2013 archive
What’s in Them Teabags? 0
White pekoe-woods with a delicate hint of Bircher bark, that’s what.
Chauncey Devega explains the brew.
Flying under the Weather 0
Chauncey Devega wonders, why is no one distressed by white-on-white crime?
He has a typically long, detailed, and tightly-reasoned answer, but, really, you know, it’s quite simple.
If it’s white-on-white crime, it’s colorblind crime, so the “white” part is irrelevant.
A Picture Is Worth 0
I used to pass the wind farm in Somerset County, Pa., several times a year.
Give me graceful wind machines over smoking stacks and cooling towers any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Picture via The GreemMiles, which adds commentary.
Football uber Alles 0
Daniel Ruth is not amused by the NFL’s recent purse prohibition. A nugget:
Follow the link. Later on, he waxes sarcastic. (No word on whether sarcastic waxes h–oh, never mind.)
Post-Racial 0
Indeed.
A manager at MCU Park noticed the defacement Wednesday morning. The words “Heil Hitler,” an expletive and racist epithets were scrawled on the statue in black marker. Workers later covered up the vandalism.
Sequestrian Dressage 0
It may be out of the headlines, but the dance continues.
I Expect that Nothing Will Come of This 0
The New York-based bank said in a regulatory filing that it is responding to investigations by the civil and criminal divisions of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California. In May, the civil division informed JPMorgan that it had “preliminarily concluded” that the bank had violated federal securities laws in connection with certain mortgage-backed investments it sold from 2005 to 2007.
The banksters were selling bags of air, er, derivatives in a colossal Ponzi scheme fueled by the myth that “Flip this house; real estate prices will never go down, because God ain’t makin’ no more land.”
God may not be makin’ no more land, but real estate prices went down-derry-down in the murky gloom when the wheels came off the Ponzi sedan.
But nothing will come of this, because free markets and three-piece suits.
False Flag 2
The Virginia Flaggers plans to fly the 10-by-15-foot flag on a 50-foot pole just south of Richmond. It’s tentatively scheduled to go up Sept. 28 and will be visible from the northbound lanes of the interstate, although organizers haven’t said exactly where it will be located.
The group claims that this a benign reminder of an honorable lost cause. From farther down the page:
“Basically, the flag is being erected as a memorial to the memory and the honor of the Confederate soldiers who sacrificed, bled and died to defend Virginia from invasion,” Hathaway said.
One more time: When someone starts running on about the “Lost Cause,” ask him or her,
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“Just what, exactly, was the cause that was lost.”
Twits on Twitter 0
Historiann asks, “Why is this the summer of tweeting badly?”
Words Have Meaning 0
Yes, indeed, they do, and the internet is a public place.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A bit better, but still significantly above 300k.
(snip)
Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by about 48,800 to 1.52 million in the week ended July 20.
The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 2.3 percent in the week ended July 27, today’s report showed.
Forty-five states and territories reported a decline in claims, while eight reported an increase. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Gunnutery, life in the streets.
After getting out of his car and waving around a gun, neighbors say the gun suddenly went off.
“Pulled his gun out trying to shoot one of them but he shot himself,” Summerson says.
“He was holding his groin and there was blood everywhere,” said neighbor Zach Watson.
There is a certain element of poetry in this.
“They Want To Beat Her with Someone Who Can’t Beat Her” 0
Frankly, I think the primary reason that Hilary Clinton is receiving so much attention as a possible candidate is 2016 is name recognition, but, really, now folks, it’s a long time until then.
In the meantime, Chris Matthews considers the current Republican assault on Clinton and what it says about Republicans.
It’s both comic and pathetic that the Republican Party is reduced to attempting to censor television network programming.
Stray Thought 0
Why do people sop with bread when they could Sopwith Camel?
Absurdiburton 0
Weiner warning.
Sharia Scaria 2
A notable characteristic of Republicanism is a singular lack of self-awareness.
It enables and informs the hypocrisy.
Although this column is about a month old, it points this out starkly.
Then with absolutely zero appreciation for irony, the state senate amended the bill to quickly and somewhat secretly restrict access to legal and constitutionally-protected abortion. Why?
Their religious convictions.
Do read the rest.
Via the Progressive Populist.
“That Conversation about Race” 0
If Poker Were a Game of Skill . . . 0
. . . you wouldn’t need to bet to make it interesting.
The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a decision last year that said Lawrence DiCristina could not be prosecuted because “Texas Hold ‘Em” was a game of skill rather than chance.
Bennett Cerf, in one of his books, told the story of a small town in the old west that outlawed gambling (in those days, faro was the game of choice) and promptly had some professional gamblers arrested. The gamblers protested that it was a game of skill.
Defense counsel suggested a fair (faro?) test to determine whether faro was a game of chance or one of skill. Three townsfolk representing the “game of chance” position squared off against three of the professional gamblers . . . .
Charges were dropped.