Free Republic

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s surplus shoelaces have now tied up a place in history. At the end of the Dublin Democrat’s short-lived presidential campaign, Swalwell was left with $7,000 worth of branded shoelaces. The excess swag was transferred to his congressional campaign, as detailed in a campaign finance report filed at the end of the fundraising quarter. Now, two sets of those shoelaces will be preserved for future generations at the California State Library.

Officials at Michigan State University investigated and released strongly worded statements earlier this week because a female student claimed to find a noose on the handle of a stairwell door in a residence hall.Turns out, the alleged “noose” was just a stray shoelace.The first report of the packaged leather shoelace someone decided was a noose occurred on Wednesday morning, reports the Lansing State Journal.Police — and, of course, the office of institutional equity — investigated the shoelace after a female student reported it as a noose. The president of Michigan State University, Lou Anna Simon, rapidly released a statement denouncing nooses...

A CLUMSY museum visitor tripped on a shoelace and shattered a set of priceless 300-year-old Chinese vases. The three Qing vases had survived on a windowsill at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, for more than 40 years. A witness said: "He was still sitting there stunned when staff appeared. He kept pointing to his shoelace, saying: `There it is, that's the culprit'." A museum spokeswoman said: "They are in very, very small pieces but we are determined to put them back together."