Crazy People Are Dangerous

Posted on | October 1, 2020 | 3 Comments

If you watch enough police chase videos on YouTube, you find yourself developing a thorough hatred of these lunatics who endanger the lives of others — and tie up traffic for hours — by their madcap vehicular misadventures. You begin watching a chase through L.A. (where such pursuits seem to be more or less routine) and find yourself hoping that the driver either dies in a disastrous crash or is shot to death by cops.

So I was watching YouTube of this 2018 chase from Arizona, which went for 60 miles, and ended in Tempe. The cops had backed off, letting a police helicopter track the suspect, while unmarked cars positioned themselves to box him in when he eventually exited the freeway. After the cops finally surrounded him, however, the suspect managed to drive out of the trap and took off at high-speed near the Arizona State University campus until — BOOM! — he hit another vehicle head-on:

Miraculously, neither driver was killed in that collision. The woman in the minivan suffered a broken hand and other non-life-threatening injuries, while the suspect walked away uninjured. In fact, he might have escaped, if he hadn’t hung around the crash scene until the cops caught up and witnesses pointed him out: “That’s him right here!”

Say hello to Mitchell Timothy Taebel, “sovereign citizen.” If you don’t know what that means, this is from the Wikipedia entry:

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American litigants, commentators, tax protesters, and financial-scheme promoters. Self-described “sovereign citizens” see themselves as answerable only to their particular interpretations of the common law and as not subject to any government statutes or proceedings. In the United States, they do not recognize U.S. currency and maintain that they are “free of any legal constraints.” . . .
In surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015, representatives of U.S. law enforcement ranked the risk of terrorism from the sovereign-citizen movement higher than the risk from any other group, including Islamic extremists, militias, racists, and neo-Nazis.

These kooks are particularly dangerous to law-enforcement officers, considering any attempt to arrest them as illegitimate. While he was leading police on a 40-mile chase, Mitch Taebel called 911 to complain police were “trying to stop me without probable cause”:

“According to federal law you are allowed to resist unreasonable arrest. I just want to say so I’m not stopping. There seems to be a criminal conspiracy amongst the police to stop people without probable cause. And it’s unreasonable. It’s against federal law. Against, uh, 18 USC section 242 and section 241. I’m not stopping the vehicle.”

The word for this is crazy. If you get pulled over by the cops, you’re entitled to your day in court, and if you believe the arrest was “unreasonable,” the judge will hear your argument. Generally speaking, however, it’s impossible to “win” a traffic case, and most people just pay the ticket because most people are not crazy. Only crazy people could possibly believe they’re going to gain anything by telling cops about their imaginary “right” to resist arrest. You will probably not be surprised to learn that Mitch Taebel gave a remarkable press conference at the jail:

“It’s absolutely legal to resist arrest with force, to the extent of taking an officer’s life if necessary.”

Crazy? Yes. Dangerous? Extremely. His lawyer pleads insanity:

Anti-government statements that police say were made by a man arrested after a crash ended a Phoenix-area car chase stemmed from mental health issues, not political beliefs, the man’s defense lawyer said Thursday.
Mitchell Timothy Taebel of Long Beach, Indiana, and Los Angeles remained jailed on suspicion of endangerment, aggravated assault, unlawful flight and other crimes after being arrested following the crash Wednesday in Tempe on a street near Arizona State University’s main campus. . . .
Asked about the anti-government statements, defense attorney Brian Russo said, “I think it’s more that he’s been previously diagnosed with some mental health issues and they have not been addressed. I don’t think it’s one political issue or another. That’s not what is driving this.”
Russo said he couldn’t provide details on the mental health diagnosis. “We do know from the family he was being treated, he was seeing someone,” the attorney said.

There are different kinds of crazy, some of which are less dangerous than others. Documents filed by his attorney said Taebel was expelled from Arizona State University for “seriously disruptive and odd behavior.” Did I mention Taebel had an extensive criminal record?

