Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

You cannot shame the shameless.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

White supremacy is terrorism.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

“Alexa, change the president.”

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

The revolution will be supervised.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

You are here: Home / Imagine My Surprise

Imagine My Surprise

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Apparently some wingnut site I have never heard of is announcing that my hometown of Bethany, WV, is the site of a terrorist training camp:

terrorism

terrorism2

My family has lived here for close to fifty years and my dad was mayor (and Chief of Police. And on the VFD.) for about 25 of those years. We have a general store run by the same family for over a century, one small bar, and a Post Office (although that is scaling back to being only open for half a day because of budget cuts- thanks, Congress). We have no stoplights. The population is about 1100 in the entire region, but that is only during the school year. The rest of the time, when the students are gone, we have around 350 people. Everyone knows everyone.

There are no Muslims. I think there are several Jewish people. There aren’t even enough Catholics to warrant a church or a priest, and all they have is a home converted into a meeting house that 5-10 of them go to once a week (and it is located across the street from my house less than 45 meters away). The only people of Middle Eastern descent that lived here were Siham and Sumiya (Sumiya was the women I ran to the hospital all the time for her tumor and surgeries, while Siham was married to prominent scholar George Miller). Both have since moved- Siham to the northeast to be with her family as she was unable to take care of herself, and Sumiya has moved to California to be with another part of their family. Regardless, both were Christian and fled Syria and Lebanon decades ago.

The only thing being terrorized right now are drivers trying to avoid being run off the road by fracking trucks from Texas and Oklahoma gas companies and the local deer population because bow season just opened up on the 27th of September. In fact, I was just up at Chambers (the general store) to get a fish sandwich (they have a fish fry the first Friday of every month and every Friday during lent and make Coleman’s fish sandwiches) and it serves as a local checking station for hunters, and Harry said he checked in his first deer just this morning.

So every time you see one of these idiotic lists of terrorists in our midst, remember, they are full of shit. The only terrorist groups in West Virginia are Klan and a smattering of skinheads and neo-Nazis. Well, the Hare Krishnas did blow up Mr. Gorby’s house in 1983– my dad was the first person on the scene and helped to pull his unclothed body (they cut his gas line and he woke up and lit a cigarette on his front porch and the roof shot in the iar several hundred feet and blew all his clothes off, but he lived. They later killed him. Big explosion, though.) out of the rubble. There was a big Rolling Stone story on it but I can’t find it.

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  3. 3.

    RP

    Falls Church? That’s one of the nicest areas of suburban dc. Not a great place for a terrorist training camp.

  5. 5.

    scav

    Actually, now that we all and they know internet and phone communications are so likely to be tapped, couldn’t you leverage this new population and likely users into getting that post office running at full speed again?

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The only terrorist groups in West Virginia are Klan and a smattering of skinheads and neo-Nazis.

    Um, John…those are not terrorist groups. They’re white Christian straight Americans who are concerned about the direction this country is taking…to a mongrelized socialistic one world Agenda 21 ZOG state that puts people before profit, which is not the way our Gods, Mammon and Moloch, intended for this country founded by Christian fundamentalists to be.

  7. 7.

    jibeaux

    Well, I was just thinking, you probably are near a terrorist training camp, but they have names like Bubba and various initials, and the training involves a lot of empty cans of Natty Light.

  8. 8.

    Fester Addams

    About that link, you know, I think I’m just gonna stay in the boat…

    Did they offer to show you exactly where your local “training camp” was located? Is it just a come-on, a prelude to trying to sell you gold and seeds and whatnot?

  9. 9.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Eric U.: Courtesy of Google Cache:

    Here is a list of 30 Locations Inside the United States…
    1. Marion, Alabama
    2. Baladullah, California
    3. Oak Hill, California
    4. Squaw Valley, California
    5. Tulare County, California
    6. Buena Vista, Colorado
    7. Tallahassee, Florida
    8. Commerce, Georgia
    9. Jessup, Georgia
    10. Springfield, Massachusetts
    11. Hagerstown, Maryland
    12. Hyattsville, Maryland
    13. Coldwater, Michigan
    14. Binghamton, New York
    15. Deposit, New York
    16. Hancock, New York (National Headquarters)
    17. Talihina, Oklahoma
    18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    19. Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania
    20. York, South Carolina
    21 Dover, Tennesee
    22. Houston, Texas
    23. Waco, Texas
    24. Fairfax, Virginia
    25. Falls Church, Virginia
    26. Meherrin, Virginia
    27. Red House, Virginia
    28. Roanoke, Virginia
    29. Bethany, West Virginia
    30. Onalaska, Washington

  11. 11.

