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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by $8 blue check mistermix|  August 24, 201211:35 am| 120 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Here’s an open thread to discuss the idiot with a gun who killed his ex-boss and decided to shoot up the town this morning, or anything else.

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Previous Post: « Do You Think Anyone Will Care?
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Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    August 24, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Some reports are that 2 victims may have been shot by cops.

  2. 2.

    seanindc

    August 24, 2012 at 11:41 am

    Here’s Fallows doing an IamA on Reddit – good stuff.

    http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/yr7f4/i_am_james_fallows_writer_for_the_atlantic_author/

  3. 3.

    kindness

    August 24, 2012 at 11:41 am

    But guns don’t kill people. People kill people….or some fail twisted lying logic like that.

  4. 4.

    Hill Dweller

    August 24, 2012 at 11:42 am

    Paul Ryan said in an interview yesterday that “the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life”. In other words, if a woman or child becomes pregnant as a result of rape and/or incest, the government should force her to carry it.

    Ryan is a radical. Both his economic and social beliefs are radical by any modern political standard.

  5. 5.

    pseudonymous in nc

    August 24, 2012 at 11:43 am

    @raven:

    Some reports are that 2 victims may have been shot by cops.

    But Wayne LaPierre says that such things are unpossible.

  6. 6.

    PWL

    August 24, 2012 at 11:43 am

    So that’s three mass shootings in under a month. So what does the NRA have to say about this? Are they proud of giving the deranged the wherewithal to gun down large numbers of people in just a few seconds–and to do it so aften?

  7. 7.

    gogol's wife

    August 24, 2012 at 11:44 am

    @seanindc:

    I just skimmed it but I already saw something I disagree with: he said that a minus for Obama in debates is that as President, he hasn’t had the experience of anyone being disrespectful to him. Is he kidding me?

  8. 8.

    Mark S.

    August 24, 2012 at 11:44 am

    Fuck it, I repost what I put in the last thread:

    Anderson Cooper is a putz. There’s no way you can watch this video and think he schools DWS. Seriously, his argument is that sitting there and not objecting to a no-exceptions Constitutional amendment on abortion is not the same as drafting one. Ok, big fucking whoop. And I’m sure Americans will be outraged that the Dems quoted an LA Times article out of context in a fundraising letter to their supporters.

    But it gave David Frum a woody, who sees it as what cable news could look like and how awesome it would be. Jesus, David, that already is what cable news is: millionaire idiots arguing over minute points that don’t have anything to do with the larger picture.

  9. 9.

    raven

    August 24, 2012 at 11:46 am

    @PWL: I’d get an understanding of what happened before I’d start with the “MASS and MOWED DOWN”.

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 24, 2012 at 11:46 am

    @PWL:

    Whatever. The important thing here is arms and ammunition sales are booming. Booming, I say!

  11. 11.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    August 24, 2012 at 11:46 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    That was my reaction too! This POTUS has had more disrespect lobbed his way than any in history I would guess.

  12. 12.

    rlrr

    August 24, 2012 at 11:46 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    “YOU LIE!”

  13. 13.

    seanindc

    August 24, 2012 at 11:47 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    i think the point he was making was its one thing to lob bombs via commercials or rhetorical fire from a podium, its another to get in someones face and say the same thing – ala ObmneyCare with Timmeh. I think he’s sorely mistaken but I get the point he’s trying to get across.

  14. 14.

    raven

    August 24, 2012 at 11:47 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: And NYC has very tough laws, right?

  15. 15.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Some good news, hopefully; I submitted ym packet to the Firefighter Academy earlier this week. The guy said I was good and today is the deadline, so of course I’m paranoid. So, barring anything unforseen, I’ll be a certified FF come April. I’m already an EMT so I’m instantly hirable. And, the AS in Fire Science seems built to convert the academy into a degree so I could actually have a degree by the end of next year.

    So now I’m sitting here wondering what’s going to go tragicomically wrong in the next few weeks.

  16. 16.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    August 24, 2012 at 11:51 am

    Jesus wept. I just read something over at Hullabaloo that made my head hurt. Digby is not generally this pig-ignorant.

    She claimed that Greenspan oversaw a boom. For the fucking record, this is unmitigated bullshit of the highest order.

    He transformed the economy into something new and wholly unsustainable. FFS PLEASE STOP DUMBING DOWN AMERICA.

