A Brief History
On May 31, 2018, we look back on a month of jerks and heroes to recognize both types of people that have come to our attention. Today we name our Jerks of the Month, but also to flip the coin and recognize our Heroes of the Month as well.
Digging Deeper
1. Jerk. Sterling Brown, parking violator.
A 6 foot 6 inch NBA basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks, Brown got the attention of the police when he parked across 2 handicap parking spots. When being issued a citation for his jerkish parking stunt, Brown intimidated the cop by getting too close and not backing off when told to. Brown also refused to take his hands out of his pockets. When the officer called for a single back-up, multiple officers arrived. The situation deteriorated to where Brown was tasered and arrested. Brown was released with no further charges than the parking violation, something we cannot understand. Reviewing the video of the event, he could and probably should have been charged with obstructing official business and resisting arrest. In a typical fashion, the cop was not supported by his mayor or Chief of Police, and Brown is now threatening to sue the city of Milwaukee. (The incident happened in January, 2018, but the video was released in May 2018 with associated media coverage.) The mayor of Milwaukee and Police Chief that condemned the officer involved have to answer the question, “What would you have the officer do instead of what he did?” Not issue the citation? Back off when the subject became confrontational? Allow the subject to keep his hands in his pockets, an intolerable situation as taught to all cops? How about condemning the jerk that took up not one, but two handicap spots and then was a jerk about it?
2. Hero. Britt Slabinski, Medal of Honor awarded.
On May 24, 2018, President Trump awarded the Nation’s highest military award for valor to retired Navy SEAL, Britt Slabinski. Britt served as a Master Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy, his career spanning 1988 to 2014. His actions during the Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan between US forces and Al Qaeda Islamic extremists in 2002 earned him the medal, a fight between 7 SEALS, 20 US Army Rangers, 3 airmen, and either 1 or 2 Australian SAS (Special Air Service commandos) teams and around 400 Afghan fighters. The battle resulted in 7 US deaths and the loss of 2 Chinook helicopters, while around 200 Afghan Al Qaeda fighters died. Slabinski led a rescue effort to recover an American that had been knocked out of a helicopter on a mountain, against overwhelming odds and heavy enemy fire. Slabinski carried a wounded American to safety under heavy fire and chaotic conditions. Another American, Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman was also later (posthumously) awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during that battle.
3. Jerk. Kim Jong-un, Mad Dictator.
Just when it seemed like the US and North Korea would have a summit meeting about the de-nuclearization of North Korea and the Korean Peninsula, the fat little dictator met with the Chinese president and let his penchant for inflammatory rhetoric derail the peace process. To be honest, this is exactly what we expected. Kim comes from a line of despotic, delusional leaders of North Korea and will probably have to be removed by force some day.
4. Hero. Brandyn Mitchell gave his life for another.
This 25 year old Army National Guard veteran saved the life of his fiancé’s 6 year old daughter when the girl fell off a floatation device at a Texas beach. After getting the lass back on the floatation device, Brandyn slipped and went under, tragically to drown in the act of saving a life. Mitchell was reported to be enrolling in college with an eye to becoming a firefighter, a job where his life saving instincts would have served us all well. From this former Marine, Semper fi, Brandyn.
5. Jerks. People that rate others unfairly.
When it comes to anonymous ratings of people and businesses, such as Yelp, peer evaluations or Rate My Professor, it is a travesty when people submit their rating in a callous and scathing way that is often totally unrelated to the reality of the situation. Just as any of us would want to be rated fairly and with a certain amount of empathy, it is incumbent on the rater to know what the heck they are talking about before ruining a career or business with an inaccurate rating. People that are pleased with a business or a service should be sure to make their opinion known. Failing to submit a positive evaluation is almost as bad as submitting an unfairly harsh one. Please be as accurate and descriptive as possible when making any such rating, and if you skipped half the classes you are not in a position to make a fair rating of the class! (For example.) Today’s era of cyber bullying by punks and wimps that are protected by the anonymity of the internet is a sad state of affairs, and we implore everyone to avoid such activity. Spread the word, and thank you.
6. Heroes. Armed Citizens Shoot Shooter at restaurant.
An Oklahoma diner was the scene of a potential tragedy that was stopped by lawfully armed citizens on May 24, 2018. The gunman entered the restaurant with his pistol blazing, shooting and wounding 3 people and causing another victim to break a leg trying to escape. A pair of alert citizens ran to their respective cars to retrieve their legally owned pistols, and both shot and killed the suspect, thus saving more lives. First reports were that one citizen had shot the suspect, but later investigation showed that both citizens had shot the shooter, named as Andrew Tilghman (Call him a “jerk” this month). Hooray for Juan Nozario and Bryan Whittle, both in their 30’s for their heroic actions to protect innocent lives, exactly what concealed carry permits for firearms are meant to be for. The armed citizens were acting independently and had never met before the incident.
7. Jerk. Santa Fe High School (Texas) School Shooter.
Sorry, but this punk makes me so angry I choose not to name him. A 17 year old immigrant from Greece hid a shotgun and a pistol under his long coat and entered his own school on May 18, 2018, proceeding to start shooting classmates and teachers in an art class. Among the 10 people he killed were 2 teachers and 8 students, with another 13 wounded. Police officers stationed at the school as school security engaged the gunman in a gun battle while ordering him to surrender. The punk verbally sparred with the Santa Fe officer and the Texas State Trooper while also exchanging gunfire. The Santa Fe officer and the suspect were both wounded before the suspect surrendered. As with some other recent school shootings, this incident may have been at least partly precipitated by the failure of the shooter to hit it off with girls.
