Tuesday, June 30, 2020

90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR THOMAS SOWELL


   

Some of the people on death row today might not be there if the courts had not been so lenient on them when they were first offenders. - Thomas Sowell

People who claim that sentencing a murderer to "life without the possibility of parole" protects society just as well as the death penalty ignore three things: (1) life without the possibility of parole does not mean life without the possibility of escape or (2) life without the possibility of killing while in prison or (3) life without the possibility of a liberal governor being elected and issuing a pardon. - Thomas Sowell

            We, the members of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, would love to wish one of our favorite economist and social theorist, Thomas Sowell a happy 90th birthday. We will post one article form him on the death penalty and also several quotes from him.
  
  
“Slavery was an ugly, dirty business but people of virtually every race, color, and creed engaged in it on every inhabited continent. And the people they enslaved were also of virtually every race, color, and creed.” – Thomas Sowell 

THOMAS SOWELL: An IQ exemption for the death penalty?
Sun | Opinion
Thomas SowellMar 2nd, 2002

The never-ending battle of the left to keep people from being held responsible for the consequences of their own actions is now in the Supreme Court of the United States, where the justices are being urged to exempt murderers from the death penalty if they score below some number on the IQ scale.

Many of the same people who have been telling us for years that IQ and other mental test scores are not really valid, when it comes to determining people's "real" ability to do academic work, have now turned around 180 degrees and made a low IQ score an exemption from paying the price for killing a fellow human being.

First of all, you don't need to know that E equals MC squared to know that killing somebody is wrong. If these murderers don't know that it is wrong to kill, why do they usually do it where no one can see them? Why don't they do it at high noon in Times Square or during half-time at the Super Bowl? Why do they try to cover their tracks or try to escape when the cops arrive?

Should anyone be surprised if some murderers have low IQs? Killing is not an academic or intellectual activity. Thanks in part to the kinds of indulgent liberals who are constantly trying to get more leniency for people who are doing the wrong thing, we have people who have been doing the wrong thing all their lives. The kind of kid who was more interested in being the schoolyard bully than in learning anything is unlikely to have honed enough intellectual skills over the years to register very high on IQ tests.

Guys who have had more experience with drugs than with books are not likely to score well on mental tests, any more than people with high IQs are likely to have as much expertise as he does with drugs, crime and violence. Now that a low IQ is supposed to become a passport out of death row, do not expect him to try his best if his IQ is being tested when he is down the hall from the execution chamber.

There have already been cases of welfare mothers who have told their kids to misbehave in school and do badly on tests, because that can get them more money from government programs. Are the incentives any less when the death penalty is hanging over some murderer's head and when he has a lawyer to tell him what to do?

People who glide easily from test scores to a conclusion of "mental retardation" have a faith which passeth all understanding. There are kids whose IQs have varied by 40 points from one test to another, even without the incentives of welfare or the death penalty, because of the circumstances of the child, the conditions surrounding the test or whatever. One of the kids in a group that I have been dealing with over the years went from a "mentally retarded" IQ range to an above average range inside of a year. Nobody gets that much smarter that fast.

Psychology and psychiatry are not sciences, though some courts have been pretending that they are, ever since a landmark case in 1954 expanded the insanity defense. This was "merely one way of welcoming the psychiatrist into the courtroom," in the words of Chief Justice David Bazelon, who presided over that case. This opened the floodgates to unverifiable speculations.

Even when the insanity defense did not succeed, it took up precious time in trial courts and appellate courts, while a backlog of cases left career criminals walking the streets awaiting trial. Now that it was no longer enough to simply prove whodunit, more prosecutors' time and resources had to be spent rebutting psychological speculations, instead of moving on to getting other criminals off the streets.

That is also likely to be the consequence of adding IQ scores to the long list of things to be litigated endlessly on appeal. Even if not a single murderer escapes the executioner, there will still be heavy costs to a legal system that already takes far too long to resolve issues.

No one wants to see executions of individuals who are genuinely incapable of understanding what they were doing. That exemption has long been part of traditional Anglo-American law. What happened in 1954 was an expansion of that exemption on the basis of psychological speculations, as a prelude to a general increase in the leniency of criminal law, which preceded a skyrocketing increase in crime rates in the 1960s.

We have been down that road before. We don't need to go further down that road again.
Thomas Sowell is a fellow of the Hoover Institute. He can be reached at Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., No. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.


“Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as ‘racist.’” – Thomas Sowell on the prevalence of racism

Please go to this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ivf9jrXGAY -  to see his interview with Dave Rubin

  


"When the mobs of protesters declare 'black lives matter,' does that mean ALL black lives matter-or only the less than one percent of black lives lost in conflicts with police?" – Thomas Sowell


OTHER LINKS:
“I'd grown up fearing the lynch mobs of the Ku Klux Klan; as an adult I was starting to wonder if I'd been afraid of the wrong white people all along - where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes, but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.”
- Clarence Thomas





Thursday, June 25, 2020

IN LOVING MEMORY OF AALIYAH NORRIS (APRIL 14, 2013 TO JUNE 25, 2020)

We, the members of Unit 1012, will honor and remember 7-year-old Aaliyah Grace Norris on April 13 and June 25 every year.  

We, the members of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, will make her one of The 82 murdered children of Unit 1012, where we will not forget her. Let us remember how she lived and not how she died. We will always support her family members.

 Please donate some money to support the family by going here.

     


Aaliyah Grace Norris

Aaliyah Grace Norris

April 14, 2013 ~ June 25, 2020

     Aaliyah Grace Norris, age 7, of Forest City, went home to be with her Heavenly Father on Thursday, June 25, 2020 at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

      Aaliyah was born April 14, 2013 in Rutherford County. She had just finished her first-grade year at Dunbar Elementary School and faithfully attended Chase Baptist Church. Aaliyah loved life and enjoyed swimming, riding bikes, playing with Barbie Dolls, and spending time on Tik Tok.

      She was preceded in death by great-grandparents, Dewitt “Bud” and Betty Ledbetter and John and Elizabeth Cox.

      Those left to cherish her memory include her mother, Breanna Ledbetter (Emmanuel Briggs) and father, Terry Norris, Jr. (Renee Ledford) all of Forest City; siblings, Kingston Briggs, Kaden Briggs and Tayana Logan; stepsister, Nevayah Ledford and stepbrother, Kaiden Ledford; grandparents, Scott and Brenda Ledbetter, Terry Sr. and Jenny Norris of Rutherfordton and Tacha Surratt of Shelby; great grandparents, Kathy Surratt of Shelby and Rosie Moore of Rutherfordton. She is also survived by a host of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

    The funeral service will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at Crestview Baptist Church with Reverend Scott Butler officiating. Interment will follow in Alexander Cemetery. There will be a drive-thru visitation from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. on Monday at Harrelson Funeral Home. The family asks that social distancing be observed, and masks be worn when distancing is not possible.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Aaliyah Grace Norris, please visit our floral store.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.harrelsonfuneralhome.com/obituary/Aaliyah-Norris

   

Within just three hours of being released from jail, a North Carolina man shot a young girl in the head, the Daily Mail reports. Little seven-year old Aaliyah Norris perished after she sustained a bullet wound to her skull.

OTHER LINKS:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/aaliyah-grace-norris-medical

https://knewz.com/man-shot-girl-head/

North Carolina girl, 7, dies in shooting; police say suspect freed from jail hours earlier

https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-girl-dies-in-shooting

https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/2895648223890458

Man, 26, is charged with murder after he 'shot dead a seven-year-old girl just THREE HOURS after being released from jail for assault with a gun'

https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/2894340380687909

https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/posts/5814346568625043

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8463395/Man-26-shot-dead-seven-year-old-girl-just-THREE-HOURS-released-jail.html


Wednesday, June 24, 2020

IN LOVING MEMORY OF LARRY L BOYER (NOVEMBER 22, 1951 TO JUNE 24, 2010)


            Ten years later, we will not forget Larry L. Boyer who was murdered on June 24, 2010. We will not forget him.
     

 Larry L. Boyer (November 22, 1951 to June 24, 2010)


SPRINGFIELD - Larry L. Boyer, 58, of Springfield, formerly of Jacksonville, died Thursday, June 24, 2010, at his residence.

He was born November 22, 1951, in Jacksonville, the son of Harold W. Boyer and Ruth D. Constable Boyer Owens. 

He is survived by three sisters, Marilyn Wagner (husband, Harold) of Jacksonville, Carolyn Sue Cambridge (husband, Gary) of Eldon, MO and Lorie Burrell (fiance, Randy Howard) of Jacksonville; four nieces and nephews, Jay Wagner, Dawn Wagner, Kristy Wagner, and Greg Boyer; a stepnephew, Scott Cambridge; a cousin, Bobby Constable (wife, Sheyrl) of Farmersville; and a dear friend, Mary Claire Johnson of Springfield. 

He was preceded in death by his parents; his best friend and grandmother, Dora M. Constable; and two uncles, Floyd "Bob" Constable and Freddie Lee Constable.

Mr. Boyer was employed 40 years by Norfolk Southern Railroad and was a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Wabash Federation. He was a faithful member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Springfield. He enjoyed playing golf and discussing politics in his spare time.

Graveside funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Wednesday at Morey Cemetery in New Canton. The family will meet friends from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Buchanan and Cody Funeral Home in Jacksonville. 

Memorial gifts are suggested to St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Springfield.

OTHER LINKS: