Book Review: "The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories" by Kevin Brockmeier

Kevin Brockmeier's The Ghost Variations is a quirky and creative book.

⁣ ⁣ Happy Halloween, y’all! Hope your day has been or will be as spooky and fun as you want it to be. I know I’ll be handing out candy later and trying not to eat as much as I give out. (“Trying” probably being the operative word.)⁣

⁣ I’m not a fan of horror or ghost stories. I used to read Stephen King’s early stuff but somewhere down the road I got tired of being frightened, lol. So while so many of you have accumulated the creepy and witchy reads this month, I’ve stuck to my usual stuff.⁣

⁣ But then, thanks to my Bookstagram friend Deedi, I saw this. (This is the second "Deedi made me do it" book I've read in about a week.) I love the concept—100 ghost stories, each just a few pages. However, these aren’t traditional ghost stories, these are more thought-provoking, poignant, esoteric in nature, and they touch on a variety of subjects. If there’s haunting to be done, no one’s really upset about it. (Even the ghost who spends every day of her existence being asked if she’s going to Toledo.)⁣

⁣ I loved the concept of The Ghost Variations perhaps a bit more than the execution, and like any collection of stories, some are stronger than the others. But if you want an interesting twist on traditional ghost stories, curl up with this one!⁣ ⁣

Book Review: "The Last House on Needless Street" by Catriona Ward

The Last House on Needless Street is, quite simply, one of the wildest and most unique books I’ve ever read. (What would I expect from a book with a blurb from Sarah Pinborough, of the WTF-was-that-ending Behind Her Eyes?)

There’s a boarded-up house at the end of Needless Street. In that house lives a troubled man who doesn't always have a hold on his memory. His teenage daughter lives there too, and he demands that she stay inside the house. Then, of course, there's the cat, Olivia. Olivia isn’t your ordinary cat.

You need to know nothing more in order for this book to truly work.

This seems like a fairly simple story, but it’s anything but that. It’s creepy, disturbing, sad, thought-provoking, disorienting at times, and honestly, just so unique. It may trigger some (I don’t want to spoil anything by listing triggers so DM me if you’re concerned) but reading Catriona Ward’s afterword definitely makes everything make more sense.

I can't honestly say if I liked The Last House on Needless Street, but I admire the way it all worked together. And if you're a fan of audiobooks, apparently this is one you should listen to.

Thanks to Storygram Tours and Tor Nightfire for inviting me on the tour and providing me a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. This is a perfect book for spooky season!

Book Review: "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

Well, it didn't take long to find the first book to make me cry in 2016...

"Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both."

Every night, 13-year-old Conor O'Malley wakes up from a terrible nightmare, one which leaves him screaming, crying, and gasping for breath. One night, at exactly 12:07, there is a monster at his bedroom window, calling his name. But it's not the monster he's been expecting, the one from his nightmares. This is a different type of monster, one from the elements around him rather than from the horrors he sees while he sleeps.

"In fact, he found he wasn't even frightened. All he could feel, all he had felt since the monster revealed itself, was a growing disappointment. Because this wasn't the monster he was expecting."

This monster promises to tell Conor three tales, each which carries with it a powerful lesson. And when the monster is done, it will demand that Conor tell it his own tale. But with that tale, the monster wants something Conor cannot even fathom. The monster wants the truth, which is far more dangerous than anything.

A Monster Calls is a beautifully moving, emotional story about a young boy dealing with a struggle he cannot handle. He doesn't want people to look at him or treat him differently, but he wants to be seen. But most of all, he wants the path his life is veering toward to change, quickly. And sometimes confronting the truth is the most painful struggle of all.

Patrick Ness blew me away with his latest book, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, which made my list of the best books I read last year, but I was utterly unprepared by the sheer emotional power and anguish of this book. Ness based this book on an idea created by author Siobhan Dowd, who died before she could do anything with it, and knowing that adds an extra note of poignancy to this story.

Ness is a fantastically talented writer, and I will be slowly but surely working my way through the rest of his books. While this is a sad and, ultimately, hopeful book, in the wrong hands it could have turned maudlin. This is just so good, so beautiful, and it truly moved me. Get a box of tissues and read this—you may be sad, but you'll feel so lucky afterward that you found this book.

