(via Charles P. Pierce)
.
On the original grassy knoll. Waving guns in defiance of the (current) “foreign usurper” President. At Dealey Plaza.
Stephen Young, at the Dallas Observer, explains:
As they’ve been doing on each third Saturday for months, advocates for the open carrying of firearms gathered — semiautomatic weapons in tow — at Dealey Plaza over the weekend. As usual the demonstrators, who call themselves Come and Take It Dallas, handed out literature and preened with their armaments of choice…
“Why are you not dedicated to the Cause?” And why do all those foreign countries stubbornly refuse to celebrate the Fourth of July, like the Bible says we should?
On the positive side, at least these people are out where the rest of us can keep an eye on them, I guess. If it weren’t for all the innocent passers-by, I’d suggest somebody toss a firecracker into their “rally” and see how many of the bold brave men soiled themselves.
ruemara
I would really love it if they would just blow up.
Corner Stone
Dallas is full of a bunch of assholes.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: I saw your big news about the new car! (Well, new to you, anyway.) I replied just a few hours ago, so you probably never saw it. Congratulations!
Karen in GA
Things got weird between Iggy and Phoebe today. Fortunately, the NRA’s not clamoring to sell guns to pets — yet.
Karen in GA
@ruemara: Oooh, a new car? Congrats!
Corner Stone
Listen, fuck Dallas. Go to Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus, or any city/town west of Beaumont and south of Dallas and Texas is straight up good people who like nothing more than hanging out and spending time with you.
If you’re black don’t go to Beaumont or Shreveport.
And if you’re poor don’t go anywhere near Dallas/DFW. Most of our southern border assholes aren’t too bad.
But otherwise, we’re happy to see ya!
WaterGirl
@Karen in GA: Your black & white kitty is just gorgeous! I do like to hear from the kitties. Iggy did look rather contrite, I thought. He really has a lot of different expressions.
Karen in GA
@WaterGirl: Phoebe’s a sweetie — but she gets into Princess mode sometimes, and… well, you saw the effect that has on every living thing that crosses her path.
lamh36
So I’ve been seeing alot of commercials for the James Brown biopic “Get On Up” starring Chadwick Boseman as James Brown.
I was already interested in seeing the film, but what I really wanted to see was if Boseman captured the “essence” of the man as they say.
I’ve noticed that the clip that were being shown early on did not show any real “performance” footage. I was thinking that they wanted to keep the bit under wraps until closer to the opening and it seems I was right.
The international trailer shows more of the story, and the film has released a few clips from the movie without giving any thing away and from the few clips I’ve seen, Chadwick Boseman seems to have done it. He seems to have the mannerisms, the speech pattern, the swagger and thanks to extensive weeks of dance training, he seems to have the dancing down as well (in an interview he said that the hardest thing to learn was the “James Brown splits”. It wasn’t the actual splits, it was coming out of the splits that was the hardest!).
Anyhoo, wonder how “mainstream” an audience this film gets. It comes out the same day as Guardians of the Galaxy, so I’d like to think it’d be good counter-programming and at the very least makes everyone give Chadwick Boseman a second look following his turn as Jackie Robinson in “42”. I know I’ll be giving my opening weekend money to “Get On Up”. Guardians will I predict sell like gangbusters, so they don’t need my money.
Get On Up – International Trailer (Universal Pictures)
Another good clip: Get On Up clip – James Brown Peforms “Night Train” at The Apollo
Mike in NC
Apparently that asshole Sean Hannity not long ago co-authored a book about the glories of Texas, but he’s still living in the hellhole of Long Island. Stupid fucker. Texas has ghastly climate, bad government (Bush, Perry, et al), and terrible protection of its citizens. Yeah, move there tomorrow for a shitty part-time minimum wage job with zero benefits!
lamh36
Ok, this is some creepy shhh. it’s like Criminal Minds come to life!!!! I’m trying to profile the unsub already. I mena with all the privacy issues now, I’m shocked no one has any footage of WTF is going on.
Creepy Porcelain Dolls Left in Front of Homes Where Little Girls Live
WaterGirl
@lamh36: I took a quick look at the link but I had to close the tab before I saw the one whose heading was something like “if you think this isn’t creepy…”.
