Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

So many bastards, so little time.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Peak Florida? (Open Thread)

Peak Florida? (Open Thread)

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Peak FL

A guy with a Florida face tattoo was arrested in West Palm on burglary charges:

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Hewett [pictured above] is seen on surveillance video prying open the door of a home last month. Officials say he took a gun and two watches.

The homeowner identified him as the friend of a former roommate. Detectives say the video clearly shows Hewett’s tattoo spelling “red rum” on his neck. That’s “murder” spelled backward.

He was released from prison last August after serving eight months for being a felon in possession of a gun.

So to recap, a felon with a Florida face tattoo and “red rum” tattooed on his neck is jailed on gun charges, then released, and then arrested again for stealing a gun. Peak Florida?

Nah. Needs more drugs, bugs, alligators and Burmese pythons.

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Needs more drugs, bugs, alligators and Burmese pythons.

    Haha, BurmeseBro.

  2. 2.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    Florida still have a bunch of kids doing life w/o parole for having 3 joints on them? It was a problem when we lived there. They had to let murders and rapist out to have room for the oh so dangerous 3 joint owners.

  4. 4.

    scav

    There’s nothing to confuse video cameras and mug shots more than unusual visible tattoos.

  5. 5.

    Calouste

    I’m surprised, considering this is Florida, that
    1) he was in prison for eight months for being a felon in possession of a gun, while not black.
    2) he got arrested for liberating a gun from a neglecting owner

    What does the NRA, Bernie Sanders’ favorite trade association, have to say about that?

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Hewett’s tattoo spelling “red rum” on his neck. That’s “murder” spelled backward.

    I love how the reporter seems to think we never read or saw The Shining.

  9. 9.

    Mike J

    Dan MericaVerified account @danmericaCNN
    Attending tonight’s Clinton rally in Pittsburgh: Famed Steelers RB Franco Harris. He said he is “totally” a Clinton supporter.

  12. 12.

    feebog

    That is a pretty good tat of Florida. Can’t tell if that is Key West or a tiny mole at the bottom.

  16. 16.

    Keith G

    Since this is an open thread and since the one below is quite long, I will paste this from my Twitter feed here.

    amy walter ‏@amyewalter 1h1 hour ago
    At this pt in ’08, 59% of HRC voters would vote for Obama in Nov. (via Gallup) New @maristpoll 69% of Sanders voters will vote 4 HRC in Nov

  18. 18.

    hovercraft

    can someone with skills try to find a clip from HardBall tweety had Andrew Sully on, and boy was it a doosey, Hillary is a loser, BLM are neo-marxists, and the orangeman is going to end America. Such a sunny disposition. TaNaHasi is an extremist who believes we are doomed. You’ve got to see it.

  20. 20.

    Renie

    right now have a trump rally going on about 10 minutes from my house. was going to go and protest but the location is going to make parking close to impossible. also i’m sure it’s a zoo over there. roads are closed, cops all over, trump supporters waiting for hours to get in and protesters stuck in two different “protest areas” to avoid conflicts. looking forward to pictures from people i know brave enough to go. my kids asked me not to go cuz they thought i would wind up getting arrested cuz of ‘my big mouth’. LOL

  25. 25.

    Mike J

    CNN PoliticsVerified account@CNNPolitics
    Ted Cruz: “I agree with Bernie Sanders” on the problem, but we disagree on the solution

  26. 26.

    chris

    @SiubhanDuinne: Had to look it up. the movie came out in 1980, the year before today’s 35-year-olds were born. I remember it well but gawd, I’m old.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    There’s something kind of decadent about sitting on the couch in pajama pants while everyone else is still at work. I should take half days off more often.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    Politicked out. Watching “Saving Otter 501” on PBS’s Nature.

    Yea Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yea otters.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @Keith G:

    Of all the many liberals in my Facebook feed, there’s exactly one Bernie fan who’s claiming she would never vote for Clinton. But she’s also had every one of her three small children get sick one after the other for the past month, so I think it’s the sleep deprivation talking.

    I suspect that a lot of the Berniebros making a public nuisance of themselves by harassing people on Twitter and in other internet places are former Paulistas.

  37. 37.

    starscream

    Obama campaigning for Hillary will do a lot to unite the party, especially amongst young people.

  38. 38.

    chris

    @SiubhanDuinne: I know, eh? Seems like it was only yesterday that Alien scared the bejeezus out of me and a couple hundred other people in the theatre. And that was ’79.

