September 29, 2008
Morning Roundup: Good News and Bad News Edition
Good morning, Washington. So the Redskins managed to beat the Dallas Cowboys yesterday, which when all is said and done, basically means 'Skins fans get to walk around with a sort of boosted self-esteem for the next week, which lets them trash talk, gloat and generally be obnoxious. That kind of fandom is not something I'll likely ever understand, but if it also means fewer people walking around who are from the D.C. area but for some totally incomprehensible reason are Cowboys fans and wear Cowboys gear out to bars, then I say 'F Romo,' too. Who are these people, and why weren't they raised right? If we can get even a small break from having to deal with these clowns, then I welcome post-beating-Dallas-week with open arms.
Tale of Two Shootings: Two double shootings happened within hours of each other on Sunday, both in areas where such violence is relatively rare in the District. One person is dead and another injured after a double shooting at 11 p.m. at Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant in Adams Morgan. Police say that it appears the shooting took place after an argument, which preceded one man shooting another before turning the gun on himself. The man with the gun died, while the condition of his victim, who is still alive, wasn't known this morning. The other shooting happened a few hours earlier, at 14th and T NW. Two men were shot and seriously wounded. No clear motive has been established in that shooting. As for the Meskerem shooting, it'll surely be interesting to see whether or not Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham calls for the restaurant to have its license suspended as a result. Wouldn't it be awfully hypocritical if he didn't?
Bad Accidents: Couple of really horrific accidents over the weekend. The first was a deadly collision that took place when a Metrobus, which was thankfully empty of passengers, ran into a taxicab carrying several passengers. One man died in the crash, a 55-year-old from California named Bartlett Tabor. The others, including the Metrobus driver, the cab driver, three other passengers and a firefighter, were sent to the hospital. The accident, which happened at 19th Street and Virginia Ave. NW, is under investigation. The Metrobus driver has apparently been employed by WMATA for less than a year. After hitting the cab, the bus jumped a curb and continued through a grassy area, eventually stopping on the grounds of the Federal Reserve Building at Virginia Avenue and C Street. The effort to remove the bus from the Federal Reserve campus is pictured above, caught by a DCist Flickr contributor.
The second scary accident occurred when a medical helicopter crashed in District Heights, Md., killing four of the five people who were on board. One person, an 18-year-old woman, survived, though she remains in critical condition and underwent surgery this morning. The painfully tragic aspect of this crash is that some of the victims were being transported via medevac because they had just been in a serious car accident.
Briefly Noted: House set to vote on bailout package, forcing news watchers around the globe to look up the definition of moral hazard ... Region already has gotten same amount of rainfall so far this year as it usually does over an entire year ... Man dies after stabbing ... Head of the D.C. police photo lab sued again for sexual harassment, again.
Photo by jeremyreitman
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Hail to the Redskins
Hail Vic-tor-y
Braves on the Warpath
Fight for old D.C.
Run or pass or score, we want a lot more,
Beat em' Swamp em' TOUCHDOWN, Let the points soar,
Fight on, fight on, til you have WON!
Sons of Washington, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
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Anyone have recommendations based on Friday night as to what bars (preferably not on Capitol Hill) might carry the vice presidential debate on Thursday?
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That bus accident didn't seem to get too much press for how horrific it was. Maybe we're all getting used to buses randomly taking people out?
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Kneeling on the ball with nearly two minutes left is a chickenshit move.
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"Kneeling on the ball with nearly two minutes left is a chickenshit move."
sour grapes go well with crow, enjoy.
Hail 'skins.
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i realize that a shooting inside an A-M restaurant is surely rare, but that area isn't all bunnies and rainbows, either.
Don't fool yourself -- Bunnies are the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on! They can leap about -- look at the bones!
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the Redskins were one of the last teams to desegregate.
in a largely black city, it's not too surprising then that the Redskins' biggest rival is pretty popular in DC.
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From that article on the shootings:
One former T Street resident now living in the Chevy Chase section of upper Northwest said, "I am as amazed that it would happen there as I would be here."
I hate when I see this in articles. Who the hell is this? Why is he being quoted? From the fact that he's saying "here" to mean Chevy Chase, it would seem as if the writers spoke with him at his home. Did the writers just want some background on the relative crime levels of Chevy Chase and Adams Morgan? Couldn't they have called a cop to get that quote? Is this just a friend of theirs? Do they just keep a list of people who have lived in two different neighborhoods in case they ever need an "expert's" opinion on the differences?
