Mass Shooting on Austin’s Iconic 6th St. Further Strains Live Music
This story has been updated.
For those attempting to enjoy Austin’s iconic 6th Street entertainment district Friday night (6/11), it was a nightmare scenario. Initially reported as 13 people shot with two in critical condition, that number in creased to 14 on Saturday. And then on Sunday evening, it was announced that one of the individuals in critical condition had died. 25-year-old Douglas John Kantor died at 12:01 p.m. Sunday afternoon, according to police.
The shots rang out at roughly 1:24 Saturday morning, near 400 E. 6th Street and the intersection of Trinity Street, and immediately the 911 calls began pouring in. This is right in the heart of 6th Street, where clubs and bars line both sides of the road, and on weekend nights the streets are cordoned off and filled with foot traffic.
Officers who are staged downtown were able to respond immediately, but due to the rush of people, paramedics and fire personnel were hindered in reaching the area. Officers were able to render first aid, including applying tourniquets and pressure to the wounds of victims, likely saving lives. Six people were directly transported to area hospitals in police cruisers, while one video shows an officer performing chest compressions on a victim at the scene.
Due to the chaotic nature of the scene, there initially was not much information on the potential perpetrators, but one suspect was said to be a black male wearing a black shirt, with a skinny build, and with dreadlocks.
On Saturday afternoon, Austin police informed the public they had zeroed in on two suspects, and are working to identify them, and that one had been taken into custody. The preliminary investigation found that the two suspects were shooting at each other, and the victims were caught in the crossfire. The suspect taken into custody was a juvenile.
The FBI also responded to the scene just in case the incident turns out to be some form of terrorism, though at this point, there’s no direct indication terrorism was involved.
“At this point, we’re reviewing all the video sources we have,” interim Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon said in a press conference. “[The] Halo public safety camera system we have downtown, we have officers with their body-worn cameras, as well as many businesses have surveillance video in this area, and all of those video sources will be reviewed … What we’re asking for at this point is for anyone that might have information on this, might have been down here or witnessed something, or if video was taken that’s on a cell phone, for them to go ahead an contact us.”
This mass shooting occurred right as things were finally beginning to return to normal for Austin music and entertainment after the pandemic. It also comes as the city is dealing with a rapid spike in violent crime, and gun violence specifically, and especially within the downtown corridor. The police budget in the city was cut by nearly $20 million, with $80 million reallocated to civilian and private outsourcing, and multiple police cadet classes cancelled in the wake of the death of George Floyd and local protests in Austin.
Meanwhile a rapid spike in the homelessness issue has made parts of Austin’s downtown unsafe, and at times, impassible, while local music venues continue to be strained from rising rents, dwindling patronage, a strain on resources due to the pandemic, and an unprecedented delay in relief funds due to issues stemming from the system set up through the Save Our Stages act to offer venues relief. This latest incident to go along with many others is the last thing Austin’s music scene needed.
With the suspect or suspects still at large, Austin Police Chief Chacon could not say there wasn’t a danger to the public. However, the shooting appears to be an isolated incident at this moment.
June 12, 2021 @ 11:44 am
This country has spoken and they love their guns more than their children, parents, spouses or neighbors. And save your Constitutional B.S. I’m from the Teddy Roosevelt school that firmly believed the Constitution is a living, evolving document; there’s NO WAY and bunch of wig-wearing, wooden-toothed, white male slave owners knew what would be best for this Country 245 years ago.
We just have to accept this kind of gun violence and move on.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:10 pm
This country is speaking and we love our children, spouses, parents, neighbors, and global family.
Love them enough to bear firearms.
We believe in the United States Constitution.
We also believe in prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
We believe in helping defend the Unites States of America, both at home, and abroad.
And most assuredly, we do not have to go blindly into the night and accept this kind of gun violence.
Prayers for those wounded in Austin last night. Many thanks to the law enforcement and citizens who were there helping the wounded, first responders, and those at the hospitals, dealing with the chaos.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:48 pm
It’s so rare that an armed citizen stops these mass shootings. I recall 3 cases over the past 10 years. And that’s great when it happens, but it’s the exception not the norm.
I’m still sick about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary. I thought that incident would cause huge gun reform, but it didn’t and I’ve given up hope. I know every time I’m in public, there’s a chance I’ll be shot. And I except those chance when I venture out. My mother told me the other day, she looks for the nearest exists when shopping to know where they are located in case she hears gunfire.
June 12, 2021 @ 1:44 pm
Your Mother is smart, Hoptown.
We all need to be very aware of our surroundings.
Back when our son at 6 years of age started flying around the country in the care of flight attendants, to visit both sets of grandparents, we began schooling him in the ways of survival.
Told him that should he ever be on a flight that was hijacked, that he was not to tell anyone that his father was FBI. if ever in a situation, he was to say his Dad worked for G.E.
Normally of course, we were with him. But on those occasions where he could be visiting and enjoying his grandparents more, we put him on a plane, and i was prone on the floor before God, asking him to take care of our son.
