Tag: crime

The new and unfortunate normal

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A major and historical in the worst kind of way thing happened in Atlanta this past week, when an entire block of I-85, well, broke.  A massive fire started underneath the bridge portion of I-85, and for whatever unfortunate reasons, the joints holding up a chunk of the interstate, basically fell off, leaving a sizable and impassable hole in the bridge, severing the stretch of highway that connects Montgomery, Alabama all the way to Richmond, Virginia, going northbound.

The fallout is fairly substantial, and the repercussions of having an impassable chasm are massive.  Anyone going northbound in, or through Atlanta will now have to reroute on either I-75 or just taking I-285 around the city.  GA-400 isn’t accessible going north anymore, because the hole is quite literally right before the exit to 400 North.

Sure, I’ve made plenty of jokes about how the hole basically reminds me of the bridge jump from Speed, or how the fires were basically when Tyrion Lannister used wildfire to blow shit up, and the internet has once again made a mockery of Atlanta and it’s apparent penchant for stupid shit like this.  Fortunately, nobody was hurt and there were no casualties aside from thousands of pissed off commuters, otherwise such might be in bad taste.  However, the reality of the situation is that this is going to be a massive and inconveniencing situation for all of Atlanta, and those who need to pass through Atlanta.

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Apparently the law is kind of a suggestion

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’ve heard of these bike/ATV swarms that have been seen around Atlanta, and I’m really thankful that I’ve never come across them before.  I’m pretty sure I’d lose my shit if I knew that I was missing several green light cycles at an intersection and be stuck waiting for a swarm of like 200 guys on dirt bikes and ATVs to passing like a bunch of unwanted locusts.

But yeah, these group(s) exist, and it seems like Sundays seem to be the days in which they tend to go joyriding throughout the city, occasionally clogging up roads and disregarding the fact that other people on the roads actually exist and might actually have things they need to go and places to get to in a timely manner.  As I said, I’m lucky to have avoided ever seeing them, much less get stuck in traffic on account of their illegal and selfish behavior, but with that being said, I’m pretty much destined to get stuck in traffic because of them sooner rather than later.

I came across this story about how the City of Atlanta is pondering whether or not they should crack down on them, which seems like a pretty obvious answer, but the fact is that the city doesn’t really know what course of action to take, be it impounding, arresting, destroying or all of the above, not to mention the cost of manpower and resources necessary to enact such a decision.

But the fascinating thing about the article is the accounts of those who are a part of the “club,” and how they (partially anonymously) try to justify their behavior, and how they try to spin in it a manner that what they’re doing is positive for the urban and black community, because when they’re riding, they’re not robbing or killing.

Wonderful justification.

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Sounds like Date Rape, Jr.

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Things have been pretty busy for me at work lately.  I’ve gotten some substantial sized projects that eat up the days and weeks pretty wholly, and I often times find myself with little to no downtime at work, and I’m putting in overtime on a regular basis as the busy season solders on for my job.  That being said, I’m not resentful or anything, but the truth of the matter is that I’m often times swamped, against a clock, and operating at a stress level that I’d rather not be in.

Whenever such is the case, I sometimes grow irritable towards the existence of peers and co-workers, and whether it’s their chatter, restless foot syndrome or their sheer inabilities to get over coughs, I feel the innate necessity to drown them out by whatever means necessary.  Which is to say that I listen to a lot of Pandora when I get swamped, because I don’t want to hear anything but my music while I plug away at my monumental assignments.

Unfortunately that also means that I’m subject to the endless parade of ads that comes along for being a pleeb free Pandora listener, since I’m streaming it through my phone because Big Brother has no problem with Facebook, YouTube or even Netflix, but restricts Pandora, and therefore cannot filter out the ads with AdBlock.  And there’s been one ad I’ve heard no less than 50 gozillion times now that’s caught my attention, not because I finally experienced what jetlag is really like, but the fact that it sounds like a recipe for being an FDA approved version of a date rape drug.

