, in all age groups, are disproportionately victimized — physically, sexually, emotionally.
It is a fact of life.
Most of the time, they are abused by someone they know, as happened here.
I’m not surprised that the black/white angle is being emphasized, given our culture and history. I’m also not surprised the disability angle is being ignored. That’s our culture’s usual approach to anything disability-related.
rikyrah
Perfecting My Jenifer Lewis Face To Fight White Supremacy
Sheree Greer, 1/4/17
………………….
I discovered my Jenifer Lewis face when, at the start of the fall semester, campus security and Milwaukee County Police joined forces to shut down a back to school party just blocks from my apartment. The party, which I happily attended, was packed with Black bodies dancing and hugging and laughing in all the ways we needed to face another semester at a PWI; we raised our hands and voices to Nas’s “If I Ruled the World,” all the while knowing the White boys around the corner actually do. The party eventually spilled out from my friend’s small, first floor apartment and onto the front lawn. Some of us were taking a moment to catch our breath in the crisp, cool breeze rustling through the golden and fire red trees of autumn in Milwaukee. Some of us were just shooting the shit, talking about midterms or who was getting down with who once the last jam played. Were we loud? Probably. Were we standing around laughing, slapping fives, and dranking? Of course. Were we burning shit, turning over cars, throwing homemade pasta-sauce-grenades at each other and fucking up people’s cars? Absolutely not.
When the campus and city police showed up, flashing lights and shining ultra-bright beams across the lawn and into our faces, they ordered us, via bullhorn, to either go inside or go home. Shit was a scene from “Higher Learning.” When too few of us responded, the police whooped their siren and repeated their order: Go inside or go home. The campus security made their way out of their cars, holding flashlights and already calling for college IDs. The city police opened their doors in support of the move, ready to jump out and accost anyone who moved too slowly. The security checked for identification and made moves to shut down the party. I knew the look I had on my face, but more importantly, I knew the way I felt, that acrid and heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach, was telling me something I needed to remember. The world works one way for them and another way for us. And this is America.
This was never more clear than when I moved to Florida shortly after graduating from Marquette. I took an IT consulting position that relocated me to sunny St. Petersburg, Florida. I worked with a diverse set of people, both nationally and internationally, but the folks at the very top never looked like me. In fact, they looked like mostly sober, clean-shaven versions of the frat boys who lived across the street from me in the not-so-distant past. New to area, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in the south. All I knew were beaches and beach trolleys, sun hats and sunsets. I was quickly introduced to a lot of things—some good (Cuban bread, mango and avocado trees growing in back yards), others troubling (Confederate flags on pick-up trucks everywhere, all the time), and still another a great but confusing marvel of contemporary shopping that, at the time, I had no frame of reference for… my first Walmart.
I had stepped into the superstore on the Northside of St. Petersburg (a city historically segregated by north and south by Central Avenue, North for Whites and South for Black people. The lines are blurring now though. See also: Gentrification. See Also: Urban Colonialism) because it was open late, and them long days as a consultant many times stretched past normal store hours. The looks started the moment I stepped out of my car and followed me all the way in to the bright overhead lights. Still in my smart, I’m-coming-for-a-management-position-suit and pinstriped shirt, I walked up and down the aisles, marveling at how tires, socks, DVD players, rifles, bikes, and Juicy Juice could share the same space. And without a membership? Walmart was off the chain. More remarkable than the stock in the place was me taking stock of the place. Other than two others, who were both workers, I seemed to be the only person of color in the entire store. And these White people, trying to enjoy their late-night shopping experience, were mad at me. They were mad I was in their store, on their side of town, and they were mad that I had on a suit, mad that I apparently had a job. The hate palpable, their mouths tight frowns and their eyes slits of accusation. I called my sister while I stood in line the shit was so ridiculous. I remember saying, Jenifer Lewis face intact, voice not even a little hushed, “You should see how these White people staring at me in this Walmart though. Like they ain’t never seen no Black woman with a job before.”
Baud
@Belafon: Nice catch. I guess the trick is (1) don’t stream the assualt and (2) be white.
debbie
Well, he’s off and running on the IC report:
Mai.naem.mobile
@rikyrah: The whole Lumpy family are a bunch of turds. These assholes who aren’t fit to shine Sasha Obama’s shoes turned down the Obamas’ offer of the jungle gym that they had gotten for the girls during his first term. I guess Lumpy and Melanoma think the Obamas left Black Kenyan cooties on the jungle gym. Or maybe Prince in Waiting Baron is only allowed to play on a 24k gold jungle gym. How fucking ungracious can this fucking family be. Princess Ivanka didn’t want her little dukes and duchess getting on those cootie laden bars either. Disgusting
people.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: He was in a button down color dress shirt, tie, and sport coat. They sort of matched. His hair was cut, beard and mustache were not trimmed – or if trimmed, not by much. Was not wearing his hat. He was on with Charlie Sykes on All In. Joy Ann Reid is guest hosting, which is why I’m watching, because she can actually conduct an interview. In the segment before the Charlies, she rotisseried Congressman Brooks.
