Author Archives: Dana Pico

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The #woke destroy more history Will they go after the Jefferson Davis historical marker in Lexington?

Site of the old Jefferson Davis Inn. From Google Maps streetview. Click to enlarge.

As I saw the stories about the removal of statues of Confederate Generals Robert E Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson in Charlottesville, Virginia, I thought back to when I lived in Lexington previously, from 1971 through 1984. When I lived there, last century, the building in the photograph to the right was painted white, and the ground floor housed the Jefferson Davis Inn.

Why was it called the Jefferson Davis Inn? For three years, 1821-1824, then a student at Transylvania College, boarded on the second floor of the building with Joseph Ficklin, then the United States Postmaster in Lexington.

Historical marker attached to 102 West High Street, Lexington, Kentucky.

I’ve never been much of a beer drinker; two is about my limit, because I don’t care what any beer says about being “less filling,” two twelve ounce bottles of beer is more than enough for me.[1]And I really don’t like the feeling of getting drunk. But I have eaten, and had a few beers, at the Jefferson Davis Inn before. As I recall, it was pretty decent.

Alas! The original Jefferson Davis Inn closed in 1996. A second JDI opened, at a different location, in 2013, but closed at the very end of 2016.

Joe Stearns, proprietor of the bar High on Rose in June of 1981. High on Rose was a popular downtown watering hole situated at the corner of East High Street and Rose Street. Stearns opened the business in June of 1975. Photo by Christy Porter

Returning to the Bluegrass State in 2017, I did want to see some of the places I had frequented previously, and the closure of the Clubhouse, more frequently referred to as High on Rose, at the intersection of East High and Rose Streets, saddened me. Creaky old wooden floors, greasy hand cut French fries, general beer bar fare, and beer by the mug or the pitcher.

But, I digress. Reading about the removal of the statues made me wonder: will the #woke[2]From Wikipedia: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from … Continue reading in Lexington demand the removal of the historic market on 102 West High Street? In 2017, the Democrat-controlled city government removed the statues of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and John C Breckinridge, a former U.S. Vice President and the last Confederate Secretary of War from the lawn of the former Fayette County courthouse. The statues were taken to the Lexington Cemetery, where both men are buried.

Drinking a couple of beers and eating some food at the old Jefferson Davis Inn did not make me want to run out and join some Confederate memorial society, or become a Civil War re-enactor in a grey uniform, or somehow celebrate the Confederacy. It was a decent place, in an historic building, and it was well done.

Our history is our history, and trying to erase it won’t erase it. But today, the left want to look at everything through the prism of race. Given the way things are going, in twenty years students will be taught that Jefferson Davis had horns and cloven hoofs.

References

References
↑1 And I really don’t like the feeling of getting drunk.
↑2 From Wikipedia:

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke“, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.
By the late 2010s, woke had been adopted as a more generic slang term broadly associated with left-wing politics and cultural issues (with the terms woke culture and woke politics also being used). It has been the subject of memes and ironic usage. Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.

I shall confess to sometimes “ironic usage” of the term. To put it bluntly, I think that the ‘woke’ are just boneheadedly stupid.
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Free the Capitol kerfufflers!

On Christmas Day of 1868, President Andrew Johnson, who was not re-elected after having failed to be re-nominated, issued a blanket pardon for all remaining Confederate officeholders. An earlier pardon, in July, covered all Confederates who were not already under indictment, meaning that only Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and a few others, faced any possibility of trial.