My HUSBAND prayed that nothing happen to our son, because God help those responsible if they harmed a hair on that kids head. His Mother would have hunted them down, until she found them.
Guns are a proven deterrent, in many situations.
And, once again, these senseless acts of violence need to be dealt with accordingly.
When bbq Bob, a former governor of Florida, was executing criminals, there was a definite drop in certain violent crimes, in Florida.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:25 pm
Holy (pun intended) crap, that was some crazy typing lady.
“prone on the floor before God”, “Guns are a proven deterrent”, “at 6 years of age […] we began schooling him in the ways of survival”, “because God help those responsible if they harmed a hair on that kids head”
And hearing “his father was FBI” after all that noise. Wow, just… I need an aspirin now.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:47 pm
Logic, start with former governor, Bob Graham of Florida.
Look into how he helped deter crime in Florida.
Use your time constructively, instead of thinking you are replying constructively to something you know nothing of.
Educate yourself.
Try it. You might garner some self esteem.
June 12, 2021 @ 1:07 pm
If the US constitution is a living document, then doesn’t that make the language concerning the amendment process superfluous?
June 12, 2021 @ 3:55 pm
Inert paper isn’t alive, stupid no matter what nancy says
June 12, 2021 @ 12:11 pm
Shut up.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:13 pm
Called in with your insider knowledge yet?
June 12, 2021 @ 2:46 pm
Well, not every Founding Father owned slaves so stuff that description.
Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive hack. Terrible president.
Guess what? The Founding Fathers didn’t envision modern technology so the 1st Amendment doesn’t apply to modern inventions.
Dumb logic is dumb logic.
And you know what, the 2nd Amendment is routinely violated enough. “Shall not be infringed” is repeatedly broken.
“Dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
June 12, 2021 @ 6:55 pm
“….believed the Constitution is a living, evolving document; there’s NO WAY and bunch of wig-wearing, wooden-toothed, white male slave owners knew what would be best for this Country 245 years ago…”really? As a liberal, I’m offended by that kind of counterproductive woke race dogwhistling. Instead of laying blame in a piece of paper, blame the society with no accountability and no boundaries. The constitution is a living document as it has been amended to meet the needs as our society has changed, well beyond the vision of its creators. And. We dont have yo accept “gun violence and move on”‘ say that to the victims. The only thing that has to move on is harping on the past instead of making change for the future.
June 13, 2021 @ 12:30 pm
We are talking about Theodore Roosevelt, not Franklin Roosevelt. FDR was the progressive. Your eighth grade education is failing.
June 13, 2021 @ 1:09 pm
TR was a Progressive – so much so that he headed the Progressive Party’s ticket in 2012.
“When TR entered the White House in 1901, he took control of a federal government that often aligned itself with big business. Roosevelt restrained his progressive leanings for a short time, wisely avoiding a shakeup on Wall Street, where jittery investors saw him at best as a loose cannon and at worst as a dangerous demagogue.”
“After leaving the presidency, Roosevelt continued to push for domestic reform, most notably during his Progressive party campaign for the presidency in 1912. ”
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tr-domestic/
June 13, 2021 @ 1:58 pm
I’m a little rusty but I believe Teddy ran under the Progressive Party to stick it to the Republicans who didn’t want him anymore years after he completed his two terms as President as a Republican.
June 13, 2021 @ 2:54 pm
True – he was sticking it to the Republicans. When you read the pbs page, however, you will see his instincts were fairly progressive in terms of using the government against private enterprise. He was no Calvin Coolidge.
June 14, 2021 @ 9:22 am
They were both Progressive in beliefs.
Try actually reading history.
June 14, 2021 @ 11:00 am
I’m a Political Science major (Environmental Studies minor) from the University of Pittsburgh 1996-2000. The only other person I have read more books about in my spare time than Teddy is John Muir. I’ll stack my credentials against yours any day. But I get it. In this day of alternative facts and fake news, everyone is an expert and can say whatever the want to mold the agenda.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:52 pm
Always easier for the lazy to blame an object than a person.
June 18, 2021 @ 10:06 am
Take them away from the criminals first I will gladly give you mine… idiot.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:13 pm
The “wig-wearing, wooden-toothed, white male slave owners” founded the greatest, freest, most prosperous nation in the world; one that, to this day, fully billions of people from all over the world are striving to get to – some legally, but most illegally.
What do you know that they don’t?
Also, let us see how consistently you like “living, evolving documents.”
Let’s suppose that you take out a mortgage on your house, and the mortgage specifically provides for fixed payments of $2,000 per month for 25 years. Three years into the mortgage, however, the lender, using the doctrine of “living, evolving documents,” decides that, contrary to what the mortgage states, it has “evolved and breathed” to the point that your payments are henceforth going to be $2,750 per month.
Surely you would have no problem with THAT, would you?
After all, you are a champion of “living, evolving documents,” are you not?
June 12, 2021 @ 12:32 pm
But the government has already made amendments to the Constitution … prohibition and voting rights. There is a precedent to amend it when lobbyists aren’t calling the shots.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
HOPTOWN:
OF COURSE!