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Turning down free money and making Georgia a less safe place

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

TL;DR – Acworth lawmaker pens House Bill 390, which greatly reduces the severity of punishment for rolling stop penalties, with a maximum fine of $100 and zero points added to the violator’s driver’s license

I’m just going to assume that this dumb state rep either got a ticket for rolling through a stop sign himself, has a family member that got a ticket for rolling through a stop sign, or knows someone close who got a ticket for rolling through a stop sign. And one or more of the violators are suffering the slight financial belt-tightening that comes from the insurance hike on account of points on a license.  And although HB 390 won’t be able to retroactively go back and remove said transgressions from the violator(s)’s records, it’s still an action taken addressing the perceived unfairness and racial bias – of a fucking stop sign.

And that’s just it, a stop sign says “stop,” not “slow down to a crawl while simultaneously looking out for opposing traffic and proceed ahead unless there’s a cop in which you come to a complete stop.”  Absolutely anything other than a complete stop is a violation of the law, and should most certainly be punished as any other moving violation.  Reducing punishment not only implies a lack of concern for the potential hazards of rolling stops, it’s basically turning down free money for the state by reducing the fine associated with them.

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Another piece of childhood biting the dust

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Happy trails, Jimmy Snuka: “Superfly” has passed away.

There’s no sense in me writing yet another long-winded eulogy for a professional wrestler.  Jimmy Snuka wasn’t taken from the world far too young; he was 73 years old and certainly lived out a fairly full life, albeit probably wrestled a little longer than he probably should have, but such is often the case of professional wrestlers from the 80s and 90s who literally have nothing else to do but continuing to don the tights and get in the ring.

My last visit to the topic of Jimmy Snuka was marred with skepticism and questions of his honesty and intentions, as it seemed a little too convenient for his health to so rapidly begin deterioration as involvement in a third-degree murder/manslaughter charge began to creep up on him, but then again non-physical variables are certainly capable of manifesting physical ailments due to the limitless power of the brain to the body.

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The Ft. Lauderdale airport shooter looks like Brandon Belt

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Inappropriate, given the tragic loss of multiple lives at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, but when I saw the mugshot of the gunman, I couldn’t help but notice the striking resemblance to San Francisco Giants first baseman, Brandon Belt.

Sure, he’s the player I identify as the guy I dislike the most on the team I dislike more than any other in Major League Baseball, which I almost want to say that he’s the guy I dislike more than anyone else in MLB, which isn’t entirely accurate, because that dubious honor goes to Melky Cabrera, but even I have to feel kind of bad for Brandon Belt that he’s such a dead ringer for a guy whose face has been, and will probably be flashing all over the news for at least another week, as a guy identified as a mentally ill, PTSD-addled example of the shortcomings of veteran care and mental health knowledge.

Seriously, when I first saw the mugshot, I immediately thought that Brandon Belt had done something illegal and gotten arrested or something. 

I hope one day when Brandon Belt is inevitably exposed as being the overrated hack he is and is designated for assignment, and has to take his talents to Asia in order to keep his career going, Asian fans will make signs using the Ft. Lauderdale shooter’s mugshot with Brandon Belt’s name.  Like when Taiwanese fans used a photo of Johnny Cueto on a sign for Manny Ramirez, because All Look Same.

Oh, Atlanta #1,017

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

TL;DR: Shell casings found in various Atlanta locations indicate a concerning number of incidents on New Year’s Eve involving celebratory gun fire.

You know what’s a great idea to celebrate things?  Discharging lethal weapons.

I mean seriously, I’ve heard of plenty of incidents of there being celebratory gun fire in parts of the world before, but usually they’ve been like, Islamic terrorists firing AK-47s into the skies, screaming Allahu Akbar or some shit.  Or like rednecks really celebrating their second amendment rights, in the backwoods and/or their white supremacy compounds.

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