On May 10, 1865, Mr Davis was captured by Union soldiers in Irwinville Georgia. Sent to Fort Monroe, off Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, he was imprisoned in a fortress casement, in leg irons ordered by General Nelson Miles. His health deteriorating, he was removed from leg irons and the conditions of his captivity improved. He was indicted on charges of treason, but though the Congress wanted a treason trial, there were many worriers in the North that the legal process of a trial could somehow declare secession to be constitutional. From Wikipedia:

After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released on bail of $100,000, which was posted by prominent citizens including Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Gerrit Smith. (Smith was a member of the Secret Six who financially supported abolitionist John Brown.) Davis went to Montreal, Quebec, to join his family which had fled there earlier, and lived in Lennoxville, Quebec, until 1868, while his son Jefferson Jr. and William attended Bishop’s College School. He also visited Cuba and Europe in search of work. At one stage he stayed as a guest of James Smith, a foundry owner in Glasgow, who had struck up a friendship with Davis when he toured the Southern States promoting his foundry business. Davis remained under indictment until Andrew Johnson issued on Christmas Day of 1868 a presidential “pardon and amnesty” for the offense of treason to “every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion” and after a federal circuit court on February 15, 1869, dismissed the case against Davis after the government’s attorney informed the court that he would no longer continue to prosecute Davis.

Robert E Lee was indicted but never tried, and never imprisoned.

Now, why do I bring this up?

The Civil War lasted for four long years, and resulted in almost a million deaths of soldiers and civilians. The damage to property was immense in the South, where almost all of the war was fought. Yet, after the Confederacy was beaten, the United States imposed very few legal penalties against the people who led and fought for the Confederacy. There was considerable concern that putting the Confederates on trial would greatly hinder reunification.

Also see: Good News: Jan 6th Investigations Will Resurrect Democracy!

Yet, today, following the ‘insurrection of January 6th, we see so many on the left who want to lock up those I call the Capitol kerfufflers for years upon years, for an uncoordinated demonstration in which nobody who was not one of the kerfufflers was killed, and which lasted only a few hours. As an ‘insurrection,’ it makes the Beer Hall Putsch seem like a masterpiece of planning and execution. Elie Mystal of The Nation wanted all of the kerfufflers rounded up and arrested, and was incensed that some were released on bail. Federal prosecutors have been arguing, and in a few cases succeeding, for keeping some of the Putsch leaders in jail, held without bail, even though some accused murderers are allowed to go free on bond. Elwood Dowd wants them all locked up, while Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster writing in The Hill says that a meaningful investigation “will resurrect democracy.”

Yet somehow, some way, the left are united in their resistance of post election audits, in a race in which millions of people believe that massive fraud occurred. If the left believe that the election was almost completely clean and above board, why would they disapprove of an audit to prove such?

The left, in their all-consuming hatred of Donald Trump, want to treat something about as serious as a keg party which got out of control more harshly than the United States treated the leaders of the Confederacy! All that this can do is further anger the people who supported President Trump and slow any reconciliation between Republicans and Democrats.

Not that all Democrats want such reconciliation in the first place!

The best thing that President Biden could do, now, is to simply issue a blanket amnesty for the kerfufflers. If he does not, the next President – and may he be a Republican elected on November 5, 2024 – should pardon everyone accused, indicted, tried or convicted in the incident!

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Suspected murderer nabbed

Danzell Cruze, from the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup.

We noted, two weeks ago, that the Lexington Herald-Leader declined to publish the mugshots of two murder suspects on the lam. Naturally, The First Street Journal found the mugshots, and yes, we published them!

Well, we are happy to report that Danzell Cruse, the death of 38-year-old Jocko Green, has been apprehended:

    Man apprehended in Central Kentucky, charged with a Lexington murder, police say

    By Jeremy Chisenhall | July 9, 2021 | 1:43 PM | Updated: 4:14 PM EDT

    A Lexington murder suspect has been apprehended and charged with the shooting death of a 38-year-old man, Lexington police said Friday.

    Danzell Cruse, 26, was located and arrested Thursday in Frankfort, police said. He’s accused of shooting and killing 38-year-old Jocko Green. Green was found in a parking lot outside an apartment complex in the 600 block of Winnie Street on June 17, police said.

    Green was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital after he was shot, police said. He died about three hours later, according to the Fayette County coroner’s office.

There’s more at the original. Mr Cruse was apprehended due to work by the United States Marshalls and the Frankfort Police Department.