  17. 17.

    Waynski

    August 24, 2012 at 11:51 am

    Not that I think he should have shot his boss either, but Jeez, man, you could left the other people out it. Firing in the air scares people away from you just as effectively. Plus it appears his getaway plan was death by cop.

    I have one ex-boss whose death I’d be entirely unmoved by, but I wouldn’t shoot her. I’m not sure if there’s really a gun-violence political point here. Guns are really hard to get around here and it sounds to me like the guy was just an asshole.

    ETA — Although I guess it would have been nice if all the guy could do was stab his ex-boss, so I guess there is a gun control angle here.

  18. 18.

    raven

    August 24, 2012 at 11:52 am

    @Cassidy: Hang in there bro!

  19. 19.

    PeakVT

    August 24, 2012 at 11:52 am

    I’m still trying to decide what to think about Lance Armstrong’s decision to stop fighting the charges against him. It’s always seemed like a bit of a witch hunt to me, but cycling has had plenty of problems with doping. Sometimes I wonder if he had been Lance Brasfort whether the charges would have been pursued so diligently.

  20. 20.

    kindness

    August 24, 2012 at 11:53 am

    I usually start my day with a look around the web seeing what people have said. I’ve noticed that I don’t really go to Talking Points Memo much any more and when I do it’s pretty much a waste of my time. It used to be one of my must see sites. Now, not so much. Seems since Judd left the place is a shell of it’s former self. Anyone else get the same impression?

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    August 24, 2012 at 11:57 am

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    This POTUS has had more disrespect lobbed his way than any in history I would guess.

    Except that one time some states seceded because they didn’t like the outcome of the Presidential election. I think that’s a tiny bit more disrespect than anything Obama has seen.

  22. 22.

    joes527

    August 24, 2012 at 11:58 am

    @Waynski: It was unclear from the news reports I saw… did he shoot other people, or were the other injuries all from folks running to get away?

  23. 23.

    rlrr

    August 24, 2012 at 11:58 am

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s a bit harder for states to secede these days…

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 11:59 am

    @Cassidy:
    So now I’m sitting here wondering what’s going to go tragicomically wrong in the next few weeks.

    The events are different but the expected outcome seems the same. You have my life.

    Poor bastard.

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    August 24, 2012 at 11:59 am

    @Cassidy: We bomb Iran and you get recalled to join in the glorious invasion of Tehran. As a Marine. I keed! I keed!

  26. 26.

    Tom Betz

    August 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    The RNC has reschexulex Romney’s nomination for Monday night so they can free up the spending of their general ele tion fundraising money early.That was the night his wife was supposed to speechify, uncovered by the TV networks.

  27. 27.

    General Stuck

    August 24, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    On some future day, aliens passing by will swoop down to get a closeup of the smoldering ruins of planet earth. And mark us on their astral map as – the dumbest motherfuckers in the universe.

  28. 28.

    ? Martin

    August 24, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    @PWL:

    So what does the NRA have to say about this?

    None of those people would be dead if they had been carrying, and gun and ammo sales are up, so mission accomplished. They wish every week would be like this.

  29. 29.

    lonesomerobot

    August 24, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    @gogol’s wife: YOU LIE!

  30. 30.

    joes527

    August 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    @General Stuck: mostly harmless my ass.

  31. 31.

    lamh35

    August 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Wow. I had no idea the shooting had happened at all. I just got a text from my friend who’s in NYC on a vaykay and he was a little shook up. He and some others were supposed to go tour the Empire State Building today, but changed their minds at last minute. Not that anything would have happened I guess, but he must have been getting alot of calls/texts from people asking where he was. So he group text us all that he was ok.

    Man, I’m from NOLA and I lived the majority of my life in housing projects, so gun violence is not new to me, but man, this has been what a 2 month span of gun violence in public places back to back.

    Geez!

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    August 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    @Waynski:

    Plus it appears his getaway plan was death by cop.

    I dunno — it sounded more like the guy expected to get away with it since he walked up to his ex-boss on a crowded street, killed him, and walked away. It was only the construction workers successfully IDing him to the cops that wrecked his plan.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    August 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    @PWL:

    So what does the NRA have to say about this?

    I think they’re still trying to figure out how to use the Anders Breivik business to sell more guns to liberals to talk about this.

  34. 34.

    Z. Mulls

    August 24, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    The Sikh temple shooter was a right-wing lunatic. The Chick-Fil-A shooter was a left-wing lunatic. The Dark Knight Shooter was a libertarian. And the Empire State shooter was a (retired) Independent.

    Both sides do it!

  35. 35.

    lonesomerobot

    August 24, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    @rlrr: Oh durn I guess I should read the rest of the thread before I impulsively channel my inner Joe Wilson

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    August 24, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    @joes527:
    It sounds to me like the cops confronted Johnson on the street, a shootout ensued, and bystanders got hit — some from his gun and and some from the cops’ guns.

  37. 37.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    August 24, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    @General Stuck:

    So Klaatu was bluffing, we’re going to blow ourselves up. Damn us all to hell!!

  38. 38.

    ts

    August 24, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    This is hilarious.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    August 24, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    Johnson left a bullet in his victim. Was he not expecting that to be traced to his gun?

  40. 40.

    lonesomerobot

    August 24, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    @Roger Moore: General McLellan had some nasty things to say about Lincoln, and they were supposedly on the same side.

  41. 41.

    JS

    August 24, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    @PWL:

    “If the victim, the ex-boss of the shooter, had been armed and had the same reaction speed as The Flash*, he would have been able to pull his gun out of his holster and defended himself.

    *granted – nobody is that fast, but that is a moot point… HAD he been armed and HAD he been that fast, he could have defended himself. Any comments contrary to that will end up in our next fund-raising newsletter (of course all of our newsletters are fund-raising newsletters) with screeching commentary about that Kenyan wanting to take all of our guns.”

  42. 42.

    danimal

    August 24, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    I think it’s time to start issuing medals. Trouble is, if the NRA sees this proposal, they may not recognize it as satire.

  43. 43.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    @Yutsano: Don’t even joke. I’d never be a Marine. I have standards.

    @Ruckus: Same ol’ story. I get money in the bank…and the car breaks. I get a great job offer….in the middle of nowhere/ somewhere people like killing one another.

  44. 44.

    Jay in Oregon

    August 24, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    @PWL:

    So that’s three mass shootings in under a month. So what does the NRA have to say about this?

    Their response is typically “The Democrats will try to use [insert recent mass shooting here] as an excuse to take away your guns! Send us money so we can continue to defend your Second Amendment rights!”

    LaPierre, after all, is the guy who claimed that Obama’s lack of signing any new gun control legislation is proof that he will take away our guns if reelected.

  45. 45.

    Heliopause

    August 24, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    If you watch the cable news you’d have no idea that there were seven times as many shootings with almost twice as many victims in Chicago last night.

    Maybe it’s time to move the media center of the country to Kansas or something. Really, who gives a fuck that one guy was shot dead in NYC? Like that doesn’t happen 31 times a day somewhere in this country? These cretins in the mass media need to concentrate on stuff they’re good at, like what’s up with Lindsey Lohan or something, because they suck at perspective on violence.

  46. 46.

    max

    August 24, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Here’s an open thread to discuss the idiot with a gun

    We badly need to stop talking about the idiots with the guns. They are doing it for the attention and in their situations, they have nothing to lose, so why not kill a bunch of people and be famous and get on TV?

    This setup parallels the situation with the hijacking craze that kicked off back in ’70. They take a plane, they gets lots of attention, etc. When the papers and the TV stopped relaying all this stuff, the hijackings dwindled and then stopped. (Until Al-Qaeda got a bright idea.)

    Talk about gun legislation, talk about marking guns, yell at republicans, whatever, but ignore these guys.

    max
    [‘Copycats are a real phenomena, and we don’t need to give any of them encouragement.’]

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    @Cassidy:
    My thing is I haven’t decided if my life is just normal and the assholes who get things handed to them are the exception.

  48. 48.

    Someguy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    19 people were shot in Chicago last night. The village can’t be bothered to look past Manhattan to cover that, however…

  49. 49.

    Someguy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:20 pm

    And now Bloomberg is admitting that “some of the victims were shot by police.”

    I tend to doubt that, unless they are black, were shot 19 times each, and had a toilet plunger rammed up their ass. Simply shooting an innocent victim 1 time isn’t really how the NYPD rolls.

  50. 50.

    ? Martin

    August 24, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    @Ruckus: Are you rich and/or influential? No? Your life is normal. Unfortunately, so is theirs.

    See, the meritocracy works, assuming you eliminate the ‘merit’ variable.

  51. 51.

    salacious crumb

    August 24, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    but again, NYPD and Bloomberg should still focus on surveillance of Muslims/Arabs in NY and NJ. Everything else is secondary.

  52. 52.

    mike in dc

    August 24, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    Lance decided not to fight the charges because all of the evidence against him would be made public. If you’re innocent, you never stop fighting the charges against you. He will now lose his entire professional legacy, and may lose a bunch of money in the process as well. His endorsements will disappear and any charities he’s associated with will distance themselves from him as well.

  53. 53.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    August 24, 2012 at 12:24 pm

    @PeakVT: According to something my wife read, if he had just stayed retired after originally retiring, the statute of limitations would have run out.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    @max:
    While I don’t think you are underestimating some peoples need for attention I don’t think that is the underlying reason most people shoot other people. I think it is only a side “benefit” for them. They are mad about something and are going to act in a way that has the potential to get them the most satisfaction for their grievance.

  55. 55.

    ? Martin

    August 24, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    @Someguy:

    Simply shooting an innocent victim 1 time isn’t really how the NYPD rolls.

    Well, it is midtown, where the rich white people are. Different standard of behavior there unlike Queens and Brooklyn, where the riffraff are.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    August 24, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Trace it how? It’s not like we keep track of who buys what guns in this country.

    Assuming Johnson planned to toss the gun away in the river or into a sewer or somewhere like that, there’s very little chance that the gun would be found, would be available to be tested, and would match the bullet. We’ve all seen “CSI,” and that unfortunately includes this guy.

  57. 57.

    Mike in NC

    August 24, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    My wife mentioned an article in yesterday’s newspaper about some college kid in SC who was found to have five handguns in his dorm room. What could anybody find wrong with that, huh?

  58. 58.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    @Someguy: Ouch. Harsh.

    @Ruckus: I’ve always been of the belief that if money can’t buy happiness, then what are rich people doing to look so damn happy. Maybe I’d like to find out for myself. And maybe they are empty on the inside…empty on the inside never worrying about rent or college or food, etc.

    But, between my wife and I we’re doing much better than we were 9 months ago, we’re not living month to month, can afford to put gas in our car(s) when we need to, etc. We’re doing better than most and I can’t complain about that.

  59. 59.

    WereBear

    August 24, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    @Cassidy: I understand the feeling; but that’s just superstition. Constantly visualizing ways this could go wrong sends out the wrong energy; however you quantum physics/quantum philosophize it.

    Besides, in a long history of gloomy gussitude, (before I learned better) I had yet to foresee the spectacular weird ways things go wrong, if they do. So it truly is wasted energy, in every sense.

    Congrats in advance, break a leg if you’re theatrical!

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    @? Martin:
    The next problem is that if my life is normal then I have to say, life sucks.

  61. 61.

    Emma

    August 24, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    @PeakVT: Short answer: no. I’m not a follower of cycling, so take this for what it worth, but it seems to me that a lot of people have had it in for Armstrong since he started winning consistently. Tested him constantly and never found anything. A couple of European friends say that the main cycling authorities over there are pissed at these arses for their witch hunt.

  62. 62.

    Chris

    August 24, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Yeah, well, you know, fuck them. At least we’re smart enough to check for germs before invading a planet.

  63. 63.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    @mike in dc: I don’t think so. AAMOF I think you’re completely wrong. I don’t know if he’s doped. I think odds are he did, but he was enver caught and that says a lot. The IOC has to hold a hearing and the ICU backed him against the USADA, and I don’t see either organization wanting to associate themselves with the actions of the USADA which have been less than professional, to put it nicely.

    His charity and sponsors are doing fine. His face sells things and that’s what matters to sponsors. At this point, he’s not losing anymore fans, especially with the “fuck it, I’m done” speech. I can see that and am sympathetic to his decision. After 10 years of being the focus of an investigation with no hard facts, only the testimony of confirmed cheaters, I’d say fuck it too.

    Lance Armstrong loses nothing here and probably gains popularity.

  64. 64.

    WereBear

    August 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    @PeakVT: From talking to folks involved in the sport, Lance did not make many friends. He’s at the level where arrogance, selfishness, and narcissism are pretty common, and he’s still, how do I say, accomplished in these areas as well.

    Not that this has any bearing on his guilt or innocence. But it could explain why he might not get repeated passes on the subject.

  65. 65.

    ? Martin

    August 24, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    @Ruckus: In the long history of the human species, not many have had easy lives. It’s getting better overall, but it’s still not easy for most.

    Unfortunately, there’s a group of people that see shitty lives for most as by-design by some creator and endeavor to keep it that way. We try to defeat them.

  66. 66.

    HW3

    August 24, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    @PeakVT Interesting PDF detailing the charges against the riders by the USADA. The cynical part of me thinks this is a move to keep his sponsorship; the Pollyanna part of me wants to believe innocent until proven guilty.

  67. 67.

    Jay in Oregon

    August 24, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    @danimal:
    I agree with the sentiment.

    The NRA’s zero-tolerance stance on any kind of sensible gun control measures—a stance that over 2/3 of actual NRA members don’t share— tells us that they don’t give a rat’s ass about people who die due to gun violence.

    Maybe there’s a market for bumper stickers and T-shirts that read “The NRA: sacrificing other people to protect your freedoms since 1871.”

  68. 68.

    Emma

    August 24, 2012 at 12:34 pm

    @mike in dc: You’re not a lawyer, are you? Really, you never stop fighting? You’ve never heard of plea bargaining, then.

  69. 69.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:34 pm

    @Cassidy:
    I too have better than worst case fever. I could be living in someone’s back alley eating out of their trash cans, but I’m not. Now if R/R get their way it’s very likely that I would be doing just that, so there’s that to look forward to.

  70. 70.

    ? Martin

    August 24, 2012 at 12:35 pm

    @Jay in Oregon:

    “The NRA: sacrificing other people to protect your freedoms gun and ammo profits since 1871.”

    Fixed.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    August 24, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    @Cassidy:

    Cancer patients and the families of cancer patients are not going to stop wearing their LiveStrong bracelets over Armstrong’s capitulation. He’ll be fine.

    As to your current situation, sometimes there’s a reason for old cliches: “Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” If you have all of your ducks in a row for the unexpected (like making sure your insurance is up to date, having a current emergency kit and plan in the house, etc.) then even the unexpected will go a lot more smoothly than if you’re unprepared for it.

    But I’m guessing we don’t have to give you any extra lessons about staying vigilant for potential trouble. :-)

  72. 72.

    Rafer Janders

    August 24, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Johnson left a bullet in his victim. Was he not expecting that to be traced to his gun?

    Unless the police have either (a) another bullet fired from the same gun and used in a previous crime on file, or (b) you and the gun in custody, then no. If all they have is a bullet from a “clean” gun, i.e. one that’s not been used in a documented crime before, then there’s no way to match it to the gun without also having the gun.

  73. 73.

    Culture of Truth

    August 24, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    @General Stuck: Will the map look like this?

  74. 74.

    pragmatism

    August 24, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    headline from the Onion:

    Nation Celebrates Full Week Without Deadly Mass Shooting

    Update: Never Mind.

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-celebrates-full-week-without-deadly-mass-sh,29293/

  75. 75.

    TooManyJens

    August 24, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    In other news, Mitt Romney is still an asshole:

    Mitt Romney joked about the right-wing conspiracy theory that claims President Obama was born in Kenya, during a rally in Commerce, Michigan on Thursday afternoon. “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that I was born and raised,” Romney declared to loud cheers.

  76. 76.

    Yutsano

    August 24, 2012 at 12:41 pm

    @Cassidy: Heh. I knew I had to sweeten that bait a little. :)

  77. 77.

    pragmatism

    August 24, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    @mike in dc: The USADA will make all of its evidence public regardless.

  78. 78.

    rlrr

    August 24, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    @TooManyJens:

    Do we? Were there witnesses? Can we verify Romney’s birth certificate isn’t fake? How can we be sure Mitt wasn’t born in Mexico like his father?

  79. 79.

    jwb

    August 24, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    So Twitter tells me that in a speech today Mittwit moved several steps closer to full birtherism.

  80. 80.

    jwb

    August 24, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    Deleted for redundancy.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    August 24, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    @TooManyJens: Yay! Willard goes for juicy birfer goodness!! I hope he gets hounded with the birfer question now.

  82. 82.

    Culture of Truth

    August 24, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    Mitt was born in Mexico everyone knows it

  83. 83.

    Blue Neponset

    August 24, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    Per Jack Tapper:

    link

    Romney at Michigan rally: “No ones ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know where I was born and raised.”

    I pray for the sake of our country that Rmoney didn’t really say that.

  84. 84.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    August 24, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    @TooManyJens:

    Yeah, this guy will go over great with the public in the debates. Everybody loves Reggie Mantle.

  85. 85.

    akaka

    August 24, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    @Amir Khalid: To me, this raises questions about NYPD protocol. Was it smart to confront a potentially armed (according to their tip) man on 5th Ave. on a busy workday? Couldn’t they have followed him and then confronted him in a more isolated spot.

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    @Cassidy:
    As someone who worked in professional sports and have had first hand knowledge of the drug situation, that fact that he had no positive tests says to me either the testers were idiots or he was not using. And the testers for the most part are anything but idiots. The enforcers on the other hand… There are only so many ways to cover up/fool the tests for the outlawed drugs and if the tests were administered properly they are found pretty easily. The tests administered in professional cycling are pretty hard core. They are pretty specific and pretty comprehensive.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    August 24, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    @TooManyJens:

    “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that I was born and raised manufactured and programmed,” Romney declared to loud cheers.

    FTFY, Mitt.

  88. 88.

    Waynski

    August 24, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    @joes527: One report I saw said he was firing randomly.

  89. 89.

    Gustopher

    August 24, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    Why does everyone jump to defend management when an ex-employee shoots his former boss in the face?

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    @? Martin:
    Yes we do. As we should. That’s the only way life gets less shitty.

  91. 91.

    ChrisNYC

    August 24, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    Please please please somebody ask Mitt, “As you alluded to the other day, something like 25% of the population doesn’t think Pres Obama meets the Constitutional requirements of the office. Yet, still, he’s beating you. How do you explain that to yourself? Does it sap your enthusiasm?”

  92. 92.

    WereBear

    August 24, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    @lamh35: He and some others were supposed to go tour the Empire State Building today, but changed their minds at the last minute.

    How fortuitous! Wasn’t there someone who did a study on transport crashes that indicated they had a higher than usual incidence of no-shows and cancellations?

    Whatever moved them, can’t help but see it as a good thing.

  93. 93.

    Roger Moore

    August 24, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    @Ruckus:

    As someone who worked in professional sports and have had first hand knowledge of the drug situation, that fact that he had no positive tests says to me either the testers were idiots or he was not using.

    Or he was using stuff that was more advanced than the tests could catch. One of the lessons of the BALCO business is that there’s an active industry out there trying to provide drugs specifically tailored to slip through the testing. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that there’s already professional athlete grade testosterone that’s pre-mixed 1-1 with epitestosterone and made from feed stocks that match typical human isotope ratios. Yes, it would be a lot more expensive than typical medical grade stuff, but when you have millions of dollars riding on your ability to pass drug tests, that seems like a price worth paying.

  94. 94.

    Multimoodia

    August 24, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    Mayor Bloomberg says that some bystanders may have been shot by police in the crossfire.

    If only those citizens were armed they could have returned fire.

    Oh, wait….

  95. 95.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    @Ruckus: I’d have to take your word for it. One of the IOC guys, when pressed, said that the amount of doping in the Olympics was north of 10 and south of 90, which is pretty vague. I’m a very avid fan of combat sports and doping is not only a fairly frequent ocurrence, but going for years while managing to not get caught is considered the norm. So basically a long winded way to say I don’t know what I believe in regards to Lance Armstrong doping. If all they have is the testimony of those caught cheating and banned (i.e. nothing to lose) that’s pretty flimsy to me.

    @Yutsano: I’m surrounded by squids and jarheads on a daily basis.

    @Mnemosyne: @WereBear: Honestly, we’re at a good place so I’m not really doomy-gloomy. Just more along the lines of “what do I have to contend with now”. If something bad happens, it happens and as long as no one dies it ain’t that bad. We’re at that point wher there is always something, but nothing we can’t financially handle. Like I said, far better than 9 months ago.

  96. 96.

    WereBear

    August 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): According to something my wife read, if he had just stayed retired after originally retiring, the statute of limitations would have run out.