    AA+ Bonds

    Last I checked I’m surrounded by U.S. military installations, so yeah, I have a bunch of terrorist training camps nearby, taxpayer-funded ones for that matter. Pretty spooky!!

  14. 14.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Cervantes:

    I agree – it’s pretty crazy that people on this site objected vehemently to Bush’s murderous wars of choice, but are strangely silent on Obama’s, even as he announces that the restrictions he put in place on killing civilians with bombings . . . don’t apply when the U.S. murders civilians in Syria and Iraq.

    To think Obama is less murderous than Bush – that truly is delusion, bordering on psychosis.

  17. 17.

    skerry

    John, was the Krishna murder related to the folks at the “Palace of Gold” near Moundsville? I remember when it was built. I had to drive past it on my way to my grandmother’s farm.

  18. 18.

    Cermet

    @AA+ Bonds: You are both stupid and most certainly are delusional to say the total shit spilling out of your mouth; hundreds of thousands died at bush’s hands and millions were displaced; the very country in civil war, Syria, was and still is suffering directly because of bush’s Iraqi war of mass murder. To equate the few hundreds killed by President Obama to what the puppet bush did under cheney is crazy; bush directly ordered the murder of hundreds of thousands for no reason at all – your insane statement is both evil and full of shit.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    @RP: There are a couple of mosques in Falls Church. That probably qualifies them as scary terrorist training sites.

  29. 29.

    Citizen_X

    Are Americans (or at least the right wing and MSM flavors) now in a state of permanent screaming paranoia? First we had the border “invasion” (of kids), then discarded soccer jerseys at the border that became “Muslin prayer rugs,” then ISIS, the regional nut jobs from the other side of the world who were going to behead us all, and now we’re all going to die from a virus that you can’t catch unless you’re literally touching a sick person.

    When did we become such a bunch of goddamned wimps?

  32. 32.

    kindness

    Well c’mon now John….who is it that is gonna start shooting & killing people here in the good ole US of A? It sure ain’t muslims. It’s the Krazy Crakers out there who lurvs them some guns and gosh darn hope to use them on someone else.

    Now I know you and yours aren’t crazy. How did your town get named, did you ever find out?

  35. 35.

    Shakezula

    Terrorists in Falls Church, VA? The NRA’s HQ is in Fairfax, you morans!

    I think there may be a satellite campus of some intelligence agency or other in F.C., so if damp-panted asshats want to try to break into fenced off areas, they should go right ahead.

  37. 37.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Citizen_X:

    I don’t know when. But I do know conservatives have not only consistently exacerbated this phenomenon, but have explicitly insisted that such fear and paranoia is somehow bravery.

  40. 40.

    Chris

    I’ve read so, so, so MANY lunatic right wing fantasies about The Muslims Among Us that if even a tenth of them were true, America would’ve been destroyed years ago. It’s by far the sanest approach to simply assume they’re lying.

  41. 41.

    Woodrowfan

    yeah, the comments on that site are amazing. wow, gullible, scared people full of hate.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    The story at the link provides only a list of towns. It doesn’t actually point to any “terrorist training camps”. Or say who is there, or how many, or what terrorism they’re training in. JewsNews (now there’s a name to assure you of objectivity) offers the reader no way to verify/assess their claim, such as it is. I reckon the site is run by a Jewish equivalent of the many anti-Jewish Muslim bigots I have come across.

  44. 44.

    Chris

    @philpm:

    Well, they weren’t going to put anything in Kansas. “If we blow up Kansas, the world may not hear about it for years,” to quote another terrorist mastermind.

  48. 48.

    Tone In DC

    …they list Fairfax right below Falls Church. I guess there are two terrorist training camps in deepest suburbia!

    They also list Hyattsville, MD. That is some strong shit those pants-soiling g00pers are snorting.

