World War 1 started 100 years ago yesterday. Not many people noticed because we're still too busy killing each other. Well done humanity.
— John Lubbock (@jwsal) July 29, 2014
.
In related news, kudos to TPM for the best totally not sarcastic headline of the week:
Brain Scientist Arrested For Allegedly Pointing AR-15 At Women In Phoenix Airport
An Arizona neuroscientist was arrested Friday at Sky Harbor International Airport after he allegedly pointed an AR-15 rifle at a mother and her teenage daughter…Police told the Phoenix New Times that it is legal to carry a semi-automatic rifle into the airport terminal and that in Steinmetz’s case the problem was “the way he was carrying it.”…
***********
Apart from the usual despair for the human race, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
KG
Whiskey Tango Mary Foxtrot Fortune?
Eric U.
@KG: what could go wrong?
WereBear
Brain case, more likely.
BGinCHI
When some actual act of terrorism is aided and abetted by this insanity, nothing will be done.
We may have reached peak gun fetish.
danielx
It does make one wonder when these obnoxious open carry assholes are going to realize that carrying weapons openly in heavily populated public areas doesn’t make you look like a courageous defender of constitutional rights. It just makes you look like an obnoxious asshole.
I know, I know – that would be never.
Eric U.
if an ammosexual shoots someone, it’s just an accident.
KG
@Eric U.: according to the article, he was in the “non-secure” area of the airport, which I assume means he was outside the TSA check point… because I’m guessing if I can’t take my coke past TSA, a semi-automatic weapon isn’t going to make it. then again, really? this is what we’ve come to?
kc
DUH, libbats, the right to bear arms clearly implies a corresponding right to point them at people.
Free Dr. Gunhumper! Pardon me while I go start a hashtag.
scav
Despairing over humanity is becoming a full-time and a half occupation. No real vacations, the pay is hell and the alternatives iffy.
KG
@danielx: a few convictions in cases like this might help.
BGinCHI
@KG: Probably baggage claim. Because, you know, no stress there….
Baud
The D.C. Circuit rejected a constitutional challenge to Obamacare today, so kudos to them. An all Democratic panel helped get the law right.
ranchandsyrup
Making baby food and taking oldest to ice cream for doing so well at first day of preschool.
BGinCHI
How, legally, is bringing an assault rifle into an airport not the same as shouting “fire” in a crowded theater?
Once we have a panicky riot isn’t that shit going to stop?
Lawyers?
BGinCHI
@ranchandsyrup: Stop shaming the other parents here.
I was good at the playground this morning but nothing like what you are doing.
NotMax
Some of us noticed.
Roger Moore
@BGinCHI:
FTFY.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@BGinCHI: Don’t hate the player; hate the game.
ranchandsyrup
@BGinCHI: I’ll go think about what I’ve done. The sin of pride.
Apparently our daughter waltzed in the door and started going up to other students that were crying and reassuring them that it was going to be fun and that everything is OK.
KG
@BGinCHI: according to the article, this is the second time he’s shown up at the airport with a rifle. the first time was a couple of days after a shooting at LAX.
as for your question about shouting fire in a crowded theater, I suspect the court would say there is a difference between walking around with a gun and the classic clear and present danger example. Probably also has to do with how the gun is handled. If you’re carrying on your back with the muzzle down vs under your arm, finger near the trigger, muzzle pointing forward… but it’d probably really depend on the facts of the case.
Anoniminous
Am I a bad person for hoping a spontaneous fire fight will erupt at an open carry gathering and the idiots will gun each other down?
Roger Moore
@danielx:
They don’t care what it makes them look like. That stuff about defending the public is just a line they use to make their gun fetish sound more respectable. They want to carry guns in public because it makes them feel manly and powerful instead of scared and pathetic.
Baud
Could our long national pie fight soon be over?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Anoniminous: They’ll kill innocent people too.
kc
@Anoniminous:
No. I hope for the same thing, as long as no bystanders are harmed.
BGinCHI
@ranchandsyrup: OMG. You are making it worse!
Xavi is spending the summer with you next year if you keep this up.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): So true.
Hey, answer my lawyer question, Mr. Attorney.
NotMax
@ranchandsyrup
The ice cream thing works.
Was taken to the public library once a week to check out one or two books (and return the ones from the week previous) when I was too little to get there on my own, and afterwards we stopped for ice cream.
Not only became a voracious reader but to this day salivate when see a library building.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Quick summary? Or a link?
Edit: I should have thanked you for the good news first. Apologies.
BGinCHI
@KG: Wow, that is legal gray area city.
Can I be menacing with a gun and still be legal? Who decides what is “menacing”? If an armed man points his gun at my child and I beat the absolute living shit out of him, am I within my rights? Does it matter that I might occasionally refer to my biceps as “guns”?
ranchandsyrup
@BGinCHI: always nice to have an extra midfielder around.
@NotMax: Same here. We’d hit up the Thrifty after going to the library.
Mnemosyne
@KG:
Phoenix SkyHarbor is kind of a strange airport, because they have a large area OUTSIDE the TSA area with restaurants, shops, even a small museum that’s open to the public.
I always have airport envy when I travel through Phoenix because LAX is one of the suckiest airports ever when it comes to restaurants, shops, etc. Even O’Hare is better than LAX.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Summary: Court to wingnuts — you suck.
Link
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@BGinCHI: I think that KG pretty much has it right.
HumboldtBlue
Who the fuck is John Lubbock and is that statement supposed to make some sense?
In 1814 Napoleon was marching across central and western Europe. In 1714 the War of the Spanish Succession and the Ottoman-Venetian wars were in full swing and France had just emerged from 70 years of warfare under the Sun King.
What the fuck is so special about war in 2014?
BGinCHI
@HumboldtBlue: That it’s not special?
SatanicPanic
@danielx: Dude, what makes you think that’s something they don’t want? Haven’t all the comments about “stickin it to the libtards”, Rollin’ Coal and the Chris Christie candidacy been enough to convince you?
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I was afraid of that. Sheeeit.
MomSense
@BGinCHI:
It is insanity. I can’t tell the difference between a bad guy with a gun and a good guy with a gun. What am I supposed to tell my kids?
The thing that is really disturbing is that the gun fetishists advocacy for a distortion of the 2nd amendment is completely undoing the 1st amendment. Yes, I am technically able to say what is on my mind without fear of Congress stomping on me, but if a person says anything about guns they can expect to receive threats and harassment from gun “rights” supporters over it. I bet there are a lot of public health and safety officials, school administrators, legislators, etc who are also afraid to make any statements or regulations about guns for fear that they will be subjected to threats of violence.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
I know. (sigh)
@kc:
See above. (sigh^2)
KG
@BGinCHI: generally speaking, the fear of bodily harm of self or others is measured by two standards – subjective and objective. Subjectively, were you in fear of bodily harm? Pretty simple question and answer. Objectively, the finder of fact is asked to determine whether a reasonable person in a similar situation would reasonably be in fear of bodily harm. Generally speaking, the presumption that a gun is loaded is reasonable.
