7 people shot dead in Texas home, motive unclear
By DANNY ROBBINS Associated Press The Associated Press
Monday, December 26, 2011 3:11 AM EST
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Investigators believe that seven people who were found dead Christmas Day were cleaning up holiday wrapping paper when they were shot inside a suburban Fort Worth apartment, but a motive remains unclear.
All of the victims appeared to be related, and Grapevine police said they believe the shooter was among the dead. Investigators were meticulously searching the apartment, along with three vehicles parked outside, and didn't expect to finish until dawn on Monday.
"It appears they had just celebrated Christmas. They had opened their gifts," Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said, adding that the apartment was decorated for the holiday, including a tree.
The four women and three men, aged 18 to 60, were found dead in an adjoining kitchen and living room area when police arrived midday Sunday, shortly after receiving a 911 call in which no one was on the other line, Eberling said. Two handguns were found near the bodies, he said.
None of the victims has been identified, but Eberling said it appears they all died of gunshot wounds. He said authorities still don't know what sparked the incident.
Grapevine Police Lt. Todd Dearing said investigators believe that the victims were related, though some were visiting and didn't live in the apartment. He said police are looking for other relatives to inform of the deaths.
"Seven people in one setting in Grapevine, that's never happened before. Ever," Dearing said.
Police and firefighters first rushed to the Lincoln Vineyards complex after receiving the open-ended 911 call at about 11:30 a.m., Eberling said.
"There was an open line. No one was saying anything," he explained.
So police went into the apartment, located in the middle-class neighborhood of Grapevine, not far from the upscale Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville. The apartment was at the back of the complex, overlooking the athletic fields of Colleyville Heritage High School.
But many of the nearby apartments are vacant, and police said no neighbors reported hearing anything on a quiet Christmas morning when many people were not around.
Jose Fernandez, a 35-year-old heavy equipment mechanic who moved to the complex with his family about six months ago, said he always felt safe in the area, but is now afraid to let his 10-year-old son play freely outside.
"This is really outrageous especially on Christmas," said Fernandez, who was visiting family for the holiday and returned to find several police cars parked outside his home.
"This has shocked everybody. It has scared everybody. I guess something like this can happen anywhere, but seven people dead. It's just very scary," he added.
Eberling agreed the area is fairly quiet, noting this would be the first homicide in Grapevine since 2010.
Christy Posch, a flight attendant who moved to the complex about six months ago so her son could attend the high school, said she lives a few buildings away and did not hear any gunshots.
"It's all families. That's why I moved here. No burglaries, no nothing," Posch said.
———
Associated Press writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
A new calling for Krampus?
For those of you wondering where I've been, things have been rather interesting. Especially given talks for...well...you're not going to believe this!
http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/11/18/the-case-for-krampus-as-an-occupy-mascot/
While there are many good reasons for members of the Occupy movement to related to the rehabilitated image of Guy Fawkes/”V”, I am personally convinced that the image of Krampus could potentially be a much more effective iconic symbol of the Occupy movement, especially in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas which is arguably one of the biggest and most lucrative times of year for large banking institutions and corporations that have been shown to have connections to less-than-equitable business practices. Krampus represents responsibility and accountability for one’s actions while more than willing to punish those who engage in harmful practices – business and otherwise.
The author lists out five reasons that Krampus would be better than Fawkes:
-Encourages radical community involvement.
-Actually aims to punish wrong-doings.
-Horns are much scarier than a mask and pantaloons.
-Makes reasonable demands.
-Hasn’t been usurped by Time Warner and was never a Papist tool.
A Season for Krampus
(Thanks Bob Jones!)
Last year I participated in KrampusCon in Portland. It would be fun to connect this with Occupy. I don’t think Krampus necessarily has to replace any other mascot or symbol, but it sure would be fun to see a Krampus contingent!
Krampus becoming a figurehead for the entire 99%. Who needs to limit oneself to the RLSH or RLSV communities when Krampus can be the focal point of a movement to change the entire world!?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/11/18/the-case-for-krampus-as-an-occupy-mascot/
While there are many good reasons for members of the Occupy movement to related to the rehabilitated image of Guy Fawkes/”V”, I am personally convinced that the image of Krampus could potentially be a much more effective iconic symbol of the Occupy movement, especially in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas which is arguably one of the biggest and most lucrative times of year for large banking institutions and corporations that have been shown to have connections to less-than-equitable business practices. Krampus represents responsibility and accountability for one’s actions while more than willing to punish those who engage in harmful practices – business and otherwise.
