Somethings are just too incredible to believe unless you see it for yourself. Well what we have here is Shelby County (TN) Commissioner Steve Mulroy being interviewed by a TV reporter. While the camera is rolling, a panhandler walks up to the commissioner, tells him to
keep his mouth shut and to hand over $2.00. After the commissioner refused to give him the money, the panhandler then demanded that the politician have two dollars for him every time he sees him. The whole incident is only funny after the fact because there was no physical violence. As you will see, the commissioner is obviously caught off guard by the whole incident. I must admit that Mulroy handled the whole extortion attempt quite admirably for a politician.
(Here is a report from Wmctv.com about the incident.)
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy kept his cool during a verbal assault Wednesday in the middle of an on-camera interview in Overton Park.
"You got two dollars?" asked a panhandler.
"I don't, sorry," said Mulroy.
"I told you to keep your ____ mouth closed," said the panhandler.
"OK," answered Mulroy.
"Every time I see you, you better have two dollars," said the panhandler.
The panhandler told Action News 5 his name was Michael Rudd when we tracked him down near Methodist University Hospital hours after his encounter with the commissioner. He appeared to ask others for money.
He told us he apologizes to Mulroy and should not be seen as a threat. He said he has a dependence on alcohol and a mental disability.
"We've got a lot of people out there with substance abuse issues," says Brad Watkins with the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center. "Mental health issues."
Watkins considers many panhandling laws unfair.
"And we've got a judicial system that doesn't give these people the help they need," said Watkins.
"Some of these guys have significant criminal histories," said Larry Bloom with the Center City Commission.
He recently pushed for tougher restrictions downtown and across the city. Bloom said Commissioner Mulroy could have easily been hurt.
"The more people are around, generally the safer you are," said Bloom. "If it had been a one-on-one situation, you need to be calling 911."
A Michael Rudd was listed in the Shelby County Criminal Court database. He has been charged in the past with public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and assault & battery.
Copyright 2010 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.
About Me: I am a born again Christian who enjoys talking religion and politics. I have always believed that it is the Christian's obligation to understand the workings of our government as well as they do the precepts of God. Jesus tells us to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves". (Mark 10:16) So it is with this understanding that I approach life. I was born in the Midwest, and while I may have grown up in Northern Minnesota, I have earned my degree in knowledge and understanding from the many regions of America and Europe that I have either lived in or visited as an adult.
The commissioner handled it well.
Handled extortion admirable for a politician? That's funny...
Extortion is everyday business for politician's. That's where they're most at home.
Not funny... I should have watched it instead of reading it. This guy needed arresting, not compassion. The politician was... how you say... politicking. If the guy was just down on his luck, then alright... my heart goes out to him. But this guy was an arrogant, idiotic, sociopath. Because the politician's heart went out instead of taking care of the situation by at least reporting the guy then this guy is still on the street being a threat to others. What Mulroy did was not in the public interest nor anyone else that witnessed it. You had Mulroy who was more interested in his political aspirations and the reporters too worried about getting the story. It was clearly a Liberal approach.
I do agree with your assessment about the PC attitude running throughout this whole encounter. However, you musty admit, that if the politician handled it any other way he could have been crucified in today's climate.
Also, because of the way it was handled is part of the reason I found it to be a bit funny.
You are correct again, politicians could give a few lessons to the Mafia on how to get what you want from those who refuse to give it.
Yes, as I told Gordon Greene, the politician could have been crucified in the media if he did things differently. After all, the media has a video on the whole thing and the beggars are the ones looking less sympathetic.
The problem is that cowed liberals like Mulroy are afraid to give criminals the discipline they need and deserve.
When that crazy thug hurts or kills an (another?) innocent victim, that blood is on the hands of those that could have taught the scum a lesson he'd never forget, but chickened out and instead, played the good, guilt-riddled, patronizer.
That is why society stands back and wonders what happened when lowlifes actually do kill and rape innocent people just trying to get through life.
But then again, look at the people running the country. They continue to attack those who follow the rules while defending those who break the rules.
As long as those kind of politicians keep getting elected, bums like this will get away with extortion and God knows what else the video cameras don't catch.
I remember the window washers in NY City when David Dinkins was Mayor, they used to threaten people if they did not pay for there windows to be washed while stopped in their cars at the lights.
Then Giuliani got elected and cracked down on them. Soon the problem went away and no one was afraid of them anymore.
Rule of law, it is either enforced or the lawless will run a muck.
TNB.
He should have smacked the piece of filth. That's the only way you get through ghetto mentality.