There are likely situations where you can be menacing with a gun and it be legal, but they are far and few between. for example, if you come upon two people fighting, and reasonably believe the person losing is in risk of death or great bodily harm, pulling a gun to stop the fight would probably be legal. similarly, if you were in a fight and were in fear of your life (and depending on stand your ground status) unable to retreat or without other options, pulling a gun would likely be legal. there is sometimes the issue of who started the fight and/or who escalated the fight (for example, you start a fist fight, the other guy pulls a knife, you pull a gun, that can be a very fact intensive case).
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Baud: It was a 12(b)(6)? Awesome.
MomSense
@ranchandsyrup:
Those are lovely things to do. I remember fondly those days.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Love your summary. The summary at the link wasn’t quite as fun. There was a line in the summary:
Were they sticking it to the SC because they no long have a commitment to a narrow construction of the Origination Clause? Or was that actually meant sincerely?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Not surprising. No factual issues — purely legal question.
KG
@Mnemosyne: i’ve been in and out of Sky Harbor a lot, really like it as airports go. John Wayne and LAX were much better on 9/10, but where the check points went in screwed the pooch.
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): phew, it’s been a while since i’ve dealt with speech issues.
Violet
@KG: Isn’t that exactly what happened? They had to leave him alone until he put the gun on the ground where it was pointed at the mother and daughter and then the police swooped in?
BGinCHI
@KG: This is a lot to think about when the Fists of Fury take over.
Maybe the iPhone will have an app that will help.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Maybe a little of both. The opinion makes clear that the Supreme Court has said that the Origination Clause only applies to actual revenue-raising measures. Because the Obamacare penalty was designed to influence behavior and not raise revenue, the Origination Clause doesn’t apply. The analysis seemed historically convincing, but I didn’t look up the older cases.
Trollhattan
@KG:
In California is qualifies you to run for governor as a Republican.
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: They’re working on the Tom Bradley terminal so last time I went there, nothing was available because even that crappy little café downstairs was shut. I had to leave the airport to go get a snack. So stupid.
Russ
My “natural reaction” were I in an airport, or any other public area and like a Main Street, and I came upon someone carrying a assault rifle out in the open as to opposed with a hunting rifle in a canvas beg maybe travelling towards a hunting destination.
I would move away very quickly and not stop moving until I felt safe, and I believe this is most peoples reaction to these events.
If I feel threatened then I believe most people do.
The person with the gun has a right to own and carry it where ever it is legal, legal when looked up in the dictionary, does not mean safely.
BGinCHI
I’m only joking in this thread because this makes me so crazily angry I almost can’t stand it. Let’s face it: only damaged people who have some intent are going to take advantage of these laws in order to kill people.
This is not an evolved position. I only hope we can mature as a society sooner than later.
sigh
dedc79
Just started Guns of August to mark the occasion…
Violet
Here’s an interesting rundown of how Steinmetz’s employer has erased him from their websites. Obviously still available in cache, but it doesn’t look good for his continued association with the Barrow Institute.
Kyle
Am I a bad person for hoping a spontaneous fire fight will erupt at an open carry gathering and the idiots will gun each other down?
It would be wrong to set off firecrackers at an open carry event. So very, very wrong.
srv
Oh, be happy you nazi liberals, now this great scientest is being erased:
What Orwell said.
kc
Joking aside, I wouldn’t be surprised if as a result of this shithead’s arrest, the gun nuts start agitating for repeals of state laws against “pointing and presenting” loaded firearms.
KG
@BGinCHI: short version – don’t take your guns to town son, leave your guns at home Bill, don’t take your guns to town…
Trollhattan
@Violet: @srv:
In an unrelated press release, the Barrow Institute reports that a jar labled “Abby Something” was found emptied of its contents: one brain.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): A little something for you.
WaterGirl
Since we haven’t seen TBogg since least week when John was originally going to be gone, I am guessing that Cole has not gotten into rehab yet. Anybody know anything more useful than my speculation?
Corner Stone
Someone tell me again why we shouldn’t nuke the Brookings Institution from orbit? Just to be sure.
“Butler, who has spent the past 35 years at the Heritage Foundation, is known for proposing innovative policy ideas, starting in 1980 with “enterprise zones” to encourage development in low-income neighborhoods.”
WaterGirl
@Violet: Couldn’t happen to a nicer person!
Reading at the link reminded me of the PR person who was going to Africa and had an unexpected bad day, which she discovered when she got off the plane.
Seanly
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, apparently the guy went to the airport just to get a coffee. An airport, even if it’s got a larger than normal non-security area, is about the last place I would go if I didn’t need to be there.
Maybe his brain melted a bit in the Phoenix heat…
Corner Stone
@KG:
Local police say what he did was legal. Right up until the whole pointing thingie.
He just wanted some coffee. I blame the demon bean.
Trollhattan
@Seanly:
Hell yeah, who doesn’t pay ten bucks for airport parking after circling the lot for half an hour, then walk a mile for a cuppa delicious airport joe? Who among us hasn’t done exactly that in the last month?
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: I don’t get what I’m supposed to be upset about- enterprise zones?
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: The entire career at Heritage?
If that doesn’t bother you then I guess it explains much.
Seanly
@WaterGirl:
The suit contended that revenue enhancing measures must originate in the House. The court decision today said that the language of the law and previous court cases emphatically state that the point of the bill is to increase medical insurance coverage (and any revenue generated is not the main focus of the bill).
JCT
The amusing part is watching the idgit gun crazies gnash their teeth over these open-carry long rifle loons “making them look bad”. The forums are a laugh-riot over this.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: Oh OK, the two tend to get mixed up in my mind. Are Think-Tanks any different than that other scourge of our nation- pundits? Let’s discuss
MomSense
Ok, I was ramping myself up and about to rant about the #%$%$%&$ guns but decided to think of something happy. I looked out and saw my old Maine Coon cat rolling around in the loam that was delivered today. He is the most dog like cat I have ever known. He likes to roll in things and I am constantly trying to brush him and pull sticks and twigs out of his fur (I won’t go into the ass shaving because this is a happy post).
Also, too last night I caught another of the stray/feral kittens and now he/she is with a foster family. They are considering keeping her/him which is great. Just one more kitten to catch and then I am going to try and get the mom and have her spayed. These are street cats and not domesticated at all but the kittens seem to be doing really well with their families so I’m hopeful. I discovered another whole block with tons of street cats so I predict a busy few months of cat activities for me.
