First Looks category archive

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

No doubt someone will blame this on all the marijuana on the East Slope.

Via the Booman.

Stu Bykofsky is fed up with the coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

I do care about the lives of the hundreds of innocent passengers and crew. The spiderweb of tragedy radiates out to their families, friends and associates. But my caring doesn’t change facts on the ground (or in the air). Interviews with families of the victims add nothing, other than emotion, to the story. There is poignant human interest in them, but they are frustrated and heartbroken. Sometimes pathos turns to bathos, as when families called off a hunger strike after seven hours.

Talking about the facts, or so-called facts, provides a case study of the weakness of breaking-news journalism, often called the first draft of history. It’s the first draft, not the final draft.

He goes on to compare the coverage to the last days of the TV show Lost (the fascination for which ever escaped me).

He sums up in one column why I avoid broadcast news. It’s become venal voyeurism for vapid viewers, less nutritious than a Hostess Twinkie.

If Akismet does not catch you, I will, and you will be zapped.

Catch up with the latest in “I’m-not-a-racist-but.”

I’m a Southern Boy. I know a bigot when I see one.

Family weekend.

Georgia poised to crush the stones:

House Bill 459 would allow authorities to ticket those who lollygag in the state’s left lanes. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for any driver on a divided highway who does not move to the right when a car going faster approaches from behind.

With the state House already signing off on the measure, all it needs is Gov. Nathan Deal’s signature to become law.

I certainly see the rationale for this, but I wonder whether folks who think fifteen miles an hour over the speed limit is their right will seize on this to justify their tailgating.

______________

*”Road boulder” is a phrase from Gary Richards’s excellent Roadshow column.

Off to drink liberally.

Excerpt:

We live in a country that guarantees free speech, . . . but it’s not a country that guarantees that anything you say is correct.

The rest is moved below the fold because it autoplays on some systems.

Read more »

Drinking Liberally is a gathering place for liberals. Socialize and laugh in a friendly atmosphere.

When: 6 p., Tuesday, March 11.

Where:
Uno Chicago Grill
5900 Virginia Beach Blvd
(Janaf Shopping Center) (map)

Tuesdays for Norfolk, Thursdays for Virginia Beach to make it easier for persons with commitments on either day to catch at least one per month.

DST fever.

A loss. As my two or three regular readers know, I have long been a fan of his work.

Please follow the link and contribute to help his widow. I did.

Via Balloon Juice. Please follow the link to read John Cole’s post.

Have you ever flipped (or had flipped at you) high beams as a warning of a speed trap?

Seems at least one police department didn’t like that bit of driver-to-driver neighborliness. Police in Ellisville, Mo., would fine drivers as much as $1,000 for doing such warnings.

But no more. A federal judge ruled in February that drivers have a First Amendment right to tell other drivers a speed trap is ahead.

The columnist goes on to suggest why cops should not consider this a bad thing.

Off to drink liberally.

Afterthought:

It was a good time. Join us for the next one. It’s fun and it’s free (except separate checks).

Stay classy, Virgina Republicans.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.

When: Thursday, February 27th, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

Off to drink liberally.

The tall ship Bounty was lost because the captain made a “reckless” decision to set sail into Hurricane Sandy, according to the first official report on the sinking.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday released its 16-page report. A separate Coast Guard investigation is ongoing.

This is no surprise. Anyone who knows anything about boats could have predicted this.

When I worked for the railroad, I occasionally got to read NTSB reports on train wrecks. I found them fascinating, but, then, I worked for the railroad. Anyone else might have found the mass of detail boring.

The NTSB takes so long to issue their reports because they don’t miss the teeniest tiniest thing.