In case you haven’t already seen this mini-epic from Joshua McKerrow, “Photojournalist. Capital Gazette. Chesapeake News Guild.”…
1. Today I did the annual story on holiday decorations at the Governor's residence. I've done it every year, for years. A very light but very fun story. Every year my reporting partner was Wendi Winters. This year, it was Selene. Wendi was murdered in June. https://t.co/hDlixzieht
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
3. Not in a "ghost" sense, I hope she has moved on to a better world then Capital feature stories : ) But she was there in my mind. I could almost hear her voice echoing through the empty rooms. "How many cookies are you making this year?", her favorite question..
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
5. And that was it. The tears started, and I'm standing in the Maryland Governors home weeping to myself about my dead friend. She died in The Capital newsroom on June 28th, shot by a man who wanted to kill every journalist he could.
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
7. Five people died, Rebecca, Wendi, Gerald, Rob, John. I always type their names in the order I think they were killed. I think, Rebecca first, at the door. Wendi charged him. Gerald and Rob were trapped in their cubicle. John, trying to get out the blocked exit.
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
9. Every year Wendi made us all Oreo holiday cookies. except for the one year she made us jarred pesto. The question came up yesterday in the newsroom, who is going to make the cookies this year? Selene spoke up, I will.
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
11. And if we die for it, someone else will pick up the threads, and report on the holiday decorations at the Governor's house. Its what we do. -30-
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
OzarkHillbilly
I’m soooo lonely here all alone alone alone…..
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m here for a couple of minutes anyway. Procrastinating on getting ready to leave for the market in an hour.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: ? so, what’s new?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I’m reading how the Brits are running headlong towards a cliff in the full knowledge of the cliff but not slowing down, not turning, just running with all the other lemmings towards certain doooooooom:
A “responsible government” wouldn’t be needing to plan for self inflicted chaos to begin with.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I guess it should be comforting to know the USA doesn’t have the market cornered on stupid election outcomes. But it’s not.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Maybe the Queen will step in and say, “Enough of this bollocks.”
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: My wife and I are gonna go into STL this afternoon to spend some time with a long time running buddy and his wife whom I don’t see near enough of these days. Usually he and I are limited to spur of the moment lunches on the rare occasions I’m in STL on a weekday, so this will be good.
Platonailedit
When is our next #fridayfix?
Eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Such a own goal. What is going to happen with the Channel Tunnel?
Eclare
@Eclare: Can’t edit, an own goal.
Betty Cracker
RE: the McKerrow thread — saw that yesterday on Twitter, and it made me tear up, which ain’t easy because I’m a tough old bird. Survivors integrate their losses into their lives because they have no choice, but they never really get over having sudden, senseless carnage visit a space where people are supposed to be able to live and work in peace.
JPL
Individual 1 is a horrible person, and we should all shame him everyday for his misdeeds
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: We can always look to the birds for a sounder Wisdom:
……………………………….
………………………….
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: have a nice visit and lunch! Just got done emailing our exchange student from 28 (!) years ago, who is spending Christmas Day with us.
It’s good to visit with old friends.
Edit: even if you’re an albatross ?. Nice story.
satby
One more cuppa joe, then off to the first of two markets today. The second in support of the rescue group, and after prepping last night I’m out of labels and some products and have to make more tomorrow.
Two weeks until Christmas.
Heck, so busy that I still have porch cat.. And the Humane Society hasn’t bothered to call me again to ask when I’m bringing her back.
Aleta
@OzarkHillbilly:
self inflicted chaos + purposeful chaos = reason to grieve
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
Maybe they’re trying to tell you something.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
As they say on pro-Brexit twitter, “Respect the Vote, but only the first Russian and white nationalist gamed one. Now that consequences are actually known, no new vote should be taken, much less respected.”
Wonder how those idiot midlands voters and vampire city financiers are going to feel when NI says “bugger off” and unites with the Republic, and Scotland bails?
OzarkHillbilly
Rose McGowan’s most embarrassing moment?
The time I accidentally used a thong to tie up my hair instead of a scrunchy and went out into the world with a thong on my head.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ? ??
Amir Khalid
Repost of some serious stuff from the previous thread:
Some days, I’m embarrassed to be Malaysian. There was a rally in KL today against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which the UN adopted in 1965. PM Dr Mahathir was supposed to attend SUHAKAM’s (the Malaysian Human Rights Commission’s) celebration of Human Rights Day on Sunday, but said he would not because SUHAKAM wants Malaysia to accede to ICERD; he says Malaysia will not do this.