Amir Khalid
I understand this company was in the news about healthcare for women employees not too long ago. Sacking a worker while she’s away giving birth seems pretty low.
Librarian
@HumboldtBlue: Actually, in 1814 Napoleon had retreated across Europe into France, his empire fell, and the Bourbons were restored.
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic: The fact that no one can tell them apart should seem to speak for itself.
NotMax
@Trollhattan
Don’t know if it is still there (as it had a separate streetside entrance, could well be) but one of the two best fine dining restaurants in Reading, PA was inside the local airport terminal building.
Sort of on the same topic – anyone with info positive or negative on the Seattle airport? I’ll have a stopover there in Sept. and have never passed through that one.
the Conster
@Roger Moore:
I don’t know about making them feel manly – what they do know is that they can intimidate without fear of retribution. It’s a bullying mentality that lets them openly be the cowards they are. That’s why they go to restaurants and playgrounds and airports, not to biker bars.
WereBear
@MomSense: Bless you for helping the kitties!
Trollhattan
@NotMax: Haven’t been to Seatac for probably ten years, but since there’s an Ivar’s Seafood there, I’d go to that for nostalgia’s sake (having grown up in Seattle). “Keep Clam”
Nice airport between bouts of construction.
Violet
@NotMax: Seattle airport security seems to take longer than in a lot of other places.
The rental cars used to be in the airport but now you have to take a bus to an off site lot.
Reasonable food choices once you’re inside security.
Trollhattan
@Amir Khalid: Hobby Lobby is the gift that keeps on
givingtaking.Russ
Could sports coaches be charged as predators when an athlete who has suffered a concussion is advised to re enter their sport? Just asking.
Cervantes
@Anoniminous: Not as bad as I am.
Cervantes
@MomSense: The First Amendment never did protect you from being threatened or intimidated by your fellow citizens.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
@Trollhattan:
And there’s more (via LGM):
D58826
I see by the newsmax link there is a new conservative issue to freak out about. Obama isn’t doing anything to freer this ex-Marine being held in Mexico. (sigh). The man entered Mexico with a bunch of guns. In Mexico that is a BIG no-no. Maybe it was accidental and maybe not but it is a Mexican criminal justice issue. I’m not sure what his Mother wants Obama to do – invade Mexico maybe? Funny how on the right if you are a non-American in this country you still have to obey American law but Americans in a foreign country can just break the local law with impunity. Ugly American exceptionalism at work.
WereBear
@Baud: Gee. Almost makes me wish I was a crafter so I could boycott them.
Cervantes
@the Conster:
Has anyone catalogued their appearances? It would help in interpreting their … activism.
Trollhattan
@D58826:
Yeah, the puke funnel must have sent out the edict, because there are daily letters in my dead tree paper about “Not leaving our Marine behind!”
Gov. Jerry is thus commanded to enter international politics during his Mexico trade mission.
KG
@Russ: as a predator? no. they could, in theory, face civil liability for tort damages due to negligence. there’s an issue of waiver and assumption of risk involved. i don’t think courts have found a fiduciary relationship or some other similar relationship to exist in that context. and it would also depend on if a second injury followed the first – if a player gets a minor concussion and goes back in the game and doesn’t get hurt again, there’s likely no damages. of course, most leagues/teams/conferences have instituted a rule that if a player is diagnosed with a concussion on the sideline they can’t reenter the game (they’ve actually shown instances on TV where the training staff hides a football player’s helmet so he can’t go back in).
Patrick
@Amir Khalid:
It is low for a normal company. But this is Hobby Lobby, which claimed it had Christian beliefs that made it impossible for them to support paying for birth control for their female employees. How the heck is it Christian to fire an employee who is pregnant? And didn’t they claim they were pro-life?
Baud
@D58826: @Trollhattan:
Maybe we can trade the rest of the Gitmo prisoners for him?
sharl
Via his twitter account, Zaid Jilani is really working on Chris Hayes to take an honest look at what’s happening in Gaza. It appears to have been in part a response to this encouraging (and on this topic, apparently atypical IMO) tweet from Big Media Hayes:
KG
@D58826: well, as we learned with the last Marine held captive in a foreign land, they’re for him being returned safely until the president manages to get him returned safely. then it will be a grave crime worthy of impeachment because they guy was probably actually running guns to the Mexican drug cartels – my mom’s aunt’s cousin’s niece’s hairdresser’s “domestic partner” said it’s probably what happened and he’s from Juarez…
Cervantes
@sharl: Thanks. I had not seen that Hayes thing. Good for him — and Zaid as well.
D58826
@Baud: While it is good top see the decision go that way, it continues a pattern of democratic decisions and republican decisions. Our laws have to have some consistency and mean something rather than being a punching bag for whichever party has the majority of judges. While I disagree with what most of the GOP appointees have decided I’m not so sure that liberal judges are made of better stuff and will not be tempted to base decisions on party affiliation rather than the law. I realize that the ‘law’ is not some static engraved in stone thing and that it grows and changes over the years but we can’t keep swinging 180 degrees every 4 years. And yes get out and vote so that Obama can pack the courts with liberals
SFAW
Apropos of nothing in particular:
Best wishes to the Birthday Boy! 100 years young today!
Elmo
@Kyle:
When I was ten years old, I was at a birthday barbecue (school friend, nothing to do with my own family) where the adults started drinking at lunchtime. By nightfall the neighbors were complaining about the noise, and somebody called the cops.
When the cops rolled up, one of the drunks thought it would be great fun to toss a firecracker under the cop car.
I was hiding in the kitchen by this time, and the first I knew of the arrival of the police was the young sheriffs deputy kicking in the door and holding me at gunpoint. He kept me there and did not lower the gun until the all-clear was given.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Pavlov’s Books.
WaterGirl
@sharl: @Cervantes: I’m a bit confused, but maybe I missed something. It sounds like Chris Hayes is the one who tweeted “You’re not a civilian if you were “part of an election process” that elected Hamas.”
Cervantes, why are you praising Chris Hayes? Or am I just supposed to “know” that Chris Hayes was calling out that idea by quoting it?
Cervantes
@WaterGirl: I am not the person to ask about how “tweets” are, or should be, formatted.
Hayes was quoting a rabbi, I assume accurately, and added the bit about odium.
Cervantes
@SiubhanDuinne: Or book-worms.
Villago Delenda Est
@dedc79: “Home before the leaves fall”.
Right!
sharl
@WaterGirl: AFAICT, this is a recent change in Hayes’ public statements on the Israeli-Gaza matter. Previous output from him has had something of a blame-the-victim vibe to it – like this (which I commented on in an
earlierolder post):ETA: minor edit as marked
Cervantes
@Elmo: Yikes.
