Crime

Guns in Classrooms

November 18, 2016

I arrive late to a packed board meeting of the Arid School District in your community and have to join others pressed against the wall and already listening to speakers address the five popularly-elected trustees of the school board who sit behind a long desk on the dais. “Guns are inherently offensive, not defensive,” says…

Read More

Money in the Bank

January 27, 2016

There aren’t any good jobs in L.A., and I’m sick of work anyway. I don’t even want to sell drugs anymore. I’ve got a better plan. Two friends and I are going to knock off a bank in Bakersfield. It would be too tough in L.A. In Bakersfield we’re dealing with hicks. I figure we…

Read More

The Derringer

January 25, 2016

“I’m sorry to say, Mr. Jones, that we can’t hire you.” “Why? I’m an excellent candidate. Look at my history of selling heavy equipment. Have you checked my references and letters of recommendation?” “We have, but those factors have been overridden by a problem.” “What problem?” “You lied to us.” “I did not.” “According to…

Read More

Violent Virgin Islands

January 11, 2016

Worn by cold weather and eternal gray days I leave Des Moines and move to the Virgin Islands where a friend from college tells me the weather’s always great except for high humidity and occasional hurricanes. I don’t worry much about climate. I just do what locals do. I like the Virgin Islands but better…

Read More

Louie in Transition

January 7, 2016

I didn’t start out well, throwing a paperweight at my principal in second grade. Next year half the kids on the playground chased me for stealing a little girl’s necklace. I didn’t mind. I liked to fight. So did many kids in my neighborhood. A guy stabbed me when I was fourteen. I also fought…

Read More

Jail for Juvenile Felons

January 6, 2016

There’s a pretty picture on the postcard: San Francisco Bay provides a serene, blue backdrop for a hill with a group of shining buildings on it. The writing on the other side acknowledges the setting’s superficial beauty but offers a warning: San Quentin prison may look good on a postcard but is not a nice…

Read More

Neighborhood

December 25, 2015

street signs claim gun and drug free zone

Read More

Senior Scams

December 13, 2015

Don’t think thieves have no conscience. Some of us feel quite guilty, even before capture. Thankfully, I think I’ve outgrown my unacceptable tendencies; serving two stints in prison and turning seventy make a man mellow and empathetic. Today I’m just one of about fifty aging residents of Paradise Homes who’ve gathered in the community center…

Read More

Airport Taxi

July 9, 2015

Mark didn’t like late night arrivals at any airport especially in Mexico City where some people get hyper when they see a gringo. He should’ve been ready when a young man rushed up and in Spanish said, “Here, Señor, come with me.” “Where?” “To a place with no lines and low taxi fares.” “Taxis are…

Read More

Bakersfield Number One

September 15, 2014

Bring out the beer, boys, Bakersfield’s number one again. You see the report? We got the highest rate of auto theft in the United States. My buggy was ripped off last month. I love it. We also got the dirtiest air in the country. And as more of our teenage girls get knocked up we…

Read More

Shorty Belton

September 19, 2013

Bombs, bullets, bayonets, and insanity dominate island Okinawa in spring 1945 as American soldiers kill hundred thousand Japanese soldiers who kill and wound sixty-five thousand Americans, and both slaughter thousands of natives. Someone shoots Shorty Belton in leg. He’s lucky, surviving in relative good health, and returns to Spokane where he marries, raises family, works…

Read More

Bag in Stall

August 11, 2012

In a crowded holiday airport he long waited for a stall and was thanking god when, fast as he blinked, a hand reached under the door and yanked his bag.

Read More

Crime Scene

July 14, 2012

going to drive by house down street want to come what house said wife where those three people were shot last night that’s disgusting

Read More

President Chapo Guzman

July 4, 2012

Come on. Admit it. You keep having to Google “new Mexican president” because you can’t remember Enrique Pena Nieto. He’s handsome but like generic model and smooth but so’s oily auto part. You know he represents old guard PRI that ruled dictatorially for decades, spoon feeding wealthy while ignoring poor. Trust me, Enrique Pena Nieto…

Read More

Enforcement

May 22, 2012

money men who rage against crime appreciate stylish new gallows on wall street

Read More

Travel Advice

May 19, 2012

Avoid crowded and dangerous Mexico City, stay way from torrid beaches, ignore over-hyped pyramids, and forget boring cathedrals. Instead, come to San Juan in infernal yet enchanting Nuevo León. Here you’ll meet friendly and forthright people. Don’t worry about forty-nine headless corpses on highway under welcoming white arch. Everything’s been cleaned up, and narcotics traffickers…

Read More

Mexican Journalists Murdered

May 4, 2012

routine news three mexican journalists found maimed in plastic bags week after female reporter strangled at home

Read More

Both Barrels

April 22, 2012

everyone now armed in public new law mandates good citizens carry second gun

Read More

Norwegian Fascist Salute

April 17, 2012

norwegian anti muslim anders breivik sieg heils in court to commemorate blowing up eight and shooting several dozen kids next time anders breivik sieg heils court orders fascist arm amputated and used as club

Read More

Mass Murder in Mexico

April 9, 2012

Hasn’t been much new in search engines about discovery of hundred seventy-seven corpses near San Fernando, Mexico. Occasional reports reminded just eighty miles south of border Mexican authorities ignored mountain of unclaimed luggage in bus depot before finally digging holes and discovering mummified Central Americans and Mexicans who’d headed north to work. Some had been…

Read More