Taebel’s personal website states that the U.S. Department of Justice is “unconstitutional” and links to an Indiana court record from earlier this month showing that Taebel sued the government for prohibiting marijuana use.
The document deemed marijuana prohibition unconstitutional.
In a Jan. 5 Facebook post, Taebel asked his followers if they would be interested in joining his effort to sue the government for a wrongful prohibition of cannabis. . . .
Taebel’s website also linked to a November 2017 letter he addressed to all United States governors which states that the Department of Justice is unconstitutional. . . .
Taebel also addressed a Nov. 7, 2017, letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, where he wrote that “the time has come to revolutionize societal standards of law enforcement.” . . .
Court documents on Taebel’s website describe several lawsuits both filed by and against him.
One of the records was a complaint filed by Taebel against the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office saying that he was pulled over by officers without probable cause.
Another record features a December 2017 letter written by Taebel to Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval with a complaint that officers used “excessive … and entirely unnecessary force” while arresting him on an assault charge in Las Vegas.
Taebel also posted documents appealing an assault conviction levied against him for punching a doorman at a New York City apartment building in 2011.
Taebel said he punched Frank Martoni in self-defense after Martoni blocked him from entering an elevator and saying Taebel did not have permission to be in the building.
Taebel was staying with his girlfriend, Raquel Toro, at the time of the incident, according to documents he posted. Toro wrote an affidavit to the court saying she had received written permission from building management for Taebel to stay in the apartment.
Toro urged prosecutors to throw out the case against Taebel.
Court papers that Taebel filed earlier in December 2017 in the U.S. District Court of Arizona alleged that he was denied an application for an apartment in Arizona on the basis of his previous charges; he asked for $500 million in damages.

To give you the full story — because you want all the craziness, right? — I find myself compelled to quote the SPLC:

Two days before the [2018 Arizona] chase, Taebel cited [18 USC section 242] when he filed a complaint bringing a “claim against violations of the second amendment” in the U.S. District Court of California in Los Angeles. The complaint named [New York Supreme] Court Justice Michael Sonberg as a defendant and asked for $1 billion in damages.
Justice Sonberg convicted Taebel of 2nd and 3rd degree aggravated assault in May, 2013. The latter is a felony and took away Taebel’s ability to possess firearms. The charges stemmed from an incident where Taebel punched the doorman at his girlfriend’s New York apartment building for not allowing him up to her residence. At one point during the case, Taebel chose to represent himself and cross-examine the victim.
Continuing to claim self-defense, despite eye witness testimony to the contrary, Taebel has attempted to have the judgement vacated by filing frivolous lawsuits against the Department of Justice and the United States of America, among others
On April 26, 2016, the judgement against him was affirmed, but Taebel’s experience left him questioning the rule of law and refusing to follow it. It also left him fixated on the idea that police officers could be killed if his rights were violated, which he repeatedly believes has happened, even when his actions are considered criminal by law enforcements standards.
In January 2018, Taebel included Statute 242 in a civil complaint he filed against the City of Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. In it, he claimed that his rights were violated after he was arrested in April 2013 for attempting lewd and unlawful acts against an aspiring porn star in the Los Angeles valley. The woman alleged that after having a conversation with Taebel at a gas station about her possible new career, he followed her to a nearby parking lot and tried to pull her into his vehicle for the purpose of a sexual encounter. The case against him was dropped on December 5, 2016, though he remained upset to enough file the complaint two years later, ask for $1 billion in recompense, writing in it that the “arresting officer should be executed by law.”

If you’ve ever filed a $1 billion lawsuit pro se? You’re crazy.

Category: Crime

In The Mailbox: 09.30.20

Posted on | September 30, 2020 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box, Episode #1125
357 Magnum: Lack of Computer Security Can Kill You
EBL: No Oktoberfest In 2020
Twitchy: Drew Holden Fact-Checks The Fact-Checkers After Tuesday’s Debate
Louder With Crowder: Joe Biden Did Horribly With Latino Voters In Post-Debate Poll
Vox Popoli: A Lesson In Failed Leadership, also, Gab Catches Up

