While KGNS and El Empty obsesses over the Grimmer family and their story, a little boy from Bruni died of unexplained injuries.
Does anyone care?
Courtesy of El Manana
Is anyone else disturbed by KGNS’s fascination and obsession with reporting from inside the room where Grimmer shot her kids?
We’ve made the news in the U.K. I fear reading the comments section.
Courtesy of Daily Mail UK
LPD Jester Joe Baeza, he’s a hoot!
Now that I’ve blamed Rachelle Grimmer for shooting her children, I’d like to take a moment to blame KGNS, LMT, and Laredo PD for their exceptionally crappy coverage/treatment of this case.
First up! Laredo PD!
They really need to get rid of Joe Baeza, one of the worst PR schlubs in the history of PR schlubs.
Read the section of LMT below and tell me if you think this man is qualified for his job.
Courtesy of the LMT
He said it on Pro8News last night and it was quoted in the Times: The windows were protected by plastic binds.” This is why SWAT couldn’t do anything to save the children, who weren’t in any danger either.
“He added that there was no indicator for police to believe Timothy and Ramie were in danger.”
No, really, Chief Maldonado? Except where you said that it appeared she was holding her daughter as a human shield? Not, maybe, she was cuddling her kid, because, after all, the children were perfectly fine? No danger there!
Not once has PD said/admitted that these children were also hostages. I think the fact that they were shot IN THE HEAD should be testament enough to the fact that they were indeed hostages. Denying it after the fact doesn’t make it true.
“The negotiators weren’t ready for that when the last hostage was released.”
Perhaps that statement should be amended to “The negotiators weren’t ready for anything.”
A woman walks in with her two children, a gun, and extra ammo. She lets her hostage go, but keeps her kids in the room with her. Maybe PD needs to watch more television. Any idiot could tell you those kids were in danger. Or even watch the news, PD. Mothers kill their children all the time. Why would this have been any exception?
Did they not even try to check Facebook? They stated later that Rachelle Grimmer, the shooter, was regularly checking the news and social media. Why did no one think to check her daughter’s Facebook? The child posted her job as “may die 2today.” But she was never in danger. Right, PD?
Now, to deal with KGNS. They have done such a shitty job with this story. They’re really shown themselves to be staffed by amateurs or fools – neither one is helpful. Did you catch last night’s broadcast, where reporter Whateverherface Whowon’tbeherelongsoIwontrememberhername, verbally assaults the staff at the temporary office of Health and Human Services? Where the text said they were told to leave, when all the staffer said was “you can come in, but you can’t film”? These people, regardless of their flaws, experienced a traumatic event. But here’s Stupid McStuperton accusing them of denying them access. Dear Stupid, this is America. NO ONE has to talk to you, especially when you lack any sort of finesse. It’s a pretty obvious clue that when you go in acting hostile, your “guests” are pretty dang sure you’re not looking for the truth. This usually makes them less amenable to dealing with you after someone SHOT HER KIDS IN THEIR OFFICES.
Did you watch as they interviewed the most random of folks outside a post office, asking them who is to blame for the tragic, tragic shooting? Or when they only used the quotes from their crazy viewers who posted random rantings and ravings in the comment section of Facebook?
KGNS, have you dignity? No professionalism? Oh, no? That’s right. You don’t.
As for LMT, well, they were late to the party, as always. The San Antonio Express and KSAT both had the full story, including the name of the shooter, long before either of our news orgs did. But I guess late is better than never, right?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock like my parents, who long ago gave up watching local news, you know that some scary stuff went down in Laredo on Monday. A woman, who we now have learned was named Rachelle Grimmer and who was from Ohio, took her two kids into the Office of Health and Human Services here in Laredo, took employees hostage, and ended the evening by killing herself and attempting to kill her two children.
Her two children are 10 and 12. According to our local Idiot PD, the two children are still alive, but only barely. If you keep anyone in your prayers/thoughts this Christmas, please consider them.
There have been loads of accusations flying around, that this was the fault of the state workers, that it was the fault of PD, that it was the fault of all those greedy illegals who come here and steal all our poor people’s money.
