The blog was borked, but I think I’ve fixed it, with my little hammer.
Let me know if you’re still seeing tiny text and no right-hand margin. Otherwise, consider this an open thread.
This post is in: Open Threads
The blog was borked, but I think I’ve fixed it, with my little hammer.
Let me know if you’re still seeing tiny text and no right-hand margin. Otherwise, consider this an open thread.
Comments are closed.
cleek
i blame Obama.
Yutsano
Improved mucho, grazie AL.
@cleek: PUMA!!
jeffreyw
OK, Maxwell here, who the fuck has my hammer? The silver one?
jeffreyw
Sammich
Comrade Mary
@jeffreyw: Here’s something for the chord geeks.
By the way, did you know that B flat is a magical, mystical note? Just ask Krulwich.
kindness
I just saw Game of Thrones on HBO.
It looks like fun.
Cat Lady
Married oldest daughter off yesterday. Not seeing tiny text, just tiny checking account. I can haz life back plz? kthx.
General Stuck
I blame blame, and The Bay City Bombers not getting the Medal of Freedom. Them gals was some bad ass shit kickers back in the day. I never missed a match during puberty, that was televised. Blood and guts and skanky elbows that could slice and dice any jammer that dared a run. Made them sissy Stillers look like choir boys.
It was always cool to watch the little stretchers deploy to pick up the broken bodies with a doctor tending the wounded. Them bruised ladies would get patched up and go right back at it. It was real as it gets.
Don’t know why they popped into my head, but they did.
TheOtherWA
@Cat Lady: If your daughter and her new hubby have their own place to live, yes, you can haz life back. Otherwise, not so much.
SFAW
As well you should. However, based on the latest (well, not really the latest, but close) from Cueball Trump, we have Bush to blame for having Preznit Mooslim. Which of course means:
it’s all Clinton’s fault! Also.
PeakVT
Of course, some people like their websites borked, which is why someone developed this.
Amir_Khalid
@jeffreyw: I remember that I spent fasting hours during last Ramadhan looking at your wicked food pr0n. You, sir, are an evil tempter. ;–)
dr. bloor
If being borked in this instance involved text being blocked out by a rollover BP ad, then no, you haven’t.
SFAW
Too much Owsley, maybe?
kdaug
It seems a couple of tablespoons of real butter, along with wrapper, has disappeared from our kitchen counter.
The Golden Retriever is not known for his counter-climbing skills. The German Shepherd pup, on the other hand…
I expect a couple of days of poop-with-wax-paper fun is at hand (ahem). Giggle if you must, but for those in the know, is there anything to worry about here, or is it something I can safely let – um – pass.
We’re talking ~two TBSP organic creamery butter tops, plus wrapper.
General Stuck
@SFAW:
I think it was the Nixon thread, but Owsley flashbacks are an ever present possibility. Or maybe I really have gone crazy, wouldn’t be out of the question, after 4 years of reading this blog every day.
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
OT, but it looks like asshole Ben Stein has now made it to coveted RINO status.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2706402/posts
SFAW
Well, here’s a simple test: if the item at the link makes perfect sense to you, then, yes, you’re crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDgQg6bq7o
(And, no, it’s not a Rick-roll. I may be a dickhead at times, but I do have some standards.)
Polish the Guillotines
@General Stuck: Woah. Flashback time. Bombers vs. T-birds. Seemed like every Saturday. Always after wrestling, with the likes of Pat Patterson and Rocky Johnson (The Rock’s dad). Woah.
M. Bouffant
Now could you get rid of Michele Bachmann’s face, which is everywhere?
suzanne
@Cat Lady:
Ah, a bridezilla?
Loved my weddng day. REALLY loved the “oh thank God that part’s over!” part. Heh. Best of luck to your spawn and her chosen one. :)
M. Bouffant
@Polish the Guillotines: I’ll rate for T-birds/Bombers. Skinny Minnie Minoso!
Anne Laurie
@Cat Lady: Congratulations!
(If it was an outdoor ceremony, I hope everybody finished up early, before it started raining.)
Gretchen D
@Yevgraf (fka Michael): Wow, Ben Stein! And the comments are amazing, too. And they think Ben drank the kool aid.
General Stuck
@SFAW:
LOL, thank you. that made me laugh out loud/ much needed
Omnes Omnibus
@General Stuck: yes, but did it make sense to you?
