Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Obamas At Smith Center For G.W. Basketball Game
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
Good morning, Washington, and welcome to a relatively slow news day. Top story: former President Jimmy Carter implied that Rep. Joe Wilson is a racist. Not only will this elicit outrage from Wilson's allies (his son helpfully points out that dad doesn't even laugh at racist jokes), but, by hinting at the continued existence of racism, Carter's remarks seem sure to upset a bunch of my fellow white people. Enjoy the stupid news cycle, everybody!
Fairfax Not Paying Its Public Defenders: Today's Post has a troubling story indicating that Fairfax has been failing to pay court-appointed juvenile defenders even the shamefully low compensation that other Virginia municipalities offer. A number of lawyers are singling out Juvenile Court clerk Jennifer Flanagan for failing to send the necessary payment vouchers to Richmond. Flanagan claims she's never heard of the problem, despite several lawyers' claims that they've spoken to her about it directly.
Judge Lets Cora Masters Barry Hang On To Tennis Center: WJLA reports that Marion Barry's estranged wife has won a victory in her fight with the city over the facility used by her organization, the Recreation Wish List Committee. The RWLC was evicted from a city facility in Southeast after losing its corporate status. Yesterday afternoon a judge declared that the city has a lease with the organization and can't simply evict it. The most interesting tidbit: Masters Barry turned the mayor-for-life himself away from the hearing, apparently out of concern that his presence would be counterproductive.
Drug Ring Busted in Southern Maryland: DEA work has led to the indictment of twelve men in connection to a cocaine ring in St. Mary's County, according to Fox 5. Among the accused is an MPD veteran who allegedly ran a high-stakes gambling ring for the dealers.
Briefly Noted: Fatal shooting in P.G. County... Beleaguered X1/2/3 customers will get a chance to vent... Children's Hospital to receive $150m from Abu Dhabi... Local secretary plans to become king when she retires...
This Year in DCist: One year ago protestors disrupted a D.C. Council meeting. Trendsetting!
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That story about the Secretary/King was funny. I want her job.
good to see that you can still have a horatio alger story in the US, except it ends up outside of the US.
From the front page of the Metro section you picked up the secretary/king story and not the Metrobus driver had prior incidents story?
Yes, and I commend him for that.
newhce: pretty sure carla the bus driver is a she.
I meant I commend Tom for going with the she-king story instead.
ah, gotcha. guess i misread...
I like the secretary/king story better, too, but I should have included both -- unfortunately, I only saw the other one a moment after putting up the MR. Sommer is aware of the story, and I imagine that you might see a post about it later this morning.
Didn't anyone else find the secretary/king story a little demeaning? It was sort of a how cute, these africans with their superfluous kings; they even have some that are secretaries too!
Damn you!! I really enjoyed that story and now you have to go and trigger my white guilt.
not even a little bit. as the article says, 'You have an average human being who suddenly finds herself in a position of power.' i saw nothing in the article even a little bit demeaning to Africans or anybody else.
Who's posting on here? Jimmy Carter?
Get back on the Killer Rabbit, Liz.
There are some more of those weird elephant things on top of a front porch on Kenyon St. in Mt. Pleasant. I dig.
Looks like all those mysterious oil-soaked weekend getaways are finally starting to pay off. I only hope that whatever quid pro quo that was negotiated between the UAE, Children's Hospital, the Mayor's office, and the Bavarian Illuminati doesn't result in a fresh supply of babies for a certain unquenchable Ward 8 Councilmember.
Obvious reference.
Is that the cover art for the Ike Tuner Diaries?
I refuse to believe that St. Mary's County would raise its bar to the level of cocaine traffiking. It's well known that the drugs-of-choice in "the county" are meth, oxycodone, and Skoal.
Between the shootings and the narcotics, it's getting really easy to live up to my New Year's resolution to be more thankful for what I don't have (drug addiction, VD, butt rot, Bear Stearns stock, sucking chest wounds, friends who compare everything to Hiter). Yeah, this weather is worse than Hitler! One of these days, people are actually going to have to read Mein Kampf and maybe this time they'll pay attention. That way, they'll actually understand what it takes to destabilize a weak liberal democratic government: offer simple answers to complex questions, blame everything on a marginalized community, and distract people with a war you can't possibly win. Don't you just hate people like that? We could declare a "War on Ignorance" and put stupid people in re-education camps, except we already do that. It's called "public education," which is also worse than Hitler.
+1
Jimmy who?
Apropos of nuthin', Saturday the 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Time to stock up on rum!
Thanks for reminding me. Time to dust off the old cat 'o nine tails and brush up on the ins-and-outs of sodomy.
phew, double-entendre much?
I believe Monkey has already moved beyond twins. Maybe that's just idle gossip tho.
zing!
And kudos to Tom for both the Simpsons/Carter reference as well as getting Morning Roundup out before elevenses.
And yes, I have been drinking gasoline...MO-THER!
So he's racist and has no sense of humor?
