Did any thinking person really believe that the end-game here was to apprehend Dorner and give him a trial? Was there even a serious doubt that given the choice of getting him dead or alive the cops would spare him? The lynching took place just as many had expected and the networks were thrilled to bring it live to your living rooms. Make no mistake -- the LAPD is acutely aware of the fact that public opinion can reach a flash point, just like it did during Rodney King riots, just like it did during Watts. It has been nearly twenty one years since the Rodney King riots, and for all the talk about reform in the LAPD, it would be a fool's errand to proclaim that community relations today do not bear the scars of that era and many more recent scars. We haven't seen anything on that scale in the United States in a while, but we have been treated to numerous televised images of austerity riots in Southern Europe, Western Continental Europe, and London. It's disturbing and it's ugly. No-one wants to see such a flash point reached here in the US again. No-one.
That said, however, even if we accept that the LAPD has the best of intentions here, the way it's leadership has handled the PR aspect of this reminds of the saying "The road to hell is paved with best intentions". Instead of sticking to "just the facts", the department right out off the gate embarked on a clumsy smear campaign of conjecture and spin. This, however, raised more questions and doubts than it has answered. In addition to the careless use of words like "trained assassin" and "domestic terrorist", the department announced a $1 million reward. But it wasn't until this afternoon, February 12, 2013, that the LAPD even put up information about Christopher Dorner on its home page. Instead, the LAPD's home page featured at least three photos of the mustachioed Chief Beck and an advertisement for a 2013 "Calender". The LAPD's Top 10 Most Wanted page on its Web site STILL doesn't feature Dorner. And the "Recent Additions" link on the department's site's Most Wanted page leads to a "Page Not Found". What the department did put up on its Web site is a PDF wanted poster. It doesn't really tell one anything about Dorner that hasn't already been covered in the press. It does state in bold red letters that Dorner is "CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS" and that "Officers should use extreme caution when apprehending suspect Dorner". Remarkably, the wanted poster, approved by Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, did not provide any contact information for the LAPD, nor does it offer any instruction to civilians on how to proceed should they spot Mr. Dorner (or "Suspect Dorner"). The poster made no mention of the $1 million reward either. The LA Times was more generous with information (including a contact phone number for tips). It reported that the LA city council had added $100,000 to the $1 million previously announced, and stated that "County supervisors in Los Angeles and Riverside counties are expected to follow suit, raising the total reward to $1.3 million." Interestingly, only one person on the current FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List has a $1 million bounty. The other nine have only $100,000 each. Evidently, Christopher Dorner was worth more in terms of bounty than nine out of ten top most wanted criminals on the FBI's list. ABC News reported that "the LAPD said at a news conference Tuesday morning that it is looking into more than 1,000 tips from the public." Is that a lot? Or was the public at large not exactly rushing to get involved? Maybe it's not really for the public. Mercury News reported that "TV's Dog the Bounty Hunter predicts $1 million reward will bring out the pros". There you go -- reality TV. It is, after all, LA. Chapman theorizes that since Dorner has not killed a new victim in the last week he may be testing LAPD, says Mercury Times. "It's like a cooling off period, like he knows they'll guard his guys for a while but will ease off with the 24/7 surveillance," Chapman said. "As a cop he'll probably wait now and make another move when he believes the LAPD is getting more lax."
So, where has the media coverage been in all this? We were told that Dorner sent a CD or a DVD to Anderson Cooper at CNN. We were told that it was "chilling" but never shown what was on the disc. What could it have been that it "chilled" Mr. Cooper? While one cannot be sure, it is fairly safe to assume that it wasn't a LaToya Jackson album. What was on it? You'd think that a man going on a suicide mission, right or wrong, would put whatever he considered to be the most important vindicating evidence on a CD to CNN. How someone in a news organization came up with the red herring of "Imagine a More Open America." is a real head-scratcher. Who has ever heard of this "common abbreviation" before? Who in America has EVER texted "OMG, LOL, LMFAO, IMOA... BRB"?!? The writing on the coin covering OBVIOSLY sais 1 M.O.A. (separated by commas), which is a shooting acronym for "Minutes of Angle" or "Minutes of Arc". Wikipedia will tell you that "1 MOA subtends approximately one inch at 100 yards, a traditional distance on target ranges." The guy sends you a two inch coin with bullet holes in it and you think it's a symbol for "Imagine a More Open America"? Really?
