Yes Tim, you're still a thief.

I try not to post about every little thing that catches my notice, but, every once in a while, there's that something special, that extra little splash of "maybe I can bullshit my way out of this" that just demands I say something.  Side note:  this isn't about our current president and his crew, that tsunami of bullshit is more than I could ever hope to keep up with.  Thankfully, we still have news organizations with paid fact checkers for that.

No, this is about someone more local, Tim Eyman, a long-time initiative-hawker in Washington state.  Recently, he was caught on video taking a chair from an Office Depot that he didn't pay for.  He has since issued a statement through his lawyers, calling it "ridiculous" that anyone would believe that he intentionally stole that chair.  Rather, he just forgot to pay for it, and "accidentally removed" the chair.

Now, maybe, just maybe, he's being absolutely honest here.  Maybe he's not just another "rich shoplifter" (try Googling that phrase, turns out it's enough of a thing that news stories and psychology articles have been written about it).  Maybe he did wheel that chair out to his car before completing his shopping trip, with every intention of paying for it when he finished up.  The fact of the matter is, none of that matters.  Stores have a tried-and-tested process to avoid that sort of mistake - to wit, gather what you want to buy, pay for what you've gathered, then take what you've paid for with you when you leave.  Tim, at some point, decided that he was above the need to follow those simple steps, and act that would leave many of us fearful of being accused of shoplifting on the spot.  He did things his way, for reasons good, bad, or indifferent, and as a result took merchandise from a store without paying for it.  That's still theft, and I can only hope that he gets the same treatment that any other person who did the same would get.