That’s how it’s properly done!
The Constitution specifically provides for alterations/changes/additions to it through the amendment process.
However, everyone who spews the drivel about a “living, breathing, evolving document” actually means that they want the Supreme Court to change the Constitution and disregard the amendment process.
June 12, 2021 @ 1:25 pm
That’s what you are saying. Roosevelt and me believe the amendment process is part of the living, breathing evolution.
June 12, 2021 @ 3:57 pm
Paper doesn’t breathe no matter what nancy says
June 12, 2021 @ 4:50 pm
No, no, Hoptown. BigTex clearly knows your stance on the 2nd Ammendment better than you. Like all godless commies, you obviously want all gun owners rounded up and put into re-education camps while all of the firearms are confiscated and given to your Chinese allies. This is common knowledge, hoss.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:20 pm
Sad.
When you villainize and neuter public servants that protect your communities, you embolden those that want to do harm.
Not so tinfoil hat prediction, this will continue in every major city until we beg for the the state’s solution of a holistic combination of tech surveillance and police presence.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:59 pm
The idiots will beg for that.
The smart ones won’t.
Amazing how many idiots will trade away freedom for peaceful slavery.
June 12, 2021 @ 7:38 pm
You mean the same public servants that consistently run over freedom and the constitution? The same ones that get to hide behind immunity? The same ones that when they screw up tax papers are stuck paying the tab on the lawsuits? Those?
June 12, 2021 @ 11:40 pm
As much as a lot of Republicans hem and haw about government overreach, they certainly seem eager to implement a defacto police state.
June 13, 2021 @ 8:37 am
Trainwreck92:
That would actually be you leftist dildos who want a police state.
June 13, 2021 @ 4:35 pm
Well, Jimmy, you’re right about me being a leftist dildo, but a police state is not what this particular dildo dreams of. I think there are some industries that might be better for folks under government control than privatized (healthcare), but otherwise I think government (municipal, county, state, and federal) exercises far more power over its citizens than is necessary.
June 13, 2021 @ 12:22 pm
“As much as a lot of Republicans hem and haw about government overreach, they certainly seem eager to implement a defacto police state.”
Definition of police state
http://www.merriam-webster.com
: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures.
Sweetheart, how about that fence & concertina wire still up around the Capitol?
The rest of the world knows exactly who put that up, & the why’s of why it is still there.
Might want to catch up on facts.
June 13, 2021 @ 4:26 pm
Perhaps you remember an event about 6 months ago, where a bunch of MAGA folks stormed the capitol building. I seem to remember them chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” and beating up the capitol police, leading to one dying. Maybe it’s time for the fence to come down, but it seems like there was a damn good reason to put it up in the first place.
June 13, 2021 @ 4:56 pm
Ah yes, living the msm narrative …
June 14, 2021 @ 9:24 am
Trainwreck,
Liberals are supposed to hate fences and walls. They don’t work, remember?
Until your side needs them, of course.
June 16, 2021 @ 7:42 am
Your guy is the president trying to organize the country into an informant network.
June 13, 2021 @ 11:03 am
It’s a hard job, and one that has recently carried an insane amount of scrutiny and derision.
Who will keep your neighborhoods and marketplaces safe when the police can’t or won’t?
Curious, how do you feel about the McCloskey situation?
June 13, 2021 @ 11:12 am
You realize under Supreme Court rulings, the police have no legal obligation to protect you right? McCloskey was an idiot for sure but had every right to defend his home if need to be. Media glossed over that was a gated area, they were trespassing and the crowd wasn’t peaceful to say the least.
June 13, 2021 @ 1:08 pm
I don’t need the police to protect me and mine, but I also pay for services that many cannot.
But, I do want police present throughout our marketplaces and communities so that they deter opportunists. I also want them to maintain agency of lethal force and weight of heavy prosecution as part of said deterrence.
We’re on the same page re: McCloskey. I often find that many who are willing to forgo police protection also don’t like when citizens maintain the agency to protect themselves. Thats why I asked.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:24 pm
1:24 AM. Nothing good happens after midnight. Go home.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:33 pm
I’m seeing a pattern with these cities governed by liberals.
June 12, 2021 @ 12:52 pm
Plenty of more conservative communities have also been the epicenters of gun violence. Not sure an entire city should be blamed for the actions of an individual.
June 12, 2021 @ 1:24 pm
Austin, Houston, and Dallas are embarrassments to the State of Texas, due to the idiots who have elected other idiots to positions of power in those cities..
June 12, 2021 @ 1:32 pm
Maybe so. But I’m not sure what that has to do with a homicidal maniac shooting indiscriminately into a crowd. I’ll blame the homicidal maniac before the mayor of the city that the homicidal maniac happens to be in. You want to blame the mayor for a spike in overall crime tied to the cutting of the police budget, which in turn affects the music venues due to people being afraid to venture into parts of the city, then we have a discussion.
June 12, 2021 @ 3:39 pm
When the “homicidal maniac” is identified, you can be damned well certain it will be someone who is exactly the kind of person who put the current mayor and city council of Austin in place.
