Return of the News Bucket, Part II

18 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on December 18, 2013 at 11:49 am

   How often do you see an obituary nting the deceased’s occupations as “Great Train Robber”?

   And what a life it was:

   Mr. Biggs’s enduring reputation stemmed not so much from the heist itself as from what happened afterward. Tried and convicted, he escaped from prison and became the subject of an international manhunt; spent the next 36 years as a fugitive, much of that time living openly in Rio de Janeiro in defiance of the British authorities; and enjoyed almost preternatural luck in thwarting repeated attempts to bring him to justice, including being kidnapped and spirited out of Brazil by yacht.

   The fact that the robbery happened to take place on Mr. Biggs’s birthday also did not hurt.

   During his years at large, Mr. Biggs, aided by the British tabloid press, cultivated his image as a working-class Cockney hero. He sold memorabilia to tourists, endorsed products on television and recorded a song (“No One Is Innocent”) with the Sex Pistols, the British punk band.

   • 

     Marie2 on December 18, 2013 at 12:13 pm

     How many robbers earn money selling trinkets that romanticize one’s criminal past?  

     • 

       Marie2 on December 18, 2013 at 2:04 pm

       Then there’s Walmart Monetizing Occupy.

       This holiday season, buy the perfect gift for that loved one who took a stand against America’s plutocracy: a large print of the Occupy encampment at Zuccotti Park. The poster is “printed on Premium Heavy Stock Paper which captures all of the vivid colors and details of the original,” the print-maker writes. “Ready for hanging or framing,” it “would make a great addition to your home or office.”
       …
       “Quite possibly the only thing funnier than being able to purchase a Ché Guevara tee shirt at a big box chain store would be the ability to buy a panoramic poster featuring Occupy Wall Street’s encampment in Lower Manhattan from that chain,” writes Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell.
       …

       At $50 for a poster, this might be Wal-Mart’s highest profit item this year.

     • 

       examinator on December 18, 2013 at 6:58 pm

       Most ! particularly politicians, industrialists and journalists!!
       HMMMPH not impressed the man was a petty thug … what is missed is that they the robbers shot and killed to achieve their nefarious ends.
       What is also missed is that some of the leading thieves in this US $45m  (in today’s money About $130m or the a 5 year contract (wage+bonuses+ share options) of your average robber baron Capitalist )robbery were never caught.
        Biggs’ share was about U$150K  

       • 

         examinator on December 18, 2013 at 7:01 pm

          PS. My response is in answer to “how many thieves…..
          First line should end with ….their memoirs!

       • 

         Marie2 on December 18, 2013 at 8:42 pm

         …what is missed is that they the robbers shot and killed to achieve their nefarious ends.

         Huh?  From the Wikipedia entry on the robbery:

         Though the gang did not use any firearms, Jack Mills, the train driver, was beaten over the head with a metal bar. Mills’ injuries were severe enough to end his career.

         No guns.  A minor difference between most UK and US robberies.

2. 

   CabinGirl on December 18, 2013 at 11:57 am

   and retain the memories within it:

   Ben Nunery’s wife Ali died in 2011 after a battle with a rare form of lung cancer. Two years later, Ben and their daughter Olivia decided to move out of the house that he and Ali moved into the day before their wedding. With everything packed up, the house was empty, just like it was on the day they shot their wedding photos. So Ben enlisted Ali’s sister, photographer Melanie Pace, who shot their original set of wedding photos, to shoot a set of new ones.

   • 

     MikeInOhio on December 18, 2013 at 12:28 pm

     How strange.  I just finished looking at those pictures right before clicking over here.

     That is such a touching story.

3. 

   TarheelDem on December 18, 2013 at 1:37 pm

   TPM: The Conservative Media Arms Race Coming to an Internet Near You

   The Fox of the internet is named Salem and owns Twitchy and RedState.

   Bottom-up networking and communications is going to become even more important for progressives as money seeks to dominate internet media.

4. 

