This is why
If Democrats persist in asking why Republicans are worried about fraud at the ballot box, accused Washington state shooter Arcan Cetin is exhibit A.
The Turkish immigrant, who shot and killed five people at a mall in the state recently, is not legally allowed to vote as a green card holder and a non-U.S. citizen, but he voted in the last three elections, including in the presidential primary in May.
One possible reason is that Washington does not verify citizenship during voter registration, although voters must attest to their citizenship whether registering online or at the Department of Licensing Office. That, in itself, is a head scratcher.
KING 5, a news station in the state, reported that federal investigators confirmed Cetin is a registered voter even though it is not legal for him to be one. They did not reveal which party, if any, he was registered to.
Cetin, who immigrated to the United States from Turkey as a child, would have been eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship after a certain period of time, but the news station said his status had not been changed.
Clearly, a state’s elections process should not operate on the honor system. But since it does, imagine how many more like him there are planning to vote in November.
Let them eat carbon
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, had an Al Gore moment recently when she took a private jet to a clean energy roundtable in Asheville, N.C.
Gore, U.S. vice president under Chelsea’s father, Bill, is well known for railing about environmental causes but leaving huge carbon footprints while doing so.
Clinton, who was already in North Carolina at a campaign event, could have driven or flown commercially to the event but chose the less environmentally friendly way of traveling. The former first daughter should be free to travel any way she chooses, but her mother’s campaign has made carbon use an issue.
Last year, her campaign pledged to be carbon neutral on the trail, stating it would be “offsetting the carbon footprint of the campaign and that includes travel.” However, the candidate herself apparently has put that pledge aside, exclusively using private jets.
The elder Clinton, after all, while serving as secretary of state, once described commercial flights as “burdensome.”
Believe the children?
A New Jersey high school student, assigned to do an anti-gun control project over the summer by his teacher as part of a college readiness course, was suspended from Manville High School and ordered to have a psychological examination because he did what he was asked to do.
“It was assigned by the teacher,” said Frank Harvey, according to a television report, “and I got the topic, which was anti-gun control, approved by the teacher.”
However, the student left a thumb drive with his work on it on a computer in the school library. The work included stories of people who had used guns to fend off home invaders, some anti-gun control political cartoons and the general consensus that gun-free zones are ineffective. The undisclosed person who found it turned it over to school administration, which called local police.
Nothing in it warranted alarm, as the police investigation that cleared Harvey proved, but the school elected to proceed with suspending him and said he couldn’t return until undergoing a five-hour psychological evaluation.
The teacher now does not remember making the assignment, but the student’s mother, Mary Vervan, said she won’t schedule a psych evaluation because “this teacher is lying and won’t own up to what she did.”
Indeed, his parents are so outraged that they have decided to withdraw him, and he will work toward earning a GED. Harvey just wants to clear his name.
“I’ve never been a violent person,” he said. “I’ve never had detention in my life.”
Honor among hoaxers
A black police officer in Bridgeport, Conn., who helped perpetrate a hate crime hoax last year and is now suspended and facing termination, is getting an award from the NAACP for his actions.
A year ago, Clive Higgins sent a fake letter to himself, attempting to make it appear racist white officers on the force were threatening him. Unfortunately for him, surveillance video caught him doing it.
A fellow black officer, Lt. Lonnie Blackwell, directed Higgins to compose the letter and has been charged with a criminal offense.
The NAACP is aware of the hoax charge but believes the whole incident was a racist conspiracy. The organization believes Blackwell “fits the description” of the award, which is to go to “individuals who have fought for civil rights and justice for citizens in the community in which they live.”
It further believes the federal government should take over the department and root out whatever real racism may be there.