Not once have I seen the mother blamed. Allowed me to do so. Rachelle Grimmer shot her two children. In the head. I don’t care how desperate you are. I don’t care who has failed you. You do NOT shoot your children in the head and then escape blame. You don’t get to
There. I said it. This was a woman who dragged her kids to Laredo, “home-schooled” them, and then decided the state wasn’t doing enough for her, so she shot them in the most dramatic of manners. And why are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Because she was poor? Maybe where she SHOULD have been asking for help was MHMR. Laredo is full of poor people. This city is so economically depressed that the disparity between the wealthy and the poor is obscene.
But being poor does not mean you get to shoot your children. And most poor folks DON’T shoot their children.
Next, I’m curious about something. In the comments section of both the Times and KGNS, people keep bringing up that they’ve seen people at HEB paying with Lone Star and then driving off in their Escalade with fancy rims. Now, once, I’d think this was true. Twice, well, still true. Maybe Mr. Escalade gets around. But I’ve seen this so many times in different CITIES, that I’m beginning to suspect that Mr. or Mrs. Pimped out Escalade is like Sasquatch – perhaps real, but mostly a figment of a lot of different imaginations.
I’m not saying that there aren’t people who abuse the system. I am 100 percent sure there are. There always is. But people seem obsessed with Mr. Escalade or Mrs. Juicy Couture. They are the bogeymen, the scapegoat. The center of all anger and prejudice. These folks are dripping with diamonds and outfitted with designer jeans, fancy shades, and killer boots. They whip out their SNAP cards and pay for processed foods and then pack their pimped out rides full of state-provided groceries.
I have lived in Laredo on and off for close to 30 years, and I’ve never seen this Urban Sasquatch. I have seen folks like the guy last night. He was dressed in clean, pressed jeans and a sweater, with a nice beanie. He was buying milk, cereal, bread, deli meats, fruits, chips, beer, diapers, and other sundries. He looked like my boyfriend, actually. And my cart was somewhat similarly stocked (minus the diapers). So, let me ask you this. Because he was using a Lone Star card, should he look a certain way? Does he need to look bedraggled? Should he have been wearing chanclas in 40 degree weather, torn jeans, dirty shirt, or long hair? I’ve seen folks like that, too. Did I consider that he was scamming the system because he didn’t fit the part of what people seem to think poor people should look like? No, I didn’t. Why? Because it’s none of my business.
The poor lie on a spectrum, my friends. True, an Escalade is a bit ostentatious for someone claiming to be in need of financial assistance, but not every poor person likes to look like one. They don’t all stand on street corners, begging for your spare change.
And not all people who need social services have always been poor or will always be poor. Sometimes we fall on hard times, especially these days. If I lost my job tomorrow, had a hard time finding work and needed to feed myself, would you begrudge me the assistance because I wash and iron my clothes? Because I drive a late model car that will probably be repossessed because I’ll have lost my ability to make payments and have no family to rely on for help?
It’s Christmas-time, my friends. The time we celebrate the birth of one of the most forgiving figures in any religion. Let go of your anger and pray for the lives of two little kids who were failed by the one person who mattered – their mother.
I had this long, irritated post about Sandusky and Paterno and Penn State students, but I realized there is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said. The whole sordid business is nauseating, and all I can think is that I will NEVER watch football again.
Ever.
Okay, perverts might be too harsh a word, but I’m seriously questioning the judgment of the Laredo Bucks. And no, not because they booted Coach Rosco (although I’m sure they tell it differently) and replaced him with super nice guy Serge Dube. (A choice I’m totally okay with, even if we have been slaughtered the last few games.)
I’m referring to their choice in promo girls and cheerleaders.
The last few seasons, the Bucks cheerleaders (or dancers – not sure of the terminology) were dressed in black slacks and jerseys. They’d carry little pom poms and generally not move very much. They were unimpressive and unobtrusive. So, I understand why they wanted to replace them.
So they announced that this year there would be promo girls and cheerleaders. The idea isn’t too bad, until you see the class acts they recruited.
First example:
This little gem is posted on the Laredo Bucks Facebook fan page. An alert reader who knows I love the Bucks and who feels similarly creeped out by the teenage hookers they have dancing in the stands half-naked sent me this little gem.