The author lists out five reasons that Krampus would be better than Fawkes:
-Encourages radical community involvement.
-Actually aims to punish wrong-doings.
-Horns are much scarier than a mask and pantaloons.
-Makes reasonable demands.
-Hasn’t been usurped by Time Warner and was never a Papist tool.
A Season for Krampus
(Thanks Bob Jones!)
Last year I participated in KrampusCon in Portland. It would be fun to connect this with Occupy. I don’t think Krampus necessarily has to replace any other mascot or symbol, but it sure would be fun to see a Krampus contingent!
Krampus becoming a figurehead for the entire 99%. Who needs to limit oneself to the RLSH or RLSV communities when Krampus can be the focal point of a movement to change the entire world!?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Another villain dead for real!
And it couldn't happen to a nicer dwarf. No rest for the wicked!
Kim Jong Il, Dead At 69
Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of North Korea, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack during a train ride, state television reported Monday. He was 69, according to official sources. Kim, known in his homeland as “The Lodestar of the 21st Century” and by more than 2,000 other titles, is reported to have had a history of serious ailments, including diabetes, stroke and pancreatic cancer. He may have been on dialysis at the time of his death. In North Korea, he was considered a “contemporary god.”
Kim formally assumed power over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is formally known, in October 1997 by becoming General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party. His elevation to supreme leader, a little over three years after the death of father Kim Il Sung, was the first dynastic transfer of power in a communist-bloc state. The younger Kim also ruled the nation as Chairman of the National Defense Commission, the highest state institution in North Korea. His father, whose embalmed body is on display in Pyongyang, remains the country’s president.
Kim Jong Il successfully consolidated power after his father’s sudden death and, despite predictions to the contrary, kept the regime together. In 1994, he scored a diplomatic triumph by getting the United States to sign an agreement preserving his nuclear program. Kim then steered North Korea through a famine that was its gravest crisis since the American advance to the Chinese border during the Korean War.
The famine resulted in the deaths of as many as two million North Koreans. Since then, agricultural production has recovered, but the country still relies on food assistance from the international community, especially neighboring China. Beijing is thought to provide approximately 45 percent of the North’s foodstuffs—as well as about 90 percent of its oil and 80 percent of its consumer goods.
In July 2002, Kim sponsored structural economic changes, which failed to lift output on a sustained basis. He also permitted the creation of economic zones and tourist enclaves. The country emerged from its most recent downturn in 2008, according to the authoritative Bank of Korea in Seoul. During Kim’s rule, the North remained destitute, scoring last or near the bottom on virtually every human development index. He maintained, and perhaps enlarged, a system of concentration and death camps he inherited from his father.
The Dear Leader, as Kim was known, maintained his position within the regime by strengthening the hand of the Korean People’s Army with his songun, or military first, policy. Approximately 1.2 million North Koreans—out of a total reported population of about 24 million—are in uniform, backed up by at least five million reservists. Although large, the military’s conventional-warfare capabilities have eroded in recent years due to the lack of resources, especially fuel for training.
As a result of the decline in military preparedness, Kim increasingly relied on the country’s unconventional weapons. The Army first detonated a nuclear device in October 2006, and a second test followed in May 2009. The country conducted three long-range missile tests—all during Kim’s tenure—and continued to add to its large stocks of chemical and biological agents. He reportedly sold nuclear weapons and missile technologies in recent years to various customers, especially Iran and Syria. Talks to disarm Kim’s state have floundered, leaving the country in possession of its small nuclear arsenal.
Kim’s death leaves the future of his family’s one-man regime in doubt. In 2009, he designated his youngest known son, Kim Jong Un, his successor. Jong Un, now about 28, may have to contend with his uncle, Jang Song Thaek; his eldest brother, Kim Jong Nam; and perhaps others for real power. Beijing is thought to favor a collective ruling group, which would undercut the position of Kim Jong Un as his father’s successor.
Kim Jong Il, according to official North Korean sources, was born on February 16, 1942 in a log cabin on sacred Mount Paektu, the highest point in Korea and the mythical birthplace of the Korean people. North Korean schools teach that his birth was accompanied by a simultaneous appearance of a bright star, a double rainbow, and a bird announcing the coming of a “general who will rule all the world.”
