Hmmmmm. You can get a Dragon Leatherworks Quantum for a Browning Hi-Power…
Archive for May, 2015
The time has come…
Friday, May 29th, 2015You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#20 in a series)
Thursday, May 28th, 2015My quick thoughts on this mostly resemble Ace of Spades‘:
Point 1: The structuring law is bullshit, and has been frequently abused by the government. The Justice Department actually promised last October that they’d stop seizing assets for “structuring” unless there was some underlying crime. What was Hastert’s underlying crime? Paying someone off, as far as I know, isn’t illegal.
If Hastert voted to make “structuring” illegal, ’tis the sport to have the enginer hoist with his own petard. But a foolish moral consistency makes me believe that if it’s wrong for the Feds to go after other people over this, it’s wrong in Hastert’s case as well.
Point 2:
Last Dec. 8, Mr. Hastert was interviewed by agents. He told federal agents that he was not paying anyone with the money, but was keeping the withdrawals for himself because he felt unsafe with the banking system.
“Yeah,” Mr. Hastert told the agents, according to the indictment. “I kept the cash. That’s what I’m doing.”
Once again, I’m able to quote the timeless wisdom of Ken White:
Edited to add 5/29: And speaking of Ken White…
Everything that rises must get a stamp.
Tuesday, May 26th, 2015The Postal Service is issuing a Flannery O’Connor stamp.
To which I say, “Good.”
My relationship to O’Connor’s writing is a bit complicated. I had to read “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” when I was in school, and I hated it; it seemed like a collection of random cruelty with no point to it. But much later on in my life, something made me pick up The Complete Stories
But I still hate “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”.
Well, isn’t THIS a shocker?
Thursday, May 21st, 2015Also:
Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton now says crime scene officers have made a new weapons count and come up with 318 “and still counting.” Swanton said he expected the count to continue to rise.
Of those weapons counted so far, 118 are handguns, one is an AK-47 assault-style rifle and 157 are knives. Swanton says weapons still uncounted are clubs, knives, brass knuckles, firearms and chains with padlocks attached.
Yes, 118 plus one plus 157 does not add up to 318.
…it’s the hole.
Thursday, May 21st, 2015From the NYT, a short documentary about Chris Burden and “Shoot”.
New York City?!
Tuesday, May 19th, 2015The restaurant critic for the NYT reviews “New York’s first authentic Tex-Mex restaurant”:
Among the things Pete Wells apparently thinks Texans might like about “authentic” Tex-Mex:
- People shouting.
- Margaritas with “a slight chemical taste”.
- Warm drinks.
- Identical drinks served in two different sized glasses.
- Lukewarm queso.
- “At most restaurants, you are served what you ask for so routinely that your eyes glaze over with boredom. Javelina does not fall into the trap of dull predictability.”
And for the record…
Monday, May 18th, 2015Mike Redmond out as manager of the Miami Marlins.
155-207 in “just over” two seasons, 16-22 so far this season.
Random notes: May 18, 2015.
Monday, May 18th, 2015Lawrence has been on the Waco biker gang shootout like a fat man on a Chinese buffet. I’d encourage you to go here and here for coverage. (I was out and about with friends pretty much all day yesterday, which is why I’m running behind.)
A few random thoughts:
- Before yesterday, I couldn’t have named five biker gangs; my knowledge pretty much stopped with the Hells Angels, Bandidos, and Mongols (the latter because of their trademark battle). Not that I’m proud of my ignorance or anything, just saying.
- A lot of yesterday’s stories included some variation on “Twin Peaks corporate office was unavailable for comment”. Of course; it was a Sunday. But I figure there’s got to be a 24/7 emergency number for franchise owners to call…
“Thank you for calling the Twin Peaks hotline. If you have an emergency, press 1.”
“Thank you. If your restaurant is on fire, press 1. If your restaurant is flooding, press 2. If there is a shootout between rival biker gangs going on, press 3. If someone is committing an act of regicide, press 4.”