    Uh huh. Talk about hubris.

  97. 97.

    burnspbesq

    August 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    @PeakVT:

    I’m still trying to decide what to think about Lance Armstrong’s decision to stop fighting the charges against him.

    I am saddened by it. I don’t know whether he doped or not, but it’s hard to imagine that he could have had an unbroken string of clean tests if he had been dirty (I discount heavily the long-after-the-fact “results” from that questionable French lab that leaked to L’Equipe). I wish he had continued to fight, but I understand his unwillingness to participate in the USADA arbitration process; to call that a kangaroo court is an insult to kangaroos.

    Lance’s two biggest sins were (1) winning multiple Tours while not French, and (2) calling UCI and USADA on their hypocrisy and slipshod processes.

  98. 98.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    @Roger Moore: Hell, it’s still hard to catch if you cycle properly.

    ETA: could a FPer take me out of moderation? Pretty please?

  99. 99.

    Cris (without an H)

    August 24, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    @TooManyJens: Romney unwittingly explains to the crowd about White privilege.

  100. 100.

    4tehlulz

    August 24, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    edt…never mind, someone already got the birther romney story

  101. 101.

    Cris (without an H)

    August 24, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    Keep on going, Mitt! How about:
    “No one’s ever told me I speak articulately.”
    “No one’s ever pulled my car over when I hadn’t done something wrong.”
    “No one’s ever called my mother a race traitor.”
    It’s great to be a white guy!

  102. 102.

    Nemesis

    August 24, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    @Z. Mulls:

    Left wing shooters seem inept. Dude failed to kill anyone.

  103. 103.

    dance around in your bones

    August 24, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    @TooManyJens:

    What a sanctimonious prick.

    He might as well have just said “I’m white, doncha know”.

  104. 104.

    4tehlulz

    August 24, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    @Cris (without an H): It’s great to be so welcomed in Colorado; I don’t have to worry about anyone plotting to shoot me.”

  105. 105.

    rlrr

    August 24, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    Romney/Ryan’s new slogan…

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    August 24, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    You are correct in that it is possible. Many things are possible. In my time in professional sports I encountered many times when people just knew that someone was cheating. They just knew it. Absolutely. But they had no proof and we used some pretty sophisticated methods to catch them and couldn’t. Does that mean they didn’t cheat? No. It means we couldn’t catch them. But we did catch many people cheating, some clever and some not so much. I even know people today we caught who still claim and will with their dying breath that they didn’t cheat. So it goes. As Martin points out above, life is not close to fair.
    It is the job of the sport sanctioning body to write the rules. It is their job as well to write rules that they can enforce. An unenforceable rule is a bad rule. The idea behind the rule may be valid, it may be incredibly needed but if it is unenforceable, it is a bad rule and shouldn’t be written.

  107. 107.

    dww44

    August 24, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    @gogol’s wife: I keep waiting for JC to have his own open thread, as I would like to hear him respond to what TNC posts in the upcoming Atlantic September issue about the impact of Obama’s Presidency and his apparent timidity in addressing issues of race. Very thoughtful and insightful commentary, and to some a bit of anger from the author as well. Heck, I think I would be angry, too, if I had had the life experiences of most Black Americans.

    There’s a bit about some recent research by a Harvard doctoral candidate trying to figure out how many votes Obama lost in 2008 to racism. Seems that W.VA. is one of those states that scored highest on the list of Google searches employing racist terms and this resulted in this comment by an African American reader:

    Vincent Edward Clark 21 hours ago: “Thanks brother! I just spent the the past few months working in West Virginia. I did a very difficult IT migration and was the only black person around. I had to hear white people talk openly about how much they hated “Obamur” and the need to buy more guns before he got reelected. They seemed to talk louder whenever I walked into the break room. I guess they wanted to see me squirm. I never did squirm. I’ve heard it all before. I have always been the only black guy for the last 25 plus years I have been doing this kind of work. I’ve developed a thick skin but never have liked the way I feel. I can only imagine the conversations Michelle and her husband have in the private quarter in the White House. He must feel much worse than I did. So, there is no hope for the President to win in West Virginia. The irony is the State was formed to halt the expansion of slavery. It felt funny to driver around Parkersburg and across the bridge to Belpre, Ohio knowing that slaves tried desperately to reach those places to find freedom. Nevertheless, today those places will vote wholeheartedly for a very rich white man who has nothing in common with them instead of the black man who wants the best for them. America is a weird place indeed. “

    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/fear-of-a-black-president/309064/2/

  108. 108.

    dance around in your bones

    August 24, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    @rlrr: Hey, it would fit on a bumper sticker!