Movie Review: "Into the Woods"

While this may lead me to having my gay cred get knocked down a few pegs, I'll confess that of Stephen Sondheim's musicals I didn't know much about Into the Woods going into the film adaptation, save being familiar with a few of the songs from Tony Award telecasts and a few CDs. Luckily, such knowledge wasn't a prerequisite for enjoying the film, which was a great deal of fun and full of terrific performances.

Into the Woods follows characters from some of your favorite fairytales—Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), who is desperate to go to the royal festival and meet the prince (Chris Pine), despite the machinations of her wicked stepmother (Christine Baranski) and stepsisters; young Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) is being badgered by his mother (Tracey Ullman) to go to the marketplace and sell their ailing cow; Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) is off to her grandmother's house; and a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are desperate to have a child.

One day when lamenting their childless lives, the baker and his wife are visited by a devious witch (Meryl Streep), who is also their neighbor. She admits to putting a curse on their house after the baker's father stole some produce from her garden as well as some magic beans years ago. (The witch's loss of the beans led to her transformation from a beauty to a crone.) But being a generous witch (aren't they all?), she offers to reverse the curse, provided the couple bring her four items before the blue moon three days hence—a cow as white as milk; a cape as red as blood; a slipper as pure as gold; and hair as yellow as corn. Sounds easy, no?

The baker and his wife make their way into the woods (go figure) to find these items, and they encounter Jack, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, and also learn that Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) has been banished to a high, doorless tower by the witch. Of course, with any good fairytales, each of the characters possesses something the couple needs to get to the witch—but how to get them? And the witch, meanwhile, is desperate to keep Rapunzel from leaving her and seeing the world, which becomes more of a challenge when Rapunzel meets the prince's brother (Billy Magnussen).

The couple's quest is not without its challenges, and each character learns some valuable lessons. In fact, if I was to point out any weak spot in the movie in my opinion, it was that it felt a little preachy, as each character learned the moral of their particular fairytale. These lessons weren't without context, and obviously, when delivered musically, they're much more palatable, but I felt as if they were hammered home a bit too much. But that being said, it didn't stop me from getting choked up, big sap that I am, or from enjoying the movie from start to finish.

There isn't a weak link among the performances in this movie, unlike in many adaptations of Broadway musicals (Russell Crowe as Javert, cough, cough). Meryl Streep is absolutely fantastic as the witch, in stronger voice than she's ever been before, and chewing up the scenery as if it were coated in chocolate. I've waxed poetically before about my total infatuation with Anna Kendrick, and she is both headstrong and introspective as Cinderella. But equally impressive were those performers whose singing ability I wasn't aware of prior to this movie—Emily Blunt does a wonderful job with her emotionally charged role; James Corden is charismatic and charming, and a bumbling ball of energy; and Chris Pine is a prince in the Gaston model, who is equally as infatuated with himself as he is with the bewitching runaway princess. (The scene where he and his brother lament their romantic problems is well-sung and hysterically cheesy.) Theater veterans Huttlestone and Crawford do quite well, and Johnny Depp is pleasantly slimy and menacing as the wolf who takes a shine to Little Red Riding Hood.

This was a fun, sweet, and dynamic movie which had me singing along, laughing, and even tearing up (whatever). Definitely one to watch if you're a fan of musicals. They just don't make them like this anymore...

Book Review: "You" by Caroline Kepnes

You often hear from actors that villains are more challenging to portray than those characters that are inherently good, because unless the character (and the movie) is utterly campy, they need to be complex enough in order for the audience to be interested in them.

The same holds true in books—I'd imagine that at times, creating "bad" characters might pose more of a challenge, since in order to keep the reader's attention (and perhaps at least a little sympathy), the character has to be more than just evil. If that truly is the case, Caroline Kepnes did an excellent job in her new book You, because she hooked me completely on (and even had me rooting for) a character who did completely odious things.

The day that Guinevere Beck walks into the New York City bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he is instantly smitten, by her sexiness, her intellect, and her sense of humor. It doesn't take long for Joe to convince himself that Beck is the one meant for him—and all he needs to do is convince her of that fact. He does his research (some of it is actually legitimate) and he begins to understand what makes Beck tick, and he plots his course for how he can get her to fall for him.