Did you just say, "Not only will this elicit outrage from Wilson's allies...but, by hinting at the continued existence of racism, Carter's remarks seem sure to upset a bunch of my fellow white people."??????
What the hell did you mean by that?????
Was that a terrible joke?
Short answer: yes, it was a terrible joke.
Longer answer: what's so terrible about it? It shouldn't be especially controversial to say that the people who hate Carter are also militantly anti-anti-racist (much more so than they are anti-racist, though the majority of them are that, too).
Extra fun bonus link for the day:
http://theamericanscene.com/2009/09/16/why-i-have-contempt-for-rush-limbaugh
tom's white. some white people will be offended by carter's statement. so might some people of color. i don't see the big deal.
As a proud Hyphenated-American Person-of-Gender, I find your attitude offensive. But then, I am offended by most things: vulgar mudflaps, the lack of a sense of humor, as well as the highly suggestive term "titular archbishopric."
"people of color"? Sooo 1980s.
what's your preferred nomenclature, then? honestly, it's impossible to know what's offensive, quasi-offensive, racist, acceptable, or passable these days.
I agree with you that it is tough to keep up. But since you asked, the last memo I saw was "Black" with a capital B.
newhce: yeah, but i was talking about more than just black. i was talking about everyone who would not be classified 'caucasian.'
I think we're kinda stuck with it until the term "Bizarro World honkeys" starts catching on.
Non-cracker is the preferred terminology. Get with the times, dude.
That's racist!
The new logo is growing on me, even the parsley sprig.
Perhaps we should get you some topical cream for that?
Gonna take an ocean of calamine lotion. You'll be scratching like a hound, the minute you start to mess around...POISON PARSLEY-EE-EE-EE-EY!
Hey there is an idea. I'll get a tattoo of the new logo. In a few years it will about as cool as all those people who got Calvin and Hobbes ink.
Great idea! I'll get DCist on my whole back.
Or "DCist on my whale back".
you know, the more i look at it, the more it reminds me of the logo of the historical society of washington, dc.
Could be worse - could be a ginko tree sprig with crushed ginko berries
I think I'm allergic to the DCist logo ... I'm itchy all the time!
Get back on the Valtrex, Liz.
You missed the best local (alright Baltimore, but local) story of the day!
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.samurai16sep16,0,114199.story
DC is already contemplating a registration process on swords as a response to protect the innocent criminals
In a statement Tuesday, Hopkins officials told students there had been more than a half-dozen burglaries in the area recently, and that police presence would be bolstered.
Nice to see that NOW they are increasing police presence...after Ninja Boy seems to have taken care of the problem.
gotta love that proactive policing.
Did you guys miss the big story about the Army of the Undead Homeless that has descended on K Street? I think Monkey might be interested in removing those monsters.
Hot tip: The valets at Marriott are shooing them away.
r_street_rat: dead link there. care to try again?
..put stupid people in re-education camps, except we already do that. It's called "public education," which is also worse than Hitler..
In other news, 14 area schools earned Blue Ribbon Status. No Krusty Brand Imitation gruel for these kids.
Yeah, but those "Blue Ribbon" standards are so low that a group of retarded, poo-flinging monkeys could get that certification.
Exactly. Pabst won the Blue Ribbon at the 1893 World's Fair, but what have they done lately? I mean, besides give me the Hershey squirts?
That's a new ride at the Pennsylvania fun park.
Southern Maryland is now the dumping ground for the scum of the Earth that can't make it in either NE or SE DC or PG County. The city of Lexington Park, for example, is now worse then any neighborhood inside the Beltway. You want scary? Drive through Chesapeake Ranch Esates one night.
The only good news is that most of houses purchased down there were financed through ARMs and interest-only loans and now the foreclosures are cleaning up some of the mess.
Jesus, what does one even DO out there? it's the ass end of nowhere. From the looks of it, you can't even farm on those "ranch" estates (provided you had the pluck to do so in the first place of course). Kinda reminds me of certain areas of southwest Ocean County, NJ, about an hour from where I grew up...except those were still closer to civilization.
"Jesus, what does one even DO out there? it's the ass end of nowhere."
There are ton of military/government/contractor jobs in Southern Maryland. The road that leads to the Pax River Naval Base is lined on both sides with Tyson's Corner-eque office buildings bearing all the familiar names (Lokheed, Boeing, etc).
Plus, many of the people who moved down to Southern Md in recent years work in DC and make the hellish commute by car or bus. Houses were cheap, mortgages were cheap, and nobody was checking credit histories. Too many of them brought the problems of DC and PG County with them to an area that was totally unprepared. Instead of the MPD, you have small town cops and sheriffs who suddenly had to deal with all the problems of the big city.
A drive down there is always an eye opener. McMansion in foreclosure, stretches of backroads that look like something from the deep south, and in some cases, serious urban blight.
You pretty much nailed it. Charles County is just Prince William County without the attitude, but with more meth mouth.