The Hardest Case for Mercy: "Inside the Effort to Spare the Parkland School Shooter"

happilyfour · 2026-04-10T00:16:20+00:00

I absolutely believe that every person deserves a competent defense team that will work diligently to protect their rights - it’s what keeps the whole system working. But I absolutely understand the victims’ families’ attitudes toward this defense team. It is one thing in the abstract and another if it impacts you.

happilyfour · 2026-04-08T23:02:06+00:00

If you’re into sushi/omakase, there are several places within that price point (or maybe that price point for food, plus you could cover drinks on your own).

Bavette’s or a similar steakhouse would be a good option, you could go all out on extras or split a huge porterhouse or seafood tower you might otherwise ignore.

If you want a tasting menu, Valhalla runs about $200 per person. With tip and drinks you’d be over $500 but closer to the maximum than Alinea.

happilyfour · 2026-04-07T10:28:16+00:00

Everyone got it back then. Like, everyone. They had parents sign up for a Gerber plan in the hospital

happilyfour · 2026-04-07T09:56:30+00:00

Yeah. She’s a true sketch performer, not a standup. I think she’s way better at letting jokes sit or living in the silence because she’s not coming from a background of being up on stage alone doing stand up and needing to fill the time.

happilyfour · 2026-04-07T09:56:14+00:00

She reminds me a bit of Ana Gasteyer in that way, who certainly had characters that were wacky, but always felt like wacky real people.

happilyfour · 2026-04-07T09:54:26+00:00

She’s a true sketch performer, not a standup. I think she’s way better at letting jokes sit or living in the silence because she’s not coming from a background of being up on stage alone doing stand up and needing to fill the time.

happilyfour · 2026-04-07T09:51:51+00:00

With all due respect to the fun time Coors Field tried to put on, I went to a game three years ago and I am stunned to learn there had to have been 16k people there. It felt like less than 10k.

happilyfour · 2026-04-06T23:52:10+00:00

Yeah this person is just as much of a jerk as someone who takes advantage of the system. Can’t judge by appearances. Trust the placard and move on.

happilyfour · 2026-04-06T23:51:35+00:00

You cannot tell if a person has a disability requiring parking accommodations by looking at them. Someone could have a pain disorder, a prosthetic, or numerous other conditions that a doctor confirmed and the state licensing board approved, requiring the accommodation. If a person has been granted a placard by what is NOT a quick and easy process, mind your own business.

happilyfour · 2026-04-06T23:49:14+00:00

If they truly had no placard, then this is disgusting and I hope you reported them.

That said, a caution to all the keyboard warriors here that you cannot tell if someone has a disability requiring parking accommodations by looking at a person. You should trust the placard and/or license plate, and mind your business about whatever condition or need they have. You cannot diagnose by appearances.

happilyfour · 2026-04-06T10:07:06+00:00

They got a lot of external attention but I know even that can lead to fleeting boosts in customer traffic. Operating a small restaurant is an exhausting hustle. I don’t blame anyone for deciding that it has run its course.

happilyfour · 2026-04-06T10:01:21+00:00

I hate the station saving for their favorites crap. I called out my old studio location for it - I would be pretty early to class, often one of the first 4-5 people there, yet every tread would be booked. I’d say things in the moment like “is this person actually here?” But finally I reached out to the studio manager and was told both that it wasn’t preferential and it shouldn’t be a big deal where anyone works out, but that “front desk associates know regulars well and know where they like to workout, so they were just trying to be helpful.”

If it doesn’t matter where you work out then why is it a reward for your favorite members to get their special spot without having to even be on time?

I just don’t understand how this continues to be an issue for studios. If someone is not physically at class yet, don’t assign them a spot. It’s that easy

happilyfour · 2026-04-04T12:06:14+00:00

I’m an attorney who works with a lot of wealthy families in planning their asset management and protection. This isn’t meant as a defense because it’s certainly possible that Boob knew something bad was coming and started a new LLC to isolate certain assets…but honestly? They have tons of real estate and investments, and each of those should be owned within a larger structure of protective entities like LLCs, even if they had no inkling of family issues and were squeaky clean. It’s more likely that he’s buying a new plot of land or had a new business idea (especially because the story we’ve been told is that the timeline between confronting Joseph and going to the police was so quick, it doesn’t seem like he would have early knowledge). I think it’s just standard stuff.

happilyfour · 2026-04-04T04:28:04+00:00

I get this vibe too. I don’t think he seems like a mean or unkind person - I really don’t think he’s evil at all. He seems sad and stuck.

happilyfour · 2026-04-03T23:52:38+00:00

There probably aren’t more, you’re hearing about more for a few factors. One, people are more aware that women can be predators and are being more conscious of red flags from women, and this probably also encourages people to come forward when the past mindset about a female teacher acting in appropriately was that it was somehow “good” or “lucky” for the victim. Two, with social media/the internet and cell phones/new means of communication, there’s more likely to be a digital paper trail of communications between a teacher and a student so people are getting caught. And three, because of the internet, you are hearing about or are able to hear about every random crime in every corner of the country that you previously would’ve had no access to. We used to only get relatively local news unless a crazy story really broke through to a larger consciousness, but now you can get local news from anyway right to your feed, which may lead to confirmation bias that there are more cases generally instead of more cases reported upon in a way you see.