The quotation is utterly meaningless, contextless, and useless. It's shoddy journalism.
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"Kneeling on the ball with nearly two minutes left is a chickenshit move."
No it's not, it's the smart, safe way to protect a win, and every team does it - including Dallas.
That said, WOOHOOOOOO!!! 'Skins beat 'Boys, MD beats Clemson, Eagles lose, Wake Forest loses - what a perfect weekend!
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@drivebyillusion:
I believe the 'Skins were *the* last team to integrate. I also seem to recall that the Cowboys were among the first. So, yeah, not surprising.
That said, they were integrated when I was a kid, so Hail Victory!
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"i realize that a shooting inside an A-M restaurant is surely rare, but that area isn't all bunnies and rainbows, either."
No shit. After arguing for 20 minutes with the passenger (not the owner) of a car we barely reversed into (I was able to buff the paint off and there was no other damage) in the neighborhood, we parked on 17th and walked back over to my apartment on the 2400 block of 18th. The next day - lucky us - my girlfriend's car had been broken into and her CD player stolen. The only silver lining is they broke the portlet window, not the larger glass.
Fuck the hooligans of Adams Morgan. I'm just trying to live there. :(
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Someone remind me: when did our elected officials get replaced by a tribe of signifying monkeys with rubber stamps? Oh, yeah. That whole invade-Iraq-for-WMDs/Patriot-Patriot Act thingie. So, the well-oiled self-fellating midget circle jerk known as Wall Street can continue operate at top speed without a spit take? You mean "investment firms" can continue to borrow money that doesn't exit from banks with no oversight and invest in companies that don't produce anthing so stockholders can raid empty 401ks to take out mortgages they can't afford and borrow against nonexistent equity to buy crap they don't need? Everything's coming up Milhouse!
Every liberal in America should be pig-biting mad that corporate necrophile junk fund managers get multimillion-dollar golden parachutes. "Oh, but they're only $18 million insted of $23 million!" The only "golden" thing they deserve are showers. And every conservative in America should be pissed that they're SOCIALIZING corporate debt, and having the godawful gummint "investing" in the private sector. Because that s**t ain't happening for free. WTF ever happened to letting people pay for their mistakes? Oh, yeah. We don't use negative words like "failure" anymore, because that would lower peoples' self-esteem. We should just give everyone at Lehman Bros. a smiley face sticker on their forehead for SHOWING A GOOD EFFORT. YAAAAA! EVERYONE AM TEH WINNAR!
I didn't live beyond my means! I didn't buy a goddamned Mcmansion in PW County! Where the hell is my $700 billion? Oh, no. Not me. I never lost control. You're face to face with THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD. Goodbye yellow brick road. Goodbye Norma Jean. Welcome to the Machine. Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal. Send me a kiss by wire, baby MY MONEY'S ON FIRE!
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REDSKINS BEAT DALLAS!!! Happy Days Are Here Again.
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"Kneeling on the ball with nearly two minutes left is a chickenshit move."
Is that why they call the play the "Victory Formation"
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And kudos to Northwest DC for stepping up to the plate and taking their fair share of shootings/stabbings. Although, you kids have your work cut out for you if you want to catch up to Ward 8. The problem with crime in DC is one of failed sales opportunities. Nobody's going to agree to higher taxes to rehabilitate criminals. They will, however, pay through the nose to fund a "surge" to make sure that Al Quaida in Mount Pleasant stays underground. Then there's the inevitable search for WMDs in NoMa, a hotbed of terrorist insurgency ever since Restaurant AV closed.
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Yikes. My post about the Redskins beating Dallas in Dallas and rubbing it in their stupid faces seems kind of pat after Monkey's rant. I think I'll go for a walk now, and maybe think about my life.
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I'ld like to know what other cities with significant transit ie., bus systems are experiencing with bus addidents. Is this recklessness a DC only problem?
For a bus to go over the curb after impact means the driver was seriosly speeding. Are there limits to their top speed? If not there ought to be.
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wow, someone should take a reading of monkey's blood pressure this morning.
and i have to say, i was very impressed by the way the Redskins played this weekend (although they were struggling in the end). way to go Campbell, Moss, and Zorn.
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Can we let go of the "Skins were last to integrate" issue already?? I'm not saying it's not true and not shameful, but the guys who were managing the team at the time are all dead (or nearly so) now.