To be fair, I have no idea if Angie Quintana is a promo girl. I know Meygan Dahmer is, and the promo girls generally tend to wear more clothing than the teenage cheerleaders. But this is indicative of the direction they’re going with these girls, I’m a little appalled.
The arena is freezing, and yet they have these kids dancing in sports bras and tiny volleyball shorts. I overheard some folks sitting on front of me mention that they wish the girls could cover up. It’s uncomfortable to watch. I worry (and so do others on the Bucks Facebook page) that we’re going to end up on To Catch a Predator.
As for our juvenile-humored promo girls, I don’t see their function. No one goes to the games for the girls. They go for the fights, the Bucks, the beer, and the cold. At least that’s why I go. You cannot hear them when they speak over the microphone to announcer whatever the hell their announcing (does no one practice elocution anymore?).
So, Laredo Bucks, riddle me this? Why on earth are they there?
I read my LMT in bulk. Whether by mistake or divine interference, the LMT has been delivering their paper to my door for the last month. Perhaps some lovely citizen purchased a subscription for a friend and accidentally wrote the wrong address. Either way, their loss is sort of my gain.
Since I’m usually rushing around like a lunatic in the mornings (mainly because I’m half mad from lack of sleep), I pile up my papers and read them once a week. Sometimes, if I happen to find myself at the library, I snag a copy of LareDOS and toss it on the pile for a little bathroom reading (don’t pretend like you don’t read in there – where else are you going to get some R&R?).
Since the stories have been a bit on the light side of late, I took to noticing a recent trend in LMT. Cash for Gold ads. I’ve seen the signs propping up everywhere over the last 6 months or so. No longer are they just pesky ads on late night television exhorting you to mail in your gold to some random dude who will tell you how much your gold – which is no longer in your possession is worth. These people have climbed out of the TV and come to Laredo – and apparently armed with cash for advertisements.
In a week’s time, you can amass at least 10 to 15 of these ads. Here’s a sampling from last week (3 days worth). I threw in Mona M because she wants your Rolexes AND she also takes gold and silver (I live near her shop).
Courtesy of LMT
Example 2
Courtesy of LMT
Example 3
Courtesy of LMT
There are many more, but I realize I don’t want to take up your bandwith downloading these stupid images. And I’m not really criticizing the Times for making money where they can, especially these days, and these cash for gold places apparently have the cash to pay for the ads. And I suppose it’s better than taking money from them than this dude:
I started this post back when Bordertown Laredo started, but as I lost my interwebs for a while, I forgot to revisit it. It also doesn’t help that I do not have cable television so I have been unable to follow up with my friendly local PD. However, as the show is still ongoing, I now have my interwebs, and I also have some more free time (working three jobs a week is taxing – I often find myself spouting gibberish at the end of the day, although I suppose some may argue that this is gibberish).
When the show first aired, El Empty made a point of stating that Bordertown: Laredo, the new “reality” show depicting the lawlessness of living on the border (all those drugs! murders! violent crimes! naked ladies?), happened to air at the same time as Jersey Shore. This made me wonder, what would it be like to have a normal reality show (in that it’s not so real) based in Laredo?
Instead of focusing on crime, what is life like in Laredo? Normal, every day life? Anyone got any thoughts?
For me, I wake up, go to one job, leave to do another, and then come home and do my at-home work. I’m lucky if I can throw some food in there (keeps me slim!) as well as a cuddle with my animals. I hate sports, so I can’t relate to my coworkers who LOVE the Cowboys, and I didn’t give two flips about the Texas Rangers losing the World Series. Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I don’t exactly have my finger on the pulse of Laredo.
I can sort of guess what happens in this town based on what I see in Que Pasa (oddly enough, I still get the newspaper). Laredoans like their going out. They like bars. The girls like having straight hair cut in similar fashion. They wear the same shirts and same shoes. Make-up is the same (it appears they all shop at Mac). The guys all look like they shopped at an Express Men fire sale (does that store exist?). They also like live music, which is pretty cool. They also LOVE sports. My God, I’ve never seen so much sporty devotion.
But if Facebook is any judge, all our sports favorites are sucking this year. So that leaves us with what, exactly?
