Simply put: An intelligent person doing stupid things is, well...stupid. Plenty of the motorcycle enthusiasts attending the "Confederation of Clubs" meeting at the Twin Peaks restaurant figured they'd be home by five, they were wrong. This "Confederation" meeting was a bad idea from the git-go.
As far as clubs go, the Bandidos are a documented rough bunch. They've been "discussing" who has the right to bottom rocker "Texas" on their colors for a few years now with the Cossacks. The Scimitars are in the process of patching over to the Cossacks. Others in attendance represented the Blackett Arms MC, Gypsy MC, HonorBound Motorcycle Ministry, Renatus MC, Escondidos MC, Sons of the South MC, Los Pirados MC, Leathernecks MC, Vietnam Vets/Legacy Vets MC, In Country MC and the Tornado Motorcycle Club.
In my opinion all of this was nothing but a show of force by the patched clubs. As bad an idea as that might have been, the Waco PD had as many as twenty fully armed uniforms on the ground in anticipation of some friction. That was a bas idea, too. Something along the lines off trying to put out a fire with gasoline...But then again this isn't the first time Waco, Texas has experienced armed stupid citizens staring down armed stupid law enforcement.
Of course all the blogs are a flitter with the spin of a "Waco Police Massacre" of innocent people at a pleasant Sunday brunch. I'm not buying it. They needed a dump truck to haul off all the guns, knives, chains, brass knuckles, hand grenades and bazookas that shook out of everybody's pockets. Voting in America should not involve firearms.
I have a brother that is well steeped in the 1% MC culture. Try as all of them may to appear as a legitimate recreational fraternal organization...they always fall short. Even merely associating with a criminal organization can be a federal offense. The legal deck is stacked in favor of the courts. You will lose.
I just cannot understand what is so complex about enjoying a motorcycle ride. But just like everything else in today's world, some wacko is going to make it a political or social issue. That sucks and gives the other 99% of motorcycle riders a black eye.
My suggestion for the summer: If you want some BBQ and there are more than three bikes in parking lot, go somewhere else....fast.
Sturgis could be interesting this year for the 75th Anniversary.
I was thinking the same thing with Daytona Bike Week. Usually about 200,000 bikers show up and there is literaly no "gang" problems, at least not yet. B-)
And looks like 170 or so death penalty cases.
Somewhere in that melee was a biker drawing a bead on his hated rival who has just shot at him when a cop starts yelling and shooting at him from another quarter and he is thinking "Why does this always happen to me"?
I was listening to a report about this on NPR the other day while out surveying. The story was followed up with another story about ISIL having successfully take Ramadi from the Iraqis. It then occurred to me that maybe we could drop all these rowdy bikers off in Ramadi where they could get their ya-yas out on ISIL and take care of two problems once.
Years ago, in the late sixties, Hell's Angels President Sonny Barger had volunteered the entire organization to go to Viet Nam. His conditions were no boot camp and they got to take their motorsickles.
It was a nice try for an image upgrade, but it just wouldn't work. If there's anything that gets worse mileage than an M1A2 Abrams tank, it's a Harley. Very few paved roads, also.
I wouldn't mind getting the beer contract on something like that, though. 😉
I just read this great line in a short story I'm reading:
When the police find a corpse in Texas, their first question ain't who done it, it' s what did he do to deserve it?
That's from "Midnight Emmissions" by F.X. Toole in The Best American Noir of the Century
Don
