Posted on 08/24/2007 3:07:38 PM PDT by Terpfen
Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff's office raided the Cave Creek, Arizona, home of rapper DMX on Friday morning (August 24), and according to a police spokesperson, 12 pit bulls were removed from the residence, all in bad condition. Police would not get into specifics but did say the animals are being tended to by veterinarians.
At this point, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) has not been officially charged with any crime, but police are still investigating. DMX was not at his home at the time of the raid, during which police also discovered a large cache of weapons. Police do not believe the rapper is in Arizona but would like to question him as part of their investigation.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is expected to speak more about the investigation during a press conference outside DMX's Cave Creek home at about 6 p.m. ET.
This isn't the first time police have taken an interest in DMX's dogs. Back in 2002, the rapper pleaded guilty in New Jersey to charges of animal cruelty, stemming from a 1998 raid of DMX's home. Police claimed he had neglected 13 pit bulls. He eventually plea-bargained down to fines, probation and community service, and even starred in a public-service announcement against animal abuse.
The DMX news comes the same day that NFL star Michael Vick admitted his own involvement with dogfighting (see "Why Does The Michael Vick Case Hurt Hip-Hop?"). The Atlanta Falcons quarterback told the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia, that he would plead guilty to "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture." Vick faces a maximum term of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
This is the first of many raids, I would wager, and Vick turned over names in an effort to save himself. It may have worked.
This is starting to look very racist. I mean wh yaren’t they raiding the WHITE sports or music stars?
Oh...never mind.
What is wrong with these people? They’re making enormous salaries. Why do they they need to breed fighting dogs, or gamble, or anything else?
Intriguing. Seems plausible.
I wonder how far down this rabbit hole goes... and if there isn't a side benefit. A big enough blown up scandal of dog-fighting within the rap culture might help make it finally uncool.
The rap culture has done immeasurable damage. Maybe they've finally gone too far.
Uh oh, Sheriff Arpaio can’t stand animal abuse.
“Ya’ll gonna make me lose my mind/up in here/up in here...”
LOL - DMX in trouble with the law, there’s a surprise.
When you have so much, material things cease being interesting. When you don’t ever have to wait to have something, or when the stakes of a game never rise above the trivial... it’s human nature to push into more extremes finally get your pulse rate up.
It’s like racing your prize car for pink slips. For keeps. But if you have 12 Ferrari’s in your garage and can have a new one delivered tomorrow then even racing for pink slips is boring.
Fighting dogs I think is a vicarious raising of the stakes. It’s blood and a fight to the death. For real. It matters, at least to the dog and vicariously to the owner.
I saw Bill Gates interviewed some time ago, and somebody asked him what the hardest thing about being that wealthy was... and his answer was interesting. He said that he really missed the anticipation of “wanting” something. That is, whether its a new car or house or anything at all... much of the fun of buying material things was the time spent wanting it, studying and shopping for it, waiting until you could afford it. But now he doesn’t have to wait for anything. There is quite simply nothing for sale in the world that is too expensive for him to own if he wished. And as such... there’s not much fun in it.
I think that’s why he got into philanthropy, as many fithy rich moguls inevitably do. It’s something to be proud of.
But I digress.
May this be the first of more dominoes to fall in the rap culture.
Image the thug life mentality you know what I sayin??
DMX wearing pink underwear? YES!
If these folks had b*lls, they would get in the ring with the dog as an adversary.
DMX and Mike Vick - doing their part to raise the N-word from the dead.
Give a dog a bone,
leave a dog alone
let a dog roam,
and he’ll find his way home
Well, yes... but before that they’ll just make somebody else do it.
Like gladiators. Or throwing people in with lions. It happened then, and it’ll happen again.
Everyone's entitled to a hobby.
Well, can you imagine Micheal Vick with a metal detector.
I think we’d both be in trouble if a certain NYC Councilman ever listened to our MP3 players!
I think Vick gave up DMX and others, in exchange for his lightened-up plea deal. If he did, he is a dead man walking.
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