Malaysia’s constitution establishes Islam as a national religion (in a country where only about 3/5 of people are Muslim) and gives a special position to indigenous ethnicities, of which the largest and most powerful is Malay Muslims (my own ethnic group). Malay Muslims are instinctively and fiercely protective of the privileges that come with this special position. They consider any assault on it, like acceding to ICERD, an assault on their faith, their race (which they love more than they love their country), and their motherland (which they consider uniquely theirs, above the claims of non-Malay Malaysians). There is an out and proud racism at work here, which I feel has become toxic in the context of national unity, and which will be famiiar to my American friends who see “white nationalism” in their own country.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Brexit can never fail, only be failed. So I’m gonna go with “Vindicated/”
Aleta
Robert Fuller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIu7hzdQHg&t=5m0s
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: I’m sorry you have to deal with that. Hope you don’t end up with your own Trump.
OzarkHillbilly
As a firm believer that everything is better with bacon, even I feel this might be going to far:
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: Ugh, I’m so sorry that is happening. Those of us who believe in equality will just have to keep pushing back against ignorant racists, all over the world. No choice!
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Such a cool story. Thanks for sharing it!
Aleta
Blue footed boobies courting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWqjhuBY-E
I can see how their appearance suggested the name. And not just the feet.
Aleta
@Amir Khalid: I’m sorry to hear that.
I read this last night, The Hill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Aleta: I love that dance. Sadly, I can not get sound with that video and half the pleasure is in the clacking or their bills and their trilling.
Aleta
@OzarkHillbilly: I would have liked to hear the clacking. And trilling.
Schlemazel
@Betty Cracker:
I wrote a short story back when Prince Chuck was still with wife #1. The basis of the story was that the Thatcher Government brought the nation to its knees so Chuck called on his old navy buddys and they took the throne from Liz and he made himself the government as King.
It was a SiFi/fantasy obviously and I really like the story but my writing is crap, can’t write dialog to save my soul. I read the other day that there is a play in England where Chuck is King but gets squeezed out by Hank in some backroom deal. I guess the idea of royal intrigue [email protected]Aleta: on into modern day
Sloane Ranger
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Was in my local supermarket yesterday and there was an elderly woman, using some sort of walking aid. She was proudly carrying her shopping bag which had the EU flag reconfigured so that the stars formed the O in NO.
It was all I could do not to demand loudly that she give her medication and NHS care to those who voted Remain when the drugs shortage that’s expected with a no deal Brexit occurs. As it was I bit my lip and gave her a dirty look as I passed her.
As for potentially losing NI and Scotland, there was an opinion poll showing something like 80% of Brexit voters would be cool with Scotland leaving the UK if that was the price of Brexit. NI and Scotland are just losers and takers, England is better off without them. They are money sinks, taking our tax money and giving nothing in return. /
OzarkHillbilly
Heh:
Sure, he’s not a mob boss, he just does everything like a mob boss would.
A Ghost To Most
@Amir Khalid: Religion ruins everything. Currently, it is leading towards another world war.
Schlemazel
@A Ghost To Most:
China is trying very hard to make sure that the atheists are doing their part is getting people killed for their beliefs.
The whole world has gone insane and religion, or the lack there of, is just yet another excuse
MazeDancer
Send some good thoughts to Gwen Collins-Greenup. The Sec of State runoff in Louisiana is today.
Knocking wood for her victory.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Bolsonaro abolishes human rights ministry in favour of family values
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel:
I have always wondered at the atheists who speak of their lack of faith with such religious fervor.
Ladyraxterinok
@satby: Is it significant that the 2 countries that hsve so long viewed themselves as the dominant world powers (AngloSaxon) succombed at the same time to a disasterous attack from the same power?
Self-satisfied in their (our) assumed ‘moral/genetic superiority'(?!?!)
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
every group has its extremist. I am confident that there are violent pacifists out there
OzarkHillbilly
How smart is an octopus? Smart enough to figure out how to open a jar (go to the 3:30 mark in the video).
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel:
Guaranteed.
Platonailedit
@OzarkHillbilly: When religious nutjobs can speak of their ‘faith’ with such fervor (and mayhem), why shouldn’t those who oppose these bigoted whackos speak with fervor? At least, the later group does not kill or indulge in large scale violence.
