Dylan Peters Was Only One

An arbitrary click on an arbitrary site about gun deaths since Newtown.  I am (at least for now) committed to finding out about at least one of them every day.

The tally on the site where Slate and @GunDeaths keep track is represented by universal symbols for man, woman, teenager and child.  Today I clicked on a child symbol and found Dylan Peters, age 1.

It turns out that Dylan Peters and his father Dason Peters were both killed by the child’s mother.  Another murder-suicide.   Both were shot to death on Monday April 15 by New York City Police officer Rosette Samuel, forty-three, the mother of the baby who subsequently shot and killed herself.

Dason Peters was born in Guyana and Samuel in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Dason immigrated to the United States when he was 15 years old.  He went to Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, and then community college.  He was employed by the New York Transit Authority as a supervisor at the time of his death.

The day of their deaths, Dylan and his Dad were packed for a trip to Guyana.  Dason and Dylan had gone to his parent’s house for a swim.  There, they were gunned down by the child’s mother with her service revolver, a 9mm glock.  Rosette left two suicide notes that said she had given up on life and was sorry for her actions.

Dylan and his father didn’t have a chance to leave a note.

After finding the site that keeps track of gun deaths, I began thinking about the real people that have lost their lives since Newtown, now some 3503 people, and I thought I might try to find these real people and post something about one or two of them a day.

GunDeaths.com is for sale: only $2595

After finding the site that keeps track of gun deaths, I began thinking about the real people that have lost their lives since Newtown, now some 3503 people, and I thought I might try to find these real people and post something about one or two of them a day.

Mark suggested that I start a blog or website dedicated to this process, so I went online and found at HUGE DOMAINS that gundeaths.com is for sale for only $2595.  I didn’t buy it.  I didn’t even try to find out who was selling it.

I guess it is not surprising that someone squatted on a name like this, and put it up for sale for a huge sum of money, to profit on other people’s misfortune.  Mind you, I was considering it, too, but I think for a higher purpose than I assume someone who would sell it for $2595 was thinking.

Until I can find a proper name, and set it up, I am going to use this blog.  Today, I found Paula Barnes who died on April 16th by gunshot, courtesy of her husband Vernon, who killed her with his 22 caliber rifle and then shot himself.  This particular murder suicide, of a couple who the press said was having marital problems, was notable because Paula tried to save her own life by calling 911 after she was shot in the chest.  She didn’t make it.

Trying to find more information about Paula’s death, I found the website Murder/Suicide which bills itself as “the never ending archive of jealousy, despair, betrayal and madness”  Murder/Suicide has been chronicling murder/suicide since 2009.  It has a search function.  It has cataloged murder suicides in the USA by year.  2009.  2010.  2011. 2012.  And now, 2013.  The annual catalogs have locators all over a Google/Earth map of the U.S. and you can click on them and zoom in to a specific tragedy.  You can follow Murder/Suicide on twitter.

Paula and Vernon lived in Pulaski County, Kentucky.  A place someone like me would imagine someone like them would have a gun.  And it makes you wonder, doesn’t it, what might have happened if they did not.

I Find Myself Standing with Fox News

For the first time ever, I find myself standing with Fox News.  Surfing the channels, I saw that the talking heads at Fox agreed with me that President Obama’s comments about Kamala Harris were no big deal  — they acknowledged that she was pretty good looking and lamented that many in the country are still so incredibly PC.

Personally, I would like to be as good looking at Kamala Harris, and also as “brilliant, dedicated and tough, making sure everybody gets a fair shake”  — the things Obama said before he commented on her beauty, and before he noted that they had been good friends for a long time.  The world didn’t know they had been good friends for a long time, but since he told us that it seems like we should believe him.   Good friends say this kind of thing about each other.

