"Thrill Kill" Strikes Out Baseball Player

“Thrill Kill” Strikes Out Baseball Player
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
August 22, 2013

The depravity of American society continues sinking to a new low with what is being labeled a “thrill kill” perpetrated by three teenage males in Oklahoma on Friday, August 16 against an Australian national in the US attending school and playing collegiate baseball.

Chancey Allen Luna, 16, James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, and Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, all of Duncan, OK, are responsible for the murder of Christopher Lane, 22, of Melbourne and rightfully will be tried as adults as per Oklahoma law. These miscreant murderers deserve nothing less than the death penalty for randomly selecting Lane and shooting him in the back while he was on a training run. They claimed they were “bored” and murdered Lane “for the fun of it.”

A deeper look into the potential motive behind this unconscionable crime links these three murderers to gang activities and a future gang initiation. Apparently there was a list of future victims to be slaughtered. The motive matters not. An innocent life was taken and no explanation will return Christopher Lane to his family, friends, and teammates.

Lane had been visiting his girlfriend in Duncan when he was murdered. He was attending East Central University in Ada, OK on a baseball scholarship – he was a catcher, and had planned to marry Sarah Harper, his girlfriend and a collegiate golfer attending Oklahoma Christian University.

Senseless waste – of four lives – Lane, the murder victim, as well as the three responsible for the slaying, Edwards, Jones, and Luna who could have chosen an alternative path other than murder at random for the sake of curing one’s boredom. It matters not that the three sociopaths are teenagers. They committed an adult crime with no regard for human life – in fact one of these thugs, Edwards, was laughing and dancing while being arrested.

This depravity stems from a lack of parental involvement in their lives. Currently, Edwards, whose mother is in jail, has had prior brushes with the law. Did these vicious thugs even attend high school? Apparently there was an abundance of violence-themed video games in their lives, not that that is an excuse. There is a dearth of time consuming activities in these three boys’ lives – no jobs, no community activities, no religious-based activities. They have no moral compass. One of the defendants showed up to a court hearing with his pregnant girlfriend – another example of the spiraling down of society.

Additionally, Edwards boasted of the crime and had Tweeted “90% of white ppl are nasty. #HATETHEM” begging the question as to whether the murder of Lane should be considered a hate crime. All crime is a form of hatred and thus singling out certain crimes as worse than others degrades those not labeled as such.

Yet, as this horrific slaughter was committed by two black males and one white male, there is a racial component, once again. Where are the outraged voices of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Barack Obama? Does everyone hear the crickets chirping? Of course, because this crime does not fit the political agenda of these race hustlers. Just as the deafening silence following the life-threatening beating of a white child on a school bus in Florida by three of his black schoolmates because the white child informed to authorities that the black children were pushing drugs.

Although, to be fair, Jackson did comment on the Lane murder, but only by adding severe insult to injury. “Praying for the family of Chris Lane. This senseless violence is frowned upon and the justice system must prevail,” texted Jackson. Frowned upon? This is not a debate about whether or not it is okay to snitch a grape at the supermarket. This is not a question of whether or not one should wear white after Labor Day. This is the taking of a human life, you pinhead.

Jackson later expounded upon his weak-kneed text, but still nothing from Sharpton, who, if the races were reversed, would have organized a march and protest before the victim’s body was cold.

As for Obama, if he can say the Cambridge police “acted stupidly” before having all the facts and information; if he can say if he had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin, why hasn’t he spoken out against this heinous crime?

In fact, Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry asked on Wednesday of White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest why Obama has remained silent five days after the perpetration of such a crime. Earnest said there was a lack of familiarity with the case, as if that prevented Obama’s Cambridge police remarks.

Proving the hypocrisy of the Obama administration, Earnest continued that he “wouldn’t want to get ahead of the legal process,” which Obama clearly did in both the Cambridge and Martin cases. Although Obama should not opine on local cases, once he traverses that road, he needs to maintain a level of consistency and speak out on the complete spectrum of noteworthy issues.

Obama is pretty quick to speak out on the civil war in Syria that has now reached a new level of its own depravity with the killing of its own children via chemical weapons. Yet Obama remains woefully ignorant and silent regarding pressing matters at home.

And before the liberals start their usual handwringing over the need for additional gun control and laws that duplicate those already on the books, remember, gun control only works to control law abiding gun owners, and criminals will invariably find ways to procure firearms.

The bottom line is a lack of a moral invective coming from Obama, his spokespersons, and the usual suspects where race is always a factor leading them to the microphone. For while Trayvon Martin is this generation’s Emmett Till to an erroneous Oprah Winfrey, the wanton thrill killing slaughter of an innocent college baseball player is merely “frowned upon” by one of the supposed leaders of the black community.

There is little doubt this country is on a collision course with oblivion. America is burning while Obama, the race hustlers, and all those who think more government is the answer fiddle. The United States as given to the American people is on borrowed time and only an epic turnaround, a backbone, moral values, and a relationship with G-d can be its salvation.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

As a postscript, and certainly not to diminish its significance as it is a developing story, but World War II veteran Delbert Belton, 88, was beaten to death by two black teen males still at large. The beating occurred Wednesday, August 21 as Belton was about to enter the Eagles Lodge in Spokane. He died the following morning. Belton, who was wounded in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, served in the US Army. He later worked for Kaiser Aluminum for more than 30 years.

This story is two days old as of this writing and nary a word has been uttered by Jackson or Sharpton, which is no surprise. While Obama’s silence is also to be expected, as Commander in Chief he should decry the murder of a veteran as the unmitigated outrage that it is.

This growing pandemic slaughter of innocents at the hands of the underclass thug-society must be stopped before the advent of another, perhaps bloodier, civil war.