Saturday Morning Open Thread

Posted: June 2, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because, open thread | Tags: , | 20 Comments

It’s a rainy day in Boston. I don’t know if it’s from the tropical storm or what, but it’s nasty out there, and I guess it’s going to rain all night and tomorrow too. It’s a good day to curl up with a good book. Or maybe just surf the internet for weird news….

There have been so many cases of people eating other people lately, that New York Magazine decided to do some research on the topic. It turns out this behavior is fairly common.

In just the past week, a naked man ate a homeless guy’s face in Miami, a New Jersey man threw his intestines at police, a Canadian porn star killed a man and ate parts of his body before mailing other parts to government officials, a Maryland man killed his roommate and ate his heart and brain, and a Staten Island pizza parlor owner nommed a dude’s ear. It seems clear that this sudden burst of zombie activity points inexorably to the beginning of the end for mankind. But we started to wonder this morning — from inside our fortified, WiFi enabled, mountainside bunker — whether the only thing that’s changed is that, in the wake of the headline-grabbing Miami incident, we’ve suddenly started paying a lot more attention to zombie-esque stories than we had in the past. After digging around, we found that while the frequency of cannibal stories over the past week is unusual, this kind of stuff happens fairly regularly.

Go read the examples if you dare!

The victim of the face-eating attack in Miami was a homeless man who had abandoned his family years ago and was presumed dead.

“I tried to reach him, but I just thought he killed himself,” said Ronald Poppo’s sister, Antoinette. “And we really thought he was no longer on this earth.”

Antoinette Poppo said the family hasn’t heard from Ronald, 65, in 30 years. Details of his life after he attended New York’s prestigious Stuyvesant High School in the 1960s remain scarce, traced in a string of mostly petty arrests, hospital records, and a call to the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust last week from the Jungle Island zoo, where Poppo had been sleeping on the roof of the parking garage.

According to the Miami Herald, Stuyvesant’s records show Poppo enjoyed an above-average IQ of 129, and a former homeroom classmate said he enrolled at nearby City College before the pair lost touch.

Arrest records show Poppo spent some time in New Orleans before making his way to Miami, where he was shot in Bayfront Park by an unknown “John Doe” in 1976, spending five days at Jackson Memorial Hospital — the same place he now lies in critical condition with much of his face gone and only one remaining eye.

Poppo will need a complete facial reconstruction if he survives. There is a fund for people who wish to donate to help him.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: The Jackson Memorial Foundation has set up a fund to assist Ronald Poppo in his recovery, which experts in facial reconstruction have said will include lengthy treatment, staged reconstruction, and psychological care. Donations can be made by check or online at jmf.org.

Poppo’s daughter has also been located.

Janice Poppo DiBello, 44, told the New York Daily News that Ronald abandoned her family when she was just 2-years-old. She said she was stunned to find out her absentee father was the homeless man who was attacked and eaten by the Causeway Cannibal.

“Since I was like two-years-old, him and my mom got divorced and there was no – like how normal divorces are, where you see your father,” DiBello told the NY Daily News. “Nobody ever heard anything from him, so I’ve never met him. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead.”

DiBello told the Daily News she knows Ronald is in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital and he’s missing between 75 and 80 percent of his face. DiBello called her mom to confirm the details about the victim, which her mother did.

“It was a complete shock, because like I said, I’ve never had a relationship with my biological father,” DiBello told the Daily News. “I have never heard from him. I have no idea what happened to him.”

What’s happening where you are?

Bill Clinton Stumps for Tom Barrett in Wisconsin

Posted: June 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: open thread, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , | 23 Comments

Greg Sargent says Bill Clinton “hit a home run” this afternoon when he appeared with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at a rally earlier this afternoon. Sargent:

Bill Clinton, in his speech in Wisconsin…framed the recall election as a stark choice between unity and division, between cooperation and conflict, and between shared prosperity and right wing winner-take-all economics. Democrats on the ground in the state are very satisfied with Clinton’s speech, and think he hit the right note to amplify their closing message

Clinton barely mentioned Barrett’s opponent Governor Scott Walker.

But the most important part of Bill’s speech was the call for voters to come out to the polls on Tuesday, in order to rebuke the national conservative movement’s huge financial investment in this race, and to make a larger statement about the type of leadership they want for the state and the country in the future:

If you believe in an economy of shared prosperity when times are good, and shared sacrifice when they’re not, then you don’t want to break the unions. You want them at the negotiating table. And you trust them to know that arithmetic rules. Show up for Tom Barrett on Tuesday! If you want Wisconsin once again to be seen by all of America as a place of diversity, of difference of opinion, of vigorous debate, where in the end people’s objectives are to come to an agreement that will take us all forward together, you have to show up for Tom Barrett on Tuesday!…

I can just hear it now, on Wednesday. All those people that poured all this money into Wisconsin, if you don’t show up and vote, will say, `see, we got them now. We’re finally going to break every union in America. We’re gonna break every government in America. We’re gonna stop worrying about the middle class. We don’t give a riff whether poor people get to work their way into it. We got our way now. We got it all. Divide and conquer works.’

You tell them no. You tell them, Wisconsin has never been about that, never will be about that — by electing Tom Barrett governor!

Third Coast Digest has much more on the rally, including photos.

Here is Clinton’s full 18 minute speech.

The recall election will be held on Tuesday, June 5. How it turns out will be extremely important for the entire country. If Walker wins, the Republican will likely double down in their wars on unions, voting rights, and women’s health.

Please discuss, or use this as an open thread.