  40. 40.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @hovercraft:
    The only thing I want to see of Sully is his obit, nothing else he can say is of any value to humanity

    I know it is unkind and it is wrong to say it but nothing short of that is going to remove that blight from the public debate.

  43. 43.

    Gimlet

    Too quiet in here.

    http://www.thenation.com/article/the-problem-with-hillary-clinton-isnt-just-her-corporate-cash-its-her-corporate-worldview/

    By Naomi Klein
    In Clinton World it’s always win-win-win: The governments look effective, the corporations look righteous, and the celebrities look serious.

    At the center of it all is the canonical belief that change comes not by confronting the wealthy and powerful but by partnering with them. Viewed from within the logic of what Thomas Frank recently termed “the land of money,” all of Hillary Clinton’s most controversial actions make sense. Why not take money from fossil-fuel lobbyists? Why not get paid hundreds of thousands for speeches to Goldman Sachs? It’s not a conflict of interest; it’s a mutually beneficial partnership—part of a never-ending merry-go-round of corporate-political give and take.

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    @Gimlet: Thomas Frank completely missed what was wrong with Kansas. I, for one, do not give a shit what he has to say about damn near anything.
    It’s like looking to George Packer, the author of Assassin’s Gate, for advice in the MENA region.

  46. 46.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Steve in the ATL:
    I’m sure in 5 years he will claim:
    A) He never said that
    B) You misunderstood what he said
    C) He didn’t really mean it

    The guy has the intellectual honesty of a used car salesmen that other used car salesmen look down on as a cheat.

  47. 47.

    Cacti

    @Gimlet:

    Also from The Nation

    By Stephen F. Cohen (aka the editor’s hubby)

    The degradation of mainstream American press coverage of Russia, a country still vital to US national security, has been under way for many years. If the recent tsunami of shamefully unprofessional and politically inflammatory articles in leading newspapers and magazines—particularly about the Sochi Olympics, Ukraine and, unfailingly, President Vladimir Putin—is an indication, this media malpractice is now pervasive and the new norm.

    There are notable exceptions, but a general pattern has developed. Even in the venerable New York Times and Washington Post, news reports, editorials and commentaries no longer adhere rigorously to traditional journalistic standards, often failing to provide essential facts and context; to make a clear distinction between reporting and analysis; to require at least two different political or “expert” views on major developments; or to publish opposing opinions on their op-ed pages. As a result, American media on Russia today are less objective, less balanced, more conformist and scarcely less ideological than when they covered Soviet Russia during the Cold War.

  49. 49.

    Ripley

    @Renie:

    “protest areas”

    Hey, the return of Freedom Cages! Nostalgia and oppression all in one handy package….

  51. 51.

    sinnedbackwards

    Well, Carl Hiaasen does write historical documentaries with somewhat fictionalized names.

  53. 53.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Cacti:

    Russia, a country still vital to US national security

    He’s gonna need to show his work on that one….

  54. 54.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Gimlet:
    Money wins elections. Triangulation wins elections. Look at who has been successful at a national level and you can easily see that you have to have a boatload of money and you have to say what a large group of people want to hear. Bill was a master of it. The Bush family, Willard all were masters. Even Obama grubbed for money and took positions that put him in a place he could win. We have to stop being surprised that the people really in a position to win the nomination and the general are not pure and not fully clean.

    One of the biggest things killing the GOP today is that they can no longer lie about what they want to do like Reagan and the Bushs did. That honesty is what they have to have to win the nom but will kill them in the general.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @chris: Well, hell, The Maltese Falcon came out before my mother was born, but I still know “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter”

    @Elizabelle: feeling that way, too, but Chris Hayes is promising a debate between Barney Frank and Robert Reich on breaking up the banks, and since my heart says we should, while my head hears a lot of smart people say that’s the wrong fight, I’m almost tempted to turn on the TV again.

  65. 65.

    Cacti

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I don’t get the Putin love, either on the right or the loony left.

    On the right it’s pretty easy. Putin is a strongman, christianist dictator who hates him some gayz.

    On the left fringe, I’d say it’s mostly transferred love for the remnants of the late Soviet Union.

  67. 67.

    hovercraft

    I think he was drawn back from his crypt by his hatred for Hillary. I just wanted to remind everyone of what a hate filed sanctimonious prig he is. He moderated briefly after she lost, but now he is back at full hate spew, directed at everyone this time, not just women.

  68. 68.

