Well, today started out as a sunny 85 degree summer day... but at 3:45 pm, all hell broke loose. Wind and heavy rain.. not Hurricane Arthur though. Lots of thunder and lightning hitting nearby. A good day to stay inside and not risk getting zapped by a big bolt, like two of my relatives, years ago.
Lots of stuff to think about though.
01. Don't Take Your Gun to Town Son...
Target has asked shoppers not to bring guns into their stores. However, Texas gun nuts are saying they will exercise their right to carry arms in public and will take them where ever they want to. Some fast food places are echoing Target, but WalMart is weaseling on this one.
Can't you see where this is leading? People killed in shoot-outs in McDonald's or WalMart. Even the NRA sided with Target until they got lots of emails from the most rabid gun nuts and caved.
(When.. When.. When... ???)
02. The Magic Number has been Reached
The Dow Jones Average sailed over the 17,000 mark early this afternoon.. I'm rich!
03. Hairy Burglers
A couple of supposedly homeless jerks took advantage of some persons being out of town and broke into a camper parked in their driveway. They must have had a ball therein because lots of stored food was used and glassware was broken. They must have also needed some dessert, because they then broke into the empty house to get some. After the owners came home and reported the theft and damage, it took the police a very short period of time to catch these guys based on hair samples they left behind. (Just like CSI?)
04. Poor Narcotics Seller?
Police stopped a guy for speeding on one of Westminster's country-like roads and found that he had lots of narcotics ready to be sold. They also found that he had a grand total of $58. cash in his pocket. What! This is the first time that I have read where a narcotics seller had such a small amount of cash in their possession. Usually, these guys have thousands of dollars in their pockets. Was this guy a lousy salesman, or had he just started out for the day, and this was "chump change?"
05. Tit for tat
Hamas reports that the Israelis kidnapped and killed a 17 year-old Palestinian, in retaliation for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths last week. Hamas swears revenge, just as Israel swore revenge. Here we go again.. both sides escalating violence. (When.. When.. When.. ??)
06. Arthur
Hurricane Arthur was aiming at North Carolina and evacuations were underway earlier today.. I hope that Arthur decided to hurry out to sea after meeting a strong cold front. I'm reading Dan Rather's book where he talks about his work at Galveston, Texas, where the germ of the current hurricane warning system was nurtured and the use of which has borne great fruit in the last few decades. It's a shame we did not have a warning system for the 1938 Hurricane that I lived through in Massachusetts.
07. Healthy Howard
Howard County (Maryland) Executive Ken Ulman has issued an executive order banning sugary drinks and junk food in County buildings and at County-sponsored events. The ban is for non-diet sodas and certain high-calorie packaged snacks. Sweetened cold beverages can contain no more than 40 calories and sodium content of food sold must be 200 mg or less.
As expected, some letters to the Baltimore Sun by readers express a little anger over this directive.
08. Baltimore Pedestrian Deaths by Automobile
There were 700 pedestrian deaths and injuries inflicted on Baltimoreans in 2013. This is three times the homicide rate and two times the national average for cities the size of Baltimore.
09. Baltimore Citizen Deaths by Gun Fire
There have been 97 homicides in Baltimore for the first half of this year. That is the lowest figure since 1983, when the half year total was 94.
Dan Rodricks advises us not to be too happy about this statistic, because in 1983, Baltimore had 150,000 more inhabitants than it does today. So.. Baltimore is therefore more violent than in 1983. And... why are there so many fewer people living in the city? Where are all those empty houses?
10. Tea Party Rant
Mississippi Tea Party backed State Senator Chris McDaniel is not going lightly into the loser's column. He blames his defeat for the U.S. Senate in the recent Primary Election directly on the Democrats. Who else? He claims that they voted illegally for his opponent. He's now asking for cash donations so he can sue.
11. Newspaper Content
Now that the Carroll County Times has been sold to the Baltimore Sun, a close comparison can be seen in articles appearing in both newspapers. I guess I should have expected that. For example, this morning early, I read articles in the Times, that were repeated, word for word, in my online version of the Sun. Luckily, this week, I ordered home delivery of the New York Times so that I can get a slightly different slant on National and World events. I hope that the Carroll County Times continues to cover local news.
12. Hobby Lobby Lawyers
Susan Reimer writes that The Alliance Defending Freedom (defending Hobby Lobby in the recent Supreme Court appearance) was founded by Civilian Right leader James Dobson, whose goal is to "keep the door open for the spread of the Gospel by transforming the legal system." They want to create a "Christendomic" State in the U.S. As stated, they were involved in the Hobby Lobby case and suits against Planned Parenthood. They fund the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which trains "sleeper lawyers" and places them in high level places.
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