A Quick Run Around the Web--December 27, 2015 (Updated)

• "Kentucky's Mall St. Matthews Shuts Down After Brawls Involving Up to 2,000"--NBC News. The news report indicates that up to 2,000 "teens" between 13 and their early 20's were involved. Over 50 police were involved with attempting to control the situation.

About 8 p.m., authorities started to advise stores in the mall to close their doors, but those involved in the brawls were refusing to leave. "Businesses were in the process of closing their doors, steel grates, and you had juveniles that were not allowing businesses to close up — [they were] climbing on the grates," McDonald said.

"This was a riot," McDonald added. "It was crazy."

Police received reports of shots fired within and outside the mall, but investigators haven't confirmed those reports, McDonald said.

Restaurants and shops surrounding the mall also closed their doors as the teens and young adults flooded out, McDonald said.

However, there were no arrests.

I was intrigued by the vague description of the rioters and that there had been no arrests. I read several other news reports that similarly only described the rioters as "teens," although they obviously were not limited to teenagers, and give no explanation as to the cause of the riots. It was also interesting that none of the reports seemed to have actual footage of the perpetrators. Of course I was suspicious--I'm familiar with how media in Europe will go out of the way to obfuscate the identities of perpetrators that are Middle-Eastern, African, or similar ethnicity. Such is the situation here. I finally found an report which showed footage of the "teens" fleeing from the mall after police began to arrive--it showed young blacks--mostly males--running from the mall. So "teens" is now the acceptable code-word for young black men?

• Update: The Daily Mail decided to go completely delusional by referring to the perpetrators as "children," as if it were groups of 5 year olds that had somehow evaded their mothers' grasp.

• A couple stories from Watts Up With That about the myth of the "Pacific garbage patch" and oceans choked with plastic:

• "An Ocean of Plastic"--detailing the myth and why there is so little plastic (spoiler: it breaks down and is eventually consumed by bacteria).

• "Are we really “choking the ocean with plastic”? Tracing the creation of an eco-myth"--self explanatory.

• "The Rise in Violent Crime: Reasons and Excuses"--Powerline. When faced with evidence of a "Ferguson effect" on violent crime, the media suddenly starts explaining that violent crime is much lower now than 20 years ago--something that they assiduously ignore when gun control is the topic.