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Biden Lets Trump Hang Around
American Greatness: Rittenhouse Lawyer L. Lin Wood To Sue Biden For Smearing His Client In Anti-Trump Video
American Thinker: Biden – Let’s Go To The Videotape, also, The Cleveland Brawl – First Presidential Debate Was A Cage Fight
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: If Only Mike Wallace Questioned The President The Way His Father Questioned Castro
BattleSwarm: Your Obligatory Trump-Biden Debate Post
Cafe Hayek: Quotation Of The Day
CDR Salamander: “Record Breaking” Deployments Are Nothing To Be Proud Of
Da Tech Guy: Report From Louisiana – Cassidy v. Perkins 2020, also, Last Night’s Debate – Trump By Decision & What Was With Biden’s Eyes?
Don Surber: Why They Made Biden Run, also, How We Know Trump Won
First Street Journal: Another Murder In Philadelphia, Ho Hum
The Geller Report: Black Democrat Bernadine Kent Endorses Trump, also, The Democrat Party Is Purging The Jews
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Nothing To See Here – Move Along
Hollywood In Toto: Letterboxd Censors Review Panning Pro-Abort Dramedy Unwanted, also, Hollywood’s Silence On Cancel Culture Censorship Is Darn Near Criminal
The Lid: Minneapolis Police “Looking Into” Reported Ilhan Omar Ballot Harvesting
Legal Insurrection: Kyle Rittenhouse’s Lawyer To Sue Biden For Libel Over False Accusations In New Ad, also, Transcript Shows Trump Did NOT “Refuse To Denounce” White Supremacists
The PanAm Post: Ironic – Maduro Presents Own Human Rights Report At UN, also, Maduro Regime Killed 250 People A Month In 2020
Power Line: Observations, also, The (Not So) Presidential Debate – A Different Take
Shark Tank: Loomer First To Expose Pay-To-Vote Scheme
Shot In The Dark: Repeat Big Lies For 90 Minutes…
The Political Hat: Institutional Revolution, also, CA Governor Orders Ban On Sale Of Gas Automobiles
This Ain’t Hell: Coast Guard Unicorn Redux, also, A Debate On The Corn Laws – Oh Wait, Wrong Century
Victory Girls: James Comey Continues His Know-Nothing Tour
Volokh Conspiracy: The First Rule Of Court Packing Is You Do Not Talk About Court Packing
Weasel Zippers: PA Democrats Caught On Mic Saying Masks Are “Political Theater”, also, Biden Denies That Antifa Exists
The Federalist: Fact Check – Trump Did NOT Refuse To “Denounce” Or “Condemn” White Supremacy at Debate, also, Chris Wallace Gave The Most Embarrassing Moderator Performance In History
Mark Steyn: World Record-Breaking Expectation-Lowering, also, The Morning After

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Category: Linkagery

‘An Extensive Criminal History’: Suspect Arrested in Ambush of LA Deputies

Posted on | September 30, 2020 | 3 Comments

Who hates cops? Criminals hate cops:

A man has been charged in connection with the ambush shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies earlier this month in Compton.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva and L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced the arrest of Deonte Lee Murray at a news conference Wednesday morning at LASD headquarters in downtown L.A.
The 36-year-old Murray has been charged with two counts each of premediated attempted murder of a peace officer and possession of a firearm by a felon. His photo is not being released to protect the ongoing investigation. He is being arraigned Wednesday.
Murray was arrested on Sept. 15, three days after the deputies were shot, but in connection with an unrelated carjacking and shooting which had occurred in Compton on Sept. 1, Lacey said. Forensic evidence later linked him to the shooting of the two deputies.
A ghost gun used in the shooting of the deputies was recovered by investigators, sheriff’s Capt. Kent Wegener told reporters.
Furthermore, Murray fled the scene of the deputies’ shooting in a black Mercedes Benz sedan, the same vehicle which Murray had carjacked on Sept. 1, Wegener revealed.
On the evening of Sept. 12, the two sheriff’s deputies who were shot in an unprovoked ambush while sitting in their patrol car in Compton.
The deputies were in their patrol vehicle parked outside the Metro Compton Blue Line station at Willowbrook Avenue and Elm Street when a lone suspect approached the front passenger side of the car and opened fire, wounding them both. . . .
In the Sept. 1 carjacking, which occurred on Bradfield Avenue in Compton, Murray shot a man in the leg with a high powered rifle and stole his Mercedes, Wegener disclosed. . . .
Murray was arrested Sept. 15 following a 10-hour standoff. At around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, detectives located Murray, but he fled in a 2006 Toyota Solara. During the pursuit, he threw a pistol from the car.
He then ditched the car in the 3100 block of Carlin Avenue in Lynwood and ran. Law enforcement officers swarmed the area. Several hours later, just before 10 p.m., Murray was found hiding in some bushes and was apprehended, Wagener said.
Meanwhile, the stolen Mercedes Benz was also found nearby.
Wegener said that ballistic and forensic evidence from the scene of the deputy ambush linked it to the ghost gun which Murray had thrown from the car during the chase.
“It was determined through ballistic comparison, that the pistol recovered was the pistol used to shoot the deputies, additionally that pistol was conclusively linked through forensic testing to suspect Deonte Murray,” Wagener said Wednesday. . . .
Along with the charges in the ambush, Murray has also been charged with one count of attempted murder in connection with the Sept. 1 carjacking, along with second-degree robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He also faces allegations of association with a criminal street gang, discharging a rifle inflicting great bodily injury and personal use of a rifle.
Murray has an extensive criminal history that includes convictions for sales of narcotics, firearm possession by a felon, burglary and terrorist threats.