    Admittedly, the kids out here who insist on texting and driving are gonna hurt themselves and/or someone else. At least these teens just have fully automatic smartphones.

  49. 49.

    Tone In DC

    @Shakezula:

    I think there may be a satellite campus of some intelligence agency or other in F.C., so if damp-panted asshats want to try to break into fenced off areas, they should go right ahead.

    Aren’t there approximately 17 intelligence agencies out here? Just sayin’.

  50. 50.

    catclub

    @Chris:

    “If we blow up Kansas, the world may not hear about it for years,”

    Now, Oklahoma City, on the other hand, got news out pretty quick.

    Who was the quotee? McVeigh? ooh, ooh, or John Brown?

  52. 52.

    Specialed5000

    Mmm….Coleman’s fish sandwiches. I lived in Wheeling as a kid and still have to stop by Centre Market when I’m in town to get one.

  53. 53.

    srv

    Where was the Hare Krishna terrorist training camp?

    Also, too, these aren’t training camps, they’re underground FEMA camps! You can’t just leave the black helicopters outside you know. People would notice.

  54. 54.

    jl

    And we are to trust the very suspicious Cole on this… who spent some time in the heart of the Middle East, during which time his movements were somewhat obscure and mysterious…

  56. 56.

    Chickamin Slam

    Greetings to you Mr. Cole.

    I’ll have to search around Onalaska the next time I’m in the area. There is a logging pond with a smokestack left over from the Carlisle Logging company. This weekend they have an Apple Festival. So that must be a smokescreen for Al Qaeda activities.

    http://www.onalaskaalliance.org/appleharvest.html

    My post office is … under new management since they fired the postmaster of 30 years. Cut the hours. Put in a temp that knows nothing. Making things more interesting is the fact that the post office is run out of the house of the former postmaster. Awkward.

  62. 62.

    gene108

    Gorby did not notify authorities but said he tried to prevent a killing by having Bryant arrested for making threats against the Hare Krishna. That night, police arrested Bryant after finding him with a loaded .45-caliber gun.

    From the Mr. Gorby link John posted in the OP.

    I do not think police can legally arrest people, these days, for having a loaded gun on their person.

    What a fascist police state that we lived in, in the 1980’s…it is amazing any of us survived…

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    @Shakezula:

    When I lived in Falls Church (1999-2000) there was a Vietnamese restaurant downtown that had a metal detector at the door so the local Viet gangs had to leave their guns at home. Maybe that’s what they’re referring to.

  66. 66.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @kc:

    The terrorist training camp is COMING FROM INSIDE YOUR HOUSE OWN BRAIN!

    I’m wondering though, if perhaps on their secret Wingnut drone cams they they saw a man running around constantly falling, slipping, and injuring himself in a variety of ways and thought it must be some sort of training regimen.

    Nah, probably not.

  68. 68.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Alex S.: Yeah, there were lots of options when I googled it.

    I’m amused at Dover, TN being on the list. And bemused. About the only thing it’s famous for is the Land between the Lakes, a park I mostly associate with fundie summer camps.

  69. 69.

    Dcrefugee

    @jl: John Cole is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    Y’all are killin’ me with your fish sandwich references. Got me jonesin’ for a clam roll and onion rings from Jumping Jacks (Scotia, NY, across the Mohawk River from Schenectady).

  71. 71.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @jl:

    who spent some time in the heart of the Middle East, during which time his movements were somewhat obscure and mysterious…

    Yeah, well MREs will do that.

  76. 76.

    Gravenstone

    @burnspbesq: Having seen something akin to one (National Brethren Youth conference rolled through our campus one summer), yes they are rather terrifying.

  77. 77.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    How serious can they be if they only one they have in the midwest is in freaking Oklahoma.

    @philpm: It’s bullshit. Nobody would live in Oklahoma voluntarily.

  78. 78.

    burnspbesq

    Looks like Lionel Messi is going to have to stand trial for criminal tax evasion in Spain. Better hope the judge isn’t a Real fan.

  79. 79.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I do not think police can legally arrest people, these days, for having a loaded gun on their person.

    @gene108: Still can in California and that’s one of about a billion reasons I will never leave this state.

  82. 82.