I was there long enough to see a quote from some idiot thinking that these were possibly being left by someone who was trying to do something nice for these little girls. Seriously? I don’t see how it’s possible to even have that thought.
gelfling545
@Karen in GA: I have been very much enjoying Iggy’s adventures.
lamh36
@WaterGirl: i seriously can’t even begin to think what a “good reason” would be to leave these things on someone doorstep.
I mean, it’s so sinister. I’m hoping this goes beyond just local PD
Violet
@Corner Stone: Do not go to east Texas in general if you’re black.
master c
dallasite here…..SORRY! Im sorry.
Karen in GA
@gelfling545: Thanks!
@master c: Hey, you have to live near those yahoos. You have my undying sympathy.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@lamh36: I wasn’t aware of this movie until I started seeing the trailers. I am going to wait for some reviews before I see it; It is the kind of thing that could be brilliant if they get it right or it could be cringe inducing if they don’t.
ruemara
@Violet: My master rule has been avoid the South entirely. But my cousins loved living in Dallas and I’m hoping to see Austin.
@WaterGirl: TY! and ty too to Karen in GA. I’m very grateful and my old car may be going to help out a single dad with 2 kids who needs a shuttle mobile. May it run fairly well until he can get something better. IT’s super important to me that it go help a person who is truly needs a lift up.
@lamh36: Nope. I hope they catch whomever is doing this.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@ruemara: What did you get?
Citizen_X
@lamh36: From the link:
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@efgoldman: Yeah, games are fun, but guns aren’t something with which to play games.
Punchy
Maybe some younger-looking Af-Ams could do the same thing in some of the more upscale Dallas burbs. Why should downtown D be the only lucky recipients of such information and gun-assery?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, we know all the important stuff:
Quick before ruemara answers, maybe we should have an office pool, guessing what kind of car she got.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Punchy: Yeah, let’s encourage some AA kids to get shot and killed. That sounds like a brilliant idea.
@WaterGirl: ’96 Altima GXE. I had one. It was bulletproof until the timing chain broke at 130,000 miles. Then it was dead. If she bought a similar car, I would check into the timing chain status. I would bet that if I had replaced mine the car would still be running well today. My only other complaint about it – lack of thigh support. Oh, yeah, and it’s not a Saab. I like Saabs. Especially mine.
ruemara
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): WRONG! 96′ Volvo Wagon. It has A/C! I feel all fancy.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I do think Saab makes a handsome vehicle! Or they used to, at least, I haven’t noticed lately. I used to work with an accountant who got a new Saab every year, so I had the opportunity to notice.
I think ruemara got a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina in a lovely cherry red color. Maybe with a sunroof or moonroof, but I’m less certain about that.
Edit: maybe it’s not too late to edit this to make it look like I guessed the right car and I was typing my comment before I saw ruemara’s answer?
WaterGirl
@ruemara: Wait ’til you get hooked on the intermittent windshield wipers.
First car I got with air conditioning and intermittent windshield wipers… I made fun of both the air conditioning and the wipers for a couple of weeks, and then wondered how I had ever done without either.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@ruemara: Nice. 850 wagon? Turbo or not? I have a friend who had an 850 turbo sedan. The thing was a rocket. FWIW I think that the Volvos have the second best seats for long distance driving after Saabs. Both let you arrive someplace after a 10 hour drive without any cramps or other discomforts. If you take care of that car it will last for years and years.
trollhattan
Kristen Bell as Mary Poppins on the minimum wage. Definitely watch to the end.
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/07/watch-kristen-bell-sing-about-minimum-wage-as-mary.html?utm_source=PMNL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140724
ruemara
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): It has a rear window door thingy with a windshield wiper.Plus there’s like hidden platforms or something, rather confusing. Unfortunately my friend seems to have very hungry children who loved to share with the car. I spent 20 minutes just vacuuming the food out of crevices and floor boards. And the rear windows had what I assume to be a protective grease layer, thanks to perhaps the cheezy poofs I got from between the upper & lower cushions. That car was very well fed.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@trollhattan: Nice.
Suzanne
Okay, it’s an open thread, soooo……I just watched the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer. Dude is waaaaaay too pretty. He looks like a little boy. WHY is his chest waxed?! Why no stubble?! I love stubble! I hate the metrosexual look.