I suppose as the holidays are upon us, so nears the one and only event that matters – the Washington’s Birthday Celebration. I’ve lived in this city my entire life and I still do not understand why we celebrate this event. I wonder do the schools now incorporate this into their lessons.
It’s a pity Bordertown Laredo didn’t film during WBC-season. Those northerners would really be in for a baffling treat. Celebrating our nation’s first president while we dodge those bullets and are awash in the blood from all that spillover violence. Whatever would they say!
But dear readers, whichever of you are left after my long hiatus, what do you do that makes you uniquely Laredoan? Visit Mami Chula’s? Paint your house blue and silver? Host a weekly carne asada (if so, can I come?)?
Let me know! I may just develop my own reality show.
I’m struggling to understand the Occupy WhateverCityYou’reIn movement, none more so than the Occupy Laredo branch/sect/powwow/whatever you want to call it. I can appreciate the sentiment of mass protest. I wish there had been more of it at the beginning of the war. Once upon a time, I believed our government listened to its people, but that belief has long since vanished, along with the thousands of soldiers who lost their lives in foreign lands or who took their lives (and other lives) back at home. We can scream as loud as we want, but no one is listening.
Is that fatalistic of me to believe?
Anyway, what baffles me about the Occupy movement, though, is what exactly they want. I frustrations with Wall Street. I am appalled with the culture of money we’ve fostered in this country. It burns my gullet that my tax dollars went to bail these mofos out of trouble after we essentially handed them the keys to the kingdom, they burned it down, and then wanted to be paid for doing so. Meanwhile, the firefighters who put out the fire are now struggling to make ends meet. (Did you follow my metaphor there?) But we are also partially responsible for it. We gave our government free reign to protect them from oversight and we handed them the tax breaks that allowed them to grow into the monsters they are. (Yes, that might be a bit of an oversimplification, but no matter how you argue you it, we’re responsible for our government – sadly, they reflect us.)
But what exactly do these protestors want? Do they want Wall Street to be shut down? Do they want to bring about the end of capitalism?
I’ll admit, my impressions of them are less than impressive. I understand their desperation. I was not that long ago out of work for an extended time, and having to rely on the help of family to get by was humiliating. I have several degrees, all of which I worked extremely hard to get and without saddling myself with a ridiculous amount of debt. I can understand the frustration that comes from living somewhere where an education can count against you, and I don’t agree with the idiots who spout the nonsense about these people needing to get off their asses to find jobs. That they’re lazy, over-privileged and over-educated kids who need to get off the street and find a damn job already. That’s a weak argument, and it’s highly offensive. It is damn near impossible in this climate to find a job that gives you what you need to survive, much less thrive.
No one in this economy is finding work. This isn’t class warfare. Almost everyone has been negatively affected by this recession, some in more noticeable ways than others. And the fact that the fat cats are so very fat makes it all the more difficult to maintain a sense of decorum in such trying times.
As for Occupy Laredo, aside from LareDOS and El Empty following close on its heels, there isn’t much notice being paid to them. The first Saturday they gathered, I ran into some of them as I wandered through the Farmer’s Market (where we overprivileged socialists go to plan the death of capitalism). They were unimpressive. I was going to link to LareDOS’s article regarding the motley crew of protestors, but it appears their website is suspended, for whatever reason. No doubt the Mayor is behind it, that silly suppressor of the 10th Amendment. Or was it the 2nd? I can never get my amendments right! Ask me about my commandments, though! I got those down pat!
Sorry, I got sidetracked there. My partner tends to say I have a short attention span. But back to Bordertown Laredo…oh shoot. I mean Occupy Laredo.
I know that they’re going before City Council tonight, as LareDOS is tweeting some rather unexciting tweets, and now I know for sure that Occupy Laredo, at least, is going nowhere. When you take your case to Council, you’re really scraping the barrel. They are the masters of lip service.
They’re better off taking their case to The Colbert Report, where he will mock you mercilessly and allow you to humiliate yourself on a national scale. In the meantime, the rest of us will keep on bitching and moaning from our armchairs in true American fashion, until all of this fades away, never to be thought of again.
Occupy Cake-Did they eat it ironically?