See? People don’t usually begin their criminal careers with murder. No, they start small — a robbery here, a burglary there — and cycle in and out of the criminal justice system for a few years until, one day, they commit a heinous atrocity. Then everybody looks at their arrest records and says, “Why wasn’t this monster already behind bars?”

Well, let’s hope Deonte Lee Murray never gets another chance.

Category: California, Crime

Good-Bye, Zimbabwe, U.S.A.: Ben Shapiro Explains Why He’s Leaving California

Posted on | September 30, 2020 | 2 Comments

More than a decade ago, I began comparing California to the kleptocratic regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe:

The thievish, parasitical mentality of liberals, who view taxpayers only a source of plunder, eventually runs head-on into economic reality. Capital is portable, and predatory governments will eventually cause disinvestment, as investors seek opportunities elsewhere. As investment flees, private-sector employment stagnates and declines, and smart young people leave to find someplace where they have a chance to get ahead.

Once this trend reaches a tipping point — and Jerry Brown’s return to the governorship in 2011 seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back in California — the collapse accelerates. The decision of native Californian Ben Shapiro to leave for Tennessee, taking with him 75 employees of his Daily Wire website, is explained:

California is not on a trajectory toward recovery; it is on a trajectory toward oblivion. Taxpayers are moving out — now including my family and my company. In 2019, before the pandemic and the widespread rioting and looting, outmigration jumped 38%, rising for the seventh straight year. That number will increase again this year.

Read the whole thing.

Category: California

Biden and the ‘White Supremacy’ Smear

Posted on | September 30, 2020 | 1 Comment

There is exactly zero evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse is a “white supremacist,” but the absence of evidence did not prevent the Joe Biden campaign from smearing the teenager who defended himself against an Antifa mob during the Kenosha riots.

Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer Lin Wood is not happy about this:

After last night’s debate, the Biden camp put together a video that they then tweeted out indicating President Trump and Kyle Rittenhouse are white nationalists. This is not true and now a defamation claim is being prepared against Joe Biden.
In last night’s debate the moderator and Joe Biden’s tag team member, Chris Wallace, pressed President Trump to condemn violence in American cities by white nationalists. The two cities where Wallace said white nationalists were active were Kenosha and Portland. President Trump responded by saying all the destruction over the past few months comes from the radical left. . . .
After the debate, candidate Biden used this exchange in an advertisement, wrongly accusing the President of being a white nationalist and indicating Kyle Rittenhouse was as well . . .
Now it looks like Biden has a lawsuit coming based on his defamation of the young 17 year old in Kenosha who was involved in the death of two men from the Antifa/BLM riots while acting in self defense.

You know who else got smeared last night? The Proud Boys:

The crucial moment in Tuesday night’s debate was near the end when Joe Biden invited President Trump to throw the Proud Boys under the bus, and the president refused to do it. The president was asked by moderator Chris Wallace “to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland.” Trump replied, “Sure, I’m willing to do that,” but then added that “almost everything I see” in terms of violence “is from the left-wing, not from the right-wing. I’m willing to do anything.… I want to see peace.”
After further back-and-forth, Trump said, “Give me a name,” and Biden said, “Proud Boys.” To this, Trump replied: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s gotta do something about Antifa and the Left, because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem.”
Because I personally know both Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and the group’s current chairman Enrique Tarrio, I was pleased by that response. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.

Category: American Spectator, Debates, Joe Biden, Racism

In The Mailbox: 09.29.20

Posted on | September 30, 2020 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: What’s The Opposite Of Diversity?
EBL: Biden/Trump Presidential Debate 2020
Twitchy: Joe Biden Was For The Green New Deal Before He Was – Very Quickly – Against It At The Debate
Louder With Crowder: Ilhan Omar’s Ballot Harvester Caught In The Act Paying For Someone’s Ballot
Vox Popoli: How’s That Postchristianity Working Out For You? also, A Little TOO Close To The Truth
Stoic Observations: The Rabbit

