“‘How To Succeed in Bomb Threats Without Going to Prison’, Starring Brian K. Williams” by Daniel Guss
Will a slap-on-the-wrist now apply to others, or just the politically connected pals o’ Karen Bass? Or is something else afoot?
It took Brian K. Williams just 604 days to make a fool of LA Mayor Karen Bass, as many others have done during her comprehensively disastrous term in City Hall.
A February 7, 2023, press release announcing her appointment of Williams as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety, and her law enforcement liaison to other government agencies, was the typical cut-and-paste bullshit her office pukes all day long:
“My number one job as Mayor is to keep Angelenos safe,” said Mayor Bass. “The only way to do that is to hold people who commit crimes accountable and to take real steps to prevent crime from happening in the first place. The appointments I’m making today represent a major step toward transparency, accountability and a comprehensive approach to public safety that includes a police department that protects the community and leaves community members feeling safe no matter where they are living in Los Angeles.”
Karen Bass
Press Release, 2/7/23
By October 3, 2024, Williams had plotted and executed a bomb threat against Los Angeles City Hall that endangered thousands, instilled fear and proved that nobody kicks the tires on anyone, let alone everyone, she appoints. (More on that in a bit).
Williams also proved that the so-called two-tiered justice system in America is not about race, but about who you know and — perhaps — what secrets you may have on them.
Williams was sentenced yesterday to fewer consequences than the number of ingredients in a recipe for macaroni and cheese: one year of probation, fifty hours of community service and a $5,000 penalty.
As they say in the ServPro commercials… like it never even happened.
For a bomb threat.
If you want fancier mac and cheese, you can throw-in Williams’ inevitable disbarment, though as of this morning, he is still listed as an Active member of the State Bar of California, months after agreeing to plead guilty.
Williams claimed his terroristic act was the result of “undiagnosed mental health challenges,” despite functioning as an attorney since 1989; as a Deputy Mayor in Jim Hahn’s administration; and as a mover and shaker in law enforcement circles for decades before Bass scooped him up.
But it never occurred to him to seek help?
He never saw a ubiquitous mental health hotline poster?
He had no spouse, parent, friend, colleague or clergy in whom to confide?
Williams, whose criminal alter ego timed his terroristic threat to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas’ attack on Israel, and claimed it was made due to “support for Israel,” though it is unclear whose support for Israel this meant, didn’t realize he needed help?
Puh-lease.
A drug addict laying in a filthy, infected Skid Row gutter knows he needs help, but Williams, a resident of the idyllic, matcha-saturated suburb of Pasadena, did not?
You don’t need a psychiatric diagnosis to know you need help.
And you don’t need a PhD to know that Williams’ slap-on-the-wrist penalty is a rank obscenity to every defendant in the criminal justice system, and to every man, woman and child who is supposed to believe in it.
So let’s play Devil’s advocate.
If Brian K. Williams was so wracked with mental illness that he couldn’t tell right from wrong despite his undeniable professional and academic success, when will Karen Bass call for a select committee of experts to assess whether his poor judgment drip, drip, dripped into every policy, initiative and memo with his fingerprints on them?
Call me crazy, but doesn’t that make sense?
Because if that doesn’t happen, something else is afoot.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, won the LA Press Club’s “Online Journalist of the Year” and “Best Activism Journalism” awards in June ‘23. In June ‘24, he won its “Best Commentary, Non-Political” award. He has contributed to the Daily Mail, CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)