Alan
Since this is an open thread, I might as well do an after-action report on yesterday’s anti-neo-Nazi protest. Warning: FUCKING LONG:
My friend E learned through Facebook that neo-Nazis were planning a rally at the state capitol in Trenton, NJ. Another New Jersey group, Anti-Racist Action (henceforth ARA) was planning a counterprotest. I agreed to drive down to Trenton, picking her up on the way, to join the ARA folks and see what we could do to help. Due to work/other organizing/whatever, we didn’t do any preparatory work, though I did see on nj.com that the New Black Panthers were also planning to counterprotest.
We arrived in Trenton around noon on Saturday, and as usual, the city was completely deserted. Trenton is a company town, so there isn’t a lot of activity on weekends. We parked in a hotel garage and made our way to the Battle Monument where the ARA event was supposed to commence. As we approached the monument, we saw two dozen or so folks gathered nearby, so we crossed the street to join them.
As soon as we were across the street, we realized we’d made a mistake. Every single person at the base of the monument was dressed in black, hooded, bandanna’d—they were all black bloc. Apparently ARA is an anarchist organization, and they had come to do direct action. Neither E nor I had head or face coverings, and E was wearing bright colors, so we stuck out like sore thumbs.
Eventually the bloc got underway, and we marched down a major street with a big “ANTI-RACISM” banner shouting slogans and chants. For whatever reason we settled on “Death, death, death to the Nazis! Power, power, power to the people!” I wasn’t comfortable with the “death” part, but power to the people is fine by me, so I did every other line. Despite the manifest issues with a bunch of mostly white, mostly out-of-towners loaded for bear stomping around downtown Trenton shouting “death!”, bystanders were coming out of buildings and cars to cheer us on. I saw a lot of smiles and fist-pumps, even some dancing.
As we got deeper downtown, we saw evidence that something was up. There were many police vehicles with lights on, both parked and in motion. We saw a crowd of a dozen or saw protesters on a street corner, and saw horses blocking off side streets. Suddenly, our bloc plunged into another mass of black-clad protestors—a New Black Panthers squadron. The were lined up on either side of the sidewalk, dressed in black paramilitary uniforms with black do-rags and berets. They looked intimidating and badass, with expressions to match, but I smiled when I noticed two of them filming us, one with a camcorder, the other with a cellphone. We emerged on the other side and continued toward our target, a supposed weak point in the police cordon.
One right turn pointed us toward the capitol. Up ahead, state troopers and an SUV blocked the road, and they had with them a rude surprise: dogs. This is where I started to regret my choice of group. E and I dropped to the back of the bloc, making sure to stay behind the banner-holders in case their courage exceeded ours. The group made another right turn, avoiding confrontation with the police, and the weak point turned out to be real: we were now behind the saw horses we had seen earlier, and to our left was an unblocked street, bringing us another step closer to the capitol.
Down that street, we marched past more officers, and now tactical officers in body armor and helmets. On a rooftop up ahead, we could see spotters filming us. A Department of Corrections bus blocked the end of the road, and an officer instructed us to proceed through a parking lot, around a corner, and through a set of metal detectors to get as close to the rally as would be allowed. E and I weren’t ready to walk into a police trap just yet, and we had items with us that wouldn’t make it through a metal detector, so we departed for a time to return to the parking garage, deposit our stuff, and decide what to do. The rest of the bloc resolved to find some other way around the cordon, so they went off in some other direction. I was somewhat relieved to see them leave.
After dropping our umbrella, backpack, etc., E and I headed back to the checkpoint. Without our anarchist pals, we figured we were less likely to be targeted by the police, and if we were going to be funneled into a free speech zone away from the action, it wouldn’t be any worse than wandering from one empty street to another. We went to the parking lot the officer had specified, hung a left, and saw canopies and a crowd of people. Well, not quite. We saw canopies, a crowd of people, two dozen state troopers, half a dozen police dogs, and an armored SWAT truck. The crowd was being led between the two lines of police dogs, under the canopies, to the metal detectors. Beyond the metal detectors were dozens more state troopers. E and I hesitated until we saw that some New Black Panthers were in the line. We figured they were not going to walk straight into a trap, and if they did, at least it would be interesting, so we got in line behind them.