June 14, 2021 @ 3:40 pm
Well, Trigger.
Congrats are in order for me.
My prediction about the “homicidal maniac” proves true.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:48 pm
Really?
Most of the mass shootings occur in cities that usually tend liberal. Out in the rural, gun-toting country, there aren’t the same frequency of shootings.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison
Paris Dec. 20. 1787
I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. when they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe
June 12, 2021 @ 3:01 pm
There also tends to be more people, and more congregating in cities. My bigger point is blaming the political alignment of a city for a mass shooter is no different than “blaming an object than a person” as you yourself pointed out in another comment.
Sutherland Springs church shooting. November 5th, 2017. 25 dead, including a pregnant woman. 20 others wounded. Was in a small rural town.
June 12, 2021 @ 3:23 pm
Not at all. Political alignment consists of people in that city making decisions and policies based on their beliefs. People have free will. An object doesn’t have any free will. A gun cannot make a decision but a voting base can. Cities like Austin have voted for those policies.
Cool. You found one exception. They always exist.
One fact about that shooting for the gun law people. The shooter was banned from having a gun. And a good guy with a gun was able to help stop the shooter. The shooter was also a militant atheist something that was downplayed in the press. The shooting was another example of Christian persecution.
As for more people living in cities, well, that proves Jefferson was right. But then again he wore a wig so we can’t listen to him! /s
June 12, 2021 @ 3:02 pm
Some victim blaming for good measure.
June 14, 2021 @ 12:32 pm
You’re confusing causation with correlation.
June 12, 2021 @ 1:49 pm
“I’ll blame the homicidal maniac before the mayor of the city that the homicidal maniac happens to be in.”
Fucking A.
Every damn time.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:37 pm
MSM is awfully quiet.
June 12, 2021 @ 4:34 pm
I’ve seen it covered on NPR, CNN, ABC, NBC, The Washington Post, etc. Doesn’t seem all that quiet to me. Hell, maybe I have super-sonic hearing and I don’t even realize it.
June 12, 2021 @ 6:08 pm
I got to say when I got wise to the news late this morning, the only outlets that were covering it were local here to Austin. That’s why I chose to write something about it. It was like it had happened in a bubble. The rest of news did catch up to it eventually, but it’s still not a lead story for many outlets.
June 13, 2021 @ 6:53 am
Not saying it was you who forced the msm’s hand in finally reporting the attempted murders in Austin on Friday night.
But you, & others talking about what happened Friday, did force the msm’s eventual coverage.
June 13, 2021 @ 4:23 am
Good for you. Any news on the shooter yet?
June 12, 2021 @ 2:47 pm
Blame guns, everyone does. But you would be wrong. When those of us old enough to remember were growing up, in the 60’s, gun violence wasn’t rampant. There were criminals and maniacal nut jobs, but we didn’t fear for our life while out listening to music. Or at school. And especially not on the streets of our neighborhoods, where we roamed at will and didn’t carry a cell phone. The issue today with mass violence is the result of the failure of the FAMILY. Absentee fathers, distracted overworked mothers, no one cares if kids are growing up in a stable home. No one’s going to church and instilling morals and values for our kids, and holding ourselves to the same standard.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:55 pm
Gun safety used to be taught in schools. Kids would leave guns in their trucks in the school parking lot. Few, if any, shootings happened.
You are completely right. It is moral decay. The nuclear family is slowly being eradicated by welfare policies and the nanny state. By easy divorce and the tolerance of single parents. Thomas Sowell has written extensively on the topic. The nuclear family has been the building block of society.
Rest assured that this was all planned. The masses are easier to control when they share no cultural connections and doped up on government money.
But it is easier to blame guns than to accept the fact that we have failed our communities.
June 12, 2021 @ 4:58 pm
Yea! If more kids were taught gun safety and marksmanship in high school (or some other organization), kids would respect guns. Many times when a when a kid commits an act of gun violence, it’s the first time they have fired a gun. They are shocked over a guns power and destruction because all they know about guns in on video games and movies were there are no repercussions.
June 12, 2021 @ 6:27 pm
I, too, believe this is the root of the issue. The seeds were sewn with Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and welfare expansion for women with children but not so much if the father was present in the home.
June 13, 2021 @ 6:50 am
It started in the 1910s with the Progressives, FDR accelerated it with the New Deal, and LBJ put the finishing touches on it with the Great Society.
Three generations of liberal idiocy that sunk a great country.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:50 pm
I was recently in Austin and toured Sixth Street. I never saw so many drugged out and high husks in my life. Homeless people in nice tents were everywhere. It wasn’t that magical.
But hey, Austin voted for this. Reap what you sow.
Keep Austin Weird is the city motto. Well, mission accomplished. As for me, I prefer to live among sanity.
Whataburger was awesome as I remembered it.
June 12, 2021 @ 2:57 pm
Why were the police and FBI called?
I thought cities were now sending counselors to the scene to settle these issues?
Gunshots tend to make hypocrites out of those people.
