The story so far: A massive ballistic missile streaking across the sky off the coast of California last night. Anyone want to claim it? Because the U.S. military says it's not theirs. A news helicopter for CBS station KCBS captured stunning video of what appeared to be a missile launch 35 miles off the California coast, just north of Catalina Island. The video shows a giant streak … Read More
GOP’s Dirty Tricks in NC
(via Digby) RALEIGH, NC —With less than 24 hours until the close of polls tomorrow night, the North Carolina Democratic Party is getting reports of disgraceful repeated robo calls to unaffiliated and Democratic voters from conservative interest groups meant to anger voters and suppress turnout. These unsolicited robo calls, which are coming to a voters sometimes up to eight times … Read More
RIP Ted Sorenson
I didn't realize he died yesterday, but he did. He was the last of the Kennedy circle. He was Kennedy's speechwriter, so we can give him credit for "Ask not what your country can do for you…." (although, as classy speechwriters do, Sorenson never took credit for the line). He probably also ghost-wrote "Profiles in Courage", which won Kennedy the … Read More
I Voted Early
Took five minutes. In and out. Easy and kind of fun. In fact, I might do it again later this week. Didn't quite vote the straight Democratic ticket. Left a lot of positions blank. And if I knew the candidate (a neighbor, or a legal colleague running for the court), I didn't care about political party. Voted "yes" on the … Read More
Idiots
Down the road: MIDWAY, N.C. (WGHP) – A Davidson County man says he found Jesus Christ in a tree branch. After his landlord cut up a branch that fell from his tree, Bill Johnson took a closer look and couldn't believe what he saw. Johnson says the image on the branch appears to be Jesus Christ dressed in a robe … Read More
Kennedy vs. Foxx
Digby thinks he "may just pull this thing out". Well, I hate to be pessimistic, but Billy Kennedy's chances against Virginia Foxx in NC-05 are just about zero: he's down 30 points in the polls. I will say this though: he's running a great campaign. Granted, he's up against Virginia "Matthew Shepard was a hoax" Foxx, but this is North … Read More
A Couple Petty Grievances About The Chilean Miner Rescue, As It Is Happening
On my phone, I saw the first one being pulled out last night. Pretty cool, even on a phone. When I got up this morning, they had ten out, so it all looks pretty good for a completely happy ending. But I have a few observations: (1) They just pulled up miner #12 and I notice there's a little ennui … Read More
Victory For NC ACLU In Body Piercing Case
Honestly, I think the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU has only one attorney, Kathleen Lewis Parker (who I crossed paths with last year when a friend's daughter was barred from creating a gay student organization at a local high school). The NC chapter of the ACLU is a good organization, but woefully underfunded. So it can't do all the … Read More
Fake Earthquake
If your Facebook or Twitter feed starts going off with buzz about a massive California earthquake in the next few hours, don't worry. It's only a test. A drill is planned by natural disaster experts at San Diego State University to test how social media would be used to respond to a crisis. Unless, of course, there is an actual earthquake … Read More
High Point City Council Approves Mosque, Without Any Freakout
How it's done: HIGH POINT, N.C. The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a pair of rezoning requests that clears the way for a mosque to be built in south High Point. The council granted requests from Malik Hanif to rezone 6.9 acres on the east side of Allen Jay Road just north of E. Fairfield Road from a residential multi-family … Read More
Tornado In Brooklyn Last Night: What Does It Mean, Dude?
The National Weather Service still hasn't confirmed that it was an actual tornado (as opposed to a downburst or something). But whatever it was, it wasn't pretty. And why is it that people who capture weather phenomenon are such dorks?
Here We Go Again? — Breaking News: Another Oil Rig Explosion
Lovely: An oil rig has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, with 12 people overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard said Thursday morning. UPDATE: The rig is owned by Mariner Energy. And leased to….??? Well, we don't know yet. UPDATE #2: It bears mentioning that this is NOT a deep-sea oil well, unlike BP's Deepwater Horizon, and reports are … Read More
Discovery Channel Bomb Guy
UPDATE: From 2008, someone caught a Youtube video of a protester outside the Discovery building, throwing money. Yes, the money-thrower is apparently the same dude. UPDATE: Some posts about Lee and his earlier protests. View it soon before the site crashes. UPDATE: From 2008, a blurb about his arrest following an unarmed protest of Discovery. *** It started at 1:00 pm EST. The … Read More
Earl Update
As of 11AM EDT Hurricane Earl is still tracking toward the outer banks/DC area as a category 3 and is still projected to turn in time to spare the region the full brunt. The NHC image shows why this is really a close call: presently, Earl is headed right at the middle of the east coast and some intensification is still possible. But it … Read More
Not Sweatin’ Earl
Unless it veers westward, I don't expect Earl to be much of a force in the Piedmont, even though it might be a Category 4 (or even 5!). Some rain, that's it. In fact, it look my family in New England is likely to see far worse from Earl than I will.