DavidC
I think that “Selene” is my friend’s niece, who wrote this. https://www.capitalgazette.com/opinion/ac-ce-selene-column-20180629-story.html
OzarkHillbilly
@Platonailedit:
Stalin was an atheist.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
I have seen that video. I now feel very guilty that I enjoy eating octopus
Platonailedit
@OzarkHillbilly: Fair enough, though his later day ‘purges’ were mostly for political power grab, not because he hated religion.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@OzarkHillbilly Great News! Wisdom is definitely old enough to collect Social Security!
Amir Khalid
@A Ghost To Most:
Religion is not so much the problem here, it’s racism.
OzarkHillbilly
@Platonailedit: So was Pol Pot. My only point is that atheism, like religion, are human constructs, and as such are used for both good and evil depending upon the person wielding them. Atheism in it’s most strident forms, such as under communism, is another tool of control, not at all unlike the Catholic Church during it’s long and bloody history.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: They are truly amazing creatures.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I would never be able to find it now, but I remember reading about an octopus who escaped from his tank during the night, grabbed a snack, and returned to the tank.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Not too long ago one just flat out disappeared from the Monterrey (?) Aquarium.
Gin & Tonic
Why do adult humans choose to travel on an airplane in their pajamas?
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
PJs seem to be the only way to food shop around here. :/
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Betty Cracker: I’ve never personally experienced what you and he have experienced, but his thread made me tear up a little too. And while that happens more lately in our current environment, I don’t cry easily either. But the loss… it just seems like there is so much loss right now.
Citizen Alan
@Schlemazel:
Is it really atheism to abandon belief in God in favor of belief in an abstract political entity that should be viewed as divine?
Citizen Alan
@Ladyraxterinok:
I have made the comment before on FB that 100 years from now, historians will say that World War 3 took place in 2016. It was fought entirely in cyberspace. And the victory of the New Russian Empire was so absolute that Great Britain was the first EU nation to commit national suicide while in America, a plurality of citizens joyously welcomed Czar Putin’s hand-picked viceroy as he took over the government.
Miss Bianca
Oh, damn it, this story has me sting-eyed weepy. Fuck Trump and his enemy of the people shit talk enabling the weak-brained, strongly-armed loonitocracy, just fuck him. And them. And a Merry Fucking Christmas to all.
Miss Bianca
@Amir Khalid: : (
UttBugly
I do not want Trump (or Limbaugh, Hannity, et al) to end as Republican martyrs, but I must confess I would be most pleased to learn that the majority of their ill gotten wealth was martyred to pay for their security.
Karen
All Brazil and the UK have taught me is that the decent, kind and compassionate people NEED to override the vicious, mean and nasty people who will always be there, We need to vote in more numbers than they do. What is worrying me is all of these ultra-right wing countries: Hungary and Italy, for example. Denmark is on its way. What is going on in the world to make the people of these countries’ people believe that fascism is the only way?
Miss Bianca
@Karen: I am betting that losing the WW II generations – rhe ones that suffered the actual horrors of fascism – might be a contributing factor.
PJ
@Ladyraxterinok: Eh, more like we had sunk so low as “world leaders” that a small number of right-wing elites were willing to sell us all out to keep maintaining their power and lining their pockets. Their avid followers have always been here – during the Civil War, there were plenty of Northerners who were pro-slavery, and prior to WWII, there were plenty of people here who were either avid Nazi supporters or who admired Nazi Germany. Fortunately, they just weren’t the people running the country. France was not so fortunate in WWII – their elites would rather be ruled by Germans than have to share their wealth with socialists. I’m not sure that “this too shall pass” applies now, but it does point out that there is no “safe place” in history, there are always bad people who are in it for themselves and no one else, and it requires constant vigilance, and a functioning news media, to keep those bad people from power. Unfortunately, those bad people are now virtually the entire GOP.
sukabi
@OzarkHillbilly: State: “Let’s give priority to the lorries to deliver medical supplies ”
County: “We must stop lorries from entering and causing gridlock.”
What am I missing? Glad we don’t have the market cornered on stupid.
artem1s
@OzarkHillbilly:
Worse, he does everything like Fredo
wkwv
My local suburban weekly paper was edited by John McNamara- he wrote two-thirds of the local content. I spoke briefly to Wendi Winters at Trader Joe’s a month before the shooting. The lunatic injustice of their murders is still haunting me. Trump and his “enemy of the people” garbage is unforgivable.