Open Thread: New Police Video of George Zimmerman

Posted: May 25, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Crime, open thread | Tags: , , , , | 18 Comments

This video of George Zimmerman climbing a staircase at the Sanford Police Department is dated February 29, 2012–three days after Zimmerman shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. Can anyone see two black eyes and a swollen bandaged nose?

From the Miami Herald: George Zimmerman had a broken nose, two cuts and two black eyes: ABC News report

The day after he killed Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman showed up at a doctor’s office with a broken nose, two black eyes and two small cuts on the back of his head, ABC News reported Tuesday.

According to medical records obtained by the network, he also had a minor back injury. Zimmerman takes Temazepam, an insomnia medication, and Adderall — which is prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or narcolepsy — “medications that can cause side effects such as agitation and mood swings, but in fewer than 10 percent of patients,” ABC reported.

The three-page medical report prepared by a physician near Sanford showed that Zimmerman declined to go to the hospital and did not get follow up care, ABC said. He also complained of stress and nausea.

The above video was recorded two days after Zimmerman saw his doctor. I’ve never had a black eye or a broken nose, but two days seems like a very short time for black eyes to have healed.

So far the news reports I’ve seen about this video have called attention to the fact that Zimmerman is walking around the police station unattended and that he has a bandage on the back of his head, but none have noted the lack of injuries on his face. Are my eyes deceiving me?

Open Thread: George Zimmerman Reportedly Made Self-Incriminating Statements to Police

Posted: May 24, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Crime, open thread, racism, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , | 23 Comments

Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda

Just short time ago, Reuters posted a story on the efforts of attorneys in the Trayvon Martin case to keep George Zimmerman’s statement to police under seal until the trial. The prosecution claims that Zimmerman made “self-incriminating statements to police” that could be used to demonstrate his guilt. According to the prosecution motion:

“Defendant (Zimmerman) has provided law enforcement with numerous statements, some of which are contradictory, and are inconsistent with the physical evidence and statements of witnesses,” the prosecutors said in their court filing.

They said the statements by Zimmerman were admissible in court and “in conjunction with other statements and evidence help to establish defendant’s guilt in this case.”

The court filing offered no details about the statements Zimmerman made to police or other law enforcement officials. It said Florida’s public records law had no provision requiring “the disclosure of a confession” of a defendant.

“The state asserts that this provision includes an admission of a defendant that could be used against him at trial,” the filing said.

Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, apparently agrees with the prosecution’s petition. Today he:

filed a seven-page document asking Judge Kenneth Lester for a 30-day period to review evidence in the case before it is made public.

O’Mara argued that some evidence the state has collected may be inadmissible and could inflame tensions in the racially charged controversy and jeopardize Zimmerman’s right to a fair trial.

Zimmerman gave at least five statements to police at different times. Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda also requested that Zimmerman’s cell phone records remain sealed along with those of a friend of Trayvon Martin’s who was talking with him shortly before the shooting.

Friday Afternoon Open Thread: Mitt Likes Music, Including This

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, open thread, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , | 9 Comments

A few days ago, The New York Times posted a funny mashup of Mitt Romney talking about all the things he likes. The video was created by The Gregory Brothers, a musical group that produces takeoffs on the news. I wish I knew how to embed it here, but you’ll have to go watch it the NYT site. Please watch it if you haven’t already. It’s really hilarious!

Here is the original 1994 interview in which Mitt earnestly told a young interviewer, “I like music of almost any kind, including this.” At the time, he was running against Ted Kennedy for the Senate.

Back in March, Romney listed his favorite songs on Spotify, which I think is an iPad app. Here’s Mitt’s playlist, which his campaign insist he drew up all by himself:

I am a Man of Constant Sorrow” by The Soggy Bottom Boys
Read My Mind” by The Killers
December, 1963 [Oh What a Night]” by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash
Somebody Told Me” by The Killers
The MTA (The Boston Subway Song)” by The Kingston Trio
Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys
Desperado” by Clint Black
Crying” by Roy Orbison
Only You ” by Commodores
Runaway” by Del Shannon
It’s your Love” by Time McGraw
As Good As I once Was” by Toby Keith
Born Free” by Kid Rock
“Over the Rainbow” by Willie Nelson
“Stardust”
“In Dreams” by Roy Orbison
“Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban
“All-American Girl” by Carrie Underwood

Jim Farber, a reporter at the NY Daily News, notes that Mitt seems to like sad songs.

A man of constant sorrow who roams this world alone, doomed to realize his greatest loves only in dreams. Does this sound like the description of a man running for President?

….

Romney opens his 25 song list with The Soggy Bottom Boys’ version of that classic song of suffering “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow.” He goes on to pepper the list with Clint Black’s cover of the Eagles’ ode to a shut-down loner “Desperado,” Roy Orbison’s uber-mopey “Crying” (along with his classic song of thwarted love “In Dreams”), Johnny Cash’s rumination on eternal damnation, “Ring of Fire,” and Willie Nelson’s take on the ultimate song of hopeless yearning, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”

Together, these selections suggest a guy whose soul may be far deeper, and less satisfied, than his public persona presents.

Farber also notes that there is only one female artist and one African American group represented on Mitt’s list. Some of the items also reveal Romney’s advanced age. Roy Orbison and Del Shannon were on the soundtrack of my late childhood (I’m just a couple of months younger than Romney).

I found a couple of other Romney- and music-oriented videos on Youtube. Who is Mitt Romney anyway?

This one is silly, but I really liked it: “Mitt Romney, I think I hate you.”

What do you have to say about all this, Mitt?

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