Ohio Mom
@Ella in New Mexico: I can’t bear to read very much about this incident, too close to home, but I did hear that his parents dropped him off a fast food place to meet one of the perpetrators, with whom he had an acquaintanceship. I don’t know how long he was missing for though.
The parents may have been thrilled that their son had finally had a friend who wanted to spend time with him. Disabled people are often very isolated. And poor judges of character, it’s true.
Miss Bianca
@Ohio Mom: that’s the angle I was thinking about.
It’s funny, my local paper last week had two stories about how “differently-abled” people were being taken care of in our little tiny town. I remember thinking how lucky it was that these folks were living in our little tiny town where people have to give a shit about each other in order to survive here.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Pictures or
it didn’t happenhe’s as shaggy as ever.rikyrah
‘James Bond of Philanthropy’ Gives Away the Last of His Fortune
By JIM DWYER
JAN. 5, 2017
As it happens, Donald J. Trump is not the only person to announce plans to shut down a personal philanthropy, just the best known.
This is the story of a man who made and kept that same promise.
Nearly five years ago, Charles F. Feeney sat in a cushy armchair in an apartment on the east side of Manhattan, grandchildren’s artwork taped to the walls, and said that by the end of 2016, he was going to hand out the last of a great fortune that he had made.
It was a race: Mr. Feeney was then 81, and Atlantic Philanthropies, a collection of private foundations he had started and funded, still had about $1.5 billion left. Flinging money out the window or writing checks willy-nilly was not Mr. Feeney’s way.
Last month, Mr. Feeney and Atlantic completed the sprint and made a final grant, $7 million to Cornell University, to support students doing community service work.
He had officially emptied his pockets, meeting his aspiration of “giving while living.” Altogether, he had contributed $8 billion to his philanthropies, which have supported higher education, public health, human rights and scientific research.
“You’re always nervous handling so much money, but we seem to have worked it pretty well,” Mr. Feeney, now 85, said last week in a phone interview.
His remaining personal net worth is slightly more than $2 million. That’s not quite broke, by any standard, but it is a modest amount for a man who controlled thousands of times as much wealth. He and his wife, Helga, now live in a rented apartment in San Francisco.
Ruviana
@Ella in New Mexico: I’ve read that the victim and his parents thought he was going to a sleepover. When they didn’t hear from him the next day they did indeed report it. On my phone and linking is beyond my skill set.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mai.naem.mobile:
I am convinced that 1) no matter what Melania promised Michelle when they met right after the election, the vegetable garden is not long for this world; and 2) before the year is out, Trump will remove the solar panels from the White House roof. You will recall that Carter installed them in the first place, Reagan took them out, Obama re-installed them, and now I’m absolutely convinced that Trump will get rid of them. Commie pinko liberal solar panels!
rikyrah
@Ohio Mom:
Wasn’t lost on me. Makes me more sick.
UNDER.THE.JAIL.
Old Dan and Little Anne
My local news led with this story at 6 o’clock. They showed a tweet in which they read the hashtag blmkidnapping. I’ve been pissed off since.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Good god
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: This summation fits with what I’ve read based on the Chicago PD’s reconstruction of events.
rikyrah
As it turns out … Bentley’s driver’s license closures were racial, after all
By Kyle Whitmire | [email protected]
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 05, 2017 at 11:16 AM, updated January 05, 2017 at 2:23 PM
All you had to do was look at a map to see it.
When the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced the closure of 31 driver’s license offices in 2015, I printed out a blank map of the state’s 67 counties and began coloring in the ones that no longer had a place to get the most common form of photo ID.
Rural Alabama had been hit hard by the closures, but especially the Black Belt — the region of Alabama that takes its name first from the color of its rich soil but also from the concentration of African-Americans who live there. A few economic development projects aside, the Black Belt has always suffered the worst from Alabama’s sins, leaving its citizens with the least means the farthest distance from basic necessities, be it a job, simple trip to a grocery store, utilities like broadband internet.
And now a place to get a driver’s license.
………………………………..