The Herald-Leader did not publish Mr Cruse’s mugshot with the current story, but, since he’s now off the streets, I suppose he no longer falls under the McClatchy Mugshot Policy guidelines for an exception to the no mugshot publication rules.

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Killadelphia The killers are playing catch up; The Philadelphia Inquirer is not

It was just yesterday that we noted that The Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t seem to pay much notice to the murders of young black males in the City of Brotherly Love. I pointed out, in the footnote, that with 287 homicides in 188 days (as of 11:59 PM on July 7th) equaled 1.5266 homicides per day, projecting a total of 557 for the year.

Well, it looks like the city’s thugs realized that they weren’t quite meeting their quota, because after two straight days of the Philadelphia Police Department reporting only one homicide, the gang bangers caught up: the Current Crime Statistics page shows 291 killings as of 11:59 PM on July 8th. 291 ÷ 189 days in the year, = 1.5397 homicides per day, for a projected 562 for the year.

The Inquirer? Digging into several pages of their website at 8:30 AM — now at 4:42 PM, current update — this morning, I couldn’t find a single story, not so much as what Inquirer columnist Helen Ubiñas called a “handful of lines in a media alert,” although it’s possible I just didn’t dig into the right place.

Nevertheless, the editors and journolists[1]The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term … Continue reading at the Inquirer didn’t think that four homicides yesterday was worth noting on the website’s main page, where readers had a chance of spotting such.

Why? Because black lives don’t matter to the editors and staff of The Philadelphia Inquirer! Oh, they matter if taken by a white police officer, matter a very great deal, but when one black thug kills another black thug, which is what the vast majority of the city’s homicides are, it just doesn’t fit Teh Narrative that the “anti-racist news organization” wants to tell. Maybe it’s time for me to break out that Philadelphia Enquirer[2]RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but, reminiscent of the National Enquirer as it is, I thought it very apt. logo once more.

References

References
↑1 The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.
↑2 RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but, reminiscent of the National Enquirer as it is, I thought it very apt.
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It’s being set up again!

Long-term readers of The First Street Journal — both of them — know that my trust of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) is so great that if he told me that 2 + 2 = 4, I’d check his math. I noted his attempts to have the state Supreme Court invalidate Senate Bill 1, House Bill 1, and other legislation which would restrict his ’emergency powers’ under KRS 39A, saying that it was necessary that he have those powers as defined before the General Assembly passed, over his veto, restrictions on how they could be used. The Kentucky Supreme Court has yet to issue its ruling, but I must admit: given how the justices have bent over backward for Mr Beshear, both when he was state Attorney General and now, as Governor, I am not confident that the Court will uphold the laws. Continue reading →

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The “anti-racist” Philadelphia Inquirer shows how much it values white lives over black ones

We have previously noted that the vast majority of homicide victims in Philadelphia are black, but when one black gang banger kills another black gang banger, it isn’t really news anymore, not to the Inquirer. Instead, the paper paid more attention to the accidental killing of Jason Kutt, a white teenager shot at Nockamixon State Park, an hour outside of the city. That’s four separate stories; how many do the mostly black victims get?

Well, now it’s story number five: Continue reading →

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More journolism from The Philadelphia Inquirer The Inquirer writes its headline to stir up resentment toward the Philadelphia Police Department

Screenshot from Philadelphia Inquirer’s website, July 7, 2021, 4:42 PM EDT. Click to enlarge.

Sometimes you just know what you have to do: take a screenshot as documentary evidence, before someone tries to make history vanish.[1]I pointed out the tremendous bias in a tweet to Gabriel Escobar, the editor of the Inquirer, so it’s at least possible that the headline will be changed, not that I expect it. The screen capture to the right was taken by me, at 4:42 PM EDT on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

References

References
↑1 I pointed out the tremendous bias in a tweet to Gabriel Escobar, the editor of the Inquirer, so it’s at least possible that the headline will be changed, not that I expect it.
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Hold them accountable! Judge Vivian L Medinilla should be held responsible for the murders of innocent people by a thug she let loose

We have noted the murder of Christine Lugo, the Dunkin’ Donuts manager senselessly murdered on June 5th, after having given the robber the cash drawer for which he asked.