It seems to me, based on my simple observation of Kamala Harris, that she cares about how she looks and takes care in presenting herself to the world.  So, while I doubt that Obama would say of someone who wasn’t all that attractive that they were “the worst looking AG in the country,” I imagine that Kamala Harris was not thinking, “dammit, he dismissed all of the good things he said about me by commenting on my looks.”  For sure, he didn’t say “but she is the best looking AG …”

While I am no longer of the opinion that Barack Obama is my new bicycle, I do believe he is human and that is one of the thing that makes him attractive to us.  I surfed the web to see what the rest of the media world was saying. While found myself agreeing with comments that Obama’s comment seemed “wolfish” and “flirtatious,” I realize the most of my liberal and feminist cohort do not agree.

I grew up in the 60s and Gloria Steinem spoke at my graduation from Smith College in 1971.  (btw, she used the word “vagina” and caused my father and my husband-to-be to walk out of the ceremony).   I definitely believe that woman are the equals of men and should be treated as such.

I also think that had Obama not made that comment, the world would not have been abuzz with the news of her brilliance, dedication and toughness.  Kamala Harris couldn’t pay for this kind of public relations.  Instant fame:  who knows the name of their state’s attorney general, let alone the AG of any other state?

Frankly, if I were Obama I would be worried about that comment when I got home.

White House to Sell Vegetables to Local Grocers

When it was reported that the White House was cancelling the “spring tour” season, our intrepid reporter wanted to look into other savings the President and his family were prepared to make in light of the sequester.

First of all, its important to know that the Easter Egg Roll will proceed as in years past.  The one minor change this year is that children are being asked to bring their own eggs.  The White House estimates that this will save the country 18 cents per person attending the egg roll, a White House tradition since 1878.  The number of people expected this year, selected by an online lottery system, is 35,000.  Total savings is estimated to be $6,300.

The White House will also begin selling vegetables from its garden to local grocers.   The White House chef told reporters that they are currently giving 1/3 of the vegetables to organizations that serve people in need.  Now, instead of having vegetables from the garden, the Obama family will take up a diet of kimchee and rice so that the remaining two thirds can be sold at a premium to area grocery stores.    

In order to distinguish them from other vegetables, the White House vegetables will be branded “The White House.  America’s House.”   Currently a contest is underway for developing a logo for the vegetables from the White House garden.  The winner will be able to bypass the lottery and come to the Easter Egg Roll.  What’s more, an egg will be supplied for rolling purposes.  Other entrants will receive the pleasure of knowing that someone at the White House may have seen their design. 

America looks forward to other savings being made by the White House — doing its part for the sequester — and everyone in these United States of America is being encouraged to make their own savings as a contribution to the nation’s staggering debt.  The money you save can be donated to the America’s newest 501C3, The Super Sequester Pac, organized to raise funds to offset the cuts of $85 billion.   Corporations can donate as persons, but expectations in this area are low.

If “Being Civil” means shutting up, then…

Lindsey Graham had a bit of a dustup with a metropolitan police officer regarding whether our current laws for gun control wouldn’t be enough if we enforced them properly.  The officer fought back, with facts on his side and said that “paper prosecutions” wouldn’t do the job.

Diane Feinstein felt she had to interrupt and instruct everyone to “be civil.”  Had the two not been on the precipice of a fight we, the citizens of this country who pay Feinstein and Graham to work on our behalf, would never have seen that clip, never known that Graham was continuing his job as a mouthpiece for the NRA… If “being civil” means saying nothing, not getting riled about guns and their terrible place in our country’s day-to-day life, then I would like to see a lot less “civility” and a lot more direct honesty in our exchanges over such important subjects.

Lindsey Graham and Diane Feinstein work for us.  They work for that father who lost his child, “the only family” he had left.  They work for the ER doc who reminded them that people in Tuscon, Aurora, Newtown — people everywhere — know we have a serious problem with guns.  They work for that metropolitan police officer.

The people in Congress seem to have forgotten that they work for us.  They don’t work for the NRA, appearances to the contrary.  They don’t work for the other lobbyists who grease their palms.  They work for us.  At least they are supposed to work for us.