And for what? We now know the driver’s license closures saved little money — somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000, tops, according to Bentley’s former ALEA secretary Spencer Collier. The routine shortfalls in the General Fund budget typically range from $100 million to $200 million. The closures didn’t even scratch that. They were a naked act of political vengeance.
So I made a crude digital version of my colored paper map and published it here. My colleague John Archibald looked at census and elections data and found more ugly facts. In the 10 counties with the highest proportion of minorities, the state closed driver’s license offices in eight. The other two remained open because it might be too much to explain, I suppose, for Alabama not to have driver’s license offices in Montgomery or Selma.
Maybe the governor didn’t intend to target minority citizens with the closures, but ultimately his intent is beside the point. The effect was the same, and the reaction was as swift as it was predictable. Alabama again became a national embarrassment. The NAACP sued and the United States Department of Transportation investigated.
Last month, the latter of those two legal actions concluded.
“Based on its investigation, DOT has concluded that African Americans residing in the Black Belt region of Alabama disproportionately underserved by ALEA’s driver licensing services, causing a disparate and adverse impact on the basis of race,” the department said.
ALEA had already buckled and reopened many of the offices but for fewer hours. However, under an agreement struck between the state and federal agencies, ALEA agreed to add more hours of service to the Black Belt offices.
Maybe now that everything has been put back the way it was before, there’s no longer any harm. But we shouldn’t forget that all of this was avoidable.
And what was the cost? The legal fees alone will diminish — if they haven’t already exceeded — any paltry savings.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: As soon as Joy Ann Reid posts the pics online, I’ll post the link.
Ohio Mom
@Miss Bianca: I read a book about people with autism around the world by an anthropologist. His take was that the rural life can be very good for people with disabilities. There is lots of fairly simple work that needs doing so there can be a role for everyone. Even with limitations, you can contribute to the community’s well-being.
Plus I suppose there is some peer pressure at work. If the disabled person has behaviors you don’t like — well, he is your neighbors’ nephew so you have to be tolerant because you share a fence line with his aunt and uncle. And probably will be for the rest of all of your lives.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Well ,young blacks acting as entitled dickheads just like white people. I suppose that’s progress. Really, the only thing that surprising about this one is the abusers aren’t whites. Am I correct in guessing the perpetrators have middle class parents?
Mai.naem.mobile
@SiubhanDuinne: i doubt Melanoma has ever even gone to one of those U-Pick-Fruit places just for fun. The garden’s gone for sure. And you can’t use Commie Pinko for Dems anymore because it’s Gushing On Putin party who are the Commie Pinko like lovers.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Nope, this is Mo Brooks. After she was done with him it was Less Brooks. Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal!
Both the Charlies were beside themselves (so that was four of them) over Congressman Brooks inability, no matter how many times Reid asked the question, to simply state that yes, he sides with the DNI and not Jullian Assange.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne:
This is always the thing, right? One instance of black-on-white violence (or even faked black-on-white violence…remember that weirdo who carved a ‘B’ in her face in October 2008, trying to frame Obama supporters, but she did it wrong because she was looking in a mirror?) and the RWNJs go nuts.
Ohio Mom
@Mai.naem.mobile: I have an old “Better Dead than Red” button somewhere. I’ll have to dig it up. I would never have imagined wearing it un-ironically but here we are.
delk
That kidnapping took place about 4-5 blocks from where the CPD had their torture site.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m thinking there must be a new girlfriend in the picture. Has to be.
J R in WV
@Mai.naem.mobile:
I saw that tiny detail of the transition, and had exactly the reaction you talk about.
No Black Cooties for the Trump children!!! Fuquers.
If I was leaving the White House, I would have all the equipment, desks, chairs, computers, everything through a crusher and landfilled on Jan 19th. Let those bastards show up on the 20th with ground zero to start from.
Well, wait, that sounds good, but I wouldn’t do it, because it would be irresponsible, and Obama is even more responsible than I am. But it is the kind of thing the Trump administration begs people to do to them.
I guess it’s better to be upfront about the swing/play set, so it can go to a charity, but what an attitude. I hope Trump’s people have arranged for new linens, mattresses , towels, napkins, toilet tissue, etc. No black cooties left anywhere for Trump the fearful. What a piece of work.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: I’m pretty sure Mrs. Pierce may have something to say about that.
hovercraft
@Baud:
I think you meant to say no one her disagrees, but I guarantee that over at bullshit mountain they will be painting this as an escalation of black on white violence. It will be the new thing, remember when those black kids attacked those whit kids on the school bus because Obama was elected? No, never heard of it, well over at FOX, Hannity still talks about it. What about the knockout game, you know the gangs of black youth who roam around knocking white people out? In the real world we may see this as four assholes picking on a disabled person because of their disability, but it will go down in right wing lore as a hate crime against whites.