June 12, 2021 @ 4:03 pm
The FBI – FEDERAL- bureau of ineptitude attempting to look relevant- that’s needed for budget time arguments-
June 12, 2021 @ 5:35 pm
Amen, DJ.
Can’t stand them.
~ 92 – 93% of the Bureau are worthless. Male and female alike.
Office support staff(s) equate more to a hooker’s den.
Of the 7 – 8% of the Bureau, who are upstanding, i give kudos to.
The rest are scum.
June 12, 2021 @ 4:04 pm
In the mean time- Colter Wall’s new video has had 38000+ views since released- 1 day ago
June 12, 2021 @ 6:34 pm
I gave it two views, one like, and one comment. You know, for the algorithm.
June 12, 2021 @ 6:16 pm
“The police budget in the city was cut by nearly $20 million, with $80 million reallocated to civilian and private outsourcing, and multiple police cadet classes cancelled in the wake of the death of George Floyd and local protests in Austin.”
Maybe the libs can build solid fencing around their residences and government buildings. Oh wait, it is unconstitutional to build fences. Well, so much for that brilliant idea.
June 13, 2021 @ 4:37 am
Liberals and other politicians are fine with living behind walls, just not you.
And I’m no big fan of the police, but if you cut their budget in half and discourage them from doing their job, a lot of people are going to suffer.
But I think even the idiots in NYC are refunding the police now.
June 12, 2021 @ 7:26 pm
If you haven’t been to 6th street lately, don’t bother. It’s NOTHING like it used to be. Homeless, Junkies and crap have ruined it. All the bad things that come with a city getting bigger too fast.
New Braunfels is where it’s at….
June 12, 2021 @ 7:36 pm
Nice to see the comment section did not disappoint
June 13, 2021 @ 8:44 am
The absolute US centric blinders are doing a lot of work keeping the wearers blind indeed.
On behalf of the rest of the world; get your shit together.
June 14, 2021 @ 1:40 pm
Wat bedoel je hiermee? Of ben je gewoon een vingerwijzende Hollander?
June 14, 2021 @ 2:23 pm
Mijn commentaar is 100% duidelijk, dus je kunt dan wel bijdehand vragen wat ik ermee bedoel, maar als je dat niet snapt ligt het aan jou begrijpend lezen en niet aan mijn schrijven.
June 15, 2021 @ 3:56 am
Hahaha, snel op zijn pik getrapt. Typisch Hollander gedrag: altijd anderen de maat nemen, nooit naar zichzelf kijken. Hartelijke groeten Danny!
June 15, 2021 @ 3:57 am
Weinig zelfreflectie… We kunnen elkaar blijkbaar een hand geven.
June 13, 2021 @ 8:44 am
“The police budget in the city was cut by nearly $20 million, with $80 million reallocated to civilian and private outsourcing…”
Yep, and you can expect more of this nonsense to happen in ‘woketistanian’ cities and states. But the left will whine and blubber and blame it on guns and not their own ineptness and end game (destruction). They want to build their version of Utopia, don’t you know. That would be dystopia for all of their simpleminded supporters, though.
June 13, 2021 @ 9:19 am
And now Tim Dillon’s leaving town
June 13, 2021 @ 10:07 am
Had never heard of this dude until recently, but the guy is hilarious. Have been keeping up with all his rants against Austin, and even though he’s being purposely over-the-top for comedic value, he’s spot on. That’s what I was trying to highlight with this article. Austin has become a mess. It’s over, and has been for a while now. I feel like this shooting is just the latest example, especially if the incident turns out to be what they think it was, which was two people shooting at each other, and just randomly shooting 14 individuals in the crossfire. This city and its leadership has failed its citizens. They failed them with the homeless crisis. They failed them with cutting police staff and budgets when they needed more support not less, and in a way that is disproportionately affecting black and minority communities, and women. And all of this leads up to most anyone with any talent or hope in their career leaving for LA or Nashville. It’s not the live music Capital. It’s not even the best city in Texas anymore. I love Austin and it’s a shame to see what’s happening. But it’s a farce to believe that it’s not a town going down the tubes, and there’s little hope of a resurrection at this point. I’m lucky enough to live just outside of town so I’m not in the thick of it. But at this point, I would never recommend anyone to move to the area.
June 13, 2021 @ 12:40 pm
I’m thirty miles from downtown Austin and haven’t bothered spending any time there since 2019. I enjoy music in less populated areas without having to deal with the crime and filth that Austin’s leadership actively welcomed in.
June 13, 2021 @ 2:11 pm
Finding out youre from Austin totally explains the weird liberal slant this site has.
June 13, 2021 @ 2:14 pm
lol, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take to Twitter to share this perspective far and wide where I’ve been officially cancelled twice, and called out specifically by Jason Isbell and Margo Price for being a MAGA-supporting bigot.
June 13, 2021 @ 5:32 pm
Worse things could be said for a person than being a “MAGA-supporting bigot.” If one is accused of such, wear it. Beats alternatives on the other side all to hell.
