Don’t Mess With Texas
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James Joyner | Wednesday, April 15, 2009 |
According to a song popular in my youth, it is inadvisable to tug on Superman’s cape, spit into the wind, pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger, and mess around with Jim. We might need to expand that list:
A man who grabbed a Dallas Cowboys flag from a car in downtown Washington [D.C.] was punched in the face yesterday, startling passersby in an area that is home to lawyers, lobbyists and expensive shops and restaurants.
[...]
One witness said she saw a “big tall man walk up to this guy and hit him across the head.” Then, she said, the tall man “got back in his car and drove off.” She said that the motorist “just hit the man and walked off” and that he picked up an object from the ground, which might have been the flag.
The man who was hit fell and struck his head on the sidewalk, she said. Ringed by the concerned and the curious, the man lay facedown on the pavement.” He was out cold for a good five minutes or so,” the witness said. Police said a man was taken from the scene for treatment of a bruised forehead.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Via Tim MacMahon, where one wag observed, “You steal a Cowboy’s flag, you see stars.”
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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These types of barbaric assaults are commonplace in the District. This isn't really surprising.
Dang, here I thought you were going to talk about the latest secession talk. :)
Well, hell. This is a messed up event from the beginning, and further confused by OTB.
"Don't Mess With Texas" is a state-sponsored anti-littering slogan.
Yeah, it's meant to convey the sense of anti-government independence Texans like to feel (as they cruise down federally-funded roads).
But it's just the above, nothing more.
/despite the TX Guv's recent statements asserting the right to secede from the union. Hell, any state could come up with that. One can only hope that electioneering TX pols come up with something BIGGER to say than, say, insignificant Vermont.
So is your point that the gun regulations in DC are effective? I mean the guy cold cocked the man, he didn't shoot him.
This reminds me of the fact that we have diversity in this country. Different approaches to handling different issues. As an example, in Texas, it is permissible to shoot someone stealing your hubcaps after dark, but it is not permissible to shoot him while stealing your hubcaps during the day. Now most states aren't as enlightened as Texas in dealing with crime (and remember in the DC case above, the man messing with the flag committed a crime and was not stopped by police). But that is okay as other states can set their laws on how to deal with criminals as they wish and get to live with the consequences.
