Update on the Travis County Taser Story:

Sgt. Major Gary Griffin, Travis County Constable’s Office Precinct 3, applauded Deputy Chris Bieze’s actions by saying he “didn’t break nothin’.” (LINK)

You got that? Bieze didn’t break nothin’. That’s good. I’m glad he didn’t break nothin’. We’re all glad. Would’ve been too bad if he’d broke somethin’.

When Griffin said this, he was making the point that the woman should be glad Bieze used a Taser instead of a nightstick. People get hurt by nightsticks, you see, whereas it don’t hurt people none at all to get hit by a Taser. Don’t break nothin’.

It is revealed in the same story that Bieze is the Taser instructor for Precinct 3. Presumably, then, as the precinct’s resident authority on Tasers, he is aware of the potentially harmful effect of sending 50,000 volts of electricity into the neck of an elderly woman, to say nothing of the injury she might have suffered falling to the ground.

Yet he did it anyway!

You will recall that, earlier in the confrontation, Bieze shoved the woman—shoved her so hard it knocked her backwards a step or two, and could have easily knocked her down and broke somethin’. This was done for her safety, Bieze later said, to get her away from the traffic.

Which sounds dubious to me. Is this how you would have ushered an elderly woman away from traffic. Take the test below to compare your handling of the situation to the way Deputy Bieze handled it. It’s multiple choice, so it should be easy …

(1) You’re a cop. You’re trained to deal with the public. You pull over an elderly woman for speeding. She’s upset, refuses to sign the ticket. You order her out of the car. Once she’s out of the car, you realize you need to usher her away from the traffic for her safety. You have three choices. You can: (1) calmly explain why she needs to move and gently place your hand on her shoulder, (2) scream in her face and punch her violently in the shoulder, or (3) stick your thumb up your butt, waddle back to the squad car, and cram another donut into your fat swinish face.

(2) You’re a cop dealing with an upset elderly woman. You’ve just made the situation worse by screaming at her and shoving her. You’re also the precinct’s Taser instructor. You know that Tasering an elderly woman could cause cardiac arrest or that she could hurt herself and break somethin’ in the fall. Faced with the dilemma of how to get her to comply with an order, you have four choices. You can: (1) Taser her anyway and hope she don’t break nothin’, (2) use your nightstick and hope she don’t break nothin’, (3) stop barking orders and try using the calm tone of voice one usually uses when dealing with agitated, elderly, or infirm persons, or (4) radio headquarters with your immediate resignation and get a job more suited to your abilities, such as shoveling shit at the dog pound.

(3) You’re a cop. You have just Tasered a 72-year-old grandmother. All the bad choices in your miserable, worthless, futile, pointless, rotten life have led up to this unfortunate moment. What can you do now to redeem yourself? You have three choices. You can: (1) render aid to the screaming injured woman who for all you know, might’ve broke somethin’ when she fell, (2) continue to bark orders and threaten her with more Taserings even though it is now impossible for her to move, or (3) take out your Taser, pull down your pants, and shoot yourself in the ass, you fucking idiot.

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SPECIAL REPORT from Mack White

I defy anyone to watch this video (above) and give me one good reason why Travis County Deputy Chris Bieze was justified in Tasering a 72-year-old grandmother during a traffic stop.

Yes, she was argumentative. Yes, she failed to comply with the officer’s order. But does this justify use of the Taser?

Originally, Tasers were intended to be used by police only in situations where a gun might otherwise be used–that is, in situations where lives might be in danger. Rule of thumb: If a situation doesn’t require a gun, it shouldn’t require a Taser.

And yet, increasingly, police are using the Taser not in dangerous situations, but simply to enforce compliance.

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If you live in the Austin area, I hope you will drop by Austin Books tomorrow, Wednesday, February 20. I will be signing copies of the just-released comics anthology Hotwire 2, along with copies of my other comics (Bush Junta, Villa of the Mysteries, Mutant Book of the Dead, etc.) and a few out-of-print publications and rarities. I’ll also have a few freebies, including copies of my Operation Northwoods comics pamphlet and the first two issues of the print edition of Anomaly Magazine. So, please try to make it. I would very much like to meet you. Austin Books is located at 5002 N. Lamar Blvd., and the event will run from 5 to 8 pm.

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by Mack White

Police Chief Acevedo wants to keep you safe. He wants it more than he has ever wanted anything. Why, he stays up late worrying about your safety. He walks the floor at night, he loses sleep, he frets, he wrings his hands, he cries bitter tears, so great is his concern. For you are his pet, his darling one, his treasure, and he wants so badly to keep you safe.

And now, at last, he has come up with a plan. In his nocturnal pacing and fretting, and crying, and rending of garments, and gnashing of teeth, he has come up with a plan to keep you safe. It is a foolproof plan, a fine plan, a noble plan, a grand plan that will (cue the drum roll, sound the trumpets) end all violence for all time in the City of Austin. And here it is … Read more »

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I’ve read about various disagreeable things Glenn Beck has said on his CNN program, but had never seen a clip from the program—did not even know what the man looked like—until last week when Dave vonKleist came to Austin to screen his documentary 9/11 Ripple Effect.

The documentary features an excerpt from the edition of Beck’s show on which Dave was a guest. It was included in the documentary as an example of how the mainstream media never seriously addresses the issues raised by 9/11 researchers, but rather, attempts to discredit the research by associating it with UFOs, tinfoil hats, Bigfoot, ghosts, and the Second Coming of Elvis. And there he was in the clip, Glenn Beck, doing just that, heaping ridicule on his guest, Dave vonKleist, without once asking a serious question.

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