Bryan Budi, 28, a North Carolina man, was sentenced on December 13th, 2019 to serve 78 months in prison for attempted possession of radioactive material, with the intent of killing a personal enemy.
From April 22, 2018, to June 1, 2018, Budi attempted to possess radioactive material, and did so with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury to another person. Court documents show that Budi contacted an FBI online covert employee via the internet to purchase a lethal dose of a radioactive substance. In his communications with the covert employee, Budi expressed his intent to use the radioactive substance to kill an unnamed individual. Separately, Budi also hired an undecover agent to murder a specified victim.
Digest of Press Release issued by US DOJ.
(https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/north-carolina-man-sentenced-78-months-attempted-possession-radioactive-material)
Showing posts with label Murder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Murder. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Saturday, March 3, 2018
A Right-Wing Civil Rights Act
How do you compel a retailer to sell guns to 18-year olds while allowing a baker to sell wedding cakes to straight couples only? I read on forums from many commenters. including a few members of the intellectual class. The right-wing answer is as follows: "Gays, rental cars and hotels are not mentioned in the Constitution. But guns are specifically mentioned in the Bill of Rights".
In all practical matters, the decision of Dick's Sporting Goods to restrict gun sales to 21+ is a boon to local sportsman stores. (Walmart has come to the same conclusion, but read below for my verdict). These local stores presumably have regular contact with county law enforcement and support public safety while serving customers. This face-to-face contact is something large corporations cannot achieve, with directives from coming from headquarters from a state far away. .
One might mention that hotels and car renters restrict to 21+. Often, a hotel will waive age stipulations if a company, especially the US Military, will foot the bill. Understandably, a hotel is at stake if young Spring Break revelers trash the room. For car renters, an age of 21 can serve as a proxy for "five years of licensed driving experience". Indeed, inexperienced drivers are more likely to accumulate a claims bill! Requiring auto rentals at 18 would create an undue burden on car rental companies. I went to college in New York and benefitted from the state's requirement of renting cars to 18 year-olds. (I'm a good driver, as everyone thinks they are). Now turn to guns: Due to the legal precedent in this nation, gun sellers do not face liability if their customers raise Cain with the products they sell.
I believe that discriminating against customers is sheer stupidity. I feel that African-American economic empowerment in WWII was a significant factor in securing equal rights under law. Integration of the military was very important as it gave African-Americans buying power that they didn't have before. There was the "Don't buy where you can't work" movement in the 1940's, referred to in August Wilson's Fences. After WWII, Woolworth's and other interstate chains no longer had incentive to racially discriminate asides from local regressive laws. Indeed, I read that southern Woolworth's were encouraged to 'discriminate politely' so as to not offend the northern African-American market. BS.
In Virginia where I have bought a condo, since the same year interracial marriages were allowed, alcohol licenses have been issued to restaurants, while taverns have been outlawed for 100 years. Notably, restaurants and hotels are subject to more stringent anti-discrimination laws than other forms of privately-owned venues. Concealed-carry weapon owners have been able to carry in "bars", and the ability to create a 21+ environment is limited. Most often, age restrictions in alcohol-serving establishments will not apply until 9 or 10pm due to the fact that an establishment must function as a restaurant to qualify for a license. This is in a "commonwealth" which does not treat homosexuals as a protected class.
I suspect that Walmart's board of directors anticipates a letter from an "Attorney General of xx southern/western state". With that, they will "suspend efforts" to restrict gun purchases to 21+ in compliance with the law. As a further aside, posters on gun forums have commented that they didn't even know that Dick's sold guns. If so, they were overpriced. They should focus on selling "concussion causing" footballs to gym teachers.
In all practical matters, the decision of Dick's Sporting Goods to restrict gun sales to 21+ is a boon to local sportsman stores. (Walmart has come to the same conclusion, but read below for my verdict). These local stores presumably have regular contact with county law enforcement and support public safety while serving customers. This face-to-face contact is something large corporations cannot achieve, with directives from coming from headquarters from a state far away. .