The Redskins also fielded the first and to date ONLY African-American quarterback in a Superbowl win.
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What Monkey said in first post - i wish i could say it half as well.
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So where is the pro-mass-transit/"cars are evil because thousands die in accidents every year" crowd? Granted, busses are less of a bloadsoaked deathtrap than the average Cadiallac Armageddon SUV, but still. Around the world, two million people die every year because of work-related accidents/illnesses, but nobody's calling for work to be abolished. Come to think of it, that's a f***ing great idea! Take that $700 billion, divide it up among 300 million Americans, and every man, woman, and child gets $2,333, so everybody gets a week off work! There's a week's worth of car accidents/workplace shootings/sick building syndromes that aren't happening. And all that cash immediately goes back into the economy to buy Rap Snacks, crack, Oscar Meyer Lunchables, Grey Goose, cunnilingus, etc. I challenge the GOP to embrace this new and improved "Bush stimulus package."
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Adams Morgan is a fun place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
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Adams Morgan is a fun place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
I agree, except for the first part.
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Oh good God - the Post has got a story up about two dead children being found encased in ice in a woman's freezer? In a goddamned freezer?
I think I am going to step away from the computer for a bit and take a walk. Some days the world is just too much.
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There are no direct correlations to the violence at 17th and Euclid to events that occur on 18th Street...in fact, if you go back over the past four years where there have been about 5 homicides that have occured on (or near) 18th St, not one of them had anything to do with crew violence and everything to do with drunken idiots.
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You'd rather she pulled a Banita Jacks and just let the kids' corpses lie around decomposing at room temperature? Get real. If Jeffrey Dahmer has taught us anything, it's that remains belong in refrigeration.
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Oh and I can all but guarantee you that the Grahmstander will not demand that Meskerem's license be pulled...just look at how his email was written this morning....
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Re. the shooting on the 1400 block of T Street, the apartment building on the West side of the alley where it took place, "The Tuxedo" is a total drug market (believe the address is 1439 T St NW). You can see a random assortment of people at all hours of the day going in the building, coming out 5-10 minutes later, lots of loitering in front, and lots of suspicious people waiting around in the parked cars and then rrunning into it for a brief visit and then quickly leaving.
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Well there was the blogger dude who got shot at on Euclid, and all those muggings on 18th so, yeah, if you don't count the occasional shooting/mugging/stabbing, crime Adams Morgan is actually quite low.
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"Oh good God - the Post has got a story up about two dead children being found encased in ice in a woman's freezer? In a goddamned freezer?"
Maybe she was saving them for later, with plans to pull a Marion Barry. Police found a 50-gallon drum of mambo sauce sitting next to the freezer.
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Adams Morgan is a fun place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
I agree, except for the second part.
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IMGoph: "isn't the 2400 block of 18th street pretty close to 17th and euclid?"
Sure, geographically, they are certainly "close." But violence-wise, they're not at all. I moved from 17th & Euclid after a year there and was within 25 yards of 2 drive-bys in that time. I guess you're not necessarily safe anywhere, but it was as though you got a block or two off columbia and it was a free-for-all. My pansy-ass moved over to Calvert St.. Again, maybe 4/5 blocks away, but a world of difference.
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The notion that violent crime in Logan/U St. is rare is a bit misleading. Yes, homicides are rare. Unfortunately, muggings and assaults are becoming more and more frequent. It's a combination of several well-known "problem spots" existing throughout the neighborhood as well as the classic case of criminals following the money.
14th St. isn't Ward 8 by any means, but it's not as if violent crime is as rare here as a coherent statement by Sarah Palin. Over the past couple of years actually, it's gotten quite a bit worse.
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Whoa. Whoa.
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Jesus Christ. What kind of luck is that?
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I find American pro football to be fairly exclusionary and dick-headed generally.
By and large a huge number of pro football players are total shits to their gay fans. That in and of itself is inexcusable.
As for Redskins v Dallas, I'd say Redskins lose the moral high ground game (we are playing that game, right?), by refusing to give up the term Redskins. Yes, many Indians don't find this offensive. But some do. It's a derogatory term, similar to them using the term Washington Kikes or Washington Darkies.
But the Cowboys and their nauseating public pronouncements of their superior Christ-y-ness is just as annoying.