Breaking News: On May 25, 2018, another school shooting happened in an Indiana high school, with 2 people (one student, one teacher) shot and wounded while another student broke their ankle trying to run away from the shooting. The shooter, described as a student at the school, was taken into custody. Details are unavailable at the time this article is written. The teacher that was shot, Mr. Jason Seaman, was hit 3 times but tackled the kid with the gun and disarmed him, probably saving lives. He is another Hero.
Bonus Jerks: The uninformed, ignorant, gun grabbing idiots that immediately blamed the AR-15 style rifle as somehow responsible for the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting. It is incredible how these folks can either outright lie or have so little knowledge that their input into the “gun control” debate is worse than useless, it is actually a detriment to whatever point they are trying to make. The shooter supposedly stole his own father’s legally owned firearms. Even with laws requiring guns to be locked up at home, a teen can still find the key or otherwise get his (or her) hands on the guns. There are no fool proof ways to prevent murders, but if anything is to be done, let it be something that actually has a positive result instead of a “feel good” phony measure such as “universal background checks.”
8. Heroes. Law Enforcement officers putting themselves in harms way to deal with shooters.
Time after time in incident after incident, American law enforcement officers put their own lives and well being in jeopardy to save the lives of innocent people. For this month the cops in the Santa Fe High School shooting and the Indiana high school shooting are right at the forefront. Thank you for the fine job, and same to the rest of you officers out their doing similar things everyday.
9. Jerk. President Trump.
To be honest, we wanted SO BADLY not to include Donald Trump as a jerk this month, just in case we were unconsciously Trump-bashing. Alas, we could not refrain, and have to include The Donald again, this time for SPELLING HIS WIFE’S NAME WRONG! When Melania went to the hospital for a surgical procedure on her kidney, Donald welcomed her home by spelling her name “Melanie.” Way to go, Man! Classic blunder. At least in his defense he spells an incredible variety of words wrong.
10. Heroes. NFL Owners.
Finally, the embattled owners of the NFL teams have decided to put an end to the kneeling and other displays of political unhappiness at football games by requiring the players and other employees to abide by their contract and stand respectfully on the field during the National Anthem. An alternative would be to stay in the locker room during the Anthem. We do NOT begrudge the right of any NFL player or any other citizen to express his or her opinion about whatever it is they want to express it about, but when someone is wearing the uniform of a team or business it is incumbent on that employee to respect the wishes of their employer. Protests do not belong at work, whether that work is performed at a restaurant, factory, store or a football stadium.
Hero of the Month: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers facing elimination in the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the super-charged Boston Celtics suffered the loss of their #2 star player (only other star player), Kevin Love, when Love suffered a concussion when a Celtic’s head plowed into Love’s head. (Love is leading all NBA players in rebounds in the 2018 playoffs.) LeBron took the team on his back as he so often does, throwing in 46 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing 9 assists to give the Cavs a series tying 3-3 record. At 33 years old and in his 15th season, LeBron is playing more minutes and scoring more points and passing for more assists than any other player in the NBA playoffs. James took his team on his strong back to the NBA Finals a 4th year in a row this year by beating the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Championship series in Boston by posting 35 points, 9 assists, and 15 rebounds. Wow! And he played all 48 minutes of the game at full speed. On May 31st, in the opening game of the NBA Finals, LeBron poured in 51 points to go with his 8 rebounds and 8 assists, only the 6th time in NBA history anyone scored 50 points in a Finals game, and the first time a 50+ point performance was on the losing side.
Co-Jerks of the Month: Unnamed Russian Art Critic and Actress/Comedian Roseanne Barr.
In another incident of an outrage against a famous work of art, on May 27, 2018, a drunken 37 year old Russian museum goer picked up a crowd restraining pole and began smashing the famous painting of Ivan the Terrible cradling his mortally wounded son. The painting by Ilya Repin titled Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581 was painted in 1885 and is housed in Moscow at the Tretyakov Gallery. The vandal claims he normally does not drink vodka but consumed a bit too much at the museum’s buffet. The painting, its glass case, and the frame were all damaged. The reason for the attack? The vandal claimed he was upset because the painting was not historically accurate. What a jerk!
Roseanne got her smash hit reboot of a television show canceled when she made an idiotic tweet about a former Obama Administration advisor of African American heritage that was born in Iran (Valerie Jarrett), saying the woman was the product of “The Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes.” A feeble apology followed, with ABC promptly cancelling the show, one of the biggest moneymakers for ABC. Roseanne later tried to blame the medication Ambien for her indiscretion (racist tweet) prompting the medicine company to issue a statement that none of their medicines have racism as a side effect!
Late Addition to Jerks of the Month: The pathetic NBA referees that stole Game 1 of the NBA Finals from the Cavaliers! LeBron James get flagrantly poked in the eye, leaving an eye bloody and it is a common foul? Where is the proper “Flagrant 2” call? The so called “turnovers” by James that were all muggings with his arms being pulled away from the ball were just sad, but the ultimate ridiculous abomination came when an obvious charge by Kevin Durant was reversed on review to a preposterous LeBron James blocking foul. James, at least a foot out of the restricted area, was run over like a New York jaywalker. Take that one blatantly wrong call away and the Cavs win the upset. Then, when the game was out of reach in overtime, a baloney call of a Flagrant 2 against Tristan Thompson including an ejection was just too much to take. When resident thug Draymond Green could not refrain from taunting Thompson, Thompson reacted by shoving the ball in the direction of Green’s face. Hell, he should have punched the jerk!
Question for students (and subscribers): Who would you add to either side of the list? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Denenberg, Dennis and Lorraine Roscoe. 50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet. Millbrook Press, 2016.
Warner, Brad. Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master. New World Library , 2016.