Miss Bianca
@Ohio Mom: don’t know how you feel about NYT links, but this is one of the stories – local author Hal Walter’s writings about how pack-burro racing prepped him for raising his autistic son made it to the NYT recently: “What Donkeys Know About Autism”.
Hal also writes a lot about how incredibly grateful he is that our community and school district have bent over backwards to mainstream Harrison. It’s stuff like that that gives me hope for this community, when the same paper that printed the notice about this article also prints letters to the editor about how Hillary Clinton couldn’t be trusted because emails, but Donald Trump was just what we needed.
Mnemosyne
Here’s my philosophical musing for the evening:
When you spew hatred and division out into the public space like the Republicans have been doing for years (if not decades), that is not heard only by the people who are themselves RWNJs. It’s heard by everyone, and you cannot predict exactly who is going to pick up the signal. It could be a crazy person, like Jared Loughner, or it could be a group of sociopaths, like these assholes. That’s why it’s dangerous to spew a steady stream of hate. You have no idea where it’s going to land.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Is there a Mrs. Pierce? Who knows, perhaps she got herself a new year’s resolution that included not letting Charlie go out all mussed up and stuff.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, that truth-telling to power is admirable!! Of course he doesn’t side with Intelligence geeks, no one can trust those guys! While Julian Assange and the Wiki people are as trustworthy as the day is long…wait, what?
This is January, is it?
Never mind…
Jeffro
@hovercraft: True. So whenever this happens – and it will – we need to point out that we’re glad wingers agree with us that the rule of law applies to everyone, and that one person of color punching a white person, somewhere, doesn’t justify anything other than trying, sentencing, and punishing that one person.
max
Exactly! We shouldn’t be bigoted and prejudiced – all races, creeds, colors and ethnicities are capable of being worthless fucking assholes.
max
[‘Only the Republican fetishize the ‘white’ part of ‘fucking white asshole’.’]
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca:
This is a thing? The world is full of many small wonders.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro:
http://www.charlespierce.net/aboutPage
Mary G
It’s cynical of me, but I can’t help suspecting that some RWNJ gave these four morons a lot of money to do this to provide the necessary incident to give Trump the excuse to initiate the legal abuse of people of color, people with disabilities, and poor people.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s a huge thing out here – it’s Colorado’s native sport – basically running a marathon thru’ the mountains with a loaded pack burro a la the old gold miners. It’s absolutely insane, so what does it say about me that I know two of the all-time world champs? ; )
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: A small wonder would be pack-burrito racing.
Eric Jones
You people are idiots. I am farther to the left than any of you and a mexican american. This was a horrible racist crime and they should hang those little pieces of garbage. Don’t act like it isn’t a crime just because it fits your hypocritical politics to say so.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: For mini-burros?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: You’re a pack-burro bunny?
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Lottie Lenya would have never consented to play Conway.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Sure. I was going more with putting packs on the Mexican food and racing them, but mini-burros work too.
Eric Jones
@Miss Bianca: I am a native Coloradan and in Colorado right now and I never heard of it. A big Colorado tradition is the naked pumpkin run. People run naked thru the streets in the fall carrying pumpkins.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: A racer chaser? Oh my!
Adam L Silverman
@Eric Jones: Who exactly said it wasn’t a crime?
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Chorizo is one of the Brewers’ Racing Sausages.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Spicy!
ruemara
The funny thing is, we can talk about cases where white kids straight up killed black people because it’s funny to attack and kill an black person. It doesn’t lessen the horror of what was done to this poor man, but it amazes me at the congenital amnesia to the terrors inflicted on minorities by gawping, giggling white people. We can all break out a few lynching picnic stories and the horrific dragging death of that poor homeless guy in Texas. A case like this is comparatively rare.
Omnes Omnibus
@Eric Jones: Google is your friend.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman:
He needs to be careful. In 2016 more Americans were killed by lawnmowers than by terrorists.
I read that on the Internet, so it has to be true.
Patricia Kayden
@Belafon: Thank you. This a million times. Let’s not pretend that this incident in Chicago is unique. The perpetrators need to be punished harshly unlike the White kids who got off in the story you linked.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Wouldn’t surprise me. That Toro lawnmower is probably one of the dead enders that’s been hiding out since the end of WW II in the Pacific.
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca:
The burros, or the humans?
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: If I were you, I’d ban the commenter who wrote that.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: @Omnes Omnibus: This keeps up and we’re going to have to put a NSFW warning on this post!
