That was the sound of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s head exploding, as well as the heads of many other Chicago politicians.
Archive for December, 2012
That soft, wet sound you heard earlier today?
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012TMQ Watch: December 11, 2012.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012TMQ was oddly silent last week about Kansas City. TMQ is oddly silent this week about Dallas. TMQ loves him some Patriot offense.
We actually watched last night’s game at the home of some friends. (Those friends shall remain nameless to protect their privacy, but thank you, nameless friends for hosting us!) We have not seen a Monday night game since the contract moved to ESPN, and we were amazed at just how awful the commentary was. We were also amazed at how much time was spent talking about Every. Single. Little. Aspect. Of the New England Patriots (especially Brady) and how little time was spent discussing the Texans.
We’re not that upset the Texans lost. A win would have been nice, but 11-2 is pretty good, and it isn’t like they lost to an incompetent team.
Additional note: as we write this, news is breaking that Paulie Tags has thrown out the New Orleans Saints player suspensions. We’re not sure what to make of this, or how this is going to play out. We need some time to think about it.
After the jump, this week’s TMQ….
Gratuitous snark.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012<sarcasm>
If only we outlawed fireplaces, natural gas, razor blades, and speaker wire, Dr. Cecilia Chang would be alive today.
</sarcasm>
Setting aside the point (that people who want to kill themselves are going to do it, with or without guns), this NYT story is interesting reading.
Dr. Chang was basically a rainmaker for the university: she brought in millions of dollars in donations. Many of those donations were from what we might call “questionable” people. (One person who was awarded a honorary degree from St. John’s is currently a fugitive from justice.)
Dr. Chang took the stand at her trial. It did not go well for her, according to the NYT account, and she killed herself shortly thereafter.
Connally.
Monday, December 10th, 2012
(I don’t remember why I had such an odd angle on this picture. Maybe I couldn’t get a better one, or I was trying to shoot around something else that was in the way.)
(Biographical information on John Connally from the Handbook of Texas Online.)
Edited to add: I like my mother’s version of this better than my own.
Hard to believe…
Saturday, December 8th, 2012….that, at one point, this man was probably the most hated person in the state of Texas.
(HouChron obit, which explains some of the background to that comment.)
Morris, Weingarten, and MacDonald.
Friday, December 7th, 2012I have written before about my complicated relationship with Gene Weingarten and his writing.
I have a tremendous admiration for Errol Morris as a filmmaker.
I own, but have not yet read, A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
The intersection of these three things: Weingarten in the WP profiling Brian Murtagh, the federal prosecutor in the MacDonald case. And, in the process, taking on Morris and his book. Weingarten believes MacDonald is guilty:
So Weingarten should maybe be taken with at least a small grain of salt. But he does bring up several places where Morris himself admits problems. For example, a woman named Helena Stoeckley allegedly confessed to a federal marshal, Jimmy Britt, that she was present when the killings took place. Britt filed a sworn affidavit stating that Stoeckley confessed while he was transporting her to the trial. Both Britt and Stoeckley are now dead.
More:
Punchline: it wasn’t broken. And:
The entire article is pretty long, but I commend it to your attention if you have any interest in the MacDonald case.
(Hattip: Ted Frank by way of Popehat on the Twitter.)
Quiet, modest people.
Friday, December 7th, 2012If you ask me, “Professor, Librarian, Mentor” is a pretty darn good way to be remembered.
Also, if you served honorably in our country’s military – especially if you fought at the Battle of the Bulge, or were at Pearl Harbor, or any number of other great battles – yeah, that should be all over your tombstone.
(Dr. Mersky isn’t as famous as some of the other folks I’ve posted about, but I found this very nice conference announcement/tribute to Dr. Mersky, with an awesome picture of the gentleman in life. He sounds very much like someone I would have enjoyed knowing.)
Random notes: December 7, 2012.
Friday, December 7th, 2012Happy Pearl Harbor Day. On this date, as always, I will pause for a moment of silence to remember the Japanese-American graduate of Texas A&M who, on December 7, 1941, bombed Pearl Bailey.
Jim Letten, the chief federal prosecutor in New Orleans, has resigned over the comments scandal in his office. For those who weren’t following the story: two of the prosecutors in his office, including his top assistant, were exposed as the authors of pseudonymous comments about active cases on nola.com.
Oh, isn’t that special? The Danzinger Bridge convictions might get tossed because a couple of prosecutors couldn’t behave themselves online. Thanks, guys.
Random notes: December 6, 2012.
Thursday, December 6th, 2012“…with the eyes wide open”
Thursday, December 6th, 2012Something about the state cemetery that I didn’t realize until I went there; many of the monuments are, for want of a better work, architecturally interesting.
There are quite a few standard flat tombstones (especially in the section for the Confederate dead) but it seems like many people have the attitude of “This is the state cemetery; let’s make it interesting.”
I wish the focus had come out a little better on this one. I think it works, but in retrospect, it would have been better if i had taken another shot with a smaller aperture to get better depth of field.
(And call me a sentimental old fool, but I like the inscription.)
(Tom Lea Institute. The Tom Lea Collection at the University of Texas.)
Random notes: December 5, 2012.
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012So has anyone been following the Indian Olympic Committee story? In brief: India wants to elect people to their national Olympic Committee following their rules, the IOC says “No, you’ve got to follow our rules”, and suspends the Indian committee. Suspension means that Indian athletes can’t compete in IOC sanctioned events, there will be no IOC funding for Indian athletes, and Indian sports officials can’t attend international meetings.
The Indian committee has basically said “F you” and elected Lalit Bhanot secretary general of the committee. Bhanot was unopposed.
Bhanot also spent 11 months in jail before he managed to make bail. Why? Corruption charges, specifically related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
“to $8 billion from $75 million”? Wow. That’s corruption on an epic level: gold medal worthy corruption, if you ask me.
And speaking of corruption, the NYT explains how a Ferrari crash led to a change in the leadership of the party:
“The Maid of the Mist” folks, who run the tours on the NY side of Niagara Falls, have made a new deal with the state that should keep the boats running. (Previously. Also.)
“Restaurant Impossible: The Musical!” All singing, all dancing, all Robert Irvine!
Okay, we kid. Slightly. But Adam Gopnick of the New Yorker is working with some other folks on a musical based on Gopnick’s book The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food
As long as we’re on the theatre beat:
It is a little late now, but perhaps, if we’re lucky, this will free up Ms. Gifford for more Christmas specials.
Also closing: “The Anarchist”, David Mamet’s latest play.
Tom Landry’s hat!
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
(Tom Landry is part of that group of folks I referred to earlier; the ones who have monuments in the state cemetery, but are actually buried someplace else. Here’s his actual grave from Find a Grave.)
(I wonder if winning a national championship in any sport is enough to get you a slot at the state cemetery. Darrell Royal has his. Will Jody Conradt and Rudy Tomjanovich get one? Seems to me they’re deserving.)
(Subject line hat tip. (Ha!))