From this point on, all the state troopers had riot helmets and shields. Some had bean bag guns. We had a lot of time to think about whether those guns were for us or the neo-Nazis as we waited in the line for what seemed like forever. We reached the metal detectors, dumped out our pockets, and got patted down. I believe E was patted down by a female officer, but I forgot to ask. After the metal detectors was an alley lined with troopers standing shoulder to shoulder on either side. The alley led down a hill, and at the bottom of the hill we were on State Street. As we hit the street, the New Black Panthers took off ahead of us, in formation, doing a black power chant and salute. “An end to black on black violence—black power! An end to black on white violence—black power! An end to white on black violence—black power! An end to white on white violence—black power! An end to capitalism—black power!” They were mesmerizing, and as a show of force, damn impressive. But as we followed behind them, we became aware of our surroundings: the street was lined on either side with barricades, and the barricades were lined with state troopers, shoulder to shoulder. Most of the way to the capitol the barricades cut across the street, and behind those the troopers were four deep. Several hundred feet behind them was a loose circle of maybe ten or fifteen officers surrounding the capitol steps, and on the steps were the neo-Nazis. In terms of total numbers, I would estimate 200 counterprotestors, 40 neo-Nazis, and 1000 police officers. The level of police presence was almost unfathomable.
The New Black Panther squadron stopped short of the barricades, so we went around them to the main crowd of counterprotestors. Even from the very front, we could barely make out the neo-Nazis past the rows of state troopers. Our crowd was an interesting mix: Trenton residents, almost all latino or black, from a variety of countries, and some with children in tow; Jews from near and far; college students, mostly white, but with at least one woman waving a Brazilian flag; and a few folks who just looked happy to have something to protest. For the record, I qualify as a “Jew from far,” and E as a white college student. The black bloc was nowhere to be seen. Center front, a man with a bullhorn was giving an inspired rant about poverty and violence.
Due to the distance and police barrier, our interaction with the neo-Nazis was limited. Every once in a while, they would face us and do a sieg heil salute; we would respond by flipping them the bird and shouting “looooooser!” Not a lot of dialog going on. Within our own group, though, there was a lot of dialog, and it was fascinating. The New Black Panthers kept to themselves, and the rank and file did not appear interested in talking to anyone who wasn’t wearing a beret. But the rest of us were talking. I heard Jamaican-Americans talking about anti-semitism. I heard Jewish-Americans talking about anti-immigration. I heard immigrants talking about police violence against blacks. And I heard EVERYONE talking about class. The bullhorn was being passed around, and everyone had a chance to vent, including a girl who couldn’t have been older than ten.
Finally, the New Black Panthers decided it was time to address the crowd, so their leader took his bullhorn and made his way to the barricades. The rest of his squadron needed to stay in formation around him, which led to some comical “coming through, make a hole” as they all shuffled past the other counterprotestors. Several of their members were women, and whereas previously they had all been scowling, now they were smiling. Some of the men recognized old friends in the crowd and embraced them. Their leader gave a short speech, then paused to gather steam. Without warning, one of the white counterprotestors, a guy who was clearly a regular at this sort of event, started shouting at the top of his lungs, “When was the last time Chris Christie walked down these streets? When was the last time a state senator walked down these streets? When was the last time a congressman walked down these streets?” The leader of the New Black Panthers looked on with amusement, then agreement, and handed him the bullhorn.
MikeJ
@cleek: I was wondering if Obama had sent tornadoes to your house yet.
S. cerevisiae
God, I remember watching the T-birds as a kid. Along with Verne Gagne’s AWA wrestling – The Crusher vs Dr X, Baron Von Rashke, etc. Good times.
Comrade Mary
HOLY SHIT WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME EARLIER THAT YOUTUBE WAS SIMULCASTING COACHELLA?
The lovely Polly Jean Harvey is on Channel 2 RIGHT NOW.
James E. Powell
@S. cerevisiae:
The jam is on!
alwhite
“You know why the Democrats’ symbol is the letter “D”? Because it’s a grade that means, “good enough, but just barely.” You know why the Republicans’ symbol is “R”? Because it’s the noise a pirate makes when he robs you and feeds you to a shark.”
cleek
@MikeJ:
no, the incompetent fool missed me by like 10 miles.
though he did manage to completely wipe out a Home Depot and couple of trailer parks.
cleek
@cleek:
(because he hates business and the poor)
Phyllis
Terrific little half-hour doc on the making of The King’s Speech on channel 101 (DirectV).
Peggy
BRIAN FUCHS resident of Halamish, West Bank writes on April 12, 2011 on the NYT that
As is well known, most non-Arab occupants of the West Bank embrace and love their female Muslim neighbors, especially when they are about to give birth and are waiting to pass through a checkpoint.
Peggy
As is well known, most non-Arab occupants of the West Bank embrace and love their female Muslim neighbors, especially when they are about to give birth and are waiting to pass through a checkpoint.
Peggy
IN previous post, please excuse HTML mixup.
AnderJ
Hiatt proves that even broken clocks…
The Republican self-deception that draws the most attention is the refusal to believe that Barack Obama is American-born.