Random notes: May 6, 2010.

OMG! Faisal Shahzad had a Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 in his car!

…all along he possessed a weapon that could have easily done extreme damage, one rapidly fired round at a time.

Later:

It is, in effect, a low-powered rifle. Unlike those of some rifles, its bullets probably would not penetrate a police officer’s bullet-resistant vest, a law enforcement official said.

And:

Unlike the Tec-9, it is not frequently used by criminals, the official said.

Meanwhile, Dana Milbank in the WP asks the musical question:

Is the NRA a terrorist organization?

What prompts this? The NRA’s opposition to barring people on the notoriously unreliable terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

In other news: Houston rapper that nobody’s ever heard of files lawsuit against local radio station for not playing his “music”.

Trae is suing for general damages to his reputation, character, standing in the community, mental suffering, loss of professional opportunities, performance revenue and record royalties.

I’m looking forward to seeing what legal precedent his lawyer sites that requires a radio station to play someone’s music. Could I sue KGSR for not playing Jonathan Coulton? Even better, could I sue KGSR for playing Kasey Chambers?

Edited to add: “Washington Post puts Newsweek up for sale. Do I hear $1? Anyone?

Provider 1 bids 300 quatloos on the newcomers.

Edited to add 2: I have been in the practice of noting Roger Ebert’s better negative reviews, especially the one-star and zero-star reviews. A zero-star review from Ebert is pretty rare; he’s stated in the past that for a film to get no stars, it not only has to be bad, but morally reprehensible in some way.

Accordingly, I am going to link to this zero-star Ebert review. I am not going to name the film. I do not encourage you to click on the link. I had heard about this film previously on FARK, and wish I had not.

4 Responses to “Random notes: May 6, 2010.”

  1. Brian Dunbar says:

    all along he possessed a weapon that could have easily done extreme damage, one rapidly fired round at a time.

    Dear NYT,

    Gus Hasford wrote in ‘The Short Timers’ that it is a hard hard that kills and he is not wrong.

    A rifle in the trunk is a tool – the shooter is the weapon.

    r/s
    Me

  2. Joe D says:

    I’ve been waiting to see that movie, actually.

    It’s so full of WTF that it somehow compels me.

  3. Brian Dunbar says:

    I’ve been waiting to see that movie, actually.

    ‘Full Metal Jacket’ is a pretty okay movie: the first half is a very excellent portrayal of boot camp, the second half a not bad war movie.

    It’s all shenanigans and moonshine of course: boot camp isn’t really like that. But they captured the essence of the thing very well: it’s a platonic ideal thingee of the experience of boot camp.

    And you can always read ‘The Short Timers’, here: http://www.gustavhasford.com/ST.htm

  4. sween says:

    And thus we have an exhibition of the confusion resulting from putting multiple unrelated topics into one post.