Most historians, however, place Kim’s birth in a Soviet military camp near Khabarovsk, in Siberia, at least one year earlier. He arrived in North Korea for the first time in November 1945 aboard a Soviet ship. He spent the Korean War outside Korea in Manchuria.
Kim is said to have had three wives, three sons and three daughters, although some reports put the number of his children at about 70, most of whom were kept in villas scattered throughout North Korea.
Kim Jong Il, Dead At 69
Kim Jong Il, supreme leader of North Korea, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack during a train ride, state television reported Monday. He was 69, according to official sources. Kim, known in his homeland as “The Lodestar of the 21st Century” and by more than 2,000 other titles, is reported to have had a history of serious ailments, including diabetes, stroke and pancreatic cancer. He may have been on dialysis at the time of his death. In North Korea, he was considered a “contemporary god.”
Kim formally assumed power over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is formally known, in October 1997 by becoming General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party. His elevation to supreme leader, a little over three years after the death of father Kim Il Sung, was the first dynastic transfer of power in a communist-bloc state. The younger Kim also ruled the nation as Chairman of the National Defense Commission, the highest state institution in North Korea. His father, whose embalmed body is on display in Pyongyang, remains the country’s president.
Kim Jong Il successfully consolidated power after his father’s sudden death and, despite predictions to the contrary, kept the regime together. In 1994, he scored a diplomatic triumph by getting the United States to sign an agreement preserving his nuclear program. Kim then steered North Korea through a famine that was its gravest crisis since the American advance to the Chinese border during the Korean War.
The famine resulted in the deaths of as many as two million North Koreans. Since then, agricultural production has recovered, but the country still relies on food assistance from the international community, especially neighboring China. Beijing is thought to provide approximately 45 percent of the North’s foodstuffs—as well as about 90 percent of its oil and 80 percent of its consumer goods.
In July 2002, Kim sponsored structural economic changes, which failed to lift output on a sustained basis. He also permitted the creation of economic zones and tourist enclaves. The country emerged from its most recent downturn in 2008, according to the authoritative Bank of Korea in Seoul. During Kim’s rule, the North remained destitute, scoring last or near the bottom on virtually every human development index. He maintained, and perhaps enlarged, a system of concentration and death camps he inherited from his father.
The Dear Leader, as Kim was known, maintained his position within the regime by strengthening the hand of the Korean People’s Army with his songun, or military first, policy. Approximately 1.2 million North Koreans—out of a total reported population of about 24 million—are in uniform, backed up by at least five million reservists. Although large, the military’s conventional-warfare capabilities have eroded in recent years due to the lack of resources, especially fuel for training.
As a result of the decline in military preparedness, Kim increasingly relied on the country’s unconventional weapons. The Army first detonated a nuclear device in October 2006, and a second test followed in May 2009. The country conducted three long-range missile tests—all during Kim’s tenure—and continued to add to its large stocks of chemical and biological agents. He reportedly sold nuclear weapons and missile technologies in recent years to various customers, especially Iran and Syria. Talks to disarm Kim’s state have floundered, leaving the country in possession of its small nuclear arsenal.
Kim’s death leaves the future of his family’s one-man regime in doubt. In 2009, he designated his youngest known son, Kim Jong Un, his successor. Jong Un, now about 28, may have to contend with his uncle, Jang Song Thaek; his eldest brother, Kim Jong Nam; and perhaps others for real power. Beijing is thought to favor a collective ruling group, which would undercut the position of Kim Jong Un as his father’s successor.
Kim Jong Il, according to official North Korean sources, was born on February 16, 1942 in a log cabin on sacred Mount Paektu, the highest point in Korea and the mythical birthplace of the Korean people. North Korean schools teach that his birth was accompanied by a simultaneous appearance of a bright star, a double rainbow, and a bird announcing the coming of a “general who will rule all the world.”
Most historians, however, place Kim’s birth in a Soviet military camp near Khabarovsk, in Siberia, at least one year earlier. He arrived in North Korea for the first time in November 1945 aboard a Soviet ship. He spent the Korean War outside Korea in Manchuria.