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Huh?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Burros are just tiny horses that smell like feet, according to one of the Shrek movies.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: For some reason, the phrase “pack-burro bunny” has me giggling uncontrollably. As does the image of you standing over a bunch of burritos with little packs on them, trying to get them to move.
Mnemosyne
@Eric Jones:
What part of “they should be buried under the jail” and “they’re not gonna enjoy being in gen pop” was confusing to you?
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: That “Toro” “joke” was hideous.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
@Adam L Silverman:
Isn’t his wife another writer/journalist, Margaret Doris? If she isn’t married to him now, she was when he wrote his Alzheimer’s book.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: See, I wasn’t aware there was more than one Shrek movie. That’s why I come here, for the learnin’.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
“Toro! Toro! Toro!”
Miss Bianca
@Gin & Tonic: The burros and the humans race as a team, so both! : )
@SiubhanDuinne: Girl, I’m so glad I’d put my glass down before I read that!
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman:
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: hideous as in bad/not funny? Sorry…
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: I think so.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: There also are spin-offs.
Gin & Tonic
Who needs a B-J calendar when you can have this?
SiubhanDuinne
@J R in WV:
It hadn’t explicitly occurred to me before, but of course his germophobia probably explains why he almost always flew home from the campaign trail to NYC or one of his own (“safe,” “clean”) properties rather than spend a single night on the road, even in a luxury hotel. Nobody knows who might have slept in those beds!
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Props for the Murder by Death reference!
Ohio Mom
@Miss Bianca: That was a great article, I enjoyed it tremendously. I see why you are proud of your town. Loved the part about the woman who used her dog to help Harrison over the finish line.
But I am still shaking my head at the idea of pack-burro racing. You must admit, that is an unusual sport. And I can’t believe my family spent ten days in Colorado, I guess that was about nine or ten summers ago, driving between Denver and Aspen (ask me if I’m ever going back through Independence Pass), and nobody introduced us to this bit of local color. Maybe it was the off-season?
chris
@Adam L Silverman: Get out!
Gravenstone
@Eric Jones: Who in the ever loving fuck said it’s not a crime? Jesus christ but you are bone stupid git.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Also a somewhat obscure Marvel comics character. In the Golden Age, when in human form sported pretty much the bare minimum so far as costuming went.
Miss Bianca
@Ohio Mom: Well, there definitely is a season for it…and I never heard of it till I moved to the central mountain range. Leadville also has horse ski-joring, which is another insane excuse for sport round these parts!
sukabi
@J R in WV: if drumpf doesn’t want them the Obama’s should have them removed and donated to a day care. / school for under privileged children.
J R in WV
@sukabi:
That’s what happened, they are being donated to some group the Obama’s or their staff identified as being worthy and able to make good use of the equipment.
Like no children of Trump’s family or visitors to Trump’s family would want to go into the back yard of the White House and play!
Ella in New Mexico
@Mai.naem.mobile: where did you find this story? I want to FB it like mad
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca:
I would so do that.
StringOnAStick
@Eric Jones: I am also a native of Colorado still living in Colorado, and know people who do pack burro racing. A pack burro demonstration race starts every year for Engineering Days at Colorado School of Mines near our home, goes down Colfax avenue all the way to the capital building in downtown Denver. The biggest annual race is in Leadville.
NotMax
@Ella in New Mexico
Here ya go.
mai naem mobile
@Ella in New Mexico: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_586e942de4b043ad97e25214
Obviously the cooties part was my editorial comment! I heard it on the local radio on the tail end of the top of the hour AP news headline blurbs so I’m assuming lots of people heard this.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus: You could try the dog-assisted version of skijoring, if sharing your condo with an active dog or two sounds less intimidating than renting a horse & finding a groom to ride it. Envision a couple of deerhounds or borzois, dragging your elegantly-clad self along the course…
(The dog-based version is probably older & certainly more universal — dogs have been roaming the snow country with humans a lot longer than domestic ungulates, and a lot more folks could afford to keep dogs than horses.)
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: All right – I’ll ride, you ski! : )
Ithink
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh God, I though O was the only 1 here who saw Joy Ann Reid do that? Isn’t she f-ing amazing??? Also too: so glad to see her morning show do so phenomenal in the ratings considering her first daytime show that came on after Ronan Farrow’s didn’t last but a few spare months..
P.S.- never thought I’d say this about a talk radio right-winger like Charlie Sykes but he has my biggest respect for the time being keeping up the Anri-Trump drumbeat for Actual Conservatives. And even better has been Robert Costa & Evan McMullin. Some bats#$% crazy times we live in!