What are people so afraid of these days?
Border crossings from Canada down; What is so darn free about Florida?
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Two years ago, Kevin Monahan stood on the porch above his driveway of his rural residence in Hebron and fired off two shots at two vehicles turning around in his driveway.
He said at his trial he felt like it was an "invasion."
Because of that fear, Kaylin Gillis, a 20-year-old trying to find a friend's house, is dead.
There was another incident the night of May 2 in a small town in Orange County (near Middletown, N.Y.) where a lost DoorDash driver delivering some food was shot after he approached a rural residence and was chased off by the owner brandishing a pistol.
The Times Union published a 44-second video of the shooting it first obtained from News 12, along with 21 seconds of additional footage taken from the Ring camera at the shooter's residence.
It shows the DoorDash driver approaching the front door and holding up the delivery bag, then waving what appears to be a greeting. The video cuts off what happened next, then shows another man rushing outside into the yard clad in cross-body holster while holding a pistol in his right hand. He then fired a warning shot to the right before aiming at the car.
The man shouts at the car in the driveway "Go!" then yells "Go!" again as the driver starts the engine to the car. The man then levels the gun at the car as it backs up and fires. As the car drives off, he fires again at the car.
The shooter was identified as 48-year-old John Reilly III, the county highway superintendent and a licensed firearms dealer. With that background, you'd think he would be a responsible gun owner. His actions in the video are anything but responsible.
Reilly, a stocky man, charges out into his yard with a pistol in his yard after the DoorDash driver, with a slight build and dark skin, was already in his car.
His actions are chilling.
The Times Union reported that Reilly's attorney, Thomas Kenniff, says he acted in self-defense and "that the situation is more complex than it appears."
Gun owners are taught that you only aim a gun if you intend to use deadly force.\
Why Reilly pointed a weapon at a man leaving his property is the unanswered question?
Why was he so fearful of this man?
People often say they own guns for protection.
Yet, rural communities in Washington County and Orange County have low crime rates and little violent crime. During my 30 years as a newspaper editor at the Glens Falls newspaper I don't ever remember a home invasion.
The artificial intelligence on Google describes fear as "a fundamental survival mechanism that triggers the body's physiological response to danger, preparing it for fight or flight. This response, activated by the amygdala, involves the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, increasing heart rate and blood pressure."
What made Reilly want to flight?
What made him reach for a firearm as a first response?
The day after the shooting, Reilly was arrested and charged with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm. His lawyer said he did not intend to cause harm.
But he did.
The Times Union reported that the DoorDash driver was lost and knocked on the doors of houses in the neighborhood to complete his delivery before ending up at Reilly's house.
In the initial video, the DoorDash driver does not appear threatening. In fact, it appears that he waves to the person answering the door.
The bullet traveled through the rear of the delivery man's vehicle and struck him in the back.
He was a West African immigrant and Middletown resident. His wounds were serious and required multiple surgeries.
Welcome to America where gun owners are increasingly afraid of cars that come up the driveway and, sadly, then do something about it.
Border crossings
Normally, cross border traffic from Canada to the United States begins to rise this time of year.
North Country Public Radio reported this week that traffic was down. Instead of rising slightly in January and February, it was down 13.4 percent.
Trump administration tariffs went into affect in March and cross border traffic dropped 26 percent that month before leveling off in April. It is still down 20 percent for the year.
Alexandria Bay and Ogdensburg have experienced the highest downturn in border traffic. April crossings were down 31 percent since last spring.
Free state?
Driving east on I-10 this weekend, I noticed the "Welcome to the Free State of Florida" sign.
Apparently, they were put up by Gov. Ron DeSantis a year ago despite the fact that he also implemented a state policy that state workers could not freely use the term "climate change."
Not long after crossing the state line, I found myself driving on a toll road that was not "free" either.
When I stopped to walk the dog, I was greeted by signs that said "No dogs in the park."
And just last week, local communities in Florida were told they were not free to put fluoride in the drinking water.
Three days later while driving west on I-10, the sign at the state line read, "Hurry back to the free state of Florida."
What is so free about Florida?
Not ready
It is not unusual for the people to New Orleans to be thinking about hurricanes this time of year. New Orleans Times Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace pointed out they should be especially wary this year.
An internal document produced by FEMA proclaimed "FEMA is not ready."
Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president on Jan. 20, the future of FEMA has bounced around the Trump cabinet with regular calls for it to be eliminated.
One line from the internal report was breathtaking in its vagueness: "As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood."
Helping people after a disaster would be a good start. This failure to understand that basic concept is especially scary to Louisiana residents who have had more than two dozen declared disasters the past decade.
The report also said, "Most hurricane preparations have been derailed this year due to other activities like staffing and contracts."
But hurricanes aren't the only worry. Being able to give timely alerts for tornadoes is also a worry.
Thousands have been laid off from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its subsidiary, the National Weather Service (NWS).
More than 2,000 workers were let go - 20 percent of workforce - over the past four months. CNN has reported 30 of the 122 weather-forecasting offices around the country currently lack chief meteorologists and a number of NWS offices around the country no longer provide 24/7 forecasting.
It's time for me to head north.
Big worries
Buried deep in the 1,100-page budget bill is an important bit of legislation that would curtail courts from enforcing contempt rulings.
That would leave courts with no power.
It shows that the Trump administration is already thinking about ways to defy the decisions of judges.
Trump continues to attack judges and courts on social media, including the Supreme Court.
The Associated Press reported that one federal judge has found that members of the administration may be liable for contempt after ignoring his order to turn around planes deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
It continues to defy court orders.
Three lawyers left
Maintaining a strong legal presence regarding federal elections is no longer a priority under the Trump administration.
The Democracy Docket website reported this week that the Department of Justice has only three attorneys left in the DOJ's voting section. The department is now more concerned about voter fraud than voting rights.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
May be eligible for contempt? It’s time to stop being so wishy-washy about this administration’s lawlessness. It’s a feature, not a bug.
And freedom? John Lewis said it well:
"Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society." - John Lewis
President Obama said it best when he said" If I watched Fox News I wouldn't like me either." And the reality is that fear and a feeling of being under attack are the mother's milk of the Republican party. The Trump said on national TV "they're eating the cats" that should have been the end of his political career, but guess what. He went on to say that your kid could go to school a boy and come home having had it sex changed. And they believe that too. The photoshopped MS-13 tat? His supporters believe him and repeat it as fact, so when a few of these ignorant fools armed to the teeth behave like this, you need not look too far to figure it out. Sorry to say but Republican and fear go hand in hand, it is the way they win, and the only way.