One might mention that hotels and car renters restrict to 21+. Often, a hotel will waive age stipulations if a company, especially the US Military, will foot the bill. Understandably, a hotel is at stake if young Spring Break revelers trash the room. For car renters, an age of 21 can serve as a proxy for "five years of licensed driving experience". Indeed, inexperienced drivers are more likely to accumulate a claims bill! Requiring auto rentals at 18 would create an undue burden on car rental companies. I went to college in New York and benefitted from the state's requirement of renting cars to 18 year-olds. (I'm a good driver, as everyone thinks they are). Now turn to guns: Due to the legal precedent in this nation, gun sellers do not face liability if their customers raise Cain with the products they sell.
I believe that discriminating against customers is sheer stupidity. I feel that African-American economic empowerment in WWII was a significant factor in securing equal rights under law. Integration of the military was very important as it gave African-Americans buying power that they didn't have before. There was the "Don't buy where you can't work" movement in the 1940's, referred to in August Wilson's Fences. After WWII, Woolworth's and other interstate chains no longer had incentive to racially discriminate asides from local regressive laws. Indeed, I read that southern Woolworth's were encouraged to 'discriminate politely' so as to not offend the northern African-American market. BS.
In Virginia where I have bought a condo, since the same year interracial marriages were allowed, alcohol licenses have been issued to restaurants, while taverns have been outlawed for 100 years. Notably, restaurants and hotels are subject to more stringent anti-discrimination laws than other forms of privately-owned venues. Concealed-carry weapon owners have been able to carry in "bars", and the ability to create a 21+ environment is limited. Most often, age restrictions in alcohol-serving establishments will not apply until 9 or 10pm due to the fact that an establishment must function as a restaurant to qualify for a license. This is in a "commonwealth" which does not treat homosexuals as a protected class.
I suspect that Walmart's board of directors anticipates a letter from an "Attorney General of xx southern/western state". With that, they will "suspend efforts" to restrict gun purchases to 21+ in compliance with the law. As a further aside, posters on gun forums have commented that they didn't even know that Dick's sold guns. If so, they were overpriced. They should focus on selling "concussion causing" footballs to gym teachers.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Trigger Warning: Something Fundamentally Wrong
Another school shooting....I heard about it halfway around the world.
Just from the headline I could picture the murderer. Young white male, withdrawn, down on his luck.
The presumed killer met my description to a tee. What does young, white American males have in common, which is shared between the working class and middle class?
Generation Z is the first generation to live in the era of frequent mass killings. I was out of high school before mass killings became an epidemic in America. What has gone wrong? Three answers to start: Social media pressures, emotional infantilism of teenagers, and glorification of violence in media. More reasons?
Giving guns to dangerous people:
Young mass murders seldom buy firearms with money they earned. On top of the purchase price, boxes of ammunition are too expensive on a ramen diet. The usual story is that the killer got a gun as a gift, or got a loan to buy a gun. I would support liability insurance requirements for inexperienced gun owners.
Ostracizing and De-facto Criminalization of mental illness:
Despite health privacy laws, diagnosis of mental illness is carried on permanent records. It affects one's ability to join the military, get a high paying contractor job, own a firearm, drive a car, or even participate in civic life. With the digitalization and interstate access to records, there may be a perception that a mental health diagnosis is something to be avoided, when it is something needed to get appropriate (though stretched and underfunded) treatment. As if it were a criminal record.
It might trigger the "You can't have it" theory illustrated on South Park. When a gun ban is proposed, people rush to buy guns. President Obama, it is said, was the best firearm salesman. On a smaller, personal scale, when a person is marked as ineligible to own a gun, he has the urge to get his hands on one. That said, several killers have no significant criminal record, but a disturbing history of behavior. Courts should be able to put a clinically unstable individual's firearms in the custodianship of a responsible individual. Without rendering a person legally incompetent.