While Beck is attracted to, and intrigued by, Joe, she is far more complex than he realizes, and there are a number of obstacles that stand in the way of a potential relationship. There's her occasional not-quite-boyfriend Benji, and her needy best friend Peach, for starters. And she has issues. But none of this detracts Joe from pursuing his goal of a happy ever after with Beck. No matter what he has to do.

This is a book about the fine, sometimes blurry line between love and obsession, and how nothing is quite what it seems. It's both a fascinating social commentary and a true page-turner about infatuation, and not letting anything stand in the way of what you believe is your destiny.

You is (the grammarian in me winced when putting those two words together in a sentence) truly a testament to Kepnes' exceptional talent, because in lesser hands, you wouldn't care about Joe's pursuit of Beck beyond being troubled by it. But there are times when you can't quite figure out which character is more unsympathetic, and times when you're actually rooting for Joe to win Beck over. (Other times, not so much.)

I really enjoyed this book in a can't-look, can't-look-away type of way. I thought the story was a bit more drawn out than it needed to be, but I was utterly fascinated (and repulsed) by Kepnes' characters. This is one book I'll be thinking of for a long while...

Book Review: "The City" by Dean Koontz

Full disclosure: I received an advance readers copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

"...childhood is a time of fear as well; some of those fears are reasonable, others irrational and inspired by a sense of powerlessness in a world where often power over others seems to be what drives so very many of our fellow human beings."

Jonah Ellington Basie Hines Eldridge Wilson Hampton Armstrong Kirk was born in the late 1950s to Sylvia, an exceptional singer, and her erstwhile husband, Tilton, who saddled Jonah with all of those names in an effort to ingratiate himself with Sylvia's father, Teddy, who was a musician. But as Jonah grows, he realizes that his father is not a dependable person, and he drifts in and out of their lives until the moment Sylvia puts her foot down, when Jonah is eight years old.

One day Jonah meets a mysterious woman he calls Pearl, a woman who calls him "Ducks," and intrigues him beyond anything he can imagine. She claims to be the heart of the city in which he lives, and she can see everything that is going on within it. She unlocks Jonah's musical ability and finds him a piano on which to practice, and then opens his eyes to some disturbing visions. Over the next two years, he sees Pearl several times, and in his dreams she shows him more disturbing things that obsess him.

When he sees a woman featured in one of those visions, he wants to understand who she is and what will happen to her, but in doing so, he sets in motion a chain of events that will drastically impact his life and those he loves, and cause him to question what causes people to do the things they do. It's a lot of pressure for a 10-year-old boy trying to be the man of the house.

The City is an intriguing, well-written look at growing up in what seems like a simpler time, yet life isn't ever simple. It's the story of feeling like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and how finding an ally can make the responsibility easier and so much harder to bear. And it's the story of how we carry the scars of our youth through our entire lifetime.

When an author is prolific, like Stephen King, John Grisham, or Dean Koontz, we tend to expect the familiar from them. It's not that every book they write is identical, or isn't creative; it's just surprising when we read a book that's a departure from what we're used to. That was definitely the case with The City; while it's been a while since I've read one of Koontz's books, this definitely wasn't quite what I expected from him. While there are some distinctive Koontz-ian touches, this is a more straightforward novel than I've seen him write in a while, although what I expected when the book began was vastly different than where the book finished.

If you pick up The City expecting a novel full of fright and horror and psychological drama, you'll be disappointed, but if you pick it up expecting a nostalgic look at growing up and facing the demons you know and those you don't, it will be worth your time.

Bet that wasn't the advice they were looking for!

Don't know if you've heard about this, but in the syndicated "Ask Amy" advice column that appears in newspapers across the country, a parent recently wrote the following to columnist Amy Dickinson:

DEAR AMY: I recently discovered that my son, who is 17, is a homosexual. We are part of a church group and I fear that if people in that group find out they will make fun of me for having a gay child.

He won’t listen to reason, and he will not stop being gay. I feel as if he is doing this just to get back at me for forgetting his birthday for the past three years — I have a busy work schedule.

