Scary clown trend leads to police warnings worldwide

By JIM PURCELL

Stephen King fans the world over may think of the author's signature "It" prankster when they think about scary clowns. However, there is a disturbing trend circulating throughout the country that takes scary clowns out of the pages of books and is putting them on our streets. This is especially concerning as Halloween, Oct. 31, is tomorrow.

According to a printed report by AFP today, written by Rhona Wise, it's better for everyone to leave the creepy clown costumes at home this Halloween, as there is 'clown hysteria' gripping the nation. This report is not a prank: far from it, as unusal sightings in South Carolina were noted this past summer of people dressed as clowns with them trying to lure children into the woods.

Sightings of people wearing bizarre clown costumes has since spread to more than 20 states, along with associated incidents reported by police. The craze has jumped the U.S. border and there have even been sightings of such bizarrely dressed people exhibiting themselves in Europe, South America and Australia.

According to Miami police spokeswoman Yelitza Cedano Hernandez, in a report issued by the AFP, people can dress as clowns but if a prank is performed and someone is hurt, the responsible party (and their parents if they are minors) will be brought to court.

Meanwhile, in Kemper County, Missouri, an outright ban of clown gear has been instituted whereby, if someone is found in violation of the sanction, they will be charged a $150 fine. There are clown incidents, bans and concerns also circulating throughout the nation.

This hysteria comes at a particularly bad time with Halloween a day away and, as it has been since time immemorial, clown costumes have been historically popular.

Maybe the recent 'clown craze' is mostly an innocent symptom of popular culture. Maybe, some part of those interested in this craze are taking it too far or are, in fact, criminals seeking to hide their identity. One thing is for sure, there is a condition known as coulrophobia, which is a specific fear of clowns.

According to researchers from California State University, young children can be especially reactive to people dressed as clowns. However, coulrophobia strikes a large number of adults, as well. Yet, whether it is Cambridge, Massachusetts or Cambridge, United Kingdom, police are saying the same thing with one voice this year: Don't dress as clowns this Halloween and don't perform any pranks because there are people who have already taken this practice too far. Playing on people's fears isn't funny, whether it is Halloween or any other day of the year.

Gov't, Police Have Forgotten the 'Rule of Law'

As much as the economy, the Rule of Law holds together this nation. Photo J. Purcell

By Rev. J.J. Purcell

Riots are alive throughout this country now. And, they are not going to get better for now, I fear.

Someone whom people do not learn about in school anymore is 17th century English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). Since most people are so badly schooled, they probably think that was when the pyramids were built. Regardless, Locke helped to intellectually enlighten most of our Founding Fathers here in America (that means 'they listened to what he said a lot').

So, this writer, Locke, said in his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" that the mind is a blank slate at birth and is filled through experience. Well, old Locke was a great believer in "cause and effect." People are born understanding logical systems. For example, bad guy does something bad, they are arrested, then they are jailed and all is right with the world. But, wait! An example that would not be considered a logical system to people would be: 'Bad guy kills someone for no real reason, is caught, no one does anything about it and the killer is set free.' You see, if the bad guy can get away with murder, then who is to say he will not murder again, or people like him or her murder again? So, people become distressed and -- BANG! ZAP! -- you have yourself a mob looking to get rid of the murderer.

Of course, this does not examine things from a racial point of view. But, so many others are doing that I decided I would go another route.

What is the gist? In modern society, there must be rules and everyone must follow them or the society will become unhinged because, if there is a special group of people whom are not accountable for their actions, the center will not hold and the society will collapse upon itself.

I know some ignorant rednecks are having a tough time with this -- too much thinking. You should navigate away right about now. Go back to reading and making bumper stickers.

Riots rocked NYC during Tammany Hall days of corruption.

The Republicans in our National Government, many local Mayors and Councils and, apparently, most of the Police Departments in the country, now believe that ordinary Americans can be deprived of justice, beaten, murdered at the whim of police officers and subjected to a host of inhuman and wrongful acts. The ever-present "I feared for my life" offered by officers would go a lot farther, I believe, if there were not so many random shootings or strangling of unarmed Black men, from sea to shining sea.