The alleged killer, Keith Gibson, also spelled Gibbson, is now facing multiple homicide and other felony charges. From the Delaware News-Journal:

After ‘brutal crime spree,’ Keith Gibson indicted on 41 felonies including multiple murder charges

Esteban Parra | Delaware News Journal | July 6, 2021 | 4:58 PM EDT | Updated: 8:32 PM EDT

A 39-year-old man linked to multiple killings in Delaware and Philadelphia has been indicted on 41 felony charges in connection with multiple slayings, assaults and robberies, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office said on Tuesday.

Keith Gibson went on a “brutal crime spree” in Delaware, killing two people and hurting four others over the course of about three weeks, prosecutors say. Gibson is also a suspect in multiple slayings committed in Pennsylvania earlier this year, including that of his 54-year-old mother.

“This indictment lays out one of the most vicious, staggering crime sprees I’ve seen in my career,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement. “It is even more disturbing to think, based on what investigators have revealed in Pennsylvania, that this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

“We have assigned some of the DOJ’s most experienced prosecutors to this case,” she added, “and we will ensure that this man faces justice for the senseless carnage that he has caused.”

Gibson, who was previously convicted of manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, was released from prison on Dec. 20 after 13 years of incarceration. He violated the terms of his probation and was briefly held before being released again on April 27 – even after probation officers disclosed he was suspected in his mother’s killing.

Delaware prosecutors say Gibson shot and killed 28-year-old Leslie Ruiz-Basilio on May 15 during a robbery at a Metro by T-Mobile store in Elsmere. He also stole her vehicle, according to prosecutors.

There’s more at the original, which unfortunately includes this:

For subscribers: How a man wanted in 3 recent killings in Philadelphia, Delaware was out on the street

I did telephone the News-Journal reporter, to see if he’d bend the rules and e-mail that story to me, but, alas!, he wouldn’t.

Which brings us to WHYY’s version version:

How a Delaware man now suspected in four murders avoided prison after violating probation

By Cris Barrish | June 16, 2021

When Keith Gibson faced a judge in Delaware in April for violating his probation by being out of state, authorities knew Philadelphia police suspected him in the murder of his mother in February.

Gibson’s probation officer had initially wanted him back behind bars for six-and-a-half years. That’s the time left on the 20-year sentence he received in 2010 for manslaughter and a weapons count before being put on probation in 2020.

But after a debate in court this spring, Gibson was released from custody on April 27.

Since regaining his freedom, Gibson is suspected of committing three more killings, according to Philadelphia police. And on Wednesday, Philadelphia authorities approved a murder charge against Gibson in the death of his mother, 54-year-old Christine Gibson, at her home.

The story of how Gibson escaped a lengthy prison term two months ago is revealed in documents obtained by WHYY News, including his probation report and transcripts of two hearings before Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla.

Superior Court Judge Vivian L Medinilla, formerly Vivian Rapposelli. Click to enlarge.

Remember that name: Superior Court Judge Vivian L. Medinilla.

Delaware probation officials initially asked for Mr Gibson to be returned to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence, which would have been 6½ years. Had Judge Medinilla ordered that, Mr Gibson would have been where he belonged, behind bars, on the morning Miss Lugo was murdered.

Instead, at a second hearing, state probation officials changed their recommendation to thirty days.

Asked why the recommendation was lowered, Department of Correction Commissioner Claire DeMatteis told WHYY the case is yet another in a troubling “pattern” of judges and defense attorneys pushing back on probation officers who seek “hard jail time” for violent offenders who violate the terms of their release.

I get it: defense attorneys are always going to be “pushing back” on probation officers trying to put their clients back behind bars; that’s what defense attorneys do, they try to defend their clients.