    PhoenixRising

    My family has lived here for close to fifty years and my dad was mayor (and Chief of Police. And on the VFD.)

    Pretty sure that’s ‘nigh unto fiddy years’, but maybe the vernacular up North (of Whullin) is less distinct.

    But yes, be sure to pack your sidearm for any field trips to Akron, the capital of WV. There’s blahs up there, and Mooslims.

  83. 83.

    JDM

    I can easily believe that there are several facilities in Bethany that give support, and possibly training, to terrorists. They’d be conservative Christian churches, like the ones that gave support to terrorist Eric Rudolph for years.

  84. 84.

    Woodrowfan

    @burnspbesq: was that at the Eden Center? They’re on the crime report every week, mostly for smoking in a non-smoking zone and the occasional public intoxication.

  85. 85.

    Cckids

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: true. My BIL is in the Air Force; when they were in OK they made quite the point of telling people that they were STATIONED there, they weren’t FROM there.

  86. 86.

    Trollhattan

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    My kid’s soccer team practices on a field adjoining a small airport and an indoor shootin’ range. Between the planes flying close overhead and the intermittent BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM from the clearly non-insulated Furybunker, I find watching practice quite unnerving. The girls claim they don’t notice when I ask, which seems odd.

    Am always trying to spot the clients but never manage to see them arrive or leave.

  88. 88.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Shakezula:

    Terrorists in Falls Church, VA? The NRA’s HQ is in Fairfax, you morans!

    Well, they do include Fairfax on the list, as woodrowfan notes.

    But this list cracks me up. Falls Church? Those must be some well-heeled terrorists – land in FC ain’t cheap. And I’ll have to ask my friends at the National Center for Health Statistics, which is located in Hyattsville, what they know about the terrorist training camp in that burb.

  91. 91.

    ericblair

    @Tone In DC:

    Aren’t there approximately 17 intelligence agencies out here? Just sayin’.

    That, and there are little satellite offices all over the frigging place in Metro DC. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without having to send its clearance through a Special Security Office.

  96. 96.

    Trollhattan

    O/T In Calirornia water politics, this will be considered a Big F*@%ing Deal.

    SACRAMENTO, Calif.— A California judge has struck down the environmental review of the Kern Water Bank, saying state regulators didn’t do enough in 2010 to examine how its operation effects the state’s water resources and wildlife. The ruling by Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley means the state Department of Water Resources will now have to conduct a new review of Kern Water Bank, the country’s largest underground water-banking operation and the subject of nearly two decades of controversy and litigation.

    The decision is a key victory for environmentalists, sportfishers, delta farmers and State Water Project ratepayers impacted by the private water bank that serves San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests.

    The water bank was transferred out of public control as part of the controversial 1995 “Monterey Amendments” to the State Water Project long-term contracts, which were also at issue in the latest suit, filed in 2010 by the Center and joined by C-Win, CSPA, and two public water districts representing delta farmers and residents. The suit challenged the second attempt by state authorities to analyze the environmental impacts of the Kern Water Bank transfer, with the first attempt being struck down in an earlier lawsuit in 2003.

    http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/kern-water-bank-10-03-2014.html

  98. 98.

    max

    @Amir Khalid: The story at the link provides only a list of towns. It doesn’t actually point to any “terrorist training camps”. Or say who is there, or how many, or what terrorism they’re training in. JewsNews (now there’s a name to assure you of objectivity) offers the reader no way to verify/assess their claim, such as it is. I reckon the site is run by a Jewish equivalent of the many anti-Jewish Muslim bigots I have come across.

    That’s the subtroll for the video. Seeing Whacko, Texas (where David Koresh departed this life) listed made me suspicious, so some piddly Googling around suggests that all those towns (including Bethany) have Baptist churches.

    I suspect we may have some con artist trolling going on here. On the other hand, lots of Muslim gathering places in America wind up in distant rural areas because they’re latecomers to the religious land rush and like the cheap land (just like all other denominations), so it might just be straight-up con artistry, based on pure coincidence.

    max
    [‘This one is so fake it might make WorldNetDaily, maybe, but not Fox.’]

  99. 99.

    Tommy

    @Trollhattan: I am a great lakes guy. My home state. For years, decades really we felt people might like to come for our water. I fear that day is coming.