Please help him make the right choice in life by not being gay. He won’t listen to me, so maybe he will listen to you.
—Feeling Betrayed

(You've got to wonder if this person really is serious.)

Amy's reply was fairly straightforward, but probably not what this parent was looking for.

DEAR BETRAYED: You could teach your son an important lesson by changing your own sexuality to show him how easy it is. Try it for the next year or so: Stop being a heterosexual to demonstrate to your son that a person’s sexuality is a matter of choice — to be dictated by one’s parents, the parents’ church and social pressure.

I assume that my suggestion will evoke a reaction that your sexuality is at the core of who you are. The same is true for your son. He has a right to be accepted by his parents for being exactly who he is.

When you "forget" a child’s birthday, you are basically negating him as a person. It is as if you are saying that you have forgotten his presence in the world. How very sad for him. Pressuring your son to change his sexuality is wrong. If you cannot learn to accept him as he is, it might be safest for him to live elsewhere.

A group that could help you and your family figure out how to navigate this is Pflag.org. This organization is founded for parents, families, friends and allies of LGBT people, and has helped countless families through this challenge. Please research and connect with a local chapter.

It makes me sad that there are parents and other adults (some of whom are lawmakers, scarily enough) who believe that your sexual orientation can be changed as a result of pressure or, God forbid, therapy. I doubt that Amy's advice will change this parent's mind, but I hope that their child has the confidence to resist whatever it is his parents try to do.

I've no doubt that one day these things will be sad little anecdotes we'll look back on with horror and disbelief, but until then, it's kind of scary. And depressing. Kudos to Amy Dickinson for an incredible response.

Stop. This. Madness. NOW.

This is a picture of Mark Carson. He was 32 years old.

Last Friday night, Mark Carson and a friend were walking in Greenwich Village in New York City, when he was approached by a man, Elliot Morales. Morales asked them, "Are you afraid? Do you watch the news? Do you know what happened in Sandy Hook?" according to the New York Post.

He then asked Carson, "Do you want to die here?" Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Police said Morales called Carson a "faggot" and a "queer" before shooting him in the cheek. Mark Carson died.

Morales rolled around "laughing on the ground" and proudly told officers "Yeah, I shot him in the head" as he was arrested five blocks away from where Carson was killed. Morales is being charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime.

This is Nick Porto and his partner, Kevin Atkins.

In early May, they were assaulted on Eighth Avenue, between West 34th and West 35th Street at about 5 p.m. Porto said that he and Atkins were walking arm-in-arm down Eighth Avenue after a leisurely brunch when a group of men he said were in their early-to-mid 20s and wearing Knicks jerseys started shouting slurs at the couple.

"They called us faggots," said Porto. When he turned around and asked why they were shouting at him, the group of men knocked the pair to the ground and began to violently kick and punch them, he said. Porto was left with a broken nose and severe headaches.

This is NYC nightlife promoter Dan Contarino. Last night, Contarino was jumped at Avenue D & 4th Street. Allegedly, witnesses are reporting the assailant was yelling "faggot" as he was kicking and beating Dan. Neighbors rushed to Dan's aid and chased after the attacker but unfortunately he got away.

Contarino had to have emergency surgery, although his life is not in danger.

Around 5:20 a.m. this morning, a couple, ages 41 and 42, were walking on Broadway near Prince Street when two men began yelling anti-gay slurs. A physical altercation ensued and one of the victims suffered an eye injury, police said. Fabian Ortiz and Pedro Jiminez were arrested and are being charged with third degree assault as a hate crime.

When does this stop? This rash of violence is alarming. But what is more alarming is the behavior that fuels these attacks. While in this day and age people expect the Westboro Baptist Church to blame "the fags" for every major disaster in our world, what isn't acceptable are the lawmakers and clergy and athletes and sportscasters and others who believe that gay people are somehow less worthy than "regular" people.

Take Pastor E.W. Jackson, who said that gay people are psychologically sick. "Their minds are perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they’re not talking about love, they’re talking about homosexual sex. So they can’t see clearly."

Pastor Jackson is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia.

