how long is this fucking article

In a statement to the Guardian, Roberts denied ever killing a dog with a shovel. He did not answer questions about why several people say he told them that he had.

News of Roberts’s alleged comments to colleagues comes as Trump, the Republican nominee for president, and his running mate, JD Vance, have engaged in a racist and false propaganda campaign to demonize Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, by claiming that they have been killing and eating people’s pets. The xenophobic claims, which are probably meant to strengthen support among white, racist and anti-immigrant voters, have incited multiple bomb threats that have disrupted the Springfield community.

Marsha Weisiger, a colleague of Roberts at the time who is now an environmental history professor at the University of Oregon, recalled being invited to dinner at Roberts’s home with her husband, and Roberts telling both of them the story about how he had hit a neighbor’s pit bull with a shovel and killed it.

To make matters worse, she recalled Roberts saying that the neighbor in question also had puppies and that he had considered killing them, too. Weisiger’s husband, who asked not to be named, recalled Roberts saying he had complained about the dog to the police, who were not responsive, and that the dog sometimes got into his yard.

Daniel Aran, who has been released from prison and is now the owner of a small construction company, spoke to the Guardian from the front yard of the small stone house. Aran is lean and muscular, with a chiseled face and hardened stare.

  • magic_smoke@links.hackliberty.org
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    1 month ago

    police where not responsive

    Either way a shovel is a pretty fucked way to do that. Also yeah bragging about it is fucking weird and gross, if I had to kill a dog out of defense I would probably not want to think about it again. Sounds pretty awful.

    $10 says ‘self-defense’ was an excuse and the poor thing was just dropping dukes in his yard or something like that.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Agreed! He should have taken the humane route with a 12-gauge. Oh… probably illegal in Oregon…

      • magic_smoke@links.hackliberty.org
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        1 month ago

        Like I said I very seriously doubt the guy was doing it because he had to, but there are cases where animals need to be put down.

        12-gauges are a lot quicker and less painful than dying to rabies. Also I imagine that has more to do with the municipality, and how rural of an area you live in.

      • Aatube@kbin.melroy.orgOP
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        1 month ago

        Handguns should be legal everywhere, especially for clean people like Roberts. The article also disputes “the police were not responsive”, and lying about animal control coming to spite your neighbor doesn’t add to credibility.