  109. 109.

    Maude

    August 24, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    @akaka:
    Look at a map of midtown Manhattan. The guy was shooting people. It was rush hour.

    Edit to add, the cops were trying to stop him from killing more people.

  110. 110.

    Chris

    August 24, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    @dww44:

    They seemed to talk louder whenever I walked into the break room. I guess they wanted to see me squirm. I never did squirm. I’ve heard it all before.

    If white bigots ever thought about what it’s like to be a minority in a society that’s still quite racist, that might occur to them. But because they’re convinced that there’s no racism in America (except against them), it never does occur to them, and every one of them thinks they’re the first person ever to bravely “speak truth to power” to the uppity near man.

    The irony is the State was formed to halt the expansion of slavery.

    One of the most interesting things I ever learned from this blog was that the “hillbilly” states were the most reliably pro-Union parts of the South – not just West Virginia but Tennessee, western Georgia, western North Carolina. And nowadays they fly the stars and bars. So much for pride in your heritage.

  111. 111.

    dance around in your bones

    August 24, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    I just love Andy Borowitz. Check out this post on “GOP offers tips on pretending to like Mitt Romney”.

    I especially liked this bit:

    3. Starting Monday morning at the Tampa Marriott there will be intensive thirty-minute coaching seminars on fake smiling and squealing led by Flo, of Progressive insurance fame! There will be light refreshments and amphetamines.

    Oh yeah!

  112. 112.

    Yutsano

    August 24, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    @Cassidy: My father is a career old salt. He has no clue I fancy a jarhead. I think the revelation might just put him in the ground.

  113. 113.

    akaka

    August 24, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @Maude: I work in midtown Manhattan, and I sure as hell don’t want police to open fire in a crowded place.

  114. 114.

    Cassidy

    August 24, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    @Yutsano: He’ll come around. Just tell him to talk real slow and not ask anything involving complex thought processes. :D

  115. 115.

    Jay in Oregon

    August 24, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    @Martin:
    I thought the “your freedoms” thing had more punch to it, but that’s not bad either.

    We can also have “The NRA: Making money off of mass shootings since 1994”

  116. 116.

    Jay in Oregon

    August 24, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    Does this say what I think it says (and what Atrios says it says)?

    Mr. Johnson, the commissioner said, was carrying a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun “in a bag under his arm.” It had a capacity of eight bullets, officials said, adding that Mr. Johnson had fired three at Mr. Ercolino, who was apparently a vice president at Hazan Imports. Mr. Bloomberg said Mr. Johnson pulled out his gun “and tried to shoot the cops and kill the cops.”
    __
    “They returned fire,” the mayor added. A law enforcement official said later on Friday that Mr. Johnson did not fire his weapon.

    So if Johnson only pointed his gun at cops and didn’t fire at them, then that means most of the bystanders who were shot were shot by cops.

    This isn’t to say that the cops were wrong to shoot at Johnson, but we’re talking about trained, professional shooters not being able to avoid hitting 9 bystanders.

  117. 117.

    Hillary Rettig

    August 24, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    on a better note, heartwarming dog rescue story here:

    http://manhattan-nest.com/2012/07/31/linus/

  118. 118.

    Cris (without an H)

    August 24, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    Can I ask a stupid question? Okay thanks.

    Why doesn’t John put his ActBlue banner in the sidebar of the site, instead of posting it at random intervals?

  119. 119.

    JGabriel

    August 25, 2012 at 12:41 am

    @Jay in Oregon:

    So if Johnson only pointed his gun at cops and didn’t fire at them, then that means most of the bystanders who were shot were shot by cops.

    It’s believed at this point that all of the bystanders were hit by “friendly fire” from the police officers.

    .

  120. 120.

    Yutsano

    August 25, 2012 at 12:46 am

    @Cassidy: Did I mention he’s blond too?

    Funny thing is my mom will love him. He rides horses. He and she will go out on the trail where she can grill him outside of my earshot. I will be specifically forbidden to go along.

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