“You have selected regicide. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press one.“ - Speaking of Twin Peaks corporate, Lawrence quotes: “Twin Peaks corporate “is ‘seriously considering revoking’ the Waco location’s franchise agreement.” Gee, you don’t say. (As I was writing this post, the Statesman reported that the franchise has, indeed, been yanked.)
- “”We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant today.” Shocked, shocked we are to find out that biker gangs used our restaurant as a meeting place. (I know it is early and I’m relying on news media coverage, but it seems pretty well established at this point that this was a biker hangout, and that the management knew it.)
- Not only did they shoot up Twin Peaks, they walked the check at Denny’s and were rude to the Hooters girls. “They come in here all the time. I’ll keep waiting on them because that is my job. But this whole thing is just so crazy. And it’s also disrespectful, because of lot of those girls at Twin Peaks used to work here.”
- Seriously, I feel bad for the Twin Peaks and Don Carlos staff, who are probably going to lose at least several days of pay (if not their jobs) over this. Twin Peaks had their liquor license yanked temporarily, though the reports I’ve read say they can reopen as a restaurant “as soon as police allow it to be opened”.
Obit watch: Garo Yepremian, legendary Miami Dolphins kicker.
A while back, I linked to a NYT story about the Clif Bar people ending their sponsorships of certain athletes because of their discomfort with the risk involved. One of those athletes, Dean Potter, was quoted in the article.
Dean Potter was killed in a BASE jumping accident over the weekend.
Penn Jillette on the closing of the Riveria. The Riveria was actually the first place I ever stayed in Vegas.
Finally, and on a lighter note, the NYT ran an interview with Don Rickles. The news peg is that the complete “CPO Sharkey” is being released on DVD Tuesday. I had actually completely forgotten the existence of “CPO Sharkey” (though I’m sure I watched it) until the paper of record reminded me. Man, it is hard getting old.
Edited to add: Well. Well well well. Well.
Quel fromage! I wonder what they’re going to replace it with. Maybe a Bikinis? Or perhaps a Bombshells? Wait, wait, I know: perhaps someplace good? Or at least not degrading to women?
Notes from the legal beat: May 15, 2015.
Friday, May 15th, 2015Latest update from the Philadelphia PD (previously on WCD):
…
In totallly unrelated news, the WP has an interesting article on PappyGate.
Can’t get no antidote for blues…
Friday, May 15th, 2015Obit watch: May 14, 2015.
Thursday, May 14th, 2015This seems to have been horribly buried in the Statesman, but noted Texas fiddler Johnny Gimble passed away over the weekend.
…
I can’t embed it, but here’s a great version of “Take Me Back To Tulsa” with George Jones and Mr. Gimble.
And I can embed this: a profile of Mr. Gimble produced by a Waco TV station.
Riffing.
Wednesday, May 13th, 2015
Peli can’ts.
Wednesday, May 13th, 2015Obit watch: May 11, 2015.
Monday, May 11th, 2015Conceptual artist Chris Burden.
(Edited to add 5/12: NYT.)
I’ve touched on Mr. Burden and his work before, particularly the notorious “Shoot”. This is one work I was not aware of:
Z is for acquittal.
Friday, May 8th, 2015I’ve briefly touched on the whole Zetas/money laundering/horse training affair.
Latest news from the Statesman (sadly, paywalled, but there’s enough there to get the gist): Eusavio Huitron, one of the individuals previously convicted, has had his conviction reversed by the 5th Circuit.
I can’t find any other links, so I’m not clear on why his conviction was overturned. If I do turn something up, I’ll add an update here.
Not going to go there. Wouldn’t be prudent.
Friday, May 8th, 2015What prompts this? Today’s LAT:
Why the police shouldn’t use Glocks
I hate to be a wimp about this, but I don’t have either the time or the need to stress test my cerebral arteries this morning. I’m hoping that someone smarter than I am, like Tam, will take on this dreck: if not, maybe I’ll give it a shot at lunch.