See this is the human trash out there (the crazy 2 dollars guy that is) that need to be taken off the streets.
Hey Mr Bum, come up and put your finger in MY face and ask me for 2 dollars.. lol I can assure you it wont end well for you.
typical aggressive negro. these people have no place in a civilized society, they need to be sent back to their third world hellholes.
Arara & jasonp;
I have been doing some surfing and looking at the comments all over the web over this incident, and by far the attitude towards this bum is nearly identical to what both of you have expressed.
I am guessing that after a couple of trillion dollars of redistribution that was promised to take care of these people has finally sunk in as being nothing but a waste.
Now many who are lazy with their hands out, have the nerve to threaten those of us who are paying for everything they have.
A retribution is coming, and they can thank Obama and his Fascists friends in Congress for the way America feels about these kinds of bums.
I am guessing none of these liberals ever read the story of "The Boy Who Cried . He cried and cried that a wolf was after him, when everyone went to help they found out there was no wolf. One day a real wolf showed up, and no one wantec to listen because they were sure he was just fooling them again.
Well the liberals have been crying wolf for over 50 years and no wolf has ever been found. Now there is a real wolf, and we don't care.
OV,
You must be kidding if you think anyone is going to have sympathy for this commissioner. After all, politicians have been extorting the people for years by threatening to not have the police show up or the fire department show up when needed if the voters did not vote to raise taxes.
This bum should be punched for his arrogance, but the commissioner should be punched for allowing society to get to the point where the dregs of society feel they have the right to even think about doing what this bum has done.
My ancestors would have made this individual a slave to the old widows who lost their warrior husbands in an honorable battle.
From what I have read about many sub-African continent cultures, they would have done a similar thing with men who dared to threaten those who produced for the tribe.
He is a disgrace to mankind.
Put him in a pink jump suit and put his ass to work cleaning up the trash left in the Sonoran Desert by Mexico's useless disgraceful humans.
What you said reminds me of the movie, "A Man Called Horse" with Richard Harris. He was forced to the a horse for an old widow, thus the name of the movie.
I do like your idea that we should take these guys and make them clean up the desert for their supper. There was a time in our society when making a person work for their meal was an honorable thing. That was before liberalism killed the human spirit.
Something I am sure you are aware of my friend.
Thanks for following me Chief.
Yea, I hear you Tom.
However, all the violence against them will never cure the problem, because it would just incite the left to protect them even more.
No, what we need to do is what Chief suggested.
His idea of making them work for their meal by cleaning up after the illegals who are destroying the desert makes a lot of sense.
This is the problem with American society today. Blacks think that whitey owes him a living and that they need to do little to nothing to earn it.
White folks have stood idly by too long and allowed themselves to be pushed around without pushing back, which has only emboldened the blacks. It's high time to push back.
People that make random threats of violence and try to shake innocent people down are of no use to our society. Arresting them and putting them through the penal system serves no purpose other than to enrich those connected with the legal and correction systems. A simple solution would be to catch this bum, tie him to a whipping pole and give him 20 lashes with the whip. Perhaps he will understand that. For sticking his finger in the commissioners face, it should be removed so he can never do that or effectively brandish a weapon again.
Seeing scenes like this make it clear to me why eugenics should be practiced.
Look at the little white guy afraid of making a "racist comment" on camera lest he be destroyed by the pseudo carebears of the world.
The fear of being called a racist is definitely a side of this that many have noticed. In my opinion the race baiters of America have not just continued racism for their benefit, but they are the true racists in our society today.
Jail that freak for threats then teach that other man to man-up and learn to fight,if you don't desire to jail him and other maniacs release them and send them to Iraq/Darfur/Liberia/South Africa/N-Korea/China///..they have forfeited their rights to be citizens of this great nation, for crimes against humanity...Mexico is way to close, we have enough trouble from the south, due to our governments inexcusable laziness, to place the same defenses that they have installed in other countries, while at the same time ignoring their own responsibilities hypocrites the lot of them....
Amen brother, amen.....
I think that this has been posted to Stormfront.org and those racists are getting angry about it.
I noticed the same thing over at democratunderground.com when they were discussing Sarah Palin. Those racists were getting all angry and spouting off with discusting language about her and her family. I considered never going back, but then I realized I could use their idiocy against them.
My advice to you is, if you can't handle the difference of opinions, then you really need to quit frequenting those racists sites.
Then you won't be confronted by people you consider different.
Absolutely disgusting. That monster needs to be in prison where it can't hurt people.
Your response is very similar to many I received when i posted a link to this video on a few mega blog websites I am a member of.