Bad Behavior

Back when I was still on the dating scene (shortly after someone discovered fire), I was thankfully spared the prospect of my date behaving badly by being glued to her cell phone during the meal.   (Back then, I didn’t even have a landline phone because the phone company — in South Africa, the Post Office — had a three-month backlog on new home phone installations.)

However, that was then and this is now.  Here’s what one guy did when faced with such a situation:

A man has caused a debate after admitting to walking out on a date without paying his portion of an $80 bill because his potential love interest was ‘constantly on her phone’. The man, who is from a major US city, revealed he met up with the woman after matching on a dating app. The pair hit it off and decided to meet in person.

The man was quick to brand the woman as a ‘vapid moral monstrosity’ who had the ‘attention span of a gnat’, after she spent a whole five minutes ferociously texting as they waited for their food.

When they finally began to chat she was quick to, yet again, start answering her ‘buzzing’ phone . The man attempted to make a few hints to his date about her antisocial behavior by joking and even saying he would throw the phone out of the window if it continued. However, his incessant hints fell on deaf ears as her eyes continued to be glued to her phone screen.

An appetizer and two drinks later, the man realized he was miserable and there was no possible way to turn this date around. He headed to the toilet, promising himself that if her eyes were still locked on her phone screen, then he would be making a swift exit out of the door.

When he came out to find her eyes fixed fixed on the screen, he validated that promise by quickly leaving. He detailed: “I looked the other way and there was a service door open behind the kitchen. I turned right instead of left and exited into the sweet, sweet air of freedom.”

And here’s the kicker:

It was only 30 minutes after he had left that the date even realized his absence, texting him: “Did you leave?”

Good for him.  I’m even glad that she got stuck with the tab, because having such appalling manners deserves to be punished.

I don’t even know why there would be a “debate” on the topic.

Too Much Hyperbole

This kind of thing gets up my nose — not the action itself, but the description thereof:

Lewis Capaldi has been praised for his heroic actions after rushing to help an elderly woman who had collapsed on Hampstead Heath in north London.

The singer, 27, was out with friends on the heath when he spotted the woman lying on the ground before dashing to her aid on Wednesday.

Onlookers in the area revealed that Lewis called the emergency services and stayed with her until they arrived to help.

Were his actions praiseworthy?  Of course — but then again good grief, what kind of person would leave an old woman lying on the ground, in obvious distress?

But “heroic”?  I don’ theenk so, Simon.

Had the old lady been attacked by three “teenagers” and Capaldi stepped in to help her:  yes, now that’s heroic.

But just rendering assistance?  That falls under “doing the right thing” and “civic duty”.

Headline hyperbole:  I fucking hate it.

Fighting Back

I see this becoming a trend, and not just in Britishland:

This is the moment have-a-go-heroes swooped on thieves allegedly loading up their cars with stolen groceries.

Video shows three men throwing shopping into their cars in a Tesco’s car park in Waltham Abbey, Essex, yesterday. The trio are seen hastily shoving groceries into a black Volkswagen polo from a shopping trolley before jumping into the car.

But before they drive away a group of men storm the vehicle and start demanding the alleged thieves get out of the car. They open the doors and begin to pull the alleged shoplifters out of the car as they attempt to fight back.

Shocked witnesses are heard saying “call the police” as a Tesco security worker arrives and attempts to open the boot.

The men manage to get the alleged thieves out of the car — and a struggle to restrain the men ensues. One of then alleged thieves attempts to headbutt one of the men and ends up falling to the ground.

Eventually the rozzers put in an appearance, and in a shocking move, arrest the thieves and not the men who intervened (this is the UK, after all).

And as I never tire of saying:  We do not “take the law into our own hands” when we do stuff like this, for the simple reason that the law never left our hands;  we simply deputize its enforcement to agents of the State.

But when those agents are not on the scene or unwilling to do their duty, it is our civic duty to intervene.

Frankly, if I’d been involved and some punk tried to head-butt me, he’d end up in fucking hospital.  Believe it.

Still Turning

Last week I talked about the anti-ULEZ movement over in Londonistan.

But wait! There’s more!

Furious locals chased away a Ulez crew – some of whom were driving Sadiq Khan’s mobile ‘spy’ vans used to enforce the scheme. Footage of the incident shows angry locals ejecting the Ulez team from Sunningvale Avenue, in Biggin Hill, southeast London.

Activists opposed to Mr Khan’s flagship policy – which last month expanded to cover the entire city – have already attacked hundreds of static cameras prompting the London Mayor to roll out a fleet of vehicles to catch those flouting the rules.

But these too have become a target, with opponents to the Ulez – who call themselves ‘Blade Runners’ – slashing their tyres, spray painting cameras and smashing windows.

Anti-Ulez activists held a yellow high visibility jacket in front of one of the cameras while locals berated the Ulez workers.

Images show one of the Ulez vehicles with its windows and windscreen smashed, in the latest escalation by activists determined to thwart Mr Khan’s much-hated levy.

Next step for Burgomeister  Khan:  spy vans to see who’s harassing the spy vans?

My reaction:

Gunfights

I remember listening to some comedy record or other a long time ago, which featured a radio interview (à la Bob Newhart) of a captured Confederate soldier just before Antietam.  When asked his opinion about Union soldiers being armed with the new Winchester repeating rifles, the Reb thought for a moment, and said laconically, in a deep Southron accent:  “Yeah?  Well that’s all well and good for you Yankees… but we know how to aim, boy.”)

I was reminded of that exchange when I read this report (sent to me by several Readers, thankee) concerning this little incident in Seffrica:

Heavily armed attacks on armored cars are so common in South Africa they are known as Cash-in-Transit heists (CIT).

“15 robbers armed with automatic rifles carried out a CIT heist in Hoedspruit, killing the Fidelity driver,“ reports YouTuber Willem Petzer.

According to police spokesman Colonel Matimba Maluleke, the suspects shot at the escort vehicle before disarming the guards (a driver and crew) of their official rifle and pistol. “Unfortunately the two guards were shot at and sustained injuries that resulted in the death of the driver. The suspects then pursued the armoured vehicle while shooting at it until it stopped. The driver of the armoured vehicle and his crew were allegedly ordered to disembark the vehicle, disarmed of two firearms and chased into the nearby bushes. The suspects used explosives to blast the vehicle and made off with an undisclosed amount of money,” Maluleke said.

All was seemingly going according to plan for our Robbin’ Hoods;  however, things went downhill for our choirboys soon thereafter:

“A community crime watch group, Hoedspruit Farmwatch, was alerted to the incident and went in pursuit of the robbers, putting obstacles on the road to prevent their escape. A shootout ensued,” Petzer writes. 

“The volunteers blocked the roads outside of Hoedspruit with boulders after they were alerted of the attack. A skirmish, lasting about 20 minutes, ensued at one of the blockades between the robbers [armed with AK-47s] and the farmers, who were armed with pistols. The farmers managed to kill 4 of the robbers and wound 3. No farmer was hurt. The other suspects fled into nearby bushes after the shootout on foot.”

Apparently, untrained criminals spraying bullets from their rifles are not a match for trained shooters with handguns.  But it gets better:

“The Hoedspruit farmwatch tracked them down using their dogs and arrested the rest of them, recovering all the money from the heist.”

One of the arrested suspects is a highly wanted Mozambican suspect who has been on the run for some time for a spate of crimes he committed in the Free State in 2022 including the murder of a police officer. The injured suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen money, a rifle and a pistol.

For background on the whole “neighborhood watch” thing, read the full report.

So to summarize:

Asshole criminals with AK-47s:  1
Trained Afrikaners with pistols:  4, plus 3 wounded and the rest captured.

I don’t know the full details, but the farmer’s dogs were likely a mixture of Boerboels and Ridgebacks.

Yeah, I’d pretty much give up, too.

We may now begin the