"My boys had their headphones on. I turned around and got up and ran to the back of the plane."

I don't mind telling you, we bass boys, we gots our heads on a swivel all the time. That's what you have to do, when you find yourself in a vicious cock fight.

"The suspect was yelling, 'Don't come near me, I have a bomb, I have a bomb!' " Llewellyn said. The suspect had his hands in his shirt. Cornered in the rear of the plane, the suspect lunged for the rear emergency exit door.

"We all jumped him," the guitarist said. "He was struggling hardcore. I was holding down his arm. Somebody had a foot on his head. Everyone was holding down a different body part. He was going nuts. I was telling him to chill because he's not going anyplace."

At that point, the plane was on the ground and a flight attendant had retrieved a restraining kit. From the ground the suspect asked, "What am I being charged with?"

Someone answered, "Being an asshole, fuckwad."

I'm pretty sure that's what they said.

Book 'im, Dan-O

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:27 PM | Comments (43)
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Sniff, sniff.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which first rolled off the presses in 1863 and has been the state's longest-publishing newspaper, is up for sale.

The newspaper's staff was called into a closed meeting today by Publisher Roger Oglesby. Present at the meeting was Hearst Newspaper President Steve Swartz, who told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer.

If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, possible options include creating an all-digital operation with a greatly reduced staff, or closing its operations entirely.

In no case will Hearst continue to publish the P-I in printed form, Swartz said.

Regardless, he said, if no buyer is found, the P-I as a newspaper will not publish after the two months is up.

Swartz discounted rumors that Hearst, the P-I's owner since 1921, was interested in buying The Seattle Times newspaper.

He said the P-I has had operating loses since 2000, losing around $14 million this past year. Greater losses are anticipated this year, he said.

...

"P-I breaking news editor Candace Heckman said the staff appeared stunned in the newsroom after the meeting.

"People cried, people are still crying, editors are slamming their doors," she said. "There's talking of drowning their sorrows."

Several people have since left the building. A few people are working on stories, but, "I am looking around a newsroom that is not working very much."

Longtime P-I columnist Joel Connelly met reporters outside the globe-topped P-I building overlooking Elliott Bay. He said the newsroom resembled a "yellow jacket nest." Connelly said he rode down the elevator with manager editor David McCumber, who Connelly said summed up the morning with a single profanity."

That profanity? Decider.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (176)
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I'm tempted to say "execution" but why add fuel to a fire?

More at Allah.

Content warning for a man being shot in the back and killed.

Reason points out the San Fransisco Chronicle's odd reaction to this, and the riots it spawned:

The roving mob expressed fury at police and frustration over society's racial injustice. Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting the businesses and prized possessions of people of color.

A roving mob was "often" indiscriminate? Sometimes the lawless mob was discriminate?

When would that be? When was it rationally making surgical strikes on a lawful target?

When it was attacking the businesses and homes of white people, you mean...?

And random white people were behind this, right?

The San Fransisco Chronicle sure endorses the idea of collective punishment... as long as it's directed towards whitey.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM | Comments (111)
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He actually dressed up in drag, like Klinger from MASH, for six months!

Um, no, he went a bit further than that.

(Violent imagery content warning.) more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (69)
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It's about time they started becoming nervous about our responses to their rage.

Israel may have reached a deterrent moment in its war in Gaza against Iranian-backed Hamas. I spoke with a senior Arab diplomat last night. He told me that the Arab street is afraid that "the Jews have gone crazy."

Yes, it's true. He noted, "Israel has begun to restore its deterrence" in the Arab world. "Hamas miscalculated," he added. They had thought Israel would not attack, but would merely accede to tougher Hamas demands for an improved "Tahdiya," their version of a temporary calm.

This is perhaps one of the more optimistic assessments I have heard from Arab colleagues recently. There is supporting documentation. Hizbullah's immediate public denial yesterday of the Katusha rocket attack from Southern Lebanon against Israel's North and the reports on Lebanese TV of convoys of Lebanese (read: Hizbullah) vehicles moving north in expectation of a major Israeli reprisal strengthens this sense.

It's also notable that Al Jazeera's reportage yesterday avoided interviewing ordinary Gazans. Arab sources in Gaza confided that the public anger is not directed at Israel any more than it is at Hamas.

Via Instapundit. Unrelated, but: This just in -- bureaucrats make for awful businessmen. California state pension money was invested largely in real estate, at the peak of the market.

Brilliant.

Oh, and the result is perfectly predictable: Increase taxes on employers.

I'm so glad that Democrats beat back Bush's effort to allow workers' ownership in their own Social Security. That sort of idea would never work. Better to have slacker civil servants making the big decisions.

In related news, Obama, who hasn't even run an office in his life, will be making all the big decisions about the economy for at least four years.

Posted by: Ace at 11:29 AM | Comments (86)
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Ever wonder what the first 10,000 people who saw the "Star Wars Kid" video felt like? Want to know what it was like to read the comments from "you know who" over at PW in real time while she was destroying her own life and defining the first ever "internet verb"? Enjoy watching train wrecks in progress?

Well, then you might want to go over and give this a look-see. It's got it all: Women who leave out vital facts but still consider themselves to be "mostly truthful", guys who think with their reproductive organs, and bystanders who mostly just sit there chanting "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" I feel bad for the girl, but since she ...
A.) started the whole thing on her own with a flame post,
B.) did it in a public place where anyone with computer access can find it,
...I'm willing to link it to teach all of you a lesson about unintended consequences. Because I love you all, and I'm a teacher. Not like a REAL teacher of useful facts, but I'm willing to help teach a lesson if there's no sacrifice on my part.