  101. 101.

    burnspbesq

    @low-tech cyclist:

    Those must be some well-heeled terrorists – land in FC ain’t cheap

    That’s true of Falls Church City, but that mess outside the city limits south of Arlington Blvd. that USPS insists on calling Falls Church (the 22043 zip code) is a little more affordable. Remember, Falls Church High School is not in Falls Church, and nobody from Falls Church goes there.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @kc:

    Srsly. I live in Falls Church, VA, and am now hiding under the bed and reassessing my numerous brown neighbors.

    But the housecat looks cute in her little custom gas mask and hazmat suit.

  110. 110.

    Gian

    Tulare County? 4,824.22 square miles almost as big as the entire state of Connecticut 5,006

    that must be one f-n big camp.

  112. 112.

    Anoniminous

    Given the fact New Mexico is chock-a-block with scary brown people I’m astonished they didn’t put one here.

  113. 113.

    Tone In DC

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Srsly. I live in Falls Church, VA, and am now hiding under the bed and reassessing my numerous brown neighbors.

    But the cat looks cute in her little custom gas mask and hazmat suit.

    LULz.

    Be afraid, but not necessarily of the neighbors, who are adults.

    Be afraid of the kids selling stuff for school fundraising. Those kids have been scarfing down institutional food (starch and protein) and energy drinks all day. Their hyperactive presence in the Safeway parking lot after 3:00 would put a lot of these g00pers in a defensive crouch.

  114. 114.

    Tommy

    @Steeplejack (tablet): Having worked in Fall Church for years and knowing it like the back of my hand I am not even sure there is an open field of ground where you raise terrorist. Much less train one. It is for lack of a better phrase suburban sprawl. Upscale yes. You turn know take Leesburg Pike/Route 7 and take a left to right and nice things.

  115. 115.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @max: Baptist churches split apart at the drop of a hat. Put three Baptists in a room, and you’ll have five churches founded by the end of the week.

  116. 116.

    jl

    @Belafon:

    ” I doubt John has a blonde CIA agent tracking him. ”

    Good point. Why does Cole not tell us about the affair of the blonde CIA agent tracking him.

  120. 120.

    shelley

    At the ‘Gorby House’ link, there are relentless headlines shouting ‘Sandra Bullock Lied!”
    Dear God, is nothing sacred?

  121. 121.

    Felonius Monk

    @burnspbesq:

    Got me jonesin’ for a clam roll and onion rings from Jumping Jacks

    Unfortunately, Jumpin’ Jack’s is closed for the season. I like the Jackburger more than their Clam Fry. IMO you get better clam rolls over on the Cape.

  126. 126.

    Roger Moore

    @Steeplejack (tablet):
    There are enough Bond movies that it gets tough to keep track. I would definitely agree that Diamonds Are Forever was the worst of Connery’s set, while Moonraker is the worst of Moore’s. I can accept a reasonable difference of opinion over which was worse, but I had to put a bad word in for my namesake.

  127. 127.

    Trollhattan

    @jl:
    Y’all’s mistake is imagining Cole as Bond when he’s obviously Clouseau. There are still blondes but he’s too busy falling into ponds, rivers, swimming pools and construction trenches to “get to know them.”

  132. 132.

    Roger Moore

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
    Not even close. Nothing in License to Kill comes close to the sheer awfulness of the chase in the lunar rover in Diamonds Are Forever or the assault by space marines at the end of Moonraker.

    FWIW, IMDB agrees with me on the worst of Connery’s and Moore’s movies (canon only) being Diamonds Are Forever (6.7) and Moonraker (6.2) respectively, and with my relative ranking. It disagrees about the absolute worst in the series, ranking Die Another Day (6.1) as the absolute nadir of the series and (obviously) of Brosnan’s time in the role. It also agrees with License to Kill as (marginally) worse than The Living Daylights, and puts Quantum of Solace as the weakest of Craig’s efforts.

  133. 133.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @kindness:

    How did your town get named, did you ever find out?

    Dunno what John found out, but I have assumed that it was named after the Bethany in the NT, where Jeebus hung out with Mary and Martha and raised their brother Lazarus from the dead.