Randy P
I take the train every day. I’m bombarded on every train system with “if you see something, say something”. They want me watching out for people dressed inappropriately for the weather. They don’t say anything about people openly carrying firearms, but in my book that’s dressing inappropriately. If I see it, I’m reporting it.
Nothing will happen, but what the hell.
Can anybody give me some reason to believe that the gun-nut pendulum will swing the other way eventually? Please?
Barring that, does anyone have a couple of labrador retrievers and a sack of tennis balls I can borrow for a couple of hours?
(And does anyone have any theory as to why the tennis ball is far and away the Most Fun Ball in the Dog Universe?)
SectionH
@NotMax: Do you have an actual stopover, or are you just changing planes?
I agree with Violet that Security Theater at SEA is no fun, but it’s better than it used to be, and they do pre-check well there, which makes a huge difference. If you’re simply connecting, you don’t need to worry about it.
The tricksey thing about SEA is that there are 2 “satellite” concourses, South and North, which can only be reached by a people-mover “train”. It runs every 2 minutes or so normally, but you have to go down a long way to it and then back up again. which adds a fair amount of time to travel between gates, and FSM only knows what happens if the train breaks down. We have waited as long as 15 minutes for a train, no idea why. Luckily, we didn’t have a tight connection.
There’s food and basic newsstand type places at S and N gates, but much more selection in the main concourses.
shelley
There’s just something a bit odd about neurologists…..trust me.
Cervantes
@Randy P: It’s a good size, and it bounces, and it’s chewy.
(The tennis ball, not the gun-nut pendulum.)
Elmo
@Cervantes: yeah. I loooove cops.
Elizabelle
PBS Ken Burns doc on Mark Twain just starting. 2 hours for Part 1; think it takes Twain to Huck Finn.
“I believe God created man because he was disappointed in the monkey.”
Is Stephen Colbert our Twain? Who, who?
Karen in GA
@ranchandsyrup: Parenting win. Well done.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Good.
muddy
@sharl: He’s on right now on this topic.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@D58826: Damn, here I had almost forgotten about that particular bullshit.
One of my coworkers is a tr00fer about the marine in Mexico, some how these dastardly Messican cops dream up schemes all day long to chase hard-workin’ red-blooded Americans mindin’ their damn business on the US side of the border and kidnap ’em and throw ’em in Mexican jail.
I still don’t get how you accidentally on purpose cross the border. I know someone who crossed the US border illegally once–wudn’t no accident aboutit.
SiubhanDuinne
@dedc79:
I read it years ago, cannot find (cannot remember where I shelved) my copy, but have just downloaded it to the Kindle app and am looking forward to reading it again. Thanks for the reminder.
I have been reading novels that are set during or in the immediate aftermath of (or leadup to) WWI, and those provide a kind of romanticized take on the Great War, but I’ve been feeling I need something a bit meatier.
A couple of years ago I read George, Nicholas, Wilhelm and King, Kaiser, Tsar, both of which focused on the familial relations between the rulers of Britain, Germany, and Russia, who were cousins. We sometimes forget, on top of everything else, that the War was a family squabble.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Violet: Yeah, but it’s easy to get to light rail straight to Seattle now, so there’s that. Go with the flow.
shelley
@Elizabelle:
Thanks for the heads up. Going off to watch Twain.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Try The Razor’s Edge.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
AFAIK he has not been tweeting, and I know he hasn’t been posting to FB. Negative evidence, to be sure, but I think and hope we can assume that he is finally in some facility, and I surely hope he is (a) getting the help he needs, and (b) neck-punching everyone in his group sessions who deserve it. And you know they do.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Wow, you know, I think I did, centuries ago. Have a kind of visceral sense that I couldn’t finish it. I may try again. Thanks.
Have never seen the move adaptations.
sharl
@muddy: Ah thanks! If you’re willing and able to do a brief post-broadcast summary, I’d be a ready-&-willing reader of that.
How the media is handling this hot potato is fascinating to me, though often in a grim kind of way. I agree with #9 in this Jacobin article by Corey Robin, 25 Points on Gaza:
ETA: added author’s name
MomSense
@Cervantes:
I know. That is why I said that Congress will not stomp on me for speaking my mind. I am pointing out that the extreme behavior on the part of the gun nuts is not only stifling civil discourse but it is also preventing elected officials from taking steps to make our communities safer.
Jeffro
Looking forward to the first case of a paranoid wingnut blasting an open-carry fellow in an airport, city hall, mall, Chipotle, Starbucks, or whatever, in a “Stand Your Ground” state. They’ll turn on each other in every medium, channel, and bit of bandwidth available (not to mention actually showing up to gun it out in several places, I’m sure)
Anoniminous
@SiubhanDuinne:
For memoirs, Robert Grave’s Good Bye to All That is a Must Read. But don’t take the claim to being an autobiography too seriously. Sassoon’s Sherson Triology is also good. And so is Edmund Blunden “Undertones of War.” For pure weirdness David Jone’s “In Parenthesis” cannot be beat.
Non-fiction two Must Reads are Eksteins’ “Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age” and Paul Fussell “The Great War and Modern Memory.” Both books are intellectual histories – which I find more interesting.
ETA: the continual “they jumped the bags and were machine gunned before they reached the enemies trenches” found in military and political histories gets wearisome.
WaterGirl
@Cervantes: Sorry, I guess I got it wrong. All the tweets out of context can be hard to follow when you are not a twitter person.
MomSense
@WereBear:
It’s kind of addictive. I’m crawling around buildings and going behind dumpsters looking for cats. I’ve got my own version of Cats going with nicknames for all of them.
The little black and white one I caught last night is really feisty. He tried to claw and bite me when I tried to go near him. His foster mom called and said that he is starting to cuddle with her. I guess she has been putting milk on her fingers to get him to touch her. It has been less than 24 hours and he is already starting to figure it out.
It is such a bleak existence for them living on the street. If I can help to find homes and stop them making more kitties I will be really happy.
Violet
@SectionH: A year ago I was checking in for my return flight out of Seattle and some warning came up about “extra long wait times at security at SEATAC”. It had been some time since I’d been there but previously the wait times were ridiculously long as well. A short time later I flew somewhere else and got no warning on check in, so I think it was something about Seattle’s security lines that are really long.
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): Yeah, the light rail is a good option now that it’s done. I’m usually going out from Seattle so need a vehicle. Depends what you’re planning to do there.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh the Bill Murray version is wonderful. He made Ghostbusters to get the funding for Razor’s Edge and he give a wonderful performance.
eta I just looked at the IMDB reviews, buncha dopes.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Violet: The last time I was in Seattle I oddly had a really good time. We walked the city from end to end pretty much and didn’t get on buses too much. They’re good on service levels but pricey and we found out that apparently service is about to get slashed bigtime :(
The feds really need to up per passenger subsidies or start paying for fuel or something because it is just wrong to see full buses getting cut.