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Navy’s Plan For 530 Ships Is All Washed Up
American Greatness: Biden Campaign Won’t Allow Pre-Debate Ear Inspections, Calls Trump’s Request “Absurd”
American Power: Corey Lewandoski & David Bossie – Trump – America First
American Thinker: Joe Biden Is Unfit For Office
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Pinker Affair News
Babalu Blog: Woman Dies After Another Building Collapses In Old Havana
BattleSwarm: Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett To SCOTUS, Democrats Immediately Begin Meltdown, also, This Week In Democrat Voting Fraud
Cafe Hayek: Ridiculous Widespread Beliefs
CDR Salamander: The Most Important BILAT Exercise You’ve Never Heard Of
Da Tech Guy: The Grain Of Salt For Military Opinions, also, Democrats’ Barrett Dilemma – Approaching But Not Crossing The Loony Line
Don Surber: Colonizing Trump Country, also, Why The Media Will Get The Debate Wrong
First Street Journal: Karens Cry About College Students Acting Like College Students, also, Karens Crying Again
Fred On Everything: Big Orly’s Diary – Bulk-Lot Wisdom From Up The Holler
The Geller Report: New Declassified Docs Show Russiagate Was Hillary’s Plan – And The White House Knew, also, Biden Refuses To Say If He’d Pack The Supreme Court
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Not-So-Great Pretenders
Hollywood In Toto: Borat Sequel Gets Political, Targets “Mikhail Pence”, also, Analyst Slices Netflix Subscriber Prediction In Half Due To Cuties Outrage
JustOneMinute: Red Meat For The Debate Buffet
The Lid: Sen. Diane Feinstein Caught Maskless At Private Dulles Terminal
Legal Insurrection: Aussie Law Profs Give Trump His Third Peace Prize Nomination, also, “Anti-Racist” Ibrahim Kendi Tries To Discuss Racism Of Cross-Cultural Adoption, Fails Miserably
Michelle Malkin: Who’s Funding Shady Ballot Harvesting Schemes? What Is The “Center For Tech & Civic Life”?
The PanAm Post: Bolivia President Rebukes Argentina For Supporting Evo Morales, also, In Latin America, Corona-chan Threatens Promise Of Digital Economy
Power Line: Today In Russia Hoax News, also, Local Press Runs Interference On Vote Fraud
Shark Tank: Spalding Slams Wasserman-Schultz With “Corrupt Debbie” Campaign
Shot In The Dark: Subservient
STUMP: Taxing Tuesday – Trump’s (Supposed) Tax Returns
The Political Hat: Pimp Hand Of Social Justice
This Ain’t Hell: Politicians Are Now Involved In Marine Base Closure Discussions, also, Navy SEALS Making Effort To Be Gender-Neutral
Victory Girls: Debate Night 2020 – Slugfest On Stage
Volokh Conspiracy: Pitfalls Of Statutory Term Limits For Supreme Court Justices
Weasel Zippers: Turns Out Biden Debate Moves Worse Than Initially Reported, also, Disney Parks To Lay Off 28,000 – Blames California For Not Reopening Disneyland
The Federalist: Russia Believed Hillary Was Planning Anti-Trump Collusion Campaign In 2016 – And U.S. Officials Knew It, also, Media Gunning For Dr. Scott Atlas Because He Keeps Exposing Coronavirus Lies
Mark Steyn: “The Yellow Rose Of Texas”, also, Debate Night Live

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Category: Linkagery

Biden: Incompetent AND Incontinent?

Posted on | September 29, 2020 | 1 Comment

Guess which candidate needs an extra potty break?

On Tuesday morning the Trump campaign requested a new rule for the first presidential debate: that a third party inspect both candidates for electronic devices or transmitters. President Trump had already consented to such an inspection, and the Biden campaign had reportedly agreed to this days ago, but Ebony Bowden of the New York Post reported moments ago that they are now declining.
The Trump campaign has since confirmed this flip-flop.
“Joe Biden’s handlers several days ago agreed to a pre-debate inspection for electronic earpieces but today abruptly reversed themselves and declined,” Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement. “Biden’s handlers have asked for multiple breaks during the debate, which President Trump doesn’t need, so we have rejected that request. On top of the refusal to take a drug test, it seems pretty obvious that the Biden team is looking for any safety net they can find in the hours leading up to the debate.”

“Allegedly,” I hasten to add. All this pre-debate drama will cease to matter once the game kicks off in about three hours:

The debate – the first of three between Biden and Trump — kicks off at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday and is being hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. The showdown’s being moderated by “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace.

How will Biden do in the debate? Guess you could say, it Depends.