On a related note, I think BDSM stuff should have less of a leather-and-lace heavy metal/goth look. I think Karim Rashid or Phillipe Starck or Jonathan Ive need to get on this right now. A ball gag that matches my iPhone. YES.
Violet
@Suzanne: I didn’t read those books. What’s the character supposed to look like? Is he a young boy-like man? Or older? I saw the trailer and thought he was good looking but seemed awfully young for someone who apparently runs some kind of company and has a ton of money. I guess he’s modeled after the Silicon Valley guys where he got rich at 20 or something?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne: Some people aren’t hairy. Some also feel itchy if they don’t shave at least every other day. Jebus! OTOH, some of us still have a full head of hair and are less than 10% gray even as we approach 50.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
I squealed when I realized that that Subaru I bought last fall has the adjustable intermittent wipers so you can fiddle with the interval. Much as I loved my RAV-4, it always annoyed me that I had only three settings on the wipers (intermittent, low, and high).
Aaaand of course we’re in the middle of a nasty drought and I never get to use them. Still, I’m excited to have that function again.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@ruemara: I went to see a Prince concert in Pittsburgh in the sedan version of your car. and, yes, the show was awesome.
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
Well, since the book was originally written as Twilight fan fiction, the hero is based on a century-old vampire who just looks young. So they had to come up with some other excuse for how he can be so young.
Suzanne
@Violet: I didn’t read them, either. I don’t know what he’s supposed to look like. But that Jamie Dornan guy is sex on a stick with his beard and stubble. HOT. Clean-shaven, he looks like a Young Republican. NOT HOT.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I shave Mr. Suzanne’s head. Combined with stubble, it is muy hot.
aarrgghh
lee harvey wannabee rudy davis is among birthers a fairly well-known nutter with a fairly entertaining youtube channel. one of my favorites is his rejection of the last 500 years of post-copernican science:
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
“There Was a Time.”
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne: Moi. Floppy hair and a clean shave. I have a giant head and it is actually disguised by the Hugh Grant hair.
ETA: The occasional Sunday afternoon may find stubble, but it is itchy.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
I’m laughing because I was just thinking that the most insignificant feature about my Kia that I love is that it has five intermittent wiper settings, and that’s before you even get to “slow” and “fast.” I love when it rains because I get to spend way too much time adjusting the wiper cadence.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Admit it, you’re a cross between Bryan Ferry and that singer in ABC.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Floppy hair can be a good look. Robert Downey, Jr. has hair like that and I would not kick him out of bed for eating crackers. (Understatement.) I am just anti-pretty when it comes to dudes.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: My car has five intermittent settings as well. It makes me spend too much time fiddling. Three settings would have been sufficient.
Also too, please jump over a thread and help me out with caligula.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: My hair is parted on the right. But, otherwise, yes.
@Suzanne: See above. We’ll just have to be friends.
ETA: The lead vocalist for ABC was/is Martin Fry – who is a solid lefty.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Upstairs or downstairs?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Up.
Fred
@aarrgghh: That’s just beautiful, I sez, just beauuuutiful. I gotta check this guy out.
You know who else was a lyin’ con-man? A.G. Bell. Voices going across wires indeed. Hogwash! And Marconi too! I never listens to the radio ’cause it’s the Debil’s work. And besides they don’t play no good music no more.
TR
@Punchy:
People forget, California’s strict gun laws came about because the Panthers did an open carry demonstration at the state Capitol and people there freaked the fuck out.
PurpleGirl
@aarrgghh: So, this guy doesn’t see doctors and use any modern medicine, right?
Randy P
@aarrgghh: And as the Republican purity purge continues, it’s only a matter of time before statements like this are made at congressional press conferences. I wouldn’t have blinked if you told me that came from Louis Gohmert.
Cervantes
@PurpleGirl: I almost hope not.
Thoughtful David
@aarrgghh:
Of course, he writes that on a device that wouldn’t be possible if at least some of those guys (and their unmentioned colleagues) were right.
RSA
What the fuck is wrong with those people? If they were in DC, would they rally in front of Ford’s Theater, or in New York at Ground Zero?
Paul in KY
If you like James Brown, y’all need to check out a band called Vintage Trouble. The lead singer, Ty Taylor, is a young man who channels a lot of James Brown in his performances. Saw them at Bonnaroo & was blown away by their show.
mack
@ruemara, (Doubt I did that right) You’re killin me. “fancy push button roll down windows”? Just an FYI, it probably has some very nice safety features like air bags and anti-lock brakes, and some cool performance features like fuel injection and overdrive.
Agreed on Saabs being beautiful cars. Could never afford one. Aren’t they expensive to repair?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@TR: I remind people of that weekly (it seems). The difference is that the Panthers were a lot less likely to end up dead from that display. The time today between such a demonstration and the death (by SYG/Open Carry/Come and Take It citizen) would be measured in slightly larger increments than nanoseconds, but not by much.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Dealy Plaza.
Of all the places to advocate open carry, these assholes choose Dealy Fucking Plaza.
Hey Honduras, we’ll keep the kids if you take these fuckers. They’ll fit right in.
Glocksman
@mack:
Yep.
My Dad bought a Saab convertible and promptly sold it once the warranty expired and he got a gander at what repairs cost.
As far as the Texas Open Carry loons go, you’d think that since they’re such proud Americans they wouldn’t want to come within a mile of a commie AKM knockoff.
Instead it seems half of them wear their AK’s proudly.
I’ve owned both an AK clone and a Colt AR in the past and while the Colt was undoubtedly of better quality, the Egyptian Maadi AK just gave off the aura of ‘run me over with a truck and I’ll still work perfectly’.
That said, any asshat who feels the need to parade around in public with a long gun has ‘issues’.
@Steeplejack:
2008 Spectra owner here.
My EX has almost every option you could normally want outside of a luxury car*, but oddly enough while heated outside mirrors were part of the package, cruise control wasn’t.
I don’t do much highway driving so it wasn’t a dealbreaker, but I did like the cruise control on my old 1992 Cutlass Ciera S.
*The intermittent wipers are nice and fiddly, aren’t they?
Steeplejack
@Glocksman:
No cruise control? That’s just wrong.
I have a 2009 Rondo, which I got at the end of 2011. It’s small on the outside and big on the inside. The thing I really like about it that I never would have thought of beforehand is the perfect seat height. You don’t sit down into it, you don’t climb up into it, you just slide horizontally into the seat. Nice compromise viewing position between car and SUV/truck.
Quaker in a Basement
Gun nuts, you’re not trying hard enough. If you really want me to call you all a**holes, you’re going to have to beg me. Say, “pretty please.”
Glocksman
@Steeplejack:
If I could have got a Rondo with the same mileage at a slightly higher price, I would have gladly bought one.
As it is, the only trouble I’ve had from my Spectra is that the tire pressure sensors occasionally go bonkers.
Then again, my sister has the same problem with her Audi A6, so it’s not just a Kia problem.
Glocksman
@Steeplejack:
Funnily enough, it took me several months to transition from the Cutlass to the Spectra to the point where I didn’t turn on the windshield wipers when trying to put it in gear.
It’s humorous in retrospect, but it was annoying at the time that I’d reach for the column out of reflex to put it in drive instead of the shifter on the floor.
mack
Lord,, these Kia cars are everywhere. Years ago, I was a used car manager for a large chevy dealer. When we got a Kia to appraise (in order to evaluate trade worth) I nearly always gave them a trade value of one dollar. The customer doesn’t ever know that figure, BTW. Anyway, that was because (and I have to say it still holds true) they were perceived as disposable cars. I can’t remember ever seeing a 10 year old Kia on the road…but I’ve seen plenty of 20-30 yr old Toyotas/Hondas/Chevys/Fords etc.
Not dissing yo ride, just pointing out that despite this perception within the industry, they have carved out a HUGE piece of the market. Some of that is probably price point and the factory largely underwriting the financing.
Glocksman
@mack:
From the research I did before buying the car, Hyundai sunk a billion dollars into quality control and upgrades back in the late 90’s-early 00’s, and that bled over into Kia since Hyundai bought a controlling share in the company.
The engine in my Spectra is a Hyundai Beta II that is California emissions despite my Hoosierstan domicile.
The only real drawback to a Kia/Hyundai of that generation is that the non-chain timing belt needs to be changed out every 60,000 miles according to the factory.
I’d have prefered to buy a Chevy or Ford, but the used Kia came with more remaining factory warranty than a brand new Chevy did.
When you have to take out a loan to buy a car, the warranty is important.