Disrespect for authority figures:
In a former time, when much of the world lived under dictators or communists, public officials were given respect for being democratically elected. While there is a place for holding authority accountable to the people, the past several years the disrespect is incredible. It occurs in the media, on the streets, and even in the halls of city governments. Then there are the government shutdowns, which is totally prejudicial to good order. As of last month, both major parties are guilty of unleashing this anarchist tactic. Violent protests are a stark contrast to MLK's approach of non-violence. How could this not translate to disruptive behaviors and grossly disrespectful behavior in the classroom?
Mistrust of authority:
Students need to understand that safety issues can be raised without resorting to intrusive searches of the innocent. That raising a concern will not trigger full SWAT.
Deadly marksmanship:
Columbine was shocking since that kind of violence was rare at the time. But recent events made Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold part of the JV squad of school killers.
In the inner-city, bad aim and good trauma care have given many people second chances. I have seen it multiple times on the news, which reports that a gang member opens fire into a crowd. One dead, seven injured. Six injured. Four injured, one dead. (It should be noted that injury by firearm can cause permanent damage). What these school shooters have today is horrific accuracy, better than on actual battlefields. If we could do one thing, keep the guns out of dangerous peoples' hands.
Soft targets:
Since 1990, we've gone from acceptance of hunting rifles in the high school parking lot to mass murder despite restrictions on guns in school. The 1990's federal school gun ban originated form 1980's incidents of one-on-one violence between ex lovers, gangs, and grudges.
That did not change policies of wide open doors and lack of preparedness in once-peaceful suburbs. Columbine was a one-time tragedy. This Florida high school was ready, and yet the Valentine's Day killer slayed 17 in 6 minutes. One dead every 20 seconds, plus the wounded. In Washington, DC the local public schools have metal detectors. A good measure, but not foolproof: armed attacks have occurred at the security checkpoints of the US Capitol, DC's Metropolitan Police Headquarters, and the Holocaust Museum in DC. As Rudy Giuliani demonstrated in New York City, visible presence is a deterrent.
OK, OK, maybe its the guns: and how they are glorified in certain circles. In deference to 1st and 10th amendments, restrict paid advertising, of gun makers, across state lines to prevent criminally-minded people from gaining a bloodlust from reading magazines and internet pages.
Just from the headline I could picture the murderer. Young white male, withdrawn, down on his luck.
The presumed killer met my description to a tee. What does young, white American males have in common, which is shared between the working class and middle class?
Generation Z is the first generation to live in the era of frequent mass killings. I was out of high school before mass killings became an epidemic in America. What has gone wrong? Three answers to start: Social media pressures, emotional infantilism of teenagers, and glorification of violence in media. More reasons?
Giving guns to dangerous people:
Young mass murders seldom buy firearms with money they earned. On top of the purchase price, boxes of ammunition are too expensive on a ramen diet. The usual story is that the killer got a gun as a gift, or got a loan to buy a gun. I would support liability insurance requirements for inexperienced gun owners.
Ostracizing and De-facto Criminalization of mental illness:
Despite health privacy laws, diagnosis of mental illness is carried on permanent records. It affects one's ability to join the military, get a high paying contractor job, own a firearm, drive a car, or even participate in civic life. With the digitalization and interstate access to records, there may be a perception that a mental health diagnosis is something to be avoided, when it is something needed to get appropriate (though stretched and underfunded) treatment. As if it were a criminal record.
It might trigger the "You can't have it" theory illustrated on South Park. When a gun ban is proposed, people rush to buy guns. President Obama, it is said, was the best firearm salesman. On a smaller, personal scale, when a person is marked as ineligible to own a gun, he has the urge to get his hands on one. That said, several killers have no significant criminal record, but a disturbing history of behavior. Courts should be able to put a clinically unstable individual's firearms in the custodianship of a responsible individual. Without rendering a person legally incompetent.