   DerFarm on December 18, 2013 at 2:53 pm

   Being a rather militant atheist, I thought these were excellent examples of schooling Xtian Fundies on the proper place for religion:

   http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/12/18/flying-spaghetti-monster-party-holiday-display-wisconsin-sta
   te-capitol/

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/hindu-hanuman-statue-oklahoma_n_4428802.html

   http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/satan-ten-commandments-oklahoma-city

   I WILL PREACH ON!!!!

5. 

   priscianus jr on December 18, 2013 at 2:56 pm

   Tea Party = John Birch Society.

   Because this year is the 50th anniversary of the JFK assasination, I’ve been reading more and more about that time. Of course I remember it myself, but I was young and not well informed, and now we have the advantage of 50 years of cumulative research and hindsight.

   There is a direct continuity from those days to now, and remember that the Koch Brothers are Birchers. Their father, Fred Koch, was one of the founders of JBS.

   The history of this country over the last half century is a lot crazier than most people realize.

   And in reading the comments to the article cited below, please note: Oswald was not a communist or even a leftist, he was a CIA asset and FBI informer pretending to be a leftist. (This is not a theory, it’s thoroughly documented in books like John Newman’s Oswald and the CIA, or Dick Russell’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, or Bill Simpich’s writings published on the Internet.) Oswald was not the shooter of JFK or General Walker. He was framed, mostly after he was killed by a man connected with the actual assassination plot, Jack Ruby.

   http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/10/the-john-birchers-tea-party.html

   • 

     CabinGirl on December 18, 2013 at 6:04 pm

     I did not know about the connection between the Koch brothers and the JBS. The plot thickens…

     Thanks for sharing this link.

     • 

       priscianus jr on December 18, 2013 at 6:48 pm

       That’s not all …

       Claire Conner grew up in a committed Bircher family.

       http://claireconner.com/2013/11/17/john-kennedy-smiled-at-me-five-mintes-later-he-was-dead/

       • 

         Phil Perspective on December 18, 2013 at 9:02 pm

         Don’t forget that Mike Allen’s(of Drudgico fame) father was a big poobah in JBS circles as well.

         • 

           priscianus jr on December 18, 2013 at 11:13 pm

           Not sure of the significance of that, as (believe it or not ) I never heard of Mike Allen and I know nothing about him.

           Anyway, this was his father:
           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Allen

6. 

   southerndem on December 18, 2013 at 5:33 pm

   Virginia clean sweep
   from TPM
   More than six weeks after Election Day, Virginia State Sen. Mark Obenshain (R) finally conceded the Virginia attorney general race on Wednesday, as the recount he sought failed to close his gap against state Sen. Mark Herring (D).

7. 

   chimneyswift on December 18, 2013 at 6:01 pm

   If you haven’t seen this, it’s strongly recommended, and at times quite funny.

   On April 29, 2012, I put on a suit and tie and took the No. 3 subway line to the Junius Avenue stop in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. At the time, the blocks around this stop were a well-known battleground in the stop-and-frisk wars: Police had stopped 14,000 residents 52,000 times in four years. I figured this frequency would increase my chances of getting to see the system in action, but I faced a significant hurdle: Though I’ve spent years living and working in neighborhoods like Brownsville, as a white professional, the police have never eyed me suspiciously or stopped me for routine questioning. I would have to do something creative to get their attention.

   As I walked around that day, I held a chipboard graffiti stencil the size of a piece of poster board and two cans of spray paint. Simply carrying those items qualified as a class B misdemeanor pursuant to New York Penal Law 145.65. If police officers were doing their jobs, they would have no choice but to stop and question me.    

   I kept walking and reached a bodega near the Rockaway Avenue subway station. Suddenly, a young black man started yelling at me to get out of Brownsville, presumably concluding from my skin color and my suit that I did not belong there. Three police officers heard the commotion and came running down the stairs. They reached me and stopped.

   “What’s going on?” one asked.

   “Nothing,” I told them.

   “What does that say?” the officer interrupted me, incredulously, as the other two gathered around. I held the stencil up for them to read.

   “What are you, some kind of asshole?” he asked.

   http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/i-got-myself-arrested-so-i-could-look-inside-the
   -justice-system/282360/

   • 

     The Voice In The Wilderness on December 18, 2013 at 6:49 pm

     Fascinating!