Roger Moore
The big WWI anniversary for me will be Friday, the anniversary of the United Kingdom’s entry into the war. It would also be the 100th birthday for my grandmother, who was born in London. She said her mother always told her that the day she was born the war started, and they hadn’t had any peace since.
Cervantes
@Corner Stone:
You sound like … Richard Nixon.
raven
@Roger Moore: My great grandfather was killed in the wheelhouse of a coal mine in Du Quoin, Il the day of Archduke Ferdinand’s funeral and I have the local paper. Hiram Thornsberry’s death was front page news and the funeral was buried inside the paper.
Mike in NC
If John McCain had been in the US Senate in July of 1914, he’d have been agitating to get America involved in the war as soon as possible. On which side probably wouldn’t have mattered so long as people were being killed and arms merchants were getting contracts.
Cervantes
@WaterGirl: No apology needed whatsoever. I agree entirely.
Mike in NC
This is a very good new book on the subject: “A Mad Catastrophe — The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire” by Geoffrey Wawro, a former professor at the Naval War College and former History Channel host.
mdblanche
@sharl: What’s the voting age in Gaza? If it’s the same as here, a majority of the population was not part of the election process.
Karen in GA
@Randy P: Iggy has no use for tennis balls, or anything else he has to chase very far. From what I understand, mini schnauzers don’t fetch.
Karen in GA
@SiubhanDuinne: I would imagine if he weren’t in rehab, we’d be hearing all about it. He’d be beyond pissed off.
schrodinger's cat
WWI is still casts its long shadow over us. Redrawn maps in the middle-east after the fall of the Ottomans, beginning of the end of the British Empire and one can
can even argue that WWII was the continuation of WWI after a brief recess of twenty years, so that another generation of cannon fodder would be ready.
raven
Seems like there’s some nasty shit going on at the Cosplay people are so into here.
Amir Khalid
Thanks to some ill-advised YouTube choices, I now have Sousa’s Liberty Bell March playing in my head. Without, alas, the whoopee-cushion noise.
Josie
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): I have lived very close to the border for all of my 70 years, except the four years I was at the university, and I know of no circumstance in which Mexican police crossed over to arrest (or kidnap) someone. It just would not happen. If the marine went across with guns or even ammunition, he would definitely wind up in jail. He would need a Mexican lawyer and a family with plenty of money to get back home. Some years back a doctor went hunting over there and mistakenly forgot to clean shells out of his car before crossing the border. It took a year or more and a lot of mordida from his family to get him back. The lovely suv he was driving was long gone.
El Caganer
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): Damn Messkins won’t respect his Second Amendment rights….
danielx
@SatanicPanic:
This is true.
sharl
@mdblanche: I don’t know about voting rules in Gaza, so I did a quick-&-dirty search and found the following from this Thai publication, The Nation (no relation to the U.S.-based publication of the same name, I assume):
I can’t vouch for any of that personally – maybe Amir in neighboring Malaysia can offer an opinion on the reputation of the source publication – but nothing in those two paragraphs seems terribly out-of-line to me.
Cervantes
@mdblanche: Eighteen.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
Does it at least make it to the trio? That’s the best part, so it would be a shame if it didn’t.
raven
@Josie: My buddies and I went on a fishing expedition west of Hermosillo on the Sea of Cortez. My fishing rod case is a Bazuka and has it imprinted on the side. The Federales at the road blocks were not amused.
Josie
@raven: No, they don’t have a sense of humor about weapons of any kind. My late husband and my oldest son used to hunt doves in Mexico, but had to stop in the late 1900’s due to the Mexican paranoia about weapons. They got stopped and searched by Federales with machine guns too often to feel comfortable about the whole thing.
raven
@Josie: Yep, in the 70’s we felt ok carrying weed south to Guyamas but NOT on the trip back up. The Fed’s did love my big shepherd collie and always tried to buy “Lassie”!
eta The 1900’s????
SiubhanDuinne
@Anoniminous:
Thanks. All noted for reading (I know the Graves, not the others).
Josie
@raven: That’s funny. My husband and son had a golden retriever that they took on the hunting trips, and they had the same experience. Everyone wanted by buy Baron and keep him there.
dedc79
@SiubhanDuinne: have you read the Regeneration trilogy?
raven
@Josie: Yep, them chihuahua’s don’t cut it!
Josie
@raven: I should have said 1990’s.
ETA: That was when they got really strict about guns.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Cool, thanks, I will explore.
Central Planning
So TPM had a post about FaceBook for Patriots.
So I go to http://www.reaganbook.com to take a look, and a filmstrip of pictures comes up across the bottom – Margaret Thatcher, Bill O’Reilly, Reagan, Saddam Hussein, a naked guy showing us his rear end, a woman giving a blowjob.
Priceless. I almost want to create an account just to troll them. I’m afraid it might be like shooting fish in a barrel.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
For me it will be August 26, which would have been my dad’s 100th b/d.
Mandalay
Richard Dawkins is throwing a pity party for himself after people got on his ass about these three tweets he sent earlier today:
I’m sure he has a point somewhere in all that, but it’s his poutrage that anyone should be offended by his efforts that puts him in the asshole category. I suspect that Dawkins understands less about rape than most people understand about DNA sequencing (which is not much at all).
SiubhanDuinne
@Karen in GA:
I’ve been thinking much the same. Quite literally, no news is good news.
Added: But I kind of wish Seth or Annie or Devon or Mrs. Cole would weigh in, just to reassure us.
raven
@Josie: Our first trip was 72. My buddy and I had hair down to our ass and our ladies were serious flower kids. We camped on the beach where they filmed Catch 22 and had a great time. We had some killer herb left the morning we left and we knew we had to smoke it all before we went north. We sparked it all and, about 15 miles up the road, hit a big roadblock. I was driving so I got out and just “yes sir no sir’d the shit out of the head dude. The other folks were stuck in the car staring down the barrel’s of 30 cal machine guns. After the dude tried to by the dog he waved us through. My passengers were not amused either!
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t suppose you saw the Monty Python Reunion Show the other day….
cmm
@Baud:
Justice for me but not for thee! Boy they get those sluts coming and going don’t they?
SiubhanDuinne
@dedc79:
No, thanks, will add to the TBR list.
raven
@Josie: They were really strict in the 70’s too. You could get a good bit of stuff for an M-16 back then.