Gay people are not less than, not inferior, not unworthy, not abominable, not sick, not anything more than human beings. No one deserves to be attacked or screamed at or shot or killed for who they are, something they cannot change. But the more our society continues to give those who speak with tongues of bigotry and ignorance and hatred and small-mindedness a voice, a pulpit, a platform, a job representing us, people out there will take those words as a reason to foment violence.

I've said it so many times before, but I will not stop saying it. WE DESERVE BETTER. And we need to demand it. People's rights are not up for debate. And people's safety shouldn't be dependent upon whom they love or how they walk or dress or anything.

What is happening in the Volunteer State??

All apologies to my friends from Tennessee, but things are going utterly crazy in your state! While one of these instances alone is enough to raise eyebrows, all three together make me wonder just what exactly is in the water these days...

See this dog? Looks pretty harmless, right? Well, apparently his owner took him to a Jackson, Tennessee shelter to be euthanized, not because he was vicious or tore things apart, but because he suspected the dog was gay. Seriously. The shelter wrote on its Facebook page:

This guy was signed over to RC, not because he's mean or because he tears things up, but because...His owner says he's gay! He hunched another male dog so his owner threw him away because he refuses to have a "gay" dog!

Fortunately, the dog is in the process of being adopted by a rescue agency, which will have him neutered, tested for heartworm, and vetted for behavioral issues before placing him in an approved home. All I know is, someone deserved to be euthanized in this situation, and it wasn't the dog.

But that's not all. The Tennessee state assembly is again discussing passage of SB234, or the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which died with the adjournment of the assembly last year. This bill bars Tennessee teachers from discussing any facet of "non-heterosexual" sexuality with children in grades K-8. But the newest iteration also includes a provision requiring teachers or counselors to inform the parents of some students who identify themselves as LGBT. The bill says:

A school counselor, nurse, principal or assistant principal from counseling a student who is engaging in, or who may be at risk of engaging in, behavior injurious to the physical or mental health and well-being of the student or another person; provided, that wherever possible such counseling shall be done in consultation with the student’s parents or legal guardians. Parents or legal guardians of students who receive such counseling shall be notified as soon as practicable that such counseling has occurred.

Are members of the Tennessee state assembly satisfied with the number of children committing suicide because they are depressed about coming to terms with their sexuality? Are they willing to chance that more children are turned out on the street by their parents because they're "turned in" by those purporting to provide guidance and advice? To me, this bill is unconscionable, and any lawmaker who votes for it should be ashamed. I know that those who support equality are increasingly finding themselves on the right side of the law, but this is simply unacceptable.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous, in an interview on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd, Senator Lamar Alexander, Tennessee's senior senator, former education secretary under President George H.W. Bush, and a former presidential candidate himself, said that "video games is [sic] a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people." Seriously, folks. It doesn't get much better than this. Watch for yourself.

Here's what the Weather Channel should say...

Admittedly, every time I hear someone utter the words "Frankenstorm" on television it makes me crave Count Chocula, but hey.

While I hope the storm isn't as horrible as they're predicting it will be, here's the map they should put up:

Be prepared and be safe, everyone.

How much destruction should one city take?

As the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfolded, particularly on the World Trade Center, the world watched in horror. Although the city (and our country) has proven its ultimate resilience, the indelible images of that day are seared in our collective consciousness.

Given those inexplicable horrors, I don't understand why so many action movies still use New York as the nexus of a climatic battle or event, and why filmmakers think it is appropriate to destroy the city on screen time and time again. I realize what New York City represents to the world, and perhaps it is the city's very resilience that makes it an appealing target, but I'm finding these scenes more and more disturbing the further from 9/11 we move.

Take The Avengers, for example. (Some spoilers ahead, so skip this if you haven't seen the movie.) When the alien race commanded by Loki finally breaks through to Earth, they do so in New York. I know I wasn't alone in finding the scenes of alien creatures and crafts flying dangerously close to windows and alongside buildings eerily and painfully reminiscent of that horrible day in December. And as buildings were destroyed, and the police mobilized, I thought the reactions of the characters on film who witnessed this were really disturbing. While The Avengers saved the day and took back the city and our world, the attack did leave some significant destruction in its wake.

Couldn't this destruction have happened in another city, perhaps one not still shell-shocked by real and similar events?

