“Two more teens have been arrested and charged with robbing and beating a 59-year-old civilian police employee, Baltimore Police said Friday morning.

Police said a 14-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy were arrested Tuesday and transported to a juvenile booking facility.The teens were found inside the victim’s car in the 400 block of Wellesley St. by detectives from the Regional Auto Theft Task Force. They were charged with robbery and assault.

…The victim is a Muslim, prompting questions of whether the attack was motivated by hate.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations previously gathered community advocates from the State’s Attorney’s Office, City Wide Youth Development Group and religious leaders to stand in solidarity with the victim and encourage police to not rule out a hate crime.

After the first arrest of the 15-year-old boy, the victim, who has not been named, released a statement through CAIR, thanking police and saying that through his faith he had forgiven the boy.“

Again…

In an incongruously related item from Arkansas, we learn how…

Black high school footballers are held at GUNPOINT by white woman, 46, who called 911 to report the teens were ‘suspicious’ while they were going door-to-door fundraising for the team

NOW, as the late, great Paul Harvey used to say, is the REST of the story, as we consider this description from FOX‘s recounting of the encounter…

“…her brother told WHBQ-TV that Kelly is disabled and suffers from severe seizures. He also claimed Kelly felt threatened by the children.“

…followed by this follow-up in the U.K.’s Daily Mail:

“…She called law enforcement on August 7 to report ‘suspicious persons’, according to authorities. The persons in question were four teenagers from Wynne High School, who were going door-to-door selling restaurant coupons to help raise money for the football team. Two of the four boys were wearing their football jerseys during the incident, according to the Wynne School District.

The 46-year-old allegedly drew her gun and ordered the boys to lay on the ground. When authorities arrived, they found the four teenagers on the ground with their arms behind their backs and Kelly standing over them with a gun. The responding police officers let the children stand up and took them home.

Kelly was arrested five days later with four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor, WREG reported. She attempted to justify her actions by claiming she heard a dog barking and the boys walking through the neighborhood.

According to a police report seen by CBS, she feared for her safety after a previous home invasion…”

To the best we can determine from available news reports, the youngest of the four football players was 16…the same age as the career criminals…

…who held up Baltimore’s youngest Deputy Police Commissioner at gun point…and 1-2 years older than these three future and permanent wards of the state:  

We for one would have had our head on a swivel and wouldn’t have waited for the trailer (that’s the guy in the rear in Navy Fighter lingo) to get off the first shot.

But seriously, YOU tell US: precisely how crazy was Mrs. Kelley in her threat assessment, particularly if accounts of her prior experiences are true, and in light of the fact the wearing of sports jerseys isn’t an uncommon occurrence amongst teenagers, particularly among gang-bangers and other thugs.

Again, we can’t judge Mrs. Kelly’s state of mind and hence the reasonableness of her actions; perhaps racial animus did influence her behavior.  But maybe…just maybe…Mrs. Kelly honestly thought four young Black men coming to her door might…just might…present a clear and present danger and determined the best defense was a good offense:

More specifically, when it comes to the street scum who prey upon the law-abiding citizens of Baltimore, or any other part of America, absent a dramatic moral course correction…

Here’s the juice: the reports above detail why we wouldn’t frequent downtown Baltimore on a dare (Except of course to serve the homeless every 3rd Saturday between October and March).  And frankly, we consider anyone who does otherwise on a par with a sh*thouse rat!

In other news from the hopelessly misnamed Charm City, WBAL.com reports a…

Woman Charged In SE Baltimore Murder

“Baltimore City police have arrested and charged a 44-year-old woman in connection with the murder of a 47-year-old man early Friday in Southeast Baltimore. Police say a 47-year-old man was found beaten to death inside his home, in the 500 block of North Clinton Street, at around 12:40 a.m. Friday.

On Saturday, detectives arrested Grace Agnant, who also lives in the 500 block of North Clinton Street, and charged her with first-degree murder.

…Detectives have not said if the suspect and victim knew each other…”

This reminds us one of our favorite scenes High Plains Drifter:
Sheriff Dan Shaw: Well, I been needin’ to talk with you; now’s as good a time as any.

The Stranger: What about?
Sheriff Dan Shaw: Billy Borders.
The Stranger: Don’t know the man.
Sheriff Dan Shaw: Well, you missed your chance — you shot him yesterday.

Then there’s this item of international news from FOX, detailing how a…

Waiter in France is allegedly shot dead for being ‘too slow with sandwich‘

“A waiter in France was shot to death Friday night after a customer was allegedly enraged by having to wait too long for his sandwich. The incident happened at a small restaurant in Noisy-le-Grand, a suburb located in eastern Paris.

A witness told Agence France-Presse the gunman became irate “as his sandwich wasn’t prepared quickly enough,” shot the waiter, and then fled the scene. The waiter’s colleagues then called police after he was shot in the shoulder. The 28-year-old later died at the scene. Police told AFP that a murder investigation has been opened and the gunman is still on the loose.

Area residents told Le Parisien newspaper the restaurant had opened three or four months before the deadly shooting. Some noted, however, the neighborhood has a high crime history, including drug-dealing and public drunkenness…”

We only point this out because, although France has extremely strict gun control laws, the country is literally awash in ILLEGAL weapons, along with angry, violent Islamic immigrants.