Amir Khalid
@Central Planning:
Either Reaganbook’s creators are being heavily trolled or they are attracting some profoundly disturbed people. I clicked on one or two of those pictures on that strip, and boy do I regret it.
sharl
@Mandalay: I kinda feel sorry for Richard Dawkins, though at times he brings this stuff on himself. I don’t hold his apparent humor-impairment against him, nor (for the most part) his general air of stuffiness, but his inability (and/or unwillingness) to empathize with others who aren’t like him just make things all the worse.
He has been a favorite target for satire by the folks in Weird Twitter – and that stuff is both sad and funny (but mostly funny) – and he does not respond well to the razzing.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
Missed it, alas.
Roger Moore
@Central Planning:
If you really want to troll them, you have to turn ReaganBook into the social network for actual socialists.
Eric U.
@Amir Khalid: I have to assume that some of that is trolling and some of it is deeply disturbed reaganites. I take it the pictures are avatars and they would change if more people joined
Karen in GA
@Central Planning: I know I should click the TPM link you provided before I react, but just from your description, WTFF?
NotMax
@SectionH,/a>
Just changing planes, so security lines not a concern.* Same airline, so almost surely same concourse (I hope).
90 minute or so time between planes, so heads-up on anything worth checking out inside the security zone appreciated.
*Last year, the time from when I was dropped off at the Maui airport, got boarding pass, checked a bag (which involved waiting for someone authorized to accept cash), went through TSA crap and walked to the gate was a grand total of 16 minutes.
Josie
@raven: The hunters never had much of a problem for a long time. They would buy a license, pay a registration fee for the gun and go with an approved guide. As long as the gun was the one they registered and they bought the ammo there, everything was fine. But things started to tighten up in the 1990’s and gradually got very unpleasant. I think they are worried about a revolution and don’t want guns or ammo going into the country at all unless it goes to the government.
raven
Me and Ralph in Mexico, 72 or so.
schrodinger's cat
@sharl: I have heard Dawkins speak, he is pretty smug and insufferable. That was my reaction to the talk even though I mostly agreed with what he had to say.
NotMax
@NotMax
Coding fail. Mea culpa, no edit function.
Central Planning
@Roger Moore: I think the key is to have a username that can fly under the radar for most of them. ReaganRaisedTaxes, ReganDeficitSpends, UnemploymentWentUp, or something like that is too obvious. I need to summon my inner DougJ. Maybe Amnesty or OllieNorth would work.
Central Planning
@Karen in GA: I was thinking the same thing. That site (reaganbook, not TPM) just screams troll.
Jay C
@Josie: @Another Holocene Human (now with new computer):
Trying to find a coherent account of the Andrew Tahmooressi case is hard: Googling usually turns up mostly cites from Glenn Beck and the like: all that seems to be consistent is that the wingers are 110% convinced that the poor guy (not an active-duty Marine, btw) is the Innocent Victim of those Corrupt Mexes, who ought to be freed immediately because America! and Justice! and something something Obama! – usually sourmouth gripes about his getting the “traitorous deserter” Bowe Bergdahl released, while letting poor Andy rot in a vile Mexican hoosegow.
Tahmooressi’s own account of his actions is somewhat muddled, though: about the only thing that anyone agrees on is that he got stopped going into Mexico at the Sand Diego border crossing, with a collection of guns in his car (a major no-no) he claims he accidentally made a wrong turn – but that doesn’t seem to be the point: to the wingnuts, it’s all about Teh GUNZ!! and American Exceptionalism/ Oh, and ODS for seasoning…..
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
It was funny. They do not lose their edge. If you have a chance to catch an encore viewing at some point, do.
NotMax
@Central Planning
GipperRipper?
Josie
@raven: pretty picture. You did have a lot of hair.
SiubhanDuinne
@Central Planning:
Wait, I thought you were DougJ.
I thought we were all DougJ.
Anne Laurie
@raven: “Cosplay” (‘costume play’, the Japanese love to shorten English words like that) is when people dress up like characters from comix/movies/games. Kids these day do cosplay at cons (conventions).
The word is new, but the concept isn’t. Forty years ago, I went to the (IIRC) very first NYC Comic-Con in a home-made, fake-fur Shanna the She-Devil costume (slightly modified-for-my-less-than-cartoon-perfect 19-year-old body). I was far from the only one in costume, and plenty of women were wearing even less than my halter-and-mini combo. Nobody tried to fondle me, although a hot-at-the-time comic illustrator whose name I don’t remember asked me to “help out” at his big speech — but his girlfriend swooped in screeching before I could even get the word NO out of my mouth.
I blame it on the “popularization” of nerd-dom. Back in my day, a really big convention had maybe two to five thousand attendees, and we were all shy sexually-repressed nerds. These days there’s a lot of wanna-bes and looky-loos, the same kind of pervs who ride the subway hoping to feel up high schoolers, and the sheer volume of the crowds (like 100,000 people!) gives them the anonymity they need.
Josie
@Jay C: Interesting. I have never been to a border crossing in California. The Texas crossings I have been through would not be approached by mistake or a wrong turn. They are really obvious, clearly marked with signs telling you everything you should not be bringing into Mexico.
raven
@Anne Laurie: I know what it is, my niece in LA is all into it.
Central Planning
@SiubhanDuinne:
That could be a rotating tag line: “We are all DougJ”
sharl
@schrodinger’s cat: Yeah, that’s kind of where I am on Dawkins as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@Central Planning:
I can only speak for myself, and I am definitely DougJ. The rest of y’all are on your own.
Central Planning
Well, I’m in.
Here’s the first thing I see:
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Fun, true story about a costume at a Con.
schrodinger's cat
@Central Planning: If we are all DougJ, are we indistinguishable?
trollhattan
@Josie: l have. He’s full of it.
Occam sez: gun running, and not the first time.
dmsilev
@Central Planning: I trust that’s just a LIBERAL TROLL playing a long game.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
Surely, you of all people know that we are all simultaneously DougJ and not DougJ.
raven
@Josie: We go through Nogales.
raven
@trollhattan: Hard to get lost on the border.
NotMax
@Baud
Dunno about that. Just asked my buddy Heisenberg, and he’s uncertain.
Baud
@Central Planning:
That commenter has a point. People on that site should be engaged in serious discussions about how to shut down the government, default on the national debt, and deny health care to millions, rather than acting all juvenile and shit.
PurpleGirl
@MomSense: Seconding WearBear’s thank you for helping the kitties. The foster mom whose cam I most often watch is now a federally recognized 501(c)(3) shelter. She keeps kittens in her house and finds others to foster and socialize other kittens. One of her aims is to neuter/spay the parents as often as possible and either home them or return them to the community. Any thing you do that helps to keep more kittens from being born is fantastic and much needed. (From watching the cams, I see that the younger the kitten is when it is taken in to a new home, the easier it is to socialize them.)