As I write this today, two NYPD officers were killed by a lunatic for the misdeeds of Police who murdered unarmed Black men in Missouri and New York, respectively. The practice of randomly murdering whomever they wished has gone on quite a while for Police. No one said too much for the longest time. Well, the purpose for our system of justice (working rightly) is intended so mobs, such as we are seeing now, do not form into lynching parties in the street for murderers hiding behind badges.

Then, one day, people got sick of it; fed up to the gills.

Back when Tammany Hall (through the Society of Tammany) ran New York City, during the Civil War, the War of the Five Points destroyed the city because people believed it was impossible to receive justice or fairness out of the City and Police back then. The result? A goodly sized chunk of New York City was burned to the ground. 

In Newark, New Jersey in 1967, the White City Government and Police thought civil rights were a joke. Well, it wasn't. Newark was burned to the ground and didn't even start to come back until about 10 years later. All because some Police morons had to play cowboy and arrest and beat down some poor kid who did nothing to anyone -- oh, yes, he was Black. 

Right now, something in this country is going on too. People are fed up with injustice and the inability of American citizens to be treated with human rights in their own communities. Sadly, since the Police and Prosecutors decided to cover up things and explain away murder, and the Courts rubber stamping those farces -- the crowds started to react. They became mobs. 

I am a proud American. I do not want Police to be murdered. I do not want them to be goons either. I want bad guys arrested. But, I do not want them murdered for standing on the wrong corner. It is wrong that a Policeman not liking the way someone parts their hair can wrongly, conspicuously and in cold blood murder Americans. No, not that. The Rule of Law is broken when either police or mobs do it. Right now, aside from a nut-job here or there, it is mostly the protesters who have been the most civil, all things told. 

If all protesters are contributing to the murder of the policemen in NY today, then does that mean that all Police are contributing to the murder of helpless, unarmed people? We are on a slippery slope, kids.

Yet, it is not just these protesters of the moment to worry about. There can be many more coming soon.

The Republican Congress vows to end Social Service programs. So now, on top of there being no justice in the streets by Police or Courts, sea to shining sea, now the central government intends to starve people by ending Food Stamps, make them homeless with an end to rental assistance, and God knows what else. 

Did you know that when Franklin D. Roosevelt took charge of the Presidency in the midst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, he did not create a host of social programs just to build roads, help the poor, or get the economy going again. He did it, in some part, because the Federal Government was starting to lose control of the nation. When adherence to the laws of the land states that someone must go hungry, homeless, or untreated medically -- then people stop listening to the government and take over where it comes to their own survival.

People scraping to survive are not going to be 'cricket' about following laws. There were riots everywhere in the Depression. Towns disappeared and whole populations shifted. Riots broke out in Washington  DC among veterans, among many other places, many of whom were shot dead on the order of President Herbert Hoover (a Republican). Communists made an enormous foothold in this country and were not that far from taking it over. There was no law. The center was buckling.

FDR enacted scores of social legislation just so the Federal Government could keep this nation together. Thank God it worked. 

You watch, America, the inability for anyone in the GOP, City Halls or Police Departments to read an actual history book is going to come back to roost for us all. Perhaps this is the result of our terrible ranking in the world for our students in academic achievement revisiting us -- or in vernacular, 'biting us in the ass.'

What is the solution? Not more murder of unarmed people, not the elimination of social services. I fear for tomorrow. And, I fear for our young people the most. They have been so appallingly ill-prepared for the future, thanks to my generation and those before. No, we have not been good stewards of the trust of our fathers and mothers. We have economized until America today is more illiterate than it has been since the 18th century. There has to be a change in the tide if there is going to be a brighter day for our nation -- not ideas being met with guns, citizens fearing the Police, not insanity ruing the day, or the banishment of logic from our shores. Yes, things must change.

(Rev. J.J. Purcell is a graduate of the NY Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach by ABC-NJ and is a U.S. Army veteran. Rev. Purcell was also a journalist for many years, who garnered several writing awards, among them Congressional and NJ Legislative proclamations, among others.)

The U.S.A. has no room to agitate for Human Rights

The Dove of Peace has already flown from U.S. Shores. 

By Rev. J.J. Purcell

I do not know where all of the race hatred that is alive and breathing like a new fire in a cotton plant is coming from throughout this country. But I know some places where people are fanning it.