But judges pushing back? Judges should look at every case impartially, and not be “pushing back” against incarcerating violent offenders. Here’s a kicker:

Medinilla told the parties she would not consider the Philadelphia murder investigation in her deliberations. She also said she could sentence Gibson that day but was going to “defer” to give (Meghan) Crist (Mr Gibson’s public defender) and (Larry S) Charles (Mr Gibson’s probation officer) time to speak about “a proper consideration of the sentence.”

Mr Charles had prepared a report on Mr Gibson, trying to get him put back behind bars. WHYY said that his report included:

  • Philadelphia police had told him Gibson was the “prime suspect” in his mother’s killing. Charles wrote that “early reports suggest Mr. Gibson’s mother informed numerous friends and family members if something were to happen to me, her son would be the one responsible.”
  • Gibson’s “extensive history of violence’’ and “documented anger issues,” including 64 previous criminal charges, with nine convictions for felonies and 15 for misdemeanors. Besides the manslaughter/weapons conviction, which had been pleaded down from a first-degree murder count, his other offenses included assault and terroristic threatening.
  • He had also violated probation 14 times over the years.

But Judge Medinilla told Mr Charles that she would not consider the Philadelphia Police Department’s concerns that Mr Gibson was a murder suspect in Pennsylvania. Is it any wonder that, two weeks later, when the Judge was to consider putting Mr Gibson back behind bars, Mr Charles recommendation changed? He already knew that the judge was going to be soft-hearted and soft-headed. Why else would she have released a man who could legitimately be locked up on probation violations when that man was suspected of murder, the murder of his own mother?

She noted that while Charles was seeking “a significant amount” of prison time, “I’ll give you an opportunity to consider that and look to determine whether that’s an appropriate sanction in light of the finding that Mr. Gibson was in violation only to the extent that he was in Pennsylvania instead of here in Delaware.”

There’s a lot more at the original, but one thing stands out to me: Judge Medinilla handcuffed Mr Charles by refusing to consider the report from Philadelphia, and she released Mr Gibson that day — he was sentenced to 30 days, but, by the time of the second hearing, he had already served that — and while the probation officer might have done more, the blame for this belongs squarely on Judge Medinilla. Assuming that Mr Gibson is the man person who murdered Miss Lugo, and the others he is suspected of killing, Judge Medinilla is just as responsible for those killings as Mr Gibson.

Will Judge Medinilla be held accountable for her actions? No, of course not, she is legally immune from the consequences of her decisions.

There was no need for Judge Medinilla to let Mr Gibson loose. He was already guilty of violating his probation, and she could have ordered him back to jail without the state having to prove anything else; no trial was required. With the Philly police already pointing to him as a murder suspect, why would any judge in his right mind turn him loose when it was not necessary?

It wasn’t even necessary to lock up Mr Gibson for the 6½ years Mr Charles originally sought. She could have ordered him back to prison for six months, or a year, to give Philadelphia Police more time to make their case against him for the killing of his mother. Even just that much, and several people who are now stone-cold graveyard dead would (allegedly) be alive today.

But no, she couldn’t do even that much. I know, I know: we cannot prosecute Judge Medinilla for her incredibly poor judgement, but at least she can be publicly shamed for it. How else can she be held accountable?

 

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Update to Lexington homicides

On May 22nd, I noted the Lexington Herald-Leader article on the killing of Demonte Washington, and subsequently noted that Mr Washington’s killing has not appeared on the Lexington Police Department’s Homicide investigations page.

I was finally able to get in touch with Sergeant Donnell Gordon of the LPD and ask about that; Mr Washington’s killing has been ruled a justifiable homicide. I had searched the Herald-Leader’s website, for subsequent stories on Mr Washington, but there were none, meaning that either the newspaper didn’t pursue the story, or, if informed that the homicide was ruled justifiable, didn’t see it as significant to publish the information.