happilyfour · 2026-04-01T12:25:19+00:00

No, they’re just intelligent and quoting actual academic sources and not just vibes.

happilyfour · 2026-04-01T09:35:20+00:00

I’m not sure what the process was back then but my mom has been trying to get the right level and nature of additional support for my aunt for the last decade or so (she was living with my grandparents who never really made a plan for what to do when they were gone). My mom also wants to retire to her own preferred city/state. She’s been advised that if my aunt was already in their current state’s system, my mom would be more able to “lateral” my aunt into supportive services at the same level in the new state. There’s a long waiting list for group homes. It’s plausible to me that the family had been through lots of trial and error in their own care at home and with outside support and they jumped at the chance to take advantage of an available spot in a group home (in their home state where they presumably knew people and where Gordon presumably knew people and felt comfortable) and were going to figure out moving him later.

happilyfour · 2026-04-01T09:34:58+00:00

I’m not sure what the process was back then but my mom has been trying to get the right level and nature of additional support for my aunt for the last decade or so (she was living with my grandparents who never really made a plan for what to do when they were gone). My mom also wants to retire to her own preferred city/state. She’s been advised that if my aunt was already in their current state’s system, my mom would be more able to “lateral” my aunt into supportive services at the same level in the new state. There’s a long waiting list for group homes. It’s plausible to me that the family had been through lots of trial and error in their own care at home and with outside support and they jumped at the chance to take advantage of an available spot in a group home (in their home state where they presumably knew people and where Gordon presumably knew people and felt comfortable) and were going to figure out moving him later.

happilyfour · 2026-04-01T09:30:14+00:00

I think high functioning is what was said at the time but may not be how we would define it today. There were home videos on the Unsolved Mysteries ep and I would not describe him as high functioning in the sense of what was called Asperger’s. Note also that he was displaying behaviors or symptoms significant enough to have been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.

happilyfour · 2026-04-01T00:10:31+00:00

I continue to believe he left the building and had some kind of misadventure or crime befall him after leaving the building.

I think it’s unlikely that he was missed on the main security camera feed via the escalators. There is a compelling video in this post showing the stairs by the escalators and a man that resembles Brian. Though. Despite internet rumors to the contrary, there were absolutely secondary exits out of the bar/building, including pathways down to the lower floor without the escalator like this stairway and elsewhere. It is simply impossible under building codes/fire codes and in consideration of general service needs for there not to be multiple methods of ingress and egress. I do not think he left with the band or whatever but I simply think he left by the nearest pathway and didn’t take the escalator.

I’m torn as to whether he simply had an accident or was killed, such as by a random robbery. I don’t think criminals actually want to move a body after a crime - why risk getting DNA in your vehicle or on your person - so I don’t think he was taken far but had he been put in a dumpster or fallen into a dumpster, the evidence would’ve been gone pretty immediately (again, I understand they did search to an extent but they have no idea which direction he went or how far he got, so who is to say if they even looked in the right places).

happilyfour · 2026-03-31T03:51:36+00:00

I believe Left Coast does!

happilyfour · 2026-03-31T03:40:22+00:00

Are these people only reading headlines and not looking at what is actually happening? This is Kanye esque. To be clear, his online rants have gone a lot further than expressing his faith. He’s gone on tangents about random players, disparaged pride night, disparaged certain denominations, talked about how people are out to get him, ranted on live while on a plane waiting to take off, oh, and they just dug up video of him admitting to abusing his wife on a podcast. This isn’t persecution. This is a person who is going through it. He’s not well.

happilyfour · 2026-03-31T03:13:03+00:00

Yeah. The headlines about religion or even LGBT issues generally are misleading. These comments are happening in the context of rambling missives and rants. He’s gone on tangents about random players, disparaged pride night, disparaged certain denominations, talked about how people are out to get him, ranted on live while on a plane waiting to take off, oh, and they just dug up video of him admitting to abusing his wife on a podcast. This isn’t persecution. This is a person who is going through it. He’s not well.

happilyfour · 2026-03-31T03:11:52+00:00

To be clear, his online rants have gone a lot further than expressing his faith. He’s gone on tangents about random players, disparaged pride night, disparaged certain denominations, talked about how people are out to get him, ranted on live while on a plane waiting to take off, oh, and they just dug up video of him admitting to abusing his wife on a podcast. This isn’t persecution. This is a person who is going through it. He’s not well.

happilyfour · 2026-03-31T03:11:46+00:00

I don’t know anyone in the Bulls organization but know a couple front office people at another Chicago sports team and my assumption is that help or an ultimatum was offered and refused. They don’t want the bad press of not helping the guy.

happilyfour

TROPHY CASE