  134. 134.

    tybee

    @jibeaux:

    they have names like Bubba and various initials, and the training involves a lot of empty cans of Natty Light.

    OMG! my neighbor runs a jihadist training camp!

  136. 136.

    shortstop

    But back to the town list. At first I thought it was selected for the likely level of anti-Muslim paranoia of the residents, remembering a long evening during which I tried to explain to some distant relatives that Henryville, Indiana, is not actually a top target for America-destroying jihad. Then I saw Philly on the list, so never mind. Then I saw a number of wealthy towns and suburbs in which Muslims are not perhaps revered, but are also not the source of constant fear. So double never mind. Why must we liberals always be trying to make order of things?!

  137. 137.

    Roger Moore

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    Not a big fan of any of your namesake’s Bond pictures, though.

    I will defend him by saying that the problem with those movies was more with the writing than the acting. As I see it, the early Connery movies were based reasonably closely on the books and tended to focus on the story and action rather than exotic locales and fancy gadgets. The later Connery movies started to fall off for a mix of reasons. The underlying stories weren’t as good, so they got substantially rewritten with an increased emphasis on ridiculous gadgets and exciting locations. That trend continued with Lazenby and Moore, with the Moore movies being only loosely related to the books they were supposedly based on. Moore’s movies got campy and can be fun if you like that kind of thing, but Moonraker especially tilted so far that way it’s not really fun anymore.

    They tried to make the movies more serious and modern with Dalton, partly because they ran out of Flemming’s books and started picking from the writers who picked up the character. There was some of that with Brosnan, too, but I’ll have to agree that Die Another Day was just awful. It was bad enough to force a hiatus, after which the went back to a nicely updated version of Flemming’s original with Casіno Royale for Craig’s first outing.

  138. 138.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    Who the hell liked The Man with the Golden Gun? I was seriously rooting for Christopher Lee to win in that one.

    (Maybe it got boosted back up a point or two because Lee stole the film?)

  139. 139.

    shortstop

    My mother recently mentioned that she avidly worked her way through Fleming’s books (then in first editions or close to it) during my older sister’s baby naptimes. That was unexpected and charming. Mom, you slightly racy girl.

  140. 140.

    Comrade Luke

    I had to look up Onalaska on a map, and I was born and raised in Seattle. I figured it was by Bangor Naval Station, but no…it’s in the middle of friggin’ nowhere. I seriously doubt there are any terrorists in that area. Plus, if there were, this clown would call them out on his billboard, since it’s right down the street.

  142. 142.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    Who the hell liked The Man with the Golden Gun?

    The didn’t have to like it to hate it less than Moonraker. And it did have some OK points. It had at least one genuine, unexpected plot twist, and the final showdown between Bond and Scaramanga was better than the typical mass attack on the enemy’s headquarters. Certainly not the high point of the series, but not the worst by any means.

  143. 143.

    Bob Munck

    @RP:

    Falls Church? That’s one of the nicest areas of suburban dc. Not a great place for a terrorist training camp.

    But it’s a really high-end camp, what they call concierge terrorist. Bespoke IEDs, C-4 from good vintages custom-fit into Lamborghini Venenos, private Airbus A340s for flying into things, etc.

  144. 144.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Roger Moore: Meh. There’s bad, there’s boring, and then there’s loathing. License to Kill is the only one I actively loathe.

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I have assumed that it was named after the Bethany in the NT, where Jeebus hung out with Mary and Martha and raised their brother Lazarus from the dead.

    I’m joining you in that assumption, since the guy who named the town and founded the college was Alexander Campbell, one of the theologians who founded the movement that would eventually become the Churches of Christ and the Disciples of Christ.

    The only information I could find was that he had to come up with a name for the town so it could have a post office. I assume he had to decide quickly and used a favorite.

  145. 145.

    burnspbesq

    @geg6:

    Binghamton, NY? Seriously?

    Well, SUNY Binghamton is responsible for Tony Kornheiser, and he’s pretty terrifying.

  148. 148.

    Rob

    @RP “Falls Church? That’s one of the nicest areas of suburban dc. Not a great place for a terrorist training camp.”

    I was thinking the same thing when I read that. It’s a good thing my elderly mother who lives there doesn’t pay attention to that kind of “news” source. What a load of b.s. that list is.