June 13, 2021 @ 8:23 pm
According to the latest, absolutely sound “theory”, denying you’re a bigot just means you’re a bigot these days anyway. It’s brilliant really.
June 14, 2021 @ 5:53 am
If one is accused of such, wear it.
Although you and some others around here might prefer that, it’s an odd suggestion to make to someone who has said numerous times that they are apolitical and that partisan politics is a scourge.
June 13, 2021 @ 2:50 pm
Not saying he leans one way or the other, but that’s a pretty interesting comment considering he just said “This city and its leadership has failed its citizens.”
I guess hard partisans have little tolerance for any non-tribal discussion or opinions?
June 13, 2021 @ 10:57 pm
Well, I wanted to express concern and show support for Austin as their music scene is truly something special but, here we go again.
While I do have a strongly held opinion of the proper primary approach to interpreting the Constitution, my personal belief is irrelevant and such discussions are quite expensive. What I can say is you’ve been brainwashed by your preferred political party if you think people who disagree with your primary method of Constitutional interpretation are automatically “stupid.” I can assure you, as someone who attended a great law school and read most every Supreme Court case addressing a Constitutional issue word for word, as someone whose been fortunate enough to listen to Supreme Court Justices, Appellate Judges, and lawyers who fought landmark Constitutional cases discuss these cases live in person, as someone whose both embarrassed and been embarrassed by extraordinarily intelligent people I’ve disagreed with on matters of Con law, THERE ARE PEOPLE MUCH SMARTER THAN YOU AND I WHO DISAGREE WITH YOUR METHOD OF CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION, NO MATTER WHICH ONE YOU LIKE. Hell, there are people many thousands of people who are smarter than you and I who disagree with your regular old legislative approach to guns and/or preventing mass shootings and virtually ALL of them are trying to save, not end, lives. However, they are being paid thousands of dollars an hour to craft complex legal arguments and actually making a difference, not hurling insults on a country music website because they are arrogant enough to think anyone who doesn’t vote with them must be stupid.
If you are so certain that your preferred method of Constitutional interpretation is so obviously correct as to make anyone who believes anything different “stupid,” you should immediately stop bickering about low level politics on a country music website, take the LSAT, score high enough to get admitted to an Ivy League law school (which is virtually the only way to practice Con Law in any meaningful way), do your 3 years of law classes, including a full year of Con Law, complete your mandatory pro Bono work, obtain your character and fitness clearance, read every opinion and dissent from every single Supreme Court case, most federal appellate cases, study for and pass a bar exam, get admitted to practice LAW in federal court (as Con LAW is in fact law with standards of review, burdens of proof and complex procedures and has very little to do with politics), practice high profile cases for 20+ years and maybe then you will somehow manage to gain a reputation for actually being competent and respected enough to have an opinion worth listening to in a Con Law case. Then, simply walk into the Supreme Court and explain how half the sitting Justices and opposing counsel “are just too stupid to get it” like you do. Meanwhile, come back here in 30 years and let me know when your court date is so I can go place a very large bet that you get embarrassed on a level you’ve never experienced before when some of the smartest people on the planet get slightly annoyed with your (now earned) arrogance.
This is absolutely the last thing this country needs right now, especially people who just lost a loved one in a terrible tragedy. You aren’t helping anyone. This stuff happens all the time in BOTH places where guns are legal and illegal. Either do the work and solve the problem or recognize you haven’t done the work to know the answer and support these people, this city, and this music in a manner in which is helpful, like donating $5 to the victims’ families. Post a receipt showing your $100 donation and call out a political opponent for not matching you if you insist on showing the other side doesn’t care about human life. Let’s see if either red or blue can actually do something more than hurl insults. I bet we see very little out of anyone calling Supreme Court justices stupid notwithstanding their self-assessed intelligence should easily qualify them to bill a couple grand an hour.
Sorry Trigger, I try not to engage anymore but, while I’m sure there’s some healthy and helpful comments, too many were not for my taste given the gravity of the situation.
June 14, 2021 @ 11:48 am
Lighten up, Francis.
No one cares about your credentials, particularly since you shove them in our faces.
The fact that someone with your credentials makes an absurd statement about Constitutional interpretation methodologies doesn’t make it a sound, defensible idea.
I’ve practiced law for almost 40 years and I suspect I have participated in some of the very same functions as you, based on the way you describe them.
There is no equality of ideas.
Ideas must emerge successfully from the crucible of debate and life experiences.
I have witnessed multiple scholarly debates among similarly educated people in which there was a clear winner and an obvious loser.
Take your credentials and leave us alone.
You don’t own the Constitution.
Quit lecturing us about earned arrogance and look in the mirror instead.
June 14, 2021 @ 3:24 pm
First, I made no statement regarding any method of Constitutional Interpretation other than;
“While I do have a strongly held opinion of the proper primary approach to interpreting the Constitution, my personal belief is irrelevant…”
I’d wager the vast majority of people on this site are fed up with the constant political bickering and I am one of them so, I’d really rather you take your Con Law analysis and leave this COUNTRY MUSIC site alone. I think that makes a whole lot more sense frankly. I don’t want to be talking about Con Law. My point is, I am still far from qualified to solve these problems notwithstanding having actually worked pretty hard to learn about this stuff and I suspect that, if that is the case, the vast majority of others lashing out with personal attacks probably are too.
