2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your neighbor.
A relative of Mishler’s and another man were allegedly examining a .308 caliber rifle in their mobile home adjacent to Mishler’s on Fern Hollow off State Highway 173, four miles west of Jourdanton around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. One of the men allegedly pulled the trigger of the gun, thinking it was not loaded, inside the mobile home. The gun was loaded, says Atascosa,
County Sheriff David Soward, and the bullet shot through a bathroom wall and struck the victim on her porch as she was walking into her house next door.
No charges are expected because “it happens.”
Gunnuttery would appear to be a prima facie defense against reckless endangerment.
The Entitlement Society, Sauce for the Goose, Not for the Goslings Dept. 0
An investigation by Georgia’s WSAV channel 3 found that Kingston, who is currently running for Senate and recently suggested students work cleaning cafeterias in exchange for lunch, had expensed as much as $4,182 worth of lunches for his office over the past three years.
“Kingston and his staff expensed nearly $4200 in meals for business purposes to his congressional office, paid for by the American taxpayer,” WSAV 3’s Dan Kartunen reported. The amount could have purchased nearly 2,000 Georgia school lunches.
This does not include meals paid for by lobbyists.
The commentary writes itself, so I won’t bother.
Google Gambols 0
Google moves closer to being the kinder, gentler Facebook, by changing its TOS to allow it to use user information in targeted advertisements. From Wednesday’s Inky:
So, basically, the internet privacy apocalypse. And, what’s more, Google announced the change via a blog post that insisted that “you’re in control of what you share.” Now, to be fair, at this point that doesn’t seem technically true, given that they’re about to start plastering our average mugs all over our beloved internets.
If you have a Google account, follow the link to find out how to not be used as a mannequin in the Google storefront. (I did that last night. To Google’s credit, the announcement with the “opt-out” checkbox displayed immediately after I logged in. As I said, “kinder, gentler.”)
I will say this for Google–when they do stuff like this, they do explain it in plain language, unlike almost everybody else in Terms-of-Service World.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another gun enthusiast gets off a clean(ing) shot.
Josh Demeritt, 20, of Rochester was surprisingly uninjured by the bullet accidentally fired by his across-the-street neighbor Corey Field, 25, who was in the middle of cleaning his gun.
He was not seriously injured, but the practitioner of clean gunnuttery is in big trouble.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite in the halls of state.
Combs was unloading her gun in the Capitol annex office when it went off. The bullet hit the floor and ricocheted toward a bookshelf, according to WHAS11.
She was quoted as saying, “I am a gun owner. It happens,” which is a profoundly stupid statement. Responsible gun owners make sure it never happens. It’s part of the deal.
If “it happens,” you are ipso facto not a responsible gun owner.
These people are nuts.
Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows 0
And it don’t get much stranger than this.
Nothing To Do, No Place To Go 0
Bloomberg is all rosy about this, but, for all practical purposes, it’s status quo ante–still in mid 300K.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, which smoothes short-term volatility, dropped to 349,000 from 358,750.
“When We Played Our Charades . . . .” 0
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Courtesy is essential in relationships.
Deputies say Laura, 26, was shot in the head by her 25-year-old husband around 6 p.m. Monday.
Chris Rains told investigators his wife was handing him a pistol when it went off.
All snark aside, this sort of stuff is sad and far too common. (Don’t believe me? Set up a Google alert for “accidental shooting” and permutations thereof.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite when dining out.
Witnesses said the shooting left Cassata bleeding heavily and repeating, “I have a permit. I have a permit,” referring to his pistol.
He’s been charged with reckless endangerment and other counts.
Now, about those intelligence tests for gun licenses . . . .
Twits on Twitter 0
What would happen if twits met face to face? (Warning: Language.)
And, speaking of twits.