Kim is said to have had three wives, three sons and three daughters, although some reports put the number of his children at about 70, most of whom were kept in villas scattered throughout North Korea.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Fla. woman found slain under Christmas presents
And some of you fucks wonder why I'm around or what hell really goes on during the Christmas season.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — After a 67-year-old Florida woman was found beaten, strangled and hidden beneath the Christmas presents in her home, authorities charged a younger woman who had been befriended by the victim.
Patty Michelle White, 40, of York, S.C., was being held in the York County jail on fugitive charges, and was expected to be extradited Tuesday to Florida to face murder charges, authorities said.
The body of Michele O'Dowd of Jacksonville, Fla., was discovered Friday by her twin brother, Phil Axt, who had gone to check on her at her home in a gated community after O'Dowd failed to show up for work.
The door was open and O'Dowd's house had been ransacked, Axt said. Chairs and tables were turned upside down. Her car and dog were still at home.
"I knew this wasn't going to pretty," he said.
A foot was sticking out of a big pile of Christmas gifts, Axt said. Buried under the gifts was his sister's cold body, her bloody face covered with a towel.
Police said White was an ex-girlfriend of the victim's nephew, and was considered a family friend. They said White had returned to Florida to rob O'Dowd after staying with relatives in South Carolina.
"Whatever took place in that apartment went horribly wrong and she ended up beating and killing her," according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. White then returned to South Carolina, where she confessed to authorities after she was pulled over and arrested Saturday.
Axt said his aunt treated White as part of the family, giving her odd jobs to earn extra money even though "she just couldn't keep a job, couldn't get her life together."
O'Dowd allowed White to stay at her home for a month for free, trusting her with her PIN number to her debit card so White could purchase groceries for the two of them.
White later used that debit card to withdraw $1,000 at two bank ATMs in Florida, authorities said.
Authorities took some clothes from White's family's home in South Carolina to be examined and turned over to Florida police. A car in which White and her mother were traveling when White was arrested was also examined but later released to the family, police said.
Aunt Miki, as O'Dowd was known to friends and family, was "the most sweetest, kindest person who would never hurt a fly," Axt said.
He also said his sister's neighbors heard screams.
"So many people in the community said they heard someone screaming and wailing, and no one called the police," he said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office declined further comment pending the investigation. There was no answer Tuesday at a phone listing for White's family in South Carolina.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — After a 67-year-old Florida woman was found beaten, strangled and hidden beneath the Christmas presents in her home, authorities charged a younger woman who had been befriended by the victim.
Patty Michelle White, 40, of York, S.C., was being held in the York County jail on fugitive charges, and was expected to be extradited Tuesday to Florida to face murder charges, authorities said.
The body of Michele O'Dowd of Jacksonville, Fla., was discovered Friday by her twin brother, Phil Axt, who had gone to check on her at her home in a gated community after O'Dowd failed to show up for work.
The door was open and O'Dowd's house had been ransacked, Axt said. Chairs and tables were turned upside down. Her car and dog were still at home.
"I knew this wasn't going to pretty," he said.
A foot was sticking out of a big pile of Christmas gifts, Axt said. Buried under the gifts was his sister's cold body, her bloody face covered with a towel.
Police said White was an ex-girlfriend of the victim's nephew, and was considered a family friend. They said White had returned to Florida to rob O'Dowd after staying with relatives in South Carolina.
"Whatever took place in that apartment went horribly wrong and she ended up beating and killing her," according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. White then returned to South Carolina, where she confessed to authorities after she was pulled over and arrested Saturday.
Axt said his aunt treated White as part of the family, giving her odd jobs to earn extra money even though "she just couldn't keep a job, couldn't get her life together."
O'Dowd allowed White to stay at her home for a month for free, trusting her with her PIN number to her debit card so White could purchase groceries for the two of them.
White later used that debit card to withdraw $1,000 at two bank ATMs in Florida, authorities said.
Authorities took some clothes from White's family's home in South Carolina to be examined and turned over to Florida police. A car in which White and her mother were traveling when White was arrested was also examined but later released to the family, police said.
Aunt Miki, as O'Dowd was known to friends and family, was "the most sweetest, kindest person who would never hurt a fly," Axt said.
He also said his sister's neighbors heard screams.
"So many people in the community said they heard someone screaming and wailing, and no one called the police," he said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office declined further comment pending the investigation. There was no answer Tuesday at a phone listing for White's family in South Carolina.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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