2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Friendly politeness.
The bullet hit Williams in the chest and exited through his lower back. Williams was later pronounced dead on the scene, Webber said.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
A double dose of politeness today: Politeness is a family affair.
Meanwhile, Back at Wayne Manor . . . 0
Jack Ohman takes on the strange case of Duke University’s attempt to prevent the estate of John “Duke” Wayne (ne Marion Robert Morrison) from marketing “Duke” Bourbon, claiming that associating the word Duke with bourbon would somehow defame Duke University, which wants sole rights to its own defamation.
A nugget:
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t go to the University of North Carolina or anything like that. I just went to the University of Minnesota, which has a mascot called the “Golden Gopher.” Duke University has a “Blue Devil,” which is faintly satanic. No. It’s actually satanic. And blue.
Lawyers for the color blue, based in New York, filed a lawsuit last week challenging Duke University’s use of the color. The blue legal team, noted that “our color is currently being defamed by a school founded with money earned by sale and distribution therein of tobacco, a known carcinogen.”
Read the rest. It’s a treat.
“Nationwide Is on Your Side” 0
Also, pigs, wings.
After a 16-year struggle, Nationwide gets adjudged to pay a $25,000 claim, plus $18,000,000 in punitive damages, described in the story as the largest punitive damages award against an insurance company for “bad faith” dealings in Pennsylvania history.
He found that the Jeep remained unsafe even after repairs.
Rather than replace it, he said, Nationwide had engaged in an extensive cover-up, hiding crash photos and other relevant information from Berg and her husband.
He said Nationwide followed a written “litigation strategy” that called for it to fight smaller claims tenaciously – even though such a strategy had been denounced by Pennsylvania courts as “unethical and unprofessional.”
Follow the link for more, including delightful quotations from the judge’s ruling.
Squatters 2
This is a minor league version of Cliven Bundy’s using public lands for free–an “app” that allows persons in public parking places to squat on them while auctioning them to the highest bidder. San Francisco has told them to stop, at least for now.
The company’s weasel-worded dissembling arrogant rationale for holding parking spaces hostage is a gem of self-serving hipster rationalization (emphasis added).
Herrera’s letter was the latest as state and federal lawmakers grapple with new technologies that people can use to privately replace taxis, hotels and even restaurants. Firms in neighboring Silicon Valley often use San Francisco as a testing ground, pushing the boundaries of local authorities who don’t want to quash the booming tech economy.
Herrera also cracked down on two similar smartphone apps that exchange money for parking spaces.
Two weeks ago, Dobrowolny said MonkeyParking doesn’t sell parking spots, but rather convenience, citing freedom of speech. He said people have the right to tell others they’re leaving a parking spot and get paid for it.
This is cyber-theft, or, at best, cyber-kidnapping, holding public property for ransom.
Folks, just because you can do it with computers, that don’t make it right.
Bordering on Bigotry 0
Tony Norman points out how ignorance feeds bigotry, using the example of the resentment of refugees along the southern border of the United States.
I do think he failed to give enough emphasis to bigotry in all this, but he only gets so many inches for his column. If these were little white kids who spoke English, there would be no fuss. A “whites only” sign has never been far from America’s welcome mat.
Here’s a bit; do read the rest.
It helps that the line between people and territories is always blurred when there’?s thievery going on. It makes the denial many generations later that much more reasonable. Most Americans don‘?t realize that Texas, Arizona, Nevada and California were once part of a greater Mexico, before those lands were annexed by war, trickery and genocide.
Living the Lie in Kansas 0
What happens when Republican economic theory, created to sound good and bamboozle voters, meets real life? Watch and learn.
Abundance 0
As George Smith points out, not so much.
Suffer the Children (Updated) 0
It’s just how they roll.
Addendum, a Bit Later:
F. T. Rea highlights the hypocrisy of Republican “situational ethics.” A nugget:
Have Cake, Eat It Too 0
Bob Molinaro, writing in my local rag, sums up the scam:
While NFL teams shared $6 billion in revenue last season, most of it coming through the league’s TV rights, you can be sure that the next time an owner wants a new stadium, he’ll expect taxpayers to pay the freight.
Truth and Labelling 0
Gene Nichol, on viewing Republican antics in North Carolina, wonders what truth-in-labeling might mean for the Republican Party. A nugget:
(snip)
Imagine that, under a strange, somehow enforceable, truth-in-labeling demand, our Republican Party was forced to re-name itself as the White People’s Party. Would a young, tech-driven, libertarian explain: “I don’t like capital gains taxes, so I joined the White People’s Party?” Would an accomplished and respected investment banker declare: “I’m committed to the carried interest exception, so I vote for the White People’s Party?” Would a devout, patriotic, evangelical forthrightly proclaim: “We need prayer in our classrooms, so I’m with the White Party?”