Disrespect for authority figures:
In a former time, when much of the world lived under dictators or communists, public officials were given respect for being democratically elected. While there is a place for holding authority accountable to the people, the past several years the disrespect is incredible. It occurs in the media, on the streets, and even in the halls of city governments. Then there are the government shutdowns, which is totally prejudicial to good order. As of last month, both major parties are guilty of unleashing this anarchist tactic. Violent protests are a stark contrast to MLK's approach of non-violence. How could this not translate to disruptive behaviors and grossly disrespectful behavior in the classroom?
Mistrust of authority:
Students need to understand that safety issues can be raised without resorting to intrusive searches of the innocent. That raising a concern will not trigger full SWAT.
Deadly marksmanship:
Columbine was shocking since that kind of violence was rare at the time. But recent events made Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold part of the JV squad of school killers.
In the inner-city, bad aim and good trauma care have given many people second chances. I have seen it multiple times on the news, which reports that a gang member opens fire into a crowd. One dead, seven injured. Six injured. Four injured, one dead. (It should be noted that injury by firearm can cause permanent damage). What these school shooters have today is horrific accuracy, better than on actual battlefields. If we could do one thing, keep the guns out of dangerous peoples' hands.
Soft targets:
Since 1990, we've gone from acceptance of hunting rifles in the high school parking lot to mass murder despite restrictions on guns in school. The 1990's federal school gun ban originated form 1980's incidents of one-on-one violence between ex lovers, gangs, and grudges.
That did not change policies of wide open doors and lack of preparedness in once-peaceful suburbs. Columbine was a one-time tragedy. This Florida high school was ready, and yet the Valentine's Day killer slayed 17 in 6 minutes. One dead every 20 seconds, plus the wounded. In Washington, DC the local public schools have metal detectors. A good measure, but not foolproof: armed attacks have occurred at the security checkpoints of the US Capitol, DC's Metropolitan Police Headquarters, and the Holocaust Museum in DC. As Rudy Giuliani demonstrated in New York City, visible presence is a deterrent.
OK, OK, maybe its the guns: and how they are glorified in certain circles. In deference to 1st and 10th amendments, restrict paid advertising, of gun makers, across state lines to prevent criminally-minded people from gaining a bloodlust from reading magazines and internet pages.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
In the Ghetto
The politically incorrect, but strikingly true story of a po' baby born in da' hu', and gets killed. Yes. The broadcast news loves to turn these tragedies into dough, and scare you into turning you into a ten-o-clock news addict. The effect is especially pronounced when the boradcasters do it in Tandem. So as those tragedies unfold on the TV screen, Elvis Presley's offensive song goes well on the computer.
Which reminds me to tell you all: Stayin' Alive, the little disco ditty, is a good song to listen to while performing CPR. It puts you in the right rhythm to do it. Just put in on your MP3 player, it's a cool song anyway.
Which reminds me to tell you all: Stayin' Alive, the little disco ditty, is a good song to listen to while performing CPR. It puts you in the right rhythm to do it. Just put in on your MP3 player, it's a cool song anyway.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
I did not abandon!
Sorry. Easter was too time-consuming.
Jangoo did a profit review. The result was good at $6.00 plus $11.00 uncollected. Buy on, investors!
I just got breaking news: Oh how I wish I had an airplane to investigate this atrocity! Hate Crime killing spree against stunned German speaking students occur by a mentally disturbed Mongolian! 35 dead, blood spewed on streets. If you can, I think it would help to give them a prayer and visit V-Tech to support the community. PS There is an airfield with a sufficient runway to land a 33-seater plane.
Jangoo did a profit review. The result was good at $6.00 plus $11.00 uncollected. Buy on, investors!
I just got breaking news: Oh how I wish I had an airplane to investigate this atrocity! Hate Crime killing spree against stunned German speaking students occur by a mentally disturbed Mongolian! 35 dead, blood spewed on streets. If you can, I think it would help to give them a prayer and visit V-Tech to support the community. PS There is an airfield with a sufficient runway to land a 33-seater plane.
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