The Current Events, News, and Politics Thread
04-19-2021, 08:51 AM
Boost Czar
Thread Starter
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,501
Total Cats: 4,080
Dear Joe,
Your Pony obsession is a plea for help. Go get that help.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...le-Ponies.html
Your Pony obsession is a plea for help. Go get that help.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...le-Ponies.html
REVEALED: FedEx killer was a 'Brony' obsessed with My Little Pony and bought two rifles after his shotgun was seized under Red Flag Law 'because he never had a competency hearing'
- Shooter Brandon Scott Hole had two Facebook pages mostly devoted to children's cartoon My Little Pony
- Just before Thursday's shooting in Indianapolis, he posted 'I hope that I can be with Applejack in the afterlife'
- Applejack is the main character of the children's show, which has a subculture of adult fans known as 'Bronies'
- 'Brony' subculture has been linked to extremism, but Facebook found no extremist ties in Hole's posting
- Authorities are still unsure of a motive for the shooting, which killed eight including four Sikh adherents
- Hole had been fired from the FedEx sorting facility last year, and had a history of mental health issues
- Brandon Scott Hole, 19, apparently never had a competency hearing after police seized his gun over suicide concerns last year, meaning he was never flagged under Indiana's 'red flag' gun law
Reply
0
0
04-19-2021, 10:03 AM
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,049
Total Cats: 6,608
I do believe that Twilight Sparkle (and Princess Celestia, for that matter) might have something to say about that.
Unrelated, but amusing:
I have been a Vermont resident for 20 years and, as it happens, serve as the duly appointed weigher of coal for the town of Richmond (population 4,000 or so). Said job has no responsibilities whatsoever and pays nothing in return — it’s a carryover from bygone days. Since the town’s voters have never seen fit to get rid of the position, the town manager finds some sucker to take on the title each year and the select board ratifies the appointment. Then the weigher of coal gets down to the hard work of not actually weighing coal.
The position comes directly from Vermont statutes, which state that “a weigher of coal shall be sworn and shall not be directly or indirectly interested in the sale of coal. Upon request of the seller or purchaser, he or she shall weigh all coal sold in his or her town” and that “the fees of a weigher of coal shall be $0.10 for the first ton and $0.04 for each additional ton, to be paid by the person applying for the weighing.”
This dates back to the days when homes were primarily heated by coal and you wanted to make sure you got a fair weight for the price you paid. Towns would have official municipal scales, and the weigher of coal would be in charge of them.
As it happens, Richmond doesn’t have official municipal scales. No town in Vermont does. I’ve thought about showing up at the select board meeting and asking them to buy some, but I figure I’ve only got so many opportunities to be the town kook. I want to make the most of them.
This week, after I had served as the weigher of coal for three years or so, the town finally got around to asking me to read and agree to abide by the town’s ethics policy. I take the nonperformance of my duties very seriously, so I read and signed the policy accordingly.
You can read it yourself online. It says that public officials such as myself should “work towards the public interest” and “recognize the proper role of all government bodies.” This includes refusing to accept anything of economic value and refraining from using the public position to further a personal interest.
I’m glad to have finally gotten a copy. My master’s degree is in public administration, and I know about these sorts of things. It makes sense that there would be an ethics policy; it just had never come up before.
I will need to take all this very seriously. I want no conflicts of interest when it comes to my not weighing coal. I want to show no favoritism to family members and other individuals in the nonpursuance of my duties.
But as I sit here, enlightened and filled with a new sense of responsibility regarding the public trust placed in me as weigher of coal, it occurs to me: There seem to be more stated policies for ethical nonperformance of coal-weighing than there are for the office of president of the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...859_story.html
Unrelated, but amusing:
Opinion: I am my town’s weigher of coal. I have no responsibility. But I sign an ethics policy.
May 11, 2018 at 5:56 p.m. CDTJay Furr is a resident of Richmond, Vt.I have been a Vermont resident for 20 years and, as it happens, serve as the duly appointed weigher of coal for the town of Richmond (population 4,000 or so). Said job has no responsibilities whatsoever and pays nothing in return — it’s a carryover from bygone days. Since the town’s voters have never seen fit to get rid of the position, the town manager finds some sucker to take on the title each year and the select board ratifies the appointment. Then the weigher of coal gets down to the hard work of not actually weighing coal.
The position comes directly from Vermont statutes, which state that “a weigher of coal shall be sworn and shall not be directly or indirectly interested in the sale of coal. Upon request of the seller or purchaser, he or she shall weigh all coal sold in his or her town” and that “the fees of a weigher of coal shall be $0.10 for the first ton and $0.04 for each additional ton, to be paid by the person applying for the weighing.”
This dates back to the days when homes were primarily heated by coal and you wanted to make sure you got a fair weight for the price you paid. Towns would have official municipal scales, and the weigher of coal would be in charge of them.
As it happens, Richmond doesn’t have official municipal scales. No town in Vermont does. I’ve thought about showing up at the select board meeting and asking them to buy some, but I figure I’ve only got so many opportunities to be the town kook. I want to make the most of them.
This week, after I had served as the weigher of coal for three years or so, the town finally got around to asking me to read and agree to abide by the town’s ethics policy. I take the nonperformance of my duties very seriously, so I read and signed the policy accordingly.
You can read it yourself online. It says that public officials such as myself should “work towards the public interest” and “recognize the proper role of all government bodies.” This includes refusing to accept anything of economic value and refraining from using the public position to further a personal interest.
I’m glad to have finally gotten a copy. My master’s degree is in public administration, and I know about these sorts of things. It makes sense that there would be an ethics policy; it just had never come up before.
I will need to take all this very seriously. I want no conflicts of interest when it comes to my not weighing coal. I want to show no favoritism to family members and other individuals in the nonpursuance of my duties.
But as I sit here, enlightened and filled with a new sense of responsibility regarding the public trust placed in me as weigher of coal, it occurs to me: There seem to be more stated policies for ethical nonperformance of coal-weighing than there are for the office of president of the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...859_story.html
Reply
1
1
04-19-2021, 07:08 PM
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,049
Total Cats: 6,608
Remember when George Floyd died not because of knee-induced anaphylaxis, but because he had enough fentanyl in his body to kill a small, brightly-colored, animated horse?
Well, turns out that Brian Sicknick, the police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the mostly peaceful Jan 6 self-guided tour of the US Capitol died of a stroke due to natural causes: https://pix11.com/news/national-news...atural-causes/
Well, turns out that Brian Sicknick, the police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the mostly peaceful Jan 6 self-guided tour of the US Capitol died of a stroke due to natural causes: https://pix11.com/news/national-news...atural-causes/
Reply
0
0
04-19-2021, 07:26 PM
Remember when George Floyd died not because of knee-induced anaphylaxis, but because he had enough fentanyl in his body to kill a small, brightly-colored, animated horse?
Well, turns out that Brian Sicknick, the police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the mostly peaceful Jan 6 self-guided tour of the US Capitol died of a stroke due to natural causes: https://pix11.com/news/national-news...atural-causes/
Well, turns out that Brian Sicknick, the police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the mostly peaceful Jan 6 self-guided tour of the US Capitol died of a stroke due to natural causes: https://pix11.com/news/national-news...atural-causes/
Reply
0
0