    Gimlet

    @Cacti:

    Even in the venerable New York Times and Washington Post, news reports, editorials and commentaries no longer adhere rigorously to traditional journalistic standards, often failing to provide essential facts and context; to make a clear distinction between reporting and analysis; to require at least two different political or “expert” views on major developments; or to publish opposing opinions on their op-ed pages.

    Equals “Putin Love”

  69. 69.

    Peale

    @Cacti: They agree with him that most of the troubling events in the world are the U.S.’s fault and part of a plot to keep Russia weak.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodinger’s cat: I actually think it was a very decent read However, it was also incredibly self serving as it grossly hid Packer’s previous cheerleading for the Iraq invasion. Hence, untrustworthy narrator.

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I didn’t get a chance to answer the other day — yes, I bought Scrivener (it’s only $49) and I really like it. You can pull research articles off the web and archive them right in your Scrivener document. From what I’ve heard, if you do academic or nonfiction writing, a similar program called Ulysses is better because it organizes citations better, but fiction writers prefer Scrivener.

  73. 73.

    gogol's wife

    @chris:

    Over the last few days I’ve learned that my students have never heard of: Fiddler on the Roof(okay, you haven’t heard of Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye the Dairyman, but Fiddler on the Roof?) or Woody Allen’s Love and Death.

  77. 77.

    Corner Stone

    @Linnaeus: It was not a good segment for Sec Reich.
    WTS, I am always sceptical any time Barney Frank is asked to opine on financial regulations.

  79. 79.

    Peale

    @hovercraft: Well, when I first started reading descriptions of his appearance on Tweety, I figured that what was setting him off was either BLM or Democrats starting to bring Trans issues to the forefront now that gay marriage has been decided at a federal level. I see its BLM that’s got him going. He is who he is. But seriously – Ted Cruz for President? Andy can plug Kaisch or Ryan?

  80. 80.

    Gimlet

    @Gin & Tonic:

    You’re not very familiar with Cohen, are you?

    All I’m commenting on is what is displayed here.

    If he is a bad man that keeps his mother locked away in the attic, I’m unaware of it and how it influences what has been cited here.

  83. 83.

    Linnaeus

    @Corner Stone:

    I’ll have to look up the segment at some point. I read Reich’s blog semi-regularly and a lot of what he says makes sense.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Gimlet: If you’re unaware of his history and his decades of writings then perhaps you shouldn’t be commenting on his current writing. Context is important, no?

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    I mean, LMM is probably only about 5’8″, but that’s still a pretty crazy height difference!

    There’s also some perspective distortion in that picture. It’s shot with a moderately wide angle lens from relatively close up, which makes the closer person look a lot taller.

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense: was he doing that thing where he looks down at his fingernails and radiates bored disdain whenever anyone else, including the host, is talking, or does he save that for Lawrence O’Donnell?

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I missed it on sale, like, five times and finally I just said, “Screw it, even the full price isn’t that much” and bought it. The tutorial is a bit of a slog, but it’s worth it to really understand all of the features.

    The big complaint that people have is that there’s no way to integrate it with a mobile device, but I can’t write longform on a mobile device, so it doesn’t bother me.

  89. 89.

    Mike J

    @gogol’s wife: Are they freshmen? There are plenty of classics I didn’t see until college. Alphaville springs to mind.

    Of course I didn’t spend my HS years watching Disney flicks either.

  90. 90.

    Linnaeus

    @Mnemosyne:

    I like Scrivener, but it’s integration with bibliographic software (like Zotero) is clunky, which cuts down on its usefulness for me.

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    It’s weird — I find the movie itself to be deeply boring, but those creepy little girls give me nightmares.

  92. 92.

    hovercraft

    @Peale: I just think that anything that doesn’t affect him personally, does not register with him. He’s a typical republican who only recognizes an issues relevance when it hits home a’la Portman and Cheney. Yes Cruz, Hillary he loathes and Trump is an embarssment to his party

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Cacti:
    You know, I grew up about as left as a family could be, in Minnesota source of the largest English languages Communist daily in the world & home to the perennial Communist Party Presidential candidate, Gus Hall. In all that time I never heard a single lefty admire the USSR. I know it is a popular myth, it might even have been true in the 30s and 40s (a bit before my time) but in the 50s and 60s the left I knew hated the Soviet Union. The left is not big of dictatorships so it isn’t surprising yet it is a meme that won’t die.

    As a kid my mom took me to see Pete Seegar and even Paul Robson (who emigrated to Russia). I am sure my folks have a folder in the FBI files but still I never heard anyone defend the USSR

  95. 95.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @MomSense:
    HA! I was about 12 or 13 when my friend & I went to see Psycho. We had heard there was nudity!