  150. 150.

    EthylEster

    @Dcrefugee wrote:

    John Cole is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.

    That may be true but if anyone else posted something using 2 year old info, she/he would be severely mocked by many commenters here.

  152. 152.

    Central Planning

    I’ll be in Herndon in two weeks. I’ll report back about any terrorist activities I see.

  153. 153.

    Shakezula

    @Woodrowfan: I see, it isn’t included on John’s list and I wasn’t about to follow the link. Well, it’s just all kinds of stupid, isn’t it?

    Someone else noted that Hyattsville, MD is on the list. As a place to locate a sekkrit mooslin training camp it would be even dumber than Fairfax/Falls Church.

    Who knows. Maybe next week the same cities will listed as the location of CDC quarantine centers.

  154. 154.

    DanR2

    OK, Cole. First, why would you say 45 meters instead of 47 yards? Secondly, you have only 5-10 practicing catholics, yet some joint has a fish fry on friday? That’s not suspicious? Between your odd foreign measuring, and the faux catholic thing, something is obviously going on there.

  155. 155.

    AndoChronic

    That list is pretty rednecky to have a bunch of Mooslims running around. Where are all those good ‘ol boys with their big penis extensions? Thought they were all on top of that?… Maybe that’s what they told their wives when they mortgaged their “house” for their new AR…

  157. 157.

    Chris

    @Roger Moore:

    DAF and MR are both friggin awful. The difference is that DAF was coming on the heels of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which really called for a better follow up than that. So, yeah, DAF worst. To me.

  158. 158.

    Fred

    Hey, I’m living here in the outback woods in Sweden and I just had a Jahovah’s Witness come to my door and give me a copy of “Vakttornet” (that’s Swedish for “The Watchtower”) Where do I have to go to get clear of these guys? They probably visit mud huts in the Kalahari Desert. But he was a nice enough guy and wasn’t brandishing anything more threatening than his briefcase, unlike the good ol’ boys that drive the camo pick-em-ups back in Slower Delaware.
    Now the Seventh Day Adventists have a big camp ground over the hill. They all seem nice and let us walk our dogs there. They always have some project going on with earth movers and such. They have lots of boats too. I think they are vegans. Hare Krishnas are vegans too. And now you tell me that the Hare Krishnas offed some guy so he wouldn’t blab about, what?, their plan for world domination. They’re gonna enslave us all with insense, orange robes and flip flops.
    I had lunch at a Hre Krishna temple in Baltimore once. They served vegetable soup in styrofoam cups and it was OK but way salty. The gentleman who invited me informed me that “Krishna loves salt”. I’ll always remember the girl with the nose ring with crusty snot leaking around the piercing. Very inspirational.
    People can be very crazy. Take me for an example.

  159. 159.

    Splitting Image

    @Chris:

    DAF and MR are both friggin awful. The difference is that DAF was coming on the heels of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which really called for a better follow up than that. So, yeah, DAF worst. To me.

    Surprised to hear so many people piling on both Diamonds Are Forever and License to Kill, seeing as License to Kill is basically the movie that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service demanded as a followup. Part of the reason that DAF isn’t satisfying is that the story which should have taken up the whole movie is disposed of in the pre-credits scene, and the rest of the movie is campy fun.

    DAF has its weaknesses, but it also has one of the best scenes in the series that shows actual spying. The way Connery bullshits his way into the enemy base is a 100% real-life accurate depiction of a security breach and possibly the high-water mark of the series. Unfortunately people only remember the escape from the base on the moon lander.

    No argument about Moonraker, though, although calling it the worst of Moore’s movies might be giving too much credit to A View to a Kill.

  160. 160.

    Chris

    @Splitting Image:

    Well, in my case at least, I do NOT count License To Kill among the bad ones: Dalton is actually my favorite of the non Connery actors, and both his movies are a treat for me. And yes, part of LTK’s appeal is finally getting a movie that follows up on OHMSS, in tone if not exactly in storyline.

    I still can’t watch DAF, but I will concede that that scene was awesome. Blofeld pretending to be Howard Hughes was a nice idea too (with the world’s greatest assassin on your trace, where can you hide? In plain sight). I also agree that AVTAK was awful as well.

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