I got around to checking the news and now I'm sorry I did.
2,266 veterans estimated to die each and every year from lack of health care. How shameful!
7 hour response time by police. During that time, they got multiple calls for help, including one from a mental health professional (and they aren't allowed to make that call unless they seriously believe a person is a danger to themselves or others and they RARELY make the call even then). 3 dead, including a 4 year old child, plus the suicide. “There never was a 9-1-1 call to my knowledge,” said [Sheriff] Walters... he could not speculate as to why the family continued calling a non-emergency number after Bills began acting violently and irrationally instead of dialing 9-1-1. Why mention that at all? Is the point that it is the victims' fault that they didn't call 911 instead? Now I know why the mental health professional didn't call 911 and that's because it would have been routed to the nearest 911 center which may not have been the correct one. I can speculate that the family and friends didn't call it because of the wicked fine almost automatically assessed for "inappropriate" use of the 911 system. Nonetheless, I see an excuse being set up.
Message to Sheriff Walters: Triage is YOUR job and I don't give a rat's behind if they sent in the message via carrier pigeon! Don't you dare blame them because your people couldn't triage and get someone over there in less than 7 hours.
Licensed Houston Cabbies: "Six had been convicted of homicide or involuntary manslaughter. Nearly 300 had drug or drunk-driving convictions, and 146 had histories of aggravated assault or robbery... More than 200 Houston taxi drivers had been convicted of crimes in the last 10 years". Granted that it's a very small percentage of the 14,000 licensed cabbies in Houston but still...
On what planet do we not see that military service veterans get basic health care for the rest of their lives? Where calls for help are graded on which police telephone line you called in on and, if it's the wrong one, it's summarily considered non-emergency? Where even a non-emergency but clearly critical call for help takes 7 hours for a response? Where your cab driver may be a murdered? Planet Earth; more specifically, Houston, TX, Planet Earth!
Bomb shelter and 20 years of supplies is sounding pretty good right now. No health care, no emergency response services, no cabs. What exactly is the purpose of a society if not these kinds of amenities and common decencies?