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Guns 1. Criminals 0.

Robbery try at repair shop leaves man dead, police say August 30, 2008 Baltimore Sun The owner of a Northwest Baltimore auto repair shop fatally shot a man during an attempted robbery of his business yesterday evening, city police said. Police spokesman Sterling Clifford said this was the second time that Joseph Goldman has shot someone trying to rob his…

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Formstone!

I love whatever makes a city unique. In Baltimore, that includes painted screen, marble stoops, and Formstone When I arrived in Baltimore, I said, “what is this stuff?” Well. It’s Formstone. Turns out there’s Formstone (or cheap imitations) in Queens and Brooklyn, too. But there’s a lot of Formstone in Baltimore. Baltimore brick is a very pretty red but isn’t…

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More guns = More deaths.

I don’t like guns, but I’m not a gun control nut. I think there are a good many reasons that people can and should have guns. If I were a store owner in a dangerous neighborhood, I’d want a gun. If I were a resident in a dangerous neighborhood, I’d want a gun. If I were a hunter, I’d want…

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U.S. War on Drugs: Bolivia

George Washington, in his 1796 farwell address, warned about unnecessary foreign entanglements: The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.…

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In Texas School, Teachers Carry Books and Guns

I don’t see what the problem is. And I’m a liberal who supports gun control. I’m all for a assault riffle and handgun free America. But it’s not going to happen. Maybe as a cop I’m not afraid of guns (in the right hands). Maybe as a teacher I want one. But really, I don’t. But I do have students…

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Murders down in Eastern

Buried in a small story in the Sun: “Nineteen people have been killed in the Eastern District this year, half as many as at this point last year.”

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The poor mob

Sometimes I kind of feel sorry for these guys. From the Boston Globe. The New England Mafia just is not what it used to be. In what would be an unusual move for a man of his rank, the family’s reputed underboss, Carmen “The Cheese Man” DiNunzio, is accused of personally delivering a $10,000 bribe to a near stranger, a…

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Prop Joe? He Dead.

That’s a Wirereference, if you don’t know. There’s a short Q & A about me in Vanity Fair titled “The Ivy Leaguer Who Took on Prop Joe.” The art cracks me up: While ace writer Jordan “slugger” Heller’s text makes me sound so rough and blue-collar, the art just captures my naturally effeminate and pompous persona perfectly. Hmmm, yes, indeed,…

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Oh Nos!

Rabid kitten discovered in North Baltimore A stray kitten that wandered into a North Baltimore backyard this month had rabies, the first city cat or dog found to have the disease in more than 20 years, officials said yesterday. Two people who tried to help the kitten are receiving medical treatment. Others who are concerned that they or their pets…

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