Gotham City becomes the target of Bane and his merry band of evil villains in The Dark Knight Rises as well. Of course, the terror of this movie is all but amplified by the real-life horrible events that took place opening night in Aurora, Colorado, but I still found the violence, the attacks on police, and the destruction of bridges and other landmarks in the city tremendously disturbing.

Maybe I'm not the only one who feels uneasy at the city's falling prey to aliens and villains and Mother Nature again and again and again. Or maybe someone needs to remind me it's all just a movie...

What hatred and ignorance looks like...

You may have seen this make the rounds on the web this week, but this is a letter that someone posted on Reddit.

User RedBarc said, "In August of 2007, I finally built up the courage to tell my father I was gay. The moment I said it, the phone got quiet and he got off the phone after a few 'Okays'. I decided to give him time to process the news. About a week later, and not long before my birthday, I received the following letter:

'James: This is a difficult but necessary letter to write. I hope your telephone call was not to receive my blessing for the degrading of your lifestyle. I have fond memories of our times together, but that is all in the past. Don’t expect any further conversations With me. No communications at all. I will not come to visit, nor do I want you in my house. You’ve made your choice though Wrong it may be. God did not intend for this unnatural lifestyle. If you choose not to attend my funeral, my friends and family will understand. Have a good birthday and good life. No present exchanges will be accepted. Goodbye, Dad.'"

How can a parent turn their back on their child because of who they are, because of whom they choose to love? All too often I feel like as a society we take one step forward and two giant steps back in terms of acceptance of homosexuality, because it's so much easier to simply believe that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are inferior, are evil, are weak, and not deserving of equal rights. Some even believe that GLBT people aren't deserving of life at all, judging by the alarming rise in the level of anti-gay violence we've been seeing.

Why is it if we don't understand or agree with something, it's immediately wrong?

How much longer can we find intolerance, hatred, and bigotry acceptable? What about acceptance?

Everyone deserves better.

How can we stop the madness?

I was watching the local news early this morning when Matt Lauer broke in with the devastating special report about a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. As of current reports, 14 people are dead and 36 are wounded; reportedly the youngest person taken to the hospital as a result of the incident was six years old.

To hear of such a tragedy, particularly in a state still rocked by memories of the Columbine massacre, is completely unsettling. For me, the movie theater has always been such a haven, a place to get away and completely immerse myself in whatever world the filmmakers have created, so a massacre in a theater seems incomprehensible.

Now is not the time to debate gun control. It is time, however, to try and understand why people devalue human life so much that they feel justified in killing innocent people.

Who made you God, that you should have the power to take and alter the course of human lives?

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by this violence. I only hope the death toll doesn't continue to rise. And I hope that the trauma of this experience doesn't cause long-lasting effects for those who were involved.

I just wish life made more sense.

Maybe I need to adjust my sense of humor...

Just when you think you've heard it all...

A Washington, D.C. police officer has been removed from his unit and placed on administrative duty after allegations that he threatened to shoot First Lady Michelle Obama. The officer, who worked as a motorcycle escort for White House officials, "allegedly said he would shoot the first lady and then used his phone to retrieve a picture of the firearm he said he would use," reported the Washington Post.

The comments were reportedly made Wednesday morning as several officers from the Special Operations Division discussed threats against the Obamas. Some officials have said it was a bad joke made by someone who should have known better.

According to msnbc.com, the Secret Service is not concerned that the remark made by the officer constitutes any kind of actual threat. "We're aware of it and taking the appropriate steps," an official for the Secret Service told msnbc.com.

Let's separate politics from this issue. I don't care if you support President Obama or think he is the worst president in the history of time, I'd like to believe you see that this is wrong. A threat like this, even made as a joke, should be taken seriously. I believe a person is innocent until proven guilty, which is why I'm glad the officer's name hasn't been released to or by the media. But if the officer really made these comments, he should be fired from his job.

Many of us have made inappropriate jokes, but when a person entrusted to protect the safety of others threatens the safety of another, that's not funny. I'm hoping this may turn out to be a misinterpretation of what the officer actually said, but saying he "should have known better" is an unacceptable defense.

Those of you who think this was a joke not to be taken seriously, I hope you can explain where the humor is.