Another Shot in the Dark (or) Fleet Street Explains All

One event.  Two headlines and two ledes:

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Tense scenes in Missouri after police shoot another black teen 


BY ERIC M. JOHNSON

(Reuters) - An 18-year-old black man was shot and killed by police late on Tuesday at a gas station in a St. Louis suburb near where unarmed teen Michael Brown was killed by a white officer in August, police and local media said.



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POLICE: MISSOURI OFFICER KILLS MAN WHO PULLED GUN
BY JIM SUHR
ASSOCIATED PRESS


BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) -- A suburban St. Louis police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at him at a gas station, police said.

Well done, Reporter  Suhr, with a nod to your editors on the St. Louis bureau night desk.


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Each version appeared about the same time, shortly before 7 a.m. Each reporter  had access to the same information.

It took Reuters five paragraphs to get to the second most important point: The dead man had pointed a pistol at the cop.   Reporter Johnson and his editors decided Ferguson and  its protests were more important than the apparent facts in their spot news report. What's a little incitement to riot  when you are reaching for headline drama?

From my drystone hut

I woad my pistol with blue bullets and dream of the gentle Celtic maiden.

(The Solstice is an unpropitious day on which to announce yourself as an Angle. Or Saxon.)

The Pocket Pool Caper

I agree with my rulers in the federal trademark office. The brand name ComfyBalls is vulgar.

But in a saner world the federal language police would never be involved. We would all express our  attitudes by buying or refusing to buy pouched panties for vain males because of the name, price, or product merits.

In money, the bureaucratic dance is too small to move the needle on the most sensitive tax-money pissaway meter, but I still wish someone would pop for an audit. I suspect denying the Norwegians their trademark cost something like the price of a small bridge or a few month's of supply for a company of Marines.

Hmmmm. If I decided to build a money meter and called it the "Pissaway," would the feds send me nasty letters and later, if I refused to comply, nasty cops?

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Please don't tell me about a "legitimate state interest" in forbidding coarse language and conduct. If you do I'll start yammering about Congressman Weiner and so forth.

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I wonder if the Norwegians really designed ComfyBalls to more comfortably house a rolled-up odd sock.

Private to Tam

The EM. You're almost there,  Sweetheart.

With only a little more technological devolution you'll be psychologically ready for an F.

A most versatile camera. For instance, if you misplace your hammer in the spring, the Nikon will serve to pound your tomato stakes. (Best Practice Recommendation: Remove the Tn viewfinder, if so equipped,  first.)

Try THAT with your Leica Arrrrgh4.

:)