Eric U.
@dmsilev: I think all the liberal trolls should carefully craft a post agreeing with that one in the most outraged language possible
Central Planning
You know reaganbook is a quality site when you get this as a welcome message:
WaterGirl
@Baud: nice.
Corner Stone
@Cervantes: Gooo oonnn…
jayboat
@Central Planning:
Got a good chuckle looking through the member list.
Maybe, MAYBE… one in fifteen are real people.
Good times.
dmsilev
@Central Planning: That’s the sort of attention to detail that Reagan was renowned for.
Baud
@NotMax:
I’m not surprised. He’s never been clear about where he’s at or where he’s going.
Gravenstone
@Central Planning: I am
SpartacusDougJ!PurpleGirl
The History Channel 2 has begun a new series about World War I. I watched the first show last night which highlighted the various relationships between the different kings/emperors and the counties. One thing they pointed out was that by 1914 it had been 50 years since a major European war and most people felt a war wouldn’t happen now. (They did mention the Russian/Japanese war.)
It seemed to be a better show than the one the History Channel 1 did on World War II earlier this year. This show had commentary from English and American historians, no politicians were in the line-up. (Thank you FSM.)
ETA: I read the Guns of August years ago; should maybe re-read it now. (Thanks for names of other books about the era and the War.)
Central Planning
@Gravenstone: Well played, sir.
Baud
@PurpleGirl:
When did the History Channel start having programs about history?
NotMax
@PurpleGirl
Pretty good short summation on the background and causes of WW One.
swbarnes2
Does anyone else think it’s telling that this “brain scientist” started out as a physics major? He doesn’t have a degree in biology per say, but an MD and a PhD in bioengineering. And founded a little tech company. If this guy wasn’t a wingnut, he’d have all the makings of a creationist…one of those “Physics is the only real science, and I deduce from physics alone, without actually knowing any data about biology, that evolution is a crock”
DesertFriar
Could not this guy; instead of carrying around in an airport, try and carry it into the Supreme Court?
If the federal government can’t infringed then Fat Tony would have no problem with Chuck Conners walking right into the gallery.
PurpleGirl
I have a girlfriend whose distant cousin was in the Lost Battalion, at least he was assigned to it but on the day it went out on that last mission, he was in hospital in Paris for shell shock. A few years after he got home, he killed himself. He never got being over still being alive. His father deeded a few hundred of the back acreage of their family estate to NYS as a park as his reaction.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Russ: Yup.
I flew into the Athens, Greece airport almost 25 years ago and was taken aback when I saw a soldier/guard walking around the terminal with a machine gun. It certainly didn’t make me feel safer. :-(
This incident reminds me of the 2002 shootings at LAX:
People have no business brandishing guns out in public. The sooner this is again taboo (either because it is illegal or because there’s (again) too much social stigma) the better off we’ll all be.
Cheers,
Scott.
Karen in GA
Oh, hey, The Iggy Dialogues gets nominated for an award by a fellow blogger. Iggy reacts.
PurpleGirl
@Baud: You have to look for them. The ones done with/for the BBC are better than the straight US productions. I check the Time Warner schedule to see what is on that I might want to watch. NO Ancient Aliens for me.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Just curious, has anyone ever seen Heisenberg and Schrödinger in the same place* together?
Askin’ is all.
*Okay, you know what I mean.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Wasn’t it around the same time A&E started showing things that were (a) artistic, (2) entertaining?
jayboat
Ok, just had to post this headline-
Japanese Whaling Crew Eaten Alive By Killer Whales, 16 Dead.
Not the Onion, it’s from WorldNewsDailyReport.com
I hope this is true.
Kaarma, she is a stone cold bitch.
Central Planning
@SiubhanDuinne: There was the time they were driving around and got pulled over by a cop:
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Scintillating observation.
:)
SiubhanDuinne
@Central Planning:
ROFLOL
SiubhanDuinne
@Central Planning:
ROFLOL
Gin & Tonic
This late in an open thread is probably not best, but it’s morning on the other side, so here goes. If I were to have 3 days or so in Sydney (AU), what should be on the agenda? And if I had another 3 or so days in QLD, should I head up to Cairns, or just go to a quiet place like Fraser Island? I know there are some Aussies here from time to time.
Randy P
@swbarnes2: Actually, biophysics is a perfectly respectable non-creationist field, and starting with an undergrad physics major is a perfectly legitimate path. Plenty of people have gone that route and made major contributions.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
:-)
Mandalay
@raven:
Nader’s the one with the pointy ears, right, or is that you?
Central Planning
@Gin & Tonic: When I was in Sydney, I did the Bridge Climb. It was fun, took a few hours, and is something a little different than normal site seeing. Check out the Bridge Climb site They also take a picture of you at the top. I think the opera house was in the background when I was there
ETA – I know the opera house is still there, I just don’t remember if they had different directions to take the picture.
Unabogie
Because what could go wrong???
George Zimmerman “volunteering” as a security guard.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/missing-the-shooting-life
PurpleGirl
Anne Laurie: during your con-going days, did you ever see the Countess Sandra Patia von Sternberg in one of her hall costumes? Her costumes were very often made of sheer fabric and what we called bandaids. A lot of rules about hall costumes were the result of Patia. (Hall costume = costume meant to be worn in the con in general, not in a costume call or masquerade.)
NotMax
@Unabogie
Another argument for creating a Gunowners Anonymous program.
Yatsuno
@KG: @NotMax: Was there coming back from Fresno in May. Lots of good food choices in the main concourses, and if you’re not leaving the secured area there are sometimes musicians playing around at various junctions. All the construction was on the outside roads plus a cheese shop with a crab sandwich that’s to die for.
Debbie
@PurpleGirl:
You might like reading Margaret McMillan’s “The War that Ended the Peace.”
jayboat
Ok, now I just feel a bit silly about the whales. Imma go back over to ReaganSpace and start some shit.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Randy P:
I strongly suspect the AZ Ammosexual isn’t, and won’t be, one of them.
Mike in NC
@PurpleGirl: A&E did a pretty good “Lost Battalion” TV movie back in 2001, as films about WW1 are so few and far between. Starred Rick Schroeder as the unit commander, though they didn’t mention at the end that he later jumped off a cruise ship due to what we would today call PTSD.
Gin & Tonic
@Central Planning: Holy Cow, that’s expensive.
Amir Khalid
@Yatsuno:
They do have cheese in the cheese shop, I hope.
NotMax
@Yatsuno
Thanks for that heads-up. Something to absolutely avoid. Don’t need to have that inflicted upon me after already suffering a long flight.
Cervantes
@MomSense: Sorry, I must have misunderstood your reference to “undoing the 1st Amendment.” My mistake.