The 4-Hour Suicide Watch.
Thursday, May 7th, 2015My brother is a big fan of Tim “The 4-Hour Workweek” Ferriss. I haven’t read any of the Ferriss books: nothing personal, just haven’t gotten to them yet.
But this was linked from the Y Combinator Hacker News twitter, and deserves some linky love:
Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide
Some pull quotes:
Left unfixed, you’ll have more dead kids on your hands, guaranteed.
This, too.
Obit watch: May 6, 2015.
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015Former Speaker of the House and noted author (“Reflections of a Public Man”) Jim Wright.
Ironic or not?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015“Ironic or not?” is a game I used to play with one of my cow orkers at Four Letter Computer Corporation.
During the Great Bobblehead Scandal of 2012, I bought a John Wilkes Booth bobblehead.
I had it on my desk at work until this morning, when I accidentally knocked it onto the floor and…
Yes, Booth broke his ankles. Much like the actual John Wilkes Booth did when he got his foot tangled in the bunting while leaping out of the presidential box at Ford’s Theater.
(Or maybe he broke his leg. Or maybe he didn’t break anything at all in the leap, but his horse injured him later. I’m a little dubious about that story; the evidence for that seems to be “he didn’t run like he had a broken leg”. Well, maybe, but given that he’d just killed the president and was fleeing the scene, adrenaline may have done a great job of hiding a broken leg.)
What really kind of totes my goat is that Booth fell maybe three feet (if that) onto a carpeted office floor. Note to self: don’t buy stuff from “The Bobblehead LLC”.
Ironic or not? Before you answer…
What? What?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015This is not an Onion article.
“The Masonic Fraternal Police Department”. You know what the difference between fiction and the real world is? Fiction has to be believable.
In other news…
Odd that these places with “looser” gun laws have lower crime rates. Also odd that this is tied to the death of NYPD officer Brian Moore, because…
Early one October morning in 2011, two masked men with gloved hands smashed their way into a roadside pawnshop in rural Georgia, fleeing with 23 handguns.
Four years later, on a street in Queens on Saturday, a man raised one of those guns — a silver, five-shot Taurus revolver — and fired three times at New York police officers. A bullet struck Officer Brian Moore in the face; he died on Monday.
Yes. The gun was stolen, so of course Georgia’s looser restrictions on gun purchases are at fault.
Obit watch: May 4, 2015.
Monday, May 4th, 2015Frank Olivo died last Thursday at the age of 66.
Mr. Olivo’s claim to fame? He was the Santa Claus who got booed and hit with snowballs at an Eagles game in 1968.
(Hattip: Jimbo.)
I haven’t found an obit that I like yet, but various reliable sources are reporting the death of Grace Lee Whitney, also known as Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek.
(Edited to add: A/V Club. NYT.)
Finally, and most personally upsetting to me, Ruth Rendell passed away over the weekend.
I got into a conversation with Lawrence a while back about who I would put into the first rank of mystery writers: I need to write up that conversation at some point. Honestly, there are large gaps in my knowledge of Rendell – I haven’t read very much of Inspector Wexford, for example. But the Rendell I have read has made a huge impression on me: I think I would put her into that first rank, even with the gaps.
I want to specifically mention one book of Rendell’s that just blew me away when I read it, and which seems undeservedly obscure: A Judgement in Stone
Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write.
That is the first line of the novel. Rendell has just told you who the murderer was, who was killed, and even why the crime took place. What else is there to tell? She has literally spoiled the entire novel in the very first sentence.
Except she hasn’t. The rest of the novel explains how Eunice Parchman’s illiteracy and ignorance inevitably leads her to shotgun a happy family to death. It is like a train that you see coming, but can’t get out of the way of.
The world is a lesser place for Ms. Rendell’s passing.