And where were Dorner's friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, LAPD partner, his military unit buddies, his commanders, basketball buddies, etc? He was a United States Navy officer after all. We heard some unflattering comments from an ex-girlfriend, but come on, how objective and reliable will ANYONE's ex be? This guy is in his mid-30s and has led a pretty public life. How come we know only what the LAPD and other nameless and faceless government men are telling us? We know that he went to college and played football. Where are you, his teammates? Some are speaking out but their voices seem to not pass the screens of certain venerable news organizations. His former coach at Southern Utah University, Aaron Alford, said: "You know, I met him when I became a coach at Southern Utah University. That was 1999 and 2000. And in those two years, you know, the things you obviously are seeing on television and hearing in the news, don't -- obviously don't fit. They're ludicrous in that manner, just to think that he's gone to this level of violence and anger. But he was a good kid. You never heard anything negative. He stayed out of trouble. He had good grades. You know, we talked quite often while I was there, and you know, there was nothing to speculate that he would have this kind of issue." James Usera, now an Oregon attorney, played football with Dorner at Southern Utah University in the late 1990s and they became friends off the field. Usera told the media: "Just absolute befuddlement and shock when I learned about it this morning, and trying to piece things together and in being asked questions about what I know about Mr. Dorner, my experiences with him, and I try and think, was there any indication of this and, you know, there just isn't... My experience with Mr. Dorner was overwhelmingly positive. I never saw any indications in him that he was violent or particularly aggressive, certainly nothing that would suggest to me that he could commit the crimes with which he's been accused." Where were the others?
We've learned that more than ten years ago Dorner was featured in an Enid News & Eagle article, about two men returning a bank bag containing nearly $8,000 in cash and checks to an area church. Dorner told the News & Eagle he was raised in La Palma, Calif., by his mother. Is she still alive? Where is she as her son is the subject of a "manhunt" using military drones? He said he wanted to fly SH-60 helicopters in the Navy, according to the News & Eagle story. About returning the money, Dorner said: “I didn’t work for it, so it’s not mine. And, it was for the church. It’s not so much the integrity, but it was someone else’s money. I would hope someone would do that for me.”
Where were the black civil rights leaders and celebrities before the Big Bear Lake bonfire? Where were you, Jesse Jackson? You showed signs of life a few days ago when your son accepted a plea bargain. Where are you, Al Sharpton? Where are you, Chris Rock? We know you're alive because you were mumbling something to Congress about gun control a few days ago. Where are you Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx? How come none of you were out there saying "Hey, Chris Dorner, whatever you have done, you deserve a trial. Call my office. Let's arrange a peaceful surrender in front of television cameras so at least you won't be shot down in a revenge killing."? To his credit, Charlie Sheen has stepped up... sort of. In a brief taped video message aired on celebrity website TMZ, Sheen said: “Christopher Dorner, this is Charlie Sheen. You mention me in your manifesto so thank you for your kind words. I’m urging you to call me and let’s figure out together how to end this thing. Call me. I look forward to talking to you.” Of course, had the "trained assassin" and "domestic terrorist" Christopher Dorner snagged Charlie Sheen, he would have had at his disposal a weapon of mass self-destruction.