Not all Whites are adversaries of Civil Rights to everyone, not just Blacks. In fact, Whites and Blacks have worked together in organizations like the NAACP (est. 1909) for more than a century. Freedom was won by Blacks in 1865 with the ending of the Civil War, but though no longer slaves in name, many Blacks were still slaves in fact.

In 1913, former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson enacted "Jim Crow Laws" in the country, which were virtually the same as the racist "Black Codes" of the mid-1800s. Then, like a storm of hope, came the 1960s and all the work done by millions upon millions of people for Blacks to finally be able to stand as equals to Whites or anyone else in this country.

Medger Evers.

John and Bobby Kennedy.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Howard Thurman.

Malcolm X.

The names can go on all day.

So, since the 1970s, civil rights organizations (like the NAACP) have busied themselves ensuring ground was not lost, educating children, taking on racist U.S. Governments when need be, and raising awareness of the mutuality of dignity in this country among everyone: Working for better tomorrows.

Today, though, Racism is back with a vengeance: The Republican Party has become the standard bearer of Racist organizations in this country, which have inspired the more Racist Tea Party. Today, police officers in any town or municipality in the U.S. have learned they may summarily execute Blacks on the streets of our country without fear of reprisal from the Court System. Apparently, the courts and governors of every state in this union do not value a Black life above a White one any longer. What's more is that the KKK is back as of today, calling itself a "Christian organization" now and it is getting more members these past months than in the past decade.

Meanwhile, just today, at the University of California, Berkeley Campus, were displayed "lynching" posters of murdered Blacks hanging from trees; horrific murders done in the 1920s by the KKK.

Racists have abandoned the Democratic Party, by and large, and have flocked to the GOP in droves because they know they have a friend in proponents of that system: the GOP would return to the days of dogs and water canons. Surely, there are token Blacks in the GOP, and what entered their mind to join a party of hate against their own is beyond me -- but it too is a fact.

I want to say that treatment of Homosexuals is also backsliding to the point it was many years ago, perhaps because finally that demographic began to get rights it has been wrongly denied for so long, like marriage.

America is a wreck, guys and gals. Atop everything, many elected Republicans at all levels, as well as their Tea Party cronies, are foretelling of an armed rebellion by them in 2016, should they not capture the White House, even after keeping Blacks from the polling places today in many places.

A bloodless war has already started, ladies and gentlemen, and it is being fueled by politics and the so-called "Religious Right," which says it worships our Lord, but instead idolizes His adversary. Truly, if there is a Devil walking among us today, he is friends with Rush Limbaugh, Ron Paul and Bobby Jindall.

I do not know where any of this is going, but I suppose individuals acting on their conscience, their common sense, might be a good start. Because this is fast becoming a place, a nation, where no one's children will be safe to pursue their lives or liberty without the scourge of race touching their lives. And, it will not be the content of one's character that will lead to success in the future, if Republicans have their way, but the color of one's skin. This is a revolting revelation. Yet, it is the one I see.

I am an older man now, whose days of stumping for candidates and causes is well behind him. Surely, though, some have got to start making a stand for sanity, kindness, and dare I say, also for humanity itself. The U.S. has become a small place -- bent with hatred. We are collectively no longer the right people to petition for human rights abroad, because we no longer enforce those rights for our citizen here.

I believe there is a great contest of wills before us: on one side evil will take the form of Republican lackeys and their sort and on the other will be those brave men and women who are not going to all "...government of, for and by the people to perish from the earth."

GUN VIOLENCE: How far we have strayed

The U.S. military knows what it is doing with weapons

In the news there seems to be a school or university shooting or shootings with some frequency. Kids have been behind the triggers and it has been ghastly. Columbine was only the first of many horrible things that came after. It is an American tragedy.

Then there is George Zimmerman, Jr., who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to death in Jacksonville, Florida in 2012. The state of Florida through the person of Florida State Attorney General Angela Corey tried to make the case that Zimmerman murdered Martin unlawfully. Well, she didn't win her case.

Did you know he is selling artwork of Corey saying she didn't respect the justice system or some such garbage? He is apparently using an Associated Press photo shot of her during the trial, and the AP is bringing his ass to court to try and stop his selling his "art." Who knows how that will end up?