Plus, overall, it's a bunch of pampered crybabies given a pass on actually being decent role models. Sure, there are exceptions, but they are just that - exceptions. Instead, they actively foster the bling-and-thug lifestyle mentality. Sadly, it's their poor followers that suffer.
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I would totally buy season tickets to a team called the Washington Buttpirates.
I could make a fortune selling huge souvenier foam dick-and-balls-with-a-prince-albert.
And it's about time someone started using "It's Raining Men" as a halftime song.
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yeah yeah yeah...FOOTBALL ROCKS!
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I'd prefer Hershey Highway Henchmen, but that's just me.....
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Can we let go of the "Skins were last to integrate" issue already?? I'm not saying it's not true and not shameful, but the guys who were managing the team at the time are all dead (or nearly so) now.
Last team to integrate. The team's still-hallowed coach was the most virulently racist force in the NFL for decades. A lot of DC old-timers grew up with the Redskins as the de-facto sports franchise of "Southern Racism." A lot of DC youngsters grew up in households headed by folks with very good reasons to hate the team. And, as someone pointed out above, they've got a nickname that's pretty much an exact analogue to "The Darkies."
Hell, there are still Red Sox fans who hate the Yankees because they "stole" Babe Ruth, for Christ's sake.
Don't you know sports is about tradition?
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Well, Hillman, I tried to report your comment as "sucky", but that option wasn't available.
Don't be such a ninny. With everything going on in the world, you grandstand about something as trivial as pro football. The same goes with you other schmucks bringing up the 40-year-old integration argument. You want to throw a few jabs back and forth about Dallas this or Redskins that, fine. But don't waste our time getting up on your soapbox to speak of the evils of pro football or any of its teams. Please.
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amen, reid. i had to go back and read the article a second time to see if i had missed something about the chevy chase connection in an earlier paragraph. that was just some shit editing (and writing) by the wapo folks there. big time journo FAIL, sez i.
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In the spirit of correct reportage, I have to amend my previous post - of course McNair and McNabb have QB'd Superbowl teams since Doug Williams, but he was the first.
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IMGoph-
Sure, a shooting in a popular, usually crowded restaurant along a heavily traveled nightlife corridor shouldn't be surprising at all when one considers its proximity to a relatively dark, quiet residential corner a third of a mile away. Did that actually make sense to you when you typed it?
On a related note, I love how 17th & Euclid is the new shorthand for the violent and malevolent heart of DC. It ain't a field of buttercups, but I'd still advise listening to the wisdom of that venerable old sage Flavor Flav, who once said, "Don't believe the hype."
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How did people come to the conclusion that I support Dallas? As a San Jose Sharks fan I savor the defeat of any team from Dalles.
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I love how 17th & Euclid is the new shorthand for the violent and malevolent heart of DC.
Dude, it's not just Euclid in DC. It's Euclid ANYWHERE.
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Guest:
You'll be happy to know that was one of my more minor rants.
If you'd like I'm always happy to continue indefinitely, as I find standing on a soapbox makes my twig and berries look so much bigger to those at ground level....
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Sommer,
Just ask Mattos, she will explain Dallas hatred to you. There's only so much of this "America's Team" BS that one can stand.
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I would totally buy season tickets to a team called the Washington Buttpirates.
I could make a fortune selling huge souvenier foam dick-and-balls-with-a-prince-albert.
And it's about time someone started using "It's Raining Men" as a halftime song.
And then could we build a pirate ship stadium and dance on the poop deck and throw beads to the crowds like in Tampa? Because that would be cool--pirate circuit party, woot!
In all seriousness, the Redskins have a terrible name and a checkered history in terms of social justice. But the Cowboys have TO and Jessica Simpson, so I think they win in the pure unadulterated douchiness department.
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"For a bus to go over the curb after impact means the driver was seriosly speeding"
A bus weighs 40 tons or so, and the tires are about 2 feet tall. You really think a 4" curb is going to stop that?
As to your question, buses are usually governed, but the exact value can be set by the owner. I would expect WMATA to use 55 mph, but I know not to make any assumptions when it comes to WMATA.
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ian: i guess i didn't make my point clear to you and others here. the post said in their article that this happened in a part of town that doesn't typically see violence. i took "part of town" to mean "adams morgan". since 17th and euclid is in adams morgan, i just wanted to point out that violence sure as hell does happen in adams morgan. i realize that 3 blocks can mean a universe of difference here in town...