bits and pieces, and no honor among thieves...or killers

Well, folks, I'm not gonna lie. I have nothing profound to offer you today. My mind already has me about six hours ahead of now, when I will begin celebrating living another year and finally being "officially" in my mid 30s.

I'll post tomorrow afternoon some time. Until then, if you believe in anything more powerful than yourself (other than the federal government) say a prayer for the families of Jose Somohano, Jody Wright, Tomas Tunidor, and Christopher Carlin, Miami-Dade Police officers who were shot yesterday by a long-time violent con, who was wearing body armour and toting an AK-47 assault rifle. And if you think you're the highest power you know, then you can still think good thoughts for these folks.

Ofcr. Somohano died from his injuries. The suspect, Shawn LaBeet, was killed late Thursday night in a second shootout with local officers. Early reports suggest that after LaBeet was pulled over for behaving suspiciously and driving erratically in a zone where the officers happened to be conducting a robbery/burglary sting operation, he got out of his car and eagerly, aggressively, began gunning for the cops.

I was talking with an old buddy, a retired homicide detective in another city, about this case earlier today, and he said he's noticed a change in the attitudes of "violent" criminals in recent years.

He said - and he's the second cop to tell me this in the past two months - that back in the day there was a code of "honor among thieves," so to speak, in which most bad guys drew a line at when they would commit violent acts and against whom.

This detective cited maybe a half dozen cases in his 30-plus years on the job in which a cop, or women, or children were targeted by a killer. Most homicide victims he saw were "planned" victims, or they were the victims of random violence (like the occasional carjacking by a drugged or drunk offender), or they were the victims of a passion/heat of the moment killing (like a drunk stabbing another drunk over alleged cheating in a card game, or something). Otherwise, it was very rare for bad guys - even those with reputations for violence - to kill just because.

Not sure what else to say about this. So, for now, I'll stop here.

So good day. And I'll chat you up tomorrow.

Peace and hair grease.

Quick Hits Friday Edition

No different from any other weekday edition, of course. I just couldn't think of a better title.

Anyway, it's just about Friday, and I'm winding down. You don't stay this pretty without sleep.

• First, Mrs. B is knocking on the door of the second trimester. She had an ultrasound a couple of days ago, and for the first time we were able to hear a heartbeat and actually see more than a blob. James IV was doing somersaults in there. Wild.
• Second, morning sickness is a sham. The constantly changing food tastes, Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk-like mood swings, and other assorted ailments are 24-7. Morning doesn't even factor into it. Someone should have warned me. To her credit, Mrs. B has been handling all of this with a sense of humor. I'm the one who is about to go run into oncoming traffic, pulling at my hair, and screaming that Mel Gibson and Martin Lawrence are chasing me.
• Third, Burnettiquette is taking a road trip next week. I'll blog while I'm away though. And I'm even gonna try to post pictures, for once. I don't do that often. But new habits are hard to get into. Anyway, if any of y'all are in Las Vegas next week and want to say hello, shoot me a message.
• Fourth, after four weeks of brain-draining work on a lengthy story project I get some lighthearted time Friday afternoon. I'll be sitting with actor Cuba Gooding Jr. for an interview about his life and career and a chat about his current film, Daddy Day Camp. I guess I'm not thrown off by Gooding doing a family-friendly film. He's done plenty of them before. What threw me about this film was that it's directed by Fred Savage. I'm trying to picture the Wonder Years dude yelling "action," and "cut!"
• Fifth, here's a perfect example of my admitted hypocrisy over finding people guilty before they're convicted: R. Kelly is finally going on trial! Seriously, I can't be the only one who wondered if this day would ever come. I figured he'd get tried about the time they found JFK's second, third, and fourth shooters. All the while though, Kelly has been guilty as sin in my mind, and I've been itching to see the book - a very, very big book - get thrown at this guy. Why? He is alleged to have messed w/teenage girls, children when you take away the window dressing. He is actually charged w/having kiddie porn, because apparently his "alleged" sex acts w/at least one teenage girl were videotaped. Even if he didn't have sex w/a teen (and yes, like everyone else, I assume the dirty dog did it), they should lock him up just for peeing on one of his alleged victims. Yes, that was caught on tape too. And that's just nasty. And he should be locked up for being dumb enough to videotape the act(s). And his attorneys should be slapped for suggesting Kelly's image might have been computer-generated, faked, on those sex/pee tapes. I guess anything's possible. But that's the best defense they could come up with? Maybe the NAACP will reconsider giving this guy (Presumably Good) Image Awards. Sounds like he should get a stream-aiming award instead.
• Finally, Karma is so cool. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Crime might "earn" you silver or gold. But it could also get you two bits of lead.