Zimmerman was back in court later on some domestic issue with his girlfriend or wife or whatever, following the murder case, after and media reports that a gun was involved then too. But, nothing came of it.

Then, there was that video shown on the news about Zimmerman being stopped by a cop for speeding or some such thing and he was being treated like a celebrity by the officer.

While we are at it, let's remember all of the terrible police shootings that have ended up with innocent people being shot down in cold blood by officers in the street. I only pay attention to the Greater New York Area, so I don't speak for anywhere else.

We all remember these things. We all know about these things. And, these things have impacted each of us personally, and perhaps differently.

If someone had to put a brand on me, I'm a Democrat and a Liberal. I started out as a Conservative Republican, but life taught me that wasn't going to work for me until I made my first couple million.

Let me recount the Conservative argument: Criminals will always have guns, and if "good people" are disarmed then they will be easy prey for cutthroats. And, just in case the U.S. Government "turns on" its own people -- or we are invaded by some other country -- then an armed citizenry is good because it came in handy during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Civil War. So, the last time a citizen of the U.S. needed a gun to protect themselves from a marauding army was in 1865, which was like 150 years ago.

Meanwhile, I don't think the U.S. Government, or any president or executive elected or appointed within it, will ever try to change our form of governance by trying some mad military or police takeover. It's rubbish.

Meanwhile, if there are armed "good guys" and armed "bad guys" then it sounds like a cheesy western picture where the only one that wins are the weapons manufacturers; that's it.



The Civil War was the last time citizens had to 'arm' themselves for war

In the U.S. Army and the Marines, servicemen and women, particularly in combat units, live with their rifle or sidearm at all times. They know everything about it. They not only shoot for qualification twice a year, but some units frequently fire for sustainment to get better. Our servicemen and women live in a culture within the armed forces that knows firearms safety and lives it every single day. There is even lots of formal schooling about firearms and firearms safety throughout their careers. They know what they are doing, and they truly need to because they are our national strength: God bless them.

OK, back to cops. I had a roommate who was a retired police officer for a while. He always talked about what a great shot he was and how he was great on the range. He went once or twice a year. When he was younger, he went a little more -- but it was pretty casual. This us unlike the constant drilling and grilling of our servicemen on the range (well, yes, certain specialties).

I am saying that police officers, with qualified exceptions, really understand the responsibility on their hip or are thoroughly versed in firearms use in a live-or-die situation. So, they frequently screw it up, kill someone, and say they had to make a "life and death call and used their gut." Well, that system seems to be working like a charm.

Hardly anyone 'needs' a gun, certainly not civilians, unless they live in some rural part of the country where animals may have to get hunted for food or a firearm might protect people from will animals.

I don't believe enough use of non-lethal weapons is in use yet by the police from sea to shining sea. And, some cop not knowing what they are doing with pepper spray or rubber bullets is a lot better than them not knowing what they are doing with ball ammunition (live rounds). Sure, there are times they will need guns. But, by far, and again with some exception, police officers don't need firearms to do their day-to-day job if they have non-lethal alternatives. They are not the weapons experts they make themselves out to be in their hubris.

I know...I know...if you're some die-hard gun guy or gal you are jumping up-and-down about what I am saying. But, a lot of people think like me. People are more valuable then guns.

'What if they use knives instead?' OK, let's entertain that. It's harder to use a knife than a gun. Maybe, a crazed kid will injure or kill someone with that at school before he is knocked down and arrested. But, he will not kill 10 or 20 or 30.

What about the criminals? Arrest them. Start using prison space for actual criminals. Put child support non-payers and marijuana smokers somewhere else or in some community based program. Prison should really only be for violent offenders: That's it. Wow! Look all the space we made in prison by putting the non-violent people elsewhere!

Meanwhile, redneck yahoos who just want to have and carry guns to do it and be their version of Matt Dillon are utterly frustrated by their attempts, I hope. History will ultimately make the call on this one, and I believe, despite all the money behind the gun lobby, this issue will eventually have common sense applied to it.

Hey, I'm done with this world and focusing on my last act, kids. So, I have no dog in this race. But, this gun lunacy is so preventable, so counter to common sense and so very tragic.