I came here to discuss Austin’s music scene and show support for the people harmed. If you’ve practiced law for forty years and prefer to use your minimal spare time stirring conflicts and debating Con Law ideologies on a COUNTRY MUSIC Website in the wake of a tragedy, I guess we just aren’t the same kind of people and that is fine by me.
I do suspect that plenty of sites and forums will gladly cater to the topic on both sides of the aisle if you’d care to look. I’m being sincere when I say, I just don’t think this site and this article are the appropriate place to either debate the Constitution or call anyone stupid. (If you are indeed one who did that above, that is my issue).
I got fed up and responded to thirty comments totally lacking in any substance other than personal attacks above me, I didn’t start the discussion and I’m just tired of hearing it. It is ruining the hard work of the owner of this site and the enjoyment of the site for a LOT of people who are, you know, here for the country music.
If you have the answers, God bless you! Go practice law and make a difference! You are one of the few fortunate enough to actually try to make a change and this is a poor use of your time, in my humble opinion.
Have a pleasant evening!
June 14, 2021 @ 3:45 pm
Also, those are not my credentials, as an attorney you know those are objectively the credentials required to practice Con Law in any meaningful way. I thought I said that but, it is worthy of clarifying again as I’m being accused of flaunting my personal credentials.
June 14, 2021 @ 5:03 pm
Andrew
I suspect we agree on Constitutional interpretation and very likely other matters.
For someone who doesn’t like legal and political discourse on a country music site, your post included a lot of it.
I know that a lot of high level Con law decisions involve power lawyers and firms (e.g. administrative law Chevron deference cases), but a lot of the criminal law cases are originated by mid level criminal defense lawyers, whom I salute, incidentally.
I anticipate that you have forgotten more Con law than I know at this point.
But it’s still fun to watch great debates about the various topics comprising Con law at the CLE conference I attend every November.
Best to you.
June 15, 2021 @ 1:04 am
I see what happened now. I’m sorry if it came off like I was claiming to be some Constitutional Law genius as that was not my intention and I most certainly am not. I just get tired of these comment sections constantly being hijacked by mean spirited people who personally attack others in the name of politics while providing absolutely nothing persuasive to support their positions whatsoever. I was responding to several specific personal insults in my original comment but, since it was several people, it didn’t feel appropriate to single anyone out specifically in the moment.
I didn’t know exactly where you were coming from before (and was specifically speaking to a group of people that definitely did not include you in my original comment) but, if you were annoyed with me for being unnecessarily off topic in a toxic sort of way on a country music site, I wholeheartedly agree and especially out of context (which was my fault). I’d noticed things getting a bit more light hearted around here for a while and was annoyed when I read comment after comment chalked full of needless political negativity. I reacted to several specific people calling someone stupid for their preferred method of Constitutional interpretation without providing any support whatsoever for why that person was “just to stupid to get it.” I didn’t agree with the person being attacked but, I reacted in frustration and was attempting to make the point that, typically, the people actually willing to do what it takes to make a difference, such as yourself, opt to argue in an appropriate forum and support their positions rather than just calling someone they disagree with stupid. I’ve always been grateful for getting smoked by people I disagree with and was trying to point out that there are smart people on both sides, no matter how misguided they might be.
I tried to make my point without taking sides at all but, I can certainly understand how my comment would be just as annoying to you, another music fan who doesn’t enjoy hearing political nonsense on a music site, as anybody else’s when read out of context and, because I didn’t reply to someone directly, it was taken out of context and sounded pretty ridiculous. That is my fault and I actually agree that, even in context, what I did probably didn’t help anything but, at some point, it just feels like we might have to do something to expose the lack of substance behind the political instigators. My intention was to point out to those people specifically that if everyone else is just too stupid, all you have to do is…. fix everything and show us how stupid we all are.
In hindsight, I definitely should have responded to someone specifically to show mine was a reaction rather than a random statement. However, because it was directed at several people, singling one out to scold didn’t feel like the right thing to do in the moment. I think that is probably the thing that got us off on the wrong foot in hindsight and that was my bad. Out of context, I wouldn’t have appreciated me either but, I was definitely responding to something specific that wasn’t you.
On a side note, you make a good point regarding “regular” lawyers and Con Law. I’m sure nobody cares about my rant (and I don’t mind if you delete this Trigger, especially if it isn’t obvious what I was addressing) but, in my mind, I was providing those specific people the path to become someone who practices Con Law enough to impact the method of interpretation and show us all how “stupid” we are from someone who might take a run of the mill criminal (or other) case that happened to include a Con Law issue that was ripe for review. Again, that was an effort of showing how much work those lawyers on both sides actually do as opposed to simply hijacking a country music story and calling people stupid. However, I’m sure my words did not reflect that distinction given the lack of context and you are correct to make your point as it is definitely accurate.
I’m glad we found some common ground and trust me, my original post is not at all what I wanted to discuss before reading the venom above. On a high note, folks willing to actually go to bat on this site have all been very reasonable and pleasant people so far. I totally understand your reaction now and hope this sheds some light on what happened there. Finally, while we probably do agree on more Con Law than we disagree, even if that is not the case, I’m happy to find common ground in good music anyways and hope we cross paths at a good country show in the future. Anyone who recognizes that Austin is a special place for country music and hates to see this happening there is fine by me regardless of how they vote or their profession!
Best to you as well. I beg your pardon as I see exactly how this went wrong now. I expected it to be obvious what I was addressing but, see now that it was not. (Sorry if its longwinded and poorly written too, I’m struggling to sleep tonight.)
June 15, 2021 @ 9:21 am
Hi Andrew,
Are you affiliated with GPG?
June 15, 2021 @ 12:13 pm
More specifically,
General Global Power Generation?
June 14, 2021 @ 8:01 am
You know, any time there is a “mass shooting,” the usual suspects always call for taking away guns from everybody, even from responsible gun owners who have never shot anyone.
But why stop there? Why not take cars away from sober drivers in an attempt to stop drunk driving? Why not arrest all men, since they are all equipped to be rapists? And why not arrest all women, as they are all equipped to be prostitutes?
I once dated a woman who knew her ex-husband was out to get her. She wanted to carry a pistol for self-defense, but she also didn’t want to break the law, so she didn’t carry. Then her ex-husband did ambush her one night, and he stabbed her to death. So you anti-gun folks are really anti-self-defense, and you can all go to Hell for that.
PS My firearms have killed fewer people than has Ted Kennedy’s car.
June 14, 2021 @ 8:35 am
PS My firearms have killed fewer people than has Ted Kennedy’s car.
That old chestnut. Still got the bumper sticker?
June 14, 2021 @ 9:26 pm
Chestnut or not, it’s still true. Oh wait, I do have a 1917 Enfield and an M1 Garand, and I haven’t the foggiest notion of where all they’ve been. But all the rest defer to Teddy’s Olds.
June 15, 2021 @ 8:46 am
Bit of a non sequitur, though. Personally, I think anyone making that statement as part of their pro-gun argument is being breathtakingly unserious (never mind the ridiculousness of saying it on a music site about a politician who’s been dead for 12 years), but YMMV.
June 15, 2021 @ 1:20 pm
and Mary Jo Kopechne has been dead for almost 52. left to die by a drunken buffoon. say her name. YMMV
June 15, 2021 @ 2:14 pm
I know that. I remember when it happened and I remember her name. However, I suspect that the people who like to use this particular bumper sticker quote about guns do it more to take a partisan shot at the their liberal bogeyman than care about her death. And I find it hard to believe you care that much about her death, what with that tasteless handle, which I’m sure you think is very clever.
June 14, 2021 @ 10:44 am
Weird… you started by informing everybody you were going to attack a strawman. This is new, usually people just build it quietly before attacking it.
June 14, 2021 @ 12:38 pm
The price of freedom, amirite?
June 14, 2021 @ 8:20 am
now you get to add gang violence to the list of woes.
June 14, 2021 @ 11:49 am
I didn’t know you were Poli Sci, Hoptown!
Too cool.
Although this has nothing to do with anything, my husband got a wild hair one Summer afternoon, and asked, do you want to drive out to Teddy Roosevelt National Park?
We drove out (2017), toured the Park, stayed at the Rough Riders Hotel for 2 nights. The hotel is pretty cool. We were reading by the fireplace, and he looks up from his book, and nudged the bottom of my sandal. Wanted to know what i thought about heading to Deadwood, S.D. I smiled.
We were gone for about 2 weeks, had a great time! The Rough Riders hotel was cool, but the old hotel we stayed at in Deadwood was ultra cool. Had original Baldwin brass door knobs and locks, and huge keys, that certainly did not fit into a dainty little purse. Made him carry it, when we were running around town.
June 14, 2021 @ 12:38 pm
‘no way to prevent this,’ says only nation where this regularly happens
June 14, 2021 @ 1:23 pm
There are plenty of nations where this regularly happens. In fact in the majority of nations, this regularly happens, and at a greater frequency. It’s in the 1st world, and for the wealth the US has that it’s exceptional.
June 15, 2021 @ 6:12 am
well, better not do anything about. you’ve convinced me.
June 15, 2021 @ 7:48 am
That’s certainly not what I’m lobbying for.
June 15, 2021 @ 9:59 am
The 2nd amendment is just that, a negotiated amendment to the original charter.
June 15, 2021 @ 1:40 pm
Yea stories where armed citizens prevent a massacre or a killing don’t exactly make it to the news but it happens every day.
Doesn’t fit the narrative.
The media likes to sell fear and magnify X1000
June 16, 2021 @ 12:39 am
“It happens everyday”… Yeah, sure it does!
I guess it would be a bit hard trying to give an example of that from yesterday? Or the day before? Or the day before that?