Central Planning
@Gin & Tonic: Honestly, I had no idea. I did it back in 2000 when I was there for the Olympics (working, not competing). The exchange rate is pretty close to 1:1, so that’s not going to help you much.
Ripley
@Central Planning: Urm, pretty sure that’s not a woman giving the blowjob on the front page image banner. Reaganites reaching across the aisle, perhaps. In a circle.
Cervantes
@Corner Stone:
Nixon wanted to “recover” some papers held at Brookings. Chuck Colson, idea man extraordinaire, suggested fire-bombing the place so that his minions could ransack it in the ensuing chaos. Nixon liked the idea — of course — and is heard on tape to that effect.
As I am sure you know all this, I must apologize for being unclear above.
Mnemosyne
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
I remember that one pretty clearly (being in Los Angeles and all). As things shook out, it seemed to be a pretty clear case of suicide by cop rather than a true “terrorist” attack — he was unaffiliated with any group, his wife had just left him and taken the kids back to Egypt, and it was his birthday. Obviously, his choice of target was politically motivated, but he was more of a lone nut than a terrorist.
Viva BrisVegas
@Gin & Tonic:
Remember that it’s the middle of winter here. If you are going to Qld get as far north as you can. I live in Brisbane, the days have been OK (20-24C) but the nights have been cold (5-8C).
Cairns sounds good. Port Douglas is just up the road and is probably a bit better. Try the Cape Tribulation tour and a reef trip.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne: You’re right about some of the details but the Feds did conclude in 2002 and 2003 that, because the killer opposed US Middle East policy, and some Israeli policies, his action was “terrorist” in nature.
Mandalay
@Gin & Tonic: Since you only have three days I’d skip Fraser Island and Cairns, and stay in Brisbane and rent a car, especially if you will be there during the Australian summer, when Cairns will be very hot and very wet. From Brisbane you could take day trips by ferry to other islands such as North Stradbroke Island, or drive north or south to the Pacific coast.
And there is plenty to do in Brisbane itself, including climbing the Story Bridge. That doesn’t have the same cachet as climbing Sydney Harbor Bridge, but it’s a lot cheaper. You can also walk over Sydney Harbor Bridge for nothing, and that’s worth doing. There are boat cruises from downtown in Sydney and Brisbane.
I’ve lived in Sydney and Brisbane, and they are both great cities, though most costs (apart from tipping) will be higher than here.
Corner Stone
@Cervantes:
“@Omnes Omnibus: IMO, they are probably the absolute worst “cover” for liberal hawks and hiding neo-cons under liberal clothing.
I wish them harm.“
Gin & Tonic
@Viva BrisVegas: Sorry for the imprecision. This would be in the second half of September.
Gin & Tonic
@Mandalay: Thanks. I’m not comfortable with driving myself. I’ve been in Melbourne and have been driven around in the city, and for good distances (Great Ocean Road, and up into Alpine National Park) and I don’t really want to get behind the wheel myself. Too long a time being conditioned to being on the right.
Jay C
@PurpleGirl:
Another good (IMO) read is Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers about the July Crisis run-up to the opening of the War in 1914. He focuses on Serbia and the Balkans in general – unsurprisingly, he (in effect) blames them for the whole mess – but it is still a good (if lengthy) backgrounder.
Mandalay
@Gin & Tonic:
Well that makes Cairns a lot more appealing. I can already give you the weather forecast: warm days, warm nights, blue sky, no rain, just perfect every day. And similar for Brisbane, but a bit cooler.
SectionH
@NotMax: (actually replying to your comment to me @174, sumfink odd with FYWP there). You’ll be fine then.
Now then, were you flying out of OGG or JHM?
I’ve seen some godawful lines at OGG, but timing works there too.
NotMax
@SectionH
OGG.
Viva BrisVegas
@Gin & Tonic:
A much nicer time of year, but the water is still to cold to swim anywhere south of Mackay.
I’m hard put to think of anything touristy in Brisbane. It’s a nice place to live, but a bit bland. Maybe a trip across the bay to Tangalooma on Moreton Island for a bit of whale watching. Moreton Island itself is a mini Fraser Island, and outside of school holidays much less crowded. So you might be able to get your Fraser fix by proxy.
catclub
@swbarnes2:
Oh, baloney.
Many physicists have an idea about the age of the universe. They also might have an idea about the Fermi paradox.
Put the two together and evolution seems more likely than special creation.
Matt McIrvin
@sharl: That idea that voting the wrong way makes you not a civilian was Osama bin Laden’s stated moral justification for 9/11. He said that, since the US was a democracy, its actions made all the people there legitimate targets. So that guy Hayes is criticizing has some company, at least…
Matt McIrvin
@swbarnes2: Your “scientifically trained” creationists are much more likely to be engineering majors. I think this is known as the Salem Hypothesis; in my experience it’s generally true. (Which is not to say that most engineers are creationists.)
seaboogie
@Anoniminous: For some reason, I don’t think the ammosexual herd will shoot at their own, they need somebody unarmed – preferably a brown, a female, or a brown female for them to achieve amm-orgasm. They ain’t no homos, no siree!
SectionH
@NotMax: Twue, it can be done. We did it last spring. My “Hint to Self” is never take a Redeye back to the Mainland.
FYWP deleted the rest of my comment, which is probably fine, except I will rec Flyertalk.com anyway. Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the running of it, and am purely a commenter there too. But it’s THE site for frequent flyers, and for questions like “best restaurant airside at SEA”. And they’re pretty nice to newbies with questions like yours. Bonus, like the bestest.blog.ever (this one), they don’t make you sign up or sign in, ever, to read and learn.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Vera Brittain’s memoir Testament of Youth (1933), about her experiences as a nurse in the Great War, is good.
stickler
Re: the WWI books — totally recommend Clark’s the Sleepwalkers, though the reader should be aware that he’s pretty controversial, taking some of the blame off the Austrians & Germans and apportioning it more widely. You’re not likely to get a better explanation of the Balkan mess, though — very well done and very clear.
I’m not sure I’d recommend Wawro’s A Mad Catastrophe, just because of how damned depressing it is. I mean, I knew the Habsburg armies didn’t really perform all that well in 1914 — but the jaw-dropping incompetence that Wawro depicts, chapter after chapter, really gets you down. The Austrian generals make the Russian generals look like geniuses in Wawro’s telling. By the time I finished the book I felt like the Good Soldier Schwejk was a happy-end fairy tale.
Another recommendation would be Max Hastings’ 1914, a tour around the world capitals on the eve of war and the policies and concerns that were important in the runup to war.
I didn’t actually much like Margaret MacMillan’s book — I found it a little superficial and breezy, not a lot of new insights.
debbie
@stickler:
More incompetent than Haig?