Where was California Senator Dianne Feinstein? The most aggressive advocate of sweeping changes to American gun laws who stated on the record that she would, if she could, take all guns away from American civilians. The same Senator Dianne Feinstein who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and as such, according to The Atlantic " bears more responsibility than anyone in America for ensuring that Congress conducts vigilant oversight of President Obama's targeted killing program. " The same Senator Dianne Feinstein who is at this moment the center of a controversy after having severely understated civilian casualties from drone attacks at the Senate confirmation hearings for John Brennan's appointment to head the CIA. Well, Christopher J. Dorner wa, among other things, one of your constituents, Senator. Just days ago you were showcasing "assault-style" weapons before Congress, telling the American public that only the military and the police should have these weapons. That American civilians do not need them and should not have them. Now officials in your state have told us that a "trained assassin" and a "domestic terrorist", trained in the arts of warfare by the LAPD and the United States Navy, is armed to the teeth and was out there somewhere, evading capture for over a week despite one of the most intensive "man hunts" in this nation's history. A "manhunt" that for the first time ever is using military drones to hunt a civilian on American soil. So, this horribly dangerous and well-armed killing machine was out there, you couldn't catch him for over a week, you declared him to be of grave danger to us, regular Americans... BUT you think that we absolutely SHOULD NOT have any weapons in our homes that would give us any sort of chance of protecting our homes and families if your mythical antagonist, an accused "murderer", "terrorist" and "trained assassin", were to target us next? Would you be terribly offended if someone suggested that if everything that has been alleged about Dorner is true and if thousands of law enforcement officers armed to the teeth and using drones cannot catch him day after day, perhaps this is a really good example of why Americans SHOULD arm themselves with the most potent weapons available? Your "murderer", "domestic terrorist", and "trained assassin" happened to be six feet tall and weigh 270 pounds. And more than likely had access to ballistic body armor. But you don't want anyone to have a magazine that can hold more than ten rounds and your esteemed colleague Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York, has already rammed through an unconstitutional law that limits magazine capacity in New York to just seven rounds. Do you really think that this is sufficient to stop a 270 pound terminator that Dorner was made out to be? Would it shock you if the folks at your dinner table asked you to pass a high capacity magazine?
Where were you, America's first bi-racial President? When on July 16, 2009, your friend Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested at his Cambridge, Massachusetts home by a local police officer responding to a 9-1-1 caller's report of men breaking and entering the residence, you chimed in Gates' defense. You told the Chicago Sun-Times, asked President Barack Obama "Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?" Obama replied, "Now, I've – I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact." This isn't to say that you should have sprung to Dorner's defense. But this certainly is to say that when local law enforcement seems to run amok, shooting innocent civilians at random and throwing around words like "domestic terrorism", and when drones are deployed on American soil in police operations, you have a responsibility to not be missing in action. Unless of course you are skeet shooting at Camp David, in which case we totally understand. Charlie Sheen has it covered. His dad used to play the President on TV.
Maybe Dorner was every bit as bad as the LAPD says and guilty on all accounts. We wanted to see this prove it in court. We didn't want a lynching posse on a private vendetta. We didn't want the authorities to insult what little remains of our collective intelligence by expecting us to blindly accept the official version of this incident, the invocation of the word "terrorist", the historical precedent of using drones on American soil, the shootings of innocent civilians by LAPD officers who have thus far not suffered any publicly known consequences. You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but please don't assume that you can fool all of the people all of the time. LAPD Chief Beck announced on Saturday that the LAPD would re-examine its proceedings against Dorner. The review is "not to appease a murderer," but "to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all things we do," he said. Well Chief, having an organization with a long and sordid history re-investigate itself on allegations of corruption, racism, and character assassination, is hardly reassuring. It's actually as pointless as it is absurd. Do you REALLY think that when eventually the LAPD says that having re-examined accusations leveled against it, it really REALLY is not guilty, this will boost its credibility? Far too many Americans already believe that the LAPD is the biggest organized crime franchise in California, if not the nation. If there is a investigation to be had here, surely it must be conducted by the Justice Department and the FBI.
As for Christopher J. Dorner, the outcome was sadly predictable. Maybe he was guilty of everything that he was accused of, maybe not -- we may never know the full story. But they say a person dies twice. The first time is when his final breath leaves his body. The second time is when his name is spoken for the last time. This holds equally for very good men and for very bad men, for the saints and the Hitlers. Whoever he was and whatever he was, Christopher J. Dorner will live long past the moment when his final breath left his body and his impact on how we perceive our society and those who govern us will be discussed and debated for a very long time to come. We do ourselves and our children a terrible disservice if we all just collectively yawn, roll over, and go back to sleep.
I don't know where the cabin was, don't know what kind of truck broke down.
lease:
