Nobody asked me but...
***What kind of father buys a 9MM weapon for their 15-year-old disheveled, insecure, and socially awkward son to have unfettered access for deadly use? I don't write these adjectives to make light of Oakland County, Michigan killer Ethan Crumbley, but had his father, James Crumbley, 45, been even the least bit wise, he would have recognized that his child had serious adjustment issues and needed mental health help and/or home schooling, or a new school—not access to the means to kill four people and wound seven others at his school.
Yes, the younger Crumbley will certainly face life without parole for his murderous acts, but the elder Crumbley deserves to be placed in a jail cell right next to his son for child neglect at minimum—accessory to murder at maximum.
*** Ethan Crumbley's mother Jennifer, 43, doesn't seem to have had much better common sense or good judgment, either; in an open letter to former President Donald Trump, Mrs. Crumbley thanked him in 2019 by writing: "thank you for allowing my right to bear arms. Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions. Thank you for respecting that Amendment.” Mrs. Crumbley added: "...kids come from illegal immigrant parents and don’t care about learning.”
While Mrs. Crumbley is certainly entitled to both her opinions and rights to write whatever she chooses, reading her words in the wake of her son's killing spree leads me to wonder what kind of conversations were being held at the Crumbley dinner table? Was Ethan Crumbley's misanthropic ways a direct result of having two parents who not only were not attuned to his deficiencies, but also gun nuts who failed to realize that they were radicalizing their own son?
Stay tuned...
***I posted a Hobbs Question of the Day on Facebook yesterday that asked my followers whether they had been bullied as children; I received over 350 "yes" responses where folks from all races and professional walks of life detailed their mistreatment by schoolmates back in the day.
I responded as well, telling my readers that young "Chuckie" Hobbs was picked on for having "buck teeth," "nappy hair," a mole on my forehead and, when my family moved to Tallahassee, Florida from Maryland when I was eight years old, for "talking white."
Fortunately for me, I could crack jokes with the best of them, cuss like a sailor, and would throw hands, so I was generally ok. But many others were not, and many adults still bear scars from cruel kids who made their lives miserable during their school days.
***Earlier this week, Jackson State University Football Coach Deion Sanders brought Instagram Model Brittany Renner, a Jackson State alumna, to campus to speak to his players about "The Game," and by game I mean the game of life for young men who could become professional football players who are easy prey for hangers on (of both sexes) that could pick their pockets clean.
While some have questioned the wisdom of Coach Sanders bringing Renner to the Yard, it reminded me of my middle and early high school days when the male teachers and coaches at FAMU High used to gather the boys together at least once per year to talk "the facts of life." Now, the women coaches did the same for the girls, but to this very day, 30-plus years later, I can still hear football coach Harry Jacobs and guidance counselor/baseball coach John Grayson warning us about "staying focused" instead of "chasing a piece of tail," and Band Director Arnett Moore reminding us that God wanted us to focus on intimacy with Him as opposed to premature intimacy with the opposite sex.
Understanding that many kids feel uncomfortable discussing these issues at home, kudos to Coach Prime and other teachers and mentors across America who are filling in the gaps on teaching proper deportment.
***Alec Baldwin made a foolish tactical decision to go on air and talk to George Stephanopolous about the accidental shooting on the set of his movie.
Very foolish…
There's still the potential of criminal and civil charges/lawsuits in the near future, and Baldwin has not helped himself one bit by running his mouth on air. Baldwin proves that Hubris, or excessive pride, is as real in the modern era as it was when the Ancient Greeks coined the term...
*** So, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown, safety Mike Edwards, and free agent wide receiver John Franklin III have been suspended for three games for violating the NFL's COVID-19 protocols, but Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was only fined $14,500 and is still allowed to play?
Somebody, anybody, please help me to understand the difference in punishments for essentially the same act of placing players and staff in danger of Covid? I really, really want to learn that race is not the reason, but I was born early in the morning—not this morning—thus, my initial conclusion that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, with the "duck" being racism, then it's a duck and the disparate treatment by NFL Brass is racist.
Feel free to write me back and tell me some race neutral reasons for the disparate treatment—if there are any that you can argue!
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a wonderful weekend!
I appreciate Prime for trying to help his young men with some real life lessons about the "game"...but found the picture of Renner kind of funny, IMO she is clearly taking that pose to show a particular area of her anatomy! Every summer I ask Alison Posey from local ABC 27 to come speak to my baseball players about the social media devil. She does a great job telling them how that stuff NEVER goes away and how many people have been affected by it.
TB local paper reported Brown had obtained a fake vaccine card not sure how else he violated the NFL's protocol. But it would be nice to know why there was a discrepancy in punishment between him and Rogers.