WTF?

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New Air Jordans Cause Shopping Frenzy Across U.S.

The release of Nike’s new Air Jordan basketball shoes caused a frenzy at stores across the nation Friday as scuffles broke out and police were brought in to stamp out unrest that nearly turned into riots in some places.

Shoppers stood in long lines through the night to get their hands on a retro version of one of the most popular models of Air Jordans ever made. The fights were reminiscent of violence that broke out in the early 1990s on streets across America as the shoes became popular targets for thieves.

In suburban Seattle, police used pepper spray on about 20 customers who started fighting at the Westfield Southcenter mall early Friday.

Tukwila Officer Mike Murphy said people started gathering around midnight at four stores in the mall for a chance to buy the shoes, which retail for about $180 a pair. The crowd grew to more than 1,000 people by 4 a.m., when the stores opened, he said.

“Around 3 (a.m.) there started to be some fighting and pushing among the customers,” Murphy said. “Around 4, it started to get pretty unruly and officers sprayed pepper spray on a few people who were fighting, and that seemed to do the trick to break them up.”

He said no injuries were reported, although some people suffered cuts or scrapes from fights. One man was arrested for assault after authorities say he pushed an officer.

“He did not get his shoes; he went to jail,” Murphy said.

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These people are fighting over SHOES? $180 a pair SHOES?

They’re not even Jimmy Choos!

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Airing of Grievances

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The meds I got yesterday are kicking in and one of Santa’s helpers dropped off a little Christmas cheer earlier, so right at the moment I’m feeling pretty mellow. I guess I should have written this post earlier. I still have a couple grievances though:

1. Atheists. This is just another form of religious fanaticism. If you don’t believe in God that’s all groovy. But you don’t have to shove your non-beliefs down everybody else’s throats. You wanna impress me? Refuse to take Christmas off with pay. And BTW – YOU ARE NOT BEING OPPRESSED by baby Jeebus in a manger in front of City Hall. Get a fucking grip.

2. Web pages that force you to watch 30 seconds of ads before the page will load. Sorry, but I was outta there 27 seconds earlier.

3. Nutella. No, it’s NOT just like peanut butter.

4. Packaging rip-offs. Ever buy the “cheaper” package only to discover it was a smaller portion at a higher price? When did bacon start coming in 12 oz packages? Go over to the spice department in the supermarket. How much is the ground black pepper? How much is the same weight of black peppercorns? How much is the garlic powder? How much is the garlic powder in the ethnic food section?

5. Miracle Whip. No, it’s NOT just like mayonnaise.

6. “Shopping cards.” If I use it at the supermarket it’s supposed to give me discounts on gasoline (at participating stations). So I use it religiously all month, then discover I can get a discount of $.30 a gallon IF: I drive all the way across town to the only station that is participating AND I buy gas that is already $.20 per gallon more than the local “cash only” station near my home. Oh, yeah, I have to go today because it’s the last day of the month, it’s already 4 pm and I still have half a tank of gas.

7. Advertisements for prescription drugs. They are vague about what they treat and the disclaimers and side-effects take up more space than the ads. These are PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. Why are you telling me? Tell my doctor. More importantly, tell my insurance provider (if I have one).

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Damn, now my mellow is all harshed. What pisses you off?

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Echo chamber or self-filter?

Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news.

“I listen to Rush and read NewsMax,” he said. “And to make sure I’m getting a balanced view, I watch Fox.”

My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends.

This is life in our echo chamber nation. We protect ourselves from opinions we don’t like and seek reinforcement from like-minded allies.

The paradox of the Internet age is that never before have we had access to more ideas and different thoughts. And yet, many of us retreat into comfy parlors where everyone agrees and the other side is always wrong. Each side can manufacture its truths and get the chorus to sing along.

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Where you get your news says a lot about you and your political beliefs. If your primary source is FOX News you are probably a right-winger. But are you a right-winger because you watch FOX or do you watch FOX because you’re a right-winger?

Eleven months ago a mentally-ill young man in Tucson walked into a supermarket and shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords along with nineteen other people. Six were killed and fourteen were wounded.

Right after the shooting took place when only the sketchiest facts were known, some people were already convinced that the shooting was connected to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Eleven months later no such connection has yet been shown. In fact, if anything Jared Loughner was a left-wing nutjob. (In May, 2011 a judge ruled that Loughner was incompetent to stand trial.)

And yet today there are many people who are still convinced that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party were responsible for Loughner’s actions. If you try to tell them otherwise they will get angry.

The reason is that in their minds the connection between Loughner, the Tea Party and Sarah Palin fits a pre-conceived narrative. That narrative says that the Tea Party is filled with angry, violent racist wingnuts with guns.

These preconceived narratives exist on both sides. They are tribal narratives. They tell us that “we” are the good guys and “they” are the bad guys.

If you try to buck the narratives of your tribe you run the risk of being outcast and shunned. They might even call you a ratfucker.

Maybe that’s what they mean when they say “The truth hurts.”

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Another good idea that will never happen

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Fiasco: Bachmann, Huntsman, Santorum fail to make Virginia ballot

That’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that Perry and Gingrich, either one of whom could still become the Great Grassroots Hope against Romney, might not have qualified either. You need 10,000 signatures to make the ballot but 15,000 are recommended since a bunch are bound to be thrown out as false or duplicative as the petitions are scrutinized. You also need at least 600 signatures from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. Romney submitted 16,026 and Ron Paul submitted 14,361. Perry’s total: 11,911. Gingrich’s: 11,050. If they end up getting bounced, the Republican primary ballot for one of America’s key swing states will consist exclusively of … Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

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I was reading that when it struck me that the article is only talking about one state. In order to get on the ballot in all 57 states each candidate would have to jump through numerous hoops of different requirements, deadlines and fees. If each state was similar to Virginia you would need 500,000 people to sign petitions. I’m guessing the filing fees are pretty substantial too.

Then there is the trouble and cost of holding primary elections. That’s public money. In a big state like California the cost of holding an election is in the millions. When they held a special election to recall Gray Davis in 2003 it cost over $25 million.

So what’s the point of doing all that if the parties ignore the results?

Why not require that whenever a party fails to abide by the results of a primary election (by reallocating delegates or “suspending the rules”) then that party has to reimburse each state affected for the cost of the primary election? If it is a “faithless delegate” who is to blame, assess the cost to he/she/them.

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A Festivus for the rest of us!

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Happy Festivus everyone!

The celebration of Festivus has been a tradition here at The Crawdad Hole since since we first opened.

In lieu of giving you gifts this year, a donation has been made in your name to The Human Fund. If you would also like to donate, hit the PayPal button at the bottom of the page.

The Airing of Grievances will start promptly at 4:20 pm left coast time, give or take a few minutes. I’m making my list and checking it twice. (Like or not you’ll get my advice.)

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