2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Keep playtime polite.
The Galveston County Daily News reported that the boy was shot by his 7-year-old cousin.
Texas City Police Captain Joe Stanton told the Daily News that the two boys were playing unsupervised with the victim’s 9-year-old brother when they found the weapon.
“The kids found the handgun inside the residence,” said Stanton, and were playing with it when it discharged.
And, in more news of the polite, politeness gets a Boost.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Facing South crunches the numbers. Here’s a snippet; follow the link for more fun with figures:
- In a comprehensive study of voter fraud allegations nationwide from 2000 to 2014, number of incidents that involved someone pretending to be someone else at the polls — the kind of fraud that voter ID laws prevent: 31
- Number of ballots cast during that same 14-year period: more than 1 billion
- Of the few election fraud cases brought by the U.S. Justice Department between 2002 and 2005, when U.S. attorneys were under heavy pressure to pursue such prosecutions, number that would have been addressed by a voter ID requirement: 0
Gifts and Grifts in the Old Dominion 0
Jon Stewart takes on the case of the Regent and the Medicine Showman.
Moved below the fold because it autoplays on some systems.
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! 0
This is the girl who was shot to death because she sought help after a car accident.

From Color of Change
A jury has just found Theodore Wafer guilty on all counts for the murder of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, who was tragically killed when seeking help after a car accident in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn Heights, MI.
Wafer’s conviction is an incredibly important and rare moment of accountability for violence against Black women. Share the powerful above image to honor Renisha and help grow the movement to end violence against Black women.
She was murdered for the crime of seeking help while black.
Image and statement via Color of Change.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
How to be polite in Killingly (I did you not), Connecticut:
Authorities say 22-year-old Kyle Carney of Killingly had been pointing a rifle in the boy’s direction when it accidentally discharged.
“Accidently.” Yeah.
Droning On 0
Stupid droners drone on.
(snip)
The National Park Service in June announced a ban on so-called unmanned aerial vehicles, but officials say premier national parks in the U.S. West are reporting a sharp rise in the number of drones buzzing bison and boaters.
All the News that Fits 0
The New York Times stumbles over unknown object, upon investigating discovers something called “truth” and “accuracy.”
Suffer the Children 0
Writing in the Bangor Daily News, Robert W. Glover, assistant professor of honors and political science at the University of Maine, tries to understand the hostility to the child refugees fleeing to this country. A nugget (emphasis added):
For instance, in recent immigration attitudes research we conducted at the University of Maine, we found individuals consistently employed notions of threat consistent with racial stereotypes, even when these failed to correspond to the facts of a narrative they had just read. This shows how powerful notions of threat hinder our abilities to grasp nuance — or even make us misinterpret reality itself.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Show politeness to children.
Elmorsy’s downstairs neighbor, Tom Hollowell, said his 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter was sleeping in her room when the bullet flew by her bed and lodged itself in a closet door about three feet away.
Hollowell and his girlfriend noticed the bullet hole the next day and called police in a panic.
In other news of the polite, just read the comments.
(Link fixed.)