    I think I still have PTSD from the shower scene.

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    Red Diaper Baby! I used to work with a guy whose family would spend summers in post-revolutionary Cuba. Since that was (and still is) illegal, he was cautioned not to tell his school friends about his Cuban friends. And of course he still spoke fluent Spanish years later.

  98. 98.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne: So, speaking of fiction writing…is it bad and wrong of me that when I was out walking the dog this evening I thought of your fictional hero and went, “oh…hey, he’s Little Lord Fauntleroy, all grown up!”

    Don’t reach thru’ the Intertoobz and smack me, plz…

  99. 99.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gimlet: Aww, damn it, what’d you go and do that for? ; ) I’m listening to “Shock Doctrine” right now, and I am afraid it is making me wish I thought Bernie Sanders a better candidate.

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I think that was much more a thing in the 20s and 30s…by the time the West really twigged what was going on under Stalin, no one was going to defend the USSR.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    @Miss Bianca:

    Well, he’s not an annoying goody-goody (yes, I’ve actually read LLF, because Frances Hodgson Burnett). But it’s not an uncommon plot starter, I think.

    You and other Regency fans will understand this rationale: it’s partly so he can accidentally get married in Scotland without looking like an idiot to the reader (she knows, he doesn’t).

  104. 104.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne:

    Now I’m thinking of Brianna Randall snapping at Clare Fraser in “Dragonfly in Amber”, when she says she “didn’t mean” to get married to Jamie: “Mother, nobody gets married accidentally!” ; )

  105. 105.

    Shana

    @Mnemosyne: That was so fun, thank you for sharing it. BTW, show was great on Saturday despite the 1/2 hour delay for a bomb scare on the street outside that closed off 46th Street between 7th and 8th (the block where the theater is). Hubby missed the opening number because they let the theater know it was clear before they told the cops at the corners. 1776 the next afternoon was great too.

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @Shana:

    I haz a serious jealous, because that would be my husband’s ideal double bill. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the movie version of “1776” now. We even drove down to Santa Monica one evening to see a screening at the American Cinematheque with a Q & A with the director afterwards.

    I’m resigned to never getting to see “Hamilton” with the original cast, but LMM did a week or two of “In the Heights” when it ran here in LA, so maybe …

  109. 109.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Linnaeus:

    I have a lot of respect for both Frank and Reich.

    But not for Frank Reich, who wasn’t fit to hold Jim Kelly’s jockstrap and was an obnoxious bible-thumper as well

  111. 111.

    Shana

    @Mnemosyne: @Mnemosyne: I still haven’t seen LMM, he was on vacation last week. Javier Munoz is, however, terrific in the role and the show itself is so good that it isn’t dependent on any one person, although it would have been sad not to see Daveed Diggs. We also had understudies for George Washington and Hercules Mulligan.

    We saw the production of 1776 on Broadway many years ago, 1997 or 98, when our younger daughter was about 6. Her review was that she liked it but was bored by the scenes in Congress. She’s since come around. We watch it as a family every July 4th.

  113. 113.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Mnemosyne: Yes!

    Oh, and a Disney Princesses fanatic I know wants to inform your bosses that Groffsauce was wasted in Frozen.

    The actual quote went something something Broadway royalty something something PART OF ONE SONG!

    At least that gave me an in to push Hamilton. Heheheh

    I need to make sure she’s seen the old goat farm vid.

    T-10 days to Hamiltome!

  114. 114.

    seaboogie

    I lived Miami for 10 months; there is no such thing as peak Florida. Most surreal time of my life…

  117. 117.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Mnemosyne: Same here. LMM knows his fanbase; one of the first things he mentioned would be in the Hamiltome was photos of a shirtless Daveed.

    Still, counting down to its actual arrival after months of anticipation.

    Speaking of our beloved Daveed, I assume you’ve seen his performance at BROADWAY BELTS FOR PFF!

  120. 120.

    No One You Know

    Your comment reminds me of a book I read titled This Deception by Hede and Paul Massing in the 1970s. It was a very detailed account of the attempt to build Soviet cell networks, and what it was like going from being True Believers in the Soviet system to appalled opponents. I don’t recall what happened to the authors.

  123. 123.

    Miss Bianca

    @Paul in KY: Communism canot fail; it can only be failed. By ungrateful Ukrainian kulaks, among other things. (uh-oh…I just used the word “Ukrainian”. Does that count as a BiP invocation?)

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