Just sayin’.

Next up, writing at the WSJ, Kim Strassel suggests the significance of…

Fusion, the ‘Collusion’ Puppeteer

Bruce Ohr’s 302s, just released to the public, show Glenn Simpson pulling the strings.

“The Justice Department is investigating how a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, came to exert so much influence over the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s erroneous Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Let’s hope the department is also investigating an even more influential man who had even less business manipulating the government: Glenn Simpson, the head of opposition-research firm Fusion GPS.

That’s a pressing question in light of new documents from high-ranking Justice official Bruce Ohr, obtained recently by Judicial Watch. The papers include, among other things, a dozen official FBI interviews (known as 302s) of Mr. Ohr that date from just after the 2016 election through May 2017. The documents suggest Mr. Simpson was the real puppet master of the collusion drama.

Most of the FBI’s debriefs of Mr. Ohr center on information about or from Mr. Steele—itself a major breach of FBI protocol. The bureau fired Mr. Steele as a source in autumn 2016, when it became clear he was blabbing about the FBI investigation to the press. The FBI nonetheless continued to use Mr. Ohr as a back door to its discredited source. The 302s relate the numerous times and ways Mr. Steele contacted Mr. Ohr with information—although many of the details of the conversations remain redacted.

More eye-popping in the 302s is the ease with which Mr. Simpson landed meetings with powerful officials, for no apparent purpose other than to peddle unverified accusations against the Trump team. This isn’t a former intelligence officer or government official, or even someone with specialized knowledge of Russia. Mr. Simpson is a private citizen—and one who Mr. Ohr and the FBI knew was providing information to Hillary Clinton ’s team (as Mr. Ohr acknowledges in his initial 302). Yet when Mr. Simpson called, officials across Washington hopped to, swallowing the claims that would become the basis of a false hysteria…”

We’d suggest the hysteria was as faked as the Steele dossier.

Moving on, courtesy of Best of the Web, Jim Freeman records…

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Professors

Elizabeth Warren shows how to accumulate a small fortune while working at a ‘non-profit’ called Harvard.

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) likes to talk a lot about an affordability crisis in higher education. Fortunately for Ms. Warren and her husband, there’s no crisis at all for the people who work there.

This week Forbes magazine estimates the net worth of various 2020 presidential candidates. While it’s no surprise that a number of former business and finance executives come to the campaign with sizable fortunes, what’s remarkable is how much wealth is now attainable for those in the allegedly non-profit sector of the U.S economy.

Dan Alexander, Chase Peterson-Withorn and Michela Tindera of Forbes estimate that Sen. Warren and her husband enjoy a net worth of $12 million.

…Generally Americans don’t begrudge anyone earning an honest buck. But voters may find it hard to reconcile the Warren wealth with her constant demands for more taxpayer subsidies benefiting institutions like the one where she and her husband made their fortune.

…U.S. voters—whose median household income is less than a tenth of the Warren household income—may decide they’ve subsidized this couple enough.“

We must confess we reached that conclusion the first time we learned Lieawatha ‘earnum heap big wampum (roughly $400K annually) for teaching only one class.

Since we’re on the subject of Ms. Warren’s favorite counter-productive campaign platforms, in the same installment of Best of the Web, Mr. Freeman offered this entry in the…

Annals of Unintended Consequences: Minimum-Wage Edition

Annie Sciacca reports in the San Jose Mercury News that California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centers “has closed all 284 of its centers, leaving 750 employees without jobs and many who rely on income from redeeming bottles and cans without options.” Adds Ms. Sciacca:

RePlanet, which runs recycling redemption and processing centers all over California, ceased its operations and will undergo a process to have its assets liquidated and creditors paid, according to a statement from company president and CFO David Lawrence.

“With the continued reduction in State fees, the depressed pricing of recycled aluminum and PET plastic, and the rise in operating costs resulting from minimum wage increases and required health and workers compensation insurance, the Company has concluded that operation of these recycling centers and supporting operations is no longer sustainable,” his statement says.

Which brings us to The Lighter Side:

Then there’s this take on Jeffrey Epstein’s assisted-suicide from our sister-in-law Amy…

…this from …

…and this string of “Hill Areas” signs from Ed Hickey:

Then there’s this tidbit from the Wonderful World of Socialized Medicine, brought to us today by The Detroit News and Great Britain’s National Health Service:

Missing dentures found stuck in throat 8 days after surgery

“…A medical journal is reporting the case of a 72-year-old British man whose partial dentures apparently got stuck in his throat during surgery and weren’t discovered for eight days. The man knew his dentures were missing, but didn’t realize where they were. This patient recovered after the dentures were removed from his throat.

The journal BMJ Case Reports published the paper Monday. The man and the hospital weren’t identified…”

Rumors a surgical spectator in the same hospital dropped a Junior Mint into patient during surgery…

…remain unconfirmed!

Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with the Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water segment, courtesy today of some douche nozzle in the Buckeye State:

Massive crocodile spotted in Ohio creek while children were playing in water

Though a 7-1/2 foot crocodile is hardly massive, we’ll forgive FOX’s trademark exaggeration in view of the fact this was in Ohio, notFlorida!

P.S. The clown who released the croc needs to time…significant time; say, at least…

Magoo