An eruption of stupidity
An American tourist fell into Mount Vesuvius — yes, the volcano — while taking a selfie, after reaching the rim via a forbidden path. He survived, and Italian authorities are considering what charges might be filed. Aggravated stupidity, perhaps?
As reported by NBC News, Philip Carroll, 23, of Baltimore, and his family hiked to the rim of the famed volcano, apparently ignoring warning signs and gates barring tourists. While he was taking a selfie there, Carroll accidentally dropped his phone into the volcano. It lodged on the rocks a few feet in.
When he climbed down to retrieve it, he fell in but managed to stop his fall “a few meters into the crater,” one official said. Rescuers had to pull him out with a rope. He suffered scrapes and bruises.
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Had he fallen the rest of the way, it would have been a drop of almost 1,000 feet.
Mount Vesuvius is famous for the 79 A.D. eruption that buried the Roman city of Pompeii in ash. The volcano is technically still active but hasn’t erupted since 1944.
Sea lions roar, and humans run
Humans and their creations have taken over so much of the global ecosystem and crowded animals out of their habitats that it’s about time the wildlife of the world started demanding their turf back. In California, sea lions and sea elephants are never a force to be toyed with, and there are several islands and stretches of beach that are effectively off limits to humans because the sea mammals rule the roost.
This week, two male sea lions lumbered their way onto a human-occupied beach and sent a crowd of beachgoers scrambling. It was more like the humans were being herded. The entire, somewhat laughable episode was finished in less than a minute before the sea lions jumped back into the water at San Diego’s La Jolla Cove.
Bolton claims coup bragging rights
John Bolton, senior foreign affairs adviser to multiple Republican administrations, boasted in a CNN interview that he helped plan coups during his time in public office. The unusual — and potentially unlawful — admission followed an assertion by CNN host Jake Tapper that “one doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup” like the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection sparked by President Donald Trump to keep himself in office. Bolton blurted out that it actually takes brains to carry out a coup.
“As somebody who has helped plan coup d’état — not here, but other places — it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he did. It was just stumbling around from one idea to another.” It took a while for Tapper to recognize the significance of what Bolton had just said. He later asked which coup Bolton was talking about. “I’m not going to get into the specifics,” Bolton responded but then mentioned an unsuccessful coup attempt in Venezuela.
While Bolton was undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in 2002, Venezuelan military officers organized a coup bid against dictator Hugo Chávez. The administration of then-President George W. Bush denied involvement but was surprisingly quick to recognize the coup leader as Venezuela’s new leader. Chávez returned to power within 48 hours, stronger than ever.
Arizona’s camera-shy police
At first glance, the newly signed Arizona law that restricts citizens and journalists from video recording the police might seem only slightly disturbing, but the ramifications are huge. Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed a law making it illegal to knowingly film police officers at a distance of eight feet or less without the officer’s permission — whether from a public sidewalk or the citizen’s own property.
This comes at a time when citizens are demanding more police transparency, and more communities are requiring not just dashboard cameras but body cameras for police officers. The federal court covering Colorado and five neighboring states on Monday questioned the First Amendment implications of such a law. The judges in Denver decided that the public’s right to film the police is protected under the First Amendment. The idea of someone recording from their own property, regardless of how far it is from officers, certainly seems like an inviolable right.
Antisocial behavior
One of the top officials at the Social Security Administration has been acting so bizarre at work that underlings are telling internal investigators they suspect she’s regularly inebriated on the job. Yet she is still overseeing 9,000 employees and a $1.2 billion budget, and no one at the agency will explain why.
The Washington Post reports that Deputy Commissioner Theresa Gruber, 53, has been the subject of multiple internal complaints about “significant anomalies” at work, including slurred speech, and that she has “appeared intoxicated” on the job. Other issues, the newspaper reported, included “leaving meetings without notice, slouching in her chair and aggressive behavior.”
Yet five months after an internal report outlined the allegations from a half-dozen employees, Gruber herself hasn’t even been interviewed by agency investigators, with no explanation of why. The report notes that Gruber is diabetic, a condition that could cause disorientation in certain circumstances, but no one has explained why the issue hasn’t been addressed. Doesn’t America’s Social Security system already have enough problems?
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Editorial: Short takes on stupid humans and smart animals - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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