Four Star General Clarke

As tragic an indictment of the police and court system as the death of Terrill Thomas of dehydration while locked in solitary in Sheriff Clarke's jail was, I'd like to also point out the continued absurdity of these tin horn Sheriffs not only militarizing their police forces, but then self-awarding themselves four stars.

Not one star - which is Brigadier General and would be absurd enough - but always the leap to the four stars.

"Angry?  At who's death?  No, I'm just frustrated about not
having my fifth star yet!"

Except in some even more insane cases where I've seen some Andy Griffith - in all but integrity - have 5 stars on each shoulder!

You know what used to qualify a man for Colonel in the old days?  Being enough of a producer to outfit and support 500 men.  That's not only providing for your own uniform, gear and transport, but that of 500 other guys.

These "Four Star Generals" can't even support themselves without tax-dollars.  And they dare to presume the garb of pillars of the community giving voluntary military defense of their nation?  And dare further to presume that they are of higher rank than such real men of old?

I would dearly love an opportunity to ask these posers - "Can you name all six types of Generals, or at least the four types you have represented upon your shoulders?"

"Can you tell me what just being a three star represents?  Start with the title, please."

"How about two stars?"

"How about one star?"

"General - er, Sheriff - can you tell me how long you spent in service as just a 'one star' before getting promoted to the second star?"

"General, who promoted you from one star to a second star?"

"Oh, wait, you're telling us that you started at four stars?"

"General, what advice do you have for those one and two star Generals who are waging wars against entire nations and commanding tens of thousands of men and billions of dollars of munitions and supplies and arms? Any advice from you, the guy who sits around while his deputies bust drunks and wife beaters?"

But anyway, back to the death of a man who was having his 8th amendment rights violated even before being found guilty of anything.

Under the General's watch his men - that others pay for, as he sure can't afford to - murdered a mentally ill man.  At least "murder" is how they'd put it if any did that to the Sheriff or his deputies.

As it is, this is yet another "mistakes were made" moment - there are many such moments in our newsfeeds - and after a year the DA is still doing all in his power to do nothing about this while pretending to be getting to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile, no Sheriff, no LEO and no guard has yet been harmed or inconvenienced in the making of this tragedy.  And while in an unusually extreme case a least ranked guard might be punished, one need not fear that General Clarke will lose even so much as a single star.