Read the whole thread carefully, there's all sorts of ironic "easter eggs" hidden in there.

H/T to "Read This Now" in the "Sea Kittens" thread comments.

More [ace]: I saw this and didn't know how to handle it; I'm glad Russ did.

The thing is, yes, I feel bad for her. But honestly, the Internet is not really the place to seek sympathy while revealing personal, embarrassing details about yourself.

Especially not here, when you're complaining about the triviality that you liked someone much more than he liked you, and the happens-every-day thing that a guy kinda-sorta played you on that to get laid. And you're sorta saying you're fat to a Studman69 "I would not hit that" cohort, which is never especially likely to end well.

She's very naive. Too naive to know she's naive, and too naive to realize that the smart-ass know-it-alls of the internet are going to have her for lunch.

The internet is the place to get discount cigarettes, Mexican knock-off viagra, and sex. Not sympathy from perfect strangers.

Ever see me declaring in a post "I'm a chronic premature ejaculator, and I want reassurance that that's okay"? Yeah. There's a reason you haven't seen that.

The liberals would eat me alive.

The liberals? Shit. You guys would do worse, and you kinda like me.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 11:23 AM | Comments (141)
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Well, this is getting messy.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ruled Democrat Roland Burris' appointment to the U.S. Senate valid, which could move him a step closer to taking President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

The court said Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White does not have to certify Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment proclamation and that "no further action" by any state officer was required to seat Burris in the Senate.

The Senate may think otherwise.

A senior Senate Democratic aide involved says that "Burris is where he was a week ago" and cannot be seated in the US Senate.

In essence, the Illinois ruling appears to find that the Roland Burris appointment does not require Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to certify it for it to be official under Illinois state law. But while Illinois statute doesn't appear to require Secretary of State's signature, the Senate rules do, according to the interpretation of Senate Democratic Leadership.

Will the Senate Democrats back down? If not Burris will likely wind up going to federal court to get an order telling the Senate their rule about requiring the Secretary of States' signature isn't constitutional. Given the precedent of Powell v. McCormack, he'd likely win.

Most fun scenario...it isn't resolved before Blago gets convicted in the Illinois Senate and then the new Governor appoints someone else to the seat. I'd pay good money to see Burris fighting the new Governor's appointee to the seat.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:00 AM | Comments (41)
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Confederate Yankee sums up all of the evidence, noting that the Norweigan doctor appearing in the production is a long time pro-Palestinian activist, and the bereaved brother filming the scene owns an internet company that hosts websites for Hamas.

Even more damning is that CNN has disappeared this video down the memory hole without even mentioning it. It is going on 16 or so hours since it was disappeared. They haven't said why. They currently don't even acknowledge there ever was a video at all.

This is a bit like TNR's reaction during the Beauchamp saga: Dead silence, a refusal to acknowledge suspicions or criticisms, as the work furiously to confirm a story they should have confirmed before airing in the first place.

This is definitely not the first time the Palestinians have staged propaganda photos or videos for the I Want to Believe Mudleresque Media.

It is about time they started showing skepticism to videos and pictures supplied to them by Hamas members or supporters at a level somewhere equal to the skepticism they display towards IDF reports.

Thanks to jdub.

Posted by: Ace at 10:37 AM | Comments (21)
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I don't know if that's going to work. Because I just got a hankering for baked kitten with a mustard-and-rosemary rub.

They had a lot of meetings to come up with "sea kittens." They played around with various possibilities, trying for cuteness, and also trying to enlist fellow liberals to take their pet (ahem) cause more seriously.

PeTA's Top Ten Rejected New Names for Fish

10. "Marine gerbils"

9. "Fish of Color"

8. "Aquatic Chipmunks"

7. "Honorary Maritime Palestinians"

6. "Ocean-Based Independent Book and Record Store Owners, Who Desperately Need Our Help to Stay Viable Given the Predatory Corporate Media Distribution Regime and Also, Given Large Predatory Commercial Fishing Nets"

5. "Undocumented Dolphins"

4. "Aquabunnies"

3. "Ichthysexuals"

2. "Sea Vaginas"

and the Number One Rejected New PeTA Name for Fish...

1. Plucky Little "Obamanauts"

Posted by: Ace at 10:18 AM | Comments (140)
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Bump & Update [Gabe]:

Announcing a Pre-Inaugural Moron Meetup in Los Angeles to take place next Saturday, January 17 starting at 7:30pm. It's going to be on the West Side and I'm changing the location from last time. If you want to come, email me at gabriel.malor@[the google email].com and I will send you the name of the location. If you already sent me an email, you should get something back from me shortly.

Come and raise a glass for the President. Then we'll drown our sorrows about the President-elect. Also, somebody can tell me what's the big freakin' deal about Gran Torino.

Other-than-L.A.-readers should check out the comments and blankminde's map to see about other meetups.

Original Post:
Ahhh, it has that new thread smell.

It's important for morons to get together occasionally and sniff butts. Please use this thread to correspond and trade email addies or discuss dates.

The Connecticut Morons will be meeting in Stamford on a Saturday night before the end of this month (precise date yet to be determined).
If you are in or near CT and would like to attend, please email me at: ctmorons AT gmail DOT com.

I'd like to get a real big group of us together, since it's a nifty place and sassypants offered to pay for the whole thing. We should probably all fast for a couple days beforehand, too.

Blankminde's nifty map with regional contact info. below the fold. I can't seem to get my dot to show up.

If you would like to create a new regional group and therefore a new point on the map, email blankminde.

And don't forget to thank him for being awesome. more...

Posted by: LauraW at 08:41 PM | Comments (45)
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